Accessories and Smoothies

This might not be very timely, since The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom debuted back in September, but I can't wait to share my thoughts anymore and we still haven't fully finished the game. All that's left is the boss, but my wife is insisting (very cutely btw) that we find every last heart piece and might crystal. Long have I dueled with the forces of 100% completion (I'm looking at you, JC).

Overall, I've greatly enjoyed this game. In terms of gameplay, the echo mechanic is unique to the series, fits with Zelda's canonic character as a physical manifestation of wisdom, and is a fun way to both fight and problem solve. Sure, for the first half of the game we fought everything by spamming crows while shouting "Murder!" at the TV (for my wife it was "Crow-nation!") but I think the designers balanced this well with other traditional elements. Like the best of Zelda games, we raided lost temples, chased cuckoos, and smashed pots. Like all Zeldas games, the inclusion/exclusion of non-Hylian species was hit or miss. Loved seeing the Gorons and Gerudo in a more cartoonish art style and I loved how they addressed the two past representations of Zora. The deku-scrubs and Conde... not so much. Also, the building of the map as an expansion of the classic Link to the Past map made my geek heart so happy, y'all.

But what must be addressed is the fact that FINALLY we have Zelda as a playable main character. Even if Link is a non-binary icon, it's past time that we have a woman take center stage of the franchise that LITERALLY BEARS HER NAME. I hope that in the future we see Zelda helm a bigger blockbuster release for the series in the vein of Breath of the Wild or maybe a game where either character is playable.

As a first foray into our female playable hero, the folks at Nintendo made a few choices as dubious as the food that Link has to choke down in BotW or TotK. The first, of course, is WHY DOESN'T Zelda eat real food? While Link can go cook up some bear meat or a pile, Zelda is stuck sipping smoothies??? What in the Weight Watchers is going on here?! Give my girl some real food!

Okay, so it's not a great look that our girl main character is on a liquid diet, but that's one isolated thing, right? We can't accuse this game of being an agent of the patriarchy just because it bends the knee to big smoothie and its shadow shrubbery CEO. Sadly, there are a few other cringe-inducing missteps in The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Domestic Sphere.

1. We have discussed smoothies and I'm not the first to point this out.
2. Link gets armor while Zelda gets accessories. Like a barbie.
3. When Zelda can't deal with problems herself, she can assume the swordfighter form (essentially taking the form of Link). Not Zelda in a Link costume. She BECOMES Link. In order to fight, Zelda must switch genders.
4. Zelda's only usable item is a staff and she can't bash bokoblins with it.
5. While Zelda does have a cool disguise outfit that's vaguely reminiscent of Link's awesome hooded Hylian garb, her other outfits include a dancing outfit, silk pajamas and a cat costume. I'll admit that Link, particularly in the most recent games, has some strange outfits, but they all confirm to gender norms and so do Zelda's. Taken alone, this is not a problem, but along with the issues above, it's part of a pattern that hyper fixates on Zelda's gender.

While most of the gameplay and adventuring manages to treat Zelda as another character capable of adventuring and I give the creators credit for not sexualizing her at all, it's worth noting that Zelda can cosplay as Link, but Link not as Zelda. The only time Link dresses as a woman, that I can think of, is when he dawns the outfit of Gerudo vai, a plot point that is often played for laughs. Whether you like it or not, when a man dresses as a woman it's funny and when a woman dresses like a man it's to gain entry into a world that is traditionally closed off to her. In other words, the former is moving down the social ladder (which is either tragic or humorous depending on how it's played) and the latter is moving up the social hierarchy.

For all its ambitions, despite the effort to bring forth a feminine hero after 20-something games with sword-wielding Link, Echoes of Wisdom can't give us a fantasy story that escapes the real world, sadly still a man's world.