Defending the Princess, Why Zelda?

Let me clear this up. When sexist was used in relating to Zelda earlier in this thread in relating to her damsel in distress with magical powers I misinterpreted it in the wrong way.

This is more of what I generally meant. Zelda in TP due to her lack of development seemed more of the prototypical all wise and all knowing ruler/goddess with a heavy English accent if she had a VA, which IMO made her the most cliche Zelda to date. I have nothing against TP Zelda since she is the most gorgeous Zelda ever. Its just her character is not as well developed and unique as OOT Zelda in being a Sheikah and WW Zelda as the tomboy pirate captain. I like TP Zelda and all but I found OOT and WW Zelda more unique and likeable. Is that OK with everyone??

Ok, gotcha. Still think the word was misused, but I now understand what you mean.

They did put a greater distance between the player and Zelda. I guess it's related to how the story is told. To OoT Link she's the friend -then- the princess (since as the Kokiri he's supposed to be, he doesn't fully understand the full extent of her title, so no ''looking up'' to her) (and it makes it easier for her to be herself. Her reactions to the masks tell us a lot about Zelda), to WW Link she's the pirate -then- the princess (well, even to Zelda herself ^-^), but to TP Link, she's ''The'' princess of light already.
Yup, I'm agreeing here.

Things aren't always what they appear. To me, she seemed to be more melancholy which in my opinion builds a unique character for her. To me, I feel that she is masking pain that is beyond words, perhaps maybe because she feels lonely and because perhaps she has lost many loved ones in the past (for her to have control over the throne, that would mean that her father and mother have passed). Also, if she was a damsel in distress, she wouldn't be able to take part in the fight against Ganondorf.

I have an issue with the whole "damsel in distress" moniker. "Damsel in distress" doesn't necessarily mean "unable to fight". I know that that label tends to carry a negative connotation: unable to defend herself and whatnot. But that's not necessarily true.

TP Zelda was in a stressful situation. She had no real way of fighting back. Not before Link came along. And according to the definition of distress (great pain, anxiety, or sorrow; acute physical or mental suffering; affliction; trouble. All hail dictionary.com), it is the most appropriate word to describe the situation Zelda was in. That doesn't make her weak or unable to fight back. That just means she was suffering just like she knew her people would. She technically is a damsel in distress. Just not in the negative meaning that that phrase generally carries.

I agree with all the positives on TP Zelda and believe it or not I ship LinkxZelda in TP. With that said in pertaining to personality/character, TP Zelda had too much of the all wise elven queen straight out of Lord of the Rings and random fantasy literature. And in relation to Link it has the courtly hero who serves and protects Zelda in a business like platonic relationship. Where OOT and WW Zelda each seem to actually care for Link in a very special way, TP Zelda seems to be like a hybrid 16th century English queen/noblewoman and Galadrihl from Lord of the Rings who constantly sends Link to do heroic deeds and ride around Hyrule with Epona.

Though the one sending Link on constant heroic missions was Midna.

She just needs more screentime for her human side to show. I wish she had more screentime.

But I can't compare her to that elf lady. I ''dislike'' elves enough to limit myself to compare her to a noble woman who had to grow up too fast.

Apart for the pointy ears, I can't compare her to Galadril or whatever her name is.
I really find royal elves annoyingly holy. And I don't consider Hylians ''elves''.
I admire TP Zelda and if she was real, I would be on her side on all times.
NOT Galadrihl. I don't truly dislike her, but there's something about her that makes me want to join the other side.
Just... too much holiness. What I see in Zelda, on the other hand, is pure wisdom.
I might be biased.


On the damsel in distress thing: it GREATLY annoys me when fans won't admit that, hey, women are human beings too. Men CAN and WILL get in trouble. Why the HECK would that make a WOMAN ''WEAK''?

Male characters can get captured, hurt, even killed. But when a female character EVER ends up needing help, suddenly she's not a strong woman anymore. Doesn't matter if the male character has had her help all the darn friggin' time.
I consider THAt sexism: thinking that women can't ever be vulnerable, -ever-.
Women are humans too. Roar. End rant.

The only reason why I dislike the term "damsel in distress" is because it always portrays women as being unable to help and protect themselves. I agree that guys fall into the same category, but they're never seen as being weak and vulnerable which, to me, is sexist. Guys shouldn't be able to have all the glory when it comes to being a hero. We women are not trinkets that need to be looked after and saved. This damsel in distress thing serves to highlight only a very small percentage of women within the population. Times are changing and women should start being used for the heroes instead. It would be really refreshing, in my opinion.

Note: What's sexist isn't that women are never allowed to be vulnerable, it's just that they're shown being vulnerable on too many occasions. It's sexist that it's never shown that they, too, can be a strong, couragous hero.

I was talking about the opinions that forbid ''strong'' women to ever, ever be vulnerable even once, to be sexist.
But, on female protagonists being the ones to save the day and all, I admit I'm not a fan of those.
Ok, I actually hate most of them the same way I hate the girls who will never even try to bite back and stay in distress, praying for their safety instead of acting.
Both have too many personnality stereotypes that get on my nerves.
But then again, the same goes for males. Some ''heros'' are overused. It's what made me stop reading shounen manga even though I love action.
I'll gladly welcome a game with a loveable female main character who can kick ass though. It's just that most of the time, the girl gets on my nerves, and if I have to play as her I'd rather be throwing away my console.
No girl gets on my nerves in the Zelda games however, just a tiny bit Ilia I'll admit. For the obvious reasons.
And one of my favorite races, along with the Kokiri, are the Gerudos.
I want the Gerudos back and kicking! D:

The one game I totally love too and has an awesome female main character is Okami. More characters like Amaterasu I'd love.



And yeah, Zelda gets in trouble because Ganondorf's freaking powerful. If she could take him on, there would be no Link, and Link can't finish Ganondorf without Zelda's help. Ganondorf could've killed Link lots of times actually, but the boy was saved by the bell, or because he was underestimated as a growing hero.
But somehow, it makes Zelda weak, but oh no not Link.
What the Heck?
They're against the Triforce of POWER, for Din's sake.

Yeah, I could complain about the princess haters all day.
Zelda'sNotWeakShutYourNaviUp.

It's sexist because they're never actually SHOWN as being strong. It's always assumed that, just because a woman ends up in a predicament, she needs to be saved whereas it's viewed that a guy can think his way out of it. That's my point. The guys ALWAYS seem to be the heroes, which is like saying that women are weak and helpless whereas guys are strong and couragous . That's equivilant to saying that men are superior to women (which is definately not true). Everyone has their darkest moments, that I understand, but I think this whole "damsel in distress" thing is too over-emphasized to keep the guy's ego in check. Also, why should a woman have to "bite back and stay in distress"? Why isn't the same expected for a guy? A guy can do whatever it takes to escape, yet a woman is supposed to wait patiently for someone to rescue her and claim her as their prize? Again, that's sexist.

And I believe that there's nothing wrong with using women as heroes. What's wrong with that? Just because she's a woman doesn't mean she's not capable of solving puzzles and helping those in need. As I've said before, why should guys get all of the glory?

Personally I always see Zelda more as just a victim of circumstance instead of as a damsel in distress. But I see how you girls can probably get annoyed with a lot of Zelda fans going "ZOMG!! Why does Link have to keep saving Zelda over and over again?? She is so annoying ARRRGHHH!!" But yeah no arguement from me here on the points relating to the negative sexism related to the damsel in distress label in relation to Zelda.

I wasn't referring to Zelda. I was just making general statements pertaining to the whole idea of "damsel in distress". She, herself, is not annoying (she's my favourite character, actually, because of her wisdom). What's annoying is that the creator's deem every single woman as being weak and vulnerable. I stick by what I said in my previous post.

Well, I'm starting to get confused about all these opinions and on whether or not anyone understood mine, but at least we all agree that females should be shown as able to free themselves more often.

Whatever the game.

No, there's nothing wrong with female heroes, I just tend to hate their personalities when they happen to kick ass.
But like I said, I hate a lot of males too. All in all, it's not about the chromosomes.

Yeah I see what you mean. A tough girl sometimes is percieved as some lesbian oriented super butch with a personality more associated with a typical male character. But when you take characters like Laura Croft or the Heavenly Sword girl, women hero types can be tough and feminine too. Though me personally I would be more scared of the butch type than the feminine type for sure.

Unlike my other posts, I'm gonna make this one sweet and short (even if I did write a 10 page paper on the topic)

A little thing called the fairy tale effect, or what I like to call, the disney effect.
Princess falls in love with the man who saves her from evil's clutches. It's as simple as that. And all those bashers in the world who just go around flaming everyone and saying that Link and Zelda could never be a couple. I've got a lovely word for them.
BULL CRAP (wait, that's two words.....)

Actually when you analyze it from a realistic POV Link and Zelda is a very odd romantic mismatch. Take TP for instance: Link and Zelda being no more than just formal aquaintances along with the whole commoner/royal class barrier is something that can't just be cast aside and ignored. Zelda being this all wise and all knowing royal princess with the maturity of a woman in her mid 20s makes it hard for me to believe that she would have anything romantically in common with a simple country boy like TP Link who seems too shy to even ask a peasant girl out on a date in the first place.

OOT/MM LinkxZelda at least have a close friendship/relationship that makes me believe the whole commoner/royal issue can actually be overcome for them to be married eventually. Nonetheless a well spoken and well educated royal princess with a soft spoken and uneducated forest savage is still a very odd and strange romantic pairing. But OOT/MM LinkxZelda and even WW LinkxZelda is still far more believable than the more unlikely LinkxZelda pairing in TP for sure.