The Legend of Zelda has (almost) always been the story of Link and Princess Zelda, but their relationship has never been explicitly stated in any of the franchise’s many installments. According to Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, the development team wants to leave the relationship between these two iconic characters to the imagination of players.
In an interview with IGN, Aonoma was asked if Link and Zelda are actually a couple in the latest game in the series, Tears of the Kingdom. In an interview earlier this year, Zelda’s English voice actress Patricia Somerset stated (before walking back her comments and claiming they were taken out of context) that Link and Zelda were in an “active” relationship. A relationship with “a lot of caring and a lot of listening.” This made many fans wonder what kind of relationship these two characters have.
According to Aonuma, the development team’s goal was not to tell players, “This is Zelda, this is the story, this is the game,” and he wanted to leave that up to interpretation. players
“Everything the development team wants to convey has already been put into the game,” Aonuma said. And the rest is up to the player’s imagination, and their reflection of how they feel… what they experienced in the game.”
As for whether or not Zelda could become a playable character in future installments (her name is in the title, after all), Aonuma said, “There’s always room to think about that kind of thing and Zelda’s role.” And that “here it is.” There might be some kind of possibility for something like that in the future.” Aonuma, speaking through an interpreter, then responded in English with “Maybe, maybe, maybe.”
Whatever the role between the two characters in future installments, it seems that fans can expect the next Zelda game to depart from the story of Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild. In a separate interview, Aonuma said that the Tears of the Kingdom development team built on Breath of the Wild to “exhaust the possibilities of what we could put into that world.” He went on to say that he doesn’t think a “direct sequel” is in the works for “Tears of the Kingdom,” and said that the “sequel” is going to be a little wilder.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom recently took home the award for Best Action/Adventure Game at The Game Awards 2023. Nintendo recently announced that a live-action Legend of Zelda movie is in the works, and the film’s director wants the project to feel like a live-action version of one of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s films.
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