No matter what happens, it remains important to consider the symbolism behind Zelda’s appearance, and how her luscious new hairstyle could be a sign of change for her character that allows her to abandon the shackles of royalty and strive for independence beyond grief and trauma. It’s a powerful message of perseverance for a woman who deserves agency, even more so when you consider the classics that inspired her and how female characters in the world of gaming are finally earning a similar level of respect to their male counterparts.

Her presence in Breath of the Wild 2 doesn’t inspire confidence. In past trailers she explores the underground caverns of Hyrule Castle with Link before coming across the corpse of Ganondorf. It’s cursed or something, so our hero is quickly infected with an ancient curse as Zelda is yeeted into a dark hole of oblivion. I desperately hope she isn’t stuck there for the entire story as a generic damsel in distress, because the first game helped prove that her character is far more than the archetypal mould from which she was born. Nintendo needs to subvert expectations, whether it be through additional playable characters or a narrative that is far from traditional. Pull a Majora’s Mask – we rarely see numbered sequels in the canonical timeline, so it’s time to try something that isn’t afraid to alter the landscape.

Final Fantasy 9 ’s Princess Garnet is the closest comparison to Zelda in the gaming world, largely because their circumstances, personality, and overall drive are so similar. Garnet takes a dagger to her hair at a pivotal point in her character arc. Her kingdom is approaching ruin and her mother is gone, so this moment is a reclamation of agency that has long been kept away from her. Gone is the received pronunciation and royal procedures that have long held her back from living a normal, fulfilling life. Travelling with Zidane and company has taught her the importance of this heritage while simultaneously inspiring her to walk away from it. However, blood remains thicker than water, so returning to the city that helped shape her only to solemnly leave it behind is poetic.

I’ve touched on Breath of the Wild’s ending before, and how it’s an almost perfect example of melancholic hopefulness. The evil is vanquished, and now Link and Zelda are tasked with forming a new life together, NG+1000 Run with rebuilding Hyrule and comprehending what’s next after hundreds of years away from home. Hyrule is both keenly familiar and an unknown quantity, with so much changing over the past century while many of its core fundamentals remain the same. Now they need to move onward and figure out what to do next, carrying all of their past losses on their shoulders while adding further responsibilities to the p

For the most part, Resident Evil 4′ s only connection to the rest of the main backbone of Resident Evil’s lore was in Albert Wesker’s small role in the game. Albert Wesker had a lot of long history with Umbrella and is a longtime iconic villain of the Resident Evil franchise, both serving as an agent for them and turning his back on them later

Breath of the Wild tells an achingly human tale, but to uncover it you’ll need to invest dozens of hours into scouring Hyrule in search of brief cutscenes that chronicle Link and Zelda’s doomed pilgrimage in search of allies. None of the flashbacks are told with any sense of chronology, so you’ll stumble across them randomly and be forced to work out exactly what is going on and how it factors into the overall adventure. This mirrors Link’s own amnesia, so it feels like we’ve truly been placed in his shoes, trying to work out how our friends were lost and what we can do to save whatever it is they left behind.

However, the recent gameplay trailer has me concerned about Princess Zelda’s exact role in the story, and whether she will once again act as a passive heroine who finds herself trapped in Hyrule Castle until Link can muster up the power to save her. Breath of the Wild saw Link venturing into Hyrule Castle to rescue Zelda, who had been holding the evil of Calamity Canon at bay for 100 years. Her power was fading, and she required Link’s help to prevent her kingdom from falling into an inescapable state of r

The final moments still make me tear up, acting as the perfect distillation of why these characters are so excellent. Zelda is steadfast in her resilience, but willing to fall victim to her emotions when it really matters. She’s vulnerable, but in a way that simply serves to make her stronger as she moves proudly into the future. Breath of the Wild 2 presumably takes place in the present, with Link and Zelda exploring alongside one another as they rebuild the region into an image they can be proud of. This inevitably leads them to investigate some unusual occurrences beneath Hyrule Castle. Because they’re the unluckiest duo in the world, this releases yet another ancient evil as Zelda is yeeted into a pit and Link finds himself adorned with a bad case of neon zombie arm. Time to save the world again, I gu