Highlights
- The silence of Link, the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda, has been a key aspect of his character, allowing players to project themselves onto him and facilitating natural information gathering in the game.
- Despite being silent, Link communicates through gestures, conveying the intended tone of conversations. This adds characterization to his character and allows other characters to react and respond to his "speech."
- Adapting The Legend of Zelda into a movie will require alterations to the storytelling, as video game storytelling differs from movie storytelling. However, with a crack team of creatives, Link's personality traits can be condensed into a live-action adaptation, making him a courageous, helpful, and people-oriented hero.
With the news that Nintendo is officially developing a live-action Legend Of Zelda movie, the internet had a lot of opinions. Whether it was fan-casting Tom Holland as Link or saying that Chris Pratt deserves the role, there was no shortage of hot takes to be seen all over the place. It hasn’t been uncommon to fan-cast theoretical Legend Of Zelda for the last few years, and occasionally fans even seem to be on board with certain casting choices.
One area that doesn’t seem to have any kind of cohesive reaction is the topic of Link speaking. Whenever discussions of a Zelda move come up, it’s almost always the very first thing mentioned outside of all the fan-casting. As one of the tensest debates in all of entertainment, it’s only a matter of time before fans get to see whether or not Nintendo will finally let Link speak.
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The Legend Of Zelda's Link Is A Silent Protagonist
Recent Legend Of Zelda Home Console Games: | Release Dates: |
|---|---|
Tears Of The Kingdom | May 12, 2023 |
Breath Of The Wild | March 3, 2017 |
Skyward Sword | Japan: November 23, 2011 North America: November 20, 2011 |
Twilight Princess | Japan: December 2, 2006 North America: November 19, 2006 |
Wind Waker | Japan: December 13, 2002 North America: March 24, 2003 |
Ever since the original game’s release in the late eighties, The Legend Of Zelda’s Link has mostly kept his mouth shut. The primary reason for this is to allow the player to project themselves onto Link, making it feel as if the adventure that he’s going on is one that the player themselves is going on. While the high quality of the games is certainly the thing that’s kept Link as a strong character in the minds of fans, the choice to make and keep him as a silent protagonist has worked out shockingly well. Even many previously silent protagonists in gaming end up talking at some point, and yet, Link hasn’t spoken a word in the tricky mainline Zelda series.
His not speaking is also a great way to make sure players are able to naturally gain information as they play a game. Without Link chiming in, the NPC that is being spoken to is forced to provide the full context for a conversation and quickly provide information that would otherwise require a lengthy conversation. While it may seem strange for characters to just endlessly info-dump to a speechless Link, that isn’t really what’s going on most of the time. It can simply be inferred that Link has spoken in most interactions he has with characters.
But He Isn't Really Silent…
Outside of all those iconic shouts he lets out, whenever Link is engaged in conversations he’s often seen gesturing. It is typically these gestures that are meant to act as a stand-in for his speaking. This is a fantastic choice to provide characterization to Link while still allowing players to project themselves onto him. His movements and expressions convey the tone intended in the conversation, with the friend he's speaking to often reacting to or directly re-stating what Link just “said.” Believe it or not, for a silent protagonist, Link is actually quite the talkative guy.
While it is easy to view Link as a stoic hero, it becomes a lot harder, and almost comical, to see how many characters warm up to Link without him ever having to say a single word to them. It’s hard to believe that Princess Ruto would want to marry Link without him saying something to her at some point, even if the player doesn’t experience it. In some instances, Link’s relatively close-lipped demeanor is explained, like in Breath Of The Wild in which his burden is said to make him much more stoic, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t speak. In fact, once he awakens from his recovery, Link seems to be a rather talkative person to the people of Hyrule.
Movie vs. Video Game Storytelling
One thing that is important to point out is that the creatives can’t simply take one of the games and toss it onto the big screen. Organic storytelling in video games and movies is starkly different from one another, meaning a lot of aspects of whichever Zelda story they choose to adapt will need to be altered. The good thing is that those working on the movie will have so much to pull from in relation to the hundreds of hours worth of games, with one of the biggest things being Link’s overall personality. It will take a crack team of creatives to condense hundreds of hours of character-building and personality into what will likely end up being a roughly two-hour-long movie.
The dialogue and storytelling that builds the character of Link on the big screen won’t be as hard to get right as some might think. Most fans of the series can likely identify some of the biggest traits that make Link the character who he is. He’s typically associated with courage, being helpful or caring, being people-oriented, loving to sleep, caring for nature, and enjoying the simpler things in life. While many of those traits may seem to conflict to some people, those are all great starting points for how Link could act in a live-action Zelda movie.
Maybe Link is the kind of guy who hates getting out of bed in the morning, something many people can relate to, but when duty calls, he knows he needs to spring to action to help a friend. This directly ties into who Link could be, a simple yet reluctant hero who only dives in headfirst because someone he loves is in danger. Once the crew behind the movie has decided on his personality, Link’s dialogue will be able to flow in the context of his adapted and shortened adventure, and then whether or not Link finally speaking is a success will be left in the hands of the viewers.
