St. Mary’s University
lkrome@stmarytx.edu
Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was released September 26, 2024 to the Nintendo Switch as a single-player game. Rated “E” for everyone, the game exists within the realm of Hyrule, where Princess Zelda and her faithful knight Link live. For those familiar with The Legend of Zelda, Link has always been the main character of the story as he goes off to fight the evils that plague Hyrule. Zelda has always served as a main but supporting character to Link’s role in the various games.
That’s where things change with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Here, Link has been lost to the “rifts” (pits) that are spreading across Hyrule. Rifts are wide openings in the kingdom that transport victims that fall into the rift into a dark alternate dimension (the “Still World”). With Link and other high nobility lost to the rifts (including the King of Hyrule himself), it is up to Zelda to save the day by closing the rifts and destroying “Null” (the evil entity creating the rifts). And here is the novelty of the game: Zelda has become the main character and Link only a supporting one.
This plot twist creates a delightful novelty in which we see our heroine save the hero. Finally, Link doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting in the game (though you could certainly argue that other The Legend of Zelda games see Zelda shouldering even greater burdens than physical fighting). Here Zelda becomes the warrior that will save the day. She is the main protagonist and this game is about her role alone in saving Hyrule. It is very exciting and feminists everywhere are cheering her on as this is her moment to shine.
However, here is also the part of the game that calls into question the portrayal of Zelda as the heroine. Where in previous games Link, being the warrior, has always fought with sword and shield (among other weapons), Zelda’s primary weapon is quite different. Zelda uses a rod/wand to create “echoes,” which are imitations of different things that Zelda has encountered previously in the game. An echo might be a table, a bad guy that was defeated, or a rock. In creating an echo of a previously defeated monster, the monster will fight all of Zelda’s new enemies, rather than her. While Zelda does have the option to fight with a sword, the ability is limited and will be used up so that Zelda can no longer access her “warrior mode” after a short time.
Though there is nothing unpleasant about the battle system, it does seem strange that Link’s warrior weapons and battle style are limited to Zelda for a short time and that her primary means of battling is so remote (with monsters battling for her). Overall, the game is very engaging, fun, and was generally well received (Castle, 2024; Colantonio, 2024; Robinson, 2024). Despite expressed enjoyment and enthusiasm, reviewers tended to agree that this game only shows the potential of Zelda and that there was something missing. And I have to agree.
It is so exciting to have Zelda as the main character and fighting protagonist in a game. I’m thrilled about her role in saving Link and want to see more of it in the future. However, I really would love to see Zelda’s character more deeply developed as well. Why can’t Zelda be in warrior mode full-time? Perhaps the reason is Alice Eagly’s (1987) social role theory, which identifies that sex differences in social behavior can be attributed to the roles that men and women play in society (Eagly & Wood, 2012). Historically, men have held the agentic roles (leader, warrior) whereas women hold more communal roles (child-rearing, caregiver). The battle system in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom makes me think of this research, and how we as a society are so quick to attribute agentic characteristics to men and communal characteristics to women. Zelda has a more hands-off approach to battle due to her role as a woman, which would align with gendered expectations in society. As our society changes, one would hope that these expectations would as well. But old habits die hard and despite it being a new age, traditional ways of viewing men and women might have had an impact on the battle style for this game.
But perhaps I’m reading too far into it. Perhaps Zelda has an exciting future as a sword-fighter in a future iteration of The Legend of Zelda. I certainly hope so! I enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and I hope you did as well. And I hope to be able to fight as Zelda’s character in a future game using the legendary sword (or an equally impressive one). I think the only way we might see that happen, however, is if the game designers at Nintendo hear our interest in a strong Zelda warrior. Regardless, I am here for Zelda’s big moment and am glad I got the chance to help her save her kingdom.
References
Castle, K. (2024). The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review – a rebellious remix of past and present. Eurogamer. https://www.eurogamer.net/the-legend-of-zelda-echoes-of-wisdom-review-a-rebellious-remix-of-past-and-present
Colantonio, G. (2024). The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review: a good start, but not yet royal. Digital Trends. https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-legend-of-zelda-echoes-of-wisdom-review/#dt-heading-keeping-it-old-school
Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (2012). Social Role Theory. Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology, 2, 458-476.
Robinson, A. (2024). Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is stuck in the void between new and old. Video Games Chronicle. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/zelda-echoes-of-wisdom/
