My Link to Heroes

When I was young, my parents would always read me fairytales and Greek myths. As I got older, I started to read more fantasy and science fiction. These were all very classic hero narratives, but none of them ever really resonated with me. One of the hero narratives that really impacted me was not a book or movie, but a video game. I grew up constantly watching my older brother play video games. A lot of video games. However, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess really stuck with me as I ended up playing it a bunch after he left for college.

The general plot is a pretty basic hero story (this is ignoring the very weird and complicated details). Link is a normal guy who helps out on a ranch in a small town. The village kids all look up to him as an older brother and a friend. However, these lovable idiots end up chasing a monkey into the dangerous forest. He follows them and rescues Talo (the most annoying kid) and the monkey from a bunch of monsters. Literally the day after he comes back, Ilia and Colin (the only good children in this village) get kidnapped and Link gets knocked out. 

He wakes up and runs into the forest, but he gets dragged through a black wall and ends up being strangled by a shadow beast. He then turns into a wolf, scaring the monster off, gaining the Triforce symbol on his hand, and passing out, and then he wakes up in a prison cell and meets an imp named Midna who uses her magical powers to help him travel through the dungeons of Hyrule and ultimately escape. In the midst of these events, he of course ends up needing to save a princess and her kingdom. Link then embarks on a physical journey, making his way through temples and dungeons in order to acquire equipment and skills that he will use to beat Zant and Ganondorf, restoring light to the world. If you want to read the full story https://zelda.gamepedia.com/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess has a pretty detailed summary (go to Wikipedia’s page for a shorter and less in-depth version).

Although I loved the story and all of its strange intricacies, I feel like it wasn’t the main reason why I was so addicted to this game. I played it so much because the experience of being able to be the hero yourself was great. I liked that you could just tune everything out, immerse yourself in the story, and become someone else. Someone who can slice up monsters with a powerful sword, use strange items (like the spinner -- you literally rode around on a large Beyblade), and turn into a wolf. Small child me thought that was just the coolest thing ever (I still think it’s pretty cool). In reality I was just sitting in a dark room swinging a Wii remote around like a madman and muttering at my TV when I died.

Looking back on it, I feel like I learned from this game. It left an image of a role model in my mind that I unconsciously have worked towards becoming. Link never gives up or declines when someone asks for help. He always jumps right in and tries his best. This is probably my favorite part of his character and I work hard to be just like this. I have to say that I am also amazing at the silent protagonist aspect of him where I can only respond with head nods and grunts. However, I have not quite mastered the rolling everywhere to get to places more quickly.

Link to whole playthrough (basically a movie): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEpgLD0rTHgIj2y5O25nz_SIbujJc5FvK