The Wind Waker and the Apocalypse

video game franchises must constantly reinvent themselves the legend of zelda of course among the most acclaimed and influential series of all time is today known just as much for its engaging combat and intricate puzzles as it is for the wide range of aesthetics and experiences it contains across its history zelda has bounced between sharply distinct art styles and design philosophies to the point where its penchant for change is a core aspect of its reputation but it wasn't always this way 20 years ago the series was still very much riding the wake of 1998's ocarina of time much has been and will be written about the astonishing achievement that game represents largely considered both then and now among the greatest video games ever created it would have been reasonable to expect ocarina of time to be zelda arrived the ever-evolving gameplay and style of prior installments may have simply been growing pains that culminated in this one masterpiece thus the long-term future of the legend of zelda may have been to iterate on and polish this universally beloved and specific experience and aesthetic only four years later the wind waker proved all of those expectations short-sighted instead of the established darker hues and graphics that trended more towards realism than heavy stylization zelda's gamecube debut introduced an almost blindingly colorful and cel-shaded art style it looks more like a cartoon than a traditional high fantasy setting now this was controversial many were displeased with this new direction and while today it is clear that these changes justify themselves that the game as a whole has stood up well to the test of time and earned its spot among the pantheon of great zelda titles it is fair to wonder why nintendo felt the need to fix what clearly was not broken why replaced the open fields and grand castles of the n64's hyrule with a vast ocean containing only a scattered and modest archipelago it is regardless of quality or execution certainly an odd choice what drove this tonal shift well see the old familiar hyrule was not simply substituted for a brand new unconnected world it was drowned not only is the setting of the wind waker brighter and more tearful and at first glance perhaps more childish than its predecessors it is also post-apocalyptic it all takes place over the submerged ruins of a lost world and specifically the lost world of the previous generation today let's take a close look at the wind waker through the lens of it being a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction what features make it so unique and remarkable and also what messages it sends both generally and about the idea of the legend of zelda itself welcome to reconstructed [Music] upon starting a new game the player is presented with a prologue it establishes first that long ago a boy dressed in green and labeled the hero of time vanquished some great evil and last that in modern times it is tradition to dress boys in green when they come of age in the hope that they inherit the spirit of that legend the specific reference to time travel clarifies that this is a retelling of the events of ocarina of time and the last few lines are a simple setup for why after all the centuries we have a protagonist that looks so similar straightforward stuff however the middle section of the prologue tells an unfamiliar and much darker story the boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend but then a day came where a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom the great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero once again crept forth from the depths of the earth eager to resume its dark designs the people believed that the hero of time would once again come to save them but the hero did not appear faced by an onsort of evil the people could do nothing but appeal to the gods in their last hour as doom drew nye they left their future in the hands of fate what became of that kingdom none remain who know so right off the bat the game setting is characterized as taking place long after the downfall of a different civilization this fact is not left to subtle clues or a third act reveal but rather centered immediately it is the core of what the player must understand about this land or lack thereof we also though less transparently learn about why it was that hyrule fell the people placed all of their hope on the shoulders of a single hero specifically the hero of time and clearly that strategy ultimately failed in the first scene in the wind waker a boy dressed in blue is awoken by his peppy little sister errol she informs him to his relative indifference that today is his birthday and that their grandmother is waiting for him this is our protagonist while the player can name him whatever they choose which i do think is an important wrinkle to the character's presentation i will of course be referring to him as lake and it doesn't take long for this link to resemble the heroes of zelda games past as his sweet old grandmother gives him the iconic green tunic and strangely pointy hat not long after he and his sister witnessed the strange scene of a girl being carried in the talons of a massive bird which is chased by a pirate ship a cannonball finds its mark loosening the bird's grip and allowing the girl to fall into the dangerous forests on the island's cliff tops at errol's insistence link locates a small sword and sets off to find and rescue her now before we get to what happens next i want to describe how this link has been depicted so far rather than a future hero uniquely destined for greatness he seems simply put normal it is clear that the island's coming-of-age traditions are something he puts up with rather than being excited for he had to be reminded that it was his birthday at all and when receiving the clothes from his grandma he grimaces and seems generally uncomfortable with the whole deal grandma assures him that he is only supposed to wear the clothes for a single day and that in these peaceful times this ceremony is purely symbolic he also doesn't appear to express any particular natural aptitude for sword fighting nor was he ever expected to learn to fight at all essentially were it not for the girl falling out of the sky link would have returned to his slow and simple island lifestyle the next day and as far as we can tell would have been perfectly content with that outcome this is a substantial departure from the characterization of the link from ocarina of time and majora's mask that hero was always different from those around him a human boy living among the ever-young elf-like kokiri but destined to grow old himself and eventually filling a role in a prophecy that he alone could have filled this link's childhood was largely defined by loneliness and a wanting of something more while in contrast the wind waker's protagonist has been surrounded by a warm community in which he clearly belongs and seems happy with his life the way it is before the events of the story he feels indifferent at best to this role of the hero but what he does care about is his family link is clearly shown to have a very close and affectionate relationship with his sister and grandmother what he does is done for them so it is of course world shattering to link when that giant bird suddenly returns swoops low and snatches ariel away as she was running to greet him without a second thought he rushes forward sword in hand but is ultimately helpless to watch as the person who matters most to him is carried off into the horizon link now must leave the starting island must vent her into the unknown in order to rescue his sister the motivation to begin the game's adventure has for link nothing to do with the ceremonial label of hero and everything to do with his deeply held love for errol his grandmother is equally devastated of course and doesn't want link to put himself in danger but with reluctance gives him the family shield with the understanding that this is something he must do that despite his young age and experience he represents the greatest possible chance to get errol to safety so link is now determined to set out from outset island but he's going to need some help to say link saved the girl who fell from the sky is generous her name is tetra and she can fend for herself really what happened is the commotion from link fighting off the bokoblins woke her up which allowed her to get down from the tree if clumsily and walk off fully under her own power he helped her out sure but tetra is not a simple damsel in distress here in fact despite being not much older than link she is the captain of that pirate ship she commands her crew of grown men with authority cultivating in them a respect for her verging on reverence and while link kinda sorta saved her in the forest she unambiguously saves him grabbing his hand after he rushes off a cliff once everything calms down she resumes the brash presentation one would expect from a true pirate and currently dismisses link's request to come with them however tetra's harsh exterior does soften when she is made to realize that eryl was kidnapped not by random chance but due to their resemblance for one another thus she eventually does agree to help link in his rescue mission her perspective changed when she understood that she holds some responsibility for what happened remember that for later the scene of the pirate ship setting out further emphasizes what is truly important to link he is clearly both saddened and nervous to leave his island behind this is not the face of someone who has been waiting ready for some grand adventure but rather someone who has been through unfortunate circumstances beyond his control thrown into a situation he may not be prepared to tackle yet still he is resolute that this is what he must do and no he was not prepared for this quest the next section of the game takes place in the forsaken fortress a cursed structure rising dark and jagged from the waves where it is rumored that girls with pointy ears from all across the sea are being held captive the player's time in the fortress is defined by feelings of futility and powerlessness immediately after the pirates unceremoniously catapult link over the walls he loses his sword his single method of combat and falls down far from where it lands here the gameplay begins its work to enhance the narrative to help bridge the often lengthy gaps between cutscenes or sections of dialogue instead of being able to aggressively charge the fortress slashing down any enemies in the way the player must sneak gracelessly around in a barrel unable to fight directly link has no choice but to slowly work his way upward only through evasion of the searchlights and larger foes it is easy here to get caught and sent far backwards repeatedly resetting the player's progress we are not explicitly told or shown link's emotions during this section but we still know what he must be feeling the frustration of having such a limited tool set and the helplessness of feeling so small in the face of a goal that as it stands feels next to impossible with cunning and perseverance though you can reclaim your sword to start fighting off enemies and find your way to the cell ariel is being kept in but as soon as link waves to his sister he is effortlessly captured by that giant bird who flies him up to the fortress's summit on which stands a tall mysterious intimidating robed figure wordlessly this man motions for link to be tossed into the sea much like one would flick an ant off their wrist link wasn't ready we weren't ready well it's nice to know that errol is safe for now the mission was a stark failure link fought as briefly as he could but ultimately had no real chance of succeeding here not so inexperienced and not so alone of course though all is not lost he is picked up by a sentient boat with the face of a dragon and taken to the shore of a different island this is the king of red lions the only boat who can speak the words of men quickly he expresses a much deeper insight into the state of the world than any other character has shown he identifies the shadowy figure from the fortress as ganon shocking i know but crucially he also claims to know how ganon could be defeated why would a boat know so many secrets what is most interesting about this scene is not the exposition really but how the king of red lions interacts with link he is rather patronizing calling link surprisingly dull-witted and highlighting what little strength he possesses the boat clearly does not think highly of link's abilities but does recognize the courage he demonstrated by confronting ganon regardless he asks link to reaffirm his conviction to do whatever it takes to save his sister which he does without hesitation the king of red lions then promises to guide link across the waves to find the power required to face down ganon and thus bring ariel home but first you have to buy him a sail beyond this point the meat of the zelda experience begins in earnest both characters and themes have been established primed for later exploration our protagonist's strongest feature has already been defined as his courage which will only grow stronger throughout the game but also and i think this is key to understanding the windmaker link at least this link is not inherently special he is not remarkably skilled or ambitious not unique within his community not prophesied to do great things he's in this position not by destiny but because by chance he was forced into a situation where he had to act to help someone he loves and act he did this is a new kind of hero and he is exploring a new kind of world [Music] in the year 2000 nintendo played a video at their now discontinued trade show space world that would curse the reputation of the yet unannounced wind waker for years to come it was simply a tech demo showing off the graphical power of the gamecube never intended to represent any future product the video depicts a brief fight between link and ganondorf and utilizes the character designs and general art style present in ocarina of time no amount of explicit confirmation that this was not a real game could have prevented zelda fans at the time from fervently believing that this was what the future of the franchise would look like ocarina of time was always going to be an incredibly tough act to follow the scope and polish it achieved was realistically unmatchable on its own console majora's mask the other nintendo 64 zelda title had a brutally short production cycle reused plenty of assets and ultimately had a good deal less content than its predecessor and while it faced some criticism at the time most understood that an adventure to surpass oot was never in the cards that time the first zelda game on the next much more powerful console would inevitably bear the full brunt of those sky-high expectations especially with the space world demo in mind people wanted another ocarina of time but bigger and better darker and more mature when the trailer for the wind waker was finally revealed huge portions of the fan base rejected it outright decrying nintendo's decision to make a kitty looking game as an unforgivable error however i believe that the wind waker's huge shift in art direction was not a result of being deaf to its expectations but rather being acutely aware of them the passing of the torch from generation to generation is a major theme of its story one that pops up over and over across the archipelago there is a message here to be unraveled and re-woven so let's talk about the great sea [Music] vast ocean comprises most of the wind waker's over world rather than locations of interest being attached to a central hub like the spokes of a gear the places link will traverse are spread evenly across the great sea's surface there are 49 unique islands to discover many of which are optional but all of which hold secrets and treasures that reward the player for engaging with this setting corner to corner at first this world will seem fractured and in many ways it is but the more the player explores the more connections will start to naturally emerge from the chaos link's journey is largely about recognizing those hidden connections and then working to make them stronger but i'm getting ahead of myself let's rewind back to outset island our starting location and where link was born people live simple lives the few residents all know each other well and form a tight-knit community before link leaves he has the opportunity to help many of the villagers from cutting down grass to capturing pet pigs and learn skills from others like the sword fighting training he receives from an old warrior named orca this serves both as a tutorial and to endear this island to the player and establish the idea that people helping each other out is what strengthens a community but the people of outset island are also stuck in their ways they are completely accustomed to peace and have largely forgotten the purpose behind their traditions thus they are entirely unequipped to respond when a tragedy does occur the next town link visits is windfall island where he has to buy a sale for the king of red lions in comparison to outset windfall is bustling and high strung filled with merchants coffee shops and schools or well one merchant one coffee shop and one school it serves as the side quest hub of the wind waker populated by a cast of strange characters link can interact with the more people you speak to the more a general theme emerges these islanders are self-absorbed the schoolteacher is obsessed with jewelry her students are disobedient and have formed a delinquent gang the bomb shop owner is charging thousands of rupees more than he should an obnoxiously rich man actually charges you rupees for breaking his phases violating all conventions of the zelda universe etc people here are also generally uninterested in leaving the island in changing their lives in any meaningful way multiple characters mention that the winds have rarely been blowing in recent times and the massive windmill at the town center stands idle windfall island is stagnant as link finally sets sail toward the true beginning of his adventure this is our image of the great sea a massive space dotted with communities that feel largely isolated and disconnected from each other life is not bad here but at the same time it is clearly a place where very little happens and change is rare which may be why the creeping evil of ganon has been largely unnoticed thankfully though the king of red lions knows exactly where to head the primary objective for the next major portion of the game is for link to collect three sacred pearls from three major spirits that live throughout the sea the first one din's pearl will be found on dragon roost island [Music] dragon roost is home to the rideau tribe a species of bird people whose primary occupation is to deliver mail all across the great sea on the island's peak roosts naturally a dragon this is value the spirit of the skies and it is he who grants the rito the power of flight as link arrives the chieftain greets him warmly and expresses a desire to help link rescue his sister were they not experiencing their own crisis as well valu a typically peaceful deity is on a rampage and no one can approach him to make matters worse the only member of the tribe capable of communicating with him recently passed away the chieftain is essentially useless here offering no real ideas as to what is causing this issue or how to fix it instead the task of calming value down and returning their society to normal ends up falling to link and two younger members of the tribe first we have medley a young girl who was training to be the next attendant to value learning how to comprehend the spirit's archaic language while she had not yet completed her training when her mentor died she remains confident that she can at least help in some way with link's assistance she uses her admittedly limited flying abilities to sneak up into the cavern that leads to value prince komali on the other hand lacks medley's hope and optimism he is just old enough to receive his wings but overwhelmed by the idea that value may never calm down and he will be stuck on the ground forever furthermore he is the grandson of the deceased attendant and the two seemingly had a close relationship he is convinced that his grandmother was the only person who could have solved this problem and refuses to listen to his father's platitudes of encouragement also he is holding din's pearl the whole reason link came to this island the only way forward is for link to prove his worth and earn komali's trust this is your motivation for conquering dragon boost cavern the first true dungeon of the game link works his way up through this sweltering volcano that has become deeply infested with ganon's minions near the top he finds medley and frees her from the enemies keeping her captive in turn she informs link of the true cause of values suffering a parasitic monster attacking his tail and gives him the item necessary to defeat it [Music] upon succeeding the skies around the mountain clear and komali inspired by his courage gives link din's pearl parallels can be drawn between medley's experience across this arc and link's experience when arrow was kidnapped both are very young thrust into situations they were not prepared for with the adults in their communities seemingly unable or unwilling to even comprehend the problem and yet by remaining steadfast in their courage and using what limited skills they do have they are able to bring about meaningful change in this case they effectively save the rito civilization neither link nor medley could have achieved this alone but by combining their strengths and staying brave in the face of adversity this younger generation was able to correct the oversights of the old one and courage can snowball as shown by komali's newfound belief in himself after watching link achieve what he thought impossible much later in the game komali is shown to have earned his wings the next pearl will be found in the forest haven guarded by the great deku tree spirit of the earth [Music] after clearing the monsters that had gathered in the sanctuary link earns the trust of the deku tree and is allowed to meet the adorable forest spirits called koroks luckily he is just in time to witness an important ceremony to be performed that night except that we immediately learned that one of the korok's necessary four set ceremony has fallen into the forbidden woods and needs rescuing coincidental timings all around here in order to access the very straightforwardly named forbidden woods link is given the deku leaf which allows him to glide long distances this is a strong example of how the traditional zelda framework of gaining more and more key items as you progress can work in tandem with the story the player is rewarded for helping the forest community with an item that then allows them to explore the area further and understand it on a deeper level this also applies to medley giving link the grappling hook and dragon roost cavern which is then used to defeat the dungeon's boss every time you use the grappling hook throughout your travels you will be subtly reminded of saving baloo and every time you glide across gaps with the deku leaf you will be reminded of helping the koroks so link once again uses his courage to descend into the depths of the overgrown rotting husk of a dead tree that is the forbidden woods he kills the massive carnivorous plant at its core freeing the lost khorak or well it looks like a carnivorous plant right but he was trying to eat a korok which are also plants or are they lore question so the koroks are descended from the very human-like kokiri right so is their biology actually still similar to people and they just look like plants or did they actually change their cell type can or cannot the core hawks photosynthesize ah never mind anyway this specific koraki save is named makar and he is actually a very talented violinist he leads the music of the pleasant bouncy korok ceremony whose purpose is revealed to be reforestation the deku tree and the koroks disperse seeds across the great sea in the hope that they will create new forests which will eventually bridge the gaps between islands creating a more connected world monsters were attacking the deku tree specifically because ganon wishes to stop this reforestation effort for mysterious reasons in helping the forest haven link enables them to continue their mission of building a new world without his courage the great sea's communities would be further isolated this applies to his efforts back at dragon roost as well the rito are the postmen of this world the only way for islands to easily communicate had they lost their flight that would have spelled further isolation and stagnancy the final pearl is supposed to be found on great fish isle held by the spirit of the water jabun however as you sail close you find that the spirit is nowhere to be found at the island itself has been torn from the earth empty broken homes and boats are scattered across the decimated land clearly this is somewhere that people used to live and thrive but never for the remainder of the game do we meet any survivors of this attack here the gravity of the situation escalates ganon had thus far only been able to send out his relatively weak minions but now has gained the strength to upend an entire island until you locate the final pearl the great sea exists in a state of endless night and perpetual thunderstorm this story is no longer just about saving your little sister it may be about saving the world thankfully though you soon learned that jaboon did escape the devastation and is hiding in a small alcove in the back of outset island with some help from tetra and the pirates link obtains the bombs necessary to access to boone's hiding place after a long and cryptic conversation between the whale spirit and the king of red lions link obtains nehru's pearl and the skies finally clear so far i have established the theme of connectedness versus isolation in the great sea but have described the story as if link were going directly from each major location to the next that is not how the wind waker is played in reality a huge chunk of the player's time is spent sailing substantial distances from destination to destination and it would take a dedicatedly incurious player to ignore all the distractions that pop up in between there are floating platforms with enemies to conquer mysterious submarines to explore and endless treasure to fish up from the ocean floor [Music] but more significantly there are plenty of intriguing smaller islands to discover along your way all with their own charm when you first obtain the sea chart the sheer amount of unknown areas can be intimidating but simply by exploring what catches your eye the map begins to fill out a fractured world slowly but surely becoming comprehensible this exploration is made possible by the titular item the wind waker it is a conductor's baton that allows link to change the direction of the wind with a simple tune whenever you need the king of red lions to sail in a specific direction you must play the wind's requiem which i admit gets a bit tedious perhaps but its constant recurrence drives home the deep importance of this action the winds allow you to see the world and you now control the winds [Music] eventually the game will start really testing the player on their knowledge of the great sea but for now you are only strictly required to proceed to the next story event most players though will have already done far more during the intermissions collecting all three sacred pearls summons the tower of the gods to rise tall and ancient from the sea this dungeon is explicitly framed as a divine test of link's courage he has not yet proven his worth as a hero in the eyes of the gods is not considered inherently worthy of that title link must still fight for that recognition he ascends the cold hauntingly artificial golden tower helped by the newly learned command melody which establishes a gameplay mechanic explored further in later dungeons defeating the boss earns link the label of a true hero and a path beneath the ocean's surface is opened link and the king of red lions dive beneath the waves where they find colorless and frozen in time hyrule castle [Music] from the design of the statue at its center to the stained glass portraits in its lower chambers the castle is filled with references to ocarina of time you have not found just any old world you have found the old world here link finds the master sword which the king of red lions promises is the crucial key to taking on gannon we are now ready to return to the forsaken fortress it is a testament to just how far you have come as a player and therefore how far link has come as a character just how powerful you feel in your second attempt to rescue errol enemies that once felt invincible fall easily and sections that last time required slow cautious stealth can now be tackled head on with aggression and confidence link returns to the prison cell this time able to free his sister and reunite with her the giant bird swoops down once again but now you are ready now you are strong enough it is incredibly cathartic to fight and defeat this horrible bird that once tossed you away like an insect that once kidnapped the person you love the most now link comes face to face with the master of the forsaken fortress he reveals his name as ganondorf rather than simply ganon he is imposing but also markedly calm and collected ganondorf speaks slowly and intentionally without fear or agitation something is not right [Music] the master sword ganondorf reveals with a smile has lost its power it is as it stands worthless against him as he prepares to strike link down tetra appears from the balcony to distract him just in time [Music] she too is subdued quickly and ganondorf is gleeful to discover she apparently possesses a portion of the legendary triforce but yet more help was on the way value and a group of rito led by a flighted kamali appear in order to rescue both link and tetra and burn down ganondorf's headquarters before tetra awakens the king of red lions takes them both back to the submerged hyrule back in 2001 the immediate reaction to the wind waker's announcement was a fear that nintendo was trying to turn zelda into something only for kids something that lacked maturity but maturity is not an art style while the game is i think accessible to children the story is often just as dark as other entries in the series and its message just as meaningful furthermore in the face of clamorous expectations to live up to an older generation of zelda the developers wrote a game that ruminates on how the new generation is expected to surpass the old one and how that progression may be a necessity the great c is rich with meaning established both with direct story beats and with how the player naturally engages with the setting themes of courage connection isolation and teamwork are diffused across this ocean and its many islands all tracing back to the idea of how to build a new world over the ruins of the old one as the story progresses these themes continue to develop and we may find an answer yet for why the wind maker chose to simultaneously look like a children's cartoon and be a post-apocalyptic story but first let's analyze a character whose treatment by the game is strange and almost contradictory to its messaging who really is tetra [Music] well first of all tetra is a certified badass her introduction does perhaps unfortunately frame her in that needing to be rescued role that female characters in video games all too often fill however from then through the return to the forsaken fortress she is defined by competence usefulness and insight rather than vulnerability as i mentioned she helps link out in two crucial ways on outset island first by saving him from falling off a cliff and second by escorting him to the fortress their next encounter though during the endless night after the destruction of great fish isle is initially presented as adversarial after a post ban warns link that some pirates are after nehru's pearl as well when link locates them it is clear that while the crew is only interested in the pearl for its potential value as treasure tetra herself is motivated differently she was disturbed by witnessing what happened to great fish isle and fears the same may happen to outset if they don't act immediately despite her men's pleas for a single night off she demands they set sail again as soon as the ship is loaded up until she spots link eavesdropping that is this is tetra's first confirmation that link is safe since they were separated and with a wink changes her tune completely now telling her crew they can depart in the morning instead this gives link the opportunity to obtain the bombs from their ship and soon after obtain nehru's pearl tetra outwardly presents her motivations as selfish or generally pirate-like but the player is shown enough here to know that her concern is in reality altruistic as soon as she learns that link is alive which means that the responsibility of saving outset is not entirely on her she willingly gives up the chance to acquire an incredible treasure simply because she knows it is better off in link's hands this pattern of tetra providing vital help to the main quest continues in the return to the forsaken fortress while link did well to clear the enemies it is she and the pirates who get the prison cell open and who lure the giant bird away to buy time and then of course toucher directly saves link's life again by fearlessly attacking ganondorf at the perfect moment even though she stood no real chance of harming him if anyone's counting that is five distinct times that tetra's help was necessary for link's continued success her cleverness and sense of responsibility are key to the flow of the wind waker's first half why then is she virtually absent from its second why is she suddenly reduced to irrelevance until the game's final moments so during the return to the submerged hyrule a lot is made clear the king of red lions reveals his identity as the spirit of this land's ancient king daphne's no hansen hyrule now all of his in-depth knowledge of how to defeat ganondorf and his personal relationship with the sea's greatest spirits makes sense he is of the old world he has seen all this before daphne's then explains hyrule's fate with ganon threatening to destroy the kingdom entirely and his own power ineffectual he saw no choice but to appeal to the gods instead of smiting ganon the gods flooded all of hyrule leaving it in stasis indefinitely and directed certain people to flee to the mountaintops the descendants of whom form the extant communities of the great sea the old king then summons tetra to him and while she stands wide-eyed and speechless declares her to be princess zelda heir to the triforce of wisdom he says to her you too must abide by the laws of the past and so the time has come for me to teach you the fate into which you were born the very reason that you live [Music] tetra is then transformed [Music] her functional pirate clothing is suddenly replaced by a long flowing pink dress her hair is let down now adorned by an elaborate tiara her skin presumably tanned from years of working outside is noticeably lightened daphnis just used the power of the triforce to erase tetra's identity he refers to her only as zelda for the rest of the game and fixates heavily on how it is her fate to fulfill this specific purpose finally he decides that because her identity is known to ganondorf it is far too dangerous for her to return to the surface and instructs her to stay locked in this chamber indefinitely throughout the scene tetra expresses neither joy nor clarity at the king's revelations she does not openly embrace this new role or name but rather seems confused and uncertain about the whole situation and then you leave her behind for the remainder of the game the pirate girl who had always been so important to the story's progression has absolutely no bearing on what occurs daphnis in transforming tetra into zelda removes the agency of a character who has thoroughly demonstrated her skills in forward thinking and decision making link could not have made it this far without tetra so why take her out of the picture the answer i think lies in how differently the king perceives lincoln tetra while he sees tetra as someone who is bound by fate to this conflict and therefore bound to act in a specific way link is still to him a useful civilian in fact none of the powerful spirits recognize link as any sort of one-of-a-kind hero in some of the king of red lion's conversations with the other spirits the idea of link not being special is central they all recognize that our link is not the hero of time and that while he may be helpful they would prefer if they were working with the real thing even after his successful trial in the tower of the gods daphne's apologizes to link for having to involve him in these affairs the result is that link and not tetra is allowed to forge his own path because daphnis does not funnel him into a specific role or behavior he has the freedom to develop his own unique brand of courage and heroism that fits this new world best and what's even more frustrating about the king's decision to essentially imprison tetra is that she was already doing a good job of fulfilling her purpose just in her own way she clearly took her mother's dying wish for her to protect the triforce seriously even though she did not know precisely why the decorations in her quarters and her recognition of the master sword prove she has some knowledge of the old legends if incomplete and ignorant to her own position within them her deep understanding of the great sea allows her multiple times to make quick decisions that save people's lives this is to say tetra was developing her own unique brand of wisdom that fits this new world best the daphnes attached to the image of what wisdom used to be just isolated her in a cage there is still a lot of the wind waker left to play link has to restore power to the master sword which will require visiting two more dungeons and then reunite the eight scattered pieces of the triforce of courage there are many hours of gameplay between when tetra is transformed into zelda and when we next see her during the game's final boss sequence it is disappointing to see who is in my opinion the game's most interesting character treated like this but there is meaning to be found in this choice and it has a lot to do with the post-apocalypse daphna's nohansen hyrule was the king of a world that died while his intentions always seem pure over the course of the game he is still someone we know to have failed catastrophically in the past and he has already made major errors in the present not knowing that the master sword had lost its power or that restoring time to hyrule would also strengthen ganondorf he is of the old failed world it should be then no surprise that locking tetra up for her own safety was an incredibly crucial mistake there is no one named zelda in the wind waker [Music] link's return to the forsaken fortress was only as successful as it was because of the help of others but the fact that help arrived was not lucky or coincidental but rather a direct result of link's actions during the first half of the story his very first act of courage in the game was to try to help tetra and of course he spent a lot of time fixing the crisis on dragon roost island only because he helped them were they even able to help him later over time link's courage strengthens not only him but the community as a whole and it is the teamwork of the whole community that in the end makes the difference these major themes of courage and teamwork are not simply plastered onto the game's cutscenes but are consistently performed by the player as they progress through it link's courage is really the player's courage while there are certainly much scarier games out there the experience of completing the wind waker is fairly stressful the scope of its world the size and power of its bosses the depths of its dungeons are all quite intimidating pushing to the end takes real effort and to some extent courage most of the gameplay is then a straightforward expression of that sense of bravery and perseverance solving tricky puzzle rooms and slashing down monsters with various weapons and items there is one particular item that works wonderfully to further marry the themes of the narrative with the player's actual actions the wind waker itself i already mentioned the wind's requiem but there are other songs as well which allow link to fast travel across the great sea or change the time of day for example the one i really want to examine though is the command melody which translates the teamwork so valued in the storyline into a gameplay mechanic the song is first used in the tower of the gods where link controls these ambiguously sentient totems guiding them from room to room where the command melody really shines though is how it is utilized in the second and third to last dungeons in the game the wind temple and the earth temple so as it turns out the master sword can only retain its power to repel evil with sustained prayer to the gods these two temples housed sages who served that purpose of offering constant prayer but over the centuries their power waned until they were eventually killed by ganon's revived forces link then must locate two new sages to return the sword's power and fittingly it is two characters he aided early in the game that are perfect for those roles medley and makar the gameplay of the earth and wind temples revolves around using the command melody to switch the player's control between link and his companion solving puzzles in the earth temple requires medley's flight and using her harp to reflect beams of light similarly in the wind temple makhara's ability to plant trees and ascend large vertical distances on his own is essential to progress these two young sages have a unique responsibility on their shoulders they were always destined by bloodline to become sages should the need arise however neither was aware of this duty before link played a special melody he learned from the spirits of the old sages medley in particular is thrilled to understand for the first time that there is actually something she can do to help save the world all this is to say that link and the sages needed one another that neither could have accomplished their goals without the other [Music] the command melody then embodies that connection through gameplay it clarifies that there are uniquely talented people who have a responsibility to change the world for the better but that they are lost without the courage that inspires them that conducts them into reaching their full potential [Music] and that courage can come from anywhere the final task link must complete before confronting ganondorf is to reassemble the triforce of courage which has been shattered into eight pieces and scattered across the great sea here is where the wind waker really demands exploration of and engagement with its setting from the player each shard of the triforce has a corresponding chart revealing its location which themselves are hidden in a wide variety of difficult to reach locations depending on how thoroughly the player has already been investigating the various islands this section of the game may be a breeze or a complete slog finally deep knowledge of the ocean and its archipelago and the concealed connections that exist across it is strictly necessary for example one of the triforce charts is hidden on a ghost ship that appears nightly in different locations depending on the phase of the moon the player may have stumbled upon it multiple times by chance and thus been primed to grasp the game's subtle clues on how to find and board it or they may have never run into it at all and then are at a total loss as for what to do many have fairly criticized the triforce chart quest and it is often seen as a blemish on the wind waker designed only to pad its length however regardless of its execution or fairness to the player this section is key to developing the game's themes particularly the importance of community to forging a better world one of the triforce charts is found in the basement of a cabana on a private island link doesn't access it by simply breaking in like many other games would have him do but rather obtains the deed to the house from its owner who turns out to be the school teacher from windfall island who will trade it for a handful of easy to find collectibles saying she has been wanting to dedicate more time to her teaching anyway how easy quests like this are to solve depends entirely on the player's familiarity with the ocean and its islands and they often resolve with self-improvement from the side character such as this teacher deciding on a less self-absorbed lifestyle the question of why she is so loaded in the first place and why she has several zombies in her crawl space is for another kind of video [Music] side note the wind wakers incarnation of the re-dead enemies might scare me more than any other [Music] that scream is chilling anyway there are a wealth of examples some optional and some not of how exploring the sea and finding new connections strengthens the community and then rewards link with various upgrades zunari is a lonely merchant who just arrived on windfall and initially has nothing to sell but by following a trading sequence across several islands you can provide him a wide variety of wares and only then can link obtain the magic armor link can bring water from the forest haven to struggling saplings on a dozen or so islands allowing them to grow strong and continue the deku tree's reforestation efforts freeing tingle from prison was a mistake like from an ethical standpoint but this supposed good deed ends up helping down the line when link needs tingle's expertise to decode the triforce charts helping your grandma overcome her loneliness rewards you with easily the best healing item in the game eventually you can restart windfall island's windmill returning a sense of energy to the island and receiving a heart piece the more of these side quests the player performs the more powerful link will be by the end of the game collecting the scattered pieces of the triforce is then a natural extension of that theme the strength to challenge ganondorf does not come from link alone it comes from everyone okay let's double back for a second and talk about the old sages the ones who died before the events of the game their names are laruto and fodo and they are both from groups of people that no longer exist they are from the zora and kokiri tribes respectively races that were prevalent in ocarina of time but are nowhere to be found in the wind waker both do still have living descendants because their tribes evolved over countless generations toward a markedly different physical appearance more suited to this different world the zora became the rito and the kokiri became the koroks the earth temple itself must have changed dramatically over the years as well it is a cold foggy grey and haunted place filled with undead enemies that have made themselves so at home that it's hard to imagine what it looked like before their arrival its puzzles are themed around reflecting beams of light rather than anything to do with earth the earth temple is my personal favorite dungeon in the game and achieves a distinctive and memorable atmosphere that has almost nothing to do with its name this is an entirely different place now than what the zora sage was tasked with protecting in the context of the narrative i think laruto and fodo ended up failing in their roles not because they did anything wrong but because they were from the distant past their cultures and their responsibilities have been transformed by time to be nearly unrecognizable redly and machar can succeed because they are from the current living world not the old frozen one hidden beneath it the king of reliance is also from that frozen world and he too is unfit for the current one almost immediately after leaving tetra in the castle he remarks with surprise and unease that the forsaken fortress has been abandoned and ganondorf is nowhere to be found when link finally returns to hyrule tetra has of course already been captured ganondorf's disembodied voice mocks them as soon as his powers returned the castle was no longer the safe haven the king believed it to be his decision only brought ganondorf closer to success despite all his wisdom and status daphnis made several crucial misjudgments throughout the game his breadth of knowledge was essential to progress but when it came to strategic choices he repeatedly failed precisely because of how outdated his understanding of the world is the wind waker is again a post-apocalyptic story the threat that his main antagonist represents is history repeating itself the solution to the game must then be about how to avoid the mistakes of the past what the king's failure shows us is that while the old world may have plenty to teach you you cannot let it lead you now it is finally time for the final battle ganon's different iterations across the zelda series have a wide range of personalities and motivations from the brash and confident warlord of ocarina of time to the mindless force of nature you see in breath of the wild the wind waker's depiction of this character is by comparison surprisingly subdued he is not overtly malicious or sadistic and when he speaks he speaks calmly and poetically when link first reaches him in his tower this is how he talks about his perception of the great sea so many pathetic creatures scattered across a handful of islands drifting on the sea like fallen leaves on a forgotten pool what can they possibly hope to achieve ganondorf's plan is to use the power of the completed triforce to restore hyrule to its former glory but with him as its ruler effectively erasing the world that has formed on the surface the entire setting of this adventure which we know to be vibrant full to the brim with life and potential is to him just a stagnant and worthless puddle after link defeats a massive terrifying puppet version of ganon he climbs up to the game's final location the very roof of this dark tower here ganondorf recalls his past and what motivated him to become the villain he is today he says my country lay within a vast desert when the sun rose into the sky a burning wind punished my land searing the world and when the moon climbed into the dark of night a frigid gale pierced our homes no matter when it came the wind carried the same thing death but the winds that blew across the green fields of hyrule brought something other than suffering and ruin i coveted that wind i suppose ganondorf was driven by envy despite all his growth link by himself is still no match for the warlock and without breaking a sweat ganondorf steals the triforce of courage from him the full power of the gods is now nearly in his hands [Music] out of nowhere though the king of red lions appears and manages to touch the triforce first the king too is deeply fond of the old world long attached to the idea of restoring his former kingdom but finally now he recognizes that its time has passed and selflessly and courageously he wishes instead for its destruction he wishes for link and tetra and the entire population of the great sea to have a future [Music] his plan now in ruins ganondorf finally lashes out with his full strength we already know that he sees the great sea and its people as entirely without value so with the ocean raining down he can if nothing else seek to prove himself right and daphne is wrong by striking down this new world's princess and hero but tetra has finally awoken and while neither she nor link could stand against him alone by working together and only by working together they succeed in bringing ganondorf to his knees and delivering the killing blow [Music] as he dies he whispers that the wind is blowing this final line paired with him turning to stone is haunting to me it means that in his final moments ganondorf realized his shortsightedness realized he was wrong to believe there is no hope left for the future wind is obviously a recurring motif of the wind waker it pops up not constantly but consistently enough throughout the game to strike me as symbolic it's important then crystallized by how much ganondorf fixates on it in his final moments for the bulk of the game the wind is a good and welcome thing returning wind to the dormant windmill is equated with reviving the island itself from its stagnation the multiple ways in which link learns to control the wind to constantly put it behind his sail or lift him across the sea or the mandatory first step toward every good deed he accomplishes so the wind could represent hope ganondorf's last words could be him understanding that there is hope left in this world he viewed as worthless but actually it can't be that simple because ganondorf clearly stated that to him wind did not mean hope it meant death how could one thing represent both hope and death really ganondorf was correct that there is nothing worthwhile in the great sea at least for him he is a member of the gerudo tribe while all the other races present in ocarina of time exist in some form in the wind waker there is no trace of his people and with how he relates his backstory you begin to have some sympathy for him his kingdom was being destroyed before his eyes something needed to be done the core of what makes ganondorf the antagonist of this story is then his failure to recognize something the player has proven over and over again to be true the winds can be changed he believed that the wind could only carry death and turn to envy ultimately destroying both what he was envious of and his own kingdom and people in the process in the end wind represents neither hope nor death but the concept of change itself and what that change carries can be determined by how precisely you respond to it after ganondorf is defeated and as hyrule is being buried beneath the sea the king expresses to link and tetra his regret for leaving them such a broken world tetra tries to convince him to come to the surface saying that they can yet find new land build a new hyrule daphnis declines that land he says will not be hyrule it will be your land he stays behind to drown alongside his world [Music] the wind waker has a message for the new generation the old world will fail you will leave a nightmare on your shoulders that you have no choice but to face and no it is not fair that such a situation is placed on you yet still it is paramount that you act and that you act correctly you must reject both stagnation and a return to the old ways and instead forge a unique new path that fits you best paved or not by some singular hero but by a broader community defined by teamwork and connectedness but above all you must act not out of envy or despair but out of courage several spirits throughout the game address link as the waker of the winds the wind waker is not the baton itself but rather whoever is holding it as i've established linked to some degree represents the idea of courage and when to some degree represents the idea of change in turn courage and change together is what creates hope with all that in mind and the explicit confirmation that link is the waker the very title of the game can be translated into this simple sentence courage awakens hope [Music] before the credits rule we see link and tetra returning to the surface tetra is of course back to her old clothing as the world that called her zelda is now dead they are picked up by the pirate ship which has on board all the members of the new generation that made this victory possible some time later they are ready to set out again in search of that new world the wind fills their sails and they are off looking nowhere but forward at the end of the dock errol is waving to link after everything still what he does is done for her if it is courage that awakens hope what awakens courage is love [Music] [Music] many zelda fans from 20 years ago would be shocked if you told them just how warmly the wind waker is viewed today it is among the most critically acclaimed entries in the series and even regularly makes appearances on lists of the greatest games ever made period the zelda fandom by and large adores it to this day the initial reactions to its style and presentation now just a faint slightly embarrassing memory that is not to say that the game is perfect it's not but its strengths seem for most people much more memorable than its weaknesses the purpose of this video was not to declare this game to be secretly the best zelda or the smartest zelda as much as i appreciate its core message it is at best not incredibly deep no my goal was just to re-examine the game to try and figure out why it is so thoroughly lodged in my brain why i think about it more often than the other equally phenomenal games in the series the wind waker remains interesting to discuss so many years later not just because of the quality of its execution but also because i think its subject matter has turned out to be more relevant than ever while majora's mask is about an impending apocalypse the wind waker is about the long-term aftermath of one so as our real world sea levels begin to rise and no one in the old power structures is seeming willing to do what is necessary to prevent catastrophe it is stories such as these that remain magnetic the advice they impart feels more and more prescient humans in the 21st century are staring down the barrel of a climate apocalypse that feels more and more inevitable each passing day media that argues that even if the worst does occur there will always still be hope can be encouraging or even necessary however i am not trying to say that this game was explicitly intended as a metaphor for climate change or anything as specific as that the drowning of hyrule is much more likely an allusion to the classic flood myth than a prediction and yet all the pieces are there if you look for them the wind waker was a game designed to stay ahead of stagnancy its innovative art style and fresh take on the zelda formula was not fixing what wasn't broken but fixing it before it broke nintendo made the bold risky proactive choice to reinvent their most prestigious franchise before anyone was even asking them to they simply were not going to let it grow stale in spite of this risk or more likely because of it the resulting game is today a time-tested masterpiece the wind waker contains in its writing the argument for its own existence it shows exactly why there is no value simply in standing still exactly why the new generation must do much more than emulate the old one constant reinvention is the only thing that creates a future [Music] hey thanks so much for watching to the end this was an episode of reconstructed my series of literary analysis love letters to my favorite media i'm going to keep making these for a long time so please do like and subscribe to see more and help the video reach a wider audience the best way to help me out is to share the video around on reddit twitter discord etc and what did you think of my interpretation of the wind waker did i miss anything important do you have a different view on it entirely let me know in the comments especially if you disagree i will try to respond to just about any comment that engages honestly with my work finally i have a patreon every drop of support means so much to me and i want to eventually build it into a unique community but for now you'll mostly get semi-regular updates early access and your name at the end of each video thanks again for watching i've been skyhoppers and i'll see you in the next one

Channel: Skyehoppers

Views: 13,375

Keywords: wind waker, the wind waker, zelda, legend of zelda, video essay, zelda analysis, zelda retrospective, wind waker retrospective, wind waker analysis, skyehoppers zelda, skyehoppers wind waker, skyhoppers, skyhoppers zelda, skyhoppers wind waker, wind waker story, wind waker hd, post-apocalyptic, apocalypse, ocarina of time, wind waker review, the wind waker review

Id: aFIqgiyS49E

Length: 64min 45sec (3885 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 08 2022