#bonus: zelda calls link anata in the post-credits scene too!

[sunnylaurels]

Anata-あなた

@tortilla-of-courage @squid-ink-personal @musashi

Anata ultimately means ‘you’ but it can have several implications. I’m going to focus on two of them.

1. Intimacy. It’s so intimate that some people even translate it to ‘dear’ or ‘darling’

2. Hierarchy. It can mean that the person speaking sees the other as inferior, or equal at best. Like when a parent speaks to a child, or a teacher speaks to a student. 

You don’t use anata for someone you’ve just met. That’s... rude, as it should imply the latter. In fact, you should generally avoid using second-person pronouns in general when speaking in Japanese. Just use names.

Zelda

Zelda first calls Link anata when they’re rescuing Link’s Loftwing. She doesn’t call him ‘anata’ in the first scene together, though. Probably because Gaepora is there. She uses a more intimate version of ‘you’ once they’re alone. 

She also calls him anata when they’re together on the Goddess Statue, and when they’re flying through the sky together. 

Notice how they’re always alone, with no chance of being interrupted. Shows just how much anata means. When it’s used intimately like this, it does a great job of showing how close this particular Link and Zelda are.

Not to mention that anata is also commonly used between married couples...

(Did anyone need proof that sksw Zelink is canon? Because here’s your proof.)

Fi

Fi, on the other hand, doesn’t sound so intimate. Even if you excuse her in Link’s dream (since they aren’t technically face-to-face) she immediately calls him anata when they first meet. As I said before, that’s rude. 

Fi is... not very polite in her introduction scene. She apparently refers to Link as her inferior and when she does use his name, she just says “Link.” Without the  -san. (It’s okay for Zelda to do that because they’re close. Fi is not close.) Upon meeting Gaepora for the first time she hears how he’s missing half of Hylia’s message and pretty much says- “Fi expected this.” She doesn’t think highly of humans, it seems.

Hey, one anata(or two) could have been a mistake, right? Nope. Fi calls Link anata again. You can even see Link go on guard, he doesn’t exactly trust her. (She doesn’t stop though. She tells him Zelda is alive and that guard goes right down, and she continues to call him anata.)

Link draws the sword and she recognizes him. Then calls him “My Master Link.” In katakana, so that’s English. This is where Fi starts to call Link “Master” (she dropped the “my”) but there are moments when she still calls him anata.

Impa

Impa and Zelda use anata for each other. It really goes to show how close they are, even though Impa also uses -sama for Zelda. It makes them feel like they’re equals, rather than master and servant. Impa also differentiates between Hylia and Zelda.

Oh, and she calls Link omae. Which is generally very rude.

Hylia

Oh boy. Hylia calls Link anata too. The reasons aren’t exactly clear. But it hurts. I differentiate between Zelda and Hylia for a reason. In that one scene (you know which one I’m talking about) Zelda makes it obvious that she’s not really Zelda right now, but Hylia. And yet... she still uses anata. Maybe it’s because of the closeness between Link and Zelda. Maybe it’s because she’s the goddess, and sees Link as inferior. Maybe it’s both. But it feels wrong, because everything else from her watashi in kanji to the -desu is not Zelda.

Back to Zelda

Once the honorifics are gone and watashi is in hiragana rather than kanji, you can tell that this is “still your Zelda.” Time for yet another anata. 

“I’d always be the one to wake you up.”

Farewell Fi

Fi wasn’t very close with Link at the beginning, but the ending’s a different story. That occasional anata leans more towards intimacy now. She tells Link to place the Master Sword in the pedestal, and he does so, albeit reluctantly after getting confirmation from Zelda.

The ‘contract’ is now broken, so to speak. Link is no longer Fi’s master. Fi is no longer Link’s servant. Fi doesn’t wait to make a point of this. She calls him “Link” again, without the ‘Master.’ And then, anata.

Then comes her last line.

Despite not needing to, she says “my Master Link” again. Like when she first recognized him. But this time, it’s by her own volition. 

“Thank you, my Master Link... To be with your soul again someday...”