#she is technically just tetra’s personality superimposed onto her descendant

[ashirisu]

I think it depends on whether you’re looking at it from a meta or in-universe perspective, because I think you’re absolutely right about her not being a damsel in the story sense. She’s an active contributor to the plot and mechanics, she’s just doing it from the past instead of the present timeline.

She’s definitely a damsel in the meta sense, though—the plot places her in a position where we as the player need to rescue her because she’s physically incapable of rescuing herself. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all, though! Sometimes I like to be a hero and rescue a pretty princess, and it only gets more appealing when that princess is smart, strategic, competent, and powerful.

when u think about it tho zelda's choice to become the dragon is so interesting bc it's essentially a big mirror of her 'choice' to seal ganon for a hundred years, illustrating that she hasn't grown. like yes it's a choice of bravery and love but also just like before, her powers do something out of her control and she follows the lead, letting her powers bamf out while she . . . waits. at least in botw it's depicted as an active battle she's conscious for. zelda is meant to be a young woman torn between science and magic, but we never see her actually in control of either of these, despite being the single most powerful entity shown in the series thus far. this is because of sexism. but if it wasn't! it would mean interesting things about where she is, what she's internalized from her childhood, that she views herself more as a vessel for ancestral power than a person who can solve her own problems. therefore the natural next step for her is to spend time training her magic or solve a problem scientifically. this sounds like gameplay. almost as if she would make a strong playable character. in this essay i will -