#which is once again something spirit tracks absolutely fuckin nails

[tinyetoile]

Bitchy ranting about botw/totk link n zelda below

In relation to the last post. I know I'm kind of mean to botw/totk link and zelda's relationship but man when I beat TotK I could not stop thinking about the contrast between the scene where Zelda is freed from the crystal in SS vs how Link treats Zelda post-fall in TotK. Like in SS when Zelda collapses, Link runs forward to catch her, how he escorts her out there holding her hand, how they both keep looking at eachother and laughing whenever Groose gets emotional.

And then in TotK after they fall from the sky and Link carries Zelda out of the pond he just... kneels, and doesn't make a single other motion to help her afterwards. Like, Zelda just transformed back into a person after spending a bajillion years as a mindless dragon and then fell from the statosphere into a shallow pond and you're not even going to her help sit up? You're just going to kneel there??? Not going to offer her any sort of comfort?????

I think... this post has helped me find words for one of my major problems with botw/totk Link and Zelda: they have all these moments that are supposed to be big grand setpiece moments (him rescuing her from Yiga assassins, the last catch) but they feel hollow because outside of those moments there are so few of the little moments that show subtle care, particularly from Link to Zelda. I'm not saying they don't exist (Link taking the torch from Zelda is one example) but I wish there were more of them. Because it feels like whenever Zelda needs some sort of emotional support Link leaves her high and dry. You don't even have to make him less of a stoic, stalwart knight to do it! I was rewatching the botw memory where Rhoam is a terrible father to her and all I could think about was how much better the scene would be if it had gone on for a few more seconds and shown Link rising from his kneeling position after the king leaves and putting his hand on Zelda's shoulder. That could've done so much!!! But instead he's always kneeling, barely looking at her, refusing to touch her unless absolutely necessary. It's borderline uncomfortable to watch.

Meanwhile in SS Link and Zelda DO have those moments of casual closeness, showing they care for eachother, enforcing they're important to eachother in subtle ways, and the relationship between them feels so much more lively and substantial because of it. And outside of skyward sword, I keep thinking to that scene in Spirit Tracks where after Malladus is defeated and the Lokomo leave, Link and Zelda just quietly hold hands in mutual reassurance that, it's over. We're okay. Everything's going to be alright now. Hell, these scenes even work- work even better IMO- outside of a romantic context, because it doesn't need to be A Romance for it to be obvious they have a close bond.

In conclusion Skyward Sword and Spirit Tracks are still the games with the best Link-Zelda relationship of all time