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Originally Posted by The Colonel
wind waker is the best example of link's character, because it's the only zelda game where link has much of an actual character with a strong personality. it's also an example of a game that wouldn't really need to have much changes made to it if there was a gender option, i think
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No, Wind Waker is the best example because it's the most blatant and least subtle in showing any degree of personality.
In Ocarina of Time you find out immediately that Link would rather sleep all day than go out and play, and with good reason. Mido, the leader of the Kokiri, makes fun of him for not having a fairy. Saria is the only Kokiri that is implied to even be close friends with Link. When Link leaves the forest and meets Saria on the bridge, he backs away awkwardly before running away, showing that he doesn't know how to or even want to say goodbye.
In Skyward Sword, Link is depicted as being a big dreamer, he always has his head in the clouds as Groose puts it. His interactions with Groose and Zelda give you a clear sense of what his personality is like at any given moment, as well as his dialogue options.
On that subject, I find it very difficult to believe that Groose would interact with Link in anywhere near a similar way if he was female. Similarly, I don't think Ilia would have interacted with Link in the same way either. The games are written with a male character in mind, and just providing the option without making significant changes wouldn't do the female character justice, and it would require gender-neutral story to be written, which would further limit the male character.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jinjonator
Which one of those personality traits is supposed to preclude Link being female though? There's no correlation between this argument and the conclusion you're arriving at.
Gender has never been an important part of who Link is as a person, and as many people have already said, Link has always functioned as a mostly blank slate for the player to act through, so it's fascinating to see people suddenly acting like Link has actually always been this wildly complex masterfully written 3-dimensional character, where changing his gender has massive far-reaching implications for his character. Changing, say, Donald Draper to Donna Draper would be a seismic change that would change the fabric of the character and the story; changing Link to Linkle? Not so much.
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You just took everything I said out of context. I was responding to Yiffgurl's comments that Link is meant to represent the player, and I was making an argument to specifically disprove that. The conclusion from the post you quoted is that Link is not an avatar for the player, and is a character of his own, which validates the prior point I made about the Gerudo.
I also never claimed he was a wildly complex masterfully written 3-dimensional character, what I'm saying is that he's more than a blank slate. That is a fact, a blank slate character would be one like the main character of Pokemon who doesn't react to anything, who doesn't have any background. This is exactly what I was trying to prove with my previous examples- That Link is not a blank slate.
Please stop putting words in my mouth.