MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

As the silent hero of the Legend of Zelda series, capable of only grunts and groans, and originating from a linguistic culture where gender is communicated through self-referential gender specific pronouns, Link is unable to volunteer their sex or gender. At times Link appears as a preteen elf, others as a young adult elf, a wolf, a rock-eating Goron, a cel-shaded cartoon, 8 and 16-bit pixel, and an anthropomorphic fish person Zora. With all these different incarnations and transformations, why is Link characterized as unequivocally male? Given Princess Zelda’s appearance as Sheik, a character performing as male, the multiple worlds construct the possibility for ambiguity.

The metanarrative of Link is constructed within the realm of this presentation, the fans, and the creators. When the first trailer of what was to become Breath of the Wild began, the world exploded at the blond haired ambiguous archer. Then a character named Linkle was added to the universe, as essentially a non-canon character with no role in the main entries in the series. In response to criticism and growing calls for a female protagonist, creators at Nintendo stated, to the effect, that Link is a man, and will always be a man, Zelda is a woman and cannot lead a game because it would sideline Link, the man. This biological necessity constructed by Nintendo, at odds with the fans, a great many of whom are female of which several dress up as the gender ambiguous Link, is what this presentation is taking aim at. At this point in time, Link is officially male, but does that mean Link has and always will be male? Or can fans interrupt the gendering of Link’s data and recode for our own transgressive purposes?