But they didn't. That should be telling of their intent for Linkle. You really seem to want her to be something she really isn't and isn't intended to be.
I think the mere fact that they set up the character in such a disappointingly non-forward-looking way is a really bad gesture given the climate surrounding gender representation in video games (especially) and film.
I'm completely fine with not liking her parody personality. But I think people are taking this too far in terms of how this relates to sex.
The character's tropes aren't related to the female genre primarily, so fanboy or fangirl of link could have turned out like this. Like, this doesn't really relate to sexism beyond the fact that it's a girl and that she wasn't written correctly. But that's a problem you can apply to many characters in this game in general.
I'm not complaining about the choice of trope itself making the depiction of the character sexist. She doesn't need to be absent of stereotypical tropes or flaws to be a good character. Hell, I even think she's a good character anyway.
I'm complaining about the specific choice of trope - the whole "unable to find her way using a map" thing - sending a really weird message given that in 8 months Nintendo's about to release a game where the player will need to navigate using a map, but their aspiring legendary heroine - the first time they've represented a version of Link as a female player-character - is apparently incapable of reading one.
Like I said, I'm pretty fond of the character and I even like the whole "she keeps showing up late to the fight" thing as it gives her room to act on top of the existing story without being overly gratuitous. I like that she isn't obviously caught up in the major hero prophecies and is just going off to fight because she wants to be the hero, spurred on by her grandmother's stories. I think that's all fine (great, even!) and makes her endearing in a way that Link isn't. I think going the wrong direction constantly is a fun little quirk, too, that I personally enjoy.
I just don't like that the last piece of big Zelda media we're likely to get before their big open world Zelda game with a huge detailed map leaves us with our first female analog to Link... and she can't read a map. Again, it's an unusual signal to be sending alongside such a character, in the context of that particular upcoming game.