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[Crazyorloco]

So it's link...

But we still don't know if this link is female...he's not answering that. Nothing in the original post denies link is female. It just confirms it's link. There's still speculation! Very interesting.

 

[cackhyena]

Hey lookit that, I was right. Some find it really hard to picture a reveal of Link happening without his green tunic.

 

[Kyuuketsu_Night]

Well, that's that. He's Link! I like me some Link.

Never thought for a second he looked like he could be a female. Square midsection, no boobs, square-ish fingers, blue earrings. Looks like a young adult elf boy designed by a Japanese team. *shrug*

 

[Ushojax]

So it's link...

But we still don't know if this link is female...he's not answering that. Nothing in the original post denies link is female. It just confirms it's link. There's still speculation! Very interesting.

When Aonuma says 'that was Link' he means, it's the Link we all know. Who is male.

 

[Monocle]

Those ridiculously elongated legs and the stupid pose reminded me of the new Sanic design in Sanic Boom.

Yeah but she looks incredible in action. Check out the demonstration, seriously.

 

[Onikaan]

C'mon people, Link is a long established character. He's Mario. He's Sonic. He's Ryu. He's Samus. He's not just some generic avatar and he shouldn't be reduced to one.

Exactly.

 

[Trey]

Man...

This is going too far.

As a die hard fan of Zelda, and a woman of color. I'd very much like you to stop putting down the series to promote gender/racial equality.

It's true though. Promoting racial/gender quality or not.

We all love LoZ, but let's not pretend its charm isn't in spite of simple storytelling conventions and one note characters.

 

[Qurupeke]

The sword was on the horse's back actually.

Yeah, I heard that but he didn't use it. Of course, that could not mean anything but there were always some hints on the first footage of Zelda. I mean, even the poster of SS was emphasising on the lack of sword. Now, emphasis was given on the bow. I wonder what this would mean to the game.

 

[-Horizon-]

Too busy admiring his lovely beard.

I wonder what his secret to maintaining it is?

Spoiler

its fan tears isn't it :/

 

[Shahed]

Stop. Listing. Characters. With. Established. Personalities.

All of those are actual characters. They're also the SAME character in each game unlike Link.

Well the new Tomb Raider had a different Lara altogether, but I get your point and I disagree with it. Their personalities may vary throughout the games but they are still essentially embody the same character. What if the next Shiva in an FF game was male and then Ifrit was female? Sure people wouldn't care as much because they're more minor, but it'd still be weird.

Just give the option to play as Zelda or something if you want a female character. A game with Zelda as the primary or even sole one being playable sounds awesome actually. Just leave their genders as is. The thought of having a female Link just sits wrong, just as having Prince Zelda would sicken me as well

 

[SkeptiMism]

Yeah, I heard that but he didn't use it. Of course, that could not mean anything but there were always some hints on the first footage of Zelda. I mean, even the poster of SS was emphasising on the lack of sword. Now, emphasis was given on the bow. I wonder what this would mean to the game.

Well it makes sense to use the bow on a monster on water, but yeah I think you might have a point there.

 

[III-V]

The sword was on the horse's back actually.

I have went back and watched. I can't find any sword. Can you point it out?

 

[Log4Girlz]

I don't get the demand for a playable female 'Link'. The character through the games is male, in the same essence the Snake 'characters' in Metal Gear are male.

Its not unusual to have calls for established characters in different mediums to be changed for the sake of inclusivity. I've seen this most often in the comic book medium (most recent example coming to mind being Nick Fury in the Avengers movie). The Legend of Zelda happens to have a very convenient way of explaining how its protagonist could be depicted as a different gender/race without fundamentally altering the character or nature of the game at all as the character itself is somewhat transient, being reincarnated time and again. Sure we could argue "But its always a male game after game, why drop that tradition now?", but why keep the status quo when you could do something impactful like change up gender in such an important series when you can?

Again, I would prefer a character creator, due to the nature of Link's character (or relative lack there of, serving as a self-insert). Again, the lore would be accommodating of depicting Link in differing ways. I would keep the iconic hood consistent to keep it looking like classic Link while allowing flexibility of presentation.

 

[Trey]

No character creator, no half measures.

Female Link is easy to envision, and would be dope to see come to pass.

 

[-Horizon-]

I have went back and watched. I can't find any sword. Can you point it out?

It's at scene before Link is launched off the horse. You can see the handle of the sword on the lower bottom above the saddle. I made a post about this in the other Aonuma rumor thread we had.

Edit: here's one of the screenshots I took for that post
It's behind the arrow they used at the end

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Somebody needs to do a compilation of all of the over analyzation posts in the other thread that gave all the reasons why it was a girl. Especially the one that said "I can't believe it's even being discussed. That's a girl". Or the one that provided all the evidence over why it's most likely a girl and focused on jiggly breasts.

NeoGAF jumping to conclusions once again ftw. I said to wait for confirmation before swearing on something so different. And here we are.

We now have people on the first stages of grief and denying his words.

This reminds me of the doctor who female stuff.

 

[SkeptiMism]

I have went back and watched. I can't find any sword. Can you point it out?

Sorry couldn't find a better pic right at the moment, but it's here. Above the bag. On the other side of the horse the bow was there before he took it.

 

[Wazzy]

Well the new Tomb Raider had a different Lara altogether, but I get your point and I disagree with it. Their personalities may vary throughout the games but they are still essentially embody the same character. What if the next Shiva in an FF game was male and then Ifrit was female? Sure people wouldn't care as much because they're more minor, but it'd still be weird.

Just give the option to play as Zelda or something if you want a female character. A game with Zelda as the primary or even sole one being playable sounds awesome actually. Just leave their genders as is. The thought of having a female Link just sits wrong, just as having Prince Zelda would sicken me as well

But that was because it was a reboot. It's still Lara Croft. You cannot compare established characters with personalities because that's the entire reason why they can't just be replaced.

I wouldn't mind Ifrit being female at all. It's appeared male in the series but there's nothing that says it can't be female. Same with Shiva.

I would love to play as Zelda but that's it's own thing. I still think it's completely fair to say that Link can easily be a female character and having it for one game should not bother people.

 

[May16]

According to Ubisoft it would have been impossible because they'd have had to do way too much work to put a girl in that outfit anyway, what with their shapely bodies and expensive girl physics and all.

 

[truestatic]

Wrong, Link serves as a self-insert for the player, his "character" defined in the games is an avatar/reincarnation in select time periods/alternate realities. This self-insert aspect is heavily backed up by how the games were designed (motion control taking priority in character design before established character tropes (IE left-handed Link)) and even by Aonuma himself via recent quotations.

Just because you (and others) applied some arbitrary character identity on Link doesn't make it so. You're free to do it of course but its just not true.

I can't do much against such staunch and flat disagreement except keep on being wrong, but ah well. I understand the argument that as a self-insertion character in a third person game, he should be infinitely moldable to meet a player's requirements, but history doesn't really bear this out. You may disagree with the attribution of Link with anything approaching a personality and I can understand that, but the truth is that throughout these many years, he has remained largely unchanged. You believe a gender swap would be insignificant because he is an androgynous male, but an androgynous male is still a male.

Link may not be a well rounded and strongly defined character, but I don't think I (and others) arrived here by accident or chance. In the course of so many games, and in the face of increasing use of facial animation and other subtleties, Link has been instilled with limited but (for me) undeniable personality traits. To some degree, he has come alive, and has been doing so since at least Ocarina.

 

[Infinite_Daremo]

The drama over this is shocking.

Why change an iconic characters sex just coz'? If Nintendo were to make Samus male in the next Metroid (lol) there would be an even bigger drama around sexism and dude bro pandering.

I don't think an iconic characters traits should be modified just for the sake of diversity. Let the designers create him how they wish and stick to character creation games if it bothers you.

 

[Wazzy]

Somebody needs to do a compilation of all of the over analyzation posts in the other thread that gave all the reasons why it was a girl. Especially the one that said "I can't believe it's even being discussed. That's a girl". Or the one that provided all the evidence over why it's most likely a girl and focused on jiggly breasts.

NeoGAF jumping to conclusions once again ftw. I said to wait for confirmation before swearing on something so different. And here we are.

We now have people on the first stages of grief and denying his words.

This reminds me of the doctor who female stuff.

While it's looking like it's going to end up being male Link, Aonuma's original comments are still something to consider along with this. When he says it's Link, he doesn't clarify that it's male Link. While it seems fairly obvious that he's speaking of male Link, he could still be acting vague.

 

[-Horizon-]

According to Ubisoft it would have been impossible because they'd have had to do way too much work to put a girl in that outfit anyway, what with their shapely bodies and expensive girl physics and all.

Wait, they really said that??

 

[codemonkey]

I don't see this happening, ever. Link is such an established and recognizable character for Nintendo, I don't think they want a change like that. Might be that there'll be a spin-off or whatever with a female lead in the Zelda universe, but other than that, not really for a main entry in The Legend Of Zelda series.

Anyway, if not for Aonuma's offhanded comments, I'm pretty sure this wouldn't even be up for debate. Link will be Link.

 

[greenteaa]

Just give the option to play as Zelda or something if you want a female character. A game with Zelda as the primary or even sole one being playable sounds awesome actually. Just leave their genders as is. The thought of having a female Link just sits wrong, just as having Prince Zelda would sicken me as well

This.
There's just something so wrong about the concept of them just switching his gender after all this time.
Each Link may be a completely different reincarnation in each game, but his gender is part of who he is and who a lot of us have grown up with. If they wanted to shake things up in Zelda in terms of gender equality, making an already female character playable would make a hell of a lot more sense than completely altering a beloved character for no apparent reason whatsoever.

 

[Log4Girlz]

The drama over this is shocking.

Why change an iconic characters sex just coz'? If Nintendo were to make Samus male in the next Metroid (lol) there would be an even bigger drama around sexism and dude bro pandering.

I don't think an iconic characters traits should be modified just for the sake of diversity. Let the designers create him how they wish and stick to character creation games if it bothers you.

Men are already over-represented. Making Samus male suddenly would be a drastic change which wouldn't make sense in the context of the universe. You would be rebooting this universe with a male character. From Mario game to Mario game, Metroid to Metroid, these characters linger in the lore. They never die then come back in totally different realities. While in Legend of Zelda, Link is doing just that. One could argue its Link's soul being reincarnated, I have no problem with that, but what makes it necessary that he is always male? Nothing. You could even switch regularly between genders without any real issue, while the same cannot be said with other properties. Again, given this opportunity, why not try it out?

 

[truestatic]

Wait, they really said that??

He's being a bit tongue in cheek, but something along those lines, yes.

Had female characters been included, Ubisoft would have had to "redo a lot of animation, a lot of costumes." In effect, "It would have doubled the work on those things. And I mean it's something the team really wanted, but we had to make a decision... It's unfortunate, but it's a reality of game development."

From Gamespot

 

[balgajo]

It's really not since the creators have also said Link is a self insert.

In 2011 the same self insert character started running after Zelda against my will.

 

[SkeptiMism]

I can't do much against such staunch and flat disagreement except keep on being wrong, but ah well. I understand the argument that as a self-insertion character in a third person game, he should be infinitely moldable to meet a player's requirements, but history doesn't really bear this out. You may disagree with the attribution of Link with anything approaching a personality and I can understand that, but the truth is that throughout these many years, he has remained largely unchanged. You believe a gender swap would be insignificant because he is an androgynous male, but an androgynous male is still a male.

Link may not be a well rounded and strongly defined character, but I don't think I (and others) arrived here by accident or chance. In the course of so many games, and in the face of increasing use of facial animation and other subtleties, Link has been instilled with limited but (for me) undeniable personality traits. To some degree, he has come alive, and has been doing so since at least Ocarina.

I think that's fine, but surely you can agree to that if they made Link female, that would fit the lore no matter of your views?

The drama over this is shocking.

Why change an iconic characters sex just coz'? If Nintendo were to make Samus male in the next Metroid (lol) there would be an even bigger drama around sexism and dude bro pandering.

I don't think an iconic characters traits should be modified just for the sake of diversity. Let the designers create him how they wish and stick to character creation games if it bothers you.

No, but people should criticize and complain if they feel like it. It's the same thing as any criticism towards games or other media. Devs are entitled to do as they please, but customers are entitled to criticize and complain too.

Also, while it's fine to think of Link as an established character, it's really not the same thing as making Samus male. Samus is always the same person. Link is a reincarnation.

 

[Infinite_Daremo]

Men are already over-represented. Making Samus male suddenly would be a drastic change which wouldn't make sense in the context of the universe. You would be rebooting this universe with a male character. From Mario game to Mario game, Metroid to Metroid, these characters linger in the lore. They never die then come back in totally different realities. While in Legend of Zelda, Link is doing just that. One could argue its Link's soul being reincarnated, I have no problem with that, but what makes it necessary that he is always male? Nothing. You could even switch regularly between genders without any real issue, while the same cannot be said with other properties. Again, given this opportunity, why not try it out?

Nothing makes it necessary. Given the lore it does make sense that his soul could inhabit a females body. But the vast majority associate Link as male so why change that just for the sake of balance?

If Nintendo by all means chose for him to be female then thats fair, its the designers choice. But getting angry at them for not doing so is pointless.

 

[Apple of Enlightenment]

Thread title is misleading. Female rumours were not denied, they were actually confirmed to be rumours. While the notion that Link is female was not denied at all.

 

[Freeman]

Too bad, I much prefer a female Link rather than a effeminate one.

Edit: There was denial of the female rumor.

 

[docbon]

No character creator, no half measures.

Female Link is easy to envision, and would be dope to see come to pass.

Agreed. A character creator for the sake of inclusiveness would be kind of lame. I don't want shallow gender specific dialogue.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Nothing makes it necessary. Given the lore it does make sense that his soul could inhabit a females body. But the vast majority associate Link as male so why change that just for the sake of balance?

If Nintendo by all means chose for him to be female then thats fair, its the designers choice. But getting angry at them for not doing so is pointless.

Oh, I'm not angry, truly I'm not. I just find the level of resistance to the thought of just one time representing Link as female borders on insane considering the kind of lore we're dealing with. I would think many more people would be enthusiastic at allowing someone to play a major videogame character as a different gender when the lore gives the ability to without a problem.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Yay. It would feel really weird playing a female Link. Link should never be a girl, at least in my eyes. Now if you want a game with a playable Zelda, I'm fine with that. Just not this.

 

[balgajo]

I think that's fine, but surely you can agree to that if they made Link female, that would fit the lore no matter of your views?

No, but people should criticize and complain if they feel like it. It's the same thing as any criticism towards games or other media. Devs are entitled to do as they please, but customers are entitled to criticize and complain too.

Also, while it's fine to think of Link as an established character, it's really not the same thing as making Samus male. Samus is always the same person. Link is a reincarnation.

I really understand your point and all I could do if they change Link in a way that don't please me is not buying their product.
But things like turning Samus into a man could also be possible like Capcom did with DMC. They have their right to change and people have their right to be pissed of.

 

[Malcolm9]

Oh, I'm not angry, truly I'm not. I just find the level of resistance to the thought of just one time representing Link as female borders on insane considering the kind of lore we're dealing with. I would think many more people would be enthusiastic at allowing someone to play a major videogame character as a different gender when the lore gives the ability to without a problem.

That's where I play Metroid or Bayonetta, not The Legend of Zelda.

I would imagine most Zelda fans would prefer Link to stay male as well.

 

[truestatic]

I think that's fine, but surely you can agree to that if they made Link female, that would fit the lore no matter of your views?

Honestly despite my rabid argument against a female protagonist in Zelda it's not as huge a deal to me as I let on. I would get the hell over it pretty quick. It's hard for me not to get excited about the next Zelda, no matter who is swinging the master sword, or what's under Link's tunic. I enjoy the discussion about this stuff though. I think it fundamentally comes down to whether you view Link as one character or many. Naturally, as it's fiction, they can make an in-universe justification for just about any change they care to make to the series, including Link's gender. Whether they do it or they don't, hopefully they don't toy too much with the desires of those who wish to see it happen.

 

[Laieon]

Good!
Finally, the "female" rumor can be buried!

Boom, exactly this. I'll always see Link as male and I don't think it makes much sends to randomly swap his gender after 28 years, even if it might potentially make sense from a lore perspective.

You shouldn't go around attacking pre-established characters. You should be promoting new female protagonists who were built for their roles and old female characters who are given better care. Stop trying to shoe-horn the opposite gender on already defined characters.

I completely agree, exactly what I've been saying since the whole "Hey, he might be a girl in this one!" rumor started.

 

[zeldablue]

Man your posts reek of "It's fine if you target other stuff but don't touch what I like!"

I'm a girl and love the Zelda series and I can acknowledge that Link is a self insert.

So it's okay to put down the entire series for the sake of female representation?

That's not how people get their way. That's not how things change and that's not how equality happens. So it's pointless to even go there. Instead of arguing about a pre-established character getting changed to fit something they are not, why not, for the love of god, support the idea of a playable Zelda to stand along side Link? You know a character who is a woman?

A relatable iconic character goes far beyond what some of you guys are saying. Link has always been the most relatable character in any form of medium for me, and he's able to do that without sharing my gender or race, he's simply there to witness a world with me.

You shouldn't go around attacking pre-established characters. You should be promoting new female protagonists who were built for their roles and old female characters who are given better care. Stop trying to shoe-horn the opposite gender on already defined characters.

 

[Minister of the Dog]

It's amazing how many "Link is just a blank insert" comments I see. It seems like nobody has played any recent Zelda titles at all?

All of these could be considered spoilers:

Skyward Sword intro

Skyward Sword

Spoiler

reunites with Zelda

Wind Waker

Spoiler

Link saves Aryll

Twilight Princess

Spoiler

reunites with Ilia

Twilight Princess.

Spoiler

Midna's desperate hour

.

I love this part, the way they show Link's desperation with the music. It might be just my interpretation, I'll accept that.

Phantom Hourglass intro (particularly from minute 7 onwards).

Spirit Tracks

Spoiler

Battle with Byrne

(2:30 onwards).

This doesn't look like a blank, emotionless, unimportant character to me. I really can't see the claims about him being an empty shell that can be easily replaced.

 

[May16]

Wait, they really said that??

Not that exactly, but yes, in so many words.

 

[SkeptiMism]

I really understand your point and all I could do if they change Link in a way that don't please me is not buying their product.
But things like turning Samus into a man could also be possible like Capcom did with DMC. They have their right to change and people have their rigts to be pissed of.

I can understand that, though personally I don't think I would ever miss a good game that I was waiting for even if it had some major change.
Making Samus a man would certainly be possible too, but it just would be fundamentally different in many ways. It would be more of a reboot then.

 

[Wazzy]

So it's okay to put down the entire series for the sake of female representation?

That's not how people get their way. That's not how things change and that's not how equality happens. So it's pointless to even go there. Instead of arguing about a pre-established character getting changed to fit something they are not, why not, for the love of god, support the idea of a playable Zelda to stand along side Link? You know a character who is a woman?

A relatable iconic character goes far beyond what some of you guys are saying. Link has always been the most relatable character in any form of medium for me, and he's able to do that without sharing my gender or race, he's simply there to witness a world with me.

You shouldn't go around attacking pre-established characters. You should be promoting new female protagonists who were built for their roles and old female characters who are given better care. Stop trying to shoe-horn the opposite gender on already defined characters.

How exactly are we putting down an entire series by saying Link is a self insert, something even the creators have said?

How does playing a female Link suddenly change how you relate? An odd comment to make from someone who says they're a girl.

You're getting way too defensive over a character with no personality. Links an iconic design but he's not a character that is defined by being male. If a female Link were to happen, the only differences you'll experience are they've got female body parts.

Also we've already seen the design so I'm not seeing how if it were female that would change things since there's already huge speculation about the effeminate apearence.

 

[Log4Girlz]

It's amazing how many "Link is just a blank insert" comments I see. It seems like nobody has played any recent Zelda titles at all?

All of these could be considered spoilers:

Skyward Sword intro

Skyward Sword

Spoiler

reunites with Zelda

Wind Waker

Spoiler

Link saves Aryll

Twilight Princess

Spoiler

reunites with Ilia

Twilight Princess.

Spoiler

Midna's desperate hour

.

I love this part, the way they show Link's desperation with the music. It might be just my interpretation, I'll accept that.

Phantom Hourglass intro (particularly from minute 7 onwards).

Spirit Tracks

Spoiler

Battle with Byrne

(2:30 onwards).

This doesn't look like a blank, emotionless, unimportant character to me. I really can't see the claims about him being an empty shell that can be easily replaced.

I can't thank you enough for that Scott

 

[Shahed]

It's not as if having Link be female would be a deal breaker. I'd still play the game.It would just be crazily strange and hard to get used to. It's like if one of my friends suddenly told me they weren't female.but male. Sure they're still the same person, and their gender does nothing to do with how I see them as a friend. But it would be jarring as anything and difficult to adjust to.

I don't see Link as some random faceless character. I relate to him as a male, just as I do the same for Zelda as a female.

 

[SkeptiMism]

So it's okay to put down the entire series for the sake of female representation?

That's not how people get their way. That's not how things change and that's not how equality happens. So it's pointless to even go there. Instead of arguing about a pre-established character getting changed to fit something they are not, why not, for the love of god, support the idea of a playable Zelda to stand along side Link? You know a character who is a woman?

A relatable iconic character goes far beyond what some of you guys are saying. Link has always been the most relatable character in any form of medium for me, and he's able to do that without sharing my gender or race, he's simply there to witness a world with me.

You shouldn't go around attacking pre-established characters. You should be promoting new female protagonists who were built for their roles and old female characters who are given better care. Stop trying to shoe-horn the opposite gender on already defined characters.

I don't think anyone sensible is actually "putting the series down" because of this.

As for your other points, other people clearly don't see Link as that established character, so I don't think it's fair to tell them what they should do and shouldn't do.

 

[masud]

I think the different Link thing is just a story convention. Link is Link. He has personality that's getting fleshed out more and more as the series progresses as well as several defining characteristics one of them being that he's a boy. Making link female would be interesting in the same way that making him a middle aged man would be interesting but why change just for changes sake? I wouldn't want future Metroid sequels to be about the son of Samus just so a different demographic can better Identify with the main character. Make new characters for that.

I'd really like a game with a playable Zelda though.

 

[Minister of the Dog]

I cane thank you enough for that Scott

Yes, that one really caught me off guard.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Aww, but we were having so much fun!