Nintendo Explains Where Tingle Came From

[GameE]

From Kotaku:

Tingle, map-seller in The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask, is a man in his mid-30s who wears a green fairy suit. Presumed by some—incorrectly, it turns out—to be gay, he is one of Nintendo's most unusual characters. I recently asked Nintendo's top Zelda creator what Tingle's origins were.

"I guess the heart of the character there is a little bit of a gag kind of feeling to it," longtime Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma told me through a translator during a New York-Kyoto telephone interview last week. We were talking about Tingle's debut in Majora's Mask back in 2000. The game has just been remade for the 3DS.

"The way the design of the character started is that we needed to think about how the character—the player—would get access to maps in this game. Of course, you could go with a situation where, as soon as he sees an area, you just open up your map and it fills in for you, but we wanted to do something a little bit different.

All well and good, but I had to ask: Is he gay?

Aonuma: "He's not gay. He's just an odd person.

Alot more here

 

[thomasmahler]

 

[Alienous]

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

Why?

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

All well and good, but I had to ask: Is he gay?

What the fuck?

 

[Rikkun]

Wasn't he married to a bitch or something in his game?

 

[Sir TapTap]

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

Yeah I don't really get that at all. I guess people might misread the way he's talking about "fairies" in Majora's Mask? ...even though it's incredibly obvious he's referring to the mythological creature. That or the tights?

 

[L~A]

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

Why?

Probably fits their rather degrading "image" of gay people.

 

[xzeldax3]

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

Why?

Probably because he is flamboyant

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Isn't Tingle a caricature of someone at Nintendo?

Also, don't forget, the Tingle in Zelda and the Tingle in the Tingle games isn't the same individual. The latter is actually a regular dude "cursed" into becoming Tingle.

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

I don't think people are necessarily homophobic for thinking he was meant to be a gay caricature, a lot of Japanese media has characters like that that embody the "Hard Gay" idea.

It didn't help he called himself a Fairy, which was a common gay pejorative back then.

 

[Mesoian]

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

Tingle copies a lot of really popularized okama style mannerisms that people associate with homosexual actions.

It's kind of complicated because it's fine if he is gay and it's fine if he's not, but to call his behavior which edges the stereotypical stage idea of a gay character "weird" is sort of reductive.

But whatever. The whole point is to not think about it too closely or the whole character collapses in on itself.

 

[Rich!]

The whole point of Tingles Rosy Rupeeland is for him to get hot bitches

Isn't it?

 

[SmithnCo]

Why did they need to ask if he's gay? Oh Kotaku.

 

[Lunar15]

He's married to someone in his DS game, I believe.

Also, lol kotaku.

 

[backflip10019]

It's always so weird to me when people feel the need to continuously harp on a fictional video game character's sexuality.

 

[mclem]

I think it's fair to call Tingle camp. The problem is that too many people then assume that camp in turn means gay.

 

[Brazil]

The whole point of Tingles Rosy Rupeeland is for him to get hot bitches

Isn't it?

Pretty much.

 

[Prevolition]

Tingle, Tingle, Kooloo-Limpah!

 

[TheMoon]

Why not just say "Aonuma explains" ...we all know who he is. Aonuma is not "Nintendo."

 

[LiK]

Can't help but feel like this is the "Who's the mother of Bowser's kids?" level of questioning.

 

[PK Gaming]

I thought everyone thought he was a goddamn creepy... creep, not gay. Where did that sentiment come from?

 

[Brazil]

Why not just say "Aonuma explains" ...we all know who he is. Aonuma is not "Nintendo."

Who's "we"? Every single person in the world knows who Aonuma is? Everyone who plays Zelda knows who Aonuma is?

Headline is fine.

 

[LurkerPrime]

It didn't help he called himself a Fairy, which was a common gay pejorative back then.

...It's set in Hyrule, a land where fairies and monsters are real. It's a big, ridiciulous leap in logic.

I thought everyone thought he was a goddamn creepy... creep, not gay. Where did that sentiment come from?

No kidding.

At least we have Kotaku here to ask all the tough questions.

 

[Arkage]

Why did they need to ask if he's gay? Oh Kotaku.

Because it would be interesting if Nintendo had a gay character to compliment the obvious heterosexual norms in all their other games?

 

[Chao]

I thought he was supposed to resemble Koji Kondo our someone else at Nintendo, I may be wrong though.

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Well this was disappointing. I was hoping they would talk about the design of the character.

Also,

All well and good, but I had to ask: Is he gay?

What kind of weird question is that? On that note, are there even any homosexual Nintendo characters?

 

[Alienous]

Because it would be interesting if Nintendo had a gay character to compliment the obvious heterosexual norms in all their other games?

You don't want that character to be Tingle.

Ask about Ganondorf if you really want to take a shot in the dark. The only male Gerudo, who leaves his land? Inquire about that.

 

[Kacho]

Can't help but feel like this is the "Who's the mother of Bowser's kids?" level of questioning.

Lol yup. Tingle has always been a character that was just weird to me. I don't think I ever once questioned whether he was gay or not. There are a handful of characters like that in the Zelda games.

 

[Mesoian]

Why not just say "Aonuma explains" ...we all know who he is. Aonuma is not "Nintendo."

For the same reason that people are saying, "What is with this line of questioning, oh Kotaku", instead of "oh Totillo"

 

[thecouncil]

Wasn't he married to a bitch or something in his game?

The whole point of Tingles Rosy Rupeeland is for him to get hot bitches

Isn't it?

Was "bitches" actually written in the game or something? What is going on here?

 

[Mesoian]

You don't want that character to be Tingle.

Ask about Ganondorf if you really want to take a shot in the dark. The only male Gerudo, who leaves his land? Inquire about that.

I would love an OOT based Ganondorf origin story. I want it almost as much as a platinum made character action game starring Sheik.

 

[xzeldax3]

The whole point of Tingles Rosy Rupeeland is for him to get hot bitches

Isn't it?

Yup. It's just the distorted media image of gay men is overly flamboyant so some people make inaccurate assumptions.

I personally think he's just a confident dude who rakes in the dough.




And maybe a slight creeper.

 

[sphinx]

Isn't Tingle a caricature of someone at Nintendo?

 

[The Giant]

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

Why?

Americans.

 

[ShadowElliot]

That question wouldn't have been asked if Rosy Rupeeland was released in NA. The plot of the game is to get girls...

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Rupeeland isn't the game where the objective is for Tingle to hook up (although that does happen), it's for him to make a lot of Rupees. The sequel, Balloon Trip of Love, is the one where hooking up takes center stage.

And once more, in those games, "Tingle" is a regular guy who is turned into Tingle through magic. So he seems to be distinctly different from the Tingle featured in Majora's Mask, who doesn't show any romantic inclinations. Wind Waker Tingle, through the Tingle Tuner, does show interest in girls, specifically Medli and Aryll. So, technically Tingle hooking up with girls in the Tingle games doesn't necessarily say anything about Tingle in Majora's Mask.

On that note, are there even any homosexual Nintendo characters?

Some people think Ike was written this way. I haven't played the Radiant series enough to say if this is true or false.

Also, a lot of people read Steven and Wallace's relationship in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, and by extension ORAS, as them being more than friends, I recall. But that may just be because Wallace is overtly flamboyant, and Steven is the only character he interacts with besides the player.

 

[Ban Puncher]

"Polygon have been killing it lately. We need to get back on top of being at the bottom."

 

[Joqu]

Totilo clearly doesn't know his Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland lore. What a disappointment.

 

[Impeccable]

All I have ever read about Tingle was people questioning his sexuality. Back when the game came out.

I do not see a problem with the question in this instance. It has been widely speculated.

 

[Somnid]

Because it would be interesting if Nintendo had a gay character to compliment the obvious heterosexual norms in all their other games?

What's normative? Virtually all mainline Nintendo characters have platonic relationships open to interpretation. Sexual orientation is not really a factor in their identities because there are no bedroom scenes.

 

[Willy Wanka]

Rosy Rupeeland makes it pretty clear he isn't gay but he is quite camp and very creepy.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

People thought he was gay?

Sorry, what?

Why?

No idea.

 

[Space A Cobra]

What kind of weird question is that? On that note, are there even any homosexual Nintendo characters?

I dunno but at one point Birdo was the closest until they retconned him into a female.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I thought he was supposed to be bizarro-world Link, like most of the Majora's Mask characters.

Like Link if he grew up without a fairy in a forest of children and grew weirdly obsessed with not having one. He never properly grew up because of the whole immortal perma-children of the forest thing. He still thinks he's a fairy child without a fairy (which is exactly what Tingle thinks he is)

 

[Nightbird]

Why would you directly ask if he's Gay?
Thats messed up.

 

[rhandino]

All I have ever read about Tingle was people questioning his sexuality. Back when the game came out.

I do not see a problem with the question in this instance. It has been widely speculated.

But there is a game in which he is trying to get some hot babes and got married... Rosy Rupeeland me thinks.

Edit: Also what kind of messy questions?

 

[Rich!]

Was "bitches" actually written in the game or something? What is going on here?

Well, I was taking the piss out of the whole gangsta talk thing. Dunno about the other guy though...

 

[Alienous]

Totilo clearly doesn't know his Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland lore. What a disappointment.

Neither do you, I think? v v v

Isn't Tingle a caricature of someone at Nintendo?

Also, don't forget, the Tingle in Zelda and the Tingle in the Tingle games isn't the same individual. The latter is actually a regular dude "cursed" into becoming Tingle.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Realizing a lot of Tingle hatred in the last 15 years was mostly perceived homophobia took me far longer than it should have.

 

[Kade]

You guys probably don't appreciate the question but Kotaku just ended a war on the discussion page of the Tingle entry on the Zelda Wiki.

 

[Joqu]

Neither do you, I think? v v v

Now now, you could interpret Rosy Rupeeland to be an origin story to all that is Tingle. ;p

Spoiler

I was joking. It's a shit question though.