Random Headcanon: Link’s androgyny isn’t just an artefact of the Zelda franchise’s art direction – and neither is it particularly unusual. Sexual dimorphism among Hylians is legitimately much lower than among real-world humans; if Link and Zelda swapped clothes, you’d never be able to tell who was the girl and who was the boy.
Consequently, Hylian society depends heavily on clothing to establish gender roles, to the extent that it’s a severe faux pas to question someone’s gender presentation. If they’re dressed like a girl, then they’re a girl – even if they were dressed like a boy yesterday. That’s why nobody ever remarks upon the fact that Zelda and her heroic alter-ego Sheik are different genders; it’d be gauche at best to bring it up.
Consider also Gerudos.
Who’s society places heavy importance on sisterhood. It would naturally be a faux pas to imply that one’s genitalia determines if they are woman enough to be a Gerudo or not.
#zelda headcanons #because I’m sure their are more Gerudos with penises then the implied one every 100 years #More likely is that only once every 100 years is there someone willing to buck tradition and call himself a man #and what determines if he is a man or not has nothing to do with if he has a penis #yah that totally means Ganondorf could have a vagina #it also explains why he went after the princess rather then her father #because gerudo society all the power normally lies with the women
(excellent tags via @inkdrgn)
I like actual theories here instead of the constant “OH WHY ISNT LINK A GIRL EGHHHHHH.”
Okay the theories here are are bad-ass as hell and I’m 120% here for non-conforming gender norms, but also dude, please don’t get all uppity with people who would like to see Link depicted as a Lady. Cis, trans, or otherwise.
Every Zelda game has a different Link/Zelda, whether by reincarnation or as decedents from a long line, it’s really not that hard to just have a Female Link and a Prince Zelda. You wouldn’t even have to change anything drastic except for gender terms, the whole rest of the game would still play the exact same way.
You can’t support representation of non-conforming gender scenarios without also including the possibility of a female lead, my dude, that sorta negates part of the purpose.
Ookay so just, for the reference, the French text* has a very interesting different nuance here.
*(which, for the record, is absolutely amazing, I’ve no idea how close a translation it might be but it throws in puns and quirks and beautiful turns of phrases and is generally a joy to read, a lot of work and love has clearly been put into it.)
“J’ai fini par lui demander pourquoi il était toujours tellement silencieux, et j’ai bien vu que la réponse lui coûtait.”
“I finally asked him why he’s always so quiet, and it was obvious that answering took a great effort from him.” (~almost “it pained him to answer”)
“Le royaume a toujours beaucoup attendu de lui, et c’est la crainte de décevoir qui l’a finalement enfermé dans le mutisme.”
“The kingdom has always expected a lot from him, and it it’s the fear of disappointing that ended up locking him into mutism.”
“Quelle surprise ! Moi qui pensais qu’avec son talent naturel, il n’avait jamais dû connaître l’angoisse de l’échec…”
“What a surprise! Here I thought that with his natural skill, he must have never known the fear/anxiety of failure…”
please note FEAR and DISAPPOINTING and LOCKING HIM and MUTISM and FAILURE
It sounds a lot less like it was a conscious decision for Link, and much more like… selective mutism caused by stress and anxiety.
Which is why Zelda goes on to basically go “!! SAME DISORDER!!” — it’s not just the fact of being under a lot of expectations that means you’ve gotta appear strong / focus on your task: this wording sounds more like it’s literally Link’s coping mechanism in response to the stress and pressure.
“En réalité, nous avons tous nos soucis. J’étais tellement centrée sur les miens que je ne voyais rien autour de moi.”
“In truth/It turns out we all have our own issues. I was so focused on mine that I didn’t see anything around me.”
Idk if/how this is worded in the English version, but this sounds very much like she feels Link is also miserable (perhaps as much as her).
Basically, the French version goes beyond “Link is constantly dissociating” to “anxious and depressed children find each other and proceed to realize it’s ok to feel like they do and they’re not alone”.
fadeslikewhispers 