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rynling"But surely Kathryn," you may object, "surely these Zelda fans are taking a Watsonian approach to the metafiction and explaining Link's behavior within the context of the story. Surely they're not actually suggesting that they believe 17yo children should be sent to the military and taught to kill 'dangerous' ethnic minorities."
Unfortunately, that is exactly what's happening. These Zelda fans are real. There's an assumption that people who use Telegram to coordinate FPS games are blackpilled alt-right nutjobs, while people who like cute anime-style games are "woke." This is incorrect. Plenty of people who enthusiastically support ICE raids love Zelda. They have thousands of followers, and you have to be very nice to them.
"But what do you care? It's just a game," you may try to reason. Okay, sure. But what just happened to Mahmoud Khalil (the Columbia student who got arrested by armed guards and shipped to a detention facility in Louisiana without trial) is not a game. That shit's also real. It's unconstitutional, and it's scary as hell. If the federal government could do that to him, they could do it to any of us.
And so, if you ask me how I feel about a blue-eyed one-man-army supersoldier whose job is to go out and "save the world" by killing an angry brown man without asking questions, it's hard to say. I mean, my position on this is crystal clear, but it's not the sort of thing you can post anywhere.
If I'm being honest, though, I'm totally onboard with the idea of Link being evil. Like, not just a primal force of chaos, but actively evil. That would be super fun to write.Also he and Ganon should fuck about it.
But first I need to get over myself and finish the fic in front of me. Wish me luck, I guess.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what's happening. These Zelda fans are real. There's an assumption that people who use Telegram to coordinate FPS games are blackpilled alt-right nutjobs, while people who like cute anime-style games are "woke." This is incorrect. Plenty of people who enthusiastically support ICE raids love Zelda. They have thousands of followers, and you have to be very nice to them.
"But what do you care? It's just a game," you may try to reason. Okay, sure. But what just happened to Mahmoud Khalil (the Columbia student who got arrested by armed guards and shipped to a detention facility in Louisiana without trial) is not a game. That shit's also real. It's unconstitutional, and it's scary as hell. If the federal government could do that to him, they could do it to any of us.
And so, if you ask me how I feel about a blue-eyed one-man-army supersoldier whose job is to go out and "save the world" by killing an angry brown man without asking questions, it's hard to say. I mean, my position on this is crystal clear, but it's not the sort of thing you can post anywhere.
If I'm being honest, though, I'm totally onboard with the idea of Link being evil. Like, not just a primal force of chaos, but actively evil. That would be super fun to write.
But first I need to get over myself and finish the fic in front of me. Wish me luck, I guess.
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Date: 2025-03-17 04:37 pm (UTC)There's so much to unpack about the core assumptions behind a lot of video games that include violence, however cartoony, and it's uncomfortable but it's still necessary.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-21 01:42 pm (UTC)Best of luck, Kathryn! It sounds like you have a hell of a conundrum to iron out with regards the fic.
Zelda fans in left-wing spaces really forget how much the rest of the fandom is not in line with their attitude. This kind of blissful ignorance seems mostly harmless on the surface, but I think it blinds them to how these games are being read, what kinds of messages they are sending, to people outside their circle-- People who may align it with their racist, authoritarian desires. (Don't get me started on the queer hugboxing for a series that is heteronormative and that treats expressions of queerness as predatory, laughable, or sweeps them under the rug altogether.)
I find it "funny" how in multiple Zelda games (Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess come to mind) Hyrule is either directly implicated in or heavily implied to have committed atrocities. Particularly in Ocarina of Time, these things are treated as evil, are referred to as greedy and bloodthirsty... But we never do anything about stopping it. Zelda is allowed to remain on the throne to make way for Hyrule's continued hegemony because she's nice and wise-- Nevermind what her ancestors have done, what her descendants will do, what matters here and now is that you team up with her to dispatch this Dangerous Foreign Man with Dangerous Demonic Schemes.
Some evil is just allowed to be perpetuated, apparently. You're only meant to step in when the wrong people are being evil.
This has always been an issue with protagonist-centric morality (Harry Potter is especially glaring with this), and it only gets worse with a dynamic so palpably racial no matter how many years straight Nintendo relegated Ganondorf to beasthood alone, that looks more than anything to be cementing in its rigidity.
Write that evil Link. Write that Link who is blatantly okay with de-personing his enemies if they are the wrong kind of person. He's Hyrule's golden boy forged to serve their nation; let it shine.
~~And then he and Ganon can fuck about it, lol.~~