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.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.~~