ZeldaBlog
« Animated Series on DVD How’s Our Driving? »

A Little Bit of Malon by My Side…

October 19th, 2005 at 7:56 pm by The Missing Link

<off -topic>
Of all the things that ZeldaBlog was supposed to be, the last thing that I expected it to be was the inspiration for another website. What mayhem have I unleased now?
</off-topic>

Ocarina of Time is perhaps the most loved of all the Zelda series. For a lot of people, it remains the pinnacle of the entire series, the best that Miyamoto & Co. have so far provided. The bulk of the fanfiction that you find out on the web has its roots embedded in Ocarina, and most discussion of history has to include the game somewhere. It’s a general truthhood, a lot like Godwin’s Law, that the longer an online discussion about Zelda becomes, the greater the chances that Ocarina is bound to come up at some point.

The reasons that this game surpassed its predecessors—and overachieved its decendants—are so numerous that it would be virtually impossible to cover them all in a single blog post. Let’s face it; Ocarina was much different than its previous incarnations, and not just because of the 3-D world, either. Most of the reasons have a little bit to do with how much “disk space” they physically had. On the Nintendo 64, Nintendo had a little bit of breathing room (with regards to cartridge sizes) to really expand Hyrule as we knew it. They had the ability to put in a lot of story elements in-game (rather than within the manual) that were largely missing from the earlier Zeldas. Text was an expensive commodity before those days; it’s why we never found out in A Link to the Past that “Zelda is your… …” destiny, and it’s no wonder the original Legend of Zelda had such comments like “EASTMOST PENINSULA IS SECRET”. (At least we can say that it had better English that Zero Wing. Could you imagine it otherwise? The old man would be spouting off, “EAST LAND ARE TREASURE HAPPY”!)

But the advent of expanded text didn’t just bring about gallant strides in plot. Finally, for the first time, we had massive leaps in characterisation of the NPCs. Before Ocarina, the only characters that truly were dynamic entities were Sahasrahla from A Link to the Past and Marin from Link’s Awakening, and some wouldn’t even count the first since technically he mostly only gave hints via telepathy. When Ocarina of Time came to the forefront, suddenly things were much different. You had tons of notable (and named!) characters, each with a very distinct personality. Most of the characters that were fleshed out were of the female variety, and it didn’t take the fans long to notice this, either. We can only be thankful Lou Bega didn’t come out with his smash hit a year earlier or all we’d ever have heard on the forums would be:

A little bit of Saria in my life
A little bit of Malon by my side
A little bit of Zelda is all I need
A little bit of Impa is what I see
A little bit of Fado in the sun
A little bit of Nabooru all night long
A little bit of Ruto here I am
A little bit of you makes me your man.

When fans weren’t having Link be the Don Juan with all the girls, the rest were arguing senselessly over who the best person for Link was. I actually remember a long time ago fighting in the trenches of the United Sageshipper Army. (That’s Link/Zelda, for those who haven’t heard the term.) Our enemies were the Ranchshipper’s Contingent (Link/Malon), and the ground in between was no man’s land, the place where explosive posts blew up, argumentative rockets were launched, and insults made out of barbed wire rested. Occasionally, you had a third party come in, ready to conquer the world, and for a single blessed moment, the two sides would sign a hasty peace accord, completely decimate the newcomer, and then North and South Vietnam were at it again.

Since then, I’ve grown up… a little bit. ;) And I’ve learned from my mistaken ways. No longer is Malon the hated gal that she used to be. In fact, I see a lot of who I am embodied within Malon: passionate and dedicated worker, loyal and caring friend, idle dreamer, and a believer in true love. (Anyone who makes fun of me for that will get a nice one of these: ) You don’t even need to go all the way to the manga to see it (although it’s much more prevalent there).

But seriously, why is there all the hatred towards all the “competition” in the game? I will admit, not every girl is the ideal match for every fan. Even Miyamoto, perfect as he is, isn’t that perfect. Though I like Nabooru as a character, I certainly don’t see myself marrying a Nabooru lookalike; nevertheless, I’ve come to respect Nabooru as a character (and the entire Gerudo race as a whole, as well). Each character that has come to have a strong personality in the Zelda series, I think, has his or her definite good points and moments. Even Ganondorf has redeemed himself largely from his monologue at the end of Wind Waker. We can argue whether Zelda and Malon is a better love interest for Link until the cows come to Lon Lon Ranch, but with Link being rather secretive of his own emotions, with thousands of potential characterisations for Link, can there honestly ever be a distinct winner?

While shipping wars have long been a mainstay of the modern Zelda community and have been a small force in keeping the community active and interested, I think the time to bury the hatchet is long overdue. It’s not that we shouldn’t ever debate the issue, but I think all of us need to find out that it isn’t bad to have “a little bit of Malon by our sides.”

Filed under Shipping, Ocarina of Time

Follow This Entry | Trackback

39 Messages from the Gossip Stones about “A Little Bit of Malon by My Side…”

    Comments

    I was never really into the whole shipping wars and was most likely elsewhere, so this was a pretty insightful article. You’ve also added a bunch of adjectives to how I view Malon now, but I think you should add “resilient spirit” to the list since she has gone through the death of her mother quite well in my opinion.

    I never thought I’d see the day a correlation has been drawn between Godwin and Ocarina of Time. I was wrong.

    And shipping! How I admire your bravery TML to broach such a fatal topic.

    Jack said:
    How I admire your bravery TML to broach such a fatal topic.

    Bravery comes in all forms. Mine just comes in the form of the big mallet up there. ;)

    It’s interesting that no Zelda game has spawned as much debate on shipping. Ocassionally you’ll get your Marin shippers, Din or Nayru shippers (or the extremely rare Rosa shipper)… but it’s all mostly focused on Ocarina of Time. Subsequent games have not offered much competition for Zelda in the pursuit for Link’s affection.

    Oracles probably should have more debates given that there are quite a few bachelorettes for Link to be after. But otherwise, other Zelda games have not much to offer as competition for Zelda. Especially in The Wind Waker where the only other major female characters are Medli and Link’s sister. Since Twilight Princess will feature an older Link, I wonder if we’ll see more competition for Zelda.
    • TSA says:
      October 19th, 2005 at 11:40 pm [quote]

    I’m not into the romance aspect of Zelda at the moment. However, I do think that since day 1, it’s been implied Link and Zelda have this fate to end up together, but it just doesn’t work out or something. Link and Zelda go behind the curtain in Zelda II, Zelda kisses Link in Oracles, and Zelda seems to have this “connection” with Link in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time.

    However, I think my fondest memory and what comes to mind most when I think of this whole issue is the qutoe from the A Link to the Past comic featured in Nintendo Power.

    “The psychic Link between us was so strong when I was in Ganon’s clutches, but now that we are both free, and at peace, you seem so distance guarding the Triforce. I am alone. As long as I live, I shall never forget the time we were together in our dreams…”
    ~Princess Zelda

    That is my ideal romantic imagery for the Zelda series.

    Heh I love that quote from the Alttp comic, but well we all know Akira made a remake of it (Triforce of the gods) where it ends.
    “And the hero who carried the legendary sword surely follows close to Zelda. It is said he dedicated his whole life to protect Zelda.”

    heh I love that ending better..
    _>
    …
    And I was “NEVER” in a MalonxLink, ZeldaxLink war!

    As in most things, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. You only get trouble when people try to dictate other peoples opinions. I’ve had my fair share of run ins with Malinkers, generally because they were of the opinion that OMG Zelda and Link must be related because their HAIR COLOUR IS THE SAME (and other such exceedingly lame arguments). Therefore to be a Link & Zelda shipper (sorry, I was one way before Oot, since the cartoons, therefore sageshipper isn’t a term I will ever use) is apparently wrong. The problem isn’t with people liking a particlar pairing, it’s the need of some to ‘bash’ the rival pairings. I used to do this in retaliation, now I have realised it’s pointless. If people like a particular pairing, let them.

    The date with rosa was just dumb.

    Well technically the ball was already rolling on something like this before I finally got around to coming here and checking out TML’s new site. But once I came and saw it, I realized this is just the kind of thing we were looking for for our community portal. Whether or not our website proves to be somewhat the same layout, I really do admire the work you’ve done on this one. Especially that clickable cucco. That made me laugh.

    ZELDA WARS
    TINGLE STRIKES BACK

    Tingle: The Great Deku Tree never told you what happened to your father.

    Link- He told me enough, he told me he died in the great war.

    Tingle- No, I am your father.

    Link- Thats not true….. thats impossible!!!

    Tingle- Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

    Link- NOOOOOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    You get shippers in every fandom. They’re just a fact of life and such an entrenched group that they will probably never go away. Most of the time they’re harmless and even friendly and welcoming people, but there are the occasional few that, like you say, need to bury the hatchet.

    “Fado”??!! That song was about all girls. I know that Link wears those tights and is considered a “fairy boy”, but as far as I know, he isn’t gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Just a thought. -zen

    This Article just didn’t make sense to me. Whatever.

    yeah me neither it was very hard to follow

    YEAH!!! I am such a Sageshipper that it isnt funny! And that really shows in my OoT Manga-based fic! LInkxZelda all the way!! But I also think that it is perfectly all right to have other opinions… (I really dont want to start a shipper’s war here…)

    Well, TML, you already know what I think about this article. I’m actually surprised it’s not more of an issue in the fandom, frankly. I mean, I’ve seen the utterly ridiculous fights over pairings, to the point that rather funny pairings have been made… (OMGz, SheikxMailbox OTP!) …Where’d that image go, anywho…

    Back in the day that I actually had opinions regarding the fandom, I was of the Malon and Link camp. I just liked the whole ’she gives you a horse, has red hair, sings, is new, fancy’… Thing. But that’s just a tiny preference. Doesn’t keep me from enjoying other viewpoints.

    So, coolbeans TML. You have admitted you once were st00pid and n00bish about stuff. You get a pie. Of the pumpkin sort.

    Being a girl with a Link fetish AND a selfish streak, I’ve often found myself fighting the same war, except for my OWN cause. XD C’mon, don’t laugh at me. He’s cute!

    But you’re absolutely right about this stuff. No one girl is gonna get him. Why fight each other about it?
    Y’know what I think? I think we girls should band together instead. By our powers combined, we can ALL get ‘im and be a Link herem! XD

    …All right, that got a little weird. I’ll just go sit in my corner now. Er… I have a life! Really!

    *slinks away quietly*

    zen_blade said:
    “Fado”??!! That song was about all girls.

    In Ocarina of Time, Fado was the blond-haired Kokiri girl. She was not officially named in the game, however, but her name did preexist Wind Waker from a popularity standpoint.

    ^ I know not of this… Where did you find her name?

    ^ Here.

    I can honestly say I’ve never debated who Link should end up with. The Legend of Zelda has always been about innocence and youth to me. Especially Ocarina of Time. Just watch the ending. It’s about not growing up.

    OH YEAH GO NABOORU!!!! Yeah um since I’m a girl, I couldn’t really see myself marrying Nabooru either. But come on I think we all have to agree that Link and Nabooru would be an awesome couple!!! Well you don’t have to agree lol. Yeah just like you TML, the Gerudo race grew on me. After I beat the game, I just kept going back to the fortress and timing it exactly right so that the sky would be orange and red and look really awesome from on top of the fortress….. yeah I’m psychotic. What are you gonna do about it???

    Oh yeah and if any of you care to see how psychotic I am, then check out my myspace totally devoted to Nabooru! www.myspace.com/gerudoprincess

    I checked out your myspace, Nabooru is my idol, and i must say that I am impressed! Link and Nabbooru would make a great couple i think! In my OoT fic, I have a little attraction to Link from Nabooru, then it dampens down to a close friendship, but I like the two of them together!

    HEY how about Link and Princess Ruto getting together, they could have Hylian Fish Babies, lol

    AM I the only one who thought Ruto was cute in her adult form……o.k. I guess I am *Runs away in shame*

    Now you got to make the lyrics to the other overplayed song of that time… “Livin’ La Vida Zelda”. :) I let you know if I come up with some. :)

    -Putt

    No Robert-UK you don’t need to run away in shame. For a fish, I thought Princess Ruto looked rather dashing as an adult, Lulu as well(seeing as they’re exactly the same, save for Lulu covers up a bit more lol). But I still think Nabooru is the prettiest and fiestiest, so that’s why I put Link and Nabooru together lol.

    I never really took part in the shipping wars, but I’m more of a LinkxZelda supporter. We don’t know much of Link’s personality, so I thought it’d be safer for me to believe he had feelings for the princess he has saved countless times.

    I’m looking forward to Midna shippers!

    ^ but isn’t Midna a baddy?

    Don’t be silly!

    HUH oh hell I never realised that most of the Zora’s were butt naked, they definately have no issues about nudity, and was King Zora rearly a Zora because he looked a little different

    Is’nt Fado a characters name in Twilight Princess.

    ***Fado is a boy!!! In the OOT. How can Fado be girl?? Saria was a girl; those twins, they were girls, Fado was a boy!!! Unless he was a very boyish looking girl, which I don’t have a problem with! ***FADO IS A BOY, NOT A GIRL***

    I thought Fado was the name of that girl with blonde buns?

    that girl was fado?!? @[email protected]

    The Missing Link said:

    zen_blade said:
    “Fado”??!! That song was about all girls.

    In Ocarina of Time, Fado was the blond-haired Kokiri girl. She was not officially named in the game, however, but her name did preexist Wind Waker from a popularity standpoint.

    Hmm…guess I missed that part of the story. Hope it wasn’t crucial. The song was nice though!

    o_O This argument cud last 4 a very long time.

    Thats putting it lightly