#i also don't love stories framing the suicide of a character as some noble sacrifice

[science-lings]

I know the Zelda series has received fair amount of criticism (some justified) for its titular character often playing the role of the false in distress, but I particularly find complaints about TOTK’s Zelda being “damseled/fridged/sidelined/wasted potential” all because she sacrifices herself to save Hyrule a tad unfair. Most of these complaints come from people who expected her to be playable or at least an in-game companion, but I thought the sacrifice scene was effective and didn’t feel like a disservice to her character or arc. If anything, I felt respect as well as sadness for her because of her decision. What are your thoughts?

First off, I like Zelda's story in totk, I don't see her as a damsel in distress or a meek little princess who didn't do anything to push the plot forward, she was definitely involved in everything that happened in the past, she fought alongside the other Sages and set them up to be able to pass on their secret stones in the future, her sacrifice was the reason Link could defeat Ganondorf and I found the scene where she swallowed the secret stone incredibly powerful.

That being said, I am disappointed that we didn't get more with her, it was probably too much to hope for her to be a playable character in the past but it would've been incredibly cool to really get to experience how Hyrule was before it was founded and the characters we are supposed to care for.

I also don't think Zelda needed another impactful moment where she sacrifices herself for her kingdom. It wasn't some deep development of her character, aside from her feeling like she had a reason to be accidentally teleported into the past. We already know that Zelda is devoted to her kingdom, she already spent one hundred years alone fighting the calamity for her kingdom and all throughout totk, she's praised for being a humble, kind, inspirational person who people are proud to call their princess. Everyone loves her, to the point where when a doppelganger went around being an asshole, everyone was either so trusting of her that even when she did things that would normally start a war, they gave her the benefit of the doubt.

Making Zelda sacrifice her life, or what she assumed would be her life, for the wellbeing of her kingdom in the future, is incredibly in character, but not necessary to make the point that she is selfless and utterly devoted to her kingdom. We already knew she was selfless. and utterly devoted to her kingdom.

It feels like since botw her character has become slightly more bland, she's not really fiery anymore or shown to be anything other than a pleasant and calm presence. It's what made Ganondorf's puppet seem so unbelievable. If she was still shown to be a little snappy and have a little bit of an attitude, the whole sequence where there's an evil Zelda out there would've been more impactful IMO.

I don't think that her sacrifice was a waste, I'm really glad that she got her happy ending, though I think it would've been interesting if being a dragon for thousands of years could've left at least some kind of mark on her, but I feel like that's an idea that is explored enough in the fandom that it doesn't bother me that nindendo didn't really do anything with it.

Overall, I was really invested in her story and I was more interested in looking for her geoglyphs than many other main quest things. (though I did get one of the ones a little early that I definitely should've not seen as early as I did, but I was still really emotionally invested anyway) and the moment the truth was revealed, I ran to her, because I missed her, and I love her, and I was being led to believe that she never got her happy ending.