The Only Zelda Game Without A Hero
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2019
- Link's Awakening is interesting for a lot of reasons, but one thing that has always fascinated me the most is how Link is not really a hero in it. While he is far from being a villain, his actions end up being more in self-interest than anything else, and it leads to one of the toughest choices in any Zelda game. So, join me as I talk about the only Zelda game without a hero.
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Hey! So, I recognize that there are a lot more of you here now, and I just wanted to say, uh, hey! I hope you enjoy this piece on Link's Awakening. With the recent growth of the channel, it is looking like there is the shot that this will become my full-time job, which is wild. Thank you all for the support whether that be on here, on patreon, or on anything else. I appreciate you.
There are a lot of things in the pipeline for this fall, and the next video has already started production. It is on a film that was adapted from an impossible to adapt book. If you follow me on twitter (which, by the way, if you are interested: twitter.com/theRazbuten), you probably know what it is, but if you don't, make a guess?
Anyway, see you in the next one.
I will
Keep it up dude, looking forward to more awesome stuff!
Of course
It has to be Slaughterhouse Five
Otherwise uh...
Ugh...
Uh????
Your content is amazing
Razbuten hey razbuten I love your videos about fast travel sucks or picking up items suck or my favorite games for non gamers I hope you can do more like this
Moral of the story, the perfect woman only exists in the dreams of a fish
I knew it
Or, the perfect woman is a seagull.
There's plenty of fish in the sea
😂😂😂😂
Big Fish movie ending make me cry
Marin is the Windfish.
Marin is the part of the windfish that wants to sing for all the world but can't because she is "stuck on the island" (asleep). Marin telling you she wants to get off the island is the Windfish telling you to wake her up.
All the people on the island are different parts of the Windfish's consciousness, but the one that is the strongest is Marin. This is because the Windfish wants to awaken and sing her Ballad more than anything else.
At the end, when link hears the Windfish, he is happy that Marin aka the Windfish is finally free to sing around the world. Link is the hero. He got Marin off the island, he got all the islanders' their dreams by awakening the Windfish because they are all the Windfish and they are now free to live their lives.
I always interpreted Coholint as a mere illusion, but this is a very comforting thought.
This can make sense to be an actual idea if you remember the fierce of deity mask is the memories of every single person you encounter in Termina.
Here's what Eiji Aonuma said:
“The best I can give you is just a suggestion. The best way to think about it is that the memories of all the people of Termina are inside of the Fierce Deity Mask."
Seems similar in concept to this you are describing
so... if thats true there a troubling pattern of link romancing a fish in everygame...
@@GamersInHellOnYt lol yeah.
@@GamersInHellOnYt Not really troubling any more since The Shape of Water won the Oscars and made romancing fish mainstream. It's just the world we live in now.
For Those of you who didn't beat the game without dieing, There is an extra cutscene at the end of the game. In it, there's a Segull flying into the distance.
That seagull is mairn as her wish to the wind fish was to become a seagull and fly far away from the island.
😭
my pfp 🥲
@@demonboyConnorlink's dream????????? Who tf is the one dreaming here
Ok, but tell me how you beat the game without Dying, i mean the remake makes te game easier and if you are playing in an emulator you can use save states, but how do you beat the game without dying in the original version of the gameboy in this fucking small screen, small buttons, small device, and not to mention how hard is to actually see the screen
@@antonionatalvenancio6131 that's the neat part, you *dont*
The relationships Link has with Marin and Tarin are basically everything he wanted for, but he cannot live in a fake world, so he had to sacrifice his wants for truth. I still count that as heroic.
right
He means he is not saving anyone, this link is the hero of legend, and he fights alongside the hero of time in a debate on which one of them is the most heroic one since the hero of legend is featured in a total of 4 games, while the hero of time has 2 games and appears in TP
Link is needed to save Hyrule,so for link this is a game of chess(it's their kingdom or mine that fades, and theirs will fade eventually)
@@antonionatalvenancio6131 he saved himself. I think for Link that’s pretty powerful
Marin's dream was to fly away from the island and sing to the world, and in the last scene the wind fish is flying through the air singing as it leaves. Which is why he smiles and thinks about her.
Oh that's beautiful, so she was tbe representation of the wind fish desire to wake up and sing
@@JD-wv1yi Yeah. So it is really a happy ending.
She turns into a bird
Because Marin clearly is shown as a seagull at the end, I don't accept this fan theory. I like mine better: Marin was a seagull all along, trapped just like Link. The rest may not be, since she's the only one who wants to leave the island. But she is.
Oh, and BTW, I'm pretty sure Link brought the monsters, since they didn't arrive until he got there and are mostly enemies he's fought before , with a few Mario enemies and some new bosses thrown in. Particularly the shadow at the end is from Link, since it takes the form of all the bosses he's fought before.
Link made the dream less peaceful, which gave the Wind Fish the desire to wake up.
@ZipplyZane
The monsters were always there. They just became more vicious with the arrival of Link. Since they served the Nightmares, they'd be aware of the danger Link posed to everyone. The Nightmares were already planning on conquering Koholint Island before Link showed up, but they got derailed in trying to save Koholint Island from Link destroying it.
Marin and all the people of the Island don't disappear. They are the Wind Fish, they all exist inside of the Wind Fish's mind and personality. When you awaken the Wind Fish you are Freeing Marin, allowing her, through the Wind Fish, to share the song with the people of the world. Her dream is the reality of the Wind Fish.
Interesting theory
Thank you for your insight GodTheRapist
It isn't a theory. It is the plot.
This was my first thought as well
Nice.
I think the reason Link smiled at the ending cinematic, was because when he first woke up, he wondered if it was "just a dream". Then the Windfish shows up and sings Marin's song, making Link realise that it was more than just a dream, it was real and even though the dream has ended (which is sad), he has happy memories of the time spent on the island and knows they live on inside himself and the windfish. And there is something to say about Marin actually achieving her dream to fly across the sky with the Windfish.
Overall I feel it is a complex emotional state to be in and I personally rather smile at the good memories than dwell on what is lost.
I remember as a kid I always tried to be strong, and never let anyone see me cry, but I remember when I was ten years old running into my mom's room crying saying I didn't want to leave, and I wish i could go on adventures with marin forever.
Actually believable
The dream is a metaphor for the game itself. When it asks if the lives of characters in a dream have value, it asks if the characters in the game have value. You leave them behind when you finish the game, but they did impact your life in some way.
@UltimateGeek
Aren't we programmed to say and do certain things? We have a lot more variables, but..
@UltimateGeek
We're clearly more advanced than a game NPC, but that doesn't mean they have no value.
Oh, and I'm the main character of real life, I just don't go around telling everyone that, because I don't want to make them feel inferior.
UltimateGeek everyone’s an npc in someone else’s world
Also the Wings of reverie/revelation plot in the first part I think, before defeating murdhaw
@@btat16 It's kinda weird how you move your life around and then find out that other people can do the same lol.
You kinda missed the rather important point that if Link didn't wake the Wind Fish, the Nightmares would have overtaken the Island and made Koholint a living hell for all of its inhabitants. The Owl reveals this after you defeat the final boss, so I like to think Link is reluctant to end the dream but knows it's the only choice he truly has
Yeah, it's been A LONG time since I've played the original, but I definitely remember that being an important point.
(Was it after the final dungeon, not the final boss? It's been a long time, but I thought I remember it being a little earlier than you indicated, at least in the original. That could just be my childhood talking, though. I remember that knowledge helping me push forward.)
@@Lawlietftw30 I think it's hinted at earlier but only said explicitly after the final boss, so you certainly can get an idea of what's going on before that
I mean, the fact that it is stated after the final boss says a lot. Your motivation as a player during the actual game has nothing to do with stopping the nightmares to save the Wind Fish. You learn about it after the thing is done. Obviously, it can be argued that Link is a hero, because being a hero is such a wide umbrella, but this effect causes you to not really feel like a hero during the game (at least it did for me).
@@razbuten Very fair point, I think it's a credit to the game that it can be interpreted in so many different ways, thanks for such a good video exploring your experience with it! :)
@@razbuten no I believe you learn about the nightmares pretty early on in the story.
Or maybe midway.
"It asks them to be an adult. And sometimes, that means accepting that everything ends and still being able to look up and smile at the dreams of days past."
This is a very beautiful point.
If you feel that the denizens of Koholint island have value, then you can take solace that allowing a "waking being" to interact with them allows them go on existing in Link's memory, instead of fading like the fleeting moments of so many other dreams.
Title: "Link isn't a hero"
Video: "Link has to make an impossible decision and live with the great guilt that he couldn't save everyone"
Link/Zero when
This comment (and a few others reminding me that it is the same Link as a bunch of other games) is getting me to come around to the idea that Awakening is the part of the superhero movie/series where the hero wants to stop being a hero because of the burden of saving people.
@@razbuten plus the price is usually heavy to being a Hero as they have to suffer through so much and don't really get to live life the way they want and in some cases the people that the Hero protected become so fearful of them because of what they had to do to protect them the people demand the execution of the Hero or if the Hero is lucky exile the Hero.
@@razbuten It works as an extention of the theme of 'setting sail'. After everything he goes to the sea(self-discovery) and runs headlong into a storm (doubt, fear). It takes seeking an escape through dreaming and the journey to awaken to realize what he needs, who he really is.
These games are set shortly after LttP, and Oracles, following the downfall timeline. It makes sense something inside him is churning after all this; his heroic soul worn by such a tremendous loss. Accepting failure, knowing not everyone can be saved, having the courage to face sorrowful facts of the world and still smile for the future.
@@FarronMoon Actually, LA is before the Oracles.
"Those who lose dreaming are lost."
-Australian Aboriginal Proverb
@@VargVikernes1488 IQ tests are arbitrary tests that measure what a particular society finds intelligent. They have been shown that even today that they're biased towards race, socioeconomic status, and sex and gender. The truth is there is no objective measure of someone's intelligence only comparative methods with biased formatting.
So, I have to wonder how you feel about such a callous, childish, and nasty statement in retrospect?
@@VargVikernes1488 Australia was first established as a British penal colony in 1788. Australian aboriginals didn't gain the same rights that white people had to vote in their own country until 1965, weren't counted on the Australian census until 1967, and didn't have access to western education until about 2 or 3 generations ago.
For aboriginal kids who have grown up in their own culture - a culture that values oral traditions and had no formal writing system until European colonization - the transition is incredibly difficult, and they are at a disadvantage not because they are less intelligent, but because they are intelligent in ways that an education system designed with the goal to help white European kids thrive does not value.
So, out of the 231 years since Australia was first colonized, the people who originally lived there haven't even been recognized as citizens for a quarter of that time. Even now, Australia's constitution still permits racial dicrimination, and there are people who wish to further weaken Australia's existing anti-discrimination laws.
What you speak of is a long legacy of colonizers who violently suppressed, conquered, and assimmilated people who had already built a rich culture for themselves over a period of thousands of years, and then retroactively made up some racial pseudoscience as a way to dehumanize their victims and justify their own legacy of violent suppression, conquering, and assimilation.
Going by your username and belief that IQ scores are somehow determined by race, you're obviously a white supremacist, but you really should know that any perceived differences in intelligence between ethnic groups can be traced back to systemic problems as opposed to inherent racial inferiority.
VargVikernes1488 They’re still smarter than you lol
@@VargVikernes1488 IQ is arbitrary shit. The boundaries of the mind are discovered differently by everyone. So, basically, you're looking for an excuse to insult the aborigins.
Lots of evolution denialists in the comments. Or do you believe evolution stops at the neck?
That was a fantastic analysis of Link’s awakening. Playing it as a kid the mysterious nature of the island got me hooked, trying to figure it all out. As an adult, the bitter sweetness of leaving everything behind spoke to me. I also had the thought that the entire game was a hallucination while link was dying of dehydration or drowning, and waking the wind fish was his way of saying he wasn’t ready to go yet. Walking away from the light of this other world. In any case there’s a lot to unpack lol. Great video 👌
"Mr. Link... I don't feel so good."
Link is Thanos essentially.
He collects 8 magic items and once he has them all uses them to destroy everyone, sparing only himself.
oh fuck link's awakening is the most ambitious crossover of all ti
@@razbuten (insert meme here)
Link: Marin?
Marin: Did you do it?
Link: Yes
Marin: What did it cost?
Link: Everything...
Thanos is Link since Link has been making people vanish since 1993
I always thought it was actually Links dream. In waking the wind fish he wakes himself. It is after all Links awakening not the awakening of the wind fish.
Hey your probably right 🤗
I think the "keep the memory of the past and move forward" is the important one- it's not just the Wind Fish's memory- it's Links- as a great deal of the characters and enemies come from Link's memories, Link's Nightmares. Marin is almost a dead ringer for Zelda, Tarin is like a country bumpkin version of Link's Uncle, the Witch and Cursing demon, all remnants of memory from his canonical previous adventure- saving Hyrule in Link to the Past. You could imagine Link himself getting somewhat trapped in nostalgia or having a lingering desire for adventure- why else did Link sail out of Hyrule? It was because staying in a peaceful Hyrule was probably boring after you spent many months, maybe years, questing to defeat Ganon.
So you could say the plot of LInk's Awakening is Link getting into big trouble while attempting to find a new adventure and paying the price for it, only to be "rescued" by falling into the Wind Fish's dream. Here, Link finds himself reliving his previous adventure with the haze of nostalgia mixed with dream logic. I believe Koholint is an island of nostalgia, of wistful memory- of previous games (Kirby, For whom the Frog Tolls, Super Mario Bros 2), of places and people that were in Hyrule but also with more fantastic and strange elements thrown in. The art style of the remake itself is toylike, hearkening back to childhood , which is no doubt intentional with the "real world" having the Zelda link to the past art style.
The end of the story has Link learning to treasure his memories- he's more or less tricked into saving the island- because as a hero he does what comes naturally to him- entering dungeons, slaying monsters, collecting items, etc, but Links Awakening continually stops him to have him spend time with the islanders, with Marin, and he even has photos taken. It's only by the end does Link realizes that in his haste to quest, that he is going to have to say goodbye to the colorful characters and wonderful nature of the island.
The moral may actually be not to blindly rush ahead, but to cherish what you have, and at the same time, do not linger in old memories for too long.
One of the things I always took away from LA was that Marin and the other characters were different manifestations of the Wind Fish. You aren't removing them from existence, but you're allowing the magical mind that is the Wind Fish to reconstitute into it's conscious awakening from its sleeping one.
In this context, Marin's dream to fly is because she is part of the wind fish, and the wind fish wants to fly again.
I think this is a less grim interpretation about the nature of the story.
I mean, yeah, but there are some pretty deep questions to answer about the meaning of sentience. Sure they don't necessarily die in the way we think of it as they realign with the Wind Fish but there's no telling if their sentience is truly a separate one up until the awakening. Interestingly, Kingdom Hearts 2 has a very similar dilemma when Roxas is afraid to rejoin Sora in worry that he will cease to exist by reuniting. I think when a consciousness splits, that cat is already out of the bag and both are equally valid souls. At any rate, pretty cool to see any game tackle these kinds of questions. Link's Awakening really is one of the best in an already great series.
Bro, how the heck is a game that looks so simple so *FRICKIN DEEP*
*Magic*
Phantom Storytelling.
Ask the Kirby franchise. Kirby lore is deep and dark. A real treat for those who are curious as to what the hell is going on.
@@goldenghost23 he's not talking about being "dark" he's talking about being meaningful
Simple? Have you seen the GameBoy version?
Yes, lives in a dream has as much value as that of the dreamer... but, there is a but.
You have to understand... all that lives in a dream, is the dreamer... Each of those people was the Wind Fish
If you care about those people, the only right choice is to awaken the wind fish.
Me: it's raining outside.
TH-cam recommendation: well now it's gonna rain inside too
I love the Shadow Nightmare's final shapeshifting into Link's greatest fears and previous battles - Agahnim from ALTTP, the well known Moldorm, and famously the shadow of ALTTP's Ganon. This solidifies Link's interaction and influence on the island and shows the Nightmare's last desperate attempt at halting Link through his own fears and by deception. My favorite classic Zelda.
I always understood the ending as Marin still being alive, both in Link's, and the Windfish's memory, but also deep inside the Windfish's mind. Anytime the Windfish dreams, the island can reappear, Marin thus being an embodiment of love, care, and still a strong spirit.
But yeah, anyway I looked at it, the ending seemed bittersweet, Link's saved, order is restored, but he had to destroy a world and sacrifice genuine friends he'll never meet again, just to get stuck on a piece of Flotsam, in danger of dying of hunger and dehydration... Whoops?
She says she wishes to be a seagul and cross the ocean in your seaside talk with her. Later, she says she made a wish to the windfish, which is obviously to be a seagul. The windfish granted her wish. She's a fucking seagul.
Also, I'm sure the god of wind can make sure he'll float to shore.
That's another thing, does Link survive?
@@neonmajora8454
He's out at sea and just saved the god of wind, should be fine.
@@Lilliathi I'm just going to assume he does. lol
@@neonmajora8454 the windfish does leave clues hinting that letting it sleep is certain death for Link. I'm not sure if the windfish chooses to be coy to lead him along or to give him space to choose on his own. Assuming it would have really lead to his death, the dream could have only taken a couple minutes, enough time for Link to recover and save himself from drowning. Dying in the dream doesn't affect this, though if i remember right, it does affect the appearance of the seagull in the ending, so possibly deciding whether Marin's wish gets granted or not.
The reason he smiles when he sees the wind fish is because it confirms that it wasnt his dream
But it was a dream. He smiles because it’s finally free, and so is he really, and It’s a beautiful happy sight.
@@biffbroham yes but link isnt in his dream he is trapped in the wind fishes dream. So when he sees the wind fish he feels a sense of relief because the wind fish is the only other one that knows
I thought that link was just in a coma. His adventure and the events in the game aren't real. As the hero in his world, he has to find a way to wake up. That's why everything disappears when you wake up the wind fish.
Don´t you mean: The only Zelda Game, in which Zelda is not a hero?
I mean, I am really sad that Zelda is not the hero but at least he is still in the game as your main character!
Mr. Zelda is the best character in the series.
I think Zelda is a pretty cool guy. Eh wakes wnidfishes and doesnt afraid of anything.
Must...Not...React...........................
i hate you
I will always love these kind of comments.
Oh right, that’s why I subscribed to you
you can't see it behind this bag, but I am crying rn
@@razbuten I'm a new sub, only days old.
I need my bed time stories, my intellectual lullabies from you're masculine Marin, alternative.
I like to think that in the end cutscene where Link sees the wind fish, he can hear the awakening ballad and realizes that the Marin was the wind fish (the wind fish wanted to wake up because of her desire to get off the island), and is therefore, still alive.
It’s just a theory, and I don’t know how solid it actually is, but I think it makes the ending make sense which the added benefit of comforting the player about the “loss” of Marin and the other islanders.
"It asks them to sometimes be seen as the bad guy."
"In a weird way that wasn't clear to me until I became one myself..."
Wait.. *Razbuten* _you're_ a bad guy?! But.. someone who made such a nice video _can't_ be bad...
King Luigi yeah he’s the bad guy
Duh
@@josebocanegra8720 aw. I wanted to make the joke, but you beat me by 2 hours, lol.
“Raz is a bad guy?”
“He always was”
I forget where, but I know I read that in the japenese version of a Zelda book (Hyrule Historia maybe?) It stated that the world the Wind Fish dreamed of is it's own reality. All the people in the dream the wind fish truly created since it is some type of deity. They did the same thing with Phantom Hourglass later on where the realm of the Ocean King is based off a similar principal. However, in that world the ocean king saved some characters before erasing the others, just like how Marin ends up being able to live on as a seagull. Good analysis!
Actually the Ocean King's world was not a dream as shown in the end Link pulling out the Phantom Hourglass
@@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena not to mention you can see Linebeck's ship pulling away
Fan books don't mean shit
@@perfectcell5613 lol. hyrule historia is an official book.
I feel like the ending of this game reminds me of those mangas/animes where the protag falls in love with something he shouldn't like a figment of his imagination (Hatsukoi zombie) or a robot (Chobits). I always feel that it's the mature decision to wake up from those delusions and move on but remember those memories fondly which what the former did but the latter didn't (sorry spoliers). Anyways what I'm saying is that Link made the right choice, dreams are just dreams and you have to wake up and live on.
I don't know if there is a right choice but thats probably the better one, yeah.
Good stuff! This video has been sitting in my Watch Later playlist for a *looong* time, but since I just beat Link’s Awakening today, I figured it was time I check it out. You definitely summed up my thoughts and emotions very well. I already knew what the ending was since I had heard bits and pieces from around the Internet, but I was surprised to see how much it affected me in spite of that. It was a really good game, and I’m happy I got the chance to experience it. And thank you for putting in the effort to make this video. It was clear to see the amount of heart you put into it.
*When you came for Quality Content*
but got absolute sadness as well
I thought Marin becomes a seagull at the end? Looking back, if link enters the wind fish's dream by falling asleep nearby, who's to say that he's the only one -- Marin was always a seagull, and everyone else in kohonlit is someone who is asleep.
In this, perhaps the nightmares are the folks who made that decision you can't make as link, to stay in the dream and make sure the wind fish doesn't wake up
Yeah even in the game she says she wishes to like fly across the ocean or something like that
Hey man this video really helped me. I am going through some rough stuff with my girlfriend of 4 years but the end talking about "being able to look at the past and smile" was very important for me. Good video g
"you missed your final exam."
Oooof boy, an experience I had lived and still haunt me.
Love this.
Hello 1 year old verified youtuber without any comments
@@InfinityTheIdiot But his content is GODLY tho.
@@Zack-xv2yc so true
"it isnt clear until the end that the wind fish is actively trying to be awoken" um... but doesnt the owl say that hes being instructed by the wind fish *very* early on?
He says he is being instructed, but does not say by who. So, like, it is implied that it is the Wind Fish, but not explicitly stated.
Razbuten really? i could have sworn he said it was the wind fish guiding him or something, either before or after the first dungeon
I read over the script a handful of times to prep for this video. I am human so it is possible I missed something, but to my understanding, the owl early on says he is being instructed, but does not specify by who.
huh, guess ill see for myself whenever i get around to playing through the game again
The owl does say that someone has finally come to awaken the Wind Fish and that is why the monsters are more violent (because they want to keep the Wind Fish asleep) and that the Wind Fish is waiting and watching.
Your entire production, the dialogue and themes you touch on, the overall flow, the buttery tone of your luscious voice, everything, it’s grand.
Beautiful video.
I am so glad that it shown on my feed🙏🏻
A new timeline where Link never returns to hyrule
The citizens of Link's Awakening fill a similar place as Pokemon to me
If you ever were a person who cared deeply about your Pokemon and get really pissed when your cart save fails or when you can't transfer them over, you felt the same wacky emotions as in Links Awakening
Eventually you realize that all Game Boy save batteries are made of sand and will crumble to dust and that you only remember that Level 100 Shiny Flygon your cousin with the gameshark hacked for you
One day you won't have that game anymore and you have to deal with that.
It's definitely a hard realization
MapleMilk no cloud saves in animal crossing new horizons type beat
@@thetragedyofcommons I feel you 😔
Man, I miss my original team. Goodnight, sweet fiery dragon.
@@thetragedyofcommons expiring save batteries aren't a thing anymore though. Saves are stored on solid-state drives nowadays.
And now certain Pokemon truly ARE stuck in the past, because Game Freak made it impossible to transfer them.
I realize I’m late to the party and you probably won’t see this, but thank you so much for making this video. I feel like all of us who played this game felt the same way after finishing it, and I struggled for a long time to make meaning of its melancholy, bittersweet end. You put the player’s frustrations and emotional reception to Link’s Awakening into words better than anyone else could, and that helped put my thoughts about it to peace. And for that, thank you.
Bro I absolutely love your channel. You make great points and it’s evident how much you love the medium. Thank you
This video was randomly recommended to me, and I'm glad it was. Your script structure and reasoning is fantastic. Keep up the great work dude!
Technically this link is still a hero because he saved hyrule in a link to the past before this and then those 2 other kingdoms in the 2 oracle games after this
Time to take down the video...
@@razbuten Lmao
This link is one of the most powerful link and the one with the most exp
Harkenz glad someone said it
Oot actually
I cried while watching this, because I remembered my dog. She died three weeks ago, and I still can't believe it. Link's Awakening made me remember her. Even if the islanders are not there anymore, they were happy to meet Link, and Link was happy to meet them. Even if they won't spend time together anymore, they forged something beautiful: friendship. And that will never go away
Marin became a seagull in the ending, that's the wish she made to the Wind Fish. That's why you see her in the sky and immediately after a seagull in the ending.
Happy ending!
This video almost made me cry. I've never played a Zelda game before.
He saves the windfish from its nightmares. He’s a hero to the windfish
awww the poor baby windfish has nightmares /s
Jaksida ....Really? Are you twelve years old?
Zak & theCaptain No but neither is the Windfish. We all have to deal with nightmares so why should we kill off an entire civilisation of people just because the Windfish wets the bed?
Jaksida that “civilization” isn’t real. The players struggle between (helping himself and) the windfish and keeping this false reality alive is what makes the story so interesting. Why are you so pissed that the story goes to a place that Link is the hero to the only other thing that “exists” in the story? I don’t even know why I’m continuing to give my opinion when I know you won’t change your mind.
Zak & theCaptain What makes this reality ‘false’ anyway? It’s real to the inhabitants of the island and each one of them is just as human in any of the categories that would qualify Link to be human. Link’s reality to them is just as false as theirs is to him. They experience pain. They think freely. They live their life as they’ve always lived it. For them that is their reality just as much as the outside world is Link’s reality. Who can truly say their reality is false?
Under what circumstances can one justify Link’s robbing of their existence? Sure he wakes the Windfish but the Windfish is some ethereal being he rarely interacts with unlike the citizens that treat him with kindness and hospitality.
Link then repays their kindness by wiping them all out from the only reality they have.
Watching your videos is like listening of a poem. I love to hear your views and thoughts on games and music and your wife playing games. It helps to look at things through a new perspective. Thank you so much!
Love your content dude. Always makes me happy to see a quality TH-camr achieving success, keep at it mate!!
When the Wind Fish says 'lets us awaken together" it makes me think...maybe link was just knocked out the whole time and the Wind Fish and the events in the island were all just a dream and a way to navigate his mind in order to wake up so he would in fact be safe and not to much he's on an island and he has to wake someone/thing else up.
Make sense since he does seem to be 'waking up' at the end and it fits the idea he was in a dream the entire time.
This. And i think the very different art-style in the intro and outro compared to the game goes in this way.
I always just thought link was just having a godamn fever dream because of him swimming in the ocean. It’s cold in there ol chaps
Best video I’ve ever seen in history to be honest. This is the first vid I’ve ever seen for this channel, and you’ve already become one of my favorites
That was freaking beautiful man, thank you so much for this!!
Regarding the ending: I actually did smile along with Link on my first playthrough. The pacing of this game was perfect and the twist was so well-timed that it gave me time to go through the entire grieving process over the course of the last 3 dungeons; by the time I fought the final boss, I was sad, yes, but I knew what had to be done and had come to terms with it. As the Wind Fish tells you, it is the very nature of dreams to end. Your path was set from the start.
It can’t be understated how well-executed the twist in LA was: it colors your entire experience of the last few dungeons in a way that I feel no other Zelda game before or since has achieved.
i’m tearing up i’m not even kidding help me
Wow. I didn't expect to tear up at the end of the video. You are really good at what you do :)
The way you write and read your scripts is extremely impressive and I love the content. Keep up the good work!
This game affected me deeply as a child, I was so excited cause I had seen zelda games but never played them. As a 9 year old realizing that I wasnt the hero but potentially the person who was going to doom all these people was super heavy and the experiences and characters were deeply memorable to this very day. Nintendo truly made a timeless art piece, one if the firsts on the video game medium with this game's release.
How appropriate that this should be the first video that pops up in my recommended feed after waking up.
I've never played Link's Awakening, but I've always found the premise fascinating. The story's conclusion is somewhat reminiscent of Wind Waker, my personal favorite Zelda game. They're both bittersweet examinations of what it means to leave something dear to you behind. The key difference though is that Wind Waker relies more on nostalgia and prior knowledge of the franchise. You never really get a chance to interact with the Hyrule beneath the waves in a meaningful way like you do with Koholint Island in Link's Awakening. Heck, the King of Hyrule makes the tough decision to essentially condemn himself and his kingdom to a watery grave for you, distancing Link (and by extension the player) of any sense of personal responsibility.
Instead there's an implied expectation that the player is supposed to experience the feelings of loss and acceptance more than Link. The Zelda franchise had been very well established by then, and many players had spend years, if not decades saving Hyrule in other games up until then. While the story ends on an optimistic note for Link and Zelda as they sail off to forge a new kingdom, I found myself feeling conflicted and hollow as the realization that the Hyrule I grew up with was no more.
Link's Awakening couldn't rely on pulling such nostalgic heart strings at the time of its original release. Not only was the series still young, but it was also the first portable iteration, making it the first Zelda game many people had ever played. By placing the fate of the island and its inhabitants solely in Link's hands, the ending forces the player to directly confront tough questions like facing scenarios where there is no good outcome and dealing with the consequences of your subsequent decisions.
Hello Raz, sorry the bad english.
I've met your channel on the week's begin, and by now, I watched most of the videos, and bro, I loved them. You really made my days better and gave me many tips about DMing, thank you.
Good job, dude. This is the first video of yours I saw and I loved it.
Subscribed.
If there are ancient ruins inside the dream I wonder how long this has been going on. (Ancient greek civilization found out they were in a dream, made the murals and vanished?)
*Next Up:* The Only Avengers Movie Without The Avengers.
honestly, though I would watch the fuck out of a show that just followed normal people living their lives post-snap.
@@razbuten This would be where they would put one of their netflix series
IF THEY HAD ONE
are you a bot? Ive seen you maybe 10 times.
@@razbuten the HBO miniseries-- the leftovers. Seriously, check it out.
@@razbuten a normal person without powers approachs thanos he's way to weak to defeat him obviously except he goes the obvious route and strangles thanos to death because no matter how powerful you are you need oxygen
This was fantastic!!! Great job!!!
This was excellent man. Good work
"The cast of Awakening is more distinct and memorable than those of any of the other titles..."
*ERROR WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION*
Man this channel is always such a treat to watch. Keep up the amazing work!
Thanks for re-analyzing such a great piece of memory ~
I remember having cried at the end of the game (GameBoy version), watching the scene where everybody vanishes ...
Seeing my brother and I reacting this way, my mother said we shouldn't shed tears for a videogame and we weren't normal ^^"
This video clearly reminds me all of this and I still remember this strong feeling of not wanting to wake the windfish ~
Solid video. Love your stuff man!
Great video! This is a good look at how to interpret the game, I enjoyed it. I do however wanna drop my hot take in the comments since its a thing, but in no way does that mean anyone is correct or wrong. I think art means whatever you take from it, so multiple examinations can hold value.
I think the entire game is a dream for Link, a world he wants because he does exist as the hero of the waking world. Link only exists when a crisis is present, so he's never around to enjoy the world. To me this whole game was an escape for Link, a reality he knows he can't really have because of the nature of who he is, but one that he wants none the less. I like to think the Wind Fish being a literal white whale helps add to this theory.
I feel like the Owl was a physical manifestation of the Wind Fish, but in dream form. I feel like part of the deeper underlying morals of this game is that sometimes, you wish you could be in a dream world, but in the real world you have to make tough decisions that you might not like being forced to make, but making these decisions will make you a better more well rounded person.
What a great narrative. Hats off to you man. Keep going, you’ve got my sub.
Excellent video, and great insights into this mysterious game
plot twist: every character exist in the real world and was in a coma somewhere out there until you woke them all up.
Considering that Link was himself inside this person's dream while still existing outside of it, could it be possible that other characters on this island also had some existence outside the dream as well, and that destroying the island caused them to wake up from their comas? Perhaps they didn't appear beside Link because their consciences went to whereever their bodies were. Since Link's body was floating in the ocean, that's where his conscience went. But if someone else's body was, for example, laying comatose in a hospital bed tens of thousands of miles away, that's where THEIR consciences would go instead.
So instead of killing all those people, he in fact liberated them from their prison.
Did you ever consider that?
woah woah woah, you might be onto something here my boy
@@electroshock1021 Thank you! There's plenty more of that kind of insightful commentary on my own channel, if you're interested!
@@Acerthorn yeah, i'll check it out
This is one of the most interesting and haunting analysis of this game, it took me a while to re-find this video until I remember the most interesting idea of this story, “there’s no hero in links awakening”
This video with its brilliant editing and interesting perspective will stay in my memory forever, kinda like a dream I share with a community now.
I never played Link's Awakening until well into my college years and after beating that 6 years ago and going through the remake once again I always saw the game as being able to let go of your past and embrace the future of what could be. Watching this video made me realize how special this game really is. Great work Raz.
By waking the Windfish, it gives life to Marin, who's only wish is to become a seagull, and escape the island to sing for people. You allowed a dream, filled with illusions, to give birth to something real that's beyond you. You don't end the island, you share it with others through seagull Marin.
I think it's heroic to do that. Hell, imprinting yourself on those you care about is the only way to be immortal.
So essentially the wind fish dreamt thereby creating another dimension. Yeah it's a god
Just discovered your channel, really great stuff man. Subbed
Keep 'em coming. Amazing!
Well this has given me something to think about.
Hello, I am here to remind all of you to drink water and stay hydrated
Murph the chicken thanks!
POSTURE CHECK!
You saved my life, Thanks.
r/hydrohomies leaking all the way to TH-cam?
Ummm a little random (well actually not too random) but thanks 😊
Thank you, very cool
I’d love to see more videos of this type on other Zelda titles - diving into the themes of each one would be cool! I find your thought process and the way you explain it extremely interesting. 😊
Razbuten, your wording of the theme of this game touched my heart. Thank you for perfectly putting into words yet another reason I adore this game.
wtf, are these tears on my face?
Ah yes, commencing the day feeling sad af. Thanks, Razbuten. Really cool!
perfect feeling for a nice fall day
Really great analysis here! Awesome job!
Fantastic video! Keep up the good work
Great video! I’ve never played the games, but this was awesome. Your point at the end about being an adult... perfect timing for me. Thanks
Wtf
I remember reading a dialoge with the owl that says "if you don't wake up the wind fish, all the nightmares will escape the island to destroy the world"
Mind blown. This put me on a emotional awakening. I'm fascinated by the different perspectives people have with games. I grew up playing LoZ and learned to read playing OoT. Also, amazing video my dude.
great commentary and analogy, thoroughly enjoyed. Sub earned!
This is just like the adventure time episode with the pillow fort