Non-Speaking Representation In Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Access-Ability
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ต.ค. 2024
- Echoes of Wisdom makes non-speaking Link more directly canon than seen before in the series. A lot of it is well handled. Some of it feels a little closer to fantasy.
A huge thanks to JadeBarefoot on BlueSky for giving this a sensitivity read and accuracy pass.
God I really love this take, I remember being equally as dissapointed when Link got his arm back at the end of ToTK, I feel like these kind of cop out endings are unfortunately common in games. I dislike the "everything is fixed" type of endings where the main character gets all their injuries/disabilities magicked away, I feel like it's just so disingenuous and frustrating
I adore the representation of non-verbal Link in BOTW, TOTK, and EOW.
link's backstory and his trauma are especially heartbreaking if you consider that most people are petrified in the rifts but link, due to plot reasons, wouldn't have been, even as a child. not only was it a harrowing experience but all the other kids with him would have been petrified, adding to the horror and removing anyone he could share the experience with
I think another more interesting “reward” for defeating the evil at the end of the game wouldn’t be the ability to speak perfectly, but the ability to regain speech. I’m autistic, and I was mute when I was much younger, but through a lot of speech therapy I was able to speak. I think rather than just giving him speech, he should be unburdened by the existence of the evil and work towards what he once had.
I have only played to the part shortly after the first dungeon so I got the dialog that confirms Link being nonverbal in this game. I was suprised they actually made that canon but reading the dialog I also immediately clocked it as a checkov's gun so I'm not surprised that the ending turned out the way it does. But it's a bit disappointing they didn't go a different route nonetheless.
Engagement for the engagement god!
Great video Laura
Today is the day I realised that Subthorn was a pun on Southern... derp
Edit: I think Link would know sign language, but we never get a chance to see it plotwise (since he's holding a sword and shield)
Have you ever played CrossCode? It has some really great representation of a canonically non-verbal main character.
[Mild spoilers] It starts out seeming like it is just playing with common RPG tropes of the silent protagonist, but then goes on to develop these ideas as a consistent character trait and frequent plot point, exploring how she communicates using assistive technology and her own emotional expressiveness, how her friends accept and understand her - and often makes fun of said tropes, such as the way that the diegetically-AI NPCs in the game-within-a-game will often respond as if she had said whole lines that she hadn't, much to the main character's bemusement.
I watched the full video and agree with a lot of it but it sounds like you are thinking that he regained his speech entirely which they may or may not be alluding to in the Final Cut scene. He regain an amount of speech from facing and defeat what took it away in the first place. Thats not to say he couldn’t have gone on just the same and lived a happy life but though his own willingness to face what had been done to him he regained a part of what had been taken from him. Which I think it a better story then he faced the trauma and nothing changed.
The issue is that not everyone is that fortunate, whereas it seems that dealing with the rifts had a curative effect on all the characters. If it was the result of Link processing his trauma, then only he'd be affected by that.
Edit: had Link been shown as still being mostly silent, that might have helped. Then instead of a big happy ending, it's more as you describe it.
I refuse to read the ending as Link speaking again no matter what was intended or implied by Nintendo. All I saw was link communicating with his body language, and apparently communicating something shockingly unexpected, like joking that he demand they arrest Zelda again because she hasn’t given back the cloak she stole from him… or something. ANYthing that keeps me from having to accept the implied ending as canon. Also, was terribly disappointed by ToTK and never finished it, but even more disappointed to find out about magically regaining his original arm. How is that his “happy ending”? Dude got an upgrade, let him keep it for once. More protagonists should be rockin’ their prosthesis. 🦾 But then again, it is Nintendo Japan we’re talking about here; they’ve got all the accessibility inclusion and of a wet sock most times.