While the whole world is anxious to discover the next Zelda, sequel to Breath of the Wild, a theory emerges: what if the iconic princess was finally playable?
The Legend of Zelda is probably one of Nintendo’s strongest licenses. Since 1986, the game series has featured a hero dressed in green, Link, fighting the forces of evil to restore peace. Most of the time, he has to rescue Princess Zelda, held captive by the forces of the evil one. In almost 25 years, players have embodied the hero in different adventures, but it has hardly ever been possible to take control of the princess, when she is present in the game. The only exception: in 2009 in Spirit Tracks, for Nintendo DS, while Zelda has been turned into a ghost and is taking possession of Specters, it is somehow possible to control her. But nothing to do with a full-fledged character.
Out of the franchise, Zelda has been playable in the Super Smash Bros license since 2001, Hyrule Warriors since 2014 and Cadence of Hyrule since 2019. It’s not really huge, it’s less than Princess Peach from the Mario Bros universe, but it’s more than other non-playable characters. What if it changed in Breath of the Wild 2? A theory that we will explore from this step.
BREATH OF THE WILD 2: THE REVOLUTION?
In 2017, Nintendo released probably one of the best games in gaming history: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch. A gigantic open world to explore, full of possibilities, an adventure without a determined narrative frame where players trace their own path, a real visual slap … In short, a huge success recognized by both critics and fans. The bar is set very high. How will they do better for the next game?
In June 2019, first responders arrived, but above all a huge surprise: Nintendo unveiled a first short overview and officialized that the next game would be a sequel. For the first time, a Zelda game was entitled to a sequel. Admittedly, this had more or less been the case between Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, as well as between The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. But it was not as an official, it was not a real follow-up in the common sense of the term.
The first questions arrive. If the adventure takes place in the same world, with change of form for the bad guy, supposedly Ganondorf, in place of Ganon, what will be the added value of the game? Can Breath of the Wild 2 be as revolutionary as the first installment and meet the expectations of players? For that, it would be necessary to operate a reversal of standards. For the first time, Zelda is the heroine of the game to save Link. Is it possible? Absolutely. And there are even clues that support this theory.
PLAYABLE ZELDA: CLUES IN FAVOR OF THEORY
The potential answers to our questions, we will find them in the short teaser of the game of just over a minute, the only material we have to get our hands on for the moment. Around 43 seconds, we can see a kind of green matter that seems to take hold of Link. Does it attack? Does she take possession of him? I can’t say anything at this time. But there is a first feeling that stands out: he is probably in a panic. Admittedly, this is not yet enough to say that Zelda will be the heroine of the game. But it is already a good starting point.
Fortunately, there is a second clue and not the least: the hair of Princess Zelda. So far, in each opus, she is systematically represented with long hair. For the first time, in the images of Breath of the Wild 2, she appears with short hair, which does not fall below her neck. Simple artistic detail? Perhaps. But it could also be a harbinger of more. As bellossomraptor, a Reddit user, points out, long hair is more difficult to animate for video game designers. He then reports that this supports the theory of a playable Princess Zelda and that the designers would then have opted for a short haircut for the sake of realism.
Admittedly, it is not much. But there is something going on. If Nintendo did not want to confirm anything on this subject, in an interview with Eiji Aonuma, producer of the series Zelda, granted to IGN, when the question had been asked, it had replied: “I can not tell you “. Same observation when Kotaku asked him how many characters will be playable: “I can’t say anything”, answers the producer again.
Anyway, Zelda playable or not, despite the little details we have about it, Breath of the Wild 2 already looks like a game more than promising. It remains to be seen when it will be released on Nintendo Switch. End of 2020? Beginning of 2021? The mystery remains!
