Why Link is "Gender Neutral" [Advent Calendar #19]

Channel:

Video Game Story Time

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Published on December 20, 2020 12:47:11 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FJTn1XXy18

Game:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

Duration: 1:26

25,863 views

1,630

According to Nintendo developers, Link from the Legend of Zelda is "gender neutral". They are designed to look deliberately gender neutral, and while the game uses the "he/him" pronouns for Link, Eiji Aonuma and other influential Nintendo creators such as Takashi Tezuka have plainly stated that the iconic character is "gender neutral".

In fact, Tezuka went so far as to say that he wishes a live-action Link would be played by a woman. It's likely not an accident that Link has been voiced in games by both male and female voice actors, having most often been voiced by women.

Anyway, it's late and I want to go to bed. Whose idea was it to do a video every single day?!


EDIT: Changed thumbnail and title from "non-binary" to "gender neutral" to use the specific phrasing contained in Eiji Aonuma's interview. No offense was intended, we're aware of the importance of accurately representing another person's gender identity, and of accurately reporting exactly what an interviewee says.

Lots of love,

BretonStripes (http://twitter.com/bretonstriped) and Kotor (http://twitter.com/kotorcomics)


Sources:
https://time.com/4369537/female-link-zelda/
http://www.mtv.co.uk/nintendo/news/is-yoshi-gender-fluid-nintendo-debunk-confirm-6-big-fan-theories

Music: "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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