BOTW Link isnt even a top 5 Link. Realistically he has NO intrigue outside of concept art (what if Link had a FAMILY but they already did that officially in Wind Waker) and his sworn duty as a knight/hylian champion which is just a different way of seeing him for what he's been doing for years.
Like even bigger hot take, Amnesiac BOTW Link is a better Link because he's not Link. he doesnt know who Zelda is, has no purpose and can be whatever he wants to be. THAT is interesting but also kinda cheating aince its more a blank slate.
He's BORING. Sure he has cute animations sometimes but like. So does every other Link with idle animations.
And what's crazy, going back to the blank slate comment, most people can do interesting things with a blank slate, but everyone has been SOOOO BORING with their interpretations of BOTW Link (not counting the Gerudo Link debaucle and the can of worms THAT opens up)
idk food for thought. Im just tired of BOTW Link being hyped up as the best, I dont hate the guy, he has hos qualities sure but like he is NOT all everyone says he is.
Inspired by your many posts on BOTW
see as much as a fan as I am of expanding on BOTW Link in the hopes of making him interesting I do agree that the game(s) (if we're including Age of Calamity, which I do) do not really paint him as anything but "cool knight dude who kicks butt all the time." Especially pre-Calamity. In pretty much every single scrap we get, it's pretty consistently about just how cool and talented he is.
This is astoundingly boring. I am not inherently interested or impressed if a character is powerful. Little kids write about their cool character blowing up the moon or whatever. It's how that's framed against the rest of his personality that's compelling. And oh whoops he barely has one and it's like two lines talking about how he puts on a front. If you want to do anything with BOTW Link at all, those lines are incredibly load-bearing. He's pressured by his duties, but he...completes them perfectly? What has he got to worry about?
This is where I would talk about how painting Hyrule as a highly nationalistic society obsessed with the past that uses Link and Zelda as a form of propaganda and that most of the information we get about him is untrue or exaggerated comes in but this is just making shit up. We're supposed to see him as perfect, he's just kinda anxious. Also why it's genuinely funny that the memory loss "fixed" him like bbygirl take some buspirone lmaoooo
I think the difference between this boring gary stu guy we hear about and the protagonist we play as is that the protagonist has that juxtaposition against him. I think post-Calamity Link is very funny because of his dialogue options however, he's very cute, but yeah that's really not a lot either.
But, to be honest. I think there are a lot of reasons why people don't make him interesting. A lot of people are convinced he's more of a character than he is while just. Making shit up about him. Case in point the whole "microexpressions" thing like omg no BOTW and TOTK's facial rigs are absolute garbage. I know this because I've fiddled around with the ripped ones and because I've stared at BOTW cutscenes too long. Also the adventure logs. Yeah you know how people complained the English version of BOTW was "removing Link's personality" well uh no. He just doesn't have one lol. I think it's very important to realize that he's effectively an OC like, 99% of the time, and realizing that you can basically do anything you want with him makes him a better character.
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