It’s been an awfully sad week. I’ve been grief watching Twin Peaks and decided it was time to make a Black Lodge moth (Gordon). I can’t put into words how influential and impactful David Lynch‘s work has been to me both in the way I create my own art and the way I ingest the art of others. He taught me to see absurdity in the mundane and more importantly to find beauty in that absurdity. The world will be a lot less fascinating without him. ❤️🖤🤍⛰️🦉⛰️🤍🖤❤️
In honor of David Lynch (1946-2025), some quotes about how his work on Twin Peaks influenced the Zelda series.
Quote 1:
PEOPLE:
Kensuke Tanabe, age 35. Link’s Awakening Writer.
Takashi Tezuka, age 38. Link’s Awakening Game Director.
Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 30. Link’s Awakening Writer.
QUOTE:
"Tanabe: When I started [on Link’s Awakening] I was given a list of requirements by the director, Mr. Tezuka, such as no Triforce, no Princess Zelda, no Hyrule, and a closed field. …
Mr. Tezuka requested a world full of strange characters like in Twin Peaks, which was a popular show back then. I then wrote a script that fit my vision of an egg hatching on a mountaintop ending the world with Koizumi’s ‘Your dream? Or someone else’s dream?’ Koizumi worked on the main thread of the story and I did the odd characters. "
Quote #2:
PEOPLE:
Takashi Tezuka, age 49. Director of Link’s Awakening.
Eiji Aonuma, age 46. Director or Producer of various Zelda games.
Satoru Iwata, age 49. 4th President of NIntendo.
QUOTE:
"Tezuka: Oh, right, about Twin Peaks…
Aonuma: Whoa, here we go. [laughs] Iwata-san, do you know about Twin Peaks?
Iwata: No. Bring me up to speed. [laughs]
Tezuka: We were talking about this before you arrived. I was talking about fashioning The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening with a feel that's somewhat like Twin Peaks. At the time, Twin Peaks was rather popular. The drama was all about a small number of characters in a small town.
Iwata: Okay…
Tezuka: So when it came to Link's Awakening, I wanted to make something that, while it would be small enough in scope to easily understand, it would have deep and distinctive characteristics."
Quote #3:
PEOPLE:
Mark Frost, age 70. Co-Creator and Executive Producer of Twin Peaks.
QUOTE:
"Q: [Interviewer asks about his meeting with Nintendo developers, who were reportedly inspired by Twin Peaks for Link’s Awakening]
Frost: They were talking to me about a Twin Peaks game, and they mentioned Zelda at the time. They said, ‘One of the things we love about your show [Twin Peaks] is how there’s all sorts of sideways associations that can drive the story forward.’ They asked me about that as they were thinking about expanding the Zelda universe.
… I’d played lots of Dungeons & Dragons when I was young, so I was familiar with the kind of story they were thinking about. I think I said, ‘Don’t be afraid to use dreamlike, Jungian symbolism. Things can connect thematically without having to connect concretely.’ It was things like that that I was urging them [to consider]."
Quote #4:
PEOPLE:
Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Producer of Ocarina of Time.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: I didn't want to tell a story [in Ocarina of Time] so much as I wanted to have a lot of people appear around the main character and portray their relationships. Some years back, a television show called Twin Peaks was popular. When I saw that, the most interesting thing wasn't the ins and outs of the story, but what kinds of characters appeared.
… I think those suspicious and odd characters alone are interesting. I'm more interested in their presence than who is whose cousin and whose parents were sworn enemies way back when. … What's important is what role that person plays and how they contribute to portraying the main character."
