By Lyle IzzilloOctober 16, 2017
We’ve all played Ocarina of Time. We’ve all had the chance to play it multiple times over both as an imaginative child and now as an analytical adult (well, most of us). Easily one of the most popular and loved in the series. But there’s one part of the game that was never really touched on that I wished we knew more about. Where did our beloved princess go during those seven years?
Link, our ever green-clad hero, gets to take us on all his journeys. We quite literally see him from waking up, taking on ever monster evil throws at him, come out on top almost every time, and follow him all the way to the end of his journeys. We know Ganon’s story; evil being in a constant struggle for the Triforce bent on domination of everything. Occasionally he takes on human form as Ganondorf in attempts to overthrow our hero. We even know more of Ganon’s story thanks to Skyward Sword. The third piece to this trifecta has very little information known about her. Princess Zelda is usually a damsel in distress. We know she possesses the power of the Triforce of Wisdom but to what extent does her power go? Why is it that Zelda is the chosen one for the Triforce of Wisdom? Why not the King of Hyrule? We do know it’s royal bloodline. There is a major gap in the turn of events in Ocarina of Time for Nintendo to really explore some of Princess Zelda’s backstory.
Let’s cut to the chase. In Ocarina of Time Link uses the Ocarina of Time with the three spiritual stones to open up the Sacred Realm in the Temple of Time to obtain the mystical blade that repels evil. However, because he’s deemed too young to wield the Master Sword, his spirit and body get held in the Chamber of Sages for 7 years until he is old and strong enough to use the sword. Moments before this happens we see Princess Zelda fleeing on horseback with her guardian Impa, of the Sheikah Tribe, from Hyrule castle. So as Link is in the Chamber of Sages, we can assume during that time Zelda is learning from Impa the ways of the Sheikah. That’s made obvious when she returns and (SPOILER ALERT) reveals herself to be Sheik, the mysterious masked figure teaching adult link all of the melodies of the various temples. But, the questions are begged to be asked. What kind of ordeals did Zelda have to go through to become Sheik?
It’s clear that Sheik has a vast ‘wisdom’ of all the different areas in which you fight beasts and monsters. The Shadow Temple’s Bongo Bongo is an excellent example. Sheik was very clearly emotional and led on that she had more than likely had a past encounter with this entity. Did she have to go through a trial to seal the beast into the well? Similarly, to how Impa went into the Temple to seal him off once again? The same could go for all the other Sages of Hyrule.
This whole scenario of Zelda’s upbringing could be an excellent chance to explore her past. Maybe she had some sour memories of her relationship with the King of Hyrule before he was killed by Ganondorf. Could there be a possibility that the pure Princess Zelda had a, however small a chance, vendetta and a plot for revenge aside from returning to aid Link? Did Zelda know how much time she had before Link emerged from the Chamber of Sages? Similar to how there are six sages, Zelda could have spent a year helping out her future sages in their respective temples with monsters and demons that Impa deemed as training. One year to train Zelda into the fighter that Sheik is, then the remaining six to be spent helping the would-be sages.
I feel like that area of Ocarina of Time is an untapped market. As previously stated, it could be an excellent opportunity to give us more backstory into our fearless heroine. It honestly could be a non-canonical game and be amazing. There’s so much more LoZ lore that Nintendo has yet to touch on and if we’ve learned anything from 18 iterations, they sure can tell compelling and in-depth stories of adventure. What do you think? Is that too much a stretch? Would you like to see more of the background of the Hyrule Royal family? Forever our warrior Princess.
