THE QUEST FOR MEANING IN THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

KELSEY KLATKA AND LOUISE GRANN

The field of existential psychology focuses on the quest for meaning and the discovery of purpose in a person’s life in an inherently meaningless world. It stems from existentialism, which asserts that a person derives meaning from within, and is responsible for doing so even in the apparent absence of external meaning, such as a belief in God or a preordained destiny.

One of existential psychology’s best known forms, logotherapy, was developed in the 1930s by Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist and wise old man. Logotherapy is based on the belief that the pursuit of one’s life’s meaning is the motivating force behind everything we do. Frankl believed that all people find meaning through their experiences on their own journey throughout life. On this journey—the existential journey—we examine different tenets of life, including responsibility, freedom, and death, and, Frankl proposed, process these tenets through shock, suffering, and finally the acceptance of our responsibility to create meaning in our own life.

Link’s story in the Legend of Zelda series is a perfect fit for the existential journey described by Frankl’s framework. Chosen by fate, Link undergoes this existential process of finding his own meaning during his journey to becoming the Hero of Hyrule. As in Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, Link achieves his victories and comes home transformed, but Frankl’s journey is a personal odyssey rather than a mythological one. It requires individuals to relate to their unrelievable pain head-on and create meaning from it, instead of emphasizing the combating of external suffering, as in the hero’s journey. Moreover, in the hero’s journey, the hero returns to a homeland to complete the journey’s cycle; in an existential journey, the hero may not return or indeed have a homeland that creates that perfect circular balance, but he or she must find a way to create meaning anyway. Thus, Link must determine what is meaningful to him and act accordingly to fulfill his destiny, whether that be returning home or setting off on a new course. On the journey to becoming the Hero of Hyrule, Link—and the player alongside him—learns to embody different aspects of a hero in order to fulfill his destiny, and, in doing so, leaves a lasting legacy in the mind of the player that continues after the game has ended.

   SHOCK: LINK’S AWAKENING   

“Wake Up!”

—Navi, Ocarina of Time (1998)

Every legend has a beginning. In the Legend of Zelda mythos, the adventure often begins when Link is awakened by a voice calling on him to rise and begin his journey to fulfill his destiny as the Goddess Hylia’s chosen hero. Where he was before or where he might have been going changes forever due to this soul-shaking summons. How does Link become this Hero of Hyrule and make sense of his destiny that is eternally linked to Princess Zelda and Demon King Ganon?

Existentially, the act of awakening goes deeper than the opening of a person’s eyelids. To awaken is to become aware of a person’s situation in life and discover for the first time that they are alone. Viktor Frankl says that a person’s meaning is unique to, and must be fulfilled by oneself alone: the existential journey begins only after the individual realizes they must take their first steps without a travel companion by their side. The moment is one of shock, in which the existential adventurer is jolted awake through this new awareness.

In Link to the Past (1991), Link is awakened in the dead of night by Princess Zelda’s voice calling out to him for help. Heeding Zelda’s call, he must take up the mantle of Knight of Hyrule after his uncle’s passing. As Hyrule kingdom’s last loyal knight, only Link can stand against Ganon’s wicked forces, rescue Zelda, and restore the Sacred Realm. Similarly, when Ocarina of Time (1998) begins, Link is fast asleep in his cozy hovel in the Kokiri Forest. At the behest of the Great Deku Tree, Navi, who becomes Link’s personal fairy, calls to Link to “Wake up!” Link has to recognize that a fairy is calling to him and open his eyes to the world beyond the Forest. He has to face his destiny as a Hylian and the Hero of Time.

At the heart of Frankl’s logotherapy is the human will to meaning: an inner drive to find meaning in one’s life and discover one’s calling. Such an existential call can only be answered once one is awoken from a sleepy, easygoing life. This process consistently repeats for the Hero of Hyrule. In The Wind Waker (2002), whilst Link lazily snoozes by the beach on Outset Island, his little sister Aryll enthusiastically wakes him up from his nap. Later, it is her kidnapping that awakens him yet again and drives him to begin his journey and trade in his regular clothing for the Hero of Time’s traditional tunic. In Skyward Sword (2011), adrift above the clouds in peaceful Skyloft, Link sees in his dreams a terrifying vision of the Imprisoned: Demise’s sealed form. A brilliant ray of light suddenly shines down and an ethereal voice tells Link he faces a great destiny and that the time has come for him to awaken. This dream is abruptly disrupted by Zelda’s bird Loftwing, who wakes Link by plonking a letter written by Zelda onto his sleepy head, telling him to hurry to the Wing Ceremony.

The quest for personal meaning officially begins when the existential adventurer, now roused from their existential sleepiness, heeds the life-disrupting call, and by taking on this quest discover who they are. Link is frequently jolted into consciousness at the start of his adventure: Zelda calls to Link in the dead of night, startling him, and Navi rudely interrupts his dreams. Link’s initial shock at being called by Zelda, Navi, Aryll, or another creature must then be overcome before he can continue on his existential journey.

   SUFFERING: JOURNEYING TO FIND LINK   

“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”

—Old Man, The Legend of Zelda (1986)

After the initial shock, the next step in the existential journey, which leads to acceptance or rejection of an individual’s path, is suffering. It is suffering that provides an impetus for meaning-making. Victor Frankl describes the process by which individuals derive meaning from suffering in three parts: creating or doing a deed; experiencing a particular place or encountering someone who is especially significant in the narrative; and determining what attitude to take toward unavoidable suffering. Although Link is on an adventure not to discover himself, but to save all of Hyrule as well as the other lands he encounters, his adventures inevitably bring him into confrontation with suffering—both his own and that of others. They also provide him with opportunities to work to complete quests for other characters, find others who can assist him, and choose the outlook he takes on his own death, which occurs repeatedly throughout the series. The danger that the world imposes on Link is truly terrifying at times, but he can acquire new gear, solve difficult puzzles, and gain life force in ways that are similar to real-world experiences.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather action taken to face down the fear. As understood by Frankl, meaning often arises during moments of strife, suffering, and uncertainty. The fear that Link faces, as the bearer of the Triforce of Courage, is similar to fears we face every day in the real world. There is the fear that Link won’t find all the Shrines or regain memories, or the fear of poverty and homelessness; or there is the fear of being without the Master Sword or the fear of losing a loved one. These fears often create anxiety. In Twilight Princess (2006), during the beginning of the game’s narrative, a Shadow Beast pulls Link into the Twilight-shrouded forest, where he is then transformed into a wolf and imprisoned. Trapped and stuck in a place that he does not want to be, Link is wracked with unavoidable torment at becoming an animal. He must figure out his strengths and ways to defeat the beasts he then encounters in this new canine form. On an existential journey, both fear and action are required for the adventurer to discover who they are and what they are capable of. Link does not begin as a hero, but rather as a lonely adventurer trying to make sense of what a hero is. It is in experiencing fear and then acting to face it that Link transforms into a hero.

As he quests, Link is equipped with items and abilities that make him stronger, so that, as he faces his fears, he might defeat harder and more capable enemies. However, as every adventurer should remember, a sword alone does not grant one true power. For Link, his true strength is found through the meaningful connections he creates with others while adventuring.

Despite logotherapy’s emphasis on meaning arising within the individual, Frankl recognizes that other people can give a person a greater understanding of who they are and what they are capable of becoming. During Link’s journey, he encounters a wide array of memorable and endearing characters and forges deep and enduring friendships—most notably Navi, Link’s faithful fairy companion in Ocarina of Time (1998), who gives Link a deeper understanding of himself and his capabilities. Initially, Navi is frustrated and annoyed with this task, which has been ordered by the Great Deku Tree. However, as Link endures the pain of battling his way through Hyrule and defeating his enemies, Navi sees Link as the hero that the prophecy foretold and begins to give Link tips and hints about dealing with enemies and choosing the correct path. Link proves to Navi that he is more than just a boy and proves to himself who he is as a hero. He doesn’t help others and solve their problems because he feels he must or because it’s what is expected of the “Hero of Time”—instead, his heroic actions often arise from a genuine desire to help them and then in turn, he accepts their assistance. The friendships Link forms endow him with true strength and courage. With their help, Link enters the next stage of the existential journey: finding a way to accept his path and move forward.

   ACCEPTANCE: LINK EMBRACING HIS DESTINY   

“Ever vigilant, you decided to journey away from Hyrule on a quest for enlightenment, in search of wisdom that would make you better able to withstand the next threat to your homeland.”

—Prologue, Link’s Awakening Manual (1993)

Victor Frankl asserts that a crucial part of the existential journey lies in accepting responsibility for one’s actions, and in turn, finding meaning in them. In Link’s case, this means either embracing or rejecting his potential for greatness—his destiny as the Hero of Hyrule. This choice is a major one for Link, a once-normal Hylian youth who is called upon to become a hero during times of darkness and bring peace back to the land. Although Link may be initially reluctant, he dons the required green tunic and becomes the prophesied hero.

According to Frankl, individuals must always be aware of their own responsibility for the choices they make and the power that comes from being free to make them. Link begins to recognize, just as other humans do on their existential journeys, that freedom comes with this responsibility. In Link’s Awakening (1993), Link finds himself not in Hyrule, but on Koholint Island. Although Link is in a new and unfamiliar world, the task that lies before him remains the same: to save the land from evil forces. The future for Link is unknown in this land, yet he must make the decision to awaken the Wind Fish and find a way off the island to make his way back to Hyrule and become the Hero of Hyrule once again. In doing this, Link accepts his path as a fighter and champion for all who face unspeakable darkness and monsters. His acceptance of his preordained destiny as the eternally chosen Hero of Hyrule, and of all the responsibility and suffering this title entails, is a crucial component of Link’s existential journey.

The weight of Link’s newfound responsibility isn’t easy for the Hero of Hyrule—it causes him great internal conflict. Frankl says that one finds meaning in life by performing personally meaningful deeds. In Majora’s Mask (2000), Link is trapped as a Deku Scrub by the Skull Kid and must find a way to return to human form and save the Ocarina of Time. The fairy Tatl, who once accompanied the Skull Kid, becomes separated from him and demands that Link take her with him to find her erstwhile companion. This presents an inner conflict for Link, between his destiny of trying to save Zelda and being forced to save the Ocarina of Time. Zelda had given Link the meaningful work of keeping the Ocarina of Time safe, which is a greater responsibility than Link had experienced before. By accepting Tatl on his journey, Link is forgoing the journey he was on and accepting an alternative path. Link shows that he has accepted the fate of the Hero regardless of this internal conflict. This is the true essence of accepting and embracing one’s destiny, no matter the consequences and hardships: it is the essence of heroism.

   WHAT IT MEANS TO BE THE HERO OF HYRULE   

“May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce.”

—The Seven Maidens, A Link to the Past (1991)

The meaning of heroism is often found not through words, but through actions—or even more specifically, the acceptance of one’s freedom to act and the personal responsibility to do so, even when you are afraid. Heroism is the courageous choice to act despite the fears that may grip one’s heart like a floormaster’s fist. This rings especially true for Link, a noble-hearted Hylian of few to no words. Frankl points to the fact that suffering and pain can create positive, life-altering experiences that can cultivate meaning for a person. A hero is not without the experience of suffering. However, a hero is one who can translate that pain and suffering into not only meaning, but truly beneficial experiences for oneself as well as others.

For Link, being a hero means finding acceptance of his destiny through determination and facing his pain. Link perseveres even when his dedication to saving Zelda and defeating Ganon is threatened. Such is the case in Link to the Past (1991), when Link finds himself dropped into a nightmarish landscape, the Dark World, and must traverse this bleak, eerie landscape, along with its many dangers, in order to continue on his path and complete his quest to defeat Ganon’s alter ego, Agahnim. Despite being faced with the overwhelming evil of this dark realm, he finds his way through it and returns to his own brighter Hyrule, resolute in his ability to succeed.

Link’s actions in the face of overwhelming tragedy resonate profoundly and speak to the existential theme of finding meaning amidst suffering. In Breath of the Wild (2017), the player meets Link yet again, awakening to a new journey and destiny. However, there is something different about this journey: one hundred years have passed and Link has no memory of his previous life. He is a shell of his former self (selves) and has to start with no knowledge of himself or where he is going. Link is tasked with facing down the ultimate darkness, Calamity Ganon, an incomplete reincarnation of Ganon, and overcoming a gauntlet of challenging trials which test him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He has to become the champion he once was to save Hyrule and Zelda from the perpetual darkness that has fallen over the land for a century. From the ashes of tragedy and pain a legacy of love can bloom like a Silent Princess flower in a harsh desert.

   LINK’S LEGACY AND THE REINCARNATION OF LINK, ZELDA, AND GANON   

“Time passes, people move . . . Like a river’s flow, it never ends. A childish mind will turn to noble ambition . . . Young love will become deep affection . . . The clear water’s surface reflects growth . . .”

—Sheik, Serenade of Water, Ocarina of Time (1998)

As described by Frankl, an individual’s existential legacy is salvation from suffering through love and in love. We can confront utter desolation and find bliss in ourselves knowing that we have shared in something deeper and more profound than our mere skin. That knowledge is only shared and given meaning through the relationships that the individual has formed during the journey itself. Thus, while those relationships also create meaning during the existential process, they will live on through each other, as well. It is to be hoped that love is the lasting effect that someone’s existential journey will produce. Accordingly, it is not only Link who undergoes an existential journey in the Legend of Zelda series. Bound together by threads of fate, courageous Hero Link, wise Princess Zelda, and powerful King of Darkness Ganondorf are locked in a never-ending struggle until the end of time. This cycle chronologically began after the climactic final boss battle in Skyward Sword; with his last breath, Demise casts a hatred-filled curse:

My hate . . . never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again! Those like you . . .Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero . . . They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!

Due to the events that bind him to both Zelda and Ganon, Link’s reincarnation and the legacy he inherits are an inevitability. Each member of this tragic trio, each a bearer of their respective Triforce piece, must discover the meaning of their destined roles. When the Dark Lord Ganon unleashes his evil throughout Hyrule, Link must answer the prophecy and rise in order to combat the dark forces. Zelda is the intermediary between Ganon and Link who possesses the knowledge and wisdom to intervene in times of strife.

Zelda is an incarnation of what Frankl means by love’s lasting endeavor and connection to the existential journey. She is ready to assist, offer guiding wisdom, and even sacrifice herself if it means saving the people of Hyrule. In Ocarina of Time (1998), Zelda disguises herself as Sheik, a male member of the mysterious Sheikah clan, in order to watch over the adult Link in secret and teach him songs for the Ocarina of Time. Certain incarnations of Zelda have a more personal connection to Link, such as a childhood friend. It is revealed in Skyward Sword that Zelda is the reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia as a mortal. Despite accepting her destiny, Zelda laments putting Link through such a harrowing journey. Before entering a one-thousand-year slumber to ensure the ancient seal remains closed, she tells Link, “While it’s true that I am Hylia reborn, I’m still my father’s daughter and your friend . . . I’m still your Zelda.” In Twilight Princess (2006), when Midna is injured by Zant’s attack, Zelda sacrifices herself to save Midna. This moves Midna to care more deeply about Link and finally help Link destroy Ganondorf. Seeing Zelda’s loving heart through her actions, Midna says, “Zelda, your words are kind and your heart is true . . . If all in Hyrule are like you, then maybe you’ll do alright.” Zelda constantly shows her love for Link and Hyrule through her sacrifices. The salvation that Zelda provides Hyrule is the greatest legacy of all and the recurring cause for Link’s reincarnation.

Ganondorf, in contrast, is a being devoid of love. Frankl warns that if a person does not face their fate and accompanying suffering with dignity and selflessness, they will become no better than a wild, ravenous animal. Ganondorf’s journey toward meaning-making for himself leaves a path of pain for all in its wake. Instead of using his goddess-granted power to help his people, the Gerudo, Ganondorf uses it to feed his own dark desires. Driven by his insatiable hunger for power, he sees himself as destined to become the ruler of the entire world. In his own self-aggrandizing words in Twilight Princess (2006): “He who wields such power would make a suitable king for this world, don’t you think?” Ganondorf’s all-consuming obsession with power literally transforms him into a beast resembling a gluttonous boar: Dark Beast Ganon.

But the existential journeys taken in a Legend of Zelda game are not only those of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf. The player takes their own existential journey.

   LINKING THE PLAYER TO THE EXISTENTIAL JOURNEY   

“As I thought, you have the power of the Hero inside you!”

—Princess Zelda, A Link to the Past (1991)

The Legend of Zelda is the player’s journey as much as it is Link’s. Playing as Link and viewing the world as he sees it, the player can step into the world of the game and share Link’s quest for meaning. In accepting that quest as their own, the player not only fully invests themselves in defeating Ganon and saving Zelda but also takes up their own existential journey.

Like Link, the player initially begins their journey through the game alone. They face a similar shock to Link’s own every time they start a new Zelda adventure and find themselves, and Link, in new and treacherous worlds. The player is startled by Zelda’s hauntingly familiar voice, or personally disturbed by the haunting visions of Demise, and driven to rescue sweet Aryll. Through the very act of playing the game, this shock and awe is answered: the adventure begins.

The journey on which the player takes Link—or on which, at times, Link takes the player—is packed with perils. As the player moves Link through the game, do they not also feel a sense of distress, dread, or apprehension for what is around the next corner? And like Link, do they not also take action in the face of fear? In Twilight Princess, the player is really the one, through playing Link, who must figure out the strengths of Link’s new wolf body and ways to defeat the dusk beasts in the Twilight Realm. In doing so, the player finds out who they are and what they are capable of doing; they see through Link that they are capable of more than what they expected of themselves.

The suffering and pain Link experiences can be transformative for the player. Becoming a hero is daunting—the player must overcome a great deal if they are to understand what it is to be a hero. And because Link is a character of few or no words, the player is forced instead to understand what a hero is through Link’s actions. They must use Link as a way to determine what is important to them both inside and outside the fictional world of the game. Discovering along the way that they can have the confidence to overcome what they are struggling with in the game, the player feels more equipped to face adversity or grapple with internal conflict in the real world: to stand up against injustice or go against the popular view. The player can reach a new level of knowledge and understanding of their own innate abilities.

Along the way, Link and the player both find that the journey to find oneself is also a journey to connect with others. For the player, the characters encountered throughout the game—from the stout-hearted Gorons to the peaceful Zora to the quirky Kikwi—are more than just the inhabitants of a kingdom in need of saving or fictional characters living in a fantastical game. Rather, these are dear companions that the player comes to care for game after game. Such strong bonds are only formed in the process of overcoming great strife. By beating the games and saving those characters, the player creates that bond of love that is everlasting.

The existential game is one that the player cannot be forced to play. It is a quest that one must choose to undertake, despite the tragedy and despair that might accompany it. In the Legend of Zelda, Link has no choice in the matter; he is controlled by the player, and it is the player who chooses to begin, and then continue, the journey—or not. As in Majora’s Mask, the player can embrace their destiny of losing the Ocarina of Time and working to find it again, or they can stop, never play the game again, and leave Link as a Deku Scrub.

But the player feels the weight of responsibility that Link faces: find the Ocarina of Time, return to human form, and stop the Skull Kid. The player also feels the sting of frustration and outrage when they cannot complete the quests. The player is connected to Link’s suffering and struggles to make sense of what is happening to them both. As the clock counts down to the moment the moon will fall and force the player to return to the beginning of the first day, the player begins to wonder why they ever accepted this fate. It seems meaningless to start a new day, lose the items that they have collected, and find their hard-won tasks undone—Snowhead Mountain reverts to winter after hours spent bringing spring back to Termina, or the poison returns to the Southern Swamp. The player finds within themselves acceptance of their own shortcomings and the determination to continue.

By overcoming strife and accepting their fate, Link provides the player with a way to imagine their life as a cycle of lived meaningful experiences. Link is working toward saving Termina and helping its denizens in whatever way he and the player is able. Through Link’s actions in the face of overwhelming tragedy, the player, too, finds the meaning of a hero, and forges the courage to continue for, and with Link.

As Sheik says in Ocarina of Time, “The flow of time is always cruel . . . its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it.” Yet, our response to that cruelty can be the source of great meaning; light can be found in even the darkest of places. What Link and the player learn from their mutual quest for meaning is that one’s actions in the face of adversity are what determines who one is.

KELSEY KLATKA is a mental health therapist and psychology assistant in Cleveland, Ohio. She has studied existential psychology since graduating from Case Western Reserve University with a BA in psychology and religious studies in 2011 and the University of North Carolina with an MSc in rehabilitation counseling and psychology in 2013. She has presented on “How Video Games Are Helping Us” and “Engaging Clients with Psychosis” to help understand the intersection of video games, mental health, and existentialism.

LOUISE GRANN is a doctoral student in the Psychology Department at the University of West Georgia. Her area of interest is game studies. She approaches the study of video games and gamers from a variety of psychological perspectives including, but not limited to, the phenomenological, transpersonal, and existential. Her present work focuses on the player–avatar relationship, meaningful immersive play, and personal identity as expressed through character creation, imaginal dialogue, and imaginative role-play in digital games. She has recently contributed to the collective anthology 100 Greatest Video Game Characters (2017).

REFERENCE

Frankl, V. E. Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1992.