Remember that 30-day thing I was doing, with 30 days of video game topics? Well, I’m finally back to that, and today’s topic is my favorite video game character. This is a hard one. I like a lot of characters. Basically, out of all the characters I love, the one I love most is whoever I saw the most recently. I often like villains. Sometimes, I like good characters. Some characters I grow bored of, only to find I still like them when I see them in a game again, while others I can’t figure out why I ever liked them. So right now, I can’t choose the character I feel the most affection for currently (right now, it is Dr. Nefarious from the “Ratchet and Clank” series). That will change to someone else eventually. The character I choose for this post will be someone I have liked the longest and who I have a special attachment to. This character is Link, the hero of “The Legend of Zelda” series.
Sure, there are much more interesting characters. There are characters with much more personality. And so on and so forth. But, I have always liked Link. “The Legend of Zelda” series is one of my favorite series of all time. Link is also still my most played character in “Super Smash Bros.” Link never gets old (ha ha, in more ways than one, well, he gets older, but…oh, you get it!). And I think there are several reasons for this.
Link never talks. Link actually doesn’t even have much personality. He seems like a nice guy. He seems to like sleeping, as someone had to wake him up at the beginning of “Ocarina of Time” and “Skyward Sword”. He’s brave. But, mostly, he’s nothing (that’s not as mean as it sounds, really). And so when I play as him, I make him who I want him to be. So in a way, you don’t really play as Link. You are Link. Because he has so little personality of his own, you can transfer some of yourself to him, and so he may seem a bit different to everyone who plays. And yet no matter who plays, he always has the same traits one would expect from a hero. He has courage (as proof, he even often gets the Triforce of Courage) and a determination to save Zelda/Hyrule/whatever and stop Ganondorf or whoever else stands in his way at all costs. He is also a good guy that people can depend on. In short, he has the traits of a hero without the usual arrogance. And as I play the games, Link becomes like me, and I become a hero like him.
And another reason why I like him is because, in a way, I grew up with Link. Link started out as a child in the earlier games, but as time went by, he’s actually been older in the more recent ones, usually around age 17 or so. I also started out as a duckling playing the games or watching my parents play them. Now that I am older, Link is, too. It feels like we’ve grown up together, like friends would. It’s corny, but it is true, and it has made me more attached to him in some ways than characters that I first met only a few years ago.
So I don’t really have tons more to say, but those are the reasons why I like Link. While there are characters I may actually like more than Link, Link still remains a character I’ve been attached to for a long time, perhaps longer than any other character. I have a special bond with him because his lack of a personality makes him a blank slate for me to make him whoever I want him to be. And because he’s a hero, I feel like I am, too. I’ve always liked Link, and I think I always will.
Linking to a Duck
The Duck of Indeed 
A Link To The Duck!
It may seem one-dimensional to have a barely characterised figure as the main protagonist, who seems to do the right thing just because it is the right thing. It is what the real world should be like, but unfortunately it’s not.
My fave video game character? Hmmm, I do like me some Ganondorf and Zelda. Ganondorf because his character designs are always awesome regardless of the game’s artistic styling. Zelda’s best character design was in SSBB (ideal elven hottie!), and overtook my previous favourite design of Sheik.
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Yes, Ganondorf always does have good character designs. I think I liked his design in “Wind Waker” the best. He wore kind of a kimono of evil. My favorite Zelda is the one in “Skyward Sword”. She had attitude at the beginning. Then, she lost it. But, she was cool at first.
And I agree, Link could definitely seem like a flat character, and I suppose he is, but it works in a game where you’re supposed to feel like you are Link and not simply controlling him. Hmm, since I feel like I am Link, and Link is my favorite character, am I in some way saying that I am my own favorite character? How arrogant of me.
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