#6: The Hero Within All of Us

Wow. Okay, so the site has grown a lot, thanks to links from great websites like Bob the Angry Flower and TINAMI. It's also improved my PageRank on Google, the only search engine also available in H4x0r. However, that's not what this is about.

Since I noticed that TINAMI has me listed under The Legend of Zelda fanart, I started thinking about it. The truth is I don't actually have that many pictures of Link, Zelda, or any of the characters to scan in. I'd like to do something about that...but as busy as I've been, I'm not sure.

The hard thing is explaining to a non-fan why it is I like The Legend of Zelda so much. I mean, it is arguably the greatest video game series of all time...but what is it that makes it so great? Even for someone like me, it's hard to say for sure. What makes the game special is the gameplay, fo course...battling monsters, solving puzzles, exploring dungeons, battling bosses, and saving the kingdom of Hyrule...or even the world!

The other day, I saw this thing on TV about the history of video games in the 70s and 80s. I caught it halfway through, but presumably, it started with whatever obscure game existed before Pong. Then, naturally, it ended with the original The Legend of Zelda in 1987.

What interested me was what Shigeru Miyamoto said about the game. See, the protagonist, typically referred to as Link, starts out with nothing. You are placed inside a world that is new and mysterious to you, with no sword, no shield, and nothing to do. As you wander about the world, you find a sword and you find a shield. Then, you realize precisely why you have to use your sword and shield...and your life is never the same.

As the game progresses, you become wiser, stronger, and more bold. With every step in your adventure comes new challenges, and with solving these challenges comes a reward. Naturally, as soon as you get this reward, the time comes when you must use it...to defeat an evil monster or to remove a barrier that has stood in your way before. With every reward, a challenge that held you back before can suddenly be conquered easily.

This is the essence of The Legend of Zelda; to grow as a person by overcoming obstacles and defeating everything that has held you back before. As you grow, and as you collect weapons and improve your sword, and obtain more heart containers, suddenly the monsters you were afraid of before no longer scare you...because you know you are strong enough to overcome them.

The Legend of Zelda also carries with it a message...about fighting for what's right and being there for your friends when they need you. It is always someone who means a great deal to Link who is imperilled. Often, it is the princess, Zelda, herself. Other times, it is other characters like Marin, Malon, Aryll, and the numerous victims of the Skull Kid's misguided antics in Majora's Mask. That particular game even took the theme of helping people to the point where you are given a notebook and told to fill the notebook with people and the ways in which you have helped them. This is what makes Link a hero...the fact that he is there to help people, to save them in their time of need, and to be there for anyone who needs him.

Anyone who plays these games can learn a lot from them. Life, like any action-adventure game, has with it a series of obstacles and challenges that we must face. When we overcome these obstacles and challenges, we are rewarded...often with new experience, new skill, or something else that we must use when another challenge arises. Link's life, like so many of ours, is filled with hardship. However, while his monsters are literal monsters, the monsters in an average human's life are typically not so clearly defined.

We all have problems in our life; financial problems, interpersonal problems, physical problems, and sometimes, yes...sometimes, we even battle against actual monsters...although this is rare. However, the problems are all there, and they must always be dealt with.

Like Link, we all start out in life with nothing...and it's how we choose to live our lives...whether we choose to stay in one spot or to go out into the world, find out what's going on, and make preparations to embark on the journey ahead...that makes all the difference. To bravely face whatever challenges we come across, knowing that we will have what we need to overcome the obstacles we come across when the time comes...to always offer a helping hand to those around us who are in need of our assistance, and to never...ever...give up hope...this is what makes a true hero.

Wow, I love Zelda...