I love the Legend of Zelda. It’s my favorite video game franchise of all time. And my favorite game in the series is the very first one I ever played: Ocarina of Time.
I fondly remember playing Ocarina of Time as a pre-teen in the late nineties. From the moment I turned on the CRT television and popped the game cartridge into the Nintendo 64, I became instantly enthralled with the game.
I would spend countless hours playing as Link, traversing the magical world of Hyrule, exploring dungeons and slaying monsters to collet the Sacred Stones and unlock the Master Sword—
—only to learn, as a delightful surprise, that I had only played half the game, and that the other half would involve exploring more dungeons to find more magical MacGuffins needed to defeat the evil Ganondorf, restore Hyrule, and save the princess.
I love Ocarina of Time because it was the first game I ever played that demonstrated the thematic storytelling potential of video games. Before then, I had only played side-scrolling platformers with very simple, barebone plots.
“Mario needs to save Princess Peach. Help him by pressing right and using the jump button to stomp on Koopas.”
“Sonic needs to stop Dr. Robotnik. Help him by pressing right and using the spin dash to run over Badniks.”
Granted, Legend of Zelda also has a basic premise: get the Master Sword and save Princess Zelda. But the story in Ocarina of Time was deeper and more complex, with countless compelling story and character arcs that all played out in a grand, epic narrative.
And I loved every moment of that game.
I loved when young Link leaves his home of Kokiri Forest at the start of the game, when he’s forced to say goodbye to his childhood friend Saria, and promise her that he would never forget her—and then, seven years later, he reunites with her and learned she never forgot about him.
I loved being able to cheer up the grumpy Goron chief Darunia and make him dance a goofy dance by playing Saria’s Song, and then being later honored for completing Dodongo’s Cavern by naming his son after me.
I loved having to carry the spoiled Zora princess Ruto piggyback through Jabu Jabu’s Belly to complete the dungeon, and then only obtaining its Sacred Gem by promising to marry her—and then learning that, even seven years later, she intended to make me to keep that promise.
I loved having to use my time travel magic to complete the Spirit Temple as both a child and adult, and I loved being able to assist the rouge Gerudo Nabooru in completing the temple, and learning afterward that she would have kept her end of the bargain if she knew I grew up into such a handsome adult.
I loved seeing the enigmatic ninja Sheik reveal herself to actually be the Princess Zelda, and acting as though it was such a stunning revelation—even though I had already figured out it was her all along.
And I even loved trying and failing to obtain the Biggoron’s Sword through the trading game, even if I decided to give up because the time trial portion of that side quest was practically impossible to complete—at least for me!
Honestly, I credit Zelda for inspiring my love of fantasy. It certainly inspired my own work. After all, a game where a hero travels across a magical fantasy world with a legendary sword and a plucky fairy companion would have an undeniable influence on a story where a heroine travels across a magical fantasy world with a legendary sword and a plucky fairy companion.
But perhaps the only person who loves this game more than I do is my nephew. I remember playing the game alongside him and developing our mutual love of it together. How much did he love this game? He once dressed up as Link for Halloween. (Sorry, I don’t have photographic evidence to prove it!)
After Ocarina, the two of us would end up playing most of the other games in the series, including the most recent installments on the Nintendo Switch. (Though, to be honest, I didn’t really care that much for Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. They felt like too much of a radical departure from the traditional Zelda formula. And the open worlds were, quite frankly, too open for me.) And you can bet I’m excited to play Echoes of Wisdom!
So, when my nephew recently became engaged to his fiancée, I could think of no better gift to commemorate him finding his own princess and reflect his love of her and the Zelda franchise than to commission a portrait of the two of them as Link and Zelda:
I commissioned Steven Brahma on Fiverr to illustrate the picture. He’s worked on several illustrations for my book. I really love his art style, mostly because it reminds me so much of Pauline Baynes‘ illustrations for the Chronicles of Narnia. (A fitting art style for a fantasy series inspired by Narnia!) So, I could of no better artist to create this special illustration than him.
As you can see for yourself, the final illustration looks magnificent, and my nephew and his wife-to-be loved it. Thank you, Steven, for illustrating this wedding gift. And good luck to my nephew and future niece-in-law. May the blessing of the Goddess Hylia be upon you both in your upcoming union.
J.C. Alexandre 