Week 4 Prompt A2

The Legend of Zelda is one of my favorite pieces of music, art, storytelling, and cinema all rolled into one. It is successful because all the elements are balanced and executed so well that they create a very believable and immense world. It follows the quest method of story telling. The quests are intensely detailed but had a large over arching theme or central story that each detail was woven into and helped in their own way to support. 

The game treats the senses to a banquet of experiences. 

The visuals of the game are stunning. Huge landscapes are open for exploration and they are as varied as the landscapes of earth. The music was done by a real professional orchestra and written by Koji Kondo. This music, in my opinion,  stands up to some of the best classical music we have today. One of my favorite themes “Gerudo Valley” has rich cello and racing violin that I would compare to Bach’s Cello Suites. I credit this game for my love and open reception of classical music. I am listening to some of the music now and it evokes strong emotion and memories.

I first remember playing it when I was in seventh grade. One of my friends had a copy of the game and we sat down and played it. The first scene shows a young hero riding horse back across a wide grassy plain.  Something that appealed to me greatly then was the ability to escape into a warm green world in the dead of winter. There would be nothing to do outside because it would be negative twenty degrees. In Hyrule that was a different story. 

The next scene I remember involved battling a heavily armored enemy that struck me an beautiful and unique. The swordplay was fascinating and furious. It was like olympic fencing but the combatants are wearing shining armor and wielding bright swords. You can obviously see why this caught he attention of a thirteen year old boy.  

The game is character driven. One of my favorite characters is the villain Gannondorf. Gannondorf was a wonderful villain because his motivations are understandable. He wants a home land, but the land he wants is the hero’s and he purports to take it by force. Here is a great line of Gannondorf’s. He was a character that I love to hate. 

"My country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky, a burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter when it came, the wind carried the same thing... Death. But the winds that blew across the green fields of Hyrule brought something other than suffering and ruin. I coveted that wind, I suppose..."

 Zelda shaped me. Even today I look for little treasures everywhere. I wonder what secrets are hidden in plain sight. It helped me develop my sense of adventure and curiosity. It is worth remembering because it is a bridge to my youth.

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