The Legend of Zelda: A Perfect Religion

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Anyone who wants to call themselves a gamer has to have some idea as to what Zelda is. It is among one of the most popular video game series out there and has created its own cultural wellspring. There have been spin off cartoons, websites, walkthroughs, forms, etc…but strangely enough the story for one of the video games doesn’t change much. You are this elf looking boy or adult named Link that is on a quest to rescue Princess Zelda, reunite the Triforce, and save the land of Hyrule from evils such as Ganondorf. That is the general idea for almost every single one of the Zelda games, but what is so different about the Zelda games is that they marked the beginning of the gamer being able to actually guide Link. The gamers are allowed to make decisions as to where Link goes next, how to fight the boss, or even what to buy. It is these decisions that allow the gamer to project his or her personal ideas and beliefs onto Link. While the gamer cannot do anything he or she wants since Link is considered the hero and there are some limits that the gamer must learn to accept, like the religion of Hyrule, there are other games that allow the gamer to have complete control over the actions of the main character such as Grand Theft Auto 5.
In Grand Theft Auto, you virtually have no limits what you can do from killing people on the street, to robbing a bank, to just taking a bike ride around the park. This allows for the gamer to project all of his or her beliefs or anti-beliefs on to the main character. It is this freedom that in fact makes it harder for us to care about the main character in Grand Theft Auto, whereas in Zelda we care more about Link. Why is this true? It is true because in Zelda we are forced to accept some ideas that are...

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... not constantly in the same emotional state, but changing.
So in conclusion, the Legend of Zelda has many aspects of different religions across the entire series and used them all to create one central religion that doesn’t seem to have any flaws in its existence. It doesn’t punish evil in the afterlife, besides Ganondorf who is sealed in a cosmic prison since he is so powerful and evil, but it does punish evil in the current life with Link, who is allowed to choose to be the hero or not. The goddesses keep themselves hidden only to a certain few, which keeps people completely free to choose to be good or not, based on the advice of their selected guardians. All of this creates the idea of a perfect religion, one that doesn’t cause any wars or doesn’t exclude any race but accepts everyone and gives them a purpose in life, which is what religion is supposed to do.

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