Unregistered 017

I've had a bit of experience. I might be able to help out here and there.

I'm really all about Firefox.Security: Hey, Internet Explorer is on almost every single computer in the world, and so it is very heavily targeted. Firefox doesn't seem to have much of this problme.Pop-Ups: Built in Pop Up blocker with Firefox. :)Customizable: Extentions and Skins are WONDERFUL!Tabbed Browsing: Besting things since life's bread.

Yeah. I'm a very young minor, and I have to agree with you. I can't even play a game of Isketch anymore without being tempted to go into all those cyber rooms they have. The site has turned into a cyber place, instead of a really fun game to play with others. There are a few chat rooms that I am able to go to that are totally safe, and I don't have to worry about. But it scares me, how easily accssesed some of these things are.

Rowling already confirmed that Half Blood Prince would not be as long as Order of the Phoenix, that said, there are many good forums that have much deeper theories that explain alot of things. I suggest you take a look if you are a big fan of the series.

I suggest you read up before you give out your knowledge. Currently, there is no release date for any of the consoles. It is rumored that Xbox2 might be out by the end of this year, but I'm thinking Spring-Summer of next year. Wait intill E3 (Enterainment Expo) in may, and you'll probably get some release dates. Hopefully.

I watch a few different animes. When I was 8 and Pokemon just came out, I watched it.Yu-Gi-Oh came out and I watched it to.But lately, I've become more involved with I suppose you could say "more mature anime's" .Hack, Inyuasha, Dragon Ball Z, Read or Die are all good. I've started to become a really big fan of manga and anime. I love alot of the music and the japanese culture that they often put into it.

Well, I've had about 6 different e-mails in these long 2 years of my internet use.I first started out with a yahoo account and mainly used it to play Yahoo games, and then my parents got me an e-mail with my IP.After that, I switched to Hotmail, which at the time, was godly. The only problem with hotmail is you seem to get alot of spam.From there I got an e-mail address from my old web hosting provider. It was a peice of junk, mmmmm..... squirrelmail. :)Currently, I use G-Mail and my MSN provider's for friends that actually live by me. G-Mail will become one of the biggest e-mail providers in the near future. It PWNS.

Firefox. It is a fast, not as targeted for spywear as IE, I can customize it with plugins and skins. And not to mention the best feature ever thought about for a browser: Tabbed browsing! NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE ANYMORE MULTIPLE WINDOWS. PRAISE THE LORD!

Between. Hopefully it is not as disappointing as X. but, I still think there will be no other FF game as great as III or IX. IX is probably my favorite Final Fantasy game because.... well.... I dunno, it is just pure awesomness.

Hey dude, good job! I'm starting to learn Photoshop CS, seeing that my dad brought it home from work. It's a nifty tool that can be difficult, but very fun to use.

sounds like me. I have all three consoles and yet I rarely play them. I more talk about them on the internet. Then I usually buy the game, and never play it. Sad how that works?

I look at it in this way:Buy a PS2 if: you want an overall area gaming experienceBuy a Xbox if: your a shooter/sports fanboy.For me, PS2 all the way.

Well... first off, they destroyed anything and everything they could that made Super Mario RPG cool. BUTThey have still made Paper Mario into a great game. Why Super Mario RPG rocks, and Paper Mario 1/2 sucks.-3 characters at once! not 2!-be peach, mallow, geno or bowser. Not retarded people we don't know.-hit by 8-100's. In paper mario you hit by 1's and 2's.Otherwise... decent.

Yes. I've played the game. I would definetly say it's not for children.... it's hard to say who it was aimed at. But, I have mixed feelings. It really isn't all that great of a golf game, but it is definetely fun. Just as long as your buying it cheap, it actually can be a cool game to buy. I have it in my collection, don't play it everday, but I play it quite often.

oh noes! he was going to use java on me! ;)wow that sounds lame..I can understand PHP might sound bad... but if anything bad happens to that kid, I'll become a lawyer.

a) Gaming News;) bloggingc) chatting with people I knowThat about sums it up... I use the internet for about everything in my life... I've probably been on 15 hours of today...

Introduction In most RPG's, Adventure, and other games, there is some type of love involved. And Zelda is exactly the same way, although the misconceptions that there is none. The first point that I need to make, is that there is a time line. It has been confirmed by the man behind the Legend of Zelda series that for every time evil is at work in Hyrule, a hero name Link is destined to appear to protect the land. This confirms the multiple-Link theory many people have supported for a long, long time. Still, there is no official order in which the games should be placed in, most people agree that Ocarina of Time is the first game in the timeline, followed by Majora's Mask, and The Wind Waker. The release of The Wind Waker gave new life to the Timeline debate, and while it also cleared up many things, it certainly made other things unclear. Many have tried to explain these events with a so-called "multiple timeline theory", meaning that when Link went back in time after defeating Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time, he actually created another time line. We do not support this, as We believe that since he is infact the Hero of Time, that gives him the ability to manipulate time -- in other words go back to his childhood after defeating Ganondorf, and at the same time keep the King of Evil locked up in the Sacred Realm. The Timeline and the Multiple-Link theories are key points in the "Love" theory of The Legend of Zelda. The Possibilities Saria, Malon, Cremia, Princess Ruto, Zelda Saria Right at the very beginning of the adventure, it's clear that Saria is very fond of Link. Some have said that since they are mere children, they would not be in love. For one thing, that assumes that "love" is defined to be some full-blown thing that only adults could experience. For another thing, it's true that she has the body and spirit of a child, but she has a magnificent maturity to her, a maturity that makes perfect sense when she is chosen as a sage. She sees things on a deeper level than others, and proclaims that she knew that Link would one day leave. This maturity could be significant-does she have feelings for Link? We also learn that Mido likes Saria, and as a result is jealous of Link because he's her favorite. He tries to get Saria to like him, but it's certainly not very effective. He's a bully, but there's something more large-scale and sinister to his status as bully, something more adult-like. And this too clues us in that at least some of the Kokiri are not entirely what they seem. Link too, has Saria in a prominent place in his own heart. We see that even at the beginning, especially the way he backs up hesitantly from her on the bridge and then runs off. He doesn't express his emotions well, perhaps because he was a bit of a social outcast. At any rate, he's very fond of her, and thinks she's special in a way that almost no one else could be. Both Saria and Link constantly think about each other. In the end, however, we have no concrete evidence either way. It's simply ambiguous. They love each other greatly as friends, but it's impossible to tell whether or not there's any crush in there too. They're the best of friends, and have an amazing chemistry together, but we can't really tell anything. Drawing the line between the "best friends" kind of love and the "best friends love" with a crush attached is extremely difficult, as it is so often in real world relationships. Nevermore It isn't until Link is an adult that we get our first real interpretable evidence for anything. After defeating the Forest Temple, Saria says the following: "Thank you... Because of you, I could awaken as a Sage . . . I am Saria. The Sage of the Forest Temple . . . I always believed that you would come. Because I know you . . . No . . . You don't have to explain it to me . . . Because it is destiny that you and I can't live in the same world. I will stay here as the Forest Sage and help you... Now, please take this Medallion . . ." Their meeting is painful. They have that great friendship between them, and there's a rift in it because of time and circumstances. They are painfully aware of their separation, and although they want to rectify it, they know they cannot. What happens next is perhaps even more interesting. Against a white screen, a text box says, "Saria will always be . . ." Pause. Then it says, "Your friend . . ." But even more to the point is what Mido tells you afterwards: "Oh . . . I see . . . Saria won't ever come back . . . But . . . I . . . I made a promise to Saria . . . If Link came back, I would be sure to tell him that Saria had been waiting for him . . ." Then Mido has a hard time getting out the next part: "Because Saria . . . really . . . liked . . ." He falters and says, "Hey, you." Which is an interesting bit of text because not only does it ironically belong to the previous sentence, but also to the next: "If you see him somewhere, please let him know . . . And also . . . I'm sorry for being mean to him. Tell him that, too." Taking these quotes together, we can see that there's no question where Saria's affections lay-with Link. And Link? What does he think? Once again, he seems a bit clueless about it. But as for reciprocating that romantic love, that special bond, it's hard to say. It's easy to imagine that if somehow, the circumstances allowed for it, and if she had plucked up the courage to be open with him about her feelings, he would have been happy with the idea. But we can't ponder the "what if" questions, because these quotes make it clear that Saria is gone from his world. The idea is that they could have grown even beyond being just best friends, but that they couldn't because this was a new life. It's part of the larger theme of time in Ocarina of Time. The passing of time and the brutal new reality meant that Link would have to give up that age of childhood. Saria symbolizes a past age, an age which could never again be claimed. Link's past was a wonderful time, a time of love and joy and innocence and the green and simple things of the world, but now that life could not be reclaimed. It's a painful thing, but it's part of the pathos of the game. Conclusion Link and Saria. They were the best of friends, tied together by an incredible bond. But did they feel anything "more" than that? On Saria's part, it seems that she certainly did. On Link's part, he seems rather clueless as usual. He probably was too "simple-minded," to to speak, to think of her as something more than a best friend. I would remind you that it wasn't until Cremia hugged him in Majora's Mask that we see him having true "fuzzy feelings." This was something new to him, which means that he hadn't felt like that before that time. Cremia had to do something obvious for him to open his eyes to what he feels about Malon back home. So it does seem likely that if Saria had strongly encouraged a special relationship in that kind of obvious manner, then his eyes would have opened to the kind of wonderful person Saria was. But that could not to be, because the message of the game is clear, that Saria and Link are of two different worlds, and a romance would never spring up between them because of the painful reality of time and circumstance. Malon & Cremia Ocarina of Time is of course the game in which Malon appears, meaning that we are dealing with Link I here, and not his descendants. At first glance, Malon appears to be simply another one of various girls who adores Link. The fellow has a good number of girls after him, but he's generally completely oblivious to it. As a friend of mine said, "Typical guy." Link doesn't seem to think in romantic terms, and so he typically does not recognize the girl's love unless it is practically shoved in his face (his "I'm shocked!" animation at Ruto's talk of marriage is but one example of this). Keeping this in mind, Malon, Saria, and Ruto are all quite interesting possibilities. There are a few key points about Malon to consider. First, as a child, Talon asks you if you would like to marry Malon. It is most unusual in that it presents you with a "yes-no" option for something like that. The fact that Nintendo added interaction with the player on that particular point adds emphasis to it. Regardless of how you answer, he laughs, saying that he was joking and that Link is too young for that. Ultimately, this does not really tell us very much, at least not by itself. Second, there is the gossip stone that says, "They say that Malon of Lon Lon Ranch hopes a knight in shining armor will come and sweep her off her feet someday." This forms an interesting connection with Talon's earlier question. Link is too young to truly consider marriage at that early age, but when he becomes older he could "sweep her off her feet." This connection hints towards a future relationship between the two of them. I am cautious as to whether or not this is true, but sources say that this gossip stone actually referred to a scene that was originally part of the ending, in which Link and Malon ride into a sunset on Epona. If so, that would indicate that Nintendo pointed towards a Link and Malon relationship. A case could conceivably be made for a match up between Link and Malon based on Ocarina of Time alone. But to get the full picture, we must turn to two other games. Link's Awakening Link's Awakening is a truly fascinating game, with a storyline of pure genius. What is relevant to us, however, is that there is a parallel between Talon and Malon and two of the characters in Link's Awakening: Tarin and Marin. Aside from their parallel names, they are connected by their personalities and, most importantly, by their rather obvious reference to the Mario games. Except for his more realistic proportions, Talon almost looks identical to Mario, even down to the clothes. Ingo looks like Luigi. Malon looks like Peach, although in this case she is the daughter of "Mario." Malon even wears a Bowser emblem. Tarin of Link's Awakening bears even more resemblance to the cartoon style of Mario than Talon does. He even shares a fondness for mushrooms. Now, in an earlier article, I identified The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia. Some people wrote in to tell me that I was in error. Actually, I was correct; it was the first book C.S. Lewis wrote, even though it is not the first book in terms of the mythic storyline. This raises an important point. We must not only think in terms of the game timeline, but of the publishing timeline. If we think in those terms, we find out that Nintendo made Link's Awakening before they made Ocarina of Time. We can safely say, then, that Malon and Talon were based off of the characters in Link's Awakening. Here's the interesting part. Those of you that have played Link's Awakening (and I certainly hope you have!) know that Marin and Link fall in love. The Hero of Time falls in love with someone who is the daughter of someone based on Mario (can you guess who the mother could be?). But when the Wind Fish awakens, the whole island of Koholint vanishes, Marin included (although she "survives" if you complete the game without dying). For our purposes, the only thing that matters here is that Nintendo based Malon on Marin, and that the "romance" aspect of the character was preserved in the transition to Ocarina of Time. In that light, it seems relatively clear that a Malon-Link relationship was intended. But if we truly want to understand the relationship between Link and Malon, we must move from Koholint to Termina. Majora's Mask The designers said quite explicitly that one of the most important aspects of Majora's Mask was that it gave you a greater insight into the characters that you had encountered in Ocarina of Time. (Of course, the characters also give you insights into the designers. We know that the carpenters' grumblings about not finishing in time corresponds to the game makers' fear of not finishing the game on time.) No doubt you noticed that Malon happens to have two parallel characters in the world of Termina: Cremia and Romani. Like younger Malon, Romani likes Link (even more explicitly, actually). Like older Malon, Cremia is more mature about it. "Wait, what did you imply, Trahald? Cremia likes Link?" Well, do you still have your Nintendo 64 and copy of Majora's Mask? Good. Using an old file, make sure you already have the Romani Mask. Now go save the cows from the Poes once more. The next day, join Cremia for the wagon ride. As you ride along, Cremia tells you that she's lonely, and then opens up to you, even mentioning the marriage of her friend Anju (remember, Cremia once loved Kafei, but he chose Anju). When the thieves attack, loose your arrows into them and save the wagon once more. Now that you've saved the milk, Cremia will be rather happy, and will smile and sway a bit, saying "Thank you . . . You were pretty cool . . ." Since you already have the mask, one of two things happens. In one case, she gives you a Huge Rupee. But the other case is very interesting. When the translator mentioned that many people would not even see a large portion of the text in the game, he wasn't kidding. What happens next is hilarious. It's best to see it first hand, so I recommend you go see it right now. For those of you who are lazy, I'll describe it to you as best as I can. The camera shifts to a unique position, with the horse and Clock Town behind Cremia and Link. She grabs him and hugs him in a, um, rather interesting manner, to say the least. It's completely not what you would expect from a Nintendo game. With the horse bobbing its head in the background, she pulls his head into her chest. This scene lasts for several surprisingly long moments. When the little scene has finished, a happy noise plays, and a text box pops up. It says, in pink (!) text, "You did it! You helped Cremia!" "You feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Sigh . . .You could get used to this!" Yes, the game actually tells you, using the unusual pink text, what Link feels. Yes, Nintendo actually employed text to convey Link's emotions. Cremia has (literally) put herself "in Link's face," and this has aroused the idea of love in Link's young brain, but he still does not entirely understand it yet. The implication? Link has a thing for Malon, or will have a thing for Malon Conclusion Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, and Majora's Mask. Link them together and compile the evidence you find in each of those games. I find that it becomes quite clear that Nintendo intended for Link to fall in love with Malon. Ruto. She was one of the most memorable characters in Ocarina of Time, and the one thing that tended to stick out most about her in most people's minds was her crush on Link. No one could deny her of her love. A good many people also happen to think that Link should return that love. Did Nintendo intend for Link to marry Ruto? It is to that question that we will now turn. Link's Feelings Ruto likes Link. That much is obvious, and in fact it functions as comedic relief. But what does Link think of Ruto? As a child, his reaction is not a favorable one. And yet at the same time, he does not entirely understand her meaning, as is clear by the game text upon receiving the Sapphire. As an adult, nothing indicates that he has changed his attitude. I remind you that we cannot assume feelings between characters when they are in scenes together. The Nintendo 64 may provide subtle touches to the cinematics, but these subtle touches are done through rather distinct, unmistakable animations. When any two characters stand around, think of them as cardboard cutouts. They look no different than when they are standing apart from each other. Any romance between cardboard cutouts must be supplied by the imagination. (This, by the way, is the main error of those who are so obsessed with wanting the Hero of Time and Zelda to have a relationship that they say things like, "Scene XYZ makes Link and Zelda look like they're in love," when the two characters are actually doing absolutely nothing that indicates one thing or the other.) We can only tell what one of them is feeling when the game text tells us so, or when the game plays a specific animation, keeping in mind that these animations are often reused. That said, the game data itself gives us little indication of Link's thoughts about Ruto. Perhaps the most critical point is when Ruto mentions their engagement as an adult, and the game plays Link's "I'm shocked!" animation. The most basic meaning is probably that Link didn't quite "get" Ruto's love for him until she explicitly referred to him as her fiancé. His reaction isn't favorable, but that doesn't mean he couldn't change later. In any case, after Morpha's defeat, Ruto brings up romance again. The general emphasis at that point is that as she realizes her position as a sage, she comes to the sad realization that romance can never be. So, the basic game evidence itself seems to point away from a Link-Ruto relationship, for at least the duration of the game. Even Link-Ruto shippers will usually admit to that. But if they admit to that, then why do they cling to the idea that Link and Ruto will marry? "Because they are destined for one another." Essentially, the shippers argue that because Link and Ruto made an oath, they must marry. And that, my friends, is actually a wonderful argument, to which we will now turn. Never Break an Oath For most of human history, oaths have been taken very, very seriously. The game portrays a fantastical society, which is at least in appearance based on ancient and medieval culture. A few examples of the importance of oaths in antiquity will do. Among the Greeks and Romans, we find that they believe that even the gods themselves are unable to break oaths. This can be seen throughout their literature, but one of the most famous examples is from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The sun god has a son named Phaethon. Well, naturally no one believes Phaethon when he tells them that his dad is the sun god. So Phaethon travels to his father and complains about his plight. The father says to Phaethon, "All right, I'll prove your lineage! Ask me anything, and I'll do it for you! I swear it by the River Styx!" The River Styx was the river of the underworld, and swearing on it was the highest vow the sun god could have made. Well, Phaethon asks to drive the sun god's chariot (and thus the sun) through the heavens. The sun god is distraught, for he knows that Phaethon will die as a result. The climb across the sky is treacherous, filled with perils and monsters. Yet since the sun god made that oath, he must let his son have his wish. If you don't mind reading a relatively archaic translation, you can read the story in Metamorphoses I just referred to here (note that "the Nether Lake" is the River Styx). And I remind you, this is but one simple example of how much the Greeks and Romans valued oaths. If you dishonored the oath, not only would you face the wrath of the gods, but you would also be socially ostracized, a horrible thing in ancient cultures (which generally were not individualistic like ours). Of course, in the case of Ocarina of Time, we're dealing with a sort of betrothal vow. That is really quite another topic, but suffice it to say that the general sociological principles that apply to oaths in general also apply to specific vows revolving around marriage. Well, I won't bore you with further details on the history of oaths, but suffice it to say, the integrity of an oath was a very important issue for the ancients, and it was an issue that continued for a long time. The L&R shippers are indeed asking the right question. "Is Link obligated to marry Ruto?" This isn't to say that they view it as a kind of socially forced marriage. It doesn't seem as though Link wouldn't think of her as a friend, and so I suppose it would be fairly easy on his part to marry her. He doesn't like the idea at first, but that doesn't mean he couldn't warm up to the idea if he came to the realization that by accepting "her most precious possession" he was obligated to marry her. Counterpoints However, there are some important counterpoints to consider. The most obvious one is that Hyrule is not the ancient world. We have no way of knowing the customs and sociological values of Hyrule. We are left with what Nintendo gives us, and, in fact, based on Ruto's seeming resignation that she cannot have Link's love, it seems as though it is not a Hyrulian value to consider engagement to be binding. That isn't surprising, for the game is the product not of the ancient world but of the modern world. The modern world does not consider betrothals to be legally binding, especially if one of the two has no idea what he is doing. Although the face of the game may imitate a distant past, it is strongly influenced by modern culture, Japanese and Western. For instance, if the game developers were trying to implement full-fledged ancient or medieval culture into the game, they probably would have not have had Ruto, a princess, even have the option of choosing who she will marry, no matter how headstrong she is. What's more, Link was not part of mainstream Hyrulian society. He was one of the Kokiri. He grew up in a world very different from that of the Hylians, Gorons, and Zora beyond the borders of the wood. He grew up in a world where everyone remained eternal children. If the Zora people believed that Link could not back out of the marriage, Link would not feel very obligated to conform. Conclusion Does Link reciprocate Ruto's feelings? The game would tell us that he probably doesn't. But the real question is, as the Z-R shippers like to emphasize, "Is Link socially obligated to marry her?" The answer is "probably not," mostly since the game is the product of the modern world. I might also add that there are actually other reasons why Link couldn't marry Ruto, but those reasons have to do with The Wind Waker. But as I like to say, "That's for another day." Princess Zelda And they got married and lived happily ever after." Romantic love is important to people not only in real life, but in stories and myths. The Zelda games, however, seem to lack any kind of fully developed romance. But the fan fiction, art, and discussions the games have spawned are full of references to romance (yet ironically, you would be hard pressed to find references to dungeon puzzles). Even if the main topic of the fan fiction or fan art has nothing to do with romance, people slip in hints as to who they think Link should hook up with. Most people ask the question, "Who should Link hook up with?" But I like to ask the question a bit differently. Asking the question, "Who would I rather see Link fall in love with?" brings in too much subjectivity and bias into the picture for my tastes. A question I prefer to ask is, "Did the game designers point towards a relationship between Link and one of the ladies?" Periodically I will write articles looking at the games with that question in mind, by looking at each "potential love interest" in turn. First up is, of course, Zelda. A bit of groundwork Before we see if the game designers actually intended for Link and Zelda to have a thing for each other, let's make a few things clear. For one thing, the timeline theories are critically important to any discussion of this topic. When writing about romance, most of the Zelda fan sites seem to perfectly ignore the fact that there is more than one Link and more than one Zelda, even though those sites tend to hold very strongly to that idea in other parts of their pages. Now, an important part of the Zelda timeline is that each Link and Zelda is descended from a previous Link and Zelda. This means two things. First, Link and Zelda do both marry someone and have children. Second, each generation of Link and Zelda can't marry each other, because that would end up being, well, rather sick. To designate which Link and which Zelda I'm talking about, I'm going to add numbers to the end of their names as is the custom in writing about historical figures. But as games are released, those numbers can change. Keeping in mind that it doesn't include The Wind Waker yet, I'm going to use the suffixes used by the ZU timeline, just to keep things clear. Love in the 2-D Era Nearly everyone, when dealing with the romance, focuses on Link I-in other words, the Link that appears in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. This is probably mostly an effect of the transition to 3-D. But if we want to know what the designers intended, we must look at the 2-D games too. Adventure of Link is the last game in the series chronologically. The game features Link III and Zelda IV. In it, Zelda IV is asleep for the whole game. But at the very end of the game, when she is awoken, she gives Link III a kiss as the curtain descends in front of them. It's very much a cliché, and Zelda IV and Link III didn't exactly interact beforehand, but it is fairy tale romance all the same. Of all the games before the 3-D era, Adventure of Link is the only one with even a real hint at romance between Link and Zelda. But the ending to that game is a kind of fitting finale for the Legend as a whole. A Different Question We now turn to Link I and Zelda I. This is, of course, the potential Link-and-Zelda couple that gets the most attention. The term "shipper" is usually applied to someone who thinks that Link I and Zelda I should fall in love. But again, they are asking the question, "Who would I rather see get together?" It's a fine question, but it's almost entirely subjective, so a more important one is, "Did Nintendo intend to hint that Link I would fall in love with Zelda I?" Since the shippers are asking a different question, most of their arguments turn out to be quite, well, lame for our purposes. Need an example? "Zelda gave Link the light arrows and the Ocarina of Time, which is more useful than anything any other girl gave him-therefore he likes her!" To be blunt, that sort of logic doesn't even deserve to be taken seriously. Or about how about the argument that "Link took risks to help her and to save her; therefore he's in love with her." No, Link is like that because he's a good guy, helps everyone out, and is in fact chosen by the Triforce for his courage (even if "love" is part of the equation, let's not forget that love is not restricted to romantic definitions-in fact, the ancient Greeks had four words for different kinds of love). Likewise, the idea that Zelda was used as "bait" for Link because Ganon "knew that they were in love" is similarly flawed. In addition, it ignores the fact that Ganon wanted the whole Triforce, and Zelda had part of it. "Who would I rather see get together?" is a decent question, but it doesn't get us as far as "What did Nintendo hint at?" That Scene in the Sky There is practically only one scene that could possibly be hinting towards a connection between the two of them. And that is the scene that takes place immediately after the defeat of Ganon. Link I and Zelda I are standing in the middle of the sky, and Zelda tells him that they must return to their own time. Link must hand back the ocarina. He does so, but he lets go of it only reluctantly. That is the moment that some have interpreted to mean that Link and Zelda are "holding hands," that they do not take their hands away because they are enjoying the moment in which their hands touch. This is a possible interpretation, but I find it quite unlikely based on at least two things you can find in the context. First, the battle with Ganon. Link has just had a harrowing battle with the holder of the Triforce of Power, not to mention what came before that. Now imagine Link's emotions. You, the courageous warrior, have just gone through terror upon terror and have finally slain the horrible beast that brought curses and monsters onto Hyrule. Now it's all over, and you're standing in the sky, weirdly enough. Yes, your quest is complete. Yes, you're ready to head home. But what you went through was an incredibly powerful experience, to say the least. You saw things you never imagined when you lived as a Kokiri. And now you are now surprised that you now have to give back your ocarina, a precious instrument that has taken you through many troubles. You know what you must do, but you don't want to do it. You have a hard time letting go of the ocarina (for a semi-parallel example, think of how, in Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo had such a hard time giving up the Ring). So, you hold on partially because you don't entirely want to give it up the ocarina, and partially because you're still in shock and wonder at the moment. You certainly aren't thinking about romance-you're thinking about what has gone on before, what has changed, and what will become of you (and the ocarina). You're not going to break the dramatic pacing and just chuck the ocarina into Zelda's hands and say, "OK! Enough of that! I'm headed home! Let's seal off the way to the future for good! All of the stuff I just went through wasn't a big deal, so I won't pause to reflect!" Likewise, Zelda wouldn't just rip the ocarina out of Link's hand upon contact. "Hey! That's MINE!" Second, the theme of the game as a whole. (This ties in very much with the previous point.) Time was obviously Link the First's major theme. The idea of the passage of time was stressed constantly throughout Ocarina of Time. The theme wasn't just about the passage of time per se, but the consequences of the passage of time, mostly those consequences that have to do with friendship. In fact, friendship too is a big theme for both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. There is a kind of sadness at loosing the friends and innocent wonder of childhood. Of course, how these themes are developed is a topic for another article on another day, but I might point out that the words of Zelda (disguised as Sheik) were often used to convey these themes. It would be far more in keeping with these themes to interpret the "scene in the sky" in a non-romantic way. This is a big moment-the story isn't going to take a diversion and hint at romance, but instead is going to conclude the theme begun from the time Link was said to be "the boy without a fairy." Link must pause now, as he returns to the old days, and gives up entirely this new life which he has been leading. And he must give up adulthood, and the fast road to it. Conclusion Link III and Zelda IV, the final characters in the Legend, did fall in love. That much is clear. But what about Link I and Zelda I, which people seem to care about more? There is only one scene that could plausibly be interpreted as hinting to a romance, and even that interpretation is unlikely because of the context. Those who actively want to see romance between Link I and Zelda I will interpret the scene as such, but that is the result of asking the wrong question. In the end, it is even more unlikely that Nintendo was hinting towards a Link I and Zelda I relationship, given what we know about Link's other possible love interests. Of course, that lies beyond the scope of this particular article. When I take a look at those characters, I think it will become even more clear that Zelda I is not "the one" for Link I, at least not in the eyes of the game designers. Homecoming The world knew nothing of the boy without a fairy. And yet, as The Wind Waker put its, he came as if from nowhere, and shook the foundations of the world, conquering the darkness. But "after battling evil and saving Hyrule," he "crept away from the land that had made him a legend." And so, "done with the battles he once waged across time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey." We all know this as the introduction to Majora's Mask. That was the last game on the Nintendo 64. Now that we have witnessed the rise of the Hero of Winds, a major question arises in our minds. "What really happened to the Hero of Time?" Did he return from Termina? Did he, like Odysseus of Greek fame, return to his homeland, or was he trapped forever in a parallel world? Staying in Termina Many Zelda fans believe that Link did not and could not have returned from Termina. The primary reason they give is that Link entered Termina by falling down a chasm, and there would be no way for him to get back. But this argument is based on the assumption of a non-fantasy world where we know what would and would not work. To use the example of the Chronicles of Narnia again, there is more than one way of traveling between Earth and Narnia. It is implied that the Mask Salesman can travel between worlds. Apparently he has great magic power, as evidenced by his knowledge of the Song of Healing, and by his vanishing act at the end of the game. More clearly, the Skull Kid was obviously able to travel between the worlds, although it might be argued that Majora's Mask is what gave him this power. So there are two reasons why it is perfectly reasonable to believe that Link could return. The first is that there may be other ways back to Hyrule, which Link would use now that he had completed the task he had agreed to do in exchange for being restored to his true form by the Mask Salesman. The second is that magic can do a lot in a fantasy world, be it through the ocarina, a mask, the gods themselves, or some other means. The game does not explain how many things happen, and nor does it need to, since it is a fantasy. A more significant argument is that in The Wind Waker, it sounds as if the last we hear of Link is that he vanishes to a new land. Yet what would we expect? If he returned, he would settle in relative obscurity for several reasons. First, Ganon did not return until long after Link had returned. He would have done no more great deeds when he returned, and so functionally speaking, his greatness ended with his passage to Termina (indeed, we are told that he was separated from the elements that made him a hero at that point), and no more word of him would pass down many hundreds of years, surviving even the Flood. Second, it is in keeping with his personality as a loner. As Majora's Mask begins, Link is alone on Epona, deep in the Lost Woods. If he returned, and if he finished his searches for Navi at the edges of the world, he would settle in a familiar, hidden place in the forest, away from the cities and view of men. Third, even if some people managed to catch a glimpse of him, they might not truly recognize him for the hero that he is. In Ocarina of Time almost no one recognized him as a great hero. Just about the only ones that came to recognize his true nature were those with great power. In general no one sees him for who he is in either Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask until the deed is done, and even then he doesn't get a huge fanfare like we see at the end of Star Wars Episode I. As a side-note, that leads us to ask the question, how did he become "the legendary one" in the first place? Clearly, from those who were in the know. Whose legend is this? It's the legend of "Zelda," and the royal family. Zelda's father wouldn't believe her portents early in Ocarina of Time, much like Cassandra of Troy. Now that Hyrule is shifted back in time to the earlier period, Ganon is "no longer a threat." Skirting aside the issue of the enormous contradictions generated by time travel, we look at it with the simplicity of Nintendo and think of the situation as it is. Is everyone suddenly going to recognize Link as a mighty hero? No. How could they? There isn't much proof. In order for the truth to disseminate to the common people-and even the King-Zelda (and perhaps the other sages) must establish the legend as true. And to do that takes building up a reputation of wisdom, and that takes time. By that time, Link is gone. Zelda heard of how he vanished to Termina, and "no one saw him again." Perhaps people did "see" him again, but they didn't see him with true understanding. If they caught glimpses of him-for that is all they would get, since Link was a loner-they didn't know he was the legendary one until they found out that the legendary one even existed in the first place. Some might say something like, "Hey, it's that guy who saved my chicken!" But it would be a while before they would think, "Hey, it's that time-traveling guy who saved the world!" By then Link has wandered and settled in the far reaches of Hyrule or is perhaps even dead. That is the nature of legends. In any event, there is no reason to believe that there would be any significant enough story about the Hero of Time after his return to Hyrule to survive down to the times of The Wind Waker. Returning to Hyrule But what does Majora's Mask itself say? In my book, it seems fairly clear in saying that he did return to Hyrule. Granted, there is no text explicitly saying it, but the end of the game shows him on Epona in the same place where the game began. This not only makes sense in terms of storytelling, but it's a cinematic way of explicitly telling us that he did indeed return. Not only that, but the sequences before that emphasize departure. The ending isn't just, "By crikey, Termina is happy, nice little place, and I'm going to settle here." It rather has a slightly sad tone, the sadness of departure. That's because it emphasizes the "Goodbye" part, and isn't goodbye to Hyrule. It's, "Goodbye. I'll likely never see you again, but we'll be friends anyway." On the other hand, there may be a small something in Majora's Mask that indicates Link stays in Termina. After saving Romani Ranch, Romani tells Link that because the poes will attack in later years, Link should stay there with their family. "And you can have Romani's bed!" She then grins (as when she tells you "You're cute!") as she closes it off with the statement, "So then, it's settled!" Since the games avoid putting words in Link's mouth as much as possible, they sometimes use that sort of text to inform us that Link has agreed to something. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing in this case whether Romani is simply assuming Link is agreeing to it, or if the game really is trying to use that to tell us that Link will stay there after he saves the world. So Majora's Mask itself appears to indicate on the whole that Link did indeed return to Hyrule. But there are more reasons why it is more believable to think that Link returned. Why would Nintendo close the door on making any more games with him? It does seem that the first direction they were going for the next game was to use adult Link. Of course they later scrapped that, but the point is that it would be very uncharacteristic of Nintendo to shut the book on a hero like that. And in fact, in Nintendo's own mind, Link did return from Termina. Before The Wind Waker, the official timeline had Link returning from Termina. That particular timeline is no longer valid, but it nevertheless shows that Nintendo thought Link returned to Hyrule. In addition to such evidence, we might also point to the context of the other games. Link could not have had descendants in Hyrule (as we know to be true) if he did not live in Hyrule (unless you suppose that his descendents were the ones who traveled back to Hyrule!). The nature of the storytelling of Majora's Mask, Nintendo's own comments on the game, a bit of logic, and the weak evidence on the side of the naysayers all point to one conclusion. Link did indeed return to Hyrule, settled into relative obscurity, and did no more great deeds that would be remembered for centuries, at least in part due to the long peace. Wind Waker Love The characters of The Wind Waker are brimming with personality. Perhaps the most vibrant character in the game is Zelda herself. After all, in what other game did she give Link so many winks, or boss him around and even fight alongside him, for that matter? Indeed, we have a much better idea of her personality because we see her so much more. Since Zelda and Link interact so often, there is ample opportunity for Nintendo to hint at some kind of childhood romance . . . The Clue of the Fairy Queen Like no Zelda game before it, The Wind Waker emphasizes again and again that Link is but a child. The young Hero of Time was silent with a steely resolve, propelled by the desire for justice. Just about everything about the Hero of Winds, on the other hand, is childlike. We wouldn't expect him to have a crush on Zelda, since most boys don't think in such terms at that age. But a certain cinematic in the game with Zelda's only potential "competitor" demonstrates that things are different for the Hero of Winds. That "competitor" is the Queen of the Fairies. Some have joked that the scary Great Fairies of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask had a thing for Link, but now in The Wind Waker, the Queen of the Fairies actually takes a liking to Link. After the Fairy tells Link that he's just her type, Link's reaction conveys exactly what he thinks of the idea. He certainly likes it! Of course, the King immediately gives him a look as if to say, "In your dreams. Get a hold of yourself." Clearly then, the "competitor" is not a plausible potential love interest, due to her extremely different nature. But the scene is nevertheless very important, because it reveals something about the personality of the Hero of Winds. For unlike the Hero of Time, who was rather clueless about such things, the Hero of Winds is quite aware of romance, and is actually keen on the idea. The Little Hints Unfortunately, most of the evidence specific to Zelda is ambiguous. It is true that when Tetra and Link go down under the sea, Link looks rather concerned for Tetra, but this could just as easily be a reflection of Link's general concern for others. This could be said of most of his later animations in reaction to Zelda. Does he not act in essentially the same way towards his sister? On the other hand, at the very end, he is rather "buddy-buddy" with her, and it is possible to interpret that as something more than friendship, even if not explicitly. But keep in mind that nothing can be concluded from the scene at the end of the credits, in which an image of Link's face is placed next to an image of Tetra winking. One of the animations, however, may be clearer. After Tetra is revealed as Zelda and she apologizes, Link motions as if to say, "No biggie." The nature of his facial animation, his laugh, and his ensuing brisk departure could be interpreted as giving a hint of the fact that he likes her. Yet even this is hardly a sure thing. There are two main pieces of text that may help us. In the Bomb Shop, Tetra doesn't seem to want her underlings to know that she's concerned about Outset Island for reasons other than acquiring the treasure. It seems as if she doesn't want them to know that she has a soft spot for Link, which she didn't have at the beginning of the adventure, in keeping with her tough, sassy personality. This may imply some kind of love for Link. After Tetra sells the bombs to Beedle, the shopkeeper teases Link, saying that he can see Link blushing at the mention of the pirate girl. Beedle seems to be a bit of a nut-case, so we ought to take what he says with a bit of a grain of salt, but the most likely explanation is that this is the game's way of hinting at a bit of love between Link and Zelda, because it shows that it was on the minds of the designers. Conclusion Did Nintendo intend for the Hero of Winds to fall in love with Zelda? The evidence is certainly no where near as clear as the evidence for the connection between the Hero of Time and Malon, but there do seem to be some subtle hints in The Wind Waker that point to such a relationship between the hero and the princess. Some of what might otherwise be evidence is too difficult to interpret, but it is possible to make a decent case for a love connection based on some of the hints. At the very least, the episode with the Queen of the Fairies tells us that just because Link is a young boy doesn't mean that he thinks Zelda has cooties. Rather, he seems to like the idea of love, making the other little hints all the more real. As Link and Zelda sail off into the horizon to find a new future and a new Hyrule, it isn't a big stretch to say that they just might well have a future together. We can only await the release of the game, "The Legend of Zelda" 2005. Final Statements The fact is, is that there are is love in Zelda. We can't be sure of any of it. But, we can always consider the facts, and ponder. Which makes all the fun! As a great book says: "You'll have to fill in the rest of the holes for yourself." First off, I'd just like to say thanks to the sites, and people that helped with this post zeldauniverse.net - articles Trahald from Zelda Universe - awesome articles. Especially Trahald, his theory's are amazing, and hard to argue with. If you'd like to see some of the articles he's made. Go to: http://zeldauniverse.net/404.php I hope you enjoyed the post.

Of course. There will always be ways of getting things to a faster, and higher level. Processor's will get even smaller, and you'll be able to do imaging in a couple clicks exactly how you want to. There are so many possibilites... many of the technologies we actually have right now... but are to expensive to release.

Sounds like it might. And it's definetely good news. I've been using g-mail for awhile now, seeing I got it before most internet junkies even knew about it. It was nice to be able to get some of the names I wanted without all the #'s after them. It's a good move by Google too. Google is starting to take some giant leaps into the internet market, with some really great innovations lately. We'll see if G-Mail catches on...

Wonderful. Very good news. IE 6 just has to many holes to deal with, currently I'm using FireFox. Hopefully *crosses fingers* Mozilla will put out something better than IE 7. *huggles Mozilla and their pure genious.Tabed browsing is a must...

Tales of Symphonia owns all. *refers back to his memories of the game*I remember seeing cutscene at E3 and just thinking: "A anime/manga game... rpg.... *drools*" The game starts off a bit weird, but, everything that I'm not to keen of regular RPG's is fixed in this game. NO random battles, a real time RPG, but also has many rpg elements in it that often get left out. The voice acting is GREAT. A twisiting storyline (which I could tell you about for hours, but I shall not spoil the game) and is just really overall well done.I've played 120 hours of this game and am playing through it for my 4th time. I just can't get enough of it.... it's just so.... fun.

I purchased one this christmas and have mixed feelings. First off, I'd like to say that I never purchased a Game Boy Advance, in which I am glad I didn't. Games are cheaper right now and I am able to play the games on my DS. Thank Heavens. The thing about DS right now, is it does not have very many good games. In fact, you won't be seeing very many good games intill December of this year. The DS is fully capable of being a powerful, and innovated system. But game developers have yet to catch onto why the DS will be fun. Currently there are THREE games that are worthwile to get. (Super Mario 64 DS, Feel the Magic and Wario Ware Twisted) That is all. Let's break that down for a second. We have... 2 first party games, one which is almost a direct port with new added features, one is a pretty crumy puzzle type game, and the other was poorly thought out.Currently, the DS ISN'T worth getting. It collects dust if I am not playing my GBA games on it. Also, the 2 screens take a little getting use to. But can actually be a really great addition. IF they are used right. I think you had a bad experience with MP: H: FH because you don't exactly know the control design. The way most people play it is using the stylus with the right hand, which you can control your aim on the touch screen with. Using the D-Pad to move, and the R/L button to shoot. It is a bit weird at first, but can be pretty darn awesome.The fact is, PSP is currently going to own DS. The only thing DS does better currently is price point. Get a PSP, and maybe get a DS next year or for christmas of 05'. *goes to dust of DS*