Key Takeaways
- Link was initially supposed to be the Echoes of Wisdom protagonist.
- Nintendo eventually decided on Zelda because Link’s sword and shield disincentivized using Echoes to overcome challenges, which is what the company wanted the game to be about.
- Echoes of Wisdom releases September 26 as the first The Legend of Zelda game starring the titular princess.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was initially planned to have Link as the main playable character, a senior Nintendo official has said. This revelation was offered as part of a wider overview explaining some of the intricacies of how Echoes of Wisdom was designed.
The latest installment in Nintendo’s long-running franchise is scheduled to hit the store shelves on Thursday, September 26. Echoes of Wisdom will make history as the first The Legend of Zelda game starring the titular princess.
Link Just Wasn’t Working Out as Echoes of Wisdom Protagonist
But this historic moment wasn’t planned from the get-go, as Nintendo originally wanted to have Link as the game’s protagonist. That’s according to the long-time The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, who said as much in a recent developer interview shared as part of the action adventure’s marketing campaign. What made the company change its mind was that Link just wasn’t working out as the Echoes of Wisdom protagonist. “If you have a sword and a shield, you can just fight using those,” Aonuma explained, adding that there was “no need to rely on the monsters’ power” with this setup.
Zelda Was Found to be the Perfect Fit for Echoes of Wisdom Premise
This prompted the Echoes of Wisdom developer to try introducing the Master Sword and Hylian Shield later on in the story, thus forcing the player to first learn how to use Echoes before obtaining more direct tools of confrontation. But this didn’t work either, as it merely resulted in a “typical” The Legend of Zelda game with extra steps, Aonuma recalled. Ultimately, the developers figured out that Zelda was the perfect fit for carrying the Echoes of Wisdom premise.
If you have a sword and a shield, you can just fight using those. There’s no need to rely on the monsters’ power.
This revelation wasn’t the end of Nintendo’s development dilemmas. Having Zelda as the main playable character also raised some design challenges; having her run around Hyrule in royal clothes wouldn’t make much sense, but neither would having her fitted out for adventuring in a story that’s all about her going on an unexpected journey. That’s why the developer ultimately decided to have her inherit Link’s hood, which was designed back when he was still planned to be the protagonist.
Even though Zelda is the undisputed star of the upcoming game, Echoes of Wisdom will still have Link as a playable character, as per its recently published ESRB rating. But based on what little Nintendo has shown so far, the only thing that seems like a given is that Link will be playable at the very beginning of the next The Legend of Zelda entry, until he gets trapped in a mysterious purple rift while rescuing the princess, thus setting her grand adventure in motion.
