With The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom releasing later this week, the upcoming title, which casts Zelda as its protagonist, instead of Link, is the latest game to to be covered as part of Nintendo’s “Ask the Developer” interview series. Across multiple chapters, many questions were asked of Series Producer, Eiji Aonuma, and Directors, Tomomi Sano, and Satoshi Terada.
When talking about their involvement with Echoes of Wisdom, Aonuma, Sano, and Terada explain why Zelda wears Link’s hood in the game and the relevance of its importance:
Echoes of Wisdom Devs on Why Zelda Wears Link’s Hood:
Eiji Aonuma: That being said, we had a lot of trouble deciding on Princess Zelda’s outfit, for example. Since she is going on an adventure, we did consider giving her some more typical adventure clothing. Yet we wondered if it’d look strange to have such an outfit ready, as if it was already known that she’d be leaving from the get-go.
We tried looking for a suitable outfit for Princess Zelda from previous games as well. But I couldn’t find anything that really clicked…
So, when I was shown Link’s new outfit for this title, it occurred to me, “Princess Zelda goes on a journey secretly, so wouldn’t it make sense if she wears a hood as well?”.
Satoshi Terada: That’s the hood that Link wears at the beginning of the game, and it’s there to represent Link, who has become strong after many adventures.
Tomomi Sano: Also, we thought it’d be touching if Princess Zelda inherited the hood that Link wore.
Eiji Aonuma: One of the themes for Princess Zelda this time was to find Link, so we thought that her wearing his hood would be a good reminder of her purpose to find him. By the way, I mentioned earlier how the sword and shield got in the way of the echoes gameplay, but we still wanted to implement gameplay that used a sword and shield. So we thought it would make sense if Zelda imitated Link’s abilities using echoes, and that’s how the swordfighter form came about.
For the full interview, why not click here to check out Ask the Developer Vol. 13, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Chapter 3:
Ask the Developer | The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Participating Developers)
- Eiji Aonuma | Senior Officer, Entertainment Planning & Development Division (and Series Producer)
- Tomomi Sano | Entertainment Planning & Development Division, Production Group No.3 (and Director)
- Satoshi Terada | Director, Grezzo
