The Motherless Syndrome
By Vyctori
Has anyone ever noticed the inordinate amount of orphans in The Legend of Zelda? I didn't, until someone pointed it out to me. Did one of the developers of the series lose a parent when she/he was young, and did it affect her/him deeply? Deeply enough to include several orphans or semi-orphans in each game? Here's a list of all the orphans/semi-orphans I could think of and a short analysis:
Link - For those who believe in the Multiple Link Theory, I'm talking about the Link that debuted in Ocarina of Time. Link is a total orphan. His mother was grievously wounded in the Fifty Years War that ended shortly after Link's birth. She died after giving baby Link into the Deku Tree's care. From reading some of the information on the official Zelda site (www.zelda.com - it's worth a look!), I've concluded that Link's father was a soldier killed in the war, but this is open for debate.
Princess Zelda - Once again, this is the Ocarina of Time Zelda. Zelda's mother is an unknown quantity, but from the total lack of mention, it could be that she died in childbirth. It was a common thing back then. One odd thing is that Zelda begins Ocarina of Time as a semi-orphan, becomes orphaned when Ganondorf murders her father, and returns to being a semi-orphan when she sends Link back in time.
Marin/Malon/Romani/Cremia - Malon (I'll stick to her name only) appears to be a semi-orphan. Her mother is never seen and is mentioned only when she, Malon, teaches Link "Epona's Song" in Ocarina of Time (her mother composed the song). From this, it sounds as though her mother died within recent memory. How, no one will ever know. In Cremia and Romani's case, not only is their mother dead, but, appearantly so is their father.
Princess Ruto - Again, the loss of her mother seems to be the same as Malon and her counterparts. Ruto, before trapping Link into that dratted engagement, says to him that her mother told her to give Zora's Sapphire only to the man she will marry. Since Ruto appears to be the only female Zora in all of Zora's Domain, and since she talked about her mother in the past tense, it seems that Ruto's mother is also dead from causes unmentioned.
Link the Goron - Darunia's son. Whether or not he has a mother is a big if, since I've never seen a female Goron (but the question is, would I recognize if I saw one?) She's never talked about, when Link is ten and when he's seventeen. It's possible Darunia married his wife while Link was asleep in the Temple of Time and then she died in childbirth. It's possible, just not very likely.
The Kokiri - I know, I know, this is stretching it a bit. Technically, they're motherless, since they were created by the Deku Tree (it says so at the very beginning of Ocarina of Time).
The Deku Princess - Notice a theme here with motherless princesses? Tediously, nobody says anything about her mother. The fact that there are only two thrones in the Deku Scrub throne room, one each for king and princess, seems to show that the Deku Queen is dead and the princess is a semi-orphan.
Pamela - The girl who lives in Ikana Canyon. She lives with her father, a paranormal researcher. We don't find out a lot about her home life, but she doesn't seem to have a mother. If the mother of Pamela is dead, then this could explain why she is fiercely protective of her father, since he is her one remaining parent.
Anju - For a refreshing break, this time Anju is a semi-orphan who has lost her father. He's not at the inn, and in a conversation with her grandmother, where the grandmother refers to Anju as "Tortus," Anju replies in exasperation, "Grandmother! Tortus was my dad!" Since she uses the past tense, it is likely that Tortus has passed away.
Goron Elder's Son - Like Link the Goron, I'm unsure of this one, since I don't know what a female Goron looks like. I'm pretty sure the Elder's son is a semi-orphan though, as I have only seen one really, really, really old Goron in Majora's Mask. His wife (incidentally, are there even female Gorons? Maybe they're like the Gerudos!) might be a lot younger than her husband, but I doubt it.
Din - Oracle of Seasons. Surprisingly, since the entire game is titled after her (Oracle of Seasons, naturally), little is known about her. All we know is she's, obviously, the Oracle of Seasons, a terrific dancer, and she has a crush on Link. She's about to say so, until she chickens out. If she has parents, they're nowhere in sight.
If there are any other orphans I've missed, then feel free to write in another editorial.
That's a lot of people that have lost one or both parents. The grand total is thirteen in four games. A little excessive, no? One thing's for sure, and it's that I wouldn't want to be a mother in Hyrule or its environs. I'd be an endangered species.
