Over the past few years I've written a number of lengthy articles (under the name "Hylian Dan") examining the deeper layers of particular Zelda games. I've spent an awful lot of time contemplating Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and The Wind Waker and connecting those games to my own life experiences, and I've found that these games have a lot to say about the nature and meaning of life. I've linked to the articles here, for anyone who's interested.

Articles like these take a long time to write, but there are many reasons why I've dedicated this time to them. The game industry is struggling artistically, so I want people to recognize the artistic merits of existing games. Zelda is filled with meaningful content, and it's a shame whenever people remember it just for being about saving the princess from the evil Ganon. I intend to be a game designer myself, so studying these titles this closely helps me find my own inspiration. That, and I simply want others to be able to appreciate these games on the same level that I do.

First up is "The Message of Majora's Mask," which landed me on the front page of digg.com. I'd like to go back and clean up the organization and overall writing significantly, but it is what it is. It's not my best, but it's what landed me on the map as a Zelda article writer and it's still popular among fans of the game. The Stone Tower of Babel theory has been ridiculed plenty, understandably, which is just to be expected if you want to write about possible phallic symbolism in a Nintendo game. I stand by my general interpretation here, although a good amount of my conjecture is probably off the mark. Is my theory valid? Did Nintendo intend for any of this? Does authorial intent even matter when it comes to art? Reach your own conclusions; I just want to share my observations.

The second part of the article is more about the theme of faith that runs through the story. I still had a lot of digging to do to really reach a good understanding of Majora's Mask's meaning, but this was a step in the right direction for me. The meaning of the game resonates very powerfully with me; as I wrote part two of this article, I was sitting alone in my empty dorm the week after freshman year ended. The friends I loved had all departed and I was left behind as a ghost, which is what this game is really all about. Writing this helped me cope with the powerful loss.

The Message of Majora's Mask: [link]

I followed that up a year later with the far superior article, "Immortal Childhood," which remains my favorite of these. During my sophomore year I joined DREAM, which is a mentoring program for kids from disadvantaged families. I spent a lot of time with kids and hanging around playgrounds, which helped me to recognize and understand the end of my own childhood. After one particular day I spent hanging out with these kids first and my college friends later, I woke up at night and a million pieces of the Zelda series fell into place perfectly. I spent the next month trying to organize that revelation into a coherent and comprehensive article, and I'm pretty proud of the result.

Tolkien once wrote that The Lord of the Rings is really about death and the desire for deathlessness. The Legend of Zelda is no different. These games confront the nature of our relationship to time, our mortality, which is what lends them much of their power.

Immortal Childhood: [link]

That article touched upon the themes of The Wind Waker, but it was clear to me that I owed this game a more thorough analysis. I began with the expectation that the King of Hyrule's final speech was constructed as a thesis statement for the entirety of the game. I started a new file to examine the game closely, and the floodgates opened and I was overwhelmed with all the connections I was finding throughout The Wind Waker. It became impossible to contain them all in one article, so I ended up writing a five-part series.

This was very difficult to write and I often doubted whether I was making any sense at all, but it was well-received by many. At the time I was writing this, I was living in Montreal for four months, my first time living in a fairly big city and my first time living outside the United States. This article series was the perfect subject matter to be contemplating throughout that very important but very limited time.

The Philosophy of The Wind Waker: [link]

While in Montreal, I read an article on Gamasutra about a talk game designer Chris Hecker had given. That night I wrote up my response, using examples from the Zelda series to show how game designers could use gameplay itself to communicate life experience. The next day or so I attended the Montreal International Game Summit, where I got to see Chris Hecker give that same talk in person, which was pretty cool.

The Soul of a Game: [link]

Read whatever interests you and let me know what you think. My hope is that stuff like this can get people to see that there is far more to Zelda than saving the princess, and to understand some of the power that video games can have as a medium. Beyond that, I want to simply pass along what The Legend of Zelda has to say, or at least what I was able to hear.