The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening committed a narrative sin — and got away with it
polygon.comEven if you’ve never taken a writing workshop before, you’ve probably heard at least a few of the adages that get tossed around. Kill your darlings. Show, don’t tell. Among others, these pithy and thus memorable phrases get bandied about in the writing world as a means by which to avoid cliche and common errors when writing fiction. The young writer absorbs these things as truths, never to be forgotten and always to be followed, as though they were holy edicts and not generalized advice. In truth, though, there are sometimes (sometimes) reasons not to kill your darlings. Often, it is in fact better, at least momentarily, to tell, not show. Still, I think we can all agree that the “it was all a dream” ending is really unsatisfying and should never be used.
…Right?
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is an “it was all a dream” narrative. Sailing on a stormy sea, Link is knocked unconscious and washed ashore on Koholint Island. There, he is awoken by someone who is not quite Zelda in a house that is not quite the house from the beginning of A Link to the Past.
From the opening moments of Link’s Awakening, the game’s dreamlike logic is pervasive. Link mistakes his rescuer Marin for Zelda, like those dreams where it’s your friend, but it’s not your friend, but it is. Enemies from the Mario and Kirby series populate the world, including Goombas, a Chain Chomp, and the absurdly named “Anti-Kirby.”
At one point, you must dream within the dream to get an ocarina that will allow you to resurrect a dead rooster via a song given to you by Mamu, who is just Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2. A harried father named Papahl has somehow divined that he will be lost later in the game and asks Link to look after him once that happens. In
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