The titular princess deserves better in The Legend of Zelda

destructoid.com:

As the prophecy has foretold, evil will rise, time and time again, and a hero will show up to make it stop. Their job would be a lot easier if there wasn’t also a third person in the prophecy who, time and time again, makes everything worse.

Princess Zelda is one of the most vexing supporting characters in video game history. Being type-cast is bad enough, but when the narrative actually does have her in a more prominent role, it’s almost always her duty to screw up and make the problem bigger. She’s there simply to give Link more problems to solve. The Legend of Zelda may have her name in the title, but the series would be a lot better off completely rethinking the character or simply dropping her completely.

While The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is one of my favorite stories ever told in a video game, I generally don’t hold the series in high regard in terms of storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, it’s one of my favorite properties in gaming, having been the initial spark for my passion for the hobby back with the NES original. However, that’s largely due to a myriad of other reasons and not because it tells good narratives. It rarely does, and that’s partly the fault of Princess Zelda.

From here on out, I’m going to be talking about the plot of various titles in the series in vague terms. Consider this your spoiler warning.

I’m not going to victim blame here. Getting kidnapped seems to be the most common pastime of princesses, right alongside dating and animal husbandry. I’m not going to blame her for starting her career by being kidnapped. Nor do I have a problem with her being asleep for the entire next title. It gets a little absurd in A Link to the Past when she’s kidnapped, saved, then quickly kidnapped again,