The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy_ I Link Therefore I Am - Luke Cuddy [69]
• The Hollow Tree blocks Link’s movements, as trees or rocks do, but it also allows us to go to underworld. So, it merges some functions of the tree sprite with some of the door’s. Note that both stairs and hollow tree lead us to an underworld place (caves, dungeons) in contrast to the overworld. But stairs must be discovered, whereas hollow trees are visible. In other words, stairs require bombs (if hidden by rocks) or candles (if hidden by trees), but hollow trees don’t force us to use any object as a condition to go down. Why? Because stairs lead into an old man’s cave, and this is good (he gives us presents), and the hollow tree leads us into a dungeon, and this is bad (it’s full of dangers). So, the stair requirements are a form of price. And the hidden place the stairs leads into is then qualified as valuable. Therefore, both stairs and hollow tree connect underworld and overworld, but in a different way. And that’s why they have different sprites.
• We can only cross the water areas through bridges (over a river) or if there is a dock (at sea). The difference? Well, oceans are wider than rivers, but this fact is translated into The Legend of Zelda as follows: Link can use the bridge freely, but using the dock requires the raft. Quantity of water is not as important for the player as the conditions he is forced to meet. Similarly, water and mountains are almost the same thing because both block our way into wide areas of the screen. Again, the difference? On the water surface zolas can appear (they pop up, shoot and dive avoiding our arrows) and nobody else but zolas; in the mountains we can found tektikes jumping, or there can be hidden caves or, sometimes, rocks fall and roll from above. So, because of that, water and mountains are different things in Zelda . They allow different things to happen. It isn’t useful for game playability trying to imitate all the characteristics of real water by copying it into Hyrule; it’s wiser to select those characteristics that are interesting for, and relevant to, Link’s adventure. In real life, water freezes and we can walk over it. In Zelda , water doesn’t freeze or boil, nor is it even wet. Water in Zelda is that thing with a blue appearance that blocks our movement, that has zolas in it, that can be crossed only through certain points (bridges, docks) and only if certain conditions are met (rafts). This is the meaning of “water” in Hyrule, and nothing else.
• Doors, stairs, and docks are peculiar. We said that trees, rocks and rivers block our way, inside a single screen. Doors, stairs, and docks block the way or allow passage, but between different screens. Therefore, as we’ll see, they are working on another level regarding the construction of space. Some objects are used for building screens, others for connecting screens.
So, sprites are something more than graphics imitating a landscape: they can be seen as a summary of the things we can do with them. Sprites are the sign (in short, the name) of those actions (the meaning). And we usually use different names for different meanings. A tree is different from a door in Zelda because they restrict Link’s movements in different ways. We can think about putting various sprites together. A combination of ten trees, two rocks, and one bridge will determine a concrete path, different from a combination of nine trees, one rock, and two bridges. There are a lot of possibilities regarding the construction of spatial relationships, using only a handful of sprites.
Characters
Suppose we are in a screen with some trees, some rocks, a river, and a bridge. Link has to walk around the trees, avoid the rocks, and cross the river. So Link’s movements depend on the space configuration,