The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy_ I Link Therefore I Am - Luke Cuddy [86]
The Gateway to Utopia
The Utopian ideal is a slippery thing. Far from creating states of happiness and equality, the majority of attempts to realize real-life utopias has resulted in anything but. Lest we forget, Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, and Mao’s China were all visions of societal perfection. Fictional utopias have fared much better. Harmony is much easier to achieve in imagination. Even then, though, there is a problem: such worlds can remain far away. We can follow where a narrative leads us, or stay within a painting’s restricted frame, but we can’t quite touch. In one Utopia however, this isn’t true. In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, through our connection to Link, Utopia is there to explore. This happy Hyrule, with its ordered town, loving God, and eternal summer, is indeed Utopia achieved.
Paradise Found
Issues of time and space notwithstanding, it’s tempting to see our oft-quoted philosophers settled in this Utopia.
The man who gifted us with the term, Thomas More, would find plenty that appealed, not least of all the small size of the population—in his Utopia no city has more than six thousand households—and the clear work ethic of its citizens. Any minor quibbles he did have he would seek to resolve, understanding that fine ideals were useless unless put into action. It wouldn’t be surprising, therefore, to see him use his astute political mind to stand against Mayor Hagen in the next election. His primary aim? To work towards an even fairer, even more idyllic Hyrule.
Plato and Aristotle would take a cottage in the west of town, close to its pulsating heart and the new university but within spitting distance of the river. Here, after a hard day lecturing, the founding fathers of philosophy would discuss the nature of reality from the comfort of their cottage garden, in a climate close to that of their beloved Greece, while gazing out across the perfect polis. Whenever the debates reached a temporary stalemate, Aristotle, a keen and accomplished biologist as well as philosopher, would collect amazing aquatic specimens from the river. Plato, meanwhile, would take pleasure from fresh dialogues, in Mama’s Café, with the ever-accommodating Hylians.
Kierkegaard and Kant, though never sharing a timeline in this world, would make happy housemates in Hyrule. Both men rarely left their hometowns of, respectively, Copenhagen and Königsberg, preferring the ordered, metropolitan life, which Hyrule town offers in spades. It’s pleasing to think of them, newly arrived in Hyrule, engaging in a late-night discussion on the existence or otherwise of God, both blissfully unaware of the irony. For God does exist. He’s there and closer than they could ever imagine. He’s in the fields and in the forests, on their rooftop and in their rafters. He’s dressed in red and blue and is looking down on them, and on everyone else in this green and pleasant land, with affection, benevolence and love.
Yes, I think these and, indeed, all our philosophers would like it here. Wouldn’t you?
Level 7
You are Nearing the End of Your Quest … Grumble, Grumble …
14
I Am Link’s Transcendental Will: Freedom from Hyrule to Earth
DARIO S. COMPAGNO
I am Link.
I know I should not travel so late at night … every time I do a bunch of creepy zombies tries to eat me … But, what else can I do? Time seems to go so fast since I have left the Kokiri forest (where as long as I remember days seemed much longer, maybe because I did not have so much to do after all). Anyway, I’ve got something important to do and the undeads are not a problem for