The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy_ I Link Therefore I Am - Luke Cuddy [94]
Repetition can be understood in two ways concerning Zelda : first, the lack of a time clock makes each moment of play eternally present, not passing away or surging forward; secondly, but with the same result, the structure of the game remains constant while there is the ability to replay and restart (saving) gameplay, which is in fact necessary to play the game. This second understanding revolves around the fact that while there are many different ways to play the game, Link and the player continually encounter the same underlying structure and limitations.
Nietzsche sees the world as a dynamic collection of forces, and this flux of energy or “will to power,” permeates all levels of reality. From the smallest quanta of energy to the cosmos at large, existence can be interpreted through this lens of power, the sum of which ensures an eternal return.
Why would Nietzsche think that a world made of changing force and energy would eternally repeat itself? Relying on the second law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy), Nietzsche reasons that since there is finite “stuff” and infinite time, it follows that over time everything will re-occur. The game Zelda is finite; there are a fixed number of ways that Link and other characters and enemies can move. There are rules (written into the game’s code) that govern gameplay and dictate the possible actions—though there can be many interpretations of the game’s meaning and narratives. An example is the timeline theories.
Now suppose that you play Zelda for the next twenty years (infinitely); it seems to be the case that a single game—every action, command and outcome—would be repeated. Given Zelda’s 8-bit limitations, I think this is actually quite common. Just remember playing it for the first time and dying quickly, only to repeat that short game again.
But what does it mean to have the “same” repeating itself forever? If the world is in constant flux as Nietzsche writes, how are we to understand the concept of “sameness” or identity? There are two ways of understanding a recurrence of the same: the way I describe above, a more cosmological reading concerning the conservation of energy over time and an exact reproduction of the history of existence, and a second view which says that the underlying interplay of forces continually returns (are the same) but manifests new things, identities, perspectives, etc.
This second view, which is more coherent with the rest of Nietzsche’s philosophy, may cause us to see Zelda in an entirely different way. While the forces at work in Zelda are constant—everything from the Nintendo itself, to the Triforce, and even your brain depends on, and in a sense is, energy—the spirit of the second interpretation of the eternal return of the same would say that new things or orientations to the game are coming into being. For example, while the Zelda game may be essentially the same each time you play it, you as the player are continually changing, thus changing your relationship to the game.
Taking this interpretation to another level, a program called “Zelda Classic” allows amateurs to effectively change the game and, therefore, surpass the original formulation of Zelda. Zelda Classic users can create their own Zelda game. Consequently users are able to manipulate all aspects of the game, like moving walls and structures, enhancing the abilities of the characters, and beyond. However, the creation of this new adventure is still bound within the logic of the original game. At the lowest level the programming code is still binary, but a new game or at least a new version of the game is born. On an even larger scale, you can think of the progression of the Zelda games from