Tears of the Kingdom creators interested in making Zelda movie, despite one big obstacle

Tears of the Kingdom creators Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma are reportedly interested in making a Zelda film due to the success that the Super Mario Bros. movie has seen. However, there is a distinct difference between these two popular video game series’ that may be too big of an obstacle for the former to overcome.

The obstacle we’re talking about isn’t a simple, in-game one like finding all 15 Skyview Tower locations and shrine locations. It’s a bigger and much deeper complication that goes all the way back to the inception of this series.

Both casual and hardcore fans of this sprawling adventure RPG should already be familiar with Link – the brave protagonist whose actions often speak louder than his non-existent words. Unfortunately, therein lies the problem; the Hylian hero has long been known as the silent main character of the series who often doesn’t express himself even when facing the biggest and meanest beasts.

Spectators often like rooting for the humble, yet confident protagonist. But despite Link checking both of these boxes, they also want to cheer for a hero that they can relate to. Even the most iconic stoic movie heroes – à la John Wick – have their own sparse lines that they utter every now and then to show the audience some form of relatability.

Aside from the infrequent exclamations of “Hup!” and “Ha!” that he shouts whenever he climbs objects, Link has often let his abilities do the talking for him. Although this type of personality can work when its within a video game, it surely wouldn’t mix well when placed in an hour-and-a-half long film where the audience’s eyes are glued to the screen without any buttons to mash.

One obvious solution that can remedy this problem is to simply give Link a few lines in the film so the cinema isn’t filled with dead air while he ventures through Hyrule. However, we’ve already seen what an animated and fully voice-acted Link can do and the result is less than ideal. So even though we’d love to hear the protagonist say “excuse me, princess” to Zelda repeatedly throughout the story, hardcore series fans may not be as willing to do so.

At the time of writing, however, Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma have simply stated that they’re interested in the idea of a movie and there aren’t actually any plans yet to create one. But if they do end up going through with it, then they’ll need to find a solution to Link’s noiseless ways. Otherwise, we might just end up with the first animated silent movie of the 21st century.

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