The Tao of Zelda


Link’s Characteristics Regarding the Tao

The Tao is a book of many interpretations. Depending on the way you look at it, it can be found anywhere, from Winnie the Pooh to the videogame Zelda, Twilight Princes. One of the first chapters of the Tao already directly connects to Zelda. “Working, yet not taking credit. Work is done, and then forgotten.” (Chapter 3) This is exactly what characterizes Link, the character of Zelda. He is a good leader, a man of hard work. All the people of Ordon Village go to him when they need help, yet he never expects more than a thank you in return. When people need any type of help, they call him. He helps them with the sheep, and to deliver a message to Hyrule Temple, which is part of the main theme of the game, to get to the Hyrule Princess. Sometimes, though, the people are grateful enough to give him something in return. Sometimes, they give him classes to jump fences on horses; others give him swords, armor and many other things.
He is as well characterized in the fourth chapter, where it says: “The Tao (Link) is an empty vessel; it is used, but never filled.” I wanted to compare him to that part because every time the villagers need something, they come to him, and he is there for them every time. He is always used for help, but he is never filled with work like to say no to anybody. This is a great characteristic for a person, because it makes the villagers confident that they can have help for anything anytime, and he will always be there, expecting nothing in return. It is very similar to the characteristic named above. He works, but takes no credit for it. I will name this characteristic again further in the Essay.
“It is like a veil barely seen. Use it; it will never fail.” There it is again. He is the aid of the whole town. I am guessing the Tao constantly repeats this because Lao Tzu wants to make us notice that the Tao is a book that you can always return to as a reference and maybe he as well wants us to see that the Tao is a book that every time you read it, it will be a totally different book, because your thoughts and life has changed. Perhaps Link is the same as the Tao in this sense. He will be the same Link, but a different one in what he does and thinks.
“In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.” This page has a lot of information that relates a lot to Link. This part does because, as the maxim says, he is always gentle when he relates to people, and you can see this because everyone always wants to approach him, so if they didn’t like how he acted, they would not approach him. In the same page as well is says “In daily life, be competent.” This is a life necessity because if nobody likes what you do, they will not come to you to do it, so you need to be competent and good in what you do.

Characteristics Similar to the Actual Game

The highest good is like water, or so says the Tao, as well as The Twilight Princess. It is not beyond from the beginning of the game, that a mysterious God-like character gives you an empty vessel, and you shall fill it with water from different places to be able to save those places. Save them? Yes, save them from Evil, from darkness as it is shown in the game, literally darkness. There are certain places that have been attacked by evil, and they have gone dark, it seems as if it was night all the time. They are filled with ugly monsters that attack you, because they are the ones that save darkness. You need to go to the water place there is in that place, and there you will find a God-like character, with the form of an animal, that will give you a drop of water to fill your vessel. There are like twelve different places that you have to collect the water from, and when they are all completed, you have saved the world. And so, the water is the highest good, the one needed to fight evil.
There is a part as well that I would like to relate, that I think is the whole point of the game, or what the game wants to really teach us, that is “Better stop short than fill to the brim. Over sharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt… Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow. Retire when the work is done. This is the way of heaven.” This is, to me, the part that truly connects the Tao with Zelda, Twilight Princes. This is a very important part of the Tao, but it might be the most important part of the game. This is all that Link wants to avoid. This is all that Evil does in the Game. They conquer all, but it is never enough. They always want more. They know Link wants to stop them, but they continue to “over sharpen the blade.” Evil should really read this part of the Tao. Retire when the work is done. They do work, and claim credit, and continue to do so many times. Then, disaster followed. They started to lose territory, to lose power, and all because Link did not claim credits, he retired when the work was done. A patient person, one that has no worries, can destroy a whole empire, because he knows the way of the Tao.

Out-of-game Conclusions

This might sound really stupid, but it might as well make sense. These Zelda games, as many others, are developed in Japan. I think there might be a connection, you know, Asians are said to be really connected between those countries, and their culture is similar as well, then perhaps the developers of Zelda do have a connection with the Tao! Well it’s just an idea, but you never know. You never know…