I Love How ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ Embraces Link as a Short King
Although The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has already been out for a substantial amount of time, people are still enthusiastically talking about it and creating art for it. But as a fellow short king (well, queen, but I claim the “king” for myself anyways), I wanted to specifically celebrate Link’s deliberate characterization of being shorter than average.
One of the first things I noticed when I booted up the game was that he’s actually shorter than his companion, Princess Zelda. I don’t know if this was the case in the game’s direct predecessor, Breath of the Wild, but it was plainly obvious as soon as I saw the two of them together in Tears of the Kingdom. But as the game went on, I realized that most people in it are actually taller than Link.
And this hasn’t gone unnoticed by others, either:
I know this user referenced all these as digs, but honestly? Not only is this relatable as hell (such as needing something to stand on just to read a book), but it only adds to Link’s character in a way that makes me love him more! He’s not some stereotype of a hero; he’s his own guy—a little guy, to be precise, and on behalf of all us little guys out here, we salute him for it!
It’s not even like this is the first time that he’s been shorter than Zelda, at the very least. Behold:
Plus, as far as shipping goes, I appreciate all the fan artists who make a point to remember to portray him as being shorter than Zelda. While I’m not much of a “shipper” myself, I do enjoy looking at fan art, and it always bugs me when people forgo the true physicalities of a character just to match their own ideals of what a couple “should” look like. Y’all, nobody “needs” to be taller or shorter than the other person in a relationship, regardless of gender. In particular, men don’t need to be above a certain height in order to be worthy partners.
And in the case of Hyrule, men don’t need to be towering hulks to save the world. To quote this song: “Short Kings, know your worth.”
(featured image: Nintendo)
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