The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Wind Waker‘s second act begins with the First Obstacle, which focuses on Link’s quest to find the tools he needs to go toe-to-toe with Ganon. In order to do that, he’ll need help from friends of the King of Red Lions. Meeting them won’t be easy, however, as they’re scattered all across the seas. To help Link on his journey, the King of Red Lions gives him a new item: the Wind Waker, a conductor’s baton that lets Link control the winds. By combining the game’s primary motifs—music and wind—Link has the freedom to travel wherever he likes, giving him access to the people he needs to meet next. It’s worth noting that the Wind Waker itself isn’t gated behind any particular mechanical challenge; it’s simply given to Link as part of the progression of the narrative. Not only does this hearken back to Ocarina of Time, when Link receives an instrument from an early ally, but it also helps the game maintain a tight pace without too many narrative obstacles. While the game may have room for more mechanical challenges at this point, a story can only support so many hurdles before the audience loses interest.

Once Link receives the Wind Waker, the King of Red Lions instructs him to talk to the Great Valoo, a dragon who lives on Dragon Roost Island. Valoo should be able to help them, as he’s in possession of a holy relic called Din’s Pearl. It’s not immediately clear how this pearl will help Link fight Ganon, but the King of Red Lions doesn’t provide more information and Link doesn’t press him. Perhaps this is because of the pearls’ named connection to the goddesses; perhaps the King being a talking boat gives him more credibility. Link being nine also might explain why he doesn’t ask more questions. Whatever the reason, it takes some of the agency from Link’s character, but it’s ultimately forgivable because it keeps the plot moving in the right direction. 

When Link and the King of Red Lions arrive on Dragon Roost Island, they find that something has angered Valoo and he isn’t willing to talk to anybody. This is causing problems for the inhabitants of the island, the Rito. They’re a bird-like people who must earn their wings via rite of passage, but that rite can’t be completed if Valoo won’t calm down. The Rito prince, Komali, is one of the Rito whose ceremony is on hold. He also happens to be holding Din’s Pearl. He’s even willing to give it to Link, but only if Link can find a way to get Valoo back to normal.With the help of Valoo’s attendant, an anxious Rito girl named Medli, Link enters Valoo’s roost and purges the monsters harassing Valoo from below. As a reward, Link receives Din’s Pearl from Komali, putting him that much closer to his goal. 

Link’s next stop is the Forest Haven, where he must talk to the Great Deku Tree to receive Farore’s Pearl. The Deku Tree is happy to give Link the pearl, but first, the creatures of Forest Haven must complete their annual ritual. These little shrub-like beings, the Koroks, gather every year to have a concert before they spread their seeds throughout the world. This year the concert is delayed because one of the Koroks is missing: Makar, who has fallen into the Forbidden Forest. The Deku Tree asks Link to rescue Makar. If he does, he can have Farore’s Pearl.

Link finds Makar deep inside the Forbidden Woods, in desperate need of help. Makar is grateful for the rescue and ashamed to have caused so much trouble. Together, they return to the forest, where the Koroks have their ceremony and Link receives his pearl. Now, a single pearl remains: Nayru’s Pearl, on Greatfish Island.

At this point in the story, a pattern for the pearls has emerged. First, Link must speak to a powerful entity. Then, he must help someone in need. Last, he must enter a dungeon and fight the enemies within. This is standard fare for the Zelda series, as dungeons are frequently (but not always) employed as the central obstacle. Based on the narrative patterns for both The Wind Waker and the Zelda series, the section that follows bucks the structure to the detriment of both the story and the game as a whole.

The quest for Nayru’s Pearl starts in a similar fashion to the other pearl quests. Link heads to a new island—Greatfish Isle—in order to meet with a powerful entity, Jabun. However, when Link arrives at the island, it has already been destroyed by Ganon. Thankfully, Jabun fled the island before Ganon could find him, but now Link will have to go to Outset Island to find him. He’ll also need bombs to blow apart the doors Jabun has erected to protect himself.

By following Tetra and her pirates, Link is able to acquire the bombs he needs (with a little help from Tetra herself). He heads to Outset Island and blows down the door to Jabun, at which point the King of Red Lions and the guardian fish have a conversation about Link. Jabun, like the other guardians, speaks a language Link doesn’t understand, which is just one of the reasons it’s so jarring when the great fish tosses Nayru’s Pearl into Link’s arms. With almost no fanfare, Link now has all three pearls in his possession, and is ready for the next phase in his adventure. It’s an awkward transition made doubly so by the choice to leave half the dialogue in a language the player can’t understand. A second play-through provides the player with a translation, but the extra lines—largely focused around Link’s credentials as a hero—do little to illuminate why the narrative pattern has been broken.

There are several potential external explanations for why Wind Waker’s narrative hits such a hard bump here, such as difficulties during the game’s development, but explanations do not fix the structural issues. As the story stands, Wind Waker established a pattern and broke it, disrupting both mechanical and narrative pacing. Because the player’s established expectations have not been met, they are left feeling as though Link did not earn his reward.