The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

A story can only handle so many narrative obstacles before the Second Act becomes too bloated and momentum is lost. Likewise, a game can only handle so many mechanical obstacles for the same reason. Traditional stories will often keep the post-midpoint obstacles to one, which coincides with the mechanical progression of most Legend of Zelda games. After the midpoint, Link is usually tasked with entering a suite of dungeons that contain fractions of a greater reward. Once those fractions have been completed, the story races towards its climax, hitting the standard disaster beat in the process. While The Wind Waker does hit those beats, it only does so after the addition of a Fourth Obstacle: the search for the Triforce shards, commonly known as the ‘Triforce Fetch Quest.’

Before delving into the problems with the Triforce quest, it’s important to first define a ‘fetch quest’. To put it in simple terms, a fetch quest occurs when the player is tasked with collecting items that have no bearing on the plot. In the TVTropes article on fetch quests, an alternate definition is provided. “This is also known as a FedEx quest,” the article states, “since…[the] people, places, and objects themselves are largely inconsequential — you’re just their mail carrier.”¹ For a player, fetch quests are tedious precisely because they lack narrative impact; there’s no reason for the player to be doing what they’re doing, except to give the player more tasks to complete. In games that are light on narrative and heavy on multiplayer experiences, like MMOs, inconsequential tasks are common. They’re also almost entirely optional. In single-player games, especially ones driven by their stories, fetch quests are not nearly as prevalent. When they do make an appearance, they’re rarely mandatory. This makes sense, as fetch quests do nothing to develop the characters, the world, or the main conflict. They are, quite simply, filler. Making them mandatory not only wastes the player’s time but also brings the story to a crashing halt.

The Wind Waker’s infamous fetch quest begins after Link has awakened both sages and the Master Sword has reached its full potential, but it’s first alluded to before the sages are awakened. Interestingly, the way it’s referenced changes from the Gamecube version of the game to the high-definition Wii U version of the game, which attempted to make the Triforce quest more tolerable. Both exchanges occur outside the Tower of the Gods when the King of Red Lions tells Link about the Hero of Time, and how he guarded the Triforce of Courage until it split into eight shards when he left Hyrule. The dialogue is largely the same until the King reaches the end of his speech. Here’s what he says in the Gamecube version:  “Even I do not know where [the shards] rest, but this much I do know: they lie hidden somewhere in this Great Sea. The Triforce of Courage is the only key that will once again open the doorway to Hyrule. You must search for it.”In the updated Wii U version, the King’s dialogue reads as follows: “Even I do not know where [the shards] rest, but this much I do know: they lie hidden somewhere in this Great Sea. Might you have crossed paths with someone who knows much about things that lie hidden in the depths of the sea?”

There are a few ways to consider this dialogue change. While the original text is more straightforward, it’s also misleading, as the Triforce shard quest cannot be completed until after the Sages have been awakened. The updated dialogue, although less direct, suggests actions the player can take to start the mission early while removing the sense of immediacy. In either case, the Triforce shards aren’t spoken of again until Link awakens both sages, at which point the King says that they must return to Hyrule to make sure Ganon hasn’t hurt Zelda. Then, in both the original and the updated versions of the game, he states: “Link, you must search for all the Triforce shards so that we can head back to Hyrule without delay!”

Though this dialogue remains unchanged from version to version, the changes made to the King’s prior statement have an impact on the flow of the story. In the original text, the King has already said that the Triforce of Courage is required to open the door to Hyrule, so this command is simply reinforcing previously known information. In the updated text, however, there’s no prior mention of the Triforce shards’ role in returning to Hyrule, so the King’s command seemingly comes out nowhere. It’s especially strange considering that Link didn’t need any Triforce shards to visit Hyrule the last time, so the new barrier to entry seems forced both narratively and mechanically.

Regardless of the version, the above dialogue is the last thing the King will say about the Triforce quest. Once Link is tasked with tracking down the eight shards, they can be found in any order, which means nothing that occurs on any one branch of the quest can be referenced in any other. In other words, the narrative comes to a dead stop.

The search itself involves a long sequence of mechanical obstacles, including mini-dungeons, mazes, and treasure hunts, and the accrual of a substantial amount of in-game money. Completing these tasks takes hours of playtime, none of which involve any story progression. For a game that’s been tightly plotted up to this point, this quest represents a massive departure from the norm. Fortunately, this is the last point that suffers from a narrative departure, and the reward for collecting all eight Triforce shards is a return to the appropriate pace for the story.