GamesActionThe Legend of ZeldaThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomZelda: Echoes of Wisdom nearly broke Link’s 30-year vow of silence, but Nintendo decided to keep him mute because no one knew what he would sayWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesActionThe Legend of ZeldaThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomZelda: Echoes of Wisdom nearly broke Link’s 30-year vow of silence, but Nintendo decided to keep him mute because no one knew what he would sayWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was supposed to buck one of the series' longest-running trends, but Nintendo eventually changed its mind because it “felt too wrong.”
However, with Zelda newly mute, narrative development got a little tricky. To help drive the story forward, Nintendo and Echoes of Wisdom development partner Grezzo added in Tri - a companion fairy, similar to Ocarina of Time’s Navi - to act as a voice for Zelda. Tri’s existence became particularly important once Nintendo realized that getting Link to speak for the first time in three decades was a bigger challenge than expected.
“We made Link talk a bit at first […] but it felt really wrong,” Aonuma says. “We kept thinking ‘he’d never say that!'” Echoes of Wisdom director Satoshi Terada agrees, saying that “whatever we tried to make him say, it just didn’t feel right. No one knew the answer to the question ‘what would Link say?’ And of course we wouldn’t, he has never spoken before!”
Thankfully, that confusion eventually helped build out the story - with Nintendo and Grezzo requiring a setting where it made sense for Link to remain silent despite Zelda’s presence in the story, “part of the game’s storyline” could be built around him staying quiet.
Check out ourEchoes of Wisdom reviewto find out what we thought of this new chapter in the Zelda series.
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