Zelda is an iconic video game protagonist, featuring in every The Legend of Zelda title, including 2023’s acclaimed Tears of the Kingdom. But is Zelda a boy or girl in The Legend of Zelda franchise?
Is Zelda a Boy or Girl in TOTK?
The Princess Zelda is, and always has been, female. She is a Princess of Hyrule and remains as such in Tears of the Kingdom.
She has always been female, regardless of the Zelda title being discussed. As the daughter of King Hyrule and the heiress of the Land of Hyrule, she is likely to be Queen of Hyrule one day – but we’ve not quite got to that point in Zelda chronology yet.
In fact, because of her inherent likability and epic powers in the Zelda series, she’s been regularly named among the greatest female video game characters of all time. Hy(rule) praise indeed.
We do understand potential confusion from players though – a lot of Zelda sequences don’t make it obvious that she’s female. It actually seems that the ambiguous appearance of Zelda and Link is an intentional move by the developers to allow players to see them as they choose.
Is Link a Boy or Girl in Tears of the Kingdom?
Speaking about Link in Zelda: Ocarina of Time, lead developer Eiji Aonuma told Time: “I wanted the player to think ‘Maybe Link is a boy or a girl’. If you saw Link as a guy, he’d have more of a feminine touch. Or vice versa, if you related to Link as a girl, it was with more of a masculine aspect.”
On Link in Breath of the Wild, Aonuma said: “As far as gender goes, Link is definitely a male, but I wanted to create a character where anybody would be able to relate to the character”.
The same is likely true of Zelda, with players able to perceive them however they like and relate to them in any scenario. It’s one of the reasons we love Zelda so much: having two awesome protagonists that are easy to like and understand.
That’s everything there is to know about whether Zelda is a girl or boy in Tears of the Kingdom. For everything else Tears of the Kingdom, from whether Zelda becomes a dragon to how much damage the Master Sword deals, stay with us on Twinfinite.
