Although I'm not particularly proud to say that I spend a fair amount of my downtime experiencing the heroing and entertaining adventures of the fictional video game character Link, of the original Nintendo 64 game "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", I am confident however in recognizing the fact that Campbell's Stages of a Hero can be nicely applied to the entirety of the game's plot and objectives...
- Stage 1 - Departure
- Call to adventure- Link's discovers that at the beginning of the game that he was adopted, explaining why he doesn't fit in where he lives at all, and that his parents were killed, so he decides to return to the place of his birth/people
- Refusal- it takes Link a bit to accept that he's not the same as all of his friends, lacking the aid of a fairy but..
- Super natural aid- he receives the encouragement, advice, and resources (i.e. a fairy) needed to cross the first threshold and ultimately save the town of Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf
Crossing the 1st threshold- Link's very first threshold is leaving the home in which he grew up and had never left previously, the Deku Forrest, to reach the town of Hailaya where his parents originated and where the evil sorcerer is threatening. Another threshold that could be considered as such is once Link reaches Hyrule, he pulls the sword of time from the pedestal in the church (reaffirming his call to action) and now can travel through time, becoming either an adult or a child, at his digression.
- Metaphorical Death- Link 'metaphorically dies' quite a bit since there are 3 tasks he must complete before he can even move onto the the actual trials of the stages of the hero themselves, including going inside of the deity of the Deku Forrest, The Great Deku tree, and being inside the actual belly of a gigantic fish..
- Stage II - Initiation
- Road of Trials- as always, this is the easiest among the stages to identify as it is about 80% of the game and the interactive part of it; however, Link faces many trials including 3 pre-stage type levels before crossing the first threshold (leaving the Forest) as a child and 5 temples to conquer as an adult.
Meeting with the Goddess- the main goddess figure of this storyline seems to me to be the Great Fairy; she aides Link 3 times throughout the game in areas such as health, magic, and skill.
- Woman as temptress- There are actually several "temptresses" throughout this adventure that just can't seem to get enough of Link... a few include the princess of the Zoras who intended on inhibiting Link's process if he didn't wed her (even though they were children at the time.. and don't worry he got out of it), and Link's childhood best friend from the Deku Forrest, Saria, who tried to stop him from initially leaving the forest (though she was only concerned for his safety).
- Atonement with father- Although Link's father never makes an appearance in the game since he killed prior to all of this, I feel that Link makes atonement something close enough. After clearing Dodongo's cavern from fire-breathing, rock-crop-eating dragon things and saving the Fire Temple, Link creates a lasting bond with the leader and saint of the Gorons, Darunia, considering themselves brothers after such.
Apotheosis- After defeating, and receiving credit for defeating, the evil Ganondorf who turned into a gigantically ferocious monster thing at the final battle of the game and saving all of Hyrule at close to the game's end, Link is of course affirmed as "The Hero of Time" as he was prophesied to be at the beginning.
- Booooooon- Despite returning peace and safety to the land of Hyrule, I would say the secondary boon would really be the ocarina of time, only the "Hero of Time" could possess or work it's magic that enables you to go back in time, control the weather, warp to temples, etc.
Although this game fits quite nicely within the stage of a hero, which is probably why it's such an awesome game.., it lacks most of Stage III- the return. This is not surprising considering they made a sequel.. how could he return when there was more conquesting to do? However a few stages of the return are visible at the end of the game right before you lose control to the rolling end credits and movies- after saving Hyrule from sure turmoil, Princess Zelda (the one who initially sent for his aid through the Great Deku Tree) plays the ocarina of time once more and Link is returned to his original self as a child, everyone's memory is wiped clean of all the game's occurrences, and life returns to normal.
Yes I'm a nerd for Zelda. DEAL!! :)
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