How many of you have heard that Princesses Peach and Zelda were weak or Damsels in Distress? How many of you have heard that they are objectified chattle? Probably a lot right? Well, I'm going to explain why Princesses Peach and Zelda are probably the most important characters of their respective franchises. When you think of either Princess, you can see they are a main character but sometimes they feel like a supporting character only present to drive the struggle of the hero forward. That is certainly one way of looking at things, but here's another. Note: This will contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Princess Peach: What do we think of when we think of Princess Peach a.k.a. Princess Toadstool? Well, most would think "she's the one that always gets kidnapped by Bowser" and for the most part that's an accurate statement. There are more games where Princess Peach is captured than there are where anything else happens to her. Does this mean she's weak? I personally don't think so.
Princess Peach is probably the most important person in the Mario franchise. You're saying right now "you're an idiot, the franchise is named after Mario and the Princess doesn't do anything" right now. Well, let's think about that from a lore/game world perspective. With some exceptions, the Mario franchise generally has 2 Rulers. One is Bowser, a.k.a. King Koopa who rules over the Koopa Troop and is always the antagonist. The other is Princess Peach, ruler of Mushroom Kingdom. That's right, Mushroom Kingdom has no King, no Queen, and no Prince. It is ruled entirely by Princess Peach, which means it's a matriarchy. All of Mushroom Kingdom looks to Princess Peach for leadership, so that means that when Bowser kidnaps her, Mario rescuing her is essential to the continued survival of Mushroom Kingdom.
Bowser continues trying to capture Peach simply because she is the ruler of Mushroom Kingdom and he seeks to force her to give up her Kingdom to him. What would happen to Mario if Peach weren't around and forced to give her Kingdom to Bowser? I'd venture to say the worst punishment would be death, the least exile. But Peach is more than just a ruler who gets kidnapped. She is helpful to Mario when she can be in his fight against Bowser and has proven that she can fight with the best of them in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars. In fact, in that very game she becomes indispensable in the late game as a healer. From these qualities we can see that Mushroom Kingdom would probably fall to pieces without Peach, Mario would not be the "hero" of Mushroom Kingdom, and it's likely that Bowser would rule over all with an iron fist. She deserves a lot of credit for being able to rule an entire kingdom by herself, remain cheery and composed when captured by Bowser, and when push comes to shove she can fight if she needs to.
Princess Zelda: The biggest hole in this section is the fact that no 2 Princess Zeldas are the same. Zelda is the titular character of the Legend of Zelda series, but the Zelda you save in the first game isn't the same as the rest of the Zeldas in the franchise. Does this matter? No not really. In Legend of Zelda II, which is a prequel to the first Legend of Zelda game, the Prince of Hyrule makes a decree that all future females born to the Royal Family of Hyrule would be named Zelda after feeling responsible for placing his younger sister, that game's Princess Zelda, into a coma. This means that all the Princess Zelda's are different from each other but at the same time they are the same.
We learn from Legend of Zelda: Skyword Sword that the original Princess Zelda is actually an incarnation of the Goddess Hylia, the Goddess of Wisdom. We also learn that all Princess Zeldas are reincarnations of that Goddess. All Princess Zeldas hold the Triforce of Wisdom, this makes them wise beyond their years and proficient in Magic as Hylia was responsible for creating the Laws of the Universe and Magic in the Legend of Zelda universe.
Although there are numerous Kings of Hyrule, they are mostly never seen, or only vaguely mentioned with few exceptions. For the sake of story, Zelda is usually considered to be the most important member of the Royal Family and she herself is indispensable to Hyrule's peace and prosperity. Princess Zelda is a Sage and possesses the skills to use powerful magics. She is a kind, compassionate, and self-sacrificing matriarch who will do anything to safeguard her people and her allies from danger, including risking her own life. Though she is normally rescued by Link, Zelda is not completely without her own combat abilities as she has been shown in a few games to be proficient with a bow and arrow, and as I pointed out earlier is quite proficient in magic, so she's far from helpless. Ganon is simply going after the power of the Triforce and she always has the Triforce of Wisdom.
Princess Zelda has also been instrumental to aiding Link in various scenarios by providing him with essential information necessary to proceed as seen when she disguised herself as Sheik. From this we can see that Zelda is brave, cunning, and intelligent. In many cases she is also the de facto ruler of Hyrule as in some games there is no King or Prince, which means Hyrule is at times a matriarchy as well. To consider Princess Zelda to be weak in any fashion is to discredit her impressive capabilities and essential role in Hyrule's peace and prosperity.
What have we learned from this examination of 2 of the most iconic women in video games? I would say that we've learned to look at a character from every possible angle before we decide what "labels" we wish to thrust on them. These are merely two of many examples of essential characters that only appear to be weak or inessential compared to the main hero of the game. However both Princesses have been the very reason each hero became a hero to begin with.
What are your thoughts about Peach and Zelda? Any characters you think are more important than people realize?
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As video game princesses go Peach and Zelda are two of the best, and yet sadly for some reason they are often over simplified as typical "damsels in distress" which I feel is horribly demeaning considering their stature and importance in regards to their individual games and their respective law.
Anyway great blog, I feel you made some very good points that most of us often overlook.
The main problem is that despite the fact that these characters are empowered women in positions of royalty, they're STILL kidnapped and require rescuing by pretty normal guys. A plumber and some adventurer. Like they can't hold onto their power. You're absolutely right to point out that she has enormous power, but it's almost like the designers weren't / aren't comfortable with it on some level, and have to dethrone her for most of the game's durations, being rescued finally by a man who doesn't have that kind of power- who isn't a king or prince but who seems to have a LOT more power.
The absent or unseen "kings of hyrule" are also problematic. A common critique of monarchy is the distance and isolation they maintain form their society. More distance equals a more inpenetrable centralisation of power. Those kings are absent because they're more powerful. They're the shadowy trace of male power that the designers just couldn't help but leave out.
Another preconception invoked with the portrayal of Zelda as the incarnation of a Goddess is the idea that women are somehow more "spiritual" than men. It's a medieval idea. Women represented the inscrutable, the highly emotional, the spiritual and the mystical. Which is a social construction.
Think about Peaches outfit too. I mean, there's a point with games like this where you just have to suspend your disbelief and just enjoy them- critique them afterwards- but yeah, her overall look- big billowy pink dress, a tiara and beautiful blonde hair? I mean it's a stereotype through and through, and the games don't really subvert it.
Hey, I mean I love these games. They're wonderful and super fun, but I'd have to disagree with you.
personally i still cant see princess peach as important,but when it comes to zelda i heavily agree with you, and there are other princesses,also farah,elika,princess sakuya,marle,and sun lian are amazing princesses nthat are very important.
I agree to an extent with what you're saying. Princess peach I have the most problems with, and it has nothing to do with sexism. IMO, she has been getting dumber each game. I think the last time she seemed intelligent was the opening letter of Mario 64. After that, her voice just got more annoying and higher pitched and her quotes...my goodness were they bad. "DID I WIN?" Of course it's not as bad as " HI! I'm DAISY!" Peach is suppose to be ditsy and cute, but this also made me dislike her. It's gotten to the point where she's an idiot.
Mario is a franchise that's kid friendly and timeless. This is important because this stops characters from changing. Mario has been on several adventures, but never really aged. Mario is very much like Tom and Jerry. Timeless characters that still retain the same roles and actions they did when they were first made. Realizing this made me dislike her a little less.
Zelda, I have no problems with. When she's captured she's put in a crystal or something to retain her magic power. Zelda is more of a respectable character than Peach. Zelda does put up a fight and hide most of the time. So she puts in a lot more effort into not being kidnapped than Peach does.
The hero saving a princess has been in literature and fantasy for an extremely long time and will continue to be in literature/the media in one way or the other. People LIKE the fantasy of being the damsel and to be rescued, male or female. It's why Twilight is so popular.
TBH, I can't name a character off the top of my head that was really insulting to women. Maybe Cooking Mama for instilling the women in the kitchen stereotype? The characters that do get a lot of hate are mainly hated for what they wear or the characters being too sexy. The DOA girls do wear bikinis, but from all the games I played...they never had to submit to a male. They were never man trophies. They were all independent and can fight off males. Same goes for a lot of female fighting game characters.
Well you are right that both Peach and Zelda are important to the character, but its just because of the title they have. I watched and (im guessing you did too) the trope vs women part 1 and she states it very well. Just gonna paraphrase here, she says that the females in the damsel in distress role are a goal. Which I agree. I mean replace Peach with like toad, or someone else. Would it really matter? not really. The actual characters have no substance. From what I can see, it is the fact that games like Mario don't focus on story and just tag on a simple goal for the main character, and saving a lady from a terrifying threat is as heroically simple as it gets. The Damsel in Distress role isn't bad, its just a plot device. I won't really comment about the Zelda thing since I don't play much of Zelda games.
Also I recommend anyone who wants to watch the trope vs women video to do so.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Just watch the video above, bored so I am watching it again..I basically rephrased her words.