I Want to Believe is a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild fan comic by pittssmitts. It takes place three years after the events of the game during a diplomatic visit by a now Queen Zelda to Zora’s Domain. Link, still appointed knight to Zelda, accompanies her and reunites with Sidon, who has been harboring feelings for Link for years. During their reunion, Link comes to terms not only with his reluctance toward the destiny thrust upon him, but he also realizes that he is finally able to accept his own feelings for Sidon as he is now truly free to peruse his own happiness.
What role does fan creation play in avatar-focused media?
As mentioned previously, due to the sheer nature of his conceptualization, Link is the avatar character par excellence in video games. His journey is as much the player’s as it is his own. His whims and actions are designated by control inputs, and his overall destiny is defined by the legend he is playing a part of. In other words, for a character like Link in a medium like video games, player involvement plays an essential role to the text. Without the player to move Link through his journey, there would be no journey to begin with. Without the player, Link would stay sleeping in the Shrine of Resurrection and never meet Sidon. This can be argued of all texts, in fact: without the a reader or viewer, the story in a book, tv show, or film never actually happens. However, the fascinating element of games like Breath of the Wild, where the player is given almost absolute free reign of the story progression, is the that the line between player and game, between reader and text is blurred to a degree that other mediums could never really offer.
Credit: pittssmitts
A four-panel page.
First panel:A close-up of Zelda, yelling at Link (off-panel) in annoyance.
Zelda: Do not hide your feelings from me, Link. You cannot. I know exactly how you feel.
Second panel: A profiled extreme close-up of Link, surprised and caught off guard, at the far left of the panel.
Third panel: A profiled extreme close-up of Zelda, eyes narrowed at Link (off-panel), at the far right of the panel.
Fourth panel: A collage placed around an illustration of the Master Sword. At the top, a close-up of Link’s eyes flanking the hilt of the Master Sword illustration; on the left, a close-up of a gloved hand handing a off a sword to a hand marked with the Triforce; on the right, a picture of a family of four Hylians; on the bottom-left, a close-up of a horse’s front legs rearing up; on the bottom-left, a close-up of a pair of tan boots, speckled with blood.
Zelda (off-panel): You never asked for this life. And I know that if you could, you would refuse it. That sense of duty instilled by a family now long gone to you and this world easily be overpowered by a want to just exist without pressure.
As players engage with Breath of the Wild via Link, it is natural for players to put a part of themselves in Link. In fact, it is arguable that the experience demands it. The journey that Link takes depends entirely on the play style of each individual player creating infinite stories of the same tale, which is fascinating in and of itself. As tradition dictates, Link continues to be a silent protagonist; however, more than ever before, Link’s responses to dialog in Breath of the Wild show hints of his own personality. Overall, the elements that created Breath of the Wild ultimately led to a Link that fans have happily latched on to, imbuing him with personality and, most importantly, a voice based on the text and each individual player’s reading of said text. As a fan comic — the ultimate union of fan fiction and fan art — I Want to Believe not only indulges in depicting its creator’s experience with the text, but it also does so in a way that uses the game’s own mechanics and lore to enrich the characters.
Credit: pittssmitts
A four-panel page.
First panel: A simply-armed Link is standing on a rock beneath a tree, overlooking the vastness of Hyrule under a bright sky at dawn.
Zelda (off-panel): I watched you traverse the lands of Hyrule delaying the inevitable as much as you could.
Second panel: A close-up of Zelda, eyes closed and face scrunched in concentration and slight annoyance. The Triforce is glowing over her face, in between her eyes.
Zelda (off-panel): And for a few moments, I resented you for that.
Third panel: A closer shot of Zelda’s face from the panel before, but now she has tears at the edge of her closed eyes, her ears drooped.
Zelda (off-panel): But I understand now.
Fourth panel: A flashback of Link, Master Sword in hand, protecting a concerned Zelda. His face has a look of fierce determination.
Zelda (off-panel): Your life was never your own.
The first group of panels make reference to what little backstory is given of Link in-game: he comes from a linage of knights and was appointed as Zelda’s knight due to his skill and prowess. Link accepted the duty, and later discovered he could wield the Master Sword, as dictated by destiny, and was then officially made a Champion. At first glance, these all of these elements can be read as the given circumstances for a character, as simple background info, yet I Want to Believe takes it a step further. It takes these narrative circumstances and reframes them as a destined duty that Link is unable to escape from, especially since the other four Champions were asked to join. The second group of panels creates further characterization out of the game’s feature that fuels the story telling: the compulsion to wander. Deep down, Link’s journey to rescue Zelda the long way round was a selfish attempt to reclaim the life that was taken from him. Procrastination gave Link agency, a fact that Zelda could also empathize with. In short, fan engagement though fan creation takes advantage of the potential of the original text, and it allows the story to develop in ways that the original had never been able to.