 Hey everyone before I get into this video Yeah That's got a reminder. We're giving away 99 other Nintendo switch each I gift card look to the pinned comment in that or the Link in the description to enter. We're winding that giveaway down this week. So good luck now This is going to be a spicy topic. This is going to be Probably somewhat controversial topic for some people and I want to talk about this Specifically because I am deeply ingrained in the Zelda fan base I actually used to work at this particular outlet Zelda dungeon The person who owns it actually bought out my prior outlet that I worked at for a decade and ran as editor-in-chief and Zelda informer I helped to popularize a lot of the Zelda YouTubers you guys know today Zeltik Commonwealth realm those are two of the bigger ones out there. I was there at Zelda Informer pushing their channels when they Had zero following. So I've been deeply ingrained in the Zelda fan base for a long time deep in the forums Deep on pretty much anywhere. You could think of I have probably forgotten more Zelda knowledge than most of you even have ever Known especially since Breath of the Wild came out. We have a whole new fan base coming in It doesn't even know the intricacies and all the lore and the old-school timeline debates before Hyrule Historia dropped and all this jazz And how Ellen to the past was a prequel than a sequel and just crazy stuff out there If you dive dive into Zelda lore, but we're talking about this because it's not I got nothing against the original author of the piece On Zelda dungeon Alexis Anderson is free to have her own opinions But the reaction of the internet to this and in particular a place that we sometimes cover for news really irks me and people are gonna say I have no right to talk about this because of the color of my skin and And this is where I think a fundamental issue occurs whenever we are talking about really sensitive topics that potentially have to do with race I Don't care About the color of my skin you shouldn't either to be completely honest When we talk about racism in a more general sense the idea of racism is to be discriminatory discriminatory towards someone because of the color of their skin or Maybe potentially not necessarily even the color of their skin but potentially maybe even where that person came from as an example Technically I could be like from Germany and I could be white and I could be racist against Polish people who are also white So it's not just about the color of the skin although that is generally what we perceive it as here in the United States So, you know you kind of have what what would they call? you know black people I guess or like Yellow I don't even like using these colors. I think it's stupid heck even among Certain colors they can't even agree because like they'll be like black and brown But there's who really cares just one's darker than the other who who gives a crap I'm white who gives a crap like it doesn't matter the color of your skin has never mattered to me It's never mattered to me when I was a kid and it doesn't matter to me right now but Saying that there is something to be said about cultural diversity and there is something to say about cultural backgrounds and I can agree to a certain extent that at times video games, especially growing up really heavily favor the white perspective of Race and backgrounds primarily probably because most the people making these games were generally white That is change now We have much more diverse developers and studio leads just like we used to not have females the studio leads and now we do So there's been a much more diverse cast of game makers out there to correct some of this But I have an issue when someone comes in and and basically this is the title of the article on zelodon It says diversity in Zelda the need for a black princess Zelda and then when people react to that and when a Really sound point is made by someone who can associate themselves with that sort of community of color where People get mad at them for thinking that no we don't need To have a black Zelda. So let's get into the article so we have full context here because I don't really care if they make Zelda black But I do have some opinions on this that I think I should stand out for our Zelda conversation today So says Princess Zelda is a multifaceted character who has developed from a damsel in distress to a powerful political player a Researcher a sorceress a warrior a leader and a legend by virtue of this complexity Zelda is an inspiring female character Who breaks down gender roles game after game? I'm not sure that Nintendo cares about gender roles with Princess Zelda Anyways the spider many changes over the series 35 year history Zelda has never been anything other than white This is a shame and a missed opportunity to signal a woman of color their potential to be legendary All right the need for change black women in America right now are constantly bombarded with content and voices of note by the way Zelda isn't made in America It's made in Japan I want to make this clear here because when we're talking about you know when you bring up black women in America I don't know what people like developers in Japan are supposed to know about that about anything that black people in America Are going through or people of color in America are going through. I don't really know how You expect Japanese developers who are having their own issues in Japan Keep up with what's happening in a completely different country. I mean, I'm in America I have no idea what the issues are in the uk. I have no idea what the issues are in Japan I don't know what the issues are in Australia or Spain. I how can I expect them to understand America's issues when I don't understand there So that's something to consider when we're talking about Trying to compare what's happening here with the people who actually make Zelda games. All right so Bombarded with content and voices up to the highest echelon society which suggests that they do not matter That they are inferior and that they are not deserving of respect. I can't speak to this from personal experience Any and every symbol of black power goes a long way to deling these knives to that end of black prince has Zelda since the masters that black women are not just minor characters or antagonists, but complex heroic figures of vital importance Okay Zelda and link always being portrayed as white suggests that only white people are capable of protecting the world and frankly That they rightfully control it. Okay This is likely in no way the intention of those at nintendo putting the games together But may reflect an implicit bias among creators that ought to be challenged This change is particularly possible in a series where the main trio of characters are unique manifestations of the triforce throughout time as opposed to the exact same character in every game But they're also both hylians and the hylians are a white race Whether you agree with them being a white race or not is a totally different story but technically They come from a lineage That is not Of dark descent. I'm just throwing that out there It would be a little strange to see these characters come in with a different color than the actual race that they represent Anyways, the change is a particularly possible to series with the main trio of characters a unique manifestation of the triforce throughout time As opposed to the exact same characters every game even an interpretation requiring a blood relation to the original goddess hero in demise Does not preclude more diverse representation by these figures because it's very unlikely the bloodline would experience No interracial interventions across all of time. The only other like humanoid race that we're aware of are the Gerudo I'm just throwing that out there. I think that's the only other Humanoid race. I guess that you could maybe intermix in there. All right, let's let's go on here At least that exists in lore with with zola all right And there's nothing to say that the same spirit can occupy a body racially distinct from those in its past The impact on black women black women are capable of anything and the media We all consume should reflect that breath of the wild is a brainiac and black girls or zelda is a brainiac And uh breath of the wild zelda is a brainiac breath of the wild Okay, I don't like that sentence very well. Just how it's structured. That's just a minor a minor critique I know I don't run these websites anymore. So anyway, um and black girls seeing themselves in her way May or see themselves in her may inspire them to be equally as intellectually curious Especially since the zelda happens to be a committed daughter with some heavy burdens to bear As so many black women are devoted to family or community and have institutional inequalities To attempt to push through zelda's political prowess is also a fantastic aspect of our character To see oneself reflected in a thankfully american politics is beginning to reflect that as well Zelda is generally having supernatural abilities is also important black women would see power and magic As theirs to play with when a black zelda is shooting light arrows or smoking the competition in super smash bros With that princess zelda being black would mean the possibility of her being black in spin-offs cameos mangas fan art and more This depiction of such a significant character as black would mean so much more than representation in a single game Or a single medium This series is in a unique position to change the race of its most prominent characters without requiring much of an explanation at all Though I don't think It should shy away from making the princess race part of the narrative either Her gender has been at issue in the past with her brother thinking himself entitled to the power of the triforce And so the two that that happens but that wasn't a That wasn't a gender thing I don't I don't I got I got a stop right here that so As a storied zelda historian. I went into my pastor ready Um What her brother did in zelda too Uh where he felt he was entitled to uh the power of the triforce Had nothing to do with the gender of zelda and it goes on to say her having to disguise herself as a male Sheikah has nothing to do with Zelda's actual gender. There was no gender identity crisis there. She was in hiding Okay, in zelda too. Her brother was just being a prick Okay, her brother was being a prick and wanted power for himself. He didn't pretend to be female to get that power He zelda didn't pretend to be a different gender to maintain the power of the triforce This zelda's gender had nothing to do Factually with what happened in zelda too and the whole disguising as a male she gonna she was in hiding Zelda was in hiding She wasn't having a gender crisis or a gender identity issue factually in the story zelda was hiding What's the easiest way to hide when you are a female princess? Dress up like a man Same thing for a guy If you're a guy a prince and you're in hiding. Guess what dress up like a girl It's gonna be much harder for people to find you because they're looking for a man They're not looking for a female There wasn't any gender identity crisis for zelda in ocarina of time because she was in hiding as a male sheikah Come on Come on Anyways, uh, so I won't put it past the tender of the deal Delicately with the subject of race uh if part of the royal family of hyrule was black Speaking of to depict the family which resides over the great kingdom of hyrule as black Would add to the growing number of depictions of black people as royals black panther Beyonce's black is king shaurei and the princess power biggerton um So of these examples she brings up I just want to note that these are ip's where the characters in those ip's started out as black they weren't um racially White skin complexions that became black. These were black characters from the beginning You could equally argue what would happen if black panther became white Would people not just get super pissed about that Why change the race of some of a character that's created to be a certain way All of which contribute to the idea that being black is limited To anyone lived experience and allows people of color to occupy roles traditionally depicted by white people broader implication I could easily ask the same question about link. In fact, we did in 2013 and Uh, they did have an article back then. I'm not going to go revisit though And the analysis would produce a similar result to portraying black men as courageous determined loyal kind sometimes goofy do-gooders These questions take on particulars to make this one only one bearer of the triforce coded as non-white is the power hungry antagonist All too often the media portrays people of color and lgbtq plus individuals as conniving immoral aggressors to see people of color habitually cast in more positive roles Would do wonders for dispelling stereotypes and boosting self-image of those represented Given how fraught the relationship between black and white people in america is in this cultural movement Seeing a black princess zelda would be a firm accreditation of black women as the bold brilliant heroes They are it would be a statement of a allyship from nintendo as well as a highly visible and impactful piece of positive Representation for a community so often underappreciated in the video game industry Ultimately it would encourage players to sympathize with black female character to care about her and to accept that she matters um Okay, so I guess the idea here is that a garudo Uh woman I guess in this case would hook up with the king Uh and produce a Uh female heir that's zelda the zelda a black zelda. Here's the problem that just just from a factual statement This is nothing to do with race zelda is obviously the future queen of Of hyrule correct when her father passes away Uh her mother passes away zelda takes over the throne right so how does the lineage of the royal family continue Well zelda has to have a son Or a daughter correct and all the zelda so far have been you know highly in and thus You know quote unquote white So for her to have a son or daughter She would have to that's that's colored because to continue the lineage To continue the royal family. She would have to be with a colored male person The garudo race only has a one male born every 100 years that male would be ganondorf So zelda would have to hook up with Ganondorf To produce a black princess That Do you see zelda doing that now? I understand that that I just I I guess I don't understand like what There there isn't really a way in the lore to make it work without creating a brand new race, which Nintendo very well could do Uh, they could create a new race in the game that is more equally represented Obviously, we know the griddle race is like all females except for ganondorf. Um, so I We run into an issue here Where we're just trying to change a character's race To change the race to try to make a political statement in a country that japan doesn't really pay that much attention to culturally I mean, if you look at the themes in zelda, there's almost No american themes in the game I mean, they've even gotten in trouble for some of the asian themes they put in there, uh, you know references to muslims and stuff like that like I don't really understand the perspective that we need to take existing heroic characters And just boop race change them and think that's going to solve the world's problems The problems with race are very real racism is a despicable thing anyone that looks at another person and even gives two shits about their skin color to me, that's a problem and The the dumb thing about it is me saying that how many people are probably down in the comment section right now Dismissing what i'm saying because of the color of my skin Kind of proving the point You shouldn't care what my color of skin is and I shouldn't care what yours is It really doesn't matter. That's the whole point of not being racist to not be racist is to stop Looking at people's color of skin as a defining characteristic of them as a person I'm not saying that you can't be culturally sensitive to your history Or to where you're from but it should be about that. It shouldn't be about the color of your skin If you don't want the color of skin to be this defining characteristic of you as a person Then stop bringing it up You're talking about black women. Why can't they just be women? Why can't they just be men? Why does it got to be black? Why does it got to be hispanic? Why can't we just all be people We're just people. We're all humans inside. We have the same organs Blood the same blood even though there's different blood types, but we have the same internal makings The outside is just a different crayon Oh my gosh My sun color the crayons colored someone blue and then he colored someone black he colored someone white he colored someone pink It doesn't matter what the outside looks like what matters is on the inside And if everybody thought this way there would have never been slavery in any way in any culture Because we would not have looked at people as lesser than us because of the color of their skin We're all equals And i'm a religious person. So even though I don't bring up religion very often You think god gives a crap what race you are what color of your skin is we're all equals Now look I'm all for having more diversity in gaming more diversity in pop culture And that is why we need to create new ip's and new um movies like what black panther and stuff that diversify To make things more acceptable for everyone Now you could talk about how well That's the whole point of making princess Zelda black or making link black right because it just makes things more acceptable, but You're also not accepting who those characters are You're not accepting the lineage that they can't that they contain You're trying to complicate things in the zelda universe for the sake of a political message To be a sign-bearer for things happening in countries that zelda's not even created in Capcom Japanese company koei tecmo Japanese company all the companies that touch the zelda franchise are from japan Who knew that they would make Japanese culture be representative in their games which happens to be predominantly a white race thing I wouldn't expect a japanese company that makes their games in japan To make things that don't connect with them Where's the consideration for the developers that are not concerned what the players are doing They're concerned what they want to make what their creations are and how they want to connect through their creations I'm all for diversity But let's do it right. You should want your own powerful characters Black panther is a good you brought up three excellent examples in this article These characters were not white characters reimagined black They are strong black characters from the very beginning of their inception And you would be super upset if someone suggested we recast one of those characters as I don't know an asian character Think about how mad people get when you know white actors or white lighter skin actors Portrayed characters that are intended to be a certain way Intended to be a different culture a different skin color and then imagine what happens if you would create a Imagine what happens when you take characters that are predominantly a different skin color And you say we need to change your skin color just because Can you not connect with zelda as a woman if you are a strong female? Can you not connect with princess zelda because of the color of her skin? Does the color of zelda's skin? Really matter Well the argument and the article is that it doesn't right the article and the article is that it doesn't matter There there's we can make the color the skin color work It really doesn't matter If she's a different skin color well if it doesn't matter that she's a different skin color then All the things you're saying changing that skin color would represent I don't aren't really relevant then because you should be able to connect with that character Anyways, because this color of her skin shouldn't even matter Isn't that the whole point that we talk about racism? Is that the color of skin? Isn't supposed we're not supposed to look at people's color of skin We're supposed to be colorblind to that and just consider people's cultures like their backgrounds and then consider people that Are uh, you know, I don't know that's basically all I'm really looking at That's just consider people's backgrounds and cultures. So like as an example, you want to empower black women to be to be this to be that to be this well, okay So reset era Um, I follow I follow uh, so we report on news sometimes at reset era I follow this conversation uh from reset era takes which is like an anti reset era uh place and they put up a thing back and and And in february they quoted, you know, the threat because obviously reset era is very social justice And they created the need the the zella dungeon diversity is all the need for a black princess zella And here's here's a couple responses and how like the admins responded to it So it says a dark aider says i'm black and I just think no, this is not how diversity should be handled So it's a black person who disagrees that this is how you handle diversity by changing The actual literal race of established characters even though they're reincarnated or whatever you want to say Stop with painting existing characters to a different color. That's not how it should be and I can agree with this Black panther is the prime example of how it should be done a character with his own lore in origin Not a recoloring of existing characters I definitely don't agree with this thread at all and then igneous responds It says for the first saying post in this thread. I'm a brown man and I'd like to say thank you Basically, you have a couple people um from, you know, the quote-unquote black community being like, hey Why do we want to reach? Why do we want to change? Existing characters Why don't we just focus on creating our own like black panther as community and create our own heroes Right, like why why do we have to go in and change existing characters? All right an admin responds Nepenth Anyways Uh, they respond to igneous and say it's funny how on a thread about black people you as a non-black person This is what I talk about with like racism The guy has brown skin Even among this is what's weird even among quote-unquote black people There's like a somewhat distinction if your skin's a little bit lighter Like you have the blackest of black and then you have like brown and like medium brown like it's it's really weird to me It shouldn't matter like the person Identifies as black he says brown man to to clarify, you know, because people have to have distinctions So I guess he's a non-black person now. I don't Anyways, I think you have any high ground to call agreement with the idea insane And no, I don't care that you're brown He didn't say that everyone else is insane I think A more correct way to say it is probably the first logical post in this thread Is that we should be creating our own heroes. Why do we have to take other peoples? For like a fact of the matter is link in zelda are usually reincarnations zelda is from a lineage By the way Of the royal family the royal family as far as we have no is never ended. So it's a lineage Uh, link is just a high leon Um high leons are a white race. I don't Anyways, um, and the thing is It a blink a blink a black links even harder to do Because since the gerudos only give birth to a male child once every 100 years um If that male child was link Where the hell's ganondorf? Oh wait, can we make ganondorf white now? Is that okay? Is it okay if we take one of the darker skin characters and turn them white? I bet you you'd have a big issue with that because kinetically there can only be one male Gerudo alive Okay Anyways, um, the only thing that's going to do is upset die hard to who think link and zelda being light skinned is somehow Integral to their personality without being able to explain why that is link and zelda are high leons and high leons are a white race imagine if Someone made a game about black panther Okay, and black panther turned into a massive video game franchise where the Racial background of the entirety of the community that black panther existed in wakanda, right is black right? It's a black community a black Race that exists Here in this wakanda area now imagine that for you had decades and of of black panther games Where the the hero in the villain or whoever are always are always darker skin always black and then a They just decide you know what on a whim this time around the hero in this black panther game That's from wakanda by the way Because that's the background of the character, you know being highly in so being wakandan Suddenly is white In a different race than the people that they're supposed to represent Now fundamentally, I don't really care and this shouldn't matter But think what the backlash would be in that case. They will call it whitewashing black panther But that's what you're suggesting. They do the link there You're suggesting a dark washing of link or a dark washing of zelda who are representative of a race that happens to be white Why do we Have to mess with that I'm not saying you can't have interracial relationships But we already know in zelda the only way to get that's with grudo and grudo can only give birth to one male air Every hundred years and that male air is always ganondorf. So like what it makes you wonder I mean they clearly already racially intermix Because since the race of grudo are all women, they obviously are racially intermixing with males in the first place You know white hylians in the first place to keep their race going It has always produced females except for one that ends up being a male. So there already is Racial intermixing. I'm just confused. This is a this is a really tough conversation um Anyways changing their skin color is not about to cause any issues with canon Except that it does especially for link really knows for link The only thing it's going to do is upset diaries I think link and zelda being like skin is somewhat integral to the personality without being able to explain what they think it is It's not integral to the personality it's integral it's integral to their cultural background The same reason that you would be upset if black panther turned into a white person Because it's not authentic to the cultural background of the character You changing the skin color of link and zelda is not culturally Sensitive to their cultural background as hylians They have their own race, you know us So one of our racism is talked about it's always talked about in light of You know that there was slavery at one point and blacks were enslaved even though white people have been enslaved in the past as well Not to the level not to the extent Um of other races, but technically the jews were enslaved Um other people have been enslaved over time Um It's not really right Slavery is just not right in general it doesn't matter what its cultural background you are just not right But you would be so mad Um if we changed any sort of dark skin character into a light skinned one Because it's not culturally relevant Hylians are a white race Whether you like it or not There is a cultural expectation Of them being that skin color because that's the color of the race they're from It's not about the personality. It's about the culture of their race And the thought that nintendo can't create any original eyepiece amongst the development existing ones makes no sense either billion dollar company can't walk and chew bubblegum at the same time apparently So you're saying that they should change the skin color of these characters And then also create games that empower, you know black people they they should just do both I don't know. I think i've said my piece on all of this I think this administrator is being I I'm not going to say racist but Really dismissive of someone who clearly Fits um in the entire conversation and shouldn't be dismissed because of the color of their skin, which I guess is the What is so stupid About the internet is that if you're not the same skin color, you're not allowed to have an opinion Isn't that racism one-on-one I Imagine that I had a conversation Say about schools and I'm from a predominantly white community and we have some dark-skinned People come into the school meetings and try to bring up issues and impose their will am I just supposed to dismiss them as hey Why do you care you don't matter You know what we would be called if I dismissed what they had to say I'd be called a racist Because of the color of their skin So imagine if you dismiss what other people have to say because of the color of their skin. What does that make you? Draw your own conclusions everyone. All right. I know rather serious topic. We don't talk about this stuff very much Don't expect me to do a follow-up video to this or anything. Maybe we'll have a live stream conversation about it at some point I I again, I'm not trying to get political here I just I get frustrated when people try to take my favorite series and make these fundamental changes that Absolutely have lore impacts Just to make a stand For issues that are happening in a country that this game's not even made in and not representative of the people making the game Anyways, you guys let me know what you think about us down in the comments below Try to keep it peaceful I know it's gonna be hard but try and I'll catch you guys in the next video