My Legend of Zelda

My take on The Legend of Zelda, an example of how I’d envision a new episode of the classic series. It would be less ‘classic’ than usual, as I'd like to see a change in Zelda in order to keep my interest alive after so many years.

As far as gameplay goes, I appreciated the efforts made with the DS and Wii games to refresh the formula. In fact, if it weren’t for the new, brilliant controls (and most of the game design ideas built around it) I probably wouldn’t have played them because of a lack of original, inspired contents and art direction capable of keeping me engaged as much as the Zeldas prior to Twilight Princess did.
At this point I’d like to see the authors regain the courage to more deeply revisit the series' scenario, its mythology and aesthetics. I’d like a different interpretation of the Legend, possibly unconcerned with the restrictions of a botched timeline.
But I’m not expecting anything as it’s pretty natural for a long-time fan to get tired of a never-ending series at some point. And I understand how difficult it must be to boldly renew a series this old, so economically relevant for Nintendo, so embedded in its history as well as in the collective gaming imagination. The franchise may and probably will simply continue without me, but… one can always dream. And this is nothing more than how I dream a different, but still recognizable, Legend of Zelda.


Most of the ideas composing the setting of this illustration came from a discussion about these matters I had with ~laughingpineapple while trekking around the Torres del Paine in 2007. We fantasized a lot and I decided to draw at least some of that stuff sooner or later…
I did another pair of pieces but I’d like to do various others, ideally showing tidbits of this imaginary game.
Maybe I’ll be able to reprise this project someday, as for now you can enjoy a detail of this deviation and another piece centered on Link.