I'm quite sure we're all well affiliated with the Nintendo classic: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; the incredible adventure of a young boy becoming a man as he defeats the evil beginning to sweep the nation (The Legend of Zelda). Although the story itself is incredible and the game play is satisfying, it has come to my attention that such an adventure is quite unrealistic - and I mean this in terms assuming that the social and natural laws are somewhat similar to those of Earth. Link's adventure is not an actual adventure at all. Link, unfortunately, is a being with a schizophrenic disorder and his 'adventures' are merely figments of his mind.
A schizophrenic disorder "is a brain disorder that affects the way a person, thinks, acts, and sees the world" (Smith and Segal). Interestingly enough, it can also cause the person to "have an altered perception of reality" or oftentimes to a point where they have "a significant loss of contact with reality" (Smith and Segal). Throughout the gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link finds himself listening to the spoken words of creatures that - in the actual world - cannot speak the words of men (The Legend of Zelda). For example, a few times Link encounters a incredibly large owl with the name Kaepora Gaebora and even before that had extended conversations with a gigantic Tree (The Legend of Zelda).
Link's behavior in the game display many of the "common early warning signs of schizophrenia" (Smith and Segal). For example, insomnia/oversleeping , decline in engaging in acts of personal hygiene,"flat, expressionless gaze", "social withdrawal", and a "strange use of words or way of speaking" (Smith and Segal). Link is witnessed to sleep two times throughout the entire game. The first: Link awakens to his glowing fairy companion, Navi, at the very beginning of the game (The Legend of Zelda). He since then ceases to sleep for countless days and nights. The second: after Link pulls the Master Sword from the pedestal in the Temple of Time, Link falls asleep for what is understood to be seven years (The Legend of Zelda). Link both displays an inability to sleep and a tendency to oversleep - although incredibly exaggerated - throughout the game.
The second mentioned symptom listed above - the decline in hygiene - is demonstrated throughout Link's entire adventure. Link does not bathe nor do any actions suggesting taking care of himself in the entire game (The Legend of Zelda). This may root from the fact he does not believe he needs to. Despite all the 'monsters' he slays, his excessive time in old, underground dungeons, Link always manages to exit the scenario looking completely well kempt; there is neither blood nor filth upon his tunic and his hair always remained combed (The Legend of Zelda).
Furthermore, Link has few moments where he expresses any sort of emotion. Only in extreme moments will he break the calm that always seems to rest upon his face - these including (but not limited to) moments involving Zelda's kidnapping, Link's awakening in the Sacred Realm after his seven year slumber, realizing Kakariko Villiage is on fire, etcetera (The Legend of Zelda). Throughout the duration of the game, Link is constantly engaging in a piercing gaze forward.
Link exhibits the behavior previously stated of "social withdrawal" early on in the story. After his intense adventure of journeying down into a large, talking tree, Link leaves the village where he had grown up in (The Legend of Zelda). However, it could be argued that this stage is merely following the chronological order of "The Hero's Journey" (The Hero's Journey). The Hero's Journey is a sequence of events where a hero leaves his home, goes on an adventure, and then returns - something the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time closely follows (The Hero's Journey). However, what makes Link's particular "Crossing of the First Threshold" is that, not only does he leave his home, he completely cuts off all ties of communication with those he called friends - save for the floating blue fairy (The Legend of Zelda).
And now, the famous aspect of the game: Link does not speak. Link appears to have what could be referred to as "impaired communication skills" - a symptom of disorganized schizophrenia (Smith and Segal). When link 'communicates' with the people in Hyrule, he has the ability to nod in agreement but he never seems to have the ability to utter a single word - save for the times he grunts when he slashes enemies (The Legend of Zelda).
Outside of the symptoms of schizophrenia Link displays in the game, it's also important to assess the world of Hyrule that he creates in his mind. First of all, there are numerous logical flaws that present itself throughout the game. For example, during the sequence where Link sneaks through the castle courtyard in order to see the young Princess Zelda, Link evades numerous armed castle guards (The Legend of Zelda). The existence of these guards indicates the existence of a military in general - especially since there were an outrageous number of guards inside the castle walls. In the moment where Ganondorf seizes power over Hyrule, there are no witnessed attempts of the military to fight Ganondorf. Even stranger still, Ganondorf does not appear to possess a military of his own, so the reasoning of the guards to not attempt to reclaim Hyrule in the name of the king is strange (The Legend of Zelda). The entire fate of Hyrule is placed upon Link's shoulders. "Delusions of persecution" are common in cases of schizophrenia (Smith and Segal). This meaning that the effected person has the belief that external people or forces "are out to get him" (Smith and Segal).
For example: Link fights the powerful creatures, they do not fight anything else but Link. By this, I'm referring to Navi. During 'boss fights', Link is standing armed and fighting while the bright, glowing fairy flies around the face and body of the enemy (The Legend of Zelda). It's preposterous to believe that such monsters of their magnitude would not see a glowing light that relentlessly flutters around its face. This brings up the concept that monsters cannot see Navi while other 'people' can address the fairy - such as when Zelda or Malon notice it flying around Link (The Legend of Zelda). The understanding of who or what can or cannot see the fairy displays the concept that Link's "[fantasy] [isn't] consistent" (Smith and Segal).
In addition to Link's "delusions of persecution", Link also is under the impression that he, himself, is The Chosen One. Link also suffers from "delusions of grandeur" where he is under the impression that he is a very "important figure" and "has unusual powers that no one else has" (Smith and Segal). These powers, obviously, being the beholder of the Triforce and the multiple spells he acquires through the story: Din's Fire, Nayru's Love, and Farore's Wind (The Legend of Zelda). However, although he is described as being such an important figure, nobody else recognizes him as such. Only after he sees people in the Sacred Realm does his status as a hero become known to an outside person - after which, he never sees them again. The citizens of Hyrule do not find him to be of any importance at all (The Legend of Zelda).
The final concept of Link's schizophrenic existence is the hallucinations. In cases of schizophrenia, a person can endure experiences "as real when they exist only in [their] mind" (Smith and Segal). In addition to this, "hallucinations also tend to be worse when the person is alone" (Smith and Segal). As previously stated, Link isolated himself fairly early in the game. As he did so, the experiences that occurred became darker and darker as the game progressed. For example, after Link's seven year slumber initiated by his retrieval of the Master Sword, Link returns to Hyrule Market to see it is burned and destroyed. Where people once bustled, Redeads stood groaning in their place (The Legend of Zelda). That's where it gets interesting. Nothing has changed except the way it is perceived. The castle still remains where it was seven years ago - except now Link sees a dark, menacing establishment. Link sees Redeads instead of people (The Legend of Zelda). The outside world never really changed. Link's hallucinations merely worsened due to his extended period of solitude. This would explain why the guards and military of Hyrule Castle never initiated a revolt against Ganondorf's reign - Ganondorf never took over Hyrule to begin with.
Furthermore, at the end of the game, Zelda sends Link back to his original time and original age and his glowing fairy companion, Navi, leaves him (The Legend of Zelda). This instance of the game can be interpreted as the moments where Link is regaining contact with the actual, physical world. Although many of the features of the fantasy land of Hyrule still are present, it appears as though it's slowly returning to reality.
The game finishes with the implication that Link's entire adventure never really happened. Nobody will revere him as a hero. And there is nobody to vouch for the incredible things Link endured throughout the game. The only one being Navi - who conveniently leaves (The Legend of Zelda). It's as if none of the game actually happened. And since Link is suffering from Schizophrenia, it probably never did.
Works Cited
The Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Steps. N.p., 19 Nov. 1999. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html>.
Smith, Melinda, and Jeanne Segal. “Understanding Schizophrenia.” HelpGuide.org. N.p., Mar. 2011. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm>.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. 21 Nov. 1998. Nintendo. 16 Sept. 2001.
