I've seen a lot of requests for a female playable character in the Zelda series, especially recently, so I've been wondering how the Zelda fandom at large would prefer to see this idea approached.

Basically, would you rather play as Zelda herself in a game where Link is either an NPC or does not appear at all? Or would you prefer to play as a female interpretation of "Link," either by default or as a choice between male and female Link at the start of the game?

I'd also very much like you to comment on which option you chose and why it appeals to you thematically. Even moreso, I'm looking for a specific response here: which would be more offensive to you as a Zelda fan, a gender-swapped Link, or an NPC Link? Maybe both would be horrifying, or maybe both would be absolutely fine. Share your opinion! I'm curious.

Notes:
Shiek counts as Zelda.
The game can be considered main-series or a spin-off, but is still made by EAD 3.

For example, gender-swapped Link:

Playable Zelda (Link as an NPC):

Sheik

Zelda. I think Link should just stay the way he is.

I'd like to be given a choice. It would only be a minor graphic difference in most Zelda games.

I say Princess Zelda cause I feel like her story would be pretty interesting and her controls will be a lot more different than female link which will probably be a Link clone in terms of gameplay

We sure don't have a lot of girls around here, huh? >.>

Female Link of course. It's a new character so they're free to give her actual boobs :)

Zelda would be the right choice. Stops them from having the destory a large fandom and completely change the lore just to please fans.

That's a fair answer, and it's why I included it in the poll. Initially I was just going to make it part of the see results option, but I decided that it deserved its own spot. Some fans would want to take a stance against changing the protagonist, and they had a right to voice that stance the same as anyone else.

I'm still not really sure how to approach the options. Maybe a spin-off about Zelda, rather than a main series game in which you play as Zelda, should have been explicitly included as part of the "Zelda" answer. Or maybe I'm specifically referring to main-series entries here. Haven't quite made up my mind.

Mainly I'm simply curious to see how fans react to the ideas of female Link vs Link as an NPC. Are either of these damning to his "character"? Which one is more offensive to long-time Zelda fans? I guess I'm not really getting that through the poll... I'll add it to the OP.

I'm not really on board with this "let's sex-swap characters just for fun, or just for feminism" thing that many nerds on the internet seem to have going now. So no, I don't want to see a female Link, honestly. If it was a good game, I'd accept it, and not have a PROBLEM with it per say, but I also don't think it's neccisary.

Instead, I say, harken back to the 90s Valiant Comics, where Zelda was a strong and capable character. She doesn't get kidnapped and you don't have to save her, in fact she had magical abilities from the Triforce of Wisdom, and was an expert archer, and fought along-side Link against Ganon in those (rather well written) stories. Why not do THAT? Some keep clamoring for a two-player Zelda, or a game where you can PLAY Zelda, so why not make her like THAT Zelda? A female warrior Zelda, instead of a princess in peril Zelda.

I think that would be better for all the reasons you could possibly care to think of, personally, rather than just making Link female just to do it.