In Ocarina, Link was a child. The reason he transformed into an "adult" was directly tied to the self-contained narrative of the game. Before this, Link had never been older than a child, arguably outside of direct chronological sequels like Zelda II and maybe Link's Awakening (though I still think he's a child there). Link was always meant to be a child.

The author had an agenda. When she was debunked. She had a complete meltdown.

In Ocarina, Link was a child. The reason he transformed into an "adult" was directly tied to the self-contained narrative of the game. Before this, Link had never been older than a child, arguably outside of direct chronological sequels like Zelda II and maybe Link's Awakening (though I still think he's a child there). Link was always meant to be a child.

After OoT, Link went back to being a child in MM and more importantly the separated WW. This is because Zelda was fundementally a tale of youth. The problem is that with OoT, people conceptually misinterpreted the function of adult Link in that game, which was forcining to Link grow up before his time. He is still a child in that body because he never gained the experience, maturity, and time that is supposed to come along with that body change.

Again, this was largely misunderstood (I'd even argue that it is universally misunderstood), and people began to look at the adult version of Link in that game as the form Link was supposed to take. As the primary Link of that game. As if it wasn't just a physical vessel for child Link. As if it wasn't, in literally every way mechanically, narratively, and techically, a direct parellel to the mask transformations in the sequel game Majora's Mask. That Zelda as a franchise needed to "grow up" with it's audience "like OoT did." But it didn't. It was about the exact opposite. It was about the trials and tribulations of growing up, how it's scary and undesirable, and the player is literally the to be allowed to experience childhood the way it is supposed to be experienced.  It's literally the Peter Pan "I don't wanna grow up," except it's if Peter Pan was actually forced to grow up. It's meant to make children appreciate their childhood and appreciate youth while dressing grand heroic experiences of adulthood in a way that is simple, embellished, and palletable for them.

What they "demanded" more of was adult Link. After WW's reception in the west, Aonuma made TP as a response to a loud minority of people who frankly don't know what the hell they are talking about and made Link older for no reason other than "he looks cool" and betrayed a lot of the narrative themes that defined the franchise prior. Link being an adult had nothing to do with the game being bad, like I said, but it's always personally aggrivated me regardless. Same with SS, but arguably worse.

You know, this trend of FORCING women into main roles is really just... I'm starting to get to the point where I am avoiding any media where I feel that practice has taken place. It's one thing for an artist to say, hey, I want to tell a story about a girl or woman and another thing entirely when corporate suits, who don't give a fuck about anything game related start talking PC correctness for the sake of buzz or capitalizing on current trends.

Art that is tampered with is no longer art imo. It's product.

But it doesn't have to be forced or anything. Maybe Anouma just really wanted to include a female option and the plot also demands it.

They had 30 years to make that choice and never did. If this is indeed true, it's obvious where the motivation came from.