Is The Legend of Zelda Racist?

Is The Legend of Zelda racist? With society becoming more and more politically correct one can only wonder how much longer certain “racial” aspects ofthe Legend of Zelda series can continue. Race has always been a sensitive issue so many do not like to bring it out and to the open. However we feel as if this is an issue that should be discussed freely. Many of you will not agree with the following statements and that is fine. This article is meant merely to entertain sodo not take anything too seriously.

Video games are being targeted by lobbyists and social groups a lot these days. Why? For being racist. Resident Evil 5, when released recently received a lot of negative attention due to certain “racist aspects.” Now, there really was nothing racist about that game. Howeverrace is a sensitive issue and people are becoming more and more politically correct. So the way I see it, The Legend of Zelda will be targeted as being racist here before long.

As you all know, The Legend of Zelda revolves around the central idea of Link saving Zelda and the Triforce from the evil villian Ganondorf. However it is not as simple as that, as Ganondorf is a black man. Ganondorf was first introduced in the Ocarina of Time and before then he had only appeared as Ganon and was briefly mentioned in A Link to the Past. Nobody before The Ocarina of Time knew who or what Ganondorf was.

The Ocarina of Time also introduced the idea of different races in The Legend of Zelda. Ganondorf was introduced as being from the desert dwelling race, known as the Gerudo. We also have the Zoras who are the water dwelling group and are fish-like people. We have the Gorons who are rock eating mountain people. The Kokiri who are children of the forest. The Sheikah who are a mysteriousrace of ninja-like people. The Hylian who are the chosen group of the gods. And the Gerudo who live in the desert…and oh yea. They are all thieves.

Is anybody starting to see some racist ideas here? The villian of the Legend of Zelda games is a black man, who comes from a poor region, and his entire race is a bunch of theives. Anybody with the slightest bit of common sense can see that this is extremely racist. Why did Nintendo choose to portray the blackrace in the Zelda series as being the thieves and the big bad villian.

If this was just the case for one game then it could be overlooked. However, the Gerudo continued to be depicted as a group of thieves. In Majora’s Mask the Gerudos are a group of pirates (thieves with boats). In Four Swords Adventures they are again a poor group of thieves who happen to live in tents. This very idea continues throughout the rest of the series.

But hey, who cares? This is nothing. Zelda isn’t racist. It would take much more to make the series racist. And guuuuuuueeeeess what. There is a lot more. The Hylians, as described on zelda.wikia.com is therace chosen by the gods. They are the most superior race. They are also the most technologically advanced.

So let me get this straight. The white (has there ever been a black Hylian?) race is the superior god chosen race. And the black Gerudo race is a group of thieves. This sounds awfully fishy to me. Well maybe not fishy but certainly racist. So I do not end up beating this issue into your heads I will move on some. You guys know what I am getting at so I will move onto my next point.

In Majora’s Mask, the main focus is on wearing different masks that all do different things. Wearing the masks of the different Zelda races will get different reactions from different people. Some places will not let you in if you are wearing the mask of onerace. Some people will charge different races a different amount for the same product or service.

These are just a few examples. Is The Legend of Zelda a racist game series? That is for you to decide. Just look at the evidence.

http://legendzelda.net/legend-of-zelda-articles/is-the-legend-of-zelda-racist/

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LOL how paranoid can people get.....this isn't completely wrong a s there ARE co-incidences but in games divisions like these must appear or it will be too difficult when you are attacking enemies

for example in RE5 if there were white zombies too (haven't played it so I'm assuming all zombies were black men) then you MAY get confused into thinking the white zombies were allies.

arent they arabs...so brown not black

Ganon is dark green not black, paranoid indeed.

Mmmh well.... we have fish-people, rock-people, fairies and people with pointy ears living together in armony on this world (wich of course IS NOT OUR WORLD) so I'd say no, is not racist.

they said it was a joke... but the way they express sounds serous...

Ganondorf may have an awesome tan, but he also has ginger hair. This is a paradox.

Ocarina of Time happened before the anti-middle-east paranoia thingy. Back in the they US kinda supported them... yeaaaaah... But if it was a japanese dude killing white people it would be okay, right?

It's got to the point where you literally can't say anything without fear of being accused of offending someone, including commenting on this forum.
A lot of the time it's other being offended on behalf of other, or groups of other people who surely can speak for themselves.
My son has Pakistani friends from school who constantly refer to each other as Pakis and have a good laugh at it, the real problems occur when it is used as an insult and not in friendly jest.
The other day I walked past a policeman who was talking to a young teen, he was the kind of teen that includes the f work in every sentence, not because hes being abusive but because that's the way he talks within his group of friends.
The policeman threatened to arrest him under some public order section for using abusive language when he clearly was not being abusive towards anyone but simply talking in his language.
As for 'is Zelda racist', I don't know but I'm not sure about what you can and can't say any more for fear of offending someone which to me is a terrible way for society to be heading.

Yeah, I would have related them to Arabs based on those descriptions, not black. Plus, I never thought Ganondorf even looked black, just dark/brown, i.e. very much Arab.

So, with the world's newest focus after the cold war, i.e. on "terrorists", it must be another long line of attacks on the Arab peoples. Next we'll see some extreme religious mention in the next Zelda. OR was that the point behind Twilight Princess??

...
Sad world.