The Legend of Zelda
series is one of the most popular and recognizable examples in videogames of what Tolkien referred to as
mythopoeia, or myth-making. In his essay
On Fairy Stories and a short poem entitled
Mythopoeia, Tolkien makes the case that the fairy tale aesthetic is simply a more intimate version of the same principle underlying the great myths: the human desire to make meaning out of the world. By using mythopoeia as a touchstone concept, the essays in this volume explore how
The Legend of Zelda series turns the avatar, through which the player interacts with the in-game world, into a player-character symbiote wherein the individual both
enacts and
observes the process of integrating worldbuilding with storytelling. Twelve essays explore
Zeldas mythmaking from the standpoints of literary criticism, videogame theory, musicology, ecocriticism, pedagogy, and more.
Introduction: Zelda, Mythopoeia, and the Importance of Developing an
"Inside" Perspective on Videogames
Anthony G. Cirilla
Foundations: Mythmakers and Myth-Players
Chapter
1. Digital Mythopoeia: Exploring modern myth-making in The Legend of
Zelda
Alicia Fox-Lenz
Chapter
2. Extrapolative Silence in Mythopoeic Spectacle, or, Why does Link
Look so Bored?
Thomas Rowland
Chapter 3 Curiositas and Critical Glitches: Speedrunning The Legend of Zelda
Ethan Smilie
The Legend of Zelda: Entrance into Mythopoeic Structure
Chapter
4. The Hero of Farie: The Triforce and Transformational Play in
Links Mythopoeic Journey
Anthony G. Cirilla
Chapter
5. Twilight and Faėrie: The Music of Twilight Princess as
Tolkienesque Nostalgia
Vincent E. Rone
Chapter
6. The Domestic Champion in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Michael David Elam
Theres Something Mything Here: Problems of Counter-Structure or
Contra-Structure in Zeldas Mythopoeic Methods
Chapter
7. "You Played the Ocarina Again, Didnt You!!": Catastrophe and the
Aesthetics of Evil in Ocarina of Time
Nathan Schmidt
Chapter
8. A Link Across Adventures: Literacys Relevance to Time in The
Legend of Zelda Series Mythopoeia
Matthew Sautman
Chapter
9. Haunted by Heroes: Mythology & Hauntology in The Legend of Zelda:
Majoras MaskDamian Asling
The Legend of Pedagogy: Theory and Practice
Chapter
10. The Hero of Time: The Legend of Zelda as Childrens Literature
Chamutal Noimann & Elliot H. Serkin
Chapter
11. Take Away the Sword: Teaching for Creativity and Communication
with the Legend of Zelda in Art History
David Boffa
Chapter
12. Regenerative Play and the Experience of the Sublime in The Legend
of Zelda:Breath of the Wild
Gerald Farca
Alexander Lehner
Victor Navarro-Remesal
Anthony G. Cirilla is Assistant Professor of English Literature at College of the Ozarks and associate editor of Carmina Philosophiae, the Journal of the International Boethius Society. He received his PhD in English literature from Saint Louis University and has published and presented extensively in both Boethius and videogame studies.
Vincent E. Rone (PhD, 2014, UC Santa Barbara) writes, composes, teaches, and performs. He specializes in sacred-music reforms of Catholic France and the music of fantasy, notably The Lord of the Rings and The Legend of Zelda franchises. He currently is co-editing an anthology, Nostalgia and Videogame Music.
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