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 Zelda’s 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 Faёrie: The Triforce and Transformational Play in Link’s Mythopoeic Journey Anthony G. Cirilla Chapter 5. Twilight and Faërie: 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 There’s Something Mything Here: Problems of Counter-Structure or Contra-Structure in Zelda’s Mythopoeic Methods Chapter 7. ""You Played the Ocarina Again, Didn’t You!!"": Catastrophe and the Aesthetics of Evil in Ocarina of Time Nathan Schmidt Chapter 8. A Link Across Adventures: Literacy’s Relevance to Time in The Legend of Zelda Series’ Mythopoeia Matthew Sautman Chapter 9. Haunted by Heroes: Mythology & Hauntology in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s MaskDamian Asling The Legend of Pedagogy: Theory and Practice Chapter 10. The Hero of Time: The Legend of Zelda as Children’s 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.
Reviews for Mythopoeic Narrative in The Legend of Zelda
Cirilla and Rone's collection marks an important moment for The Legend of Zelda franchise. These essays affirm the franchise's continuing significance to Game Studies and also illuminate meaningful contexts for future scholarship. Adam Crowley, Associate Professor of English, Husson University, author of The Wealth of Virtual Nations: Videogame Currencies Through a diversity of approaches, this wonderful volume convincingly builds a case for the immersive mythmaking power of a franchise that's as beloved to fantasy gaming as Tolkien's work is to fantasy literature. By pushing the boundary of videogame scholarship into specializations-in this case Zelda Studies-the authors remind us that the question worth asking is no longer whether videogames are art, but how. Luke Cuddy, Professor of Philosophy, Southwestern College
