This article discusses a recent game and does contain spoilers.

The Legend of Zelda has been from inception a classic high fantasy story. It has traditionally drawn from classic fantasy tropes – most prominently the sword in the stone native to Arthurian legend, and the often incapacitated damsel in distress cultivated most famously by the Brothers Grimm. These stories resonate strongly within us, and yet, in our modern culture they are also problematic. Archaic ideas about gender roles and the value of women echo throughout these familiar narratives, often teaching the young girls of today that their charge is one of passive beauty; that their highest honor should be to inspire men to “save” them. This paradigm cuts both ways: young boys are often instilled with the idea that they must prove their love through some grand act, the scope of which will seduce the object of their love without fail.

The eternal dance between Link and Zelda has for many years held to this old-fashioned idea, with the otherwise-powerful Zelda all too often stripped of her agency and forced to await Link’s rescue. Even the most seemingly-independent incarnations of Zelda have succumbed to this fate: the incapacitation of The Wind Waker‘s Tetra was particularly disappointing. Furthermore, Zelda is by no means the only victim of this model; many other female characters have appeared only to be saved or act as a secondary love interest for Link. The most egregious offender of this is probably Ruto from Ocarina of Time, but others such as Saria and Midna have also fallen prey to this formula. The Legend of Zelda has not been a beacon of positive female representation for most of its lifespan, but times are changing for the franchise, and one new game in particular has raised the bar for female characters of the series.

One of the strongest appeals of Hyrule Warriors is that it boasts a diverse roster of playable characters, all equally capable of slaying hundreds of enemies without breaking a sweat. Nearly half of the playable characters are female, drawing from the numerous supporting characters of past Zelda titles as well as inventing a couple of fresh faces. Some characters were ported directly from their native timeline, and remain as problematic as ever: Ruto is still a stuck-up princess who wants to be carried everywhere, and Ghirahim’s depravity continues to subconsciously demonize the LGBT community. However, the most iconic handful of reoccurring characters have received stylistic makeovers to better fit the feel of the game, and these revitalized faces – along with the new ones – have begun to pave a new and more empowered route for gender representation in the series.

Perhaps the most obvious and important re-styling is that of Princess Zelda. Throughout the series Zelda has been implied to wield great power, be it magical, political, or military in nature. However, she is usually not depicted in an empowered way; her design is typically that of an unimposing princess accustomed only to courtly life. Even in Twilight Princess, when she is supposedly the military leader of Hyrule, we only see a brief glimpse of her authority, and it is marred by surrender. The game does not even give her the courtesy of calling her “Queen” Zelda, when that seems to be her office. When she doe get a chance to use her alleged power, she must always rely on Link to set the stage.

This version of Zelda has been redesigned to suggest a more militant, proactive figure. She boasts an open skirt for mobility and a set of scant but relatively tasteful fantasy armor. Her outfit has been met with some criticism over its lack of realism, and at first I too had some technical reservations about it (would someone please explain what her pauldrons are attached to?). However, seeing her in action led me to better understand the intent behind this design. Zelda is a royal military leader: she is not a soldier and was never intended to fight on the front lines. Her armor, while impractical, feels very decorative and indicative of her rank and office, which actually serves to sell her role quite well. Her fighting style is a classy mixture of fencing, trick archery, and divine magic, and she is very good at close combat. In addition, her role is somewhat more empowered in that she never actually gets captured during the story as per usual. She does go voluntarily into hiding early in the story, but continues to assist the hero’s party as Sheik, and when she does reveal herself she is not then captured in a sudden twist like so often before. On the contrary, she comes off as a wise and capable role model.

Zelda’s loyal servant, Impa, has also been re-purposed to fit the style of the game. Impa has often appeared as a wise elderly woman who serves as Zelda’s caretaker. She often plays a role comparable to the stereotypical wise old man who guides the hero on his quest. On occasion, Impa has also been cast as Zelda’s personal bodyguard, most notably in Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword. She is always a member of the mysterious Sheikah tribe, if not the leader herself. Despite never having a truly pivotal role in the story, Impa is at least implied to be a capable woman charged with great responsibility, as evidenced for example by her management of the horrors buried within the Shadow Temple. However, due to the nature of most Zelda games, she is usually doomed to fall short in her responsibilities to make room for Link’s quest.

Hyrule Warriors, on the other hand, provides a perfect opportunity for Impa to truly shine as a capable warrior. She is cast as the general of the Hyrulean army, who in turn reports directly to Zelda and also serves as her royal guard. She has a stern but honorable disposition likely drawn from the romanticized idea of the Samurai, and a loyal zeal for both her country and her soldiers. Her primary weapon is a giant sword which she wields with both grace and brutality, and supplements with elemental magic; in short, she feels like a more refined Naruto character. Her design is drawn visually from Skyward Sword and conceptually from Ocarina of Time, and though she does show some skin – in fact, one side of her bra is fully exposed – she does not feel particularly sexualized. Ironically, this barbarian-like look makes her feel surprisingly masculine, perhaps second only to Ganondorf or Darunia, and does not detract from the amount of respect that she commands. This Impa is actually a great example of a truly empowered female character.

Both Zelda and Impa have really blossomed into rich and inspiring female presences for their part in Hyrule Warriors. Yet, to truly evaluate its progress, we must also look at the two brand-new female characters who play a pivotal role in the story.