The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

With both young and adult gamers as loyal fans, The Legend of Zelda is one of the most beloved video game series ever created. The contributors to this volume consider the following questions and more: What is the nature of the gamer’s connection to Link? Does Link have a will, or do gamers project their wills onto him? How does the gamer experience the game? Do the rules of logic apply in the game world? How is space created and distributed in Hyrule (the fictional land in which the game takes place)? How does time function? Is Zelda art? Can Hyrule be seen as an ideal society? Can the game be enjoyable without winning? The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy not only appeals to Zelda fans and philosophers but also puts video games on the philosophical map as a serious area of study.

Customer Reviews:

Let's Play Money-Making Game

By John Grusd - February 19, 2009

This book is lame and embarrassing. It's a collection of banal undergraduate-quality essays that shoehorns entry-level philosophy into the Legend of Zelda universe, often with no justification. Worse, many of the essays take concepts of video games in general and make their points, using only the Legend of Zelda as a tangential example, which makes them irrelevant in this book, i.e. a whole essay devoted to basic logical fallacies (ch. 3). Gee thanks for that. I didn't know what a slippery slope was and decided to consult this very book in order to learn about it.

The typographical errors that saturate this book are just appalling, and deserve no further remark. Well, some are hilarious though, like "Zeldac universe" (p. 76).

I'm paging through this looking for egregious examples of what makes this book such a disappointment; there are so many. Here's the opening to one of the essays: "I have a confession to make. I don't finish what I start... read more

Unique and accessible, though at times lacking in presentation

By raficus - February 12, 2009

Seeing as how I like to read in my spare time, I thought I'd post some short reviews of the books I complete.

Just last night I finally got around to finishing Luke Cuddy's The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy. This was my first foray into the "Popular Culture and Philosophy" series, which also includes the likes of The Simpsons, Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy, House, and plenty others.

The general format of these books are sections organized by topic. The authors explore basic ideas such as the general mythology, timeline, and free will, while tackling some more complex ones including the link between reality and Hyrule, Zelda's feminism, and the existence of God & evil. Within each section are chapters, each consisting of an essay published by a professor at an American university (so you can presume they're not just BSing you). The essays themselves are well-organized, and the content of certain ones were more appealing than others.

In general, the... read more

Provides all the good, along with unnecessary bads.

By N. Geist - March 10, 2009

I was very pleased that this book provided what I had expected it to provide, but was very upset that this book also provided many things I did not expect (or want). I expected philosophy on Zelda, and it provided that. I did not expect so many typographical errors, subtle political comments, or unnecessary lessons on racism, and it provided that.

I can only feel right in giving this book it's three stars, because as I said, it DID give what it said it would give, and offered some interesting thoughts. But now let me focus on the frustrating aspects.

The typographical errors were atrocious, and there's no excuse for them on a professional level. End of story.

Politics are ever-so-subtly brought into focus, which is just unpleasant. On p.39, the War in Iraq is brought to the attention of the reader. On p.158, the author states that war propaganda is intended to be coercive. I didn't quite understand how Uncle Sam posters are any more invasive than... read more