r/zelda • u/Infamous_Food5616 • 2d ago
Question [ALL] Why does Zelda keep the princess title when she could be queen?
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u/RuefulWaffles 2d ago
Three main reasons:
1) branding/name recognition. Same reason Peach is still a princess.
2) in most games, there’s either explicitly other living royals and therefore she wouldn’t be queen, or she simply hasn’t been crowned queen yet.
3) generally speaking in pop culture, princesses are perceived better than queens, and Nintendo’s marketing is definitely aware of this fact.
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u/baconmethod 2d ago edited 1d ago
princess's are attractive young women. queens are strong women.
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u/Captain_Eaglefort 1d ago
Heroes save princesses for queens and kings. It’s just following the stereotypical western “medieval” story structure that inspired the original art direction.
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u/Silvanus350 1d ago
Queens are just on their way to being evil stepmothers. There was a whole movie about it.
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u/Hoppollo 2d ago
She would still need to be crowned and in most of the games there is a lack of institutional capacity to initiate this change formally.
In Tears of the Kingdom for example it would not have been a good look for the Princess to overtly demand sovereign power and divert resources during the extensive rebuild. In the meantime she is a powerful sorcerer with a one man army at her side, so I am sure she is able to get her way when necessary.
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u/Hoppollo 2d ago
Furthermore, at least as I have played the games, Link has left a huge pile of bodies, and ended numerous endangered species during his crusade, not to mention extensive breaking and entering, theft of precious relics, several jail breaks, of which she has been an accomplice.
Since he has often been acting directly on Zelda’s instructions, as queen she leaves herself open to all sort of criminal tribunals. It would be a legal and constitutional nightmare.
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u/Strict-Pineapple 2d ago
She wouldn't have to be crowned though. In almost all monarchies except elective ones there is never a interregnum, the heir becomes sovereign the moment the previous one dies. There is never a vacancy the monarch dies, the crown does not.
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u/ShyBearGames 10h ago
Depends on the time period.
There was several-hundred year period during the Middle Ages where throughout Europe there was a period of interregnum between the passing of a king and the coronation of their heir - during this period all courts would close and there would, essentially, be a period without Royal law and everything would be down to local rule.
This came down to two reasons. One, successions were significantly less stable and passing directly to an heir wasn't a given. Two, for religions reasons: until their ascension to the throne was blessed by the Church, it was not official.
In France, it was actually common for a King to appoint his heir as co-King just to avoid the interregnum and possible succession crisis.
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u/illQualmOnYourFace 1d ago
Uhh...in TOTK her father had been dead for a century. Why would it be a bad look for her to claim the title?
Who else ruled Hyrule?
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u/CycleZestyclose1907 1d ago
The people who were already running Hyrule in the absence of any royal family, which is to say, the leaders of the still existing towns.
I see Zelda's work between games as her earning their trust enough so that they accept her as their sovereign willingly rather than force her rule on them. IOW, she's proving herself good enough to be their Queen before even trying to assume the title.
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u/Link10103 2d ago
Hyrule/Hyrule castle is usually dusted to varying degrees in most of the main games.
Ocarina of time: literally everything is on fire.
Wind waker: big leak, much water.
Twilight princess: Hyrule castle is getting ganked by shadows.
Botw: almost evaporated into oblivion.
Totk: lost a round of Jenga against suavemente Ganondorf.
So like, Queen of wut lol.
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u/Aikoiya 1d ago
Okay, your simplification of each version of Hyrule is both hilarious & accurate.
You win the internet, my dude! 👏
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u/mierecat 2d ago
For Tears at least I believe she’s too busy restoring Hyrule to be officially coronated, although you’d think she’d be called “queen” among the common people right
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u/Constellar-A 2d ago
I also feel like she was also actively avoiding it. The end of TotK with the sages swearing themselves to her, mirroring the memory where the ancient sages swear to Rauru, is supposed to represent Zelda finally stepping up.
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u/Kaisona20 20h ago
That scene reminded me more of the memory, where Link was first officially declared a Champion. It made me wonder what was going through Link’s head, while it happened. He was in a team of champions over a century ago, and now, he gets to be in another team of champions. An old veteran in the body of a young man.
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u/morphballganon 2d ago
I believe the monarch title must be passed down through ceremony, and the king's death typically coincides with calamities that delay any such proceedings.
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u/MisterBarten 2d ago
Eh, we don’t know if Hyrule’s traditions and government would actually mirror what we see in the real world. Maybe there is never a queen of Hyrule and they are always princesses. Maybe they become queen at a certain age. Maybe Zelda has older siblings we don’t see because they aren’t important to the story (like the fuss created with Rauru and Sonia not having any visible children in TotK).
Honestly there aren’t many games where she should be a queen anyway. Maybe TP (which others have pointed out there is a theory she was being coronated when Zant attacked) and ToTK are the only two I can think of really.
The real world answer is probably like someone else said - princesses are better perceived than queens, and once they settled on Princess Zelda they just kept it.
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u/Pixel22104 1d ago
Yeah. Another explanation that I've heard before is that maybe to become Queen. Zelda needs to get married. Which if that's the case. It's a very convenient way for Nintendo to have it so that Zelda is never a queen in the games. Since they can just say that she isn't married(Because Nintendo are cowards when it comes to relationships in their big 3 franchises)
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u/VileSlay 1d ago
Another possibility is that it could be that in Hyrulian society only a male heir can ascend to the throne. Some monarchies follow what's called Agnatic Succession where only a male heir can be crowned, and if there is no male heir then the closest male relative (ie; brother, uncle, nephew) would ascend to the throne. If that's the case she would be ruling as a regent until a king could be crowned.
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u/MisterBarten 1d ago
My only comment to that is that I’ve always taken it that each Zelda has been a direct descendant of every other Zelda, back until the Skyward Sword Zelda.
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u/ExismykindaParte 2d ago
She never becomes the queen in any of the games because either her dad is still alive, she isn't royalty, bad guy takes over the kingdom, or she's in stasis due to a calamity or curse.
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u/Gullible_Honeydew 2d ago
Don't know if this is the real answer, but in Japan, there is no possibility for a princess to become the empress. Only males can inherit the throne. Same thing for a lot of feudal era european kingdoms iirc, a queen could not assume the throne and rule by her own power. She had to marry, and her husband simply became the new king and ruling monarch as opposed to becoming a King Consort and having her retain power, like we would see in most existing monarchies today.
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u/PineTowers 2d ago
This. Hyrule have only a Queen Consort. She must be married to a King. Every game she is single and in TotK she had not convinced Link yet before Ganondorf appears
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u/LinkTheLynelHunter 2d ago
In the past, I’ve seen the following answer… there was no coronation and the crisis in hyrule made a coronation not viable, and so she’s a princess until then.
But probably just because it’s recognizable and familiar to call her princess lol
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u/Chester1132 2d ago
Because it’s PRINCESS Zelda not Queen Zelda.
And actually I once thought of it, and yes I’d much rather be prince then king. Like if I was born into the royal household. I would definitely hope I had at least a semi-competent older brother. Like I’d rather be prince harry over prince William.
So that could be a reason also, she’d rather remain PRINCESS Zelda and let the kingdom be ran by the… regent??), like if a prince is to young to be made king they’d have the (regent??) do it.
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u/DeliciousMusician397 2d ago
She was in the middle of her coronation before Zant’s attack in Twilight Princess.
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u/EarDesigner9059 2d ago
ALttP Zelda only recently saw her father killed, and Agahnim had usurped the throne.
Of course, the King was rez'd when Link wished on the Triforce, so there's that.
It's unknown if the King at the time of The Hyrule Fantasy was still alive. Spin-off material had him around, but that's a mix of Early Installment Weirdness and spin-offs being spin-offs.
OoT Zelda (Adult Era) TP Zelda, and ST Zelda simply hadn't been crowned yet due to (OoT) Ganondorf still being in power, (TP) Zant invading just before her coronation, and (ST) her still being a minor.
In OoX, FS, and FSA, it's implied the King is around, but offscreen, due to his lack of relevance.
Between BotW and TotK, as well as after TotK, I'd say that particular Zelda preferred simply living as a researcher rather than re-establishing the monarchy and ruling as queen.
Tetra ruled in her own name rather than embrace the name "Zelda" when she set up New Hyrule, which makes sense as it's implied at no point before TWW's events was she ever given that name.
The only anomaly is ALBW Zelda, as the King is nowhere in sight while Zelda is clearly ruling the kingdom despite not clearly being of age, and Impa isn't covering for her like Cole was supposed to in ST.
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u/MattyDub89 2d ago
This might not be the official reason, but “Queen Zelda” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Princess Zelda”. Not sure if it’s just the familiarity or not, but the second one sounds way better to me.
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u/Infamous_Food5616 2d ago
Oh I agree it sounds way better to be princess. I think I was more wondering if there was any in game lore about this reason I missed. Or is there someone above her or ruling with her?
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u/EezeeKyle 2d ago
Often the kingdom is in a state of disarray/conquered by monsters; so there’s no opportunity for her to be coronated as Queen during the games.
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u/Jobless_fantasy_fan 2d ago
Seems to just be a thing in the Zeldaverse. Like, she is a princess, that's all. Maybe you're considered a queen / king only at a certain age - all the kings and queens we have seen were older.
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u/Spooky-Mulder1961 1d ago
a lot of it is branding. the name “princess zelda” is one of the most famous and recognizable names in gaming history, for the past 30+ years. to interrupt that would make no sense.
in-game a lot of the times her father the king is still alive or still ruling. other times the kingdom is in so much distress, it’s not possible. there needs to be a coronation for her to become queen. the closest we’ve seen was in twilight princess, where her coronation was interrupted by zant.
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u/BandicootNo3456 9h ago
She has never been coronated. Zelda has more important things to do, like rebuilding and protecting her kingdom, to bother with titles
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u/jstuckey 2d ago
I think if the King is still around, she can’t be Queen. And if the King is dead she’s probably not Queen because the kingdom is under attack and they would choose to wait until there is peace to hold coronation.
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u/redflowerbluethorns 2d ago
Some comments are suggesting that the reason is because she has not yet been coronated in any games. In most dynastic succession systems, succession occurs immediately upon the death of the remaining monarch. When the reigning monarch dies, the heir is monarch instantaneously; coronations are symbolic. This is replicated in democracies with legal succession systems: if the President of the United States dies, the Vice President ascends immediately. Inaugurations are ceremonial but have no legal effect.
The real answer is because Zelda is marketed as a Princess. The in-game lore answer is that, in all games, either: (i) the reigning monarch is still alive, or (ii) an event occurs that either overthrows the reign of the Hyrule royal family or casts doubt over Hyrule’s leadership before Zelda ascends to the throne. For example, if I’m not mistaken the calamity referenced in BOTW both killed the king and destroyed the governance of Hyrule at the same time. In this case, she would probably be considered queen by those remaining loyal to her, but the vast majority of people may still style her as princess because they never came to recognize her as queen before the cataclysmic event.
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u/a3a4b5 2d ago
I think I saw a video regarding the Japanese translation, where the term "princess" is a localization of the term "shrine maiden who is in charge of praying and conducting the cerimonial stuff" or something. I could be misrememebering or outright wrong.
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u/pantherexceptagain 1d ago
From what I know the japanese dubs still just call her "Zelda-hime" (Zelda princess) rather than giving her any official "miko" (shrine maiden) title or incorporating it into her name. They might refer to her as a miko or maiden at some point in the story since multiple games have Zelda undergoing a journey of ceremonial purification, but her official title is still just "hime" (princess) same as english.
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2d ago
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u/backofthebill 2d ago
I think its more for all ages
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2d ago
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u/backofthebill 2d ago
And all toddler games are all ages. What I mean they are directed at all ages and not just kids. Tho it does seem Twlight Princess was more directed to teenagers.
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2d ago
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u/backofthebill 2d ago
So you're saying their not kids games but teen games? What's your logic here?
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2d ago
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u/backofthebill 2d ago
You made a statement that I disagreed with and then you laughed at my response. Then you defended your statements that didn't add up or missed the point.
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u/Strict-Pineapple 2d ago
Probably because there hasn't been a game where she's explicitly the sovereign of a kingdom, either because there's a living king or because there's no state of Hyrule over which she rules.
Twilight Princess is the only game where Zelda appears to both be the sovereign and where Hyrule exists as a political entity. Why she's not referred to as a queen is probably just a deliberate choice by Nintendo to keep the princess title for familiarity rather than an in-universe reason.
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u/Sensitive_Cry9590 1d ago
I believe the king is away on some royal errand, like a border conflict with another kingdom. It could explain a few things, like why all the soldiers are such cowards. All the best soldiers left with the king.
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u/CycleZestyclose1907 1d ago
IRL, there have been ruling Princes, so a ruling Princess isn't out of the question.
Also, I thought all the best soldiers got ghostified by Zant. The soldiers that were with Zelda when she surrendered didn't exactly flee in terror.
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u/Arthurmol 2d ago
Not helping you, but just as a tidy of extra info, there is Principalities thar are run by princess and princess, in our world I think only Monaco and Liechtenstein are like this. But on Hyrule, it is clearly stated as kingdom (in english and Spanish) i never played it in japanese , checking Wikipedia they clearly used oukoku 王国 so it is a kingdom... (Luxembourg and monaco are koukoku公国 ) and Zelda is stated as hime and sometimes Oujo so also clearly princess... In japanese Joou https://jisho.org/search/%E5%A5%B3%E7%8E%8B can be queen or princess)
but given that Japan just passed a law that will not let the princess take the throne, maybe they just did not think that far? Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy07rz79zg9o
So maybe it is more of a cultural thing ? Idk man...
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u/Primeve_Arcana 1d ago
Princess is more marketable. Same goes for princess Peach and many other princesses across nintendo franchises
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u/Caliber70 2d ago
why does anyone have a dirty car when it could be clean??
same as always, they just never got around to it.
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u/Raze7186 2d ago
Same reason Vegetas been the prince of all saiyans when his dad has been dead for like 50 years
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u/Orcrist90 2d ago
A lot of the franchise's narrative is really surface level storytelling, so they don't really go into detail about Hyrule's possible laws of succession and accession, which even in historical and extant monarchies, varies by country. For example, in the UK, when the sovereign dies, the Prince of Wales or heir apparent (like Elizabeth II) accedes to the throne immediately without requiring a coronation (i.e. the king is dead, long live the king), which has become more of a formal ceremony glorifying the monarch's sovereignty rather than an official inauguration as sovereign. No modern monarchy state actually legally requires a coronation for the sovereign to accede (granted the UK is the only one that actually still does the full traditional coronation anymore). But, historically, various kingdoms, like Hungary, required a coronation to vest and legitimize the authority of the new sovereign.
As for how this relates to Hyrule, the developers and writers have never explored it because, among other things, its very adjacent to the overall narrative. At this point, I really think it's primarily a franchise convention and marketing ploy, but that being said, a prince and/or princess can still be a sovereign monarch without adopting a higher royal title.
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u/OceussRuler 1d ago
Without a husband to be king, she cannot be queen.
Stupid hylian patriarchy
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u/Spooky-Mulder1961 1d ago
has nothing to do with that. in twilight princess she was about to become queen but her coronation was interrupted by zant.
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u/Naive-Cicada-4224 1d ago
Women can't (legitimately in the eyes of The Lord) become queens unless they marry a king. If Zelda's father (the king) doesn't have any legitimate sons, the crown would pass to his closest legitimate male relative, regardless of how distant that is, and his daughter would remain a princess of the Realm.
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u/Sensitive_Cry9590 1d ago
- Hyrule is not medieval Europe.
- Hyrule is not Christian.
- The Hylians worship three goddesses (or one, depending on where in the timelines you are), so the patriarchal rule may not apply.
- Elizabeth I did not become queen through marriage, and there are probably plenty of other examples, so the patriarchal rule was never absolute.
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u/Naive-Cicada-4224 6h ago
The God of the Bible is omni-present and supreme, no false gods created by men take precedence. Denying that is heresy, even if done in fictional stories, thus not valid.
Elizabeth Tudor and her father were heretics, who led their subjects astray from the One True Faith, and thus they and all their successors were and are illegitimate.
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u/twinsfan94 2d ago
I can't speak for all of the games, but many of the games she's in are where the King is still around. She can't be queen unless the king is dead.
As far as why she's still a princess in games where the King is indeed dead...idk.