User:Agahnim's Shadow

Introduction
Hey all, I'm Agahnim's Shadow or just Dan if I'm not being pretentious.

I'm 25 as of the last time I edited this page, and a long-time fan of the Zelda Series. I've recently started playing through every game - a vital quest for any true citizen of the 21st century - which led to a love of the connections between the games and resulted in me floating around this site a bit.

Eventually I decided to do what I could to contribute to this wiki, giving back just a little of the pleasure and information it has yielded to me. I also look forward to learning more about the Zelda games as I stumble across arcane and eldritch articles.

Games Played
Shamelessly copied from Dannyboy601's page and modified for my own bragging rights:

Other Games Played

 * The Legend of Zelda (second adventure) - unplayed
 * The Adventure of Link (second adventure) - unplayed
 * Master Quest - unplayed
 * Oracle Series Linked Game - 100% COMPLETED
 * Zelda 3DS - unplayed
 * The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest - unplayed
 * Game & Watch - PLAYED
 * Watch Game - unplayed
 * BS The Legend of Zelda - unplayed
 * BS The Legend of Zelda: Inishie no Sekiban - unplayed
 * BS The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods - unplayed
 * Link's Crossbow Training - unplayed
 * Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland - 100% COMPLETED
 * Tingle's Balloon Fight DS - unplayed
 * Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love - unplayed
 * Too Much Tingle Pack - unplayed
 * Super Smash Bros. - unplayed
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee - unplayed
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl - unplayed
 * Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition - unplayed
 * Soulcalibur II - unplayed
 * Dynasty Warriors VS - unplayed
 * Captain Rainbow - unplayed
 * Link: The Faces of Evil - unplayed
 * Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon - unplayed
 * Zelda's Adventure - unplayed

Definition of 100%
The Zelda games are probably some of the best for attempting to 100%, as Nintendo has put great care into ensuring you can never lose access to any vital item in the game (pieces of hearts, equipment etc.) However, what is 100% complete? Does this require speaking to every person in the game? Speaking to every person in every possible order? Breaking a world record in each mini game? Standing on every possible tile and using every item in every order? Doing this 100 times, on the off chance something happens?

For my purposes, I have defined 100% as firstly completing the story line and secondly having a full inventory as evident upon starting up. This was initially a convenient excuse not to catch the Hylian Loach in OoT. (I did end up catching it anyway, but that is another story). This came back to bite me in SS, where I had to collect 99 of each bug or treasure in addition to upgrading everything (including 8 quivers, bomb bags seed satchels) and collecting every medal and piece of heart.

This is only applied to the Canonical Zelda games. Other games may have other, more suitable definitions (e.g. Rosy Rupeeland pretty much counts everything you can 100% towards your rupee goods, so all rupee goods + completing the story = 100%, (although I also defeated Baron and hired every bodyguard too.))

Unleashing the Hate
I don't think many people would post that userbox without justifying it, but for me, I cannot. I cannot justify liking Tingle, but I also cannot see any merit in the arguments calling for his drawn-out, painful death. Mind you, I'm playing WW now, and that seems to be the real source of the hatred, so perhaps I'll change my mind. (Edit: Nope.)

The main argument against Tingle is that he is creepy. And he is, a bit, but nothing out of character with the rest of the Zelda games. He was introduced in Majora's Mask, which had a creepy-faced moon and perhaps the most evil Zelda villain ever. It also had...

Now he was creepy.

And sure, a 35-year-old who floats around hoping to become a fairy may justify opening the Hyrule Sanatorium, but remember to also incarcerate Crazy Tracy, who rubs oil on strangers and calls them "big boy"; Princess Ruto who falls in love with a completely different species and maintains the one-sided obsession for seven years; anyone who names their child the first profanity you enter; anyone who dresses like Freedle; the Man of Smiles (just look at him!); Salvatore, who dresses up as a very young girl - correction, as a specific, very young girl; Dodoh (enough said); Pamela's Father, who may be properly insane, Guru-Guru who is properly insane; these guys; this guy; this kid once he grows up and anybody who has a whole conversation with Kaepora Gaebora.

Face it. Hyrule, and the lands and universes that link too it, are one, giant loony bin. Adults drink vintage milk. People ask a kid in green to run missions too deadly to entrust to the local militia. Home owners will politely discuss trivia with a complete stranger who enters their house, smashes their pots and takes their rupees. People are shot out of cannons as sport or genuine "I've got a good idea" plans. Shop vendors can hate you, drop you from the sky or murder you for stealing. Heck, one guy falls in love with a goat after a brief postal correspondence and a Nintendo reference. All of these characters are part of the Zelda humour, and half the time you need to read the text in detail or see link's expression to fully appreciate it.

Now sure, a man in skin-tight green leggings floating over your head might freak you out. If you are the kind of person who likes to think about the men's tights they see in video games (most of us pay attention to other things). But what about the topless (originally nude ) supermodel/hippopotamus? Or the Poe Collector who says, and I quote, "If I looked as good as you, I could run a different kind of business...heh he heh..."? Or the Lake Scientist who begins his compliments with, and again I quote, "You may not have noticed, but I've been watching you..."? Or the quest to recover a Mermaid's bikini top? Or Nabooru:


 * "Will you go through this tiny hole and get a treasure that's inside?"
 * "If you can successfully get the Silver Gauntlets, I'll do something great for you!"
 * "If only I knew you would become such a handsome man... I should've kept the promise I made back then..."

Or the jock-strap-clad dancer Kamaro? Or the really-should-get-more-buttons-on-that-top Telma? Or Agitha, who wants to bathe in snail slime? Or Jovani, the demon-possessed man with rupees in his eye sockets? Or Link spying on Headmaster Gaepora in the bath?

People just as creepily dressed abound (Tott, Falbi and Fyer, Dodoh, etc.). And then there's



And if you hate Tingle's dress-sense then do not follow this link to Characters in Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland - especially focussing on Duke, Judge, Duko (that's a girl, by the way), the Foreman or Pinkle. Considering his home-town, Tingle is actually pretty well adjusted.

Another common complaint is Tingle's personality. He is "irritating", "greedy" and "a thief":


 * Irritating, and often unavoidable? True, but compared to Ooccoo, or worse Kaepora Gaebora, or worse still Navi, or worse still Fi he's not that bad.


 * Greedy? Uh, yeah! That may be annoying in WW, but it is consistent with what (a) Tingle is. Rupeeland explains this back story quite well. Tingle(s) is(are) greedy, just as Link(s) is(are) courageous. Tingle is an anti-hero, which TLoZ series needs to conver some of its darker themes. Learn to embrace this, people. It's part of the diversity of the Zelda universe. No-one holds out against other exorbitant merchants in the games (980 rupees for a bow in LA? 10,000 rupees for a 10 bombs in WW? Malo in TP? Come on, guys!)


 * A Thief? Where's the rage against Sakon? Or, perhaps more relevantly, Takkuri?

No, Tingle is no worse than any of these. His problem is that he is in many games, and the rage accumulates. But even so, individual examples of Tingle are outweighed by individual examples of Fi, Navi, Dodoh and others. I could not understand the Tingle-hate, until I read this on zeldauniverse.net:


 * "I don't think it has something to do with Americans in general, but with the fact, that the main core audience of video gamers in the USA mostly consists of teenage boys. Unlike for example in Japan, where the audience is more varied. And for teenage boys everything has to be cool and mature, because they want to be cool and mature. They just don't get the humor. He's supposed to be an insane, worthless and annoying child molestor with his "Little boy! Take me to the land of fairies!" and his wearing a green spandex with red underwear on the outside. That's the whole point. That's all part of the humor. But video game characters nowadays always have to look like the bold, muscle packed, ubercool space marine... in space. Or the ultracool hip hop gangster... in space. Or hot blonde chicks with large "guns".... in space. Because of the addressed core audience. Young males want these types of characters to compensate a part of the insecurity in their teenage phase. Everything needs to look cool and mature, it would be embarrassing if it doesn't. A character like Tingle in your favorite game series is just embarrassing, because they want, that playing Zelda looks cool and mature and therefore is accepted by other "cool" people."

While I doubt all Tingle-haters are sexually insecure schoolboys, this does make a lot of sense. After all, most complaints against Tingle are Homophobic, and Homophobia - especially the fear of catching the dreaded "Gayness" - is always born of insecurity.

So, Tingle-haters. Have at me! Bring it on!

Because I know whose legacy will live longer, and it's spelt "Kooloo-Limpah!"