Talk:Development of The Legend of Zelda

Can I share this somewhere else?
Guys, what is the licensing of the ebook? How can I contact the author? Because I want to share the ebook to Wikimedia Commons. Burning Snow 08:51, 29 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I'd ask the author directly; you can leave a comment on their profile, or join our Discord server and ask them there. –  Ceiling  Master  13:22, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

The Influence of Lord of the Rings on Zelda
Hey, SuperMarioSuperShow. Thanks for the recent edit to the development history page. I had to undo it this morning, and I just wanted to make sure I let you know why.

Regarding the influence Tolkien's Lord of the Rings had on Zelda 1, we should probably refrain from saying that LOTR directly inspired Zelda. Outside of a second-hand quote from Club Nintendo magazine in Germany, there's nothing to suggest LOTR inspired Tezuka or Zelda in any meaningful way. I'd hold off on stating that as a fact until we've got a more concrete source. LOTR's influence on Zelda does come up later, though, in the case of Twilight Princess, with director Eiji Aonuma stating he was inspired by Tolkien. :)

Apologies for undoing your edit, but we try to be very, very careful with the sources we cite on the dev history page and avoid second-hand information as much as possible. Hopefully you'll read this and understand why. :) - Ish Siliconera


 * Hey, Ish Siliconera. Because Club Nintendo is official Nintendo material, would it not be a primary source rather than second-hand? It states that when making the first two Zelda games, Tezuka was influenced by Tolkien. If you'd like additional sources, I'm happy to include a Super Play interview where Miyamoto is asked if the Tolkien inspired developer was Kensuke Tanabe, to which Miyamoto clarifies that it was him and Tezuka who were inspired by the books and their life experiences. Most sources about Tolkien and the first Zelda games are from a pre-internet era relegated to magazines. Could I include the Super Play interview as well? SuperMarioSuperShow (talk) 15:42, 28 November 2022 (UTC)


 * Hey SuperMarioSuperShow,


 * I think the Club Nintendo Germany magazine interview is a little iffy, just because NOE wasn't quite as involved with the development side as NOA was back in the day, and their mention of the LOTR thing isn't a direct quote from Tezuka himself. That said, if this Super Play interview has a direct quote from Miyamoto, that's something we could definitely consider citing. Possible for you to link to an archive of the Super Play interview?


 * Also, if at all possible, may I request that you let me make the edit? Apologies if that sounds overly controlling, but part of the reason I'd like to do it myself is that it also makes it easier to update the eBook if I can keep track of all the changes and wording. Ideally, I'd like to make sure the eBook and Wiki page are in sync, which is why I spend so much time maintaining the dev history page. Right now, they're kind of out of sync (the Wiki page is more up-to-date), so I'll need to do a round of updates and reformatting on the eBook anyway. - Ish Siliconera


 * Sure, I can't find the original archive but the interview has been copied here https://www.nintendoforums.com/articles/40/super-play-magazine-interviews-shigeru-miyamoto-about-zelda SuperMarioSuperShow (talk) 17:07, 28 November 2022 (UTC)


 * Okay, just went through the interview in its entirety. Here's the relevant bit:


 * Superplay: Apparently the tale of Hyrule were created by Kensuke Tanabe, and he was very inspired by Tolkien’s books. How much of the original manuscript was written by him and what were your ideas?
 * Shigeru Miyamoto: Are you still talking about the the first Zelda game?
 * Superplay: Yes.
 * Shigeru Miyamoto: Tanabe wasn’t part of the Zelda team until A Link to the Past. He wrote the story to that and Links Awakening.
 * Superplay: So it wasn’t him that wrote the original manuscript?
 * Shigeru Miyamoto: No, no… All ideas for The legend of Zelda were mine and Takashi Tezukas.
 * Superplay: Okay, so what influenced you then?
 * Shigeru Miyamoto: Books, movies and our own lives. Legend of Zelda was based on my childhood.


 * What it sounds like to me is that the LOTR thing was just confusion on the interviewer's part. They heard (although, we don't know from where) that Tanabe was fond of LOTR, and asks if that inspired Zelda in any way. Miyamoto then corrects him and clarifies that Tanabe wasn't involved with Zelda 1 and 2 at all, and that all ideas for those games came from him and Tezuka. It doesn't sound like he's saying that LOTR inspired Zelda in any way. Let's hold off on any LOTR-related edits until we've got a more concrete source. :) - Ish Siliconera


 * He corrects that it was him and Tezuka with book inspirations rather than Tanabe, in response to "Tolkien’s books". But that's okay. I respect your standards set since you put this book together. I wish we could agree that Nintendo of Europe's statements on development count as a primary source, since that source states it specifically. It's okay if we disagree, keep up the good work on your book and thanks for the talk! SuperMarioSuperShow (talk) 16:07, 29 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for being so understanding!
 * It's honestly just that misinformation is so easy to spread (even with the best of intentions) these days, and the development history page itself went through a number of iterations before it was even ready to be published. We try to ensure we only use rock-solid sources for that reason. It's basically meant to be the one source on the net where you can read about Zelda's past without having to question the context/accuracy of any of the information.
 * And thank you so much for the kind words! I really, really appreciate it. And thanks for being so willing to talk! :) Ishaan (talk) 02:49, 30 November 2022 (UTC)