Video game history is full of great quotes, from emotionally compelling pearls of wisdom to memorably sardonic quips. There are plenty that could be contenders for the best of all time, from Portal 2‘s “The cake is a lie” (no matter how much popular culture beat its genuine brilliance to death in trite repetition) to Halo 2‘s “Sir, finishing this fight.” At the end of the day, though, it’s hard not to look to The Legend of Zelda.
While Nintendo’s flagship Super Mario series has only occasionally focused on the story, The Legend of Zelda has always had strong writing, even in the games where the story is presented with a light touch. Long before Ocarina of Time‘s evocative exchanges or Ganondorf’s fantastic final monologue in The Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda started with an all-timer.
After 40 Years, The First Words Spoken To Link Remain Iconic
The first game in The Legend of Zelda franchise starts simply, with Link entering a cave to receive a wooden sword from an old man. Famously, the game’s first line of dialogue pops up on-screen in the cave, declaring “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”
Like the moment that surrounds it, the quote is simple, but anyone familiar with video games is well aware of how much it’s echoed across time. To some degree, its popularity simply hearkens back to a gaming monoculture, when it was easier for a single game like The Legend of Zelda to emblazon its way into a widespread cultural consciousness. It’s certainly less nuanced or insightful than some later Zelda quotes, and it’s often thought of as more of a tagline than anything. Even so, it’s absolutely earned its place in history.
At its core, the old man’s words are the perfect start to the entire Zelda franchise. While the first Zelda was a standalone adventure, the games took an unusual approach to continuing the story. Rather than providing direct narrative follow-ups or totally disconnected stories, each Zelda game loosely retells the same core elements of a long-running legend, creating a sense of reincarnated characters and ideas across the history of Hyrule.
Consequently, picking up the sword is a moment that’s echoed across the entire franchise, serving as the perfect embodiment of the start to each of Link’s recurring adventures. Hyrule is always a dangerous place, and there’s always a sense of loneliness at points of the journey, as Link often faces enemies and threats alone before reuniting with comrades or saving Zelda from Ganon’s clutches. The games are about resourcefulness, though, and Link’s equipment and allies prevent him from faltering.
Even today, the wide-open expanses of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have refused to abandon the simple power of Link picking up a wooden sword. The opening of Breath of the Wild calls back to this original moment, and throughout the games, weapon fragility places a special value on scavenging for basic swords and spears. In a market full of games that focus on power scaling, The Legend of Zelda still believes in the power of a wooden stick.
The Zelda Series Is Full Of Memorable Quotes
Of course, there’s ample room to argue that other Zelda quotes ultimately supersede the old man’s words in poignancy. Ganondorf’s “Do not betray my expectations” monologue from Wind Waker might be my personal pick, but the dialogue with the children on the moon in Majora’s Mask provides some stiff competition. Other picks might represent the franchise at its most comedically brilliant, like the bizzare “I am error” from Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, or virtually anything that comes out of Groose’s mouth in Skyward Sword.
Everything comes back to “It’s dangerous to go alone,” though, and it’s hard to imagine the franchise without those opening words. It’s even harder to imagine the landscape of gaming as a whole, as The Legend of Zelda set the template for so many adventure games to follow. Things might have shaken out more or less the same even if the old man had never opened his mouth, but if he had chosen the Stoic path, we wouldn’t have such an iconic phrase at the heart of it all.
- Released
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February 21, 1986
- ESRB
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E For Everyone Due To Mild Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo EAD
- Engine
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Havok
