Zelda: Inspired by Sleeping Beauty?

[kirbychu]

So I watched Disney's Sleeping Beauty this morning, and noticed a lot of parallels between it and Zelda. Some of the more interesting ones:

There's a lot of green fire seen around the enemies in both.
Maleficent's henchmen look almost identical to early Moblins.
During the final scenes of the movie the Prince has a sheld with the same design as NES Link's.
Also during a lot of those scenes, the fairies are drawn as little glowing orbs, just like OoT fairies.
And... y'know... sleeping Zelda.

Interesting coincidence, or influence on Zelda's art? YOU DECIDE.

OR ELSE.

[parrothead]

Link is pretty much a cross between Peter Pan and Robin Hood, while the Zelda series was influenced by the Ultima series, Tower of Druaga and the Hydlide series.

[The Qu]

Link is based on Robin Hood. I always thought that was clear. Little Peter Pan involved at first. But with the Kokiri, I guess the pendulum swung the other way

I think its completely possible that the series was heavily based on Sleeping Beauty- you bring up some damn good points. Especially on the Henchmen.

[Shrikeswind]

Though his mythos is clearly not as Robin Hood, of course. Find that important to point out.

Also important: This would be Disney's Sleeping Beauty, naturally. It goes without saying but I say it for purposes of total clarity.

[The Qu]

Yeah, I meant his clothes. Particularly, the depiction in an early 20th century artist N. C. Wyeth's depiction of Robin Hood.

[parrothead]

Peter Pan and Link not only dress similar, but they are also both elves and they both have fairies.

[The Qu]

IIRC, Peter Pan wasn't an elf, but that is neither here nor there. I never put two and two together with both having fairies- maybe you are right on this one, Parrot.

[Shrikeswind]

Peter Pan WAS an elf in a sense. He was a human, truly, but his entire story was remarkably Elvish. Not Tolkienian Elvish, either, but the medieval concept of Elvishness.

[Fryguy64]

Which kinda works, as there's never been anything particularly Elvish about the Hylians apart from their pointy ears. They're basically just the humans of their world.

[Manspeed]

I dunno, I always just sort of thought the Zelda universe was a mish-mash of various fantasy elements given their own unique spin (the names of all the different creatures especially).

[wanderingshadow]

Jul 26, 2010 3:31:35 GMT -5 Fryguy64 said:

Which kinda works, as there's never been anything particularly Elvish about the Hylians apart from their pointy ears. They're basically just the humans of their world.

Yeah, but both the Kokiri and Lost Boys are groups of children that stay young forever.

[Shrikeswind]

Now that's an interesting thing to point out, even though it doesn't actually negate Fry's point. Though Link's not being Kokiri does complicate matters on Peter Pan, since Peter Pan could be called a Lost Boy just as much as any of the rest of 'em, albeit only when you try to define a Lost Boy, as there's no way to make an exception for Peter Pan when you define it, since he fits literally any description of a Lost Boy you could throw at him.

All this talk about Peter Pan reminds me of this.

[Fryguy64]

Of course there are parallels with Peter Pan, but it doesn't mean the Legend of Hyrule has to follow it word for word. Link is protected by the Kokiri Woods and the Deku Tree, remaining young so long as the Deku Tree remains alive... so in that regards he remains young, like Peter Pan, until he leaves his "Neverland".

The only difference with the other Kokiri is that they cant leave, unlike the Lost Boys. That's not a problem... it's just an alteration to the story to fit the Legend of Hyrule.

And then there are the parallels between Majora's Mask and Alice in Wonderland. I wonder if Tingle is supposed to be the Mad Hatter! ;D