(I have no idea is this has been done before, but if it has, sorry for taking up space)
A common criticism I see of the relationships between Mario&Peach and Link&Zelda is that the princess owes him some sexual reward for their rescue, and that she's a cock-tease or a ***** for not giving some sort of sexual reward to the heroes for constantly rescuing them.
Now if they are joking, I can understand that and ignore it or laugh along with it. The Zelda sketch in Robot Chicken played it for laughs and I was ok with that.
If someone is being completely serious about the matter, then frankly I don't agree with it. Rescuing anyone should not be tied with a sexual or marriage reward. A character can hope or wish for sex or marriage all they want, but if the captive has any choice in who they get to enter a relationship with, then they have no right or entitlement to demand it from them. The captive may not be attracted to them, or have any feelings for them at all. Some may argue, "but they risked their lives for them, doesn't that earn them something?" I still don't think that's ok. No amount of blood a person has shed (either from yourself or others), or great battles they've won, or kingdoms they have toppled, allows them be entitled to bind a person who does not want them into marriage for their entire life, or use their body for sexual pleasure.
If I had to put up a example here, I would use the video where Lois from Family Guy encounters a merman. If anyone can find it, help me out here if you wish.
If you're going for a more realistic approach, then I can see how that would work. In works directed at general audiences, especially the Mario and Zelda series, sexual themes are not appropriate. If you're going for marriage, then I guess it depends on whether or not the characters love each other. If they care for each other, it does not automatically mean that they love each other. They could be best friends, or allies even. It all depends, however, on what's cannon or what people ship. Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of you cringe at the thought of shipping, but as long they're not causing any trouble, I honestly don't give a care.
If these couples do indeed love each other, then I don't understand why they haven't entered an official relationship of sorts (they could be a couple or get married right I away, I don't care honestly). If Nintendo or anyone else can give me a logical reason why not (i.e. they don't actually love each other, the kingdom's in too much turmoil constantly, they don't want a relationship), I can understand that.
The problem with finding this out is that relationships are not really an important part of the franchise. Their selling point is adventure, defeating the bad guys and bosses, gameplay, environments, and graphics. I personally wouldn't mind if their relationships came up as an important plot point some time, but I don't think that will happen in the main series. Off-spins and different media adaptations, maybe. Though, I doubt a lot of players pay attention to those.
A common criticism I see of the relationships between Mario&Peach and Link&Zelda is that the princess owes him some sexual reward for their rescue, and that she's a cock-tease or a ***** for not giving some sort of sexual reward to the heroes for constantly rescuing them.
Now if they are joking, I can understand that and ignore it or laugh along with it. The Zelda sketch in Robot Chicken played it for laughs and I was ok with that.
If someone is being completely serious about the matter, then frankly I don't agree with it. Rescuing anyone should not be tied with a sexual or marriage reward. A character can hope or wish for sex or marriage all they want, but if the captive has any choice in who they get to enter a relationship with, then they have no right or entitlement to demand it from them. The captive may not be attracted to them, or have any feelings for them at all. Some may argue, "but they risked their lives for them, doesn't that earn them something?" I still don't think that's ok. No amount of blood a person has shed (either from yourself or others), or great battles they've won, or kingdoms they have toppled, allows them be entitled to bind a person who does not want them into marriage for their entire life, or use their body for sexual pleasure.
If I had to put up a example here, I would use the video where Lois from Family Guy encounters a merman. If anyone can find it, help me out here if you wish.
If you're going for a more realistic approach, then I can see how that would work. In works directed at general audiences, especially the Mario and Zelda series, sexual themes are not appropriate. If you're going for marriage, then I guess it depends on whether or not the characters love each other. If they care for each other, it does not automatically mean that they love each other. They could be best friends, or allies even. It all depends, however, on what's cannon or what people ship. Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of you cringe at the thought of shipping, but as long they're not causing any trouble, I honestly don't give a care.
If these couples do indeed love each other, then I don't understand why they haven't entered an official relationship of sorts (they could be a couple or get married right I away, I don't care honestly). If Nintendo or anyone else can give me a logical reason why not (i.e. they don't actually love each other, the kingdom's in too much turmoil constantly, they don't want a relationship), I can understand that.
The problem with finding this out is that relationships are not really an important part of the franchise. Their selling point is adventure, defeating the bad guys and bosses, gameplay, environments, and graphics. I personally wouldn't mind if their relationships came up as an important plot point some time, but I don't think that will happen in the main series. Off-spins and different media adaptations, maybe. Though, I doubt a lot of players pay attention to those.
