Thanks to the generous votes and reviews for the daily third!
This is a modern day take on the Legend of Zelda. You can read up on the story in the movie but here are some FAQ's that should clear things up.
1) Why is Link wearing a white suit instead of a green tunic?
A quick LoZ history for the noobs out there:
The original Legend of Zelda, for the NES, featured a Master Quest. Once you beat the game you could play an alternate version of the game with different layouts, harder enemies, etc. Link wore a white tunic during this quest, hence the color of Link's clothing in this animation. Being a modern day setting for this story, Link does not wear a tunic, he wears a suit - a white suit.
2) Why doesn't Link have blonde hair?
Here's a little bit of in-game Link hair color history, once again, for the noobs.
1986 - The Legend of Zelda - Brown Hair
1989 - The Adventure of Link - Brown Hair
1991 - A Link to the Past - Pink Hair
1993 - Link's Awakening - ???
As you can see, Link's hair color was anything but consistent throughout the initial run of games.
Also, in the Legend of Zelda cartoon which aired in 1989 , Link, once again, had brown hair.
In addition to these things, this is not the same Link as from Ocarina of Time, nor the Link portrayed in The Windwaker. He is a descendant of those Links, many years after the events from those games, in a civilization much like ours.
3) Who is Link fighting? That's not Ganon!
You're right. Just as Link, this is a descendant of Ganon. Sometime between Windwaker (the last of the published games, chronologically) and this story, Link managed to defeat Ganon, for real though. However, Ganon, with all his power (although short lived in most games) was bound to find some hottie and knock her up - hence, a lineage. In addition, this "Ganon" wears a trench coat, as many bad-ass villains and heroes have because, once again, this is not the ancient times.
4) Why didn't you use Zelda music? Why did you use Final Fantasy music?
No personal disrespect to Koji Kondo, but Nobuo Uematsu is perhaps the greatest composer for video games, both classic and modern. When I chose this song, I had never played a Final Fantasy game and did not even realize the significance of this song in terms of a hero/villain battle. Nor did I know what the chorus was chanting (Sephiroth!). I simply liked the feel and thought it worked for the fight, despite its relevance to an entirely different series. Looking back, I would probably choose different music or, having learned various music composition programs since submission, perhaps I would have composed my own track. At the time, I could not find a Zelda related track which I felt conveyed the feel of the fight I wanted to animate. It sure would be convenient if I could have found a version of One Winged Angel without a choir and got my own to chant "Gan-non-dorf!"
5) Are the Triforce pieces in the wrong place on the menu?
Yes. I oriented them for navigational convenience and relevance, not accuracy. In the movie, however, the pieces appear on their hands as they should.
6) Why are they flying!?
Symbolism, beyotch. If Ganon, in previous games, can gain enough power to fly around the room and throw balls of raw, evil energy at Link, I think this incarnation of the dark prince should be able to do the same. Plus, if he has the power to fly, Link should be able to muster enough courage to give it a go. And, as you can see in this particular fight scene, he was not very good at it.
If you read this description (or explanation, as it were), I appreciate you taking the time to do so.
