Exploring the Narrative Implications of Emerging Topics in The Legend of Zelda

Abstract

The musical palette and gameplay format of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is significantly different from earlier games in the Legend of Zelda series. The unique narrative organization of this game interacts with the different musical style to suggest a new mode of storytelling within the franchise. This article examines the narrative structure of Breath of the Wild, then groups various contrasting musical elements into emerging topics that are key elements within the game’s narrative structure. In particular, the mechanistic topic is tied to ancient technology, while a contrasting nature topic denotes the living creatures of the gameworld. These topical cues give players important information about their in-game surroundings by linking locations, characters, and events through a completely player-driven narrative discourse.