The last couple of Legend of Zelda titles have been big milestones for the franchise as a whole. For example, Breath of the Wild was the first truly open-world Zelda title. What’s more, the game had true voice acting for the first time ever, which excited many fans. The voice of Zelda was played by Patricia Summersett, who got to deliver a more “down-to-earth” and intelligent Zelda than previous versions where she was more regal and soft-spoken. Then, she got to come back voice Zelda even more for Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity (read our review here!).
While many agree that her take was good, there were some who didn’t like her decidedly British-sounding take on Zelda and certain other elements of her portrayal. Speaking with The Champions Cast on Zelda’s Dungeon, Summersett talked about the struggles of the criticism and overcoming them and why her Zelda talks the way she does:
“That was tougher to deal with at first, because I was very sensitive to it, and just wanted everybody to be as happy as possible for such a big game [Breath of the Wild]. You really have to keep that kind of stuff in perspective, or one does,” Summersett began. “You really got to be positive about that stuff. I’d say the negative people tend to be more vocal online, just by default – that’s the nature of the algorithms of the net, and it does take some getting used to. One has to build a thick skin, I think, with something like this. I’d definitely say my skin has gotten a lot thicker over the last years, since taking on this particular role, just because it’s required more thick skin than some of the other kinds of failures or critiques I’ve had in the past.”
“There’s something in that to channel as well, because that’s how Zelda feels, and she’s doing great, but she feels that way eternally, and that’s her plate. It’s very relatable in that way, I think,” she continued. “Anybody who’s taking risks and trying to work very hard at anything, you come across that. I do love that about her character in general, the fact that they dig into that part of the storyline for her: what it means for her to feel like a failure, but keep pushing forward and striving for something bigger, and for the benefit of all. One can use that as inspiration as one uses heroes as inspiration.”
Her Zelda was indeed something special, and ironically, Age of Calamity brought that character out in even more depths. With Breath of the Wild 2 also in the making you can expect to hear more from Patricia Summersett and we personally can’t wait.
