ABSTRACT
Ocarina of Time awakens the player’s imagination to Link’s version of the hero’s journey by communicating concepts of power, wisdom, and courage through fairy tale worldbuilding, so that the player can experience transformational play when performing the hero’s journey of the avatar. Link undergoes transformational education in mastering the unified virtues of the Triforce; wisdom, courage, and power becomes the implicit, transcendent value Link must learn, and so the player must learn those values through him. To this end, the transformational power of fantasy generates context, provided particularly through Navi, compelling players to invest in Link’s identity. The core elements of the hero’s journey identified by Campbell, departure, initiation, and return, manifest in the initial sequence of the game to incorporate the player into Link’s transformational development of intentionality as a courageous, wise, and powerful hero of Faёrie.
