Similarities between Princess Mononoke and The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.
Discussing the possible influence of Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke on The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.
I believe that Eiji Aonuma (producer on the Legend of Zelda series) and the rest of the Legend of Zelda production team were inspired by the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, during the production of their 2017 Game of Year winning title, Breath of the Wild. I believe that amongst his works, Princess Mononoke seemed to be the most influential and inspiring, as in my view, Breath of Wild holds many thematic and visual similarities to this 1997 anime masterpiece.
One does not need to look further for these similarities than the reveal trailer for Breath of the Wild released during Nintendo’s E3 Digital Event in 2014. The trailer sees Link being chased by what we would later recognize as a Guardian, an ancient machine created by the Sheikah to battle the Calamity Ganon. It is quite similar to the opening set piece of Princess Mononoke, which sees Ashitaka being chased and fighting against the boar God Nago, who powered by his rage and fear of death, was corrupted into a Demon God. Both Link and Ashitaka are on their trusty steeds equipped with their bow and arrows and being surrounded by green nature, whilst their pursuers share similar traits of being large, menacing, overpowering, aggressive and out of control.
There are other similarities which I will now discuss. In Breath of the Wild, Hyrule is covered with the presence of Koroks, who are small wooden people or spirits that are looked after by the Great Deku Tree. Despite Breath of the Wild not being their first in-game appearance in the series, it, at least in my mind, is their most prominent one and reminds me of the Kodamas from Princess Mononoke. Kodama’s are spirits in Japanese folklore who inhabit trees. Whilst it makes sense for the Breath of the Wild development team to take inspiration from Japanese folklore, as any Japanese creative might, in my mind their aesthetic similarities to the Kodamas from Princess Mononoke, which in my opinion, offers us the most popular portrayal of a Kodama in modern media and entertainment, alongside the other similarities between Breath of the Wild and Princess Mononoke, signify that perhaps the team were inspired by the movie’s portrayal of the Kodamas in their creation of the Koroks for The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker and that this portrayal also influenced how they were used in Breath of the Wild.
In Breath of Wild, there is a touching tribute to the late Satoru Iwata, a Japanese game designer, game producer, game programmer and businessman who served as the fourth president and chief executive officer of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015. In Breath of the Wild, there is a location called Satori Mountain, where at specific times, players can spot a blue spirit horse named Satori or The Lord of the Mountain. In my mind, The Lord of the Mountain reminds me of Princess Mononoke’s Forest Spirit. During the day, The Forest Spirit looks like a deer with a human-like face, while at night time, it can transform into a giant translucent humanoid known as the Night-Walker. Despite their clear visual differences, I can’t help but relate these two spiritual beings with one another. Perhaps this is due to the similarities that still exists between them, such their striking eyes, calmness, luminosity, beauty and ethereal nature, as well as the similar feelings they instill within me.
Another point of similarity between Princess Mononoke and Breath of the Wild, is the visual representation of Ganon’s malice, a blight that consists of black and purple substance that can trap whoever steps upon it. It is a result of Calamity Ganon’s rampage across Hyrule and can be found in and around Hyrule Castle, the four Divine Beasts and other parts of Hyrule. The Malice is visually similar to the substance that covers both the Demon God Nago, that Ashitaka fights in the beginning of Princess Mononoke, and the blind boar God Okkoto as he is transformed into a demon.
Aside from these visual similarities that also seem to continue in Breath of the Wild’s sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, in aspects such as Link’s new arm, that bears a striking resemblance to Ashitaka’s cursed arm in Princess Mononoke, there are also aesthetic and thematic similarities between both projects. The art style of this iteration of the Legend of Zelda series is more like Studio Ghibli’s work than ever before. Both Breath of the Wild and Princess Mononoke also deal with the themes of man vs nature and technology versus man, in how our over reliance on technology can often come back to bite us and negatively impact our welfare.
Despite all of this, it is unclear if any of these similarities are examples of Princess Mononoke directly influencing Breath of the Wild or not. Despite this, I still enjoy the fact that these two works of art that I love resemble each other in such interesting ways. A major aspect of any piece of art is inspiration, and I love seeing or imagining what work of art that I love inspired another work of art that I also equally adore.