If Stokes of OverthinkingIt is to be believed, the Legend of Zelda series is a celebration of European colonialism, depicting "exploration, mapping, and domination of the other’s territory" and "exploitation and consumption of the other’s strategic reserves of Triforce. ... All that’s missing is some way to process the Triforce into opium and sell it back to the Oktoroks at a markup."
I'm left wondering whether the writer has actually played the Zelda games -- by which I mean the original-style games which he's describing, The Legend of Zelda through Link's Awakening -- and if so, whether he got to the end of them. You will control-F in vain for a certain proper noun in the above article.
In The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, Ganon and his minions are Middle Eastern-flavored invaders who have overwhelmed an isolated Western-style kingdom. This is much more visible in A Link to the Past (Japanese title Triforce of the Gods, which gets into a different but related story), which is the most developed version of the original Zelda narrative. Ganon's backstory in this is the following, reprinted from the manual here:
One day, quite by accident, a gate to the Golden Land of the Triforce was opened by a gang of thieves skilled in the black arts. This land was like no other. In the gathering twilight, the Triforce shone from its resting place high above the world. In a long running battle, the leader of the thieves fought his way past his followers in a lust for the Golden Power. After vanquishing his own followers, the leader stood triumphant over the Triforce and grasped it with his blood- stained hands. He heard a whispered voice: "If thou has a strong desire or dream, wish for it..." And in reply, the roaring laughter of the brigand leader echoed across time and space and even reached the far-off land of Hyrule. The name of this king of thieves is Ganondorf Dragmire, but he is known by his alias, Mandrag Ganon, which means Ganon of the Enchanted Thieves.
Just in case this wasn't clear enough, in his initial appearance in Hyrule, he shows up dressed like this. Turban, long open robe, big sleeves, upturned Turkish shoes... Even the single-eye motif that Agathnim uses is a very close copy of the Hand of Fatima.
So, has someone who might have dressed like this ever come at the head of a conquoring army into the Western world? Not just that: the Western world has been seriously attacked by somebody who frequented the same tailor. In Suleiman the Magnificent's reign, the Ottomans conquored Hungary and almost took Vienna; note that Hungary is a traditional setting for fantasy about Europe, with Disney's adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty" being another example.
Alas, King Louis II didn't have enough Heart Containers.
