The Legend of Zelda
series is one of the most popular and recognizable examples in videogames of what Tolkien referred to as
mythopoeia
, or myth-making. In his essay
On Fairy Stories
and a short poem entitled
Mythopoeia
, Tolkien makes the case that the fairy tale aesthetic is simply a more intimate version of the same principle underlying the great myths: the human desire to make meaning out of the world. By using mythopoeia as a touchstone concept, the essays in this volume explore how
series turns the avatar, through which the player interacts with the in-game world, into a player-character symbiote wherein the individual both
enacts
and
observes
the process of integrating worldbuilding with storytelling. Twelve essays explore
Zelda
’s mythmaking from the standpoints of literary criticism, videogame theory, musicology, ecocriticism, pedagogy, and more.