Legend of Zelda producer shoots down gay character rumours
One of the producers of the Legend of Zelda series has shot down rumours about a character once named the gayest character in video games.
Map seller Tingle is a recurring character in the iconic video game series, appearing in eight Zelda titles since he debuted in ‘The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’ 15 years ago.
As Tingle is a 35 year old man who dresses up as a fairy – his design has led people to speculate about his sexuality over the years – with GayGamer previously naming him the gayest character in video games.
However, in an interview with Kotaku, series producer Eiji Aonuma shot down speculation about the character’s sexuality.
Mr Aonuma said: “He’s not gay. He’s just an odd person.”
He explained that the character was originally conceived as a map seller and cartographer – before taking on more eccentric elements.
He said: “We realized anybody that would fly through the air making a map has got to be a really weird person.
“So at that point we decided, okay, we’ll go with this and make him a really weird guy.
“We had this notion that one of the ways he might be a little bit weird is that he had this notion that he never wanted to grow up. And so I think, to that extent the clothes do fit this image of him.
“And the whole thing comes together as a very Peter Pan kind of visual.
“You know, if you think about it, it’s this guy in his 30s in a green suit and is flying and never wants to grow up, it all sort of comes together around that.”
