The Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake Will Finally Fix Its 'Real Villain', Or So Gamers Hope

There are plenty of video games where someone is unfairly branded a villain when the 'real' one is hiding in plain sight. The Arkham Knight was little more than Scarecrow's pawn; you spend Metal Gear Solid V wrongly hunting Skull Face, and "would you kindly" remember that Andrew Ryan plays second fiddle to Frank Fontaine. Finally, while a lovestruck Bowser comes across as the bad guy in Super Mario 64, we all know Ukki the monkey is the game's actual biggest b*stard out there.

Similarly, there are plenty of video game characters out there who are dubbed annoying when they're actually not as bad as people claim they are.

Resident Evil 4's Ashley Graham, Borderlands' Claptrap, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Navi all sometimes get a bad reputation, but to quote Jessica Rabbit: "I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way."

Navi Isn't Ocarina of Time's Real Villain

In 1998's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Navi serves as a fluttering guide to make our journey across Hyrule a little less lonely.

The problem with Navi is that she would simply shout, "Hey, listen!" and interrupt the otherwise stellar action with no real input.

Navi might’ve been there to offer prompts when players were stuck, but as Ocarina isn't exactly a short game, her limited lexicon of voice lines wore thin long before the 1,000th time of spouting them.

Ocarina of Time has aged remarkably well over the decades, so there's a reason many hold it as one of the best video games of all time. There's much debate about how we can 'fix' Navi in the upcoming remake over on X, but in one post from sci-fi author Michael F. Kane, he says she's been unfairly villainised. Back in November 2023, we covered how Ocarina of Time's owl (Kaepora Gaebora) was named as the most unintentionally annoying video game character of all time.

We can feel our rage bubbling thanks to Kane's reminder, because let's be honest, when was the answer ever 'no' when he asked if we'd got all that?

Others in the replies agreed that Nintendo has to do something with Kaepora Gaebora, and while we're not supporting violence against animals, we'd be quite happy if he flew away and never returned.

Cutting Navi some slack, one person wrote: "Man, f**k that owl. I can still hear his musical tone in my head and feel the frustration of listening to him 800 times in a row."

Another added: "I was just thinking about Kaepora Garbora 😭 I hate him."

A third agreed: "When you get a kid, you will understand Navi."

As we saw with what Capcom did to Ashley Graham in the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4, it's perfectly easy to make an 'annoying' character into something much better. Now, it could be Navi’s turn.

Fixing Navi In The Ocarina of Time Remake

There are already reports that the Ocarina remake is giving the Hylian Shield a makeover, while the graphics clearly tease more than just a reskin, as we got on the 3DS. With this, some have called for Navi to be the first port of call in terms of changes, possibly even giving her fully voiced lines from Japanese voice actress Kaori Mizuhashi.

If not giving Navi full voice lines, we simply need fewer interruptions, or to tone down her "Hey, listen!" It's true that we technically don't need her in an Ocarina of Time remake, but it would feel wrong to completely toss her out like Conker from Diddy Kong Racing DS.

Removing Navi's constant nudging until we pay attention would be an easy thing to change, and frankly, the remake is a great opportunity to expand her backstory. The unfair hate against Navi was so severe that we don't get to see her past a throwaway mention in Majora's Mask, meaning there's a real chance to redeem her arc. You also have to ask, if the developers cut Kaepora Gaebora, would anyone really be that mad?

As a final suggestion, if you're going to give anyone an overhaul in the Ocarina of Time remake, we'd probably start with Princess Ruto.

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