It’s been far too long since someone has stood up in defense of poor helpless video game characters that cannot defend themselves against the harsh criticism and groupthink of the masses. These characters are both single individuals in the massive video game world and entire groups of similar individuals. There are the Cloud Strifes of the world who are overly ridiculed for one, not even dominant, personality trait even if the reason for that trait is well justified. Another fine example are hoards of the Living Impaired, commonly referred to as “zombies”, who are needlessly and pointlessly gunned down in front of their friends and relatives without a second thought. The Goomba community finds themselves constantly under the threat of being squashed by someone’s shoe thanks to the actions of a minority who enlisted in Bowser’s military, doomed to never escape the sins of their forefathers. Yet even all of these individuals and groups have not suffered as much, have never suffered such devastating bandwagon attacks against their very existence, as one innocent Kokiri fairy has.



I bring forth Navi the Fairy, the one character most in need of redemption in all of video games and who needs the record set straight in her behalf. Navi is stereotypically labeled as a constant nuisance who constantly berates the Hero of Time by endlessly yelling “Hey!” and “Listen!” into his ear, only to spill useless information to our hero upon compliance. Now because of modern day technology and instant communication, a terrible bandwagon effect has taken place over the years since Ocarina of Time . People blindly jump onboard the hate train and as more people hop on board this imaginary train the larger it becomes and thus more people become aware of it, creating a near irreversible cycle of hatred and unfounded distaste. Yet as people constantly hop on board, nobody thinks about the effects it has on poor Navi and how they hate on a kind little fairy that doesn’t have her own voice to defend herself with. It is time to free Navi from the shackles of stereotypes and unfounded hate. It is time to look at Navi and declare in one voice that the beliefs about her are not true.

I am SephirothX, and I confidently declare that Navi is none of these terribly annoying things.



When descriptions of Navi are drawn down to just the little bits of advice she offers up during the course of Ocarina then of course it would be easy to make the assumption that Navi exists simply to annoy. If broken down to her declarations of “Hey”, “Listen”, and “Watch out” then yes, repetition gets annoying once and a while. However how is Navi any different then The Wanderer contently yelling nothing but “Agro!” in Shadow of the Colossus? Is it any different then Solid Snake constantly following up someone else’s statement with an identical statement that’s in the form of a question (“Metal Gear?!”)? Do we bastardize those characters for what they do? Of course not, Navi a lone victim here and when you look at the full spectrum of her personality and character you too will see that what has happened to her is flat out wrong.

People will say that Navi is annoying; I will refute that and say that Navi is a kind-hearted fairy and her very first appearance in the game is a reflection of the heart she carries. At the very start of Ocarina of Time we see Navi befriend young Link and become his fairy. We are quickly given the question of why had it taken so long for Link to finally get his own fairy? It was simply because he was Hylian and one small difference made all sorts of other blatantly racist fairies turn a blind eye to Link and go after pure blooded Kokiri. Navi on the other hand came to Links side despite this minor difference proving that Navi does not care where you come from as long as you are a good soul. Link was criticized a lot by his peers for simply not having a fairy, so could you imagine the bad mouthing Navi must have gotten for choosing to become the fairy of an outsider? That alone takes a heart of gold, one that deserves mention.



Navi’s courageous attitude should also be enough to break her free of her unjust hatred. Within minutes of becoming Link’s fairy, she is tasked with following Link into the core of the Great Deku Tree in order to break a curse placed on it. If your first day on the job involved you going into the dark interior of a living tree to break a curse, what would you do? You’d probably run and go do something “normal” like the rest of the racist Kokiri fairies. Navi instead goes with you right into the belly of the beast and doesn’t even blink. In fact, did anybody hear Navi bitch when the Deku Tree told Link that a wicked man of the desert was attempting to conquer Hyrule and that only Link can stop him? I didn’t think so. Navi in fact stays along side Link through his entire quest, through thick through thin, and never cowers and hides. I don’t remember seeing Navi hide under a false alias for protection, like what Zelda did when she tried to save her own skin as Sheik. In the bleakest of situations as Ganondorf was flexing the Triforce of Power's strength against Link where were the Gorons? The Zoras? The Kokiri? I only remember seeing Navi alongside Link when the throw down against Ganondorf finally took place. Meanwhile the Sages and everybody else simply sat back and waited to do some easy mop-up work while Link got down and dirty. Were Navi’s calls to listen a little bothersome at times? Perhaps. Was some of her advice poorly timed? Maybe. But you know what, at least Navi was trying which is a lot more then anyone else in Hyrule could say. This all further baffles me as to why Navi is put alongside the likes of Jar Jar Binks.



Perhaps the hate on Navi isn’t directly because of her at all, perhaps Ocarina of Time was such a good game that somebody just had to find something wrong with Ocarina of Time in an attempt to bring it down from its high pedestal, and Navi may have become the fall-fairy. This is a much more believable theory since we are in a post-Wind Waker era for the Zelda franchise. Given that a good deal of fans support the blatantly inferior Wind Waker they tend to feel threatened by anybody who states the obvious facts about how Ocarina is a much more perfected game, thus they find the first obvious thing they can possibly rip Ocarina for despite how weak the foundation of criticism may be. This again leads to Navi becoming the unjust victim, and once the bandwagon got rolling it became impossible to stop.



Navi’s victimization is further unjust when compared to other supporting characters in the Zelda franchise. Compared to Twilight Princess’s Midna I personally find Navi a very tolerable and enjoyable character. I’d much rather be accompanied by a fairy who gives worthwhile advice instead of a smug twilight realm brat whom constantly laughs like a two year old, talks down to Link, and doesn’t even bother to walk on her own and forces Link to shoulder her along. All of Midna’s tips and dialogue are riddled with snide remarks all because she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and she only stays along with Link because she has to, not because she wants to. To top it all off, Midna ends her time in Twilight Princess by shattering the only gateway that links two fractured worlds that could benefit from each other, what a haughty bitch.

Plus, in all honesty, would any of you prefer having Tingle follow Link instead of Navi?!



Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come to lift Navi above the confinements and stereotypes we have placed against her. It is time to let her rise up and shine above the rest of her fairy kind as well as many of the inhabitants of Hyrule as a true symbol of loyalty, companionship, and courage. End the injustice! Give praise to the worthy!