Legend of Zelda On Playable Female Characters in the Zelda Series

[GM_3826]

The argument. It started on the Impa thread, page 32. People were discussing the open possibility of female playable characters, and someone suggested that Impa should be the one. It never devolved into a flame war, but it was really off-topic, so it got moved here. Here is where we left off:

I'd like to take it to a Zelda thread. Hell, we could even make a thread ourselves about this? I do think that I get your point, but am not sure if you are getting mine. I just doubt that an optional playable character would be received well if you couldn't play as Link. Having a female character isn't that much of a deal to Zelda fans I think? Chicks love Link. And I really think having 2 playable characters, male (Link) and female (Impa?) would be a better option. Why? Link is still there, and Link is the main character of the franchise.

Also, Impa can wield a sword just easily. You have seen Hyrule Warriors. And just because it's non-canon doesn't mean it has to be outrightely ignored! I think it's quite a big deal of a game if it has Zelda fully playable and brings Ganondorf back, as well as pleasing long time fans with playable favorites as Impa and Midna. It's story won't be used for inspiration to Zelda games, but designs, moves, general ideas... Easily.

Even if that wouldn't be true. Impa has wielded a sword in the Ocarina of Time manga to.

Spoiler

Anyway, I guess we should discuss Impa more as a Smash character in this thread... How about that idea? Like it anything better?

As for your argument: I am actively understanding it. I'm arguing this mainly from the developer's point of view. To me, it feels extremely obvious that this is what they want, as they've all but stated it themselves. A Shiekah could probably wield a sword, and that's why I mentioned that a Sheikah would not be an impossibility. The problem is, it's never happened in canon, as unlike the Metroid manga, the OOT manga isn't canon either, which is one point against Impa. There's also the fact that the game ultimately needs to be accessible from all standpoints, which means that a similar, but unique Zelda character with a similar motif but a different name, literal or metaphorical and appearance would ultimately be the way to go. Zelda and Impa are too dissimilar compared to Link.
As for Link being playable: I don't think Tie being playable as an option if you don't wish to play as Link is that bad. In fact, it sounds just alright to me. There are quite a few girls who would love to play as muscular bishie Link:

As there would be males for an attractive female character. Even barring that, one could like Link and Tie's "personality" (Which I put in air quotes for a reason: There's not much,) more than each other, as I've seen come up with the two Tacticians.
In other words, been listening to your argument this entire time, man. And while it is valid in a lot of points, I just don't think it's what the developers would do.