Why The Great Fairy in Ocarina of Time has a distinctive look
To say the least, The Great Fairy in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time looks anything but subdued. She comes shooting out of the fountain, with a loud laugh, and with some… interesting attire.
The Great Fairy’s look was certainly intentional. According to Yoshiki Haruhana, a character designer on the original game, revealed in the latest Iwata Asks that he was trying to draw a unique fairy so that she wouldn’t be boring.
Aonuma: The Great Fairy is one character you never forget.
Iwata: The Great Fairy is extremely flamboyant!
Aonuma: The first time I saw her, rather than smile, I drew back! (laughs)
Everyone: (laughs)
Aonuma: She comes out with a laugh, so I thought she might show up in my dreams. (laughs) No one but Haruhana-san could draw a character like that!
Haruhana: Thanks. (laughs)
Aonuma: And it’s not like someone asked you up front to create an extremely garish fairy, right?
Haruhana: Right. If I drew a typical fairy, it would be boring. Like what I said earlier about figure, I think it’s important to have a gap between what you do and what everyone expects. So at the very least, I wanted to take a half-step in another direction.
Morita: That’s a half-step?! (laughs)
Haruhana: Huh? Oh, that’s about three, no, maybe four steps! (laughs)
Everyone: (laughs)
