Julia Christianson

A Long-Awaited Volume

The Legend of Zelda ^TM: Art & Artifacts, published by Dark Horse Books, is a gorgeous, visually- and tactilely-satisfying treat for any fan of the Legend of Zelda ^TM series. With over 2000 delicious illustrations spanning 427 pages, Dark Horse has outdone themselves in the printing quality of this volume.

Incredible Art and Satisfying Detail

This massive book is in full color, and contains an incredible variety of art and illustrations spanning 31 years of the franchise. Large and weighty with a gold-embossed cover, outside and in, this book satisfies. When one touches the inner pages, one can feel where the ink begins and ends, with different textures to different parts of the image. Images taken from game booklets for various games (Ocarina of Time, for example) are blown up larger for greater appreciation of the line and color.

Ardent fans and art enthusiasts alike will appreciate the levels of attention and detail provided on each page. The incredible variety of art includes concept art, game manual art, in-game art including pixel sprites and unused designs, with thousands of images in the book. A spiritual successor to Hyrule Historia, it manages to be almost entirely different.

Reference and Concept Art

Art & Artifacts is a fantastic reference for anyone who wants to make costumes, arts, and crafts based on The Legend of Zelda ^TM universe. The book is easy to open anywhere and browse, or one can read through it in its entirety to get an overview of the entire history of the series. It’s clear that the art seen throughout the timeline of this series’ history and included in this volume shaped the feel of the games overall. For several illustrations artists were asked to create pieces without the game being finalized yet, blending their own creativity with elements that were fixed. This method creates a fluid and exciting hook to capture one’s imagination while offering the potential for the game to grow and change in unexpected ways.

For readers who not only enjoy art but are curious about the history of The Legend of Zelda ^TM series, there’s a gem at the end that isn’t art at all—an interview with four influential creators who designed both the overall feel of and made the specific art for the games. These four men are Yusuke Nakano, Yoshiki Haruhana, Satoru Takizawa, and Takumi Wada.

A Strange Omission

There are few things to criticize about this work, which is exceedingly detailed and well-designed. An observation is that the fan-acknowledged “terrible” Zelda games that do not fit in canon (the Philips CD-i games) are absent. However, these games wouldn’t belong here anyway, since this is a celebration of the best and most iconic of The Legend of Zelda ^TM art and stories. The only real disappointment was when the sole woman whose work was mentioned in the interview wasn’t named:

Interviewer: “So in the opening of Phantom Hourglass there is a picture play [page 86]. Who worked on that?”
Nakano: “A woman on my staff did it.”

This is stilted information compared to the direct attributions and clear crediting of other artists who were known to be involved in the art of Zelda! Hopefully in future editions the editor will see fit to add a footnote giving credit to this talented artist whose work prompted two questions from the interviewer.

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Legend of Zelda ^TM: Art & Artifacts is a wonderful addition to any library. If you have enjoyed one game or all, are new to the series with Breath of the Wild, or are a diehard fan since the first game came out on the NES, you will enjoy this gorgeous journey through The Legend of Zelda^TM‘s history and feel joyful anticipation for games yet to come.