I love the game deeply, while still ultimately feeling like my pre release "it kinda sucks I can see Aunoma's 2016 quotes about there needing to be a "girl game" reason before she would be the hero reflected in the reluctance to give her a weapon without Links help" opinion piece was on point.

Like, I still love the game, but there's literally no reason justification given why she couldn't have just been "glowing Zelda" rather than Link in those moments. It's hard not to see it as "sword swinging is boys only".