I swear just... it's really, really bothering me. I feel like the Fairies' relationship with Link and the way it's depicted really crosses a line into sexual harassment/assault, and I feel like, if anything, it's been included for a humorous effect: you can watch it again, and again, and again, and it's not used for any storytelling purpose (e.g. to explore some of the real-world issues relating to sexual violence).
I mean, the Fairies' affection is clearly not reciprocated. At first, with blowing a kiss etc. it seems harmless, a bit of a laugh. It slowly gets more and more overt, according to the magnitude of the task at hand.
You want your armour upgraded one level? Blow you a kiss, harmless enough. He's clearly uncomfortable, but the silent hero is still silent and had dealt with literal monsters, he can put up with this, right? Increase two levels? It's a bit more overt, but whatever, just upgrade the armour and he'll be on his way. Three? It's more than a bit predatory when she plants a (literal) giant kiss and he's holding up his hands to protect himself from her. Four? Hell, it's straight sexual assault played off for laughs. She grabs him and takes him down into the depths of the fountain, and the screen cuts to black, accompanied by Link's yell. When you see him next, he's been returned to the steps of the fountain. He's lying there, apparently too exhausted to stand.
My first reaction was to laugh, because it was so unexpected, and I didn't know how to react. My second reaction was to laugh, because I laugh when I'm fucking uncomfortable and can't articulate why. My third reaction was to skip every damn cutscene because fuck watching that, over and over again.
The problem is, this is played for laughs. Link, the legendary hero, has to put up with advances from four powerful women in order to do his damn job. How hilarious. I mean, it really seems a lot less funny if you reverse the gender.