Christina Grimmie Fans Want Nintendo to Name Legend of Zelda Character After Murdered Christian Singer
Fans of murdered 22-year-old Christian singer and former "The Voice" contestant Christina Grimmie, who was fatally shot in the head by a crazed fan two Fridays ago in Orlando, Florida, are now pushing for Nintendo to name a character in the upcoming fantasy game Legend of Zelda in her honor.
Two change.org petitions collectively amassing nearly 80,000 signatures are asking the world's largest video game company by revenue to honor the late singer with a character in the upcoming edition of the series in 2017 because she loved the game.
"No mere words will be able to properly define the loss today with the passing of Christina Grimmie. She was an amazing singer, songwriter, daughter, sister and friend. She was impossibly bright, loving and talented and will continue to inspire us all," began one petition started by Ian Tan in Chicago, Illinois, with nearly 60,000 signatures.
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"An open secret however, was her deep love for video-games. Especially Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series. Memorialized from the start in her chosen YouTube username 'ZeldaxLove64.'"
"She was a large fan of all of Nintendo franchises. EarthBound, Mario, Pokemon, Super Smash Brothers and more," Tan continued.
"There is an upcoming Legend of Zelda game poised for release in 2017. I want to propose the possibility of naming a character after Christina Grimmie when the English version is released," Tan suggested in the petition.
The second petition with nearly 18,000 signatures, started by Derrick Hammersley, claims that Grimmie said she wanted to come back as an elf if she died.
"Christina tweeted a while ago that if she died she would like to come back as an elf. We want to help make her wish come true and Nintendo can help us do that. Anyone who followed her knows how much she loved the Zelda games. It would be an amazing tribute to see her as an elf in a new Zelda game. Plus Grimmie would be a fantastic elf name," Hammersley wrote.
When ur in the car n Zelda music comes on shuffle n yu want to sprint out the car n play but yu can't bc no 3ds pic.twitter.com/w59UPOBoWB
— Christina Grimmie (@TheRealGrimmie) June 13, 2015
The singer's brother, Marcus Grimmie, also expressed support for the idea in a Facebook post just two days after her death.
"My sister deserves this," he wrote. "Biggest Zelda fan of all time."
Responding to the petitions, however, Nintendo noted in a statement cited by TIME that the company would not be making any decisions at this time.
"We are aware of the outpouring of support for her, as well as the petition, but we won't be making any creative or content decisions in this time of mourning," the company said.
New shoes, same girl. (I'll never stop loving yu, Zelda!) pic.twitter.com/sSTpn4nkam
— Christina Grimmie (@TheRealGrimmie) August 16, 2014
The beloved singer was shot by obsessed fan Kevin James Loibl, 27, on June 10 as she met with fans after a concert at the Plaza Live in Orlando. Loibl later killed himself after he was tackled by Christina's brother.
While police are still looking for a motive as to why Loibl shot Grimmie, a number of the gunman's former colleagues at Best Buy told TMZ that he was so infatuated with the singer, he got hair transplants, Lasik eye surgery and even became a vegan to lose weight to improve his odds of starting a relationship with the singer.
He vowed he would even one day make her his wife but grew angry after he discovered she had a boyfriend.
#MyMomAlwaysSaysIn4Words stop talking about Zelda
— Christina Grimmie (@TheRealGrimmie) March 20, 2015
