Link

Template:Character box Link is the main character in The Legend of Zelda Series which was first debuted in 1986 with the launch of The Legend of Zelda. Ever since then, Link has appeared in every game in the series, and has earned a reputation as one of the most recognizable characters among gamers, and has graced the top spot in Nintendo Power's top 5 characters.

However Link is also known as the Hero of Time or the Hero of Winds. Link's main goal is often times to save the Princess Zelda and defeat the evil Ganondorf.

Character

The character's personality and attributes don't change much between the games. His look is overall similar, though minor differences are visible. In all of the games Link is a teenager of varying ages. All of the incarnations of Link are left handed, excluding the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Nevertheless, this game was a mirror of the GameCube version in which he was left handed - this was done to suit right handed people (as they would hold the Wii Remote in that hand) of which there is a majority. It should be noted that almost every game has a different Link (with exceptions such as Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask)

Another common attribute with Link and many other video game characters is the fact that he never speaks. He isn't mute, though rather the developers wish for the players to determine what he says. All Links cloth themselves in a green tunic, though the appearance of this particular tunic changes with each new game. It should also be noted that Link is most often distinguished with the Triforce of Courage, while Ganondorf wields the Triforce of Power and Zelda the Triforce of Wisdom.

In each video game Link is a Hylian. In Ocarina of Time, Link assumes that he's in fact a Kokiri, not knowing of his Hylian ancestry, which a young Deku Tree informs him of later in the game.

A common feature found in most video games is the concept of hammerspace - having a nearly endless pocket in which he carries all of his items in. For example, during most of the game all you see is Link's sword and shield, though somehow he is also holding hammers, iron boots, bows and arrows, a grappling hook, multiple different swords and tunics without it even stunting his movement. Notably, the Iron Boots, when on, will cause Link to walk very slowly - however, even though he's carrying it throughout the game it causes no effect whatsoever unless they're on.

History

Link has been through many adventures in his homeland, Hyrule, although several of his games have taken place in other lands such as Labrynna, Holodrum and Termina. Unlike Mario, whose games can usually go in any order chronologically, there are multiple incarnations of Link who are said to rise up when a great evil threatens Hyrule, such as Ganon or Vaati.

The Legend of Zelda

In The Legend of Zelda, Link was chosen by an Old Man to save Hyrule. The Old Man gave him a sword, and Link went off. In this game, Hyrule is largely desolate, with all the citizens going underground to protect themselves from freely roaming monsters. The final enemy, Ganon, is clearly in control of the land. Link finds the 8 pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom in 8 dungeons, then ventures to Ganon's dungeon for a final confrontation in order to save Princess Zelda.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

In Adventure of Link, the same Link as before finds out from Impa that he has in possession the Triforce of Courage. Zelda has been put to sleep by her brother and a magician. Link must go to 6 Palaces in order to release the seal on the Thunderbird Palace, where he goes on to defeat the Thunderbird in order to release the seal on Zelda. In addition, Ganon's minions are wreaking havoc in Hyrule again, hoping to sacrifice Link in order to bring back Ganon. Link defeats the Thunderbird, but then confronts his own Shadow, Shadow Link.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Link comes back in Link to the Past. This time, he has an uncle who is a Knight of Hyrule. Link recieves a telepathic message from Zelda, who has been imprisoned by a wizard named Agahnim. Agahnim was an advisor to the King of Hyrule, but then brought upon him a Coup in order to gain control. Link tells his uncle, who goes off to the Castle. Zelda contacts him once more, and he goes to her. Link finds his uncle injured inside the castle and takes his sword and shield to save Zelda. He rescues her, and then she tells Link that in order to fell Agahnim, he will need to contact a wise man, Saharasla.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

In Link's Awakening, Link finds himself on an island after a dreadful ship wreck. Soon after, he is taken to Tarin's house, where Link will meet Marin (Tarin's daughter who resembles Zelda). Once Link ventures outside, an owl tells him that he must find and play the 8 sirens to awaken the Wind Fish to return back to his homeland, Hyrule. Each siren is heavily guarded by a boss found inside of a dungeon. Once he traverses through every dungeons, and destroy every boss, he will be able to play the instruments, and wake the fish. It is soon revealed that this story is nothing but a mere dream (the wind fish's dream) that Link is trapped inside. Though to get out, he must still play the sirens, which will wake the fish up, thus getting rid of the dream and saving Link.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Ocarina of Time is generally accepted as one of the greatest games of all time. In the game, Link is sleeping, and is awakened by Navi the fairy. She tells Link that he (being Link) has been summoned by the Great Deku Tree. The giant tree tells the young Link to venture inside of him, and destroy the curse that is possessing him. Link does so, but is unable to save the tree from dying. Before he dies, he tells Link the story of Ganondorf, and how he plans to steal the triforce and take control over the land. Link then sneaks through Hyrule castle, where he encounters Zelda, who tells Link of a dream she recently had (which is about the future of Hyrule). She then tells Link about Ganondorf, and how she and Link should defeat him with using the triforce.

Link must then find three special stones in the first half of the game. After he obtains them, he will see Ganondorf kidnapping Zelda. Zelda will then throw the Ocarina of Time into a river right outside of Hyrule Town, which Link will have to find. The princess with then telepathicaly tell Link the song of time, which should be played on the ocarina. When he learns it, he must go to the Temple of Time, where he plays the song, and goes seven years into the future after pulling the Master Sword.

In those seven years Gannondorf has taken over Hyrule with the Triforce of Power. Link must save the 6 sages (there is actually 7 but the 7th one at the time didn't need saving until near the end and the 1st one doesn't need saving at all so Link needs to save 5 until the 7th one needs saving). After saving all six of the sages Link goes to the Temple of Time once more and meets Sheik, who is revealed to be Zelda, after Zelda gives Link light arrows and is kindnapped by Gannondorf (no suprise there) Link goes off to save her and end Gannondorf's reign over Hyrule. The 6 sages create a rainbow bridge for Link to cross to Gannon's Castle.

After destroying the 6 defenses in the catsle and climbing Gannon's Tower Link meets face to face with Gannondorf again. Link quickly uses the Longshot to retreat the a sucure location and reflects Gannondorf's magic attacks and when the attack hits Gannondorf Link shoots Gannondorf with an Light Arrow and then Long shot his way to Gannondorf and slashes at Gannondorf with the master sword. After defeating Gannondorf, Link frees Zelda but then Gannondorf with his last breath causes his Castle to crumble no wait he does that right after he is defeated by Link then Zelda is freed anyway Link and Zelda escape and then Gannondorf thought to be dead then rises when Link approaches his (Gannondorf's Body while it is in some remains of his catsle). Gannondorf then uses the Triforce of Power to become Gannon. Link and Gannon then face off in a showdown. At the begining of the fight Gannon knocks the Master Sword out of Link's hand. Link then shoots the beast's eyes with a light arrow (headshot) and then attacks the tail with more light arrows or the magneton hammer. After weakening Gannon Enough Link is able to retrieve his master sword then slashes at the beast's face (head slash. After shooting more light arrows into the beast's eyes Link slashes at the tail. After the beast is weakened once more Zelda weakens Gannon even farther then the master sword glows for a few seconds. Link then slashes at the beast's head and delivers the final blow. Zelda then opens the portal to the void and Ganondorf is sealed within it.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Link is set back to when he was a child after defeating Ganondorf as an adult. After being sent back, he goes off on an adventure to look for his lost friend (seemingly Navi from Ocarina of Time), and thus leaves Hyrule via Epona. While riding through woods in Termina, a corrupted Skull Kid attacks Link, steals his Ocarina and kidnaps his horse. After attempting to claim what is rightfully his, he falls into the land of Termina, which desperately needs Link's help from Majora's Mask, which recently took over Skull Kid's body, explaining the recent ambush.

Majora's Mask's most devious plan was pulling the Moon from its initial orbit and bringing it closer to the planet. Within three days the moon would crash smack dab in the middle of Termina, bringing the entire destruction to it. Link was obligated to stop these horrors from occurring. Link manages to get his Ocarina back, and playing a special song on it rewinds time by three days. Certain things that Link alter in those three days, however, will stay altered rather than reverting to their previous state. Link then needed to use this to his advantage and call the Four Giants so that they could push the moon back into its orbit. Doing so, however, would not rid of Majora's Mask. So, with sword in hand, Link thwarted the monster after being dispatched from Skull Kid, thus saving Termina from an almost inevitable destruction.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Ganondorf vows to retake Hyrule back from the sea that flooded it, so that he might one day rule it. A dark energy is felt through the world and Link, the hero of the winds, sets sail via the King of Red Lions after his sister is abducted by the Helmaroc King. At first Link's primary goal is to simply save her awaiting sister, though a series of events occur that causes him to be brought into a much more serious situation that requires him to thwart the demon king Ganondorf. As always, Ganondorf attempts to come in possession of the Triforce so that he can have ultimate power. Also, if he manages to do so, then he won't turn into the boar that he is destined to turn into.

While in most titles Link is simply known as the Hero of Hyrule or Time, the King of Red Lions assumes that another name suits him well this time around - the Hero of Winds, as the character wields the Wind Waker, a magical wand that allows its user to control the winds. In the end of the game, Link wields the Master sword and plunges it through Ganondorf's head, turning him to stone.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure

In this game, there are four styles of Link. There is green, blue, red, and purple. While they are all Link, and they fight together, they encounter a new foe named Vaati. Vaati was origionally just a normal human, until he made a wish, and he had become a giant eye.

The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap

To be added

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

At the beginning of twilight princess, Link is just an ordinary farm boy; but when an evil King Bublin kidnaps his best friend Ilia, he is thrust into a world of Twilight created by Zant, the twilight king. A strange creature by the name of Midna offers to help Link get back to human form, but first they must meet Princess Zelda, who tells them to revive all the fountains of the sages and revive the Fused Shadow pieces to defeat Zant. However, once you do this, Zant steals the Fused Shadow and uses it for his own. Link must travel to Arbiter's Grounds to find the mirror chamber, the only access point to the Twilight world. He must retrieve the lost mirror shards from all around Hyrule and put them back into the mirror chamber to open the Twilight world to finally defeat Zant. Once he is beaten, the sages of the mirror chamber tell Link the story of how Ganondorf was locked inside and took over Zant's mind to make him evil. Midna urges Link to go back to Hyrule Castle to save Princess Zelda from Ganondorf's wrath. Link defeats him and saves the day once again and restores peace between the two worlds.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Taking place after the events of Wind Waker, Tetra, Link and the Pirates are searching for the Ghost Ship, that is taking citizens away. When they find the ship, Tetra jumps on board. Then, Tetra screams. Link tries to jump on the ship, but fails as it sails away. Link then wakes up on the beach of Mercay Island, where he meets Cielia the fairy and her grandfather, Osshu. Getting a sword and a shield, Link and Cielia go to the Temple of the Ocean King, where they go to find Cpt. Linebeck. They find him trapped so Link frees him. Linebeck teams up with Link and takes him to the Isle of Ember, where he fights the first boss. Then they go to Cannon Island and obtain a cannon. Also they get the phantom Hourglass, allowing Link to get through the Temple. Then they find the Ghost Ship heading North! Link directs the ship towards the Ghost Ship to save Tetra, but then it dissapears in immense fog! Link goes south and gets help from the islanders on Molida Isle. Taking the odd path, Link defeats the second boss and the third boss. During the fight with the bosses, the Spirit of Power, Wisdom and Courage (Who is actually Cielia) are freed and Osshu is revealed to be the Ocean King. Along the way, an old enemy of Linebeck's, Jolene, will occasionally attack your ship. When Link defeats the fourth boss on the Ghost Ship, they find that Tetra has been turned to stone! Osshu reveals her life force was trained completely. So, Link decides to obtain the Phantom Sword to rescue Tetra and defeat the evil Bellum. But he needs 3 items to do so! So, he heads to 3 more dungeons and obtains the crimsonine, the aquanine and the azurine. Then, with the Phantom Sword forged, he slayed Bellum. Or so he thought! When Tetra was freed of the curse, she was kidnapped again by Bellum! Quickly, Link, Linebeck, Osshu and the Spirits follow Bellum and destroy the Ghost Ship! They climb on board to find Bellum holding Tetra in his tentacles. Bellum attacks the ship, with Osshu on it! Then, Bellum wraps a tentacle around Link and grabs him, dropping the sword near Linebeck! Without a second thought, Linebeck grabs the sword and plunges it through a tentacle. Throwing Link and Tetra aside, Bellum grabs Linebeck and posseses him! Link grabs the sword and slays Bellum once and for all! With Linebeck and Tetra freed, Osshu turns back into his true form (A white, blue whale) and tells them Tetra and Link were teleported from the Great Sea to his sea! Then they are teleported back and climb back on the Pirate Ship. One of the Pirates tells Tetra they were only on there for 10 minutes...

Conception

Link was created by Shigeru Miyamoto when he wanted to create a character who would traverse lands and uncover secret dungeons. Link was to be a boy open to the world, and his name stems from the "link" he has with the player. Though in game canon his name is Link, the player can usually name the character whatever they wish to.

Already Released:
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Adventure of Link
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Cameos

• In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Link is at the end in Cranky's video game heroes if the player did not get enought DK coins to beat his place. Video game stars Mario and Yoshi would also appear here as well.
• Link can be found sleeping at an inn in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'. Samus Aran, another famous Nintendo character, can also be seen sleeping in another inn.