Lady Impa is the tritagonist of The Legend of Zelda franchise. She is the Sheikah guardian of Princess Zelda, who is sworn to protect the Hyrulean royal family at all costs with both her knowledge and skills.
Biography[]
Impa has been assigned by Zelda to locate Din, the Oracle of Seasons, and Nayru, the Oracle of Ages, and bring them to Hyrule to protect them from the threat of being attacked by Koume and Kotake as part of a ritual to resurrect Ganon.
In Holodrum, Impa is in disguise as a cook as part of the traveling troupe that Din is part of, but when they are attacked by Onox, General of Darkness, Impa is wounded and forced to take refuge in a hideout just north of Horon Village while entrusting Link to finish her mission and rescue Din from Onox to restore balance to Holodrum after Onox threw the seasons into chaos with sinking the Temple of Seasons into Subrosia and taking Din captive.
In Labrynna, Impa was assigned to locate Nayru, but was ambushed and possessed by Veran, Sorceress of Shadows. When Link found her, scaring off the Octorocks attacking her, she joined him as he located a stone bearing the Triforce on it, but stood back as Link pushed it aside to clear the way to Nayru's location, as Veran knew touching the rock herself would harm her due to her evil energy. Once they found Nayru and Link met her and her best friend, Ralph, Veran made her move and abandoned her possession of Impa to possess Nayru. Once successfully possessing her, Veran used Nayru to summon a Time Portal and travel into Labrynna's past to alter it to her liking as part of her plan to sow sorrow across Labrynna as what she did in the past would affect the present. After she leaves, Impa comes to, realizes she failed Zelda when she let herself get possessed by Veran, and entrusts Link to rescue Nayru while she retreated to Nayru's house to take refuge there. Even after Nayru is rescued and returns to her own house to join Impa, they remain there while Link finishes his mission to stop Veran in the past before she can cause any more problems.
In a Linked Game, after Link clears the third dungeon or so, Impa is joined by a messenger bird that reported to her that Zelda herself was on her way to Holodrum or Labrynna to help out, but she has been captured. In Seasons, it is by the Great Moblin, while in Ages, it is by Vire, the mini-boss of the sixth dungeon in both games. After Link rescues Zelda, she retreats to join Impa at her safehouse for the rest of the game, but near the end of the game, as Link is going to battle Onox or Veran, Zelda leaves the safety of the safehouse to rally the people and try to give them hope. It is as she is doing so that she is ambushed by Koume and Kotake, who scare off Impa and anyone else with Zelda so they can capture her and use her as the sacrifice to revive Ganon. Impa rushes to warn Link of the situation shortly after he defeated Onox or Veran, and Link, supported by Din and Nayru, travels to the Room of Rites to defeat Koume and Kotake and rescue Zelda. After defeating them both as their normal selves and as their combined form of Twinrova, along with Ganon when Twinrova sacrifices herself to revive him, only to summon a mindless, rampaging version of him, Link returns to Zelda, and both are transported out of the crumbling Room of Rites and to the safety of the Maku Tree, where Impa, Din and Nayru are all waiting for them. Impa is relieved Zelda is alright, and thanks Link for everything he's done to help Hyrule.
