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| “ | Link. You are the light - our light - that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now go. | „ |
| ~ Princess Zelda to Link after he wakes up after 100 years in Breath of the Wild. |
| “ | But then, when all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand... a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding the blade of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light. | „ |
| ~ The Wind Waker Prologue. |
| “ | SHAAAAAAK!!! | „ |
| ~ Link's war cry in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee |
Link is the main protagonist of The Legend of Zelda franchise.
He is the legendary hero of Hyrule who is chosen to protect the land from evil, as well as the protector and love interest of Zelda. He goes on adventures, in which he defeats evil monsters, explores the land and dungeons, meets and helps others, collects mythical items and eventually saves the world, as well as Zelda.
His archenemy is Ganon, who keeps trying to take over Hyrule. His primary weapons are the Master Sword and Hylian shield, and Bows.
There are several different incarnations of the character throughout the series, that all share the same name and general character.
He is one of the most iconic video game characters of all the time.
Contents
Appearance
Link's physical characteristics fluctuate from game to game, though he usually has light-colored hair (ranging from brown to blond to orange), blue eyes, and a medium build. Like all Hyrulians, he has elf-like ears. He typically wears a green tunic and hat. In Breath of the Wild, he wears a Champions Tunic and Hyrulian Trousers.
Personality
All incarnations of Link share a number of characteristics, such as a sense of bravery and selflessness. Since Link does not have extensive dialogue, clues to his personality come from his actions and other characters' comments about him.
He is protective of Zelda, willing to give his own life for her, and also often helps the everyday people he encounters . He is willing to defeat every monster and villain he encounters if it ensures he saves Hyrule, showing he puts the Kingdom before himself.
He is implied to be somewhat sleepy or lazy since at the beginning of almost every game, he oversleeps.
Powers and abilities
- Strong durability: Link is shown that he is extremely durable, as he is able to survive deadly situations like being hit by powerful sword blows and getting caught in large explosions.
- Noble bloodline: Throughout the ages, Whenever Hyrule is threatened by evil forces, a different incarnation of Link will often appear to protect it. However, he has no memory of his previous lives as he is a descendant of the previous Link before him and not the same despite their similarities.
- Incredible strength: Link appears to have immense strength. In Twilight Princess, he is able to beat the Gorons in sumo wrestling (although wearing Iron Boots), and later proves able to master Ganondorf himself in a sword lock. In Skyward Sword, Link can wield Koloktos' massive sword, and eventually becomes powerful enough to beat Demon King Demise in a duel.
- Magic: Link can use different magic spells effectively to help him in his quest.
- Sword fighting: Something all Links have in common is their incredible combat skills, unmatched by anyone. They are able to defeat highly skilled swordsmen like Ganondorf in combination with their strength and agility.
Other Media
Soul Calibur II Gamecube Version
Link appears in Soul Calibur II Gamecube Version as a guest playable character, he is the same Link from Ocarina of Time, Nobuyuki Hiyama reprised the adult Link's character, Link must defeat Inferno, the true main antagonist that terrorizes Hyrule, then Link discovers that Inferno is actually Nightmare who was been possessed and corrupted by Soul Edge, he then defeated Inferno and saved Hyrule in the process.
Mario Kart 8
Link appears in Mario Kart 8 as a downloadable playable character, he is the same Link from Skyward Sword, he has his vehicle called the Master Cycle, which also appeared as a downloadable vehicle.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Link returns once again in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, this time as an unlockable character which he wears his Breath of the Wild outfit in the Nintendo Switch remake version.
Super Smash Bros series
Link has appeared in every Super Smash Bros game to date appearing as a playable fighter in said series. Link also is available from the start in all games.
Super Smash Bros
Link appears as one of the eight starting characters along with Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus Aran, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McCloud and Pikachu, he appears in his Ocarina of Time design. He uses his Master Sword for many of his attacks as well as his projectiles.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Link returns in the Gamecube installment appearing again availiable from the start , he retains his Ocarina of Time design albeit upgraded due the Gamecube's graphics, his sheild now has the ability to block projectiles from other characters. additionally Zelda, her alter-ego Sheik, series villain Ganondorf and his younger self, Young Link appear as playable characters representing the The Legend of Zelda series, In the games event mode he teams up with Zelda to face Ganondorf, in another event match the player as his younger self faces his older self in a one-on-one fight, additionally the player as Marth a fellow sword fighter in the game fights him in a duel.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Link returns in the Wii installment as a playable character, unlike the previous two installments he appears in his Twilight Princess design. Like every other character in the game Link features a Final Smash in which he traps his opponents in his Triforce symbol force fields slashing them with his sword several times before dealing with a final blow that almost guarantees a KO. Young Link does not return as a playable character and is instead replaced by his Phantom Hourglass incarnations known as Toon Link
In the games adventure mode, he pulls out the Master Sword while walking through the forest and equips it not long before walking past Yoshi whom is sleeping on a tree stump seconds later he notices the Halberd appear and drop shadow bugs which causes Primids to appear, Link and Yoshi then team up and the duo fight their way through the forest before losing the Halberd none the less the duo continue chasing it.
Much later depending on which princess the players saves, Link will attack Princess Peach and destroy her gun whom was attempting to turn Mario and Pit into trophies was possessed by s shadow clone of Bowser and with Yoshi fights her and defeats her. However Mario will notice this mistaking Link and Yoshi for defeating the real Peach attacks him and he along with Pit will fight him and Yoshi to which they will defeat him, If Zelda is saved earlier and alternate scenario she just like Peach is attacked and turned into a dark clone by Bowser she attempts turn Link and Yoshi only for the gun to be destroyed by Pit and she attacks the duo only to be defeated by Mario and Pit, Link who was watching this attempts to attack Mario and him and Yoshi fight him and Pit and defeat them. Afterwards King Dedede appears and snatches the trophies of the fallen duo but Kirby appears and frees them and Link/Pit sabotage his cart, from the point the five of them form an alliance and chase Dedede.
The group traverses through an underground cave and find King Dedede's castle empty (due to Bowser breaking in to his castle earlier and knocking him out and also steals the Peach/Zelda trophy) they find a hole and go through it after emerging from the hole, the group ambushes Bowser with Mario attempting to attack him but he uses the trophy as a shield. Pit then fires an arrow at Bowser but he barely doges it (causing the trophy to lose Dedede's badge in the process) before escaping in his Koopa Clown Car enraging the heroes.
Later the five of them chase after the Ancient Minister, attempting to prevent him for using another subspace bomb with him and Mario approaching him ash he shoots lasers at them before being taken away by the R.O.B'S. The group is forced to escape area in order to not be sucked into Subspace.
Much later the five of them assist a group consisting of Marth, Ike, Lucas, the Ice Climbers, and the Pokémon Trainer fight off the forces of the Subspace Army after the army is defeated the two groups form an alliance and witness the Halberd (now controlled by Meta Knight) and the Falcon Flyer (consisting of Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Samus Aran, Pikachu, Olimar and ROB) land in front of them. All of them then join forces for the final battle against the Subspace Army and board the Halberd and enter Subspace but Halberd is destroyed by a large gunship commanded by Ganondorf and Bowser however it was only used as a distraction as the heroes emerge from the wreckage in smaller ships enraging the villains who continue to fire their cannon at them but the ships manage to miss all the lasers and Kirby from above on the Dragoon speeds up the Dragoon and flies directly through the cannon weak spot causing it to be destroyed forcing the two villains to retreat in defeat as the ships manage to get into subspace.
The group now consisting of nearly the entire games roster prepares to make their last stand against Tabuu (whom was behind all of the events the heroes endured and main antagonist of the story as well as turning Ganondorf himself, who turned Bowser into a trophy, Into a trophy as well as defeating Master Hand). However Tabuu uses his off-waves to turn everyone including Link into trophies as soon as the approach him. with everyone seemingly defeated including Link, Tabuu creates a Maze consisting of worlds the characters traveled through earlier. However Ness, Luigi are revived by Dedede's badges and they in turn revive Dedede and they set out to rescue everyone including Link. If Link and Zelda are rescued then a cut scene will play where Hylian Heroes stumble upon Ganondorf's trophy and agree to revive him, Ganondorf is surprised to see Link and Zelda right in front of him, but Link points out the real enemy is Tabuu, Ganondorf enraged he had been manipulated by him reluctantly agrees to help his two greatest enemies (and the other heroes) face Tabuu.
After Link and the others reach the end of the Great Maze, Tabuu prepares to use his off-wings again on the heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog appears and destroys his wings severely weakening him enough to be defeated by the heroes, Link and the rest of characters are last seen on the edge of a cliff as the world returns to normal.
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U
Link returns in the 3DS/Wii U installment and is largely unchanged from Brawl retaining his Twilight Princess design albeit with much brighter colors. Toon Link also returns from Brawl while Young Link again is cut from the game.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Link along with every playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series to date returns in the Nintendo Switch installment. Instead of his usual green outfit it is replaced by his "Hero of the Wild" from Breath of the Wild although his signature green outfit does return as an alternate skin. In addition to these changes, Link is noticeably differently from his previous playable incarnations including his play style. Additionally, Young Link makes his long awaited comeback after being absent from the previous two smash games in addition to Toon Link, as such there are now three different incarnations of Link to choose from. His Final Smash Triforce Slash from the previous two games is replaced by an accent Bow and arrow to reflect his appearance in Breath of the Wild.
He along with many of the characters in the game are present on top of a cliff when Galeem unleashed his beams of light on the fighters. With his shield he manged to avoid three beams before losing to the fourth one he along with the rest of the fighters are transformed in to puppets and can later be rescued early on in the game.
Trivia
- His tunic and hat is based off Peter Pan.
- According to Shigeru Miyamoto, Link's name comes from the fact that, during development of The Legend of Zelda, he was the link between the past and the future, which was the original setting for the game. Miyamoto has also stated that Link is named after the fact that he connects people together.
- According to Eiji Aonuma, Link is named after that fact that he links the player to the game.
- In Twilight Princess, Link is 17 years old
- In Ocarina of Time, Link is 5'7 feet tall
- Miyamoto said, In Twilight Princess, Link is 5'8 feet tall
- Link's lack of dialogue influences multiple other games, such as how The New Kid in South Park: The Stick of Truth and South Park; The Fractured But Whole can't speak as a homage. Byleth in Fire Emblem: Three Houses also doesn't have much dialogue.
External Links
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