Link (The Legend of Zelda)

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Link
Link as he appears in official art for Phantom Hourglass.
Game series	The Legend of Zelda series
First game	The Legend of Zelda (1986)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto
Voiced by	Video games Fujiko Takimoto (Young Link, 1998-2001) Nobuyuki Hiyama (Adult Link, 1998-2001) Sachi Matsumoto (Toon Link, 2002-present) Akira Sasanuma (Twilight Princess Link, 2006-present) Television Jonathan Potts
Motion capture actor(s)	Nobuyuki Hiyama

Link (リンク, Rinku^?) is a fictional character and the main protagonist from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. Created by Shigeru Miyamoto, The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo's flagship game franchises, which sold over 47 million copies worldwide as of 2007.^[1] The series' enduring popularity has led to many incarnations of the Zelda story and of Link himself; the character's first appearance was in the game The Legend of Zelda. Link has been featured in other video games from Nintendo, including its merchandising, comic books, and an animated television program. Link was awarded with a star on the Walk of Game in 2005, alongside Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.^[2]

Link is described as a young Hylian boy from the fictional land of Hyrule. His age varies depending on the game; incarnations usually vary from pre-teen to the late teens. Link often journeys through the realm of Hyrule defeating evil forces and Hyrule's nemesis, Ganon. To defeat Ganon, Link usually requires the mystical Master Sword and Light Arrows, obtained after many trials and battles gathering magical objects or using other items such as musical instruments and assorted weaponry.

Contents 1 Creation and conception 1.1 Character development 1.2 Actor portrayal 2 Characteristics 3 Appearances 3.1 Video games 3.1.1 1986–1996 3.1.2 1997–2001 3.1.3 2002–present 3.2 Non-Zelda appearances 3.3 Cameo appearances 3.4 In other media 4 Reception 5 Notes and references 6 External links

[edit] Creation and conception

Link has almost no spoken dialogue in the game series. Facial expression has only been visible since the series appeared on the Nintendo 64. Miyamoto has said in interviews that his conceptualization of The Legend of Zelda, and of Link, was based on his childhood memories of books, movies, stories and personal experiences. He tried to make people identify with Link and have the opportunity to be heroes like the character. Although at the end of some games Link becomes vastly talented in physical and magical arts, he usually starts off the game as a regular boy. For example, in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, he begins as an orphan, and ends as the legendary "Hero of Time".^[3]

[edit] Character development

There have been several iterations of Link in the history of Hyrule. The existence of multiple Links is made obvious on many occasions in the games; for example, the introduction sequence of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker refers to an ancient, legendary champion who is identical in appearance to Link, and directly mentions the "Hero of Time" (a title given to Link in Ocarina of Time) as a historical entity. Link and Princess Zelda are reincarnations or descendants of the same two people. However, Ganondorf, the main villain, is always the same person. Miyamoto has stated, "For every Zelda game we tell a new story, but we actually have an enormous document that explains how the game relates to the others, and bind them together. But to be honest, they are not that important to us. We care more about developing the game system ... give the player new challenges for every chapter that is born."^[3][4] However, the exact chronology of the Zelda series and the lineage of the various Links, though written down by Miyamoto and his team, has never been released in detail.^[5] Some major fansites have attempted to construct a coherent Zelda timeline based on available data, but with little success.^[6] After the release of Ocarina of Time, Miyamoto stated that it was the first story in the timeline, then the original The Legend of Zelda, then Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and finally The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, with The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening falling sometime after Ocarina of Time.^[7]

On the design of Link in The Wind Waker, Miyamoto explained, "Link was a young boy and trying to create a very active and very energetic young boy and trying to choose the right style for portraying the young boy in a game like that we tried many different experiments. The ultimate decision we came to was that the cel-shading in The Wind Waker was the best option for expressing that."^[8] The Wind Waker takes place with a new Link centuries after the victory of Link in Ocarina of Time.^[9] Twilight Princess does not incorporate the idea of young Link growing up to a teenage Link.^[8]

[edit] Actor portrayal

In the 3D games, beginning with Ocarina of Time, Link was voiced by four actors; Nobuyuki Hiyama for adult Link, Fujiko Takimoto for young Link, Sachi Matsumoto as Link in The Wind Waker and Akira Sasanuma in Twilight Princess. As no Zelda game to date has contained substantial spoken dialogue, the part consists only of short phrases, grunts, battle cries, and other sounds.^[10] In The Wind Waker, however, Link has been heard saying the phrase, "Come on!". Voice acting in the series has been deliberately limited as to not "contradict players' individual interpretations of the character".^[11]

[edit] Characteristics

According to the official Zelda.com Encyclopedia, Link is "humble", but possesses legendary bravery, an attribute consistent with his role as the rightful bearer of the Triforce of Courage. The character is known in later Zelda games as "The Hero of Time" in his Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask incarnation, and as the "Hero of Winds" in The Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass.^[12] In the games and in various comics he is presented as being a stoic and polite person, and in the television series as a smart alec, lovesick teenager.

He is the rightful bearer of the Master Sword, a powerful and magical sword he wields to defeat the forces of evil. Link shows rare moments of overzealous boldness, such as when he twice attempts to confront Ganon in The Wind Waker, ill-equipped to defeat him, and when he almost plummets off a cliff when trying to save his sister from a giant bird in the beginning of the game. He challenged Ganondorf as a child to protect Zelda before he inadvertently helped Ganondorf find the Triforce in Ocarina of Time, forcing Link to undo the damage he had caused.^[12] Although Zelda games feature more interaction with friendly or neutral non-player characters (NPCs) than some adventure games, such as the Metroid series, these characters rarely take an active part in Link's quest which he completes alone. Link is shown to have several family members, such as an uncle in A Link to the Past, an unseen mother in Ocarina of Time who died fleeing the ravages of war when Link was a baby, a grandmother in The Wind Waker who raises him in his parents unexplained absence, a grandfather in The Minish Cap, and the most developed of Link's relatives, his sister Aryll, who plays a critical role in the plot of The Wind Waker. No incarnations of Link, however, has ever been shown to have a living mother or father by the time of the character's adventures. He has several friends, such as the pirate captain Tetra from The Wind Waker, Kafei and Tatl from Majora's Mask, and the fairy Navi from Ocarina of Time. He has a utilitarian relationship with Midna from Twilight Princess, though the two grow to become friends as time goes on.^[13] His mother and father appear as spirits in manga from the media franchise.^[14]

Link is a young Hylian boy and is renowned for his swordsmanship and fighting skill, such as his boomerang accuracy.^[15] It is stated, though, in The Adventure of Link, Links starts the game on his sixteenth birthday. Every Link wears a green tunic, an under-shirt (usually white, brown, or green, also, in Twilight Princess, he wore what appears to be chain mail, rather than an undershirt), and a long, floppy green cap, at least for part of each adventure (usually for the vast majority), although the shades of green vary. It is a common sight to see him wearing light-colored tights (usually white or tan), although he has appeared barelegged in other games. Link has long pointed ears, a distinctive trait of the Hylian race (and their descendants), which supposedly allows them to hear messages from the gods. In the Zelda trading cards released by Nintendo early on in the series, it is stated that the pointed ears are a sign of the royal family. Older Links usually wear small blue hoop earrings, as is the Hylian fashion. However, in episode 4 of the Adult Saga in the official Ocarina of Time manga series, "Link Vs. Link", Impa is seen giving a Link his earrings, describing it as a "rite of passage for young Sheikah men".^[16] He bears a Triforce mark on his left hand, marking him as the one who will find the Triforce of Courage.^[17] He is well known for making use of a variety of weapons and items, such as Bombs, the Hookshot, the Boomerang, Bow and arrow and Pegasus Boots. He is physically powerful, able to overpower Ganondorf in blade to blade combat despite Ganondorf's far greater size. He is extremely nimble, being able to perform quick jumps and flips, and very skilled, knowing how to perform magic and play many different instruments. When he transforms into an animal in the twilight realm in Twilight Princess, he becomes a wolf, reflecting the mystical aspects of the transformation and his heroism.^[13]

Canonically, Link is left-handed, although this detail has changed over time, with his sword hand being different between games. The Adventure of Link instruction booklet describes Link setting off "with a magical sword in his left hand and a magical shield in his right".^[17] In A Link to the Past, he alternates hands, but this is due to sprite mirroring. Starting with Link's Awakening, Link holds his sword in his left hand and his shield in his right, no matter what direction he is facing. This occurs in the left and right-looking sprites. In The Minish Cap, however, Link returns to alternately holding his weapon in the right or the left hand, depending on his orientation. At the beginning of the Four Swords Plus (Four Swords Adventures) manga, Link is referred to as the "left-handed hero" after defeating pirates that were raiding a Hylian town. In addition, Link's figurine description in The Wind Waker lists his "manual preference" as left. However, in the animated TV series, Link is right-handed. In the Wii version of Twilight Princess Link is right-handed, but this was done to better mirror the game's control scheme. In the game's official artwork he is shown holding his sword in his left hand. In the GameCube version Link remains left-handed since the game uses a traditional control scheme.^[18]

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Video games

[edit] 1986–1996

Link debuted in February 21, 1986, with the release of the video game The Legend of Zelda in Japan. Described as a "young lad" who saved Princess Zelda's elderly nursemaid Impa from Ganon's henchmen,^[19] Link assumes the role of the generic hero attempting to rescue Princess Zelda (and the kingdom of Hyrule) from the evil wizard Ganon, who has stolen the Triforce of Power.

In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Link approaches his sixteenth birthday. Impa takes him to North Castle in Hyrule, alarmed by the sudden appearance of a Triforce crest on the boy's left hand. She shows him the true heiress of Hyrule, an older incarnation of Princess Zelda, trapped in an eternal sleep, lying on an altar in the castle. The old woman tells Link of the Legend of Zelda, an ancient tale about the division of the Triforce and the curse that was put upon the older princess. Impa then gives Link six crystals, and a scroll written in an ancient Hylian language, which Link understands despite having never learned it. He reads that the mark on his hand is the sign that he was chosen to seek the third Triforce, Courage, in the Great Palace in the Valley of Death. Link then begins a quest to place a crystal in each of six palaces in Hyrule, so that he can later penetrate unhindered into the magically protected Great Palace, claim the Triforce of Courage, reunite the three pieces of the Triforce, and awaken Zelda.^[20]

A Link to the Past tells the story of how, centuries before the events of The Legend of Zelda, Ganon and his army of evil were banished into the Golden Land, the realm of the Triforce, by the Hylians, at the price of countless lives. The portal to this world was magically blocked by seven sages, and the lands behind that seal, which Hylians hoped would never be broken again, became known as the Dark World, as they were corrupted by Ganon's malice. The struggle to seal Ganon in the Golden Land became known as the Imprisoning War. One day, when the Imprisoning War had been all but forgotten, the land is plagued by sudden disaster, until the wizard Agahnim appears at the court of the king of Hyrule and quells the upheaval. Named chief adviser to the throne, he soon seizes power from the king and kidnaps six maidens, descendants of the wise men who had sealed the entrance of the Dark World. The maidens are taken to the castle tower, and never seen again. Agahnim then begins a dark ritual to break the seal on the Dark World and unleash Ganon's fury upon Hyrule. Princess Zelda herself descends from the seventh sage, and manages to send out a telepathic call for help before being taken away. Link's uncle heads for the royal castle first, but he is quickly defeated. He leaves Link his sword and with his last breath imparts the sword-spin technique. The young hero then begins a journey to collect three magical Pendants of Virtue, and claim the Master Sword as his before facing Agahnim. In Link's Awakening, which takes place sometime after A Link to the Past,^[21] Link decides to travel the world so he might be prepared if a threat like Ganon ever comes to Hyrule again.^[22] While returning to Hyrule, Link's ship is caught in a storm and wrecked. He washes up on the shore of a mysterious island called Koholint. Link is taken to the house of a kind man named Tarin and his daughter Marin. A strange talking owl tells him that the only way he can escape Koholint Island is by awakening the "Wind Fish", a giant creature slumbering in a colossal egg in the center of the island. When the game finishes Link awakens in the middle of the ocean along with the dreamer.^[23]

[edit] 1997–2001

In Ocarina of Time, a young Link has been raised as one of the Kokiri, a child-like forest race. He is summoned to The Great Deku Tree, the forest's guardian, who tells Link a curse cast by Ganondorf has killed him, the Deku Tree tells Link of the Triforce and directs Link to Hyrule Castle, where he encounters Princess Zelda. She tells him to collect the three Spiritual Stones and save Hyrule. Link does this, and travels to the Temple of Time, acquiring the Master Sword. This action imprisons Link unconscious in the Sacred Realm for seven years, while Ganondorf takes control of Hyrule and seizes the Triforce of Power. Seven years after drawing the sword from the pedestal, Link is awakened as the Hero of Time by Rauru, Sage of Light. He sets off to cleanse the land of Ganondorf's evil by awakening the seven Sages, who can seal Ganondorf in what used to be the Sacred Realm. Returning to the Kokiri Forest, he finds that none of his friends have grown up, and most now no longer recognize him. After the player completes the first dungeon in this phase of the game, the Deku Tree's successor, the Deku Sprout, reveals the hidden story of Link's past to him. The Kokiri never grow up; the reason Link has grown, while his Kokiri friends have not, is that he is actually a Hylian, orphaned in the wars that raged before Hyrule was united.^[24] When Link was a baby, his mother fled with him to Kokiri Forest, and, mortally wounded, left him under the Deku Tree’s protection. He was brought up as one of the Kokiri, and knew no differently.^[25] Through the rest of the game, Link travels back and forth between the two time periods and his two ages using the Master Sword. It is discovered that the two remaining Triforces belong to Link and Princess Zelda. At the end of the game, he is returned to his youth by Princess Zelda, and Navi leaves him.^[26]

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask occurs after Link defeats Ganon and is sent back in time to his childhood. Link leaves Hyrule to search for a lost friend (declared by the manga to be his old fairy companion, Navi, which is a reasonable assumption in the game as well). While riding deep in the Lost Woods, he is ambushed by a Skull Kid who is possessed by an evil artifact, Majora's Mask, and his horse, Epona, is stolen. Chasing the Skull Kid, Link falls into a crevasse and arrives in a country called Termina. He must save this land from the evil of Majora's Mask, which has drawn the moon into a decaying orbit, threatening to crash into Termina’s primary city, Clock Town, in just three days. Link uses the Ocarina of Time to play the Song of Time, which sends him back in time and saves the game when he plays it, to relive these three days repeatedly in order to prevent the disaster. Along the way, Link finds many magical masks of his own, a handful of which allow him to transform. Those masks can turn him into a rock-like Goron; a petite, plant-like Deku Scrub; a graceful, aquatic Zora; or the "Fierce Deity". In this game, Link never grows up in the traditional sense, but the dark power of the Fierce Deity's Mask allows Link to assume a powerful adult-like form, "Fierce Deity Link". This form is similar to adult Link in Ocarina of Time. Miyamoto mentioned that "we wanted Link to get inside of a wonderland, to experience the adventures and think hard about what he should do."^[27]

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, the Triforce sends Link on a mission to another land, Holodrum, to stop the disruption of the seasons by the General of Darkness, Onox. While there, it is his duty to protect the Oracle of Seasons, who is a dancer named Din. After Onox takes her by force and the seasons are thrown into chaos, Link sets out to rescue her with the aid of the Rod of Seasons, a magical staff which allows Link to control the four seasons.

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Link awakens one day in another land, Labrynna, where he has been sent by the magic of the Triforce. Upon his arrival he is tricked by Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows, into opening the seal protecting the Oracle of Ages, a singer named Nayru. Veran, possessing Nayru’s body and time-traveling powers, goes back in time to change the past and command the present. Link rushes to follow them to the past and save Nayru using the power of the Harp of Ages, which, when played correctly, grants its user the ability to move back and forth through time. After exorcising Veran’s spirit from Nayru’s body, Link ascends her citadel to defeat Veran.

After playing through both games (in either order), by use of a password obtained at the end of the first game played, it is revealed that the events of both games are part of a sinister plot by Twinrova to light the flames of Destruction (lit by the actions of Onox), Sorrow (lit by the actions of Veran), and Despair (lit when Zelda is kidnapped) as part of a ritual to resurrect Ganon. To complete the ritual, the sacrifice of a pure-hearted individual is required. In the end, Link must save Zelda from this fate. Link defeats the Twinrova and saves Zelda, but the Twinrova sacrifice themselves to resurrect a mindless Ganon and Link must fight him anyway.

[edit] 2002–present

In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Zelda goes to the Sanctuary of the Four Sword with her friend, Link, to check on the seal containing the evil Wind Mage, Vaati. The seal has weakened, however, and Vaati emerges, kidnaps Zelda, and knocks out Link. Link awakens to find 3 Fairies, who instruct him to draw the Four Sword. The magical Four Sword divides him into 2–4 identical Links (depending on the number of players). The first Link wears his traditional green outfit; the second, a red version; the third, blue; and the fourth purple. In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, released later, it is revealed that these colors reflect the four elements with which the sword is imbued: earth, fire, water, then wind. The Links must cooperate to overcome obstacles, collect keys, and storm Vaati's Palace so they can rescue Zelda and seal the mage away again.^[28]

In The Wind Waker, set hundreds of years after Ocarina of Time, the gods have flooded Hyrule, creating the Great Sea, encompassing the highest mountaintops of Hyrule.^{[citation needed]} At the beginning of the game, Link's younger sister Aryll is captured by the Helmaroc King, a giant masked bird controlled by the game's primary antagonist Ganondorf, the latter of whom is searching for Princess Zelda. Link travels the Great Sea to rescue his sister and defeat the Helmaroc King; his quest intertwining with that of The King of Red Lions, who reveals, after many trials, that Link is the "Hero of Winds". Using the Wind Waker, a magical conductor's baton, he borrows the power of the gods to aid him in his quest. The wand's user interface is similar to that of the Ocarina of Time, but uses tempo in addition to pitch to form tunes. Link must eventually reassemble the Triforce of Courage to give him the power to fight Ganondorf.

In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Zelda, who is again worried about the seal on Vaati, goes with six other mystical maidens to check on the Sanctuary of the Four Sword, with Link accompanying her. However, a dark, shadowy copy of Link attacks. Link is forced to draw the Four Sword to fight this Shadow Link, but when he does, he once again splits into copies of himself, and Vaati escapes.^[29]

In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, set before Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures, Link is a young boy living with his grandfather, the Master Smith of Hyrule. Link is a childhood friend of Princess Zelda, and on the day of Hyrule's yearly fair to celebrate the coming of the Picori, they go to join in the festivities. A mysterious stranger, Vaati, shows up and wins the sword-fighting competition; each year the victor of this tournament has the honor of touching the sacred Picori Blade. This sword was a gift to the Hylians from the tiny Picori and was used long ago by a legendary hero to defeat the forces of darkness and seal them away in the Bound Chest. Vaati destroys the blade and curses Zelda, and it is up to Link to repair the sword, defeat Vaati and save the princess.^[30] By the end of the game, the Picori Blade becomes the Four Sword, which Link seals Vaati in, setting the scene for the previously released Four Swords games.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, released in November 2006 for the Wii and a month later for the GameCube, is set decades^[31] after the events of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, in an alternate timeline to The Wind Waker.^[32] Link is a teen farm boy leading a fairly normal life until two of his friends, Colin and Ilia, are kidnapped by monsters. Link’s rescue mission leads him into the Twilight Realm, a dark place that changes him into a wolf. While in this form, he is aided by Midna, an imp-like creature, and learns why the Twilight invaded this world from Princess Zelda. Yet, in his attempt to save his friends, Link discovers an even greater evil that only he can stop. During the game, Link travels in the normal world in his human form and in the Twilight Realm in his wolf form.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the latest title in the series, was released on June 23, 2007, in Japan and on October 1, 2007, in North America. It revives the idea of a fairy companion as in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. A direct sequel to The Wind Waker, it involves the same Link and his quest to reunite with Tetra after she is lost to the mysterious Ghost Ship.

Link's Crossbow Training, a spin-off of the series, has Link attempting to become more proficient with the crossbow.

[edit] Non-Zelda appearances

Link is present in a number of games outside the Zelda series. While varying in their regard within the gaming community, none of these games contribute anything to the series which would be considered The Legend of Zelda canon.

Link: The Faces of Evil, released in 1993 for Philips' CD-i system, is the only one of the three Zelda games for the CD-i system in which Link is the protagonist. At the beginning of the game, Link is visited by a wizard who tells him that Ganon and his servants have seized the peaceful island of Koridai and captured Zelda. After being informed that only he can defeat Ganon, Link travels to Koridai to find the magical artifact known as the Book of Koridai. Using the Book, he defeats Ganon and frees Zelda. Although it features Zelda characters, this game was not produced, nor supervised by Nintendo, which does not officially recognize the game as part of the Zelda series.

There were two other The Legend of Zelda games released for the CD-i; Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure. However, in both games Princess Zelda was the protagonist, as in both games the plot involves Link’s kidnapping.

Link is one of eight characters available at the beginning of Nintendo's 1999 fighting game, Super Smash Bros.. Link sports his traditional green Kokiri tunic and the player can choose from several other tunic colors. He has some of his arsenal from the Zelda games, including bombs, boomerang and a hookshot. Link is one of the 15 playable characters available from the start in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the 2001 sequel to Super Smash Bros.. In Melee, he has his bow in addition to the equipment he brought with him to the original Super Smash Bros.. Also playable in the game, as a secret unlockable character, is "Young Link", the youthful version of the aforementioned fighter. Modeled after the Ocarina of Time version of the hero, Young Link is more agile but weaker than the older Link. Link became one of the first confirmed fighters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. His appearance was influenced by his character model from Twilight Princess. "Toon Link", a version of Link based on his cel-shaded appearance in The Wind Waker, is also a playable character in Brawl.^[33]

In the GameCube version of Namco's Soul Calibur II, the adult-style Link is a playable fighter. Little is revealed about the incarnation of Link in this game, but it is known that after saving Hyrule from an evil wizard who was being controlled by a fragment of Soul Edge, he went on a quest to destroy the evil sword. Quickly pulling the Master Sword out of its pedestal, he set out to travel to this world to destroy Soul Edge, on a secret mission arranged by Princess Zelda. Miyamoto did not see a problem with Link appearing in what some had thought to be a "violent fighting game", since he had already been established as a fighter in the Super Smash Bros. games.^[5] And the more realistic Link in this game was used to help develop Twilight Princess's Link.^[34] In Soul Calibur II, Link is the only character to use ranged weapons and the only guest character to have his own theme and more than two costumes. He uses a number of items from the Zelda series.

Link was also intended to appear in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.^[35]

[edit] Cameo appearances

Among SNES games, Link makes a cameo in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars where he is seen sleeping in a bed at an inn. Another reference to Link is in the Japanese version of the NES game Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls; in Elftown there is a grave marked "Here Lies Link". It was changed to a grave for Erdrick from Dragon Warrior when translated to English, however, this grave was changed back to Link in the Game Boy Advance version. He appears in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, with a reference to Link's collection of seashells from Link's Awakening.^[36] Some of Link's weapons and items have appeared in several games, such as the Master Sword in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance^[37] and Animal Crossing.

[edit] In other media

See also: Manga from The Legend of Zelda series and The Legend of Zelda (TV series)

In the Zelda animated series, Link, voiced by Jonathan Potts, was featured in a set of cartoons which aired from 1989–1990 as a part of DIC's The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Based loosely on the first game, the cartoons presented Link as a rude, lovesick teenager. Constantly pursuing Zelda and pursued by the fairy princess Spryte, he would beg kisses from Zelda, and burst out “Well excuuuuuse me, Princess!” when fed up with her attitude. Thirteen episodes were produced before the cancellation of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.^[38] The complete series was released on October 18, 2005.^[39] A slightly altered version of this Link (and Zelda) appeared during the second season of Captain N: The Game Master.^[40]

A serial comic was created for Nintendo Power magazine by acclaimed author Shotaro Ishinomori, and later collected in graphic novel form. This told an alternate version of the events from A Link to the Past. Though Link starts out a hapless, bumbling kid, he displays great courage and proves himself a determined and competent adventurer. He has a fairy companion, Epheremelda, long before this concept was introduced to the video games. This telling portrays Link’s parents as Knights of Hyrule, lost to the Dark World. It includes an original character, Roam, a descendant of the Knights of Hyrule who fought in the Imprisoning War. (Roam resembles 002, a.k.a. Jet Link, a character from Ishinomori’s first successful creation, Cyborg 009) At the end of the story, Zelda has become Queen, and Link is head of the Royal Guard and the Knights of Hyrule. This success is bittersweet, as their duties keep them apart, even though they were once close, sharing an adventure and even coming together in dreams.^[14] There have been manga based on The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap.^[41]

[edit] Reception

The character Link has been overall well received by critics and fans. In the 1988 and 1989 Nintendo Power Awards, readers voted him as the best character.^[42][43] He was voted by readers as the number one and three "Best Hero" in the 1993 and 1994 Nintendo Power Awards respectively.^[44][45] Link was also awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2005 along with Miyamoto, the creator of the character.^[2] Game Informer listed Link as the number one "Hero of 2006".^[46] Link has also appeared in multiple GameFAQs "Character Battle" contests and is the only character to have won more than once.^{[47][48][49][50][51]} In one of IGN's 2007 "Hero Showdowns", Link was voted the favorite over Cloud Strife.^[52]

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Link at Zeldapedia
• Link at Zelda Wiki.org
• The Many Looks of Link at IGN

v • d • e The Legend of Zelda series Main series The Legend of Zelda · Zelda II: The Adventure of Link · A Link to the Past  · Link's Awakening  · Ocarina of Time (Characters) · Majora's Mask (Characters) · Oracle of Seasons & Ages (Characters) · The Wind Waker (Characters) · Four Swords Adventures · The Minish Cap (Characters) · Twilight Princess (Characters) · Phantom Hourglass (Characters) Spin-offs Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland · Tingle's Balloon Fight · Link's Crossbow Training Other games LCD games · CD-i games · BS Zelda no Densetsu · BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban · Collector's Edition Characters Link · Princess Zelda · Ganon · Tingle Other Enemies · Bosses · Races · Hyrule · Master Sword · Triforce · Manga · TV series Nintendo · Portal:Zelda