While Nintendo does enjoy refreshing these characters with a new game every now and then, Zelda games that have served as sequels typically carry over the same characters from the preceding title, which is the case for the upcoming sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With the second Breath of the Wild coming out eventually, it’s worth taking a look at how Link got to this point, with a retrospective that analyzes the many versions of Link throughout the iconic Nintendo franchise. Here is a history of Link, as presented by the official timeline of The Legend of Zelda.
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The Beginning of the Zelda Timeline
The first appearance of Link on the official Legend of Zelda timeline is from Skyward Sword. In the game, Link is known to be a knight who has trained above the clouds on the floating island of Skyloft for as long as he can remember. Interestingly, while Link and Zelda have had a somewhat vaguely romantic relationship throughout the entirety of the series, they’re usually painted as just a princess with her bodyguard. In Skyward Sword, however, it seems that Link actually loves her as more than just someone he’s trying to protect, which motivates him to rescue her in the game.
Skyward Sword’s Link also appears to be on the taller side compared to other iterations of Link throughout the series, especially Link from Breath of the Wild. This could be due to the fact that he’s from Skyloft, as the taller one is, the easier they can potentially maneuver around the clouds. He is also able to masterfully pilot loftwings (the giant birds of the game). Link from The Minish Cap and Four Swords, on the other hand, is tiny by anyone’s standards.
The Minish Cap and Four Swords are another pair of games in which the characters from the first game appear in the second, with no Nintendo-style refresh mixing things up. In these games, Link is part of the Minish people (called the Picori by the Hylians), which are tiny mice-like people that inhabit the grasslands and various aspects of the forest. Although he’s the smallest Link of the franchise, he might also be the most powerful among them, at least in terms of weight vs. power. In his shrunken state, Link is able to dodge raindrops, destroy the body parts of bigger enemies, and can even lift objects that are several times his size.
The most recognizable iteration of Link though, comes from Ocarina of Time, which falls at the base of the fork that splits the Legend of Zelda timeline into three separate lines. The Hero of Time, as he is generally referred to, has two forms in the game - Young Link and Adult Link. After Link removes the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time, he awakens seven years later to find Hyrule in the grip of the evil Ganondorf. Traveling in between childhood and adulthood, Link must stop Ganondorf’s evil ways once and for all, but the timeline shows how he might’ve failed.
The Hero is Defeated Timeline
There are a series of Legend of Zelda games that take place specifically after the alternate timeline where Link is defeated by Ganondorf, starting with A Link to the Past. This version of Link appears to be the most experienced of them, as he is the protagonist of four Zelda games - A Link to the Past, Oracle of Seasons & Ages, and Link’s Awakening. Due to him being in all of these games, he has more than likely defeated the most number of enemies and bosses in comparison to the other versions of Link, and is therefore, arguably, the wisest.
Taking place after those games are the original Legend of Zelda games for the NES - The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link. Interestingly, these two games mark the only time when a character is reincarnated with the release of a direct sequel. In the two games, Link ends up saving two different versions of Princess Zelda, once when she was kidnapped by Ganon and the second being when she was put into a deep slumber by the magician hired by the Prince of Hyrule (who also sets the decree that all women born into the royal family of Hyrule must bear the name Zelda).
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The Hero is Successful
There are two timelines that follow the success of the Hero of Time after he defeats Ganondorf - the child and adult timeline. In the child timeline, after the events of Ocarina of Time, Young Link goes on to start the events of Majora’s Mask, where he must utilize different masks in order to shapeshift into more capable forms, thus helping the area of Termina from impending destruction by the angry-faced moon. Interestingly, after the events of the game, Young Link leaves Termina never to be heard from again. His spirit would later transform into the Hero’s Shade found in Twilight Princess.
In that game, it’s confirmed that Young Link died and became the Hero’s Shade when the Link of that game meets with him. Twilight Princess’ Link is also fairly strong, like the other versions of him, as he was able to lift a giant Goron with relative ease. Four Swords Adventures takes place a hundred years after Twilight Princess and features Link in a similar fashion as the one found in the original Four Swords.
The adult timeline is where Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks take place. While all three games feature the same cel-shaded style of Link, only the first two games feature the same characters (Spirit Tracks takes place 100 years after the first two games). Wind Waker introduces the Hero of Winds and is likely the youngest version of Link yet. Link and Zelda in these games have a more platonic relationship than in previous games.
Nintendo has stated that Breath of the Wild fits under every timeline, but Breath of the Wild 2 is bound to reveal more definitive information. The Hero of the Wild is clearly the most well-traveled and has more of a personality than previous versions of Link, but he also wouldn’t exist without Nintendo constantly reshaping how the character looks and feels. Until BotW 2 comes out, this is pretty much everything that is currently known about the iconic hero.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is in development for Nintendo Switch.
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