Princess Zelda

Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, best known simply as Princess Zelda is the titular main character from the Legend of Zelda games.

Zelda is the name for several female Hylians, usually members of the Royal Family of Hyrule, who often play an integral role in the series.

Appearance
Zelda is portrayed as a young girl or beautiful young woman, usually with blonde hair. In Twilight Princess, however (and therefore in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as well as Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, in which her appearance is based on that of Twilight Princess), she is depicted as a brunette. She also has light brown hair in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (though she is depicted as being blonde in artwork), and auburn hair in The Adventure of Link.

She often wears jewelry such as ornate earrings (which in some games feature a Triforce design), as well as a royal gown of white, pink, lavender, or another pale color (red in The Adventure of Link), usually bearing the Royal Family's crest. Zelda has also been depicted in casual attire, such as in Skyward Sword, or in a blue shirt with Hylian embroideries as the Champions commander in Breath of the Wild.

Personality
Since most of the Zeldas that appear in the games are different incarnations, they each have slightly differing personalities. However, each Zelda is depicted as a kind and benevolent person.

As the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, she is wise beyond her years and intelligent enough to rule her people. She always wishes to do what is right for others and is extremely self-sacrificing. Though not always capable of defending herself or others on her own, she does not quit and tries to aid allies when she needs their help. She is also forgiving towards former enemies even when they have harmed her in someway. She is however, extremely loyal towards the ones she cares for (such as Link) and does not tolerate them getting harmed.

Certain incarnations, like the Zelda of Skyloft and Tetra, are shown to have a slightly playful personality and more casual attitude. However, this is likely due to the fact that neither was raised to be royalty from birth unlike most incarnations of Princess Zelda. The Zelda of Skyloft was indeed born a commoner and Tetra is the child of a pirate. Additionally, at least two incarnations are known to have tomboyish qualities, such as Tetra and the Zelda from Ocarina of Time.

Abilities
Associated with the Goddess Nayru and the Triforce of Wisdom, Zelda possesses keen insight and good judgment—although this does not always avail her in eschewing capture. Most of Zelda's incarnations are additionally gifted with innate psychic or magical potencies, such as telepathy and precognition. Albeit her gamut of abilities has yet to be revealed, Zelda has demonstrated the ability to cast spells, engender or annul barriers and seals, and shoot a bow. The source of most of these natural mystical powers could be explained by the presence of the Light Force, a power that is passed down through the Royal Family of Hyrule for generations. However Breath of the Wild implies the various incarnations of the Princess are descended from Hylia presumably through the Spirit Maiden from Skyward Sword indicating some of her powers may be divine in nature specifically her sealing powers and ability to communicate with spirits though these latent abilities must be awoken through ritual and devotion to Hylia according to legend though the Zelda of Breath of the Wild struggles despite years of dedicated training and only awakens them through selflessly trying to protect Link.

In The Wind Waker, Tetra (as Princess Zelda) briefly wields the Master Sword that had been dropped by Link, making her one of the few people besides Link to be shown wielding the Blade of Evil's Bane. Her ability to wield it proves that Tetra (despite being a pirate) possesses a heart untainted by evil, as it has often been stated that evil beings are incapable of touching and or wielding it. However as she wields it only briefly before returning it to Link, it is unknown if Tetra could wield it as effectively as the various incarnations of the Hero. Being a pirate, Tetra is implied to possess some sword fighting skills and carries a short dagger-like blade, which she is shown wielding in promotional artwork. In the spin-off Hyrule Warriors series, she wields cutlasses (along with magically infused pistols) and is even capable of performing the Spin Attack.

In Twilight Princess, Zelda wields a rapier-like sword, though it is unknown if she authentically possesses any fencing skills as she is never shown actually attacking with it (Possessed Zelda does wield the sword, however since she was Ganondorf's puppet body, it was likely his fencing skills and not Zelda's). The Hyrule Warriorsincarnation of Princess Zelda is shown to be a capable and graceful fencer who wields magical lightweight Rapiers that she can transform into a Bow of Light.

Zelda's alter egos appear to have specialized abilities of their own. In Skyward Sword, it is implied that Zelda and her subsequent incarnations' abilities may be due to her connection to the Goddess Hylia and are potentially divine in nature. In Breath of the Wild, both Kass and Impa refer to the Princess of Hyrule as possessing the blood of the Goddess in their retelling of the legend of Calamity Ganon's defeat ten thousands years ago. Unlike other incarnations, the Breath of the Wild incarnation of Zelda initially has trouble awakening her powers, and as a result develops an interest in science and ancient technology. In Link's memories she is shown using the Sheikah Slate which Link uses 100 years later. She is familiar with Gerudo Town law and uses it to her advantage to allude Link's protection detail as Link a man could not accompany Zelda into Gerudo Town a fact Zelda used to her advantage. However her privileged upbringing means she apparently lacks Link's level of physical fitness and was easily cornered by three Yiga Clan Footsoldiers despite running as fast as she could. Zelda is well read and capable researcher though as shown in one of Link's memories when she fails to realize a Hot-Footed Frog has to be cooked into a Hasty Elixir enhance the consumer's physical abilities due to her excitement over catching one and enthusiasm to study its effects using Link as a test subject due to his high level of physical fitness causing her to try and humorously force Link to consume the uncooked frog despite his visible disgust. However her expertise in studying ancient technology is enough that she can calibrate Divine Beasts and understand their functions and inner workings with Divine Beasts being her primary focus along with the Sheikah Slate. She also realized the significance of the Shrine of Resurrection and ensured it was restored to working order upon discovering it was a medical facility recognizing Ganon must be formidable to necessitate such a facility. Zelda also possess precognition like her previous incarnations as she felt something horrible would happen before the Great Calamity and recognized the increased monster activity was a sign of Ganon's return. She also has some medical knowledge such as the medical applications of various flower species in Hyrule and first aid as she treated Link's minor injuries he received fight monsters in Eldin Canyon. She also apparently has an interest in growing endangered flower species such as Silent Princess which despite her and other people's efforts have failed to grow domestically. Zelda is also shown to be a capable horseback rider who has her own Royal White Stallion. Her concept artwork even depicts her wielding a riding crop. However she requires advice from Link to improve her relationship with her horse as while she is a capable rider she apparently failed to consider its feelings until Link advised her how to soothe her horse and inspired Zelda to empathize with her horse improving their relationship. After awakening her powers, Zelda is shown to be strong enough to seal both herself and Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle for 100 years. She also recognized Link would likely lose his memories from the untested Slumber of Restoration thus took steps to help him recover his memories through pictures she left on the Sheikah Slate and a final picture kept by Impa. Interestingly, in both Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild, Zelda does not age while sealed by her own powers. Yet, in the latter, she appears fully conscious of the outside world while in stasis, likely having the same perception of time as Link. Due to her aging being halted she remains physically seventeen despite being approximately 117 years old as she turned seventeen around the time the Great Calamity began and she kept Ganon sealed for approximately a hundred years making her the oldest known living incarnation of Zelda due to not aging at all for a century.

Like Link, several of Zelda's various incarnations are shown to be talented musicians. At least three of incarnations are known to be harp-players (Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, and Hyrule Warriors). She also shows a talent for playing wind-based instruments such as an ocarina and a pan flute. She is also been shown to have a talent for singing as well.

The Zelda from Hyrule Warriors is also shown to be a talented conductor who can wield various Batons, including the legendary Wind Waker. Her ability to wield the Wind Waker is considerably better than Link's, as she can manipulate the wind to lift her off the ground as a form of levitation. In addition to her Batons and Rapiers, Zelda can also wield Dominion Rods that allow her to command and control Hammer Guardians and Owl Statues.

Though she is never actually shown using them in core Zelda games, she can use the spells Nayru's Love, Farore's Wind, and Din's Fire in the spin-off Hyrule Warriors game and the non-canon Super Smash Bros. series. Additionally Zelda is also a capable military commander in Hyrule Warriors and can manipulate light-based magic energy to create balls of light or a triangular field of light that causes light energy to erupt from the ground.

Trivia

 * Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that Zelda's name was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald. The name Zelda is generally believed to be Germanic in origin, meaning "gray fighting maid" or "woman warrior" and derived from the Old German Griselda ("dark battle"). Another possible origin is the Old English word selde ("companion"). Additionally, it is a Yiddish name meaning "happiness" or "luck".
 * It is noteworthy that Zelda's name can be associated with the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, delta, which is shaped triangularly like the Triforce: the Dhimotiki (modern Greek) word for δέλτα (delta) is dhelda (pronounced IPA /ðel.da/), which is typically transliterated to katakana as zeruda.