Link (Legend of Zelda)

Link is the main protagonist of the Legend of Zelda series.

Link is the everlasting hero of the setting, having appeared throughout the ages in a neverending line of incarnations. The various heroes who use the name Link are courageous young boys or teenagers in green clothing who leave their homes to save the world from evil forces threatening it.

Over the course of his adventure, Link defeats legions of evil monsters, explores vast lands, helps anyone he meets who is struggling, navigates deadly dungeons, and collects mythical items while pursuing his quest for justice and peace. In the end, he succeeds in his quest and becomes a legendary hero.

Appearance
Link's physical characteristics fluctuate from game to game, though he usually has light-colored hair (ranging from brown to blonde to orange), blue eyes, and a medium build. Other characters sometimes think of him as handsome. It is unlikely that Link's age exceeds nineteen years at any point in the series thus far.

In A Link to the Past, he was depicted as having pink hair in-game, due to graphics limitations, although the artwork for the game depicts him as having auburn hair. Similarly, Link's Awakening DX and the Oracle games depicted Link's overworld sprite as having black hair, presumably for the same reason as Link's pink hair in A Link to the Past, although the in-game cutscenes and to a certain extent photos depicted him with auburn/light-colored hair, alongside his character artwork.

In promotional material for Breath of the Wild, Link wears the Champion's Tunic and a simple pair of Hylian Trousers and does not usually wear head armor in promotional artwork, save for the Hylian Hood in the artwork of him riding on horseback that serves as the basis for the Link (Rider) amiibo. Unusually, Link does not receive a set of Hero's Clothes until much later in the game.

In many installments of the series, Link is the bearer of the Triforce of Courage. Several games mention a Triforce mark on Link's left hand, which identifies him either as a chosen hero or the holder of the Triforce of Courage. Teenage incarnations of Link have rather well-built physiques while younger versions of him are at least moderate in size. Surprisingly in Twilight Princess, Link appears to be slightly short for his age, with both Zelda and Midna (in her true form) being clearly taller than him.

Interestingly, Link bears a resemblance to Peter Pan, as they are both elf-like, wear green clothing, fight with swords, and are sometimes accompanied by a Fairy. Link also fights his shadow in some games, either Dark Link or Shadow Link, just like Peter. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Legend of Zelda series, has stated that he used Peter Pan as a bit of an inspiration for Link's design in The Legend of Zelda.

According to Yoshiaki Koizumi, there were initially plans to give Link a button nose similar to that of Mario, but his wife rejected it, citing that Nintendo already gave too many funny noses to their characters and suggested a more handsome nose for a change.

Personality
A peculiarity of Link, as well as other characters, is the several different incarnations of the person throughout the Legend of Zelda series. He is implied to be somewhat sleepy or lazy at first since at some point near the beginning of every game except the first two, Majora's Mask, Oracle games, Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures, Twilight Princess and Tri Force Heroes, he is sleeping or dozing off.

Since Link is not usually shown to speak, his personality is mainly determined by his actions or others' comments about him. Currently only one incarnation of Link was ever shown to speak and it was the Hero's Shade; the regretful Hero of Time. However most incarnations are capable of speaking though generally most of Link's text dialogue is simply his responses when speaking to others which are selected by the player thus he is often depicted as soft spoken individual. In Breath of the Wild, several characters lampshade this aspect of his character with it even annoying Revali and Princess Zelda. Princess Zelda even took it as a sign of contempt for her and assumed he hated her. However after Link saves her life she apologies for her earlier mistreatment of him causing Link to open up to her and reveals that his silence is the result of the burden he carries as the chosen hero as despite his talent Link still has doubts though choose to silently bare his burden as everyone is counting on him, indicating Link in Breath of the Wild and possibly other incarnations silence is due to the burden of their heroic destiny. Breath of the Wild is the first game to provide an explanation for Link's trademark silence. Additionally Mipha's Diary implies Link's silence began after he was chosen by the Master Sword as she had known him since he was four years old. During one of Link's recovered memories, Princess Zelda even quotes Link's advice on soothing horses verbatim while thanking him for his advice allowing him to remain a silent protagonist as unlike Link it is shown that Zelda in Breath of the Wild is quite talkative and even talks to herself contrasting their personalities. Interestingly, despite losing his memory Link retains his silence though he is made aware that he has an important destiny by Princess Zelda's telepathic messages from the moment he awakens. Additionally his silence could have become so habitual over time that it remained present despite his amnesia.

It is shown that Link possesses basic characteristics found in a heroic character; bravery, compassion, determination, and wisdom. He would even go as to save others that were his enemies. These characteristics allow him to wield the complete Triforce without a problem. However in Breath of the Wild both Mipha and Zelda note that Link can be courageous to the point of recklessness which Mipha reveals Link has struggled with since childhood as he often required her to heal his wounds and in a recovered memory Princess Zelda warns him that there is a thin line between courage and recklessness while tending to his wounds after a serious battle with a horde of monsters even noting Link should excise caution in the future. Link is shown to be dedicated to his knightly training and position as Zelda's personal bodyguard following her father's orders to protect her no matter how difficult Zelda was when she resented him. Even when Zelda pleaded for Link to save himself he dutifully defended her despite his own exhaustion and injuries showing incredible dedication to his duty worthy of a Knight of Hyrule.

Being dexterous, Link can quickly understand the complex mechanics behind things or figure out an opponent's weakness to use against them. This has proven invaluable in many situations, with both foes and allies alike showing surprise at his ingenuity. In Breath of the Wild and various titles he is essentially a born prodigy capable of mastering weapons and techniques easily as well as being a capable archer and swordsman even as a child with the Breath of the Wild incarnation capable of besting adult knights at just four years old making him the youngest incarnation known to be capable of wielding a sword.

Link deeply values his ties with loved ones. His care towards allies has been noted several times, and is considered by some to be one of his greatest strengths.

Abilities
Link is remarkably proficient with a wide variety of weapons, instruments, and other items, being able to use them immediately upon obtaining them. His preferred weapon of choice though, are swords. In each of his adventures, Link's primary form of combat becomes sword fighting, usually with a shield unless the sword requires two hands to wield or times when he does not have a shield. Most incarnations of Link wield a sword with their left hand, though there are notable exceptions.

Notably in Breath of the Wild, Mipha's Diary reveals that at the age of four, Link was already a prodigal swordsman capable of besting grown adult knights. He even trained his childhood friend Bazz in swordsmanship who would later become a Zora Knight Captain assigned to guard the Zora Throne Room.

In some of his adventures, Link is shown to have great aptitude with hand-to-hand combat, as well as immense superhuman strength. In Twilight Princess, he is able to best the Gorons in sumo wrestling (albeit while wearing the Iron Boots), and later proves capable of overpowering Ganondorf himself in a sword lock. In Skyward Sword, Link can wield Koloktos's massive sword, and eventually grows powerful enough to best the Demon King Demisein a duel.

However, preteen incarnations of Link are usually portrayed as more vulnerable in comparison. In The Wind Waker, when Link loses his sword in the Forsaken Fortress, he must rely on stealth and enemies' weapons to make it through, and will swiftly surrender if spotted by the enemy's searchlights. Later, when facing Ganondorf for the final time in sunken Hyrule, Link is swiftly overwhelmed by him, partially due to being caught by surprise.

It is likely though, that all preteen incarnations of Link do have the potential to become as powerful as their older counterparts. A clear example to this comparison would be how Link was unable to defeat Bubble enemies in The Legend of Zelda, yet could do so in the sequel; The Adventure of Link. This can be reasoned as the result of Link maturing in both skill and power with age.

Some incarnations of Link know how to use magic, as the ones in The Adventure of Link, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Breath of the Wild have shown.

Trivia

 * Link's name is based on his status as a "link" between the player and the game world, as stated by Eiji Aonuma in an interview: "When a player is playing a Zelda game, my desire is for the player to truly become Link—that's why we named him Link, so the player is linked to the game and to the experience."
 * According to Shigeru Miyamoto, Link's name also was the result of a holdover idea for the first game where the player character was a time traveler and trying to collect electronic chips to travel between different points, which indicated that he was the "link" between the Past and Future. Originally, Miyamoto wanted to name him Christo, after his grandfather, but later changed his mind.