History Characters / TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWildLinkAndZelda

* OlderThanTheyLook: Before the Calamity hit, she had just turned 17. However, in the present time of the game, [[spoiler:she's technically 117 years old. She didn't age due to her being locked in a magical battle with Ganon for 100 years, which kept her physical body in stasis. This is taken up to eleven in ''Tears of the Kingdom'' when she's aged up to her early twenties at minimum, but she goes back to the past and lives 10,000+ years as a dragon]].

** There are significant implications that [[spoiler:despite being an immortal and non-sapient Light Dragon, Zelda is driven by her strong desire to help Link and her feelings for him. This leads her to intercept the Demon Dragon (roaring a battle cry as she does so) despite having until then spent millennia doing nothing but flying aimlessly in the skies above Hyrule, allowing Link to escape from the Demon Dragon's jaws and land safely on her head. Throughout the battle, she is determined to keep Link safe from the attacks of the enemy and catch him when he falls. She displays a remarkable level of protectiveness towards him, even when she is not required to. Most notable after being restored to normal, it's not the impact of the water that wakes her up but her saying she felt a warm and loving embrace, which is suggesting that it was Link holding her.]]

** There are significant implications that [[spoiler:despite being an immortal and non-sentient Light Dragon, Zelda is driven by her strong desire to help Link and her feelings for him. This leads her to intercept the Demon Dragon while flying aimlessly in the skies above Hyrule, allowing Link to escape from its grasp of the Demon Dragon and land safely on her head. Throughout the battle, she is determined to keep Link safe from the attacks of the enemy and catch him when he falls. She displays a remarkable level of protectiveness towards him, even when she is not required to. Most notable after being restored to normal, it's not the impact of the water that wakes her up but her saying she felt a warm and loving embrace, which is suggesting that it was Link holding her.]]

** There are significant implications that [[spoiler:despite being an immortal and non-sentient Light Dragon, Zelda is driven by her strong desire to help Link and her feelings for him. This leads her to intercept the Demon Dragon while flying aimlessly in the skies above Hyrule, allowing Link to escape from its grasp of the Demon Dragon and land safely on her head. Throughout the battle, she is determined to keep Link safe from the attacks of the enemy and catch him when he falls. She displays a remarkable level of protectiveness towards him, even when she is not required to.]]

* LegendaryInTheSequel: Not that they weren't fabled in the first title, but aside from those who lived long enough to know them, everybody only knew who they were from 100 year old stories about the Calamity. In ''Tears of the Kingdom'', few know they are the same figures from the Great Calamity, but due to their defeat of Calamity Ganon, virtually ''everyone'' knows and reveres the two as the world's saviors and leaders in its restoration. Zelda is treated like a sage of peerless academics and wisdom universally, and Hyrule's warriors all but worship the ground Link walks on as a LivingLegend. Link is the only of the two ''not'' known by outright everyone, and that purely consists of those who either are only followers of Zelda's research and study pursuits, or are too young to really know Link personally, who is implied to have since spent most of his time traveling Hyrule to assist in its revival.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: They're both chronologically 117 years old during ''Breath of the Wild'', yet still look like teenagers and eventually young adults in Tears of the Kingdom due to being magically preserved in stasis for a century. [[spoiler:In ''Tears of the Kingdom'', it's taken to even more absurd degrees when Zelda, having to take the long way back to the present due to being sent back in time to the ''earliest days of Hyrule itself'', turns herself immortal via draconification and ends up adding possibly ''thousands of years'' to that.]]

* WolverinePublicity: These two versions of Zelda and Link are the first incarnations of the characters to rival the ''Twilight Princess'' incarnations of the characters in publicity since the release of said games. Especially for Link, as ever since the release of this game, this version of Link has been consistently used to represent him.

* LegendaryInTheSequel: Not that they weren't fabled in the first title, but aside from those who lived long enough to know them, nobody knew who Link and Zelda were. In ''Tears of the Kingdom'', few know they are the same figures from the Great Calamity, but due to their defeat of Calamity Ganon, virtually ''everyone'' knows and reveres the two as the world's saviors and leaders in its restoration. Zelda is treated like a sage of peerless academics and wisdom universally, and Hyrule's warriors all but worship the ground Link walks on as a LivingLegend. Link is the only of the two ''not'' known by outright everyone, and that purely consists of those who either are only followers of Zelda's research and study pursuits, or are too young to really know Link personally, who is implied to have since spent most of his time traveling Hyrule to assist in its revival.

** There are significant implications that despite being an immortal and non-sentient Light Dragon, Zelda is driven by her strong desire to help Link and her feelings for him. This leads her to intercept the Demon Dragon while flying aimlessly in the skies above Hyrule, allowing Link to escape from its grasp of the Demon Dragon and land safely on her head. Throughout the battle, she is determined to keep Link safe from the attacks of the enemy and catch him when he falls. She displays a remarkable level of protectiveness towards him, even when she is not required to.

** ''Tears of the Kingdom'' states that after the events of the previous game Zelda moved into Link's house, though it's never specified whether or not Link is actually living there with her, and the sign outside now just says "Zelda's House."

* TerseTalker: An upgrade from being a complete SilentProtagonist in past iterations. He (mentally unhealthily) internalized all the weight on his shoulders being the Chosen Knight of the Master Sword in the past by being nigh-silent, but Zelda got him to open up a bit. In-game, it manifests as rather terse dialogue option responses.

[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/totk_zelda_both_costumes_9.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1zelda___totk_key_art.png[[/labelnote]]]]

** ''Tears of the Kingdom'' heavily indicates that after the events of the previous game Zelda and Link [[spoiler:settled down to live in the same house and sleep in the same bed.]]

* ImpliedLoveInterest: To each other. While Link’s feelings are more ambiguous in the Western version of ''Breath of the Wild'', in the Japanese version his feelings are more explicit as all the Adventure Logs are written from his perspective. When all thirteen memories have been collected he expresses in the Adventure Log how he wants to save her as quickly as possible and to see her smile again with his own eyes. Zelda’s love for Link is confirmed multiple times throughout the game, and that it was her love for him that allowed her to [[spoiler:awaken her powers]]. Multiple characters lampshade and support their relationship, such as The Great Deku Tree, Kass, Urbosa, and Paya. The latter having a crush on Link herself, yet she notes Link and Zelda would make a splendid couple. Despite the clear romantic undertones of their relationship, Link and Zelda’s relationship remains only implicit due to Zelda’s AbortedDeclarationOfLove. Link can, however, learn about Zelda’s feelings by completing all of Kass’s quests. In a side quest called “From The Ground Up”, Link helps a man named Hudson build Tarry Town and eventually helps with Hudson’s wedding. At the end of the wedding, a shower of flower petals fall, according to Bolson the infinite flower petals represent endless love. If Bolson’s statement is to be taken seriously, then it paints the true ending of the game in a different light. In the true ending of the game, Zelda tells Link they’re going restore Hyrule to its former glory together, but as they begin to walk off, the camera pans out to show a shower of Silent Princess petals. The petals falling in the same way as Hudson’s wedding possibly, representing the endless love they will share. [[spoiler:In ''Tears of the Kingdom'', it's revealed that they have been living together in Link's old house.]]

* MaybeEverAfter: The true ending of ''Breath of the Wild'' highly implies that the two of them become a couple as they seek to restore Hyrule.

* AmnesiacResonance: [[spoiler:Despite turning into the supposedly mindless Light Dragon, she still retains enough of herself that she sheds a tear ''thousands of years'' after her draconification to show Link one final aspect of the past: the actual transformation. She also retains enough of herself that she doesn't hesitate to come help Link against the Demon Dragon. One method to acquire the Master Sword is to acquire all the tears, at which she simply lets you have it, instead of flailing about when you drop in on her in the sky and try to pull it out.]]

* AmnesiacResonance: Much like in real life, despite his memory loss, he still retains his combat skills and abilities as people usually do through muscle memory. His canon unhesitating heroism is also a reflection of who he originally was 100 years earlier. One method to acquire the Master Sword is to acquire all the tears, at which she simply lets you have it, instead of flailing about when you drop in on her in the sky and try to pull it out.

* AmnesiacResonance: [[spoiler:Despite turning into the supposedly mindless Light Dragon, she still retains enough of herself that she sheds a tear ''thousands of years'' after her draconification to show Link one final aspect of the past: the actual transformation. She also retains enough of herself that she doesn't hesitate to come help Link against the Demon Dragon.]]

* MsFanservice: [[{{Downplayed}} Downplayed]]. On paper, she wears modest clothing, but her pants are [[PaintedOnPants extremely tight]]. In ''Tears of the Kingdom'' there isn't any overt MaleGaze towards her but she spends much of her screentime in a more revealing outfit than the previous game, which is also quite tight around her sizable rear and made obvious in scenes that show her in profile. Her [[spoiler:imposter wears the same outfit, uses her voice and is noticeably flirtatious in her mannerisms with Link when finally confronting him.]]

* BettyAndVeronica: He's seen as the Betty to Zelda's Archie, with Kass's teacher being the Veronica. Kass's teacher was both a Sheikah and the court poet, while Link is a knight-in-training and a commoner, something the poet greatly despised.

* HiddenDepths: As described in Zelda's diary, Link put up a stoic and silent front in order to cope with the pressures of being a Knight. It's only through his bond with Zelda that he becomes more open with his feelings.

** [[spoiler:Prior to the events of ''Tears of the Kingdom'', Link is revealed to have ended up becoming incredibly close to Teba's son Tulin, eventually leading him to become a surrogate brother of a sorts and a mentor to him.]]
* InterspeciesRomance: We don't know if Link responded or not, but we do learn that both Mipha, the Zora Princess, and a commoner Zora named Kodah were in love with Link. [[spoiler:However, Mipha died fighting Calamity Ganon and Kodah moved on when Link was put into his healing slumber, going on to marry a fellow Zora named Kayden, have a daughter with him (Finley), and run the Seabed Inn.]]

* UnevenHybrid: Potentially. [[spoiler: Given the heavy implications that the Ancient Hero was a Zonai/Hylian Hybrid, and was the incarnation of Link before the events of "Breath Of The Wild" that wielded the Master Sword. Furthermore several npc's seems to make a connection between Link and the Ancient Hero should Link take on his appearance. This would mean, that there is a strong possibility that Link is part [[BeastMan Zonai]].]]

* FlowerMotif: Zelda is associated with the in-game flower called the Silent Princess; this rare and beautiful flower is said to be impossible to grow in a controlled environment, much like [[spoiler:Zelda's powers are not able to flourish in her restricted life]]. In ''Tears of the Kingdom'', after completing "The Dragon's Tears" sidequest [[spoiler:and finding out the eponymous dragon actually is Zelda]], an entire bed of Silent Princesses spawns where Link is.

* AmnesiacResonance: Much like in real life, despite his memory loss, he still retains his combat skills and abilities as people usually do through muscle memory. His canon unhesitating heroism is also a reflection of who he originally was 100 years earlier.

* NatureHero: Invoked, [[spoiler:although not in an obvious way — the iconic green tunic of past Heroes is now the reward for basically mastering and traversing the vast wilderness of Hyrule. Receiving it reveals this particular Link's official "Hero Title" (as compared to the [[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaOcarinaOfTime Hero of Time]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Hero of the Wind]]]], or [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Hero of Twilight]], etc.) and considering what this Link needs to have gone through to get it, the tunic officially titles him ''the Hero of the Wild''.

* HartmanHips: Accentuated by her traveling outfit (and the game's camera angles).

* MaleGaze: During one of the memories, Zelda is on her hands and knees looking at a flower, with her butt shoved directly in the viewer's face. Then the perspective changes, and reveals that Link has been sitting in the grass behind her the entire time, and at one point is pretty clearly staring ''right at her ass''.

* MsFanservice: [[{{Downplayed}} Downplayed]]. On paper, she wears modest clothing, but her pants are [[PaintedOnPants extremely tight]], and she has an obvious scene of MaleGaze. In ''Tears of the Kingdom'' there isn't any overt MaleGaze towards her but she spends much of her screentime in a more revealing outfit than the previous game, which is also quite tight around her sizable rear and made obvious in scenes that show her in profile. Her [[spoiler:imposter wears the same outfit, uses her voice and is noticeably flirtatious in her mannerisms with Link when finally confronting him.]]

* GroundPunch: In ''Tears of the Kingdom'', he can disguise himself as a member of the Yiga and scam them into teaching him their Earthshaker ability used by Blademasters. This is done by charging up an attack with no weapon equipped.

* UnevenHybrid: [[spoiler: Given the heavy implications that the Ancient Hero was a Zonai/Hylian Hybrid, and was the incarnation of Link before the events of "Breath Of The Wild" that wielded the Master Sword. In addition to the similarities that npc's point out should Link take on his form. This would mean that Link, like Zelda, is part [[BeastMan Zonai]].]]

* UnevenHybrid: [[spoilers: Given the heavy implications that the Ancient Hero was a Zonai/Hylian Hybrid, and was the incarnation of Link before the events of "Breath Of The Wild" that wielded the Master Sword. In addition to the similarities that npc's point out should Link take on his form. This would mean that Link, like Zelda, is part [[BeastMan Zonai]].]]

* UnevenHybrid: [[Spoilers: Given the heavy implications that the Ancient Hero was a Zonai/Hylian Hybrid, and was the incarnation of Link before the events of "Breath Of The Wild" that wielded the Master Sword. In addition to the similarities that npc's point out should Link take on his form. This would mean that Link, like Zelda, is part [[BeastMan Zonai]].]]