History Characters / TheLegendOfZeldaI

[[Characters/TheLegendOfZeldaLink The hero]] of the game. A young Hylian tasked with reassembling the fragmented Triforce of Wisdom and thwarting Ganon.

The Princess of Hyrule and the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. She broke the Triforce of Wisdom into pieces to keep it out of Ganon's hands, but was later captured by him.

* NothingIsScarier: The game's manual plays up the mystery of Ganon; hiding his actual appearance and stating that no one knows what Ganon is or if they had, they never lived to tell the tale. Considering how [[NintendoHard cryptic and hard]] it is for players to get all eight pieces of the Triforce, this creates an atmosphere of suspense and dread as they draw closer to Ganon's lair. The closest we get to Ganon appearing in the manual are a behind the back shot with focus on his strangely muscular right leg as Link stares him down, and a shot of Link destroying Ganon, showing his shadow exploding from the might of the Triforce, which is likely an artistic rendering of Link using the Triforce to light up his chamber.

* PigMan: His real appearance is an anthropomorphic pig. According to Ganon's backstory in ''A Link to the Past'', it was because the Triforce transformed him into a form of himself that showed his lust for power.

!!Old Man and Old Woman

The hero of the game. A young Hylian tasked with reassembling the fragmented Triforce of Wisdom and thwarting Ganon.

[[folder:Old Man and Woman]]

* NiceHat: He has a green cap with a yellow trim at the bottom.

* KidHero: He's only ten years old according to ''Hyrule Historia''. Even in the sequel, he's only sixteen.

* TheBadGuyWins: The fan translation includes a special bit of dialogue if the player fails to obtain the pieces of the Triforce on Week 4 or fails to kill Ganon, with the Narrator stating this trope in all but name.

* ClassicalMovieVampire: The source of most of Ganon's characterization in early canon, from being titled "Prince of Darkness" to being revived by Link's blood. He even hides behind his cape in BS Zelda when the lights come on, and expanded media claimed that he was significantly weaker above ground. This is to say nothing of his weakness to silver.
* DevilsPitchfork: He wields a trident in some post-''A Link to the Past'' artwork and in the ''BS Zelda'' remake, though it's only for show in the latter.

* ProngsOfPoseidon: He wields a trident in some artwork and in the ''BS Zelda'' remake, though it's only for show in the latter.

* DegradedBoss: After being fought as a boss, it appears as normal albeit one-off enemy in Level Eight.
* EyeBeams: It attacks Link by shooting beams from its eye. This is the only time when its eye is open, and Link consequently needs to bait it into attacking to defeat it.

* CreepyCoolCrosses: His Magical Shield has a cross on it.

* TurnRed: After enough sword strikes, Ganon will turn red and stop in his tracks. This is when the Silver Arrow comes into play.

The evil Prince of Darkness, who stole the Triforce of Power. He has captured Princess Zelda and is searching for the Triforce of Wisdom as well.

** TheBadGuyWins: The fan translation ups this by including a special bit of dialogue if the player fails to obtain the pieces of the Triforce on Week 4 or fail to kill Ganon, with the Narrator even stating this trope in all but name.
-->'''Ganon''': "The Triforce is mine. Hyrule is mine! Everything... heheheh... it's ''all'' mine!"

* NothingIsScarier: The game's manual plays up the mystery of Ganon; hiding his actual appearance and stating that no one knows what Ganon is or if they had, they never lived to tell the tale. Considering how [[NintendoHard cryptic and hard]] it is for players to get all eight pieces of the Triforce, this creates an atmosphere of suspense and dread as they draw closer to Ganon's lair.

* {{Expy}}: Ganon's name during development was Gyuumaou Hakkai, as he was conceived as an amalgamation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Bajie Chohakkai (Zhu Bajie, a.k.a. "Pigsy")]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Demon_King Gyuumao (Ox King)]] from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.
** He also bears a lot of references to Bowser, down to the way he fights as the final boss.

* {{Expy}}: Ganon's name during development was Gyuumaou Hakkai, as he was conceived as an amalgamation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Bajie Chohakkai (Zhu Bajie)]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Demon_King Gyuumao (Ox King)]] from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.

* {{Expy}}: Her role in the game is near-identical to that of Princess Peach in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', being a princess locked away in the villain's dungeon beccaue only her magic can undo the curse he has cast upon the land.

[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tloz_link_kneeling_artwork.pngpng]]

[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tloz_link_kneeling_artwork.png]]

* AbnormalAmmo: PlayedWith in his use of Arrows. He can’t shoot the Bow without the Arrows... but, unlike in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' and onward, ''Zelda 1'' doesn't have a dedicated counter for arrows; firing the Bow consumes Link's ''rupees'' instead. The implication is likely that Link is using the rupees as arrowheads.

* TheCameo: According to the Japanese instruction booklet, it's a Piranha Plant from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' This is removed from localized manuals.

* TheCameo: According to the Japanese instruction booklet, it's a Unira from ''VideoGame/CluCluLand''. This is removed from localized manuals.

* InconsistentColoring: She has three designs with three different hair colors: one blonde, one brunette, and one redheaded version of the brunette design. The canonical color seems to be the brunette design , though some offical books (such as the ''Arts & Artifacts'' art book) use the redheaded version instead.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Prior to getting captured by Ganon, she broke the Triforce of Wisdom to keep it out of Ganon's grasp, and sent Impa to look for a champion.

* SuddenlyBlonde: Subverted. Concept art implies he was meant to be blond. Instead of Link officially being blond but having a brunet sprite, his official design was altered so that his canon color is brown. He is the only brunet Link thus far.

* LegacyCharacter: He's the first Link in the series, but has been [[{{Retcon}} preceded by many other Links chronologically, going back hundreds of years]].

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: The backstory in the game's manual doesn't give much about Ganon other than he's the leader of an evil army and wants to use the Triforce of Power and Wisdom to plunge the world into darkness and fear. And thanks to the NES's limitations, Ganon doesn't do anything beyond roaring and attacking Link in his boss lair. This is probably why ''Hyrule Historia'' is able to retcon him here as a beast lacking in intelligence.