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The Triforce Wielders
Recurring: Goddesses and Allies, Villains and Enemies, Races
Main Series: The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Oracle games, Four Swords, The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures, The Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Tri Force Heroes, Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom
Spin-Offs: Philips CD-i Games, Hyrule Warriors, Cadence of Hyrule, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Characters from The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. For how they are portrayed in the manga, see this character sheet.


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The Heroes

    Links 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/links_fsa.png
Voiced by: Sachi Matsumoto

The main character and hero of the game split into four. The catch is that you play as four Links in these games, but his/their destiny is the same as always. With the Four Sword/s in hand/s, he/they set out to Save the Princess and defeat the evil double.


    Zelda 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zelda_fsa.png
Voiced by: Hikari Tachibana

Princess Zelda is Link's love interest, and Barrier Maiden of the Kingdom of Hyrule. She also serves as the emotional support and inspiration for the Links.


  • Guest-Star Party Member: For the Final Battle, she has to be escorted, and her magic is key to defeating Ganon.
  • History Repeats: The Zelda of Four Swords asks Link to accompany her to check the weakening seal on Vaati and ends up kidnapped. The Zelda of Four Swords Adventures summons Link to join her and the shrine maidens so she can check the seal on Vaati and also ends up kidnapped.
  • Identical Granddaughter: Minor change in artstyle aside, she's more or less identical in appearance to the Zelda from Four Swords.
  • Improperly Paranoid: Believes that the seal on Vaati is weakening due to the dark clouds plaguing Hyrule, though after she and the shrine maidens are kidnapped by Shadow Link, the seal's still kicking and is only broken when Link takes the Four Sword to fight Shadow Link, causing Vaati to be unsealed.

    The Six Maidens 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zelda_fsa_maidens.jpg
Voiced by: Chiaki Takahashi

These young women maintain the seal of the Four Sword that keeps Vaati sealed.


  • Damsel in Distress: All of them are captured by Shadow Link alongside Zelda. You rescue one of them at the end of each level.
  • Exposition Fairy: On bring rescued and occasionally afterward, they impart information about the narrative and where the Links should head next.
  • Fairy Companion: Once freed from their imprisonment, they take the form of fairies in order to better accompany the Links.
  • No Name Given: Even when speaking to each other, they are referred to according to their colors rather than by name.
  • Warp Whistle: When rescued, they allow the Links to travel to a new part of Hyrule, specifically the area under each one’s individual protection.

The Villains

    Vaati 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vaati_fsa.png

Vaati is a powerful Evil Sorcerer in Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures and seemingly the main antagonist. Eventually, it's discovered that he is a pawn in Ganon's master plan.


  • Ambiguous Situation: Due to his role as a Silent Antagonist, it's unclear if Vaati was in league with Ganon the whole time, or if he was just a mere distraction for Ganon's true plan.
  • Big Bad: Him breaking out of the Four Sword and going on a rampage across Hyrule is what sets the Links off on their quest. However, he's just a pawn in Ganon's scheme.
  • Blow You Away: Being the Wind Sorcerer, Vaati retains his powers of controlling the wind from the previous game.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: He's fought right before Ganon.
  • Evil Laugh: An oddly deep one compared to his laugh in The Minish Cap.
  • Evil Sorcerer: He is a powerful magic-user able to control the wind and perform various spells. He's called the "Wind Sorcerer" for a reason.
  • Faceless Eye: Due to retaining his monstrous form from Four Swords, Vaati appears as a giant eye in a swirling, black cloud.
  • Generic Doomsday Villain: As a result of his Sanity Slippage after the events of The Minish Cap, Vaati has been reduced to nothing but a rampaging sorcerer who can't even speak.
  • Hijacked by Ganon: He's revealed to be a mere pawn of Ganon, the true Big Bad. Despite that, he's still a genuine threat that must be taken down.
  • The Pawn: To Ganon.
  • Red Herring: Despite his release being the catalyst for the game's story, Ganon is the one pulling the strings.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: He starts out sealed in the Four Sword.
  • Silent Antagonist: Oddly enough, despite talking a lot in Four Swords and The Minish Cap, in this game he has not a single line of dialogue, not even including his aforementioned Evil Laugh, which is just a voice clip.
  • You Have Failed Me: When Vaati is defeated for the (presumed) final time and the Palace of Winds is collapsing, Ganon's reaction to his defeat is disgust that Vaati was unable to defeat the four heroes.

    Shadow Link 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shadow_link_fsa.png
Voiced by: Sachi Matsumoto

Link's Doppelgänger. Hyrule Historia states that he is a manifestation of the original Ganondorf's hatred for Link.


  • Ax-Crazy: When he's not taunting the heroes, he's attacking anything that gets too close to him.
  • Combo Platter Powers: He can teleport, split himself into clone, change his body color at will, phase through solid objects, regenerate from the Dark Mirror, and use a slew of weapons and items through the use of Hammerspace.
  • Dark Is Evil: He's an Evil Twin Made of Evil, and shadow.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: The four Links put him down shortly before dealing with Vaati and Ganon.
  • Enemy to All Living Things: Absolutely anywhere he shows up, he proceeds to make everyone and everything miserable. The best examples are in Village of the Blue Maiden where he keeps dragging people into the Dark World, and in Kakariko Village where he nearly burns the village down.
  • Evil Twin: He's Ganon's hate of Link given physical form.
  • The Heavy: Kickstarts the plot with the kidnapping of Zelda and the maidens, and proceeds to wreak havoc whenever possible afterward.
  • I Shall Taunt You: Half of his appearances verge on this, either jumping away from Link and giggling (and fleeing if you fail to hit him) or causing trouble in plain sight.
  • Living Shadow: The evil shadow of Link.
  • Mad Bomber: Called the trope word for word by an NPC when he's dropping Giant Bombs on the area constantly.
  • Me's a Crowd: He's worse than the four Links in this regard, as he constantly creates clones of himself.
  • Money Spider: Drops either a Big Green (100) or Big Blue (150) Force Gem upon defeat — all of them, even if they're clones.
  • No Ontological Inertia: When the real Shadow Link is slain, all the clones spontaneously die if they weren't killed already.
  • The Power of Hate: According to the Hyrule Historia, he is the manifestation of the original Ganondorf's hatred for Link.
  • Pyromaniac: All the fire in Kakariko Villiage in the game is from him. The Fire Rod is also one of his most commonly used items when not in a fight; he even tries to steal one in the first level of the game!
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: In the game, he is made up of soldiers from inside the Dark Mirror.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He picks more difficult areas and gains more attacks with each successive boss fight. By the last one, he's throwing out hurricane spins like candy, and unlike Link, he doesn't get dizzy from it.
  • Tulpa: He's a physical manifestation of Ganon's hate for Link.
  • Wolfpack Boss: In every boss battle with him after the first, he clones himself to even the odds. Gets cranked up to eleven in the last battle with him, where you have to kill nine of him in a single fight.

    Ganon (SPOILERS
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ganon_fsa.png
Voiced by: Takashi Nagasako

The reincarnation of an Ancient Evil who rises once again using the Trident of the Pyramid.


  • Big Bad: Ends up usurping Vaati's position.
  • Black Sheep: To the Gerudo people, who expelled him from their tribe when he stole the Trident. Possibly justified, as the Hyrule Historia officially places the game in the Child Timeline where the events of Twilight Princess and the failed Gerudo invasion occurred and the Gerudo did not want to repeat that tragedy again.
  • Black Swords Are Better: The black-bladed Trident he stole from the Pyramid grants any sufficiently ambitious evildoer untold magical power, and allowed Ganondorf to become the Demon King.
  • Devil's Pitchfork: His magic trident is his explicit weapon, as he gained the power of his previous incarnation through it.
  • Evil Weapon: The Trident of Power which led the newest Ganondorf along his Start of Darkness.
    Inscription: We grant you power to ruin the world. The power of darkness. Evil spirit of magic trident. You are the King of Darkness.
  • History Repeats: Due to a cycle of reincarnation and a curse forced onto him by Demise, Ganon once again turns into a power-hungry tyrant bent on conquering Hyrule.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: For tricking Link into freeing Vaati from the Four Sword via Shadow Link, Ganon becomes the Sword's new prisoner.
  • Legacy Character: The first Legacy Ganon in the series. Prior to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, every other appearance of Ganon(dorf) was the same incarnation from Ocarina of Time, this Ganon is a completely different incarnation.
  • Magic Mirror: Which he used to create Shadow Link.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He uses Shadow Link to manipulate Link into the Four Sword, which in turn releases Vaati to serve as a distraction.
  • Pig Man: In grand tradition.
  • Raise Him Right This Time: Averted; the Gerudo attempted this, but Ganon still turned out evil.
  • Reincarnation: Though Ganon is usually the same person throughout the series, this one is an exception; the original Ganondorf died at the end of Twilight Princess, and this one is his reincarnation.
  • Tragic Villain: Retroactively. Despite being reborn into an entirely new life and raised by some well-meaning Gerudo, Ganondorf still ends up succumbing to Demise's fated curse, once again becoming the King of Evil.
  • Viler New Villain: He is the reincarnation of the Ganondorf who died in Twilight Princess. Unlike his predecessor, he got to live in a newly revitalized and peaceful Gerudo settlement. But for no reason except greed and ambition, Ganondorf stole the Trident of the Pyramid to become the Demon King Ganon and use Shadow Link and Vaati to devastate Hyrule. And unlike the original Ganondorf, who had some sense of honor, he makes it clear he doesn't see any of the four Links as a Worthy Opponent, just worms.
  • Walking Spoiler: His mere involvement gives away much of the game's plot.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Ends up living a near-identical life as his predecessor. See History Repeats above.

    Big Dark Stalfos 

Four enormous Stalfos who were used to be Knights of Hyrule before Ganon's magic corrupted them. The Blue Knight is fought in The Field, the Green Knight is fought in Kakariko Village, the Red Knight is fought in the Desert of Doubt, and the Purple Knight is fought in Frozen Hyrule.


  • Dub Name Change: They are called “Big Stalknuckles” in the original Japanese production.
  • Dying as Yourself: After they are defeated, each one returns as a human spirit, provides their Royal Jewel and some exposition, and then disappears.
  • Elite Four: As humans, these four were handpicked as to serve as Hyrule’s top knights and to guard the four Royal Jewels.
  • Flunky Boss: They can summon common enemies to help them in battle.
  • I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Each one gives up a Royal Jewel when they are freed from their curse.
  • Monster Knight: While once human, they are now enormous Stalfos who fight like bigger Chief Soldiers.
  • King Mook: They serve as stronger versions of both Stalfos and the Chief Soldiers.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Despite the name "Big Dark Stalfos," their white bones, red tassels, and green swords make them lean more into Bright Is Not Good.

Bosses

    Phantom Ganon 
The boss of Hyrule Castle and the Temple of Darkness.
  • BFS: His weapon is a large falchion that he uses for a slashing attack or a Sword Beam.
  • Evil Laugh: He begins each battle with a taunting laugh, and does it again whenever he successfully electrocutes a Link.
  • Foreshadowing: Phantom Ganon’s early introduction hints that Vaati’s not the only main villain around.
  • In Spite of a Nail: He looks exactly like his counterpart in the Adult Timeline.
  • Me's a Crowd: In his second boss fight, he summons three copies of himself as backup.
  • Sword Beam: His ranged attack is to fire a ball of energy from his sword.
  • Tennis Boss: He can fire bolts of energy that the Links can deflect. He later switches it up by firing colored bolts that only the corresponding Link can hit.

    Stone Arrghus 
The boss of the Eastern Temple.
  • Broken Armor Boss Battle: After the Links use their boomerangs to destroy it’s drones, they can attack Stone Arrghus directly
  • Flunky Boss: It surrounds itself with small copies that have to be yanked off and destroyed.
  • Platform Battle: The Links have to fall through the holes in the monster’s lair to get boomerangs.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: In the final phase of the battle, Stone Arrghus’ eye turns bloodshot as it becomes more erratic.
  • Turns Red: When it loses all of it’s shields, it becomes much faster and starts to jump around.

    Helmaroc King 
The boss of The Mountain Path.
  • Broken Armor Boss Battle: The Links have to smash open the bird’s mask to attack it directly.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: The Helmaroc King can cause avalanches to hurt the Links.
  • Giant Flyer: The Helmaroc King is as big as the four Links put together, and flies easily through the air.
  • In Spite of a Nail: The Helmaroc King shows up here as part of the Child Timeline, and looks exactly like the one in the Adult Timeline.

    Dodongos 
The boss(es) of the Tower of the Flames and the Realm of the Heavens. In the second battle, they are accompanied by a Big Dodongo.
  • Breath Weapon: If the Links take too long to throw bombs at them, they spit trails of fire.
  • Feed It a Bomb: The Dodongos can only be damaged by throwing bombs in their mouths.
  • King Mook: The Big Dodongo is a larger, more fearsome Dodongo that can only be fought with Level 2 Bombs.
  • Wolfpack Boss: The Links have to fight three Dodongos at once.

    Big Poe 
The boss of The Swamp and the Infiltration of Hyrule Castle.
  • Blow You Away: He blows gusts of wind both to push the Links into spike traps and to extinguish the fires that illuminate the boss arena.
  • Flunky Boss: Big Poe can summon Ghinis to fight alongside him.
  • Intangibility: Big Poe is immune to damage as long as his room is dark. The Links have to light up the torches to make him vulnerable.
  • Swallowed Whole: In the second battle, Big Poe swallows the Links whole after taking damage. This allows them to destroy the green monster that serves as Valhalla’s core.

    Big Moldorm 
The boss of the Pyramid.
  • Chasing Your Tail: Its weak spot is its tail, although it changes color so that only the corresponding Link can damage it.
  • Me's a Crowd: After taking enough damage, it splits into two Moldorms.
  • Platform Battle: It is fought on a suspended platform that it tries to knock the Links off of. If it succeeds, the Links have to climb back up again.

    Frostare 
The boss of the Tower of Winds.
  • Body Horror: Frostier is a goblin-like creature with a giant eyeball and a set of wings instead of a lower body.
  • Flunky Boss: Frostare can summon smaller versions of itself, Frosteyes, to attack the Links.
  • Giant Flyer: Frostare flaps around the chamber in the second half of the fight.
  • Stationary Boss: It spends the first half of the battle in the ceiling. The Links have to ascend the tower and cut the monster’s root to make it fall.

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