Link

• Closed Circle: Link cannot return home until he awakens the Wind Fish. As an owl statue reads "THE WIND FISH SLUMBERS LONG... THE HERO'S LIFE GONE..." the whale deity will dream away forever while Link will reach the end of his natural life. Of course, that statue COULD just be referring to what happens if Link dies- and just also happens to be placed right next to a fairy in the tree that will restore Link's health...
• Did Not Get the Girl: Even if you get the perfect ending, Link will be unable to stay alongside Marin, since she escapes the dream reborn as a bird.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Gets dumped off in the middle of the ocean for his efforts.
• Experienced Protagonist: He is the same Link as in A Link to the Past and the Oracle games.
• Going Down with the Ship: Though his death is averted, thanks to Link tying himself to the ship's mast.
• Journey to Find Oneself: After three adventures (A Link to the Past and the Oracle Games) Link has long defeated the evil Ganon, but Hyrule merely enjoyed a precautious peace, its citizens wondering when the next threat would arrive to end the tranquility. Feeling in need of enlightenment, he embarks on this journey for foreign lands.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: In addition to Link's usual kleptomania, he can now outright steal things from the shop.
• Only Sane Man: Indeed, because he's the only real man in the whole game.
• There's No Place Like Home: More than anything, Link dearly wishes to return to his beloved homeland, Hyrule.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: To the monsters/nightmares, he's this. Link doesn't even know the true nature of Koholint, yet they fear him all the same, knowing his desire to go home will be their undoing.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: Link goes unconscious after the lightning bolt hits his ship at the beginning. He wakes up in Marin and Tarin's house on Koholint Island.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: If Link dies in the Dream Shrine, he dies in real-life. He's also at the mercy of the Wind Fish's imagination, so if the Nightmares get him, it's a real death.

Marin

• All There in the Manual: In the manual, other official art, and her Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy, Marin plays the harp, but never does in the game.
• And You Were There: She's supposed to be based somewhat on Zelda, enough that Link confused her for Zelda at first.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is normally a sweet, kind, all loving girl, but there are moments when she displays an uncharacteristically sinister and bloodthirsty side.
  Marin: *occasionally if Link breaks a pot* Yes!! Yes!! Break them! Break them all! ... ... ... ... What? What's wrong?
  Marin: *if Link attacks a Cucco too many times* Ha ha ha! Do it! Do it! Do it moooore! ...
• But You Were There, and You, and You: Inverted, Malon who appears in later games is based on her. Became a straight example after a version of Malon appeared in Oracle of Seasons which was Retconned into this game's backstory.
• Can Not Spit It Out: She clearly has romantic feelings for Link but just isn't able to voice them.
• Expy: Of Princess Zelda.
• Fantastic Romance: Starts off as innocently as this. The Hero is trapped in another world and then gets embroiled in romance. However after discovering all Koholint is but a dream, the player makes the disturbing realization Marin isn't real at all, she's just the product of the Wind Fish's own psyche.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: This is how the game begins.
• Flower in Her Hair: She has a hibiscus in her hair.
• Friend to All Living Things: She sings for the animals in the Animal Village. However, she is SCARILY encouraging of Link abusing Cuccos if you do it for long enough. Probably because, once she starts encouraging you, if you keep doing it, the Cuccos will start attacking you like they usually do.

• Girl of My Dreams: She exists only in the Wind Fish's dreams.
• Guest Star Party Member: At one point you are required to take Marin with you to wake up a walrus in order to continue with the main quest.
• Heroes Want Redheads: At least such is implied by the narration "Is this your big chance?" when Marin becomes a Guest Star Party Member.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She's well aware that Link's quest will lead to him leaving the island, and her, behind, but she supports him doing so anyway and even attempts to wake the Wind Fish herself at one point.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Apart from the fact that she literally is a "dream girl", she qualifies. Life virtually revolving around the protagonist? Check. Quirky personality? Check. ("Dig it! Dig to the center of the earth!") Of course, Link doesn't need convincing to be adventurous.
• Missing Mom: In this game and all her future incarnations. In most games, she still has a Mario look-alike dad, but in Majora's Mask, Cremia and Romani don't even have a dad.
• Outdoorsy Gal: No kidding. The only time she's seen indoors is in the beginning of the game, where she's watching over the unconscious Link. At one point, she even questions why her father would stay inside during the day when he could be outdoors. To be fair, he'd spent the night gallivanting as a raccoon. When she's traveling with Link, she waits outside for him whenever he goes into a dungeon, refusing to go in. Oh, and she wants to be able to leave Koholint and see the world when nobody else cares. Now THAT'S outdoorsy.
• Temporary Substitute: Fills in for Princess Zelda in the only Legend of Zelda game where Zelda doesn't appear.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: A trait that carries on in later games with Malon.
• Winged Humanoid (in the black-and-white version), Animorphism (in the DX version): Marin's reward if you get a No Miss Clear is to have her wish granted and either be able to fly like a seagull or become a seagull.

Tarin

• Baleful Polymorph: At one point he's turned into a Raccoon (or Tanuki in the original Japanese version). Although its not exactly baleful - once he's back to normal, he recalls having fun as a raccoon.
• Bumbling Dad
• But You Were There, and You, and You: Inverted, Talon who appears in later games is based on him.
  • He's also reminiscent of Link's uncle from A Link to the Past. Link even obtains the first shield from him just like he did from his uncle in the previous game.
• Expy: Of Mario. He has the mustache, he loves eating mushrooms and he's turned into a raccoon/tanuki. The resemblance to Mario carries over into Talon.
• Moment Killer: He does this a couple of times during the game.
• Sleepy Head: Will be found at home napping in-between his appearances around the island.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Mushrooms.

The Owl

• But You Were There, and You, and You: Inverted, Kaepora Gaebora who appears in later games is based on him.
• Mr. Exposition: He appears several times to give Link hints about where he should go next.
• No Name Given: People often mistakenly refer to him as Kaepora Gaebora since Kaepora Gaebora is an extremely obvious Expy of him, but this owl was never actually named.
• Pieces of God: At the end the owl reveals he is part of the Wind Fish's spirit and guardian of his dreams.

• Unreliable Expositor: Once Link reads the inscription that warns of that the Wind Fish awakening will mean the end Koholint Island and its inhabitants, he suggests to Link that it might not be telling the entire truth. The end, however, reveals that it was a lie he told Link to ensure that he would complete his quest.

The Wind Fish

• Expy: The Ocean King from Phantom Hourglass and Levias from Skyward Sword are both expies of the Wind Fish.
• Fisher King: Both the inhabitants of the island and the nightmares are born from his dreams.
• The Gods Must Be Lazy: You think he would've placed Link a little closer to the mainland at the end of the game.
  • After all, Link saves this divine cetacean from an eternity of nightmares. How does the whale god thank his savior? By leaving him behind. Clinging to driftwood, in the middle of the ocean.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: All Koholint is but his dream, and Link must travel his way to the center of an egg and awaken the core of the deity's consciousness. The Nightmares that control the whale god, of course, won't go down without a fight.
• Mysterious Watcher: He's constantly watching Link's progress, though unlike the Owl, is unable to directly interact or communicate with the hero.
• Non-Indicative Name: As described by an owl statue, "THE WIND FISH IN NAME ONLY, FOR IT IS NEITHER".
• The Omniscient: He dreams, and thus knows of, video game characters from other fictional universes.

• Shipper on Deck: Implied, by Marin's inclusion into the dream.

• Summon Everyman Hero: While never explicitly stated, it is heavily implied nonetheless that the Wind Fish, was responsible for the storm in the game's prologue. He uses the last of his available powers to draw Link into his dream in a final desperate act to stop the nightmares taking over his mind.

The Nightmare

• Big Bad: Throughout the whole game it's unclear who exactly the Big Bad is, but once Nightmare is introduced, it's pretty clear.
• Boss Rush: It's a sequential boss whose forms are several bosses from A Link to the Past.
• But You Were There, and You, and You: As something of a Shout-Out, Vaati's One-Winged Angel form in The Minish Cap looks exactly like DethI. Bongo Bongo also bears a resemblance to DethI.

• Faceless Eye: It's true form is a floating eye with arms that have spikes.
• Final Boss: This Nightmare and its forms is the last enemy blocking Link from waking the Wind Fish in Link's Awakening; it's destruction allows Link to escape the island, but at the cost of its disappearance.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Inverted. Ganon appears during the final boss fight, but it's only a form taken by the Nightmare based on Link's memories.
• Go for the Eye: Once the Nightmare goes through all the classic Zelda bosses in this fight, it shows it's original true form as a giant eyeball with two spike arms. It only takes one great shot into the eye to finish it off.
• Never Say "Die": DethI was originally called "Death Eye." On the other hand, the phonics of its new name preserve the general impact and can be considered a Punny Name.
• Non-Malicious Monster: The nightmares may rule Koholint, but unlike Ganon, everyone's lives on the island are happy, blissfully ignorant ones. Only those who have the power to assist Link are targeted/abducted, and even then, they don't injure/kill them. Dead or alive, they only want to stop the hero waking the Wind Fish.
• One-Winged Angel: DethI
• Saving the World: In an unusual inversion, the bad guy is trying to save the world and the hero is trying to destroy it, but the Nightmares aren't saving the world for benevolent reasons.
• Sequential Boss: When the Nightmare is confronted at the end of the game, Link has to muscle his way though forms of previous Arch Enemies of his; the final form is an original monster and has the Mini-Boss theme over it.
• Shipper on Deck: The monsters do nothing to intervene when Link is spending time with Marin. It could be speculated they hope if Link falls in love with Marin, and starts to enjoy the wonderland that is Koholint, he'll abandon his quest to go home.
• Tennis Boss: One of the forms it takes is Agahnim. You fight it the usual way.

Crazy Tracy

• Ascended Extra: A shopkeeper in this game, a main character in Captain Rainbow.
• Informed Attribute: Doesn't really seem all that "crazy".

Richard

• The Cameo: He's The Rival from For The Frog The Bell Tolls.
• It's Up to You: Made Link infiltrate the castle rather than do it himself.
• Lost Forever: Don't press the drawbridge switch before you get his picture.
• Riddle for the Ages: Why did he want those Golden Leaves so badly?

Madame MeowMeow

• Expy: Mamamu Yan is one of her, but in-universe it's the likely other way around.
• Fluffy Tamer: Owns three Bow-Wows (Chain Chomps).

• Smooch of Victory: Which restores your health (L-lucky!).

Quadruplet Family

• But Thou Must!: If you don't have the pineapple upon finding Papahl, your only options when he asks for help are "can't" and "nope".
• Foreshadowing: Can't comprehend the idea of places outside the island, and can't recall the island's history because it's imaginary.
• He Knows About Timed Hits: Will explain that select brings up the map, and A+B+Start+Select allows you to save. They don't exactly know what it means because they're "just kids".
• Off Model: When Marin is at the beach, a quadruplet will be there in her place. However, all of the other quadruplets around Mabe Village are still at their respective places, resulting in there being five quadruplets.

Old Man Ulrira

• Captain Obvious: "In the southeast of the island, you will find something called the Angler Key. Hmmm… How much more obvious do I have to be? Bye!”
• Hint System: When called on the phone, he will give Link advice on how to advance his quest.
• No Indoor Voice: In sharp contrast to her shy and quiet husband, Mrs. Ulrira greets link with "YAHOO!"
• Serious Business: His wife wishes to sweep the whole island. Halfway through the game she's swept all the way to Animal Village.
• Situational Sociability: Ulrira is your source of advice on where to go next when you get stuck. You can call him from any phone and get his help. If you find him and speak to him in person, he'll barely speak to you. The best you can get out of him is a request to call him on the phone.
• The Walrus Was Paul: Just who is this "Bucket Mouse"? Evidently, it's a mangling of a Japanese fishing shop called "Bucketmouth", but it's still pretty random.

Nakura

• Composite Character: Is the one who gives Link the L-2 sword in the manga, making him one with the Spirit of the Seashell Mansion.
• Death by Adaptation: While he was already technically "dead", in the manga he passes on completely, whereas the game had him stay at his grave permanently, apparently accepting it as his new home.
• The Load: Is too scared to enter any dungeons, and unlike Marin too scared to just wait outside alone, so Link must get rid of him to progress.
• Named by the Adaptation: Was simply called "That Ghost" in the games.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: At any time he's at his grave (as in, not following you), you can bother him by sprinkling magic powder on it. He threatens to put a curse on you, but never does.

The Photographer

• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: A big purple mouse.
• But Thou Must!: Refusing to let him take your picture results in him knocking you out and then taking the picture.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Captures the exact moment of you stealing from the Town Tool Shop.