Adult Child: His gestures and mannerisms are still child-like when older, although it's not really his fault, since his mindset was not given time or the opportunity to age due to being asleep for seven years.
Link's Fairy Companion. She is mainly useful for learning enemy weaknesses and searching for clues around the environment.
Anti-Poop Socking: The 3DS remake adds a couple of pieces of advice for her to dole out periodically, one of which is telling you that she's tired and you should take a break.
Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Unless the player is fast with button presses, she doesn't normally say "Listen!" right after "Hey!". Her automatic halts of the gameplay doesn't include the "Hey" at all.
Yamato Nadeshiko: The few chunks of dialogue that reference Navi (mostly the by the Deku Tree) or are her talking about herself strongly hint at her being meant to be one of these. This is in sharp contrast to every other Fairy Companion in the franchise (Manga and Cartoon counting), who all feature at least a certain degree of temperament.
Zelda
The Princess of Hyrule. Despite her young age, she is wise beyond her years. She is aware of Ganondorf's plans to conquer Hyrule the entire world and she has her own plans to stop him.
Barrier Maiden: She and the other Sages seal away Ganon after Link defeats him. In the timeline where Link dies are forced to seal him in the Sacred Realm instead turning the holy place into the Dark World.
Fallen Princess: She was forced to give up her life of royalty to masquerade as a Sheikah warrior for seven long years, all to hide from Ganondorf until the return of the Hero of Time.
Holy Hand Grenade: Pins Ganon down with a blast of light magic during the final battle.
Nice Job Breaking It, Heroine: Her plan to safeguard the Triforce backfires as it allows Ganondorf entrance to the Sacred Realm.
She's retroactively established in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker to have doomed Hyrule to its destruction because she sent the Hero of Time back to the past.
Properly Paranoid: Zelda suspects that Ganondorf intends to overthrow her father and locate the Triforce, a suspicion that is implied to not be taken seriously. Turns out, she's right.
A mysterious Sheikah warrior that claims to be the Last Of Their Kind. Sheik teaches Link the various songs to teleport him to the various temples around Hyrule... and is revealed to have been Zelda in disguise.
Ambiguously Brown: It's very unusual that Zelda would have the capacity to disguise herself as this.
Hammerspace: Where Sheik's harp appears to go when not playing it.
I Never Told You My Name: Sheik lets a single "Link" slip at the end of the first "conversation' with Link in the Temple of Time despite being literally the first person to encounter him in the future and no else seeming to recognize him from when he was a child. An early indication that Sheik is someone you know.
The last of the original Sages remaining, and the Sage of Light. Rauru explains to Link that he sealed Link away for seven years in the Sacred Realm so he could age into the intended Hero of Time, that Ganondorf has taken over Hyrule, and assigns him to awaken the reincarnations of the remaining sages. Although only hinted at the game, All There in the Manual confirms he also appears as his reincarnated form, Kaepora Gaebora.
Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: It's implied that she managed to get all the way through the monster infested Forest Temple.
Unlucky Childhood Friend: Her speech upon becoming a sage seems to indicate feelings for Link. However, sages are obligated to serve the gods without any bounds binding them to the mortal world. Additionally, she's Not Allowed to Grow Up which would make things even more complicated.
The chief of the Goron people. He at first rejects Link, but later comes to accept him after he clears Dodongo's Cavern of monsters. He gives Link the Goron Ruby and inducts him in as a member of the tribe. Seven years later, he attempts to rescue his people from the dragon Volvagia by going to the Fire Temple. He is revealed to be the Sage of Fire.
The princess of the Zora Fish People. Link first meets her in the Womb Level, where she is searching for the Zora's Sapphire that Jabu-Jabu swallowed. Later revealed to be the Sage of Water.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Subverted, Ruto's "developments" have been censored in Ocarina of Time 3D; she has scales that looks like she's wearing a dress.
The second-in-command of the all-female Gerudo thieves who secretly despises Ganondorf. She attempts to break into the Spirit Temple to retrieve the Silver Gauntlets, but is captured and brainwashed by Twinrova instead. She is revealed to be the Sage of Spirit.
Black Knight: Involuntarily trapped inside a suit of armor by Twinrova.
Brainwashed and Crazy: By Twinrova. It's also strongly implied that her Brainwashed and Crazy status is the reason why she served as Ganondorf's second in command in the Adult Timeline.
Commander Contrarian / The Starscream: To Ganondorf, before she becomes a Sage. Zigzagged by the fact that her misgivings about Ganondorf are legitimate concerns and that her motivations aren't fundamentally evil, unlike his.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: As she stated to Link, she knows that Gerudo law requires that she bow down to Ganondorf due to his being the first male born in a century to the group, but she doesn't care and will not acknowledge Ganon as her king due to the atrocities he committed.
Other Characters
Great Deku Tree
The guardian spirit of the Kokiri tribe. He is cursed by Ganondorf at the beginning of the game, and dies shortly after Link breaks the curse. A new Deku Tree grows in his place when Link is older, which retains all memories from the first, who tells Link that he is a Hylian and not a Kokiri.
Fisher King: Once the Deku Tree dies, Kokiri Forest goes to seed.
The children of the forest who are under the protection of guardian fairies and the Great Deku Tree. They aren't allowed to leave the forest. They don't age, keeping the appearance of children.
The wise old owl who shows up around Hyrule. He appears to give the player hints as to where to go next and what to do. However, his long-winded text conversations and Exposition Break manner of speaking made him annoying in any playthrough but the first one.
Stop Helping Me!: "Would you like to hear what I said again?" [Yes is highlighted by default and you would most likely have been button mashing to get through his spiels. Do the math.]
Malon
This is the girl from Lon Lon Ranch. She teaches Epona's Song to Link.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Ganondorf brings out Ingo's resentment toward Talon and makes him evil in the adult years. He gets better after you defeat him in a race and get Epona.
Expy: Talon and Ingo look a bit like Mario and Luigi. Talon also counts as an expy of Marin's father Tarin from Link's Awakening.
Lazy Bum: Talon, though he changes his ways later.
Shipper on Deck: Talon asks Link if he'd like to marry Malon.
Shout Out: Talon, like his daughter, wears a broach of Bowser's face.
Sharp and Flat
Driven to Suicide: It's implied that the reason they died is they killed themselves in order to maintain the secret of their work, as Ganondorf was going to steal their work.
Let's You and Him Fight: Sharp and Flat will attack you on sight, believing you to be a follower of Ganondorf. They'll only realize you're not after being defeated.
Magic Music: Together they composed the Sun's Song, which can summon the day and the night.
Meaningful Name: Sharp and Flat are musical terms, thus fitting names for composers.
Amazon Brigade: The entire race is female, and it is required by law that they obey their king, the sole male born in 100 years.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Shortly after Link kills Twinrova, one of the carpenters would tell Link when spoken to that with Koume and Kotake dead, the Gerudo are no longer scary anymore, implying that their earlier actions were the result of Twinrova brainwashing the race or keeping them in line with fear.
Even Evil Has Standards: It's subtly implied that the Gerudo may not have actually wanted to serve Ganondorf in the adult years, as they were seen celebrating Ganondorf's defeat at Lon Lon Ranch. Granted, they weren't quite as open as Nabooru about it, but still.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: They have a vaguely Middle Eastern culture (being desert-dwellers) with a star and crescent as their symbol.
"As I thought, you held the keys to the Door of Time! You have led me to the gates of the Sacred Realm...Yes, I owe it all to you, kid!"
Ganondorf, King of the Gerudos, and, not much later, Great King of Evil. He seeks the power of the Triforce, but, due to his unbalanced heart, causes it to split into its three basic components, and is only able to seize one of them: The Triforce of Power, the one virtue most prevalent in his heart. Of course, one third of the power of the goddesses isn't a bad share on it's own, granting him tremendous physical and magical power and making him nearly immortal, and with it he easily takes over Hyrule in the seven years of Link's absence. However, just one piece of the Triforce still isn't enough to grant him his wish. And so, his search for the remaining pieces continues...
Ambiguously Brown: Him and all the Gerudo people. They live in deserts, so it's probably justified. Ganondorf himself, however, has a sickly green tone to his skin. By the end of the game, it has already turned into full-blown green skin.
Archenemy: This is where his centuries-long antagonism to many Links and Zeldas to come began.
Genius Bruiser: He's an incredibly powerful sorcerer, and also a powerful warrior. In addition, he is also a pretty good strategist. It's heavily implied that he used both Zelda and Link to access the Sacred Realm. And then years later he uses Link to reveal Zelda's location.
Hellish Horse: With glowing red eyes. The German version even claimed that it was from Hell.
Hero Killer: According to Hyrule Historia, the timeline resulting in A Link to the Past and the NES games is the product of Ganon defeating Link in their final battle.
Humanoid Abomination: He was human (or very close to it) to start with, but after finding the Triforce, he's become something much, much worse.
Although how much he resembles a pig is open to interpretation. The artwork for the game (see above) gives him a slightly piggish nose, but even his in-game model doesn't look so much like a humanoid pig as some kind of demonic, non-descript Beast Man.
A Plague on Both Your Houses: He swears to destroy all of Link and Zelda's descendants just as he is being sealed. This mirrors the curse that Demise placed on their ancestors in Skyward Sword.
Prongs of Poseidon: The Trident of Power. Though he himself doesn't use it in this game, his minion, Phantom Ganon, does.
Raised by Grandparents: He was raised by the witches Twinrova. Navi calls them "Ganondorf's surrogate mothers" if you ask her about them in battle.
Blade Run: Dark Link is capable of doing this if you use the stab move to attack him by freezing Link in place somehow and jumping onto the blade. This can be used to your advantage, however; if you use a broken "Giant's Knife" he falls off.
Curb-Stomp Battle/No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Its first appearance has it flailing Sheik around shortly after escaping the well, and throwing the hapless Sheikah down hard enough to induce unconsciousness. The exact result of Link's failed encounter with it is unknown (the screen blacks out right when it approaches Link), although the vocal grunts imply that Bongo Bongo managed to defeat Link easily in a similar manner, and it was implied that Link was knocked out for several hours as a result.
Tremor Trampoline: He pounds on a giant drum that happens to your only footing in the room you fight him in, making your character bounce. Equipping the Hover Boots can lessen it slightly, though.
Twinrova (Koume and Kotake)
Ganondorf's surrogate parents. Koume uses fire magic and Kotake uses ice magic. Their Fusion Dance forms a composite being that can use both.
Mind Control: They use this on Nabooru (with the Hypno Trinket variety). It's also implied from one of the carpenters after her defeat that the Gerudo as a whole may have been brainwashed by her as well.
Magic Staff: That transform into their broomsticks.
Really 700 Years Old: Actually 400 years old, but one of the twins insists that she's only 380. The Twinrova fusion really doesn't look it.
Tactical Suicide Boss: If they didn't fight together, you wouldn't have one's magic to reflect at the other.
Tennis Boss: A variation, you reflect their magic into the other one. Twinrova plays it straight, though you need to absorb three blasts before you can turn them back.
