Sandbox / The Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild Zelda

Princess Zelda

"Prayer will awaken my power to seal Ganon away... Or so I've been told all my life..."

^{Click here to see Zelda in her formal dress} 

^{Click here to see Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom} 

^{Click here to see her SPOILER FORM in Tears of the Kingdom} 
Zelda as the Light Dragon

Voiced by: Yu Shimamura (Japanese), Patricia Summersett (English) ^{Foreign VAs}  Jessica Ángeles (Mexican Spanish), Nerea Alfonso (European Spanish), Adeline Chetail (French), Julia Casper (German), Martina Felli (Italian)

The Princess of Hyrule, a kingdom that has now fallen into ruin. She is the voice that guides Link after his hundred-year slumber and the only one holding Calamity Ganon at bay. As Link begins his quest to save Hyrule, he begins to regain his memories relating to Zelda and her past.

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A-L

• Aborted Declaration of Love: Implied when she asks the Great Deku Tree to tell Link something for her when he comes for the Master Sword when he awakens, but the Deku Tree stops her mid-sentence and convinces her to say it herself. We don't ever see her do so, but it's heavily implied that she will after the reunion.
• Action Girl: Compared to the other Champions, Zelda was not raised as a warrior, so she initially has no combat prowess and she hasn't awakened her powers yet, much to her frustration. After awakening her divine powers when saving Link’s life from a Guardian, however, she marched toward the Malice-infested Hyrule Castle and sealed Calamity Ganon inside alongside herself in a stasis for a hundred years, actively fighting him on the inside with her divine powers and holding him in place until Link awakens from his slumber and arrives to help her weaken Ganon enough to seal him away. She is an active participant in the fight with Dark Beast Ganon, pinning him in place in the middle of Hyrule Field with barriers created by her holy powers so he doesn’t destroy Hyrule and creating runes over his body for Link to shoot at. She even manages to deal the final blow to him, sealing him away with her holy power which is implied to be the Triforce itself. It’s downplayed initially in Tears of the Kingdom as her power has greatly diminished over the years fighting Calamity Ganon and she has to rely on Link for protection against some Keese. However, it’s played more straight back in the past when she starts to learn how to control her time magic and combines her innate powers with Sonia and Rauru's to help them destroy a swarm of Molduga, initially prevents an assassination attempt on Sonia, and confronts Ganondorf alongside Rauru and the Sages, where she is shown to weaponize her time magic against him. As a dragon, while she doesn't actively fight a draconfied Ganondorf and she isn't aware of what's going on, she subconsciously helps Link in the final fight by rescuing him from Ganondorf, providing Link a ride, and a means to reach the draconified Ganondorf while shielding Link from his fireballs.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: Zelda travels the world researching the dilapidated ruins of Old Hyrule. She was the original owner of the Sheikah Slate, and was very annoyed to find that it wouldn't give her access to the shrines, which were meant for Link.
• Affectionate Nickname: Her mother and Urbosa called her "little bird".
• All for Nothing: She laments how all her efforts to prevent Hyrule from suffering destruction were for nothing. However, she does get it together in time to buy Hyrule a century and allows Link to return within that.
• Almighty Idiot: In Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda swallows her Secret Stone to undergo draconficiation, transforming her into the Light Dragon. This transformation makes her powerful and immortal, allowing her to return from the past to the present and keep the Master Sword safe as it recovers its sacred power. However, becoming a dragon means losing her mind in process and thus the Light Dragon is little more than a mindless animal roaming the sky, only subconsciously helping out Link in times of need in the present.
• Amnesiac Resonance: 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.
• Awesome by Analysis: In Tears of the Kingdom, despite having no context for Ganondorf besides one encounter with a zombie vaguely resembling him and Rauru stating that he had the situation well in hand, Zelda can't get off one thing: Ganondorf's name. Unlike everyone else, she's intimately familiar with the name of Calamity Ganon, and knows this isn't coincidence. Thus, despite Rauru's insistence to leave it to him, she secretly works with Queen Sonia to prepare a trap for Ganondorf. This nearly averts catastrophe then and there. Unfortunately, Zelda Failed a Spot Check in Ganon^note dorf being the video game originator of Villain Teleportation.
• Badass Adorable: She's an archaeology nerd who, upon awakening to Hylia's power, is strong enough to seal the resident Eldritch Abomination in a duel for an entire century. In Tears of the Kingdom, while her holy powers have significantly weakened, she learns she is magically in tune with time powers and learns how to control them.
• Badass Bookworm: A staple for the character due to most being the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, but this Zelda takes it further by being a scholar who explores Hyrule culture while ultimately sealing Ganon with her for 100 years.
• Badass in Distress: Zelda has been fighting Ganon nonstop for a century. She awakens Link because her power is waning and she needs backup.
• Barrier Maiden: She's kept Ganon sealed within Hyrule Castle for the past century.
• Barrier Warrior: She creates a massive barrier of light to trap Dark Beast Ganon in Hyrule Field and allow Link to defeat him.
• Be Yourself: It's implied that the reason she has such trouble with her powers, compared to other Zeldas who were more or less able to behave as they liked, is because she is prevented from doing this. In one of the memories, she poses a hypothetical to Link, asking him to consider that if one day he realized he wasn't meant to be a fighter, but no matter what, because he was born into a family of the Royal Guard, that's the role he had to fill. It's very clear she's actually talking about herself and her role as Princess. In another memory, her father quashes and suppresses her interests, dismissing them as 'playing at being a scholar', and forces her to do as her ancestors did. Rather tellingly, in the sequel while learning about her temporal abilities from the first King and Queen of Hyrule Rauru and Sonia, being encouraged and allowed to be herself dramatically improves her ability to learn, to the point of having completely mastered time magic by the time they face against Ganondorf.
• Big Good: She was responsible for gathering the Champions and spearheaded the research of the lost Sheikah technology; including the Divine Beasts and Link's Sheikah Slate. And she has prevented Calamity Ganon from completing his conquest by keeping him confined to Hyrule Castle while Link recovers.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Hers are noticeably thicker than most of her predecessors and they're a few shades darker than her hair color.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: She spends her seventeenth birthday praying at the Spring of Wisdom, but as she comes down from Mount Lanayru, Calamity Ganon attacks, killing the Champions, corrupting the Sheikah machines, putting Link out of commission, and laying waste to Hyrule.
• Bittersweet 17: She made one final effort to awaken her sealing powers by praying at the last spring, the Spring of Wisdom, on her seventeenth birthday, the first day she was able to go there. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
• Blue Blood: She's the crown princess of Hyrule and, appropriately, speaks with a high-class British accent in the English dub.
• Bodyguard Crush: Her behavior in some of the cutscenes imply this, and a sidequest involving the minstrel Kass will reveal that his teacher was a Sheikah poet for the royal court who fell in love with Zelda, but that she "only had eyes for her appointed knight".
• Break the Cutie: She cries to Link and heavily laments how all her efforts (assumed to be preventing the fall of Hyrule and stopping the Calamity Ganon from doing so) were for nothing.
• Brought Down to Badass: In Tears of the Kingdom. Spending a hundred years keeping the Calamity sealed, and then using the remainder of her power to destroy it once and for all has caused her to lose much of the power she displayed in Breath of the Wild. That said, she still has access to time manipulation powers due to her connection to the Goddess Hylia, which is further amplified by her secret stone.
• Caring Gardener: Implied. Both her bedroom and her study have the dried remains of small potted plants in them, though it's unclear if she tended to them herself.
• Character Development: She starts off haughty and dismissive towards Link, resenting his seeming ease and success and acting much like her counterpart from The Legend of Zelda (1989) animated series. However, she slowly warms up to him as they spend time together and she learns he has his own struggles.
• Combat Pragmatist: Her time magic makes her this by nature in Tears of the Kingdom. She is by no means the powerhouse that she was when she awakened her holy powers, so she is much more crafty and pragmatic with her use of her magic such as time reversing the weapons the Sages hurl at Ganondorf, causing them to hit him.
• Composite Character: The developers have compared her to both her Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword incarnations. She's very serious-minded about the fate of Hyrule like the former, but her status as a close friend of Link's, with possible romantic undertones, matches that of the latter. On top of that, the way her more independent personality initially causes her to clash with Link and watching the two adapt and grow closer to each other as their journey goes on is reminiscent of Tetra and the Hero of Wind's relationship in Wind Waker.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Previous incarnations of Zelda were already adept at magic and most met Link when his quest is underway. This Zelda is insecure about her inability to unlock her powers and has known Link for quite some time before the game begins. In addition, instead of being being kept captive by the villains, she's instead the one keeping Ganon trapped in Hyrule Castle.
• Covered in Mud: Zelda on the day of the Great Calamity, as she gets put on the run from Guardians in the rain.
• Crisis of Faith: In one of the memories of the events from the past, Zelda's inability to channel Hylia's power despite praying to the goddesses daily eventually causes her to lash out and curse her divine ancestor.
• Cry into Chest: Zelda was unable to awaken her powers, fails her kingdom and her friends, and breaks down crying in Link's arms.
• Dare to Be Badass: When she went to recruit Revali as Divine Beast Vah Medoh's pilot, she told him "We must protect the precious life of this land from the Calamity's grasp at all costs. Hyrule needs you, Revali." Despite finding the plan against Ganon to be foolish and thinking Zelda's wording was a bit silly, Revali was struck by her absolute conviction.
• Death of Personality: Becoming the Light Dragon caused her to lose all sense of self beyond base instincts, and she states she doesn't "really remember" her time as a dragon, though she is aware that it happened. Despite this, she does seem to retain at least some sense of her former self as the Light Dragon, as her dragon form cries tears that contain her memories, she seems to have a general sense to avoid the Depths and areas with high Gloom, and she rushes to aid Link during the final battle, despite the fact that she shouldn't be aware of what is going on or who Link even is.
• Determinator: She neither has any experience as a physical fighter nor in her divine powers, but what she lacks in experience, she makes up for in courage and sheer determination. She saved a dying Link's life by shutting down all of the surrounding Guardians with her divine magic, marched toward Hyrule Castle by herself despite multiple Guardians roaming about, sealed away Ganon for a hundred years before he could destroy Hyrule, and is still fighting him to make sure he doesn't break free. She's even the one to deal the finishing blow on Ganon, sealing him away.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She starts off as being dismissive and cold towards Link, but gradually becomes affectionate towards him.
• Deuteragonist: She's the titular character, one of the three beings with their destinies constantly entangled in Hyrule's history, most of the memories detail her growing relationship with Link, and she's the Barrier Maiden who bought Link the just over a century to save the day. She continues this role in Tears of the Kingdom where a large portion of the story revolves around her time in the past, her relationships with Rauru and Sonia, learning how to control her time magic, her confrontation with Ganondorf and helping Rauru seal him away, and sacrificing her mind and body by turning into a dragon so she can restore the damaged Master Sword to help Link in the present.
• Die or Fly: She is unable to summon her divine powers until threatened by a Guardian, after Link has fallen in battle, and the power is the only thing that can protect him.
• Dragons Are Divine: Swallows her secret stone in Tears of the Kingdom in order to become the holy Light Dragon, at the cost of her identity.
• Ermine Cape Effect: This is actually averted; Zelda does have a fancy royal outfit with the Requisite Royal Regalia like her Cool Crown, but she only wears it for ceremonial purposes in the story and actually wears two other outfits for travel and for rituals.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: Because of scholarly pursuits and focusing on Hyrule's equivalent of The Scientific Method, she is skeptical that blind faith to the goddesses will be enough to unlock her powers. She becomes more doubtful as each attempt at devout prayer is only answered with failure. This frustrates her father, who is a pious ruler, as past princesses and queens have been successful using that method. It's strongly implied that Zelda's doubt of her own divine inheritance and inadequate self-confidence kept her powers sealed.
• Flower Motif: 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 Zelda's powers are not able to flourish in her restricted life. In a poetic justice, a lone Silent Princess grows defiant in her Castle study amongst Calamity Gannon's miasma of Malice. In Tears of the Kingdom, after completing "The Dragon's Tears" sidequest and finding out the eponymous dragon actually is Zelda, an entire bed of Silent Princesses spawns where Link is. Also, you can often find a lone Silent Princess left as offering at the Calamity Memorials she has dedicated across the land.
• Foil: Mipha has everything Zelda wants: confidence, mastery over her powers, and the respect of her people. As seen in Mipha's diary, Zelda also has what Mipha wants: Link's time and attention. It's on this axis that Mipha is able to tell Zelda how she might access her powers: her feelings for Link.
• Foreshadowing: In one of the flashbacks where Link single-handedly killed an army of monsters, Zelda praises Link for his courage, but also warns him not to push himself beyond his limits. In the final memory, Link is shown on the brink of collapse and his Master Sword is notched and stained from holding off a swarm of Guardians that were attacking him and Zelda. The princess pleads with Link to save himself, but he refuses to stop protecting her.
• Freudian Excuse: Her attitude towards Link at first and her moments of hopelessness and self-loathing stem from two potential causes. The first being the death of her mother, which also strained her relationship with her father, is still something she grieves over. The other being how many, including her father, feel she's wasting her time at "playing a scholar" and give her enormous pressure and judgement for not living up to her ancestors. So she initially resents him for thinking he has no issues before realizing that he too has them, but he just hides them better by staying quiet.
• Gambit Roulette: In Tears of the Kingdom, although a very simple plan by concept as there were no other alternatives at the time, Zelda's decision in the ancient past to become an immortal dragon and wait to return to Link in the future had a number of outcomes that no one could predict with certainty, but this manages to work out in the end. These outcomes include her ability to assist Link in the final battle despite becoming a non-sentient Light Dragon with no sense of self, the recovery of the Gloom-shattered Master Sword, and even being able to regain her humanity after Demon Dragon Ganondorf's defeat thanks to the intervention of Rauru and Sonia's spirits.
• Geek: During one memory she's somber about a particularly rare wildflower called the Silent Princess, only to get excited about finding a big frog and get so wrapped up in it testing its medical effects on Link that she completely forgets that most people would rather not swallow a live frog.
• Gendered Outfit: Her blue outfit is essentially a female version of Link's. The DLC reveals that all of the Champions' blue pieces were made by Zelda herself, so it's implied that her outfit is meant to coordinate by her own design.
• Genius Sweet Tooth: The palace library contains a cookbook mentioning Zelda's favorite food was fruitcake, which she claimed helped her focus better on ancient technology research.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Like her earliest incarnation, Zelda has long blonde hair and wears a ceremonial white gown (along with gold accessories) when she prays at the ancient springs to awaken the divine power of Hylia within her. She ends up wearing it when Calamity Ganon attacks, and, since she is wearing it after his defeat, it seems she walked into Hyrule Castle still wearing the dress to face him down and contain him for 100 years.
• Go Through Me: One of the scenes shows Zelda standing between a badly-injured Link and a Guardian that's about to blast him with a laser. It is this act that finally allows her to awaken Hylia's power.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Initially, she was resentful of Link because he was chosen by the Master Sword while she was yet to awaken to her powers, but she came to appreciate him for keeping her safe and even listening to her insecurities. And yet, she still harbored jealousy until she realized she loved him, which was the trigger she needed to save him from Guardians chasing them down.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: The methods King Rhoam used to train her to use her power caused her to be a late bloomer when it comes to Hylia's power. In fact, until they got to know each other more, this was a major source of her initial envy towards Link (as he was chosen by the Master Sword much sooner than Zelda was able to harness the power of Hylia).
• Hartman Hips: Accentuated by her traveling outfit and white dress (and the game's camera angles).
• Heroic Sacrifice: While technically still alive, in Tears of the Kingdom she sacrifices her mind and body to transform into an eternal living dragon to restore the Master Sword to its former glory. She gets better at the end when Rauru, Sonia, and Link restore her original body.
• Hey, You!: In her diary, she calls Link "him". After he saves her life, she starts using his name, hesitantly switching her form of address.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Her main plight in the game. When the game takes place, Zelda barely has any power left to spare to hold back Calamity Ganon after 100 years of a careful balancing act. She can either hold him or vanquish him, but not both. She is in need of Link to proverbially pummel the monster tender for her to finish, hence why she wakes Link up at the moment she does. When she indeed vanquishes the beast after Link gives it a monumental ass-kicking, she tells Link that her powers have run so dry that she can't hear the voice from the Master Sword anymore. That last part becomes averted as of Tears of the Kingdom, as she is able to hear Fi's voice again after the Master Sword is sent back in time.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Zelda is set to inherit a divine power of her ancestors.^note It's implied, but not outright stated, that her holy power is in fact the completed Triforce, given the imagery.
• How Do I Shot Web?:
  • Part of her plight in Breath of the Wild is trying to figure out how to even invoke the power of Hylia within her. It isn't until a Die or Fly moment does she finally manage to bring them out. It's heavily implied her father's strict insistence on her learning to invoke those powers at the expense of her own interests is what put such a strain on bringing the power out to begin with, as she quickly came to resent those supposed powers because of it.
  • She has time powers that save her in Tears of the Kingdom by bringing her into the distant past, but because she doesn't know how to use them she doesn't know how to use them to go back even though, technically, she's probably capable of doing so. The eventual solution she has to go with is one she was told not to: Swallowing the stone itself and taking The Slow Path back. That being said, compared to her absolutely abysmal time of figuring out how to use her divine powers, her temporal abilities come much easier due to the first King and Queen of Hyrule Rauru and Sonia being encouraging and allowing her to handle things on her terms, to the point of having mastered time magic to a much better degree by the time they face against Ganondorf.
• I Am Very British: Speaks with a noticeable Received Pronunciation accent, befitting her station as a princess.
• An Ice Suit: In a DLC scene where she meets with Revali, she's wandering around a winter landscape in a white coat trimmed with white fur.
• Inadequate Inheritor:
  • As revealed in Link's awakened memories, she was seen as one by her father and her subjects due to her inability to awaken the divine power the Royal Family inherited from Hylia, and her own interests and wants were dismissed as 'playing at being a scholar'. One memory even shows that she sees herself as this too.
    Zelda: What's wrong with me?
  • Once she unlocks her powers, she becomes a Superior Successor, and the strongest Zelda we've seen to date. In a role reversal, instead of being captured and held in Ganon's Tower, she essentially captured Ganon and held him in Hyrule Castle for 100 years until Link came to help destroy him.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Averted or Played Straight depending on the version of the game in the "Despair" memory.
  • Averted in the English version. In that one, Zelda has nearly hit the Despair Event Horizon, and is a mess, but she still keeps herself rather held together and quietly sobs into Link's chest.
  • Played Straight in the Japanese version. In that one, Zelda flies past the Despair Event Horizon. As she talks to Link, she breaks down more and more until she completely shatters in Link's arms, loudly wailing and screaming.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Zelda is initially aloof and haughty towards Link, resenting him for realizing his ability as the Hero's reincarnation while she is initially unable to tap into the divine power passed down by Hylia.
• Irony: Of the Inverted Trope variety. Most of the time, Ganon imprisons Zelda in Ganon's Tower. This Zelda imprisoned Ganon in Hyrule Castle.
• Jerkass Realization
  • After Link rescues Zelda from Yiga ninjas, she realizes how selfish and antagonistic she's been towards him and apologies for her actions and begins to talk with him.
  • She assumes everything is easy for Link and is uncomfortable around him because he never speaks to her. When she finally asks him why he's so quiet and is told it's because he thinks it's what's expected of him and it helps him deal with stress, she realizes she's been hostile to him for no reason.
• Jerkass to One: As shown in memories from the "Champions' Ballad" DLC, she was shown to be respectful and kind to others. The only one she was ever aloof with was Link. After he saved her from the Yiga, this gets turned upside down and he becomes the person she's the closest with.
• The Leader: She was the appointed commander of the Champions.
• Light 'em Up: With her divine powers, she can create massive explosions and spheres of holy light. With a single burst, she is able to deactivate all the Malice-possessed Guardians, and at the end of game she evaporates Ganon with a slowly expanding ball of light. It is also implied that she created the Bow Of Light with her powers. She gets to show the full extent of her light powers in Age of Calamity.
• The Load: Was considered this in the past since she couldn't awaken her divine powers, much to her displeasure. She tried to be The Smart Gal of the Champions or perform duties that would normally be expected of a princess instead, but her father was having none of it and shoved her back into this by forcing her to pray constantly to no avail.

M-Y

• Magical Species Transformation: In the final geoglyph memory of the second game, she becomes a massive dragon.
• Magitek: Her official character art and amiibo show her using the Sheikah Slate. She was its original bearer, and left it with Link to use when he awoke from his healing stasis.
• Meaningful Appearance: Previous incarnations of Zelda had Innocent Blue Eyes, but hers are green. Fittingly enough, her initial hostility towards Link is because she envies how effortlessly he seems to be fulfilling his destiny, as he apparently proved instantly he was a natural with the Master Sword.
• Missing Mom: Zelda's mother, the Queen, died a year before Zelda's training was to begin. As she was the parent with Hylia's magic, Zelda was left without a teacher to guide her through tapping her latent magic power, leading to her underdeveloped abilities, and her father, despite also being of Hylia's bloodline, isn't any better at it than she is.
• Modest Royalty: She is seen in many outfits, but the most prominent one is her Champion's attire, which is more athletic and not so regal.
• Motor Mouth: She, as a scholar, is pretty talkative when it comes to the subjects of her research.
• Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed. On paper, she wears modest clothing, but her pants are extremely tight. In Tears of the Kingdom there isn't any overt Male Gaze 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 that is made obvious in scenes that show her in profile. Her imposter wears the same outfit, uses her voice and is noticeably flirtatious in her mannerisms with Link when finally confronting him.
• Muggle Born of Mages: A lot of Zelda's issues come from not being able to awaken the magical powers that come naturally to the women of her family. Subverted later on, as her power manifests in time to save Link from Guardians.
  Zelda: A daughter of Hyrule's royal family yet unable to use sealing magic... He must despise me.
• My Greatest Failure: Between Calamity Ganon's return and Zelda awakening her power, there's a dark moment when she believes that all her hard work for the past ten years, training to access her power and researching Ancient technology, did nothing to save her friends, her kingdom, or her father. She blames herself.
  Zelda: Everything I've done up until now... it was all for nothing...!
• Mythology Gag: In Zelda's room in Hyrule Castle, you can find a powerful Royal Guard's Bow on display on her wall; the bow and arrow, of course, has been Zelda's weapon of choice in many games before.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: She mentions in her diary that she had yet to see, let alone make up with, her father from a fight before she and the party set out for Mount Lanayru. That's also the day Calamity Ganon attacks.
• Nice Girl: Insecurities toward Link aside, she’s a rather gentle hearted and friendly woman who cares for the people she rules over and was anguished she was unable to awaken her powers to protect Hyrule from Ganon.
• Older Than They Look: Before the Calamity hit, she had just turned 17. However, in the present time of the game, 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.
• Out-of-Character Alert: In Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda begins appearing all throughout Hyrule, acting very strangely and giving absurd and/or dangerous commands to her subjects. Particularly of note is her behavior during the Blood Moon, where she seems to be describing it in awe. All of this bizarre behavior is because it's not Zelda at all.
• Painted-On Pants: In her traveling outfit, Zelda's pants are skintight.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Zelda's court dress is a beautiful and elaborate blue gown.
• Power Glows: Her sealing powers are based on light, and thus whenever she uses them, they manifest as a bright light. In addition, she herself glows as she uses her powers.
• The Power of Love:
  • Kass believes it was Zelda's love for Link that finally awakened her power, based on what his late teacher, a Sheikah poet, witnessed 100 years ago.
  • In the memory where she climbs down the Fountain of Wisdom, Mipha is about to tell her how her own powers work, when the Calamity suddenly strikes; it's heavily implied that Mipha's intention was to tell Zelda that she should think about the person she loves.
  • There are significant implications that 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 notably, 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.
• Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Zelda, by her own admission, lacks any proper skills in combat without her powers. After awakening her powers, however, she is able to shut down a whole battalion of Guardians before walking into Hyrule Castle to trap Ganon inside it for 100 years. In the Final Boss fight, she aids Link by generating Instant Runes on Ganon's body for Link to target and then afterward is the one to deliver the finishing blow, consuming and sealing it.
• Princess in Rags: If you think about it, this is the situation that Zelda is currently in at the end of the game. She lost her kingdom and most of her people, including her father the King, to Calamity Ganon. By the time she woke up from her 100 year stasis, and Ganon eventually defeated, her kingdom is still in ruins, and her ruined castle uninhabitable, and it's going to take years for her and her kingdom to get back on their feet. What places her in Princess in Rags territory is that, in spite of all this, she's seen at the end wearing her royal outfit again and riding a new royal horse, complete with decorations, like the princess she always has been 100 years ago, but with the only person at her side this time being Link.
• Rebellious Princess: Because Zelda struggles to awaken her divine power, she prefers to spend her time as a scholar exploring Hyrule. Her father disapproves of her choice, and has Link guard Zelda against her own will.
• Religion is Magic: The power passed down the royal family is due to Divine Parentage and it is assumed that the power must be awoken through ritualistic prayer.
• Rescue Romance: After Link saves her and she learns that he is not as stoic and confident as he appears, not only did she start to warm up to him, she later developed feelings for him, as even the Deku Tree suggests telling him in person instead of through a message.
• The Resenter: She was initially jealous of Link for his status as The Chosen One and for how easily he was able to wield the Master Sword, while she repeatedly failed to awaken Hylia's power. In one of the memories, she contemplates breaking into a Shrine, which is only meant to be entered as a Trial by the chosen hero. As Urbosa put it, Link reminded her of her own failures.
• Royalty Super Power: The divine magic that Zelda strives for is passed down by blood from the Royal Family's godly predecessor.
• Sacred Bow and Arrows: As per tradition, the final battle begins with Zelda creating the Bow of Light with her powers for Link to wield as an Eleventh Hour Super Power. Zelda's Bow of Twilight from Twilight Princess can also be obtained from the Zelda Smash Bros Amiibo and can fire infinite Light Arrows with the blast radius of Bomb Arrows and the power of Ancient Arrows.
• Scaled Up: In a rare heroic variation the finale of Tears of the Kingdom sees her transform into a dragon.
• Sealed Good in a Can: The can being the Calamity Ganon, who itself was sealed in Hyrule Castle as a result.
• Ship Tease:
  • Finishing Kass's sidequest makes Zelda's feelings for "her appointed knight" explict, as it greatly frustrated his teacher who, as the court poet, had fallen in love with the princess and was jealous that she only had eyes for a commoner like Link. We also later see that her desire to protect or save him was the reason for her powers being awoken.
  • In Tears of the Kingdom, it appears that she and Link live together in Hateno in a one-bedroom house.
  • The way Zelda describes Link to Rauru and Sonia is so full of blatant adoration that the king and queen can't help but give each other knowing looks that Link is more to Zelda than just a capable bodyguard.
• Signature Sound Effect: Whenever she uses her powers, the golden glow is always accompanied by a ringing noise.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: After learning that behind Link's stoic attitude lies a young man with his own insecurities that she can confide in, it's likely what led to her developing feelings for him.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: She didn't appear in footage until the Game Awards trailer, though her face wasn't shown and her identity wasn't revealed until the January Switch presentation. Her voice is in the E3 2016 trailer, though like her identity, it wasn't revealed to be her.
• The Slow Path: In Tears of the Kingdom, because Zelda is still trapped in the past and the Master Sword's recovery will likely take millennia before it's not just back to working condition but enhanced by her sacred power to the degree needed to slay Ganondorf, she ultimately chooses to undergo draconification in order to ensure that she would be able to help Link eons later. It leaves her as a mindless immortal dragon until she is freed by the spirits of Rauru and Sonia.
• The Smart Gal: Of the Champions; her combat abilities are undeveloped due to her being unable to access Hylia's power, but she's the most knowledgable of the Sheikah's technology, and continuously researches ways to help her team.
• Sole Survivor: Of all the Champions when the Calamity Ganon first attacked, leaving her alone to fend it off. Subverted in that she immediately had Link sent off to be resurrected while he still could be, making his passing very brief, though it took a hundred years to revive him fully.
• Spock Speak: Well-spoken at all times.
• Suddenly Voiced: Breath of the Wild is the first mainstream Zelda game^note She's spoken before in The Legend Of Zelda C Di Games and Tetra's Trackers, but it's been a long time since either one where she (among other characters) is given fully-fledged voice acting, in all languages the game is localized into.
• Swallowed Whole: By the Calamity Ganon when she went to face it after Hyrule's destruction, whereupon she managed to confine it to the castle, but was consequently trapped inside it for the next century until Link defeated it.
• Taking the Bullet: This seemed to be her plan when she jumped between Link and a Guardian during the final memory. After her powers thankfully kicked in and saved both of them, she is shocked and confused, implying that she either didn't expect them to work or wasn't even consciously trying to use them.
• Technobabble: Zelda slips into this when geeking out.
• Telepathy: In the grand Zelda tradition, Zelda herself keeps an eye on Link's adventures and speaks to him via a psychic connection. It's unclear if this is the source of the memory Link finds of when she left the Master Sword in the Deku Tree's care, or if it's because of his connection to Fi.
• Tempting Fate: Early on in their relationship, Zelda gets fed up with Link following her constantly and bluntly tells him to get lost because she can take care of herself. Two memory scenes later, cue Zelda running for dear life from Yiga assassins, with Link nowhere in sight.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: "The Champions' Ballad" reveals that the Non-Uniform Uniform outfits the Champions wear were all sewn by Zelda.
• Theme Music Power-Up: When Zelda finally uses her sealing magic for the first time, the scene is accompanied by her theme.
• Theme Naming: Implied. It's mentioned that due to tradition, the Princesses of Hyrule are all named Zelda, herself included.
• Through His Stomach: According to her diary, she gets Link to open up by feeding him lots of food.
• Time Abyss: As a result of becoming an immortal dragon and taking The Slow Path to the present day, Zelda is at least ten thousand years old by the end of Tears of the Kingdom.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: After being consumed by Calamity Ganon, she was put in exactly the right place to be able to keep it sealed inside Hyrule Castle for a whopping one hundred years.
• Trademark Favorite Food: The palace chefs claimed Zelda had a passion for fruitcake.
• Tragic Keepsake: Zelda's Sheikah Slate acts as one for Link; her photographs on the camera are the key to Link recovering from his amnesia.
• Training from Hell: Zelda has trained by praying in freezing-cold sacred water for days at a time.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Zelda's divine powers only kicked in shortly after Calamity Ganon enacted his plan and took control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, when Link was at death's door and about to be killed right in front of her.
• True Blue Femininity: She wore a navy blue regal dress in flashbacks, and her traveling outfit is predominantly blue.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Being an Expy of the Old Man from the original The Legend of Zelda, King Rhoam has little to do with Zelda's cuteness. Though her eyebrows may come from him.
• Uneven Hybrid: Though you wouldn't be able to tell by looking, Zelda, like all other descendants of King Rauru and Queen Sonia, is part Zonai.
• Universally Beloved Leader: In Tears of the Kingdom, she is the obvious moral and possibly logistical leader of Hyrule's rebuilding efforts, and receives universal praise for her efforts in this regard, lauded for such feats as establishing a school, building memorials of the Calamity throughout the kingdom, and studying endangered species. This makes it very effective for Phantom Ganon to assume her appearance to sow discord and confusion around the land, such as convincing Yunobo to wear a mask that renders him Brainwashed and Crazy, because Zelda is that trusted and held in good standing by the populace. "Zelda's" odd mannerisms are a constant source of unease for the people both throughout the main quest and in other side-activities she appears in before the deception is revealed.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She had just awakened to Hylia's power when she destroys an entire army of Guardians, and seals Ganon in a duel for a century. Compared to previous games, she is the strongest Zelda in terms of sheer magical power, using what is implied to be the whole Triforce to seal Ganon away.
• Uptown Girl: Her love for Link drew the ire of Hyrule's court poet since Link was neither nobility nor royalty.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: While the official label regarding her relationship with Link remains undefined outside of "princess and knight" and Zelda herself is not an aggressive individual aside from the early way she treated Link, Zelda did attempt to take the bullet in Breath of the Wild to save a dying Link from a corrupted Guardian, which finally awakened her sacred powers and save them both for the time being. This ramps up in Tears of the Kingdom, even as the immortal and non-sentient Light Dragon, Zelda's powerful desire to help Link drove her draconic self, which was simply flying somewhat aimlessly in the heavens above Hyrule, to intercept the Demon Dragon, allowing Link to free himself from the Demon Dragon's maw and be caught safely on top of her head. Throughout the fight, she is driven to catch Link when he freefalls past the Demon Dragon while keeping him safe from gloom projectiles. Very protective, even when she is not herself.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Her relationship with Link started off as a one-sided version of this. As he was the appointed knight, his job was to protect Zelda from danger. Zelda, being the fiercely independent girl she is, wasn't too happy with the idea of having a 24/7 bodyguard and according to Urbosa, she saw Link as a reminder of her own failure to awaken Hylia's power. But after Link saves her from a trio of Yiga ninjas, she gradually began to warm up to him, even ordering that he be taken to the Shrine of Resurrection in a last-ditch effort to save his life after her powers activated trying to protect him for a change.
• Wake-Up Call: Due to being bitter about her inability to awaken her power and jealous of Link who's fulfilling his part of their shared destiny, Zelda lashed out at him, up to and including claiming she doesn't need him as her bodyguard. When she get ambushed by Yiga Clan assassins and Link saves her, she realised how wrong she was to take out her frustrations on him and she does need him to protect her.
• Weak, but Skilled: She becomes this in Tears of the Kingdom where her holy powers have significantly weakened and she has to rely on Link for protection. However, she eventually learns how to control the time magic she's naturally gifted with, and while she isn't a powerhouse like she was when she awakened her holy powers, she's smart enough to make good use of her powers such as initially foiling an assassination attempt on Sonia, and her confrontation with Ganondorf where she rewinds the weapons the sages throw at him back at him.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Gal: Her father was very strict and had high expectations for her, and their relationship was strained by the time of Ganon's attack. It ended up playing a role in Hyrule's downfall.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: She might not be as snarky as her cartoon incarnation, but she definitely has the attitude.
• White Stallion: She had a prized white stallion which Link had taught her how to ride and it was decked out in a fancy bridle and saddle. Taming the descendant of this same horse is the goal of the sidequest which earns Link the bridle and saddle to go along with it. In the True Ending, Zelda seems to have gotten her hands on this horse.
• When She Smiles: Has an absolutely beautiful smile in the True Ending, and in the Japanese version's quest journal Link specifically notes how much he wants to see it again.
• The Wise Princess: Zelda is wise and scholarly with an insatiable curiosity for knowledge. In the post-post-apocalyptic realm of Hyrule after the end of the Calamity, she starts up a schoolhouse in Hateno and was the main teacher for a while.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Her beauty's so renowned that people are still talking about it 100 years later.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Zelda, after being sent back in time in Tears of the Kingdom, attempts to undo the rise of the Demon King, to save the founding King and Queen, Rauru and Sonia. Though she figures out who the Demon King is and makes a plan to ensnare him, she overestimates herself, and fails to stop the events that would come to pass — because, as it turns out, she was always meant to be there.

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