Web Video / Legend of Link

Legend of Link is a Fan Film of The Legend of Zelda made by Obsession Studios. It was filmed in 2005 by, and starring, various then-students of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, including director Daniel Sammons, Jr. While the film is largely based off of Ocarina of Time, its plot diverges into a Parody rather quickly.

When Ganondorf, leader of the desert tribe, betrays and usurps the king of Hyrule, a hero must rise to defeat him. Link, an adventurer from the Kokiri Forest, is called by the Great Deku Tree to save Hyrule. Along the way, he'll meet friends new and old, rescue Damsels In Distress, and overcome many challenges... like getting a shield.

In terms of genre, the film is mostly a spoof comedy but with some sincere efforts to make it feel like a movie. Scenic shots of forests and mountains take center stage in the opening credits, epic-sounding music, and despite the many comedic skits, there are a few serious moments along with entire battle scenes to further the conflict.

The story flips between Link and Ganondorf, with The Hero dealing with the innate weirdness of Hyrule while Ganondorf tries to deal with his own lackeys and a ironically mostly-free captive princess, biding his time until Link arrives so they can finally battle over Hyrule.

Easily considered an obscure but beloved passion project from the fandom's glory days of the mid-Oughties.

You can watch (or download) the movie here.

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Legend of Link contains examples of the following tropes:

• Affectionate Nickname: Tingle calls Link "Mr. Fairy" just like in canon, though ironically Link winds up without a fairy (for now) thanks to Tingle getting rid of an annoying Navi. Also like in canon, it's because he thinks Link is a fairy from his green clothes.
• The Alcoholic: Tingle noticeably drinks a glass of milk so much to the point where Talon had to ask how many he drank. The answer? Thirty-six and then receives more from Talon, much to his delight.
• And the Adventure Continues: After being rejected by Zelda, Link embarks on a new journey, for there is always evil to be fought, and thus there will always be need for a hero.
• Audience Surrogate: Similar to the games, Link reflects every possible emotion that the audience can be experiencing in every scene he's in, from his annoyance with Navi and Keapora Gaebora, being bored to sleep with the Great Deku Tree's monotone voice, and so on.
• Bad Boss: If a lackey gets under his skin for any reason, Ganondorf forces them to play a rigged game of Tingle Operation in order to falsely give them a "sporting chance" even though they're ultimately doomed to be executed. At one point, one lackey even calls him out to be a terrible boss after having his name forcefully changed to Natascha and ordered to speak with a Russian accent.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Zelda orders pizza for Ganondorf's minions at Papa Tingle's in the eponymous "Pizza Party" scene.
  • EDPN - Entertainment Dungeon Programming Network. Apparently, dungeon-crawling is an official sport in this Hyrule.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Ganondorf only received the Triforce of Power once Natacsha, who retrieved it from the Sacred Realm, died. He later spells this out to Link, and demonstrates upon defeating him.
  • Link visits his hometown in Kokiri Forest, and is told not to forget where he came from. This ends up being the last time Link talks to them as Ganondorf slaughters them all to avenge Bill's death before Link returns for another visit.
  • Link is told someone bought all the bombs in Market Place when he goes to buy a shield. Later, he meets the people who bought them, and the Canadian gives him a Bombchu before his odd friend sets off the rest.
  • Link bottles a fairy he sees after finding Saria's body. Said fairy revives him after Ganondorf defeats him, allowing the Hero to catch the Dark Lord off guard and, while he's weakened, finish him off.
• The Chosen One: Ganondorf openly waits for Link to show up to the castle in hopes of defeating the one and only person who can end his reign.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Like the games, Tingle is a middle-aged man that believes he is a fairy, though this time it's taken up a slight notch since he specifically believes to be a fairy from the moon. He also has a few more interesting habits like eating Rupees and drink over thirty-six bottles of alcoholic milk.
• Critical Annoyance: Link can actually hear the beeping noise that plays when he's low on hearts, which happens after he's brought down to a single heart after an attack by The Undead. He even covers his ears and screams in anguish, though the sound doesn't stop until he heals himself with a magical mask.
• Damsel in Distress: Zelda, natch, but Malon is kidnapped and held for ransom by some bandits. Upon confirming that he's a fighter, Talon asks Link to go save her.
• Deadpan Snarker: A good number of people, if they aren't embodying some wacky quirk, are just done with everything going on around them. Bill is a notable example as he snarks back at Ganondorf with clear annoyance, yet Ganondorf regards Bill as his most loyal minion, calling him "a good man" many times, and even swearing vengeance against Link in his name when the hero kills him.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Despite going for an Almost Kiss, Zelda pulls away, refusing to bind Link to her when he is already bound to all the people of Hyrule as The Hero.
• The Dragon: Bill is Ganondorf's right-hand man and singlehandedly his most competent henchmen, from taking down Natascha for trying to keep the Triforce of Power for himself, to giving Link a hard time when they fight. In fact, Bill's death is the core reason why Ganondorf attacks the Kokiri in This Means War! below.
• Drunk on Milk: On full display in "Talon's Turmoil" as Tingle hiccups while being rather blunt, and another man who seems to be drowning his sorrows goes on an slurredly incoherent rant, and gets the idea in his head to go without pants.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Ganondorf seems to have this issue, and it comes up in at least two entire scenes where the movie cuts away from Link to see what he's up to.
• Exposition Fairy: Mocked for laughs. Navi and Kaepora Gaebora are Flanderized into embodiments of their respective memes that portray them as annoying chatterboxes that not even Link wants to put up with.
• Faux Affably Evil: This iteration of Ganondorf is a Large Ham who pretends to be a fair, good leader while also being the "Supreme Dark Lord" of evil, though he's actually a Bad Boss who will off his own followers over minor things like beating him in Halo 2 and generally has some very thinly-veiled insecurities that everyone in the room can pick up on.
• Fun with Acronyms: The title of the movie can be abbreviated as LOL or Laugh Out Loud, to further emphasize its nature as a spoof/parody.
• Heroic Mime: Link never talks, only gestures and lets out one frustrated scream at max.
• The Hero's Journey: The Deku Tree describes this to Link but veers off into a mix of Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness and Department of Redundancy Department, boring Link literally to sleep.
• Hilarious Outtakes: Most of the credits showcase bloopers that took place during filming, from the actors being unable to contain themselves, running into a few hiccups when recording fight scenes, and then to experiencing too many actual hiccups from Tingle during the milk bar segment.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: One of the bandits that kidnapped Malon has taken... quite an interest in her, though he's quick to throw her away to save himself when it's just him against Link.
• It's Personal: Ganondorf takes Bill's death poorly and goes after the Kokiri in order to get back at Link, and in return, Link stops messing around and goes straight to Hyrule Castle after he finds all the Kokiri dead, including Saria.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When Link finds the Kokiri dead and learns from the dying Deku Tree that it was Ganondorf, he decides he's screwed around enough and heads straight for Hyrule Castle to take the Dark Lord down.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Zelda certainly doesn't seem like she's being held prisoner. Not helped by the fact that she's being held in her own home (and thus still has access to her stuff) and the guards adore her because she ordered pizza for them and joins in when they play video games.
• Moose and Maple Syrup: As their credits-given name implies, the Canadian Bombers are a pair of two stereotypically-Canadian dudes. One speaks in an exaggerated Canadian accent while the other speaks gibberish.
  Canadian Bomber: Oh sweet maple flapjacks!
• Mythology Gag:
  • Ganondorf gets close to the king, then betrays him, resulting in the king's death.
  • Tingle helps Link out by giving him maps for Rupees. Though, the maps aren't very good.
  • The movie spans three days in-universe, marked by the "Dawn Of The Xth Day" time cards from Majora's Mask.
  • Mido of Kokiri Forest won't let Link pass without both a sword and a shield.
  • Link is assaulted by the undead at night, and they don't leave him alone until morning.
  • Link has to accrue funds by cutting grass and grabbing the Rupees that appear. The "Rupee Get!" sound effect got its money's worth in that scene.
    • There's also the context: Getting the Hylian Shield. Most Ocarina of Time players didn't have 80 Rupees when they first arrived in Hyrule Castle Town, and either (A) didn't know about either (A1) the hidden 80 Rupees above the entrance to Castle Town, (A2) the half-price discount once Death Mountain Trail opens up, or (A3) the free Hylian Shield in Kakariko Graveyard; or (B) were too impatient to wait for either of the three mentioned opportunities and/or wanted to have the shield before meeting Zelda. Most of these players resorted to even cutting the various bunches of grass in Hyrule Field... the ones that weren't Peahat nests, anyway.
  • Talon (or a lookalike) runs a Milk Bar where people can get Drunk on Milk.
  • Link must sneak through Hyrule Castle's courtyard and infiltrate the castle itself to accomplish his task.
• Not Quite Dead: Ganondorf overpowers Link and renders him just dead enough to extract the Triforce of Courage from him before going after Zelda. Good thing Link had a bottled fairy handy.
• Product Placement:
  • Not long after seizing Hyrule Castle, Ganondorf is seen playing Gator Golf with Bill.
  • Ganondorf's minions, having nothing to do until Link shows up, pass the time by, among other activities, playing Halo 2 and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
  • Ganondorf treats getting killed in Halo 2 as a betrayal, and subjects the minion who did it to a game of Operation to "prove" it, orders Bill to rig said game in his favor, and orders the minion's execution after it's finished.
  • During his dream, Ganondorf finds his minions playing Trouble and recreates the mother walking in from the commercial with them.
  • While exploring Market Place in "Demand And Supply" Link is shown entering a Starbuck's to get a cup of coffee.
  • When Link is stalking around Hyrule Castle, one of the minions is asked to see if there's more Cheez-It in the pantry.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: The lighting of Hyrule Castle turns red when Ganondorf takes the Triforce of Courage from Link. It only fades after Ganondorf is killed.
• Serious Business: How the wackier characters treat their lives. Special mention to Todd and Marvin of EDPN, who are amazed and wowed by mundane tasks being carried out in the Fire Temple.
• Shout-Out:
  • Double-whammy in "D-d-d-duel For The Master Sword" where a dude who wants the Master Sword whips out a (homemade) Duel Disk, acts like he's in a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, but plays with Magic: The Gathering cards, including a spam of Plains land cards. What stops it being a Curb-Stomp Battle is that he does have monsters to summon.
    • In the same "duel" the Foothill Guide responds to being ordered to attack with "Okie-dokie, Dr. Jones!", which is Short Round's catchphrase from The Temple of Doom.
  • The concept of a fantasy character exploring a modern marketplace or plaza to the beat of Lipps Inc's "Funkytown" is a blatant reference to Shrek 2, which was still relatively new when the movie was made.
  • Link's infiltration of Hyrule Castle includes a guard finding another guard downed, turning with a "!" over their head (complete with sound effect) and calling to sound the alarm, while Link is called "00Link" in that part's title.
• Sound-Effect Bleep: A henchman's "fuck yeah!" is censored by the "Rupee Get!" sound effect and it also happens with Bill during a discussion about the men's adoration for Princess Zelda.
  Bill: Yeah, she's one hard-core ["Rupee Get!" sound] from Hyrule.
• Stomach of Holding: Tingle holds quite a few things, most of the time Rupees, in his stomach. In "Talon's Turmoil" he literally coughs up Rupees to pay for milk.
• This Means War!: Ganondorf flies into a rage when Bill dies and slaughters all of the Kokiri, casting a death curse on the Deku Tree as well, in revenge. But all this accomplishes is getting Link angry enough to decide he's screwed around enough and goes straight after Ganondorf.
  Ganondorf: If it's a war Link wants, IT'S A WAR HE'LL GET!!
• What the Hell, Hero?: Saria vents at Link about how he never stays at Kokiri Forest for very long and always shows up just to leave again, but relents and just asks him not to forget where he came from.

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