Each of the Links has their own unique traits that separates them from the others (for instance, the Hero of Time, otherwise called Time, is a no-nonsense mentor to the other Links and is easily the most cynical after all he's been through). Their designs, while also taking cues from canon, have been made to easily distinguish between each of them (only one of the nine Links wears the iconic hat, for example, and it's not even the typical green).
Each of the Links has been taken from a point after their adventures came to a close, meaning all of them have developed a wealth of experience. The series is divided into several standalone comics alongside longer story arcs.
The Links include:
- Sky: The first hero chosen by the Goddesses and the Link of Skyward Sword.
- Time: The Leader of the Links, and also the oldest. The Link of Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask.
- Legend: One of the most experienced Links (having gone on the most adventures in terms of games). He is a combination of two Links- the Link of A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, & the Oracle games, and the Link from A Link Between Worlds & Tri Force Heroes.
- Hyrule: A street-smart teenager and the Link of the original The Legend of Zelda & Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
- Twilight: A farmhand with the ability to transform into a wolf, and the Link of Twilight Princess.
- Four: A blacksmith with the ability to split into four copies using his sword. He is a combination of three Links- the Link from The Minish Cap, the Link from Four Swords, and the Link from Four Swords Adventures.
- Wind: The youngest of the bunch. He is a combination of two Links- the Link from The Wind Waker & Phantom Hourglass, and the Link from Spirit Tracks.
- Warriors: An expert strategist and the Link from Hyrule Warriors. Notably the only Link to be from a non-canon game.
- Wild: An amnesiac survivalist and the Link from Breath of the Wild. He is also the Link from Tears of the Kingdom, but due to the game coming out after the comic was underway, Jojo is undecided on where it falls in his timeline and how it influences his character.
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, archive page, [1].
Tropes appearing in Linked Universe include:
- Achievements in Ignorance: No one ever told Sky that Cuccos are dangerous, so why not cuddle the tiny fluffy birds?
- A Day in the Limelight: One major arc focuses on Malon, the ranch girl from Ocarina of Time. Here, she's revealed to have married Time after the latter's adventures in both Hyrule and Termina.
- Affectionate Nickname: The others call Twilight's wolf form "Wolfie" until they learn that it's really Twilight in his dark form.
- Afraid of Their Own Strength: Time is terrified of what he's capable of when using the Fierce Deity's Mask, mostly due to the fact that the Fierce Deity easily destroyed Majora. Fearing that he could lose control if he uses the mask again, he chooses to keep it only in case he absolutely has to use it.
- Alternate Self: Guess.
- On a more ambiguous note, the various appearances and cameos of Majora's Mask.
- Alternate Timeline: Time's first adventure caused a three-way split in the timeline. Legend & Hyrule come from a branch where Time fell to Ganon (though Time never personally lived through this, as it was an alternate version of him who fell). A second branch has Ganon never rise to power, meaning Time's adventure in Hyrule never happened there. Twilight and Fournote come from this branch, and it is the branch where Time is living out the rest of his life. The final branch includes the Hyrule Time saved before being sent to the Child Timeline, and it is where Wind comes from. Three Links remain uninvolved in the alternate timelines — Sky comes from a point before Time's adventures, Warriors's spot in the timeline is unconfirmed, and Wild comes from a point after the three timelines reconverge, meaning his adventure was unavoidable regardless of timeline.
- Thanks to Wind, Time learns of the Adult Timeline split and is astonished to learn that the Hyrule he left behind continued on a separate path rather than simply being reversed to become the Child Timeline. He then has a brief crisis on how many alternate timelines he hypothetically could have created simply by using the Ocarina of Time.
- Amnesiac Hero: Wild, due to the side effects of the Shrine of Resurrection. He's regained some fragments of his memory, but he's still missing a lot.
- Art Evolution: A subtle case, but the earliest drawings give all the Links a somewhat uniform doe-eyed look, whereas the comic proper diversifies their eye shapes along with other features and makes them more expressive in general.
- Ascended Fanboy: Wind gets to fight alongside none other than the Hero of Time, famed in Wind's hometown to the extent that a tradition revolves around the man. A later comic following the Divine Dark Reflections arc reveals that Wind wasn't originally sure that Time was the same Link as the Hero of Time, and upon confirmation he's pretty happy about it.
- Assassination Attempt: Warriors meets a merchant who turns out to be a member of the Yiga Clan in disguise. Wild sees through it before the assassin can even reveal his true appearance, countering the Yiga's attempt to stab Warriors.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The ring Time used to propose to Malon. It was the most extravagant ring he could find... and it was rather distracting, and as Malon puts it, a bit too much for her, leading the two to pick a simpler ring (that has a powerful protective enchantment on it) .
- Babies Ever After: Twilight's very existence makes it a Foregone Conclusion that Time's fate involves this. Time himself briefly acknowledges it after the other Links learn he's married; Four asks him if he has any children and Time says he doesn't yet, giving Twilight a pat on the back.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Deconstructed. Wind is more than capable of holding his own, but the others subconsciously seek to protect him to the point that Wild nearly gets himself killed taking a blow Wind was about to dodge.
- Badass Adorable: Wind, at thirteennote is still very much a child. That doesn't change the fact that he's very skilled in combat.
- Badass Normal: Twilight is one of the few Links who does not use magic, which is impressive given his sheer physical strength.
- Bag of Holding: How else would the Links carry their items? Played for Laughs in one comic, where Wild dumps an implausible amount of apples out of a tiny bag when asked if he has something to eat.
- Barbarian Hero: Twilight has this aesthetic going, with the facial tattoos and the wolfskin.
- Being Good Sucks: Time seems to have this view after having his childhood ripped from him and the horrors he had to view in both Hyrule and Termina. He even sees the Master Sword as a curse. However, it doesn't stop him from doing heroic deeds.Hyrule: Wow, it's just the idea of marriage. Well, I just didn't think we could-Time: -find basic happiness? It took me years to see through that lie.
- Berserk Button:
- Talk shit about Zelda in front of Wild. Go ahead, we dare you.
- To a milder degree, the mere mention of Ingo is this to Time. It won't send him into a fury, but it'll sure start an argument.
- Wild breaks the Master Sword at one point. Before it reappears like it does in his game, the others wisely stay out of Sky's way.
- The Bet: After the Links learn that Time is married, Legend and Warriors make a bet on who it's to. Warriors thinks it's the Zelda from Time's Hyrule, while Legend thinks that Time wanted to live a quiet, simple life and married somebody who could give him that life. With Malon's introduction, Legend is proven right, and humorously, Legend's initial reaction upon first seeing her it to tell Warriors to pay up.
- Big Bad: Dark Link is behind the Links' meeting. That said, the Links have yet to even learn of his involvement.
- Big Brother Mentor: Twilight to Wild. He aided Wild on his own adventures, referencing the Wolf Link Amiibo's use in Breath of the Wild.
- Big Damn Kiss: Malon's first action upon reuniting with Time.
- Big Freaking Sword: Time's sword of choice, the Biggoron Sword.
- Bilingual Bonus: Deciphering the glyphs Time sees when he uses the mask of truth on Wild's Sheikah Slate show the weather and the time, but most of them just say "updating".
- More sinisterly, a
small, faint message translates to "someone will die".
- More sinisterly, a
- The Blacksmith: Four is one, since some of the games he's based on had (apprentice) blacksmiths as the main characters, and he explicitly forged some of his swords himself. As of Dawn, Wild also carries a sword Four made, forged explicitly to take the beating Wild gives his weapons.
- Boss in Mook's Clothing: As the series goes on, the Links face enemies much stronger than they usually are. The earliest example is a Moblin that takes the entire team to bring down, with Time noting that it usually shouldn't have taken more than one or two of the Links. It's suggested that this is a result of Dark Link's actions.
- Breakable Weapons: Wild, as expected. Eventually Four decides to make him a sword that won't break on him. It does, though it hadn't been finished yet.
- Breather Episode: Most of the comics show the dynamics of the Links in between battles. In-universe, the Malon arc, which provides a lot of context as to Time's backstory, confirms that Twi is aware of his and Time's relation, and answers a question raised early in the comic's history (namely, the question of who Time ended up with), but also serves as a more light-hearted rest stop at a very familiar location.
- Brick Joke: One early snippet had Warriors borrow the Fire Rod from Legend, and declare he's keeping it. Many, many pages (and at least one real-life year) later, he still has it.
- The Cameo: Several Zelda characters have smaller comics they appear in or cameos in the larger ones, including Linkle, Ravio, the Champions, and Tingle.
- Canine Companion: Twilight in his wolf form becomes this. Due to most of the Links being unaware of his alternate form at first, it creates the impression that Wolfie (as he is called) periodically shows up to help the Links.
- Canon Character All Along: Time's wife is alluded to in an early comic, but no hints are dropped as to her identity. A later comic reveals her to be Malon, who is met early in Ocarina of Time, Time's first journey.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Twilight in particular. He doesn't use strength-boosting magic items like many other Links, but he's naturally strong enough that he wouldn't need any.
- Chekhov's Gun: Downplayed. Time's armor is an allusion to his future as the Hero's Shade, Twilight's mentor from beyond the grave. At first, it seems to just be a neat Mythology Gag. Well, Twilight connects the dots, and the armor serves as the final nail in the coffin in convincing him that Time and his ancestral mentor are one and the same.
- Chick Magnet: Most of the Links, but Warriors in particular has the most “lady troubles.”
- Childhood Friend Romance: Time and Malon have known each other since they were little, and have been married for what seems to be many years.
- Comic-Book Time: The Links don't seem to be aging while they travel with each other. An odd example of both the trope being Played Straight and Averted, since the Links have each visibly aged since their canonical adventures (the most obvious being Time, who is a married adult).
- Composite Character: Legend and Four are composites of multiple Links who were all separate people in the official timeline. Wind too, technically, but since Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass already featured the same person in canon, it's only Spirit Tracks that's uniquely added to his backstory.
- Continuity Porn: The series is geared towards the reader having an understanding of both the games' stories and the Hyrule Historia, with many plot points (such as Time being Twilight's ancestor) making less sense if they have not read the latter.
- Cool Horse: Epona, as always.
- Cool Mask: One two-part comic shows Time, Wild, and Wind showing off their various mask collections.
- Cool Sword: Many of the Links' swords apply. One comic shows which swords each Link wields.
- Sky wields the Master Sword.
- Time wields the Biggoron Sword.
- Legend wields the Tempered Sword, an upgraded version of the Master Sword.
- Four wields the Four Sword.
- Wind wields the Phantom Sword.
- Covered with Scars: All the Links to various degrees, but unlike his game, where the scars are mentioned to exist but never actually seen, Wild's body is layered in scars and Guardian burns.
- Cutting Off the Branches:
- Time is shown to have several love interests throughout his first adventure, namely Saria, Malon, Zelda, Ruto, and Nabooru. Twilight is living proof he gets with somebody eventually, and that the somebody is likely from Hyrule, but the games never confirm who, or even if it's one of the love interests mentioned above. This series has Time settle down with Malon.
- In his game, Wild is given the option to return the affections of his era's incarnation of Zelda, Mipha, neither of them, or both of them. While he seems to be on good (if awkward) terms with his Zelda, it's suggested that it's Mipha whose feelings he reciprocates.
- Cynical Mentor: Time, and oh boy does it show. After everything the Goddesses have put him through, he's at the point where he's Seen It All and is just about done.
- Dark Is Evil/Dark Is Not Evil: When it comes to Dark Magic, Legend believes the former while Twilight believes the latter. It becomes a point of contention between them when Legend learns that Twilight is using Dark Magic to transform into a wolf. Four joins Legend's camp when he discovers that Twilight's shapeshifting might be impacting Hyrule's ability to heal him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Most of the characters at one point or another.
- Deconstruction: Of the Legend of Zelda series itself, to an extent, specifically as an examination of the lasting effects the Links' adventures might have on their personalities and outlooks.
- Dem Bones: Time is eventually destined to become the skeletal Hero's Shade. He is also shown to own a mask resembling the Shade's skull (something that noticeably draws a reaction from Twilight).
- Doomed by Canon: An odd example. Time is not doomed to die in this series (and in fact, at this point he seems to be the only Link with Plot Armor due to the fact that he has to father a child to continue the family line, as evidenced by Twilight). But when he does eventually die, whether that be in Linked Universe or not, he has to die with enough regret and emotional baggage to tether him to the world of the living as the Hero's Shade.
- Doomed Predecessor: An alternate version of Time fell against Ganon, creating the timeline Legend & Hyrule come from. However, while they know a hero fell, none of them have have no clue their leader (or rather, their leader's counterpart from an alternate timeline) is said hero.
- Dramatic Irony: Readers are made aware of quite a few details before the other Links are, leading to an Internal Reveal down the line.
- Any viewer who has read the Hyrule Historia knows that Time is Twilight's direct ancestor and mentor, the Hero's Shade. Whether any of the characters know isn't revealed until the final page of the Lon Lon Ranch arc, where it is revealed that both Time and Twilight figured out their connection offscreennote ; however, while Malon finds out later on that same page, none of the other Links know (at that time, at least).
- The Dreaded: Ganon is this to every Link but Sky, and that's only because Sky never had to deal with Ganon.
- On a lesser, more humorous note, Cuccos are this to the other Links (once again, save for Sky).
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: When Time notes how it took way too much effort to take out a single Moblin, Legend sarcastically asks if that's how he thanks them for their hard work.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Malon is alluded to in a comic where the other Links take notice of Time's wedding ring. She makes her proper debut in a later story arc.
- Epunymous Title: Again, guess.
- Establishing Character Moment: After Time and Malon finish their Big Damn Kiss, Malon's first actions are to welcome the Links to her and Time's home. The interactions that immediately follow once the Links are indoors show that Malon's barely even met them and yet she views her husband's various incarnations as family- even before she learns which of them actually is family.
- Eternal Hero: Forms part of the main premise.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The postman, as per canon.
- Every Scar Has a Story: One comic involves all the Links comparing their worst battle scars and sharing the basic tales behind them
- Evil Counterpart: Dark Link, the Big Bad.
- Excuse Plot: Dark Link's causing mayhem, which brings the nine Links to (eventually, once they learn of his meddling) try and stop him. Lampshaded by the author, who describes the story as "the most general plot." Considering the circumstances, however, the simplicity is somewhat more Justified, as originally Linked Universe was supposed to simply be a series of one-shot comics about the Links, with the story idea coming later.In addition, the plot takes a backseat to showing how the Links interact (the main reason behind the work's existence in the first place).
- Eyes Always Shut: Time's right eyelid is always closed. Justified, since...
- Eye Scream: Time's right eye appears to have been lost entirely, with a scar over the eyelid suggesting something violent happened in the past.
- Facial Markings: Time and Twilight have these. Time's resemble the Fierce Deity's (though their origin is unknown, since flashbacks reveal he didn't have them as a younger adult), while Twilight's appear to be as a result of exposure to Twilight/extended use of his wolf form.
- A Father to His Men: Time to the other Links. A more literal example emerges with him and Twilight, who is his direct descendant.
- Famed In-Story: Time is this in Wind's home.
- Family of Choice: The Links are this. Time and Twilight play it more closely, and they eventually learn they're actually related by blood.
- Fiery Redhead: Malon hasn't lost it.
- Friend to All Living Things:
- Twilight has shades of this. It helps that he can transform into an animal himself.
- Sky takes a noticeable liking to Cuccos.
- Forced Transformation: Technically speaking Twilight's transformation into a wolf is a curse — one he can lift at will, but still a curse brought on by handling an amulet from the Twilight Realm. When Legend picks it up, he gets stuck as a pink bunny until they can figure out how to remove the curse from him.
- Foreshadowing: When the Links first learn Time is married, Twilight is implied to have already known. It's later revealed after the debut of Time's wife that Twilight has figured out that Time is his ancestor — of course he'd already know, his entire existence hinges on it!
- The Gadfly: Legend.
- The Ghost: Ganon, Midna, various incarnations of Zelda, Ilia, Aryll, Talon, Ingo, and Sidon are all alluded to, but never shown.
- Glory Days: Averted with Time, who doesn't seem to look back on his adventures fondly.
- Good Is Not Soft: Just about every Link. Then again, when the bad guys are demons who threaten the world's destruction, there's not much room to be soft in the first place.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Ganon, who has shaped at least one of every Link's adventures save for Sky, who had to face Ganon's original incarnation. Additionally, he was responsible for the creation of at least one version of Dark Link, if not actually BEEN Dark Link in some capacity as was explained by Hyrule Historia to be the case with Shadow Link in Four Swords Adventures.
- Grumpy Old Man: With the possible exception of Twilight, the other Links view Time as this. Legend even refers to him as such.
- Handicapped Badass: Time is missing his right eye. He's still a force to be reckoned with.
- Happily Married: Time is revealed to be this when the Links spot his wedding ring. They later meet Malon, his wife.
- Height Angst: Four is the shortest of the Links, presumably due to his overuse of Minish form. He subverts this trope, however, defiantly claiming that unlike some of the other Links, he's short for a reason. Cue said Links angrily glaring at him.
- Heroic Willpower: Discussed. It's his fear of averting this trope that causes Time to avoid use of the Fierce Deity's Mask.
- Hidden Depths: Wild recalls another memory of his past, which causes the other Links to worry, due to the fact that Wild views himself as a failure due to the Great Calamity. Warriors then proclaims that he's proud to serve alongside a knight who has sacrificed so much, claiming it as nothing less than praiseworthy. It's noticeably one of the few times he's not being sarcastic or playing the jokester.
- Humble Hero: Hyrule and Sky in particular. Legend and Warriors are the only ones with anything approaching big egos, but even they aren't very arrogant given all they've accomplished.
- Hypocritical Humor: In "sailcloth" Hyrule and Warriors tease Sky about the sky cloth he wears as a cape. Then he tells them his Zelda made it, and suddenly they can't get enough of it.
- Iconic Outfit: Averted. A major part of the Links' designs is that most of them lack the green tunic, and even the ones that do keep the green tunic have a major detail added to make them more diverse (Twilight wears a fur coat on top of his tunic, and Sky has the Sailcloth wrapped around his shoulders). Played Straight with Wild, whose most iconic ingame outfit, the Champion's Tunic, differs enough from the other Links' already that transferring it one-to-one doesn't make things too monotonous.
- Identical Stranger: All of the Links look rather alike. Exploited by Time, who uses the resemblances to send Malon on a guessing game- he tells her that one of them is their descendant (it's Twilight), but refuses to give any details, leaving her to figure it out. That said, they notably don't share distinct facial features that would have helped Malon identify which one was related to her.
- Impairment Shot: Just before Twilight collapses in "Sunset pt. 3," his wooziness is depicted via warped speech balloons from the other characters and a pale, fuzzy POV image.
- Implied Love Interest: Sky has Zelda, and if it's anything like canon, so do Hyrule & Wind. Wild remembers Mipha fondly (his relationship with his Zelda is awkward), while Twilight and Legend seem to still be coping with their losses of Midna and Marin respectively. The only Links who lack a love interest seem to be Four and Warriors (though the latter alludes to the fact that he's had encounters with some crazy women in the past, referencing Cia, and Jojo confirmed in a Q&A that each Link does have someone they feel strongly towards at home) and, as mentioned before, Time is the only one with a confirmed love interest, being married to Malon.
- In Medias Res: The Links have already been traveling together for a while when the story begins, with no details being given to how they reacted to meeting each other. Jojo is currently working on a prequel comic to address that period of time.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Some of the more sarcastic and abrasive Links, such as Legend and Warriors.
- Kid Hero: Though he has noticeably aged since his adventures back in the Adult Timeline, Wind is still very much a kid, and thus the other Links have a subconscious need to protect him to the point where Wild intercepts a near-fatal blow that almost kills him...again. Still, this doesn't stop Wind from kicking ass with the best of them.
- Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Other than Wind, all of the Links are this to some degree, though Twilight is a downplayed version as he was 18 when his adventure started.
- Killer Rabbit: The cuccos, as usual. On the Lon Lon Ranch, Legend offers a bag of Rupees (that he won from a bet with Warriors) to anyone willing to handle them. Nobody except Sky (who has never seen a cucco and confuses them for relatives to the peaceful Loftwings) is willing to take him up on his offer.
- The Leader: Time is this to the Links, being the oldest and one of the most experienced.
- Lethal Chef: Hyrule, who thinks there is nothing wrong with cooking too old meat into stew.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: After going through one of Dark Link's portals, the Links decide to split off to get their bearings in a new location none of them are familiar with. Time, however, makes sure to point out that going off on their own would be ill-advised and instead tells them to group up in at least pairs.
- Living Distant Ancestor: Time is this to Twilight, though they keep this between themselves (and they weren't even sure at first).
- The Lost Lenore: A non-fatal example with Midna, who Twilight seems to be still getting over after she destroyed the only way the two could ever see each other again. A more straight example would be Marin, who Legend keeps alongside the whole of Koholint as his Dark Secret.
- A more ambiguous example with Navi. Her fate is unknown, but Time still remembers her, leaving bowls of sugar water outside the ranch in hopes of finding her.
- Meaningful Name: The Links' nicknames refer to their titles (most often taken from the titles of their games, like the Hero of Winds), explaining some of the odder ones like Hyrule and Warriors.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: When Time sees that Wild has Majora's Mask in his possession, he wonders if there's still magic in it or if the Happy Mask Salesman made identical fakes to turn up a profit.
- Morphic Resonance: An inverted example in that transformations often leave marks on the original form if held for too long.
- Twilight's curse seems to do this. Twilight has the same markings on his face as his wolf form, and he implies that it's because of his continuous transformations. When Legend turns back into a human after being transformed into a rabbit, his hair is still pink, though Twilight mentions that since it was only a brief transformation, it should fade quickly.
- Time has the markings of the Fierce Deity permanently burned into his face. Played Straight with the form of the Hero's Shade, whose armor matches Time's perfectly and who is also missing an eye. It doesn't go unnoticed — the armor is a dead giveaway to Twilight that Time is Twilight's ancestor and eventual Spirit Advisor.
- My Greatest Failure: In addition to suffering an identity crisis due to his lack of memory, Wild views himself as less-than-favorable due to the fact that Calamity Ganon killed countless civilians and he couldn't stop it until 100 years later.
- Mythology Gag: Several, many in reference to the Links' outfits.
- Time is missing an eye and is wearing a suit of armor, both in reference to the Hero's Shade. He also has facial markings matching the Fierce Deity mask.
- Twilight is wearing a fur coat, referencing his wolf form.
- Legend's outfit is based on his design when wearing the Red Mail.
- Four's outfit has four colors based on the Links he can split into. Likewise, his headband is green, referencing the fact that green is his dominant color. The headband itself gives Four a design based on the Hero of Men from the backstory of The Minish Cap. Additionally, his hood ends with a golden hook reminding the shape of Ezlo's beak.
- Wind is wearing the lobster shirt he wears at the beginning of The Wind Waker and the entirety of said game's New Game Plus.
- Wild has an assortment of outfits in-game, but here he exclusively wears the Champion's Tunic and Hylian Boots with the occasional addition of the Hylian Hood, which is his primary outfit in promotional material, the memory cutscenes, and the true ending.
- Sky, Warriors, and Hyrule wear their green tunics without the hats.
- Malon mentions having met Time as a child when she got separated from her father during a delivery, referencing the two's first meeting in-game.
- As well, her adult outfit is designed to resemble an Ordonian outfit, which is where Twilight (her descendent in this story) is from.
- Wild is familiar with Twilight's wolf form, alluding to the fact that Wolf Link can be summoned to help Link in Breath of the Wild.
- When Wild lapses into a Thousand-Yard Stare while having a flashback involving one of his missing memories, Time laments that his counterpart has "met with a terrible fate," much like he himself did when he first crossed paths with Skull Kid and Majora and was turned into a Deku Scrub.
- Speaking of Majora's Mask, during the Masks arc, Wild pulls out the mask itself from his game's DLC, the story of which Time is all too familiar with having gone toe-to-toe with Majora. When Legend mentions having the same mask, Wild and Time ponder if the Happy Mask Salesman made a bunch of copies of Majora's Mask to turn a profit, or if Majora's Mask itself has Alternate Selfs.
- Noodle Incident:
- We never actually see or are told how the Links met each other. By the point the comic starts — and even in the doodles posted beforehand — they have all been traveling together for a while.
- We are never told how Time figured out that Twilight is his descendant. We do see him confirming it with Twilight on-page, but never how he first found out. Especially since Twilight hasn't told him about the Hero's Shade.
- According to Time, the loss of his eye (the reason of which is in and of itself a mystery) is not even the worst injury he's gotten.
- And who could forget Wild crossdressing to enter Gerudo Town?
- Old-School Chivalry: Hyrule in particular has a sense of this, wanting to keep his Zelda safe.
- One-Steve Limit: The reason the Links are all referred to by their hero titles. Since there's no main Link among them, none of them go by that name until the final page of the Sunset arc, where Warriors addresses a lost-in-thought Time as such to get his attention.
- It should be noted that their titles are only used to refer to them out of universe; In-Universe, the only Link to have been referred to by title is Sky while everyone else is referred to by various other nicknames instead, like Time being called "Old Man" and Four "the Smith."
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The other Links suspect something is up when Time suddenly becomes more cheerful and pleasant. Turns out, they're now in his version of Hyrule, and not too far from his home.
- The other Links are similarly freaked out when Time starts laughing uncontrollably. As it turns out, Time's amusement is in disbelief at the thought of his adventures as a young child instilling so much fear in Ganondorf that the demon king becomes so unwilling to take chances by the time Wind comes around.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: According to the author, Twilight is not a “werewolf” (as in a being of both human-animal identities) so much as he switches between being either a man or a wolf. In trope talk, he’s got Voluntary Shapeshifting between two forms.
- Parental Substitute: Time acts like a father-figure to most of the Links, but especially acts as such to Twilight. Also a more literal example, considering that he is Twi's ancestor.
- Twilight attempts this with Wild on occasion, though Wild is more than happy to tell him that he's not as intimidating or commanding as Time is.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Four and Wind. Wind because of his age, but Four's just naturally short.
- Properly Paranoid: Time refuses to let Malon's father rehire Ingo, claiming he knows the man's true colors. Considering that in the Adult Timeline, Ingo forced Talon to flee to Kakariko Village while he overworked Malon to the point of borderline malnourishment (not to mention threats of animal abuse), Time has been given a very good reason to distrust Ingo.
- Pun: The reason why the Chosen Hero (Skyward Sword) is the best swordsman of the group.Author's Notes: It takes special skill to be able to completely improvise with lighting fast motion and control.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Time delivers one to Ganondorf, who isn't even there, upon realizing that the Demon King is willing to attack future Links (the example prompting the speech being Wind) when they're unprepared simply because Time as a child terrified him that much.Time: As a child, I was an inconvenience at best. Yet here I learn he became so paranoid...afraid of children...how bitter your humiliation is, Ganondorf. You really were cowardly enough to curse the generations that come after us. You pig.
- Recursive Fanfiction: Linked Universe has gotten so popular that there are thousands of fanworks based on it.
- Secret Identity: Though everyone has seen Twilight’s wolf form, only Time, Wild, and Four know that the wolf is actually Twilight and not just a wolf that follows the group around.
- The secret gradually gets revealed over time. Legend is the first outside of the above to find out when he sees Wolf-Twilight through the Mirror of Truth. Later, Wolf-Twilight is injured by the shadow's Iron Knuckle form, and Time reveals the secret to the remaining Links while trying to get him back into his Hylian form for proper aid.
- Secret-Keeper: Several.
- While Twilight's wolf form is known by every Link, only three know that Twilight is the wolf — Four, Wild, and Time. Wild likely knows due to Wolf Twilight being a helpful ally to him, while Time likely knows due to the fact that Twilight trusts Time to know (he is Twilight's ancestor). Though eventually, in the Divine Dark Reflections arc, Legend learns the truth as well, and come the Sunset arc everyone finds out.
- The fact that Twilight is Time's direct descendant is a secret only they and Malon (since she's also Twilight's ancestor) know. While the other Links know that the two often have private conversations, they don't know the full extent. A likely explanation is that Time wants to avoid a situation where the others feel he's playing favorites. The end of the "Sunset" arc finally changes this; Twilight calls him "ancestor" in front of several other Links, though Warriors is the only one to actually pick up on him referring to a biological connection and not reincarnation.
- Time's possession of the Fierce Deity's Mask is only known by Twilight. Time fears that if the other Links found out he owned such an artifact, a case of Broken Pedestal would occur.
- Twilight and Sky are the only two who know that Legend's true animal form is a rabbit. He's sworn them to secrecy.
- As of Sunset pt. 8, Wild becomes the only member of the Chain besides Four to know about the true power of the Four Sword. What he'll do with this information, or whether Four will ask him to keep it secret, is uncertain.
- Seen It All: Bound to happen when your adventures take place across several timelines. The fact that Time can so casually mention having to fight the Moon gives shades of this.
- Why Legend is able to identify so easily that Twilight is shapeshifting. Even being turned into a rabbit himself is a bit of a No-Sell until he realizes that Twilight doesn't use the same items he does to shift.
- Sensory Overload: Time gets this when he looks at the Sheikah Slate through the Mask of Truth.
- Self-Imposed Challenge: In-Universe. Four had enough with Wild's destructive tendencies and says that he'll make an unbreakable sword, with the exact phrase "Challenge accepted." Wild breaks it before the blade was even completed, possibly because of that fact.
- Shipper on Deck: Of a sort. When he first learns Time is married, Warriors initially believes that he is married to his time's Zelda, and he is so steadfast in this belief that he makes a bet with Legend on it, only to later be forced to put his rupees where his mouth his when it turns out to be Malon.
- Shout-Out: Per
Word of God, the flashback of Time proposing to Malon is a reference to the "tackiest ring ever" scene from A Tale of Two Rulers. - Sickeningly Sweethearts: Outright spoofed by Time and Malon.
- Slice of Life: Sometimes- the comic alternates between showing the Links everyday camping and bonding, and showing them battle monsters.
- Sore Loser: Warriors following the bet mentioned above. After being proven wrong in that Time isn't married to a Zelda, he accuses Legend of cheating, claiming that his guess (that Time married a random woman so he could live a simple life) was too accurate to be random.
- So Proud of You: After Malon learns that Twilight is her and Time's direct descendant, she quickly grows worried that he's risking his life out in the wilderness. Time assuages her fears by claiming that he's proud of Twilight, and that he can handle himself. Said remark is not lost on Twilight, who goes to bed that night dwelling on the fact that his otherwise stern ancestor and mentor went out of his way to praise him.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Wild mentions having once had to sneak into the Gerudo community during his quest. Time reveals he also snuck into the community before being granted free access due to impressing the Gerudo with his great stealth (claiming he could sneak in and out as he pleased, escaping capture from the thieves like it was child's play). When he asks Wild how he snuck into the Gerudo community, Wild, who could only sneak in undetected by crossdressing as a Hylian woman (and who had previously been made fun of for the women's clothes in his bag), simply says he did the same.
- Tap on the Head: A (relatively) realistic version occurs early on, when Wild is knocked out for a few minutes by a glancing blow from a monster's sword. Although he comes to fairly quickly, the group still treats the injury with the seriousness it deserves, making camp on the spot and relieving him of his usual cooking duties so he can rest and keep a cold compress on his head. In later strips, he has a new scar where the blow landed.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Wild, true to his game, lapses into one of these whenever he has a flashback involving his missing memories.
- Trash of the Titans: Legend’s house is just he place where he keeps all the equipment he’s picked up over the years, since he hardly ever visits it. He calls it his shed rather than his home.
- Trigger Phrase: A downplayed example. After Wind reveals to the group that he has a little sister, the word noticeably has an effect on Wild, the implication being he had a sister that he can't remember clearly. Unused concept art for Breath of the Wild would have revealed the Wild, before the Calamity, had a younger sister like Wind did.
- Unstoppable Mailman: Exaggerated. The mailman from Twilight Princess manages to somehow find the Links, and deliver Wind's regular mail. It was not even written in an alphabet he understood. The Links are left wondering if he's using the portals. He doesn't even seem fazed by the situation.Time: That's dedication.
- Wham Episode:
- Malon's first appearance counts, since prior to then the identity of Time's wife had been a long-held secret in and out of universe.
- The "Shady Escape" arc has the Links finally learn of how they were brought together, with a monster (who is most likely Dark Link himself assuming another form, given the monster's darker coloration) using a portal similar to the ones that each of the Links traveled through before they first met. The arc then ends with each of the Links following the monster through the portal right before it disappears.
- The "Divine Dark Reflections" arc sees Legend find Twilight's shadow crystal, transforming into his rabbit form from A Link to the Past — but since he left his moon pearl back at camp, where Wild and Four would see him if he tried to sneak past, Twilight suggests they ask Sky to use the Master Sword instead. The event causes Legend to deduce that Twilight and Wolfie are one and the same, which Twilight finally admits. Legend also alludes to Marin for the first time in front of another Link, and Twilight does the same in regards to Midna. The arc then goes into Dark Link, in the form of a monster, finding the ruins of a camp that Hyrule & Warriors burned down earlier and raising the monsters from the dead, implying that yet another confrontation with the Big Bad is imminent — and that this time he won't just run.
- Shifting Shadow Part 7: Twilight in wolf form has the black Lizalfos pinned and is on the verge of killing it when it suddenly transforms into a huge Iron Knuckle, slashing Twilight across the belly with its axe and gravely wounding him.
- The Sunset arc in general is full of wham, especially the final page.
- It's revealed that neither fairies nor Hyrule's Life spell can heal Twilight's wounds.
- [Four uses the true power of the Four Sword for the first time in the comic to stop an irrational Wild.
- The name "Link" is used in-comic for the first time as Warriors calls out to Time, who is lost in thought about Twilight's worsening condition.
- Finally, Warriors figures out Time is Twilight's Living Distant Ancestor, which the latter two had kept a closely guarded secret.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Legend calls Twilight out on his use of Dark Magic. Twilight doesn't really see the problem, since the Twilight Realm his Dark Magic comes from is very different from the Dark Realm Legend is familiar with.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: The Shadow's weapon is capable of inflicting this, at least by the normal means available to the Chain.
