Sandbox / The Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild Link

Link, the Hero of the Wild

"Link... You are the light — our light — that must shine upon Hyrule once again."

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

Voiced by: Kengo Takanashi, Takashi Ōhara (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe)

The latest incarnation of the Legendary Hero that has saved Hyrule countless times in the past.

A mysterious young man who wakes up in an isolated chamber, devoid of any recollection of why he was there. Upon exiting, he finds himself in Hyrule, a land that was parched by a great evil known as Calamity Ganon a century before, and eventually learns that he was the appointed knight to Princess Zelda, before he was taken to the Shrine of Resurrection when Ganon’s assault proved too much for his body.

Now tasked with journeying into Hyrule Castle in order to free Zelda and destroy Calamity Ganon, Link sets off on a journey across the changed lands of Hyrule, while also attempting to recollect the identity of his past self.

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A-L

• All Your Powers Combined: In Breath of the Wild, while each of the Champions specializes in a specific weapon (Mipha in spears, Revali in bows, Daruk in two-handed weapons, and Urbosa in one-handed swords & shields), Link is capable of utilizing all four types. Also, over the course of the game, Link gains the special powers of the fallen Champions. Daruk's Protection allows him to form a protective barrier around himself, Mipha's Grace revives him with extra hearts if he falls in battle, Revali's Gale lets him create an updraft that can carry him into the air for paragliding, and Urbosa's Fury allows him to call down thunderbolts.
  • Played even straighter in Tears of the Kingdom where Link can have avatars and a construct of five of the six Sages, a slightly watered-down version of the sixth Sage's ability (Recall from Zelda) and the abilities of Rauru's arm (the leader of all six, the Sage of Light).
• Always Someone Better: This is a recurring theme with this Link; no matter how reputable or powerful a character can be, Link can always find a way to overtake them.
  • While Zelda struggled with her identity and her quest to unlock her hidden power, Link was already an accomplished knight and swordsman.
  • Revali was best archer of the Rito warriors, but Link succeded where he failed by killing Windblight Ganon.
  • Master Kohga is the top-ranked Yiga member, but Link can take him out with relative ease, in part thanks to Kohga's own refusal to test himself.
  • In "The Champions' Ballad DLC", even the otherwise unstoppable Maz Koshia loses to Link.
• Amnesiac Hero: He wakes up not knowing much about who he is or what his purpose is.
• Amnesiac Resonance: Much like in real life, despite his memory loss, he still retains his combat skills and abilities as people usually do through muscle memory. His canon unhesitating heroism is also a reflection of who he originally was 100 years earlier.
• An Arm and a Leg: He tanks a Gloom-powered strike from the revived Ganondorf with the Master Sword in the prologue of Tears of the Kingdom, the corrosive miasma eating into both the blade and his right arm and shoulder. In the aftermath, the lingering spirit of Rauru comments that the arm was "beyond saving", and had to save Link by grafting his own remnant right arm that was sealing the Demon King onto him. It's unclear if that meant the arm itself had to be entirely replaced or was merged together with Rauru's through the Fuse ability, but dialogue makes it repeatedly clear that the arm is indeed Rauru's, and not Link's own. Rauru and Sonia manage to restore Link's arm at the end of the game, subverting it.
• An Interior Decorator Is You:
  • While most of Link's bachelor pad in Hateno is built by Bolson, he can choose what gear to hang on the walls as trophies.
  • Taken a step further in Tears of the Kingdom where Link can build a fully-fledged house from scratch in any way he chooses.
• Armor Is Useless:
  • Downplayed, but his Champion's Tunic has more defense than equally-levelled Soldier's Armor and Ancient Armor despite being a glorified shirt. The "Hero of the Wild" clothing set also invokes this, as the cloth cap, shorts, and tunic all have equal defense to the Soldier and Ancient Armor sets as well.
  • Downplayed Trope in Tears of the Kingdom as the Tunic of Memories (the Champion's Tunic from the last game) still has a good defense rating but loses out on its significantly padded and armored successor, the Champion's Leathers.
• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: One memory on Death Mountain has him and Zelda sitting around a lot of defeated monsters (one of which is a Silver Lynel).
• Attractive Bent-Gender: When he has to crossdress to infiltrate Gerudo Town, talking to nearby dudes have them hitting on him.
• Bad with the Bone: Link can swipe Stal creature limbs and skulls after scattering them, and use them to bash opponents.
• Badass Adorable: He's an adorable, lightly built young man and the greatest hero of his generation.
• Badass Biker: Link's Divine Beast turns out to be a Magitek motorcycle, which can be summoned with his Sheikah Slate. Link can also use his weapons while driving, even two-handed ones.
• Badass Bookworm: Along with the various dishes he can cook in the game, the fact that he can brew potions suggests a knowledge of chemistry.
• Badass Cape: The Hylian Hood gives him a pretty nice one. If you have the Champion's Ballad DLC, the Phantom Ganon armor has a pretty awesome one too.
• Badass Normal:
  • He doesn't gain any innate magical ability. Any magic he has is because of either the Sheikah Slate, or the spirits of the other Champions using their powers from within him.
  • He doesn't even have the Triforce of Courage. Even that which has been passed down from Hero to Hero ever since the Triforce split has been denied him — and that still doesn't stop him.
  • However, his Flurry Rush ability (as well as being able to seemingly slow time when firing arrows) could be seen as some kind of time magic or superhumanly enhanced senses, which is later indirectly revealed to be something that incredibly proficient warriors can learn to do, and he still has the best version of it.
  • "The Champions' Ballad" DLC adds another feat to Link's badassery as told from a journal written by Daruk. When a Guardian malfunctioned and began to attack, Link manages to deflect its laser back at it with a pot lid, which is something the player can do in the game as well.
• Badass Teacher: In Tears of the Kingdom, he can be hired as a teacher for the Hateno School.
• Badass Transplant: Link uses Rauru's arm in Tears of the Kingdom to move objects around, fuse them (including weapons) together, and even ascend through solid objects.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: In the official artbook of the game, there's an image of Link in the nude, but you can't see anything around the crotch.
• Batter Up!: He can get the Boko Bat early in the game, and later gains a nail bat in the form of the Spiked Boko Bat.
• The Beastmaster: He can tame wild horses, deer, and even bears, and is pretty chummy with his lupine Alternate Self from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
• Betty and Veronica: He's seen as the Betty to Zelda's Archie, with Kass's teacher being the Veronica. Kass's teacher was both a Sheikah and the court poet, while Link is a knight-in-training (abeit a gifted one) and a commoner, something the poet greatly despised when Zelda only had eyes for Link.
• BFS: Some of the obtainable weapons are claymores and greatswords as long as Link is tall. Even the Master Sword is a One-Handed Zweihänder.
• Big Brother Mentor:
  • He served as one for the "Big Bad Bazz Brigade," helping them hone their swordsmanship. They express their gratitude to him over this a century later as Zora soldiers.
  • It's revealed by the Rito that he's become a closer version of this to Tulin in Tears of the Kingdom following the events of Breath of the Wild, having repeatedly visited Rito Village to both train and mentor Tulin in his archery at the Flight Range alongside Teba.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • One of his memories features Zelda surrounded, semi-supine, and has been caught dead to rights by the Yiga Clan. Right before they can murder her, Link charges in and kills one of her attackers (a feat in itself to strike one completely dead since they usually Smoke Out when they've been defeated normally). This is also the event that causes Zelda to stop being cold towards Link.
  • Unless you ignore the innocent Hylians being attacked by monsters while wandering Hyrule, the player will almost certainly live up to this trope many times over.
• Big Eater: One of the first things Zelda learned about Link when they became friends was that he has a bottomless appetite and is a sucker for a good meal. Indeed, unless you're very good at dodging or playing a Self-Imposed Challenge, Link will embody this in-game.
  • According to Daruk's training journal, Link once ate a rock steak. And liked it!
• Blade Spam: Performing "Flurry Rush" with a sword lets Link execute a barrage of slashes similar to his "Triforce Slash" Final Smash from Super Smash Bros.^note which ironically got replaced with the Ancient Bow and Arrows from this game when this Link replaced the Twilight Princess incarnation as the de facto Adult Link in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (though Toon Link and Young Link retained the move).
• Blue Is Heroic: In Breath of the Wild, Link has most prominently been shown wearing an elaborate blue tunic which is a uniform that the Champions of Hyrule wear. This is even enforced by the game, as you cannot dye the Champion's Tunic an alternate color and it's the best armor Link can get in the game. This returns for the Champion's Leathers successor armor in Tears of the Kingdom. Additionally in the sequel, where Link can learn the Yiga Earthwake technique, the light and talisman-particle effects for his Earthwake are blue rather than the red used by true Yiga, perhaps to align Link to the heroic Sheikah who would have created the technique first, or just to reflect his own heroism.
• Boring, but Practical: The Paraglider is one of Link's first items, and it does nothing more than allow him to glide. Of course, it is invaluable when it comes to traversing the mountainous regions of Hyrule and saving Link from a fall.
• Bragging Rights Reward: One of the additions in the Champions' Ballad DLC is the Master Cycle Zero, a motorcycle that's like a horse, but better. That said, you gain it from completing the Champions' Ballad DLC, which, considering it's an addition to the main story, can really only be used to explore the world. However, this is only the case if you've already 100% the game before completing the DLC, otherwise this trope is actually subverted as the Master Cycle can be a massive help for finding any remaining Shrines or Korok Seeds.
• Broken Ace: A little, in the memories. Zelda's diary reveals that Link, like Zelda, felt the pressures of being a Knight of Hyrule and dealt with it by being stoic and silent. Once Zelda realizes this, she and Link become close friends.
• Brought Down to Badass: Judging by his memories, pre-Calamity Link was an almost unstoppable One-Man Army capable of taking only minor injuries when facing a horde of monsters including Lynels and was only mortally wounded when taking on an army of Guardian Stalkers alone to protect Zelda. When he wakes up a century later with a fraction of his old strength, he's still capable of fighting the most powerful enemies Ganon can bring forth.
• Bullet Time: By dodging an enemy's attack at the last second, Link can slow down time and counter with a Flurry Rush. Link can also slow down time to aim precisely while airborne at the expense of his stamina.
• Call-Back: Link's default outfit resembles the Island Lobster Shirt outfit from The Wind Waker. An even closer match is available as an alternate outfit, too.
• Came Back Wrong: It's evident that being revitalized from the Shrine of Resurrection has left the Princess's appointed knight with amnesia — all of his memories are lost. The King immediately realizes that he's wandering without purpose and very confused, and thus doesn't reveal himself proper, for fear that it would cause further strain on the hero's mind.
• Came Back Strong: His health might be low starting out, but Link still has all his fighting abilities available to him from the moment he wakes up and is capable of defeating Ganon right from the start if the player is skilled enough.
• Cassandra Truth: Many people don't believe Link when it comes to his history. Even though he is the very same Hylian Champion from 100 years from the past, people have a hard time believing him and cite that he's either lying, a descendant of the Champion, or someone looking for fame. Only the Zora, the Sheikah, Yiga Clan, Riju and Buliara of the Gerudo believe that Link is the real deal. The first two because the Zora age much slower than Hylians while the older members of the Sheikah clan knew Link from 100 years ago.
• Cast from Hit Points: In Breath of the Wild, attempting to draw the Master Sword drains the claimant's life force, and Link can only survive the ordeal if his maximum is at least 13 hearts. Thankfully, he is restored after succeeding. Tears of the Kingdom implies that this is a side effect of the sword not having fully recovered after the amount of damage it received during the Calamity, as a flashback has Link drawing it from its pedestal again without struggle or fanfare.
• Celibate Hero: Though many women flirt with Link during the events of the game, he never pays serious attention to it. The rationale is obvious, what with Calamity Ganon needing to be stopped and his own journey of self-rediscovery on top of that. The only exception, according to the Adventure Log in the Japanese version, is Princess Zelda, whom he emphasizes a lot in his quest entries.
• The Champion: His literal title for this game is the Hylian Champion, but more personally he serves as this to Zelda, and their Lady and Knight relationship is emphasized in this game.
• Character Development: As explained in Zelda's Diary, Link was at first a quiet and stoic young man who put up a cold front to deal with the pressures of being a knight of Hyrule, but after rescuing Zelda from a trio of Yiga ninjas, he began to open up to Zelda and they soon became close friends. On top of that, while he feels iffy about being able to purify the Divine Beasts at first, his dialogue options show his increasing confidence with each encounter.
• Chainsaw Good: Link can obtain the Ancient Bladesaw, a sword with rotating teeth made of pure energy.
• Cheerful Child: "The Champions' Ballad" DLC through Mipha's diary reveals that Link was a curious, energetic, and cheerful child.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: One of the results of his knight training was gaining Super-Reflexes that makes time seem to slow down around him.
• Chick Magnet: Some female NPCs will flirt with Link, especially if he's completed quests for them, Paya develops a crush on him, and Princess Mipha of the Zora intended to marry him after Ganon was defeated (not to mention she was also in a Love Triangle with Kodah as her rival), while Zelda is also confirmed to have fallen in love with him according to Kass's Mentor (via Kass after he returns to Rito Village) and was about to confess based on her conversation with the Great Deku Tree.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Mipha was his childhood friend and she had fallen for him, even intending to marry him after the Great Calamity, though it's somewhat left ambiguous on Link's part, but it's clear that she meant a lot to him. Kodah also used to have a crush on him, but she ended up finding a Second Love after his presumed death.
• Childhood Friends: Link spent part of his childhood stationed near Zora's Domain and was friends with several of the younger Zoras, including Princess Mipha, Kodah, and the Big Bad Bazz Brigade. As a result, none of the adults share the elders' hostility towards him when he comes back a century later.
• Child Prodigy: Link was as young as four years old when he could best grown men in sword fighting.
• Child Soldier: Link was stationed with a group of knights by Zora's Domain when he was four years old, yet at that time was noted to be strong enough to overcome grown men.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Link is nothing but professional in his demeanor, acting the part of a stoic knight...but it's hard to not notice that his eyeline seems to be directed towards Zelda's backside whenever she's bent over or trailing ahead of him.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Lampshaded by Impa:
  Impa: Ha! Not a memory to your name, yet you are as intent as ever to charge forward with only courage and justice on your side. You have not changed a bit. Once a hero, always a hero.
• Closest Thing We Got: A Zigzagged case. Link is The Ace and The Chosen One of the Master Sword, prophesied to face Calamity Ganon as a champion of Hyrule, and is widely regarded by everybody during the kingdom's heyday. However, after Calamity Ganon ravages the land and nearly kills Link alongside every other means they have of fighting back, forcing Zelda to seal both of them away for 100 years, the story doesn't shy away from emphasizing how desperate the survivors were, that their only option for beating the Calamity was to hope Link would eventually recover and put an end to the beast. Link gaining amnesia alongside being very weakened from his long recovery period puts him in arguably the worst possible condition he could be to face Ganon, and the spirit of the late King has to coach him on basic survival mechanics before allowing him to roam the land to ensure he'd have something to work with to improve his odds. Calamity Ganon always being on the verge of reviving when Link tries to face him and the lack of organized aid from the scattered peoples of the kingdoms emphasizes how there is both no time for another solution and nobody else who can physically stand by Link during his fight against Ganon.
• Combat Pragmatist: Tactics for combat can include sniping at range, stealthy kills, electrocution when the enemy's in water, spamming enemies when they're wide open, and so forth. Considering the realistic effects when it comes to damage in this game, you'll have to have him fight dirty to survive.
• Commonality Connection: Zelda's Diary reveals that Link, like Zelda, felt the pressures of living up to his responsibility of being a knight of Hyrule. It's Zelda realizing this that causes them to bond.
• The Confidant: To Zelda. According to Impa and Zelda's diary, she (eventually) saw him as someone she could confide in and rely on when the pressures of defeating Calamity Ganon became too great, which you can see in some of the memory locations you can find. In the present, he also becomes one for Riju, as she becomes more open with him about her own insecurities once he retrieves the Thunder Helm.
  Impa: A hundred years ago, you and the princess were quite close. You were a comfort and an encouraging presence to her as she struggled each day to fulfill her destiny. That is why she believes in you... and why she has the strength to fight Ganon all alone.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • Most incarnations of Link wear green tunics, come from rural or suburban settings, sleep for pleasure, and meet Princess Zelda when their quests are underway. This one wears a wide variety of clothes and is often depicted with a cyan tunic, is the son of a Hylian knight, had to be placed in the Shrine of Resurrection to prolong his life, and was Zelda's friend long before the story of the game starts.
  • Personality-wise, while most Links are unfailingly polite, some of this Link's dialogue options border on blunt, snarky, or even rude.
  • He's also the first Link shown to keep the Master Sword at the end of his game. Whereas most Links return the sword to its pedestal or otherwise lose it, this Link is shown wearing the Master Sword on his back in the Golden Ending. Tears of the Kingdom, however, shows that he eventually returned it to its pedestal to let it recover completely from the Calamity.
• Cool Sword: The Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane. By the time period the game takes place, the Master Sword's name has been mostly forgotten and most just refer to it as "the darkness-sealing sword".
• Cosplay: Via amiibo and DLC, this Link can impersonate most of his predecessors, and even other characters such as Sheik and Phantom Ganon. He can also dress up as Rex via free DLC.
• Covered with Scars: Not that his in-game model shows this, but some characters comment on the numerous faint scars all over his body.
• Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: He experiences this when he opens the Shrine of Resurrection up to the daylight outside.
• Deadpan Snarker: This incarnation of Link can easily be the snarkiest yet through his dialogue options, even in many instances where the game only gives one. And there is one famous instance◊ where all of his dialogue options are snarky puns.
• Death of Personality: At the beginning of the game, upon waking up in the Shrine of Resurrection, Link loses all of his memories. People who have advanced suitably far enough into the game may take note that the personality of Link post-revival is completely different from his original personality — he's curious, a lot more carefree, cunning, and open about his emotions. By the time he's gotten most of his memories back, Link has become courageous and stalwart once more, though one could also argue that his carefree nature was his original personality, and the weight of his role as the legendary hero caused him to become emotionally withdrawn — with the stress of that gone, he's able to properly express himself once more.
• Dented Iron: His backstory as a Knight of Hyrule means that he is essentially this when he wakes in the Shrine of Resurrection. He is initially very weak, and even the weakest enemies around can beat him down pretty fast if he's not cautious. Over the course of his adventures, he slowly recovers his full strength (i.e. Heart Containers).
• Determinator: Much as with all other Links, he bears this nicely. Even when he was so battered that he could barely stand and was succumbing to his wounds inflicted by the Guardians, he refused to stop putting himself between them and Zelda. Right before the final battle, Zelda says that the one thing Link never forgot was his courage. In Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda even describes him as someone who absolutely refuses to back down from any challenge.
• Disappeared Dad: His father was a knight of Hyrule, and Link follows in his footsteps. But he was only mentioned once by Zelda, and never seen in person. Given that 100 years have passed after the Great Calamity, he is most likely dead by this point, even if he survived the Calamity.
• Disguised in Drag: Link has to use his Pretty Boy good looks and dress up as a woman in order to enter Gerudo Town.
• Dork Knight: Link started off in the backstory as very stoic and serious, but he's loosened up considerably by the time you get to control him. He often makes cheesy puns in dialogue, he hums excitedly while cooking food, and should you choose to sleep on the waterbed in Zora's Domain, Link can be heard bouncing on the bed and giggling like a little kid.
• Dressing as the Enemy:
  • Some of Link's wardrobe options are masks and armor that make him look like a monster, making it possible to walk straight into enemy camps without the enemies realizing what's up.
  • In Tears of the Kingdom Link can obtain Yiga Armor, which allows him to fool Yiga Clansmen into believing he's one of them.
• Dub Personality Change: Well... of a sort. The journal used to keep track of quests in first-person in the original Japanese version (as well as some other languages, like Russian), and contains a lot more introspective dialogue from Link himself. Most chiefly upon completing the memory gathering quest, Link explicitly claims that he wants to "see [Zelda's] smile again". While the romantic element between the two of them is obvious enough in the English versions, these other translations drive the point home.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Especially in the 2014 preview, to the point where people actually thought that he would be a girl in this game, or you'd at least be able to change the gender (which was almost the case, according to Word of God). Downplayed in the final game, but still present. It doesn't help that he needs to dress up as a girl to get into Gerudo City in BotW.
• Elemental Weapon: Can wield elemental swords, rods, and arrows.
• Empowered Badass Normal: He starts the game with nothing more than a pair of shorts and acquits himself well, even before gaining access to magical upgrades.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: Link can steal food from enemy camps.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Especially in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, where some NPCs will refuse to believe Link is the legendary hero due to his underwhelming height, even when he has the Master Sword on his back.
• Experienced Protagonist: Unlike most other incarnations, Link is already a Master Swordsman and the wielder of the Master Sword by the time the game starts, having been born into a family of royal knights.
• Expy: An invoked one, of the original Link, to complete the allusions to that title. Heck, his official traditional green tunic you can find? It's an updated version of that very Link's clothes.
• Extreme Omnivore:
  • Link will eat anything you can throw into a pot, including rocks, frogs, and dishes so hideously disgusting that they can't be shown on television.
  • Lampshaded in Daruk's training journal; Link was able to eat the trademark Goron meal, which is basically roasted rocks. He didn't even complain. And no, it's not Link putting up a polite face, as Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity reveals that he literally did eat a molten rock roast willingly.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Link gets hit on by male NPCs almost as often as females. Some of these think he's a girl, while others are Ambiguously Gay.
• Flash Step: To achieve striking distance, Link executes one during a Flurry Rush performed from a perfect dodge on opponents with long melee weapons, such as Lynels, Ganon Blights, and Calamity Ganon.
• The Gadfly: Some of his interactions are pretty trollish.
• The Girl Who Fits This Slipper: The fact that the Zora Armor crafted by Mipha and given to him by King Dorephan fits him perfectly is used to prove to a skeptical Muzu that Link is the one Mipha loved.
• Ground Punch: In Tears of the Kingdom, he can disguise himself as a member of the Yiga and scam them into teaching him their Earthwake ability used by Blademasters. This is done by charging up an attack with no weapon equipped.
• Half-Human Hybrid: In Tears of the Kingdom, the Sage of Light's remnant spirit grafts his remaining right arm onto Link's body to save him when he's nearly killed by The Corruption. The arm is noticeably black-skinned and almost looks like a Power Tattoo where it's joined into Link's Hylian body, and technically makes Link Half-Zonai from the transplant.
• The Hero: As expected, Link is the protagonist and The Chosen One.
• Heroic Lineage: He's descended from a long line of Hylian knights and was a knight of Hyrule himself, and a step above due to being the chosen wielder of the Master Sword. In one memory, Zelda muses on the pressure of being a slave to one's lineage, and wonders if Link would have chosen a different path in life if this wasn't the case.
• Heroic Mime:
  • He's this even in a game with some voice acting. Most of his communication happens through unvoiced dialogue trees, and though he is clearly shown actually speaking by his own initiative at several points, all of his lines remain unvoiced (implying that the player is supposed to imagine what he said based on how the other characters react to it), and several characters remark on how he is a man of relatively few words. Amusingly, there is a cutscene where Zelda quotes something he told her once off-screen. Her diary also reveals why he's this: because of the pressure he felt as the Hylian Champion and the stuff he has to live up to, he chose not to speak much to focus more on his duty, and for fear of saying anything that might disappoint. Learning this makes Zelda warm up to him even more, since she has similar insecurities.
  • Downplayed in the original Japanese text, where Link is the one writing the journal entries in the Adventure Log, often while giving his own thoughts on the situation at hand, thus being the first time in the series where Link expresses himself completely outside of the player's influence. In the Western localizations, the entries were rewritten so they address the player directly instead.
• Heroic RRoD: After Calamity Ganon turns the Guardians against Hyrule, Link fights off wave after wave of Guardians while critically injured. Even with Zelda pleading for Link to get away to safety, he still refuses to back down. His body eventually gives out and he falls unconscious. Had Zelda not intervened, Link would have been dead for good.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Downplayed. In the present day, a number of the older Zora aren't very fond of him, as they blame him for the death of Mipha. However, the King and younger Zora are still rather fond of him, and the older Zora eventually lighten up after he saves them.
• He Is All Grown Up: Link became this to Mipha, who as a Zora was already an adult upon meeting four-year-old Link. Upon seeing Link again after he had grown up she fell in love with him.
• Hidden Depths:
  • As described in Zelda's diary, Link put up a stoic and silent front in order to cope with the pressures of being a Knight. It's only through his bond with Zelda that he becomes more open with his feelings.
  • Bazz reveals that Link personally trained the Big Bad Bazz Brigade in combat when he was stationed at the Zora's Domain in his childhood to where they still call him Master Link in present day, implying he has a knack for teaching. The fact Tulin under Link's guidance ended up surprassing Revali and his father in archery also supports this.
• Horse Archer: One viable means of dispatching enemies is shooting them with arrows from horseback. Link is able to change position on a moving mount, spinning on his saddle to shoot at targets behind him and changing forward when finished, without missing a beat or losing control of the horse. That's a feat of master-class horsemanship.
• Hot Consort: The fact that he could have been a gender-inverted example is a minor plot point, as Mipha had been planning on asking for his hand in marriage, but was unable to work up the courage to confess before she was killed. It might still end up happening after the events of the game, given that Zelda is also confirmed to be in love with him.
• Humble Hero: Link never seeks glory in his adventures, though sometimes he asks for rewards for helping people, and doesn't bother to make a point of the fact that he's a legendary hero, instead allowing those he interacts with to form their own opinions about who he is.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: Link can use Iaijutsu if he charges an attack with certain weapons, all of them katana-like. Also, he can also perform an iaijutsu-like move with other weapons if he draws them while running.
• Iconic Attribute Adoption Moment: Potentially. Link has the blue Champion's tunic and whatever clothes he can scavenge, but completing all of the shrines gives him a green tunic and hat more familiar to Zelda players.
• Improbable Use of a Weapon:
  • If Link mounts a Lynel, he'll start ramming the butt end of the weapon into the creature's back.
  • As shown in the character picture above, Link knocks his arrows with his right hand palm out, which is certainly not correct archery form. This implies that, while he uses bows, he may not be a trained bowman. That being said, this actually is a legitimate grip that people can use in real life, it's just not the conventional way to use bows.
• Improbable Weapon User: Link can wield an eclectic assortment of odd weapons, ranging from broken sticks to undead skeleton body parts to giant leaves.
• Informed Deformity: Several characters will note that Link's body is littered with faint scars, none of which appear on his character model.
• Instant Runes: In the beginning stages of the game, Link can upgrade his Shekiah Slate with Runes that can perform various actions by completing Shrines:
  • Remote Bombs that can blow things up and come in two shapes: round bombs that tend to roll and square bombs that tend to stay in place. Instead of detonating after a certain amount of time, they can be detonated at will.
  • Magnesis can let Link manipulate metal objects to solve puzzles and fish treasure chests out of the water.
  • Cryonis can let Link freeze water into solid blocks of ice that can be used as makeshift platforms or shields.
  • Stasis allows Link to temporarily freeze time for an object or enemy and store their kinetic energy by hitting them while they're frozen, ensuring that they are sent flying when the stasis effect wears off.
  • Camera allows Link to take pictures, with a good number of the things he takes pictures of filling out the in-game Hyrule Compendium.
  • amiibo, which can be turned on and off, allows the player to scan Amiibo for daily bonus items or summon Wolf Link for help.
  • Master Cycle Zero, which summons Link's titular Divine Beast to be ridden anywhere outdoors. It's eco-friendly, too, running on whatever random materials you give it (though, apples are ideal).
• Interspecies Friendship:
  • He was Childhood Friends with several Zoras, and "The Champions' Ballad" DLC revealed that he and Daruk were already companions before the Champions were gathered.
  • Prior to the events of Tears of the Kingdom, Link is revealed to have ended up becoming incredibly close to Teba's son Tulin, eventually leading him to become a surrogate brother of a sorts and an archery mentor to him.
• Interspecies Romance: It's unclear if Link responded or not, but it is known that both Mipha, the Zora Princess, and a commoner Zora named Kodah were in love with Link. However, Mipha died fighting Calamity Ganon and Kodah moved on when Link was put into his healing slumber, going on to marry a fellow Zora named Kayden, have a daughter with him (Finley), and run the Seabed Inn.
• In the Hood: One of Link's pieces of armor is the Hylian Hood, a simple traveler's cloak. It's depicted as part of his signature look for Tears of the Kingdom, but worn down off his head, subverting the hooded appearance. The player can achieve this hood-down look by talking to Cece while wearing the Hylian Hood after the Hateno election quests are all complete.
• Irony: In contrast to all the other Links except the one from The Wind Waker, this Link is limited in how far he can swim by his stamina meter. This is despite the fact that he not only grew up interacting with the Zora to the point of being Childhood Friends with several of them, he almost became their prince consort.
• Katanas Are Just Better:
  • The Sheikah swords, such as the Eightfold Blade, are a subversion. While the descriptions boast of them having the sharpest conventional blades ever made, and they are a step up from the early weapons, they can be outclassed by future ones quite quickly.
  • In Tears of the Kingdom, Link can acquire a Gloom Sword by defeating Phantom Ganon, and it's one of the strongest swords in the game with a base 41 Atk. In addition, the Silver Lynel Saber Horn, the strongest fuse material in the game at 55 Atk, which is a blade shaped horn that resembles a katana.
• King in the Mountain: He was sealed in the Shrine of Resurrection before the events of the game.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Link can sneak into enemy camps and rob them blind of their food and weapons. There's even seldom any acknowledgement or ramifications for helping himself to supplies found in friendly encampments such as Stables found around Hyrule. Taken to its extreme in Tears of the Kingdom, where he infiltrates the Yiga HQ and secures all their best skills, weapons, and bananas without raising one alert.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Link has always been a swordsman who fights evil, champions the innocent, and serves as the White Knight to Zelda's Bright Lady, but for the first time in the series — not counting Twilight Princess — he can don proper plate armor with the Soldier's Armor set.
• Last of His Kind: The Last Hylian Knight, after the Calamity ravaged their numbers and old age would have claimed any others that might have survived.
• Late to the Tragedy: The setup of the game implies that Link Slept Through the Apocalypse, but an early game reveal tells us (and him) that he was actually at ground zero, present at the moment Calamity Ganon ravaged Hyrule, as a knight fighting alongside Princess Zelda and the other pilots of the Divine Beasts. Link almost perished in the struggle and was only saved by bringing him to the Shrine of Resurrection.
• Legacy Character: On top of him being the latest in a long line of Links, a horse he can tame in a sidequest is the direct descendant of the horse that Zelda used a century ago.
• Legacy of Service: Link is from a line of knights, his father having been a member of King Rhoam's Royal Guard.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He has long hair that brushes just past his shoulders when down, and alongside his status as a Chick Magnet, he's frequently fauned over by npcs for his good looks.
• Lost in Translation: Much of the writing in the Journal in the Japanese version is changed from being written in the first person to address the player directly instead. This means a lot of character that Link had in Japanese is unfortunately lost — most notably, that a lot of his romantic subtext with Zelda is removed entirely. This is visible here.
• Love Triangle: It turns out that he was actually involved in three of these, making his love triangle so complex it's better described as a love triforce. Amongst the Champions, both Mipha and Zelda, Princesses of the Zora and the Hylians respectively, had a crush on him. He also had another going on with both Mipha and a Zora named Kodah. The last was between him and an unnamed Shiekah poet regarding Princess Zelda's affections.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He can use several types of shields made out of wood, metal, or ancient technology. His shields will break if he blocks too much, but successful parries can counterattack while preserving the shield durability. Link's wooden shields are useless against fire or the superheated areas in Death Mountain while metal shields will make Link become a lightning rod if he's caught in a thunderstorm. Link can find the Hylian Shield, which has the best defense and has a ton of durability, but since it's metal, thunderstorms will make it dangerous to have equipped.

M-Y

• Made of Iron: Significantly less so than other Links, but enough hearts and armor can allow him to survive a bolt of lightning.
• Magic Knight: Link can use Magitek arrows, as well as utilize a Magitek device called the Sheikah Slate to perform magic.
• Magikarp Power: Moreso than any Link up to this point. He starts out very, very weak; there are enemies in the tutorial area that can kill him in one hit, and the first weapon he's likely to find is a tree branch lying on the ground. But as the game continues, and he completes shrines, dungeons, and other quests, he becomes easily the most powerful incarnation in the franchise, as shown in a lot of his other tropes.
• Magitek: Link's main item in Breath of the Wild is a Sheikah Slate, an all-purpose magical tablet which can be loaded with spells such as Magnesis, Cryonis, Remote Bombs and Stasis. It also comes equipped with a Tracker for shrines, treasure, wildlife, or monsters, a warp function, and a Camera.
• Master Swordsman:
  • Starts out as one for the first time in the main series^note as opposed to several other Links, who would become one as the game went on. This Link was once an elite knight in the Hylian army who was nearly killed trying to fend off the Calamity Ganon a century before. His combative skills are ingrained in his mind, even if he doesn't have recollection of his past experiences. The closest the series has had to someone of this Link's level of skill was in Skyward Sword (whose Link was training to become a knight, but had not graduated at the time of the game). Prior to his fall, he was the chosen wielder of the Master Sword.
  • Several readable tomes and commentary from Non-Player Character dialogue cite Link among the greatest swordsmen in Hyrule, Mipha's diary even revealing he could best grown men in swordsmanship at four years old. His role as The Chosen One was because he wielded the Master Sword, but his appointment as Princess Zelda's knight was because of his unparalleled skill with the blade.
  • Mina and Mils, a pair of veteran adventurers (and self proclaimed treasure hunters), can occasionally be found fighting a pair of Bokoblins. While the two can defeat the monsters without Link's assistance, watching them reveals how inefficient their swordsmanship is compared to his. They block an attack with their shield, then strike back with a single sword swipe. This process is repeated until the Bokoblins are dead. Link, on the other hand, can parry and dodge attacks, execute Bullet Time, and perform a rapid Three-Strike Combo.
• The Matchmaker: One sidequest has Link act as Finley's wingman in landing her the man she's fallen for.
• McNinja: One of his outfits is a Sheikah outfit that makes him look like a ninja, and improves his stealth ability when worn.
• Mr. Fanservice: Link is a rather attractive young man in this game, potentially able to walk around just in his underwear. To quote Nintendo's CEO, Reggie Fils-Aimé: "Link is hot".
• Multi-Melee Master: In a step up from his previous incarnations, Link can skillfully wield swords, axes, spears, clubs, and a number of other weapons.
• Multi-Ranged Master: He can also wield bows, boomerangs, and magic rods.
• Muscles Are Meaningless:
  • Despite looking like a scrawny young adult, he can wield even the heaviest weapons, including Daruk's Boulder Breaker, which was made for Gorons and whose description claims would take "an immense amount of strength" for a Hylian to wield.
  • No other individual in the game, be it monsters or even NPCs, can fatigue-break weapons, shields and bows like Link does. This makes it clear that Link is extremely strong, so much that almost all the weapons in the game last him a couple dozen hits.
• Nature Hero: Invoked, although not in an obvious way — the iconic green tunic of past heroes is now the reward for basically mastering and traversing the vast wilderness of Hyrule. Receiving it reveals this particular Link's official "Hero Title" (as compared to the Hero of Time, Hero of the Wind, or Hero of Twilight, etc.) and considering what this Link needs to have gone through to get it, the tunic officially titles him the Hero of the Wild.
• Nice Guy: Noble, loyal, dedicated to his duty, and mature beyond his years.
• No Sympathy: Gets this from many people bitter over his initial loss to Calamity Ganon, despite him clearly trying his damnedest both then and now.
• Not So Stoic: A brief but incredibly noticeable instance of this during Tears of the Kingdom where his first instinct seeing Zelda fall into the chasm after the floor collapses around her during Ganondorf's revival is to jump in after her and grab her. He fails to save her and noticeably gasps in horror as she falls into the chasm below. He's also noticeably shaken up when he realizes Zelda sacrificed her mind and body to become a dragon in an attempt to restore the Master Sword, his breathing becomes heavier and his eyes quiver a bit as if he's holding back tears.
• One-Man Army: One of his memories reveals Zelda bandaging an injury and admonishing him for being reckless. The scene cuts to reveal the pair alone on a plateau, surrounded by dozens of slain monsters he defeated to protect her, including several Silver Lynels. In the final memory, he faces down an endless horde of Guardian Stalkers to keep Zelda safe. He does take down many of them, but alas, it's still not enough and he goes down, saved only by Zelda awakening her divine powers.
• Only Mostly Dead: Succumbed to his wounds defending Zelda from the corrupted Guardian army after she awakened her powers, passing away in her arms... for about five minutes. Then Fi spoke up, and Zelda had Impa and Purah whisk him to the Shrine of Resurrection, where he was quickly put on life support and set to be revived in time. Even so, it apparently took 100 years to regenerate him.
  • It's implied he didn't fare much better in the opening of Tears of the Kingdom after the newly-reawakened Ganondorf shattered the Master Sword and corrupted Link's right arm with Gloom. Rauru admits that Link only barely survived long enough to have his corrupted arm replaced with Rauru's own.
• Older Than They Look: He looks like a normal young adult, but he's actually over 110 years old in the present time of the game. This is due to the healing stasis he was put under in the Shrine of Resurrection for 100 years. Lampshaded in-game when Link is rejected by the bartender in Gerudo Town, who states that Link looks too young to buy any of her drinks. One of the replies Link can choose is "I'm over 100 years old", which the bartender naturally doesn't believe. This is also lampshaded with a Zora NPC who remarks that Link hasn't aged a day, despite meeting him 100 years ago and now wondering how Link doesn't look like an old geezer. Even in Tears of the Kingdom, which takes place at least four to six years after the events of Breath of the Wild, Link doesn't look any older.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: You can make Link attack monsters that are currently minding their own business. Or as one E3 player put it, "innocent Bokoblins enjoying their evening".
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Aside from children and elderly characters, Link is the shortest Hylian in the game, and Hylians themselves are shorter on average than the other major races of Hyrule (which are gigantic by human standards). Even Zelda is slightly taller than him once she reaches her full adult height. He's still a One-Man Army. The Gerudo innkeeper remarks that his muscles are astonishingly dense in spite of his willowy build.
• Praetorian Guard: He is the son of a family whose bloodline served the kingdom as such. As The Chosen One of the Master Sword, he was specifically designated to serve and protect Zelda.
• Prongs of Poseidon: He can obtain the Ceremonial Trident and Mipha's Lightscale Trident.
• Pungeon Master: He makes a lot of seal puns in Gerudo Town, like when he seals the deal on renting one. Of course, for this one case it seems everyone does... including the seals themselves.
• Samurai Ponytail: Link sports a short ponytail, though he's a knight rather than a samurai. Certain pieces of head armor even change his hairstyle; the Stealth Mask gives him a ninja's topknot, fitting into this trope even more.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:In Tears of the Kingdom, he's able to freely come and go from Gerudo Town despite the rule against "voe" entering thanks to his friendship with Riju and status as the hero of Hyrule. Specifically, she grants him an exception as a "special guest of the chief", but Link will still get thrown in jail if he causes a scene by taking off his shirt or dressing up as a Yiga.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Link is not averse to capitalizing on his looks to get what he wants, whether it be seducing a man out of his shoes, cutting in line for a very sought-after spa treatment, or getting a massive discount on a house.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Ultimately revealed to be this after you gather the four Spirit Orbs on the Great Plateau: the Old Man explains that Link has been healing at the Shrine of Resurrection since he fell in the last battle against Calamity Ganon, 100 years ago. Memories you find later in the game elaborate that this is also a case of coming Back from the Dead.
• Secret-Keeper: After you defeat the Yiga Clan member that tried to steal the Sheikah Heirloom, Dorian asks you to keep his Yiga roots on the down-low. Presumably, being the good chap he is, Link agrees to take that knowledge to the grave.
• Shield Bash: He can do this with any shield, even the Pot Lid, and can actually cause direct damage with any type of Lynel Shield. Daruk's training journal references a time where Link had used a Pot Lid to deflect a laser from a Guardian, which is indeed something he can do in-game. In Tears of the Kingdom, Link can fuse weapons and Zonai devices onto his shields to add extra damage and effects to his shield bash.
• Shield Surf: Given a decent slope, he can slide down mountains and hills while riding a shield, though this will wear it down very fast. He can cross the Gerudo Desert with a sand seal by letting it drag him while surfing on a shield.
• Shameless Fanservice Guy: Link does not seem especially concerned with running around completely naked^note he does wear a pair of boxers in his character model, but that is just for player modesty; actual-in game dialogue with various NPCs outright state that he's completely naked, even when other characters directly comment on it.
  Kass: Boldly standing naked on the pedestal... That’s definitely reminiscent of the hero of legend.
• Ship Tease:
  • With Zelda and Mipha. Both girls are explicitly confirmed to be in love with him, and the game offers the player the possibility of choosing dialogue options that imply that he reciprocates either of them... or even both of them.
  • The Japanese version favors Zelda over Mipha. In that language, some of the journal entries in the Adventure Log are written by Link himself, and will reflect his thoughts on them. A few, specially those from later in the game, speak of Zelda with quite significant romantic undertones. This was completely removed from the Western localizations, though.
  • Tears of the Kingdom references that after the events of the previous game Zelda moved into Link's house (where there is only one bed), but there's conflicting evidence as to whether or not Link is actually living there with her and their exact relationship status is kept vague.
• Shockwave Stomp: Link is mighty indeed; when he takes to the air, he can come crashing down with a weapon hard enough to generate a shockwave that can knock down Moblins, something that his bombs can't do.
• Signature Headgear: Defied. He is not seen with his iconic green cap. It's something Link has to find in the game or unlock via amiibo. Instead, official artwork & trailers sometimes depict him wearing the Hylian Hood in addition to his Champions Tunic, the former of which the game notes is made to protect travelers from the harsh sun & weather - and traveling is something this Link does a lot.
• The Sleepless: Link technically doesn't need to sleep, and can spend an indefinite amount of time awake and active as long as he isn't hurt, and that's not even an absolute necessity as long as he has food and elixirs available. For him, sleeping is relegated to something he can do as an option to regain health.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: Subverted; he slept during the apocalypse, downed while fighting Calamity Ganon's campaign of destruction and had to be revived at the Shrine of Resurrection. He doesn't remember any of this happening, though.
• Spell Blade: In Age of Calamity, he can coat his sword in an aura of blue energy that greatly increases the range of his slashes.
• Stat-O-Vision: His Champion's Tunic allows him to see an enemy's health in numbers.
• The Stoic: Like his Twilight Princess incarnation, he rarely emotes. Zelda's diary reveals that Link put up the front of being stoic and silent as a defense mechanism to deal with the pressures of being a knight of Hyrule.
• Super-Reflexes: He can spam enemies to death after dodging a melee attack at the last minute, shoot arrows in midair, and the world around him is in an adrenaline-fueled Bullet Time while he does so.
• Supreme Chef: By necessity, he must become good at cooking, as every meal regenerates health (along with other benefits).
• Sword Beam: Link can launch Skyward Strikes from the Master Sword instead of throwing it; the Windcleaver katana also has a unique special attack that fires a Razor Wind at enemies instead of a Spin Attack.
• Take Up My Sword: Over the course of the game, Link is rewarded with the signature weapons of the fallen Champions of Hyrule when he cleanses one of the Divine Beasts. King Dorephan will reward Link with Mipha's Lightscale Trident, the Goron Boss will reward Link with Daruk's Boulder Breaker, Chief Riju will give Link Urbosa's Scimitar of the Seven and Daybreaker shield, and the Rito Village elder Kaneli will give Link Revali's Great Eagle Bow.
• Terse Talker: An upgrade from being a complete Silent Protagonist in past iterations. He (mentally unhealthily) internalized all the weight on his shoulders being the Chosen Knight of the Master Sword in the past by being nigh-silent, but Zelda got him to open up a bit. In-game, it manifests as rather terse dialogue option responses and unvoiced stand-in animations of him regaling pertinent information to NPCs.
• Three-Strike Combo: Link can perform them when using one-handed swords.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Downplayed. In the past, he was a stoic knight who focused on his duty and behaved chivalrously. After Calamity Ganon's attack and his time in the Shrine of Resurrection gave him amnesia, he's stopped caring as much about what people think of him, with some of his potential responses often edging into Jerk with a Heart of Gold territory.
• Trick Arrow: He can use various types of arrows such as the standard fire and ice arrows, bomb arrows, shock arrows, ancient arrows formed from Guardian technology, and the Arrows of Light in the final battle with Ganon. The Fuse power in Tears of the Kingdom allows him to attach all sorts of items to his arrows, from monster parts to improve their power to a wide array of materials for extra combat or utility effects.
• Trying Not to Cry: Subtly in Tears of the Kingdom, after he witnesses the final memory containing Zelda permanently transforming into a dragon to repair the Master Sword, he briefly struggles to keep his composure, looking across the field to calm himself as his breathing becomes heavier and his eyes start quivering as if he’s holding back tears before the Light Dragon’s roar snaps him back to reality.
• Uneven Hybrid: Potentially. Given the heavy implications that the Ancient Hero was a Zonai/Hylian Hybrid, and was the incarnation of Link before the events of Breath Of The Wild that wielded the Master Sword. Furthermore, several NPCs seems to make a connection between Link and the Ancient Hero should Link take on his appearance. This would mean that there is a strong possibility that Link is part Zonai.
• Used to Be More Social: Mipha notices this about Link as revealed in her diary in "The Champions' Ballad" DLC. Link used to be a talkative and energetic child and grows up into being very aloof, stoic, and rarely smiling. This is probably due to Link's dedication in being a knight for the Royal Family and his duty in protecting Zelda caused him tons of anxiety, thus he kept up a stoic front to look calm and professional.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: His relationship with Zelda 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 trying to protect him for a change served as the trigger for her sealing magic. Reading Zelda's diary in Hyrule Castle reveals that despite her frustrations and jealousy, every time she came down from shouting at Link to go away, she would think back to how bewildered and confused he seemed and would realize how badly she was treating him for doing his job. Venting her frustrations at Link just made her feel horrible about herself on top of all her self-doubt in a vicious self-sustaining cycle.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Thanks to the addition of clothing options. Link starts out in the Shrine of Resurrection as this, but playing through the entire game as this is not a good idea.
• Weak, but Skilled: Unlike most Links, his damage is sustained realistically. Basically, he'll take realistically-high levels of damage that, compared to a lot of his enemies, makes him either a Fragile Speedster or a Glass Cannon. That said, quick thinking and strategic approaches to combat can allow him to dominate all.
• What Beautiful Eyes!:
  • Paya dedicates a whole diary entry to them.
  • Zelda crushes on them too. During the memory cutscene of her Rescue Romance, she's staring intently at Link's eyes as he intimidates the assassins to leave her alone.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Although the merchant who sells them insists that they're actually gender-neutral, Link can wear enchanted earrings and circlets in order to boost his defensive powers. More accurate to the trope, in order to gain access to Gerudo Town, Link has to dress up in women's clothing. It's also implied that he's done this before, when Zelda would take advantage of Gerudo city's laws to avoid him, and in select dialogue from the Champion's Ballad DLC, Urbosa will comment on how lovely he'd looked in Gerudo dress.
• With This Herring: Link starts his quest with only a set of threadbare clothes and no weapons.
• You Don't Look Like You: His facial features are the same, but Link is not seen in his iconic green tunic in the promotional material, with all the merchandise and advertising showing him in the blue Champion's Tunic instead. This game's version of the iconic green tunic must be earned.

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