The Legend Of Zelda - General Thread

Double post:

So I've previously espoused a theory that the Link and Zelda from Wind Waker are both Older Than They Look. Thanks to Hyrule Historia and Hyrule Encyclopedia, I now know they were both meant to be twelve. I'd always debated that since it's said that Link is supposed to be the same age as the hero of time (who I now know to be 16 rather than 17, and the same stands for Zelda).

The theory never caught on, but it dawns on me that while it may not apply for those two versions, other Toon versions of Link and Zelda might apply to my theory. We aren't given their ages, and they are explicitly different characters so using the same art style doesn't mean they're as young as Link and Tetra from Wind Waker are.

Heck, how much time passed between the end of Wind Waker and the beginning of Phantom Hourglass? For all we know, Link and Tetra in that game could have ages up a few years, and we just can't tell due to still using the Toon art style. Now this is less likely since Link is clearly much shorter than Linebeck (though maybe Link and Tetra are just really short by nature).

But there I go still pushing that idea. Feel free to ignore it or add your own two cents.

Edit: Nope. Long since past that part. Beat my third Divine Beast and am just doing a little grinding for Hearts, Stamina and Inventory slots before I head to the Desert.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Jan 20th 2019 at 2:44:33 AM

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Are you still on the Great Plateau?

Well I'm pretty sure the end of the Great plateau is when you're told that Zelda has Ganon trapped in the castle.

...Really?

Must have forgotten that. Weird.

Could have sworn it was thought to be the other way around, but maybe I misheard.

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Calamity Ganon actually doesn't do all that much himself, most of the damage during the disaster was done by the Guardians.

Heart of Stone

So, for some reason I just started thinking of how often you get to explore Hyrule Castle fully when it's not a dungeon itself? I don't count times when it later becomes a dungeon either.

I can only think of that time in the beginning of Spirit Tracks. It stays normal the entire time too.

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Chalk it up to Future Imperfect. As far as the people of the Great Sea remember, the Hero of Time was a child when he defeated Ganon. Considering they got a lot of the other details of Old Hyrule wrong - Triump Forks being one of the big ones - it's not a stretch to say that the legend mutated and was lost a bit in clarity over the years.

Adventurers: homeless people who steal from tombs and kill things.

That actually makes sense. Though I always took the Triumph Forks thing as a joke but I suppose without anyone to record proper history, things could get easily distorted.

Though it doesn't really clash with my revised theory...I hope.

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I think all of the Toon Links/Zeldas are firmly children, based on generally being smaller than the adult characters in their games. I think a few characters even call Link "kid" or something like that, though I've only played the Toon Link games outside of WW once each so I don't have the best memory. The only adult characters that are around the same size as them tend to be exaggerated Miniature Senior Citizens.

An adult Link in the same art style would be taller.

Adventurers: homeless people who steal from tombs and kill things.

Eh, I suppose.

I'm still gonna stick with it as a pure personal interpretation.

I mean, even though they've been known as Adult Link and Zelda, 16 means they are technically still kids themselves. Hell, they still counted when we thought they were 17 too.

But yeah, it looks like this idea is never gonna get traction with anyone but me.

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Before Hyrule Historia I always assumed Adult Link was 18 since I thought Young Link was around 11. I think those names gained traction when people were thinking similarly, with A!Link being anywhere from 18 to 20 in peoples' minds.

When we learned he's still a teenager, the names had already been around for so long they were common vernacular and calling him "teen Link" just wasn't as recognizable.

Edited by ILikeRobots on Jan 21st 2019 at 11:04:22 AM

Adventurers: homeless people who steal from tombs and kill things.

"Adult Link" is a misnomer since they're 15-17, which isn't the Age of Majority in most countries and even if it was it's barely an adult. But it's catchier than "Teenage Link".

I'd be interested in a truly adult Link. I know the oldest Zelda is the TP one at twenty. From what I can figure out, Hyrule doesn't crown queens until they're 20, but we seriously need more Queen Zelda's roaming around. Or what about a Link and Zelda with a huge age gap? That'd be funny. A 12 year old Link with a 16-20 year old Zelda? It's be an interesting dynamic.

Older Link? Now I'm picturing a grizzled old Link wandering Hyrule with a shaggy beard. Zelda sends out someone to recruit him to stopping Ganon again, and Link goes full on Solid Snake talking about how he's retired.

Edited by WillKeaton on Jan 21st 2019 at 1:13:07 PM

As I understand it, the Link of the very first game was quite young himself wasn't he?

Around 12 or something (still older than Ocarina Link prior to the time skip however).

Right now, OOT Link seems to have started as the youngest one. Links and Zeldas seem to have an average age of early to late teen with a few outliers like TP thrown in as well.

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I'd like to see a Zelda game where Link has an older male mentor who turns out to actually be another Link incarnation, and he's been getting sickly as the playable Link gets older because the hero's spirit is split between them and the younger of the two gets older. Naturally the opening ends with the older Link making a heroic sacrifice because he knows his time is running out, and then his spirit can be the Navi for the rest of the game.

All the known official exact ages for Link.

LoZ - 12-13 (Miyamoto said "around 12" in a interview for OoT3D, the manual for AoL says it's 3 years after LoZ which would imply around 13)
AoL - 16 (stated in the manual)

OoT Child - 9 (according to Miyamoto in the OoT3D interview, he said back in old interview that he imagined child Link around 7-8)
OoT Adult - 16 (same OoT3D interview)

WW - 12 (stated on the old official Japanese site)
TP - 16 (according to Aonuma in an older interview)
SS - 17 and a half (Hyrule Historia)

16 seems to be a common age they go with. Aonuma even says in the TP interview that he went with that because AoL did it, and it's the age where "if your parents tell you not to do something it makes you want to do it", so the perfect age to go out on an adventure and fight monsters.

Heh. That makes sense, and 15-17 seems to be the magic anime adventure age.

16 three times is interesting and looks like that's the average age of the Links and Zeldas (though I think Twilight Princess Zelda was actually older for once: wasn't she supposed to be twenty).

Still like my theory though, although it comes from wanting to see an older Zelda with the Toon Zelda dress and all.

Changing topics, I just came across this video on the topic of who's the strongest version of Ganon / Ganondorf:

I think I can agree with Yuga Ganon being the strongest, since he's a combination of two beings (and Yuga is essentially Lorule Ganon anyway, so it's pretty much twice the Ganon when you fight him).

Any thoughts on both the video and the ages of all the Links?

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That video uses some eh logic, and also it's pretty clear that BOTW's Calamity Ganon is the strongest given the sheer magnitude of his influence (but I'd bet that this video was made before BOTW).

Discounting that... I don't really have an argument against that logic? ALTTP Ganon is clearly the most powerful given how he corrupted the entire golden realm, and ALBW's Yuga Ganon is literally just that Ganon plus Yuga... though that also seems like cheating given how Yuga Ganon is literally just Yuga with Ganon's power moreso than Ganon himself.

Edited by EpicBleye on Jan 21st 2019 at 6:39:07 AM

"There's not a girl alive who wouldn't be happy being called cute." ~Tamamo-no-Mae

...Heh. Not sure how I forgot Calamity Ganon. My bad.

Also, in my defence in regards to ALTTP Ganon, I'd never played that game, so I did kinda forget he corrupted the entire Sacred Realm...despite it being mentioned right in the video...

So yeah. Not good at this.

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Ltt P Ganon had the Triforce, but didn't have it on his person at all times like future Ganon's do. So, he's not personally the strongest, he is likely about as strong influence wise.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."

Random thought:

Would Demise's curse still be a thing if there were no Link and Zelda?

He cursed the bloodline of the goddess, and the spirit of the hero (the latter of which is pretty vague), but only those. And indeed, even when Ganon/dorf doesn't show up, the latest enemy always targets Zelda in someway which leads to Link being involved. The only exceptions are the games where Zelda isn't involved (Link's Awakening, Majora's Mask, and Triforce Heroes; I believe one of the oracle games has Zelda in it, but one of them doesn't, but since the linked game has them capturing her to bring back Ganon, I don't count it).

So it got me to thinking that maybe if there was no Link and Zelda anymore, he wouldn't keep coming back, since it seems like he only comes back to hurt them in the first place.

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The curse would jump bloodlines and mutate,probably

New theme music also a box

x2 If there were no other heroes to jump in and kill Demise, probably not. Demise's curse was a supernatural power of vengeance. But if anybody had been responsible for killing him, they'd probably be cursed instead. Either way it just depends on Demise's defeat.

Edited by ILikeRobots on Jan 27th 2019 at 10:34:50 AM

Adventurers: homeless people who steal from tombs and kill things.

He keeps coming back to conquer the land, and someone has to stop him. The curse is that it's always them. The forces of good have something to do with this too, but I think the real curse is that the spirit of the hero will never know lasting peace.

There was one occasion where Ganon rose and no hero appeared to stop him. In the absence of Ganon's opposite number, the gods were forced to drown the kingdom in the Great Flood rather than leave him in control.

Heh. I had it backwards.

He doesn't come back because of them. They come back because of him.

You could look at it as Demise (as Ganon) screwing himself over Voldemort style via choosing his opposites, or as him making sure they'll never be free of him by forcing the spirit of the hero and the bloodline of the goddess to forever battle him.

I guess it depends on what he wanted: to make them suffer, or to give himself more chances to win. I'm inclined to believe the former to be honest.

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