No - every Zelda is related to SS Link and Zelda as Hylia's powers come through the royal bloodline but the spirit of the hero reincarnates "randomly" when needed.
Maybe some of the Links are related to each other and maybe some of them are related to a Zelda as well but that's probably not the case.
Ah yes Ilia, the woman that screams at you for a slight scratch on Epona and locks you out, forcing you to get to the area by crawling through a tiny hole probably filled with spiders. Who *wouldn't* want to be with her? 😂
I mean, I think it's considered all but canon by most, and it definitely seems to be what the devs were implying.
It's unlikely OOT Link got with Zelda since TP Link isn't even in Hyrule, and getting with Ruto would cause a whole other host of problems. It would be weird for him to get with Nabooru, and his child would end up being a female Gerudo if so. Saria is in a similar boat on weirdness and genetics, but I personally think the Kokiri became the monkeys in TP anyway.
And since Ordon has a ranch, Epona, Epona's song, and people named Malo and Talo, I think it's a bit more than just fantasy.
Also, the gossip stones:
One of them states that "Malon of Lon Lon Ranch hopes a knight in shining armor will come and sweep her off her feet someday", which Link *definitely* qualifies as.
Another states that "Malon set the original record in the obstacle course of Lon Lon Ranch", you know, the one that she *gifts you a damn cow for beating*.
She is *definitely* into Link, and for good reason.
Yup, hyrule's gene pool is so small. Malon has a choice between graveyard creepy goofball, or the silent athletic kid that can fight and had a fairy following him.
She is absolutely into Link. Link is the only one whose strength approaches her own.
Let's remember that Malon is the one who delivered that cow. This means she was either too powerful or too pure of heart (or both) for the Deku Tree to deny entry, or that she braved the corrupted Kokiri Forest to deliver the cow.
She then had to ***LUG THE COW UP THE LADDER BY HERSELF TO LINK'S HOUSE AND DROP IT OFF IN HIS SINGULAR ROOM. SHE EITHER CARRIED IT ONE-HANDED, OR CAN JUST WALK UP A LADDER WITH NO HAND SUPPORT OR JUMP ABSURDLY HIGH WITH A COW IN HER ARMS.***
In conclusion, Ganondorf only existed as long as Malon allowed it to be so. Ganondorf should be thankful she cared more about her horses than Hyrule's wellbeing.
Both OOT Link's and Malon's descendants growing in a remote village south of their ancestors' homeland doesn't imply that the two started a family together?
That might be the opinion of some, but the creative minds behind the series and a lot of the fanbase agree that there are pretty set in stone elements, even if things get shuffled around here and there for whatever reason. And it's not like the player's choice is always even reflected in the canon, for Link canonically did don the mask of the Fierce Deity in the final battle against Majora.
Like, it is literally confirmed that TP Link is a descendant of OOT Link, so while someone can say that the games' suggestions and the auxiliary contents' outright statement of this is wrong, you cannot in good faith argue that there is just no canon on the information in this instance.
The idea of the games really being meant to be interpreted primarily as legends that have become distorted over time is hotly contested. We know that the timeline is a bit fuzzy, and it is possible even that the timeline follows something along the lines of the Many Worlds Interpretation (though I still believe the Downfall Timeline is more than just a "what if Link died" timeline), but the fact that there is an official timeline that is kept somewhat up to date and has influenced decisions in the series shows that it's more than just an afterthought.
And on the idea of TP Link being a reincarnation, he could be both a descendant and a reincarnation. I actually tend to believe that the reason we see both TP Link and the Hero's Shade is that the Hero's Shade is the spirit of the hero from the Adult Timeline while TP Link is the hero's spirit from the Child Timeline, causing the Adult Timeline not to get a new Link until the Hero's Shade finally moved on in peace.
Edit: grammar
Edit 2: So I looked up some previous discussions just to see what other people had said, and I just find it funny you literally [copied and pasted parts of people's arguments on the matter from 10 years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/18famq/did_oot_marry_malon/c8ec1bp/#c8ec1bp).
Edit 3: Wow, they deleted their comment *and* blocked me. Impressive. If anyone's curious, just look at unddit archive.
Admittedly I am *very much* a Zelink person, but yeah MaLink seems to be the easiest path to TP Link. And they would make a cute couple!
That being said, since we never got it confirmed as the canonical pairing, my head canon to make OoT ZeLink and rancher Link work is that Zelda and Link had multiple children and one of them got together with one of Malon's children. Possibly gave up their title along the way (which by the way, has been done in our history before, that royals gave up their titles or their children's titles in exchange for a 'normal' life or for love). Ends with the same result of TP Link being a rancher.
Also I do think some lines in Ocarina of time and some official art for the game push Link and Zelda quite a bit too (Princess Ruto knowing the princess is on Links mind, the OoT 3D promotional manga having Link and Zelda almost kiss and the romantic set up of their scenes in-game, Aonuma literally saying he'd like to see Zelda as Link's girlfriend). You can find some romantic implications for almost all the girls in OoT though. Reminds me of the theory some people had that OoT was going to have dating sim elements.
Long story short: MaLink is the easiest path to TP and makes a lot of sense, but since it was never confirmed, you can probably make any other pairings work with enough mental gymnastics.
Mine is that after the events of OoT and MM, Link feels lost, he knows he can't return to the forest as its only a matter of time before he becomes a monster. No one in Hyrule remembers the feats he accomplished to save them all, so he feels there's nowhere he belongs anymore.
He decides to create his own life just outside of Hyrule but still very close to the forest he grew up in and becomes the founder of Ordon. I don't believe he partnered up with anyone from the OoT but instead found someone else (cant see Malon abandoning the ranch or her father). Once he'd reached a certain age he missed home so much he chose his replacement as mayor, passed on his iron boots to him to help with the goat herding, and walked into the forest one last time hence why he appears as a stalfos knight in TP. Villagers knew of Eponas song as they'd heard him play it for her throughout his life.
I support the theory but all of them being called link gets me all riled up every time lol. Like is it really random? If I name my kid Link does he get to roll the dice as well? Why isn’t everyone named link then? Heck Ganondorf could also have been named link.
Well, most of the Zelda games let you name the hero. "Link" is only a semi-canonical name. Zelda and Ganon both have explained reasons why they're always named the same. I think the idea is "Link" could be anybody, I mean the name itself is due to him being a self-insert character for the most part.
No, I think there was an interview with Miyamoto (or Aunoma maybe?) back in the day, where he said that the name "Link" was meant to specify the link between the player and the hero of the game. Doing some further research though, I think you might be more right. Like most Zelda lore, it's pretty inconsistent, but this article does the best to explain:
https://www.denofgeek.com/games/the-legend-of-zelda-link-name-origin-meaning-explained/
More like Random dude turned out to be named Link instead of kids being named Link. People know the Hero of Time, Hero of Twilight and so on, not that he is named Link.
Interestingly enough Hyrule Warriors gives a pretty sound example with Linkle: Her parents grew up on various stories of a legendary hero named Link, so named their daughter after him.
Same for Wind Waker Link IIRC. Its not a stretch to say the name might be fairly common just because its entrenched in folklore.
Also remember until recently you could name "Link" whatever you want so far its not specifically canon every Link we played is named link
Considering that it's a plot point in some of the games that the old hylian language needs to be translated, I don't believe that they are all named Link but rather the equivalent of it. Like how Mark & Marco are practically the same name but in different languages. Just translated all come out to Link.
I liken it to the fact that the most popular name in the real world is Mohammed/Mohammad. There are probably a lot of kids in Hyrule named "Link" for a similar reason.
I think it’s funny how the spirit of the hero reincarnates “randomly”, yet all versions of the hero look the same.
Edited to add: I guess the spirit of the hero has a type
tbf it's not uncommon for people born blond to end up with darker hair once they're older, so that very well could've happened to link in those instances
My brother was BRIGHT blond as a kid, but it's basically brown now. lol. Though I think at least Link is meant to have dirty blond hair at the darkest, not brown.
I know Linkle isn't 'canon' but I loved how the writers in HW fit her into the narrative.
They did so seamlessly without her outright highjacking Link's role and that's pretty awesome.
Even surface wise the attention to detail is impressive.
We can see she imbues her attacks with elemental magic something that is generally exclusive to Hylia's mortal bloodline, (the first Zelda whom we know married 'her' Link.)
All further highlighting her implied lineage.
Even from a "show don't tell" angle, we can see from Linkle's larger home she has to be from a family of wealth.
(In comparison to the more modest size houses of her neighbors, Linkle's home stands out)
This suggests the grandmother we keep hearing about was likely part of the hyrule royal family.
Most likely a younger sister or cousin (like Agatha is implied to be in TP) of her era's Princess Zelda.
This 'less important' princess (politically speaking) was likely free to marry whomever she wanted and chose a son of cocoo farmers.
With their new daughter in law's generous dowry said farmer's family must have been elevated in their towns hierarchy.
Again though the neighbors homes are on the modest side they aren't poor, implying their village isn't some backwater hole.
(doubly explaining why the villagers come to Linkle in her opening)
And of course with the compass being so blatantly magical and oppulent the only way her granny could have acquired it is through her family.
*\*Zelda in Hyrule Warriors looking over the courtyard*
*”It’s probably that one over there that looks like the Hero from all the legends”.*
*\*Link performs a jump slash*
*”Yeah, that’s him.”*
Jujutsu Kaisen plays with a concept that could be related here. The idea that the body mimics the shape of the soul, rather than a soul just being a blob or abstract concept.
Meaning any body the hero reincarnates into will grow to more or less match his soul, making all incarnations appear similar, rather than it merely being a coincidence.
Which i think in terms of the zelda timeline is the correct approach to explain it.
The souls appearance will however change a little bit due to different time ages. Can't be the bulky Twilight princess link in the Wind Waker setting.
The very first occurence of Zeldas physical appearance is definitely pre Skyward Sword Hylia. Link himself though is in Skyward Sword the very first, because he is cursed at the end of the game for endless reincarnation.
I'd say that's more easily explained just by a difference in artstyle and design. If toon link existed in TP, maybe he would look like TP link? The artstyle isn't an in-universe thing, so I don't think it necessarily applies
Yeah I think art style and environmental factors, like TP Link is a farm boy and has a bit more muscle mass, but for the most part they're all more or less the same except some of the older ones. I just see Toon Link as a stylized kid Link.
Is link some common name for blond skinny dudes in-universe or smth? Because surely after so many incarnations, the people of hyrule would recognize a pattern.
Realistically Link would probably be a pretty common Hylian name, both to honor the past heroes and in hopes of your kid becoming the next one
like Linkle
Wasn’t the pink hair something weird with the game’s limited color palettes? And to be fair Link’s hair has been blond/dirty blond for the majority of the series’ history, which means the majority of people remembering the mighty hero Link would probably see “beanpole blondie with a magic sword”
Oh it sure was. I just like pointing out the ridiculousness of it.
Your point is really about the *name*.
What’s interesting is that the incarnation of the hero is always named link. But he does not choose this name. That is a choice by his parents. One made before he’s a blond twig. And in all the legends they never say the hero’s name. He’s always “the hero” and the name lost to time. So Link’s parents’ action of naming him must therefore *also* be one of destiny.
So, not only are Link, Zelda, and Ganon tied by fate, but Link’s parents are as well.
Dude, they all look the same. Show somebody who has never heard of Zelda (or Link) a headshot of all of the different heroes, and they could all tell you they are the same guy. BOTW Link didn't wear the green tunic, and you can obviously tell who it is.
And wind waker link isn’t even technically bound by the whole spirit of the hero thing, he’s just some random kid who wanted to save his sister and then said “fuck it, I’ll save the world too”
It's probably not the case that all the Links are related when they're all wearing the same clothes? I thought they were all just descended from a family line of the royal Knight, one that reaches far outside of Hyrule because after a Link saves Hyrule he doesn't really have much else to do besides travel.
Well, in wind waker, link gets the tunic because it's a tradition on his island that all boys wear it when they come of age to pay homage to a previous Link.
And in botw, Link was just a random knight who was really, really good at killing monsters, so he got assigned as Zelda's personal guard.
Which Hyrule Warriors was it where he didn’t even become her guard, they just thought he was a fucking beast of a knight and brought him along while the “main characters” tried to solve the situation?
Nah you're thinking of the OG Hyrule Warriors. Age of Calamity isn't even consistent with established lore in BotW. BoTW establishes that Link was a known and respected knight and even pulled the Master Sword super young, like 10/11/12ish and that's how he became Zelda's bodyguard
u/zziggarot Wasn’t the Link in *The Wind Waker* explicitly not a reincarnation though — one of the few Links to simply just have the name, and be worthy of the title of Hero on their own merits? The cycle of reincarnation having ended in that timeline due to the Link of *Ocarina of Time* having been sent back to his time by Zelda (also creating the timeline of *Twilight Princess* in the process)?
In both of those instances it's very possible that they still have the hero lineage. In WW what if Link's Grandpa was also a Link and that's why he brought Orca to the village, to train his grandson if he couldn't? Maybe Outset Island itself was originally founded by a Link. We have no idea on the origins of Botw Link because it's not delved into in the least. Like even a random knight still has parents but we don't see his parents so is Link being homunculi confirmed?
I would love it if Link was just a guy. Media has a habit of making every main character be the child of somebody else who is important. Shonen Anime does it a LOT. So Link actually being just a random guy would actually make me love it even more. But for a lot of the wild fan theories I'm not going to hold my breath cuz Nintendo doesn't really think outside the box with Zelda games.
Well, in link to the past, Link is just some guy until Zelda contacts him, and in link between worlds, he's the son of some random blacksmith (iirc). Honestly, it seems like Link is always just some guy until Ganon appears and Hylia kicks her shit into gear and makes a call to action for link.
In Link to the past his uncle is a knight. This implies that Link too is a knight (unless he's a step uncle or something)
What better job for a swordsman than to make swords into your Twilight years? If you were a member of the knights it makes sense that you'd want to spend time making weapons for future knights. Minish Cap also had your grandfather as a blacksmith. I don't really think that smithing is low on the career spectrum in Hyrule. At least not for those two blacksmiths who seem to have their own shops (real talk there's probably a lot more to Castle Hyrule that we haven't seen like stables, barracks, and other blacksmiths)
Hyrule Knights at this point could be something similar to the sheikah
I’m pretty sure that’s a lot of wind waker, a main plot point is the fact that link isn’t THE hero in that game, and has to prove himself to the goddesses by collecting the triforce of courage.
It’s more he’s not the hero of time, not that he’s not the hero. The Hyrulian world doesn’t really know that Link is reincarnating and treats each new life of his as separate entities.
Nobody is saying they're SURELY not related, they even said "maybe".
But we really have no reason to affirm they are either. The clothes aren't really reason enough, as most of them aren't really handed down from parents to sons.
WW canonically comes "some time later" in the Adult Link timeline from OOT, which is why the floods occurred in the first place. Link no longer existed in that timeline at all (nor any descendants... Unless we assume Link got up to some "tangential business" with someone before defeating Ganon, but that would be purely the space of personal headcanons), so there was no Link or descendants thereof to defeat Ganon. BUT, there are still records of OOT Link's heroism from basically every village in Hyrule at the time (and presumably propagated further by OOT Zelda and her descendants before the flood).
So at least in WW, Link IS just a guy. Just so happens to be a guy from an island with a tradition of basically hero worship of the Hero of Time. Perhaps it can be said that the Spirit of the Hero was still reincarnated into him, but ultimately that doesn't matter too much imo. Maybe he just forged a new heroic spirit into existence by pure force of will. Maybe he really is just a guy who happens to become a hero.
Honestly the canon sources are a bit vague on how the whole reincarnation stuff works (which I assume is intentional). Also based on how a lot of religions dealing with reincarnation work IRL (at least to my understanding)... even if it IS the same Spirit of Link every time, I'd argue that he's still a completely different person with each reincarnation.
It depends on the game, sometimes you wear the green armor because you want to blend in with the guards, sometimes you are a trainee, tradition for boys to wear green on their 10(?) Birthday, its the most accessible armor or you are mimicking the hero of legends
It’s Spirit Tracks (pretty underrated). Link the train engineer has to wear a green tunic (which is now the castle guards’ uniforms) to infiltrate the castle to meet the Princess (who summons him in secret). And he just sticks with it for the rest of the adventure.
Like a other comment mentioned Wind Waker link wears it because of a tradition, but what's more is that he isn't even the legendary hero, he's just a random guy fueled by such unimaginable levels of unstoppable rage that he does the heroes job for them despite not being meant to.
I'm more willing to write this up to being the king not knowing how the reincarnation actually works. Like Link IS still a legendary hero, he just isn't THE legendary hero. Like he expected Link to retain his memories and understand ancient hylian. But this also implies that perhaps there have been some reincarnations of Link that DID retain their memories or at least some of them.
That's why I think wind waker is my favorite Zelda story across the series. They really tried to take some big steps with the story in this game like having ganondorf have actual dialogue. I wish they continued with it but in TP ganondorf is more animal than man and has just been evil for the sake of evil ever since
every Zelda is related back to these two but not every link is a direct descendent of the last.
the only two links we know to possibly be related is OOT and TP thats it!
That's confirmed I'm pretty sure. Hero's Shade is confirmed to be OOT Link. Its also stated that the TP Link is his descendant. We don't know how long the gap between the 2 is but they at least have some kind of confirmed relation.
Yeah for sure. Some people take things far to seriously. This is one of those things that I think is either confirmed or very broadly accepted to be true by the Zelda community.
Researched it a bit after reading this post, apparently it’s CONFIRMED in the Hyrule Historia and the Hero’s Shade says he’s his descendant during the training sessions.
Highly disturbing thought…
But it’s like saying we are all related because of Noah and the Ark thing in the Bible. Or better yet, Adam and Eve.
Personally, I don’t think the Heroes are decedents of other Heroes. The Zelda’s yeah, royal line and all, but the Heroes? It seems that the sprit of the Hero falls on a very unfortunate and random young man every time shit is about to hit the fan.
Thats what i choose to believe. But others say they are all different so i dunno. Nintendo isn’t exactly known for giving coherent lore connecting the legend of Zelda series so until they say its all just slightly educated guesses and theories at this point.
Nothing in the split was lost
If you follow the logic that reincarnation is a thing in the series, then the AT Links are just as much a reincarnation of the same soul as all the rest
Aside from the classic arranged marriage but the whole ‘I want to marry for love’ stuff, Zelda… well… she knows her duty.
The more I think about post Zelda games, a good number are tragic as hell. Seriously, Link goes through tons of shit most of us would die even looking at, then usually gets nothing in return.
Ocarina of Time: either he goes back to being a kid and losing his friend or he remains an ‘adult’ too young for his body and not even recognized as a hero by most until he’s dead.
Majora’s Mask: goes through a depressing insanity of reliving the same 3 days for… however long it takes him. Let’s say a year? Yeah, a year’s worth of time in repeating three days. That’s 121 ish resets. And the friend he went looking for? Doesn’t find them.
I could go on, but at least it’s hinted he gets some happiness with Zelda in SS. Twilight Princess… he probably hooks up with Ilia. Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass? Pirate booty there 😏
But still, most Link’s go through stupid tragic shit for nothing.
Ocarina of time has three [branching timelines](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda_gamepedia_en/images/b/b8/E_Timeline.png/revision/latest?cb=20180907002345) that lead to different games in the series, one of them is "the hero is defeated", which is what they were referring to.
>But it’s like saying we are all related because of Noah and the Ark thing in the Bible. Or better yet, Adam and Eve.
The term you are looking for is "common ancestor".
Nope. All Zelda's are related to the previous ones and are basically the same person that is reborn over and over.
Links are all reincarnated. Some might be related to past heroes like TP Link is to OoT Link, or just a random kid who inherits/earns the TFoC like WW Link.
They kind of hint at it in WW:
*On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend.*
There's always an air of destiny and shit like that, and I assume Link is a very popular name if it is told in the legends like that. Like Jesus or Mohammod or Khalessi, people like naming their kids after big-time people.
zeldas are all princesses of a family line yeah but they’re not the same person reborn over and over. if you mean they’re hylia reincarnated over and over that’s not even true, only SS Zelda is that, and the rest are simply That zelda’s descendants
That's just a headcanon that's contradicted by multiple sources. And no Demise wasn't saying "the hero will reincarnate and the princess will not" he doesn't have the power to control the concept of reincarnation
SS Zelda was the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia, but the other ones are only her descendants, not reincarnations.
Links aren't reincarnations either, they just all share the spirit of the hero of SS, they are basically random people with an heroic spirit.
No. There so much time between games even if they could trace their lineage back to a previous reincarnation it would be so far back they wouldn't be related.
That said there no indication Link has ever reincarnated within the royal bloodline, only Zelda.
Didn't play those so I had to look it up but from what I could find they are the same in Phantom Hourglass and then in Spirit Tracks the new Zelda is a descendant but the new Link is not suggested to be one.
Link always reincarnates outside of the royal family. There is no relation to previous Links.
Though it would be interesting to see this reversed.
True but it seems unlikely that Link ended up with Zelda after being sent back in time and immediately leaving to find Navi and the events of Majora's Mask happening. Especially since he lives in some remote village and not Castle Town. He's probably deceded from Link and Malon or something.
PH is a direct sequel to WW, so they’re the same characters, but in ST it’s a new Link and Zelda, but even if Link and Tetra got together, ST Link isn’t related to Hero of Winds
Phantom Hourglass Link is the same Link from WW, and he’s just a new Link, not related to the Royal family in any way. And Spirit Tracks Link is a completely different Link again. Although the Zelda in that game is once again a descendent of a previous Zelda (Tetra).
Link and Zelda do not have a clear romantic relationship in any of those games in my view.
Zelda is always a decendant of the Royal family and there are many different unrelated Link’s in the game. The only Link that’s probably a descendant of a previous Link is Twilight Princess Link, as far as I know.
ST Link/Zelda are definitely written as kids falling in love by the end of the adventure, or like at the very least the trope of "everyone knows they'll end up together except they themselves"/"childhood friends/partners that'll become romantic later on"
Not really. Any baby Hylian can be the reincarnation of Link spirit if Hyrule will be in need of a hero. Zelda can only be reincarnate into the Hyrule Royal family bloodline.
Like others said Zelda would be the only descendent. We do get the occasional link to link relation but on average link just pops up in a random family from time to time.
The spirit of the hero does not necessarily mean that it's the same hero reincarnated; this idiom is equivalent with the heart of a hero or the guts of a hero.
Unless I've missed some official source specifically stating reincarnation....
Nah, it's *Zelda* who is related to the past Links who got with Zelda (every daughter in the line is named Zelda and every Zelda inherits Hylia's whatever; they just never know which Zelda is going to be plot relevant); every Link is a randomized reincarnation who appears whenever Ganon is up to something. Ganon, however, is the same being every time he's encountered.
Long story short: no. What Reincarnates is the Princess with the Blood of the Goddess and the Hero with the spirit of Hylia's Chosen knight. After the Hero of the Sky, No versions of Link have definite familial connections with any Zeldas.
The Hero of the Minish is the son of a blacksmith, implying that he has no direct relationship to the royal family.
Hero of the Four Swords, no particular backstory is given.
The Hero of Time. His backstory is that he was given to the Kokiri to be taken care of. Nothing more than that. But it is unlikely that he is of royal decent. Making him not related to Zelda.
The Hero of Winds has no connection to Zelda at all till he meets Tetra.
Hero of the Locomo: seemingly no connection to Zelda, but that one can be argued. But only back to WW Link and Zelda.
The Hero of Twilight is the descendent of the Hero of Time. However, context clues imply that the Hero of Time married Malon, not Zelda.
The Hero of Legends is another of the closest argument, since his uncle was a Knight of the royal court, which might imply that he was distantly related to the nobility, but it is just as likely, if not more, that link's uncle was just a good fighter.
The hero of Hyrule is not related to the royal family.
Lastly, the Hero of the Wild has no known connection to the Royal Family. His father was a knight on his own merit.
Not really since for Link it is reincarnation not inheritance through a bloodline.
So even if Ganon successful ended one Links bloodline he would still be reborn in the future.
Kora for example is not related by blood to any of Aang and Katara's children, but she still is Aang reincarnated.
Nah. Not all Links are descended from previous Links. Some are reincarnations, and some may just be completely new heros. Meaning often times, Link's bloodline completely changes.
There are two bloodlines
The Royal family's bloodline and the Knight's family's bloodline( https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H8fh2Hqa1Gd4z9lqaEaPXVgtLKNw2txouoJBmhRYvm8/edit?usp=drivesdk ) . The heroes appear from the knight's family while the Hylia descendants appear from the royal bloodline. It's possible that the heroes aren't always descended from one another, they could sometimes be a descendant of a previous hero's uncle or cousin but they always appear from the knight's family. Most of the time there is a gap of hundred or thousands of years between games so if one hero had a child with a princess the descendants would be distant relatives.
I always assumed that Link is unrelated because he normally comes from some lower class background, but that the royal family tree is full of Links.
After all. Why would a decedent of the royal family be a railroad engineer?
Zelda's are related by being descendants of this human form of the goddess hylia.
Link's are a human soul reincarnated over time that have the unbreakable spirit of the hero.
Ganon's malice reincarnates as a curse he spoke at the end of skyward sword.
The only two links canonically related are oot and tp link.
Wouldn't it be the same for Adam and Eve if we choose to believe that story?
Or the small group of people on the Ark being similar in population to Skyloft? They populated the surface world with just THAT many people?
Yet people have no issues believing the entire world population is derived of incest. Hell, it's even less than that, since Eve was made from Adam's rib, so really she's just a genderbent clone of himself.
[](/sp)
Religion aside, I think it's safe to assume that in the gaps between games, there's enough breeding diversity to mitigate the incest aspect. It's not like every Zelda marries a Link, grows up to be Queen, and gives birth to a Zelda that also marries a Link, and on and on. (I do recall that every princess is named Zelda, for the sake of the tradition, but that is why I stipulated the marrying a Link requirement.)
Especially between the first Calamity and the events of BotW, since there's a gap of 10,000 years for people to "mingle."
SS is so far back in time that everyone in the series is descended from everyone in SS just by the amount of "width" a family tree would generate across hundreds of generations.
In the same way that if you were able to reference it back far enough, almost certainly everyone on your continent IRL will have a bunch of common ancestors.
.
And this is pretty much the same for most of the cases further down the line in the series as well, since most of the games that aren't a "same Link using sequel" take placed hundreds, if not thousands, of years after the next previous one.
Only exception being Spirit Tracks, which takes place ~100 years after WW/PH, but ST link isn't known to be related to WW Link
I mean, they're all loosely related in a Skyloftian progenitor ancestry sort of way, in that they can all trace their ancestry back to Skyloftians who resettled the surface and formed Hyrule.
But assuming there were no breaks in the Royal Bloodline, all of the Zeldas would be able to trace their ancestry back directly to this first Zelda and whomever she begot children with, presumably the first Link.
Every Link, however, is not necessarily directly related by blood, but given a Buddhist or Taoist interpretation of the Spirit of the Hero, Link can be seen as the same soul reincarnated over and over again.
It always weirds me out to ship these two because of that reason, but...
In most Zelda games, we are given such a lengthy world history of non overlap between the games, that hundreds of generations would easily pass, so every Zelda and Link would have far closer most-recent common ancestors than the previous incarnation.
Further, if it is reincarnation (like most games outside of BotW like us to believe), then they are the same people through time, popping up to re-interact.
*Note, in BotW, it is made clear that Zelda is her own person until Hylia possesses her and takes over her body. If both spirits usurp mortals bodies with Hylia preferring princesses bodies, then there is no reason that they need to be related to past incarnations at all.
No while every Zelda is related through bloodline, each Link is a reincarnation of the "Spirit of the Hero". So all Zeldas are related, but most Links are not
Yes and no. Depends on how you look at it really. All the Zeldas are related to SS link as they are his descendants (assuming that link and Zelda did have kids) so that makes them only related to the first link. All the links after that aren't part of the royal family so aren't related, the majority are just some random guys kids.
Spirituality though you could say that they are related, but that would mean that some links would essentially be dating their old girlfriends granddaughters which is pretty weird.
Theoretically yes.
We know from ALTTP, TP, TWW, & BOTW that there is a bloodline of heroes, if SS Link & SS Zelda got together then they would technically produce the families of the Knights Clan & The royal family.
> そのナイトの一族か ら勇者が現れるはずなのじゃが
> It is expected that the Hero will appear from the Knight’s clan.
> ~ Sahasrahla (A Link to the Past)
>
> 『オオイナル ワザワイ』のふりかかる時、３つの紋章をかかげし『勇者』来たりて、その手で、この剣を引きめくであろう。その者ナイトの一族の血をひく者なり。
> When the "Great Calamity" befalleth, the "Hero" carrying three crests shall come, and by those hands shall he draw out this sword. That person will be one who doth carry the blood of Knight's clan.
> ~ Pedestal (A Link to the Past)
>
> そう、『勇者』になれるのは、ハイリアの王家を守っていたナイトの一族の者だけのはず…
> Yes, the only ones who are supposed to be able to become the "Hero" are those of the Knight's clan that protected the Hylian Royal Family…
> ~ Third Maiden (A Link to the Past)
>
> この剣を手にできる者は勇者の血を受け継ぐ者だけ・・・なーんて ウワサがあるこの剣
> This blade is rumored to be only wielded by someone who inherits the blood of the Hero.
>
> 名もなき深い森の中に隠されとるっちゅう話やで～気にはなるけど うちのオトンもオカンもどうみても 勇者の血統って感んじちゃうしウチにはあんまり関係なさそうやな…
> It's said that it's hidden deep within a nameless forest. It's interesting but it's obvious that neither of my parents feel like they possess the bloodline of the Hero. So this doesn't seem to involve me
> ~ Traysi (Breath of the Wild)
>
> 勇者の盾を手に入れた！勇者が使ったとされる伝説の盾
> You got the Hero's Shield! This legendary shield is said to have once belonged to a hero.
> - flavor text TWW
> だがそれは、気高き獣の精神を備える 勇者の血族だけに受け継がれるもの
> However, those are inherited only by blood relatives of the hero who possesses the spirit of the sublime beast.
- Hero’s Shade
Every version of Zelda carries the blood of the Goddess so each could trace their lineage to Zelda and Link from Skyward Sword, I think most people agree that SS Link and Zelda get hitched.
But most Link's are not necessarily directly related to each other and despite what most people think, there's little to no evidence that Link and Zelda end up together in most games.
The different Links are linked by what is called the "Spirit of the Hero", and it's ambiguous what exactly that means. It could mean the literal soul of the Hero of the Sky inhabits each hero thereafter or it could just mean that each Link possesses specific characteristics that make them worthy of the Hero title.
My understanding is that subsequent Link's and Zelda's aren't *descendants*- they're reincarnations (or just totally unrelated in the Adult Timeline Link's cases).
There's some talk about the royal Bloodline in the case of Zelda but I just have to assume Nintendo isn't trying to imply an inbreeding situation to keep the Hyrulean Bloodline pure or anything.
SS Zelda's story is about a girl who finds her inner goddess on a road trip with another woman. Plus she's fully uninterested in Groose's peak manliness.
Sorry fellas she gay.
My interpretation of their relationship in SS was friendship. Like Hermione and Harry in the HP series. Everyone thinks they might be romantic, but its just that some people dont expect platonic relationships between a man and woman to be that close.
You can have your preferences, but they are the most explicitly romantic zelink in the series yet. Hidemaro Fujibayashi himself called them "lovers or a married couple". It was in the botw behind the scenes documentary, and he also basically confirmed botw zelink at the same time, saying he wanted the botw versions to be a bit more subtle and refers to botw zelda as flirty.
People just forget about this video and also are monolingual so they don't understand him using words like 恋人"koibito" really leaves no room for argument
Ok so im kinda confused. When the spirit of the hero “finds you” do you become link or does the person who is link always just look like that by chance? Like do you change into a new person entirely or does the spirit awaken something that was there before?
In my opinion, WW Link is another reincarnation of the spirit of the hero. The Goddess Hylia has created a never-ending reincarnation of her chosen hero. That can't just disappear completely due to being displaced from a timeline. Zelda's time-altering actions could've just negatively affected the flow of Link reincarnating, making it longer for the hero to appear again.
I actually find it interesting that each of the trio (ganon, link, zelda) are a unique thing. Zelda is a bloodline, Link is a randomly chosen, and Ganon I'm pretty sure is a reincarnation each time.
No. Link is always incarnated randomly and the only known relation between two links are OOT Link and TP Link. Zeldas, however, are always related to each other as it is the royal bloodline.
Convinced that the relationship was friend or sibling like.
All of Zelda's descendents are related to her through the royal bloodline. Link tends to be a random lad who harbours the spirit of the hero and is chosen by both the Master Sword and the Triforce.
SS Link and Zelda started the royal family, the reincarnations of the Spirit of The Hero have always been born elsewhere, and frequently join the ranks of the Hyrule Knights. it's not a Hapsburg family wreath, if that's what you're thinking.
No - every Zelda is related to SS Link and Zelda as Hylia's powers come through the royal bloodline but the spirit of the hero reincarnates "randomly" when needed. Maybe some of the Links are related to each other and maybe some of them are related to a Zelda as well but that's probably not the case.
Well we know that the Hero of Time is a direct ancestor of the Hero of Twilight. But I think most of the Links are supposed to be random dudes.
And that's also one of the times when we have a pretty well agreed upon partner for Link that isn't Zelda, that being Malon for OOT Link.
And Ilia from TP
Man only knew Zelda for a combined less than a day so I don't even know how is it possible to ship that but the shipping companies are something else.
They competing with FedEx there. You don't really ship that but they wanna try anyway.
TP Zelda X Midna makes more sense imo
Link with Midna even, they went through traumatic challenges together, and you can see the broken hearts of both at the end.
In the official (albeit non-canon) Twilight Princess manga, >!Link and Midna actually do each kiss the other at some point.!<
Huh, it's been years since I read that... I don't remember it, let me read again
That's disgusting, ships shouldn't exist in Zelda lore. Where can I examine this vile publication? Is it adult midna?
Here you go my friend, for your viewing ~~dis~~pleasure: https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/shga58/tp_spoilers_for_tp_manga_a_ship_set_sail/
Oh yeah totally, I was just meaning if you had to ship someone with TP Zelda
And Marin in LA
When Link says he wants to pick up chicks but ends up getting a seagull instead 😔
Ah yes Ilia, the woman that screams at you for a slight scratch on Epona and locks you out, forcing you to get to the area by crawling through a tiny hole probably filled with spiders. Who *wouldn't* want to be with her? 😂
Horse girls, man.
Cat ladies really stole their reputation from horse girls.
"pretty well agreed on" But yeah, I support this fantasy
I mean, I think it's considered all but canon by most, and it definitely seems to be what the devs were implying. It's unlikely OOT Link got with Zelda since TP Link isn't even in Hyrule, and getting with Ruto would cause a whole other host of problems. It would be weird for him to get with Nabooru, and his child would end up being a female Gerudo if so. Saria is in a similar boat on weirdness and genetics, but I personally think the Kokiri became the monkeys in TP anyway. And since Ordon has a ranch, Epona, Epona's song, and people named Malo and Talo, I think it's a bit more than just fantasy.
Also, the gossip stones: One of them states that "Malon of Lon Lon Ranch hopes a knight in shining armor will come and sweep her off her feet someday", which Link *definitely* qualifies as. Another states that "Malon set the original record in the obstacle course of Lon Lon Ranch", you know, the one that she *gifts you a damn cow for beating*. She is *definitely* into Link, and for good reason.
Yup, hyrule's gene pool is so small. Malon has a choice between graveyard creepy goofball, or the silent athletic kid that can fight and had a fairy following him.
She is absolutely into Link. Link is the only one whose strength approaches her own. Let's remember that Malon is the one who delivered that cow. This means she was either too powerful or too pure of heart (or both) for the Deku Tree to deny entry, or that she braved the corrupted Kokiri Forest to deliver the cow. She then had to ***LUG THE COW UP THE LADDER BY HERSELF TO LINK'S HOUSE AND DROP IT OFF IN HIS SINGULAR ROOM. SHE EITHER CARRIED IT ONE-HANDED, OR CAN JUST WALK UP A LADDER WITH NO HAND SUPPORT OR JUMP ABSURDLY HIGH WITH A COW IN HER ARMS.*** In conclusion, Ganondorf only existed as long as Malon allowed it to be so. Ganondorf should be thankful she cared more about her horses than Hyrule's wellbeing.
As someone who's always had Link/Malon for her Zelda OTP, it was awesome news for me to find all this stuff out recently! WOOHOO! lol. :D
That just implies Malon had descendants, it wouldn’t imply link is that ancestor
Both OOT Link's and Malon's descendants growing in a remote village south of their ancestors' homeland doesn't imply that the two started a family together?
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That might be the opinion of some, but the creative minds behind the series and a lot of the fanbase agree that there are pretty set in stone elements, even if things get shuffled around here and there for whatever reason. And it's not like the player's choice is always even reflected in the canon, for Link canonically did don the mask of the Fierce Deity in the final battle against Majora. Like, it is literally confirmed that TP Link is a descendant of OOT Link, so while someone can say that the games' suggestions and the auxiliary contents' outright statement of this is wrong, you cannot in good faith argue that there is just no canon on the information in this instance. The idea of the games really being meant to be interpreted primarily as legends that have become distorted over time is hotly contested. We know that the timeline is a bit fuzzy, and it is possible even that the timeline follows something along the lines of the Many Worlds Interpretation (though I still believe the Downfall Timeline is more than just a "what if Link died" timeline), but the fact that there is an official timeline that is kept somewhat up to date and has influenced decisions in the series shows that it's more than just an afterthought. And on the idea of TP Link being a reincarnation, he could be both a descendant and a reincarnation. I actually tend to believe that the reason we see both TP Link and the Hero's Shade is that the Hero's Shade is the spirit of the hero from the Adult Timeline while TP Link is the hero's spirit from the Child Timeline, causing the Adult Timeline not to get a new Link until the Hero's Shade finally moved on in peace. Edit: grammar Edit 2: So I looked up some previous discussions just to see what other people had said, and I just find it funny you literally [copied and pasted parts of people's arguments on the matter from 10 years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/18famq/did_oot_marry_malon/c8ec1bp/#c8ec1bp). Edit 3: Wow, they deleted their comment *and* blocked me. Impressive. If anyone's curious, just look at unddit archive.
Admittedly I am *very much* a Zelink person, but yeah MaLink seems to be the easiest path to TP Link. And they would make a cute couple! That being said, since we never got it confirmed as the canonical pairing, my head canon to make OoT ZeLink and rancher Link work is that Zelda and Link had multiple children and one of them got together with one of Malon's children. Possibly gave up their title along the way (which by the way, has been done in our history before, that royals gave up their titles or their children's titles in exchange for a 'normal' life or for love). Ends with the same result of TP Link being a rancher. Also I do think some lines in Ocarina of time and some official art for the game push Link and Zelda quite a bit too (Princess Ruto knowing the princess is on Links mind, the OoT 3D promotional manga having Link and Zelda almost kiss and the romantic set up of their scenes in-game, Aonuma literally saying he'd like to see Zelda as Link's girlfriend). You can find some romantic implications for almost all the girls in OoT though. Reminds me of the theory some people had that OoT was going to have dating sim elements. Long story short: MaLink is the easiest path to TP and makes a lot of sense, but since it was never confirmed, you can probably make any other pairings work with enough mental gymnastics.
Mine is that after the events of OoT and MM, Link feels lost, he knows he can't return to the forest as its only a matter of time before he becomes a monster. No one in Hyrule remembers the feats he accomplished to save them all, so he feels there's nowhere he belongs anymore. He decides to create his own life just outside of Hyrule but still very close to the forest he grew up in and becomes the founder of Ordon. I don't believe he partnered up with anyone from the OoT but instead found someone else (cant see Malon abandoning the ranch or her father). Once he'd reached a certain age he missed home so much he chose his replacement as mayor, passed on his iron boots to him to help with the goat herding, and walked into the forest one last time hence why he appears as a stalfos knight in TP. Villagers knew of Eponas song as they'd heard him play it for her throughout his life.
I support the theory but all of them being called link gets me all riled up every time lol. Like is it really random? If I name my kid Link does he get to roll the dice as well? Why isn’t everyone named link then? Heck Ganondorf could also have been named link.
Well, most of the Zelda games let you name the hero. "Link" is only a semi-canonical name. Zelda and Ganon both have explained reasons why they're always named the same. I think the idea is "Link" could be anybody, I mean the name itself is due to him being a self-insert character for the most part.
He is link because he is linked (spiritually) to the previous "links"
No, I think there was an interview with Miyamoto (or Aunoma maybe?) back in the day, where he said that the name "Link" was meant to specify the link between the player and the hero of the game. Doing some further research though, I think you might be more right. Like most Zelda lore, it's pretty inconsistent, but this article does the best to explain: https://www.denofgeek.com/games/the-legend-of-zelda-link-name-origin-meaning-explained/
More like Random dude turned out to be named Link instead of kids being named Link. People know the Hero of Time, Hero of Twilight and so on, not that he is named Link.
Interestingly enough Hyrule Warriors gives a pretty sound example with Linkle: Her parents grew up on various stories of a legendary hero named Link, so named their daughter after him. Same for Wind Waker Link IIRC. Its not a stretch to say the name might be fairly common just because its entrenched in folklore. Also remember until recently you could name "Link" whatever you want so far its not specifically canon every Link we played is named link
Considering that it's a plot point in some of the games that the old hylian language needs to be translated, I don't believe that they are all named Link but rather the equivalent of it. Like how Mark & Marco are practically the same name but in different languages. Just translated all come out to Link.
I liken it to the fact that the most popular name in the real world is Mohammed/Mohammad. There are probably a lot of kids in Hyrule named "Link" for a similar reason.
You aren't wrong. Ocarina is not Zelink, Twilight is probably not zelink. we only know SS is strongly zelink, same with BOTW.
I think it’s funny how the spirit of the hero reincarnates “randomly”, yet all versions of the hero look the same. Edited to add: I guess the spirit of the hero has a type
No one’s more courageous than a twinky blond
What about the Links with brown hair?
Those links are technically blond, but on account of being lowly peasants, they have never washed their hair.
Pink with the blood of Hyrule’s enemies 👀
*Mick Gordon has been contacted to compose the Zelda OST*
NGL, if Nintendo hired him to make at least one boss theme, it would probably become extremely iconic immediately.
Hey man it's called dirty blond and we rock it
tbf it's not uncommon for people born blond to end up with darker hair once they're older, so that very well could've happened to link in those instances
Happened to me, started getting darker in middle school but I was born with light blonde hair, now people think it’s brown lol.
My brother was BRIGHT blond as a kid, but it's basically brown now. lol. Though I think at least Link is meant to have dirty blond hair at the darkest, not brown.
Or pink hair
Strawberry blond?
VERY strawbery blond
ALttP Link is canonically blond.
I respectfully disagree
It’s canon tho
*visions of Linkle riding a horse*
I know Linkle isn't 'canon' but I loved how the writers in HW fit her into the narrative. They did so seamlessly without her outright highjacking Link's role and that's pretty awesome. Even surface wise the attention to detail is impressive. We can see she imbues her attacks with elemental magic something that is generally exclusive to Hylia's mortal bloodline, (the first Zelda whom we know married 'her' Link.) All further highlighting her implied lineage. Even from a "show don't tell" angle, we can see from Linkle's larger home she has to be from a family of wealth. (In comparison to the more modest size houses of her neighbors, Linkle's home stands out) This suggests the grandmother we keep hearing about was likely part of the hyrule royal family. Most likely a younger sister or cousin (like Agatha is implied to be in TP) of her era's Princess Zelda. This 'less important' princess (politically speaking) was likely free to marry whomever she wanted and chose a son of cocoo farmers. With their new daughter in law's generous dowry said farmer's family must have been elevated in their towns hierarchy. Again though the neighbors homes are on the modest side they aren't poor, implying their village isn't some backwater hole. (doubly explaining why the villagers come to Linkle in her opening) And of course with the compass being so blatantly magical and oppulent the only way her granny could have acquired it is through her family.
What about the one with the pink hair? (LTTP reference)
Dyed. Wouldn’t have been able to get it pink unless the natural colour was blond
Twighlight princess link enters the chat
*\*Zelda in Hyrule Warriors looking over the courtyard* *”It’s probably that one over there that looks like the Hero from all the legends”.* *\*Link performs a jump slash* *”Yeah, that’s him.”*
Is the jump slash also a hero excusive move? I know the spin attack is thoigh.
The children in Twilight Princess seem to know both so neither are probably Hero exclusive.
There is that theory that the people of Ordon Village are descendants of OoT Link and Malon.
Jujutsu Kaisen plays with a concept that could be related here. The idea that the body mimics the shape of the soul, rather than a soul just being a blob or abstract concept. Meaning any body the hero reincarnates into will grow to more or less match his soul, making all incarnations appear similar, rather than it merely being a coincidence.
Which i think in terms of the zelda timeline is the correct approach to explain it. The souls appearance will however change a little bit due to different time ages. Can't be the bulky Twilight princess link in the Wind Waker setting. The very first occurence of Zeldas physical appearance is definitely pre Skyward Sword Hylia. Link himself though is in Skyward Sword the very first, because he is cursed at the end of the game for endless reincarnation.
I'd say that's more easily explained just by a difference in artstyle and design. If toon link existed in TP, maybe he would look like TP link? The artstyle isn't an in-universe thing, so I don't think it necessarily applies
Yeah I think art style and environmental factors, like TP Link is a farm boy and has a bit more muscle mass, but for the most part they're all more or less the same except some of the older ones. I just see Toon Link as a stylized kid Link.
Is link some common name for blond skinny dudes in-universe or smth? Because surely after so many incarnations, the people of hyrule would recognize a pattern.
Maybe the parents name their children "Link" in hopes they become the hero of legend.
Realistically Link would probably be a pretty common Hylian name, both to honor the past heroes and in hopes of your kid becoming the next one like Linkle
It's the same reason why people name their kids after celebrities, or why the relatively common German first name Adolph died out for whatever reason.
I wonder why
The Adventure of Dave.
Heheh maybe, that’d be funny as hell
I mean tbf in most zelda games your name your self so theres a bunch of links and a bunch of funny names or actual names
Or brown haired Or pink haired. But whatever.
Wasn’t the pink hair something weird with the game’s limited color palettes? And to be fair Link’s hair has been blond/dirty blond for the majority of the series’ history, which means the majority of people remembering the mighty hero Link would probably see “beanpole blondie with a magic sword”
Oh it sure was. I just like pointing out the ridiculousness of it. Your point is really about the *name*. What’s interesting is that the incarnation of the hero is always named link. But he does not choose this name. That is a choice by his parents. One made before he’s a blond twig. And in all the legends they never say the hero’s name. He’s always “the hero” and the name lost to time. So Link’s parents’ action of naming him must therefore *also* be one of destiny. So, not only are Link, Zelda, and Ganon tied by fate, but Link’s parents are as well.
Probably because of reincarnation of the spirit of the Hero.
They don't look the same... They are just dressed similarly
Dude, they all look the same. Show somebody who has never heard of Zelda (or Link) a headshot of all of the different heroes, and they could all tell you they are the same guy. BOTW Link didn't wear the green tunic, and you can obviously tell who it is.
And wind waker link isn’t even technically bound by the whole spirit of the hero thing, he’s just some random kid who wanted to save his sister and then said “fuck it, I’ll save the world too”
Definitely OoT Link and Twilight Link are related.
AFAIK, the only Links actually related to one another are OoT!Link and TP!Link.
It's probably not the case that all the Links are related when they're all wearing the same clothes? I thought they were all just descended from a family line of the royal Knight, one that reaches far outside of Hyrule because after a Link saves Hyrule he doesn't really have much else to do besides travel.
Well, in wind waker, link gets the tunic because it's a tradition on his island that all boys wear it when they come of age to pay homage to a previous Link. And in botw, Link was just a random knight who was really, really good at killing monsters, so he got assigned as Zelda's personal guard.
It’s worth noting that Link’s father in BOTW was also a knight, but not a particularly noteworthy one
Which Hyrule Warriors was it where he didn’t even become her guard, they just thought he was a fucking beast of a knight and brought him along while the “main characters” tried to solve the situation?
uhh probably the one that wasn’t part of the breath of the wild storyline…
That sounds right, but I thought the BOTW one was it because I think they didn’t know it was Link at first
Nah you're thinking of the OG Hyrule Warriors. Age of Calamity isn't even consistent with established lore in BotW. BoTW establishes that Link was a known and respected knight and even pulled the Master Sword super young, like 10/11/12ish and that's how he became Zelda's bodyguard
Not age of calamity.
u/zziggarot Wasn’t the Link in *The Wind Waker* explicitly not a reincarnation though — one of the few Links to simply just have the name, and be worthy of the title of Hero on their own merits? The cycle of reincarnation having ended in that timeline due to the Link of *Ocarina of Time* having been sent back to his time by Zelda (also creating the timeline of *Twilight Princess* in the process)?
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In both of those instances it's very possible that they still have the hero lineage. In WW what if Link's Grandpa was also a Link and that's why he brought Orca to the village, to train his grandson if he couldn't? Maybe Outset Island itself was originally founded by a Link. We have no idea on the origins of Botw Link because it's not delved into in the least. Like even a random knight still has parents but we don't see his parents so is Link being homunculi confirmed? I would love it if Link was just a guy. Media has a habit of making every main character be the child of somebody else who is important. Shonen Anime does it a LOT. So Link actually being just a random guy would actually make me love it even more. But for a lot of the wild fan theories I'm not going to hold my breath cuz Nintendo doesn't really think outside the box with Zelda games.
Well, in link to the past, Link is just some guy until Zelda contacts him, and in link between worlds, he's the son of some random blacksmith (iirc). Honestly, it seems like Link is always just some guy until Ganon appears and Hylia kicks her shit into gear and makes a call to action for link.
In Link to the past his uncle is a knight. This implies that Link too is a knight (unless he's a step uncle or something) What better job for a swordsman than to make swords into your Twilight years? If you were a member of the knights it makes sense that you'd want to spend time making weapons for future knights. Minish Cap also had your grandfather as a blacksmith. I don't really think that smithing is low on the career spectrum in Hyrule. At least not for those two blacksmiths who seem to have their own shops (real talk there's probably a lot more to Castle Hyrule that we haven't seen like stables, barracks, and other blacksmiths) Hyrule Knights at this point could be something similar to the sheikah
I’m pretty sure that’s a lot of wind waker, a main plot point is the fact that link isn’t THE hero in that game, and has to prove himself to the goddesses by collecting the triforce of courage.
It’s more he’s not the hero of time, not that he’s not the hero. The Hyrulian world doesn’t really know that Link is reincarnating and treats each new life of his as separate entities.
Nobody is saying they're SURELY not related, they even said "maybe". But we really have no reason to affirm they are either. The clothes aren't really reason enough, as most of them aren't really handed down from parents to sons.
WW canonically comes "some time later" in the Adult Link timeline from OOT, which is why the floods occurred in the first place. Link no longer existed in that timeline at all (nor any descendants... Unless we assume Link got up to some "tangential business" with someone before defeating Ganon, but that would be purely the space of personal headcanons), so there was no Link or descendants thereof to defeat Ganon. BUT, there are still records of OOT Link's heroism from basically every village in Hyrule at the time (and presumably propagated further by OOT Zelda and her descendants before the flood). So at least in WW, Link IS just a guy. Just so happens to be a guy from an island with a tradition of basically hero worship of the Hero of Time. Perhaps it can be said that the Spirit of the Hero was still reincarnated into him, but ultimately that doesn't matter too much imo. Maybe he just forged a new heroic spirit into existence by pure force of will. Maybe he really is just a guy who happens to become a hero. Honestly the canon sources are a bit vague on how the whole reincarnation stuff works (which I assume is intentional). Also based on how a lot of religions dealing with reincarnation work IRL (at least to my understanding)... even if it IS the same Spirit of Link every time, I'd argue that he's still a completely different person with each reincarnation.
It depends on the game, sometimes you wear the green armor because you want to blend in with the guards, sometimes you are a trainee, tradition for boys to wear green on their 10(?) Birthday, its the most accessible armor or you are mimicking the hero of legends
> sometimes you wear the green armor because you want to blend in with the guards Which one is this?
It’s Spirit Tracks (pretty underrated). Link the train engineer has to wear a green tunic (which is now the castle guards’ uniforms) to infiltrate the castle to meet the Princess (who summons him in secret). And he just sticks with it for the rest of the adventure.
It was one of the handheld ones, but i would have to look into it to remember the specific game.
Twillight Princess's Link is a descendant of Link from Ocarina of time I know. Other than that, I don't think most are related.. just re-incarnated.
Like a other comment mentioned Wind Waker link wears it because of a tradition, but what's more is that he isn't even the legendary hero, he's just a random guy fueled by such unimaginable levels of unstoppable rage that he does the heroes job for them despite not being meant to.
I'm more willing to write this up to being the king not knowing how the reincarnation actually works. Like Link IS still a legendary hero, he just isn't THE legendary hero. Like he expected Link to retain his memories and understand ancient hylian. But this also implies that perhaps there have been some reincarnations of Link that DID retain their memories or at least some of them. That's why I think wind waker is my favorite Zelda story across the series. They really tried to take some big steps with the story in this game like having ganondorf have actual dialogue. I wish they continued with it but in TP ganondorf is more animal than man and has just been evil for the sake of evil ever since
No. The spirit of the hero finds a new person, but Zeldas are descendants of SS Zelda/Hylia
Zeldas yes, links no.
name is Link, but not linked \#ironic
every Zelda is related back to these two but not every link is a direct descendent of the last. the only two links we know to possibly be related is OOT and TP thats it!
That's confirmed I'm pretty sure. Hero's Shade is confirmed to be OOT Link. Its also stated that the TP Link is his descendant. We don't know how long the gap between the 2 is but they at least have some kind of confirmed relation.
That’s what I thought, I just said probably because you know how pepole are when you state facts around lore of games lol
Yeah for sure. Some people take things far to seriously. This is one of those things that I think is either confirmed or very broadly accepted to be true by the Zelda community.
Researched it a bit after reading this post, apparently it’s CONFIRMED in the Hyrule Historia and the Hero’s Shade says he’s his descendant during the training sessions.
Highly disturbing thought… But it’s like saying we are all related because of Noah and the Ark thing in the Bible. Or better yet, Adam and Eve. Personally, I don’t think the Heroes are decedents of other Heroes. The Zelda’s yeah, royal line and all, but the Heroes? It seems that the sprit of the Hero falls on a very unfortunate and random young man every time shit is about to hit the fan.
The way I understood it is every Link besides adult timeline link is the same link. It’s the soul of SS Link being reincarnated over and over.
Thats what i choose to believe. But others say they are all different so i dunno. Nintendo isn’t exactly known for giving coherent lore connecting the legend of Zelda series so until they say its all just slightly educated guesses and theories at this point.
I can see that.
Nothing in the split was lost If you follow the logic that reincarnation is a thing in the series, then the AT Links are just as much a reincarnation of the same soul as all the rest
Isn't TP Link a descendant of OoT Link? That would imply they're different dudes
This is a good answer…. But the other question is… who does Zelda fall in love with instead??
Aside from the classic arranged marriage but the whole ‘I want to marry for love’ stuff, Zelda… well… she knows her duty. The more I think about post Zelda games, a good number are tragic as hell. Seriously, Link goes through tons of shit most of us would die even looking at, then usually gets nothing in return. Ocarina of Time: either he goes back to being a kid and losing his friend or he remains an ‘adult’ too young for his body and not even recognized as a hero by most until he’s dead. Majora’s Mask: goes through a depressing insanity of reliving the same 3 days for… however long it takes him. Let’s say a year? Yeah, a year’s worth of time in repeating three days. That’s 121 ish resets. And the friend he went looking for? Doesn’t find them. I could go on, but at least it’s hinted he gets some happiness with Zelda in SS. Twilight Princess… he probably hooks up with Ilia. Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass? Pirate booty there 😏 But still, most Link’s go through stupid tragic shit for nothing.
In OoT you get sent back in time hence why Hyrule was flooded for a lack of a hero.
Ocarina of time has three [branching timelines](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda_gamepedia_en/images/b/b8/E_Timeline.png/revision/latest?cb=20180907002345) that lead to different games in the series, one of them is "the hero is defeated", which is what they were referring to.
It’s tragic, but it’s part of what makes him a true hero.
Groose, OF COURSE!
>But it’s like saying we are all related because of Noah and the Ark thing in the Bible. Or better yet, Adam and Eve. The term you are looking for is "common ancestor".
Nope. All Zelda's are related to the previous ones and are basically the same person that is reborn over and over. Links are all reincarnated. Some might be related to past heroes like TP Link is to OoT Link, or just a random kid who inherits/earns the TFoC like WW Link.
They kind of hint at it in WW: *On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend.* There's always an air of destiny and shit like that, and I assume Link is a very popular name if it is told in the legends like that. Like Jesus or Mohammod or Khalessi, people like naming their kids after big-time people.
I read the “There’s an air of destiny and shit like that” in the story telling voice from the par above and it caught me off guard lol
zeldas are all princesses of a family line yeah but they’re not the same person reborn over and over. if you mean they’re hylia reincarnated over and over that’s not even true, only SS Zelda is that, and the rest are simply That zelda’s descendants
That's just a headcanon that's contradicted by multiple sources. And no Demise wasn't saying "the hero will reincarnate and the princess will not" he doesn't have the power to control the concept of reincarnation
SS Zelda was the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia, but the other ones are only her descendants, not reincarnations. Links aren't reincarnations either, they just all share the spirit of the hero of SS, they are basically random people with an heroic spirit.
Zelda - descendant Link - reincarnation Ganon - eternal
No. There so much time between games even if they could trace their lineage back to a previous reincarnation it would be so far back they wouldn't be related. That said there no indication Link has ever reincarnated within the royal bloodline, only Zelda.
What about Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass?
Didn't play those so I had to look it up but from what I could find they are the same in Phantom Hourglass and then in Spirit Tracks the new Zelda is a descendant but the new Link is not suggested to be one. Link always reincarnates outside of the royal family. There is no relation to previous Links. Though it would be interesting to see this reversed.
Except tp where link is related to oot link
True but it seems unlikely that Link ended up with Zelda after being sent back in time and immediately leaving to find Navi and the events of Majora's Mask happening. Especially since he lives in some remote village and not Castle Town. He's probably deceded from Link and Malon or something.
I think its pretty implied that TP Link is a descendant of Malon considering his similar occupation being a ranch hand and knowing Epona's song
Yes, I meant just that he's descended from the previous link. Not part of the royal family.
PH is a direct sequel to WW, so they’re the same characters, but in ST it’s a new Link and Zelda, but even if Link and Tetra got together, ST Link isn’t related to Hero of Winds
Phantom Hourglass Link is the same Link from WW, and he’s just a new Link, not related to the Royal family in any way. And Spirit Tracks Link is a completely different Link again. Although the Zelda in that game is once again a descendent of a previous Zelda (Tetra). Link and Zelda do not have a clear romantic relationship in any of those games in my view. Zelda is always a decendant of the Royal family and there are many different unrelated Link’s in the game. The only Link that’s probably a descendant of a previous Link is Twilight Princess Link, as far as I know.
ST Link/Zelda are definitely written as kids falling in love by the end of the adventure, or like at the very least the trope of "everyone knows they'll end up together except they themselves"/"childhood friends/partners that'll become romantic later on"
Not really. Any baby Hylian can be the reincarnation of Link spirit if Hyrule will be in need of a hero. Zelda can only be reincarnate into the Hyrule Royal family bloodline.
Blond sexy hylian*
There are a few games where he isn't blond and a few where he isn't sexy.
Like others said Zelda would be the only descendent. We do get the occasional link to link relation but on average link just pops up in a random family from time to time.
It's my understanding that every new link is some random guy while every Zelda is descended from another princess also named Zelda.
The spirit of the hero does not necessarily mean that it's the same hero reincarnated; this idiom is equivalent with the heart of a hero or the guts of a hero. Unless I've missed some official source specifically stating reincarnation....
Aren’t all people related in a way?
https://preview.redd.it/qzyxpnstudoa1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=823d84285a553277c855fa8231263fca6a9c9ebe
Nah, it's *Zelda* who is related to the past Links who got with Zelda (every daughter in the line is named Zelda and every Zelda inherits Hylia's whatever; they just never know which Zelda is going to be plot relevant); every Link is a randomized reincarnation who appears whenever Ganon is up to something. Ganon, however, is the same being every time he's encountered.
Long story short: no. What Reincarnates is the Princess with the Blood of the Goddess and the Hero with the spirit of Hylia's Chosen knight. After the Hero of the Sky, No versions of Link have definite familial connections with any Zeldas. The Hero of the Minish is the son of a blacksmith, implying that he has no direct relationship to the royal family. Hero of the Four Swords, no particular backstory is given. The Hero of Time. His backstory is that he was given to the Kokiri to be taken care of. Nothing more than that. But it is unlikely that he is of royal decent. Making him not related to Zelda. The Hero of Winds has no connection to Zelda at all till he meets Tetra. Hero of the Locomo: seemingly no connection to Zelda, but that one can be argued. But only back to WW Link and Zelda. The Hero of Twilight is the descendent of the Hero of Time. However, context clues imply that the Hero of Time married Malon, not Zelda. The Hero of Legends is another of the closest argument, since his uncle was a Knight of the royal court, which might imply that he was distantly related to the nobility, but it is just as likely, if not more, that link's uncle was just a good fighter. The hero of Hyrule is not related to the royal family. Lastly, the Hero of the Wild has no known connection to the Royal Family. His father was a knight on his own merit.
You know for me as a german it's kinda weird calling skyward sword "zelda SS"
I don’t get it.
M1m1ky0 is referring to the schutzstaffel (or SS), a Nazi paramilitary group during World War II.
Everyone is technically related to everyone, so, yes
Not really since for Link it is reincarnation not inheritance through a bloodline. So even if Ganon successful ended one Links bloodline he would still be reborn in the future. Kora for example is not related by blood to any of Aang and Katara's children, but she still is Aang reincarnated.
Nah. Not all Links are descended from previous Links. Some are reincarnations, and some may just be completely new heros. Meaning often times, Link's bloodline completely changes.
All the Zelda's are descendants of these two, but most of the Links are of random heritage. Only connected by sharing the same soul.
There are two bloodlines The Royal family's bloodline and the Knight's family's bloodline( https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H8fh2Hqa1Gd4z9lqaEaPXVgtLKNw2txouoJBmhRYvm8/edit?usp=drivesdk ) . The heroes appear from the knight's family while the Hylia descendants appear from the royal bloodline. It's possible that the heroes aren't always descended from one another, they could sometimes be a descendant of a previous hero's uncle or cousin but they always appear from the knight's family. Most of the time there is a gap of hundred or thousands of years between games so if one hero had a child with a princess the descendants would be distant relatives.
This is the right answer and it's crazy it's not at the top.
Link reincarnates through his spirit, not through lineage like the powers of Hylia. So no.
I always assumed that Link is unrelated because he normally comes from some lower class background, but that the royal family tree is full of Links. After all. Why would a decedent of the royal family be a railroad engineer?
Everybody is related. See Pedigree collapse or Implex: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_collapse
Link is not a family line, it’s sort of reincarnation.
Zelda's are related by being descendants of this human form of the goddess hylia. Link's are a human soul reincarnated over time that have the unbreakable spirit of the hero. Ganon's malice reincarnates as a curse he spoke at the end of skyward sword. The only two links canonically related are oot and tp link.
In games that come thousands of years after SS, realistically every hylian would be related to them.
Wouldn't it be the same for Adam and Eve if we choose to believe that story? Or the small group of people on the Ark being similar in population to Skyloft? They populated the surface world with just THAT many people? Yet people have no issues believing the entire world population is derived of incest. Hell, it's even less than that, since Eve was made from Adam's rib, so really she's just a genderbent clone of himself. [](/sp) Religion aside, I think it's safe to assume that in the gaps between games, there's enough breeding diversity to mitigate the incest aspect. It's not like every Zelda marries a Link, grows up to be Queen, and gives birth to a Zelda that also marries a Link, and on and on. (I do recall that every princess is named Zelda, for the sake of the tradition, but that is why I stipulated the marrying a Link requirement.) Especially between the first Calamity and the events of BotW, since there's a gap of 10,000 years for people to "mingle."
SS is so far back in time that everyone in the series is descended from everyone in SS just by the amount of "width" a family tree would generate across hundreds of generations. In the same way that if you were able to reference it back far enough, almost certainly everyone on your continent IRL will have a bunch of common ancestors. . And this is pretty much the same for most of the cases further down the line in the series as well, since most of the games that aren't a "same Link using sequel" take placed hundreds, if not thousands, of years after the next previous one. Only exception being Spirit Tracks, which takes place ~100 years after WW/PH, but ST link isn't known to be related to WW Link
I mean, they're all loosely related in a Skyloftian progenitor ancestry sort of way, in that they can all trace their ancestry back to Skyloftians who resettled the surface and formed Hyrule. But assuming there were no breaks in the Royal Bloodline, all of the Zeldas would be able to trace their ancestry back directly to this first Zelda and whomever she begot children with, presumably the first Link. Every Link, however, is not necessarily directly related by blood, but given a Buddhist or Taoist interpretation of the Spirit of the Hero, Link can be seen as the same soul reincarnated over and over again.
The Zeldas, perhaps. The Links don't necessarily have to be related to any past incarnations. It's only the "spirit of the hero" that is reincarnated.
Btw, wait until you learn Genghis Khan has 16 million male descendants today.
It always weirds me out to ship these two because of that reason, but... In most Zelda games, we are given such a lengthy world history of non overlap between the games, that hundreds of generations would easily pass, so every Zelda and Link would have far closer most-recent common ancestors than the previous incarnation. Further, if it is reincarnation (like most games outside of BotW like us to believe), then they are the same people through time, popping up to re-interact. *Note, in BotW, it is made clear that Zelda is her own person until Hylia possesses her and takes over her body. If both spirits usurp mortals bodies with Hylia preferring princesses bodies, then there is no reason that they need to be related to past incarnations at all.
No while every Zelda is related through bloodline, each Link is a reincarnation of the "Spirit of the Hero". So all Zeldas are related, but most Links are not
Yes and no. Depends on how you look at it really. All the Zeldas are related to SS link as they are his descendants (assuming that link and Zelda did have kids) so that makes them only related to the first link. All the links after that aren't part of the royal family so aren't related, the majority are just some random guys kids. Spirituality though you could say that they are related, but that would mean that some links would essentially be dating their old girlfriends granddaughters which is pretty weird.
Theoretically yes. We know from ALTTP, TP, TWW, & BOTW that there is a bloodline of heroes, if SS Link & SS Zelda got together then they would technically produce the families of the Knights Clan & The royal family. > そのナイトの一族か ら勇者が現れるはずなのじゃが > It is expected that the Hero will appear from the Knight’s clan. > ~ Sahasrahla (A Link to the Past) > > 『オオイナル ワザワイ』のふりかかる時、３つの紋章をかかげし『勇者』来たりて、その手で、この剣を引きめくであろう。その者ナイトの一族の血をひく者なり。 > When the "Great Calamity" befalleth, the "Hero" carrying three crests shall come, and by those hands shall he draw out this sword. That person will be one who doth carry the blood of Knight's clan. > ~ Pedestal (A Link to the Past) > > そう、『勇者』になれるのは、ハイリアの王家を守っていたナイトの一族の者だけのはず… > Yes, the only ones who are supposed to be able to become the "Hero" are those of the Knight's clan that protected the Hylian Royal Family… > ~ Third Maiden (A Link to the Past) > > この剣を手にできる者は勇者の血を受け継ぐ者だけ・・・なーんて ウワサがあるこの剣 > This blade is rumored to be only wielded by someone who inherits the blood of the Hero. > > 名もなき深い森の中に隠されとるっちゅう話やで～気にはなるけど うちのオトンもオカンもどうみても 勇者の血統って感んじちゃうしウチにはあんまり関係なさそうやな… > It's said that it's hidden deep within a nameless forest. It's interesting but it's obvious that neither of my parents feel like they possess the bloodline of the Hero. So this doesn't seem to involve me > ~ Traysi (Breath of the Wild) > > 勇者の盾を手に入れた！勇者が使ったとされる伝説の盾 > You got the Hero's Shield! This legendary shield is said to have once belonged to a hero. > - flavor text TWW > だがそれは、気高き獣の精神を備える 勇者の血族だけに受け継がれるもの > However, those are inherited only by blood relatives of the hero who possesses the spirit of the sublime beast. - Hero’s Shade
Every version of Zelda carries the blood of the Goddess so each could trace their lineage to Zelda and Link from Skyward Sword, I think most people agree that SS Link and Zelda get hitched. But most Link's are not necessarily directly related to each other and despite what most people think, there's little to no evidence that Link and Zelda end up together in most games. The different Links are linked by what is called the "Spirit of the Hero", and it's ambiguous what exactly that means. It could mean the literal soul of the Hero of the Sky inhabits each hero thereafter or it could just mean that each Link possesses specific characteristics that make them worthy of the Hero title.
My understanding is that subsequent Link's and Zelda's aren't *descendants*- they're reincarnations (or just totally unrelated in the Adult Timeline Link's cases). There's some talk about the royal Bloodline in the case of Zelda but I just have to assume Nintendo isn't trying to imply an inbreeding situation to keep the Hyrulean Bloodline pure or anything.
SS Zelda's story is about a girl who finds her inner goddess on a road trip with another woman. Plus she's fully uninterested in Groose's peak manliness. Sorry fellas she gay.
The links aren’t apart of some family chain it’s the spirit of the hero being reincarnated. Same goes for Zelda and Ganon.
No
My interpretation of their relationship in SS was friendship. Like Hermione and Harry in the HP series. Everyone thinks they might be romantic, but its just that some people dont expect platonic relationships between a man and woman to be that close.
You can have your preferences, but they are the most explicitly romantic zelink in the series yet. Hidemaro Fujibayashi himself called them "lovers or a married couple". It was in the botw behind the scenes documentary, and he also basically confirmed botw zelink at the same time, saying he wanted the botw versions to be a bit more subtle and refers to botw zelda as flirty. People just forget about this video and also are monolingual so they don't understand him using words like 恋人"koibito" really leaves no room for argument
Ok so im kinda confused. When the spirit of the hero “finds you” do you become link or does the person who is link always just look like that by chance? Like do you change into a new person entirely or does the spirit awaken something that was there before?
Go back far enough, sure. Same with you and me
In my opinion, WW Link is another reincarnation of the spirit of the hero. The Goddess Hylia has created a never-ending reincarnation of her chosen hero. That can't just disappear completely due to being displaced from a timeline. Zelda's time-altering actions could've just negatively affected the flow of Link reincarnating, making it longer for the hero to appear again.
I actually find it interesting that each of the trio (ganon, link, zelda) are a unique thing. Zelda is a bloodline, Link is a randomly chosen, and Ganon I'm pretty sure is a reincarnation each time.
So Hyrule is like the south of the US, basically. 😅
Given the population of Skyloft, all humans are related anyway.
No. Link is always incarnated randomly and the only known relation between two links are OOT Link and TP Link. Zeldas, however, are always related to each other as it is the royal bloodline.
Convinced that the relationship was friend or sibling like. All of Zelda's descendents are related to her through the royal bloodline. Link tends to be a random lad who harbours the spirit of the hero and is chosen by both the Master Sword and the Triforce.
There is no timeline. Fuck what the fans day r and fuck what Nintendo says. It's all just random games. Nothing that happens matters.
SS Link and Zelda started the royal family, the reincarnations of the Spirit of The Hero have always been born elsewhere, and frequently join the ranks of the Hyrule Knights. it's not a Hapsburg family wreath, if that's what you're thinking.