Should Link have a more fleshed out past?

[ChargewithSword]

We know Link in our many Zelda games has usually been some unknown person who suddenly becomes a hero out of nowhere. Ocarina however had a bit of a deeper back story for Link about being a Hylian and how he was delivered to the forest by his mother during a time of war. This thing pleased me because it gave me a different light on our hero. However Ocarina and Majora are the only games that had this kind of back story. Every Zelda game from then on end went back to having no back story for our hero and once again making him stale aside from his expressions and motives.

So what do you think, should Link have a backstory? And what kind of backstory should he have if he is ever given one?

I mostly say for him to have a traumatic backstory that could possibly affect his motive for questing.

[bellum]

well yeah it seems alot better than all the other games like I really like in OoT when they showed you as link as a kokiri which was really cool instead of starting like you did in Loz but overall I really like the idea of this thread^^

[Trentino]

I think he should have more of a backround because they do mthe same thing in almost every zelda game. and i think he should start out as a teen or adult in one game like twighlight princess

[Josh]

Nah. I'm fine with him not having a backstory. All I really care about is the story of the game itself.

[Amelie]

I dont mind him haveing no back story because it makes it easyer for him to just be on his way. And it leaves fans to kind of just make up what they think his back story might be ^^ It leaves kind of a mysterious thing about him ^^

[Midna666]

I don't think that Link should have a backstory.
The point of Link is that he is a avatar for the player to imagine that they are Link.
If Link had a backstory then he would not be Link anymore.

[MOS3]

yes, I'd love to see more of his background, specially that from OoT

[ChargewithSword]

I don't think that Link should have a backstory.
The point of Link is that he is a avatar for the player to imagine that they are Link.
If Link had a backstory then he would not be Link anymore.

What about OOT Link? He had a real backstory as a boy who lost his mother in a tragic war that took place in Hyrule long ago. He is a hylian and not the Kokiri boy we thought he was in the begining. Is he not Link now?

[MOS3]

What about OOT Link? He had a real backstory as a boy who lost his mother in a tragic war that took place in Hyrule long ago. He is a hylian and not the Kokiri boy we thought he was in the begining. Is he not Link now?

exactly! I absolutely love that small backstory they gave us and I wish someday they show us more about it. Like I said in my very first post in the forums, I'd like to see an actual game of that war, maybe playing as Link's father and seeing in the end his mother deliver him to the Deku Tree.....that would be epic :kawaii:

[lonely_moon]

He so should! I'd like to know more about it. I suppose leaving it blank allows us to fill it in using our own imaginations, which is the whole point of Link (we have to put ourselves in his shoes), but I don't do that, mainly because I'm a girl. I see Link as a separate person, not as myself or a "virtual" version of myself. So I do want to know how he got where he is or maybe why he feels the need to save Hyrule.

[El Bagu]

I voted yes but it´s not necessary for making a superb game (just look at LoZ and understand my point). But yes, it is always interesting with background information and knowing more about the characters (this includes also books, movies etc. and I just don´t want information about Link but also other characters of the game). In MM you got some information about various characters (mayhaps not in extreme depht) and they did it quite well.

[Skull_Kid]

I said no... C'mon, it would turn the game lame, and probably it would start with something like "There once was a boy..." bah... It seems fine the way it is

[Mike Pothier]

I said no, for 2 reasons

1) Link is always changing. Its never the same Link, so fleshing out his backstory is striving after the wind. It would serve no purpose.

2) It removes the mystery of his character, and mystery is what keeps people interested. Part of the fun is making up your own backstory or afterstory and fleshing it out yourself. Nintendo fleshing Link out risks alienating too many gamers.

[LoZfan]

sure.. why not..a game. without a backstory isn't even a game.. more like random pixle going everywhere

[bellum]

woah this is getting instresting cause I can see the votes getting really close together and this thread was just made yesterday but I liked it I liked how you started out in kokiri village in OoT and had all these friends

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

While I loved Link having a "past" in OoT, I don't think I would care if they didn't do it again.

I never have played Zelda for a good story, but rather for an even mix of combat and problem solving. I really don't think having a better fleshed out past would make the game better or worse for me.

[Briles101]

I think having a backstory would give the player a sense of what happened before link has to go off and be a hero

[LinkOwnsYou]

Well I would actually like to know Link's past because the only thing we know is that his mom it's hylian and she died when asked the Deku tree to take care of her son and that's it.

[bellum]

Well I would actually like to know Link's past because the only thing we know is that his mom it's hylian and she died when asked the Deku tree to take care of her son and that's it.uf you've played OoT you should know a bit more than that but I love the way it's like it in OoT it is awesome finding out how link started my point is over

[PhantomTriforce]

??? What am I doing all the way back here?

Well, yes, it would be good too see more of Lin's past. OoT explained Lin's past a little bit, about the war, and how his mom died and all. A lot of the games do not have a reason for why Link is an orphan, so I'd like to see some.

[Hylian Knight]

I personally think it would be cool if Link had backstory like in OoT

[Aero_Dynamic]

I think we'll be seeing a backstory in Skyward Sword idk. I would like to see a back story, it'll be interesting. But then again, maybe not. Nintendo wants us to feel like we are Link, so they'll give a little story, same goes with his speech. Seems unlikely but yeah, it'll be cool.

[dizzy_me_up]

I personally don't care if he has a fleshed out backstory but I honestly want Link to have some dialogue. I want to see and feel his reactions to the situations he's in. I know a little bit of a backstory would help with that but Link (as awesome as he is) is so static. We never know what he's feeling or thinking.

[Link-182]

Link should have a back story. It should be kinda scattered throughout the game; not at the beginning.
As for the mystery, there is no mysteriousness to Link. I'd rather have a mysterious setting than anything, like Terminia.
But I think Link needs a bit of a build up as a character as any other character. I think they should stop making us pretend we're Link. If every game was Link, the random traveler who falls into fates hand and has to save this world, then it'd make sense. But Link has family and friends and a house and a life that we weren't part of. We are playing as an actual person known as Link. Its not me. It kinda looks like me but that's not the point! He doesn't look like most of us!

[small link]

I don't care if the games give Link a background or not.

If they do give Link a background, it makes him more interesting, you know more about him and it makes the story more interesting too.

If they don't give Link a background, you get to feel more like you are Link and make up your own back story if you please.

[Dagoth Ur]

This need for Characters to have huge backgrounds and origin stories is a new-school gaming concept. You guys obsess over where Link comes from and all that instead of revel in the mystery of it all. There is something grandiose and epic about a mysterious hero emerging from the shadows to save an entire land. Link is so awesome precisely because he has no backstory. He is named "Link" because he functions as the link between the game world and the player. If link had this emmense backstory it wouldnt be as easy to slip into his shoes and get in touch with the hero inside ourselves. (Mushy i know, but its true)

long story short. The backstory of any given Link is not a huge part of Zelda gaming for a reason.

[thelastsheikah]

I think they should have more backstory for Link but not so much that it takes away from the rest of the story. It needs to not be about him too much and keep with him being selfless and trying to save hyrule for everyone else. If it makes it look like he's doing it for himself it would take too much away from the story.

[Tony]

I think that they should give him more of a backstory. Since OoT it has been the same thing his parents are dead, he lives a lone or with his grandma, and somehow he ends up being the Hero of Time. So yeah I really would like more backstory.

[arkvoodle]

I'm not actually bothered if Link doesnt have a fleshy backstory. I'd prefer if you'd hear a few things, then begin the gameplay as soon as possible. Little tidbits of info throughout the game would be nice, but I wouldnt want a huge cutscene at the beginning showing everything about his childhood. (I think this happened in one of the Godfather games)

[tetrafan]

I'm not fussed about Link not having a back story because it doesn't affect the plot. So its not inportant to me.

[Austin]

I'm pretty much going to echo what Ver-go-a-go-go and arkvoodle said. I honestly don't care whether or not Link has an extensive backstory as the story in any Zelda game has never really impressed me and I've never found it an essential component in any game's excellence. I actually feel that in most cases a heavy story (Twilight Princess, for example) can bring a game down as it inhibits non-linearity along with, well, having a chance of being downright boring at times. That's not a common occurrence within the Zelda universe but I have found myself wishing at times that everyone would stop talking so I could start playing again. I suppose that's mostly a problem in the Zelda series because the plots rarely have much to distinguish themselves from the rest of the series. They all seem to be a variation on "Collect a bunch of random colorful objects in order to stop this guy from breaking things."

However, as most games allow you to skip cutscenes (and I'd be surprised if future Zelda games denied us this option), it isn't that much of a problem for me. The only issue I have is that I like to have some minimal idea of what's going on. I just don't want it to be conveyed in the form of a slow cutscene with failing metaphors.

[Master Sword13]

Having a backround in general would be good, but it would be even better if the backround of Link had several stories and branched off into a ton of stuff in the game. That way once you beat two or three dungeons, a portion of Link's past would make more sense, and more of it would come together. It would then just keep going on and on like that until you beat the game and Link's past makes perfect sense.

[Abbs]

Miyamoto stated that Link is, well, a link to the player. He's meant to serve as a connection between the gamer and the game, and that's it. A more fleshed out backstory than we already have doesn't make much sense. Link, in some weird kind of twisted way, is you the player. At least from the wacky perspective I see it in.