Daily Debate: Did Link Earn His Title as the Hero of Winds?
Posted on September 06 2019 by Michaela El-Ters
I think more so than any other Zelda game, The Wind Waker‘s incarnation of Link felt the most like a child whose journey to save the world and become the hero was forced on him. Ocarina of Time started with the Deku Tree telling Link of his great destiny, but Link was already having dreams of Ganondorf and he was able to team up with Zelda. The same is true of Link in Skyward Sword, with Link having dreams of The Imprisoned before Zelda was even kidnapped. What defines almost every incarnation of Link is his selflessness, as well as his ability to place the needs of Hyrule above his own.
In The Wind Waker, Link is just a boy living on an island without a care in the world. In what started as an emotional, character-driven quest to save his younger sister after she is kidnapped by Ganondorf, Link’s journey quickly evolves after he meets the King of Red Lions. Saving his sister becomes a secondary mission, taking a backseat to the more pressing matter of stopping Ganondorf from achieving his goals. The urgency of this mission means that even when Link does save Aryll, he can’t just return home to his normal life and be with his family. No one else could stop Ganondorf – it was up to Link to finish the job. In that sense, I think Link absolutely earned his title as the Hero of Winds. No one else could do it, and even when Link potentially had the chance to return to a normal life, he didn’t. He kept on fighting to save Zelda and all of Hyrule. Even in the game’s epilogue, Link sets sail to bring winds of change to a new land rather than stay with his family, fulfilling the King’s final wish and reinforcing that Link’s status as a hero. Also, he defeated Ganondorf in maybe the most violent but epic way possible in the Zelda series, which I definitely think is worth noting. What do you think? Do you think Link earned his title as the Hero of Winds in The Wind Waker?
This Daily Debate was inspired by Spiritual Mask Salesman.
Michaela El-Ters is a Senior Editor for Zelda Dungeon. She is also an Senior Writer for Boss Rush Network, and writes blogs and streams games on Objection Network. Her favorite Zelda game changes with the seasons, but the series as a whole is near and dear to her heart.
