Favorites:
10. Skull Kid -- good motivations, compelling arc
9. Midna -- mysterious, compelling arc
8. Urbosa -- love her relationship w/ the other champions and Zelda
7. Blind -- this is pure bias, by far the best demon in the series
6. Hilda -- good motivations, compelling arc
5. Marin -- a phenomenally written figment
4. Ganondorf (WW) -- one of the best villains in gaming
3. Zelda (ST) -- hilarious, full of personality
2. Linebeck -- Linebeck is the GOAT
1. Zelda (BotW) -- on my fourth or fifth playthrough, her falling apart made me cry (the only time I've ever cried at a video game in my life).
Least Favorite in order:
10. Sahasrahla -- I don't like that you talk to him through telepathic panels for the whole game
9. Ezlo -- kind of like Lubba, but there isn't a Rosalina to balance out his "har-hars"
8. Bagu -- why did he choose to live in the woods, I can't find his house and I hate him
7. Revali -- he is too disconnected from the tone of the other characters in BotW: he stands out way too much
6. Ganondorf (TP) -- very biased against this one: bad motivations, completely squandered WW and OoT Ganondorf
5. Onox -- very biased: i played OoA and Veran was such a good villain, constantly showing up, great design. I get to OoS and I see this man for 5 minutes and he does NOTHING!
4. Yuga -- again, very biased: his whole "i like art and pretty things" is no more interesting than Lady Maud's "i like clothes." He's slightly more threatening than her
3. Vaati (FSA) -- BOOOOORING
2. Lady Maud -- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING
1. Cole -- this little dude ruined spirit tracks for me, he is SO unnecessary, just let BYRNE DO HIS BACKSTABBING OH MY GOD!
I haven't yet ranked every Zelda character, but I don't think I like sentient yet poorly written villains. Like, I give hard passes to Bellum, Calamity Ganon...and even Malladus, all of whom are absolute forces of nature. But Cole, Yuga, Onox, FSA Vaati, Lady Maud and TP Ganondorf are not coming from any place that makes any sense. I do like characters who try to do what they believe to be right, even if that belief is misguided, like Midna, Hilda, WW Ganondorf, BotW Zelda, Skull Kid.
Favorite by game:
OoT: Saria
MM: Skull Kid
WW: Ganondorf
TP: Midna
SS: Pipit
BotW: Zelda
Z1: Magical Sword Giving Man (Kasuto)
Z2: Error
ALttP: Blind
LA: Marin
OoS: Ambi
OoA: Veran
FS: Zelda
FSA: Iris
MC: Vaati
PH: Linebeck
ST: Zelda
ALBW: Hilda
TFH: Madame Coutere
Least Favorite by game:
OoT: Rauru
MM: Tatl
WW: King Daphnes (plz don't eat me)
TP: Ganondorf
SS: Ghirahim
BotW: Revali
Z1: Door Charge Old Man
Z2: Bagu
ALttP: Sahasrahla
LA: Schule Donavitch
OoS: Onox
OoA: Ambi
FS: Link
FSA: Vaati
MC: Ezlo
PH: Jolene
ST: Cole
ALBW: Yuga
TFH: Lady Maud
