What if the reason Link doesnt speak

[Pokémaniac13]

But how can that character represent every player if players can't choose how that character is represented? If Link just stands and stares vacantly at someone then he isn't representing me in the moment. I'd at least have the manners to blink. I wouldn't say he represents me until I can customize and control him.

You mean you don’t talk for him? Is… is that just me?

 

[Hyrulian Hero]

I say he's deaf. Big ears non-withstanding, Link can't hear. He can still "HYAAH", "HIP", and "Come on" but he doesn't do well with spoken words. How else do you explain his extreme patience with the tiny blue hemorrhoid? "HEY! HELLO?! LOOK! HEY!"

 

[Pokémaniac13]

I say he's deaf. Big ears non-withstanding, Link can't hear. He can still "HYAAH", "HIP", and "Come on" but he doesn't do well with spoken words. How else do you explain his extreme patience with the tiny blue hemorrhoid? "HEY! HELLO?! LOOK! HEY!"

A decent theory, but there is a problem: Link CAN hear. People talk to him all the time. There aren’t really magic text boxes for him to read, and the citizens of Hyrule have never been shown using sign language.

 

[Dizzi]

hmm is anyone deaf in hyrule???

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

You mean you don’t talk for him? Is… is that just me?

I definitely don't. I don't usually read lines out loud unless I'm specifically showing a game to a friend through Discord and worried about stream quality.

 

[Fierce Deity Link]

Tears of the Kingdom supports that Link speaks but we do not hear it, this is easily seen in The Prologue when Zelda and Link explore beneath Hyrule Castle.

I think we don’t hear his voice because its suppose to be ours, the player, this is supported by in most games you could use another name like any name in OoT and etc.

 

[RamboBambiBambo]

And the Japanese version of the Quest Log in BotW & TotK is written in first person with even some extra lines of writing, indicating that the Quest Log is not meant to be a menu but rather Link's personal Journal written on the Sheikah Slate and the Purah Pad.

So Link in these games actually does have his own personality that is for some reason muffled in the English translations by being written in the second person.