Zelda Dungeon Talks: Which Link Was The Most Heroic?
Posted on October 06 2015 by Josh Tasaico
Hey all and welcome to this week’s edition of Zelda Dungeon Talks! Throughout the numerous games in The Legend of Zelda series, we have seen many, many different Link’s. All carrying the spirit of the hero, all named Link. With so many Link’s to choose from, at least one of them has to stand out from the rest. The question we want to find the answer to is which Link is the most heroic. Which Link has the best qualities of a hero that we have seen so far? When I first saw this question the Link from Skyward Sword instantly popped into my mind. He didn’t do it because there was a princess that needed desperate help and in the beginning he didn’t know that there was a demon lord lurking on the surface. No, his motives were always to rescue his friend Zelda. This is just my opinion though, it’s time to find out what you guys think!
In this week’s edition of Zelda Dungeon Talks, various staff members will tell us which Link the believed was the most heroic. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments below.
Jon Lett – View Profile
The Wind Waker’s Link is who I’d call the biggest hero. While there are multiple games with Link as a 10-year-old, The Wind Waker’s Link shows his age most of all through actions and facial expressions. Seeing that really helps the player understand that they are controlling an innocent child that is thrust into, realistically, a huge, ominous adventure. Also, the way this young boy instantly ask pirates, of all people, to go with them to save his little sister shows the depth of his courage, and love for his family. Finally, this same Link jumps straight onto Phantom Hourglass’ Ghost Ship to save Tetra, not long after his first adventure. Few other Links have multiple adventures like this.
Alasyn Eletha – View Profile
I think that Link from Twilight Princess is probably the most heroic, but it’s a pretty close race among the others. Link lives a very simple, humble and happy life. But then his friend and the children of his village are kidnapped, plus, moments later he’s dragged into the war between the light and twilight realms. Midna finds him, bossing him around, having Zelda dump all her problems on him and suddenly so much is expected of Link. He doesn’t owe these people anything. In fact, Midna later apologizes because her initial motives were to use Link. However, without skipping a beat, Link let’s Midna know that he’ll continue to help her. I always thought of this Link as the selfless farm boy willing to take on any dangers as long as those around him stayed safe. That’s pretty heroic if you ask me.
Alexis Anderson – View Profile
Initially Skyward Sword Link came to mind, but he has competition in the Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time Links. Ultimately, though, I’ve decided on Twilight Princess Link. He was just a small town farm hand until his whole world was shaken up by the Twilight. He has to endure the horror of being transformed into a wolf, must fight to save all of his young Ordonian friends from possible death on multiple occasions, and not to mention stop a God-like Ganondorf from casting everlasting Twilight across Hyrule effectively killing all beings of Light! I just think that this Link goes through more visible emotional trauma than most of the others we see, yet he pushes on passed every setback. I feel that he had more to lose than a lot of the other Links, and remained just as strong despite it. He’s a true hero in every essence.
Thomas Jacobs – View Profile
The Hero of Legend really lives up to the name. Not only does he save Hyrule from Ganon and the invasion from the Dark World, but after that he does it again two more times in the Oracle games, not to mention in Link’s Awakening. Unlike in games like Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword where a friend/family member of Link’s get captured and he goes after them, Link is out there saving the world because he’s the only one who can. Instead of having a personal stake in things that evolves into something bigger he saves Hyrule because it needs saving. Not in order to rescue someone, or to become more powerful, but because the realm needs a hero. And performing such feats of heroism without getting something out of it yourself… well, that’s what a true hero is.
James Djinn –View Profile
I would like to say Link from A Link to the Past probably did the best job of taking up the hero mantle and doing what was right while overcoming one of the largest hurdles. Majority of the other Links seem to have a predestined purpose that they fulfilled or in Wind Waker Link’s case was largely talked into stepping up. In A Link to the Past Link immediately goes to help Zelda risking his life and later reputation and continued to do what is right. He has no personal reasons involved or was tasked by anyone to take up the quest. He just saw that Zelda needed help, that Aghanim needed to be stopped, the maidens needed to be rescued and Ganon’s takeover needed to be prevented.
