All Links EXPLAINED in The Legend of Zelda (1986 - 2023) 

Same bro!

Hero of Twilight, easy!

Hero of Legend

i agree i love hero of time but i also love link from og zelda or zelda a link to the past

Genuinely, the hero of Hyrule(OG baby)

Underrated comment tbh

Bro literally

Say that shit loud and proud! "I'm the hero of *(*quietly*)running* trains!"

Hehe the hero of Choo choo

I prefer calling him the Hero of Spirits

Hyrule Warriors isn’t canon

Haha, that's what you think. and no, I won't provide any more of an argument

@@justanantico6327 Nope, not what I think, it’s what I know.

He is also the Link I spent the most time with (I 100%-ed Hyrule Warriors Warriors Definitive Edition in roundabout 300 hours)

I agree with you. Twilight Princess is my favorite Zelda game. BUT, Wind Waker Link is my favorite Link

In terms of lore, OOT link is the best simply because of his sacrifice. A kid faced with nearly impossible odds similar to Wind waker, however unlike WW link, OOT link sacrifices basically everything in both of his timelines. The saddest timelines in the history LOZ. The most epic is SS link cause well I mean cmon, the guy is literally the reason LOZ exist. One of the few to wield the full power of the triforce as well. The best in terms of literally the “best”? The hero of legend. Man is an immortal mortal who slayed A maximum power Ganon that wielded the full power of the triforce. Man also had the master sword fucking squared so that was OP in itself; Was likely a better warlock than Ganondorf; lastly, he could be volleyed by the USS Montana and LIVE.

Actually, the Hero of Winds is likely a descendant to the "Hero of Four" due to the shield bestowed upon him from his grandma, supposedly belonging to an ancient hero. The same shield was depicted being welded by the 1st 4-Sword Hero as well as "The Hero Of Man" depicted in a stained glass painting in Minish Cap, who's hero also had the same shield.

It's because Link possesses the Triforce of Courage.

WW is my favorite game and has the best game

From my experience this comment is 100% accurate.

Beedle wouldn't hurt a beetle.

@@ericolens3 no, but he would hurt a skyloftian

Ohhh yes

You cannot take down beetle He is all powerful

Hero of spirits sounds so cool!

Was about to comment that, it fits so well!

OMG I just commented that!

The hero of the locomo

@@spritsfal5088 He does meet and help and is helped by a lot of spirits on his journey ! Heck I mean literally Zelda is all ghostly in his game.

Except toon link

@@hylianro Idk, he might still be a reincarnation of the hero even if he isn't blood related. But you're right, the game does seem to suggest he's in no way connected.

Pretty sure that’s impossible. The first hero helped Hylia fight demise, which was hundreds of years before The Hero of the Sky. However if your referring to him being the first in the cycle of reincarnations, your correct.

The first hero was around with the actual Hylia and not Zelda

@@thetrulyuniqueotsutsukigod9582 Yeah, but in the game, Link goes back in time to that exact point and defeats demise. There's no other hero around, just the hero of the sky, so it was him all along, and he definitely had help from Hylia. Skyward Sword makes it pretty clear that there's a Bootstrap paradox going on. It doesn't really work too well because Link is supposed to actually defeat Demise for good, not just imprison him, when he goes into the past at the end of the game. But I think the writers just overlooked that flaw in their depiction of time travel.

So a link chain, if you will.

Yeah, Iron Knuckles. As long they remember to bring their axes we're good.

Twilight Link learned sword techniques from the HoT himself, including the totally sick ending blow and mortal draw. Imagine using stuff like that in Majoras Mask or OoT.

Character designers and animators at Nintendo.

Big Twink Energy.

@@protojager thats what im sayin

gay

@@silentvoice6737 With comments like that, perhaps you should be more like your name.

Same

I am pretty sure that aLttP, Awakening, Oracles, are all the same Link, the Hero of Legend.

the previous link to the hero of the minish is also seen in the game, it's the one who teaches link the great spin attack, since he says that only the hero with the picori blace can perform it

Here, have some of these:...,,,, ::::;;;;

I think that could make sense, it would fit with the Island's tradition of green clothes too, the hero of time's spirit was lost with time travel, but the Island remembered previous heros and the legends of courageous boys

wait didn't spirit track Zelda also use the shield does that mean hero of the winds and tetra got together

@The E meme No I don't think the hero's shield appears in that game

Yeah, that’s my personal canon, that they’re all basically reincarnations of the same guy whose spirit just gets reborn wherever. It doesn’t have to be within the same family bloodline or anything.

Another comment i read said that the wind waker and four swords hero might be from a different lineage of links family that was a different one from the hero of time link I assume that all the links in some way are just from different lineages that all are descendants from skyloft link and that whenever there is a need for the hero the spirit possesses a random child off of one of these multiple lineages of descendants. But Ganon i think is different from Link because Demise never had children (that we know of.) and a gerudo male might be just his most preferred form for some arbitrary reasons. OG Zelda too never had a descendant that wasn’t related to the Royals. Which to me sounds quite reasonable Cause i imagine Skyloft link and Zelda definitely had more children or their grandchildren had more than just 1 and didn’t just interbreed. The wind waker shield is one of the biggest indicators of this because it’s a "family heirloom".

It being tied to lineage is really dumb We only have confirmation that the Hero of Time and Hero of Twilight are related (its also implied there Hero of Minish and Winds are related but no flat out confirmation I think). If it's true all Link's HAVE to he related then you'd have to exclude the fallen timeline as well since Link in oot would of died before having the chance to produce offspring. Idk some people are really insistent that the Hero of Winds is some anomaly in the timeline and that he isn't connected to the previous Hero's Spirit even though there is more evidence that he is which gets blatantly ignored. Like in the end of the game he is referred as THE hero (like if you look at the scene where he gets his title as hero of Winds there emphasis on this) and the hero of time reborn when previously everyone was just expecting the hero of time to time travel back to save them do to misconceptions and not fully understanding what the hero truly is.

The spirit of the hero isn’t necessarily tied to lineage, but the theory says that The Hero of Time took it *with* him when he left the adult timeline, so it was impossible for the spirit to claim another champion. That being said it *is* just a theory, There’s no reason why the spirit of the hero couldn’t feasibly just abandon link when he went back in time and stayed in the adult timeline. However, one of the biggest reasons People think the spirit of the hero abandoned the adult timeline is because the next time ganon broke free, a hero DIDNT rise up to stop him - which is kind of like the spirit of the hero’s whole thing. It’s what it does. But maybe it was just sleeping in? Lol

@@darthpaul99 This is my canon too

I always figured a mind, body, spirit connection with their reincarnations. Zelda is a blood relation to a previous Zelda, Ganondorf is more of a mental change (because some of the non-Ganon's had a similar mindset to him) and Link is a spiritual connection to the previous Links.

Regardless the hero’s spirit ceased to exist in the adult timeline. That’s why a hero never came so the goddesses flooded hyrule. WW link has zero connection to the hero of time or anyone else. The game is literally him “proving himself” to be the new hero. WW imo is just terrible and what’s even worse are the games that follow. WW did away with hyrule, the hero, the master sword and ganondorf. Basically everything that makes a Zelda game a Zelda game. Then left to find a new continent basically abandoning the lore and ultimately the curse which is the entire point of the franchise. No thanks. I’ll stick to the good and original lore of the series and keep pretending the adult timeline doesn’t exist in the same way nintendo has ignored that timeline for over a decade now.

Definitely a reincarnation of the Goddesses chosen hero, but could also even be a blood descendant of the Hero of the Four Sword.

@@_itsmunah *Regardless, the Hero's Spirit ceased to exist in the Adult Timeline. That's why a hero never came, so the goddesses flooded hyrule.* No, that does not follow logically. You are assuming that, since the Hero of Time disappeared from that timeline altogether, that the Spirit of the Hero also had to disappear as well. There is no evidence in any of the games suggesting this is how it works at all. Besides, as the timeline states, the Downfall-Adult timeline-split had to have happened before an adult Hero of Time faced Ganon. Otherwise, the Downfall timeline is not consistent with the events of Ocarina of Time. As such, the Spirit of the Hero would also not exist in the Child timeline either, if we go by your argument. But, it is implied in both the Downfall timeline and the Child timeline that the Spirit of the Hero exists. This means the Spirit of the Hero is not actually affected by time travel. It makes sense it would transcend time, since otherwise, its capabilities to reincarnate would be very limited, especially in light of the events of Skyward Sword. As for Hyrule being flooded: even if the Spirit of the Hero remained in Hyrule, there was no actual person the Spirit could possess that would fit the criteria needed. This is because no blood descendants of the Hero of Time remained in the timeline. Any reincarnation of the Spirit would have to instead be a descendant from the Hero of Swords, the Hero of the Minish, or even just the Hero of the Skies. It is probable the Link in the Wind Waker is one such descendant. I will ignore the rest of your comment, as it basically amounts to you throwing a childish temper tantrum about how much you hate the Wind Waker game, and I am not interested in having a discussion about that.

@@angelmendez-rivera351 you said there’s no evidence then proceeded to give a rebuttal with no evidence. The spirit of the hero resides in link. Therefore when you erase link (with the spirit) from a timeline it no longer exists in said timeline. The event of windwaker was the gods literally choosing a new hero. Zero evidence canonically that downfall happens to child link. The canon is link lost in the final battle. The spirit continues in the downfall. Link is sent back to the past. He holds the spirit of the hero therefore the spirit continues in the child timeline. The spirit/link was erased from the adult. There was NO HERO OR SPIRIT OF THE HERO OR BLOODLINE to stop ganondorf when his seal broke so the gods literally flooded hyrule lol. Then picked a new hero. I think windwaker is trash.. deal with it.

@@_itsmunah *you said there’s no evidence then proceeded to give a rebuttal with no evidence.* I did provide evidence. The only speculative claim in my comment is that the Hero of Winds is a descendant from a previous hero, but in a different bloodline branch than the Hero of Time's. I made it clear that was a possibility, though, I never stated it was canon. The rest of the stuff is canon. *The spirit of the hero resides in link. Therefore when you erase link (with the spirit) from a timeline it no longer exists in said timeline.* This does not follow logically. The Spirit of Hero is a distinct entity from Link himself, so even if the Spirit "resides" the Hero in some metaphysical way, they are not identical, so there is no reason why Link time traveling woukd actually have any effect on the Spirit. Another piece of evidence I forgot to mention is Demise's curse. We know that the Spirit of the Hero, by Hylia's decree, is intimately connected to her own bloodline. When combined with Demise's curse, the result is that, whenever a Zelda exists, so does a Link with the Spirit of the Hero. *The event of windwaker was the gods literally choosing a new hero.* Nope. Nowhere stated in game. Besides, this is contradicted by Skyward Sword, since we know that the Spirit of the Hero is defined originally by the blessing of Hylia, and is the hero she personally chose. The Triforce goddesses had nothing to do with it. *Zero evidence canonically that downfall happens to child link.* The evidence is the timeline itself, as stated in official sources. I know you disagree with official sources, but my response to that is "stop being a baby and grow up, no one cares that you disliked a game, it does not make the timeline non-canon." *The canon is Link lost in the final battle. The spirit continues in the downfall.* Yes, that is literally what I said. I can see literacy is not your strong suit. *Link is sent back to the past. He holds the spirit of the hero therefore the spirit continues in the child timeline.* No, you just said the Spirit continues down the Downfall timeline. No one in the Downfall timeline sent Link back the past. Adult Link went back to the past, after the Downfall-Adult split had happened, and you literally just stated the Spirit continues down the Downfall timeline. *There was NO HERO OR SPIRIT OF THE HERO OR BLOODLINE to stop ganondorf when his seal broke so the gods literally flooded hyrule lol.* You are right that there was no bloodline of the Hero of Time, but the idea that the Spirit disappeared is supported by no evidence at all, and is explicitly contradicted by Demise's curse, and by the Downfall-Adult timeline split. I am sorry this is too difficult for you to understand. *I think windwaker is trash.* I think your thinking is worth less than Hestu's gift. Deal with it.

I've always been fond of that idea as well. What most people tend to forget is that the Hero of Time didn't fall to Ganon, he fell to Ganondorf. It's noteworthy that when you enter Ganondorf's boss room your health and magic are automatically refilled, perhaps that could be seen as representative of the Hero of Light and Shadow's (which I could have sworn was his title) wish?

I had thought of that too when I tried to parse that part. At first, I didn't see much sense, because as Links were reincarnations, it didn't make sense to me that they were reincarnations, but not having the hero's spirit either. So initially I thought it would be kind of a plot hole with the current story, as wind waker was released before skyward and all the story that it has these days, so I thought it could be something like this, like this as I noticed other inconsistencies in some games I saw. But after I stopped to think a little more and analyze the speech better, I thought that he could be saying that meaning that Link had no connection with the hero of time, in this case, it would not be someone close to him or, what I thought most, that he himself would not be the hero of time (in this case, that same hero of time who saved Hyrule a long time ago and disappeared). And I saw that he could very well be talking about it (him not being the hero of time who saved Hyrule before the flood happened) after I had saved my save in a new save after finishing the game, because the lines that were spoken in an ancient language were translated, and in that part where the king in the form of a boat talks to Jabun, Jabun says something more or less if he had met the hero of time and he says no, so Jabun says more or less something saying why would he be there if not for the hero of time (probably thinking he could be the hero of time because of the outfit) and the king says he had nothing to do with the hero of time (not sure if I'm saying the lines correctly, but if I'm not mistaken, it would be something like this, as little as I remember, because it's been a long time since I've played this game).

And seeing that their conversation, they were talking about the hero of the time in question, the one from the past, seeming like they were looking for him, from the way Jabun had spoken, so I started to think that that answer he gave Jabun, it was to say that that boy, in this case, Link, was not the one they were looking for, since, by the looks of it, they were looking for the hero of time who saved Hyrule a long time ago, and because a lot of time had passed, probably they believed that the hero has already ceased to exist and that Link was just any boy and not the hero of time, so much so that if you look closely, when Jabun talks about the hero of time, he probably thought he was the hero of time, probably because of the green clothes he wore, as the hero of time wore one like it. And you see that you can see that when you see that the Deku tree also confused Link by thinking he was the time hero of the past, that time hero told in legend, who traveled through time. I only came to think of it after analyzing this shit properly.

It was bad that I sent two separate comments, but the translator couldn't leave them both in the same place, so I had to separate and translate them by parts (and the translation of my second comment was crap, in English it's normal and in the translation, by for some reason, the comment was shortened).

The way I see it, all the links look similar( a few exceptions) because the same spirit or soul of the first Link is within them. See we know that Skyward Sword Zelda and Link became a couple and populated the surface and made the royal family of Hyrule. So I look at it like this, BECAUSE of Demises curse a new Zelda that represents Hylia(by means of her bloodline) will always be in danger and so Hylia's chosen knight will always appear in a new Link to protect her, protect his loved ones descendant. Now of course every Link has their own wills,memories and life experiences . They don't have any knowledge of SS Link or awareness he's within them but he is and he gives them his natural talents but the most important thing he gives them is..The Master Sword. From Skyward Sword(not a direct quote) "The master sword has at last achieved it's ultimate form, the blade has been imbued with the mythical power to drive back demons and *only Link may wield it* " In other words, every Link that gets the master sword is being seen by Fi as her master. The very first Master and the only Master she can serve. Also look at how some Links end up with some Zelda's, it's a representation of the love SS LInk and Zelda had, it's like poetry or history repeating itself.

@@nworder4life I think their appearance is all purely coincidental

@@gwilkes5325 Maybe 🤔

The "spirit of the hero" stuff only exists in the English subtitling, likely to avoid backlash from angry religious people who don't like the thought of reincarnation. The original Japanese makes it clear it's the same Link and that it's his soul, his "tenshii" or 魂 . If it meant your type of "spirit" it would've been 精神 or "seishin" in the text, but it's not. The English localisation kinda screws lore things up and it's not a particularly uncommon thing either, almost like it's trying to soften the series up by making it "suitable for everyone"

There are also several games that suggest a possible relationship with Zelda. So it could be possible that Zelda is the one that is related to a previous Link.

Considering the king was a skeleton in the prologue and okay in the ending I think the triforce revived him

@@alexanderackerman3807 that's a good point actually! Totally forgot about the King! Maybe the Triforce wish was to undo any damage caused by Ganon's actions

the oldest incarnation of what now 🤨

@@crescent_sun482 sorry, typo

So avatar 😭

A theory runs that the Hero of the Winds is a descendant of the Hero of the Minish due to the family shield that is passed down and that branch of the family may only be tangentially related to the "Knights' Line".

The symbol of the triforce is part of the crest of Hylia. It’s a popular and historically significant object for Hylians, which the people in Wind Waker are descendants of.

yeah, he wasn't just a random child, it was the king the one who didn't had plans for him, but it's impossible that a random child is identical to all the thousands of heroes before him, it was just that the only ones who knew about a hero were expecting someone else to come back through time

​@@troloinkto It's not impossible tho, the whole series happens over thousands and thousands of years, maybe millions (idk) also, there weren't thousands of links before him

@@gwilkes5325 that would be worse, to have a perpetually middle aged world, all due to the monarchy, but getting back into link, we haven't had any sort of zora or goron hero, it's always the destiny pulling the strings to make a hero be born when needed, it wouldn't make sense that every link is almost identical for no reason

@@troloinkto wdym?

@@troloinkto a lot of people look the same, who’s to say that there can’t be someone with blue eyes, and blonde hair every 10000 years?

I go with the split soul theory too, since it's the only one that makes sense after they uhh fixed the lore in Skyward Sword with it being the same soul. It's likely his soul was fractured and only came back together fully in BotW (which explains why he's so powerful). The Hero's Shade would've been a fractured piece of soul that rejoined with the larger fracture that is TP Link which is why you slowly get learn the moves from nothing

Yes he fought the monsters with the original picori blade and that’s all we know

The hero of men I think

Knew there was one, thought that might have been the name too. Thanks folks

And nice video! Is kind of sad to think that pretty much all Links have become orphans at a young age. :((

There’s no convergence

I feel like that's a mostly solid theory, but didn't Din, Farore, and Nayru leave after creating the world? The only goddess they left behind to watch over it all was Hylia, no? I may be mistaken, in which case I apologize. Like I originally said; I actually really do like this idea.

new headcanon? what if the mother of each link is Farore herself taking mortal forms initially to try and circumvent the impending disasters that Nayru foresaw but after the like 4th time just goes to hell with it and has a night out on the town every few decades to refresh the defenses

@@girgrumpyorange1873 Yeah, they leave the world. I saw a cool theory once that said that Link, Zelda and Ganondorf/Demise are "the godessess avatars in a game of chess" or smth like that. Like, because they can't return to Hyrule for X reason, they use the 3 characters in order to fulfill their will It doesn't really have much evidence, and i think some games just straight up debunk it, but it's a neat concept

I was thinking the same thing. I thought I recalled Hyrule Historia or something mentioning him as Hero of Spirits.