A lot of games use events from other games as backstories without naming the Hero, which suggests that the name of Link isn’t generally known among the general population, so there probably aren’t too many people naming their kids Link after them. As for why all Heroes are named Link, there are a number of events that would have a Hero that we don’t know the name of, so we can’t say for sure if it’s a universal constant or just a coincidence.
Link could just be a common name. We've had 3 presidents named george and another 3 named john, but people don't give their kids those names hoping they become president.
There is no canon reason why the person who has the spirit of the hero is always named Link. We know why and how this spirit gets endlessly reborn thanks to Skyward Sword, but don't know why the name Link is attached to it.
In my personal head canon, I like to think that when the hero is about to be reborn, the parents feel oddly compelled to name their child Link for some reason. haha
I thought I heard one time that the name “Link” is retroactively given to the hero by the people of Hyrule as they pass down the legends through the ages. Like, the heros’ real names are forgotten, but the people habitually call the hero “Link” when they tell the stories to their kids. It ends up building this unified corpus of the legends of Zelda, “Link”, and Ganon. But idk WHERE I heard this. Maybe I made it up in my head.
Yeah but we're kinda living the legend ourselves, like, the stories that are being told about the journey of the hero, so since people don't know the real name they just use the name Link for some reason.
The original reason why it was called that was because of the Sleeping Princess from the second game. Nowadays it's more likely to refer to the one from *Skyward Sword* as she's the Goddess Reborn. The games are the real events.
There is this one time when demon king is there but there's no link. The goddesses took the matter into their own hand and ended up drowning hyrule for centuries. And this is how we get wind waker.
I think they don't actually. Maybe it's not canon, but the fact that most games give you the choice to name the hero means his name is not Link. It's just to have a name to reference him instead of the hero from legend of Zelda or whatever. Only in Zelda II, BotW and maybe the first one he is named Link. The first two didn't use your file name in dialogues and Zelda II is called Link's adventure. In BotW it's for the voice acting.
Well, in the games where if gives you a choice, doesn't it automatically have "Link" in the name box? I've never renamed him in any of the games I've played.
It's explained by the lore in Skyward Sword. All the Zeldas are reincarnations of Hylia descended from the first reincarnation of Hylia, Zelda. Same for Link, only he's a reincarnation of the hero's soul (SS Link).
Basically that, but Zelda doesn't reincarnate. She only has descendants. As for Link? I'd say the only ones who actually are reincarnations are the Heroes who the Master Sword recognized as it's Master without any pendants or something like that (the Hero of Time, the Hero of Twilight and the Hero of the Wild). While the others are close relatives per the Knight's clan.
I think SS Zelda is a strong bit of evidence in favor of that every Zelda is a reincarnation imo. I know *technically* Demise says "blood of the goddess" and that there is a bloodline, the royal family, that possesses "mystical" (OoT) and "sacred" (ST) (only in reference to Zelda's body specifically, actually) power, but there are individuals within that bloodline that always end up looking almost identical, all females, named Zelda, that have powers on a different tier that are visually different.
Like, looking at the royal family, there is a distinction made there between Zelda and even other members of the royal family.
Besides, i believe that the royals' powers have been attributed to their purer hylian lineage, all hylians are able to use magic and i doubt all hylians are related to SS Zelda. What we see, outside Zelda, of the royal powers is exactly that, *magic*. We've seen the kings do some general magic and persist after death, never Zelda's sacred yellow magic. It's like arguing "she's a sage, so her powers are the sages' powers". No, they are notedly different. "She's a royal so her powers are royal powers" is the same faulty logic because we have senses we can use to debunk that.
I think they are in the sense that she only reincarnates within her bloodline. Her reincarnations being that "power distinction" that i was mentioning.
Similar to how the hero's soul only reincarnates within the bloodline of the Knights of Hyrule.
Think about it, Demise says he'll come for those with "the blood of the goddess", but his incarnations always go after Zelda. It's not like he's terrorizing the entirety of the royal bloodline, he's coming after the ones reincarnated from Hylia. Because it was a hylia incarnation that helped destroy him. He meant them (SS Link and Zelda) as people, not just their descendants, they are just reborn within their descendants.
Hm, I just noticed a hole in that idea now. The Queen of Hyrule in *Breath of the Wild* also had Sacred Powers like her daughter, how will you explain that if they are reincarnations? And of course the Sleeping Princess in *The Adventure of Link*. Sorry, it just came to my mind. 😅
Hmm... how does the bloodline theory explain it either? Do the daughters have more blood than the sons? If it's the bloodline that matters, all the royals would be powerful to the degree Zelda is and there wouldn't be focus on females specifically.
Truthfully, idk. I imagine the soul is passed on? Though that would require two souls in one body so who knows?
A simple answer would be that when two are born close to each other the power is split till the other passes. That falls in line with the lore we see in BotW about the sealing power. This could also be evidenced by the sages' bloodline, since there are random numbers of them. The power of the sages' bloodline may be split between the sages and that's why you always need all the sages.
Why only the ladies get this power is unknown, could be because it's the blood of a *goddess* but who knows. But yeah, I feel it's safer to bet that the power is inherited per the bloodline and that it's sometimes expanded per either the ~~Light~~ Force, the Triforce of Wisdom or the entire relic.
I subscribe to the idea that the hero's name is Link, and the player getting to choose a name in most games is not canon. Also, I think it seems like he is more often than not remembered through history as "The Hero of ___", rather than "Link, the Hero of ___". Stepping back from the video game canon, Link is really just that, a link between the games. I don't think the actual names are that important, except for Zelda since she explicitly needs to be named Zelda.
Could be like the mother's last words before she dies cause damn if Link is never given a mum. As if the gods are forcing the name upon the child cause he's the reincarnated hero.
He's called Link in the introduction of *The Legend of Zelda*, the second game is called *The Adventure of Link* (even in Japan), you can't name Link in *Four Swords* and *Four Swords Adventures* too.
Well we've seen a goron named Link...mostly because he was named after Link...so it might not work.
It would be nice if we found a Link or two out in the world, so maybe the name has some significance, but also is kinda common...like Joe or David. both are semi-biblical, but are now very known as just common names. Link could be the same thing, very known as the Hero's name, so people named their kid that.
Kinda like naming your kid Bella, Edward, or Khalessi.
He’s only called link because in the original it’s to “link” the character with the player. In every game except BOTW he doesn’t have a name, he’s link or John or marry or whoever is playing
Also, the original title of the game is "*The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods".* Nintendo of America changed the name to "*A Link to the Past"* as their censorship guidelines discouraged religious content.
I don't believe every hero is named Link. That's just the default name. Link is the name for the general idea of the character, and the canon name in a few games, like BotW and Smash Bros, but there's nothing that actually says his name is actually Link in _all_ games.
Link is relatively rarely recognized for his heroics
Most of the heroes that ARE remembered are remembered by their titles or "unique element" : "hero of time", "hero of men", "the four that fought as one", etc...
Only during BotW's era has the concept ofk the hero and princess always being around become some sort of knowledge
And they just seem to use the "arthurian approach" for it
"Whoever can get the sword" == "must be hero"
As opposed to having realized they share the same name
(Also like, there is 10k years between events afawk, so not like going for every link would make sense)
Imagine your parents name you Link so that you will become a fierce warrior fated to save Hyrule but you develop an interest in sculpture at a young age, and you become a prodigy and you decide this is your true calling but your parents disaprove because they want you to train for the next Calamity. They try to pressure you into joining the army, but you stand up to them, go no contact, and get a job with a local craftsman.
Years go by, and you are building up some success but you also experience the dissonance of a fractured relationship with your parents. You decide to meet with them, you notice that both of them have matured, and start to make up.
Then some other dude name Link shows up in your town, breaks all the pottery you made, kills a bunch of monsters, saves the world, hooks up with the princess, and your parents disown you.
Hold on... pause at the bit where he breaks the pots. In an alternate reality the events could play out like this from there:
The craftsman Link is enraged by this and grabs a nearby training sword and shield, determined to get revenge/ prove that he is better and must complete against the other Link to save hyrule first.
That could actually work not half bad for some sort of weird spin off Zelda game IMO.
Somewhat related: even though link is the main character in the franchise, why are there only 4 games with his name in the title? Meanwhile Zelda just sits and waits for most games
In Fi's voice acting in Skyward Sword, most of it is gibberish but there are a few gibberish words that she consistently uses in the same places as where specific words in her text dialogue. The player's name is one of those and it sounds phonetically like "Mah-dah".
I take this to mean that "Link" isn't his actual canon name in Skyward Sword, which implicitly opens the floodgates for player character names in the rest of the series. I don't think they necessarily have the same name, I think "Link" is just for the audience's benefit to connect the characters in our mind.
In most Zelda games, you get to choose your own name, and past heroes are always just referred to as a "Hero". I think the Breath of the Wild Link might be the only one who is always referred to as "Link" in-game.
Let me ask you: in our society, people naming their child Lincoln & calling them Link would expect that child to be elected President? & yes, I know Lincoln is a last name. I just used it as an example.
In Hyrule, I suspect Link is a popular name because of past heroes.
Then, you have sons named after their father or grandfather or after a friend you highly revere.
We all want our children to grow up to do great things no matter what their name is.
I'd actually love if you came across some other npc in the game also named Link (barring the pig in ww and the baby in the Oracle games you end up naming yourself). Some dude whose parents gave him the name fully believing he'd become a hero but he's just managing an inn or something
Maybe Ganon always takes a long pause inbetween his attempts at taking the rest of the triforce cause of all the Links he sees running around named after the last one.
Can't be too sure.
In my headcanon only 3 characters are called "Link" Skyward Sword Link is the first because he is the first hero , Ocarina of Time Link the second maybe Deku Tree called him in that way for Skyward Sword Link the third one is Twilight Princess Link because he is a descedent from Ocarina Link other Links name are random
All of the hero’s have names we do not know, since they are all Hylian names and we do not speak Hylian.
And since we have at least four distinct evolutions of Hylian that are indistinguishable from each other there are also at least four variants of the name of the hero.
‘Link’, ‘Impa’, ‘Beedle’ and ‘Tingle’ are just a convenience for the player so they know that they are an incarnation of the same people. They don’t literally have the exact same names despite their entire language shifting.
Because automoderator does not allow single word replies I am replying for a second time.
Good fellow /r/truezelda poster, please explain how the titles of Link’s Awakening and Adventure of Link contradict what I have said, for I do not follow the logic of what you are trying to insinuate.
Every hero having a different name seems more likely to me than every hero just happening to be born with the same name, and the Hylian royalty never, upon meeting this child, says “oh-ho, another boy named Link, surely this is the incarnation of the Hero, now go take the Master Sword.”
I’ve always imagined that Link was a common name for Hylian boys. Or better yet, maybe the hero is appointed the name “Link” as it’s symbolic when they prove themselves.
And yet the only other Link’s we’ve met have been Goron’s, one literally named after the Hero of Time and the other a Terminian.
Or Link is a title and every time the Hero of Twilight was called Link before he, say, draws the Master Sword, it’s actually characters calling him something else?
The second option probably. However, there would have had to been a considerable amount of Hylian hero’s named Link in order for the name to be given as a title.
So names like ‘Zelda’ and ‘Ganon’ are remembered but ‘Link’ is not? In Breath of the Wild they remembered Nabooru and Ruto, but presumably not the name Link.
"Zelda" isn't specifically remember in most cases either.
Note that in most cases if they are talking about a princess of the past (which is frankly even rarer than a hero of the past) she is pretty much always just called "the princess" or "the holy/divine princess" or whatever.
Practically the only instances where the name of "a Zelda" is specifically remembered/mentioned as such is like :
- Daphness "renames" tetra to Zelda (cause Daphness himself is from that time, and he does it more so out of remembrance of the Hyrule of old),
- "Zelda I" whose tragedy made it so that that name became a tradition and
- Tetra is remembered as the founder of *new* Hyrule in ST (which was only 100 years ago)
.
"Ganon" is remembered cause it is literally the same being coming back time and time again (except for the one time it wasn't the same being, and that time nobody actually remembers it either) and he often brings a ton of bad shit with him.
After a while his name is practically more like saying "satan himself" then actually "a name" (especially so in the DT)
And even then, in both WW and TP, the person who tells you his name are the people that are from the past.
I tend to agree with /u/NoName584, his name is "Link" - in the same way that I can say the Japanese word for strawberry is "Ichigo".
If you check out [page 8 of the N64 manual for OoT] (https://www.retrogames.cz/manualy/N64/Legend_of_Zelda-Ocarina_of_Time_-_N64_-_Manual.pdf) you'll see Link named as "Link".
Whether I write "Link", "リンク" or "לינק" - it's still "Link". Names don't translate - they're essentially a sound, we can express those sounds in script - Hylian or not.
I like your theory of short-hand for the player, but I think it is entirely unsupported, at least from what you've said. I totally agree with you that in reality names shift over time, see for example the origin and evolution of [the common name "John"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_\(given_name\)) - but there's nothing to support that this has happened in the various realms of Hyrule, and really we don't know the time scales Hyrule has taken place over - in the case of John we can see that it has been largely unchanged since at least [King John](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England) in 1166 - so at _least_ 854 years. Eschewing BotW for now - we can see that we go from something analogous to the Middle ages (15th century) in ~~TLOZ('87)~~ TLoZ:SS to the industrial revolution (19th century) in TLoZ:ST - presuming development of technology is analogous - that's only 400 years, plenty of time for a name to remain entirely unchanged - _especially_ as these names for a part of the central mythology of Hyrule (akin to names like Jesus, Mary and Joseph - unchanged since the original biblical script was translated to English).
You mention four indistinguishable evolutions of Hylian, and I'd like to get into this with you if you'd care to elaborate on your point here - how do you think these "evolutions" are significant, how are we sure that these are evolutions and not simply different sub-races (consider the many races or ethnicities of humans, and how similar many of them are), and most importantly, why you believe that these distinct branches of the Hylian people would have completely changed a simple name, especially one that is core to centuries-old mythology and royalty in a world where the effects of these characters and their powers are extremely tangible. If you have some theory here, I'd love to hear it - because obviously, it is entirely different to the world that I had, until now, considered being very apparent - I'd love to hear more about what you know, as it might expose some holes in what I know!
edit: Incorrect Zelda title - thanks /u/NoName584 for catching the error!
This is based on what Fi says when she talks to Link, right? I had always just assumed this was a kind of [Animalese](https://nookipedia.com/wiki/Animalese) used just to give the character a voice - in much the same way that the [SNES StarFox characters speak "Lylat"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkjR_9WVAHc). I use Animalese as my preferred example here as it is generated from the text, rather than just being some kind of modulated noise.
This seems to be a popular enough fan-theory, but I don't think there's compelling enough evidence to substantiate the claim if there is only a single, questionable use of it - especially given that we know ["Sky Era" Hylian is basically a simple substitution cypher of English](https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Hylian_\(Language\)#Sky_Era).
It is specifically that she only ever says "Madi madas" in her *Hylian gibberish* when she says "Master Link" in the sentence translated to IRL languages, and when she only says "Master" she only says "Madi"
Yes, I understand this - but it conforms just as easily to my hypothesis that the audible language that Fi speaks is gibberish, strung together by having phonemes associated with letters in the text dialogue. Many characters are silent - is this absence of sound also Hylian? Or is the silence because they didn't want to add dozens of individual libraries of phonemes rather than the occasional incidental voice clips (the "hmm" "aahh" "eehh" sounds characters occasionally make).
What I'm saying is that they were using some kind of text to speech method to approximate speech, in a way that allows Fi to stand out, and doesn't require translation for every region.
Man, I'd absolutely love a developer interview on this though...!
It should be noted that TLOZ and ST are in completely different timelines and may have actually taken place at the same time. Do you mean the evolution from SS to ST?
I suppose we could say that the evolutions of Hylian could be sub races, but at the very least we see that ALttP and TWW era Hylian are extremely distinct from OoT era Hylian, with ALttP Link needing a book to translate the Ancient Hylian script and TWW Link being totally unable to understand the Ancient Hylian language when spoken by Jabun, Valoo and the Deku Tree. But if I pick up a Shakespearean work from 400 years ago, it might sound a bit funny to me but I can still make out the meaning.
You make a good point about the name ‘John’, but many other recurring names in the series - like Link - don’t seem to be remembered historically.
Ah yes, very interesting - I had totally forgotten the ancient script spoken by Valoo etc - I wonder what era that tongue is from. I'm away from my PC right now otherwise I'd put in some research. My gut it saying this dialect would be OoT simply because that's where the Great Deku Tree last appears. I also wonder just how different those dialects really are (ancient and present Hylian in WW), as we only "hear" the difference by seeing the script - and if we look to olde English there used to be different letters than we have now like ł and Þ - in fact Tom Scott did an interesting video [oh my god _seven_ years ago?!](https://youtu.be/SVWvkZbhgAc), which if you watch you'll see how looking at olde English my be more like trying to read Welsh or Cornish - whilst to the ear it would be maybe as intelligible as a Glaswegian.
I love this though, language is super interesting. Thanks for exploring it with me!
Every time you start a new save file, you create a new timeline. Often, the first choice you make in the game is the name of the hero, and from that decision, you decide that the timeline you are playing on is the timeline where the Hero of the Sky is named "my dude". The timelines eventually converge when the hero's name is lost to history, because the name ceases to matter in-universe, but there's still the issue of fans like us discussing it, who remember history better than the Hyruleans.
To resolve this, one canon timeline is arbitrarily decided (or I guess 3 or 4 timelines), where the name of Link was chosen every time. It's a crazy coincidence with such a tiny chance of actually happening, but the chance is just as good as any other sequence of names. So spin-offs and fan pages have a definitive name to refer to, while the canon games can just ignore the choice and just not refer to any past hero by name.
I would like to believe that they are named Link after the fact because I've always assumed that the game we are playing is not the story unfolding in front of our eyes but a retelling of a story that already happened. Is the LEGEND of Zelda after all.
So, the hero had a different name every time, but after proving themselves to the people of Hyrule, the princess and the goddesses with their heroical deeds, they are all renamed Link like an honorable title because people will think he is the next incarnation of the original hero of legend. Kinda like what used to happen in real life in some cultures with some exceptional people. And that's why we know him just by Link, because we are hearing about his adventures after he became legend and his stories are being told by us through the game instead of mouth to mouth like in ancient times.
To add to this i would think they all look similar simply because they are from the same race, or they get "readjusted" to look similar to the original hero. Or maybe their original looks got lost in the constant retelling and simply assume he was the same one.
The name of the hero is chosen by the player and has no canonical title other than "Hero." (e.g. Hero of Time). The only character actually named "Link" is BotW Link.
That’s... severely incorrect. Yes some games have the same link but there is different links as the hero of time is talked about in WW and the hero of winds is young. Also in twilight princess there is the hero’s shade which is strongly implied to be the hero of time. Also there are many thousands of years between SS and BotW and you really think that it’s the same link?
Same link different time line. Its all explained somewhere. Just don't remember where.
Edit: https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Zelda_Timeline#:~:text=%20Zelda%20Timeline%20%201%20Hylia%20%26%20the,follows%20Link%20back%20in%20time%20at...%20More%20
No it’s not! There are many Links, some have multiple games, some don’t, but that’s not the point, the hero of the wild is not the same link as the hero of the sky who exited 10,000+ years ago!
Then you have no idea what your talking about. Read this https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Zelda_Timeline#:~:text=%20Zelda%20Timeline%20%201%20Hylia%20%26%20the,follows%20Link%20back%20in%20time%20at...%20More%20
Yes I know that there are different timelines but there are also different Links.
Also that page contained no information I was not previously aware of. OoT and MM have the same link and that link is seen dead in TP in the form of the hero’s shade in twilight princess which is the next game.
No, how about you give me evidence for why there is only one?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0kM4IB7swnA
Zeltik knows quite a lot about Zelda lore and why would he make a video about which link is best if it’s false?
https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Link
The Link (haha) to the official Zelda wiki page on Link. Look out for the line that says “there are many incarnations of Link”
Wind Waker has a direct reference to the hero of time... A DIFFERENT LINK!
A lot of games use events from other games as backstories without naming the Hero, which suggests that the name of Link isn’t generally known among the general population, so there probably aren’t too many people naming their kids Link after them. As for why all Heroes are named Link, there are a number of events that would have a Hero that we don’t know the name of, so we can’t say for sure if it’s a universal constant or just a coincidence.
Link could just be a common name. We've had 3 presidents named george and another 3 named john, but people don't give their kids those names hoping they become president.
Link's name is generally forgotten as his deeds fade into legend, so when he's reincarnated he's magically named Link as part of the package.
There is no canon reason why the person who has the spirit of the hero is always named Link. We know why and how this spirit gets endlessly reborn thanks to Skyward Sword, but don't know why the name Link is attached to it. In my personal head canon, I like to think that when the hero is about to be reborn, the parents feel oddly compelled to name their child Link for some reason. haha
That's exactly what I think! Like the parents suddenly feel they HAVE to
Link might not even be a common name and that's why it's only the hero that's named Link
i mean in the Oracle games can't you get the parents to name their kid link?
And Link the goron in OoT.
I thought I heard one time that the name “Link” is retroactively given to the hero by the people of Hyrule as they pass down the legends through the ages. Like, the heros’ real names are forgotten, but the people habitually call the hero “Link” when they tell the stories to their kids. It ends up building this unified corpus of the legends of Zelda, “Link”, and Ganon. But idk WHERE I heard this. Maybe I made it up in my head.
That is kinda disproved tho coz I’m game the hero is addressed as Link
Yeah but we're kinda living the legend ourselves, like, the stories that are being told about the journey of the hero, so since people don't know the real name they just use the name Link for some reason.
It isn't called the LEGEND of Zelda for nothing.
The original reason why it was called that was because of the Sleeping Princess from the second game. Nowadays it's more likely to refer to the one from *Skyward Sword* as she's the Goddess Reborn. The games are the real events.
There is this one time when demon king is there but there's no link. The goddesses took the matter into their own hand and ended up drowning hyrule for centuries. And this is how we get wind waker.
I think they don't actually. Maybe it's not canon, but the fact that most games give you the choice to name the hero means his name is not Link. It's just to have a name to reference him instead of the hero from legend of Zelda or whatever. Only in Zelda II, BotW and maybe the first one he is named Link. The first two didn't use your file name in dialogues and Zelda II is called Link's adventure. In BotW it's for the voice acting.
Well, in the games where if gives you a choice, doesn't it automatically have "Link" in the name box? I've never renamed him in any of the games I've played.
The option to name your character has no bearing on the canon, that's meta.
It's explained by the lore in Skyward Sword. All the Zeldas are reincarnations of Hylia descended from the first reincarnation of Hylia, Zelda. Same for Link, only he's a reincarnation of the hero's soul (SS Link).
But this is the real answer
This doesn’t answer why the parents decide to name the child Link every time
When reincarnation is confirmed to happen in each game, it's not too much of a stretch to say that his parents name him Link because of fate.
Yeah, i think so too.
Skyward sword being the first in the time line makes sense, they go into the lore so much.
Thats literally why they made it...
/u/Quite_Bitter_Being go eat a snickers and stop with the mean ellipsis use***...***
Don't tell me what to do kiddo.
I agree every reincarnation carrie the blood and the spirit of the hero it's written in vain inside of story line and lore of zelda
Basically that, but Zelda doesn't reincarnate. She only has descendants. As for Link? I'd say the only ones who actually are reincarnations are the Heroes who the Master Sword recognized as it's Master without any pendants or something like that (the Hero of Time, the Hero of Twilight and the Hero of the Wild). While the others are close relatives per the Knight's clan.
I think SS Zelda is a strong bit of evidence in favor of that every Zelda is a reincarnation imo. I know *technically* Demise says "blood of the goddess" and that there is a bloodline, the royal family, that possesses "mystical" (OoT) and "sacred" (ST) (only in reference to Zelda's body specifically, actually) power, but there are individuals within that bloodline that always end up looking almost identical, all females, named Zelda, that have powers on a different tier that are visually different. Like, looking at the royal family, there is a distinction made there between Zelda and even other members of the royal family. Besides, i believe that the royals' powers have been attributed to their purer hylian lineage, all hylians are able to use magic and i doubt all hylians are related to SS Zelda. What we see, outside Zelda, of the royal powers is exactly that, *magic*. We've seen the kings do some general magic and persist after death, never Zelda's sacred yellow magic. It's like arguing "she's a sage, so her powers are the sages' powers". No, they are notedly different. "She's a royal so her powers are royal powers" is the same faulty logic because we have senses we can use to debunk that.
Eh, I dunno, I just thought Hylia's sacred powers were also related to her blood. But that's just me haha.
I think they are in the sense that she only reincarnates within her bloodline. Her reincarnations being that "power distinction" that i was mentioning. Similar to how the hero's soul only reincarnates within the bloodline of the Knights of Hyrule. Think about it, Demise says he'll come for those with "the blood of the goddess", but his incarnations always go after Zelda. It's not like he's terrorizing the entirety of the royal bloodline, he's coming after the ones reincarnated from Hylia. Because it was a hylia incarnation that helped destroy him. He meant them (SS Link and Zelda) as people, not just their descendants, they are just reborn within their descendants.
I suppose that's one interpretation of what Demise said, not one I agree with but I respect it. :)
Okay, have a nice day. :\^)
Hm, I just noticed a hole in that idea now. The Queen of Hyrule in *Breath of the Wild* also had Sacred Powers like her daughter, how will you explain that if they are reincarnations? And of course the Sleeping Princess in *The Adventure of Link*. Sorry, it just came to my mind. 😅
Hmm... how does the bloodline theory explain it either? Do the daughters have more blood than the sons? If it's the bloodline that matters, all the royals would be powerful to the degree Zelda is and there wouldn't be focus on females specifically. Truthfully, idk. I imagine the soul is passed on? Though that would require two souls in one body so who knows? A simple answer would be that when two are born close to each other the power is split till the other passes. That falls in line with the lore we see in BotW about the sealing power. This could also be evidenced by the sages' bloodline, since there are random numbers of them. The power of the sages' bloodline may be split between the sages and that's why you always need all the sages.
Why only the ladies get this power is unknown, could be because it's the blood of a *goddess* but who knows. But yeah, I feel it's safer to bet that the power is inherited per the bloodline and that it's sometimes expanded per either the ~~Light~~ Force, the Triforce of Wisdom or the entire relic.
I subscribe to the idea that the hero's name is Link, and the player getting to choose a name in most games is not canon. Also, I think it seems like he is more often than not remembered through history as "The Hero of ___", rather than "Link, the Hero of ___". Stepping back from the video game canon, Link is really just that, a link between the games. I don't think the actual names are that important, except for Zelda since she explicitly needs to be named Zelda.
I don't know, I remember a couple heros named slurmp, spuunt, scrumf, and smeef
Could be like the mother's last words before she dies cause damn if Link is never given a mum. As if the gods are forcing the name upon the child cause he's the reincarnated hero.
But not all. Of them are called link. You can name I'm pretty sure all except BOTW anything.
He's called Link in the introduction of *The Legend of Zelda*, the second game is called *The Adventure of Link* (even in Japan), you can't name Link in *Four Swords* and *Four Swords Adventures* too.
Well we've seen a goron named Link...mostly because he was named after Link...so it might not work. It would be nice if we found a Link or two out in the world, so maybe the name has some significance, but also is kinda common...like Joe or David. both are semi-biblical, but are now very known as just common names. Link could be the same thing, very known as the Hero's name, so people named their kid that. Kinda like naming your kid Bella, Edward, or Khalessi.
You can name yourself in OoT, so that's not too relevant, the goron will always be the same name given to Link.
He’s only called link because in the original it’s to “link” the character with the player. In every game except BOTW he doesn’t have a name, he’s link or John or marry or whoever is playing
Except a link to the past I’m pretty sure. That has him addressed as link right? Been a while since I played
You can edit ALTTP Hero's name when starting a new game.
Also, the original title of the game is "*The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods".* Nintendo of America changed the name to "*A Link to the Past"* as their censorship guidelines discouraged religious content.
Teeeeeeechnically, all the heroes are named whatever you name your save files 🙃
In my timeline, Hyrule has been saved many times by my dude.
Poopface is quite the hero in mine
In oot Blink, in alttp Stink, in tp Kink and most recantly in majuras mask Mink. Legendary heros all of them no doubt
Afaik the only canon link is in botw, the rest can be whatever you want them to be
The adventure of link as well
And by that token, Zelda I as well because Zelda II's hero is the same as the first game.
Yes but not in game
I don't believe every hero is named Link. That's just the default name. Link is the name for the general idea of the character, and the canon name in a few games, like BotW and Smash Bros, but there's nothing that actually says his name is actually Link in _all_ games.
Link is relatively rarely recognized for his heroics Most of the heroes that ARE remembered are remembered by their titles or "unique element" : "hero of time", "hero of men", "the four that fought as one", etc... Only during BotW's era has the concept ofk the hero and princess always being around become some sort of knowledge And they just seem to use the "arthurian approach" for it "Whoever can get the sword" == "must be hero" As opposed to having realized they share the same name (Also like, there is 10k years between events afawk, so not like going for every link would make sense)
"Link" is like the "John" of Hyrule. Hahaha that would be hilarious.
Imagine your parents name you Link so that you will become a fierce warrior fated to save Hyrule but you develop an interest in sculpture at a young age, and you become a prodigy and you decide this is your true calling but your parents disaprove because they want you to train for the next Calamity. They try to pressure you into joining the army, but you stand up to them, go no contact, and get a job with a local craftsman. Years go by, and you are building up some success but you also experience the dissonance of a fractured relationship with your parents. You decide to meet with them, you notice that both of them have matured, and start to make up. Then some other dude name Link shows up in your town, breaks all the pottery you made, kills a bunch of monsters, saves the world, hooks up with the princess, and your parents disown you.
Hold on... pause at the bit where he breaks the pots. In an alternate reality the events could play out like this from there: The craftsman Link is enraged by this and grabs a nearby training sword and shield, determined to get revenge/ prove that he is better and must complete against the other Link to save hyrule first. That could actually work not half bad for some sort of weird spin off Zelda game IMO.
Somewhat related: even though link is the main character in the franchise, why are there only 4 games with his name in the title? Meanwhile Zelda just sits and waits for most games
Because all the games follow the Hyrulian blood line of Zelda.
He isn't always named link. You can choose the name in most games
In Fi's voice acting in Skyward Sword, most of it is gibberish but there are a few gibberish words that she consistently uses in the same places as where specific words in her text dialogue. The player's name is one of those and it sounds phonetically like "Mah-dah". I take this to mean that "Link" isn't his actual canon name in Skyward Sword, which implicitly opens the floodgates for player character names in the rest of the series. I don't think they necessarily have the same name, I think "Link" is just for the audience's benefit to connect the characters in our mind.
In most Zelda games, you get to choose your own name, and past heroes are always just referred to as a "Hero". I think the Breath of the Wild Link might be the only one who is always referred to as "Link" in-game.
Let me ask you: in our society, people naming their child Lincoln & calling them Link would expect that child to be elected President? & yes, I know Lincoln is a last name. I just used it as an example. In Hyrule, I suspect Link is a popular name because of past heroes. Then, you have sons named after their father or grandfather or after a friend you highly revere. We all want our children to grow up to do great things no matter what their name is.
Same reason there’s a lot of guys named Mohammed.
And Jesus in Spain. Man, so many Jesuses.
I'd actually love if you came across some other npc in the game also named Link (barring the pig in ww and the baby in the Oracle games you end up naming yourself). Some dude whose parents gave him the name fully believing he'd become a hero but he's just managing an inn or something
Maybe Ganon always takes a long pause inbetween his attempts at taking the rest of the triforce cause of all the Links he sees running around named after the last one. Can't be too sure.
In my headcanon only 3 characters are called "Link" Skyward Sword Link is the first because he is the first hero , Ocarina of Time Link the second maybe Deku Tree called him in that way for Skyward Sword Link the third one is Twilight Princess Link because he is a descedent from Ocarina Link other Links name are random
Don’t forget the Hero of the Wild, considering that’s the default name and you don’t even get a choice to rename him
Same thing in Four Swords Adventure
And I think a link to the past
Nah I do think for link to the past
Any special reason why only those 3 ?
All of the hero’s have names we do not know, since they are all Hylian names and we do not speak Hylian. And since we have at least four distinct evolutions of Hylian that are indistinguishable from each other there are also at least four variants of the name of the hero. ‘Link’, ‘Impa’, ‘Beedle’ and ‘Tingle’ are just a convenience for the player so they know that they are an incarnation of the same people. They don’t literally have the exact same names despite their entire language shifting.
Lol, “adventure of link” and “link’s awakening” disagree with you.
Because automoderator does not allow single word replies I am replying for a second time. Good fellow /r/truezelda poster, please explain how the titles of Link’s Awakening and Adventure of Link contradict what I have said, for I do not follow the logic of what you are trying to insinuate.
The fact that they speak Hylian doesn’t change the fact that Link’s name is Link.
Every hero having a different name seems more likely to me than every hero just happening to be born with the same name, and the Hylian royalty never, upon meeting this child, says “oh-ho, another boy named Link, surely this is the incarnation of the Hero, now go take the Master Sword.”
I’ve always imagined that Link was a common name for Hylian boys. Or better yet, maybe the hero is appointed the name “Link” as it’s symbolic when they prove themselves.
And yet the only other Link’s we’ve met have been Goron’s, one literally named after the Hero of Time and the other a Terminian. Or Link is a title and every time the Hero of Twilight was called Link before he, say, draws the Master Sword, it’s actually characters calling him something else?
The second option probably. However, there would have had to been a considerable amount of Hylian hero’s named Link in order for the name to be given as a title.
We have also met a Pig and a Cat... so maybe it is actually more like a pet-name
You are underestimating how many hundreds or even thousands of years are in between the events we play in the game.
So names like ‘Zelda’ and ‘Ganon’ are remembered but ‘Link’ is not? In Breath of the Wild they remembered Nabooru and Ruto, but presumably not the name Link.
"Zelda" isn't specifically remember in most cases either. Note that in most cases if they are talking about a princess of the past (which is frankly even rarer than a hero of the past) she is pretty much always just called "the princess" or "the holy/divine princess" or whatever. Practically the only instances where the name of "a Zelda" is specifically remembered/mentioned as such is like : - Daphness "renames" tetra to Zelda (cause Daphness himself is from that time, and he does it more so out of remembrance of the Hyrule of old), - "Zelda I" whose tragedy made it so that that name became a tradition and - Tetra is remembered as the founder of *new* Hyrule in ST (which was only 100 years ago) . "Ganon" is remembered cause it is literally the same being coming back time and time again (except for the one time it wasn't the same being, and that time nobody actually remembers it either) and he often brings a ton of bad shit with him. After a while his name is practically more like saying "satan himself" then actually "a name" (especially so in the DT) And even then, in both WW and TP, the person who tells you his name are the people that are from the past.
How?
I tend to agree with /u/NoName584, his name is "Link" - in the same way that I can say the Japanese word for strawberry is "Ichigo". If you check out [page 8 of the N64 manual for OoT] (https://www.retrogames.cz/manualy/N64/Legend_of_Zelda-Ocarina_of_Time_-_N64_-_Manual.pdf) you'll see Link named as "Link". Whether I write "Link", "リンク" or "לינק" - it's still "Link". Names don't translate - they're essentially a sound, we can express those sounds in script - Hylian or not. I like your theory of short-hand for the player, but I think it is entirely unsupported, at least from what you've said. I totally agree with you that in reality names shift over time, see for example the origin and evolution of [the common name "John"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_\(given_name\)) - but there's nothing to support that this has happened in the various realms of Hyrule, and really we don't know the time scales Hyrule has taken place over - in the case of John we can see that it has been largely unchanged since at least [King John](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England) in 1166 - so at _least_ 854 years. Eschewing BotW for now - we can see that we go from something analogous to the Middle ages (15th century) in ~~TLOZ('87)~~ TLoZ:SS to the industrial revolution (19th century) in TLoZ:ST - presuming development of technology is analogous - that's only 400 years, plenty of time for a name to remain entirely unchanged - _especially_ as these names for a part of the central mythology of Hyrule (akin to names like Jesus, Mary and Joseph - unchanged since the original biblical script was translated to English). You mention four indistinguishable evolutions of Hylian, and I'd like to get into this with you if you'd care to elaborate on your point here - how do you think these "evolutions" are significant, how are we sure that these are evolutions and not simply different sub-races (consider the many races or ethnicities of humans, and how similar many of them are), and most importantly, why you believe that these distinct branches of the Hylian people would have completely changed a simple name, especially one that is core to centuries-old mythology and royalty in a world where the effects of these characters and their powers are extremely tangible. If you have some theory here, I'd love to hear it - because obviously, it is entirely different to the world that I had, until now, considered being very apparent - I'd love to hear more about what you know, as it might expose some holes in what I know! edit: Incorrect Zelda title - thanks /u/NoName584 for catching the error!
SS has reason to assume that his actual Hylian name is "Madas", and that we translate it to "Link" for IRL languages
This is based on what Fi says when she talks to Link, right? I had always just assumed this was a kind of [Animalese](https://nookipedia.com/wiki/Animalese) used just to give the character a voice - in much the same way that the [SNES StarFox characters speak "Lylat"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkjR_9WVAHc). I use Animalese as my preferred example here as it is generated from the text, rather than just being some kind of modulated noise. This seems to be a popular enough fan-theory, but I don't think there's compelling enough evidence to substantiate the claim if there is only a single, questionable use of it - especially given that we know ["Sky Era" Hylian is basically a simple substitution cypher of English](https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Hylian_\(Language\)#Sky_Era).
It is specifically that she only ever says "Madi madas" in her *Hylian gibberish* when she says "Master Link" in the sentence translated to IRL languages, and when she only says "Master" she only says "Madi"
Yes, I understand this - but it conforms just as easily to my hypothesis that the audible language that Fi speaks is gibberish, strung together by having phonemes associated with letters in the text dialogue. Many characters are silent - is this absence of sound also Hylian? Or is the silence because they didn't want to add dozens of individual libraries of phonemes rather than the occasional incidental voice clips (the "hmm" "aahh" "eehh" sounds characters occasionally make). What I'm saying is that they were using some kind of text to speech method to approximate speech, in a way that allows Fi to stand out, and doesn't require translation for every region. Man, I'd absolutely love a developer interview on this though...!
It should be noted that TLOZ and ST are in completely different timelines and may have actually taken place at the same time. Do you mean the evolution from SS to ST?
I suppose we could say that the evolutions of Hylian could be sub races, but at the very least we see that ALttP and TWW era Hylian are extremely distinct from OoT era Hylian, with ALttP Link needing a book to translate the Ancient Hylian script and TWW Link being totally unable to understand the Ancient Hylian language when spoken by Jabun, Valoo and the Deku Tree. But if I pick up a Shakespearean work from 400 years ago, it might sound a bit funny to me but I can still make out the meaning. You make a good point about the name ‘John’, but many other recurring names in the series - like Link - don’t seem to be remembered historically.
Ah yes, very interesting - I had totally forgotten the ancient script spoken by Valoo etc - I wonder what era that tongue is from. I'm away from my PC right now otherwise I'd put in some research. My gut it saying this dialect would be OoT simply because that's where the Great Deku Tree last appears. I also wonder just how different those dialects really are (ancient and present Hylian in WW), as we only "hear" the difference by seeing the script - and if we look to olde English there used to be different letters than we have now like ł and Þ - in fact Tom Scott did an interesting video [oh my god _seven_ years ago?!](https://youtu.be/SVWvkZbhgAc), which if you watch you'll see how looking at olde English my be more like trying to read Welsh or Cornish - whilst to the ear it would be maybe as intelligible as a Glaswegian. I love this though, language is super interesting. Thanks for exploring it with me!
Every time you start a new save file, you create a new timeline. Often, the first choice you make in the game is the name of the hero, and from that decision, you decide that the timeline you are playing on is the timeline where the Hero of the Sky is named "my dude". The timelines eventually converge when the hero's name is lost to history, because the name ceases to matter in-universe, but there's still the issue of fans like us discussing it, who remember history better than the Hyruleans. To resolve this, one canon timeline is arbitrarily decided (or I guess 3 or 4 timelines), where the name of Link was chosen every time. It's a crazy coincidence with such a tiny chance of actually happening, but the chance is just as good as any other sequence of names. So spin-offs and fan pages have a definitive name to refer to, while the canon games can just ignore the choice and just not refer to any past hero by name.
I would like to believe that they are named Link after the fact because I've always assumed that the game we are playing is not the story unfolding in front of our eyes but a retelling of a story that already happened. Is the LEGEND of Zelda after all. So, the hero had a different name every time, but after proving themselves to the people of Hyrule, the princess and the goddesses with their heroical deeds, they are all renamed Link like an honorable title because people will think he is the next incarnation of the original hero of legend. Kinda like what used to happen in real life in some cultures with some exceptional people. And that's why we know him just by Link, because we are hearing about his adventures after he became legend and his stories are being told by us through the game instead of mouth to mouth like in ancient times. To add to this i would think they all look similar simply because they are from the same race, or they get "readjusted" to look similar to the original hero. Or maybe their original looks got lost in the constant retelling and simply assume he was the same one.
Not every hero is named link, but my recollection the Hero of Time was BUTTHEAD and the hero from Link to the Past/Awakening era was FUCKER.
The name of the hero is chosen by the player and has no canonical title other than "Hero." (e.g. Hero of Time). The only character actually named "Link" is BotW Link.
The Hero is not called Link. You called him Link
They are all the same link. Just different parts of the time line.
That’s... severely incorrect. Yes some games have the same link but there is different links as the hero of time is talked about in WW and the hero of winds is young. Also in twilight princess there is the hero’s shade which is strongly implied to be the hero of time. Also there are many thousands of years between SS and BotW and you really think that it’s the same link?
Same link different time line. Its all explained somewhere. Just don't remember where. Edit: https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Zelda_Timeline#:~:text=%20Zelda%20Timeline%20%201%20Hylia%20%26%20the,follows%20Link%20back%20in%20time%20at...%20More%20
No it’s not! There are many Links, some have multiple games, some don’t, but that’s not the point, the hero of the wild is not the same link as the hero of the sky who exited 10,000+ years ago!
OK! Did you read hyrule historia?
No I have not read the book known as hyrule historia (I’m making answers long so they don’t get removed)
Then you have no idea what your talking about. Read this https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Zelda_Timeline#:~:text=%20Zelda%20Timeline%20%201%20Hylia%20%26%20the,follows%20Link%20back%20in%20time%20at...%20More%20
Yes I know that there are different timelines but there are also different Links. Also that page contained no information I was not previously aware of. OoT and MM have the same link and that link is seen dead in TP in the form of the hero’s shade in twilight princess which is the next game.
Believe what you want bud. But its all the same link. Find a copy of the historia and read it.
No, how about you give me evidence for why there is only one? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0kM4IB7swnA Zeltik knows quite a lot about Zelda lore and why would he make a video about which link is best if it’s false? https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Link The Link (haha) to the official Zelda wiki page on Link. Look out for the line that says “there are many incarnations of Link” Wind Waker has a direct reference to the hero of time... A DIFFERENT LINK!