Link

Unlike most other central Nintendo protagonists, Link himself does not exist as a single individual within the franchise, but he has appeared across many incarnations across the history of Hyrule, which, depending on the game, depicted as an ordinary boy or young man, much like the titular Princess Zelda. Specific incarnations of Link may be distinguished by titles such as the iconic Hero of Time in Ocarina of Time or the Hero of Winds in The Wind Waker. Regardless of each version of the character, however, Link possess the spirit of the Legendary Hero once chosen by the Goddess Hylia and is thereby always destined to fight evil, specifically his arch-nemesis Ganon, usually under Princess Zelda’s orders (several games since The Wind Waker have the princess herself assist him in defeating the villain).

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Despite this integral role, some mainline games have Link faced different lead antagonists such as Demise or Majora’s Mask, and few such as Link’s Awakening, Majora’s Mask or Tri Force Heroes did not even have the hero encountering Ganon or Zelda in their plot. Link even has an evil reflection of himself which is rarely seen and fought in the series, most prominently in The Adventure of Link and Ocarina of Time.

Link himself is also the mascot of the Zelda franchise, and because of its long-running multi-billiondollar success as one of Nintendo’s flagship series (alongside Mario and Pokémon) since February 21, 1986, he is widely known as one of the most recognized and iconic video game characters of all-time.