A Princess and her Knight, or more than just that? Looking at Zelda/Link

Stories of valiant knights, princes and other heroes who fight for their beloved ladies are some of the oldest and most beloved stories in human history. Perhaps even THE oldest, depending on your interpretation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. So it was to be expected that a concept as basic as fighting for those you care about eventually ended up in The Legend of Zelda, or at least have fans ascribe it to individual games. But is there any truth to this? Has anything been confirmed, implied, can things be extrapolated or is it just a bunch of hot air? Note that this contains spoilers for Hyrule Warriors, so be careful in case you have not yet finished the game. Read a game-by-game analysis after the break!

Because of the rather limited story of the original Legend of Zelda there’s only one scene between Link and Zelda. Right after defeating Ganon and recovering the Triforce of Power Link frees Zelda from her prison. Zelda tells Link that he’s the Hero of Hyrule, followed by cutting to the credits.

The Adventure of Link introduces a new Princess Zelda, one that has been asleep for many years. How long is unknown, but it might as well have been centuries. Link obtains the Triforce of Courage and wakes her up, the curtain drops and Link gets a kiss. Whatever happens after that is unknown because that is the last we see of that particular Link and Zelda. But an interesting note is that there are now two Zeldas running around, the “current” one and the pretender to the throne from many years before. While this might mean double the chance for Link to end up with a Zelda it creates something of a politically sensitive situation within the house of Hyrule. With two princesses with claims to the throne (one based on being the eldest, the other on knowing more of the current situation of Hyrule) marrying to ensure political stability is just as likely as one of them marrying the Hero of Hyrule to cement his loyalty to the royal family. But of course, this is nothing but far-fetched speculation.

The next game is A Link to the Past, where Link rescues Zelda from the dungeon of the castle and Turtle Rock. Zelda accompanies Link through the tutorial dungeon and helps him get into the second part by pushing aside the ornament in the throne room. There is little going on between them in this game, but the manga adaptation of A Link to the Past takes it a lot further. Here Zelda shows Link that two people who dream the same thing can meet. She imparts wisdom to Link and allows him to rest in her lap, so that he can recover from his injuries. At the end of the manga Zelda becomes queen and appoints Link as the master of the Knights of Hyrule. Unfortunately their duties will keep them apart, and as Link rides off she reminisces on her time spent with Link and that she will remember their time in her dreams for the rest of her life.

Things get a bit more expanded in a Linked game of the sequels, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages. In a Linked game Zelda appears in Impa’s house and she can heal you for free. After rescuing her at the end of the game Zelda gives Link a kiss on the cheek, much to the distress of the Maku Tree if done in Oracle of Ages. Going by the hearts floating above Link’s head and him going wobbly on his feet he likes it a lot and Zelda’s shy reaction suggests that she didn’t mind kissing him as well. In the sequel to those games, Link’s Awakening, Zelda gets only a passing mention in the very beginning so nothing really happens.

The most recent game, A Link Between Worlds, possibly expands on this. According to the Rumor Guy Zelda has reached the age that she starts to think about love. Every night she sneaks through the castle, heading to a specific painting that she looks at for a couple of minutes before going back to her room. The painting is of a princess and a hero of several generations earlier cuddling in each others’ arms. This makes for an interesting addition to the interactions between the previous incarnations of Zelda and Link. But if this is the duo from those four games, if they will appear in a future title or if they describe different incarnations altogether is up for grabs. Likewise, treating this as a suggestion that Zelda might grow interested in Link is tenuous at best: while it is not impossible for a young woman to try and base her first relationship off of what is perceived to be an ideal relationship, there is no evidence for her having any interest in Link.

It took until Ocarina of Time for the fans to start to truly support the Zelda/Link pairing. This was also the game where Link was established as being quite the ladies’ man, or at least in the eyes of the fans. Link gets to meet two Zeldas in this game as well: the young one near the start of his quest and the older Zelda who supports him as Sheik for most of the second half of the game. The young Zelda is cheerful and optimistic compared to the more reserved older Zelda, quite possibly because she has been hiding for seven years and has to disguise herself as a man, which cannot be good for a young woman to go through. There is nothing in their interactions that suggests any romantic interest between the two of them, with Eiji Aonuyma’s words in an interview a few years back creating even more doubt:

“After the time warp, when Link wakes up seven years later, he’s extremely concerned about what has become of Zelda. If he found out right away, that wouldn’t be very interesting, but if he didn’t know until the very end, and then he learned that she’d been captured by Ganon all that time, that would be even worse.” – Nintendo Power, October 2008.

Some fans think of the final cutscene as a tearful farewell between star-crossed lovers, while a more accurate description would be Zelda giving Link the childhood back that she more or less stole from him and the chance to set things right. In the manga adaptation Zelda tells Link to be careful as he sets out to gather the Spiritual Stones and kisses him on the cheek, triggering a rather excited reaction. During his meeting with the adult Malon she notices that Link is on first-name basis with Zelda, and discovers from the look in his eyes why that is. Finally, when Sheik reveals her true identity to Link he tells her he missed her, and is about to embrace her when Zelda is kidnapped by Ganondorf.

In Majora’s Mask Link shares a scene with Zelda where she gives him the Ocarina of Time as a memento of their time together and teaches Link the Song of Time. Again there is nothing to suggest a romantic attraction between the two. Link goes off to save Navi instead of staying with Zelda or even thinking about doing so. Whether or not this was the last time he saw Zelda is up for grabs, but the appearance of the hero in Twilight Princess makes it obvious that he did not end up at Zelda’s side.

Twilight Princess’ Zelda has a minor role compared to the other games, appearing only a few times and not even speaking directly with Link in their first two encounters. Zelda is also notably more reserved in the game, but speaks with great humility when she asks Link for his help to defeat Ganondorf. He takes her hand during this scene but it’s more out of a sense of duty or courtesy, or perhaps a gesture as bearers of pieces of the Triforce rather than romantic interest. The game is also notable for being the only time Link and Zelda rode together on Epona in the penultimate phase in their battle with Ganondorf, with Link steering Epona and Zelda shooting at Ganondorf. After the events of the game Zelda sits alone while Link rides off.

The Minish Cap takes this in a whole different direction. At the start of the game Zelda herself goes to Link’s house to wake him up and go to the Picori Festival with her. Her actions here are more that of an energetic friend rather than someone with romantic interest and Link has to chase after her. Zelda manages to win a prize at one of the stalls and specifically foregoes the Piece of Heart in favor of a small shield, which she gives to Link and serves as his primary defensive tool for most of his quest. In the other two games where Link faces Vaati Zelda has a minimal role, serving as little more than a distressed damsel for Link to save. In both games they are described as being friends with Zelda asking Link to come along when she goes to inspect the Four Sword. In the manga adaptation of Four Swords however the duo walk off holding hands after returning the Four Sword back to its pedestal.

It is with Wind Waker when the suggestion of an actual pairing starts to surface. While Tetra is dismissive of Link at first she quickly warms up to him and Link seems to like her as well. When Beedle asks the hero if he knows the pirate girl that sold him bombs he claims that Link is blushing, despite the player not being able to see this. Then of course there is Zelda’s penchant for winking at Link, both as Tetra and as Zelda. In the sequel, Phantom Hourglass, Tetra is considerably nicer towards Link and is really appreciative of him saving her from her petrifaction. They had a scene where they looked at each other in appreciation and were about to hold hands… right until Bellum snags her up and draws her away. What makes this relationship interesting is that Tetra is shown to be the founder and first queen of New Hyrule. Going by her interactions with Link it’s not entirely unthinkable that Link became the first prince consort of New Hyrule.

Zelda has a significantly bigger role in Spirit Tracks as she acts as the companion in the game, but instead of making it more romantic the adorable factor is cranked up a lot. The third game in the cell-shaded style it is more light-hearted in tone (until you start being chased by demon-trains) which shows in the relationship between Link and Zelda: when he first sees her he’s all adorably flustered and Zelda’s freak out over having her body stolen is a thing of legends. The highest point though would be the scene right after Link and Zelda defeat Byrne: they share a moment that Byrne wants to be no part of. There is also the last shot before the credits where the two hold hands. Again, the angle is cute rather than romantic and the two of them go their own ways after the adventure is over, so from what we have seen nothing romantic comes from it.

And then of course there is Skyward Sword, the game where interactions between Link and Zelda were specifically written with a romantic attraction in mind. Even the soundtrack and the trailers have their moments, with the Romance trailer and the tracks Romance and Romance in the Air. The two of them have been friends since childhood, with an array of small interactions that go beyond regular friendship like Zelda waking Link up and him making wood carvings for her which she keeps in her room. They really care for one another, with Zelda chewing Groose out when he and his goons are making fun of Link and him going through a massive ordeal when she is taken by a tornado.

When Zelda tells Link of her nature as the reincarnation of Hylia, she is filled with genuine regret that she made Link endure the trials that he did. Link on the other hand is just happy that Zelda is safe, but understands the duty she has to the world. It is interesting to note that the whole reason that Link went after Zelda was to rescue his friend, not as part of some grand destiny, to vanquish evil or to save the world. He was just a guy worried about his friend and gave it his all to rescue her. Even in her new identity Zelda tells Link that she’s still “[his] Zelda”, her own person and not Hylia, despite her new knowledge. It is possible that this is to imply that she’s still got all of her old thoughts and feelings, including those for Link. When she wakes up from her sleep Link races in to catch her, making sure that she does not fall. Finally there is the ending: the two of them choose to stay on the surface to protect the Triforce. And with all the sequels whose royal family descended from that one Zelda it is logical to conclude that the two of them are the first two members of the royal family.

Then of course there are the various non-canon works. Fans were quick to point out that the plot of Hyrule Warriors was more or less a parody of Link being a chick magnet and how the entire plot is because of him being too handsome. The game states that two souls are always bonded together: those of the Line of the Hero and those with the Blood of the Goddess, aka Link and Zelda. This jealousy gave Ganondorf the opening to corrupt Cia and turn her to evil, with all of the consequences thereof. While this bond is played up in Hyrule Warriors nothing actually comes of this. Except perhaps in the Battle for the Triforce stage: unless Zelda and Link are struck down at the same time one will just get up again in order to defend the other and help them beat Ganondorf. This could be interpreted as their love giving them the power to fight on, but to what extent that’s accurate is up in the air.

And finally there is of course the cartoon. The one that gave us the legendary phrase “Well excuse me, Princess!” Here Zelda and Link act like an old married couple rather than a princess and a knight: they bicker, they take verbal stabs at one another and just drive each other crazy. Kind of like how things are shown to be in the CD-I games, which at the time shared its continuity with the rest of the Zelda mythos. Link is frequently plotting to get a kiss from Zelda, who is often not too impressed with his behavior. But occasionally she’s up for a kiss when Link’s acting romantic or delivers an exceptionally corny but sweet line. Of course, the rule of comedy demands that when they’re about to kiss something happens to interrupt them before they can kiss.

It comes to its conclusion in the episode The Missing Link, where Link’s body is captured but his spirit remains visible to Zelda. In a gender-flipped version of Spirit Tracks airing two decades and two weeks before the game released the two of them quest to get Link’s body back. Ganon theorizes that this is because Zelda is in love with him, which Link is overjoyed to hear. Zelda tries to deny this, but settles on being “just a little” in love. Even if Link once again misses his sought-after kiss in the episode he eventually gets it in a crossover episode with Captain N, Quest for the Potion of Power, where Zelda kisses him on the cheek. Sure, Kevin gets the next kiss but it’s the thought that counts. It’s kind of amusing that the closest we’ve seen to a relationship being from one of the lowest quality works in Zelda history.

So what is the final score? In the games themselves there is a grand total of two times where Link is kissed by Zelda. By looking at the later games on the timeline it is quite possible that in two other cases Link and Zelda get together and have children, but even here there’s nothing concrete. In Spirit Tracks the duo travels together most of the game, but split their ways when the adventure is over. In all the other games Link and Zelda don’t know each other prior to the start, or Zelda’s part in the game is so small you can’t even gather hints regarding a romantic interest. But in the non-canon materials things get spicy: from the fated bond and suggested in Hyrule Warriors to their bickering-filled crush in the cartoon and all the little things in the various manga and cartoons, there is plenty of room to fans to create their own theories on what happens between the two of them.

What do you think? Are there hints of there being a connection between Zelda and Link? Are there things this article missed, or do you think that they were understated? Should future Zelda games even include things like this, or does it take away from the games? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!