Daily Debate: Which Link Had the Easiest Journey?
Posted on January 13 2025 by John Lortie
Being Hyrule’s hero must be a rough gig. Throughout his incarnations, Link turns into animals, traverses parallel realms, fights (and rides) dragons, gets resurrected from near-death, falls to (and through) the ground from on high, and so much more. He achieves most of this with some gadgets, a green tunic, and a can-do attitude. Hyrule (and its neighboring realms) is lucky to have a guy like him around for when the going gets tough.
As players, we marvel at the feats the plucky Hylian is able to achieve with ease: adventuring through dark dungeons, squaring off against untold evils, and rescuing the princess. We enjoy putting ourselves in Link’s boots until he arrives at the often-bittersweet conclusion to every quest. It’s part of Zelda’s appeal.
All the same, I wouldn’t want to be any Link. They each rise to meet the challenges presented to them despite how arduous their adventures may be. And, those adventures are often more than a little challenging.
Knowing this, let’s get to today’s debate: Which Link had the easiest journey? We’re not talking about which Zelda is the easiest, but the trials overcome by each individual Link. For instance, my initial thought was that Wind Waker’s Link’s quest wasn’t too bad – he didn’t transform and didn’t jump between realms (unless going to the sunken Hyrule Castle counts). Then I remembered this same Link went through the events of Phantom Hourglass, including the Temple of the Ocean King. In my eyes, he’s no longer in the running.
I think the earliest iteration of Link (from The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II) had the most straightforward journey. There was no world-hopping and he only transformed into a Fairy at will. He cleared some dungeons in the original title before taking out Ganon. The second game saw him traveling the realm, dodging Ganon’s followers before waking Princess Zelda I from her long slumber. Sure, he tackled some formidable foes but that’s nothing for an incarnation of the spirit of the hero.
What do you think? Which Link had the easiest journey? Do you think it was Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass Link? Maybe you’d claim Tri Force Heroes Link carries that title (you’d have a good argument!). Hop down to the comments and sound off!
John’s been a Zelda fan since he was seven years old (which was a good few decades ago). He loves the last three months of the year, analog media, his family, and Tolkien. His favorite Zelda game is Breath of the Wild and his favorite game is Night in the Woods.
