Spoiler Do People Really Think Link is Dead in Breath of the Wild?

[TattooArtist]

(I'm probably gonna eventually start making "do people really think Link is dead in..." series cuz the Majora's Mask one was pretty successful I'd say.)

Anyway, as we know in BotW, Link wakes up after 100 years from a deep sleep. Well that's what they say, what if Link is in a coma? Demise could've came back from the dead knowing how powerful he is and could've killed Link, we don't have actual evidence. But what we do know is that the Master Sword is ruined, which connects to Fi as she lives in the Master Sword and maybe something happened to it. What we know from SS is that Demise is cross between Ghirahim and the Imprisoned, and knowing that they all have very high threat levels and are very powerful, the three together could easily destroy the Master Sword, along with Fi. They might of summoned Calamitty Ganon who summoned the Guardians and might of killed Link, knowing that he is the hero of time from what Demise has seen before. But since we know he wakes up he might of not been killed. Although, is that the real Link? It could be his spirit. What do you guys think?

 

[Roger Rad]

Here's a totally different point of view:

Spoiler

At the end of BotW Link wakes up from his coma in a hospital in the year 2016.

 

[TheFelicityHawke]

Okay, but I actually have a theory about Link's debatable livelihood and the BotW story.
And this is the first time I'm actually putting it into words so cut me some slack.

BUT
The trouble with the timeline placement of this game is that there's REALLY STRONG Evidence linking it to any one of the timelines.
Like, we all kind of collectively agree that a sequel to Skyward sword is slightly possible but not likely, due to the obvious landmarks that place it sometime after Ocarina of Time, all that in spite of Hylia's strong presence in the game, with landmarks named after her, and a large statue of her in the Temple of Time.
So, that notwithstanding, there's the evidence that places it in the adult timeline: the Koroks and existence of Rock Salt on the great plateau from an ancient sea that COULD have been the ancient sea in Skyward Sword, but when you place maps over each other, it's more likely referring to the Great Sea.
BUT the appearance of Wolf Link and the placement of Castle Town and the Bridge of Hylia makes it obviously placed in the Child timeline, provided Wolf Link is canon, and I think that he is because I'll get there in a second.
Okay, Felicity, but but what about the Downfall Timeline? The game has arguably the most compelling timeline placement clues for this one: the placement of the master sword and it's obvious home in the Lost woods, the Calamity Ganon's existence suggesting perhaps the story of the Sealing War, the existence of twin peaks... And those are just the big things, there's other smaller evidence that places these games in any one of those timelines.

So here's where my theory comes in, yeah? WHAT IF this game is a reunification of the timeline? Let's say someone (Hylia as an omnipotent deity, perhaps in conjunction with the Sheikah) foresee Calamity Ganon's reign of terror and they bring a Link from each of the timelines into a resurrection chamber. After an event we might call The Calamity (get it?) only one of the Links emerges with the soul of the Hero, but the other two Links still exist in this unified timeline as Wolf Link and the Old Man (An aged Wind Waker or even Spirit Tracks Link... Idk) The Link who emerged is... Zelda 2 Link, i would venture to say. This explains why the old man seems to know more than he's letting on to, because he retains those memories, and why Wolf Link retains the hearts from the Cave of Shadows. They retain their memories, but the Old Man knows that this Link now possesses the Soul of the Hero, and so he steps aside and lets him do his thing, but helping him along the way. And Wolf Link... well is an animal and can't communicate any info even if he wanted to.

So like everyone's dead, but in true Zelda fashion, every one is resurrected again?

 

[Mipha]

No, he's quite obviously alive

He's obviously alive in all of the games

 

[LincolnLegend]

I don't think so, he's just reincarnated in some semblance I would imagine? Interesting theory, though.

 

[Devon Thurgood]

Well I mean with him waking up the the "ressurection chamber", its hard to deny the possibility, but I dont think he's actually a spirit in the game. If he did die he was revived.

 

[Sheiken]

I do not think he was dead, I think he was badly injured or kept in cryostasis for some reason. As to why, I have no specific theories at this time.

 

[Moblinking5000]

Okay, but I actually have a theory about Link's debatable livelihood and the BotW story.
And this is the first time I'm actually putting it into words so cut me some slack.

BUT
The trouble with the timeline placement of this game is that there's REALLY STRONG Evidence linking it to any one of the timelines.
Like, we all kind of collectively agree that a sequel to Skyward sword is slightly possible but not likely, due to the obvious landmarks that place it sometime after Ocarina of Time,

Not to mention Ganon.

So, that notwithstanding, there's the evidence that places it in the adult timeline: the Koroks and existence of Rock Salt on the great plateau from an ancient sea that COULD have been the ancient sea in Skyward Sword, but when you place maps over each other, it's more likely referring to the Great Sea.

The Koroks could've been their original form, as even the Kokiri are implied to not be their original form, and Hyrule has never been 100% geographically consistent.

BUT the appearance of Wolf Link and the placement of Castle Town and the Bridge of Hylia makes it obviously placed in the Child timeline, provided Wolf Link is canon, and I think that he is because I'll get there in a second.

Bridge of Hylia is a good point, and one of the reasons why I think that the CT could work possibly, but it could also exist on the other timelines without us seeing it. And come on, an amiibo being canon? Really?

So here's where my theory comes in, yeah? WHAT IF this game is a reunification of the timeline? Let's say someone (Hylia as an omnipotent deity, perhaps in conjunction with the Sheikah) foresee Calamity Ganon's reign of terror and they bring a Link from each of the timelines into a resurrection chamber. After an event we might call The Calamity (get it?) only one of the Links emerges with the soul of the Hero, but the other two Links still exist in this unified timeline as Wolf Link and the Old Man (An aged Wind Waker or even Spirit Tracks Link... Idk) The Link who emerged is... Zelda 2 Link, i would venture to say. This explains why the old man seems to know more than he's letting on to, because he retains those memories, and why Wolf Link retains the hearts from the Cave of Shadows. They retain their memories, but the Old Man knows that this Link now possesses the Soul of the Hero, and so he steps aside and lets him do his thing, but helping him along the way. And Wolf Link... well is an animal and can't communicate any info even if he wanted to.

This would never work. You have one timeline where Hyrule is gone and two others where it still exists, one timeline that has a new reincarnated Ganon with the same Ganon from OoT being the only one to exist on the other two timelines, with the Master Sword gone in one timeline and still around in the other two.

Link waking up in the Shrine of Ressurection along with Aonuma strongly hinting that this is 100 years after OoT along with the ToT still existing with the MS in a forest strongly hints at this being on the Fallen Hero Timeline with OoT Link assisting Zelda and the Sages with sealing Ganon after he obtains the full Triforce, before the IW and ALttP.

 

[Spamomanospam]

I think there's a lot of ways they could go with this. It's possible he was resurrected, I thought of this as a new split where instead of the gods flooding Hyrule to deal with Ganon, they just resurrected the hero. That's a long shot, but it could happen. It's more likely that this is a follow up to Zelda 2 (if we're going with the resurrection theory) in a time after Link was killed and the ritual to revive Ganon was successful. Technically speaking, that's the only game that mentioned an alternate outcome. Whenever you died, you got that screen that said they resurrected Ganon and everything. So there's that.
On the other hand, there's no specific evidence to suggest that Link was ever dead, and he could be a previous incarnation of Link that's been put to sleep magically until the world needed him for some reason. Also maybe the Shiekah just cloned him for when **** got real. Who knows?

 

[Carol Lepoudre]

Don't believe Link would be revived from the dead.

 

[TheTwilightPrincess]

I would say he is in a state of cryosleep. He was most likely completely covered in the liquid he awoke in, so he could have been 'preserved'. Some people say he was brought back to life, but for 100 years?! Sure It would be a long process, but if the technology of the sheikah was around before Hyrule fell, you'd think they wouldnt take that long. If anything, its like they CHOSE the 100 year mark for a reason.

 

[Alita the Pun]

Nope

 

[Agent of Majora]

Well, we're getting this started pretty early, aren't we?