Marin's Fate

[Wolfie]

Spoiler warning for Link's Awakening and Link's Awakening Dx.


Anyways when the game ends it is revealed to have all been a dream and all the characters you encounter to have not been real and stop existing when you finish the game. This is especially painful as Link falls in love on the island with a girl named Marin.

However if you beat the game without dying once at the end you unlock a special cutscene where Marin is seen becoming a seagull and flying off. At least she is alive but Link can't very well live happily ever after with a bird.

This horribly sad ending left me in tears as a kid. And I started thinking about it and noticed certain similarities between Marin and another Zelda character...

Medli is a Rito (half bird half girl) from Wind Waker. She has many things in common with Marin. They both have red hair, they both play a harp, and they both have bird features.

Why does this matter?

Because they are from different timelines!
Wind Waker takes place in the "Hero is successful adult timeline" and Link's Awakening occurs in the "Hero is defeated timeline".

In other words Marin could be Medli (and vice versa) simply incarnated differently due to different world shaping events!

So that is my theory. Medli and Marin are the same character in different timelines and even though Marin may survive as a bird at the end of Link's Awakening she may not be stuck in that form and Link may get his happily ever after in an otherwise super depressing ending.

Thanks for reading!

 

[HeroOfTime]

Interesting idea. I also felt sad at the end of LA, but why do you think Link was in love with Marin?

 

[snakeoiltanker]

It was obvious that Marin was in love with Link, but i dont know about the other way around.

 

[HeroOfTime]

So what about everyone else? Did they cease to exist?

 

[Wolfie]

I guess I should say that Link had the option of falling in love with Marin because you could take her on dates and enjoy funny easter eggs with her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpNAf2G13Kc

And yes everyone else at the end of Link's Awakening ceased to exist.

 

[HeroOfTime]

Okay, that was cute.

 

[Naruko]

I don't think that Marin and Medli are the same person. Just doesn't feel plausible. Then again, I don't have any arguments besides a gut feeling, so...

Beating this game always makes me so so sad. I hated that the island disappeared, since Marin is adorable.

 

[HeroOfTime]

Yeah. *sigh* I always feel sad finishing up those Zelda games. Link goes from being awesome hero, best knight in Hyrule, to retiring and becoming a normal person... And after all he goes through, he usually doesn't even get any recognition for it! I wish that Nintendo would make their games so that after you beat (insert boss name here), you get to save it as peaceful Hyrule, and talk with all the people who now respect and look up to you.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Well link obviously doesn't marry Medli, he marrys someone human otherwise Spirit Tracks link would be half human half bird...

 

[HeroOfTime]

Hahaha! I can just picture that!!

 

[VitaTempusN92]

You all know that Marin only existed in Koholint Island because of Link's dreams mixing with the windfish's dreams right? In other words Marin's being only exists within Link's head but at the same time her knowledge is from the windfish. Marin is like the link between Link and the windfish, even though she exists because of Link, the windfish and Link communicate and connects to each other through Link's dream girl (literally), Marin (who exists in Link's head as girl who Link can relate to while she has knowledge given to her by the windfish).

I believe that there is a real world counterpart of Marin that does exist outside of Link's head but that counterpart isn't really the same girl and doesn't have same name, as Marin (mostly by name and her connection to Link) is only Link's imagination/vision of a girl that he can relate to.

Long story short:

LA Marin = Link's dream girl (again literally)

Real Marin = Someone else entirely, different name and everything.

 

[jeresun]

Wow I've never thought of whether Marin or any incarnation of her could exist in the real world. I just thought of her as an extension of the Wind Fish's personality just like the owl, because she unquestionably helps you in your quest, even though she knows it might mean she ceases to exist. As much as I would hope she could be real, the truth is hard to accept.

 

[Jeffers]

Well link obviously doesn't marry Medli, he marrys someone human otherwise Spirit Tracks link would be half human half bird...

I'm not suggesting that the Hero of Winds ever had any romantic relationship with Medli, but I think it's important to note that the Links throughout the series are not necessarily related to each other. Remember that in The Wind Waker the King of Red Lions straight up tells Jabun that Link has no relation to the Hero of Time. Also keep in mind that the Link of Spirit Tracks lives with Niko, who'd mention that he look like an old friend of his (referring to the Hero of Winds). Niko, having known both the Hero of Winds and Link in Spirit Tracks, would almost certainly know if they were related.

 

[AncientPoe]

Yeah. *sigh* I always feel sad finishing up those Zelda games. Link goes from being awesome hero, best knight in Hyrule, to retiring and becoming a normal person... And after all he goes through, he usually doesn't even get any recognition for it! I wish that Nintendo would make their games so that after you beat (insert boss name here), you get to save it as peaceful Hyrule, and talk with all the people who now respect and look up to you.

This is perhaps the thing I dislike most about Zelda games. You're always stuck in this limbo of the land being at risk. I do wish there was a good post game that recognizes your achievements, like Fallout 3 does.

 

[AncientPoe]

Has anyone here read the Wheel of Time fantasy novel series? It's the best parable I can think of to the Legend of Zelda series, in that the spirits of its heroes and villains are spun out again and again through all the ages of time to play out their world ending/world driving conflicts. (only in those books it's the ceaseless struggle of dark and light that drives existence itself.)