Should Link Have a Rival?

[Djinn]

When I say rival I mean someone who is not necessarily Link's enemy but definitely not his ally either. Someone who is very much like Link in appearance and ability who is on unfriendly terms or direct competition to the goal of the game. And separate from Dark Link as he was a clone of Link, someone that is a new and different character.

Basically the idea came to me after replaying Metroid Prime Hunters again and I loved that Nintendo added so many other bounty hunters with their own unique weapons and abilities. Similar enough to Samus but just different enough to make each of them an individual. Finally someone outside of the same old Space Pirates that Samus could fight. Then I thought about other games that has made a special rival character like that. Mario has Wario, Megaman has Bass/Forte, Sonic has Knuckles (Shadow would be in the dame category as Dark Link)

Now I know Ganondorf will always be the main villain of the series. And we do have Dark/Shadow Link for those Link vs. Link moments. But he is just a copy of Link in all his abilities. What I am looking for is someone that fights the same way but might carry a different magic sword and some special magical items of his own to give Link trouble on his adventure. Link finds the Master sword, other guy finds the magical sword, Link gains the fire rod, other guy discovers the ice rod.

So does anyone else like the concept? Or am I alone here?

 

[Caeda]

This sounds really good. It could be someone from his hometown that Link somehow insulted and is now trying to get back at him. And in the end you take control of him after Link gets knocked out by the final boss.

Kingdom Hearts 2 reference with the taking control of him for those that don't knnow.

 

[VembersWind]

i don't think that's a very good idea. sure it'd bring some cool fights to the game, but it wouldn't make much sense story-wise. think about it, one inspiration for most game heroes to go on quests is "i'm the only one strong enough to do this" if you give link a rival with the same goal and same level of skill, then there'd be pretty much no point for link to go on a quest himself and try and out do the rival. after all, link's never after the glory that comes with saving hyrule, so why would he bother if his rival can (and will) do it? plus, it'd make link look pretty lame if some random person was as strong as the hero chosen by the goddesses

 

[Lord Death]

This sounds really good. It could be someone from his hometown that Link somehow insulted and is now trying to get back at him. And in the end you take control of him after Link gets knocked out by the final boss.

Kingdom Hearts 2 reference with the taking control of him for those that don't knnow.

Haha yea like when you take control of Riku and fight Xemnas! Lol good reference, but yea that sounds like a sweet idea! (the whole rival thing I mean)

 

[Djinn]

i don't think that's a very good idea. sure it'd bring some cool fights to the game, but it wouldn't make much sense story-wise. think about it, one inspiration for most game heroes to go on quests is "i'm the only one strong enough to do this" if you give link a rival with the same goal and same level of skill, then there'd be pretty much no point for link to go on a quest himself and try and out do the rival. after all, link's never after the glory that comes with saving hyrule, so why would he bother if his rival can (and will) do it? plus, it'd make link look pretty lame if some random person was as strong as the hero chosen by the goddesses

Well part of my idea was the the other guy would be out for glory. His motivations are not nearly as noble as Link's. Link wishes to save Hyrule and defeat evil while the rival would only want to make a name for himself and reap all the rewards for heroism without any of the honor. The clash in ideologies between the true hero vs. the wannabe hero would make an interesting parallel. I imagined any fight between them would be started by the rival angered at Link's success while Link would be more concerned with bigger and more important things. The rival's self serving attitude would help drive Link's more noble quest.

And plenty of other people who are not associated with the gods have rivaled Link in strength before. Vaati, Nabooru, Byrne, Darbus, and Impa not to mention a few others. I think it would be refreshing to see someone else in Hyrule who is a little more proactive and not another completely helpless Hylian waiting for some hero to save them.

 

[Nye Pendragon]

I think this could work, if done correctly. :3

First of all, the rival could not be at the exact skill level as Link. That wouldn't make sense because Link is the keeper of the Triforce of Courage, and his rival wouldn't, so Link would always one-up him. But that could be a very interesting plot device! Say it's Link's best friend from home, who studies with him and such, and they both set out to defeat this evil. But his friend is foolish enough to think that it is his destiny, not the Link's, and tries to do everything better than Link. This could lead to Link having to save or even defeat his friend on many occasions because of this foolishness. It could be an interesting side story, to say the least. Someone who is not quite the skill level of Link, but still someone useful on Link's side. Or, his friend could originally have good intentions, like helping Link as much as he can, and eventually be led astray by the evil currently attempting to take over Hyrule/the land. He could join the evil, which would force Link to have to end his friend's life before things get out of hand. OR, this rival could actually BECOME the evil taking over the land. Kind of like Darth Vator from Star Wars, you know? Or maybe, he could just have the same goals as Link, but in the end decides that it is indeed Link's destiny to save Hyrule/the land. Maybe he'll even help Link in his final battle, like Zelda did in Spirit Tracks, or something could happen like it did to Linebeck in Phantom Hourglass. Or he could just be like Gary from Pokemon and just be a jerk, always trying to be better than Link. Cx (I think I'm just repeating myself now.)

Who knows, maybe this might happen in Skyward Sword! xD

 

[Caeda]

You have a point about the helpless Hylians. They might be more helpless then PEACH, who does almost nothing but sit around waiting to be kidnapped and rescued.

Also, I have a backstory for a character like that. I'm not going to post it yet because I might make it into a full story in a thread.

As for the fact that it wouldn't make sense story-wise, it would make alot of sense. I'll post my idea later this week to clear it up.

 

[Jimmy]

Could do the story some good. It's pretty boring to see a big band villain is threatening to take power over the world. I think being in competition with a villain who is trying to collect something (the sacred thingamajigs to give you lots of power) would be cool. Although I have a feeling it's been done before in another game.

 

[Djinn]

Could do the story some good. It's pretty boring to see a big band villain is threatening to take power over the world. I think being in competition with a villain who is trying to collect something (the sacred thingamajigs to give you lots of power) would be cool. Although I have a feeling it's been done before in another game.

Reminds me of Seiken Densetsu 3. Which had three big bad villains all after the same goal and six different heroes to stop them. Depending on which three of the six heroes you choose, one of the villains would end up the main villain of the story you had to defeat at the end of the game. They also determined what levels you would have to take on and which ones you would ignore.

A situation like that adds plenty of replay value to a game. I wish some other companies would attempt it again.

 

[Moonlight]

I would not mind Link having a rival...but then again link is my favorite character of all time so I would probably be annoyed by that rival if I am not mistaken was Mido not one of links rivals since they both never got along, and then a town was named after mido?
Also Link was best friends with Saria, and the great mido was not... Mido just sounds like a good rival, to link... but then again I could be wrong. Just a thought.

 

[Caeda]

Mido was a rival to Link, but I don't think he was exactly what he means here.

 

[Skullkid96]

its shadow link for me because he know alot that links knows and he looks like him and doesnt appear in much games

 

[Azure Sage]

That would be a good idea! here's an example for you(but not for SS): Link and some other guy from his hometown are always getting in fights as kids over little things, his rival secretly admires him (kinda like Naruto and Sasuke's relationship in the early episodes of Naruto), eventually Link leaves his hometown to go see the world or something (i dunno, somethng that will eventually lead to Link's saving hyrule, it depends on the story to this hypathetical game), fast-forward a few years, not to be out-done, Links rival left too to better himself a while back and discovers that Link is now working to save hyrule, rival seeks Link out to challenge him or something, and that can be their first fight, and it can take place after the first dungeon or so, and the rest is like others above me have said, rival appears randomly throughout the game to fight Link, maybe they're forced to fight along side each other at some point, and maybe work together to defeat Ganon... That might work.

 

[Chiraku]

I like the idea, and like Caeda, I'm working on a story that has a rival for Link. Somebody who is almost like Link but is an anti-hero instead of a 'chosen-hero', the concept is really interesting.

 

[Oni]

Yea, it should be there. but if that happens,it might be like pokemon.