General Zelda Which Game Had the Best Relationship Between Link and Zelda?

[Justac00lguy]

I was rather curious about which game executed the whole "Link x Zelda" thing the best. Now I'm not just strictly talking about a relationship based around love but just a relationship in general.

I'm a big advocate of having a stronger bond between Zelda and Link as I feel it can really add to the game. For one, [Princess] Zelda is usually our, or Link's, main motivation to go on his quest. By making this stronger connection between the two it can really add a certain motivation for us, the player.

So anyway, what game do you think featured the best relationship between Link and Zelda?

 

[JuicieJ]

Is this even a question? Skyward Sword. There was actual chemistry between them that showed off their inseparable bond, one strong enough to actually make it possible to care for them, unlike in any previous Zelda game, Spirit Tracks aside -- which, even then, it wasn't nearly as potent. Seriously, the reaction Link had to Zelda sealing herself away alone was enough to show just how strong their friendship was.

It's almost not even fair trying to compare any of the other games to SS regarding this, because rarely any of them even attempted to CREATE a relationship between them, and even when they did, it wasn't all that heartfelt. I'd like to see a future title do even more with their relationship.

 

[Dragoncat]

SS hands down...they're adorable together, and since they've been friends forever, there's more motivation there. He's going out and finding her to bring her back, because of that already existing relationship. Most other games in the series, if he wasn't too nice for his own good, he could just say "meh, what's in it for me?" and consider not going out and risking his life to help a girl he barely knows.

 

[Mangachick14]

Definitely Skyward Sword. Zelda was portrayed as Link's best friend, and seeing as he didn't seem nearly as close to anyone else on Skyloft and didn't appear to have any sort of relatives, it was pretty clear she meant a lot to him. And though she didn't put up with his laziness, she seemed to care about him a great deal as well. I even got a little teary at Zelda's sealing scene, and I seriously wanted to rip Ghirahim's head off when he ruined their reunion. SS Link and Zelda were just dang adorable. Such a nice contrast from most games (Aside from Minish Cap, which attempted a similar approach) where both of them are complete strangers.

I didn't mind Oot's relationship either, but honestly, they were still really business-like. I think the Oot manga did a far better job at creating chemistry between the two.

 

[Sheik]

Yeah yeah, SS. I'll look for the best non-SS relationships.

Haven't played it, but I think in tMC, Link and Zelda are childhood friends. But I don't know how far that is taken, soo...

Also haven't played it, but in ST, because Zelda is Link's partner, I suppose that would make for some good development. If they actually make the fullest of this, again, I don't know.

However, the best non-SS Zelda-Link relationship I've seen so far is WW. This is interesting. Not because she starts off as Tetra, but just because their relationship is simply better than three certain others I will get to in a bit. This is because Link and... Telda? Zetra? Uhh... Well, they have more interaction than in the others.This begins when Link rescues Tetra in the forest on Outset, and when Tetra takes Link to the Forbidden Fortress. So right off the bat, they kind of owe each other. This is great because they aren't just helping each other out for no reason. Well, Link kind of goes to rescue Tetra and she didn't do anything for him, but... I don't suppose the most interesting of things happen on that island often...
They see each other again when they make a competition for who gets to the treasure in Outset. And later, and I suppose this is because they have gone through enough together for a friendship to have built up between them, Tetra helps Link rescue his sister. Not to mention she also saves his butt from getting handed over to him by Ganondorf.
So then, Tetra goes through the whole Zelda thing, and honestly... I didn't care for this all that much. I didn't find it very interesting or even relevant that Tetra was Zelda all along. But whatever, this is about the relationship, and so Link saves her from Ganondorf. Finally, they take down Ganon together. I really like this because they go through a lot together, moreso than in the others, and their friendship is actually built up in the game's events, not just before it all, like in SS. Just the relationship isn't as strong.

Then come the three I don't care for. ALttP's, OoT's, and TP's. These three are all very similar: You meet Zelda near the beginning of the game, you don't talk to her much for a bit. Then suddenly, somewhere in the middle (actually after the first three main dungeons), something happens to her. In ALttP, she is, uh... Agahnim-ized (in my defense, I really don't remember what happens...). In OoT, she escapes the castle with Impa, and Ganondorf starts on her trail. In TP, she sacrifices her own life to save Midna's. I kind of don't care for this all that much because Link has only seen her, I think, once (that is, unless you actually go back to talk to her manually, and even then, nothing of true importance happens). So, because Zelda and Link's relationship isn't built up enough, you really don't care all that much when whatever happens to her.
I feel OoT had the best of these, where Zelda is a rather likeable character, and you kind of want to support her. It's like, I don't want to, buuut I'll make this an exception. In ALttP, she doesn't have all that much personality, so I kind of don't care. And in TP, sure, it's honorable to save Midna like that, but still, does that build the relationship between her and Link? no
So then, screw the Zeldas in TP and ALttP. But again, the relationship is much better in OoT, where you actually talk to her several times throughout the game... okay, most of those were Sheik, but whatever.

 

[DarkestLink]

ST no contest. The only other game that could even compete is tWW. The others barely even have a (shown) relationship.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Skyward Sword by a looooooong shot.

Before ST came out, I had considered it kinda weird how so many fans kept shipping Link and Zelda together. True, in many games they did share a good friendship, but I hadn't seen anything in them that I would consider romantic. I had always seen more romantic connections with other girls like Marin, Malon, and Cremia (hmm... why are they all redheads?) than with Zelda herself. ST was the first to give me good reason to seriously consider that kind of relationship; before, it seemed as though if Zelda was a princess it was more innocent young childhood friends or, in the older cases, businesslike acquaintanceship. With the developers behind ST also being behind SS, they were able to fully flesh out this idea.

In fact, SS is the first Zelda game for which a deep friendship / romantic relationship became the crux of the game. Seriously, everything you do in the main quest you do to get her back, not because she's the princess and you're duty-bound or whatever to rescue her, but because it's quite clear that Link cares about her and will literally go through hell and back to save her.

Another reason this one's the best is because it's not strictly a one-way street; Zelda has her own agenda as well and needs to do her own part despite wanting to get back with Link. And if you think about it even more, she's ultimately the one behind everything. I honestly felt a little betrayed when it was revealed that she was just using Link in her plan to kill Demise, and Link himself felt shocked by this as well. Yet despite all this, he still chooses to go through everything for her. That's a powerful relationship right there, one that I hadn't seen from a Zelda game before.

 

[JuicieJ]

The others barely even have a (shown) relationship.

...What?

 

[Dragoncat]

...What?

Yeah. THAT was probably a typo.

 

[DarkestLink]

...What?

Yep...they're best friends...whoop dee doo. Same thing was true in Minish Cap, I believe. Their relationship had roughly the same amount of depth in both games.

 

[Cfrock]

Yep...they're best friends...whoop dee doo. Same thing was true in Minish Cap, I believe. Their relationship had roughly the same amount of depth in both games.

I actually agree with this. In both games Link and Zelda participate in a festival of some kind, establishing a friendship, and then disaster strikes and they're more or less separated for the entire game. The only real difference is that, in Skyward Sword, Link sees Zelda a couple of times were she tells him that she has a destiny. There's very little in the way of building the relationship up beyond what it was already established to be. Link is sad when Zelda seals herself in crystal. Got it. We already knew he would be when he was sad she fell beneath the clouds. It didn't add anything new to the relationship, just reinforced an idea we already understood, and his goal didn't change because still just wanted to get her back.

I would say Spirit Tracks, possibly stretching to The Wind Waker as well. In Spirit Tracks they actually had a relationship because they interacted beyond the intro and ending. Zelda was a constant companion and we learnt a lot more about her personality than we did in any other game. The fact that she got involved in dungeons and physically helped out during the adventure built on this, as it wasn't just Link saving New Hyrule, it was both of them.

The Wind Waker starts off really strong with the whole Tetra angle, but drops the ball a bit in the later game when Zelda is confined to Hyrule and stops being involved until the final battle. The story kind of dictated that scenario, though, so I can understand why it happened, but that doesn't stop it being a shame. It would have been good to see a bit more of Tetra and make some use of her in dungeons, the way we did with Makar and Medli.

 

[the8thark]

I'm going to vote for WW and Tetra/Zelda. Tetra was cool and liked Link a lot, but it was all hidden within looks and winks.
In SS the whole Link + Zelda thing was like a disney love story, way over the top and personally not to my liking.

 

[Mangachick14]

Yep...they're best friends...whoop dee doo.

You said "The others barely even have a (shown) relationship." SS spent quite a lot of time establishing a close friendship between the two, therefore there was a shown relationship, whether you liked it best or not.

 

[JuicieJ]

I actually agree with this. In both games Link and Zelda participate in a festival of some kind, establishing a friendship, and then disaster strikes and they're more or less separated for the entire game. The only real difference is that, in Skyward Sword, Link sees Zelda a couple of times were she tells him that she has a destiny. There's very little in the way of building the relationship up beyond what it was already established to be. Link is sad when Zelda seals herself in crystal. Got it. We already knew he would be when he was sad she fell beneath the clouds. It didn't add anything new to the relationship, just reinforced an idea we already understood, and his goal didn't change because still just wanted to get her back.

Soooo did you miss the part where Link and Zelda barely have any dialogue exchanged in TMC, only for Zelda to be turned into stone and not have any real relevance again until the very end, as opposed to them frequently exchanging meaningful dialobe in SS? And, ****, with Zelda, you can see a ridiculous amount of sexual tension in her eyes every time they're even just casually chatting. Oh, and let's not forget the whole fake-out kiss tease thing on the statue, followed by Zelda (assumedly) about to confess her feelings for Link, only to be rudely interrupted by Ghirahim's tornado, followed by us literally chasing her down for the entire first half of the game, twice being too late, and the third time being interrupted by Ghirahim AGAIN, causing Link and Zelda's reunion to be put on hold.

Yeah. Totally the same.

See, the difference between TMC and SS is the amount of detail put in. In the former, we're merely told that Link and Zelda are friends, and shortly after, Zelda is turned into stone, and... that's it. In SS, we're SHOWN why Link and Zelda are friends through things like Zelda showing Link her ceremonial outfit before anyone else and coming to Link's aid against Groose's bullying (as well as things I already mentioned), which is followed up by her suddenly being (nearly) stolen away when things were at their most interesting, creating incentive to want to find her, which always results in something going wrong up until the very end, in which case the story's twist is revealed and Zelda fulfills her part in their destiny, making that moment MEAN something rather than just, "Oh, she's in a crystal now... 'Kay."

It's really amazing how you can miss out on these obvious details when you tend to write very in-depth posts. Just sayin', bro.

 

[Dragoncat]

Let's put our personal preferences aside here...I don't want this thread to turn into a big argument. Maybe Darkest is one of the people who was disappointed with SS. But, *casts sideways glance at OCs Fletcher and Kestrel* See those two there? Obviously brother and sister. Can you guess who their parents are? I'll give you a big hint: their parents were chosen by the gods for a great destiny...

So yeah. I agree with what JJ is saying, but I just thought I'd point that out.