Who is The Minish Cap’s Link?

That’s right, Zelda Dungeoners; second analysis of a Link in two weeks. I must warn you, in this editorial, and the upcoming one on Vaati, you may experience déjà vu to some degree, likely due to the similarity in backgrounds of Four Swords’ Link and The Minish Cap’s Link, as stated in my previous editorial. As for Vaati, well, he’s one-in-the-same, but this time he still has his memories. But why am I talking about Vaati? This is about Link!

In the past, I’ve more often focused on Link’s decisions throughout the game, and ended up retelling the game, entirely. This is due to any Link’s distinct lack of personality, due to the character being there to ‘link’ the player and the game and to strengthen the player’s sense of involvement in the events of this game. This time, and in future editorials on a Link of any one game, I aim to instead look at Link’s relationships with other characters, and get a better idea of who he is from that (though, in reality, you really shouldn’t judge a person based on what others say about them). Sounds tantalizing? Well, there’s only one way you can satisfy that curiosity…

As stated in my previous editorial, this Link shares a similar background as the Link in Four Swords, in that he is childhood friends with the Princess Zelda of his time. This time, however, there are different circumstances. This Link lives with his grandfather, Smith (more than a little coincidental, given that his grandfather is a blacksmith), and is his apprentice, dreaming to one day be a blacksmith like his grandfather. You can’t help but wonder how a young princess would become friends with a young boy with a somewhat, less clean, occupation?

Like the Link in Four Swords, this Link ends up wielding a sword, and seems quite proficient in using it. This could once again imply that he has had some training in the way of combat, which isn’t as surprising this time, given that he actually makes the weapons (most likely for the castle guards). Indeed, spending that much time in and around the castle, Link was sure to meet Princess Zelda eventually, and when they did meet, they became friends.

At the start of the game, Zelda arrives at Link’s house and asks Master Smith (as she refers to him) if she could take Link to the annual Picori Festival. Smith proceeds to wake Link up so that he can go with Zelda to the festival. The fact that she is asking implies that she does not feel comfortable with simply waking Link up herself and dragging him to the festival like normal friends would. This suggests that their friendship is a relatively new one, and when you think about it, it’s understandable, because, they may have met when Link was learning how to use a sword, and how many kids below 12 years of age do you see being taught how to use a murderous weapon?

Anyways, when a new challenger, by the name of Vaati, wins this year’s duelling challenge, things quickly go pear-shaped. After winning the duelling challenge, Vaati is awarded the honor of touching the legendary Picori Blade, which holds shut the appropriately-named Bound Chest, the contents of which are unknown. Believing the chest to contain a mysterious power that will make him all powerful, Vaati uses his magic to send the guards flying and snap the Picori Blade in two! With the sword that was holding the chest closed broken, the chest breaks open and the hordes of monsters that were contained within escape. In a fit of rage, Vaati turns Zelda to stone and vanishes, going to seek his prize elsewhere.

Later, the King claims that only the Picori Blade can return Zelda to her original state, but because it is broken, and the Picori only reveal themselves to children, Link is sent with the broken portion of the blade to find the Picori and have it restored. While it was the King who asked Link to go, it was Link who agreed. He doesn’t know Vaati’s intentions, but he knows that they are ill, and he must be stopped. But the King didn’t ask for Link to do it to stop Vaati, he asked Link to do it to save Zelda.

We know Link has several reasons to do as he is asked: to restore the Picori Blade and to keep Vaati from finding the mysterious power he is searching for (which is later revealed to be something known as the Light Force), to save Zelda and restore his childhood friend, and I’ll leave that there, because there’s not really much to ask about that: every Link possesses the spirit of the hero, and will stop at nothing to save the innocent and defeat evil.

On Link’s journey to find the Picori, he finds Ezlo. After Link saves Ezlo from two Octoroks, Ezlo (being in the form of a hat, due to some happy coincidence) jumps on Link’s head and sticks with him for the rest of his adventure. Over the course of the adventure, Ezlo stops treating Link like the lost child that found him in the woods, and more like the hero that he is slowly becoming. From Ezlo’s perspective, you can see definite character development in Link. When Link started his journey, he could only gawk at the strange things in the world that he’d never seen before, but as Link encountered more and more new enemies and places, Link began to accept that world is a wonderful, strange place, and knew that there was a time and place to simply explore the world, but for now, he must continue on his adventure. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Smith, having last seen Link as a young blacksmith’s apprentice, and then when Vaati has been sealed and Zelda restored to her normal self, Link would be nearly unrecognizable, as he is now a competent young swordsman and a hero.

But as I said at the start of this editorial, you can’t judge people by what others think of them. Would Link feel he has grown as individual, or that he has fulfilled some sort of destiny? Because there is no way to know that for certain, what do you guys think? This was a nice, reasonably short editorial, and to keep from going into further, unnecessary detail, I want to know what you guys think of the Link in The Minish Cap. How do you think he became friends with Zelda? Do you think there was one particular reason for his decision to go on his journey? Do you think Link is ever surprised at how far he comes in a journey, or does he dismiss it as fulfilling a destiny? Let me know in the comments.