Link isn't just a guy in a green hat. If you've spent any time in Hyrule, you know that. Most people look at the roster and see a boy, a princess, and a pig-demon, but the reality of all Legend of Zelda characters is way more tangled than a simple "hero saves the world" trope. It’s a generational soap opera. A curse. A repeating nightmare fueled by a literal God of Evil.
Honestly, the series has been running since 1986, and the way the developers at Nintendo handle their cast is kind of weird when you think about it. They keep using the same names—Link, Zelda, Beedle, Impa—but they aren’t the same people. Not usually, anyway. Except for the few times they are. Confused? You should be. It’s a timeline mess that makes Inception look like a coloring book.
The Hero Who Never Speaks
Link is the blank slate. That’s the point. Shigeru Miyamoto wanted a "link" between the player and the game world. But over forty years, the various iterations of Link have developed actual personalities. You’ve got the Hero of Time from Ocarina of Time, who is basically a tragic figure living in a world that forgot he saved it. Then there’s the Wind Waker Link, who is just a kid trying to save his sister and ends up stabbing a god in the forehead.
Each version of the hero carries the Spirit of the Hero. It’s not reincarnation in the traditional sense; it’s more like a spiritual job description. He’s usually an orphan. He’s always courageous. He always ends up doing the heavy lifting while everyone else stands around in towns. One thing people get wrong is thinking Link is a single person. He isn’t. If you look at the Hyrule Historia—which is the closest thing we have to a Bible for this stuff—there are at least three distinct timelines where different Links exist.
The Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom version of the character is perhaps the most "human" we've seen. He has a favorite food (usually anything with a hearty truffle). He gets cold. He hums while he cooks. This specific Link is a knight of the royal guard, a departure from the "random farm boy" origin we saw in Twilight Princess.
Zelda Is Rarely a Damsel Anymore
If you still think Zelda is just waiting in a tower, you haven't played a game since the NES. All Legend of Zelda characters revolve around her, but she’s often the one doing the actual magical heavy lifting. In Ocarina of Time, she spent seven years disguised as Sheik, a ninja-warrior teaching Link the songs he needed to survive. That’s not a damsel. That’s a mentor.
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Then you have Tetra. In The Wind Waker, Zelda is a sassy pirate captain who doesn't even know she’s royalty. She’s got a cutlass and a crew of buff sailors who follow her every word. When she finds out she’s a princess, she’s actually kind of annoyed by it. It’s a great subversion.
The most recent Zelda, the one from the "Wild" era, is a scholar. She’s a nerd. She loves ancient tech and hates that she can't make her magic work. Her journals in Tears of the Kingdom show a woman burdened by the weight of a dying kingdom. She isn’t a trophy; she’s a leader who eventually sacrifices her own humanity to ensure Hyrule has a future. That’s heavy stuff for a "kids game."
The Villain Who Can't Stay Dead
Ganondorf is the big one. Or Ganon. There’s a difference, though people use them interchangeably. Ganondorf is the man—the King of the Gerudo. Ganon is the beast—the blue pig thing or the literal cloud of malice.
He’s the only one of the trio who is usually the same guy. While Link and Zelda are descendants or spiritual successors, the Ganondorf you see in The Wind Waker is the same guy from Ocarina of Time. He’s been stewing in his own hatred for centuries.
- The Motivations: In Ocarina, he wanted power.
- The Path: In Wind Waker, he admitted he was jealous of the wind that blew across Hyrule, compared to the harsh desert heat of his homeland.
- The End State: By Tears of the Kingdom, he’s basically a dehydrated mummy who just wants to watch the world burn.
His presence is a fixed point. According to the end of Skyward Sword, he is the manifestation of Demise’s hatred. It’s a literal curse. No matter how many times Link kills him, he’s coming back. It sucks for everyone involved.
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The Weirdos of the Side Quests
The "Big Three" get all the glory, but the soul of the franchise lives in the side characters. Think about Tingle. A 35-year-old man who thinks he’s a forest fairy and sells maps. He’s so weird that he actually got his own spin-off games in Japan. Or Beedle, the energetic merchant who will follow you to the ends of the earth just to sell you a cricket.
Then there are the races. The Gorons are rock-eating bros who live in volcanoes. The Zora are elegant fish people (who occasionally turn into scary river monsters in the older games). The Rito are bird-folk who didn't even exist until the sea flooded Hyrule.
Groose: The Greatest Redemption Arc
If you haven't played Skyward Sword, you might just see Groose as a bully with a pompadour. But he’s actually one of the best-written people in the series. He starts as Link’s rival for Zelda’s affection and ends up building a massive rail-gun catapult (the Groosenator) to help fight a literal demon. He realizes he’s not the "Chosen One," and instead of being bitter, he decides to be the best support character he can be. We need more of that.
Misconceptions About the Timeline
People obsess over where all Legend of Zelda characters fit into the timeline. Is it the Child Timeline? The Adult Timeline? The "Link Died" Timeline? (Yes, there is a timeline based entirely on the player losing the final boss fight in 1998).
The truth is, Nintendo makes the game first and the story second. They’ve admitted this. Eiji Aonuma, the long-time producer, has basically said they try to fit the pieces together after the fact. This leads to some weird inconsistencies. For example, why are there Rito and Zora in the same game in Breath of the Wild when the Rito were supposed to be evolved Zora? The answer is usually: "Because it looked cool."
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Why We Care About Them
We care because these characters represent different ways of dealing with fate. Link is courage. Zelda is wisdom. Ganon is power. It’s the Triforce in human form.
But it’s also the smaller moments. It’s Anju and Kafei in Majora’s Mask, two lovers trying to get married while the moon is literally falling on their heads. It’s Midna, the Twilight Princess, who starts out using Link as a pawn and ends up being his closest friend. These characters feel real because they have flaws. They’re scared, they’re selfish, and sometimes they’re just plain bizarre.
The Evolution of the Supporting Cast
In the early days, NPCs (non-player characters) were just signposts. "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this." Now, they have schedules. In Majora’s Mask, every single person in Clock Town has a 72-hour routine. You can follow them. You can see their lives fall apart as the deadline approaches. This depth is what separates Zelda from other fantasy RPGs.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans and Newcomers
If you’re trying to keep track of everyone or just want to appreciate the depth of the series more, here’s how to actually engage with the lore:
- Read the Diaries: In the newer games (BotW, TotK), characters like Zelda and King Rhoam leave journals behind. Read them. They contain 90% of the actual character development that doesn't make it into the cutscenes.
- Talk to Everyone Twice: NPCs often change their dialogue after major events or even just based on the time of day.
- Watch the Background: Characters like the Happy Mask Salesman or Malon often have cameos or references in other games that hint at a broader, shared universe.
- Don't Stress the Timeline: Enjoy each game as a legend. Like any legend, the details change with the storyteller. Whether Link is a pixelated sprite or a high-definition warrior, the "Spirit of the Hero" remains the same.
The magic of these characters isn't just in their designs or their special moves. It’s in the fact that, after forty years, we still want to see what happens to them next. We want to see if Zelda finally gets to be happy, if Link finally gets a break, and if Ganondorf can ever find a way to break his cycle of malice. Until the next game drops, we’ll keep theorizing about every single person inhabiting the wild, beautiful world of Hyrule.