Throughout the Legend of Zelda series us gamers have never had the pleasure of getting to know much about Link’s back story. On some occasions we will find out Link’s job and or hobbies. But outside of the obvious details are kept scarce.
What is even more weird is the fact that Nintendo keeps hush hush about Link’s family. But why could this be? The first game in which Link has any form of family is A Link to the Past. In aLttP gamers are introduced to Link’s Uncle. At the beginning of the game he rushes off into the night and tells Link, “Link, I’m going out for a bit, but there’s no need for you to worry. I’ll be back by morning, but I don’t want you leaving the house until then…” Of course Link does not do so and Link stumbles across his Uncle who tells him you must help Zelda.
What happens next led many to believe that Zelda may in fact be Link’s sister. When Link finds his uncle injured in the castle he says, “Save the Princess… Zelda is your… … …” As I said this created a lot of speculation on how the sentence was supposed to end. Many fans believed he was telling Link that Zelda was his sister. However, this speculation has since been disproved leading Link’s Uncle as the only member of Link’s family that is introduced in this game.
No mention of Link’s family would be presented again until The Ocarina of Time. Thought details were once again scarce, Nintendo gave Link some sort of a back story for the first time ever in the Legend of Zelda series. During some cut scenes, it is explained that Link was taken in by the Deku Tree when an injured woman showed up at the entrance to the Kokiri Forest. The exact quote states, “Some time ago, before the King of Hyrule unified this country, there was a fierce war in our world. One day, to escape from the fires of the war, a Hylian mother and her baby boy entered this forbidden forest. The mother was gravely injured… Her only choice was to entrust the child to the Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest. The Deku Tree could sense that this was a child of destiny, whose fate would affect the entire world, so he took him into the forest. After the mother passed away, the baby was raised as a Kokiri. And now, finally, the day of destiny has come!”
From this we learn that Link’s mother and most likely his father was killed in a war. This left Link as an orphan for the events of The Ocarina of Time. But of course, the existence of multiple Links have been confirmed so what about his parents in every other Zelda game? In a couple of the Zelda games we also learn that Link does share the blood-line of the royal Knights of Hyrule but this again provides very few clues to Link’s family. If anything this just opens up more speculation. Does Link come from royal blood? Was his father a knight?
The last example I will provide is in regards to The Wind Waker. In The Wind Waker the game starts off on Outset Island. For the first time ever we start to see some form of a family for Link. Him and his sister Aryll (Yes he has a sister!) are being raised by their grandmother. But why is this? What happened to Link’s parents this time? Both Link and his sister Aryll are fairly young so it is not likely their parents have died of old age and that would not make sense seeing as their grandmother is still alive. It never mentions them dying of sickness or of an injury. So what happened? Why did Nintendo choose to cut Link’s parents out of the scene altogether?
There must be some logic behind this. My only guess is that Nintendo would like to keep Link’s identity and back-story as much of a secret as possible. This ensures part of the “legend” aspect of the series. Link is just a young boy that goes from a nobody to the hero of Hyrule and other far away lands.
Will we ever get to know Link’s parents? Will they show up in the next Zelda games? I doubt it. Nintendo has given Link a family on a few occasions and every time they do so it just creates more questions and is probably just used as a substitution to keep fans guessing.
If you enjoyed this article please sign up to our Legend of Zelda forums to discuss it!
