Link, your childhood hero, officially had a really dark end

Did you know what happened to the young Link you played in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask? The answer is pretty grim.

Many of you will probably have had your first contact with the hero “Link” from the “The Legend of Zelda” universe during the golden age of the Nintendo 64 console. This is where the two titles “Ocarina of Time” and “Majora’s Mask” were released, and they are still among the most popular Zelda games today.

You play the hero’s journey of Link, the boy from the Kokiri village who becomes the “Hero of Time”. He defeats Ganondorf, saves the princess and later even prevents the moon from falling onto the world of Termina.

But what most people probably didn’t know was that Link, the hero of time, survived these experiences anything but positively. They traumatized him and meant that he could not even find peace in death.

The latest Zelda was recently introduced:

The Hero of Time – A Legend Nobody Knows

If you don’t remember the events of “Ocarina of Time,” here’s a quick summary:

Ocarina of Time is a time travel story in which Link, as a child, comes into contact with the “Master Sword”, which essentially froze him for 7 years. After he awakens – now an adult – the world is controlled by Ganondorf.

In the game, you switch back and forth between these two times (by putting the Master Sword back in its socket). After Ganondorf is defeated, Princess Zelda uses her power to send Link back to the past so that he can live his life again and have a fulfilling childhood this time. In doing so, the sword is also sealed again so that time travel is no longer possible.

Even though Zelda’s idea was for Link’s benefit, the decision had consequences: Zelda created two different timelines. The “adult” timeline, in which all the events of Ocarina of Time took place, and the “child” timeline, in which Link lives his new youth.

For Link, however, this was extremely stressful. He still had memories of all the years he had fought in Hyrule and the friendships he had made. But in this “new” timeline, these things never happened. He had been locked out of “his world,” where he was the hero of time.

But since Link still has a heroic and good character, he warns Zelda about Ganondorf in this timeline too, so that Zelda and the king can take action against Ganondorf before he puts his schemes into action. In this “child” timeline, Ganondorf’s plans are prevented quite unspectacularly early on.

A second world in Majora’s Mask

Link doesn’t stay with Zelda for long, however, but wants to look for Navi – his fairy friend who left him without a word. He ends up wandering through the forests of Hyrule and is found by the “Horror Kid”. Link is transported to another dimension: the kingdom of Termina, which is threatened by the moon, which will fall onto the world in three days. This is the game “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask”.

Time plays a big factor again. Link is able to “reset” the destruction of the world again and again and travel three days into the past just before the moon hits. In the process, all the creatures he has met – with the exception of the new fairy who accompanies him – lose their memory of him.

After countless time jumps, he manages to prevent the impact of the moon and free the “Horror Kid” from the mask and destroy the dark creature Majora.

But while the destruction of Majora “saves” the world from the moon crashing, the entire universe of Termina is wiped out at the same time, as it was just an invention of the powers of the mask and the Horror Kid. All of the experiences, friendships and heroic deeds that Link had there were simply not “real” – and there is no one who can remember them. Except Link himself.

Afterwards, Link finds himself back in the “real” world and continues to search for the fairy Navi.

What happened to him after that is not entirely clear. But one thing is certain: Link dies at some point.

Twilight Princess and the Dead Hero

In “Twilight Princess” you will meet the “Ghost of a Hero” several times during your journey. This is an undead skeleton with a suspicious sword and shield that teaches the hero of the game new sword techniques. This skeleton is the Hero of Time – Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.

It is no coincidence that the Hero of Time is portrayed as a Skeleton Knight. This is a creature known in Ocarina of Time as “Stalfos”. People who get lost in the forest and are not Kokiri become Stalfos there. This makes sense, as the Hero of Time is not a Kokiri, but was taken in as an orphan by the Deku Tree.

Or to put it quite clearly: Link, the hero of time, never found his friend Navi while wandering through the woods, ultimately got lost himself and could not find peace in death due to all the experiences and doubts in which he lost two “realities”.

Who would have thought that there was such a dark story behind Zelda?

Where does the information come from? The information comes from the book “Hyrule Historia”, which was published several years ago. With the book, Nintendo has put the Zelda games in chronological order and also explained the connections between the different games. Because even though you often play a “new” Link, many games in the Zelda universe are clearly connected to each other.

Did you know what became of your shining childhood hero? Or would you have been happier if you had never had this new information, since you can no longer look at the “Hero of Time” with the same innocent eyes? In any case: you’re welcome. But Link was never completely harmless anyway – he could even kill a villager.