Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Analysis: Link battle royale(Time vs Legends vs Wind vs Twilight vs Sky vs Wild)

In case you were wondering

In order to save space less important items and equipment have been left out. This primarily includes stuff like the fishing rods, the bug nets, most of the starting swords, ect.

The Hero of time will have his Ocarina, Majora’s mask and Hero’s shade counterparts composited. Keep in mind most of the “adult” equipment in Ocarina could not be used in his child form due to his age making his physical size too small for most of his items to “fit" him. Since he obviously lived until adulthood(he has a descendant), there's no reason to believe he would not have grown old enough to use said equipment again. Likewise, the Hero’s shade is just his deceased spirit taking on a physical form to teach his successor. Given it’s still technically him it can be assumed any abilities that form had, would probably have been accessible to him in his “prime”.

Each Link will be allowed to have their own version of the Master Sword in the fight, despite the fact that some of them technically either lost or returned the blade to its resting place at some points during their respective storylines.

No amiibo exclusive abilities or items for any Link. These generally aren't considered canon and have functions designed to break most of the games they're included in. This also extends to the tingle tuner for the Hero of the Winds.

We will be using stuff like the Hyrule Historia, arts and artifacts and encyclopedia for reference. However, we will exclude any info they have we think is incorrect or contradicted, as some of these books have contained errors, and the encyclopedia specifically was outlined to have info in it subject to change or information added based on the writers of the book own interpretation of events.  For example the encyclopedias clearly incoherent explanation on how Majora supposedly created Termina from the skull kids memories. Keep in mind this is mainly only attributed to a few instances and attributes more to putting the game canon as the primary source for info. The below is also the excerpt of the encyclopedia book for those curious.



Each Link will be allowed to have the manga adaptions and comics associated with their games.

Each Link will also be allowed their partners. Given almost every Link has one and some have powers they can only use with them, it's only fair.

It's implied Gramps in ALBW might be the hero of Legend. But since this is not confirmed, we will not include the abilities from that character in this blog.


Hero of the Skies




One of the earliest incarnations of Link. He was born and raised on a giant floating island in the sky and was destined to take up the goddess blade sword left behind by the ancient god Hylia. He spends the majority of his adventure forging the original master sword, and dealing with the demon villain Giriham.  He eventually comes to blows with an ancient evil known as Demise, whose death signaled the reincarnation cycle that brought the villain Ganondorf into existence. He’s also one of the individuals directly involved in the founding of Hyrule.

Armor

Hylian shield


The original Hylian shield. Sky was given this shield after passing a challenge from the dragon Lanaru. This original rendition is supposedly indestructible.


Fireshield earrings
Earrings that protect Sky from intense heat. They will even put out flames on his body. They do not fully prevent damage from intense fire-based attacks.


Weapons

Goddess blade/Master Sword
The blade of evil's bane and an important recurring object in the Zelda series. It was forged by Skies by combining the goddess Hylia’s “goddess sword” and 3 sacred flames in Skyward Sword. The sword is infused with sacred energy and has the ability to counteract curses caused by dark magic. It can even repel evil beings and destroy magical barriers. Individual versions of Link sometimes have powered up or alternative versions of the sword. The hero of the skies simply has the basic Master Sword.

Bow/Iron bow/Sacred bow


Bow and arrows that can be used to attack opponents from a distance. Skies can upgrade his set for adding attack power. He only has standard arrows to use.


Bombs
Explosive bombs that go off after a set amount of time.


Whip


A whip that can be used as a weapon or to cross over gaps by latching onto overhead objects. It can also steal objects from opponents or even latch onto objects to pull them.

Equipment


Beetles


A flying robot beetle device.  It can pick up objects and return them to Skies. If there are bombs in the area then it can pick those up and then drop them on enemies as well. It can be upgraded for additional speed and flight time.


Clawshots


Variations of the classic hook shots. They pull skies to any object they hit. Skies can maneuver between multiple points since he has two of them. They also can be used as weapons or to grab far away items.


Digging mits/Mogma mits


Mits that can be used to dig in underground tunnels. The claws can also be used to damage enemies with swiping attacks.

Gust Bellows


A nightmare when it spawns during a Smash Bros match. This item is giant bellow like device that blows harder than a hooker in a back alley. It can blow away small enemies and uncover objects hidden by sand.


Goddess harp
A harp instrument passed through Zelda’s bloodline. Skies can play it in certain locations to open pathways to the silent realm.


Sailcloth


A giant cloth like apparatus that can be used as a parachute to slow descents from high falls.


Slingshot/scattershot

A slingshot that flings seeds at opponents as an attack. It can be upgraded to shoot 3 seeds at once.


Water dragons scale


A scale from the dragon Foron. It allows skies to dive underwater and perform a powerful underwater spin attack.


Medals
Various medals skies can equip to augment his stats. Some notable ones are

Life medal: Increases HP

Potion medal: Causes his potions to last 1 minute longer.

Bottled items


Bottles that can contain healing items and objects. Skies can gain a maximum of 5. Some notable bottle items include.

Heal potion++: Restores all HP. Has two servings
Stamina potion++: Restores all stamina and prevents stamina drain for 3 minutes
Air potion+: Allows Skies to stay underwater without air for 3 minutes
Guardian potion+: Makes Skies invincible for 3 minutes
Fairy: Revives Skies from death once

Note: The hero of the skies inventory is managed partially by his “adventures pouch”. At maximum said pouch has 8 slots and every shield, bottle, medal, ammo upgrade (quivers, bomb bags, ect) take up a slot. This may be a gameplay mechanic however https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGNOhjmRjO4

Special abilities


Spin attack
The basic zelda spin attack. Skies can perform the attack horizontally and vertically.

Jump slash

He attacks...by JUMPING. WHAT A FUCKING SURPRISE :O

Skyward strike
A hidden ability of the Master Sword. Skies can hold the Master Sword upwards and charge the sword with sacred energy that can be released as a sword beam. It can be combined with the spin attack to give said attack extra range. Skies can also charge the Master Sword with power from a lightning strikes this way.

Misc
Skies also knows the shield attack technique and the ending blow technique. The former reflects projectiles or breaks an opponents guard with the shield. The latter is a downward jump thrust attack.

Partners

Fi
Fi is essentially a sentient computer AI that lives in the master sword. She has the ability to speak to people or robots telepathically. She will inform Skies if he is low on hearts or if his shield is close to breaking. She can also scan enemies, people or places and give basic information or potential strategies against them. Her most notable ability is” dowsing” a treasure-seeking ability she can use to direct Skies towards various inanimate objects or people.

Crimson Loftwing

Giant birds that are tamed and ridden by the inhabitants of Skyloft. Skies's loftwing is a rare breed called a “crimson lofwing”. His bird can also perform a boosting maneuver called the spiral charge. 

Hero of time





The hero from the games Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask. This Link was abandoned in the woods as a child after an ongoing civil war in the kingdom of Hyrule. He was taken in by a forest spirit called the Great Deku Tree and was raised amongst the Deku Tree's childlike subordinates without knowing of his true origin. He lived peacefully until a thief from the Gerudo tribe named Ganondorf came to the forest, murdered the Deku tree, and acted as a catalyst for the Hero of Time to go on a quest to help some neighboring communities. During his travels, he met Princess Zelda and the two of them unintentionally got manipulated into opening the pathway to a hidden place called the sacred realm. Ganon essentially invaded this realm to look for a source of power in it called the triforce and took over Hyrule after seizing a fragment of it. Time himself went into stasis for 7 years during this event, as he tried to take ownership of the master sword that sealed the entrance to the sacred realm, and said sword had not deemed him old enough to wield it. Of course, once Time was up and running he confronted and fought Ganondorf mono a mono.



What happened next varies, as the end of Ocarina, Time creates 3 alt timelines. The first is the future timeline where Time eat Ganon and saved Hyrule as an adult. The second is the child timeline, where he was sent back to before Ganon’s takeover and outed him before he became a threat. The 3rd is the downfall timeline, where he was actually defeated by Ganon and Ganon had to be sealed away by a group of sages in the sacred realm as a last resort.

Armor

Kokiri tunic

 
The traditional garb of the Kokiri tribe. It’s fitted to for both children and adults.


Goron tunic


A red tunic created by the Gorons using dodongo scales and bomb flower fibers. It protects the user from the extreme heat and prevents Time from catching fire. Time can even walk directly through pools of lava when wearing it.


Zora tunic


A blue tunic created by the Zora tribe. It does not have any defensive bonuses, but allows Time to breathe underwater.


Hylian shield/Hero’s shield


The hero of time uses two different shields in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask respectively. The Hylian shield is a mass-produced metallic shield used in Ocarina. The Hero’s shield is a similarly built metallic shield, but lighter to accommodate the child body Time had in Majora's mask. These shields can reflect some projectiles, most prominently the deku seeds spat out by deku monsters.


Mirror shield
A shield with a polished surface that can reflect beams of light.  It destroys certain physical projectiles like the seeds and rocks on contact. The shield can absorb magical energy and reflect it back at an opponent. Reflected light from the shield can also damage undead enemies.


Enhanced defense
Magically enhanced durability that halves damage taken by the opponent. Time was given the enhancement once by the great fairy of courage in Hyrule and again by the great fairy of courage in Termina. Assuming both enhancements stack that comes to a total of taking 1/4th damage from enemy attacks

Weapons

Master Sword
The blade of evil's bane and an important recurring object in the Zelda series. It was originally formed by combining the goddess Hylia’s “goddess sword” and 3 sacred flames in Skyward Sword. The sword is infused with sacred energy and has the ability to counteract curses caused by dark magic. It can even repel evil beings and destroy magical barriers. Individual versions of Link sometimes have power-ups or alterations given to the sword. The Hero of Time simply has the basic Master Sword.

Gilded sword


The final upgraded variation of the “Kokiri sword” first gained in Ocarina. It’s created using gold dust won during a Goron racing tournament. It has 3x the power of the Kokiri sword and longer reach.

Biggoron sword


A giant behemoth sword forged by the Goron blacksmith Biggoron using the remains of the “giants knife" blade. It has twice the attack power of the Master Sword, but can only be used with two hands, preventing Time form using his shield at the same time.

Great fairy’s sword
 A sword that was given to Time by the great fairy of kindness after saving all the stray fairies in the stone temple in Termina. It deals 4x the damage of the Kokiri sword and requires two hands to wield. The sword can be used even if Time is afflicted with the “Jinx” status effect.


Megaton hammer

A giant metal hammer used by the ancestors of the Goron. It can be used to smash heavy stone blocks, switches, and armored enemies.


Deku Sticks
Large sticks obtained from cutting down the stalks of Deku plants. They can be used as staff like weapons or can be lit on fire to form torches. They’re fairly fragile though and don’t last long particularly if burned.


Deku nuts
Nuts from the Deku baba plant. They explode in a large flash of light and stun enemies similar to a flashbang.


Fairy Slingshot


A slingshot that fires Deku seeds over a distance.


Boomerang
A boomerang weapon Time can throw to damage or stun enemies.


Fairy’s bow/Hero’s Bow
Time has a basic bow and arrow set in both Ocarina and MM. They fire normal arrows by default, but can also fire several different types of arrows that drain Time's magical power.

The arrow types include.

Fire arrows: Arrows that burn anything they hit.



Ice arrows: Arrows that can freeze opponents solid



Light Arrows: Arrows infused with light magic. Super effective against evil or undead entities.




Bombs
Explosive bombs that go off after a few seconds. They can be used to damage enemies or break down stone barriers.


Bombchu
A type of mobile bomb. It takes the form of a mouse and moves forward along the ground or even up walls before exploding after a set amount of time or being hit.


Magic

Din’s fire


A powerful magical spell that was given to Time by one of the great fairies of magic. It summons a giant dome of fire around Time that expands and burns anything in its path. It takes magical energy to use.


Nayru's love
A defensive spell learned from one of the great fairies of magic. It creates a diamond-shaped magic dome that protects Time from all attacks (though it does not nullify knockback). Time can’t use other weapons or magic attacks that consume magic power when it is active.


Farore’s wind
A teleportation spell learned from the great fairies of magic. It allows Time to establish a single “warp point” in a dungeon, so he can return to certain segments if he exits one. He can also return to a dungeon's entrance if he desires.

Equipment

Triforce of Courage
The Triforce is a relic left behind by the 3 golden goddesses that create the Zelda world and collectively can allow a person to perform a single reality warping centric wish. The Triforce of courage is a singular piece of this relic. Its effects on the bearer are not very well understood. Though it can partially protect the user from the effects of twilight in twilight princess by turning them into a wolf rather than a wandering spirit. 

Ocarina of Time
A mystical ocarina that was given to Time by his version of princess Zelda. The instrument can play various magical songs and has the ability to affect the flow of time. If Time is transmuted into another form, the Ocarina will also morph into an instrument he can use in said form.

Some songs include.

Various warping songs that allow Time to travel to the temples spread across Hyrule or Owl statues spread across Termina.
Song of time: Can solve various puzzles in Ocarina, or turn back time 3 days in Majora's Mask. Zelda herself also sent Time back in time 7 years with this song at the end of Ocarina.
Song of healing: Can ease the mental torment of others. Can change dying characters or spirits into transformation masks. Can also heal transmutations or curses.
Sonata of awakening: Wakens people from deep sleeps
Elegy of emptiness: Creates statue replicas of Link

Other notable songs include Saria’s song and Zelda’s lullaby

Note: While normal enemies and bosses are not affected by the inverted song of time in Majora's Mask this is likely a game mechanic. Normal people slow down accordingly when it’s and so do the “aliens” in the Romani sidequest.

Goron bracelet/Silver gauntlets/Golden gauntlets
The Goron bracelet, silver gauntlets, and golden gauntlets are all items that enhance Time’s physical strength. The golden gauntlets are the most effective, allowing him to easily lift giant boulders and stone columns.

Iron boots


A pair of boots that increases Time’s weight. They can be used to sink underwater quickly or maintain footing against larger opponents or high winds. Generally best combined with the zora tunic.


Hover boots


A pair of boots that allow Time to hover in the air for short periods of time. They also make his movements more slippery.


Lense of truth


A magic lens that allows Time to see through illusions or to see invisible opponents or objects. It can also be used to see through solid objects like chests. It requires magical energy to function.


Hookshot/Longshot

Hooklike weapons that can pull Time to various objects like a lasso. It can also pull objects closure to him.


Silver/Golden Scales


Zora scales that enhance Time’s swimming abilities. The golden scale is the most effective


Bottles


Empty bottles that can contain extra items and potions. Time carries a maximum of 4 in Ocarina and gains another 7 in Majora's Mask (counting the remake). That makes for a total of 11 bottles. Some notable bottle items include

Red Potion: Restores health
Green potion: Restores magic
Blue Potion: Restores magic and health
Lon Lon milk: Restores health and can be used twice
Fairy’s: Restores Time from a deadly blow once

Masks

Deku mask


A mask the contains the deceased spirit of a Deku Scrub. When wearing it Time can take on the form of a wooden Deku scrub. In this state he can hop on bodies of water, launch himself out of special flowers embedded in the ground, and hover in the air with helicopter-like flowers. He can also shoot powerful magic bubbles out of his mouth, drop deku seeds below him as an attack and perform a weaker variant of the spin attack. The form is vulnerable to fire-based attacks.



Goron mask



A mask that contains the deceased spirit of the Goron Darmanii. Wearing it turns Time into a Goron. While in the form Time gains enhanced strength he can use for powerful punches, can perform a powerful ground pound attack, and can roll into a spiked ball sonic style (though the spikes require magic). The form has resistance to heat but sinks like a stone in large bodies of water.


Zora mask
A mask that contains the deceased spirit of the Zora Mikau. Wearing it turns Time into a Zora. While in this form he gains enhanced swimming abilities, the ability to throw the fins off his arms like boomerangs and can use magical energy to project an electric shield. The form is weak to fire based attacks.

Fierce Deity mask


A transformation mask given to Link by Majora after he trades him all the non-transformation masks in the game. The mask transforms Time into a dark god that has enhanced strength compared to his base form. The form also wields the helix sword, which is 8x stronger than the Kokiri sword and can release sword beams.
The fierce deity mask is stated to have the “merits of all masks” implying it likely retained the power of the masks used to obtain it which include



All night mask: Prevents Time from falling asleep

Giant's mask: A mask that turns time into a giant multiple stories tall version of himself. In the original version of Majora's mask, he retained his sword and shield, but in the remake, he relies mostly on physical punches. It’s heavily implied the power of this mask could only be used during the boss with Twinmold though.

As well as many others

Special abilities

Magic


Time receivers magical power to fuel various magical abilities from the great fairies in his games. This reserve of magical power normally lowers as he uses certain abilities. His overall magical reservoir can be doubled twice, once by the Great Fairy of wisdom in Hyrule and again by the fairy of wisdom in Termina, for a total of 4x magical reserves.

Spin attack

The classic spin attack move. Time also has a more powerful variant called the super spin attack, which is magically powered infused spin move he learned from the great fairy of power in Hyrule and Termina.


Jump slash


A jumping slash attack.

Hero’s shades abilities


The Hero of Time also technically makes an appearance in twilight princess as the Hero's Shade. This means he should logically have all the abilities that form did. This includes the ability to make magic projectiles and create up to 3 copies of himself. As well ass all the hidden skills he teaches his ancestor the hero of twilight.


Hidden skills
The hidden skills in TP include
Ending blow: A downward stabbing attack
Shield attack: A shield bash that can open an opponent's guard
Back slice: A dash and slice on an opponents backside
Helm Splitter: A jumping head slice
Mortal Draw: A quick draw attack that can destroy heavy armor
Jump strike: A power jump attack that creates a shockwave
Finally the great/super spin attack.


Partners

Navi and Tatl


A fairy that was given to Time as his companion in Ocarina and a fairy that accompanied him in Majora's Mask respectively. They both act as a way to focus on enemies during gameplay and can give him basic advice on how to attack enemies or solve environmental puzzles.

Epona


A horse obtained from the Lon Lon ranch, and one of higher than usual stats. Time can use his arrow to shoot down enemies while on it.


Hero of twilight



A young man who grew up as a ranch hand in a local Hylian settlement called Ordon village.  He lived a pretty peaceful life,...until dark monsters from an alternate dimension called the realm of twilight invaded his hometown. The nature of his own dimension was altered and he transformed into a wolf beast and was imprisoned. He eventually met a character by the name of Midna who freed him from his capture and coerced him into working with her to take down the twilight leader Zant and his cohorts.


Anyway turns out Zant had some help. You see when the hero of time outed Ganondorf in the child timeline, he was supposed to be executed, but miraculously survived and got sealed in the twilight realm out of desperation. Ganondorf essentially met Zant and granted him the power to take over the twilight realm and Hyrule, and after Zant’s defeat confronted the hero of twilight and Midna back at Hyrule castle. The hero of twilight won the confrontation, however. It was then revealed that Midna was the actual leader of the twilight, though she chose to leave the hero of twilight to return home shortly after this revelation.

Armor


Hero’s clothes


A tunic given to twilight by the spirit of light Faron. It’s implied to have originally been the same tunic worn by the Hero of Time. It contains chain mail underneath for extra protection.

Zora armor


A set of armor fashioned out of Zora scales. It makes twilight more vulnerable to fire and ice-based attacks, but allows him to breath underwater.


Magic armor
A set of armor that blocks most forms of attack. It consumes rupees to stay active. Its consumption rate is 2 rupees per second it’s worn and 12 rupees per hit it absorbs. Once Twilight’s rupees run out of rupees it becomes extremely heavy and hard to move in.


Hylian shield

A mass produced metallic shield similar to one found in Ocarina of Time. It can deflect some projectiles that hit it.


Weapons


Master Sword
The blade of evil's bane and an important recurring object in the Zelda series. It was originally formed by combining the goddess Hylia’s “goddess sword” and 3 sacred flames in Skyward Sword. The sword is infused with sacred energy and has the ability to counteract curses caused by dark magic. It can even repel evil beings and destroy magical barriers. Individual versions of Link sometimes have power-ups given to the sword. The Hero of Twilight has a Master Sword powered up by sol orbs from the twilight realm.

Ball and chain
A giant spiked ball connected to a chain. Twilight can swing it around and release it to damage opponents or break through ice and stone barriers. I can also deflect projectiles. Because it’s so heavy Twilight slows down when using it.


Bomb


Explosive bombs that go off after a few seconds.

Bombling


Similar to bombchus in other games. Bomblings are essentially insects with bombs on their back that will walk forward or towards enemies until they make contact and explode.


Water bomb


Explosive bomb weapons that can go off underwater.


Gale Boomerang


A boomerang strengthen by the power of a fairy of winds.It creates a mini tornado wherever it goes, and can blow away objects, carry them and stun/damage opponents. It can lock onto five targets at once.


Hero’s bow


A bow and arrow set used to attack opponents from a distance. Twilight also has some arrows subtypes including.

Bomb arrows: Explosive arrows. They use up his bomb ammo in addition to his arrow ammo.


Crossbow


A crossbow Twilight uses in the game “Link’s crossbow training”. It has unlimited arrows and can be upgraded to fire bomb arrows or to have rapid fire capabilities.


Slingshot


A slingshot that shoots pumpkin seeds as ammunition. It can defeat minor enemies and knock down hanging objects.


Equipment

Triforce of Courage
The Triforce is a relic left behind by the 3 golden goddesses that create the Zelda world and collectively can allow a person to perform a single reality warping centric wish. The Triforce of courage is a singular piece of this relic. Its effects on the bearer are not very well understood. Though it can partially protect the user from the effects of twilight in twilight princess by turning them into a wolf rather than a wandering spirit. 

Double clawshots
An offshoot of the hookshot. Two claw-like devices on chains that can pull Twilight towards  surfaces. He can move between multiple points in a row since there are two clawshots. Twilight can also lower himself down on the clawshot's chain like a rappel rope if he attaches to something from above. The items can also be used as weapons or to grab objects from opponents.


Dominion rod
A magic staff that allows Twilight to control certain statues. Said statues can perform melee attacks if they have swords or objects connected to them.


Iron boots


Metallic boots that increase twilight weight, giving him a better stance to move larger objects and resistance against wind. The boots can also let him sink in water or walk up magnetic surfaces.


Hawkeye


A mask that allows Twilight to see over long distances.


Spinner
A giant fidget spinner Twilight can ride on to go over quicksand or ride up certain walls. It can damage enemies it rams into.


Bottle items


Bottles that can contain various potions and elixirs for Twilight to consume. He has a total of 4 at his disposal. Some notable bottle items include.

Red Potion: Recovers Hp
Blue Potion: Recovers HP
Milk/Superb soup: Recovers Hp
Fairy: Recovers twilight from death once
Great fairy tears: Fully heals twilight and temporarily doubles his attack power.

Special abilities

Spin attack
The classic zelda spin attack move.

Jump slash
A jumping slash attack

Hidden skills
Twilight has also learned a variety of skills from his predecessor the Hero of Time.

The hidden skills in TP include
Ending blow: A downward stabbing attack
Shield attack: A shield bash that can open an opponent's guard
Back slice: A dash and slice on an opponents backside
Helm Splitter: A jumping head slice
Mortal draw: A quick draw attack that can destroy heavy armor
Jump strike: A power jump attack that creates a shockwave
Great spin attack: A more powerful spin attack with an energy aura

Transformations

Wolf Link



A wolf form Twilight can take on after being exposed to the power of twilight. The form can only be taken on manually with the help of Midna, who can induce the form with a  twilight crystal she stores for Twilight in his shadow. The form has enhanced speed, agility, and jumping power. It can also see/sense disembodied spirits and enemies, as well as dig underground. The form can also sniff out objects or people like a bloodhound and can speak to animals. Twilight normally bites his opponent in this form as an attack, though he can also dash into them or perform a modified spin attack.


Partners

Midna
The princess from the twilight realm who was cursed to become an Imp by the villain Zant. She has the ability to open up short-range teleportation portals and can give Twilight advice on how to fight various enemies. She also sports a magical artifact called the fused shadow on her head, which she can use to stun opponents or to grab them with a morphed set of hair. She can even teleport colossal objects over greater distances using the larger twili portals Zant sets up in Hyrule during his attack on it.


Epona


An incarnation of the steed used in Ocarina of Time. Allows Twilight to traverse Hyrule at a faster speed. He can sword fight and use his bow, Gale boomerang, bombs, Slingshot and Double-Clawshots while riding it.

Hero of the winds

A boy born into a world flooded by water. He teamed up with a pirate named Tetra after his sister was kidnapped by the villain Ganondorf, who existed in this time period due to breaking his seal in the adult timeline. The Hero of the Winds spends most of his journey trying to repower the master sword and collect the Triforce of power for his eventual showdown with Ganon. Ironically despite his resemblance to past incarnations of Link and the speculation he is a reincarnation of the hero of time by Ganon himself, the hero of the wind was not destined to be a hero from the outset of his adventure. He instead had to prove his worth.

The hero of the winds eventually ends up successful and kills Ganondorf, leaving him dead at the bottom of a flooded Hyrule at the bottom of the sea.

Armor

Hero’s clothes
Green cloths inherited from his grandmother. It’s based on the garb was worn by the hero of time.

Hero’s shield
A shield said to have been passed down from the Hero of Time. Can block most normal attacks and projectiles.

Mirror shield


A shield with a reflective surface. It can reflect light, and it’s reflected light can even solidify ghost-like entities like poes. It can also redirect light arrows.


Magic armor


A magical barrier that covers Wind and protects him from attacks. It drains magical energy in the first release of Wind Waker, but in the remaster it drains rupees from Winds currency every time he gets hit instead. Looking at videos the consumption rate seems to be about 40 rupees per hit.

Weapons

Master Sword
The blade of evil's bane and an important recurring object in the Zelda series. It was originally formed by combining the goddess Hylia’s “goddess sword” and 3 sacred flames in Skyward Sword. The sword is infused with goldy energy and has the ability to counteract curses caused by dark magic. It can even repel evil beings and destroy magical barriers. Individual versions of Link sometimes have power-ups given to the sword. The Hero of the Winds has the basic version of the sword.

Phantom Sword


A blade comprised of 3 pure metals and an object called the phantom hourglass. It makes the user immune to life draining curses. It can also stop time for short periods of time when Wind picks up a phantom spear, which are spawned by his fairy partner Ciela.


Hero’s bow


A bow an arrow implied to have been inherited from the Hero of Time. In addition to normal arrows, Wind can also use several subtypes including.


Fire arrows: Arrows capable of setting objects on fire. Requires magical energy.


Ice arrows: Arrows that can freeze opponents or objects on fire on hit. Requires magical energy.


Light Arrows: Arrows fortified with holy magic, which is super deadly against evil beings. Wind’s version can instantly defeat most enemies in a single hit, turning them into an explosion of light. Requires magical energy to use.

Boomerang


A boomerang that can stun or damage opponents, as well as collect items from a distance. Winds version can hit up to 5 targets in a row.


Bombs


Explosive bombs that go off after a few seconds
  • In WW .https://youtu.be/Q9eNUJ2XJ6Y?t=19


Bombchu
Mobile bombs that slide along the ground until they hit an object or an opponent.


Hammer/Skull hammer
Wind has used various hammers including the normal hammer and the skull hammer. Both are typically used to defeat more armored enemies or to press down switches or pegs.


Equipment

Triforce of Courage
The Triforce is a relic left behind by the 3 golden goddesses that create the Zelda world and collectively can allow a person to perform a single reality warping centric wish. The Triforce of courage is a singular piece of this relic. Its effects on the bearer are not very well understood. Though it can partially protect the user from the effects of twilight in twilight princess by turning them into a wolf rather than a wandering spirit. 

Hookshot


A grappling hook device that shoots out and pulls Wind to anything it hits. Can also be used as a weapon or to pull in objects.


Telescope


A telescope that allows wind to see over larger distances.

Wind Waker

A magic conductor's baton that can be used to play various magic songs. It was given to Wind by the king of Hyrule and is said to call upon the power of the gods. Some notable songs include


Grappling hook


A grappling hook that winds can use to swing across platforms. It can also damage enemies or steal items from them.



Iron boots


Giant metallic boots that increase Winds weight. Can be used to strengthen his stance to pull down heavy objects or to keep him in place against heavy winds.


Power bracelet


A bracelet that increases Wind’s physical strength, allowing him to pick up massive boulders multiple times his size.


Hero’s charm


A mask that reveals the health level of all nearby opponents.

Deku leaf


A leaf given to Wind by his version of the Deku tree. It can create powerful gusts of wind when swung and can be used to glide through the air. It requires magical power to use and turns into an emptied out version of itself if Link doesn’t have any.


Phantom Hourglass


An hourglass used to nullify the life draining curse of the temple of the ocean king. It’s protection last as long as the sand inside it does, which at max is 25 minutes. It ultimately gets fused into the Phantom Sword.

Bottle items


Bottles that can contain healing items and potions. Wind gains up to 4 tin total. Some notable bottle items include.

Red Potion: Recovers health
Green potion: Recovers magic
Blue Potion: Recovers health and magic
Fairy: Recovers the user from death
Elixir soup: Restores health and magic and doubles sword damage until Wind takes a hit.

Special abilities

Magic
The hero of Winds gains the ability to wield magical power from the great fairies in his game. He can have his magic reserves doubled by the violet great fairy.

Spin attack


The basic spin attack used by most Links. Wind can also learn the hurricane spin attack, which is a more powerful continuous spinning move.


Jump slash


A jumping slash attack.

Parry attack
A countering maneuver. Wind’s will normally either roll behind his opponent for a slash attack or jump over their heads for a vertical slash.


Partners

Servant spirits
Image result for ciela zelda
Fairy servants of the ocean king named Ciela, Leaf, and Neri. They can see through illusions and grant Wind various buffs based on the number of power, wisdom or courage “spirit gems” he has collected. Leaf can quadruple his sword attack power by igniting it. Neri and quadruple defense and enhance his shield. Cielia allows him to create powerful sword beams regardless of health and also can periodically drop the phantom orbs Wind’s needs to stop time.

King of red lions


A talking boat inhabited by the spirit of the king of Hyrule, Daphnes Hohansen Hyrule. Wind can use it to sail between the islands on the great sea. It can fire bombs from a canon, jump slightly in the air and can use Wind’s grappling hook as underwater treasure crane.


SS linebeck
A customizable steamship owned by Linebeck and used by Wind’s in Phantom Hourglass. It has a bomb cannon attached and a salvage arm.

Hero of legend





One of the more famous heroes. The hero of legend hails from the downfall timeline where Ganon killed the Hero of Time before being sealed in the sacred realm. In this time period, Ganon used a proxy to take over Hyrule and break the bonds on his seal, invading Hyrule and forcing the Hero of Legend to confront his forces in the light world as well as the dark. He eventually succeeds, and surprisingly went on to have several other adventures in the Oracle games and Link's awakening.

Armor

Green tunic
A set of green clothes traditionally worn by incarnations of Link. Legends version doesn’t have any special attributes.

Blue mail/Red mail
Protective mails. The blue mail reduces damage to ½ normally, while Red mail reduces damage to 1/4th normal. Red mail also doubles sword attack damage in Link’s Awakening DX.

Mirror shield
A magic shield that can auto deflect some laser beams and magic spells, sending them back to the caster.


Magic cape
A magic cape that makes Legends invisible and seemingly intangible. It requires magic power to use.


Rings
Various rings legends can equip to give himself added buffs to his stats and attributes. Legends can carry up to 5 rings at once. Some notable rings include

Red ring:2x sword damage
Blue ring:½ damage
Heart ring 2: Recovers Links vitality when he moves
Green holy ring: No damage from electricity
Blue holy ring: No damage from the fire used by zora’s
Protection ring: Reduces all damage to a minimum of one heart in game (this negates other defensive items, however)
Wisp ring: Prevents getting jinxed
Octo ring: Turns legends into an octorok, an aquatic creature that can spit rocks at opponents.
Like like ring: Turns legends into a like like, and worm like creature that can swallow people and eat equipment.
Subrosian ring: Turns legends into a hooded creature immune to high heat

Some other misc rings can increase bomb and boomerang damage. Increase attack while lowering defense or vice versa. Increase throwing distance, swimming speed, allowing the use of sword beams with lower health. Halving damage from various things like traps, falls, beams, and spiked floors. Taking no damage from falling rocks. Prevention from sliding on ice, sinking in quicksand or breaking cracked floors. Increased drops for items. The ability to use two bombs at once, hold them without them exploding or taking no damage from them. Finally sensing buried items or replacing the spin attack with sword beams.

Weapons

Master Sword/Golden Sword
The blade of evil's bane and an important recurring object in the Zelda series. It was originally formed by combining the goddess Hylia’s “goddess sword” and 3 sacred flames in Skyward Sword. The sword is infused with godly energy and has the ability to counteract curses caused by dark magic. It can even repel evil beings and destroy magical barriers. Individual versions of Link sometimes have power-ups given to the sword. The hero of Legends had his version reforged twice into the Golden Sword, which has 4x the power of the normal blade.

Biggoron's sword
A giant sword received from Biggoron. It has a higher range than average but requires more hands to use.

Bow
A standard bow that comes with arrows that can be shot at opponents from afar. Legends also have some ancillary arrow types he can use including.

Silver arrows: Magic arrows with the ability to repel evil. They can defeat most enemies in ALTTP in a single hit, and can reliably kill Ganon.

Boomerang/Magical boomerang
A boomerang that can retrieve items, damage and stun enemies. Legends can directly control its flight path after it has been thrown.

Hookshot
A giant hook on a mechanism that shoots out and pulls legends to any object it crashes into. Can also be used to grab small objects from afar.


Bombs
Explosive bombs that go off after a few seconds.

Bombchu

Explosive bombs that travel along the ground like rats. Legends version does not travel up walls, but the bombs are capable of locking onto surrounding targets.

Magic powder
Powder that has various magical effects, most commonly transforming enemies into minor enemies called slimes or lightning torches.

Fire rod
A rod that produces fire as a form of attack. Can also be used to light torches or provide illumination in dark areas. Legends version drains magical power.

Ice rod
A rod that produces ice as a form of attack. It can instantly freeze most opponents. It drains magical power.

Magic rod
A rod that expels magical blasts of energy in the form of fireballs. Can also be used to light dark areas. Legends does not need magical power to use it in Link’s Awakening.

Magic hammer
A magic hammer that can be used to more easily defeat armored enemies. It’s particularly useful if paired with the ice rod.

Slingshot/Hyper slingshot/Seed shooter
Legends has several different slingshot type weapons. The slingshot and hyper slingshot are both standard run of the mill slingshots that shoot various types of seeds at an enemy as an attack. Though the latter can shoot 3 at once. The seed shooter is a more gun-like device that can shoot 8 seeds at once in multiple directions, as well as make those seeds bounce off solid objects up to 3 times.

Legends has multiple different seed types to use in these weapons including.

Ember seeds: Set objects they hit on fire

Scent seeds: Produces a powerful scent and cause physical damage to their targets

Pegasus seeds: Pegasus seeds stop opponents from moving. They can also be used on their own to increase Link’s running speed.

Gale seeds: Produce mini-tornados that can blow opponents away. Can also be used to carry Legends to different parts of a game map.

Mystery seeds: Have random effects based on the other seed types. Can also drive malevolent beings out of bodies they are possessing.

Equipment

Pegasus boots
A pair of boots that increases Legends running speed.


Roc's feather/Roc capes
Two items that increase agility. Roc’s feather allows Legends to jump several meters into the air. Roc’s cape allows him to glide for short periods of time after a jump. Both items can be combined with the inertia give by items like the pegasus boots for longer jumps.

Power glove/Titans gloves/Power bracelet
Bracelets and gloves that enhance legends physical strength, allowing him to pick up massive boulders and objects.


Zora flippers/Mermaid suite
Flippers and suits that increase Legends swimming abilities. They also allow him to dive underwater. Note legends can still use the seed shooter, switch hook and his sword when submerged.


Moon Pearl
A magic pearl that prevents Legends from being forcibly turned into a bunny when exposed to the qualities of the dark world.

Flute
A flute that can summon a bird that carries Legends to various places in his version of Hyrule.

Cane of somaria
A magical cane that can construct a large stone block that can be pushed around to press switches or be used to block projectiles.

Cane of Byrna
A magic can that produces a forcefield around Legends that protects him against attacks. Enemies that touch the field take damage. It requires magical power to run.

Magic mirror
A magic mirror that can transport legends between the dark world and the normal world. It can also be used to warp out of dungeons.

Rod of seasons
A magic rod owned by the oracle of seasons Din. It allows Legends to instantly change the seasons around him to winter, spring, fall or summer. This can be useful in some situations for traversal depending on the environmental changes caused by each season.

Harp of ages
A harp belonging to the oracle of ages Nayru. It can be used to travel back in time at least 400 years. The harp initially can only be used in specific places where “time portals” exist, but after learning the Tune of ages Legends can use it to time warp from anywhere.

Magnetic gloves
Magnetic gloves that can pull metal objects around an arena, or pull Legends to said metal objects

Switch hook/Long hook
An offshoot of the hookshot. This thing will switch Lgends with the position with whatever target is grabbed by the end of the hook. It can be upgraded for better range.

Bottled items
Legends can carry up to 4 bottles to store various potions and elixirs. Some notable bottle items include.

Medicine of life: Restores Hp
Medicine of magic: Restores magic
Medicine of life and magic: Restores HP and Magic
Fairy: Recovers Legends from death

Magic


Bombos medallion

A spell that creates a ring of fire and then a series of powerful explosions. Cost magic to cast.

Ether medallion
A spell that calls down a bolt of lightning and creates a powerful pulse that damages and freezes opponents. Requires magic to perform.

Quake Medallion
A spell that causes a powerful earthquake. Requires magic to cast.

Special abilities

Magic

Legends has access to magic, which he can use to fuel some of his magical items and abilities. He’s also received an upgrade to double his magic reserves from the mad batter.

Spin attack
A powerful spinning slash.

Dash attack
An attack that thrust a sword forward while Legends is using the pegasus boots.

Sword Beam
A beam of energy that can be thrown from whatever sword legends is using. It’s normally only useable at full health, though some rings can allow him to use it when he’s taken moderate damage.

Partners


Ricky, Dimitri, Moosh

Various animal companions Legends can obtain and summon with an assortment of flutes in the Oracle games. Rick is a kangaroo that can carry Legends into the air with powerful jumps, punch enemies or create small tornadoes. Dimitri is a dragon that can carry Legends up a waterfall or against high currents and bite opponents. Moosh is a flying bear that can carry him over gaps and perform a ground pound move.

Hero of the wilds




The most recent hero added to the Zelda mythos. What timeline he’s on isn’t entirely clear, but whichever one it is it's supposedly at the end. The hero of the Wilds status as a reincarnation of the hero was more widely known in his time period, to the point where he actively served as a knight and as a champion of Hyrule long before any major problems arose. Unfortunately, despite knowing his status ahead of time, he was still caught off guard when his incarnation of Ganon returned, causing the entire kingdom to fall into ruin and for him to die in battle. He basically had to stay in a recovery pod for 100 years after this event and attempt to save the world from scratch once he eventually woke up. Though like other versions of the link he was eventually victorious.

Armor


Outfits
Champion outfit


A tunic given to Wild by the royal family. While wearing it he can see the health of his opponents.


Tunic of the wild


The traditional green garb worn by most Links. Wild’s gets his as a reward for finishing all the shrines in his game. The tunic increases the power of his sword beams.
Snowquill set


A set of winter clothes. Prevents Wilds from being frozen or taken damage due to low temperatures.

Rubber set
A rubber-set of clothes that prevents shock damage and being stunned.

Flamebreaker set
Fire based armor. Grants protection against heat and being caught on fire.

Barbarian armor


Increases attack power and reduces stamina strain.


Guardian armor
Grants resistance to ancient type weaponry as well as an 80% damage increase for ancient type weapons Wild has in his inventory.

Stealth set

Armor based on the sheikien. Increases stealth and speed when moving at night.

Zora set

Increases swimming speed and allows Wilds to swim up waterfalls.
Thunder helm

Protects Wilds entirely from lightning strikes.

misc
Wild also has many other armor sets that have various effects including increasing stamina, climbing speed, swimming speed, intimidating characters, disguising him against gerudos or various misc enemies, finding koroks, and increased damage for his weapons. 


Shields/Hylian shield
Wilds has about 33 different shields at his disposal. Including various wooden shields, huge royal shields, shields made out of leather, shields created from ancient tech and so on. His best shield is unequivocally the Hylian shield, which has the highest defense and durability of any of the shields in his game. Unlike the Hylian shields in some other eras, it can break, however.

Weapons

Master Sword


The blade of evil's bane and an important recurring object in the Zelda series. It was originally forged by combining the goddess Hylia’s “goddess sword” and 3 sacred flames in Skyward Sword. The sword is infused with goldy energy and has the ability to counteract curses caused by dark magic. It can even repel evil beings and destroy magical barriers. Individual versions of Link sometimes have power-ups given to the sword. The Hero of the Wilds has the basic version of the sword.

Normal swords
Wild’s has over a dozen other swords at his disposal besides the Master Sword. Including claymores, scimitars, long swords, broadswords, and short swords. Many of the weapons are metallic, wooden or made out of ancient energy. Some notable swords include the ancient short sword, Royal guards claymore, Eightfold longblade, Silver longblade, Guardian sword++, Gerudo scimitar, and the forest dwellers sword.
Boomerangs
Wild’s has several boomerangs. Some are metallic or wooden and many have multiple prongs. Some notable boomerangs include the lizal-tri boomerang and the normal boomerang.

Clubs

Wild has various different club weapons that can be used for smashing opponents bluntly. Some notable ones include the savage lynel crusher, Dragonbone moblin club, and the dragonbone boko bat.

Elemental weapons
Several of Wild’s spears and blades have elemental properties. Most consistently burning fire, freezing ice and shocking electricity. Said weapons have the name x-spear or x-blade with the given element in front. Wild also has a weapon called the windcleaver that can create powerful bursts of wind.

Fire rod/meteor rod

Magical rods that create fireballs. The meteor rod can make 3 at once.

Ice rod/Blizzard rod

Magical rods that create a powerful freezing air that damages and immobilizes opponents. The blizzard rod is the strongest.


Lightning rod/thunderstorm rod
Magical rods that cast balls of electricity. The thunderstorm variant can make 3 at once.


Axes

Wild has various chopping axes at his disposal, including various metallic ones and those made out of solidified ancient energy. Some notable axes include Ancient battle axes++ and the double axe.

Spears/Halberds

Wilds has over a dozen different spear and halberd weapons, including those with metallic tips or those created from ancient technology. Some notable ones include the savage Lynel spear, ancient spear, the guardian spear++, forked Lizal spear, and the royale halberd.

Misc weapons
Wild also has numerous misc weapons like the sickle inspired Demon carver, and Vicious sicks weapons. As well as an Iron sledgehammer and various joke weapons like ladles, and tree branches. He can also use a chainsaw like weapon called the ancient bladesaw.

Bows


Wild has a few dozen different bows he can use, all with different stats in regards to strength or accuracy, and with some being able to shoot up to 3 arrows at once. Some notable bows include the royal guards bow, ancient bow, steel lizal bow and the savage lynel bow.

Wild’s also has some different arrows types to choose from as ammunition including.

Bomb arrows: Arrows that Explode on impact

Shock arrows: Cause thundershocks when they hit a target

Ice arrows: Freeze opponents or objects solid

Fire arrows: Set enemies on fire

Ancient arrows: Use a short of odd ancient energy to seemingly dismantle an opponent or send them to another dimension. It is a one-hit kill against any enemy besides bosses.

In addition to all these Wild’s is also given the “bow of light” at the end of his game, which fires arrows or light and has infinite ammunition.

Champion weapons

Wild also inherit some special weapons used by his time periods “champions”. This includes a special shield called daybreaker. A Bow called the great eagle bow, the scimitar of seven, a club called the boulder breaker and finally, and a trident called the lightscale trident.

Equipment

Paraglider
A glider Wild can use to glide through the air.

Sheikah slate
A multipurpose tablet created by the sheikah. It has a built-in map, can create waypoints in the distance, tell the time, tel the temperature, be used as a camera and records information on objects, people and creatures Wilds comes across. Its greatest function, however, is to use runes, bits of info that give the slate the ability to manifest objects or affect the environment. Some notable runes include.

Remote bombs+: Bombs that can be set of by Link’s discretion. He has round and square varieties. Wild does not have a limit to have many he can make, but it does take a second or two to produce them.

Magnesis: Allows Wild to magnetically move metallic objects in his environment.

Statis+: Stops time in a localized location or objects. Objects time stopped can be hit repeatedly to store kinetic energy for when the time stop wears off. It can be used on enemies, though time stops on living beings don't last as long.

Cryonisis: Freezes bodies of water to make platforms.

Master cycle: Summons a motorcycle. The vehicle requires random parts and objects as fuel.

Food
Wild’s can carry all sorts of food items that can heal him, ranging from bananas to various kinds of meat, Radishes, ect. They can even be combined into more powerful healing meals, many of which can fully heal Wild. Meals can also have added effects like increasing stamina, increasing speed, making wilds fireproof, lowering body temperature, increasing strength of endurance and granting heat resistance.

Elixirs

Wild can also mix various elixirs together. Unlike other Link’s he is not limited by an Arbitrary bottle count to hold his potions.
His Elixirs include

Chilly elixir: Heat resistance
Electro elixir: Electricity resistance
Enduring Elixir: Increases stamina
Energizer elixir: Recovers stamina
Fairy tonic: Restores HP
Fireproof elixir: Grants immunity to extreme heat and catching fire
Hasty elixir: increases speed
Hearty Elixir: Restores full health and grants extra vitality than normal
Mighty elixir: increases attack
Sneaky elixir: Increases stealth
Spicy elixir: Cold resistance
Tough elixir: Increases defense

Magic

Urbosa’s fury


An ability given to Wild by the spirit of the champion Urbosa. It calls down a thunder strike that damages nearby enemies. It can be used 3 times before it needs to recharge. This recharge time is normally 4 minutes after it’s been upgraded, though in certain places like Hyrule castle the recharge time is only 1 minute and 20 seconds.

Mipha’s grace
An ability given to Wild by the spirit of the champion Mipha. It revives him to full health after a deadly blow one. After it’s been used it needs time to recharge, which is about 8 minutes after being upgraded and about 2 minutes and forty seconds in Hyrule castle.

Revali’s gale
An ability given to Wild by the spirit of the champion Revali. It creates a powerful upward gale Wild can ride into the air. It can be used 3 times before needing to recharge. This recharge time in 2 minutes normally and 40 seconds when in Hyrule castle.


Duruk’s protection
An ability given to Wild by the spirit of the champion Duruk. It creates a powerful force field that can reflect projectiles back to the sender or protect from physical attacks. It can be used 3 times before being recharged. It’s recharge time is 6 minutes once upgraded and 2 minutes when in Hyrule castle.

Special abilities

Spin attack
A powerful spinning attack maneuver. The move changes depending on the type of weapon Wild is using.

Perfect dodge/flurry rush
A dodging maneuver where time will slow down from Wild’s perspective, before following up with a series of attacks. Wild also enters a period of time slow when aiming his bow in the air.

Shield surfing
The ability to slide along the ground while riding a shield.

Perfect guard
Similar to the shield bash and shield attack in other games. If wild bashes his shield at the right moment he can parry a blow to open an opponent's guard or reflect a projectile (commonly the beam attacks from guardians).


Sneakstrike
A kill technique Wilds can use on opponents that he sneaks upon.

Partners

Horses and mounts
Wild can tame horses of various shapes and sizes for use in BOTW. They all have different stats and parameters. Some notable ones include the giant horse that based on Ganon’s mounts in previous games. Wild can also tame other animals like Bears and Elk for short periods of time.


Feats

Image result for link incarnations

In case you were wondering
Not all Link’s are necessarily equal in terms of power and feats. Each hero has had to fight different threats or have awakened to the “spirit of the hero” under different circumstances. Likewise, since the Zelda timeline takes place over such a long period of time, not each era or timeline is directly connected to each other for scaling. 


Time
Strength


Defense


Speed


Twilight
Strength


Endurance


Speed


Winds
Strength


Endurance


speed
  • Scales to Ganondorf, who can dodge arrows at point blank range



Legends
Strength

Endurance

Speed


Skies
Strength


Endurance


Speed



Wilds
Strength


Endurance
Speed


Experience

Image result for link incarnations

Time


Twilight
  • Collected the pieces of the fused shadow from various monstrous beasts around Hyrule
  • Exorcise the twilight from the world of light
  • Defeated the false twilight king Zant
  • Defeated Ganondorf
  • Taught how to sword fight directly by the “hero’s shade”. Also known as the hero of time http://file-image.mpcdn.net/42561/1070641/14.jpg?1513422943


Winds
  • Awakened the sages of wind and shadow
  • Collected the triforce of courage and earned the recognition of being a hero
  • Defeated Ganondorf after he returned to try to reclaim Hyrule
  • Defeated the demon Bellum
  • Was trained to fight by the sword master Orca


Legends
  • Traveled to the dark world, rescued the maidens of Hyrule and defeated a Ganon who had the whole triforce under his control
  • Woke up the wind fish
  • Defeated Veran and Ornox when they brought chaos across time and seasons in neighboring countries of Hyrule
  • Defeated Ganon a second time after a botched resurrection
  • Was taught how to swordfight by his uncle http://historyofhyrule.com/publications/manga_lttp1/013.html


Skies
  • Was taught to sword fight at his school in Skyloft
  • Forged the master sword
  • Defeated Girihim and collected the triforce
  • Defeated Demise, the original incarnation of Ganondorf

Wilds
  • Was a trained and skilled knight, canonically able to defeat opponents with pots lids
  • Protected Hyrule with the 4 champions
  • Defeated the 4 Ganon spawns controlling the divine beasts
  • Defeated the calamity Ganon, a giant monstrous form of Ganon

Summary

Armor/Endurance enhancements
1st: Legends has the best armor and general defense, at least in terms of what can be definitely measured. With Red mail, he can take 1/4 normal damage. Assuming his rings stack, he could reduce that to a 1/8 with the blue ring (some other rings can reduce damage even more, but tend to negatively affect his attack stat).

2. Time is second. He’s had his durability enhanced twice by great fairy’s, once in Hyrule and once in Termina. Assuming they can stack that’s 1/4 damage.

3: Wild is next. His armor durability can’t be quantified in the same way as the above two heroes, but the fact he actively has armor that can be upgraded probably puts him above the Link’s that don’t.

4th/5th: Twilight and skies are probably next since they at least has some chain mail on their tunic.

6th: Wind is last. Mostly because he never gets any upgrades for armor or endurance. He also seems to have the hardest time not getting knocked around by Ganon. Granted with his fairies he can rank higher, but he still requires passive help it.

Magic armor
1st: Time is first here. Chateau romani plus Nayru's love is OP. He can basically cast an invincible shield and use it as long as he wants.

2nd: Probably Twilight. Assuming he can has a full 9999 rupees and based on the consumption rate of rupees for his magic armor. He has about 83 minutes of passive armor time and can tank about 833.25 hits per battle(the armor consumes 2 seconds per second it's worn and 12 rupees per attack taken).

3rd: Wind comes next. His own magic armor can also last quite a long time since Wind Waker HD allows it to run on rupee power rather than magic. Wind can carry around 5, 000 rupees to power it. The armor consumes about 40 rupees a hit, so that’s about 125 tanked hits per battle.

4th. Skies is 4th. With guardian potion+ he can become invincible for about 3 minutes at a time.

5th: Wild is next. Duruk’s protection should keep him safe from most intense attacks. It can’t be kept up constantly though and does have periods where it may have to recharge.

6th: Legends Ironically despite having like 2 different methods for invisibility legends doesn’t last long in this contest. Both the can of byrna and the magic cape require magical energy to use, which doesn’t as long compared to the options the other Links have.

Magic attack
1st: Wild comes in first. He has most of the “magical” arrow types and his light arrows even have infinite ammo. He also has powerful AOE attacks in the form of Urbosa's fury, which can recharge. Likewise, he does have various magical thunder, fire and ice rods, and while they can break, none of them drain from his own magic resources so they can be used more freely than other game.

2nd: Time is 2nd. He has magically amped spin attacks, light, ice, fire and light arrows. He also has din’s fire, a powerful explosive fire blast. Chateau romani gives Time infinite magic, allowing him to keep using his magic more reliably than other Links.

3rd: Legends is third. He has the fire and ice rods. Along with the magic rod, and three fairly powerful AOE attacks in the form of his medallions. Unfortunately, because most of his magical equipment and items drain from the same magic pool, he can't use them all consecutively.

4th: Wind has some magically amped spin attacks, in addition to the basic light, ice, ect arrows.

5th: Skies has basically no magical attacks besides the skyward strike.

6th: Twilight likewise doesn’t really have any magical abilities besides maybe the gale boomerang.

Master Sword
1th: Legends clear cut has the best version of the Master Sword. He can upgrade it twice, with the tempered sword being twice as powerful as the original and the Golden Sword being 4x stronger than its initial form.

2nd: Skies comes next. He has the Master Sword at full power, and has some abilities with it other Link’s don’t, such as being able to do the skyward strike, dows and still having Fi sentient inside of it.

3rd: Twilight is 3rd. His version is as powerful as the standard Master Sword in most games, but it was also specifically enhanced by the power of Sols in the twilight realm, making it more powerful than usual.

4th: Wild is 4th.  He has the standard Master Sword, though he can learn to shoot sword beams with it at full health. 

5th: The Hero of time is surprisingly low on this list. His version of the Master Sword is pretty much just the basic weapon with no bells or wistles.

6th: Wind is on the same level as Time. He only has the basic version of the Master Sword.


Close range weapons:
1st Wild. While many of his weapons can break after repeated use, the sheer variety eclipses most of the other Links. Not only that be he has some stuff others don’t, like weapons with elemental properties or weapons that use ancient tech.

2nd: Time is 2nd. He actually has the largest amount of weapons outside the Master Sword that actually have unique attributes, such as the Gilded sword, fairy sword or biggoron sword being much larger/stronger in comparison and often being forged through magical means or by Master Swordsmiths. He also has the megaton hammer.

3rd: Winds has the Master Sword and Phantom Sword. He also has several hammers he can use.

4th: Legends has his own version of the biggoron sword. He also has a sword “similar” to the Master Sword in the Oracle games.

5th: Twilight has no notable close range weapons outside of the Master Sword. He does have the ball and chain, though this is cumbersome. 

6th: Skies has little close range weapons outside of the Master Sword. The only real weapon he has is the whip, which does little damage in combat.

Long range weapons
1st: Wild takes the cake here. Not only does he have your standard boomerangs, and arrows, but he has pretty much every specialized arrow subtype in the series. He’s got fire, ice, and light arrows. In addition to shock arrows and ancient arrows which are probably the strongest arrows in the game outside of maybe silver arrows.

2nd: Legends comes next. He doesn’t have as much variety in terms of arrows, but Silver arrows are pretty definitely the strongest arrows in the series besides maybe ancient arrows. The seed shooter also covers more area than most other slingshot weapons used by other Links and his varied seed arsenal makes up for their relatively weak offensive power.

3rd: Wind is 3rd. Tbh he and Time have pretty much the same projectile arsenals. But in comparison, his light arrows seem to be more deadly.

4th: Time is next. He has fire, ice and light arrows. He deku nuts are also pretty effective for stunning opponents from a distance.

5th: Twilight is a close 5th. He doesn’t have any notable arrow types besides bomb arrows. The gale boomerang does has some effectiveness for carrying heavy objects hower, and could be used to redirect bombs or certain projectiles. He also has a crossbow with infinite ammo.

6th: Skies really doesn’t have any notable long-range weapons. He pretty much just has the basic bows with normal arrows and pretty bare bones slingshot seeds (which don’t do much damage anyway).

Transformations
1st: Time obviously comes in first. His transformation masks for Zora, Deku, and Goron Link clearly have more utility and attack power compared to any other transformation in the series. Fierce Deity Link is also probably the single strongest form any Link can take via transformation.

2nd: Twilight is 2nd. His Wolf form has great utility given its added agility and physical senses.

3rd: Legends comes in 3rd. He does have some transformations like transformation into a like like and moblin. However, these transformations tend to be more cosmetic, and don't have any secondary powers.

4th/5th/6th: Wild, Wind, and Skies don’t have any transformations to speak of.

Healing/buffs/support
1st: 1st is Wild. Wild Link can carry dozens of food items and tons of meals that can near full heal him. This isn’t counting the fact he isn’t really beholden to the same limits on bottles as other Links and can also have tons of elixirs to boost his defense and attacks, ect. Mipha’s grace can also heal or revive him. Mihpa's grace also has a recharge on it unlike Fairy’s used by other Links

2nd: Time is in second. Chateau romani is probably to most broken bottle item in Zelda and Time has the most bottles of the traditional Link’s meaning, he can carry the most potions.

3rd: Wind is 3rd. His elixir soup is barred none one of the best bottle items in the series. Not only does it heal health and magic, but it doubles attack until he gets hit, and each bottle has 2 servings in it.

4th: Skies is 4th. His healing potion++ can restore his entire HP and each bottle has two servings. He also has potions that give him infinite stamina. Some of his medals increase his Hp or potion effect.

5th: Twilight is 5th. His fairy tears can heal him completely and double his strength for a short period of time. 

6th: Legends doesn’t really have any notable bottle items outside the basics.

Experience
1st: Legends Link has the most experienced by a fair margin. He fought Ganon and his army under what was probably the direst circumstances. He also went on two separate adventures in the Oracle games, in addition to the events of Link's awakening.

2nd: Time is second. He has the events of  Ocarina and Majora's Mask under his belt. We also know for sure he reached adulthood as he showed up later as the hero’s shade.

3th:Wild is 3rd. He may not have more than one game under his belt, but as an actual knight of Hyrule he was exposed to a lot more formal and practical combat situations than most.

4rd: Winds is next. He’s also been on more adventures than most Links, having not only saving the world from Ganon but also from Bellum.

5th: Skies comes in 5th. His school actively taught and trained him in basic scholastics and fighting. He only has one adventure under his belt.

6th: Twilight has only had one adventure. He was also mainly just a ranch hand for most of his life

Misc equipment/hax
1st: Wild is 1st. He is the only one with an outright time stop. Ancient arrows are somewhat of a one hit kill. He can also potentially disarm opponents with magnesis.

2nd: Time is 2nd. HE has invisibility via the stone mask. He has time manipulation via the inverted song of time or normal song of the time. His hookshot in the best in terms of length. The lense of truth let him see invisible opponents and he can also split into 3. He can also reverse transmutation with the song of healing, which can be used even if he’s turned into a different form.

3rd: 3rd is Legends. Legends has invincibility/invisibility, can potentially disarm people with switch hook or magnet gloves. Has time and weather manipulation via rod of seasons and ages. Can transmute people with his magic powder or certain medallions. He also has protection against transmutation with the moon pearl.

4th: Wind is 4th. He potentially has some form of body control with the Wind Waker(though this may be a context-sensitive ability).He also has Time and weather manipulation via the wind water and can steal objects with the grappling hook.

5th/6th:Twilight and Skies are in last since they have much in terms of hax equipment.


Mobility/Agility items
1st: Time is first. The bunny hood increases his speed and agility. He can use the ocarina to slow down time to make himself comparatively faster. His transformation masks also give him the tools to glide in the air as a deku, and roll around at high speeds as a goron. The zora mask also gives him the best underwater maneuverability without sacrificing attack options. Also has the longest reaching hookshot.

2nd: Legends is 2nd. He has the pegasus boots, in addition to roc's cape for gliding. He can also swim underwater with things like the mermaid suit and zora flippers and retains the abilities to use some of his weapons there. Also has the hookshot and switch hook.

3rd: Wild’s is next. He can climb on any surface. Can pseudo fly with Revali's Gale and the paraglider. He can use his shield to surf along the ground and use cykonises to get across bodies of water. The zora armor that lets him swim up waterfalls and certain potions/foods can increase climbing and movement speed.

4th: Twilight is 4th.  In his wolf form can jump dozens of feet into the air. Twilight also has the double clawshot to grapple form point to point. Has zroa armor that lets him breathe underwater.

5th: Skies is 5th. He can grapple around areas with the whip or clawshots. He also has the sailcloth to glide through the air. He can gain a scale from a dragon that increased his swimming ability and grants him an underwater spin move. His mogma hits can let him burrow underground as well.

6th: Winds is last. He has a dec amount of grappling equipment, and a hookshot. He also has a paraglider in the deku leaf, though since it drains magic he can’t use it indefinitely. He can't swim well for some reason.

Arsenal quantity
1st: Wild’s comes in first by a long shot. He can carry 999 of each of his arrow types and has infinite light arrows. His bombs are technically infinite given how they work. His magical weapons aren't powered by him and his champion abilities are rechargeable. His only downside is that all his weapons, shields and bows and break, but he can carry enough of each (about 20 each category) that it hardly matters.

2nd: Ocarina has 50 arrows, 40 bombs, 40 deku nuts, 40 bombchu, has magic upgraded to drain half as fast twice (1/4x), also has unlimited magic with chateau romani. Most of his arsenal is less than the rest but infinite magic makes up for that.

3rd: Legend 70 arrows, 60 bombs, 99 bombchu, 99 seeds of each mystical seed type (5x) and has magic upgraded to drain half as fast

4rd: Wind has 99 arrows, 99 bombs, 30 bombchu, has magic upgraded to drain half as fast.

5th: Twilight 100 arrows, 60 bombs, 30 water bombs, 20 bomblings. Infinite arrows with the crossbow.

6th: Skies 65 arrows, 55 bombs, 30 seeds. Though worth pointing out this is at max when discarding the adventures pouch mechanic.

Physical Strength
1st: Time is 1st. The golden gauntlets seem to increase physical strength more than any other amplifier in the series. The Goron transformation can also punch out huge columns of stone.

2nd: Wind’s power bracelet seems to lift the largest objects after Time. He can also strengthen his stance with the Iron boots.

3rd: Legends is 3rd with his Titan glove/power bracelets. The seem to let him lift objects about 4 times his size.

4th: Twilight doesn’t have any physical strength amplifiers. That being said he’s probably the strongest Link physically as long as he has something like the Iron boots keeping his stance centered, as he can wrestling with gorons and overpower some of the small building sized ones as well.

5th/6th: Wild and Skies don’t have equipment that directly affects their strength. Though worth noting that even without them they can often lift weapons several time their size with relative ease.

Attack power amplifiers
1st: Legends has the red ring which doubles sword attack damage. The red mail in Link’s awakening also doubles attack. Legends also has rings that increase the damage power of his bombs, boomerangs and other misc weapons.

2nd:Wild has food items or elixirs that boost his offense. Many of his armors can increase weapon damage. For example, the barbarian armor also increase attack power for all weapons by 50%. Some like the guardian armor increase damage for ancient weapons by 80%.

3rd/4th/5th/6th: Time, skies, Wind and Twilight don’t have weapons that affect weapon attack power. Wind could technically be considered slightly higher if you count his fairies though.

Elemental protection
1st: Wild comes in first. Thunder helm protects from lightning. Rubber suit prevents being shocked or stunned. Snowquill armor protects against the cold and being frozen. Flamebreaker armor prevents damage from heat and prevents being caught on fire.

2nd: Legends is 2nw. He has the Green holy ring, which prevents damage from electricity.
He also has the blue holy ring prevents damage from the fire used by zora’s

3rd: Time is 3rd. He has immunity to extreme heat with the goron tunic or Goron transformation. his options can even protect against the heat of lava.

4th: Skies has the fireshield earrings, which protect against intense heat. 

5th/6th: Wind and twilight have no special elemental immunities

Shields
1st/2nd: Time and Legends both have versions of the mirror shield that can be used to reflect certain normal projectiles and magic spells. Neither typically break.

3rd: Wind also has a variation of the mirror shield. His doesn’t reflect all projectile types, but is shown to be able to reflect light arrows.

4th: Skies has the hylian shield. His version is specifically stated to be unbreakable in the encyclopedia.

5th: Twilight has a version of the hylian shield. It hasn’t been shown to break.

6th: Wild is in last. His quantity of shields doesn’t do him much good here. He has dozens of shield to choose from, but as most of them have limited durability, they ultimately aren't as reliable as the one or two shields the other Link wield.


A general summary of advantages and counters

Image result for zelda 25th poster
Time: The hero of time is well rounded in terms of his natural defense and weapons. His chateau Romani can allow him to abuse his magical shields and attacks without many limits. Likewise, his various transformation masks give him the best mobility collectively. His time manipulation is also amongst the most extensive given he can use it to both slow down time and travel backward in it. He also has some abilities not all Link’s can counter such as invisibility and duplication. He can also track invisible opponents himself with the eye of truth and probably has the best strength enhancer. He is the second most experienced and is probably the best fighter in terms of combat techniques. His only real weakness is a lot of his transformations masks lock him out of some of his other equipment while using them.

Legends: Legends has the most extensive arsenal in terms of quality and likewise most of his items stack. He has the strongest master sword and strongest arrows. He has super speed and agility via the pegasus boots and roc's cape. Various seed projectiles that can even let him transmute opponents. Two invincibility options, invisibility/intangibility, multitudes of defense rings/armors,strength enhancers, attack power multipliers, the best AOE attacks and time travel options. He also has the most experience.

Wild: Wild has the largest arsenal by several orders of magnitude, as well as the most extensive healing options due to his large inventory and Mipha’s grace. His armor and elixirs also probably gant the largest range of buffs and protections as well. He’s also probably got the best formal combat training that we know of, since we know definitely he was a knight and are told about his more crazy combat exploits in game. He also has timestop hax and technically his rune abilities have infinite ammo. His biggest weakness is the fact that most of his weapons and shields are shit and can break easily.

Winds: Winds has a dec amount of hax in his arsenal via time stop, as well as decent offensive and defensive abilities with his fairies and magical armor. He’s also one of the more experienced Links and has some of the better-bottled items. His biggest weakness is that a lot of his buffs and his timestop require help from allies that can be killed or hindered in the fight by others. Not to mention his magic power limits. He also has the least impressive showings against his version of Ganon, who comparatively displayed a lot less power and abilities than most other versions of the character.

Skies: Skies potentially scales to some high end feats and beat the most “demonically pure” version of Ganon so to speak. That being said he’s very lacking in terms of hax or offensive arsenal. Though his dowsing ability can probably be useful for tracking invisible opponents. His shield is also the only one specified to actually be indestructible. 

Twilight: Midna is probably the best partner, with the greatest autonomy and attack power. Twilight also probably has the second best repertoire of sword abilities since he was taught by the Hero of Time directly. His magical armor is probably also the second best magical defense out of the group. His biggest weakness is the same as skies. He’s a bit lacking in arsenal, hax and peripheral abilities.


Verdicts



Arot


We’ve been debating this one for what seems like an eternity… but finally, we’ve come to some sort of a conclusion. I’ll be writing this in order from 6th place to 1st place and (obviously) giving my reasoning for each placement. If my verdict is the most simple and boring out of everyone’s, it’s probably because I’ve never actually written something like this before. Anyway, let’s get on with it.

Coming in dead last would have to be the Hero of Winds, to nobody’s surprise… but he’s certainly no pushover. Most of WW Link’s arsenal has some practical use in combat, he has the Magic Armor for brief invincibility, a single-use time stop via Ciela, can quadruple his durability or the power of the Phantom Sword, and has a decent amount of blatant and incredible feats. What puts him in last is that he got tossed around like a ragdoll by a Ganondorf who didn’t have a piece of the triforce and would have gotten his shit kicked in during their final battle if Zelda didn’t come in to help him. I know an argument could be made about other Links being about that weak… but pretty much every other Link fought a Ganondorf WITH the TFP, thus making them vastly more powerful than WW Link by default. He’s still the cutest Link of all time though.

For fifth place, I’m gonna have to sit the Hero of the Sky right here. Due to scaling to a WEAKENED Demise, he should be on par with or potentially slightly superior to some of the following Links… the only problem is that it’s not very clear just how weak or powerful Demise even is, so we’re almost exclusively going off of when Faron Woods is flooded (Hence why I put him near the bottom of the list). His arsenal is probably one of –if not - the most useless and is definitely the easiest for pretty much every Link to counter in a plethora of ways. He gets on his loftwing to fly away from everyone? Urbosa’s Fury and the Ether Medallion can summon lightning to probably kill it in one shot, leaving him completely helpless, or Midna can just teleport herself (and/or Link) up there and shove a spear in his face. He decides he wants to tunnel underground? Wolf Link can dig underground and tear him to shreds due to SS Link being defenseless in that scenario, or Legends can just use the Quake Medallion. In a one-on-one sword duel with either BOTW or OOT Link, he’s totally screwed due to their practical combat training and experience both as knights and adventurers. He only has basic arrows and bombs, he’d never be able to control the beetle in the heat of a battle on this scale, the whip has very little utility, and his guardian potion is outclassed by virtually every other form of invincibility the other Links have. Aside from maybe stats, the only advantage he has over any other Link is his formal education.

Fourth place would probably be the Hero of the Wild. Again, by default, he’s outclassed by any Link who’s fought a Ganon with any piece of the triforce. What puts him above WW Link and SS Link is his absurdly huge arsenal of weapons, armor, food, potions, etc. and a time-stop he can use more than once.  BOTW Link also has shown to be more than capable of trashing Ganon with minimal outside help, with Calamity Ganon clearly being more powerful and definitely far more experienced than his appearance in Wind Waker. While his arsenal and range of abilities are insanely vast and versatile, it’s only going to postpone the inevitable. Due to how outclassed (Physically) he is by all of the following Links, it’s only a matter of time before he runs out of resources and gets impaled by one of his predecessors. This doesn’t take away from how much of a hardcore badass he is.

In third place, we have the Hero of Twilight (my personal favorite). His arsenal does kinda blow compared to most, but it’s far more useful than the Hero of the Sky’s. His wolf form gives him better mobility than the above (as well as his enhanced senses), he has 3 different kinds of bombs, has the 2nd largest amount of arrows (literally by 1), the Crossbow is objectively better than his and Sky’s regular bows, the Ball & Chain has some - albeit very little- utility, the Gale Boomerang can counter bombs and other similar things, His Double-Clawshot is literally the same as SS Link’s, his horseback combat abilities are only rivaled by BOTW Link, and Midna – despite being vulnerable to the Master Sword and other holy stuff – allows for limited teleportation and potential BFR. To top it all off (arsenal-wise) His magic armor can protect him for an absurdly long period of time, and is only outclassed by Nayru’s love. He also had extensive training from OOT Link (as the Hero’s Shade) and TP Link is without a doubt the strongest Link, physically, as he’s the only one on the list that kicked the shit out of Ganondorf (w/TFP) without any strength-augmenting equipment. Sadly, the next two outclass him in pretty much every conceivable way.

Coming in second place is the Hero of Time. While his arsenal isn’t the largest of the bunch, it’s still pretty damn good. Chateau Romani mixed with Nayru’s love is the most broken combination of items/abilities ever, he has a damn good variety of weapons, his various forms (Goron, Zora, Deku) are incredibly useful in terms of both travel and combat, and the Ocarina of Time’s ability to significantly slow down time is pretty damn OP. OOT Link not only has two adventures under his belt, but he also has seemingly a lifetime of experience as a soldier. Not only did he teach the Hidden Skills to TP Link, but WW Link knows all of them as well, meaning that He’d never be caught off guard in a duel against either of them. He has much more experience than any other Link aside from LTTP Link, and to top it all off, his Fierce Deity form scales to Majora, who can potentially destroy an entire country/continent (it’s unclear how big Termina/Hyrule is). Despite all of that, there are a few reasons I think he’s kinda screwed, which I’ll be covering next.

Finally, in first place is the Hero of Legend. With the 2nd largest arsenal and certainly the one with the most utility, the most adventures under his belt, the most powerful iteration of the Master Sword to date, and the only one to have faced a Ganon who had the full Triforce under his control, I don’t think there’s too much of a contest here. Ganon in possession of the full Triforce should be either more powerful or bare-minimum equal to Majora. Why do I say this? Essentially it’s man-made dark magic vs the power of the three Goddesses that created the world. Ganon has also shown feats of similar degrees of power to Majora’s (though not exactly as strong), even without ANY triforce pieces. Therefore, it’s reasonable to believe that a Full TF-amped Ganon should be VASTLY superior to any other villain in the series. Now, let’s just assume that LTTP Link and Fierce Deity Link are totally equal stat-wise: The Helix Blade is 4x more powerful than base Master Sword… well, so is the Golden Sword; it’s LITERALLY the Master Sword, but 4x more powerful. OOT Link has infinite MP, but at least LTTP Link can restore his health and magic up to 4 times with Blue Potions. Fierce Deity Link may be a country or even continent level being, but so is LTTP Link via scaling to Full Triforce Ganon. The final nail in the coffin is that FD Link is weak to both the Gold Sword and the Silver Arrows due to being composed of some form of dark magic. Basically, as soon as OOT Link puts on the mask, he’s committing suicide. The battle becomes essentially Dark Link with no items or equipment vs Link with all his equipment and two weapons that can one-shot his opponent. It looks like they call him The Hero of Legend for a reason.

I know how controversial the LTTP Triforce/Ganon thing is, so feel free to disagree. I completely understand if you do.



Strunton
There once was a Link named Hero of Skies
Unfortunately, he was the first to meet his demise
Then there goes the Hero of Twilight
Who got dabbed on like he was a noob in Fortnite
Next up is the Hero of the Wind
He made it this far before getting skinned
Now let’s talk about the Legend
After the others were done with him, he’s on the way to heaven
Last up is Time and Wild
Time is broken, and Wild got defiled

So even though child murder is a crime
I think the winner is the Hero of Time


Metabro



Alright so cutting out the chaff first:

> Winds got literally bitchslapped by Ganondorf when both were empowered by a Triforce piece and only won after both lost their respective pieces.  This means Winds doesn’t stack up physically to the other Links, who either fared much better against Dorf or defeated characters even stronger than him.  And he doesn’t have enough hax to make up this deficiency.  He’s out

> Twilight I’d argue could be superior to base Time since he beat an arguably stronger version of Dorf than Time, never had an alternate version of himself lose to Dorf, and was trained by Time himself as a successor anyway.  However, Twilight doesn’t have any logical argument that would allow him to scale to the stronger Links and also lacks the arsenal to keep up with them.  He’s out too

> Wild defeated a version of Dorf that was kind of a shadow of his true self, and on top of that doesn’t seem to possess the Triforce of Courage like other Links do, giving him no boost to help him out.  While BotW2 might change that, and even though he has a very, very large arsenal, he doesn’t have enough going for him that pushes him up any further.  He’s out of here

This leaves the Big Three in my eyes: Skies, Time, and Legend

Skies has a shitty arsenal (almost exclusively because of his game being hampered by motion controls), so I feel like he’s being overlooked quite a bit.  However, I think Skies has a lot going for him in his favor

Being able to defeat Demise is nothing to scoff at, and I personally believe it put Skies at least on par with Majora.  The reason for this is because Majora was just some random (possibly even man-made) dark entity with no proof to back up that he would outrank someone like Demise, the demon king who could go toe to toe with the goddess charged with protecting the Triforce herself: Hylia.  Whatever kind of dark entity Majora is, he shouldn’t outrank the Demon King godslaying grandpappy of Ganondorf himself, especially if his power comes from a dark tribe of mere mortals.  Even if we assume Demise was weaker in his fight against Skies because he didn’t completely absorb Zelda’s soul, there’s very little basis to say he was countless orders of magnitude weaker than before

It should also be noted that this “far weaker” version of Demise was still portrayed as being far above Ghirahim, his right-hand man/demon lord/sword.  This is important to consider since a non-final form casual Ghirahim defeated Faron offscreen, who is capable of casually flooding all of Faron Woods (a feat requiring country to continent destroying levels of energy depending on how large you believe Hyrule is)

So in summary, Skies > Enraged maximum effort “weakened” Demise >>>>>>>> casual “weakened” Demise >>>>>>> serious final form Ghirahim >>>>>> base Ghirahim > serious Faron >>> casual Faron = country to continent level.  Therefore, I believe it’s in the realm of possibility for Demise to be superior to Majora, a multi-continent level character.  It’s basically Dragon Ball tier scaling, I know, but I feel it’s logical in this case

Time is much simpler in comparison.  He’s got the Fierce Deity Mask, so he’s stronger than Majora to some degree, who has the biggest and most clear cut feat out of anyone.  Time’s base form might be much weaker, but that mask (along with his rather impressive magical arsenal and defenses) makes him a solid contender

Less simple, though, is Legend.  His hope of winning falls squarely on how much his version of Ganon was beefed up by the Triforce.  Personally, I think it’s silly to think Ganon can access the full power of the Triforce at will in ALttP.  If he could, he’d easily been able to break the seal with his own magical might, yet he still needed to capture the Seven Maidens to do it.  Ganon was primarily using the Triforce to create an army of monsters out of the evil people who ventured into the Dark World too, so it’s not like he was constantly drawing from its power either

However, I do think the boost Ganon got from the Triforce was significant.  The Hyrule Historia also says that when Dorf defeated Time, he used the Triforce to become the “Demon King.”  While this may just be a title, if this was what Dorf wished to become in the literal sense, the Triforce could have very well made him at least as strong as Majora, if not Demise.  We know that the Triforce is more than capable of achieving this given its feats and the fact it’s the most powerful and highly sought after artifact in the series.  I don’t think after having failed to get the Triforce once before that Dorf would waste his wish on anything other than possessing enough evil power to become a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut

There are other instances showing that Dorf did receive a noticeable boost in power after defeating Time.  In OoT, the Triforce of Power turned Ganondorf into Ganon, but it was a much different Ganon from the one in ALttP.  OoT’s Ganon didn’t have nearly as many magical abilities as the ALttP version, nor did he have his badass trident.  In addition, ALttP Ganon is immune to a base Master Sword’s regular slashes and could only hurt by it with Spin Attacks, one of Link’s strongest sword techniques.  Only an upgraded Master Sword can harm him with regular slashes.  This is significant as Demise COULD be harmed by a base Master Sword’s regular strikes

So what does it all come down to?  All three should at least be above Majora to some extent.  However, I think even the nerfed Demise we got in SS is stronger than Majora to the point where even FDM Time can’t keep up, even despite his much, much better equipment and abilities.  But Legend defeated a version of Ganon that I argue can feasibly be placed on Demise’s level.  And with the two of them being on an even playing field, Skies is going to have a next to impossible task of defeating Legend’s vastly superior experience, abilities, equipment, and quality

In conclusion, in a fight between all the greatest versions of Link, the obvious winner is Erdrick due to not being a filthy knife-eared plagiarizer




Tinnie

So the main things we’ve looked at in this analysis and debate going towards each Link are equipment, arsenal and experience. I’ll be upfront and say that I personally don’t think the final category of experience matters as much as the others would have you believe. Afterall, every incarnation of Link here tends to the same enemies as the other - Including the same versions of Ganon. Basically, I don’t think multiple adventures really mean much in this context when 70% of the adventure is adventuring and puzzle solving.

Truth be told, outside of proving multiple Links can handle different versions of the same shit, the final threats of those adventures (Such as Ganon or Demise) give them feats that we can use for more valuable scaling. Not to mention, they’re all eldritch beings with literal millennia of combat experience under their belts, some including fighting - and beating - other Links. They’ve all taken down beings with far more experience and similar stats to other Links.

Now you may be thinking loadouts may help even the odds, but in the grand scheme of things they don’t. At least not for a single exception, but we’ll get to that in a bit. So right off the bat, the Hero of Legend has hands down the best arsenal at first glance. He has the second highest after Wild, but Wild mostly just collects random one off weapons he loots off of enemies, many of which suffer from being weathered from 100 years of exposure to the wilds or misuse by monsters. He’s got damn near everything the other Links do + better versions. Let’s look at The Heroes of Time and Winds. Legend has silver arrows which outdo the Light arrows and even the base Master Sword. He has significantly reduced damage that he doesn’t have to cast or where special armor for. He’s got more mobility between pegasus boots, mermaid’s tail, roc’s. He’s got mounts for more terrain and situations that can even fight back better than a horse could. His Master Sword, his primary weapon is the by far the strongest of any of the Links here. Even the Hero of the Skies’ full-powered blade isn’t as good in this situation since Fi’s extra abilities won’t mean be worth much outside of tracking any Link that resorts to stealth.

While a bit of a footnote, it’s important to know that none of the Links here are above stealing equipment and have the means to disarm foes and strip armor as needed. Hero of the Skies could easily disarm someone with a shield bash or the whip for instance and make up for his own lackluster loadout.

But that’s not the only thing the Hero of Legend has going for him. Even ignoring the fact that he’s got 4 adventures under his belt, he’s competed with and/or taken down the strongest enemies of the Links in this royale. The Ganon he fights in his first quest? Easily the strongest Ganon has ever been in the series. Dude was back by the power of the complete triforce and had experience slaughtering the Hero of Time, yet Legend took him out with no triforce piece. Then we look at the Heroes of Time, Twilight and Wind who have fought the exact same being. Wind had help and still struggled against a base-form Ganondorf without a single triforce piece after having a wish on the triforce that secured a future for him. Twilight Ganon had the triforce of power as well as twilight magic, so he should scale higher than Time Ganon. So AlttP > TP > OoT > WW for scaling. Now we’re left figuring out the others.

The Hero of the Wild takes out Calamity Ganon who’s strong enough to cast clouds of malice over the entirety of the country of hyrule and far beyond… Just like base Ganon with his power sealed could do in Wind Waker where he was at his weakest. And BotW2 implies that the Calamity was little more than a phantom anyway, so as it stands, Hero of the Wild should be roughly on par with the Hero of Wind. The Hero of the Skies takes on Demise, albeit weakened, but this is a being that was capable of fighting Hylia - the one the golden goddesses saw fit to have guard the triforce - to a standstil. Even nerfed, Demise should be around a Ganondorf with the ToP at the very least.
So there we have it. AlttP >TP/SS > OoT > WW/BotW. So, naturally, the winner is the Hero of Time. Yes, Time. Even inspite of me dickriding the Hero of Legend for most of this. The scaling didn’t really matter in the long run. Here’s why.

Remember how I said we’d talk about a certain item later? That item is the Fierce Deity’s Mask. Time with his MM and Hero’s Shade techniques should be around the same level as TP Link (who I ranked second off of scaling alone) seeing as he trained him first hand, albeit if we’re assuming he’s a kid for this fight and doesn’t get HS stuff (which I am), the FD mask lets Link scale to Majora, who - while in base form and restricted by Skull Kid’s body - managed to get the single most powerful calc in the series - and casually so. The moon drop consistently ranges from country - moon, which far exceeds anything the other Links have fought. Even if we assume Legend is the strongest in base and that the triforce would scale Ganon to Lorule’s widespread destruction, that’s still falls short of Majora’s sheer power. And while I initially put forth the argument that anti-evil weapons will deal extra damage to FD Link since he’s literally a dark god/demon, his stats should be high enough to no-sell and oneshot the others.


So with my roundabout novel of a verdict complete, I’m siding with the Hero of Time.




Radioactive Caffeine (is bad for you)


In this fight, we've got what appears to be a bunch of twinks duking it out. Oh, I'm sorry, I meant "Links".

Anyway, though, the most wholesome and adorable one dies first, and that makes me sad. The Hero of Winds may be no slouch, but contextually he's just so outmatched by the other Links. He lacks in many areas such as weapons and items (not very many stat boosting items and is far from the best in healing options) and on top of that is contextually weaker than most of the others via not having the Triforce of courage and only ever fighting Ganondorf at his weakest point throughout the series.

At that point, I'd say the next to go would be the Hero of the Skies. While it's true he fought Demise, the progenitor of every incarnation of Ganon's existence and evil-doing, he lacks a lot of the sufficient armor and stat boosting items necessary to keep him up with the Hero of Twilight. Also, beating Demise doesn't necessarily mean he scales above all other Ganon feats, as we don't know how connected their abilities are or if Ganon is supposed to be weaker than Demise at all.

From there we can finally cross off the Hero of Twilight, who definitely gives the Hero of the Wild a run for his money but just can't compete with the variety of abilities, weapons, items, and armor that the Hero of Wilds can use to outlast the rest, save for the best. On top of that the Hero of Twilight may or may not actually have a weakness to being hit by the Master Sword due to being infected with the dark magic that allows him to turn into a wolf.

However, this is unfortunately where we'll have to lose the Hero of Wilds as his amazing variety in just about everything will unfortunately, have to run out and leave him vulnerable to the far superior Hero of Time or Hero of Legends. They just have too much of a stat advantage for Wild to outlast either, and his use of Mipha's Grace and healing items will very quickly run out next to these two.

Finally, it'll come down to Time vs Legends. As poetic as it sounds, whoever wins between these two comes down to what you're willing to believe about Ganondorf and who he scales to logically in lore. I personally believe any ideas that Ganondorf or Ganon should be superior to Skull Kid via owning a part of the Triforce is merely theory based on how much the Triforce is hyped up as a macguffin in the universe. It's for that reason that I believe the Hero of Time is going to be the winner ultimately.

The Hero of Time should outstat the Hero of Legends with the Fierce Deity Mask. On top of that, having the Fierce Deity Mask gives the Hero of Time the properties and abilities of every single other mask, making him extremely versatile and able to use useful abilities on the fly. The Hero of Legends' best bet is the Golden Sword being 4 times as great as any of the others in power but I feel this is somewhat less of a great thing due to the fact the sword itself exists to be an anti-evil sword, so the stat multiplier may only work in that sense. Granted Legends' rings make it so this is redundant anyway and he can multiply his actual stats making this still relatively close.

I can't blame anyone for coming to the opposite decision, but for now I'm gonna have to side with the Hero of Time as the best of them all. The others are, unfortunately, the "weaker Links; goodbye".



KirbyKid

Image result for kirby
As to not subject everyone to another novel-

Hero of Winds goes down first. His feats pale in comparison to other links, regardless of how tough he is, there’s no feasible way for him to keep up. His arsenal isn’t as well varied and generally can’t get him far.

Next on the bucket list should be Hero of Skies. He fought Demise at a weakened state, and that gives me the idea that he hasn’t dealt with anything as strong or as tough as Link’s who have dealt with a Ganon that’s displayed more. His arsenal doesn’t seem as varied while the only thing really keeping him in the fight is his Master Sword being among the strongest in the series.

Now who goes next is also a toss up for me. But seeing as neither of these two are going to be the final two that will win the fight, and with everyone’s placements being wildly different, in my eyes I see the Hero of Twilight going down to the hands of the Hero of Wilds. I say this only because compared to Wilds, Twilight has far less healing options, buffs, armor and weapons and most importantly hax to keep up with Wild. Wild can stop time, heal wounds instantly, can keep up a barrier at all times while also being able to pseudo fly and create an AOE attack of lightning. On top of this, I do believe thanks to Wilds version of the flurry rush, he should have a certain edge in speed when compared to other Links, especially compared to those lower/on par with him.

Wild’s hax and ability to keep himself at a distance while also being no pushover up close should enable him to put up a good fight against Twilight.

Also, to address the whole “Link without a triforce piece argument,” by comparing A Link Between Worlds Link’s fight with Yuganon, an entity with both the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Power, Link with just one Triforce of Courage was able to defeat this monstrosity. Because of this it can be easily assumed that each Link, regardless of triforce or not, has their own feats and are capable of defeating the other with or without a triforce, and I have every reason to believe Wild can take out Twilight.

(As a side note, Botw2 seems to be setting up Link getting new powers and a glimpse at the true form of Ganon, so with all this in mind Wild really has a chance to be much more of a fiercer opponent on the battlefield that quite possibly could net him a win or at least a higher ranking in this list, but until then I can comfortably put him at third)

Now for the final two. Without a doubt, this battle will end up being between The Hero of Legends and The Hero of Time. Legends has an insane amount of experience thanks to having some of the most games in his series, and has the second largest arsenal with an incredibly powerful Master Sword to boot. Time is also no slouch with his God mask and having also been in quite a few important scuffles himself, he should soundly take out all other Links with Legends being the only one in his way to stop him.

Who should win between the two? Well, Time uses a mask fueled by dark energy, and Legends has without a doubt the strongest Master Sword of any Link on the field. Legends is no slouch in battle, having taken on one of the strongest Ganon’s in the entire series, and while Time has fought beings of unimaginable strength, so has Legends, and he’s done it for longer too.

Legends takes a swift slice to Times head while in fierce deity form and finishes the fight defeating a god.

And man, wouldn’t that be an awesome way to end a fight? 


Ultraguy
Huh a picture that summarizes the everyday life of a DB researcher

Ok so this entire fight is a hella convoluted, given there’s so many items, vague lore and contradicting scaling issues you have to deal with. As well as contradicting opinions on the map sizes for certain feats or how certain situations should be interpreted. Granted I’ve tried to mitigate this a little bit by using the same map sizes and references points across the board for my own analysis, but even then it’s still kind of an issue.

There’s also a lot of semantics involving the power of individual triforce pieces in each game, as well as Ganon’s level of power from game to game when it comes to scaling. Like essentially lore wise having a triforce piece should probably make you automatically stronger than those that don’t, except technically there are cases where this isn’t always true(ALBW link fought a person who had two pieces, while he had one for example). Likewise, the cross scaling with Ganon’s based on this principle leads to situations like BOTW Ganon clearly having more impressive abilities than say TP Ganon, but having to apply those feats to the TP Ganon anyway because he has the Triforce of power and calamity Ganon does not. Like I think a “scales unless proven wrong” concept works here, but it's confusing. The semi connected timeline also makes which Link’s scale to each other convoluted. Not to mention a good chunk of feats is done against minor enemies.

The only completely consistent variable I see in this fight is that the Hero of Time and the Hero of Legend are probably the frontrunners of the pack. Ultimately since the fight would come down to them, I’m going to give those two the most focus.

Anyway the Hero of Time. Getting straight to the point the fierce deity mask outranks almost every other Link since it scales to Majora. Keep in mind Termina is basically the alternate world version of Hyrule, and Majora can destroy it with the moon. There are very few feats in the series that can match that level of power since most every other high ranking calcs(the ether medallion,faron flood, thunderhead storm, ect) is always just somebody destructively affecting a small portion of Hyrule at once or at best making a large storm over the entirety of it. Outright obliterating something that same size is always gonna yield higher results no matter how you scale the map given that. The moon was heavily implied to destroy basically, the entire planet Termina is on in the remake, which would also net you higher results than most other feats regardless of the levity given.

Anyway even discounting that the Hero of Time has some of the best defenses, with his passive ¼ damage buff, and mirror shield. The combination of Nayru’s love and chateau Romania specifically is really OP and basically gives him infinite shielding. That super milk also more or less gives him infinite magical attacks, so he's good on the offensive as well. He also probably has the best mobility collectively with the transformation masks, is the second most experience and probably has the best time manipulation abilities(he can travel through or alter the flow Time precisely and without help). He also has some abilities, not every Link has a counter for, such as invisibility, and being able to split himself into 3. He can also see invisible opponents and counter transmutation.

The fierce deity mask probably also has all the powers of the non-transmutation masks and even baring that he should still be able to use certain spells when it's active(Keep in mind Link’s physical body changing shape never prevent him from using spells in Ocarina).

Anyway next is the hero of legend.

Personally, I think he has a high chance of winning, baring one question which I’ll get to at the end.

The hero of legends has the best arsenal by far, and he has a huge advantage over most of the other Link in that almost everything he has "stacks". He has multiple chain emails and rings that reduce damage(to a total of 1/8th  or heck sometimes just a single heart). Has rings that regen his health overtime or counter certain elemental attacks. Has mobility, gliding and jumping powers with the pegasus boots and roc's cape. He has the best AOE attacks, the strongest arrows in the series, and the strongest version of the master sword. He can swim underwater with the mermaid suit and attack underwater as well with his sword or seeds. Has a mirror shield, two invincibility methods, transmutation, also has time travel options and technically can probably carry the most ammo in his game out of any link besides Wild. His seeds have tons of effects and cover a wide area.

He doesn’t need to use transformations with obvious weaknesses to access parts of his arsenal and he isn’t reliant on partners to access certain abilities. Likewise technically since the Hero of Time’s fierce deity transformation is heavily implied to be founded on dark magic, his master sword/arrows might be super effective against it. He also has the most experience with 4 adventures under his belt. His only real weakness is his magic drains pretty quickly, and he can’t use the AOE and invincibility abilities without it.

On an even playing field, he has the advantage over Time slightly. Though worth noting he does not have counters for certain things like the invisibility/duplication.

The debate comes down to the whole thing regarding the final battle in ALTTP, and just how much Ganon scales to the full triforce.

Ganon has the full triforce under his control in ALTTP, though he’s not shown having it inserted in his body, as it was clearly shown the Triforce was in a separate room after his fight.

Anyway in the backstory of ALTTP essentially Ganon killed the hero of time at the end of Ocarina, and then made a wish on the Triforce to take over the world or ……..something. This turned the sacred realm into the dark realm and is apparently what caused his Ganon transformation to manifest in that timeline. Next is there’s a war between the sages and Ganon's forces, where they basically end up sealing him inside of said sacred realm. Ganon bides his time here until ALttP.

So firstly Ganon probably only had one wish on the Triforce. One wish per person is all we’ve ever seen in any Triforce appearance, and this probably explains why he couldn’t just wish himself out of the sacred realm. He also isn’t omnipotent, or else he could not have lost the imprisoning war or been beaten by Legends Link. That being said we do know for sure that Ganon’s power in this game was granted by the Triforce in some capacity because it’s referenced this way in ALTTP’s original manual.

Essentially I see this whole scenario like the dragon balls. Ganon made a wish to rule the world. This wish creates the dark world and gives him a “super Ganon” form of sorts. Ganon than hoards protection of the triforce so his wish can’t be undone more or less.

Now the golden question is how strong did Ganon become with his wish. And that’s the question that determines the match. You see the Triforce does maintain the realm Hyrule is in(this is confirmed with its counterpart that maintains Lorule). But quantifying this is somewhat ….hard, since Lorule had its triforce destroyed, and it was implied the realm only went through gradual decline over generations. This kinda nerfs a lot of the calcs that could be done with the KE of crevasses in the ground and cloud formations, since the time span is so long. Even at the end when lorule gets its triforce back, the planet isn’t instantly fixed. Like the clouds, part enough for light to shine through, which can be calced with some assumptions, but even then how much higher it may or may not be compared to the Majora calcs depends on the method for both.

All in all, the winner of the fight depends on how comfortable you are to scaling Ganon to Majora’s power based on the principle that the Triforce is supposed to be a more powerful artifact and should technically grant him more power. Personally, I think this makes some sense, but I’m not sure everyone would be comfortable with that idea. Assuming you don’t go with that FD probably has enough raw power to overturn Legends advantages.


Winner
CDI Link > other Links



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