Shadow Link

:Not to be confused with , the recurring that first appeared in and , the final of .
 are recurring enemies and in . is dark reflection of . states that the evil thoughts and resentment of Ganondorf, who had been killed by an earlier incarnation of Link in , manifested through the Dark Mirror in the form of Link. He is possibly related to Dark Link, but has distinct differences in behavior, origin and appearance, making any relationship between them unclear and speculative.
==Characteristics==
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====Hyrulean Adventure====
Shadow Link is featured as both a main character and a recurring enemy and boss in . There are many Shadow Links; the Dark Mirror can create an endless supply from Ganondorf's resentment and evil thoughts from his defeat in , but they all work together as one. He first appears early in the game in the Four Sword Sanctuary and tricks Link into drawing the Four Sword, releasing the ancient Wind Mage Vaati and splitting Link into four Links. He and his copies then plague Hyrule by terrorizing its citizens, some of whom blame the Links for their misdeeds. Shadow Links usually show up repeatedly in each stage, often causing mischief using a certain item, such as setting fires with the Fire Rod, creating stunning shockwaves with the Hammer, or charging at the Links with the Pegasus Boots. Sometimes they will simply taunt the Links by hopping in place and jumping away when they get too close. Defeating a Shadow Link will yield a large green Force Gem, but they will flee to the Dark World if they are not defeated in time or if they evade the Links enough times.
Shadow Link will also sometimes appear and summon a Big Bomb. When this Bomb explodes, all Links on screen will be instantly defeated if they do not take shelter or leave the area before the countdown reaches zero. He will continue to summon an endless supply of Big Bombs until the Links progress through the area. He shows up to do this in The Coast, The Swamp, The Lost Woods, Pyramid, and The Dark Cloud stages.
Shadow Link appears as the main boss in the Cave of No Return, Village of the Blue Maiden, Desert Temple, and The Dark Cloud stages. He will also appear as a Sub-Boss for the Mountain Path, Tower of Flames, Kakariko Village, Desert of Doubt and Temple of Ice stages. During each battle, except for the Dark Cloud stage, Shadow Link will eventually take on a random color, and only the corresponding Link can damage him using the Four Sword (bombs can stun Shadow Link if they explode near him, even if they are detonated by a Link that does not match his color). During these battles Shadow Link usually travels back and forth from the Dark World and attacks Link with his copy of the Four Sword. Starting with the battle in the Village of the Blue Maiden, additional Shadow Link copies will jump out of him before the battle begins. Each copy can be defeated individually, but all of the copies will be instantly defeated if the original Shadow Link is defeated. Furthermore, only the original Shadow Link can take on a random color. Shadow Link and his kin are finally defeated once and for all in The Dark Cloud stage when, while the Links engage them in combat, Princess Zelda undoes the seal on the Dark Mirror and takes it into her possession, dispelling them.
====Shadow Battle====
In the additional multiplayer game in known as Shadow Battle, four colored Shadow Links battle for supremacy in a number of different arenas. While appearing identical to the four Links of the normal game, they appear in the same manner as Shadow Link and have his voice at the start of battle. During these battles, Shadow Link has the exact same abilities as Link normally would.
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 appear in , but they do not play a part in the main story and have no known connection to or . Once has spoken to and activated StreetPass, and the player has received a StreetPass tag on their Nintendo 3DS system, a representing another player's will appear waiting in one of various locations around or , and a sign will appear in the offering a hint to his location. When spoken to, he will challenge to battle. Accepting this challenge will cause and to be transported to a battle arena where they will fight in a Shadow Link Battle. In this mode of the game, is only a representation of the other player, and is controlled by the computer. Its and gear are determined by the other player when setting up StreetPass in their game. The combined might of the held by adds up to a bounty of that can be won once defeats him, and a number of Challenges can be attempted, such as defeating using a specific . The player does not always have to StreetPass with another player to receive a , as occasionally one from a mysterious player named "Shade" will appear.
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In , three appear as the of the in the . They wield powerful versions of the that appear in the game, in addition to which will temporarily Curse upon dealing damage. Their are chosen randomly, thus requiring a different strategy every time the are fought. They will each aggressively pursue the as they attack, making ranged weapons very useful in this battle. Each drops a single when defeated. Once they have all been defeated, a will appear leading to the 's and ' final floor, where there are three to choose from, containing Silver-rarity from the . If the entire has been completed starting from the first floor, there will instead be eight , each containing a Gold-rarity from a different of the . At the bottom of whichever he chooses, will find the .
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In , by tapping the game's Link amiibo after speaking with Dampé, Link will be given the +Shadow Link Effect Chamber Stone. If placed while creating a Chamber Dungeon, Shadow Link will appear, and will chase and attack Link until one of them is defeated. Once defeated, he will yield various Rupees and a Fairy.
==Other Appearances==
=== (Himekawa)===
In the , Shadow Link was drawn from the Dark Mirror by Ganon to act out his wishes. Shadow Link is a twisted version of Link, born from his own shadow, and is a cruel, malevolent and calculating character. He first appears after causing the Shrine Maidens to vanish, and proclaims himself to be "the hero, Link". Completely avoiding Link's attack, he immediately kidnaps Zelda and sends Link to the Four Sword Sanctuary, from which he observes as Link awakens Vaati. His next move is to lead Vaati's troops to attack Hyrule Castle and send all the Knights of Hyrule to the Dark World. There, he confronts the four Links, revealing himself to be much stronger than they are with their tainted blades, and striking them down with Sword Beams. They are saved by the Blue Maiden, who releases a Fairy to shine light upon him, stunning him long enough for them to escape.
Shadow Link continues to plot, hidden away from the light. As he cannot go out in daylight, he works with Vaati's minions to thwart the progress of the four Links. Using dark magic, he manages to split the four Links apart by sending them to four different lands of Hyrule, thus weakening the strength of the Four Sword. Then, confronting Vio, he attempts to coerce him into joining the side of darkness by appealing to his intelligence. Working with Vio, he traps Red and Blue in the Temple of Darkness, and allows Vio to be placed in charge of the Tower of Flames on Death Mountain. Vio even appears to kill Green in battle, totally convincing Shadow Link that he has turned to the side of evil.
However, Vio is simply putting on a show to gain his trust. Once inside, he learns about Ganon and his potential weakness, and the existence of the Dark Mirror, the source of darkness from which Shadow Link was originally summoned. He also learns that Shadow Link does not desire to follow Ganon, and in fact wishes to rule over Hyrule alongside Vio. Shadow Link simply hates humans and the world for spurning him as "just a shadow". However, after Vio is foiled in an attempt to shatter the mirror, Shadow Link discovers his betrayal and attempts to execute him in by dropping him into the lava of Death Mountain. Saved at the last minute by the three other Links, they confront Shadow Link, and with their new-found strength, destroy him with a combined Sword Beam attack.
Shadow Link is not killed, however, and is pulled by Ganon from the mirror again, dripping and shivering as he tries to resist entering the light. Seeing him in this state, Princess Zelda takes pity upon him. He attempts to spurn her but is momentarily moved by her words as she states that he should not fear the light, as he too is a hero. Driven by a desire to save her from the Dark Cloud, he disguises himself as Vio and aids the three other Links in their battle against Vaati. Realizing that the demon cannot be killed by the Four Sword alone however, he returns to the Dark Mirror, and in an act of self sacrifice he shatters it, destroying both Vaati and himself in the process. Before he vanishes, the four Links thank him, and tell him he will always be a part of them. Shadow Link makes a final appearance on the penultimate page of the manga, appearing as Link's shadow and giving a thumb's up.
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 appear as in . is also added as a playable character in the Character Pack downloadable content pack.
==Trivia==
*Shadow Link's theme music in is a remix of the Kakariko Village Soldiers theme from .
*Shadow Link's voice in is Link's voice pitched up by around 45% percent, or about +6.43 semitones.
*Shadow Link's theme music in and are remixes of the Palace theme and the Link's Shadow Battle theme, respectively, from .
*Shadow Link in is tied with Gramps for the highest damage output of any vulnerable Enemy in the series. In Hero Mode, he is able to deal 32 Hearts of damage with a single use of the Purple Potion.
==Nomenclature==
==Gallery==
File:LANS +Shadow Link Effect Icon.png|The from 
File:Shadow Link Lorule CastleALBW.png| standing at the front gate to from 
File:Shadow Link Witches HouseALBW.png| waiting by the from 
File:TFH Shadow Links Models.png|The from 
File:ShadowLinkManga.png| from 
File:CoH Shadow Link Artwork.png| artwork from 
File:CoH Shadow Link Sprite.png| sprite from 
==See Also==
*Dark Link
*Shadow Zelda
*Hollow
Category:Deceased characters