Link (Hero of Time)/Synopsis

The tragic tale of Link, the Hero of Time from The Legend of Zelda series.
==Unified Timeline==
===Past===
Long ago, during the Hyrulean Civil War, a young woman fled the kingdom of Hyrule with her newborn son, Link, after the boy's father, a Hylian knight, was killed in battle. The woman was badly injured, yet managed to make it to the Kokiri Forest, where she entrusted the forest's guardian, the Great Deku Tree, with the care of her baby. Not long after, the mother succumbed to her wounds and died. The Deku Tree decided to raise Link the same as he would the Kokiri, the elven "Children of the Forest" under his care.
Link grew up as an outsider, never quite fitting in with the rest of the Kokiri. All of the Kokiri had fairies as companions, yet since Link was not actually a Kokiri, he never got a fairy of his own. Likewise, Link seemed to gradually grow as time progressed, whereas the Kokiri remained the same age. His only true friend was Saria, a kind girl who often spent time in the Lost Woods playing on her ocarina. However, even his friendship with Saria had drawbacks, as a boy named Mido grew jealous of Link's closeness with her and often picked on him because of it, usually using Link's lack of a fairy as a point of ridicule.
===Ocarina of Time===
One day, the Great Deku Tree sends a fairy named Navi to retrieve Link and bring him to the tree. Navi struggles to awaken Link, but before long, she introduces herself as his long-awaited fairy companion and guides him to the Deku Tree. The Deku Tree informs Link that he is gravely ill due to a curse that was cast upon him, and requests that Link head inside of him to break said curse. 
Link travels inside the Deku Tree, where he finds that the source of the curse is an infestation of Gohmas. Link kills the Queen Gohma and goes back outside, only for the Deku Tree to reveal that he was already doomed from the curse, and only sent Link inside to test his courage. The Deku Tree then tells Link about the Triforce, and how an evil man from the desert known as Ganondorf had cursed the Deku Tree in an attempt to gain the Spiritual Stones needed to unlock the Triforce. The Deku Tree entrusts Link with the green Spiritual Stone and tells him to go to Hyrule Castle. With that, the Deku Tree dies. Link says goodbye to Saria before heading off to Hyrule Castle.
There, he meets Princess Zelda and she sends him to collect the remaining two Spiritual Stones to open the gates inside of the Temple of Time. Link successfully obtains the Stones and travels to the Temple of Time.
He enters it with the help of the Stones and the Ocarina of Time, and inside Link is able to retrieve the Master Sword off of the Pedestal of Time. However, due to him drawing the Sword off the Pedestal, the temple imprisoned Link for seven years until his body matured more. Meanwhile Ganondorf had taken control of Hyrule and the Triforce of Power. Seven years have gone by and the Sage of Light, Rauru, awakens Link who is now the Hero of Time. Link goes on an adventure to cleanse the land of Ganondorf by trying to awaken the Sages. Link later meets a character named Sheik, who guides him during his quest. 
Link first returns to the Kokiri Forest to discover that his friends have not grown up yet. The Deku Tree reveals to Link that the Kokiri do not grow up and Link is in fact a Hylian who was orphaned during the Hyrulean Civil War. Link’s mother had been wounded and fled to the Kokiri Forest and placed Link under the Deku Tree’s care, who was able to sense that Link was the child of destiny. Link later gains the ability to travel back and forth to two time periods that makes him either young or old with the Master Sword. He continues his adventure in searching for the Seven Sages and eventually returns to the Temple of Time. 
There, Sheik reveals to Link that she is actually Zelda and how she is also the last Sage. She gives Link a Magical Light Arrow to defeat Ganondorf. Zelda is then kidnapped by Ganondorf, and with the help of the other six Sages, Link goes after her. Link defeats Ganondorf and he and Zelda barely escape as the castle crumbles. Ganondorf transforms into a more powerful form calling himself Ganon. Link fights Ganon with the help of Zelda and the Sages, and they are able to imprison Ganon in the Sacred Realm. At the end of the game, Zelda plays the Ocarina of Time and turns Link back into child form and Navi leaves him. Later, Link sneaks into the castle to visit the young princess, the two look at each other and the game ends.
==Child Timeline ==
===Majora's Mask===
After Link was sent back in time to relive his childhood, Link warned Zelda about Ganondorf's plot, Link spent an unknown amount of time in Hyrule before departing in search of his friend, Navi. Zelda gave Link the Ocarina of Time, preventing Ganondorf from entering the Sacred Realm. While searching for Navi, Link gets ambushed by the Skull Kid, who is wearing a mysterious mask, and his two friends, the fairy siblings Tatl and Tael. Link has Epona and his Ocarina stolen from him by the Skull Kid, and the Skull Kid transforms him into a Deku Scrub. While attempting to chase the Skull Kid, Link is stopped by Tatl, who is then separated from the Skull Kid, leaving her stuck with Link. Link and Tatl then enter Termina.
During the first three days, Link and Tatl meet the Happy Mask Salesman, who encourages them to get the Ocarina of Time back and recover his stolen mask. In the process, Link and Tatl discover that the moon is going to crash into the center of Termina, Clock Town, during the city's annual festival, destroying the entire world. Upon reaching the town's titular clock tower on the night of the third day, the duo discover that Skull Kid is responsible for the moon's impending fall, while also dragging Tael along with him against his will. Tael urges them to go to the four corners of Termina and free the Four Giants in order to stop the Skull Kid. Link manages to get the Ocarina of Time back, and uses it to send himself and Tatl back in time to their first day in Termina.
Reuniting with the Happy Mask Salesman, Link is taught the Song of Healing, which transforms him back into a human and grants him the Deku Mask, allowing him to turn into a Deku Scrub at will. The Salesman then tells them the story of his stolen mask: Majora's Mask, an ancient artifact used in hexing rituals that has the power to destroy the world. The Happy Mask Salesman, knowing who Link is from his previous adventure, implores the young hero to get the mask back and save Termina.
Link and Tatl follow Tael's advice and travel to the Woodfall region, where the Deku Scrubs are preparing to execute an innocent monkey after accusing him of kidnapping their princess. Link and Tatl find the princess being held captive by a monster named Odolwa in the Woodfall Temple. After defeating him, Link and Tatl are transported to unknown realm, where they see that they have just freed one of the Four Giants, who teaches Link the Oath to Order. Upon returning, Tatl apologizes to Link for stealing his stuff and Link brings the Deku Princess back to the Deku Palace, thus saving the monkey from being boiled alive.
Next, Link and Tatl go to the Snowhead region, which is being afflicted by a never ending blizzard that threatens to freeze the Goron Tribe to death. Link encounters the ghost of Darmani III, a Goron hero who recently died while trying to stop the blizzard's source in the Snowhead Temple. After healing his soul and getting the Goron Mask, Link saves the Goron Elder, learns a new song, and rushes to the Snowhead Temple. There, he defeats another monster named Goht, which returns spring to the Snowhead region and frees another Giant.
Link and Tatl then go to Romani Ranch, where Epona was taken in by the sisters Romani and Cremia, who are concerned about their cattle being stolen. Cremia assumes that the greedy Gorman Brothers steal the cows every year, yet the younger Romani insists that the cows are abducted by "Them". That night, Link stays to defend the ranch from trespassers and finds out that "They" are actually alien invaders that steal cows for otherworldly experiments. After defeating the aliens, Link is free to take Epona and head off to the next region.
In the contaminated waters of the Great Bay region, Link finds a Zora named Mikau, who was mortally wounded after trying to rescue some Zora eggs from a crew of Gerudo Pirates. Mikau dies, and Link plays the Song of Healing to soothe his soul. Afterwards, he obtains the Zora Mask and buries Mikau on the beach shore, marking the grave with Mikau's signature guitar. Link then goes to the Gerudo Pirate Fortress to rescue the Zora eggs and returns them to their mother, Lulu. Lulu then sings a song that summons a giant turtle, who brings Link to the Great Bay Temple. There, Link defeats Gyorg, thus purifying the waters of the Great Bay and releasing a third Giant.
Finally, Link and Tatl travel to the Ikana region, where the undead Ikana Kingdom has been at war with the ninja Garo tribe for the past century. Link manages to return light to Ikana Canyon, causing the king, Igos du Ikana, to regain hope in ending the war. The king teaches Link the Elegy of Emptiness, allowing the hero to creat statues of himself. Link then ascends the Stone Tower, where he puts an end to the Garo Master and defeats Twinmold, allowing the spirits of Ikana to be put to rest and freeing the final Giant.
Link and Tatl then return to Clock Town one last time, where Link plays the Oath to Order. This summons the Four Giants, who catch the moon before it can finish plummeting. However, it’s quickly revealed that the Skull Kid has been possessed by Majora's Mask itself the entire time, at which point Majora casts Skull Kid aside and possesses the moon itself, thus continuing its descent. Link simply follows the mask to the moon itself, where he trades all of his masks with four mysterious children. Upon meeting a fifth child wearing Majora's Mask, he is granted the Fierce Deity Mask, and enters the final battle.
Putting on the Fierce Deity Mask, Link absorbs all of the suffering in Termina and is transformed into an adult. He then uses his new body and sword to defeat Majora, stopping the moon from crashing and saving the world. Afterwards, Link befriends the newly-reformed Skull Kid before leaving Tatl and Termina behind to continue his search for Navi.
===Between Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess===
What exactly happened to Link in between these two games is unclear. It is believed that he eventually found a lover and had a child, though the identities of both are never revealed. However, he somehow passed away after that, but was unable to pass on, lamenting that he never passed on his heroic skills to a successor. As a result he became a restless and regretful spirit, waiting to prepare the next hero for the inevitable return of Ganondorf.
===Twilight Princess===
In this game, Link appears as the Hero's Shade, a restless spirit taking the form of an armored Stalfos. The Hero's Shade notices that his descendant, also named Link and known as the Hero of Twilight, has begun an adventure of his own to rescue his loved ones from the dreaded King Bulblin. However, the Hero's Shade senses Ganondorf's presence and realizes that his nemesis is behind the plot and preparing his return.
Manifesting as a golden wolf in the Light World, the Hero's Shade takes the new Link to a spirit realm, where he teaches him useful combat techniques that only chosen heroes can know. After teaching Link all of the sword techniques, the Hero's Shade recognizes him as a worthy successor able to defeat Ganondorf, allowing his spirit to finally be put to rest.
== Adult Timeline==
===The Wind Waker===
After Ganondorf was defeated and Link was sent back in time to relive his childhood, the timeline in which he was sent from was left without a hero. This resulted in Ganondorf breaking free from the Sacred Realm and taking over Hyrule with no hero to stop him. As a result, the gods flood Hyrule to completely destroy it and end Ganondorf's tyranny.
In the present, the Hero of Time is still viewed as a legendary hero by the generations that followed him and it has become a tradition for boys to wear the Hero's Clothes (a green tunic and white tights in a similar vein to Link's Kokiri attire) when they come of age. On the twelfth birthday of the Hero of Winds (this game's incarnation of Link), the boy dons the Hero's Clothes.
By the end of the game, Ganondorf himself comes to view the new Link as a worthy successor to the hero's title, referring to him as "the Hero of Time reborn".
== Downfall Timeline ==
===A Link to the Past===
In the Downfall timeline, Link was defeated and killed by Ganon during their final battle. Ganon then extracted the Triforce of Courage from Link's corpse, allowing him to regain his intelligence as Ganondorf and wish for world domination with the completed Triforce. Without the Hero of Time, the Seven Sages used their power to seal Ganon in the later corrupted Sacred Realm. The Link from A Link to the Past is the next incarnation of Link in this branch of the timeline.
==Era of the Wilds==
===Breath of the Wild===
The Hero of Time is briefly alluded to when the latest incarnation of Link, the Hero of the Wild, is being inducted into the Champions of Hyrule. During the ceremony, Zelda mentions a hero from Hyrule's past who was "adrift in time".
If the player scans the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask Link amiibos using the amiibo Rune, Link can obtain the Hero of Time set, an exact replica of the Hero of Time's outfit, and the Fierce Deity set, an exact replica of Fierce Deity Link.
===Tears of the Kingdom===
The Hero of Time set is now included as a canon part of the base game, and can be found by exploring the Depths. Upon finding each piece, Link can dress as the Hero of Time, with flavor text alluding to the events of Ocarina of Time.
Likewise, the Fierce Deity set can be found in the "Misko's Cave of Chests" side quest. Somehow, the Bandit Misko was able to get his hands on the Fierce Deity's clothes, and he scatters them throughout Hyrule, while leaving behind puzzles and clues to help determined adventurers find them. Upon obtaining all of them, Link not only gets the full set, but also the Fierce Deity Sword, with flavor text for each alluding to the Hero of Time's adventures in Termina.
Category:Synopsis