Life Gauge

The , also known as Life, , , , the , or the , is a recurring element in . It is a meter that measures Link's current amount of health in Hearts.
==Uses==
The Life Gauge measures Link's current amount of health, represented in the form of Hearts (with the exception of , where Link's health is instead represented by square segments). Whenever Link takes damage, either by an enemy attack, a hazard, or by falling from a high altitude, the young hero will lose a certain amount of Hearts or part of a Heart equal to the damage taken. In the earliest games, the Life Gauge's Hearts are in fractions of two. Starting from , Hearts are in fractions of four. If all of the Heart Containers are completely depleted, Link dies and the game ends with a Game Over, therefore failing the mission. Link's Life Gauge can be replenished by picking up recovery Hearts. The Gauge can also be replenished by drinking recovery Potions, using a Fairy, visiting a Great Fairy, or by resting while Sitting or Sleeping. In many games, Link can also instantly be revived and some or all of his Hearts restored provided he has a Bottled Fairy or a Potion with the effect.
In most multiplayer games, such as and , the each have their own Life Gauge. The Life Gauge is shared in single-player campaigns, as well as in , wherein the all share the damage taken.
In most games, but not all, Link's Life Gauge starts with three Hearts. The Life Gauge can usually be increased by obtaining Heart Containers, which add an additional Heart to the Life Gauge for every Heart Container acquired. In some games, Link can also temporarily increase his maximum health through the use of items or equipment. The maximum total of Hearts the Life Gauge can have varies by game.
Often it is also possible for Link to gain a upgrade against enemy attacks, thereby taking less damage than normal. This may either take the form of wearing certain equipment, using items, or by receiving permanent upgrades.
 Main Series
Game 	Initial	Total
 	3 	16
 	4 	8
 	3 	20
 	3 	14
 	3 	20
 	3 	20
 	3 	20
 	3 	14
 	3 	14
 	6 	
 	3 	20
 	4 	6 to 8
 	3 	20
 	3 	20
 	3 	16
 	3 	16
 	6 	18
 	3 	20
 	9 	9
Breath of the Wild 	3 	30
Tears of the Kingdom	3 	40
 Other Appearances
Game	Initial	Total
 	3 	5
 	3 	6
 	3 	6
 	3 	14
 	3 	
 	4 	
 	6 	
 	 	
 	 	16
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Link's Life Gauge is known as Life or Life Hearts in . Link's Life can be extended to a total of 16 Hearts. When Link is full on Life Hearts, he can throw his . In the Second Quest, Old Men encountered in certain Dungeons will request that Link either pay them an amount of Rupees or give up one of his Life Hearts in order to pass. If Link chooses to sacrifice a Heart, it can never be recovered; there is a glitch where touching the heart when you have 3 hearts will display your health to 0 while you still retain 3 hearts.
Link can enhance his defense to enemy attacks by obtaining the Blue Ring and the Red Ring, which reduce damage taken by one quarter and one half respectively.
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In , Life Points are represented as a meter marked in square segments as opposed to Hearts. Link's Life Points start with 4 segments and can be extended to a total of 8 segments.
When Link is at full health, he can shoot Sword Beams from his Sword.
Whenever Link loses all of his Life Points, he loses an Extra Life and restarts at the entrance of the area he was last in. However, if Link loses all of his Lives and perishes, he will be forced from restart from the North Castle. The exception to this is if Link loses all his Lives while in the Great Palace, where he will restart from the Palace entrance instead.
Link can enhance his defense to enemy attacks by increasing his Life whenever he Levels up; this is separate from extending the meter, which can only be extended by collecting Heart Containers. Link's Life can be leveled up a total of eight times.
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The Life Gauge, originally referred to as Heart Containers, can be extended to a total of 20 Hearts in .
When Link is at full health, he can shoot Sword Beams with the Master Sword, Tempered Sword, and Golden Sword.
Link can enhance his defense to enemy attacks by obtaining the Blue and Red Mail.
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The Heart Meter, originally referred to as Heart Containers, can be extended to a total of 14 Hearts in .
When Link is at full health, he can shoot Sword Beams with the Level 2 Sword.
Link can temporarily enhance his defense to enemy attacks by picking up a Guardian Acorn, which reduces damage taken by half. In , Link can permanently enhance his defense by selecting the Blue Clothes after clearing the Color Dungeon, which holds the same effect as a Guardian Acorn.
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The Life Gauge, originally referred to as Life Energy, can be extended to a total of 20 Hearts in . This is the first Zelda game where Link can take a quarter of a Heart of damage.
In , playing Master Quest mode will make Link take twice as much damage.
Link can enhance his defense to enemy attacks by receiving an upgrade from the Great Fairy of Courage found in the Fountain near Ganon's Castle. The upgrade creates a white outline around the Hearts in Link's Life Gauge, signifying the enhancement.
Nayru's Love can be used to temporarily negate all damage taken.
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The Life Energy meter can be extended to a total of 20 Hearts in .
Link can enhance his defense to enemy attacks by receiving an upgrade from the Great Fairy of Courage in the Great Bay Coast. The Great Fairy will enhance his defense after Link brings back her scattered Stray Fairies from the Great Bay Temple. Identically to , this upgrade creates a white outline around Link's Hearts to signify the enhancement.
=== and ===
In a non-Linked Game of and , the Life Gauge, originally referred to as the Life Energy Meter, starts with 3 Hearts. In a Linked Game, it starts with 4 Hearts. The Life Gauge can be extended to a total of 14 Hearts in a non-Linked Game, a total of 15 Hearts in a Linked Game, and a maximum total of 16 Hearts in a Linked Game while exchanging Secrets.
When Link is at full health, he can shoot Sword Beams with the Noble Sword or Master Sword. While wearing the Light Ring L-1 or Light Ring L-2, Link can shoot Sword Beams up to two and three Hearts missing, respectively.
Link can enhance his defense to enemy attacks by wearing certain Magic Rings. Some Rings will reduce damage taken overall, while others will reduce or negate damage taken only from specific attacks or hazards. The Protection Ring ensures that all damage taken is always equal to one Heart. Conversely, the Cursed Ring increases damage to attacks.
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In , the each have their own individual Life Gauge, and start with 6 Hearts each. In a single-player game in , the two each share a Life Gauge. The Life Gauge can be temporarily extended by collecting Heart Containers, however, this extension lasts only for the duration of the Stage.
When all four are at full health, the Stage enters Rupee Fever, where the value of Rupees are doubled for as long as the maintain their health. This occurrence does not happen in a single-player game. If the Master Sword is obtained, the will shoot Sword Beams when he is at full health.
Whenever a loses all of his Hearts in his Life Gauge, a Rupee penalty is paid in order to revive the fallen . The cost will increase each time a is revived. If the do not have enough Rupees to revive the fallen , the Stage ends.
A can temporarily enhance his defense to enemy attacks by picking up Armor Seeds, which reduce damage taken by half. This effect lasts only for the duration of the Stage. 
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The Life Gauge can be extended to a total of 20 Hearts in .
In , enabling Hero Mode will make Link take double damage.
The Magic Armor can be used to temporarily negate all damage taken, at the cost of draining Link's Magic Meter, or his Rupees whenever he is struck in .
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In a single-player game of , the share a single Heart Meter and start with 4 Hearts. In a multiplayer game, the each have their own individual Heart Meter. The Heart Meter can be temporarily extended by collecting Heart Containers, however, this extension lasts only for the duration of the Stage.
Whenever a loses all of his Hearts in his Heart Meter, a Force Fairy is used to revive him. If the do not have any Force Fairies to revive a fallen , the Stage ends.
A can temporarily enhance his defense to enemy attacks by finding a Blue Bracelet, which reduces damage taken by half. This effect lasts only for the duration of the Stage.
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The Life Gauge, originally referred to as the Heart Meter, can be extended to a total of 20 Hearts in .
Link can temporarily enhance his defense to enemy attacks by using the Blue or Green Charm.
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The Life Gauge can be extended to a total of 20 Hearts in .
In , enabling Hero Mode will make Link take double damage.
In , tapping certain amiibo will have an effect on Link's Life Gauge. Upon completing a section of the Cave of Shadows, the Wolf Link amiibo may be tapped to save a checkpoint of the amount of Hearts Link has preserved. The saved amount can then be used to restore Link's Life Gauge to that amount by scanning the amiibo while in the Cave of Shadows, and is also used to determine the number of Hearts Wolf Link will have when scanned into . Scanning Ganondorf's amiibo will make Link take twice as much damage, and will turn his Life Gauge blue to signify the change. Scanning the amiibo while in Hero Mode quadruples the damage taken.
The Magic Armor can be worn to negate all damage taken, at the cost of draining Link's Rupees. Conversely, wearing the Zora Armor increases damage to fire and ice-based attacks.
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The Life Gauge can be extended to a total of 16 Hearts in .
In addition to Link's Life Gauge, the SS Linebeck also has its own Life Gauge to measure its endurance and stability. Its Life Gauge is represented in Green Hearts. These Hearts will deplete whenever the ship is attacked or crashes into an obstacle. When the Life Gauge is fully depleted, the ship is destroyed, resulting in a Game Over. The ship's Life Gauge can be replenished by finding Green Hearts in the overworld, either by defeating enemies or destroying objects, or can be fully replenished by disembarking at an island. Initially, the default ship starts with four Hearts, and can be increased by assembling matching Ship Parts.
In the Goron Temple, Link shares his Life Gauge with Gongoron.
Link can enhance his defense to enemy attacks if he is accompanied by Neri and has given her Wisdom Gems.
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The Life Gauge can be extended to a total of 16 Hearts in .
Identically to the SS Linebeck in , the Spirit Train also has its own Life Gauge represented in Green Hearts. Its Hearts will deplete whenever the train is attacked or crashes. The Train becomes destroyed if its Life Gauge is fully depleted. It can be replenished by finding Green Hearts in the overworld or fully recovered by disembarking at a station. The default train starts with four Hearts, and can be increased by assembling matching Train Cars.
Link can shoot Sword Beams while at full health if he has obtained the Swordsman's Scroll #1 and the Lokomo Sword.
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The Life Gauge starts with 6 Hearts in . The Life Gauge can be extended to 18 Hearts by collecting Heart Containers and all Pieces of Hearts. It can also be extended by an additional Heart by wearing Life Medals, which altogether can extend the Life Gauge to a maximum 20 Hearts.
Playing in Hero Mode will make Link take double damage.
Link can temporarily enhance his defense to enemy attacks by drinking a Guardian Potion. Drinking a Guardian Potion + will temporarily negate all damage taken for three minutes.
When Link takes damage, hearts are displayed around Link indicating the amount of health lost.
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The Life Gauge can be extended to a total of 20 Hearts in .
Playing in Hero Mode will make Link take double damage.
When Link is at full health, he can shoot Sword Beams with the Master Sword and its upgraded forms.
Drinking a Yellow Potion will temporarily negate all damage taken.
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In , the (as well as the in a single-player game) all share a single and start with 9 . The length of the does not permanently change, but it can be extended whenever the wear certain , including the , the , or the . After acquires 30 , wearing the extends the by two .
If any of the wear the with fewer than 30 , one will be subtracted from the . Certain Levels have a called "Fewer Heart Containers!", which subtracts five from the .
When is at full health, he can shoot if he is wearing the , the , or the . The allows him shoot even without full health by performing a .
Whenever the is fully depleted, the who last took damage will faint. A is used to revive him, and the will restart the current of the they are in. If the do not have any more to revive themselves, they receive a . When the is down to three or less, warning messages such as "Danger!" and "You're low on hearts!" will occasionally scroll across the screen.
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In , the Life Gauge can be temporarily extended by consuming certain Foods that grant Link yellow temporary Hearts. These Hearts are lost when Link takes damage and cannot be recovered. The starts with three Hearts and can be extended by one by trading four ; the can hold a maximum of 30 hearts (equivalent to a maximum of 120 hit points).
Wolf Link, when scanned into with the Wolf Link amiibo, has his own Life Gauge. The amount of Hearts in his Life Gauge can be increased by scanning the amiibo in after completing a section of the Cave of Shadows, which saves a checkpoint of Link's number of preserved Hearts that determine Wolf Link's health in . When all of Wolf Link's Hearts are depleted, he will vanish and cannot be scanned into the game until the following real-world day.
Damage numbers are shown numerically in . Each point of damage deals a quarter of a Heart to Link. For example, an attack with a power of 4 will damage Link by one full Heart. However, Link can increase his defense by wearing Armor. Each piece of Armor adds to Link's defense rating, which is subtracted from the strength value of physical attacks. Nevertheless, Link will take at least a quarter of a Heart of damage from any attack, and elemental damage such as fire and electricity cannot be reduced without special resistances.
Some enemies in are quite powerful, and may do more damage in one hit than Link has health. As long as Link's Life Gauge is full, he is protected from any attack that would instantly kill him, and will instead be left alive with a quarter Heart remaining. However, this has limitations: if the damage is more than five Hearts above Link's maximum health, he will still fall. Many powerful attacks also knock Link down, potentially causing him to roll downhill and lose his last quarter Heart. This protection does not exist in Master Mode.
Damages are displayed briefly as white hearts as Link loses health.
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The Life Gauge system from previous game mostly retain. The introduction showed Link having the previous 30 heart maximum until Ganondorf's resurrection saps Link's hearts until he has 3 left. It should be noted that in the introduction, each row of hearts is 15 hearts, once Link have 21 or more hearts, the Life Gauge now have rows of 20.
Link's Life Gauge starts with three hearts and he can obtain a maximum of forty hearts. This allows Link to have a maximum of 160 hit points. The Life Gauge can be extended by trading four Lights of Blessing to a goddess statue. Armor and damage behave largely the same as in .
The Life Gauge can also have its maximum temporarily reduced by damage caused by Gloom (as displayed as the last N hearts being cracked greyed out hearts), found primarily in the Depths. In this case, receiving any form of Gloom damage will reduce the Life Gauge's maximum by a certain number of hearts. Sections of hearts cannot be reduced, only full hearts (meaning max hearts reduction cannot be reduced by quarters). Damage from Gloom can be reversed by eating certain foods (such as Sundelions), touching a Lightroot, or emerging from the Depths. It should be noted that damage with gloom will only reduce the max hearts, it will not reduce the current amount of health Link has unless if the gloom reaches at or below Link's current number of hearts filled. Therefore it is better to use healing items that merely restore gloom-damaged hearts if only the type of damage possible from enemies and hazards is gloom.
The final battle with Demon King Ganondorf and Demon Dragon have unique Gloom attacks (dark-red orbs, sparks or stones on the ground) that will permanently remove a heart container (an animation will play with the bottom and rightmost heart shattering and disappearing completely), so normal remedies for Gloom will not work. Fortunately, you cannot save your game from that point. Additionally, upon defeating Demon King Ganondorf, all hearts permanently erased are restored during the Demon Dragon battle.
==Other Appearances==
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In , no named for Tingle appears. Instead, Tingle's health is measured in the Rupees he has collected, which in addition are also used in the exchange of items and services. Whenever Tingle engages with an enemy, he will gradually lose Rupees by a varying amount for as long as the battle lasts. Tingle can also lose Rupees if he gets hurt through other means, such as by falling into water.
Bodyguards have their own , known as Hearts. Like stats, each Bodyguard has a different total of Hearts. Bodyguards will gradually lose their health as they engage with enemies and take damage. When a Bodyguard's health is fully depleted, they will leave Tingle's side. Their health can be restored by providing them with Power-Up Potions or by using Rupees.
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The Life Heart meter can be extended to a total of 6 Hearts in .
When Link loses all of his Life Hearts, he will lose a life and a Continue screen with a counter will be displayed, allowing him the option of restarting at the entrance of the last area he was in. However, if Link perishes a total of three times, he will be returned to the world map and be forced to start over the Stage.
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The Life Heart meter can be extended to a total of 6 Hearts in .
Identically to , a Continue screen with a counter will appear when all of Zelda's Life Hearts are depleted. If, however, Zelda perishes a total of three times, she will be returned to the world map and be forced to start over the Stage.
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The Life Meter can be extended to a total of 14 Hearts in .
Whenever the Life Meter is fully depleted, Zelda must restart from either the Vision Henge if she is outside, or at the beginning of a Shrine if she perishes while inside one.
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In , each playable Warrior possess their own Health gauge. At Level 1, Warriors begin with 10 Hearts, however, Warriors unlocked at higher Levels may start with more than 10 Hearts. Their Health can be extended by collecting Heart Containers and Pieces of Heart hidden in Scenarios, but can also gradually be increased as the character Levels up. Warriors who do not have any Heart Containers or Pieces of Heart to find can only extend their Health through gaining Levels.
The Health gauge for each warrior can be extended to a maximum of 60 Hearts. The maximum can only be reached after updating to Version 1.6.0, which increased the maximum Level to 255 in both and . However, without purchasing any DLC Packs, only Medli will be able to reach the maximum in . In , no Warriors can extend their Health gauge to the maximum without purchasing a DLC Pack. Any Character obtained as part of a DLC Pack will be able to extend their Health gauge to 60 Hearts without purchasing any additional DLC Packs.
Allied and opposing characters alike also carry their own visible Health gauge, displayed as a colored gauge above their heads that matches the color of their Force. Their Health totals can also be found in the Battlefield Info menu. Allied characters whose Health are low can be recovered by touching the Rescue Area circle that forms around them.
If Link uses the Master Sword at full Health, all of his Combo Attacks will shoot Sword Beams.
Warriors will take increased damage when using Weapons with the Special Skills Regen and Sturdy Feet.
During "All attacks are devastating!" Battles or Battles following the "Don't Get Hit!" Master Quest or Great Sea Rule in Adventure Mode, the player Warrior will take devastating damage if hit. This will reduce the Warrior's Health to one Quarter-Heart unless they already had one Quarter-Heart, in which case the Health gauge will fully deplete. In , Companion Fairies with the Glass Cannon Rental Skill can also cause all damage a Warrior takes to become devastating.
The player Warrior's Health gauge cannot fully deplete unless they take damage when they have a Quarter-Heart of Health. If the player Warrior takes enough damage that their Health gauge should fully deplete, they will instead be reduced to a Quarter-Heart. Whenever the player Warrior's Health is fully depleted, they collapse. In , the Battle is lost but in , if the Warrior is battling with a Companion Fairy with the Hard Worker Rental Skill, the Skill will automatically be used and revive the Warrior with 28 and a quarter Hearts. If the Warrior's Health gauge fully depletes again or the Warrior didn't battle with a Companion Fairy with the Hard Worker Rental Skill, the Battle is lost. Depending on a Battle's circumstances, allied characters who lose all of their Health may either retreat from the battlefield without dire consequence, or may also cause the Battle to result in a defeat.
==Nomenclature==
==Gallery==
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