Voice Acting in The Legend of Zelda Series

:See also: List of Voice Actors
As in the grand majority of video games, voice acting is an integral part of the plot, providing a human-like interface and relatable sound to in-game characters and beings. is known for its overall lack of voice acting, with the exception of Breath of the Wild and its sequel. However, small voice clips recorded by Japanese voice actors and actresses are used for main and non-player characters since . Since these voice clips contain few legitimate words, most of them are kept for all language releases. Non-canon media occasionally contains full voice acting, which is dubbed over for different language releases.
==Link==
The main protagonist, Link, is perhaps the most famous in the franchise in terms of voice acting. For the most part, Link himself does not speak, but rather grunts, exclaims, and makes other throttal sounds during different situations, whether it be in battle or in conversation, similar to some other Nintendo protagonists in various franchises such as Mario, Samus, Red, and few others. Since the debut of the series in 1986, Link has yet to receive proper voice acting, and does not even speak in the most recent installments. However, the exclamation Link provides during combat is in fact voiced by real human voices. Games prior to Ocarina of Time have Link use generic sounds to display himself taking damage. 
Fujiko Takimoto is the original voice actress that voiced Young Link, Deku Link and Zora Link in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Hyrule Warriors, as well as later young incarnations of Link from , and the Game Boy Advance remake of . She also voiced in the Soul Series for the Japanese language.
Nobuyuki Hiyama is the original voice actor that voiced Adult Link in Ocarina of Time, Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee, and . He is also credited in voicing Fierce Deity Link in , as well as and in the for the Japanese language. Because Link in required different speech registers given two time periods unlike other games in the series, a unique voice actor was used for each era of the Hero of Time's life in the Nintendo 64 title, with Takimoto and Hiyama, respectively.
Link was given much more expression in , given the art style and the storyline, and hence was given a new voice than that of . Sachi Matsumoto is the voice actress who voiced Link in , him and Shadow Link in , , and Toon Link in . She also voiced the Skull Kid in Majora's Mask as well as Aryll in The Wind Waker.
 is a title that received yet another voice actor by the name of Akira Sasanuma to portray Link, also in . Takashi Ōhara voiced Link in . Mitsuki Saiga voiced Link (as well as Ravio, due to his parallel relationship to Link) in .
In non-canon media, Jonathan Potts is the voice actor that portrays Link in , while Jeffrey Rath provides actual speech to the young hero during the infamous cutscenes of the unsuccessful Philips CD-i titles, and . In , the adult Link was voiced by Yūki Kaji.
==Princess Zelda==
In terms of Princess Zelda, the list of voice actors is much smaller, mainly because Jun Mizusawa provided voice acting for the princess not only in , but , , and . Mizusawa is also credited with the voicing of Sheik in .
 changes to Hikari Tachibana as the voice of Princess Zelda/Tetra.
Yu Shimamura voiced Zelda in , and reprises the role in the Japanese version of and Tears of the Kingdom, this time speaking actual words. In other versions of , Zelda has been dubbed by Patricia Summersett (English), Jessica Ángeles (Mexican Spanish), Nerea Alfonso (European Spanish), Adeline Chetail (French), and Julia Casper (German).
Ayumi Fujimura gives her voice in .
In terms of non-canon media, Cyndy Preston provides Zelda with legitimate words in The Legend of Zelda TV series, as does Bonnie Jean Wilbur in the Philips CD-i titles, Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. In , she is voiced by Saori Seto.
==Ganon/Ganondorf==
The voice acting for Ganon is even more slim, given his narrow span of screen time in every Zelda title to date and most games have the main antagonist simply roar or laugh. As his human form, Ganondorf, for the most part, Takashi Nagasako provided the voice of the Gerudo warlock in Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nagasako also provides the voice of the infamous Iron Knuckle and indirectly the Poe and Garo Master enemies in Nintendo 64 Zelda games (the latter two has their laugh being a sped up version of Ganondorf's). In Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he was played by Hironori Miyata, and Len Carlson takes over the voice of the Evil King in the TV series. Matthew Mercer takes on the role of Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom (English).
==Midna==
Akiko Koumoto is the Japanese voice actress who voiced the Twilight Princess character Midna. Strangely, Midna only speaks gibberish. Some have been able to make words out of Midna's gibberish, although these are strings of words without any meaning. It has been speculated that Midna's speech is indeed English, but with all the words mixed and reformatted to make it sound like gibberish.
==Non-Canon Media==
===Other Voices in the TV Series===
Because The Legend of Zelda TV series enabled voice acting across the board, characters like Link, Zelda, and even objects like the Triforce of Power and Wisdom are given speech where they otherwise would not, had it been a video game. Elizabeth Hanna and Allan Stewart Coates are the actors who give words to the Triforce of Power and Wisdom, respectively, and Colin Fox is the man providing the voice to King Harkinian.
===Other Voices in the Philips CD-i Titles===
Other voice actors credited with contributing their words to characters from Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon are Jeffrey Nelson, Mark Berry, Natalie Brown, Karen Grace, Josie McElroy, Marguerite Scott and Paul Wann.
== Trivia ==
* Among the series' fanbase, although every voice actor in the core series are widely praised, the performances of Fujiko Takimoto and Nobuyuki Hiyama for Link, Jun Mizusawa for Princess Zelda, and Takashi Nagasako for Ganon are seen as the most iconic in the franchise.
Category:Staff