AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Yes she did. Linked Game. If you played one of the Oracle Games, you would get a code at the end. If you entered that code when starting up a new file on the other Oracle game, you would get to continue the story in that game. There, Zelda would appear and play an admittedly minor role in the story, working to bring hope to the victims of Onox or Veran, depending on which game it is. At the end, Twinrova would kidnap her, taking away the last beacon of hope the people had left and lighting the Flame of Despair. They would then attempt to sacrifice her to resurrect Ganon.

The sad part is that that's one of the most major roles she's had in a 2D Zelda.

Oh yeah, I knew about that

Even so, if you didn't know about the thing or anybody who had the other game you had no way of knowing

Meh, true enough.

Come to think of it, I think Spirit Tracks is the only 2D game where Zelda has had an active role. In LoZ, AoL, ALttP, one of the Oracle games, FS, MC, PH, and ALBW, she was just a damsel in distress waiting for you at the end of the game. In LA and the other Oracle game, she didn't appear at all and was only mentioned in passing. Remind me again why the series is named after her if she hardly ever does anything? Most of the time she's one step away from being a walking, talking MacGuffin.

Then again, a lot of the time Link is just your run-on-the-mill hero

Yeah, he's just a shell for players to insert themselves into. I'd even go as far as to say that he isn't really the main character of a number of these stories; it's just that the people the story's actually about aren't capable of doing stuff without him. For example, I might say that Minish Cap was really Ezlo's story; he has a history with Vaati, he's the one Vaati cursed, and he's actually a developed character with an established personality. Link's just a kid with a magic sword whose friend got petrified.

I'm pretty sure that's why Link never talks (grunts and things aside). He's personality-less so the players can think of him however they want.

Is Spirit Tracks the only game where Zelda actively does something that isn't, you know, offscreen? Yeah, there's Sheik in OoT, but was that really Zelda, or was it some kind of artificial personality or something?

There's Sheik in OoT, there's Tetra in Wind Waker, and there's Zelda in Spirit Tracks. That's it.

I like how Skyward Sword gave you multiple options of things for Link to say, rather than just "yes" or "no," so that you could sort of choose a personality for him.

Link has a personality even if he's not talking. It's usually expressed in actions, reactions, and (most clearly in Wind Waker) facial expressions. A character doesn't need to talk to have a personality. I think conversation trees like those that were tacked onto Skyward Sword diminish his character in some ways. It's not like there's really any change in outcome or the actions you take depending on how you answer things. It's pretty shallow and chooses to try to artificially immerse players, rather than immersing through the storytelling (in those situations)

From what I can tell, what little personality Link has is about as generic and bland as you can get. He's courageous, heroic, and seemingly upbeat most of the time, but aside from that, what his personality is like is mostly determined by the player. The player decides whether he's a noble, helpful, law-abiding champion of justice or a mischievous little shit who smashes people's pottery and beats up Cuccos. If you'd like to offer an in-depth analysis of Link's character, please, by all means, do! I'd love to be convinced that the main character of my favorite series is actually interesting, rather than just a blank slate.

I understand that characters can be developed without speech; hell, I say that being able to develop a character well without speech is a mark of a great writer. My problem here is that I do not think Link is developed well, and his status as a silent protagonist is used poorly and might not even be needed anymore.

Oh my god why is the Desert Temple in A link between worlds the coolest thing ever.

The music, the sand rod, and that boss fight.

9/10.

I'll admit, that was actually a pretty decent dungeon. It had some good puzzles and it actually took more than half an hour to complete. The music was very pleasant, but it was also pretty forgettable. I remember liking it, but I can't remember anything at all about the melody. It was more like a pleasant, fitting, ambient drone, sort of like the cave theme in Wind Waker and a lot of Metroid music. The boss fight was kinda fun, I guess, but it was still too easy. And the sand rod? It was cool and it was used well, but I think the Sand Wand from Spirit Tracks was better. Still, it might've been tough to pull of something like the Sand Wand without the touch screen controls, and for what we got, it was still a pretty decent item. I think the Desert Palace might've been the best dungeon in the game, possibly tied with the all-too-short but well-designed Thieves' Hideout.

Don't recall saying he had an interesting personality, really. All I said was that I don't care for the "bland and generic" speech options they threw into the game. I sit here and explain what I like about the like 10 different Links from all the games, but I'd rather not because no, there isn't a whole lot going on there. He's a simple character in pretty much all of the games, but simple characters are just fine by me. If you don't think the characters from your favorite games are interesting then...ok. Sucks to be you I guess. If you need someone to convince you of something like that then well maybe you should go back and play your favorite series and try thinking about what qualities the Links have. Might surprise you. Also I'm not arguing that player input doesn't impact Link's behavior or character at all. I'm only saying that that's not the only thing that defines his personality.
(also what upbeat most of the time? Did you play Majora's Mask or OoT)

I never said that. I just said that the main character of my favorite series is bland and uninteresting. The series has plenty of well-written, well-developed, likable, and interesting characters. To name a few: Ganondorf, Tatl, Skull Kid, Ezlo, Midna, and Linebeck.


Good point. Although, to be honest, when I said that, I was just thinking of the games where he expresses a decent amount of emotion, like Wind Waker. I'll admit that he shows some emotion in the N64 games, but not much. But yes, I have played those games...multiple times. In fact, I still think OoT is probably the best game in the series, and MM remains my favorite game.

Link in general really is the blankest slate, but some of the games have him as an actual character.

Wind Waker is probably the best, where Link is clearly heroic and courageous, but he's also prone to just rush into danger and he's not strong enough to really be as effective as he tries.
Twilight Princess is probably the weakest because wow was link even there i mean i'm 90% sure i was playing as midna the whole game

actually now that i'm thinking about it, the more realistic the game, the less actual character link has.

though the 2D games usually have him as blank as possible, aside from Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

Sir Real by "characters" I was referring to the different Links, considering they're different people in all the games.