This article as the title suggests is a speculative article concerning the fate of the Hero of Time after Majora's Mask. I will be presenting evidence from Ocarina of Time,Twilight Princess, and a bit from Majora's Mask which leads me to my conclusion on the fate of the Hero of Time.First and foremost let's look at something that we know from Majora's Mask. We know in Majora's Mask that Link has Epona as a child. Where did Link get Epona? Well, naturally you can assume he was given Epona through Malon. What this has to do with Link's fate will make sense towards the end, so for now lets move on to Ocarina of Time.
A couple of quotes indicate a possible Link and Malon romance. If Link beats Talon's Super Cucco Game he asks, "How'd you like to marry Malon?" which seems to imply a Link and Malon romance. There is another quote from a gossip stone in that says, "They say that Malon of Lon Lon Ranch hopes a knight in shining armor will come and sweep her off her feet someday."I think by now you are starting to see what I am suggesting, but the proof doesn't end there.
We know from Ocarina of Time that Link was sent back in time by Zelda to before he even opened the Door of Time. We know since Young Link has Epona in Majora's Mask he had to have a strong bond with Malon for her to entrust Epona to him. I also believe Lon Lon Ranch was important enough to the Hero of Time for him to go there after being sent back. Now let us take a look at Link's relationship with Malon during Ocarina of Time as well as bits of Link's relationship with Talon, and Epona.
Link's relationship with Malon starts whenever he meets her in Hyrule Castle Town as a child. Beyond that he pays visits to her at the ranch, tames Epona, and saves the ranch for her. It is also interesting to note that in the Ocarina of Time manga whenever Link saves Malon she asks, "Could this be my prince?". His relationship with Epona is also a strong one, which can suggest further that he should be with Malon, as she too has a strong relationship with the legendary horse. Let's look at some facts here. First a quote from Malon, "Oh Epona! She's grown fond of you fairy boy." Link was also the only one who could tame Epona other than Malon. Link's relationship with Epona would continue to ever grow stronger I believe.
Alright time to look at some minor things involving his relationship with Talon. Not only does Talon offer to allow Link to marry his daughter (even though it's kind of a joke since Link is too young), he also offers him a job. This doesn't necessarily connect Malon and Link per say, but it does show that the father greatly respects Link, and trusts him. Something that is often vital when wanting to court a daughter. Of course, this isn't the only evidence of possibly what happened to Link after Majora's Mask. In fact, there are some subtle hints at exactly what happened in Twilight Princess.
First of all in Twilight Princess a quote from Renado to Link presumably talks about the Hero of Time, "Countless tales are told of the ancient hero, and your deeds bring them to mind." That is not the most important quote, however, with that quote I've established that the Hero of Time must have did something great on the child timeline for him to have been remembered. If you couldn't guess, I place Twilight Princess on the Child Timeline, so that has a lot to do with my thoughts on the quote. A minor thing to be noted that the Hero's Bow was presumably left in the Goron Mines by the Hero of Time and that it may be the same bow that Link obtained in Termina in Majora's Mask. Of course, that is all speculation. Their is no hard evidence to suggest or prove this, but it is indeed some nice food for thought.Another thing I want to delve into is the possibility of the Hero of Time being the Hero's Shade. The Hero's Shade has similar movements to those of the Hero of Time. It is also interesting to note that the majority of songs that cause the golden wolf to appear are those that were in fact played by the Hero of Time. There are also quotes which connect the Hero's Shade to possibly being the Hero of Time. "Although I accepted life as the hero, I could not convey the lessons of that life to those that came after. At last, I have eased my regrets." The part that is important is where he states that he accept life as "the hero" referring to himself as "the hero" instead of just "a hero". This may strongly imply him being the Hero of Time or having some connection to the Hero of Time. There is also some evidence that he is an ancestor of Link from Twilgiht Princess when he says this, "At last, the skills I have to teach you have entered the realm of true secrecy. They are forgotten ways that do not leave our bloodline.".
Also take note that his armor may be the kind that the Knights of Hyrule could have worn at one point, indicating that if he is indeed the Hero of Time he could have become a knight later on in life. Again, I'm only speculating on the armor, but it would make sense.
The conclusion I draw from all of this on the fate of the Hero of Time is that when Link returned to Hyrule he grew up and became a Knight, and he did many great deeds within Hyrule. His relationship with Malon blossomed into love as she married her "knight in shining armor". They had children, and Twilight Princess Link eventually emerged from that line (note that he ends up in a ranch, I speculate that at some point someone bought out Lon Lon Ranch, then possibly moved it and renamed it Ordon Ranch, but Link's (TP) ancestors were still allowed to live there, anyway back on subject, I just wanted to explain myself).
The Hero of Time may have also been appointed by royal decree to teach the next hero and no hero came around during his lifetime. Thus he could not go on into the afterlife living with regret. His regrets were finally eased whenever he taught Link from Twilight Princess the last hidden skill.This conclusion is just speculation. It isn't fact and should not be taken as such unless Nintendo says so. I hope you all enjoyed this read.
Categories: Articles
The manga part is just wrong to use =/
We all know the manga hints ZeldaxLink and for all you people who believe the manga isn't considered canon, then you haven't read the interview with Eiji Aonuma himself.
These are the highlights I translated from the French Alttp Manga.
These are some highlights.
Akira Himekawa(the artist Honda) at first wanted to make an exact replica of the game but decided not to. Nintendo actually gave them advice in which direction they should go. This time they wanted to focus on the personalities, thoughts and history of characters.
Eiji Aunoma agrees with Honda. He says he develops the games but cannot introduce all the elements the Zelda team actually wish for. The manga makes this up for them by filling the gaps in Zelda " precisely"
They talk about the watatara race which was a big inspiration for the Rito tribe in Windwaker
Akira Himekawa created a bird race, because at that time there wasn't a race filling up the sky (like Zora's with water, Gorons with mountains)
Eiji Aunoma says the Zelda team wanted Link to fly, But they preferred to leave that imagination to the fans. Furthermore he adds up that he thinks the personality they gave Link in the manga fits with the personality most players will have of him.
This interview was published in the Nintendo magazine issue in japan. =/ It's so weird NO ZELDA FANSITE EVER BOTHERED TRANSLATING IT SINCE IT'S MORE THEN 10 PAGES INTERVIEW ABOUT ZELDA AND THE MANGA!!!!
Proof:
the cover
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a137/crazyfreak2/zeldacrap/000.jpg
Another part translated:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a137/crazyfreak2/zeldacrap/translationmanga.jpg
Zelda informer instead of posting non-canon fan articles try and get this interview translated and be the first Zelda website to get some old/new information for the fans!
For example Akira (the ones who are responsible for the manga) also drew the stained glass pictures from Windwaker.
Sure thing. If you know anyone that can translate japanese for free then be our guest. Were all english speaking folks with tad bit of experience in some other more common languages like spanish. Yes, we want this material translated, but we have no one on staff who can do so.
Sorry to dissapoint. Posting fan articles is perfectly acceptable. It's a way to give some love to the fans. It's not like they are replacing any other articles, or will be up. Just every now and then. It's nice as a fan to know you can contribute without being on staff.
Anyways, like I said, I want them translated, but we don't have the power to do so. As a note, we do have one co-owner, EverAlert, who is presently learning Japanese. So, Down the road, we can do this stuff, but right now we can't.
Please add credit when using fanart, I am sure the artists would appreciate it!
At the moment I'm making a topic contributing alot of facts about the manga and indeed the interview itself.
Well that plain sucks, this is one interview that has been online for years... and nobody bothered translating it. It's more about Link's personality, insight about characters, gameplay etc. etc. very interesting facts.
CF... LOL! You just got to go back to your roots, huh? You just couldn't resist, could you?
Btw, Zeldainformer why don't you credit the fanart you're using? It won't hurt at all you know.
the first picture with Malon, Link and the baby belongs to the following url:
Adella.devianart.com. It's a shame I don't know whom the owner of the second pic is.
But of course ;D
Nah I just dislike it when people use the manga in a way to support their theory, but when it's used against them, they totally say it's "not canon" while it's published work from Eiji and the Zelda staff themselves. People always ignore that big thing.
Besides I'm really getting annoyed by the fact no Zelda website every paid any attention to this big interview about Link his personality and Eiji thoughts about Link and the NPC's.
I think Zelda informer should be the one with the premier.
I don't mind reading a good MalonxLink theory, the rest of the theory is okay. But don't use the manga for a MalonxLink theory because the manga totally contradicts that pairing. ;D
Yeah Adella ftw with the baby Mank!
I couldn't get through this article because it bared too much resemblence to a fifth-grade essay. It wasn't organized very well, there were grammatical errors, and the reasoning wasn't very strong. I suggest avoiding saying "In this article I will...," too.
I'm not trying to offend you, by the way.
Ugh, the manga. I don't dislike it because it's fodder for the Zelda/Link crowd but it completely and utterly butchers the great story of OoT as well as the characters within the game. It's tripe. It should considered supplemental material and that is that; nothing canon-worthy can come from Akira Himekawa when she gives only ONE manga volume to one of the best Zelda games ever (that being ALttP).
Blame Nintendo for all of that, they are the once that are too cheap to commision Akira for more volumes. Akira are just the artists working under Eiji and the Zelda staff. =/
Like I said before, Akira wanted to follow the storyline of the game. But Nintendo adviced them not too, all of their ideas goes to the Zelda staff, they are the ones discussing the NPC's and Link.
Akira adds stuff up like Ganty, Raven, Watara tribe etc.
I know Nintendo is the one who hired them to do their "creative" works on the manga; maybe that is why no Twilight Princess or Link's Awakening manga has been made yet (knock on wood!) :P If Eiji was the ringleader of organizing such manga I suppose I can overlook it, considering he also led the project that was Twilight Princess and that, if you ask me, truly helped develop the aspect of a sidekick character as well as create a Princess Zelda that was regal, refined and just how I picture her to be.
Ocarina of time manga was from Miyamoto himself, Eiji had no contribution to it. The rest however he had.
I don't know why he didn't choose for LA, WW and TP. I know what reasons he had to make Alttp a manga, that's his favorite game, the one that introduced him to Zelda.
Windwaker, there's another manga for it done by different artist (Which rules btw)
TP I have no idea, maybe because it's a story that's nearly complete? It's very well developed.
I'm sure there will be a Spirit Tracks manga coming out soon. =)
The LinkXMalon half of this article is super-lame
I don't know why everyone's so intent on finding romantic relationships in the games. It's lame. LAME!!~
Well it's a fan article, naturally it's not even remotely close to the same quality you get out of ZI's own writers.
As for this manga stuff - generally it's not "zelda fan sites" that translate these things. May I suggest googling berriblue and sending her the stuff? She is the one that translates most the manga these days, she recently finished chapter 11 and 12 of the PH manga.
This is not just a HoTxMalon article it is also a Hero of Time = Hero's Shade article even though it doesn't delve into it as much. To those who think that I am saying that this is fact, I'm not. Like I said "This conclusion is just speculation. It isn't fact and should not be taken as such unless Nintendo says so."
Dude. Nice. Dude. Makes me think. Dude.
But remember. Dude. Link is a hero. Dude. All the girls are after him. Dude.
Dude. But nice job on all this. Dude. Amazing that someone cares as much as this. Dude.
Dude. But what if people don't believe in the split timeline. Dude.
Link goes back in time and he does something to stop Ganon. Then Ganon is no longer in the future. If Link doesn't stop him in the past. Then Ganon takes over Hyrule, Link leaves for Termina, and a different, yet the same, Link in the Future stops Ganon.
Unless the Sages sealing Ganon in the Future stops him in the past. But that's confusing unless explained by using magic.
Dude. That's deep. Man.
Congratulations - you've just written fanfiction! May I refer you to fanfiction.net, where PLENTY of other people have written more lyrical, lenghty romance between Link and Malon? Believe me, it's all true. You might enjoy it.
Then, I'm willing to bet you've read all of it already.
I've nothing against this particular pairing (I don't really care about this aspect of the fans), but I came here expecting a well-written article about Link, perhaps his personality, the obscure hints that the games drop and that I might've missed... not an "OMG Malon totally likes Link, I hope they marry!!" fangirl rant...
As for the complains about not having Japanese-speaking staff, is that for real?? This is the most serious Zelda site I've ever read (which is another reason I'm dissapointed at this article), and you don't have anyone? Why not ask the community? I'm sure someone speaks Japanese. Hell, I speak it. Drop me a line if you need something translated.
That would make too much sense Usukki.
Usukki, it's hard to drop anyone a line without a way to contact them. If your willing to help us translate stuff... we actually have a nice pile... this particular manga being at the top of it.
Feel free to shoot us a email through the contact form and we'll talk.
Yes, were a pretty "serious" Zelda site that likes to shake things up a bit now and then with things that are "not so serious", to remind everyone that this stuff should be fun. This article is poorly written, and that is even after I did some rewrite work on it. The reason this article went live was to launch our new Article Submission Board. If people haven't figured out - this is NOT a ZI piece, but a fan article. Down the line, once that board gets more popular, we will be VERY selective in what articles we choose to put on ZI.
For now, it was the only one we had and we needed one to launch this thing. So to all you fans, feel free to contribute!
As for why we don't have a japanese translator already: It's usually not as easy as this might appear to be. Just 3 months ago we were barely pushing 300 hits a day. Our forums barely got 20 posts a day. We didn't have the crowd to get stuff such as a translator until very, very recently, when our hits jumped to 3k average unique a day.
We will keep this in mind down the line when we need some more detail oriented positions.
Is a speculative article not fanfiction? Take Caseman's "Reconstruction Era of the Wind Waker" article. Even though it has facts it has a lot of speculation/fanfiction in it as well. This article is not fact at all it is merely a possibly and is speculation. The only way this article would ever be fact is if Nintendo themseleves said it was, which is highly doubtful. Yes I did focus a lot on the LinkXMalon romance but, I also focused on the Hero's Shade as well. I'll admit I'm not good at writing things but, the idea was there.
I love writing fan-fiction! I'm more into the Metroid series, and I've written fan-fiction for Metroid, but I still love Zelda (The game series, I mean)! Interesting theory, about Ocarina of Time Link marrying Malon, and having a kid. But, I'm confused. did you mean that Ocarina of Time Link and Malon have Twilight Princess Link? Because that wouldn't make any sense. Link is 17 in Twilight Princess, and lives by himself in Ordon Village, south Hyrule, not where Lon Lon Ranch was. wasn't Lon Lon Ranch in Hyrule Field? Anyway, in Twilight Princess, there is no part of the game where anyone talks about Link's parents. Hero's Shade is Ocarina of Time Link. Everything leads up to it. First off, his name is HERO'S Shade. What other Hero's are in the main Hyrule 3, besides Majora's Mask Link, who, as far as I'm concerned, is Ocarina of Time Link. Just to let you know what I mean by the main Hyrule 3, are Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Twilight Princess. Another thing that leads up to Hero's Shade is OoT Link, is the fact that he says; "...That does not stray from our blood line.". Twilight Princess Link is from a line of Heroes. Another thing is Hero's Shade's sword resembles some sort of rusted, worn out, Master Sword.
Of course, Twilight Princess Link has never met Princess Zelda. It even has Rusl (Colin's Dad), say to Link at the begging of the game; "You may even meet Princess Zelda! Haha!". If OoT Link was Twilight Princess Link's dad, Twilight Princess Link would have met Zelda at least once, before his adventure. The thing that confuses a lot of people about Princess Zelda, is that she is in every game, no matter how long it has been since the last game in the time line. She isn't immortal. ever since the events in Zelda II, every Princess of Hyrule was to be named Zelda. Twilight Princess Zelda would be different than OoT zelda, Wind Waker Zelda would be different than Four Swords Zelda, etc.
One more thing is that OoT is about 370 years before Twilight Princess, so everybody from OoT would be long since dead.
This whole article is filled with pretty heavy speculation. Not only have you picked completely arbitrary quotes and speculation to support your argument, but the same thing can probably be done for Link's relationship to any number of characters, from Princess Zelda to the Kakariko chicken lady.
Your Hero's Shade idea is more interesting.
AMA: There isn't enough knowledge about the Hero of Time to fill in what happened to him after MM so we can only speculate using quotes and facts from OoT, MM, TP, and other media relating to those games. If you guys have a different opinion on what happened to the Hero of Time I would glady hear it.
Good Point, Ama. I can list quite a few romantic relationships. Midna, Zelda, Saria, Malon, Ruto, Ilia, Tetra, Sheik (Yes, Sheik IS a girl), Agithia, Those three girls by the STAR minigame who I forgot theirnames, the list goes on.
Sheik is "Zelda", btw. So I don't consider it a "seperate" relationship. It's like when people talk about Link x Tetra verse Link x Zelda - guess what... Tetra is Zelda, so it's all the same thing.
I have a different opinion. I think Link got married to somebody unimportant, and had TLOZ Link, who had many adventures, then had TP Link, who had Four Swords and FSA Link, who had Wind Waker Link and Phantom Hourglass Link, who had Spirit Tracks Link. OoT Link became a Hyrule Knight, then retired, and Died. But he still lived(?) as a Spirit, Hero's Shade, in the Sacred Realm
fanfiction. adella's art is crap. that is all
there are so many hints pointing toward zelda and link in ocarina of time! when zelda sent link back to his childhood he came back to her, not malon :P
ALLSOOOOO who is link always saving? ZELDA! also! After Ganon's castle falls down, Link & Zelda both gaze at each other for a moment, (Link smiles for the first time in the game! ^_^)and then, when Ganon makes a noise from under the castle debris, Link quickly puts a protective arm in front of Zelda! Awwww!!! When Zelda is disguised as Sheik, she often talks about love, and many times it sounds as though she is implying something about Link and her. hehehehe
Hey, you just tricked me into reading your fan fiction. didn't you? Well done.
Haha, I think you are seeing things in this game that totally are meant to exist, but you know what? It's pretty good stuff. I really like the idea of Link settling down with the farm girl. That's pretty hot... all messing around in the hay with chickens clucking in the background. Good stuff...