Link

Link (リンク, Rinku) is the main protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series by Nintendo. He appears when the land of Hyrule, or any other land, is endangered by evil. He is supposed to have many different incarnations but all of them follow the same line. Link is the wielder of the Master Sword and the holder of the Triforce of Courage.

Link is the deuteragonist of the short-lived McLeodGaming cartoon series, A Super Mario World. He also appears as playable fighter in both of the Super Smash Flash games.

Character description
Link's first appearance was in the original The Legend of Zelda, which depicted his quest to rescue Princess Zelda and the land of Hyrule from the evil Ganon. Link was designed with a green tunic and a green hat which (likince been traditional for Link. It is worth noting that while there have been many Zelda games, it has not always been the same Link who the player controls. This is because the Zelda series timeline usually depicts that many years pass between the last adventure and thus, whenever a new evil rises, so too does a new hero.

One thing that has varied with Link is his age. In some games such as The Wind Waker and the first part of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link is a young boy whereas in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and the second part of Ocarina of Time, Link is depicted as a young adult.

Because the Zelda series does not use full voice acting, we do not have much insight into Link's personality. However, it has been shown that Link is a brave and polite young man and is very "humble". Link has also received many titles throughout his adventures. Sometimes he is called the "Hero of Time" (Ocarina of Time), "Hero of Winds" (The Wind Waker), or "Hero Chosen by the Gods" (Twilight Princess).

Because of the different Links, Link's origins can vary, but almost always, he is a young boy (or man) who starts out as a normal person until learning of his destiny to save Hyrule and Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon (or Ganondorf) and as his journey presses him, he becomes a hero. In Ocarina of Time, he is a young Hylian, whose mother, before dying, entrusted him into the care of the Great Deku Tree. In The Wind Waker, he is a young boy living on Outset Island, given the legendary Hero of Time's clothes. In Twilight Princess, he is an ordinary young man working at Ordon Ranch until several of the villagers' children are kidnapped by monsters which starts his adventure. However it is said that the true and original story is from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is then followed by The Wind Waker (which shows many things from Ocarina of Time) and then Twilight Princess.

In A Super Mario World series
Link appears in the McLeodGaming cartoon A Super Mario World where in the first episode, he is looking for the Master Sword so he can save Zelda who was kidnapped, oddly, by Bowser. Link finds out that Mario has the Master Sword and attacks him believing he stole it. After the misunderstanding, both teamed up to infiltrate Bowser's Castle to rescue Zelda.

In the second episode, Mario and Link confront Bowser's guardians, Sonic and Knuckles. Before they fight, Link notices a "? Block" that may be useful, and Link distracts Sonic and Knuckles so Mario can go retrieve it. However, Link cannot fend off these two enemies at once and is defeated and about to be thrown into a pool of lava. Mario returns in the nick of time and saves Link by pushing Knuckles in the lava instead, and they both pursue Sonic who fled into another room. Sonic turns into Super Sonic and almost beats Mario and Link, when they were saved by Cloud. The three then go to the roof where Bowser frees Zelda, remarking she is not neccessary anymore, then he gets decapitated by Link. Cloud requests that Mario take Link and Zelda to a safe place while he fights another incoming enemy, Dark Riku.

Link is last seen in the credits of the third episode fighting some of Mario's common enemies.

In Super Smash Flash
Link is one of the many playable characters in the original in Super Smash Flash. His design, as it was in Super Smash Bros. Melee, is based on his appearance from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He is a starter character, meaning he is available from the very beginning of the game, he comes with a simplistic moveset which contains an array of weapons and items in his arsenal. He poses a few of his Super Smash Bros. attacks.

In Super Smash Flash 2
Link returns in the reboot to the first SSF, Super Smash Flash 2, once again as a starter character. His new sprites, much like in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, are now based on his The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess appearance. He returns with major improvements in his fighting skills, Link comes with more new attacks and specials, based on those from the Super Smash Bros. series. He is ranked 12th in A tier on the current tier list.