#hw impa | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

legendofzoodles · 2 years

Text

LOZ Character Analysis/Rant

The Hero of Warriors

"Master, if I'm not mistaken, you are a true hero of Hyrule."

A soul sharpened by war. From a mere rookie trainee he soared through the ranks in the blink if an eye, shouldering not only the burden of the hero like his predecessors but also the weight of being a leader. Hundreds looked to him for guidance, for orders, to plan their attacks and as a pillar of strength.

This Link was very different to his lone adventuring predecessors.

~~~

Before I analyse his character in the game I’m going to do with him what I did with the Hero of the Wild and make up a backstory for him. The game doesn’t give us any insight whatsoever into this Link’s backstory other than the fact that he’s a newish knight in training before the war is under way.

I’ve seen two main renditions of Warriors’ backstory. One being that he’s from some remote village in Hyrule, living a simple farmer life, probably with Linkle as his sister. The other being that he grew up as a middle-class apprentice in castle town, training to be a shoemaker or craftsman. In both cases something caused him to want to join the military: either seeing an advert poster for it, or seeing soldiers parade around or due to something tragic.

Ok so, real talk for a sec, HW Link is the blandest out of all the 3D Links, with so little characterisation in game that he’s quite literally a blank slate. What the LOZ and LU fandoms have done with him are amazing! There’s so many good stories out there that delve into how the events in game may have shaped his character. I’m going to do that here, so this is mostly all ‘soft analysis’.

The only things I really have to go off of are the Dark Link incident and the cocky character entrance he gets (that thing where when you face one of the main characters a cutscene plays where they flex their weapon). Other than that he’s a blatant self insert for the player. So I’m gonna to run with those and have his arc be all about growing from cocky to confident.

At the end of the first level he goes from being a random trainee soldier to their undisputed hero. That success definitely went straight to his head. Not just in in the usual ‘I’m the greatest person ever’ way, but also in the way that he took his role very seriously. Because he was so motivated to become a knight he took his training seriously and this was no different to him. He threw everything he had into it, getting advice from seniors, making sure to be close with Impa (not just as a fast track for promotions but because she’s a reliable ally) and commanding whoever he was in charge of with calm authority.

The addition of Proxi is interesting. In the game she refers to him as a man of few words and then just decides that she’s going to speak for him. Bare with me, but I’m gonna ignore this and say that Proxi only delivered Link’s orders to the rest of his troops on mass using magic and the boy wasn’t mute. Meaning he could communicate with his troops from far away and allowing a sort of disconnect, to make it easier to make hard choices.

Btw Proxi is a chaotic neutral and I won’t hear otherwise.

But back to Link, I get the feeling that he started out as a nobody in the Hyrulean Army (as in the main faction at the Castle, not the under 18s branch I made up), since he was a rookie barely starting out. Because of this he didn’t have the chance to make friends before the war and making friends within the army casually will be near impossible with the role he’s got placed upon him. To cope with suddenly being in charge of soldier’s lives he had to put on a sort of mask, a way to put a barrier between them and himself, a sort of buffer if you like. He did it to protect himself but also to command respect. Like I said, he wasn’t some well known veteran, he rose to where he was from being a trainee, meaning that not everyone is going to wholeheartedly follow him from the get-go. Respect is earned not given.

But luckily for Link he’s a charismatic little chappy, who’s able to deflect backhanded remarks with easy manners (if a smidge condescending) and eventually win over anyone. He still keeps around those who don’t like him as long as he recognises potential in them. If not, they’re sent to another squad.

Speaking of his leadership, I’m under the impression that he’s a natural born leader and strategist with good instincts and the ability to perform well under pressure. That being said, up until Zelda returns he’d take up a more conservative and cautious attitude to leading, preferring to wait for orders from superiors before making a move, simply because he lacks experience and knowledge. With each battle he becomes more proactive and takes initiative when drawing up battle plans.

Oof, so Zelda. Most people agree that he’s has the most tumultuous relationship with his Zelda compared to the other Links. I disagree with that, prefering to reserve that title for post-game Time and Lullaby, or pre-Yiga Attack Flora and Wild.

Link would have had a neutral positive opinion of Zelda. To him, being in good graces with the princess- maybe even being friends is huge. It would give him more credit, legitimacy and power in the army and it’s another fast track to being rich.

When she initially goes missing he’s worried about her, but only because it means that they’ve lost their commander which would give their enemy the advantage and since he’s not evil he’s going to worry regardless. He might have felt something when their eyes met during that training session, but I wouldn’t bet on that being anything deep. She may have crossed his mind now (like in the cutscene after completing the ‘The Sorceress of the Woods’ level) and again, but they’re strangers so they wouldn’t mean much and besides he’s fighting in a literal war right now.

When she does come back, nothing significant happens between them, because they’re fighting in a war! There’s not going to be much room for alone time between strategy meetings, long expeditions, writing letters to families of fallen men, training and keeping track of supplies. Anyway, I get the feeling that this Zelda is a practical no nonsense leader, she’s got her priorities and isn’t going to get distracted. Those two would have acted more like work colleagues.

I feel like Link would have underestimated Zelda upon first impressions, seeing her as someone who needed to be protected. Only for his assumptions to get eviscerated once she finally took to the battlefield in her true form and after finding out she was Sheik.

To be honest, the three people Link was closest to were Fi, Proxi and Impa. Proxi should be obvious; she was there yelling in Link’s ear 24/7. I chose Fi because he spent two whole levels with just her, plus she’s the best person he can discuss the whole hero thing with. I don’t believe that those two were ever friends though, not like Sky and Fi. I also chose Impa because she was the one that gave him the hero uniform and believed in him. She was the one he saved from Volga and thus, that kind of introduction was bound to lead to a friendship. I’d argue Impa was Link’s only real friend during the war.

Unlike Wild, Time and Twilight this snooty officer never really bonded with the Gorons and thus never became one of their honorary brothers. Darunia was just a regular ally to him, like Agitha, Ruta and Midna.

Volga. Ngl, he never really stood out to me when I played HW, but I’ve seen and agreed with the headcanon that their first fight scarred Link. Mentally as well as physically. Which, in the context of the game makes sense. To the player he was just the first boss, and easy introduction to the game, but to Link he was the first powerful enemy he ever faced. Add to that the burn scars he received from not being properly equipped (remember he was in just his trainee uniform), and yeah, that would leave a lasting impression.

Volga also got a sort of redemption thing going on. I can’t quite remember it, but maybe that could have factored into Link’s growth as well. Making them less like mortal enemies and more like rivals.

I don’t buy that Link ever genuinely forgave Cia. At the end of the Wind Waker campaign when Cia is rescued and redeemed, Link seems to do the generic anime nod along with everyone else when she apologises. I can totes see him pretending to get along with her, putting on a friendly mask so that working with her would be somewhat tolerable but still holding a grudge for all the suffering she caused.

That dlc war must have been so awkward for Link. He must have been forcing himself to be civil with Cia when she joined their side. If not for the sake of being the better person, then at least for team morale and keeping Lana happy.

Her war led to the deaths of many good soldiers. The embarrassment he had to endure when the army stormed the Temple of Souls only for his men to finally see first hand how obsessed she was with him. Which probably damaged his reputation to such extent that he’s still struggling to repair it. Unlike with the other Links, the war he fights against Cia is incredibly personal, since it’s because of him that the war even started.

The war wasn’t his fault and he knows it, because Cia didn’t even know him. And while you could say it wasn’t entirely Cia’s fault because Ganondorf was manipulating her, she did too many awful things of her free will to be absolved of blame.

Btw, Ganondorf didn’t mean much to this Link. He was a formidable threat sure, but they had no personal connection to each other and taking him down was a group effort (go team). Link’s personal enemies were Cia and Volga.

Going back to Lana, since I believe that this Link is very emotionally intelligent it means he would have been aware of Lana’s crush on him. Luckily she never really acted on it, so Link could act like an ally. Whether he feels something for her or not is up to the player. I don’t personally, since she isn’t really any more special than any other of his allies. But she seems fun to be around and I think Link would appreciate her upbeat attitude and respect her prowess on the battlefield.

All strong and reliable allies are good in his book.

There are snippets of development in Link’s character in HW. The standout moment being when he faces Cia alone at the Temple of Souls and she makes some evil clones of him. But rewinding a bit, I said before that Link let the sudden promotion and power go to his head. Think about it though, General Impa dubbed him the legendary hero after he saved her (and he didn’t do it perfectly), he has a close circle of powerful allies who verbally lick his boots at every opportunity (Proxi being his main cheerleader), Fi literally accepts him as her master in a heartbeat (before he has the Master Sword mind you), he hasn’t made any significant mistakes, he’s got the glowing mark of the Triforce as extra validation (although given by his confused looks at it in cutscenes I’m convinced he isn’t 100% sure of what it actually means) and he retrieves the Master Sword with little issue.

How could he not, at least a little bit, have all that reinforce the notion that he’s the greatest being to ever exist? How could he not become cocky? In his mind it was all completely justified, he had the skills and he was the hero, it was his job. Up until the Temple of Souls he was probably in a sort of bubble- not that he wasn’t diligent or incompetent- he was still taking it seriously, but the mistake during this stage that meant his forces had to flee really made him shape up.

Cia did to him what Ganondorf did to her. She took the ugliness in Link’s heart: his overconfidence, brashness and superiority complex, and used her dark powers to create physical manifestations to attack his allies. The fact that those apparitions are so powerful to begin with show how strong those feelings were.

Not only did those fiends weaken his forces and further ruin his reputation, but he couldn’t deal with them alone even though they were coming from him and his allies essentially saved his life. On top of that having the battle be effectively lost due to the fact that the army was so overwhelmed they needed to retreat, would make this a very humbling experience for him. It was like a turning point for him. He learned a lot of lessons from it and worked to be better. It turned him from an inexperienced lucky rookie to an experienced and confident leader who people can rely on and look to for guidance.

He apologised to his men, and strove to make deeper connections with them. He no longer saw the sword as a crutch or this all powerful instrument and was more than happy to put it back when the time came.

Also after going through all that, I don’t think that Link could just walk away from the army or go through with his original plan of ditching action for a life of comfort and luxury. A shallow life of riches no longer satisfied him.

Oh, about the fates of his parents. It’s tradition for Links to be orphans so maybe they die in prison or perish when Hyrule Castle is attacked. Or maybe they killed themselves/fled the country before they could be arrested...idk. Either way, they don’t show up in Link’s life again and he never much cared for them anyway.

So, even after it was all over he stayed and rose the ranks properly like any old soldier. He did get special honour by virtue of being the hero, he and his teams are allowed more autonomy and he’s allowed to carry out assignment solo if he wishes. He doesn’t though- I truly believe he prefers to travel and fight with allies, another thing that separates him from the chain who are mostly all loner adventurers.

I can also see him being a diplomat as well as a soldier after the war is over. As a close friend of the princess and high ranking military official, he would be invited to all sorts of fancy political dinners with backstabbing nobles and leaders of other nations/tribes.

The mask he created for himself the moment he became the hero never really came off. It couldn’t come off. He only became more famous following the war and was now forever in the public eye. He’s got to be careful now when he’s out and about, vigilant to not fall for assassination attempts from political rivals or enemies. He can’t afford to get drunk and do something stupid in a bar, unless he wants to end up a scandalous article in the paper. Speaking of scandals, he even has to watch out for who he speaks with behind closed doors, one misunderstanding could lead to disreputable rumors.

Perhaps such a rumour circulated among those in the royal court regarding her majesty's relationship with the hero, causing the two to grow apart. Hence their strained relationship after being fairly close friends towards the end of the war. Also, since Link is obviously aware of his good looks and is a bit of a flirt, there’s no way he didn’t try a few good humoured pick up lines on the princess in casual conversation. Only when they were alone or with close friends behind closed doors.

I love the idea that Linkle joins the military at the end of her campaign and Impa puts Link in charge of her. Since in my story Link spent a year working in Linkle’s village, the two knew each other vaguely. Linkle used to see him as a haughty snob but now respects him greatly as one of Hyrule’s best soldiers and looks up to him. Link used to see her as a strange airhead who talks to birds... and his opinion is largely unchanged, except that now he can’t deny that she also fights good. They have the ‘strict older brother and chaotic little sister’ dynamic To Link, spending time with Linkle is like speedrunning the journey to premature baldness.

Are they actually related? No, but they give off the vibe to outsiders that they could be.

Random thought: now that I think about it... maybe Link talks to Cia during the WW levels about acknowledging the darkness within you and working to better yourself so that you can control it before it controls you. Perhaps he’ll do a similar thing to Twilight in LU in a subtler way, so that he doesn’t succumb to the dark curse placed on his slash wound from Dink.

To see my take on his fear of traitors see: LU deepest fear headcanons

~~~

Thanks for reading!

For more character analyses see links here:

Hero of the Sky, Hero of Time, Hero of Twilight, Hero of the Wild

Masterlist

73 notes · View notes