Princess Zelda's Roles in the Legend of Zelda Series

For over two decades, the Legend of Zelda series has consistently impressed players everywhere with their storytelling, action, and puzzles. However, it is interesting to note that while Princess Zelda is the subject of the legend, her role in many of the games is far more limited than that of Link, the saga's main protagonist. Recently, it was revealed that in the upcoming DS game The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Zelda will finally become a playable character (not counting the CD-I games) in the form of a ghost that can take the form of a knight among other things. That has spurred me to share the history of Zelda's roles in the entire canonical series to date. As you will see, her role was more active in some games, and far less active in others.

In the NES games, Zelda was little more than a damsel in distress. In the original game, she was held captive within Death Mountain, and she was not even seen until the very end, when you saved her from her fiery prison. She and Link then held up the Triforces of Power and Wisdom, and that was about it. In Zelda 2, the princess spent the entire game in North Castle under a sleeping spell cast by a wicked sorcerer. Only by winning back the Triforce of Courage could Link awaken her. She gave him her thanks, and they shared a romantic moment together. That was really all she did in that game's ending.

When A Link to the Past came along, Zelda was given the power to contact Link through telepathy, telling him that she was a prisoner in the Hyrule Castle dungeon. She was rescued early in the game and taken to Sanctuary to hide, only to be recaptured and sent to the Dark World by the evil wizard Agahnim. Zelda spent most of the rest of the adventure trapped in a crystal prison within Turtle Rock, but once saved, she and the other imprisoned maidens used their power to help Link enter Ganon's Tower so that the hero could settle the score with the King of Evil once and for all. The princess was very briefly referenced at the start of Link's Awakening, but she did not appear in the game at all.

It was not until Ocarina of Time that Nintendo decided to give Zelda a more active role, although they made sure that the player would not be aware of that fact for much of the adventure. Here, Link met Zelda as a child, and she revealed that her dreams foretold of Ganondorf coming to take over Hyrule, and the young boy and his fairy companion whose destiny was to save the land. She felt that if Ganondorf were to obtain the Triforce from the Sacred Realm, the kingdom would be doomed. Therefore, she asked Link to gain the Spiritual Stones needed to unlock the gate to the realm so that they could get to the Triforce first.

When next they saw each other, Zelda was being taken away on horseback by her nursemaid, Impa, as Ganondorf was attacking the castle. The princess had just enough time to entrust the Ocarina of Time to Link before being sent off to safety. Her voice taught the young hero the Song of Time that, along with the stones, would unlock the gateway to the Sacred Realm. It would be the last time that Link would hear from her for seven years.

Upon returning to Hyrule after a seven year slumber, during which he had grown up, Link met Sheik, a mysterious being who would aid the Hero of Time in his quest to awaken the Sages who would rid the land of Ganondorf. From time to time, Sheik would give Link hints as to where he needed to go or how to accomplish a certain task, and would also teach him songs that would warp him to various locations in the blink of an eye. All the while, Sheik's face was masked so that the hero had no idea who this person really was.

After finally awakening all of the Sages, Link met Sheik for the last time in the Temple of Time, and it was there that the mysterious person revealed that the three pieces of the Triforce were actually in the possession of three different people. Ganondorf held the Triforce of Power, Link had the Triforce of Courage, and Sheik held the Triforce of Wisdom. Sheik's true identity was then revealed to be Princess Zelda, who had disguised herself to hide from the King of Evil. She managed to give Link the powerful Light Arrows just before Ganondorf trapped her in a crystal cage, where she remained until Link managed to save her. She then helped Link escape from the Evil King's tower before it collapsed, and eventually sealed the King in the Sacred Realm with the aid of the other Sages.

While the ending to Ocarina of Time hinted at a possible future for Link and Zelda despite being back in the past, the next game, Majora's Mask, gave the princess a very limited role. Here, she was only seen in a flashback sequence, seeing Link off on his quest to locate Navi the fairy, who had left him at the end of Ocarina of Time. She retaught him the Song of Time, which Link would use to restart the three-day cycle of Termina many times. If the princess had an alternate identity in Termina, as was the case with other people from Ocarina, she was never seen.

Those who played a linked version of the Oracle games for the Game Boy Color would meet Zelda at some point during their quests. In Oracle of Seasons, Zelda would be seized by Moblin thieves, but Link would come to her rescue. In Oracle of Ages, she would be captured by Vire, but by completing a Donkey Kong-inspired challenge, Link would again come to her aid. In both games, she would then be protected by Impa, but near the end, she would go and convince people that all was not lost, even though the forces of evil were gaining strength. Unfortunately, she would then be kidnapped by the Twinrova witches, who meant to sacrifice her in order to revive Ganon. Link would defeat the witches, as well as the Evil King, and rescue Zelda, who rewarded him with a kiss.

In Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures, Zelda became the captive of Vaati, the Wind Sorcerer. In the former, she was held captive until the four Links managed to defeat Vaati. In the latter, she was imprisoned in crystal along with six other maidens. Once saved, Zelda helped out by stopping the evil powers of the dark mirror to stop the creation of Shadow Links and helping the heroes reach Vaati's palace. Ultimately, the heroes would have to help Zelda escape from the palace, only for her to be captured by Ganon. She would be saved again, and helped power up their arrows so that they could imprison Ganon within the Four Sword.

Zelda gained a new alter ego in The Wind Waker, where she became a pirate named Tetra. She started out as a damsel held in the talons of the monstrous Helmaroc bird, but Link managed to save her. When Link's sister, Aryll, was kidnapped, Tetra reluctantly decided to help him reach the Forsaken Fortress, where the young girl was being held. She gave him a stone from which she could give him valuable advice. After a while, Tetra and her crew helped rescue Aryll, and then the pirate leader attempted to help Link confront Ganondorf. In the struggle, Ganondorf, with the aid of his Triforce, realized that Tetra was, in fact, Princess Zelda, a fact that caught her off guard.

When Link and Tetra eventually reached Hyrule, which was now at the bottom of the Great Sea, they learned more about the history of the majestic land, and Tetra's identity as a princess. For the remainder of the game, Zelda hid in Hyrule Castle, only to become Ganondorf's prisoner and become the victim of a sleeping spell. Ultimately, she would be saved, and aided Link in the final battle with the help of the almighty Light Arrows. Afterward, the two of them returned to the Great Sea, and with Zelda as a pirate once more, they decided to head out in search of a new world.

In the Minish Cap, Zelda and Link traveled to the Piccori Festival to see a tournament. Unfortunately, things turned sour pretty fast when the winner of the tournament, Vaati, used his magical powers to turn Zelda into stone, a state in which she remained for the rest of the game. Eventually, it was revealed that Zelda possessed a light force that Vaati wanted to make himself unstoppable. Of course, Link would succeed in using the Four Sword to release Zelda from Vaati's curse. At the end of the game, Zelda used the powers of the Minish Cap to restore Hyrule to normal.

Hyrule would once again be invaded by the forces of evil in Twilight Princess. This time, the villainous Zant forced Zelda to surrender her kingdom or else be threatened with death. She remained in Hyrule Castle as it, and the rest of the world, was thrust into darkness. Even so, she told Link, in his wolf form, that he was the only one who could save Hyrule. Later, when Link's companion, Midna, was badly injured, Zelda used her powers to heal her before she disappeared. It was eventually revealed that she had once again become Ganondorf's captive, and with her body possessed by the Evil King, Link was forced to fight her in order to save her. Soon thereafter, the princess helped Link by firing Light Arrows at Ganondorf while on horseback so that the hero might eventually take him down. Ultimately, they would help Midna return to her original form and bring her back to her home in the Twilight Realm.

Zelda would once again become Tetra in Phantom Hourglass, and yet again, she would become a damsel in distress. She would be captured while on a ghost ship, and as in the Minish Cap, she would be petrified. After a long journey, Link managed to rescue her by defeating the monstrous Bellum. Once back on their ship, they learned that only a few minutes had passed since their departure, which seemed to imply that, as was the case with Link's Awakening, the whole adventure was merely a dream.

As I mentioned earlier, Zelda's most active role yet is said to come about in Spirit Tracks. It has been revealed that her body will be captured by Chancellor Cole in an attempt to awaken the vicious Demon King. In the process, Zelda's spirit leaves her body, and no one can see or hear her, save for Link. In her ghostly form, Zelda will aid Link as they journey to save the land and reunite her ghost with her body. The game will be released worldwide throughout the month of December 2009, and only then will we be able to see how active Zelda's latest role will turn out to be.

It is plain to see that Zelda's roles throughout the Legend of Zelda series have varied depending on the game. She would often be a captive either during a portion of the adventure, or the entire adventure. Sometimes, she would fight alongside Link or give him useful advice. In some adventures, she even gained alter egos, and Nintendo would make sure that no one would suspect that Zelda was incognito. It will be interesting to see how active she will be when Spirit Tracks is released, and what Nintendo might do with her in future Zelda games. Not a single hint of what her role will be in the upcoming Wii Zelda game has been revealed as of yet. Let us hope that Nintendo's plans involving Zelda will include making her more of an active person, and less of a girl simply waiting for Link to rescue her.