The Mystery of Link’s Many Ages (Zelda Theory)

Which version of Link is your favorite? Mine is... well, the Hero of Time. I mean, cmon.

Now link is 126 yers old

my personal headcanon/theory/whatever regarding Wind Waker specifically is that, given how many problems aging Link up caused for Hyrule, the Master Sword decided that next time a hero calls upon it's use, it'll take them as they are to protect the kingdom from evil even if it'll be more dangerous for a younger hero to do so. Given how in the adult timeline aging Link up allowed Ganondorf to not only take Hyrule unopposed but ultimately left to the destruction of the kingdom completely.

990 comments yay😅

We aren't actually told who made the decision to lock Link away until he aged up, and it literally only happens once. The explanation with the fewest assumptions is that Rauru decided Link was too young and sealed him, rather than the Master Sword doing it. Based on what we know from the places Link stabs his sword into various rocks through the franchise, and that Impa just happened to know Link could use the sword to time travel specifically in the suspiciously on the nose "Temple of Time", it's pretty clear that Rauru, who helped build it, made the decision back when it was being built that Link needed to be 16.

We also know it's the original that the Hero of the Wilds has because it plays Fi's tune when it speaks to Zelda and unlike the Wind Waker, matches all the other 3D depictions of the original Master Sword.

And as others pointed out, he said Link was too young to be the Hero of Time, not that he was too young for a big boy sword. All the evidence points to it not being a sword rule, but specific to that one Link.

Much like the mistake of assuming Barbarian Armor was from Zonai because it was from the same geographic area, this theory was based on a single data point and then making up excuses for multiple data points that argued against it. I know speculation is your stock and trade, but this could be much better if you applied Occam's razor and gave preference to theories with the fewest assumptions and best matched the evidence.

BOTW Link is a midget.

From everything that I know of this video and all the games I think link is 117

I think I know who is oldest link. The hero of time. You see him in Twilight Princess

Evil do not care if its a few years to early for the hero.

I think using your own video as proof is abit iffy

Link is 5 and 12 in ocarina of time dude

So he is always somwhere beetween 10-20 in all the games? *9-1*17

The answer is false because age of 14–17 is not an adult

There is a teenager hero

Age of 12 or below is a kid

Age of 18 or above is an adult

BOTW zelda had the best birthday ever 🤣🤣🤣

Actually, the playable Link in Tri Force Heroes is the one from A Link Between Worlds after a few years.

Different Links may become ready to be a hero at different ages.

In Age Of Calamity Link was about 16-17 when he first pulled the master sword

I think BOTW and WW Link didnt go through the age requirement simply cause the Master Sword simply was no longer a gateway to the Sacred Realm since in those games it's no longer at the Temple of Time. Therefore they couldnt be teleported and put to sleep.

So physically he is 17 but biologically he is 117. 117 years is crazy.

Wind Waker Link. Hands Down.

The Hero of The Wild, Twilight and Time are all my favourites

The master sword never was on full power in botw so that could explain things
Pluss given the darker tones especialy with the tears of the kindom info we got now it only can be linked to the dseker timeline including twilight princess so e mandmarks speak for that too

All These Links Are MINORS????????????

Nice

I believe there is a way to explain BOTW and WW link, and the answer is in Adventure of Link. I believe that the age of the Hero is determined by the need of the Triforce.
All the Links that are 16 use the Triforce to some extend (the OG Link starts his second quest because of this). WW Link obtain the Triforce by force and BOTW Link doesn’t seem to have it.
Ocarina Link needed to wait 7 years to use the master sword because his body was to weak unlike BOTW Link who was kind of broken since he was a child, on the other hand WW Link re awaken the master sword (he forced on to him just like he did with the Triforce).
Finally young Link from Ocarina keep the Triforce for a while when he was sent back, but he doesn’t seem to have it anymore by the time of MM probably because it wasn’t needed and he was to young.
But hey, that’s just a Theory.

My answer to why only the hero of time was sealed is because he wasn’t old enough to be the “hero of Time” specifically. The goddesses knew that as he was, he quite simply was not powerful enough to defeat Ganondorf even with the master sword. Others were able to because they were deemed worthy, but as the hero of time is the only hero who can canonically die, ( it is a real possibility in this game only), the goddesses knew that he should be as strong as possible before facing Ganondorf.

Link was 11 in the legend of zelda Ocarina of Time

That would imply that after ocarina of time the master sword gained the ability to control when the hero was born so that he could be present at the correct time and the correct age to wield the sword against Ganon.

It is just a thought but rauru said he was too young to be the hero of time specifically so maybe this was just a requirement for the hero of time all the prophecies people talk about mentioning him specifically call him the hero of time maybe it was just his Destiny to be able to travel through time and to split the timeline. It's just a thought but this might explain why the hero of the Wild and the hero of winds can both lift the sword at a younger age

I know I'm a year late, but I think Nintendo stated in an updated version that the Link from Triforce Heroes is the same link in A Link Between Worlds. The other 2 Links, even in multiplayer, are just puppets/totems

Wait it said link draws the sword when he’s twelve or thirteen but in hyrule warriors age of calamity which is canon to both up until terrako arrives and link is 17 when terrako arrives and does not have the blade of evils bane

It has to be the original master sword cuz Fi is in it. They could have just kind of retconned the age thing.

The Hero of Winds ain't the Hero of Time because that guy was removed from that timeline, meaning he's just an ordinary boy. But he proved himself to the Gods that despite his age he deserves a Hero title. The Triforce of Courage proved that. And that was before he came anywhere near the sword. Fi can't go against the Gods/Goddesses' decisions.

I think that The Sage of Light sealed him, due to perhaps a bias that he must be older. Or as I saw a different theory, the fallen timeline already happened, but you don’t play through that. And so, instead of having link die again trying to fight Ganon immediately, The Sage of Light Seals him so that he must gather more power before trying to take on and kill Ganon.

Could be that in botw, link didn't need to be the hero until years later, so Fi was just chill with some dumb kid swinging her around to break pots and cut grass until he was old enough

I think the hero of the wild drawing the sword so young could be explained by the fact that Ganon didn't return until link was 17. in every other game, Link first finds the sword on his quest to defeat Ganon(dorf) and uses it to seal the darkness very soon after finding it. In BOTW, he doesn't encounter the darkness until he's 17ish. Perhaps the sword allowed itself to be collected early so that when the darkness came, Link already had it where it needed to be so that Zelda could return it to the korok forest and set the events of the game in motion. After all, Zelda needed to love Link to unlock her powers. if Link hadn't yet gotten the sword, would she have spent so much time with him as her escort and fallen in love with him?

If Link was 12-13 when he got it in BotW then maybe it wasn't at it's full strength so he was able to wield it at such a young age and in the trail of the sword we power it up fully but if link was around 12-13 in BotW then he wouldn't be able to use it after he powered it up

It would be great if gannon said happy birthday to Zelda and said that it was her birthday present😊

The whole age thing with toon link from wind waker has a pretty good explanation if you look into the fact that there is possibly a second and separate master sword. And in the time line of wind waker it works differently than the original master sword

another huge difference between breath of the wild link and the others is despite him being younger...he was a fully trained knight already when he drew the sword, so he may not have been 16, but he was fully capable of wielding and using swords, if you look at young look in oot when hes 9...theres no way hed be able to use or swing that sword, but a 12 yo whose been training in swords most of his life would be able to

Slight possible correction on this theory.

16 might not actually be the exact age need to wield the master sword but rather the necessary age of OoT's Link to wielding the Master Sword. And the 7 years could have easily been done just to make absolutely sure he could wield it.

Wind Waker's Link and Breath of the Wild's Link could be different because they might be of better stock than the OoT, they also likely could've hit the early stages of puberty or been close, rather than the OoT Link, which could've also contributed why the Master Sword was capable in Wind Waker's Link and Breath of the Wild Link.

The theory itself makes sense but it was a bit rough around the edges however it was a really good video nonetheless!

So botw link legal... good

I think the original is sealed in the forgotten temple and we'll see it in botw2 or it could be possibly be in those sky ruins shown in the botw2 trailer

Well botw link's age isn't so mysterious he was only 17 when the calamity happened and was nearly killed and restored along with the master sword over 100 years making him 117

I am late of course but holy smokes, I thought OoT like was 10/17. I wasn't to far off but still. A 9 Year that was told he's supposed to save the world, jeez.