The Legend of Zelda tells the same legend again and again. A young hero carrying the Triforce of Courage, a princess carrying the Triforce of Wisdom and a would-be conqueror carrying the Triforce of Power collide over the fate of Hyrule. Each game recasts that trio in a new era, with a new Link, a new Zelda and, most of the time, a new face for Ganon, along with a new set of companions and townsfolk around them.
Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka created the series in 1986. It has since run from the overhead dungeons of the NES to the open worlds of Breath of the Wild (2017) and Tears of the Kingdom (2023). This guide covers the central trio first, then the companions who guide Link, the Champions and Sages, the wider supporting cast, and the villains, and ends with a quick explanation of how the timeline fits together.
- Created by
- Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka
- Publisher
- Nintendo
- First game
- The Legend of Zelda, 1986
- Setting
- Hyrule (plus Termina, Koholint and others)
- Recent mainline
- Tears of the Kingdom (2023), Echoes of Wisdom (2024)
Link, Zelda and Ganondorf
Link
The hero · Bearer of the Triforce of Courage
A young Hylian in green who picks up a sword when Hyrule is in danger. Link is nearly silent by design, so the player can step into his boots. Each game still gives him a distinct context: a boy raised by forest children in Ocarina of Time, a sibling chasing his kidnapped sister in Wind Waker, a knight waking from a hundred-year sleep in Breath of the Wild. What every Link shares is that he shows up, keeps going and never asks for thanks. His partner in many games is the loyal horse Epona.
- Voice
- Non-speaking; Kengo Takanashi provides his voice in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom
Princess Zelda
Princess of Hyrule · Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom
The princess is tied by blood to the goddess Hylia, and the series has slowly given her more to do. In Ocarina of Time she hides in plain sight as the Sheikah warrior Sheik. In Wind Waker she's the pirate captain Tetra. Breath of the Wild makes her a scholar who doubts herself and spends a century holding back Calamity Ganon alone. Tears of the Kingdom sends her into Hyrule's distant past, where she makes the series' most drastic sacrifice. Echoes of Wisdom finally makes her the playable lead.
- Voice
- Patricia Summersett (English, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom)
Ganondorf / Ganon
King of the Gerudo · Bearer of the Triforce of Power
A Gerudo man, born once a century into a tribe of women, who wants the Triforce and the throne of Hyrule. Ocarina of Time established him as a charismatic, patient schemer. Ganon is the beast he becomes when that ambition consumes him. Breath of the Wild reduced him to Calamity Ganon, pure malice. Tears of the Kingdom brought him back as the Demon King, an ancient warlord who is both a person and a force of nature.
- Voice
- Matthew Mercer (English, Tears of the Kingdom)
Companions and guides
Because Link rarely speaks, most games pair him with a companion who does the talking. They range from an irritating fairy to some of the most fully drawn characters in the series.
Navi
Fairy guide · Ocarina of Time
The Great Deku Tree assigns this blue fairy to Link, and she spends the game flying ahead to point out enemies and offer hints. Her eager calls for attention made her one of gaming's most parodied sidekicks. She leaves at the end of the game, and Majora's Mask begins with Link searching for "a beloved and invaluable friend".
Tatl
Fairy companion · Majora's Mask
Tatl starts out helping Skull Kid rob Link and ends up as his reluctant guide when her brother Tael is left behind. She's sharper and pricklier than Navi, and her loyalty to Skull Kid gives the game's ending much of its warmth.
Midna
Princess of the Twili · Twilight Princess
A mischievous imp who rides on wolf-form Link's back, treats him as a tool and gradually becomes his closest ally. She's really the cursed ruler of the Twilight Realm, stripped of her form by the usurper Zant. In the ending, she returns to her true self and shatters the Mirror of Twilight behind her, closing the door between her world and Link's for good. Many players consider her the series' best companion.
Fi
Spirit of the Goddess Sword · Skyward Sword
A calm, almost robotic spirit who lives in the sword that will become the Master Sword. She talks in probabilities and reports, which can be wearying. But her farewell, when she goes to sleep inside the blade forever and shows a flicker of feeling for the first time, is one of Skyward Sword's most affecting scenes.
Ezlo
Talking hat · The Minish Cap
A grumpy Minish sage who was turned into a hat by his former apprentice, Vaati. He rides on Link's head, shrinks him to the size of the tiny Minish, and explains why Link wears that famous cap.
King of Red Lions
Talking boat · The Wind Waker
A red, lion-headed sailboat that carries Link across the Great Sea and knows far more than it lets on. It's really Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, the last king of a Hyrule drowned beneath the waves. His final wish shapes the ending.
Tri
Zelda's partner · Echoes of Wisdom
A small, glowing being who gives Zelda the Tri Rod, which lets her copy objects and monsters as "echoes". Tri is cheerful and curious, and the story gradually reveals where Tri came from and what it's trying to fix.
The Champions and the Sages
Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom give Link a team. The four Champions were warriors from Hyrule's peoples who piloted the Divine Beasts and died when the Calamity struck. A century later, Tears of the Kingdom asks their successors to take up the role of Sages.
Mipha
Zora Champion · Pilot of Vah Ruta
The gentle Zora princess and a gifted healer who has loved Link since childhood. Her spirit's gift is Mipha's Grace, a healing blessing. Her family's grief, and her younger brother Sidon's determination, run through the Zora's Domain chapter.
- Voice
- Elizabeth Maxwell (English)
Daruk
Goron Champion · Pilot of Vah Rudania
A big-hearted Goron warrior with a laugh to match. His protective barrier, Daruk's Protection, mirrors his role among the Champions: the friend who stands in front of everyone else.
Revali
Rito Champion · Pilot of Vah Medoh
The finest archer among the Rito, and openly resentful that a wingless Hylian was chosen as Hyrule's hero. His vanity hides how hard he trained. Revali's Gale, an updraft that lets Link soar, is one of the game's most useful gifts.
- Voice
- Sean Chiplock (English)
Urbosa
Gerudo Champion · Pilot of Vah Naboris
The chief of the Gerudo, who commands lightning with a snap of her fingers. She was a close friend of Zelda's late mother and treats the princess with real tenderness, offering her the comfort Zelda's father cannot.
King Rhoam
King of Hyrule
Zelda's father. He first appears as a mysterious old man on the Great Plateau who guides Link through the opening hours. His strictness with his daughter, and his regret over it, is a quiet subplot of Breath of the Wild.
Sidon
Zora prince · Sage of Water
Mipha's brother is a towering, endlessly encouraging prince who became a fan favourite in Breath of the Wild. In Tears of the Kingdom he steps up as Sage of Water and has to lead his people alone.
Tulin, Riju and Yunobo
Sages of Wind, Lightning and Fire
Tulin is a young Rito archer eager to prove himself. Riju is the Gerudo chief, still young and learning to lead. Yunobo is a timid Goron, descended from Daruk, who finds his courage. All three return from Breath of the Wild, older and in charge of more.
Rauru, Sonia and Mineru
Hyrule's founders
Rauru is a Zonai and the first king of Hyrule. Sonia, his Hylian queen, wields the power of time. His sister Mineru is a Sage who later puts her spirit into a construct body to fight beside Link. Their story, told through memories, is the backbone of Tears of the Kingdom.
Allies, sages and familiar faces
Hyrule is full of recurring characters who show up across eras, sometimes as the same person and sometimes as a namesake.
Impa
Sheikah guardian
Zelda's protector in many eras: a warrior nursemaid in Ocarina of Time, a fierce servant of the goddess in Skyward Sword, and the aged leader of Kakariko Village in Breath of the Wild, who has waited a century for Link to return.
Purah and Robbie
Sheikah researchers
Impa's sister Purah is a brilliant scientist who made herself look like a child in a rejuvenation experiment gone wrong. By Tears of the Kingdom she's the adult head of Lookout Landing. Robbie is her eccentric colleague who studies ancient technology.
The Ocarina Sages
Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Nabooru, Impa and Rauru
Six sages Link awakens in Ocarina of Time's future. Saria is his childhood friend from the Kokiri Forest, Darunia is the Goron chief, Ruto the Zora princess who decides she's engaged to Link, and Nabooru a Gerudo thief who opposes Ganondorf.
Tetra
Pirate captain
A bossy, quick-witted pirate in The Wind Waker who turns out to be Princess Zelda's latest incarnation. She stays a pirate at heart even after she learns who she is.
Groose
Skyloft rival turned friend
A pompadoured bully in Skyward Sword who torments Link early on and then becomes one of the series' most satisfying character turns: a show-off who learns to be useful.
Malon and Epona
Lon Lon Ranch
Malon, the rancher's daughter in Ocarina of Time, teaches Link "Epona's Song". Epona, the chestnut mare who answers it, has carried Link in many games since.
Tingle
Map seller
A grown man in green tights who believes he's a fairy and floats around on a red balloon selling maps. He debuted in Majora's Mask and is either beloved or loathed, rarely anything in between.
Beedle, Hestu and Kass
Travelling regulars
Beedle is a jumpy merchant who sells you arrows and bugs in several eras. Hestu is a maraca-shaking giant Korok who expands your inventory for Korok seeds. Kass is a Rito bard whose songs hide Breath of the Wild's shrine puzzles.
The Great Deku Tree
Forest guardian
An ancient talking tree who watches over the Kokiri in Ocarina of Time and the Koroks in later games. In Ocarina, his death is the event that pushes Link into the world.
Villains
Ganondorf is the constant, but some of the series' most memorable villains are the ones who stand in for him.
Skull Kid and Majora
Majora's Mask
A lonely forest imp steals a cursed mask from the Happy Mask Salesman and, under its influence, pulls the moon towards Termina. The game slowly reveals that Skull Kid is a hurt child who felt abandoned by his friends, the four Giants. Majora, the mask, is the real villain. Majora's Mask also introduces the Happy Mask Salesman, one of the series' most unsettling characters.
Zant
Usurper King of Twilight
A Twili official who seized Midna's throne with power granted by Ganondorf. He's cold and imperious at first, and in the final fight he dissolves into a frantic, flailing tantrum.
Ghirahim
Demon Lord · Skyward Sword
A flamboyant, theatrical sword-fighter who serves Demise and wants to revive him. It turns out he's the spirit of Demise's sword, a dark mirror of Fi.
Demise
The original evil
The demon king sealed away in Skyward Sword, chronologically the first game. When he's defeated, he curses Link's and Zelda's bloodlines to face his hatred forever. That curse is the series' explanation for why Ganon keeps coming back.
Vaati
Wind Mage
A Minish apprentice corrupted by his own greed, who turns into a sorcerer obsessed with "the power of the light". He's the villain of The Minish Cap and the Four Swords games.
Twinrova
Ganondorf's surrogate mothers
Koume and Kotake, twin witches of fire and ice in Ocarina of Time, who merge into a single boss. They're comic and dangerous in roughly equal measure.
Master Kohga and the Yiga Clan
Ganon's devoted ninja cult
A splinter group of Sheikah who worship Ganon. Their foot soldiers disguise themselves as harmless travellers. Their leader, Master Kohga, is a bumbling, banana-loving schemer who serves as comic relief in both modern games.
Yuga and Null
Newer antagonists
Yuga is a vain sorcerer in A Link Between Worlds who traps people inside paintings and tries to merge with Ganon. Null is the force swallowing Hyrule through rifts in Echoes of Wisdom.
Voice cast
For most of its history Zelda used text and short voice clips. Breath of the Wild was the first mainline game with full voice acting in key cutscenes. These are the English performers we can confirm.
| Character | Voice (English) | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Princess Zelda | Patricia Summersett | Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom |
| Ganondorf | Matthew Mercer | Tears of the Kingdom |
| Revali | Sean Chiplock | Breath of the Wild |
| Mipha | Elizabeth Maxwell | Breath of the Wild |
| Link (grunts and shouts) | Kengo Takanashi | Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom |
How the timeline fits together
Nintendo's official history, first published in the Hyrule Historia book in 2011, puts Skyward Sword at the very beginning. The timeline splits three ways at the end of Ocarina of Time.
- The Child timeline — Link returns to his childhood and warns of Ganondorf. Leads to Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess.
- The Adult timeline — Hyrule is left without its hero and later flooded. Leads to The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.
- The Downfall timeline — Link loses to Ganon. Leads to A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, the original Legend of Zelda and Zelda II.
Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are set so far in the future that Nintendo hasn't tied them to a single branch. That's why the games keep reusing names like Rauru, Impa and Ruto without contradicting each other.
What the characters are about
Zelda is built on archetypes: the silent everyman hero, the wise princess, the dark lord. It's a good example of how a series can retell the same story for forty years and still find new angles. Recent games have deliberately complicated those roles. They show Zelda's self-doubt, Ganondorf's history, and the cost of being the one chosen by destiny. We break down the patterns in character archetypes, and the way each game soft-reboots its cast in sequels and spin-offs.
If you enjoy exploring a world through its people, Genshin Impact borrows heavily from Breath of the Wild's open-world structure. Nintendo's other long-running casts are in our Super Mario and Pokémon guides. For a sword-and-destiny story in animation, try Avatar: The Last Airbender.
All Legend of Zelda character names A–Z
B–D
- Beedle — Merchant
- Calamity Ganon — Villain
- Darunia — Sage of Fire (OoT)
- Daruk — Goron Champion
- Demise — Villain
E–G
- Epona — Link's horse
- Ezlo — Companion
- Fi — Companion
- Ganondorf — Villain
- Ghirahim — Villain
- Great Deku Tree — Guardian
- Groose — Ally
H–K
- Happy Mask Salesman — Merchant
- Hestu — Korok
- Impa — Sheikah
- Kass — Rito bard
- King of Red Lions — Companion
- King Rhoam — Royalty
- Kohga — Yiga Clan
L–M
- Link — Hero
- Malon — Rancher
- Midna — Companion
- Mineru — Sage
- Mipha — Zora Champion
N–R
- Nabooru — Sage of Spirit
- Navi — Companion
- Null — Villain
- Purah — Sheikah
- Rauru — King / Sage
- Revali — Rito Champion
- Riju — Sage of Lightning
- Robbie — Sheikah
- Ruto — Sage of Water (OoT)
S
- Saria — Sage of Forest
- Sheik — Zelda in disguise
- Sidon — Sage of Water
- Skull Kid — Majora's Mask
- Sonia — Queen
T–Z
- Tatl — Companion
- Tetra — Pirate / Zelda
- Tingle — Map seller
- Tri — Companion
- Tulin — Sage of Wind
- Twinrova — Villains
- Urbosa — Gerudo Champion
- Vaati — Villain
- Yuga — Villain
- Yunobo — Sage of Fire
- Zant — Villain
- Zelda — Princess
Frequently asked questions
Is Link or Zelda the main character?
Link is the hero you play as in almost every game; Zelda is the princess the series is named after. The confusion is common enough to be a long-running joke. Zelda finally became the playable lead in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (2024).
Is it the same Link in every game?
No. Most games star a different Link: a new hero born when Hyrule needs one, often a reincarnation of the same spirit. A few games share a Link, such as Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, and Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
What is the difference between Ganon and Ganondorf?
Ganondorf is the man: a Gerudo king who craves the Triforce. Ganon is the monstrous boar-like beast he becomes, or the raw form of his power. Breath of the Wild's Calamity Ganon is a formless version of that malice, while Tears of the Kingdom brings back Ganondorf himself.
Who is the strongest Zelda villain?
Demise, the demon king from Skyward Sword, is the source of the curse behind every later Ganon, so he's usually ranked first. Ganondorf, especially as the Demon King in Tears of the Kingdom, is the most powerful recurring villain. Majora is the strangest.
What order should I play the Zelda games in?
The games are self-contained, so release order or simply whichever appeals to you both work. Breath of the Wild followed by Tears of the Kingdom is the most common modern starting point; Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past are the classics most later games build on.
Is there a Legend of Zelda movie?
A live-action film from Nintendo and Sony Pictures, directed by Wes Ball, is in production, with Bo Bragason as Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link. It is scheduled for release in 2027.