#ilink

(Important note: these are all just my opinions! I tried to go off of what we know for sure in canon and what we could infer from canon, but they’re obviously just my thoughts and interpretations. Okay, housekeeping done, enjoy my little thoughts!)

SS: Duh. Literally the only thing that could make this Zelink more canon would be someone outright stating “Link and Zelda are in love!” They even have a song together called Romantic Flight. They’re in love, your honor. And they’re one of my favorite OTPs (you can have more than one, right?🤣😅).

LoZ/AoL: Haven’t played these games (yet), but I’m pretty sure this Link kisses/is implied to kiss one of his Zeldas?

ST: Also all but canon. They’re canonically best friends who might turn into a romantic relationship when they get older. They hold hands, hug, support each other no matter what, and Link blushes/gets embarrassed around her.

BotW/TotK: We know for a fact this Zelda is canonically in love with her Link. Personally, I think Link reciprocates that, especially by the time of TotK. There’s a unique kind of desperation from him to find her in that game that seems to point to a romantic relationship imo.

MC: Don’t know much about this game, but it seems like this Zelink could easily happen from what I know.

WW: One of my favorite Zelinks (technically Telink)! They’re perfect together imo. They would rank higher if the ones above in this list didn’t seem to have super solid reasons they could be canon.

ALBW: It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve played this game, but I don’t remember much in the way of hinted romance between this Link and Zelda. I do think they’d be cute together, though. (Sidebar for gushing over how much I LOVE Hildavio—the dark princess willing to do anything to save her people and the cowardly hero willing to do anything to save her. I love their dynamic. They, uh, would probably need individual and/or couple’s therapy before they got together, though.😅)

ALttPOoS/OoA/LA: Would rank MUCH higher on this list if LA/Marin hadn’t happened. I think this Link would need some serious time and effort before he’d feel ready to try anything romantic again after Marin. But if he did, I do think he’d go for his Zelda. Unless that theory about them being siblings is true, ofc.

FSA: Know next to nothing about this game(games? Is there another FS game?), so I’m putting it sort of in the middle/back.

OoT/MM: Don’t get me wrong, I love this Zelink pairing. I just like Malink better and feel like Malink fits the future events in TP/the Child Timeline. And I feel like this Link would struggle coming to terms with the fact that he doesn’t have the same history with this Zelda than the one he left behind in the Adult Timeline. However their relationship is, I love these two. 

HW (yes, I’m including the Warriors games, they’re canon in my heart): I think this Zelink pairing has a shot at being just as awesome as Adult Timeline OoT Zelink. HW Zelink could be incredibly close and trusting and adorable with each other. But I think after everything with Cia, this Link would be hesitant on anything romantic for a while. I think he’d probably have trust issues, too, which would get in the way of this relationship from happening. But I think they’d eventually get together. (Sidebar: this list isn’t about LU, but that one LU comic about the first time Warriors saw Artemis gave me the happy flutteries. They’re so good together imo.)

TP: This Zelink … could happen, I guess? But I think he’s more likely to wind up with Ilia or go searching for Midna. TP Zelink just doesn’t have much interaction with each other, and their personalities seem different enough, I don’t see them working out. (Sidebar: @ovegakart’s comics about TP Zelink are AMAZING and single-handedly convinced me to ship them in some circumstances. The dowry comic still makes me howl with laughter—get it? Howl? Because wolf?😁)

I can't understand people who are like "I only ship Link in every game with one single character ever." What the hell... HOW?!

This seems to be most most common with people who ship Zelda/Link or "Zelink" — always wanting every Zelda to be with Link, because they're the main characters, though the phenomenon does exist with Malink and some other ships as well. And that’s not to hate on Zelink and Malink, because I love them! SPECIFIC INCARNATIONS of them, I mean.

Because there are a bare minimum of EIGHT different incarnations of Link, and you can’t tell me you think every single dude named Link has chemistry with/should have romance with every single girl named Zelda. Like EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.? I just can't with that. It's unfathomable, IMO.

I mean, OKAY, let me back that up: I get that people find it romantic to think that these are like... some kind of soulmates who always find each other through every reincarnation ala Hawkman and Hawkgirl or something, but it's not like they even display the same personality traits or share memories or something in each version of themselves. They just... act like totally different people quite regularly. Because by all accounts, they are.

Furthermore... shit - if we assume the incarnations are all descendants of one another and the same descendancy lines keep hooking up with the same partner lines, at what point do we wind up becoming dangerously incestuous with this repeated pairing? Because that shit seems INEVITABLE in such a case…?

NAH, my fam — I believe each Link and each Zelda are their own person, with their own traits. Their only unifying truth is that every person Link will ALWAYS look best in a green tunic and matching green, pointy flop-hat. (Sorry; I don't make the rules. Facts is facts.)

With that in mind, these are my sundry ships for various Links. And I apologize in advance for the fact that they're all boringly het. :P

Skyward Sword — Zelink, absolutely. Childhood Friend Romance always gets me right in the heart. I love these two together. The casual playfulness and fondness they display. The lengths they'll go to in order to see each other/protect each other. And although Zelda loses some of her distinct personality when she learns she's a reincarnation of Hylia, she gets her groove back near the end, so it's all good.

Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask/SC2 — Malink with a bullet. The singing farmgirl and the boy without a fairy, two people who felt alone in the world and find each other. The nicknames! "Don't be long, fairy boy." The fact that you can declare your romantic intentions for Malon while you're still a fucking KID! The Gossip Stone that tells you how much Malon pines to be saved from her daily life by a hero on a horse! It's SO GOOD.

Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass — I'm only mentioning this era because this Link is an ACTUAL CHILD. He's like, what? EIGHT? Maybe ten, if we're feeling generous? So I just want to say: Yeah... I just can't bring myself to ship this literal child with anybody. It ain't RIGHT.

Link's Awakening — Marink. If you weren't feeling these two by the time their sunset beach conversation wrapped up, I don't know what to even say to you. This was probably my first serious ship from playing the TLoZ games. Plus this ship is a good reason why the original black-and-white Game Boy version's secret ending is actually the best version of that bonus scene.

Twilight Princess — Ilink. Is there even any other contender worth mentioning? The writing and direction of the cut scenes makes it pretty clear that Link and Ilia are sweet on each other. You barely even meet Zelda in this game, and the only other option would probably be, well... Midna? You know - your partner imp that spends most of the game trash-talking you for her personal lulz and repeatedly slamming her body weight down HARD onto your spine? Mm, I’ll pass.

Breath of the Wild/Age of Calamity/TotK — Miphlink/Miphalink, no items, FINAL DESTINATION. Their story makes my heart just ACHE. The flashback to Mipha healing him up... Mipha's diary (OMFG that diary)... the Zora armor and its descriptions... holy SHIT, fam. And even if that story DIDN'T melt me into a complete puddle, Zelda put herself out of consideration by stealing my fucking house. I don’t understand why she pulled that, but given her privileged upbringing, I doubt she understands the value/expense of home ownership. So maybe she thought this was like yoinking a french fry. :P

I redrew this LoZ photoset that I first drew back in 2016 to show 5 years of progress.

To Midna, the world is a set of dichotomies. There is safety and there is danger. The thrill of flying through the clouds and the tense anxiousness of hiding inside the base. But more than anything, the world is divided into the Twilight Realm, a world relegated to the shadows and history, and Hyrule, a world where the sun is reflected by the glint of weaponry.

The world is divided into twos, but as the princess of Hyrule enters into her life, bringing the harsh sun along, the lines between them begin to blur.

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To Midna, the world is a set of dichotomies. There is safety and there is danger. The thrill of flying through the clouds and the tense anxiousness of hiding inside the base. But more than anything, the world is divided into the Twilight Realm, a world relegated to the shadows and history, and Hyrule, a world where the sun is reflected by the glint of weaponry.

The world is divided into twos, but as the princess of Hyrule enters into her life, bringing the harsh sun along, the lines between them begin to blur.

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