As the hero of Hyrule, you might expect Link to be a model citizen. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Every iteration of Link acrossThe Legend of Zeldahas committed some sort of crime, whether it’s run-of-the-mill thievery or something much, much worse.
You might not have noticed or thought about it while playing the Zelda games, though. And that’s why we’re here to highlight all the times when Link was completely flagrant with the lore. Who knew he was such a naughty lad?
8Chucking Remlit Of The Edge Of Skyloft
Remember those adorable, lemur-like creatures who live all over Skyloft in Skyward Sword? You might have even rescued one called Mia. By day, they’re sweet and loving, but they have a bit of a nasty streak by night.
Link can carelessly throw them off the edge of Skyloft without even thinking about their safety. Sure, they can fly with their ears, but the cruelty of it! Someone get Skyloft’s animal rescue services on the line. Link can’t be left with Remlit unsupervised.
7Giving Koroks Severe Concussions For No Reason
If there was any evidence leaning towards Link being a psychopath, it would be this. He drops rocks on Koroks’ heads purely for the fun of it. Just to hear them say “Oof!” How cruel. How utterly, utterly cruel.
Perhaps some of them deserve to be pranked fortheir inane puzzles, but a rock that size has got to hurt and leave some lasting damage to boot. That’s at least the level of intentionally causing bodily harm.
6Trespassing
Pretty much everything Link does in every Zelda game involves some trespassing. You’re not allowed to just walk across someone’s private property as you please, you know. This doesn’t seem to stop Link, though.
The most egregious example has to be when Link crosses the castle grounds in Ocarina of Time. He spends the whole time avoiding the guards, so he has to know he’s breaking some sort of law here. It’s for the greater good, of course, but the guards aren’t going to consider that.
5Breaking And Entering
Going a step further than trespassing, Link also loves a spot of breaking and entering. This isa classic activity for any video game protagonist, but Link is always and consistently guilty of it all the same.
With how well the hero is known throughout Hyrule’s history, it’s surprising no one’s passed down a warning to their descendants to keep all their doors locked and alarmed. “If you see a blonde-haired boy wearing green, do NOT let him in.” Granted, there’s not much they could do if he did come by, but they could at least try to look like they don’t tolerate home invaders.
4Thievery
One word: rupees. It’s very rare for Link to earn all those rupees through honest, hard work. Most of his ‘savings’ are ripped straight from the pots of Hylian civilians. How has he not been pulled up for all this theft, not even once? The rupees practically spill out of his wallet, and no one wonders where he got them from.
That’s not even mentioningthe historical artifacts he just takes for his own from temples. Who gave you permission to slip those in your pocket, Link? That’s right, no one. His hands move before he can even think about his actions or their potential consequences.
In Link’s Awakening, he can even steal from the local shop and be permanently branded as ‘Thief’. Finally, someone has seen through Link’s facade.
3Identity Theft
You might be wondering, when did Link steal someone’s identity? I remember. In Majora’s Mask, Link can pretend to be Link the Goron, all so he can take his room at the Stock Pot Inn, for free. Yeah, he’s doing it for the greater good of a quest, but still, how rude is it to nick someone’s reservation?
If you take the reservation for the night, the real Link the Goron ends up sleeping outside on the streets. That’s your fault, Link. You couldn’t at least share the room with him?
2Possessing And Concealing A Dangerous Weapon
Most of the time, Link is carrying a sword, bow and arrow, and a miscellaneous bunch of other weapons. You know what would happen if you were caught carrying all of those in real life? Jail time. For real.
He conceals them very well, too - you wouldn’t even notice all the weapons he has under his belt. No wonder all the NPCs look so surprised when he whips out a sword to smash their pots and take their rupees.
1Murder
Yep, straight-up murder. Ganondorf may be evil incarnate, but at the end of the day, he’s a Gerudo man, and Link kills him in multiple games. Sometimes brutally, in fact.
If you’ve seen how Link ends up offing Ganondorf in The Wind Waker, you know what I’m talking about. He shoves the Master Sword straight through Ganondorf’s head. You can’t get more murder than that. Yeah, he definitely deserved it, and Link had no other choice, but you can’t deny that that’s pretty much the definition of murder.
