The Legend of Zelda series is one of the very influential and famous video game series of all time. It has had 16 major names and several HD remakes and spin-off games. However, despite the fact that the matches have been titled The Legend of Zelda, you really play as Link. Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule (most of the period ) that normally needs saving. However, not all of her incarnations are helpless.

I have gone through and analyzed all of the many Zeldas out of all of the primary titles (when existing ) along with a couple of spin-off games (i.e. Hyrule Warriors as well as the CD-i games). There are a couple of instances where one version of Zelda shows up in several games and there are some games which don’t contain her at all.

Each Zelda was ranked on one of 3 aspects: bureau, characterization, and presence. For agency, I looked at how much she’d of her own volition. Did she spend the majority of the game unconscious or was running and kicking ass? Now, this does not refer to the way mentally or physically powerful she is. It’s more to do with the amount of strengths and flaws.Read about zelda ds rom At website Does she really have a character? Eventually I looked at the way current she was in the game itself. Does she spend the majority of the game locked in a tower or does one actually play ? If you can not play as her, how often does she look on screen?

Fair warning, there are spoilers ahead. Additionally, remember I did not factor the grade of the game into my evaluation. Check out our Zelda games ranking in the event that you wish to understand which one is the very best.

What Character? Four Swords Adventures

Nowthere really is a gap between in storyline Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure. Basically, Ganon is in Adventure and is supporting everything. From the initial Four Swords Vaati is only a monumental jerk because he is. Zelda also has a slightly bigger role in this game also. She pulls Link to check about the Four Swords, but this time she actually bothered to conceal the Sanctuary away. Zelda and six other maidens unlock the Sanctuary first and then Vaati breaks loose and kidnaps them all. Progress!

Alright, the real improvement with this Zelda is that she really assists Link at the final fight. She generates a ball of light whilst Connect distracts him. Once full, the ball of lighting defeats the day will be stored. Her capacity to be something apart from a pretty face is only marginally higher in Four Swords Adventures along with her presence lasts a couple of moments longer. Even so, she’s still basically a cardboard cutout of a personality. I’ve fulfilled sacks of potatoes with more personality than her.

May Be Worse: The Legend Of Zelda

Even at number 12 with this list, the original Zelda, in the very first Zelda title, The Legend of Zelda, is just slightly better than the prior ones. Her personality is completely non-existent. You don’t even see her in the start of the game! All you will get is a wall of text that tells you she has been kidnapped and you need to save . When you finally do rescue her, she’s one line that’s used to thank you for saving her. Frankly, I wanted to place her on the bottom of the list for how little a presence she’s in her game. However, this Zelda has one saving grace; her backstory.

Following the Demon King Ganon stole the Triforce of Power, Zelda took it upon himself to divide the Triforce of Wisdom and conceal the eight bits throughout her kingdom. Following that, she ordered her nursemaid Impa to find somebody who may defeat Ganon. Even though these events do not unfold from the game itself and we only know about it via the scrolling text at the beginning, it’s more than I could say any of the other Zeldas on this list so far.

The Disney Princess: The Minish Cap

The Minish Cap Zelda suffers somewhat from Princess Jasmine syndrome. The match begins with her sneaking from this castle to wake Join so that they can go to the Picori festival jointly. She leads Link into the festival then proceeds to lug him round in her unbridled excitement. Zelda ends up with a lottery contest and can be presented with three choices: a heart, a gem, or a defense. She chooses the shield. Although the shopkeeper tries to talk her from this defense, she insists on accepting it and gives it to Link as a gift. Of course, Vaati strikes at the close of the festival and turns her into stone for the rest of the game. Not only does she want to be rescued, Link also must break the curse on her. Eventually, Link does rescue her and Zelda uses the Mage’s Cap to revive the damaged Hyrule and its own taxpayers.

This Zelda still has fairly low agency and a fairly low presence in the sport too. But she gets a few points due to her excitable and stubborn personality. It is not much, but it is enough to place her number 11.

Three Games, Totally Wasted: A Link To Your Past/Oracle Saga

This Zelda was included in not one, but three games. However, Zelda simply shows up in these two games in case you’ve got the connected version of the Oracle Saga.

This Zelda also starts off A Link to the Past game in captivity, however, she is a lot more educated about her rescue. Agahnim is using these as sacrifices to violate the seal between Hyrule and the Dark globe to be able to resurrect Ganon. From the Oracle Saga, her entire job would be really to be intimidated by Twinrova so that Link could save .

Zelda’s personality in these matches is generic. She’s nice and worries about the others. After Link saves her another time, she along with the other maidens unite their ability to break the seal on Ganon’s tower so Link can defeat him. She is basically a non-entity in the Oracle Saga. This Zelda is fine as far as Zeldas go.

She Would Something! A Link Between Worlds

This edition of Zelda appears in two complete cutscenes before she gets caught into A Link Between Worlds! Usually they’re only snatched right out of the gate or before the match even starts. Yuga pops up and begins turning individuals into paintings early on in the game. Link goes into Zelda where she gives him a special charm to protect him before sending him into Kakariko Village. It’s just after Connect gets back that Zelda is contested by Yuga and become a painting. Connect follows Yuga to Lorule and eventually rescues her and all the kidnapped sages.

In all honesty,” A Link Between Worlds is not Zelda’s game, it’s Hilda’s. So Zelda’s existence in this game is rather low and she is not given a great deal of character outside of becoming a generic, nice princess. Zelda does play a bigger role in the finale and assists Link to reestablish Lorule’s Triforce. But at the end of the day, that’s not really a lot.

Twilight Princess is one of the better Zelda games, so it is unfortunate that it’s unique iteration of Zelda is very centre of the street. She is not dreadful. Yes, she is in captivity before the match begins, but it’s not kidnapping. Zant gave her two choices: watch her folks die in a horrible war as her kingdom is burnt into the ground, or concede herself and kingdom. She chose to surrender and Hyrule to become enveloped in Twilight. If you meet her the very first time, she functions as a exposition mouthpiece. On the other hand, the next time you go to her she saves Midna’s own life in exchange for the bodily form. Ganon uses her spiritless body for a puppet during the last battle. After she is restored to her entire body, she helps Link conquer Ganon by shooting him with mild arrows. This particular Zelda is brave and selfless. She puts others ahead of herself and does what she can to protect her people. She does not have a lot of presence and spends most of the match in a tower or incorporeal. But it’s a step in the perfect direction.

A Real Character: Skyward Sword

Skyward Sword’s Zelda has a real, real personality. She’s lively and impulsive. Her friendship with Connect would be evident from the beginning. She’s confidence in spades but is not so large on her loftwing that she does not worry about the others. In addition to all of that, she’s envious of Link’s relationship with his loftwing. This Zelda is an actual character! While she is not a enormous presence in the game, she is not completely absent from it . She’s a major player in the beginning of the game also reveals a few times during. There is one rather heart-wrenching scene between her and Connect about halfway through the game that showcased their relationship perfectly. It’s just too bad she does not have that much agency.

Zelda doesn’t only get kidnapped, she gets kidnapped three occasions. Each time, she has to be rescued by Impa or Connect. Impa takes her from one area to another, leading her through the tasks she must perform. She does make a few decisions for himself, but she’s not the driving force behind a fantastic portion of her actions. It’s a shame, actually.

Girl Power: Ocarina Of Time

The Ocarina of Time Zelda gets a whole lot of props from me, especially with just how crazy it can get. This Zelda is really a young child for half the match. Yet, she was able to comprehend that the evil in Ganondorf and instantly jumped into action. Zelda, being a kid, did the smart thing and cautioned her father. When he did not believe her, then she made a decision to quit Ganondorf herself. Zelda followed her prophetic dreams and sent Link on the task to saving Hyrule. She assisted him as best she could from the sidelines while vowing to safeguard the Ocarina of Time. If it became apparent that she couldn’t protect the ocarina, she opted to deliver it to Link. Since Sheik, she utilized her ninja skills to keep to help Link. Zelda was constantly adapting and Immunology her strategies as the scenarios changed. Grantednot all of her thoughts are extremely good and she is singlehandedly responsible for splitting the deadline. But, Zelda is powerful. It is only unfortunate that her personality is not explored very well and she just appears sporadically throughout the match. She also managed to have kidnapped shortly after revealing herself to Connect and couldn’t break out despite her ability and skills.

Lost Potential: Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass

I can’t even begin to explain how badly I wanted Tetra to be high on this listing. She doesn’t bother with useless people and does not let anyone walk over her. What’s more, she gets an actual character arc where she learns to be kinder and also to accept responsibility as the queen of Hyrule. On top of this, she conserves Link as many times as he moves her. It is just a whole shame that her agency is stripped out of her in the latter half of this match. After she learns she is Princess Zelda, she goes into hiding before Ganondorf kidnaps her. Zelda also spends the last battle unconscious. However, she does assist Link fight in the second half and they defeat Ganondorf together.

Tetra’s real catastrophe, and the reason she’s so low on this listing, is because of Phantom Hourglass. All of her service gets stripped away from her. Connect receives all the credit for defeating Ganondorf. Tetra’s brain goes on permanent hiatus and she manages to make herself kidnapped due for her own stupidity. She has turned into rock and roughly two seconds after Connect breaks the curse, she has kidnapped again. Her presence is almost nonexistent in Phantom Hourglass. Her low standing is this game’s error.

The Hero: CD-I Zelda Titles

This hurts. This physically hurts. Even the CD-i Zelda games are so bad that most Zelda fans refuse to admit their presence. The CD-i Zelda games are terrible and easily the worst of all the Zelda games. They are not even canon. The only good thing about them is they are so easy to ditch. Sadly, this list isn’t about the games, it is about the characters. Now, I will totally acknowledge that Zelda’s character is really awful in the first CD-i game. Zelda in Link: The Faces of Evil is about as dumb as dumb is. Not only does she get intimidated, but she’s the whole game unconscious. When Link conserves her wakes up and asks what happened. Connect informs her that he rescued her from Ganon and her instant response is”You didn’t.”

Though it can be argued that the Zelda in Zelda’s Adventure game is a different Zelda, the fact remains she scored ridiculously high due to her agency and existence in the game. The last two CD-i titles only comprise her as the main, playable character in which Link gets kidnapped and he saves him. She has lots of spunk and is daring in battle. In both matches, she is the hero.

Hyrule Warriors is just another non-canon Zelda title, but it could be a disservice for this list if we ignored it. 1 glance at Princess Zelda in Hyrule Warriors is all it takes to determine why she’d make it in the 3rd place. Zelda is plagued by nightmares and their potential scares her. She starts to start looking for a warrior who might help to guard her realm, but an army strikes before she could make a determination. So, instead, she orders the troops to battle and marches with them into the fray. Zelda goes lost during the battle, but it is not since she was kidnapped. Rather she transforms into Sheik and fights alongside Connect and Impa to protect her people. Zelda totally kicks butt in Hyrule Warriors. Contrary to her Ocarina of Time counterpart, she does not get kidnapped shortly after revealing herself. She proceeds to fight through the match and is a major presence in the story and gameplay. The only drawback is that she isn’t well researched as a character. Too much emphasis is put on her as a puzzle and not as a personality.

The Savior: Breath Of The Wild

It honestly took time and contemplation for me personally to place the Breath of their Wild Zelda with this list, particularly this elevated. Zelda isalso on the outside, not actually that interesting. She is not a fighter in exactly the same way the Hyrule Warriors Zelda her character is not as evident as some of the others. In addition, it seems like she doesn’t actually do much. However, I put her high for a motive.

Zelda knew about her fate by an early age and committed her every waking moment to unlocking the power she had to defeat Ganon. She is the one who commanded where they went and when they did it. When Ganon eventually did attack, she saved Link and then proceeded to kidnap Ganon. Okay, she drifted him for 100 decades, but it’s basically the same thing. Breath of the Wild’s Zelda is arguably the maximum service out of the Zeldas. Her personality is not as bombastic as the others, however it’s still there. She isn’t as mentally strong as the others, however, she is smart and serious. Her rage towards Link in the flashbacks is diverted frustration in her very own helpless condition. Zelda works herself to the point of exhaustion because she is acutely conscious of the immense weight on her shoulders. The one thing that keeps her from this number one place is her presence. While she’s plenty of cutscenes, she’s relatively absent in a game which can easily run over 100 hours.

The Zelda in Spirit Tracks is among the few incarnations of Zeldas that is in fact playable. Her character, while emotionally weak, is the strongest in the collection. She’s easily bullied by the Chancellor and doesn’t have a lot of spine in any respect. Zelda is somewhat foolhardy although not completely innocent. She knows the Chancellor is around a person and recruits Link to help her sneak out of the castle so as to figure out it. When her body has been taken out of her, her spirit remains. In actuality, she essentially threatens Link. Plus, her response to when she learns that Ganon is going to use her body for a meat suit is priceless! But over the span of the match she becomes braver and goes via a real character arc.

The two biggest items that spirited this particular Zelda into first position is that she is present during the entire game and struggles alongside Link as an equivalent. Zelda learns to treat Phantoms and they work together to conquer challenges and conquer their enemies. When she isn’t fighting, she gives Link pointers and helps direct him to where he wants to go. She is also notable for being the only version of Zelda who is shown to actually do the job of a ruler! The game finishes with her filling out paperwork.