#probably shoulda done a readmore

[cut-content-contest]

Can you please use readmores if the cut content descriptions get too long? ;w;

I probably shoulda done that for Moonjumper vs romance route but it's too late now.

[skyward-floored]

hi you seem like a zelda expert

is Link in the wind waker actually not part of the hero's spirit?

i keep seeing so many people saying he is not and it confuses me

Ahhhh okay, this is a bit of a grey area, and subject to interpretation as well, but I’ll try to explain my understanding of it best as I can :) and no shade to anyone who disagrees with me, this is just my understanding of the whole thing.

First off, to understand the whole deal in wind waker, you have to understand first what exactly the deal is with both Ocarina of Time, and the hero’s spirit itself.

In ocarina of time, the Hero of Time draws the Master Sword but is deemed to young to wield it and defeat Ganondorf, so he’s put to sleep for seven years in order to be given time to grow. He wakes up, continues his quest and eventually succeeds in defeating Ganondorf.

Princess Zelda thanks him, and uses the ocarina of time to send Link back to the time before his sleep, seven years back in time so he can enjoy the years he lost. In doing so, Zelda causes a timeline split; Link goes back and stops Ganondorf from taking over, but the time Zelda sent him away from continues on.

The timeline where Link defeats Ganon and is then sent away is what leads eventually to Wind waker’s flood, and the events of the game.

This is why many people believe the Hero of Winds doesn’t have the hero’s spirit. If the previous hero left the timeline, how could his courageous spirit pass on to the next hero? Which leads me to this:

What exactly is the hero’s spirit?

All the different versions of Link are connected by way of all being chosen heroes of the goddess(es), generally wielding the triforce of courage, possessing a commonly referred to as “courageous spirit”, and being able to draw and use the Master Sword. It’s not really a specific thing per say, it’s a mantle almost, an unseen indication of being a Hero of Hyrule.

It’s what Demise cursed to always come back and fight against him.

It’s what makes Link Link, and not just any old guy. It’s unnamed qualities of courage that are a part of him, it’s what made him choose to listen to a voice in his head and rescue a princess from a dungeon, the reason he leapt off of Skyloft, why despite being hurt he chased after the kids he cared about after they’d been kidnapped. It’s what made a kid who’d never been away from his home island chase after the monster that stole away his little sister.

I think in a lot of ways it’s love. Laying down his life for the people and kingdom he cares about, whether it’s family or friends or complete strangers; Link acts out of love, and that’s what the hero’s spirit is.

So to answer your question, I think the Hero of Winds does have the hero’s spirit.

I don’t know if he has the original one, if it somehow hopped timelines and went to him, if he got a new one or what. But the Hero of Winds does have a courageous spirit. He’s the Hero, who fights back against Ganon, who draws the Master Sword, who fights for the people he loves.

If that isn’t the hero’s spirit I don’t know what is.