If you want more of an insight into the Zelda universe, it’s hard to pass up a juicy fact book. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion was one of the more recent ones released by Dark Horse. In Japan, this book known as the Master Works. Other than the language differences, you would naturally expect the two version of the book to be the same. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
According to Gaming Reinvented, there may have been an oversight during the translation. It turns out there are a few pages missing from the Dark Horse English version. It seems like a rather significant omission, given the exact concept art on these pages. As can be seen below, the images show Link’s family. Family isn't always associated with this character, so it’s somewhat mind-blowing to see official concept art depicting this, even if it didn’t make it into the final version of the game.
As Gaming Reinvented explains, the large figure behind him is his father, and the younger looking girl by his side is apparently intended to be his sister. It’s what Link’s past might have been like before he had to save Hyrule. Of course, if it wasn’t for the Japanese version of the book, there would be no evidence of this. The page reportedly got replaced with a copy of the game’s map, which already appears elsewhere.
It’s hard to say why exactly these pages including Link’s family were removed. Maybe it was an error on Dark Horse’s behalf, or perhaps it was intentional. Gaming Reinvented speculates Dark Horse might have forgotten to translate it. If it was a mistake, it wouldn’t be the first time. The company was previously caught out for using a large amount of information from the Mario Wiki.
[source gamingreinvented.com]
Comments 39
I can't believe Dark Horse killed Link's entire family.
Ugh... It's a shame. Well, does anybody now if at least The Zelda Encyclopedia is spotless?
bought this for my brother for xmas, amazing product.
😱 I had no idea! I feel robbed ☹️
@Moroboshi876 I hope so as I got that for christmas.
This is a disgraceful oversight. Where are the proof readers?
Once again Japanese only content!
@SCAssassin Sounds like the prologue for Link's next adventure
@Bunkerneath I'm a proofreader and I worked on the Spanish translation of Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia as such. At least in that version there weren't Mario Wiki copy-pastes.
In Link to The Past he has a uncle.
In Minish Cap he had a Father.
In Wind Waker he had a sister and a grandma.
Now I would love to see an expansion or a direct sequel to BotW that has Link remembering his life before he became Zelda's appointed knight. I think it was mentioned that his father was a knight as well?
Link is very much a blank slate, some of the text replies show he has a sense of humour and Zelda mentions he's a bit of a glutton and doesn't speak often due to the amount of pressure he feels as the designated hero. But I don't think it would hurt that much to explore his personality a bit more, in a more direct way.
It's kind of ironic that the most character development is reserved for the character you don't meet until the outro. Then again Zelda is in the title...
I really like the idea of Link having a family. But for a long time I have wanted Zelda to further develop Link as a character. I think I am in a minority opinion or not liking that he is still a silent protagonist. It is just awkward and limiting in my opinion. One of my few issues with BotW is all this is happening and Link may as well have the same soulless smile of the main character in Pokemon Sun/Moon.
@Nyde18 In Ocarina of Time he also had a mother, but she gave him over to the Deku Tree as she died.
@Bunkerneath Yeah I know, Ocarina of Time is my favourite game of all time, but I just mention the ones I remember that you can really see them on games.
@Nyde18 Grandfather. We never see any of Link's parents in the games, only his mother is mentioned in OoT, and if the Stalfos in TP is Link's father is debatable.
@Bensei Sorry always thought in Minish Cap was his father, i read it now on zelda wiki that it was his grandfather.
Sometimes I wish one could just buy and enjoy something without having to worry about translation issues, censorship etc.
@Nyde18 No worries. We are all just human
@Majora101 Ha! I must have been about 14, spotted a bizarre looking album cover of a green flower in my dad's car. Took it inside to see what it was and ended up being the album that got me into music for life. DM have been my heroes ever since.
It's just localization you guys! What's wrong with that?
Lol.
@Heavyarms55
It might be hard giving Link a voice at this point. The problem lies with the fans, not everyone is going to agree with what they do with Link's personality. I mean if in the story he shows some kind of weakness in his character fans might become outraged and plead with Nintendo to not make that particular game canon. Just look at Other M.
Hopefully Link never gets to speak or develop a fully fledged personality as some people want. IMO, that would just take out one of the best things the Zelda franchise has. You are Link, your personality is his personality. He has some traits, but they are minor and enjoyable enough. In Xenoblade Chronicles you play as Shulk being Shulk, in Zelda you play as Link being you. They have improved on this with BotW with the kind-of dialog tree. You can be an a-hole with "I don't have time" or "Paraglader please" if you want to. Hopefully we get even more of this with characters being rude with you if you are being disrespectful or get friendly if you are nice to them.
@Bensei It is confirmed that the Stalfos that helps you is Link from MM/OoT.
@Devlind It has been confirmed in Hyrule Historia BUT it says nowhere that he is Link's father.
They share the same bloodline, but he could also be a grandfather, uncle, whatsoever. "My child" could also just refer to him accepting him as part of his bloodline.
@gokev13 In the case of Other M, giving her a weakness wasn't the problem, the problem was on the how they portrayed it. Other M is almost at the end of the Metroid saga at the moment, so it just doesn't make sense how her PTSD kicked in the way it did. It made sense in the manga prequel to the original Metroid (which makes a beautifull job to give her a personality), in which she also lost her mind. At the end, she overcame that and was able to end Ridley, even for several times until Other M. She thinking that she killed Ridley already shouldn't be a cause. She probably thought the same when she defeated it on Tallon and when it desintegrated in front of her in Corruption. Other problem people had is in how she just follows blindly Adam orders, even when it was evidently they were wrong (not giving you access to the Varia Suit until a freaking lava monster is almost eating you is just stupid since you were already visiting areas in which the suit would come in handy and it isn't a threat to the security of Adam's platoon and the ship, which was the reason they were prohibited). They could try to give Link a weakness, but trying to give him a personality shouldn't be a priority for the games IMO. We have the manga for that.
@Bensei I don't know if it was a direct translation from the Japanese, but if it is, My Child could also be taken as a recognition from a teacher to an apprentice, not necessarily stablishing a bloodline relationship. Other than that, I don't feel like MM Link has a direct blood connection with TP Link since the former was lost in Termina and died full of regrets, but I agree that they share a common ancestor in SS Link.
@Devlind It said somehwere that the hidden skills can only be past down the Hero's Bloodline.
It doesn't disprove my point though that we never saw Link's parents in any of the games before.
@Bensei As I said, that could also mean they share the same bloodline from the SS Link, which shared some of the moves the Hero Spirit passed along.
@Moroboshi876 There's a couple of misprinted images in the Gerudo section, but other than that, I think it's fine
@Devlind Yeah, I also think that was a poor job in Other M. I think they could have made the Ridley scene work, but they just didn't bother explaining it better.
Ridley already seemed shoehorned in in this scenario, but then you didn't even have some form of Chekhov's Gun like flashbacks in an earlier scene showing how Samus dreads Ridley or at least having a monologue that expresses Samus realization that her worst nightmare will never, ever die was just lazy writing.
And yeah, the same goes for not finding a better excuse for not using her Varia suit (like "these baddies can track the Varia's energy signature, keep it down" or a malfunction or something).
There is a staggering amount of typos in this article. Consider me staggered.
@gokev13 I understand the risks involved, but I don't agree that shying away is worth it. Link remaining a silent protagonist is like keeping a ball and chain on your leg when you have had the key to remove it for years. It holds back what they can do with the character and with the games. They have given Zelda a voice and it worked rather well, and made Link's silence even more out of place.
And it doesn't need to be a literal voice, I'd be fine if it was just text. But some indication that Link is capable of communicating with more than blank, soulless stares...
@Heavyarms55
I don't actually disagree with you. The more story in a game, the more out of place the silent protagonist seems. I think they do a pretty good job at letting his face express emotions in the cutscenes though. At least that's how I remember it, maybe I completely fabricated it in my memories.
I would be alright with Link talking. Well, as long as it's done right. I don't want a Link sarcastically exclaiming, "Well excuse me princess" every time he does something Zelda doesn't like.
@Devlind
Yes those are problems with Other M, however I disagree slightly with why they are problems.
For instance, in my life at least my fears and weaknesses change with time. I don't like public speaking and sometimes I can go a long time being fine with it and then all of the sudden something unknown triggers and I will panic over some minor thing involving public speaking. The point is sometimes we can overcome something for years and then boom it's back for awhile. Yes I think they could have done it better in Other M though. It just kind of happened. On that note, in the older games at least we don't know what was going on behind that helmet during the Ridley encounters. She could have had tears streaming down her face the whole time as she just barely kept her focus together in order to keep her power suit functioning. Just a thought.
Yes the Variable Suit thing was dumb but I understand why she would follow Adam's orders and stuff. I think their whole relationship dynamic gets a bad rap because the game only talks about it in part but leaves a lot unsaid. The Varia suit thing was dumb though. Here is a quick rewrite:
Samus: Adam, it is too hot in there, I will take damage. Do I have permission to activate my Varia Suit for protection?
Adam: Huh? Oh right, of course. Go ahead and activate the gravity suit as well. There is no reason for you not to have those abilities. The grapple beam should be okay if you see an area you can't reach otherwise like a powerup or something. I just didn't want you to blow things up willy nilly. Your last mission the whole planet blew up so... I was just looking out for my team and any survivors. So yah, go ahead and boost your defense and let yourself move freely in water. No probs there!
Sorry, didn't realize my version of Adam was so long winded. 😉
@gokev13 Trust me, I understand completely. I would be upset if they did it, but did a really bad job of it. I think they should push him not as a silent protagonist but as a quiet protagonist. He doesn't need to talk a lot, and in fact I feel like he probably wouldn't - at least as I have always imagined him. But there are times when it simply doesn't make sense for him to be silent.
@Heavyarms55
Agreed.
Not surprised. They are Dark Horse, after all.
That younger girl is identical to Marin from Links Awakening.
@Nyde18 your forgetting the ancient hero in twilight princess whom is actually the link from OoT and the ancestor of twilight princess's link.
Lol: Links father looks like one of the Tetra pirates. That's on purpose, of course!
This is probably going to sound stupid but:
Link has a sister?!
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