Zelda is Your...

[SixtyFourgh]

Avid players of A Link to the Past may remember these as the last words of Link's uncle before he succumbs to his wounds and falls unconscious. And anyone who remembers the line has their own idea of how the sentence was meant to end or has been trying to figure it out ever since then. Zelda is your what? Your sister? Your destiny? Your meal ticket for the next ten console generations? I want to know what you guys think he was trying to say. Feel free to open up discussions of canon or just suggest something funny.

 

[BrianDouglas]

This is the first time I'm hearing of this. I don't remember the line, and I haven't heard of the debate! That's wild, what is your opinion? It can't be his sister, right? Although I can't remember the moment in this game, I'm hoping you can explain this the way you see it. I love theories.

 

[pigeon_small]

She is certainly his destiny. And at least in one game his love interest. But most of the time they are just destined to meet. Probably nothing too complicated.

 

[BigBigFan]

I didn't get overly attached to Zelda so she is my one night stand, unfortunately Right around the same time that everyone was into Zelda I was into Ultima Online and I went to online play after that.

 

[SixtyFourgh]

This is the first time I'm hearing of this. I don't remember the line, and I haven't heard of the debate! That's wild, what is your opinion? It can't be his sister, right? Although I can't remember the moment in this game, I'm hoping you can explain this the way you see it. I love theories.

The sister thing is lended very limited credence by Link being under the care of his uncle, a night of Hyrule in a secluded house not far from the castle. If this is the case, it's likely that he's an illegitimate son of the king and Zelda is merely his half-sister. Though, again, I don't put much stock in this one.

Destiny is a bit more likely. Later Zelda games, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess in particular, have mentioned the hero of Hyrule who bears the Triforce of Courage and wields the Master Sword being a somewhat generational thing. In Wind Waker, Link's grandmother (Seriously, does he ever have parents?) knows he's been called to his destiny when he embarks to save his friend while wearing the legendary hero's garb. In Twilight Princess, the Hero's Spirit who teaches you knew sword techniques is actually a previous Link and recognizes you as the current one. It's possible that Link's uncle in A Link to the Past knew he was the fated hero of his generation.

According to the Zelda wiki, the original Japanese line was "Y-you are the princess's...", which opens up a whole other can of worms.

 

[BrianDouglas]

I think it would fit, though "You are the princess's destiny". Right? It's sort of a calling to Link, a call to action. Could be?

 

[aboleth_lich]

My own interpretation has always been that Ganon curses the descendants of Link and Zelda as he is being banished to the Dark World at the end of Ocarina of Time.

All of the Links in the other games in the series are then descendants of the original Link (with the exception of Majora's Mask, where the protagonist is literally the same Link from Ocarina of Time) and all of the Zeldas in the other games in the series are then descendants of the original Zelda. All of these later Links and Zeldas replay their classic, fated roles whenever Ganon resurfaces, by virtue of curse and fate more so than chance.

However, even with these bloodlines intertwined by fate: I doubt that at any time they mingled. Unfortunately, the original two NES Zelda games suggested a love interest, which would be incestuous if any of their ancestor Links and Zeldas were related! (Note that the original Link and Zelda part ways at the end of Ocarina of Time, with Link even having his childhood restored.)

Given all of that, I would imagine that that Link's uncle was going to say "destiny," "fate," or something else unrelated to blood relations.

 

[aboleth_lich]

This question has piqued my interest though, so I did a little more searching on the topic.

This person comes to the same conclusion as I did above, but is able to elaborate (albeit a bit coarsely) and more concretely disprove that any of the Links and Zeldas are blood relatives.

 

[GamerPerson]

Everyone in my family keeps saying that they look like siblings. I, for one, don't blame them. At first, I thought they were going to be star crossed lover when I watched my aunt play when I was a little kid. It'd be super romantic, right? However, when I got older, I thought differently. Never try to make them as sims because when you do, you'll see some things that you can't un-see. Like making Link then Zelda via a shortcut of gender blending them. (What did you think I was talking about? You perv!) I swear, as SOON as I made Link a girl on there, it was Zelda. Only difference was the nose and few bits of the facial structure. If that isn't farther proof that they're siblings, I don't know what is!

 

[aboleth_lich]

These two characters may look quite similar, but they can't be siblings for reasons outlined above.

The Legend of Zelda chronology may be a bit confused and convoluted, but it's clearly not the same Link and Zelda in every game (unlike the Mario games which feature the same Mario and Peach ad infinitum): Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask feature the first Link and the first Zelda, A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening are set at least a full generation later with a new Link and Zelda, the original two NES games are set generations after that, and the others fall in between somehow. So, each Link is either a descendant of the original Link and/or is his reincarnation. Similarly, each Zelda is a descendant of the original Zelda and/or is her reincarnation (given that they're all the princess of Hyrule, then I'll go a step further and say that the Zeldas must be related). The question now is to ask if the Link and Zelda bloodlines crossed at some point. Given that the original NES games suggested a love interest between that pair, I would certainly hope not because that pair would then be blood relatives! So, unless the Hyrule aristocracy is taking a rather gross page from the Borgias or the Lannisters: I highly doubt that any of the Links and Zeldas are siblings.

The uncle from A Link to Tthe Past was probably going to say something along the lines of "destiny," which would reference the original Link and Zelda and their banishing of Ganon to the Dark World (Ganon having cursed the descendants of Link, Zelda, and all of the other sages as he was banished).

 

[Shimus]

"Zelda is your..."

My answer for humors sake and ultimately saving us all some headaches of explaining was this:

"Zelda is your fate."

And he meant it like this

"Zelda is your fate. From now until the end of time, you'll be eternally saving her world and then reverting to a child. Enjoy."

That's why they killed him off. It was much like Monty Python's The Holy Grail's "Then suddenly, the animator suffered a fatal heart-attack."

Link is still in the dark to this day.