Why doesn’t Link talk in ‘The Legend of Zelda?’

If you’re reading this article right now, you’ve been stumped by the above question for longer than you’d care to admit. Maybe you’re not too engrossed in the Legend of Zelda lore, or perhaps you’re a newcomer to the franchise and still learning the ropes. For whatever reason you sought the answer to TLoZ‘s most befuddling question, we strive to provide you with some closure. We hadn’t gotten any sort of clue as to why Link doesn’t talk until Breath of the Wild, which dared to delve deeper into Link’s motivations than ever before, which was a real first for the Nintendo franchise. Even six years post-release, Breath of the Wild has continued to entertain gamers with hours of amusement and fascinating lore. It’s held the ship steady in preparation for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which launches worldwide on May 12, 2023.

There were some limitations to prior Zelda games, namely of the era before BotW, where the franchise’s iconic staples were its legacy. However, Nintendo decided to take things in a drastically different direction for the 2017 installment, allowing players to customize Link’s outfits, plus providing details on the history of the world that were previously undisclosed. Despite these advancements, Breath of the Wild still adhered to one character-specific consistency, which is the fact that Link doesn’t talk, despite the game introducing voice acting for the first time.

Interestingly, rather than continue to ignore the fact that its main protagonist doesn’t speak at all, Zelda decided to indirectly address the issue via Zelda’s internal monologue.

In Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule Castle, Link can explore Princess Zelda’s room, where Link has the option to read Zelda’s diary. If he chooses to, players are invited to read the following passage:

“Bit by bit, I’ve gotten Link to open up to me. […] When I finally got around to asking why he’s so quiet all the time, I could tell it was difficult for him to say. But he did. With so much at stake, and so many eyes upon him, he feels it necessary to stay strong and to silently bear any burden. A feeling I know all too well… For him, it has caused him to stop outwardly expressing his thoughts and feelings. I always believed him to be simply a gifted person who had never faced a day of hardship. How wrong I was… Everyone has struggles that go unseen by the world… I was so absorbed with my own problems, I failed to see his. I wish to talk with him more and to see what lies beneath those calm waters, to hear him speak freely and openly… And perhaps I, too, will be able to bare my soul to him and share the demons that have plagued me all these years.”

For TLDR purposes, Princess Zelda basically summarizes how Link chooses to remain silent because “he feels it necessary to stay strong and to silently bear any burden.” We could equate this to a form of coping mechanism, where Link refrains from showing visible weakness through speech, thus detaching himself emotionally from the task at hand. He’s always struck us as a man of action, so as the saying goes, he’d be a man of few words as well.

It would be fairly easy for fans to misinterpret Link as emotionless and withdrawn, but Zelda’s inner musings all but counteract those assumptions. As Tears of the Kingdom creeps ever closer, it will be interesting to see if Nintendo chooses to expand on this revelation any further. After all, we already know that Link has a confirmed voice actor in Kengo Takanashi, who provides the various grunts and groans that Link makes in battle. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll hear him talk one day.