Audio Video

Character design. Text appears showing same words stated.

It is an imperative part of any form of media. Various videos of different games, movies etc.
No matter what work of art you are making, is shown. Fades out to black for next part.
you must have unique and interesting character
design that not only fits within the world you
are making and the tone you are going for, but
also is appealing to the audience so they can
resonate with the world even more. A
character design must be easily recognisable
from a simple glance, it must be unique to
stand out from the crowd, and extremely
expressive so you can get as much milage out
of that character design as possible. A good
way to tell whether a character design works is
to make your character a silhouette and see
whether or not they are still recognisable.
There are countless fantastic character designs
that check all the boxes mentioned earlier and
create a truly memorable design that is easily
recognisable all across the world. However,
there is one franchise within media that
constantly changes the design of the characters
with each entry, yet each design still works and
are recognisable in their own unique ways.
(Hateno Ancient Tech Lab from Tears of the
Kingdom as music)

Cuts to footage of various Legend of Zelda

games.

The franchise in question is The Legend of

Zelda.

(Tears of the Kingdom’s Main Theme as music)

The Legend of Zelda series constantly changes

tone and style with each entry, yet never feels
like it’s too overbearing or like the developers
are changing the style just because they want
to. Each game goes for their own unique tone
and style, and no character within this series Screen fades to black towards end.
represents this better than the main character,
 Cut to face Link makes in Wind Waker, then
back to gameplay.

Link.

In this documentary, we will look at Link’s End of speech: screen fades into footage of The
character design over a variety of Zelda games Legend of Zelda (1986).
over the years, and we will see exactly what
within the designs works, and how they show
the tone and style each game wants to go for.
So, let’s examine the design.

This is the design of Link in the very first Legend Image of Japanese box art for The Legend of
of Zelda game. As you can see, it is sort of Zelda (1986) shows on screen, followed by
difficult to entirely understand exactly what he image of only Link from the box art.
is supposed to look like, but that’s because of
the limitations of the hardware. Thankfully, we
can get a good look at what the developers
want Link to officially look like with the
Japanese box art, the manual and marketing, so
here it is!
(Overworld music from Legend of Zelda (1986))
As you can see, this design is very basic, but
does lay the groundwork for most future Link
designs going forward, featuring his most iconic
attributes, like the green tunic and hat. Footage of The Legend of Zelda (1986) plays
However, because this design is based on a very alongside images of the Link design from the
basic 2D sprite, there was not a lot the box art. Fades out to Ocarina of Time footage.
illustrators could go off of, but I think they
made the most out of what they had.

The next major entry I will talk about is Ocarina Images of both Young Link and Adult Link
of Time, which actually has 2 variations of a appear when mentioned.
Link design: one which is a child, as with
previous games in the franchise, and another
which is much older.
(Gerudo Valley Theme from Ocarina of Time as
music)

The Young Link design is reminiscent of the Footage of child sections of Ocarina of Time
design from the original Legend of Zelda game, plays, alongside images of Young Link.
maybe to draw in people who only played that
entry into this new era of Zelda, but it also
carries an aura of charm and wistfulness, which
encapsulates the tone of that part of the game.

Footage of adult sections of Ocarina of Time

Adult Link, on the other hand, is a much more plays, alongside images of Adult Link.
serious design, representing the drab world you
explore and overall dark concepts you come
across, such as a torture chamber.

Now, this is a very good design which works Images of both Link’s in art and model form are
very well with the game; however, it can be shown.
strangely inconsistent. What I mean by this is
details from various art pieces, like this baldric
both designs have, are lost in transition to the
models in game. Whilst this could be due to
hardware limitations,
Show footage of Majora’s Mask alongside
the sequel to this game, Majora’s Mask, fixes images of the Link designs when necessary.
this by giving Young Link a baldric within the
models in game, but Adult Link does not
appear, so there is no model of Adult Link from
these games that is consistent in design from
the art in the manual to the game itself.

Thankfully, the developers of the 3DS Remake Show images of the 3DS remake of Ocarina of
of this game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Fade out to Wind Waker footage.
Time 3D, did fix this by giving both models the
baldric.
Wind Waker was a huge turning point in the Cut to various cutscene footage showing Link’s
Zelda series in terms of art style, and Link expressions at end.
represents this fantastically. He has a very
simple design, only using the most basic
attributes, but the developers combatted the
simpleness by making him the most expressive
design yet.
(Dragon Roost Island theme from Wind Waker
as music)

The face on this design within the game is made

of various textures layered on top of each
other, with a selection of different states of
expression to allow for lots of character to flow
through, as opposed to when the face is
modelled onto the model where there are fairly
limited ways you can show facial expressions.
Additionally, the choice to make this Link a
child fits the tone of the game a lot better than
if he was an adult, as a child Link generally
means that the game will be fairly light-hearted
for most of its runtime. This is by far the art Fade to Twilight Princess footage at end.
style most used in other Zelda games, partially
due to how simple it is and how well it works to
show a compelling Zelda narrative, but also to
show expressiveness within Link.
Twilight Princess was made as a response to
the fact that fans were generally upset over the
art style change from Wind Waker, so the
developers went for a more serious game, and
that is represented within Link.
(City in the Sky theme from Twilight Princess as
music)
Link in this game features a lot of similar Show images of Twilight Princess Link, fade to
qualities to the adult design from Ocarina of Tears of the Kingdom footage at end.
Time, which signifies the similar dark tone the
game is going for, and could potentially also
foreshadow the reveal that this Link is a direct
descendant of the one from Ocarina of Time, as
well as the one who teaches Link new moves in
this game.
The design of Link in Breath of the Wild and Show images of TOTK Link.
Tears of the Kingdom not only fits the tone of
both games, but is also a lot different from any
other in the franchise. Most of the common
attributes in all the other Link designs we’ve
covered today are gone, like the green tunic
and hat. This represents a brand-new era of the
franchise. These games are structured far more
differently than any other, being massive open
worlds you can do anything in any order in, as
oppose to the mostly linear-styled games of
before. This design is also quite customisable
due to all the different clothing you can find
and wear, allowing for this design to look any
way the player wants him to. There’s even a
clothing option in Breath of the Wild which is
what this Link design would be if he had the
classic green tunic and hat alongside options
which are styled around previous Link designs,
just in case people want a more classic look. I
sincerely doubt that this design of Link would
be possible to represent via pixel art way back
on the NES with the very first entry.
(Colgera Boss Theme from Tears of the
Kingdom as music)
Yusuke Nakano, the Main Character Illustrator
for Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask and Twilight
Princess, did a fantastic job at making
extremely well-made drawings of these
characters for each of these games he’s worked Show image of Yusuke Nakano alongside
for. The drawings he’s done are some of the drawings of characters he’s done.
most recognisable drawings of these
characters, so I have to applaud him for making
these iconic images.
I interviewed someone who knows a good deal
about character design to see what they think Start interview here.
these represent about the games they appear
in.
After learning all this information about how
character design works, I created my own Show speed draw of Link design with
attempt at making a brand-new design of Link commentary after having made it.
using similar concepts shown here.
In conclusion, each design of Link from each Various footage of Zelda games is shown.
game, no matter how distinct or different they
are from all others, effectively represents the
tone and style the game is going for. Each
design represents, well, the legends being told
throughout these games. The great thing about
all these different designs is that everyone can
have their own personal favourite design with
none being a clear favourite. Thank you for
watching this documentary.