The Legend of Zelda

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

Alright, ladies and gentlemen! The day has finally arrived. We finally begin our deep dive into The Legend of Zelda to create a roster of possible characters for that series too. And naturally, we will start with 1986's original game, simply titled The Legend of Zelda.

The game was an action adventure that more or less plopped you down into the middle of a large open world with no real directive on where specifically to go or what to do, but rewarded you heavily for simply exploring, eventually leading you to the game's dungeons (basically levels) and supplying you with items and weapons to help you on your way. As for story, the game's manual tells us that an evil wizard took over the kingdom, trying to collect the magical "Triforce of Wisdom," only for the kingdom's princess to break it into eight pieces and scatter it across the land. You play as Link, a young warrior tasked to find and restore the pieces of the Triforce and use it to defeat the wizard.

Link is our main player character and really the only named one seen on screen for most of the time. His sword is his main weapon, with which he can slash or shoot beams of light as projectiles, with his shield as his second most prominent item. From there, he also picks up bombs he can place, arrows he can fire, candles that allow him to produce fire, boomerangs he can throw, potions he can drink to restore his health, a magical rod he can use to cast spells, a book of magic that can upgrade his magical rod, a flute that lets him teleport to other dungeons, rings that reduce his damage when worn, and the power bracelet that makes him stronger.

Outside of Link, our supporting characters include the titular Princess Zelda, basically a living goalpost for this game much like Peach before her, only appearing at the very end with no demonstrated abilities (outside of the aforementioned breaking of the triforce). There are also Old Men who give you your swords when you find them, Old Women who give you life potions, and Merchants who sell you stuff. Also, Zelda's mainstay caretaker and bodyguard Impa does appear in the game's manual, but not in the actual game itself. Great Fairies also make their first appearance in this game, healing you of all damage when you find their fountains.

Ganon is our main villain, presented as a giant pig wizard who took over the kingdom. In his final battle, he can teleport all around the place, shoot fireballs, turn invisible, and causes the statues around him to spit fire. Each of the eight dungeons in the game also comes with a boss, including Aquamentus, a dragon that shoots fireballs; Dodongo, a large saurian that breathes fire; Manhandla, a plant creature with four pincers; Gleeok, a multi-headed dragon that can breathe fire; Digdogger, a large . . . spinny thing weak to music; and Gohma, a spider/crab monster with one eye that shoots energy balls from it.

As for our enemies, in the overworld we see: Moblins, Ganon's main minions who throw spears; Octoroks, weird squid things that shoot rocks; Zoras, far different from their later incarnation, who live in the water and spit fireballs at you; Tektites, crab things that like to jump around; Leevers, spinning things that dig up from underground; Ghinis, basically ghosts; Armos, living statues armed with shields and tridents; Peahats, flying plant things; and Lynels, a bit more tame than their, ahem, more infamous versions, armed with swords that can shoot beams.

In the underworld, however, is where you find the more interesting enemies. These include: Gels and Zols, basically Chuchus but apparently not; Bubbles, whose names now make so much more sense to my 3D-Zelda-knowing brain; Ropes, basically snakes; Keese, basically bats, and Vires, vampiric creatures that turn into Keese; Wallmasters, disembodied hands that grab you and return you to the dungeon's start; Like Likes that eat your shield; Pols Voices, weird rabbit heads that hop around; Patras, flying eyeballs that split into a horde of minis when hit; Moldorms and Lanmolas, large worm creatures that slither around with multiple body segments; Stalfos, skeletons wielding swords; Goriyas, wolf creatures throwing boomerangs; Darknuts, knights wielding swords and shields with heavy armor; Wizzrobes, wizards who cast spells; and Gibdos, basically mummies.

The overworld map is just kind of a massive open world with various forests, deserts, lakes, and mountains all around the place with nothing specifically named, at least as far as I could tell, with the exception of Death Mountain, the mountainous region where Ganon's lair is found. The dungeons likewise don't really have much theming to them, just being hidden locations with an assortment of square rooms you have to navigate your way through in various patterns (and yes, one of them is shaped like a swastika).

The items include all the stuff mentioned being used by Link before, in addition to hearts and heart containers that give you more health, Triforce pieces, rupees which act as your money system in the game, clocks that stop time for a while, rafts that let you cross water ways, and step ladders that let you cross gaps.

And that's about everything! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Link: sword slash, sword beams, shield, bombs, arrows, candles, boomerangs, life potions, magical rod, book of magic, flute, rings, power bracelet.

Princess Zelda: Triforce.

Impa

Old Men/Old Women: swords, life potions.

Great Fairies: heal

Ganon: teleport, shoot fireballs, turn invisible, statue fire.

Moblins: throw spears

Octoroks: shoot rocks

Zoras: swim, spit fireballs

Tektites: jump around

Armos: shields, tridents

Lynels: swords, shoot beams

Vire: turn into Keese

Moldorms: slither

Stalfos: swords

Goriyas: boomerangs

Darknuts: swords, shields, heavy armor

Wizzrobes: spells

Gibdos

Aquamentus: fireballs

Dodongo: breathes fire

Gleeok: breathe fire

Gohma: energy balls

Bosses:

Aquamentus

Dodongo

Manhandla

Gleeok

Digdogger

Gohma

Ganon

Locations:

Overworld-based stage

Dungeon room-based stage

Death Mountain

Items:

Bombs

Bow and Arrows

Candles

Boomerangs

Life potions

Magical rod

Book of magic

Flute

Rings

Power bracelet

Hearts

Heart containers

Triforce pieces

Rupees

Clock

Raft

Step ladder

Thanks for reading! Next up, we cover the game's sequel, aka the black sheep of the family!