The main protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series, Link, is portrayed as a male child or teen who wears a green tunic and pointed cap for most of each game. He is a member of the Hylian race. Link is described on the series' official website as humble, hardworking and brave, and therefore appropriate to bear the Triforce of Courage. He sometimes has a special title, such as "Hero of Time","Hero of the Winds" or "Hero chosen by the gods". All inharborations of Link are left-handed, the only exception currently being in the Wii version of Twilight Princess, in which he is right-handed due to "mirroring" used to accommodate the right-handed control scheme, which flips the entire game world's layout from that of its Nintendo GameCube counterpart. Link is also to be right-handed in the upcoming title Skyward Sword. Also in the manual for the original game, he is depicted as being right-handed, and in the game itself, Link is seen as ambidextrous because whether he is facing left or right his sword is in the "down screen side".

Link does not usually speak, and only produces grunts, yells, or similar sounds. One exception is The Wind Waker in which he says "Come on!" to make other characters or objects follow him, like the statues in the Tower of the Gods, or Medli and Makar, the sages of the Earth and Wind Temples. When Link is asked questions, the player answers by choosing options from a list, with the exception of a few times in Spirit Tracks, where the microphone is used to speak; Link usually does not give any oral or visual indication that he has answered, however he sometimes nods his head in The Wind Waker. Link does speak in the cartoon series and the CD-i games produced by Philips, though these are not canon materials in the series. However, he does "speak" two lines in The Adventure of Link; when he locates a mirror under a table, the text, "I found a mirror under the table" appears on screen, and later on, if he examines a fireplace that he can enter, "Looks like I can get in the fireplace" is displayed. Link normally has a companion that speaks for him which lets him not speak.

In most games, the player can name Link before the start of the adventure, and he will be referred by that given name throughout by the NPCs.

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