Link was originally going to have dialogue for the first time in a first-party Zelda game in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
In an interview with Famitsu, director Satoshi Terada and producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that they originally wanted Link to have written dialogue in the game.
The pair explained that throughout the history of The Legend of Zelda series, the idea has always been that the protagonist doesn’t speak. Because the protagonist has always been Link, that essentially meant Link never spoke (other than occasional dialogue options for the player)
However, because Zelda is the protagonist in Echoes of Wisdom, the idea was originally that she would be the only character with no dialogue, allowing Link to have lines for the first time.
“Actually, Link was speaking at first,” Aonuma confirmed.
“I had Link talk a little bit,” Terada agreed, adding: “No matter what I made him say, it just didn’t feel right.”
“Link would never speak like that,” Aonuma explained. “It felt really strange. Nobody knew what Link would say – that’s only natural, because he’s never spoken before.
“So we had to come up with a setting where he couldn’t speak, and that’s how we came up with part of the story.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Aonuma said Echoes of Wisdom was designed to be a game that could be beaten by players who never bothered to finish a Zelda game before.
“Miyamoto and I have spoken for a long time about trying to make a Zelda game that everyone can reach the end of,” Aonuma explained.
“We design the whole game so that players can reach the final goal and watch the ending, so it’s a shame when they give up halfway through and can’t go on because they’re discouraged.
“In that sense, I think this time we’ve finally made a game where everyone can reach the goal.”
Nintendo
Action Adventure
Eiji Aonuma
Chris Scullion
Takashi Tezuka