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

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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,