In a first for Nintendo's long-running fantasy series, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild actually provides an answer to why Link is a silent protagonist. Through over three decades of Zelda games, Link has seemingly never said a word, a facet which quickly became a cornerstone of his character. BOTW is the first game in the series to grapple with this directly, but its explanation for Link's silence isn't exactly thorough, and even highlights a major misconception about The Legend of Zelda's leading Hylian.

Link is a name that actually refers to a number of different characters, a result of The Legend of Zelda typically being an anthology series, where each entry is inextricably connected to the others, but doesn't directly continue the same narrative. There are exceptions, however, including Breath of the Wild's direct sequel, Tears of the Kingdom. Many Zelda games have a protagonist that's named by the player, but they are all canonically iterations of Link, inheriting the spirit of the hero and destined to grapple with Ganon, the manifestation of Demise's malice, forevermore alongside the mortal descendants of the Goddess Hylia, Princess Zelda's numerous incarnations.

Zelda Explains Why Breath Of The Wild's Link Doesn't Talk

And Echoes Of Wisdom Expands

Breath of the Wild establishes a unique relationship between it and Tears of the Kingdom's versions of Link and Zelda. By recovering Memories scattered throughout Hyrule, BOTW's Link re his past from before the Second Great Calamity, when he was a Knight of Hyrule and personally escorted Princess Zelda on a quest to awaken the powers bestowed upon her by the Goddess. Every Memory cutscene features fully voiced characters, another first for the Zelda series, but Link remains stoic and silent.

However, players can explore Princess Zelda’s room in Breath of the Wild’s rendition of Hyrule Castle. Here, Link has the option to read Zelda's diary, and if he does, he comes across a age that reads:

"Bit by bit, I've gotten Link to open up to me. [...] When I finally got around to asking why he's so quiet all the time, I could tell it was difficult for him to say. But he did. With so much at stake, and so many eyes upon him, he feels it necessary to stay strong and to silently bear any burden. A feeling I know all too well... For him, it has caused him to stop outwardly expressing his thoughts and feelings. I always believed him to be simply a gifted person who had never faced a day of hardship. How wrong I was... Everyone has struggles that go unseen by the world... I was so absorbed with my own problems, I failed to see his. I wish to talk with him more and to see what lies beneath those calm waters, to hear him speak freely and openly... And perhaps I, too, will be able to bare my soul to him and share the demons that have plagued me all these years."

This entry provides very poignant insight into The Legend of Zelda’s protagonist, or at least this iteration of him. BOTW's Link is unique within the series in that the full gravity of Hyrule's potential fate is made clear beforehand – Calamity Ganon is returning, and he must protect the Princess so she can stop the Second Great Calamity – rather than being suddenly thrust into reckoning with his destiny like his predecessors. Link is understandably reticent in the face of his duty, but even this diary entry reveals a fallacy in seeing Link as a silent protagonist.

But because Zelda is an anthology series, different entries explain Link's silence in different ways. To that end, the recent Zelda-focused title Echoes of Wisdom offers a completely different explanation. In it, Hyrule is in peril due to a series of rifts - holes in the very fabric of reality - opening up around the world. Many have fallen in, and an NPC in Suthorn Village explains that everyone who does comes back having "lost something." For Link, that was his voice; he fell into a rift as a child, and came back physically unable to speak.

Link Has Never Truly Been A Silent Protagonist

We Just Don't Always Hear Him

Although Link has never verbally spoken in a Zelda game (except for the occasional interjection when rolling or attacking), he is not speechless in-universe, and nowhere is this more evident than in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Throughout both games, Link is frequently seen conversing with NPCs, both through dialogue options chosen by the player, and by way of implied speech – usually gesticulating while the screen fades to black. Although this is particularly obvious in BOTW and TOTK, Link has occupied this space as an un-voiced, but not silent protagonist throughout The Legend of Zelda.

And Link is voiced in at least a handful of Zelda media, although usually not to great acclaim. He was played by Jonathan Potts in the 1989 TV cartoon, and by Jeffrey Rath in the infamous CD-i duology, The Faces of Evil and The Wand of Gamelon. It's only rarely implied that Link is canonically silent - more often, he's a man of few words, who's simply not voiced so players can project their own personalities onto him.

Will Link Ever Talk?

What The Zelda Movie Means For Link's Future

With a live action Zelda movie supposedly on the way, the franchise needs now more than ever to make a decision on Link's continued silence. Movies with silent protagonists aren't unheard of; the lack of dialogue can be quite moving, and evocative of a larger atmospheric choice. Mostly-silent protagonists work equally as well in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as they do in Wall-E, so long as they compensate for their relative quiet in other ways.

Link can be silent in the live-action Zelda movie, but good casting is vital. Whoever winds up playing a silent Link would need to be incredibly expressive with their face and body alone. This would create an interesting, if challenging, role for the right actor. The Zelda movie would also need to rely a little more on visual storytelling, with stunning vistas of Hyrule's lush greenery and ominous dungeons, to keep things engaging during long stretches of silence.

The series' protagonist has always been something of a stand-in for the player, particularly in the earliest Zelda games. While giving Link a voice would provide an opportunity for more characterization, it would deal a major blow to the series' attempts at drawing the player into the game, putting them in the shoes of Hyrule's hero. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild may be the first game in the series to give a reason for Link's quietness, but this iteration of the iconic character is largely no different from the Links that came before.