@Ratatoskr Concerning your point about nothing in the house being yours, what about the fact that the Champion's picture is present in the house if you have it in your Breath of the Wild save file?
@ratatoskr6324 Fair enough, I can see that being a reasonable explanation, and you do make good points overall. Your argument about nobody remembering Link though, I'm not sure if it's not just the developers adjusting some storytelling for new players so the BotW story isn't a prerequisite, since nobody mentions guardians, the sheikah shrines, or any of the help link provided in botw, apart from Sidon and the Zora.
Alternative Theory - Link is being bullied. His neighbors pretend not to know him because he doesn't talk much, and the mayor's wife threw out all his stuff.
Hestu and the Great Fairy do not recognize Link. The Koroks do not recognize Link. The Deku Tree recognizes Link, but none of the Koroks recognize Link. 1000 Koroks do not recognize Link. The Rito recognize Link. The Zora recognize Link. The Gorons recognize Link. The Gerudo recognize Link. But Beetle doesn't recognize Link. None of the Stable Masters recognize Link and are surprised that he has a horse. Does Zelda even recognize Link, anymore?! We don't know.
Yeah that’s what confused me. Like why does nobody know Link. And even people who should know link like the great deku tree outside of botw don’t know him. I doubt it’s because of the time skip with the sky islands. Maybe it has to do with like evil Zelda or some kind of magic.
Then comes the next zelda sequel, "The Legend of Zelda: The Forgotten Link"... lol This situation kinda makes me think of Breath of fire 2, in the beginning of the game; at the main character (Ryu's) home town, everyone knew him, then suddenly after a incident that happened... they completely forgotten him... Makes me wonder if there is a hidden evil that is making everyone forget link? LOL!
If Link canonically lived in Hateno, and he canonically defeated the Calamity, how is that no one in Hateno recognize that Link is the chosen hero?? Makes no sense?
That is the entirety of Nintendo already... not to mention countless other things. Like imagine being a normal person in the Simpsons world. Everyone has bright yellow skin, never ages, and can rarely even remember what happened a week ago because it never happened. You'd probably be arrested for being a weird colour CONSTANTLY and even if you managed to defend yourself, it would vanish from continuity overnight. This is what happens when you get fictional settings that are not made for detail, scrutiny, nor plot.
They never said that they don't know nor remember who Link is, only that they don't recognize Link as Link. Also, Symin actually does recognize Link when you meet with him in Hateno.
I like to think link is just a recluse who doesn’t talk much to people he doesn’t know, and spends most of his day nearby outside the town training or traveling Hyrule with Zelda, enough to the point that with a new arm and his hair down most people don’t recognize him
This is the most likely explanation imo. Ratatoskr makes it sound like everyone recognizes Link in TotK but really it's just people in Lookout Landing and people who were directly involved in the main quest of BotW.
I can’t remember which npc it was, but I came across someone who was waiting for a zonai research team member and it was implied that link referred to himself as “just some guy.” Link definitely does not try to play himself up in the slightest.
This really is the most likely explanation. Link's entire personality in these games is a humble guy who tries his hardest not to draw attention to himself, hence the explanation for his silence. To anyone outside of a few people who know him well, he's just some random royal guard dude.
You forgot about Zelda hiding the new champion tunic in the castle. If Zelda is living alone, why would she need to hide Link’s gift it somewhere else?
You know Link is a nosy fellow when she needs to keep his surprise gift locked away behind a puzzle, inside the ruins of a castle several days' travel away, instead of like, in a trunk under her bed or something.
I think the whole "Link and Zelda are roomies" theory has some merit to it, purely because of one reason: Nintendo could have completetly avoided this whole discussion if they picked literally any other house in Hyrule for Zelda to live in. I don't think Nintendo is that naive that they couldn't have forseen people's reaction to this. With that in mind, you have to wonder if Nintendo did this on purpose. Maybe they wanted to give shippers some fanservice or wanted people to theorize. Link and Zelda are a fan favorite couple, why not throw some bait into the waters? The theorizing wouldn't even have happened if Nintendo had at least included some hints as to where Link lives. Because even if we completely disregard this theory: Where does Link live if not with Zelda? At Lookout Landing? The still-in-construction Hyrule Castle? (that's also empty and devoid of any people living there) Under a bridge somewhere?? I mean this is just weird to leave Link's whereabouts so unclear. BOTW wasn't this shy about inferring where Link lived. TOTK though? I guess the fans are just supposed to assume Link lives a hobo lifestyle for fun. A hobo lifestyle that everyone that knows Link condones and let's happen too, btw. Zelda, Riju, Sidon, Purah, Robbie, etc.
I feel like having Zelda choosing to live in this exact house makes zero sense unless they we’re trying to imply that she was living with Link. From both the stories she had almost no connection to Hateno village (only Link did) so why would she choose to live there out of everywhere in Hyrule
@@KillerChickenz01 Right? It such a weird direction to go with her character. I guess it's supposed to be a "royalty learns to live like a commoner and humbles themselves" storyline. But it's not like Zelda was ever snobby or needed that arc.
I think a lot of this stuff can be chalked up to the Zelda team's repeated and continued disinterest in tying stories together between games in a believable or meaningful way. I first experienced it when I played Wind Waker at 13 years old and the game sent me underwater to see what was supposedly a preserved version of Ocarina of Time's Hyrule, frozen in time. 13-year-old me was extremely confused why nothing under the sea resembled anything I'd ever seen in Ocarina of Time. I peeled my eyes looking for something, *anything* that looked familiar. That was the day I made peace with the fact that Nintendo just isn't particularly interested in making the connections between games believable, and I'm ok with that now. A couple of years ago after Age of Calamity released, I saw a bunch of speculation online about how the new AoC timeline was going to link into BotW's sequel. All I could think was "Age of Calamity? Fat chance, it wouldn't even surprise me if the sequel went off to do its own thing and barely acknowledged Breath of the Wild at all." I'm glad the game at least acknowledges that the Calamity happened, but I thought it was particularly funny when Symin was sitting there teaching a class while he recounted a story about a legendary swordsman who fell 100 years ago, while Link is just standing there completely unacknowledged haha.
Its not disinterest from tying the stories together, its Miyamoto active hostility to stories in videogames that is the cause, you have staff commenting on how he strikes down any and all suggestions to having deeper stories in his games, as well as he himself stating in a polite way that he does not want stories in his games. 99% of all story inconsistencies can be linked to Miyamoto not wanting a story at all. I would believe that had he been left alone to his own devices, he would make Legend of Zelda have no story, everything you did in the games was go save the princes from the evil demon king and save the Kingdom, and everything else would be just walking around and seeing stuff.
That is the reason why Theory channels exist. The implications are brought together and told consistently. Nintendo writers are a sad bunch, even though Totk feels more cinematic. But hey, maybe they crack down on that in the future too? 🤣 Yes I am annoyed by the company very much and I am happy when just the theory channels remain in my timeline.
@@Fixti0n nah lmao. He wasn't involved directly in the development of Tears of the Kingdom. He was far too busy with other projects such as the Super Mario Bros movie. Many sources claim this. Also, Zelda is almost always exempt from his desire for minimal storytelling because he also believes the appeal of this series is adventure, unlike Mario or what have you. His anti-story stance is also greatly exaggerated by people salty about the Paper Mario series (despite him not being a direct contributor to its changes). He isn't nearly as bad as they would have you believe, or stuff like Link's Awakening or Majora's Mask wouldn't have seen the light of day. Those were back when HE was in charge and he allowed a lot of freedom despite not being a fan of similar storylines himself. Besides... he genuinely wouldn't give a damn about what the random NPCs in one specific village say lol, especially since people in Zora's Domain and Kakariko Village actually remember Link. The villagers of Hateno not recognizing Link was a deliberate choice by the current devs, there's no way around it. You can't link all story-related weirdness and discrepancies to Miyamoto, especially now that these IPs are being directly handled by different people. Don't get me wrong, story is NOT on his mind at all, but he does not shoot down all of it, especially not characterization (for example, take a look at the Pikmin series and you'll see how developed Olimar and his life are despite that not being related to gameplay at all)
Since Wind Waker is in the adult timeline, it's very clear that the Hyrule Castle is a new one built after the events of OOY as the original castle of that game was torn down by Ganondorf to build his own castle in its place. The rest is just generic fields, lake, cliffs and mountains that could be anywhere really. But it would be really cool if they had built it around the OOT map, or at least perhaps had death mountain in the background somewhere
I really don't like that... At all. Are we still after that 16 year old? With a very demure and submissive attitude... Nope. And not Zelda, the freaking Regent of the kingdom and literally someone whose fate is intertwined with ours... Gee, I wonder if this was made to appeal to cough cough inc&ls. 😒😒😒
@@samf.s.7731 1. Zelda games have a running gag with girls crushing on Link even if their hypothetical relationships wouldn't make sense. 2. Years passed. Paya is obviously not the same age. If she was 16 in BOTW, she was within a year of Link's age. She would still be within a year of Link's age now. 3. What the is an "inc&ls"? I've haven't heard that term before.
@@anon4305 for number 3, Icel (Involuntary celibate) means "a member of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to attract women sexually, typically associated with views that are hostile towards women and men who are sexually active."
Not everybody in Kakariko knows who Link is though. Some people do, like Paya and various Sheikah who worked for Impa do. But there are others who don't. I'm pretty sure some of the shop keepers don't know you. Also, I distinctly remember a sidequest in BotW where you help some kids who are greaveing for their dead mother. They don't recognize you in TotK though. I think the continuity is mostly just inconsistent in this game. Major characters will know recognize you. But a lot of minor characters won't.
Dude, when a woman moves into a man’s place, house or apartment, they take over and change everything. That’s why it is so easy to spot a bachelor pad and when a guy lives alone. It’s really that simple. When I went to Links house and saw how everything had been changed and “beautified” I busted out laughing. It was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever had playing any Zelda games.
@@Mightylcanis Oh please tell me how Empty your house is with a girlfriend living there. Guess what it’s not. The fact that you don’t know about how much of the house they take over shows your ignorance. Sorry your single dude hope you can experience all the ups and downs of a relationship one day.
A couple of extra points: * The table is set for two. * The bed is the only one that just exists in the world that you can sleep in without paying. * The only info in the secret room that she wanted to hide was about the new Champion's Tunic, which she explicitly states is being hidden specifically from Link.
@@Tyufoe96 I never noticed that before. Yeah, that is a bit goofy, it would've been nice if he was wearing the champion's tunic, and finding the leathers in the castle would've been the first time we saw those. I also wish the hair band was just an option for the hair, instead of being a head item. At least let us upgrade it, y'know?
@@Mightylcanis honestly, this game is just really inconsistent in just about all aspects. Things link should have being either in the depths or hidden away by other characters, link deciding he needs to build a house when there is impending doom lurking around the corner, and honestly most of the side content in general. It's one thing when link has amnesia in botw. While hyrule Castle looms, there isn't really a sense of urgency because people have lived liked this surviving for 100 years. It's another when they just accidentally revived an ancient demon, the whole region is experiencing catastrophes, and link just decides to go fuck off doing shit that doesn't help him regain his strength The funny part is most of thus could be remedied if Nintendo actually bothered to add a post game and not create irreversible changes in the ending cutscene.
Iirc Links House in botw, which you can buy, was his house 100 years ago - before the calamity. My thoughts on this whole thing is - they made it unclear so shippers and non-shippers can both be happy and duke it out on the interwebz, leaving Nintendo out of the conversation.
Exactly, they want to cater to both teams, however, it leaves many unanswered questions, like, where is Link living? Why Zelda had to take his house? Can she live in any other place? Why his house?
Here's the problem. It's lazy writing. They gotta commit to a side, they went out of their way to give Sidon a finance so that people could stop shipping him and Link. He has very little character, and this was actually one of the most noteworthy attributes he had.. And they just went ahead and scrapped it because? Conservatives would get angsty? Or shippers would get angsty? I'm sorry but ... No. They gotta write a character for this character, otherwise there's no point in not having him be just a "build" like in Elden Ring.
@@samf.s.7731 That house was so important in BOTW, and in TOTK they just give it away to Zelda just like that? They should be clear if this is their house. Link needs to be more emotionally involved with the story
@@normis6620 Exactly this! I honestly don't mind the fact that she is using the house now. What mainly bothers me is, that there's (seemingly) not a single line of text anywhere indicating it was Link's house beforehand despite it being an interesting and sentimental lore fact in botw. It would be totally fine if he gave or lent it to her for whatever reason... she needed a place to stay and work because the castle is still destroyed or something. But they just present it in a way that it has always been Zelda's house which alienates the botw players because most of us likely did the house and tarrey town quest. I mean, tarrey town is also there, which means the botw quest is canon.
If anything, the game really makes me wonder what was Link doing these past 10ish years. How come no one knows THE GUY who SAVED the princess? The GUY who BANISHED the Calamity Ganon.... in Hateno. I feel like there is an ongoing theme of Hateno being so peaceful and self-orbsorbed that they are disconnected from reality. The whole fashion drama and how uneducated the kids are in the school (their parents clearly don't care about teaching them some basic history of their country). It might be a stretch, but my explanation is that no one in Hateno remembers Link out of their own arrogance, Bolston included. In every other village every BoTW relevant character remembers Link clearly, it's just that hey haven't seen him in a very long time. Hudson remembers Link bc he isn't blinded by blissful and easy-going existence of Hateno. That Hateno is a village disconnected from the hardships and worries (or even just reality in general) of Hyrule was a theme even in BoTW and, as mentioned, I think the point is that it's even worse in ToTK.
jesus dude lol I remember a couple months before totk I was like dude ratatoskr gonna make the most dank zelda lore videos. now it's just "his hood doesn't go up and down easily" and "zelda and link ain't fuckin I'm telling you"
I doubt they're fucking but I do think they're into each other and are living together. Link's headband is there, the bed is noticably bigger than it was in BotW but most importantly she didn't hide the Champion's Leather there. The first place you think to hide something is close by, probably at your current house, but she specifically said she hid it at the castle so Link wouldn't find it. Which means he'd find it if she hid it at home. So at the very least he comes over enough (and doesn't mind him snooping when he does) that he would find it there, that or he lives there and can't hide it there for that reason. But I think they left it vague on purpose, so we can all make up our own minds. Their feelings were confirmed in BotW, but it's up to our imagination whether they acted on it or not.
This channel was understandabley holding the game to account when he thought it would be disappointing, but hasn’t dare speak on any of the flaws since it came out just like most of these other creators out here, all pretending like it’s a complete masterpiece
The “nobody recognizes him in Hateno” problem is easily solved by the fact that Link as a character doesn’t really actively go out of his way to talk to mfs. The most likely explanation is that Link and Zelda really only lived there sporadically, and whenever they would leave to help with rebuilding they would be around lookout landing where Link would actually be involved. Which is why people would recognize him there because he’s actively helping. Also Bolson is a contractor and link presumably hasn’t talked to him in 5 years, ain’t no way bolson would recognize him
@Lee yup. especially since in botw, even if him talking to every single npc was canon. at most link would maybe say a couple sentences? then they'd never interact with him again. to them link was just another traveler that passed by. they wouldn't have seen him for 5+ years. ofc they aren't going to remember him
Even if we assume bolson built literally every single building in hyrule, there are not nearly enough for bolson to forget any of his customers unless he has dementia
I don't think the whole "no one remembers who you are" thing should be used as evidence, because no one besides hudson and his wife remember you in terry town, despite the fact that for terry town to even EXIST, at least 60% of the characters currently present in the town would have needed to directly interact with link to get there. And I doubt they would have forgotten about link, I still remember NPCs I spoke to maybe twice in my first playthrough of botw in 2019. I think characters not remembering you is a decision made by nintendo to be more welcoming to new players.
While it would've been a lot more time, it would've been nice if there were two sets of dialogue for those who don't remember you. A set for those with existing BotW saves, and a set for those without. If you have a BotW save, more people remember you, and if you don't, then you get the current version we got.
What makes it even weirder is that, for those who put the Champion's Ballad picture in their home, the picture carries over to TOTK. This would imply that Link did own the house and probably just gave it to Zelda or something, maybe he just gave her the picture and didn't buy the house. Still, it's very strange that no one in Hateno knows who he is considering how you are required to go there for the canon BOTW experience.
Was about to comment exactly that. It would be still weird for two different people to hang a picture in the exact same spot, so I think Zelda just keeps it there. Link just gave her the house and lives in camps with the military in the past years.
@@charlie7531 no bc the Devine beasts are mentioned by npcs, in rito village an npc tells link about vah medohs perch and Sidon mentions link saving Zora's domain
The only canon thing about Hateno Village in BOTW is Link going to the Lab. That's about it. We can probably just assume that a majority of content that was side quest-related in BOTW is either non-canon, or that enough time has passed that a majority of people who may have seen you in Hateno village one or two times before just don't remember you well enough. To them, you were probably just another traveler passing through. As for the photo, it's probably just treated more as an Eater Egg, since not everyone played through the Champion's Ballad DLC.
@SpinDlsc but wasn't the house meant to be demolished by Bolson if it weren't for Link's intervention? I mean, someone else could have bought it, and then Zelda bought afterwards, but imore ifs. It seems that the time window for tears of the kingdom is 5 to 10years after breath of the wild.. I don't remember neighbors I had this far back in my life, but I moved quite a lot.
Regarding Bolson- do you really think a construction worker is going to remember one specific customer from years and years ago that barely talks and they haven't seen since? Link was just another customer. It's not like Hudson where Link literally helped his wedding happen and helped him build his town. With Bolson, Link just bought a house and also happened to be the delivery boy for a wedding invite before dropping all contact for 5-10 years.
Link in this game strikes me as someone who shows up only to dip out of people's lives forever. There's some dialogue with Sidon making it seem like they haven't seen each other at all after the events of breath of the wild.😢
@@OlleMoquist that's link in every game, remember at the end of Twilight Princess where he rides off on his horse instead of partying with his friends?
@ratatoskr6324 I've been to dozens of weddings, and I'd be lucky to remember 20 people who I had longer conversations let alone a mute. I did see the guy who sold us my first house 4 years later and he had no clue who I was soo.
@@nickelakon5369 This is, sadly, not true. In Zelda's journal (in the house) she calls the house "家" (pronounced "ii-eh"). That means "house" or "the house" in Japanese. She doesn't use any possessive pronouns at all. No "my house" or "our house." It's not proof for or against them living together.
@@Velarieth And even in English, we will refer to a place as "my house", but that doesn't mean you're living alone. Even when you're living with family, it's typically "my house" unless you're conversing with someone who also lives in that house.
@@Mightylcanis I agree. 100%. I think they are living together. All I'm saying is that in Japanese, there is this thought going around that she calls the house something like "私たちの家" ("Our house") which is untrue. She just calls it "家" ("house" or "the house").
Dude, I can't even recognize some of my own family after not seeing them for a few years. I can certainly understand a lot of people not recognizing a wandering swordsman who never speaks to anyone or stays anywhere for too long.
When you put it that way I feel a lot less annoyed, Bolson should still remember him in my opinion but average NPCs who have minor interactions get a solid pass now.
@@sparxskywriter2589 I don’t think it’s wrong to put link on that pedestal when he literally is exactly what you just described. You’d think the hero who saved the entire kingdom from the calamity would get a little recognition, it’s only been a few years since then.
If Nintendo didn't want players thinking it, they could have had Zelda live anywhere else but the old botw house. There's an empty box house nearby, why not there? They could have not put his old hair-tie there. But they did. One developer also spoke recently about how the dev team looked at a lot of fanworks during the development process, and the two of them living together post-botw has been a very popular idea on japanese fanart sites. Quote from Takizawa: "Even though it's been six years since the last title was released, many fans still post drawings on social media" "When the team is facing difficulties during development, these things light up the eyes of our staff" On the topic of npcs not recognizing Link. I find it a weak rebuttal. Most unimportant npcs do not recognize him, including bazz, a supposed childhood friend. The reason? Most likely, to make the game comfortable for those who did not play botw. Quote from Fujibayashi: "We put in some effort to make sure that it feels comfortable for both first-time players and those with experience of the previous game" "On the other hand, those who have played the previous game, some of the content might make you grin and say "right, I remember that". Link buying the house is supposed to be information you have from playing botw. It's also implied by NPC dialogue and Creating a Champion that the house was always his/his family's. On October 7th, 2020, during a stream for Age of Calamity, a Nintendo Treehouse employee even said Link was originally from Hateno and went on to talk about his sidequests there. In addition to this, Hudson and Karson recognise Link, and Tarrey Town exists. Hudson even thanks you for bringing him and his wife together. All things that only happen if Link buys the house. The house was also scheduled to be torn down and Zelda could not have bought it herself, because she was either A. Holding back ganon or B. Immediately after defeating ganon, Zelda has nothing to her name anymore but a dirty white dress and clearly they stayed together after that. Similarly, it makes more logical sense that the photo is in the same place as botw because Link hung it up there. Link obtains the photo from kass after a trial, while she was still in the castle. Not something she could have done herself. Master Works, Zelda's Diary and The School Notes talk about Link being by Zelda's side. Master Works especially mentions that Link chooses to remain by her side. Direct translation (which was accompanied by a picture of the true ending, a cutscene which further supports that they stayed together): "Link, who played an active role as a hero, should have been relieved of his duties, but he continues to watch over and support her" Difficult to do if he's not around. Let's just ignore the unimportant npcs. The subtext is more than enough. More evidence: 1. The bed in the house is the exact same as BotW, and unlike other beds in the world, you can freely sleep in it. If we open up both botw and totk, the bed is the exact same one from botw. There are very few beds that are free in this game, and the only other beds you can sleep in is obviously communal beds, ones with express permission. You cannot normally sleep in another person's bed. 2. Link's hair-tie, Zelda's diary Behind the house is "Zelda's secret well" that functions as her new study. In that well, you will find one of the volumes of her diary, hot-footed frogs splashing around (which are a reference to one of the shippy-est memories of botw), and Link's hair-tie in the corner of the room. Zelda had Bolson build the well because she needed somewhere to focus alone. "It's proven very useful when I'm working alone and need to concentrate" If she was living by herself, this makes no sense Secondly, Zelda states that Link is always by her side. "Wherever I go, Link remains by my side" To the point his clothes have become worn. So as a gift she made him a new tunic (and she "can't wait to see the look on his face" when he gets it). and third, she had to hide said gift in the castle, otherwise he would find it in the house. 3. The School and Symin If you talk to Symin, he has this to say: "LINK, YOU'RE BACK?!" "Clearly, you're back in town then" "Ah, the princess is still missing, which is the reason you came alone" So, clearly, this is NOT Link's first time here (which should be obvious, how exactly did Zelda get to Hateno and the house in the first place after botw's ending? Link brought her there). He even asks Link why he came back to the village alone without Zelda. Additionally, if you go upstairs and read the "School Notes" it says this: "I understand you'll be heading soon to Hyrule Castle to investigate the reports of strange phenomena there" "I trust you'll be fine with Link at your side" 5. Two Place settings, etc The house has two places set, two towels, etc. And just in general a lot of things for supposedly one person. If you go to the Mayors house, the plates match the number of residents. One plate for the mayor, his wife and the child. The Tarrey Town House During TotK, after we wake up and leave the sky islands, we can complete a quest to unlock the ability to build a brand-new "Dream Home" in Akkala, close to Tarrey Town. THIS is why Link's weapons are no longer there. Game mechanic reasons. The developers want you to engage with the new house and the weapon stands there. The sages also have the champion weapons, so it can safely be assumed they were given back to the tribes. This house does not exist prior to the start of totk. So Link had to have been living somewhere else during the years (and it has been years if you look at Hudson's child) between games. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. The hateno house. By the way, a stable NPC has this to say about the new house, called a "dream house": "Here's hoping we both end up in dream homes of our own with great partners who never have morning breath" "Here's hoping we both end up in dream homes of our own with amazing partners who smell good and like dogs" Also, the new house has photos of Hateno on the walls. In conclusion, to me it's fairly obvious what Nintendo's intentions are here. They're just not going to say it outright. In my opinion this should not even be an issue. It's not the 1950s anymore where things need to follow the hayes code.
Thank you!!!! I find this entire video to be insane. There is a mountain of evidence hinting at them living together. This isn't taboo anymore, and it is weird to see people act like it is.
Need a in universe explanation for the memory loss and the weapons not being in Zelda’s house buddy Besides that though I would say the time away after the event under the castle ( being knocked out) and the look change probably got these people dazed. Who knows how long it was at first
I agree that Nintendo may well have intended to imply that Link does indeed live in Zelda's house - indeed, they could have chosen any other house for Zelda to live in. However, what they actually intend to be the case has no bearing on whether, in the text of the game, Link actually lives in Zelda's house. The fact that minor NPCs in Hateno village (and NPCs in general) do not recognize Link at all is not a minor point. It's a critical flaw in the story, and also harms the lore continuity of Breath of the Wild and of Tears of the Kingdom. How are we supposed to believe that Link is the hero who saved Hyrule from the Calamity when nobody knows who he is? When Zelda, without question the most well-know person in all of Hyrule, goes around inspecting Hyrule, Link is always there as her guard. Wouldn't Link have developed a reputation for that alone? Even if Link had never set foot in Hateno, after Zelda moved in to Hateno Village, surely she would've told people who Link was and what he's done? And if he actually did live in Hateno, surely people would notice him and recognize him, even if they had never spoken to him and otherwise had no idea who he was? No amount of "mak[ing] the game comfortable for those who did not play botw" justifies nobody knowing who Link is. And like Ratatoskr says in the video, why on earth would Bolson not know who Link is? Link's the weirdo who bought an old house that he was about to demolish and later invited him to his former employee's wedding. He also knows who Zelda is, because he builds her school and the well under her house before going off to retire, so even if Link didn't buy the house in BotW, wouldn't they have met at least once during the school's planning and construction? Maybe he has dementia, who knows. The fact that you can sleep in the bed in Zelda's house does suggest that at some point in the past, Link has slept in it. It's possibly the strongest evidence that Link lives with Zelda; however, it is, by itself, not conclusive. The table set for two is also intriguing, but can be explained by Zelda having to occasionally entertain people in her house. (Also the table in the mayor's house has five place-mats and chairs, and only one plate set, not three.) As for the new Champion's Tunic's hiding place in Hyrule Castle, how does this location hide it from Link at all if he is indeed living with Zelda? First of all, she would have had to make it somewhere, so it's not just that she needs to hide it once she's finished making it. Secondly, she would have to get to Hyrule Castle to hide it, which would take days. Link would also accompany Zelda, especially if he lived with her. How would he not get suspicious if she asker him not to come with her to Hyrule Castle? It's clear to me that the real reason the Champion's Tunic is in Hyrule Castle is that they wanted you to get it after completing the regional phenomena quest, and putting it in the place that you're forced to go to once you've finished the quest was the easiest way to guarantee that outcome. As for the in-universe reason as to why it's there? They didn't think of it, and they didn't care. Finally, the fact that Link's old hair band is in Zelda's basement is so contrived (if not an outright plot hole), it's hard to justify using that fact as evidence of anything at all. In the introductory cutscenes, Link is clearly wearing that hair band, so he must have lost it sometime between the encounter with Ganondorf and waking up on the Great Sky Island. That being the case, how could it possibly find its way to Hateno Village? Now, is it possible that Link had more than one? Yes, it's certainly possible, but you can never get another hair band. This suggests that the hairband you find under Zelda's house is unique and identical to the one Link wears in the introduction. So how does the hairband get from Link's head to under Zelda's house? Does Rauru put it there?
The fact that no one knows Link also contradicts that Link spent any time with Zelda after she had moved there. But her diary says he was with her so often that his tunic had worn down noticeably so she made him a new tunic. OR Link being a stranger is just a mechanic of having new players who didn't play botw not get confused.
@@ratatoskr6324 Yeah i call BS. There is no way that Link, her sword knight, would stay so far away from her while she was at home, that nobody in Hateno would even notice him, and there is no way that Zelda would let him be a hobo living under the bridge. At minimum he would get a bedroll to sleep on the floor downstairs.
@@100000Andy Then you also have to concede that it's also unplausible for Link to be actively visiting the village and no one recognizes him or have no idea who he is. Making it way more likely that their time is spent elsewhere.
The only other piece of evidence in favor of Link living there is he can actually use the bed. All the other people not knowing him is incredibly damning, though.
I can't see Zelda not having Link live in his own house though... I think Nintendo just doesn't think about being so lore accurate; they even completely changed the movement of the sun and the moon in totk to make the lighting different in all areas so they look newer, which could easily be misinterpreted as a lore thing
It really is weird that literally nobody in Hatero aside from a few don't even know who the hell Link even is, especially when its the same NPC's you help in BOTW. Wut?
@@JuwanBuchanan Do you remember the face of some random dude who did you a small favor 5 years ago and who you've barely seen since? It's clear that Link doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself, according to another reply it's implied he basically calls himself "some dude" when talking to a zonai researcher, and in that same reply people also theorize that he probably is a sort of recluse and spends most of his time training just outside the village.
It's really odd that no one recognizes Link actually. He, at the very least, lived in Hateno a couple of years ago in BOTW. Hyrule has newspapers, a lot of the shopkeepers met Link. Rumors of the hero who saved the land would've inevitably spread. Especially with purah's lab being in Hateno. Hell I recognized several minor NPCs in Hateno and I talked to them twice in a 200 hour game 6 years ago.
The stable attendants don't recognize link even if you have a full set of horses to transfer from BotW,. They are shocked when they notice that you've done business with the stable association in the past.
This is exactly why I think that evidence shouldn't count. There are characters in Hateno that should know you regardless of whether you lived there with Zelda or not. Like the dude with the cricket quest in BotW, the dude from the dye shop, kids that are now older than they were in BotW, but no one but Symin remembers you. I think that has less to do with them living together or not and more of a decision on Nintendo's part to make it more accessible to new players who didn't play BotW. The major characters remember Link and if all of the minor side characters do as well then it can be intimidating for new players to jump into without playing BotW first. At the end of the day I think they left it vague on purpose. I think they know some of their fans like putting Link and Zelda together and others don't, so they leave it to us.
@@iCrowLink This weird phenomenon isn't just in Hateno, none of the stablemasters recognize Link, none of the merchants, none of the travelers, none of the Great Fairies. Nobody in Gerudo except Buliara and Riju, nobody in Goron City except Yunobo and Bludo, etc. It's definitely Nintendo trying to keep TotK accessible to people who haven't played BotW.
I think they did this purposefully to mislead gamers into thinking Link has never been in Hateno, hence not living with Zelda. But it’s really poor storytelling imo, because there was a huge side quest in botw involving you buying the house, so at least they should know you lived there at some point, so it’s stupid, really
To be fair there are some pretty important figures in BOTW who don’t remember you in TOTK other than Bolson. Hestu doesn’t know Link and we gave him a lot of Korok seeds. While Hudson does recognize us it takes him a moment too.
You can sleep in other random peoples houses, like in the area north of riyo village most notably. Either link is the Rizzler or sleeping in beds means nothing
They aren't even dating and haven't been for all the years after BOTW, they ain't getting married unless there's a game way in the future that references the former king and queen of Hyrule and it just so happened the queen married her knight. That's exactly what happened in A Link between worlds where the rumor guy mentions Zelda dreams of a romance with her chosen knight like the princess of 100+ years ago did with hers (a link to the past)
I’m still in the “they lived together” camp. For one, there’s more evidence to support it than you initially laid out. Link can still sleep in that bed for free, one of only 3 beds in the game that are free to sleep at (Lookout Landing and Lurelin Village being the other two.) This suggest that either Link still owns the bed, or at the very least that Zelda wouldn’t mind if he used the bed. To me, this alone disproves that Link never owned the bed in the first place, or that he never spent time in Hateno Village. If you complete the Champion’s Ballad DLC, get the picture at the end, AND hang it up in your house, it is still there in Tears of the Kingdom. You could say “Link gifted it to Zelda” but it’s in the exact same spot that YOU hung it up in your house. If Link never bought the house in Breath of the Wild as you concluded, the house never wouldnt exist in Tears of the Kingdom, It would’ve been demolished. It’s not possible that Link didn’t buy it, unless they rebuild the exact same house in the exact same spot in the with the exact same layout/furniture placement. Seems unlikely to me. The last bit of evidence (albeit weaker evidence) supporting the living together theory is that there are two placemats on the dining table. You could make the argument that the placemat is for someone else, but there’s nobody that is with Zelda enough to warrant a permanent placemat at the table besides Link. He must’ve spent some time in Hateno with her, at the very least. I think the practical reason why nobody knows you is 1) it would get a little exhausting for the player if every character had the same “oh Link you’re back! Good to see you! Where’s Zelda” dialogue, not to mention the time it would take to make subtle changes to that line for every character. But 2) Nintendo likely wanted to make the game more accessible for people who didn’t play BotW and decided to leave it intentionally ambiguous as to whether or not most people know you. Most Shopkeepers, Stable managers, notable NPC’s etc. have dialogue that neither confirms nor denies that they know you. What’s more, I think Nintendo doesn’t want Link and Zelda’s relationship to be clear cut. Ambiguity gives them deniability and because Link is supposed to be you the player, you get to decide what their relationship is.
Does protocol even matter in this epoch? With the exception of Zelda (and maybe Link), the ruling class of Hyrule is long gone. The entire nation seems to have moved on from the monarchy and done pretty well without one. Zelda wasn't too fond of her life prior to the Calamity. She was much happier when she was doing research, especially with Link by her side. Why would she care about protocol when the people that might have cared about it are long dead?
Another point is that Link and Zelda closely parallel Sonia and Rauru, who are actually married. Also, Zelda had to hide the champion tunic elsewhere, so Link couldn’t find it. Also, Zelda has two diaries, one hidden in the well, because she knows Link reads the regular one. Also, if Link is with Zelda, but not living with (or near) her, how does he know where the princess is to accompany her? So many questions…
@@akumakurosawa Link's father was a knight serving the Royal Family as well, so that make it more of a possibility. Knights weren't always nobility, but they were usually well known, wealthy and/or land owning families.
10:36 it’s weird that Hudson recognizes link and Bolson doesn’t, in fact I’m pretty sure Hudson thanks link for helping out with Tarrey Town, a major side quest in the story.
You are right, but I think it can be explained. I don’t think Link’s interactions with Bolson made enough of an impact on him in the grand scheme of things. I’m in favor of the “Link was just another customer” theory, one that doesn’t really talk a lot and kind of disappeared for 5-10 years after the Calamity. Hudson, though? Link had a HUGE emotional impact on Hudson. He helped build Tarrey Town. He made Hudson’s dreams a reality. He brought him and his wife together! When you’ve got that much of an outsized impact on a person, especially one with strong associated positive emotions, you’re going to remember them.
I don't think that Link and Zelda spent a significant amount of time in Hateno Village. We get a line that says Zelda moved there to oversee the setup of the school and the school seems pretty new. People not knowing Link actually makes some sense. He's a bodyguard. People are always looking at Zelda, they don't pay attention to this guy that follows her around.
You know what makes all this even weirder? You can sleep in the bed in Zelda's house. And no one makes a fuss about it. Because that, to me, absolutely says that they were living together. But it is very strange that no one in Hateno recognizes him.
Not necessarily. In BOTW, I remember being able to sleep on the bed in the Lookout Post in Gerudo desert. Which to me means there isn't really that much significance behind the beds Link can sleep in.
@@theophany4935 in both games, if Link doesn't pay to use a bed, he needs to read a note or talk to NPC to get permission or realize it's available for him, the only exception in the house in Hateno in TOTK. for example, the bed in the shack near Fort Hateno can be used freely in TOTK, but only after reading Calip's journal to the final page, where it states the bed and the shacks contents are fair game for anybody to use.
I see both sides having merit, but I lean more towards them living together personally. This is because of Japanese culture. In Japan, PDA is considered very taboo and embarrassing, so romance and living together is underplayed. A lot of their culture is focused on nuance and subtlety because being disruptive is looked down upon. Considering this, when a piece of media from Japan gives hints that two people live together, we're probably meant to take the subtle clues as a direct confirmation. An example of this culture clash is the ending of Yuri on Ice, where western audiences were annoyed the main couple didn't get confirmed because their kiss was implied, whereas in Japan, they thought the ending was a clear-cut confirmation. If it can be read between the lines in Japanese media, it's often meant to be taken as fact. Considering all the clues to them living together in this game, I think the clues are there because, well, they live together. As for the NPCs in Hateno not recognising you... NPC recognition is so inconsistent in this game anyway. And Nintendo has never cared about sensical continuity in Zelda
The memory thing feels like a plot hole to me, Hetsu doesn’t know you and he really should. Also has anyone found a second house link owned, I don’t think Zelda would just take his house and leave him homeless.
11:34 If you're right and Link never bought the house in BotW, it wouldn't be there in TotK. Remember, you buy it just before it's about to be torn down. Another point in favor of Link and Zelda living together, the way Zelda acts around Link in the prologue, worrying about him as if 3 keese could actually hurt him. The way she talks about him to Rauru and Sonia in memory 8, it sure sounds like she's in love with him.
@@ratatoskr6324 Why did Zelda hide the new Champion's Leathers in the castle of all places if Link isn't spending a lot of time in the house? If he's never there, why wouldn't she just keep it there?
I think we should know what the Japanese version says to see if there are any differences, we know that the localization team tends to make some mistakes when translating.
I feel like Ratatoskr keeps forgetting about the original Japanese text. His earlier anti-Hylia theories revolved entirely around a line from Skyward Sword that was extremely different from the original Japanese.
I don't think Zelda wants the Town's People to know She lives with Link Though. You're forgetting Link has many ways to come and go as He pleases from Hateno. Teleportation, Climbing up the Cliff behind His House, Gliding down into the Valley or Riding His Horse. Link isn't the kind of Hero to use the Front Gate and Chat with the Town Guard about the Weather. He probably gets up at the Crack of Dawn and goes out to Train, Hunt or help with the Relief efforts too. I don't see Link just lazing about the Town. Also if they are living together, Zelda is a Princess and Link is a Knight. It's not very Proper for a Princess's Reputation for People to know Link Lives with Her! If He still does. Even though the Social Classes doesn't really exist atm. Due to the Calamity. Each town seems to Govern themselves. Zelda is more of Figure Head Ruler atm. Busy with doing a rebuilding Tour. Goron, Zora, Gerudo are different Kingdom's in Hyrule. More like allies, then subjects of Zelda. Atleast that's how it appears. If you think it's Impossible to live in a Town without People knowing You live there, take My Life for example. I like Privacy. I've been living in A small town for 5 Years and No One knows Me. I don't make myself known very much. My wife is a Social Butterfly and everyone knows Her. She's very friendly. Im not like that. I Use our backdoor to go Out or leave before 5 in the morning. Very few neighbors, know I live in My House. I think Link, is the same as Me in that way. Zelda is a very Social person, it's in Her nature as a Princess. The Town would know Her more because She helped make the School and is probably a Teacher too. Link isn't a very approachable Guy. He is always carrying His Sword around and watching for Yiga assassins. Who could be every day People after Zelda. Maybe He doesn't want the Town's People to know He lives with Zelda. Because it could make her a Bigger Target. Link is known in other villages because Old Friends He's meet Know Him from the Past and Totk. Most of Hateno are new Residents too. Still it's just fun speculation. They are probably going to end up living near Tarry Town anyway. It's a better House and is away from prying eyes.
There's a quest in Gerudo village, that after you complete it, the Gerudo researcher asks you your name. You tell her it's Link and she says something to the effect of "it's cool that you have the same name as Zelda's swordsman." It seems like many people know who Link is, but not what he looks like.
The people in the village don't recognize Link at all despite him spending a decent amount of time in and out of the village for one reason on another in the previous game. And as you said, Hudson remembers you but Bulson doesn't for some reason. It's a strange recurring thing in this game in general. I don't think it's fair to use that as evidence for them not being together when it's a much broader problem than that.
well we know link doesn't talk much. why would he go out of his way to talk to other villagers? in botw he would've maybe only said a couple sentences to each villager if we're assuming him talking to every npc is canon. to them, link would just be another traveler. as for bolson, as far as he knows link is just another customer and also invited him to his ex co-worker's wedding, then didn't see each other for another 6 years. for hudson link helped him build tarry town, and even found his wife and helped get a priest for his wedding. i think it makes enough sense for hudson to remember him and not bolson
This is how I understood it the 1st time I played it: Zelda altered history by inserting herself so far in the past. As I progressed through the main quest I got this idea reaffirmed several times. Zelda and Mineru laid the groundwork for Link so far in the future that it was unavoidable to keep the same chain of events repeat themselves. We have many examples that did happen the same (like Purah turning herself into a kid, as we can still read on her journals) and others that don't or at least don't seem to. One of these is the whole thing with Hudson Construction. What are we supposed to make of that? Bolson retired/stepped down after the calamity and entrusted his beloved company to Hudson? Sounds like a natural course of events, but how come Hudson changed the name of the company, making himself the glowing face of it? All his employees and their families literally worship him and no one mentions Bolson at all. Maybe that was addressed somewhere and I missed it. Anyway, that's my interpretation.
I came to the same conclusions while playing the game, but that raised the following question: "In that case where has link been living all this time?" I haven't really looked into it too much, but I think I have a lead on that. Most of the people who recognize Link are the soldiers in and around Lookout landing. As Link holds a formal position as Zelda's knight, it would make sense that he was staying in the barracks alongside Hyrule's other armed forces while his services were not in use.
it would stand to reason that link maybe was training new knights, although no confirmation of that in game that i have found at least. but it would explain why link wouldnt be staying with zelda in hateno for so long
You kind of have to cope to believe he wasn’t living with her… Him being a Hateno resident that can vote = Canon. Sleep in the same bed = Canon. Followed her everywhere = Canon. “He probably slept somewhere in Hyrule castle” = Headcanon.
@@cardboardking577 This also doesn't make sense though. Castle town is still a ruin, and the castle itself is basically no better. It's not just it got a bit damaged being risen into the sky. They basically did nothing at all with the castle between BOTW and TOTK. It's just as ruined.
Dining tables are usually not made for one person. And if she often had guests over (the kids), it makes even more sense for her to have a bigger dining table.
@@stop-amertime @Knoloaify These both are very true statements. However, in terms of Hateno Village, most of the homes have a dining set specifically for the number of residence in the home. Also, if Zelda knows she would have an unknown amount of kids over her home, wouldn't she opt to have an even bigger table with the bench seats vice single chairs like the home near the entrance of Hateno.
I found it weird too because I'd assume Zelda would have more than just one visitor in her house eating with her or something. Especially since she seems so popular amongst the children of hateno village.
Something you haven't mentioned in the video is that link can sleep in Zelda's bed and in which I I can remind you that link can't sleep in beds he does not own or payed for(inns) implying link and zelda are very close and one thing to note is that if you complete the championship ballad.The picture would show up in the bedroom! but I do agree on what you said in the video for the most part.
It's also very likely that TotK takes place on an *slightly* alternate timeline. Rauru implies this is the case in Memory 13 and Zelda mentions her "original time" as opposed to "the future" in another Memory which, to me, implies the future has changed.
I think considering that you find the picture of the champions that Kass gives you in the Hateno house, that Link canonically did buy it. Bolson not remembering you is just weird, but whatever. For most other people, it makes sense they wouldnt remember Link. I think though that Link was pretty much just a bit of a recluse. He barely talks, he dosen't go around telling people that he's Zelda's royal knight or that he defeated the Calamity. And he also didn't go around doing every single quest and collecting 900 Korok seeds. To most people, he's basically just a nobody who maybe showed up out of nowhere, gave them a handful of crickets or a nice recommendation this one time several years ago, and never showed up again. It wouldnt be expected for them to remember him, especially with a different haircut and change of outfit. Most people in BotW barely even knew about the Calamity, all they knew was that it happened 100 years ago, wrecked the kingdom, and then went away for another 100 years until lately guardians have been spotted moving around again near Hyrule Castle making it dangerous and that the divine beasts have been acting up, and presumably they probably saw the giant boar demon. But other than that, the only people who really knew about the Calamity were folks like Impa.
I think it most likely that Link just got so accustomed to/fond of "rough living" and travelling that he just travelled around between places like lookout landing and other rebuilding efforts, and that's why he was always with her when she helped with that stuff, because he was always there not in Hateno.
But BoTW implied he was born there, that he lived there, and that was his house before the calamity. That's why he buys it, because of its sentimental value. Like, really, we're gonna ditch a part of what little character he has because ... Lazy writing?
@@samf.s.7731 but that was 100 years ago, so it has no bearing on people knowing him. Maybe he helped zelda buy it right after, who's to say he even has any attachment to that place anymore after what he went through? At the end of the day, he's a silent protag meant for you to insert yourself into, believe what you want. My suggestion was just to potentially explain how he can almost always be with zelda but not be known in hateno.
@@starofaetherius Lookout Landing wasn't even a thing until after Link and Zelda went missing. And I have a perfect explanation for why they don't know Link; they think he's still missing, and it makes perfect sense why. As far as they know, Link and Zelda went missing, and there's been no news about his reappearance. Zelda seems to be traveling alone when they were always together before by Zelda's own admission and the fact numerous people mention how Link is better known as the 'Princess's Swordsman'. It's basically a classic case of Clark Kenting.
@@samf.s.7731I think Link was so used to the wild and due that he hardly talks to anyone, decides to literally live the life of a nomad and live in the wilderness, but not too far away from Zelda and every now and then she goes to where he is just to get a quick fuck in and went on her day.
Reasons why I still believe Link and Zelda live together: 1. Lots of characters Link has met in botw dont temember him such as Hetsu, Beedle, and stable accociaters and i thonk the reason why is because the developers wanted the game to feel seperate from botw for new players. Also link is not the most social guy he barely talks even after the shrine of resurrection so its not surprising to me that hateno residents dont remember him and his house if pretty far from the village and the villagers seem more interested in Zelda. 2. I doubt zelda will let unsupervised children wander around inside her house while she is inside her well and the only reason they come over is because of Zelda not her house as we can see from Karin (also karins a girl) she doesn't go inside Zeldas house she waits at the entrance of the bridge leading to it not inside. 3. People involved with Link buying a new house remember him such as Hudson and Karson. If you go to lookout landing Karson acts like hes known you for a long time and when you go to Tarrey tow Hudson remembers you saying something like "how could i forget you, your the one who helped me build this town". Also if link never bought the house in botw it would have been demolishex before he saved Zelda since they were in the middle of it and Tarrey town would never have been built if Link didn't buy the house because Bolson would never had asked hudson to build a town in Akkala and hudson says link helped him build it. 4. The reason why there may ne no weapons inside of the house is because they sre in peactul tomes in no need of many weapons beside a few for the yiga since there stull active and we can see link doesnt even have the mastersword in the time skip between botw and totk and there is proof of that in the first memory where he goes to collect it in korok forest. 5. If Zelda owns the house now I doubt Zelda would let Link have no place where he can rest or relax and the innkeeper doesn't seem to remember Link even though he would have to pay her every time to sleep there and Links not made of money so I doubt he can stay there forever and there is nowhere else he has a place to call home. Also he can sleep on the bed without permission or asking which is what he gas to do with certain beds or inns but most overworld beds he cannot sleep in. Bonus: We already know Zelda loves link and there relationship is very important in botw so it would make no sense that they would give us so many hints that they live together only for them not to so k dount that they dont.
Nintendo's design is the major reason for many people who should know Link, suddenly not knowing him. I think they wanted new players who didn't play botw to still feel like they were discovering the world, so even though you've obviously been to Hateno and bought a house there, mysteriously nobody recognizes you. For a new player, happening upon Zelda's house is neat, but if you played botw, you're like "Wait, why would Zelda just take my house, she has no problem erecting a school in the same area" And so I also believe this is Nintendo at odds with their own design choices, they want to imply that Zelda and Link are together often, but they also want to consider new players discovering Hateno for the first time. Its weird. Also, Link is an adventurer, he probably wouldn't interact with the people of hateno prior anyway, he'd probably just stop by at night, then leave to find some korok seeds or whatever he did in between games. Also, link couldn't have not bought the house in botw, because they were going to knock it down and destroy it otherwise. Link had to have bought it and given it to Zelda knowing she would be there more, and he'd be off adventuring.
I for one, I’ve come to terms with the fact that Nintendo assumes that breath of the wild players will just ignore. Some of the implications added to help newer players in favor of memories from their own play through, as I have done in mine. For instance, after that, initial introduction dialogue from each character who doesn’t recognize you. Everything proceeds in a way they could go either direction. So I just completely wash out those instances. And go forward with the events as they would’ve happened from my Playthru. I encourage everybody to just ignore Nintendo’s shenanigans, because they usually don’t manifest physically. If link bought the house in your play through and you think they should live together. Then that’s what happened. If Link never bought the house in your Playthru. Then that’s Zelda‘s house.
There are two quite simple explanations: The real world explanation is that in part this was done for those who hadn't played Breath of the Wild. Someone in a comment suggested the weapon removal was purely so you'd interact with the new game feature of house building, letting you have more than the old if you so desired. I agree with this. For the in-game explanation, just take into account the location of the house. As is somewhat of a tradition, Link's house is slightly out of town/secluded from the others. You can easily get in and out without ever going into town, and people would take you for a traveler when you do. Link also has an ability to slip in unnoticed, and can seemingly appear out of nowhere just as he did in the "Blades of the Yiga" memory in Breath of the Wild. While he'd probably worry less in Hateno, he'd still be on the alert keeping her safe. Nintendo likes to leave some things ambiguous, and therefore up to the player. This is one of those. I happen to think they are together, even possibly married. Even if they aren't married, Link would either sleep on the floor or more likely stand guard at the house. For the record Link absolutely can, and does, speak. He just doesn't do so very often. Zelda explains why in her diary in Breath of the Wild. Furthermore, there are dialogue answer options in the games that use "I". One in Breath of the Wild is, "I am he." There are times when he uses "you" as in, "What have you got?" when buying something from a traveling merchant. In fact any answer option is Link speaking, and on top of that there are times when he is explaining something to another character, gesturing with his hands and moving his head as he does it, just as he would if you could hear his voice. Some games even have cutscenes with his lips moving (Skyward Sword has the clearest example of this). To say that Link can't talk is a misconception at best and ignorance at worst.
I kinda think Nintendo just made the choice to assume that link did just about zero side quests canonically so he hasn't met alot of people. Is it the better choice than assuming their playerbase 100% botw? Idk tbh
I just wanted to say that I love the videos where you end them this way. Its so unapologetic and straight to the point. I've never been triggered by them but always view it as a challenge. Love the content and how well you shift coverage to different game series.
In regards to your theory of Link never buying the house, Bolson was preparing to demolish the house when Link bought it so if Link never bought the house, wouldn't it have been demolished?
My personal theory is that within Hateno he kept very much to himself, and when he was on duty, maintained a very stoic appearance that would make people just assume him as one of Zelda's guards, and less so by his name. So, when he returns back to the village, without Zelda, injured with a new arm, longer hair, and wearing garb that isn't his knight outfit, people either don't know who he is, or are too disinterested to investigate further. Link outside of our actions as the player does not make a spectacle of himself, so the people of Hateno just probably never knew he was the hero.
That was what I assumed. Maybe it's bc I am playing mostly in the ancient tunic outfit, but if my neighbor who I don't talk to much suddenly was dressed in a toga with a strange arm and a new haircut, I'd probably not recognize him either. In botw a diary mentions the expectations of being a hero took a toll on him 100 years ago, so it makes sense he wants to keep to himself and not broadcast who he is once things settle down. It would also make sense that he had more adventures to go on between botw and totk, and just wasn't at home a ton and the house became primarily Zelda's. It seems like he a lot of his time around lookout landing before the events of totk.
@@jack_art yeah, I get the feeling he definitely kept a low profile, and this is pretty evident even in the game. Even in cases where it would benefit him, he doesn't divulge his identity as Link, and will let people identify him first. I'm 90% sure most of the people who even know him as Link know only because Zelda herself was the one who divulged such information
It does matter though. Buying the house is the first step that sends Hudson off to build Tarrey town. Even if you buy nothing else, you have to drop the initial 3000 rupees. The only way Bolson doesn't meet Link there is some alternate timeline where they either tore down the house or chose not to, and sent Hudson off. It's a huge contradiction that Bolson never met Link.
I’m in the live together camp. Not saying they are in a romantic relationship, but it’s not like Link is going to let Zelda fend for herself when he has a perfectly good home. Also from Zelda’s perspective Link is one of the few remaining connections to her past life pre BotW. It would make sense she would value that relationship and keep close to him. As for a narrative reason why nobody remembers Link (I understand it mechanically) I just assume since he’s the quiet type he tends to fade in the background to most people. Meanwhile Zelda is the more social. Also there are minor points such as being able to use the bed, the fact Zelda had a secret study built in a well. Containing her dairy on how she made Link a new Champion Tunic. Now that all said the exact nature of their relationship is up to the player be it romantic or not, but I do believe they are at the very least living together.
I guess my only question would be, "So why did they give Zelda Links house if this is not what people are supposed to get out of it?" They could easily have not done this and there would be no possible debate. The idea wouldn't even exist. But they did. And the first thought that's likely to come to any persons mind when seeing this is, "Did Link and Zelda live together?" Seems intentional. If it's not, that's an extremely weird decision. That's really all the evidence I need. Despite there also being the hair tie in the well and Zelda needing to hide Links new tunic, not in the house that he supposedly never visits or lives in, but in the castle...
It's actually not that crazy to think a lot of people wouldn't remember link if they don't realize he's the champion when considering that he doesn't talk much and stays to himself.
yea like the other races cared a lot about their champions but for some reasons most hylians don’t seem care about theirs? and the new tunic is still called the CHAMPIONS leather
@@ragingstorm_ the hylians were probably more concerned about the vast majority of their kingdom, cities and people dying than about remembering 1 specific guy who's not even the king or princess. for the other races, their champion was a unique/standout person and in charge of a giant machine in their domain and then died for the hylians
Another theory: The kid said last time they saw Zelda she didnt do what she usually does. We dont know how recent the kid last encounter with Zelda is, but maybe it wasnt her. We have ALOT of accounts of people seeing Zelda after the upheval but doing odd uncharacteristic things. Perhaps someone has -sabotaged- the memory of everyone in Hateno, if you catch my drift.
Link is a big dummy heroic type. I always think of Link in a funny way, he's a guy who doesn't talk because he sees no use in it. But somehow people understand him, he's has a one track mind for heroics and the goddess bestowed upon him great ability. Link doesn't care about anything but Zelda and saving the kingdom. Link bought a house, but even he doesn't know why since he's barely ever there. He handed the house over to Zelda because he knows he'll never be there, and out doing some wild thing like paragliding off of cliffs, figting monsters, and cooking all types of food. Link doesn't see the use of a house, because he's empty headed in that way all he knows is being a hero, eating food, and helping everyone out 😂
That's a lot of your own imagination and speculation being utilized here. Which is fine, I get it, there should be room for that. But at this point we're doing the writer's job for them, and that's just laziness on their part.
I'm going to make the point that it STILL doesn't make sense that no one in the town knows who Link is, when if Zelda spends a lot of time in the town, which she clearly should have seeing as all the kids love her, that Link would obviously have also been there a lot just because he is her personal guard. Not even just living there, he could possibly live somewhere else, but just that he would obviously be present in the village for some time if Zelda herself spent time there, being on guard for her. Honestly I kidda just chalk this up to the writers thinking it would be better for a first time player if some people didn't know who link is, even if that literally doesn't make any logical sense sometimes.
9:40 That's an horribly inefficient way to farm dragon parts. Especially for the light dragon and her almost two-hours route Unlike in BoTW, we can't reset the dragons' positions with resting, but in return we can stand on them and the parts are just on a 10 minutes cooldown
Since Link’s house is now Zelda’s, where has Link being living all this time? Why developers decided to make Zelda live in Link’s house? Why didn’t they give Zelda her own place? It’s obvious this was a purposeful decision, it really puzzle me
Ok here is why the argument in this video doesn't work: First, Link NEVER leaves Zelda's side. Even after the end of the calamity there is still the Yiga clan, the occasional monsters and ill meaning people. So by default anyone that knows Zelda at least knows of Link. Is Link gonna sleep on the floor outside 'Zelda's house'? No he must be living somewhere in the village too. So the villagers not recognizing him is evidence only to an imperfect design. Bolson, Stable Masters, Hestu, Great Fairies, Beetle, All Koroks and others, all Know Link yet they don't know him anymore. (Nintendo just doesn't care to be that accurate). They probably wanted newcomers not feel left out as they did when designing the whole game. I mean they so don't care that when Symin teaches the kids in class about the legendary hero who fell in battle 100 years ago he doesn't even acknowledge that he's sitting right there with them. Nintendo just doesn't care to be that accurate. Second, there is another important evidence to them living together missed here. The dinner table is set up for two - and that is the default setting that Clavia doesn't change, which can only mean someone is living with her. If it was for guests A- It wouldn't be default B- it would be multiple plates C- Clavia would return it to just one plate since there are no guests now. Link is definitely nudging her majesty. Third, Zelda didn't necessarily clear out Link's belongings. He might have done that on his own when they decided to live in sin. Fourth, Zelda hides the tunic in the castle. If Link wasn't right there with her in the house she could've just left it right in the house and wouldn't have had to mention that only in her secret diary in the well. Fifth, Link can freely use the bed. In other houses he can't. Finally, stop grinching on our childhood fantasy, Ratatoskr, and let us simp and fantasize in peace. P. S. Love your content.
I think that link lives there, but he is just super busy and is rarely home. And when he is home he comes into town discreetly and spends all his time with Zelda. When Zelda leaves the town he makes sure to get to her as soon as possible to protect her, but he might not be there the second she leaves the town
Zelda sealed Calamity Ganon by herself in BOTW, woke Link up from the shrine of resurrection, recruted him and others to camp outside of the the castle to investigate it, bought the house in Hateno village and helped build Tarrey Town.
My take is that Link kinda just fades into the background unless he has a reason for being in the forefront. If he tends to travel alot with Zelda, I imagine Zelda being the one interacting with everyone and directing everything and Link kind of just being an extension of her will. I think moreso Hateno village is just an outlier in people not recognizing Link. My main reason is that Hateno village has a much different vibe than the entire rest of hyrule and not connected with hyrule as a whole. Every other races villages are undergoing some major crisis and need help. Lurelin village was literally destroyed and overrun by monsters. Kakariko village was airbombed by zonai ruins and they are trying to figure them out. Tarrey Town is literally the center of rebuilding hyrule and has enough production to literally prepare the building materials to rebuild hyrule. In comparison, Hateno village is obsessed with mushrooms and power struggles within the village. It doesn't feel like they meaningfully contribute to hyrule in any manner nor understand the dire straits that other people in hyrule are facing. In my eyes they are kinda the spoiled village where they are facing so little trouble that their biggest problems and worries concern fashion. It wouldn't surprise me these spoiled people not recognize link if they only ever focused on Zelda when they were together. All in all, being able to sleep in the only specific bed in the game that is attributed to Zelda seals the deal for me. I don't believe Nintendo wouldn't put a message in Zelda's bed saying how it is improper or something with their attention to details. But, I think this is absolutely a situation where each individual person should have their own decision on the matter. Trying to definitely prove one side or the other is just plain impossible and relationships are ever so one dimensional. People are free to choose to believe that Zelda and Link and simply travel buddies or soulmates that spend so much time together that Zelda built a secret workshop to prepare a gift for Link in secret.
I'm curious if the Japanese script is any different for these. You can find a drawing of Link clearly made by the children in the school. Or clearly the denizens of Hateno only recognized Link by his right arm, and that being replaced has completely blindsided them! Clearly
One thing about one of your later points, you DO keep the champions ballad picture if your save file has it. But I would like to think that Link giving her the house and taking all his stuff was his choice. And they both decided to keep that photo up.
Here are my sins against Koroks: -Crucified one, and made him faceplant with a stabilizer -Tied one under a non-functioning boat to drown -Tied one to the back of the sled, so the sand will get into his face -Tried to stick one to a wheel, didn't work as expected -Drove around a four-wheeler with an Korok on a stake as a decoration (a nearby Noblin saved the Korok)
Your argument about Zelda making a Secret Study because of the children is extremely stupid and doesn't make any sense. First of all, why would Zelda try to isolate herself from the children if the entire point of them being there is to learn from her? That just defeats the entire purpose. Second, the children themselves do not live in Zelda's house in the first place (neither does the housekeeper Calvia), they live with their families in their own homes in the Hateno Village. Also, the school with Symin is the main place where the children learn, not Zelda's house. There's no reason why anyone would ever create a secret study room away from their own house unless someone else lives there with them. Also, If Link doesn't live in Hateno Village with Zelda then Zelda doesn't have any possible motivation to move out of Hyrule Castle and into Hateno Village in the first place. Zelda was never stated to have any personal ties to Hateno Village in BotW nor ToTK, but Link does. That house was the same house Link and his family use to live in before the Calamity 100 years ago according to BotW itself and the Create a Champion guidebook (and this was never retconned in Totk). Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule, she could build multiple schools to teach children all over Hyrule while still living in Hyrule Castle but she choose to live in Hateno instead. If Link doesn't live in that house with her then her decision to live there at all would be completely random and nonsensical. Also, the People in Tarrey Town still remember Link in Totk, and the Tarrey Town sidequest is only possible if Link completes the sidequest with his Hateno home in Botw. Seriously, saying Link and Zelda don't live together just creates far more plotholes and contradictions in TotK than accepting that they do live together. Its obvious that Nintendo intended for the two to be living together since they're already around each other most of the time anyway.
Ehh, I still think he lived with her, with his hairband being in the basement too and the fact that he still considers the bed his own (you can still sleep in it). I just cannot see Zelda not having Link live in his own house that he bought with his own money. Maybe Link just doesn't talk to anyone at all, and so having a new arm, longer hair, and 6~ years of time-skip is enough to make them not recognize him. Link may not want to correct or confront people on that, so he stays shut. Not like he has much character or personality, not talking and all, so it's all up for speculation.
There are multiple instances people incorrectly identify Link as someone else that just happens to looks like, or be named, Link. He has never once corrected these people, as far as I know, and told them, "Hey, I'm the Hero guy Link who saved the world." It's a gag in more than a couple Zelda games for Links legacy to precede him, but no one recognizes it's actually him.
One piece of evidence you didn't include that debunks all points that says they DON'T live together: You can sleep in the bed in the house. You can only sleep in a bed you rent (stables) or own (Hateno Village home)
ALSO the fact a lot of Hateno Village people don't know link could be explained by the very fact that most of the people in the village only met Link once or twice as Zelda and Link traveled a LOT during the time skip between BOTW and TOTK to help ALL the people of Hyrule (Rito, Goron, Gerudo...etc etc...) Clean up and rebuild after the calamity. Yes Link AND Zelda both live in the house BUT they're not always there. Pretty sure people only know Zelda and love her so much because she's the princess that their grandparents talked about. She was kind enough to leave a huge mark despite only meeting the Hateno People a few times. Link is silent and doesn't do very much when he isn't saving Hyrule from Ganon. Makes sense he wouldn't be remembered as much by the people
personally i like to think they do *technically* live together, but with link being link, zelda is the only one that spends time there. think about it, if you bought the house in botw, how often did you actually hang out in it. as for people not recognizing him, link is characterized as keeping to himself so even if he did spend any time in hateno he probably wouldnt be seen as anyone out of the ordinary. though it is still a bit weird the way some dialogue is written like he didnt exist until yesterday, even just "the guy thats always with zelda" wouldve been fine
Across these two games, I get the impression that this iteration of Link is chronically forgettable and has an ordinary face most couldn't pick out of a crowd. People are constantly only recognizing you because you have the Slate or the Sword, even now when the populace is fully aware that you are the warrior that defeated the Calamity and are Zelda's knight and there's a newspaper constantly circulates your name and maybe even face, no one that you don't interact with regularly knows who you are. I now officially headcanon this curse of forgetfulness to be part of Link's nature as the reincarnated spirit of courage, and hence why it's the Legend of Zelda. Because Zelda is the only character of the two of them that history is capable of remembering by name.
Honestly, this just breaks Hateno for me entirely, because my Link totally lived there a few years ago. What is wrong with these people? Why does everyone else in the entire world know me from, but these jerks who were definitely my neighbors don't know me from Adam?
If this is true then either he kept living in the wild like a hobo after botw or stayed at kakariko village since there are people there who knew him which is great. More link for Paya
For me the biggest argument is: Why would Zelda live there? She is a member of the royal family. So she would want to live in an appropriate place for a Queen. (Who should live in Hyrule castle if not for her?) She must be one of the wealthiest people in Hyrule and yet she has to live in Links former house? Why would she do that if not for the reason to be with him. For Link not being recognized, I think, thats due to an oversight in development. The developers which decided to place that hint about Link and Zelda living togetherr might just not talked to the developers, which wrote the dialoge in Hateno. The reason why I am so sure that it is an oversight in development is that the developers clearly didnt care about "housing-lore" in the game. I base that on the fact that Hyrule Castle wasnt restored and reinhabited and you said yourself that like 10 years passed since BOTW, what would have been a long enough time. The developers just didnt think about how hylians would repurpose hyrule castle. And Hyrule castle is a very critical spot, you would expect to be deeply woven into the lore. If you dont think about Hyrule castle, you definitly will not think about the surroundings of Links house and if every dialoge makes sense. And if you really think that recognizing issure through thoroughly, you must come to the conclusion that its odd for any hylian to not recognize link. He saved the kingdom, they even have newspaper now. Every Hylian should know Link. Its just the developers didnt think about it as careful as you did. And for my last Argument: Think about it out of the perspective of a developer. Why would you place zelda in Links former home if not to imply that they live together? They could have just built her a new house next to his or next to the school, but they decided that she should live in his house. Why did they choose that? EDIT: As I read other comments, I now belive it might not be an oversight, but a design decision to make Link a stranger, so that new players dont feel like they must play BOTW before.
I think your first argument doesn't take into account her characterization in BotW and TotK. This Zelda choosing to live in a normal house rather than Hyrule Castle is actually on brand for her. She was never really comfortable with her upbringing as a princess and felt much more at home doing research on the ancient Sheikah (that's covered quite extensively in BotW). One of her big character conflicts is precisely that she isn't very good at being a princess while Link is just awesome at being a knight, which reminds her of her shortcomings fueling the jealousy she initially felt for Link. In short: she probably prefers living in a normal house. Moreover, she's made a school for the kids and helps teach there. Obviously, she'd need a house nearby. She isn't going to travel from Hyrule Castle all the way to Hateno Village every day to teach the kids. So yes, Zelda has very good reasons to live in that house, none of which have anything to do with Link. As for the Hylians not recognizing Link, Ratatoskr also covered it in the video. Some Hylians DO recognize Link and have a history with him, if you wanted to imply that Link did live in Hateno village with Zelda, then at the very least **one** of the local NPCs should recognize Link, especially the ones who often went to Zelda's house. As for your last argument, that's the most convincing one for sure. But I think you're ignoring a simple answer: it could be that it's simply the only empty house available in the entire village (yes there are the demonstration houses, but those are **demonstration** houses). So naturally Zelda chose to live in that one when she created the school.
@@Knoloaify 1. Sorry I didnt intent to make the argument that she should live in the castle, I wanted to say that she has enough rescources to get her own house. 2. Well they managed to build a school, so they sure could have built a home for zelda next to it. 3. The house is not empty, its Link's house. I dont think it would fit zeldas character to accept to live in Link's home, while he has none, even if he offered it as a gift to her. But I discoverd a couterargument to my own prior argument: The developers needed to get rid of Links home, so the player has to aquire a new one. And giving it to Zelda seemd fitting. (Although I would have loved to see it being destroyed by a random fallen sky island.)
Zelda is not the type of girl to let her Himbo sleep out in the rain while she’s bunked up in his house playing Armored Core 6 and I have serious niggles with anyone who thinks otherwise
I'd like to propose a different timeline. Picture this: Link wakes up and goes directly towards the Divine Beasts, stopping by to grab the Master Sword on the way. After that, he defeats the Calamity and rescues Zelda. Only then does Link go through the land, doing side quests and helping people out. In fact, that's what he's been doing all this time when he's not accompanying Zelda. He's been playing BotW side-content. During his journeys, he helped build Tarrey Town, met some folks, and became an overall legendary swordsman. Meanwhile, Zelda moved into Hateno and bought the house from Bolson before he demolished it.
Also Link and Zelda aren't married. Nobody calls him Prince Link, and it's also a little strange that Zelda is still a princess despite both of her parents being dead and having several opportunities to assume the throne. Does Zelda have an older sibling who is actually now the monarch we never hear about or see any glimpse of?
I think it’s a huge plot hole that nobody in Hateno knows Link even if he never owned the house. If he’s constantly at Zelda’s side, even if we assume that comment excludes when she’s in Hateno, they would have to go out of their way to keep Link out of the village to have them be together so much and yet never when Zelda is in Hateno. And so many people recognize Link by reputation elsewhere that it’s like they went out of their way to not have anyone there know who Link is. To me, this leaves 6 possibilities: 1. Link hates Hateno village and purposely avoids it, even giving away his house to not be there 2. Zelda wants Hateno to be her personal place and says Link can’t go there 3. Everyone in Hateno hates Link and pretends he doesn’t exist, maybe because they’re jealous he’s close with the Princess 4. Link wants Hateno to be one place where he isn’t treated as some hero, so Zelda has ordered everyone in the town to pretend they don’t know Link whenever they see him. 5. Link’s face is so forgettable to the people of Hateno that they cannot remember he exists after not seeing him for however long he was away with Zelda investigating under the castle. 6. There is something in the water at Hateno that makes them all forget Link specifically Like, there is no way nobody in the town knows Link, even if he hasn’t lived there, even if he hasn’t _been_ there since BotW. Also to think that when we controlled Link, he buys a house in Hateno, visits Purah’s lab in Hateno, buys and dyes clothes there, etc, and when we return, he spends a bunch of time there, becomes a teacher there, talks to every person in town, facilitates the election, etc, but in all the time in between, we’re supposed to believe he completely avoids the place Zelda treats as her home like the plague, while being at Zelda’s side any time she’s anywhere else?
This video showed me two sides of an argument I didn't know existed and I love that. It made me think so much deeper about the lore of the game which I will appreciate as I continue to play.
Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule. Wherever she goes, she's simply going to be the center of attention. Everyone is going to gravitate towards her, and not towards the equally short, not royal guy that hangs around with her a bit too much. That sums up everything better.
![COLOMBIA vs. CHILE [4-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TDjN4W3yy1k/mqdefault.jpg)
@Ratatoskr Concerning your point about nothing in the house being yours, what about the fact that the Champion's picture is present in the house if you have it in your Breath of the Wild save file?
I'd just think that Zelda got the picture to reminisce
He gave it to her.
XD XD XD
I mean I would guess everyone in the group got a copy
@ratatoskr6324 Fair enough, I can see that being a reasonable explanation, and you do make good points overall. Your argument about nobody remembering Link though, I'm not sure if it's not just the developers adjusting some storytelling for new players so the BotW story isn't a prerequisite, since nobody mentions guardians, the sheikah shrines, or any of the help link provided in botw, apart from Sidon and the Zora.
Alternative Theory - Link is being bullied. His neighbors pretend not to know him because he doesn't talk much, and the mayor's wife threw out all his stuff.
I like this one
This is true.
Link is Zelda's gimp. You never acknowledge the gimp's existence
hahaha. Link is the type of guy to sleep outside and help move Zelda and her boyfriend into his own house.
@@cdurkinz he hides under the stairs and listens if they let him
Hestu and the Great Fairy do not recognize Link.
The Koroks do not recognize Link.
The Deku Tree recognizes Link, but none of the Koroks recognize Link.
1000 Koroks do not recognize Link.
The Rito recognize Link.
The Zora recognize Link.
The Gorons recognize Link.
The Gerudo recognize Link.
But Beetle doesn't recognize Link.
None of the Stable Masters recognize Link and are surprised that he has a horse.
Does Zelda even recognize Link, anymore?! We don't know.
Yeah that’s what confused me. Like why does nobody know Link. And even people who should know link like the great deku tree outside of botw don’t know him. I doubt it’s because of the time skip with the sky islands. Maybe it has to do with like evil Zelda or some kind of magic.
the last part of this comment becomes really sad when you know the full story
Then comes the next zelda sequel, "The Legend of Zelda: The Forgotten Link"... lol
This situation kinda makes me think of Breath of fire 2, in the beginning of the game; at the main character (Ryu's) home town, everyone knew him, then suddenly after a incident that happened... they completely forgotten him...
Makes me wonder if there is a hidden evil that is making everyone forget link? LOL!
If Link canonically lived in Hateno, and he canonically defeated the Calamity, how is that no one in Hateno recognize that Link is the chosen hero?? Makes no sense?
@@normis6620 maybe someone or something made them forget?
My takeaway is that they should make a sequel to TotK where everyone forgets you again, turning the BotW trilogy into a psychological horror.
That is the entirety of Nintendo already... not to mention countless other things. Like imagine being a normal person in the Simpsons world. Everyone has bright yellow skin, never ages, and can rarely even remember what happened a week ago because it never happened. You'd probably be arrested for being a weird colour CONSTANTLY and even if you managed to defend yourself, it would vanish from continuity overnight.
This is what happens when you get fictional settings that are not made for detail, scrutiny, nor plot.
@@SotiCoto what
Yeah, no more BotW "sequels" please
Huh. So Like Majora's Mask but stretched across 3 games instead of 3 days?
TotK was psychological horror are you kidding me lol
Just listen to the music. I’ll be haunted for the rest of my life.
The fact that none of the townspeople remember Link is so sad. I feel like my time in the town in Breath of the Wild was invalidated.
At least now we can be known as the Cheesebringer
They never said that they don't know nor remember who Link is, only that they don't recognize Link as Link. Also, Symin actually does recognize Link when you meet with him in Hateno.
I like to think link is just a recluse who doesn’t talk much to people he doesn’t know, and spends most of his day nearby outside the town training or traveling Hyrule with Zelda, enough to the point that with a new arm and his hair down most people don’t recognize him
This is the most likely explanation imo. Ratatoskr makes it sound like everyone recognizes Link in TotK but really it's just people in Lookout Landing and people who were directly involved in the main quest of BotW.
I can’t remember which npc it was, but I came across someone who was waiting for a zonai research team member and it was implied that link referred to himself as “just some guy.” Link definitely does not try to play himself up in the slightest.
Link: "It is I, Link the hero of Hyrule! You probably didn't recognize me because of the Zonai arm!" 😜
C3PO: You probably don't recognize me because of the red arm. 🤦♀️🤦♀️
This really is the most likely explanation. Link's entire personality in these games is a humble guy who tries his hardest not to draw attention to himself, hence the explanation for his silence. To anyone outside of a few people who know him well, he's just some random royal guard dude.
You forgot about Zelda hiding the new champion tunic in the castle. If Zelda is living alone, why would she need to hide Link’s gift it somewhere else?
Oh the fanfiction this is gonna generate.. the amount of fanfiction 🤣🤣🤣👌
You know Link is a nosy fellow when she needs to keep his surprise gift locked away behind a puzzle, inside the ruins of a castle several days' travel away, instead of like, in a trunk under her bed or something.
I think this is just one of those things where they wanted to put the Tunic in the castle and then had to construct a reason for it to be there.
@@thierrys85 and its canon becuase why are we allowed through link to read all of these people's diaries.
Unless the castle chest is like an Amazon locker for Zelda, and she had whoever made it drop it off there for her to pick up later.
I think the whole "Link and Zelda are roomies" theory has some merit to it, purely because of one reason: Nintendo could have completetly avoided this whole discussion if they picked literally any other house in Hyrule for Zelda to live in.
I don't think Nintendo is that naive that they couldn't have forseen people's reaction to this. With that in mind, you have to wonder if Nintendo did this on purpose. Maybe they wanted to give shippers some fanservice or wanted people to theorize. Link and Zelda are a fan favorite couple, why not throw some bait into the waters?
The theorizing wouldn't even have happened if Nintendo had at least included some hints as to where Link lives. Because even if we completely disregard this theory: Where does Link live if not with Zelda? At Lookout Landing? The still-in-construction Hyrule Castle? (that's also empty and devoid of any people living there) Under a bridge somewhere??
I mean this is just weird to leave Link's whereabouts so unclear. BOTW wasn't this shy about inferring where Link lived. TOTK though? I guess the fans are just supposed to assume Link lives a hobo lifestyle for fun. A hobo lifestyle that everyone that knows Link condones and let's happen too, btw. Zelda, Riju, Sidon, Purah, Robbie, etc.
I do kinda like the idea of link just kinda running around, slaying monsters and camping wherever.
Nintendo could avoid the discourse by just stating outright that link lives there too.... Not dancing around it
@@drewhaynes1874 That's not how Japan writes romances.
I feel like having Zelda choosing to live in this exact house makes zero sense unless they we’re trying to imply that she was living with Link. From both the stories she had almost no connection to Hateno village (only Link did) so why would she choose to live there out of everywhere in Hyrule
@@KillerChickenz01 Right? It such a weird direction to go with her character. I guess it's supposed to be a "royalty learns to live like a commoner and humbles themselves" storyline. But it's not like Zelda was ever snobby or needed that arc.
I think a lot of this stuff can be chalked up to the Zelda team's repeated and continued disinterest in tying stories together between games in a believable or meaningful way.
I first experienced it when I played Wind Waker at 13 years old and the game sent me underwater to see what was supposedly a preserved version of Ocarina of Time's Hyrule, frozen in time. 13-year-old me was extremely confused why nothing under the sea resembled anything I'd ever seen in Ocarina of Time. I peeled my eyes looking for something, *anything* that looked familiar. That was the day I made peace with the fact that Nintendo just isn't particularly interested in making the connections between games believable, and I'm ok with that now.
A couple of years ago after Age of Calamity released, I saw a bunch of speculation online about how the new AoC timeline was going to link into BotW's sequel. All I could think was "Age of Calamity? Fat chance, it wouldn't even surprise me if the sequel went off to do its own thing and barely acknowledged Breath of the Wild at all." I'm glad the game at least acknowledges that the Calamity happened, but I thought it was particularly funny when Symin was sitting there teaching a class while he recounted a story about a legendary swordsman who fell 100 years ago, while Link is just standing there completely unacknowledged haha.
Its not disinterest from tying the stories together, its Miyamoto active hostility to stories in videogames that is the cause, you have staff commenting on how he strikes down any and all suggestions to having deeper stories in his games, as well as he himself stating in a polite way that he does not want stories in his games.
99% of all story inconsistencies can be linked to Miyamoto not wanting a story at all.
I would believe that had he been left alone to his own devices, he would make Legend of Zelda have no story, everything you did in the games was go save the princes from the evil demon king and save the Kingdom, and everything else would be just walking around and seeing stuff.
@@Fixti0n good point. That's the reason why almost all Nintendo games are completely forgettable. 🤷
That is the reason why Theory channels exist. The implications are brought together and told consistently. Nintendo writers are a sad bunch, even though Totk feels more cinematic. But hey, maybe they crack down on that in the future too? 🤣 Yes I am annoyed by the company very much and I am happy when just the theory channels remain in my timeline.
@@Fixti0n nah lmao. He wasn't involved directly in the development of Tears of the Kingdom. He was far too busy with other projects such as the Super Mario Bros movie. Many sources claim this.
Also, Zelda is almost always exempt from his desire for minimal storytelling because he also believes the appeal of this series is adventure, unlike Mario or what have you. His anti-story stance is also greatly exaggerated by people salty about the Paper Mario series (despite him not being a direct contributor to its changes). He isn't nearly as bad as they would have you believe, or stuff like Link's Awakening or Majora's Mask wouldn't have seen the light of day. Those were back when HE was in charge and he allowed a lot of freedom despite not being a fan of similar storylines himself.
Besides... he genuinely wouldn't give a damn about what the random NPCs in one specific village say lol, especially since people in Zora's Domain and Kakariko Village actually remember Link. The villagers of Hateno not recognizing Link was a deliberate choice by the current devs, there's no way around it.
You can't link all story-related weirdness and discrepancies to Miyamoto, especially now that these IPs are being directly handled by different people. Don't get me wrong, story is NOT on his mind at all, but he does not shoot down all of it, especially not characterization (for example, take a look at the Pikmin series and you'll see how developed Olimar and his life are despite that not being related to gameplay at all)
Since Wind Waker is in the adult timeline, it's very clear that the Hyrule Castle is a new one built after the events of OOY as the original castle of that game was torn down by Ganondorf to build his own castle in its place. The rest is just generic fields, lake, cliffs and mountains that could be anywhere really. But it would be really cool if they had built it around the OOT map, or at least perhaps had death mountain in the background somewhere
It should also be known that the people of Kakariko Village intimately know Link, and Paya shows a great deal of affection for him.
I really don't like that... At all. Are we still after that 16 year old? With a very demure and submissive attitude...
Nope.
And not Zelda, the freaking Regent of the kingdom and literally someone whose fate is intertwined with ours...
Gee, I wonder if this was made to appeal to cough cough inc&ls. 😒😒😒
@@samf.s.7731 1. Zelda games have a running gag with girls crushing on Link even if their hypothetical relationships wouldn't make sense.
2. Years passed. Paya is obviously not the same age. If she was 16 in BOTW, she was within a year of Link's age. She would still be within a year of Link's age now.
3. What the is an "inc&ls"? I've haven't heard that term before.
@@anon4305 Some people just live to be toxic. This troll is no different.
@@anon4305 for number 3, Icel (Involuntary celibate) means "a member of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to attract women sexually, typically associated with views that are hostile towards women and men who are sexually active."
Not everybody in Kakariko knows who Link is though. Some people do, like Paya and various Sheikah who worked for Impa do. But there are others who don't. I'm pretty sure some of the shop keepers don't know you. Also, I distinctly remember a sidequest in BotW where you help some kids who are greaveing for their dead mother. They don't recognize you in TotK though. I think the continuity is mostly just inconsistent in this game. Major characters will know recognize you. But a lot of minor characters won't.
Dude, when a woman moves into a man’s place, house or apartment, they take over and change everything. That’s why it is so easy to spot a bachelor pad and when a guy lives alone. It’s really that simple. When I went to Links house and saw how everything had been changed and “beautified” I busted out laughing. It was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever had playing any Zelda games.
Now you're catching on.
This man has obviously never lived with a woman before
@@devildolphin2102 How to say you're chronically single without saying you're chronically single.
@@Mightylcanis
Oh please tell me how Empty your house is with a girlfriend living there. Guess what it’s not. The fact that you don’t know about how much of the house they take over shows your ignorance. Sorry your single dude hope you can experience all the ups and downs of a relationship one day.
A couple of extra points:
* The table is set for two.
* The bed is the only one that just exists in the world that you can sleep in without paying.
* The only info in the secret room that she wanted to hide was about the new Champion's Tunic, which she explicitly states is being hidden specifically from Link.
Spoiler alert
No its not the only bed you can sleep in for free.
And his hairband is in the house
I think it's pretty goofy that he's wearing the champions leathers in the prologue, but now they're some how in the inner sanctum of hyrule castle
@@Tyufoe96 I never noticed that before. Yeah, that is a bit goofy, it would've been nice if he was wearing the champion's tunic, and finding the leathers in the castle would've been the first time we saw those.
I also wish the hair band was just an option for the hair, instead of being a head item. At least let us upgrade it, y'know?
@@Mightylcanis honestly, this game is just really inconsistent in just about all aspects. Things link should have being either in the depths or hidden away by other characters, link deciding he needs to build a house when there is impending doom lurking around the corner, and honestly most of the side content in general. It's one thing when link has amnesia in botw. While hyrule Castle looms, there isn't really a sense of urgency because people have lived liked this surviving for 100 years. It's another when they just accidentally revived an ancient demon, the whole region is experiencing catastrophes, and link just decides to go fuck off doing shit that doesn't help him regain his strength
The funny part is most of thus could be remedied if Nintendo actually bothered to add a post game and not create irreversible changes in the ending cutscene.
I think the solution is that Nintendo didn’t think any of this through at all
Ah the classic Zelda lore answer.
Most likely. I feel people are just using fanfiction thinking
YES
@@cardboardking577 That goes way beyond that at this point lol.
Iirc Links House in botw, which you can buy, was his house 100 years ago - before the calamity.
My thoughts on this whole thing is - they made it unclear so shippers and non-shippers can both be happy and duke it out on the interwebz, leaving Nintendo out of the conversation.
totally agree, that sounds nintendo-like
Exactly, they want to cater to both teams, however, it leaves many unanswered questions, like, where is Link living? Why Zelda had to take his house? Can she live in any other place? Why his house?
Here's the problem. It's lazy writing.
They gotta commit to a side, they went out of their way to give Sidon a finance so that people could stop shipping him and Link.
He has very little character, and this was actually one of the most noteworthy attributes he had..
And they just went ahead and scrapped it because?
Conservatives would get angsty? Or shippers would get angsty?
I'm sorry but ... No.
They gotta write a character for this character, otherwise there's no point in not having him be just a "build" like in Elden Ring.
@@samf.s.7731 That house was so important in BOTW, and in TOTK they just give it away to Zelda just like that? They should be clear if this is their house. Link needs to be more emotionally involved with the story
@@normis6620 Exactly this!
I honestly don't mind the fact that she is using the house now. What mainly bothers me is, that there's (seemingly) not a single line of text anywhere indicating it was Link's house beforehand despite it being an interesting and sentimental lore fact in botw.
It would be totally fine if he gave or lent it to her for whatever reason... she needed a place to stay and work because the castle is still destroyed or something. But they just present it in a way that it has always been Zelda's house which alienates the botw players because most of us likely did the house and tarrey town quest. I mean, tarrey town is also there, which means the botw quest is canon.
If anything, the game really makes me wonder what was Link doing these past 10ish years. How come no one knows THE GUY who SAVED the princess? The GUY who BANISHED the Calamity Ganon.... in Hateno.
I feel like there is an ongoing theme of Hateno being so peaceful and self-orbsorbed that they are disconnected from reality. The whole fashion drama and how uneducated the kids are in the school (their parents clearly don't care about teaching them some basic history of their country). It might be a stretch, but my explanation is that no one in Hateno remembers Link out of their own arrogance, Bolston included. In every other village every BoTW relevant character remembers Link clearly, it's just that hey haven't seen him in a very long time. Hudson remembers Link bc he isn't blinded by blissful and easy-going existence of Hateno.
That Hateno is a village disconnected from the hardships and worries (or even just reality in general) of Hyrule was a theme even in BoTW and, as mentioned, I think the point is that it's even worse in ToTK.
This is a great comment!!!!
I think something has happened when zelda went to the past, which resulted in the present-totk some being "messed up" changing
You have a point but Link would've had to visit zelda sometimes and surely they'd at least recognize his face.
I agree man
@@nepdar8091 that’s really interesting 🧐
jesus dude lol I remember a couple months before totk I was like dude ratatoskr gonna make the most dank zelda lore videos. now it's just "his hood doesn't go up and down easily" and "zelda and link ain't fuckin I'm telling you"
he right tho theyre not
I doubt they're fucking but I do think they're into each other and are living together.
Link's headband is there, the bed is noticably bigger than it was in BotW but most importantly she didn't hide the Champion's Leather there.
The first place you think to hide something is close by, probably at your current house, but she specifically said she hid it at the castle so Link wouldn't find it.
Which means he'd find it if she hid it at home.
So at the very least he comes over enough (and doesn't mind him snooping when he does) that he would find it there, that or he lives there and can't hide it there for that reason.
But I think they left it vague on purpose, so we can all make up our own minds.
Their feelings were confirmed in BotW, but it's up to our imagination whether they acted on it or not.
@@iCrowLink That's a good point about his hair band. Maybe the only times he would come over would be at night.
This channel was understandabley holding the game to account when he thought it would be disappointing, but hasn’t dare speak on any of the flaws since it came out just like most of these other creators out here, all pretending like it’s a complete masterpiece
it's all cope 😂
The “nobody recognizes him in Hateno” problem is easily solved by the fact that Link as a character doesn’t really actively go out of his way to talk to mfs.
The most likely explanation is that Link and Zelda really only lived there sporadically, and whenever they would leave to help with rebuilding they would be around lookout landing where Link would actually be involved. Which is why people would recognize him there because he’s actively helping.
Also Bolson is a contractor and link presumably hasn’t talked to him in 5 years, ain’t no way bolson would recognize him
@Lee yup. especially since in botw, even if him talking to every single npc was canon. at most link would maybe say a couple sentences? then they'd never interact with him again. to them link was just another traveler that passed by. they wouldn't have seen him for 5+ years. ofc they aren't going to remember him
Even if we assume bolson built literally every single building in hyrule, there are not nearly enough for bolson to forget any of his customers unless he has dementia
@@elididde3377 He.. is pretty old, now that you mention it..
But... bolson does remember you if you helped him in botw.
Link constantly goes out of his way to talk to and help random people, what are you talking about? That's half of the game.
I don't think the whole "no one remembers who you are" thing should be used as evidence, because no one besides hudson and his wife remember you in terry town, despite the fact that for terry town to even EXIST, at least 60% of the characters currently present in the town would have needed to directly interact with link to get there. And I doubt they would have forgotten about link, I still remember NPCs I spoke to maybe twice in my first playthrough of botw in 2019. I think characters not remembering you is a decision made by nintendo to be more welcoming to new players.
While it would've been a lot more time, it would've been nice if there were two sets of dialogue for those who don't remember you. A set for those with existing BotW saves, and a set for those without. If you have a BotW save, more people remember you, and if you don't, then you get the current version we got.
What makes it even weirder is that, for those who put the Champion's Ballad picture in their home, the picture carries over to TOTK. This would imply that Link did own the house and probably just gave it to Zelda or something, maybe he just gave her the picture and didn't buy the house. Still, it's very strange that no one in Hateno knows who he is considering how you are required to go there for the canon BOTW experience.
Maybe the canon BOTW experience is the Speedrun? Link went right to ganon and killed him
Was about to comment exactly that. It would be still weird for two different people to hang a picture in the exact same spot, so I think Zelda just keeps it there. Link just gave her the house and lives in camps with the military in the past years.
@@charlie7531 no bc the Devine beasts are mentioned by npcs, in rito village an npc tells link about vah medohs perch and Sidon mentions link saving Zora's domain
The only canon thing about Hateno Village in BOTW is Link going to the Lab. That's about it. We can probably just assume that a majority of content that was side quest-related in BOTW is either non-canon, or that enough time has passed that a majority of people who may have seen you in Hateno village one or two times before just don't remember you well enough. To them, you were probably just another traveler passing through. As for the photo, it's probably just treated more as an Eater Egg, since not everyone played through the Champion's Ballad DLC.
@SpinDlsc but wasn't the house meant to be demolished by Bolson if it weren't for Link's intervention? I mean, someone else could have bought it, and then Zelda bought afterwards, but imore ifs. It seems that the time window for tears of the kingdom is 5 to 10years after breath of the wild.. I don't remember neighbors I had this far back in my life, but I moved quite a lot.
Regarding Bolson- do you really think a construction worker is going to remember one specific customer from years and years ago that barely talks and they haven't seen since? Link was just another customer. It's not like Hudson where Link literally helped his wedding happen and helped him build his town. With Bolson, Link just bought a house and also happened to be the delivery boy for a wedding invite before dropping all contact for 5-10 years.
WE WERE AT THE SAME WEDDING WE HAD A MOMENT
Link in this game strikes me as someone who shows up only to dip out of people's lives forever. There's some dialogue with Sidon making it seem like they haven't seen each other at all after the events of breath of the wild.😢
@@ratatoskr6324 truly heart breaking
@@OlleMoquist that's link in every game, remember at the end of Twilight Princess where he rides off on his horse instead of partying with his friends?
@ratatoskr6324 I've been to dozens of weddings, and I'd be lucky to remember 20 people who I had longer conversations let alone a mute. I did see the guy who sold us my first house 4 years later and he had no clue who I was soo.
Link being able to sleep in Zelda's bed and Zelda needing to hide the champion's leathers away from the house are points you might have forgotten
I have also heard the Japanese translation refers to the house as "our's"
@@nickelakon5369 This is, sadly, not true. In Zelda's journal (in the house) she calls the house "家" (pronounced "ii-eh"). That means "house" or "the house" in Japanese. She doesn't use any possessive pronouns at all. No "my house" or "our house." It's not proof for or against them living together.
@@Velarieth And even in English, we will refer to a place as "my house", but that doesn't mean you're living alone. Even when you're living with family, it's typically "my house" unless you're conversing with someone who also lives in that house.
@@Mightylcanis I agree. 100%. I think they are living together. All I'm saying is that in Japanese, there is this thought going around that she calls the house something like "私たちの家" ("Our house") which is untrue. She just calls it "家" ("house" or "the house").
@@nickelakon5369 Complete nonsense made up by people who either like inventing things or do not actually understand Japanese.
Dude, I can't even recognize some of my own family after not seeing them for a few years. I can certainly understand a lot of people not recognizing a wandering swordsman who never speaks to anyone or stays anywhere for too long.
When you put it that way I feel a lot less annoyed, Bolson should still remember him in my opinion but average NPCs who have minor interactions get a solid pass now.
Don't kid yourself and put yourself on the pedestal of a world saving hero, bodyguard to a princess and overall legendary figure.
@@sparxskywriter2589 I'm not. Never said I was. If anything I was relating more to the average Joe citizens of Hyrule.
@@sparxskywriter2589 I don’t think it’s wrong to put link on that pedestal when he literally is exactly what you just described. You’d think the hero who saved the entire kingdom from the calamity would get a little recognition, it’s only been a few years since then.
@@nuh-uhbro765but a random person won’t know that just by looking. He’s just a Hylian.
If Nintendo didn't want players thinking it, they could have had Zelda live anywhere else but the old botw house. There's an empty box house nearby, why not there? They could have not put his old hair-tie there. But they did.
One developer also spoke recently about how the dev team looked at a lot of fanworks during the development process, and the two of them living together post-botw has been a very popular idea on japanese fanart sites. Quote from Takizawa: "Even though it's been six years since the last title was released, many fans still post drawings on social media" "When the team is facing difficulties during development, these things light up the eyes of our staff"
On the topic of npcs not recognizing Link. I find it a weak rebuttal. Most unimportant npcs do not recognize him, including bazz, a supposed childhood friend. The reason? Most likely, to make the game comfortable for those who did not play botw.
Quote from Fujibayashi: "We put in some effort to make sure that it feels comfortable for both first-time players and those with experience of the previous game" "On the other hand, those who have played the previous game, some of the content might make you grin and say "right, I remember that".
Link buying the house is supposed to be information you have from playing botw. It's also implied by NPC dialogue and Creating a Champion that the house was always his/his family's. On October 7th, 2020, during a stream for Age of Calamity, a Nintendo Treehouse employee even said Link was originally from Hateno and went on to talk about his sidequests there. In addition to this, Hudson and Karson recognise Link, and Tarrey Town exists. Hudson even thanks you for bringing him and his wife together. All things that only happen if Link buys the house.
The house was also scheduled to be torn down and Zelda could not have bought it herself, because she was either A. Holding back ganon or B. Immediately after defeating ganon, Zelda has nothing to her name anymore but a dirty white dress and clearly they stayed together after that. Similarly, it makes more logical sense that the photo is in the same place as botw because Link hung it up there. Link obtains the photo from kass after a trial, while she was still in the castle. Not something she could have done herself.
Master Works, Zelda's Diary and The School Notes talk about Link being by Zelda's side. Master Works especially mentions that Link chooses to remain by her side. Direct translation (which was accompanied by a picture of the true ending, a cutscene which further supports that they stayed together): "Link, who played an active role as a hero, should have been relieved of his duties, but he continues to watch over and support her"
Difficult to do if he's not around.
Let's just ignore the unimportant npcs. The subtext is more than enough. More evidence:
1. The bed in the house is the exact same as BotW, and unlike other beds in the world, you can freely sleep in it.
If we open up both botw and totk, the bed is the exact same one from botw. There are very few beds that are free in this game, and the only other beds you can sleep in is obviously communal beds, ones with express permission. You cannot normally sleep in another person's bed.
2. Link's hair-tie, Zelda's diary
Behind the house is "Zelda's secret well" that functions as her new study. In that well, you will find one of the volumes of her diary, hot-footed frogs splashing around (which are a reference to one of the shippy-est memories of botw), and Link's hair-tie in the corner of the room. Zelda had Bolson build the well because she needed somewhere to focus alone. "It's proven very useful when I'm working alone and need to concentrate" If she was living by herself, this makes no sense
Secondly, Zelda states that Link is always by her side. "Wherever I go, Link remains by my side" To the point his clothes have become worn. So as a gift she made him a new tunic (and she "can't wait to see the look on his face" when he gets it).
and third, she had to hide said gift in the castle, otherwise he would find it in the house.
3. The School and Symin
If you talk to Symin, he has this to say:
"LINK, YOU'RE BACK?!"
"Clearly, you're back in town then"
"Ah, the princess is still missing, which is the reason you came alone"
So, clearly, this is NOT Link's first time here (which should be obvious, how exactly did Zelda get to Hateno and the house in the first place after botw's ending? Link brought her there). He even asks Link why he came back to the village alone without Zelda. Additionally, if you go upstairs and read the "School Notes" it says this:
"I understand you'll be heading soon to Hyrule Castle to investigate the reports of strange phenomena there"
"I trust you'll be fine with Link at your side"
5. Two Place settings, etc
The house has two places set, two towels, etc. And just in general a lot of things for supposedly one person. If you go to the Mayors house, the plates match the number of residents. One plate for the mayor, his wife and the child.
The Tarrey Town House
During TotK, after we wake up and leave the sky islands, we can complete a quest to unlock the ability to build a brand-new "Dream Home" in Akkala, close to Tarrey Town.
THIS is why Link's weapons are no longer there. Game mechanic reasons. The developers want you to engage with the new house and the weapon stands there. The sages also have the champion weapons, so it can safely be assumed they were given back to the tribes.
This house does not exist prior to the start of totk. So Link had to have been living somewhere else during the years (and it has been years if you look at Hudson's child) between games. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. The hateno house.
By the way, a stable NPC has this to say about the new house, called a "dream house":
"Here's hoping we both end up in dream homes of our own with great partners who never have morning breath"
"Here's hoping we both end up in dream homes of our own with amazing partners who smell good and like dogs"
Also, the new house has photos of Hateno on the walls.
In conclusion, to me it's fairly obvious what Nintendo's intentions are here. They're just not going to say it outright.
In my opinion this should not even be an issue. It's not the 1950s anymore where things need to follow the hayes code.
Top ten responses Ratatoskr was too afraid to diss 🥶
Thank you!!!! I find this entire video to be insane. There is a mountain of evidence hinting at them living together. This isn't taboo anymore, and it is weird to see people act like it is.
Need a in universe explanation for the memory loss and the weapons not being in Zelda’s house buddy
Besides that though I would say the time away after the event under the castle ( being knocked out) and the look change probably got these people dazed. Who knows how long it was at first
I agree that Nintendo may well have intended to imply that Link does indeed live in Zelda's house - indeed, they could have chosen any other house for Zelda to live in. However, what they actually intend to be the case has no bearing on whether, in the text of the game, Link actually lives in Zelda's house. The fact that minor NPCs in Hateno village (and NPCs in general) do not recognize Link at all is not a minor point. It's a critical flaw in the story, and also harms the lore continuity of Breath of the Wild and of Tears of the Kingdom. How are we supposed to believe that Link is the hero who saved Hyrule from the Calamity when nobody knows who he is? When Zelda, without question the most well-know person in all of Hyrule, goes around inspecting Hyrule, Link is always there as her guard. Wouldn't Link have developed a reputation for that alone? Even if Link had never set foot in Hateno, after Zelda moved in to Hateno Village, surely she would've told people who Link was and what he's done? And if he actually did live in Hateno, surely people would notice him and recognize him, even if they had never spoken to him and otherwise had no idea who he was? No amount of "mak[ing] the game comfortable for those who did not play botw" justifies nobody knowing who Link is. And like Ratatoskr says in the video, why on earth would Bolson not know who Link is? Link's the weirdo who bought an old house that he was about to demolish and later invited him to his former employee's wedding. He also knows who Zelda is, because he builds her school and the well under her house before going off to retire, so even if Link didn't buy the house in BotW, wouldn't they have met at least once during the school's planning and construction? Maybe he has dementia, who knows.
The fact that you can sleep in the bed in Zelda's house does suggest that at some point in the past, Link has slept in it. It's possibly the strongest evidence that Link lives with Zelda; however, it is, by itself, not conclusive. The table set for two is also intriguing, but can be explained by Zelda having to occasionally entertain people in her house. (Also the table in the mayor's house has five place-mats and chairs, and only one plate set, not three.) As for the new Champion's Tunic's hiding place in Hyrule Castle, how does this location hide it from Link at all if he is indeed living with Zelda? First of all, she would have had to make it somewhere, so it's not just that she needs to hide it once she's finished making it. Secondly, she would have to get to Hyrule Castle to hide it, which would take days. Link would also accompany Zelda, especially if he lived with her. How would he not get suspicious if she asker him not to come with her to Hyrule Castle? It's clear to me that the real reason the Champion's Tunic is in Hyrule Castle is that they wanted you to get it after completing the regional phenomena quest, and putting it in the place that you're forced to go to once you've finished the quest was the easiest way to guarantee that outcome. As for the in-universe reason as to why it's there? They didn't think of it, and they didn't care. Finally, the fact that Link's old hair band is in Zelda's basement is so contrived (if not an outright plot hole), it's hard to justify using that fact as evidence of anything at all. In the introductory cutscenes, Link is clearly wearing that hair band, so he must have lost it sometime between the encounter with Ganondorf and waking up on the Great Sky Island. That being the case, how could it possibly find its way to Hateno Village? Now, is it possible that Link had more than one? Yes, it's certainly possible, but you can never get another hair band. This suggests that the hairband you find under Zelda's house is unique and identical to the one Link wears in the introduction. So how does the hairband get from Link's head to under Zelda's house? Does Rauru put it there?
The fact that no one knows Link also contradicts that Link spent any time with Zelda after she had moved there. But her diary says he was with her so often that his tunic had worn down noticeably so she made him a new tunic.
OR Link being a stranger is just a mechanic of having new players who didn't play botw not get confused.
The diary says they're together when she's out reconstructing Hyrule. Not when she's at home in the village.
@@ratatoskr6324 Its very unplausible though, that he, who spends every day with her, would never come to her house to visit her or pick her up.
@@ratatoskr6324 Yeah i call BS.
There is no way that Link, her sword knight, would stay so far away from her while she was at home, that nobody in Hateno would even notice him, and there is no way that Zelda would let him be a hobo living under the bridge.
At minimum he would get a bedroll to sleep on the floor downstairs.
@@ratatoskr6324 Where does it say he's only with her when she's outside the village?
@@100000Andy Then you also have to concede that it's also unplausible for Link to be actively visiting the village and no one recognizes him or have no idea who he is. Making it way more likely that their time is spent elsewhere.
The only other piece of evidence in favor of Link living there is he can actually use the bed. All the other people not knowing him is incredibly damning, though.
He dodged that one, but, if this is Zelda’s house and not yours anymore, why can you use the bed??? It makes no sense?
I can't see Zelda not having Link live in his own house though...
I think Nintendo just doesn't think about being so lore accurate; they even completely changed the movement of the sun and the moon in totk to make the lighting different in all areas so they look newer, which could easily be misinterpreted as a lore thing
It’s Zelda’s house, but you can use the bed because she and Link occasionally have……
sleepovers…
It really is weird that literally nobody in Hatero aside from a few don't even know who the hell Link even is, especially when its the same NPC's you help in BOTW. Wut?
@@JuwanBuchanan Do you remember the face of some random dude who did you a small favor 5 years ago and who you've barely seen since? It's clear that Link doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself, according to another reply it's implied he basically calls himself "some dude" when talking to a zonai researcher, and in that same reply people also theorize that he probably is a sort of recluse and spends most of his time training just outside the village.
It's really odd that no one recognizes Link actually. He, at the very least, lived in Hateno a couple of years ago in BOTW.
Hyrule has newspapers, a lot of the shopkeepers met Link. Rumors of the hero who saved the land would've inevitably spread. Especially with purah's lab being in Hateno. Hell I recognized several minor NPCs in Hateno and I talked to them twice in a 200 hour game 6 years ago.
The stable attendants don't recognize link even if you have a full set of horses to transfer from BotW,. They are shocked when they notice that you've done business with the stable association in the past.
This is exactly why I think that evidence shouldn't count.
There are characters in Hateno that should know you regardless of whether you lived there with Zelda or not.
Like the dude with the cricket quest in BotW, the dude from the dye shop, kids that are now older than they were in BotW, but no one but Symin remembers you.
I think that has less to do with them living together or not and more of a decision on Nintendo's part to make it more accessible to new players who didn't play BotW.
The major characters remember Link and if all of the minor side characters do as well then it can be intimidating for new players to jump into without playing BotW first.
At the end of the day I think they left it vague on purpose.
I think they know some of their fans like putting Link and Zelda together and others don't, so they leave it to us.
"Talked to them twice 6 years ago" That's why they don't recognize you.
@@iCrowLink This weird phenomenon isn't just in Hateno, none of the stablemasters recognize Link, none of the merchants, none of the travelers, none of the Great Fairies. Nobody in Gerudo except Buliara and Riju, nobody in Goron City except Yunobo and Bludo, etc.
It's definitely Nintendo trying to keep TotK accessible to people who haven't played BotW.
I think they did this purposefully to mislead gamers into thinking Link has never been in Hateno, hence not living with Zelda. But it’s really poor storytelling imo, because there was a huge side quest in botw involving you buying the house, so at least they should know you lived there at some point, so it’s stupid, really
To be fair there are some pretty important figures in BOTW who don’t remember you in TOTK other than Bolson. Hestu doesn’t know Link and we gave him a lot of Korok seeds. While Hudson does recognize us it takes him a moment too.
You can sleep in other random peoples houses, like in the area north of riyo village most notably.
Either link is the Rizzler or sleeping in beds means nothing
Hestu I get.. he’s… well, he’s kind of an idiot.
@@cardboardking577 Link definitely has a degree in quantum rizzics. Pulling every chick he meets while never saying a word. True chad.
@@cardboardking577 you can sleep in other people‘s beds in Rito village? Are you sure that not just the local hotel?
@@jonson856 not Rito village, the area north of it
Would be great to get some DLC having them getting married and having at least ten children. He's earned it.
😢
They aren't even dating and haven't been for all the years after BOTW, they ain't getting married unless there's a game way in the future that references the former king and queen of Hyrule and it just so happened the queen married her knight. That's exactly what happened in A Link between worlds where the rumor guy mentions Zelda dreams of a romance with her chosen knight like the princess of 100+ years ago did with hers (a link to the past)
@@nworder4life Alright.
I’m still in the “they lived together” camp. For one, there’s more evidence to support it than you initially laid out.
Link can still sleep in that bed for free, one of only 3 beds in the game that are free to sleep at (Lookout Landing and Lurelin Village being the other two.) This suggest that either Link still owns the bed, or at the very least that Zelda wouldn’t mind if he used the bed. To me, this alone disproves that Link never owned the bed in the first place, or that he never spent time in Hateno Village.
If you complete the Champion’s Ballad DLC, get the picture at the end, AND hang it up in your house, it is still there in Tears of the Kingdom. You could say “Link gifted it to Zelda” but it’s in the exact same spot that YOU hung it up in your house.
If Link never bought the house in Breath of the Wild as you concluded, the house never wouldnt exist in Tears of the Kingdom, It would’ve been demolished. It’s not possible that Link didn’t buy it, unless they rebuild the exact same house in the exact same spot in the with the exact same layout/furniture placement. Seems unlikely to me.
The last bit of evidence (albeit weaker evidence) supporting the living together theory is that there are two placemats on the dining table. You could make the argument that the placemat is for someone else, but there’s nobody that is with Zelda enough to warrant a permanent placemat at the table besides Link. He must’ve spent some time in Hateno with her, at the very least.
I think the practical reason why nobody knows you is 1) it would get a little exhausting for the player if every character had the same “oh Link you’re back! Good to see you! Where’s Zelda” dialogue, not to mention the time it would take to make subtle changes to that line for every character. But 2) Nintendo likely wanted to make the game more accessible for people who didn’t play BotW and decided to leave it intentionally ambiguous as to whether or not most people know you. Most Shopkeepers, Stable managers, notable NPC’s etc. have dialogue that neither confirms nor denies that they know you.
What’s more, I think Nintendo doesn’t want Link and Zelda’s relationship to be clear cut. Ambiguity gives them deniability and because Link is supposed to be you the player, you get to decide what their relationship is.
Does protocol even matter in this epoch? With the exception of Zelda (and maybe Link), the ruling class of Hyrule is long gone. The entire nation seems to have moved on from the monarchy and done pretty well without one.
Zelda wasn't too fond of her life prior to the Calamity. She was much happier when she was doing research, especially with Link by her side. Why would she care about protocol when the people that might have cared about it are long dead?
Another point is that Link and Zelda closely parallel Sonia and Rauru, who are actually married. Also, Zelda had to hide the champion tunic elsewhere, so Link couldn’t find it. Also, Zelda has two diaries, one hidden in the well, because she knows Link reads the regular one. Also, if Link is with Zelda, but not living with (or near) her, how does he know where the princess is to accompany her? So many questions…
@@akumakurosawa Link's father was a knight serving the Royal Family as well, so that make it more of a possibility. Knights weren't always nobility, but they were usually well known, wealthy and/or land owning families.
10:36 it’s weird that Hudson recognizes link and Bolson doesn’t, in fact I’m pretty sure Hudson thanks link for helping out with Tarrey Town, a major side quest in the story.
You are right, but I think it can be explained. I don’t think Link’s interactions with Bolson made enough of an impact on him in the grand scheme of things. I’m in favor of the “Link was just another customer” theory, one that doesn’t really talk a lot and kind of disappeared for 5-10 years after the Calamity.
Hudson, though? Link had a HUGE emotional impact on Hudson. He helped build Tarrey Town. He made Hudson’s dreams a reality. He brought him and his wife together! When you’ve got that much of an outsized impact on a person, especially one with strong associated positive emotions, you’re going to remember them.
Karson remembers link too
@@BonusCrookyeah, but that’s because Karson is in Lookout Landing, where everyone was told what Link looked like so they could find him
I don't think that Link and Zelda spent a significant amount of time in Hateno Village. We get a line that says Zelda moved there to oversee the setup of the school and the school seems pretty new.
People not knowing Link actually makes some sense. He's a bodyguard. People are always looking at Zelda, they don't pay attention to this guy that follows her around.
this actually makes more sense than what the video presents
You know what makes all this even weirder? You can sleep in the bed in Zelda's house. And no one makes a fuss about it. Because that, to me, absolutely says that they were living together. But it is very strange that no one in Hateno recognizes him.
Not necessarily. In BOTW, I remember being able to sleep on the bed in the Lookout Post in Gerudo desert. Which to me means there isn't really that much significance behind the beds Link can sleep in.
@@theophany4935 in both games, if Link doesn't pay to use a bed, he needs to read a note or talk to NPC to get permission or realize it's available for him, the only exception in the house in Hateno in TOTK. for example, the bed in the shack near Fort Hateno can be used freely in TOTK, but only after reading Calip's journal to the final page, where it states the bed and the shacks contents are fair game for anybody to use.
I see both sides having merit, but I lean more towards them living together personally. This is because of Japanese culture. In Japan, PDA is considered very taboo and embarrassing, so romance and living together is underplayed. A lot of their culture is focused on nuance and subtlety because being disruptive is looked down upon. Considering this, when a piece of media from Japan gives hints that two people live together, we're probably meant to take the subtle clues as a direct confirmation. An example of this culture clash is the ending of Yuri on Ice, where western audiences were annoyed the main couple didn't get confirmed because their kiss was implied, whereas in Japan, they thought the ending was a clear-cut confirmation. If it can be read between the lines in Japanese media, it's often meant to be taken as fact. Considering all the clues to them living together in this game, I think the clues are there because, well, they live together.
As for the NPCs in Hateno not recognising you... NPC recognition is so inconsistent in this game anyway. And Nintendo has never cared about sensical continuity in Zelda
The memory thing feels like a plot hole to me, Hetsu doesn’t know you and he really should.
Also has anyone found a second house link owned, I don’t think Zelda would just take his house and leave him homeless.
The idea of Zelda just seizing Link's house so he now lives in the wilderness outside Hateno or something is hilarious to me.
Maybe the lookout point in front of the castle in hyrule field where purah and such live
@@jgee8421 Nope. Lookout Landing was constructed after the Upheaval with the express purpose of finding Link and Zelda.
11:34 If you're right and Link never bought the house in BotW, it wouldn't be there in TotK. Remember, you buy it just before it's about to be torn down.
Another point in favor of Link and Zelda living together, the way Zelda acts around Link in the prologue, worrying about him as if 3 keese could actually hurt him. The way she talks about him to Rauru and Sonia in memory 8, it sure sounds like she's in love with him.
I'm not saying they're not in love, just that they don't live together.
@@ratatoskr6324 Why did Zelda hide the new Champion's Leathers in the castle of all places if Link isn't spending a lot of time in the house? If he's never there, why wouldn't she just keep it there?
@@bmobmo6438 She also hid the clue in the well in the backyard instead of leaving it around the house.
@@ratatoskr6324why wasn't the house torn down though if Link never bought it?
@@oddlazdoLazy writing
I think we should know what the Japanese version says to see if there are any differences, we know that the localization team tends to make some mistakes when translating.
"mistakes"
@@Aqsticgod "mistakes" like making links entire personal journal be written in the third person. Lmao
I feel like Ratatoskr keeps forgetting about the original Japanese text. His earlier anti-Hylia theories revolved entirely around a line from Skyward Sword that was extremely different from the original Japanese.
The Japanese version says our house. So this guy is already proven wrong.
I don't think Zelda wants the Town's People to know She lives with Link Though. You're forgetting Link has many ways to come and go as He pleases from Hateno. Teleportation, Climbing up the Cliff behind His House, Gliding down into the Valley or Riding His Horse. Link isn't the kind of Hero to use the Front Gate and Chat with the Town Guard about the Weather.
He probably gets up at the Crack of Dawn and goes out to Train, Hunt or help with the Relief efforts too. I don't see Link just lazing about the Town.
Also if they are living together, Zelda is a Princess and Link is a Knight. It's not very Proper for a Princess's Reputation for People to know Link Lives with Her! If He still does. Even though the Social Classes doesn't really exist atm. Due to the Calamity. Each town seems to Govern themselves. Zelda is more of Figure Head Ruler atm. Busy with doing a rebuilding Tour. Goron, Zora, Gerudo are different Kingdom's in Hyrule. More like allies, then subjects of Zelda. Atleast that's how it appears.
If you think it's Impossible to live in a Town without People knowing You live there, take My Life for example. I like Privacy.
I've been living in A small town for 5 Years and No One knows Me. I don't make myself known very much. My wife is a Social Butterfly and everyone knows Her. She's very friendly. Im not like that. I Use our backdoor to go Out or leave before 5 in the morning. Very few neighbors, know I live in My House.
I think Link, is the same as Me in that way. Zelda is a very Social person, it's in Her nature as a Princess. The Town would know Her more because She helped make the School and is probably a Teacher too. Link isn't a very approachable Guy. He is always carrying His Sword around and watching for Yiga assassins. Who could be every day People after Zelda.
Maybe He doesn't want the Town's People to know He lives with Zelda. Because it could make her a Bigger Target. Link is known in other villages because Old Friends He's meet Know Him from the Past and Totk. Most of Hateno are new Residents too.
Still it's just fun speculation. They are probably going to end up living near Tarry Town anyway. It's a better House and is away from prying eyes.
Dude, he has the highest status in all of Hyrule. Who else would she end up with?
There's a quest in Gerudo village, that after you complete it, the Gerudo researcher asks you your name. You tell her it's Link and she says something to the effect of "it's cool that you have the same name as Zelda's swordsman." It seems like many people know who Link is, but not what he looks like.
Which makes sense since most news would be either be written or through word of mouth. It's not like anyone but the player has a camera.
The people in the village don't recognize Link at all despite him spending a decent amount of time in and out of the village for one reason on another in the previous game. And as you said, Hudson remembers you but Bulson doesn't for some reason. It's a strange recurring thing in this game in general. I don't think it's fair to use that as evidence for them not being together when it's a much broader problem than that.
well we know link doesn't talk much. why would he go out of his way to talk to other villagers? in botw he would've maybe only said a couple sentences to each villager if we're assuming him talking to every npc is canon. to them, link would just be another traveler. as for bolson, as far as he knows link is just another customer and also invited him to his ex co-worker's wedding, then didn't see each other for another 6 years. for hudson link helped him build tarry town, and even found his wife and helped get a priest for his wedding. i think it makes enough sense for hudson to remember him and not bolson
Alternative theory: Link usually cross-dressed in the Gerudo Outfit before the Upheaval. That's why no one recognizes him now.
"The 2nd person who should DEFINETLY know Link... is the mayors wife" 😅
This is how I understood it the 1st time I played it:
Zelda altered history by inserting herself so far in the past. As I progressed through the main quest I got this idea reaffirmed several times. Zelda and Mineru laid the groundwork for Link so far in the future that it was unavoidable to keep the same chain of events repeat themselves. We have many examples that did happen the same (like Purah turning herself into a kid, as we can still read on her journals) and others that don't or at least don't seem to. One of these is the whole thing with Hudson Construction. What are we supposed to make of that? Bolson retired/stepped down after the calamity and entrusted his beloved company to Hudson? Sounds like a natural course of events, but how come Hudson changed the name of the company, making himself the glowing face of it? All his employees and their families literally worship him and no one mentions Bolson at all. Maybe that was addressed somewhere and I missed it. Anyway, that's my interpretation.
I came to the same conclusions while playing the game, but that raised the following question: "In that case where has link been living all this time?" I haven't really looked into it too much, but I think I have a lead on that. Most of the people who recognize Link are the soldiers in and around Lookout landing. As Link holds a formal position as Zelda's knight, it would make sense that he was staying in the barracks alongside Hyrule's other armed forces while his services were not in use.
Yeah, I figured he lived in hyrule castle or somewhere near it.
it would stand to reason that link maybe was training new knights, although no confirmation of that in game that i have found at least. but it would explain why link wouldnt be staying with zelda in hateno for so long
You kind of have to cope to believe he wasn’t living with her… Him being a Hateno resident that can vote = Canon. Sleep in the same bed = Canon. Followed her everywhere = Canon.
“He probably slept somewhere in Hyrule castle” = Headcanon.
@@cardboardking577 This also doesn't make sense though. Castle town is still a ruin, and the castle itself is basically no better. It's not just it got a bit damaged being risen into the sky. They basically did nothing at all with the castle between BOTW and TOTK. It's just as ruined.
I do find it odd how out of homes in Hateno Village that Zelda's dining table is made for two people when only one person lives there.
Dining tables are usually not made for one person. And if she often had guests over (the kids), it makes even more sense for her to have a bigger dining table.
Common to seat a guest for dinner, some people keep a whole entire ass bedroom for guests
@@stop-amertime @Knoloaify These both are very true statements. However, in terms of Hateno Village, most of the homes have a dining set specifically for the number of residence in the home. Also, if Zelda knows she would have an unknown amount of kids over her home, wouldn't she opt to have an even bigger table with the bench seats vice single chairs like the home near the entrance of Hateno.
I found it weird too because I'd assume Zelda would have more than just one visitor in her house eating with her or something. Especially since she seems so popular amongst the children of hateno village.
Something you haven't mentioned in the video is that link can sleep in Zelda's bed and in which I I can remind you that link can't sleep in beds he does not own or payed for(inns) implying link and zelda are very close and one thing to note is that if you complete the championship ballad.The picture would show up in the bedroom! but I do agree on what you said in the video for the most part.
It's also very likely that TotK takes place on an *slightly* alternate timeline.
Rauru implies this is the case in Memory 13 and Zelda mentions her "original time" as opposed to "the future" in another Memory which, to me, implies the future has changed.
Pretty sure she just meant it was her original point in time, as opposed to her original timeline.
I think considering that you find the picture of the champions that Kass gives you in the Hateno house, that Link canonically did buy it. Bolson not remembering you is just weird, but whatever.
For most other people, it makes sense they wouldnt remember Link. I think though that Link was pretty much just a bit of a recluse. He barely talks, he dosen't go around telling people that he's Zelda's royal knight or that he defeated the Calamity. And he also didn't go around doing every single quest and collecting 900 Korok seeds. To most people, he's basically just a nobody who maybe showed up out of nowhere, gave them a handful of crickets or a nice recommendation this one time several years ago, and never showed up again. It wouldnt be expected for them to remember him, especially with a different haircut and change of outfit.
Most people in BotW barely even knew about the Calamity, all they knew was that it happened 100 years ago, wrecked the kingdom, and then went away for another 100 years until lately guardians have been spotted moving around again near Hyrule Castle making it dangerous and that the divine beasts have been acting up, and presumably they probably saw the giant boar demon. But other than that, the only people who really knew about the Calamity were folks like Impa.
I think it most likely that Link just got so accustomed to/fond of "rough living" and travelling that he just travelled around between places like lookout landing and other rebuilding efforts, and that's why he was always with her when she helped with that stuff, because he was always there not in Hateno.
But BoTW implied he was born there, that he lived there, and that was his house before the calamity. That's why he buys it, because of its sentimental value.
Like, really, we're gonna ditch a part of what little character he has because ... Lazy writing?
@@samf.s.7731 but that was 100 years ago, so it has no bearing on people knowing him. Maybe he helped zelda buy it right after, who's to say he even has any attachment to that place anymore after what he went through?
At the end of the day, he's a silent protag meant for you to insert yourself into, believe what you want. My suggestion was just to potentially explain how he can almost always be with zelda but not be known in hateno.
@@starofaetherius Lookout Landing wasn't even a thing until after Link and Zelda went missing. And I have a perfect explanation for why they don't know Link; they think he's still missing, and it makes perfect sense why. As far as they know, Link and Zelda went missing, and there's been no news about his reappearance. Zelda seems to be traveling alone when they were always together before by Zelda's own admission and the fact numerous people mention how Link is better known as the 'Princess's Swordsman'. It's basically a classic case of Clark Kenting.
Zelda would have to make a move on Link. He was likely raised to never lay a finger on her or even think in that way or he'd lose his head.
This. Link is her knight, his is a chilvaric love.
And you think she didn't?
@@samf.s.7731I think Link was so used to the wild and due that he hardly talks to anyone, decides to literally live the life of a nomad and live in the wilderness, but not too far away from Zelda and every now and then she goes to where he is just to get a quick fuck in and went on her day.
@@JuwanBuchanan tf I just read 😶
@@eletralad The premise for The Legend of Link: The Booty Call Knight
Reasons why I still believe Link and Zelda live together:
1. Lots of characters Link has met in botw dont temember him such as Hetsu, Beedle, and stable accociaters and i thonk the reason why is because the developers wanted the game to feel seperate from botw for new players. Also link is not the most social guy he barely talks even after the shrine of resurrection so its not surprising to me that hateno residents dont remember him and his house if pretty far from the village and the villagers seem more interested in Zelda.
2. I doubt zelda will let unsupervised children wander around inside her house while she is inside her well and the only reason they come over is because of Zelda not her house as we can see from Karin (also karins a girl) she doesn't go inside Zeldas house she waits at the entrance of the bridge leading to it not inside.
3. People involved with Link buying a new house remember him such as Hudson and Karson. If you go to lookout landing Karson acts like hes known you for a long time and when you go to Tarrey tow Hudson remembers you saying something like "how could i forget you, your the one who helped me build this town". Also if link never bought the house in botw it would have been demolishex before he saved Zelda since they were in the middle of it and Tarrey town would never have been built if Link didn't buy the house because Bolson would never had asked hudson to build a town in Akkala and hudson says link helped him build it.
4. The reason why there may ne no weapons inside of the house is because they sre in peactul tomes in no need of many weapons beside a few for the yiga since there stull active and we can see link doesnt even have the mastersword in the time skip between botw and totk and there is proof of that in the first memory where he goes to collect it in korok forest.
5. If Zelda owns the house now I doubt Zelda would let Link have no place where he can rest or relax and the innkeeper doesn't seem to remember Link even though he would have to pay her every time to sleep there and Links not made of money so I doubt he can stay there forever and there is nowhere else he has a place to call home. Also he can sleep on the bed without permission or asking which is what he gas to do with certain beds or inns but most overworld beds he cannot sleep in.
Bonus: We already know Zelda loves link and there relationship is very important in botw so it would make no sense that they would give us so many hints that they live together only for them not to so k dount that they dont.
LOL THAT THUMBNAIL.
Nintendo's design is the major reason for many people who should know Link, suddenly not knowing him. I think they wanted new players who didn't play botw to still feel like they were discovering the world, so even though you've obviously been to Hateno and bought a house there, mysteriously nobody recognizes you. For a new player, happening upon Zelda's house is neat, but if you played botw, you're like "Wait, why would Zelda just take my house, she has no problem erecting a school in the same area" And so I also believe this is Nintendo at odds with their own design choices, they want to imply that Zelda and Link are together often, but they also want to consider new players discovering Hateno for the first time. Its weird.
Also, Link is an adventurer, he probably wouldn't interact with the people of hateno prior anyway, he'd probably just stop by at night, then leave to find some korok seeds or whatever he did in between games.
Also, link couldn't have not bought the house in botw, because they were going to knock it down and destroy it otherwise. Link had to have bought it and given it to Zelda knowing she would be there more, and he'd be off adventuring.
I for one, I’ve come to terms with the fact that Nintendo assumes that breath of the wild players will just ignore. Some of the implications added to help newer players in favor of memories from their own play through, as I have done in mine. For instance, after that, initial introduction dialogue from each character who doesn’t recognize you. Everything proceeds in a way they could go either direction. So I just completely wash out those instances. And go forward with the events as they would’ve happened from my Playthru. I encourage everybody to just ignore Nintendo’s shenanigans, because they usually don’t manifest physically. If link bought the house in your play through and you think they should live together. Then that’s what happened. If Link never bought the house in your Playthru. Then that’s Zelda‘s house.
There are two quite simple explanations:
The real world explanation is that in part this was done for those who hadn't played Breath of the Wild. Someone in a comment suggested the weapon removal was purely so you'd interact with the new game feature of house building, letting you have more than the old if you so desired. I agree with this.
For the in-game explanation, just take into account the location of the house. As is somewhat of a tradition, Link's house is slightly out of town/secluded from the others. You can easily get in and out without ever going into town, and people would take you for a traveler when you do. Link also has an ability to slip in unnoticed, and can seemingly appear out of nowhere just as he did in the "Blades of the Yiga" memory in Breath of the Wild. While he'd probably worry less in Hateno, he'd still be on the alert keeping her safe.
Nintendo likes to leave some things ambiguous, and therefore up to the player. This is one of those. I happen to think they are together, even possibly married. Even if they aren't married, Link would either sleep on the floor or more likely stand guard at the house.
For the record Link absolutely can, and does, speak. He just doesn't do so very often. Zelda explains why in her diary in Breath of the Wild. Furthermore, there are dialogue answer options in the games that use "I". One in Breath of the Wild is, "I am he." There are times when he uses "you" as in, "What have you got?" when buying something from a traveling merchant. In fact any answer option is Link speaking, and on top of that there are times when he is explaining something to another character, gesturing with his hands and moving his head as he does it, just as he would if you could hear his voice. Some games even have cutscenes with his lips moving (Skyward Sword has the clearest example of this). To say that Link can't talk is a misconception at best and ignorance at worst.
I kinda think Nintendo just made the choice to assume that link did just about zero side quests canonically so he hasn't met alot of people. Is it the better choice than assuming their playerbase 100% botw? Idk tbh
I just wanted to say that I love the videos where you end them this way. Its so unapologetic and straight to the point. I've never been triggered by them but always view it as a challenge. Love the content and how well you shift coverage to different game series.
In regards to your theory of Link never buying the house, Bolson was preparing to demolish the house when Link bought it so if Link never bought the house, wouldn't it have been demolished?
My personal theory is that within Hateno he kept very much to himself, and when he was on duty, maintained a very stoic appearance that would make people just assume him as one of Zelda's guards, and less so by his name.
So, when he returns back to the village, without Zelda, injured with a new arm, longer hair, and wearing garb that isn't his knight outfit, people either don't know who he is, or are too disinterested to investigate further.
Link outside of our actions as the player does not make a spectacle of himself, so the people of Hateno just probably never knew he was the hero.
That was what I assumed. Maybe it's bc I am playing mostly in the ancient tunic outfit, but if my neighbor who I don't talk to much suddenly was dressed in a toga with a strange arm and a new haircut, I'd probably not recognize him either.
In botw a diary mentions the expectations of being a hero took a toll on him 100 years ago, so it makes sense he wants to keep to himself and not broadcast who he is once things settle down. It would also make sense that he had more adventures to go on between botw and totk, and just wasn't at home a ton and the house became primarily Zelda's. It seems like he a lot of his time around lookout landing before the events of totk.
@@jack_art yeah, I get the feeling he definitely kept a low profile, and this is pretty evident even in the game.
Even in cases where it would benefit him, he doesn't divulge his identity as Link, and will let people identify him first. I'm 90% sure most of the people who even know him as Link know only because Zelda herself was the one who divulged such information
In botw Bolson was about to destroy the house before you buy it. So it doesn't make sense if link didn't own the house at some point
It does matter though. Buying the house is the first step that sends Hudson off to build Tarrey town. Even if you buy nothing else, you have to drop the initial 3000 rupees. The only way Bolson doesn't meet Link there is some alternate timeline where they either tore down the house or chose not to, and sent Hudson off. It's a huge contradiction that Bolson never met Link.
I’m in the live together camp. Not saying they are in a romantic relationship, but it’s not like Link is going to let Zelda fend for herself when he has a perfectly good home. Also from Zelda’s perspective Link is one of the few remaining connections to her past life pre BotW. It would make sense she would value that relationship and keep close to him.
As for a narrative reason why nobody remembers Link (I understand it mechanically) I just assume since he’s the quiet type he tends to fade in the background to most people. Meanwhile Zelda is the more social.
Also there are minor points such as being able to use the bed, the fact Zelda had a secret study built in a well. Containing her dairy on how she made Link a new Champion Tunic.
Now that all said the exact nature of their relationship is up to the player be it romantic or not, but I do believe they are at the very least living together.
Plot twist they don't recognize him with his hair down 💀💀
I guess my only question would be, "So why did they give Zelda Links house if this is not what people are supposed to get out of it?"
They could easily have not done this and there would be no possible debate. The idea wouldn't even exist.
But they did. And the first thought that's likely to come to any persons mind when seeing this is, "Did Link and Zelda live together?"
Seems intentional. If it's not, that's an extremely weird decision.
That's really all the evidence I need. Despite there also being the hair tie in the well and Zelda needing to hide Links new tunic, not in the house that he supposedly never visits or lives in, but in the castle...
It's actually not that crazy to think a lot of people wouldn't remember link if they don't realize he's the champion when considering that he doesn't talk much and stays to himself.
yea like the other races cared a lot about their champions but for some reasons most hylians don’t seem care about theirs? and the new tunic is still called the CHAMPIONS leather
@@ragingstorm_ the hylians were probably more concerned about the vast majority of their kingdom, cities and people dying than about remembering 1 specific guy who's not even the king or princess. for the other races, their champion was a unique/standout person and in charge of a giant machine in their domain and then died for the hylians
Another theory: The kid said last time they saw Zelda she didnt do what she usually does. We dont know how recent the kid last encounter with Zelda is, but maybe it wasnt her. We have ALOT of accounts of people seeing Zelda after the upheval but doing odd uncharacteristic things. Perhaps someone has -sabotaged- the memory of everyone in Hateno, if you catch my drift.
Also possible.
Ganondorf was fucking with Link a bit, so maybe he did some things during Link's journey to the people he met from BOTW
You know, divorced-Barbie comes with all Ken’s stuff too.
Link is a big dummy heroic type. I always think of Link in a funny way, he's a guy who doesn't talk because he sees no use in it. But somehow people understand him, he's has a one track mind for heroics and the goddess bestowed upon him great ability. Link doesn't care about anything but Zelda and saving the kingdom.
Link bought a house, but even he doesn't know why since he's barely ever there. He handed the house over to Zelda because he knows he'll never be there, and out doing some wild thing like paragliding off of cliffs, figting monsters, and cooking all types of food.
Link doesn't see the use of a house, because he's empty headed in that way all he knows is being a hero, eating food, and helping everyone out 😂
That's a lot of your own imagination and speculation being utilized here. Which is fine, I get it, there should be room for that. But at this point we're doing the writer's job for them, and that's just laziness on their part.
OOT Link: Hero of Time
TP Link: Hero of Twilight
TotK Link: Hero of the Himbos
I'm going to make the point that it STILL doesn't make sense that no one in the town knows who Link is, when if Zelda spends a lot of time in the town, which she clearly should have seeing as all the kids love her, that Link would obviously have also been there a lot just because he is her personal guard. Not even just living there, he could possibly live somewhere else, but just that he would obviously be present in the village for some time if Zelda herself spent time there, being on guard for her.
Honestly I kidda just chalk this up to the writers thinking it would be better for a first time player if some people didn't know who link is, even if that literally doesn't make any logical sense sometimes.
9:40 That's an horribly inefficient way to farm dragon parts. Especially for the light dragon and her almost two-hours route
Unlike in BoTW, we can't reset the dragons' positions with resting, but in return we can stand on them and the parts are just on a 10 minutes cooldown
Maybe because link couldn’t figure out how to put his hood down nobody even has seen his face.
Since Link’s house is now Zelda’s, where has Link being living all this time? Why developers decided to make Zelda live in Link’s house? Why didn’t they give Zelda her own place? It’s obvious this was a purposeful decision, it really puzzle me
Ok here is why the argument in this video doesn't work:
First, Link NEVER leaves Zelda's side. Even after the end of the calamity there is still the Yiga clan, the occasional monsters and ill meaning people. So by default anyone that knows Zelda at least knows of Link. Is Link gonna sleep on the floor outside 'Zelda's house'? No he must be living somewhere in the village too. So the villagers not recognizing him is evidence only to an imperfect design.
Bolson, Stable Masters, Hestu, Great Fairies, Beetle, All Koroks and others, all Know Link yet they don't know him anymore. (Nintendo just doesn't care to be that accurate). They probably wanted newcomers not feel left out as they did when designing the whole game.
I mean they so don't care that when Symin teaches the kids in class about the legendary hero who fell in battle 100 years ago he doesn't even acknowledge that he's sitting right there with them. Nintendo just doesn't care to be that accurate.
Second, there is another important evidence to them living together missed here. The dinner table is set up for two - and that is the default setting that Clavia doesn't change, which can only mean someone is living with her. If it was for guests A- It wouldn't be default B- it would be multiple plates C- Clavia would return it to just one plate since there are no guests now. Link is definitely nudging her majesty.
Third, Zelda didn't necessarily clear out Link's belongings. He might have done that on his own when they decided to live in sin.
Fourth, Zelda hides the tunic in the castle. If Link wasn't right there with her in the house she could've just left it right in the house and wouldn't have had to mention that only in her secret diary in the well.
Fifth, Link can freely use the bed. In other houses he can't.
Finally, stop grinching on our childhood fantasy, Ratatoskr, and let us simp and fantasize in peace. P. S. Love your content.
Pretty sure he ships them to he just is negative most of the time XD
I think that link lives there, but he is just super busy and is rarely home. And when he is home he comes into town discreetly and spends all his time with Zelda. When Zelda leaves the town he makes sure to get to her as soon as possible to protect her, but he might not be there the second she leaves the town
Zelda sealed Calamity Ganon by herself in BOTW, woke Link up from the shrine of resurrection, recruted him and others to camp outside of the the castle to investigate it, bought the house in Hateno village and helped build Tarrey Town.
My take is that Link kinda just fades into the background unless he has a reason for being in the forefront. If he tends to travel alot with Zelda, I imagine Zelda being the one interacting with everyone and directing everything and Link kind of just being an extension of her will.
I think moreso Hateno village is just an outlier in people not recognizing Link. My main reason is that Hateno village has a much different vibe than the entire rest of hyrule and not connected with hyrule as a whole. Every other races villages are undergoing some major crisis and need help. Lurelin village was literally destroyed and overrun by monsters. Kakariko village was airbombed by zonai ruins and they are trying to figure them out. Tarrey Town is literally the center of rebuilding hyrule and has enough production to literally prepare the building materials to rebuild hyrule.
In comparison, Hateno village is obsessed with mushrooms and power struggles within the village. It doesn't feel like they meaningfully contribute to hyrule in any manner nor understand the dire straits that other people in hyrule are facing. In my eyes they are kinda the spoiled village where they are facing so little trouble that their biggest problems and worries concern fashion. It wouldn't surprise me these spoiled people not recognize link if they only ever focused on Zelda when they were together.
All in all, being able to sleep in the only specific bed in the game that is attributed to Zelda seals the deal for me. I don't believe Nintendo wouldn't put a message in Zelda's bed saying how it is improper or something with their attention to details. But, I think this is absolutely a situation where each individual person should have their own decision on the matter. Trying to definitely prove one side or the other is just plain impossible and relationships are ever so one dimensional. People are free to choose to believe that Zelda and Link and simply travel buddies or soulmates that spend so much time together that Zelda built a secret workshop to prepare a gift for Link in secret.
Get over it. For Link, it was a touching moment. For Bolson , it was just another Tuesday and another customer. He's not a homie. He's a Sigma male.
😭
I'm curious if the Japanese script is any different for these. You can find a drawing of Link clearly made by the children in the school.
Or clearly the denizens of Hateno only recognized Link by his right arm, and that being replaced has completely blindsided them! Clearly
That was of Zelda, unfortunately
@sarahneedle6331 My comment keeps getting deleted when I reply, not sure why, but just google it dude
You will find the art
Another evidence in favor is that link CANNOT SLEEP in any other bed in the village, but actually can in this very specific one
One thing about one of your later points, you DO keep the champions ballad picture if your save file has it. But I would like to think that Link giving her the house and taking all his stuff was his choice. And they both decided to keep that photo up.
Here are my sins against Koroks:
-Crucified one, and made him faceplant with a stabilizer
-Tied one under a non-functioning boat to drown
-Tied one to the back of the sled, so the sand will get into his face
-Tried to stick one to a wheel, didn't work as expected
-Drove around a four-wheeler with an Korok on a stake as a decoration (a nearby Noblin saved the Korok)
Your argument about Zelda making a Secret Study because of the children is extremely stupid and doesn't make any sense. First of all, why would Zelda try to isolate herself from the children if the entire point of them being there is to learn from her? That just defeats the entire purpose. Second, the children themselves do not live in Zelda's house in the first place (neither does the housekeeper Calvia), they live with their families in their own homes in the Hateno Village. Also, the school with Symin is the main place where the children learn, not Zelda's house. There's no reason why anyone would ever create a secret study room away from their own house unless someone else lives there with them.
Also, If Link doesn't live in Hateno Village with Zelda then Zelda doesn't have any possible motivation to move out of Hyrule Castle and into Hateno Village in the first place. Zelda was never stated to have any personal ties to Hateno Village in BotW nor ToTK, but Link does. That house was the same house Link and his family use to live in before the Calamity 100 years ago according to BotW itself and the Create a Champion guidebook (and this was never retconned in Totk). Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule, she could build multiple schools to teach children all over Hyrule while still living in Hyrule Castle but she choose to live in Hateno instead. If Link doesn't live in that house with her then her decision to live there at all would be completely random and nonsensical.
Also, the People in Tarrey Town still remember Link in Totk, and the Tarrey Town sidequest is only possible if Link completes the sidequest with his Hateno home in Botw.
Seriously, saying Link and Zelda don't live together just creates far more plotholes and contradictions in TotK than accepting that they do live together. Its obvious that Nintendo intended for the two to be living together since they're already around each other most of the time anyway.
Counterpoint: He glides In through the window
Ehh, I still think he lived with her, with his hairband being in the basement too and the fact that he still considers the bed his own (you can still sleep in it). I just cannot see Zelda not having Link live in his own house that he bought with his own money.
Maybe Link just doesn't talk to anyone at all, and so having a new arm, longer hair, and 6~ years of time-skip is enough to make them not recognize him. Link may not want to correct or confront people on that, so he stays shut.
Not like he has much character or personality, not talking and all, so it's all up for speculation.
There are multiple instances people incorrectly identify Link as someone else that just happens to looks like, or be named, Link.
He has never once corrected these people, as far as I know, and told them, "Hey, I'm the Hero guy Link who saved the world."
It's a gag in more than a couple Zelda games for Links legacy to precede him, but no one recognizes it's actually him.
One piece of evidence you didn't include that debunks all points that says they DON'T live together:
You can sleep in the bed in the house. You can only sleep in a bed you rent (stables) or own (Hateno Village home)
ALSO the fact a lot of Hateno Village people don't know link could be explained by the very fact that most of the people in the village only met Link once or twice as Zelda and Link traveled a LOT during the time skip between BOTW and TOTK to help ALL the people of Hyrule (Rito, Goron, Gerudo...etc etc...) Clean up and rebuild after the calamity.
Yes Link AND Zelda both live in the house BUT they're not always there. Pretty sure people only know Zelda and love her so much because she's the princess that their grandparents talked about. She was kind enough to leave a huge mark despite only meeting the Hateno People a few times. Link is silent and doesn't do very much when he isn't saving Hyrule from Ganon. Makes sense he wouldn't be remembered as much by the people
personally i like to think they do *technically* live together, but with link being link, zelda is the only one that spends time there. think about it, if you bought the house in botw, how often did you actually hang out in it. as for people not recognizing him, link is characterized as keeping to himself so even if he did spend any time in hateno he probably wouldnt be seen as anyone out of the ordinary. though it is still a bit weird the way some dialogue is written like he didnt exist until yesterday, even just "the guy thats always with zelda" wouldve been fine
Across these two games, I get the impression that this iteration of Link is chronically forgettable and has an ordinary face most couldn't pick out of a crowd. People are constantly only recognizing you because you have the Slate or the Sword, even now when the populace is fully aware that you are the warrior that defeated the Calamity and are Zelda's knight and there's a newspaper constantly circulates your name and maybe even face, no one that you don't interact with regularly knows who you are.
I now officially headcanon this curse of forgetfulness to be part of Link's nature as the reincarnated spirit of courage, and hence why it's the Legend of Zelda. Because Zelda is the only character of the two of them that history is capable of remembering by name.
She would throw out the playstation though because it's not a nintendo product.
Honestly, this just breaks Hateno for me entirely, because my Link totally lived there a few years ago. What is wrong with these people? Why does everyone else in the entire world know me from, but these jerks who were definitely my neighbors don't know me from Adam?
If this is true then either he kept living in the wild like a hobo after botw or stayed at kakariko village since there are people there who knew him which is great. More link for Paya
Paya is cute, personally i'd wife her in an instant fr.
Nobody but paya and the guard remembers link in kakariko either
@@nickelakon5369 dont forget Impa and the chicken man. Its definitely better than Hateno
This man said when I come do Zelda videos I'm going to do it different from any other ZeldaTuber in existence
For me the biggest argument is: Why would Zelda live there? She is a member of the royal family. So she would want to live in an appropriate place for a Queen. (Who should live in Hyrule castle if not for her?) She must be one of the wealthiest people in Hyrule and yet she has to live in Links former house? Why would she do that if not for the reason to be with him.
For Link not being recognized, I think, thats due to an oversight in development. The developers which decided to place that hint about Link and Zelda living togetherr might just not talked to the developers, which wrote the dialoge in Hateno.
The reason why I am so sure that it is an oversight in development is that the developers clearly didnt care about "housing-lore" in the game. I base that on the fact that Hyrule Castle wasnt restored and reinhabited and you said yourself that like 10 years passed since BOTW, what would have been a long enough time. The developers just didnt think about how hylians would repurpose hyrule castle. And Hyrule castle is a very critical spot, you would expect to be deeply woven into the lore. If you dont think about Hyrule castle, you definitly will not think about the surroundings of Links house and if every dialoge makes sense.
And if you really think that recognizing issure through thoroughly, you must come to the conclusion that its odd for any hylian to not recognize link. He saved the kingdom, they even have newspaper now. Every Hylian should know Link. Its just the developers didnt think about it as careful as you did.
And for my last Argument: Think about it out of the perspective of a developer. Why would you place zelda in Links former home if not to imply that they live together? They could have just built her a new house next to his or next to the school, but they decided that she should live in his house. Why did they choose that?
EDIT: As I read other comments, I now belive it might not be an oversight, but a design decision to make Link a stranger, so that new players dont feel like they must play BOTW before.
I think your first argument doesn't take into account her characterization in BotW and TotK. This Zelda choosing to live in a normal house rather than Hyrule Castle is actually on brand for her. She was never really comfortable with her upbringing as a princess and felt much more at home doing research on the ancient Sheikah (that's covered quite extensively in BotW). One of her big character conflicts is precisely that she isn't very good at being a princess while Link is just awesome at being a knight, which reminds her of her shortcomings fueling the jealousy she initially felt for Link. In short: she probably prefers living in a normal house.
Moreover, she's made a school for the kids and helps teach there. Obviously, she'd need a house nearby. She isn't going to travel from Hyrule Castle all the way to Hateno Village every day to teach the kids.
So yes, Zelda has very good reasons to live in that house, none of which have anything to do with Link.
As for the Hylians not recognizing Link, Ratatoskr also covered it in the video. Some Hylians DO recognize Link and have a history with him, if you wanted to imply that Link did live in Hateno village with Zelda, then at the very least **one** of the local NPCs should recognize Link, especially the ones who often went to Zelda's house.
As for your last argument, that's the most convincing one for sure. But I think you're ignoring a simple answer: it could be that it's simply the only empty house available in the entire village (yes there are the demonstration houses, but those are **demonstration** houses). So naturally Zelda chose to live in that one when she created the school.
@@Knoloaify
1. Sorry I didnt intent to make the argument that she should live in the castle, I wanted to say that she has enough rescources to get her own house.
2. Well they managed to build a school, so they sure could have built a home for zelda next to it.
3. The house is not empty, its Link's house. I dont think it would fit zeldas character to accept to live in Link's home, while he has none, even if he offered it as a gift to her.
But I discoverd a couterargument to my own prior argument: The developers needed to get rid of Links home, so the player has to aquire a new one. And giving it to Zelda seemd fitting. (Although I would have loved to see it being destroyed by a random fallen sky island.)
Zelda is not the type of girl to let her Himbo sleep out in the rain while she’s bunked up in his house playing Armored Core 6 and I have serious niggles with anyone who thinks otherwise
I'd like to propose a different timeline. Picture this: Link wakes up and goes directly towards the Divine Beasts, stopping by to grab the Master Sword on the way. After that, he defeats the Calamity and rescues Zelda. Only then does Link go through the land, doing side quests and helping people out. In fact, that's what he's been doing all this time when he's not accompanying Zelda. He's been playing BotW side-content. During his journeys, he helped build Tarrey Town, met some folks, and became an overall legendary swordsman. Meanwhile, Zelda moved into Hateno and bought the house from Bolson before he demolished it.
I guess this works
Link probably got a lil sneaky nighttime paraglide visit in here and there. He forgot his hair tie there after all 😅
More Zelda lore from the Rat himself!
Squirrel
@@shawnamiller191 I think they are going with the first part of the name
Also Link and Zelda aren't married. Nobody calls him Prince Link, and it's also a little strange that Zelda is still a princess despite both of her parents being dead and having several opportunities to assume the throne.
Does Zelda have an older sibling who is actually now the monarch we never hear about or see any glimpse of?
I think it’s a huge plot hole that nobody in Hateno knows Link even if he never owned the house. If he’s constantly at Zelda’s side, even if we assume that comment excludes when she’s in Hateno, they would have to go out of their way to keep Link out of the village to have them be together so much and yet never when Zelda is in Hateno. And so many people recognize Link by reputation elsewhere that it’s like they went out of their way to not have anyone there know who Link is. To me, this leaves 6 possibilities:
1. Link hates Hateno village and purposely avoids it, even giving away his house to not be there
2. Zelda wants Hateno to be her personal place and says Link can’t go there
3. Everyone in Hateno hates Link and pretends he doesn’t exist, maybe because they’re jealous he’s close with the Princess
4. Link wants Hateno to be one place where he isn’t treated as some hero, so Zelda has ordered everyone in the town to pretend they don’t know Link whenever they see him.
5. Link’s face is so forgettable to the people of Hateno that they cannot remember he exists after not seeing him for however long he was away with Zelda investigating under the castle.
6. There is something in the water at Hateno that makes them all forget Link specifically
Like, there is no way nobody in the town knows Link, even if he hasn’t lived there, even if he hasn’t _been_ there since BotW.
Also to think that when we controlled Link, he buys a house in Hateno, visits Purah’s lab in Hateno, buys and dyes clothes there, etc, and when we return, he spends a bunch of time there, becomes a teacher there, talks to every person in town, facilitates the election, etc, but in all the time in between, we’re supposed to believe he completely avoids the place Zelda treats as her home like the plague, while being at Zelda’s side any time she’s anywhere else?
This video showed me two sides of an argument I didn't know existed and I love that. It made me think so much deeper about the lore of the game which I will appreciate as I continue to play.
Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule. Wherever she goes, she's simply going to be the center of attention. Everyone is going to gravitate towards her, and not towards the equally short, not royal guy that hangs around with her a bit too much. That sums up everything better.
That does kinda make sense considering Link doesn't speak a lot.
Zelda has Link’s hair thing. That’s a girlfriend thing.