Originally a rejected character design for Koei Techmo’s Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U, speculation about the inclusion of an apparently female Link in the new game only exploded after an apparently leaked trailer for the 3DS version depicted a character wielding a crossbow strikingly similar to the weapon utilized by this fem!Link in the Hyrule Warriors artbook.

fem!Link, or “Linkle,” has been confirmed to appear in Hyrule Warriors: Legends. The artbook claims she was intended to be an archtypical little-sister-like character, and her personality is not completely limited to being a gender-swap of Zelda’s iconic hero.

Furthermore, Twilight Princess HD, a remake of the Game Cube and Wii dual release game,was also confirmed. The game will feature updated graphics and comes packaged with an Amiibo of Wolf Link and Midna. Not only will it support the full range of Zelda Amiibos that came out earlier for Super Smash Bros., Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Amie also said that progress saved to this Amiibo would carry over into the Zelda U game expected sometime next year, though in what manner remains to be seen.

(Though it has yet to be confirmed, new controls are something I am personally hoping for. or at least a left-handed option… It gets a little tiring to have Link crossing his arm in front of his torso when I am simply holding the remote straight out).

You can see some of Linkle’s character design here:
https://twitter.com/nintendoamerica/status/664935411454640128

Wolf Link Amiibo:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gallery-a-closer-look-at-the-badass-wolf-link-amii/1100-6432265/

And lastly, a graphics comparison of Twilight Princess and Twilight Princess HD
http://www.destructoid.com/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess-hd-graphical-comparison-320578.phtml

That's one kawaii Green Riding Hood from Nintendo

Rumours about gender swaps from main characters always arise. I saw pics of Goku stating that he originally should have been female years ago. This one is for real, however, and also carrying a weapon her gender swap/onii-chan/whatever he ends up being doesn't use, and considering he used at least four weapons, she surely will make a change.

I can see what you said there about the controls. Honestly, its so bad they didn't think about left handed people using the remote.

Also, please tell me I wasn't the only one who thought at first glance that Linkle would be a fusion of Link and Tingle

EX Palen: I think Linkle is pretty cute, actually. Gender swaps are getting popular everywhere, not just in manga and video games, like entire novels that are "reimaginings" where they basically just rewrote the gender of the original characters. What makes Linkle *sound* great, at least so far, is that she doesn't seem to be a carbon copy female Link- she'll have her own style and personality. Her name does kind of evoke Tingle, doesn't it? Some people might take that with some hope, but I will choose to ignore it since I personally could never stand Tingle. That's just me, though.

I'm glad someone agrees with me when it comes to Wii controls. On some games, there are built in left-handed controls, but I can't think of a Zelda that has to date, except Spirit Tracks on the DS, where it... didn't really matter. I got really sick of having to act like a contortionist so I could have Link do the simplest actions in the games. One reason I had such a hard time beating Skyward Sword was because the Wii Motion Plus couldn't cope with my left-handed mirrored version of what we were supposed to be doing for a lot of the moves. The worst offender, though, has to be Kid Icarus for the 3DS. I love that game, but... those controls... 

*cough* Ghostbusters *cough*

This just reminded me how much time has passed since I last played with the Wii remote. I've been sticking to GameCube games, or Wii games that made use of the GameCube controller for half a decade or so. Innovations aside, everything was much better when there existed only joysticks and buttons. I would actually like to be left-handed, I could have a better touch with the control stick for racing games, something I completely lack right now.

I'm actually interested in Linkle (no one twist the meaning of those words, please ), as I think it's the biggest deviation from the cut and dried formula TLoZ and it's spinoffs have had in years.

I remember reading back before Hyrule Warriors released that there had been artwork leaked that showed Link as a female. I made a thread about that...hoo boy did THAT go south fast. lol But they did clear up that this wasn't a female Link, but a different character entirely. Do you have any idea as to why she didn't make it into the first Hyrule Warriors since she was in the original artwork? And is this an idea of KOEI Tecmo's, or of Nintendo's? I'm venturing a guess that Nintendo wouldn't give KT so much liberty as to make a new character in their Zelda universe. Also the name Linkle may be equal parts cheesy and adorable. xD


Also of note is that some claim that in each of his incarnations, Link is beginning to look more and more feminine. In fact, he looks very borderline female in the Zelda U trailer. Now while I believe Nintendo cleared up the rumors that Link would be a girl in Zelda U, I do have to wonder if these new designs are what sparked the idea of a Linkle to begin with.
And if Nintendo really wanted to blow us away with Zelda U, they would allow multiplayer with one person playing as Link, and the other as Linkle. Just saying, that would be awesome.

Good article by the way.

Eirinn: Thank you! From what I understand from the research I've done, there wasn't really a cut-and-dry reason Linkle was cut from the original Hyrule Warriors. Sometimes character designs are changed just because the creators don't like the final look of it, or they run out of money. I think what ultimately ensured Linkle's inclusion in the 3DS version was that fans asked for it after they found out she'd been cut.  

Also, if you think about Zelda canon, there is absolutely no reason there can't be an incarnation of Link that is a female. But I think the reason Link is looking more and more feminine isn't necessarily because that's the direction Nintendo wants to take the main canon games, but merely because bishonen is pretty popular in Japan. Androgynous or slightly-feminine looking anime, manga, and video game characters are rather common, and there are mangakas and video game designers who go out of their way to make that happen. It's more of a stylistic thing than anything else, since bishonen is supposed to show beauty and strength, while the slight feminine appearance is supposed to give a hint of a gentler or romantic personality; anime is built on the idea that character design should reflect character personality, and when you have a silent protagonist such as Link, where his actions and looks are all audiences get as clues towards his personality, in a culture where bishonen can give hints about characters, it makes sense, from an observer's standpoint, to make Link rather feminine looking. Admittedly, here in the States that might not enter most people's minds, and I doubt most Japanese players think that much about it, but the whole point of tailoring character design around personality is subtlety.

That ended up way longer than I meant it to. My apologies.

Ah, that makes sense. I knew the slightly feminine looking males thing was common in Japanese cartoons or "sexy" male characters in the games that were geared toward Japanese women, but never knew why that was. I always just assumed it was the popular style there or something. Thanks for clarifying that!

Also it's awesome that they put her in because of fan response if that's what happened. It suggests that Nintendo is getting better with fan feedback.

Finally, a female Link could definitely happen, and I wouldn't mind in the least, however I wonder what that would do to change the Link/Zelda dynamic. They have always sort of complemented each other, especially in games where she was more active like Twilight Princess. His strength and her grace worked perfectly together. But I suppose every game series can stand a little shake up once in a while. And it would be interesting to see. In fact it could add new layers to the story and be refreshing (plus I favor a female lead in games for some reason. Maybe because I can feel more empathetic to their struggles? Idk).

The only real problem I have with this is her name. I'm not a fan of her name at all. I feel like they could have done better with that, but her design and her crossbow is cool. I'm excited for this one, and I'm never a huge fan of genderbent characters.

writingwolves : Yes, the name is rather... unfortunate. Though in my opinion it sounds worse in Japanese. ("Rinkaru"... like "Link-a-loo" Reminds me of that girl from Stein;s Gate who'd randomly shout, "Rintaro! Toot too roo!") Though I admit it might be hard to have a feminine name that evokes Link. My brother joked they could have called her "Gink" but... ugh... 

Dragonlord Stephi : Yeah... Gink is a name even less desirable. I'm not quite sure what they would call her myself, but almost anything is better than Linkle. I joked with my friend that the male counterpart for Zelda must be called Zeldo.

Dragonlord Stephi : Well Nintendo officially pulled the plug on the "What if Zelda was a girl?" joke among the internet. Linkle seems like a pretty neat character. But what I really wish for is that there's a way to transfer characters from the 3DS version to the Wii U version of the game. Words can't express the happiness of me seeing Tetra, Skull Kid, and Linkle in action!
It seems that she is her own character. Not just "Link but a girl this time". That's something I appreciate. They make her a new character instead of just taking away an already well known character. Let the two be their own things, and kick butt together! Although with how girly Link looks in Zelda U, had I not known about Hyrule Warriors I'd be assuming she was who you play as!

The Wolf Link amiibo looks really cool too! I really want it now.  And Linkle is the kawaii-est imouto since Aryll. Although me and my sister will never be convinced that she isn't the daughter of Tingle and Pinkle. Link DID free Tingle from prison in Wind Waker. Maybe naming his daughter after him is his way of paying tribute to him?

This is awesome. Thank you for bringing this up, as I had never heard anything about it. And I really appreciate the fact it's not a simple "gender bender" as you stated, but she's her own character. It feels so awkward for me when they swap someone's gender, be it male or female. I love her design though. The dual crossbows is a nice touch, as impractical as it would be to use lol.