I hate Midna

He's already done a significant amount of maturing...But I do think he'll need to find his way on his own -without Midna- to truly decide who he wants to be. ( a hero )
I'm not Link-bashing, but I do think he got a large amount of prodding during the game. It's likely a result of hand-holding for the player to assist us, but I thought it came across as Link being reluctant.

I disagree. Most women would be attracted to him, and Zelda is still a woman..she just is good at putting Hyrule's interests before her own. That may make seem cold, but she's anything but.

I doubt Midna would return - they closed the door pretty firmly on that. To do so would throw away all the meaning in her departure ( for her people, to protect them from future indiscretions ) for the sake of pleasing some fans.
And for the record - I think Ilia and Link wouldn't work out because he leaves Ordon behind, not because he didn't love her.

I don't even consider them rumors, I consider them fantasies.

Yeah...Midna coming back is just to please the fans thats for sure. The whole hand holding the player thing I attribute to the ungodly easy difficulty of OOT, MM, WW, and TP that makes the Zelda games seem like childrens games which seems to give the in game character Link childish mannerisms IMO.

When you consider the blood and guts fighting of the more manly assertive Kratos of God of War Link seems like a pushover but in a very awww how sweet and endearing way. Anyway back to Midna...I am sure that TP Link does not have naughty thoughts therefore maybe Midna is just a temporary crush so now its Illia and Zelda comparing time.

Illia: Closer friendship and MAYBE more romantically compatible for Link. But do any of you really believe TP Link is still truly attracted to Illia after he met Zelda?? I really don't think so IMO.

Zelda: Too much of a womanly goddess for a shy and sweet teenage boy fresh from the farm to handle at the moment. But the upside is that Link would definitely be WAAAY more attracted to Zelda than Illia and over time in serving in Zelda's court LinkxZelda MIGHT have a better chance than LinkxIllia IMO.

And I agree with you 100% Gilderpilot that TP Link would likely be a very popular Hero and may possibly have numerous romantic encounters with various Hyrule Town maidens without a doubt.

Hmm. I got the impression Link's possible feelings for Midna were coming from the result of them being partners for likely months...and them knowing each other pretty good...way more than Midna's appearance. He had no idea what she looked like until the very end, yet I still believe he had feelings for her. A "Beauty and the Beast" type relationship. Her appearance was only icing on the cake.

That makes it sound like Link's going to go from girl to girl...I think he's better than that.

No thats not what I meant. Link is not a womanizer thats for sure. But he has the elvish pretty boy look down and most women his age in Hyrule Town would probably be very attracted to TP Link with him having the social status of official Hero of Hyrule and all. Beauty & the Beast huh?? Thats a good analogy for LinkxMidna.

Eh, even without being a hero, he still had fans in Castle Town. (Those three young girls in front of the... star-thingie game tent.)

Thats true. Before he saved Hyrule in TP a majority of the people in Hyrule Town that you can actually interract with seemed to treat Link as just your average joe only Link stuck out due to him being the only guy in Hyrule Town in a green outfit and matching pointy hat. I was thinking more in terms of after the adventure that he would probably have a fan club that exceeds more than three underage girls.

Back on Topic: Though I did not like Midna at first like most people did, I was pleased with the way she turned out at the end. Not just physically but as a good person overall. Since the mirror shattered and ended the potential romantic relationship with Midna, its like a tug of war for Link between choosing Zelda and Illia at the moment.

Illia's just a friend; TP Link left her the same way that Oot Link left Saria behind. And where did he go? Likely the castle to see princess Zelda, since the last scene that follows Link's departure from Ordon is the throne room. As far as a relationship between Link and Midna...again I feel it was more like the one with Oot Link and Navi. Navi had a crush on Link (well, that's the feeling that I got, anyway. That part of it is elaborated more in the official manga, which wouldn't have the official seal of Nintendo if it contradicated elements of the game), but Link didn't return the same feelings; he looked at her as a close friend. The same can be applied to Midna. And you know, just because they're male and female doesn't mean that they have to hook up. Midna obviously felt something towards Link, but she likely sensed that Link had a romantic connection to Zelda, which is why she left him alone with her after she shatters the mirror (the image of Link and Zelda standing alone together could be looked at as a metaphorical representation of the destiny that they share, the destiny in which brings them together).

Every single moment Link had with Ilia never had a "just a friend" feel to it. I've never known of two people that looked at each other the way they did and were "just friends". I find it really hard to deny there was some kind of something there, unspoken or otherwise.

Edit: I was gonna add in a quote about Ilia that I think pretty much sums her up reasonably. But I think it's best put in the Ilia thread. So read it there.

Then Link's attention just seemed to shift to Midna. Idk, I think it was fairly easy (and fairly likely) that there was someting more between them. And for that matter, at the end of the game, I think Midna didn't say anything because she knew what she was about to do: shatter the only link between the Twilight Realm and Hyrule. She knew she'd most likely never see Link again. And if their relationship was unspoken romance, she probably would feel guilty saying "I love you. Bye bye now." I don't think she could've left Link with that kind of burden. Maybe trying to save him from pining away for her or something. I dunno, that made sense in my head.

I would argue that Ilia and Link grew out of each other, if indeed there was a romantical connection. Link is forced to leave (as is she) and they are forced to grow in different ways. The ending with Link riding from what appears to be away from the village indicates to me that they grew apart. However, in the frame before that, we have Ilia waiting at the edge of the village, facing where Link initially leaves in the beginning of the game. Some conversation happened between those two frames, and it is pure speculation as to what exactly took place. However, since Link is riding away from the village, I assume that it was a good-bye conversation that took place.

I have no doubt in my mind that they would be able to be close friends, but Link becomes a different person than the Link we see in the beginning, and the same goes for Ilia. Link rises to his destiny and becomes Chosen Hero, with Ilia dropping some of the bossiness and taking on a more maternal stance to the kids (again, as seen in the ending), whereas before, we didn't really witness her interacting with any of the kids with the exception of Colin, which wasn't voluntary interaction (Colin came to her on a mediating mission).

No, what you're saying about Midna does make sense, Saami. I felt that she was going to confess her feelings to Link. There's that pause just before she breaks the mirror. "Link, I. . . . See you." Or something like that if I'm remembering correctly. And then she leaves. I believe you're correct- it wouldn't be fair for her to say she loves him and then go away to never be seen again. And I think it was also a way to protect herself- she had no way of knowing if Link felt towards her as anything more than a friend, and perhaps was sparing herself rejection. She could continue to harbor her feelings and look back on the memories they had together without any bitterness, you know? If that even makes sense. . .

Honestly, IMO, the scenes with Ilia always felt very off balance, more intense romantic type feelings on Ilia's end while Link's were very tempered and even, nothing he did particularly stood out to me as a hint that he cared for Ilia more than he did for Midna, for example. On Ilia's end, I'm pretty certain she loves him. On Link's? Harder to say if it's any thing more than friendship really. But that's just how I felt regarding their relationship. ^^

On a side note- Zomg, Saami has dragon eggs too!!!

Yeah...I'm with most of you guys/girls. I believe Saami makes some good points but IMO Link seemed to outgrow Illia and by the time of the escort mission to me the LinkxIllia romance from the beginning seemed to be fading away. The memory reviving scene was a crappy scene in the sky wannabe and it totally fell flat in the romance dept. It was more best friends forever with Epona involved IMO. With that said the option for Link to return to Illia will probably always be there if he fails to woo Zelda.

To sum up the big Illia fan theory that I have read so far, after the mirror shattered Link returned to Ordon and married Illia and they lived together for a time. So at the end she was seeing him off as he went to serve a tour of duty as she stands there always waiting for her soldier boy to loyally come home everytime and not be tempted by Zelda. Or something like that.

IMO Link fell in love with Midna but after the mirror shattered Zelda has her chance. Only her lack of development character wise made her seem cold and distant from Link. She had this aura of duty before romantic pleasure about her and may not be interested in pursuing TP Link as OOT Zelda would with her Link. Anyway thats what some Illia fans hang there hats on with Zelda is not interested in Link due to her seeming more mature and formal when compared to awkwardly shy and sweet teenager Link.

I personally just think Link and Zelda's relationship simply has to grow over time somehow behind the scenes for it to be reality IMO. Its just TP seems to have this stigma as the most non Zelink game ever due to the Midna factor

Saami does make good points. ^^ <3 But it was just my personal opinion that things between Ilia and Link dwindled down from the begining of the game, and completely went in opposite directions. And like I mentioned, Link's reactions are very hard to pin down as anything more specific than friendship. Both changed quite a bit during the course of the game, and had so many different experiances. . .it just seems like it would make the game meaningless and a huge step backwards if they tried to go back to the way things were before.

O.o Really, there's nothing to suggest such a thing happened. If Illia and Link had married, there would certainly be a hint, such as a ring on Ilia's finger or something, but there's nothing except her standing alone while Link rides away.

Naturally Zelda is going to put duty before her own personal feelings. She may indeed be attracted to Link, drawn to him, but as things stand with the Kingdom in chaos, I don't think starting up a relationship was her number one concern. I didn't think she seemed cold and distant. Sorrowful and preoccupied with events, but she always treated him with gentle courtesy and respect. Her actions become even more significant towards him when she seperates from Midna. Through her, Zelda came to know Link much better. When she looks at him, and then they start towards each other, it was just this moment where I could feel the connection, and then the way they take each other's hands later. . .ah, anyway. My two cents. But er- I think we're loosing the original topic here somehow. *isn't sure how Midna got lost in talk about Ilia and Zelda*

Yeah..I agree with the brief glance and the OOT nostalgia moment was the strongest for Zelink. But when compared to the more obvious Midna and even Illia romance moments there is really not much there to go on for LinkxZelda in TP. But at least it was something. To stay on topic most Midna fans seem to want to believe that Link being the loyal guy that he is will not romantically pursue Zelda or Illia. Instead Link will stay true to Midna and serve under Zelda in a business like working relationship in hopes that she will help him be reunited with Midna somehow.

I admit that its not that far fetched since there is no proof Link will just simply forget about Midna and pursue Zelda as a shallow substitute for the love he shared with Midna. But maybe if Zelda had exhibited more than just a platonic admiration for Link's courage I would think differently, but at the moment TP Link has the chivalric polite gentleman admirer standing from afar as Zelda sits stoicly alone on her throne.

Well, the dragon story directly contradicted the game, but I agree that if anything was too farfetched from what Nintendo wanted to show, they wouldn't have made the manga possible.

I have this feeling that if TP gets a sequel, it'll still make it hard for any of us to prove ZeLink/IlLink/Whichever other girl shows. *Head-desks*
I don't know... It's so like Nintendo to suggest and never confirm.

As Super Smash Bros Brawl has the official Nintendo seal too,
Subspace emissary spoiler:





we can add/argue that TP Link does feel something strong for Zelda, since instead of thinking that Mario ''killing'' Zelda was just too weird to be true, and confusingly trying to figure out what just hapenned, he just ran ahead and tried to kill his Nintendo partner without thinking twice. So ok, it was more of an excuse to add in another fight, but.. Nuff said. His princess, no touchie.
Anyway, in TP too he seemed to momentarily stop thinking when he thought Zelda needed help. With Midna, he lost it when he thought she was hurt/dead. Correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I've last finished TP






*Sigh* I know we can't really use that as an argument, but anything can help, eventually. Plus, *points to Nintendo seal*





As fo Zelda: she's an adult. Completely educated to be the princess she's supposed to be, even if she had the hots for Links, she wouldn't show it. Dx
Well, she respects him. It has to start somewhere.
Whether Link loved Midna or not, it won't stop that, well, people grow old, change. Sometime, someday, he'll have to get over her. Not forget her, never! but get on with his life.