Link

Link
Biographical Information
Birthplace	Hyrule
Birthdate	Unknown
Age	9 (As a young boy. Confirmed in Hyrule Historia), 16 (Seven Years later As a young man.)
Weapon Information
Weapon	Sword and Shield
Weapon name	Master Sword and Hylian Shield
Fighting style	Hyrulian/Hyrulean style
Series Information
Appears in	Soulcalibur II, Legend of Zelda series, Super Smash Bros. series
English voice actor	Nobuyuki Hiyama
Japanese voice actor	Nobuyuki Hiyama

Hailing from The Legend of Zelda series, Link (リンク Rinku) is a guest character in the Nintendo GameCube Version of Soulcalibur II. There are multiple heroes that rose to the call of destiny in Hyrule's history, each bearing the name Link and garbed in traditional attire. This particular Link has a unique background but is visually based on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though his weaponry references games all across the eras of his series (resulting in a Link that some fans consider either timeline-confused or self-contained).

What lies in his soul is Courage.

Appearance

Link's appearance is one of transcendence, not appearing as one entity but an entire line of heroes. The Link in this game is based on the Hero of Time from Ocarina of Time. As such, he appears as a young adult with blond hair with bangs framing his face and blue eyes and his ears are long and pointy, a common trait among Hylians. As per tradition, he wears a long, green floppy hat and a matching tunic along with white stocks and brown boots. Though a minute detail, he wears a pair of blue earrings. His alternate costumes are palette swaps of his original outfit and while they are taken from the Super Smash Bros. series, they have also appeared in other Zelda games as well and has the distinction of having the most outfits out of any character in the Soul series within one game. His red one is taken from both the Goron Tunic of Ocarina of Time and the original effect of the Red Ring the original NES game, the former which gave him the ability to safely traverse in superheated areas while the latter granted the best increased defense. The blue one is taken from the Zora Tunic, also from Ocarina of Time which gave him the ability to breath underwater. The violet one is taken from the Blue Ring's effect from the original NES Zelda game which was the first defense upgrade.

Fighting Style

Link fights primarily using his sword, with many of its attacks being taken from previous Zelda games, such as the Spin Attack. Link also has attacks where he uses some of his trademark items; namely the bow, boomerang, and bombs. The color of Link's tunic can be changed from green to red, or the unlockables blue or purple, which gives him the most alternate outfits of any character in Soulcalibur II. However, his fighting style appears to be more reminiscent from the crossover Nintendo series, Super Smash Bros. The official guide says that Link is a true showing of technical skill, as he has no true weakness to exploit, or any real strength to abuse; this creates a very adaptable fighter that can not be used the same way against any two opponents, but still has an answer to every problem. Unfortunately, his slow moves combined with lack of combo options have made him a bottom-tier character.

In-game profile

Hyrule's tranquility was shattered by the arrival of several disasters, which brought opaque, ominous clouds with them. Eventually, it was discovered that a wizard was to blame for all that had happened. Just as the people were about to lose all hope, the sun miraculously returned as Link, having been summoned by Princess Zelda to find the disasters' source, successfully defeated the wizard. The people of Hyrule rejoiced in the belief that eternal peace would rule; but it eventually became clear that the wizard who was responsible for the disasters was in fact controlled by an evil sword from another world, Soul Edge, and that the fragments of Soul Edge had been gathering in the other world. Knowing that the resurrection of the evil blade must be prevented at all costs, Link chose to travel to the other world and destroy Soul Edge himself. He gathered his trusted Master Sword and Ocarina and transported himself off on a secret journey.

Ending

Link traveled to this world to destroy the evil which threatened Hyrule. After a long journey, Link succeeded in sealing away the terrible evil. In doing so, he not only saved his homeland from peril but also maintained the peace of this world as well. Link then quietly left this world, a faint echo of his Ocarina was heard.

Weapons

• Master Sword and Hylian Shield

  

  Link's Soul Edge (Complete)

• Razor Sword
• Armos Series
• Megaton Hammer
• Cane of Byrna
• Mirror Shield
• Magic Sword and Magic Shield
• Biggoron's Sword
• Soul Edge (Complete)
• Great Fairy's Sword
• Bug-Catching Net

Trivia

• In a poll at IGN.com Link was awarded first place in the "Soulcalibur Top Bonus Characters" list, and there are fans who wish to see him being a playable character again in future Soulcalibur games.
• Link's scabbard which he keeps on his back only appears when using the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.
• Coincidentally, Link shares the same Japanese voice actor as Nightmare, Siegfried and Yoshimitsu-- Nobuyuki Hiyama.
• Interestingly, Charade and Inferno can't use Link's weapons, as well as any of the other guest characters weapons. Story-wise this is excusable because Link is from another world outside of their reach.
• Link is the first elf-like character to appear in the Soul series, the second being Scheherazade in Soulcalibur IV.
• Like the other guest characters, Heihachi and Spawn, his destined battle is with Raphael.
• Link is the first non-Namco video game character to appear in the Soul series as well as having the distinction of being the only first-party character to appear in the franchise. The second is the Apprentice from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and the third is Kratos from the God of War franchise. Darth Vader and Yoda don't technically count due to originating from movies, and it's unknown if Necrid partially belongs to Namco, or if he is fully owned by McFarlane Productions.
• Part of the Zelda series' concept is that whenever evil threatens Hyrule, fate will arrange for a young man named Link to rise against it. The Link who appears in Soulcalibur II possesses the appearance of the Hero of Time from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and he carries the Ocarina of Time with him as a means of teleportation. However, the fact that his unlockable weapons reference other games and include the Cane of Byrna and Bug-Catching Net, and that he is seen drawing the Master Sword in the series' Lost Woods, which had only previously appeared in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (but with its own pedestal), as opposed to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Temple of Time.
• Link, Assassin, and Berserker, are the only characters in the Soul series who have the ability to speak, but choose not to (it is unknown if Voldo can speak). However, in the The Legend of Zelda series, Link usually only says "yes" or "no" to respond to certain questions on the games. Additionally, you can see him speaking on the green lettering in Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, etc. There are few exceptions to this rule, such as Link's voice "Come on" voice sample in The Wind Waker and the Hero's Shade in Twilight Princess. A recent exception is Skyward Sword where speech is present although the player cannot see it. Also, you can occasionally choose the response you would like to give.
• When Link wins any battle against anyone, the original victory music is replaced by the music when you find an item from actual Zelda games.
• Though Link's red outfit is closely based on the Goron Tunic (which is heat resistant), Link will still take damage from lava on booby-trapped stages. It should be noted, though, that the Goron Tunic doesn't provide complete immunity to damage from lava in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - it only increases the amount of time it takes for lava to damage Link.
• Despite only appearing on the GameCube version, not having any canon place in the overall Soul storyline, and disappearing completely from the series after Soulcalibur II ends, Link's fighting style has stayed in the series, to some degree; in the PlayStation 2 sequel Soulcalibur III, the "Sword and Shield" discipline contains many of Link's moveset, removing the ones which are direct references to the Zelda games, such as the spin.
• There were also a variety of weapons and shields Link had in the Zelda games, most of them were planned but did not make it.
• Interestingly, thus far Link has ranked poorly on tier lists in every fighting game he has taken a part of. In the original Super Smash Bros., he was second-to-bottom. In Melee, he was lower-mid. In Brawl, he was third-to-bottom. In Soulcalibur II, he was absolute bottom.
• Despite being depicted as pure-hearted character, Link could also wield Soul Edge in the form of a sword and shield. This isn't entirely unheard of, however, as Link is known to be able to harness darker forces (such as the masks of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask).
• Up until Patroklos was announced for Soulcalibur V, Link was, for the longest time, the only male humanoid character within the Soulcalibur Series to naturally wield a Sword and Shield in combat (not counting the Lizardman Aeon Calcos).

Gallery

Link Wallpaper from Soul Calibur II

A wallpaper of Link, Raphael, Cassandra, Talim and Yun-seong

Link and the cast of Soulcalibur II

Link with his red suit

Link fighting Ivy

Link using his bow against Mitsurugi

Link throwing a bomb against Sophitia

Link fighting Kilik

Link fighting Maxi

External Links

• Zeldapedia: Soulcalibur II & Link
• Link's Soul Calibur V CAS Formula