2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Pirate

2022-06-28T19:45:52Z

2001:14BA:A439:1500:453A:1339:4598:2C2E:

{{Topquote|Yar har, fiddle di dee, Being a pirate is all right with me, Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, You are a pirate!|LazyTown}}
{{Topquote|Oi! You'z lot! You'z part of my crew now. Any problemz with dat, you talk to da complaintz department. Dat'z me gun, by da way.|[[Bluddflagg|Kaptain Bluddflag]]}}
[[File:Pirate.png|300px|thumb|right|A pirate captain. The lack of limbs and eye just shows how hardcore he is.]]
'''Pirates''' are scavenging sea bandits that raid and loot anyone on their sight. Despite being the seaborn equivalent of muggers and car-jackers, they are a far more glamorous cultural icon. They were known to be pretty cool for having a ship with black skeleton flag, as well as being badass as fuck for fighting heavily armed navy on daily basis (or so the legend goes; while there were a number of impressive battles, pirates preferred easier marks like unprotected merchant convoys). Sadly, it isn't a profession with the best long-term benefits since they would most likely be hanged by the navy or died of scurvy [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Easton (though there were exceptions of course)]. But if they did succeed, they became famous and feared by everyone, and soon that pirate's flag became something people fled as soon as they saw it.

Pirates, despite being a band of misfits, were quite varied. In real life they were cutthroats and bandits with ships or boats, while during later ages in fiction they were romanticized as something of a concept of freedom despite their infamy. In all cases, pirates are well known thanks to modern pop-culture depictions as anarchistic and anti-governmental. They opposed the oftentimes brutal authoritarian life in the navy and wanted to live out their own lives without others telling them what to do. The reasons were many and this resulted in pirates being (ironically) closer to the modern establishment. While in Europe kings and queens ruled through an absolutist system of rule, pirates had something akin to modern democracy (the crew choose a new captain from among themselves by voting). While slavery was normal and nations fought each-other, pirates did not care about racism as a whole as necessity and a desire for freedom meant a pirate crew could be multi-national and include slaves among their ranks. In fact, equality was common among pirates and slaves saw this as one of the few ways to feel free and equal. Some crews did not discriminate if you could do the job. They took in everyone who wanted to join. One particularly famous example was the Brethren of the Coast, a coalition of pirates and privateers who operated in the Caribbean. However, remember what they are; some pirates would force people to join their crew at times, had brutal punishments for those who broke their rules and some were known to trade slaves if the money was good enough.

A free(er) lifestyle is what attracted writers who presented pirates in a romanticized way, as misfits who seek out a life of freedom, portraying them as anti-heroes. This has some basis in truth, as some pirates began their careers as legitimate privateers in the service of their king until political winds changed, usually by end of a war leaving them effectively out of job. Others were genuine legends whose stories impress readers to this day.

TL;DR piracy is fucking awesome... unless you actually encounter pirates - usually in places like Burma, Nigeria, and Somalia.

==Famous Real Life Pirates==
*'''Edward Teach''' - Also possible Edward Thatch but better known as '''Blackbeard''', one of the original Golden Age pirates known for his [[Night Lords|intimidation tactics, which including exaggerating and weaponizing his fearsome reputation]]. His ''nom de guerre'' came from the fact that he had black hair with a long thick beard, put gunpowder and fuses in said beard and set it off to give himself a terrifying appearance (it helped that he was over six feet tall when most men of the time were about five and a half). He also often let his victims live to talk about their encounters with him. He was also quite smart, as he once raided a town (as in, blockaded the entirety of Charleston and held its sailors hostage) for medicine because [[Nurgle|most of his crew was riddled with diseases]] - [[Slaanesh|sexually transmitted ones]], then when some of the crew he sent to negotiate got drunk he marooned them in disgust. Another claim to fame was his flagship, a captured frigate he renamed ''Queen Anne's Revenge''; as an actual warship, this gave him another advantage over other pirates, who mostly used captured merchant ships, slave ships or schooners. He died in battle, [[awesome|fighting despite five gunshot wounds and nearly 20 sword slashes before being attacked from behind and having his throat cut. And not before severing three of his killer's fingers and breaking his sword]].

*'''Henry Avery''' - The most successful (and mysterious) pirate in history. How successful? He was named the king of pirates after looting the Mughal Emperor's treasure fleet, which was worth £52 million today, and seriously pissing off the East India Company. Shortly after, though, he vanished. Neither he nor his treasure was seen again. Some vidya speculate that he went on to found the pirate utopia of [[wikipedia:Libertatia|Libertalia]] in Madagascar.

*'''"Calico" Jack Rackham'''- A fairly unremarkable man by the standards of this list, who didn't do much major raiding and whose greatest act turned out to be the recruitment of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. While in life he may not have been much more than a mugger with a boat that provided a backdrop for the stories of those two women on his crew, he managed to leave his mark on history by flying one of the best Jolly Rogers out there ([[wikipedia:Calico_Jack#Jolly_Roger_Flag|or maybe not,]] but it's still a great flag).

*'''Anne Bonny and Mary Read''' - Two of the most famous female pirates. Here they get one entry as they have fairly similar life stories and worked together for a time: born in destitution, were disguised as boys early on in their lives, moved to the Caribbean where they took up piracy, and both became the lovers of Calico Jack plus renowned pirates in their own right. When Anne and Mary first met, both were disguised as men and Anne was attracted to Mary, so Anne confessed she was a woman, leading Mary to do the same [[PROMOTIONS|with rumors that they became lovers anyway with Calico Jack's approval]]. Despite their eventual capture, they only avoided execution because both were pregnant (although [[Grimdark|Mary died of a fever while in prison]] while Anne's fate is unknown except that she wasn't executed, with her either being released after giving birth to her child or also dying in prison), though that didn't stop them from [[awesome|fighting off their captors virtually alone, telling off Calico Jack for being a cowardly drunk]] and even [[Commissar|shooting a few of their crewwmates for being too drunk to fight in the battle that led to their capture]] (don't underestimate pregnant women).

*'''Edward "Davies" Davis''' - An English pirate active in the late 1600's who made a career of raiding Spanish silver shipments. Noteworthy for his opposition to slavery; Davies and his crew hit a number of slave ships, liberating their prisoners and recruiting some into his crew. Eventually paid off the British crown for a pardon and retired; part of his haul went into founding the ''College of William & Mary'' in Virginia, the second oldest university in the Americas after Harvard. Probably discovered Rapa Nui (Easter Island) although the records are disputed since he wasn't the first to actually report it to anyone.

*'''Walter Raleigh''' - One of the first English pirates; a minor lord who decided to try multiclassing as an Adventurer-Politician. Founded Virginia and a few other less successful colonies, and was obsessed with finding the mythical golden city of El Dorado. He'd rob Spanish treasure ships as needed to fund his antics, and then brag about it in front of the Spanish ambassador in Elizabeth's royal court. Even plundered the Queen's bedchamber, marrying one of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting. Eventually went from looting ships to looting Spanish settlements. The Spanish responded by telling King James that if he didn't have Raleigh executed, they would treat his attack as a sanctioned act of war. Raleigh was executed, but comported himself to the point of even chatting with and goading his executioner.

*'''Sir Francis Drake''' - The best illustration that the line between regular merchant, pirate, privateer and genuine military officer could be very tenuous at times. A full account of his long career can be found elsewhere, but let us just say that he started his career as a regular merchant occasionally getting rowdy with the Portuguese and the Spanish, then realized looting them for silver and gold was profitable and he became a full-fledged (and endorsed) raider. He was so good at liberating riches from them that he was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth, then later offered the post of vice-Admiral of the Navy when the Spaniards became fed up with the Anglos raiding them and spectacularly failed at trying to get even. Also something about circumnavigating the Earth (Magellan would've been first had he survived the trip) but who cares, it's not piratey enough.

* '''William Adams''' - Served under Drake for long enough to get the title. More famous for going to [[Japan]] and becoming one of the few foreign-born [[Samurai]]. How's that for [[Multiclassing]]?

* '''Kanhoji Angre''' - An Indian privateer who spent 30 years forcing England and Portugal to pay him taxes. Probably the closest thing the world has seen to a pirate admiral, and considered today the ancestor of the Indian Navy. At the height of his career he had Dutch sailors coming to him for work hunting European merchants.

*'''Abduwali Muse''' - A well known modern pirate. Isn't as charming and heroic as the above but gets a mention due to being younger than all the above and the media coverage of his actions. Abduwali led small gang of teenage pirates from Somalia (he was 16-19 at the time, and the oldest among them) hijacking the ship Maersk Alabama, an unarmed container ship, from the Port of Salalah in Oman, with orders to sail through the Guardafui Channel to Mombasa, Kenya. Like almost every Somali pirate, he didn't have a good childhood due to living in extreme poverty, with food and work being scarce and poor quality; he turned to piracy to pay off a local warlord. When navy ships got involved, the gang took Phillips hostage and fled onto a lifeboat, resulting in Phillips' rescue and the deaths of every pirate save Abduwali himself, who got a 33+ year prison sentence in the U.S. Despite having no achievements that compare with historical pirates, his story did help create the film "Captain Phillips" - named for the Captain of the ship Muse tried to take - and a meme. (Look at him. He's the captain now.)

*'''Ching Shih/Cheng I Sao''' - Chinese Pirate Queen who not only led one of the biggest pirate fleets but also managed to successfully retire. She got her fleet through marrying a pirate, who gave her half his fleet. And when he died she got all of it by way of political maneuvering with her husband's family. The Chinese government tried to take her down, but she was so good that she stole their ships until they were forced to use fishing boats. She even created a set of pirating laws, including one that made rape of female captives punishable by beheading. She eventually beat the empire so hard that the Chinese Government had to sue for peace. She negotiated for amnesty for herself and any of her pirates that wanted to quit the life, so she retired from piracy to set up a gambling den and brothel.

[[File:Serapis_Flag.png|250px|thumb|right|Totally legit, no pirates here.]]

*'''John Paul Jones''' - An angry Scotsman who sided with the colonists in the American Revolution so he could go on a big piracy spree up and down the English coast. At one point he showed up in the Netherlands and his ship was so badly shot up the flag was gone and the Dutch were like "you need a flag or we have to arrest you as a pirate" ''(also it wasn't his ship; HIS ship SANK in the battle where he captured the one the Dutch were now hassling him about)''. But they didn't like the English either so they looked the other way while Jones found someone to quickly sew a new flag ''([[Counts as|that looks nothing like an American flag and suspiciously like a Dutch flag cut into ribbons and sewn back together]])'' and he was free to go. He kicked so much ass and was so popular that one of the places that he raided actually gave him an official pardon in 1999.

*'''Gertrude Walton''' - A real life ghost pirate! The RIAA claimed that she uploaded pirated copies of over 700 songs despite her ''being dead''. Immortalized in a Weird Al song.

*'''Stede Bonnet''' - The "Gentleman Pirate," Steve was a former plantation owner from Barbados who got fed up with always being in debt and his nagging wife, so he decided to become a pirate. Bonnet is supposedly one of the pirates who originated "Walking the Plank." [[Noobs|Despite his gross inexperience]], he was able to attract a crew by promising a guaranteed wage as opposed to a share of plunder. Things went relatively well until he got bamboozled by Blackbeard (yes THAT Blackbeard) into giving up command of his ship and effectively became a hostage. He was later bamboozled again by Blackbeard and swore revenge, in which he surprisingly became a more competent pirate. But he was captured before he had the chance. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrGf4nJWVOU Dramatic Reenactment now included!]

*'''Felix von Luckner''' - Nicknamed "The Sea Devil", he is the best example of a Lawful pirate (okay, privateer) in RPG terms. Commissioned as an officer in the Kaizerlische Marine during WWI, he was given command of a three-master (at a time where most boats had switched to steam) with orders to do some commerce raiding and make himself a pain in the hindquarters of the Allies. And he did so. Beautifully. In less than one year, Luckner captured and sank no less than fifteen ships through guile and superior seamanship. And the best part? he did so barely ever firing a shot. Over his entire career, he and his crew killed only a single enemy soldier (a poor soul unlucky enough to be right next to a steam line that ruptured when Luckner ordered the enemy's radio shot). For the rest, he made sure everyone was safe and sound before sending his prizes to the bottom. And when he just became overburdened with prisoners, he ordered the latest his prizes to throw the cargo overboard and bring all his prisoners to a neutral country, and then they'd all be free. A pirate and and gentleman indeed, and a bizarre counterpoint to the way in which submarine warfare, the more modern way to attack shipping, was conducted in the 20th century.

==Famous Fictional Pirates==

(For the sake of keeping things brief, we'll ignore Vidya pirates, and try keep it to Movie and Book pirates that your parents or nephews/nieces are likely to have heard of, depending on your age.)

*'''Long John Silver''', from ''Treasure Island''.
*'''Captain Hook''', from ''Peter Pan''.
*'''Jack Sparrow''' and '''Hector Barbarossa''' from ''Pirates of the Caribbean''
** For that matter, the ride Pirates are of interest.
*'''Captain Blood''', from the book series and movie of the same name.
*'''Captain Harlock''', space pirate.
*''One Piece'' has a quite a few. We'll not list them, as it would take ''forever'', just like the manga.
*'''Captain Nemo''', from ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea''.
*'''One-Eyed Willy''', from ''The Goonies''.
*'''Pirate Jenny''', from the song of the same name.
*'''The Dread Pirate Roberts''', from ''[[The Princess Bride]]''.
*Many, many advertising pirates.

== Types of Pirate ==
[[File:Piratepainting.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Why do we bury our treasure? Why don't we spend it? On nice things? Or things we like?]]

'''Buccaneers''' - The first major Caribbean pirates, operating in large numbers throughout most of the 17th century until the empires became strong enough to drive them out. The buccaneers, or, to de-Anglicize the term, boucaniers, were named not for their raiding but for their use of boucans to smoke and dry meat. Largely situated on the island of Hispaniola, where the most profitable sugar plantations in the New World were situated, they lived in the jungles to the north, out of the reach of Spanish and French authorities. They were the outlaws of the New World, men and women who usually had no world to return to: deserters from warships and colonial militaries, criminals fleeing Europe, escaped slaves, everybody that needed a little bit more than just a job on a ship on a long voyage to hide. Originally, they just hunted and chilled out in the woods, raiding only occasionally when it was convenient, but when the Spanish started trying to wipe out the animals they lived on and trying to drive them off of the land, many of them moved to raiding full time, leading to:

'''The Pirates of the Caribbean''' These guys are a little more complicated, so let's set the stage first. As soon as Columbus got back and the Spanish Empire, finished with the Moors and looking for someone else to beat up, really got going, the great Atlantic powers of Europe wanted to develop their own colonial empires in the New World. Unfortunately for everyone else, the Spanish and Portuguese crowns claimed everything they could stick a flag on, then claimed everything else just to be safe. This was about as enforceable as a speed limit in Texas. Spain was strong, but not strong enough that it didn't have to pick and choose what to defend, and England and France soon claimed large, also poorly defended chunks of the New World. While wars would rage between empires until Spain got its final colonial asskicking in the Spanish-American War, there was a constant low-key running battle between anyone and everyone in the Caribbean, as everyone was in easy striking distance of something and commerce raiding was easy. England, France, and whoever else could defend a fort and a flagpole for a few growing seasons relied mostly on commerce and plantation farming for their colonial revenue, but Spain had another, more pressing interest in the Caribbean. One of the first things that the conquistadors did once they got the Aztecs to stop sacrificing Mexicans to the gods was to start sacrificing Mexicans to the gold and silver mines. This revenue travelled across the sea to Spain in massive treasure fleets carrying absurd sums in bullion, coinage, and funny doodads stolen from temples. Stealing this money both funds your own operation and makes the financially unstable Spanish crown even more so, so the English began paying privateers to raid the Spanish whenever they were at war. As soon as the war ended(and, let's be honest, until it inevitably started again), there was a surplus of heavily armed ships and men who knew exactly how they could get very rich very quickly. Some colonial governors carried on an unofficial policy of "no peace beyond the line," turning a blind eye to raids as long as they weren't against their own nation's shipping. You can see where this is going.

A life of piracy in the Age of Sail was not fun. The utter chaos of exchanging fire at three hundred yards with guns that splinter twenty inches of layered oak then boarding another ship and beating the everloving shit out of everyone on it tends to result in nasty injuries of the kind that kill or maim permanently. Life at sea was hard; water and food went bad fast and you were stuck with a couple hundred other stinky fucks in a big wooden box that might sink if something, like a storm or a much bigger warship or some drunk idiot, fucks up the extremely complicated system of ropes and canvas that keeps it moving forward. To top if all off, if you were caught you were hanged, with not much change for reprieve. However, all of this was more or less the same in the merchant or naval service and being a pirate A. meant you wouldn't get flogged for not saluting some 12 year old kid whose father paid for him to be a midshipman, B. eliminated the danger of being raided by pirates, as you are, in fact, now a pirate, and C. paid WAY more than a sailor's wages and had a more equal distribution of prize money when a ship was taken than the navies at the time would give. For these reasons, piracy remained popular until the empires got strong enough to put a stop to it by force, and places like Port Royal, Tortuga, and Nassau, beyond the reach of the law or just being conveniently ignored by it, were filled with men who would get kicked out of the Disney Imagineering offices before the interview, even if they could sing perfectly. These are the pirates of pop culture, partly because of our enduring fascination with people who tell the biggest bullies around to suck it and survive, and also because these pirates encouraged ludicrous tales about their atrocities, as they made people surrender without a fuss (and probably impressed the whores), which would eventually blend with reality and become the tales that survive to this day of the lives of real pirates. They often used smaller, shallow-draft vessels that let them hide in swamps and rivers where bigger ships couldn't chase them, and the romantic images from Pirates of the Caribbean movies exaggerate quite a bit on how well-organized and well-armed they might be, but the flamboyant dress, fueled by frequent theft of expensive cloth bound for the colonial elite, was real, albeit probably extremely dirty. The Jolly Rogers, the black flags that said "Gimme ur shit n00b ill rek ur ass" to all merchant captains unlucky enough to see them, were real as well, coming in many forms but often featuring the same motifs: skulls and skeletons, hourglasses, swords, blood, etc. In regards to the popular legend of successful pirates burying their treasure; this was largely a myth perpetuated by Treasure Island. Pirates ended up taking most of their ill-gotten goods in the form of trade goods which had to be sold or bartered off, and the average pirate hand would piss away most of their gold on boozing and whoring. Occasionally, pirate captains who could accumulate large amounts of solid metal currency ''would'' bury treasure on occasion, usually just for insurance (and even then, it was only done sparingly): in the event that they were captured, they'd use their hidden loot as a bargaining chip to save them from the noose. This didn't work all the time, as the captors either couldn't be bribed or didn't buy the story. Still, the mystique of a lost and forgotten treasure trove just waiting to be discovered made for great stories in taverns full of adventurers, so legends about buried treasure persisted throughout the centuries in fictional writing. Plank walking is hardcore as fuck and cool and dramatic and completely imaginary, invented by authors and artists for those reasons. Why go to all that fuss when you can just stab the bastard and chuck him over the side? King George's Act of Grace, the actions of Woods Rogers, a pirate hunter as legendary as the pirates themselves, and the increasingly obvious fact that Britannia ruled pretty much every wave from Spithead to Montego Bay, mostly got rid of these guys, but they live on in our imaginations.

'''Privateers''' - Not pirates per se, but many pirates started out as privateers, or, in the case of those like Henry Morgan, waffled back and forth as the situation allowed. Roughly the naval equivalent to land-based mercenaries, these sailed on privately, (probably) legally owned ships who were employed by their home country to raid enemy supply lines (or in rare cases, rival nations that are not at war). Typically a privateer carried "Letters of Marque and Reprisal" to show the legality of their actions; it was only if they stepped outside the bounds of the letter or otherwise lost it that they'd become pirates. Some were even captained by commissioned officers of their host nation and provided access to naval facilities and supplies as de facto navy vessels. But even so, enemy nations would sometimes ignore the letters of marque (not without justification, since letters would often be rendered invalid or else forged easily enough to fool the illiterate) and hang captured crews as pirates instead of kept as prisoners of war. Nevertheless, there was rarely a shortage of eager sailors for privateering, as the potential pay for taking a ship as a prize was very lucrative. Of course the opposite was also true; under King George's Act of Grace, former pirates who renounced their ways would be pardoned and hired as privateers to raid the Spanish. Although they mostly did things like turn Port Royal into Ancapistan, raiding Spanish commerce at the encouragement of English merchants, some captains licensed as privateers did some pretty impressive stuff, usually combining their military obligations with the chances of huge personal enrichment. In a story too long to put here but worth reading, Henry Morgan himself organized multiple raids on Spanish cities, most famously assembling thousands of men and dozens of ships, all legally not pirates under his letters of marque, and sacking the city of Panama, making off with everything not nailed down, and living out a long, happy life retired inland on Jamaica, becoming one of the fat old bastards he once stole from and earning the respect and love of both sides of the law.

'''[[Vikings]]''' - Scandinavian pirates with badass beards. Despite common depictions, their helmets did not have horns. Existed long before the Caribbean pirates, and they sure made themselves famous all over medieval Europe. "Vikings" specifically were raiders, but the Norsemen often sailed their great ships through the rivers and seas of Europe on missions of trade and settlement, stealing, selling, and leaving graffiti as far away as Constantinople. Nevertheless, when they went raiding they were brutal, taking slaves, burning villages, and doing unspeakable things to sheep across northern Europe and the British Isles until the early Christian saints finally proselytized them into submission.

'''Corsairs''' - Also known as Barbary pirates. They mainly came from North Africa and most of their attacks were focused on capturing slaves rather than stealing loot, although they wouldn't turn it down if they found it. They operated primarily in the Mediterranean sea, but were known to sail as far north as Iceland, depopulating small islands that have yet to recover centuries later. Nations could avoid having their ships attacked if they paid a steep tribute to the Barbary states; it wasn't until the early 19th century, after the military revolutions in Europe created navies that could severely limit their operating range, that Western nations decided to fuck that noise and decided to shut them up for good. The young United States in particular participated in a number of campaigns over insults and stolen merchant ships, eventually launching a few attacks against the ports the pirates operated out of (One of these incidents is the source of "The Shores of Tripoli" bit in the US Marines' Hymn). The term usually refers to pirates in service to specific nations, as they were often employed as something in between a navy and a privateer fleet by the various kingdoms of North Africa.

'''Modern Pirates''' - [[Grimdark|Mostly just poor 3rd world uneducated people who are survivors of various wars and regimes.]] Not too different from the boucaniers, really, they just got there by a different road. Their makeup is similar too: Former fishermen who had knowledge about the sea, war veterans who specialize in weaponry, or at least know where to get some, as well as technical experts who operates on electronic devices like GPS devices, [[Freebooterz|but they are still too green]] when compare to the [[Imperial Navy|actual navy]]. Not to mention the days when any wannabe pirate could find a merchant ship, arm her with some cannons and then go toe-to-toe with a genuine military ship have ''long'' since past. The US Navy, absurdly large since the end of WWII, is arguably singlehandedly preventing large-scale piracy from happening in the modern world, but even the Burger Fleets can't be everywhere. Today's pirates are armed with many modern-day weapons from assault rifles to rocket launchers that were salvaged from the conflict. They raid the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Guinea, the Straits of Malacca, and Indian Ocean using just skiffs and can travel hundreds of miles from home. Their targets tend to be two varieties: either slow commercial ships held hostage for steep ransoms, or oil tankers that they siphon raw petroleum to sell on the black market. They tend to be on the skinny side due to the lack of food and health care, and they tend to be serious and extremely determined, since most of them just want to survive and they had to turn to piracy when they have no choice due to the terrible living conditions in the war-torn countries they come from, you have to understand that most people under those circumstances are either begging drifters, ordinary criminals or turn to gang or terror organization membership. It takes a special kind of spiteful determination to go pirate in the Information Era. Modern piracy is still popular in places like Africa and Asia, and actually costs the companies anywhere from hundreds of millions to billions in losses. Due to this, its not uncommon to see heavily armed mercenaries aboard civilian freighters in high-risk shipping lanes to deter pirates from boarding and there are permanent international task forces deployed in areas with chronic problems. The modus operandi ranges from firing warning shots to force a surrender to straight up perforating the boat with CIWS fire. Cargo ships in turn have Private Military Contractors with sometimes better than military issue gear, water cannons and other deterrence factors. Occasionally a navy logistics ship gets mistaken for a cargo ship by pirates, leading to hilarity(for the warship, at least).

'''Internet Pirates''' - Hackers who "illegally" download foreign internet goods like manga scan, anime, books or newly released video games for free (though sometimes they do hack, acquire and release data that shady corporations want to hide or make certain douches pay for their crimes like Anonymous does from time to time). As technology advanced and the invention of 3D printer came along, the "pirate" is able to download miniature blue prints for 3D printers. These pirates, unlike their predecessors, need no romanticism to make them glorious antiheroes, fighting the reemergence of cable by swinging aboard servers and navigating hidden coves to evade the Copyright Law Navy. Unfortunately they do tend to smell the same.

'''Porch Pirates''' - people who steal other people's packages. Normally, these are just lazy douchebags who steal a package that's been left on someone's doorstep, and more often then not, the package isn't something worth stealing. More enterprising pirates, however, have gone so far as derailing cargo trains and looting them wholesale.

===The "Pirate Accent"===
We all know and love pirate-speak, what with all its "YAAAAR!"s and "YO-HO-HO!"s and all, but something to keep in mind, at least as far as historical pirates are concerned; most scholars agree that there is no universal "pirate accent," and that most of today's perceptions of it stems from the 1950 Disney film ''Treasure Island'', and the Dorset accent of Robert Newton's Long John Silver. While the West Country of England certainly has a long maritime history, keep in mind that pirates came from just about any sea-faring society, so you're more likely to see a blend of accents and even languages around busy trade routes and other piracy hotspots, such as the Caribbean or the East Indies. If you're doing voices for characters, the "pirate accent" is a good standby, but work up a few more English-speaking accents and throw in a little Spanish, French, West African, etc.

== Fictional Pirates ==
'''Swashbucklers''' - The Noblebright side of the Fantasy pirate coin. Swashbucklers actually overlap with genres outside of pirate fiction, such as with the Three Musketeers or Zorro, but their are plenty of pirate examples too. These guys are basically buccaneers who seek adventure and right wrongs. They may be exiled princes or other political fugitives forced into a life of outlawry. They are also masters of swordplay and trickery; so basically they're more akin to musketeers or Zorro, but with ships of their own. Think of Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride or Captain Blood.

'''Dread Pirates''' - The [[Grimdark]] side of the Fantasy Pirate coin. Not to be confused with the legend that Dread Pirate Roberts cooked up for himself; these guys are the real deal. Take a buccaneer and mix in the supernatural or even eldritch. This type of Pirate frequently appears as the antagonist in the Pirates of the Carribean movies. See Ghost Pirates for a specific subset below.

'''Space Pirates''' - You know pirates, BUT IN SPACE! A seemly possible concept. After all, the golden age of piracy happened because the naval powers in those day struggled to maintain power on the edges of their empire (new world) and the vast wealth they were extracting, which meant pirates had a reason to exist. Eventually, the great powers managed to extend control across the fullness of their empires and pirates ran out of room for safe harbors, ports and so on. In space however, it is is infinite enough to run around from any Space Navy, and if there are enough valuables goods trades between planets, one could have an reason to do so. On paper piracy in space does seem possible, contingent of course on the idea of there being FTL drive of some sort, else our pirates have to be in stasis 99% of the time. Since space has no oxygen, pirates had to wear concealed power armor to board ships in order to loot and plunder. In some indie games like FTL, the crew can use teleportation device to board enemy ship without space suit, the same goes to the lighting strike ability in battlefleet gothic armada. And instead of making you walk the plank, they'll just throw you out the airlock. Another common convention is hidden bases on remote asteroids or space stations that don't orbit anything (which Star Wars dubs a "shadowport"). Despite rumors of this happening already, the only recorded crimes committed in space is a white collar crime involving somebody illegally accessing their spouse's bank records during a divorce dispute, when US astronaut Anne McClain was accused by her estranged wife of
digital invasion of privacy while on the ISS.

'''Ghost Pirates''' - it is said if some pirates are too badass to die, they become ghost and continue to terrorize ships for fun. Some said it was the caused of some voodoo curses, other thinks they are just too tough to stay in hell. These dead pirate sail in literal ghost ships that are seemly broken pirate ships crawling with moses and maggots while being seemly impervious to cannon fire. [[Vampire Counts|SPOOOOOKYYY]].

'''[[Airship|Airship Pirates]]''' - [[AWESOME|Piracy in the sky with steampunk technology]]. They'll still say "Yarr!" and "Avast!" but their clothing is decidedly more Victorian instead of Baroque, with lots of goggles and brass thrown in. [[Kharadron Overlords|Let's not forget the short legged version]] for [[Age of Sigmar]]. There is exactly ONE example of [[airship]] piracy in history: when the German Zeppelin L23 captured a Norwegian schooner during the first world war. An instance of an airship ''privateer'' '''may''' have existed with the U.S. World War II blimp Resolute, which was reported in 1946 to have been the last use of the United State's power to issue a letter of marque, as part of a legal wrangling to put a civilian vessel into the chain of command rather than intending it loot anything, but no record of this mark being issued exists.

'''Warhammer Fantasy Pirates''' - A lot of pirates tend to operate either in the seas near Tilea or around Lustria, where there's always opportunities for gold-hungry adventurers (though death is also a high probability due to disease or dismemberment by dinosaurs). There's several different varieties:

* Most famously are the [[Warriors of Chaos|Norscans]] being the fantasy equivalent of Vikings, in that they like to wreck the Empire's shit by raiding their border and would also took the opportunity to explore the new world for plunder and destruction in the name of their gods. The Norscan are nature born sea faring adventurer that back in the old day, a Norscan by the name Losteriksson being also the first old world to settle in the new world Lustria. There he became famous after plundered the shit out of it and founded a coast settlement named after his daughter that was born on this land: Skeggi, then encourage even more Norscan to have a piece at the place despite its seemly high mortality rate from jungle disease, wild cold ones and Lizardmen. The Skaeling tribe in particular is famed for their seafaring. [[Wulfrik the Wanderer]] uses a magic longship to teleport anywhere whenever he wants or needs (because chaos gods) to go wreck some fools.

*[[Dark Elf]] Corsairs using Black Arks (which are city-sized FLYING ships) in their raids and like to take captives hostage to be sold into slavery. [[Lokhir Fellhart]] is a famous example, who likes to wear Cthulhu-looking mask that he likely looted from Lizardmen.

*The [[Zombie Pirates]] were a White Dwarf army list under the leadership of [[Luthor Harkon]], who formerly worked for [[Abhorash]] before striking out on his own for Lustria and establishing his own goddamn kingdom called the Vampire Coast. And with all the dead bodies of unfortunate sailors, he's got plenty of recruiting opportunities. Another undead admiral operating in the area is Captain Noctlis of the [[Dreadfleet]], a Von Carstein vampire who teleported his entire freaking castle into the Galleon Graveyard, and thanks to the mighty technosorceries of vydiagaems they are a fully fledged faction in the Total Warhammer.

*There are also the Sartosan Pirates of the Principality of Sartosa (aka: AN ENTIRE NATION OF PIRATES) that lies south of Tilea. One of the most famous Sartosan pirates is the sea mutant [[Aranessa Saltspite]], rumored to be the daughter of the sea god himself.

'''[[Warhammer 40K]] Pirates''' - Ranging from [[Red Corsairs|chaos worshiper]], [[Dark Eldar|sadistic spiky ear slave trader]], [[Eldar Corsairs|cunning spiky ear glass cannon]] and the fucking [[Freebooterz|orks]], they are all badasses. [[Rogue Traders]] probably count as pirates too (corsairs would be the most accurate term), but they are first and foremost explorers of the Imperium (otherwise is [[HERESY]] and would probably be anally raped by inquisitions ship's nova cannon, or an [[exterminatus|cyclonic torpedo]]) but of course, unless they were pillage and plunder a xeno ship, is fine lol. For /tg/ brewed 40K pirates, see [[Black Locks]] who are both pirates and [[Space Marines]]. There is also at least [[Space Sharks|one known loyalist chapter]] that does piratey things like abducting the entire population of a loyalist planet to bolster the ranks of their recruits and chapter serfs, but they work far from the Imperium, and don't really have the opportunity for easily recruited manpower. Desperate times...

'''[[Manga|One Piece]]''' - As the pirate king, Gold Roger, was executed, he told everyone that he hid his treasure at the ass-end of the world, kickstarting a golden age of piracy! Some are using this chance to amass riches or oppress the weak, others just want to be free from the dictatorial World Government. The world is vast and uncharted, people get anime superpowers by eating cursed fruit or training really hard, and there exist sea monsters that are bigger than your ship. [[Fun|Have fun]]!

'''[[Samus|Space Pirates from the Metroid Series]]''' - while not being human and lacking the Caribbean pirate stereotype, [[Rak'gol|they are aliens that like to raid and destroy vessels while trying to be the biggest of dicks to every other species, especially the Federation]]. They are led by Mother Brain with Ridley, a species of cyborg/gargoyle/dragon alien being their military commander. They all got shit on by [[Samus]] unfortunately...non-stop.

==Worldbuilding And Moral Considerations==

===Morality===
How evil a Pirate in a given setting defaults to has a few inputs that are worth considering:

* [[Slavery]] is a big one. If the people they're raiding practice slavery and the pirates don't, that's a very serious point in the favor of the Pirate (in fact, it was exactly this moral ambiguity that gave the Buccaneers what good press they had) especially if they free slaves. If it's the other way around (slave raiders on free peoples), the resulting pirates are probably evil villains, full stop.
**Keep in mind that many people adore Jack Sparrow for simply saying "People aren't cargo, mate!", which was Jack Sparrow's entire descent into piracy to begin with.
* How badly they treat captured crews. If they let them go once they've robbed the cargo holds, they probably are considered more "moral" than if they kill or enslave anybody who sees them. (Hostage taking may or may not count for this purpose; if it's purely for ransom, it's in a gray area, with the shade depending on how well the hostage is treated.)
** Enforced enrollment in the pirate crew is on the evil side, and also somewhat on the stupid side: having a bunch of people who don't want to be there as crew on a ship is usually a bad idea when mutiny is a problem. However even proper navies were known to do (and in some cases infamous for abusing) exactly that: the war of 1812 began in part over the British going overboard with forced enrollment. (Look up 'impressment', you'll get the idea.)
* How badly non-pirate sailors are treated by their captains: when the Navy press-gangs their crew into service and keelhauls/flogs wrongdoers around the fleet; a pirate ship is easily seen as a bastion of freedom in contrast.
* [https://youtu.be/XaWU1CmrJNc Pirates who don't do anything] are a thing in media. As they don't do the pirate thing, they usually don't count as pirates.
* How prone they are to mutiny is also a consideration; although any pirate crew is liable to mutiny, the causes of said mutiny can be important in determining morality. If you're sailing under Bill the Bastard has random crewmen flogged and branded for looking at him funny, stealing his hat while he's wearing it and original sin while never giving out a fair cut of the pay and hogging all the Grog from himself, mutiny is an extreme if understandable response.
* What do they spend their plunder on. Most pirates spend their booty on upkeep of their ship, cannons, guns, swords, booze, food, fancy things and, well, [[/d/|booty]]. But some will also spend it on their families while others decide to give some of it to an orphanage or school or something in their home port.
* Privateers, mentioned above, are usually considered more "moral" than their freelancing counterparts. ''Usually''.

Note that multiple kinds of Pirates can exist in a given setting, each with their own niche in the Alignment Chart (Even Lawful Good, Neutral Good and Lawful Neutral depending on where you draw the line between lawful navy executing 'commerce raiding' and piracy), although given the nature of Piracy, only a few Privateers will be Lawful of any kind.

===Worldbuilding Considerations===

The big one: Piracy is never a safe job, even when you're in port, and every action has a degree of risk to it. Pirates are criminals who endanger shipping, which makes people with money and power annoyed, which in turn leads to a good deal of energy being expended in getting rid of any pirate that causes too much trouble. Unless they're being backed up by another, similar power, or have decided to transition from just stealing shit to forming a functional republic with a navy and laws and borders, a pirate port is not stable. Even then it's not particularly stable either, although it's got a start on the climb to being a nation. Always remember: piracy comes with danger and is affected by politics much bigger than little ships with black flags. You'll present a more engaging setting if there's more to a pirate's life than you can see at Disney World.

With that in mind, pirates still need a safe port of some kind to operate. Ships require a lot of maintenance that can only be done when at rest, and the pirates need to be able to sell or trade their captured goods. This has many subtle implications, with a few possibilities:

* The Pirates are effectively sponsored by some port. This implies either full state sponsorship of some kind, or a state that effectively doesn't care about their raiding, usually because the Pirates in question only target the enemies of whoever owns the port. French Tortuga and Dutch Curacao were like this, being effectively surrounded by a target rich environment full of Spanish and ruled by governors who simply did not give a flip about what happened at sea. In particular, Curacao's natural harbor with a tight channel overlooked by a fort on a ridge made it practically impossible to raid from sea, so the Dutch DID NOT care how angry the Spanish got with them over piracy because nothing short of an invasion would dislodge them. Tortuga otoh got raided by the Spanish repeatedly, but there were just too many French and English on the island to suppress.
* The Pirates are disguising where their goods are coming from. This is harder then it sounds, as ships are usually easily identified, and any port that cares about contraband will almost certainly be interested in the origins of whatever goods are coming into it. This will be complicated and will probably require a reliable fence who can move the goods quietly and with the illusion of legitimacy.
* The Pirates are operating on a frontier, like the boucaniers did. Small colonies and settlements are usually much less concerned about the legitimacy of cargo if its something they can use. They may not be able to pay very much for it, but they often can pay in other ways such as provisions and repairs.
* Pirates who figure they can operate their own port are usually faced with the fact that most of the people who engage in piracy are not exactly reliable sorts, which is what is desperately needed in order to have a functioning port. <ref>See the (in my opinion, at least) fantastic series Black Sails for an idea of how that might work, or fail to work. If you can get past the first season being about 20% excessively long sex scenes with little plot relevance, that is. Thanks, Michael Bay. Seeing Charles Vane's sandy cock was not on my bucket list and it didn't really affect the story all that much.</ref>

For piracy to really catch on somewhere, there needs to be cargo worth capturing. A lot of stuff that gets shipped is very hard to sell, not just because it is the proverbial "hot goods", but because it is effectively worth money only to the right buyer (who is usually in one of those ports that care about contraband). You need something that is both valuable, and a commodity. Historically, sugar qualified, as did tobacco and other luxury goods; of particular interest here is exotic pets, such as monkeys and, yes, parrots (really any large feathered birds, since feather quills were used as pens). Whale oil (used in lamps) was another hot item, with whaling ships often making easy targets returning from hunts. But whatever the cargo, there is a fine line of intersecting interests, between the risks of accepting stolen goods, the risks of stealing them in the first place, and the potential profit. Of course, there's always robbing payroll ships, but if they were easy to hit everyone would do it.

For a nation whose government is fairly loose and rudimentary, the distinction between "Pirate", "Honest Trader" and "Navy" is sometimes difficult to make. Many pirates would prefer to go after foreign prey rather than people from their home ports. A down on his luck merchant captain might try to steal the stuff from a rival ship from a rival country if the choice is "make a profit, pay the crew, eliminate some of the competition and live to sail another day" or "starve to death/have a mutiny for unpaid wages/have the ship founder for disrepair/go bankrupt". Privateer work was common in times of war when said actions got sanctioned and sometimes a merchantman could have a few extra guns put on her and be made into a ghetto warship.

To complicate matters even further, even powerful and well-organized nations like France and England had 'prize money' laws in place that made capturing enemy vessels and their cargo a very attractive prospect: any ship captured at sea and its cargo became ''de jure'' property of the crown, but the king would generously compensate the crews with money/valuables once the prize was brought in. On top of that it wasn't uncommon at all for the winner of a naval engagement to quietly enroll any surviving sailor to replace losses and/or keep manning their now captured ship (the defeated sailors were generally down with this since the alternative was usually sitting in the hold in chains), no matter their nationality; so even a 'national' crew from an 'official' Navy ship could sound like a weird mix of freebooters hauling their capture in when coming into port.

If you get enough pirates in an area, they might come together and found a town. It starts off in some place with a natural harbor to shelter in storms and repair their ships between fights. Then crews begin swapping stuff if one of them has a surplus of gunpowder and the other has a surplus of food and similar. A couple of guys are left behind from each crew (as well as captives who could not be ransomed off) to collect timber, first when it's expected that there will be some damage taken in the near future and latter more regularly around a growing logging camp. A couple of docks go up to make things go more smoothly, as does a forge or two and a couple of vegetable gardens. If there are native peoples in the area they start showing up to trade, or occasionally raid necessitating some basic defenses.

Then some enterprising pirate cobbles together a pub, selling plundered Beer, Grog and Rum to passing pirates and shore-side workers at first and soon enough is brewing there own, especially when a few full fledged farms get going to provide produce. Soon enough the Pub has some prostitutes and by extension some bastards. Those pirates which had lost limbs to the job may settle down with their compensation package for an easier and steadier life ashore. Tents and lean-tos are replaced by small cottages and shanties and after that houses. Workshops gradually come together and more and more of the population becomes permanent.

Soon you get a thriving and lively if disorderly and dangerous new settlement, which attracts the attention of whatever state power claims control over the area. A governor and garrison will be dispatched who start keeping out the roughest sorts, and things settle down into a more quiet and businesslike place much to the chagrin of old timers who miss the gold old days of loose women, hearty songs, exciting brawls and the odd knifings which made things dangerous and interesting.

==[[Pathfinder Second Edition]]==
{{dnd-stub}}
An archetype where you master the ins and outs of fighting on ships. It was originally a rather limited archetype that appeared on the 2018 playtest before vanishing. It would show up again in the Advanced Player's Guide, looking just as small when compared to other archetypes. This is likely because it's already relying on two other skills with feats that would otherwise overlap with it: Athletics (which helps with rope climbing) and Intimidation.

The prerequisites for entry pretty much boil down to "look scary" (read: trained in Intimidation) and in exchange, you can walk on boats without issue, learn lore about sailing and gain a special action that pretty much lets you go [[Errol Flynn]] and swing your sword while swinging on a rope.
[[List of Archetypes in Pathfinder Second Edition#Acrobat|see more]]

{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Archetypes}}

==Mordheim Pirate Warbands==
One of the more popular "semi-official" [[Mordheim]] warbands, pirate warbands are based on the simple facts that a) there have always been pirates in the Empire, b) the Empire relies heavily on river-conducted trade, and c) this meant the titular city was a big port before the [[warpstone]] meteor hit. So now you have plenty of bold and/or crazy pirates sailing up to the ruined dock and daring to launch raids into the city.

As a warband, Pirates of Mordheim have the special rules ''Ship-Based'' (if you hire both [[elf]] and [[dwarf]] Hired Swords simultaneously, increase their upkeep by '''+20 gold pieces''', as the tight confines of the ship exacerbate their racial animosity) and '''Shanghai'''. This is their mainstay special rule, and what it means is that pirates can actually swell their own ranks by recruiting captured enemies or even the random survivors of Mordheim. Because there are several situations where a pirate crew can successfully shanghai a person, this rule gets complicated...
* Firstly: a Pirate Captain can only attempt to shanghai '''normal human''' warband members; nonhumans refuse to obey or are too dangerous even for pirates to keep, whilst Hired Swords and Special Characters have no interest in the pirate life.
* When an enemy Hero is Captured, instead of exchanging/ransoming them or selling them, the Pirate Captain can attempt to convince them to join the crew. Roll 2d6 and add the Leadership of the Captain, then do the same for the captured Hero, adding +1 to he roll of whichever side won the fight. If the Captain wins, then the Hero defects and joins his crew, becoming a normal Crewman - this includes resetting his ability scores and skills if necessary and swapping all his gear for stuff from the Pirate Equipment list. If the Hero wins, then the Captain simply pressgangs him; the Hero retains his original skills and stats, but loses all his gear for stuff from the Swabbie list and can be deployed as a Swabbie in subsequent battles. Presumably, if the Pirates Rout against a shanghaied Hero-turned-Swabbie's former warband, he rejoins them.
* When the Pirates win a battle against an enemy warband, roll a d6 for each enemy Henchman that was killed (1-2 on their post-game roll after being taken Out of Action); on a 4+, they actually weren't killed, but were instead dragged back to the pirate ship and patched up. The Pirate Captain can attempt to shanghai them in the same manner as a captured hero, as described above.
* If the Pirates discover a Straggler when exploring Mordheim, the Pirate Captain can attempt to shanghai the half-crazed survivor instead of the other options. This requires making a simple Leadership check for the Captain; if he passes, then you gain a free Swabbie (the Straggler is too bonkers to make it as a crewman).
* Similarly, if the pirates discover Survivors when exploring Mordheim, the Pirate Captain can attempt to recruit them. Roll a d3 to see how many survivors there are, then make a Leadership check for the Captain for each Survivor. If successful, the survivor eagerly joins and becomes a Crewman; they can either start a new unit as a basic Crewman, or be added to an existing unit, whereupon their Exp and Stats match their brethren. If the check fails, however, the Suvivor is reluctantly pressganged, and so becomes a Swabbie.

Like all Mordheim warbands, you start with 500 gold pieces to outfit your Pirate Crew, which can be no larger than 15 models.

A Pirate Warband's leader is, of course, the '''Pirate Captain''' - you must start with one of these guys! They start with 20 EXP and can gain special skills from all of the standard skill tables (Combat, Shooting, Academic, Strength, Speed) as well as the ''Pirate Skills'' table. They cost 60 gold, have the ''Leader'' rule, and start with M4, WS4, BS3, S3, T3, W1, I3, A1 and LD8.

'''Ship's Mates''' are your standard secondary hero; you can have 0-2 of these in your crew. Ship's Mates cost 35 gold to hire and start with 8 experience as well as M4, WS4, BS3, S3, T3, W1, I2, A1 and LD7. They have the ''Inheritor'' special rule; if your Captain gets killed, then one of the Mates will take over the warband, just like how the standard Mercenary warband uses Champions to take over. They can learn Combat, Shooting, Strength and Pirate skills.

'''Cabin Boys''' are the obligatory "bare-faced recruit" type hero. 0-2 of these guys, who cost 15 gold to hire and start with 0 EXP and M4, WS2, BS2, S3, T3, W1, I3, A1 and LD6. They can learn Combat, Shooting, Speed and Pirate skills.

Now, for Henchman... your standard henchmen are, of course, the humble '''Crew''' or "Crewmen". 25 gold to hire, and statted up with M4, WS3, BS3, S3, T3, W1, I2, A1 and LD7. You can have any number of crewmen you like.

'''Gunners''' are the ship's cannoneers and marksmen; you can only have 0-2 of these guys, and they have the same stats and cost as the Crew, but they get access to some more firearms - blunderbusses, handguns and swivel guns (aka miniature cannons), specifically, alongside the pistol and duelist pistols that regular crewmen and Heroes ca take. They technically have a special rule in "Swivel Guns is Dangerous, Matey!" but that's more a rule about the Swivel Gun - namely, you can only take 1 Swivel Gun in your warband, and the bearer splits off to form an independent unit, because nobody's stupid enough to stand too close to somebody carrying a miniature cannon that could go off like a bomb at any moment.

'''Boatswains''' are the ship's riggers, and make excellent scouts in Mordheim. They cost 32 gold, have the same stats as a Crewman, and you can only take 0-5 of them. They start play with a Rope & Hook and will never, ''ever'' part with it. They also have the special rule ''Expert Riggers'', which lets them reroll failed Initiative tests made to climb a rope, leap a gap, jump down, or perform a diving charge.

Finally, there are the '''Swabbies'''. You can have 0-5 of these, and you can only recruit them via the aforementioned Shanghai rule, though in a one-off game you get 2 Swabbies for free. Statwise, they have M4, WS2, BS2, S3, T3, W1, I3, A1 and LD6. They also have the largest amount of special rules of any model in the warband:
* ''Not Hired:'' You don't pay for Swabbies, you Shanghai them.
* ''Never Gain Experience''
* ''Rabble:'' You can give a unit of Swabbies any mixture of weapons that you like. Swabbies gained by capturing heroes do not benefit from spellcasting ablities or skills they had before.
* ''"Blimey, they got away!":'' If the Pirates Rout, all Swabbies who had left the table on previous turns successfully escape; remove them from the warband roster.
* ''"Don't mind them mates, they ain't true pirates!":'' Swabbies who run or get taken out of action don't count for the purposes of taking a Rout test.

The Pirate skill table consists of:
#: '''Sea Shanty Singer:''' At the start of Close Combat, the Hero can burst into song, forcing one opponent in base contact to pass an LD test or lose 1 attack for the turn. Doesn't work on non-living targets.
#: '''Sea Legs:''' If the Hero Falls, roll a d3; on a 4+, ignore all hits caused by falling. Additionally, if the hero is knocked down or stunned when within 1" of a precipice, they can reroll their Initiate test to avoid falling.
#: '''Cutlass Master:''' If the Hero is both equipped with a sword and in closed quarters (in cover, in a building, within 2" of a terrain feature, etc), then the Hero can Parry by rolling equal to the To Hit roll, as well as by rolling higher.
#: '''Booming Voice:''' Only Captains can have this skill; reroll for other characters. Once per turn, if on his feet and not engaged in close combat, the Captain can target a single pirate within 8" who has either faileds their test to see if they will flee combat or who failed their test to stop fleeing. The targeted pirate can immediately reroll their test.
#: '''Hardy Constitution:''' When the Hero takes a Critical Hit, roll a d6; on a 5+, the Critical Hit is downgraded to just a normal hit.
#: '''Swashbuckler:''' At the end of any Hand-to-Hand phase in which he is in base contact with an enemy model, his own or the opponent's, the Hero can make an LD test. If successful, the Hero can immediately make a normal movement away from the enemy without taking any hits.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Capt phip abud.gif| Abduwali Muse, a modern somali pirate, as portrayed by Somali-American actor Barkhad Abdi in film. Also a meme, apparently.
Image:Abduwali Muse.jpg| The actual Abduwali Muse. Currently serving a 33+ years in U.S. federal prison.
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Dreadfleet]]
*[[Man O' War]]
*[[Poison'd]]
[[Category:History]]

The Legend of Zelda

2022-06-28T19:31:54Z

2001:14BA:A439:1500:453A:1339:4598:2C2E: /* Major Races */

{{/vg/}}

The Legend of Zelda is a series of adventure games for the Nintendo system. One of the oldest franchises, alongside Super Mario, at least one game has graced every console Nintendo has put out. With its epic landscapes, focus on puzzles, and wide array of [[monster]]s and races, the Zelda series is a goldmine for an enterprising [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[DM]] to draw from for inspiration.

==The Story==
You play as one of the many incarnations of Link, a (typically) green-clad Hylian youth somewhere in between 9 to 18 years of age who sets out to fight evil in order to accomplish some heroic goal, often related to rescuing someone. This most often means Princess Zelda, whom the series is named after. In pursuit of this goal he often clashes with the evil Ganon (or Ganondorf), who wants to rule the world, or some other menace ranging from a jerk wizard who kidnaps girls to a fucking terrifying mask trying to destroy everything.

Central to the series is the Triforce, an artifact of immense power that taps into a user's power, wisdom and courage to use. It has near reality-warping powers in its full form, which is why Ganon(dorf) seeks to obtain it. Link occasionally has to find bits of the shattered Triforce in his quests, or people capable of sealing Ganon(dorf) away. At some point the pieces of the Triforce became sealed within the three main characters, with Ganon(dorf) getting the Triforce of Power, Zelda getting the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link getting (or sometimes having to find) the Triforce of Courage. The Triforce is of such immense value that at one point there was a civil war over who could control it, leading to, in several games, 1) Link's parents being killed and forcing him to live in hiding, 2) a tribe of wizards getting banished into a parallel realm, eagerly waiting for a chance at vengeance, 3) causing the entire Sacred Realm to become a cursed dimension after Ganon succeeds in grabbing it, and probably even more situtations.

Note that it is not always the same Link who appears in the series: while some of them appear in several games as the protagonist (One appears in four games, and three others in two games each) there is often a new Link in every game. And while they look alike, they are not related to one another - except from one case where it is strongly hinted at that they are family (namely the one from Ocarina of Time and the one from Twilight Princess). This is because the games are constantly soft-rebooting (really it's that it takes place over a VERY long stretch of time and each Link is a new reincarnation). Hyrule itself will change too every so often; sometimes it will feature the same familiar geography of Hyrule castle, Death Mountain, Zora Village, etc. And other times it will feature very dramatic changes, such as all of Hyrule being flooded. Even in games where the major land features are present they often get jumbled up and moved around.

The Zeldas on the other hand are related to one another: the first one was the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia and all Zeldas are her descendants, making them the Blood of the Goddess. And while the various Links might not be related they inherit something as well; the Spirit of the Hero which gives them the drive to stand up to evil and use the various tools they find despite them never having used or even seen them before.

The villainous Ganon is the same one over and over again though, being the reincarnation of the [[daemon|demon]] Demise. Occasionally, it's stated he can't truly die; he only ever suffers temporary defeat. Even while he gets killed at the end of some of the games, his followers try to resurrect him (and sometimes even succeed), making him the same guy again and again. Even so, he takes many different forms; early on he's a piggish brute (literally), though later he adopts a more human form (in this form he's always called Ganondorf) when he uses subversion as his main strategy, typically as one of the rare Gerudo males, though he can still be capable of some horrifying shit if he's in possession of the Triforce of Power. Eventually however, he gets sick of this shit and drops all subtlety, turning into an eldritch abomination called "Calamity Ganon" that curses the land of Hyrule itself, resurrecting fallen monsters and seizing control of the kingdom's automaton army. In every single case, his weakness remains the same: only the awakened Master Sword and/or special arrows (Silver Arrows or Light Arrows depending on game)can seal him away.

The fact that the timeline also branches off into multiple paths simply makes it more confusing to keep track of. Fortunately, Nintendo not only printed a game-by-game explanation of the timeline, they also gave a definitive starting-off point in Skyward Sword, taking place just prior to the founding of Hyrule and the establishment of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf as perpetually reincarnating characters.

==Tabletop Games==
Officially, there are no Zelda tabletop games (no, the Zelda version of Monopoly doesn't count). Unofficially, homebrewers have tried their hand at making some. A Legend of Zelda [[D20]] system has been floating around the net for years, and [[/tg/]] has been busily working on a [[Legend of Zelda RPG]] and [[Four-Sworded Adventuring]]. There's also [[Megaton]], which is a wargame set in the Zelda setting.

A more recent fan game that's gained some popularity is ''Reclaim the Wild'' which draws most of it's ideas and setting lore from Breath of the Wild, though with some notable exceptions such as playable Twili characters. The game is a skill-based one, with a number of skills each tied to one of the Triforces (Power, Wisdom and Courage). Completing major tasks such as quests or defeating powerful foes awards the player [[XP|Tokens of Heroism]] they can use to level up these skills or other attributes such as Stamina and Health.

==Vidya Games==

There's been A TON of them, but the one that gives most nostalgia is the first one, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrn8RBxM4W0

All of the games share the same basic gameplay: Link needs to stop Ganon/Ganondorf (or whoever the big bad is supposed to be for the game) by visiting various locations in Hyrule (or wherever the game takes place), collecting various artifacts or rescuing people before finally confronting the main boss. Each location typically has a dungeon that is heavily puzzle-oriented; Link will usually have to fight his way to a mini-boss, which will drop a new gadget that he'll use to complete the dungeon and fight the final boss. Each game will usually also feature an additional gameplay feature unique to the game, whether it's commanding your own little ship, turning into a wolf, or hopping between the real world and a mirror world.

In every game, though, you play Link though, that is the one constant across any of them (except for those creepy Tingle games and the CD-i spinoffs). Even the Hyrule Warriors spinoff games have much of their focus center on Link, though they do allow you to also play other characters as well including fan favorites such as Impa or fan banes such as Tingle.

*'''The Legend of Zelda''' – The game that started it all and introduced many of the ideas the future games would take: Princess Zelda, Ganon, the Triforce, going around and defeating dungeons, things like that. That said, the game is fairly difficult to play due to how cryptic it can be, with secret caves and overly short messages from the handful of NPCs in the game making the game just awkward to play these days.
*'''The Adventure of Link''' – The original black sheep of the series and far more RPG compared to the more action adventure of its predecessor. Is NOTORIOUS for the combat and even more cryptic messages from the NPCs (“I am Error” being the meme probably most well known from this game, an ironic translation error as the NPC should actually be “Errol” and is actually an important NPC in the game).
*'''A Link to the Past''' – This game is what really put Zelda on almost every gamer’s radar. While most can agree the original was a decent start and that even the second game had some good ideas, this game fully embraced its action RPG role and truly established what it was to be a Zelda game – great puzzles, a strong story, and a number of twists that make the game far more expansive than it appears at first glance. Almost every game after this one used it as a basis for how a Zelda game should be, even the 3D ones.
*'''Link’s Awakening''' – When a bunch of game programmers at Nintendo got bored, they decided to make their own Zelda game but for the handheld Gameboy. The higher ups liked the idea so much they gave them a wide berth and the end result is one of the best 2D Zelda games ever to the point it’s been redone twice now (Link’s Awakening DX adding color and a bonus dungeon while the Switch remake overhauled all of the graphics and added just a few quality of life improvements to make it not just a carbon copy). This game actually started the trend where a dungeon has an item you use to clear and beat the boss used in future games, in prior games sometimes a dungeon would have this trait, and sometimes it wouldn't.
:It is also the first Zelda game to have a mysterious and dark undertone to it with the player eventually learning that all the NPCs they’ve been getting to know and care for aren’t even real, just parts of the Wind Fish's dream and that by beating the game and waking up the Wind Fish they will all disappear. Needless to say, it showed that Zelda games could be just as deep and complex on handheld as they were on a regular console.
*'''Ocarina of Time''' – Widely seen by many in the industry as one of (if not THE) greatest game ever made (at least until fairly recently), Ocarina of Time was the franchise’s first attempt at 3D and to say it did it well would be an understatement. Though incredibly similar to A Link to the Past in terms of what the story is (save Zelda, defeat <s>Ganon</s> Ganondorf and acquire the Triforce and Master Sword along the way), it took a major departure in introducing a time travel mechanic (which inadvertently made three timelines for the games to occur in). Introduced concepts and tropes to the series still seen to this day such as the Gorons, Z-targeting and notorious Water Temples. Still well worth going back and playing to this day (though you might want to play the remake on the 3DS for small quality of life improvements).
*'''Majora’s Mask''' – What happens when you get an absolute smash hit of a game and your boss tells you to make a game that is just as good but you’re only given one year to finish it? Well, in most cases you fail miserably, but in this instance it was done phenomenally. Set not in Hyrule but the lands of Termina (only the second time a Zelda game did not take place at least partially in Hyrule), Link must stop the machinations of a crazed Skull Kid who is being warped and manipulated by the titular mysterious ancient mask.
:During the game Link will gather a vast collection of masks, each with their own abilities from making him run faster, helping solve a missing person’s case, and to MAKE HIM THE EMBODIMENT OF A PRIMAL DEITY. Oh, and he has only three in-game days to stop the moon from crashing into Termina and killing everyone, so no pressure. This game is practically a horror story the amount of creepy stuff you come across, albeit one where you play as the hero who ensures a happy ending.
*'''Oracle of Seasons/Ages''' – For the first time, Nintendo gave another company the rights to make a mainline game using the Zelda franchise. The company was Capcom and they were originally told to just remake the original Zelda but they quickly changed those plans to make a trilogy of game. A trilogy proved too much, though, and they pared it back to just two games but made sure the two could interact in specific ways. Seasons focuses more on action, getting Link into melee proving to usually be the best option much of the time, but Ages focuses more on puzzle solving and figuring things out across the map and within dungeons.
:When you complete one game you get a code to take much of your save data to the other. Both games are also set outside of Hyrule, Seasons taking place in Holodrum and Ages in Labrynna. If you do carry your save data over to the second game (doesn’t quite matter which but canonically it is Seasons and then Ages) you unlock the secret true ending and face off against Ganon once again.
*'''Four Swords''' – A quirky co-op game that was on the same cartridge as the Gameboy Advance’s version of A Link to the Past. You and up to three friends have to traverse semi-randomly generated dungeons to eventually fight and defeat a new villain in the franchise named Vaati. Would later get a full sequel.
*'''The Wind Waker''' – Another 3D Zelda game, this time on the Gamecube. At its launch it was received with a very mixed response due to the idea that the game would actually have looked more like a traditional “realistic” fantasy game rather than the rather cartoony cel-shaded one we got with this one. Over time though the game has gotten more positive responses with most agreeing the look helped the game age incredibly well. Its main gimmick this time is that Hyrule is no more, drowned under the waves of the Great Ocean.
:Despite the apocalyptic inundation, Ganondorf is back and ready to find the full Triforce once more so he can attempt to again subjugate the people (though he admittedly has a lot more nuance this game than previously). Link must sail across the ocean and fish up clues (usually quite literally) to help save his sister first and foremost and the world by extension. Oh, and be sure to go home every now and then and make sure your grandma is safe, okay? She even makes you yummy soup.
*'''Four Swords Adventures''' – The sequel to Four Swords on the GBA, this Gamecube game is much the same as the first but with the added function to play solo properly. Once more you must fight Vaati but you also get a shot at fighting Ganon. Despite this the game is still basically just a series of fast dungeon crawls.
*'''The Minish Cap''' – Ever wonder why Link wears a green hat? Well this is the game for you then! Vaati interrupts a festival and ruins everyone’s day and it’s up to Link and his magical talking hat named Ezlo to save the day. The unique gimmick this game is the ability to shrink Link down to miniscule size which has the odd effect that monsters that would typically pose little to no threat to a normal-sized Link are suddenly massive and double as boss fights. Also details the reason why Link always finds money and items when they cut grass and smash bottles – A Picori (a miniscule fairy person) put it there for Link to find! Regarded as one of if not the best handheld Zelda game by most fans.
*'''Twilight Princess''' – After the backlash to The Wind Waker over its cutesy design, Nintendo knew they needed to get in the good graces of fans once more. Twilight Princess went for a more traditional looking Zelda game with a fuck ton of brown and gray smeared over your screen. Link must save his childhood friends with the help of the snarky shadow being named Midna.
:For large parts of the game Link is transformed into a wolf, which no doubt made plenty of furries happy, during which he has several heightened senses and scares the shit out of normal people. Otherwise it’s a typical “go to X dungeon, get Y item and defeat Z boss, then use the new item to help progress to the next dungeon, rinse and repeat.
:The new villain of this game, Zant, is actually just a puppet to a downright menacing Ganondorf (who even temporarily mind-enslaves Zelda). There is a good reason why every Smash game still uses this Ganondorf. While the game was incredibly well received (some fans legit broke down into tears at the announcement), it’s seen some growing resentment over the years over how poorly its aged in terms of looks and how seemingly by-the-books a lot of the game turned out to be. It even has the dungeon boss largely regarded as the easiest in the whole franchise, a giant eel monster thing named Morpheel who basically cannot kill Link and is easily dispatched in just moments.
*'''Phantom Hourglass''' – A sequel to The Wind Waker, it was not very well received for a multitude of reasons, chiefly the absolute shit controls where you’re forced to use the touch screen of the DS for most things in the game, including moving Link around. Has some interesting dungeons but is incredibly clunky and awkward to play.
*'''Spirit Tracks''' – A sequel to Phantom Hourglass, it literally is a railroad game, with Link needing to conduct a train from point A to point B for much of the game. It does however let players play with Zelda though! Kinda. Well, mostly. See, Zelda is basically a ghostlike figure for much of the game and can possess phantoms to help Link solve puzzles and fight enemies.
:While fans were quite happy to finally play with her, the game is viewed as fairly subpar overall due to basically the same mechanics from Phantom Hourglass being in the game as well as the on-the-rails approach to the overworld.
*'''Skyward Sword''' – One of the better Zelda games storywise but with a somewhat awkward control scheme which forces the player to use a Wiimote (the main controller for the Nintendo Wii) to swing a sword and solve certain puzzles, Skyward Sword broke a lot of new ground in terms of story for the Zelda franchise. Among other things it set a new standard for the visuals by combining Twilight Princess's realistic designs with Wind Waker's cel-shaded graphics to give the series a distinct [[anime]] look.
:Canonically the earliest game in the series, it finally tells the story as to why Link wears Green and why so many of the characters always seem to show up in the games and more, namely the feud between an incredibly powerful demon named Demise and humanity’s patron goddess Hylia.
:While many laud it for the deep story and wonderful characters (Groose is one of the best new characters to the franchise, and Fi eventually starts to warm on you), most agree the game was fairly weird to handle due to the forced Wiimote swinging and toggling. The HD remake for the Wii U is much better in that regard but really? Who the fuck even owned a Wii U? Thankfully, Nintendo later released a Switch version which features more traditional controls.
*'''A Link Between Worlds''' – Part sequel and part pseudo-remake of A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds is a rather curious take on the Zelda series. In this game, Link must save Zelda and a number of other Sages from a mysterious villain who is also a painter named <s>Hitler</s> Yuga. In the process Link acquires the ability to merge himself into a wall and take on a stylized painting form and move across certain locations in the overworld and in dungeons in this fashion to solve puzzles and get by enemies. Eventually Link appears in a dark a twisted otherworld version of Hyrule called Lorule (real original, Nintendo) and best dungeons in both realms to save the day.
:Another unique trait of the game is that almost all of the dungeons can be done in whatever order the player chooses, something not seen in quite some time (if ever) in the franchise thanks to the item rental system. No longer do you need to conquer a dungeon or perform some weird trade sequence to acquire the various tools needed to move from one dungeon to the next. Now all you need to do is talk to the guy who suddenly made your house into a shop and rent (and later buy) the items you want/need to deal with the next dungeon of your choosing. Basically took what A Link Between Worlds introduced and made it all better.
*'''Tri Force Heroes''' – Hot garbage that no one played.
*'''Breath of the Wild''' – Probably the most anticipated game of all time (I’m not joking about that either), the game had been hyped by Nintendo for quite some time, with snippets of gameplay released and small nuggets of information slowly leaking out from them about the game. Did not help that the game got delayed multiple times which only drove fans crazy. When it finally released it quickly garnered MASSIVE praise from critics and fans alike, with most agreeing it topped Ocarina of Time as the best Zelda game of all time.
:Players take control of an amnesiac Link who is thrust into a vast and dangerous world and must use their wits and an arcane artifact known as a Sheikah Slate to overcome the odds and eventually defeat the Calamity Ganon. There are only 5 real dungeons in the whole game, over 100 mini dungeons called shrines (though some are barely more than “defeat this one monster” or “walk to this one part of the shrine with no traps or puzzles”, but still there are a fuck ton of them!) as well as hundreds of little side quests and puzzles to ponder over. Or you could just go running naked and armed with just a tree branch to fight Ganon, it’s up to you (no joke, you can get inside the final dungeon right after the start of the game - good luck surviving).
:The world is enormous and is filled to the brim with things to do, sites to see, people to meet, quests to complete and more. It was so successful that Nintendo almost immediately announced a sequel that is currently still in development and which the only information known is that it is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild (set only a few years after BotW it appears) and that some mysterious ghoul-like entity is about to fuck shit up most likely. Oh, and Link appears to get a new hand-based magic power but no one outside of Nintendo really knows what’s up with that.
*'''Hyrule Warriors''' and '''Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity''' - A spinoff series of games by Koei Tecmo and modeled on their Dynasty Warriors games. In the original Hyrule Warriors game, a mysterious sorceress named Cia fucks with all of the timelines (yes, all of them) after getting corrupted by darkness after she starts straight up lusting after all of the Links in the timelines. That's right, she gets so fucking horny for Link's ass she throws all of the timelines out of whack to try to sleep with him.
:Hyrule Warriors, being a Dynasty Warriors clone, has it's main focus be taking control of a unique hero unit (sometimes multiple units to swap between in the various levels) and just demolishing waves of hundreds upon hundreds of enemies with each hero's unique abilities and weapons.
:Age of Calamity steps back from the "all timelines" bit but still fucks with time anyway. See, in Breath of the Wild when Calamity Ganon starts his, well, calamity over Hyrule, a little guardian robot Zelda built as a child wakes up, realizes what is going on and jumps back in time to try and stop it, causing two timelines to form - one where the little robot did nothing because it ran to the past and which is the same timeline Breath of the Wild takes place in, and the other being the one where it shows up and helps rally the Champions of Hyrule (present and future because "fuck how timelines should really work, amirite?") to stop Calamity Ganon.
:The first Hyrule Warriors game has a lot going for it, mostly for being the first (good) Zelda game where you can actually play the titular character as well as a whole slew of other characters from the franchise such as Agatha the Bug Princess from Twilight Princess, Skull Kid from Majora's Mask and even a new version of Ganondorf himself. Age of Calamity is a bit more restrictive in heroes to choose from but with a much more focused story tied directly to the newest and possibly most popular Zelda game in decades. Age of Calamity is now widely considered to be at least partially canon thanks to the depth of its story and how Nintendo's team worked with Koei Tecmo to ensure the game was as faithful as it could be to Breath of the Wild, right down to helping guide them on level design.

==Major Races==
'''Humans/Hylians:''' Humans are, of course, everywhere in the games. Certain humans are depicted with [[elf]]-like pointy ears; known as ''Hylians'', in universe this is supposed to represent a divinely blessed subrace who have a strong innate connection to the divine, which usually manifests as a greater affinity for magic. Indeed, ''Skyward Sword'' addresses the how the Hylians got their name, basically it meaning "the people of (the Goddess) Hylia." The most famous Hylians are the titular Princess Zelda and Link.

'''Zoras:''' The first non-human race to debut in the series, showing up in the very first game, Zora were originally a race of vaguely [[kappa]]-like fireball-spitting fish people. ''Ocarina of Time'' would reinvent the race with a sleek, gracefully inhuman look and a culture more akin to [[Aquatic Elf|Aquatic Elves]] than anything, making them non-hostile NPCs who the Link of that game actually needs to save from the evils of Ganondorf. This redesign proved really popular, and with the exception of ''A Link Between Worlds'', this has been the portrayal of them used going forward, even if the design has been tweaked and retweaked between editions. Both ''Ocarina of Time'' and ''Breath of the Wild'' introduced Zora waifus for Link, although the latter's Mipha is the only one fans have ever really taken seriously.

'''Gorons:''' The [[Dwarf|dwarves]] of Hyrule, gorons are a race of stone-eating rock-creatures, originally depicted with rounded, boulder-like bodies and spindly limbs, but became somewhat more proportional starting with ''Twilight Princess''. While most of the were shorter than your average human in their debut (barring a couple huge ones), starting in ''Twilight Princess'' your average Goron is much larger than a humans. The Gorons tend to be expert craftsmen in stone and metal, as well as skilled in the use of bombs, and although they are friendly by nature, they're also immensely strong and tough, so they make formidable warriors. Like... well, pretty much every important nonhuman race, they debuted in ''Ocarina of Time''.

'''Gerudo:''' Hyrule's [[Amazon]]s; dark-skinned, red-haired female warriors and thieves who are usually depicted living in the desert (save for those in Termina from ''Majora's Mask'', who are [[pirate]]s instead). Introduced in ''Ocarina of Time'', where they are technically a former enemy nation, but in the present are largely being forced to work against Hyrule by their king, Ganondorf, an evil [[wizard]]-[[thief]] who seeks to conquer the land. After ''Majora's Mask'', where they were straight-up villains, they basically vanished. After a long absence the returned in ''Breath of the Wild'' as a friendly nation of tall, dusky [[musclegirl]]s who make money as honest merchants. While they had rounded ears like humans in their first two appearances, in ''Breath of the Wild'' they sport pointed ears like the Hylians. As an (almost) all-female race they're highly dependent on Hylian males for reproduction; it's implied in Ocarina of Time that these are purely temporary trysts with (hopefully) willing partners, but in Breath of the Wild its more of a Rite of Passage that a Gerudo woman prepares for to go out into the world and find a suitable husband; with Gerudo now openly accepted in Hylian society, its more common to see Gerudo women settle down with families, though most tend to stay within the Gerudo valley rather than take up permanent residence elsewhere. Children are born female all but once every 100 years. When a male Gerudo is born, by law, he will always become their king. Ganondorf is the only male Gerudo we have ever seen.

'''Kokiri:''' Only appearing in ''Ocarina of Time'', the Kokiri are essentially the [[gnome]]s of Hyrule; forest spirits who look like unaging Hylian [[Loli|children]]. They are a MAJOR component to the story of ''Ocarina of Time'' with one Kokiri named Saria in particular being one of the [[Sage|Sages]] needed to help stop Ganondorf. They may or may not be evolved from the Kikwi beings seen in ''Skyward Sword''.

'''Koroks:''' Debuting in ''The Wind Waker'', these small humanoid plants are implied to be the Kokiri, or at least their descendants, who forsook their more humanoid appearance. They've only appeared in ''The Wind Waker'' and ''Breath of the Wild''. They play a major role in ''The Wind Waker'' but the vast majority of their being in ''Breath of the Wild'' is little more than filler content that, once completed entirely, rewards the player with [[What|a stylized golden pile of shit]]. Gotta love that Japanese toilet humor...

'''Rito:''' Another race that debuted in ''The Wind Waker'' before making a surprise return in ''Breath of the Wild'', the Rito are almost different races in each appearance. In ''Wind Waker'', they appear as humans with retractile wings on their arms and beak-like noses, and are implied to be the descendants of the Zora after the fish-people were changed to not be allowed to linger in Hyrule after it was flooded. In ''Breath of the Wild'', they are straight up [[aarakocra|humanoid birds]] and are simply the inhabitants of the cold northern mountain regions, with no connections to the Zora as far as we know.

'''Picori:''' A diminutively-sized (and somewhat rodent-looking but with pointy ears rather than rounded ones) race more commonly known as "the Minish" to Hylians, they were introduced properly in ''The Minish Cap'' though one of their kind (Vaati) was actually introduced in ''Four Swords''. They are a kind and highly magical race who helped the Hylians by crafting magical artifacts in the past. They canonically are the reason Link finds rupees and items when he smashes bottles and cuts grass. The lack of such things in ''Breath of the Wild'' implies Ganon killed them all.

==Major Items==

'''The Triforce:''' An object referenced in nearly every single game, sometimes referring only to one of the three pieces that make up the whole. In any case, the Triforce is the single most powerful artifact in all of Zelda with many games focusing on Ganon trying to get hold of it because it grants whoever possesses it massive amounts of power and a wish. It's been used several times in series as well and each time it's power is truly awe inspiring. Typically it is split into three pieces, each piece also being called a Triforce (a bit confusingly at times, admittedly), each named after a certain aspect of character - Wisdom (most often associated with Princess Zelda), Power (most often associated with Ganon), and Courage (most often associated with Link).

'''The Master Sword:''' Nicknamed "the Sword that Seals the Darkness," this is the most iconic weapon in Zelda and is in nearly every game. Occasionally it's the most powerful sword in the game and other times it's not quite the most powerful and needs to be upgraded. Link usually acquires this ancient and powerful blade between 1/2 and 2/3 of the way through the game. The reason it's so mighty is that it is the sword that needs to be used to kill Ganon most of the time.

'''The Silver Arrows/Light Arrows:''' Depending on the game the name changes but the overall effect is the same - these arrows are incredibly powerful, often able to one-shot nearly every enemy in the game and are used very often in the final boss fight to help stop the big bad of the game who gets wrecked when hit by one.

'''The Sheikah Slate:''' Introduced in Breath of the Wild, this multitool is incredible. It is capable of summoning bombs, freezing objects (and enemies) for short periods of time, conjuring pillars of ice from nearly every watery surface in-game, marking locations on your map, takes pictures, calls a magical and ancient motorcycle, and is also the game's menu screen to access weapons, armor, gear and quest logs.

'''The Ocarina of Time:''' A musical instrument that gives its name to one of the most popular video games of all time. Playing various notes on it can do all sorts of magical effects, time manipulation being merely one of them. Songs can call your horse to you, summon a rainstorm, warp Link to a number of locations on the map, as well as wake up and put people to sleep (depending on game).

'''The Hylian Shield:''' A powerful shield that is almost as iconic to the series as the Master Sword. It was nothing special when it first appeared in Ocarina of Time, Link buys it early in the game and it doesn't burn like his initial wooden shield. Late in game the Mirror Shield replaces it. But since Link is so frequently depicted with this shield in artwork it became an iconic part of his look, so when it reappeared in Twilight Princess it became the best shield (still because it doesn't burn, but Link can reflect stuff with any shield). Skyward Sword started a trend where it became a shield Link has to unlock because it's just that good compared to other shields.

'''Heart Containers:''' Found either complete or in pieces. Complete Heart Containers immediately increase Link's heart count (his health) by one. Pieces of Heart Containers need to be combined in order to increase Link's heart count by one. Usually the pieces are sets of 4 pieces except in Twilight Princess which required 5. Breath of the Wild also opted out of giving heart pieces and only rewards Link 4 Heart Containers through the whole game, instead requiring Link to complete multiple shrine quests to acquire Spirit Orbs which he can then trade in to either increase his heart count or increase his stamina, both requiring 4 Spirit Orbs to do so.

'''Rupees:''' Zelda's main currency through all of the games, these little gems come in a variety of colors, each denoting a different amount it's worth. Almost always green rupees mean only 1, but beyond that it's changed several times through the series. In the original Zelda there were just Rupees worth only 1 or 5, but subsequent games have increased that amount with the most common colors being green, blue, red, silver, gold, purple and orange, with gold or silver usually being the most valuable (typically worth 300). You can almost always find them by killing enemies, cutting grass, breaking pots, opening chests and completing certain quests.

'''Magic Armor:''' While Link's most iconic armor is just a set of green clothes with varying amounts of detail to them (he was designed to look a lot like Peter Pan after all), Magic Armor is probably the best armor in any game, though it usually has a major drawback to it as well, that being rupees. Despite being called "Magic Armor," it's powered by pure energy of money. In Wind Waker you can wear it as much as you want but every time you're hit it depletes your rupee count. In Twilight Princess it also depletes your rupee count if hit, but it also drains it at a rate of 2 rupees per second, meaning it should only ever be worn at the very last moment to stop an attack or else you're going to go broke fast. That said, both armors block 100% of all damage while worn (and powered, in TP's case).

'''The Hookshot/Longshot/Clawshot:''' A fairly simple item in concept, it's effectively a grappling gun which pulls some objects towards Link or pulls link towards an object. Most of these objects are wooden or have a metal mesh, but it can also be used to pull some items or even enemies to Link. ''Twilight Princess'' gave players not one but two Clawshots, allowing Link to jump around more easily in some environments not unlike fucking Spiderman.

'''Masks:''' Depending on the game a mask can have a variety of abilities and powers. Beginning with the Bunny Hood in ''Ocarina of Time'' which does nothing for Link but when traded to one NPC it makes them run like a bat out of hell, most of the masks do nothing and the few that do are fairly minor. The next game, ''Majora's Mask'', made masks vitally important (the Bunny Hood gives him super speed), with some granting Link the ability to transform into another form while most give him new abilities such as literally blowing up (taking damage in the process even). Masks continued to make varied appearances in future games up to even ''Breath of the Wild'' where they are a costume piece that confuses certain enemies depending on the mask worn.

'''Trading Sequence Items:''' These items almost never help link directly, merely being small parts of a semi-long quest in games which will reward Link with something at the end of it with an item that will help him such as a big ass sword or a magnifying lens needed to read one magic book in the game. Most TTRPG Zelda games will omit these unless the GM is a massive prick.

'''Bottles:''' Filled with milk, water, fish, fairies or otherwise, these objects are somewhat notorious in canon since for whatever reason they seem almost indestructible, incapable of breaking and can often be used in place of a sword to smack balls of energy tossed at Link by his foes. That's right, [[What|a little glass bottle is able to tennis whack a fucking lightning ball around like it is nothing.]] Breath of the Wild is the first 3D game to stop using them since what Link carries is only limited by his inventory space.

'''Bombs:''' One Link's most used items, you use them blow open walls or other specific locations meant to be blasted. Sometimes Link gets a type of super powerful bomb that he can only carry one of at a time that is meant to blast open a super tough target. Certain enemies have a vulnerability to bombs that is exploited by throwing the bomb at them or placing it where they will get too close. '''Breath of the Wild''' stopped using traditional bombs, however the The Sheikah Slate has a feature that takes their place where Link creates a bomb. Unlike in older games these don't have fuses and are detonated remotely.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:All_links.jpg|Many of the Links so far (though some are the same)
Image:Almost_all_Zeldas.png|And many Zeldas
</gallery>

[[Category: Video Games]]

The Legend of Zelda

2022-06-28T19:08:09Z

2001:14BA:A439:1500:453A:1339:4598:2C2E: /* Vidya Games */

{{/vg/}}

The Legend of Zelda is a series of adventure games for the Nintendo system. One of the oldest franchises, alongside Super Mario, at least one game has graced every console Nintendo has put out. With its epic landscapes, focus on puzzles, and wide array of [[monster]]s and races, the Zelda series is a goldmine for an enterprising [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[DM]] to draw from for inspiration.

==The Story==
You play as one of the many incarnations of Link, a (typically) green-clad Hylian youth somewhere in between 9 to 18 years of age who sets out to fight evil in order to accomplish some heroic goal, often related to rescuing someone. This most often means Princess Zelda, whom the series is named after. In pursuit of this goal he often clashes with the evil Ganon (or Ganondorf), who wants to rule the world, or some other menace ranging from a jerk wizard who kidnaps girls to a fucking terrifying mask trying to destroy everything.

Central to the series is the Triforce, an artifact of immense power that taps into a user's power, wisdom and courage to use. It has near reality-warping powers in its full form, which is why Ganon(dorf) seeks to obtain it. Link occasionally has to find bits of the shattered Triforce in his quests, or people capable of sealing Ganon(dorf) away. At some point the pieces of the Triforce became sealed within the three main characters, with Ganon(dorf) getting the Triforce of Power, Zelda getting the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link getting (or sometimes having to find) the Triforce of Courage. The Triforce is of such immense value that at one point there was a civil war over who could control it, leading to, in several games, 1) Link's parents being killed and forcing him to live in hiding, 2) a tribe of wizards getting banished into a parallel realm, eagerly waiting for a chance at vengeance, 3) causing the entire Sacred Realm to become a cursed dimension after Ganon succeeds in grabbing it, and probably even more situtations.

Note that it is not always the same Link who appears in the series: while some of them appear in several games as the protagonist (One appears in four games, and three others in two games each) there is often a new Link in every game. And while they look alike, they are not related to one another - except from one case where it is strongly hinted at that they are family (namely the one from Ocarina of Time and the one from Twilight Princess). This is because the games are constantly soft-rebooting (really it's that it takes place over a VERY long stretch of time and each Link is a new reincarnation). Hyrule itself will change too every so often; sometimes it will feature the same familiar geography of Hyrule castle, Death Mountain, Zora Village, etc. And other times it will feature very dramatic changes, such as all of Hyrule being flooded. Even in games where the major land features are present they often get jumbled up and moved around.

The Zeldas on the other hand are related to one another: the first one was the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia and all Zeldas are her descendants, making them the Blood of the Goddess. And while the various Links might not be related they inherit something as well; the Spirit of the Hero which gives them the drive to stand up to evil and use the various tools they find despite them never having used or even seen them before.

The villainous Ganon is the same one over and over again though, being the reincarnation of the [[daemon|demon]] Demise. Occasionally, it's stated he can't truly die; he only ever suffers temporary defeat. Even while he gets killed at the end of some of the games, his followers try to resurrect him (and sometimes even succeed), making him the same guy again and again. Even so, he takes many different forms; early on he's a piggish brute (literally), though later he adopts a more human form (in this form he's always called Ganondorf) when he uses subversion as his main strategy, typically as one of the rare Gerudo males, though he can still be capable of some horrifying shit if he's in possession of the Triforce of Power. Eventually however, he gets sick of this shit and drops all subtlety, turning into an eldritch abomination called "Calamity Ganon" that curses the land of Hyrule itself, resurrecting fallen monsters and seizing control of the kingdom's automaton army. In every single case, his weakness remains the same: only the awakened Master Sword and/or special arrows (Silver Arrows or Light Arrows depending on game)can seal him away.

The fact that the timeline also branches off into multiple paths simply makes it more confusing to keep track of. Fortunately, Nintendo not only printed a game-by-game explanation of the timeline, they also gave a definitive starting-off point in Skyward Sword, taking place just prior to the founding of Hyrule and the establishment of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf as perpetually reincarnating characters.

==Tabletop Games==
Officially, there are no Zelda tabletop games (no, the Zelda version of Monopoly doesn't count). Unofficially, homebrewers have tried their hand at making some. A Legend of Zelda [[D20]] system has been floating around the net for years, and [[/tg/]] has been busily working on a [[Legend of Zelda RPG]] and [[Four-Sworded Adventuring]]. There's also [[Megaton]], which is a wargame set in the Zelda setting.

A more recent fan game that's gained some popularity is ''Reclaim the Wild'' which draws most of it's ideas and setting lore from Breath of the Wild, though with some notable exceptions such as playable Twili characters. The game is a skill-based one, with a number of skills each tied to one of the Triforces (Power, Wisdom and Courage). Completing major tasks such as quests or defeating powerful foes awards the player [[XP|Tokens of Heroism]] they can use to level up these skills or other attributes such as Stamina and Health.

==Vidya Games==

There's been A TON of them, but the one that gives most nostalgia is the first one, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrn8RBxM4W0

All of the games share the same basic gameplay: Link needs to stop Ganon/Ganondorf (or whoever the big bad is supposed to be for the game) by visiting various locations in Hyrule (or wherever the game takes place), collecting various artifacts or rescuing people before finally confronting the main boss. Each location typically has a dungeon that is heavily puzzle-oriented; Link will usually have to fight his way to a mini-boss, which will drop a new gadget that he'll use to complete the dungeon and fight the final boss. Each game will usually also feature an additional gameplay feature unique to the game, whether it's commanding your own little ship, turning into a wolf, or hopping between the real world and a mirror world.

In every game, though, you play Link though, that is the one constant across any of them (except for those creepy Tingle games and the CD-i spinoffs). Even the Hyrule Warriors spinoff games have much of their focus center on Link, though they do allow you to also play other characters as well including fan favorites such as Impa or fan banes such as Tingle.

*'''The Legend of Zelda''' – The game that started it all and introduced many of the ideas the future games would take: Princess Zelda, Ganon, the Triforce, going around and defeating dungeons, things like that. That said, the game is fairly difficult to play due to how cryptic it can be, with secret caves and overly short messages from the handful of NPCs in the game making the game just awkward to play these days.
*'''The Adventure of Link''' – The original black sheep of the series and far more RPG compared to the more action adventure of its predecessor. Is NOTORIOUS for the combat and even more cryptic messages from the NPCs (“I am Error” being the meme probably most well known from this game, an ironic translation error as the NPC should actually be “Errol” and is actually an important NPC in the game).
*'''A Link to the Past''' – This game is what really put Zelda on almost every gamer’s radar. While most can agree the original was a decent start and that even the second game had some good ideas, this game fully embraced its action RPG role and truly established what it was to be a Zelda game – great puzzles, a strong story, and a number of twists that make the game far more expansive than it appears at first glance. Almost every game after this one used it as a basis for how a Zelda game should be, even the 3D ones.
*'''Link’s Awakening''' – When a bunch of game programmers at Nintendo got bored, they decided to make their own Zelda game but for the handheld Gameboy. The higher ups liked the idea so much they gave them a wide berth and the end result is one of the best 2D Zelda games ever to the point it’s been redone twice now (Link’s Awakening DX adding color and a bonus dungeon while the Switch remake overhauled all of the graphics and added just a few quality of life improvements to make it not just a carbon copy). This game actually started the trend where a dungeon has an item you use to clear and beat the boss used in future games, in prior games sometimes a dungeon would have this trait, and sometimes it wouldn't.
:It is also the first Zelda game to have a mysterious and dark undertone to it with the player eventually learning that all the NPCs they’ve been getting to know and care for aren’t even real, just parts of the Wind Fish's dream and that by beating the game and waking up the Wind Fish they will all disappear. Needless to say, it showed that Zelda games could be just as deep and complex on handheld as they were on a regular console.
*'''Ocarina of Time''' – Widely seen by many in the industry as one of (if not THE) greatest game ever made (at least until fairly recently), Ocarina of Time was the franchise’s first attempt at 3D and to say it did it well would be an understatement. Though incredibly similar to A Link to the Past in terms of what the story is (save Zelda, defeat <s>Ganon</s> Ganondorf and acquire the Triforce and Master Sword along the way), it took a major departure in introducing a time travel mechanic (which inadvertently made three timelines for the games to occur in). Introduced concepts and tropes to the series still seen to this day such as the Gorons, Z-targeting and notorious Water Temples. Still well worth going back and playing to this day (though you might want to play the remake on the 3DS for small quality of life improvements).
*'''Majora’s Mask''' – What happens when you get an absolute smash hit of a game and your boss tells you to make a game that is just as good but you’re only given one year to finish it? Well, in most cases you fail miserably, but in this instance it was done phenomenally. Set not in Hyrule but the lands of Termina (only the second time a Zelda game did not take place at least partially in Hyrule), Link must stop the machinations of a crazed Skull Kid who is being warped and manipulated by the titular mysterious ancient mask.
:During the game Link will gather a vast collection of masks, each with their own abilities from making him run faster, helping solve a missing person’s case, and to MAKE HIM THE EMBODIMENT OF A PRIMAL DEITY. Oh, and he has only three in-game days to stop the moon from crashing into Termina and killing everyone, so no pressure. This game is practically a horror story the amount of creepy stuff you come across, albeit one where you play as the hero who ensures a happy ending.
*'''Oracle of Seasons/Ages''' – For the first time, Nintendo gave another company the rights to make a mainline game using the Zelda franchise. The company was Capcom and they were originally told to just remake the original Zelda but they quickly changed those plans to make a trilogy of game. A trilogy proved too much, though, and they pared it back to just two games but made sure the two could interact in specific ways. Seasons focuses more on action, getting Link into melee proving to usually be the best option much of the time, but Ages focuses more on puzzle solving and figuring things out across the map and within dungeons.
:When you complete one game you get a code to take much of your save data to the other. Both games are also set outside of Hyrule, Seasons taking place in Holodrum and Ages in Labrynna. If you do carry your save data over to the second game (doesn’t quite matter which but canonically it is Seasons and then Ages) you unlock the secret true ending and face off against Ganon once again.
*'''Four Swords''' – A quirky co-op game that was on the same cartridge as the Gameboy Advance’s version of A Link to the Past. You and up to three friends have to traverse semi-randomly generated dungeons to eventually fight and defeat a new villain in the franchise named Vaati. Would later get a full sequel.
*'''The Wind Waker''' – Another 3D Zelda game, this time on the Gamecube. At its launch it was received with a very mixed response due to the idea that the game would actually have looked more like a traditional “realistic” fantasy game rather than the rather cartoony cel-shaded one we got with this one. Over time though the game has gotten more positive responses with most agreeing the look helped the game age incredibly well. Its main gimmick this time is that Hyrule is no more, drowned under the waves of the Great Ocean.
:Despite the apocalyptic inundation, Ganondorf is back and ready to find the full Triforce once more so he can attempt to again subjugate the people (though he admittedly has a lot more nuance this game than previously). Link must sail across the ocean and fish up clues (usually quite literally) to help save his sister first and foremost and the world by extension. Oh, and be sure to go home every now and then and make sure your grandma is safe, okay? She even makes you yummy soup.
*'''Four Swords Adventures''' – The sequel to Four Swords on the GBA, this Gamecube game is much the same as the first but with the added function to play solo properly. Once more you must fight Vaati but you also get a shot at fighting Ganon. Despite this the game is still basically just a series of fast dungeon crawls.
*'''The Minish Cap''' – Ever wonder why Link wears a green hat? Well this is the game for you then! Vaati interrupts a festival and ruins everyone’s day and it’s up to Link and his magical talking hat named Ezlo to save the day. The unique gimmick this game is the ability to shrink Link down to miniscule size which has the odd effect that monsters that would typically pose little to no threat to a normal-sized Link are suddenly massive and double as boss fights. Also details the reason why Link always finds money and items when they cut grass and smash bottles – A Picori (a miniscule fairy person) put it there for Link to find! Regarded as one of if not the best handheld Zelda game by most fans.
*'''Twilight Princess''' – After the backlash to The Wind Waker over its cutesy design, Nintendo knew they needed to get in the good graces of fans once more. Twilight Princess went for a more traditional looking Zelda game with a fuck ton of brown and gray smeared over your screen. Link must save his childhood friends with the help of the snarky shadow being named Midna.
:For large parts of the game Link is transformed into a wolf, which no doubt made plenty of furries happy, during which he has several heightened senses and scares the shit out of normal people. Otherwise it’s a typical “go to X dungeon, get Y item and defeat Z boss, then use the new item to help progress to the next dungeon, rinse and repeat.
:The new villain of this game, Zant, is actually just a puppet to a downright menacing Ganondorf (who even temporarily mind-enslaves Zelda). There is a good reason why every Smash game still uses this Ganondorf. While the game was incredibly well received (some fans legit broke down into tears at the announcement), it’s seen some growing resentment over the years over how poorly its aged in terms of looks and how seemingly by-the-books a lot of the game turned out to be. It even has the dungeon boss largely regarded as the easiest in the whole franchise, a giant eel monster thing named Morpheel who basically cannot kill Link and is easily dispatched in just moments.
*'''Phantom Hourglass''' – A sequel to The Wind Waker, it was not very well received for a multitude of reasons, chiefly the absolute shit controls where you’re forced to use the touch screen of the DS for most things in the game, including moving Link around. Has some interesting dungeons but is incredibly clunky and awkward to play.
*'''Spirit Tracks''' – A sequel to Phantom Hourglass, it literally is a railroad game, with Link needing to conduct a train from point A to point B for much of the game. It does however let players play with Zelda though! Kinda. Well, mostly. See, Zelda is basically a ghostlike figure for much of the game and can possess phantoms to help Link solve puzzles and fight enemies.
:While fans were quite happy to finally play with her, the game is viewed as fairly subpar overall due to basically the same mechanics from Phantom Hourglass being in the game as well as the on-the-rails approach to the overworld.
*'''Skyward Sword''' – One of the better Zelda games storywise but with a somewhat awkward control scheme which forces the player to use a Wiimote (the main controller for the Nintendo Wii) to swing a sword and solve certain puzzles, Skyward Sword broke a lot of new ground in terms of story for the Zelda franchise. Among other things it set a new standard for the visuals by combining Twilight Princess's realistic designs with Wind Waker's cel-shaded graphics to give the series a distinct [[anime]] look.
:Canonically the earliest game in the series, it finally tells the story as to why Link wears Green and why so many of the characters always seem to show up in the games and more, namely the feud between an incredibly powerful demon named Demise and humanity’s patron goddess Hylia.
:While many laud it for the deep story and wonderful characters (Groose is one of the best new characters to the franchise, and Fi eventually starts to warm on you), most agree the game was fairly weird to handle due to the forced Wiimote swinging and toggling. The HD remake for the Wii U is much better in that regard but really? Who the fuck even owned a Wii U? Thankfully, Nintendo later released a Switch version which features more traditional controls.
*'''A Link Between Worlds''' – Part sequel and part pseudo-remake of A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds is a rather curious take on the Zelda series. In this game, Link must save Zelda and a number of other Sages from a mysterious villain who is also a painter named <s>Hitler</s> Yuga. In the process Link acquires the ability to merge himself into a wall and take on a stylized painting form and move across certain locations in the overworld and in dungeons in this fashion to solve puzzles and get by enemies. Eventually Link appears in a dark a twisted otherworld version of Hyrule called Lorule (real original, Nintendo) and best dungeons in both realms to save the day.
:Another unique trait of the game is that almost all of the dungeons can be done in whatever order the player chooses, something not seen in quite some time (if ever) in the franchise thanks to the item rental system. No longer do you need to conquer a dungeon or perform some weird trade sequence to acquire the various tools needed to move from one dungeon to the next. Now all you need to do is talk to the guy who suddenly made your house into a shop and rent (and later buy) the items you want/need to deal with the next dungeon of your choosing. Basically took what A Link Between Worlds introduced and made it all better.
*'''Tri Force Heroes''' – Hot garbage that no one played.
*'''Breath of the Wild''' – Probably the most anticipated game of all time (I’m not joking about that either), the game had been hyped by Nintendo for quite some time, with snippets of gameplay released and small nuggets of information slowly leaking out from them about the game. Did not help that the game got delayed multiple times which only drove fans crazy. When it finally released it quickly garnered MASSIVE praise from critics and fans alike, with most agreeing it topped Ocarina of Time as the best Zelda game of all time.
:Players take control of an amnesiac Link who is thrust into a vast and dangerous world and must use their wits and an arcane artifact known as a Sheikah Slate to overcome the odds and eventually defeat the Calamity Ganon. There are only 5 real dungeons in the whole game, over 100 mini dungeons called shrines (though some are barely more than “defeat this one monster” or “walk to this one part of the shrine with no traps or puzzles”, but still there are a fuck ton of them!) as well as hundreds of little side quests and puzzles to ponder over. Or you could just go running naked and armed with just a tree branch to fight Ganon, it’s up to you (no joke, you can get inside the final dungeon right after the start of the game - good luck surviving).
:The world is enormous and is filled to the brim with things to do, sites to see, people to meet, quests to complete and more. It was so successful that Nintendo almost immediately announced a sequel that is currently still in development and which the only information known is that it is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild (set only a few years after BotW it appears) and that some mysterious ghoul-like entity is about to fuck shit up most likely. Oh, and Link appears to get a new hand-based magic power but no one outside of Nintendo really knows what’s up with that.
*'''Hyrule Warriors''' and '''Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity''' - A spinoff series of games by Koei Tecmo and modeled on their Dynasty Warriors games. In the original Hyrule Warriors game, a mysterious sorceress named Cia fucks with all of the timelines (yes, all of them) after getting corrupted by darkness after she starts straight up lusting after all of the Links in the timelines. That's right, she gets so fucking horny for Link's ass she throws all of the timelines out of whack to try to sleep with him.
:Hyrule Warriors, being a Dynasty Warriors clone, has it's main focus be taking control of a unique hero unit (sometimes multiple units to swap between in the various levels) and just demolishing waves of hundreds upon hundreds of enemies with each hero's unique abilities and weapons.
:Age of Calamity steps back from the "all timelines" bit but still fucks with time anyway. See, in Breath of the Wild when Calamity Ganon starts his, well, calamity over Hyrule, a little guardian robot Zelda built as a child wakes up, realizes what is going on and jumps back in time to try and stop it, causing two timelines to form - one where the little robot did nothing because it ran to the past and which is the same timeline Breath of the Wild takes place in, and the other being the one where it shows up and helps rally the Champions of Hyrule (present and future because "fuck how timelines should really work, amirite?") to stop Calamity Ganon.
:The first Hyrule Warriors game has a lot going for it, mostly for being the first (good) Zelda game where you can actually play the titular character as well as a whole slew of other characters from the franchise such as Agatha the Bug Princess from Twilight Princess, Skull Kid from Majora's Mask and even a new version of Ganondorf himself. Age of Calamity is a bit more restrictive in heroes to choose from but with a much more focused story tied directly to the newest and possibly most popular Zelda game in decades. Age of Calamity is now widely considered to be at least partially canon thanks to the depth of its story and how Nintendo's team worked with Koei Tecmo to ensure the game was as faithful as it could be to Breath of the Wild, right down to helping guide them on level design.

==Major Races==
'''Humans/Hylians:''' Humans are, of course, everywhere in the games. Certain humans are depicted with [[elf]]-like pointy ears; known as ''Hylians'', in universe this is supposed to represent a divinely blessed subrace who have a strong innate connection to the divine, which usually manifests as a greater affinity for magic. Indeed, ''Skyward Sword'' addresses the how the Hylians got their name, basically it meaning "the people of (the Goddess) Hylia." The most famous Hylians are the titular Princess Zelda and Link.

'''Zoras:''' The first non-human race to debut in the series, showing up in the very first game, Zora were originally a race of vaguely [[kappa]]-like fireball-spitting fish people. ''Ocarina of Time'' would reinvent the race with a sleek, gracefully inhuman look and a culture more akin to [[Aquatic Elf|Aquatic Elves]] than anything, making them non-hostile NPCs who the Link of that game actually needs to save from the evils of Ganondorf. This redesign proved really popular, and with the exception of ''A Link Between Worlds'', this has been the portrayal of them used going forward, even if the design has been tweaked and retweaked between editions. Both ''Ocarina of Time'' and ''Breath of the Wild'' introduced Zora waifus for Link, although the latter's Mipha is the only one fans have ever really taken seriously.

'''Gorons:''' The [[Dwarf|dwarves]] of Hyrule, gorons are a race of stone-eating rock-creatures, originally depicted with rounded, boulder-like bodies and spindly limbs, but became somewhat more proportional starting with ''Twilight Princess''. While most of the were shorter than your average human in their debut (barring a couple huge ones), starting in ''Twilight Princess'' your average Goron is much larger than a humans. The Gorons tend to be expert craftsmen in stone and metal, as well as skilled in the use of bombs, and although they are friendly by nature, they're also immensely strong and tough, so they make formidable warriors. Like... well, pretty much every important nonhuman race, they debuted in ''Ocarina of Time''.

'''Gerudo:''' Hyrule's [[Amazon]]s; dark-skinned, red-haired female warriors and thieves who are usually depicted living in the desert (save for those in Termina from ''Majora's Mask'', who are [[pirate]]s instead). Introduced in ''Ocarina of Time'', where they are technically a former enemy nation, but in the present are largely being forced to work against Hyrule by their king, Ganondorf, an evil [[wizard]]-[[thief]] who seeks to conquer the land. After ''Majora's Mask'', where they were straight-up villains, they basically vanished. After a long absence the returned in ''Breath of the Wild'' as a friendly nation of tall, dusky [[musclegirl]]s who make money as honest merchants. While they had rounded ears like humans in their first two appearances, in ''Breath of the Wild'' they sport pointed ears like the Hylians. As an (almost) all-female race they're highly dependent on Hylian males for reproduction; it's implied in Ocarina of Time that these are purely temporary trysts with (hopefully) willing partners, but in Breath of the Wild its more of a Rite of Passage that a Gerudo woman prepares for to go out into the world and find a suitable husband; with Gerudo now openly accepted in Hylian society, its more common to see Gerudo women settle down with families, though most tend to stay within the Gerudo valley rather than take up permanent residence elsewhere.

'''Kokiri:''' Only appearing in ''Ocarina of Time'', the Kokiri are essentially the [[gnome]]s of Hyrule; forest spirits who look like unaging Hylian [[Loli|children]]. They are a MAJOR component to the story of ''Ocarina of Time'' with one Kokiri named Saria in particular being one of the [[Sage|Sages]] needed to help stop Ganondorf. They may or may not be evolved from the Kikwi beings seen in ''Skyward Sword''.

'''Koroks:''' Debuting in ''The Wind Waker'', these small humanoid plants are implied to be the Kokiri, or at least their descendants, who forsook their more humanoid appearance. They've only appeared in ''The Wind Waker'' and ''Breath of the Wild''. They play a major role in ''The Wind Waker'' but the vast majority of their being in ''Breath of the Wild'' is little more than filler content that, once completed entirely, rewards the player with [[What|a stylized golden pile of shit]]. Gotta love that Japanese toilet humor...

'''Rito:''' Another race that debuted in ''The Wind Waker'' before making a surprise return in ''Breath of the Wild'', the Rito are almost different races in each appearance. In ''Wind Waker'', they appear as humans with retractile wings on their arms and beak-like noses, and are implied to be the descendants of the Zora after the fish-people were changed to not be allowed to linger in Hyrule after it was flooded. In ''Breath of the Wild'', they are straight up [[aarakocra|humanoid birds]] and are simply the inhabitants of the cold northern mountain regions, with no connections to the Zora as far as we know.

'''Picori:''' A diminutively-sized (and somewhat rodent-looking but with pointy ears rather than rounded ones) race more commonly known as "the Minish" to Hylians, they were introduced properly in ''The Minish Cap'' though one of their kind (Vaati) was actually introduced in ''Four Swords''. They are a kind and highly magical race who helped the Hylians by crafting magical artifacts in the past. They canonically are the reason Link finds rupees and items when he smashes bottles and cuts grass. The lack of such things in ''Breath of the Wild'' implies Ganon killed them all.

==Major Items==

'''The Triforce:''' An object referenced in nearly every single game, sometimes referring only to one of the three pieces that make up the whole. In any case, the Triforce is the single most powerful artifact in all of Zelda with many games focusing on Ganon trying to get hold of it because it grants whoever possesses it massive amounts of power and a wish. It's been used several times in series as well and each time it's power is truly awe inspiring. Typically it is split into three pieces, each piece also being called a Triforce (a bit confusingly at times, admittedly), each named after a certain aspect of character - Wisdom (most often associated with Princess Zelda), Power (most often associated with Ganon), and Courage (most often associated with Link).

'''The Master Sword:''' Nicknamed "the Sword that Seals the Darkness," this is the most iconic weapon in Zelda and is in nearly every game. Occasionally it's the most powerful sword in the game and other times it's not quite the most powerful and needs to be upgraded. Link usually acquires this ancient and powerful blade between 1/2 and 2/3 of the way through the game. The reason it's so mighty is that it is the sword that needs to be used to kill Ganon most of the time.

'''The Silver Arrows/Light Arrows:''' Depending on the game the name changes but the overall effect is the same - these arrows are incredibly powerful, often able to one-shot nearly every enemy in the game and are used very often in the final boss fight to help stop the big bad of the game who gets wrecked when hit by one.

'''The Sheikah Slate:''' Introduced in Breath of the Wild, this multitool is incredible. It is capable of summoning bombs, freezing objects (and enemies) for short periods of time, conjuring pillars of ice from nearly every watery surface in-game, marking locations on your map, takes pictures, calls a magical and ancient motorcycle, and is also the game's menu screen to access weapons, armor, gear and quest logs.

'''The Ocarina of Time:''' A musical instrument that gives its name to one of the most popular video games of all time. Playing various notes on it can do all sorts of magical effects, time manipulation being merely one of them. Songs can call your horse to you, summon a rainstorm, warp Link to a number of locations on the map, as well as wake up and put people to sleep (depending on game).

'''The Hylian Shield:''' A powerful shield that is almost as iconic to the series as the Master Sword. It was nothing special when it first appeared in Ocarina of Time, Link buys it early in the game and it doesn't burn like his initial wooden shield. Late in game the Mirror Shield replaces it. But since Link is so frequently depicted with this shield in artwork it became an iconic part of his look, so when it reappeared in Twilight Princess it became the best shield (still because it doesn't burn, but Link can reflect stuff with any shield). Skyward Sword started a trend where it became a shield Link has to unlock because it's just that good compared to other shields.

'''Heart Containers:''' Found either complete or in pieces. Complete Heart Containers immediately increase Link's heart count (his health) by one. Pieces of Heart Containers need to be combined in order to increase Link's heart count by one. Usually the pieces are sets of 4 pieces except in Twilight Princess which required 5. Breath of the Wild also opted out of giving heart pieces and only rewards Link 4 Heart Containers through the whole game, instead requiring Link to complete multiple shrine quests to acquire Spirit Orbs which he can then trade in to either increase his heart count or increase his stamina, both requiring 4 Spirit Orbs to do so.

'''Rupees:''' Zelda's main currency through all of the games, these little gems come in a variety of colors, each denoting a different amount it's worth. Almost always green rupees mean only 1, but beyond that it's changed several times through the series. In the original Zelda there were just Rupees worth only 1 or 5, but subsequent games have increased that amount with the most common colors being green, blue, red, silver, gold, purple and orange, with gold or silver usually being the most valuable (typically worth 300). You can almost always find them by killing enemies, cutting grass, breaking pots, opening chests and completing certain quests.

'''Magic Armor:''' While Link's most iconic armor is just a set of green clothes with varying amounts of detail to them (he was designed to look a lot like Peter Pan after all), Magic Armor is probably the best armor in any game, though it usually has a major drawback to it as well, that being rupees. Despite being called "Magic Armor," it's powered by pure energy of money. In Wind Waker you can wear it as much as you want but every time you're hit it depletes your rupee count. In Twilight Princess it also depletes your rupee count if hit, but it also drains it at a rate of 2 rupees per second, meaning it should only ever be worn at the very last moment to stop an attack or else you're going to go broke fast. That said, both armors block 100% of all damage while worn (and powered, in TP's case).

'''The Hookshot/Longshot/Clawshot:''' A fairly simple item in concept, it's effectively a grappling gun which pulls some objects towards Link or pulls link towards an object. Most of these objects are wooden or have a metal mesh, but it can also be used to pull some items or even enemies to Link. ''Twilight Princess'' gave players not one but two Clawshots, allowing Link to jump around more easily in some environments not unlike fucking Spiderman.

'''Masks:''' Depending on the game a mask can have a variety of abilities and powers. Beginning with the Bunny Hood in ''Ocarina of Time'' which does nothing for Link but when traded to one NPC it makes them run like a bat out of hell, most of the masks do nothing and the few that do are fairly minor. The next game, ''Majora's Mask'', made masks vitally important (the Bunny Hood gives him super speed), with some granting Link the ability to transform into another form while most give him new abilities such as literally blowing up (taking damage in the process even). Masks continued to make varied appearances in future games up to even ''Breath of the Wild'' where they are a costume piece that confuses certain enemies depending on the mask worn.

'''Trading Sequence Items:''' These items almost never help link directly, merely being small parts of a semi-long quest in games which will reward Link with something at the end of it with an item that will help him such as a big ass sword or a magnifying lens needed to read one magic book in the game. Most TTRPG Zelda games will omit these unless the GM is a massive prick.

'''Bottles:''' Filled with milk, water, fish, fairies or otherwise, these objects are somewhat notorious in canon since for whatever reason they seem almost indestructible, incapable of breaking and can often be used in place of a sword to smack balls of energy tossed at Link by his foes. That's right, [[What|a little glass bottle is able to tennis whack a fucking lightning ball around like it is nothing.]] Breath of the Wild is the first 3D game to stop using them since what Link carries is only limited by his inventory space.

'''Bombs:''' One Link's most used items, you use them blow open walls or other specific locations meant to be blasted. Sometimes Link gets a type of super powerful bomb that he can only carry one of at a time that is meant to blast open a super tough target. Certain enemies have a vulnerability to bombs that is exploited by throwing the bomb at them or placing it where they will get too close. '''Breath of the Wild''' stopped using traditional bombs, however the The Sheikah Slate has a feature that takes their place where Link creates a bomb. Unlike in older games these don't have fuses and are detonated remotely.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:All_links.jpg|Many of the Links so far (though some are the same)
Image:Almost_all_Zeldas.png|And many Zeldas
</gallery>

[[Category: Video Games]]

The Legend of Zelda

2022-06-28T19:05:08Z

2001:14BA:A439:1500:453A:1339:4598:2C2E: /* Vidya Games */

{{/vg/}}

The Legend of Zelda is a series of adventure games for the Nintendo system. One of the oldest franchises, alongside Super Mario, at least one game has graced every console Nintendo has put out. With its epic landscapes, focus on puzzles, and wide array of [[monster]]s and races, the Zelda series is a goldmine for an enterprising [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[DM]] to draw from for inspiration.

==The Story==
You play as one of the many incarnations of Link, a (typically) green-clad Hylian youth somewhere in between 9 to 18 years of age who sets out to fight evil in order to accomplish some heroic goal, often related to rescuing someone. This most often means Princess Zelda, whom the series is named after. In pursuit of this goal he often clashes with the evil Ganon (or Ganondorf), who wants to rule the world, or some other menace ranging from a jerk wizard who kidnaps girls to a fucking terrifying mask trying to destroy everything.

Central to the series is the Triforce, an artifact of immense power that taps into a user's power, wisdom and courage to use. It has near reality-warping powers in its full form, which is why Ganon(dorf) seeks to obtain it. Link occasionally has to find bits of the shattered Triforce in his quests, or people capable of sealing Ganon(dorf) away. At some point the pieces of the Triforce became sealed within the three main characters, with Ganon(dorf) getting the Triforce of Power, Zelda getting the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link getting (or sometimes having to find) the Triforce of Courage. The Triforce is of such immense value that at one point there was a civil war over who could control it, leading to, in several games, 1) Link's parents being killed and forcing him to live in hiding, 2) a tribe of wizards getting banished into a parallel realm, eagerly waiting for a chance at vengeance, 3) causing the entire Sacred Realm to become a cursed dimension after Ganon succeeds in grabbing it, and probably even more situtations.

Note that it is not always the same Link who appears in the series: while some of them appear in several games as the protagonist (One appears in four games, and three others in two games each) there is often a new Link in every game. And while they look alike, they are not related to one another - except from one case where it is strongly hinted at that they are family (namely the one from Ocarina of Time and the one from Twilight Princess). This is because the games are constantly soft-rebooting (really it's that it takes place over a VERY long stretch of time and each Link is a new reincarnation). Hyrule itself will change too every so often; sometimes it will feature the same familiar geography of Hyrule castle, Death Mountain, Zora Village, etc. And other times it will feature very dramatic changes, such as all of Hyrule being flooded. Even in games where the major land features are present they often get jumbled up and moved around.

The Zeldas on the other hand are related to one another: the first one was the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia and all Zeldas are her descendants, making them the Blood of the Goddess. And while the various Links might not be related they inherit something as well; the Spirit of the Hero which gives them the drive to stand up to evil and use the various tools they find despite them never having used or even seen them before.

The villainous Ganon is the same one over and over again though, being the reincarnation of the [[daemon|demon]] Demise. Occasionally, it's stated he can't truly die; he only ever suffers temporary defeat. Even while he gets killed at the end of some of the games, his followers try to resurrect him (and sometimes even succeed), making him the same guy again and again. Even so, he takes many different forms; early on he's a piggish brute (literally), though later he adopts a more human form (in this form he's always called Ganondorf) when he uses subversion as his main strategy, typically as one of the rare Gerudo males, though he can still be capable of some horrifying shit if he's in possession of the Triforce of Power. Eventually however, he gets sick of this shit and drops all subtlety, turning into an eldritch abomination called "Calamity Ganon" that curses the land of Hyrule itself, resurrecting fallen monsters and seizing control of the kingdom's automaton army. In every single case, his weakness remains the same: only the awakened Master Sword and/or special arrows (Silver Arrows or Light Arrows depending on game)can seal him away.

The fact that the timeline also branches off into multiple paths simply makes it more confusing to keep track of. Fortunately, Nintendo not only printed a game-by-game explanation of the timeline, they also gave a definitive starting-off point in Skyward Sword, taking place just prior to the founding of Hyrule and the establishment of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf as perpetually reincarnating characters.

==Tabletop Games==
Officially, there are no Zelda tabletop games (no, the Zelda version of Monopoly doesn't count). Unofficially, homebrewers have tried their hand at making some. A Legend of Zelda [[D20]] system has been floating around the net for years, and [[/tg/]] has been busily working on a [[Legend of Zelda RPG]] and [[Four-Sworded Adventuring]]. There's also [[Megaton]], which is a wargame set in the Zelda setting.

A more recent fan game that's gained some popularity is ''Reclaim the Wild'' which draws most of it's ideas and setting lore from Breath of the Wild, though with some notable exceptions such as playable Twili characters. The game is a skill-based one, with a number of skills each tied to one of the Triforces (Power, Wisdom and Courage). Completing major tasks such as quests or defeating powerful foes awards the player [[XP|Tokens of Heroism]] they can use to level up these skills or other attributes such as Stamina and Health.

==Vidya Games==

There's been A TON of them, but the one that gives most nostalgia is the first one, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrn8RBxM4W0

All of the games share the same basic gameplay: Link needs to stop Ganon/Ganondorf (or whoever the big bad is supposed to be for the game) by visiting various locations in Hyrule (or wherever the game takes place), collecting various artifacts or rescuing people before finally confronting the main boss. Each location typically has a dungeon that is heavily puzzle-oriented; Link will usually have to fight his way to a mini-boss, which will drop a new gadget that he'll use to complete the dungeon and fight the final boss. Each game will usually also feature an additional gameplay feature unique to the game, whether it's commanding your own little ship, turning into a wolf, or hopping between the real world and a mirror world.

In every game, though, you play Link though, that is the one constant across any of them (except for those creepy Tingle games and the CD-i spinoffs). Even the Hyrule Warriors spinoff games have much of their focus center on Link, though they do allow you to also play other characters as well including fan favorites such as Impa or fan banes such as Tingle.

*'''The Legend of Zelda''' – The game that started it all and introduced many of the ideas the future games would take: Princess Zelda, Ganon, the Triforce, going around and defeating dungeons, things like that. That said, the game is fairly difficult to play due to how cryptic it can be, with secret caves and overly short messages from the handful of NPCs in the game making the game just awkward to play these days.
*'''The Adventure of Link''' – The original black sheep of the series and far more RPG compared to the more action adventure of its predecessor. Is NOTORIOUS for the combat and even more cryptic messages from the NPCs (“I am Error” being the meme probably most well known from this game, an ironic translation error as the NPC should actually be “Errol” and is actually an important NPC in the game).
*'''A Link to the Past''' – This game is what really put Zelda on almost every gamer’s radar. While most can agree the original was a decent start and that even the second game had some good ideas, this game fully embraced its action RPG role and truly established what it was to be a Zelda game – great puzzles, a strong story, and a number of twists that make the game far more expansive than it appears at first glance. Almost every game after this one used it as a basis for how a Zelda game should be, even the 3D ones.
*'''Link’s Awakening''' – When a bunch of game programmers at Nintendo got bored, they decided to make their own Zelda game but for the handheld Gameboy. The higher ups liked the idea so much they gave them a wide berth and the end result is one of the best 2D Zelda games ever to the point it’s been redone twice now (Link’s Awakening DX adding color and a bonus dungeon while the Switch remake overhauled all of the graphics and added just a few quality of life improvements to make it not just a carbon copy). This game actually started the trend where a dungeon has an item you use to clear and beat the boss used in future games, in prior games sometimes a dungeon would have this trait, and sometimes it wouldn't.
:It is also the first Zelda game to have a mysterious and dark undertone to it with the player eventually learning that all the NPCs they’ve been getting to know and care for aren’t even real, just parts of the Wind Fish's dream and that by beating the game and waking up the Wind Fish they will all disappear. Needless to say, it showed that Zelda games could be just as deep and complex on handheld as they were on a regular console.
*'''Ocarina of Time''' – Widely seen by many in the industry as one of (if not THE) greatest game ever made (at least until fairly recently), Ocarina of Time was the franchise’s first attempt at 3D and to say it did it well would be an understatement. Though incredibly similar to A Link to the Past in terms of what the story is (save Zelda, defeat <s>Ganon</s> Ganondorf and acquire the Triforce and Master Sword along the way), it took a major departure in introducing a time travel mechanic (which inadvertently made three timelines for the games to occur in). Introduced concepts and tropes to the series still seen to this day such as the Gorons, Z-targeting and notorious Water Temples. Still well worth going back and playing to this day (though you might want to play the remake on the 3DS for small quality of life improvements).
*'''Majora’s Mask''' – What happens when you get an absolute smash hit of a game and your boss tells you to make a game that is just as good but you’re only given one year to finish it? Well, in most cases you fail miserably, but in this instance it was done phenomenally. Set not in Hyrule but the lands of Termina (only the second time a Zelda game did not take place at least partially in Hyrule), Link must stop the machinations of a crazed Skull Kid who is being warped and manipulated by the titular mysterious ancient mask.
:During the game Link will gather a vast collection of masks, each with their own abilities from making him run faster, helping solve a missing person’s case, and to MAKE HIM THE EMBODIMENT OF A PRIMAL DEITY. Oh, and he has only three in-game days to stop the moon from crashing into Termina and killing everyone, so no pressure. This game is practically a horror story the amount of creepy stuff you come across, albeit one where you play as the hero who ensures a happy ending.
*'''Oracle of Seasons/Ages''' – For the first time, Nintendo gave another company the rights to make a mainline game using the Zelda franchise. The company was Capcom and they were originally told to just remake the original Zelda but they quickly changed those plans to make a trilogy of game. A trilogy proved too much, though, and they pared it back to just two games but made sure the two could interact in specific ways. Seasons focuses more on action, getting Link into melee proving to usually be the best option much of the time, but Ages focuses more on puzzle solving and figuring things out across the map and within dungeons.
:When you complete one game you get a code to take much of your save data to the other. Both games are also set outside of Hyrule, Seasons taking place in Holodrum and Ages in Labrynna. If you do carry your save data over to the second game (doesn’t quite matter which but canonically it is Seasons and then Ages) you unlock the secret true ending and face off against Ganon once again.
*'''Four Swords''' – A quirky co-op game that was on the same cartridge as the Gameboy Advance’s version of A Link to the Past. You and up to three friends have to traverse semi-randomly generated dungeons to eventually fight and defeat a new villain in the franchise named Vaati. Would later get a full sequel.
*'''The Wind Waker''' – Another 3D Zelda game, this time on the Gamecube. At its launch it was received with a very mixed response due to the idea that the game would actually have looked more like a traditional “realistic” fantasy game rather than the rather cartoony cel-shaded one we got with this one. Over time though the game has gotten more positive responses with most agreeing the look helped the game age incredibly well. Its main gimmick this time is that Hyrule is no more, drowned under the waves of the Great Ocean.
:Despite the apocalyptic inundation, Ganondorf is back and ready to find the full Triforce once more so he can attempt to again subjugate the people (though he admittedly has a lot more nuance this game than previously). Link must sail across the ocean and fish up clues (usually quite literally) to help save his sister first and foremost and the world by extension. Oh, and be sure to go home every now and then and make sure your grandma is safe, okay? She even makes you yummy soup.
*'''Four Swords Adventures''' – The sequel to Four Swords on the GBA, this Gamecube game is much the same as the first but with the added function to play solo properly. Once more you must fight Vaati but you also get a shot at fighting Ganon. Despite this the game is still basically just a series of fast dungeon crawls.
*'''The Minish Cap''' – Ever wonder why Link wears a green hat? Well this is the game for you then! Vaati interrupts a festival and ruins everyone’s day and it’s up to Link and his magical talking hat named Ezlo to save the day. The unique gimmick this game is the ability to shrink Link down to miniscule size which has the odd effect that monsters that would typically pose little to no threat to a normal-sized Link are suddenly massive and double as boss fights. Also details the reason why Link always finds money and items when they cut grass and smash bottles – A Picori (a miniscule fairy person) put it there for Link to find! Regarded as one of if not the best handheld Zelda game by most fans.
*'''Twilight Princess''' – After the backlash to The Wind Waker over its cutesy design, Nintendo knew they needed to get in the good graces of fans once more. Twilight Princess went for a more traditional looking Zelda game with a fuck ton of brown and gray smeared over your screen. Link must save his childhood friends with the help of the snarky shadow being named Midna.
:For large parts of the game Link is transformed into a wolf, which no doubt made plenty of furries happy, during which he has several heightened senses and scares the shit out of normal people. Otherwise it’s a typical “go to X dungeon, get Y item and defeat Z boss, then use the new item to help progress to the next dungeon, rinse and repeat.
:The new villain of this game, Zant, is actually just a puppet to a downright menacing Ganondorf (who even temporarily mind-enslaves Zelda). There is a good reason why every Smash game still uses this Ganondorf. While the game was incredibly well received (some fans legit broke down into tears at the announcement), it’s seen some growing resentment over the years over how poorly its aged in terms of looks and how seemingly by-the-books a lot of the game turned out to be. It even has the dungeon boss largely regarded as the easiest in the whole franchise, a giant eel monster thing named Morpheel who basically cannot kill Link and is easily dispatched in just moments.
*'''Phantom Hourglass''' – A sequel to The Wind Waker, it was not very well received for a multitude of reasons, chiefly the absolute shit controls where you’re forced to use the touch screen of the DS for most things in the game, including moving Link around. Has some interesting dungeons but is incredibly clunky and awkward to play.
*'''Spirit Tracks''' – A sequel to Phantom Hourglass, it literally is a railroad game, with Link needing to conduct a train from point A to point B for much of the game. It does however let players play with Zelda though! Kinda. Well, mostly. See, Zelda is basically a ghostlike figure for much of the game and can possess phantoms to help Link solve puzzles and fight enemies.
:While fans were quite happy to finally play with her, the game is viewed as fairly subpar overall due to basically the same mechanics from Phantom Hourglass being in the game as well as the on-the-rails approach to the overworld.
*'''Skyward Sword''' – One of the better Zelda games storywise but with a somewhat awkward control scheme which forces the player to use a Wiimote (the main controller for the Nintendo Wii) to swing a sword and solve certain puzzles, Skyward Sword broke a lot of new ground in terms of story for the Zelda franchise. Among other things it set a new standard for the visuals by combining Twilight Princess's realistic designs with Wind Waker's cel-shaded graphics to give the series a distinct [[anime]] look.
:Canonically the earliest game in the series, it finally tells the story as to why Link wears Green and why so many of the characters always seem to show up in the games and more, namely the feud between an incredibly powerful demon named Demise and humanity’s patron goddess Hylia.
:While many laud it for the deep story and wonderful characters (Groose is one of the best new characters to the franchise, and Fi eventually starts to warm on you), most agree the game was fairly weird to handle due to the forced Wiimote swinging and toggling. The HD remake for the Wii U is much better in that regard but really? Who the fuck even owned a Wii U?
*'''A Link Between Worlds''' – Part sequel and part pseudo-remake of A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds is a rather curious take on the Zelda series. In this game, Link must save Zelda and a number of other Sages from a mysterious villain who is also a painter named <s>Hitler</s> Yuga. In the process Link acquires the ability to merge himself into a wall and take on a stylized painting form and move across certain locations in the overworld and in dungeons in this fashion to solve puzzles and get by enemies. Eventually Link appears in a dark a twisted otherworld version of Hyrule called Lorule (real original, Nintendo) and best dungeons in both realms to save the day.
:Another unique trait of the game is that almost all of the dungeons can be done in whatever order the player chooses, something not seen in quite some time (if ever) in the franchise thanks to the item rental system. No longer do you need to conquer a dungeon or perform some weird trade sequence to acquire the various tools needed to move from one dungeon to the next. Now all you need to do is talk to the guy who suddenly made your house into a shop and rent (and later buy) the items you want/need to deal with the next dungeon of your choosing. Basically took what A Link Between Worlds introduced and made it all better.
*'''Tri Force Heroes''' – Hot garbage that no one played.
*'''Breath of the Wild''' – Probably the most anticipated game of all time (I’m not joking about that either), the game had been hyped by Nintendo for quite some time, with snippets of gameplay released and small nuggets of information slowly leaking out from them about the game. Did not help that the game got delayed multiple times which only drove fans crazy. When it finally released it quickly garnered MASSIVE praise from critics and fans alike, with most agreeing it topped Ocarina of Time as the best Zelda game of all time.
:Players take control of an amnesiac Link who is thrust into a vast and dangerous world and must use their wits and an arcane artifact known as a Sheikah Slate to overcome the odds and eventually defeat the Calamity Ganon. There are only 5 real dungeons in the whole game, over 100 mini dungeons called shrines (though some are barely more than “defeat this one monster” or “walk to this one part of the shrine with no traps or puzzles”, but still there are a fuck ton of them!) as well as hundreds of little side quests and puzzles to ponder over. Or you could just go running naked and armed with just a tree branch to fight Ganon, it’s up to you (no joke, you can get inside the final dungeon right after the start of the game - good luck surviving).
:The world is enormous and is filled to the brim with things to do, sites to see, people to meet, quests to complete and more. It was so successful that Nintendo almost immediately announced a sequel that is currently still in development and which the only information known is that it is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild (set only a few years after BotW it appears) and that some mysterious ghoul-like entity is about to fuck shit up most likely. Oh, and Link appears to get a new hand-based magic power but no one outside of Nintendo really knows what’s up with that.
*'''Hyrule Warriors''' and '''Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity''' - A spinoff series of games by Koei Tecmo and modeled on their Dynasty Warriors games. In the original Hyrule Warriors game, a mysterious sorceress named Cia fucks with all of the timelines (yes, all of them) after getting corrupted by darkness after she starts straight up lusting after all of the Links in the timelines. That's right, she gets so fucking horny for Link's ass she throws all of the timelines out of whack to try to sleep with him.
:Hyrule Warriors, being a Dynasty Warriors clone, has it's main focus be taking control of a unique hero unit (sometimes multiple units to swap between in the various levels) and just demolishing waves of hundreds upon hundreds of enemies with each hero's unique abilities and weapons.
:Age of Calamity steps back from the "all timelines" bit but still fucks with time anyway. See, in Breath of the Wild when Calamity Ganon starts his, well, calamity over Hyrule, a little guardian robot Zelda built as a child wakes up, realizes what is going on and jumps back in time to try and stop it, causing two timelines to form - one where the little robot did nothing because it ran to the past and which is the same timeline Breath of the Wild takes place in, and the other being the one where it shows up and helps rally the Champions of Hyrule (present and future because "fuck how timelines should really work, amirite?") to stop Calamity Ganon.
:The first Hyrule Warriors game has a lot going for it, mostly for being the first (good) Zelda game where you can actually play the titular character as well as a whole slew of other characters from the franchise such as Agatha the Bug Princess from Twilight Princess, Skull Kid from Majora's Mask and even a new version of Ganondorf himself. Age of Calamity is a bit more restrictive in heroes to choose from but with a much more focused story tied directly to the newest and possibly most popular Zelda game in decades. Age of Calamity is now widely considered to be at least partially canon thanks to the depth of its story and how Nintendo's team worked with Koei Tecmo to ensure the game was as faithful as it could be to Breath of the Wild, right down to helping guide them on level design.

==Major Races==
'''Humans/Hylians:''' Humans are, of course, everywhere in the games. Certain humans are depicted with [[elf]]-like pointy ears; known as ''Hylians'', in universe this is supposed to represent a divinely blessed subrace who have a strong innate connection to the divine, which usually manifests as a greater affinity for magic. Indeed, ''Skyward Sword'' addresses the how the Hylians got their name, basically it meaning "the people of (the Goddess) Hylia." The most famous Hylians are the titular Princess Zelda and Link.

'''Zoras:''' The first non-human race to debut in the series, showing up in the very first game, Zora were originally a race of vaguely [[kappa]]-like fireball-spitting fish people. ''Ocarina of Time'' would reinvent the race with a sleek, gracefully inhuman look and a culture more akin to [[Aquatic Elf|Aquatic Elves]] than anything, making them non-hostile NPCs who the Link of that game actually needs to save from the evils of Ganondorf. This redesign proved really popular, and with the exception of ''A Link Between Worlds'', this has been the portrayal of them used going forward, even if the design has been tweaked and retweaked between editions. Both ''Ocarina of Time'' and ''Breath of the Wild'' introduced Zora waifus for Link, although the latter's Mipha is the only one fans have ever really taken seriously.

'''Gorons:''' The [[Dwarf|dwarves]] of Hyrule, gorons are a race of stone-eating rock-creatures, originally depicted with rounded, boulder-like bodies and spindly limbs, but became somewhat more proportional starting with ''Twilight Princess''. While most of the were shorter than your average human in their debut (barring a couple huge ones), starting in ''Twilight Princess'' your average Goron is much larger than a humans. The Gorons tend to be expert craftsmen in stone and metal, as well as skilled in the use of bombs, and although they are friendly by nature, they're also immensely strong and tough, so they make formidable warriors. Like... well, pretty much every important nonhuman race, they debuted in ''Ocarina of Time''.

'''Gerudo:''' Hyrule's [[Amazon]]s; dark-skinned, red-haired female warriors and thieves who are usually depicted living in the desert (save for those in Termina from ''Majora's Mask'', who are [[pirate]]s instead). Introduced in ''Ocarina of Time'', where they are technically a former enemy nation, but in the present are largely being forced to work against Hyrule by their king, Ganondorf, an evil [[wizard]]-[[thief]] who seeks to conquer the land. After ''Majora's Mask'', where they were straight-up villains, they basically vanished. After a long absence the returned in ''Breath of the Wild'' as a friendly nation of tall, dusky [[musclegirl]]s who make money as honest merchants. While they had rounded ears like humans in their first two appearances, in ''Breath of the Wild'' they sport pointed ears like the Hylians. As an (almost) all-female race they're highly dependent on Hylian males for reproduction; it's implied in Ocarina of Time that these are purely temporary trysts with (hopefully) willing partners, but in Breath of the Wild its more of a Rite of Passage that a Gerudo woman prepares for to go out into the world and find a suitable husband; with Gerudo now openly accepted in Hylian society, its more common to see Gerudo women settle down with families, though most tend to stay within the Gerudo valley rather than take up permanent residence elsewhere.

'''Kokiri:''' Only appearing in ''Ocarina of Time'', the Kokiri are essentially the [[gnome]]s of Hyrule; forest spirits who look like unaging Hylian [[Loli|children]]. They are a MAJOR component to the story of ''Ocarina of Time'' with one Kokiri named Saria in particular being one of the [[Sage|Sages]] needed to help stop Ganondorf. They may or may not be evolved from the Kikwi beings seen in ''Skyward Sword''.

'''Koroks:''' Debuting in ''The Wind Waker'', these small humanoid plants are implied to be the Kokiri, or at least their descendants, who forsook their more humanoid appearance. They've only appeared in ''The Wind Waker'' and ''Breath of the Wild''. They play a major role in ''The Wind Waker'' but the vast majority of their being in ''Breath of the Wild'' is little more than filler content that, once completed entirely, rewards the player with [[What|a stylized golden pile of shit]]. Gotta love that Japanese toilet humor...

'''Rito:''' Another race that debuted in ''The Wind Waker'' before making a surprise return in ''Breath of the Wild'', the Rito are almost different races in each appearance. In ''Wind Waker'', they appear as humans with retractile wings on their arms and beak-like noses, and are implied to be the descendants of the Zora after the fish-people were changed to not be allowed to linger in Hyrule after it was flooded. In ''Breath of the Wild'', they are straight up [[aarakocra|humanoid birds]] and are simply the inhabitants of the cold northern mountain regions, with no connections to the Zora as far as we know.

'''Picori:''' A diminutively-sized (and somewhat rodent-looking but with pointy ears rather than rounded ones) race more commonly known as "the Minish" to Hylians, they were introduced properly in ''The Minish Cap'' though one of their kind (Vaati) was actually introduced in ''Four Swords''. They are a kind and highly magical race who helped the Hylians by crafting magical artifacts in the past. They canonically are the reason Link finds rupees and items when he smashes bottles and cuts grass. The lack of such things in ''Breath of the Wild'' implies Ganon killed them all.

==Major Items==

'''The Triforce:''' An object referenced in nearly every single game, sometimes referring only to one of the three pieces that make up the whole. In any case, the Triforce is the single most powerful artifact in all of Zelda with many games focusing on Ganon trying to get hold of it because it grants whoever possesses it massive amounts of power and a wish. It's been used several times in series as well and each time it's power is truly awe inspiring. Typically it is split into three pieces, each piece also being called a Triforce (a bit confusingly at times, admittedly), each named after a certain aspect of character - Wisdom (most often associated with Princess Zelda), Power (most often associated with Ganon), and Courage (most often associated with Link).

'''The Master Sword:''' Nicknamed "the Sword that Seals the Darkness," this is the most iconic weapon in Zelda and is in nearly every game. Occasionally it's the most powerful sword in the game and other times it's not quite the most powerful and needs to be upgraded. Link usually acquires this ancient and powerful blade between 1/2 and 2/3 of the way through the game. The reason it's so mighty is that it is the sword that needs to be used to kill Ganon most of the time.

'''The Silver Arrows/Light Arrows:''' Depending on the game the name changes but the overall effect is the same - these arrows are incredibly powerful, often able to one-shot nearly every enemy in the game and are used very often in the final boss fight to help stop the big bad of the game who gets wrecked when hit by one.

'''The Sheikah Slate:''' Introduced in Breath of the Wild, this multitool is incredible. It is capable of summoning bombs, freezing objects (and enemies) for short periods of time, conjuring pillars of ice from nearly every watery surface in-game, marking locations on your map, takes pictures, calls a magical and ancient motorcycle, and is also the game's menu screen to access weapons, armor, gear and quest logs.

'''The Ocarina of Time:''' A musical instrument that gives its name to one of the most popular video games of all time. Playing various notes on it can do all sorts of magical effects, time manipulation being merely one of them. Songs can call your horse to you, summon a rainstorm, warp Link to a number of locations on the map, as well as wake up and put people to sleep (depending on game).

'''The Hylian Shield:''' A powerful shield that is almost as iconic to the series as the Master Sword. It was nothing special when it first appeared in Ocarina of Time, Link buys it early in the game and it doesn't burn like his initial wooden shield. Late in game the Mirror Shield replaces it. But since Link is so frequently depicted with this shield in artwork it became an iconic part of his look, so when it reappeared in Twilight Princess it became the best shield (still because it doesn't burn, but Link can reflect stuff with any shield). Skyward Sword started a trend where it became a shield Link has to unlock because it's just that good compared to other shields.

'''Heart Containers:''' Found either complete or in pieces. Complete Heart Containers immediately increase Link's heart count (his health) by one. Pieces of Heart Containers need to be combined in order to increase Link's heart count by one. Usually the pieces are sets of 4 pieces except in Twilight Princess which required 5. Breath of the Wild also opted out of giving heart pieces and only rewards Link 4 Heart Containers through the whole game, instead requiring Link to complete multiple shrine quests to acquire Spirit Orbs which he can then trade in to either increase his heart count or increase his stamina, both requiring 4 Spirit Orbs to do so.

'''Rupees:''' Zelda's main currency through all of the games, these little gems come in a variety of colors, each denoting a different amount it's worth. Almost always green rupees mean only 1, but beyond that it's changed several times through the series. In the original Zelda there were just Rupees worth only 1 or 5, but subsequent games have increased that amount with the most common colors being green, blue, red, silver, gold, purple and orange, with gold or silver usually being the most valuable (typically worth 300). You can almost always find them by killing enemies, cutting grass, breaking pots, opening chests and completing certain quests.

'''Magic Armor:''' While Link's most iconic armor is just a set of green clothes with varying amounts of detail to them (he was designed to look a lot like Peter Pan after all), Magic Armor is probably the best armor in any game, though it usually has a major drawback to it as well, that being rupees. Despite being called "Magic Armor," it's powered by pure energy of money. In Wind Waker you can wear it as much as you want but every time you're hit it depletes your rupee count. In Twilight Princess it also depletes your rupee count if hit, but it also drains it at a rate of 2 rupees per second, meaning it should only ever be worn at the very last moment to stop an attack or else you're going to go broke fast. That said, both armors block 100% of all damage while worn (and powered, in TP's case).

'''The Hookshot/Longshot/Clawshot:''' A fairly simple item in concept, it's effectively a grappling gun which pulls some objects towards Link or pulls link towards an object. Most of these objects are wooden or have a metal mesh, but it can also be used to pull some items or even enemies to Link. ''Twilight Princess'' gave players not one but two Clawshots, allowing Link to jump around more easily in some environments not unlike fucking Spiderman.

'''Masks:''' Depending on the game a mask can have a variety of abilities and powers. Beginning with the Bunny Hood in ''Ocarina of Time'' which does nothing for Link but when traded to one NPC it makes them run like a bat out of hell, most of the masks do nothing and the few that do are fairly minor. The next game, ''Majora's Mask'', made masks vitally important (the Bunny Hood gives him super speed), with some granting Link the ability to transform into another form while most give him new abilities such as literally blowing up (taking damage in the process even). Masks continued to make varied appearances in future games up to even ''Breath of the Wild'' where they are a costume piece that confuses certain enemies depending on the mask worn.

'''Trading Sequence Items:''' These items almost never help link directly, merely being small parts of a semi-long quest in games which will reward Link with something at the end of it with an item that will help him such as a big ass sword or a magnifying lens needed to read one magic book in the game. Most TTRPG Zelda games will omit these unless the GM is a massive prick.

'''Bottles:''' Filled with milk, water, fish, fairies or otherwise, these objects are somewhat notorious in canon since for whatever reason they seem almost indestructible, incapable of breaking and can often be used in place of a sword to smack balls of energy tossed at Link by his foes. That's right, [[What|a little glass bottle is able to tennis whack a fucking lightning ball around like it is nothing.]] Breath of the Wild is the first 3D game to stop using them since what Link carries is only limited by his inventory space.

'''Bombs:''' One Link's most used items, you use them blow open walls or other specific locations meant to be blasted. Sometimes Link gets a type of super powerful bomb that he can only carry one of at a time that is meant to blast open a super tough target. Certain enemies have a vulnerability to bombs that is exploited by throwing the bomb at them or placing it where they will get too close. '''Breath of the Wild''' stopped using traditional bombs, however the The Sheikah Slate has a feature that takes their place where Link creates a bomb. Unlike in older games these don't have fuses and are detonated remotely.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:All_links.jpg|Many of the Links so far (though some are the same)
Image:Almost_all_Zeldas.png|And many Zeldas
</gallery>

[[Category: Video Games]]