Photos via Nintendo
The newest female character to enter the Legend of Zelda universe certainly looks familiar. She’s a female version of the iconic green tunic-clad Zelda hero, Link.
Her name is Linkle, which is apparently the best Nintendo could do at feminizing Link’s name. It’s a Romanized version of リンクル or "Rinkuru" in Japanese. She’s latest playable character to join Hyrule Warriors 3DS, available on March 25. Perhaps a gimmick to pull extra cash from the pockets of players who already shelled out for Hyrule Warriors for Wii U in 2014, Linkle is exclusive to the 3DS version of the game.
That said, Linkle is not simply an alternative skin, or graphic file used to change the appearance of the user avatar. She’s a completely new character. Think of her as Luigi to Link’s Mario. ("Ugh. Just what Link needed. A Luigi of his own,” my husband immediately remarked. “What’s next, WaLink and WaLinkle?”)
During Thursday’s Nintendo Direct conference, we learned that Linkle has her own brand new backstory and unique attacks and weapons. Linkle—and I will not get used that name anytime soon—wields a pair of crossbows. Her signature attack will be a “spinning kick,” which is certainly a riff on Link’s spinning blade attack.
What is Link’s relationship to Linkle? In the 2014 Hyrule Warriors artbook, a drawing of a female version of Link (who looks markedly similar to Linkle) describes her as "devised as being sister-like.” Certain previous Zelda games, like Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, canonized Link as having a little sister in some timelines. Sure, Linkle having “sister-like” qualities doesn’t necessarily mean she’s related to Link. But given the intense and complicated ever-changing canon that is the Zelda universe, anything is possible.
