Echoes of Wisdom sets a BotW trend in stone for the series

Key points

  • Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom introduces Zelda as the protagonist and offers innovative new gameplay mechanics.
  • Link's silence in the Legend of Zelda series is explained in both Breath of the Wild and Echoes of Wisdom, setting a precedent for future iterations.
  • Each installment of the series could provide a different reason for Link's silence, adding excitement to fans.



The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom it's a bold direction for the long-running franchise, replacing Link with Zelda as the main protagonist and introducing a new gameplay concept that the series has never seen. For the most part, Zelda: Echoes of wisdom It's unlike any previous game and includes one of the franchise's most distinctive features.

For all the The Legend of Zelda series, Link was a silent protagonist. That tradition continues Zelda: Echoes of wisdomdespite Link not taking the initiative. However, like one of his predecessors, Zelda: Echoes of wisdom explains Link's silence, and his decision to do so could set a precedent for the series.


Link is one of the most famous silent protagonists in video games and has remained silent in every Nintendo product Zelda game. This decision started with the release of the first one The Legend of Zelda game in 1987, when Nintendo was more interested in developing engaging gameplay than writing dialogue. When the Nintendo 64 was introduced Zelda: Ocarina of Timealthough the hardware allowed it, Nintendo doubled down on its original decision and kept Link silent, although a series of grunts and screams were thrown at him.

After the release of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeNintendo made it clear that Link remained silent to allow players to relate to Link as closely as possible. According to producer Eiji Aonuma, “We wanted the player to be able to relate to Link and play as himself”, suggesting that a voiced protagonist would not allow this. From then on Link remained a silent protagonist, although the reasons for his silence went from being a simple game design choice to a significant part of the game. Zeldain the tradition of 2017 Breath of the wild.


For the first time in the The Legend of Zelda game, players were introduced to the lore behind why Link doesn't speak Zelda: Breath of the Wild. When interacting with Zelda's journal in the game, players can read: “Little by little, I managed to get Link to open up to me. When I finally managed to ask him why he's always so quiet, I realized it was difficult .” for him to say. With so much at stake and so many eyes on him, he feels it necessary to stay strong and silently bear any burden – a feeling I know all too well.” So, Link's silence is simply a heroic decision he made to avoid burdening others.


In Zelda: Echoes of wisdomplayers can discover why his version of Link doesn't speak similarly. Reading the diary at Lueburry's house, players discover that Link lost his voice after being “taken away” by a rift because “all the boys who were taken by a rift lost something” and for Link it was his voice . This is in stark contrast to Breath of the wildis the reasoning behind Link's silence (and an arguably more believable reason), and suggests something for the future of the series that would explain Link's character in each iteration of the The Legend of Zelda​​​​​​.

With Zelda: Breath of the Wild and now Echoes of wisdom both provide a different reason for Link's persistent silence, future installments would be remiss in not introducing a new explanation for this. From the big reveal Breath of the wildhas become a popular topic, and just when fans thought they knew the only reason for Link's silence, Echoes of wisdom introduced something new. If subsequent episodes were to provide a different reason, each one would be even more exciting.

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