The New Hyrule Warriors’ English Translation Defines Link and Zelda’s Relationship As Just Friends, But Fans Say The Game is ‘Not Fooling Anybody’

Nintendo fans are rejecting a new description found within Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment that describes Link and Princess Zelda as just friends.

An in-game journal entry from Zelda’s ally Lenalia claims that the princesses’ sword training was inspired by “a knight — and friend — from her own time.” But while this description seems clear-cut, fans have compared it to the text found in the game’s original Japanese language version — which simply refers to Link as a “familiar knight,” without the explicit “friend” label.

This latest snippet has reignited the debate over whether Link and Zelda are more than just pals — something that Nintendo itself has kept mysterious for decades.

Of course, Lenalia’s journal entry is just that — one character’s recording of what she has been told by Zelda, who may or may not have been speaking truthfully. In one social media post that has now gone viral, Zelda fan IvyfulWorld put it thus: “she is not fooling ANYBODY.”

“I guess one explanation could be she tried to downplay it out of shyness,” replied big_asutaro.

“Nintendo of America’s localization team has this thing for wanting to portray Link and Zelda’s relationship as purely platonic by adding things that aren’t even present in the original text,” claimed another fan, verieas.

https://twitter.com/IvyfulWorld/status/1986495137711849817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Throughout its almost 40-year history, The Legend of Zelda series has frequently suggested that Link and the princess are romantically involved. The pair hold hands in the finale of Spirit Tracks, and are implied to be settling down as a couple to found Hyrule at the end of Skyward Sword. Zelda even kisses Link (on the cheek) during Oracle of Ages, sending hearts fluttering from the swordsman’s eyes.

Most recently, both Zelda and Link appear to be sharing a house in Tears of the Kingdom — which features the incarnations of Link and Zelda referenced in Age of Imprisonment.

Zelda voice actress Patricia Summersett, who has voiced the same incarnation of Zelda seen from Breath of the Wild onwards, raised eyebrows in 2023 when she stated that she believed the pair were definitively “in a relationship.” However, Summersett swiftly walked back the comments just days later saying her words had been “misconstrued.” (Nintendo did not comment on this kerfuffle at the time, though fans noted it had been unusual for anyone outside the company itself to discuss its characters in such a manner.)

So what has Nintendo itself said? Perhaps the clearest indicator of Link and Zelda’s relationship status came from the series’ legendary producer Eiji Aonuma, who told IGN the following in December 2023 when asked for an official ruling on the subject:

“I will leave it to everyone’s imagination [whether Link and Zelda are in a relationship]. I don’t think that Zelda is a type of game where the development team says, ‘This is what Zelda is, this is what the story is, this is what the game is.’ Everything that the development team wants to convey has already been placed into the game. And the rest is up to the player’s imagination, and their reflection on how they feel… what they’ve experienced in the game.”

Considering the most recent Zelda game features a house lived in by Link and Zelda (with Nintendo placing just a single bed into the bedroom), some fans took Aonuma’s comment to be the clearest sign yet that Nintendo does indeed see the two as a couple — even if it doesn’t want to explicitly apply that label in-game.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Nintendo handles the two characters in its upcoming The Legend of Zelda live-action movie, which recently began shooting in New Zealand following the casting of its two key roles earlier this year.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social