Link’s Age in Legend of Zelda Games Including Tears of the Kingdom and BOTW

Link has wielded many swords, saved countless kingdoms, and worn more hats than most heroes-but his age? That’s a timeline puzzle twisted across reincarnations, timelines, and centuries of Hylian history.

Throughout the years, Link from The Legend of Zelda has taken on a variety of forms. From the baby-faced child in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker to the moodier, more mature look in Twilight Princess, Link has always seemed rather young. That said, his actual age is pretty ambiguous. Similar to other video game heroes, like Mario, Link hasn’t aged all that much throughout the years. As the hero of time, he is more of an archetype than a person – both ageless and not.

Although the games themselves often don’t specify Link’s exact age, there are a few reasons why his age might matter. For starters, fans of the series might want to understand it so they feel more comfortable deciding on preferred romantic pairings for Link. His age also informs his character, as many of the Zelda games center around coming-of-age stories wherein Link also discovers his power during an adolescent period. Here is what we know about Link’s age.

How old is Link from The Legend of Zelda?

Link’s age varies across The Legend of Zelda series since each game often features a different incarnation of the hero. In most titles, he appears to be a teenager, usually between 10 and 17 years old. For example, in Ocarina of Time, Link begins as a child around 10 and grows into a young adult of about 17, while in Breath of the Wild, he’s around 17 at the start of the story. Some games, like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, depict him a bit older-closer to 19 or 20-showing that his age depends heavily on the version and timeline of the story.

On one level, there is no actual right answer to the question. Link isn’t a single individual. “Link” is the name given to a hero chosen by the goddesses to rise up against evil. The Link we know is more like a narrative archetype of a character in a decades-long series, than any specific person. Because of this, Link does not have a single age or design. However, thanks to developer interviews, official guides, and context given in games, we can pin down at least a few more concrete answers if we want to know more about how old Link was in a specific game.

It’s safe to say that Link is generally on the younger side and under the age of 18, regardless of his incarnation. Hyrule Historia says that Link is 10 years old in the first game, The Legend of Zelda. In Adventure of Link, the hero is age 16. In an interview, Eiji Aonuma said the Link in Twilight Princess is 17. According to an Iwata Asks with the development team from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time cited by Zelda Wiki, the Link in Ocarina travels between the ages of 9 and 16.

How old is Link in The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild?

Link is about 117 years old in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, though physically he appears around 17. Before the Great Calamity, he was a young knight chosen to wield the Master Sword. After being mortally wounded, he was placed in the Shrine of Resurrection, where he slept for a century before awakening to restore peace to Hyrule. His long slumber explains his youthful appearance despite the passing of a hundred years.

Unlike in most Zelda games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild does give us a pretty solid age for Link via a few hints. For starters, a memories cutscene describes Zelda turning 17, so it’s likely Link could be a similar age, due to the similarities in their designs. However, we also get another more concrete hint about his age. In the same scene, Zelda mentions that someone needs to be at least 17 years old to climb Mt. Lanayru and visit the Spring of Wisdom. In Breath of the Wild, Link climbs Mt. Lanayru and visits the spring, suggesting he’s at least 17. If we then factor in the fact that Link wakes up from a 100-year-long slumber at the beginning of the game, Link would roughly be 117 years old.

How old is Zelda in each Legend of Zelda game

Zelda’s exact age is only stated in a few games; in most, fans infer it from context and from the general rule that she is roughly the same age as that game’s Link.

Overall pattern

• In almost every main game, Zelda is a teenager (roughly 14-17), usually very close in age to Link.

• A notable exception is one version of Zelda who is explicitly 20, making her the oldest clearly stated Zelda in the series.​

Known and commonly accepted ages

Because exact per-game values are sparse and sometimes contradictory, the best-supported cases are:

• A Link to the Past: design material pegs Zelda at about 16, matching Link’s commonly accepted age.

• Link’s Awakening: usually assumed to be set a bit later than A Link to the Past; fan reconstructions put both Link and Zelda’s “counterpart” Marin around 17.​

• Ocarina of Time: Zelda is a child (around 9-10) early on and a teen (around 16) in the adult portion, paralleling Link’s 9/16 split.

• Twilight Princess: forum and guide discussions often place Zelda in the older-teen bracket, roughly 17-20, close to Link’s ~17.​

• Skyward Sword: reference materials that say Link is 17 imply Zelda is about 16-17, since they are classmates and peers.

• Breath of the Wild: a memory cutscene explicitly states Zelda turns 17 right before praying at the Spring of Wisdom, so she is 16 in earlier memories and 17 by that point and through the main events 100 years later.

• Age of Calamity (if you count it): follows the same 16-then-17 bracket around the Calamity, but technically 100 years older in the “future” framing.

• One later incarnation (commonly associated with a story where she is ruling more directly) is given as about 20 in an official guide, making her the only clearly adult, non-teen Zelda.

How to think about “each game”

Because:

• Nintendo rarely prints exact numbers,

• some guides and interviews conflict, and

• multiple timelines and incarnations exist,

fans usually talk about ranges (e.g., “mid-teens Zelda in The Wind Waker era, ~early-mid teens in the classic titles, late-teens in Skyward Sword / Twilight Princess / Breath of the Wild”).

If you want a rule of thumb for “each game”: assume Zelda is roughly the same age as that game’s Link (child when he is, mid-teens when he is), except for the one well-documented ~20-year-old version, who stands out as the series’ oldest confirmed Zelda.

How old is Link in each Legend of Zelda game

Here’s a commonly cited, approximate age list for each main incarnation of Link, using interviews, manuals, and widely accepted fan synthesis.

Main series games

How to read these ages

• Many numbers are ranges because manuals, art books, and developer comments sometimes contradict each other by a year or two.

• Each title usually features a new incarnation of Link, so you can think of “Link’s age” as “this game’s hero’s age,” not one continuous life.