The Legend of Zelda: A Link to Cosplay
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda I felt an awesome cosplay article was in order. I tried to find a good variety of characters and high quality costumes. I hope you enjoy it!
Before we begin drooling over awesome cosplay costumes I think we should look back on The Legend of Zelda.
This will be a brief history and also pretty basic in description since we are here to marvel at the costume making ingenuity of the fans rather than receive a history lesson. The Legend of Zelda is a fantasy action-adventure video game series developed and published by Nintendo and created by the famously renowned game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Beginning his work in 1985 and drawing upon many original ideas, Miyamoto coalesced a wide range of concepts into the masterpiece that is The Legend of Zelda. He created a game series that is a mixture of action, adventure, puzzle solving, role-playing, occasional platforming, stealth, and even racing elements. This helped to establish a new sub-genre of action-adventure that remains popular to this day. At its most basic description, the series centers around Link, (the hero) and his journeys. Link is often given the task of rescuing Princess Zelda and the Kingdom of Hyrule from Ganondorf who is usually the main villain of the series.
Considered one of the most influential video game series in history, the series consists of sixteen official games across multiple platforms as well as several spin-offs including cartoons, books, comics and more. Most of the games in the series have been met with both critical acclaim and commercial success, which made the decision to induct The Legend of Zelda into the Video Game Hall of Fame an obvious one. At the 2012 VGA’s Miyamoto stands triumphantly accepting his award, held high above his head as though it were a triforce of power.
In addition to the honor of being the first inductee into the freshly created Video Game Hall of Fame, The Legend of Zelda franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary. This series has been close to my heart throughout my life since I was a small child. I was a bit late to the party in discovering the series though. In fact I didn’t even own a Nintendo console until years after the game had debuted. It matters little when you’re introduced, The Legend of Zelda is a series that enthralls you from the moment you pick it up and it never loses its luster. I am certain that the entire history of video game enjoyment would be drastically different without Link, Zelda, and the Kingdom of Hyrule’s peril. As evidenced by the amazing cosplay costumes to come, this series has a special place in many hearts that will endure the test of time.
When you think of this game series there are several characters that spring to mind immediately: Link, Zelda, Ganondorf (or just plain Ganon), and at least for me – the fairies! These are the characters I will cover first in this venture through cosplay creativity.
First up in our plethora of cosplay goodness is Link! As the main playable character and the story’s hero it’s fitting to take a look at Link first. Miyamoto says the name “Link” was picked to give a description of someone who connects, and I feel that he connects more than Miyamoto ever thought he would. Link connects the players to the Kingdom of Hyrule and to the wonderment of treasure hunting, discovery, and heroism. A fitting name indeed! Link has appeared in many forms throughout the series. He has had red and blue costumes in addition to his trademark green one, he has appeared as an opponent in the form of “Dark Link” or “Link’s Shadow”, and he has even shape shifted into a werewolf!
Clockwise from top: Link playing his flute, Blue & Red Links, Dark Link, Link in wolf form, and Link with his sword held high
All of these costumes are seriously impressive to me, along with the photography skills involved in some of them. I have to say though, that the Wolf Link costume is crazy awesome and I can only imagine what it must have cost to make it! In the notes on the original profile, the artist who made it says it has hand stilts in the front legs and the head is mounted to a bicycle helmet. Such creativity astounds me and it’s always so awe inspiring to see people come up with solutions to problems in costumes and make them come out so beautiful and functional.
Next up is the beloved Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. As it turns out Princess Zelda received her namesake from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife. F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, had a beautiful wife whom unknowingly inspired the naming of our legendary Princess as Miyamoto was fascinated by her name and chose to use it. Zelda is actually a family name that is applied to all female members of the royal family. Princess Zelda has appeared as both a child and an adult, and also as a possessed puppet to Ganondorf. As far as the Shadow Zelda costumes are concerned, I feel they may be creative liberties taken by fans as I cannot find information on Zelda actually having a black dress and black hair. (Of course feel free to correct me if I am wrong). I still think they are great though!
Clockwise from top: Skyward Sword Zelda, Twilight Princess Zelda, Dark Zelda One & Two, Ganondorf’s puppet Zelda, and adorable young Zelda
Moving right along, we see costumes of Tetra and Sheik. I will keep the info on these characters limited in case some of you have yet to play the games that each character makes an appearance in. Tetra was seen in The Wind Waker. Tetra is an accomplished sailor and pirate captain. Sheik was seen in Ocarina of Time. Sheik plays a lyre and teaches Link new songs to help him on his quest.
Even though we shouldn’t, lets give some love to Ganondorf! He is the main villain of the series known as the Great King of Evil or the Dark Lord. Throughout the series he seeks out the triforce of power to complete his mission of conquering the world. The two favorite costumes I found for Ganondorf are from Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time.
Also got to give some love to Ganondorf’s thieves! Those costumes are fantastic with those rich vibrant colors and the attention to detail.
Zant takes evil to a new level in Twilight Princess as he disfigured his own people into the Shadow Beasts and turned poor Midna into an imp-like creature. In my search for diverse costumes I came across some very intricate ones of both Zant and the Shadow Beasts. I have to wonder how the cosplayer in the shadow beast costume can even see! I imagine there must be some sort of tiny peepholes where their eyes are.
Skull kid from Majora’s Mask is nether a villain or ally, he is more of a mischief maker who has something that Link happens to need in his quest. (He made his first appearance to the series in Ocarina of Time). The costume that I found most intriguing at portraying Skull Kid is pretty spot on for capturing his likeness. It even looks like it may have been a fairly comfortable costume to wear which can be a huge bonus when you’re walking around a convention all day.
So we’ve covered our villains and even a fairly neutral party… what about those who ally with and/or aid our hero? Of course I wouldn’t forget them! Twilight Princess certainly seems to be a fan favorite for cosplay so I will start off with Midna. While some people got annoyed with her presence in the game, I really liked her. Apparently I wasn’t the only one because I found great costumes of Midna in her various forms. Midna is cynical and mischievous in nature and like all creatures of the Twilight Realm, she cannot tolerate light. She hides in Link’s shadow while in his realm. Midna was next in line to be the ruler of the Twili but she was transformed from a Twili into an imp by Zant who coveted the throne.
Hey! Listen! Listen! …. You guessed it, the next costume is the ever annoying Navi. Link’s companion to aid in his quest throughout Ocarina of Time annoyed the crap out of players endlessly. Aside from being highly annoying though, Navi was helpful to link. You might be wondering how someone would be interested in making a costume for a blue glowing orb with wings, well it seems they improvised and used a little imagination to depict what they thought the character might look like if details had been given to her. I really love this simple fairy costume, it kind of reminds me of Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell in a way (although Tinkerbell had a likeness that was possible to draw inspiration from where as Navi did not).
I found a cosplay of the Golden Goddess Farore, the Goddess of Courage who created the lifeforms that inhabit the Kingdom of Hyrule and just had to include it. It even has a little Navi Photoshopped in! They likely included little Navi because Farore’s Pearl is kept at the Great Deku Tree, the entity that sent Navi to retrieve Link. Link can even use a spell in Ocarina of Time called Farore’s Wind that helps him to warp in and out of dungeons. Farore is quite a pivotal being within the series and yet I only really found a tiny handful of people who wanted to cosplay her, and this was my favorite.
Other helpful fairies that should never be overlooked are the bottled fairies! I loved catching these little guys and storing them for later when they could really save my bacon. While I did not find a full size costume of a person in a bottle, which may have looked silly anyway, I did find an adorable picture of someone’s creativity in crafting little captured and bottled fairies.
Malon from Ocarina of Time (sometimes referred to only as ‘farm girl’) makes a very cute costume for sure. Malon was the daughter of Talon, owner of the Lon Lon Ranch and she is seen in conjunction with Link’s mare Epona occasionally (as well as “Epona’s Song). The pin that holds her shoulder scarf bears an uncanny resemblance to Bowser from the Mario Bros. series, and thankfully this cosplayer paid attention to that detail and it can be seen clearly on her costume. Miyamoto is also the creator of the Mario Bros. series so that little crossover delights me quite a bit… it’s like a little Easter egg!
Finally we have Ruto, Princess of the Zoras and Queen Rutella of the Zoras. It is believed that Queen Rutella got her name based on Princess Ruto’s name. At one time Link even found himself engaged to marry Princess Ruto, but obviously since Link is not married that did not pan out. I found these costumes to be crafted beautifully, well detailed, and also well worn by the cosplayers. These would have been difficult costumes to make and they did a great job.
While there are many more great costumes out there based in The Legend of Zelda lore, I decided that these choice costumes would be all I included for now. There really is so much creativity and imagination out there that I could have made a nearly endless article lol. Perhaps one day I can revisit and showcase a few more costumes.
I also wanted to mention that The Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses is currently on tour through September of 2012! Check the tour schedule to see if you can attend, it will no doubt be a night you won’t forget.
I hope you enjoyed the costumes I chose, let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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