Monday, November 29, 2021

Artbook: My page by page look at The Akira Himekawa: Original Drawings artbook (2021)



Here's a quick video since I won't be making scans of this for a long time. (It's still technically for sale and I wait a while afterwards to respect the artists and publishers)

Akira Himekawa: Original Drawings -A Look Back at the Manga "The Legend of Zelda-" 2021

This is a page by page look into Akira Himekawa's Legend of Zelda exhibit artbook. This is currently only for sale at the Kyoto International Manga Museum while their show runs; which, as of this posting, is from September 8, 2021 until December 26, 2021. I hope they are able to do a full international release eventually. It's just over 10x7 inches in size and the paper quality is amazing

This features promotional art not found in their comics, some of their best cover and character art, a few of their official art pieces like the stained glass windows from The Wind Waker, as well as their Ocarina of Time promotional manga that was originally only released on the web in Chinese. It has now been translated to Japanese. 

It features art for the games: Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, Four Swords, A Link to the Past, Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, and Skyward Sword.



Friday, November 26, 2021

High-Res Scans of The Hyrule Fantasy Manga by Ran Maru

These have actually been posted for a while but someone let me know that I had gotten 4 of the pages mixed up in order, and scanned one of the pages twice, so basically a whole page was missing from the previous download. I'm not surprised I messed up, this is the first thing I scanned with the pages removed. I fixed the files today. So if you downloaded the large files before November 26, 2021, you'll want to download them again.


I quickly edited these just so I could get them posted for people. Eventually I will straighten all of the pages and do a better job with the levels.

A full English translation can be found here: hhistoryofhyrule.blogspot.com/2021/09/after-35-years
My original scans and info were here: historyofhyrule.com/publications/manga_loz_en



This is also part 1 of 4, it continues in the Adventure of Link volume 1, volume 2, and volume 3.

Some keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, ゼルダの伝説, ゼルダ, The Hyrule Fantasy, 600dpi, 600ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, book, high res, high rez, resolution, manga, comic
 

High-Res Scans of The Hyrule Fantasy Manga by Kobayashi Susumu

The 600dpi scans are here

The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda manga by Kobayashi Susumu
Published by One Pack Comics

Honestly I don't have a lot more info to add on this. It was originally in their monthly magazine and then collected into this volume, but there's not even an ISBN.

This most likely all happened in 1986-1987. This one could have been so amazing but Link's character design is just... an odd choice. Zelda is adorable though! Anyway, it's still totally worth checking out because this is not just a manga with some great enemy and world design illustrations, it's a functional strategy guide!

I quickly edited these just so I could get them posted for people. Eventually I will straighten all of the pages and do a better job with the levels and then add the original raws, with no cropping or adjustments, to a downloadable zip too.

My original scans and info were here: historyofhyrule.com/publications/manga_loz_wan




Some keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, ゼルダの伝説, ゼルダ, The Hyrule Fantasy, 600dpi, 600ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, book, high res, high rez, resolution, manga, comic

Firsts in the Zelda series from the 1986-1988 Ran Maru manga

Okay, it's obvious I really love this manga series. I can't get enough of it. And I could be wrong on these, I'm just quickly going off the top of my head without spending much time on it, but I just wanted to start a little list. And keep in mind: this is just for my own fun and for conversation, please don't take it too seriously. But do let me know if I got something wrong or missed something! :3


Major spoilers ahead:

  • Slingshot as a starter weapon and inventory weapon
  • Zelda speaking with, and visually manifesting, telepathically with Link
  • Zelda speaking with Link through a crystal necklace (which is also a Star Wars reference here)
  • Fairies reviving Link from death, not just restoring low health
  • Ganon having a human form doppelganger and/or evil wizard that acts as his headman
  • Link's sword growing in power as he advances, not just because he finds better swords
  • The Triforce on his shield instead of a Christian cross (even though it's literally THE Triforce in this and not just decorative designs)
  • Flying on a beloved bird companion, especially into battle
  • Bat-wing Ganon
  • Vaguely: Link having a flying companion that gives him advice. Not quite a fairy *meh* they function really similarly
  • A Ganon paired with a trident.. though this is a huge stretch because it's Link's sword that turns into one to kill Ganon, not Ganon's weapon. I just have to admit the first time I read it I thought he took the trident off Ganon ;p
  • Zelda locked in a magical stasis spell which is also where she was communicating telepathically with Link from
  • Link being the absolutely most adorable thing ever
  • Spin attack
  • Hot pink hair
  • His boat being struck by lightning and him washing ashore
  • Link being lured towards a dungeon boss by a an enemy being disguised as a maiden he knows
  • The Goddess and Zelda resembling each other: hinting at being linked together
  • Zelda transforming into a man to foil Ganon's minions
  • Multiple magical Links fighting together (though this is an illusion spell, not a splitting spell. They're not all actually Link)


I'll be back to add more later! There is actually more

Volume1, for LoZ: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430740/in/album-72157629760736528/
Volume 2, AoL vol1: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430456/in/album-72157629760736528/
Volume 3, AoL vol2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430518/in/album-72157629760736528/
Volume 4, AoL vol3: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430792/in/album-72157629760736528/

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Publication's List: Help me make it accurate for all of us!

I've been needing to update the info and works that are still missing from the publication's section of the site. Problem is: there's a lot to add. So I'm making albums on flickr to more quickly organize the information. I'm also doing this so it's easier for all of you to help me figure out this mass of information. These will contain everything I know about:

Good news is that Mases of Zelda dungeon is doing most of the work on the guides. He's making scans of his whole collection and is working on at least adding covers and info until he can get to everything that massive task entails. 

So what can I use help with? Any one of you can probably help with something here:
  • The thing I need the most help with is, if you know Japanese, help me make sure I have the correct titles, author's and illustrator's names, publishers, etc, in both Japanese and English characters.
  • Double check my info against what's written in the volumes (I'm dyslexic, I make a lot of type-based mistakes)
  • Help me find links to the best scans and info online*
  • Help me find auction links to things I'm missing. If it's guides or merch I can get them to my friends who collect that and will get us scans. If it's manga, Japanese books, or artbooks, I'll probably buy them.
  • (More to come, I'm out of time today to keep writing)
*An FYI: I'm not going to publicly post links to free downloads of anything still in print, (just links to sales pages.) If you can't afford to purchase the volumes, etc, I totally understand, this isn't judgement on that. But, the way I use this platform, is for promoting purchasing any still available & only the scans for things that are not. Especially for manga; I really want a BotW series and good sales make that more likely.

I'm doing this, in large part, because my end goal is to try to have every piece of official and semi-official Zelda art online. But it's too hard to do if you don't check things off a list as you go and if you're dealing with bad scans only to get good scans after you've already done a ton of editing work. So this is the leg work to creating an awesome gallery. The added benefit is, obviously, we should have a great resource and merchandise catalog when we're done that also helps up properly credit the people behind the series we love.

Monday, November 22, 2021

Absolutely stunning Russian scanlations of the Ran Maru manga

Look at these! I mean it, even if you don't speak Russian: I am in awe of what a beautiful job they've done on chapter 1. Susanin (Сусанин) Susan1n, the person in charge of making this happen, sent these to me to post. They'll be continuing with the other chapters and if you'd like to check out their blog and other work, which is mainly for the Slayers series, you can find that here

Ah, I'm in love:




Here's a little bit from them about this project:

«Я являюсь давним фанатом серии «The Legend of Zelda». Но вот про эту мангу я узнал не так давно. В 2019 году на ютубе вышел видеоролик Василия Русяева, в котором он рассказывал о том, что недавно приобрел оригинальный томик манги « The Legend of Zelda: The Hyrule Fantasy» 1986 года. Перевода на английский или русский на тот момент он не нашел и предложил своим подписчикам, знающим японский перевести мангу. Мне она показалась интересной и два года я ждал, что кто нибудь сделает перевод этой манги. Но как говорится, если что-то хочешь, то сделай это сам. Поэтому я решил взять это дело в свои руки. Нашел переводчика с японского, который согласился мне помочь, и мы приступили к работе. Ну, как-то так…
P.S. А ещё мы переводим на русский мангу «Slayers: Knight of Aqualord», можете глянуть и её)))»


And if you would like an English translation for this work, we have that posted here.



Indie Zelda and Louisa's Comics!

Blast from the past: If you use to visit History of Hyrule back in the day you probably remember IndieZelda.com, or Independent Zelda, the fan comic site run by one of my best Zelda & artist friends, Louisa Roy. You may know her as SomeGirl or Om Nom Berries too. She is an awesome fanartist and person, and ran an incredible forum where a bunch of Zelda webmasters hid out... hung out? ..probably both. She fuled a lot of our creativity and humor and helped keep me sane. I've known her for about as long as I've known anyone on the internet. We met on one of the first forums I ever joined.

Anyway, I adore her, she's still around doing her thing, making comics, and she sent me these Zelda doujinshi she created back then so I could preserve them on the web! I am so excited about this! So I got 4 series of hers, of vastly varying length, posted on archive.org last night. 

Be sure to check out her new stuff. She has a lot of other incredible Zelda comics and is doing Star Wars and other original comics as well. That link goes to her link tree.


The Legend of Zelda: The Dark Mirror is a 5 part comic for Ocarina of Time



A Space for Us Among the Clouds is a roughly 36 page comic for Skyward Sword


Her Twilight Princess Series is 5 parts, just under 130 pages, and features the stories: Beautiful Midnight, Hello Time Bomb, Symbolistic White Walls, and Alert Status Red



And this volume was made for the 25th anniversary of the series, it features stories for A Legend of Zelda fan comic for The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.



Love ya, Louisa!


New High Resolution Scans of the Majora's Mask Koubunsha 4-Koma (Manga)

Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org


I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

The Legend of Zelda 4Koma for Majora's Mask, an Anthology Published by Koubunsha. ISBN4-334-80503-5. First Published Date: July 10, 2000





I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know! 

If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Keywords: Zelda, Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda, ゼルダの伝説, Majora's Mask, Majoras Mask, MM, ムジュラの仮面, manga, comics, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画

Saturday, November 20, 2021

New High Resolution Scans of the Majora's Mask Enix 4-Koma (Manga)

Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

The Legend of Zelda 4Koma for Majora's Mask, an Anthology Published by Enix. ISBN4-7575-0282-6 First Published Date: August 18, 2000




I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know! 

If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Keywords: Zelda, Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda, ゼルダの伝説, Majora's Mask, Majoras Mask, MM, ムジュラの仮面, manga, comics, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画

Friday, November 19, 2021

1992 Link meets 2022 Link

I posted this on Twitter and it really took off so I figured I might as well catalog it here. This great little illustration comes from the Futabasha Fantasy Novel Series: Legend of Zelda, Count of the Black Shadow 1992, by Akio Higuchi. The cover illustration is accredited to Fujiwara Kamui but I don't know if they did the inside illustrations as well because there is no one specifically credited for them. ISBN4-575-23096-0 It's a 254 page novel with about 14 incredible illustrations. I'll scan the whole thing soon but for now you can find the old illustration scans and info here and the nicer illustration scans are in the LttP art gallery, here


Someone wondered if this was real and it was neat to be able to point out it was on my site all the way back in 2004. The reason people haven't seen much of this stuff, even though it's been online for around 17 years, (I somewhat sarcastically, then sincerely, spoke about this in one of my last posts,) is that I had problems where larger sites and forums wouldn't link to my site because supplemental material at the time, at least that wasn't mass consumed in the US like the Valiant Comics, wasn't considered "real Zelda content." People would get chased off if they wanted to post/talk about even just for fun. Which was just so strange to me! Because I can assure you: you can still enjoy the core games without being angry that other stuff was created for the series. It's so much more fun if everyone is just enjoying what inspires them to love the series even more! It honestly helps give it life in the years between games.




One of my friends, linksliltri4ce, also reminded me that A Link to the Past also had the concept of floating islands with temples on them. (Not in game, but in the backstory and manual art.) Which I knew but it never really clicked when it came to how much fun it is to play around with the idea of connecting Breath of the Wild 2 with aLttP. Some of the ruins with pillars on hills in BotW are around the same type of ancient Greek-pillar as Ganon's Tower in LttP, which is in the Sacred Realm too. Anyway, that's all super loose but it's fun thoughts for fan artists and people who like to play with ideas!







Wednesday, November 17, 2021

New High Resolution Scans of the Link to the Past Enix 4-Koma (Manga) Vol. 8

Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

This volume is "The Legend of Zelda 4 Koma Gekijou # 8." 

It's an anthology that was published on October 29, 1995 by Enix. ISBN4-87025-847-1 (Japan) and it's for a Link to the Past and Link's Awakening.
 




Any translations will be posted to this Flickr album for now. 


I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know! 

If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, LA, ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島, Zeruda no Densetsu: Yume o Miru Shima, A Link to the Past, Triforce of the Gods, LttP, aLttP, manga, comics, zelda, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, ゼルダの伝説, 神々のトライフォース, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画

New High Resolution Scans of the Link to the Past Enix 4-Koma (Manga) Vol. 7

 Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

This volume is "The Legend of Zelda 4 Koma Gekijou # 7." 

It's an anthology that was published on April 24, 1995 by Enix. ISBN4-87025-806-4 (Japan) and it's for Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past.
 




Any translations will be posted to this Flickr album for now. 


I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know! 

If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, LA, ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島, Zeruda no Densetsu: Yume o Miru Shima, A Link to the Past, Triforce of the Gods, LttP, aLttP, manga, comics, zelda, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, ゼルダの伝説, 神々のトライフォース, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画

Why did Link have Hot Pink Hair in A Link to the Past?

The world may never know. ...Unless we look at several years of monthly manga magazine covers from just a 3 years earlier, from early 1986 until late 1988. I don't know though, I've never heard of game developers who also like comics... and certainly not ones about the game they made. It's not like Miyamoto was trying to be a manga artist before he joined Nintendo or anything ...and I really doubt any of them would like one of the best comics ever made for the series. And thus it will forever remain a mystery 


Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, in One Pack Comics, by Ran Maru

ゼルダの伝説, わんぱっくコミックス,  乱丸


There's also some other other magazine art that's kind of fun. The first 2 are a hot pink haired female Link from Shonen Captain (Monthly Magazine) May 18, 1986. 3rd image unknown but it comes from this video. EDIT: I have found, and made, 2400dpi scans of this art of her.





Anyway, just a guess. Maybe we could agree that hot pink is just a great color too. #plink

Edit: There was a giant fanart challenge thanks to @Aeyga_X based on my scans and she was dubbed "Linka" by fans


Also, I saw this said a lot: "16-bit" is about the processor, it doesn't mean 16 colors. Though, yes! Some of the modes for the SNES topped out at 16 colors per sprite/tile, and LttP is an example of the use of one of those, so I could see how people could get confused. Source 1. Source 2. But, no, it wasn't pink because the bunny was pink and it "needed to be the same color for technical reasons" ...because, even if (?) that were true for some reason, the rabbit's color of pink wasn't even the same as his hair. (Thank you to whomever made this graphic, I couldn't find the source to credit) 


Update: Just to keep all of the Pink Haired Link images in one place, here's a cool feature from a Famitsu issue from 1992





I've had that manga online for ages, on the old main site, (the better scans on archive.org are new,) but so many fans and other sites in the early days would blow off the manga (and my scanning work and site*) as "not real Zelda content" -so it's just been overlooked for 35 years when this question would get asked. Which is a huge shame. Wanpakku, Naughty Comics, sometimes translated as One Pack, was a  division of Tokuma Shoten: the publisher Nintendo always officially used back then. And Wanpakku did the Japanese version of Tips and Tactics that Nintendo translated and released officially in the US


Edit 2: Okay, guys, turns out pink haired female Link from 1986 (May 25, 1986 and May 18, 1986) is as official as the Itoh art from Tips and Tactics because she IS in the Japanese version of Tips and Tactics. This kind of changes the way I'm thinking about her, I no longer thing she was just a mistake made by a comic magazine's walkthrough artist like I originally did.

Tips and Tactics was released by Nintendo of America in 1987 and calls itself the "US edition" "Translation of HISSYOU HINTBON Originally published in 1986 by Tokuma Shoten"

Both publishing companies, Wanpakku (the maker of this guide) and Shonen Captain, where she appeared, were owned by the publisher Tokuma Shoten: and Nintendo worked with them a LOT back then.




Here are the 2 manga pages with pink-haired Link and a fairy that were left out, along with some of the Itoh art, of the US edition: 



Edit 3: Slightly different but here's a cute pink-haired Princess Zelda from a Famicom magazine "ファミコン決定版(1986-07-20)"


Friday, November 12, 2021

New High Resolution Scans of the Link to the Past Enix 4-Koma (Manga) Vol. 6

Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

This volume is "The Legend of Zelda 4 Koma Gekijou # 6." 

It's an anthology that was published on October 26, 1994 by Enix. ISBN4-87025-768-8 (Japan) and it's for Link to the Past and Link's Awakening.
 





Any translations will be posted to this Flickr album for now. 


I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know! 

If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, LA, ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島, Zeruda no Densetsu: Yume o Miru Shima, A Link to the Past, Triforce of the Gods, LttP, aLttP, manga, comics, zelda, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, ゼルダの伝説, 神々のトライフォース, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Ran Maru's Adventure of Link Character List

This is a simple overview of the characters who appear over the course of the story.

It was written by Kaialone for History of Hyrule and based on their translations for Hyrule Fantasy 1 and The Adventure of Link 123.

This is NOT spoiler free!


(A note from Melora: I'm going to be working on adding pictures and links to each of these over the next fee days)


Wampa (ワンパ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 8

First Named: Volume 2, Page 9

Zelda's only named attendant in this story. Seems to be the head attendant.

Her name seems to be derived from "Impa", whom she replaces, and possibly "Wanpakku Comics", as a little in-joke?




Billy (ビリー)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 9

First Named: Volume 1, Page 32

Returning character from Hyrule Fantasy. He's a bit older now, and has seemingly become part of Zelda's royal guard.

Talks in a more formal way now, but will slip back into his old informal style at certain points.



Princess Zelda (ゼルダ姫)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 9

First Named: Volume 1, Page 16

Returning character from Hyrule Fantasy. The princess of Hyrule, still ruling over the land.

She initially stays behind when Link sets out, but eventually joins him on his journey for a while.




Sir Watt (ワット卿)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 10

First Named: Volume 1, Page 10

Returning character from Hyrule Fantasy. Link's materialistic parrot companion, he stayed behind at the castle while Link went on another journey.

Seemingly holds some position of power in the castle now, having gained the title of "Sir", but it's unclear what his actual role is. Notably, Link does not appear to have a title like that now.

Has also since gotten married and had three kids.




Link (リンク)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 11 (flashback)  Volume 1, Page 13 (actual)

First Named: Volume 1, Page 11 

Returning character from Hyrule Fantasy. The main character, naturally.

Left on a journey some time after the events of the previous story, but returns when the mysterious mark appears on his hand.

Going by the game's lore, he should be 16 now, but this manga never specifies it - outside of the fact that he's underage.




Princess Zelda I (初代ゼルダ姫)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 22 (sleeping); Volume 3, Chapter 6, Page 164 (awake)

First Named: Volume 1, Page 24; Volume 1, Page 30 (identified as the first)

The sleeping Zelda from the legend. Link sets out to wake her with the power of the complete Triforce.




The Prince (王子)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 26 (flashback)

Older brother of Princess Zelda I. 

Originally a prince of Hyrule, became the new king after his father's death.

Naturally, he is deceased by the time of the story, but seemingly appears to Link in a dream.

Apparently, Link looks just like him, but the story leaves it up to interpretation what this means.


The Magician (魔術師)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 27 (flashback)
The magician who cast the sleeping spell on Princess Zelda I.

He disappeared forever after casting the curse (or did he?!)






Old Master (老師さま)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 36 (flashback); Volume 3, Chapter 4, Page 211 (actual)

First Named: Volume 1, Page 34

Returning character from Hyrule Fantasy. He is the old man who gave Link his first sword, the character who says "It's dangerous to go alone" in the game.

Also the old man who's celebrating with everyone else at the end of Hyrule Fantasy.

He passed away some time between the two stories, but still left behind some words of wisdom for Link.



Cuscus (クスクス)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 35

First Named: Volume 1, Page 35

A possum-like beast person who trained under the Old Master as a pupil to learn magic.

Wants to become human.

Possibly named for the cuscus possum species, which he slightly resembles.

His Japanese name can also be literally romanized as "Kusukusu" which is also an onomatopoeia for snickering, so one could localize his name as "Snickers", if one so chooses.

I figured "Cuscus" sounded more like something that an English Zelda localization would go for, usually.



Gicolot (ジコロット) & Masheita (マシータ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 41

First Named: Volume 1, Page 41

Gicolot is the younger sister of the Old Lady from the Hyrule Fantasy story. Masheita is presumably Gicolot's granddaughter. (She calls Gicolot "grandma" but it's not specified if she is literally related.)

They run a potion shop in Western Hyrule in the Old Lady's stead.

I tried romanizing their names in a way that felt close to the typical English Zelda localization style without outright changing them.



Mazura (マズラ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 47

Not actually named in this story, but per the game and guidebooks his name is Mazura.

Guardian of Parapa Palace.

Originally he was called "Horsehead" in English, but Hyrule Encyclopedia went and gave him his Japanese name "Mazura" back, so I went with that.






Urabe (ウラベ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 63

First Named: Volume 1, Page 63

Billina's grandmother.

Used to be a priestess in Ruto.

Fell into a despondent state after the Trophy/Goddess Statue was stolen from the town.




Billina (ビリーナ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 63

First Named: Volume 1, Page 77

Urabe's granddaughter.

Guides Link and Watt to Midoro Palace, as she knows her way around the swamp.

I'm guessing she was intentionally given a similar name to Billy as she fulfills a similar role to him in the first story.

"Billina" is not that common as a feminine variant for "Billy", but it is the name of a character in the Oz series, and that character's name is spelled the same as hers in Japanese.

That's why I decided to romanize her name as "Billina" just like the Oz character.



Ibis (イビス)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 71

First Named: Volume 1, Page 69

The mage of Ruto Town.

Link first learns magic from him.

It's not explicitly mentioned, but the magic Link learns from him should be the Jump Magic.



Jermafenser (ジャーマフェンサ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 86

Not actually named in this story, but per the game and guidebooks his name is Jermafenser.

Guardian of Midoro Palace.

Originally he was called "Helmethead" in English, but Hyrule Encyclopedia went and gave him his Japanese name "Jermafenser" back, so I went with that.

Very similar to Mazura in that sense.



Bagu (バグ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 97

First Named: Volume 1, Page 98

A lumberjack living around the general Moruge Forest/Moruge Swamp/Midoro Swamp area.

Serves about the same role as in the game, giving Link a note for the River Man.

His name is actually supposed to be "Bug", to match with the character "Error", but was mistranslated in English as "Bagu".

However, since Error himself doesn't show up in the manga, I thought going with "Bagu" was still alright here.



Old Man of Saria

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 102

Not actually named in the story.

Teaches Link the Life Magic (Revitalization Art).





River Man (ワタシバノオトコ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 104

Not named in the story.

Though this character's appearance seems to take from Error, from his role we know he is the same as the River Man in the game.

Let's Link cross the river by Saria Town after seeing the note from Bagu.




Masked Man

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 109

First Named: Volume 3, Chapter 6, Page 167

A mysterious masked man who resides at Death Mountain, and is seemingly the driving force behind the monsters' efforts to resurrect Ganon.

Despite appearing human, the monsters follow his commands.

SPOILERS: highlight to read

It is eventually revealed that his name is Ganon.

He is Ganon's original human self, and the monstrous Ganon whom we've come to know is a part of himself that split from him and became independent, possibly similar in nature to Link's Shadow.

Ganon is also several centuries old, and is in fact the very magician who cursed Princess Zelda I.



Old Man of Mido

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 128

Not actually named in the story.

Teaches Link the Fairy Magic (Fairy Art).





Gump (ガンプ)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 133

First Named: Volume 1, Page 134

A wolf-like beast person, whom Link met during his travels.

He taught Link sword fighting for a while, and Link greatly respects him.

He fulfills the role of teaching Link the Down Thrust like in the game, though there's quite an expansion in story content there, of course.

He desires to be the greatest swordsman in the world, seeking to become stronger for that purpose.

His name could also be romanized as "Gamp", but I preferred "Gump". Makes the pronunciation more obvious in English, too.



Rebonack (レボナック)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 144

Not actually named in this story, but per the game and guidebooks his name is Rebonack. (Also sometimes called Iron Knuckle)

Guardian of the Island Palace.




Patt, Pico, and Pott (パット,ピコ,ポット)

First Appearance: Volume 1, Page 181

First Named: Volume 1, Page 182

Watt's children.

Patt looks the most like Watt, but he does have his mother's eyes, and doesn't wear a bag, so that's usually how you can tell them apart.

Pico's name is a bit of an odd one out in the family, though it's a bit less so in Japanese (compare literal romanizations: Watto, Torotto, Patto, Piko, Potto), but still a bit off.

You could romanize her name as something closer to "Peec" or the like to make her name sound less different from the others in English, but that'd be kinda stretching it. I just stuck with "Pico" because her name doesn't perfectly fit the family pattern in any case.

Pott ends up having the biggest role of the three, tagging along with Link for a short while.



Lady Trott (トロット嬢)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 13

First Named: Volume 1, Page 182

Watt's wife.

Watt met her sometime between the events of Hyrule Fantasy and the time when Link went off on his journey.

Watt and Zelda (and Link) saved the forest where Trott lived from monsters, and his actions then endeared him to her.

They got married some time after Link set out on his journey.



Ganon (ガノン)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 6 (flashback); Volume 2, Page 142 (actual)

First Named: Volume 1, Page 8

Returning character from Hyrule Fantasy.

Like in the game, the monsters are aiming to revive him.

However, in this story they actually end up succeeding (sort of), and thus Ganon plays a larger role in the latter third of the tale again.



Monster Leader

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 18

Not actually named in the story.

A reptilian monster, possibly a Geru or Daira, who leads a group of monsters that built a fortress in the forest where Trott came from.

They were apparently hoping to revive Ganon, but it's unclear if they're affiliated with the Masked Man at all.

They were all defeated by the efforts of Zelda, Watt, Trott, and Link.


Old Lady (お婆さん)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 54

First Named: Volume 2, Page 54


Returning character from Hyrule Fantasy.

Gicolot's older sister, she is the old lady who previously ran the potion shop with the help of the fairy fountain.

Link and Billy encounter her again in Eastern Hyrule, where she has been stuck for a little while.


Old Man of Nabooru

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 55


Not actually named in the story.

Teaches Link the Fire Magic (Fire Art).


Wizard (ウィズザール)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 64


A Wizard enemy whom Link encounters in the Maze Palace, who also actually speaks to him.

The Wizard reprimands Link for entering the palace without obtaining Reflect, and falling for a trap that had been laid by the monsters.


Hank (ハンク)


First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 73

First Named: Volume 2, Page 78


Shamon's son.

Fulfills the role of the kidnapped child from the game, being held at Maze Island.


Shamon (シャモン)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 77

First Named: Volume 2, Page 79


A swordsman and also the mage of Darunia.

Teaches Link the "Reflect Magic" and helps him forge a new sword.


Carock (カロック)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 116


Not actually named in this story, but per the game and guidebooks his name is Carock.

Guardian of the Maze Island Palace.


The Flute-loving Monster

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 128


A monster that lived in the river on the way to Kasuto.

It loves the sound of the Flute, and isn't actually on Ganon's side.

It fulfills the role of the River Devil from the games, though it does more as a character, too.

The idea of the River Devil being driven away by the sound of the Flute is reinterpreted as the monster enjoying it and helping out Link and friends in return.

It seems particularly attached to Zelda, for showing it kindness.


Tick (チック) & Tock (タック)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 158

First Named: Volume 2, Page 160


Two fairies Link encounters in this story after Zelda's death.

Their names could be romanized in many ways, but since they're a duo, I thought this made the most sense.


Elder of Kasuto

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 163


Not actually named in the story.

The elder of Old Kasuto.

Eventually teaches Link the Thunder Magic (Thunder Art).


Chic (チック) 

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 171

First Named: Volume 2, Page 173


A boy from New Kasuto.

For some reason, he has the same name as the fairy Tick in Japanese - might be a goof on Mr. Ran Maru's part. (see Translation Notes)


Bente (ベンテ)

First Appearance: Volume 2, Page 176

First Named: Volume 2, Page 175


The mage of New Kasuto.

Teaches Link the Spell Magic (Spell Art).


Volvagia/Barba (ヴァルバジア/バルバジア)

First Appearance: Volume 3, Chapter 1, Page 220


Not actually named in this story, but per the game and guidebooks its name is Volvagia/Barba.

(In Adventure of Link its English localized name was "Barba", but in Ocarina of Time it was localized as "Volvagia" instead - in Japanese those bosses have the same name.)

Guardian of the Three-Eye Rock Palace.

Doesn't get any dialogue, poor fella.


Boruba (ボルバ)

First Appearance: Volume 3, Chapter 4, Page 191

First Named: Volume 3, Chapter 4, Page 194


Guardian of the Great Palace.

In all English media, this boss was called "Thunderbird", but his Japanese name is just "Boruba".

I went with the Japanese name because "Thunderbird" doesn't seem to fit this manga's interpretation of him especially.

This boss was never supposed to be any thunder-related bird after all, the English localizers just named him that - presumably to make his weakness easier to guess?


Link's Shadow 

First Appearance: Volume 3, Chapter 4, Page 213


The evil in Link's heart manifested.