Well Excuse Me, Princess!

Zelda from A Link Between Worlds looks nearly identical to her counterpart from A Link to the Past, so she doesn’t earn a lot of points for originality. She makes it through a couple of cutscenes without being kidnapped, however, and that’s reason enough to mention her on this list. She’s shown to be an excellent judge of character, and her psychic abilities let her know that she can trust Link’s reports about a malevolent sorcerer even though no one else does. Despite her wisdom, Zelda is attacked by the sorcerer in question and turned into a painting for half the game. The spell is eventually broken and she ends the adventure with a selfless gesture, but she has to settle for the number ten position since A Link Between Worlds was more focused on Princess Hilda from the Kingdom of Lorule.

A day before the Twilight Princess version of Zelda was to be crowned queen, a powerful sorcerer named Zant invaded Hyrule. In order to protect her kingdom, Zelda surrendered to Zant and was imprisoned in a tower. Her selfless nature was even more apparent late into the game when she sacrificed her physical being in order to save the eponymous Twilight Princess. Her lifeless body was later used as a puppet to attack Link, but Zelda helped defeat Ganondorf in the final battle by firing arrows while riding horseback. This iteration of Zelda was a benevolent ruler with the weight of the world on her shoulders, but her stoic personality made it difficult to form any emotional connection with her. Her regal personality commands respect, but she wasn’t even the most interesting princess in the game.

In the first Zelda game, the legendary princess was trapped in Ganon’s dungeon for the entire quest and only said a handful of words after she was rescued. In the sequel, the princess slept through the adventure and had even less to say than her predecessor. In A Link to the Past, Zelda speaks to Link through telepathy in the opening scene and continues to reach out to him throughout his journey. They meet early on, and Link’s first objective in the game is to break her out of jail. When she inevitably gets kidnapped again, there’s more emotional weight since they’ve already been acquainted. Previous games relied entirely on exposition, but this time around Link sees Zelda vanish before his very eyes. A Link to the Past was the first game to give Zelda a real personality.

Hyrule Warriors is a non-canonical entry in the series, but the official Zelda timeline is so convoluted that I’m not sure it really matters at this point. The Hyrule Warriors version of Zelda is arguably the most active iteration of the legendary heroine, and she pulls double duty as the Princess of Hyrule and the Commander-in-Chief of the Hyrulean Forces. When she foresees signs of an impending war, she personally leads an army into battle against the dark forces. It’s not uncommon for Zelda to get her hands dirty from time to time, but the large-scale battles in Hyrule Warriors were unlike anything we’d ever seen in a Zelda game. The heroic princess uses several familiar weapons from past Zelda games with amazing efficiency, and her fighting style is as graceful as it is deadly.

At the beginning of The Minish Cap, Zelda sneaks out of the castle to attend an annual festival with her good pal, Link. (The girl has a bit of Princess Jasmine in her and wants to experience life beyond the castle walls.) While taking in all of the sights and sounds, Zelda repeatedly gets distracted and runs off to check out the other exhibits. Her unbridled enthusiasm is adorable, and it’s fun to spend time with people who are filled with energy and excitement. When Zelda wins a raffle at one of the stalls, she chooses a shield as her prize and immediately gives it to Link as a means of thanking him for accompanying her to the festival. What a great friend! Unfortunately, an evil mage casts a spell on the princess shortly thereafter, and Zelda spends most of the game as a statue.

At the onset of Breath of the Wild, Link wakes up without his memory after a century of rest. He’s able to regain his memories of Zelda by visiting specific locations around Hyrule, but the open-ended nature of the game means that these flashbacks will likely be presented out-of-order and without proper context. Link’s vision often paint Zelda as a melodramatic figure who is crippled by self-doubt and prone to histrionics. When the moment of truth arrives, however, her hidden power is unlocked in dramatic fashion. After she saves Link from certain death, she spends the next hundred years keeping Ganon’s power at bay! This level of character development was atypical for Zelda, and it was a lot of fun to see her evolve as a character… She also gets bonus points for wearing yoga pants.

A Link to the Past was the first game that gave Zelda a personality, but Ocarina of Time marked the first time the princess took an active role in the fight against Ganon’s forces. Zelda is a child when we’re introduced to her, but she’s wise beyond her years and plans to stop Ganondorf from conquering Hyrule. When her plan backfires, she hides all traces of her identity and spends the next seven years masquerading as the last surviving member of the ancient Sheika tribe. This cunning disguise keeps her hidden from Ganondorf until Link re-emerges as the Hero of Time, and she deserves credit for embracing her inner ninja under the guise of Sheik. Zelda gets kidnapped by Ganondorf almost immediately after revealing her true identity, but she was a Hide-and-Seek champion for the better part of a decade!

The identity of Zelda is shrouded in mystery during the first act of The Wind Waker. As Link sets out on a journey to rescue his sister, he occasionally crosses paths with a young pirate queen named Tetra who is seeking adventure on the high seas. It’s later revealed that Tetra was Princess Zelda the entire time, but she was blissfully unaware of the royal blood coursing through her veins. Unlike previous Zeldas, Tetra had her own motivations and wasn’t completely defined by her interactions with Link. Tetra brought unprecedented levels of sass and independence to the table, and she proved that pirates are a lot more interesting than royals. The only reason why she isn’t ranked even higher is because she regressed into a typical “damsel in distress” role after her true identity was revealed.

The Spirit Tracks iteration of Zelda inherited Tetra’s feistiness, but she has a charming naivete that’s all her own. The goal in most Zelda games is to prevent bad things from happening to the princess, but Zelda’s soul is separated from her body in the first act of Spirit Tracks! (Her reaction when she learns what the Demon King intends to do with her body is hysterical.) Although she’s taken out early, she has more screen time than any other version of Zelda since her spirit accompanies Link on his adventure. She provides exposition, aides Link by possessing enemies, and offers moral support in the form of high-fives! She’s there to figuratively hold Link’s hand throughout the game, but the journey ends with them literally holding hands with each other. It’s almost too adorable for words.

Skyward Sword is set before all other games in the series, and its version of Zelda inspired the legends in the first place. Unlike her counterparts, Zelda isn’t a princess in this outing. She’s merely one of Link’s childhood friends, and the two of them have real history. You can sense the chemistry between them, and I was almost begging for them to kiss at one point. (Zelda made this moment even better by pushing Link off a cliff!) Like most great women, Zelda is dynamic, sassy, and fun. She occasionally finds herself in peril, but she’s no pushover. When the town bully starts giving Link a hard time, Zelda stands up for him. She’s a sweet girl who embodies the girl-next-door, and I admire her assertiveness. As an aside, Romance in the Air is my favorite music track in the entire series.