Princess Zelda

Princess Zelda (ゼルダ姫, Zeruda-hime) is a playable character in Hyrule Warriors. Her roles in the Legend of Zelda franchise vary with each incarnation, though the relationship dynamics between her and Link are kept more or less the same.

Her alter ego as Sheik (シーク, Shiiku), introduced in Ocarina of Time, appears as a separate playable character.

Zelda's Hyrule Warriors appearance functions as a special costume in Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3.

Hyrule Warriors
Princess Zelda is first shown playing her Harp in an open meadow, enjoying the calm serenity of the grassy planes and the music from her harp. However a massive cloud made of dark mist and black slime start to approach, and her attempt to escape is futile as she is, seemingly crushed by the wave of darkness. She later wakes up in her bed, telling her bodyguard Impa she had the same dream again. Impa claims it must be a prophesy of some kind.

While making their rounds through the castle, Zelda and Impa make their way pass the training yard where the new recruits are taking basic combat training. There Princess Zelda makes eye contact with Link. After that it is announced that an army, led by Volga and Wizzro are approaching the castle. Zelda's forces head out to intercept this army, with Zelda her self leading the charge along side Impa.

During the battle with Wizzro's forces Zelda gets separated from the main group, and Link and Impa fight through enemy groups in order to get to her. Once reunited she suggests they seek the aid of the Great Fairy to help them win the battle. With the Great Fairy's help they were able to deal a devastating blow to enemy morale. Impa then requests Zelda leave the battlefield, and leave the rest up to her and Link.

After it is presumed Princess Zelda has gone missing, in actuality she has gone into hiding, using her magic to alter her appearance and don a new persona in order to avoid being pursued by Cia's forces. While in disguise she reunites with Link and Impa at the Eldin Caves, introducing her self as Sheik. From that point on Sheik acts as a battle strategist for Impa and Links forces.

Once they escape the Eldin Caves, Sheik, Link, and Impa come across Lana at the Farron Woods. The Great Deku Tree is under attack by Wizzro's forces, and she requests aid from Impa's forces to repel them. After the Great Deku Tree is set on fire, Sheik helps Link locate the Great Fairy fountain in Farron Woods to put out the flames engulfing the forest deity.

Later Sheik and the others make their way to the Valley of Seers to confront Cia. When Sheik and Link make their way to Cia's primary location, alongside Lana and Impa, Cia places a spell on them to make them immobile before her. She then reveals that Link is in the possession of the Triforce of Courage, while Sheik posses the Triforce of Wisdom, which is only ever in possession of the Hyrule Royal Family. Cia rips the Triforce pieces from Link and Sheik respectively, and combines them with her fragment: the Triforce of Power.

Cia uses the power of the completed Triforce to open portals through space and time, bringing fragments of other lands to their Hyrule. The group part ways to each area, in order to seal the magical portals linking them together. Sheik and Impa making their way to Death Mountain.

Impa shows great levels of distrust towards Sheik at this point, having been wary of her since the beginning, to the point of not following Sheik's suggestions and nearly getting hurt in the process. After seeing Sheik in possession of the Triforce of Wisdom, a royal family heirloom that only Zelda had, Impa begins to call her out on the fact she is not a true sheikah. However they are interrupted by a fairy, requesting help, ending Impa's rantings. They learn that Darunia, Chief of the Gorons, have imprisoned Princess Ruto at Death Mountain.

They make their way to Death Mountain, taking on a large Goron Army. The Fairy claiming that Darunia had gone mad after coming in contact with Princess Zelda. After his defeat at Impa and Sheik, he comes to his senses and releases Princess Ruto. From there, they head to Lake Hylia in order to combat this supposed Zelda and her army.

After defeating Princess Zelda in battle, it is revealed that she was actually Wizzro in disguise. When asked how they were able to see through it Sheik proclaims it was easy, and envelops her self in a glowing light. She then reveals her self to be the true Princess Zelda, much to Impa’s relief.

From this point on Sheik no longer plays a role in the story, and players are given the option to play as Zelda or Sheik for a Stage. In the event players select Sheik, she will state Zelda's personal lines in various story based conversations. When playing as Zelda or Sheik, her role as commander of the Hyrulean Army is shifted over to Princess Ruto.

With her true identity revealed Princess Zelda, along with everyone else, make their way to the Temple of the Sacred Sword to get the Master Sword, believing it to be the only ideal way to combat Cia's forces. They are greeted at the temple by hostile holy spirits, however it is revealed they are being controlled by Wizzro. After his defeat, players venture to the Temple of Souls to combat Cia.

During the battle Cia uses her dark magic to harness Links arrogance, creating several Dark Links to combat the Hyrulean Army. While fighting these Dark Links Ganondorf shows up with his own army, attempting to combat both Cia's and Zelda's forces. Zelda becomes immobile with fear due to Ganondorf's Dark Aura, resulting her needing to be aided by Link. Link is able to defeat Ganondorf, causing him to retreat.

Zelda's forces make one final attempt to take down Cia, again combating her at the Valley of Seers. Zelda's forces struggle at first, however the Great Fairy comes to her aid, telling them to make their home base at her Fountain. From there Zelda and the Great Fairy combine powers to create a massive magical explosion, dealing a huge damaging blow to Cia's forces.

Cia then infuses Volga with intense dark magic, causing him to go on a rampage, Zelda then attempts to approach him and reason with him. After speaking with him, she convinces him to shed the dark magic altering his mind, but dies in the process much to Zelda's dismay.

After Cia's eventual defeat, the portals finally close, and all the warriors from their alternate time lines are sent back home. It is believed that all is right with Hyrule, however none are prepared for when Ganondorf's forces arrive with Zant and Ghirahim in tow. Being caught off guard Ganondorf's forces storm the castle, and defeat both Zelda and Link, Ganondorf taking their Triforce pieces.

With her Kingdom stolen from her, Zelda, Link, and Impa flee with what little exists of her army in an attempt to regroup. Reuniting with Lana at the Gerudo Desert, they are ambushed by Zant and Ghirahim's forces. The two work to get Lana separated from the main Hyrulean army, however she uses magic to bring Darunia, Ruto, Agitha, Midna, and Fi back from their respective eras to assist Zelda's forces. From there they defeat Zant and Ghirahim's forces.

With this boost in Morale, Zelda's army once again does battle with Ganondorf's forces. After a grueling battle Zelda's forces manage to defeat Ganondorf, only for him to transform into the Dark Beast Ganon. She imbues her powers into the Bow and Arrow item, permanently transforming them into the Light Arrows for the remainder of the battle.

They are eventually able to defeat Ganon, however in order to permanently seal his power the Master Sword must be placed back into its pedestal at the Temple of the Sacred Sword. Zelda travels with Link to return the sword, however his attempt at placing it in the pedestal is met with trouble as dark magic is spewing from it, preventing the Master Sword from being placed into it. Zelda moves to Links aid, and together they place the Master Sword where it belongs, permanently sealing away Ganondorf's soul fragment in their era.

Age of Calamity
Zelda is first seen coming out of the castle to check on Impa following after Link rescued her from a mob of monsters, only to then meet Terrako, the small Guardian that time-traveled back to before the Great Calamity to warn them of its impending return. It appears to recognize Zelda, but she is unable to recognize it. Still, wondering why it is here, Zelda goes with Link and Impa to the Royal Science Academy to have Robbie and Purah look it over, only to be attacked on the way there by a Guardian Stalker infected with Malice. After destroying it and reaching the Academy, Zelda is shocked when shown the images of Hyrule Castle Town burning from the Great Calamity attacking it, and realizes they need to prepare for its return soon than they though. With Impa, Link, and Terrako joining her, she travels to recruit Princess Mipha of the Zoras, Daruk of the Gorons, Revali of the Rito, and Urbosa of the Gerudo to become the Champions who would pilot the Divine Beasts against the Calamity.

After all four Champions are assembled, they are sent with Link, Zelda, and Impa into the Korok Forest to recover the Master Sword, meeting and helping out Hestu along the way. However, once in the grove where the Master Sword resided, Link and Zelda are attacked by Astor, the seer loyal to Calamity Ganon, and the Hollows, Malice-born copies of the Champions. Right before the Hollow of Urbosa could stab Zelda in the face and kill her, the Master Sword responds and banishes the Hollows before Link pulls it from the stone it was embedded in and becomes its wielder, fighting off Astor and his Hollows, forcing him to retreat. After dealing with monster attacks on the way back to Hyrule Castle, Zelda begins to doubt herself, but Urbosa offers her some wise advice to remind her that Link is still the same boy she met before he acquired the Blade of Evil's Bane, and nothing will change that, putting Zelda at ease. Before the monsters appear, Terrako tries to cheer Zelda up by playing Zelda's Lullaby to her, causing her to start remembering him before being interrupted by the attacks.

Further research by Robbie and Purah warns King Rhoam that Zelda's 17th birthday is the day that Calamity Ganon is to return, which prompts him to order Zelda to head to the Spring of Courage to try and awaken her dormant sealing magic. However, once at the Spring, Zelda is unable to awaken her powers before the spring is attacked by more of Ganon's monsters. Though Link and Impa fight them off, especially once Zelda uses her knowledge of the area to help them, she feels more despondent than ever about her powers not awakening, though Impa tries to cheer her up by reminding her of her foresight of the area that helped them escape.

When they return to Castle Town, Zelda decides to head to Mount Lanayru to train at the Spring of Wisdom as soon as she turns 17 to maintain tradition. However, just as she is leaving with Link and Impa to do so, Terrako arrives with the Sheikah Slate with new images extracted from Terrako's memory banks. These memories warn about the attack Calamity Ganon undertakes even as she looks at the images. In her flight to escape the castle, King Rhoam and his Royal Knights appear to sacrifice themselves to buy Link and Zelda the time needed to flee.

After regrouping with Impa and witnessing Calamity Ganon engulf Hyrule Castle, Zelda is then shown images from Terrako's timeline of the Divine Beasts under Calamity Ganon's control. Horrified that the Divine Beasts will fall to Ganon as well, Zelda collapses in guilt and grief She blames herself for Hyrule's downfall, and condemning the fact that her sealing magic has yet to awaken. Terrako tries to cheer Zelda up by playing Zelda's Lullaby again, a tear from Zelda falls on it, causing it to suddenly summon several time portals similar to the one it opened to escape into the past. Zelda, Link, and Impa the Divine Beast Vah Medoh's circuity is still flickering blue, indicating Revali is struggling for controll of Vah Medoh. Realizing there is still hope to save the Champions and keep the Divine Beasts on their side, Zelda joins Link, Impa, and Terrako with going to rescue them.

After a daring rescue effort, Zelda manages to save all four Champions and their Divine Beasts. Zelda realizes that Terrako was the one responsible for summoning the future Champions that ensured Urbosa, Daruk, Mipha, and Revali were kept alive until she and Link could provide rescue. After thanking Terrako, Zelda decides their next point of battle is Akkala Citadel, knowing they have to protect the fortress from falling, or Hyrule will lose one of its vital strongholds and be one step closer to total destruction.

Thanks to the Divine Beasts still being under Hyrulean control, the Citadel is able to hold the line and fight off the siege by Ganon's monsters and corrupted Guardian automatons, keeping the fortress intact. Shortly thereafter, Zelda heads to Fort Hateno to fight back the surge of Calamity forces. However, Astor appears again with re revived Blight Ganons to kill the princess. Link stays behind to fight the Blights and Astor, while Impa grabs Zelda and flees. However, after losing her father, Zelda can't bear to see Link fall, and breaks free from Impa and runs back to Link. In the process, she finally awakens her sealing magic granted to her by the Triforce and Hylia, causing the corrupted Guardians to shut down upon being exorcised of the Malice possessing them, and stunning the Blight Ganons. As a result, Link is able to slay the four abominations again, and Purah launches a failsafe that shuts down and/or destroys most of the corrupted Guardians, saving Fort Hateno.

With her sealing power awakened, Zelda rallies the surviving Hyrulean soldiers to her banner, even allowing Kohga to join them with his remaining Yiga clansmen. Zelda launches a successful defense of the Great Plateau, but upon reaching the Temple of Time, is shocked to find King Rhoam there, still very much alive. He reveals that the ancient Sheikah device she gave him earlier before the Calamity struck deployed a Guardian Shield, protecting him and his Royal Knights from the corrupted Guardian Stalkers' lasers, stunning the automatons long enough for Rhoam to order his men to retreat before they recovered and fall back to the Great Plateau and the Temple of Time to regroup. After Rhoam and Zelda makes amends, Rhoam passes command of the army over to her as they prepare to take back Hyrule Castle from the Calamity.

After Purah summons the Divine Beasts, their Champions, both present and future, and the united coalition of Gorons, Zoras, Gerudo, Rito, and Sheikah in the Yiga Clan together, Zelda gives a heartfelt speech to motivate the troops, before with a battle cry to assault Hyrule Castle and take back their homes. ALthough inicailly overwhelmed, Calamity Ganon uses a Blood Moon to boost his remaining troops and revive many of his fallen forces. Zelda and her allies manage to overcome this ploy and confront Astor and Harbinger Ganon, the Terrako of that timeline infected by the Malice that followed the Terrako from the Breath of the Wild timeline.

Zelda is forced to watch as, mad with insanity at thinking he could be defeated, Astor orders Ganon to consume Zelda and Link. Except Ganon consumes Astor and Harbinger Ganon himself a physical body. Shortly after acquiring his perfected body, Calamity Ganon manages to hit Terrako with several blasts of Malice, corrupting the little Guardian into turning on Link and Zelda, forcing them to fight it to purge the Malice, but leaving Terrako critcally damaged. Zelda is horrified, as she finally remembers that Terrako was activated by her when she was little, and gave her comfort after her mother passed away. Overcome with anger and fury at what Calamity Ganon has done, Zelda vows that his threat ends here and now.

Fighting into the inner sanctum of the castle citadel, Zelda and the others fight Calamity Ganon, but he proves invulnerable to all their attacks. It is all Zelda can do to keep Ganon's most devistating attacks at bay until the critically damaged Terrako self-destructs against Calamity Ganon and shatters his defences. Once he has been weakened enough, Link delivers the finishing blow with cleaving Calamity Ganon in half with the Master Sword, before having Zelda move to seal him away once more.

With Calamity Ganon gone, Hyrule begins to recover from the war. At the castle, the only relic Zelda has left of Terrako is the ancient screw that was the last piece she put into him to bring him to life. However, some of the time-travel energy remained on it, and that residual energy is enough to send Teba, Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, and Patricia back to their own timeline now that their services were completed, promising to always remember their time shared with the Champions.

Later, after recovering most of Terrako's scattered parts after it self-destructed, Robbie and Purah are able to repair it, but it initially seems unable to respond to any of them, even when Impa tries smacking it to get it to wake up, until Zelda steps in. Seeing Zelda, Terrako fully recovers, much to everyone's relief, and Zelda takes Terrako in her arms, happy to have him back as she welcomes him home. Terrako begins playing Zelda's Lullaby again to comfort her upon noticing her tears of gladness.

Development
When developing her character for this title, designers felt she needed to come off as a strong figure —both physically and emotionally— and was designed to have an aura of "a poised and confident ruler". The developers felt that a strong Zelda was a natural choice since they wanted to show how normal it was for someone of her character to obtain her seat of power.

Personality
Princess Zelda is a dignified figure who calmly assesses any dire situation before making a decision. She has the upmost faith in all of her allies, believing that they have the ability to overcome any obstacle. However despite her positive nature, she is a stern warrior and has no issues taking to the battlefield herself when necessary. Princess Zelda is a brilliant tactician, able to read the flow of battle and come up with the best solutions needed to ensure victory. However in the event an unforeseeable act occurs, she can be prone to light panicking, if only for the safety of her troops fighting for her cause. In moments like these, she is able to recover a minute or so after the initial shock.

As Sheik, she is calm, aloof, and speaks only when necessary, and even then she will say as little as possible. Her prowess as a Strategist is still very apparent in this form, able to make quick and insightful suggestions in battle, despite her lower rank when in this form. She comes off as somewhat cold in this guise, but if only to keep people from learning her true identity.

Quotes

 * See also: Princess Zelda/Quotes, Sheik/Quotes

Gameplay

 * Zelda's usage of the Wind Waker and the Dominion Rod as her alternate weapons alludes to the fact that both items are Sacred Hyrule Royal Family Treasures from the Legend of Zelda franchise.

Zelda has two attack patterns for herself: One with the Sheikah Slate, the other after awakening her Triforce powers.

Sheikah Slate=
 * Y,Y,Y: Zelda uses Magnesis to swing a metal box around, then summons a Cryonis block, and finishes by casting Stasis.
 * X,X,X: Zelda summons a fan of Cryonis blocks, then summons a forward row of Cryonis blocks and hops across them, sending shockwaves that damage enemies. Finally, she ends the combo by summoning an icicle.
 * ZR: Zelda activates Sheikah runes, detonating any Sheikah rune-inflicted attacks.


 * -|Bow of Light=
 * ZR: Zelda activates Luminescent mode, which enables her quick access to her most powerful attacks at the cost of her special attack gauge.

Badge Materials

 * See also: Hyrule Warriors/Badges

Trivia

 * Through a weapon glitch Zelda hums her theme song when she uses Lana's summoning gate.
 * Zelda's costume is included in Fatal Fame: Maiden of Black of Water as a costume for Miu.