Tears of the Kingdom Creators Reveal The Smelliest Links

Link, hero of the Legend of Zelda series, has been through many visual changes over the years. We could all rank our favourites there. But have you ever stopped and wondered how the different Links across the timeline smell?

I’ll be honest here, I have not, so I’m very glad Megan Farokhmanesh, writing for Wired, thought to ask this important question. It’s not often games critics and journalists get interviews with important Japanese developers, so when they do—and having everything go through a translator never helps—interviews tend to end up being about boring, predictable stuff.

Here, though, right off the bat, Tears Of The Kingdom Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma are asked “Which version of Link, across the long-running series’ dozens of titles, would smell the worst?”

Aonuma points to Breath of the Wild’s version of the character, who wears a barbarian-style outfit with a bone cap and furs. “That might be kind of smelly,” he says, noting its “wild animal odor aroma.”

Fujibayashi, who says that “across the many decades” he’s given interviews he’s never been asked to consider which hero is most in need of deodorant, cast his vote for Twilight Princess. Although Link spends much of his time digging through dirt and running through dungeons as a wolf, Fujibayashi is thinking of one specific moment. “There are some scenes in Twilight Princess where Link engages in sumo wrestling with the Goron tribe,” he says. “I imagine he’s pretty smelly in that situation.”

Good answers! Now I’m trying to think of which Link would smell the best, and keep coming back to the freshness of early-game Wind Waker: a lovely blend of sun, sea, sand and coconuts, which is exactly how the whole game smells in my mind.

Please don’t think I’m only posting this here because of the stinky discourse, either, because the interview also gets excellent—and surprisingly blooper-filled—answers to “What are the best—and worst—things you’ve created with Ultrahand and Fuse?” as well, which you can check out over on Wired.