Link is the main protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series and one of Nintendo's flagship characters. A young but powerful, highly adventurous swordsman dressed in green whose main objective is to protect the world from the forces of evil, generally the Kingdom of Hyrule, through incredible feats of courage and bravery as well as overcoming dangerous obstacles and hardships, Link made his grand debut in the titular Nintendo Entertainment System (Family Computer Disk System in Japan) action-adventure game in 1986, The Legend of Zelda, and has been present in every subsequent title since (with the sole exception being the Japan-only Satellaview games, despite these are non-canonical). He is one of the three most important characters in the franchise, alongside Princess Zelda and Ganon, with the two in particular being his close ally (if not love interest) and archenemy, respectively.
Link is most often the bearer of the Triforce of Courage, a powerful sign of himself being chosen by the Golden Goddesses as well as his exemplary courage. Aside from being a skilled warrior, he is famous for his elf-like appearance and usually being armed with the legendary Master Sword and Hylian Shield, his signature weapons since Ocarina of Time. In addition, as explicitly defined by being the wielder of the Master Sword or other sacred weapons such as the Light Arrows, Four Sword, or Magical Sword, as well as restoring peace with the completed Triforce as seen in A Link to the Past or A Link Between Worlds, Link also has a pure heart, similar to Zelda.
Unlike most other central Nintendo protagonists, Link himself does not exist as a single individual within the franchise, but has appeared as many different incarnations across the history of Hyrule, which, depending on the game, depicted as an ordinary boy or young man, much like the eponymous Princess Zelda. Specific incarnations of Link may be distinguished by titles such as the iconic Hero of Time in Ocarina of Time or the Hero of Winds in The Wind Waker. Regardless of each version of the character, however, Link possess the spirit of the Legendary Hero once chosen by the Goddess Hylia and is thereby always destined to fight evil, specifically his arch-nemesis Ganon, usually under Princess Zelda's orders (several games since The Wind Waker have the princess herself assist him in defeating the main villain, though she attempted to do so in Ocarina of Time).
Despite this integral role, some mainline games have Link faced different lead antagonists such as Demise or Majora's Mask, and few such as Link's Awakening, Majora's Mask or Tri Force Heroes did not even have the hero encountering Ganon or Zelda in their plot. Link even has an evil reflection of himself which is rarely seen and fought in the series, most prominently in The Adventure of Link and Ocarina of Time.
Link himself is also the mascot of the Zelda franchise, and because of its long-running multi-billiondollar success as one of Nintendo's flagship series (alongside Mario and Pokémon), he is widely known as one of the most recognized and iconic video game characters of all-time.
