Forget the future, don't live the past
I just watched a 43-minute video about The Legend of Zelda, so I thought I'd do what I did with Sonic the Hedgehog a couple of posts ago and write as many facts about the series as I can think of from memory.
The phrase "It's a secret to everybody" or some variation occurs in almost every Zelda game to date. The phrase first appears in the very first game, The Legend of Zelda. Exploring the overworld map, the player may occasionally discover a cave, in which resides a Moblin, one of the game's enemies. The Moblin doesn't attack, but instead says "IT'S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY." and offers you some Rupees. In the Japanese version, the original dialogue translates to "Overlook it just this once", implying that originally, he was bribing you to keep quiet about his secret hideout.
There is evidence that suggests that the Forest and Water temples in Ocarina of Time were originally the Wind and Ice temples, respectively. The Forest Medallion has a swirl design on it that resembles a fan, and the Ice Medallion has a snowflake design on it. What's more, in Ganon's Tower, the final dungeon, there are portions of the dungeon that are based on the previous temples. The Forest Temple portion has a wind puzzle based around fans, while the Water Temple portion is based around ice.
The Water Temple in Ocarina of Time was widely regarded as the most difficult and annoying dungeon in the game, to the point where its infamy was actually mocked in Twilight Princess. When entering the Lakebed Temple (which is actually in the same location as the Water Temple), Midna comments on how annoying it'll be to find all the keys to get through the temple. The game's designers (for Ocarina of Time) actually apologised for the Water Temple, and stated that it would be improved for the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time, mainly by making the Iron Boots (which have to be equipped and removed several times in order to complete the temple) a useable item instead of forcing the players to pause the game every time they wanted to equip or remove them.
Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted he designed the Zelda games to require player collaboration, which is essentially his way of admitting that a walkthrough may be required sometimes.
Originally, the plan was to use Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" for the title screen music for the first game, but the song was still copyrighted. Koji Kondo, the game's composer, spent an entire day composing the now-iconic current Legend of Zelda theme.
In the first game, entering ZELDA as your name (case sensitive) will cause the game to start on the Second Quest immediately. As a reference to this, in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on the Game Boy, entering ZELDA as your name will cause the music on the status screen to change.
In Link's Awakening, it is possible to steal from the shop by picking up an item, standing to the left of the shopkeeper (so he faces you, away from the door), then quickly running around behind him and out of the door. Successfully pulling this off will cause the game to state "Guess what? You got it for free! Are you proud of yourself?" However, going back into the shop after doing this will cause the shopkeeper to zap Link, killing him instantly, and from then on everyone will refer to you as THIEF instead of your chosen name.
Also in Link's Awakening, a fetch quest in the game will at one point land you with a mermaid's scale, which you return to a mermaid in exchange for her item. However, the mermaid seems unusually shy when retrieving the scale, blushing and stuttering and generally acting embarrassed. This makes more sense when you realise that in the Japanese version and some European versions, the item you find (by fishing it out of a lake) is actually the mermaid's bra.
In the German version of Ocarina of Time, if you wear the Keaton mask when talking to Princess Zelda, she will say "What are you supposed to be? Oh, you're one of those small cute Pocket Monsters, right?", referring to the mask's visual similarity to Pikachu of Pokémon fame.
In Majora's Mask, the Song of Healing is actually Saria's Song from Ocarina of Time played backwards.
A strange cross-series reference. In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is frequently challenged to a race by a mysterious masked man calling himself Il Piantissimo. The man's face is never shown in-game, but hacking the game's data files and removing the mask shows that Il Piantissimo is actually the Running Man from Ocarina of Time (and/or the Postman from Majora's Mask, since they use the same model).
Speaking of the Running Man, it is actually impossible to beat his time in Ocarina of Time. No matter how fast you go, he will always beat you by at least one second. The reason for this was that the developers honestly couldn't think of what to give you if you did beat it, and also to poke fun at obsessive gamers who play to beat absolutely everything. The real point of the race is to beat your best time.
Pre-release screenshots of Ocarina of Time showed Link holding the Triforce, implying that the Triforce was going to be an obtainable item originally. In the final game, the Triforce is only ever seen in cutscenes, and it is not possible to actually obtain it.
Originally, the Medallions in Ocarina of Time were going to be functional items, and would warp you to their respective temples once used. This was replaced by the warping songs in the final game, and the Medallions were made purely decorative.
The five areas of Termina in Majora's Mask represent the five stages of grief. Clock Town is Denial. The citizens of Clock Town refuse to believe that the Moon is falling, and are actually planning a festival to happen on the day the moon is supposed to fall. Woodfall is Anger. The Deku King's daughter has been kidnapped, and the King is planning to execute a monkey that he believes is responsible. Snowhead is Bargaining. The spirit of Darmani attempts to bargain with Link to give him one more chance at life, before Link uses the Song of Healing to finally put his spirit at rest. Great Bay is Depression. Zora singing sensation Lulu's eggs have been stolen, and the resulting shock has left her mute, unable to do anything but gaze sadly out at the ocean until you bring the eggs back to her. Ikana Canyon is Acceptance - the inhabitants of the canyon have resolutely accepted their inevitable fate and are living out the last days of their lives waiting for the end.
Shigeru Miyamoto was heavily influenced by Disney when designing The Legend of Zelda. Link's design is quite obviously based on their depiction of Peter Pan, right down to the fairy companion. The various instruments were also based on Peter Pan's flute, and notably some games (such as the very first one) do feature an actual flute that Link can use. The Kokiri also resemble children and do not age, much like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.
The Lost Woods from Legend of Zelda and the Forest of Illusion from Super Mario World share the same name in Japanese, "Mayoi no Mori" or "Lost Forest". All the normal exits in the Forest of Illusion send you round in circles, and the Lost Woods circles you back to the entrance after a wrong turn.
The original plan for the first Zelda game was to have it take place in both the past and the future. The main character was intended to be the "link" between these two time periods, which is why he was named Link. The Triforce pieces were originally intended to be computer chips. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past's concept art features a picture of Princess Zelda in futuristic clothing, suggesting they originally intended to bring back this concept for that game.
A recurring theme in the series since Ocarina of Time is that each game starts with Link waking up. In Hyrule Historia, the reason for this is finally explained - it's "the hero's awakening".
Although it was believed for a long time that the timeline was split into two separate paths following Ocarina of Time, the official timeline in Hyrule Historia reveals that there were actually THREE separate timelines created by the events of that game - the Child Link timeline, which leads to Majora's Mask and then the Wind Waker games, the Adult Link timeline, which leads to Twilight Princess, and an alternate third timeline in which Link is defeated by Ganondorf, which leads to The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link.
A mistranslated line in the original SNES version of A Link to the Past had Zelda's uncle telling Link "Zelda is your...", leading to a rumour that Zelda was actually Link's sister or somehow related to Link. In the GBA remake, this line was more accurately translated to read "It is your destiny to save Zelda".
The manual for A Link to the Past gives Ganondorf's full name as "Ganondorf Dragmire". This surname was made up by the American translators and is not canon to the games, as so far Ganondorf's surname, if indeed he has one, has never been revealed.
Link's catchphrase from the animated series, "Well excuuuuse me, Princess!" is referenced in many Ace Attorney games, including Phoenix saying the line word for word in Justice for All.
The City in the Sky in Twilight Princess is based on a painting by surrealist M. C. Escher entitled "Another World" (also known as "Other World").
The creators have revealed that the black parts of Midna's body in Twilight Princess are not clothes, but just the way her body looks, meaning that she is basically naked throughout the whole game.
Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, once approached Shigeru Miyamoto offering to voice Link. Miyamoto responded by making it clear that Link will never have a voice (while Link does yell and scream quite often, Miyamoto probably meant Link would never have spoken dialogue).
An infamous line in The Adventure of Link has one character proclaiming "I AM ERROR." While often thought to be a mistake (interpreting it as a literal programming error in place of actual dialogue), in fact the character's name was intended to be "Error" all along. Another character tells you to "Go see Error" to obtain an item you need, and an acquaintance of Error in a different town, Bagu, has a name that is a literal romanisation of "Bug" in Japanese phonetics. The two characters named Bug and Error were supposed to be programming in-jokes, but the mistranslation of Bug's name caused the joke to be lost on players.
There was originally a third instalment planned for the "Oracle" series, called The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Courage in Japanese (based on the original Japanese titles for Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, "Mystical Seed of Power" and "Mystical Seed of Wisdom" respectively). The player was supposed to be able to transfer data between the three games using a password system, but this was deemed too complicated, so development switched to just two games instead.
The original Japanese name for A Link to the Past was Zelda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce, which translates as The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods. It was most likely changed as Nintendo's censorship policy at the time included removing any religious references. In the first Zelda game, an item called Book of Magic (or Magic Book) originally had a cross on the cover of it and looked very similar to the Holy Bible in the Japanese version of the game, and was actually called "Bible" in Japanese. The item's name and design were changed in the Western release of the game for the same reasons.
Another mistaken belief about the games is that the Darknut enemy's name is a mistranslation of "Dark Knight", but the fact is this is not true. Their Japanese name is literally written as "Taatonakku", which could be freely romanised as "Tart Knuckle" among other ways (the Iron Knuckle enemies are called Aiannakku in Japanese). Where "Darknut" came from is a mystery, but one thing that can be said with certainly is that it was not a mistranslation of "Dark Knight" as previously thought.
There are actually several Links and several Zeldas in the game series, but Ganondorf is the same person every time.
The phrase "It's a secret to everybody" or some variation occurs in almost every Zelda game to date. The phrase first appears in the very first game, The Legend of Zelda. Exploring the overworld map, the player may occasionally discover a cave, in which resides a Moblin, one of the game's enemies. The Moblin doesn't attack, but instead says "IT'S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY." and offers you some Rupees. In the Japanese version, the original dialogue translates to "Overlook it just this once", implying that originally, he was bribing you to keep quiet about his secret hideout.
There is evidence that suggests that the Forest and Water temples in Ocarina of Time were originally the Wind and Ice temples, respectively. The Forest Medallion has a swirl design on it that resembles a fan, and the Ice Medallion has a snowflake design on it. What's more, in Ganon's Tower, the final dungeon, there are portions of the dungeon that are based on the previous temples. The Forest Temple portion has a wind puzzle based around fans, while the Water Temple portion is based around ice.
The Water Temple in Ocarina of Time was widely regarded as the most difficult and annoying dungeon in the game, to the point where its infamy was actually mocked in Twilight Princess. When entering the Lakebed Temple (which is actually in the same location as the Water Temple), Midna comments on how annoying it'll be to find all the keys to get through the temple. The game's designers (for Ocarina of Time) actually apologised for the Water Temple, and stated that it would be improved for the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time, mainly by making the Iron Boots (which have to be equipped and removed several times in order to complete the temple) a useable item instead of forcing the players to pause the game every time they wanted to equip or remove them.
Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted he designed the Zelda games to require player collaboration, which is essentially his way of admitting that a walkthrough may be required sometimes.
Originally, the plan was to use Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" for the title screen music for the first game, but the song was still copyrighted. Koji Kondo, the game's composer, spent an entire day composing the now-iconic current Legend of Zelda theme.
In the first game, entering ZELDA as your name (case sensitive) will cause the game to start on the Second Quest immediately. As a reference to this, in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on the Game Boy, entering ZELDA as your name will cause the music on the status screen to change.
In Link's Awakening, it is possible to steal from the shop by picking up an item, standing to the left of the shopkeeper (so he faces you, away from the door), then quickly running around behind him and out of the door. Successfully pulling this off will cause the game to state "Guess what? You got it for free! Are you proud of yourself?" However, going back into the shop after doing this will cause the shopkeeper to zap Link, killing him instantly, and from then on everyone will refer to you as THIEF instead of your chosen name.
Also in Link's Awakening, a fetch quest in the game will at one point land you with a mermaid's scale, which you return to a mermaid in exchange for her item. However, the mermaid seems unusually shy when retrieving the scale, blushing and stuttering and generally acting embarrassed. This makes more sense when you realise that in the Japanese version and some European versions, the item you find (by fishing it out of a lake) is actually the mermaid's bra.
In the German version of Ocarina of Time, if you wear the Keaton mask when talking to Princess Zelda, she will say "What are you supposed to be? Oh, you're one of those small cute Pocket Monsters, right?", referring to the mask's visual similarity to Pikachu of Pokémon fame.
In Majora's Mask, the Song of Healing is actually Saria's Song from Ocarina of Time played backwards.
A strange cross-series reference. In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is frequently challenged to a race by a mysterious masked man calling himself Il Piantissimo. The man's face is never shown in-game, but hacking the game's data files and removing the mask shows that Il Piantissimo is actually the Running Man from Ocarina of Time (and/or the Postman from Majora's Mask, since they use the same model).
Speaking of the Running Man, it is actually impossible to beat his time in Ocarina of Time. No matter how fast you go, he will always beat you by at least one second. The reason for this was that the developers honestly couldn't think of what to give you if you did beat it, and also to poke fun at obsessive gamers who play to beat absolutely everything. The real point of the race is to beat your best time.
Pre-release screenshots of Ocarina of Time showed Link holding the Triforce, implying that the Triforce was going to be an obtainable item originally. In the final game, the Triforce is only ever seen in cutscenes, and it is not possible to actually obtain it.
Originally, the Medallions in Ocarina of Time were going to be functional items, and would warp you to their respective temples once used. This was replaced by the warping songs in the final game, and the Medallions were made purely decorative.
The five areas of Termina in Majora's Mask represent the five stages of grief. Clock Town is Denial. The citizens of Clock Town refuse to believe that the Moon is falling, and are actually planning a festival to happen on the day the moon is supposed to fall. Woodfall is Anger. The Deku King's daughter has been kidnapped, and the King is planning to execute a monkey that he believes is responsible. Snowhead is Bargaining. The spirit of Darmani attempts to bargain with Link to give him one more chance at life, before Link uses the Song of Healing to finally put his spirit at rest. Great Bay is Depression. Zora singing sensation Lulu's eggs have been stolen, and the resulting shock has left her mute, unable to do anything but gaze sadly out at the ocean until you bring the eggs back to her. Ikana Canyon is Acceptance - the inhabitants of the canyon have resolutely accepted their inevitable fate and are living out the last days of their lives waiting for the end.
Shigeru Miyamoto was heavily influenced by Disney when designing The Legend of Zelda. Link's design is quite obviously based on their depiction of Peter Pan, right down to the fairy companion. The various instruments were also based on Peter Pan's flute, and notably some games (such as the very first one) do feature an actual flute that Link can use. The Kokiri also resemble children and do not age, much like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.
The Lost Woods from Legend of Zelda and the Forest of Illusion from Super Mario World share the same name in Japanese, "Mayoi no Mori" or "Lost Forest". All the normal exits in the Forest of Illusion send you round in circles, and the Lost Woods circles you back to the entrance after a wrong turn.
The original plan for the first Zelda game was to have it take place in both the past and the future. The main character was intended to be the "link" between these two time periods, which is why he was named Link. The Triforce pieces were originally intended to be computer chips. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past's concept art features a picture of Princess Zelda in futuristic clothing, suggesting they originally intended to bring back this concept for that game.
A recurring theme in the series since Ocarina of Time is that each game starts with Link waking up. In Hyrule Historia, the reason for this is finally explained - it's "the hero's awakening".
Although it was believed for a long time that the timeline was split into two separate paths following Ocarina of Time, the official timeline in Hyrule Historia reveals that there were actually THREE separate timelines created by the events of that game - the Child Link timeline, which leads to Majora's Mask and then the Wind Waker games, the Adult Link timeline, which leads to Twilight Princess, and an alternate third timeline in which Link is defeated by Ganondorf, which leads to The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link.
A mistranslated line in the original SNES version of A Link to the Past had Zelda's uncle telling Link "Zelda is your...", leading to a rumour that Zelda was actually Link's sister or somehow related to Link. In the GBA remake, this line was more accurately translated to read "It is your destiny to save Zelda".
The manual for A Link to the Past gives Ganondorf's full name as "Ganondorf Dragmire". This surname was made up by the American translators and is not canon to the games, as so far Ganondorf's surname, if indeed he has one, has never been revealed.
Link's catchphrase from the animated series, "Well excuuuuse me, Princess!" is referenced in many Ace Attorney games, including Phoenix saying the line word for word in Justice for All.
The City in the Sky in Twilight Princess is based on a painting by surrealist M. C. Escher entitled "Another World" (also known as "Other World").
The creators have revealed that the black parts of Midna's body in Twilight Princess are not clothes, but just the way her body looks, meaning that she is basically naked throughout the whole game.
Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, once approached Shigeru Miyamoto offering to voice Link. Miyamoto responded by making it clear that Link will never have a voice (while Link does yell and scream quite often, Miyamoto probably meant Link would never have spoken dialogue).
An infamous line in The Adventure of Link has one character proclaiming "I AM ERROR." While often thought to be a mistake (interpreting it as a literal programming error in place of actual dialogue), in fact the character's name was intended to be "Error" all along. Another character tells you to "Go see Error" to obtain an item you need, and an acquaintance of Error in a different town, Bagu, has a name that is a literal romanisation of "Bug" in Japanese phonetics. The two characters named Bug and Error were supposed to be programming in-jokes, but the mistranslation of Bug's name caused the joke to be lost on players.
There was originally a third instalment planned for the "Oracle" series, called The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Courage in Japanese (based on the original Japanese titles for Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, "Mystical Seed of Power" and "Mystical Seed of Wisdom" respectively). The player was supposed to be able to transfer data between the three games using a password system, but this was deemed too complicated, so development switched to just two games instead.
The original Japanese name for A Link to the Past was Zelda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce, which translates as The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods. It was most likely changed as Nintendo's censorship policy at the time included removing any religious references. In the first Zelda game, an item called Book of Magic (or Magic Book) originally had a cross on the cover of it and looked very similar to the Holy Bible in the Japanese version of the game, and was actually called "Bible" in Japanese. The item's name and design were changed in the Western release of the game for the same reasons.
Another mistaken belief about the games is that the Darknut enemy's name is a mistranslation of "Dark Knight", but the fact is this is not true. Their Japanese name is literally written as "Taatonakku", which could be freely romanised as "Tart Knuckle" among other ways (the Iron Knuckle enemies are called Aiannakku in Japanese). Where "Darknut" came from is a mystery, but one thing that can be said with certainly is that it was not a mistranslation of "Dark Knight" as previously thought.
There are actually several Links and several Zeldas in the game series, but Ganondorf is the same person every time.
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