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Of all the recurring villains Link has confronted across Nintendo’s long-running The Legend of Zelda franchise, one of the most memorable is Dark Link. Occasionally referred to as Shadow Link, Dark Link is a pitch-black doppelganger of Zelda’s iconic hero, armed with many of the same weapons and combat mastery as his heroic counterpart, and always a standout whenever he surfaces in a Zelda game. And while The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom doesn’t feature Link as its main protagonist, swapping out the emerald-clad warrior for Princess Zelda, Dark Link not only returns but is a major fixture throughout the game.
Not only does Dark Link menace Zelda throughout Echoes of Wisdom, but the Nintendo Switch game really does the shadowy swordsman justice in a way no other installment in the long-running series has before. For an antagonist that has been a fixture of the franchise since 1987, that’s really saying something, and also speaks to how Echoes of Wisdom takes classic Zelda elements and effectively reimagines them in new and exciting ways for modern audiences. 37 years since his debut, Dark Link is ready for the spotlight and Echoes of Wisdom really delivers.
The Origins of Dark Link
Dark Link made his debut as the final boss of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link on the Nintendo Entertainment System, the ultimate challenge for Link to prove he is worthy of claiming the Triforce of Courage. In this iteration, Dark Link is meant to embody the darkest reflections of Link’s own heart in a test of purity of character. Notoriously difficult, the duel with Dark Link remains one of the toughest boss fights in the series.
It would be over a decade until Dark Link resurfaced, fully rendered in 3D this time around, for 1998’s Ocarina of Time, appearing as a sub-boss within the infamous Water Temple. In what is easily the highlight of the deservedly maligned dungeon, Link confronts Dark Link in a surreal showdown in a room that initially appears to be a serene pond with a small island in the middle. Dark Link mirrors Link’s movements, with players having to dig deep into Link’s bag of tricks to defeat the shadowy doppelganger, resulting in the room’s illusion to fade away. Unlike his debut, the background for this Dark Link is shrouded in mystery.
As Zelda expanded its presence on Nintendo’s handheld consoles, Dark Link appeared in 2001’s The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages on the Game Boy Color as an enemy summoned by the game’s final boss Veran to battle Link. Dark Link also appeared as the boss of the optional Palace of the Four Swords in 2002’s Game Boy Advance port of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, dividing himself into four separate figures, a technique he later repeated in subsequent appearances. Still, these appearances felt like nothing more than glorified cameos, lacking the punch Dark Link made on home consoles.
In 2004, Dark Link returned in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures on the GameCube as a recurring antagonist. This Dark Link, or Shadow Link as he’s referred to in-game, kidnaps the maidens of four shrines in Hyrule prompting Link to draw the Four Sword, splitting himself into four differently colored versions of himself. Of course, Ganon is ultimately revealed to be the true antagonist in Four Swords Adventures, using the Dark Mirror to create Shadow Link and set the events of the game into motion, with the Links defeating both Ganon and Shadow Link before reforming into a single hero once peace is restored in Hyrule.
However, the most haunting backstory for Dark Link is provided in 2006’s The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, provided within a nightmarish vision Link has about the origins of the game’s Twilight Realm. In what is probably the scariest exposition dump in a Nintendo game, the Dark Interlopers from the Twilight Realm take on the appearance of Dark Link to explain how they came to be and why they were banished by the Light Spirits. Though undeniably creepy, the player doesn’t actually fight Dark Link in Twilight Princess, which was a big disappointment at the time given their terrifying appearance in the game.
After this, Dark Link was relegated back to cameos for years: within a minigame in 2009’s The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and in the challenge mode of 2015’s The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes. Dark Link was an alternate skin of Link in various Super Smash Bros. games and Hyrule Warriors while he cameoed as an armor set in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Simply put, Nintendo acknowledged Dark Link’s legacy for nearly 20 years but without doing anything substantial with the character despite his fan-favorite status.
Dark Link in Echoes of Wisdom
Echoes of Wisdom brings Dark Link back into the limelight and in a way that doesn’t feel as gimmicky as it did in Four Swords Adventures. At the start of the game, Link becomes trapped in the Still World, an extra-dimensional realm gradually overtaking Hyrule and filling it with evil doppelgangers, as he rescues Zelda from Ganon. This leads to the Still World periodically spawning Dark Links to try to stop Zelda from closing the rifts opening across the land. Each of these encounters sees Dark Link employ a new strategy and weapon against Zelda. Upon defeating him, Zelda earns the real Link’s weapon herself to aid in her quest.
The recurring appearances of Dark Link in Echoes of Wisdom serve as a sinister reminder to the player of the stakes in needing to rescue Link from the Still World before he is lost forever and an inversion of Link’s usual dynamic with Zelda. Dark Link is the personification of the Still World itself, more so than each of the dungeons’ respective bosses, at least until the game’s primary antagonist, Null, introduces himself. The Dark Link of Four Swords Adventures felt like an annoying nuisance, Zelda’s twist on the Shadow Mario trope from Super Mario Sunshine. The Dark Link of Echoes of Wisdom feels like a genuine threat and players are set on red alert whenever he shows up.
The Echoes of Wisdom Dark Link initially strikes wielding a shadowy copy of the Hero Sword, leaving Zelda relying on her wits and Tri Rod to drive the doppelganger back. The next time Zelda encounters Dark Link in the game, he summons two duplicates to join him, with every subsequent showdown upping the difficulty and adding a new twist to each fight, keeping players on their toes. To complete her journey, Zelda will need to defeat Link’s corrupted counterpart on more than one occasion. By their last encounter, Zelda has more than earned her heroic stripes, a far cry from the damsel-in-distress she was introduced as at the start of Echoes of Wisdom.
Of course, it must be said that this version of Dark Link is dispatched somewhat anticlimactically halfway through the game, ineffectively throwing bombs at Zelda from within the Eldin Temple. In his place, the game introduces Dark Zelda to challenge Zelda right before she rescues the real Link from the Still World. Given how adept of a hero Zelda has become, she defeats her doppelganger rather easily too.
But what Echoes of Wisdom does particularly well with Dark Link is make each encounter with him something of an ongoing rite of passage as Zelda keeps proving just how capable of a hero she is without Link’s help. With the specter of Link’s absence hanging over Echoes of Wisdom on a meta level, fighting an apparition resembling him makes that theme all the more palatable for Zelda’s evolution. That Zelda gets her own doppelganger in Dark Zelda brings this association full circle by the game’s conclusion.
At the same time, the game elevates Dark Link from his usual status as an evil reflection of Link, turning him into something on a grander scale than a one-off duel. In Echoes of Wisdom, Dark Link functions as a vicious extension and embodiment of the Still World and Null, giving the more ethereal threat a familiar and increasingly deadly form in which to directly challenge Zelda.
Dark Link is one of the oldest and most iconic recurring villains in The Legend of Zelda’s rogues’ gallery, a primordial force reflecting the unseen malevolence within Link and a true test of his heroic mettle. For years, it felt like Nintendo couldn’t find an organic way to insert Dark Link into the story of its continuing line of Zelda titles, making him more of an easter egg than a worthy opponent. Echoes of Wisdom gives Dark Link his sinister groove back and in a way that serves the story and overall experience. A highlight whenever he shows up, hopefully Dark Link fans won’t have to wait so long to see him return in such a memorable way.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is available now on the Nintendo Switch.
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