Deku Link

Deku Link is one of the forms Link assumes in Majora's Mask. It is one of the youngest forms of Link.

Story


After stumbling through the forest in a chase after Skull Kid, Link falls through a large hole leading to Termina. At the end of the hole, Link finds Skull Kid wearing Majora's Mask, and is then cursed and turned into a Deku Scrub. However, the Happy Mask Salesman finds him and tells him that he can retrieve his original form if the instrument stolen from him, the Ocarina of Time, is retrieved first. Then Link explores the vast city of Clock Town during three days and, after some quests done, he manages to confront the Skull Kid for the first time, then plays the Song of Time to come back in time to the first day, shows the instrument to the salesman, and learns the Song of Healing, which heals his soul. The Deku Mask materializes, and Link becomes not only human again, but also able to transform at will into Deku Scrub; Link then starts his quest to find a way to retrieve the evil mask that is manipulating the moon to try to destroy Termina.

Link's new form is also required while he is exploring the spacious Southern Swamp, not only to walk across the toxic water (hopping between the water lilies), but also to infiltrate inside the gardens of Deku Palace, to reveal the entrance to the first dungeon, Woodfall Temple, and to explore and conquer the temple itself.

Abilities
As mentioned above, by using the Deku Mask, Link is able to transform into Deku Link at almost any time. If Deku Link catches on fire he will, quite predictably, die instantly (although that doesn't deliver a Game Over anyway). He also can't climb up ledges and has very few attacks. However, Deku Link also possesses following abilities:


 * Because he can't swim, instead only being able to hop on the water's surface five times before drowning, Deku Link can avoid being harmed by toxic water or affected by the speed or direction of his current. He can, therefore, walk from water lily to water lily in the Southern Swamp safely, whereas anyone else will make said lilies sink and render the character defenseless against the watery poison.


 * The unique ability of flight. By using a Deku Flower, he can launch himself into the air and drop Deku Nuts on enemies like bombs. He can rise higher and faster when he flies into an air stream. Depending on the type of Deku Flower used, the height of flight will be either high and long-lasting, or the opposite. With this ability, Deku Link can reach otherwise inaccessible high spots and avoid falling into cliffs.
 * Deku Link has two means of attack: he has the Bubble Blast attack, useful to break airborne objects or defeat flying enemies; the disadvantage of this is that the range is very inefficient in comparison to the arrows. Deku Link can also do a spin attack by twirling on one foot, which stuns enemies and breaks weak things, although rarely any enemy will die with this.
 * Deku Link shield button is quite unique. Just like Goron Link's shield, it renders him immobile, but protects him from any direction, in a similar fashion to Young Link in Ocarina of Time while using the Hylian Shield.

Instrument
When using the Ocarina as Deku Link, it appears as the Pipes of Awakening, a number of wooden trumpet horns (which are held behind him) all attached to a mouth piece.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Deku Link appears as a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Origins
Deku Link is the incarnation of the Deku Butler's Son who was turned into a tree, possibly as a curse by the possessed Skull Kid. It is heavily implied that the distorted tree was tortured in some way through Tatl commenting on how sad the tree looks and by the Deku Butler sorrowfully kneeling in front of his cursed son during the game's end credits.

When Link chases the Skull Kid into Termina in the beginning of the game, the imp decides to torment Link by transforming him into a Deku Scrub. Link continues the chase in this form, discovering the disfigured remains of the Deku Butler's son, whose body he now inhabits, along the way. Link remains in this form until he learns the Song of Healing, at which point he gains the Deku Mask and gains the ability to change form at will.

Trivia

 * When Deku Link opens a chest, it is shown that he is right-handed, but when he uses a bottle, Deku Link is left-handed.