Dark Link

Dark Link, also known as Shadow Link or Link's Shadow, is a dark reflection of Link first appearing in The Adventure of Link and is one of the most popular enemy characters in the The Legend of Zelda universe, mostly due to his likeness and ability matching that of the protagonist, Link. It has been speculated that his popularity is so great in part because he imitates almost every move Link makes, as if Link is fighting himself rather than a separate entity; that is, Link and Dark Link are opposite in intentions, but perfectly matched in ability as well as action.

Attributes of the Dark Links
As the doppelgänger of Link, in all of his appearances, Dark Link bears resemblance to Link in whichever game they're in and wears the same style clothing as him: tunic and a long, floppy cap, with the exception of his entire outfit being black or dark gray instead of green. Moreover, his hair is usually either a shadow black or a dark gray. The majority of the Dark Links are left-handed, but in some appearances (particularly when there was more than one), they have been shown to favor either hand.

Another notable feature aside from the color scheme of his clothes is Dark Link's red eyes, which are usually the only prominent feature against his dark visage.

Soundtracks/Themes
During his many appearances, Dark Link has had different soundtracks played to commemorate the moment of his presence. The names of the soundtracks/themes are as follows:


 * The Adventure of Link: Dark Link
 * Ocarina of Time: Middle Boss Battle
 * Four Swords Adventures: Shadow Link, Boss Battle
 * Twilight Princess: The Dark Interlopers
 * Spirit Tracks: Ghost Ship Bellum Battle

The Adventure of Link
In his first appearance in the series, Dark Link is known as Link's Shadow and appears as the final boss after Link defeats Thunderbird in the Great Palace. He serves as the final test before Link can obtain the Triforce of Courage and wake Princess Zelda. Dark Link is the most difficult opponent to appear during Link's second quest to save Hyrule. In battle he dodges most of the attacks that Link attempts but is vulnerable when he jumps. This flaw can be taken advantage of by simply standing in a corner and repeatedly swinging Link's sword toward Dark Link. Dark Link will attempt to jump at Link and keep running into the attacks, making a rather difficult battle seem less difficult.

Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, Dark Link appears as a mini-boss in the Water Temple, where he materializes from Link's reflection in the water to confront his good counterpart. Dark Link reacts to most of Link's movements and attacks, usually defending himself in the process. Dark Link has the same amount of health as Link; the number of Heart Containers the hero has equals the number of hits with the Master Sword it takes to defeat his doppelganger. When hit, Dark Link will fall through the floor and spring back up afterwards. At the beginning of the battle, Dark Link is nearly transparent, but will gradually become opaque as the battle progresses. When he is fully opaque, he will become more aggressive and actively attack Link instead of simply reacting to his moves.

There are a variety of strategies to defeating Dark Link. Link can use either Megaton Hammer, the Deku Nuts, or the Biggoron Sword, or by using  his sword and while L/Z targeting him do a horizontal slash on the opposite side of his shield, which gives Link an instant hit. Stocking up on magic potions and using Din's Fire is another option that makes the fight against Dark Link very easy. Din's Fire is the best option in this part of the battle. If Link performs a sword thrust, Dark Link will simply hop on to the blade of the sword before attacking (if aggressive). Once Dark Link is defeated, Link is able to continue on to a room containing the Longshot.

Dark Link shares Link's voice, but it is heavily distorted, giving it a demonic feel.

Oracle of Ages
During the second phase of the final battle, Veran creates four red-eyed Dark Links that mimic his movement in reverse and act as dangerous obstacles. Unlike other appearances of Dark Link, these Dark Links do not attack, and are useful in recovering health, as they are easily destroyed and drop one Heart each. They are similar in behavior to Arm-Mimics and Mask-Mimics.

A Link to the Past
In the Game Boy Advance port, after completing both A Link to the Past and the multiplayer Four Swords game, the Palace of the Four Sword is unlocked. The Dungeon Master is four Dark Links, each with a unique tunic, corresponding to the colors of the Links that hold the Four Sword. Reaching the final room of the dungeon causes the four different colored Four Swords to rise into the air, and following this the Dark Links will drop from above. Each Dark Link has slightly different abilities, but they all aggressively attack with sword swipes and do not open their defenses often. They are quite agile, able to leap backwards out of the way of Link's attacks. They are fought one at a time, and they get progressively difficult. The green Dark Link uses the Pegasus Boots to suddenly dash at Link; the red Dark Link uses the Hurricane Spin and the Pegasus Boots. The blue Dark Link also uses Pegasus Boots and the Hurricane Spin, and he can leap into the air to perform a Down Thrust (this is also similar to Link's use of the Quake Medallion). The purple Dark Link is the final Dark Link, and utilizes the Pegasus boots, Hurricane Spin, Down Thrust, and the Sword Beam. Defeating each Dark Link will break the curse on the Four Sword and return it to normal.

Four Swords Adventures
In Four Swords Adventures, Shadow Link is featured as both a main character and a recurring boss. The thoughts and resentment of Twilight Princess Ganondorf who had been killed by Link resided within the Ganondorf of this era, and manifested through the Dark Mirror in the form of Link. He tricks Link into drawing the Four Sword, releasing the ancient wizard Vaati and splitting Link into four Links. He then produces copies of himself and plagues Hyrule by attacking its citizens, who blame the Links for his misdeeds. Shadow Link shows up twice in each stage usually causing mischief, where whoever manages to defeat him can receive 100 Force Gems. He is also a boss for the Cave of No Return, Village of the Blue Maiden, Desert Temple and The Dark Cloud stages - where, during each battle except for the Dark Cloud stage, he would eventually take on a color, and only the corresponding Link could damage him.

Shadow Link and his kin are defeated in The Dark Cloud stage when, while the Links engage them in combat, Princess Zelda undoes the seal on the Dark Mirror and takes it into her possession, dispelling them.

Twilight Princess
Dark Link makes a cameo appearance during a cut-scene in Twilight Princess that tells the tale of how the Twili race was banished to the Twilight Realm. Portraying the powerful Dark Interlopers who sought to control the Sacred Realm, Dark Link manages to destroy a Link (portraying a common citizen) before he is banished to the Twilight Realm by the Light Spirits.

Spirit Tracks
Dark Link appears as the final challenge of the Take 'Em All On mini-game in Castle Town. In this appearance, he attacks using a blade as dark as himself, that subsequently leaves a fitting black trail, and he can also place bombs and shoot arrows. He can also perform a jump attack like Link, only his is higher and much slower. Dark Link also mimics Link's sword attacks when he himself is not attacking, so Link must block his attacks and then counterattack. Strangely enough, the music when fighting him is the same as when Link chased the Ghost Ship during the second phase of the final boss of Phantom Hourglass. He slowly fades from a pure black to a translucent gray as he takes damage, and once defeated, he falls over on his back and disappears, his eyes eerily left open during the whole animation. The room he is fought in is the only one which contains Recovery Hearts, even though the hostess of the Take 'Em All On game says that there is no way to recover health in the challenge rooms.

The Legend of Zelda comic
In the Legend of Zelda comic published by Valiant Comics, Link's Shadow is featured in the "Coming Home" story of the fifth issue. Referred to simply as the Shadow and described by himself as a servant of Ganon, he has the ability not only to mimic Link, but any other person. While Link is away in Hyrule, the Shadow, disguised as Queen Seline and accompanied by Thunderbird, attacks the monarch of Calatia and defeats her using her own magical powers. He then locks her away in the tower of the Calatia Palace, taking over her kingdom and making her people suffer under his rule. When an unsuspecting Link returns to Calatia to visit his parents, he is violently greeted by his father, claiming that Link is not his son and ordering him to leave and never come back. Confused, Link begins to travel around Calatia but receives the same mistreatment with everyone else in town, and so he decides to see Queen Seline to figure out what has happened. When Link goes inside the palace's throne room, he finds that the Shadow and Thunderbird have made the queen their prisoner and taken her place instead.

Once Queen Seline explains to Link what has happened, the Shadow takes his two prisoners and sentences them to death for committing treason against their own king. The queen then halts him and demands her right of a life trial since it is Calatian Law that anyone sentenced to death has the right to trial by combat to prove their innocence. Thunderbird questions Link's Shadow if it is wise to let the restless citizens witness such an event, but still the Shadow accepts Seline's challenge to thus crush the people's spirits by defeating their queen again. In accordance with the ancient laws, Seline chooses Link to fight in her place, and Link agrees.

The Shadow tries to persuade Link to leave by disguising himself as Princess Zelda and appearing to him as a projection urging him to return to Hyrule, claiming it is under attack. However, when Link refuses, Link's Shadow decides to ask Ganon for help in defeating Link. Ganon explains to the Shadow that he will be able to easily defeat his good counterpart since tomorrow is the Day of the Triforce, which is when, once each decade, the three Triforce pieces disappear for reasons unknown from dawn to dusk. During the battle, after a short struggle, Link's Shadow easily bests the young hero, but just as the Shadow is about to deliver the final blow, a swift move by the real Link causes for the both of them to dangle from the edge of the arena, getting ready to fall into the fire pit below. Link angrily explains that he had to let Zelda face her doom alone just so that he could put an end to his evil counterpart's tyranny, but just then the fake Link explains that Zelda lives and it was all a trick. Suddenly realizing the true nature of the enemy he is facing to be the Shadow he fought at the end of the Great Palace. With the Shadow's sword gone and Link's sword point at his back, Link threatens to kill his counterpart unless he orders the Daira guards to drop their weapons, which Shadow Link obediently commands.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Dark Link, as he appears in The Adventure of Link and Ocarina of Time appears in the Event-match "Link's Adventure", where he must be defeated with Link on the Hyrule Temple stage. However, as this is a simple color-swap of Link, this can be applied to any character through the Debug menu only accessible through Action Replay or the name-entry glitch.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Link is able to take on the appearance of Dark Link as an alternate costume in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This version mostly resembles the one featured in the Twilight Princess cutscene.

Melee's version of Dark Link (which in turn is based of Dark Link from The Adventure of Link and Ocarina of Time, with a completely black appearance) reappears in the event match "Dark Link Duel" on the Bridge of Eldin stage. Unlike the alternate costume, the Dark Link in this event is completely black, as opposed to Link's alternate costume, which is mostly gray and black with red eyes. As in Melee, Link is the only option to fight against Dark Link. However, unlike Melee, this battle is fought as a Stamina match, making him more like a traditional Legend of Zelda enemy. A similar event, known as Battle of the Dark Sides, is featured for two players, in which Dark Link is fought by Link and Samus together, but is similarly accompanied by Dark Samus, an entity that, like Dark Link, is completely black, instead of resembling the canon Metroid character of the same name.

Ocarina of Time manga
In the Ocarina of Time manga, Link meets up with his shadowed doppelganger at Kakariko Village. From Beneath the Well, Dark Link emerges, ready to defeat the original Link. The original Link managed to defeat his dark self by learning that the shadow monster is  only as good as Link was then. So to defeat him, Link had to become better than he was before. Slicing Dark Link in half, the dark hero was not yet done. Dark Link then returned riding on a Dark Epona. Link countered and defeated Dark Link once again with the use of his own Epona. This Dark Link replaced Bongo Bongo as boss, most likely because the Shadow Temple didn't appear in the manga.

Four Swords manga
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga, Shadow Link was drawn from the Dark Mirror by Ganon to act out his wishes. Shadow Link is a twisted version of Link, borne from his own shadow, and is a cruel, malevolent and calculating character. He first appears after causing the Shrine Maidens to vanish, and immediately proclaims himself to be "the hero, Link". Completely avoiding Link's attack he immediately kidnaps Zelda, and sends Link to the Four Sword Sanctuary, from which he observes as Link awakens Vaati. His next move is to lead Vaati's troops to attack Hyrule Castle and send all the Knights of Hyrule to the Dark World. There he confronts the four Links, revealing himself to be much stronger than they are with their tainted blades, and striking them down with Sword Beams. They are saved by the Blue Maiden, who releases a Fairy to shine light upon him, stunning him long enough for them to escape.

Shadow Link continues to plot, hidden away from the light. As he cannot go out in daylight, he works with Vaati's minions to thwart the progress of the four Links. Using dark magic he manages to split the four Links apart by sending them to four different lands of Hyrule, thus weakening the strength of the Four Sword. Then, confronting Vio, he attempts to coerce him into joining the side of darkness by appealing to his intelligence. Working with Vio, he traps Red and Blue in the Temple of Darkness, and allows Vio to be placed in charge of the Tower of Flames on Death Mountain. Vio even appears to kill Green in battle, totally convincing Shadow Link that he has turned to the side of evil.

However, Vio is simply putting on a show to gain his trust. Once inside, he learns about Ganon and his potential weakness, and the existence of the Dark Mirror, the source of darkness from which Shadow Link was originally summoned. He also learns that Shadow Link does not desire to follow Ganon, and in fact wishes to rule over Hyrule alongside Vio. Shadow Link simply hates humans and the world for spurning him as "just a shadow". However, after Vio is foiled in an attempt to shatter the mirror, Shadow Link discovers his betrayal and attempts to execute him in by dropping him into the lava of Death Mountain. Saved at the last minute by the three other Links, they confront Shadow Link, and with their new-found strength, destroy him with a combined Sword Beam attack.

Shadow Link is not killed, however, and is pulled by Ganon from the mirror again, dripping and shivering as he tries to resist entering the light. Seeing him in this state, Princess Zelda takes pity upon him. He attempts to spurn this pity, but is taken in by her words as she states that he should not fear the light. Driven by a desire to save her from the Dark Cloud, he disguises himself as Vio and aids the three other Links in their battle against Vaati. Realizing that the demon cannot be killed by the Four Sword alone, however, he returns to the Dark Mirror, and in an act of self sacrifice he shatters it, destroying both Vaati and himself in the process. Before he vanishes, the four Links thank him, and tell him he will always be a part of them. Shadow Link makes a final appearance on the penultimate page of the manga, appearing as Link's shadow and giving a thumb's up.

Dark Mirror
The Dark Mirror in Four Swords Adventures is said to be the source of all the Shadow Links. It is said that one can look into the mirror and pull out their dark reflection. Ganon obviously did this, and stole the mirror, because all of the Links came from this source.

Tale of the Twili
In Twilight Princess, the Light Spirit Lanayru tells Link a story warning him about the corrupting power of the "Fused Shadows", as well as giving their origins. As part of the visual aid, Link and his childhood friend Ilia represent corruptible humans, while the corrupt sorcerers who would become the Twili are represented by three copies of Link with colorless clothing, black skin, and glowing, red eyes. These Dark Links are merely a representation of evil.

Trivia

 * It has been noted that Dark Link is akin to Link in The Legend of Zelda as Peter Pan's shadow was to Peter Pan in the production, Peter Pan. Both characters struggle with their shadows, both defeating them in order to move on with their quests, and both shadows have similar moves and actions used to try to outwit their true form. The fact that Peter Pan and Link both have similar attire only emphasizes such a connection. Despite these similarities, however, there has been no confirmation of a connection between the two by Nintendo, and any perceived connection is merely fan speculation.
 * In his appearance in Ocarina of Time, Dark Link appears next to a dead, blackened tree. This may serve as a contrast to the living green trees that surrounded Link in his youth, and to emphasize the light/dark scenario.
 * In A Link to the Past, the Dark Links have the same sword and shield that Link has on at the moment, but they always do the same amount of damage. If Link does not have any shield, his dark counterparts will have the Fighter's Shield.
 * In Ocarina of Time 3D, Dark Link is detailed and textured, granting him an appearance similar to the Dark Interlopers visual aides. When defeated, he now makes the sound effect that Link normally makes when knocked to the ground.
 * When the player begins crossing the room in the Water Temple containing Dark Link, Link has the usual shadow of his feet on the ground. When he passes the dead tree, however, his shadow disappears and Dark Link materializes.
 * Dark Link from Ocarina of Time truly is an evil duplicate of Link, right down to his idle animations. Stunning Dark Link with Deku Nuts in a specific way will cause him to mirror Link's every move. This can have a comical effect; for example, if Link is down to a fraction of a heart and leans over panting, Dark Link will also act fatigued. Dark Link also imitates Link's idle animations, such as checking his sword and tunic.
 * Dark Link has behavior programmed for Link using Nayru's Love, even though Link can't get that item without the Longshot, which is gained after defeating Dark Link.