Tetra

Tetra (テトラ, Tetora) is a young girl pirate from The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. She is the captain of an unnamed ship with her crew of pirates, who respect her deeply despite that she is much younger than them. Even though Tetra has a tendency to act tomboyish, taking challenges head on and even seeming bossy and cold-hearted sometimes, she actually has a kind personality whose goal is not always buried treasure.

The Wind Waker
When Link first meets Tetra, she is being kidnapped by the Helmaroc King. The monster bird is distracted by Tetra's crew and she is dropped into the Fairy Woods. Link comes to her rescue, but because of this distraction, his sister Aryll, mistaken for Tetra, is kidnapped instead.

After much persuasion, Tetra allows Link to accompany her and her crew in their ship in a bid to save his sister from the Forsaken Fortress. At first, Tetra does not take a liking to Link, mocking him and showing distrust towards him due to his tendency to act without thinking things through. After finally reaching the Forsaken Fortress, Tetra and her pirates launch Link into the fortress by catapulting him in a barrel. Before she launches him off, however, she slips in the Pirate's Charm in his pocket, which Tetra uses to communicate with the young hero and drop hints occasionally. Link, however, ultimately fails to rescue his sister and Tetra and him go their separate ways.

The pirate leader and the young hero meet again briefly in Windfall Island when they are both trying to reach Jabun's hidden cave behind Outset Island. When Gonzo suggests that they stay at Windfall for a "night of fun," Tetra quickly dismisses that option, saying that they have to set sail to Outset immediately since it could meet the same fate as Greatfish Isle. Mako points out Tetra's caring personality as he mentions that it sounds like she's more worried about the island than the treasure, to which Tetra calls "ridiculous" and reaffirms her desire for the treasure. However, Tetra soon after catches Link spying on the pirates in the Bomb Shop, and decides to give Link a head start to reach Jabun.

Tetra catches up with Link in the Forsaken Fortress again as he tries to save his sister. The young pirate, upon meeting with Link, claims that Link never thinks before he acts since her crew had to distract the Helmaroc King for him before the bird would capture him again. She is shocked to see that he has the Master Sword in his possession, and even thinks that Link might be the Hero of Time or a descendant of him; however, she quickly shrugs off the thought seeing that it would be impossible. She promises Link that she will take Aryll and take her back to Outset safely, mentioning that she usually expects a "huge reward" for something like this, but offers to do it for free.

Later on after defeating the Helmaroc King, when Link is nearing defeat at the hand of Ganondorf, Tetra runs into the room to distract Ganondorf. However, she is easily defeated as well. While in Ganondorf's grasp, his Triforce of Power resonates, leading him to believe that he has finally found Princess Zelda. Tetra denies this, claiming that she does not know anyone named Zelda. After another distraction by the Rito and the Great Valoo, Link and the unconscious Tetra get away safely from Ganondorf and head to the sunken Hyrule Castle, where they meet the King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule.

King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule asks that Tetra approach him, where he takes her necklace. The necklace, which was given to her by her mother and instructed Tetra to "guard it with her life", is actually a piece of the Triforce of Wisdom. The King of Hyrule uses the other piece of the Triforce of Wisdom to reveal Tetra's true identity: Princess Zelda. Tetra is in shock, and apologizes to Link for everything that has happened to him and his sister. King Hyrule then tells the Princess that she would be safer hiding in the castle basement from Ganondorf's grasp while he and Link return to the surface to search for the Triforce of Courage.

When Link returns to Hyrule Castle with the Triforce of Courage in his possession, he sees that Zelda was captured by Ganondorf and taken to Ganon's Castle, and the young hero quickly seeks to save her. Once Link defeats Puppet Ganon and climbs up to where Ganondorf and Princess Zelda are located, he finds Zelda knocked unconscious, and although the young hero tries to best Ganondorf, he swiftly takes Link's and Zelda's Triforce pieces.

After King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule wishes for Hyrule to be flooded once more, Zelda wakes up and apologizes to Link for having overslept, where she urges Link to defeat Ganondorf once and for all and return to their ocean from the world above. During Link's battle with Ganondorf, Zelda wields the young hero's bow and Light Arrows to cover Link and allow him to attack as best as he can. During the battle, however, Ganondorf hovers over to Zelda and knocks her unconscious again, but after a while, she wakes up and aids Link once again to defeat the King of the Gerudo: she aims a Light Arrow at the young hero's Mirror Shield, which bounces off to Ganondorf and allows Link to deal the final blow.

It is Tetra as Princess Zelda that suggests to King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule to join them in their search for the new land that will be the next Hyrule. After Link and Zelda resurface to Great Sea, Tetra appears again in her pirate clothes, having lost her royal persona as her pirate crew greets the two of them aboard their ship.

Tetra is last seen as Link, along with her and her pirate crew, set sail from Outset Island in search of new lands.

Four Swords Adventures
In Four Swords Adventures' Navi Trackers mode, Tetra sets Link out to solve puzzles and locate several stamps held by the pirates. Tetra is exceptionally notable here as she remains to be the only character in the series to be given full voice acting, featured only in Navi Trackers.

Phantom Hourglass
In Phantom Hourglass, Tetra does not regain her royal persona as Princess Zelda, although quite often when she appears Zelda's Lullaby plays in the background, and she is called "Zelda" by some of the pirates during the game's intro, much to Tetra's chagrin. During the beginning of the game, she and Link happen upon a Ghost Ship, which they investigate. Tetra is separated from the others and is summarily kidnapped, forcing Link to try and rescue her.

Once Link defeats the Cubus Sisters on the Ghost Ship, Link finds Tetra turned to stone, and she stays this way for the most of the game. Once Link defeats Bellum's first stage, Tetra turns back to normal.

After Link defeats Bellum, he and Tetra awaken on the Ghost Ship, only ten minutes after the prologue according to the pirates. Tetra's crew tries to convince her that it was just a dream, but Link finds the Phantom Hourglass in his pocket, and the S. S. Linebeck is seen sailing in the distance.

Spirit Tracks
Though Tetra does not appear in, she makes an appearance in a stained glass window in the Throne Room of Hyrule Castle. Some of her history following is detailed by her granddaughter, the reigning Princess Zelda, and the Lokomo sage Anjean. Anjean states that she first met the feisty pirate captain of royal lineage long ago, when she first arrived on the shores of the land that would become the new land of Hyrule. Anjean entrusted Tetra with the Spirit Flute, on the promise that she and her descendants would use the flute to protect the land for good. Tetra carried on a close friendship with Anjean for many long years, and she played the Spirit Flute for her granddaughter whenever she was troubled or worried. Upon meeting the reigning Princess Zelda in Spirit Tracks, Anjean notes the remarkable similarities in personality between the princess and her grandmother, who was known for her feisty nature and courage.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Tetra does not appear as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but hacking of the game have discovered that there were unused character files for 'Toon Zelda' and 'Toon Sheik', which many speculated to be Tetra, as Sheik has never had a 'Toon' form. As Sheik is already the alternative form of Zelda, Tetra could be the alternative form of Toon Zelda.

However, Tetra appears in the game as a trophy.

Trivia

 * Tetra's name could be derived from the Latin meaning for 'four', similar to Tetris.
 * Tetra could also allude to tetrahedron, the physical shape of the Triforce.
 * A Tetra is also a type of South American freshwater fish, adding to the sea-faring theme of the game.
 * Although she is often considered one of the more independent and self-serving incarnations of Zelda, she is one of the only ones for Link to have to save in two games.
 * Although Tetra is never seen as Zelda in Phantom Hourglass, Zelda's Theme plays for a brief moment at the beginning of the game when she boards the Ghost Ship, and when her petrification is reversed.
 * The credits theme from Ocarina of Time begins playing as Link reaches out to Tetra, but the music is interrupted by the sound of rumbling caused by Bellum.
 * The Princess Zelda featured in Spirit Tracks is confirmed to be Tetra's direct descendant.