Hero's Spirit



In Twilight Princess, the Hero's Spirit, also called the Hero's Shade, was a skeleton-like spectre that taught Link each of the seven hidden skills throughout the game. The Hero's Spirit is also believed by some to be the spirit of Link from Ocarina of Time.

The Golden Wolf


The Golden Wolf, also called the White Wolf, was the animal incarnation of the Hero's Spirit. The wolf was summoned by finding a howling stone, with the exception of the first time, in which he confronted Link directly. Once a howling stone was found, the song had to be howled in tune with the Spirit. He then told Link to "take sword in hand, then find him," implying that Link had to return to human form before searching for the Wolf. The Golden Wolf also appears as a symbol on Link's map, which is useful in case the player forgets where the location of the Hero's Spirit is. When he confronted the Wolf, Link was transported into an ancient arena. The wolf then finally transformed into his true form, the Hero's Spirit, who then taught Link one of the seven hidden skills. The true form of the Hero's Spirit resembles a cross between a Stalfos and a Darknut.



The Skills

 * Ending Blow
 * Shield Attack
 * Back Slice
 * Helm Splitter
 * Mortal Draw
 * Jump Strike
 * Great Spin

Hero's Lineage Theory
Note: At the end of his teachings, the Hero's Spirit said that he accepted the role as the hero long ago. This implies that he may be an earlier ancestor of Link. This theory is also supported by the Hero's Spirit saying the following to Link: "Go and do not falter, my child!" Though this in itself is not conclusive evidence, since many mentor-like characters in several stories refer to their young charges using the phrase "my child," it does serve to leave open the possibility of Link being his actual blood descendant.

Further more, evidence of the Hero's Spirit being an ancestor of Link is given just prior to learning the Mortal Draw. The Hero's Spirit said that the skills he taught Link were forgotten ways that "do not leave our bloodline". He implicitly used the word "our" instead of "my". This clearly indicates that Link and the Hero's Spirit are indeed related. The Hero's Spirit was once one of the many great heroes of Hyrule. It is still not known if his name was once Link as well, or perhaps even is the same man who became the Hero of Time. However, one thing that supports he may be the Hero of Time is that most of the songs used to summon the Golden Wolf are from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but why the Ballad of Gales is included is unknown.

In regards to physical appearance, the way the Hero's Spirit moves his feet is similar to the way Link moves his feet in Ocarina of Time when he targets an enemy. Lastly, in both Wii and GameCube versions of Twilight Princess, Link and the Hero's Spirit both wield their swords in the same hand. The GameCube version (the version in which the game world was originally meant to be portrayed) shows Link to be left-handed. In every past game of the Zelda series, Link's sword-hand has always been his left one, whereas there's been no other left-handed person to date in a Zelda game except in the Wii version of Twilight Princess.

Trivia

 * The Hero's Spirit bears some similar resemblance to Majora's Mask's King Igos du Ikana.