Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule

Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule (pronounced,  ) is a prominent character in.

Biography
Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule was once the king of Hyrule during the Era Without a Hero. When the goddesses unleashed the Great Flood, he chose to remain in Hyrule which was to be sealed by the goddesses at the bottom of the sea. He split the Triforce of Wisdom into two parts and instructed the Princess of that era to keep one piece and flee to the mountaintops with her servants.

Hundreds of years later, Ganondorf managed to circumvent the Goddesses' seal and reach the surface of the Great Sea. In response, the Goddesses awakened the king from his seal, who assumed the form of a boat and rechristened himself as the King of Red Lions. In this new form, Daphnes began searching the Great Sea, looking for a hero to defeat Ganon and the descendant of the royal family. After Link is captured by the Helmaroc King and thrown out to sea, the King of Red Lions rescues him and aids the young hero in his quest.

After Link fails to defeat Ganondorf in the Forsaken Fortress with the newly-obtained Master Sword, he, along with the King of Red Lions and Tetra, retreat to the underwater vestige of Hyrule, where the King of Red Lions reveals his identity as the former King of Hyrule and that he magically operates the boat to guide Link.

Daphnes reveals to Tetra that she is the heir to the kingdom of Hyrule by combining the two fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom, the one in his possession with the one in Tetra's necklace, restoring the Triforce of Wisdom which now dwelt within Zelda. He instructs Zelda to remain in Hyrule Castle to avoid detection from Ganondorf while he resumes his form as the King of Red Lions and proceeds to aid Link in his quest for restoring the evil-repelling power of the Master Sword.

Daphnes later appears in-person during the final encounter with Ganondorf. After Ganondorf brings together all three pieces of the Triforce, Daphnes intervenes by using its power to flood what remains of his kingdom and give Link and Zelda a future. In response to this, Ganondorf attacks Link and Princess Zelda, intending to kill them.

Once Link and Zelda defeat Ganondorf, Daphnes laments to them his regret as he lived bound to the memory of Hyrule, comparing himself to Ganondorf in that regard. He goes on to encourage them to live for the future and not repeat his mistakes, ignoring Zelda's request to come with them and find a land to be the next Hyrule. As the kingdom floods, Link and Zelda are enclosed within bubbles and begin to ascend to the surface; the former attempts to reach out toward the king, who begins to raise his own hand to meet Link's. Though this seems to indicate the smallest desire to go with him, the king's hand ultimately falls to his side as he presumably drowns.

The King of Red Lions appears when Link is departing from Outset Island with Tetra and her ship, but it is completely lifeless, as the King himself has died.

The King can speak the ancient Hylian tongue, and often does so on Link's behalf, as the young hero cannot understand the language. However, in the Second Quest, these words are translated, though Link still cannot understand them.

King Daphnes's dream eventually came true when Link and Tetra sailed off together and discovered New Hyrule, which is the main setting of.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Daphnes Nohsanen Hyrule appears as a collectible Sticker in.

Hyrule Warriors Series
King Daphnes makes his debut in the Nintendo 3DS port of :. His fighting style shows him being able to transform into his boat form as well as using the Sail as his weapon, with Water as his element, summoning waves to ram into enemies. By pressing the Strong Attack, King Daphnes surrounds himself in an aura of wind that increases the speed of his attacks. Both versions of the game can be synchronized together, resulting in King Daphnes appearing as a playable character in the original Wii U version.

The Original Wind Waker
The Wind Sage Fado mentions that it was the King of Hyrule who used to conduct the Sages using the ; this, coupled with the fact that the Wind God Zephos refers to Link as the new Wind Waker when he first meets him, seems to suggest that Daphnes himself may have once held the same title, in the days before Hyrule was flooded.

Trivia

 * Rauru is similar to King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule both in appearance and in the fact that he is a wise man who serves as a guide to Link while in a different form.
 * King Daltus who appears in bears a great resemblance to Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule.
 * Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule may be the first character in the Zelda series to have fully modeled expressions.
 * Judging by how he fades in and out of existence, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule may merely be an apparition. He may also be grounded spiritually to Hyrule, as Link only meets him in person while in Hyrule.