Groose

Groose is a student at the Knight Academy in Skyloft and a personal rival to Link. He, Cawlin, and Strich have a reputation for being bullies. He commands a black Loftwing. He has a crush on Zelda and is jealous of the closeness between her and Link.

Rivals in Skyloft
Before the Wing Ceremony, he kidnaps Link's Crimson Loftwing and locks it away in his hideout that is located near the Waterfall Cave in an attempt to discourage him from participating. He also bullies Fledge into keeping quiet about overhearing his plans. However, while discussing with his buddies how easy it was to capture Link's Crimson Loftwing, Link happens to overhear. When Link confronts him, he expresses his extreme dislike of Link due to his closeness with Zelda, while taunting him about his bird. However, Zelda shows up and due to Groose's attraction to her puts a stop to his rude behavior. During the Wing Ceremony competition, he and his companions, Cawlin and Strich, will throw eggs at Link to stop him from winning, but are unsuccessful. He seems to only bully Link due to being jealous of his closeness with Zelda, who Groose is obviously attracted to.

Following Zelda's disappearance, Groose can be found in front of the mirror in his room, spending his time wallowing in his sorrow and blaming Link for the events that lead to Zelda's fall from the sky and into the Surface World.

Sealing the Imprisoned
After the events that occur at the Temple of Time, Link returns to the Sacred Grounds, only for Groose to tail him in the hopes of finding Zelda before Link. After a rough landing, Groose freaks out at seeing the surface, expressing extreme confusion at the sight of small birds, a large number of trees, and even a passing Goron. He demands an explanation from Link, who calmly explains the situation to Groose. After calming down and assessing what he's just learned, Groose suggests that they name the world below the clouds "Grooseland". After regaining his composure, Groose goes ahead of Link to the Sealed Temple to ask the old woman where he can find Zelda. Much to his surprise, however, Groose is told that he is not the one who will save Zelda, and, after expressing his anger at the idea of Link being the fated hero, storms out of the temple.

After Link learns the Ballad of the Goddess from the old woman, Groose is seen outside the temple while Link seals away The Imprisoned. Following this, the trio regroups in the Sealed Temple, with Groose deciding that they've "got it all figured out" and that he's of no use to them. He leaves the temple, ignoring the old woman's encouragement that he would have a role to play, and, after Link's departure, runs around to the side of the temple, lamenting over his uselessness.

Following Link's departure to obtain the three Sacred Flames, however, Groose manages to come out of his depression and begins work on a device that will help him beat back the Imprisoned should it escape its seal again. By the time Link returns, Groose has cleared away the fences and singlehandedly laid down a circular track with a catapult-like device on the rails. When The Imprisoned escapes its seal once more, Groose gets ready to man his "Groosenator" and help Link seal the beast away. His effort proves instrumental in re-sealing the monster.

When Link returns some time later to find the Water Dragon in Faron Woods, he can only descend to the Sealed Temple. There, he arrives just in time for the Imprisoned to escape a third time. Groose intercepts Link at the entrance to the Sealed Grounds to warn him and heads back to the Groosenator. During the battle, Groose knocks the Imprisoned out of the air with the Groosenator, but the impact from its fall causes the ruins around his Bomb Flower stash to collapse, cutting him off from his ammunition. With no other choice, he quickly crafts the idea to launch Link himself onto the Imprisoned to seal it away. With this success, the three discuss how Link could get into the flooded Faron Woods. Groose decides to implement the Groosenator in the same way he just had, and launches Link into the woods.

Protecting the Future
When Zelda finally wakes up following the destruction of the Imprisoned, Groose is present to express his wordless astonishment at finally seeing her again, only to begin openly crying. He soon collects himself and, overcome with joy, happily shakes Link before running over to the old woman to comically hug her. When Ghirahim reveals himself and attacks the group, Groose stands in his way at the Gate of Time, but is kicked out of the way by the Demon Lord along with the old woman before he proceeds through.

Shortly thereafter, when Demise is finally resurrected in the past, he casts Zelda's soulless body out of the air, but Groose manages to catch her before she suffers a fatal fall. He gives Link some words of encouragement and relays a message from the old woman: that Link has enough time to stop Demise and save Zelda's soul. He takes Zelda back to the Sealed Temple, where he and Impa seal her into the room in the back to keep her safe.

Following the destruction of Demise, Groose congratulates Link and Zelda while joking that the story of their adventures should be called the "Legend of Groose". Having finally accepted the role he played in the events, he, along with Link and Zelda, return to their own time, to greet the old woman at the Sealed Temple, who is then revealed to be an aged Impa. As she fades away into particles of light, Groose, having spent much of the game with her as his only company, expresses the most distress of the three at her death, dropping to his knees on the verge of tears.

After the end credits, Groose's Loftwing joins Cawlin and Strich as they fly down to join him. Soon after, the three return to the sky, with Groose waving a final farewell to Link and Zelda before departing.

Trivia

 * Groose's name is likely based on the grouse or grus genera of birds, or possibly goose. It could also even be a combination of the aforementioned.
 * Similary, Groose's Japanese name may be derived from the Japanese word for pigeon,.
 * Groose's theme bears resemblance to the theme played near Tetra's Pirate Crew. Furthermore, the Groosenator can be compared to the catapult on Tetra's Ship, both of which are used to launch Link to access certain areas in the games.
 * The punching bag in Groose's room at the Academy has a poorly drawn depiction of Link's face on it.
 * If blown upon with the Gust Bellows, he will at first try to block the air and afterwards will groom his hair.
 * Like Cawlin and Strich, his Loftwing has feathers that are arranged in a similar design to his hair.

Progenitor of the Gerudo
Groose may be the progenitors of the Gerudo people, and a direct ancestor of Ganondorf, who is Demise's reincarnation. Versions of this theory have floated around since 2011, inspiring various fanworks and a YouTube essay. They generally agree that Groose's red hair and amber eyes are features shared by the Gerudo and may have been inherited from him. Also, like Ganondorf, Groose is a bully and thief who desperately craves power so he can possess Zelda and defeat his hated rival Link. But unlike Ganondorf, Groose comes to accept Impa's wisdom regarding his role, and subsequently uses his resourcefulness to acttively assist Link in hindering Demise.

As Groose was one of the protagonists directly involved in hindering Demise when he still lived, it is considered likely he came under the same vengeful curse Demise laid on Zelda and Link. Furthermore, as Groose had no extraordinary Hylian powers compared to Zelda and Link, and he was already predisposed to desire power, his bloodline may have represented the weakest link to first come under the influence of Demise's curse, enabling Demise's reincarnation to be one of Groose's descendants.

However, most versions of this theory can only speculate why the Gerudo have such a skewed birth ratio of almost all females.