Link's Uncle

A former knight in service to the royal family of Hyrule, Link's uncle has been his caretaker for sometime, and taught him how to effectively use a sword. When he is summoned to the aid of the princess, he takes off for the castle, only to be critically wounded by the palace guards. He tells Link the secrets of his family's sword techniques, and urges him to protect Zelda. After Ganon is defeated, Link's uncle is shown to be alive and well. 

Trivia
Early in the game, Link's uncle says "Zelda is your..." before falling unconscious. This caused some people to speculate that the full sentence would have read "Zelda is your sister", possibly in relation to the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (less popular sentence endings included "ally" and "only hope"). The Japanese version of the game contains what is essentially the same line ("お、お前は、姫の…　…. ", literally, 'y- you are the Princess's...'). The later GBA release would alter the text to read "It is your destiny to save Zelda". In the Virtual Console release the text remains unchanged from the original release.