Hero and Pirate

The Wind Will Guide Us

Hours Later, Outset Island

Picture this scene: You are on a wooden pier, meters away from the rest of civilization, partying the return of one of its core inhabitants. But you have separated yourself from that party, because while it may be fun, and quite frankly, you deserve to have such fun, you have changed a bit, and need some time to think. You walk to the pier, as the porch of your home is too close to distractions, and sit upon the ledge. You gaze out to the darkening sea, where months ago you dreamed of what lies beyond its horizon, but now you know that what is beyond the horizon is a nightmare. You turn your face to the moon, big and white, and wonder if the moon shares your pain. It is tied to Earth, just as you are tied to destiny. Like the white orb, your destiny has revolved once around the fate of an ancient world and now begins its next revolution to the finding of the successor to the ancient land. How long it will take, you don't know, but in your 17 years, you have learned patience. Patience saved your sister, and it saved two worlds, one fated to die, the other fated to thrive.

In your mind, the cumulation of scouring five treacherous dungeons, drawn-out weeks looking for shards, and the near-death at the hands of some crazed old man will change a person, or in this case, two. The only difference is that she was sent back from a ruthless pirate woman (as she preferred it) to a young princess of an ancient kingdom and its successor. The young man upon the pier was moved forward. When he first donned the tunic months ago, he had, in tradition, became a man, and was proud of it. Three months later, he had mostly lost all that made him a naive boy (he still had his quirks) and truly became a heroic man. As proud of his accomplishments he was, he knew something. His father, when he last saw him, told him, "A boy's heart belongs to his island; a man, to the sea."

Link's world definitely became tied to the sea, just as Tetra and the rest of the members of the pirate brig Her Grace. He looked out to the anchored ship at the eastern pier, near the lookout. Tomorrow, he would leave Outset behind again, as quickly as he arrived, to search for a New Hyrule. He would leave Aryll, Grandma Saria, and the other inhabitants of Outset like a speck of dust in the wind. He was no longer tied to one island, but to the world.

"In that sense, I am the same as Ganondorf."

Is that what the King meant? He was tied to Hyrule just as Ganon was, unable to let go? Why couldn't Link be unlike them? Outset is his home, and yet he is... Link slowly turned to the lifeless boat he and Tetra have called home for a few months. Link realized that no matter what, he would be tied to something. If he stayed on Outset, he was linked (no pun intended) to Outset, and the same to the sea when he leaves with the crew. In that sense... Link was the same as Ganondorf and Daphnes.

So was Ganondorf truly evil? Vindictive, yes. Ruthless, definitely. But Link had a vendetta as well and did whatever it took to save his sister. Does it justify his actions? Were Ganon's acts unjustified? He wanted to save his world from the deep blue sea, and did all he could to attain his goal, only for it to have it stolen. Is it truly a crime to want to have your home returned? Ganon was not innocent, no he was far from it, but when Ganondorf truly should have died, he was spared from that by being sealed twice. All he wanted was a home... Link, Tetra, and Daphnes took it away from him.

In this story, there isn't a hero. Link somehow came to that conclusion himself, hours after being called the Hero of Winds. He was no hero to Hyrule, not to the inhabitants of the Great Sea, or to his little island. Sure, Ganondorf would be the much worse fate, but... Heroes save a world from evil, not from homesickness. In some wicked, twisted story, Link was judge, jury, and executioner of a man who wanted his world returned, at the expense of another, which, if one thinks about it, Link and Tetra made the same decision. In that sense, both of them were just the same as Ganondorf.