Manga / The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1999)

Kanzenban edition cover featuring both volumes.

"If I am fit to be a hero...I will fight. I will defeat Ganondorf. And this time...I will protect Zelda!"

— Link

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a manga adaptation of the Nintendo 64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and the first entry of The Legend of Zelda (Akira Himekawa). The manga follows the games with some changes here and there.

It stars a young boy named Link who lives amongst a child-like race of beings called the Kokiri. One day Link finally gets his Fairy Companion Navi and is asked by the dying Great Deku Tree to go on a journey. While on his journey, Link meets the similarly-aged Princess Zelda who gives him her own task. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned, since Link is put into a deep sleep and wakes up seven years later to find out his world has changed for the worst. Link must now figure out how to defeat the evil Ganondorf and bring peace back to Hyrule.

This manga received a direct sequel in the The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask manga.

---

This manga provides examples of:

• Achievements in Ignorance: Mido manages to indicate that Queen Gohma's eye is her weak point by randomly throwing a rock into it in a state of absolute fear and desperation.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • While Impa was implied to be a skilled fighter in the game, here she's depicted as a better swordsman than Link is and trains him to be better.
  • Malon actually helps Link fight off the Gerudo attacking Lon Lon Ranch.
  • Although Mido is still a scrawny jerk, he at least tries to distract and stand up to monsters on multiple occasions.
  • After initially being defeated, Dark Link reappears riding a dark horse which he didn't do in the game.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: Link is often the subject of exaggerated facial expressions and slapstick.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Dark Link appears in Kakariko Village, not in the Water Temple.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • In the game, Volvagia was an ancient beast that devoured Gorons, Ganondorf had resurrected it to use their extinction as an example of those who defy him. Volvagia in the manga was Link's pet dragon, and rather cute and friendly, and only tried to kill him because he was Brainwashed and Crazy.
  • While Ingo still willingly joins Ganondorf, he's initially just doing so to save his own hide. His more cruel actions are done under Twinrova's mind control. Malon's dialogue also implies that he was a far nicer man in the past than he was in the game.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: In the game, Link first meets Malon upon arriving in Castle Town. In the manga, this role is given to a disguised Princess Zelda instead. Malon doesn't appear until Link arrives at Lon Lon Ranch in chapter 5.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Unlike the game, Sheik is a double agent working for Ganondorf. This is subverted in the end, as Sheik was Zelda in disguise simply swearing loyalty to throw off suspicion.
  • Due to more information regarding him revealed after this manga was released, Ganondorf is depicted how he was before games like The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword gave him a Freudian Excuse and being a Tragic Villain, a remorseless sociopath with delusions of grandeur. Even with just Ocarina of Time in mind, Ganondorf's actions are amped up in terms of cruelty as the manga gave tragic backstories to monsters like Volvagia where none exist in the game.
• Adaptational Weapon Swap: While Nabooru is still brainwashed, she is not turned into an Iron Knuckle. As a result, she’s shown wielding a Sinister Scimitar instead of an axe.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • Zelda is an unorthodox example. In the game, she survives under Ganondorf's rule for seven years, and has apparently learned all of her mentor Impa's tricks in that time period. In the manga, she opts to allow Impa to lock away her consciousness, allowing an alternate personality named "Sheik" to take control of her body.
  • The bosses in the games required Link to stun them with an item and then kill them with his sword. Here, they all go down with one hit by the item. This is especially notable with Phantom Ganon, Twinrova, and Barinade, who don't have their second forms.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
  • The manga skips the Shadow Temple, meaning that we see Link collecting only five medallions... but when he has to break the barrier around Hyrule Castle, the sixth medallion appears out of nowhere, along with Impa in the group shot with the other sages.
  • At what moment did Zelda awaken as the seventh sage if she was voluntarily put to sleep (as in never conscious the whole time she was Sheik) during the whole seven years?
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • Link is sociable and more emotionally developed than his video game counterpart due to actually speaking to people.
  • Malon's Friend to All Living Things and Girl Next Door elements are downplayed. Instead, she Thinks Like a Romance Novel and wants to run away from her ranch.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Link originally found Navi to be annoying. In the game, there's no implication of this.
• Adapted Out:
  • Bongo Bongo, due to his role being taken by Dark Link.
  • Koume and Kotake do not combine to form Twinrova.
• All Animals Are Dogs: Epona behaves much like a dog in this manga.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Ganondorf is familiar with magical items like the Triforce and the Ocarina of Time, but initially dismisses the prophesied Hero of Time as an “old superstition.”
• Arranged Marriage: Ruto tries to escape a marriage her father wants her to go through with by going to Lord Jabu-Jabu.
• Bad Future: A key plot point in the Ocarina of Time manga, just like in the game. By the time Link awakens, Ganondorf has completed his conquest of Hyrule after killing the king and sending Zelda into hiding.
• Bird People: One side story involves the Watarara, a migratory race of giant birds who only appear in the manga. They migrate over Hyrule once a year and born wingless and develop their wings as they age; youngsters ride on their parents' backs until the can fly. They were the inspiration for the Rito.
• Bloodier and Gorier: The manga isn't gory by any means, but it has more blood than the near-bloodless source game.
• Boisterous Weakling: Mido is presented as a loud, overconfident brat who has the unfortunate luck of coming up short against monsters, let alone Link. He does take something of a level in badass, being willingly to personally storm the Forest Temple to save Saria and throw Link a bow to use against Phantom Ganon.
• Brainwashed: Zelda went through this voluntarily by Impa to become Sheik.
• Brainwashed and Crazy:
  • Volvagia, compared to his canon game version where he was always evil.
  • The Gerudo tribe was shown to be brainwashed heavily late in the manga along with Nabooru, to which the original game only subtly hinted at with the former.
  • Ingo suffered this as a punishment for losing Epona, whom he had been planning to give to Ganondorf. His original punishment was execution by an Iron Knuckle.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: When Link asks a disguised Zelda if the Princess of Hyrule is pretty, she replies “Yeah, I guess…”
• Call-Forward: Although not in the Japanese version but rather in the English release, the Stalfos that Link encounters in Hyrule Castle Town as both a child and an adult is named Stallord.
• Chick Magnet: Link attracts the attention of many women throughout the manga.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Zig-zagged with Unlucky Malon. Though at first, she refuses Link's rescue in favor of waiting for her idealized "Prince on a White Horse", throughout the rescue begins to wonder if Link is her prince. Just as she begins to consider romance with Link, Zelda is brought up, and Link's reaction makes it clear that his heart is set on Zelda. Instead of moping about it, she gives up on that train of thought and carries on with her life.
• Circling Saw: Mido tries to pull this on Link by sawing his balcony, but Link leaves his treehouse early and falls on top of Mido.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: Of the video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• Composite Character:
  • Zelda was given some of Malon's traits as she plays with Link at the start of his journey.
  • Dark Link takes Bongo Bongo's role as the monster in the well at Kakariko Village.
  • Nabooru takes the role of the nameless commander of the Gerudo Fortress, and like the Elite Four Gerudo Thieves, uses scimitars as her preferred weapons.
• Continuity Snarl: Despite Zelda explaining that she was voluntarily put into essentially a magical coma during all those seven years, the manga still passes it off as if she did it all by herself. Unless this can be interpreted as Zelda taking the credit for her alternate personality's work.
• Crying Critters: Epona cries when she's reunited with Link after seven years.
• Death by Adaptation: In the original game, Ganondorf banishes Phantom Ganon to the “gap between dimensions” for losing to Link. Here, Link gives Phantom Ganon a Boom, Headshot! with a bow.
• Decomposite Character: Sort of, in Sheik being a split male consciousness from Zelda, rather than Zelda doing the work herself.
• Demoted to Extra: Malon's role is decreased due to Zelda being a Composite Character. Link meets her later on in the games and their friendship is more brief as well.
• Dying as Yourself: Volvagia, in a sad moment.
• Ear Ache: An angry Rouro pulls one of Link's long, Hylian ears in one scene.
• Early Adaptation Weirdness: The manga has some of this due to its age, such as its Adaptational Villainy of Ganondorf. The manga also features a female Goron while the games keep it a Riddle for the Ages whether Goron are all-male, have No Biological Sex, or whether the females are conveniently off-screen.
• Embarrassing Damp Sheets: A Gossip Stone reveals to Link that Mido's embarrassing secret is that he still wets his bed.
• Evil Twin:
  • Dark Link is an evil counterpart of Link's created by the well in Kakariko Village.
  • The Deku Tree gets his own evil counterpart, the Baga Tree, in a bonus story.
• Exact Words: When Link is struggling to adjust to Hyrule Castle Town, a girl promises to show him Princess Zelda if he plays with her for a day. Link does not know at the time that the girl is Princess Zelda herself.
• Foreshadowing: The manga has even more foreshadowing to Zelda being Sheik than the game has. For example, the third chapter portrays Zelda as a Tomboy Princess and, right before the reveal, Link holds Sheik and notes that he's frailer than he'd thought.
• A Glass in the Hand: Ganondorf crushes the Fairy Ocarina Link got from Saria when he realizes that it is not the Ocarina of Time.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes:
  • The heroic characters, like Link, have big eyes. The evil Ganondorf on the other hand has small, beady eyes.
  • Downplayed. The mysterious and villainous-seeming Sheik has Tsurime Eyes while Princess Zelda has large Tareme Eyes. Zelda and Sheik are the same person. When Zelda's consciousness resurfaces, Sheik gains tareme eyes.
• Hammer Hilt: At one point, Ganondorf strikes Young Link with the pommel of his sword.
• Hannibal Lecture: A Poe gives a savage one to Link when the Hero of Time wonders what happened to Hyrule Castle during the 7 years he slept.
  Poe: Hee hee hee... Hyrule Castle disappeared a long time ago... Now this is Ganon's Tower, where the master lives... Our Lord Ganondorf.
• Heroic Lineage: Rauru tells Link that his deceased father was a Hylian royal knight who died in battle.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Link's fight against Volvagia is presented as this. It only regains its memories after Link cuts off its head.
• Inconsistent Dub: The English manga translates the Zora and Goron Verbal Tics, unlike the English version of the game.
• Innocently Insensitive: When a Kakariko villager compliments Link on killing Volvagia, Link sets his teacup down and loses his good mood.
• Katanas Are Just Better: While Impa's sword is actually a kodachi, she's the best fighter on a technical level and proves to be the only opponent Link can't beat in a one-on-one match.
• King Incognito: Link comes across a girl in the town square who he plays with. That girl turns out to be Princess Zelda herself. The castle is nearby, so she ran off. Zelda wanted to see what it was like to be a normal child. This also foreshadows her being a Tomboy Princess.
• The Kingslayer: The manga makes it explicit than Ganondorf murdered Princess Zelda's father when he took over Hyrule.
• Logical Weakness: Dark Link can copy any technique Link has used in the past, but can't account for attacks that Link has seen but not performed. Link is able to bisect Dark Link by copying Impa's flip attack.
• Ma'am Shock: Impa lets out an indignant “Ma’am?!” when Link refers to her as such.
• The Mole: Sheik was revealed to be this.
• No Infantile Amnesia: Link has a flashback to his mother taking him to the Great Deku Tree as an infant.
• Off with His Head!: How Link kills Volvagia.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: Dark Link can turn his lower body into a copy of Epona.
• Promoted to Love Interest: The manga adds more emphasis on something between Link and Zelda than the games do. Zelda's character is partially composited with Malon's due to Link spending a day with a disguised Zelda in the third chapter. He's attracted to her from the start. Later on, Malon realizes that she isn't the person that Link wants, which is implied to be Zelda. To a lesser extent, Link is implied to like Saria in the manga (if the jealous Mido isn't just seeing things).
• Remember the New Guy?: Right after Volvagia is introduced, we have a flashback to Link's childhood, when we saw Link buying a newborn Volvagia from Hyrule Market and keeping it as a pet before he picked up the Master Sword, even though it wasn't present in that segment.
• Ret-Canon:
  • The Samurai Ponytail Link has under his hat was later given to Link in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
  • Sheik uses a spell to disguise himself as Talon. The Yiga Clan uses a similar technique in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel, with even their leader, Master Kohga, using disguises in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
  • Ganondorf commands Phantom Ganon to kill Link at the Forest Temple before the Sage of Forest, Saria, can be awakened. The King of Evil himself would later give a similar command in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
  • Saria being trapped in a painting by Phantom Ganon is what Ganon's Lorulean counterpart, Yuga, would do in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds to the Sages, as well as Princess Zelda and his own boss, Hilda.
• Rite of Passage: Impa says that male Sheikah get their ears pierced in a coming-of-age ceremony, and decides to do it for Link.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Zelda tries to be this by enlisting Link in the fight against Ganondorf and being willing to sneak out of the castle on her own. Upon escaping Hyrule Castle after Ganondorf's attack, she assumes the Sheik persona with Impa's help to assist Link. She also throws the Master Sword back to Link during the final battle.
• Ship Tease: Link with just about every main female character in his age group: Saria, Zelda, Malon, Ruto (although he does seem to be leaning towards Zelda). Even Navi herself got some with him. Her last line is different from the games a bit and seems to portray attraction, which is canon in the games. Lampshaded by Kaepora Gaebora:
  "You sure are popular with the ladies. That's the third pretty young girl you've got!"
• Shoot the Dog: Link's fight with Volvagia is this, due to the dragon being changed to have been a former childhood pet of Link's before being brainwashed by Ganondorf.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: Baby Volvagia in flashbacks.
• Single Tear: Link cries a single tear after being forced to kill Volvagia.
• Sociopathic Hero: Sheik is a more devious and pragmatic hero than Link, and is noticeably unaffected by the memory-based illusions in the desert.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: When Link awakens after the Time Skip, he has to cut down a pack of Stalfos to save a knight, who tried in vain to fight them off while dressed in Hylian armor.
• Sweet on Polly Oliver: It's implied that Link is attracted to Sheik. He even gets flustered at one point from staring at him for too long. Sheik is actually his childhood crush Princess Zelda in disguise.
• Tap on the Head: Sheik knocks Link out and throws him in a Gerudo cell.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Only male Goron appear in the games. In the manga, a mother Goron is depicted with eyelashes.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Mason sees herself as a tragic maiden who needs a prince to whisk her away from her life as a farmgirl. Malon initially declines Link's rescue attempts until she realizes he's grown up a lot in seven years.
• This Cannot Be!:
  • Ganondorf says these words after being defeated by Link for the first time:
    Ganondorf: I can't... Dark Lord Ganondorf cannot be beaten... by this boy!
  • The Twinrova Sisters get this when Link uses the Mirror Shield.
    Twinrova Sisters: It can’t be! Done in by our own powers? How?
• Toy-Based Characterization: Link’s first weapon is a slingshot that he makes himself, marking him as more creative than the Kokiri.
• Tragic Keepsake: As he is dying, the Deku Tree asks Link to carve a shield from his bark to protect himself with during his journey. The Deku Shield later gets burned during Ganondorf's assault on Hyrule Castle.
• Tragic Monster: Volvagia was originally an innocent creature that was corrupted by Ganondorf's magic, and has to be put down before it can cause any more destruction.
• Walking Wasteland: Not only does Queen Gohma chew up the Great Deku Tree, but her mere presence causes the grass and trees in Kokiri Village to wilt.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Inverted, the manga provides an explanation to what happened to the Fairy Ocarina that Saria gives Link, compare with in the game where it just disappears after he gets the titular item. After Zelda tosses Link the Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf attacks Link and attempts to take it from him. However, he grabs the Fairy Ocarina by mistake assuming it's the Ocarina of Time and smashes it in rage when he realizes it's the wrong one.
• Wrecked Weapon: Link’s Deku Shield gets lit on fire during the assault on Hyrule Castle.
• You Have Failed Me: Ganondorf was planning to have Ingo executed by an Iron Knuckle for letting Epona escape with Link. Subverted, as Koume and Kotake decided to do something far worse to Ingo.
• You Killed My Father: The manga makes the implications that is from the original game that Ganondorf murdered Zelda's father during the raid a bit more blatant, where he tells Zelda, upon confronting her in a burning Hyrule Castle that she "will sleep in eternity with her father in this burning castle."

---