WMG / The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Concerning Koholint

Koholint Island is an Alternate Universe created by the Wind Fish.

Created by him dreaming. Yes, really.

• Isn't that Canon?
  • Not that I'm aware of, Canon mostly just says "lol, it was All Just a Dream, Koholint is gone forever cuz Link woke the Windfish up".
    • Which means it is Canon. Your response was basically Distinction Without a Difference.

The people and monsters on the island were fake, but based on real people.

It explains the similarity Marin and Tarin have to Malon and Talon. Plus how some characters reappear in the Oracle games.

• From the Meta point of view, Malon and Talon were based off Marin and Tarin. In-game, if you take the WMG Timeline proposal from above, it could be that Link was dreaming about the people he met in the Oracle games.
  • Given the retcon to the timeline, this no longer works. However, Malon appears in Minish Cap, meaning the Wind Fish could have remembered her from long ago.

Koholint Island is a rare two-person Magicant.

Just like Magicant, Koholint Island is a dream world where the main goal is to defeat a Nightmare and wake up afterwards. What's more, you collect eight instruments to create one song that helps the guardian of the dreamworld (Queen Mary/The Wind Fish) wake up. The two-person part is that Link's arrival ended up tainting Magicant with his own memories, creating Koholint Island.

Koholint Island is a shared dream between Link and the Wind Fish, based on Link's experiences.

It might have started off as the Wind Fish's dream, but once Link entered the dream it changed. That's why everything on Koholint looks exactly like stuff from the Oracle games, because it's based on Link's memories.

• This seems to be at least partly implied, but very little in Link's Awakening that's shared with the Oracle games is unique to only those games. The retcon to the timeline also makes this explanation no longer work, but doesn't invalidate the concept.

Koholint Island appears and disappears regularly, coinciding with the Wind Fish's sleep schedule.

After defeating the Nightmares, the Owl reveals himself as part of the Wind Fish's spirit and states that it's the guardian of his dream world before describing how the Nightmares appeared and tried to keep the Wind Fish from waking. The fact that the Owl has that title and the way he explains it suggests that the creation of the island in his dreams is a regular occurrence, meaning what happens at the end of the game isn't as much of an apocalypse as was previously thought, and explaining why the Wind Fish is okay with being awakened and erasing it without a second thought — it'll reappear the next time he goes to sleep, and he knows that.

• Alternatively, Koholint never disappears, but can't exist in the physical world while the Wind Fish is awake. It only exists in a dream world but its inhabitants continue their lives even so, with no idea that there is an "outside" while the Wind Fish sleeps (except Marin, who wanted to travel). The monsters/nightmares came from the physical world and lied to Link that Koholint would stop existing altogether so they could stay and take it over, because outsiders, unlike inhabitants, can't follow the island into the dream world. In the good ending, Marin was able to leave because the Wind Fish gave her the ability to go in and out of the dream world, though she could only be a seagull or winged girl while in the outside world.

The inhabitants of Koholint Island are people that exist in the real world, but are caught in the dream.

We know Link is a real person who lost consciousness while at sea and then found himself on Koholint Island. Marin also speaks of dreaming she was a seagull, and at the end we see a seagull, implied to be her. It's very possible that every other inhabitant of the island, save the Nightmares, are the same; real people, or animals, who have fallen asleep in the real world and got stuck in the Wind Fish's dream, and are unaware they are in a dream and that these aren't their "real" lives. Thus, when Link wakes up the Wind Fish, the dream ends, and the inhabitants of the island wake up in the real world. The issue of people finding themselves in the dream may be even more widespread than it first appears, as we see creatures from the Mario universe appearing on the island. It's entirely possible Mamu is actually Wart, fallen asleep and found himself in the dream. This also aids to differentiate the Nightmares from the other inhabitants. While everyone else is a creature trapped in the dream, the Nightmares are actually part of the dream and will cease to be when it ends. This interpretation would change how the ending would be perceived. The game treats the Wind Fish waking up as a good thing, but if the act of doing that condemns the inhabitants of the island to non-existence, then maybe the ending isn't such a good thing after all. If however, the inhabitants are real people outside the island, then this ending would be a good thing for everyone. Well, everyone save the Nightmares.

Concerning the Wind Fish

In Link's Awakening, the disembodied voice after beating a dungeon is the Wind Fish itself

After you beat a dungeon and acquire an instrument, you play the instrument, causing the Wind Fish to stir in its sleep and mutter about something it sees in its dream, such as "...SWAMP... ...A path opens in the blooms..." Or perhaps it desires to be awoken and its drifting consciousness is trying to guide you to your next destination.

The Wind Fish conjured up the storm in the prologue.

The whale god had been sleeping for thousands of years as it was, after the Nightmares invaded his subconscious and dreams. Unable to even wake up, he was gradually losing all control of his body and mind, and panicked, fearing the Nightmares would use him and his powers to wreak havoc upon the outside world. Sensing a nearby virtuous hero sailing by, who possessed enough wisdom and courage to overcome their evil, he summoned up a sudden storm to bring Link to him and into his dreams.

The Wind Fish is incredibly ancient, and has seen other Nintendo universes.

It'd explain not only why Koholint is a mishmash of elements from previous Zelda games, but also the presence of Goombas, Piranha Plants, malevolent Kirbys, a reformed Wart and a photograph of Princess Peach. Marin and Tarin's uncanny resemblance to Malon and Talon from Ocarina of Time may be the result of the Wind Fish having been around during the events of the previous game, albeit not physically present — perhaps the Wind Fish has Reality Warper powers while he's dreaming?

• Ocarina of Time actually came out five years after the original release of Link's Awakening.
• That means the Wind Fish is Haruhi Suzumiya.
• Or, if you want an in-universe identity, he's Levias from Skyward Sword.
  • Levias has too many differences to the Wind Fish to be the same individual, and Breath of the Wild hints that both are present (although not in a good way).
    • Having aesthetic differences doesn't mean much. With better technology and new team members coming on to the project, there will always be changes from the earlier product to the later one. It's entirely possible they are the same.

The Ocean King is the Wind Fish

Whale with lots of power? Sounds like the Ocean King. He could be sleepy from all that fighting against Bellum and needed a nap. This would also mean that cross-timeline traveling is possible for beings of that power, since this is presumed to be a sequel to ALttP and that is stated to be Child Timeline.

• Cross-Timeline travel? You're heading into Timey-Wimey Ball territory...However, another popular theory is that Link's Awakening is the sequel to the Oracle games (as a sequel to A Link to the Past, but in no way related to Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass), as in the ending credits of the linked game, Link sails away on a ship suspiciously similar to that in the Link's Awakening opening credits.
• Alternatively, because it's a different timeline, Bellum is an Alternate Universe Nightmare, or the same entity with a different name. Basically, it's Link's Awakening from the "Adult Timeline" instead of the "Link Dying" timeline. This would also mean that there might be another in the "Child Timeline" if the "Wind Fish, Ocean King" has a counterpart there.
  • Maybe the events of both games take place at the same time but in different timelines (i.e., the same number of years have passed since Ocarina of Time). This would be like how Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker are implied to take place roughly parallel to each other, which has led to WMG about them as well. Differences in the timeline could have led to the Wind Fish being given a different name, or for different members of the same species/tribe/whatever being targeted instead.

The Wind Fish is Shigeru Miyamoto

Is there anyone else who could dream up a world with both Zelda characters and Mario enemies?

• Yes. Any Nintendo fan. Wait...
• Miyamoto actually had little involvement in the game, with Kensuke Tanabe being the lead script writer and the inclusion of Mario characters basically done as a joke without asking permission.

The Wind Fish is the personification of every Nintendo fan.

Fans that would die to see a Mario/Zelda crossover. After being woke up, the Wind Fish tried to accomplish this, turning it up to eleven, and Super Smash Bros. came to be.

• That makes Malon's inclusion into the dream even funnier, because the fans are always trying to ship Link with a new girl he has little to no chemistry with.

The Wind Fish is the Zelda equivalent of Azathoth.

How long has been the Wind Fish sleeping? Why can it only wake up to music? Simply, he is an Eldritch Abomination, although not a malicious one. He lies sleeping in the ocean and was invaded by Nightmare. Link, who was traveling the ocean, encounters a storm (in reality, the portal to the Wind Fish's dream) because he is summoned by the deity to help him. Koholint and its inhabitants are simply A Form You Are Comfortable With for Link that got too real. Marin is "real" in the sense that the Wind Fish made her real, probably knowing the fondness of Link for her, and as a thank-you gift for destroying the Nightmare.

Following that, the Ocean King is the Alternative Timeline Wind Fish

It's generally accepted that Link's Awakening goes after A Link to the Past, a game that is accepted to be in the Child Timeline. So, the Ocean King is simply another version of the Wind Fish; both summon Link to their respective dream realms (Koholint Island/World of The Ocean King) to fight a malicious invasion (The Nightmare/Bellum).

The Wind Fish and the Ocean King are both Levias.

Levias is a giant flying whale that serves as the guardian deity of Skyloft. In the child timeline, he just happens to be surfing one day when the Nightmares possess him, and he pulls Link in to help him. Or, perhaps, by that point in the child timeline, Skyloft's been abandoned or destroyed, so he's just a wandering spirit that still retains power, but has no official position. And in the adult timeline, Hyrule is flooded up to around the same level as Skyloft, so he's repurposed from a guardian of the sky to a guardian of the ocean.

• This doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the visual differences between them, particularly that Levias looks significantly older and more battle-worn than the Wind Fish. They're also based on different types of whales, and Levias has a bony plate on his head that the Wind Fish lacks. Breath of the Wild has a hint about Levias as well, and that game takes place thousands of years in the future from either game: the Eldin Great Skeleton is implied to be Levias' remains, and still has the bony plate.

The Wind Fish can, and has been, dimension travelling to other universes including Mario's.

Crossover enemies exist in this series because they were dreamt up by the Wind Fish.

• While the guess is a possibility, the reason isn't. Chain Chomps, Cheep Cheeps, Bob-ombs, Pokeys, Thwomps, and Lakitus are all in other games, including some that take place after Link's Awakening. Spiked Beetles have a different English name but share their Japanese name with Spinies, and also appear in multiple games in the Zelda series. If they were part of the Wind Fish's dream, they should only exist on Koholint Island and only during the time the Wind Fish was sleeping.

The Wind Fish has time travel capabilities.

Koholint Island has telephones and crane games, neither of which are in Hyrule as seen in A Link to the Past. Since they can't have come to Koholint from Link's subconscious, they must come from the Wind Fish, who had traveled back in time from a period where Hyrule had roughly the technological level of the 1960's. (Coming from then also explains how trippy Link's Awakening is.)

Concerning Link

Link died in the prologue's storm. Koholint is the Land of the Dead.

A theory older than the Internet. This is no dream. Koholint is the world of Hyrule's temporary abode for all mortals, animals, and monsters whose spirits have passed on and have gathered together in a tropical paradise (sorta like the Halls of Mandos from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth mythos). The Wind Fish is the God of Death. He is the slumbering guardian of this island. He serves as Hyrule's benevolent "grim reaper", and when the number of resident spirits have reached a certain level, he awakens, and everyone disappears into him. They depart with him to an unknown place, known by only the old gods awaiting them themselves. The recycle has repeated, and will be repeated, indefinitely. He will not allow any soul to leave this realm and escape back to the world of the living. All the deceased here have all forgotten their previous existences. Link, however, still retains his memories of his former life. He isn't ready to pass on, he's too young, and Hyrule still needs him. He refuses to await the inevitable passing into the Heavens. Link intends to be preemptive and awaken the Death God before his preordained time. He wants to climb before the Wind Fish and, isolating himself from the Island and its god's summons, be reunited with his body. The monsters, inspired by this, become increasingly violent, and don't want to pass on either. They instead seek to ensure the Wind Fish never wakes up to escort them into the afterlife and they can rule over this isle in limbo.

• Consequently, if the monsters succeed with their plan, no one's spirit will ever be able to leave, or pass on.
• The Monsters are defeated one-by-one and unwillingly return to their death god. Link, however, makes it and escapes (for now), though Marin has been long dead and thus is unable to return to her physical body and is still in the Koholint Island realm, being absorbed along with everyone into the Wind Fish's being, to ascend to the divine. She still wants to see so much of the world of the living, though in the end, she is forced to rise up to the heavens.
• Seemingly Jossed with the Switch remake. The official timeline was updated to put this game before The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games rather than after, but still treats all four games (including The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past) as the same Link. It's speculated that this is entirely to avoid the possibility of Fridge Horror.

Link dies in the Regular Ending but survives in the Good Ending.

Seagulls rarely rarely venture far out in the sea, and Marin turns/gets reincarnated into one in the "Good" ending.

• Seagulls are actually noted for following ships and whales for miles out to sea, and sometimes even just following schools of fish that swim near the surface. But Marin becoming a seagull shouldn't have an effect on how far out to sea Link is.

The game refers to you as THIEF after stealing because it's Link's own judgment on his morality

Since the game is taking place in Link's dream, we get an insight on his morals. If he steals from the shop, he will make the judgment that he is a THIEF and will take it to the grave because of his guilt.

Link's Awakening Link is not real, just another dream of the Wind Fish.

Given the All Just a Dream nature of this game, surely it wouldn't be out of place. Link is a Legend, one passed all over the world through Hyrule's influence. The Wind Fish was under attack by an enemy he could not directly fight so he dreamed of a hero he had heard many stories about. In the End, after the Wind Fish wakes up, the Wind Fish makes Dream!Link real. If Dream!Link was badass enough to never die, the Wind Fish grants a the wish of his closest companion.

Now if combined with the theories that the Wind Fish is Levias and is old enough to remember multiple Links. He was trapped by a spawn of Demise and dreamed up the only person capable of defeating him.

Probably contradicts Hyrule Historia a bit, but wouldn't it be interesting for there to be multiple Links running about spreading the meme of the green-wearing swordsman further across the world?

• Not just contradicting Hyrule Historia, but the game's own backstory. The official Nintendo player's guide, the pack-in booklet, and creator interviews from the time all directly stated that this is the same Link as A Link to the Past. It also contradicts the opening to the game, where Link is out at sea before his ship is struck by lightning.

Concerning Marin

Marin was always a seagull.

Marin was simply a seagull that was caught in the same dream as Link. The Nightmares are the only actual inhabitants of Koholint, hence why they're the only ones aware of the world's true nature. The NPCs are all merely people and animals that have been trapped in the same dream.

• In that same vein, Tarin may have really been a raccoon (tanuki?) who simply remembered his true form when he ate that mushroom instead of being transformed into one.

Marin is Link's dream, not the Wind Fish's

Marin is Link's idea of what Zelda would be like if she was not a princess, thus not busy running a kingdom and can spend more time with him. If Link never dies, than the Wind Fish rewards him for all his hard work and grants her personality a body to explore the world in.

Marin was a lucid dream.

There were no real people on the island that disappeared at the end. Everybody was just part of the dream, so when you wake up, no one's really "gone." The Wind Fish just stopped dreaming about them. Marin, who dreamed of being free and who once tried to go wake the Wind Fish, was a part of the Wind Fish's mind that was trying to wake himself up from the dream. The perfect ending was more symbolic than anything.

Marin may make exactly one wish to the Wind Fish

If you die at some point in the game, then you may continue as normal for video games, but you no longer get the ending where Marin leaves the dream. In this case, it's more than a game mechanic. If Link dies, Marin wishes that he could remain alive. The Wind Fish grants this by allowing Link to survive as long as he wants inside the dream. Unfortunately, this uses up Marin's one wish. If you beat the game without dying, her wish remains unspent, so the Wind Fish grants her the wish she wanted for herself: to become a seagull.

Marin is a combination of Zelda, Din, and Nayru.

Link cobbled Marin together in his mind from the important women in his life recently. Marin looks like Zelda, has Nayru's musical ability, and Din's fiery and outgoing personality.

• With the update to the timeline putting this game first, this doesn't seem to be possible now.

Seagull Marin can turn back into a human if she wants to.

Compare the DX best ending, where she's just a seagull, with the black-and-white best ending, where she's a human with wings. Maybe both are true, and the Wind Fish granted Marin the ability to shift between human, seagull, and winged human forms.

Marin is one of the Nightmares, or was working with them originally.

Just to compile everything in support of this:

• She already shows signs of knowing or at least suspecting the island's true nature: she ponders what could lie beyond its shores when no other islanders appear to care, she disregards her relationship with her father by always calling him by his name, at one point she appears to try and wake the Wind Fish herself, and she frequently asks that Link not forget about her, even before the game has delved into its more existential elements.
• While she initially appears sweet and demure, there are moments where Marin slips up and displays a disturbingly violent side, only to quickly dismiss or cover it up. ("Yes! Do it! Do it more! ...What? Oh, it's nothing. I didn't mean it.")
• Lastly, just like how the Nightmares each guard one of the Instruments of the Sirens, Marin just happens to be in the know regarding a song that has the power to wake the Wind Fish, with no explanation as to where she learned it.

The theory goes that Marin was created by the Nightmares in an attempt to dissuade Link from wanting to leave Koholint, but she eventually came to fall for him and wanted to see him on his way home. This would answer all of the quirks about her character outlined above, as well as her fascination with Link, why she tries so hard and so often to hold his attention on her when he seems too focused on the sea ("Hey, are you listening? Link, are you listening to me?"), and why she was left on that mountain bridge for Link to save; the monsters probably left her there as one final effort for her to accomplish what she was meant to do. Marin even makes as if to tell Link something after he rescues her, and seems uncharacteristically angry with Tarin when he shows up and ruins it. (Especially for someone whose life was just in such danger; you'd think she'd be glad to see her father again.)

One last thing this would tie up is by explaining why Marin's wish was granted by the Wind Fish. Unlike the other islanders, who by their nature didn't care whether the island was real or not, or the Nightmares who kept him held hostage to prevent the dream from ending, Marin knew what would happen if Link succeeded in his quest and had orders to stop him from doing so, but disregarded her purpose and her own life by helping him accomplish his task. That probably would've been enough to redeem her in the Wind Fish's eyes.

Marin was always a seagull

She just woke up.

• I believe the above troper is referring to Zhuangzi (a Chinese philosopher of the 4th century B.C.) claiming in his book that he had a dream in which he was a butterfly, and after waking was not sure whether he was a man whom had dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly whom had begun dreaming he was a man.
• It does make a lot of sense. If the island is a dream and waking the Wind Fish ends the dream, she shouldn't be able to survive in any form... unless she also existed in the real world, like the only two other known LA characters to continue existing (Link and the Wind Fish itself.) One of the setting's many smart animals being drawn into the dream world makes more sense than Marin going from an imaginary girl to a real bird.

Marin is a descendant of Medli.

She has red hair (apparently a trait of female or child Rito). She also possesses a harp — a sign of the Earth sage bloodline. In the end of the original black and white Link's Awakening she takes the form of a Winged Humanoid. The human-like nose is probably due to interbreeding with normal Hylians.

• Jossed. The Wind Waker and Link's Awakening take place in different timeline branches, and Link's Awakening is a dream anyway.
  • Marin has also never been shown to play the harp, or even possess one, in the series canon. It's mentioned in the manual and shown in a piece of artwork, but in all versions of Link's Awakening, the only musical talent she demonstrates is her singing. Even in Hyrule Warriors, where her weapon of choice is actually an instrument, it's a bell she fights with rather than a harp.

Marin partially serves as an outlet for the Wind Fish's intrusive thoughts.

Since she's part of the Wind Fish's subconscious, she happens to voice ideas like "you should totally keep hitting that cucco" that people would normally quickly dismiss.

Marin is the Wind Fish's interpretation of Princess Zelda

With her uncanny resemblance to Zelda, filling out Zelda's usual role, as well as the implication that Marin may have feelings for Link, it may not be too far-fetched to say that The Wind Fish may have created Marin based off Link's memories of the Princess of Hyrule herself.

Marin is an alter/tulpa within the Wind Fish's mindscape

Which means that the Wind Fish itself might have subconscious feelings for Link... Oh my.

Concerning Other Things

Tarin's transformation is a reference to the leaf and tanuki suit powerups in Super Mario Bros. 3.

This game has several other references to the Mario games, and Tarin has some similarities to Mario, so why not? (So, would that mean that the "it sure was fun" line of dialog was self-promotion by Nintendo?)

• This seem to be less WMG and more extrapolation; the connections seems obvious to me.

The shopkeeper is one of the Nightmares masquerading as a human.

Hence the ridiculously high prices and killing you if you steal anything: he's doing everything he can to stop you from waking the Wind Fish.

Hot Head was dying when Link fought him

Hot Head (the boss from Turtle Rock) is on fire, and you fight him in a lava pit by shooting fireballs at him. It makes no sense that fire would hurt a fire creature, unless Hot Head fell in the lava pit and was trying to escape when Link found him. However, burning to death would take him too long, that's why the boss is only defeated when Link shoots even more fire at him, accelerating the process.

The Nightmare is Vaati

He's trying to use the Wind Fish's dream to gain enough power to return to Hyrule in the Decline timeline, which is why his final form resembles Vaati's Wrath from The Minish Cap.

• Also, keep in mind that Vaati is specifically referred to as a wind mage in Four Swords. Him attacking the Wind Fish, if the Nightmare really is Vaati, may not be a coincidence.
• At this point in the timeline, though, he should be trapped inside the Four Sword. So this would require an explanation for how he got out.
  • Given that all of the Shadow Nightmare's forms are based on prior bosses, it could simply be copying Vaati's form like the rest.

Changes for the Switch Remake

• The Rocs feather and Pegasus boots getting assigned to their own buttons.
  • And the Power Bracelet. Don't forget that.
    • Jossed. The gameplay trailer shows them assigned to the A and B buttons.
    • Actually confirmed except for the Roc's Feather. The bracelet and boots are now assigned to the A and trigger buttons permanently.
• The Shoplifting photo will either be removed or still accessable with less consequences.
  • From the looks of things, the photo quest is out to make room for the dungeon builder.
    • Confirmed. The photo gallery is gone, and the consequences are the same as ever.
• New Sidequests and additions to the main story to make the game bigger.
  • Jossed, for the most part. There are more Secret Seashells and Heart Containers but no new plot lines.
• An item that makes finding secret seashells easier like the Stone of Agony.
  • Confirmed.
• The Western changes in the original (I.E the mermaid's bra being replaced with the necklace) Will carry over to the Japanese version.
  • Confirmed.
• Hero mode, similar to The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and other more recent Zelda games. Or, a second quest with new versions of the dungeons.
  • Hero mode confirmed. Second quest Jossed.
• The Color Dungeon will either be left in, or replaced with a new bonus dungeon based around some Switch feature, perhaps motion controls.
  • The Color Dungeon was left in.
• An extra scene in the ending showing Link actually returning to Hyrule, rather than leaving the player to wonder if he was left for dead in the ocean.
• A multiplayer mode like which was originally concepted for the original game but scrapped early on.
  • Jossed. There are no co-op features, and the only way to share dungeons is physically - saved to an amiibo and letting a friend borrow it.
• The secret ending will happen regardless if the player dies or not.
  • Well, they have to block it off behind something; otherwise, it wouldn't be a secret ending. It'd be dumb of them to take away the novelty of it by showing it no matter what.
  • Alternatively, it will be for 100% Completion instead of no deaths.
  • Jossed, it's still based on death count, making it the first Zelda game in years to include it.
• The Wind Fish's Egg will be converted into a proper dungeon rather then the maze in the original.
  • Sorry, but Jossed.
• Amiibo features.
  • Cameo from other Nintendo Games by using the respective amiibo.
  • Jossed. The Link's Awakening Link amiibo unlocks Dark Link while exploring a Chamber Dungeon, where he'll chase down Link. Otherwise, amiibo are used to save dungeon designs for later use or to share with other players.

Link's Awakening is the result of Link taking a lot of acid.

The official explanation of the plot is that Link managed to wash up on an island that's a dream of a giant whale. However, considering the telephones, evil Kirbys and Goombas, aforementioned giant floating magic whale, and various other stuff, clearly what actually happened is that Link dropped some acid. Honestly, it makes a lot more sense than somehow winding up on an island in someone's dream.

• I thought the most common explanation was that LA was Link's hallucinations (or nightmares) as he succumbs to exposure on a piece of driftwood in the ocean, rather a nasty end for poor Link.
  • Uh, then how do you explain him WAKING UP and seeing THE FREAKING WIND FISH at the end? He's clearly still alive. Whether he survived after THAT can be debated.
    • A giant whale that goes flying away on silly little bird wings? That sounds like something produced by severe delirium, oh, and Marin turning into a seagull/angel/?.
    • In a series featuring giant pig monsters? Not that unusual.

Contrary to popular belief, there was no dream apocalypse at the end of LA

Oh sure, at the time, and from Link's perspective, it looked like one, but the alternate reality continued on whether or not Link was dreaming. The Wind Fish/oshus went into Hyrule's reality to thank Link and send him off.

There was dream apocalypse at the end of LA...

Because none of it was actually real. The people in your dreams and daydreams don't actually exist, and neither did the ones the Wind Fish dreamed about — an entity with memories of being Marin may well have been created in the wake of the dream, but that's it.

The events in the game were not a dream at all.

At least they weren't Link's. In reality, Link was physically on the Island of Koholint, but the island wasn't physically real (this leads to confusion). To make a long story short, the island was the Wind Fish's dream, as well as everyone on it (except for Link and the Wind Fish).

• Or it could be that the events on Koholint mirrored events happening in reality. Or Link brought peace to the real Koholint via Windfish magic as the Windfish "summons" him into a magic dream as he could not get Link to physically go to the island without using too much magic. The only reason the island will disappear is that it's a magic spell used to save the real one so... yeah. Link dies if he stays on the island too long because the Windfish would run out of magic and Link would get "lost" with the spell.

Alternately, Link is a dream Link.

It is him dreaming in sync with the Wind Fish. Marin and Tarin are the dream versions of Malon and Talon. This also proves that Link's Awakening fits nowhere in the timeline.

• What about the real Link, who wakes up on the wreckage?
• Except it is stated in the manual that Link's Awakening takes place directly after A Link to the Past. Furthermore, Link is never dreaming. The island, the physical location Link washes up in, is the dream of the Wind Fish. As in, the dream, given flesh in the real world, is Koholint Island. For some reason, there's a lot of people that can't grasp this concept.

The reason why the boomerang is so powerful in this game.

It's not just as a reward for the lengthy quest to obtain it, it's Link's first and favorite item from the previous adventure of LTTP. It's a treasured memory, and thus in the dream world it's much more powerful than normal. It could also easily be Link's actual boomerang, lost like his sword and shield, and getting it back makes him so happy it has tangible effects.

The characters we meet are a mix of Link's memories of Hyrule in ALTTP combined with the memories of the Wind Fish.

The world itself is a mishmash of his memories, which is why we get returning enemies and outright cameos of characters from Link to the Past. It's just combined with the sort of fuzzy recollection and dream logic- Link knows he's not in Hyrule, and also sees how unique the island is, so he's not conscious of the similarities between Marin and Zelda, Tarin and his Uncle, and doesn't find the myriad inhabitants of the world strange. Marin might very well be a dreaming seagull, but to Link, she looks like a casual islander Zelda. The entire island has a feeling of warped nostalgia, hearkening back to locations and enemies from Link to the Past, but arranged in new, unique fashion. The remake emphasizes this by having the island seem to be made out of toys, the remake being a nostalgic memory of a memory of games. So the island exists as a living memory, which makes it's dissolution all the more tragic, and why Koholint will always only exist in Link's memory of a dream.

The shopkeeper is Koholint's version of the Happy Mask Salesman (and possibly Rupin)

He has the same general appearance as the HMS/Rupin, except for having his head shaved bald. He also has a jovial, yet unsettling, demeanor, he is prone to terrifying rage when upset with Link, and his ability to shoot lightning suggests that he is some kind of spiritual/otherworldly being.

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