Link needs to start talking in the Zelda games
In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the Goron Daruk cheerfully offers Link a massive Prime Rock Roast. Link simply nods, grunts, and begins gnawing at the lava-dripping slab while Zelda and Impa recoil. The moment plays for laughs, but it only lands because Link is treated as mute and, by extension, a bit vacant.
That silence was deliberate from the series’ beginning. Shigeru Miyamoto designed Link as a blank slate so players could project themselves onto him, and for decades that approach helped immersion. Times have changed, though: modern Zelda entries lean into cinematic storytelling and expressive supporting casts, which makes a silent protagonist feel increasingly out of step.
The contrast is striking in games with full voice work. Performances like Patricia Summersett’s as Zelda add energy, yet characters repeatedly turn to Link and get nothing but a stare.