Zelda | Link Originally Spoke in Echoes of Wisdom Before Being Replaced by Tri

“Tri try again.”

During an interview between Famitsu and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom developers, Eiji Aonuma and Satoshi Terada, it was revealed that with Zelda being the main protagonist, it was once considered to have Link speak, to drive the story forward. However, this decision was eventually changed and Link was returned to being a mute, which led to the introduction of Tri’s character instead. For the full comments, we have them here:

Eiji Aonuma: Speaking of the “Legend of Zelda” series, the main character doesn’t speak. So Link doesn’t speak either. But it was difficult (laughs).

Famitsu: If neither Link nor Princess Zelda speaks, there’s no one to move the story forward or convey it, so it must be difficult to make…

Eiji Aonuma: That’s why we needed Tri.

Satoshi Terada: Having Tri there really helped us out.

Famitsu: So at that point, you didn’t decide to have Link speak?

Eiji Aonuma: Actually, Link was speaking at first.

Famitsu: Huh!?

Satoshi Terada: I had Link talk a little bit…

Eiji Aonuma: Link would never say something like that. It felt really strange (laughs).

Satoshi Terada: No matter what I had to say, it just didn’t feel right.

Eiji Aonuma: Nobody knew what Link was going to say. Of course he was. He’s never spoken before (laughs). So we needed a setting where he couldn’t speak, and that’s how part of the story came about.

While it feels like a missed opportunity to have Link communicate somethign other than a scream, Tri did make for a welcome addition nonetheless.

About The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom:

Save the kingdom of Hyrule – this time with the wisdom of Princess Zelda – in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom for Nintendo Switch – The people of Hyrule are being stolen away by strange rifts that have appeared, and with a certain swordsman among those missing, it’s up to Princess Zelda to save her kingdom.

Team up with the mysterious fairy, Tri, and use the power of the Tri Rod to learn how to create echoes, imitations of things found in the environment. You can then recreate those echoes whenever you like to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.

Create echoes like water blocks to reach new heights, make bridges out of old beds, throw rocks at foes, or find your own creative combination of echoes to do things your way. You can even create echoes of monsters to fight at your side in combat!

Source: Famitsu via Nintendo Everything