As Zelda expanded its presence on Nintendo’s handheld consoles, Dark Link appeared in 2001’s The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages on the Game Boy Color as an enemy summoned by the game’s final boss Veran to battle Link. Dark Link also appeared as the boss of the optional Palace of the Four Swords in 2002’s Game Boy Advance port of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, dividing himself into four separate figures, a technique he later repeated in subsequent appearances. Still, these appearances felt like nothing more than glorified cameos, lacking the punch Dark Link made on home consoles.
In 2004, Dark Link returned in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures on the GameCube as a recurring antagonist. This Dark Link, or Shadow Link as he’s referred to in-game, kidnaps the maidens of four shrines in Hyrule prompting Link to draw the Four Sword, splitting himself into four differently colored versions of himself. Of course, Ganon is ultimately revealed to be the true antagonist in Four Swords Adventures, using the Dark Mirror to create Shadow Link and set the events of the game into motion, with the Links defeating both Ganon and Shadow Link before reforming into a single hero once peace is restored in Hyrule.
However, the most haunting backstory for Dark Link is provided in 2006’s The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, provided within a nightmarish vision Link has about the origins of the game’s Twilight Realm. In what is probably the scariest exposition dump in a Nintendo game, the Dark Interlopers from the Twilight Realm take on the appearance of Dark Link to explain how they came to be and why they were banished by the Light Spirits. Though undeniably creepy, the player doesn’t actually fight Dark Link in Twilight Princess, which was a big disappointment at the time given their terrifying appearance in the game.
After this, Dark Link was relegated back to cameos for years: within a minigame in 2009’s The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and in the challenge mode of 2015’s The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes. Dark Link was an alternate skin of Link in various Super Smash Bros. games and Hyrule Warriors while he cameoed as an armor set in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Simply put, Nintendo acknowledged Dark Link’s legacy for nearly 20 years but without doing anything substantial with the character despite his fan-favorite status.
Dark Link in Echoes of Wisdom
Echoes of Wisdom brings Dark Link back into the limelight and in a way that doesn’t feel as gimmicky as it did in Four Swords Adventures. At the start of the game, Link becomes trapped in the Still World, an extra-dimensional realm gradually overtaking Hyrule and filling it with evil doppelgangers, as he rescues Zelda from Ganon. This leads to the Still World periodically spawning Dark Links to try to stop Zelda from closing the rifts opening across the land. Each of these encounters sees Dark Link employ a new strategy and weapon against Zelda. Upon defeating him, Zelda earns the real Link’s weapon herself to aid in her quest.
The recurring appearances of Dark Link in Echoes of Wisdom serve as a sinister reminder to the player of the stakes in needing to rescue Link from the Still World before he is lost forever and an inversion of Link’s usual dynamic with Zelda. Dark Link is the personification of the Still World itself, more so than each of the dungeons’ respective bosses, at least until the game’s primary antagonist, Null, introduces himself. The Dark Link of Four Swords Adventures felt like an annoying nuisance, Zelda’s twist on the Shadow Mario trope from Super Mario Sunshine. The Dark Link of Echoes of Wisdom feels like a genuine threat and players are set on red alert whenever he shows up.