Six Sages

Six Sages is the friendship between Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Rauru, Impa and Nabooru from the The Legend of Zelda fandom.

Canon
The Six Sages are recurring characters in the series, first appearing in Ocarina of Time.

Ocarina of Time
The Six Sages are important characters on Link's journey, most of them being seemingly innocuous people Link had already met and gotten to know as a child.

His childhood friend Saria the Kokiri turns out to be the Sage of Forest and ended up being imprisoned in the Forest Temple during Link's seven-year absence. The Goron Chieftain Darunia whom Link earned a blood brotherhood with by defeating Dodongo, stopping the famine that has plagued the Gorons, turned out to be the Sage of Fire. Zora princess Ruto whom Link saved inside the belly of Zora patron god Jabu-Jabu, turned out to be the Sage of Water. Zelda's bodyguard Impa of the Shiekah, who gave Link advice on how to enter Kakariko turned out to be the Sage of Shadow.

When Link is trapped in a stasis for seven years after first drawing the Master Sword, Rauru, Sage of Light is there to greet him in the Chamber of Sages. He fills Link in about what Ganondorf had done in the seven years without Link or Zelda, then tells him to find the other five Sages and unleash their power to unseal the Triforce of Courage, the only thing that could stop Ganondorf.

The last Sage, Nabooru, Sage of Spirit, Link only meets after having travelled through time, though he does meet her as a child again.

In the end, Link succeeds in defeating Ganondorf, freeing the souls of the five Sages, except for Rauru. They then watch Link and his friends celebrate his victory from afar.

The Wind Waker
The Six Sages do not appear physically in this game, since it takes place a century after Ocarina of Time. However, they are treated as historical characters, important enough to have stained glass windows in the Great Hall of Hyrule Castle.

Additionally, two of the Sages from Ocarina of Time, Ruto and Saria, had descendants named Laruto and Fado. This allows the new timeline to have at least two Sages of their own.

Twilight Princess
The Child Timeline has Six Sages of their own, but they are all faceless spirits with the appearances of old men. Under command of their leader, Princess Zelda, they were sent to execute Ganondorf, but Ganondorf escapes, killing one of them in the process. When Link and Midna make progress in their journey and retrieve the first shard of the Mirror of Twilight, they appear again to aid them on their quest.

Tears of the Kingdom
The Six Sages are alluded to in this game, also having a Goron, a Zora and a Gerudo among their ranks. Their presumed leader is also named Rauru, Kokiri do not seem to exist in this era, there is no Shiekah Sage to speak of and Zelda is an official member this time around.

The Sage of Shadow is absent this time and so are the Sages of Light and Forest, the Sages of Time, Wind and Lightning take their place. Curiously, there is a Sage of Spirit, but they're not a Gerudo, who is instead the Sage of Lighting.

Fanon
The Six Sages were popular characters in the early days of the Zelda fandom and are often credited for setting a template for 3-7 characters for Link to interact with before they become important on his journey. A common theory surrounding the events of Ocarina of Time is that the original Six Sages die when they lend Link their power, with their appearance in the credits being them watching over their friends in spirit.

Oftentimes, Zelda is treated as the unofficial seventh Sage, with her element being Time. Tears of the Kingdom later used this idea for its own version of Princess Zelda.

Since all the Sages are named after towns from Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link (though the towns are named after them in-universe), some have spotted a town named "Kasuto", believing that it could also be the name of an unseen seventh Sage.

Some people interpret the very different depiction of the Sages in Twilight Princess as the essence of the Ocarina of Time Sages fading, leaving only their power.

Since the Tears Sages are never referred to by name, seasoned players have decided to name the Fire Sage "Darunia", the Water Sage "Ruto" and the Lightning Sage "Nabooru", often headcanoning them as separate incarnations of these characters. The Wind Sage is often named "Medli" to fit the theme of the fourth Divine Beast being named after the character from The Wind Waker, said Sage is often interpreted as female, it helps that their gender is never confirmed.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION