Rulink

Rulink

Rulink is a Het ship between Link and Ruto in The Legend of Zelda series. It mainly applies to Ocarina of Time as that is the only canon game that Ruto makes an appearance in.

Canon
Link first hears about Princess Ruto when he receives a letter in a bottle that is supposedly written by her, stating that she was swallowed by Jabu Jabu and asked for somebody to save her. When goes inside in an attempt to rescue her, Ruto states that she willingly entered the whale deity in order to find out what is wrong with him and that she never wrote a letter asking for help. Link insists on protecting her so she finally allows to carry her around the dungeon.

Link eventually helps Ruto find the Zora's Sapphire that Jabu Jabu had swallowed. She explains that this why she went inside of him and tells Link to take her home. However Ruto is kidnapped so Link is forced to continue the dungeon while searching for her. After defeating the boss, Ruto yells at him while blushing for making him wait and explains that she felt a little lonely while he was gone.

After exiting Jabu Jabu, Ruto gets into Link's face while smiling. This startles him and causes him to fall into the water. She then jumps down into the water and swims up to him while telling him that he looked cool while he was fighting. When asked what he wants as a reward, Link tells Ruto that he needs the spiritual stone and she explains that her mother said that she had to give it to the one whom she was going to marry. Ruto gives Link the Zora's Sapphire and believes that they are now engaged. However, Link does not seem to understand this.

After being sealed in the Sacred Realm for seven years, Link and Ruto are both grown up. Link travels to the Water Temple in order to break the curse that is freezing the Zoras and runs into Ruto while inside of the temple. She immediately recognizes him and complains that he kept her waiting for seven years, indicated that she still believes that they are engaged. Ruto swims up to show Link where to change the water level but is not seen again until Link defeats the boss. Ruto then awakens as the sage of the temple and wants to give Link his eternal love but admits that she cannot do that because she is a sage. She reveals that she knows he is searching for Zelda and assured that she is still alive before giving him her medallion.

Fanon
Rulink has a small amount of popularity in the Zelda fandom. It is not nearly as popular as other ships such as Zelink, Malink or Salink. While the reason is not entirely known, it is possible that this is due to Link and Ruto being of different races, as many are not sure if Ruto can even be considered to be a mammal. However, there are some who ship this pairing due to the fact that the two were once engaged, even if Link was never aware of that fact.

Trivia

 * If Link approaches Ruto while wearing the Zora's Mask, she will believe that he decided to become one of them and ask if he is finally ready to marry her.