Zelink

Zelink

Zelink is a Het ship between Link and Zelda in the The Legend of Zelda series. It can apply to any game since Zelda appears in most of the Zelda games. This ship can be applied to all games or a single game due to there being multiple incarnations of Link and Zelda. Zelink can also refer to the ship between Link and Sheik or Tetra as both are alternate identities of Princess Zelda.

Spirit Tracks
Link first meets Zelda at his ceremony to receive his train engineer certificate. He immediately looks up at Zelda and blushes when he sees her. Chancellor Cole yells at him for this but Zelda silences him and presents the certificate. Before Link leaves, she gives him a letter asking him to meet her. They later meet in secret and Zelda asks him to sneak her out and give her a ride to the Spirit Tower as she is worried about the Spirit Tracks disappearing.

Link manages to sneak Princess Zelda out of the castle and takes her aboard his train. However, the tracks disappear so he is forced to make an emergency stop. Afterwards, they are attacked by Chancellor Cole who reveals himself as a demon along with Byrne. Link and Alfonzo attempt to protect her but her spirit is removed from her body. Link later awakens back at the castle and is found to be the only one besides the Lokomos who can see Zelda's spirit.

Princess Zelda accompanies Link on his journey to return the Spirit Tracks and get her body back. Whenever he wandering through the Tower of Spirits, she is able to possess a phantom and work along with Link. At one point, the two fight Byrne together and manage to defeat him, noting that they make a good team. Malladus eventually possesses her body and the two later have to chase them into the Dark Realm.

Link and Zelda fight Chancellor Cole and the latter's possessed body and manage to defeat them. Zelda re-enters her body in the sky and falls due to no longer being able to float. Link catches her and she hugs him, causing him to blush. She helps Link fight Malladus and they perform a duet to call upon the power of the Lokomos. After the final battle, the two walk off while holding hands.

Skyward Sword
Link and Zelda are childhood friends and both attended the Knight Academy together. Groose seemed to notice their closeness and bullied Link because he had a crush on Zelda. She was to play the role of the Goddess Hylia for the Loftwing Ceremony. Link ended up winning so they got to perform the ceremony together on the statue. Afterwards, the two flew on their Loftwings together until Ghirahim creates a tornado that throws her off of her Loftwing.

Link later manages to travel to the surface and find that Zelda has been by but his always ahead of him. He later catches up to her and learns that she is the incarnation of the goddess Hylia. They go one thousand years into the past where Zelda goes to sleep to insure the seal on Demise. Link was initially upset but gets to see her wake up in the present. He cradles her when she stumbles out of the crystal.

Ghirahim shows up and manages to capture Zelda again. Link is angry and immediately draws his sword in preparation to fight despite the fact that he is apparently injured. He later manages to defeat him and Demise. Afterwards, Link and Zelda stand on the Statue of the Goddess in the sealed grounds. Zelda tells Link that she dreamed of seeing the surface and wants to stay there. She asks him what he wants to do and he simply smiles at her, implying that they stayed together at the surface.

Fanon
Zelink is a very popular ship and is probably the most popular ship in the entire Zelda fandom. The reason for this is the fact that Link and Zelda are the two main characters and appear in all Zelda games (except for Link's Awakening in Zelda's case). Most games imply at least some romance but Spirit Tracks is the first game that really implied this as Link is shown blushing at her multiple times. Skyward Sword goes even further into their possible romance as Zelda almost teases Link about kissing him and it is implied that they might have ended up together.

Trivia

 * Nintendo had a "romance trailer" for Skyward Sword that hinted at a possible romance between the two.