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Groolink is the slash ship between Link and Groose from The Legend of Zelda fandom.
Canon[]
Throughout their school years, Link and Groose did not get along, though it was mostly from Groose's end. Link is close friends with a girl named Zelda, whom Groose is also smitten with which is often the cause of conflict between them. At the beginning, Groose, alongside Cawlin and Strich hop on their Loftwings and chase after Link's Crimson Loftwing and managed to trap it in a small cavern to prevent Link from taking part in the Wing Ceremony. Link and Zelda did not suspect at first, though Link could not sense his Loftwing anywhere which the dismissive Zelda does not listen and pushes him off, but when Link whistles, his Loftwing does not appear prompting Zelda to call her Loftwing to save him and is apologetic, leading her father to delay the ceremony until Link finds it. Link confronts Groose with his buddies, who admit out loud about being responsible for the Crimson Loftwing's disappearance before being startled by Link's presence. He proceeds to pick on Link about his missing Loftwing and makes his jealousy of the friendship between him and Zelda known, only for Zelda herself to arrive and reprimand for his bullying behavior as Groose and his friends depart on their Loftwings. After Link finds it, Groose meets with him again just to snap at him for getting the treatment of the delay until he gets back his Loftwing while hoping to have a special moment with Zelda, with the latter overhearing him. Groose sarcastically states that he is happy that he has his Loftwing back and it will be fair competition, but Zelda clearly doesn't believe him. During the Wing Ceremony, when Link tries to reach for the Bird Statuette, Groose and his cronies will throw eggs at him, but despite his efforts, Link ends up getting it and able to move from freshman to senior knight, which disappoints Groose. However, everything goes wrong when Zelda is pulled down to the surface by a black tornado and Link ends up having a fated meeting with the sword spirit, Fi, Groose spends most of his time in his homeroom depressed by the events and blames Link for what happened and Cawlin notes that Groose has been lashing out at everyone who tried to talk to him, including him and Strich.
After Link helps Zelda and the young Impa escape from Ghirahim, he dives for the Faron Providence, but as he did, Groose suddenly falls for him and grabs on to him during the free fall as Link uses the Sail Cloth to soften their landing a bit on the Sealed Grounds. Upon coming around, Groose is blown away by how different the Surface was compared to what he was used to, from being both excited and terrified by the unfamiliar environment and questions him about the surface and Zelda's whereabouts, though Link could only pat him on the arm to reassure him that she still lives, and Groose comes up with a name for the area and calls it Grooseland. Groose heads to the Sealed Temple where he meets with the old sage, who asks about Zelda, but to his displeasure, he is told that only the Chosen One, Link can complete such a task, and he takes his frustrations out on Link before leaving. However, an earthquake occurs, and the sage tells him that this type is not natural, and he must check on the seal. Meanwhile Groose is absolutely horrified by this and Link acts fast by trapping the escaped Imprisoned before it reached the Sealed Temple. Groose realized that the old sage is correct that he isn't fit for the chosen hero role, though she tells him that he can still play a role somehow, though Groose leaves to sulk about his apparent uselessness.
If Link has not yet collected all three Sacred Flames to power the Goddess Sword, Groose will have snapped out of his state of self-pity as the Imprisoned will eventually break out again and can be seen constructing a railroad and a catapult and when spoken to, he states that he is busy and will refuse to tell him what he is building. After Link gets all three Sacred Flames which turns the Goddess Sword into the Master Sword, Groose will tell Link that he completed the weapon which he calls the Groosenator which can be used to hurl projectiles at the Imprisoned when it breaks free. As Link tries to open the Gate of Time, the Imprisoned escapes and Link and Groose get into position. The Imprisoned evolves arms and will try to climb up, but Groose will firebomb at it when it does and allows Link to attack it and reinstate the seal. From there, Link will open the Gate of Time, but Groose will ask Link to tell Zelda hello. After Link returns, Groose will stay with the old sage, but after Link saves Levias from Bilocyte's control, Link returns to the Sealed Grounds where Groose alerts Link about the Imprisoned's latest escaping shenanigans and fights it again as usual and it uses the halo to fly upwards prompting Groose to fire another bomb to bring it down. After getting cut off from ammo, Groose uses Link as a projectile to attack the sealing spike to reinstate it once again. Groose will inspect a soil spot which hints at the Lightning Dragon sidequest where Link must go back in time to plant the Life Tree Seed for it to be fully grown in his own time so he can help heal Lanayru of his illness.
After Link assembles the Triforce at Sky Keep, he wishes for Demise's destruction, which detaches the Goddess Statue from Skyloft and lands in the Sealed Grounds as the Imprisoned attempted to escape and ends up crushed. With Demise's death in their time, Zelda awakens from her crystalized sleep, and all seemed to be well until Ghirahim ambushes them and kidnaps Zelda and Groose tries to protect the sage, only to be pushed aside as Ghirahim intends to sacrifice Zelda to Demise in the past. After Zelda has her spirit taken from her and the revived Demise casting her aside, Groose managed to catch her before she made a hard impact. He informs Link that there is still hope in saving Zelda before Demise could completely consume her spirit. After Link destroys Demise, Link, Groose, and the revived Zelda say good-bye to the young Impa, who stays behind to watch over the Master Sword to ensure Demise does not escape before returning to their era. It was revealed that the old sage was Impa the entire time as she smiles at them, but she fades away much to their sadness. Later, Zelda's father along with Cawlin and Strich visit the surface and while Groose chooses to return to Skyloft with them, Link stays behind with Zelda on the Surface.
Fanon[]
Groolink has a sizable fanbase amongst the Zelda community and has some degree of notability. Fans adored how their relationship developed from being bitter rivals to being valuable teammates and eventually best friends, it was unsurprising for the fans to ship Link with Groose. Its popularity is not on the same level as Revalink, another slash ship that includes two known rivals from a game that released at a later time after Skyward Sword did. Fans also appreciate how Groose managed to make the last two Imprisoned battles more bearable if not easier and have no problems admitting how helpful Groose was to Link and how he was able to become mature enough to be the man he wanted to be.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Groose/Link tag on AO3
- Groose & Link tag on AO3
