A Link to the Past was conceived as a distant prequel to the original Zelda, but featuring several common characters, thus being the genesis of the true iteration idea. The Link featured spends much of his time after this, his first game, travelling to other lands and so I have called him the Travelling Hero.

As you can see, his design is very similar to that seen in promotional materials for Zelda 2, and certain artwork of Zelda 1. The clothes, sandy blonde hair, and bangs all echo this design, but this Link is explicitly a separate individual with a different backstory. He is the descendant of a line of Knights who have long protected Hyrule’s royal family. We find out later that this game, and the original two, take place in the Decline timeline, which results from the death of the Hero of Time in Ocarina of Time. The backstory to this game accordingly involves an all-consuming war between the peoples of Hyrule and Ganon’s forces, after the Hero failed to stop his rise to power.

In this case, the designation of Hero is carried through the bloodline, similarly to Twilight Princess’s Link but dissimilarly to Wind Waker’s. How, if Timey died without descendants in this branch? Well, they both share the blood of the Knights of Hyrule, a group of people who in some way have been granted the blessing of the gods, even if there is no direct line. Other Links have earned their Hero status and the Triforce of Courage by proving themselves, but this one is born into his destiny.

After defeating Ganon and freeing Hyrule from its dark shadow (ie the Dark World), this Link has adventures mostly in other lands. I believe in relation to Link’s Awakening it is mentioned that Link is travelling to grow stronger, so that he can better defend Hyrule. Fair enough, as he is one of the last Knights of that bloodline. His first foreign adventure after LttP though is Oracle of Seasons, in which it is stated that the Triforce itself sends link to the land of Holodrum (this is anachronic, as it was developed after Link’s Awakening).

Therefore, I believe that the Triforce is initiating the training of this hero. Then again, the Triforce cannot distinguish good and evil. Perhaps, again, it is forcing the Hero to prove himself worthy of it. Whatever the case, Link journeys for some time (same hair, same shield, same Link!).

As I said, first Seasons takes place in Holodrum, then Ages in Labrynna. Link is sent to these lands to protect the Oracles, avatars to some degree of the Golden Goddesses. A rogue Gerudo warlord and Sheikah sorceress threaten them, and it is revealed that Twinrova (Gerudo witches of Ocarina of Time) are trying to revive Ganon after his defeat in Link to the Past. Zelda also gets involved in the plot. After it all wraps up, Link leaves by boat—obviously his decision to find training this time. Impa takes Zelda back to Hyrule.

Following this, then, Link’s Awakening happens. His boat is wrecked on a tropical island, a very strange place with a surreal atmosphere. The reason for this is that he has been marooned within a dream world, the creation of a sleeping ocean deity. By waking the Wind Fish at the end of the game, the island and its inhabitants disappear. They lived on to some extent though, with some concepts and character designs being incorporated into later games—all of which take place before or parallel to this, implying that they were reflections of the real world. Marin at least is implied to be reborn in the real world, so it is not inconceivable that others are manifested in reality by the Wind Fish’s power. That’s what I think anyway.

The fate of the Travelling Hero is not represented in any other game after this, but he pops up in cameo roles in other Nintendo games. This could be a part of his training journey before or after Link’s Awakening (sure, why not right?). This includes an appearance in Donkey Kong Country 2 and a mention in DKC3 (Earth/DK Isles), an appearance in Super Mario RPG (Mushroom World), and an unused sprite in Golden Sun 2 that totally counts because I say so (Weyard). Now these appearances are ambiguous and don’t have to be Travelly but since he is explicitly travelling to other regions, I put them here—also, these games were made after LttP and mostly before OoT. F-1 Race and Tetris are Decliney because they have trademark equipment to distinguish them (and were also made at that time). These cameos have the darker hair of that earlier design, but I felt better about putting them here anyway, for the reasons stated.

One more thing worth mentioning about Travelly is that while he is travelling (after Oracle of Ages anyway), Hyrule is not sitting idle. While he is off getting stronger to defend it, ironically Hyrule comes under attack again. The Satellaview satellite broadcasting add-on for the Super Famicom gave us a new game (really a mod of LttP, but it had a new plot) called Ancient Stone Tablets. The Hero who rises up to defend it in Link’s absence is an otherwise unkown boy or girl (the mascots of the Satellaview system, and usually a player avatar). Presumably the Triforce recognises the need for a Hero role while its nominated guy is somewhere else at its own request, and thus we have a new hero brought from other lands. It is set six years after LttP, so we know Link’s combined adventures take at least that long. This Hero is known as the Hero of Light. Whether they are counted as a “Link” or not is up to you, but “Heroes” are a similar title anyway.

So that’s the “Era of Light and Dark”, according to Hyrule Hystoria. We don’t actually know what happened to Travelly after what I’ve outlined, or whether he ever got back to Hyrule. Things only got worse for the kingdom in the years following though, so perhaps he tragically never returned to the land he swore to defend. Or maybe he did, with the Triforce leading him home. I’ll leave that one to the fanfiction writers.