Fairy

The Fairies are a magical and kind race that appear frequently in the Legend of Zelda series. Introduced in the very first game, The Legend of Zelda, they appear in every game, always aiding Link in his quest in some way. There are three different kinds of Fairies: the common Fairies, the Stray Fairies and the Great Fairies.

Characteristics
Fairies seem to exhibit two different appearances. The first is as an extremely small girl with wings, and sometimes a wand. The other is a small glowing ball of light with four wings. These glowing orbs have, so far, appeared as yellow, blue, pink, red, dark purple, and green, depending on the fairy, and they appear to be able to change colors temporarily, possibly as an emotional reaction. They are apparently friendly with every other race. Among the Kokiri race in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, they are regarded as "Fairy Friends", and serve as companions and guides to the child-like Kokiri. Among the orbs, at least, there male Fairies, as shown by Tael, Tatl's brother in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

In the games, Link can often capture Fairies in Bottles. When taken out of the Bottle, they greatly heal him and fly away. If Link loses all his health when carrying a fairy in a Bottle, he is automatically healed instead of dying.



Fairy society
It is unknown if the Fairies have established a government or kingdom of their own, as the Great Fairies seem to be superior to other Fairies and different in appearance. In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, there is a Fairy Queen in Mother & Child Isle who looks like a normal sized, color-changing girl holding a doll resembling the other Great Fairies from The Wind Waker. It seems that Fairies live in all parts of Hyrule and Termina and the surrounding lands.

Appearances

 * In Ocarina of Time, it is revealed that fairies are the companions and protectors of the Kokiri, with each Kokiri having his or her own fairy guardian. Link is assisted by Navi, who helps keep him on track by reminding him where to go. She also helps him target objects and enemies, and can provide tactical information about enemies.


 * In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Navi is replaced by Tatl, a new fairy who serves the same purpose as his previous fairy, and joins him after being separated from her brother, Tael, and their friend, Skull Kid, who is acting strangely.


 * In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Link has a fairy companion named Ciela. Two others later join him, though she takes the largest role. The three fairies are "equipable", to give him different skills, such as greater defense, or blasting fire from his sword's tip.


 * Additionally, Link has been depicted with a female fairy companion, Spryte, in the animated series, and a different fairy, Miff, in the comic books published by Valiant. In the show, Spryte is revealed to be a fairy Princess. The running joke regarding the two is the huge, one-sided crush Spryte has on Link, and her resultant disdain for Princess Zelda. While she never makes an appearance in the Valiant comics, the Fairy Spring she rules IS indicated on a detailed map of Hyrule that was shown in one issue.


 * In the Link to the Past comics, Link's fairy companion was Emheralda. Like Spryte and Miff, she is humanoid in appearance. Also, like Spryte, she seems to have a one-sided romantic interest in Link.

Tingle
Tingle has a fairy companion (of sorts) of his own; her name is Pinkle. He meets her in Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, and she contacts him via the computer console in his house, teaching him about the game and helping him to Save.

Great Fairies
Great Fairies are highly powerful fairies that can power Link's items up. They appear in many games, and their appearance is often changed.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Great Fairies first appear in A Link to the Past. There are three Great Fairy locations: behind the waterfall near Zora's Domain, on an island in the middle of Lake Hylia, and behind a wall outside the Dark Pyramid. They grant upgrades of items thrown into the water, or after throwing in Rupees, and are depicted as floating young women with fairy wings and green clothing.

The waterfall fairy grants a shield upgrade to block fireballs, a Magic Boomerang that travels further than the first Boomerang, and Green Potion refills for any empty Bottles thrown in.

The island fairy lets Link carry more Arrows and Bombs, after throwing in rupees. During the game's ending sequence, the island fairy's name is revealed to be Venus, Queen of the Fairies. Unlike the others, this fairy wears a green dress gown.

Finally, the Great Fairy trapped inside Ganon's Dark Pyramid gives Link the Golden Sword for throwing in the Tempered Sword, the Silver Arrows for the regular Arrows (which is needed, in order to kill Ganon), and Green Potion refills for empty bottles thrown in. This Great Fairy is notably obese, and explains that it is a side-effect of Ganon's magic.

There are also smaller healing fairies hidden in caves that restore seven hearts when Link meets them.



The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
There are also seemingly minor Great Fairies appearing in Link's Awakening that when visited restore one's health. In the DX version of Link's Awakening, the Queen fairy also resides at the end of the hidden Color dungeon, and gives Link either the magical Red or Blue Tunic.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, Great Fairies are found at six locations: just outside Hyrule Castle, two within Death Mountain (one at the Summit, near Biggoron, and one inside the Crater, near the Fire Temple), at the Desert Colossus, just outside Jabu-Jabu's shrine, and just outside Ganon's Castle (by the ruins of what was once Hyrule Castle). These provide Link with, respectively, Din's Fire, Magic Power, a Magic Power upgrade that doubles the length of your Magic Bar, Nayru's Love, Farore's Wind, and increased defense (indicated by a heavier outline around the heart icons in your Health Bar).

The titles of these Great Fairies are: Great Fairy of Magic, Great Fairy of Power, Great Fairy of Wisdom, and Great Fairy of Courage. Unlike the Great Fairies of ALttP, these ethereal women are much wilder in appearance. They are barely garbed, covered only in leaves and vines, have long, colorful hair tied back into flowing sections, and thickly-applied vibrant color eyeshadow. Their high-pitched, cackling laughter -- which they release each time Link first encounters one -- coupled with their appearance, can be considered QUITE disturbing.



The Kokiri also have Guardian fairies, which are depicted as glowing, colored orbs with translucent, fluttering wings. These fairies are assigned to each Kokiri child, to guide and advise them. Except for Navi, they apparently spend their lives inside the Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods. Like the Great Fairies, they seem capable of verbal communication.

Also within the Kokiri Forest and Lost Woods are small, glowing orb trails, which may or may not be related to the fairy hierarchy.

There are, of course, smaller healing fairies scattered across the land, as well as hidden in jars inside dungeons. Unlike the Kokiri Fairies, these healing fairies are depicted as wingless glowing, floating orbs, which fly in a spiral path around Link when touched, disintegrating into sparkly fairy dust, to restore hearts. They can be caught and stored in a Bottle, to automatically revive Link when he is defeated. Notable among these healing fairies are the Red Fairies, which appear only at certain spots, when Link uses the Song of Storms to call down rain. Navi will point these spots out by flying toward a seemingly unimportant item, but not providing any further information (the same way she points out Scarecrow locations). Link first learns of these fairies by using the Mask of Truth to speak with certain Gossip Stones.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
In Majora's Mask, there are five Great Fairies, who have been shattered into smaller "Stray Fairies" by the Skull Kid. One is in Clock Town, where, at the start of the game, Link has to return one scattered fairy (called a Stray Fairy) to the fountain in Clock Town. There he receives the magic power. If Link returns the Stray Fairy after being transformed back into a human, he will be granted the Great Fairy Mask. There is also one Great Fairy in each of the four major areas, Woodfall, Snowhead, Great Bay, and Stone Tower. After collecting fifteen Stray Fairies from each of the temples there, a new power or item is bestowed to Link. They are respectively, upgraded sword magic, double magic power, a white lining around Link's hearts that reduces damage by half, and the Great Fairy's Sword.

These fairies are called the Great Fairies of Magic, Power, Wisdom, Courage, and Kindness.



The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
In Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, Great Fairies appear at select locations if one is wounded to restore one's health. As in Link's Awakening, these Great Fairies do not provide upgrades of any sort. The great fairy that resides on an island west of the Labrynna library is called "The Fairy Queen, protector of the sea." The Fairy Queen was turned into a Octorok by Veran in the past, and Link needs to find Fairy Powder to cure her, in order for her to clean the poisoned sea.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Although no official Great Fairies appear in Four Swords, when Zelda is kidnapped, Link is awakened by three Fairies. These three Fairies' colours correspond to the colours of the Great Fairies from The Minish Cap, a prequel to Four Swords.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
In the The Wind Waker, there are six fairy islands on the Great Sea. They are Northern Fairy Island, Southern Fairy Island, Eastern Fairy Island, Western Fairy Island, Thorned Fairy Island, Outset Island, Mother and Child Isles, and Two Eye Reef. The upgrades from each island are, respectively; rupee wallet upgrade, bomb upgrade, bomb upgrade, arrow upgrade, arrow upgrade, rupee wallet upgrade, fire & ice arrows, and double magic power. In this game, Great Fairies are large, floating four-armed women with dark skin, no pupils, and no legs, but rather skirts that spiral away into nothing. The Queen of Fairies who appears in the game seems to rule even the Great Fairies.

The figurines of the Great Fairies and Fairy Queen can only be acquired by purchasing their pictographs from Lenzo on Windfall Island, as they only appear in cutscenes and their pictures can not be taken otherwise.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
In Four Swords Adventures, the Great Fairies encounters upgrade one's current weaponry to level two items. They look like the Great Fairies from The Wind Waker. In Hyrule castle, the Links also meet a river Zora who begs them to find "his/her other part" (another river Zora). It turns out that the two river Zoras are actually a cursed Great Fairy that looks a lot like the Queen of Fairies from The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
There are a total of three Great Fairies in The Minish Cap, known as the Great Butterfly Fairy, Great Mayfly Fairy, and the Great Dragonfly Fairy.


 * The Great Butterfly Fairy resides in the Eastern Hills, where she can be found in a cavern near the ranch east of the Minish Woods. She can only be found if Link has the correct Kinstone fusion. She will gift him with the Big Wallet, which allows him to carry 500 Rupees (unless he has already found a different Big Wallet by this point in the game).


 * The Great Mayfly Fairy lives in a cave on a ledge, on the eastern side of the Crenel Wall at Mount Crenel. She will present Link with the Big Bomb Bag, an upgrade that permits him to carry 40 bombs.


 * The Great Dragonfly Fairy dwells in a cave in the Royal Valley. Her gift to Link is the Large Quiver, which allows him to carry more arrows.

The three Great Fairies all look extremely similar. Each one is also seen in the course of the game in the form of one of the figurines which can be purchased from Carlov, in exchange for Mysterious Shells.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess the Great Fairy appears inside the multi-level enemy gauntlet known as the Cave of Ordeals. In this incarnation, the Great Fairy resembles a young woman with long, green hair and pointed ears. She wears no clothing saved for a small cloth that is tied around her waist as a skirt, her breasts are covered by the lengths of her hair. She grants the player access to a mystical substance known as Great Fairy's Tears, if they survive the cave and reach her at the end. It should also be noted this is the first instance in a three-dimensional Zelda game in which the Great Fairy doesn't upgrade any of Link's items or attributes. Additionally, she releases normal fairies to each of the Spirit Springs across Hyrule. The Great Fairy's most common form is a sparkling cloud of green mist and smoke, and she appears in this form at the Spirit Springs, as well as in the Cave of Ordeals when Link is not talking to her.

Another possible Great Fairy also aids Link, albeit much less explicit, because Link never sees her. She inhabits the Gale Boomerang and is called "Fairy of Winds". She mentions her presence when Link acquires the boomerang and claims to be the source of its power. She never speaks again nor is referred to.

Hadas