Fairy

Fairies are members of a magical and benevolent race that appear frequently in the Legend of Zelda series. Since being introduced in the very first game, The Legend of Zelda, fairies have appeared in every game, always aiding Link in his quest in some way. They are found in all areas of Hyrule, Termina, Koholint Island, Holodrum, Labrynna and the Great Sea, and are apparently friendly with every race not allied with Ganon and his hordes.

In the games, Link can often capture the small "healing" 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.

Physical Attributes
In terms of appearance, fairies generally come in one of three varieties:


 * The oldest, and most frequently-seen, is the humanoid fairy. Among these are small healing fairies, usually depicted as an extremely small girl or young woman, with wings and, sometimes, a wand. The other humanoid types are the Great Fairies and Fairy Queens, which are at least the size of a normal human, and range from VERY human-like in appearance, as seen in Twilight Princess, to much more stylized, as seen in The Wind Waker.


 * The second-most-common type is a small glowing ball of light, usually with four fluttering wings. This type was introduced in Ocarina of Time. The colors of these glowing orbs have, so far, been white, yellow, blue, pink, red, dark purple, or green, depending on the fairy. Some orb-fairies appear to be able to change colors temporarily, usually to aid in giving Link an important hint. Among the orbs, at least, there are male fairies, as shown by Tael, Tatl's brother in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Leaf in Phantom Hourglass. It is hinted that orb fairies are humanoid, but emit a glow which makes them appear as a small winged ball of light.  Early in Majora's Mask, Tatl asks "Why are you staring at me?  Is there something stuck on my face?"

They also appear in the woods of Labrynna, where they make Link play hide-and-seek with them. They have much more personality in this appearance, being michevious and seeming to wield some sort of power, as they disrupt the natural geography of the wood for their own amusement until Link plays with them. Instead of wings, they have "rabbit ears" that stick out sideways from the top of their heads that flap up and down, and have chibi-fied humanoid bodies.
 * Stray Fairies are the small, bunny-like fragments of a shattered Great Fairy in Majora's Mask.

Fairy Social Structure
It is unknown whether the Fairies have established any government or kingdom of their own, but the Great Fairies and Fairy Queens seem to be superior to other Fairies, and different in appearance.

Kokiri Fairy Guardians
In Ocarina of Time, the Kokiri have Guardian fairies they call "Fairy Friends", which are depicted as glowing, colored orbs with four translucent, fluttering wings. These fairies are assigned to each Kokiri child, to guide and advise them. Except for Navi, these fairies apparently spend their lives inside the Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods, where their charges live. Like the Great Fairies, they seem capable of some form of verbal communication. Among these fairies are: Navi, Tatl, Tael, Ciela, Leaf, and Neri. These types of fairies CANNOT be caught in a Bottle.

The healing fairies of OoT are slightly different from the Guardian-type fairies: these fairies are also floating, glowing orbs, but wingless. They fly in a spiral path around Link, when touched, disintegrating into sparkly fairy dust as they restore health. Notable among these healing fairies are the Red Fairies, which are slightly larger, and appear only in certain areas, when Link uses the Song of Storms to call down the rain. Navi will point these spots out by flying toward a seemingly unimportant area and not providing any further information (the same way she points out Wandering Scarecrow locations). Link first learns of these fairies by using the Mask of Truth to speak with certain Gossip Stones.

Also, found within the Kokiri Forest and Lost Woods in OoT are small, glowing orb trails that zip around, apparently aimlessly. These may or may not be related to the fairy community. They seem more like Forest Fireflies

Great Fairies
Great Fairies are highly powerful fairies that can power-up Link's items, health, and magic. They appear in many games, and their appearance varies slightly from game to game.

Appearances

 * In Ocarina of Time, it is revealed that certain fairies are the companions and protectors of the Kokiri, with each Kokiri having his or her own fairy guardian. Link, who is ridiculed for being "The Boy without a fairy", is finally assigned Navi, who helps keep him on track by reminding him where to go. She also helps him target objects, people, and enemies, and can provide tactical information about enemies during a fight. In one interview with series creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, he reveals that Navi has "romantic feelings" for Link. The in-game dialog, however, gives no tangible indication of this.


 * 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 is teamed up with a fairy named Ciela, who was rescued by Oshus. Two others -- a blue fairy, Neri, and a red fairy, Leaf -- later join him, though Ciela continues to play the largest role. The three fairies are "equipable", to give him different skills, such as enhanced defense, or blasting fire from his sword's tip. Together, the three fairies represent the Spirit of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Neri is the Spirit of Wisdom, Leaf is the Spirit of Power, and Ciela, herself, is the Spirit of Courage.


 * Additionally, Link is often depicted with a female fairy companion in the various Nintendo-licensed comics and animations. In the animated series, Spryte, a humanoid fairy with a pink dress and short, blond hair, lives at the castle and helps both Link and Princess Zelda, usually leading to comical situations. A different fairy, Miff, appears the comic books published by Valiant, which loosely relate to the cartoon. In the show, Spryte is revealed to be a fairy Princess, and daughter of the Fairy King, Oberon. The huge, one-sided crush Spryte has on Link, and her resultant disdain for Princess Zelda, adds fodder to the show's situational comedy. Miff, on the other hand, seems to mainly exist for the purpose of smacking the common sense back into Link, when he's not thinking clearly, one memorable quote being, "Use your head for something other than keeping your ears apart!". While Spryte never makes an appearance in the Valiant comics, both hers and King Oberon's Fairy Springs ARE marked on a detailed map of Hyrule that was featured in one issue.


 * In the Link to the Past comics, Link's fairy companion is Epheremelda, and joins Link on his quest after he enters the Dark World, where he saves her from a group of monsters. Like Spryte and Miff, she is humanoid in appearance, although Epheremelda sports a pair of curly antenna, like the artist renditions of fairies from ALttP. 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.

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