- For other items similar to Clothes, see Clothes (Disambiguation).
Link wearing the Green Clothes, his signature clothing of the franchise
Clothes are worn by Link throughout The Legend of Zelda series.[1] For the majority of each game, Link wears the iconic Green Tunic, although he can sometimes obtain new types of clothes that grant new abilities, such as breathing underwater or decreasing the damage received from enemies. Each type of clothing has a similar style despite varying in color and name: a long shirt that reaches above the knee, having short or no sleeves. Certain types of clothes are essential to complete most installments. Like the Sword and Shield, clothes complete Link's heroic image when worn.
Types of Clothes[]
Green Clothes[]
The Green Clothes, also known as Green Tunic, is the default type of clothing worn by Link throughout the vast majority of each of his adventures, and because of this, it has become a symbol of the hero who saved Hyrule from evil, much like the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.[2][3] Unlike the other types of clothes, however, as it is Link's traditional outfit, it does not grant the young hero any special abilities, making it hazardous to continue wearing this particular clothing late in his adventure in certain games. In a few installments, such as Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, Link wears a chain mail underneath it to further protect himself from harm.
Defense-Enhancement Clothes[]
Link wearing the Red Mail in Link's Awakening for Nintendo Switch
First introduced in The Legend of Zelda as the Blue Ring and Red Ring, the Blue Mail and Red Mail increase Link's defense, cutting the damage he receives from enemies and few hazards by one-half and one-quarter, respectively.[4][5] In these cases, Link's tunic and hat becomes blue or red, respectively, though in The Legend of Zelda, the Blue Ring instead makes it appear almost white. These clothing prove useful against stronger enemies and bosses.
Special Ability Clothes[]
Link wearing the Zora Tunic in Ocarina of Time
Certain types of clothes provide Link with special abilities. In Link's Awakening DX, the Red Clothes double the attack damage of Link's sword. The Zora Tunic and Zora Armor grants the hero the ability to breathe underwater,[6] while the Goron Tunic permits him to resist extremely high temperatures.[7] In Twilight Princess, the Magic Armor allows Link to lose Rupees instead of Hearts when he is hit by an enemy.[8] Like the defense equivalents, Link's outfit often turns blue or red.
In Tri Force Heroes, the Links can wear various Outfits which grant them different powers and abilities depending on the Outfit worn, such as throwing large Bombs or finding Hearts more frequently. Outfits are crafted at Madame Couture's using a recipe of Materials found in Levels and a certain amount of Rupees.
In Breath of the Wild, Link has a number of different types of clothing known as Armor which all have special abilities, such as a Warm Doublet that protects Link from taking damage from the cold.
Others[]
Link wearing the New Hero's Clothes in The Wind Waker
In some games, Link does not start out with his traditional Green Clothes. Games such as Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, and Breath of the Wild feature the young hero wearing clothes that are typical to his homeplace, such as the Ordonian Outfit, Engineer's Clothes, and Champion's Tunic, respectively. Like the Green Clothes, these do not give Link any new abilities or an enhanced defense.
Other Appearances[]
Super Smash Bros. series[]
In the Super Smash Bros. series, playable characters can wear differently colored outfits or skins, called alternate costumes, or color changes. These are usually recolors of a character's appearance, intended to distinguish between players using the same character. Like all other characters, Link, Young Link, and Toon Link can wear different alternate costumes in their respective appearances.
In Super Smash Bros., Link can wear the Kokiri, Goron, and Zora tunics, as well as a lavender tunic.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, both Link and Young Link can wear the Kokiri, Goron, and Zora tunics, as well as a white and a black tunic.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Link can wear the Kokiri, Goron, and Zora tunics, as well as a white and a golden tunic. He can also wear black clothing resembling the Dark Interlopers from Twilight Princess. Toon Link can wear green, red, blue, and violet tunics resembling the Links. He can also wear a tunic resembling the Dark Interlopers, and one resembling Link from The Legend of Zelda, even changing his hair to a brownish color.
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Link can wear the Kokiri, Goron, Zora, violet, golden, and Dark Interloper tunics, as well as a tunic resembling his Skyloft clothes from Skyward Sword, and a tunic resembling the Fierce Deity Link. Toon Link can wear green, red, blue, violet, and lavender tunics, as well as the previous tunics resembling Link from The Legend of Zelda and the Dark Interlopers. He can also wear a tunic that resembles pre-release artwork of Link from The Wind Waker, with brown sleeves instead of green.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, half of Link's outfits are based on the Champion's Tunic and the other are based on the Tunic of the Wild.
SoulCalibur II[]
In SoulCalibur II, Link's choice of tunics is similar to that of the Super Smash Bros. series; however, he only starts off with the Green and Red Tunic. To obtain the Blue Tunic, the player must buy it in the Castor Shop for 21,000 Gold, found in the Extra Chapter 1 of the Weapon Master mode. Only after buying the Blue Tunic can the player buy the Blue Ring Tunic from the original The Legend of Zelda, which is sold for the same price as the Blue Tunic.
Hyrule Warriors[]
In Hyrule Warriors, playable Warriors can wear different skins called Costumes. These are usually recolors of their existing outfit, although some Costumes feature entirely new outfits. Costumes can be unlocked through Adventure Mode. Some Costumes are only available by purchasing DLC packs.
Trivia[]
- In The Legend of Zelda, due to the hardware limitations of the NES, certain characters, items, and even enemies share the same color palette as Link's Green Clothes. These include the hilt of the Sword, the bowstring of the Bow, Princess Zelda's dress, the Merchant, the whiskers of a Pols Voice, and even his own eyes. When he wears the Blue and Red Ring, they will also change correspondingly.
- Likewise, in Ocarina of Time, the Gerudo Warrior's outfit also shares the same palette as Link's, and in the original NTSC release, due to a bug, if he pulls out a Bomb and Bombchu, she will flash until they explode, as long as she herself is on-screen. This is fixed in later versions.
- In the Super Smash Bros. series and SoulCalibur II, although Link can wear certain clothes that would indeed grant special abilities in the mainline The Legend of Zelda games, they serve no such purpose, as they are used only as alternate costumes. In the former, he is able to wear tunics in colors never seen in the core series such as pink, black, or white.
Dark Link as he appears in Ocarina of Time 3D
- Link's Shadow, Dark Link, or Shadow Link, Link's evil doppelgängers, are known to wear dark gray or shadowy black clothes, though in The Adventure of Link, the former is completely black.
- The Like Like enemy, exclusively in Ocarina of Time, has the unique ability to steal Link's clothes, specifically the Goron and Zora Tunic, before potentially digesting them in addition to his Shields (except Mirror Shield).
- The character Gramps in A Link Between Worlds notably wears the same clothes as Link himself. Although appearing to be equipped with the Green Clothes, he is actually wearing the Red Mail, but it's not visible in gameplay. This has led some fans to believe he is an older incarnation of the main protagonist, but this is not confirmed by Nintendo.
Nomenclature[]
 Names in Other Regions 
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Name | Meaning | |
  |
EnglishUK | Tunic | |
 |
Japanese | 服 (Fuku) | Clothes |
 |
FrenchCA | Tunique | Tunic |
 |
FrenchEU | Tunique | Tunic |
 |
German | Rüstung | Armor |
 |
SpanishEU | Túnica/Sayo (OoT3D) | Tunic/Smoc |
 |
SpanishLA | Sayo (OoT3D), (TFH) | Smock |
Gallery[]
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Link wearing the Green Clothes in The Legend of Zelda -
Link wearing the Blue Ring in The Legend of Zelda -
Link wearing the Red Ring in The Legend of Zelda -
Link wearing the Blue Mail in A Link to the Past
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Link wearing the Red Mail in A Link to the Past
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Artwork of Link in his Green Tunic from Ocarina of Time
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Link wearing the Goron Tunic in Ocarina of Time
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The Green Clothes in Link's Awakening DX
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Link wearing the Green Clothes in Link's Awakening DX
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The Blue Clothes in Link's Awakening DX
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Link wearing the Blue Clothes in Link's Awakening DX
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The Red Clothes in Link's Awakening DX
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Link wearing the Red Clothes in Link's Awakening DX
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Link wearing the Green Clothes in Majora's Mask
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Link wearing the Green Clothes in The Wind Waker
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Link wearing the Engineer's Clothes in Spirit Tracks
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Artwork of Link wearing the Green Clothes from A Link Between Worlds
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Gramps from A Link Between Worlds, wearing the Green Clothes
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A Zora Armor from Breath of the Wild
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Link wearing the Champion's Tunic in Breath of the Wild
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Series artwork of the Green Clothes
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Link's different tunics in Super Smash Bros. Melee
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Link wearing the Green Tunic in SoulCalibur II
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Link wearing the Goron Tunic in SoulCalibur II
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Link wearing the Zora Tunic in SoulCalibur II
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Link wearing the Blue Ring Tunic in SoulCalibur II
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Link nearly clothless in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
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Link wearing Knight of Hyrule armor in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
See Also[]
References
- ↑ Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, pg. 86 (LADX)
- ↑ "Look at your awakened form... The green tunic that is your garb once belonged to the ancient hero chosen by the gods... His power is yours. His is the true power that slept within you. Your name is [Link]. You are the hero chosen by the gods." — Faron (Twilight Princess)
- ↑ "On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend..." — N/A (The Wind Waker)
- ↑ "You got the blue mail! This mail cuts damage by half! Sturdy mail that provides great defense." — N/A (A Link Between Worlds)
- ↑ "You got the red mail! Damage from enemies has been halved again!" — N/A (A Link Between Worlds)
- ↑ "You got a Zora Tunic! This diving suit is adult size, so it won't fit a kid. Wear it, and you won't drown underwater." — N/A (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "You got a Goron Tunic! This heat-resistant tunic is adult size, so it won't fit a kid... Going to a hot place? No worry!" — N/A (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "The armor will protect you, so if you get hit, you lose Rupees, not health. If you run out of Rupees, the armor will go dormant and your movement will become impaired." — Malo Mart (Twilight Princess)