Hero's Spirit

"White Wolf" redirects here. For the recurring enemy in The Legend of Zelda series, see White Wolfos.

Hero's Spirit
Model TP
Title(s)	Hero of Time Hylian Knight (possibly)
Race	Ghost/Wolf/Stalfos
Gender	Male
Main appearance(s)	Twilight Princess
Spinoff appearance(s)	My Nintendo Picross: Twilight Princess
Era(s)	Era of the Hero of Time, Era of Twilight
Family	Link's Mother (mother), Link (descendant)

The Hero's Spirit, also known as the Hero’s Shade, is a character appearing in Twilight Princess. He is a mysterious skeletal specter who can assume the form of the White Wolf, with a personal goal to teach Link his own seven special sword techniques to make the young hero become a more skillful combatant.

Biography

Twilight Princess

Although appearing to be a mere ghost in extremely old knightly armor closely resembling a Stalfos or Darknut, the Hero's Spirit is actually the Hero of Time - the Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, in the form of such due to his death and is restless, filled with serious regrets from being unable to pass on the "lessons of his life to those who came after him" after he was sent back in time to his childhood by the Princess Zelda of his time at the end of the former Nintendo 64 game. He also lamented the fact that he was not remembered as a legendary hero.

Link and the Hero's Shade touch swords as the former begins his training with the latter, as seen in Twilight Princess HD

In order to ease his regrets and finally pass on his long-lost masterful knowledge of the arts of the sword to keep their bloodline of the Knights of Hyrule remaining in honor, the Hero's Spirit teaches the highly advanced seven Hidden Skills to his descendant, Link, the Hero of Twilight from Twilight Princess.The seven techniques, in respective order, are the Ending Blow, Shield Attack (Parry), Back Slice, Helm Splitter, Mortal Draw, Jump Strike, and Great Spin. In Hyrule, he appears as the White Wolf, similar to the Hero of Twilight's wolf form, who can be summoned by finding a Howling Stone, with the exception of the first time he is encountered, in which he appears to Link directly. Once a Howling Stone is found, the song has to be howled along with the Spirit. He then tells Link to take "sword in hand" and find him, implying that Link should return to human form before searching for the Wolf. The White Wolf will then appear on Link's Map indicating his current location. When Link confronts the Wolf, it leaps through Link, transporting him into another world. The White Wolf then transforms into its true shape - a tall ghostly knight, the Hero's Spirit, who then teaches Link one of the seven Hidden Skills, which would ultimately prove handy in order to defeat powerful foes and Ganondorf.

The Hero's Spirit is mostly transparent save for his armor, which appears to be filled with a ghostly pale blue apparition, rather than flesh, with a seemingly decaying body and mostly skeletal face. He carries a rusting sword and shield and wears armor, which is covered with leaves in sections. He carries a scabbard belted to his waist. Similarly to his White Wolf form, his left eye glows red while his right eye is missing.

Other Appearances

My Nintendo Picross: Twilight Princess

Non-Canon Information

The thirty-fifth puzzle in the Picross series and the twenty-sixth puzzle in the Mega Picross series depict the Hero's Spirit.

Trivia

The Hero's Spirit being a decayed Stalfos/golden wolf-like ghost of the legendary Hero of Time has met with outrage among fans

• Although the Hero's Shade was not directly revealed as Link the Hero of Time in-game, Hyrule Historia confirmed it as such in its release.
  • The Hero's Spirit being Link the Hero of Time is not without controversy, as the character is this rather iconic Link in a sad, horrific state.
  • As he is indeed the Hero of Time iteration of the franchise's main protagonist, the voice of Nobuyuki Hiyama can be faintly heard as the Hero's Shade teaches the Link from Twilight Princess the Hidden Skills but is distorted and at an extremely low pitch (though the actor is uncredited). In addition, his fighting stance is similar to how he did in the N64 games Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask via Z-Targeting, although he held his sword upright rather than sideways.
• In the Japanese version, the Hero's Spirit, alongside Golden Wolf, is also known as the Skeleton Warrior.
  • In Spanish localization, he is called The Spirit of the Hero, which is similar to how Link in all games possesses the spirit of the Legendary Hero, the very first incarnation of the main character, story-wise.
• The Hero's Shade missing his right eye as seen in both his forms implies a serious injury the Hero of Time once took in the past before his death.
  • Oddly, his profile icon in My Nintendo Picross: Twilight Princess shows both the Shade's eyes open. This also applies to the Twilight Princess manga adaptation by Akira Himekawa.
• The Hero's Spirit talking to Link in Twilight Princess marks the first time in The Legend of Zelda series where two different incarnations of the main protagonist meet in a mainline game as well as the Link himself being able to fully speak conversations on his own rather than being mostly silent.
  • The second case of Link meeting himself in the franchise is the hero from Twilight Princess, in his wolf form, can be summoned to the Hero of the Wild incarnation in Breath of the Wild via amiibo to assist his counterpart.
• In his White Wolf form, when he howls with the Link of Twilight Princess in his own wolf form, he can be heard singing the "Prelude of Light", "Requiem of Spirit", and even "Song of Healing", three songs from the Hero of Time's adventures via the Ocarina of Time.
• Due to his Stalfos-like appearance, the Hero's Spirit stands at a much taller height than when the Hero of Time was alive, which is identical to the Link of Twilight Princess.
• Despite any incarnation of the main protagonist within the franchise technically can die upon receiving a Game Over, the Hero's Spirit - the Hero of Time, is the first and so far only time where a dead Link is canon.
• When the Hero's Spirit is teaching Link the Parry and Great Spin, he can be seen shooting energy balls with his sword and is even able to split himself into multiple images, respectively.
• Although only the first Hidden Skill, the Ending Blow, is required to complete Twilight Princess, if Link manages to learn all of the seven by the Shade, the Hero's Spirit will acknowledge the Hero of Twilight as his worthy successor (even calling him his "son") and tells him he has what it takes to be a true hero.
  • Because the Ending Blow technique is the actual move used to ultimately defeat Ganondorf during the Final Boss battle, this would make the Hero of Time indirectly responsible for the archvillain's death, unlike what he experienced at the end of Ocarina of Time (as Ganon survived the finishing blow via brutally stabbed in the mouth with the Master Sword in that game).

The hidden scabbard on the Hero's Spirit's side

• If one looks closely, when the Hero's Spirit teaches Link the seven Hidden Skills, a scabbard can be briefly seen on his hip. It appears to be a worn-down version of the Master Sword's, the sacred weapon he himself formerly used, though the actual sword the skeletal ghost uses is clearly not.
  • Although Link himself is famously known to have his scabbard on his back for carrying his swords (and Shield) to make him be instantly recognized according to Nintendo, this is not always realistic and the Shade is actually using such equipment correctly.
• As most of the Hidden Skills were never used by the Hero of Time in his main or spin-off appearances prior to Twilight Princess, it is likely that after the events of Majora's Mask but before becoming the Hero's Spirit, he managed to establish his already exceptional skills even further via training, according to Zelda Encyclopedia.
• In the Twilight Princess manga, the training of the Hero of Twilight by the Hero's Spirit is depicted much more intensely than seen in the game. He even assists Link in facing Ganondorf.
• The Hero's Shade being the Hero of Time filled with major regrets after his death and wanted to pass his fighting spirit to his descendant is a mirror to how Darmani III and Mikau, themselves Goron and Zora heroes, respectively, both met a similar fate and Link himself gaining their powers as transformation masks in Majora's Mask.
• Due to his appearance as a ghost in old swordsman armor with leaves on him, fans have widely speculated that the Hero of Time possibly died in a very intense war in Hyrule as a Knight of Hyrule or turned into an actual Stalfos while searching for Navi in the Lost Woods.
  • Ironically, according to Hyrule Historia, he was possibly such a knight in his life.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	骸骨の戦士 (Gaikotsu no Senshi) 金色の狼 (Kin'iro no Ōkami) 勇者の亡霊 (Yūsha no Bōrei)	Skeleton Warrior Golden Wolf Hero's Spirit
	FrenchEU	Esprit du héros Loup Doré	Hero's spirit Golden Wolf
	German	Goldener Wolf	Golden Wolf
	Italian	Eroe Lupo dorato	Hero Golden wolf
	SpanishEU	El Espíritu del Héroe Lobo Dorado	The Spirit of the Hero Golden Wolf

Gallery

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  Concept art of the Hero's Spirit from Twilight Princess
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  The Hero's Spirit's Sword from Twilight Princess
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  The Hero's Spirit preparing to fight from Twilight Princess
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  Artwork of the Hero's Spirit's wolf form from Zelda Encyclopedia
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  The White Wolf as seen in-game from Twilight Princess
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  The White Wolf as seen in-game from Twilight Princess HD
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  Link the Hero of Time, the former identity of the Hero's Spirit
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  The Hero's Spirit and Link at their fighting poses in Twilight Princess HD
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  The Hero's Spirit remainding his desendant he needs more skill and courage from Twilight Princess HD
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  The Hero's Spirit's famous quote when all of the Hidden Skills are learned, from Twilight Princess HD
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  The Hero's Spirit shooting a Sword Beam at Link as he teaches the Shield Attack, from Twilight Princess
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  The Hero's Spirit teaching the Back Slice to Link in Twilight Princess
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  The Heros Spirit teaching the Helm Splitter from Twilight Princess HD
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  The Hero's Shade teaching the Mortal Draw from Twilight Princess
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  Link training with the Hero's Spirit in Twilight Princess HD
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  The Hero's Shade multiplying into three afterimages in Twilight Princess HD
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  The Hero's Spirit split into three images as he teaches the Great Spin to Link, from Twilight Princess HD
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  The White Wolf howling from Twilight Princess HD
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  The White Wolf in the ghostly ether realm from Twilight Princess HD
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  Wolf Link brought to a ghostly ether realm by the White Wolf from Twilight Princess HD
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  A genuine Stalfos from Ocarina of Time 3D in comparison to the Hero's Spirit
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  The Hero's Spirit in the art cover of the Twilight Princess manga
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  The Hero's Spirit meeting Link in the TP manga
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  Link encouraged to be like the Hero's Spirit in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit with Link and Minda in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit agreed to teach Link the Hidden Skills in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit touching swords with Link in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit teaching Link his fighting skills in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit performing the lethal Mortal Draw in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit performing the Helm Splitter in the TP manga
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  Link sparing against the Hero's Shade in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit in his wolf form in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit blocking Ganondorf's attack in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit assisting Link in the TP manga
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  The main trio encountering the Hero's Spirit in the TP manga
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  Ganondorf enraged at the sight of the Hero's Spirit in the TP manga
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  Link and the Hero's Spirit teaming up to fight Ganondorf in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit and Link attacking Ganondorf together in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit telling Link he has no more to teach for him in the TP manga
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  The Hero's Spirit saying goodbye to Link in the TP manga
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  Princess Zelda becoming emotional at the sight of the the Hero's Spirit in the TP manga
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  Zelda hugging the Hero's Spirit before ultimately passing into the afterlife in the TP manga