Link Gustaf II (Total War)

Link is the First Knight of the Order of the Wizzrobe, the lost Heir of King Gustaf and the eventual King of Hyrule.

First Golden Age
Link is born in the hidden Kingdom of Calatia, and is a direct descendant of King Gustaf, who fled Akkala and established Calatia after Hylia overthrew him. After his father's death, his mother moves to Hyrule Prime, bringing Link and her brother with her. She eventually abandoned him after bringing a series of step-fathers into his life, leaving him in the care of his uncle, a soldier in the Hylian army. Link spends his childhood between Hyrule Castle Town and Vigjaro, and for a time lived in his grandmother's house in Lanayru Province.

First Golden Age
Link is born in the hidden Kingdom of Calatia, and is a direct descendant of King Gustaf, who fled Akkala and established Calatia after Hylia overthrew him. After his father's death, his mother moves to Hyrule Prime, bringing Link and her brother with her. She eventually abandoned him after bringing a series of step-fathers into his life, leaving him in the care of his uncle, a soldier in the Hylian army. Link spends his childhood between Hyrule Castle Town and Vigjaro, and for a time lived in his grandmother's house in Lanayru Province.

Gerudo Wars
Both Link's mother and uncle die early in the Gerudo Wars. When Ganondorf and the Gerudo assault Hyrule Prime in 99 AG, Link is the last civilian smuggled out by Impa in a secret tunnel that leads to Vigjaro, who gives him a sword before sending him off. With his uncle's fate unknown to him, he begins to do charity work in the Cathedral. The Wizzrobe Nostrum, intrigued by the boy, decides to test him by offering to give him a Golden Rupee, which would allow him to buy anything he wants, on a condition that he mustn't do charity again. When Link refuses, Nostrum tells him that he's passed his test, and allows him to see their master Hylia, the disgraced Queen of Hyrule that reigned five millennia ago.

Suspecting he is a descendant of King Gustaf, Hylia interviews Link by asking him why he's helping people in need, and if he'd fight to help others, to which Link responds succinctly. Hylia then asks Link if he'd kill every Gerudo to avenge his uncle, and Link responds 'not all of them', even though they most certainly have killed him. Seeing that Link is not blinded by the hatreds and self-righteousness most Hylians hold, Hylia offers him to be her first knight, to which he readily agrees.

A year later, after Agahnim is dethroned, Hyrule Castle reclaimed from the Gerudo and Princess Oraiya Zelda IV kidnapped by Vaati to Ontheon, Link and his new partner Lana Valashi, a young Hylian girl who had just been admitted to the Order of the Wizzrobe, are given a mission to go to the Gerudo Desert and capture Nabooru, the first wife of the Gerudo warlord Ganondorf. As the Hylian army breaks the gates of Ashinon, the two sneak inside Ganondorf's palace and encounter him arguing with Nabooru. Ganondorf threatens to kill them for being Hylian spies, but Nabooru convinces him not to, going so far as to putting her scimitar to his neck so Link and Lana could escape.

The Hylian army storms into the palace, taking the cornered Ganondorf as their prisoner; meanwhile, Nabooru runs away, but Link and Lana encounter her again and take her under their custody. Nostrum then tells him of his next objective: help Nabooru and her accomplice Senturon to free the imprisoned Sage Yaraxonal, Senturon's wife, under Ontheon, before turning back east.

Under Ontheon, the four find Yaraxonal frozen in stone and wonder why Vaati didn't kill her outright instead of simply petrifying her. While Senturon is faced with a predicament, Link attempts to break Yaraxonal's statue with his sword and explains that if Vaati froze her in stone, then breaking the stone will free her. His assumption proves correct as Yaraxonal is immediately freed when the stone breaks.

After the end of the Gerudo Wars, Link and Lana are ordered by Hylia to deliver her letters to the six Sages and announce her plan to create the Master Sword to them.

Second Golden Age​
Link is later sent to the Kokiri Forest and fostered by the Great Deku Tree among the Kokiri, where he grows particularly close to Saria, the Sage of Forests.

After several years living among the Kokiri, Link is recalled by Lana and continues his training to be Hylia's First Knight.

By the precipice of his adulthood, Link has completed his training, and he, Lana, and the Order's new army are placed in magical stasis under Vigjaro Cathedral until they are needed.

The Return of Sulkaris
In 127 AG, Sulkaris' Gohma swarm Vigjaro and overwhelm the Hylian defenders, forcing Hylia to order Nostrum to activate her army. Link is the first member of the Order awoken from stasis, and quickly arms himself with his iconic green armor and the Master Sword before rushing out just in time to meet the incoming Gohma swarm. Link, much to the awe of the garrison and evacuating civilians, single-handedly slaughters the entire swarm and forces the Gohma vanguard to temporarily retreat.

He is joined by Lana and the rest of the Order's forces as a bewildered King Kazakk demands to know who they are, who which Link retorts that the Order serves a "higher authority" than the King. He is then ordered by Lana to protect Vigjaro's main tradeway with the Order's Acolytes and Hylian Wizards. When Lana realizes the Gohma are crossing the city's undefended moat, Link joins up with her forces and the manage to stop the Gohma offensive.

During the battle, they manage to capture the emissary Agitha, who reveals the whereabouts of the traitor Akazoo: he is attempting to barter the captured Princess Zelda for a dangerous and powerful artifact in the hands of Keaton thieves. Leaving Lana in charge of the city, Link and Kazakk brings the fight to the criminals' headquarters at the Vigjaro Glade. While Kazakk is busy fighting Akazoo, Link takes care of his accomplice Azrily, discovers the Princess currently being held inside a pocket prison and takes her into his custody. He then secretly communicates with Hylia via a mirror, who orders him to bring the Princess and the army to her.

During the march to Vigjaro, when juggling the Malmord he accidentally imprisons himself inside it, much to Princess Zelda's displeasure. While he is soon rescued by a mysterious woman named Liyer who breaks the Malmord on a rock, his initial plan to secretly bring the captive Princess to Hylia is ruined. When talking to Liyer afterward, he suddenly sees Princess Zelda wreathed in flames, although the flames seem to leave no burns behind. Soon after King Kazakk discovers Zelda and comes to her aid, further ruining Link's plan.Link then unexpectedly sees Carock apparently coming to capture Zelda. Carock questions him about how the Princess is no longer in captivity, and informs him about his mission to take Zelda back to Vigjaro. Link is further bewildered when Zelda tells him that Carock is going to burn the Hylian soldiers; and her prediction is immediately proven correct when an army of Wizzrobe Pyromancers appear and ambush the Hylians.

During the ensuing battle, when attempting to bring Zelda to safety, Link is confronted by Carock. Carock gains the upper hand over him and proceeds to imprison him and Zelda in a block of ice, though Kazakk comes to his aid and injures Carock, forcing him and the rest of the Wizzrobes to retreat.

After the battle, Zelda explains to Link her prophetic powers: ever since she was a child I would dream of events, and every time she dreams flames would appear, but no one believed her until Link. Not knowing what to do, Link decides to bring Zelda to Vigjaro and see what Hylia would do. Zelda dissuades him by saying that Hylia is not who she says she is and that they should get away from her, but Link expresses his doubt since the False Goddess has practically raised him as a mother since the end of the Gerudo Wars.

The two flee into Gohma-infested Lanayru Province, arriving near the town of Panacle Cove, which is currently being attacked by Sulkaris. They reunite with the combined Hylian and Lanayru forces, and help devise a plan to liberate the town by agitating the local Arurodas in the middle of breeding season to attack the Gohma. The plan works, but Link inadvertently disturbs a Moldarach and is nearly killed, but with Aydia's aid manages to lure it to attack the Gohma. It is quickly killed by Sulkaris, who attacks the Hylians and Zora, effortlessly killing many of them and nearly slaying Link, before Liyer saves him by confronting Sulkaris. Spurred by another of Tetryalyna's visions, the army races to save the zora city of Greshou, trailing Sulkaris' hordes, while themselves unknowingly being tracked by another Wizzrobe army led by Liyer. On the way to Greshou, Link and Tetralyna share a peaceful moment, commenting on the ocean and foreshadowing the young Princess' future as leader of New Hyrule.

Powers and Abilities
Link is an expert swordsman, having been trained in both single and two-handed swordsmanship by Hylia. He is fast enough to very cleanly dodge attacks from Sulkaris, and sturdy enough to withstand a blow from her. A signature move of his dubbed the "Swordspin" allows him to unleash a magical blow of Aura from the Master Sword and propel himself into the air.

Link has also shown proficiency in archery, using a bow to fire a boobytrapped arrow at Sulkaris.

Unique Bonuses
Link is a hard line Infantry commander. His Blood of Gustaf ability and Hyron Tactics tech add quite a few powerful buffs to the Hylian's already potent infantry. Legendary Training allows him to pump out batches of units from a Barrack with increased speed. Knights in particular can be fielded with frightening speed as Legendary Training combined with the Heir of Gustaf passive allows batches of them to be created 60% faster than the other Heroes can produce them. Link's Unique Unit, the Champion Knight, is a powerful melee unit on its own. When in formation with an army of infantry it provides quite an armor bonus. Choose Link if you want to produce a large army of melee Infantry, in particular the Kingdom's powerful Knight units.

Unique Abilities
Link is a powerful and reckless hero who can fight off against crowds of units with ease. At his earlier levels he only really excels against groups of smaller units, it's at his higher levels he gains the power to take on larger foes. Once he hits level 5 Link even has the chance to deal critical hits against Titans, an attribute no other Hero has. Link's armor is somewhat lacking even with his decent health pool and aggressive stance, so despite his power it's best to keep an eye on him and make sure he's not facing enemies with very high attack damage. Even though his armor stats are not particularly high, he does have a very powerful Shield bonus, making him quite resistant to most ranged attacks.

Trivia

 * Link is the only remaining individual of Wind Tribe heritage known to exist, save Ooccoo.
 * In the Hyrule Historia Mission "Seeds of Conspiracy," Link's first line to Princess Zelda V is a reference to Link's "catchphrase" in the ill-received and short-lived Legend of Zelda cartoon series.