The main character of the series, Link has saved Hyrule countless times. The Hero known as Link always shares the same characteristics--descended from the same familial line, clad in green, and imbued with an undying courage. Link, no matter which Link he may be, is always doomed to face the same destiny: to stare down the evils that threaten Hyrule and protect his homeland from all enemies.
This Link is the original. During the civil wars of Ancient Hyrule, a young Hylian? woman fled to the Kokiri Forest to seek shelter from the battle. Mortally wounded, she pleaded with guardian spirit of the woods to save her son.
Sensing that this child was one of destiny, the boy was raised as a Kokiri. Several years later (widely speculated as a decade), recurring nightmares would wake him. The Great Deku Tree sensed this, and sent for Link. He asked him to rid himself of a parasite, although it was for naught. His dying words were for Link to go to Hyrule Castle and present the Spiritual Stone to her.
There, he met the princess, Zelda. Together, they schemed to gather the remaining two Stones and open the gate to the Sacred Realm to foil Ganondorf Dragmire's plans. Link successfully retrieved the Stones, and then was given the final tool to open the Door of Time.
When he pulled the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time behind the Door of Time, his spirit was sealed in the Sacred Realm, specifically inside the Chamber of Sages?. Ganondorf tailed him, and then claimed the Triforce as his own. Upon touching it, it split into three, and he was left with Power, while the other two pieces were hidden inside those chosen by destiny.
Seven years passed, and Link woke up. With the Master Sword choosing him, he was now the Hero of Time. Freeing the Sages from the temples, he met with the Seventh and final Sage, Princess Zelda herself. She revealed that the Triforce of Wisdom was within her and the Triforce of Courage resided within him.
Ganondorf captured her in a successful attempt to lure Link to him to obtain the Triforce in whole. The showdown between Link and Ganondorf was a furious fight, with Link emerging as the victor. With his last breaths, Ganondorf then tried to crush them within his collapsing keep.
Emerging from the rubble, Ganondorf twisted himself with the power of the Triforce of Power into a hideous creature. Link battled him once again, and this time with enough power to hold off the now Ganon long enough for the Sages to seal him within the Sacred Realm forever.
Link then was sent back through time by a guilt-ridden Zelda, and he was forever known in the legend of the Hero of Time.
Not much is known of this Link, except that he was born in Taoru Village, and is the star of the upcoming Twilight Princess.
This Link was the second born of the line of the Family of the Hero to bear the famous name. He was born on Outset Island a little more than a decade before the events of The Wind Waker. He lived with his younger sister, Aryll, and his Grandma. After Aryll was kidnapped by the Helmaroc King, he set out on a journey with Tetra the Pirate to find her. This journey eventually brought him into contact with Ganondorf Dragmire, the King of Red Lions, and the lost kingdom of Hyrule.
After the events of The Wind Waker and the defeat of Ganondorf (an adventure that earned him the title "Hero of Winds"), Link, along with Tetra and her pirate crew, set sail to find a new Hyrule. They did so far to the north of the Great Sea. There in his old age, Link founded the Hylian Knights and fathered the line of heroes that would produce many Links afterward.
Link of TMC/FSA.
This Link was the Hero that saved Hyrule from the evil sorcerer Agahnim and Mandrag Ganon, who had once been know as Ganondorf Dragmire (but the transformation is another story). After saving Hyrule from Ganon's forces Link embarked on a trip throughout the lands around Hyrule until he crashed on the mysterious Koholint Island. After waking the Wind Fish and escaping the Isle, Link was too afraid of the Great Hyrulian Sea to return to his home of Hyrule, which he never saw again. Instead he drifted to the land of Calatia, where he settled down and had a family.
This is the sixth Link of the Family of the Hero, and as far as we know, the last. This Link is the grandson of the Link V, and son of Arn and Medilia. When he was barely fifteen, Link left his home, Calatia, in search of adventure. Eventually, he reached Hyrule and met up with the nursemaid of Princess Zelda, Impa. Impa had Link head off and stop the evil Ganon, who had once again taken over Hyrule. Link defeated and killed Ganon, and saved Hyrule from his evil power. Now that Ganon had been destroyed, Link traveled throughout Hyrule, lending a hand in its restoration, but on his sixteenth birthday, the Crest of the Triforce of Courage appeared on Link's hand. That compelled Link into his last known adventure to reunite the Triforce and awaken Princess Zelda. Link then faced a shadow of himself and won, and yet was still unable to prevent the return of Ganon to mortality where he could and did threaten Hyrule once more.
