Who KILLED the Hero of Time? (Zelda Theory)

What happened to our boy the Hero of Time?

Probably died of a broken back, from carrying hyrule all these years

If he died of old age, then its super ironic that the Hero of Time is killed by... time.

Honestly, even without the master sword, it's hard to imagine anything dropping the Hero of Time. After Majora's Mask, the Hero of Time wields a magical arsenal so immense he's basically a walking army. The only Link whose collective magical weaponry is comparable to the Hero of Time's is the Hero of Legend (the Link from Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons). I think the armor shows us that the Hero of Time was much older upon his death. The reason being that heavy plate is very different from the type of garb that Links typically run around in. Usually, Links fight in a simple tunic, occasionally mixing in some magical mail. But other than the Hero of the Wild, we really don't see Links going about in plate. The only time I can think of the Hero of Time wearing anything like that is when he's transformed into the Fierce Deity. So, why would the Hero of Time, who is used to fighting hulking monsters and demigods while wearing only a tunic, suddenly decide to plate up? Age. While younger, this link could count on his agility to block or dodge anything thrown his way before retaliating with some nightmarish magical weapon. But even the Hero of Time would age. And with age, reflexes slow. It's much harder to backflip out of the ax swing of an Iron Knuckle at 50 than it is at 17. At a certain point, you can no longer count on your ability to get out of the way of attacks, and instead need to focus on your capacity to tank them. Now, since the Hero of Time has descendants, he obviously had a family of some kind. However, that doesn't mean he had someone to pass his techniques on to. Most Hylians are pretty fragile and hardly warlike, (hence the fact that they need a green-clad kid to save their country every game). Perhaps the hero's children and grandchildren were just peaceful Hylians who had little to no ability/interest in learning combat. Consider where the Hero of Twilight starts: a peaceful herding village with only ONE person who even knows what a sword is! In the child timeline, the Hero of Time's warning basically allowed Hyrule to stop Ganondorf before he could do any real damage. So, the time the Hero lived in would've been somewhat peaceful. There wouldn't have been a real need to learn combat techniques. And with the Sheikah Tribe basically being down to one member, he wouldn't really have anyone else to entrust all this martial knowledge to. Additionally, while everyone in the Hyrule of the adult timeline knows what an absolute beast the Hero of Time is (we know they do from the legend at the start of Wind Waker), his accomplishments were much less well known in the child timeline which his natural life took place in. Sadly, the Hero of Time doesn't really live in a world where his heroics are well known. We're not sure exactly how far back in time he was sent by adult timeline Zelda. Obviously, he was at least returned to a point before arriving with the third spiritual stone, since Link finds Zelda in her courtyard at the end of the game meaning it was before she fled the castle. But how close was it? Did adult timeline Zelda send you back to JUST before she had to flee, meaning your warning arrives barely in time to stop Ganondorf? Or did she send you back to before ANY of the troubles Ganondorf caused? (Cursing the Great Deku Tree, Sealing Dodongo's Cavern, and...whatever he did to Jabu-jabu) This means that, at most, the Hero of Time would've been thought of well by Darunia and Princess Ruto, (and that's only if he was returned to a time after he had resolved their issues). Other than that, his accomplishments would basically be 'that kid who warned us that Ganondorf was up to some shady shit'. A service to the crown, no doubt. But even such a valuable tip-off is a FAR cry from the savior of Hyrule that the Hero of Time is. Now, while the Child Timeline Hero of Time DID save Termina in Majora's Mask, that is a completely different world from Hyrule, not to mention that thanks to the closed time loop, public knowledge of his involvement in THAT may have been spotty at best. So, the only ones in the child timeline who would've known how much of a hero Link really was would have to be: individuals with supernatural insight, OR people who would believe Link if he told them this fantastic tale. You could argue who fits this criteria, but I think it would include: Zelda, Impa, Saria, Darunia (IF Link was sent back to a point in time after he had cleared Dodongo's Cavern), Ruto (IF Link was sent back to a point after he had cleared Jabu-Jabu), Skull Kid, Tatl, and the Happy Mask Salesman. So, to get back to the point, let's review a bit. The Hero of Time lives in a Hyrule where the majority of his accomplishments are not widely known, he's not held in particularly high regard or seen as a valuable source of advice by a majority of the population. The Hyrule he lives in is a relatively peaceful one with a low pool of potential individuals to pass combat techniques on to. The Sheikah, the tribe he'd be most likely to entrust any such techniques to, are all but extinct at this point in time. So, it may not have been that he died unexpectedly, but that he just didn't have someone to pass his knowledge on to. That being said, please enjoy this minor bit of speculation via storytelling. A Hero of Time in his late 80s saddles up his horse as he prepares for his yearly pilgrimage. He bids a fond farewell to his family, promising that he'll be back in a few days' time, and sets off for the forest. The plate armor he's clad in weighs heavy upon his shoulders, but his missing eye is a testament to the fact that he's not as fast as he once was. He pats his satchel, filled with a slew of magical items and green potions that would allow him to lay waste to anything that dares cross his path. He briefly wonders if he should stop by a fairy fountain to nab a few, just in case. Shaking his head, he disregards the thought. For all these years, there's only ever been one fairy he's wished to see on these trips and he knows he won't find her at any fountain. Upon entering the forest, an old sense of familiarity washes over him. The smell of the trees, the light of the fireflies, and the ever-present music of his friend's song fills the air. A laugh escapes him as the memory of his sworn brother suddenly bursting into a mad dance comes to mind. Still chuckling, he rides into a clearing with two stumps and brings his mount to a stop. He reaches into his pack and pulls out a mask he purchased in castle town the other day. With a slight grin, he trots up to the tall stump and places the new mask upon it, knowing it will be found once he leaves. As he heads deeper into the woods the fog begins to thicken. He's long since learned the patterns to avoid being tricked out of the woods by the magic of the forest. Despite that, the woods still seem almost impossibly huge. She's here somewhere...she has to be. As the hours drag on he begins to tire. After shaking himself awake for the 4th time, he decides it would be best to make camp for the night. Too tired to even bother removing his armor, he lies down within the cradle of the roots of a large tree. He keeps his satchel nearby and he starts to drift off listening to the comforting sounds of the forest. Just before his consciousness fades for the last time, he thought he heard a familiar voice call him a 'lazy boy', ...but perhaps it was only a dream.

In the Castle Graveyard there is a notable tombstone stating that a "cursed swordsman" rests beneath a "sacred tree." This could actually be referring to the Hero of Time himself, which may mean he could have been buried in the Castle Graveyard.

It's hard to teach your kids when all you can say "Huh!", "Hah!" and "Hyah!"

The saddest part is that he was never able to find Navi :(

That we're still talking about this game over 20 years later tells you how timeless Ocarina of Time is.

It's very unlikely to be right, but because of the leaves I love the idea that, while he was mortally wounded in battle, he mustered up the strength to drag himself all the way back to the Kokiri Forest or the Lost Woods to die, and the leaves and plants grew around him, consuming him as the Lost Woods often do to lost souls, making him a part of the it all. And then, with the passing of knowledge from one hero to the next, he was finally able to be at peace, resting in the place where he first began his quest hundreds of years ago

At some point after Majora's Mask, Link finally learned to speak...and now he won't shut up...even after death.

The Hero of Time is easily the most tragic of the Links. When you truly think about his life and everything he went through, it’s really screwed up

Fun fact, if you look at the heros shades sheath, it’s actually the sheath of the master sword from ocarina of time.

The fact that the Hero of Twilight is a descendent of the Hero of Time leads me to believe Termina is just a separate country from Hyrule, not an alternate dimension. It's totally possible since we don't know how far he had traveled looking for Navi.

It's both ironic and poetic that, in Majora's Mask, the Hero of Time healed the souls of warriors who died with unfinished business, only to eventually become a restless Hero's Shade himself. Of course the only one who could heal him would not just be his own descendant, but another Link. Time is indeed cyclical in the Zelda series.

The fact that the Hero's Shade exists at all is why I consider the Hero of Time to be one of the most tragic of all the Links we've played as over the years.

I always assumed he had died after getting miserably lost in the Lost Woods looking for Navi. After Zelda sends him back in time Navi would be the only other being who remembers anything he did in the other timeline cus she was present for it all. I'm under the impression Navi flew away because after fairies fulfill their purpose they die and she didn't want to die in front of Link.

5:00 - his regret is already explained in the Hyrule Historia: “he lamented the fact that he was not remembered as a hero” When he went back to being Child Link, in his proper timeline, no one knows that he is the one who stopped Ganon and potentially saved the world (or at least the world that they know)

He died from a Goron hug.

“Every hero’s story ends in tragedy. Follow the hero long enough and you will eventually trip over his corpse.” -E.E. Knight’s The Age of Fire

“A sword wields no strength unless the (left) hand that holds it has courage” -Hero’s Shade stating the main theme of the entire franchise. Legend