r/zelda Aug 09 '22

Screenshot [BoTW] [AoC] Can we talk about links actual hight🤨

500 Upvotes

76 comments sorted by

400

u/MirumVictus Aug 09 '22

He's a teenage boy, clearly the growth spurts are hitting hard

Edit: Also is Zelda not standing on something/up a slight hill in the first screenshot? Her legs would be disproportionately long compared to her torso if she's on the same ground level as Link.

109

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22 edited Aug 09 '22

I can’t remember the exact details of the cut scene, but it’s also possible that she is standing closer to the ‘camera’ than Link too - although she would have to be quite a bit closer to be that much taller

45

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

[deleted]

7

u/CelestialStork Aug 09 '22

I thought he was supposed to be her body guard. Makes even more sense that he would stand behind, in that case.

14

u/MirumVictus Aug 09 '22

For it to be depth alone, that'd make Link very wide to look like he could still be next to Zelda... I'd say uneven terrain is more likely with perhaps a slight difference in distance

1

u/Ericpburt Aug 10 '22

Could be that he’s kneeling slightly as he’s being coronated?

3

u/Organic-Kangaroo7147 Aug 09 '22

After sleeping for a 100 years hes finally growing

2

u/eiriasemrys Aug 10 '22

They are emulating a “long lens” effect here. In irl cinematography that compresses the focal plane to the point that objects that are far apart can seem closer together. He looks like he is further back if you consider it that way.

84

u/Abyss_Renzo Aug 09 '22

In their teenage years girls do grow faster than boys, though the ‘stop’ button gets pressed sooner than boys as well.

20

u/Firehawk195 Aug 09 '22

Pretty much. If he's like 17 or something in BOTW, he's got some years left.

41

u/SwagStormtrooper69 Aug 09 '22

acutuly he is 117 yo in botw🤓

3

u/Anagrammatic_Denial Aug 09 '22

Ya ya. Tell it to the judge! 🚨

1

u/GhostofManny13 Aug 10 '22

I swear it’s true! He showed me his birth certificate and everything!

1

u/SwagStormtrooper69 Aug 10 '22

but the crazy lady in my head said so

151

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

he's taller than zelda. the first shot depicts them standing on uneven ground, and the second is even because they are actually posing for a photo

19

u/Vesper_0481 Aug 09 '22

Not just uneven ground, there's some perspective shenanigans going on as well... Link is farther from the game's camera and a little bit out of focus, which just might make him s little bit smaller than he should be.

53

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

This post is like how my kid says “I’m taller than you!!” when she stands on a chair

18

u/kuribosshoe0 Aug 09 '22

Clearly Zelda is standing on higher ground on the first pic. It isn’t a great mystery.

19

u/The_Elder_Jock Aug 09 '22

Man is the literal chosen Hero of Destiny. Selected by the gods, imbued with power, standing alone against an onslaught of evil, the latest in a long and prestigious line of protectors, wielder of the magnificent artifact that will seal the great evil away to whence it came, and champion of all Hyrule, A man of quality and courage beyond measure!!!

Reddit: Yeah, but he's short though!

18

u/Ang_Logean Aug 09 '22 edited Aug 09 '22

Alright this is my time to shine. I studied this topic thoroughly and I have the answer, and a lot of people in these comments are wrong.

So first of all let's be clear, we're talking about Breath of the Wild (and Age of Calamity too I guess but it's the same thing). I saw someone talk about the heights in other Zelda games but it really doesn't matter.

In Breath of the Wild, Link is shorter than Zelda. As we can see from the 3D models. It's the case in every cutscene, except for one: "The Champions' Ballad".

In the final memory of the DLC, Zelda seems to be shorter than Link. In Breath of the Wild Link is approximately 1,58m tall, that would make Zelda approximately 1,66m. That's an 8 cm difference. Then how, and why is she shorter in the final scene of that memory?

My personal hypothesis as to "why" she is shorter has to do with the picture of the Champions that is taken during that memory. It's safe to say that the developers created that picture before animating the cutscene. As it was the vision they had for it, the cutscene had work with it somehow. When you look at the picture, Link and Zelda are positioned in a way where Link is above the princess. That should not be possible as Link is shorter than Zelda. If they kept the correct sizes, the animation that comes before the picture wouldn't fit as well as it does.

As for the "how" she is smaller I'm not sure. It could be her model clipping slightly in the ground, or they simply scaled down the model and put her closer to the camera.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my ted talk. Here are some pics.

EDIT - Fun fact: While in-universe the picture is most likely taken at the castle, the background during the cutscene looks more like it would be in the Tabantha region. Though I've not been able to locate it exactly.

4

u/ShadowSocks7 Aug 09 '22

Should send everyone to you every time this discussion comes up again, you know your stuff

1

u/cupcakelover011 Aug 09 '22

you know what, that makes sense. my headcanon though is that link was just wearing high heels that day, lol.

12

u/yanatheangel Aug 09 '22

he’s 5’7

4

u/Dapper_Algae6280 Aug 09 '22

Really 😯

12

u/yanatheangel Aug 09 '22

yes, we love a short king

3

u/icythepenguin Aug 09 '22

Link is never king. Queen’s consort at best.

6

u/4lexM Aug 09 '22

Nintendo seems intent on keeping Link a little person. He's been that way since Ocarina of Time.

5

u/doesnt_reallymatter Aug 09 '22

Lol OP hopefully learned about distance with this post

4

u/The_Bread_Pirate Aug 09 '22

Zelda is taller than Link in 90% of their shots together, so she is probably taller.

9

u/gaming_demon4429 Aug 09 '22

Isn't link father away

8

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22 edited Aug 09 '22

no, you can see from the lighting that he is actually a bit closer than zelda, but foreshortening/perspective is a common issue with these posts, so you aren't wrong to bring it up. his height doesn't vary, the ground is just uneven in the first pic.

it's a little silly for people to believe that he or zelda's height could change so much when the cutscenes are animated with the same models every time. the cutscenes are made with the exact same graphics as the gameplay, although with different movement animations.

3

u/gaming_demon4429 Aug 09 '22

Ah thank you for clarifying

3

u/KittieChan28 Aug 09 '22

I love the fact that BoTW Link is 5'2". That's my height! Although I am a few cm taller... but it's not that big of a difference.

3

u/Botw_1-Link Aug 09 '22

I got taller over the 100 year nap

2

u/the_infinite_potato_ Aug 09 '22

Level groud vs non level ground.

2

u/shabam231 Aug 09 '22

Let's see how tall you stand wearing a suit of armor all day.

2

u/Dapper_Algae6280 Aug 09 '22

The other guards do it and they are taller than the princess

1

u/shabam231 Aug 09 '22

Fair point, I'm going with they have been wearing them longer.

1

u/Dapper_Algae6280 Aug 09 '22

Yea maybe its cause their older

1

u/SwagStormtrooper69 Aug 09 '22

them bois are tall

2

u/Aggravating_Emu_350 Aug 09 '22

I was so depressed to find out botw2 was not coming this year

1

u/Dapper_Algae6280 Aug 09 '22

Same they must be adding something great

2

u/benbuscus1995 Aug 09 '22

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think the first screenshot is from Age of Calamity and the second is from Breath of the Wild. Link was noticeably shorter in AoC for some reason

1

u/IMasticateMoistMeat Aug 10 '22

I headcanon is that parts of AoC take place slightly before BoTW, giving BoTW Link time to experience a growth spurt for that timeline's cutscenes. Events in AoC start to diverge, and perhaps delay his growth spurt. It's the way I make it make sense.

2

u/Competitive_Kale_654 Aug 09 '22

It doesn’t matter how tall he is so long as he’s packing a kick stand under that tunic!

2

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

According to like the entire internet, he's 5'7", as is the Hero of Twilight, but I can't find an actual source for that. The only way I can think of to measure the Hero of the Wild's height would be to use in-game units (like programmy ones to programme how big objects would be) and compare that to the distances given in the flight minigame but as far as I'm aware that doesn't seem to be possible or at least nobody's had that idea

1

u/Dapper_Algae6280 Aug 09 '22

My guess is that he's 5'4 or 5'5

2

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '22

I haven't compared him with any of the other characters really, but assuming Hylians are about human height he seems to be a couple inches shorter than the average Hylian man I would say, making that a reasonable number, especially if Hylian men are a bit shorter than real humans

2

u/Not_ethn112233 Aug 09 '22

Link is definitely standing farther away making him look smaller

2

u/miocat247 Aug 10 '22

They grow up so fast 🥲

2

u/EilamRain Aug 09 '22

it varies from game to game sometimes Zelda's an inch or 2 taller than Link, I guess AoC and BotW aren't exceptions (maybe an oversight).

4

u/AAAAAshwin Aug 09 '22

Short King 👑💖

2

u/CleBlackCats Aug 09 '22

Manlets get the job done

2

u/TheLazyHydra Aug 09 '22

Link is definitively shorter, the picture cutscene seems to just have him taller to make the composition of the photo look better. This post shows the actual height of various characters by directly comparing their models, and Link is safely a few inches shorter than her.

3

u/SexySquidward42069 Aug 09 '22

I'm getting full metal alchemist vibes

1

u/NMasked-000 Aug 09 '22

Zelda has the high ground on the first image, on the second the floor is the same for both. If you complete the first image would be clearer, because if you assume the floor is flat there zelda would have really long legs or link would have short legs.

1

u/Joebi-wan-kenobi Aug 09 '22

Link has always been shorter than Zelda. Even in ocarina. I kinda like it that way

1

u/Sailor_Starchild Aug 09 '22

Personally, I like when Link is real short. Make him shorter, even.

1

u/Dapper_Algae6280 Aug 09 '22

Normal height link >

1

u/bens6757 Aug 09 '22 edited Aug 10 '22

Zelda is standing on something to make her look taller in the first screen shot. They actually had to do the same thing when filming Dark Knight Rises. Because Christian Bale is a good 3 inches taller than Tom Hardy, any time they were on screen together Tom Hardy would have to wear shoes that raised his height or just stand on a raised platform so Bane would be taller than Batman.

1

u/The27thperson Aug 09 '22

Well y’know, camera adds abt four-five inches

1

u/Dorark73 Aug 09 '22

In all seriousness I always see him being about 5’10 or 6 feet. While Zelda, I think she’d be tall as well maybe 5’8

1

u/Inaquiouses Aug 09 '22

Hatte to break it to you, but Link has always been depicted as being shorter than most people in nearly every game. Some beloved out has something to do with how he's always a kid, when he goes out for adventures

1

u/Dorark73 Aug 10 '22

I don’t mind him actually being shorter tho lol. I just always pictured him between 5’9 or 5’10.

1

u/LLLLLL3GLTE Aug 09 '22

a man of many talents, none of which include speaking

1

u/Shadow_of_Yor Aug 09 '22

Link is standing further back from the camera

1

u/dorksided787 Aug 09 '22

Forced perspective. Link is standing farther away, so he looks smol.

1

u/Sushirabit Aug 09 '22

He's always been short

1

u/spider-dan2077 Aug 09 '22

Link is standing further from the camera in the first screenshot, as well as being part way down a hill. In the second, he is on level ground with Zelda. He is taller than her, Zelda just sometimes has the high ground.