The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (comics)

A serial comic for Nintendo Power magazine by the acclaimed manga author Shotaro Ishinomori, and later collected in graphic novel form, this told an alternate version of the events from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

""Nice job, ugly! Now you're playing with the Pendant of Power!""
 * Adaptational Badass: Link's Uncle is more of a badass in this adaptation. Instead of being overrun and killed in the very first room of the dungeon, he is struck down by no less than Agahnim himself. This is technically keeping in continuity, as we never see his attacker in Link to the Past (though it could have been a rat).
 * Alliteration: Link fighting the Trinexx. "This is one schitzoid serpent!"
 * Alien Geometries: The Ice Palace is featured in the comic, except it is called the Ice Tower and spans both sides of a canyon.
 * Ganon's Tower is replaced by a creepy, mace-like structure in space.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Epheremelda seems to have a crush on Link, and blows her stack whenever he ignores her to look for Zelda.
 * The Archer: Roam is a Hot-Blooded variant.
 * Ancestral Weapon: Sahashrala reveals to Link that he is the son of Hyrilian knights. This puts in the running to wield the Master Sword, like Roam.
 * Ascended Extra: Sahasrahla, his wife, and the boy who knew his location are given considerably larger roles here than in the actual game.
 * Attack Its Weak Point: When tangling with one of Agahnim's soldiers, Link zips around him and holds him at swordpoint, demanding to be taken to the Princess. His sword accidentally stabs through a convenient hole in the soldier's armor ("What?"), causing him to explode into light and leaves his armor clattering to the floor.
 * Link can't crack the Lanmola's metal hide. But the soft, furry underbelly will do nicely.
 * Badass Boast: Agahnim's "I will make you taste fear like you have never known!"
 * Badass Damsel: Zelda assists Link in the battle with Ganon, firing the Silver Arrow to kill him. In some later games, Zelda fires Light Arrows to help Link in the same manner. When Zelda deals the final blow in the comic, she does so by aiming at a glowing wound Link carves across Ganon's chest to paralyze him - Ganondorf possesses a similar wound in Twilight Princess.
 * Bittersweet Ending
 * Blessed with Suck: Zelda laments that her psychic bond with Link makes eternally painful.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Roam may technically be a good guy, but he is one creepy suspicious mamma-jamma.
 * Bloodless Carnage: Agahnim cuts down Link's uncle with a swath of lightning from his sword.
 * Bridal Carry: After a whirlpool engulfs both Vitreous and the Wizzrobe, Zora appears from beneath to rescue Link.
 * Canon Foreigner: The boy, Roam the archer, and Epheremelda the fairy.
 * Changed My Mind, Kid: When Link disregards her suggestion not to go into the oasis, Epheremelda flips her wig and complains that Link never worries about her and that all he ever talks about is Zelda, then indignantly leaves. Moments before being eaten by Vitreous, Link is suddenly rescued by Zora, who explains that Epheremelda summoned him to help.
 * The Chosen One: Link must undertake an arduous quest to find the Master Sword. One problem: The sword itself chooses its wielder, so there was a possibility that even if he survived his journey, the sword still wouldn't let him use it. Luckily, it does.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: With no way to reach Ganon's floating castle, Roam goes a little nuts and surrenders to his eagle form. Back on the ground, Zelda says a prayer to the maidens, who magically float her and Link into the structure.
 * Combined Energy Attack: Zelda begins to ask for the aid of the maidens and fires an ordinary arrow from the crossbow, but as it approaches Ganon, the power of the maidens, Zelda, Link, and Roam, turn the arrow into the Silver Arrow, destroying Ganon.
 * Combat Tentacles: Arrghus is reimagined as a bright red jellyfish with tentacles.
 * Comm Links: The first Maiden hands over the Comfork, a crystal tuning fork. Later, the Comfork begins to ring and Link sees an image of his friends back in Kakariko. At first, Sahasrahla disregards Link's voice as having been his imagination, the others eventually realize that the Comfork allows them to speak with Link even though they are on opposite worlds.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Those trapped in the Dark World are cursed to become beasts without artifacts or Heroic Willpower. Roam, however, takes advantage of being able to become an eagle.
 * The Dark Side: The Dark World feeds on the more unpleasant emotions, threatening to turn Link into a beast a few times. The hotheaded Roam is even more susceptible.
 * Deceased Parents Are the Best: Sahasrahla reveals that Link's parents were Knights of Hyrule who stumbled into the Dark World. After they disappeared, Link's uncle adopted him to shield him from the royal drama.
 * Decoy Damsel: Link stumbles into an oasis from where Zelda is tied up with vines -- but she turns out to be a Wizzrobe in disguise, who promptly ties up Link and conjures Vitreous from the swamp to devour him. This is similar to the ploy used by Blind the Thief in the SNES game.
 * Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: Link gets into a pickle in the desert.
 * Don't Think, Feel: Zelda telepathically instructs Link to trust his "feelings" to guide him to her prison block.
 * Dramatic Thunder: The Sanctuary, foreshadowing Agahnim's entrance.
 * Dressing as the Enemy: Zora grants Link the Zora's Mask to disguise himself and not look so conspicuous as he is sneaking around the Dark Palace. This is a nifty precursor to the actual Zora Mask first seen in Ocarina of Time. (Rather than an actual mask, Zora plucks off one of his own scales and slaps it on Link's mug.)
 * Dynamic Entry: Roam plugging two of Trinexx's heads with arrows, just in time to save a hapless Link. May also qualify as a Villainous Rescue.
 * Evil Hand: On Death mountain, Link sees a vision of his dead parents standing with his uncle. Link reaches for his mother's hand when she extends hers out to him, but Link's hand turns into a werewolf claw when it passes the portal's boundary.
 * Eureka Moment: The librarian gets the idea for a hot air balloon from the boy, who draws an analogy to his bubble bath.
 * Excalibur in the Rust: The last panel shows the Master Sword overgrown by foliage as it sleeps.
 * Exposition Fairy: In the Dark World, Link is accompanied by Epheremelda who offers him the lay of the land. This is before Ocarina of Time introduced Navi as the first canon Fairy sidekick.
 * Expy: Roam is based on [[media:cyb002_2097.jpg|002]] from Shotaro Ishinomori's earlier work Cyborg 009, whose pre-cyborg name was Jet Link.
 * Failure Hero: When rushing to put out the library fire ("I'll save him!"), Link accidentally dumps a pail of water over his own head.
 * Feed It a Bomb: Link defeats the Hinox by hurling one of his own bombs back at it, causing it to get lodged down its mouth. Whoops. After the Hinox explodes, the fairy appears next to an Ash Faced Link.
 * Forgot I Couldn't Swim: When the Water Palace begins to flood, the Taurus grabs onto a Hirox, gasping that he can't swim. The Taurus's armor ends up dragging them both underwater.
 * Giant Spider: The monster fought in the Tower of Hera is a giant tarantula as opposed to the Moldorm fought in the game. However, when the monster's ghost appears in Ganon's Tower, Link identifies it as Moldorm.
 * Giving the Sword to A Noob: Nobody in Kakariko takes Link very seriously. Even Sahashrala's wife finds it surprising that the pendant was entrusted to him.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Molderm.
 * Half the Man He Used To Be: The Pendant of Courage gives Link the jolt he needs to cut a stormtrooper in half. This sends the other mooks wailing out of the temple in terror.
 * He Knows Too Much: Following Sahasrala's direction, Link heads for the Library to study the Book of Mudora, only to find it has been set on fire by soldiers. The boy alerts Link that the Librarian is stuck inside.
 * Hermit Guru: Sahasrahla lives in the Eastern Palace rather than just near it, and forks over the Pendant of Courage. In the game, Link must defeat the Armos Knights to claim the Pendant; this is mirrored in the comic by soldier mooks crashing the temple.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Inside the Great Pyramid, the party is swarmed by ghosts of Link's past foes (similar to Link to a Past's Boss Rush), with a specter of Agahnim leering dangerously at Zelda. and charges at the illusion, electrocuting himself.
 * Humans Are Ugly: Zora's initial observation of Link. "Uggh! You're an ugly little mannn..."
 * I Will Protect Her
 * I Resemble That Remark: When Roam sniffs at Link's "immaturity," deriding all the crap he's been through, Link throws a tantrum. "I'll show YOU who's weak!"
 * Idiot Hero: Link is portrayed as a complete dope in this story, but he gets the job done.
 * It Was with You All Along: Roam reveals that he is seeking the Silver Arrow spoken of in the Book of Mudora, which prophesied that Ganon can only be defeated by a sacred arrow. Although he reveals to Link that he has yet to find it, Roam continues to search for the Silver Arrow to defeat Ganon with it and prove himself to be the legendary hero. However, when Link and Zelda arrive to Ganon's Tower, Roam returns and admits he has failed to find the Arrow. After Roam, the princess uses Roam's crossbow to fire an arrow at Ganon. As it whistles through the air, the power of the Maidens, Zelda, Link, and Roam, turn the arrow into the Silver Arrow.
 * Large and In Charge: Upon arrival in the Dark World, Link is confronted by three thieves and their "boss," a Hinox. They make trouble by questioning link about a fairy they're hunting.
 * Lotus Position: Sahasrahla when we first meet him.
 * Duty First, Love Second / Married to the Job:.
 * Mouthy Kid: The boy.
 * Mirror Scare: Link and the fairy duo head out to the Swamp Palace but discover that it's completely dried up. Link calls to Sahasrahla for help and asks him to go to the Light World location of the Palace, where Sahasrahla and the boy find a fountain. The boy, excited to see Link in the pool of water, suddenly shouts at Link to look out for the Taurus right behind him.
 * Mood Whiplash: The comic has moments of slapstick interspersed with some genuine scares.
 * Mr. Exposition: Several, with Sahashrala and the archetypical Old Man being most prominent.
 * In the Dark World, Link discovers a shrine where he can rest before going on. As Link begins to fall asleep, a nearby tree sprouts a face and begins to tell him the story of Ganon and the Triforce. The talking trees play a similar role in the game, while the gist of the tree's story appears in the LTTP's prologue.
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya: In the rubble of the Dark Palace, a knight introduces himself as Roam and challenges Link for the right to wield the Master Sword.
 * Nameless Narrative: The boy from Kakariko doesn't have a canon name, and is known as "Sahasrala's friend."
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: Is there anything the handy Master Sword can't do? In addition to it's established powers (deflecting Agahnim's magic and paralyzing Ganon), it can channel Link's rage into energy, causing electric storms.
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Link tries whacking at the Lanmola with his sword, but its hide is too hard to cause any damage to it. However, after the Lanmola launches him in the air, he lands on top of the scorpion statue and retrieves the Pendant.

"Agahnim: Not so long ago, another foolish warrior lost his life spouting similar nonsense!"
 * No Body Left Behind: This regularly happens with the boss monsters Link fights. Minor foes are either revealed as Animated Armor or blown to smithereens in an explosion.
 * Nobody Here but Us Statues: Inverted -- Link mistakes a Rocklops for a statue. "Don't scare me like that!"
 * Not Quite Flight: When Link is about to pack off to the desert, the boy gives him a "bird" that Link can ride on -- actually a sort of hang-glider in the shape of wings woven by the Hylian Sages, replacing the Flute Boy's Bird from the video game.
 * Old Master: Sahashrala.
 * Ominous Floating Castle / Spikes of Villainy: Ganon's Castle.
 * Only the Chosen May Wield: The Master Sword. Only the hero of legend can pull it out. Guess who that is.
 * Or Was It a Dream?: In his dream, Link falls asleep on Zelda's lap, complaining about his misshapen arm. When Link wakes up, he finds that someone has bandaged his arm and is actually standing in front of the Tower of Hera.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: Link periodically turns into one in the Dark World.
 * PG Explosives: Traditional Zelda bombs are replaced with pineapple grenades (dubbed "firecorn") in the comic.
 * Power Glows: The Pendants.
 * To help expedite things, Link doesn't need the Book of Mudora to translate the glyphs himself. When Link reaches the Desert of Mystery, the book flies out of his hands and hovers over the Hylian script, casting a swath of light from its pages. This automatically unlocks the Pendant of Power.
 * The Professor: The Librarian.
 * Prophecies Are Always Right: Played quite straight. Link is told he's destined to save Hyrule, and that's exactly what he does.
 * Punny Name: Roam.
 * Quicksand Sucks: Link, using the Book of Mudora in the Desert of Mystery, reveals a scorpion statue that has the Pendant of Power hang on it. Before Link can approach it, he sinks into the quicksand -- and resurfaces on top of a Lanmola. Eep!
 * The Rival: Roam.
 * Rule of Drama: Link cannot travel freely between worlds and is trapped in the Dark World once Agahnim transports him there. He maintains his form in the Dark World by controlling his emotions, whereas in the game the Moon Pearl is needed to keep human form.
 * Scars Are Forever: Zora apologizes that he thought Link was Roam, the knight who scarred his forehead
 * Secret Keeper: A Kakariko villager helps Link hide inside one of his hay bales, having no love for the new regime.
 * Short Cuts Make Long Delays: Epheremelda doesn't buy into the idea that Zleda has suddenly warpedfrom Turtle Rock to the wasteland, and recommends that they go find the map first. Link, blinded by his devotion, says no way.
 * Sinister Schnoz: Roam, a hint to his Super Mode as an eagle.
 * Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification: A solid Type 3. The story hews close to the plot of the video game. Agahnim and Ganon are explicitly shown to be different beings, communicating between worlds in one scene. The events of the Dark World are heavily abridged, and Link only saves two maidens before finding Zelda (Though Link visits Misery Mire and the Ice Palace, no maidens are imprisoned there). The collection of items vital to the game's completion are either changed (the "Bird") or excised entirely, with only the Book of Mudora appearing in the same capacity.
 * Smoke Out: Agahnim vanishing into blue mist with Zelda in his clutches.
 * Sssssnaketalk: Zora.
 * : Link and Zelda in the epilogue.
 * Steampunk: The librarian comes up with the idea of building a hot air balloon to carry Link into Hyrule Castle. The balloon uses a ramshackle gadget to produce helium.
 * Stop Helping Me!: The Boy cheers Link on by pounding the head of one the statues that pour into the fountain. This triggers the Swamp Palace in the Dark World to get flooded, washing away the monsters and Link. "Uh-oh."
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Pretty much every temple Link visits.
 * Talking in Your Dreams: Shortly after witnessing a vision of his parents, Zelda appears to Link in the desert, causing him to brush it off as another mirage. Zelda claims that they are in a dream, for if two people dream the same thing, they will run into each other.
 * Ticking Clock: In Chapter 5, Link decides to lie down and rest for a bit, only to be woken up by Zelda, who reminds him that he only has until sundown before Agahnim casts his final incantation on her.
 * Walking Disaster Area: Link.
 * Weird Moon: A full moon hovers over Hyrule, counting down the nights until Agahnim's spell. In the Dark World, the moon sports a skull face.
 * Woman in White: Zelda on horseback in the epilogue.
 * A Worldwide Punomenon: Link's first encounter with Agahnim doesn't go well; a bolt of lightning sends his head bonking into the ceiling, then landing squarely on the stone floor. "Maybe this will knock some heroic sense into me!"
 * You Killed My Father: Link's uncle.