Is Zelda Stronger Than Link? Not in Raw Strength, But Her Magic is Supreme

As a passionate Zelda gamer, I get this question a lot—who‘s stronger in a fight between the Hero of Hyrule and the Princess with the Blood of the Goddess? At first glance, Link with his legendary Master Sword and the physical power to take down behemoths seems the easy favorite. But Zelda‘s magical abilities and divine connection make this matchup far from clear cut.

After analyzing their numerous incarnations across 20+ Zelda games, looking at weapons, skills, feats, weaknesses and more, I don’t believe either has the absolute advantage. Link dominates in close combat with unparalleled sword skills, athleticism, arsenals and superhuman physicality. However, when Zelda taps into her divine magic, she wields supreme power rivaling the Golden Goddesses themselves.

So in most fights, Link would overwhelm Zelda with blades and brute force long before she could bring her magic to bear. But ancient prophecies imply a fully awakened Princess could seal away or destroy even ultimate evils that leave Link struggling. Overall it comes down to environment and specific incarnations. So let‘s dive deeper!

Zelda Wields Goddess-Level Magic Power

As the mortal reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, Zelda inherits tremendous magical abilities and divine powers passed down through Hyrule‘s Royal Family. While most incarnations struggle unlocking this power, when awakened we‘ve seen Zelda:

• Seal away Demise, the ultra-powerful Demon King who defeated Link in combat
• Permanently destroy Malladus, the Demon King of the Lokomos
• Seal then destroy Calamity Ganon, a primal evil that had overwhelmed Link

Her awakened magical powers include different types of Light Arrows, sealing magic that warps reality itself, and wishing spells channeling power from the Triforce. Zelda also exhibits basic magics like telepathy, precognition, and barrier creation even without fully tapping her power.

Just look at Breath of the Wild—after awakening, Zelda sealed the ridiculously powerful Calamity Ganon alone for 100 years while Link recovered. Even unawakened, the Princess repelled Guardians with magic while Link lay helpless.

So in terms of pure magical power, an awakened Zelda seems nigh unstoppable, rivaling the Golden Goddesses who created Hyrule themselves. Hylia reborn stands worlds above any mage or sorcerer Link has battled. If she focused that divine energy into combat rather than just sealing…few mortal foes would stand a chance no matter their physical power or skill.

Link Dominates Short-Term Combat With Swords, Skills and Gear

However, Link more than makes up for any magical deficiencies with unparalleled combat abilities and arsenals tailored to dispatching foes before spells come into play. His superhuman physicality combined with legendary weapons and artifacts make Link a swordsman without equal in all of Hyrule and beyond.

While Zelda struggles before unlocking latent power, Link constantly demonstrates skill trouncing enemies many times his size and might. Just look at some of his more ridiculous feats:

• Defeated armored Lynels in single combat that can smash stone walls with fists
• Faced off solo against the demon Demise, who obliterated armies single-handedly
• Matched swords with Ganondorf, a Gerudo warlock whose magic and swordsmanship intimidated the entire royal guard
• Taken down towering Stone Taluses that flatten forests just by walking around

Link accomplished these and countless other ridiculous feats thanks to:

• Innate Swordsmanship Skills: All Links demonstrate peerless swordsmanship, martial arts skills like the Hidden Skills, and mastery of numerous weapon types
• Insane Arsenal: Bows, bombs, boomerangs, hookshots, magical rods—Link always has the right gadget for every obstacle
• Superhuman Physicality: Incredible strength, speed, stamina, durability—Links exhibit athleticism beyond any normal Hylian
• Master Sword: This legendary blade smites evil and offers unique advantages against dark magic users and demons
• Powerful Artifacts: Golden Gauntlets, Magic Armor, Masks and more artifacts boost Link’s power even further

So in a 1 on 1 fight without prep, Link‘s combat skills and gear give him a decisive edge over nearly any Zelda incarnation not fully awakened. He‘s geared up to outmaneuver magical attacks while quickly closing into melee range, his specialty. Zelda‘s best shot would be ranged spellcasting, but Link closes gaps quickly and one clean sword strike often ends fights against powerful magical foes like Ganon or Veran.

So based on their combat showings, Link wins fights against Zelda more often than not. But that brings us to an interesting question…who is the individually strongest Link and Zelda?

Strongest Link: Fierce Deity or Hero of the Wild?

Ranking the strongest Link gets tricky because of all the varied gear, enemies and incarnation ages across games. But a few standouts like Breath of the Wild Link or the Fierce Deity form seem a cut above the rest in terms of flat out power and combat feats.

Fierce Deity Link

By donning the Fierce Deity Mask, Link transforms into a god-like warrior clad in ominous armor and wielding the devastating Double Helix Sword said to smite all kinds of evil spirits. This absurdly powerful form tore through Majora, a reality-warping quasi-deity, like wet tissue paper. His abilities include:

• Size manipulation, growing into a giant
• Energy projectiles and beams from his sword
• Magic amplifier, boosting spell potency to extreme levels
• Divine smiting power, banishing evil spirits

So few beings seem capable of even giving Fierce Deity Link a decent fight thanks to his hack-like divine abilities. Ganondorf might prove his greatest challenge from the Zelda rogues gallery.

Key Feats

• Killed Majora in under 10 seconds, something base Link struggled immensely to accomplish
• Smote demons and evil spirits that gave Link trouble in the Fierce Deity form
• Power-scaling to Majora places him far above most Zelda characters

Breath of the Wild Link

The Hero of the Wild depends less on divine magic, but his base abilities and gear exceed any previous Link by an order of magnitude. Wielding the Master Sword and piloting Guardians, Link accomplishes ridiculous feats like:

• Parrying colossal Guardian laser beams mid-flight using a DIRT CHEAP pot lid
• Contending with Calamity Ganon’s mountain-leveling beams using Daruk’s Protection
• One-shot killing the extremely durable Molduking moldorm from the INSIDE using Bomb Arrows

And thanks to Breath of the Wild’s crazy physics, Link can launch explosive weapons nearly approaching artilllery levels and abuse bullet time no-scopes and even flight with bow spin glitches. Previous Links struggled with far less once their gear breaks, but BotW Link always has devastating armaments on hand like Ancient Arrows vaporizing anything they hit instantly.

Key Feats

• Defeated Calamity Ganon, who possessed Ganon‘s full might enhanced further by 10,000 years of dark energy absorption
• Easily trounced powerful enemies and technology that overwhelmed all of Hyrule’s champions combined
• Obtained the Master Cycle, bestowing Link with cybernetic physicality

So in terms of combat feats, Fierce Deity Link likely takes #1 for raw power against evil beings specifically. Against anything else, BotW Link has an argument rivalling even FD‘s power in my book based on abilities and scaling to his enemies and weapons.

Strongest Zelda: Goddess Hylia vs Awakened BotW Zelda

Many Zelda incarnations demonstrate strong magical potential when awakened, but a few outlier incarnations massively eclipse the rest. Let’s compare Hylia herself against the powerful awakened Zelda from Breath of the Wild:

Goddess Hylia

The literal goddess reborn as Zelda obviously sits at the utter peak of the princess’s magical girl power. Hylia created Hyrule itself in ancient times before sacrificing her divine form. Her reality-warping abilities include:

• Created Hyrule’s geography and left behind divine artifacts
• Sealed away Demise alongside Link and the Seven Sages
• Ensured only her mortal bloodline can wield the supreme Triforce

If we scale her power to golden goddesses like Din who molded mountains and Nayru who gave law to reality itself, Hylia approaches cosmic tier at her height. Of course, such heights of power await Zelda only in potential future incarnations or if she literally reattained goddesshood.

Key Feats

• Reshaped the very landscape of Hyrule as it was formed
• Sealed away Demise, one of Ganon’s strongest incarnations, for eras
• Scales to universal+ tier goddesses in terms of reality-warping magic

Awakened Breath of the Wild Zelda

But while Hylia stands goddess tiers beyond, even mortal Zelda possesses terrifying power when fully awakened. After unlocking her magic against Calamity Ganon, Zelda displayed reality-rending abilities resembling Hylia herself. Her feats include:

• Sealing Ganon alone for 100 years straight
• Channeling the divine Goddess Nayru to briefly stop time itself
• Using the Triforce‘s power wish for Link’s resuscitation from fatal wounds

Breath of the Wild’s Zelda never realizes her full potential since her power remains focused maintaining the seal on Ganon. But based on 10,000 years of past Princesses, her magic likely scales to reality-shaping levels if turned to direct combat.

Key Feats

• Sealed Calamity Ganon at full power for a century without breaking
• Warped reality itself to freeze time and teleport Link across Hyrule
• Used the Triforce itself, basis for almost all magical power in the lore

So while Hylia obviously stands at the utter peak of Zelda’s god-tier potential, even mortal incarnations like BotW Zelda approach that level once fully awakened in my opinion. She likely stands as the individually strongest mortal Zelda against enemies besides Ganon himself at least.

Conclusion: Link Excels at Combat, Zelda Holds Supreme Magical Power

After breakdowns of their strongest forms, it remains clear Link and Zelda excel in different areas despite their close destiny-bound relationship.

In a pitched 1v1 fight without prep or sequences, Link deadlier than Zelda 10/10 times thanks to his close quarters domination and titanic arsenal overwhelming fighters of any tier before they can mount a counterattack. No magic or spirits stand up long to hits from the Master Sword or Ancient Arrows.

But the tables quickly turn should Zelda awaken her destined power before or during the battle. Any sorcerer or demon falls short of Zelda’s magical girl potential, allowing her to end fights in one flashing instant by turning foes to ash, sealing their essence, or stripping their power entirely. Only Ganon has endured her divine wrath for long.

So in summary:

• Link wields superior strength, speed and skill for winning short-term battles before magic takes effect
• Zelda holds supreme magical power able to overwhelm nearly any enemy given time to awaken it

And remember – Link may stand supreme in single combat against individual enemies or tournament formats. But in actual adventures, Zelda’s magic revolves around sealing away the ultimate evils that leave Link struggling at the brink of death. So they perfectly complement one another!

Neither hero nor princess overshadow each other completely. In fact they likely stand as equals ruling Hyrule together in periods of peace according to hints dropped during Breath of the Wild. They represent two sides of the same divine force destined to destroy evil and maintain balance no matter how many times Ganon returns.

So that concludes my deep dive into Link VS Zelda – let me know who YOU think wins in a duel between Hyrule’s iconic hero and princess! I welcome any counterarguments. And what matchup would you like to see covered next in the Zelda universe? Let me know in the comments!