The Mystery of the Harper II
By Ice
This is just sort of a follow-up on Jaraad Virani's Link and Mysterious Harper theory. I think that it is an interesting idea, not very likely, but interesting, nonetheless. What the basic idea of his theory says is that the Mysterious Harper is, in fact, the Link from Zelda III and IV, and the other Link (the one with red hair), is an imposter. I have a different interpretation of his theory, sort of the same idea, but modified a bit. Before I go any farther, though, I would like to state that personally, I don't believe the Harper to be any of the Links. I just simply have another interpretation of the theory that I think adds a few little sparks of interest into the storyline. Well, as my little theory goes (which I do NOT hold to be true), the red-headed Link (which I will refer to as Link I from now on) is the Link you control, the new hero for Hyrule, and the Mysterious Harper (which I'll refer to as Link II from here on out), is the future Link for Zelda 3 and 4. However , there are some problems with this theory. First of all, why would Nintendo have both Links in there in the first place? Why confuse us? (As if the story wasn't confusing enough). And the Harper appears to be older than Link II was in Zelda 3, so that pretty much rules out the entire possibility of this theory holding true. But not quite. You see, no one is completely sure exactly when Zelda 64 takes place. All evidence so far has pointed to it being before A Link to the Past, but we're not totally sure. Maybe, just maybe, the Harper is Link after Zelda 4. One piece of evidence that supports this is the harp itself. In Zelda 4, Link recovers the Surf Harp. And no one knows what happened to Link II after Zelda 4, so there is a possibility that he returned t o Hyrule before settling down in Calatia. The second piece of evidence that I have found is the blonde hair the Harpist has. Link II has blonde hair, and all of the Official Zelda 64 Character Art has featured Link with blonde hair, while in the game, he has red hair. However, the visible blonde streaks of hair in the style similar to all Links may, in reality, not be hair at all. When examining different screen shots of him, my analysis has unveiled that the blonde hair may not be hair at all, but a portion of the Harpist's hood. As a matter of fact, I'm almost completely positive that it really is part of the hood, which throws a damper in the theory completely. And, knowing Miyamato's style, I honestly don't think that he would throw a plot twist of this caliber at us. It just doesn't seem likely or even realistic. However, only the release and completion of Zelda 64 will tell us the final, true answer. So, one question still remains. I have thrown the facts at you. It's your choice as to what you will believe. Is the Mysterious Harper Link II or just another character with a strong taste for music (like the Flute Boy)?
