Manga / The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Duology (2001)

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The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages are a duology and a manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games. Seasons and Ages are the third and fourth entries of The Legend of Zelda (Akira Himekawa), respectively.

Link has always struggled with having to become the knight and hero his grandfather always wanted him to be, but the will of the Triforce does not give him much choice. To foil the plans of the Twinrova sisters, he must travel in far off lands and deal with bending seasons and time distortions to stop their agents from reviving Ganon.

This manga contains examples of:

• A Hero Is Born: The manga opens with Link's birth, showing his Triforce mark from those games as a birthmark.
• Adaptational Romance Downgrade: In the original linked game, Link has some Ship Tease with Princess Zelda and even gets a kiss from her. That does not happen here.
• Adaptational Weapon Swap: Link’s starting weapon is changed from a wooden sword to a metal sword. In addition, Ralph’s sword is changed from a typical arming sword to a smallsword.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: In the original linked game, Twinrova kidnapped Zelda to serve as a sacrifice to revive Ganondorf, but was forced to sacrifice themselves when Link foiled the plan. The result was a mindless, feral Ganon. Since the kidnapping plot is Adapted Out, there’s no explanation for why Ganon is the way he is aside from Zelda telepathically telling Link it was an Imperfect Ritual, but not why it was so.
• Adapted Out:
  • Farore never appears in the duology's narrative.
  • The manga only shows Holodum's Maku Tree, and not Labrynna's.
• Ancestral Weapon: Link uses his grandfather’s sword for most of Oracle of Seasons, and he receives another sword from his ancestor Raven in Oracle of Ages.
• Annoying Arrows: In Oracle of Ages, Raven can still fight quite competently against the Labrynnan knights after taking an arrow meant for Link to the shoulder, and never shows any pain from the wound when the arrow is removed.
• Apocalyptic Log: Link finds the logbook used by the ghost pirate crew, and realizes that they were stuck into a never-ending storm.
• Ascended Extra: Maple becomes a member of Link's group in Oracle of Seasons, while in the game she can only bump into him.
• As Long as There Is Evil: A heroic version is invoked by Link
  Link: Come back to life a thousand times...and in any age, a hero bearing this symbol will appear...to bring an end to your reign of terror!
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Link is dismissive of his grandfather’s ambition to mold him into a knight, but he’s provoked into fighting hard against another swordsman when said swordsman makes fun of the sword that belonged to his grandfather.
• Bad Taste Call-Out: In Seasons, Link responds to a young knight trainee insulting him by pointing out his tacky armor and cape. The trainee turns out to be fairly capable in their subsequent duel, although Link wins with a lucky strike.
• Big Damn Heroes: After Link and Ralph foil Veran's execution of Raven and convince Ambi to change her ways, Veran pulls off her absolute last resort, releasing control of Nayru so she can take control of Ambi instead and sic the royal guard on the heroes. However, Nayru recovers just in time to safely transport Link, Ralph, and Raven to the future.
• Birthmark of Destiny: Link has one on his left hand in the shape of the Triforce. He's not exactly comfortable with the implications at the start.
• Bizarre Seasons: As with the games, Onox kidnapping Din throws the seasons out of order. In a more lighthearted case, Link and Ricky find that using the Rod of Seasons allows them to play in the snow and view cherry blossoms at the same time.
• Bookends: Oracle of Seasons begins with Link's grandfather explaining their family history and pointing to a portrait of Sir Raven. Oracle of Ages ends with Link's grandfather bringing up their family history again and Link looks at the portrait of Sir Raven again. However, as a result of Link's time travels, the portrait of Sir Raven has changed to look more heroic.
• Canon Character All Along: An inanimate example. Roperi's bonsai plant turns out to be a Mystery Tree, allowing Link to take the seed and use it against Veran.
• Canon Foreigner: In the original game duology, Link's family is unexplored apart from the retroactive implication he may or may not be the same Link from A Link to the Past, who had an uncle. The manga version of Seasons establishes that Link was Raised by Grandparents, while in Ages Link is able to meet an ancestor of his, Raven, thanks to Time Travel.
• The Cavalry: As Link, Raven, and Ralph prepare to mount a seemingly hopeless Last Stand against Ganon, a post-Heel–Face Turn Queen Ambi shows up in the nick of time to lead her army and the village rebels and help turn the tide against the Demon King.
• The Champion: The Heroic Wannabe Ralph at least aspires to be this for his childhood friend, Nayru. Despite being weaker, dumber, and less experienced than the other heroes, he demonstrates enough grit to leap into any danger for Nayru's sake out of Undying Loyalty to her.
• Chekhov's Gun: The potted sprout Roperi carries around turns out to be a very young Mystery Tree. With the help of Nayru's time-manipulation power, Link is able to get a Mystery Seed from the magically grown tree and use it against Veran, who believed she had already gotten rid of all the Mystery Seeds.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Raven is introduced as a portrait in Oracle of Seasons before Link meets him via Time Travel in Oracle of Ages.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Even though he Cannot Spit It Out, Ralph clearly hopes to get together with Nayru, although it's not made clear whether he achieves this.
• Close-Enough Timeline: Oracle of Ages has Link returning to a timeline mostly identical to his own, except that he has retroactively made himself the most renowned ancestor of his family and his own namesake.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like:
  • After Maple is barely saved from Medelock by Link picking her up and carrying her away, she kicks him.
    Link: Look, witchy-poo, you're the one who called for help!
    Maple: I did not.
  • As with everything involving Link, Ralph finds a way to complain about having his life saved.
    Ralph: Sure, you're happy. You saved the day... Again! I was all set to die heroically, but noooo...
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: Maple steals the Rod of Seasons, but her broom, acting on her innermost thoughts, brings her back to Link.
• Cowardice Callout: When Onox starts to lose his last fight with Link, he uses Din as a human shield. Both Maple and Link himself call him out on it.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Link really doesn't fare well in his first proper fight with Onox.
  • He fights Onox a second time when he comes to kidnap Din, he loses just as badly.
• Damsel in Distress:
  • As with the games, each section of the duology has an Oracle to save: Din in Seasons and Nayru in Ages.
  • Played for Laughs in Seasons when Link saves Maple from Medelock, only for the witch to kick him in the face.
  • In Ages, Link saves Roperi from Ramrock before the monster can crush her.
• Dance Enthusiast: Din stresses that beyond being a dancer to cover her position as the Oracle of Seasons, it's her favorite thing to do, even trying to dance privately with Link.
  Din: I love the seasons. But more than anything, I love to dance.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the relatively light-hearted Oracle of Seasons volume, the Oracle of Ages volume features slavery, the near-slaughter of a village, Link almost getting wiped from existence, and the brutal death of Veran's Giant Spider form.
• Delayed Ripple Effect: Appears to be how changes in time work in Oracle of Ages.
• Demonic Possession: Veran's specialty in Oracle of Ages.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Holodrum's Maku Tree has a minimal role in the story compared to the game. Well, at least he gets to appear.
  • The Subrosians only appear in a cameo.
• Disproportionate Retribution: General Onox's response to Link throwing a stick at him? He sends monsters after his hide.
• Dramatic Irony: When Jhovan tries to press Link into joining the circus troupe permanently, Din scolds him for trying to decide Link's life for him — he's aiming to become a knight (with a great deal of reluctance and almost entirely due to his grandfather's insistence) after all!
• Dueling Scar: Link cuts the cheek of a cocky knight-in-training in their bout.
• Emergency Temporal Shift: After Link convinces Queen Ambi to spare Raven and change her ways, Veran abandons Nayru's body to take Ambi's and force her to command her forces to attack. She realizes too late that this frees up Nayru to transport herself and the heroes to the future.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: As in the game, the Black Tower is being constructed with the use of brutal labor that conscript workers are forced into, with conditions being even worse here, considering the whip-toting guards and Veran's explicit willingness to force the workers to keep going until they drop if that's what it takes to make construction go faster.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Ralph is not impressed by Zelda's choice in heroes in Oracle of Ages.
• Expy: Raven, Link's ancestor, is one for adult Link from Ocarina of Time.
• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: In Seasons, Link receives a bag of Mystical Seeds from the Maku Tree. He ends up using an Ember Seed to kill Manhandla and a Pegasus Seed to Speed Blitz Medelock. In "Ages'', the Captain reveals to Link that Veran's only weakness is a Mystery Seed.
• Farm Boy: Link... sort of. He and his family were originally from Hyrule Castle Town but they moved to the countryside when Link's mother fell ill.
• Faux Affably Evil: Onox will claim he's an Officer and a Gentleman, even making a show of showing Din deference before he takes her away, but his brutality and callousness as he beats Link within an inch of his life during their first fight when he gets in the way of capturing Din shows it's only skin-deep.
• Friend to All Living Things: Nayru. Link also skirts this - some animals are even romantically attracted to him.
• Forced Overwork: Veran forces Labrynnan conscripts to work nonstop in building the Black Tower, with conditions made even worse by the constant supervision of cruel guards, some of which carry whips. Veran even shoots down a guard who protests that just adding more conscripts won't speed up construction, since she says they can work until they drop for all she cares.
• Ghost Pirate: Captain and his shipmates were lost in a cursed storm, forcing them to sail as living skeletons for eternity.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Link slashes Medelock in half.
• Hammer Hilt: In Ages, Link gives an opponent a pommel strike to the groin. His ancestor Raven uses a similar technique aimed at the stomach.
• Hero, Rival, Friend Trio: Ages has the time-traveling Link, his supportive ancestor Raven, and Ralph, a bumbling noble who forms an uneasy partnership with Link.
• Heroic Lineage: Link's grandfather is quite proud of the fact that their family has served as knights of Hyrule for ages, which is why he's insistent on Link becoming one himself.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Onox is very intent on being around and looming over Din after he's captured her, with only the fact she's currently stuck in a magic crystal preventing things from going too far. It only gets worse after he learns Link is making progress and Din mocks him, causing him to loom over her while partially assuming his draconic form and promising that Link will suffer should he make it here and she'll have a front-row seat to it as she looks on in horror.
• I'm Not a Hero, I'm...: When Impa notices the Triforce birthmark on Link's hand, Link gets very defensive about it, insisting that it means nothing and that he's just a regular person.
• Improvised Lockpick: Raven sneaks Link a fishing hook to use to escape Ambi’s prison, and shows him another one to prove that he’s on the hero’s side.
• Innocent Flower Girl: In Ages, Link meets a young female flower seller, who Veran pulls a Grand Theft Me on in order to get close to Impa for her next host and to taunt the hero.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Piyoko the chicken, in Oracle of Seasons, reveals herself to have romantic feelings for Link as she's dying from Onox's attack she took for Link, admitting that she wishes that she was born a human girl.
  • Ricky nearly becomes this. He wants to be Link's retainer but becomes enamored with Link when Link calls Ricky his "Buddy". The kangaroo gets disappointed when he hears about Din, thinking his master has feelings for another, prompting the appropriate reaction from Link. Though he vows to still follow him around forever.
• Intimidation Failure: Subverted when the powerful body-hopping witch Veran is amused by the short and scrawny Non-Action Guy Ralph trying to threaten her with a dainty smallsword. She then remembers she can't use any magic while possessing the human Queen Ambi, and runs for her life.
• Lethal Lava Land: Shortly after arriving in Subrosia, an erupting volcano forces Link, Ricky, and Piyoko to flee to the Temple of Seasons.
• Link, I Am Your Ancestor: Sir Raven. This is the reason why Link is worried about Raven fighting Veran.
• Magic Music: The Harp of Ages - part instrument, part TARDIS.
• Manly Tears: Ralph sheds one or two in Oracle of Ages after Link saves his life.
• Marshmallow Hell: Link endures this with Impa.
• Mundane Utility: Much to Ralph's surprise, it turns out he can use the Harp of Ages, which primarily functions as a Time Travel device, as just a plain old harp.
• My Own Grampa: At the end of Oracle of Ages, Link discovers that his actions in the past have changed his family's history, and there is a portrait of himself hanging in his grandparents' house. His grandfather crossly reminds him that this is Link, their greatest ancestor, after whom he was named. So Link was, in the altered reality, named after himself.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: As Veran is happy to announce.
  Veran: You're just figuring that out now? Thank goodness Princess Zelda chose such a fool to be her hero. You're the one who broke the barrier and let me in!
• Not Himself: Impa insists on Link moving the stone blocking the path to Nayru when she's the one who can lift cows. Link finds it weird but unfortunately doesn't give it much thought until its too late.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Being a short, skinny teenage boy doesn't stop Link from being very effective against large opponents, especially after honing his swordsmanship.
• Precocious Crush: Roperi has one on Raven, and eventually develops a bit of one on Link as well.
• Raised by Grandparents: Link grandparents raised him and taught him swordplay.
• Refusal of the Call: Link is conflicted about his Birthmark of Destiny and his grandfather's insistence that he become a knight in Oracle of Seasons because he doesn't want his future decided for him. While he does initially go to take the exam required to become one, he quickly gets sidetracked until Onox kidnaps Din.
• Remember the New Guy?: Link's ancestor Raven introduced in Oracle of Ages, who only appeared in a painting in Oracle of Seasons.
• Ret-Gone: Veran attempts to do this to Link by ordering the execution of his ancestor. Includes Link experiencing Delayed Ripple Effect dizziness with his hand fading out like in Back to the Future (1985).
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: At the end of Oracle of Ages, only Link seems to remember the timeline as it was pre-revision.
• Save This Person, Save the World: Saving Din in Seasons and Nayru in Ages is the only way for Link to stop the villains from messing around with the seasons and the time space continuum.
• Sequel Hook: The ending of Oracle of Seasons has the witches Koume and Kotake plotting the events of Oracle of Ages.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Veran mocks Ralph's Suicide Mission plan, pointing out that killing his ancestor, Ambi, won't actually kill her. Ralph counters that, while Ambi's death won't end Veran, it will at least put a major spanner in her plans, and that's what he's hoping for.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Link keeps saying this to Ricky the kangaroo about Din in Oracle of Seasons.
• Slashed Throat: Link kills Ganon by slashing his neck open with Raven's sword.
• The Slow Path: The Harp of Ages. After Link runs off into the past with it, Ralph manages to find it in an antique shop in the present. Turns out that the guard who took it from Link used it to pay his bar tab.
  Link: How did you get the Harp of Ages?
  Ralph: Because you just left it lying around in the past!
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Link in Oracle of Seasons, thanks to the power of the Triforce. While he doesn't retain this power fully afterward, it's shown in Oracle of Ages that animals can still understand him much better than other humans.
• Stalker with a Crush: General Onox seems to be this to Din in Oracle of Seasons.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Raven looks just like Link as an adult.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Link and Maple in Oracle of Seasons.
• Taking You with Me: After taking a mortal wound from Link, Veran tries to blow both herself and the hero up with a bomb. Raven comes to the rescue at the last second.
• Take Me Instead: After Onox defeats Link in a Curb-Stomp Battle, Din offers herself up in exchange for the boy's life.
• Team Mom: Impa serves as this to the circus troupe in Oracle of Seasons. After discovering that Link was Raised by Grandparents, she decides that she's going to be his mom as well. Cue the Marshmallow Hell.
• Team Pet: Piyoko the chicken in Oracle of Seasons.
• Terminator Twosome: Link uses the Harp of Ages to follow Veran back in time, and specifically kicks Ralph out of the way to stop it from being a threesome, at least for a while.
• There Is Another: Not another hero, but it turns out that not all of the Mystery seeds needed to draw out Veran were destroyed. As it turns out, Roperi's plant is a bonsai Mystery Tree.
• The Three Faces of Eve: With Farore Adapted Out, the dynamic is changed to Din (beautiful dancer), Nayru (gentle singer), and Zelda (Wise Beyond Their Years princess).
• Time Skip: There's one year between Seasons and Ages.
• To Be Lawful or Good: When Queen Ambi’s knights call Raven out on freeing her prisoners despite pledging his loyalty, Raven responds that a ruler who torments people isn’t worth serving.
• Truer to the Text: Medelock goes by his original Japanese name rather than his dub name, Medusa Head.
• Walking Wasteland: Onox, as life dies wherever he steps. Din realizes that he's been in the area when she discovers a long strip of inexplicably barren land stretching across a field.
• With My Dying Breath, I Summon You: After being reduced to a decapitated head, Veran uses the last of her strength to send her "final lamentation" to Twinrova so they can summon Ganon.
• Wrecked Weapon:
  • In Seasons, Link's sword breaks in his second fight with Onox, but the Triforce rebuilds it.
  • In Ages, Link steals a spear from one of Queen Ambi's guards when he escapes them, but it gets slashed apart in his duel with Raven.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Veran is forced out of Queen Ambi by the Mystery Seed, she spends the rest of the fight with Link screaming her head off about how he forced her to assume her true spider form and that she'll make him pay.
• Villainous Exit Denied: Veran, upon realizing that she cannot use magic on the sword-wielding Ralph while possessing Ambi, decides to run up the stairs of the Black Tower. She learns too late that even without Ralph in pursuit, Link is prepared to shoot her with a Mystery Seed and force her out of Ambi's body.
• You Are Too Late: At the end of Oracle of Seasons Onox tells Link that he may have defeated him, but not before he could gather what he came to Holodrum for and send it back to Koume and Kotake. Link doesn't get to learn the significance of this is until Oracle of Ages.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Despite the best efforts of the heroes, Ganon is still revived, although not quite in the state as his followers might have wanted.
• You Monster!: Link screams this to Onox in Oracle of Seasons after he kills Piyoko as a chick.