Battle Royale: the Princess of Hyrule

Starting with OoT, we've seen some significant changes come over Zelda that modified our views of her a tad bit. This particular incarnation of Hyrule's Princess had a disguise called Sheik, a Sheikah boy. With this disguise we saw something else: significant skill in self defense.

Along came WW and we see yet another version of the Princess; storywise she was a descendant of OoT's Princess going by the name of Tetra. Her occupation? Pirate. What do Pirates do? They loot and plunder, showing exceptional skill with the blade as they do so. Thus it was with Tetra the pirate, a.k.a. Princess Zelda.

The latest game to feature a different incarnation of Zelda was in Twilight Princess. Though she had no alterego that we knew of, she confidently strode into battle, leading her people with a double-edged sword in hand. Whether or not she had skill with the blade is debatable, but considering her wealth and position I'm sure she had ample instruction by skilled swordsmen before putting her own life on the line by going into battle with her men.

The question: which of these three named Zeldas is the most skilled fighter?

OoT Zelda: As seen in SSBM (if we can use this game as any indication) we can see that she is fairly skilled with magical spells and also an expert martial artist when in her Sheik form. As seen in official artwork, Sheik is also one to use a Wakizashi (a short Japanese blade) in battle.

WW Zelda: As a Pirate, she's bold, gutsy, and very skilled with a blade, even to the point of fending off Ganondorf. Only when she was distracted during her brief encounter with him was she put at a disadvantage. Even when wearing her Princess clothes, though she can't maneuver quite like she could as Tetra, her skills with the Bow and Arrows are shown, aiding Link in his final confontration against the evil Ganondorf.

TP Zelda: Most likely a competent swordsman, and an expert marksman, even from horseback. Her intense focus and determination would make her an admirable foe in battle (and if SSBB is any indication, she also is very skilled in magic and even has her very own Sheik form, like her OoT predecessor).

There you have it, folks. Make your pick and explain your reasonings behind your choice.

Dammit, this is hard. But I would have to go with TP Princess Zelda. Aside from the fact that I think she's the better fighter (swords, expert markman, etc) I dislike OOT Zelda becuase of her looking reminiscant of Princess peach.

We never see any of them fight.

I was gonna go with WW Zelda, but then I figured TP Zelda wins by default since she really knows how to wield a sword(not that Tetra doesn't have a clue)

Of course... Being able to change into a ninja kinda trumps anything else.
But anyway, OoT Zelda's got some pretty strong magic, and her Sheik form. We could get into another ninjas vs. pirates argument trying to decide whether OoT Zelda or TWW Zelda is better, but there's a big difference. OoT Zelda can be a princess with magic, or a ninja. TWW Zelda can be a pirate, or a princess that needs Link's bow to do anything. Ya catch that?

There's a chance TP Zelda can fight, and I'd imagine she'd have a fairly decent level of skill... But ninjas still win. I'm sure even Tetra could take her on and possibly win.

I'm not going to take any fighting skill from Brawl or Melee into consideration because those really aren't canon in any way- they were just given so that players could finally use Zelda.

In any case, I'm going to have to go with Tetra. Tetra's pretty darn gutsy. She attacked Ganon, and she had no fear of the Ghost Ship. She knows how to use explosives, and she's skilled with the bow and arrow. TP!Zelda may also be skilled with the bow and arrow, but we don't know for sure that she uses her sword. I think Tetra would be quicker to jump into a fight because of her brash attitude.

As far as OoT!Zelda goes... yes, she did pose as a Sheikah. Obviously, she learned the "disappearing act", so perhaps she learned other Sheikah arts as well... but really, we don't know. In official art, however, we see Sheik fighting Lizalfoes with a dagger, so perhaps he was able to physically fight. In game, though, we don't see that. Zelda does show sage powers, but how extensively she can really use them is unknown.

So, I'm just going to go with TWW!Zelda since she seems to be the scrapper of the bunch.

Originally Posted by Alex

We never see any of them fight.

Then there's definitely some question as to whether you've played OoT, WW, or TP all the way through.

As far as the better fighter goes, I myself chose TP Zelda. Sure, WW Zelda is quite gutsy indeed and has a wide range of skills. I think TP Zelda's skills extend far beyond anyone of the others' to date though.

True, we never see her fight with a sword, but, as I said, if she were to go to battle with a weapon with which she was no good, then that would make her an idiot, and we all know Zelda is no idiot. I think we can safely agree that she probably was skilled with that sword of hers. I'll mention this again in brief in a moment.

As Hyrule's princess she is privy to ancient magical arts. This we can be certain of. You may argue that she doesn't use any magic in TP, but I need to remind you that we do. In fact, the bit of magic she uses is so powerful that it saves Midna's life after she is exposed to the Light World in full. To be able to transfer one's essence into another to sustain them in such a hostile environment probably takes a lot of magical skill to accomplish. You may take this kind act from the princess for granted, but if she can do something like that, then imagine what other magic powers she has up her sleeve.

With that said, if she has access to such powerful magic, then why go to battle at all with her sword? Couldn't she just do battle as a powerful wielder of magic? She probably could. Not only that, but she apparently is competent enough to use a sword at the same time. This is a clue to me that she knows swordplay, probably taught to her by some of the finest instructors royal money could buy

Her skills extend to that of the bow and arrow. On horseback, she is an expert shot. Like the Zelda in WW, she faces off against Ganondorf with Link in a final showdown, using the Light Arrows to stun the Evil King so that Link could gain some advantage over his foe. This Zelda definitely kicks some major butt if you think about it.

I'm going to bring something up that many of you might not consider canon, but I'll throw it out there anyway. When Nintendo came out with the new Super Smash Bros. game, Zelda was put into it along with the Sheik design that had been made for Twilight Princess, but never put into the game because there ended up being no need for it. Yet, the thought had still crossed Nintendo's great minds to make this new incarnation of Zelda able to change into a Sheik much like her ancestor from OoT could. If you think about it, perhaps the intent of Nintendo was to show us that Sheik would always be a part of Zelda, probably a gift bestowed upon her and her descendants by Impa and other former Sheikah guardians as a way to protect the Princess of the Hyrule Royal Family further from harm. I'm really going out on a limb here, but bear with me, for I will tell you that SSBB loosely confirms that the Zelda from TP can indeed change into Sheik, giving her all those Ninja-like Sheikah abilities that we ooh and ahh over.

To sum it up, based on my theories and musings, TP Zelda has quite an arsenel of abilities at her disposal: Strong Magic, Swordplay, Marksmanship, and Sheikah mysteriousness. I think she is the best fighter of any other Zelda to date.