Creating a Champion, the Breath of the Wild art book released by Dark Horse late last year, is a gorgeous look at the game’s development. First released in Japan as Master Works, readers would assume that the English-language version would be the same as the original, but a surprising omission has come to light: Link’s family.
First reported on Dorkly, and then verified by Gaming Reinvented, Master Works includes a couple of extra pages containing collages of concept art. Two pictures in particular are especially interesting: one showing Link looking relaxed alongside an older man and young girl, and another where he stands protectively over the same girl. These two people are purported to be Link’s father and younger sister. Clearly, these characters never made it into the final version of the game (apart from a brief mention that Link’s father had been a knight), but it’s fascinating to glimpse what might have been.
It’s unknown exactly why these pages were missing from Creating a Champion. It may have been a mistake or an intentional decision by Dark Horse, although there doesn’t seem to be any reason why this should have been left out when compared with the rest of the book’s content.
It also wouldn’t have been the first time that a specific Link’s had a family, despite the hero being introduced as a lone adventurer in the original Zelda game. A Link to the Past placed Link with an uncle, many of The Wind Waker‘s emotional beats centered around Link’s grandma and younger sister, and other games have mentioned family without explicitly showing them.
According to users on Twitter, Creating a Champion has a map of Hyrule in place of the missing artwork. Perhaps this will be corrected in a future print of the book.
