First, let’s get one thing straight: She’s not Zelda.
Marin is one of the peaceful residents of the mysterious Koholint Island who seem to make it their duty to be pleasant. She lives her life happily, but under her warm smile lies a yearning for something other than what the island offers. When she looks out across the vastness of the sea, she can’t help but believe there’s more to experience. But the island is all she’s ever known, and she believes there is little chance of her ever seeing what or who else might exist beyond its shores.
This of course changes once she finds a young stranger lying lifeless on the beach.
Marin is scared when she first finds Link, but she is also excited. The boy she finds looks beaten and bruised and is clearly in need of help. Not wanting him to succumb to his trauma, she takes him back to her home to care for him and does so without hesitation.
This act of altruism is the first clue to who Marin was as a person. Most anyone would avoid even taking the time to see if the boy was merely sleeping in some very disturbing position, or whatever their rationalization of choice would be in order to stay out of it. Marin was not most anyone. She wanted to help, she knew she could help, and she knew it was the right thing to do. She was the kind of rare individual that cares deeply for all life. A loner for the people.
When the boy finally wakes, he is greeted by Marin. She is joyous to see he is OK, politely disregards the issue of misidentification, and introduces herself. The boy, now known to be Link, is grateful for her help but seems at a loss for what has happened to him. Marin wishes to help, but she knows that for him to fully understand his situation, she must let Link figure it out for himself. She can only inform him about the island he’s on and the town he’s in, and to suggest he visit the beach where she found him to see if there was something else that could help. So, Link sets off to explore and investigate, but not without the understanding that Marin will be around to offer assistance if he needs it.
Link is able to visit Marin almost any time during his traipsing across the island, but it’s not until Link visits the Animal Village and meets a walrus with house-cat ambitions who is blocking the path to the desert, that a meeting with his melodious rescuer is required. Link returns to Mabe Village, but he finds that Marin has left. Luckily, she, being as considerate as always, was kind enough to leave a note explaining that she had gone to the beach. Now it was Link’s turn to find her.
At the beach, past all of the noise of other people, the hassle of the pestering beasts, and one particularly agitating monkey, Link finds Marin, sitting on a tree stump and staring out at the endless waves. She is happy, contemplating the world. And now, she’s even happier to do so with her new friend.
Marin and Link have one moment together, and time almost seems to stop for them so they can get their fill of it. It is at this point that Marin admits her excitement over finding Link. She had been told all her life that nothing existed beyond the island’s shores, but she couldn’t accept that as true. And Link is proof of her hope. Link is like a message to her. He is proof that her dreams could come true.
This long sequence showed that Marin’s story was not merely the sum of Link’s interactions with her. Marin was a joyful person, but she knew she could spread her kindness far beyond Koholint. She dreamed of meeting new people. At one point during the visit on the beach, Marin said, regardless of how peculiar it might have sounded to Link, that if she were a seagull, she would fly far away and sing for other people. This was her wish to the Wind Fish, and she hoped he would hear it. The connection Marin felt to all living things was so strong that she was compelled to seek out those who she had no way of knowing if they even existed.
Though relaxing on the beach is enjoyable, Marin acknowledges that it’s time for Link and her to visit the Animal Village and the dozing walrus. Again, Marin’s status as “everyone’s favorite” is made clear by the warm reception she receives when they arrive. The animals want her to stay and play, but business before pleasure, so she and Link go to the walrus. Marin wakes the mountainous mammal from his slumber, and after showing his glee to see her, he dives into the waters and out of Link’s way. Marin is happy to have helped Link and tells him to visit her in the Animal Village once he’s done with the desert.
Marin and Link meet again when Link’s journey takes him to the peaks of the Tal Tal Heights. Link finds Marin, who was kidnapped by monsters and then left precariously on a broken bridge. Link rescues her, and she is overjoyed to have Link’s help and to be able to trust him. Marin begins to say she has something to admit to Link, but she is cut short by the arrival of Tarin and decides to hold her thought and return home.
Link and Marin have one final destined meeting when Link presents his ocarina to her. Marin is happy to have someone perform her “Ballad of the Wind Fish” with her, but it’s clear she’s happy it’s Link in particular. The two have a duet, and Link learns the song so important to his quest and invaluable to his memory of time spent with a friend. Afterward, Marin admits how kind she thinks Link is. It turns out, she had made her wish to the Wind Fish already, but she’s not willing to say what it was. Going by their conversation on the beach, though, Link can make some assumptions. All she can say is that she hopes he will continue to play her song and think of her whenever he does.
Link eventually completed his quest, but as he feared, the victory came at a price. Waking the Wind Fish did indeed wipe away the island and all of its inhabitants, causing all of them to fade to memory. But the memory of them in Link’s heart kept them alive. But for Marin, the girl who’s only dream seemed to be to make people smile, life had more in store for her than a memory. As Link laid among the wreckage of his ship out on the open seas, he was roused by a familiar song. It was the song of a new and now dear friend, and it was a signal that she was still very much with him.
