There you are, just minding your own business in the employ of Ganon when you see him dodge rolling over the hills rapidly towards you - a boy of possibly no more than 10 years of age. It takes you a moment to realize it, but he's rolling towards you! Perplexed, you draw your weapon, but it's too late. He cuts you in half, takes your still-beating heart, and runs off into the night with your strength as his sustenance.
Link is the guardian of Hyrule, its hero, but there's something very strange about this kid. He's all sorts of strong, seemingly eternal, and has a very particular diet. So I have to ask: Is Link a vampire? Let's review the facts.
Reasons Link Might Be A Vampire
Eats the hearts of his enemies
Every once in a while in his travels, Link will cut out the heart of his defeated foes and eat it for strength. He won't do this all the time with normal creatures, but when it comes to powerful enemies, he does it without fail to increase his power. Only Breath of the Wild Link can sustain himself on anything but the hearts of enemies, but even he partakes in a heart or two from time to time.
Has a familiar
This isn't a 100% thing, but occasionally, Link has a companion which serves him tirelessly. Whether it's Navi, Tatl, or Fi, Link's companions go wherever he goes and serve the sole purpose of aiding his quests wherever necessary.
Resurrects in every new age
Without fail, whether he is defeated or not, Link will return some time after his supposed death. Some surmise that it is a different character wearing the green garb and wielding the Master Sword. Some believe it is the same Link reincarnated. Either way, definitely sounds like a Dracula situation. Also, this would be a mark against Ganon, Zelda, and many other prominent figures of Hyrule as well, considering they are capable of this possible resurrection and reincarnation too.
Has a shadow aspect
Now this is a particular one. Link's shadow aspects only appear in a few of his reincarnations, but they are quite thoroughly existent, representing all of the darkness inside of him at various points of time to test his might. There are two things that can be drawn from this. A: Link has a very strong sense of evil and hatred laying dormant within him. B: It is capable of manifesting into a physical form by way of shadow magic. That's some definite occult vampire stuff right there.
Wields a cursed weapon
Let's be honest. The Master Sword is a straight-up cursed blade. Look at the facts presented in most Zelda games. It can only be drawn and wielded by the worthy. Once drawn, it is bound to the wielder until death. Heck, in Breath of the Wild, the Master Sword actually drains the life of its victim/would-be wielder in order to be drawn! Certainly monsters and heroes besides vampires can wield a sword as cursed as the Master Sword, but it's also worth noting that it hurts Link to draw from its resting place and is only its most powerful when Link has full energy to give to it (energy, I remind you, that he must gain through eating hearts with very little exception). Seems like a pretty vampiric weapon for a vampiric master if you ask me.
Reasons Link might not be a vampire
Can walk in the daytime
Simply put, Link doesn't need to confine his activities to night, at all. Now this may be representative of the fact that Link is a very, very powerful vampire capable of overcoming the issue of daywalking, but it definitely is worth consideration. We've also never really seen him sleep in a coffin, although he did have a 100 year nap in an ancient sacred chamber that kind of looked like a tomb and coffin in Breath of the Wild.
Can wield holy weapons
I wouldn't consider The Master Sword a holy weapon for the reasons outlined above. But the Sacred Bow, Light Arrows, and Silver Arrows most certainly are and Link has wielded them several times throughout the series. Link has also wielded a cross to scry the presence of ghosts at certain points of his journeys as well. Now, this is a matter in which it depends on the vampire lore you're looking at, but purity and holyness are generally disasterous to most vampires.
Link might be based on Tom Cruise in 1985's Legend
This is entirely circumstantial and could be flawed, but it has been rumored for many years that The Legend of Zelda was inspired in part by Ridley Scott's 1985 film Legend. If such is indeed the case, Link's obvious stand-in would be Tom Cruise's character Jack O'Greene. While Tom Cruise can be quite the weirdo at times and Jack is some kind of mystical forest-dwelling creature, neither (to my current knowledge) are vampires. Jack even defeated a Satan once, which is a very un-vampire thing to do.
My verdict
Based on the knowledge present, I think it's safe to say that there are many pieces of the puzzle that would qualify Link as a vampire. The counterarguments are there, but throughout vampire lore, these are mostly drawbacks for weaker vampires. Link is ageless and mighty, so it's possible he could be a very specific kind of elder vampire that doesn't have weaknesses to daywalking, holy artifacts, or Scientology.
But what do you think? Is my evidence enough? Have I overlooked something? What's your take on if Link is or is not a vampire?
