I'll bet you're wondering why I'm a coward. Why, rather than fighting back, I fled. Guess what? Running greatly improves your life expectancy, especially if you have a history like mine.
I know what you're gonna say about that. What history? Aren't you just some Lorulian who skipped the beat for a brighter future? I say, no way.
Hmm. Forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? The name is Ravio. You may have heard of me. If you have, you probably hate me. That's okay. I'm very good at being annoying.
What you may not know is my connection to Link. And I'm not talking about the whole mirror image from a darker dimension type deal. Oh no. I'm talking way older.
Since Hyrule and Lorule are technically counterparts, there's a lot of our history that's shared. I'm not getting into too much detail here, because seriously/ You ought a know this already. Anyway, like Link, Zelda and Ganon, there's me, Hilda, and Yuga. Like Link and the others, we cycle around too.
And this is where me being a coward comes in. ya see, the other Ravios? Not all of them lived happily ever after. In fact, not all of them lived.
It was a spell of Ganon's. Every few generations he'd snatch up a Ravio to face off against Link. Hold him at bay.
Poor guy didn't even know that he wasn't facing some dark magic duplicate.
I guess you call us the Dark Links. Not true. We're Ravios.
Anywho, back on topic. We knew about the kidnappings. We've got legends about it. I grew up hearing about the chosen ones, and the doom on their heads. I was terrified when I learned that I was the reincarnation of some ancient hero, doomed to fall in battle.
If you haven't noticed. We Ravios have a horrible success rate. Yeah, you do hear about the occasional success, but by and large, we fail.
Hilda called me to the palace as soon as she heard about me. She and Yuga and mostly put their differences aside ages ago, mainly because Lorule was falling apart. Guess how well that turned out? Anyway, she had her guards train me. Make no mistake, I'm just as good as Link, better maybe. All of those treasures? I earned each and every one of them.
I hated it. I hated that I was just playing along until I died. Then Hilda and Yuga hatched their plan to make off with the Triforce. By resurrecting Ganon. My eternal nightmare. They hadn't counted me out though, they had a plan for me too, a part to play. My role?
Dark Link, what else?
That was that. I want to live, and do things my way. I don't want to die like the others did.
So, I ran. Ran off to Hyrule.
You can't begin to imagine how beautiful it is. No crazy cults, no starvation, no earth tearing itself apart at the seams until you can't sleep. I fell in love with it at first sight.
Found my old house too. I can't begin to tell you how scared I was when Link walked in. that scared me out of my wits. I thought he was going to kill me then and there.
Turns out he didn't know he was the chosen hero, though.
I set up shop in his house. He wasn't going to use it much while he was off saving Hyrule, and I needed somewhere to hide out.
It's a nice place, you know. Pumpkin patch out front, scarecrow. I can sometimes hear Hilda's guards clanking around outside, but they haven't come looking for me.
I think it's the big rabbit hat. Might have something to do with it.
You might call me a coward, for running away. But you know what? I it means living, really living, I'll take it any day.
At least I'll be free.