The worlds that Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Eiji Aonuma, and so many other talented people have given us with the Legend of Zelda series are vast, multi-faceted, and draw from a melange of different influences and cultures. While the final products we end up with are (mostly) amazing, there's so much more creativity that went on behind the scenes we never really got to see. Well, thanks to things like the Hyrule Historia and other talks that the Big N have given over the years, we've been able to see, if only for just a moment, the steps and missteps utilized in taking one of our most beloved video game properties and creating something truly unique with it.

While yes, setting, period, and gameplay style are all important considerations to take when creating any game, today we're going to be looking at the characters we've all come to know over the years. More importantly, we're going to look at just how different things might have been versus what we ended up getting and falling in love with (in most cases - looking at you, Skyward Sword). What you see might shock you, it might entertain you, and I do know in at least a few places, it's going to make you say "What the heck were they thinking?" I know I sure did. But a part of me kind of wishes that some of these did end up seeing the light of day.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Read this for yourself and then tell me that a Metroid/Zelda crossover wouldn't be off-the-wall bonkers amazing.

15 Linkle, Eat Your Heart Out

When Nintendo was getting ready to make Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, they went through several drafts of what they wanted that series' Link to look like. And here we have what a pretty straightforward female Link would have looked like, even though she seems much more well-armored than her previous incarnations had been. Though given the variety of outfits you can obtain in BotW, including some really heavy-duty armor, it's certainly par for the course.

It just goes to show: if you've had a hero character that's been historically male but physically has been very androgynous, you don't need to make another lady hero character to represent that gender. You can just make that character female. And probably not give her thigh high boots and crossbows.

14 SO MANY CUTE LITTLE SUITS

It must have been a challenge to envision Link as a train conductor for Spirit Tracks. When they put out Phantom Hourglass on the DS, they'd already had Wind Waker as a prototype for the whole cel-shaded seafaring Toon Link look, so they weren't really venturing into the incredibly odd and extremely unknown territory they traversed with its sequel.

But you know what that means? TOON LINK IN LITTLE CONDUCTOR SUITS, YOU GUYS! As you can see, the Hyrule Historia has almost an entire page spread dedicated to the character concepts for Link in this game, and each one of them looks like you dressed a puppy dog up in a little tuxedo. It isn't the cutest thing ever, but it's close.

13 Linkus Aran

Alright. If this one was a joke - which I mean, it clearly looks like it was supposed to be - if it was a joke, it's one that I would love to see in real life. Yes, I know that Metroid and Legend of Zelda are two completely different series with no connections to be made whatsoever. That still does not dissuade me from wanting to see Link in a space suit slicing space aliens while also riding Epona, who is also wearing a space suit. Probably also Navi's there, but she's not wearing a space suit, causing her to implode to the delight of players.

Then Space Link teams up with Samus and fights MEGA ULTRA SHADOW KRAID/GANNON, who I also just made up for this article and definitely don't have any AO3 posts about. Don't look at me like that.

12 The (Female) Hero Of Hyrule

Believe it or not, Zelda also had more turns in development than Link did for Breath of the Wild. Devs really wanted to let her be able to "express a range of emotions," and if this outfit is any indication, maybe even be able to travel with Link on his quest. In this picture, she certainly seems capable of defending herself. She's done so in the past before, and BotW certainly had enough content and world to explore that we certainly could have had a two-person adventuring party.

In the end though, we were left with just Link. Not by any stretch a bad thing, and heck, if we dress him up in the Gerudo outfit, it's like we actually are playing with Zelda.

11 THIS Is What The Zora Tunic Was Going To Look Like?!

Until Link transformed into his wolf self, there was never really anything to write home about his appearance in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. He just looked like a 720p HD version of adult Link from Ocarina of Time, but with darker hair. But if these concept arts for the Zora Tunic were any indication of what they wanted him to look like, we might have seen Link in a Zora Tunic much more akin to Breath of the Wild. I mean, with the shape-shifting he was already exhibiting, i.e. becoming a wolf, the rightmost picture looks like he could've gone full Zora as well! Meh, I always thought Wolf Link was kinda lacking anyways.

Just imagine the Prince Sidon x Link fan art we would've seen from that…

Actually, no. Don't. Sorry I brought it up.

10 Dearest Link, It Has Been A Fortnight Since Last I Wrote...

So yeah, when the developers said that they didn't know exactly what to do with Zelda's design in Breath of the Wild, they weren't kidding. This concept art shows a much more modern, almost Victorian-era-looking Zelda. High fantasy in some form or another has always been a core aesthetic of the Legend of Zelda series, but this seems to be high-brow rather than high fantasy. I mean, can you imagine what the Link counterpart to this Zelda would've looked like? He'd be more like Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice and less Peter Pan. Though I can't help but wonder what the crossover possibilities would be...

Can you imagine a Mr. Bennett analog in the Hyrule universe, and, much more disturbingly, what Tingle would look like in 18th-century rural England?

9 HEY! LISTEN! HYAAAP!

So in The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes, you end up getting quite a few costumes. There are so many costumes, actually, that some aren't even available in the game without some kind of hacking. This is perfectly exemplified with the above photo, which takes the Toon Link art style and gives him a little set of wings and antennae. It's like turning Link into Navi, which is also number eight on my personalized "Things That Will Bring About The Actual Zombie Apocalypse" checklist.

However, since you can only access this piece through some in-game tinkering, I don't think it completely counts. Good thing, too, because after that, the only two items that haven't been checked off already are "Link as a Skunk" and "Zelda in a Spacesuit." Thankfully those aren't on the list, right?

...Right?

8 Stinky Linky

...Great.

So apparently when the creators of Triforce Heroes were trying to figure out what different outfits to put in-game They talked about, among other things, an "Emperor's New Clothes" outfit that made Link naked, or the one I could find an image for that TheGamer wouldn't fire me over, their so-called "Stinky Costume." It would've kept enemies at bay with its fearsome stench, but if the developers had used this photo as a reference, the suit would probably just attract people.

However, since this isn't in the actual game and is just some footnote left on a writers' room wall, the actual zombie apocalypse counter stays where it is.

7 Impa The Tough Cookie

If you've played a few Zelda games, you know that there happens to be a small, reoccurring cast. Among them is Impa, the older matronly figure who guides Link towards his goal when Zelda isn't there to do it herself.

Starting from the Nintendo 64 on, we've also seen her take on more of a bodyguard role, as developers breathed some youth back into the character. Nowhere is she given more vitality and coolness than in Hyrule Warriors, where she's a playable character who can tear through the hordes of darkness just as easily as the hero of time himself.

However, her concept art is way cooler than what we ended up getting in-game, but don't tell her that or she'll jam a spear up your Peahat.

6 Zack Snyder Presents The Legend Of Zelda

In Breath of the Wild, you awaken as Link one hundred years after the world of Hyrule was pretty much devastated by Calamity Ganon. You wake up as a fresh-faced, albeit blank-looking Link, possessing all of his fingers and toes. However, some early concepts for Link weren't so optimistic.

This piece revealed in March 2017 shows a much older Link, older even than the Adult Links we've seen in games like Ocarina and Twilight Princess, with a beard, a concealed face (presumably to hide some form of scarring) and without an arm. Further sketches showed that he was able to get attachments to that arm a la Ash from Evil Dead, but still, it's a really dark shift - even for a series with Majora's Mask to its name.

5 Zelda Of Asgard

In Hyrule Warriors, the object of the game is to commit the greatest amount of mass murder possible while wearing a really cool outfit. As we see in this photo, though, sometimes the coolest outfits just didn't make it into the game. Could you imagine playing as Zelda as this awesome valkyrie maiden, just slashing your enemies to pieces? Dude, I sure can. I mean sure, in-game she wears mostly robes, but how cool would this have been for a change of pace? It's a great look, and unless you count the games where she's possessed the bodies of Phantoms, she's never been in heavy armor like this.

4 That Time Nintendo Turned Link Into Shaggy From Scooby-Doo

When you read the interview from GDC, Nintendo would have you believe that the designing process for Link in Breath of the Wild was "pretty straightforward." But when you look at a picture like this, how can you actually believe that's possible?

I mean, what are we looking at here? Not saying it's bad, because it's a really cool and off-brand look for Link, but how do we get "straightforward" from a Link that looks like he should be in an early-2000s rom-com loosely based off of a Shakespeare play?

Still though, how cool would it be to see the LoZ this Link fits into? I'm imagining some kind of Road Warrior meets She's All That mash-up where Link is some nerdy Hyrule High School Student and Ganon is the big meathead bully who's kidnapped Zelda, a la River City Ransom.

3 Old Man Impa

There are quite a few cool secrets to be found in perusing the Hyrule Historia, Nintendo's official encapsulation of all the Zelda games into one continuity. However, one of the most amusing happens to be the way they originally wanted Impa to appear in Twilight Princess. This "Old Man Impa" incarnation was eventually scrapped, the team opting instead to leave "Impa" as a name out of the game, but providing us with a very similar-sounding old woman named "Impaz" in the Hidden Village. But given that "angry" face we would've gotten, I think it's safe to say the male Impa would've been a sight to see. Kinda like the cranky Master Roshi of Hyrule or something.

2 SPACE ZELDA

Alright guys, I'm going to be honest - I just made up the whole "zombie apocalypse checklist" thing. There's no way these tiny pieces of artwork could trigger a massive zombie epidemic, much less a paper cut as you come across pieces like this in the Hyrule Historia.

Besides, how frickin' cool would this design for Zelda be, made somewhere between Link's Adventure and A Link to the Past? If this were canon, my dream of the Metroid/Zelda crossover would have been one step closer to reality!

Unfortunately, we've never seen this in a game, so it just remains a little sketch that we can refer to as we're making our own Zelda/Metroid space opera that I'm definitely not making.

1 Midna, But On WAYYY MORE "Substances"

Folks, there is no way on Earth I could have predicted that Midna, the little Navi analog all grown up from Twilight Princess, could have had this much consideration taken into her design from square one. They ended up going with something much more lighthearted than some of these sketches suggest, but seriously! The amount of creative juice there is floating around these pieces is absolutely amazing. There are a ton of others in the Hyrule Historia as well, showcasing just how much creativity there was on that development team. In some cases, she looks like Skull Kid from Majora's Mask. Other times, she just looks like an all-out nightmare. Every facet of her personality is represented artistically, no words needed.

For someone who uses words to make a living, it's quite a pleasant change of pace.