Tingle

Tingle as depicted in his own game.
Tingle
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Blue
Age	35
Relatives	Ankle, Knuckle (brothers)
Voiced by	Unknown
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Tingle is an odd fellow who appears as a recurring character in the The Legend of Zelda series, and he has gone on to star in several of his own spin-off games. He is constantly portrayed as an eccentric and flamboyant cartographer who is obsessed with fairies and wants one of his own, which leads him to force his friendship upon Link due to their similar attire. In most portrayals, he is accompanied by three companions: Knuckle and Ankle are his younger twin brothers, while David Jr. is an unrelated fellow who was more or less 'forced' into service.

Background

Tingle subseries

Note: Tingle's solo games provide a potential origin for Tingle and are listed first, although they may not be canon.

Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland

Meeting Uncle Rupee before his Tingle years.

Before his days as Tingle, he was a simple 35-year old man (named by the player) who lived outside of Port Town. His life was not very exciting, so when he was offered a chance to enter the fabled Rupeeland by the mysterious Uncle Rupee, he eagerly agreed. He was given a green getup, a starting amount of Rupees, and the unusual quality that he no longer could be hurt, but damage cost him Rupees. If he lost all Rupees, then it was the end for him. He was able to speak to Pinkle through a terminal in his home though. She was able to provide him helpful hints in his adventure.

Tingle instantly set to work to earn Rupees. He learned basic combat skills from a young girl named Aba. He soon began making his money off the citizens of Port Town. Using his cooking skills, he found he could make a tidy profit off of the merchants by selling them his dishes. He made a tidy sum by working with Teddy Todo to investigate a dungeon where he gained his first Super Rupee by defeating the Beetle Lord. Eventually he raised enough Rupees to contribute to the mysterious pond where he had met Uncle Rupee. To his surprise, the pond suddenly raised up to become a small tower. Uncle Rupee passed on some words of encouragement and Tingle was able to reach distant locations.

This would continue at that point. In the other islands he required the use of bodyguards to protect him. His adventures took him throughout the first continent where he befriended a crew of Stalfos pirates (although the Captain tried to make Tingle a Stalfos), met the hero Junglo, reunited Aba with her real father, and helped the Great Deku Tree remove the illness plaguing the Deku Sprout. He also picked up a canine companion, Barkle, who became a "Tingle" as well. Each time he would throw more rupees into the pond as the tower got bigger and bigger.

The second continent had him clearing out a poisonous fog that had been plaguing a colony of giant bees. His deed earned him the thanks of the Queen Bee. As he continued his quest, he met up with his pirate friends again and entered the Insect Cavern where, again with Teddy Todo, the two worked together to defeat the Beetle Lord. But the Beetle Lord's spirit began possessing the Stalfos pirates and Tingle helped them to combat the demons and to free Captain Stalfos, who had also been possessed. In exchange for Tingle's help, the pirates blew away a mess of fallen rock to allow Tingle to enter Mount Desma.

It was there he met Desma's Tribal King who was in a similar plight to Tingle (though Tingle himself did not make the connection). The King has been throwing as many Rupees as he could into the volcano to appease the god that he had met. The king's daughter pleaded for Tingle to enter the volcano, so in Tingle went and he defeated the Super Rupee-powered monster inside. After receiving the king's thanks (and becoming a god to his people), Tingle continued to the Fairy Garden... which had since become a vast desert. He was able to restore the five fairy spirits there and meet with the Grand Fairy.

He contributed yet another bunch of rupees, bringing the tower to its highest level. He was advised by Uncle Rupee to stay put, as his efforts had been completed. But Tingle received a message from the Grand Fairy telling him of a warning. When he met with her, she related to Tingle that Uncle Rupee was actually an evil demon whose idea of Rupeeland was where everyone was Tingles that toiled eternally to find Rupees to feed Uncle Rupee's greed. Horrified by this notion, Tingle battled through the Auros Ruins and fought the Oinker Boss there. He then found the shrine of the Master Rupee, which he was able to claim with the Super Rupees he collected. He also freed Pinkle from her prison and after a lengthy makeout session, she transformed into her true form - the daughter of the Grand Fairy. But she continued to help Tingle afterwards by using holograms of herself.

After giving some Rupees to his bankrupt uncle, Tingle climbed the tower and used the Master Rupee. As he donned a space helmet, the tower left the ground and crashed through the Moon. He found Uncle Rupee waiting, who demanded Tingle hand over all the Rupees he had earned. When Tingle refused, Uncle Rupee turned on Tingle. In order to defeat him, Tingle had to use a device to fire his Rupees as ammunition. After defeating Uncle Rupee in all three forms, Tingle fell back to the planet and landed in Port Town. As he did, all the Rupees he collected came raining down. Tingle and the other villagers tried desperately to collect as many as they could, thus ending Tingle's first adventure.

The Legend of Zelda series

Tingle made his original video game debut in Majora's Mask with a minor role. In Northern Clock Town, he was found idly floating in the air with his balloon, and Link could get his attention by popping his balloon. He introduced himself to Link as the 'very reincarnation of a forest fairy'. Tingle quickly befriended the boy and started selling him maps. His selling range was all over Termina, as he sold specialized maps for each region. Tinge's father could be found at the Southern Swamp, and he spoke disapprovingly of his son's whims and fancies. He felt that he spoiled Tingle too much as a child, but he also considered him to be a kindhearted boy despite it all.

Tingle made another brief cameo in Oracle of Ages', where he was needed for his mapmaking skills. Link needed a way to cross the sea which required a precise course. Tingle introduced himself in a manner similar to his previous appearance and provided a map. He also provided Link with a larger Seed Satchel if Link talked to him after obtaining at least three types of seeds, and he could upgrade the Seed Satchel again when told a secret from Oracle of Seasons.

In The Wind Waker, Tingle was imprisoned in Windfall prison due to his eccentric behavior, until he was rescued by Link. In exchange for this, he entrusted Link with a 'Tingle Tuner' so that Link could use his services anywhere. The Tuner would summon Tingle to help by floating nearby and dropping bombs. Tingle then returned to his own island, Tingle Island, where he stayed at Tingle Tower with two of his cohorts while seeking his missing brother Ankle, who could only be found through a Tingle Tuner sidequest. There were also minor Tingle Tuner sidequests in most of the dungeons, with the most notable being at the Tower of the Gods, where Tingle and Link found various pieces of the "Legend of the Fairy". That legend told of a Tingle who helped the Hero of Time (seemingly referring to Majora's Mask) and inspired others to follow his example, in a manner similar to the effect that the Hero of Time had on most of the Great Sea's youths. Later on, Link had to meet up with him at his island to get the Triforce charts deciphered, and Tingle charged high prices for each chart.

In Four Swords Adventures he was once more he was rescued by Link (four of them this time) from being trapped under a rock. Afterwards, he started hunting Force Gems and would attempt to snag loose Force Gems that were left unclaimed for a long enough period of time. He also ran minigames from Tingle Tower, where Link could compete (against himself) to win Force Gems. He made one more appearance in The Minish Cap along with David Jr. and his brothers. All of them were hard at work fusing kinstones in hopes that it would lead to them finding fairies. They fused kinstones with Link multiple times and provided him with 'expert advice' on fusion. Fusing kinstones with all four of them would unlock the path to the Magical Boomerang.

Cameo Appearances

Tingle's last full appearance in a Zelda game was in The Minish Cap, and afterwards he only appeared within his own spin-off games. This lack of appearances has been credited to Tingle's unpopularity with international audiences as well as the attempts to spin Tingle off into his own games. Regardless, Tingle has still made cameo appearances or been referenced in some way in nearly every Zelda title since then.

• Twilight Princess featured a character named Purlo, who wore similar garb and was envisioned as a realistic counterpart to Tingle.
• Tingle was shown in the forms of wanted posters and small figures within Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. An Anouki doll wearing Tingle's clothes was also present in the latter game.
• In Skyward Sword, Zelda had a Tingle doll in her room.
• In Tri Force Heroes, Tingle's clothes appear as one of the outfits that can be obtained and worn by Link, known as the Tingle Tights. It comes with three balloons, and one pops each time Link falls down a pit in place of him losing a heart from his heart meter. When crafting the outfit, Madam Couture can be heard saying something similar to Tingle's "kooloo-limpah" catchphrase, and her employee describes the outfit as being kooloolicuious.
• In Breath of the Wild, a Tingle armor set (Tingle's Hood, Shirt and Tights) can be obtained for Link after being downloaded as part of the Trial of the Sword DLC pack. It has the side effect of boosting Link's speed at night. Additionally, one of the islands near Hyrule in this game is named Tingel Island, with the nearby islands being named after his brothers. The same references were retained in Tears of the Kingdom, although the Tingle armor set was now part of the base game instead of being DLC.

In Other Zelda Games

Tingle was the star of Tingle's Balloon Fight DS, a simple facelift of Balloon Fight that replaced the hero with Tingle. It was available only in Japan as a special Club Nintendo bonus. Tingle was also featured in a piece of DSiWare called Tingle Dekisugi Pack, which featured five Tingle-themed applications.

In Hyrule Warriors, Tingle can appear as a playable character. In the original version of the game, he must be bought as part of the Majora's Mask DLC pack, while in later versions of the game he is unlockable normally through Adventure Mode. His primary weapon is a balloon referred to as a Rosy Balloon, although he will also use bombs, maps and kisses in battle.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Tingle initially appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee as part of the Great Bay stage. As in Majora's Mask, his balloon could be popped to make him fall. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, he appeared as an Assist Trophy who danced in place to cause random items to fall from the sky, or he simply summoned balloons that carry him away. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he was no longer an Assist Trophy, but he reappeared in the Great Bay stage.
  • Throughout the series, he has also been represented by a trophy in Melee, a trophy and two stickers (from The Wind Waker and Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland) in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U game, a Smash Tour item (with the effect of shuffling player' fighters) in the Wii U game and an Ace-rank Support Spirit (using art from Majora's Mask) in Ultimate. His Support effect as a Spirit was to grant immunity to falling asleep. When fought against in Spirit battles, Tingle's Spirit would possess the Villager and fight alongside Young Link, with two other Villagers appearing upon the first's defeat (in possible reference to Tingle's siblings).
• In Super Mario Maker, a Mystery Mushroom costume of Tingle can be unlocked for Mario as a random prize for completing a 100 Mario Challenge on Normal or harder.
• Tingle made an appearance in Cadence of Hyrule, where he could be found sleeping in a cave near the Lost Woods. He had to be awakened by completing a music puzzle in which the player character moved to the beat of Saria's Song. After waking up, Tingle would thank the character (Link, Zelda or Cadence) by giving them a special dowser that could be used to reveal the correct path through the Lost Woods and to reveal hidden treasure chests in general. He will also receive the player's Deku Seeds - in exchange for the first ten, he will double the player's stamina meter (although he sees it as halving it), and giving him another ten will cause him to volunteer his Deku Scrub friend Yves to join the player as a hidden character.
  • In this appearance, he recited his standard magic words, but he claimed to not know their meaning, as they had been passed down to him.

Canceled Appearances

• Tingle was seen in artwork for what seemed to be an earlier version of Phantom Hourglass (likely from when it was being produced as Four Swords DS), indicating that he was intended to physically appear within the game at some point. Concept art for Phantom Hourglass also included one sketch where what appeared to be Tingle and one of his siblings were peddling a boat that was carrying Link and an unknown character who was dressed like a boat's captain.
• In concept art for Spirit Tracks, it was shown that one train car design that was considered was one shaped like Tingle.
• A horror game starring Tingle was apparently being developed in 2010 by Vanpool, the developers behind most of Tingle's spin-off games, but it was ultimately cancelled because of "a variety of reasons".

Other Media

• Out of the various manga adaptations of Zelda games over the years, Tingle has only appeared in Four Swords Adventures manga during the Death Mountain chapter. He first confronts the green Link on Death Mountain after he saves Tingle from a boulder. Tingle forces his company on the green Link until finding a purple force gem and ditching Link during his battle with a swarm of Hinoxes, promising to return to help him when he becomes a Great Fairy. Later in the chapter, he finds the violet Link atop the Tower of Flames and unwittingly ruins that Link's attempt to destroy the Dark Mirror, resulting in the violet Link sending Tingle flying out the window with a swing from his hammer. He is also featured in a four-panel gag comic at the end, complaining that he didn't have a role in the climax, but then was shown to be crushed by a giant force gem dropped during Vaati's destruction.

Trivia

• Given his transformation in Rosy Rupeeland, it is possible there have been multiple Tingles. In The Wind Waker, there is a Tingle quest where he mentions the exploits of his ancestor who helped out Link. This alone has caused some confusion, since Tingle only appeared in Majora's Mask, which was in the parallel world of Termina, yet The Wind Waker takes place in thwe world of Hyrule. At the same time, this story suggests the concept of there being more than one Tingle. And of course, as Tingle is always described as being in his 30's regardless of time period, this indicates that there are either multiple incarnations or that he is eternally the same age.
• The Tingle Tuner was controlled through a Game Boy Advance through a Gamecube-Game Boy Advance link cable, and through this Tingle was technically playable for the first time in a Zelda game.
• In the Wii U version of The Wind Waker, due to the Wii U having different features, the Tingle Tuner was replaced by the Tingle Bottle, which could be used to post to the Miiverse.
• Even though he has stopped making direct appearances in Zelda games, he has either appeared or been referenced in some way in nearly every new Zelda game since his introduction, with the only exceptions (aside from remakes of Zelda games in which he did not originally appear) being Oracle of Seasons, Four Swords and A Link Between Worlds.