Tetra

Tetra as depicted in Phantom Hourglass.
Tetra
Species	Hylian
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Blue
Relatives	Daphnes Nohansen (ancestor) Zelda (Spirit Tracks) (descendant)
Voiced by	Hikari Tachibana
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Tetra is a pirate from The Wind Waker who helps Link to save his sister. Later during the game it is revealed she is in fact Princess Zelda, a secret that was unknown even to herself.

Background

The Wind Waker

As the Descendant of King Daphnes Nohansen's daughter, Princess Zelda, she was oblivious to her ancestry, but seemed to show a great interest with Ancient Hyrule lore. She seemed bossy and strong-willed, but she is actually rather kindhearted. She inherited the ship (and its crew) from her late mother, leaving her orphaned at a young age.

She first met Link when she was kidnapped by the Helmaroc King, but dropped in the forest above Outset Island. She was rescued from the monsters by Link. Shortly afterwards the Helmaroc King returned, but this time it went after Aryll instead, Link's sister. Tetra saved Link from plummeting off the edge of a cliff and was later convinced by Quill to help Link rescue his sister. She was very critical of Link during their tenure together, but warmed up to him in later meetings.

They parted ways afterwards when Link was thrown across the ocean by the giant bird. They meet up again when Link is trying to meet Jabun and get the last pearl. Tetra was already in the middle of stealing the supply of bombs from Cannon when she noticed Link spying on their operation. Seeing this, she intentionally stayed another day at Windfall Island to let Link get the pearl first. When Link infiltrated Forbidden Fortress again, she and her crew helped rescue the trapped girls (with the intention of ransoming them off). She tried to help attack Ganondorf, but only revealed to Ganondorf that she had half of the Triforce of Wisdom. It was then she was revealed to be Princess Zelda. As Zelda, she was left in Hyrule Castle, where she would be safe from Ganondorf.

When Link returned to Hyrule Castle, he found that Ganondorf had invaded despite and taken Tetra to his castle, to wait for Link's arrival. Link made his way to the highest point of Ganon's Tower, where Ganondorf took the pieces of the Triforce. His wish for world domination was prevented by the king, so he decided instead to kill Link and Tetra and make his mark on their future. Tetra took Link's bow and Light Arrows (apparently Zelda's magic isn't genetic, although The Minish Cap suggests otherwise) and helped him defeat Ganondorf. Tetra and Link returned to the surface of the Great Sea, Tetra no longer required to hold her Princess Zelda position, and she departed with Link to sail to new lands.

Navi Trackers

Tetra made another appearance in the spinoff game, Navi Trackers that was included in the Japanese version of Four Swords Adventures. Using a combination of Gameboy Advances connected to the Gamecube, players would play one of four Links as they attempted to locate Tetra's various pirates to gain stamps from them.

Phantom Hourglass

In Phantom Hourglass, Tetra travels with her pirates into other seas where there has been reports of Ghost Ship abducting people. Tetra believes it is just pirates up to misdeeds and is determined to set them right. When they finally run into the ship, she boards it but soon disappears. Link tries to follow her, but ends up washing up on the shore of another island. Tetra in the meantime was taken on the ship and turned to stone.

When Link finally found her, he moved her to a ship belonging to a sailor named Linebeck until they could defeat Bellum. After Link defeated his first form, Tetra returned to normal and told Link she had seen everything that had happened through a dream like state. But before their reunion could continue, she was picked up by Bellum and carried to the Ghost Ship. Link and Linebeck destroyed the ship, but were assaulted by Bellum again. While Tetra was passed out, Link fought a possessed Linebeck.

After the battle and Oshus returning to his true form, Link and Tetra were told they were not in their own world and were sent back to their real world. They both woke up on the Ghost Ship, now strangely repaired. They were greeted by Tetra's pirates who told them they had only been gone for ten minutes. Once they boarded Tetra's ship, the Ghost Ship vanished. While Tetra continued to say it wasn't just a dream, Link discovered he still had the Phantom Hourglass and spotted Linebeck's ship sailing away.

Spirit Tracks

In Spirit Tracks, it was shown that Tetra (presumably still accompanied by Link) was eventually successful in founding a new land of Hyrule in a land inhabited by the Lokomos. She forged a strong bond of friendship with one of them, Anjean, and received the Spirit Flute from her for use in protecting Hyrule in the future from the threat of Malladus. She seemed to live to an old age and was known to play the Spirit Flute for her granddaughter, the Zelda of Spirit Tracks, as a lullaby when that Zelda was young.

It seems that Tetra passed away, presumably of old age, sometime prior to the events of Spirit Tracks. She was seen in a stain glass window at the new Hyrule Castle, and during the final battle Zelda prayed to Tetra in order to unlock her sacred powers.

Trivia

• The game Navi Trackers was originally titled Tetra Trackers and was meant to be a standalone game.
• A trophy of Tetra appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There is also a separate trophy of her as Zelda.