Most Terrible Things Princess Zelda Has Ever Done
Holding one of the three pieces of the Triforce is not an easy thing to be born into, especially considering all of the chaos that follows those who do. Most of the blame for this falls at the feet of the villainous Ganon (the holder of the Triforce of Power), who has made it his goal to rule over Hyrule, but he's not the only wrongdoer in the kingdom that Link (the holder of the Triforce of Courage) was born to protect. In fact, the owner of the Triforce of Wisdom, Princess Zelda, makes some rather poor and downright ignorant decisions that can — and have — cost people their lives.
Her decisions are often for the betterment of her people, but intention doesn't always play out in the end. Here is a list showcasing some of the most terrible things Princess Zelda has ever done.
Spoilers lay ahead for those that want to remain in the dark.
Trés Sheik
This example from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is not exactly a cold-hearted decision. Indeed, it's clear that the intention was far from nefarious, but it was still entirely careless and rash. The princess, disguised as Sheik (a character that had been following Link around), decided to reveal her true identity as Princess Zelda. Admittedly, this was necessary bit of information for the "Hero of Time" to process at some point in the journey, but Zelda did so while inside the Temple of Time.
Since the temple was sacred –- and positioned right in the heart of Hyrule -– removing her disguise immediately blew her cover. This is something that the evil lord Ganondorf immediately sensed, leading him to capture her right then and there. The fallout from this naive decision almost destroyed Hyrule, and in one of the three official timelines it eventually did.
It's not flying, it's falling with style
There's almost nothing more peaceful in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword than soaring through the clouds near the floating town of Skyloft on your trusty Loftwing. The massive red bird that bonds with Link as its rider is actually a Crimson Loftwing, which canonically was thought to be extinct before the hero befriended the beast. It is a fantastic companion for Link during the events of the game, making for a wonderful stand-in for the hero's trusty steed Epona, but in the early goings something happens to Link's animal friend. Namely, it is captured and hidden away by Skyloft's resident bully, Groose.
Given that Link and the Crimson Loftwing are so close, Link is able to detect when the bird is nearby -– or in this case, isn't. But during a scene near the edge of the floating isle, he tells Zelda that he can't sense his steed. She ultimately refuses to listen to Link's concerns and pushes him off of Skyloft and almost to his death. Fortunately, she realizes that he wasn't joking and is able to swoop in with her Loftwing to save him before he perishes, but she almost caused a Game Over screen pretty early on in the adventure.
The Princess of Thieves
If you haven't played through The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker then spoilers lay ahead, but early in the game players encounter the leader of a band of pirates named Tetra. This swashbuckling tomboy is one of the rowdiest characters in any Zelda title, but little do players know until the end that Tetra is actually Princess Zelda! Much like Sheik in Ocarina of Time, Tetra was simply a disguise for this member of Hyrule's royal family. But unlike the aforementioned ninja-inspired alias, this one is much more ... inconsiderate.
How inconsiderate, you ask? Well, at one point during the game Link sneaks into a shop and finds that she has already broken into the store, tied up the owner, and robbed him of his entire stock of bombs. What exactly she's doing with the trademark Zelda explosives is anyone's guess, but it's not hard to imagine that it's nothing all too kind or considerate.
Plus if she's apt to rob one store owner, then she has probably done it before and will do it again.
The canonical catapult caper
Following that last point from The Wind Waker, it's hard to imagine that Princess Zelda (disguised as Tetra) would be able to top burglarizing an innocent merchant, but she came pretty close in her attempt to "aid" Link in rescuing his sister, Aryll, from the clutches of Ganondorf. After following the Helmaroc King (a giant bird that grabs Link's sister and flies off), Tetra and Link arrive at the seaside fortress where Aryll is being held, but the building can only be entered by the air. This is when Tetra comes up with a brilliant idea to trap the protagonist in a barrel and launch him from a catapult.
Without giving the hero time to think about the proposal, she launches him carelessly into the fortress, smacking a stone wall and losing his sword in the process. As a result, he was left completely defenseless and was forced to then sneak around the enemy-occupied environment with no means of combating the baddies if and when they encountered him.
I Zant believe you've done this
They say that hindsight is 20/20, and that's probably the case for a number of scenarios with real-world repercussions. Still, when the villainous Zant from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess finally has the kingdom of Hyrule on its knees, he offers Princess Zelda the opportunity to choose "Life or Death." So she drops her sword in the hopes that Zant will spare her people from a terrible fate. Now, it's one thing to care for the safety of her people, but it's an entirely different thing to trust the word of a psychopath secretly doing the bidding of the lord of darkness, Ganondorf.
We've seen this trope in almost every form of media, so of course Zant then immediately transforms Hyrule into the source of Twilight within the world, unleashing all kinds of hideous Shadows Beasts and causing people and objects to warp in and out of existence. Suffice to say, if Link hadn't come along when he did then many more people would have died at the hands of Zant and his minions.
She may have thought she was protecting her kingdom, but refusing to utilize her powers and fight back against Zant ended up greatly costing those around her.
You've met with a terrible friend, haven't you?
For those that didn't know, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask picks up right where Ocarina of Time left off, with a young Link (returned to his youth by Zelda) riding off on his horse Epona to live out his life and explore the world. As you can imagine, things don't go quite according to plan and the hero is confronted with Skull Kid donning the evil Majora's Mask. After his Ocarina is stolen, he's transformed into a Deku Scrub and left to fend for himself. But wait, where is Zelda for all of this?
Fans could argue that she remained in the timeline where Link was still an adult, but if that's the case then why wouldn't she continue to look out for the kid that saved Hyrule? She's clearly capable of sending him back in time, so she could have easily done something to aid the protagonist given that she had ascended to leader of the Seven Sages by that point.
The game is called "The Legend of Zelda" and the title character doesn't even bother to show up in anything but a brief flashback.
More like Breath of the Why Can't She Pull It Together
Princess Zelda's character gets a complete overhaul in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is helped by the fact that she's fully voiced for the first time ever by the wonderfully talented Patricia Summersett. Much of what Link remembers about the princess is lost as he is resurrected, but gamers can begin to piece together memories of what happened to Hyrule by finding key landmarks and snapping a photo of them.
As it turns out, Zelda had the crucial job of mastering her powers in order to work alongside the chosen hero, Link, to keep the menace known as Calamity Ganon at bay. She started her training early as the chaotic force began to emerge ahead of schedule, but she often chose to study other things in Hyrule.
Unfortunately, she did so at the expense of learning how to best use her powers as the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. So when Calamity Ganon did finally emerge, she wasn't prepared. The evildoer quickly took control of Hyrule's robot protectors, the Gaurdians. This ended up costing almost everyone in the kingdom their lives. Should have paid attention in class, Zelda.
Three timelines and a 4th wall break
As many longtime fans of The Legend of Zelda are well aware of by now, there are three official timelines in the canon following the events of the game Ocarina of Time. This is a direct result of Princess Zelda (and the Temple of Time) interfering to create the many different outcomes to that adventure, but the decision to send Link back to his youth –- and even take him from his childhood to become an adult in the first place -– kicked off the misery and death of a number of innocent civilians.
So, what are the three timelines? One involves Link staying as a child, one has Link stay as an adult, and the final one features a scenario in which "the hero is defeated." So not only did Zelda create an immensely difficult to follow timeline of events for fans of the Nintendo franchise, but she also created a scenario where Link may have died? Or simply warped out of existence and was unable to protect anyone.