Franchise: The Legend of Zelda

In the Japanese manual of the original NES Legend of Zelda, the recurring boss, Manhandla, is described as a "four-limbed, jumbo-sized Piranha Plant". A Piranha Plant is a kind of enemy from the Mario series.

According to Eiji Aonuma, the director for most of The Legend of Zelda games, the CD-i titles "Link: The Faces of Evil" and "Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon" (and presumably also "Zelda's Adventure") aren't considered part of the series canon and don't really fit in the franchise.

Excluding Twilight Princess, the Octorok enemy has been in every canon Zelda game. This has also made them the most reappearing enemy in the series.

From the years 2000-2007, a Zelda game was released every year, as has every year from 2013-2021.

A quote from Super Smash Bros. Melee offers an origin to the Like Like's name:

Before the timeline of The Legend of Zelda series was revealed in Hyrule Historia, there were attempts of releasing an official document detailing the order of when the games took place.

Nintendo first published a page on the official Zelda.com website which told how up to "Oracle of Ages and Seasons" each Link was the same, but was later taken down.

The second attempt was by Dan Owsen, one of the English script writers for Nintendo and the Legend of Zelda games, who presented a document to Nintendo of Japan, however they vetoed the idea so to keep the timeline open to interpretation.

The Triforce was possibly based on the real life Hōjō Clan's symbol, the Mitsuuroko or "The Three Scales."

The Water Land theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 was later used as the theme for the Fairy Fountains in the Legend of Zelda series.

Whilst most manga and comic adaptions of The Legend of Zelda feature Link as the main protagonist, there was one where he instead served as a minor role. "Zeruda no Densetsu: Riruto no Chikai" which translates to "The Legend of Zelda: Oath of Lilto" featured Lilto as the main character whom Link teaches about swordsmanship.

The manga ran for 4 volumes, was written by Jin Munesue, drawn by Junya Furusawa and published by Shounen Oh Comics, and although it was officially licensed by Nintendo, it's considered to be non-canon.

There's a recurring phrase through-out the Zelda series where variations of "It's a secret to everybody" are put into games. This includes Zelda 1, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword and A Link Between Worlds.

In the Hyrule Historia, it is revealed that there are three timelines sprouting off of Ocarina of Time. It's revealed near the start of Ocarina of Time that the great Deku tree dies, leaving a sprout to grow and one day replace him. The original Legend of Zelda takes place in the timeline in which Link is defeated in Ocarina of Time, and the first dungeon takes place inside a tree in a secluded area, likely to be the remains of the Great Deku Tree. In the timeline of Ganon being defeated and Adult Link remained, the Deku Sprout grew into a new Great Deku Tree which we see in Wind Waker. It makes sense that Ganon would have destroyed the sprout once he gains control of the land.

In an interview between Shigeru Miyamoto and "Gamekult", Miyamoto states that he loves Disney, and their interpretation of Peter Pan inspired Link's design. This inspiration could also be why the Kokiri never age.

In the Japanese games, Super Mario World's "Forest of Illusion" and The Legend of Zelda's "Lost Woods" share the name, "Mayoi no Mori" (Lost Forest). All the standard exits in the Forest of Illusion send you around in circles which is comparable to the Lost Woods circling you back to the entrance after a wrong turn.

Princess Zelda was named after Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

When asked about the name, Miyamoto said, "Zelda was the name of the wife of the famous novelist Francis Scott Fitzgerald. She was a famous and beautiful woman from all accounts, and I liked the sound of her name. So I took the liberty of using her name for the very first Zelda title."

The Master Sword was named after King Arthur's legendary sword "Excalibur" in the French version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The name Excalibur would also be used in the French versions of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

There are two known concepts for unreleased Tingle games.

Nintendo veteran and Tingle series producer Kensuke Tanabe has claimed that in 2010, a horror game starring Tingle was in development at Vanpool, but was scrapped for "a variety of reasons". This would lead to the development of Dillon's Rolling Western.

Tanabe has stated in a 2018 interview that he had an idea for a game about Tingle turning into a "super-powered being" that he had not yet had the chance to pitch. It is not known if this game was ever seriously pitched to Nintendo or entered development after the interview, however the shuttering of Tingle series developers Vanpool means that it is highly unlikely it'll see the light of day.