Franchise: The Legend of Zelda

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."

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

The Triforce was most likely based on the Mitsuuroko (or "The Three Scales"), the real life symbol of the Hōjō Clan who took control of Japan in the 13th century. Considering the prominence of Christian symbolism in the first two games in the series, the Triforce has also been theorized to symbolize the Christian doctrine of the Trinity defining God as the Father (Triforce of Power), the Son (Triforce of Courage), and the Holy Spirit (Triforce of Wisdom).

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 http://www.zelda.com/lib_timeline.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">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 Gerudo, a race first introduced in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, were largely inspired by the Arabic and Egyptian civilizations in the medieval Middle East. This can be alluded to by the Arabic and Egyptian themed locations and sculptures that the series has has to offer, in addition to the original design of the Crest of the Gerudo resembling an Islamic star and crescent. This symbol can be seen throughout the original release of Ocarina of Time on blocks, floor switches, and even the Mirror Shield. The similarities to the Islamic symbol caused controversy, and was changed to a new symbol in all re-releases of the game from the LodgeNet edition onwards.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

For The Legend of Zelda's 25th anniversary, Nintendo of America wanted to do a compilation release featuring various classic titles from the series, however series creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata were against the idea. This was because they already released the Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition a year prior and didn't want to do something similar twice in a row.

During the Zelda portion of the Gamecube's Spaceworld 2000 trailer, Link is using the Hero's Shield of Majora's Mask, instead of the Hylian Shield which is commonly associated with Ocarina of Time's Adult Link, which the tech demo portrays.

The shields of The Legend of Zelda and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link both had crosses on Link's shield. The cross was removed in A Link to the Past, likely in order to remove any religious references.

Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that inspiration for The Legend of Zelda series came from his experiences as a young boy exploring fields, lakes, woods, and caves around Kyoto Japan. Most prominently he mentions a certain small cave he would regularly explore with a lantern.

WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes has a Triforce on his wrestling boots, and plays A Link to the Past on an annual basis.