With the Link’s Awakening remake recently releasing on the Nintendo Switch new players and longtime fans are getting familiar with the interesting characters that inhabit every inch of Koholint Island. From the weirdos exploring nature to the citizens living in the small towns, there are tons of great interactions Link can have during his journey.

The remake does a great job of keeping them just how they were in the original. It’s time to look at and rank the 10 most interesting characters in Link’s Awakening.

10 Chef Bear

Any time a game has a talking bear who also happens to be a capable and joyous chef, you know they’re going to be a fan favorite. The Chef Bear in Animal Village is kind and welcoming towards Link and simply wants to provide his family and friends with delicious food.

He’s so jolly and well-spirited and encompasses everything that makes the game’s characters memorable. He also shares a slight resemblance to Banjo, the bear from the beloved Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie.

9 Mr. Write

Authors tend to be introverted people who simply want to share their points of view and interests with the world through their words. Mr. Write lives in the northwest corner of Koholint Island and explains to Link that he’s simply looking for a pen pal to write him back.

The ongoing fetch quest in the game will eventually lead you to delivering a letter to him from someone. The reaction you get from him shows just how much it meant to him. If you don’t like Mr. Write, then you’re on the wrong side of history.

8 Tarin

Tarin happens to be the typical oddball character who has good intentions but isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Throughout Link’s journey, he’ll come across Tarin who happens to find himself in one unfortunate predicament after another.

He does a good job of providing well-timed comedic relief whether it’s intentional or not. With Marin providing context and insight, Tarin does a good job of simply making things interesting for Link. He’s the friend every parent worries will accidentally get their kid in a weird situation.

7 Crazy Tracy

Imagine walking into a hut and coming across a sultry woman who blesses you with some weird magic. Crazy Tracy manages to be helpful towards Link in the most awkward way possible.

When you enter her house as Link you’re greeted by a grown woman who looks like the most put-together cat-lady you’ve ever seen. The fact that she can give Link the ability to resurrect once he runs out of hearts is more than just a simple magic trick. She’s a witch who’s mastered dark magic on Koholint Island.

6 Marin

Marin isn’t only the person who is single-handedly responsible for rescuing Link when he washed up on shore, but she plays a key role throughout his journey. Her singing voice is beautiful and she teaches Link how to play the tune on the ocarina when he finds it.

Out of all of the possible conversations, Link can have in the game, Marin provides him with the most information about Koholint and her very existence on it. It’s hard to replace Zelda and make it feel worth it, but Marin did just that.

5 Martha

Martha is the mermaid that inhabits Martha’s Bay and is a non-playable character Link will run into once he acquires the ability to swim. She tells you that if you bring her a necklace she lost that she would give you one of her scales.

On its own, the scale isn’t super interesting, but when used on the mermaid statue south of the bay something interesting happens. It’s unclear if the statue is of Martha or if it is one of her ancestors. Thankfully Martha is more like Ariel and less like the mermaids mentioned in folklore.

4 Link

Since he’s always so silent it’s hard to consider the hero of Hyrule an interesting character. The thing about his journey on Koholint Island is that its unfamiliar territory. He, like the player, doesn’t understand why he’s there and is confused by everything around him.

The entire journey focuses on Link awakening the Wind Fish, but in many ways, it seems it’s about him learning about himself. The characters are affected by their interactions with him, but does that experience go both ways?

3 Prince Richard

Koholint Island has a castle in the middle of the map and yet Link never really learns about what happened to the royalty who lived in it. Prince Richard is the only person who even comes close to providing some context for it and because he’s so young there isn’t a lot of history conveyed by him.

He does provide Link with a neat secret path and is rather friendly in conversation even before his quest is completed. If a sequel is ever made to the classic it’d be great to see Prince Richard’s family extrapolated on.

2 Ghost

Though the island isn’t exactly Disneyland the dark parts of the game seem to come out of nowhere. Sometime towards the middle of the game Link is introduced to a lost spirit simply looking to return home.

After aiding the ghost and seeing the realization of death it experiences, it departs as if it was never there. A grim moment like that may feel out of place but it’s a great emotional gut punch that carves through the levity of the rest of the journey on Koholint Island.

1 Wind Fish

From the beginning of the game to the last moments Link has scaling Tal Tal Mountain, the Wind Fish is the focus of the entire journey. The owl expresses to Link from the start that he must wake the Wind Fish to return home. Little is known about why the Wind Fish is the key and what exactly will happen.

The ending doesn’t feature a major twist, but it does feel like a solid resolution for the journey Link just endured. The Wind Fish is a beautiful creature of magic, mystery, and hope.

NEXT: Link’s Awakening: Ranking Every Dungeon Boss In The Game