What Happened To Link's House In Tears Of The Kingdom?

In the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom it appears princess Zelda has been living in the house Link bought in Hateno Village back in Breath of the Wild. Does Link still own the house? Are Link and Zelda living together in the house? Or something else going on? Let's talk about it!

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[TheSapphicRaven]

Link is like Tony Hawk, in that no one recognizes who he is without Zelda there, the same way no one recognizes Tony Hawk without a skateboard and helmet

[oNayudono]

I want to add that Hudson recognizes link in tarrey town, and thanks him for helping him build the town. This mission in botw is only unlocked after buying link’s house. That means it is definitely link’s house in totk

[edgarjuarez]

one more point to add, Link never actually introduces himself to most npcs, the ones that know him, just know who he is, the ones that don't just assume he's a traveler and he just goes with it, some people even hear his name and think "oh he has the same name as the princess's knight, must be hard living up to that name, there's absolutely no way the two of you are one and the same, nuh-uh" so taking all of that into account, and the fact that even in BotW he didn't use the house much, it makes sense that he doesn't leave a big impression on your average joe.

[Gentleman_Gibbs]

I've always just taken it that Link is just another guy to most of the people of Hyrule, the citizens of Hanteo didn't notice him living there. When Princess Zelda started staying in the village however, everyone just presumed it was her house and that Link was her bodyguard. Its still his house as far as I'm concerned, paid for it fair and square.

[FTChomp]

Link and Zelda moved in! That is why Link got his own Bachelor Crib. Link and Zelda living together in Hateno Village is quite wholesome to think about.

[evobrat_jrgaming]

I would also add. If link wasn’t staying in the house, why would Zelda need to hide the new champions tunic elsewhere and not just use her own house if link wasn’t also living there. She had to hide the tunic at the castle so link wouldn’t find it.

[willbowden]

Link and Zelda being married privately and living in a small village just makes perfect sense to me. With her as the princess, they wouldn’t have announced that to the whole world, but also since the kingdom didn’t exist for a century, it’d be much easier to hide. Also the fact that Zelda hasn’t been crowned queen despite being the presumable heir (depending on how their succession works) fits with this too since she’s living a more private life as she works to rebuild the kingdom.

[phailynrowan]

Knowing Zelda's insatiable curiosity about all historical things, the fact that she's staying in Hateno instead of Kakariko has to be because of Link. The little girl that hangs out near the house says that Zelda would always tell her when she was leaving so Zelda was coming and going a lot too. I'm not concerned about sleeping arrangements, he could be sleeping on a pallet on the floor downstairs and stowing it under the staircase during the day. These were my thoughts anyway.

[reahslademhA]

I think it’s funny that zelda elegantly made a well she can work in privately and link, controlled by us, just HYAH’d his way into it and read her shit and took his hair tie and went about his way saving the kingdom. All while wearing some insane armor. An elegant gentleman.

[DeltaVTango]

I think people equate Link not having a voice actor to Link not talking. Link talks plenty because in dialogue, people responds to what he says. He explains what he's done on quests to people, for example.

[Matthew_Murray]

After everything they’ve been through, and how close they grew together 100 years ago. It honestly makes little sense for them not to live together.

Also I assume the reason nobody in Hateno seems to remember Link is because he’s canonically a very quite and reserved person that he doesn’t leave much of an impression on people who don’t actively know his accomplishments, those people of course being the people closer to Hyrule Castle. People forget that Hateno is basically in the outskirts as far away from the effects of Calamity Ganon as possible. Even Zelda isn’t really know in Hateno for be the princess, she is more known for her passion of learning and promotion of education.

[enniusdrusus]

It would make total sense for their relationship to be largely unknown if that's the case.
If Link is known only as Zelda's bodyguard, then it's safer because potential enemies would see a well protected princess.
If everyone knew they were in an intimate relationship though, potential enemies might become more radical and bolder and might put both in more unnecessary danger. They would know they can also try to capture link and turn him into a bargaining chip.

[meikaishi]

I believe that it is pretty doable to assume that people in hateno knows zelda but not link because first: she's the princess of hyrule, so even people who she may not have interacted directly would recognize her and be aware of her living in the town, and second: maybe zelda was doing work in the town like establishing the school while link was out training or something else because zelda wouldn't need a bodyguard while wandering the town, or even if he was accompanying her, most people wouldn't pay him any mind, if a celebrity moved near you I doubt you would recognize their bodyguards if they showed randomly
We also know their involvement with the people in hateno wasn't that deep because they're not even aware of the events that transpired in the castle during the upheaval, unlike other characters who are surprised to see link because they're close enough to be aware of their disappearance

[chamomiletea]

Honestly I think the developers put in these subtle hints very intentionally because considering those hints it’s hard to imagine coming to any other conclusion. They most certainly must be together.

[AmandaHighland]

Just a heads up that there are actually quite a few beds Link can sleep in without paying. Selmie's Place has a bed he can sleep in, there is a bed on the shore of the East Reservoir Lake by the dam facing the Zora Domain, as well as Calip's cabin and Link's house. These were all also free beds Link could use in BOTW as well. Obviously those don't apply to this question, but just in case anyone missed them!

[johnsonhansen]

I personally really like the theory that Link and Zelda got married between games. I think it would explain a lot of their motivations. I dont think it can entirely hold up with the rest of the story, but it's still a fun theory. Imagine how powerful it would have been if right before going to fight Ganondorf someone like Purah just casually mentions Link and Zelda's wedding. It would be a total bombshell and an awesome plot twist! Now we really want to beat Ganon! And it would make the already emotional diving catch to save Zelda at the end even more emotional.

[PhillyChzStak]

There's only two possibilities.
If romance? Simple. They're in the same house.
If platonic? Also simple, they're in the same house if only for Link to protect Zelda from the Yiga threats and to accompany her on her trips.
Regardless for both, Link may be coming and going at odd hours too. May be waking up early in the morning and away from the house and coming back late when they're the village probably just because he likes his privacy.

[wiskerfall]

Yeah brought up a lot of good points it should be obvious that he lived there with her but people tend to forget that a Zelda is confirmed to be in love with link witch is stated at the end of the champions balid in btow. So she cares for him alot plus his hairband is in her study kinda sus for someone to keep around someone else’s clothes if they don’t live there huh

[Addareene]

I think it would be very unlikely that Link would go off and leave Zelda undefended. I see it that people in Hatato don't know Link because he was forgettable to them when Zelda was around. He's her silent body guard and she's this amazing, talkative princess. Any time they may have noticed him, they probably either quickly forgot about him because he is so in the background or discounted him as just a lowly body guard. It's only the people who really KNOW who he is that recognise him. Even in the school lessons when the kids learn about the hero from the calamity, they don't tell them that it was Link. He's not a show pony and wouldn't like the attention such knowledge would give him. I think for the most part, he likes going around unnoticed.
So, while the house was Link's, when Zelda moved in people came to recognise it as Zelda's house because she was the memorable one.

[Zminator]

For the single bed in Link's house, I like to think he did offer his bed, but she refused. So he offered to buy a bigger bed, but she refused and used him as her bed.