Imagine, if you will, that you're working for Nintendo, and by whatever circumstances occurred, you find yourself working on the next Legend of Zelda title for the Wii.  You have been assigned one task and one task only.  Nintendo has felt that it's time that Link spoke, and it's your job to determine not only the sound of his voice, but the manner of his speech and his general personal attitude.

I don't know about you, but my reaction to this would not be one of glee.  As a matter of fact, I'd probably be scared shitless.  Sure, giving Link a voice and dialogue sounds like an easy proposition, but where woudl I even start?  No matter what I do, there's going to be that throng of Zelda fans that would find it nothing short of sacrilige to hear Link speak.  There's no way that I could please them.  On the other hand, there's that throng of Zelda fans that have gotten sick of Link being a silent protagonist and will think the game is an archaic dinosaur if Link continues to simply grunt and shout at the very most.

Okay, so it's true that not everyone can be pleased.  That much is obvious.  Still, how do you define a character's personality when that personality has largely been defined by the player's own imagination for close to twenty-five years?  Is he the archetype of the just hero?  Does he use snarky one-liners?  How does he actually feel about Zelda?  How does he actually feel about being the legendary hero of Hyrule?  What about his relationship with friends or family members?

If this personality test sounds ridiculous to you, keep in mind that these are questions that would necessary.  It's something that needs to be thought out and given a great deal of care.  Otherwise, you get stuff like this:

Link is a heroic mute. Miyamoto always intended this. That is what he is.

Cool story, bro.

4chan references aside, if link were to speak, I would only want it to be basic responses, such as "Yes.", "No.", "I'll do it", "Don't worry.", "Come with me if you want to live." etc.  I would hate to hear him speak monologues.  One of the reasons that Link, and The Legend of Zelda intrigues me so is because link is quiet.  He doesn't bitch and moan when he's given a task to accomplish, he just does it because he knows it's the right thing to do.

Well no one has complained about the Half Life series or countless other game franchises having a silent hero, have they?