Dark Link (Somarinoa)

"Link...? Is that who I am?"

- Dark Link's response to being mistakenly identified

This particular Dark Link is a character introduced in The Legend of Zelda: Dark Legacy. Waking up and not remembering his past at all, he begins to work towards solving his amnesia, helping many along the way and battling Lord Ganon's forces. While he believes himself to be the true Link due to his outward appearance, a number of others realize immediately he is not (though a number also don't realize this). Ganon's Minions seem to all notice he is not the true Link.

Appearance
As a Dark Interloper, this particular Dark Link wears black and gray clothes, though his cap has a purple brim. Two golden earrings adorn his left ear. He also possesses whitening hair and red eyes.

Role in The Legend of Zelda: Dark Legacy
This Dark Link appears in The Legend of Zelda: Dark Legacy, operating as the game's protagonist. He starts out neutral in his ideals, not remembering who he is or why he got where he is. Over the course of the game, the player is able to make various choices that sway him towards either the dark side and revival (Ganon's Forces) or the light side and redemption (the Kingdom of Hyrule).

In this game, Ganon decided to do away with his nemesis for good through the creation of a fourth piece of the Triforce, referred to as the Dark Quadforce, which would serve to complete the Triforce pyramid and both enhance the strength of those pieces it is lined up with while weakening those it is wielded against. The intention of this was for the Dark Quadforce to strengthen Power (Ganon) while weakening both Wisdom (Princess Zelda) and Courage (Link), allowing Ganon to far more easily overtake all realms. Though artificial in nature, Ganon poured enough of his and his minions' energy into the object to give it immense power and allowing it to function as intended. However, Ganon soon discovered that each of the pieces requires a guardian in order to properly function, and because of this he was required to create a proxy guardian for the Dark Quadforce in order to wield it in battle. With this he chose to utilize his darkest magics to create a Dark Link which would do his bidding and would have the same prowes in battle as Link himself. Through this magic, Ganon created a doppelganger Hylian body in a similar manner to his creation of other, weaker Dark Links, but since the Quadforce's guardian needed a soul, Ganon yanked one from the Twilight Realm; this soul happened to be a shred of the Minish sorcerer Vaati's soul reincarnated last into the body of a Twili.

The power of the Dark Quadforce then gave this Dark Link his own weapon to wield to rival that of the hero, a sword known as the Sword of Villains. The power shoved into the Quadforce was so powerful at this early stage that the Sword of Villains instantly rivaled the power of the Master Sword, and through the two weapons' clashing Ganon hoped to nullify the Master Sword's power. This technique is partially successful, as the instant that Link's Master Sword and the Dark Link's Sword of Villains collide against one another, a temporal rift is torn open, shoving Dark Link through it and out of the tower and freezing Link in his place, each character negated of their strength and abilities. Both opponents would have been frozen in place but Ganon poured his own power into keeping Dark Link alive in order to drastically improve his chances of success against the legendary blade. The process of temporal displacement from the swords' clashing severely weakened Dark Link, even to the point of rendering him an amnesiac.

Initially he had no recollection of who or what he was, but when he first encountered townsfolk they excitedly referred to him as the great hero of the land, Link. Assuming they knew what they were talking about, he accepted this and performed various tasks for them. However, he also discovered that the forces of Ganon would part for him as well, referring to him as their "Dark General". Dark Link had to decide which side to take between the two engaging forces, cutting ties with either the people of Hyrule or the armies of Ganon.

During his adventure, Dark Link would travel to many numerous realms and nations, including Hyrule, Arcadia, Calatia, Gamelon, Holodrum, Koridai, Labrynna, Subrosia, Termina, Amalgia and The Sky. Each of these realms would appear at least for a short time during the course of Dark Legacy, and each would feature at least one dungeon.

Eventually, Dark Link would return to the tower where Link lay in stasis and Ganondorf stood in patient contemplation, having returned to his natural Gerudo state due to wasting too much energy in keeping Dark Link from the stasis his former rival was now left in. Ganon insisted that the three natural pieces of the Triforce were instinctually trying to reject the power of the artificial piece as if it were a virus and they were the antibodies, and that the only way to truly integrate as one of the powers was to remove one of the others and take its place — although Dark Link had regained much of his power over his adventure, Link would need to be freed by clashing Master Sword and Sword of Villains again and someone would have to be slain. Dark Link would strike Link's outstretched sword with his own dark blade, and would be forced to choose between aiding Link or supporting Ganon.

In the Redeemed Ending, with the Dark Quadforce ultimately destroyed and Ganon simply forced back into the Dark World and not truly slain, Dark Link's power wanes. He begins to realize what his soul originally was and realizing that he, too, was once an evil being, he accepts his fate as he fades from existence. Link and Zelda are left to speculate as to whether he has truly passed away or if he has simply been returned to his home dimension.

In the Forsaken Ending, Dark Link sides with Ganondorf once again, who subsequently transforms into Ganon again. The two double-team Link and eventually subdue him. With Link weakened, Dark Link takes the opportunity to slay the would-be hero and claim through a dark ritual claims the Triforce of Courage as his own, corrupting it into the Triforce of Despair. He and Ganon then make plans to lead a crusade against the other nations and dimensions now that no hero could stop them. The look on Ganon's face and the way he chooses to speak hint that he may be plotting against Dark Link, as well.