Medli

Medli in The Wind Waker.
Medli
Species	Rito
Hair color	Red
Eye color	Red
Relatives	Laruto (implied ancestor)
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Medli is a supporting character and temporary playable character in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. She is also the game's Earth Sage.

Background

Medli was an inhabitant of Dragon Roost Island who trained to succeed Komali's grandmother as the attendant for Valoo. Medli had first met Komali's grandmother when she saw Medli's harp and claimed to see her fate in the curves of her instrument, knowing that Medli was destined to be the next sage of the Earth Temple. This led to the grandmother becoming Medli's teacher, and she taught Medli until her death. Afterwards, Medli did not think she was worthy of succeeding her. Her own self esteem issues were matched by Komali's own lack of confidence.

Things got worse when Valoo went into an uncontrollable rage. Medli hoped to calm Valoo down by scaling Dragon Roost, but she needed a boost because she was not good at flying. So she enlisted Link to meet with her in secret and toss her towards the entrance. Medli did not make it far before she was captured by the monsters of the Dragon Roost Cavern, but she was able to find out that the cause of Valoo's anger was a giant monster attacking his tail. After Link rescued her, she told him what she knew and thanked him by giving him a grappling hook, then she left to tell the other Ritos. After Link defeated the monster and freed Valoo, Medli translated Valoo's message of gratitude and agreed with his labeling of Link as a true hero.

Afterwards, Komali began to mature, giving Medli both pride and sadness. She had become Valoo's official attendant and practiced with her harp in order to better serve Valoo. However, her fate went down a different path when Link arrived and conducted the Earth God's Lyric for her with the Wind Waker. This sent Medli into a trance where she met her ancestor, Laruto, and she was awakened as the sage of the Earth Temple. She then asked Link to take her to the temple quickly before she would have to see Komali, wanting him to remember her as a simple attendant. Together, Link and Medli explored the Earth Temple and defeated its guardian. Once they reached the central chamber, Medli's prayers helped to restore the Master Sword's power. She then asked Link to watch over Prince Komali for her. In the ending, Medli was seen on the pirate ship with Makar and Aryll when they picked Link and Tetra up from the surface of the ocean. With Ganon defeated, Medli presumably returned to her position on Dragon Roost Island.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Medli has been represented by a trophy and sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and an Ace Support Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Her Spirit's Support effect was immunity to strong winds. When fought in a Spirit battle, Medli's Spirit possessed Isabelle with enhanced jumping and was accompanied by a Charizard (representing Valoo).
• Medli appeared in Hyrule Warriors as a playable character, being available through downloading updated editions of the first two versions of the game and being normally unlockable in the Definitive Edition (where she was unlocked by completing Square 8B of the Great Sea Map in Adventure Mode). She used her Rito Harp as her weapon, and her attacks involved a variety of wind-based attacks, reflecting light onto enemies with her staff and dive-bombing enemies after flying into the air.
• In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, she appeared after the Welcome Amiibo update and could be invited to live in the player's town after scanning an amiibo of Toon Link or Toon Zelda. She had a Normal personality, which mean that she was friendly and kind while also being somewhat shy. Her given birthdate in that game is the Japanese release date for The Wind Waker.

Trivia

• Her name is most likely a play on the word "medley" or "melody", considering her and The Wind Waker in general's association with music. It also resembles the Sanskrit name Medini, which means "earth".
• In Breath of the Wild, the Divine Beast associated with the Rito, Vah Medoh, seems to be named after Medli, as it resembles the Japanese pronunciation of her name, and the other Divine Beasts were also named after stages.