Link's Balls

About

Link's Balls refers to a viral video appearing to show that in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Link's testicles have been rendered by Nintendo and given "jiggle physics," meaning they bounce and recoil in his pants. Though many were aghast or amused at the supposed revelation, the idea that Nintendo had animated Link's testicles was debunked shortly after the video appeared in mid-July 2023, and the appearance of a "bulge" in the viral clip was likely due to a graphical glitch.

Origin

On July 14th, 2023, TikToker @loonathemoon^[1] posted a Tears of the Kingdom gameplay clip in which Link is fighting a Hinox enemy. After Link is struck by the Hinox, he falls on all fours with the camera positioned behind him. For a moment, it appears as though Link has a bulge in his pants, suggesting Nintendo had animated Link's genitalia. The clip gained over 1.6 million views and 182,000 likes in five days (shown below).

Spread

On July 15th, 2023, a section of the clip was then reposted to Twitter by @pierbiwierbi, gaining over 1,400 retweets and 9,500 likes in four days (shown below).

please. theres no way links balls are real… nintendo no pic.twitter.com/4n5Vqajs13

— pierbi (@pierbiwierbi) July 15, 2023

Over the following days, the idea that Nintendo had animated Link's testicles spread to the amusement of many on Twitter. On July 16th, Twitter user @dahffodil^[2] posted the relevant screenshot and captioned it "Link balls jumpscare," gaining over 3,700 retweets and 48,000 likes in three days (shown below, left). In the replies, user @kyra_alvarado_^[3] reposted the clip, gaining over 1,900 retweets and 18,000 likes in a similar timeframe.

The tweet became a notable vehicle for quote-tweets joking and commenting about the idea Nintendo had given Link's testicles "jiggle physics." For example, also on July 16th, Twitter user @TAlecgatr^[4] quote-tweeted @kyra_alvarado_'s post with the Oh That's Real Nice meme, gaining over 9,500 retweets and 100,000 likes in three days (shown below, right).

The idea that Nintendo animated Link's testicles was purportedly disproven in the following days. As the clip went viral on Twitter, game developer Joakim "konjak" Sandberg^[5] stated the "balls" effect was likely due to a graphical hiccup in which Link's torso clipped through his tunic (shown below, top). Additionally, Twitter user @kaede_kairi posted a video in which she downloaded Link's model and investigated whether she could find his testicles, coming up empty (shown below, bottom).

I downloaded Link just to confirm. It's true. Link's balls are a lie😔 https://t.co/v52yb2a2op pic.twitter.com/UXS5t3Ajqd

— A hero's tears (@kaede_kairi) July 19, 2023

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References