Princess Zelda

Princess Zelda (ゼルダ姫, Zeruda-hime) is a playable character in Hyrule Warriors. Her roles in the Legend of Zelda franchise vary with each incarnation, though the relationship dynamics between her and Link are kept more or less the same.

Role in Game
This iteration of Princess Zelda is the newly crowned monarch of Hyrule, and a courageous leader who personally leads her troops to battle. Within her lies the Triforce of Wisdom. Due to her ties with Link, Zelda is kidnapped by Cia.

Development
When developing her character for this title, designers felt she needed to come off as a strong figure —both physically and emotionally— and was designed to have an aura of "a poised and confident ruler". The developers felt that a strong Zelda was a natural choice since they wanted to show how normal it was for someone of her character to obtain her seat of power.

Personality
Princess Zelda is a dignified figure who calmly assesses any dire situation before making a decision.

Fighting Style
With the rapier, Princess Zelda is light on her feet as she can perform powerful light-elemental fencing techniques and summon her arrows of light to take down enemies from a distance. She also has access to three golden orbs that appear beneath her Special Technique bar. When storing magic to these orbs via C1, her other charge attacks will be enhanced.

Zelda's abilities and skills with this moveset allude to her role in many of the games.
 * Zelda's proficiency with the rapier is a reference to her Twilight Princess incarnation wielding a sword.
 * The bow and arrows of light are associated with Zelda in several past games including Wind Waker, A Link Between Worlds, etc.
 * Zelda's use of energy balls and triangle-shaped blasts is taken from her arsenal of attacks as Ganondorf's puppet in Twilight Princess.
 * Her ability to conjure ice, wind, and fire consecutively are references to spells learned by Link in Ocarina of Time: Nayru's Love, Farore's Wind, and Din's Fire.

Fighting Style
The conductor's baton (based on the Wind Waker baton) allows Zelda to manipulate wind and sound to attack foes. The sound waves emitted by this weapon may turn into bolts of lightning depending on the attack being performed.