Schaffrillas' Zelda Character Popularity Poll (and Comparisons)
Well-known YouTuber and Tamatoa enthusiast Schaffrillas Productions ran a Zelda character popularity poll from January 5th to January 13th, 2025, following up on a Mario character popularity poll he did in 2024. A total of exactly 23,000 participants filled out a survey which asked what the responders' five favorite characters were from the Legend of Zelda series. Quite simple in its execution. He would eventually post the results of the Zelda poll on September 30th, 2025 through a four hour-long YouTube video. It's a very interesting watch if you're a fan of the Zelda series like me.
However... on this site, the only characters from this poll that we care about are the ones from the CD-i games. So, that's what this page will focus on.
I'll list every CD-i Zelda character that appeared on Schaffrillas' Zelda character poll, and this will include characters from all three titles. We don't leave out Zelda's Adventure on this site! Some CD-i characters may be left out as all of the 1, 2, and 3 vote characters were not fully listed in their montages. Then, I'll compare these results to the CD-i Zelda character popularity poll I conducted in 2025. This will only consist of Animation Magic Zelda characters, as both of my polls focused on those characters specifically.
As for why I'm not covering Schaffrillas' Mario poll on this page, it's because it did not split Mario characters across "incarnations" or versions like the Zelda poll. Also, I did not do popularity polls for Hotel Mario's characters in either 2024 or 2025. Maybe I'll do it for 2026, who knows?
Sections:
Survey Results -- Comparison
Survey Results
Here are the most popular CD-i Zelda characters according to Schaffrillas' Zelda poll.
I had to combine the votes for Sakado Merchant (4 votes) and Ushrom (11 votes) as they are the same character and were separated in the original video.
The three characters that I specifically voted for will be bolded. (I also voted for the OoT Iron Knuckle and a fifth character I've since forgotten.)
| Character | Game | # of Votes | % of Respondants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morshu | TFoE | 3,784 | 16.452% |
| King Harkinian | TFoE
TWoG |
1,235 | 5.370% |
| Link | TFoE
TWoG |
438 | 1.904% |
| Ganon | TFoE
TWoG |
310 | 1.348% |
| Gwonam | TFoE | 297 | 1.291% |
| Princess Zelda | TFoE
TWoG |
245 | 1.065% |
| Militron | TFoE | 44 | 0.191% |
| Hektan | TWoG | 42 | 0.183% |
| Duke Onkled | TWoG | 41 | 0.178% |
| Princess Zelda | ZA | 32 | 0.139% |
| Mayor Cravendish | TWoG | 31 | 0.135% |
| Glutko | TFoE | 28 | 0.122% |
| Lupay | TFoE | 22 | 0.096% |
| Harbanno | TWoG | 19 | 0.083% |
| Anutu | TFoE | 18 | 0.078% |
| Gaspra | ZA | 15 | 0.065% |
| Harlequin | TFoE | 15 | 0.065% |
| Sakado Merchant | TWoG | 15 | 0.065% |
| Droolik | TFoE | 12 | 0.052% |
| Hamsha | TFoE | 12 | 0.052% |
| Omfak | TWoG | 12 | 0.052% |
| Yokan | TWoG | 11 | 0.048% |
| Fish Lady | TFoE | 10 | 0.043% |
| Iron Knuckle | TWoG | 9 | 0.039% |
| Lord Kiro | TWoG | 9 | 0.039% |
| Alora | TFoE | 8 | 0.035% |
| Impa | TWoG | 8 | 0.035% |
| Link | ZA | 8 | 0.035% |
| Goronu | TFoE | 7 | 0.030% |
| Makoto | TWoG | 7 | 0.030% |
| Aypo | TFoE | 6 | 0.026% |
| Sanda | TWoG | 6 | 0.026% |
| Food Dude | ZA | 5 | 0.021% |
| Ganon | ZA | 5 | 0.021% |
| Fairy | TFoE
TWoG |
4 | 0.017% |
| Grimbo | TWoG | 4 | 0.017% |
| Iron Knuckle | ZA | 4 | 0.017% |
| Odranoel | TFoE | 4 | 0.017% |
| Suprena | TFoE | 4 | 0.017% |
| Llort | ZA | 3 | 0.013% |
| Kulvan | TFoE | 1 | 0.004% |
| Lubonga | TWoG | 1 | 0.004% |
Items, generic enemies, YouTube Poop references, and certain non-Zelda characters were also submitted. These include:
- Princess Arzette (Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, 21 votes, 0.091%)
- Dinner (TWoG, 7 votes, 0.030%)
- Dodongo (TFoE/TWoG, 5 votes, 0.021%)
- Lamp Oil (TFoE/TWoG, 5 votes, 0.021%)
- Octorok (TFoE/TWoG, 5 votes, 0.021%)
- Rope (TFoE/TWoG, 5 votes, 0.021%)
- I.M. Meen (I.M. Meen, 4 votes, 0.017%)
- The Map (TFoE, 3 votes, 0.013%)
- Dinner Blaster (Dinner Blaster, 2 votes, 0.008%)
- Gwonam's house in Hermit Flat (TFoE, 1 vote, 0.008%)
- Gwonam's scroll (TFoE, 1 vote, 0.008%)
- King Harkinian's computer (YouTubePoop-The King has a new Computer, 1 vote, 0.008%)
Comparison
Here is a comparison of the results of Schaffrillas' Zelda poll and the 2025 CD-i Zelda character popularity poll I created.
Characters are sorted into the four categories I made for the 2025 survey, while their positions are based on Schaffrillas' poll results.
Two rankings will be shown for the 2025 survey; their total vote count (like Schaffrillas' poll) and their weighted averages (lowest to highest).
The top character(s) for each survey will be bolded.
"Main" Characters
| Character | Ranking (Schaffrillas) | Ranking (Survey, Count) | Ranking (Survey, W. Avg.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| King Harkinian | #1 (1,235) | #1 (170) | #1 (1.725) |
| Link | #2 (439) | #3 (153) | #4 (3.775) |
| Ganon | #3 (310) | #5 (136) | #5 (4.486) |
| Gwonam | #4 (297) | #2 (156) | #2 (3.580) |
| Princess Zelda | #5 (245) | #4 (150) | #3 (3.648) |
| Duke Onkled | #6 (41) | #7 (37) | #7 (20.906) |
| Impa | #7 (8) | #6 (44) | #6 (17.758) |
Non-Ganon Bosses
| Character | Ranking (Schaffrillas) | Ranking (Survey, Count) | Ranking (Survey, W. Avg.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Militron | #1 (44) | #4 (92) | #2 (4.679) |
| Hektan | #2 (42) | #1 (109) | #1 (4.197) |
| Glutko | #3 (28) | #3 (96) | #3 (5.313) |
| Lupay | #4 (22) | #5 (83) | #5 (5.879) |
| Harlequin | #5 (15) | #2 (105) | #4 (5.486) |
| Omfak | #6 (12) | #6 (73) | #7 (8.613) |
| Iron Knuckle | #7 (9) | #7 (64) | #6 (8.130) |
| Goronu | #8 (7) | #8 (49) | #8 (12.895) |
| Gibdo | Unknown or none | #9 (46) | #9 (13.781) |
| Three Witches | Unknown or none | #10 (42) | #10 (14.898) |
| Wizzrobe | Unknown or none | #11 (13) | #11 (37.278) |
TFoE Side Characters
| Character | Ranking (Schaffrillas) | Ranking (Survey, Count) | Ranking (Survey, W. Avg.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morshu | #1 (3,784) | #1 (169) | #1 (1.380) |
| Anutu | #2 (18) | #2 (73) | #2 (7.600) |
| Droolik | #3 (12) | #3 (71) | #3 (7.820) |
| Hamsha | #3 (12) | #7 (50) | #7 (11.880) |
| Fish Lady | #5 (10) | #5 (63) | #5 (9.751) |
| Alora | #6 (8) | #10 (45) | #11 (14.311) |
| Aypo | #7 (6) | #9 (46) | #9 (12.760) |
| Fairy | #8 (4) | #4 (68) | #4 (9.381) |
| Odranoel | #8 (4) | #13 (18) | #13 (34.444) |
| Suprena | #8 (4) | #7 (50) | #6 (11.664) |
| Kulvan | #11 (1) | #11 (43) | #10 (14.310) |
| Clora | Unknown or none | #14 (16) | #14 (45.000) |
| Horgum | Unknown or none | #12 (21) | #12 (30.204) |
| Zorga | Unknown or none | #6 (52) | #8 (12.315) |
TWoG Side Characters
| Character | Ranking (Schaffrillas) | Ranking (Survey, Count) | Ranking (Survey, W. Avg.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor Cravendish | #1 (31) | #1 (120) | #1 (2.975) |
| Harbanno | #2 (19) | #2 (104) | #2 (4.676) |
| Sakado Merchant | #3 (15) | #5 (65) | #5 (8.436) |
| Yokan | #4 (11) | #6 (62) | #6 (9.506) |
| Lord Kiro | #5 (9) | #3 (101) | #3 (5.029) |
| Makoto | #6 (7) | #4 (67) | #4 (8.180) |
| Sanda | #7 (6) | #13 (11) | #13 (56.529) |
| Fairy | #8 (4) | #7 (54) | #7 (9.815) |
| Grimbo | #8 (4) | #8 (46) | #8 (13.355) |
| Lubonga | #10 (1) | #12 (22) | #12 (27.893) |
| Lady Alma | Unknown or none | #10 (35) | #10 (18.661) |
| Lika | Unknown or none | #9 (37) | #9 (18.013) |
| Myra | Unknown or none | #11 (28) | #11 (20.663) |
Lastly, here are a couple of interesting observations about these two surveys:
- Both surveys unanimously agreed that King Harkinian was the #1 "main" character, that Morshu, Anutu, and Droolik were the top three TFoE side characters, and that Mayor Cravendish and Harbanno were the #1 and #2 TWoG side characters (respectively).
- They also agreed that Glutko and Goronu were the #3 and #8 non-Ganon bosses, respectively, that Fish Lady was the #5 TFoE side character, and that Grimbo was the #8 TWoG side character.
- The participants of the 2025 Survey view Gwonam, Princess Zelda, Impa, Hektan, Harlequin, Iron Knuckle (weighted only), the Fairies, Suprena, Kulvan (weighted only), Lord Kiro, and Makoto more favorably than the Schaffrillas poll.
- Inversely, the participants of the Schaffrillas poll view Link, Ganon, Duke Onkled, Militron, Lupay, Hamsha, Alora, Aypo, Odranoel, the Sakado Merchant, Yokan, Sanda, and Lubonga more favorably than my 2025 Survey.
- Sanda had the biggest difference in ranking (6 entire places) between Schafrillas' poll (where she was #7) and the 2025 survey (where she was dead-last at #13).
- Nine characters (three from the non-Ganon bosses category and three each from both side character categories) did not appear in Schaffrillas' video. Almost all of these characters were near the bottom of the 2025 Survey's ranking, though one (Zorga) did not appear despite being ranked #6 and #8 on the survey.
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Last updated: March 26th, 2026.