The Legend Of Zelda series has been out for 25 years now but what exactly have we learnt about the land of Hyrule and its inhabitants? An awful lot apparently.

From milking cows, listening to fairies and stabbing chickens we reveal the top life lessons this series has taught us and just why you should look forward to similar Triforce fuelled tomfoolery in Skyward Sword.

#25 You are the chosen one

Don't fight it, you're the chosen one and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. I know you may have had plans and already decided what to do with your life but rip up that university application, quit the part-time job and dump your girlfriend. You need to dedicate your life to shooting seeds at Octorok's, catching fairies and destroying Ganon.

#24 Don't anger the Chickens

I know it must be tempting when all you're trying to do is get a fresh glass of LonLon Milk and the clucking chickens are in the way but just take a deep breath and calm down as if you so even as attempt to slyly stab them they will fight back and rip your body to shreds.

#23 Avoid Tingle

Tingle is a peculiar fellow. He's the kind of person that collects stamps. He's the kind of person that records YouTube videos of himself singing Adele. He's the kind of person that goes Trick or Treating at age 40. Most importantly, he's the kind of person you don't want to meet in the woods late at night (unless you are in wolf form in which case you should savagely eat him).

#22 Keep your children away from Tingle

Seriously. Remember to tell your children that if 'the weird man wearing make-up and a tight thong' approaches them they should run to the hills. The last thing you want is Tingle to corrupt their fragile little minds. If they do be-friend him they may just end up like�

#21 The Peculiar children of Hyrule

Hyrule is full of disturbed children. One child is often caught playing in the graveyard all day which is surely no life to lead. The poor chap is one MCR album away from growing a fringe and dying his hair. You can't blame him for wanting to play with dead people though as the ones that are alive aren't exactly great to be around. When you aren't being ran into by camp, burly men skipping along scaffolding in Kakariko village you're trying to avoid the depressed lady who can't keep her chickens in a coop. Lesson learnt? Avoid everyone.

#20 What does Ganon look like again?

If you're planning to go and rid Hyrule of impending doom by killing Ganon then you'd best take a quick gander at his latest profile picture as he tends to change his style/facial features/skin colour as often as Michael Jackson. Ganon clearly still needs work done on that pointy nose but his surgeons have worked wonders considering he used to be a green-ish pig-like creature.

#19 Cut the grass

It's a job usually left for middle-aged men on a Sunday but you should start embracing it as it pays quite well and will certainly buy you a nice bomb or two. Despite Links fascination with grass cutting he has never thought to buy a lawn mower, something that would surely make his day to day life a lot easier.

#18 Link can't catch a plane

Planning to go to Isle Delfino this year? Don't invite Link. The only way he will be getting there is by a huge bird (as seen in Skyward Sword) as any other form of Airline will lock him up instantly. The last time he tried to get on Ryan Air he was nearly shot to death for carrying peculiar plants which grow organic bombs. His luggage was insanely heavy too, the fool tried to take iron boots with him and not once thought about the weight restrictions.

#17 When in doubt, move a block

If there's one thing we have all learnt from The Legend Of Zelda series it's that if ever you come to a dead end, a nearby door is closed or a set of stairs are waiting to be activated then there will be a block hidden somewhere for you to push into the correct place. Statistics show that people who played a game in The Legend Of Zelda series are 78.6% better at arranging furniture than those that don't as they have years of practice tirelessly moving blocks from one end of the screen to another.

#16 Never go to Link's house

He's a nice young chap but don't ever be fooled into going to his house. He doesn't have bad intentions and is sure to offer you a heart container or a tasty fish in a bottle but when it comes to navigating his abode it's a nightmare. To get to his toilet you must light 4 torches, go through the hidden door, hit the switch, come back into the front room to move a block which then reveals a chest containing the key to enter the bathroom. By this point your bladder has exploded.

#15 Hey, Listen!

You may be having fun riding Epona or socializing with the spinning couple by the fountain but HEY, LISTEN! - You need to go to Death Mountain now! Indeed, this is why you need to�

#14 Carry plenty of jars

When Navi gets a bit too much just accidentally catch her in the jar, put on the lid, go to the nearest cliff and launch it off. Don't fear, there are plenty more fairies in the forest, hopefully fairies that can't talk.

#13 Cows love the Ocarina

If you're low on milk and don't think Epona can make the epic journey to Lidl then park up next to a cow and start playing your Ocarina. Cows love ocarinas - so much so that when you start blowing out a tune they spurt milk everywhere. Be sure to have plenty of jars at hand, it could get messy

#12 Hyrule Field is incredible

It's only a field yet it has fully orchestrated (well, that's what Nintendo wanted you to think anyway) music, walking skeletons, a huge volcano, that damn mail man and flying plants! Most of the fields I visit merely have a tree (maybe even two), soppy grass and a vast array of dog excrement. Hyrule sure knows how to put on a good show when it comes to fields, then. Or maybe its just because it takes place in a fantasy world. I bet in reality Hyrule field would be just as sordid as any other, with Octoroks emptying their bowels wherever they please and a pile of dirt at one end representing death mountain.

#11 Art Style

It's as touchy a subject in the Zelda universe as it is in ours. What exactly counts as art? Does this urinal count as art? Does the cel-shaded world of Wind Waker count as art? Who knows. What we do know is that people should really stop making such a big deal out of it. When Wind Waker was first shown you'd have thought people had a premonition of the end of the world (or played a pre-release version of Sonic 2006).

#10 Link is going to be late

Link is one of those people that just never turns up on time and its best that you know this now as oppose to finding it out the hard way when you're sat waiting in the restaurant for over a year looking like you've been stood up. The worst case of this was in 2006 when he decided to turn up late December. Id been waiting in that damn restaurant since the start of 2005, I had to eat so many specials that the word 'special' had lost all meaning. Talking of special, that new Zumba game looks pretty special, right?

#9 Link doesn't know how to do spin-offs

Out of every videogame character I can think of, Link is by far the worst when it comes to spin offs. Mario takes all the glory for his constant success in Mario Kart, Tennis, Party and Sports Mix whilst Link is sat in the corner, crying over unsold copies of Link's Crossbow Training. Even Tingle had slightly more success in his solo outing, Rosy Rupee Land, though arguably that is because his cult following of brain washed kids bought 10 copies each with the money they made from his slave driven thong factory.

#8 Every silver lining has a cloud

A really, really dark cloud. The clouds in question? The very same clouds that send Link into a deep depression every night and ensure that he doesn't sleep unless a few litres of vodka are firmly injected into his blood stream. I am of course referring to the fabled Water Temple. It's said that 7 out of 10 N64 related deaths are directly linked to the Water Temple and that 64% of Zelda players end up brutally killing themselves by pounding iron boots into their heads repeatedly.

#7 Every silver fish has a disease

This one is referring to something that could be, arguably, worse than the Water Temple. The Triforce hunt of Wind Waker has seen many a sailor jump ship and choose death over life. The thought of constantly going from one island to another and giving money to Tingle is just too much for some people to withstand. Anything that requires human interaction with that leotard wearing Beyoncé wannabe is surely too demoralizing to comprehend.

#6 Gossip Stones are useless

I once met a Gossip Stone that was so full of itself it claimed to be 'the OK Magazine of Hyrule' but I beg to differ. I was so angry at its inflated ego I decided to harshly stab the thing only to realize it wasn't made of stone at all but instead a weird jelly like substance. I was angry at its lack of gossip, all it did was tell me the current time when in actuality I wanted to know if Justin Bieber really was the father of Mido.

#5 Hyrule faces recession

At least, that's what they think. In reality they are all completely loaded, they just don't realise it. They seem to think that instead of spending money on nice houses or actual food they should spend their money on vases. But what happens if they have already bought enough vases? They simply hide the remaining money in the vases they already own. They have to keep doing this constantly as some thug keeps breaking into houses and smashing every vase in sight. However, this does help the pottery industry somewhat, it's huge in Hyrule

#4 Learn Zelda's Lullaby

If you are some sort of terrorist, secret agent or just want to take a peak at Zelda then you should most definitely learn Zelda's Lullaby. You see, the world of Hyrule really isn't that well protected and instead of requiring finger prints, secret passwords or eye recognition to get into top secret places, all that guard's really ask of you is that you can play Zelda's Lullaby on an instrument. Someone even played it on the triangle once.

#3 The Gold Skulltula Curse is evil

The Gold Skulltula Curse is a terrible disease which far too many inhabitants of Hyrule face. It become even worse in 2002 after the Spider-Man revival as many inhabitants thought being bitten by a spider would be a good thing and that they'd gain super hero powers influential enough to have them feature in their own game. Sadly the result of this has left them all huddled up in a creepy house in Kakariko village. Gamers often go in but hardly ever return with dead spiders to lift the soul destroying curse.

#2 Do it again

If there's one thing you should learn from the Zelda series it's that no matter how well you do, you'll have to do it again one day. Link has saved the land of Hyrule so many times yet each couple of hundred years (lets not get into specifics as we all know the timeline is as multi-layered and confusing as Inception) Ganon will return to cause all kinds of trouble. Were not even sure why he goes to so much effort anyway. So what if you rule Hyrule? What exactly will you do with the vast array of useless farmers, disturbed children, crazy fish women and bomb eating rock creatures? About the only thing that could be achieved from all of this is a highly diverse circus act.

#1 Expect the unexpected

The biggest and best life lesson we could possibly take from the Zelda series is that things change and we must accept that. You may have read this entire thing thinking it's merely a random mix of obscure Zelda moments but that was the entire point. All of these small, unexpected things make Zelda what it is - a magical bustling world full of insane personalities, mind-bending puzzles and Tingle.

Nintendo may constantly shock people with their radical choices (Cel-shaded graphics?! Full motion controls?! A WOLF?!) but always know what is best and always deliver the goods (Zelda II aside (CONTROVERSIAL OPINION - Ed)).

We may have endured serious health problems from the shock of delays in the past, we may have suffered countless nightmares after hearing the painful screech of a ReDead and we may have had a hard time trying to comprehend the Water Temple but through it all we had one hell of a great experience and I personally can't wait to do it all over again in Skyward Sword.

Here's to an adventure full of all new surprises, and as long as those surprises don't include Tingle I am ready to embrace them all.

By Josh Phillips