Though annoying (but name one sidekick link had that wasn't) she was one of the more well developed characters in the Zelda series.
heck, In my personal opinion TP was one of the beter games in the Zelda series. Never really understood why so many people were dissapointed in it. It wasn't the best (ALTTP still holds that spot) but I was quite satisfied.
^I think it had more to do with the fact that the people who were disappointed with it just voiced their opinion more often. What TP lacked in innovation (somthing that I think its haters expect too much of from the series, as most 'innovations' of the series I can recall grew no less tedious than the Twilight Bug hunts early in this game) it made up for in refinement (in bringing back every single bare essential that fans loved and deepening it, i.e. the horse factor).
I think the problem was just in the choice of pacing even thouugh that incidentally gave it a more solidly executed story with similarly executed characters.