The Legend of Zelda are not RPGs

They are not RPGs.

 Do you know what really grinds my gears to no avail? When people mention TLoZ when talking about RPGs. At most, you can say that it has some RPG elements, but at it's core, TLoZ is an adventure game. The one who approaches RPG territory the most is TLoZ 2 for NES, but most of it's "innovations" and changes to the TLoZ formula were abandoned, never to be seen again.
 For starters, Link doesn't level up. He never does, never will. This was a staple of Japanese Console RPGs by the time TLoZ: A Link to the Past was released, and Zelda never used this trope. Another staples that were never used by Zelda: Random encounters and turn-based combat. True, those do not make an RPG(Specially today(2013)), but at the time, most where doing it, and Zelda was not(Except TLoZ 2...). Also, combat in The Legend of Zelda is basically superfluos. Unless you get locked in a room, or are short of supplies(And in this case, it's more of a gamble, since drops are random), combat is unnecesary, you gain nothing from it. Except Bosses, which act more as puzzles than fights.
 Choice. Or rather lack of choice. Link is a mute hero, "See? Mute hero! RPG Staple!"... wrong. Mario is a mute character, that doesn't make Super Mario an RPG, right? "But Link has to make choices!" Wrong. TLoZ gives you the illusion of choice. Most of the important decisions follow the "But thou must" trope, you say "Nay" and they, basically, tell you that "thou must" until you say "yes". The rest of the choices don't affect anything at all, so they are there just for window dressing.
 "But Link can go wherever he wants when he wants!" Nope, no he can't. Some Areas are unreachable until Link obtains a certain item that allows him to bypass certain obstackles, so, once again, the illusion of choice. You need to obtain certain items, which means at least going once to certain places to fetch them, so there is some semblance structure to the quest. Do you know what this reminds me of? Mario 64. You need to collect a certain amount of stars, instead of items, to access certain areas. Same deal. "Lava Dungeon"? Mario has a Lava world. "Snow Dungeon!" Mario has a Snow Level. You could say that Zelda's Dungeons are Mario's Worlds.

 

 "Ha! but Link's Dungeons are part of a cohesive world held together by Hyrulean land!"... so? Mario 64 has an overworld too, Peach's castle. Peach's castle serves as the overworld, and the many worlds are like Dungeons. If The Legend of Zelda are RPGs, the Mario 64 is an RPG. Is Mario 64 an RPG? Mute hero? His choices don't matter? Needs to collect items to be able to enter certain places? Mario needs to clear certain conditions(Puzzle-like in nature sometimes) to get items? Hmmm....
 But unlike Mario 64, Zelda is a bit more story driven... Thing is, before Twilight Princess, Zelda has no character growth whatsoever. RPGs tend to have character growth and developement, when an RPG has a mute hero, the cast around him get more developement. Zelda Ocarina of Time cheated a bit with the Time Mechanic, do character personalities and status change? Sure, they do, but we don't get to experience the change. Majora's Mask toyed with the idea a bit, but the 3 day rebooting kinda ruins it. Twilight Princess finally introduced side characters who mature as the story goes on.
 Finally, we have currency. RPG games have shops in which you can buy equipment and consumables... Except that most games have some sort of currency and shops. Devil May Cry has red orbs, which are used to buy new moves or healing items. Does that make DMC, God of War or any other modern action game an RPG?
 The Legend of Zelda are fun games, but the RPG elements they have are used very lightly, which makes The Legend of Zelda fall into the Adventure category, with a little action and puzzle elements to make it more interesting.