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purpledemoncat · 24 days ago

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Since it's Father's Day where I am, today I want to share with you some facts and stories about my Master Kohga's father! Who as I'm sure you all know by now was also titled Master Kohga after his ascension to the chiefdom, which always makes it a little awkward to write about him... I like calling him Daddy Kohga and just plain Dad so that's what I'll do this time too! But first of all for reference this is him, drawn by @purpledemonart , for your viewing pleasure.

Daddy Kohga was a big, strong goofball of a man, a very larger-than-life personality. Even when he was a kid, he was the one suggesting shenanigans among his friend group.

His parents, Nana Kohga and her tough Right Hand Blademaster husband, trained him extensively in both arcane and weapons techniques, but he was always trying to put his own spin on things. He ended up much better at the Blademaster stuff than at the magic stuff (which is why Nana was her grandson's first teacher on those things) and mostly used sword-based magic techniques. But damn that guy was powerful. Like. Cut a Lynel in Half powerful.

Also quite a looker, so I'm told. I mean I don't know what he reaaaally looked like but according to Kohga he was. His usual disguised face had a strong jawline and very nice eyebrows, and he had his son's same black curlycoily hair, just not as long. Koh says he picked his own disguise as a mix of his parents' but heavy on the Dad part, and given how handsome he is, I can believe the face Dad showed around was too.

Hobbies included: sparring with friends, acting, dancing, fishing (when out on missions) and, like his mother and wife, strategy board games. While Nana and Hotaru preferred shi-ku (the Yiga equivalent of go), Dad liked Master vs. King (abbreviated as Masking), a game a bit like Shogun where players place warriors on a board and attempt to overwhelm the other side. He was pretty good at playing both sides (Yiga and Hylian, basically), but of course preferred the Master strategy.

I've mentioned this before, but Dad's sorta lackadaisical behavior when he was a young man led Nana to pass him over for the Right Hand position when Granddad died. He was going to have to learn to take being her Heir seriously! Now, Dad was a very resilient and self-confident person, so Nana's decision to make his best friend Chisao the Right Hand didn't really devastate him emotionally or anything. But it did make him buckle down and stop fooling around as much. He learned the lesson his mother was trying to teach him: a Master can have fun and be themself, but when it comes to the Clan's well-being, they have to work hard and be a leader and a protector.

Dad did become Nana's Right Hand about six months later. She let him sweat a bit, ha. But he did start taking Clan business more seriously and learning from her how to actually run the Karusa Complex so he could take over someday. Importantly, he started to see the Clan not just as his personal family and friends and future lackeys, but as his people, who he would hopefully one day swear to lead.

He had a whole bunch of romances, mostly with women but some with men, before settling down and marrying Hotaru. One of these was a relatively brief fling with Chisao, because "hey, we're best friends, we're both good-lookin' guys, haven't you ever wondered?" Current Master Kohga just has to deal with the knowledge that his may-as-well-be-uncle-and-former-Right-Hand Blademaster Chisao had sex with his dad. Like, more than once. But lol that didn't last long; they definitely loved each other better as besties than as romantic partners. (ie Chisao wanted a less rambunctious partner than Dad and Dad wanted somebody who wouldn't constantly nag at him.)

And Dad found that with Hotaru! Who he could be silly and fun with--who thought he was funny and charming, and who'd laugh with him (and make her own teasing jokes, too). But who through her own elegant ways settled him down quite a bit, and helped him to become the Master he eventually was. God he loved her so much, so intensely. He would've done anything for her.

In fact, as an example, while Hotaru was expecting with their son, Lord Dad personally led a major heist in Gerudo Town. This involved shapeshifting/disguises and lots of subterfuge. He took quite a team of Yiga ladies along, but insisted on participating instead of just sending them on the mission, because it was for Hotaru. The group brought back a huge trove of jewelry and gems. Now of course, while he did it with his wife in mind, Dad knew his mother wouldn't let Hotaru keep everything (and it wouldn't have made any practical sense for her to). But when presenting his haul to Master Nana, he kept back a little chest of rubies for himself, secretly. Nana was proud of her Right Hand Heir for getting the Clan a whole bunch of stuff that could be sold by disguised operatives for ready rupees or used in their own crafting. And Hotaru got a pair of ruby earrings made to match her betrothal necklace, and a wonderful romantic tale like something straight out of her favorite stories~

(The rest of the rubies he kept? Well this is strictly hush hush, but after he became Master he'd give them to people who were looking to propose to their sweethearts, if they couldn't find their own and were desperate. Aaaand he gifted some to his nine-year-old son, to keep special for himself for the future. Y'know. If the kid ever fell in love. ;) )

As Master (a rank he ascended to when he was 59 years old), Daddy Kohga was bolder than his mother was (in her later years anyway) about sending teams out on sneak-attack missions and village pillaging raids. He managed to keep all Nana's clandestine trade deals going, but the Yiga ramped up their thefts quite a bit. He thought that while the Clan needed to stay safe, of course, so much of their reason for being involved revenge on Hyrule so the least they could do was to shake things up and rob some nobles' estates blind and let the kingdom know the Yiga were still in the shadows awaiting its doom. Hotaru and Lord Chisao sometimes had to pull him back from doing things that were outright reckless, but he knew enough to listen to them--as a good leader should.

Still, the Chief of the Gerudo, Plana (Urbosa's mother) remained a particular target Dad loved to mess with. Stealing from her personal caravans, sneaking into her bedroom to take just one thing and see if she'd miss it... Plana knew Dad's usual false face quite well. Let's just say though, that the playful nature of Dad's sallies against her wasn't mutual. Plana hated him genuinely, and hated the Yiga for harrying the Gerudo so much under his direction. (This is a big part of the reason Urbosa wants to stomp the Clan to death with Naboris's hooves so bad--her mom had it out for those guys.)

Dad was the one to instate seasonal special events for the Yiga's children ten and under! He thought it would be fun for the kiddos to get to spend time with the Right Hand and later the Master of the Clan as an informal group, and loved coming up with activities to do with them. He was really good with kids (it's where his son gets it from hehe) and really kept informed on how all the little ones were doing and details like their favorite animals and treats and stuff (with Hotaru's help--she was super good at this kind of thing too as I've said). Daddy Kohga was very much not above getting tussled to the floor by a gang of toddlers and telling them how strong they were getting to be!

As a father, Dad was usually the one trying to cut Little Kohga some slack when it came to his lessons and training and manners and stuff. He was of course all for his son being tutored by Nana in the arcane arts while she was alive, and loved it that Koh was also learning music and calligraphy and poetry and such from Hotaru. Still, he encouraged his kiddo to play and be silly a lot, and often put his foot down with Nana about not punishing Little Kohga for small things. Koh love love loooooved his daddy as a child, for "being on his side." Dad was also good at giving advice about getting along with other kids while not being any kind of a doormat (especially since Koh's preferred playmates tended to be older than him). Also with dating and rizz advice once Koh got old enough for that lol.

Meanwhile, Daddy's own part in Kohga's training laid in stealth and weapons and, well, showmanship. Ohhhh how enraptured Little Kohga always was on Nana's Ascension Day, when his father would get up on stage and play all sorts of brash and bold characters alongside his grandma! Later on, when he was older and Dad was Master, Kohga had a ton of fun acting in play scenes with him. ;__; It was real bonding stuff.

Bast drew one particular occurrence when Kohga had an altercation and difference of opinion with his father, though. Check out that link for the story, but I want to say here, that Dad didn't whup his son's butt to humiliate him or for the lulz (although he did laugh later and so does Koh nowadays). No, he let Kohga escalate things and then neatly handed his ass to him for two important lessons, which he later did talk to Kohga about: 1) Don't challenge the Master unless you really mean it. Dad's the Master for a reason. He's stronger than you, ya little 20-year-old whippersnapper, and he's not going to just let you win 'cause you're his kid. 2) If you're going to be the Master someday, you must be at least this strong and serious about it. If you don't want to be a Blademaster that's fine, but you can't coast into this position by saying "but I'm the Heir, I'm special" or even "I know all this magic so there." Being a proper leader means calming that hot head of yours. Kinda like how Dad himself calmed down and grew up, you know? Koh did listen and did learn his lessons...even if sometimes he does still stomp and yell and Big Glowy Blast, of course.

As Little Kohga grew into teenagerhood and young adulthood and was no longer Little, Dad started asking him his advice and letting him join in on planning meetings more and more. Koh was so proud of this, that he was really being treated as a full Heir with opinions that mattered, not just like a kid anymore.

Dad was fond of smoking safflina on occasion, usually at parties but sometimes just as a nice treat after a long day of being Master. Koh has a very sweet memory of, after his older friends got their hands on some but he himself didn't partake, Dad telling him that when he was old enough, his dear ol' pops would show him how to use a pipe properly if he wanted. And he did! Dad took Koh up on Spectacle Rock--a favored spot for the Yiga--and the two ended up sharing a pipe and then stargazing for hours, with Dad pointing out constellations and telling stories of his younger days, and Koh joining in with talk about his buddies, and his hopes and dreams. It was just. Really nice. <3

I will end with my favorite thing I know about Master Daddy: One of Dad's favorite "bits" to do at/with Hotaru was to interrupt her Shamisen Time with Little Kohga and start singing silly made-up-on-the-spot lyrics to whatever they were playing together. Hotaru would act exasperated, but most of the time that was just her contribution to keeping the bit going. Daddy Kohga was not so skilled at syllable-based poetry like she was, but he was great at impromptu rhymes, especially to go along with the traditional Yiga folk/cultural tunes Hotaru was teaching their little son. And he had a very nice singing voice.

One day, Little Kohga was showing Hotaru a short song he'd come up himself with in that folk-y style, when Dad came in and commented that it wasn't one he'd heard before. Little Kohga was so proud to tell him it was his own composition, and asked Dad if he could help him make it into a real song with words for Mama! Right there and then, Dad said, "I've got just the thing!" and started to sing along with the repetitive little ditty Koh had written. After that, on days when he came upon his wife and son playing their shamisen together, Dad would ask for Little Kohga to play "Hotaru's Frog Song," and come up with a new verse each time.

The song was about Hotaru being out on very important and special Clan missions while the two were courting, and how Dad always looked forward to her coming home. Please remember how the Yiga (and Sheikah) use frog statutes as markers. IRL this is a reference to the Japanese word for frog, "kaeru," also meaning "to return." In Hyrule, the frog statues are for travelers' good luck (or bad, if some unwary traveler runs into a veiled frog...). The Yiga associate frogs with safe travel the same as their Ancient Sheikah ancestors did, and their culture uses some words from an older Sheikah dialect in naming and slang. Kaeru is one of those words. So Hotaru's Frog Song was indeed a tale about Hotaru being away, and her adventures being led home by fireflies (her namesake), and frogs (the statues and...well, Dad singing).

This was the chorus: Kaeru, kaeru Hotaru, Hotaru I will be waiting still for you here When the fireflies shine bright Under summer starlight Let this frog song guide you home to me, dear~

It had variants for each season (pale spring moonlight, autumn twilight, in the winter's long night) because they were magic fireflies. It made perfect sense to Little Kohga.

And this song was the last thing Koh ever played for his Mama, just before she went to join Dad among the ancestors' stars. Their very favorite song, that was just for the three of them, that Dad could always make Hotaru smile with, to guide her home to him one last time.

#yiga clan #master kohga #legend of zelda #age of calamity #yiga #kidk headcanons #daddy Kohga could hit it im jusy saying

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