#LU Meta

[thejolteonmastertj]

Poor Lege having an identity crisis over the Smith’s age 🤣.

Holy fuck is the Smith younger than me?

-Legend’s thoughts, probably. 😂

[funsizedcrow]

Am I way overthinking or am I onto something? A collection of observations:

In divine dark reflections, Twilight uses the dominion rod on a small owl-like statue.

(x)

and then Legend, cursed in rabbit form, uses the master sword to return to his normal shape.

(x)

Twilight then later chases the Shadow through the ruins of a dungeon.

(x)

(note: you can see the puzzle that they will later solve! jojo's attention to detail is amazing)

Later, (after Twilight almost dies) they walk through a portal and are met with the very same dungeon, but in the past, where everything is much more intact.

(x)

This is all incredibly similar to the Temple of Time in Twilight Princess, in which Link, cursed into his wolf form, uses the master sword to return to his hylian form, gaining the shadow crystal.

He then walks through a gate of time, to the exact same place but instead of ruins, it is an intact dungeon, where he finds the dominion rod

Time also specifically notes that there is an owl motif.

(x)

included in these is Kaepora Gaebora, from Ocarina of Time, also known as Rauru, the sage of light, who resides in the sacred realm inside of the temple of time

Around this time, shortly after the divine dark reflections arc is also when Wind discovers his connection with Time, and one timeline split is revealed.

(x)

[riddlemearose]

Linked Universe Combat Guide (part 2)

This is Part 2 of my attempt to make my fight scene notes into a coherent and understandable guide. Lord only knows if I'm being successful on that.

Part 1 can be found here.

General Notes once again:

The additional weapons/equipment is anything outside of the literal sword and shield you get in-game that could be used as a weapon, but does not include bombs, bows + arrows, or boomerangs bc I'm not writing that every time.

7 out of 9 Links are left-handed and this will have an affect on combat if they're fighting against human enemies.

-> any ambidextrous fighters in the group is largely a headcanon but go nuts w/ it.

This is looking at lore-accurate fighting ability bc you can scale down to however you headcanon they fight. Any additional arguments are logical conclusions/presumptions I'm making off of their in-game skills and/or character history.

Once again, researched to the best of my ability but I'm not claiming this has everything in every game. Fact checking is welcomed!

Also here's an article discussing the pros and cons of chainmail vs plate armour, since this group is the more armoured lot of the Chain

Minor update 9 March 2025: added a link to a reblog explaining a note on Warriors' section in better depth.

Upadte 3 May 2025: added more info to Warriors' section, provided by @interlink-au, as well as amended & added to other sections with more info they gave me in their reblog.

Sky

The most important thing in Skyward Sword’s combat is that you are fast. You Are Speed. That is Sky’s greatest advantage.

Feint. Always, always feint; then, when the enemy goes to block the feint, quickly attack from the opposite direction.

Sword techniques*: -> Shield Bash: reflects projectiles and knocks enemies off balance. Requires perfect timing but leaves an opening to take advantage of. -> front-flip slash -> back-flip slash -> jump attack -> fatal blow -> Skyward Strike/Sword Beams *Certain techniques cost stamina.

Unlike Warriors and Wild, Sky is near the start of the timeline, meaning he doesn’t have the same type of modern military-esque knighthood structure that future versions of Hyrule have. Consequently, we don’t see anyone in Skyward Sword really use any weapons outside of short swords, leading me to believe Sky’s main proficiency is really in them alone.

Sky is highly adaptable in a fight. He learns very quickly when enemies will block and when they will go to attack, which means he can deal with them extremely quickly. Arguably this means that he is not exactly built for long-term fights, but he can get through them if he must. I’d almost call him as a Glass Cannon, but he’s sturdier than that, so he gets the Lightning Bruiser name tag instead.

Happily arguing that Sky would be very good at mounted archery, even if it's obviously different to horseback. I know Loftwings can be taught that corkscrew manoeuvre that acts as an attack, but given sword-based combat wouldn't be feasible when you're riding a giant bird so I'm dying on this hill.

Additional Equipment/Weapons: -> whip (pls use this, whip fighting is great. They can deal a lot of damage if you hit someone with the end.) -> clawshots -> slingshot/scatter-shot -> gust bellows -> guardian potion+ (invulnerability, baby!)

Time

Time is fun bc he’s about 20 years older than he was during his adventures, which means you can kinda go ham with what he does and doesn’t know.

To kick things off, Time gets the honour of being the first Link (on this list) to have canonical multiple sword proficiencies: longsword, and short sword + shield. I will very happily argue and die on the hill that Time 100% has some staff proficiency given how Deku sticks can be used in OOT. If you go with this, use European-style quarterstaff techniques instead of Chinese-style bō/gun staffs.

The Biggoron sword isn’t any specific type of longsword, given the sheer weirdness of its blade shape. I think most people seem to agree that it’s a great sword, which at the extreme basics is essentially a longer longsword. I use claymore combat videos to get a feel for writing the Biggoron sword, and have used this specific video a few times.

Given Time’s +20 years from his adventures, we all pretty much believe he's mastered the Hidden Skills he passes onto Twilight, both with a short sword and the Biggoron sword. These are still gonna be listed in Twilight’s segment however, given they feature in his game.

Time also has a magical aspect to his combat, both in terms of literal magic items and then his two combat-focused spells.

Potentially Combat-Focused Masks: -> Transformative Masks: Deku Mask, Zora Mask, Goron Mask, Fierce Deity Mask, Giant’s Mask -> Other Masks: Blast Mask, Bunny Hood, Stone Mask

Spells: -> Din’s Fire -> Nayru’s Love

Important note: as stupid as this reminder is going to sound, Time only has one eye. He has a decreased field of view and decreased depth perception. He probably has a way to compensate for this, but it is a disability that shouldn't be forgotten. My mother is visually impaired in one eye and it affects how she reads things, how she drives, how she uses footpaths etc etc. It's not ableist to remark on Time's partial lack of sight. If anything, how he compensates for it is something I've been meaning to explore - I just haven't been able to get my head to world build it coherently.

Thanks to interlink-au for reminding me I didn't add this, but Time is good at mounted combat. I'm hesitant to say he's able to do mounted archery with his vision impairment though as, if I use my mother's experience (legally blind in one eye but has some vision), his depth perception is probably crap.

Additional Equipment/Weapons: -> powder keg (yes, Time carries TNT) -> hookshots -> longshot -> Deku nut -> Deku stick -> slingshot -> golden gauntlets -> megaton hammer -> Great Fairy Sword (according to info found by interlink-au, this is now likely an arming sword, which is just a fancy word for a broadsword tbh) -> Gilded Sword

Twilight

The Tank™

Most adept at horseback combat. An FYI but the fact that Twi defaults to using a one-handed sword on horseback is extremely telling of this point. For the most part, light cavalry were equipped with polearms/lances and bows with a sabre on the side. I know it's partially an animation thing but Twi being confident enough to get close to an enemy on horseback to use a one-handed sword is huge sign of his skill and proficiency.

Hidden Skills: -> Ending blow -> Shield attack -> Back slice -> Helm Splitter -> Mortal Draw (my beloved <3) -> Jump Strike -> Great Spin

Extremely important to remember how stupidly strong Twilight is. Dude can yeet a charging Goron, only needing his iron boots to stay where he is. This can be showcased in multiple ways: fist-fighting, emphasis of the strength of his shield bash, etc etc. He's likely capable of hand-to-hand combat as well, given his strength and knowledge of sumo wrestling.

Most tanks are slow, but Twi is actually rather speedy, even as a hylian.

(Btw if Twi places a bomb on the ground in front of him and holds his shield up, he will take no damage when the bomb explodes. Fantastic way to kill stalfos and annoy Darknuts.)

Additional Weapons/Equipment: -> slingshot -> ball and chain -> clawshots -> dominion rod (if you're feeling experimental) -> spinner (?????? Somehow????) -> crossbow -> Twi’s weird magic armour (note: crossbows don't actually replace bows; they have their own pros and cons. See this YouTube short for some context)

As a wolf:

This is where Twilight becomes less of a Tank and more of a Glass Cannon. Wolves are very fast and, depending on how much Twili magic you headcanon Twilight has access to, he can get in and out of combat easily.

But most importantly, Twilight has very little defence as a wolf so he can't tank hits nearly as well as he can as a hylian (as the comic has already shown).

Main threat is obviously his jaw strength; Twilight is able to latch onto enemies, usually by biting down on their throats or shoulders. Pls be aware that ordinary wolves can bite through bone if they get the angle right.

Normal wolves don’t attack with their claws bc they’re not cats, but Twilight has human-level intelligence and can do whatever he wants within the confines of his body.

Twi also has a charge spin attack as a wolf. Do with this knowledge what you will.

Warriors

Proficient in multiple weapons and has adaptable fighting styles.

A few of his canonical fighting styles are listed at the end but depending on which era of knighthood you want to take inspiration from, he can also be proficient in lances and pole-arms, long-swords and sabres, and hand-to-hand combat (predominately Greco-Roman style wrestling but don’t let that stop you).

No specific sword techniques shown outside of the spin attack and jump slash. -> Updated info from interlink-au, which I'm just going to copy and paste for ease of access, with minor edits so this doesn't get bogged down: "First off, he is very fast. He needs to get around that battlefield quickly to help struggling allies. Even without the Master Sword, he can do something similar to a sword beam (a disc-shaped air slash). With the Master Sword, his swords beams are ridiculous. He can spam those things left and right and in the air, and send 3 at the same time. He can also do a vertical spin and spin attack into the air, where he can get some normal slashes in while he’s aerial. He can juggle enemies in the air for a second. He has a move where he dodges and immediately follows with a thrust. Its use reminds me of Wind’s parry attack. He also has a shield bash (more like a charge) followed by a sword thrust. Wars' magic rod doubles as a fire rod. The magic rod portion shoots laser beams and controls orbs. The fire portion can send out fire pillars/tornados. He can even send out a stream of fire that flies around like a dragon. He can even transform it into a battle axe for some reason."

Also proficient in combat on horseback but I’m not listing his Epona as a weapon lmao. -> interlink-au added that Wars is good at mounted archery too!

Has an innate passive (potentially magic?) ability to tag enemies with a ‘Light Mark’, which causes them to take increased damage from every attack for as long as his Triforce mark is glowing. This is triggered after a certain amount of enemies are killed and ends a few seconds after he stops dealing damage. Best used in his era but still viable in others.

Also, Wars’ lil inverse-grip upward slash finisher for one of his Master Sword combos? *chef’s kiss emoji* we love to see it -> (reverse grips are technically not great bc of the increased chance of literally breaking your wrist, among other things. However it looks cool as hell) -> Update: for more info on this bc I hadn't explained it well, I've covered it in more depth in this reblog here.

A lot of Wars’ fighting style is best copied from visual mediums, but given that search results generally like to give you Age of Calamity videos, this video is a good one to focus on. interlink-au also points out that his other fighting styles in-game are very useful to study visually, but I'm not going to list them here in-depth. Here are some links to videos for them. -> Ball and Chain (note: power/silver gauntlets should be thought of as separate too and would be very good for intense hand-to-hand combat - think Vi from Arcane). -> Spinner -> Magic/Fire Rod

Full disclaimer I tried to play Hyrule Warriors in December. I got through 5 hours and the game gave me such wicked eye strain I couldn't look at a screen for 2 days straight so I had to stop. But what I did pick up is Wars is not someone to fold quickly under pressure. You do a lot of that game with very few PCs on the map while a LOT of emergencies come at you full-speed. Wars is fantastic at balancing out who needs help literally right this second and who he unfortunately has to delay assisting. These are not easy decisions to make, but they are extremely critical ones that must be made in war or any combat zone.

Additional Weapons/Equipment: -> fire rod -> power gauntlets (from interlink-au, this is used w/ the ball and chain and also separately. -> spinner (again, potentially??? Somehow. I will put this Beyblade into a fight scene one day) -> hookshots -> hammer

Wild

The Ultimate Dodge Tank

BOTW’s entire combat system is literally "Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, Get Hit", to the point where the game actively rewards you for dodging and parrying. This means that Wild’s entire fighting style is based around memorising everyone else’s fighting styles.

Proficient in multiple weapons and weapon-types (i.e. short swords, slashing swords, longswords and spears) and good at using bows in close combat, though he does not get to utilise his champion ability while dodging if he’s holding a bow.

Pls be aware I do actually mean it when I say ‘multiple weapon types’. You DO NOT use a scimitar the same way you use a broadsword, nor a battle axe the same way you do with a claymore. Me @ BOTW’s animations: CHANGE THE FIGHTING STYLES UP YOU COWARDS.

No specialised sword techniques outside of the basic spin attack and downwards slash.

Proficient with all weapon-types while in mounted combat (either on a horse or the Master Cycle Zero), and great at mounted archery too obviously.

Has arguably the strongest Champion Ability next to Urbosa’s Fury, as it’s automatically triggered if the conditions are met and is very hard to block or defend against. And on that topic, let’s begin.

Flurry Rush: -> damage output adjusted for weapon type used (short swords attack x7 times, long swords attack x4 and spears attack x7-10) -> bypasses enemy shields and invincibility frames -> Wild can be knocked out of this (either by being damaged by an enemy or by mistiming the start of his flurry rush – i.e. landing on a sloped surface will cancel a flurry rush before it begins.) -> flurry rushes still affect weapon durability

Bullet Time: -> requires falling from height obviously. -> Your Stamina! It Goes Down! -> also this is the only thing that really changed in TOTK’s combat: stamina is used when firing arrows, not just by entering bullet time itself.

Perfect Guard: -> you can perfect parry literally almost anything, including a bokoblin being thrown at you by a moblin, wolves, and apparently bees. -> negates explosive damage (i.e. remote bombs, bomb arrows, that one Lynel attack) if you manage to consistently get the timing right. I have not, so take this with a grain of salt <3 -> generally only used for Guardians (as far as I've seen from fellow players) and kinda falls to the wayside in TOTK bc there’s no real incentive to use it. -> does not give Wild any actual chance to utilise his champion ability even tho I like writing that it does bc then it would be a useful thing to learn in totk, Nintendo! Shocker!

Additional Weapons/Equipment: -> literally whatever he can get his goddamn hands on -> “You’ve heard of set bonuses, right?” -> Sheikah Slate

[yashahimewasamistake]

Someone pointed out there's an incredible lack of Wind's analysis.

And, truly, how many of us have played Wind Waker? I watched someone else playing, which means that his games are practically the only Zelda games I haven't played.

I remember a few things.

Wind cares about his image and a lot of his acts are him trying to look cool. Even when he raises the Master Sword, he seems more like a child rehearsing a cool play than a hero who just found his battle partner.

At the beginning, he thinks hero's tunic uncool and uncomfortable. But,he wears it for all his journey, probably as he sees the tunic as a security blanket or as a sign that he can and will save his sister.

He is a doting big brother. His sister lends him a spyglass for his birthday and Wind is like "I love it little sis ;-D".

He saw King Daphnes as a sort of grandpa-figure. Then his Grandpa dies for real just so Wind and Tetra can forge their own path.

Wind leaves his hometown for real at the end of the game. He is now part of Tetra's crew which wants to find a New Hyrule. He has abandoned the nest and goes where the wind takes him.

And.... according to a Tumblr post which makes a lot of sense, Wind needs glasses. He squints too much.

[naehja]

About the idea of Legend and Fable being siblings

You know, I love the idea of Legend and Fable being siblings because…

…It could actually make sense. and it could have a reason to exist.

Time died in this timeline, whatever it was a timeline where he didn't have the seven years gap and get killed as a child, either he failed during his final fight as adult.

Whatever how Time died, he died. Hylia's hero failed, because he was too young, not enough experimented, ect…

Lullaby/Zelda barely managed to do something after Time's death and the situation was not great. For years, centuries, it has been terrible.

It was the start of the Downfall Timeline.

Years and years after the death of the poor young one, Hylia realized that Ganon was going to return. That she had to trigger the two reincarnations, Zelda and Link, to stop him. Or it would be the end of the world.

But she didn't want to make the same mistake. Link wouldn't be a nobody or a helpless child. He would have more power. So he would be more armed to face the menace, more prepared.

He would have the blood of Sky, her second hero, he would have the blood of Four, who married his Zelda at his Era. And he would have her sacred blood. The kid would be powerful. So he wouldn't face a tragic end.

And so Legend and Fable were twins.

What Hylia didn't plan was the reaction toward a little prince. Good thing, the mother of the twins refused to let her baby die and asked to her most faithful personnal knight to take the baby and to protect him. He accepted, thinking that killing inocent baby was a horrible thing, whatever a prince was a monster ONE time, this baby didn't do anything.

The twins didn't grow together, of course. Legend was a energic kid, and he was very smart for his age. He was able to speak to animals and to trees. At first his uncle didn't believe him but was forced to do it when faced the truth. Legend was a sensitive kid who always wanted to help people. He didn't want to become a knight but he liked the sword traning.

Sadely, the events of Link to the Past happened a lot sooner than Hylia had planned. Legend was barely eight. (Hylia has really failed her tactic to kill Ganon with a prepared adult, yeah)

He had some training with a sword, but wasn't a soldier. He survived to all the trials until finding Fi. Because he was talented, smart, lucky.

Fi was…not in a good state. Nobody hads taken care of her since the death of the previous hero. She was forgotten. She had still his blood on her. And then this tiny child take her in his little hands and she recognize her master's blood, he hears her voice. She sees how much he was young, fragile, still innocent and decided that no, this one wasn't going to die.

So Legend, without knowing it, has learned some of Sky's fighting style thank to Fi.

He has reforged her with his tiny hand, treating her as the most precious thing in the world.

He was always holding her when sleeping because he had a lot of nightmares for obvious reasons.

And Fi corrected his movements in a fight.

He could hear her because of Hylia's blood and because of Sky's blood in his veins.

And so the idea of Hylia, after the death of the previous hero, deciding to reincarne her hero as Sky's descendant, as her descendant to give him more powers, more capacities to survive….is very interesting.

And imagine, during the events of Linked Universe, Sky being like "you have the same fighting style than me?"

"The master sword teached me!"

"She SPOKE to you *o*?"

[uncleskyrule]

so apparently the Chain's ages are:

Time > Wars > Twi > Sky > Wild > Legend > Hyrule > Four > Wind

but i've been writing them like this:

Time > Twi > Wars > Sky > Wild > Four > Legend > Hyrule > Wind

welp

[thejolteonmastertj]

[Image description: Footage of a lil black bunny doing tight, spinny & bouncy zoomies atop a large queen or full sized human bed. Lil black blur spinning around.

End of image description.]

thinking about the character like

[thejolteonmastertj]

I’m hella stoked for how Jojo’s gonna handle Legend’s knighthood backstory?? 👀

On the surface he’s so vocally critical of knights—& even seems to be rejecting his own heritage by claiming to be an “average nobody.”

But here he looks—almost sad. Conflicted. 👀 It’s hard to say exactly where Jojo’s going with this, but I get the feeling it’s gonna be an actual character arc & I’m so hyped for it. 🔥

Like—listen! He & his uncle are the last of a dying bloodline. Course, Legend seems understandably critical of knighthood as a structure, but there being an undercurrent of melancholy through it all is *chefs kiss. 👌 Bro has a reason to hate knighthood, but also reasons for melancholy…

There are several directions Jojo can go with that & hoo boy am I looking 👀.

[riddlemearose]

hello i have come to ask more about wild with magic he cant controll

i love that hc so much and it fits him so well! like no one taught him bc hyrule was mostly empty, and he wouldnt even know he had it himself because why would he! its genius!

Sure, I’m happy to info-dump lmao.

I know other people have already come up with the "Wild has magic" headcanon about botw before, but for me it honestly started as a series of jokes with a friend. Basically it made sense to me since all the other Champions’ abilities are either outwardly shown to be magic like with Mipha and Urbosa, or at least implied to be, as in the case of Daruk’s magic being hereditary, and Revali’s being something no other Rito has managed to achieve.

So we were both like “oh yeah, he’s got to have magic” *cue shitposts and memes*

There’s minor evidence to support its existence in botw; Teba says to Wild “it was as if time stopped with every arrow you let fly”, and Daruk’s Training Journal mentions that Link once told him that it feels like time slows down when he focuses. Some people take this to mean Wild has really good reflexes and others went with magic. I’m in the ‘Wild has magic’ camp bc someone did the math and worked out he’s like… almost moving at super-sonic speeds when he closes the distance to start a flurry rush.

The reason I say he can’t really control it is bc the only time he’s ever shown being able to do so is to enter and exit bullet time. That’s literally it. If you dodge at the right moment, even if you don’t want to flurry rush, it’ll still trigger and give you the opening to perform one (which ends after like 1-2 seconds of inaction). Wild also doesn’t have a magic meter like some other Links do; he uses his stamina. He’s literally brute-forcing his way through his magic (which, side note, Urbosa must’ve hated watching). And, to build off that last sentence, this means that Wild probably doesn’t have a lot of magic, but he does recover it incredibly fast – especially compared to the others who have to use potions. More on this last part in a moment.

It’s true that no one was there to teach him per se, but I think it’s a tad more complicated than that bc botw has an odd thing where it shows a lot of magic users (at least as far as I understand when compared to other games) but doesn't go into detail, which is fair given the Calamity. This means we don't really have a concept of how prevalent magic usage is in the grand scheme of things.

Looking at the series in a whole, for hylians/humans magic is largely limited to the Royal Family (specifically the women of the Royal Family), and they seem to mostly wield light and divine magic, very different from time magic. (The Ocarina of Time is there, but that’s an heirloom and not severely limited with its function based on whether its user has royal blood or not.)

And given how the Sheikah have been treated in botw's Hyrule's history, as they are the only other hylians aside from Flora and Wild who are shown using magic, I'm guessing it's not a skill you want to encourage, and innate magic users, even if they weren't Sheikah, were probably affected by the roll-on effect of the genocide for a very long time. This would create a long, deep-set history of missing knowledge that eventually affects the present.

If you ignore the potential loss of magic teaching, honestly I would assume it’s still hard to teach someone magic when you don’t share that particular type bc it probably requires knowledge that you don't have in regards to how it flows and can be controlled in order to be used. I do very genuinely believe Wild knew that he had magic before he died tho, bc I think Urbosa would’ve told him. It was the only time she ever heard him speak and the convo went something like Urbosa: you have magic. You just did magic. Link: nuh-uh Urbosa: FYM NUH-UH

This lack of training and general knowledge of how magic works is what I partially attribute to his weapons breaking as fast as they do. Attunement doesn’t actually exist obviously, but in fantasy worlds where it’s a part of the magic system, it’s a conscious step. It’s only seems to become an involuntary one when the person attuning the item has a lot of experience with the field that item is used in.

What I mean by that is Wild’s obviously never learnt actual theory (and it might be too late to fix the groundwork he's already laid), so he’s only ever been able to make his magic work in conjunction with the one thing he’s already being trained to do: weapon-fighting.

This is why he has flurry rushes, bullet time, and his fast recharge time. His magic manifests alongside his physical capabilities (so it will recover just as fast as his stamina does) and is attuned to flow through physical objects that simply aren't designed to withstand prolonged exposure to it (so his weapons, bows and shields will degrade and break faster).

I do believe his magic is something he has the ability to train (take the change to how bullet time uses stamina between botw and totk for example), and I personally like to write him getting a one-hit-swing second of slowed down time whenever he parries, but I think these ‘upgrades’ would honestly just come from fighting more and pushing himself in those situations, not from learning basic magic principles lmao.

And honestly, Wild’s magic is just really funny to me bc it has shenanigan potential that’s really only limited by your own creativity and his stamina wheel.

I say that because part of this magic headcanon actually grew from a post-totk headcanon where I whole-heartedly believe that Wild and Flora end up sharing the Sage of Time title, since there’s one extra Secret Stone floating around and they both specialise in different types of time magic. The joke w/ my friend has now become “well, if Wild can’t even willingly activate his magic unless highly specific circumstances are met, wtf is going to happen when it's amplified?"

Answer: he has literally no idea what he’s doing. He has accidentally slowed time on several pots/ladles/plates/etc that got knocked over, mistakenly frozen a yiga sword which yanked it straight out of the yiga’s hand – he meant to freeze the yiga whoops – and intentionally managed to slow time on one (1) bokoblin (and has not managed to replicate that result since). … he’s getting there. Maybe.

(Additional follow up lore can be found in this reblog. Also adding this to prevent future confusion at my accidental vagueness on this: yes Wild knows he has magic.)

[thejolteonmastertj]

Wild & Legend being foils to one another in some of the most obscure & neat ways possible, part 1/??

So basically, I hc that Wild’s is like, super weary of enclosed spaces in-general, whereas Legend is the complete opposite.

Most of the BOTW tactics learned early in the game require a lot of space to work with.

Rolling a boulder town the hill, backing up or climbing things to shot some arrows, generally approaching from the high ground to take advantage of bullet time, even for flurry rushes Wild needs space to do side-hops & backflips.

In ALTTP, on the other hand, the majority of your fights are fought in enclosed spaces. The first move you learn, the spin-attack, forces you very early on to not only be very economical with your movements, but to track the movements of multiple opponents at once.

FR wide-open spaces in ALTTP are anxiety inducing b/c an arrow can fly in at you from seemingly nowhere (literally off-screen).

Legend's usually the one getting ambushed in open spaces, whereas in enclosed spaces he's generally able to see everything he's dealing with. He thrives in that environment b/c he's mastered the dance necessary for ALTTP's version of the spin-attack. It's the last thing his uncle taught him, after all, & fr I don't think it's possible to beat the game without it as far as I can tell.

& so the tldr:

Outside in the middle of nowhere with no map:

Wild: 😀

Legend: Tf is wrong with you.

Inside a dark dank cave or tomb or some sh't:

Legend: 😃

Wild: Tf is wrong with you.

[thejolteonmastertj]

Jojo’s tags on this will never not be funny to me. 😂

extra: 

[About #linkeduniverse]

[riddlemearose]

Linked Universe Combat Guide (part 1)

Lmao I have been casually sitting on this for like two months now and since I'm procrastinating writing an essay, I've decided to post it.

Anyway, this came from my bajillion notes about the Chain's equipment so I could have fight scenes that involved more than "he swings his sword" x9. I also wanted to identify all the weird weapons the Links would have too bc I know they exist. And since adhd is the shark disorder and I need to do something bc I stop moving I die, I've made my notes coherent enough to inflict upon tumblr.

General Notes:

In terms of additional weapons/equipment, I’m not including the traditional bombs/bow + arrows/boomerangs bc basically everyone has a variant of these. All I'm doing is looking at the possible items collected on the quests and being like "yeah I could probably work out a way to kill monsters with that".

Also they all have one-handed sword and shield proficiency, so I'm not including that for each Link. However any other canonical or possible weapon proficiencies will be listed.

7 out of 9 Links are predominantly lefties. Generally, left-handed swordfighters are used to fighting right-handed swordfighters, but the same is not true vice versa, so they will have an advantage against most human enemies. -> any ambidextrous fighters in the group is largely a headcanon but go nuts w/ it.

Researched to the best of my ability (limited only by search terms and my own waning hyperfixation), but pls be aware I literally only played my first Zelda game ever in February 2024 so there’s a lot I don’t know and games I haven’t played. Both parts are open to peer review and active fact checking lmao

Half of this is canonical abilities and half is presumed abilities based off of said canon + other logical conclusions. I'm doing this from a lore-accurate sense, rather than a straight pull from the LU comics, simply bc that allows for a broader analysis of what they're technically all capable of. I've tried my best to keep my personal headcanons out of this either way.

This part covers Four, Hyrule, Legend and Wind, whose games I have not played, so my apologies if anything is missing or incorrect.

Updated 9 March 2025 with new info provided by @thejolteonmastertj who's a literal godsend for their info about Legend and Hyrule's combat skills🙏, and @respheal who added on and emphasised just how important Legend's spin attack is. I love you both <3

Updated again 2 May 2025 with info for everyone here provided by @interlink-au.

Four

I am actively making the argument that Four probably has knowledge about other fighting styles due to his trade as a black/weaponsmith. I do not have any specifics in mind bc I do not have the spoons for that deep-dive, but feel free to run with this however you want.

Sword techniques: -> spin attack + variants    -> great spin attack (repeated spins. interlink-au emphasises that it's very OP bc there's no dizziness/stamina involved so it can be spammed)    -> hurricane spin (same as above but temporarily induces dizziness) -> dash attack (requires pegasus boots) -> peril beam (only works when he's got 1 heart left) -> sword beam when at full hearts -> roll attack -> down thrust (requires Roc’s cape)

Obviously, Four's greatest strength is team combat w/ the Colours. By splitting, he's able to coordinate combat with easy tag-team attacks with a much lower risk of friendly fire compared to when fighting alongside members of the Chain. Group combat, quite obviously, is actually kinda hard bc it requires an increased amount of situational awareness that is often overridden by adrenaline. Thankfully, since Four and the Colours are literally the same person, this is mitigated by a LOT.

Seriously do not discount how Four's height is an advantage in combat. Being smaller/shorter means you have less body mass to speed up and slow down, so you have greater agility and speed. You're also harder to hit and better at close combat (short limbs take less time to block, attack, etc.)

Genuinely don't know if he's proficient in combat while on horseback. I've heard at least one of Four's games has an Epona, but I don't know if there's any mounted combat.

Additional Weapons/Equipment: -> power bracelets -> gust jar -> Cane of Pacci -> magnetic glove -> fire rod -> magic hammer (hammer is capable of producing shockwaves and causing earth tremors) -> pegasus boots -> Roc’s cape -> shovel (do not under any circumstances discount mundane weapons) -> slingshot

Hyrule

To start off, the most important thing to know about Hyrule is that he's a self-taught fighter.

No, seriously this is more important than you think but not for the reasons you may think. Self-taught fighters are scrappy as shit. Out of the entire Chain, Hyrule will be the first one to resort to fighting dirty. Have him clawing at people’s eyes, throwing dirt, and biting. When you grow up in a situation where survival is a thin line you don't want to cross, you’ll do anything to stay alive when you have to.

Spells*: -> Shield: reduces damage by half -> Jump: self-explanatory -> Life: recovers health -> Fairy: shapeshifts into a fairy -> Fire: shoots fireballs from the end of his sword. (an aside, but this scene from the comic may be a variant of Fire? Fact check again lmao) -> Reflect: reflects magic attacks and strengthens his shield to temporarily block some physical attacks and most magical attacks -> Spell: can turn most enemies into Bots -> Thunder: summons lightning *be aware Hyrule has a magic meter. I haven't included how it functions here because it cluttered this section up horribly, but here's a link to it.

Hyrule actually gained the ability to use magic in his second quest, so while he's probably well adapted to using it now and may default to using it when backed into a corner, he's still a capable swordsman without it. -> Update: while the spells I listed above came about in Hyrule's second quest, thejolteonmastertj points out that Hyrule is straight up slinging sword beams with the random sword he gets given at the start of his first adventure, and that it's an important technique for the game.

He can canonically use Jump to perform a down thrust (like Four's) and a jump thrust (think Mario hitting bricks lmao),but there are so many ways to utilise this spell. Someone should teach Hyrule the Helm Splitter.

Additional Weapons/Equipment: -> power bracelets -> hammer -> this will sound stupid but ladder (again, never underestimate weird and mundane weapons.) -> magic rod (w/ accompanying fire upgrade) -> magic recorder (used in-game for fast travel but thejolteonmastertj also says it summons a tornado and if you can't find a way to use that in combat, I'm going to eat my hat)

Legend

Legend gave me so much trouble, solely bc sir has too many games. Jesus Christ man.

I am once again happily arguing that due to Legend’s sheer experience, he probably has other weapon proficiencies outside of a one-handed sword + shield combo, but that’s entirely up to personal headcanons. -> update provided by interlink-au: Legend is capable of dual-wielding his sword and a magic rod/cane, a boomerang, a hook-shot, etc etc. He will also parry with his sword if he's charging a spin attack (and can hurt them by walking into them, unless they're also holding a sword which will mitigate the blow).

Sword techniques (provided by interlink-au): -> spin attack (see above) -> dash attack (needs pegasus boots) -> sword beam -> hurricane spin (drains magic and induces dizziness) -> great spin (separate to a spin attack. increases range of normal attacks)

Once again for the class lmao, Legend has the most questing experience. While his section may seem small bc I don't want to rehash stuff I've already said, it's entirely on-brand for him to have tweaked a lot of this. Headcanons abound.

Updating the above points: again provided by thejolteonmastertj, Legend's officially getting smacked with another label, and this is "Most OP Spin Attack". This has been pointed out to be a core aspect of combat for ALTTP (Legend's first adventure). directly quoting their reblog bc I can't summarise it any better than it's already been said: -> "Legend’s charged spin attack as reactive crowd control is foundational & central to his entire battle style. It’s extremely difficult to land a hit otherwise! You gotta either run, button mash to parry with ur back against a wall till something hits��� … or you play it smart, watch everything in the room & plan your charged spins accordingly. Legend would be particularly adept at being outnumbered in an enclosed space. He can also throw pots, even shrubbery if he so desires, but well-timed spin-attacks are what truly carries him through his first few dungeons."

respheal also points out that some of Legend's enemies can only be damaged by the spin attack, making it a cruical technique that he's more than likely put time into developing more than the others may have.

interlink-au adds on to both of the above and mentions that, with the roc feather/cape, Legend is able to do a jumping spin attack.

Sword techinques (provided by interlink-au): -> spin attack (see above) -> dash attack (needs pegasus boots) -> sword beam -> hurricane spin (drains magic and induces dizziness) -> great spin (separate to a spin attack. increases range of normal attacks)

Can't believe I didn't mention Legend's own tactical prowess smh

interlink-au also has informed me that two of Legend's rings let him punch, so congratulations, he now probably knows some brawling/boxing techniques. The Expert Ring can let him punch so hard, he does the same amount of damage as he can do with the Noble Sword.

Additional Weapons/Equipment (Warning: brace yourself): -> literally the entire contents of his ring box. I'm not listing them. I don't even know what's in it, nor do I want to at this point. A link to the Everything in his ring box can be found here -> power bracelets/power glove/titan’s mitt -> hammer(s) -> pegasus boots -> Cane of Byrna -> Cane of Somaria -> hookshots -> switch hook(quoting interlink-au: "swaps you for whatever you hit it with, objects and enemies, which you can use to cross gaps.") -> long hook (upgraded version of the switch hook) -> seed shooter (+ ember seeds, scent seeds, mystery seeds, gale seeds, & pegasus seeds) -> hyper slingshot (interlink-au says it can shoot 3 mysterious seeds at a time, which have different elemental effects). -> fire rod -> ice rod -> Rod of Seasons -> tornado rod -> sand rod -> Bombos medallion -> Ether Medallion -> Quake medallion -> magic powder -> shovel -> super net -> alternative tunics (attack or defensive enhancements) -> red shield (fire defence) -> Roc’s feather & cape -> mermaid suit (allows Legend to use items underwater) -> magnetic gloves -> super lantern (I've discovered this is as strong as Legend's second Master Sword upgrade in ALBW) -> magic cape (makes Legend invincible)

Breaking my own rules to list a few of Legend's 5 boomerangs, as they all have different abilities (info provided by interlink-au) 1. Magical boomerang -> can be controlled with his mind. 2. Magic boomerang (different object) -> further range 3. Nice boomerang -> sends out three boomerangs for the price of one

Wind

Arguably has the best balance and proprioception of the group, which is extremely useful in many situations.

Once again, do not be afraid to use Wind’s height to his advantage. He has a slight detriment bc he’s still getting taller and going through puberty does screw up your proprioception, but I think if you’re using a sword that much, both against enemies and in sparring matches, he's probably still got a decent sense of his own balance and body.

Updated info provided by interlink-au: Wind has a great spin/hurricane attack, which does induce dizziness and use magic.

I genuinely don’t know how the Phantom Sword works, sorry. I know it has some potential to slow time, but I’m not entirely sure about the mechanics behind that, nor if it’s still capable of such magic. From interlink-au: apparently the Phantom Sword currently doesn't work bc it doesn't have any magic leftover. There may be a comic out there made by Jojo that features Time and Wind talking about the sword, so if anyone knows of it, pls let me know.

Wind’s Parry Attack:   Hmm this thing. It’s interesting. Note: no actual parrying with a shield is needed, which means it's kinda like BOTW's perfect dodge mechanic. -> Wind’s parry attack is like the Helm Splitter and Back Slice combined into one. If the attack is vertical, he does a Back Slice-esque attack. If the attack is horizontal, it’s a Helm Splitter. -> Additionally he has an ending blow like Twilight and Sky, which has a specific trigger.

Mild note from interlink-au: Wind can use three different items at the same time, unlike the others who generally use two, and he's very quick when he uses said items. Topically, I keep forgetting that Wind has magic which he uses to empower some of his arrows with fire or ice.

Additional Weapons/Equipment: -> power bracelets -> deku leaf (requires magic to be used) -> skull hammer -> grappling hook (!!!!! any rope dart combat video would make this brutal) -> shovel -> hookshot -> Wind’s weird magic armour spell -> Hyoi pears if you feel like world-building

Part 2: Sky, Time, Twi, Wars and Wild

[zarvasace]

Description and a bit more info under the cut. 

A series of green, blue, and red graphics using a nice sans serif font and a Zelda display serif font with white and gold as accents. 

First picture. 2024 Linked Universe Fandom AO3 Wrapped, presented by Mina, @zarvasace. (That's me!) 

As a fandom, we wrote 2,273 fics in 2024

That's over 6 a day every day this year! 

In smaller text below: Counting only fics tagged with “Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)” on AO3. Counting all fics last updated from Jan 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024. Data pulled by hand on Jan 1, 2024 at ~2:00 AM GMT-7. 

Next picture. Our favorite tags this year were:

1, Hurt/Comfort with 432 tags

2, Fluff with 352 tags

3, Angst with 335 tags 

4, Not Beta Read with 260 tags. Here there is also a brief exchange in two handwriting styles. One arrow points to this tag with the remark, “perfectionists, much?” Another cursive hand replies “Be nice.” to which the first says, “no”

5, Legend-centric with 251 tags

At the bottom of this image is a piece of parchment. The scratchier handwriting says, “Ha, I'm the favorite. Take that.” and the curlier handwriting replies “Not so fast, Ledge… we aren't done yet.”

Next picture. Favorite tags continued:

6, Blood and Injury with 230 tags

7, Wild-centric with 204 tags 

8, Whump with 215 tags 

9, Emotional Hurt/Comfort with 181 tags

10, Good Older Sibling Warriors with 163 tags. Legend's handwriting says “Din give me strength—” to that. 

Section break, and a bit more: An average of 7.46% fics every month were tagged Whump. Except October, which saw a spike to 29.5%.

Next picture. Our favorite Links. This info is presented in a table, with names on the left and number of tags on the right, organized from most to least. 

Warriors, 1408 (his handwriting says: HA!! I won something!)

Legend, 1398 (his handwriting says: BY TEN.)

Twilight, 1371

Time, 1323

Wild, 1217

Hyrule, 1151

Wind, 1143

Sky, 1137

Four, 1027

At the bottom is another piece of parchment. Legend says: “JUST TEN.” Warriors says: “Jealous?” Legend replies: “I don't know if being the favorite is a good thing.”

Next picture. Our favorite secondary characters were Malon (176 tags) and Racio (160 tags)

Section break. and the most popular pairings were Malon/Time (161 tags), Legend/Racio (89 tags*), Sky/Sun (66 tags).

At the bottom is the asterisk footnote: it's no secret that our fandom tags are a little wonky sometimes. This number adds together the works tagged “Legend (Linked Universe)/Ravio” and “Link/Ravio” where the work was also tagged “Linked Universe,” assuming that people would only tag one. 

Next picture. 2024’s longest fic was: This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja (linked below). 

Editor’s note: linked here!

With a total of 312,547 words. That's almost 971 a day! 

Began July 14, 2023, Finished May 30, 2024. 

Screenshot of the tag summary from AO3, showing a Mature rating, Gen, an archive warning, and complete. 

Significant tags: Time Travel, the Chain as Family, Time Loop, Multiversal Time Travel, Temporal War Crimes, Chain Meets Chain, Chronically Ill Sky, Four Splits Into the Colors, Fairy Hyrule, Hyrule Has a Blood Curse. 

At the bottom, Legend’s writing says: “That sounds like a lot of time travel…”

Next four pictures are a set titled Fandom Trends by month. Each month has, in order, a Popular Link, Popular Duos, Popular Genre, and Unique Tags, along with occasional handwritten commentary. 

January: Twilight. Twilight & Wild. Hurt/Comfort. Crack, Soft Legend. Commentary: Warriors says “aww.” and Legend responds “I'm going to poison your milk.” 

February: Warriors. Twilight & Wild, Twilight & Warriors, Legend & Warriors. Angst. Febuwhump 2024. 

March: Twilight. Twilight & Wild, Time & Twilight. Fluff. One Shot, Linked Universe Discord Server’s 5th Birthday Gift Exchange.

April: Legend. Twilight & Wild, Twilight and Warriors. (Commentary from Legend: “wow Twi”) Fluff. Humor, Canon-Typical Violence.

May: Twilight, Warriors. Hyrule & Legend, Twilight & Wild. (Commentary from Legend, circling Hyrule’s name: “Finally some good taste.”) Fluff. Other Additional Tags to be Added. 

June: Twilight. Twilight & Wild, Time & Warriors. Hurt/Comfort. June of Doom 2024, Sky-centric, Twilight-centric. (Commentary from Warriors: “Wait, doom?! Oh, there's Sky”)

Editor's note: congratulations to @somer-writes who singlehandedly got June of Doom in the top 10 tags of June. :)

July: Warriors. Hyrule & Legend, Time & Twilight. Hurt/Comfort. Twilight-centric. (Commentary from Legend: “leave some for the rest of us”)

August: Legend. Hyrule & Legend, Legend & Warriors, Time & Twilight. Hurt/Comfort. Crack, Fluff and Angst. (Commentary from Warriors: “I'm concerned.”)

September: Legend. Time & Twilight, Twilight & Wild. Hurt/Comfort. Sicktember 2024, Legend Has a Bad Time. (Commentary from Legend: “Excuse me?!” Warriors says: “I suppose your immune system is awful now.” Legend responds with: “ha ha.”)

October: Warriors. Time & Twilight, Time & Warriors. Hurt/Comfort. Whumptober 2024, Warriors Has a Bad Time. (Commentary from Warriors: “oh no…” To which Legend responds: “HAHAHAHAH”) 

November: Warriors. Time & Warriors, Hyrule & Legend. Fluff. Crack, Good Older Sibling Warriors.

December: Legend. Hyrule & Legend, Twilight & Wild, Warriors & Wind. Hurt/Comfort. Families of Choice. 

Parchment at the bottom has Warriors saying, “That's a nice note to end on.” Legend responds, “Not so bad I guess.” 

Thanks for coming along with me on this fun stats journey! It's been a privilege to add to this fandom. 

I thought about adding a section for ratings or prevalence of Gen fics, but I think you can guess that we’re a Gen- and Teen-heavy fandom. You can see my raw data and some more charts over on the Google sheet right at this link. Ha, link. :) 

[thejolteonmastertj]

Wars

I love you buddy but why

why are you asking one of the literal post-apocalypse Links job counceling questions,

I can’t 🤣

[thejolteonmastertj]

Skyyyy you should’ve heckin known better! 😂😭😂

pain sharing curse au feat legend’s inability to cope with the idea of losing someone again + twilight trying to make wolfie happen lmao

< PREV | NEXT >

THE BEGINNING

[darkrooklobby]

🫧Dive🌊 - a short comic for Link Click (Yingdu/Bridon arc)

Domestic cats will go to great lengths to avoid water. They do not like being wet, and prefer to not get close to bigger bodies of water, like lakes and oceans.

Domesticated cats stay mostly indoors, away from deep waters, which can cause significant fear and shock for the cat.

Cats dislike getting their whiskers wet, since it might disrupt how they perceive their environment.

Cats are used to staying dry. They clean themselves without water, and despite drinking water sometimes, they get enough of it from food.

Wet fur might leave a cat prone to the cold, because it destroys the insulative later of it. Wet fur is also heavy, which slows down the cat, and makes it vulnerable in the face of danger.

🫧🫧(I should quit overthinking🥲so anyway...)🫧🫧

Yingdu Kitty Guang agenda! 👀🫶✨ + a dialogue exchange from episode 1 that had an impact on how I perceive the show. I decided to interpret it in my own way, and here we are! Hope it looks nice?✌️✨

(Artist notes: This comic took wayyyy too long to make! 🥲 My idea stemmed from the ironic fact that 'diving' is an actual thing that people do, and that cats hate water, with Lu Guang often being depicted as a white cat... Additionally, the 12 hour limit on this risky act of 'diving' kinda made me think that if you stayed longer, you can drown.

"It's a nice metaphor!" - I thought, naive, a week ago. Since then I've been fighting for my life academically and also with my PC which was prone to exploding while I worked 😭😭😭 All in all, this project was fun and allowed me to discover a linear workflow, but on the other hand, it drained me. Additionally, covering my art in watermarks was painful, since I didn't want to mess the picture up, but alas, as an online artist, I have to watch out... 😔)