#random botw lore

[critical-birb]

Okay maybe I forgot to log onto this account for....a hot minute.

But quick post about some of my favourite random things in the new Zelda voice files.

-Revali canonically taking zelda to the hotsprings on his back (using the excuse he could only take one person as a reason to leave Link behind) and acting as her guard all day because she was too stressed and he wanted to help her relax???? This is so fucking wholesome what.

-Vah Medoh being the hardest Divine Beast to control out of all of them but Revali picking it up really quickly and Zelda commenting that it's because he trains harder than anyone she's ever met and has an incredible work ethic.

-Zelda also talking about how Revali's gale is amazing and he's the only one who can do it - but saying that it's not even the reason why he's so incredible.

-The Rito are master woodworkers! They make near everything out of wood and apparently are extremely impressive in how they transport lumber in the air.

-The Rito also make the most high quality fabrics and garments in the land and they're popular everywhere. Zelda's coat was her mothers and was brought in Rito Village.

-Rito fight in the air in groups in a way no other race does, they're very communal fighters for the most part.

-Vah Medoh is apparently suprisingly lightweight. Zelda worries that it will crush Vah Medoh's perch but apparently that's not a realistic concern because it doesn't weigh all too much. It's also implied that the spire was Vah Medoh's perch ten thousand years ago too - it's not just a coincidence that it's shaped that way.

-Daruk asked Zelda to remove an entire stable. It's implied it's because that's where all the unhomed working dogs live.

-Daruk is too modest/shy to talk about the giant stone carving of his head in Goron City.

-Alongside rocks, Gorons really enjoy eating boiled eggs?

-The Gorons also gathered a lifetime suply of lizards for Zelda when she ran out of fire-proof elixer which is so wholesome.

-Vah Ruta lowered it's trunk in greeting the first time it met Mipha as if she were an old friend.

-The Hylians and the Zora have a long history of cultural exchange dating back LONGER than ten thousand years ago!

-King Dorophan fights with his fins rather than a weapon because he's so powerful.

-Zora's domain is home to extremely talented metal workers. Mipha's statue is made of metal, and she was extremely embaressed by it being in the center of the Domain and kept asking her dad to move it somewhere out of the way lakjshdfhjk. Omg that's why they moved it up to the mountain help. It's what she wanted.

-The Zora make everything out of a water-resistant ore - even their books so they can be read in the water!!

-The Zora also have super uncomfortable Hylian beds in their inn because they sleep in the water and have no idea what it is that Hylians want out of a bed.

-The mountain was a super popular place for young Zora to show off their bravery by jumping off it before the Lynel moved in. The only Zora willing to go up there was baby Sidon who Mipha kept telling to stay away from it but he'd get an excited glint in his eye like he was gonna do it anyway.

-Zelda's mother was sickly and prone to illness yet made the perilous trek to Gerudo Town frequently dispite the wild and life-threatening tempreture changes and dangers of the desert. Wonder why that was?

-Karakara Bizaare was created specifically to trade with male travelers, since they're not permitted within the town. It used to be extremely crowded.

-Sand seals evolved from aquatic creatures. Also Urbosa trained Zelda to ride one!

-The Gerudo are master jewelry makers and beleive the precious stones to absorb sunlight and energy and to repel evil. Because of this they wear as much jewelry as possible.

-Urbosa's shield and scimitar were made by a jewler rather than a blacksmith.

-Urbosa also requested a stable be built on the borders of the desert so that the young Gerudo leaving home for the first time have somewhere to stop and prepare for the rest of their travels.

-The warm doubtlet you get from the king at the start of BoTW was Zelda's.

-In Luralin, they beleive the Goddess statue to be the Goddess of fishing.

-Link wouldn't let Zelda climb the mountain to the matchmaking lake because he said it was 'too steep' and she notes that it's suspiciously overcautious of him.

-Zelda brought the five scarves she made for the Champions and Link to be dyed at the dye shop in Hataeno Village, and they were dyed using silent princess flowers to get the royal blue colour.

-It's suggested that malice forms in places that harbor negative energy,

-The Sheika were banished from Hyrule, that's why they moved to Kakariko Village hidden in the vally.

-The Sheika beleive frogs to be good luck.

[ganondoodle]

still not interested in echoes of wisdom unfortunately, not a fan of totk mechanics 'returning', its menu style too and .. of course they had to put zelda into a belly dancer outfit :I

[gunpowder-gemini]

Eyo finally settled on a design I like for my Rito OC Cirra! I have gotten so much practice drawing braids now lmao. She's got a dad, 4 little sisters and a dead mom I'll draw (eventually)

I got the sheikah brush pattern for the background from @/ezlo-x here

[moopypaw]

UGH IGNORE THE FACT THAT THE MISSING EYE MARK ISNT LINED UP WITH THEY EYE THATS NOT SIGMA but uhh zora oc.. she has trauma btw

anyways muleda lore below cut + some tiny bit of zelpha bc lesbians…

(LMAO THERES LOTS OF TAGS)

muleda was quite a skilled fighter from a young age, often earning lots of praise. however, she had also been pressured by those around her, mainly her parents.

that aside, the royal family had heard of her, and decided that she would make a good royal guard. that was when she would meet mipha, and the two formed an inseparable bond, viewing eachother as sisters. (idk i just needed an excuse for mipha to meet muleda)

mipha would often tell her stories about the princess of hyrule, and muleda would tease her everytime. the two also shared their struggles together, and would comfort each other.

however, the calamity was still and impending problem. muleda had been worried for mipha, mipha was like a little sister to her, and she was concerned about mipha piloting vah ruta. but, she brushed it off. muleda believed that mipha was independent, and could handle that position.

when the calamity struck, muleda was terrified for mipha. something felt like it was going horribly wrong for her little sister, but she hoped the best for mipha. but ganon won, and muleda was there to witness it (she didn’t directly see mipha die, but she saw vah ruta get corrupted by ganons control)

also side note she got injured I during the calamity that’s where she got her scars from

muleda hadn’t been doing well after the calamity. she had… changed. she wasn’t carefree and jovial anymore, becoming more closed off, irrational, and paranoid. she had struggled harder when she had become a general of zoras domain (idk how she would. lmao)

she later had a daughter, tempah. though she really did care for her child, she couldnt help but be overprotective and afraid for her daughter. she doesnt want to lose another person she cares about

idk what to put for the end but currently (pre-botw), muleda is attempting to free vah ruta and avenge mipha, she still hasn’t moved on from her sisters death. all of her attempts are currently unsuccesful

[spenjelly]

Various Link Lore/ Character Questions

I have questions. There has to be people out there who know the answers or have theories

- Who pierced Majora Mask’s Link’s ears? He woke up with them??

-Do the Links from the 86 games, toon, and wind waker etc have iris color in universe or is it just… brown/black/Very Very dark blue

-How old… quantitatively.. (life experience) do people think OOT/MM Link would be at the end of his adventure

-Who exactly are the not-typical-hylian people in twilight princess? (They point out at one point that he has pointed ears and they don’t and his original kingdom is gone) or is ordon in hyrule and twilight’s kingdom wasn’t..? But the castle is… I’m confused help

-People pointed out that there is iconography from Skyward sword in breath of the wild (and theme similarities in totk) so… if they were founded in different ways… are they in the same universe but time shenanigans? Or was the iconography just easter eggs

-w h e r e is the sheikah tech in totk? Where did they put the skyscraper sized beasts? And the towers? There doesn’t even seem to be scraps beyond the one in hateno

[thejolteonmastertj]

[Image Description: Fanart of Link settled cozily into a comfy living room chair, plaid blanket loosely wrapped around over his traveling clothes, scruffy brown hair fully visible as his green hat’s been set off to the side.

His bright & happy grin is wide enough his eyes are closed briefly in contentment as he accepts a cup of steaming hot tea from a nice old granny.

End of image description.]

what are you favorite characters in adventure of link?

Hmm. Good question, anon. I haven't really thought of it... And now that I do, it's Link, of course. Link my beloved.

I'll take this opportunity to give a shout-out to the magicians and doctors of Hyrule who aid Link without charge. He doesn't use a single rupee in this adventure. He either gets everything for free because he is the hero or he has access to the Royal Family's treasury.

I don't how Link's magic is replenished... Let's say it's in the form of a yummy cup of tea.

[loregoddess]

callback to my English teacher my freshman year of high school, who was honestly one of the best teachers I had for English, but had made the unfortunate decision to have all the vocab quizzes be Exact Memorization--that is, we had to memorize the definition word-for-word, along with the part of speech. Well, I can't remember things word-for-word, but I found a way to cheat the part of speech aspect of the quizzes, which were worth a decent number of points, so I just resigned myself to not doing very well on the quizzes but trying anyhow. We also had to grade each others quizzes, which was BS but w/e, so cue some poor classmate of mine reading out what I'd written for one of the quizzes to see if I'd get points, bc I couldn't remember the word for the definition and listed instead every possible synonym I knew (which was A Lot), and the teacher standing there for a moment before saying something like, "That was like a blind man with a machine gun in a fire. Give them half a point."

[not-freyja]

New Zelda Game!

Okay cool, cool cool cool cool, I am calm, I am so fucking calm. Looks like Nintendo is staying true to their word that Wild is not getting another game, so now the questions are, what Link is this, where are we in the Timeline, and what information about the game itself can we pick out of these crumbs?

Whose Zelda is it anyway?

So two options:

New boy.

Legend. It’s fucking Legend again sucks to suck bro

Case for new Link and Zelda:

Less messy for the Lore

That’s it, that is the only argument

Case for Leggy boy and Fable:

LA animation style! While it can be fun to bring back older styles of animation for nostalgia/artistic reasons, that seems like a poor choice for *LOZ* games, which are always on the edge of what a game can do. Moving “backwards,” so to speak, in any aspect, would be a disservice to the franchise. However, doing it to maintain consistency for a particular character, and to use the animation style to make sure the audience knows this is the same character from LA is a very simple but effective tactic.

The map! So that shot was so BOTW and so fun, but the view we got wasn’t just recognizable as “Hyrule,” is was, down to the relative heights on the mountain cliffs against each other, the map from ALTTP/ALBW. Nintendo has never repeated a map without it being the same Link. So! Checkmate motherfuckers.

The character designs. That… that was just Legend and Fable, come on. Look at the dress. Every Zelda has a slightly different costume design, and that was hers. Look at Link. Baby boy!

I want this. Let me have it.

Timeline positioning

Okay so if we assume that this is in fact Legend, the next question becomes, “When is it?” Leggy boy currently has 5 games that are canonically his. (Triforce Heroes could be a random other Link, so while we like to say 6 we can’t *prove it.*) So. Let’s break it down.

ALTTP: canonically his first game, can’t be before this one.

Oracles: canonically happen after ALTTP, and he is very much still a child in here.

LA: the game this one is artistically modeled after. Narratively this fits nicely right after Oracles, and in the canon timeline, fits between Oracles and ALBW, so I think a whole new game being crowbarred prior to this one would be… not great for the narrative.

ALBW: This is trickier. No canon time between LA and ALBW is given, it could be a week, it could be years. It is entirely possible that Echoes of Wisdom occurs prior to ALBW, which would make it a direct sequel to LA, which makes the art style make even more sense. It could also be after?

…hang on a fucking minute, lets get the fucking map.

Left, ALTTP. Right, ALBW

Basically the same map! Duh, it’s the same Hyrule. But. BUT. Bottom right, in the lake. Do you see that?!

ALTTP: no log bridge. ALBW: Log bridge. Now, let’s look at the pretty picture from the EOW trailer.

NO FUCKING LOG BRIDGE!

This is before ALBW. Therefore, the game order for The Hero of Legend is

ALTTP, OOS, OOA, LA, EOW, ALBW, TH(maybe)

*cue manic laughter*

Lore Implications

Ganon.

There being a Ganon at all actually has me pointing my finger at the Oracle games and screaming. The TL;DR in those is that there was a plot to resurrect Ganon, each game Twinrova gets closer, but Link stops them. Now, there were also supposed to be three of those games, which means that it is entirely possible that the third unseen Oracle plot—please Nintendo let Link and Farore hang out, I am on my knees barking like a dog—could have resulted in his resurrection. This is the only explanation I have that doesn’t break the Lore or involve Time Shenanigans.

Also, Link does KO the bitch in that opening scene in the trailer. His presence is either just that—a set-up plot point—or him and Link are currently duking it out in the hole. Fun!

Link and Zelda

Now this game is going to put their relationship in the front in the “I have to save them because I love them” way that we usually see from Link’s POV.

Getting it from Zelda’s POV is going to be very interesting. We might be getting a look into her head, into her feelings and thoughts about the whole ordeal of the Legend itself. I hope so. But also, this isn’t just Link and Zelda, this is *Fable and Legend* specifically. The two that were meant to be be siblings but the dialogue that established them as such was cut from the final version of ALTTP. So. This game has the possibility to do three things

Canonize the Prince Legend thing, like they were going to do in the nineties.

Not address the topic at all, leave it nebulous.

Zelink.

None of these are bad choices, but option two is definitely the safest. Both options one and three will cause an uproar from part of the fan base. I can already see the ship wars. Please don’t do this people. Please.

The Holes 🕳️

What are they? Where did they come from? Ganon’s Trident Where do they go? No actually, where do they go? The Dark World (doesn’t make sense in the Lore)? Lorule (that would be a choice)? The Twilight Realm (I am convinced that Lorule and the Twilight Realm are the same place actually and you cannot change my mind)? Some new never seen before parallel dimension? A non-place, like a gap between realities (sexiest option)? I have no idea!

Fun!

That fucking “Fairy”

Tri? Don’t trust it. Will not trust it. Never trust that a companion in a LOZ game is what they first appear to be. Who does Nintendo take me for? A fucking amateur?!

Anyway, I am about 40% convinced that’s Link. I have evidence, but it is circumstantial.

I AM HANDLING THIS NORMALLY.

[comet-cola]

"We set Breath of the Wild so far in the future of the other games as a seamless way to essentially reboot the series and lore so our new ideas don't have to be beholden to and limited by established canon."

OK 👍

"We set Tears of the Kingdom a few years after Breath of the Wild as a direct sequel, but we also liked how much freedom not adhering to established canon gave us, so we decided to clumsily retcon both fundamental lore & seemingly random mundane aspects of canon without any explanation, instead of properly expanding on existing plot threads and environmental storytelling cues firmly established in BotW, to the confusion of many returning players."

What 😐

[liquidcrystalsky]

i saw someone say they never actually played a splatoon game and only watched two story modes. it felt a bit weird to me but i think there is something to think about.

most of all the story/lore/worldbuilding in-game is text and images and are basically identical if you read them on a wiki

The chat logs and sunken scrolls and alterna/dev logs, have nothing to do with whats going on. The gameplay, the things you do, don't inform what information you're given at all.

You unlock things either just with normal progression or as random collectables. In splatoon 1 and 2 the sunken scrolls corresponded to each level, but they didn't take advantage of that at all. Most sunken scrolls just were about whatever. They made it per area in splatoon 3. So it's even more detached from the gameplay.

The Dev Diaries and Acht's letters, are all unlocked in exactly the same way. Every single one, other than having to change what weapon you use, it's the same.

Shit, most of the god damn world-building, ISN'T EVEN IN THE GAME! It's on the websites, in artbooks, interviews (both in-universe and developers), soundtrack releases, whatever.

Other than the first two story modes, there are like Actual things which happen in the games which can't be summarized in a sentence (most of the story about Octo Canyon was in the "Squid Sister Stories." Not Even In The Game).

Octo Expansion has an amazing final sequence, which, is mostly cutscenes and you can just sorta watch on youtube. You don't need to know what happens in Girl Power station or any of the levels at all.

RotM had a Lot Of Shit Happen but... actually i think it did it the best for experiencing the story Through The Game (not by much). Though It sucks that the story has absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay and they often straight up contradict or just doesn't make sense. Oh yeah the whole fucking thing crashed and killed everyone. Don't ask why everything's in completely pristine condition.

Side Order sort of just cleared up all of the story points within the first 10 minutes of the game, right after the tutorial Marina just explains Everything and then that's just what happens for the rest of the game. There's no twist or any evolving story that isn't in the Dev Diaries which don't affect the Actual Game.

The thing i'd say you miss out the most on is small character moments, but there's also plenty of compilations and people pointing them out too. There's definitely a lot of things you'd miss, a lot of spectacle, and some emotions, but idk i feel like it's not too much in the grand scheme of things.

Splatoon has amazing world building, but kind of bad storytelling (i guess nintendo in general, i can see it a bit in botw/totk as well) and it kinda gives room for people to actually be genuine fans of the series, story and world, without even touching a game at all.

As much as I don't want to buy a switch 2 and all that, i really hope Raiders does this storytelling well.

I also have nothing against watching like longplays of the game or just like full game walkthrough or whatever. I call myself fans of games which i've only watched and not played. I'm saying you can totally be a fan with a really large amount of knowlege of splatoon without even doing that.

I have had this comparison of RotM to Outer Wilds in my head a lot and i'm gonna walk my dog then i'll write it out

[jullbnt]

@aikoiya The post was getting too long so I’m replying here, hope that’s okay! If anyone is looking for the beginning of this discussion, it's here.

Your extended pantheon is amazing! I just knew that Gàlondo would end up being Demise haha. I'd say I prefer not to associate Demise with any race in particular (and the Gerudo already have quite a heavy burden with Ganondorf), but otherwise I like that backstory you came up with. So what's Hylia's role in your version then if he’s the guardian of the Triforce? I'm curious ^^

I'd say my reasoning isn't so much "I hate this" but rather "this doesn't make sense/contradicts something else" or "previous games did this better". I also want to show that it's still possible to create stories without ignoring everything that was established previously because to me this idea that the timeline is too restrictive doesn't stand. In fact I tend to believe being a bit restricted and working inside a frame can trigger more creativity (after all they did wild stuff like flooding Hyrule before and it fits perfectly in the timeline). I also would prefer to see the existing lore extended or clarified instead of them adding new confusing stuff and leaving it extremely vague.

Oh I LOVE your Outset Timeline!! Though the ending is indeed very bittersweet. It always makes me so happy when someone else points out the inconsistencies in Skyward Sword's story. That's exactly my reasoning for my fourth timeline, it exists because of Ghirahim and Link's victory over Demise in the distant past. Though you are right, adding a timeline split while keeping the Master Sword in the official timeline requires some gymnastics! At the moment I'm going with a lazy theory about the Sealed Temple being the future Temple of Time, so the Temple's magic somehow allows the Master Sword to exist in both timelines (I said it was lazy haha). Impa’s bracelet is another story though. In my timeline the Goddess Sword is also left untouched in Skyloft because Skyward Sword doesn't happen, which could be useful in case someone accidentally broke the actual Master Sword 😁 It's very intriguing to me that Sky left the sword in the past when he had no reason to (and it shouldn't even be possible since it's in the exact same spot as Zelda's crystal). It's probably just a mistake on Nintendo's part but I like to think there could be something else there, and that Fi had a reason to stay in the past.

About the DLC items the thing is that most sets are found in the Depths in random Zonai chests if I remember correctly, or in the coliseums, and there was no explanation as to how they got there. In Misko's little shrines we find the Fierce Deity set and the LA set, but also the barbarian armor, the shock-resistant outfit and the climbing gear. I can understand building shrines for the Fierce Deity or LA Link following what you said, but then for three random armor sets? Not to mention that Link already owned them in BotW, so making us look for them a second time was kind of a joke. I like this shintai/yorishiro idea, but I think it would work a lot better if there were only a few items to collect and not… the outfits of all the Links ever INCLUDING WILD'S (how!!). It feels really meaningless and more like a catalogue for you to choose from so you can look like your favorite Link (which is a bit insulting to Wild, you can just replace him at this point and go as far as changing his hair or even his entire appearance with the LA set). I also didn't really believe they were the actual items from past games, it made no sense (the same way Link wouldn't actually wear a red Nintendo Switch t-shirt or something from Xenoblade). It just really felt like fanservice.

The dictionary thing might help, but I think the story should be explicit enough on its own and I don't really want to study Buddhism/Shintoism in depth so that I can play Zelda games and understand what's happening haha. I mean of course it's fine if knowing a bit about it adds new context and all, but if you can't understand things like malice vs. gloom without it then I think it's a bit of a problem. Speaking of Fujibayashi I feel like this wasn't really an issue before he was in charge.

Yes the French translation for Demise is very misleading, that's another problem: depending on your language things are sometimes interpreted very differently.

I really like the English names for the three dragons, I think they're so much better than what we got in French. Nedrac, Ordrac and Rhordrac, really?? At first I didn't even understand the link with the Goddesses, and then the last two sound way too similar. Btw I remember from my very basic Japanese courses that it's common in Japanese to create new words by mixing a few syllables of other words together. For example "rimokon" means remote controller (remo + con), or there's the well known Pokemon = pocket monsters. So naturally we end up with stuff like Ordinn + dragon etc.

I thought as well about the dragons going by names given to them by mortals instead of their true names. The thing is, I don't really want to create new names because I'm already changing so many things and my timeline stuff can be a bit complicated, so I need to keep at least a few things familiar. And I really like Dinraal, Farosh and Naydra :D

I agree about Farore being more associated to wind and plants than thunder (I mean she's kind of Link's patron goddess and he has nothing to do with thunder). What's even more confusing in BotW/TotK is that the Gerudo are now also related to thunder for some reason, but they're definitely more Din than Farore in my mind.

Maybe I should give you some context about my dragons haha. The beginning of my story is quite similar to TotK, though I still made some changes. Ganondorf completely destroys the Master Sword, Link looses his arm (except here Rauru isn't there to replace it), and Zelda still travels through time (but not because of a Secret Stone since I got rid of everything Zonai). She arrives in ancient Hyrule one century after Sky killed Demise (because this is set in my alternate timeline), and she's stuck there so she needs to find a way back home. Before that she learns a lot about SS, the Triforce, the timeline split and Hyrule's past. After meeting various characters and most importantly Sonia (who's still a priestess, the Sage of Time and her ancestor), Zelda learns that this era has two Master Swords: the one left by Sky in the Sealed Temple, and the Goddess Sword that is still somewhere above the clouds. She understands then that she needs to retrieve the Goddess Sword in Skyloft and forge a second Master Sword in order to help her Link in the future, and to do so she needs the three Sacred Flames. Where are the flames? The dragons "swallowed" them since they weren't needed anymore after Sky left his own Master Sword, which turned them into the giant immortal dragons we see in BotW/TotK. So that's Zelda's quest: find a way to go to Skyloft and then get the dragons to lend her their power. Along the way she'll also meet the ancient Sages, who can help her return to her own time by using the Triforce (but of course this won't work because of Ganondorf, and Link will have to fight him in the present and bring her back himself).

I'm trying to make this both a story I could adapt in comic form and something that could work as a game. The idea is that Zelda's memories would be playable sequences with places to explore, fights and maybe even mini-dungeons and bosses. And of course there's an entire story for Link as well. At the moment I'm trying to come up with interesting arcs and quests for each race/Sage, both in the past and the present.

Anyway, that's why I'm so focused on the dragons. Zelda (and Link) will need their help and they will talk this time. And since they will remember being apointed by Hylia and they're supposed to absorb their respective sacred flames, I need things to make sense. This is also a timeline without climate change in Lanayru (here it's the same province as in BotW with the addition of Mount Lanayru and a good part of central Hyrule), so the thunder dragon has no business being up there. That's why the swap would make sense.

No need to apologise! I appreciate your perspective and that you're interested enough to share your own ideas! :D

I agree on Zelda's magic being her own and what you said makes sense! Love the part about her only thinking about how she's a failure (though I guess it's only natural if she's been trying for 10 years without result). I don't know if she would have had the same reaction had she witnessed her father's death though. AoC isn't canon but Zelda doesn't unlock her power when Rhoam "dies" in front of her and Link forces her to run. The memory where's she's crying in Link's arms in BotW also shows that she knows everyone is dead, it's even possible that she saw some of it happen (maybe in the same way as AoC for Rhoam, or they saw what happened to the Divine Beasts from afar). I guess they must also have seen some terrible things on the roads, so she could have unlocked her power trying to save her people. But it only happened when Link was about to die.

Haha yes, I'm probably one of the most obsessed Zelink shipper there is and even I can't stand that power of love trope. It really has no place in a LoZ game. In my headcanon Zelda wouldn't access her power only because of her love for Link, though it definitely helps, but rather because the Hero dying is kind of an emergency situation and would trigger her divine magic even if the necessary conditions were not met. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me though ���

Yeah I'm okay with the women of the royal family having some sort of power though not as powerful as Zelda. I think some part of it could also be attributed to their Sage of Time abilities. And the gift of prophecy being inherited from Sky is such a cute idea!!

I don't know about Terrako, I only remember that Zelda built it when she was just a child?

I'd send you an ask to rant about TotK but I'm not sure about the character limit and I fear it would just turn into a second wall of text haha! Here are some thoughts:

– I could live with new lore that contradicts older games, if only things made sense and were sufficiently fleshed out. Then I could just enjoy the story and accept that this is a different continuity. But here everything is so vague and sometimes even confusing. Like if we're going to meet the Zonai and make them such central figures in Hyrule's history, then I want to know more about them and learn about their culture. What's the point if we're only going to see two of them and have no clue about how they created all that technology, mined the Depth, lived with the Hylians, and then disappeared? Same for ancient Hyrule: if the different tribes were at war, I want to see it, and I want to learn more about them. Ganondorf also had so much potential for an interesting backstory. What kind of king is he? How did the Gerudo feel about him becoming the Demon King? What about the Gerudo Sage? And so on. It feels like this could be so much more.

– Other things I would love to see explained: where is the Master Sword in ancient Hyrule and why does no one seem to know anything about it or the Hero? How does it travel through time to reach Zelda? What about Rauru and Sonia's descendants? Also what was the point of the fake Zelda, and why did Ganondorf stay in his bathtub the entire game instead of rehydrating himself right away and getting stuff done? There's also everything I said about the secret stones the other day, but I know you don't see it as a problem ^^ (Also I just rewatched the memories and I had completely forgotten what Rauru tells Zelda in front of Sonia's grave: "Remember, that was a future where you never appeared in this world". So does this mean this is a new timeline that kind of retcons BotW? If not then where did all the Sheikah tech go and how were the shrines replaced by the Zonai ones? I really need an explanation for all of that!!)

– The game also barely mentions what happened in BotW, except for the history class about the Calamity in Hateno, the statues in Zora's Domain, and the memorials left by Zelda to honor the dead. I wanted to see Hyrule starting to rebuild and to get some sort of follow-up on the story. Did Link regain all his memories? Was Zelda planning to take the throne? Does she have some sort of trauma after her century-long battle against Ganon at Hyrule Castle? Why does she react to Ganondorf's name, but doesn't link him to Calamity Ganon? Why did the Sheikah tech that was so central in BotW disappear, especially the Divine Beasts? I care about this world and its characters, I want it to feel like a real place and to see it evolve. But then stuff like this really reminds you that this is just a video game world, and that Nintendo doesn't really seem to care. And if things can be retconned any moment even in a direct sequel, then… why should I feel invested?

– There was a real waste of potential with the Light Dragon and Zelda just transforming back thanks to Rauru and Sonia (btw couldn't they have helped if they could appear anytime and still had that kind of power?). I find it so disappointing that Link doesn't have to do anything to help Zelda, it almost happens by accident. Mineru also said it was irreversible, but in the end it's no big deal (they shouldn't establish something and then ignore it like that). If only Link had to use the Triforce or something. I didn't want Zelda to stay a dragon but sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have been a better ending.

– It also really doesn't help that Link feels so disconnected from the main story. In BotW he was also experimenting the story through flashbacks but at least they were his own memories and they fleshed out his relationship with Zelda and the other Champions. Here Zelda is the one experimenting the best part of the story, and to make it worse you can find the memories in any order and get badly spoiled. It could have been so cool if Link also time traveled at some point and could explore ancient Hyrule (and they could have done something crazy like Link and Zelda being the ones to seal Ganondorf in the past, which would lead to his transformation into Calamity Ganon). Link is also so expressionless (except when cooking and all) that I find it hard to care when he doesn't seem to. Imagine how different Zelda sealing herself would feel in Skyward Sword if Sky didn't act so distraught. In the same way TotK would hit a lot harder if Link did stuff like falling to his knees after seeing Zelda's last memory.

– I also think that the hands/cooperation theme the devs talked about in interviews is a bit weak and cliché (with characters reminding Link and Rauru that they don't have to do things alone and that they're stronger together, stuff like that). First I don't find it very interesting compared to what games such as OoT, MM or Wind Waker did, and then Link being able to fight Ganondorf alone from the start kind of throws it out the window (and Rauru also ends up sealing Ganondorf on his own). The Sages are not even with Link outside of the dungeons, they just create creepy copies of themselves (and I found them so annoying I never activated them, except for Tulin when flying). But yeah sure they shake hands and vow to help Link. I still think him being accompanied by the Champion's spirits in BotW worked a lot better, and their powers were also more useful. I guess seeing everyone working together to rebuild Hyrule would have made that theme more meaningful. The thing I really liked about this though was Link finally catching Zelda in the end after failing at the beginning of the game, that was a really beautiful scene.

– Also I said it above but I don’t want everything to be explained by Buddhism/Shintoism parallels, especially if the game just expects you to get it without providing context. Let Hyrule be it’s own thing.

So I know this isn't only about lore, but these are the main reasons why I'm not very interested in TotK. To sum up I'd say that the game lacks some kind of depth and has a lot of wasted potential, and it also makes it clear that it's pointless to care about continuity. BotW Hyrule was interesting and I think a lot of things could have been done about existing races instead of adding a new one but not bothering to do much with it. Just bringing Ganondorf back in this version of Hyrule and see how the Gerudo react to him could be so interesting!! Some concepts were also excellent but didn't really go anywhere, like the Depths and the Sky Islands.

Honestly I haven't thought about all these side quests and minor characters yet, I'm still trying to sort things out with the main story ^^ But I don't think I'll touch the ones you mentioned, they were fine. I liked the thing with the Eighth Heroine as well, I've seen a lot of people complaining about it but it's one of the only things in the game I actually found interesting. I just can't unsee the parallel with Link and the Seven Sages (of course).

What I'll be doing for sure is making some of the quests and events more serious, I'm kind of aiming for a darker tone. Most of the quests are quite fun (especially the "potential princess sightings" ones), but I feel like this game really lacks some sense of danger and urgency. For example couldn't the people in Hateno have more pressing problems than making cheese or choosing between Cece and Reede? Or was it really a good idea to make lighthearted little quests about misanderstandings with Zelda when her disappearance should be driving Link mad? (I should have included that in my little rant above haha)

I'd also love to make the pirates in Lurelin something more interesting than just a bunch of Bokoblins, but I'm not there yet. And rebuilding the exact same village was kind of meh.

About the Gerudo questioning their traditions, I'm actually planning for my Ganondorf to be a lot more active and go to Gerudo Town in order to meet his people (I want him to care about them, so he wouldn't attack them the same way he targets the others). I don't have all the details yet but I'm pretty sure there will be a conflict between Riju's supporters and other Gerudo who believe he's their rightful ruler (at first they wouldn't know he's actually that one king who turned into Calamity Ganon). So that's another tradition for them to question.

The consequences of Ganondorf being the only Gerudo male are something I've been wondering about as well. Add to that the fact that he's raised to be king because he's male (and maybe even kind of worshiped by his people) and you get something that can turn nasty real quick. Though I also wonder if Gerudo aren't different from Hylians. You said you hc that the Gerudo are only women because they were cursed so it makes sense that you would view it this way, but on my part I believe that's just how they were created. For that reason I think this is natural for them, so it's possible that it doesn't cause exactly the same problems it would for us or for Hylians.

About Demise, yes of course Ganondorf is more than just Demise's hatred. But in this game it doesn't seem to matter, he kind of turns into a second Demise as soon as he gets his secret stone and his motivations instantly go from conquering/ruling to destroying everything and everyone. They could have done something a lot more nuanced or at least shown a more gradual transition, with him being more and more consumed by his hatred and loosing control for example. I don't know, anything that would look less like a comically caricatural villain riding a demon unicorn.

Also about Demise's curse, I always thought it sounded more like a warning than an actual curse, and I remember reading somewhere that this was the intention in the original Japanese text. In French Demise even says something like "you must never forget, history will repeat itself" instead of "I will rise again", and he and speaks of the curse of the demon tribe (implying that it existed before). Even in English it doesn't sound like Demise himself is casting a curse: "Those like you… Those who share the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the Hero… They are eternally bound to this curse". He doesn't say "I curse you" or "I bound you to this curse". I feel like this makes a difference (the curse already exists). This is why I interpret it as him basically saying that evil will not die with him and that Link and Zelda/the Hylians as a whole will always have to fight the demon tribe, but not necessarily his reincarnation. So I don't even believe that Demise himself is influencing Ganondorf in any way.

About the Zonai Zelda explains she studied them at the beginning of TotK and recognizes what's depicted on the murals, so it seems strange that sky beings could get mixed with a tribe of barbarians living in the woods. But yeah history getting lost and mixed is the only explanation for this.

Oh you're completely right about the Mogma, I got the same vibe from them! And a Mogma mafia sounds hilarious ^^ I love the Rocktato, Link would definitely eat something like that 😆

I need to take some time to read through your master list, it all looks very promising!

[lucky-clover-gazette]

posts about misogyny in botw/totk really do have me thinking like… traysi’s existence is kind of bizarre, compared to the other women in these games. like in the first game she’s working for a tabloid and she’s plucky and desperate and kind of obnoxious, and we’re supposed to think she’s a little annoying while still appreciating her help and insight. she clocks link’s gerudo disguise but promises to have discretion, mostly just concerned with insisting that she’s too clever to be fooled, and does not seem to have an ounce of flirtiness towards him or anyone else. like the closest thing we get to traysi romance lore in game 1 is a rumor mill entry about the royal guard uniform where she says she would love for a royal guard member to sweep her off her feet. which is not misogynistic at all, or even like heteronormative bc gender isn’t specified and it’s not a stated desire to conform to the role of homemaker or whatever. it’s a woman confident in her own desires, and i love that for her.

then in the sequel traysi is an accomplished and confident businesswoman who created and runs the world’s first serious newspaper, and SHE is the one who enlists and appreciates link’s help and insight. she’s his BOSS. she is the head editor of her enterprise and is respected by every person who discusses her. she treats penn a little harshly but he also talks about how she is a legitimately good and caring boss, just a little rough around the edges. she offered him time off WITH PAY and makes a point of mentioning it. and despite her persistent journalistic drive, she is surprisingly earnest to link in some sweet moments, in a way that feels entirely platonic. which, like, for a random npc in this world is unusual. even men are weird about link.

i honestly can’t think of a single misogynistic trope that has been applied to traysi, which is saying something bc that isn’t true for pretty much every other female npc. i love these games to pieces, but they as a general rule do not portray female characters in a way i enjoy. except for traysi, my beloved minor botw npc who inexplicably got upgraded to major npc in the sequel. so that’s nice, at least.

[seaglassosprey]

hello... i have come to ask about seina and vulture... i love them so much i must learn more about them. study them like cool bugs...

sobbing ... im glad you like them sm 😿

since theyre pretty new im still figuring some things out about them but hopefully i can write some lore stuff down soon

ive mostly based them off their respective birds , like how egyptian vultures are pretty crafty and bearded vultures being wildly misunderstood

as for their relationship , they're pretty close . seina as a kid was very protective of vulture due to people being wary of him . he was kind of an outcast due to his animal form being a vulture and its menacing appearance , and since seina sided with him and was also a vulture , she was as well

i know i havent mentioned it much , but im making their eldest sibling , riku ! due to his form being a palm-nut vulture , he would be the most tolerated of the group . these vultures are often mistaken for eagles and are pretty herbivorous , so i dont think they would mind him as much as his siblings .

they're also pretty small like egyptian vultures , so i think he'd be the shortest of the three , with seina being a little taller than him and vulture towering over the two lol . ive been thinking of giving him a cloak of feathers to make his silhouette bigger as well

on a random note i think theyd like the food they eat in their animal form , excluding the carrion LOL . vulture would still enjoy cooked bone marrow and seina would be an egg fiend . an egg enthusiast if i may . and riku just eats fruit or whatever

little lore tidbit , vultures true name is hibiki . i imagine when seina eventually reunites with vulture after the merge she calls him that only to find that he doesn't remember its his name or who she is really ... rip 💔

as for vultures memory , i like to think he sees glimpses of it in his dreams and his past kind of haunts him . seina on the other hand was not all that affected by the merge like vulture was and was likely more focused on finding her family over anything

how vulture would interact with the ninja is something i still need to think about , but i think he would like zane the most . something familiar about him maybe

also im still working on his voice claim vid but its DEFINITELY gonna be a while before its done 😿 i rlly want 2 finish it but in case i dont his voice claim is sephiroth from final fantasy LOL for seina i think urbosas voice from botw fits her pretty well . riku is new still so i . dont know what he'd sound like

anyways im kinda brain farting on what else to write so thats it for now 😼 go my birds

[ilidaeandquill]

All Is Fair in Death and War - Character Analysis/Notes

The Curse - Depression

“Ilidae the curse isn’t a character.” Yeah I know but I need to take notes on it anyway. "Ilidae that gif isn't the curse-" YEAH I KNOW but we're going to pretend, ok? The first victim of the curse that Lambert actually cares about is an axolotl so that's where the idea came from. And we're going to roll with it. Because. Please.

Alright kids let’s talk about magic cannibalism :)

(Keep reading for analysis/breakdown) First Chapter: All Is Fair in Death and War - Chapter 1 - IlidaeAndQuill - Cult of the Lamb (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own] (Last week this fic was under 1,000 hits, now it's over 1,100 which is insane - thank you!!! New chapter on 3/22 yippee :D)

Primary Motivation: The curse itself has no thoughts, feelings, or ambitions. It is a brainless parasite: it spreads from host to host. It is only able to spread via living bodies of both flora and fauna. It cannot survive in a corpse.

Character Traits: I spent so fucking long cursing followers just to read their thoughts, and you want to know what I got???

“Moan. Groan. Grunt.” “No. No. No.”

That's it. Dude. DUDE.

Theme Song: THIS ONE THIS ONE THIS ONE OMG ALSO THIS ONE HONESTLY ANY SONG FOR THE GLOOM FROM TOTK FITS

Voice Claim: Tumblr is being a doo-doo head and not letting me upload a video of the cursed follower's groans/grunts, so you're going to have to rely on this video for a better grasp on the sounds they make. If I make a second post about the curse containing spoilers (which I detail more about in the section below), I'll add my own video there.

Appearance Inspiration: I rely mainly on the canon appearance of the curse, obviously, but I also took inspiration from Malice (BotW)/Gloom (TotK) (and I've finally gotten around to playing EoW so I might take some inspiration from the rifts/Still World/Null/whatever else it's called), as well as the curse from Princess Mononoke to expand on its appearance/effect.

(I'm pretty sure Nintendo took inspiration from Princess Mononoke for BotW and TotK so uuhhhh I guess it's all inspired by Princess Mononoke. Shoutout to Hayao Miyazaki thank you for changing my life for the millionth time.)

The Curse is the main antagonistic force (NOT ANTAGONIST - THAT'S A DIFFERENT THING) in AIFiDaW, and is the primary representation of the depression stage of grief.

"A sinking sorrow one could not escape, no matter how much they yearned, how long they prayed." (Chapter 6: Ever the Wild Ones)

It is the thing all characters wish to dismantle or destroy, the enemy no one wants to face, yet must somehow conquer to achieve their end goal in the story. Just, uh, typically in the real world, depression via grief doesn't make you eat people.

Random facts/Trivia: - Goatfrey is the only one who is immune to the curse. Everyone else is fucked lmao. - The Curse's first appearance is actually in "I’ll Place My Heart in Your Hands, Swear to Keep It Safe" which I wrote back in September 2024. When I say I've been planning this story for months, I meant it. - That said I don't recommend that story too much, I need to go back and fix the tense. It's very obvious I also used that story to get back into writing after taking a few months off lol. - I might go back and capitalize The Curse in the story idk, what do you think I should do? - The curse is actually HAHA LMAO I can't tell you that. That's a masssiiiveee spoiler. I was thinking about doing a spoiler-only section to this post detailing what the curse is/where it came from. Maybe I'll make a separate post for that, maybe I won't, but for now that information is just going to live in my brain. - As my apology for being unable to spoil what the curse is, please take this clip of Goatfrey bullying Narinder.

Anyway - thank you for reading! These notes were a little tricky to make, especially since there isn't much canon info on the curse/most of the lore I made for the curse contains spoilers for AIFiDaW, but I hope you enjoyed them regardless!

Chapter 8 is coming out this Saturday YIIPPEEE! Ya'll. I'm so excited to start posting those chapters again. We're coming up on the end of the first arc, so things are about to get very intense I'M SO EXCITED TO WRITE IT OMMGG

Speaking of writing... bro. Stop reading this. Go be creative. Draw a picture. Write a story. Stop procrastinating and make something cool (I'm talking to myself here lol).

Theme

The Goat/Goatfrey - Narinder - The Lamb/Lambert - The Curse

Leshy - Heket - Kallamar - Shamura

Jalala - Rinor - Fena - Aym & Baal - The Mystic Seller

[atlasas45]

✨Introduction Post !!!✨

Hi hii welcome!! My name is Atlas or Aetel, but you can just call me Atlas! Nice to meet you!!

🥖 Some infos about me :

I am Indonesian and I can understand English, though I am also still learning on how to talk English properly XD

I am a multi-fandom fanartist (with inconsistent artstyle haha-) and my mbti is ENFP!! Apologies if I can be impulsive sometimes aha-

I REALLY LOVE open world games and games with puzzles / hidden stories / mysteries a lot!! I still craving to play tloz botw and tloz totk...

I didn't interact much here, but I would love to talk random stuffs with you! DMs are open to anyone! c:

My current hyperfixations are Sky cotl and Cookie Run !!

✨ Main tags I use :

My stuffs : #my art -> Tag that I mostly use for my arts! #Fallen Light AU -> My own AU of Sky cotl!! #whahoo -> This tag is just my random yapping :p Others : #archive -> interesting lores / facts / headcanons that I found #Yippeee -> awesome gifts for me <3 My ocs : original character sky cotl oc -> my ocs for Sky cotl rain world oc -> my ocs for rain world my sona -> ITS MEEEEEEEEEEEE My Artfight -> more of my ocs!!!

Thank you so much if you have read this far and I really appreciates your attention!! Hope you guys love it hereヽ(´▽`)/ ✨

[smilesrobotlover]

Hmm KotG stuff uhhh

What's Ganondorf's story?

Tell me some lore about the ancient sages!

What are each of the teams up to in the story (as much as you want to say if you want to avoid spoilers or anything)?

Sorry, as soon as you sent this I started homework and it about made me crash out with how ridiculously confusing it was (I still didn’t get it. I GENUINELY don’t know what I did wrong. I’m so pissed I had to turn it in despite it being wrong cuz ain’t not way I’m working on that any longer than I have to. Good GRIEF)

Anyways lol.

I’m thinking about Ganondorf’s story cuz it’s kind of a…. Tender subject I feel and I don’t want to piss anyone off, but this’ll just be my assumption from the game totk. I don’t have a backstory, but I do have Ganondorf coveting the land of Hyrule and wanting it for himself and the Gerudo. The desert is unforgiving and the fresh green land seems nice. He just doesn’t know how to go about taking it. Rauru, Sonia, and Mineru have secret stones and are very powerful, with far more soldiers and support than the Gerudo, and this random girl with a secret stone is also there. Except she has a mysterious triangle piece that seems to strengthen her power significantly with the secret stone, making Rauru, Mineru, and Sonia’s powers combined nothing compared to what she had. He sticks with them, pretending to be an ally in order to find out their weaknesses and all of that, and he is curious by Zelda’s Triforce piece. He and the Gerudo try to find the Triforce but it’s mysteriously nowhere to be found. At least that’s what he thinks. Until a Triforce piece appears in the Goron mines, and that’s when he strikes. Taking the Triforce of power, he’s able to get the strength to ambush and take down Sonia, stealing her secret stone that made him exceptionally powerful. Far more powerful than anyone. The only one being strong enough to face him (but barely) is Zelda, but she’s not the biggest fighter compared to this behemoth of a man. Ganondorf tries to take over Hyrule, and he becomes drunk with power that makes the Gerudo lose faith in him. It seemed his motivations were moving away from their well being and towards something else, and many fell away from their king that had become a monster.

That’s what I got for him atm but we’ll see as I write it :) I don’t think Ganondorf started off as completely evil but he’s definitely not a good person and turned evil towards the end.

And oh boy, I’m excited for the ancient sages! I decided to bite the bullet and name them after the divine beasts, since I’m placing totk and botw and AOC in a separate timeline than everyone else so it doesn’t entirely contradict other lore. The lightning sage is named Nabooru cuz in botw it’s clear that Naboris was named after her, and you can probably guess the other names. Ruto, Darunia, and I’ve been debating on Medo or Medlo or somethin. Nabooru doesn’t like Ganondorf, which is why she’s so close to Rauru instead of the Gerudo, because she sees something evil within him that she doesn’t like. The wind sage has a fat crush on Ruto but doesn’t know how to go about it since he’s a Rito and she’s a zora. Darunia was actually fond of Ganondorf and Ganondorf used that to steal the discovered Triforce of power, so the battle between him and Ganondorf became very personal. And yeah! That’s all I’ll say for now! I’m really excited to play with the sages cuz the potential for them is so fun :))

As of right now, the champions and Link are on the great sky island, with Daruk and Urbosa waiting for Link at the temple of time, Revali is looking for Link cuz he took off and he’s pissed about it, and Mipha is tearing the first room Link woke up in apart to find him. Where did he go? He’s fighting for his life trying to get to the shrines lol.

Ammon and Orman are returning to the castle sheepishly cuz the guy they’re supposed to protect is gone, Impa is with Purah and Robbie trying to help people from the upheaval and trying to figure out where the champions and Zelda went, and Kohga is panicking cuz the king and the princess weren’t supposed to VANISH. Rip

And Zelda is sleeping soundly in the ancient past with Terrako, Sonia, and Rauru watching