#with how small four becomes in minish cap

[theegh0st]

Are you still taking requests? If you are, could i humbly request Sky and Four hanging out in some way? They could be napping together, protecting each other in battle, discussing their places in the timeline, whatever seems most interesting to you. :D No pressure of course! Have a great day. ^^d

bonding over flying companions

[little-fae-hero]

Linked Universe, Hero of the Four Swords

My headcanons/au ideas

Art by Atro Avis

Colored Version

Long talk/ideas under the cut. Warning for general violence, soul ripping and death. (Note: I may add stuff overtime but I will never delete from the list).

Twilight. Sky. Legend. Hyrule. Wind. Time. War. Wild.

Four (Minish Cap/Four swords). Other Nicknames: The Smithy, Blacksmith, Short stack, Minish, The Child (hates this), Smith.

Hero Titles: Hero of Hyrule, Hero of the Minish, Hero of the Four Swords, Friend of Shadows, Savor of the Minish Vaati.

God who has claim over his soul: Demise (his hold of the four swords and not breaking his mind shows his power)(Deal with Shadow).

Part of First’s soul: Wisdom/ability to adapt.

History:

Link is just a small boy, his father is a knight, and his grandfather is a blacksmith, the boy is training to be a blacksmith but has learned how to fight by his father. With the festival he and his grandfather are making a special sword for the winner. Meanwhile a little minish named Vaati is corrupted by a dark malice and becomes the villain, turning Ezro into a talking hat and turning Zelda to stone. Link takes his sword and uses Ezro magic to shrink down into the size of a minish to help get into old temples. Link is able to go through the temples and figure out how to stop Vaati and save Zelda. However, he doesn’t kill Vaati, instead it pushes the darkness out of him and locks the darkness away. Minish Vaati is extremely regretful for what happens, crying and everything, it takes Link begging Ezro to not blame the minish.

However the lock on the corrupted doesn’t stay locked for very long. With the help of a dark spirit known as Ganon, Vaati broke out, kidnapping princess Zelda. Link in desperation, pulled the fabled four sword, however the sword broke him into five different pieces, Green, Blue, Red, Vio and the undesirable dark parts, Shadow.

The four are sent on an adventure to rescue their friend Zelda, meanwhile Shadow is taken in by Vaati, slowly being coached into being a monster, one who helps turn Hyrule against the heroes. Vio, playing with his knowledge, joins Shadow's side, mainly to get Shadow to realize what’s going on. However, when Vio realized he didn’t have an option he tried to kill Shadow. Shadow eventually turned against Vaati and Ganon, holding them off for a bit but it eventually ‘killed’ him. They defeated these dark monsters and put the four swords back, but Link was never the same after that. Link made a replica of the four swords, to try and figure out what is wrong with him.

Death: Four knows he will die if he doesn’t fix his soul and ends up hunting for an answer, ending up in an old palace with Shadow. Four’s fractured soul is killing him, Shadow is scared and when a dark voice offers support for one so powerful he survived pulling the four swords, Shadow agrees. With dark magic, Four and Shadow lived but are bound to a dark palace, staying there their soul safe for the one causing it to burn.

Adult timeline: The palace is destroyed in the great flood; the magic being washed away and the soul moves on.

Child timeline: Time takes notice of the Palace but only checks out the front room, however Kishin notices the soul and quickly takes his persona of Oni and reaped them, allowing them to move on.

Downfall timeline: Because of Ganon’s magic takeover of the Palace, feeding deeper the dark magic that protects Four and Shadow. Eventually Legend finds his way to the Palace of the Four Swords. Shadow makes monsters attack Legend and Four is the boss of the dungeon, Legend does win and frees their souls. 

Interesting stuff/Headcanons:

Four was gifted a little minish feather after his adventure, he wears it as an earring.

Becoming minish size through magic allowed him to easily understand and speak their language.

Link was only about 10 years old when he went on this adventure, however the minish magic cursed him, mainly his height. After 6 years he looks like he hasn't grown a day. 

Link forgave the small minish Vaati, he was a bullied minish and was confused by the whispers of dark magic.

However, because of his time as a dark wizard, Vaati was left alone, so he stays with Four. 

Because of this, it doesn’t matter how much of his childhood and innocence is taken away, Four can always see the minish.

When he grabbed the Four sword it actually split him into five parts.

Green was the leadership, thinking cool in battle, the core of Link.

Blue is the courage, bravery, his temper and empathy for friends.

Red is his kindness, compassion, his empathy for strangers.

Vio is his wisdom, logic and just his ability for power.

Shadow is all the negative parts, bitterness, his jealousy and envy, the hatred for having to do these quests. It’s why the magic of the four swords wanted to get rid of him.

When Shadow destroys the dark mirror, it not only ‘destroys’ his form and weakens monster Vaati but makes all the colors scream out in pain.

Four once he puts the sword back is never quite fully right, only realizing the damage after he talks to Minish Vaati.

He’s horrified and tries to look for a way to find or bring back Shadow. Red is hopeful, Vio feels like it’s just wishful thinking.

Shadow is still alive, but now hiding out in four’s shadow, nowhere near enough energy to make a physical form, especially with Four using magic that mirrors the four swords. But using the sword help’s Four have some sense of control.

Missing Shadow, Four cannot feel those missing emotions (like jealousy or bitterness), once where he could feel those, now it’s just empty. Often causing sadness or anger to take its place.

Four is still a blacksmith, after all the bs that he went through, he’s given up any thoughts about being a knight.

Four sometimes stares into mirrors as that is what allowed Shadow to enter the light world, so he hopes that maybe one will allow Shadow to come back.

Because he didn’t spend either of his adventures alone, Four doesn’t like to be alone, generally he will always be around someone.

He’s also a naturally cuddler because of this, so be careful if you fall asleep by him, you may become his teddy bear.

Four seemingly has this weird ability to find small things, like keys or money.

He’s excellent at solving problems between the group, always getting them to talk to each other and hug them out.

Sky once looked at him and started crying, saying he’s sorry about his soul. It very much confused Four, but he knows something up with skyloftan.

Because he can be small, Four also finds out a lot of secrets, he learned about Twi’s secret early on and they decided to keep it between themselves.

Four did tell Time about his ability to split, mainly because some days are bad, and he needs to split and needs someone to cover for him.

Four will typically slip into using We/they pronouns for himself unknowingly. Eventually Time and Twi will say something, and he’ll correct himself.

Four main goal is to find Shadow once again.

---

And my my, who is this very similar looking fellow

[a-tired-human-draws-junk]

LU Four headcanons + Minish cap thoughts

EDIT: HELP I DIDNT MEAN TO POST THIS YET💀 fuck it we ball

So I've been playing minish cap and I'm having a great time it's so fucking whimsical and lovely everybody ever should play it right now but it made me realise how little?? Minish cap stuff gets mentioned in linked universe??? like where is my funny little figurine collection I spent thousands of shells on, where is my cute minish lore, where is my cane of pacci, where are my KINSTONES!!!

Anyways this is basically me nerding out over Minish cap and sharing my new silly little thoughts on Four (and spreading my new knowledge to the fic writers please there is so much untapped potential here you dont understand😭)

I've never done this before so bare w me

Starting w KINSTONES

So much of this is kinstones why does nobody talk about them I've read hundreds of LU fics and did not even know they existed till I played minish cap

I think Four has just SO. MANY. KINSTONES.

He just has a bag of random kinstone pieces on him at all times

Imagine the chain all sitting around the fire one day and fours like "anybody wanna match kinstones?" And the others stare at him like... "bro what is even that 😭"

Another funny idea, he just goes through his bag and starts trying to match the pieces he has, one actually works and a chest just appears next to the chain and four is like "aw hell yeah that's some good luck"

Everybody else "four how did you just SUMMON TREASURE"

"Got lucky :]"

Imagine hes not even really known as a hero in his home town but as the kinstone guy™

They go to Fours hyrule and little kids will just come up to him like ",,kinstone,,?" And he will just whip out the biggest bag of kinstone pieces and grab the exact one needed to match

It's like a magic trick

Desperately need some good luck? Talk to the kinstone guy hes gotchu

Imagine the colors all get their own bags

He just has four bags of kinstones at all times (maybe five if they have a community pile)

(There are more at home)

Also animals? Can have kinstones?? I feel there is comedy potential in that

Four has a collection of silly little figurines he paid thousands of mysterious shells for and I need somebody to talk about it

He has over A HUNDRED SILLY LITTLE FIGURINES

I dont know what to do with this knowledge but it is important to me that people know that

Cane of pacci.

CANE OF PACCI

Please its concept is so fucking funny people need to use it more.

(I've seen it a few times but NOT ENOUGH!!)

Imagine dink shows up and gives an evil monologue and everyone is having an intense stare down and four just discreetly grabs his cane and zaps dink w it and he just fucking flips upside down smacks his head on the ground and passes out

LIKE PLEASE ITS SO FUNNY I LOVE IT

Theres a hole in the ground and he just zaps it and jumps in and rolls around and fucking flings himself into the air

I've seen so many fics where Four can just shrink down at will and that's fine I like em but in game you have to use minish portals and it's a whole thing

And I've seen people utilizing portals which I love

But I need more funny moments so

In game they are so very inconvenient and some are so fucking funny to me

Four just walks into a house flips this beautiful, giant vase, upside down jumps on top and becomes smol

Like??😭 going into people houses and breaking their pots is a link tradition but just... flipping one upside down is for some reason incredibly hilarious to me

Or running head first into a tree using pegasus boots to reveal a portal

Somebody do something w these portals they are so incredibly good

Also piccori are SMALL

They are TINY

When I imagined the minish I was picturing a lil guy the size of my thumb maybe a little smaller

NO

THESE BITCHES THINK ACORNS ARE BIG!!

THEY ARE SO INCREDIBLY TINY!

MINISCULE!

I dont know what to do with that I just desperately needed to share

Imagine the picori lore potential yall

I've seen a few good ones but I NEED MORE LITTLE GUYS

Fours hyrule has a whole lotta beliefs and traditions about the minish me thinks

I mean they already have a festival about them

So imagine-

They find chips on the walls of their homes that are neatly shaped and nicely trimmed and they leave them, they take it as good luck, the picori are staying here

You see many of such spots in someone's home and you take them as kind, the picori stay with them

I think they abide by leaving picori paths

Random small planks connecting homes and making paths too small to walk are left where they are

If a plank starts decaying they leave a similar sized one nearby and the next day find the old one replaced and a kinstone lying nearby

If your flower pots neatly lined in a row suddenly have a small gap between two, keep it, the picori are passing by here

I think they make spaces in their homes for them

I think Four would go out of his way to leave space for the picori in his

Maybe he makes little houses he keeps in his yard or on a shelf or on the rafters or all of the above

Maybe he leaves out food in odd places and when it disappears he finds treasures somewhere nearby

He basically has a whole neighborhood of minish living in and around his house

I think Four has actually learned minish

Like yes he used the jabbernut to understand them initially but I think he went out of his way to properly learn it

And there are canonically different dialects, lil tidbit courtesy of Ezlo, so maybe hes learned multiple versions of minish

Imagine the funny moments where he just fucking starts saying smth in minish like "pico pipi pori co" and the chain stare at him and he just stares back like 'what?' "WHAT DOES PICOROCOPOIPO MEAN,??"

Hes just spent too much time as a tiny guy

[asofspades]

Okay, this is the first part of the shared item analysis for the LU boys, in going to be bringing research that includes not only the existence of the same item either by direct name or function on different games, but also I bring insights into where they're found or how they're obtained when I think it's relevant.

Starting off with the boomerangs, now, Legend (Alttp, OoS), Hyrule (LOZ1) and Four (MC) all have magic boomerangs, they're literally named "Magic Boomerang", while their designs don't look too similar to one another I think we can still consider them to either be Four's magic boomerang changing over time or just the Tingles continued making magic boomerang across the ages (that's how you obtain it in MC).

However, I've noticed (acting like I haven't been in the known since I first played Wind Waker at 15) that Wind's boomerang is quite literally the same as Four's, which makes me think that it might actually be Four's magic boomerang that got to Wind. Here's Four's magic boomerang (MC) and Wind's boomerang (WW):

If you know me you know I think Wind inherited a lot of stuff from Four that he doesn't know about and that he just assumed it was from the Hero of Time because they're called stuff like "Hero's bow" "Hero's Shield" and they only know about time due to how impactful he was for their timeline, yet Four was in fact a hero too, and he comes way before Time so I guess his stories were lost with old Hyrule but some of his items stayed.

Now that we've cracked this conection between Four and Wind, let me make it even clearer with some more examples of items and a little extra fact:

The mirror shield from MC is the exact same you get in Wind Waker, in fact, Hyrule Encyclopedia uses the sprite from Wind Waker for both of them when they want to avoid using the pixelated sprite from Minish Cap, which means Wind currently has in possession Four's mirror shield. Here's both shields in game:

Another thing they share is the small shield, at the begining of the adventure in Minish Cap, Zelda wins Link a small shield, now, in Wind Waker grandma gives Link a shield they keep in their House that belonged to "a hero" (Hero's shield), we all assumed it was the Hero of Time, but actually it has the same design as Four's small shield. Now, I think Wind is actually using the lobster detail shield from Phantom Hourglass in Linked Universe, which is very similar to the small shield, however we can't deny that Wind has inherited a fair share of stuff from four and we're not fully done here yet. Here are the small shield and hero shield from left to right:

Now, another interesting connection I've found between Wind and Four is the bows, in MC you start with a regular bow and upgrade to a Light Bow that shoots light arrows, and if we follow the design it's the same one used in Four swords Adventure by Four but it's also the same as the Hero's bow Wind uses in Wind Waker, which means that he got Four's bow as well and not only that, but the fact that is was a light bow might have helped Wind channel his light energy into it to use it as a light bow as well as a regular bow. Here are the bows for MC and WW:

Now I'm bringing you another item of Four that wind inherited, his Smith's Sword, when you start out the adventure in MC, link's grandpa gives him the sword he made for he winner of the sword tournament, and obviously as the story progresses you switch it for the white sword that ends up becoming the Four Sword. However, it's not out of character to think that Four would've kept that sword like a treasure, it accompanied him at the very beginning of his first adventure and it was made by his grandpa. And now to get to the point, in Wind Waker you're also given a sword by Orca when you start out your adventure, along with he Hero's shield, which is called the Hero's Sword. They're remarkably similar, enough for me to think they're the same and they were kept, wether it is familial bonds that tie Four and Wind or just a family deciding to pay respect and keep the weapons of a previous hero, I like both options. Here's the swords for a side by side comparison:

From left to right: Smith's Sword (MC) Hero's Sword (WW)

And last but not least, this is just a little thing I've noticed but the second link with the most relation to the wind element, using the Ocarina of Wind and having a sword made out of the element of wind among others and a part if him that is the closest to a personalisation of said element, is Four. I just find it cool that they share that connection and frankly offensive that no one else has made it before and there's no fics about it that I know of🥲.

[linksthoughtbrambles]

Grass Stains

Zelink - The Minish Cap - Chapter 1 - ~4000 words - rated T - probably 3 chapters. Also on ao3.

@wolflinkpaws, tumblr ate the prompt you left in my inbox, but I'd screenshotted it when it was acting funny. So, here's chapter 1 of the story for your prompt, and thanks! (Also - a little of the context is sad, but the cute is there in abundance, too, I hope ❤️).

---~ ❀ ~-- Chapter 1: Close to the Ground --~ ❀ ~---

Daltus stood on the cusp of the little rise before the house. A merry wind brushed the leaves of a hearty old tree against the thatched roof, shooing its white chimney-smoke to dissipate in the brilliant blue sky of a truly extraordinary spring day. One would never know that mere days ago, this idyllic home hidden south of Hyrule Town proper had become two sizes too large for its inhabitants.

His daughter's delighted voice made it no easier to comprehend.

"Father, look! It's a Picori!"

His mouth tweaked despite himself. Every field mouse, bumble bee, and hopping finch had become a 'Picori' as of late. "Is that so?"

"Yes, yes, it's right there!"

His eyes followed her pointing finger (as well as possible considering its bouncing owner) to a fleeting glimpse of streaking stripes. A small laugh escaped him.

"You see, you see?!"

"I saw." He saw a chipmunk, but he wouldn't spoil it for her. He'd been four once, too. Besides—one of these days, she might be right, and who was he to say no? He no longer possessed a child's sight. "Now, Zelda…"

She gasped, her legs snapping together under her (already disheveled) skirt, her back straightening, her smile tempering, and the splendid bouquet she held centered and upright once more. If not for the wrinkled state of her clothing, he'd have thought her quite regal indeed. "You read my mind, my dear."

"One must show proper respect to all the citizens of Hyrule, especially upon first meeting them." Her smile crept wider across her face. "Right?"

"That's right… and what else?"

Her smile turned less comfortable, shrunk til only one side remained at all lifted, then became a grimace. "This time I have to stay- stay soll emm?"

"Solemn, that's right."

"Because your friend's son and daughter died."

"…Daughter-in law, but yes."

The bouquet shifted in her hands.

Daltus smiled at her and bent to place a kiss on the crown of her golden-haired head. "Let's go, my dear."

They scaled the earthen steps up the rise and past the fence. Zelda's hand sought his, and he took it. He doubted he'd have many more chances to. She was the sort of child who preferred to run free, even at this age, rather than shelter in his shadow. A tug on his hand slowed him, and he turned to see Zelda craning her neck at the bushes on their right.

"Zelda?"

"I'm sorry, father. I thought there might be another Picori."

A smile touched his lips at her hushed—and certainly more soll emm—tone. She fell in at his side as he took the final steps to the door and knocked before any more hesitation could clutch at his heart.

Boots scuffed, the handle turned, and there he was, and though his skin had wrinkled, his beard had grown, and his hair had turned nearly white (as had Daltus'), his friend's bloodshot eyes struck him more than any of the changes wrought by time alone. All the greetings he might have chosen seemed suddenly not only inadequate, but grossly insensitive. How could one have a 'good morning' this day?

He nodded with a smile he couldn't keep the second-hand-sadness from. "Smith."

"Sire. I-"

"Please... it's me. Daltus is just as fine as it was before."

Zelda's eyes followed his hand, outstretching to reach his friend's. Smith hesitated only briefly. Zelda would be too young to understand the bonds that youthful friendship bring, but he knew Smith saw it in his eyes, just as he did in his as they clasped forearms.

He wondered if Zelda could see those small movements in the set of his friend's jaw.

"I…" he tried to begin. "I'm here to offer my condolences, but more than that. It's been too long, my old friend. I…" his eyes flickered toward Zelda. "I became absorbed, and I allowed time to pass too carelessly. I am—truly—sorry for my neglect… and for what has happened."

Smith shook his head. "If you're guilty of that, Daltus, so am I." He gave a half-hearted chuckle. "It's easy to do when there's work and family and children."

Daltus tried to smile. "Speaking of children- this is my Zelda."

Smith turned a real smile on her, full of deep wrinkles beside his eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess."

Zelda made a deep, respectful curtsy. "The pleasure is mine, Sir Smith."

Daltus couldn't help the quiet laugh that shook his stomach.

Apparently, neither could Smith. "Ahh, I regret to inform you, Princess, that I am no knight."

She blinked. "Oh." She eyed Daltus suspiciously. "I thought you said men were sirs?"

"Ah. I may have confused you. It's polite to call men 'sir' if you aren't using their name regardless of whether they're knighted. But only knights are 'Sir' followed by their name."

"…Why?"

His mouth opened, but he had no answer. "…Perhaps that's a question for your history tutor."

She narrowed her eyes at him again, but gave a sudden jump, remembering herself and straightening once more. The child in her seeped out from her fledgling poise despite her determination—the way she side-eyed Smith with no subtlety whatsoever had him quietly chuckling again.

"Master Smith would be a perfectly appropriate way to refer to him."

She gave her most princessly nod. "Master Smith, I am pleased to meet you and very sorry for your loss." She raised the bouquet in offering, standing on her tip-toes, her expression sincere.

It could have been far worse.

Smith accepted the flowers, smiling kindly at her. "I thank you, Princess. Would you like to come in?"

"If our presence is welcome at this time, Smith, then yes. I've no wish to intrude."

Smith huffed. "I'd be glad of some company. And Link-" he paused halfway toward leading them to a rustic wooden table to crane his neck, peering through the front windowpanes. "He might be as well. Leastways, for some company that isn't his old grandfather."

Daltus followed his gaze to the patch of berry bushes outside the window. He could just make out a tuft of bright blond hair, nearly identical to his daughter's, peeking between the leaves.

"I told him to stay where I could see him, but I had to let him out at least. It's not good for him to be cooped up in here with me."

Daltus avoided asking why Smith himself hadn't gone out to enjoy the glorious day. He didn't truly need to, anyway. He could feel the answer in his chest.

He turned to see Zelda standing on tiptoe, trying to look, too. "There you have it, my dear. Your Picori is a Hylian child. Small, but not quite small enough to qualify."

"Can I go see him?"

Daltus met Smith's eyes and knew the answer. With the children out of earshot, they could truly speak. "Of course. Please remember, Zelda- he will be feeling unhappy."

"I will, father."

—

Zelda tiptoed toward the cluster of bushes, trying to keep an eye on the yellow peeking between the twigs, canes, leaves, and stems. She tried not to be excited by all the different kinds. She liked plants, and she liked that these were all different ones huddled together, parts of them bobbing happily in the wind, reaching out as though trying to escape the rest. Nothing in the castle gardens was like this—not even in the town. Everything together was all either the same kind or in neat rows like soldiers.

"Hello?" she called. She tried not to be loud. She didn't want to scare him.

"Hi?"

Zelda smiled a little. The boy's voice was kind of raspy. "Can I come in?"

"I guess."

Zelda dropped to hands and knees at once, shuffling along the patchy grass (she thought father would be glad she kept her hair out of the branches). She crawled beneath the boughs of a blueberry bush and one that seemed to have blackberries, but different from the ones in Hyrule Town (no thorns, with extra-tiny little round fruit-bubbles).

The boy was sitting cross-legged in a clearer space half-beneath the blueberry bush and a raspberry one (Zelda loved their white stems). His hair was almost as merry as those bobbing bush-branches, sticking out at odd angles and kind of curly but in a big, swoopy way. His eyebrows were a little funny. They looked too big for him.

She crawled until she was in a spot just like his, but could face him. He didn't look as sad as she thought he would, but he didn't seem happy at all. He was holding a few leaves like playing cards, except down in his lap where anyone could've seen them.

"Are you playing a game?" she asked.

He shrugged.

One side of her mouth twisted in. "You can play with me if you want to."

The boy's eyes blinked a little bigger. He looked down at his leaves, then back up at her. "What do you want to play?"

"We can play whatever you want!" She smiled at him, then remembered to be soll emm. She folded her hands in her lap.

"I don't know what to play," he said.

It suddenly seemed very silly that she hadn't brought anything for him to play with. That would have been nice. She was a princess, after all, and she was supposed to be kind to the people of Hyrule. She looked at the leaves in his hand. "Maybe we could play cards."

He balked.

She turned around to see if something else surprised him.

"We can't play cards."

"Why not?"

"That's how grownups lose all their money."

It was Zelda's turn to balk. "It is?!"

He nodded.

Zelda had no idea cards were so expensive. "We don't have to spend any money, though. I thought we could turn the leaves into cards."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"Well." She snagged a not-quite-blackberry leaf from a thornless stem to her left. "The different leaves can be the different kinds. This one's pretty big. Maybe this should be the queen."

The boy blushed, and his shoulders drooped a little.

"Oh. It doesn't have to be, though. Do you want to pick the queen?"

"I don't know how to play."

"It's okay. I can teach you."

The right half of his mouth pulled into a funny little shape that wasn't a smile, but at least looked a little better than no shape at all. "I know there are numbers."

"Yes, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. And there's the jack, the queen, and the king. And the ace."

"That's a lot."

"There should be four of each, too." Zelda looked around at all the different bushes. "I don't know if we can do it with just the berry bushes. We might need other leaves to have enough different cards."

"We can use the mulberry bush. It has all different kinds of leaves."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. Come see." He stacked his now-useful leaves and tucked them carefully into a small pocket in his green tunic, then crawled through the next pair of bushes. Zelda followed him. She took extra care to stay low, avoiding the thorny white raspberry and regular blackberry canes.

The boy flopped onto one haunch in front of a very wild, broad bush with long, thornless branches. To her delight, Zelda saw what he meant immediately. Every row of leaves on each long limb was a different shape. "Oh my goodness!"

The boy breathed a little laugh.

"What?"

"That's what Anju's mom says when the cuccos get out."

"Oh."

They spent a few minutes choosing a branch that wasn't getting much sunlight anyway to pilfer leaves from.

"Sorry, bush. You have lots more, though."

Zelda thought it was funny that some of the leaves looked like mittens.

She realized the first flaw in her plan when the draw pile nearly disappeared in a gust of wind.

"Oh no!" she squeaked, but the boy 's hands had already slapped the pile down. Zelda's squeak turned to a squeal of delight. "You saved it! Thank you!"

"You're welcome," he said, with something suspiciously like a smile on his face.

Zelda realized the second flaw in her plan when they drew their first hand of cards. She began to fan them out in her hands like he had earlier. Each intentionally-different leaf jutted out from the next, easily recognizable.

"Oops," she said.

"What?"

"We're not supposed to know what kind of cards the other one has."

"Oh. That's okay, we can just close our eyes."

Zelda smiled brightly. "Of course!"

The ensuing game of 'Go Fish' (which Zelda thought best for a beginner) was by far the most fun she'd ever played. She had to figure out what cards she had by feel (and a little peeking, but only at her own cards at first—she couldn't resist more peeks once she realized how funny the boy's scrunched up, closed-eyed face looked, especially with his eyebrows practically plastered together in the middle, but she refused to peek while drawing her cards or at the boy's hand). A few times, Link got confused and fished for a card when she was supposed to be the one fishing.

"Heeey, shoo!"

He laughed.

He handed her the wrong leaves a few times, too, and she had to hand them back. "Oops."

"Oof."

"I dropped one."

"Where'd it go?"

The giggling as they patted the ground (and each other's hands) blindly in search for rogue leaves floated into the house. Conversation there paused, and when it resumed, it lifted a bit.

One of these leaf-hunts ended with a gasp from Zelda.

"What is it?!" said the boy.

He sounded scared. Zelda opened her eyes to see his also open, searching for whatever had startled her. "It's okay!" she said. "I felt something. I thought it might be a Picori."

His eyes grew a size wider. "A Picori? Really?"

She nodded sagely. Then she leaned in, a conspiratorial glint in her eye. "I keep seeing them lately."

"Wow," he breathed.

"I know."

He scoured the ground where her hand had been. "I don't see anything now. Should we look around?"

"Yes, let's! Oh…" she looked around, wondering where to put her leaves.

"Here." He held out his hand.

She gave him her leaves and he stacked them as carefully as his little hands could, slipping them in his pocket along with his own, then the draw pile. His pocket bulged.

Zelda giggled. "It's like you have a large lump."

He looked down at himself and laughed. "Lumpy Link."

Zelda suddenly clasped her hands together. "I didn't tell you my name!"

"What is it?"

"Zelda."

"Oh, you have the same name as the Princess!"

"I am the Princess!"

"…Oh!"

Link looked truly astonished, but he wasn't looking at her at all. Again, she turned to find his eyes on nothing in particular. Maybe a still-green-berry. When she turned back toward him, he had leaned conspiratorially toward her.

"Maybe that's why you keep seeing Picori!"

"I thought all children could see them."

"But maybe they're trying to tell you something important, because you're the Princess! They could be following you!"

"I didn't think of that!" she breathed. "I'd better be very careful."

"Why?"

"They're teeny tiny. Only this big." She held up one of the smallest three-pronged mulberry leaves. "At their very largest! I don't want to squish them if they're trying to talk to me."

"You wouldn't want to squish them anyway though, right?" Link asked.

Something in his eyes suddenly made her feel sorry. She wasn't sure for what. "Of course not." She took one of his hands in hers and patted the back of it. "Please don't worry. But I thought they were trying to get away from me, not get close! What if one of them tries to climb right up my leg?"

"Do you think they'd do that?"

"I don't know. I've never talked to one of them before."

"If we see one, let's ask!"

"Yes, let's!"

Zelda led the way this time, returning to her hands and knees, flattening herself as close to the ground as she could and still move. Link mimicked her. Side by side, they wiggled their way out from the little hideaway toward the tufts of wildflowers outside the nearest window.

("What do you suppose they're up to?")

("Hah. Knowing my Zelda? Picori-spotting.")

("Ahhh.")

"Do you see any?" Link whispered.

"Not yet. Sometimes it's easier to see them if I'm not trying."

"Oh. How do you not try if you're already looking?"

"We can just stay here a minute and not look too hard."

"Okay."

Zelda found it difficult not to look, though. She started rolling a few blades of grass between her fingerpads. Green grass-juice stained them.

After as much of that as Zelda could stand, she tried to sneak a look everywhere around her without giving away that she was looking. When she turned toward Link, she found his eyes on her.

"Did you see any?" Zelda asked.

He shook his head.

"Did you look?"

"Not exactly."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I thought if they're trying to talk to you, maybe I'd see one if I watched you."

Zelda's face lit up. "Oh, that's so smart!"

A bashful smile dimpled his cheeks.

They spent a good deal of the late morning laying flat on their stomachs, Zelda watching various blades of grass at the tip of her nose, and Link watching Zelda. They were oh-so-quiet, so as not to scare the Picori—except, of course, when they had to ask each other if they'd seen anything, and when they had to decide where to crawl next, and when Link had to warn Zelda about the thistle that had bopped its way into her hair from the wind, and when he had to untangle it for her because she couldn't see, and then when he had to try and pick out all the little sharp pieces still stuck in her hair after he pulled it out, and then when he had little pieces of thistle stuck under his skin on his fingers, and Zelda pulled those out.

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt that much."

"No hurting is better than not that much."

The sun had definitely crossed its midday spot in the sky more than an hour ago when Link's stomach gave a plaintive squeal.

"Oh, you're hungry."

An odd little wrinkle appeared and disappeared between his silly eyebrows. "I'm okay."

His stomach made more and more noise until Zelda twisted to lean on one elbow, taking her most studious look at him.

He looked kind of like when she first saw him: not at all happy.

Zelda wasn't supposed to pout. Pouts were selfish, and she wasn't supposed to be selfish. A princess was supposed to think about the people living in her kingdom, not make faces at them when she felt sullen. This pout was different, though. She didn't understand it exactly, but it wasn't for her. "Why don't you eat? You'll feel better."

He shook his head.

"There were some ripe berries," she pointed out.

He shrugged.

She then remembered he wasn't eating them when she arrived, either. "They're all okay to eat, right?"

"Uh huh but you have to wait for the mulberries, they'll be bad if you pick them now."

"Oh." She sat up, fidgeting with her skirt. He wasn't looking at her anymore. "I can pick some of the others for you."

He shrugged again. "I didn't bring anything to pick them into."

Zelda pushed herself up, scurried to the front door, and knocked. Smith opened it before she'd finished.

"Hello! Pardon me for asking, but could we have something to put berries into?"

"You can, but I was about to call you in for some lunch, Princess."

"Oh."

"If you like, you can pick us a few berries and bring them in with you."

"Yes please, and thank you Master Smith."

When she returned with the wooden bowl, she found Link lying face-down on his forearms. She could only see a bit of his cheeks and ears.

Zelda set the bowl aside and knee-walked right up to Link. "Are you okay?"

He nodded with a sniff.

"I'm sorry," she said. "We don't have to pick any if you don't want to."

He sniffed again. "I don't want to go in."

"Why not?"

"The table'll be too empty."

Zelda fought that pout again. She reached out, her hand moving jerkily toward his back. Her father sometimes rubbed her back when she cried. It helped her feel better. Maybe it would help Link, too.

He sniffed a few more times.

"Maybe we could sit under the table?" she said. "Like we're still in the bushes!"

His reddened eyes found hers, blinking and surprised, and he started nodding.

Zelda smiled at him. "Okay."

"Maybe we'll see a Picori."

"Maybe!"

They picked a few of the ripest-looking raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries, and even a few tiny strawberries from bushes low to the ground. When they crawled out, Link stood, gave a funny little twitch like something had startled him, and turned toward her, offering his hand. Zelda looked at it, then at him.

"You're supposed to help Princesses up, right? It's called shiv-something."

She grinned. "Chiv-al-ry! But you don't have to." He just kept inching his hand closer, though, so she took it. She meant to give him her politest, most princessely thank-you, but she yelped instead as he pulled her far harder than she expected. "Wow. You're strong!"

He picked up the bowl with that dimply smile again and opened the door for her, too.

The children giggled their way through a simple lunch of hearty goat-buttered bread, cheese, berries, and a few fresh greens, unaware they'd captured both men's undivided attention the moment they'd scrabbled their way through the seatlegs rather than joining them above the table. Link was astonished to find the King of the Realm willing and happy to pass them cup after cup of orange-ade, which they both quite liked.

"Zelda, my dear," Daltus said, leaning to peer beneath the table. The children's smiles brought quite a wide one to his own face. "I'm afraid we must take our leave."

Zelda made a tiny 'aw' sound. Link's smile disappeared in silence.

"Ah… Young ones. Have no fear. We'll be back, and I dare say we'll be seeing more of you and your grandfather in Hyrule town from now on."

Zelda made a delighted gasp, clasping her hands just beneath her chin. Link's smile returned as a ghost of its former self. Daltus sighed and stood. "Well, my friend. Let me know what you decide about the school. And are you sure you don't want any of that brown ale I told you about?"

Zelda promptly returned her attention to Link. His face deflated her. "I'm sorry I have to go," she said.

"I'm sorry you do, too. But thanks for playing with me."

"Want to play again soon?"

"Yeah!"

Zelda fell asleep quite early that night.

(Her nursemaid spent quite a while attempting to remove the grass stains from her dress. It proved fruitless).

—

Two weeks later, Link entered a long, low building with a large, fenced-in yard in Hyrule Town, his little hands gripping the straps of his knapsack.

"Oh, hello!" said a young woman with her hair done in a high, fancy bun. "You must be Link."

He nodded.

"Welcome to the Funday School! I'm Miss Tina. I'm one of the teachers here."

"Hi, Miss Tina."

"There's someone very eager to see you," she said, a bit of a twinkle in her eye.

As she guided Link into a room full of child-sized desks on their right, a little girl with bright blonde hair twisted in her seat—and beamed at the sight of him. "Link!!" she cried.

"Zelda!" he said, completely oblivious of the teachers' gasps as his friend hopped up and rushed headlong into him, her arms squeezing his shoulders tight. He squeezed her right back.

----~ ❀ ~----

[Chapter 2 coming soon!]

[hyde-nseek]

My headcanon is that every Link and every Zelda falls in love. But it gets a little more complicated than that because I don't think they get together every time. So... Here is how I would justify every Zelink in the Legend of Zelda franchise:

(please note that I'm not saying other ships aren't cool. I personally like a lot of them.)

Skyward Sword: This one is probably as canon as Zelink has gotten so far. I don't know anyone that says that they don't have feelings for each other. These two probably founded Hyrule together. Maybe as a kingdom, maybe just as a small village below the clouds. Either way, the Royal Family traces their lineage back to this couple.

Minish Cap: This Zelink is very cute. I think they dated, and maybe even married. From what I understand about the timeline, though, this Link abandons Hyrule and lives the rest of his life cursed by the mind-shattering properties of the Four Sword. So, it was a relationship for a while, but they didn't grow old together.

Four Swords: There actually isn't a lot of information about this Zelda, but I like to think that they got together after Link saves her. They're cute.

Ocarina of Time: The way Zelda looks at Link at the end of the game is full of remorse. She doesn't want to send Link away from her, but she knows it's the right thing to do for his sake and Hyrule's. Also, the way Sheik looks at Link can't go unnoticed. That ninja isn't good at hiding his feelings.

Majora's Mask: The same as Ocarina of Time, but it's much more brief. I don't think Link ever returns to Hyrule Castle, but it's possible. It's more likely that he founded Ordon with Malon. That means that Malon and Link end up together, but Link's true love was the princess he saved in another time.

Twilight Princess: Zelda and Link barely talk in the game, and when they interact, it's only because Midna put them together. But with Midna out of the picture, I think they would still bond. Ilia gets friendzoned. Sorry.

Four Swords Adventures: I think I'll have to put this one with Four Swords as well. These games are a little weird in that the Links are so affected by the Four Sword that it's hard to picture them in a situation without it. If anyone else has thoughts on this Zelink, please lmk.

Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass: Tetra and Link get together and found New Hyrule. This one is pretty self explanatory and difficult to argue against. Very cute and I love it.

Spirit Tracks: They were made for each other. They have so much of a connection because of their adventure together. Whether Link becomes an adventurer or an engineer, I think the princess has feelings for the Hero of Spirit.

A Link to the Past/Link's Awakening/Oracles: The cryptic uncle wants you to know that Zelda is your responsibility. Now that we've covered that, I think Link would have been with Zelda if it weren't for Marin. After Koholint, I don't think he really has it in him to have a relationship with anyone.

A Link Between Worlds/Tri Force Heroes: I think that after saving Hytopia, Link returns to Hyrule and asks for Zelda's hand. There's no reason why not to, and I don't think Link would have wanted to stay in Hytopia for the rest of his life. As cool as it is, it's a vacation spot. And Styla isn't the princess for Link.

Hyrule Fantasy/Adventure of Link: Two Zeldas, one Link. This one's kind of weird, but I think he'd rather be with the Zelda from his first adventure. Zelda the First only kisses him as a reward, probably the only reward she can give.

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom: I mean, they live together. They hugged at the end of both games. What else do you want me to say?

[mango-unit]

post number three will be kind of a two-for-one zelda theory post. theory one is the placement of minish cap on the timeline. theory two is the connection between the lanayru desert, the wind tribe, and the gerudo.

look at these maps

(relative to hyrule castle) forest with lost woods magic to the northwest. village to the west. big lake to the southeast. river leading from castle moat to big lake. desert to the southwest.

(relative to hyrule castle) forest with lost woods magic to the west. graveyard to the west. big lake to the southeast. river leading from castle moat to big lake. new river leading south, and southwest, into a forest. the further south you go in said forest the more dehydrted the grass looks.

(relative to central lake/moat) forest with lost woods magic to the southwest. graveyard to the west. small lake to the southeast. no river leading from central lake to small lake. river leading south.

i should probably get to the point now.

i believe that minish cap takes place between alttp and tloz. the lost woods began moving progressively further south into kakariko, so hyrule town was built in order to prevent people from being lost. the village was repurposed as the graveyard. by the time of tloz, the lost woods have moved fully south, and the graveyard is just a regular non-lost graveyard.

as for the rivers. the hylians dug a channel from the moat to the desert in an attempt to terraform it and add forests. this was largely successful; this is why the lost woods were able to move into the area, but it isnt fully complete, which is why the grass further south (around the wind tribe ruins) looks almost dead. there is more full desert off-screen; this is where the gerudo live, so i doubt the hylians would encroach on that land.

by the time of tloz, the southbound river takes over, and the river leading to lake hylia dries up. as a result lake hylia shrinks. then ganon shows up and destroys hyrule castle, turning the moat into a massive lake with fractured islands in the center.

i theorize that the reason the hero of men needed the picori blade is because somehow the master sword went missing or was destroyed. (i have a real crackpot theory on how that happened, roping in botw and totk, but thats a whole other beast to tackle. for now we can just chalk it up to it getting so lost in the woods it could never be recovered.) the picori blade was forged into the four sword, which was used to seal vaati and later ganon.

as for why link doesnt use the four sword in tloz… hes, like, 10 in that game. its very likely that he just didnt think of it. he just did exactly as impa asked of him: collect the pieces of the triforce of wisdom, and use its combined power to defeat ganon, permanently this time. no more half measures by sealing him away.

going back to the topic of the wind tribe. i mentioned them before in my first post, but i left things a little… unfinished, so ill present my whole theory on the wind tribe.

i believe the wind tribe are the hylians who lived in the lanayru province before skyward sword. first lets look at the technology:

the lanayru province has a clear red and blue theming, and most of their technology consists of levitating machines. as does mazaal, the levitating machine built by the wind tribe to protect their home.

this carries over to the wind tribe members themselves, who wear only red and blue.

and speaking of the actual people:

every member of the wind tribe have red hair. every member of the gerudo have red hair. since the lanayru desert in skyward sword has a bug called the gerudo dragonfly, its a given that the lanayru desert becomes the home of the gerudo.

the lanayru desert is also where link finds the gust bellows, which grants him control over wind.

now to fit all the pieces together.

in ancient times, the hylians in the lanayru province rapidly progressed sometime after the discovery of the timeshift stones. they also gained a powerful mastery over the wind itself, reflected in their technology and in their magic. their advancements came at a cost, though; the once lush region became a harsh desert. in order to escape the deadly environment they created, the lanayru hylians used their mastery over the wind to escape into the skies. while many went into the skies, becoming the wind tribe, many decided to stay on the surface, receding further into the desert and becoming the gerudo. eventually, during the time of minish cap, the reforestation efforts of the lanayru desert reach the wind ruins - potentially some of the same ruins that the link of skyward sword explores, albeit much more decayed.

so yeah theres my two for one theory post

[twin-chains]

Mini

The little goober! I'm a big fan of Minish Cap including how small, cute, and bouncy Link and Zelda are so I tried to incorporate that in a way. Mini's just a little boy with a fancy feathery cape to jump and fly around town, free as a bird

Profile

Age: 10 years old

male (he/him)

adventure: Minish Cap (completed <1 year ago)

wears the roc's cape all the time and loves to jump/fly around even if he gets scrapped up sometimes due to his accident-prone nature

has the magic cap gifted by Ezlo that lets him shrink to minish-size, acts as a parachute, and can be a comforting weight for Mini when he gets stressed out

doesn't wear the cap anymore after Ezlo's death for fear of tearing or ruining it but instead keeps it in his pocket

mostly mute, signs and gestures with big, excited hand motions

explores the minish woods and villages often, bringing Zelda (Pea) sometimes and look for kinstones together

lives with his grandpa and likes to watch him work in the forge, taking an early interest in becoming a blacksmith too

best friends with Pea and on good terms with the palace staff since his grandpa and the king are close

traits: cheerful, helpful, brave, naive, accident-prone

likes: baked goods, mushrooms, birds (he absolutely adores birds!)

dislikes: gambling, time constraints, darknuts

weapons: smith sword (returned the Four Sword after his adventure), small shield, magical boomerang, cane of pacci

fighting style: nimble and mostly defensive, flighty with the roc's cape to dodge, always uses his shield to defend but also practices his offensive training techniques from the Blade brothers, can use his small size to his advantage

specializes in jumping high, defending, birds, and kinstone merging

[interlink-au]

Which boy do I choose? Maybe I'll post some possibly lesser-known facts about several of them? I'm going directly off of the games, so some things might be a bit contradictory to Jojo's take.

Sky

Sky was canonically 17.5 when he started his adventure.

The Knight's Training Academy was built 25 years before SS. The cook, Henya, has served students meals there since the beginning.

Can literally fall asleep in 10 seconds while sitting. Canonically. In game.

Blatantly eavesdrops. Upon hearing Pipit argue with his mom, instead of ignoring it and continuing on his way, he went up to the window to listen in better.

It was a full moon the night he met Fi and drew the same sword. Zelda had fallen to the surface the previous day. Idk if this counts as something to add to the moon-trauma gang but it's something to consider.

He has sailed the sea. It was a desert, but the timeshift stone on the boat made all the sand in the immediate area turn into water and coral and stuff wherever they went. There was a pirate ship and everything.

His Beedle knows about electricity by name (his biking generates electricity.) He also uses the term ecofriendly.

He has to prepare himself before he enters any of the dungeons. It may or may not have to do with all of the dungeons' entrances being stairs leading underground. I don't imagine that's pleasant for someone used to the sky.

Would and has canonically described his adventure as a quest

Fi knows the names and information about each Skyloftian. How does she know?

A robot is in love with her. She uses this to her advantage, but I don't think she likes it because one time her text ran by really fast to finish up a conversation with him

It seems that anyone can see Fi

He can carry around fruit and pumpkins on his sword like it's a skewer.

There are monsters on Skyloft at night - keese and chuchus - and the remlits are evil at night. This changes when the local friendly monster gets his wish to become human.

All the Skyloftians are human. There is no such thing as Hylian. They have pointy ears but they are not called Hylians.

Don't think Sky is a goody good. He purposefully broke a chandelier for a heart piece. He had to pay it off.

Loftwings are generally mounted from the air. Everyone on that island throws themselves off the edge and whistles for their bird.

Sky can sense his loftwing.

He makes painted woodcarvings and has gifted some to Zelda as well.

He's such a lazy daydreamer that Zelda didn't have confidence that he'll win the wing ceremony. He hasn't been practicing either, so that's part of the lazy.

Not very aware of his surroundings, a boss door can slowly but loudly creak closed and he doesn’t jump and look back until it slams closed. And a boss can raise the sand under his feet and he won’t notice right away.

It's implied that he manages to get lost even in the small space of Skyloft.

He had to do a lot of growing alongside his sword in order to become a worthy hero who could wield the triforce.

Four (Minish Cap)

Quick bit on the Hero of Men since Four may or may not also be him: Hyrule was embroiled in an actual war before the Minish gifted the Hero of Men the Picori Blade. The stained glass in the prologue shows men in uniform fighting monsters. I think one of the men in uniform looks like the Hero of Men. Very blonde. Very bob-cut hair. That makes the Hero of Men a war vet. It also seems like pretty much anyone could see the Minish back then. Understanding them is a different matter, and I'm pretty sure this is where the Minish/Picori confusion started.

On to Minish Cap:

I'm not sure why people say his adventure in Minish Cap only lasted a day. Ezlo (his talking hat) said he hid an eggy snack in Link's hair a month ago. So it's been at least that long

People also have a misunderstanding about how long after the Hero of Men the events of Minish Cap take place. A common misconception is that it's exactly 100 years later. Even the wiki says this is the 100th Picori Festival. “They say that every hundred years, the Picori come to Hyrule... And this is the 100th year, to the day, of the last time the Picori were here!” So it hasn't necessarily only been 100 years of celebration, just 100 years since the portal or whatever was active. Hero of Men was much longer ago than 100 years. “Long, long ago, and even longer before that,” is how the storyteller at the festival words the story of the time of monsters and Picori. But I think Jojo may have said that Four is also the Hero of Men? In which case, this doesn't apply.

Ezlo implies that Link didn't believe in the Picori until he met one.

The teacher considers Link to be a mischievous child. I personally consider Zelda to be the instigator, and Link ends up getting in trouble for her ideas. She's quite a handful. 😂 She also skips everywhere, which is exceedingly charming to me. They are besties. She sneaks out of the castle to see him. They go to school together. Ezlo ships them. I didn't make that up. “Once you've used the sacred blade to free Princes Zelda from her curse, perhaps you can ask her out on a date or something. Don't worry, I'll be right there with you! You will need my advice, after all!”

“Zelda wishes that the sometimes unreliable Link were just a wee bit stronger.” But he has gained a lot of boldness since the beginning of his adventure, as multiple townspeople will comment on.

The town was getting pretty nervous at the end. The more time passed with Vaati pretending to be king and more monsters showing up, the more people were staying inside and even leaving entirely. The vendors almost went out of business completely. Eventually there was an evacuation. Martial law… Earthquakes… The animals left. Everyone in the castle turned to stone. People died. The kid is like 9 or 10 or something and the vassals (they're not knights, they're not even soldiers, they're just vassals who patrol) don't do anything. “Monsters are coming! Everyone stay indoors! Oh, that doesn't apply to you, my boy! You go get 'em, Link! Your sword and bravery will save the day!” Nice 😑

The librarian knows him by name. “Hey! Aren't you Smith's grandson, Link? Enjoy your browsing!”

His grandfather's name is literally Smith. Not the smith. It's literally just Smith.

He might be a gacha addict with all of his figurine-collecting

The average Minish doesn’t understand Hylian. Hyrulean Minish and those from the Minish Realm speak slightly different dialects.

Minish Cap has a lot of familiar faces including, but not limited to, the oracles Din, Nayru, and Farore, Malon, Talon, Epona, Beedle, and the snot-nosed kid from Wind Waker

There appears to be a Hylian-sized Minish playing the hurdy-gurdy during the Picori Festival.

Zelda gave him his shield. She won a festival game, but instead of picking something cute for herself, she chose the shield, despite urgings from the person running the game. "...It IS a little embarrassing, though. It's so tiny!” -Item description

“You're so energetic all the time... Not that I'm saying you're hyperactive or anything! I meant it as a compliment! Like...you've got a special talent for being WAY too peppy or something.” -Ezlo regarding Link

A bit prone to getting lost, as Ezlo’s dialogue hints. Not that Ezlo is any help getting them unlost, except recommending use of the map and looking at signs (which Ezlo admits to not reading)

He can talk to animals thanks to the jubbernut. This might only work when he's small. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that. You can even talk to Epona! Dogs are nice and friendly but cats are evil and just want to bat you around.

Ezlo teases Link, but Link teases him right back, saying if Ezlo wants a hot bath he'll send him to the cleaners. I didn't make that up. Ezlo is kind of useless as far as being helpful in the hint department but his relationship with Link is hilarious.

It's Ezlo that controls Link's size. Link has to be standing on a Minish portal and Ezlo chants a spell. It is unknown what mechanism he uses now that Ezlo is gone. Four Swords has a gnat hat that can make Link small, so perhaps the hat Ezlo leaves you with is enchanted.

Minish seem to live for a very, very long time.

He's trained with 8 swordmasters, including a dead one.

Best hurricane spin in any game. Doesn't use magic, doesn't get dizzy, no cool down. It's very OP.

There is a friendly moblin living in town pretending to be a villager. She bribes you to keep her secret.

Kinstone fusing has very random effects. The result of kinstone fusion is "luck" which can mean anything from a door opening to a Goron joining another Goron in digging a tunnel. In-universe, there is no reason the people fusing kinstones should know what the result of the fusion was. The game lets the player see what happens, but from the perspective of an NPC, it's just "They fit perfectly! Maybe something good will happen."

In game canon, the true Hero of the Four Sword comes between Minish Cap and the first Four Swords game. It's referenced in the prologue to Four Swords. This doesn't matter much in regards to LU Four, but I think it's noteworthy that there is an extra adventure in here.

Four (Four Swords Adventures)

Not much to say about Four Swords that I can't say about FSA, so I'm focusing on FSA. I didn't read the manga, so this is all game-canon.

These games are more about competition than cooperation. Cooperation is definitely necessary in some parts, but there is very much a push to do better than the other Links, even encouraging sabotage. Each level in FSA ends with a Mario Party-style roller that lets you steal from other players and stuff like that. Send a cucco after them.

Shadow Link has a personality. Again, this has nothing to do with the manga. He doesn't directly address the player - he mostly just taunts and attacks the Links. But the townspeople he's tormented and the Deku Scrubs he bosses around definitely have negative opinions. The Deku Scrubs are Ganon-worshippers, but they hate Shadow Link. That says something. Most of their (often screen-wide) attacks are 1-hit K.O.s that the Links must retreat from.

The Ganon they fight in FSA is a completely different Ganon than the others. He's a reincarnation of Ganondorf after the Twilight Princess one dies. (If we're abiding by the official timeline.) This Gerudo man wants power, breaks Gerudo law to enter a temple, gets a fancy Trident, turns into a pig, and creates Shadow Links (yes, plural) from the Dark Mirror to trick Link into pulling the Four Sword and releasing Vaati.

Zelda refers to the four of them as Link singular even when split.

Each color has their own tone of voice. Red has the deepest voice and Vio has the highest-pitched voice.

They can effortlessly pick up people of their size and bigger. They are constantly picking each other up and throwing one another, all while jumping across gaps and such. They also have to catch thieves in one town, which they do by bodily picking them up and tossing them into a fenced-in area. The thieves are bigger than they are.

They know how to ride a horse and do so more than once.

People can take their fighting styles from the manga if they want, but there is the alternative of using the Palace of the Fours Swords boss fight in ALTTP (GBA) as inspiration. Green is the most basic one, with the main attacks being a spin attack or dash attack. He can dodge by jumping away. Red spams hurricane spins. He can also do Green's moves, but he does a lot of spinning. Blue jumps up and does a heavy-hitting down thrust that shakes the room. He is very good at dodging via nimble jumps, and he can go invisible/invincible for a second for some reason? Maybe he stole Vet's magic cape. He's very much a roc's feather guy. Can also dash attack. I think they all can. Vio is the hardest. He has all the other skills but can also shoot sword beams. Technically, I think they are fireballs like Hyrule can do. Obviously, some of these are skills that I'm doubtful Four has in LU. Either way, Vio is a master swordsman. He hits hard and fast and is unpredictable.

Other than the magic cape and fireballs, the other moves are all things Four should have access to. Even the fireballs can be replaced by a regular sword beam.

I only got through two guys and it's this long lol. I plan to do a part 2 later. You can also check replies to this post for a lot of headcanons

Fellow Linked Universe fans, I have a favor to ask of you.

I keep thinking that I don’t know as much about the Links as I think I do because I’ve only played one of the games, so if any of you wouldn’t mind, pick your favorite and rant about their adventure!

If not, that’s okay, I’m still doing as much research as I can on them. I just want to also hear it from other fans as a sort of backup or confirmation thing for me to read later.

Thank you for your time!

[rawliverandgoronspice]

TLOZ translations always seem to be a bit shitty. I still see people talk about the weird translation of the Demise monologue at the end of SkSw. I think someone said that Demise was more general with his statement, as in there will always be forces from the demon tribe fighting against the light or smth? Not specifically "us three will always fight". (I've read it a few times, but hard to remember, sorry.) (On the topic of SkSw, I kinda dislike how much it impacted theories within TLOZ, some theories are really cool, don't get me wrong. But now, even games that existed for years before suddenly are being pushed to fit with the lore presented in that game. Ganondorf being the best example: He no longer is his own character who did bad things because of his own will and actions, it's now "He did it all because an evil curse made him do it. He had no choice, he was born as a vessel for the demonic lord." The implications that "the curse of Demise" also would mainly go for the already vilified race of the Gerudo, and make their one male an evil warlord is already kinda... yeah... no. (Not to mention that there are other demon lords throughout the franchise that have nothing to do with Ganon.)

Ohh speaking of this I recently saw this post that did a good translation of that very moment, and pretty much confirms what you are mentioning anon; that it's basically a promise of that cycle coming back moreso than Demise himself coming back (especially since his actual and definitive death is a big deal in that game).

But yeah, I agree it has taken a huge space in the way the series is thought about. I pretty much completely missed that hard turn, as I couldn't play Skyward Sword when it released and wasn't super into Zelda afterward anymore (I had gotten too edgy.... 2011 was the year where I got obsessed with every horror videogame in existence basically except for Resident Evil for some reason I could never get into that series ANYWAY WAY off topic........), so coming back a few years later had me very ???? puzzled about how the theories had reconstructed themselves around Hylia and Demise and endless cycles (it's not that it wasn't a thing before, but I wouldn't say it was as much a Series Trademark as it is now).

But yeah. Ganondorf having his own motivations makes him immediately stronger as an antagonist, especially since his deal is quite complicated all things considered.

I am having a thought about how a lot of Zelda villains' motivation is a sort of rebellion against nature. I have scratched enough digital paper about Ganondorf's situation, but like... Minish Cap Vaati is also very much motivated by his refusal to remain small and whimsical and seize power instead of staying in his lane (and then he gets horny in Four Sword so, maybe let's not go there), Zant is.... Zant, Hilda in A Link Between World has been cosmically punished for trying to reject the Goddesses and create a world on its own terms --like SERIOUSLY this is HORRIFYING I feel like we don't talk enough about how utterly nightmarish of a reality that paints for Hyrule as a whole-- Girahim is devoted but fights for the side more or less destined to lose... It's interesting how Hyrule is hostile to change and anything that threatens the statut quo.

(then you have the occasional Majora and Yuga, whomst I dooon't think really fit the above category --to their full credit! and then you have Bellum, who is..... a blob...... And I don't remember enough from either the Oracles game or about Malladus to put them in either category, I need to replay those games)

Hyrule really has this frightening quality to it when you stare at it for too long: that your two only options are to either graciously submit to your assigned cosmic role, or fight it and become darkness incarnate in some way. A Link Between World showed, quite starkly, that trying to escape that binary choice is *not an option*.

[linked-history]

@twilightangel83 made the request for Minish Cap link next, though he didn't have too many designs to fill his page so he gets to share his with Vaati. It also shows some of the differences between the Forest Minish and the City Minish. Mountain Minish would be shorter and Stockier.

BEFORE THE ADVENTURE

When growing up Likari lived in the small minish village found in Minish Woods, though unlike most minish he was adventurous and curious about the world that they shared with the bigger inhabitants. He spent a lot of time with Festari, learning about the Hylians and their culture, even learning some of the language from the Guardian of the Deepwood Shrine. Festari also mentions the 'portals' within Minish Woods that in the past have allowed the Hylians to shrink and grow to interact with the Minish safely. Following the directions Festari gave him he was able to locate one of the portals located outside of their village and was able to explore the bigger world outside of his village, though he tried the portal a few more times to get the feel of changing his size first. Initially, at the advice Festari and the Elder gave him, he kept his less then Hylian traits hidden under a cloak as he entered Castle Town for the first time. While there he gravitated towards the children and finds himself unknowingly interacting with a disguised Princess Zelda. Initially Likari struggles communicating with the children with his limited knowledge of the Hylian language though after returning to his home in the Forest he asks Festari for help and the Guardian directs him to find a Jabernut, something that when eaten allows the ability to understand any language.

While their friendship grows Zelda and Likari they reveal the truths about themselves and Zelda gives Likari the nickname Link to help him blend in further. As Link spends more time in Castle town he finds new minish portals and new Minish, learning about the City Minish and becoming friends with Vaati. Though the young city Minish isn't as adventurous and remains safely in his home then trying the portals to interact with the larger Hylians. As Link spends more time with the Hylians, Zelda introduces him to an elderly blacksmith who lives outside of Castle town, someone who was near blind and wouldn't be able to see Link's less then Hylian features and gave LInk the ability to learn Hylian blacksmithing.

DURING THE ADVENTURE

Right away Link knew that the Vaati who had attacked the Princess and Hyrule was not the one who he grew to knew. Link takes the broken Pikori Blade to his village and learns how to fix it, also teaming up with the transformed form of his friends mentor. The two travel to each of the Shrines that the Minish protect and gather the Four Elements that are hidden safely within each of the Shrines. After finding the Element hidden in the Deepwood Shrine Link heads to Mt. Crenel where he meets Melari and his assistants who are able to fix the Pikori blade as Link enters the next shrine and gains the next Element within. Link learns that after the sword is infused with the elements it is able to create up to four duplicates of the wielder and sets out to find the remaining two elements in the Castor Wilds, currently missing, and Lake Hylia.

Link the then gains the guidance he needs to traverse to the Wind Element that had been missing from its place in the Castor Wilds. He is introduced to the Wind Tribe who have lived in the sky ruins long before the ones on the ground settled in their own villages. Link gains the final element and returns to the Sanctuary where he imbues the blade with its power before returning to the palace that had been changed by the power now corrupting his friend. Link manages to fight back the corruption, saving his two friends and returning the sorcerer Ezlo to his original form.

AFTER THE ADVENTURE

Ezlo and Vaati return to their home and Link, with Zelda's help becomes an ambassador for the Minish helping to pave the way for future Minish to join him and the Hylians, teaching the Minish culture and helping to build a settlement for the Minish in the Forest so that they are still able to keep to themselves while allowing interaction with the Hylians and other races of Hyrule.

[clori-eden]

LU ALTFP: A Link To Four’s Past

Just some fluffy sketches I did for my story idea A link to Four's Past (Yes it's officially named this now) which I will now be tagging any art related to this idea as : ALTFP

So the chain goes back in time and who wouldn't be able to resist a very smol 10 year old Four? Not me and apparently not any of the other Links either. Btw it's Twilight that started this fiasco, everyone else joined and Four is just trying to silently disappear in the background while watching the embarrassment unfold before him

More sketches for my ALTFP idea Portraying how Four is Linked to his younger self, and doesn't feel well whenever younger Four is either in danger or has taken physical damage.

This is based on these two post:  

Four: Backstories Prompt & Linked Threads, Same Destiny?

I’ve been thinking more and more about this idea and I wanted to share some of my thoughts and ideas I have for it. One reason being: I doubt I will ever have time to actually make this into a fanfic but I will still continue to do some art for it and maybe small comic skits in the future, *crosses fingers and hopes to not be so busy.* 

Anyway I’ve never posted a blog this long just containing mostly writing, so bear with me, this is all very new for me to do and most of this was just raw writing sent to a dear friend of mine on discord. Thank you @seekingseven​ for entertaining me and picking my brain on this idea! Your questions really had the gears in my head turning and it was fun reading your reactions to my thoughts on this.

This is going to be a very, very long post. So if you're interested on reading more about this story idea, everything will be under the cut.

So just to make this clear, as obvious as this already is, Younger Four is basically Four back when he was on his adventure with Ezlo during the Minish Cap.  Idk but I imagine younger Four more cautious at this time because of the fact Vaaiti is still at large and he is the reason Zelda got turned to stone in front of his very eyes and that his Hyrule is under a bit of chaos since the princess isn't exactly present. I would say the environment or atmosphere of Four's Hyrule at this time might have been tense, full of uncertainty of the fate of the kingdom. So granted, younger Four would be very wary of others around him, he is a smart child after all. 

As for Future/Present Four, as soon as they are thrown into his past Hyrule he wasn't 100% sure it was his Hyrule at first. The chain was still in some confusion as to where they were. After some confirmation, Four believes without a doubt they are in his past but some Link are not too sure about it. Some of the Link's would ask him what makes him so sure and that it's also possible they might be in another Hyrule entirely with a new Hero. Four starts explaining events that are supposed to come to pass, and it works the first time but then things start to change slowly and he starts getting it wrong. Which baffles Four even more! It is not until they meet his younger self they fully believe him. They meet younger Four in the middle of a battle with monsters that horde over castle town.

During this time, Four wasn't feeling very well either, after the time jump he was having the worst case of headaches and occasional dizziness and nausea. This is actually because future Four is physically Linked to past Four. I had this idea that Four doesn't feel very well when his other self is in danger, which later on he seems to figure it out. Depending on Younger Four's condition, Four starts to feel faint.  It becomes this weird kind of spidey sense that the chain uses later to figure out the disruptions happening in his timeline due to changes it is facing because of Dink's influence. But this change always usually involves the attempted assassination to his younger self sent by Dink, Vaaiti and Shadow joining forces. 

Other things to note is that Four has made it clear to everyone to NOT reveal his identity to his younger self. However, they don't entirely lie to him either, they still tell him that they are all Links from different timelines. Four just kinda passes himself as a whole other link entirely, even as younger Four seems suspicious when he realizes they both have the four sword. But knowing that the master sword is also common in each timeline, they easily come up with an excuse. 

Future Four is also a little worried (or self conscious?) about his secrets getting revealed to the chain by his younger self. But at the same time he also know himself very well and knows that the use of his Minish powers or the Four sword is not something that his younger self would just outright share or reveal with a bunch of strangers. That much puts Four at ease but it still works as a double edged sword for him, because he also can't use certain powers that may give away who he really is.

That being said when younger Four does use his powers it's Four that ends up being the only one that saw it and the secret remains with them even though younger Four wasn't fond of someone finding his secret they choose to keep it hush hush. Four is also not 100% sure whether at this point in time Younger Four has Split or not with the Four Sword yet. Although, the idea of them both splitting at the same time and older colors meeting the younger colors would be so funny and awesome. But that also means Four's cover would be blown indefinitely, at this reveal.  

Still, the more things change in his timeline that end up differently than what was supposed to happen, Four starts to wonder if this change in his past would actually change him or create another split in the timeline with a whole new Link that isn't quite him, due to all the changes in their experiences. This very much worries Four, and he tends to talk to Sky and Time about it. The idea scares him a little. 

I know this seems like all angst but I could also imagine the chain gushing over younger Four. And four finding it way too embarrassing, like this is far worse than seeing an old photo of him because they are literally there experiencing his younger self in the flesh. Lol 

Like I definitely imagine Twilight being the first one to just pick up lil' Four like an annoyed cat getting man held by its human owner Or Sky just wanting to hug him, and both Fours being utterly overwhelmed with embarrassment. Or Legend using this moment to ruffle his hair because he can easily pass it off as him teasing him instead of actually wanting to show a bit of affection. <3

All of these questions (some I didn't necessarily have answers to...lol) until now! have had me really take a moment to consider the possibilities. Thanks! 

Yeah I agree, the trio of villains that should have never came to be just sound a lot more threatening when you have help from the future to eliminate a common goal. Unfortunately the same could be said for our heroes and there are NINE (ten with smol Four lol…) of them, so good luck to the villains. 

Now as far as Younger Four ever finding out who Older Four is, the answer is yes. Though the way he finds out is sort of a rude awakening. I've had this scene play in my mind a few times like a sad amv, lol. 

At one point the villains nearly achieve their goal, ambushing younger Four at his most vulnerable state. He doesn't have time to dodge a sword attack from Shadow, but older Four jumps in in his place and takes the brunt of the strike straight to his abdomen.  In which he holds it in place to allow a chance for the others to gain the advantage. In the end Shadow escapes, just barely from the rest of a very vengeful group of Links. 

But rewinding back a little, in that moment Older Four gets stabbed, Younger Four is in shock: YOU, WHY? Why would you give up your life for mine! 

(So the reason younger is so surprised Older Four jumped in for him is because he believed Four didn’t like him (Since he had been avoiding him most of the time for various reason younger Four just doesn’t understand. lmao...)

Older Four: Haha.. give you say? Ah, the irony... No, it's quite the opposite you see... without your life I would cease to exist. 

 I am only taking hold of our life and sustaining both of our futures. 

That's when older Four would finally reveal his identity, although younger Four doesn’t understand it at first and is later told by Time. Of Course I wouldn't kill off older Four, I wouldn't do that to my boy. Lol..

Talking about things I would never do, I would never do what Akira Toriyama did to Trunks at the end of Black Goku Saga. Lmfao. And that's basically allowing Future Trunks to exist alongside another version of himself that is mere weeks in the past of himself because his timeline was destroyed so he had to be put in a timeline where everyone is alive including himself. (I will never forgive Toriyama for this sad conclusion.) 

That being said, as much as another timeline would be cool, the fact remains that this Four would be way too similar to Four as far as his abilities and mental state. Therefore I refuse to allow another timeline to exist, but that doesn’t mean I can't make it seem like that conclusion is very much possible. I would like to highlight this possibility as an alarming problem that is very close to being reality for older Four. I want it to be something that is clearly a situation they are fighting against time with and often teased as a possibility but in the end they are still able to resolve the situation. 

Although, I'm not sure how to make it so that younger Four forgets this happens. Maybe with the help of Zelda, (like when they save her) Time helps Zelda with a spell using his ocarina. Since Zelda is part of the royal bloodline, she can possibly activate its abilities, and with Time, play the song of time to send them back to the present while also returning Younger Four and correcting his timeline. There will be sad goodbyes I guess, since it will be the last time he will remember them… but he leaves them with content in his heart; knowing what he will experience in his distant future and the idea of meeting friends like that is something he is grateful to have planned in his future.

This is pretty much all I got.

Ahhh, I really love this comment, seriously thank you Seeking, you are truly awesome! And for the encouragement to make this post. Love ya! 💛💛💛

It’s so long, sorry and thank you to anyone who actually took the time to read all this, and those who couldn’t, I totally understand. I was cringing as I did this. Like who is really going to read all this?? Guess I'll find out. 😅

[twink-between-worlds]

i got one (1) yes, so... this is just how i see his design and why I love it so images at the bottom of the post lol

can i just talk about Four's, and the colours, design really quick? Okay; Four being the smallest member of the chain, smaller than Wind who's 14, really ties in with the fact Four can become as small as a minish. the picture of four n wind really shows how much smaller four is The minish feather earring too is a nice touch, because of course he would keep a part of the minish with him, And the charm on his hood. the one shaped like Ezlo, aka the Minish Cap himself. The fact he has that, presumably self-made, charm on his hood? The kinstones too,,,wa following up, the kinstones being in the colours' colours is awesome and such a nice detail Mashing the colours together on one tunic looks messy, but really...the colours are a messy bunch, so it works the embroidery on each quarter!! the embroidery to show which colour has what element,,,,its adorable and it's such a cute thing four has! In that one picture of the colours -5th picture- you can see how different the colours really are and it's such a nice detail that, yes, they all originated from one person, but theyre different in most ways. Vio's hair is the darkest, Green's hair is the lightest. Blue has a more agitated demeanor, while Green has a confident one the bandana too!!! The bandana being there just reminds people that this kid is a successful blacksmith ill shut up now but GOD i fucking love Four's design actually no i wont i have more to say about four listen, the fact you can tell which colour is 'in control' of four throughout the comic is amazing LIKE???? you can tell which colour is which without four even being split god i fucking love this comic and god i fucking love four still on about four's height okay here is Four with someone about the same age as him Hyrule and Four are both similar in age, and yet look at the visible difference in height Four just has the best design in the entire Linked Universe Comic I swear to god Every member of the chain is so different, but Four's is more interesting because his design didn't just go towards him it went towards the colours too this is the only thing i have with multiple pictures of four at once, but!! four just,,,look how wide his personality is??? he's simaltaniously; one of the most emotional links, one of the most logical links, one of the most aggressive links, and one of the most messy links i think im done now i apologise

[tv-gh0st]

Damnit i made a new au

guess what time it is

time for

✨My own Links meet au!✨

and the zeldas meet up to!

ive got an idea for story but jts a little bit to much like Lu for my liking so i am currently editing it and will be posted hopefully soon!!

zeldas will also get designs to ima be focusing on this whole au to actually cas aprently my hiatus is over ill be working on other aus from time to time but theres alot to do for this and i am bery exited!! ill be making a master post once i post some more stuff im really exited!!

bellow the cut is my current designs for Links(no full body drawings yet cas there are 14 links ad 15 zeldas i need to draw and i am not dealinf with that shit today)

Before the split

Sky

skyward sword Link

20 years old

first chosen hero

forged the master sword

dating Sun(his zelda)

always looks like hes gonna fall asleep

very expressive

Minish

Minish cap

17 years old

can be small like minish

the smith kf the group

Social anxiety

lets the minish do his hair!

Fallen hero Timeline

Four

four swords

Four swords adventure

18 years old

the colors sre very separated

others only think hes a little crazy talking to himself

Oracal

Ages

Seasons

Links awakening

"Collector"

17 years old

keeps a flower in memory of Marin

learned how to braid his hair from her to and keeps it like that

has alot of shit

Worlds

A link to the past

a link between worlds

triforce heros

princy

technicly a prince cas of fabel(Zelda and his sister)

bunn boi

his colors blended much easier

Hyrule

the legends of zelda

links adventures

travler

16 years old

also alot of items

gets lost easily especially with the weird geographical part of the merge

very curious

Child timeline

Twilight

twilight princess

Farmer/Wolfie

19 yo

has a wolf tail and wont explain why or how he got it

can control when he comes wolfie usually but sometimes when they move around he just is wolfie and cant become hylian

big brother energy

Babys litterly any one whos younger then him even if its just by a year(Wild and Time do count cas of there weird ages)

Warriors

Hyrule Warriors

captin

23 years old

did cry over his scarf once

big brother energy aswell but in a funner "you were supposed to watch over the,! But no one was put to watch over me!" Kinda vibe

knew wind and mask before but they didnt know him its weirddddddd

mentioned minda and marin and others lost thrre shit

Age

Age of calamity

champion

17 years old

gravitates twords Warriors

Might have acidently been the start of a new split in the timeline no one actually knows where age sits exept hes on the child timeline

Wild

Breath of the wild

Tears of the kingdom

Archerer

Wonderer

keeps the arm and the sages idc how totk ends

physically hes like 20 ish chronologically hes 121 mentally hes like 17 years old

can cook wonderfully

eats randome shit for fun

is a lik shit

is very loyal but definitely took alot to get that loyal

is extremely weirded out bt Age

Adult timeline

Wind

Wind waker

Phantome Hourglass

Sailor

14 years old

has tetras bandanna

thinks the green heros tunic is dorky as fuck snd hates the hat

has tried to shoot every link out of a cannon that hes had the opportunity to with wavering success

is gonna fo bat shit crazy/ good way

Spirit

Spirit tracks

Conductor

15 years old

very done with ur shit at all times

i dont think he knows what color is(wears alot of fucking grey)

Likes wind tolerates the others

is gonna go bat shit crazy/ bad way

And ofcourse Time and Mask

Time

Ocarina of time

18 years old

mentally 9-10 years old

doesnt actually know how to read

from adult timeline

friends with Malon

socially akward mess

Mask

Ocarina of Time

Majoras Mask

11 years old

tired of everyones shit

in denial of all this timeline merging stuff

Thats all the Links!

Master post here!(coming soon) Zeldas prt 1 here! Zeldas prt 2(Coming soon)

[scrawnytreedemon]

AUGH JUST SAW YOUR RESPONSE OKAY *throws a small boy at you* Vaati!!! (please god I hope nobody asked about him while I wasn’t looking-)

THERE WE GOOOO!! And not to fear! We alone are mouse-boy enthusiasts in this chili's tonight.

Right! For some context, I've only had direct experience with Minish Cap, and that was via an LP. I have a general gist of his motivations in Four Sword and Four Sword Adventures, but nothing more; as such, my characterisation will largely hinge on his depiction in Minish Cap.

Without further ado--! Let's begin.

First impression: Oh god, there's a fair bit? I had the idea that he was this gloating, menacing but lowkey bland villain by wider-fanbase standards who fit the mould of your standard arrogant-cunt sorceror-- Either that, or this bitch Gumpy™. There were also characterisations of him being this leery fuck who didn't know how to keep his hands off women-- I imagine largely thanks to his deeds in Four Swords.

Impression now: He feels like something right out of some early '00s kid DeviantArt page and I mean that in the most delightful sense. He's literally an albino mouse-fairy boy who was an apprentice to one of the most revered sages in his people's society, only to go, "NO!!! I do n o t t e wish to be Tiny Mouse anymore!!!" and then fucking stole the cap and fucked shit up. Vaati comes across as so juvenile here, and I'm genuinely surprised I don't see people outside of hardcore-Vaati stans lean into this? Because that's pretty fucking important, the fact that he's essentially a preteen that stole a bunch of power to... become God??? His motivations are disjointed, and while it's smart that he sat back and watched instead of leaping in like many others(cough, cough, Ghirahim) tried to do, but at the same time it lends itself to an utter lack of presence on his part, as he game's antagonist-- And I suppose this methodology makes sense, considering he is a kid. I say this about every Zelda villain, and I'll say it about him too: there's alot of untapped potential at play here, I think, were you to merely examine his character or toss him into a room with others and see how that character plays out. Vaati's fundamental immaturity makes a good contrast or even unveiling in regards to the motivations of his compatriots; maybe calling into question whether any of them know what the fuck they're doing. On a minor note, he's alot more jovial than I anticipated. It's obviously of the aloof-sneering variety, but I really didn't expect it; again, I'm surprised no-one thinks to convey this? It was a pleasant little discovery.

Favorite moment: The twist-appearance as Link and Zelda flee to the Elemental Sanctuary-- I knew it was going to happen, if they'd left it there a major thread in regards Vaati's ascension would have gone unresolved. Even still, the bossfight afterwards was underwhelming, from the looks of things, y'know, considering he's a demigod, but again I think that ties back to his complete lack of experience and self-discipline; and I'll be real, I was side-eyeing Ezlo the entire time with how willing he seemed to dismiss Vaati and place all the blame on him; nevermind that Vaati was his charge, and his behaviour speaks to Ezlo's methods more than anything else, but I'm getting off track.

Idea for a story: I'd say a moment of quiet reflection; maybe he's hauled himself up to his (stolen) room after a long day, and we get insight into his thought process and motivations. Maybe even some second guesses-- Only briefly, of course. Why stop, when he's this close to becoming a God? But it's lonely at the top; lonelier than one can ever imagine. But who is he to worry? At least he'll be lonely and powerful, and with that power he'll... he'll... He'll get to it, whent he time comes.

Unpopular opinion: Probably that I find more mature, surly depictions of him jarring? But I'm guessing that has more to do with his FS and FSA appearances-- Again, limited scope here. I don't think this one will be particularly controversial by Tumblr Zelda standards, but I really found it so jarring how Ezlo and the narrative as a whole seems so keen on avoiding why Vaati got here? All we're told is that he was fascinated by the darkness in the hearts of men, but like, why? And why did that metastasise into such destructive tendencies? Because alot of people do get curious of morbid topics, and in regards to psychology, that can blossom into an education in that field should that spark be nurtured-- I think it would have been incredibly beneficial to have had a Minish capable of looking into man's darker nature and seeking caution based on that-- After all, wasn't Ezlo's inability to anticipate that what lead to all this? The only time I can remember when Ezlo properly touches on the issue is at the very end when he apologises to Princess Zelda, saying that it was his fault any of this happened-- And he's right to! Especially considering what Zelda's been through. But any consideration as to Vaati and what brought him here is sweeped under the rug immediately. There's no desire to examine this; no want to dirty their hands with this filth. And like, is that not concerning? Regardless of the affection in it that becomes apparent toward the end, Ezlo reprimands and talks down to Link on serveral occasions; am I the only one wondering what part that played in all of this? How it could have worsened an already precarious mind like Vaati's? To be very clear, this isn't an absolution of Vaati's deeds-- I have no interest in doing that, as I don't think villains need to be absolved in order to gain consideration; rather, this is a frustration of how Zelda once again refuses to give that consideration to its villains, save for the fleetest of moments.

Favorite relationship: The thing about Vaati is that he's isolated, almost completely divorced from the cast in any meaningful interpersonal way; all bridges are either burned, or absent. And that's jarring, isn't it? I think any relationship could be a good one, and take his character in a number of interesting directions. Link? A foil, in regards to them both being under Ezlo's tutelage, and a potential for him to examine his own maturity; a question if he retains any innocence yet; maybe, even, if any of this is worth that. Ezlo? A confronation of the past he seems all to eager to throw away; all the bitterness and the contempt, all the hurt they both seem loathe to acknowledge. Zelda? Well, she's in stone for most of the game so I don't know how that'd work, but assuming this is an AU where she's merely interned instead of petrified, I think the examination would be similar in regards to Link's, but with the questioning amped up to 100 late-arc, that despite everything he's doing to set himself above others he's taken a shine to her, and now he's stuck wanting to pursue his goals but also... He admires her. He can't help it. He's loathe to admit it, but that firey sweetness she seems to hold for everyone and everything is enthralling; and they all return it, too-- Maybe, just maybe, he considers, even a little, that love may be more desirable over power-- Whether he pursues it, however, is to be seen.

Favorite headcanon: Oh!!! God, I can't remember who suggested it, but when I was scrolling through the tag, someone brought up the idea that Vaati's boss-morphs might be the closest we have to actually catching a glimpse at Hylia's true form-- And I can see it, now! The whole eye-thing actually makes alot more sense, if you consider it cognate to the Sheikah All-Seeing Eye. On the whole, it's a wonderful headcanon that adds so much to what initally seems to be the epitome of Zelda's eye-fixation, tying a villainous character to something adjacent to light, to holiness. If I might throw another idea in here, my own observation, I can't help wondering if this:

Is far more akin to this:

Than anything else.

It's certainly make Ezlo's horror at Vaati's new form more understandable, and also serve as a lovely tie-in that Fuckign Around With Dark Forces™ leaves you looking like a little goblin person.

But yeah! That's that :) Sorry I'm late, hopefully though this makes up for that.

DO let me know what you think, though! I'd be delighted to hear your own thoughts on the matter.

[bluesdesk]

ZELDA HEADCANONS

Sun:

-- considers "Zelda" and "Hylia" as 2 different identities. When she has to act as Hylia (to give a serious order, to do some magic...), she moves her fringe to her left side. Also when Sky makes her angry in a discussion she is like: "remember I can be Hylia!" and  not "remember I'm Hylia"

-- she wears shorts under her dresses, she would be pretty uncomfortable without them.

-- She has a very strong personality, like a girlboss, and she's as chaotic as Tetra

-- She's Hylia, and so she must handle magic pretty well. Also Sky didn't have problems, if not more frequent nightmares and lightning scars and fear of thunderstorms... But "fear of thunderstorms" doesn't even count! However, she noticed her hair became lighter near the tips, and wavier.

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Dot:

-- the girly princess? No way! She grew up with Four, she's a smith too, she loves adventures and festivities. The fucsia jacket is a hoodie (she covers the hood with her cloack), she wears leggings and seakers nunder the dress, that's actually a high waisted long skirt she can remove

-- her hair is kinda orangey! Also it's pretty long

-- she's a relative of Four! In the italian version of Minish Cap she refers to Link's grandpa as "uncle Smith". This might mean Smith is her uncle, grand-uncle or greta-granduncle? Dot's mom might be Smith's younger sister for example.

-- She had a pretty simple life before MC and FS.  Dot had learnt some magic because of the whole "descendant of a goddess" thing. Not much, and she preferred to not use it. So, when she got petrified by Vaati's magic, she got the signs of it. Her hands and feet are as small as when she was 12 (MC), and her hair got way straighter than before. And when Vaati kidnapped her, she got some eye markings, like tattoos, on her arms.

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Lullaby:

-- genderfluid! But their father doesn't really support them and when they feel like a boy they just become Sheik and go in the woods or at Lon Lon!

-- They have a tanned skin and dark blonde hair

--They do want to be a mom though. Dusk is their daughter!

-- They can handle magic well, but Lullaby turned into Sheik for the first time when they were really young, and this had an impact on them. Their blue eyes became red with the Sheik mask (yeah I headcanon it as a mask!), and the repetitive use of it made their eye color turn from blue to violet even when they're "Zelda". They also got a sheikah eye symbol on their left eye, which they cover with their hair.

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Dusk:

-- She grew up with her grandpa (Lullaby's father)

-- She has Lullaby's skin color! Also she's thin and tall

-- She  didn't attend a royal/exclusive school but went at Twi's same one so they were friends as kids. She also studied swords and archery!

-- She simply didn't recognize Twi as a wolf, she thought he had become a spirit, because she didn't know he had the triforce too!

-- When Ganondorf turned her into his puppet, her skin became pale, and she had those black scars/signs and her eyes turned yellow. Her light power kinda healed this, but she now has light brown eyes, that turn blue when she's really happy and yellow when she's angry. Her skin color changed back to normal but her lips are always more violet than normal and she still has those black scars.

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Artemis:

-- Dusk's great-great-granddaughter! She has a similiar face, but her colors are different. Also she has chubbier legs.

--When the war started, she took the master sword and trained with it, until Impa told her she had to leave it for the next hero

-- She's been training with magic for a long time, since she can really use it perfectly, and she masters different kinds of magic. Every scar/sign she got is from the enemies' weapons, and not magic

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Flora:

-- She refused the whole princess/goddess thing, she just refers to herself as a scholar, researcher and adventure.

-- she loves Sheikah clothing!  She has stealth lessons with Paya

-- she tries to imitate Wild's cooking in secret, but she refuses to admit it because of the "powerful hero/ useless princess" thing

--She has also been training a lot with magic, and when she sealed herself and Calamity Ganon, her powers were awake. But being sealed for 100 years, with constant light powers on, and Calamity Ganon surely did something. The constant light made her photosensitive, and her hands are burnt, not as badly as Wild's face of course, but you can recognize they are. The usage of a newly awakened magic, for so long time and with that intensity made her unable to use magic for the next years after she came back, and if she'll ever get her magic back, it'll be only few.

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Tetra:

-- She grew up knowing her name wad Tetra. She didn't know it was just a nickname, so for her "Zelda" is a nickname she doesn't even like. In the italian version of WW/PH, her name is Dazel. She prefers Dazel over Zelda when she has to do royal stuff.

-- even as Zelda her skin is dark and her hair is all curly

-- Wind's grandma loves her and already adopted her in her mind XD but she keeps telling her she needs warmer clothes and she also gives her lots of Wind's clothes that became too small for him

-- she has blonde freckles on her dark skin, Aryll says she's a starry night

-- chubby!!

-- She had never heard of magic before her first adventure, so you might imagine she must have taken it really badly. She has a messed up sleping schedule and she falls asleep in the strangest ways, positions, and times. One second she's arguing with you, the next moment she's asleep, even if she's on her feet, this thing can get dangerous for her so she always brings someone (mostly Wind) with her. She has scratches everywhere from her petrification too, and being petrified surely didn't help with her previous situation.

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Fable:

-- she loves to wear pink and sky blue together! Pink is her favorite color and sky blue represents the goddess. She's a fan of jewels too!

-- Don't touch her hair, she'd get mad!

--Legend's step sister and somehow twin! She and Legend have different mothers and the same father (the father became a king after the marriage with Fable's mom, the queen). Oddly enough, they were born the same day of the same year.

-- She knows how to use a sword but she mostly uses magic and she can kick pretty well!

-- She can use magic almost perfectly, like Artemis! However, being in a painting gave her some lighter/"discolored" spots on her skin, pretty much like vitiligo. Just few spots, as she could handle that magic well too.

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Aurora:

-- a child. She's like 10/12. A pretty smart kid!

-- redhead, tanned skin, curly hair and lots of freckles!

-- autistic, her stims are most likely jumping and moving her arms! She loves springs and water in general, she could spend her entire days with fairies in a spring! Pretty enthusiastic about literally anything too!

-- she sees Hyrule as an older brother

-- She had negative memories about her brother, and giving the adjective "brother" to Hyrule is  like turning the page, seeing that adjective with a new meaning

--The poor kid often thinks her dreams are reality. She has problems in distinguishing vivid dreams from reality as she had been asleep for too much. On the other hand, she barely sleeps.

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BONUS:

Phantom/Angel (Spirit Tracks!):

As the great granddaughter of Tetra, Phantom and Link should be related (One of Spirit and one of Phantom's parents must be cousins) Unless Spirit isn't the great grandson of Tetra and Wind... but maybe the great grandson of Aryll instead! This would explain why Spirit is in contact with the pirate crew but not royal, and since their first common relative is so distant (Wind and Aryll's parents) they wouldn't be considered as related and the fact they didn't know each other before would have more sense

-- She took her personality from Tetra AND Wind: her will to help and be a hero too, still being a bit sassy, and a little rebel (escaping from the castle). She's like, a perfect mix of their personalities.

-- As for her design, she has wavy hair, a slightly tanned skin (she's not dark skinned, unlike Tetra), she loves earrings and she has a lot of them!

-- She wasn't used to magic, she knew that but not too much, so being a phantom and leaving her body because of said magic had an impact on her. Her eyes were originally dark blue like Tetra, but they're now pink to purple and yellow! Her skin got lighter after ST, and so she wears makeup to seem less pale. Her eyes get irritated easily (red eyes when possessed) and she spaces out a lot, sometimes she has dissociative events