#Betterbemeta

[ihavedonenothingright]

So thus far into TOTK (I haven't finished the game, but I got the instruction to go beat the final boss), it really does seem like TOTK and BOTW are completely separate lore-wise from most every other game in the series except for maybe Skyward Sword. Zelda travels all the way back to Hyrule's "founding," which she is fairly familiar with, and there's a comment one of the researchers makes about mentions of a "Zelda" in the ancient past confirming that perhaps the name doesn't originate from their princess. He's unaware it's the same Zelda, which means naming every princess of Hyrule "Zelda" is not a thing. This Zelda is, as far as she knows, the first (though that doesn't eliminate the chance others existed).

This (and some other stuff) leads me to believe that the founding of Hyrule in TOTK takes place after all the old games. I highly doubt that all historical records of the name Zelda would have completely disappeared between the ancient past of TOTK and TOTK's present if that space was occupied by all the other games. And that is ignoring the weird time stuff and the required presence of two Ganondorfs simultaneously. On top of that, Sonia, the only Hylian we see much of in the past, resembles Skyward Sword's Impa more than Zelda and Gaepora. We don't know for sure that that Zelda founded Hyrule, but the reincarnated spirit of Hylia is blood-related. So I'm solidly shunting aside the idea that this is the first founding of Hyrule.

Now because the name Zelda has apparently been forgotten, even by TOTK's ancient past (Rauru and Sonia don't exactly go "Oh! Zelda! That's a famous name"), and no one seems aware that Hyrule existed before, I'm going to say that pre (or post...) the arrival of the Zonai, Hyrule goes through something like a Dark Age. Their history is no longer preserved and retold like in older games, and so eventually, you end up in a place where there is no Hyrule, and no one knows about the Triforce and the cycle. But that's really odd, right? Like, scarily odd. How do you forget the Triforce exists? It's the big war-causer in Hyrule's history, this thing that grants you the power to completely remake the world. And no knowledge of Zelda or Link or Ganon? No knowledge of the epic cycle? Clearly Zelda is still inheriting the memories of her prior reincarnations since she recognizes the name "Ganondorf" in a flashback, so what gives?

It seems awfully convenient that no one knows about the Triforce, especially since there's evidence Zelda carries it. The symbol shows up when she uses her sealing powers, and it's definitely still associated with the royal family's crest. Now the second part is really weird since we're at a second founding of Hyrule and no one seems to know what it is. But just focusing on Zelda's powers: for the Triforce to be the source of them, that would have to mean it somehow ended up in Zelda's bloodline. How would it do that?

They mention that she seems to have inherited Rauru's light power and Sonia's time power (which implies they had kids, I know people are skeptical and I am too, but it seems like they did). So, does Rauru's power also derive from the Triforce? Did she get it from him?

Well if he did have it, founding a Hyrule where no one remembers the Triforce, the cycle, or old Hyrule would be much easier.

There's a lot of problems with this theory: namely, Rauru isn't technically dead (I think) until the beginning of TOTK, so wouldn't the Triforce have stayed with him that entire time if he had it? But there's also evidence in the games that the Triforce is a one-use kind of thing, so I can see him getting one shot with it and then passing it along via bloodline like a lot of Zeldas have done with the Triforce of Wisdom. Something about Rauru strikes me as very sinister, and some other people have done a really good job looking at that in more detail (check out @golvio and @betterbemeta's posts), but yeah the vibe of Rauru's inner circle and his Hyrule overall is strange. The representatives of all four races (though we never see the Sheikah in the past, so we can't verify what's going on with them at this point; they might not be Hylians yet) cover their faces with these large, clearly Zonai masks to signal their fealty to Rauru. Practically, they serve the same purpose as the champions' blue clothes, but it's so much more uncomfortable. They don't have faces! They aren't individuals! The only people in the past whose faces we see (who aren't Sonia, Rauru, Zelda, or Mineru because even the ancient Hylians in Rauru's employ wear masks) is Ganondorf and some of his Gerudo. Rauru, Sonia, and the royal line get to walk uncovered, but everyone else depicted as loyal and righteous is faceless.

So I would hazard that the reason BOTW and TOTK are so cut off from the other games lore-wise is not just distance, but because Rauru, when he came down to become king, used the Triforce to completely reforge Hyrule in his own image. It's possible he was told to do this by Hylia, and sent down by the gods as a representative of theirs, but I think it's also possible he was sent for another job (fixing the chaos that is the three way timeline split) and chose to stay and set himself up as a king. He doesn't seem to have been a particularly notable figure among the Zonai; Mineru notes how well he's done for himself on the surface which leads me to believe he had far less power where he came from. Whether or not his intentions were benevolent is a "who knows?" sort of question. Maybe they were! But I think Rauru is a good case for the idea that Ganondorf's reincarnation cycle isn't some cosmic punishment, but rather a natural reaction of balance. Rauru builds all his shrines of light, doesn't appoint a Sage of Shadow (no Sage of Shadow is weird, right? I'm not the only one), forces hegemony on Hyrule, and in the process of trying to make a completely clean society, births an opposite of chaos to his order. TOTK Ganondorf is a little obscure in terms of motive, but in his first few cutscenes in the past, he's fairly composed. He wants Hyrule to bow at his feet; he wants to humiliate Rauru. All the comments he makes towards him are pointed. This is a Ganondorf who resents the idea of becoming another faceless mask. Eventually he morphs into a being of pure chaos, perhaps in response to Rauru's more frantic attempts at control. But if the objective was balance, Hyrule does end up there: by the time of BOTW, the races that were faceless under Rauru seem to be mostly independent. Zelda doesn't exactly force the champions into their divine beasts, and their positions aren't predestined or divine in nature like the sages.

And this isn't even touching on the Sheikah (though their forced assimilation into Hylians might be completely separate from Rauru) and the idea that the Rito, Gorons, Zora, and Gerudo exist solely to aide Link and Zelda. There is a lot of stuff in this game that is absolutely fascinating (and a little frightening) from a world perspective. Most of it isn't new to Zelda either, just more explicit.

(Also I've seen some people say that the masks might've been because Nintendo was lazy with the modeling, but regardless, it's fair to analyze a work as it exists and leave the creators' intents out of the picture.)

[mareenavee]

Summer Reading/Writing/Arting tag

Tagged by @paraparadigm! The original rules are here.

Tagging OF COURSE @paraparadigm to do one of these, too! And @friend-of-giants, @elfinismsarts, @thattalviel, @saltymaplesyrup, @goddess-of-sorrow, @thequeenofthewinter, @the-storytellers-seer and @orfeoarte as well! Others, feel free to tag yourselves honorarily (:

1) Describe one creative WIP project you’re planning to work on over the summer.

I am still very much working on The World on Our Shoulders :D I have a lot of work still to go on this project and it may take all summer? We'll see. But I'm enjoying the process immensely! I might do a bit of a rescheduled-to-a-more-convenient-time-of-year NaNoWriMo type situation in August. Might be original fiction or perhaps more fic! We'll see (:

2) Rec a book!

I am currently reading The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by SA Chakraborty and I love it so, so much so far! I'll be starting the Elder Scrolls novels next, I think, just for funsies.

3) Rec a fic!

OOOh it has to be a fic outside of my character tag, I see. LOL okay. Well my favorite Elder Scrolls fic that doesn't fall within those parameters is Foe Tongue: A Historical Fiction by BetterBeMeta. Para actually rec'd that one to me a while back and I absolutely love it. It is perhaps the best fic I've ever read in general, and I hope we all grow up to be the kind of writer Meta is in this example. (:

4) Rec music!

I have a whole playlist that I'm reworking for my fic. That's most of the type of music I listen to. But I think my favorite song off the list is Luminous by Alice and the Glass Lake. It suits a specific scene pretty well. Also outside of fic writing playlists, my favorite artist is Florence and the Machine! Of hers, Sky Full of Song is my first choice (:

 5) Share one piece of advice!

This perhaps is advice I give to myself most of all. But it's: don't give up on your craft. You never know where it's going to lead you. Stick with your stories, stick with your art, even when things seem difficult or if your work isn't up to your usual standards. Sometimes recognizing that means you've learned how to improve and are flipping the page to the next chapter of your journey. You'll catch up with your perceptions in no time at all if you keep at it. It's always a difficult endeavor, being creative. But don't give up. You are worth it. Your stories are worth it. <3

[lesbiankoby]

read imposter syndrome

[ganymedesclock]

📓

Doorstopper WIP Legend of Zelda fanfiction co-authored with @betterbemeta that is currently on the back burner while we both lose our minds about FF7.

Ganondorf is playing court politics in preparation for the newest installment of the cycle. This time, he will win. This time, nothing will stop him. To be absolutely certain, he gets as close to his target as possible.

Unfortunately this makes him the most reliable adult in a teenage Zelda's life.

Unfortunately, Link has decided this makes him an ideal mentor candidate.

Thus begins a comedy of errors as Ganondorf falls backwards down multiple flights of stairs into fatherhood on his way to start the apocalypse.

This is also a cosmic horror story and I am not joking even slightly.

[thatboxylady]

random food for thought, zombie!aero drones transforming but into something reassembling the fucking doom spider mastermind or something

My knowledge of Doom is mostly limited to the very good Animal Crossing x Doom fanfic that my friend betterbemeta wrote, but I went and looked up the spider thing just now for funsies... yikessss I don't want that running up on me in a dark alley thanks.

Cheetor is already pretty messed up between his robot-mode and beast-mode, so I'm sure more drones will eventually show up with weird proportions, too. <3

[objectivistnerd]

https://www.tumblr.com/objectivistnerd/714780792119754752/argumate-betterbemeta-argumate-jaherafi

Don’t know you but I’m gonna have to disagree with you here bud. Lots of cases of rand meme spread especially for dudes who hear about it as the summarized as “Edgy pro selfish” philosopher who isn’t 19 c style like Nietchze, wrote some funny sounding shit, and unlike becoming literally pro hitler or pro nazi philosopher won’t get them kicked out of jobs, school, etc. Now the “social circles” we’re talking here are more hyper online silos, but that’s real. All too real. And yeah I’ve met got into rand via reddit meme group think bros irl, dime a dozen plenty of places.

Did these guys actually read the books because "rand meme" is not how I would describe the extension I'm talking about.

[jd-arts319]

From the fanfic of "Sd Gundam force forever"by @betterbemeta

I drew now older characters!

Shute hair is mixed from keiko & Mark ray,nanako is based from her supposed future self! Mixed between sayla mass & Margaret gathermoon! Rele adorned a different hairstyle.

Art by me

Characters,sd gundam force(c) sunrise;bandai

[asklordcaptaincastronova]

Who is the master at arms for the Azure Wanderer?

Lt. Xela Razasal

[nukenai]

You should see my BARN!! 😬😬😬😬😬

[luwupercal]

betterbemeta replied to your photo “after a lot of research i have perfected… the true 40k Lore Only Fan...”

*strains under the pain of reading the novels regularly but also for the most part considering TTS better and more consumable than them*

better in what way? because sure, it’s more cathartic, it’s HILARIOUSLY more accessible, it’s well-written, it’s very funny, and it characterizes magnus and leman very well and i’d even say its dorn is better than canon, but oh god. look what they did to my beautiful boy Vulkan. What the fuck is this

[radiqueer]

I find that saying cruel things to yourself is often a simulation of what you expect from other people, in a way as an attempt to inoculate yourself against expected disappointment. But really it just breaks you down before you're even in a situation where someone can be cruel to you, and the self-simulation is infinitely meaner because 1) it knows your weaknesses intimately and 2) you have an emotional investment in taking yourself down, whereas others are only as mean as their self-interest

this is a really good and insightful point, and maps neatly onto what I’ve noticed about the difference between deprecating talk that comes from me vs what comes from my friends vs what comes from strangers. 

for me, the last is easiest to brush off. people have always been unkind to me, and I’ve never much cared what they have to say. whereas anytime my friends say something even halfway mean to me I lose my entire sense of self for a few hours. I have good friends and they generally aren’t out to hurt me, but I also tend to parse things as mean or unkind even when they aren’t meant that way. 

but the stuff I say to myself sticks, and it genuinely horrifies me because I am out to make myself feel worse and succeeding pretty well at it - because I know what I’m doing. also, there’s something unnameably awful about writing a vent post and thinking of tagging it with something like ‘shut up u dumb overdramatic bitch’ which is just. I thought that. at myself. I feel sick. 

[editoress]

betterbemeta replied to your post: Whaddya MEAN I’ve got to come up with a LoZ self...

that’s just tetra, but like, on a really off day

Honestly that just makes it sound flattering.  I’d love to be Tetra on an off day.

[mareenavee]

From thr Asks to Spread Love game, choose 3 that you havent already been asked 🙂

Hi BRI :D Thank you for two of these open ended ones! I will most certainly oblige.

Fandom Positivity asks from this game here.

2. Tell us why you love one of your OCs or an obscure canon character (link to any fics/art you have featuring them!) 

I'm just going to go on and on about

⚔️Athis ⚔️

if you'll let me.

He's not really -obscure- per se but he is relatively ignored so let me just give him some love!

So I appear to be writing the majority of Athis things at the moment. Obviously my main fic features him as a POV character. I also have a couple that I'm quite proud of actually AH.

First is Sea of Storms from a duel. A Pirate AU.

Next is Little Dragon which part of the polycule AU with Tel/Nyenna/Athis actually being happy.

Love and its Decisive Pain is an extra chapter more or less for World, featuring Athis musing and worrying over Nyenna.

Next isn't one of mine but is by @archangelsunited! Originally a tumblr post but is now on AO3. Reader/Athis!

Next one is more pirates! by @paraparadigm. Athis is a Navigator <3 So smart, so handsome, so brave. Ah.

More from @archangelsunited -- this one is a bit on the tragic side but the voicing is phenomenal.

This one is also a bit on the tragic side, by TheBrandenRose.

And artwork?

AH this piece was fanart of To Hold On to You by @changelingsandothernonsense

And this post contains, like, perhaps the most handsome Athis fanart I've ever seen by @thana-topsy.

3. One of the best takes you’ve ever seen

The-Dragonborn-Is-Dead trope but done in the phenomenal way that BetterBeMeta wrote in Foe-Tongue: A Historical Fiction.

Here's a piece of the writing that I love. It doesn't mean anything out of context but OH MY GOD DOES IT ACTUALLY MEAN EVERYING.

“Valamand,” [Wyrenna] whispered, “do you have a comb?” He said, “Yes, of course,” and gave it to her. She used it to tidy up where she still was bed-frazzled, tied her hair neatly as she walked up the stairs.

I fucking love this fic. It's my favorite in any fandom, ever in existence. @paraparadigm rec'd it to me earlier on. (: I wanna write like them when I grow up.

13. Recommend a fic (can be your own!) that features something you wish was written about more.

Okay so in this case I am just over the moon about all of the overarching pulling of lore into a fanfic that KB has achieved in such a phenomenal way. I'm talking about @kookaburra1701's fic Aristeia and ALL THE ORC CULTURE. ALL OF IT. I'm HERE FOR IT. More Orcs please, OCs, NPCs, NPCs-Become-OCs. HELL. Yes.

Here's a quote I love particularly from chapter 1 regarding some cultural things that I've been -really fast eyes- over:

“Olur tells me you bloodied your sword today.” Bagrak’s voice was even, as if she was remarking on the weather. Borgakh paused in spooning stew into the bowl before straightening up and presenting it to her mother. Bagrak did not take it. “I bloodied it for Mor Khazgur, mother,” Borgakh said, throwing her shoulders back and looking Bagrak in the eyes. “One of the Reachwomen and a briarheart tried to steal the deer I shot. Olur and I extracted our Blood Price.” “I am not sure one deer is important enough to be covered by the Code,” said Bagrak. “When their clan discovers them killed with orc weapons it will cause more trouble than one deer is worth. Now you will have another enemy to watch for when you are outside the walls.” Borgakh clenched her jaw in frustration, but kept her tone respectful. “They would have never been happy with one deer, and then they would have known Mor Khazgur was weak. What if they had wanted Kharag too? Is a good horse not covered by the Code?”

More. Orcs. Please and thank you. (:

[dr-dendritic-trees]

betterbemeta replied to your post: thunderboltsortofapenny replied to your post “I...

this is exactly the kind of blending-ritual-and-method that I like the most. Not nessesarily about a belief in an unseen force but about a sworn oath and a pact bound around that oath. Doctors have the Hippocratic oath but there is no real visible evidence of commitment to that oath as far as I know– when your word is invisible it may be broken invisibly I guess.

Yes. A lot of medical schools have some sort of ceremony, but its a big hodge-podge, with some schools using the actual Hippocratic oath, and some a variant, and some other things, and some do it at graduation, while others do it before starting clinical rotations (yes I looked this up), at least here, but maybe we need to round them up and make them have a proper ceremony.

I’m not being facetious, I actually wonder if it would improve medical practice.

[ganymedesclock]

Heyyyy folks! I feel like now's an excellent time to point out that the counterpart fic to Refuge for Resolve, The Pale Stranger, just got a huge update, there are now nineteen chapters! If you're eager for more RFR-universe stuff or otherwise just wanna read some excellently written Hollow Knight stuff by my extremely talented and cool friend @betterbemeta you should check that out.

I will say that it has a lot more different canon characters in it because Vigna, unlike PK, is not a weird recluse and she knows some important things about what's going on.

[teaandinanity]

betterbemeta replied to your chat: Me, when a game gives the unlockable bonuses...

THIS IS WHAT BUGS ME, like a lot of the perks that are closed off to make an initial investment are interesting to a beginning player but unattractive to a mid-level player who’s just been going at the game plain so far so why would they ever bother until they get so far in the game they have nothing ‘useful’ to spend their points on?

Amen to that.

It’s one of those things where I can vaguely see that it would make sense in an MMO, where devs need people not hamstringing themselves because everyone is expected to be at more or less the same level of proficiency at the same level... but in a single-player game it’s like, ‘Dear Devteam, if I wanna make my build entirely useless, LET ME DO THAT. Stop throwing artificial barriers between me and Fun.’

Also what even is the point of preventing players from picking up all the levels of Unlock The McGuffin right away? Encountering a locked box I can’t open in Bethesda games is INFURIATING because I already know I’m not gonna remember where it was in ten levels when I could concievably get it open. :\

(That one in particular was why I finally just went, ‘right, this degree of annoyance is why the cheat console exists.’)