#I can change the Kokiri to be Zonai

[silenceoflink]

Back in 2017, back when I was a baby artist, I drew something to celebrate the release of Breath of the Wild, the most recent and groundbreaking Zelda Game. Well, with Tears of the Kingdom fast approaching, I decided to re-draw it. Paying tribute to the first 3D Zelda game, Ocarina of Time, I celebrate the new game.

[ashleygraves1]

If I were to make the next Zelda game, what would I change?

Bring back underwater traversal and real Water Temples.

If you were to think about any iconic Zelda item that isn't a weapon, you'd most likely think about the hook/clawshot. I like that we can climb, but I miss the claw/hookshot. Personally, I'd have the Skyward Sword climbing mechanics where you can climb a little bit but not much, but make it so that the hook/clawshot can go on any surface. Even better is a double claw/hookshot so you can swing around like Spider-Man

Linkle. That's right, from the original Hyrule Warriors spin-off game. It would be cool if we got to choose to play as Link or Linkle at the beginning of the game. Make it so that Link can't get into Gerudo Town without a disguise like in Breath of the Wild, but also make it so Linkle can't get into Goron City without a disguise, that way it's even and there's no major advantage.

If Linkle can't be an option, I'd have Link be a different race than Hylian. Tears of the Kingdom already teased us with this concept with the Ancient Hero. Before TotK, the closest we got was Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask Link who thought he was a Kokiri but found out that he was in fact Hylian and also had ghost masks to shapeshift into other races. (Or you could also add Linkle as this race too. But I think that's a bit much)

20 hearts OR harder enemies. With BotW, Link had 30 hearts. In literally every other Zelda game he had 20. With 30 hearts, it was a decent change in normal mode, but in Master Mode, it made it essential. Enemies did more damage and evolved from their normal mode counterparts. In TotK, Link has 40 hearts and no Master Mode. The enemies do basically the same damage as in BotW's normal mode and sometimes even far less with the decayed-unfused weapons. So I would make the series go back to 20 hearts or have Master Mode as the default difficulty.

A new fast travel system. Look, shrines were a good idea. Especially for a fast travel system, but if we're getting rid of the 10-20 extra hearts how I would do it, we need something else. For this, let's turn to Skyrim for just a second. The fast travel system there is broken because every cave, tower, dungeon, etc. is a fast travel point, but let's look at the towns/cities and important landmarks: they're fast travel points once we discover them. So let's turn those things into fast travel points in this hypothetical Zelda game. Now, what about the less significant parts of the map? Well, a few train stations around the map with a train. I mean, trains are in the Zelda universe. Spirit Tracks literally is about that, so it wouldn't be a big deal. I had this idea back in 2021, and now even fucking Fortnite has a train around a map with a few train stations in random spots.

This one will make a bit more sense if you read my "If I were to make a Zelda game, what would I keep?" post. Heart Pieces/Stamina pieces. You could go the normal route with 4 pieces makes a full thing or go Twilight Princess style with 5 pieces makes a full thing. These would probably be given as quest rewards in quests that are Side Adventures rather than Main Quests or Side Quests. Side quests would give you rupees or a rare item and Main Quests will give you more story progression.

Bring back the "one-and-done" races like the Kokiri, Twili, Minish, Zonai, Lokomo, etc.

[majorasnightmare]

Zora Worldbuilding Headcanons

Some core assumptions:

The BotW branch of the timeline is chronologically set AFTER the previous timeline, ie the events of ToTKs ancient past is set AFTER the last event of the Hyrule Historia timeline. essentially they all come back together to form one line that makes up ToTKs ancient era

The biggest effect on Hyrules topography was the flooding in Wind Waker. after an unknown point, the flooding ocean receded leaving behind the ruins of ancient Hyrule. at some point after that, the zonai settled parts of it and made the buildings wed see as ruins by the time of BotW. slowly the various tribes of hyrule immigrated back

all peoples within the setting of hyrule are loosely grouped into categories called tribes. in this sense, tribe refers a collection of peoples with shared traits, without anything concretely set in stone (for example, hyrule includes the tribe of hylians, the tribe of gorons, the tribe of koroks, etc etc. the main six who show up repeatedly can be considered the sage tribes (gerudo, hylian, sheikah, rito, goron, zora), and the various types of enemies can be considered the monster tribes (the blin tribe of bokoblin, moblin, bulblin, etc)

so with THAT in mind! heres shit that is almost entirely just Fun Background Context and worldbuilding that i mostly just rotate in my mind when working out events for that still-unnamed totk au

NOW UNDER A READMORE I FIGURED OUT HOW TO USE

@blujayonthewing @br1ghtpunk @trenchcoatofthelord

now in convenient bullet point form because if i dont organize points somehow my adhd ass loses the plot. this might get edited and cleaned cuz im posting this at 3 am

the zora are the tribe most heavily associated with the element of water. elemental water concerns not just the physical aspect of water, but conceptually is associated with the concepts of flowing time and change. as such, the zora show the highest degree of adaptation and physical changes

by the time of ToTK there are three descendants of Old Timeline Zora: the rito, who adapted with the help of valoo to achieve flight, and inherited the element of wind and forest from the kokiri, the "river dwelling" zoras that make up the current Zoras Domain and include Sidon, and the "reef dwelling" zoras that are further east in the oceans bordering akkala and include Yona. there are more than these 3 (only two of which are still zora as the rito have branched off so much and so long ago they are considered their own separate tribe) but these are the ones with the strongest presence in hyrule

the zora are very familiar with their own adaptable nature, and physical differences between different zora are rarely remarked on as its a matter of course. this typically confuses non zora when one refers to the rito as their air dwelling cousins, but to a zora this seems as obvious as the sunrise. some zora just evolved to fly, its that easy. they may not be fishpeople but theyre still cousins. zora rarely elaborate on this connection as initial confusion is misconstrued as confusion with regards to a zoras adaptable nature in GENERAL and not the specific connection between the birdlike rito and the fishlike zora

zora, overall, work on clownfish gender rules. personal physical traits can morph based on overall population and secondary sex characteristics adapt and change as needed. zora gender presentation, therefore, is completely divorced from sex characteristics and considered a matter of personal identification. clothing is essentially just fun accessories to jazz up your appearance. as such gender roles in zora society exclusively refers to whos doing what in procreation, but extrapolating habits, presentation, or identifying characteristics from those roles is deeply confusing. similarly confusing is the idea of differentiating relationships based on gender or sex characteristics (to a zora, all marriage is gay marriage).

well accustomed to change, the zora typically take cultural differences in stride and are known for their adaptable and friendly nature, though a perspective drawing root from the biology of fish exacerbated by an elf-like long lifetime means theres been a fair share of well meaning confusion and misinterpretations on their part.

the exception being the zora post calamity where, having suffered catastrophic losses and the death of their beloved princess, the zora of the domain reacted in their grief by becoming isolationist and traditionalist, in an attempt to staunch the flow of despair that was sweeping their lands. sidons ascension both as the champions heir in botw and the sage of water in totk metaphorically heals these wounds, helping the zora as a people embrace the everflowing nature of time and the changes they bring, as we must risk pain to fight for our happiness. by digging in our heels and keeping away, we prevent anything from getting better, letting the water stagnate. though the current may sweep us away, only the flowing river brings new life.

the zora, being the tribe associated with the element of water, react incredibly strongly to its presence. this is most visible with zora royalty. ancient tradition dictates the spiritual stone of water, the zora sapphire, be used as a wedding gift by the royal heir. proximity to such a powerful source of elemental water causes the zora ruler to grow steadily larger and more powerful as they age, as the spiritual stone is used as their marriage token. this is why the zora king is typically a massive individual, combined with the zoras long lives, one can get absolutely MASSIVE. this connection is also why the zora ruler is so powerful, as seen in king dorephan physically throwing a guardian off a cliff

following up on this, most zora cannot cast magic. the implied gender dynamics in sidons questline in ToTK deeply aggravate me and, imo, cheapen Miphas skills as a champion, as yona and other female zora are seen performing the same healing magic mipha was known for, and then purifying water in sidons place (so why is he even doing it if he can just take shifts??? anyways). adjusting for this, magic is, by ToTK, an extremely rare skill to have. even the presence of the spiritual stone does not imbue one with the ability and skill to cast magic dorephan may be powerful, but he is no mage.

in that vein: yona and her attendants have no healing magic. they demonstrate their compassion and dedication to helping with the crisis by tediously and thoroughly treating the sludge-affected and wounded zora in the domain by hand, scrubbing them clean and tending to them with non magical medicine. mipha was not born a sage, and in truth had very little magical power, and a shallow connection to the magical element of her people. what was remarkable was the sheer skill and razor point efficiency with which she used what little magic she had, generating returns that so outclassed her power that it seemed a miracle. this is why mipha was so short, as zora grow in proportion to their connection to water, and miphas connection was constantly stretched to its limit by her compassionate nature and determination to heal and save all she could

as a change to ToTK used in the au, and also a headcanon: miphas court was not always a source of water for zoras domain. once the sludge crisis began, polluting the waters around the domain, a wellspring of clean water sprung up as if by magic underneath her statue, flowing downwards towards the zora. the area is well explored, and there is no immediate logical explanation, leading to it being widely perceived as miphas final miracle (which is not far from the truth. vah rutah generates water from nothing, and even in death mipha cant help herself but to try and save her people, watching over them still)

zora religion is a matter of significant cultural importance, and to the surprise of no one, features a heavy emphasis on water. zora, overall, are deeply spiritual as a rule, and this shows clearly in their architecture and their noted tendency to dedicate massive structures to religious worship and celebration (and often time such structures work both as a spiritual source of worship and as a practical location with a designated function. nearly all water temples are explicitly religious, and they also tend to double as water plants in some fashion)

frequent interaction with the hylians has meant that the zoras have had PLENTY of time to comingle and embrace hylian culture and religious concepts, to a degree that often surprises and shocks your average unaware hylian. the zora are somehow more gung ho about hylia than even THEY are (hylian culture and religion are for another post, but in general hylia worship is treated as a subtle background element and is rarely brought to the forefront of active attention or behavior. by contrast, the zora have an organized religion focusing on her with a dedicated priest role)

the heavens above are a vast starry ocean, the dwelling place of spirits, and where the horizon meets the sea, the dead can cross over from one plane to another. the rivers below are a muddied reflection of the starry rivers above, and where life is brought forth in the waters below it transitions to a new form in the waters above. the shine of the stars is the glint of light off the scales of celestial zora, and reflective metals like silver help them find their kin in the lands below

"all waters meet in the ocean" being a zora idiom about how many different concepts will often lead back to one solution, and how many different peoples can find unity at a single destination, regardless of how dissimilar they may initially appear

an emphasis on the flowing mutable qualities of water is reflected both in the zoras conception of identity (prone to change as time and circumstance changes, both metaphysically and also physically) and also their spiritual practice, focusing on the nature of spiritual transition from one state to another

hylia thus takes the role of guiding shepherd in this instance, symbolically aligned with the sun. through hylias light, the spirits of the dead find their loved ones in the living world, who in turn can see the sparkling glint of their scales in the heavens. as disaster clogs the river and buries the dead, hylias light reflects off the water to help guide them to the horizon line

out of all the tribes, the zora have embraced hylia the most, and openly incorporate hylian iconography into their own religious symbolism, and through the generations have had their own dedicated priesthoods to her, a tradition which still continues, albeit more casually, to this day. zora churches to hylia are considered some of the most beautiful in the country

zora do not worship a creator deity and instead attribute their peoples birth to the amorphous and chaotic nature of water itself, though there has been many minor religious figures taking the form of guiding spirits who aided in their creation by guiding the malleable form of the zora into one more closely resembling their current state

included in these guiding spirits are historic protectors of the zora people, including the water dragon farore and the great fish jabu jabu

the shared heritage with the rito is attributed to the nature of leviathans, who both dwelt in the ancient oceans (jabu jabu) and also roamed the heavens (the windfish, levias) and is considered a minor fact of life not really exciting enough to dwell on

a fun little aside inspired by my replay of skyward sword: the water dragon being the source of elemental water sage magic for the zora, and the water dragon uses her power to imbue the lake she resides in with a kind of magical purity, allowing her to grow whatever she wants in its waters (ie salt content or lack thereof does not affect the lotus blossoms or coral growth, as they draw upon the magic in the water to filter what they need). she is the source of elemental water for the zora, and thus has the greatest mastery over it, demonstrating skills other sage descendants cannot yet replicate. in time though, sidon may be able to imbue small bodies of water with that purity, allowing salt and freshwater organisms to coexist when otherwise theyd be unable to

the waters of the divine springs are not elemental water but instead the divine waters of the sacred realm, and are instead closer to elemental *light* than anything else. the springs will never diminish, nor dry up, and are as deep or as shallow as needed

the zonais interaction with the zora was a bit of a reversal of typical first contact enlightenment. the zora have a long history of stellar plumbing systems and engineering, to such a degree that first contact resulted in the zonai learning and adapting zora blueprints and methodologies for the construction of the water temple sky island

[cloudninetonine]

*waltzes on in, wearing a raincoat but still somehow soaked to the bone, waves, offers tea* Heya, passing by again with thoughts and since I have a migraine it's probably a sign from the gods to get them out.

*reads about Mess Au's Hylia, nods* So, what you're saying is that Craein and Una have even more reasons to team up and vibe check her, got it.

Also I just had a thought, and it's about the Fae and food, it's said that if you accept food from the Fae you end up binding yourself to them and the Fae realm, maybe part of the reason Hyrule is bad at cooking is because he's deliberately trying to avoid binding people to him? Also I can see him being very roundabout about passing food to Player as a result, instead of just directly giving it to them he puts it nearby if he can, sets it on their lap so he doesn't have to directly give it to them as a result, Yandere Hyrule and Villain Hyrule probably are the opposite and deliberately try to make people take food directly from them to bind them for obvious reasons and that's likely why Player was so starved in the Mess au.

Also Player showing trust to Rulie by just cutting out the middle man and straight up taking an apple from his hand or something and biting down on it, calm as you please because they trust him while in contrast Rulie is simultaneously flustered, freaking out because "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" and falling in love all over again. Or if Villain Rulie ever gets Player to fully trust him they eat anything he offers them without being roundabout about it and poor boy is just, uncomprehending that someone would trust him that much? Do you not know what you just did? And he just blue screens, and also technically sighs because "Well darn he can't just NOT make sure what's his isn't safe now can he? What is he meant to do? Let them go? Hah!", Like if you thought the Fairytales were protective before you ain't seem nothing after they got what may as well be the Fae equivalent of a life oath.

Just unspoken shows of trust in general, I've become soft for Rulie and it's mostly your fault /j

Also I dunno if it's the sleep deprivation, the migraine, me overthinking it, coincidence or all of the above, but I just realized an important factoid when it comes to dealing with animals (feral ones specially) and the Fae both: unless it's some very specific types, you shouldn't run from them, because it gets their attention and makes them more likely to chase after you.

So it got me thinking which of the boys would probably have that "chase" instinct be more prominent, the Rulies, obviously (and heck can you imagine the inner panic of Player knowing they shouldn't run from either Villain Hyrule (I really need to remember his name) or Oberon no matter how hard they want to because it will get their attention, or make them more likely to spring back up to track them down even after being knocked out by the combination of iron bells ringing and a steel garrote to the throat? It's like one of those horror movies scenarios where you're not sure if the killer is really down or not), maybe Time and his evil counterpart? (because of the Hero's Shade deal, they appear as a golden wolf so it's likely they also have that instinct too either from getting a mask like that over their life or just from being raised in the woods, that and I personally headcanon the Kokiri are basically just a distant branch of the Fae due to how close they are to fairies and being raised by them probably changed Time's worldview a bit, man is basically a cryptid that's good at hiding it for the most part), the Twilights (I mean he is a wolf, wolves instinctually herd their pack, and I can just imagine that every time Wild, Player or Hyrule sprint off after something that caught their attention on the way that it doesn't make him twitch every time, trying to keep from sprinting after them too), Fia/Seraph (half because it's either the fault of Time's or Twilight's genes, half because he was raised Zonai and is absolutely feral as a result and being a Gladiator did NOT help, you can bet Una, Dia and Craein exploited the life out of that instinct as a result in my Ancient Au, Una throwing things just to see him twitch or instinctually try to take after it if he annoyed her or just because she needed a laugh or just starting chases herself when the two of them were bored, Dia instigating spars by compelling Fia to chase after him if he was mad to blow off some steam, and Craein seeing some times where Fia was upset would distract him by starting chases, like you'd think the two of them we're wolf pups with how they tackled each other to the ground and playfully wrestled on the ground, Craein would absolutely be a little shit through it and tease the life out of the man to motivate him to move faster, of just doing it by accident {Craein or Player: "Catch me if you can Mr.Hunter Man!" Fia/Seraph: "And I took that personally."} and I can see Fia letting them or Player catch him on purpose just for the laughs and maybe use it as a training opportunity to Player and he probably doesn't do that often, meanwhile, he's absolutely merciless to Wild and Calamity because he wants Wild to be a better hunter and so he won't go easy on him and on Cal because he wants him to let loose more, and falling into his instincts will be healthy for him), and of course the Wilds (It's basically Fia's/Seraph's fault as well as the weapon break thing, but also due to how he adapted to his Hyrule, look you either learn how to corner possible prey really quickly and to preliminary take out threats by just bodying them, or you learn how do run and dodge those you can't do that to as easily, no in betweens, it probably comes with the territory of being a good tracker to taking the opportunity to hunt something and running with it, man doesn't even realize he's doing it until he's already tackled Player to the ground, Cal probably doesn't have that instinct because he leans closer to knight training like Warriors and Sky, also not pictured is Wild unknowingly taking after Fia and chasing/play wrestling with Player the same way he did so with Craein in my au), I dunno, just an interesting though that came to my head and could be interesting to work with.

Also the Fae can't chase after someone if there's moving streams on between them, and I find it extremely funny if the only reason Villain Hyrule or Oberon can't fully hunt Played down is because they crossed a moving river and even if they do fins another way across it they won't be able to find them again, or Rulie stopping dead in a run if there's a moving river nearby.

Craein would absolutely be a protector towards Player, you can blame the Ancient Au for their complete and utter disregard for full self preservation, they are feral, they deal with Fia on a regular basis and they WILL bite and cut someone if needed be for Player, Truly on their thirteeth reason and they decided to wake up and chose violence, also I find it hilarious if the Yan's and Vil's mistake them because Craein is just Ancient Au Player, and they go in for a nasty surprise because they fucked around and found out because all they had to do to throw them off was switch cloaks while Craein left Player with either the Singularity (the Ganons) or Fia and Una, the shenanigan opportunities are endless. Maybe I'll leave a short of this here later idk. They're like a big sibling that will simultaneously encourage your shenanigans and commit murder for you or help hide the body, pair that with Una Unhinged, Dia the Brutal and Fia the Feral and you basically gave Player an incredibly chaotic and brutal protection squad.

Not pictured is Craein, who worries about Fia on a daily basis, probably in the heat of battle (maybe if their cloaks are both up), mistaking Wild for Fia and just absolutely scolding him as they check him over, no regards for personal space until they realize they got the wrong feral man, go "Oh shoot my bad-" and then immediately turn around to turn that scolding and check over towards Fia on the same breath, pulling his ear as the man snorts because his durability makes it unnecessary but he'll indulge them anyway, I kind of feel like the Chains reaction to what's essentially a feral, no chills given version of Player would be amusing.

A fun fact: in Ancient Rome/Greece, if you threw an apple at someone and they caught it it's essentially a marriage proposal that's accepted, this but make it with Fia/Seraph since he's a Gladiator and maybe Gerudo gladiators leaned hard into this custom as an unspoken promise to loved one's they'd be back, Una would absolutely be a little shit and do that with an unaware Player all the time or at least encourage Flora to do it too, while Fia/Wild are twitching in the back.

And that's all for now, migraine is worse as I type this, hope existence is treating you well, also please get some sleep.

-Just a Tired Summertime Musician.

Craein and Una are very welcome to beat Martinet's arse, girl needs a reality check and she needs it bad

Also why is that both cute and bittersweet about the Fae and food? Imagine how honoured Hyrule would feel when Player gladly takes any food from him, even knowing what could happen, because they love him that much! Definitely, a fairy instinct moment that takes over

Loving the running point too! It's once again the natural instinct that takes over and probably engrains Player to go carefully rather than race away because running means a chase and by that point they wouldn't have the energy in them anymore to run.

Okay but Player would carry Hyrule over the lake, he's not crossing it because they're basically the one crossing it, they're just holding him and once again he's falling in love all over again.

"What? You can't cross the lake? I've gotcha babe."

I'm also loving Craein becoming part of the "Player protection squad" even if they're basically Player, they don't want Player to go through the hardships they went through and they'll do everything to keep them safe- love it.

I REMEMBER THE APPLE THING- What I would find funny is Una throwing it towards Player only for Fia to cut it in half mid air because that's his job!