#LInked Universe Meta

[batrogers]

WRT the most recent LU Update, I think I feel like this is kinda confirming what I hoped was going on in the last update but wasn't sure of until this one came out: Time is currently very stressed.

Back when Sky confirmed the portal was still active upon pursuing the Postman, Time responds to that confirmation with a very grim expression and words: "Remove any thoughts of concluding this journey. This is far from over."

From there, the entire next sequence up to their letters is rehashing the battle and, in many cases, blaming himself for stepping aside when facing an enemy he understands (styled after his, specific, Iron Knuckles) in favour of protecting Twilight. Despite Warriors reassuring him that his priorities, to protect over fight, were correct and ones he supports, Time is shifting from play and teasing into taking command of everyone in a very literal sense: he's focused on weapons, abilities, and preparations. He's obviously the person they're following the orders of, and he acts like it.

I don't remember the comic ever being this explicit about Time calling the shots before. Whether this is because Jojo started in media res, or because this is an actual change we may not know for sure, but the grim tone in Time's behaviour may be part of his reaction to Twilight when he asks him about the letter. I already did an extended analysis of that here, in which I point out that all the hints we get could be interpreted as PTSD, and frankly I think the newest update supports that.

The closest Time has come to smiling in the past few updates was when he was admiring Wild's new sword -- a practical question ("I need everyone to be properly armed. Is this resolved?" -- a commander's question, not a father or friend's, there!) and a compliment that would boost morale to be visibly approving of.

In the newest update, clearly a ways into the woods and away from the inn, Time is still as focused as Sky on their task. Literally everyone else is relaxed and playful, teasing each other as they reminisce, but Time (who, in previous portions of the story has played along with such things!) directly responds to Wild approaching him by telling him "Leave me out of--"

Explicitly, he's not in the mood to play. He doesn't actively stop him, but it's also obvious from his later statement ("What sort of conversation is taking place back there?") he's absolutely distracted by something else in his head. It's not because he can't hear them -- he responds to Warriors comment about his Zelda on the next page, so he's obviously in hearing range. He just wasn't listening.

Why? We don't know. I don't really buy the pregnancy thing, because while Time says the ranch is fine, again, he has not smiled since. I'm not sure the letter had anything to do with it; he's been grim since before then.

But clearly something's on the old man's mind.

[thejolteonmastertj]

Also, poor Legend definitely has communication issues. Poor bro always getting read as mean or rude.

More fuel for my Autistic Legend headcanon.

(Source: https://www.tumblr.com/linkeduniverse/758261870143619072/entrance-pt2-coming-soon-comicarchive-about)

[intuitive-revelations]

FLUXES [Celestis: Engineered Participants / Technologies] Example: "DOCTOR, The"

[Image description, courtesy of @quailfence: a series of pictures of text, alternated with screencaps and gifs from Doctor Who.

1: Text: Fluxes: [Celestis: Engineered Participants/Technology] Individuals transposed backwards in time but not too far in space, using a very high chaotic limiter setting and tied to their home period by a thread of biodata

2: The Eleventh Doctor stands in the future corpse of his TARDIS, looking and a pulsing stream of light that has replaced the console. He says, "That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space."

3: Text: He raised a finger. 'Look. There.

Now she could just make out the thread in the moonlight. It was just a faint reflection, maybe a foot or two long, about a metre off the ground. A taut strand of spiderweb hanging in the air, not attached to anything.

'What is it?' Fitz asked.

'It's only partially rotated into three dimensions,' he said. He pushed his finger right through the glimmering line, without affecting it. 'That's why it looks one- or two-dimensional. The rest is still perpendicular to what we can see - woven into higher space, or the time vortex…'

'Yes,' said Fitz, 'but what is it?' 'It's what your friend mistook for a ley line.' The Doctor was scuttling around the silver thread, peering at it from every angle, getting more and more agitated. 'It's part of the fabric of space-time itself. What DNA is to your genetic code, this stuff is to biodata. And it's all just exposed here now. Personality, history, memory, perception, all vulnerable…'

'I'm going to have to ask you again, aren't I?' said Fitz.

The Doctor said, 'It's me.'

4: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth doctors in the TARDIS. 14: "But you're fine?" 15: "I'm fine, because you fixed yourself. We're Time Lords, we're doing rehab out of order."

5: Text: The subject is turned loose in his or her own history, and the limiter setting allows tiny actions taken by the future version to have considerable effects on the past version. The biodata link then transfers these changes to the future version, which alters it, and thus alters the changes made to the past version. Therefore, the individual's history is kept constantly in flux.

6: The Fugitive Doctor says, "Let me take it from the top: Hello, I'm the Doctor."

7: Text: Let me finish. Think back to that time when you went to see your previous selves.

8: Ten, Eleven, and War talk to each other. Ten: "You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?" Eleven: "We change history all the time. I'm suggesting far worse."

9: Text: 'Maybe there's no one home on Gallifrey,' said the boy softly. There was just the one of him.

The Doctor looked at him, cupping the small white cube in his hands. The boy said, Maybe they all left. Or maybe the whole planet's being destroyed, and undestroyed, and destroyed, and you just caught them at the wrong moment.

10: The TARDIS by the ruins of Gallifrey

11: Text: 'It's impossible,' said the Doctor. 'It's impossible for my people. Our past is unreachable. What's written can't be unwritten.'

'Who said your history can't change?'

Another boy answered, 'Someone from his history.'

And another: 'Maybe it's the second-biggest lie in Time Lord history.'

12: Dhawan!Master tells Thirteen, "You are the Timeless Child."

13: Thitreen stares at a ruined house. Swarm whispers in her ear and tells her, "All the memories you've lost, all the people you've been. It's all in there, contained within that house."

14: Text: And it was like the Doctor's home. As if his ship understood the loss of the House and had compensated to fill the emptiness. Shadowy corridors, alcoves and stairways, a secret at every turn. Like being in the Doctor's head. Like his life, for that matter, the details of which were strewn like flotsam across the floor.

15: Text: 'Sweet,' said the little boy. 'That's my favourite of your origin stories, too.'

The Doctor opened his eyes. He had been laughing, he realised, he felt that lightness in himself. The boys had all moved away, behind him, leaving him facing the empty dark of the warehouse.

'What do you mean?' he asked. His voice sounded very small.

'Is this the version where they banned all mention of his name, and yours, for consorting with aliens? Or the one where he got every record of himself deleted from the files?'

'Feel free to believe either of them,' snapped the Doctor, 'or both of them, or neither of them. If you're curious about my past, I want there to be as many wrong answers as possible.'

16: The Eighth Doctor tells someone, "I'm half human. On my mother's side."

17: Text: 'Well he's a hybrid, you know that. A Gallifreyan not born of Gallifreyan, the one who unites the two races and brings good old human niceness into their alien society. Aliens need that, y'know.'

'A human hybrid? She saw the contempt in his curling lip. 'Pseudoscientific nonsense. There's no evidence,' he repeated.

'He's allowed to be different. He's got a prophecy and everything.'

18: Lady Me says, "By your own reasoning, why couldn't the Hybrid be half Time Lord, half human?"

19: Text: Someone giggled. 'Let's play pin the tale on the donkey.'

'Maybe you didn't use to have a father.'

'Maybe you're living in the middle of a time war. Maybe there's an Enemy out there -'

The Doctor shouted, 'I'm not listening!'

'- who's rewriting you when you're not looking!'

'Maybe you weren't always half human.'

'But now you've become always half human.' 'Maybe you weren't always a Time Lord.'

But now you've always been a Time Lord.'

'Maybe you originally came from some planet in the forty-ninth century. Fleeing from the Enemy who'd overrun your home -'

'I said I'm not listening! Laa laa laa laa laa -'

'- and you've just been written and rewritten and overwritten, ever since.'

'Pin the tale!'

'How d'you know it's not true?'

'How could you know it's not true?'

The voices crowded in. 'How would you know, huh?'

'How would you know?'

'How would 'How would you 'How 'How would you know? you know? you know? know?'

'Why would I care?' shouted the Doctor.

The boy fell silent.

20: Lady Me asks, "Am I right? Is it true?" Twelve replies, "Does it matter?"

21: Text: However, the one group from the Homeworld which has excelled at flux-engineering is the Celestis.

22: Two asks the Time Lords, "Now then… what about me?"

23: Tecteun tells Thirteen, "Which is ehy we engineered the Fluyx: Shut the universe down and you within it."

24: Text: Even Mictlan itself can be considered a kind of enormous flux, an endlessly-shifting realm so cortosive to the rest of history that its heartland has to be kept on the outer skin of the universe

24: The Fourteenth Doctor tells Donna, "I invoked a supersition, at the edge of the universe, where the walls are thin and everything is possible."

25: The space station from Wild Blue Yonder

26: Text: There are suggestions of a stable middle-ground between the two fates, in which the physical matter of the flux is lost but the meaning of the subject/ victim is retained, a series of memetic connections with no flesh to support it. Yet this entity exists only on a purely theoretical level, relying on the perceptions of others to survive at all.

27: The Twelfth Doctor walks up to the TARDIS console. He says, "Can't wait to hear what I say." Glancing at the viewer, he adds, "I'm noting without an audience."

28: Text: You know what Sam represents. If a tree falls in a forest and no one's there to hear it, does it make a sound? Stop me if I'm getting too abstract here, but if a Time Lord saves the world and nobody witnesses him doing it, does history care? She's your witness. The thing you need to make you whole.

29: The First Doctor looks at the viewer and says, "Incidentally, a Happy Christmas to all of you at home!" End description.]

[Plain text: Fluxes [Celestis: Engineered Participants / Technologies] Example: "Doctor, The". End plain text.]

@dw-described

[yashahimewasamistake]

To use the Triforce the person must have a balance between wisdom, power and courage.

The three Links who are canonically balanced and were Triforce owners are: Sky, Legend and Hyrule.

The Links who only had Courage are: Wind, Warriors, Time and Twilight.

Links without any Triforce part: Wild and Four.

[legendofzoodles]

How the Chain solves dungeon puzzles

Time has been doing this since before his first puberty so he’s got it down to a science. With decades of experience he’d probably rely on that heavily when approaching any dungeon puzzle, and automatically pay attention to certain things like the design, who might have created it and the items he finds there to give him a leg up when it’s time to use ye olde noggin. That being said, since he has been doing this since he was a child I feel like he’d 100% rage if things got too difficult. 

What? You think he survived the Water Temple because of patience and controlling his emotions? Goddess no, he was mentally 9 when he painstakingly got through it and it broke him. He now has a deep seeded hatred for all water based puzzles. 

Warriors on the other hand, has spent a lot of time managing armies and little to no time in a room devoid of sunlight- unless it was shutting himself away in his office to crunch some overdue paperwork. Don’t get me wrong he’d crush any sort of puzzle where the solution is simply beating up a room full of monsters or the dungeon boss, but traditional puzzle he might struggle with. A lot of Zelda puzzles require an ‘out of the box’ kind of thinking that probably doesn’t come naturally to the ‘by the books’ Captain. 

Since back in the day Twilight had Oocca and her son to teleport him out of the temple when he got tired, low on supplies or bored so if he can help it he won’t stick around longer than he needs to. That said he’d still really enjoy his time there, silently taking in the atmosphere and ambience of the dungeon. 

Also, according to the 2000s Zelda fandom TP’s dungeon puzzles were the most difficult of the series. I’d wager that Midna, rather than helping out (outside of her being a companion type character), would’ve either cryptically teased the answer if she figured it out before him to poke fun or simply not have taken an interest and just nagged at him to hurry up. Meaning he solved them mostly on his own and therefore got really good at it.

Sky definitely used to chat with Fi as he solved puzzles back in his adventure, sharing thoughts, getting hints and occasionally voicing frustration. Because of this, he would definitely collaborate with whoever’s exploring with him and if he’s on his own then he’ll just talk to himself. Helps him think.

He’s the type to overthink every problem presented to him, to the point where he’d often invent a very convoluted solution when an obvious one was staring him in the face ignored. And unless there’s someone there to point it out he’ll never notice. 

Like Time, Legend’s got a lot of experience dungeon crawling, I’d argue more since judging by Time’s armour he hasn’t been travelling a whole lot recently, so he’d also be relying on that experience. When he was younger, dungeon puzzles were a blast to figure out but now they’ve all just kind of bled together. There’s nothing he hasn’t really seen before in some shape or form, no tricks for the deity’s to pull that will surprise him. 

He’d just breeze through each puzzle or trap like: “Lame,” or “Seen it,” or “Hey...the spider’s new,” yawning as he went. I feel though if he were paired up with Warriors (he could act nonchalant while Warriors is jumpy at everything) who’s new to all this or Hyrule how’s only ever seen really simplistic dungeon puzzles it could spark that joy he once had. 

Wild would unashamedly break the system. Either accidently while finding creative way to cheat or to intentionally carve out his own shortcut. Not so much out of frustration, he could absolutely solve it they way the designers intended if he wanted to, trouble is he rarely has any interest in doing that. He used to ruin the carefully constructed puzzles (most of) the Sheikah monks crafted specifically to test him- right in their faces!- and they rewarded him regardless of the damage he caused. He’s been spoiled. I can imagine him blasting a way out only to turn around, go back in and intentionally destroy the rest of the puzzles for the sake of completion and loot.  

Members like Wind, Hyrule and Time on a bad day would 100% support this method, the others would be horrified, with Legend somewhere in the middle.

Four is a very methodical sort of problem solver, not one to let his past experience cloud his judgment and restrict him to assumptions rather than trying out something new. As a blacksmith who’s probably gotten to learn about how other cultures craft their weapons he probably has a deep appreciation for the dungeons design and would be the first to point out what certain quirks of the building mean and what tribe left their mark there. Whenever he may feel agitated for not understanding a puzzle all he needs to do is walk around and look at some historic architecture to keep Blue at bay. 

For this reason he may be one of the slower ones to complete a puzzle, but at least the walls swirling patterns may give him inspiration for a cool new sword handle. Not everyone would be able to relate to his eye for detail though. 

Four: The paving looks amazing with all these unique carvings, don’t you think?

Hyrule: [grazing a hand over the stone] Ah yes, the floor is made out of floor. 

Similar to Warriors Hyrule hasn’t really seen any complex dungeon puzzles, but unlike him he has a more creative ‘out of the box’ way of thinking, which would give him an edge. He’d probably get easily distracted though, lured away from the puzzle by a hidden passage or another route he hadn’t checked out, yet would somehow end up discovering every nook and cranny in the entire dungeon has to offer without much trouble.    

Wind is not really a fan of them. Unless it’s for a specific purpose like rescuing someone or to beat up a monster he’ll actively avoid them. But if he had to he’d try to get through it as quickly as possible by literally just trying whatever first pops in his head. He’d rush past and ignore any sort of hints the designers might have given him and try to brute force his way though. When it eventually works he’ll immediately forget the solution though, so don’t bother asking how he got out just be glad he did, like Grandma would. 

He’s not the type to ‘stop and smell the roses’ like Four, or just enjoy the atmosphere like Twilight, but he’s too polite (thanks to Grandma) to go around destroying ancient masonry like Wild. 

Who do you think would make up the best teams (2- 4 people) if the chain were split up in a dungeon? 

I’m thinking Sky, Four and Hyrule because they’d go at a slow pace chatting the whole time, with Four teaching the other two about who built the dungeon and Hyrule encouraging them to explore every room. Or maybe Legend, Warriors and Wind, with the latter two trying really hard and Legend supervising and making fun of them. Leaving Time, Twilight and Wild, where Twilight would struggle to keep Wild from blowing them up and Time being seconds away from joining him. 

~~~

Thanks for reading! 

Masterlist

Other headcanons: 

Parkour team

Honorary Gorons

How each member of the chain laughs

[naehja]

About the idea of Legend and Fable being siblings

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

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

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

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

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

It was the start of the Downfall Timeline.

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

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

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

And so Legend and Fable were twins.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And Fi corrected his movements in a fight.

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

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

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

"The master sword teached me!"

"She SPOKE to you *o*?"

[sadcoms]

and if i said that everything people prophesied would happen if the doctor and rose stayed together actually happened after they were separated what then

[blackhholes]

Photography and Death in Teen Wolf

Using Photography as an Analogy in the Experience of Death and Mourning by Paula Mahoney / Photography, Memory and Survival by Martin Golding / Visual Codes of Secrecy : Photography of Death and Projective Identification by Julia St George

Written for @teenwolf-meta‘s Meta May Monday theme: power.

In the essay In Plato’s Cave Susan Sontag writes “To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge-and, therefore, like power.” When examining the power the kanima, and as a result Matt, holds in the second season of the show it’s important to note that initially this power wasn’t all-powerful. It had to be channeled through a conduit. Through photography.

In Fury Matt tells Scott “All I had to do was take their picture, and Jackson would take their life.” Matt’s photos become a sort of pre-mortem death photography, where traditional post-mortem photography serves as a way of immortalizing the recently deceased, the photography of season two acts moreso as an omen. The second their pictures are taken their fate is sealed and Jackson will take their life.

There are limitation to the power of the photograph though, despite Matt photographing Jessica the kanima is incapable of killing her as she is pregnant, this forces Matt to step outside the rules established and once he does he starts to transform into the kanima himself, this allows him to wield Jackson as a weapon without the use of photography and now all he has to do is think about killing someone and Jackson will do it. 

Matt doesn’t uphold the rules he himself created and his hubris in believing he no longer needs the camera to control the kanima and the power he feels he has gained as a result eventually lead to his own death. 

[metamorphiacreations]

Spoilers for like the first 30 mins of TotK

[zarvasace]

I think Four's legacy should be bigger.

I've seen plenty of content in which Legend's lttp gba four swords palace gets brought up, and a not-insignificant amount about Time knowing stories (looking at you, Fanboy by cerame!) But stories and legends only grow as time goes on!

Skyloft knew of the First Hero, and the baby kingdom Hyrule knew of the Sky Hero, of course. He was a king and a leader, a popular figure. He and the queen implemented stable governmental practices with foresight and wisdom, setting up a solid foundation as the kingdom grew. He was a mythical figure, potentially even deific, what with his associations with Hylia. The stories of the First Hero become conflated with the Sky Hero.

The Hero of Men was the kingdom's first real hero. He was Hyrule's own, and his stories remained fantastical enough to be disbelieved by cynics, but not fantastical enough to be dismissed entirely. So many traditions started with him, and as the kingdom grew bigger, travelers carried those festivals and stories and expectations with them as they dispersed.

By the time the Hero of Time grew up, several things were an integrated part of the culture: Heroes were named Link, they saved a princess, and they defeated evil with swords as magical as they were.

In the downfall timeline, the Fallen Hero was not a good example, but he still followed the established patterns. By that time, stories of the Hero of Men may have been passed on a few too many times, but the meaning of them never changed. People still talked about heroes and hoped that another might come around someday. Perhaps Legend grew up on the good stories, in addition to the bad.

The Hero of Time as good as never existed in the adult timeline, where he was able to stop Ganon before anything even happened. The hero before Twilight, at least as far as people knew, was the Hero of Men.

The child timeline had its star, and perhaps stories of the Hero of Men weren't as prevalent, but stories like that don't just disappear. There are bound to be vestiges of those remaining.

And that says nothing of what may be leftover past that, or in Warriors's era. Four's got a reputation.

[friendlystarbubble]

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, Kirby (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe), King Dedede/Meta Knight Characters: Kirby (Kirby), King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, Sky (Linked Universe), Four (Linked Universe), Time (Linked Universe), Legend (Linked Universe), Hyrule (Linked Universe), Twilight (Linked Universe), Wind (Linked Universe), Warriors (Linked Universe), Wild (Linked Universe), Green (Linked Universe), Blue (Linked Universe), Red (Linked Universe), Vio (Linked Universe) Additional Tags: My First Fanfic, Based on a Tumblr Post, I have so many ideas, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda) Series: Part 1 of The Chain in Dreamland Summary:

After a rough battle with the Shadow's monsters, a portal opens just as the chain are beginning to patch each other up. They don't want to, but they go through, lest Hylia pulls them in herself.

They come to a totally different world on the other side, one Legend, for better or worse in his personal opinion, recognizes.

Set an undetermined but comfortable amount of time after the events of canon that Jojo has already posted.

Rated T for some swearing.

[batrogers]

Linked Universe Time with PTSD

My friends have gotten the brunt of me going on these rambles at them directly, so I decided I’d make this everyone else’s problem as well. Especially after the recent update and the somewhat... questionable words exchanged between him and Twilight, I figured this could be a salve for people like me and a few friends going “What the fuck” about how out of the blue it feels.

A comment on my approach to canon: I am aware there are things shared in the Discord that are creator content, and on the Patreon to which not everyone has equal access or can even manage to relocate again with any ease. As such, like I do with most fandoms, I will be discounting those as “extra-canon” only referenced to augment the “core materials” which I am treating as the Tumblr account archive, because that is available to everyone, without an account and without paying.

I am, of course, including all base canon of the games in this analysis as well, which is to say all the canon directly included in the games and not including the Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess comics. Interviews and so on are considered "extra-canon" here as well.

(Also I am in the Patreon and at the moment none of the “bonus” content is relevant to this anyways, for the curious. I am not, and have never been, in the Discord.)

Approx 1500 words.

IIII

I’m going to start from the comment everyone is making about this update: that Malon must be pregnant. Obviously nothing can prove or disprove that in and of itself, but I would argue that’s both not a necessary read of this and the mere question is actually part of my analysis: Link and Malon are, by word of god and how they’re drawn, in their thirties. They’ve been a couple since they were late teens to early twenties, and they very clearly want to have children from how they react to Twilight!

So why don’t they?

Infertility is suspected after two years of a (presumably) reproductive capable couple having unprotected sex without a pregnancy. If Time and Malon have been trying for ten to twenty years to have children (assuming their relationship started between 15-20, and currently are 30-35), they are incredibly infertile. It’s not out of the question, and a wild stroke of luck could still occur (my own cousin conceived unexpectedly after ten years of trying) but it does serve to investigate other reasons: maybe they had some reason they weren’t trying, either on purpose or because something was keeping them apart.

Something, perhaps, like a war.

The base game of Ocarina of Time does not leave Hyrule in a good state. We are told, in-game, that Hyrule was in a civil war when Link was a baby. His mother died getting him into the Lost Woods, where he was raised as an orphan. The Shadow Temple explicitly states it was used to imprison (and, strongly implied, torture) the enemies of the Hylian royal family. Ocarina of Time is the only game to use its unique script for Hylian, which suggests it wasn’t the original language and did not last into Twilight Princess later on.

Lon Lon Ranch itself is both very protected by location (very close to the Castle, close enough it supplies it with food and other supplies) and by a twelve foot log palisade. The castle grounds themselves have two guarded gates between it and Castletown (do they not trust their own populace?) and a vast number of guards on the hills around it. Kakariko also has guarded, gated entrances.

(This all has a game mechanics explanation, of course. Closing off each section with “gates” and high walls permits loading screens to feel justified and more immersive, and saves game data and space. It creates clearly defined, restricted areas for the console capabilities at the time. But they can still be interpreted this way, because that is ultimately still the world they built in the end.)

In addition to that base of implied precarious stability at home, we have the question of how the matter of Ganondorf was resolved. Time very briefly references pointing the finger at him and causing something to happen, but ultimately there is no result that would not have made the situation politically volatile for some time after. Even if they executed Ganondorf immediately, the bad blood between Hyrule and the Gerudo would’ve festered under Koume and Kotake as potential leaders. If they didn’t, and simply threw him out or banished him, the same would apply this time with Ganondorf still alive... and, if we assume that the Twilight Princess Ganondorf and this one are the same, he looks much older in-model than he does in Ocarian of Time which suggests this interpretation holds more weight.

It’s not really a question of “if” things devolved again after these events, but when and how badly. Remember, again, my comment that the script of Ocarina of Time is gone by the time of Twilight Princess. In addition, I've done an analysis of Twilight Princess game implications that do not imply Child Timeline has been peaceful, either.

But, of course, the question of what the games themselves leave us with doesn’t answer if Jojo went with this position within the canon of the comics. There is of course the potential to disregard this if someone doesn’t want to go the route of war post-game for Ocarina of Time. Many people just don’t want to write it, and that’s valid! I honestly don’t think Jojo really considered it.

But, there is evidence that could support it if you wanted to go there.

First of all, we have Time’s platemail. This is based off of the Hero’s Shade platemail in Twilight Princess. Disregarding all other factors, platemail directly implies a few things about Time’s social position at the start of Linked Universe: he has enough money, influence, and reason to have suffered the cost and length of time required to make what is extremely high-level, personalized (in size and design) armour. This means several things:

Time has social status. That armour is meant to be seen and noticed; it’s something that either was made for show (a “jewel of the crown” level of regard), or because he wanted people to notice it personally. He has money, or political favour: that shit’s expensive. He either paid for it himself, or someone paid for it for him. And he has cause to want the level of defense offered by platemail over chainmail or hardened leather. Platemail is uncomfortable. It's heavy, and reduces agility. You wear plate because you expect to get hit, and hit hard by something that could surpass chainmail or hardened leather. Something like a moblin... or an iron knuckle.

Malon directly references this in their visit to see her: “You’re in danger if you took your best gear.”

Time chose to wear his platemail to go after Dink, but this is armour he already owns before Dink ever entered the picture. In that same chapter, Malon directly states “all the times you’ve come home beaten and bleeding.” While they also joke that Talon doesn’t believe him, remember that Lon Lon Ranch is in a very protected place within Hyrule. A war that takes out the castle and central city is a war that’s very nearly lost. (Hyrule Warriors losing Zelda AND the castle was a devastating, near-lose condition and his Hyrule is probably in severe condition.) Talon can afford to consider the affairs Time gets up to none of his business.

But that doesn’t make them perfectly safe. Malon can fight, she’s been drawn with bow and arrow before. Lon Lon Ranch, as noted, is behind a tall palisade and there’s the implications that Talon’s deceased wife might’ve been a Gerudo. He’s also old enough that he was a young adult at least during the Civil War that killed Link’s mother.

And, somewhere between that picture of Time at sixteen or seventeen, when Malon promised she wanted to know what had happened to him, and the start of Linked Universe (a gap that directly implies that this was not the result of Majora’s Mask!) Link lost an eye and gained the markings of the Fierce Deity mask. And, with it, he gained what we’re told by Jojo (in a VERY old ask) is a terror of using it again.

I’m not going to presume to say what exactly his trauma might or might not look like. PTSD and similar things manifest differently for a lot of people. But it could make Time react badly to the visceral reminder of going back into serious combat. A reminder like, say, a long wait for someone to recover from a nearly-fatal injury. Add in that on long campaigns, letters from Malon may have been his only piece of home, letters that likely carry her terror for his safety with them nevermind the specific news they contain and...

He might not be in a good state of mind when setting out once more with one of the young men he’s pulled into this fight with him. He might struggle to think clearly, when he feels so responsible for their safety and remembers how Malon reacted to Twilight, all because of what he told her.

He might say things in a poor way, with fear weighing more heavily on his mind than reason.

[thejolteonmastertj]

WILD WHY WOULD YOU TEMPT FATE LIKE THAT.

(Source: https://www.tumblr.com/linkeduniverse/758261870143619072/entrance-pt2-coming-soon-comicarchive-about)

This is so ominous, bruh.

Now if something happens to Wild Legend’s gonna blame himself. 😭

He knows it too lmao Lege looks pissed.

[themostdivinetrash]

I think it’s so interesting that they never bring up the significance of the triforce in botw or totk. Like.. it’s so important to understand the fucked up cycle that is zelda/link/ganon (slashes not romantic) and stuff. Like it’s, kind of (?) there in symbolism and with the springs but like. I want a classic [villian] is trying to [something] the triforce.

Where’s the evil sorcerer fucking shit up? Where’s the magic portals? Does zelda even know her sealing power comes from wielding the triforce of wisdom?? It’s so interesting. I wouldn’t mind continuing with this new hyrule because I love Zelda’s character and I want her to geek out about new shit. I want her to have religious trauma related to the triforce just because I KNOW she would after botw. I know she’s a scientist but I want her to be challenged by her faith and her duty to hyrule.

It could be cool for link too! Why does hylia talk to him but not zelda? (It’s for the plot Ik but it would be cool if we had lore) Why does he wield the triforce of courage and the master sword? Will we talk about Fi? What of Demise and the curse they live in.

This could be in a larger timeskip, one where the kingdom has been reestablished fully. One where Zelda might be regarded as queen. Where whatever is threatening the kingdom looms over them. Maybe in another prophecy. And even though zelda and link are tired and out of their depth, they must act, because they would never endanger the kingdom. Their home that they’ve worked so hard to rebuild. The life that they’ve reclaimed cannot be taken from them so easily.

This ended up getting long and rambly and it probably doesn’t make sense. I’m not wearing my glasses and just woke up

TLDR: where the fuck is the triforce?? We should explore that and keep fucking botw/totk link and zelda about it

[yashahimewasamistake]

The Links canonical behavior towards friendly monsters:

Hyrule. There's a monster hiding in a cave, he bribes Hyrule and he is like "okey". He also goes and buys a monster some meat in order to pass to the next chamber.

Legend. There's a monster hiding in a cave! The monster is big, and she's nice and wants Link to find her 100 babies. Clearly, Legend will help her out. She upgrades his weapons in return.

Time. There's a poe that guides him through the desert. He can also put different masks to chat with gibdos and stalchildren.

Wind. Mmm, he helps a girl to send a love letter to a monster? Uhm, the monster wants to have her for dinner. Wind, what did you do?

Twilight. Eh, I guess he spares King Bulblin? Does it count? King Bulblin was definitely an enemy and he wasn't friendly....so, maybe?

Sky. There's a demon hiding in a house, and he is causing every remlim to go crazy at night. But, still, Sky will help him to turn human.

Four. He fuses kinkstones with some ghosts, or something like that. All's fine.

Wild. ---- no idea.

Warriors. --- no idea.

[thephilosophersapprentice]

by my estimate, the ball and chain from zelda weighs roughly 821 pounds.

Tl;dr: I did a lot of math, found out how much a civil war cannonball weighed and its size, and determined that a single pound of iron is roughly 3.7233333333 square inches, and from there figured out the weight of the ball and chain if the ball has an estimated diameter of 18 inches (it does cover up Link's entire torso when he carries it in Twilight Princess), which rounds up to 821 pounds--assuming that it's solid all the way through. If it was hollow inside, it would weigh less, but still.

And yes. Link is absolutely built different, and this is a video game weapon, not a practical one. But would he have the leverage to use something that weighs about six times as much as he does?

I'll hazard a guess here that the power bracelets manipulate gravity instead of actually making Link stronger; they either reduce gravity on the object that's being moved or else fix Link's position rather than him sliding out of the way due to being lighter than the object he's trying to move. The first scenario seems to be the most likely ones in most games, but for Hyrule Warriors specifically where the golden gauntlets are used with a weapon where nullifying its gravity would nullify its force as well, the second option is the most probable.

The way I would fix this issue would be to make the ball less ridiculously large. While this makes it less effective to use against a mob of enemies (as in Hyrule Warriors), it opens up new options as to how the weapon can be manipulated--it could be used just to bludgeon things to death, or it could be used similar to a bola, with the chain wrapping around to ensnare the target.

And here's where I get theoretical. The ball and chain (thus modified) would be one hell of an effective weapon against Lynels. With the length of the chain, as long as you've got it moving and are skilled enough you can keep the Lynel further away from you. Also, it could wrap around the edge of the Lynel's shield, getting around its guard very effectively; similar tactics could be used to disarm a Lynel by allowing the chain to wrap around the weapon or shield and then giving a sharp pull.

However, hands down the most effective way the ball and chain could be used against a Lynel would be to wrap around one or multiple of the Lynel's legs and then trip the Lynel or even break its legs, stopping it from moving. You can then get in close and use a second weapon to attack it just about however you chose (though even a Lynel on the ground is still a Lynel, even if it's immobilized.)

Aaaand now I kind of want to write a fic where Warriors takes down a Lynel with the ball and chain while Hyrule and Wild stare in shock.