#Like the ones in the Spirit Temple in Ocarina of Time?

[imgibbon]

On the Zelda Timeline

First of all.... fuck the Historia lol. It's just. Wrong. It ignores in-game statements, manuals, interviews where developers stated their intent, the works. That timeline is full of it lol.

But anyway, listen, the Zelda timeline isn't "complicated" or "obtuse" and each game is NOT "just a retelling of the same legend"

Damn near every game in the franchise that's been released is very clear about where it lies with relation to at least one other game.

from the top:

The Legend of Zelda (LoZ) - the first one, we're starting here.

The Adventure of Link (AoL) - a direct sequel LoZ, featuring the same Link.

A Link to the Past (LttP) - a prequel to LoZ, from "before Hyrule was a unified kingdom".

Link's Awakening (LA) - a sequel to LttP, featuring the same Link.

Ocarina of Time (OoT) - a prequel to LttP, portraying events from its backstory.

Majora's Mask (MM) - a direct sequel to OoT, following the same Link.

Oracle of Seasons (OoS) and Oracle of Ages (OoA) go one after the other in either order, but take place in between LttP and LA. This is stated Developer Intent as per interviews, and why they open with Link approaching the Triforce from the end of LttP and ending the linked campaign with Link on the boat from the beginning of LA. I'm going to list Seasons first and Ages second just because that's their sku order.

so at this point the timeline is very straightforward and looks thusly: OoT, MM -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LoZ, AoL

now, continuing on...

Four Swords (FS) comes out attached to an expanded port of Link to the Past which has new content. Said new content includes a temple dedicated to FS', er, Four Sword, which has been corrupted and is in Ganon's hands. FS is said to take place prior to LttP and is "potentially the earliest in the timeline", but exact placement is unclear at time of release.

The Wind Waker (WW) - this presents our first (and only) timeline split. It explicitly takes place after the future of OoT where the final boss fight against Ganon took place, the Hero of Time disappearing afterwards (because Link then travelled into the past and experienced the events of MM) At this time we do not know which timeline split off from OoT that LttP, and everything after it, follows on from.

Four Swords Adventures (FSA) - a direct sequel to FS, featuring the same Link & Zelda, and firmly takes place between OoT and LttP (and by extension, means FS does as well). Stated Developer Intent was to better portray events from LttP's backstory and explain how the Four Sword wound up in Ganon's control. It also, for the first time, shows the rise of a new incarnation of Ganon, firmly splitting the OoT Ganon and LttP Ganon as separate beings.

The Minish Cap (MC) - Very firmly the earliest chronological game at the time of its release. Just, comes before everything else in the list at present.

Twilight Princess (TP) - takes place after OoT, but on the MM side of the split, carrying over characters and plotlines from MM and the ending of OoT where Link went back to being a child and warned the kingdom of Ganon's actions. Also sets up stuff for FSA and LttP. This firmly establishes that LttP takes place on the MM half of the timeline split.

so, to take a look at things now, timeline looks like this: MC -> OoT {timeline splits} - OoT, MM -> TP -> FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LoZ, AoL - OoT -> WW

coincidentally, the next couple of releases would be WW split games heh

Phantom Hourglass (PH) - a direct sequel to WW, featuring the same Link & Zelda

Spirit Tracks (ST) - a sequel to Phantom Hourglass, taking place a few generations later

Skyward Sword (SS) - the new earliest chronological game in the timeline, taking place before even MC

A Link Between Worlds (LBW) - sequel to LttP taking place some generations later but with some returning long-lived characters

Hyrule Warriors (HW) - officially "non-canon", but it takes place some time after TP, Ganon's spirit having been sealed away and the next incarnation not able to be born until he breaks free, so prior to FSA.

Tri Force Heroes (TFH) - a direct sequel to LBW featuring the same Link.

so the timeline looks thus at this point in time: SS -> MC -> OoT {timeline splits} - OoT, MM -> TP -> HW -> FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LBW, TFH -> LoZ, AoL - OoT -> WW, PH -> ST

Hyrule Warriors Legends - an expansion of HW that adds a new story which sees the WW branch of the timeline, from WW through ST, being pulled in to the TP one. Again, "non-canon", but this serves as a convenient spot to point at if one wanted to argue that the two timelines converged again at some point

Why is that convenient? Well, because the next release was

Breath of the Wild (BotW) - references events of OoT, and takes place 10,000 years after the last time "The Calamity" Ganon ravaged the lands of Hyrule. Also seems to reference, among other things, events of both TP and WW, which would suggest that it takes place after both of them at once, which is contradictory... unless the timelines merged back into one at some point.

But really, this is where Nintendo makes a clean break. BotW is either its own standalone thing, or it takes place so far out from prior entries that putting it on a timeline doesn't matter. For reference, that timescale irl is equivalent of looking at when the Ice Age was wrapping up with respect to present day.

From here on out things are less defined, if at all, with relation to pre-BotW games, and are more just in a BotW aesthetic if they're not placed relative to BotW itself.

Cadence of Hyrule (CoH) - another "non-canon" entry, and a crossover one at that. No stated placement, but, the game features a young Ganon who doesn't have the Triforce of Power who grows up, turns into his big beast form, and ravages Hyrule before being defeated, which conveniently is the backstory for the original LoZ, so one could arguably put it prior to it but after LBW, making it the origin story of the Ganon who appears in the original Famicom games.

Age of Calamity (AoC) - yet another "non-canon" entry, but is seemingly a prequel to BotW that branches a new timeline split (lol) by way of actually being a sequel to BotW via the use of time travel.

Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) - a direct sequel to BotW that, surprise, involves time travel that involves possibly overwriting large swathes of Hyrule's history, back to and possibly even including OoT, if you subscribe to BotW being in the same timeline continuity as prior entries. I don't really want to think about the implications of that lol.

anyway, so the timeline either looks like this: SS -> MC -> OoT {timeline splits} - OoT, MM -> TP -> HW -> FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LBW, TFH -> CoH -> LoZ, AoL - OoT -> WW, PH -> ST {unconnected} BotW, AoC, TotK

or, if you believe in timeline unification, this: SS -> MC -> OoT {timeline splits} - OoT, MM -> TP -> HW - OoT -> WW, PH -> ST -> HW {timeline merges} FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LBW, TFH -> CoH -> LoZ, AoL -> -> -> BotW, AoC, TotK

Echoes of Wisdom (EoW) comes out in just under three weeks. We have no idea when it will take place. Does it really matter where? No, of course not. None of this really does, but the developers working on the games clearly put a lot of time and effort into these sorts of things and I think it's neat to acknowledge that work and be able to lay everything out like this.

Anyway yeah thanks for coming to my TED Talk

[pseudoartistpostsstuff]

Heyo! May I request platonic yandere chain with reader? But instead of isekai like normal the reader is actually a destructive spirit or deity that was reawakened by either Dark Link or Ganon? Anywhoooo I hope you’re having a great week- mine was filled with exams lmfaooooo

Thanks for requesting anon! I really hope you had good results from those exams!

Notes: My week was okay, thank you for asking!!

I really let out my imagination out on this one, hope you'll like it.

BTW, take this as a part on the back for getting through your week.

I feel like I made the yandereness on this one so light, I'm sorry

-> Reader can't bring themselves to remember anyone's names so just remembers their most striking characteristics in their opinion.

-> It's been a while since I've read the comic, so Time keeping FD's mask on his belt for safety measures (since it's the most dangerous one and he can't lose it) is merely a headcanon of mine.

-> Reader is a menace who has questionable intellect (AKA a chaotic, pyromaniac, destructive entity being forced to be nice to others by the good guys™).

-> I left the end ambiguous, so you guys can decide if reader was either truly tamed or is still a menace who Time has to keep on check so they won't be too cruel on their "pranks".

-> Reader also magically rearranged Time's ocarina so each hole would play different a different sound at some point, so he literally had to re-learn where each note was so that he could go back to playing his songs again.

-> Reader slept for more than Time and Wild both and doesn't know a thing about the Zelda lore other than the Golden goddesses.

TWs: Light platonic yanderism, mention of burns, mentions of fire and arson, mentions of loud noises, basically just reader being an absolute hazard to anyone and everyone.

Platonic yandere! Chain x Reader

Debt to pay.

People from your time used to say that one could sooner move a mountain from it's resting place rather than tame your natural ways.

You wouldn't say you were a deity, per say, you thrived on chaos and setbacks, a living annoyance to the poor living things that breathed the same air as you, and roamed the earth by the same time you did.

It was in your nature to be destructive, yes, but you never wanted destruction, at least not full extinction. The darkness and the light were both two sides of the same rupee, they were one just like the other, beings of both sides would react the exact identical way to having their butts lit on fire. So, of course, you weren't one to pick and choose who you'd go after each day.

Thing is, most people didn't understand that —if anyone at all— so everyone just assumed you were a being of pure darkness, even if you actually saw yourself as more of a dark gray entity from a moral chart perspective.

And that was how you got yourself “killed”, if that's even the right thing to call it.

Somehow, no one seemed to care much when you lit whole villages on fire and made all of the walls of full-on castles start dissing out pure electricity, but they almost dislocated their jaws the moment you decided to do a silly trick and turn all of their lovely goddesses statues upside down for a day.

As if those same goddesses hadn't just ignored all of their prayers in the last hundreds of years you spent freely making their lives miserable.

You were stored in a vase. Not even a cool cool one. A plain clay vase deep within a temple under the ground. If you could choose, you'd have preferred something more majestic and up to the level of your power, but then again, it wasn't like you were in place to say anything in your defense.

Sometimes you just wondered how your small group of worshipers were. They probably weren't the best people out there, if you could say so yourself, but you were still curious if they ended up having similar fates to yours.

A long, long time later, you were "revived", for the same reason you were "killed".

Not the best choice on the part of whoever went through the trouble of doing all that, but who were you to judge? Or even to complain?

From what you could get from the boring evil monologue the guy in front of you was giving after having just woken you up from the longest nap you've ever had —since you couldn't really die— the guy wanted you to aid him in his quest to kill some other guys and take over the world or some boring nefarious plan like that.

You couldn't recall any of the names he just said, though, so you could only guess that you had either slept for a pretty damn long time, or you were in an entirely different world on itself.

Before you could fully decide on one of the two possibilities, the red guy sent you to fight against that group of guys he was talking about, seven men with varying shades of blonde hair along with two guys who weren't blond at all.

Perhaps you could have admired the strength of the red guy's magic, to just bring you out of your sleep like that and already straight up teleport you.

Thing is, you didn't really care enough to do that, you just did whatever you wanted the moment you realized you were fully conscious and in a physical body once again.

Were you chaotic and very much possibly evil? Yes. Were you stupid, however? Kinda No.

So the moment the opportunity presented itself, you followed those guys around, gathering information. Taking notice also of that one shadow looking dude, who was following them around just like you, seemingly with the intention of making their lives hell.

Maybe he'd be an interesting being to interact with, if he wasn't as prickly as a damn cactus. You swore you couldn't even approach the guy without him reacting like a startled cat, pointing his flimsy sword straight to your face. You swore to yourself you'd break that thing in half one of these days.

And so you set your sights fully on the blond —and the not so blond— guys, taking your time to also play around with the villages they went to and toy with the monster camps they passed by.

Of course, you couldn't just ignore the massively ominous aura drifting from the masks that one of the taller blondies carried around. Your hands itched to get a grasp on those things, whatever was sealed inside it was magical and possibly powerful, and the possibilities sent your mind on quite a dangerous frenzy.

The thing that made you a bit disappointed, however, was how long it took for them to notice your presence.

At some point you decided to start giving them some more obvious hints that what was following them wasn't friendly.

They seemed to really like bomb bags, which wasn't exactly safe for them when you could randomly activate those at will.

Also, you couldn't control the rain or storms, of course, but you definitely could attract lightning, especially since they all seemed to enjoy carrying around those identical metal swords.

Sometimes you just liked to pull on their hair and make knots on them, given that some had really long hair.

The wolf guy had a horse, one you could just startle really easily. Although you didn't have the result you wanted, since the wolf guy wasn't sent flying the moment his horse went crazy.

You caught him later, though. Making loud, high pitched noises to absolutely blow away his senses the moment he turned into a wolf to try and chase you down.

The fire that the short guy was using to mend a weapon randomly became overly strong, enough to have burned his whole arm, if he hadn't pulled away quick enough.

The scarf of the other one just one day became a bit too hard around his neck. It's a good thing for him that he was quick enough to pull it off his neck before he suffocated.

You watched as the one with pink hair almost had a breakdown, as all his colorful, shiny little trinkets and accessories having become dulled, turning completely pitch black, no traces of their original colors or magic left.

The kid tried to control the wind, only to have it blown straight back to his face, bringing leaves and sand with it.

You made sure their cook accidentally poured a bit too much pepper in their food, or salt, even sugar, if you felt like it.

The brown haired one suddenly lost control of his magic, what was supposed to heal their wounds ended up dyeing their hair blue for days on end.

That other guy who always overslept felt his pillow being pulled from under his head at random times through his nights.

And the tall guy's masks have all suddenly decided to disappear.

“Okay. Something is going on here. And it's not something natural.” Time sighed, looking around the camp, tired and worried, concerned.

Wild’s hair was an absolute mess and seemed to have caught on fire at some point, Warriors was glaring at his scarf, keeping it as far from his —almost purple— neck as possible. Wind had his hair almost as messy as Wild's, full of leaves and dirt, he was pretty sure there were also some bugs around it, his cheek had a thin cut from a sharp little rock.

Twilight was occupied comforting Epona, although the both of them seemed quite shaken up by something.

Four had some burns around the tips of his fingers, his hair usual blond hair now stained with blue, Hyrule sitting beside him with a frown, bandaging his hands rather than using his healing magic like he normally would.

Sky wasn't far from the two, almost dozing off despite the migraine that had settled behinds his eyes, which were now dotted with heavy bags from sleepless nights. Legend's terrible mood did not seem to disturb his need for a nap.

“Oh, really?” Legend almost growled back, positively fuming with barely contained rage gleaming in his eyes.

“Vet, I am not your enemy here, but once we find out who is doing this, you can direct your anger towards whoever they are.” Time shot a look to the other.

“That is, if it's even a person doing this. It might be some kind of monster.” Warriors commented.

“One thing we're sure of is that there's magic involved in this.” Hyrule spoke up, finished with the bandaging.

“I don't even know why you're so mad, Leg, you were possibly the least affected by this.” Four complained, eyebrows furrowed with stress. Even as a blacksmith, he was never a fan of getting burned, especially not being caught off guard like that!

“Agreed.” Wild was the next to speak, not bothering to brush the soot out of his hair. It wasn't quite the first time he almost been exploded, after all, even though the experience didn't get any better no matter how many times he went through it.

“You're really saying that, even though the kid only got a burst of wind to the face.”

“Ay! Mind your own business, Legend!” Wind sprung up in defense of himself, already looking to be tense prior to the attack, as the two began arguing.

While the group was in quite the mess, you took your chances to go ahead and approach stealthily to attempt to take the mask you were so curious about. Said mask being the last one you hadn't stolen borrowed yet, since the tall guy seemed to have noticed his other masks disappearances and decided to take extra means of protection towards that one.

In your opinion, your risks were all carefully thought out and calculated, however, you seemed to have completely forgotten about a certain wolf guy at the edge of the camp, standing beside his horse and looking straight at you.

You managed to grab the mask from the taller guy's belt! But at what price..?

Before you could even manage to turn around and run away with it, a hand shot out, hooking on the back of the collar of your shirt, pushing you to the ground in a second. And in another second, there was a blade shoved right in front of your face.

Goddammit.

You barely paid any attention to all the yelling, too occupied hugging your newly acquired possession tightly to your chest.

“Hand me that mask. Now.” A voice right behind you demanded, yet you still didn't move.

“No.”

The sword in front of you seemed to inch just slightly closer to your neck.

“At least tell me what it is, first!” You asked, a bit more squirmy, not at all comfortable with the vulnerability you had right now, since it seemed like that long sleep left you with a bit less power than you used to have, clearly a precaution, should you ever gain you body back. It was smart from your captors, but very much annoying for you.

“None of your business, now give me back my mask!” The tall guy —now in front of you— stressed. You could tell that his restlessness was hinting towards just how near he was to the end of his wits.

“If this piece of porcelain is as powerful as it seems, then yes, yes it is my business!”

It wasn't, not really, but you were too curious to just give up on information just like that.

The tall guy went quiet for a second before he finally replied, going with a question instead of actually giving you an answer like you were expecting from him.

“How do you know how powerful it is?”

“None of your business.” You threw his own words back at him and now the dull side of the sword was suddenly pressing up pretty uncomfortably against your skin, burning you. “Okay, fine, I'll tell you.”

And that was how you met the Links, and also how you became chained to them, unable to leave. After all, you did have to pay them back for all that you did to every single one of them.

But, for some reason, that simple dept seemed to only to get bigger the longer you spent time with them, despite the fact you weren't doing anything entirely wrong…

At least, that was the excuse they gave to you, yet something in you made you feel like that wasn't the full truth.

Extra (This happened)

Time: give me back my shit

Reader: nuh-uh

Time: fym nuh-uh

[voicesunified]

@luzofstars;; A heroes journey. Link and Link.

ㅤAfter the entire events of Ganondorf and Princess Zelda resetting time, Link had woken back up ten years old once again and in the Kokiri Forest. This time though, rising in that bed in that hallowed out tree—it hadn't felt the same. Void, dark, absent of any whimsical youth and childlike wonder he once had. Weighed down by the memories of what happened, what didn't happen now technically and that crushing reminder he wasn't one of them had started to torment his now forcefully returned childlike mind. If it was difficult to go from a child to an adult then it was just as difficult to go from an adult to a child—if even more so. Forced to grow up to quickly and then forced to regress to an age where things were no longer the same.

ㅤLeaving Hyrule entirely was a decision he made quickly. No real thought to it, just a desperation to find Navi and perhaps to understand himself. And yet, he never found his friend and all he did was end up in trouble once again. Undead masks, the twisted salesman, the evil moon being yanked down by a God possessing the spirit of a dead child. It was just one nightmare after another and if the word time had lost all meaning to him the first time around—now it was like a noose around his neck. Constantly both chasing and running from it, desperate for a break from it's rivers current.

ㅤSheik had not lied when he said time was like a river, that it flowed differently for each person and yet no one could stop it. Try as he might, Link could not manipulate time entirely.

ㅤSaving Termina had been difficult, living with what he went through after doing it even more so. If Link was honest with himself, and most days that was rather hard to do, he didn't think he could handle anymore. He was exhausted in a way he couldn't properly describe and still lost at the same time. Impa had offered him a position in the Castle when he returned, Princess Zelda had practically begged him to take it, but the call of being a soldier was not something he found himself interested in.

ㅤWhich was another thing that weighed on his mind. Impa was at the Castle.

ㅤWhen he had inquired about Sheik's whereabouts, both women had looked particularly pained. When he pressed demanded actually for an answer, he had been reluctantly informed that Sheik had voluntarily taken on the role of Sage of Shadows. He doesn't think words had hit him that hard in quite a while, and he had nearly demanded to know why they'd let him do it. Yet, as he stood there, glancing between the Sheikah woman and the Princess he had figured it out. Princess Zelda didn't want to lose Impa and Impa—well, some thoughts were better left as thoughts.

ㅤLink had not properly learned about the Shadow Temple. He'd never learned where it was or what the warp song was, and try as he might he couldn't make the Ocarina of Time take him there without it. He did know that it was located in Kakariko Village, was had at least been a place to start.

ㅤAfter having Epona take him to the small settlement, he returned to Impa's house which he remembered Sheik using as a safe house when he was helping him on his journey. The place still had remnants of someone living there, books left open on a table and candles that had burned down entirely. He found some notes scattered across a desk that weren't written in Hylian and a few tunics stitched in places that were laying in a basket to be washed. Though it looked like someone had been gone a while, he saw bits of Sheik everywhere throughout it.

ㅤIf only he read Sheikah and could understand what in Goddesses name the man had written down.

ㅤHe was halfway through the bookshelf looking for something that might help him translate it when a shift in the atmosphere of the house broke his concentration. Turning a bit in place and reaching for the Gilded Sword on his back, his fingers curled tightly around the hilt and he waited—

ㅤㅤㅤonly to be met with a familiar shaped face.

ㅤThe portal closed behind the other man and Link slowly released his grip on the blade, lowering his hand down to his side as the other one slid the book he was holding back into place. He blinked once, then again and tilted his head slightly.

ㅤ"You're… Sky, right?" A hesitation, a small step back taken. "What are you… doing here? I thought you went home. You didn't get lost again, did you?" How, in Hylia's name, does this man keep getting lost in time when Link was the Hero of Time?

[ashley-kins]

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.

[asofspades]

Time for some Legend and Time ties. So, we are aware the existence of Legend's timeline is a bit meta of Zelda because it's a timeline where Link dies fighting Ganon. Now, Legend doesn't really have a lot of items in common with Time, in fact, the only things he has in common are the gauntlets.

Okay so, in Alttp (the only game of Legend that has real ties to OOT probably, and that's just by the fact he came after Time and the Master Sword is there) Legend obtains the Power Glove at the Desert Palace on the first half of the game, and this glove is characteristically silver, now, who else has some similar inventory item with the function to help move heavy things, Time, he has the silver gauntlets, which are also found at the Spirit Temple (in the desert yes), which has led me to think, I figure after Time died considering the state Hyrule was in that scavengers took every item they could of him to sell, trade or reuse, which would explain why no other items of Time where found in that timeline, there's a big possibility that a Gerudo stumbled by the silver gauntlets being traded and recognised them as a relic of her people and took it to the desert palace (which is probably just the Spirit Temple after ages) where Legend later found it. Here's the Power Glove and silver gauntlets (keep in mind the art for alttp is old af)

And then Legend also has the Titan Mitts to lift heavy blackstones, and they're golden, and you know who else has Golden gauntlets with even more power to lift things, exactly, it's Time again. Also, this particular connection is the one that sparked my theory on Time's items being stolen after his death, because the golden gauntlets ate found at Ganon's Castle and you do you know where Legend finds the Titan Mitts? In thieves town, they were kept there probably because being golden they were tremendously valuable and coveted, here's the Titan Mitts and the golden gauntlets:

Also, the fact that in both games the only characteristic that changes between the gloves is the colour while the design stays the same basically confirms this theory for me.

I have other loose thoughts on the Cane of Byrna being possibly blessed by Nayru's love since it creates a magic shield around the user and is reliant on magic energy like Nayru's love is in OOT.

Then there's the whole business with the blue ocarina but that's for another post in this series.

And there's the issue of Majora's Mask existing in Albw without Majora's Mask ever happening in that timeline but that's also for another post.

And last but not least, I wanted to point out now that we've analysed the relationship between Time and the hero that came after him directly in each timeline, that the only timeline in which the master sword doesn't lose power that I has to get back via songs of restoration or upgrades is Twilight's, which is coincidentally the only timeline where the Master sword was never used by Time.

And that's it for Legend and Time, next up is Hyrule and Legend.

[manitschilly]

My notes taken while reasearching the Zelda Timeline lol, mostly cannon a little headcannon in places. Also my Zelink rating aren't how much I like them it's how likely they are in the narrative.

Power: Din ->Demise->Ganondorf. The Gerudo give birth to a male every 100 years, and it's only ever been Ganon. The 100 year system got screwed though because Ganon keeps not actually dying. Pigs. Fire. Red.

Courage: Farore-> heros spirit (fierce diety?)-> Link. Only the hero's spirit is reincarnated in Link, so he's not the same person. Not related at all, except for Twilight Princess where Link is a descendant of Ocarina of Time Link. Wolves and horses. Lighting. Green.

Wisdom: Naydra -> Hylia-> Zelda. Every Zelda is actually Hylia reincarnated through a consistant bloodline. Loftwing. Ice. Blue.

-there is a void called Null

-The three goddess create the earth and the triforce, and that's their only relation to Demise, Hylia, and the heros spirit. They're not reincarnations at all, more like patrons. (Unwillingly in Dins case). Din created the land, Farore created life, and Nayru created order.

-possibly Zonai and Sonia and Rauru founding the first kingdom of Hyrule. This would imply there is a Ganon unconnected to Demise sealed for the rest of everything and a dragon Zelda floating around. Rauru and Sonias light and time magic start off the royal family.

-a long undisclosed time with robots for some reason

-A battle between the Hylia, Demise and the races in Hyrule breaks out over the Triforce. Hylia takes the Hylian kingdom into the sky to protect them, then becomes a Hylian to protect the triforce. She also created a sword with a spirit named Fi with her godly power. With Demise sealed for now, she waits to be born.

-Sheikah are probably started around here, as like a Hylia cult.

-Skyward Sword: First incartion is Skyward Sword, when Hylia chooses to be born as Zelda and chooses Link as her champion to hold the heros spirit. They fight Demise who then curses them to reincarnate forever, and establishes his own incarnation, kicking off the rest of the series. Hylia, now Zelda, is shown to use her time powers. Link, Zelda, and a few Hylians from Skyloft restart the kingdom on the surface.

Link and Zelda are in love, Zelda chosing Link specifically for that reason. This could imply that Hylia and the heros spirit are soulmates in some way, and every incarnarion after is an extension of that. They don't end up together every time, but that makes it even more beautiful and heartrenching. (Just to specify, Links aren't related so don't worry about it) 10/10 Zelink potential this shit is cannon.

Kikwi present. Impa is there as part of the Shiekah. Impa seems to be either a repeated name or a title given to Shiekah warriors meant to protect the reincarnation of Hylia, not their own incarnation.

-another very long time gap

-evil sorcerors are after the triforce which is hidden in the sacred realm. A new temple of time (after the one in Hylias time used to hide the sealed Demise and Zelda) is built around the master sword, which has been holding in Demise this whole time.

-Another long time passes. Zelda's descendants have become the royal family. Princesses are named Zelda after the original incarnation (note, they aren't all reincarnations, just named after her). There is still a lot of magic floating around the bloodline.

-sheikah are sworn to Hylias blood and therefore the royal family.

-Hyrule is again in danger, a special species called the Minish come from the sky to protect them with a special sword, which was then wielded by an incarnation of Link.

-Minish Cap: a bitch named Vaati wants light powers, turns the current Zelda (actually an incarnation, you know because there's a hero) to stone, and that times Link turns the Minish's sword into the 4-sword. Zelda is the light power source, as the light power is still in the royal family. 8/10 Zelink potential

Gorons present

-Another time skip

- Four Swords: the four-sword is used to defeat Vaati again by another Link and Zelda incarnation. 6/10 Zelink potential

- time skip

- Giant ass civil war

- shiekah go into hiding but are still used by the royal family for sketchy shit. (Queue shadow temple 'nam flash backs)

- the first actual Ganondorf is born, or the second depending on if the Zonai are before or after.

- Ocarina of Time: Ganondorf is born as king of the gerudo, and pretends to be allied with the king to gain access to the triforce which is still in the sacred realm, sealed with the master sword. This Link incarnation pulls out the master sword as a child and opens the sacred realm, allowing Ganandorf access to the Triforce, the triforce of power attaching itself to him forever. This also gave Link the triforce of Courage and Zelda the triforce of wisdom. The sacred realm becomes evil and Ganondorf is sealed in it. There's a lot of time travel and it ruins just everything.

Zora, Kokiri, Gerudo, and Gorons present.

Great deku tree dies and is reborn.

and now shit hits the fan

Fallen hero time line

- Ocarina of Time: Link freaking dies and Ganondorf wins, taking the while triforce for himself. He still gets sealed in the corrupted sacred realm, but now he has the triforce. 0/10 Zelink potential long term, as Link is dead, but like 8/10 short term.

- time passes and homies keep going into the sacred realm to get the triforce but they never come back and monsters keep coming out. The sealed it again, at great cost of life and resources

-Echoes of Wisdom: a dark being called Null that was the nothing before the three goddess's created Hyrule starts taking over Hyrule with Rifts. Zelda gets kidnapped and Link is called to save her, but immediately after gets dragged into a rift and Zelda saves Hyrule from Null, who for a second owns a piece of the Triforce. At the end Null is defeated and the Triforce is restored. 10/10 Zelink potential it was glorious

- A Link to the Past: Agahim, some bitch, takes over the kingdom and the remaining sages to break the seal on Ganon. This reincarnarion of Zelda magically contacts the new Link. He kills Ganon and uses his newly acquired triforce to put everything back to normal. Now the royal family has the triforce. 7/10 Zelink potential. Same Link then has Links awakening acid trip. I'd knock down the Zelink potential but Malin like isn't real so.

Zora present

-Oracle series: same Link then has another acid trip but this time it's real, ending with Ganon being brought back to life as a mindless force of chaos. Ups Zelink to like 8/10, and confirms existence of other kingdoms beside Hyrule that aren't in another dimension.

- triforce splits again somehow, power returns to beast Ganon

- time skip

- A Link Between Worlds: new Link, new sages, Lorule exists so that's fun, opposite Hyrule dimension without a triforce. Ganon is freed and eats a man probably. Confirms this Link and Zelda have their respective triforces. Upon returning to Hyrule, the triforce is again in 1 piece and peace is restored to Hyrule and Lorule. 8/10 Zelink potential and like 9.5/10 Hildio potential.

- same Link goes to Hytopia, yet another kingdom in the same dimension.

- time skip. Great time, royal family again has the United triforce.

- King breaks up the triforce and sends Courage to the next Link incarnation, hiding its physical location from all except his daughter Zelda. New King puts that Zelda under a sleeping spell and regrets it. Tries to rule with just power of Wisdom but it doesn't go great.

- time skip

- The Legend of Zelda: same Ganon steals the triforce of power, new Zelda and Impa. New Link, without triforce of Courage, again postponed Ganon

- Adventure of Link : same Link is helping Hyrule not burn down, when suddenly he is given the triforce of Courage mark. He wakes up the old Zelda. I'd say the Zelda born in his time is the actual incarnarion, the older Zelda just a princess. 9/10 Zelink actually but like also he's a little weird with old Zelda to little odd but okay.

Child timeline

- Ocarina of Time: Link defeats Ganondorf and is sent back in time to relive the childhood he didn't have. He warns the royal family before Ganondorf can gain any power and therefore the events of Ocarina of Time never happen. Link leaves on a horse to look for Navi and has a Majoras mask acid trip. 10/10 short term Zelink and like 2/10 longterm, but also one of my favorite dynamics. This is one of the tragedy timeliness, where Zelda loved him before sending him back in time (Sheik was a simp). He could have ended up with this Zelda, but he probably didn't because his descendant in the next game isn't royalty like at all. Scrodingers Zelink, if the next Zelink happened then this one didn't, but we don't know if it does.

-Twilight Princess: Ganondorf is banished to the Twilight realm, where the wizard sent there a Hella long time ago got busy. He gains power with a guy named Zant who takes over the Twilight realm and breaks out to Hyrule. The princess of the Twilight realm named Midna finds the new Link incarnation, an actual descendant of the last one and holder of the triforce of Courage.

Link is trained by the like ghost of the hero of time, who is an adult and missing an eye. The hero of time means nothing to this Hyrule because Ocarina of Time never happened.

They kill Ganondorf finally holy shit and the Twilight mirror is shattered, forever separating the two places.

Like 8/10 Zelink potential, frick Illia freaking hate her. I follow that Zelink both had a crush on Midna but she's gone sooooo

Gerudo, Gorons, and Zora.

-big ass time skip

-Four Sword Adventure: new Ganondorf is born finally, but is like immediately sealed with the 4-sword by a new Link. I don't think there even is a Zelda so 0/10 Zelink potential

Adult timeline

-Ocarina of Time :This is what's left when Link gets sent back in time. Ganondorf is sealed in the corrupted spirit realm and the triforce of Courage shatters into 8 pieces, master sword is returned to the temple of time. 10/10 horribly tragic Zelink poor Zelda good lord.

-time passes without any reincarnations.

-Ganon escapes his seal in the sacred realm but there's still no Link or so Hyrule is effed. The gods flood Hyrule, society continues on mountaintops that are now islands and Hyrule is frozen underneath a giant ocean. The Triforce of Wisdom is split in two between Zelda, who stays on land, and her father, in the frozen Hyrule.

-Time passes badly

-Windwaker: Gannon escapes to the surface and kidnaps "girls with pointed ears", or descendants of Hylia. A new Link appears and gets the master sword from the frozen Hyrule, but it doesn't do shit until he fixes the triforce of courage. The king appears and bestows Links pirate captain the other half of the triforce, as she's reveled to be this time's Zelda. The triforce is restored and the old Hyrule gets genocided. Ganon is sealed, not dead, and Link and Zelda/Tetra go to establish a new hyrule. 10/10 Zelink potential this is some good shit. Rito, Kokiri, and Gerudo present

-Phantom Hourglass: Same Link and Zelda have a bit on their quest, no lasting consequences except for 11/10 Zelink potential. They discover New Hyrule.

-Spirit Tracks: some train shit in New Hyrule, new Link and Zelda have a soft romantic adventure with no lasting consequences except no more trains. 10/10 Zelink it's the whole plot.

Gorons present

After or before

-all the three timelines get just apocalyptic and society is just like gone, so the Zonai come from the Heaven's and with their arrival comes the merging of the three timelines.

-OR potentially Rauru and Sonias time is actually before Skyward Sword, as Ganondorf isn't actually a reincarnation. This would imply that every other game happens inbetween Rauru and Sonias time and Breath of the Wild, which i like better but it makes some leaps in logic, however it also explains the existence of both time and Light magic in the royal blood line.

-time passes

-Hyrule is once again reformed OR formed for the first time, by the last of the Zonai, Raruru and his Hylian wife Sonia. The incarnations are still going strong, so Ganondorf is born but their kind of hosed because there isn't a Link or Zelda OR the incarnations havent started yet and this is the first Ganon, before he was tied to Demise.

Luckily, either way, a Zelda comes from the future, and after a battle ending in the death of Sonia, Rauru uses himself to seal Ganondorf away and Zelda turns into a dragon.

-Time passes, the kingdom grows and hyrule castle is built over Ganondorf.

-Time passes and either all the other games happen or nothing happens, either way Zelda is still a dragon.

Definitely after

-a Link and Zelda are reincarnated to fight Calamity Gannon, whatever is left of the monster Ganon that was never killed in the other timelines. They, with the highly technogically advanced Shiekah, build weapons and postpone his return. We don't know much but like 8/10 Zelink I don't know could be cool. Shiekah go off, creating shrines and all types of shit.

-abreak off of the shiekah called the Yiga form, which is like the shiekah but for Ganon instead of Hylia.

-Breath of the Wild: a new Link and Zelda are born. They are so far ahead that they no longer have a grasp on the incarnations before them besides a few sparce legends. They know Ganon is coming back but they don't know who he is. They know Zelda is suppose to have powers, but they have no idea how she's gets them. Link finds the master sword in the lost woods, guarded by the great deku (the 2nd actually the first one died somewhere).

So they fail, whoops. Link dies and gets put in a Sheikah shrine for healing while Zelda holds of Ganon for 100 years.

-hyrule collapses and turns into almost a tribal society very unconnected.

-Link wakes up, wrecks havoc, and defeats Calamity Ganon, freeing Zelda and starting the reconstruction of hyrule.

10/10 Zelink potential. We got the before when Zelda cononicly loved him but we don't know Links feeling, and then Link might remember her and its like a reuniting thing and it's lovely or he doesn't and they fall in love again. Or possibly he didn't love her before and either way its a saga and his rubber band was in her study in "her" house thats all I'm saying.

-7 years, hyrule is being rebuilt by Zelda.

-Tears of the Kingdom: A sickness is spreading through Hyrule, Zelda and Link go to investigate and find what's left of the Ganondorf Rauru fought, who is either the first ganondorf or the most recent one. Zelda is sent in the past to Sonia and Rauru, along with the destroyed master sword.

Zelda is turned into a dragon and lives out thousands of years as one, potentially during every other game in the series. If so, the cloud layer established by Hylia was probably around until the upheavel, hiding her.

-The Upheavel happens and the world gets a little more cracked out, but Link defeats the Ganondorf and Zelda is turned back to her Hylian form. 11/10 Zelink potential and the dragon bit is so upsetting.

The three goddesses are present as dragons. Are they dragons? Are they just manifestations of their power? Idek but it's sick.

What the hell is Beedle? I read a fanfic once that he never dies because he helped Hylia once and it was really good so I highkey stand by that.

Sages kinda hop around, usually there's 7, one for each major group, even though not every race exists in every game. Are they extensions of the gods somehow?

(Rito, Zora, Gerudo, Gorons, Hylians, Shiekah, and whatever weird shit they got going on that game usually just Zelda)

One main issue with the Zonai before theory is that there's all the races when the Rito specifically doesn't seem to exist outside of the adult timeline.

There is a possible Kikwi, Kokiri, Korok pipeline.

I prescribe to the fierce deity as the original hero incarnation because it's just fits well and I'm obsessed with him, but it it doesn't really matter either way. I also read a fanfic once where the Fierce Deity loved Hylia and fought with her against Demise, but he died and the hero's spirit in each Link is what's left of him. Also read one where he saved Farore once from Demise and that's why he's specifically blessed with courage. Might have been the same one. I cannot remember it is 5:30 am and I haven't slept yet.

Ears are cool and plot relevant. The closer they are the Hylia the pointier their ears are, they get less pointy over time. Which adds to the Zonai being before because they got the pointiest ears. Also Gerudo ears get more pointy as time goes on.

Din gerudo pipeline? That's interesting. Farore and Nayru don't really have anything like that. Hylia has the Hylians but that's it.

Great Deku tree? Who? How? Why is he still kicking? Kind of adds to the Before Zonai theory or else he would have had to survive whatever apocalypse destroyed everything

In summary, somebody off me and therapy is probably a good investment.

[quinngefail]

Oughh getting to the last bits of Ocarina of Time,, had to stop at the point where you're an adult returning to the spirit temple, and also only got four more golden skulltulas to go :'0 finding that there's definitely a point where money kinda becomes useless but like I NEED TO SAVE THE GUY IN THE HOUSE OF SKULLTULA OR I'LL FEEL BAD HRSRKGK

Omfg and the soundtrack also just now fully has the effect of making me feel so warm when I hear it, y’knoww,, augh

GAME SO GOOD

...And it's also giving me a huge itch to play Beyond Good and Evil again, that's one of my very favorite games and it's been too long since I last did a playthrough of it 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

[ryttu3k]

If I've never played Zelda before, do you think it's OK to start with one of the current games?

Yeah, absolutely! If we're going for an ideal first game, I'd be looking for three things: 1) it's not heavily dependent on having already played or knowing a great deal about another game, 2) it's still got a consequential amount of story and a familiar structure to introduce you to the rest of the greater history of Hyrule (assuming you want to get into the series and not a single game), and 3) it doesn't have a completely different playstyle (like Echoes of Wisdom's Echo-based gameplay, or Majora's Mask's time mechanics).

With those in mind, Breath of the Wild is an ideal first game to play, because it doesn't have any firm connection with other games in the timeline, but instead stands entirely on its own. It has enough Zelda traditions to lead you into the other games, and it's just huge and gorgeous and expansive. Skyward Sword would also be great, it's the earliest in the timeline, fits a lot of the established Zelda structure, and the remastered version avoids a lot of the issues the original had with motion controls. Both have beautiful stories, incredibly engaging characters, and are 'complete packages', story-wise.

For the most recent release, I wouldn't start with Echoes of Wisdom, because it's extremely different, gameplay-wise, to any other Zelda game and is much less expansive. Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild (...sort of) and so is also best left to afterwards, too. Ocarina of Time would be a solid option for a first game; I'd probably leave Wind Waker and Twilight Princess until after playing Ocarina.

So, for a first game and introduction to the series, I'd recommend:

Ideal as first game: Breath of the Wild (huge, expansive, breathtakingly gorgeous game, suitable setting to introduce you to the series), Skyward Sword (another beautiful game, first game chronologically so not dependent on others, remaster fixes a lot of control issues)

Good as first game: Ocarina of Time (nods to earlier lore but not heavily dependent, introduces a lot of series tropes, but not quite as huge and expansive as BotW; this was my first game!), Link to the Past (dated, but the first heavily lore-based game, also introduces a lot of series tropes)

Has issues as first game: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess (better to play after Ocarina of Time but certainly doable), The Legend of Zelda (first-released game, but very dated), Link's Awakening (direct sequel, but still independent enough to possible to play as first), Oracle of Ages and Seasons, Minish Cap (lighter stories, but less suitable as an introduction to the series)

Avoid as first game: Adventure of Link (direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda, mechanically very different, dated), Majora's Mask (direct sequel to OoT, mechanically different), Four Swords / Four Swords Adventures (light on story), Phantom Hourglass (direct sequel to WW, Temple of the Ocean King would probably turn you off the series entirely), Spirit Tracks (sequel to WW/PH), A Link Between Worlds (sequel to LttP), Tears of the Kingdom (direct sequel - sort of - to BotW), Tri Force Heroes and Echoes of Wisdom (mechanically extremely different, gives a different impression of the series)

tl;dr the best games to start with are Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword (specifically, the remastered version). Of the two, I'd recommend Breath of the Wild. Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past also are solid options. Avoid the direct sequels and the games with very different mechanics, and a lot of the smaller games don't give a good impression of the series overall.

That said, this is solely based on my opinion! I know people who started with games like Majora's Mask or Link Between Worlds and had an absolute blast, I just personally feel I got more out of those games due to knowing the earlier games.

Happy playing!

[phantasmeels]

Back at it again with more Zelda theorizing

So, I’ve been pondering a few lore questions lately.

First question: What could Mido have done to get a Zelda II town named after him?  If the towns are all named after Sages, then somehow Mido must have become a Sage. I’d speculate that perhaps Mido became a fighter after the Adult and Downfall endings of Ocarina of Time, like Link, and eventually ascended to Sagehood much like his friend Saria did.

Also, speaking of Zelda II; Who is Kasuto?  He must be a sage, as per the logic with Mido. In fact, it’s confirmed by the Hyrule Encyclopedia that Kasuto is an "unseen sage" in the series. Now at first, I thought Kasuto might have been hiding in plain sight as the Sage guarding the Triforce of Courage at the end of Zelda II, but there's no evidence for that. After some consideration, though, I have another contender in mind: King Zora from Ocarina of Time. Perhaps he, like Mido, was involved in the Imprisoning War, and became a Sage some time afterward. Maybe that's what their ending cutscene of Ocarina of Time could be hinting at (note how they both specifically can see the lights of the six awakened Sages flying overhead while no one else seems to notice, and how the ascendance of their loved ones- Saria and Ruto- seem to have affected them deeply.) Perhaps in reflection of Saria’s and Ruto’s heroism, they might have followed in their footsteps to Sagehood. 

Now, is there any real evidence of these ideas? What elements could Mido and King Zora represent as Sages? To infer this, let's switch over to the Wind Waker. 

Sages in the Wind Waker Incidentally, the two Sage spirits Link meets were- get this- a Kokiri and a Zora.  The Kokiri Wind Sage is named Fado- a name which belongs to three different characters in the series- which is undoubtedly a Kokiri name.  The Zora Earth Sage is named Laruto. Compare this name to Kasuto- note that not only are the names completely alike in syllables and vowels, but K is one letter away from L, and S is one letter away from R. This seems to imply some close linguistic connection between the names, which would imply that Kasuto might very much have been a Zora.

What to make of this evidence? Let’s review: if all the towns in Zelda II are named after Sages, then in the Downfall timeline, Mido and Kasuto (let’s assume him as the Zora King) might have played a heroic role in the Imprisoning War, or some later conflict, and eventually answered calls to Sagehood. In the Adult Timeline’s Wind Waker, Fado was the Sage of Wind, and Laruto the Sage of Earth. The idea I’m getting at here is that of a lineage of Wind and Earth Sages- Wind taken up by Mido, and passed on to Fado, and Earth taken up by Kasuto (The Zora King) and passed on to Laruto. How and when this would have happened is unclear, but we can speculate. 

Speculation (Adult Timeline) Perhaps Mido and Kasuto (assumedly the Zora King), having heard of Link’s success and being motivated by Saria and Ruto, took up Sagehood in two new temples. Perhaps their roles were more specific than that of the core Seven Sages of Ocarina of Time- managing the Master Sword’s power, and maybe the creation of the Hookshot and Mirror Shield found in The Wind Waker’s Wind and Earth temples respectively. They would do this to replace some specific pieces of equipment that Link would have taken back in time with him at the end of OoT. (Related, I would suggest checking out Bandit Games' theory on two different Master Swords existing here, as it’s an excellent theory and my thought of Sage-replaced items from OoT in TWW grew from that.) 

(Note the strong color-theming cohesion of platinum and blue in the Wind Waker versions of these items, distinct from their Ocarina of Time counterparts, and the fact that the Sages of Wind and Earth are connected to all three.)

I would suspect that Mido’s and Kasuto’s ultimate fate would have been found in the gods-willed flooding of Hyrule after the spirit of the Hero did not reincarnate to stop Ganon’s return in the Adult timeline. Before then, however, Mido and Kasuto would have trained Fado and Laruto to be their replacements to guard the above-water entrances to their respective temples.

Speculation (Downfall Timeline) Wind and Earth were elements of Sages apparently not awakened during the events of Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past and onward; perhaps this is because there was as of then no functional need for more than seven Sages, until some time after the Imprisoning War had concluded. Those two who would eventually answer the call and ascend to Sagehood, Mido and Kasuto, would have stayed unseen until they were needed. They likely earned a name for themselves already during the Imprisoning War, before they would have ascended, but eventually they would answer their spiritual calls and become known as Sages, and thus have even more precedent for having towns named after them in Zelda II. As to when this would have happened: perhaps in the backstory of Zelda II, when the king of Hyrule who ruled using the Triforce was in power.

Concluding thoughts and speculations I think what happened development-side was as thus: in Zelda II, Nintendo bestowed the names of Rauru, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Nabooru, Mido, and Kasuto to the towns of Western and Eastern Hyrule. Note that there are seven of these names. Jump to ALttP, where we have mention of the ‘Seven Wise Men’ (retconned to be renamed the Seven Sages in the GBA port to better align with the lore of Ocarina of Time). Maybe Nintendo had thought of matching up the seven town names with these Seven Wise Men as sort of unspoken secret names. Then, Ocarina of Time was made as both a backstory to A Link to the Past, and eventually a retcon that split into the Adult and Child timelines, leaving A Link to the Past to be the start of the official Downfall Timeline. In Ocarina, we get the Seven Sages officially named. Mido and Kasuto are left as not being sages, at least on screen, though the ending cutscene of Mido and King Zora sitting together in the credits might hint otherwise. Wind Waker’s two Sage spirits of Wind and Earth, the Kokiri Fado and Zora Laruto, could be seen as confirmations to that idea placed in The Wind Waker, the implication being that these Sages were the successors to Mido and Kasuto. 

Credits:  BanditGames- His video on Mido was what got my thoughts flowing on this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=NVeA5_pu5Fk

[majorasnightmare]

Inevitable Gerudo Headcanon Posting

i spend too much time thinking about the gerudo like genuinely theyre one of my favorite recurring tribes in the zelda series, which as we all know is a form of suffering because god forbid nintendo stop relying on racist tropes and caricatures.

keeping in line with this nintendos portrayal of the gerudo tends to either be 1) why theyre bad, and/or 2) how a culture of all women has kids. like thats an oversimplification of ALLL the problems present in the gerudos portrayal but thats a different post for another time. in general i bring this up because it means, for me as well as any others interested and invested un the gerudo, that there is a kind of generalized lack of pre botw characterization or cultural concepts to work with, esp when compared to the other tribes of hyrule. (looks pointedly at how theres no gerudo in the gerudo desert but there is a prison slash execution site where their king was held. LOOKS AT WHO SURVIVED THE PROLOGUE CUTSCENE IN WINDWAKER)

ANYWAYS. botw was really fun because, while it had plenty of its own issues with the gerudo, they were at least non hostile! so with that in mind, the headcanons and worldbuilding i write primarily apply to the wilds era gerudo, which spans the timeframe between ganondorfs reign as king to totk (suspending disbelief because that timeframe is. by all accounts. longer than recorded human history. friendly reminder ganondorf does All That before we even get sheikah wifi towers. christ.)

anyways. second verse same as the first, core assumptions and then a readmore

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. starting at the beginning. near entirely headcanons

in ocarina of time, we see the spirit temple, where Nabooru awakens as a sage. this temple features a MASSIVE statue of a woman adorned with a snake and its primary mechanic centers around mirrors and reflected light. while the mirrors return, we dont really get that same kind of implied spiritual/religious focus again. so instead im going to make a mountain out of a molehill and position her as the primary spiritual figure here. im running low on name ideas tho so suggestions are much appreciated. for right now ill refer to her as the serpent goddess

the gerudo are culturally a people of function over form, practicality over whimsy, but when circumstances allow for it, are drawn like any other to arts and music and decoration. they have a long history of bloody, brutal battle, and while the war has long since ended, its kings buried and its warriors naught but ghosts, the desert remembers. its sands haunted by the bloodstains of conflict past, and echoes of ancient tragedies. the gerudo here in the era of wilds may have lost their records of their ancient history of conflict, but some aspects, preserved by the sands, have managed to survive the onslaught of time

surviving all this time is the ancient creation myth of the gerudo people. as legend tells it, long ago in the time before myth, there existed a goddess whos power was transformation. she was possessed of two forms, one a proud humanoid figure, the other a striking serpentine form twisting through the heavens with ease, her scales glittering with mirror sheen. to shift from serpent to human, she would shed her skin, and grow it back again to embrace her serpentine form anew

seven times she shed her skin, and from these shed skins rose the first gerudo, each embodying a key aspect of their sacred mother. the serpent goddess's scales are each a nascent soul of a gerudo, and when those scales are shed and fall to the land below, a new gerudo is born. likewise, when a gerudo dies, their soul returns to the scales of the serpent goddess, to await until they would descend again and reincarnate once more. the seven daughters of the serpent goddess led these gerudo as their guardians, leaders, and protectors. but, away from the seven heroines and their new people, the goddess shed her skin an eighth time. this daughter was born alone, and while her sisters embodies the strengths of spirit, flight, endurance, knowledge, motion, skill, and gentleness, the eighth was born with insatiable wanderlust. learning of this, the seven sisters cursed her name for leaving them and their people behind, and despite their shared ancestry, the eighth was forbidden to be spoken of. this suited her just fine, and the eighth was free to walk the land and learn all of its hidden paths

in time, war came to the gerudo, as it often does. though they were united, and strong, they were a small collection of people, and thus despite their proficiency were threatened nonetheless. it became clear at last that they could not stand and fight, and that to survive, they could not remain in place for long. but the enemy had pushed them deep into their home, and knew all the paths back. as hope seemed lost, as if summoned by call, the eighth sister at last wandered home. calling her seven sisters to her, she proclaimed that every hidden step was known to her, and while she lacked the power to guide them on her own, together they would escape unseen into the night, their enemy none the wiser. thus, skillfully guiding the skills of her sisters, the eighth heroine led the gerudo into safety, and the seven were humbled from their pettiness. seeking to apologize to the sister they had banished and forgotten, the seven sought to make amends, but the eighth was content merely to have a place of remembrance among them. to wander is not a sin, as long as one remembers where their home lies.

the eight heroines have long since passed and returned to their mothers scales, but the virtues they embody are cherished by the gerudo family they left behind, seeking to hold their memory close even as the years wear on

to the gerudo was bestowed the blessing of the element of Spirit, embodied by their iron wills and manifesting as crackling lightning. this spirit lightning is the gerudo's will made tangible, arcing out towards their target as an extension of their focus and sheer determination. to a gerudo, nothing is impossible until one has devoted themselves entirely to it, giving it their all, and only then may it be conceded

a long history of persecution has resulted in the gerudo being increasingly insular and isolationist. their admiration of the art of combat and how it can bring forth an individuals talents, achieving a perfect harmony between body and will as the weapon became an extension of ones limbs, was often perceived as aggression by outsiders, who would react as if to defend their own interests. the gerudo have suffered much at the hands of hyrule at large, and have pulled further and further away.

as the gerudo pulled away from hyrule, and hyrule from them, they devoted most of their attention to themselves. cooperation amongst themselves is seen as paramount to their survival, and familial affection often extends well past ones blood relations.

the gerudo value family, and loyalty, alongside independence and cooperation. everyone should have the opportunity to pursue their goals, but if someone is struggling, it is the responsibility of everyone to help. children are raised by as many people as are available, and even in the times of monarchy, the palace was less a formal dwelling place belonging to the gerudo ruler and more a public forum that the ruler simply happened to live in

most of the palaces amenities are fully public, a tradition that has carried on to riju's time. meals are communal and the kitchens open to all, and the palace has no strictly dedicated servants, merely a collection of amenities the gerudo people are free to use at will and often do so together. what this means is that there is no servant, for example, dedicated to preparing riju's meals but instead a collection of people willing to cook and willing to eat making meals riju partakes in, and this applies to most other menial tasks as well. the throne room is where the leader of the gerudo engages in their job as public servant, attending to the needs of the gerudo at large and responding to crises as they arise.

as nintendo is keen to point out, the gerudo are a people that are predominantly "all women", and thus spends plenty of time going over dialogue wherein people wonder how they have children and including a plethora of sidequests in the wilds era about acquiring partners. im ignoring all of that and instead going by lizard rules, in part because here theyre descended from a serpent dragon goddess, wherein a population of all female lizards were able to successfully maintain a stable population and have children without major issue. gerudo like ganondorf are the equivalent of a rare genetic mutation that flips some other genes on and has a different result, that really doesnt affect anything besides this one kid and doesnt have any major effects or differences in their life. two gerudo are perfectly capable of having kids together, having relationships as usual, and on the topic of "how do the gerudo have kids", thats all i really feel like exploring that topic

with an insular, isolationist culture that appeared for all intents and purposes to be all women, the gerudo were often a source of major culture shock when interacting with the other tribes of hyrule, most notably hylians

bonus hylian lore: hylians experience an even greater lack of sexual dimorphism than irl humans do, so gender presentation is near exclusively presentation based, with a heavy emphasis on clothing. showing skin is considered an act of emotional intimacy, and most hylians opt to cover as much as they can. the intensity of presentation scales upwards with their role in society, with the royal family having the most extreme form of gender presentation. gender is presented through clothing style and hair length, with ornamentation, jewelry, and piercings serving as a kind of intensifier, and hylian culture at large tends to operate on a sliding scale of masculine to feminine, with the middle androgynous zone being a weird gender spot for them

the gerudo, by contrast, never really developed a concept of masculinity versus femininity. gender pronouns in gerudo are based on personal proximity, occupation in society, and familiarity. these barely translate at all into hyrulean.

as the gerudo, by circumstance or by choice, interacted with hylians and the tribes of hyrule more and more often, some kind of understanding had to be reached with regards to translation. as relations were already terse, making an attempt to fully translate the gerudos understanding of gender to your average hylian was considered a fools errand, and thus translation was done in broad strokes, giving hylians the simplest root form of gender pronouns (and none of the increasingly specific declensions). loosely, the term vai is closer in concept to "us" and voe is closer to "not us" "foreigner" "outsider", and has taken on a connotation of " forbidden" or "taboo" (leading to wilds era gerudo secret clubs often imploying translatable Adult Puns regarding their catering to voe and the overall titillating atmosphere they tend to put on for customers). with regards to hylians, the feminine princesses and queens had more in common with the gerudo and were thus "vai", but the masculine kings and soldiers, who were often the main figures pushing aggressive efforts into conquering or otherwise absorbing the gerudo into hyrule, were "voe". this was then distributed in various guides to understanding the gerudo language as " vai" meaning "woman" and "voe" meaning man

gerudo town, as the capital of their people and general hub, has a law banning the entrance of voe. at the time if its writing, this was a fairly obvious law, because most "people who are forbidden" are forbidden from entering. as time has passed, hostilities cooled, and relations warmed, this law has been the subject of a long struggle of interpretation. it doesnt translate well into nearly any other language, and thus who counts as "voe" and "vai" is subject to endless debate. the differences in gender perception are most clearly on display with the admittance of the gorons. one might assume that the gorons, being a monogendered people who typically use masculine terms of identity and endearment in hyrulean, to thus qualify as voe, but the gorons cooperative nature, near uniform monogendered culture, and emphasis on hard work and independence has enough in common with your average gerudo that considering them as vai is a no brainer

ganondorf thus is also, clearly, considered vai. the specific pronouns he uses in his native gerudo include declensions regarding his position as royalty (one that has since gone out of use and is fairly archaic now, only really being used as a kind of neo-pronoun by current era gerudo as a rebellious self identification thing), his relation as the only child of koume and kotake, and are conjugated based on relation between the speaker and him. in the ancient era, calling ganondorf voe would be so confusing as to not even read as an insult. if one really wanted to refer to ganondorf with a tone of insult, theyd substitute the declension of familiarity with one used for strangers

ganondorf achieved his position as king the old fashioned way: a gift from his moms. ancient era gerudo practiced typical monarchy with a line of succession, and koume and kotake named him as the next royal of the gerudo as their heir. the hyruleans, seeing a masculine gerudo of royal birth, referred to him as "king", and correcting a culture of people he had little respect for was just a waste of ganondorfs time. after ganondorfs sealing, the gerudo changed to the current system of chiefs, wherein the current chief names a successor, or by default passes it onto their living heir. a system is in place to democratically install a new chief if the current one passes without naming a child their heir, or naming a successor in their place, a system drafted and then used in ganondorfs absence. riju thus inherited the mantle from her mother, but could opt instead to force a vote, or have such a vote forced on her due to her age, leading to much of her insecurity seen in BotW. this system has proven to be relatively stable, especially coupled with the continued tradition of keeping the palace an open public forum

the first chief of the gerudo was nabooru, advised by the sage of lightning we see in totk, following ganondorfs sealing

the gerudo are very familiar with the souls of the dead. poes, souls lost and aimless, wander the desert after millennia of bloodshed. thus their funerary customs have persisted, even as the folklore behind them fades in and out of memory.

a person perceives reality through their body. they know the sky is above them both by craning their neck up, and by the sensation of ground beneath them. in death, one is bodiless, and sensation becomes a confusing, directionless onslaught. it is so easy for a spirit to become lost, unable to orient themselves. the gerudos funerary rites seeks to aid these souls in their journey towards returning to the serpent goddess, as without guidance they are liable to become poes. the body after death is merely an empty receptacle, and on a practical level is a potential draw for dangerous desert scavengers seeking an easy meal. the shifting sands and hard soil makes burial difficult to impossible, so instead the gerudo burn their dead. smoke is ephemeral and thus able to be seen by spirits, and even as the wind rushes, smoke will still travel upwards towards the heavens. a spirit will linger by its body for a time, and thus cremation helps provide guidance to the dead. unable to feel the earth beneath them, the dead can follow the trails of smoke to orient themselves upwards, and dispel lingering confusion

as the body is burned both to guide the departed's soul and to ward away scavengers, the gerudo inter their belongings into gravesites instead, usually one or a small collection of items that the deceased valued or were considered emblematic of them. having a proud history of warriors, many gerudo consider their weapons extensions of themselves, and thus many gravesites will consist of a single weapon.

the sage of lightnings temple served as the primary gravesite for many gerudo, and in its heyday was decorated with love and care as befitting its role. torches burned bright in its sconces and the walls painted with care in massive sweeping murals. here in the temple, a foreigners idea of the gerudo as austere and practical would fall away, as the halls shone with warmth and color, taken from their desert home

lost souls that become poes often end up becoming consumed by their regrets and despair at their inability to find their way back to reincarnation through the serpent goddess's scales, and from there turn to rage and aggression. the sunlight glinting off of the goddess's mirror scales will blind and disorient the dead who have lost their way, as they try in vain to rely on their half forgotten senses, and thus poes eschew the day in favor of the cover of night. though incorporeal, poes move as fast as the desert winds, and try all they can to cause mischief and havoc. usually the end result of their shenanigans is light injuries and scratches, but it isn't uncommon for a waylaid traveller or adrenaline seeking youngster to suffer fatal consequences. despite this, poe hunting tends to be the go-to act of rebellion for antsy teenagers with a taste for danger. in general, one of the only things fast enough to strike a poe is a fired arrow

as the sands grew and the desert expanded, it grew more and more difficult for the steeds of the gerudo to gallop across the dunes, and they were driven further and further back until the gerudo phased out their horseback traditions entirely

and as an AU specific trivia tidbit

after ganondorf's sealing, nabooru grieved the loss of her childhood friend by constructing a dedicated tomb to house ganondorf's gravesite. even though he wouldn't die, nabooru would never live to see him again, and in traditional gerudo fashion, his gravesite is marked by his signature trident, further imbued by nabooru's blessing of lighting (in a similar fashion to urbosa's fury, despite urbosa not being a sage).

[ym-loreposting]

Location name references in Breath of the Wild

A year or so ago, I went through the location names in Breath of the Wild and tried to find out which names reference previous things from the series. The following is an overview of everything I was able to find back then. Will be taking this region by region and adding some observations where relevant. I also think most of these names are the same in Tears of the Kingdom but I know at least a few changed, so all of this may not apply to that game. Of note is also that I am leaving out the more obvious ones like Gerudo Desert, Lake Hylia, Death Mountain and the Lost Woods as these tend to be well-known. This focuses on the slightly more obscure ones.

I do want to point out one major one though: the Hebra Region (ヘブラ地方). This is actually a reference to A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds and Four Swords Adventures. In the former two, the main name of Death Mountain in the Japanese version is ヘブラ山 or Hebra Mountain. In Four Swords Adventures meanwhile, there is a minor region on Death Mountain called Hebra's Hill (ヘブラの丘). But let's get into the more minor references.

Gerudo Region

Arbiter's Grounds = Arbiter's Grounds from Twilight Princess

Spectacle Rock = Spectacle Rock from The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II and A Link to the Past. Many similar locations, sometimes with similar names, have also appeared throughout the series.

Koukot Plateau = the names of Koume and Kotake, who together make up Twinrova, smashed together. They appear in Ocarina of Time, the Oracle games and the memories in Tears of the Kingdom.

Mount Nabooru = Nabooru from Ocarina of Time and Nabooru Town from Zelda II.

Yarna Valley = Yarna Desert from Link's Awakening.

East Gerudo Mesa = Gerudo Mesa from Twilight Princess.

Overall, this region has few references, mostly centered around deserts and the Gerudo people. The only odd one out is Spectacle Rock, which is usually located in the north of Hyrule on Death Mountain.

South of Lake Hylia

Parache Plains (テトラ平原/Tetra Plains) = Tetra (テトラ/Tetra)

Faron region

Lake Floria/Floria River/Floria Bridge/Floria Falls = Lake Floria from Skyward Sword.

Martha's Landing = Martha's Bay from Link's Awakening.

Tuft Mountain = King Tuft from Tri Force Heroes.

Toronbo Beach = Toronbo Shores from Link's Awakening.

Koholit Rock = Koholint Island from Link's Awakening.

There is no real theme here, aside from the locations on Eventide Island referencing Link's Awakening, as the whole island is a reference to that game. This region also contains the only reference in Breath of the Wild to Tri Force Heroes.

Great Plateau and southwestern Hyrule Field

Digdogg Suspension Bridge = Digdogger from The Legend of Zelda and Oracle of Seasons.

Manhalna Bridge = Manhandla from The Legend of Zelda, Oracle of Seasons and Four Swords Adventures.

Gleeok Bridge = Gleeok from The Legend of Zelda, Oracle of Seasons, Phantom Hourglass and Tears of the Kingdom.

Aquame Bridge = Aquamentus from The Legend of Zelda and Oracle of Seasons.

Mount Daphnes = King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule from The Wind Waker.

Lake Kolomo/Kolomo Garrison Ruins = the Lokomo from Spirit Tracks.

Forest of Time = Forest of Time from Oracle of Ages.

Temple of Time = Temple of Time from Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. The appearance of the structure most closely resembles the Ocarina of Time incarnation.

The bridges here are named after bosses from the first Zelda games, which is a running theme with the bridges around Hyrule Field. The other bridges are named after bosses from the other NES Zelda game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, however.

Kakariko Village and Southeastern Hyrule Field

Proxim Bridge (モヨリ橋/Moyori Bridge) = Aboda Village (モヨリ村/Moyori Village) from Spirit Tracks.

Owlan Bridge = Owlan from Skyward Sword.

Horwell Bridge = Horwell from Skyward Sword.

Eagus Bridge = Eagus from Skyward Sword.

Batrea Lake = Batreaux from Skyward Sword.

Nabi Lake = Navi from Ocarina of Time.

Mable Ridge = Maple from the Oracle games and A Link to the Past (GBA).

Sahasra Slope = Sahasrahla from A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds.

Telta Lake = Tatl from Majora's Mask.

Lake Siela = Ciela from Phantom Hourglass.

Pillars of Levia = Levias from Skyward Sword.

Bonooru's Stand = Bonooru from Ocarina of Time.

Pierre Plateau = Pierre from Ocarina of Time and (maybe) Majora's Mask.

The island in the southeast of Hyrule Field is centered around Skyward Sword references, while the area around Kakariko Village contains references to helpful characters from throughout the series: companions and friendly NPCs. If I had to hazard a guess, this is a general reference to the Sheikah's and Impa's supporting roles throughout the series, as Kakariko Village is their home in Breath of the Wild.

Tabantha and Hyrule Ridge

Kolami Bridge = Komali from The Wind Waker.

Seres Scablands = Seres from A Link Between Worlds.

Breach of Demise = Demise from Skyward Sword.

This region contains relatively few references. This is of note because there is only one reference made to the Rito from The Wind Waker, which makes sense considering the Rito live in Tabantha in Breath of the Wild. However, there were a lot of named Rito that appeared in The Wind Waker and only one is referenced in Breath of the Wild. This is especially notable as there are a lot of references to individual Zoras, Koroks/Kokiri and Gorons in other regions of the map.

Northern Hyrule Field

Carok Bridge = Carock from Zelda II.

Helmhead Bridge = Helmethead from Zelda II.

Rebonae Bridge = Rebonack from Zelda II.

Orsedd Bridge = Horsehead from Zelda II.

Mount Gustaf = King Gustaf from The Minish Cap.

Mabe Village Ruins/Mabe Prairie = Mabe Village from Link's Awakening.

Romani Plains = Romani and Romani Ranch from Majora's Mask.

Rauru Settlement Ruins/Rauru Hillside = Rauru from Ocarina of Time and Tears of the Kingdom and Rauru Town from Zelda II.

Crenell Hills/Crenel Peak = Mt. Crenel from The Minish Cap.

Thims Bridge = Smith from The Minish Cap.

Minshi Woods = Minish Woods from The Minish Cap.

Pico Pond = the Picori from The Minish Cap.

Trilby Plain = Trilby Highlands from The Minish Cap.

Here we see the rest of the bridges that reference the NES games. The eastern island and area further to the northeast in general contain many references to The Minish Cap (not pictured here is also the Trilby Valley that also references that game). Mount Gustaf to the west meanwhile is one of three mountains that references a king of Hyrule: we also have Mount Daphnes mentioned earlier and Mount Rhoam in Hyrule Ridge, which of course references king Rhoam from Breath of the Wild itself. Finally, the places named after Rauru could be named after the sage from Ocarina of Time, but it is also possible they reference the first king of Hyrule from Tears of the Kingdom. It depends on how much of Tears of the Kingdom's story was conceptualized when Breath of the Wild first released.

Lanayru Region

Trilby Valley = Trilby Highlands from The Minish Cap.

Zauz Island = Zauz from Phantom Hourglass.

Linebeck Island = Linebeck from Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

Mercay Island = Mercay Island from Phantom Hourglass.

Molida Island = Molida Island from Phantom Hourglass.

Bannan Island = Bannan Island from Phantom Hourglass.

Goponga Island/Goponga Village RUins = Goponga Swamp from Link's Awakening.

Inogo Bridge = The Indigo-Go's from Majora's Mask.

Tabahl Woods = Tabahl Wasteland from Link's Awakening.

Zodobon Highlands = King Zora de Bon XIV from Ocarina of Time.

Oren Bridge = Oren from A Link Between Worlds.

Ralis Pond = Prince Ralis from Twilight Princess.

Luto's Crossing = Laruto from The Wind Waker.

Rutala River/Rutala Dam = Queen Rutela from Twilight Princess.

Ruto Mountain/Ruto Lake/Ruto Precipice = Princess Ruto from Ocarina of Time and Ruto Town from Zelda II.

Toto Lake = Toto from Majora's Mask.

Mikau Lake = Mikau from Majora's Mask.

Lulu Lake = Lulu from Majora's Mask.

Ja'Abu Ridge = Lord Jabu-Jabu from Ocarina of Time and Oracle of Ages.

Veiled Falls = Veil Falls from The Minish Cap.

Lanayru has a pretty clear division, with the western Wetlands mostly referencing Phantom Hourglass and the eastern Great Spring containing many references to Zoras and characters relating to the Zoras. We also see a few stray references to Link's Awakening and Veil Falls from The Minish Cap. This is notable because in that game, Veil Falls act as the source of Hyrule's water, which is also often the case for Zora's Domain whenever it appears in the series (and so too in Breath of the Wild).

Lanayru Bay

Samasa Plain = Samasa Desert from Oracle of Seasons.

Brynna Plain = Labrynna from Oracle of Ages.

Horon Lagoon = Horon Village from Oracle of Seasons.

Talus Plateau (トロイワ高原/Toroiwa Plateau) = Talus Peaks (トロイワ山地/Toroiwa Mountains) from Oracle of Ages.

Lodrum Headland = Holodrum form Oracle of Seasons.

Tarm Point = Tarm Ruins from Oracle of Seasons.

Wintre Island = Woods of Winter from Oracle of Seasons.

Spool Bight = Spool Swamp from Oracle of Seasons.

Tal Tal Peak = Tal Tal Peaks from Link's Awakening.

The area around Lanayru Bay is a hotspot for references to the two Oracle games. The stray reference to Link's Awakening (DX) also fits this theme, with it being the other Zelda game for the Game Boy Color, as well as the other Link's Awakening references in Lanayru in general.

Great Hyrule Forest

Upland Lindor/Lindor's Brow = Linder from The Wind Waker.

Irch Plain = Irch from The Wind Waker.

Rowan Plain = Rown from The Wind Waker.

Elma Knolls = Elma from The Wind Waker.

Aldor Foothills = Aldo from The Wind Waker.

Mount Drena/Drenan Highlands = Drona from The Wind Waker.

Lake Mekar/Mekar Island = Makar from The Wind Waker.

Lake Saria = Saria from Ocarina of Time and Saria Town from Zelda II.

Mido Swamp = Mido from Ocarina of Time and Mido Town from Zelda II.

Lots of references to Koroks and Kokiri, which makes sense as the Koroks live in this area in Breath of the Wild.

Eldin Region (a.k.a. Death Mountain)

Lake Darman = Darmani from Majora's Mask.

Darunia Lake = Darunia from Ocarina of Time and Darunia Town from Zelda II.

Gorko Lake/Gorko Tunnel = Gorko from Skyward Sword.

Gortram Cliff = Gortram from Skyward Sword.

Darb Pond = Darbus from Twilight Princess.

Medingo Pool = Medigoron from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Gero Pond = Don Gero's Mask from Majora's Mask.

Lots of references to Gorons, as the Gorons live here in Breath of the Wild. Don Gero's Mask is probably here because it is initially worn by a Goron in Majora's Mask.

Akkala Region

Kanalet Ridge = Kanalet Castle from Link's Awakening.

Ulri Mountain/Ulria Grotto = Old Man Ulrira from Link's Awakening.

Torin Wetland = Tarin from Link's Awakening.

Malin Bay = Marin from Link's Awakening.

Ukuku Plains = Ukuku Prairie from Link's Awakening.

Kaepora Pass = Kaepora Gaebora from Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Four Swords Adventures.

Tingel Island = Tingle, who appears in a lot of Zelda games.

Ankel Island = Ankle from The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap.

Knuckel Island = Knuckle from The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap.

Davdi Island = David Jr. from The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap.

Akkala is a cluster for Link's Awakening references, with the reference to Kaepora Gaebora likely also tying into this. That owl's spiritual predecessor, simply called the Owl, namely appeared in Link's Awakening. The islands of off Akkala's coast meanwhile are named after the four Tingle brothers.

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

What’s the evidence for SS/BOTW/TOTK/ST Zelink being the most canon? I firmly believe in all of them myself but I like hearing other’s takes on this topic so I’m just curious

Ooh, yeah, I'll get into this.

Skyward Sword: This is such a slam dunk. It's as explicit in the text as it can be without Zelda saying "Link, you are my boyfriend, I love you." Groose is jealous of Link for his closeness to Zelda. Throughout the series, Link has gone through hell and back to save the people he cares about, not necessarily love interests (his sister in Wind Waker, the Ordon kids in Twilight Princess, etc). However, consider what Zelda says to Link when they talk in the Sealed Temple:

"I knew that if it meant saving Zelda, you would throw yourself headfirst into any danger, without even a moment's doubt."

She groomed him to be the chosen hero by baiting him with the person he loved most. Then, later:

"While it's true that I am Hylia reborn, I'm still my father's daughter and your friend... I'm still your Zelda"

She does say "friend," but this is the fledgling start of their romance. After the wing ceremony and Link and Zelda are flying together, she was a hair's breadth from admitting her true feelings for him. That's right there in the text. And come on, tell me "I'm still your Zelda" isn't loaded with deeper-than-friendship meaning. This is the kind of language that is absent in most Zelda games.

BotW/TotK: This is the next biggest slam dunk. Zelda could not for the life of her awaken her divine powers through prayer and practice. What finally activated them was a moment of desperation to save the person she loved: Link. Further, her journal details how close the two are personally. Closeness does not necessarily mean romance, but it is conducive to it. Link is comfortable enough are her to actually speak, which was originally nearly impossible from the trauma caused by the pressure to be her appointed knight and the Hylian Champion. Let's also not forget the look she gave him after he saved her from the Yiga assassins.

Now, that's all just in BotW. TotK easily cements it. Link and Zelda live together. They're in their early 20s living in the same house, a house with only one bed. Come on. That's solid proof right there that at the very least, SOMETHING is going on.

Spirit Tracks: This is less solid than the other two but still more explicit than the other 18 games in the series. The very first time Link lays eyes on Zelda, he blushes and audibly gasps. He is straight up taken aback by how attractive she is. He also blushes later when she hugs him. Oh yeah, the hug. The first thing she does once she has her body back is hug him. Then at the very end, as they watch the Lokomo depart from Hyrule and ascend to another realm, they hold hands. The devs specifically modeled hands for Zelda so they could hold hands. Come on. Confirmed.

If anything, I feel more strongly that other Zelinks aren't likely. Note that these are predicated on the idea that Link going to great lengths to save her is not necessarily indicative of romantic feelings. Skyward Sword is different because Hylia targeted Link for it. Anyway:

The Legend of Zelda: Zero chemistry. They only meet at the end.

The Adventure of Link: Zero chemistry. They only meet at the end.

A Link to the Past/Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages: Barely any interaction, no indication they're more than acquaintances or, at best, friends.

Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask: Okay, this is maybe the strongest case here. Link does spend a fair deal of time with Zelda/Sheik. In Link's later interactions with the Sheik persona, he actually tries to chase after her. Is this because he simply wants a friend? Or has he developed feelings for this mysterious young man? Man, OoT is startlingly sparse on textual evidence for Link's feelings. The writers get closer to establishing something in MM, what with Link and Zelda spending several months together following his return to his home era.

But I headcanon it a specific way, largely because of a particular video essay. In this interpretation, Link is desperate for companionship from someone who truly understands who he is and what he's been through. That's why he goes to such lengths to find Navi. She was his sister in arms and the only one who witnessed his heroism. Zelda was the closest thing to someone who understood, but not quite there. So, less than likely.

Also, they're 10. I was interested in romance when I was 10, but I still consider my first serious relationship, at 19, as the beginning of my true understanding of romantic love. I don't attribute much value to the *very* young love 10 years may have for each other, no matter how traumatized and mature for his age one of them is. That actually raises another question. Is Link mentally 17 by the time he slays Ganon? Or was he mentally a child the whole time? Because the 17/10 thing actually does make a difference here. Um. Moving on.

Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass: There is also something to be said here in that Link and Tetra actually do have chemistry. She's seems to be a bit older than him, just enough that she initially looks down on him as a stupid kid. Then again, at 14 and even to an extent 13, I did see most 12 year olds as being much less mature than me. Then again then again, I was a very pretentious preteen. Okay, so maybe Tetra is initially just as pretentious in that sense. Anyway, she does view him as an equal by the end and fights alongside him like a badass. Hm. Right so there's some stuff here. Like how Link goes to such lengths especially in Phantom Hourglass to save her. At that point they aren't playing parts in a legendary conflict, he's just trying to save her. But once again, that doesn't really mean romantic love.

Four Swords: No chemistry seen, barely any interaction. That's a nah from me.

Four Swords Adventures: There's a TINY bit more here, because Link and Zelda are childhood friends. Still not much here. The Minish Cap: Barely more than FSA. Childhood friends, more interaction, but still not much chemistry.

Twilight Princess: Okay this might be my hottest take here. Not only do I not think it is evidenced by the canon text, I actually don't like this one. Even ignoring that Link has infinitely better love interests in Ilia and Midna, he has no chemistry with her at all. They barely interact. On top of that, and this is the biggest thing for me, she is 20. He is 16/17. A three year age gap at that point is uncomfortably large. I've dated people three years younger than me, but we were both adults. It's just a little icky.

A Link Between Worlds: I feel like a broken record. Barely any onscreen interaction, no chemistry. Just ain't there.

Echoes of Wisdom: Not to get too into spoilers here, but I agree with that post going around that Zelda probably has a big crush on Link. But that's just a headcanon and not really evidenced by the text.

All of this said, I don't think you're wrong or bad or anything for liking more Zelinks than I do. These are just my opinions and frankly I'm too old to be engaging in shipping wars. Then again, hey, you asked for my opinions. Oh yeah, and sorry for taking so long to respond. Whoops.

[cutebutalsostabby]

In which LoZ games can Link see ghosts, and are there any reasons why he can see ghosts in those games? What about Zelda? Does she ever get to see ghosts or is that a Link thing.

It's a bit arbitrary tbh? In short, I would say that some ghosts are able to make themselves visible whenever they like, whereas others can only be seen if Link has a particular item or ability. I don't recall any of the Zeldas having specific items or abilities here, but you tend to only interact briefly with Zelda in these games so it doesn't actually come up. The specific Links with items/abilities are OoT/MM!Link, WW/PH!Link (arguable), TP!Link, LA!Link, ALBW!Link and AoL!Link - see further details below.

Skyward Sword: Link can see one (1) singular ghost and it's the toilet hand. Which maybe doesn't actually count as a ghost? Do ghosts have physical forms? Nonetheless, it's indicated that other people can hear if not see this ghost, so SS!Link doesn't seem to have any special powers.

Minish Cap: Link can meet a few different ghosts! These include the ghost of a dead king, the ghost of a swordsman, a pair of ghost siblings and some sort of ghost parasite that you can suck up with your gust jar if you arrive at the right time (which I didn't. No light arrows for me...)

Four Swords/Four Swords Adventures: I don't recall there being any ghosts in the former? I think there were some in the latter, but there were no specific abilities/items associated with them. I'm less familiar with these two games however.

Ocarina of Time: you can view ghost Dampe with the naked eye (I think) but need the eye of truth to see the spirit in the wasteland. While you're in the Shadow Temple, Well and a few other areas, Navi mentions being able to see/hear spirits that Link can't.

Majora's Mask: this game's version of the Eye of Truth lets you see a few other ghosts, including Darmani! Though you can see his shadow without it, which is interesting.

Wind Waker: you meet a few dead people, including Fado, Laruto and King Boat Dad. It seems like they all appear specifically because they want to talk to Link, e.g. in response to him conducting the sage's melodies. He doesn't have any special items or abilities, except potentially the Ghost Ship chart: you need this in order to board the ship, and the game text hints that the object is cursed somehow. Might explain why Phantom Hourglass is suddenly so much ghostlier?

Phantom Hourglass: same Link as above, but he meets way more ghosts this time! They're everywhere! Spooky!

Spirit Tracks: technically Zelda isn't a ghost? I think? She's technically still alive, after all? I don't recall there being any other ghosts in this game.

Twilight Princess: hell yeah ghosts, and this time you actually have a reason(?) for being able to see them! Turn on wolf senses. At least one ghost is visible (to both Link and Midna) even WITHOUT wolf senses, and it's the dead Zora queen who wants you to save her child.

A Link to the Past: nothing that I recall, outside of monsters.

A Link Between Worlds: you can get the highly fashionable hint glasses, which let you view hint ghosts! I of course am a pro gamer and never used this ability.

Oracle of Ages + Oracle of Seasons: there are a few ghosts, but no special items or abilities. They're just there.

Link's Awakening: some ghosts are visible without items, but you can also obtain the Magnifying Glass, which lets you see others! But then again, this is a dream so whatever goes, I guess (spoiler lol).

Triforce Heroes: nada afaik.

Zelda I: it's not really clear who is and is not a ghost? You meet an old man under a grave and he gives you a sword. It's probably fine?

Zelda II (Adventure of Link): you obtain the Cross! Definitely not based on any real world religions. The Cross lets you see invisible ghost monsters. You don't meet any actual ghost NPCs in this game, but theoretically this Link would be able to see them if they were there.

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom: you meet plenty of ghosts but don't have any special items to see them. Imo this version of Hyrule must be SUPER haunted, so you're probably only seeing a fraction of what's there.

Hyrule Warriors (if you count it): no special items or abilities, except maybe the magic mirror you get in the water temple? It's an item that you can use to break an illusion spell. But in general, if a ghost shows up, it's visible to all characters.

I think that's everything? Let me know if I missed a game!

[karaloza]

Legend of Zelda Theme Park - Dark World (UPDATED)

By this point, you might be thinking this version of Hyrule is a little too cheery and idyllic. Sure, there are occasional spots of monster activity, but it all seems to resolve pretty readily. Isn’t this supposed to be a titanic clash of Good vs. Evil? Where’s all the, y'know, Evil? Where are the bad guys? Where’s Ganon?

In the very back of the park, of course! The Dark World is an area devoted entirely to the forces of evil that plague the LoZ series. It’s a grim world, with ramshackle-looking structures and a grimy color palette occasionally highlighted by lurid shades of red, orange, and magenta. At one end of the rough crescent is a massive fortress of blackish stone and sharp-edged towers, while at the other end, the landscape drops away into a bottomless chasm leaking suspicious vapors. The plant life here seems to consist entirely of twisted trees and thorny briars, and evidence of the monsters’ dominance is everywhere. Even the ambient music is spooky, punctuated with villainous leitmotives.

Attractions

Spirit Train (Shadow Station): The Hero has to make it to the final showdown somehow…or else make a quick escape! While waiting for the next train, peek through the windows of the nearby maintenance shed (marked with an asterisk) to see an imprisoned Demon Train!

Final Battle at Ganon’s Lair!: What theme park would be complete without an awesome stunt show? (Well, lots of them…but not this one!) Inside the castle at the east end of the Dark World is an arena with amphitheater seating, which is the site of a half-hour stunt show that pits Link and his allies against Ganondorf and his hordes of monsters! The show features climbing, jumping (and falling), tumbling, rope swinging, archery tricks, numerous practical effects, and best of all, a prolonged climactic sword duel between the Hero and a newly transformed Ganon!

Meet the King of Evil: Between shows, Ganondorf does meet-and-greets in a wickedly impressive reception room in a wing of his Lair. It’s worth seeing even when he’s not present due to the sinister props available to pose with for photos.

Vaati Vortex: A spinning ride akin to the Scrambler found at many fairgrounds—choose a seat in the green, red, blue, or purple section and hold on, because that irate winged eyeball in the center is about to whip up a ferocious tornado!

The Shadow Temple: Signs outside this ride warn younger heroes that their courage will definitely be put to the test! Inspired by Ocarina of Time’s infamous Shadow Temple and similarly themed dungeons and challenges from across the franchise, this is a slow to medium-paced dark ride and it is legitimately scary. Hideous undead monsters, sweeping scythe blades, living Nightmares that shroud a room in complete darkness, and a constant background cacophony of unsettling sounds are just a few of the horrors within, and it all builds toward a climactic encounter with the most horrifying mini-boss in the entire Zelda franchise: Dead Hand! But instead of springing out of the floor, here he takes a page from Bongo Bongo and drops down from the ceiling. Have fun!

Dark Link’s Mirror Maze: For something a little less intense—spooky rather than terrifying—guests can try confronting their own inner darkness in this temple-like walkthrough attraction. Like the one in the Lost Woods, it is more of a classical labyrinth than a true maze, although it does have periodic mirror-lined sections for disorientation purposes. The lighting is low, some sections are misted over via fog machines, and you might sometimes approach a mirror and suddenly see a red-eyed figure within, while a spooky chuckle reverberates. You have a map, but if you stand too long in one of the well-lit corners to peruse it, a scrabbling sound approaches, followed by the appearance of a growing hand-shaped shadow on the floor around you! “Chicken exits” are available for those who lose their nerve partway through, but those who stick it out can reach the central chamber of the temple, where the Dark Mirror awaits. Stand before it, and it will show you your own Dark World form! It might be a fierce wolf, a cocky bunny rabbit, a sentient tree, a monster…or maybe the mirror will show you yourself, as you are…until the image suddenly flushes grayscale and your own eyes light up red!

Into the Depths: The Zonai Survey Team is looking for volunteers to help explore the lightless realm under Hyrule! In this long-form (15-20 minutes) trackless dark ride with motion-sim elements, guests board their vehicles at a “Sheikah research station” in the underworld and set off into the shrouded unknown to see what very little can be seen. From time to time, the vehicle “fires a Brightbloom seed” in order to illuminate things in the distance. Occasionally, monsters can be spotted far off, but they pose little threat to the guests—the focus here is on the eerie beauty of the Depths, not the danger.

Shops

8. Fang & Bone Monster Market: Monsters are a defining feature of the Zelda series and a popular topic in general. Named after the wandering shop in Breath of the Wild and featuring Kilton's distinctive patchwork balloon on its roof, this shop features a wide selection of monster toys, figurines and collectibles, books, and more. Monsters from the game franchise, mythology and folklore, and contemporary urban legends all have their place here.

9. Art of Darkness: A shop for those who enjoy the sinister side of life, featuring jewelry, housewares, and decorative items with Gothic and dark fantasy aesthetic motifs.

10. Twisted Steel: If you’re in the market for a clean-lined, heroic sword or bow, check out Forged in Fire, up on Death Mountain. If on the other hand your tastes in weaponry run a little more ominous, this is the place for you! Whether you’re looking for Ganon’s signature trident, Dark Link’s blackened version of the Master Sword, or maybe just a generically evil-looking dagger, you’ll find it in this shop.

Eateries

11. The Fire Pit: The forces of evil get hungry too (and not just for conquest). This simple counter-service restaurant offers an equally simple fast-food menu of hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza slices, chicken tenders, and side dishes...all with evocative “evil” names, of course. The seating area does indeed have a central fire pit, though the actual (gas-fed) flames are small and most of the glow comes from LEDs inside artificial stones.

Miscellaneous

Guests may encounter roving bands of monsters in this area. Fortunately, they are generally willing to pose for photos rather than attack.

After dark, the hours are marked by an area-wide light show based on the periodic “Blood Moon” of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

[sischan]

More Flat colored doodles, but more of Skyward Sword Zelda and Link. Along with Rauru from Ocarina of Time in his youth. In my play-through of the Legend of Zelda series and my personal take on the series timeline. [Mostly the story I have when playing the series to fit with the child-timeline, as this timeline holds the hero of time's lineage and I would like to think in this timeline the three timelines merge back into one]I like to think of Rauru, the sage of Light in Ocarina of Time as the son of Skyward Sword ZeLink. Born after his parents settled on the surface, forming a small Village close to the sealing temple. Not many of those Skyloftians settled in the forest with Link and Zelda. During the time of both Zonai and ancient Sheikahs, but the relationship between the Sheikah and Zelda’s bloodline wasn’t as strong as yet. Unlike the relationship they hold with Zelda of TotK era. One day while out hunting with his father, Rauru saved a young Sheikah chief’s youngest daughter. As a small swarm of gold skulltulas spiders had cornered her in the forest.

Through his relationship with this Sheikah, Rauru’s powers to which he inherited from his mother. Gained him the title of Sage of Light. Until a time a war broke out between the Sheikah and the Zonai over the triforce. A relic that was left to Rauru  to protect by his parents’ past adventure, causing the Zonai to create replicas of the relic. Upon sealing himself in the sacred realm, with the aid of his father’s sword. Rauru was able to seal himself and the triforce away, trusting the stones to open the door of time to his bride. Same Sheikah he saved in his youth, to which she entrusted to the other races the Sheikah had ties with. Despite sealing himself away with the triforce, the war continued until the arrival of Light Spirits from Twilight Princess. Sealing away all the Zonai that used the replica stones into the Twilight Realm, only a few were spared. 

[divineprank]

It is late and I'm very tired, but i can't sleep because I have a hellacious toothache so I've been playing Ocarina of Time on my 3DS to keep my mind busy! I've been chipping away at the Spirit Temple and I just encountered one of the Iron Knuckles. The room the Knuckles are in have some really cool decorations, like battle axes! But more interestingly, sets of really nice chain maille are posed behind some sandy, protective fencing. The armor seems to be based on Egyptian culture; the head dressing specifically reminds me of a nemes, the famous striped headcloth one might find among the Pharaohs' regalia. What also piques my interest is the veil that covers the entire face... At first, because it's quite hard to see much details (even WITH the free cam access I have) I thought I was looking at the wooden mannequin of the armor set... But, nope! It appears that the Gerudo wear a cloth around the full face while dressed with this particular maille. Something else I find interesting is that there are what appears to maybe be snakes or perhaps a dragon decorated along the face cloth? And also note the snags and holes at the bottom of the material, implying that these aren't just decorative mannequins but are sets of armor that has been (and perhaps will continue to be) used. While this really isn't anything hidden, nor is it even that remotely impressive, I still wanted to share what I discovered with you folks because now I want to see Ganondorf or Nabooru wearing this armor.

Also, here are all the examples of the armor textures as they appear in order within the Spirit Temple!

Please feel welcome to share your thoughts and headcanons with me... I'd love to hear what you're thinking!!