#Zelda discourse

[nokillbananashelter]

Why You Should Consider Link Being a Silent Protagonist:

Silent Protagonist ≠ always no dialogue

Silent protagonist does = minimal dialogue, grunts, sparse moments of communication, or no dialogue at all. It’s a spectrum.

Mute people are relatable beings you can empathize with

Quiet people are relatable beings you can empathize with

Link is narratively described as quiet and has story reasons for being reserved in the 2 latest iterations of Mainline Zelda and its part of his character development that he opens up and DOES speak more. It’s literally acknowledged in the most popular zelda title (BOTW).

Let me reiterate- its part of his character to say very little or to have story reasons for not speaking up at first!

Link is silent in EOW for Plot Reasons, pointing to this being a possibility continual in plot recognition

Link is pointed to as THE example of silent protagonist outside of like, Gordon Freeman. Nintendo literally is acknowledging that in its most recent and popular zeldas.

The movie will draw a lot of inspiration from BOTW and TOTK and you would be in denial if you thought elsewise

Childrens cartoons, blockbuster action movies, art house films, comics, games, and more have characters who chirp their name more than speak or barely speak at all

Some of the most Lucrative characters in media fall into this category and some would argue make more money than any plot or franchise. R2D2, Chewie, and Grogu are a HONEYPOT and Lucas could probably speak ad nauseam about this if he wasn’t busy weeping about how he’s not getting all of it

Young children’s media does not rely on a lot of words to convey concepts

His Windwaker Design is literally inspired by kids cartoons and animation that relies on emotion not words

As a person who spent decades studying children’s media I can tell you kids respond to action and story that relies on physical acting, facial emotions, cause-and-effect, observation, and may things that do not need words

Samurai Jack, Grogu, Chewie, R2D2, Snoopy, Gromit, Pikachu, Groot, Boomhaur, Onion, Schnitzel, Animal, the Minions, Silent Bob, Driver (from drive), Mad Max (fury road), are all examples of popular characters who chirp, babble, or barely speak and people love the piss out of them

Movies started without audio and again the foundational concepts of most storytelling in movies happened *without dialogue at first*

Physical acting is a theatrical medium that both adults and children respond positively to

Physical acting is the foundation of fight scenes, chase scenes, stunts, and action in general- things that will be highly features in this movie

Animation, Illustration, and Visual story telling LIKE MOVIES is based on *showing, not telling* for 90% of its time.

James baxter, norman rockwell, charlie chaplin don’t need words to carry bankrolls and make you piss yourself in tears. James Dean also inspired an entire hollywood casting standard based on *staring in vibes*

Some of the most emotionally grappling movies and moments in cinema come from no dialogue in the mix. Up is still fucking you up, and the Piano is a rollercoaster of turmoil because of its silent protagonist. There is literally a No Dialogue cut of Fury Road that fucks and is highly praised

We literally have examples in the GAMES where support characters and other protagonists carry the weight of exposition, conversation, and explanation.

Zelda is right there you twerps, she can do the talking even if she is not with link physically. We literally have examples of this in game too. Midna is also right there, carrying the stone cold plot of Twilight Princess on her quipped up bitch noggin

This whole conversational point about it being hard or impossible or a bad idea is an insult to writers, illustrators, musicians, actors, directors, editors, stage designers, story boarders, makeup artists, cameramen, dancers, game designers, extras, special effects artists, puppeteers, marketing departments, toy designers, STUNTMEN, comic book artists, Miyamoto, audience members, children, adults, quiet people, mute people & their loved ones, the established zelda lore, link’s OWN DAMN CHARACTER IN CANON, and yourself if you believe that

have a better imagination, you deserve it!

Be more curious & open hearted, you deserve it!

There’s no excuse for him to not be quiet in some way other than “they didn’t feel like it, creatively” which is valid and totally acceptable and not a big deal, and could absolutely result in a wonderful portrayal of Link!

[faroreswinds]

Anon asks about Totk-spoilers below

I think the implication is Zelda moved in with Link at his house in Hateno. It would be weird for the princess to have a normal house in a rural community so far away from Hyrule Castle, unless you take into account that the castle is probably still in a mostly uninhabitable state from the Calamity, so she'd have to live somewhere else during the restoration period. The Hateno house was probably Link's childhood home from before he became a knight at the castle 100+ years ago.

I do believe that is meant to be the implication, but it’s really weirdly written. No one in town actually knows Link, not even the mayor. Except the Sheikah teacher, I guess. But everyone else? Nah, Link is a stranger. 

And it’s not like Zelda has a lot of places to choose from to live in. Maybe Kakariko, I guess, maybe Lurelin. But Hateno seems like the most obvious choice. (They also clearly just recycled Link’s house for Zelda, development-wise). 

As for the childhood home, that I DID know. Although it matters so little, since Link never reacts to his old home in any meaningful way. 

Do you think botw/totk rebooted the series/started a new timeline? Considering Rauru and Sonia are stated to be the founders of Hyrule, and there are no zonai in SS.

It is a very real probability. Hard to say though. I am currently undecided where past-totk should fall. New continuity? New timeline? Far in the future?

I am kinda leaning towards a new timeline, split from SS. It kinda explains a lot of lore inconsistencies away if you do! I’m going to borrow someone else’s explanation a bit to show how it works. 

From a reddit user, they wrote:

When someone travels backwards through time, to avoid the grandfather paradox, the timeline splits when the past is significantly changed. When someone travels to the future, they stay in the same timeline. We see this in OoT - what causes the timeline split specifically is Zelda sending Link to the past.

So in SS, I think the timeline split would occur thanks to Ghirahim. Ghirahim stealing Zelda and going backwards through the Gate of Time - and forcing Link to defeat Demise centuries before the Triforce destroyed the Imprisoned. That's when the split happens. When Link and Zelda go through the future, I think they stay in the new altered future they have created. That is why in Skyward Sword, when Link leaves the Master Sword in the past, it is still there in the future.

So in my mind there are two timelines:

Imprisoned Timeline: The timeline where Demise, as the Imprisoned, is destroyed by Link's wish upon the Triforce. Link, Zelda, and Groose end up abandoning this timeline due to Ghirahim's actions. The Master Sword has also left this timeline.

Demise Timeline: The timeline where Ghirahim steals Zelda and Demise is killed by Link, and does his curse. The Master Sword with Fi is left in this timeline, and this is the timeline where Link and Zelda return to.

Impa is present in both timelines to dramatically shape history's events.

About the Master Sword - it is a puzzle, because it ultimately exists in both timelines. In this scenario, it vanishes in the Imprisoned Timeline. Now consider:

The one hard line between Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword: Fi is in the Master Sword in Breath of the Wild.

How the Master Sword was created in Skyward Sword conflicted with what we were told in Twilight Princess. TP's Princess Zelda describes the Master Sword as: “The blade of evil's bane that was crafted by the wisdom of the ancient sages... the Master Sword”

So perhaps in the Imprisoned Timeline, the Master Sword was recreated - after all the ingredients are still there, but this time by the ancient sages.

So in summation:

Imprisoned Timeline: Part of Skyward Sword + the entire rest of the Zelda timeline. Hylia's mortal reincartion does not exist in the timeline, but Impa ensures that the legacy of Link and Zelda are important in the eventual founding of Hyrule. Hyrule ends up primarily worshipping the Golden Goddesses. The Triforce was the people's salvation. The Master Sword is created by the ancient sages, and is called the Blade of Evil's Bane. Ganondorf is a just a guy driven by a lust for power.

Demise Timeline: The end of Skyward Sword + massive time gap + Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kindgom. Hylia's mortal reincarnation lives in this timeline, so Hyrule primarily worships Hylia. The Triforce was hidden away, as Zelda/Hylia believed it had served its purpose. The Master Sword was created how we saw it, contains Fi's Spirit, was hidden away, and is called the Sword that Seals the Darkness because it literally sealed Demise. Demise's curse allows for the Demon King to exist. The massive gap between games in this timeline allows for history to occur, and due machinations of fate present in a fantasy universe, similar events occur as in the Imprisoned Timeline. This is why there are things in BotW/TotK that seem like loose, but not concrete, references to past games

It is definitely not a perfect theory, especially since Skyward Sword at the time of release seemed to portray a time loop. We'll need an explanation of how the Isle of the Goddess rejoined on the surface in the Demise Timeline, for example

It really solves a lot. It retains a lot of old lore, like the creation of the Master Sword, why Hylia is still worshipped, and doesn’t interfere with the old timeline in weird ways. It just... makes sense. 

Again, it is not perfect, we do have some minor issues here and there, but man, I can really see it. 

TotK Spoilers

I think you summed up pretty well why I can’t into BotW and TotK ZeLink. I’m usually all for sworn knight and their retainer getting together but it only really works well when that knight is shown as having importance outside of their retainer and Link just doesn’t really have that and it’s incredibly weird especially since unlike in BotW where they were dead, people who should know Link here don’t and he feels like a footnote. It’s still cute and all but he feels like his only purpose is to be the dashing savior to Zelda instead of having his own community that he can have outside of Zelda as well. You could argue you’re building that up in the game but then it makes his utter lack of input and emotion regarding Zelda (especially those times when the Yiga disguise themselves as her, you would think he’d show some kind of anger at them using that appearance against him) that much worse. TotK just feels like you either choose to enjoy the community that you build up over the game or you are endlessly pining after Zelda. Her jesus status really doesn’t help but she really feels like…too perfect in this game. Like they over corrected for her flaws in BotW when those were the best parts of her and what made the moment when she unlocked her powers alongside Link actually impactful. So many of the Memories felt wasted and could have been used to establish Rauru and the past characters better but instead they feel lie they’re just there to make sure you know Zelda is super special and way way more important than just some average princess even back in the old days when people were much more powerful. It’s just sad. BotW set up a really interesting Hyrule for the two of them to rebuild but Zelda basically achieving godhood and not even having to suffer the draw backs of said decision, past Hyrule being so underwhelming along with its characters, and the really jarring lack of mentioning much of the past outside of really slight homages just makes it feel, from a story perspective, really really underwhelming. The gameplay is fun and so are some of the quests but the experience is so much better enjoyed if you just view it as Link going around Hyrule helping people out instead of a grand epic to save the princess.

I’m so glad you brought up the fact that this Zelda is basically perfect, because she is.

I never really liked this Zelda to begin with, but at least in BotW she had clear limitations to her abilities as a person and as a princess.

Here? Well, let’s just list out some of her stated accomplishments:

She is a fabulous painter (painted the Lover's Pond for Lurelin Village)

She is a good cook (taught multiple recipes to different people across Hyrule)

She is incredibly humble (as described by Sidon's stone monument of their meeting)

She is a teacher to children, and started a school

She is still a scientist of technology and other fields of science

She is now also a historian with a deep interest in Zonai architecture and history

She discovered a new species and set up a conservation

She rescued a very rare horse and adopted it

She has Light Powers, Time Powers, Hylia's Powers, AND possibly possesses the full Triforce

Her powers are more powerful than Sonia

If you consider AoC canon, she created a literal sentient robot

On top of that, she is constantly praised and worshipped by nearly every npc. Even the past characters instantly love her and adopt her. 

I believe they did this due to the nature of the story structure. They needed a way to make her likable to the player, while also having her absent. So... they made her basically perfect and the one behind a lot of things in Hyrule. Nearly everything new is attributed to her. 

Now yes, she is royalty and some of these are her duties. But come on, someone else could have painted the Lover’s Pond. Someone else could have discovered the new species. She didn’t have to discover the rare horse. 

But that’s what they wrote and it really kinda took me out of it. 

Game is still pretty fun though, probably one of the best Zelda games ever made. I just don’t really enjoy this Link and Zelda, for their lack of flaws and lack of character or place in the world. 

[umbralstars]

Zelda fandom rant:

Totk is not a retcon. It literally is not. It has a few weird story things going on with BOTW in regards to the Sheikah tech but that's it. It does not up-end Any part of the time-line other than saying fan theories that people got overly attached to aren't true.

It is never stated anywhere (in the game or the books) that the Link and Zelda from Skyward Sword are the founders of the Kingdom of Hyrule. We did not know when or who established the kingdom, and we now have Rauru and Sonia as likely candidates. I fail to see how this could be such an upsetting "retcon" to people when all previous lore had the time between Skyward Sword and Minish Cap as multiple Vague happenings.

"Where is the Triforce?" "What happened to the Zonai?" both of these questions honestly have the same answer: the Era of Chaos. You know the one where the Triforce and the Sacred Realm gets sealed and when we know that at least one race gets yote from Hyrule's plan of existence? And that the Zonai at their height were not only the direct descendants of the Gods (so basically gods themselves) and very powerful magic users? By the time Hyrule's established the Triforce is already sealed away until OoT, and the Zonai also have their own powerful objects in the form of the Secret Stones (which could be any number of things. Aspects of the triforce, mimicries of it, things given to them by their godly ancestors, idk have some fun with it). And it's not a stretch to say that Rauru wouldn't know about it or the Hyrulians own heritage from the skies with the loftwings; eventually leading to the crest of Hyrule that we know.

The sky in and if itself is already a realm of the gods separated from the surface reality. Just because we don't see the Zonai in SS doesn't mean they weren't around or weren't doing things on the surface before the Skyloftians re-establish themselves on the ground. They're capable of existing as their own thing. I don't really ever see people get this upset over like Oocca (even tho like,,, wtf is up with them?), and I can only assume it's cause TwiLiP is already in the fandom consciousness as a "good Zelda game" so it won't get scrutiny like the new one.

Idk I'm seeing people get personally upset and offended over percieved changes in the time-line. Even though I would argue with my whole chest nothing has been retconned or changed.

Also it's very funny watching people who were so against the idea that botw could mean that the time-lines converged now tout the theory; just so they can shove both it and totk (including all the "in the past" stuff with Rauru and Sonia) so far in the future it can't touch their precious "classic Zelda." And the time-line that I remember a lot of the fandom not even liking.

Like I believed in the convergence theory back during botw cause it made sense to me and we were already dealing with time magic. But no, it was Impossible until the new game did something people didn't agree with.

It's fine to disagree or have different theories but to say that the game is objectively bad and was trying to retcon things? I have to disagree. I really think it's a matter of people disliking change and totk not being the game they built up in their heads (or not Entirely following up on some of botw's story, like the fight with Calamity Ganon from the legend. Which is a valid criticism and one that I kinda hold myself). But making up false statements about the game to justify your dislike? That's pretty weak.

(And that's not to say I'm above hating games or spin offs. I don't like Hopes pretty much at all, but I Try to keep my hate grounded in things the game actually did)

To go off in a side tangent: I'm sorry but totk Does tell you the order it wants you to do it's story in. It tells you to go to certain areas first (like talking to Purah, then to Kakariko, then to Impa, etc), to talk with Impa on your way to Rito Village which is the first area the game directs you towards. Then when you go to the forgotten temple: there is a map on the ground showing you the exact locations of all of the glyphs plus the glyphs lined up on the back wall in a way that suspiciously looks....ordered. And Impa's dialog prompts you to try and figure out what this all could Mean. And you get a camera right at the start of the game which would maybe allow for something like Documenting the map and the wall mural.

Idk bout y'all but I figured out this riddle after a few seconds of looking at it on release day. So there was no guide or anything to "help" me. And yeah I'm being sarcastic because the answer is so blatant and obvious. The game Wants you to pay attention and do the glyphs linearly but is was not going to hold your hand and force you. And there is other dialog abounds which asks you to do the plot in a certain order, but you still don't Have to.

I don't know how to sign this off other than saying that, in my opinion, totk is a fantastic game. It's a good Zelda game. And yes, I have played plenty of classic Zelda games before anyone tries to accuse me of "not getting it." The lore and the story is also very important to me, I just disagree with much of the discourse I've seen (especially on Zelda YouTube). It's okay if you don't like it, but people who do like it aren't bootlickers or whatever.

And yeah there are things that I do dislike about the game, don't get me wrong. But gods it's not a bad game and it's not world ending. Maybe try having fun with the lore for once?

[pepperpuppy417]

A question!! Maybe a chain?

When did you get into LoZ, and how?

For me, I played BotW years ago and really enjoyed it but couldn’t get really into any of the other games. About a year and a half ago (I think?) I happened upon Linked Universe. I didn’t know who half the cast was but I was SMITTEN. After that I started ALBW and it was all over for me.

No pressure tags

@starwolfie @kilgoreontralfamadore @chibinur @raven8224

[linderosse]

✨tea party between worlds✨

Happy 10th Anniversary to one of my favorite Zelda games, LoZ: LBW!

Featuring Fable as Alice, Ravio as the March Hare, Hilda as the visiting Queen of Hearts, and Legend as both the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse >:).

Also gonna use this (relevant, I promise!) artwork to announce that Chapter 4 of The Secrets We Keep has been released! It’s an LU fic of mysteries and misconceptions that takes place in the same universe as Wielders of Wisdom. If you like that sort of thing, go check it out!

< Prev | 7 | Next >

Masterpost

[kiki-is-being-purples]

??? Do people not realize that Nintendo has officially said it’s pronounced Fai? Like along the lines of WiFi and Sci-Fi.

okay but is it Fi (f-ee) or Fi (f-eye)

i am a f-eye believer

[distantkairi]

No shot people are doing the whole "Eww I hate playing as icky cringe Princess Zelda" crap again like they did with Echoes of Wisdom.

You're really not fooling anyone. I can say with 99% certainty from your upset posts that you are more or less just incredibly salty and mad it's not your harem anime self insert OC projection of Link/Sidon/Your favourite rule 34 waifu. I see through you.

Honestly, I knew this would happen. I expected it. These announcements that focus on BOTW/TOTK Zelda are worth it just for seeing how gross and sexist people, once again, get about BOTW/TOTK's Princess Zelda, yet again proving my point about this fandom.

Wasn't one of the main complaints about Tears of the Kingdom on here that Zelda was "too passive" and we didn't see enough of her side? That she got shafted? And now we get that, we get to see how she fought in the war and you're still complaining about that as well?

Just say what you actually mean, no fluff. You hate Princess Zelda (let me guess, the ancient columns memory made you feel personally insecure? you hate her voice actress? Or maybe blame her for everything bad in the story?) and hate that this game is clearly focusing on her, a female character that you can't self-insert on, that isn't wearing a revealing outfit, isn't submissive, isn't your "dommy mommy" (that actually isn't who Purah is at all either, never has been, but I know I won't get through to you) and is actually assertive in her personality. Well, tough.

Women and representations of women are not here to just be sex objects only. Women are human beings and if you are so misogynistic you can't empathize with us as people, that isn't my problem. I'm sorry that some of you can't get past your hatred of women and treating this game (that is also aimed at literal children) as nothing but porn to appreciate Zelda's character. You are not Link, it has to be said. Link is a good man, and you hate women simply because they won't sleep with you, or because "video games are turning woke". I have news for you, women who enjoy video games were always here and they will continue to be here. Stay mad about it.

Also in case you haven't noticed, the story of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom was always about Zelda more than it was about Link. Age of Calamity (that unlike many of you, I actually bothered to play all the way through, and watched the cutscenes, including DLC cutscenes of, multiple times) was also mainly her story, not Link's. I don't know how much clearer Nintendo can be about that aspect. There is a reason most of the memories in botw focused on her to begin with. The wild games have always been about Zelda.

Stop calling Zelda a "useless bitch" more or less just because she isn't Link. Don't buy this game if her getting the spotlight makes you so mad.

[veggiecorner]

Food for thought but what if the house in Hateno was just Zeldas at first? Link wanted to give Zelda a place to stay where she can rest without being reminded of her duty every 5 seconds (which was why staying in Kakariko didn't work) and he knew he's not the type to sit around and rest. He does want to stay by Zelda's side however, but also felt awkward about living with her. So he does this thing where he just checks in with her every few weeks/months but travels around doing tasks for the people. Whenever Zelda wants to travel he's immediately by her side, but once she's back in Hateno he's just "...okay see you later......" and leaves. Zelda wants to tell him to stay a bit longer, but is too uncertain to break that boundary between them. Also she doesn't really want him to feel like he has to stay by her side. She wants him to have his freedom.

But suddenly him being gone for 2 months becomes 6 weeks...then it becomes 1 month...then 2 weeks....then a week...and one day he walks up to Zelda and just says "...can I stay over for the night?"

And so the house in Hateno starts to feel a little less lonely from then on.

[master-kohga-dating-sim]

okay im stuck between a rock and a hard place right now because i REALLY dont wanna be that asshole who calls people's ships "problematic" (I ship Master Kohga and Sooga so ive gotten plenty of that), so if you are both critical of Hyrule Kingdom and ship Zelgan, PLEASE tell me why and what you see in it

as of right now i have the tag blocked because i just cannot fucking stand seeing the ship, it reminds me of Pocahontas in terms of the dynamic because Zelda is the princess of an imperialist nation who tried to annex Ganondorf's fucking land??? it just seems to me like this ship is heavily based in racist tropes and by myself i absolutely cannot understand why anyone who is critical of the kingdom would ship a man of color with the people who tried to colonize his land

so again PLEASE tell me, i really really don't wanna be a fucking asshole so i wanna hear your guys' side. if im gonna make a decision i wanna make sure i have the full context of everything

(note: dont get me wrong, i hate any ship pairing ganondorf with anyone from the kingdom. zelgan is just the most prevalent because 1- characters like rauru and sonia are exclusive to totk and 2- ive seen ganlink done in a way that acknowledges all this and addresses it in one way or another which is more than i can say for literally all of the zelgan stuff ive seen)

[lizardanya]

age of calamity dlc is so insane bc they reveal the yiga yaoi is problematic bc they met when one was a small child and the other took him under his wing and in the same cutscene proceed to follow this information with a zelink parallel. like they literally recreate the moment where link is about to sacrifice himself by fighting so that zelda can escape and even with the same fucking enemies they have in this game for that moment. who in the hell wrote “zelda master kohga parallels” in the script and more importantly who the hell looked at that and said “yeah that tracks”

[avola-productions]

If you hate on any version of Princess Zelda in service of shipping, I hereby decree that you are barred from playing Echoes of Wisdom.

[faroreswinds]

I have a lot to say about the Totk story, and how it fails, but there was one particular thing I felt the need to note that only occurred to me while I sat in my warm tub, contemplating my sad existence in this world.

It occurred to me that Zelda, a person from the future with knowledge of said future, does not try to attempt to find the hero or the master sword of Rauru’s era.

And while that might seem like a minor thing, I don’t think it is.

In Zelda lore, we have a few other instances where a hero does not show up, but it is not for a lack of trying. In the case of LttP, for instance, the people sought the Master Sword, a powerful weapon said to be the bane of evil, in order to defeat Ganon and his spreading evil. But they could not find the Master Sword, no matter how hard they looked. And eventually, they ran out of time, and had to turn to the Knights of Hyrule and the Sages to complete the job. This ended up with the near total genocide of the Knights, and Ganon only being sealed away into the Dark World as a temporary measure. 

As for the Wind Waker, the people did basically nothing, because they had anticipated the Hero of Time to travel through time to their rescue. They relied on a hero who had rescued them before and therefore, through their negligence, failed to seek a hero of their era until it was far too late. By then, their only recourse was to pray to the gods to be saved from Ganondorf’s evil. Even after all of that, the King of Hyrule still sought the Hero of Time. It was only until he met WW Link that he realized that he could not rely on an ancient hero who was never going to show up. 

But what about the Imprisoning War in Totk? 

Zelda joins the ancient sages (who have no names or faces btw, I have no idea why they even bothered) and King Rauru in order to attempt to stop Ganondorf. But his power was too great, so Rauru sacrificed himself in a last ditch effort to seal Ganondorf for thousands of years, so that Link could defeat him in the far future.

At first, I didn’t really have any issue with this general set up. But as I thought about the other two No-Hero eras, I realized that Zelda really failed Rauru and his era. 

Zelda’s time is not one of complete ignorance. They have history and legends, recorded for thousands of years. It was common knowledge that the Princess sealed the darkness, and the Hero took up the Master Sword in an epic battle against evil. It was so known, in fact, that that was their entire plan against the Calamity. Find the Hero, awaken Zelda’s powers, and then defeat evil. 

And yet, when Zelda is forced into the past, it apparently does not occur to her to find the Hero of that era? If she remembered that the Master Sword could hurt Ganondorf, then surely she might think of seeking it in Rauru’s era? 

Rauru’s era seems to be one of ignorance. They do not seem to know about the Master Sword, or the concept of the Hero. So I don’t blame them for not looking for a Hero or the Master Sword. But Zelda DOES know. And yet, she never brings up the possibility of a hero of that time? Like, imagine if they looked for the MS and the Hero but failed to find both, and THEN resorted to their war? 

I am sure you could make all sorts of arguments as to why Zelda never bothers to mention the hero. Perhaps she didn’t know the Master Sword already existed in Rauru’s era. Perhaps she made all the connections too late. These are all technically valid, but do not excuse the writing of her character, which makes her seem kinda slow and pretty stupid.

She never makes the connection that Ganondorf is Calamity Ganon. She never considers that her actions in the past MIGHT change her future, perhaps even in drastic ways (she just decided she wanted to help the past, unsure if this would even affect her future). She and Sonia made a pretty foolish plan to confront Phantom Zelda, and then Zelda made no attempt to use her powers to rewind time to save Sonia. Zelda also never makes an attempt to use her sealing powers either, and while you can argue she lost her sealing powers at the end of BotW, this is also never brought up in Totk so it feels like a conversation is missing. 

It feels like at every turn, Zelda makes the worst decisions left and right, with her only decent decision in being to restore the Master Sword in a sacrificial mental suicide. But even that is full of oddities. 

How did she know that turning into a dragon would allow her Light powers to pour into the Master Sword? She is explicitly told that her Secret Stone amplifies her Time powers. As far as she knows, turning into a dragon will not enhance her Light powers in any way. 

Furthermore, how did she know that clutching the Master Sword during the transformation would allow it to be embedded in her body in such a way that Link could access it later? 

She took a HUGE gamble based on two facts: That the MS gains power as it absorbed sacred power, of which she possesses, and that eating a stone will make one a dragon forever. 

That’s it, that is all she knows. She knows nothing else, and yet jumped into this huge risk. As far as she knows, she could have dropped the MS during the transformation, and then her sacrifice would have been for naught. 

And it’s not like this is a knowledge Zelda. TP Zelda, for instance, is not a character who is fully explored, so any knowledge she possesses is fully believable. I don’t know what TP Zelda knows, so if she knows about the MS, then yeah, I believe that.

But BotW Zelda is explored more, and we know what she knows. And she does NOT know all the details about the dragonification process. She only knows eating a secret stone makes you a dragon. She got so unbelievably lucky in her guess that it borderlines insanity. 

This world and this Zelda was not designed for this story, and it shows in a big way. 

[bean-counter29]

I can't actually reach out to them because they preemptively blocked me (lol), but let me tell you: finding out that my AI art from earlier this year was more or less blatantly plagiarized was the funniest thing I've seen ALL YEAR.

I don't even care about the tracing or lack of credit! It took me all of 5 seconds to generate this lovely Zelda on the left, I can hardly claim to be it's creator! I'm just laughing my ass off at the whole situation!

Alas, the post has since been deleted. But Phayz/Epicsauce, thanks for making me laugh. No hard feelings here.

Receipts below:

Also, the link to my original post: https://www.tumblr.com/bean-counter29/742809128787951616/cyberpunk-loz-never-fails-to-impress?source=share Note that this was done in February, when Epicsauce's was posted in April.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

A dynamic with a lot of excellent potential that I would love to see explored more:

Pre calamity Miphlink, post calamity zelink

Hear me out:

We know Link and Zelda didn't get along super well pre calamity, and even though they started warming up to each other, it is entirely valid to read their companionship and closeness as being platonic. Meanwhile we know Mipha was in love with Link, and that they were close friends. I really like the idea of them being in love pre calamity. Their families celebrating them, planning on getting engaged after the war with the calamity, stealing moments away while attending to their duties as champions. It's tender, childhood friends to lovers, and a promise of lasting connection between Hylians and Zora.

And then, well, we know what happens next. The fodder for angst is next level.

And then, 100 years later, Link wakes up. The first sound he hears is a familiar, comforting voice. He goes to Zora's domain but he cannot remember this woman that he apparently loved. (More angst! More whump!)

Then after freeing Zelda and defeating the calamity, these two old friends reconnect. Both lost, both out of their own times in a world that moved on without them. They comfort each other through their grief, especially once Link loses the champions abilities and their spirits move on.

And though Zelda had never thought of him romantically before, this new man is someone else. He is not the man that Mipha had fallen in love with. Not the silent soldier who shadowed her. He's her friend, her companion, the one who would go to the ends of the earth for her sake. And little by little, they find out what it is to heal, together, and to grow so close as to be inseparable. They find out what it is to love after so much loss.

Neither relationship is superior, neither is better or worse or denigrated. It's a story of love and loss and finding love again and that love being different and wonderful in its own way. Both are celebrated, and it still adheres to what we have from canon!

Anyways, I like this idea and I like this dynamic and I am manifesting more of this into the universe.

[sibblank]

"you call people incels and yet you people don't even have sex!"

Uh, yeah? There's nothing wrong with not having sex, the problem with incels has never been that they don't have sex, that's THEIR philosophy, the problem is the entitlement therein.

[isobug]

Nonbinary flags

( ID : Two flags. The first has four horizontal stripes, in the following colors: orange, white, mossy green and black. The second has five horizontal stripes, in the following colors: orange, yellow, white, mossy green and black. End ID. )

These were made because I found out that the creator of the most commonly used Nonbinary flag had some frankly incorrect and hurtful (at least to myself as an Intersex non-"DFAB" who uses it the way I do) opinions on Genderqueer people and on the label Genderqueer itself. As well as things like this on nir blog (I hope I don't have to explain why it's uncomfortable, especially in the context of the other post). Later edit, this as well.

This is not me saying you have to use this flag or that I hate you if you use the most popular one or anything btw. I've simply just made my own NB flags to use in edits/icons etc. for my own comfort.

These are inspired by this Nonbinary flag:

( ID : A flag with four horizontal stripes, in the following colors: black, white, orange and neon green. End ID. )

which is the second design posted here and is the second oldest known and distinct Nonbinary flag design, along with it's sibling flags. There is an older flag here ( by the same creator, the only difference being a purple stripe ) that I also want to acknowledge as a retroactive inspiration.

( Thanks to @ryanyflags for finding the source for this flag! It was previously uploaded without attribution to the LGBTA wiki and I could not have found it without his help. If you shared the version without attribution please consider resharing it! )

I moved it around a bit and adjusted the colors, I made the green to be more grey to mimic the Agender flag. There's a five-stripe version just for those who'd like a yellow-orange in there.

( ID : Two flags. The first has four horizontal stripes, in the following colors: black, mossy green, white and orange. The second has five horizontal stripes, in the following colors: black, mossy green, white, yellow and orange. End ID. )

Here are some flipped versions if you'd prefer them for whatever reason (maybe to be closer to the original format of the older flag above?)

Free for anyone to use! You can also use this along with any other Nonbinary flag or flags you like or already use. I don't care as long as what ne said is taken seriously / not endorsed. ( Yes this includes nir flag! )