#and then they're never fucking mentioned in totk

[qualiacumque]

broke: zelda should have stayed a dragon in totk

woke: zelda shouldn't have been made a dragon in the first place

[gay-jesus-probably]

Let me just preface this by saying everyone is allowed to have their own opinions, TOTK is a really fun game, and I'm glad that other people have been able to enjoy the story as well.

...But I'm being dead serious with my complaints about the narrative being 100% imperialist propaganda. And I'm getting really tired of people replying to those posts by saying it can't be imperialist propaganda, because imperialism is bad and the game says that Hyrule is the good guys.

Like, guys. That's not the argument you think it is. Yes, I am aware that the game tells us Ganondorf is a flat, one dimensional character with no ambitions, interests or motivations beyond destroying the entire world for the hell of it, and also it's totally not racist because he's green, not brown like literally every other member of his race. Unfortunately literally all of these things are kind of the entire goddamn problem.

See, the thing is, everyone trying to make these arguments is accepting the game at face value. Hyrule is the perfect and almighty nation chosen by the demigod Zonai, and whose royal family has the right to rule due to their divine heritage. The other races exist to serve the glory of Hyrule, and they're happy to do it. Ganondorf is pure evil and must be stopped at any costs.

But that's not how anything works. The story informing me that Hyrule is the ultimate good that has done nothing wrong is the whole goddamn reason why I don't trust Hyrule at all. There's always more of a reason than that. And the game fucking suggests there was more going on! Ganondorf mentions Rauru has repeatedly 'invited' the Gerudo to become Rauru's subjects, and let's be clear here, it doesn't matter how peaceful those 'invitations' were, when the guy who owns every single magical nuclear missile in the world repeatedly demands you surrender to him, there's always going to be an implied threat of 'do it or get magically nuked'. Just that power difference alone shows us exactly why Ganon would feel threatened enough to invade. It's because Rauru was holding a gun to his head, and Ganon was expected to just trust that he'd never pull the trigger.

And yes, even if it wasn't intentional Hyrule was always threatening to wipe out the other nations, considering the entire royal family walked around openly wearing their magical nukes as cute accessories. If they couldn't be safely hidden away, there wouldn't be four other secret stones sitting untouched in a vault until the last second.

But that's never acknowledged. Of course Hyrule is the only nation with the right to the secret stones; even if other races get to touch them, they can only have them if they swear eternal blind loyalty and servitude to the glory of King Rauru and Princess Zelda. Ganon wanting to have one magical nuclear bomb out of a stockpile of eight of them is proof that he's dangerous and evil. I mean my god, what if he just walked around all day wearing a magical nuke and using its power for his own benefit, that would be terrifying. It's only okay when Hylian royalty does it.

And you can't argue that Ganon betrayed his own people, considering we don't get to know fucking anything about his relationship with his people. He's shows as the leader of the Gerudo, we're told he's a hero to his people, he has soldiers that loyally follow him into battle... and then oh nevermind, they all hate him and will spend eternity trying to atone for sharing a race with him. How did the entire race do a complete 180 in the span of at most a few months? Who cares, what's important is that now they accept they exist to serve Hyrule so they get to be the good guys now and we don't need to know why they were following Ganondorf, or why they stopped following him.

Basically my point is that yeah, I fucking know how the game insists everything went down. That's the entire reason I think it's imperialist propaganda, because the entire story feels like Hylian propaganda to conceal and justify some horrific atrocities that caused all of this. I literally do not believe that I'm getting the story through reliable narrators, especially considering that the only people allowed to actually tell me the story are all the characters that have the most reasons to be heavily biased in favour of Hyrule.

When the game shows me protagonists that have a massive amount of power and control over the entire world, then says the bad guy doesn't like that system just because he's evil, and literally nothing and nobody in the game says anything to oppose that take, I have some questions about what the fuck the story isn't telling me. And I'd really appreciate it if people would stop trying to argue with me just by telling me to stop asking those questions.

[rotisseries]

I also want to talk about the implications of the hateno house

THANK YOU LETS TALK ABOUT SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE REST OF MY BLOG LOOKS LIKE RIGHT NOW

ok so i just info dumped all this to a mutual earlier but LET'S REVIEW THE FACTS. SO.

zelda is living in link's house from botw. and while the sidequest was optional it was supposed to get torn down if you didn't buy it. so we can ASSUME that in totk canon link bought the house!!! so it was his house!! and we COULD assume that she just kicked link out, but that doesn't sound like her!!! and HERE'S WHY THEY'RE ACTUALLY SHARING THAT DUMB LITTLE TWIN BED EVERY NIGHT

a. zelda's journal mentions that link accompanies her everywhere. he's always sticking by her side, which fits him perfectly as her destiny appointed knight and also her friend and also more once i get my hands on the zelda dev team. AT THE VERY LEAST he would definitely live near her. but there are no other places link could possibly be living in this town. i haven't made it through the entire game yet so i can't say for sure that there's nowhere in the entire game that he could be living but my money is on fucking no. also every single time you talk to an npc they're like "hey link :D! where's zelda?" pretty much confirmation that you never see one without the other. they are a UNIT

b. zelda's diary mentions that she had a builder add on a secret room for privacy. WHY WOULD SHE NEED A SECRET ROOM FOR PRIVACY IF IT'S HER HOUSE AND SHE'S THE ONLY ONE LIVING THERE??????? also in her study there's link's hair tie. why is his hair tie in her house?🤨 (also conjures thoughts of her doing his hair <3333) ALSO in her study she has ANOTHER journal where she mentions that the fact that link sticking with her so much has manifested in wear and tear on his clothes, so she secretly had a new and improved shirt made for him and she hid it at hyrule castle. 1. gift for him!!! 2. she set up a scavenger hunt for him!!! 3. why can't she hide it at her own house????? hmmm??? HMMMM???????🤨🤨🤨 IT'S BECAUSE HE LIVES THERE I KNOW IT

c. the house has lot's of the same decorations from when it was link's, the flower on the nightstand, the furniture is the same, THE DINING TABLE IS SET FOR TWO, and link's picture from the dlc is still there (if you play the game with a profile that has a botw save on your switch, which i can't personally confirm because i'm playing totk on my new switch and my profile doesn't have a botw save on it because i played botw on the family switch) but anyway, link's decor. AND. THE MOST DAMNING PIECE OF EVIDENCE. YOU. THE PLAYER. AS IN LINK. CAN STILL SLEEP IN THAT TWIN BED. IN THIS GAME, YOU CANNOT SLEEP IN ANY NPC BEDS. IF THAT WAS TRULY JUST ZELDA'S (AN NPC) BED THEN YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP IN IT. I REST MY CASE. ZELINK CANON BUT THEY WON'T CONFIRM IT. MR. ANOUMA COME OUTSIDE I JUST WANT TO TALK

[shannonsketches]

my favorite parts of totk, unranked:

The implication that zelda is related to rauru and sonia, but ganondorf murdered sonia and there was no implication she'd had a child, and then rauru died, so where tf did Zelda come from

Casually implying that Zelda is a furry by blood

What did that first Zonai/Hylian kid look like Nintendo, I wish to see the baby

The memories are all from Zelda's pov, so she could hear Ganondorf talking under his breath from an adjacent cliff?

because she's got big-ass rabbit ears in her blood probably

my personal headcanon that sand seals are the maltese dogs of domesticated molduga

the idea of gerudo being out here training and giving belly rubs to full size molduga, no wonder they're feared by literally everyone

rauru being a huge bitch about ganondorf's status while he's kneeling

ganondorf being a huge bitch right back about rauru's family being dead

rauru going >:[ bc Gan's 'professional way to say fuck you' game was too strong

rauru and sonia just peacing tf out and letting their unconscious timedaughter and the soldier they'd employed fall from the sky after they were done with them

mineru 'i am not only brilliant but I can transfer my soul into anything. i chose this deconstructed robot at the bottom of a hole please help' zonaidorter

sonia. she's complicit but she's cute, I have no notes.

ganondorf taking a stone off his forehead and eating the stone and that same stone somehow ending up back on his forehead, which seems very on brand for Ganondorf's entire experience

the triforce trio being heavily implied but never mentioned

the triforce being a part of everything but never mentioned

the implication that the other dragons are just girls who decided to eat shiny rocks, making the golden goddesses more relatable than ever

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Joan Watson

How were BBC Sherlock shippers so rancid about a WOMAN who wasnt even in the SAME SHOW?????

Lucy Liu real life victim of yaoi despite being on a DIFFERENT TV SHOW. And everyone was so busy hating her for getting in the way of johnlocke that they ignored the massive yuri potential of Elementary :(

she wasn't even in the same SHOW as the yaoi I've been convinced she deserves to win the entire poll. I was a Johnlocker but I did watch the first season of Elementary and it was fine????? It was totally okay????? Especially in hindsight given how hard Sherlock season four flopped. Also Lucy Liu is a queen and deserved zero vitriol for *checks notes* playing a character???? A fucking fictional character???????? Oh my god we were all SO mean to this show and we (or at least I) thought it was like The Good Fight™️, like we were defending BBC Sherlock against copyright infringement and straightwashing and Jonny Lee Miller's bizarre scarf, (it wasn't a good scarf I do stand by that) but then Elementary didn't make Holmes and Watson a couple either???? And also it didn't insult its audience constantly etc etc we've all seen the Hbomberguy Sherlock is Garbage video. This is really long sorry hashtag justice for Joan Watson.

Yona

She’s the fiancé of prince Sidon, (arranged marriage) and since Sidon is almost always shipped with link, people went feral the second they saw her. She’s genuinely very kind and cares about her people and wants Sidon to be happy! She is NOT jealous, she wants him to hang out with his Best Friend. I have seen firsthand in real-time, people being SO misogynistic and cruel, and saying she’s ugly. She’s good in a crisis, very friendly, has a great design, and she doesn’t deserve the hate in the slightest!

so the breath of the wild fandom is pretty well known for REALLY liking prince sidon aka that one really tall fish guy. and they're also really well known for shipping him with link because every fandom needs a gay ship right. so then the sequel (totk) comes around and it's revealed that sidon has a fiance now and it's not link it's some zora girl from another domain. the game hasn't even been out for a month but i've seen people act so vile towards her like yona get behind me!!!! 

i think it should really be mentioned now people in her round 1 poll were literally still treating her like shes there to stop yaoi that was never intended to be canon to start this with.in the poll about criticizing people doing that.

[ezlo-x]

god ok i need to get it off my mind or it will eat me alive or I will forget my actual thoughts abt it sooo here I go

Hi...soo this is me talking abt the current Dragon Tears that I obtained. Yesterday I got Dragon tear #5 and today I managed to get #6 and #7 and...yeah. I was originally planning to hold on my thoughts until I completed the Gerudo Region but what I saw in those memories I have things to say and idk how long it would take me to complete it so I'm starting with the dragon tear memories. (also sadly no in-game/cutscene screenshots this time around cause I kept forgetting and didn't took any </3)

So Tear #5 we got more to "know" abt Ganondorf. Where he apologizes abt what he did in Tear #4 to Rauru and Sonia. And I think I'm just going to share what I said last night abt it

Sooo I wasn't expecting this type of writting with Ganondorf. I obviously sound very emotional in these messages cause I was heading straight to sleep after I got the cutscene, I don't think totk Ganondorf is worse than oot Ganondorf. I think he's a different kind of badly written meanwhile with OoT I can cut him some slack where he's technically the first Ganondorf from an old console game yada yada. Also worldbuild of Zonai?? No? Ganondorf is just gonna casually throw that dialogue that Zonai were once gods or smth like that and never mention it again ok. And like I said in those messages I think what Ganondorf said abt Rauru marrying Sonia was so ughhhhhhhhhh like really? We're gonna make him racist cause you couldn't add depth to a villain really? And his motives abt wanting to become king is just...that he has no motives he has no reason on why he wants to do it just cause he's EVILLLL and he has EVILLL intentions OOOOOOOOOOO like fuck off. How is it possible that nintendo was able to give him depth in Wind Waker and then water down his character to "ummm cringe that YOU as a Zonai married a Hylian Woman you're a beta 🤓" Nintendo says, "we don't want people to like him or find him interesting he's the bad guy! make him say something racist and give him no clear motive on why he wants to do what he wants to do he's EVILLL you're not supposed to root for him!!"

But sure give him no motive on why he wants to do this other than being evil. Nintendo is honestly better off writing comedic villains with dark lore (Kohga) I knew that they would never reach WW Ganondorf levels of good but from what im seeing like wooowww

anyways to add a glimpse of hope Tear #6 came clutch w Sonia and Rauru. I loved the dynamic they both have with Zelda they're like parents to her...wah and I simply adored how Sonia mentions Link like a mother asking for who's that cute boy you've been talking to? and Rauru being so curious to meet him. This memory was so cute I would love to wish blissful of this family living happily.

Final memory I currently got is Tear #7 and ohhhhh this is the one that just drained me.

So Sonia dies, I was honestly like surprised or shocked idk I was not expecting it good ol gotcha moment. and YES I SAW GANONDORF'S NASTY SMILE THAT ACTUALLY FREAKED ME OUT LIKE EW

AND I was sad that we're not going to see Sonia anymore rlly loved her I was hoping for more of her as a character. But yeah I was in shambles when that cutscene happened, like once I got the cutscene I just closed the game cause I just wanted to process what happened.

And that is all I have, sorry if I sound more pessimistic and negative this time around. Just realizing where they are going with Ganondorf just put me into the 10 stages of grief. Looking forward more to the story and the characters just not Ganondorf

[bonkfan2003]

Warning, some spoilers for TOTK, very slight blood n gore, and mention of suicide.

Rauru X Mary Sue!Reader idea: (Long below cut)

Our reader is your typical Mary Sue in some modern version of Hyrule, friends with the Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf of their time. They learn of Rauru, the first king of Hyrule, get a crush on him, and start to form a plan to go back in time to make him theirs. Zelda and the modern Sheikah make a device to allow the reader to go back in time, but it's a one way trip. They ignore this risk, and do it, getting sent back in time. With them, they bring a pistol, a rifle, and a single grenade (Modern Hyrule has guns n stuff, Ganondorf sells weapons.) Once they reach Hyrule, things don't go as planned. Sure they landed well before Rauru married...or even met Sonia, but them showing up, and blatantly showing honor to Rauru and Hyule has not gone unnoticed by the other races.

Ganondorf's spies tell him of a strange new hylian with strange tools, and is submitting to Rauru. If Ganondorf wishes to strike, then he has to get even stronger than he had originally planned to. The stakes are higher than ever, if he slips up, then his plans will surely go up in smoke. The world will be covered in eternal darkness, and he will be the one to rule it. Luckily the reader is extremely fucking inept at most things. Ganondorf doesn't know why (the reader is a Mary Sue, they got everything they wanted on a silver platter for their entire life, never had to strive or push for anything. No real skills or knowledge in how to properly defend themselves), but it doesn't matter for him.

If anything, it angers him further. This traveler from a strange world has this power, but is as foolish as the damned king. Why is incredible power being wasted on brainless fools who have no ability to use it? He'll stomp out the king, and then this traveler. He just has to be more subtle with how he acts. Back with Rauru and the reader, they'd attempt to befriend Rauru, slowly trying to get even closer to him. They use basic ideas on how to charm the king (compliments, small gifts, etc) and it works! Rauru doesn't know much about the reader yet, and hasn't gotten a proper sit down conversation with the reader (king duties and hunting interrupt them).

The reader gets close to Sonia, and tries to befriend her, but she can see that the reader has nothing behind the eyes. There isn't a personality, there isn't anything but greed. She doesn't hate the reader, she tries to change them for the better, but the reader mistakes this as just close friendship. Sonia doesn't like the reader, she wouldn't consider them friends, she considers them as someone she needs to help. She doesn't still get close to Rauru, and goes to warn him about the readers greed. He takes the warning into account, but same with Ganondorf, he thinks he can watch for the readers greedy attitude just by himself.

There's a timeskip, a year or so, during the events of TOTK. Zelda arrives, and most of the same events occur, the reader is still trying to get Rauru to love them, and Sonia has gotten a bit through to them. Sonia can see that the reader does have some hope inside of them, it's small, very small. During the tea drinking by the lake cutscene (the one with the cup recall thing) Sonia and the reader are the last to sit there, as Rauru and Zelda have gone off to do something else. Sonia has a serious talk with them, fully confronting them with everything she knows about them. The reader protests, tries to leave, but Sonia hammers her points further.

"In all the time you've been here, have you *ever* given anything, without wanting a single thing in return? Done it simply for the joy of the act?"

"...n..."

The reader gets upset, blows Sonia's words off as jealousy, and storms off. The words did effect them though, even though they wish to ignore them. They're fine, nothing bad has happened yet, it's ok. They double down on trying to get Rauru to love them, and slowly getting angrier as to why he hasn't. Rauru, who has been paying attention to how they are acting, tries to comfort them. He does have some affection for them, platonic at the moment, but it's still there. The reader, however, takes this as romantic. They feel like they've done it, the king of Hyrule is theirs, and they think they definitely don't need to change. Everything worked out in the end.

That is until Ganondorf shows up!

Now the reader does know of Ganondorf, and what he did, tricking Sonia, killing her, and stealing the sages stone (I refuse to call them s***** stones) from Sonia. So, on the night it was going to happen, they go out with Sonia. They know if Sonia lives, and Ganondorf dies, Rauru won't die, and everything will be happy! So going with Sonia to save her would only benefit them. During this night though, Ganondorf simply sends one of his phantoms, one of himself, and not of Zelda. He assumes that the reader is simple-minded enough to be fooled by the phantom. They go out on the platform, Ganondorf uses the Zelda clone, which is shot once by the reader, the phantom appears, and the reader begins to gloat, and takes the shot. It's a headshot, and the phantom falls to the floor, and it takes a large amount of effort for Ganondorf to keep it solid while he sneaks behind the reader, and Sonia.

Within a single moment, Sonia is attacked, stabbed in the back, and the reader turns to face Ganondorf, who already has already taken the sages stone from Sonia. They begin to panic, this wasn't going how it was supposed to...why was there two Ganondorf's? They go to aim at Ganondorf, hands shaking, unable to properly aim the weapon. They fire, but they miss, instead of hitting Ganondorf in the chest, they get him in the arm, it isn't enough to stop the demon king though, as he uses the stone, fully becoming the Demon King. Rauru, and Zelda, rush to the platform, but are blocked by Ganondorf.

"To little to late, Rauru. It seems your little friend was unable to save Sonia...and in your attempt to keep me close, it only further led to Sonia's death. You, and your friend are only the ones to blame. Holding such a high power...and wasting it with such stupidity."

The reader goes to fire again, shaking even worse, and is able to line up a shot. The bullet is fired, but Ganondorf was ready for it this time. Using his powers, he's able to pull up Sonia in an instant, using her as a body shield. The bullet strikes her in the gut, before Ganondorf drops her...and holds the bullet in his hands, flicking it over at the reader. Showing that he didn't even need to use Sonia as a shield, he could've stopped the bullet by himself, he just wanted to make the reader suffer even more. The reader drops the gun, and stumbles backwards. Ganondorf steps forwards, and picks up the gun, crushing it in his hands.

Ganondorf goes to finish the reader off, but Rauru, having been ignored by Ganondorf, is able to fire off an attack, forcing the Demon King to stumble, and Zelda is able to use the Purah Pad to warp herself, Rauru, and the reader away, after grabbing them from around Ganondorf. Ganondorf then simply stands there on the platform, reaching for the arm he was shot in. It'd take a while to fully heal it, but that didn't matter. The message was sent. The reader, Zelda, and Rauru end up at a safe place, where the reader has gone into shock. Sonia was dead, they tried to save her...but failed in the end. Rauru is no source of comfort, enraged with himself and Ganondorf. The reader goes to him to try and get comfort, but is shot down.

"Rauru...my love...ple-" says the reader

"...are you attempting to court me? Now, of all times, you try and pull this stunt?" says Rauru, turning to look at the reader with a look of anger and malice.

"B-But you-"

"She was right about you, she warned me you were greedy, and even now, in this moment, you still try to get more from me." he cuts them off.

"Rauru I-"

"No more from you...I have to get things ready, don't follow me." says Rauru, walking away.

The reader is left alone, Zelda goes to help them feel better, but they brush her off as well. They feel angry, and guilty. Anger for what Ganondorf had done, and guilty for what they failed to do. They thought they were in love with Rauru...but from what he said, they clearly aren't. Sonia had told Rauru about the stupid greed thing, she had gone behind them, and stabbed them in the back. It was all her fault, Rauru would've been nicer...in love with them more if she didn't open her fucking mouth. Sonia's words begin to repeat themselves in their head, greedy, greedy, greedy, nothing but greedy. They refuse to think about it, they aren't greedy, they don't need help, no one has ever called them out on shit, why do they need to change now?

This rage builds up over time. Rauru won't speak to them now, and they've all gone to the temple deep underground, Sonia was buried, they didn't attend the burial. They stand above her grave, looking down at it with a bitter, piercing gaze. It was all her fault, underneath this soil lied the body of a traitor, worthless scum they tried to befriend. They hadn't taken time to go through their anger, to cope with this loss. They never had to cope with loss, but someone has. Zelda walks up to them, and simply stands beside them.

"...she told Rauru about that stupid greed thing...fucking ruined everything we had built up..." the reader mutters.

"...have you not realized she was trying to help you?" says Zelda.

"I...don't need help, I'm fine." says the reader, taking a second pause between I and don't, Zelda notices this.

"You...paused. Did you want to say something else?" asks Zelda.

"..."

"It's alright...I know it must be hard with these feelings..." Zelda turns to face the grave. "But it's worse if you don't speak about them."

The reader tries to say something, but doesn't. They turn, and walk away. They try to think things through, their mind a mix of emotions. Denial, anger, sadness, all of it mixing together as they await the final day, when Rauru will go to challenge Ganondorf with the sages...and their quick fall at the hands of the demon king. Falling asleep, they are wrought with nightmares. They awake in the middle of the night, and look over at the rife, and the grenade. The guilt is overwhelming, spreading through the body like a cancer. Grabbing the rife, they think of taking their own life. Rauru would be happy, everyone would be happy. They hated them, they fucked up, and so everyone hates them. They try to aim the gun at themselves...but they just can't do it. It'd hurt...and they don't like pain. They set the rifle down, and look at the grenade instead. They start to get a plan.

It's the day of the final battle, and all the sages have lined up to face Ganondorf. The reader is a no-show, with Rauru still angry at them, and at himself mostly. The battle begins, and it's clear that Ganondorf was far too strong, nothing seemed to work, that is until the reader shows up. They're still conflicted on what they feel, but one feeling is clear. Pure, unadulterated rage at Ganondorf. They look to Rauru, emotions unclear, before turning to Ganondorf. What they do next will decide everything, and their anger is enough to cloud their judgement. With no warning, they charge the Demon King, Rauru, and the other sages, panic themselves.

"What in the name of Hylia are you doing!?" shouts Rauru, as the sages go to attack Ganondorf to keep him away from the reader.

The reader ignores the shouts and pleas as they reach the Demon King, who is still trying to deflect the attacks from the sages, when the reader pulls the grenade they bought out, pulls the pin, and shoves it against Ganondorf's chest. He slams the reader in the chest, cracking multiple ribs, sending them flying backwards. Ganondorf doesn't notice the grenade in time, causing it to go off. The grenade explodes, shredding the Demon King's legs, and sending shrapnel across the room. Dust is cast up into the air, and the sages, who were barely defended by a last second shield by Rauru, watch as the dust settles. Before them lies the Demon King, missing his legs, quickly bleeding out.

The reader isn't in much better shape, barely able to breathe, coughing up blood, and sobbing. They thought the blast would kill them and Ganondorf instantly, so there wouldn't be any pain. It had gone horribly wrong...oh hylia there was so much pain. They cried out for their parents, for someone to help them. Zelda (who had packed a hearty potion or two) gives one to the reader, to help with the pain. Rauru turns, and looks at the reader...and his anger tries to well up, but it's unable to do so. He knows they have done nothing but take and take from him, but he can't just sit here and let them die. He reaches down to them, and holds their hand. The reader, though their tears, looks up at Rauru as their vision fades.

The reader then awakes in a room in Hyrule castle. They're alive, but it's still hard to breathe. They're alive, they still hurt, but they're alive. While they try to get up, the door opens, and Rauru steps into the room. He looks tired, but not angry. He walks up to the reader, and helps them stand up. Stepping back, he sighs, and folds his arms.

"What you did was foolish..arrogant, and nearly got you killed, but it worked. Ganondorf lies dead, and Hyrule is safe once again. I was angry at you before...and I'm sorry. I took out my feelings of Ganondorf and Sonia's death on you...and that is something I cannot undo." says Rauru, as he walks up to the reader, and sets an arm on their shoulder.

"I wish to start over with you...I know of your greed, but the sacrifice you were willing to take for us...no matter what fueled it, was still selfless. You risked your life for ours...and I thank you. There is good in you, I'm sure of it, and I would like to help you find that goodness inside you...we aren't going to be lovers, just friends, but I am willing to help you, as she did."

The reader feels happy, they still had a chance...but they remembered what Sonia said. They had a change of heart, they knew what they must do, but now they have to put it into practice. Maybe they wouldn't fully rid themselves of their greed for weeks, months, or maybe years...but they would put in effort to change. Maybe one day they could be lovers, if they could earn that favor once again.

[aikoiya]

LoZ: TotK - Zonai Tech Oddity

I noticed something about a lot of the Zonai tech in the game.

A lot of it isn't really built to last.

Sure, the constructs & ruins & such, but the commonly-used devices & even the weapons are extremely fragile.

A Steward Construct even mentions that the devices are meant to be disposable. That they're this way by design.

As for the weapons, the descriptions have never brought up them being decayed... to my knowledge... So, it just seems like they're simply built flimsy.

Now, from a gameplay perspective, it makes perfect sense for them to break. They'd break the game otherwise. But from a narrative, worldbuilding standpoint it brings up questions about sustainability.

And I know, sustainability is brought up a lot these days & it's probably getting old for a lot of you, but I feel like it's apropos in this specific situation.

They basically mass produce devices that are designed to only work for a short time, not even a full day really, before breaking & I can't help but feel like that is a little concerning.

Admittedly, they disappear into the aether after being used up to it doesn't create trash, but it just doesn't seem sustainable. Like, how fast does this stuff form exactly?

Is it a flaw of Zonai engineering or a consequence of using Zonaite itself I wonder?

It'd certainly be interesting if Hylians just have a knack for long-lasting machinery & durable weaponry.

I mean, we know for a fact that Hyrule's weaponry are supposed to be all-but indestructible provided they're properly maintained, not overtaxed, & not covered in Gloom. Because, not only is that how most similar weapons IRL are, but before the Wild series, 99% of other weapons you get in the other games didn't break down really at all & that was through entire games. Hell, the Kokiri Sword stuck around for 2 full games, OoT & MM. Admittedly, it got replaced the 1st time, but it still stuck around for the long haul.

Like, there's the Biggoron Sword & the upgrade for the Kokiri Sword in Majora's Mask, but you eventually get an upgrade for the upgrade that makes it permanent & only the upgrade broke, not the sword itself. And, to be fair, the Biggoron Sword is of Goron make. (Though, that would indicate that Goron methods aren't as good as Hylian methods, which I honestly find very odd considering you'd think that the Gorons would be the equivalent to Hyrule's dwarves.)

So, this indicates that the method itself was still being perfected. If anything, these exceptions seem to prove the rule that weapons of Hylian/Sheikah make are extremely durable.

Not to mention, I just can't help but think that having your shit just randomly break over & over again & need to be replaced repeatedly, would not only be inconvenient, but downright infuriating! Especially when you're in the middle of something important!

Though... I suppose that the shortness of their use & the finality of their destruction when used up could also explain why Hyrule didn't seem to have paddleboats or trains or, fuck, space ships 10-20,000 years ago.

I mean, it's certainly one way to have advanced technology in your medieval fantasy setting while keeping it from going full sci-fi fantasy.

Edit: Also, it just occurred to me... How the fuck did the Gerudo not just get wiped the eff out? The Zonai must not've been as advanced as they seemed because have you SEEN some of the shit people have been building with their tech?

The Zonai had the tech necessary to make what would amount to mini divine beasts!! And anyone with the creativity to do so & the tenacity to figure out how the pieces go together could've done it!

They could've wiped the Gerudo off the face of the planet!

Sure, maybe they couldn't have killed Ganon so long as he had the Secret Stone, but at least there'd be no future Ganons to deal with other than the spite-fueled ghost of the one they were currently dealing with.

I'm saying this from a theoretical military standpoint, not because I actually would've wanted them to, mind.

And, obviously, this would've had it's own consequences if they did. For instance, the Sage of Lightning would've likely sworn vengeance, but that's not the point.

The point is, they could've decimated Ganon's armies like they were nothing.

That scene where Rauru Tri-Beam Cannoned the Molduga with the help of Wifey & Zelda?

Epic, but entirely unnecessary.

He could've had a mobile hot air balloon with cannons pointed down take the Molduga out & he might not've incited Ganon to kill Sonia & steal her stone.

Or at least put it off a bit longer.

Like, despite the shortness of the Zonai Devices' life expectancies, they were Hella powerful when you used them correctly.

LoZ Wild Masterlist

[carica-ficus]

“Fourth Wing”

26/12/2023

Reading progress: 498/498 (100%) Read through since last update: 152

It was a little harder for me to read through the rest of this book today. I think I was a little fed up by it. (And reading started feeling somewhat like a chore, since I could get out of bed now and had the energy to find different entertainment - ToTK my beloved.)

Final thoughts:

She asks Xaden about his scars, acknowledges he's private about them, and then she's surprised he doesn't want to tell her? That's such a personal question. Very invasive. If he wanted to talk about it with her, it's on him to start the subject. Ugh, I hate this trope in fiction when the person that doesn't talk about their trauma is painted as paranoid or mistrustful. Just leave the poor guy alone.

"Shit, am I flirting?" Girl, you've literally hooked up twice till now. For all I care, he's your boyfriend now.

"When did I ever give you the impression that I give a fuck what people think about me?" Literally a page ago, when you said that you don't want a saddle because others would think of you as weak.

They're seriously teasing about kissing again as if they both don't want it, as if they aren't flirting on every page, as if they haven't almost fucked.

It's kinda disappointing that Violet has lightning powers. Naolin had the power to heal. Hell, he almost resurrected Brennan, which is incredible. Impossible even. I feel like lightning should fall under elemental wielding, in the same category as water or fire, which Violet mentions are fairly common. I don't know... I expected something cooler. (Future me: At least it turned out to be pretty cool to use. So ok, I'm going back to half of what I said, but I'm gonna stand by the fact that this power seems barely insignificant compared to some of the others.)

OH MY GOD YARROS REMOVED LIAM SO HE DOESN'T HAVE TO HEAR THEM FUCK

Ingenious. Ok. Slay. She saved that boy.

I KNEW THEY WERE GONNA MENTION SOME MAGICAL CONTRACEPTIVE WHILE THEY WERE DOING IT.

Kudos to the sex scene! It was pretty good. A little too much needless dirty talk, but I've read much, much worse. It's in line with all the tension that's been built up between them, it's hot enough and of a decent length (6ish pages? That's a lot). So yeah. Thumbs up. 👍

But why does Violet have to end it with talk of his scars? 😩 Now they're talking about war crimes after fucking.

(I really don't like when characters are pushy about somebody's scars and trauma. Not even your partner owes you an explanation of their past. It is up to them to share it if they want.)

Being horny makes her strike lightning? 😭😭😭 I need this book to STOP.

The first time a specific year gets mentioned is at page 431. Four hundred thirty fucking one. And its introduced as AU (after unification). What unification? Why should I care about this unit of measurement now? Especially considering it's not gonna be mentioned again??? (Future me: I was right. It was, in fact, not mentioned again.)

Yeah. I was just waiting for the whole gryphon army to finally approach Xaden and the other separatists. It would have been a good plot point if there was any build up on the politics behind the war, but there was none, so I feel very indifferent to this revelation.

CANNOT believe Yarros decided to INFO-DUMP such a stupid little detail like the name of gryphon fliers while Violet was literally ready to murder Xaden.

Violet knows, she KNOWS Dain can read minds. How could she forget a power like that? How could she forget that her best friend is able to read her mind every time he touches her face??? That's a really big invasion of privacy. And she caught it once and slipped away from him. Every normal person would have never trusted him again. And now she's surprised he's been doing it the whole time???

Not Liam! 😭😭

That last battle was pretty exhilarating, but I got lost in the number of venin and wyvern more than once. Still, Violets final attack was really cool.

So Violet almost does, miraculously wakes up, sees Xaden by her bed and kisses him, and the only thing Xaden thinks about how lucky he is that he'll get to fuck her again. And they say romance is dead.

No, fuck. I can't stop thinking about this. Fuck the ending. I knew Brennan was alive. I spoiled half the book to myself before I read it. It's fine. But the fact that Xaden is so thirsty for Violet that he only thinks about sex when she wakes up, after she has been unconscious from a life threatening injury, just left me so shocked that I can't get pass it. I can't ignore it. It's just so sickening. I don't know how else to describe it. Almost predatory. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

And I'm done. 2am. I'm shocked with the ending, but not with the part most people were. I can't get over Xaden's reaction to Violet. I simply can't. This book is very horny. I don't particularly care. I don't mind erotic content or erotica in general. They're not always my genre of choice, but I won't stray away from them if I'm interested. And even though I don't read it very often, I do love romance. And I do love fantasy. And I love dragons. This book has been a general disappointment on all these account. And I'm just frustrated because I truly, wholeheartedly did want it to be good and to be interesting. I really believed that it couldn't be that bad. But it is. It really truly is. And it's so sad. And I'm so disappointed...

[amiharana]

OKAY I FINALLY GOT TO WATCH THE TOTK TRAILER HERE ARE SOME OF MY THOUGHTS

the more stuff that comes out about totk, the more interested and emotionally invested i become in the lore. where did these floating islands come from? who were the zonai and why are they back? do they have some sort of connection to ganon or hylia, or other races in hyrule (e.g. the sheikah)? how does the presence and existence of the zonai connect back with the rest of the zelda timeline?

like since there's at least? 10,000 years since the previous links and zeldas to botw/totk link and zelda, did the zonai exist in that 10,000 time period or way before and they were just never seen in previous games (for narrative purposes?)

do you think the presence of the zonai will give us some insight to the hero and princess of 10,000 years prior when the divine beasts were first used against ganon + all the ancient sheikah technology was still used? do you think the zonai had some sort of hand in helping shape that tech?

i know that during the development of botw, some of the things that inspired some of link's "abilities" were from hobbies of people on the zelda development team, e.g. the master cycle zero exists in the dlc because eiji aonuma is a motorcyclist in his free time. do you think someone on the team skydives for fun and that's why they added link falling through the sky and shit lol

they NEVER explained the paraglider in botw. you know me as your local revalink brainrot provider and what i think about the existence of the paraglider if you've been following me long enough. since the paraglider gets a little design update in totk (and unfortunately kind of loses revali's symbol in it

what the HELL are these glowing spires coming out of the ground everywhere. will they function the same as sheikah towers. what the fuck happened to the sheikah towers bc i'm either blind or they're gone. do shrines still exist in this game

hateno village (and other settlements) seems to have gotten updated! what new things do you guys think will be added in villages that weren't there before? also idk if it's just me but why do the three trees on mount lanayru look closer to the village??? i don't remember them being that close idk lol

DO YOU THINK WE'LL GET NEW NPCS IN THE SETTLEMENTS <33

THERE ARE LITTLE CAMPS IN CASTLE TOWN RUINS IM GOING TO CRYYYY they have the hylian crest on them so they have to be related to the royal family (in a business way) somehow? are these the construction folk who are going to rebuild castle town? do you guys think we'll get to see castle town completely rebuilt by the end of totk? DO YOU THINK WE'LL GET TO REBUILD EVERY RUINED SETTLEMENT TARREY TOWN STYLE??????? <3333

i know some people hated the fact that the botw map was reused and imo it's Nawt that serious girl calm down lmao. in fact i think reusing the map is an excellent challenge for the zelda team; how can you rework this familiar world into a fresh one the players can enjoy and explore again? with all the literal changes in the geographical markers of botw and the addition of new little thingie ma bobbies all throughout the map, i'm excited to see how the zelda team has approached this sort of challenge by reusing botw assets

THE THYPHLO RUINS AREN'T DARK ANYMOREEEE tbh i never finished that shrine quest LMFAOKDJFHJKD the not being able to see part always stressed me out and the fact that you had to fight a hinox in the dark 😭😭😭 IM SAWRYYY IM THE MOST ANXIOUS PLAYER EVER but i can't wait to explore it in the light????? i think someone mentioned how it also had zonai architecture; i'm just so invested in how the presence of the zonai shaped the now-world of botw/totk hyrule

so i wasn't able to see it in the trailers because i'm sooo blind, but did you guys ever see the divine beasts at all in the clips? i mean i wouldn't want to do a divine beast dungeon again LOL, but where do you guys think they are? are they just chilling in their respective regions? did they bury the beasts again? do you think we'd be able to actually go inside and explore the beasts for funsies now that they're not corrupted/in position lasered onto the castle?

WHAT IS OUT IN THE GERUDO DESERT. INSERT CARDI B MEME WHAT WAS THAT????? IS IT A SECRET DIVINE BEAST. FUCK. WHAT IS IT

the zonai have got to have some connection to time i know we could probably figure that out from the totk gameplay video from a couple weeks ago BUT STILL. let's have a twilight princess ancient hero comeback and just have old man ocarina bones sit in, or maybe multiple previous links spiderman no way home-style or whatever that movie was called. i didn't watch it sorry KDJHFJDK

ZELDA FALLING IN AND LINK JUMPING IN AFTER HER WITH HIS MALICE CORRUPTED ARM 😭💔 WHEN WILL MY BABIES BE FREE FROM THEIR FATES

THERE ARE FLYING PIRATE SHIPS TEEHEE. COME ON TREASURE PLANETTTTTT link but he's jim hawkins asf

water bubbles as transport like come on vesicles. come on transport cells. ANYWAYS THE LASERS link is a spy girl fr come on kim possible

WHO IS THAT. i can't take pictures i'm watching the trailer and pausing and unpausing on my switch while typing this on my laptop IS THAT A NEW HYRULEAN RACE. do you think it's like a fe3h ashen wolves moment where they've just been living underneath the ground because they were banished by hylia and no one knew lol

THE SANCTUM WAS RESTORED KSJDHFKJSDHFJKSDHF HOW DID THEY FIX IT SO FASTTTT what if link actually went back in time. the room is all sparkly so i'm like. did u fix it with magic or likeeeeee WHAT IS IT ASF

WHERE THE FUCK IS ZELDA. what do you guys MEAN you rely on link and the master sword. WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE??????? IS THAT THE ZONAI KING OR SOMETHING.

historically the hylians have believed in this like. pantheon of gods comprised of the golden goddesses + hylia, and i've always been under the assumption that other races just coexisted their faiths e.g. zora mainly believing in jabu-jabu, ww!rito believing in valoo, etc. what if there was like a pantheon of zonai gods but it's like greek vs roman style. what if hylia had a zonaian (?) counterpart. idk i'm spitballing out of my ass rn but i think it would be cool

re:WHO IS THAT. bulletpoint: WHAT IF THAT'S HYLIA'S ZONAIAN COUNTERPART. LOL

seeing all these flat little creatures floating in the sky makes me miss vah medoh and revali

WAS THAT TULIN. GO BACK HOME TO YOUR MOTHER?????????? WHERE IS TEBA.

link pulling people in wagon it's giving skyrim "oh you're finally awake" PAUSE WHAT ARE THOSE GREEN THINGS ON THE WHEEL. IS THAT ZONAI TECH/MAGIC

how the HELL did they build those shits on top of the talus. the bokos were really like It's Free Real Estate

link making himself a fully functioning tank rn. my brother in christ that is a vertical stone block with a cannon fused to its edge on wheels. i love it.

i kinda wanna know what happened to the elemental arrows. like in botw they tell you that rubies innately have the power of fire, but how does that differ from a regular fire arrow? does it do more damage?

HOLD ON TULIN WAS ABOUT TO GET EATEN BY THAT ICE MONSTER THING GO HOME??

what the FUCK is zelda cradling in her hands. is that a seed or life or something. it looks like an embryo lol. divine beast embryo

WAIT IS THAT HYLIA???? WHOAAAA

riju 🥺🥺🥺 the champion descendants 🥺🥺 doofus with a bucket on his head... SIDON WAIT HE HAS THE CROWN ON HIS HEAD

"link! you must find me!" WHERE ARE YOU GIRLLLL

i didn't realize there was a word limit. i just kept typing. ok those are my thoughts so far IM SO EXCITED

[inutaffy]

ok so you confirmed that you did want me to info dump about the hateno house so i'm gonna do that sorry. SO. first of all. nintendo never confirms zelink. i need you to know this. it's strongly implied, in some games more so than others, but it's NEVER been canon. and on the one hand i think that's really neat that a "cishet" (NOT TO ME BUT YOU KNEW THAT) pairing that would fit a fairly obvious and cliche trope (princess and her knight) ISN'T canon, (that's also part of an interesting discussion on sexuality and gender in nintendo games) on the other hand. mildly annoying when i find myself invested in it. (NINTENDO. I FEEL QUEERBAITED. BY STRAIGHT PEOPLE. NINTENDO.)

so that's just as a preface, zelink is only ever implied. it's implied in breath of the wild, and it gets way more implied in tears of the kingdom and this whole thing with the house is just one part of that. moving on

in botw there's this one town, hateno, and in this town there's a house. this house is going to be torn down, but as part of a sidequest you can buy it and decorate it a bit. it gets a nice little dining table, a single twin bed (which you can sleep in btw. you can only sleep in this bed and beds at inns. you can't sleep in bed's of the npc's houses. this will be relevant later) with a nightstand with a flower on it, some armor racks, and a nice little picture of link and all his dead friends if you unlock that through the dlc

now. this house is ALSO in totk. reminder, while the sidequest was optional, if you don't buy it, it's supposed to be torn down, so we can ASSUME that in tears of the kingdom canon, link did buy the house. but here's the thing. zelda lives there now. her diary is there, there's more decor, she is absolutely squatting in this house (also not important but the town has a school now and the schoolteacher's journal mentions that the kids love her and refer to her as ms. zelda THAT'S SO FUCKING CUTE SHE'S A SCHOOLTEACHER MY BABY😭😭😭 but also that clearly means she's living there long term, if the state of the house wasn't enough evidence)

and we COULD assume that she just kicked link out, but that doesn't sound like her!!! and HERE'S WHY I THINK THEY'RE ACTUALLY SHARING THAT DUMB LITTLE TWIN BED EVERY NIGHT

a. zelda's journal mentions that link accompanies her everywhere. he's always sticking by her side, which fits him perfectly as her destiny appointed knight and also her friend and also more once i get my hands on the zelda dev team. AT THE VERY LEAST he would definitely live near her. but there are no other places link could possibly be living in this town. i haven't made it through the entire game yet so i can't say for sure that there's nowhere in the entire game that he could be living but my money is on fucking no. also every single time you talk to an npc they're like "hey link :D! where's zelda?" pretty much confirmation that you never see one without the other. they are a UNIT

b. zelda's diary mentions that she had a builder add on a secret room for privacy (there's a well in the backyard with a small study in it) WHY WOULD SHE NEED A SECRET ROOM FOR PRIVACY IF IT'S HER HOUSE AND SHE'S THE ONLY ONE LIVING THERE??????? also in her study there's link's hair tie. why is his hair tie in her house?🤨 (also conjures thought of her doing his hair <3333) ALSO in her study she has ANOTHER journal where she mentions that the fact that link sticking with her so much has manifested in wear and tear on his clothes, so she secretly had a new and improved shirt made for him and she hid it at hyrule castle. 1. gift for him!!! 2. she set up a scavenger hunt for him!!! 3. why can't she hide it at her own house????? hmmm??? HMMMM???????🤨🤨🤨 IT'S BECAUSE HE LIVES THERE I KNOW IT

c. the house has lot's of the same decorations, the flower on the nightstand, the furniture is the same, THE DINING TABLE IS SET FOR TWO, and link's picture from the dlc is still there (if you play the game with a profile that has a botw save on your switch, which i can't personally confirm because i'm playing totk on my new switch and my profile doesn't have a botw save on it because i played botw on the family switch) but anyway, link's decor. (the armor racks are gone though) AND. THE MOST DAMNING PIECE OF EVIDENCE. YOU. THE PLAYER. AS IN LINK. CAN STILL SLEEP IN THAT TWIN BED. IN THIS GAME, YOU CANNOT SLEEP IN ANY NPC BEDS. IF THAT WAS TRULY JUST ZELDA'S (AN NPC) BED THEN YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP IN IT. I REST MY CASE. ZELINK CANON BUT THEY WON'T CONFIRM IT. MR. ANOUMA COME OUTSIDE I JUST WANT TO TALK

RORI???????THEYRE NOT CANON?????????????????????????

[thegeminisage]

ok, i got about an hour and a half to play some zelda!!! i'm in rito village cuz i got my frog armor. my map says there's a chasm here so i'm gonna get some korok seeds and see if i can find it

god i miss kass.

i havent ben back here since i did the wind temple, so there's a lot of sidequests lol

ok, i NEVER would have found that chasm without help. the opening into the cave is SO tiny

off to a fantastic start. landed by a yiga hideout AND a lightroot!!

oh! it's isolated! i guess that makes sense cuz in the overworld it's surrounded by water. i was gearing up to do some Depths Exploring though, i kinda miss it??

i notice mineru didn't meet me. so she really is only in one little section until i do the dungeon. blegh

oh, it's not a proper yiga hideout, there's just a diary. something about a weapon with blue stone. PLEEEEASE be a timeshift stone please please please (guy who knows it wont actually be a timeshift stone)

CRYSTALLIZED ZONAI SHOP LETS FUCKING GOOO

aw and a schema stone

siren call of the depths: i kinda wanna explore more. i was gonna go back up to rito village and knock out some of those sidequests but fuck it

as with the overworld i have a lot of the eastern section knocked out and have barely touched the western half. so i guess i'll go clean up in the east. unfortunately i have not been marking ANY of my boss encounters bc i didnt want to look at this map too closely so i'll probably wind up doing them all again lol

i don't know, am i taking some of the joy of exploration out of the depths by looking at this map early? i guess so, but i don't want to forge on without it, and the internet has spoiled me for the whole thing anyway. besides, they're not detailed enough that you can really tell what it'll look like once you get there. i think some surprises will still remain

i am going to turn on hands i think lol. that's one surprise i DON'T want, not down here

i guess if things get too hairy or tedious i always have my bike...it's been so long since i learned about them, yet since then i've barely set foot down here at all. i was doing koroks. so it's been a REALLY long time since i've properly explored down here.

tiny dark spot by hateno so im starting there. warped to a nearby root and found the two new ones i need pretty much instantly without even using the spoiler map - they were just hidden behind a wall

i read somewehre that the weapons the ghost soldiers hold for you, the unrotted ones, will only be weapons you've already broken above. which is stupid cool but then WHYYY do i never get royal broadswords...they're my favorites...

another mine...i guess that's to be expected. why do they all have the names of the cities above though? like, hateno didn't exist throughout the ages, it wasnt in oot or whatever. you can't tell me every city in hyrule is 10,000 years old. i guess lin's sheikah slate is naming the mines and using the names of the villages it knows? but IT'S 10,000 years old too. i love totk but the way it breaks the lore is so fucking frustrating, especially since i was finally excited about the lore actually being COHESIVE for the first time after skyward sword.

ooh, this diary mentions a hidden yiga academy behind a waterfall in gerudo...i've been spoiled a bit for that questline too but i feel better that i found the tip organically

oh. i found a "researcher" lol

LMAOOOO she's asking me to pick my own demise. incred

good GOD what is that...i shouldn't have answered...i picked burny bc i actually hate freezy more but what in the name of god

i mean i killed her basically instantly but that was a little alarming! i wish i got a schema stone for one of THOSE

MORE refinery shopping. i already have enough for one battery upgrade and i'm close to getting a second

oop yeah there's upgrade #2

and another schema stone!

ok, doubling back to check and old map mark i missed...

GLOOM TREES BAD

oh it's cap of the sky! i actually already have one of those lol but i can sell this one

ok, let's see...there's a tiny dark spot under gut check rock, so i'll get that next...

i have like. 630 arrows lol and it's a good thing too bc i got spotted by a monster camp and just took them out from a tree

zonaite really isnt hard to collect...like, at first having to get 4000+ to max your battery seemed impossible. but the hard part is that the refineries don't sell a lot at once so you either have to warp around or wait to turn it all in lol

i like how weather attack makes food useful again? like i stopped making food to help me with heat or cold bc i had armor...BUT i can't have armor to defend me from the elements AND the attack up from the elements at the same time. if i want both, i need food for one or the other! it's very clever. now i need to be more mindful when cooking instead of just doing the same health and stamina refills over and over

i really hate how hard the lava air effect makes it to fucking SEE down here. jesus

killed a flux construct. sick nice etc

found a proper yiga hideout >:)

minecart tracks??? i want a cart too... :(

sadly lacking in cart to cart combat. 0/10 stars

ok, working my way down towards the spring of power. i want those bargainer statues lol

i like exploring the depth a lot better when shit is lit up. i didn't realize until now but it's exhausting not to be able to see ANYTHING. i think that's why i got so tired of it so quickly before, even though i was also having fun poking around. finding one light point after another is fun and that requires darkness but it's also really difficult to navigate the terrain when you can't see AND there's gloom

found my mf statue. i cant believe i walked right past these before...you wouldn't know they're there unless you're looking :/

YESSSSS HOOD OF THE DEPTHS...finally.................

i had almost 700 poes so i had plenty to buy with lol

ANOTHER yiga hideout!! have i done this one?? it looks familiar...

oh yep lmao i sure have. bummer. at least i can mark it off my map :/

ok, thats all i have time for!!!

[gay-jesus-probably]

You're so right about the racist and imperialist bullshit, and something tragic to me is that this does not feel in the slightest like Zelda. In BOTW at LEAST, she's shown to actually be very smart, and while it's understandable (although not excusable) that she would have this worldview due to being raised thinking Hyrule is always right, it just really feels like she should be examining this more closely and seeing problems with it. But Nintendo won't do that, in no small part because they're cowards.

I would talk in detail about how mad I am at how they portray Ganondorf and the Gerudo, but I will spare you the 50 page essay

NO COME BACK I WANT THE ESSAY

Okay but in all seriousness though, idk, I do sort of feel like this is still fairly in character for this Zelda. I found BOTW (and Age of Calamity) characterized her as someone who is very... I don't know, traditional? To an aggressive degree, even when that adherence to tradition is actively hurting her. I mean, the closest she ever comes to actually trying to defy her fate is when she gets mad at a rock that one time. Which comes at the end of her having spent about 60% of her entire life standing in ponds and praying at said rocks in the hope that maybe this time it'll work out, because that's what she's supposed to be doing. It's canonically mentioned somewhere she almost killed herself accidentally as a kid, because she refused to get out of the damn prayer pond until she collapsed from hypothermia. Like yeah, it's fucked up that she was expected to do that... but she never thought there was anything wrong with her having to do that. She just figured she was the problem for not getting the magic at the right time.

And the narrative backs her up on this, because once she has her divine powers, BAM, all her problems are solved. She's a calm, confident leader who knows exactly what to do in every possible situation, no matter what. BOTW Zelda is an extremely passive character tbh; she seems very determined to be exactly the person she is expected to be, and she's not remotely interested in actually examining if those expectations are correct.

(though in regards to her being smart they did kinda do her dirty in TOTK; why the hell did Mineru need to fix the knockoff sheikah slate for her. zelda canonically is interested in sheikah tech. why tf does an ancient person that's never even seen a sheikah slate before need to repair it for her, NINTENDO EXPLAIN)

Anyways, and in regards to her morals... I gotta say, while she was at the point of being able to do the hard work to self examine and walk it back, BOTW Zelda definitely read as a possible baby nationalist to me. I mean, let's be real here, she is incredibly priviledged; she's the future ruler of the damn kingdom by Divine Right, and has spent her entire life being told that. And at the same time, she has really low self esteem... and no inclination to try and change the situation that's ruining her self worth. Which is how you get that one memory of Zelda using her privilege to abuse her indentured servant (indentured, because let's be real here, Link does not have the option to just quit his miserable job), knowingly tries to get him in trouble (if she runs off alone and gets hurt, it's Link's fault for losing her in the first place), and is disturbingly cool with dehumanizing him for being stuck doing his job ("It seems I'm the only one with a mind of my own around here"). And she uses her station to publicly humiliate him at one point, because that ceremony at the sacred ground was fucking painful to watch, and let's be honest here... there's no way in hell it was only the four champions attending this apparently really important ceremony; there was totally a crowd that was cut to avoid having to model all that shit.

Not that she was actively trying to humiliate him, but like... she's the one with all the power in this relationship. Link is a knight of the kingdom, and she's the soon to be Queen. Link is going through all those memories well aware that Zelda can and possibly will destroy his entire life the second she gets the chance. My point is, Zelda is extremely privileged, and it's her responsibility to understand that and be careful not to abuse her power. But the game never even suggests that she notices or cares about it. I mean fuck, even after she stops actively abusing Link, I still don't think she treats him very well. I mean for fucks sake, that one memory with the frog is really upsetting to me - she's certain her and Link and friends and everything is fine, but the power dynamics have not changed. She's still got him at a massive disadvantage, but she doesn't even hesitate to demand that he eat a live frog on the spot so she can see what happens. I liked to think that she was actually trying to make amends with Link for her mistreatment of him, but the game never really shows proof of her trying beyond the most shallow gestures possible (really? you gave him some food, and that makes up for abusing your indentured servant? that's the whole process?).

And all things considered, in TOTK, I... do not see any evidence of her having gotten better. She's just gotten worse, and I can see that as being a trauma reaction; she's basically lost everything, and now she needs to rule a kingdom after a century holding back an apocalypse. I understand why she wouldn't be in a place for self growth after that. But the unfortunate fact of life is that trauma and terrible situations can bring out the absolute worst in people - not to bring real politics into this, but after WW1 Germany was absolutely ruined, as the winners of the war imposed some completely impossible demands on them. People were starving and desperate, and that drove the country into fascism. So that's how we get TOTK Zelda - someone who is absolutely certain that divine forces make her the single most important person in the room at any given moment, Hyrule is a perfect and superior kingdom that can do no wrong, and anyone who disagrees is pure evil and must be destroyed. As for her treatment of Link... I honestly don't see it improving much. She still treats him as more of an object than a person, at least as far as I've seen - the last she saw of him, he'd suffered a horrible and traumatic injury, and yet she just takes it as a fact that he will be perfectly able and willing to take up her fight in the future; what else could he possibly be doing if not serving Zelda? That's his only purpose in life, of course he'll still be willing to do exactly as she orders.

Also jesus christ, the cult of personality built up around Zelda in game... there's so many red flags there. Despite all the genuinely monstorous shit that the fake Zelda pulls, nobody even considers being mad at her for it, even when they're still certain she's the real deal. She's the Divine Princess, of course she can torture and brainwash her subjects without consequences if she wants to, and her victims will still love her for it because they're certain they deserved it. No matter how dark things get, nobody even gets annoyed with 'Zelda' for hurting them. They're just scared that they've done something wrong to upset her, and worried they might not be able to serve her well enough.

(Can you tell the whole thing with Yunobo and the Fire Temple pissed me off, because that was infuriating)

It's good if a ruler is loved and respected by their people of course, but the level of blind devotion she's encouraged is... worrying. Of course, that's only there because the writers love Zelda and can't have let anyone question their precious favourite character, but I'm looking at this from a Watsonian perspective, and that perspective makes for a very disturbing picture. A good leader wants their people to feel safe contradicting them and asking questions. But instead we have people putting so much blind faith in her, they're completely willing to strip naked and walk into monster dens without weapons, because they think that was her orders, and they would never question Princess Zelda. And in universe, a group of researchers being ready to commit suicide on her orders is framed as being a touching sign of their devotion to her. If she was actually a good leader, then she would be horrified that her research team almost killed themselves over misheard orders; but Penn happily comments about how great it is that people would slit their own throats for her amusement, and Link never tries to correct him, suggesting that yeah, she actually does want her people to be willing to kill themselves at her command. Or at least Link finds that completely believable and in character for her.

And at the very least, things like that show that she's not interested in building an environment of equal communication and responsibility. Zelda is rebuilding a Hyrule where the royal family is the ultimate authority, and people should be willing to die before they even consider questioning her orders. So of course Ganondorf is pure evil and must be destroyed - he had to be asked repeatedly before he would kneel before the Hylian throne. Doesn't he know he's an outsider, and therefor inferior to the Divine Royalty? He refuses to accept that his race is inherently lesser to the Hylians, so he must be evil.

I mean, that in of itself is a pretty interesting story; the Hyrule established in TOTK is dark, and the entire culture is genuinely horrifying. This setting is extremely bleak, and I'd be interested if we could actually explore the implications of Link being expected to uphold this dystopian nightmare, and slowly turning against Zelda as he realizes how she truly sees the world.

But that's a nuanced and interesting story, so that's never going to happen; instead we just get this absolute shitshow of a plot, and like 75% of the fandom firmly ignores the racism and imperialism, because what kind of madman would actually want to be immersed in the story and worldbuilding of a role-playing game.

[ampersand-antics]

y'all i am back to talk more about totk

disclaimer that tumblr, for some reason, won't let me type question marks or slashes rn. i have no clue why but if my typing seems a lil different that's why

late-game spoilers under the cut, including MAJOR story spoilers! !!! SPOILER WARNING !!!

so i went into hyrule castle fully and completely assuming this would be the last dungeon of the game. i would have been fully and completely happy with it. after all, botw's main questline was about at this level of complexities (4 regional quests, explore to find flashbacks, beat the final boss at hyrule castle) and I still loved it!! and I loved the way the enemy gauntlet was built up, with you following "Zelda" around hyrule castle. At this point it becomes so very obvious that Zelda isn't herself, which is already obvious playing through either the four main region quests (specifically thinking the zora and the goron) or the memories quests (how would zelda be here if she's a dragon). But then it's made obvious and it's revealed exactly Why she's wrong and then THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOWS. Like I was super frustrated that I couldn't tell anyone that this wasn't the real Zelda before that. Especially in the goron quest, since I did that after the memories. so yunobo would be like "cmon we gotta go save zelda!" and i very much wanted to be able to say "that is very much not zelda we don't need to bother." or be able to tell calip (easily my most hated character in the game)(yes including ganondorf) to fuck off and let me go into the ring ruin because we shouldn't be listening to that zelda. anyways. sorry. tangent. i really enjoyed the fight with the multiple phantom ganons. it wasn't Too difficult, but it felt really good because I prepared sososo much for going into the castle, and it felt like "I" (link) was getting stronger and more able to conquer ganon. and the fact that the sages themselves showed up to help deflect the blow, the parallels between link and the champions descendants and raaru and the original sages? loved it.

but i also really loved the fact that this wasn't the end. like I said earlier I was fully prepared for this to be the Final Battle but I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was still more to do. And Mineru playing a bigger role in the story was something I never expected. I've seen a bit of spoilers about the sage of spirit's temple (haven't gotten there myself, no more spoilers pls!) but I assumed it was sort of a non-main-story extra little dungeon as a treat. Nope! I kinda like how vague they were about where more info about the fifth sage could be found. my guesses ended up being either the chasm/caves below hyrule castle (specifically the caves you're in at the very beginning)(which I haven't found a way to go back to yet), the great sky island's temple of time, or the storm-covered clouds in the south. I never even considered that the forbidden fifth ring ruin could possibly be a part of it!!! if anything that was relegated to side quest status in my mind. once again, not something that would be part of the main story. especially since they never even point you towards Kakariko, like, at all. I guess if you somehow hadn't gone to kakariko before that point, hearing the cue of "zonai ruins you haven't explored yet" mighta led you that way, since they're so obvious and also a lot of other npcs will mention them. i only realized that the ring ruin was involved in all of this because I was using the pink trees to find caves in the area and ended up stopping by the zonai researchers on a whim!!!

anyways back to my point on vagueness - I really like how they don't give you any further instructions other than "find more zonai ruins" basically. i was kinda frustrated with it at first but it feels super realistic, because Link wouldn't have had any further instruction. no one would even know where to start looking about this. and the fact that the ring ruin led you to the zonai ruins in faron. is epic. i also wasn't really expecting them to play as big of a part! they're easy to miss and honestly pretty forgettable, as far as I remember. i say this because I didn't remember them at all. it's the sort of place you can very easily end up never going at all, or if you do go, just end up wandering in there and back out without giving it much more thought. even someone like me, who's analyzed botw and the zonai and the trialers A Lot, never even thought to go back there and look. i watched an entire documentary on the zonai. and yet I never even thought to go looking there. i love this, I love how they're taking very obviously non-main places and areas and incorporating them into part of the main story. idk this part of my rambling is probably even more unhinged than usual I am So Tired. I'm going to head to the zonai ruins soon!!!! but for now I must sleep. farewell, and I'll see you soon

[omegawizardposting]

Since I've been playing it again lately, here are my criticisms of Tears of the Kingdom:

The events of Breath of the Wild are almost never mentioned. None of the Sheikah tech remains, either on the surface or below ground. The Divine Beasts are simply gone. TotK, therefore, ends up feeling less like a sequel to BotW and more like a second pass, like what they wanted BotW to be originally.

Adding onto the above point, why do some characters seem to have completely forgotten Link? Characters like Hestu and Bolson have no idea who Link is. Link, the Champion of Hyrule. Link, who defeated Ganon and freed Princess Zelda. Link, inarguably the most famous person in Hyrule, second only to its literal ruler.

The Depths are pretty boring. There are some points of interest, like boss rematches and the Master Kohga storyline, but there's not a whole lot to do down there.

Speaking of the Depths, why are they so goddamn big? Did they really need to be the same size as the overworld? Did every Shrine have to connect to a Light Root? Sky exploration was a major part of the game's advertising, and yet there's even less to do up there, because they make up such a miniscule portion of the map. The resources dedicated to the Depths should have gone to fleshing out the overworld and sky.

Ultrahand can be pretty janky and could have benefited from a bit more tweaking.

Quick selecting items, weapons, and shields becomes a massive chore once your inventory starts filling out.

You can't put Zonai devices back in your inventory once they're out.

As cool as it is to have the Sages running around with you, I have lost count of how many times they've gotten in my way or I've accidentally activated their ability while trying to pick up an item.

We still cannot summon our horses to us. They didn't even give us the ancient horse gear. I think they wanted Zonai vehicles to solve that issue, but honestly, horses are easier to control and oftentimes move quicker than Zonai vehicles, so I still found myself relying on them almost exclusively in the overworld.

This is an unpopular opinion, but that crazy face Ganondorf makes that everyone loves? It looks bad, man. It looks really bad. They needed to put it back in the oven, because it was NOT done cooking.

They gave Sidon a fiance. More specifically, they gave him a fiance who is supposedly his childhood friend but who is never mentioned in BotW. She was slapped into TotK to give Sidon a little arc about having faith in others and not being afraid to lose them like he lost his sister, but I feel like Yonah was originally meant to be a sister figure to him. He even outright states that he views her as a sister. I don't know why they made her his fiance and then had him get down on one knee and give Link a ring. Like, come on.

Where the fuck is Kass?

"Demon king? Secret stone?"

While I like the story in theory, it also needed some serious tweaking, but going into detail would take up way too much of my precious little time on this earth.