#honestly I was about 3/4 done with this when I realized I forgot poor Pryze again

[sunset-peril]

So Why Did Mipha Make the Zora Armor?

DISCLAIMER - This post/lore document is extremely specific to the Hyrule's Final Stand AU and its lore. This is how I've chosen to structure and answer this question after 4 years of contemplating, researching, and playing both Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity.

Also don't anyone dare try to apply my explanation for ship war purposes. ZeLink may be canon to Hyrule's Final Stand, but I will not tolerate my lore being used to attack people shipping either. Henceforce, neither ship will be tagged. If Tumblr throws this into those tags anyways, oh wells. Behave yourselves

Warnings - Dubious age of consent, age of consent under 18, arranged marriage/marriage of convenience (really more "engagement of desperation" than M o C), genetically modified humans, mentions to incest/inbreeding (both potential and actual), mentions to mating/breeding seasons, miscarriage/stillbirth, brief reproductive physiology (not graphic)

Acknowledgements - I do not condone, encourage or otherwise believe that the above warnings are ethical, moral, or otherwise acceptable. This is very much a Lesser of Many Evils scenario where everyone leaves burned. Inclusion ≠ Condonement

Also I listened to this on complete loop for the past like 4 hours while I wrote a good chunk of this + made the final edits, so have fun with that if you want. no I don't like what it's from and I don't want to associate with the source, but the fact remains that I have listened to it for five hours straight as I write this don't @ me

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Obviously, applying hindsight to the series, we know Link marries Zelda and has a daughter with her. So why did Mipha, a dear friend to Link and Zelda both, create such an item for Link? Shouldn't she have known about their relationship?

The answer is complex, kind of ugly, and showcases both Mipha/the Zoras understanding of the Wolfbred/their plight and Mipha's care for Link.

The reason Mipha made Link the Zora Armor even without being in an established courtship/engagement with him was directly related to Link's place in the Wolfbred society and the Wolfbred at the time.

This is inclusive of several reasons

1. The fact that Wolfbred don't require any sort of dating relationship before marriage/matehood like other tribes do. 2. They tend to select their life partners from the pool of people they were raised around. And Mipha knew this because the Zora and Wolfbred were close allies, with a community of them living in Goponga. 3. Wolfbred males are not biologically compatible with Zora females due to the sheer difference of their reproductive systems (primarily that, without being too graphic, the Wolfbred reproduce through pregnancy and the Zora by egg laying) and the Wolfbred's literal genetic modification (which of course affects how they reproduce in general) locking them to only be viable to other Hylian-based races like the Sheikah, Gerudo and of course, Hylians. Furthermore, intercourse is important to Wolfbred health; especially to the males (who the tribe believe can actually die if they fail to 'bond' when kept in female company) 4. The Wolfbred's genetic modification altered their perception of Non-Hylian Tribes (mentioned henceforth as NHT), either preventing or severely impairing their ability to perceive the NHTs on the same level of "humanness" as HTs. This physically prevents them from developing romantic/sensual attraction to members of a NHT. Realistically, there are likely exceptions, but that is not the standard. 5. Despite points 3 and 4, Link was in a desperate place for a mate, and the Tribe was just as desperate for him, so Mipha decided that (due to points 1 and 2) she'd decide to shoot her shot.

After all, the Wolfbred tend to select mates from their childhood friends/acquaintances.

But what drove their desperation? What make a Zora female an appealing mate to a Wolfbred male?

The Wolfbred Tribe was experiencing a reproductive crisis in that era known as the Pup Drought. Not only were Wolfbred fertility levels incredibly low, but the vast majority of pups that were conceived were either miscarried or stillborn. This led to only 3 live pups in thirty years: Pryze (25, male), Link (15, male & Sydnei's brother) and Sydnei (6, female & Link's sister). Had Link been born female, the exiled tribe could have easily paired Link and Pryze together and been… not great but at least not in the desperation they were in. To further stress matters, the tribe's last unbonded female was a sibling to the tribe's preferred male, and depending on when she hit puberty, Pryze might be too old or even dead as Wolfbred typically live only to around 30-35 due to their health problems. (More about why Pryze wasn't an option later)

And one very particular about Wolfbred is their innate desire for their "queen", which in Divine Beast Construction times literally meant the Queen of Hyrule, but in modern times simply meant the Wolfbred's wife (if male) or pups (if female). And males especially, if they spend too long unbonded, can experience (primarily) physical but also mental problems. Especially if they're stuck in female presence. They're designed specifically to serve that queen, and her absence causes problems. And Link was getting to that point with his (at this point in time) 2, going on 3, unbonded mating seasons and his job as Zelda's personal knight. At that point, he had absolutely no viable options, other than his sister. Poor Ordon (Link's dad) was driven to deliver a we're-too-desperate-to-bother-saving-face "help my son get a wife" message to each of the Champions when he encountered them. Link was 15 and had seasoned twice. It was not known at that point if a Wolfbred could make it through more than two unbonded seasons, as the effects of each 'failure' tend to compound, and Link was clearly miserable. While 10-years-older Pryze should have been more of a focus for the tribe than Link, the 25-year-old's complete failure to season or suffer any ill effects led the tribe to conclude he was sterile, which focuses the tribe's attention even further onto Link and Sydnei. Although the lack of female presence in Pryze's life, poor diet, or other circumstances may have also prevented such, in hindsight.

So Mipha made her move. By outright proposing to 15-year-old Link? No, absolutely not.

Instead she proposed herself to the tribe as a whole, as a substitution to his contingent engagement to his sister.

This worked as follows - 1. when Sydnei was born, he was automatically engaged to her due to him being the most preferable available male from the tribe (only because there were only 2 males and 1 female left, and Pryze was well… Pryze) 2. When Link was 15, Mipha approached Ordon (had Midna Marie still been alive, she would have been approached too) and presented herself as a potential swap for Sydnei and provided her reasons for offering such ("I'm not his sister" and the benefit that becoming Zora royalty would do for the safety of the tribe despite the reproductive barrier being two major reasons, on top of her care and affection for him) 3. Ordon was impressed, but had one problem. Link had already hit his first season, which made him an adult Wolfbred two years before at 13. This meant that Mipha would have to convince Link to swap his contingent bride, not Ordon 4. As much as Link wasn't really interested, he was convinced to change his contingent bride to Mipha after her and Ordon were able to convince Link that he was worth more than accepting the first Gerudo/Hylian who thought he was interesting-looking. And besides, what are you going to do? Say you'd rather marry your sister just because she's more sexually compatible? 5. Mipha and Link went before the Elder Circle of Hateno so Link could plead the Circle, and they accepted the swap 6. Despite that Link wasn't 100% content with this new arrangement, this took off the extreme strain placed on him of having to marry his sister should he fail to secure a preferable bride. Besides, he was still entirely within his rights to search for a more preferable mate, this agreement just changed who he'd marry if he wasn't able to find anyone else

Because of the contingent engagement, Mipha had extreme probable cause to believe Link would eventually become her husband. She was even legally permitted to officially propose before Sydnei reached "adulthood", but Link could turn her down as long as his sister was still a pup and they'd still be contingently engaged. Once she hit her first season, they would be officially engaged even if Mipha didn't officially propose again, or if Link had turned down an official proposal earlier; so long as Link hadn't married/mated to a more preferable female for the tribe (read: a Hylian/Gerudo/Sheikah woman).

Hence why she made the Zora Armor. Link was getting older, and while he and Zelda had been flirting and seemingly interested in each other, there was no clear indication that a) they'd even be able to marry due to Hyrule's laws and views towards the Wolfbred b) would be able to marry in time to preempt the contingency and c) were even looking towards a potential marriage between them.

It was a very new and volatile situation that was even less likely that the agreement Link and Mipha had entered. In fact, later on Zelda would even ask Mipha if she'd permit Zelda to propose to Link. The ball was firmly in Mipha's court to decide, ultimately, if she'd let Zelda "threaten" her contingency. Mipha did choose to permit Zelda's proposal, wanting Link's well-being more than her desires, which led to Link and Zelda's marriage. But Mipha was given a lot of control over the situation. And that's how the Zora Armor, wholly intended for Link, is able to exist despite Link's love for Zelda. and why Muzu isn't incredibly fond of Link in BotW/later HFS material

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Hyrule's Final Stand Masterlist