#i take one break from totk and this is what happens.

[crazylittlejester]

ITS MANDARIN WARRIOS AGAIN I KNOW I JUST SENT IN TRANS WARRIORS HEADCANNONS BUT I HAVE MORE (shout out to my cousin for helping come up with this):

anyways

CW for extremely implied (like two or three lines) of trans/homo/queer-phobia

the chain goes to gerudo town and they stop at the kara kara bazaar where wild explains that they need vai outfits since they don't let men in (or if TOTK has happened, he can't let men in with him, even if he has clearance) and the group has varying reactions, from sure whatever (legend, hyrule, twilight, time), HELL YEAH/sure, that sounds kinda fun (sky, wind, four,) and the captain just stares at the outfit for a second an quietly nods. in fact, he's weirdly quiet the whole visit to the female city. Time seems in tune with whatever is going on with captain, and gives a tiny "don't" sort of gesture at one point when twilight tries to talk to the captain.

Legend, who wears skirts all the time, who's worn dresses and cheerleader outfits and you name it, gets worried for a different reason. while most of his hyrule either wasn't there or didn't care, he's run into quite a few people (creatures? beings?) who don't hold the same values, and legend thinks the captain has finally snapped and has secretly been a raging homophobe the whole time. (no, legend does not have trust issues wdym)

legend takes warriors out on a "night patrol" after seeing him pace and fidget and pick at the outfit for the 16th million time. they walk pretty far out, far enough that the lights of the city no longer dim the sparkling night sky. legend stops dead in his tracks and turns to warriors like: "dude if you're really gonna be a hateful piece of dookie then i will make your life miserable again because i will not let you hurt my brothers like that" and warriors, who's dealing with awful dysphoria rn, whos super uncomfortable because people kept staring at his burn scars, who hates the hot sun and the itchy desert and is super overstimulated just breaks down bc he thinks he's been betrayed by another brother.

Legend is very surprised bc he was expecting to fistfight a bigot not consoling his brother who has planted himself down against a rock and his melting down in front of his eyes. warriors awkwardly explains whats really going on, and legend feels supers guilty and embarrassed for thinking so poorly of his brother. blah blah feels, cheesy stuff, they talk, then they start making there way back to the inn, after a promise from legend to keep quiet. to make it up to him, the next day legend decides to go drinking with wars since time and twi are needed for something else (up to reader what that thing is) yada yada hurt/comfort, the end

(Bonus: warriors helps legend pick out skirts and dresses because he has a much better eye for fashion -though legend would never admit it- and knows how the sizing works and what pieces go where, and they bond over the lack of pockets)

-mandarin warriors

:)

THE LITTLE “:)” AT THE END OF THAT WAS DIABOLICAL.

im absolutely obsessed with this, i need to write a fic about wars being trans because trans wars is something that is so incredibly real to me

[skoulsons]

Ellie’s “why!” In her notebook after… you know

The sheer number of attempted eyes she drew. None of them look quite right. None of them match his.

His eyes. The eyes she knows so well. She can draw the rest of his face damn near perfectly, but not his eyes.

She can’t draw the parts of him that she could see through into his heart. The parts of him that shined so bright when he was around her. Those eyes that glowed so bright in the space shuttle. The eyes that looked at her with so much love and care for her, whether she could see him looking at her or not.

She can’t feel his embrace anymore. She can no longer hug him and feel his arms wrapped around her, never failing to hold her tight. She can no longer experience a kiss to her head or gentle fingers threading through her hair. She can’t hold his warm hands or hear his voice and endearments that always followed it anymore. She will never hear a “kiddo”, “baby girl”, or any other endearment he so lovingly gave to her ever again.

The one thing she had the chance to keep to see his light again. His eyes.

And she can’t even draw them.

[avalypuff]

Answers to the common questions of “Why didn’t Zelda retain dragon features?” and “Why did Link’s arm revert to normal?”

I’ve been dying to do some analysis posts since TotK came out, and after seeing a lot of people complain about the above, I decided my first should be related to the endgame.

So, I’ve seen a lot of posts where people seem to misunderstand what was going on when Zelda changed back into a Hylian, and why Link’s arm returned to normal. Many write this off as simply plot convenience, and while it’s true that Nintendo wouldn’t want to leave the main characters of one of their most popular titles with permanent changes, I’m here to try my best to explain the actual reason these things happened the way they did, because whether you noticed it or not, there is plot relevance to this reversion.

Draconification is permanent.

This is an indisputable fact.

And while I have seen people criticizing the way Zelda changed back, the fact is she swallowed the stone knowing that she never would.

“I’ll be forever changed…”

Her cry for Link to find her was not for her sake. She wasn’t depending on him to find the key to changing her back. Nay, the only reason she desperately prayed for him to find her was so that he could get the Master Sword, which—ignoring game mechanics that would allow you to beat Ganondorf with literally any weapon with the right damage/durability ratio—canonically is the only thing that can hurt him.

When Zelda changed back, it was almost entirely thanks to Sonia. That’s right!

…Let’s take a second to recall this scene in which Rauru decimated the horde of Molduga.

We see Sonia extend her hand and then gesture for Zelda to do the same.

Here they’re extending their own power to amplify Rauru’s counterattack, even beyond the already-massive boost the Secret Stone provides.

In the final scene when Link finds himself hovering over the sleeping Light Dragon amongst a dream-like atmosphere, it’s really quite telling that Sonia is the first to rest her hand over Link’s, then followed by Rauru.

This time Rauru is fulfilling the role of amplifying Sonia’s power over time. Not just that, but adding it on top of the time manipulation that Zelda gave to Link at the beginning of the game.

That’s what’s happening here. This is immensely powerful, triple amplified time magic!

The change from dragon to Hylian wasn’t a transformation in the same sense that it was when Zelda changed from Hylian to dragon. I know that’s a confusing sentence, but consider the basis of Sonia’s time magic is recalling things as they once were.

Zelda didn’t retain dragon features because, through the power of time reversal, she was never a dragon to begin with.

This is the also the reason the Secret Stone reappeared on her necklace.

This is ALSO the reason Link’s arm reverted to its natural state before he was affected by the gloom.

And before y’all come at me with “well, why didn’t Rauru do that in the first place instead of giving his arm to Link?” Simple; Sonia wasn’t there. Even spirits aren’t omnipotent… in Hyrule. (Probably.)

The point is, this was essentially a lucky break for Zelda and Link, because if Sonia (and therefore Zelda, by inheritance) didn’t have time magic, there would have been no way to undo the Draconification. It would have been every bit as permanent as Hyrule legends and history says it is, and Zelda would be gone forever.

In fact, it’s likely it was a shot in the dark even on Sonia and Rauru’s part, considering there was no prior knowledge of reversing time on a dragon, let alone a person. It was a glorious blend of the convenience of Sonia’s time magic, and luck that it worked out the way they (“they” being all characters involved) wanted.

Anyways, to wrap this up, Draconification is indeed permanent, unless you have the number one badass-master-of-time-manipulation Queen Sonia on your side. Then you can probably undo anything. :)

[ganondoodle]

rough beast ganondorf design + sketches + notes design combines the typical boar form (dark beast + cloud form from botw), the oni one (demon king gan) hint at the draconic one to come but keep part of his humanity with his clothing being mostly intact

as the battle with Demon King Ganondorf comes to an end, the sages previously knocked out start to wake up again, he is cornered and hurt and as fear of being imprisoned, tortured and exploited overwhelms him he transforms into the Beast form, breaking the arena you were fighting him in and him going for Zelda as she is the biggest threat (he remembers her destroying dark beast gan and she reminds him of sonia, who is the one you sealed his human body back in the day)

you and zelda flee through the cracks of the earth as more earthquakes happen with a beast at your heels thats now truly only out to kill as fast as possible as he burrows after you (first sketch)

the path takes you both just below the surface and as you are trapped in a dead end zelda shields herself and link with her light shield ability, which protects you both from immediate damage but cant soften the impact from gan charging at you, the impact of which breaks you all three to the surface and the battle takes place in the same spot as botws dark beast fight-

fight is very challenging as gan is smaller than the dark best version, jumping and charging at you while still able to cast spells, now truly throwing everything he can at you in the hopes of ending you both

fight ends with you shooting an arrow at zelda, her deflecting it at the right angle and it shooting off the enigma stone on gans forehead; he falls seemingly defeated and as zelda runs to take the stone away gan through sheer panic lunges for the stone triggering his dragon transformation and making way for the final fight

(summary of the end: in the final fight gan snatches up both link and zelda once he transformed into the black dragon and takes flight toward the sky, zelda falls from between his teeth and knowing that she cant get to link and help him in any way from the ground she, while falling, takes out the enigma stone she has kept in a save container in her backpack all this time and swallows it for her own transformation, in her white dragon form she takes active action and charges at gans head so link is freed, then supports him in the fight itself; at the end link plunges into dragon-gans mouth to reach the stone on the inside where he makes use of the 'medicine' previously made using the moonbloom taked from kogas secret lab, link and the stone are spit out and as gan reverses into a human and falls link is caught by zelda and he uses the second charge of it on her to bring her back as well; as all three fall from the skies as the sages have made their way through the tunnel that beast gan made earlier, they help link and zelda getting to the ground safely while the yiga do the same for gan - final end end isnt determined yet but this is waht i got so far and even if i have written this once before i felt it was fitting to do it again and no you cant tell me this is too much of a wishfulfillment thing bc it literally is just that as i cant actualyl change whats in the game, so even if im trying to make it all fit well together i can still do what i want nhakjdbgshdbhsjka)

(totk rewritten project)

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

Okay so my genuine thoughts on the final scenes of Totk

So having Link go through the final ‘dungeon’ and wind up exactly where we started the game, with those rocks we ACHED to break bc it was instinct, only to get that satisfaction after EVERYTHING and to see that Zelda’s fate was foretold millennia ago. Turning into a dragon WAS her only choice. And for good reason.

Ganondorf’s fight. WOW. That was genuinely so beautifully done. He ALSO dodges how Link does. To have Ganondorf dodge something, the entire action moving in slow motion, only to then have LINK do the same the next move?? Poetic cinema people. And the champions arriving 🥹 only to then have them all fucking thrown to the side when he takes in his doubles to regain his own strength? Absolutely insane and hands down my favorite boss fight in the entirety of the Zelda series. Yeah. That’s how much I enjoyed it as a player.

Can we also just talk about how concerned everyone got and how they yelled his name when he was taken from the underground??

And THEN the final fight with Ganondorf swallowing a secret stone and becoming a dragon. It brings Zelda’s sacrifice to light. She did it out of selflessness and love. He did it out of selfishness and hatred. GOD do I love characters that juxtapose each other. Zelda is a girl who was given the responsibility of a power she never wanted while Ganondorf is a megalomaniac who sought the destruction of peace because of his own selfish desires. Seeing the difference between them in that final fight as two dragons… it was EVERYTHING.

Zelda’s dragon form was tiny compared to Ganondorf’s dragon form. She protects. He attacks.

It’s so beautiful to see how Zelda, who isn’t mentally awake, first instinct are to save Link. She quickly maneuvers so she can not only juke out Ganondorf, but also then save Link who was flung into the air in the process. Link clutching onto her dragon fur? Or whatever?? And understanding that while the sages are all still underground, he is not alone in the sky. She’s going to be by his side this entire time.

For someone who was alone the majority of the last game… this was so fucking emotional and beautiful to see.

Them lowkey explaining calamity Ganon by also using dragons this game was a really nice consistency touch btw I was digging how focal dragons were to the entire game this time around.

And then the final bit. That SCENE. Rauru and Sonia channeling their power through Link, who was incredibly confused before he realized what they must be doing, and got SO determined. Turning Zelda back and even getting his own hand back in the process??? Insane to see. Zelda was so so loved by Rauru and Sonia despite only spending a short amount of time with them. And that just makes my heart hurt when we consider what actually happened.

And when Link falls unconscious, which is completely logical when you think about the fight he just went through, the altitude he was at, and channeling enough magic that it reversed the effects of an all powerful secret stone???? Yo he went through a LOT!

And he wakes up, already on the alert bc man is freefallin only to then realize that Zelda is back and she’s also falling. And she’ll hit the ground a lot sooner than he would at the rate they’re going.

Link couldn’t reach Zelda in the beginning of this entire thing. But this time? This time he not only reaches her hand, but he pulls her in close, shields her head as best as he can, and prepares them to hit the water. Once they do, he carries her out of the water. Gentle, oh so gently, laying her down and kneels over her as she begins to wake up.

And one of the first thing Zelda does as she wakes up is to take him in and looks him over to see if HE’S hurt. Just like she did in the beginning of the game. And everything click. They won. He defeated Ganondorf and she was granted the impossible by Rauru and Sonia to turn back into a human.

And Zelda IMMEDIATELY rambles on about everything. About how much has happened. How much she has to tell him.

And finally. Finally. She looks at him and smiles so fucking gently that it drives me INSANE with how much she obviously adores him, and says, “I’m home, Link. I’m home.”

Because home is right there. Right by his side. In this Hyrule that they’ve been rebuilding together. The one they lived the past half decade ish together in a house Link bought and traveled across Hyrule no matter what the issue was. In the Hyrule where she is so beloved by everyone.

Zelda is home.

[pinkalmondcake]

I can't

Totk link x reader part 1 of 2

Masterlist

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Contains totk spoilers! But please enjoy this two part mini series my sweets~

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warnings: blood, heavy angst, totk spoilers

‧͙⁺-ˋˏI can't'ˎˊ˚⁺‧͙

3k+ words

The torch's flames danced along the stone engravings of the ancient, Zonai walls but it was the way the shadows flickered upon the crevices which caused the skin of my neck to prickle in anticipation and my fingers to tighten themselves around the Purah Pad. A shiver following soon after.

"I don't think we should be down here, Zelda...", I said, watching the way Link's and hers fingers glided upon one another as she handed him the torch with such delicacy that it made my heart twist around itself, a reminder of what had happened...I gently shook my head at that, hoping to rid my chest of the pain that it brought upon me. "We have to find out what is happening, y/n. I have a feeling we're close to discovering something remarkable!", her smile was wide with excitement as her eyes flickered in childlike curiosity.

I gave her a small, smile back, feeling the way her eagerness of a new discovery waiting to be exposed reflected itself into me, allowing my own bubbling apprehension to seep through, "I know, I'm just worried we may not be as prepared as we think we are." Zelda's eyes cast themselves over the aged engravings while I handed her the Purah Pad as I continued, "I just...have this feeling that there's something not right here." Her brows furrowed in thought while she raised the Pad, readying it for a photo before turning to smile at me from over her shoulder, "You're just a bit anxious, y/n. I promise we'll be fine." I inwardly sighed in defeat as I nodded at her, "You're probably right." She hummed in agreement.

My heart quickened its pace at that, feeling the way Link's eyes stared at me from the corner of my own as I now stood beside him. I tried to steady my breathing at that, feeling the way the awkwardness between us drooled into the deafening silence that lingered around us. "Can...can we talk about what happened?", I softly murmured in fear I'd break what we had even further than it already was.

I flinched at the silence that followed while Link deeply exhaled, his silence tearing through the strings that held my heart together, my own exhale slipping past my lips, "I see. Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry and after we're done here, I'll be taking the other half of my things from your place, I should've already done that a while ago to be honest."

I felt some tears fill the corner of my eyes as I lowered them to my gloved hands before carefully treading away from his side towards Zelda's instead, hearing the way she began to talk about the murals and their possible connection to the royal family while all I could do was keep the trembling of my lips at bay, hoping that a sob won't slip past them - Zelda's smile towards the murals being brighter than the twirling flames of the torch.

My eyes widened, suddenly feeling her fingers intertwine with my own, "y/n! Link! Look at this!" She quickly dragged me behind her, "Do you think they all depict the same legend?" She gasped, pulling us into a halt while Link's torch flames flickered from the movement, "This engraving... it's similar to the statues we saw earlier! A depiction of a Zonai! And these figures...they look like Hylians!" Her fingers slipped from my own as a blackened flake floated past my eye, "This mural suggests that the Zonai had descended from the heavens."

She quickly handed me the Purah Pad before making her way to another engraving, her eyes slightly widened as her fingers reached out towards it but were too afraid to touch the cold, aged stone, "My ancestors...it was said that they were born from a union with Gods who had descended from the heavens. And these murals tell a similar story, and if they are accurate, then the Gods mentioned were the Zonai! They must have forged a relationship with the Hylians of that time to establish..." Her eyes turned towards us in excitement, "the Kingdom of Hyrule!"

My eyes glanced over across the next mural, feeling some sort of apprehension fill my stomach as my eyes stared at the figures...the one seemed to have been taking something from the other. "Hey, Zelda, take a look at this", I called, temporarily forgetting the pain that numbed my skin while she came towards me, her eyes flickering to my own before glancing towards the stone of the mural, "He seems to be stealing an incredible power from the young Kingdom..." I tore my eyes to look at Link from over my shoulder, feeling them widen while my chest only tightened. "Something isn't right", I whispered to him, "we need to leave Link. We have to!" "-And then this shows the Demon King!", Zelda's voice rang through the shadows, causing me to look at her unwavering curiosity, "if this creature depicted here really does represent the Demon King then...incredible! This mural must be the great war recorded in the royal histories!"

My chest slightly tightened at the way her voice only louden with every sentence, "This is the Imprisoning War and the events that led up to it!" She turned towards us with a jump to her step and a large satisfied smile spreading across her lips, "Link, y/n! This is a huge discovery!" Out of excitement, she quickly grabbed the slate from my hand and ran towards the murals, "I need to fix the order of the photos I took! This is beyond remarkable!"

I felt my fists clench itself as I cast my eyes towards the rocks that covered the rest, feeling the way Zelda's tone suddenly dripped in a hidden disappointment, "It looks like the rest of the murals are obscured..." Zelda placed the Pad back into my hands while Link handed her the torch, my eyes watching the ominous, black ooze slipping through the air. "Just what is this place? Maybe we'll find more answers ahead. Let's keep moving for now." "Zel...I really don't think we should", I said as I placed a hand upon her shoulder, "it feels like we shouldn't be here." "We won't go too far, we'll need the team if we do, so don't worry too much, y/n", she gave me a soft smile as I felt Link's fingers wrap around my wrist before silently bringing it down to my side while I lowered my head with a nod, "Alright."

With that, Zelda raised the torch, leading us towards the darkened corridor which lies dormant in the shadows of the walls. A slight pressure began to fill the air, causing its icy bite to graze across the skin of my neck while the walls of the passage narrowed, "The gloom grows heavier here", Zelda whispered.

Subconsciously, my fingers began to reach for Links, feeling the warmth of his skin to glide against mine, but only for me to flinch away as his fingers started to intertwine their way around between my own.

"Sorry", I mumbled, watching the small steps as we made our way down the small stairs towards the curving corridor. I frowned, "How much deeper does this go?"  Zelda glanced over at me with the same thought, "I don't know. But whatever it is, I think we're getting closer to the answer with every step."

The darkness leaked its way across the walls, the stairs never seeming to come to an end while we could only carefully mind the loose rubble that rests against the shadows - until my breath suddenly hitched, "We're here."

A trail of a vibrant, glowing green flowed through the darkness of the sanctum as it slowly formed letters of what appears to be some sort of distorted Gerudo writings, "Ominous", I mumbled at that thought, watching the way the glow twirled in an ascending twirl. Link came to a stop beside me, causing me to glance into the dim blue hue of his eyes. I quickly turned to Zelda as she spoke, "What is this place?", before making her way down the first step.

My shoulders tensed and my stomach knotted, my feet treading down onto the stone of the ground - my eyes scanning the area with hidden fear. "What is that?", Our Princess suddenly questioned, causing me to turn my gaze towards the object that rests against the chest of a decayed corpse - the object being nothing but a disfigured hand. My breath quickly hitched at the sight of the reddened gloom pouring out of the ashy, withered body.

Link's hand wrapped around Zelda's arm, pulling her back as the arm slowly dimmed before coming to a limp position and falling off the corpse towards us with a slight creak. I watched the way the colour paled, turning into an ashy green, only to cast my eyes to Link's hand that was firmly wrapped in Zelda's own.

"Huh?", Her voice echoed through the wavering flames as she released his hand and reached down towards a small stone, curiosity filling her emerald eyes as she touched it with a slight flinch to her hand. Gently, she picked it up, and with a frown, I noticed the white glow that radiated from it, a mysterious aura surrounding itself around us.

In the corner of my eye, I saw a twitch in the shadows, the creaking of aged bones echoing through the blackness as the corpse struggled to move - my eyes widening while I tried to take a step back, but with a wavering inhale - the body collapsed.

Silence.

Within a blink of an eye, Link shoved me behind him after unsheathing the Master Sword, his fingers intertwining with my own as its head snapped towards us - eyes seeping in red stared into my own with a humour and wonder that was filled with nothing but the sinister swirls of evil. I blinked in fear.

Suddenly, red, seething gloom splattered across the walls and ceiling, spreading itself in hatred as Link's name fell from my trembling lips. His sword shimmered in a brightened blue, but it was too late. I reached for him, feeling the way Zelda's hands kept me back while my tears could only fall.

"Stay back", he seethed, his arm withering from the scalding touch that spread across his skin. "Link!", I cried, watching the way he clutched at the burnt skin as my eyes found its way towards the decayed corpse - only for them to widen as the gloom slithered towards him once again.

And out of reflex, he slashed his sword down against the flickering tendrils.

I could only watch the way it shattered and splintered from the act, my eyes trailing towards a piece that sliced itself across the tendon, covered cheek of the being, causing its blood like gloom to seethe from its touch. A deep inhale was taken in.

I ran towards Link, wrapping my arms around his torso as Zelda called his name. I rested my head against the crook of his neck, my fingers tightening their hold upon the thick material of his champions tunic - a harsh reminder of the duty that comes with it, causing me to raise my head and glare at the thing that stares at us.

"Was that the sword that seals the darkness? A blade that so easily shatters against my power cannot save you from me."

Its body slowly rose with every seething word that spilled from its mouth, its reddened hair mimicking the form of the tendrils of the leaking gloom.

"Zelda...you who carries the fragile sword...and you, a girl who has no place in this world are Link and y/n." 

I felt Link's muscles tense beneath my fingertips, my own following after as all our eyes widened at the living corpse who brought its haunting stare back to our own, "Rauru placed his faith in you." Its body turned to us, a sickening smile spreading across what remains of its mouth while its head tilted back in mockery, "and was that all you can do?"

"How do you...know our names?", Zelda's trembling voice bounced off the hollow walls that circled around us, my fingers tightening themself around Link before reluctantly letting him go - but his free hand only reached to grasp my own, intertwining ours together in fear.

A sickening, bloodied red slithered across the chamber and towards the pillar that extended into the shadows while a haunting cry filled the now illuminated dark as the sound of rock grinding against rock deafening us.

And with that, the ceiling began to slowly rise, the rubble descending down towards us, a wavering breath spilling my lips, "The castle...he's pushing the castle into the air...how..?" My eyes widened.

The ground beneath the corpse's feet crumbling from the overwhelming pressure of its power - the walls itself caving in as Link collapsed himself into me with a quiet groan, "We have to get out." I nodded, turning to Zelda, "Go! I'll help Link out of here!" "y/n", Zelda began to reach towards us but I pushed her hand away, "Go Zelda!"

Her breath hitched. My eyes widened.

The rubble beneath her feet cracked with a sickening crunch as Link pushed himself out of my arms, struggling to reach for Zelda while her feet shook beneath the loosened stone. "Link!", I screamed, watching the way a largened stone came crashing down towards us, and out of instinct, I pushed him towards Zelda, his eyes widening while his fingers struggled to reach her - her torch falling from her hand.

His teeth seethed together, his tears spilling from his eyes as his burnt and blackened arm stretched out towards the Princess he was sworn to protect no matter what, but now...now he was failing, failing his duty to her once again. A realisation of the situation spilling across his face as my screams rang through his ears.

'Link. I can't take this anymore. I've tried, I've really tried, but no matter what I do, she'll always be your first priority and I know it's not your fault or hers. But you crossed the line, a line you promised you'd never break - no matter what! For Din's sake, she's taken our house! Our home! Yes she's my friend but hell, if it were a life or death situation and you had to choose between me or her. You'd chose her Link. And don't you dare try to deny that! I can't. I can't do this', he watched in silence, he watched the way your lip quivered with every word, he watched the way your tears spilled from the pain that swelled within your chest - just like it did his own. His heart hurt.

It hurt like it never did before.

And he hated it. He hated every second of it - especially the words that fell from his mouth, "...I have to do what I must to ensure her safety. She is the soon to be Queen of Hyrule and it is my sworn duty to protect her and watch over her. No matter what."

You closed your eyes, pinching the bridge of your nose as you leaned against the railing of your shared bedroom, "...Link. What is there to protect her from...why must Zelda take our home. Why are you allowing her into our relationship space when there's other ways to keep an eye on her." Your voice was soft and filled with hurt and confusion. He watched your brow furrow at that.

"I feel safer knowing she's here. In a place I know."

Your lips twisted in thought, your eyes sharp as they met his own, "And us? What about our place? What about the time for us? There's...it's like we're not even together anymore."

His eyes glared into yours, his fingers tightening themselves into a fist, "Don't say that. You knew what it means to be my partner. You said you understood it and that you would understand why I must do certain things to ensure the safety of others." His voice wavered, seething in an uncontrollable anger that began to lurk its way into his mind.

"I do, but it wasn't like this at first you know", you said, your arms folding themself across your chest, "I first noticed it with the way her eyes would follow you, how they were filled with the exact same emotion as mine are when they're staring at you. Link, she's in love with you and has been for over a hundred years.

And it only recently dawned upon me that I'm the outsider here - the one that's keeping you from the fate that's been written in both your souls and stories."

His heart raced, his eyes widening from the way your voice cracked after every word as you tried your best to keep yourself in control while you continued.

"I can't be with someone who makes me feel like a second option. I can't be with someone who makes me guess the role I play in their life. I can't be with someone who's been promised to another through the ties of their souls. I can't be...I don't want to feel like a shadow that's just waiting for you to come back to the light, but only for me to follow behind you - never far but never close", you closed your eyes.

"What...what are you saying? Are you...", His throat tightened, "are you leaving me...?"

You gave him a soft, sad smile and a slight shrug, "You're not giving me much reason to stay."

His lip quivered as his eyes casted down to the wood of the floor, his brows deepening their frown while his lips turned downwards, "I'm staying at the inn tonight, but when I come back tomorrow at dawn,  you along with all your things better be gone because I can't be with someone who can't understand me, that doesn't even allow me to have a choice in anything! I swear, if you come near me or talk to me during our excavation beneath the castle I'll..."His words trailed off.

"You will what. Kill me?", You seethed, your words lacing in poison, "right, like I meant anything to you in the first place and don't even bother going to the inn when you can sleep in your bed tonight. I'm leaving anyways and have been planning it for a while now. And if you had even noticed or spent some time with me, you would've seen that half of my things were packed already, waiting by the stairs for a reason to leave - like the one you've just given me."

His watery, blue eyes widened in realisation, his throat caving in on itself at the reality that just fell upon him, "y/n, I-"

Your sobs tore through his words, "I need to start packing."

"...Please", he began, his voice wavering in fear, in fear that you'll leave him too. Forever. His heart, his world, his everything...gone because of him - the ring in his pocket suddenly weighing as heavy as the heart that fills his chest.

"Please just let me pack..."

And with that, he trailed down the steps - his sobs silent unlike your own as he pried open the door, hesitating before shaking his head and stepping out, his fingers reaching for the silver ring that was waiting to be slipped onto your finger.'

"Link!", I screeched, the weight of the rubble crashing my leg as the ground beneath me separated, the darkness suddenly swallowing me whole.

His eyes widened as they glanced over his shoulder, seeing the way my blood splattered through the air...hearing the way I screamed for him while I struggled to reach out for him. His chest tightening as he too, slowly began to fall - the ring he's kept in his pouch these few days was now slithering down the corner of his eyes.

'Please y/n...no, no...I can't!'

Zelda's fingers barely brushed against his own, but his eyes widened at the feeling of something grabbing ahold of his wrist, forcing him back as he watched a golden light slither across Princess Zelda's form before vanishing along with her while I smiled at the sight of them making it out alive. A sense of relief and comfort fell upon me as I closed my eyes, "I love you, Link."

And then darkness fell.

PART 2 IS ON MY WATTPAD, LINK IN MY PINNED POST~

[glamrock-azbear]

My ✨Ruin✨ Experience (Story Spoilers, be forwarned)

Lobby

God damn Gregory, wasn’t enough to damage to animatronics you had to light the bitch ablaze too?

Ooo, HUD looking fine

Who needs a flashlight? I’ve got light up shoes!

Ah, yes, I remember breaking Chica’s ankles in this lobby…

Gregory kinda sounding sus

Okay, now super sus

Of course I’d have to go the long way around. If I were Gregory, I’d be at Roxy Raceway in half a minute (adjust crocs)

Cassie could’ve died counter: 1

Ladders are a really interesting addition… but the ability to look around concerns me

Vent… Tiny Music Man?

Cassie could’ve died counter: 2

Atrium Kitchen

This kitchen dirty af

Cassie could’ve died counter: 3

Chica there is no need—

Nevermind, she cool… for now

How’d this area get so messy? When the Pizzaplex crumbled there was nothing here

Welcome back to “Kids becoming technicians” Today’s guest: Cassie!

Two hands are better than one (Why didn’t you think of that Gregory?)

Backstage Area

Oh, hey, this looks familar… where’s Monty?

Oh sh—

Cassie could’ve died counter: 4

Found Monty BTW, me and the homies hate Monty now

Monty Golf

Lovely, 5 minutes in the Pizzaplex and not a single pizza, but I’m almost killed four times

I’m definitely down here with Monty, aren’t I?

Map Bot’s been rebranded, Map Bot will be missed 😔

I wish my virtual plushies were real

I refuse to believe an AR mask that should only let you see AR elements would allow someone to phase through objects

Must look super trippy to people observing from a different POV

“Look mom—” (Clips through wall)

Surprising the other animatronics are event still alive given it seems most charging stations have been decimated

Freddy’s probably still in Low Power Mode, unless Gregory jailbroke him

Gregory search history: How to jailbreak Freddy Fazbear

Of course the only surviving thing in all of Monty Golf would be the Monty Golf Arcade Game (I’m not telling you how long I played)

Can I take my chances with the electric door?

Something tells me a rabbit is behind all this…

So can Monty crawl through this area? I hope not, I’m not that fast

LSD jumpscare! Too bad I say “no” to drugs (takes off Vanni Mask)

Oh shit— Monty quiet af

What? I already deactivated the nodes so open up— Oh… I deactivated the Wet Floot Bot… oops

I don’t care that Monty crushed himself with a wood plank, I’m running and not looking back

The Daycare

So is Moon gonna be hunting me? Cause like none of the ending explicitly showed him being destoryed so—

Well there he is

Oh, he’s insane

And he’s Peter Pan

Can I get my free weapon now?

I’m surprised the Generators are still around

You know, if Gregory had a FazWrench, maybe he wouldn’t have to have gotten physical

So Eclipse is real? Check that off the list, now where’s Ballon Boy?

He really loves slamming them doors

One thing I’m grateful for is Moon not being a menace this time around

Theater

Ah shit— the night ticklers

Nu Uh— they give eye contact 💀

I thank the Basement for reminding me that the night ticklers are not to be trifled with

They killed Comedy Bot 😭

Vanny Cameo, she is literally getting more screentime than in SB here lol

Also damn, from another POV she was literally chasing Gregory in broad fluorescent light

Oh sh— he got m— wait it’s and Endo?

WTF happened?

Oh sh— oh it’s a giant Endo… welp, into the throat

Girl being dramatic for what

Bruh I can’t run—

Hm, so the Monty Carts still work… interesting

GASP— LORE!!!

Confirmed, Monty is the Band’s adopted child

Bonnie passed the torch fam— HE PASSED THE TORCH—

Oh yeah… the Pizzaplex is run down…

Monty Golf Catwalks

Cassie could’ve died counter: 5

And I’m back

Another Monty fight up here and Monty finna lose more than his bottom half this time

Navigating this area reminds me of something… (Insert ToTK Fire Temple)

Proof all comic endings were drawn by Gregory

Suddenly: Portal 2

The Pizzaplex is out to get Cassie— I’m convinced

Portals don’t transfer velocity do they?

Oh my—

Don’t rush me, Gregory, I’m doing the best I can (Misses another target)

“I’m sorry little one…” (Deactivates Wet Floor Bot)

Wait, if the Monty Cart I was riding in to get here derailed, then why isn’t this one?

Basement Kitchen

R. I. P. Pizzabot, he didn’t make it to Ruin

Chica’s Bakery

Chica in a silly, goofy mood 🤭

The cupcake does not approve of the vibe

Chica, honey, you’re being a bit too silly now

Ok, someone here is shitting battery acid all over the Pizzaplex and didn’t tell me, not cool dudes…

Cassie knows the drip must stay clean

Fire has done a number on Chica’s awareness

Chica’s Feeding Frenzy!

Server Room

Okay, so, where exactly am I?

Freddy Foreshadowing

So if I could take off the mask right now, what would I see.

How’s LSD Trap gonna be all big and do nothing

Roxy’s Salon

They really said “Feel free to play our arcade games! Just not princess quest…”

Oh shit— wait, so like after Roxy antagonized Gregory in the Afton Battle, she leaves and comes here?

Legit proof that when Roxy said “You have no friends” to Gregory, she meant it

This area is actually much better than its counterpart with all the staff bots

Yeah, “Gregory” saying not to get police or adults involved is sus

Absolutely valid reason to be mad but how would Roxy know Gregory took her eyes, what did she see him do it?

Apology accepted

She’s totally gonna save me later isn’t she

Sewers

Bruh, he’s a real gator now

You know, with how high I’ve seen that demon jump, I would’ve though jumping on a floating piece of debris would be nothing

Wait, so if he was in the water the whole time being a menace, then why did he die now?

Roxy Raceway

Ok but with this place in such a destroyed state, who’s to say I couldn’t just break the floor to the sinkhole?

Roxy!

Roxy no— I thought we were friends! 😭

Als what was that hitbox

Runaway go-kart—

Cassie could’ve died counter: 6

Bonnie Bowl

The Mystery Mix is gone 😫

So… we gonna work with Bonnie? That little show earlier feels like a sign 😏

Oop— Mini Music Man… looks like he’s gonna be here, but I mean I can step on one—

Oh… He joined a gang

And with amazing strategy I lure the gang away— and there’s still one here!

Ok fair, it’s more believable that it takes 3 to take down a child

Gasp— FredBonnie? In my Pizzaplex?!

They were sadistic for giving these robots feelings

Fazer Blast

Vanny’s hideout is wrecked

And they said “No Princess Quest!” again

What are the chances of me getting a FazerBlaster?

0 apparently…

There’s Daddy Deady

Wait— “Prototype?”

Mmm… so… yeah… that thing Freddy said about other Freddys… yeah… yikes

Ok but why tho—?

He got a present inside him

Yes, I tried to claim the present, didn’t work

Uh… wait, so he wasn’t real?

Oh lovely… the Mini Music Man’s back

Bruh, I was already out of the vent, how’d he kill me

Roxy Raceway Sinkhole

The Plushies show the future

That “Save me Cassie” sounding kinda skinwalker-y

Was there always a vent there?

Oh lord

Well to be fair, deactivating her seems to be the only real path, don’t think I can lift a forklift (I’m not forklift certified)

She probably can’t either (Roxy not looking too forklift certified either)

Ok, but, how did Roxy get pinned?

With all the destroyed locations, this area looks the least destroyed now

You know, with how weak the fence seemed, did we really need Monty’s claws?

How is the elevator back?

Holy shit, the legend— Candy Cadet!

Yep, that story checks out for potential skinwalker ending

Afton’s Lair

It be so wild to run into Afton’s corpse corpse here

Wonder if the Blob is still hanging around

Also now being in this side it’s actually strange that there’s working cameras and a flame button on the other side

So you’re telling me villainy is stronger the lower you go

Ooo— the boss fight—

Nevermind, he ded I guess

Haha! Now I’m forklift certified!

Gregory, I didn’t kill you with the Forklift did I?

Yep, definitely a skinwalker

Ooo— called it!

Also, hey, didn’t I deactivate you?

Cave

Yep, Fuck that

Ok but I’m still using the same walkie the fake was contacting me with so who’s to say there aren’t two fakes?

R. I. P. Roxy, hope you get to see Monty again

If I had my crocs in sports mode, I could total dust you

How do I know I can trust you (Goes opposite direction, find dead end) ok fair

Do I really have time for this?

So like where is Gregory contacting me from

Or even how?

Also another level to this place, what?

Oh, guess she just dead then

Oh fuck she’s fucking dead

So you’re telling me Chica and Eclipse are still alive

Y’all can’t do that— Roxy is too?

Wait, where’s Vanes/anny in all this mess?

[faroreskiss]

The Power of Understanding / Pilot (Part 1 v2)

Rewritten to v2 on: 2023/09/10

Cheat Sheet

Read of Ao3

Chapters: Pilot, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9

Summary: You have been with the Chain for a while now, as their "scholar" and translator. You know everything about them, because you are from our world. But do *they *know the truth about how you can understand everyone?

A little introduction and world building concept for the Translator!Reader and her adventures. Check notes below for more info!

Non-linear fic.

AU fic, prior to TotK (instead of TotK, chain events happen).

Loosely based on the same reader in my NSFW fic, which is a very loose prequel to this one, and a work in progress.

More background info to come, if I feel like it :D

Warnings: None, maybe some cussing, but nothing is censored. SFW content.

Points of interest: This is your thing if you are into the mystery of chain being able to talk to each other. I am an actual trained linguist IRL, hence this HAD to be written!

You were daydreaming in the middle of the day about him again, amidst the smell of horse shit around you, when you're supposed to be finishing the work you have until the end of the day. Or until a new portal pops up to swallow you all to Goddess knows which Hyrule this time. Damned black-blooded monsters. At least, this gave you some break.

You, coming from our own era, have been acting as the scholar of the Chain for the last couple of years, while hopping from world to world with them. Knowing this, Malon put you to work on the books of the ranch, instead of letting you deal with the cows or the horses, even though you really didn’t have anything specific to do with maths. You thought she was being kind to you, not letting you deal with dirty ranch work, you guessed? She was a sweetheart either way.

You wanted to hang out with Twilight at the same time, so instead of using the little study Malon offered, you took the books and went down to the stables. You continued with your own stuff, while he was taking care of the horses.

There was also this little thing: you were the only one who understood every single one of them, (almost) very clearly, comparatively speaking. Sure they could communicate without you just as well, but due to a bunch of coincidences, you were the closest thing to the “translation magic”, if you can call it that. Maybe it was your Hoshi Sato gene*. Maybe it was the fact that you actually stayed with Link & Zelda in the post-Calamity world, around two years prior meeting the Chain**, maybe a bit of magic was also involved. Hylia works in mysterious ways! Did it almost cost you your brain? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. 

Some Links, of course, understood each other better than the others, especially when their eras were, linguistically speaking, not that far. Time and Twilight were just fine. Legend and Hyrule were already able to understand each other, even a little bit better than Time and Twilight. Sky was a bit further away and had a “funny way of saying things” (according to the Sailor), almost gibberish, but when you listened and when he spoke slowly enough, you could at least get the gist of what he was trying to say. Wind, Time, and Warriors already knew each other from other “incidents” before the Chain, so they already had a way of communicating. 

These worlds also did not have many invasions and wars by “outsiders”, if you don’t count things like the Triforce War, Imprisoning War, Sealing War, and of course, anything that had to do with Demise, Ganon & co. and their horrible reincarnations. This meant, not a lot of language change.

In the end, what happened was that over the two years you have been together with the group, you helped them understand each other better. They adjusted their accents, and somehow warped the Hylian they speak in a way that the group would understand (and especially you), when the dialogue was still within the group. Of course, the Old Man would speak more “naturally” with Malon and vice versa, and some of the chain would adjust better (e.g. Twilight or Smithy) to the language of the era they are in. After some point, communication was not that much of a problem. You learnt it all in the end. 

Writing? 

Funny enough, Wild, Sky, and Twilight had similar scripts. Time and Wind had more similar writing systems. Wild, Wars, Legend, Time, and Rulie were also better at understanding the scripts of their respective eras. Overall, other than a couple of hiccups, most understood the others’ script to an extent. 

And then there was Wild. Also known as “The Cook” nowadays. The rest of the chain didn’t know you called them the Chain in your mind, and had your little nicknames for them. The nicknames most likely revealed a bit too much, and even though most of the secrets were out nowadays… You knew better than to risk more. You have caused enough damage, you would think sometimes. Even though you just couldn’t resist the urge. 

Anyway… Wild, his case and communication issues… were complicated.

According to the rest of the chain when you guys first met, whatever he was saying (and vice versa) was almost complete gibberish at first. Some terms and special names like “deku,” “korok,” “Hylia,” “Hyrule,” “rupee,” and such were still there, albeit with a different accent, and they helped, but it was not enough. You only found out later that it was kind of… your fault. 

In the end, he was also able to communicate with them just fine. Each Link had their own… language variation and accents, so to say. Some of them did not even have the difference enough to call it a “dialect” comparatively. As you thought, language change is a slow enough process, and with the lack of ‘conflicts’ (for lack of a better word) compared to your world, no wonder they were still somehow able to understand each other. . 

The Goddesses work in mysterious ways indeed.

How did it work for you, though? There was this little secret that… First time around, when you first dropped into Wild's Hyrule, “Hylian” was basically a weird mesh-up of English and Japanese to your ears, after the enchantment from the Great Fairies you have received. It was “so you could slowly understand and grasp and communicate”, you were told. 

Oh boy, it really felt like a genie granting you a wish, but in its own twisted way. You found that out later though. 

Second time around when you first met the rest of Links, though? The first enchantment… kind of messed everything up. Second time around, you actually ended up learning real Hylian. At least, the Hylian that was used as a lingua franca between you guys. 

Of course, some learning skill enchantment was definitely not out of the deal this time as well, thanks to Rulie & Time and their fairy friends, and of course the Smithy. But what a disaster it had been! Well, it wasn’t your fault that the first time the enchantment was made, nobody calculated that you would meet the Links from other eras.

You also naturally know the reason behind why Links in kind of irrelevant eras could decipher each other's texts, even when they didn’t understand the words all the time. Some were based on the Latin alphabet, and some were on Japanese kana. No way you could clearly explain it to them.

“Oh, by the way, you are made by a game company called Nintendo, and this guy is called Miyamoto…”

Yeah, no. That didn’t go well last time. Nobody even understood what you meant. 

That was a battle to fight for another day… Now, you need to focus on the budget of the Lon Lon Ranch. And not be distracted by Twilight’s statue.

________________

Notes:

Fanciest and most OP translator you will ever know. Star Trek Universe. 

"You” already spent three years with Link and Zelda in Wild’s world and were enchanted by the Great Fairies (with Zelda’s involvement) for the improvement of learning abilities.

[adrift-in-thyme]

Ok so how about a post-totk where it’s time for Link to rest the Master Sword and Zelda goes with him to say goodbye? I’ve been dying for something like this if you want to give it a shot!

Tysm for the prompt anon! I really enjoyed writing this! Zelda's perception of the sword and how it might have changed post-totk is very interesting to explore

This fic contains major spoilers to Tears of the Kingdom

----------------------------------

The fog hangs heavy over the woods as usual. 

Zelda has the urge to attempt brushing it aside, as though it is a curtain that she can push from her line of sight. She has never much liked plunging forward with little knowledge of where her feet will land. The concept is so unlike science with its firm rigidity and ruled boundaries. Here is the unknown, the unbridled and fierce. Here, dark things lie. 

But she has her chosen knight with her, she thinks with a smile, looking over to where he strolls along beside her. His eyes are ever moving, searching for stalcreatures or wolves that could attack from the clouded space.

When he catches sight of her gaze upon him, however, he returns her smile. His fingers find hers, entwining between them. He squeezes her hand. 

“I’m glad you’re with me, Link,” she says, quietly. It feels like if she speaks too loudly, she will shatter something precious. 

Shattered…like the sword was. The Master Sword. 

Her gaze drifts to it where it sits upon his back. A sheath of royal purple, gilded with gold and a hilt to match. It is spotless as it always is. Link always does keep his nicer weapons clean.

…especially this one.

She had thought, at the start of their relationship so very long ago, that he had done so out of pride. But now she knows better. Now she understands what it is to care for a sword who places a burden so great upon such young shoulders. And yet, carries that burden itself as well.

It is a complex thing she knows, not a simple enemy as she had once viewed it. Link, she believes, sees it in a similar way.

He has never spoken of being bitter about being the goddess’ chosen one, though she had seen the toll it had taken on him. But the way he looks at the sword, the way he wields it, it is as though he abhors it, yet cannot bear to, loves it, yet is reluctant to take it in hand.

It is a friend and a foe. A companion and a protector. A cruel taskmaster and a logical trainer. 

Its spirit is a curious thing. Zelda has found, after eons of traveling the skies with only her as her companion, that she loves her.

Not in the way one would love a parent or a friend. Certainly not in the way one would love a mate. No, in the way one would love a god or goddess. Someone so beyond you, yet very much like you all the same.

It is a dear, special thing. A treasure. But…as with so many special things it has now come to an end.

For that is why they have ventured into the Lost Woods today – to return the sword to her rightful place. 

“She deserves to rest, after everything,” Zelda says thoughtfully. Link glances back at her. If he is surprised by her breaking of the silence, he doesn’t look so. “But…we have known one another for so long that it seems…it seems almost a regretful thing to leave her alone.”

He nods, understanding in his eyes. 

“It’s a relief as well, however,” she continues. “Perhaps, now that she can rest we can also. Perhaps…perhaps now we can…”

Link slows to a stop and turns to face her. Amidst the fog he almost looks like someone else. Another boy in another time, facing another princess beneath the drooping shade of the trees. 

“Now we can make the future we’ve always wanted,” he says, in that quiet voice of his. Such a precious thing it is for her ears to hear it. “We can go back to rebuilding Hyrule. We can go back to the life we were creating before all of this happened. You can teach in the school again and do your research. And I – ”

“ – can interrupt both.”

Link chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “I want to build you a study. An actual study, not one at the bottom of a well.”

“My well one isn’t so bad.”

He grins. “It could be a lot better. I had a lot of time to think up ideas and I think I’ve got a good one.” 

Zelda shakes her head. “Only you would think up architecture while saving Hyrule.” She turns away, reluctantly, to face forward once more. “It can’t be much farther, can it?”

“Not at all.” He begins to walk again, leading her gently along through the mist. “We’re nearly there.”

————

The pedestal is just where they left it. The platform it rests in seems to glow in the ethereal light, beckoning them forth. Silent princesses pepper the ground around it, tilting gracefully so that their petals catch the sun. 

Zelda and Link stand side by side, gazing at the Master Sword’s resting place.

The Deku Tree’s voice echoes around them, wisened and old.

“You have done well to come here, my children. The sword, she yearns for slumber. It is time to allow her that privilege.” The bark of his face creases as he smiles. “And yourselves, as well.

“Now, Link, noble swordsman, lift the sword high and strike true. Return her to her pedestal.”

Slowly, Link reaches back and unsheathes the sword. He holds it up to the light, tilting it so that the cool metal glints. Bathed in sunlight, with weapon in hand, he looks every bit Hyrule’s hero. It is almost as if he and the sword are one.

She gazes at him, almost enraptured by the scene. But he doesn’t seem to notice her. His eyes are firmly on the sword.

For the briefest of moments, Zelda swears that she can see the corners of his mouth lift and his hold on the weapon tighten slightly, as though he is squeezing someone’s hand. Then, it is over. 

He lowers the weapon and steps forward. But he doesn’t plunge it into the pedestal immediately. Instead, he turns to Zelda.

“Come on, Zel,” he murmurs. “We’ll put her to rest together. It’s only right.”

Zelda looks from him to the sword and back again. Then, with a deep, decisive breath, she too steps forward.

The weapon hums when she positions her fingers next to Link’s. Zelda smiles. She knows that language well.

“Farewell, Fi,” she whispers. “Thank you…for everything.”

The two of them raise their hands and together the princess and her knight plunge the Master Sword back into its pedestal. 

Its glow dims and steadies as though time itself has slowed. The hum fades away. Fi closes her eyes once more. 

“Farewell,” she murmurs in the space before slumber takes her. “Farewell, brave ones.”

And her wielders turn away smiling.

[bahbahhh]

begin again

a lot of change happens in between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. let’s fill in the gaps. zelda pov | zelink | totk spoilers | rated T zelinkweek2023 | @zelinkcommunity [first] [last]

Read on Ao3

Two chapters left. There will be a little break in posting for now. I’m on vacation and will start working on the next chapter when I’m back. There is loads of great content over on @zelinkcommunity if you are eager for more. Thank you for all your comments, likes, and reboots. Seriously. I love interacting with members of this fandom. It seriously makes my creativity explode.

Chapter 5

for prompt “by a thread”

“Is that a golden horse?”

The road from Kakariko to Gerudo Town is long. Link refuses to push his horses unless he absolutely needs to and the golden horse she’s riding, that she has yet to name since the Sheikah gifted it to her when they left Kakariko almost a week ago, isn’t technically his, but it follows him like it is. So, when he turned north in the shadow of the Great Plateau instead of continuing southwest, it followed him happily in the direction of the Outskirt Stable, despite her pulling back on the reins and muttering commands under her breath.

“It would appear so,” Zelda answers, trying to adjust her gear casually so it covers the violet and gold saddle. Impa insisted Zelda take the Royal gear, along with the golden horse, for “luck”. Zelda wanted to protest, but stopped short when she caught Impa’s eyes. This was all her former guardian could offer her now. The last of her protections, presented under a gentler veil: gifts.

“Would have thought you’d be riding the white stallion, Princess. What did you end up calling him, Link?” The old stable hand asks.

“Storm.” Link drops a handful of rupees onto the counter.

“Strong name.” The old man tugs off his hat and bows his head. “My name’s Toffa, by the way. My grandfather was head groom for the Royal family a century ago, Princess. His name was Talon.”

Zelda presses her lips together. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Grandfathers, grandmothers, great aunts – only two generations separate these Hylians from her time. While she is an enigma, the people who filled her castle, who tended to her horses, who made her bed—all the people who died instantly when the Calamity emerged, evaporating every living thing inside the castle’s walls, are still remembered distantly by those who survived them.

And the only way Zelda feels like she can truly honor them is by knowing them.

But Talon, like the rest of the names she’s heard in the details people toss at her, like coins in a wishing well, doesn’t pull a single memory forward. In their reverence of her sacrifice, people have forgotten how devastatingly isolated she was for most of her childhood.

Her father never allowed her to enter the stables.

“Toffa helped me find Storm,” Link says, breaking the tension. He eases it further by helping Zelda off the horse.

“Beautiful horse. As is this one!” Toffa takes the horse's reins from Link. “Probably once every hundred years you’ll see a horse like this,” he chuckles. “Seems like you are made for each other, Princess.”

“Hm, thank you.” Zelda pulls her hood over her head and turns away from the inn where there is a small crowd forming inside. She tells herself it's because of the horse with the golden coat, but when she sits in front of the cooking pot, and sneaks a glance back at the stable, they all stare at her.

“What’s its name?”

A child, no older than eight, is suddenly seated beside her. She’s got dirt on her face, blonde hair in two short plaits, and she’s missing her front teeth. It sounds like there is a whistle at the end of every word. Zelda immediately smiles.

“You know, I haven’t named him yet,” Zelda says.

“How come?”

Because I’m avoiding anything that communicates ownership. “We are…still getting to know one another, I suppose.”

“How do you get to know a horse?” Another child appears out of thin air, a little boy with sandy hair and freckles, and drops into Zelda’s lap. The little girl, who is probably his sibling, scoots so close to Zelda that their legs touch. The sudden lack of personal space is alarming for someone who is used to her title forcing a wide berth, and yet, she knows this to be common with young children. Distance has to be taught.

“That’s a really good question. What do you think?”

“Sing him songs?” The little girl says.

“Pet his nose,” says the little boy.

“Feed him!” A third kid, who is wrapped around Link’s ankle so Link has to use his entire body to take the last step into their camp, rolls away from Link and sits cross-legged in front of her. Link quickly busies himself with unpacking their food. He might be smirking, but his face is just shadowed enough, she can’t be sure.

“Those are some really great suggestions. What do you suppose a golden horse would like to eat?”

“All horses like carrots.”

“Very true.”

“I bet this one would like carrots with honey,” says the first girl.

“Perhaps, that sounds yummy to me.” Zelda nods.

“Can we feed him?” The little boy in her lap clasps his hands together and shakes them in her face.

“Of course. I bet he’ll love that.”

“Do you want a honey carrot, too?” the little boy in front of her asks.

“Me?” Zelda blinks.

“You said it sounds yummy. Do you want one, too? Mr. Link travels all over Hyrule. If you are an adventurer like him, you should probably eat now while you have the chance. Mr. Link always eats like he’ll never see food again.”

Link stands up straight and flashes the kid a look. All three of the children giggle.

Zelda eyes the stable in her peripheral. The crowd is still there. “Do…do you know who I am?”

“A lady!” The boy at her feet shouts the answer with urgency.

“A pretty lady,” says the boy in her lap.

“With a cool horse for adventures?” adds the little girl next to her. No titles, not even her name. They have no idea who she is. Zelda could cry.

“I’d love some carrots, but only if you have some with me.” All three of the kids burst forward, scrambling over each other back to the stable to retrieve the ingredients. She doubts they will have the honey, but a roasted carrot does sound nice.

Link drops a honeycomb on her lap. He settles down across from her and continues to sort through their gear. His back is to the Great Plateau. He didn’t look up at it once as they rode by. If she squints, she can just make out the tip of the mountain the Shrine of Resurrection waits inside. To the left, the Sheikah Tower is dark against the sun. The blue energy seems dimmer than she remembers, only shining halfway up the tower, like the blue is slowly draining down into the base.

“You're good with them,” Link says. Zelda snaps her attention back to him and laughs nervously, trying to scatter her vision points like she is surveying and not gawking at the Great Plateau. He doesn’t need any added pressure from her.

Clearing the shrines remains his task to complete once the Divine Beasts are buried. Purah took the Slate back with her to Hateno for now, but it will be in his hands soon enough. She and Robbie are to stop in Zora’s Domain on the way to update the Zora about the delay in the shrine clearing and the plan to move forward with the Divine Beasts. A messenger, a tall white Rito wearing goggles Robbie repeatedly admired named Penn, appeared shortly after the rain stopped and agreed to take the same message back to Rito Village. Link volunteered to make the journey to Gerudo Town. Zelda asked to join him and the Sheikah surprisingly didn’t object. They just gave her a ridiculously flashy horse.

‘First time I was here, they stayed in the stable the entire time,’ Link continues.

“Well, you didn’t have a golden horse.”

‘True. But you also speak to them differently than I do.”

“What do you mean?”

He slowly rolls his fists, thinking. ‘You get them to listen. Really listen. You speak to them like a mother does. That could come in handy, right?’ he signs and then sets to building the fire up enough to cook. Zelda pulls out her water, but by the time she sets the jug to her lips, her mind is already spinning. Does he think she acts like a mother? Is he also imagining that for her? During their early travels, before the Summit, Impa and the Zora individually mentioned the importance of an heir should someone assume the throne. She blatantly ignored the comments at the time, tucking them away with all the other Royal duties she was in no hurry to resume, but Link was there, as always, listening.

Was he trying to imply this could be her purpose? Speaking clearer than what was done for her, to the next little Princess in line to inherit this fate? Even worse, was he trying to shake her loose from his side? The Master Sword is gone. He hasn’t worn his Champion blues since defeating Calamity Ganon. He’s known more for his aid than his failure now. All that is left from his past is…

His face had been unreadable when she asked to join him. Not enthusiastic, no hint of the same person who had written all those wonderful letters—flat.

Like she is unanticipated, but manageable cargo. A golden horse.

—

Kara Kara Bazaar buzzes to life with activity around dusk. There is a nice breeze off the oasis and the air is cool enough that people start to drift away from the safety of the shade. All the merchants also heavily discount the food at risk of spoiling overnight in an effort to make a final sale. Zelda has never seen Link so giddy. He grins at her over his arms, both full of freshly roasted meat, goat butter, six roasted bass, and an entire hydromelon. It’s enough to feed a family and yet when a small group of researchers asks to join their camp, he sulks, and turns back to the merchants for more.

The group calls themselves “the East Gerudo Desert Survey team”, formally, “the West Gerudo Desert Survey team”, and soon to be “the North Gerudo Desert Survey team” once they learn all they can about the Seven Heroines. They are led by an exceptionally muscular and enthusiastic Hylian named Tauro, who tells Zelda he started off exploring ruins on his own.

“I met Gagaim and Grunyon in the Shadow Hamlet Ruins in Eldin and then we rescued Wordsworth from the Forgotten Temple in Tanagar Canyon. Zazul joined after we explored the Ancient Columns in the Rayne Highlands. As you can see, we’ve gathered a few more along the way, mostly in Faron.” He gestures to the rest of his crew. They don’t try to bow to her or avoid her gaze. Formalities and forms fade away the longer you stay on the road. She remembers this well. Fondly.

Link returns and hands Zelda a skewer of steaming meat with a thick slice of hydromelon. Zelda accepts it and immediately sets it aside to continue speaking to Tauro. “You’ve researched the Zonai Ruins?”

“Oh yes, multiple times. It’s a fascinating site. I make a new discovery every time we go.”

Link lingers in front of them long enough to tug her gaze back to him. He’s looking between the plate of food she set down and Tauro. What was it Robbie used to say one hundred years ago? The way to a man’s research is through his stomach, right? She wants to keep him talking, keep them from packing up, and taking their data with them. Zelda retrieves her plate and hands it to Tauro. “Here, have mine. You must be hungry.”

“Thank you! This looks delicious. Yes, we hardly stopped for lunch. I could probably eat ten plates!” He tears into the meat with his teeth and groans. “So good.”

Link moves away finally. Probably satisfied that the food is being eaten. Tauro continues, “I started logging all the ancient Zonai artifacts several years ago. A bit of a passion project. They aren’t just in Faron. You can find them all over Hyrule.”

“Really? That’s fascinating. May I see?”

“Of course, Princess! Here, do you mind?” Tauro gestures to the spot next to her. Zelda nods enthusiastically and he slides next to her and pulls out a green notebook he keeps buckled to his belt like a dagger. He flips it open and hands it to her. The pages are filled with rough sketches of Zonai Ruins, impressions of carvings, and endless notes deciphering the contents.

“This is remarkable,” Zelda says.

“I had heard you were a bit of a researcher yourself, Princess. This is an honor.”

The fire that has been slowly dying inside her with every shrine that blinks off the Sheikah Slate map suddenly ignites. “Uh, well, yes. I mean, it was never officially sanctioned by my father, but I did study Sheikah Technology and Hyrulean wildlife.”

“You do not need authorization if you have the heart of an explorer! No one officially approved my travels and yet, I have had many! Though, it can be quite dangerous work. We ran into a molduga the other day in the West Barrens. And a few of us recently fella ill; too much time in some of the ruins that go underground. Bad air, contaminated water, dark magic.”

“I’ve been told there are lots of old places in Hyrule people should avoid.” Zelda glances over at Link. He is hastily handing out plates of food, but he catches her eye. It feels natural to want to pull him into the conversation, but then she reminders the Sword is gone and people are reaching for him. This is an opportunity to get someone to reach for her. Link’s literally handed it to her on a plate. She turns her attention back to Tauro and commits to staying there.

“Sure. Loads of them. But what’s the fun in that? To my knowledge, no one else in Hyrule boasts an expertise in Zonai linguistics like me. You think this happened playing it safe? Ha!”

Zelda smiles. “I suppose that is true. Researching requires courage in my forms.”

“Precisely! You get it! We dare to push the boundaries of what is known and go wherever in Hyrule that takes us. You should join us in an exhibition, sometime. You defeated a demon, Princess. Nothing hiding in a cave could stop you.”

Warmth glows in her ears. She smiles and flips a few more pages. There is a full page sketch of a statue resembling an owl. Two giant eyes stare through her. Underneath it, the sentence ‘Zonai deity for wisdom?’ is scribbled.

It always manages to find her.

She sighs and closes the book. “Where will you go next once you see all the ruins in the Gerudo Desert?”

“I was thinking maybe the Thyphlo Ruins.”

Link appears before them, makes a short sound through his nose, a lot like a horse, and hands Tauro another skewer. Tauro takes it and tilts his head.

“I take it that means you’ve been?”

Link nods.

“R-really? I have reason to believe they are connected to the Zonai Ruins in Faron!” What are they like?”

Link drops down beside Zelda with two plates of food. He sets one in her lap, ignoring Tauro completely until Zelda picks it up. He’s unusually close. There is a strange edge to him; she feels it along the long line of his thigh against hers. Like she's thumbing the edge of a blade. It sends a shiver through her body when he looks through his bangs across her at Tauro and signs a single word:

‘Dark.’

—

Zelda liked Riju when they met over a year ago at the Summit. Now, on her second week inside the walls of Gerudo Town, as she sits on the edge of Riju’s bed with a pink sand seal stuffed animal across her lap, and watches the Chief of the Gerudo jump back and forth across her bed giving her best impersonation of a lizalfos, Zelda decides she might just love her as much as she loved Urbosa.

The late Chief has been with Zelda from the moment she stepped into Gerudo Town. Zelda hears her deep laughter echoing in the alleyways, sees flashes of her beauty in the ceramics and gems embedded into sandstone walls, and feels her love in the warmth of her welcoming people. They permit Link to enter the village and immediately confiscate his sirwal and veil. He’s allowed to wear the corresponding voe set to help with the heat during their stay, but they tell him that it would be staying with the Gerudo when he leaves as well.

He’s training with Teake now. He’s cooled off since the awkward encounter with Tauro in the Bazaar, and although he seemed genuinely disappointed to lose both of his Gerudo sets, any gloom lingering over him disappeared when he was invited to barracks to train.

Zelda remembers it was one of the first things Urbosa would do when she met them anywhere a century ago.

Test your strength, Hero? If you’re going to be protecting my little bird, you had better be prepared.

Zelda has tears in her eyes when Riju finally stops hopping and collapses onto her stomach. The tears don’t stop when the laughter dies off. Vah Naboris will disappear into the endless sandsea in the morning and it’s like they are finally burying Urbosa’s body, too. Daruk is already resting. Revali and Mipha may already be gone, too.

Zelda pressing her fists against her eyes so hard it hurts. She feels Riju move beside her. There is a warm hand on her shoulder. For a second it almost feels like—

“I miss her so much,” Zelda whimpers.

“I was told how close the Hylian Queen and Lady Urbosa were. And when the Queen passed, Lady Urbosa vowed you would always know a mother’s love,” Riju says softly.

Zelda pulls her fists away from her eyes and wraps her arms around herself to contain the sob that threatens to shake her entire body. She sees the way Link held his hands when he told her about the Champion’s gifts. Zelda chokes and sputters out the words, paraphrasing him for the second time in a week. “I-I have to let her go. All of them.”

Voices carry up from the barracks through the open windows into the adobe. There is a mighty clash of metal and a lively and familiar call that means Link is engaged in a sparring match. Without the Master Sword, without the Sheikah Slate on his hip.

She has a vision of the Great Plateau Tower completely drained of its power and a map of Hyrule without any shrine left to clear. Link crosses Hyrule Field without passing a single guardian shell, no longer haunted by the glowing eyes that hunted him a century ago. Nothing mechanical and towering looms over the towns and cities and villages that survived Calamity's corruption.

It’s beautiful and necessary and yet, all Zelda feels is grief.

“It’s hard to explain, but a hundred years doesn’t feel like enough time. It passed through me differently than the rest of you…in some ways, I felt every agonizing second of time, and in others, with this, it only feels like it’s been a year. One year since I lost them.”

“Princess,” Riju gently takes Zelda’s hands and pulls them away from the crushing hold she has on her body. “Just because you let them go, does not mean all that love goes away with them. You can still carry it with you. In fact, I hope you do. Grief is a reminder of connectedness; of the endurance of true love. It means Lady Urbosa kept her promise to your mother.”

Link kept his promise, too. Fulfilled his oath. It would be unfair to hold him to words they never had the chance to speak out loud. Who knows, given her track record recently, it could have all been a gross misinterpretation on her part. The pull of duty and devotion feels a lot like the inescapable gravity of love. He’s changed now, and in many ways, for the better. And with the Master Sword gone, his burden will be eased moving forward. He is as free as the Wild that saved him.

As long as she can let him go.

“You’re right.” Zelda wipes her face quickly and nods a half dozen times. “Okay, yes. Thank you, Riju. Urbosa would be so proud to know you are protecting her people.”

“I don’t know about protecting just yet. Whether Urbosa’s Fury remains within me or not once Vah Naboris is gone, my official training begins tomorrow. And I plan to, well, I guess why not just- well- hold on.” Riju scrambles off the side of her bed in a careful pattern so as not to disturb her collection of stuffed seals. She disappears into a side room and then emerges a second later with a pair of scimitars.

“Buliara had these made for me. They are an exact replica of Lady Urbosa’s. The original sword was given to–”

“Link. Yes, I’ve seen it,” Zelda says, taking one of the scimitars from Riki’s outstretched hand. He keeps all the Champion’s weapons mounted in his house in Hateno. The memory of the first time she noticed it punches her square in the chest.

How is she supposed to stop loving him? He’s here, thank the Goddess, he’s still here, but that means there is no closure. She can’t bury this love. Maybe she can channel it, take this pain and pour it into something new? Tauro did invite her to join an exhibition. Maybe he will let her join his crew or she can follow in his footsteps and set off on her own to rediscover Hyrule. If she must remain alone in the past, the least she can do is learn from it.

“You should cut your hair,” Riju says.

“W-what?”

“Vah Naboris’ time is ending. My training begins. I will be focusing all my energy, all my time on becoming a fierce warrior for my people. I can’t do that with all this unnecessary weight .” Riju flips the massive braid of thick copper hair over shoulder. “It’s time to shed what we do not need. Start fresh. Be lighter. You should do it with me!”

“What–now? With this?”

“It is the sharpest blade in Gerudo Town.”

Zelda glances between Riju and scimitar. The emerald laid into the gold of the folded guard is the exact shade Urbosa’s eyes were. In the candlelight, they flash. Wink.

Zelda takes a breath, gathers her hair up away from her face in one hand, and swipes the blade with the other in a sweeping, cathartic, and incredibly impulsive arch.

The length of her hair drops down next to her. Instantly, Zelda can draw breath deeper. The release of weight she hadn’t even known she was carrying makes room for laughter. Deep and rich and exactly like her Geurdo mother’s.

Riju squeals and kicks her feet out in front of her. “Amazing! Amazing! Okay, me next, me next!”

—

Riju’s scimitars are sharp, but they are not well suited for hair cutting. And although Riju told Buliara of her intentions to chop off her hair, a spontaneous, uneven cut with a sword is not what her personal bodyguard and guardian regent of the Gerudo tribe had in mind. Thankfully, all of the warriors have secondary skills, and surprisingly, captain Teake happens to be proficient with scissors.

Zelda turns her head back and forth, testing the feeling of hair just brushing her shoulders. Teake had to take more off to correct Zelda’s lopsided cut. Riju had been more thoughtful, using her braid as a guide.

“What do you think?” Zelda asks Link suddenly. Since the cut, she’s felt a little bolder. Courageous.

He gives her a thumbs up.

“Your hair's getting long. Do you want Teake to trim it?”

He shakes his head, pulls the thin blue headband from his wrist and wiggles it between his fingers. He gathers his hair back into a messy knot and nods.

“Yes, I suppose it’s rather convenient to still be able to do that. Hm.” She attempts to do the same, testing the new length in her hands. Thick pieces of blonde immediately fall around her face.

‘You’ll figure it out. It looks good short,’ he signs. His cheeks glow pink faintly. She tucks the hair behind her ears a few times to soothe the longing in her chest. She’s grown wise enough to know it's just the sun.

“Excuse me?” A Gerudo child tugs on the seam of Zelda’s sirwal. Zelda crouches down so they are eye level. The girl has eyes like amber stones.

“Yes?”

“Are you the same princess we met before? The one from the castle?”

Zelda hesitates, the opportunity to recreate herself, even temporarily, dangles like a carrot dripping with honey. “I am.”

“You look different. I like it.” The girl eagerly hugs Zelda around the neck and then takes off in the direction of the market.

“Children like you, yes?” Riju sets her hands on her hips.

Zelda stands and fixes her hair again. She thinks about the stable children and smiles. “I suppose they do.”

“You should teach. It’s a gift not many are blessed with,” Riju says.

Something clicks into place in her head. She looks at Link, whom she saddled with assumptions a week prior over a similar comment. Thinking the worst of it and him since.

He’s smiling. It’s almost painful how handsome he is when he looks so casually sure of himself.

The resolve to release him hangs by a thread.

‘See?’ he signs.

[nikibogwater]

"Yona's too much like Mipha."

I think that's kind of the point, my dude.

It's an easy thing to miss, considering all the other crazy plot stuff that's going on in TotK, but Sidon is decidedly not acting like himself when you first show up at Zora's Domain. He's planted himself in Mipha Court, purifying the water day in and day out without taking any breaks to interact with his subjects or search for a better long-term solution for this crisis. And it's not like he's doing this because he's the only one who is capable of cleaning the water--there are other Zoras in the domain who know how to do this, and yet Sidon doesn't trust them with this task. He even argues with Yona when she tries to take his place, despite knowing that going with Link to the Water Temple is the best course of action for saving the Domain. Very weird behavior for a guy who is usually very proactive and has no trouble placing his faith in others. But it makes perfect sense once you take into account Yona's similarities with Mipha. Think about it--the last time Sidon saw Mipha, she was going on a trek to Mount Lanayru with Link and Zelda. He probably assumed she would be back by that evening. Probably hugged her goodbye and promised to practice his waterfall swimming while she was out.

And then he never saw her again.

BotW lightly hints that Sidon still has some lingering trauma over this, and then TotK states it outright, with Yona being the one to figure out that said trauma is what's keeping him from acting now. Of course he's afraid to leave. The last time he let Mipha out of his sight, she never came back. How can he be certain the same thing won't happen again with his fiancé, someone who shares many personality traits with his sister? Especially now that the Domain itself has become a dangerous place?

TL;DR, Yona being Mipha 2.0 was intentional and integral to Sidon's story in TotK, not the result of laziness or lack of creativity. Obviously I'm not saying this means you have to like her or what the writers did with Sidon, but I am saying I don't buy into the accusations of the writers not knowing or caring what they were doing. At the very least, it's clear they thought about this subplot enough to make sure that Sidon's fears and out-of-character-behavior were justified and made sense.

[blueskittlesart]

Idk if tumblr ate my previous ask (and apologies if it was just one you didn't feel like answering) but I was curious what your thoughts on the memory mechanic are/if you would change it for future Zelda games. I adore it as a way to tell the story in botw, I think it fits perfectly but with the dragon tears in totk even though I adored the story contained in them, they didn't seem like the best way to deliver the story?? I guess maybe I would have liked them to be a quick glimpse into playing as Zelda in the past, maybe doing something that actually gives a clue on how to solve a difficult puzzle in the present as Link whilst also being Zelda's own thing and telling the story in it

i'm not sure about this one. as cool as i think playable zelda would be, I have this thing about loz games and the way they utilize their medium as interactive methods of storytelling. When you're making a game in which the player character is noncustomizable and has a set route throughout the story, immersion becomes something you really have to think about and focus on. If the player character can't LOOK like the player, have the player's name, or alter the story of the game in any substantial way through the player's actions, then you need to be REALLY careful to never deliberately pull the player away from that character, or the game will cease to feel truly immersive and the interactive element of your interactive storytelling has been lost.

the way that botw and totk (and most other zelda games) accomplish this is by keeping the focus on link at ALL TIMES and taking care that no cutscenes or dialog ever have him do anything without the player's specific control--hence why he is one of the more famous examples of a silent protagonist. the botw memories were a clever way for the devs to give their player-character some backstory without losing the immersive feeling of the game; since link has amnesia, he has a reason to be witnessing his own memories in real-time, but since they're MEMORIES and not something happening currently to the player, there's no reason for the player to want to alter link's actions within the cutscenes. the player understands that this is a past iteration of link, separate from the amnesiac link they're currently controlling, so they have no ability to alter his past actions. there's also the added bonus that the link in these memories still behaves relatively like a silent protagonist thanks to his trauma--he's generally still a silent observer, and therefore less likely to make decisions that the player won't agree with.

you suggest a potential totk in which the player switches between link in the present and zelda in the past, and there's 2 reasons from a game-design standpoint why i don't really think that's a viable option here. the first is that any switch between controllable characters is going to break immersion, no matter what. Especially when your players already have the established understanding that link is THEM, the single point in the story they have the ability to alter, suddenly thrusting them into the body of a new character is going to be offputting and it's going to make them remember that they're just playing through a story, not having a real adventure. that's something you, as an rpg developer, REALLY want to avoid. I'm reminded of a very brief segment of wind waker in which the player is put in control of a character other than link, with the in-game explanation being that link is directing that character's actions. Even with that explanation, controlling any character other than link was so off-putting that it took me out of the story entirely. Constantly switching between 2 uncustomizable, established characters within an unalterable story is a really easy way to take your players out of the action. the second reason this doesn't really work is that zelda is a very established, very polarizing, very headstrong character. there was a ton of discussion and argument after botw came out about whether her choices and actions within the memories were justified and how she could have or should have acted differently. Since the story of totk is unalterable, zelda needs to take very specific actions in the past, meaning PLAYERS would also be required to take those very specific actions. Zelda as a character is very emotionally-driven, and many of the choices she makes in totk are less governed by logic than they are by the way she feels. Choices made out of emotion and choices which relate to the internal mental state of a character are VERY difficult to force a player to make of their own accord, and if the game attempts to force the player in a certain direction immersion is broken. this isn't a problem you encounter with a silent protagonist like link, because he essentially IS a blank slate who can make decisions based off whatever the player wants, but zelda is NOT a blank slate and we KNOW how she thinks and how she makes decisions, so the game would either have to force the player to simulate those decisions, potentially against their will, or strip zelda of her characterization to allow her to be a blank slate for the player to control. Botw zelda in general isn't a character that could easily be made playable in ANY circumstance because of these reasons, but in the context of a past-and-future world swap which would require her to take certain exact actions, creating an immersive playable zelda would be almost impossible.

anyway. as for the actual totk memories we got, I think they did their job as vessels to tell the story without breaking immersion. they did feel somewhat reused from botw, but totk is a sequel to botw so like. they didn't necessarily feel out-of-place to me. the devs had a challenge with this game in conveying zelda's story, completely absent of link, to the player somehow without breaking the immersion, and i think letting us view HER memories through her tears was a pretty decent way to do it. I don't think it felt AS perfectly thought-out as botw's memories did, but I also can't think of a better way to do it, so I'm personally pretty content with what we got.

[ganondoodle]

totk rewritten (for me, specifically)

since i dont have time to get to drawing it right away AND im worried people might take this the wrong way, i thought i could write out some bullet points about my rewrite of totk (meant as a fix FOR ME not saying its inherently better) to give you a better idea on what im going for:

the core structure largely remains the same, the biggest change is no time travel, thus making zelda your travel companion, and zonau tech being lagerly gone/broken with shiekah tech instead

it is not shown but said in dialog that shiekah tech, such as the ancient furnaces, shrines and towers are either turning off or have flickering power supply and purah having calculated that all their connections point towards beneath hyrule castle

game starts pretty much the same as real totk, most zonau ruins are so withered away that they are barely recognizable and the further you get down theres more and more shiekah tech pipes and occasional a miasma vein, some pipes are broken and spill miasma, others flicker

instead of the room with the wall carvings theres one with old ancient shiekah research remains, old broken tech and prototypes you dont what their purpose was, all documents are too withered to read but zelda finds one that was sealed in a container and takes it with her (she got a backpack now)

theres a structure similar to the bed thingy of the shrine of life from botw but its working in reverse; within it is sealed ganondorf (i gotta work out the details around it still)

(details still missing) it breaks and zelda takes the enigma stone but doesnt touch it directly and puts it within a sealed container (you know kinda like you should do with soemthing you have no idea of what it is and was alsO LOCATED ON A CORPSE)

ganondorf isnt the elegantly talking villain type in this version but more of a mess, talking in different languages both modern and ancient but you cant make out any clear sentences, struggeling with suddendly being awake and half alive after spending thousands of years in an agonizing limbo, having witnessed every second of the passage of time yet also it feeling like everything just happened all at the same time

the ground breaks as he recognizes zelda (bc of her fighting calamity ganon in botw) but also not really, still sees her as a threat (also bc of the enigma stone in the container she still has in her hand) attacks her, link deflects with the master sword, it breaks and damages his arm, zelda drops her torch and pulls link away towards where they came in from and both run as the caves fill up with miasma like a flood with arms starting to reach after them while they both run back through the tunnels (creepy chase sequence anyone?)

cataclysm happens (ground breaks, miasma bursts out of the ground, especially where shrines and towers where since they were still connected to the pipelines) ground shifts massively in some places giving alot of the map a whole new structure; all shiekah tech that was not independent stops working due to power loss

links arm is amputated since otherwise the miasma would spread to his whole body; purah, robbie and zelda work out a prosthetic arm prototype to give to link (protoype at first will be upgraded at halfway point of the game) that can switch between multiple modes, like a hand to hold normal items or a weapon that isnt crafted, and a fusing ability (though maybe limited in the prototype) that lets you make weapons similar to the weapon fusing in canon totk (potential upgrades including an extendable guardian arm that doesnt break, grapple hook anyone??, also the ability to build stuff out of shiekah tech parts, not glue needed you actually screw it together, maybe zelda even helps)

now you are given free roam of hyrule, the goal is to explore and find what has changed and check on people, see what the underground has, new monsters have spawned etc.

zelda is your companion the whole time, she can use the shiekah stone/purah pad to analyze enemies for you, she also carries at least a dagger for her own self defense but doesnt contribute much to the fight (subject to change maybe), you can talk to her anytime and she usually has something to comment on depending on where you are or what you just did, can give you tips and advice IF ASKED FOR IT, when you discover ancient ruins, whether zonau or shiekah, she can either decipher it for you or take photos for later to find out more about everything that has happend and what it means, she also takes part in conversations when you talk to someone, her outfit changes with yours (meaning when you wear the tingle set she wears it too, opens up alot of funny interactions njfkdk)

purah has built new towers but they function different (still working on the details) mainly that they function independent from the energy source in hyrule castle

there are floating islands but they are bigger and in more connected clusters, when reaching them its ancient withered ruins that the ancient shiekah built support around (like the platform used by monk miz kyoshia) to keep them afloat; there are building like observatories and research labs, but all very overgrown due to being up there for so long, theres a titan prototype on one of the islands, its shaped like a whale and zelda deciphers it was called vah narisha (reference to the whale deity in skyward sword) (i havent decided yet if its fully broken and just a big piece of enviroment to explore or half functioning floating around, or maybe first broken but later half repaired so it can fly around at least giving you an easier way to reach other island, you cant steer it tho) some of them are falling bc of energy loss but the bigger ones have independent energy sources (work in progress)

the underground has more diverse zones depending on which part of the map it is located on, there are old mines (for luminous stone) from the zonau but all is extremely withered, in each one its been mostly built over by the shiekah but there are construct remains that were clearly dissected and studied, half built shrines and towers, you can find collectibles and lore there (working on more details, but an idea was to include remains of ancient shiekah tha fled there when they were persecuted by that old king of hyrule, adding to the eery vibe)

some titans (maybe two, and the other are still on the sruface, like vah medoh) feel down during the cataclysm, broken apart or malfunctioning/ possibly being a boss as in they were used by a big cluster of miasma hands like a hermit crab uses its shell, the inside filled with eyes and different sized hands dragging itself towards you like a drowing man grabs after anything to save him)

dongos are your go to transportation here and a little different, when you call one they dig a path to you (not permanent, just so they can always spawn near you) they glow in the dark and can climb on walls (bc why not), and can point you towards the next objective/point of interest, likely where theres a high concentration of luminous stone since that is what they eat and its usually where old mining/construction sites are (still working on a replacement for light roots that are less invasive)

the rat from the trailer is a miniboss/boss you need to defeat in order to get the broken mastersword back into your possession

(im still working on how the sages work, but the idea is to incorporate their abilites for more efficient and reliable use into links shiekah prosthetic, so you can still use their abilities but only when you actually want)

(again still working on details) halfway point of the game is you trying to find out where ganondorf went, not intending to fight necessarily but just to find out more but it devolves into you fighting some sort of miasma monster (either him or some sort of manifestation he made) and you get a bunch of short memory flashes from him, all vague and a wild mess from both the time he was sealed and from the time afterwards, maybe even a perspective shift from when link was fighting dark beast ganon, but from ganons view, from zelda when she was keeping that manifestation in check, random views from the malice eyes from botw, from the blights, maybe even from the fight with the old and new champions, from the point when shiekah built their tech around him while he had to watch not able to do anything etc.)

links arm gets upgraded from prototype to a full prosthetic, opening up more fusing abilites and other things (like the grapple hook, again working on it, im open for ideas lol)

i will reblog this and add more over time if you want, but do let me know if you like it thus far, bc im still unsure if its worth the effort of working more on this QnQ

(also if you dont like just keep scrolling, i dont need to know that you hate it, it literally changes nothing but make me annoyed xD)

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

Hiya, me again! I’m loving your deep dives into character and plot for BotW/TotK, so I was wondering if you might like to give me your take on something I’m ruminating on for a WIP. I’d totally welcome others pitching in too! The question is this: what do you think that an emotional “breaking point” would look like for Link during TotK? He canonically masks his emotions to an extent and seems to have a history of trauma responses that include shutting down and dissociating, but what happens when it all gets to be too much? When a friend who’s trying to be helpful or sympathetic unwittingly presses too hard into an emotional sore spot and Link - already barely holding it together with everything that’s going on - just snaps? With everything bottled up so tight, what happens if the bottle explodes at the worst possible time: while he’s in the presence of others? Does he lash out? Break down? Flee? Some combination of all those, or something else entirely? I have my ideas but I’d love to get more takes!

Oooooohhhhh hi hi hi

I LOVE character analysis study time to determine how they would behave in a fic. I think Totk Link definitely shows far more emotion than we the players get to see and I think the best part of the game in general to determine that is the chase in Hyrule Castle.

As we know, Link canonically does go mute when he’s feeling a lot of emotion. But, he shows more emotion than is let on. Buliara tells us that Link is legitimately frazzled, utterly focused on ‘Zelda’, and in a space where he may “miss a wrung” in his haste to get up to the observation deck. And as he chases Zelda down and gets to the Sanctum, his expressions change for “oh my god Zelda is right here, I can see her” to “something is off. This isn’t Zelda” as she speaks. I can’t explain it properly, but this is that final nail in the coffin that YES. Zelda is the light dragon. She is going to be forever.

That is absolutely DEVASTATING. Because we know at this point in the game, Link is AWARE that it’s not the real Zelda that’s been seen across Hyrule. But he’s still so desperate.

And after the battle with the sages coming to aid him, everyone else is speaking and Link is just kinda there until Riju addresses him. And she goes “you should come to Lookout Landing too, Link”

While from a gaming perspective, that’s the way the game points the players back to Lookout Landing and of course Link isn’t going there with everyone else, because once the cutscene ends, Link will be by himself for the player to control.

However, in this case, we could argue that this was incredibly emotionally taxing for Link and he is at a breaking point.

So I think for him, it’s a sign that he will go mute and in a sense ‘run away’. He will seek a place to be alone and not surrounded by others who expect things of him. His breakdown point is led with a trauma response of becoming selectively mute and then seeking a safe place to break down with no one around him.

It’s so unsettling because for most characters, you get that explosive reaction, the one that erupts all of their emotions to whoever pushed them a tad too far… but Link’s trauma and his own training as a soldier creates an even worse response.

He doesn’t lash out in front of people. He doesn’t even let them know what he is thinking.

For a Link who is now far more expressive than he was previously, to shut down again and be mute, completely dissociating around some of his closest companions… that’s a LOT. And it’s a lot different from a writing perspective, but I think an internal breakdown, completely oblivious to the people around him, and a steady blow up once everyone is gone or he fled the area to be alone could be very emotionally impactful!

[tw1l1te]

I really LOVE the forgotten hero and how they don't like the Chain. But I have multiple questions. First, Is the Shadow now dead? If yes, why are they still traveling through time? Shouldn't they all be back home? Second, Wtf Wild, Why? Third, Is Reader now a Link with the Hero's Spirit or not? I think not. Fourth, What about Sage's, TotK Link's, journey. After the Nintendo Sage and Wild are the same person so what happened to the Sky Islands? Did they fall down? Or what happened to Dinraal, Naydra and Farosh? They are immortal dragons did they die or did they just leave like a father to get some milk? Fifth, Are they now Wild's descendant like Twilight is from Time or his successor? And how old is Y/N exactly

But I can really imagine Y/N beating the hell out of everyone during sparring matches, Sky included. But I also can see Y/N just wielding the weapons of the Champions and it doesn't break even if they mine with it. Or that Reader has so many magic spells that three whole book shelves are filled.

Love your series to bits I read it like 4 times just to understand Wild and did the others introduce them to Reader? Because you mentioned something like "named Sky" or did Y/N dream that too?

Take your time with the writing, slow and steady wins the race.

Have a good day/ evening/ night.

The gremlin is out!

The shadow is dead physically, not in terms of soul (dark soul?) similar to Hylia.

I needed Wild to have some gremlin energy lmao (also we all now we made him do stupid/funny things)

The reader is not a Link, they're called that for identity protection and just because people that the reader met during their quest mistakingly assumed she/they were Link, so it just kinda stuck.

All of those will come in due time, one way or another! Can't reveal everything in just two chapters >:3c

But yes, Totk will come, a new Link will be introduced again. I'm still figuring out a bunch of plot and character arcs/personalities/names.

5. They call themselves Wild's descendant (again) for identity purposes. The plot is getting more complex by the chapter, so I want to reveal that the reader is not, in fact, related in any sense to the heroes. But that's a story for a later time

The "named Sky" part was because they had briefly gone around and said their nicknames offscreen/offwriting. In addition, Y/n/Link has a few memories from the Chain's combined journey together to defeat the Shadow and picked up the nicknames from that, it was just blurry to see their faces. Y/n can hear conversations during their flashbacks, hence why they kinda know everyone.

I know the reading can be confusing, especially with so much plot jumping around, but it'll be more straightforward once the plot starts! It's mostly world-building and uncomfortable introductions right now.

[getvalentined]

I have...a theory. Spoilers for both ToTK and BoTW, but one of those is years old and it's nothing extreme on the other one so I'm not putting it under a cut.

The theory: Zelda's powers didn't manifest until after the Calamity rose back up because until that point, her energy was being siphoned down to Rauru to keep Ganondorf contained as the Calamity grew in strength. Once it gave up on reclaiming Ganondorf's body, Rauru didn't need the extra energy and Zelda's power was released.

I'm...pretty sure this is correct. Not just because of the events of ToTK, either, but because of a key line in BoTW that a lot of people still find confusing: during the final battle against Calamity Ganon, Zelda literally says that he has "given up on [regeneration*]" in order to face Link. Taking what we know from ToTK into account, this finally makes sense! Ganondorf literally has a whole speech about it—more to the point on this theory, if the magic in Ganondorf's strengthening nightmare stopped trying to wake him, the seal wouldn't need as much power.

*The word in English is translated as "reincarnation," but in Japanese it's more like "regeneration." I read somewhere that it's the same word Ganondorf uses in ToTK for the line "you witness a king's [revival]" but don't quote me on that! If that is the case, though, it's pretty solid proof to me that this is correct.

I also don't think it's a coincidence that Zelda's powers manifested basically at the moment that Link died. That would be the moment that the Calamity (which is literally just Demise, we're all clear on that, right? The Calamity is Demise?) would give up entirely on breaking Ganondorf free. It wouldn't have to keep trying because it killed the chosen hero without using Ganondorf as a vessel—his revival is unnecessary after all. That would be the moment that it withdrew entirely from pulling at Rauru to break Ganondorf loose, and Zelda's power would no longer be required to bolster the seal.

I really, really love that ToTK takes plot points in BoTW that felt like contrivance upon contrivance and goes "it happened for a reason, it makes sense, the scrap of paper you saw is torn from a complete image—come see." It genuinely makes BoTW a better game.