#mm/botw

[proxycrit]

Day 38– East Gerudo Chasm

“…You. I know you. You’re that zoran healer’s apprentice.”

(I known you. You healed my hands. I still wear ferns in my hair, because of you.)

Excerpt from Tauro’s Journal- “The Gerudo Kingdom, shattered under vicious attacks from the Malice infected, became a vassal state of the Hylian Kingdom around 20 BSE. Records have dissenting voices during that time— many argue that the Hylians took advantage of the chaos to enforce their policies upon the other races; more argued that vassaldom is a small price to pay for medical and monetary support, mandatory draft or taxation be damned. Either way, one thing remains clear: The Zonai were the first to fall to the Malice, but they were not the last. The Era of Alchemy is drawing to a close.

Interestingly enough, Sheikah records during this era did not explicitly mention Calamity Ganon until 100 SE. This implies Calamity Ganon the entity is not a direct correlation to the Malice infected.”

*BSE— Before Skyloft Era, SE— Skyloft Era

**Lifting of Skyloft 0 BSE, one of the few concrete dates available. See Ring Ruins and Tauro’s notes for more information.

(we’ve officially entered au territory! I mean, we already have with Familiar Familiar’s premise being a self indulgent totk au where zelda didn’t get whisked back in time, but now I’m going after the lore too. You’re welcome.)

((Wanna support me? Check out my patreon, with my throw away sketches and references! Remember to use web or android folks, apple charges 30 percent tax.))

[cryiling]

i think abt this post a lot

[clowns0up-felix]

Linktober day 13- Link (part 1 here)

You saw it coming I KNOW it was obvious I KNOW it’s not new and fun anymore I KNOW, SUE ME

I drew the Zelda’s kinda without having heights in mind too much and now that I had to draw the links (for who I have pretty established height differences) it was made extremely clear to me how off it looks,, mask is so hunched over I’m crying,,,,,,,, actually looks so strange don’t study too closely, thanks!

Y’all can always send asks to request doodles nd stuff don’t be shy (if I don’t do them im SORRYYY I still appreciate them)

Alsoooo not being humble and modest at all and having to brag that in theory I’m the holder of the wr for the eow long flag race speedrun,,, bc the wr is 32.10 seconds and I beat it in 31.96 seconds but bc I can’t record my switch for longer than 30s it’s all for nothing (I type this as I lie on a pool of tears)

[nell0-0]

Based on a fic called A Wild Time at Calamity Ganon

This was a gift fic from @musical-chan about Mask ending up at the end of another hero's journey (Wild). Yeah, I'm still thinking about this fic aksgfshdn

[theauthorandtheartist]

I had a dream the other night that i can't stop thinking about, where a new LOZ game was released in a similar vein to TOTK, except instead of collecting sages like in that game, there was a series of dungeons/temples that were directly tied to other LOZ games, and at the end, you gained the ability to summon the avatar/ghost of the hero from said game -like the TOTK sages- to help on your quest (and get a fun power up). All of the links would have stilted dialogue with you at first, but as the game goes on they get more friendly and at the end of the game theres a cutscene where they all "move on" and it's super emotional cuz by this point they're all brothers (player-link actually emotes during this cutscene, the only time he does so, for an extra punch in the gut). I don't remember all of the details, but what I do remember was:

A Palace of the Four Sword dungeon where you gained the Link(s) from FSA. FSA Link was the simplest in terms of abilities, the avatar would split into 4 and distract enemies/fight alongside you. Pretty sure this was the first one/tutorial temple. Later on this link gives you a sidequest after which you gain the Four Sword as a weapon (its the second strongest in the game behind the master sword).

A Tower of Winds dungeon where you got Minish Cap Link to tag along. He allows you to shrink for short periods of time to get through locked doors/escape danger. Don't remember much about this dungeon except that there's a timer to get through it before yiu have to start over.

Forest temple/great deku tree/kokiri forest type place where Oot/MM link joins up with you. He allows you to rewind time for a little bit (basically the recall ability but on everything including you). Later on He gives a sidequest that results in obtaining the Fierce Deity Mask (best armor in the game).

Arbiter grounds dungeon where you get TP link. He's basically a glorified horse; you ride him around.

Tower of the Gods dungeon where you get WW/PH Link to tag along. He's like Revali's Gale and Tulin's gust in one.

The dungeon to get the Master Sword is like the Skyview Temple, and to be allowed to draw it you must beat SS Link as the final boss of the temple, After which he joins you on your quest. He allows you to do skyward strikes with any one handed weapon.

A secret, optional dungeon that you only unlock by falling asleep on this random island. It's kohohlit. The only avatars/ghosts that you can access here are OoT/MM Link and WW/PH Link (because PH was a dream and MM was an alternate reality). By the end, You get Alttp/albw/LA link who can put enemies to sleep for a time. Later he gives you a sidequest to get ravio's bracelet, which opens up a few easter eggs and secret loot.

Other links/games were included as easter eggs but they don't stick around. BOTW/TOTK Link is a recurring ghostly NPC who you can find in all the weirdest places, offering seemingly nonsensical trades that change every time you see him (10 frogs for 13 bombs, a ruby for an apple pie, 35 monster parts for a single ancient arrow, etc). There's a few places around hyrule where you see two-bit LOZ1/LOZ2 Link just vibing. ST Link takes the place of Purah or Robbie as the eccentric scientist/engineer who will upgrade your stuff if you bring him materials, and he can also upgrade your ghost-Link-friend's abilities as well since he's -y'know- Hero of Spirits.

There's murals in the castle from Cadence of Hyrule, and there's "ancient history books" about HW and AoC. Throughout Hyrule you'll meet various NPCs claiming to be from different countries here to see "the birthplace of the hero of Holodrum/Labrynnia/Calatia."

Various Zelda's would show up too. You get a sidequest where you have to sneak aboard a ghost pirate ship. It's Tetra's. There's a mysterious sheikah warrior who repeatedly accosts you on your travels to loredump and test if you're ready to fight the big bad. She only ever brings you down to half heart, at which point she makes a disappponted comment and leaves. you aren't able to beat her until near endgame, at which point she reveals herself as sheik, has a brief conversation with Oot/MM Link, gives you some cryptic foreshadowing advice and a few fairies, and dips. BOTW/TOTK zelda is similar to her link since she can be found all over the place, but she deals exclusively in ancient materials and dragon parts. TP Zelda gives lore/exposition when you finally make it to the castle, right before the big bad fight.

Big bad is an amalgamation of all ganons/ganondorfs/big bads across the timelines. He telegraphs attacks via shifting forms to look like various bad guys (forms tentacles like bellum and Majora (at the same time) before slam attack, gets blue pig face before charge attack, long purple vaati hair and bat wings before AOE gust attack, scales up his arm and X on face before big AOE lightning blast, and big fuck-all sword and gerudo features before slashing. 2nd phase has it split into like 5 separate beings to fight you and all your friends at once (each one has different features: one is similar to bellum/majora, one is more beast-ganon, one more demise, one Vaati-esque one, and one Ganondorf-like one). The music is harsh and disjointed, cobbled together from many other games, and the noises that the beast makes are screeching and painful.

By the end of the game, there's a big deal made by SS link that you are the final Link in the cycle, that it's over, that you finished what he couldn't. There's a sense of hope, but also of sorrow, since all your new friends are leaving now. They're ghosts, they're dead, they've done their duty and it's time for them to rest. Before they go, though, each one gives you one last gift (the ability they've been helping you with this whole time) and one last sidequest (one for each of them) for you to accomplish: find their treasures, keep them safe.

Post game is you running around without the ghosts (FSA Link's ability duplicates you now, giving you 3 buddies to fight with, but they can't give dialogue and they last like 30 seconds so it's not the samel), doing mini-dungeons and fetch-quests in order to obtain major key items (all old and unusable anymore) from the Links' adventures, (the Beetle, goddess harp, spinner, shards of the fused shadow, deku/goron/Zora masks, gnat hat, various kinstones, pictobox, deku leaf, LA instruments, Ocarina of Time, wind waker, etc) and some from games not mentioned previously or not from your gaggle of links, (Harp of ages, rod of seasons, silver arrows, a doppel, ST panpipes, a revival doll, Cadence of Hyrule Lute, HW blue Scarf, old and broken Terrako, champion's tunic, BOTW champion's picture, trirod, etc). In post-game, there are new NPCs to replace the links/zeldas that used to fill those niches, but it's not the same. They're gone. It's a bittersweet feeling.

After you finish all the post game and get all the treasures (basically 100%ing the game), you get an achievement called "archive of the ages" and a special cutscene where Player Link sets the Master sword down on the side of his bed, looks out the window of his house at the brilliantly setting sun, smiles, and falls asleep. You may no longer play on that save file anymore. The adventure is over.

Basically I dreamt up a game that was a love letter to the entire series, and I'm sad it was just a dream. Logically i know this will never happen because that would mean tying up LOZ and it's too much of a cash cow for Nintendo to ever stop making, but it was a wonderful dream to have for a little while.

[verflares]

say, what do you think ever happened to that boy from the forest? you think he ever found what he was looking for?

[starlight-eclipsed]

A place to rest.

[joshuamj]

The Links (+ a Zelda!) from all the LoZ games I've played

[palmolli]

I did not care for Breath of the Wild.

WAIT WAIT WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN! DON'T SHOOT!

It's not that I HATE BotW. I certainly don't. I just don't love it. Though I very much DON'T like totk... that's an opinion for later. This is in no way a good critique or a review. It's just my opinion.

Breath of the Wild was the first Zelda game that I ever played, like many of you in the fandom right now. I bought it with my own money (I'm a jobless minor) after interacting with the fandom for a bit before even picking up a game. And like most people, the feeling of starting the game and waking up in that bathtub, that feeling of wonder and mystery, was awesome.

I will give credit where credit is due, BotW got me through a time when I was at my lowest. It gave me an escape to a much better world, a safe space, one I could go to when I had no hope for reality, something to hold onto if you will. The release of TotK gave me something to look forward to during a time when I didn't want to wake up the next morning.

I have every reason to love this game, but I don't.

Honestly, I'm TIRED of BotW and all the sequels and spin-offs.

Botw came out since people were so tired of the linear Zelda formula. ... that formula lasted for longer than I've been alive, yet it's only been about 8 years, and there's been such an uproar of people complaining about the new shiny open world formula.

Why? Well, because most of the gaming industry is open world now and having a linear formula is what made Nintendo feel unique... oh, and also because Nintendo completely failed at making totk's map feel new and interesting. They just slapped a bunch of random crap on the map here, and there with almost zero thought. When I first played totk, I felt like I was playing some kinda modded version of botw. It felt a little illegal. And playing it feels like a chore. That's never happened with any other Zelda sequel.

Even though Majora's Mask's assets were all reused from Ocarina of Time, the game still felt new and inventive. The game had meaning. The game had a THEME. AND THAT GAME WAS MADE IN TWO YEARS. TOTK TOOK SIX!!!

Cough cough. Pardon me.

Another reason I'm just sick of botw.

It's everywhere. It's Nintendo's golden goose. Just about everyone who plays games has played BotW. It's so big that it overshadows the rest of the franchise. It's basically Ocarina of Time all over again. Just... worse.

A sequel, a prequel, and another on the way. Ocarina of Time was never THAT BAD. It was given one sequel. That's it! Nintendo is just turning into Disney. And let me tell you something.

I loathe disney.

Too afraid to make anything new, so they rely on things that they know will make them money. Too afraid to say anything and spark controversy, so all of their content is void of anything actually meaningful. There's no particular audience. They appeal to no one by appealing to everyone while overly reliant on a fan base they know will bow before them and just buy whatever they churn out.

And, again, it's just like the word Zelda has just become synonymous with Breath of the Wild. Any Zelda content on most platforms like Tik Tok, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest..

I AM SICK OF HIS FACE. WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES HE'S ALL I SEE. WHEN I OPEN THEM, HE'S ALL I SEE. HE IS EVERYWHERE AND I CAN'T ESCAPE HIS STUPID. FACE.

EVERY DAMN SKYWARD SWORD EDIT IS SOMEHOW MADE ABOUT BREATH OF THE WILD ZELINK I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!!!!

and this isn't a you problem, by the way. If Breath of the Wild's your favorite game, own that, bro. This is a Nintendo problem.

Like... echoes of wisdom... seems like everyone kinda forgot about it. Including me. It brought new things to the table. AND NOBODY CARES!!!! BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO FOCUSED ON BINKLE BONKLE'S MISADVENTURES. Though, it did keep the art style of Link’s Awakening... which I honestly do not like all that much. C'mon Nintendo, give us a new art style, you bunch of greedy cowards.

Now, to get off track for a moment.

My favorite game is Skyward Sword. Yes, this is relevant. Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword are almost complete polar opposites of each other. One leans into tradition, while the other runs from it. One is reliant on story and characters, the other on gameplay.

People absolutely HATED Skyward Sword once upon a time. Now more people are starting to like it. People LOVE Breath of the Wild, and now more people are starting to think differently.

This point I'm making here is expanded further in this very ahead of its time video that explains this far better than I ever could.

Basically. People complained. Nintendo over corrected. Now we're here.

These two games are what REALLY got me into the franchise. Breath of the Wild was the first Zelda game I ever touched... but Skyward Sword was the first game I ever finished. Like ever not even lying, I'd never finished a game in my life before Skyward Sword.

The game actually motivated me to continue. The dungeons were fun and engaging, and same with the characters. I was genuinely invested and finished the game at one in the morning, shaking and in tears. Keep in mind I'd watched a playthrough of the game before I was able to play it myself. I already knew the story.

Then I finished breath of the wild.

I did not cry.

I did not shake.

I just finished it and put the game down.

Skyward Sword gave me a reason to give a damn, Breath of the Wild did not. Sksw Link felt like a person to me. He wanted to get his Zelda back, and so did I. Breath of the Wild Link, however... he just woke up, and he has no idea who the heck Zelda even is, so he's just gonna go collect koroks and blow stuff up. No motivation... just... do whatever whenever. Which is fun, yes... but it's not all that impactful.

Skyward Sword gives me a cozy, warm feeling, while Breath of the Wild gives the opposite. Empty. Cold.

Like... I just don't care about Breath of the Wild. I really just don't. And I am just so tired of it being the only thing on the menu nowadays. The characters felt like cardboard cutouts to me. You have to actively seek out any character or personality in them (the main ones). That was not a problem in Skyward Sword. Just sit down on a dang bench, and you'll find more character in Link there than in most botw memories.

I know botw Link's whole silence thing has a reason behind it, but it just feels like an excuse. They could've expanded on it a bit more. In concept designs, he's shown to have a family. But they scrapped it. They really could've done so much more with that.

This rant was incredibly messy, I know, but I just needed to get this out somewhere. This has been boiling within me for far too long, and I had to put it into a teacup and make tea, or else I'd go insane. I'm not trying to be a contrarian or anything. This is just how I feel. And I'm not trying to say any fans of botw or people who don't have access to the other games are fake fans. I understand that games are expensive and hard to access.

This is purely my opinion, and you're allowed to think differently. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk, and have a nice day.

[the-regressor]

One day I will model ALL the official Zeldas, but so far~

[jackie-mae]

an attempt to simplify some of the colours and clothes in my link designs!

[sedat3dmaiden]

i’m not a tears of the kingdom hater by any stretch of the imagination, but all the masterworks stuff is just proving to me we could have had an infinitely more engaging and interesting final product if nintendo stuck to the initial darker fantasy theme and weren’t hellbent on making the game as accessible as possible to people who didn’t play the game it is LITERALLY a sequel to (that was advertised for 90% of its development cycle as a SEQUEL to botw)

[pro-gamer-moves]

By popular request

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[clowns0up-felix]

Please consider... modern day Links on a roadtrip 👀

BEFORE I start I have to let you know that there is a full on comic about basically this (not modern au but stilllll) and it’s so awesome and made by such awesome people,,,, called links fun roadtrip here on tumblr please check it out it would mean the world to me

Secondly, so evil to ask this bc cars are so hard to draw 💔

Hero of men, Linkle (yes she’s here too), bunny and sksw link are in a different car,,, too lazy to draw more

Idk what people do on a road trip, I’ve never been on one

[nell0-0]

Twilight, buddy, not sure how your wolf form would have helped against that, but you do you

A continuation of this that I just couldn't get outta my head

Wild is connecting some dots, oop-

[ghostplasmas]

Gonna start a new little drawing series!!! Very inspired by the comics I've seen on here of the links meeting, I wanted to make my own designs and concepts for the links post-games!!! I'm going to make a link design for each game I've played/watched!! So far, it's just been Oot/MM, and BOTW/TOTK!!!

Not in the photo, but BOTW's nickname is Champion!

Anyways!!!! Some details!!

Fairy:

1. He's wearing lots of Lon Long clothing! The boots and pants were made for him (or bought) by Talon, and the Shawl and Pendant were gifts from Malon!

2. He has matching white streaks in his hair, and matching red tattooes on his face from wearing the Fierce Deity mask.

3. Not shown, but he's got small fish scales and the starting of gills on his sides like a Zora, and the backs of his hands and along his spine he has scalier, harder skin (similar to that of a Goron.) he also perpetually smells like fresh wood (Deku mask? Kokiri magic? Shrug)

4: his tunic was made by Saria! He goes to her whenever he grows out of his old one. He's very very attached to the Kokiri tunic. Eventually he'll stop wearing it, but even then that's when he's well into adulthood, and he'll keep it as a memoir. Aditionally, he tucks the bottom of his tunic into his pants cause the animals chew on it and he doesn't want it to rip.

5: has some of his gear from the first game!!! He's missing some things, but currently he has sarias ocarina, the Goron power bracelets (a gift), the base hookshot, and some other stuff I am currently forgetting. He also has all four transformation masks from Majora's Mask, still.

6: most of his scars are from stupid kid stuff, like falling out of trees or getting beat up by the animals at the ranch. However, the one scar from his previous adventures that stuck around through all the time jumping, was the lip scar he got from fighting Majora.

Champion:

1. Sheikah tech arm!!!!! Instead of getting his original one back, he gets a Sheikah arm instead!!! It has all the runes from the sheikah slate on it, as well as access to teleportation and storage. It's a bit of a hassle to control, so he's had to become a leftie for convenience. If he's traveling with Zelda, he'll often keep the arm strapped to his side, because it gets heavy and uncomfortable after long periods of time (the tech starts freaking out if he tries to put it in the slate storage).

2. Massive networking of scars on his left side from his death in BOTW. Most of his scars come from fatal wounds that were healed by Mipha's Grace.

3: his hairstyle is based on how it's put up when wearing the sheikah stealth armour! It's half-down, though. His hair pins were a gift from zelda- she'd found the shards of guardians while working with Purah in the lab, and has whittled and sanded them down into long lasting hair pins.

4: sometimes, when Zelda glances at him, there's this bright teal glint in his eyes... She can never tell if it's her imagination or not.

5: his casual tunic is from the Rito village!! The detailing is actually more akin to what the rito actually wear, I'm just lazy rn lol

6: he has earrings similar to Rauru!!