#or just go with botw since that’s a widely known game?

[adrift-in-thyme]

So…how we feeling about that news

[cinnamonest]

Yandere Profile - Link (Legend of Zelda)

ABSOLUTELY YES. MY BOY. LOVE OF MY LIFE.

As some of you may know, today is the release date of Skyward Sword HD for Switch!! So I decided to release this one now in honor of that :3

NOTES:

I went towards the idea of a Princess!reader because that just opens the gate for sooooo much potential. I'm leaning heavily towards the ZeLink interactions in BoTW and Skyward Sword just because those games have the most interaction between the two.

Also! This is great bc it gives me the opportunity to explore an idea I've actually had a long time! I've always thought about how many opportunities there have been across the games for Link and Zelda to be kinda like "haha well seeya later" and just... bolt, run away from everything, abandon their roles and responsibilities and all that. Like, if OoT kid Link got her before Ganon did and ran, if SS Link just decided to get her on the bird and bolt before everything went down, if botw Link was just like haha what if we ran away from everything together... jk... unless...?

And final note, Link is a great pick for the very traditional yandere -- sweet and : ) but can snap into darker personas. I really liked writing this bc I tend to have more self centered yans and less of the "worships the ground you walk on" type of yans like I think Link would be, so it's a nice change.

As usual now the nsfw section is divided by a ---- line.

TWs: fem reader, heavily implied Zelda!reader, stalking, murder, very brief mentions of gore/dismemberment of rivals, manipulation, very brief suicide mention, themes of reincarnation (I’ve been told this can be triggering to some people so just in case)

TWs (nsfw section): noncon, somnophilia

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Severity Scale

Intelligence/Perceptiveness: 4 Brutality: 8.5 Physical capability: 8 Mental/emotional instability: 7 Restrictiveness: 6 Sexual sadism: 5 Stubbornness: 8

What are they generally like? Lucid, aware? Obsessive? How do they behave?

The primary trait of Link that any darling -- any person, really -- would notice is that he is, well, quiet. He has always been a man of few words, and really, he often doesn't know exactly what to say. On his own, at a first glance, he really does seem like a gentle, humble spirit, someone who blends into the background pretty well, who isn't particularly prideful or reckless or aggressive.

Which is why, to be honest, he might sort of evade the gaze of most people -- he doesn't stand out. You remember him as the boy that smiled at you now and then, it's a soft, gentle sort of smile, one that you feel conveys nothing but the utmost innocence and contentment with the world. You know he's pretty good at fighting, but doesn't get into fights needlessly, he's accomplished and respected, but has never been the guy everyone is talking about -- he's in the background, against the wall. Never speaking, always looking out, sometimes at the sky, sometimes carefully watching people. Sometimes you see him, gaze blank and tranquil, and wonder what he's thinking about. Whether he's the village boy in the time of Twilight, the trained and honored warrior that slept for many years, the boy that came down from the sky -- you can't help but feel at ease around him, safe, you can't help but find him endearing and pleasant.

Yet, you always seem to notice him. Other people... forget he exists, sometimes, he's so quiet. You never do, for whatever reason.

When he needs to get something across, he prefers to express himself through actions, not words. If you lived in Skyloft, or Ordon village, you might find problems mysteriously solved, work suddenly done that you don't remember doing. That fencepost outside your home that broke has been replaced overnight. A village child went missing and he comes back a few hours later with them in tow. Always humble, never demanding or expecting thanks, he tells you in his quiet voice that he's happy to help you.

And should you ever ask him for anything, he'll drop whatever he's doing to help. Anything for you, he says with a smile, which makes you feel a bit guilty when, honestly, you're not even sure you're remembering his name right.

And yet, sometimes, you feel so at ease around him it seems unnatural. He seems so easy to trust. You feel like you've known him forever. And sometimes you feel... for just a split second, less at ease. You find yourself randomly stiffening at his calm, sweet voice. You find yourself looking around when you're alone, as if you feel someone is there, and for some reason, his face flashes through your mind. Sometimes when he looks at you, you feel sort of cold. It's almost like invoking a memory you don't have, like some kind of learned instinct you can't recall a reason for. But those moments are fleeting, they come and go before you can even process them, replaced by warmth and comfort.

If you do spend time with him, if you find yourself gazing out your window when he's training, the next thing you notice besides him being quiet and sweet is that he's strong. It's almost ironic, how all the other knights or village boys are so aggressive and rowdy all the time, many of them taller or bulkier, and yet, none of them could ever dream of defeating Link. Not one can match his agility, speed, prowess. Such a pleasant, calm person, with so much skill, strength, and power, but that power is so rarely seen exerted. People marvel at his talent, they say it's as if he has the experience of lifetimes and lifetimes of battle in his blood.

And it's why you feel at ease when he's assigned the task of guarding you. His capabilities are unmatched, and yet you'd never fear any harm to you from him. Both of those traits put together make him the best candidate to protect you.

Of course, you do find yourself doing most of the talking. Sometimes you find yourself rambling to fill the silence, and you fear you're annoying him, but when you stop he raises an eyebrow and asks why you got so quiet. Did he do something wrong? He seems to worry about that a lot -- has he done something bad? Has he made you upset? Are you mad? At first you think he's worried about his position security, but after a while you realize he genuinely worries about it.

And when you do continue your ramblings, you're surprised to find he remembers your words -- every little thing you say. Things you don't even remember telling him. He asks you about that relative you mentioned one time, his eyes light up and he walks a bit to the side because look, it's your favorite flower over there, he'll get it for you. It's impressive, really, how he manages to remember such things. He must take his job very seriously.

He does enjoy giving you such things -- he loves giving you gifts. It's usually things he finds, wholesome little things -- makes a crown out of the flowers you like so much, finds something interesting here or there, while he was off-duty he saw something in the markets he thought you'd like and got it for you. You almost feel guilty, it's so constant that he's giving you things.

Sometimes you ask him about himself, you realize he knows so much about you and you so little about him. He blushes, he rubs the back of his head, he insists there's nothing interesting about him, he wouldn't waste your time like that. It takes time to get him out of his shell, but eventually, he tells you this or that, little stories from his life.

Sometimes you take long walks, you like to get out of the stuffy walls and have fun outside, he accompanies you across Hyrule. Sometimes it feels familiar, you pass places you've never been that give you a feeling of nostalgia, deja vu, a sense that you've been here before.

He’s protectiveness incarnated. Insanely so. He can spring to his feet at a moment's notice and deals with anything that comes for you before they can even get close.

It makes you feel safe, but there's something else there. It's a ferocity that is so contrasting to his normal self, different even from the times you've seen him fight as he trains. It's a glint in the eyes, an aggression in his expression, that almost makes him seem like a different person. And it lingers for a moment, once the creature is dead and his sword hand falls to his side, he turns and glances at you to his side, a hand raised to wipe the blood off his face, and for that lingering second, it's still there, his blank expression and wide eyes -- a ferocity so intense it starts to look like bloodlust, chaos, destruction. And then, it's as if you imagined it. Smiling and telling you it's gone now, you're ok. You're glad he's so truly devoted.

In fact, he's so dedicated to his job that he starts... doing it... outside of his job hours...? Well, today he was given the day off, and you were told to stay inside because you didn't have to go out. He comes knocking on your door, says not to be startled if you hear someone outside your door move or shift or anything, but he just wanted to let you know in case. He'll be right here. Keeping watch. So don't worry. You're safe.

And likewise, he was supposed to have a day off when you were supposed to enter the town. You were assigned two other guards to watch you, since it's a special trip, so you're surprised to find just Link waiting for you. He took care of it, he says, he didn't feel right leaving your safety up to someone else, he doesn't trust them. So they agreed to let him take over for today.

All of this said, he doesn't have to grow alongside you, he doesn't have to be the childhood friend, the knight who guards you. He doesn't even have to have met you. Fate works in odd ways like that. There's a sort of inexplicable instant attachment he takes to you, almost as though it's some kind of destined, divinely inspired sort of thing. He would describe it as saying you feel familiar to him.

He's also, notably, prone to a more traditional trope of what you might call humility whiplash. For the most part, he's got that overly humble, worshipping, "I don't deserve to even stand in your presence" sort of mentality. However, although it's rare and requires a lot of wearing down his mental state, if pushed far enough, he can have brief moments where he snaps into more or less the complete opposite -- entitlement, arrogance, aggression, getting mad at you for the behavior he'd normally take with a smile on his face. Thankfully, unlike some yanderes that have a whole snapping episode towards their darling, his are very very brief, usually only a matter of seconds or a single snarled sentence before he snaps back to normal, wide-eyed and apologetic and telling you I don't know what came over me. It’s... a little frightening to say the least, but you blow it off, tell yourself that hey, everyone has moments like that... Right?

How likely are they to kidnap their darling? How quickly will they do so?

For the most part, he doesn't need it, he can pretty easily cling to your side well enough to be assured of your safety, and he manages to scare off the undesirables not with a glare, but a smile that's just a little too sweet and far too persistent -- it unnerves people. You hear a lot of people say that something about that guy rubs me the wrong way. Or that he gives me goosebumps for some reason. Even the people he scares away themselves can't pinpoint exactly what it is, all they know is that, despite being reputed as kind and quiet (and maybe a little dense), somehow a lot of people agree that something about him puts people at unease, and that's all he needs. Because they stay away from him, and if he’s by your side all the time, that means they stay away from you too. Why keep you trapped when you can just be isolated?

An aware Link is a a unique scenario. One scenario that's rather... interesting to imagine is a Link that defies fate itself, a Link that decides to be selfish in one of those rare snapping moments of his. Perhaps he makes a decision when everything starts going down, when the chaos is beginning, or perhaps he has somehow managed to gain knowledge of the bigger picture at work, the reality of the nature of your existence and his.

Perhaps he begins to think it's unfair. To suffer again and again. To prove himself again and again, and not always even to reap any benefits, to work so hard and yet still -- still -- you slip out of his grasp. He longs for a life with no tribulations, no struggle, no fights to be fought. He begins to feel like it's what he wants the most. He begins to feel like maybe it's what he deserves. So many lifetimes of struggles, if the higher powers won't give him a reward, he'll take it himself.

And perhaps, for all their higher power, not even the great goddesses themselves would have ever predicted it -- humans are ultimately creatures of will. To defy fate and to run away from destiny -- it wouldn't be the first time a human has tried such a thing. Sure, Hyrule may be destroyed. The people may all die. There may be nothing left. But you know what? He's stopped caring. If you're alive and he's alive, tucked away in your little corner of the world where you've found respite, well, that's all he needs. Even if you're on the run from forces that would want to find you, even if the threat of the final third of the triforce owner looms over your head. He'll ignore it, he'll look away.

You'll live a quiet little life together, a happy life without suffering, without quests and enemies, without strife, without worry. That's what he tells you when he steals you away, lifts you out of your bed one night. Says to be quiet, there's danger outside your door, he's rescuing you. You have no reason to not believe him. He waits until things go down, a castle under siege, but rather than taking you to where you're supposed to go, he climbs onto the horse and starts... riding away. It gets further and further into the distance, and you might ask why, what's going on? You have a job to do, he has a battle to be fought. But he says you're going far, far away, someplace you'll be safe.

But what about the divine beasts, the seals, the Twilight, whatever threat runs in this world in this time, what about the threat of Ganon, you ask? He says it doesn't matter anymore. You were doomed to fail, he thinks, it's either stay here and die, or run away. All that matters is you. And he'd like you to feel the same way for him. You will with enough time, don't worry.

He just wants this happy, quiet life with you that he’s been denied time and time again. It’s all he wants. If fate won’t give it to him, he’ll make it happen himself, and carve out the life he is determined to have, defying even the will of higher power.

How difficult is it to escape from them? How do they keep you restrained? How do they deal with attempted escape? 

He gets it. Really, he does. "Stop following me!" You yell. Well, he understands why you might feel that way, but this is kinda his job. He thinks you're naive. Not that he would ever, ever have a thought that you're imperfect, of course! It's because you're so perfect and pure that you're... less aware of the dangers all around.

He'll let you think you're free, perhaps. He's more than capable of being quiet, quiet is kind of his thing. Watching you from a short distance is easy. Of course, his horse might make a noise, he can't really help that, or he might misstep on a branch or something. And then you turn around and get all mad again. Now you're even more angry. Well, he can also tell your guardians/father, who will encourage you to accept it. You can't help but feel a little bad -- he's just doing his job.

Now, our aware, runaway Link, well, does he really need to keep you restrained? What would you go back to? Certain death, a land destroyed? Sometimes you mention home, and he's quick to remind you that home doesn't exist anymore. His home is where you are. Can't you feel the same way? You found peace here in this little place -- a village far far away. Travelers, you call yourselves. What's the point in going elsewhere? How would you ever survive without him? He's not very good at being subtle or skillful about the psychological manipulation, it's obvious he's trying to scare you into not leaving, but... it still works, because really, he has a point.

He doesn't want to have to use physical restraint, in any case. And for the most part, it's not needed, because one important aspect of your relation is that his job kinda revolves around you (in some incarnations), or, perhaps you live in the same little village, but either way the thing is that his presence does the job well enough -- he's always there, perhaps more so than almost any other yandere. Even when you think you've managed to get away from him for a moment, somehow his face pops up out of nowhere. How he manages to pull it off is a mystery, you swear he manages to find you so well and predict your movements it's inhuman.

But if you really, really pose a problem, a smarter and sneakier darling that somehow manages to keep slipping out of his grasp and running off (you never get away for more than about 20 minutes or so, but nonetheless), you keep trying to run off when he's sleeping (he wakes up in approximately 25 seconds if your presence is absent from the bed, but that's still enough time to run out the front door), every time he turns his head (which isn't often) you're trying to disappear... well, in that case, he can reach a point of deciding more straightforward measures are necessary. He hates to do it, really, at least when he's not yet at a snapping point. But it's for your own good. And he says so, quite apologetically.

But it's not so bad, it's not like you're being chained to a wall or anything. For one, he got leather ties so you'd be more comfortable, but more importantly, as your guardian, he figured the best thing for you to be tied to would be... himself. Think of it like friendship bracelets! It's just... got a 5-foot chain connecting them. This way you can't sneak off at night, and you won't get too far when he's distracted. It's a safety measure.

How easy are they to trick, deceive, or manipulate?

He's a learner. At first, it's easy. Honestly, he is a rather naive, gullible boy, sometimes he reminds you of a happy dog with his bright eyes. He likes to believe the best of people, give them the benefit of the doubt in all circumstances, and that goes double for you, who he believes can do no wrong.

And even when you do lie to him, it's still not wrong. You didn't do anything bad. Clearly there has simply been a misunderstanding, and you thought you had to lie. Or perhaps you simply forgot a detail or were confusing something with something else. It wasn't malicious on your end, he knows that.

He's actually significantly smarter than he lets on in practical knowledge, though. Those dungeon puzzles pay off, you know? He's got pattern recognition down. So over time he learns how to distinguish when you're lying to him or attempting to deceive him, and sees through it increasingly well.

And yet, he doesn't really... get mad over it, most of the time. Again, he's just capable of deluding himself into believing there's a reason. He believes so strongly in your goodness that he finds a way to interpret everything you do as out of benevolence. So you snuck out the window and didn't tell him you were going for a walk because you just wanted to get away from his suffocating presence for once? You were just thinking of him. You didn't want to burden him and wanted to give him a break. Well, that's thoughtful, but don't worry, he doesn't need a break. He thinks it's precious you're so considerate of him though!

You don't tell him you were talking to that person, and you lie and say no when he asks, because you don't want him to worry, and because you underestimate how dangerous others can be. He's told you a million times and you don't listen, but that's ok, it's because you're just so pure you see the best in everyone. Everything you do is good.

Because he perceives your lies, he will still work against and around it. He won't confront you on your lies, he'll just make sure to deal with the situation -- you lied about sneaking out, well, he'll just keep watch and be ready to meet you outside next time. You lied about talking to a person, well, he'll just have to make sure they stay away from you instead.

If you're trying to trick him, he just plays along until necessary. Smiles and nods. He gets the suspicion you're planning a break-out when he told you he was leaving to go get something from town... rather than saying so, he just decides, you know what? Why don't you come with him? Oh, you're feeling sick, you tell him it's ok, go without you? Well, he can't leave you alone then! Because you're clearly not and just trying to get him to leave... or, as he says, he can't just leave you alone. He'll go another day.

He's fairly manipulable when it comes to praise and affection. You can easily Pavlov him into certain behaviors or patterns with just the slightest words of praise and affection. He's not a very outwardly expressive person, tends to stay quiet, but you can tell how he feels inside when you give the slightest praise, a hug, a kiss on the cheek -- you can see that soft hint of a smile and tell that inside, he's basically melting, even if it's not obvious to most people. And, much like the lying, he’s honestly often aware of it, but he just can’t help it.

How lenient are they? What privileges can you have, and what will you be denied?

He tries to get you the things that he feels will make you happy. Your happiness is incredibly important to him, and he usually thinks about how any action he plans to take might affect you, spends a lot of time debating choices of things to do or say and try to determine how each one will affect you and choose accordingly.

As such, he goes out of his way to support the things you want to do. Have a hobby? He'll find the best materials available. Want a book or a food? He'll obtain it through some means. Even if procuring it involves a side-quest-y set of mundane tasks or scouring the world for 70 of this and 50 of that to exchange it for the item from an obscure specialist, it's all worth it.

The only thing he just doesn't give up on is the constant vigilance and insistence on being by your side more or less every waking second. And every sleeping second. And just every single moment you're alive. It's for your safety.

This is actually one of the things he can get a little nasty about when it comes to how he deals with it, because he quickly has the bright idea that if you don't get it, he'll make you understand. Of course, he can't actually risk you getting hurt, so he stages it. Allows you to sneak off, or at least think you have, and walk right into the path of those monsters he lured, or the people he hired to intimidate you. Of course, it's only natural that he shows up at the last possible second, right on time to save you. You should expect that, after all, it's his responsibility to protect you, of course fate works out perfectly like this. See, he was right, it's so dangerous, and without him you'd be dead. Hopefully you grasp that now.

What kind of rules do they have? What kind of punishment would they use?

His is mostly related to vigilance. Where are you? Who have you been talking to? Who was that person you were talking with just now? What did they say? He's not nosy. He just cares about you. It’s in the job description. You ought to understand just how much certain bad people would love to find you and hurt you. That's why he has to know.

This isn't our modern world, so there's no phones or tracking devices to speak of, just himself, which, well, might as well be a tracking device since he never seems to have difficulty finding you. Sometimes you're not sure how he does it.

He tells you that you don't have to be with him 24/7, but you will be, even if you don't realize it. He's aware enough to know that you'll feel suffocated and get mad if you're aware of his presence all the time, so he gives you your "alone" time, aka, the "follow her quietly from a 20+ foot distance" time. It all feels the same to you. Well, sometimes you feel eyes on you, but you shake the feeling off as paranoia.

So it's not so much that he sets rules and reacts when they're broken, but rather, he works his way around anything you might do so well that he doesn't need you to follow his rules, or really, you take them more as suggestions. But honestly, that's kind of worse. It's enough to drive a darling to the brink of a mental breakdown very quickly. With Link you will inevitably become paranoid, nervous, you feel like you're going insane because he manages to pop up everywhere, he always knows what you did when you did it and you have no idea how it is even conceivably possible for him to know some of the things that he knows. He confronts you very plainly and quietly, often sweetly, asking why you did this or that or telling you it's ok, you don't have to hide anything, surely there’s a good reason, and if not, he forgives you anyway. In a way, it's worse than an angry confrontation. You begin to feel like he's omnipresent, like he can read your mind, and it truly takes a mental toll and affect you worse than any normal yandere's concept of punishment.

This ultimately works out well in his favor. The more you just do what he wants, the less it feels like a violation or intrusion that he knows these things, since he was there with you, it makes sense, and you continuously get bent to his will.

How do they deal with rivals, or perceived rivals? Will they get rid of them? Will they kill them themselves, or find another way?

Ah, and thus we get to that brutality rating.

It would be unthinkable to think that any sort of scum would even dare. Even he isn't worthy of being with you, and someone else thinks they could be? So, he more or less views "rivals" as an offense. When they're threats, well, he's allowed to deal with them. When they're not, well... he has a wonderful reputation. If he says he overheard that person planning usurpation or assassination, that they realized he was listening in and wildly attacked him, everyone will believe him. Even if the death seems a little... non-immediate. And uh... frankly... overkill. How exactly... did those limbs get perfectly severed during equally armed combat? And was it... really necessary... to kinda spill entrails all over like that? He'll apologize, of course, he was just so outraged by the thought of someone hurting you or your family, you know? You notice his eye twitches a bit as he says it.

He has a lot of... bottled up frustrations, which we'll touch on in the nsfw section as well, but it tends to manifest in those two ways: sex and violence. Rather than exerting stress and anger and frustration as it comes, he lets it fester. He tries to maintain being the noble, humble, self-sacrificing person he feels he should be. That is... difficult to do for a long time. People expect a lot from him, even in timelines where he's not necessarily realized as the hero quite yet, he usually has a lot of responsibilities. But then you tack on the whole hero thing? The weight of the world is sometimes, quite literally, on his shoulders. Do you have any idea the kind of stress that comes with that knowledge? It's not pleasant. And it quickly bottles up, a very very fragile bottle set to eventually shatter in a matter of time.

On a longer sort of quest, he just kinda... leaves a trail of destruction in his wake. Enemies don't actually just poof out of existence the way they do on-screen, you know. Anyone coming across an area he's just been through is met with literal piles upon piles of corpses, sometimes monsters, but sometimes people. He takes a very scorched earth sort of policy when it comes to dealing with things.

He's able to easily get close to people, with that sweet face and puppy eyes and lithe body, people don't really feel on guard around him nor intimidated. That makes it significantly easier to infiltrate enemy hideouts, earn favors, and work his way in to be able to commit mass murder more easily. Granted, no one thinks too much of it because they *are* truly enemies, after all, they *did* need to be taken out and well, if the rulers can choose to either send a group of ten soldiers or just one guy and get the job done equally well either way, they'll go with the latter option. No one thinks anything of it, except the occasional person who laughs and says something to the effect of remind me to never get on your bad side, haha! He gives that sheepish, sweet little smile, and jokingly tells them that yeah, better not.

How easy is it to make them mad? What does their anger look like?

For you, nearly impossible. For others, at a hair trigger.

For the most part, he conceals anger well until, as aforementioned, it bottles up and bursts. The truth is he gets irritated virtually all the time by other people. People who talk to you. Look at you. Smile at you. He’s actually rather easily annoyed even when you’re not involved, but again, he’s good at hiding it until it builds.

His rage has a commonality with his calm -- it's quiet. At least, at first. When it's directed at others, his eyes narrow. It's the telltale sign that someone has ignited his rage. It burns on the inside, it starts off as a spark that builds and builds and grows larger and larger until it's a blazing fire that consumes everything in his path. It's a loss of composure, a rare moment of complete loss of self-control. From his own perspective, it feels like he's not in control of his own body, it's all a blur happening in front of him and when it's over he's looking down at his own hands, unable to process his own actions, sometimes unable to remember them.

But it's violent, merciless, unforgiving. It does not yield to begging, it does not leave anything alive unless forced to. You remember the first time you realized how unnatural it was, how shocked you were at how he did something that certainly went against the code he was sworn to follow, the very first time you felt truly afraid of Link. It was a walk in town -- someone called out to you, spitting obscenities about you and your family, your lineage, threw something at you -- he caught it in his hand and crushed it, and quickly, without a word, advanced on the offender. And, to make a long story short, you had to prevent him from beating a man to death in public in broad daylight. He was forgiven by his superiors, but even they seemed shocked. You had to pull him off, and when he jerked his head around to look at whatever was stopping him -- before his face softened as he recognized your own face -- the split second you saw the burn of hatred and fury in eyes that were normally so soft and loving, was nothing short of unsettling, you still recall the chill that ran down your spine.

And honestly? It's terrifying. And the first time, it's shocking. Sure, you knew he could fight. You've seen him fight off monsters, bokoblins and lizalfos and the like. But something is different about seeing the blood of a human being run down his sword, dripping onto the ground, to see the bodies and the blank, numb gaze on his features he always has after it's over. The absolute lack of hesitancy he has to run human enemies through before they even have a chance to explain themselves, how unbothered he seems by the carnage left in his wake. The way he turns back to you, drenched in red and smiles, tells you it's ok, you're safe now. There's no need to look so scared.

And it changes how you view him, in the long run. Less of a guardian angel, more of a guardian dog, one that defends your name when you never asked him to. Pleads to tell him not to fall on deaf ears -- you just don't understand why it has to be this way, he says, you can't comprehend the threat they posed. From the sweet boy that leaves you flowers and repairs and instead leaves a wave of destruction in his path you would not have thought possible.

Directed towards you, though, it's entirely different. He tries his best to have patience with you, no matter what. He smiles, he tries to make excuses as to why you'd say this or do that, why you'd feel a certain way, and he's rather good at deluding himself to give you the benefit of the doubt.

But when it reaches an end, when he can no longer lie to himself, when you push it to a point that you truly make him mad, it's more of a snap. The times he'll lay hands on you in a truly violent way are rare, and as aforementioned, very brief. It's usually not so much of actually a blow, so much as a grab. He just can't get what he's trying to tell you through your thick head, so he stresses it, trying to make you understand as he grabs you by the upper arms, shaking you with each word, and he only stops when he sees the pain and fear in your eyes, drawing his hands back at lightning speed. He saves you from some danger very narrowly, one of the few times he lost track of you for a moment and had to frantically search before coming across you being attacked. What would I have done if something happened to you? Don't you understand that? He's so lost in the relief it takes him a moment to feel you beating on his arms in the embrace, choking and wheezing that you can't breathe, that his grip is so tight it feels like he'll snap you in half. He draws back again, and he apologizes, but it will certainly happen more than once.

So they see you as above them, beneath them, or equal to them?

Above. Like, so, so, so far above. He feels like he doesn't even deserve to look at you. Of course, neither does anyone else, so he's just, you know, stepping up to bear the burden of wrongdoing to keep people even worse than him away from you.

So it's less that you're just above him so much as you're above everyone. He's actually, perhaps surprisingly, a little bit of a pessimist about the world. The world is full of so many terrible people and so many horrible things happen that he's borne witness to. It's a "world cold and hard, (y/n) soft and warm" sort of thing. You're the one good thing, the thing that makes him happy, the ultimate source of comfort he has, and he has to prevent you from being defiled by the evil of the world, keep you innocent and sweet (even if he's just deluding himself to think you are those things in the first place).

This ties into, again, how he interprets every action you take as good and benevolent -- he has the "you can do no wrong" mentality. Even very blatantly malicious things, he'll interpret in a way that makes you somehow still come out a perfect, innocent angel. If you do harm to others, well, they simply deserved it. You did something technically wrong, but you knew no better, or you were desperate. You can't be held responsible for any of it. And if you're mean to him, well, he probably did something to make you upset.

How determined are they for you to love them? How hard will they try to make it happen? Or are they content just having you?

Sort of a duality. Yes, he's very persistent. He thinks about it all the time. Every time you yell and try to run and hurl nasty insults at him, it hurts far more than you realize. He doesn't let it show on his face or in his voice, but it really does, and it gets to him sometimes. He's hyper observant of every little thing you do, your body language, your tone, the way you look at him, and the slightest of differences can change his mood internally, although it tends to look the same outwardly.

He makes little mental notes of it -- today she didn't flinch when I touched her shoulder. Today she didn't frown when she saw me coming. Little things like that will make his entire day. Likewise, the inverse kills him inside. He aims to make every day one of the former days, where the littlest signs of acceptance or even kindness and affection give him a sort of high that makes him feel like he's floating.

He tries his best to do things that he thinks will, well, earn love. Every opportunity to do something for you, he takes it. Everything he sees he'd think you'd like, he buys (or steals, or... loots from a dead body) for you. On and on that idea goes. And although he doesn't say too much, when he does speak to you, he usually has something nice to say. He views it in a formulaic way -- ironically, think about it like those collectibles in overworlds. You get enough of this or that thing, and once you have enough, you can go talk to this or that person and donate them all and get a reward, right? He's accustomed to viewing things that way. Love should be the same way. If he just completes enough tasks and gathers enough items, eventually he'll unlock your love.

That being said, even if it doesn't happen, much to your despair, he just... doesn't. Give. Up. He doesn't quit. No matter how many times you tell him, it doesn't make a difference. You can tell him you'll never love him, and it's like it goes in one ear and out the other. He keeps trying. And he never, ever, ever stops trying. What did you expect? The boy's been fighting the same enemy over and over across lifetimes, needless to say his spirit has build up some persistence.

Bonus: Is there anything that makes them unique, in comparison to other yanderes?

Bonus: Zelda/Triforce of Wisdom Darling

And don't worry. If it all goes wrong, when he fails, those divergences in time where the hero is vanquished and evil wins out -- it's not the end. Somehow, that's the feeling he gets, holding your little lifeless body up, running hands across your cold skin. Somehow, he feels oddly calm. Like it hurts, but it's ok. Like he'll see you again. Maybe not soon, but one day. This time didn't work out. But the next one will.

And that's the feeling you'll always have. Every time you meet him and you feel like you've met before, the lingering memories when you wake from your dreams -- flying through skies and sailing on oceans, a child, an adult, a boy you've never met, or one you've known all your life, but it's always the same face, the same voice, the one right beside you in the waking world. You sometimes wonder if he has the same feelings, the same dreams, the same sense of something greater than yourselves at work, the sense of being just smaller pieces in a much bigger picture.

The sense of permanency, that each other is all there will ever be -- regardless of how it makes you feel, regardless of how that scares you, sometimes you feel like you can never be free. Sometimes, when you think of running away, those dark moments when you think of even escaping from life itself, it feels futile. It's as if you know it would never hold him away forever. As if death is insignificant. Perhaps in this lifetime, you'll become aware of why that is, or perhaps not.

With other obsessive lovers, just the idea of til death do us part is a terrifying thought. But, for Link, not even death can keep him away from you. Your suffering is already determined by the will of higher power, for the sake of a greater good. 

In truth, it’s the goddesses who made him this way intentionally -- it’s designed to ensure your safety, even at the cost of your suffering. Again, for a greater good. Sure, you may live one lifetime to the next desperately locked in the same cycle in which your freedom and will is stripped from you, but in the end, it serves a purpose. 

Nor will he change -- perhaps this one this time is a bit more spirited, more calm, more pessimistic, more optimistic... but in the end, at their core, they're the same soul, with the same will deep, deep down. The same drive to find you and protect you. The same love for you, an all-consuming love that destroys everything in its path to you and leaves ruin in its wake.

And if fate should one day keep you apart, should things change, for whatever reason, it’s unable to change him. There's another force even more powerful than fate determined to keep you together. The only thing more unavoidable, inevitable, and unescapable than fate, is Link himself.

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

General perverseness: how sexual of a person are they? What’s their drive like? How touchy do they get? Do they have any reservations about sexuality?

In moments of passion, he changes a bit, unlike other more submissive yans who stay consistent in their reverence and desire to please.

You see, after a while, being as lenient and tolerant and flexible and completely devoted as he is... constantly self-sacrificing in so many ways, to you, to Hyrule, to the world... some frustrations build up. It's a big, big bottle of emotion, all tucked away and festering, getting greater and greater and eventually it has to explode somehow.

His reservations and inhibitions fall away. Perhaps a darker, more selfish side comes out. Perhaps that's why he's so rough. He knows he'll regret it later, the bruises from how hard he grips, the marks from the bites, but the hormones and the heat takes over. He'll feel bad for defiling you. He'll apologize. And he'll do it again. And again. And again.

But once the resolve crumbles, it topples. That is, he can't partially maintain it -- if it's partially gone, it falls apart completely. He lets go, so to speak. And when he lets go, you find that underneath that carefully constructed resolve and willpower that holds him back, he can be a very, very rough and possessive lover. In his normal state, he wouldn't dare think of you as a possession, or as something he's even worthy of. He would like so, so much to think that, to feel like he's allowed to -- but he doesn't. He chastises himself for even having such a desire. But in those moments, when his resolve is gone and his brain isn't thinking quite too clearly, he might even have to audacity to say "mine." Even if it's not true, not now, maybe it will be. He would like that so much. His and his alone.

And in a moment of clarity, he might even throw away the inhibition on purpose. The more selfish side, the same Link that drags you away from your destiny -- he's already forsaken his responsibilities, hasn't he? Why care anymore about the structures that no longer exist, your status and his, if there's no kingdom left? He likes that it happened, even. This way, this time, you can throw off those titles, those roles. Without your status, your title, there's nothing stopping him from making you his. And you will be his, and nothing more. It's all you need to be. So he doesn't have to care anymore about any of that, he doesn't have to stop himself from going wild. Biting into every little spare patch of skin, covering your body with marks that make him feel comforted to see.

As far as drive it's a bit of a two-sided duality. Outwardly he's not a very sexual person at all, blushes and stutters and averts his gaze at the slightest mention of suggestive topics, tries his best to be Respectful(tm) by always looking away when you're in a compromising position, or your skirt flies up, etc etc. Given how constant his vigilance is, he has a tendency to accidentally walk in on your changing or bathing, except unlike with many yanderes, it's genuinely an accident. Not that the image doesn't stick in his mind, nor does he wish he hadn't gotten to see, but he does feel guilty, and it was genuinely unintentional. He kinda freezes up, so it takes a moment for him to actually snap out of it and run out.

That being said, he quickly develops something of a masturbation addiction when he's younger, it starts as more of a stress reliever than anything, He's so sweet and always feels bad about talking about his problems and feelings, so that and, well, violence are the only ways he can get it out. Thus he learns to channel stress and nerves into sexuality, and once he has a real living body and not just his hand, that dependency on cumming to relieve it doesn't change.

How forceful are they? Do they care about your willingness?

Particularly so, yes, cares quite a bit. And it takes a while for him to feel comfortable. Even consensually, the first few times he touches you for several months, he's got trembling hands and stays quieter than ever, constantly freezes up every time you move or make a noise because he thinks he's done something wrong. He has to be coaxed into feeling more comfortable before he gets used to it, but he will build confidence over time.

As addressed before, though, if he's pushed and pushed and pushed long enough, you can get a darker side to come out. This is most likely something that would only occur post-kidnapping in a distant time, once he's far away from any possibility of consequence and destruction has set in to the world around you. He starts to get a little bitter, if you've been mean to him. It all builds up. Don't you get that he's literally saved your life? That he devoted every waking second to you? Isn't he kinda entitled to some thanks? The cycle of time never rewards him. Even the figures he helps over time rarely give him more than a verbal praise and thanks, maybe an item here or there, and then disappear. His role feels thankless. He starts to feel like he deserves something, something tangible, in return.

Surprisingly, though, he actually does not take the route of guilt-tripping or emotional manipulation or gaslighting his way into it like a lot of the sweeter yanderes when he does have that snap. His snaps/breakdowns are rather extreme in terms of how much of a polar opposite they are to his normal state, rather than just a slight bend of his normal personality. Rather than taking the route of most yanderes like himself, he just gets directly physically forceful. Still somewhat sweet, though, reminds you he loves you, he'd die for you, you're his entire world. You'd argue that doesn't really change the actions, but considering how frightening he is in that state, you're not dumb enough to vocalize that.

The guilt consumes him alive afterwards. Like, immediately afterwards. He's still panting and twitching and buried inside when it sets in. That being said, he doesn't get to stuttering and profusely apologizing, like he does over smaller offenses. It's all done and he can't take it back, so he just kinda collapses and says nothing. He's not the best with words, you know. It's an odd mixture of guilt and, honestly, a bit of satisfaction and relief. It feels like letting go of some self-imposed burden, that feeling of finally surrendering to some deep want, even if it comes with a lot of remorse, the relief of finally letting go does have a good feeling as well... and because of that, it’s another one of those barriers that, once broken, can’t be built up again.

What sort of kinks or fetishes do they have, or would they fill?

In all honesty the boy is, for the most part, a fairly gentle and vanilla lover. He doesn't really need anything special to get off -- he's easily excited and cums very very easily too. Just the prospect of getting to stick his dick in you in any capacity is enough to make him nearly burst at the thought honestly.

In general, as aforementioned, he's very very cautious and gentle to a point, but has a tendency to get actually kinda rough once he gets into it. The thing is, the roughness aspect is actually unintentional. He's one of those boys that is a little bit unaware of his own strength, doesn't process exactly how hard and fast he's going. He just gets lost in the feeling, kinda enters a dazed lusty haze where he's less aware of his actions. Doesn't realize he's literally got an iron grip pressing your head down on his dick or into the bed until you start flailing your hands because you can't breathe. Doesn't realize how hard he was gripping until he sees the bruises on your arms and hips later. That sort of deal -- poor thing is just unaware and doesn't have enough blood in his brain to think straight.

Biting

Surprisingly a really big one for him. (Remnants of a past life cycle with some lupine experiences perhaps?) In all seriousness, he could not explain exactly why if asked, it's one of those "I just like it" sort of things. It feels like yet another way to conjoin the two bodies, pulls you close. The marking aspect is also nice. Granted, he feels guilty afterwards, tries to help it heal. He has that same duality where moments ago he was this intimidating beast of a human being, rough and growly and jerking you like you were weightless, and now he's back to this bright eyed softie stuttering while he apologizes.

The guilt is mixed with a bit of enjoyment, though. It's constantly conflicting -- sure, part of him understands it's embarrassing and will help you cover up, but part of him doesn't want to, he wants people to see. Part of him looks at the marks and tells himself internally to never do that again, and part of him sees them and just wants to give you even more. It's a constant internal conflict, poor thing.

As far as a place, he likes the neck and shoulders best, simply because it's the most visible and it's the most passionate ones to create, when your bodies are tightly locked together. That being said, though, he also has a thing for biting at the insides of your thighs. It's another one of those I just like it sort of things.

Sometimes, when you're asleep, or pretending to be, you can feel him trace the bite marks with his fingers, softly running them over the circular pattern, just enough to barely ghost over your flesh.

Somnophilia

It puts him at ease. This one is particularly prevalent towards the beginning of your relationship, before you really know... how he is. He has this image of you as so pure and he couldn't bear the thought of defiling you with his horrible horrible thoughts. The guilt eats away at him for a while, but eventually he just can't hold back, but how could he ever do anything to you and risk consequence? So... the solution he comes up with is waiting until you sleep.

He tests the waters to see how heavy of a sleeper you are. Calls your name at increasing volume, lightly runs his fingers over your hair, pokes your face, whispers in your ear, runs his hands over your arms. Just to see what makes you rustle, if anything, so he knows the limits. If it turns out you're an incredibly light sleeper, well, unfortunately that means he's limited to just jerking off to your sleeping form, but that's ok. Just seeing your soft face and the cute way you breathe, the slightest way your lips open, that's enough for him.

If it turns out you're a heavier sleeper though, well, he tries to fight the temptation, but ends up going further. Slowly climbs onto your bed, careful to make the weight shift as gently as possible. Slowly pulls the covers back. Runs his hands up and down. It's a lot better when he can actually see your body as he jerks off, honestly. If he's feeling particularly risky, he might press your thighs together, feel how soft your skin is to his cock, how nice the squeezing pressure between them is.

He gets easily lost in a haze, though, so he inevitably ends up accidentally cumming on you and has to frantically find a way to lightly dab it up without waking you. He panics quite a bit, but that doesn't stop him from doing it again the very next night.

Overstimulation/Forced Orgasm

It just means he's doing a good job, really. Sure, you squeal and kick your feet back and forth and tug at his hair, but that's just because it feels good. Orgasms equate to love and feel good, right? Sure there's a little bit of pain when you go overboard, but then it just leads to feeling even better, right?

It's kind of an irrational compulsion rather than a logical goal, though. He just has an impulsive need to feel you quiver and spasm and clench, it basically gives him a chemical high hit and a wave of reassurance, makes him feel good in both the physical sense and the emotional sense. The first one sends him into this compulsive need to feel it over and over and over again, as many times as he can. It's another one of his internal conflict things -- sure, he knows it's hurting, but he just has to get one more. Just one more. But of course, every time turns into "just one more" when he's been saying that for half an hour now.

And, to be honest, it kind of gives him a pride boost to think he can make you cum against your will. How many people struggle to achieve that even when both parties are trying? It makes him feel good in an adequacy sort of way, he feels needed.

Size Kink/Distension

You know, there's a well-known thing among the male-lovers in this world when it comes to size. It's never the arrogant, loud guys, it's never the social butterflies, it's never the tall guys, it's never the beefy muscly guys. No, they're not the ones that end up somehow bestowed with absolute monster cocks. It's always the soft, lean boys who don't talk much. And they're always painfully unaware of it, too.

He's no exception. Not to the size or the complete lack of awareness. He hasn't spent a lot of time around guys his age too much, he's always been the one sent for some special task and ends up out in the wilderness by himself on journeys, or, in some lifetimes, accompanying you most of the time. He doesn't know what the average dick looks like, so he has no idea he's far above average.

This might sound like a plus, and of course in some ways it is, but also he doesn't think about the fact that the average body isn't properly equipped to handle it. You're supposed to just kinda put it in, that's how the sex works, right? Poor thing, especially if it's entirely consensual sex, he's just kinda ???? because why are you in pain? What is he doing wrong? You have to eventually explain it's literally just his body, not something he's doing.

That being said, naturally, he's a humble person, but hearing you say that does kinda... make him feel good inside. A little bit proud. He's not a person who takes a lot of pride in many things, so he likes having this one thing, and quickly notices you can visibly see it through the bulge it makes in your stomach. Especially if it's in a position where your back is pressed to his front, every little movement creates the bulge, so expect to get a lot of that.

He doesn't really bring it up much or talk about it when he's actually fucking you, it's more like, as with many things, something he's quietly aware of and silently enjoys a lot internally, even if it's not voiced.

How do they feel about pregnancy or babies? Do they want them?

Yes and no. It has to do with his overactive protection instinct. What if something happened or went wrong? He couldn't take that. He couldn't lose you.

At the same time, he likes kids, and he's very good with them, very patient. And over time, realizes that a kid would be the perfect tool of manipulation, and besides that, isn't it a beautiful thing, an ultimate manifestation of love?

So how to work around that... Ultimately, what he decides to do is have a kid... Just not by blood. There are plenty of orphans in Hyrule, wandering the streets and the wilderness, picking one up is easy. ...You wouldn't leave this poor child to suffer out there, to fend for themselves, would you? Nor would you leave him to take care of it by himself... Right?

What kind of (nsfw) punishments would they use?

Oh, it's not like he thinks of it that way. He would call it... a reminder. You put yourself in danger again? You tried to go back again? You were gone and for ten whole minutes he didn't know where you were? What could the solution to this issue be? The only thing his brain can really come up with is making sure you need him. Making sure you're content and satisfied here with him so you don't go running off.

Thus we return to the forced orgasm thing -- see, you do need him. It feels good, right? You say it hurts, and maybe it does a little, but ultimately you wouldn't be cumming if it wasn't good. No one else can ever do that. No one else knows you like this. No one else was made for you like this. You can't replace him. You need him. And he can keep going as many times as it takes until you see that, too. Even if he gets milked dry, he has a mouth and hands for a reason.

And by "until you see that," I mean until you say it. In his more... emotionally intense moments, he gets a bit insistent. He needs to hear you say it. Admit it to yourself. And to him. That you need him, that you depend on him, that you'll never leave again. And don't think your patience and tolerance can stand a chance of outlasting his -- it will keep going until you say it.

What body parts of their darling do they like the most?

He's one of those wholesome type of boys who goes with something sweet. He says maybe your hair, your face, your skin, your eyes. It's all so comforting. So familiar. Of course, not to say that he doesn't like your less wholesome mentionable parts, but he wants to be chivalric about such a question, and feels answering that way would be too disrespectful.

In his unspoken thoughts, though, he likes the hips. It's a part of you he can grab onto and hold you close with. He puts his hands there a lot and holds tight, like he feels like at any moment you could slip out of his grasp. And, I mean, it's nice to look at, can't forget that.

[grafai-ai]

I know this is probably going to be me poking a hornets nest. But i need to get this off my chest... the only concern I have about Pokemon Legends Arceus is about the fanbase. Like what insane reasoning will they come up with next to justify their personal venteta against a game that wasn't up to their high expectations even if the game will sell millions anyway.

There are literally videos out there where people are like "please be good!" and "I'm concerned over PLA" and I watched them and it's all the same video done by diffrent people, bringing up the same points aganst the game, and of corse injecting their personal wishlist of things that wont happen. They're all still doing a damn good job feeding doubt to the monster that is the pokemon fandom. Even if nothing has been confirmed or denied at all and they all seem to be putting all their faith in questionable leaks. Especially when the final starters are involved.

In previous trailers it looks like the game is focused on mainly research and everything pokemon is known for is kind of pushed to the side for random quests like finding diffrent sizes of pokemon or calming down alpha pokemon. So its really not that surprising they're probably won't be a meta game in this game. Especially not with the new battle system (that people will no doubt cry over when its not in Gen 9 due to going back to turn based).

I also saw someone complain about how BotW's empty overworld worked since its supposed to feel empty, but this game is too empty. And it's like...of course it's empty. It's the Meji Era in a place that wasn't widely settled by the Japanese in real life where there was probably only scattered indigenous villages. It works for what it's trying to convey: a rich untouched landscape.

Anyway...I personally think the game looks fun and I'm really excited for it. What I'm not excited for is the months long "THIS ISN'T POKEMON BREATH OF THE WILD! THEY LIED! Also this tree killed my father's uncle's brother's neigbor!" fallout which will probably last until Gen 9 and switch over to the standard "this is why Gen 9 will suck" discourse before we even see more than a teaser for it.

I know it's just a vocal minority. But at the same time, I just kind of want to discuss things about a cool new game without being called a shill all the time.

[strawberry-science]

The king, the Sheikah, and my AU

(Figured that if I announce an AU I should get to talking about said AU at some point.)

I’ve never been a fan of how BotW handled this whole issue. An entire race of people had someone in power ban a significant part of their culture for shady personal reasons, which makes them go into hiding, and the whole thing is important enough to be the only known written anything they have that’s not (related to) tech instructions. I mean, look at how that kind of stuff goes over in the real world, but apparently it’s just a flimsy excuse for no one knowing anything about the Divine Beasts because I don’t remember either of the games addressing that at all. The Sheikah we get to see mostly happily serve the royals with no signs of a crappy past other than for necessary story exposition I guess.

Yeah, it’s a game, and if we can sweep Rhoam’s treatment of Zelda under the rug with a non-apology just so we can have a nice uncomplicated ending in AoC, we don’t need any iffy historical baggage to muck up the happy monster murdering either.

So! In my AU, the Sheikah oppression is still very much in effect, except it’s not that obvious at first glance. They’re fully accepted by society at large, maybe they’re a little weird because most of them keep to their own villages and aren’t too fond of outsiders, but no one really minds them. Under that surface however, they’re still stuck in the same power imbalance with the royal family—because once you have control, why would you give it up? Especially since Hylia very deliberately created them with their sense of loyalty to the royals so deeply ingrained it would be extremely difficult to go against, and when it’s control and power you want, having slaves servants with built-in doormat syndrome is way too convenient to do anything about it.

As a result, they don’t even have the same rights as other people, which means pretty much no legal protection of any kind. Old Rhoam doesn’t see a reason to change that. If you give them rights, they might start to expect having freedom after all. Luckily for them that isn’t a widely known fact, so they’re relatively safe overall, though some people do know and there are... incidents, sometimes. But Sheikah culture as it is now puts a lot of emphasis on enduring hardships with grace and not asking anyone for support, so nothing is going to change until someone with actual influence takes the first step.

[spiritmaiden23]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. For sure, for being the cutest of cutes!! All Zeldas are cute though but she was the blueprint ;v; 

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. I’m a devout christian virgin I would never ever look at those kind of topics the only hot I see is the flames of hell for even considering this smh smh bUT NO FOR REAL THO I’M NOT REALLY SURE???? I mostly see people gushing over how cute she is rather than hot. 

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / In some aspects. We don’t really see Skyward Sword Zelda’s abilities in the games as we did in, say, BOTW where she goes full goddess mode. Aside from blessing the master sword, sealing herself away, and the implications that the game gives us with Zelda being not only a student at the knight school but also a badass warrior goddess in her past life; I’d say she’s pretty up there in terms of strength. 

Are they underrated?  YES / NO. GONNA GO WITH YES AND NO ON THIS. As a character, Zelda is far from underrated she’s actually cliche blonde character we all love and stan but in this incarnation.... also yes and no because while I see a lot of people like SS Zelda keep in mind that SS is the black sheep of the series so not a lot of people have good opinions on it. I’ve seen some say she’s annoying, too shoujo or even Mary Sue at some points and hweoh we all know that the last one ain’t even close to true since she’s far from bland and OP written. But it’s all a matter of perspective!  

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO /

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL / FOR THE MOST PART, if we were talking verses like say witch verse she’d have more of a neutral reputation considering witches aren’t really well-liked ;-; 

How strictly do you follow canon?  

I try to do the best that I can do given with what we’re working with here all while adding my own spin to her characterization because we all have different perspective when it comes to art! How I see Zelda is someone who’s bubbly, playful (big ol bully hweoh), a bit of a busybody if she feels she needs to step in due to worrywart tendencies yet highly responsible and carries a wisdom that’s beyond her age, she doesn’t like seeing people bullying others and isn’t afraid to put her foot down to speak her mind if something is up. While kindness is sorta her strong suit I wanted to go beyond “nice girl” and just showcase other sides of her too, hence why main verse is typically set during the events of SS because here we see her growth into the girl we see at the end of the game where she’s melancholic of her past but is looking forward to seeing what the future holds and wants to build a brighter tomorrow with Link by her side along with friends and loved ones. I’m not at all confident in playing as her, despite playing as Zelda since 2017 haha!! So I can’t really say that I’m super strict in following canon considering that’s how I view the character through the actions and dialogue throughout the game, perhaps the creators had something different in mind than how I see Sky Zelda.   

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  

DO YOU LIKE WHOLESOME GIRLS?! Wait no, hold on, that’s a little too vague, so let’s try that again. Do you like wholesome genki girls who were once a god who fought in a war in their past life? How about pastel girls who may seem sweet but are deep down bullies towards loved ones? Are you at a point in your life where you find yourself wondering: where on earth can I find someone who’s ray of sunshine can brighten up my day. Will do I have good news for you buddy! Introducing your very own friend: Zelda from hit series Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. This Zelda is more extreme than the others due to the fact that she’s not a princess, that’s right no princess titles clogging up that beautiful name. Just a knight who somehow finds out she’s actually a goddess reborn as human, no biggie! 

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

SHOUJO PROTAG WHO’S TOO FREAKING CUTE!! So.... if that’s not your cup of tea ;v; but nah I can see people not liking Zelda because not everyone like the nice girl who’s your childhood friend characrter, I totally get it but if you dig a little deeper you see that there’s more to it than that.

What inspired you to rp your muse?  

My close friend was FINALLY getting into the LOZ series back when BOTW was first coming out, her playthrough of SS made me remember how much I loved each characters and honestly Zelda’s design in that game was always my fav right next to Tetra and ALTTP/ALBW! At the time I mostly played more introverted muses or straight up villains and I wanted to try my hand at playing more wholesome characters like Sky Zel and ALTTP Zel ;v; now look at me, the CEO of wholesome cute girls ;v; 

What keeps your inspiration going?  

Motivation and time at this point, I’m not the young starry-eyed rper who used to have playlists and replay things to keep up with canon. I just pray to god I’m doing ok, let jesus take the wheel and just sorta do my own thing. I think having fun threads or a friendship with partners or just good vibes from them def helps a whole lot. 

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO.

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO. SORTA KINDA NOT AS MUCH AS I DO WITH ALTTP ZEL BECAUSE I’M ALWAYS NERVOUS THAT I MIGHT LIKE BREAK THE CANON OR ZEL’S CHARACTER!! 

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO.  

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day?  YES / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO.

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO / Most of the time!

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. I mean, that’s a trick question because I can be sensitive in picking up tones and reading between the lines but like if you mean if someone says something mean than no not anymore at least, I’m too old to care about what people say about me or think about me. 

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  

YE! I do! I mean we’re all improving and junk so I see no issues with criticisms uvub I always worry about whether or not you can hear different voices within the characters I rp as among writing issues I have that comes with learning disability and ADD, I try my hardest but I know at the end of the day there will always be grammar mistakes and even spelling! 

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?

YES YES YES!! OMG YES!! I TAKE WHATEVER QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE AND JUST... WORD VOMIT BACK SEVEN PAGE ESSAY SOMETIMES ;V; 

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?

Eh, well yeah it’d be nice honestly to hear feedbacks and thoughts. Just saying ‘I don’t like this or I don’t agree with this’ doesn’t really help anyone who wants to improve but I’m not gonna like press them for it either because again I’m at the stage in my life where I’m just like ‘it is what it is’. 

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

Shrug emoji, and then move on! Again it’d be nice if they can tell me though but I won’t press them for it if they don’t feel like it. We’re allowed to have our opinions after all yo!

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?

It is illegal to hate sky zel or any Zel really... NAH JK I DON’T REALLY CARE I’ve liked characters who aren’t popular among the fandom, I’m more or less used to seeing character bashing for faves so like it doesn’t really affect me at all I’m just like “lol” and move on. 

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?

YES! Though keep in mind, despite me using Grey instead of Gray, I use US English ;v; so keep that in mind when spotting out certain words other parts of the world may spell differently because us US Americans just..... gotta be extra like that. 

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?  

I TRY!!! IDK IF I COME ACROSS AS THAT but I’m very much someone who goes with the flow anyway, I’ve been told that much IRL and I’m just hweoh not really someone who’s a stick in the mud or has a stick up their ass, you know? I’m pretty laid back and not much bothers me, I can get petty if I have to come across rude people that’s the one thing that kills it for me but aside from that, I just wanna try to get along with people. We don’t have to be friends if you’re not feeling the vibes but friendly terms is good enough for me!

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

Little Bird

Aka a little fic post-Skyward Sword that explains BoTW Zelda’s nickname. Enjoy!

[[MORE]]

“Don’t worry, Zel. Our Little Bird will be perfectly fine.” Link assured Zelda, unaware of her shocked expression as he tried to lead her out of the nursery. “Karane and Pipit love her, plus they have some practicing to do.”

Zelda shook her head, still unable to get the name out of her head. Little Bird. It was a nickname she hadn’t heard in a long time. Her mother had given her the same nickname when she was born.

After she died, her father used it for years, barely calling Zelda by her actual name. It had spread to the point that the entirety of Skyloft began to call her Little Bird. When she wandered through the Academy, it was near impossible for her to not be called that by Horwell or Owlan. Once she started class, they had the smallest amount of self control that let her just be Zelda again. Not little.

She wished Henya was like that, but the old cook was intent on the name. Henya swore that she had called Zelda’s mother by the same name until she had Zelda. This, of course, freaked her out. She didn’t want to have a child just for the cursed name to cease to exist.

Even Link’s parents had called her that, though they were respectful enough to do it when she was visiting Link or helping with his mother’s chores. She’s never admit it but the name sounded like nails on a chalkboard whenever anyone else spoke it. There was something about it that made her go crazy.

But Link’s parents had this way of saying it that made her feel more loved than anything. Perhaps the reason behind that was the fact that it made Zelda feel like a part of the family. She and Link were so close, it was only natural that his parents ended up raising her whenever her father was too busy. Which he always was, but that didn’t mean she loved him any less.

She just... liked the feeling of being accepted into Link’s family. They were so supportive of her, despite her bossy attitude and even when she and Link had their fights. It never mattered to them, since they knew she and Link would end up by each other’s side no matter what.

Zelda had always known they would be together forever, though she had a bit of trouble with transitioning from wanting to be with him to wanting to be with him. Link had the same issue, eventually leading the two of them to get into numerous fights all because they were to dumb not to notice the other was utterly in love with them. And Link’s parents... they had a front row seat to when it got really bad. She always wished they got to see the two of them now.

Last time she saw them, she and Link hadn’t talked in three days. Not the longest bout of silence the two had, but this time it was a bit different. Neither wanted to take that chance, the one where they would admit their feelings for another and just be together finally. They had been screaming about the other’s inability to notice anything else but themselves. She said some particularly nasty things, even accusing Link that he wasn’t truly her friend. Why? She couldn’t even remember now. She just knew he had yelled something about how selfish and conceited she was.

Link’s mother found her that same night, and Zelda couldn’t help but cry into her arms because she drove away the person she was in love with. His mother had hugged her real tight, murmuring that everything was going to be okay, that the two of them just needed to be honest with the other. At the time, Zelda didn’t know how that would help any of it. But she just continued to cry in his mother’s arms because she thought she lost her best friend.

They didn’t live long enough to see the two of them make up.

When his parent’s had died, from an accident in the sky during a horrendous storm, the name ended up disappearing. No one called for “Little Bird” when dinner was ready, so Zelda knew she could wake Link up or get him to stop carving a wooden figure. There were no hair ruffles after a particularly tough fight with Link that assured her everything would be okay.

She suspected her father spoke to Henya about the name, since the old cook never called her Little Bird again. It had become taboo. For the longest time, both Link and Zelda were ticking time bombs, just one nudge from blowing up or bursting into tears. That was what brought them back to normal, actually.

No one had understood what they were going through. To an extent, Zelda didn’t know exactly what Link was going through. But she understood more than anyone else on the island. She lost two people who she considered to be family. He had lost the last of his.

Until now. Until they grew up and created one of their own. And it had been years since she heard that name. He had the same way of saying it. Loving, gentle, but not condescending. Link never called her Little Bird, instead opting for ‘Zel’ or ‘Zeldy’.

But he just called Alouette, named after his mother, the very nickname that she detested for the longest time.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” She asked him, turning around as soon as he dragged her from the room. His blue eyes went wide, quickly placing a finger in front of his mouth before slowly closing the nursery door.

“Karane didn’t tell you?” He asked in a panicked whisper, whipping his head around like someone would overhear them. Maybe in Skyloft, someone would have. But on the surface, they weren’t confined to the rooms at the Academy. They had their own home.

“No, not that,” Zelda answered, lightly punching him on the shoulder as she laughed. He feigned heartbreak and she stuck her tongue out in retaliation before continuing. “I’ve known for two weeks now that she’s pregnant. The other thing.”

“Two weeks?” He repeated, incredulous at the idea that she didn’t tell him the second she found out. “Zelda, Pipit said Karane just told him.”

Zelda shrugged, momentarily distracted at the memory of Karane freaking out. Her best friend truly was something. “She didn’t know how to tell him.”

“You told me right away.” He reminded her, as if she ever had a choice but to tell him immediately.

“Yes, because I didn’t know if having the soul of a goddess was going to complicate something as mundane as pregnancy.” She rolled her eyes, interlocking their fingers as they continued down the hallway. Zelda didn’t want to accidentally wake Lou up, especially since their best friends would be there in a few minutes to watch over her.

“You still would have told me right away, right?” He inquired, though the concerned expression dulling his smile betrayed his playful tone.

“Yes, sleepyhead, as soon as you woke up sometime during the afternoon, I would have told you.” She joked, making him pout. Zelda looked over, never able to resist putting a smile back on his face. She knew Link did this on purpose, but if she got to kiss her soulmate, did it really matter?

She unraveled her fingers from his, cupping his face so she could bring his fat head back down to a normal height so she could properly kiss him. It never got old, the butterflies still dancing in her stomach as her lips met his. Sometimes he would pull back so she would have to chase him, giving her a taste of her own medicine. Sometimes she’d do the same to him, just for old time’s sake. And sometimes, like this, they were more than happy to not play any games and just be with each other. Zelda eagerly took advantage of this, snaking her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. His arms found themselves wrapped around her waist, leaving no room between their bodies. Until of course, Link laughed and reluctantly pulled away, giving her a light kiss when she frowned.

“What was the other thing?” He asked her, voice barely lauded than a whisper. He rested his forehead on hers, humming as she took a second to remember what he was talking about.

She bit her lip, her gaze flickering between his eyes and lips before she sighed. “Little Bird.”

It was two simple words, when strung together symbolized exactly what Skyloftians were meant to be. High in the clouds, free as can be, and utterly loyal to their other half. The name was suited to a life on Skyloft, even though Zelda had her own distaste for it.

Link’s lips parted as it clicked in his mind. Then, he tilted his head, the lopsided smile that she adored making an appearance. “I always liked when my mom called you that. I know you hated it when anyone else called you that but you never told my parents to stop.”

“I liked it when they called me that.” She replied with a sad smile, the memories once again washing over her. Unlike the one’s that belonged to Hylia, these ones were just for Zelda.

“They always knew you would end up being their daughter,” He told her, drawing away when she laughed. “No, really! I always overheard them talking about how much they can’t wait for us to get over ourselves so you could officially become a part of the family.”

Zelda smiled at the thought. “So... Are we bringing back ‘Little Bird’?”

Link shrugged, before his stare shifted to the door down the hall. “It just feels right. We may not be in the sky anymore, but we’ve always been a part of a pair. I don’t know if they’ll still be riding Loftwings in a few generations, but this can be our way of paying respect to our home. To our life. To you.”

Her heart surged with affection, all the love she felt for him swelling inside her. There was never going to be anyone else. Not when Link was so damn lovable.

“I think it’ll grow on me.”

“You think?”

“You hope.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Urbosa, do you know where my mother got the nickname ‘Little Bird’ from?” Zelda asked, peering up from the journals her mother had left behind. She saw the term numerous times in the last journal, but no explanation for why that was the name she had given Zelda.

Urbosa stopped wandering the princess’s room, a small smile spreading as she sat down next to her.

“Your mother told me it was a family thing,” The warrior started, relishing in the fact that Zelda abandoned her focus on finding the formula for an elixir just to listen to her. “Whenever the royal family had a child, that child would grow up with the nickname Little Bird. Apparently, the first ever Zelda in your family had been given that nickname. Her husband convinced her to use the same one for their child. It’s odd that such a simple thing has stayed in your family since the beginning of Hyrule. But that’s what makes it all the more special, in my opinion.”

Zelda couldn’t help the sad smile that crept onto her features, which seemed to be inevitable whenever she spoke about her mother. “So that’s why you call me your Little Bird.”

“That and you are my Little Bird.”

[bxstiae]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; mun & muse - meme.

tagged by: i took it from @wildshero tagging: anybody who wants to i guess.... um... @lupihero / @hyaciiintho / @origcmibird / @dansiere / @drakslay / @fellcarnate / @gerudofury / @aerialarcher​ / there i added people. 

fill out & repost ♥ this meme definitely favors canons more, but i hope oc’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. multi-muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is:   canon / oc / au ( dependent on verse ) / canon-divergent / fandomless

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO / MAYBE

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO / MAYBE

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. ( it honestly depends who you ask, and when in the story it is. )

How strictly do you follow canon?  — I follow enough canon to not change the plot, but its very VERY lore heavy. and it diverges post game as well. Not to mention there are some discrepancies with my Link as well. namely his eye colour. his personality is BIT more jaded than canon. but then again, he is a character that is ( in theory ) YOU. so its how YOU play the game. 

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  — i mean. idk im not really a sellout in general....?? he’s... extremely interesting in the fact that you have a tired man(tm) who’s just about done with the world at such a young age. he’s the hero of hyrule, and has done many feats. he has interesting stories to tell. and he’s not at all a boring person. he’s a bit quirky, has a fan-base, and overall, who WOULDN’T want to interact with link? i mean its LINK. after all... not to mention that he’s not really PREDICTABLE for the most part. I mean he is kind of but also not at all. I just??? i think a lot of people find him interesting? he’s also very attentive at times. you literally have to throw a rock and he will look your direction. 

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  — he is a selective mute. he WILL not talk. he will not approach you. you HAVE to approach him.... while he tends to be ‘OP’ he really isn’t. he’s still very much a human, and will react as such. its very hard to approach cause he has that ‘intimidating feel’ and lets not forget that he really does straight up ignore people if hey dont say anything to him. in that aspect it’s hard to interact with him. because its not like he ‘tunnel visions’ but he just wont pay attention to you if there is nothing to pay attention to. 

What inspired you to rp your muse?  — he’s been a muse for me since 2012. just always put on the backburner for a reason. but really? link was the ONE character that I could relate to. he was my go to guy. really. in high school, i struggled with friends and a lot of other things. but i pushed through. and honestly. link was ALWAYS a character that i turned to for that. it happened with Skyward Sword as well. when BOTW came out it was the same way. BOTW was my go to game in college because of link. so when i finally gt the wiiu version and started playing TP again, i was like. YEP im making him again. cause yes. the themes in TP are all themes that are right up my alley too. so of course i am going to find inspiration there. I ALSO found inspiration when i found some celtic music as well. I listen to msic when i write my replies. and when i was writing a reply on another blog. i found some celtic music and i just had THAT MOOD. 

What keeps your inspiration going? — the game. celtic music. honestly art. vines. anythign that reminds me of TP Link keeps me going. some of the interactions i have keep me going. the PLOTS i have keep me going.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO. 

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO. ( lol yea. )

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO. ( i mean i love to write drabbles tbh. I don’t think i have on link, but I would always LOVE to. though if you look at some of my asks, they can be considered drabbles. lololol i love to write. )

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day?  YES / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO ( link is the ONE muse i never EVER lose confidence in. which is why he is such a strong character for me. link is me. straight up. and i think somebody asked me that too. he’s NOT a self insert but. i can relate SO much to him in so many ways. but i love the way i portray him cause he is very unique. i just hope that my confidence doesn’t SCARE duplicates and other people cause i would never want people to be intimidated by THIS fact that i am confident. )

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. ( lol yea. honestly i love to write. though my style always changed and sometimes i worry about that. cause sometimes i have prose and sometimes i dont. but im an adaptable writer which i always loved about myself. )

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. ( yea. both. i am both. im sensitive ooc but want to say shit about my portrayal. i don’t really care. say shit about me, and then i get upset and sad. )

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  — depends n the criticism. I say this all the time. theres constructive criticism. and then theres. just plain hate. I accept anything thats constructive. I want to know what i need to work on or what people would want to see. link is an ever-changing muse. i learn and grow and i will take anything thats told to me nicely without the hate.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  — PLEASE. jsut send them my way i LOVE all the questions and character development. you dont even have to be a mutual for that.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  — yes and no. i mean its my HC. you are allowed to disagree with my HC. hoenstly. thats the beauty of INTERPRETATIONS. i dont expect every TP link out there to agree with all of my HCs. so long as we can all be mature adults about it and talk normally with one another. we gucci. like we are allowed to have different HCs. and honestly. I would want to know because i would want to know what YOU think about the ‘canon.’ cause it’s different. i like those differences.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  — idk why they would? its link? its the protag. and in a way its supposed to be different for each person anyway??? its like taking Robin or Corrin from FE. like people are allwoed to disagree with the portrayal i GUESS? but i don’t understand why anybody would like stragiht up HATE the portrayal. its just different? idk. 

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  — see above tbh. but honestly. depends. do you hate him for the portrayal. or do you hate him cause of his character personality. like you’re allowed to interact with ‘bad’ characters. not that i think anybody would HATE link? but you know i could be wrong??? idk how to answer this cause what do you mean by hate? you can hate a character. but still interact with them??? idk how to compute this question???

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  — yes and no. honestly. i know i make mistakes. but i don’t want grammar nazi’s. i write to relax. the only time i would want people to tell me is if they were trying to figure out what i meant. does that make sense. like if they are confused on something. then its okay to tell me. otherwise if its something that is just a small mistake that you can ignore. then its no big deal. its also how you approach me too. like approach with caution. i am a delicate flower. so don’t attack me for making a mistake.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  i am VERY VERY easygoing!!! I want to say im VERY kind. i am very accepting and EXTREMELY FORGIVING. no joke. I want to be the kindest person out there. I dont want people to be intimidated by me. I don’t want people to be scared of hurt by me. hoenstly. I am a very nice person. I may have different opinions but i am VERY respectful to everybody even those i do not agree with. Nobody should ever feel weird about me like ever okay? please don’t. I never want bad blood. so if something ever happens between us. you are always ALWAYS more than welcome to come talk to me when emotions have fizzled out. I am very apologetic too. so like?? idk??? who would???? consider me??? and asshole??? im tired. and i shut my door fast but its mainly cause... i am tired. nothing else has to do with it. i am very excitable and happy for people who talk to me. i consider ANYBODY who talks to me a friend. im jsut??? no really. i know people are shy. but im over her a big tired ball of fluff. i only want love and happiness for people. anybody who’s talked to me can testify to this. ♥♥

that’s about it, congrats for filling out!

[kylydian]

Breath of the Wild: Soundtrack Analysis Day 1

As I was listening to the Breath of the Wild soundtrack again, I started thinking to myself, that I should do an individual analysis of every track, exploring what each piece does to make this soundtrack special. In most tracks, there’s so much that we can learn from conceptually, musically and philosophically.

I said we’d be coming back to BoTW in the future, and I was originally thinking about taking more time before revisiting it. But upon thinking about it more, I think it’s best to strike when the iron is hot. We’ll actually start this examination with track 2, as the first track does some really really really awesome things, but to fully appreciate what the main theme does we need to go through every track in the game first. No joke.  We have to talk about everyyyyyything else first. So, for these posts I’m going to do a brief summary to organize thoughts and prep you to be on the same page as me.

Let’s get wild.

Track 2: Field (Day)

Genre: Impressionism

Featured Instrument: Piano

Compositional Techniques: Pointillism & Silence

Takeaways for Composers: Don’t be afraid of silence. Experiment with tone color.

Takeaways for Developers: Sparse music can be great for open worlds.

Simply titled “Field,” the first track we’re looking at is truly the heart of the Impressionist style that I had talked about before. If you need a refresher, feel free to go back and check that out, as it will set a good base knowledge to expand on this topic.

This track is the epitome of music in BoTW. And it’s simply used for…well, the field during the day.  The music is incredibly sparse, full of little motifs that seem connected, but only by composer intention, and they’re are gone before they can be comprehended. The harmonies are definitely non-traditional, and have a lot of fifths, fourths, and seconds. These harmonies are very definitive of Impressionism, as is the motivic development that seems as if it’s trying to describe feeling rather than doing.

The feeling in this case is exploring a huge, vast world that’s full of life, but at the same time needs to be fully traversed. The world is truly open-ended, and the music reflects this.  You hear a lot of silence between motives, because if music was playing the entire time it simply wouldn’t make sense with the sparse but dense world. There’s a vast feeling to the breathing world, so in turn the music needs to breathe as well for the player. Tension is added through the harmonies, almost based on feeling, but because the harmonies and ideas are so fleeting, they’re never distracting. It’s almost as if music is playing without having it be present. This relates directly to what I talked about with music being written to scenery. “Field” is music that could be naturally occurring in the soundscape of Breath of the Wild, and it accomplishes this through the use of harmony, and silence.

However, there’s more techniques being used here than just harmony and silence. Composition wise, the piece uses a style of composition known as “Pointillism.” Pointillism is a style of writing that was prominent somewhat during the Impressionist era, but often was employed by later composers in it’s truest form during the stages of expressionism and total control.

The idea of musical pointillism is taken from visual art, where paintings are created with individual dots. In a musical fashion, melodies and to a lesser extent harmony, are created with individual notes spread across registers, or instrument tones. This gives a very skittish feeling to the music, as it’s hard to focus your attention in one place. It’s not used enough to say “This was a pointillist composer” much like you could say Debussy was an Impressionist composer, but rather it’s a style of composition that was used to convey feelings and ideas. Much like the art of Impressionism itself.

Pointillism is used here in a couple ways. There’s a few instances of where the melody skips around registers. Piano is one of the most effective instruments to use pointillism, as it’s arguably the instrument that sounds the most one with itself across registers. In this track we only have piano, and occasionally it does seem as if notes are dotting the landscape of not only the music, but the field of gameplay as well. However, traditional pointillism isn’t used too often in this track, and only occasionally for what could be considered very large melodic leaps. Overall the focus of the music is on the contrast between open and tight knit harmonies, as well as the silence.

That’s why I would argue that there’s another type of pointillism used compositionally in this piece, and god it’s going to sound redundant. But it’s actually the use of music.

I swear it doesn’t sound like I know what I’m talking about sometimes.

The melodic fragments of this piece never really sound complete, they’re fragments of ideas that are loosely connected by feel. There’s long periods of silence. It’s not as noticeable during gameplay, but when you just listen to the track away from gameplay, it’s very evident that these instances of silence are long. When the music comes in, it’s a welcomed type of relaxation. This is why I would say that the use of music in this track is pointillistic. It’s pointillism simply by composition. Every time that a new fragment enters, we’re treated to an instance of pointillism simply because each cell exists by itself.

That’s not normal, but it’s really cool.

The different cells often focus on a different type of harmony, quartal/quintal or secundal. Some are more melodic, while others are essentially just chords. This further heightens the idea that each fragment exists on its own, but transitions into the next. Regardless of the type of harmony though, this means that the emphasis of harmony is meant to seek a specific tone color for each phrase. The piano is a very homogenous instrument, and the use of tone color capitalizes on this. We go back and forth compositionally between tension and release of the harmony, and oftentimes the release of the harmony is open fourths or fifths, which is the most ambiguous harmony, since there’s no tension, nor major/minor denomination. This is pretty common Impressionistic writing and serves to provide subconscious musical context to the world already marked by Impressionism.

The music leaves us relaxed and is as sparse as the world we’re exploring. But it’s marked by pointillistic points of interest, much like the world. This is music that’s truly a musical representation of the field during the day. It’s exploration music, and music that fully explores and captures the feeling of the wild.

Revisiting the points of interest at the beginning.

For Composers:

Silence is a powerful motivator in music. When used properly it can push emotions to new heights simply because the player is wanting music. Take the player to the point of where they start to find the silence uncomfortable, then take them just a little further before you bring music back for maximum effect.

In writing Impressionism or any genre of music, experiment with tone color between instruments and intervals. There’s a lot that can be said by the color of harmony. Oftentimes this will stray away from traditional harmony, and that’s okay. Push boundaries, don’t fall into routines.

For Developers:

As said in my earlier post, huge, open, sparse worlds excel with sparse music. The music should accompany the world, and the world should accompany the music. If there’s a vast landscape ahead of the player, take advantage of that in your music. Make your players want music, make them revel in silence. Find ways through the addition and subtraction of music to keep them subconsciously engaged.

Conclusion

As said in the previous post, much about Breath of the Wild as a game as well as musically is Impressionistic. This track is in my mind the basis for creating this sense of Impressionism, as it’s likely one of the first ones we hear. It preps our ears for everything to come, and honestly that might be part of the reason it’s so different as well.

There’s so much great information just to be gained from this one short track. These ideas can be applied across a wide variety of genres, instruments and games. The great thing about this information though?

There’s 23 more tracks to go on the OST.

We’re just getting started.

[talesfantastic]

//Give this a like or comment if you want to roleplay with Fancy Mel, from Threads of Fate / Dewprism. Muse Page Here.

Wishlist

Threads of Fate / Dewprism

Interacting with/advising any of Valen’s dolls, helping them develop a sense of self and independence from their programmed duty.

Crossovers (Worldhopping)

Meeting other mages / magical beings / immortals

Fandomless Fantasy AU

Meeting other mages / magical beings / immortals

Training a younger mage

Serving as a (probably reluctant) advisor to royalty

Legend of Zelda (BotW)

Interaction with a Great Fairy

Interactions with any of the main cast, especially Zelda or Link

Someone talking her into going on an adventure

Someone discovering her heritage

Verses Under the Cut

Threads of Fate / Dewprism

Crossovers (Worldhopping)

Fandomless Fantasy AU

Legend of Zelda

Threads of Fate / Dewprism

V: In Plain Sight (Pre-Game)

Mel moved to live in the forests around Carona hundreds of years ago, well before Elroy and his apprentices attempted to take over the area. She lives quietly, sending her Poppul Purrels in to town to shop for her, unless she needs something more than Carona has to offer. On those rare instances, she’s been known to take a ship out. Rarely, she has crossed into the East Heaven Kingdom, where the other mages instinctively give her wide berth. Ages ago, she was an advisor to one of the early kings, the one who had seen to it that the royal line would protect Valen’s [relic], but that has long since been forgotten.

Content to live quietly, largely dismissed as a “crazy witch” by the locals despite her power, Mel continues to keep an eye on the [relic]. Just in case.

V: Facing the Past (During the Game)

After so many years watching people trying to get Valen’s [relic] without success - some even leading to their deaths - Mel can feel the winds of change blowing. She wouldn’t call it Mint’s fate to be the one to unlock the secrets of the Dewprism, but Rue… she recognized him instantly for what he was, even if he was unaware himself. The time had come to face Valen’s legacy, whether the world was ready or not. The least she could do was attempt a little damage control.

V: Beyond Duty (Post-Game)

With the Dewprism out of reach for now, Mel no longer needs to stay in Carona. She travels more, mostly to the East Heaven Kingdom to get a feel for what passes for a high class magician these days.

She is not often impressed, but some are promising. It’s almost enough to make her consider taking an apprentice on at long last. She has yet to feel even the briefest touch of time weighing against her, but it would be nice to have a legacy of her own.

Crossovers (Worldhopping)

V: The Starway [Relic]

Melodia had, in fact, created a [relic] of her own - nothing fancy, ironically, but it does the job. The Starway is nowhere near as ambitious as Valen’s Dewprism, serving a single purpose - not to alter the cosmos, but to allow her to travel them at her leisure.

Fandomless Fantasy AU

V: The “Sorceress”

Melodia - or Mel, as they call her these days - has posed herself as a reclusive and eccentric sorceress out in the rarely traveled countryside. The superstition of the locals ensures she’s not bothered, for the price of a few paltry “blessings” every now and then. But you can only be alone so long before you get bored, and she’s looking forward to seeing how the world has changed.

Legend of Zelda

V: Fairy Born (pre-BOTW)

Daughter of the Great Fairy Cotera and a very bold Sheikah, Melodia stayed close to her mother until word of the threat of Calamity Ganon rose. While her father joined the ranks of Sheikah that were studying ancient technology in hopes of aiding the princess and champions, she was sent on a pilgrimage to collect the blessings of each of her aunts and hopefully return a healer powerful enough to offer her aid.

When Calamity Canon awakens, however, she is too far away to join in the battle, and instead watches from a distance as everything fell apart. While she knew that it was unlikely she could have made much difference, she still feels extremely guilty and goes into hiding.

V: Slumbering Powers (during BOTW)

After having failed to aid the champions and princess during the fight with Calamity Ganon, Mel dedicated herself to intense study, wanting to strengthen her powers enough to make a difference when the princess’ Champion returned. Unfortunately, she’s mostly left to her own devices as her mother and aunts have all been sealed away. 

While Impa and Purah know of her existence, she rarely comes to see either of them, instead roaming Hyrule and seeking to hone her skills.

[fioreofthemarch]

Can I give you a few; just so you can pick one? I'd say either a 500 word description of your favourite Zelda location, snippet between BotW Link and hos father, or something funny between BotW Link and (Zelda or Rhoamet?)? Just if you want to do descriptions or interactions more :3

I’ll do the first one! For #2 and #3, keep an eye out for FTGU Ch 22 ;)

Where The World Ends

Words: 600 (i tried lol)Game: TLOZ BOTWPairing: Link/Zelda

They don’t need a map; they follow the sun. Their onlydestination is north.

It doesn’t matter what they find there – if they findanything. North is where the maps stop, where the world simply ends. Zelda can’tremember if it was her idea or Link’s.Perhaps a case of shared curiosity. Or a shared ethos. I go where you go.

Despite the romanticism of the mission, Link decides theyshould at least follow the roads. Akkala isthe most northern settlement in Hyrule, and while the trade routes there areovergrown from misuse, riding on grassy roads would be preferable to scalingmountains.

Even so, Akkala brings a storm so fierce that it seems like awarning. Each lightning strike crackles with the words; trespassers, turn back. Eachclap of thunder, each night of constant rain, and each step with a soaked boot tellsthem that nothing good will come of going north.

But when they sit together, a mug of tea or a bowl of stewshared between them, the only good they need is each other. Every mile northputs the world another mile south behind them. Every day together is one lessday lived apart. So they ignore the rainand continue following the sun.

Beneath them, the landbegins to swell, rising underfoot. It’s leading them somewhere.

“An apotheosis,” Zelda calls it, and when Link raises hiseyebrows at the word she clarifies with, “A peak. A culmination of a journey.”

“I sure hope so,” Link drawls.

They have long since passed Akkala Citadel now, and TarreyTown beneath it. The East Akkala Stables too are fading into the horizon. Only Robbie’s Ancient Tech Lab remains, and eventhat is not as far as they wish to go.

An early morning fog has descended around the Tech Lab,clinging to the cliff’s edge on which the Lab is built. Zelda decides not tobother the Sheikah researcher. They have come this far, they cannot stop now.Passing by the haphazardly constructed Lab, Link and Zelda approach the cliffs.

The ground crumbles as they walk, the clay made soft by therain, and when they begin to climb a way down the cliffs to escape the fog,Zelda nearly falls. For a moment she is plummeting down towards the watersbelow the cliffs when Link catches her,steadies her, and pulls her to safety.

There is no use in reckless discovery. Zelda decides they shouldwait, and see what the fog reveals. Atthe rising of the sun, the low clouds are split, and in the waters beyond agreat monolith makes itself known.

It rises out of the sea, maybe one hundred, or two hundredfeet high. Half a mile wide, or wider,and who knows how deep. Its walls areblack and foreboding; another warning. Zelda holds the Sheikah Slate to herface and spies through the scope – Guardians!Atop the walls and at the doorway.

“What is that place?” she murmurs, searching for it on themap. Lomei Labyrinth, it reads.  

“Dangerous,” Link answers for her. By his scowl she knows has made up hismind; this is as far north as they will go. “I can’t see how we could even getthere.”

But Zelda sees. Through the scope,she spies the updrafts that border the labyrinth, and at her belt, she has herown paraglider – in blue, to match the red one that belongs to Link.

They have travelled this far, across half the kingdom tofind this place; she will not let dangerstop them now. Zelda stands, and reaches for her paraglider, and before Linkcan protest, she leaps.

[gushingaboutgames]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

(As per usual, there may be some spoilers. I’ll keep them to a minimum, but most of my screenshots are from post-game, so be forewarned.)

Full disclosure: this is the only Zelda game I finished. I’ve also played Ocarina of Time, Link’s Awakening, and the first two NES games, but never finished them.

The Zelda series is long, storied, and with very few exceptions, the games have always been stellar. The formula established in OoT has, however, grown to become a little stale: “go to this dungeon and get this gadget so you can go to this other dungeon and get another gadget, rinse, repeat until Ganon is dead”. The series stood to benefit from a breath of fresh air, and with Skyrim still somewhat fresh in people’s minds, a change of direction to a more open-ended sandbox game has proven to be just the thing Zelda needed.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild represents not only a new direction for the Zelda series, but also a love letter to what made the original NES titles so great. Taking place hundreds of years after an evil force known as the Calamity Ganon ravaged Hyrule, players once more take on the role of Link as they re-awaken with no memory of anything that transpired before. With only Zelda’s voice to guide you, you must embark on a journey to defeat Ganon once more, and piece together your missing past.

From the moment the player steps out of the cave they awaken in, a wide panoramic view of Hyrule introduces you to the post-apocalyptic Hyrule, and it looks absolutely gorgeous, like something out of a Studio Ghibli film. In the centuries since Ganon ran roughshod over Hyrule, nature has reclaimed the land, and the vast majority of the world is covered in lush, verdant forests.

One of the many ways BotW pays homage to the NES Zelda games is the fact that, starting off, it’s hard as hell. You begin the game with only the ragged clothes on your back, and you must scavenge for anything that can be used to defend yourself against the monsters that roam the land. Your first weapon will be little more than a common tree branch, and from there, you’ll have to make do with the makeshift weapons and shields that the common monsters employ. You’ll always have to keep your eyes peeled for weapons, since every weapon and shield you pick up will eventually break from overuse. Higher-quality weapons hold up better than the clubs and chunks of wood Moblins use, but you’ll need to be wary of their conditions.

Thankfully, even if you break every weapon in your inventory, you will never be completely defenseless. Always at your side is a Shiekah Slate, an ancient handheld magical computer that can be used to create bombs. Throughout the early parts of the game, you’ll also acquire the ability to use your Slate to create blocks of ice to traverse across water, manipulate metallic objects via magnetism, and even freeze objects and enemies in place.

The Shiekah Slate represents one of the major deviations in the Zelda series’ settings, as this Hyrule has prominent magical technology scattered throughout. Most of the technology has been lost after the calamity that befell it, but one prominent feature that will plague you in your journey is a series of robotic monsters known as “Guardians”, powerful machines that you would do well to avoid early on, as they can kill you very quickly.

Another throwback to classic Zelda, especially the first game, is the fact that once you obtain the paraglider and leave the tutorial area, the entire game world becomes open to you. Those mountains in the distance? You can scale them! That desert to the west? You can walk there! If you want to make a bee-line for the final boss, you can do that too! (You’ll likely die horribly, but you have the option). You are given a vague direction to go into and a slew of story quests that will put you on the path to uncovering Link’s missing past, but you can ignore these and go your own way, if that is what you desire.

However, perhaps as formidable a foe as the monsters in Hyrule is Hyrule itself. You will need to pay heed to the environment around you and the local weather to survive. Fighting enemies on a cliff? Watch your step: if the monster gets a solid blow on you, it’s a long way down. If it rains, you’ll have a harder time climbing up slick surfaces, but the rain can muffle your footprints and let you kill enemies stealthily. Is there a thunderstorm in the area? Better drop off any metallic equipment you have, unless you wanna become a human lightning rod! And of course, you’ll need to be mindful of how you dress when travelling to the deserts or the mountain tops; without the proper garb, you’ll freeze or fry to death. If you have a fire-based weapon or a torch when travelling to cold environs, though, you can get around the need for insulated clothing.

Also key to your survival is cooking meals and brewing potions. Throughout the game, you’ll come across a variety of ingredients that can be used in cooking, from fruits and vegetables to body parts of monsters. Throwing these parts onto a cooking pot will allow you to cook them, with the interactions between different ingredients creating foods and potions with a wide variety of effects, such as adding spices to meat to make a meal that can keep you warm, or brewing a potion with a certain species of frog that will let you run more quickly. Finding different ingredients and experimenting with cooking can prove to be quite the time sink.

There is no shortage of ways to get around Hyrule; as previously mentioned, you get a paraglider early in the game that will let you soar through the air. Horses can also be found, tamed, and mounted, providing a quick means of transport across the realm.

Of course, no Zelda game is complete without dungeons, and BotW has no shortage of them. How they play out, however, has changed: previous Zelda games have a slew of elaborate dungeons to explore, but the dungeons in BotW are shorter and overall easier. These quests are divided into two categories; Shrines, small dungeons with simplistic puzzles that reward you with items that can be exchanged for increased health and stamina; and the Divine Beasts, four larger dungeons with more elaborate puzzles that end in a boss fight. Long-time Zelda fans may miss the original style of dungeon, but the ones present in BotW are quite fun to take on.

And of course, no Zelda game is complete without combat. While there is a relatively small selection of enemies to contend with in BotW, the ones you come across with are actually fairly smart, so you will need to outwit them rather than fight with brute force, especially since your weapons and shields have limited durability. Well-timed dodges and shield blocks can help you win many encounters, but the environment also provides a variety of ways to creatively dispatch your foes. Some enemy camps may have explosive barrels nearby which you can set off with a well-placed arrow or a bomb. Most monsters can’t swim, so if you can knock them into a nearby river or lake, you can take them out easily. If there’s any metallic objects nearby, you can use Magnesis to move it and beat enemies around, or even to yank away any weapons they have if they are made of metal.

One of the things I truly love about BotW is the feeling that every time I play, I discover something new. Hyrule is teeming in secrets, easter eggs, and little hidden things that are a joy to uncover. One thing I loved finding was the fact that dogs in towns can be fed meat, and if you feed them enough, they’ll dig up a hidden item for you. Using giant leaves to blow winds can also enable me to use primative boats to sail down rivers. And, of course, there’s the interesting little things you can do by taking advantage of the game’s physics engine, like setting up catapults.

This game was released on both Wii U and the Nintendo Switch. Typically, I’m weary of games released on previous generation systems when released on multiple consoles, but thankfully, BotW was developed originally for the Wii U. I’m pleased to say that the Wii U version of the game holds up very well; even if the graphics don’t look quite as nice, they are still very beautiful, and lag and framerate drops are not very common.

I cannot recommend this game enough. Even if you’re not a Zelda fan, Breath of the Wild is an excellent game to introduce you to the series, or simply to play by itself as a fun and immersive sandbox adventure.

[me-master-wizard]

Apparently there’s some confusion on Breath of the Wild’s place in the Zelda... 

Of course, most of this confusion, from what I can tell, is coming from a lot of theories that came out before the game. There’s nothing the matter with that, it’s only natural that people start thinking about these things the moment they get any information (I didn’t but I was avoiding spoilers like they were the bleedin plague). Anyway, now that the game is out and I can say I’ve played through it all, I think  the answer is pretty obvious.

There are no doubt some confusing things when it comes to the timeline of Breath of the Wild. For one, there are races existing in it that have never been seen existing together at the same time. We all had assumed that the Rito had evolved from the Zoras and were named after the famous princess because there were no Zoras in Wind Waker and that’s the only time we’ve seen Rito. Furthermore, the presence of Korks in place of the Kikori is something else we haven’t seen since Wind Waker. Is that it then? Does that mean BotW is in the WW timeline? Umm, no, please quickly take a stamina potion, hold your horses until they are all tamed and get them to a stable as quickly as possible before jumping to conclusions.

The truth is that the game overwhelmingly obviously takes place in the Twilight Princess timeline. Why? Because it is the only timeline canonically referenced to have happened in the game. During one of the memory sequences Zelda is performing a ceremony dubbing Link as the Hero of Hyrule and she directly mentions the hero’s resurrection in three previous games: Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess. There are references to other timelines through the loot to gained by using amiibo, but amiibo isn’t canon…I mean I admit that they aren’t confirmed not canon but I can’t see treasure chests falling from sky canon—also that would mean the spirit of Ganondorf (through the amiibo) helping you on your quest to kill himself which would make zero sense unless Ganondorf like, was disgusted about what Calamity Ganon had become and wanted to kill it with fire…but like, Ganondorf doesn’t exactly seem the type to care.

In that case though, how do all of these things that fit more with Wind Waker if this is in the Twilight Princess timeline. Well, I believe I have an explanation that might fit—Breath of the Wild actually takes place around the same time as Wind Waker, but in the Twilight Princess timeline. That’s why the races are the same, the same time has passed and so evolution has naturally taken its course in the same way it did in the Wind Waker timeline. At the same time though, isn’t Breath of the Wild supposed to be far in the future…like FAR in the future? Well, yes, but isn’t Wind Waker like really FAR in the future as well? Remembering back to the tapestry at the beginning of Wind Waker, after the defeat of Ganon at the end of Ocarina of Time, the Hyrule that is left behind when Link returns to the past lives in prosperity for a very long time, until the day when Ganon finally breaks the seal and returns to the world. Now let’s actually take a look at this part of the tapestry, don’t you notice anything a little bit funny about Ganon? He’s…well…really big, and kind of spectral, ghost like, etc. Now who does this remind us of? Are you thinking about Calamity Ganon? I know I am! Furthermore, the style of this tapestry and the style of the tapestry in Breath of the Wild depicting the first coming of Calamity Ganon are of an incredibly similar style—a style that doesn’t really appear in other parts of the games—even the tapestry at the beginning of Skyward Sword has an art style that is quite different. Many things would imply that these two tapestries were created at a period of history…but in two different timelines. In one of them, of course, Hyrule was ready for the coming of Ganon—they’ve found a hero, constructed great mechanisms and successfully seal the beast away…but in the Wind Waker timeline…something else happens; for some reason, despite the pattern of resurrection existing between the hero, the princess, and demise, there isn’t a hero—at least not one capable of defeating Ganon. This begs the question, why, and I believe it all comes down to the Sheikah.

The Sheikah are continuously proven to play a crucial role in the history of Hyrule. They’re the ones who record the legends and prophecies that, among other things, keep the memory of the threat of Ganon alive. In Breath of the Wild, it is the powerful Sheikah nation that is said to have built the Guardians and Divine Beasts which are essential to defeating Calamity Ganon the first time he appears, but now consider the ending of Ocarina of Time—the one in the future that leads up to Wind Waker—there are no Sheikah. Why? Because the last one left, Impa, is currently serving as the Shadow Sage. With the last of the Sheikah, eh…preoccupied, there is simply nobody to carry on the dying Sheikah race. Besides, there is also a strong theory that all the sages are actually dead in Ocarina of Time, so if Impa is dead then there is definitely no way for the Sheikah race to continue. Now, people may say that the Sheikah are equally doomed in the timeline which Link goes back to at the end of OoT, but that’s simply not true. The fact that Impaz exists in Twilight Princess proves that the Sheikah have lived on at least a little bit after Ocarina of Time, and proves that as long as there is one Sheikah remaining, the line can be continued on somehow; thus, making it possible for the Sheikah to become a powerful nation by the time of the tapestry in Breath of the Wild. Yet, as we’ve already discussed, in the Wind Waker timeline, they’re all gone. Remember, the Sheikah didn’t just play a role in sealing away Calamity Ganon in the BotW tapestry, they’re also the keepers of legends and prophecies. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense that the existence of a Sheikah tribe in one timeline versus them being extinct in another would make all of the differenced. Ganon’s return in the Wind Waker tapestry is such a…well…calamity because nobody expected it. There was nobody to tell them it was going to happen soon because the people who were in charge of keeping track of things like that were all dead. Thus, a hero was never found, no preparations were made, and when a Ganon strong enough to break through the gates of the sacred realm through brute force appeared on the scene, absolutely nobody was ready, and the world was left at the brink of ruin.

We know what happens next, answering the prayers of the people the Goddesses seal Hyrule away and sink it beneath the ocean. Eventually, the kingdom fades into myth. At this point, I don’t think there is that much of a question as to how Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild are connected—in both, it takes Ganon 10,000 years to break the seal at which point, both BotW and WW take place simultaneously. When you think about it, even the position of Hyrule castle in Wind Waker looks similar to the Hyrule Castle, surrounded by a similar giant mote in Breath of the Wild. We can’t completely tell the BotW and the Wind Waker topography are the same because you don’t really get to explore Hyrule in Wind Waker, but the wide expanse of a field, surrounded by mountains on all sides definitely fits the bill and even if the topography is somewhat different, well, in WW the kingdom has been frozen in time for thousands of years so it’s not like there’s been much erosion or mountain building going on. There is, however, one final hole…and I admit it is something that is bothering me—Ganondorf. In Wind Waker…the final boss is a human Ganondorf…not a Calamity Ganon. This, however, actually makes sense. Why? Because in the Twilight Princess’s timeline, Ganondorf’s body is dead. Now, his spirit lives on, that much of obvious—in fact, the moment I saw Ganondorf apparently “die” at the end of TP I started to call bull. Like, the Triforce of Power can’t just decide to leave Ganondorf. It doesn’t work like that. What instead is happening at the end is that Ganon’s body is killed, but Ganon’s soul is still tied to the Triforce of Power and thus survives. The Triforce of Power returns to the sacred realm, as is its natural state, but takes Ganon’s soul with it. Over time, Ganon becomes more powerful and eventually breaks through the gates to the sacred realm in the form of Calamity Ganon, but is immediately defeated as the tapestry shows. In the Wind Waker timeline, however, we see that Ganondorf’s body has lived on. So why does Ganon appear the way he does when he returns in the Wind Waker tapestry? Well…because that giant specter…that very essence of malic itself which has become known as Calamity Ganon is his most powerful form. In order to break out of the sacred realm, Ganondorf uses all the power he has gained over his time imprisoned there and breaks free using the all-powerful form of Calamity Ganon. Actually it is said that Dark Beast Ganon is more powerful but taking on that form sacrifices Ganondorf of his sanity and ability to control himself, something he would be unwilling to do, besides, the BotW tapestry proves that Calamity Ganon, a form which is still capable of thought and will, is powerful enough to break through the gates to the sacred realm. Thus, in the Wind Waker Tapestry, although Ganondorf does still have his body, he initially uses his Calamity Ganon form to break out of the sacred realm and into Hyrule. Then, after laying Hyrule to waste, he returns to his mortal form in order to rule over Hyrule for himself, because really, a human body is much easier to handle than being spectral incarnation of darkness itself (additional, speaking of spectral incarnations, it may be that Ganondorf used a less powerful version of his Calamity form when convincing Zant he was a god because like, the whole cloud thing and all). Ganondorf is then sealed away in this form and, save the puppet Ganon boss battle, continues to take this form until the end of Wind Waker.

So that’s basically it. Breath of the Wild actually fits pretty well into the timeline and actually fills in a lot of holes—like, how the heck does Ganondorf dying at the end of Twilight Princess make any sense having the Triforce of Power doesn’t work like that. As one more counterargument, I’ve heard many people theorize that Calamity Ganon isn’t connected to Ganondorf at all, but Urbosa, the Gerudo champion even says that she is looking forward to destroying Ganon because she heard that Calamity Ganon once took the form of a Gerudo….so like…naw, they’re the same thing.

If you read this, hey, well done, you either have more patience than 90% of the internet, or you really care about this topic. I hope it made sense. I really feel strongly about this theory and even if some of the ins and outs are a bit odd, I truly believe that the existence of Breath of the Wild existing sometime after Twilight Princess is irrefutable—I’m even willing to admit it might not be exactly parallel with Wind Waker temporally, although I think it’s possible and would explain all the different races appearing together having a similar evolutionary path. Zora’s not being in Wind Waker still is a bit confusing, but seeing that they are fish people living in a giant ocean while we are stuck to the islands, even if they did still exist, their failure to make an appearance may not be all that surprising. I had a lot of time writing this all up, and I hope someone got something out of this. See ya’ll later…or not…because this is the internet.

 Tl;dr: BotW takes place after TP in the TP timeline. For more information, read above.

[moonlight-fox]

I rarely finish Zelda games - and there’s no real correlation between how likely I am to finish a Zelda title and how much I’m enjoying it, my favourite prior Zelda title (A Link Between Worlds) and one of my least favourite prior Zelda titles (Phantom Hourglass) are the ones I’ve finished - and the only reason I didn’t expect Breath of the Wild to fall into that ‘unfinished bundle’ is that usually I'm happily playing, get my fill, and just... Stop, with Breath of the Wild’s ‘can get to final boss from as soon as you’ve finished tutorial’ thing I expected to be able to just stop when I got my fill, but via the final boss. Which I did, 130-135 (Hate. That way of reporting how long you’ve played a game for. If I didn’t know it did it in five hour increments I’d just know 130+) hours in, 107 shrines completed (plus 1 that I wasn’t able to figure out though I had managed to brute force the second treasure chest, plus a shrine quest that I’d long since given up on, and that shrine that the orb to get to is fiercely guarded by Impa known about but unsure how to get her to give me the orb), something like 170 Koroks found, and basically just... Got my fill of navigating the world doing side quests and gathering materials to upgrade gear (Though I wound up doing just that for about 10-20 hours, which... That’s not usually an activity I enjoy in games)

So... A couple of thoughts.

For Overworld exploration, this is exactly what I want from a modern Zelda game - Wide open space filled with things to do and ‘...what’s that over there...?’ distractions from whatever I was planning on doing, with mysteries that you find way before you figure out what you’re meant to do with them (More of that, please.) things you can stumble across via the map and spotting something that looks weird on it, things you can stumble across by seeing something shiny through your scope, etc.

Koroks were... Fine. A couple felt like anti-climaxes, and after you’ve got the Master Sword, Hyrule Shield and about 6 Royal Bows plus some Lynal bows there’s little point in expanding the inventory, but definitely the most interesting version of the now standard Gold Skulletta side-quest I think they’ve done.

Shrines were more motivating for exploration, but dear lord that radar can be misleading at times.

Even 130 hours in, during what I knew was likely to be my final session, but while I thought I might finish upgrading what I suspected was going to be the armour for final boss (I was right, it was, but I just went with one fully enhanced and two *** pieces of gear with it) that world managed to surprise me with content - the golf course. I was not expecting a golf course. Are there others? Maybe, it specified the location of the course, so...

As much as I moan about every hill having a Korok on it, there’s enough novelty in there among the Koroks and the Shrines that I could easily enjoy another game with the same design ethos but with a different world, be it Yet Another Dark Reflection Of Hyrule (c.f. Twilight Realm, Termina, Dark World, and Lorule), another continent, or whatever.

...But I think I’d rather play a nice, intimate, Zelda game between them - Something like a Majora’s Mask follow up as a palette clenser before going into another open world exploration title - Maybe a few towns in an area about the size of 1-2 of the regions, on a full week schedule that cycles but not in a literal time loop so it can change as you make a difference.

Speaking of Making A Difference, the Terray Town quest line felt really satisfying, even if none of the constituent parts of it were that interesting in their own right, because you could actively see an impact your actions were having on the game world.

Dungeons were... I still don’t know how I feel about them, even after doing all four main dungeons plus Hyrule Castle which felt far too integrated into the world to be a Zelda Dungeon. I enjoyed them, don’t get me wrong, and they’re some of the best ‘solve the dungeon by understanding the dungeon as a space’ I’ve seen in a Zelda title... But... I do miss Dungeons that it feels like you’re exploring rather than puzzling out, even with so open and exploration driven an overworld.

Great Fairies were always exciting to have discovered, though realizing their role in the game was... Something of a let down. Honestly I’m always disappointed when Great Fairies aren’t giving you cool new abilities or at least expanding your magic meter (...Not that Link has had a Magic meter since, what, Windwaker?)

Speaking of our Magical Tailors, the clothing system... Was probably the weakest major part of the mechanics for me. A bit too clumpy, and considering how perfect the system for dispalying current temperature and comfortable temperature ranges they had, seeing only a couple of types of clothing able to impact that and in very broad chunks felt like a missed opportunity. Essentially you had five temperatures in the regular climate system (Plus Death Mountain’s stuff), ‘very cold’ ‘cold’ ‘‘fine’ ‘hot’ ‘very hot’, and clothing to help you there just extended your range from fine down, up, or... Really weirdly if you combined some items, both. Combined with some gear being strictly better than others (once you got /any/ gear to the same level as regular hylian clothing, that was redundant, with even your good armor being rendered pointless by the ancient gear, since there were ‘equally defensive, but has special abilities too’ for those), which is a shame because most of the gear was quite effective at being incomparables, and once you started to get some sets to ** the game really strongly encouraged you to not mix and match unless you were just going all out defense (At which point, for me, for the final 50 hours or so of gameplay it was Ancient Curiass, Amber Earrings, and one of my 20 defense leg wear options, usually the ones that also gave me warm because once I got those to 20 defense what was the point in the Hylian trousers?

Overall I think this is my new favorite Zelda title, but it might settle equal second with Windwaker and Majora’s Mask rather than above Link Between Worlds, or between Windwaker and Majora’s Mask, and Link Between Worlds. It’s either a new favorite, or second favorite, though, but if it’s second favourite there is a possibility that it will be in a three way tie for second favorite, and the overall experience was ultimately incredibly satisfying.

Now I can start watching that 10 or so hours of BotW videos I have queued up on my watch later on Youtube, which doesn’t include any LP content, whee. And the timing of my finishing the game ties in nicely with the recent release of Persona 5, too.