#skyward sword and totk were too much man

[a-little-lostmoon]

some LU headshots in my style for personal reference. subject to change bc drawing consistently is a bitch but overall i think i’m happy w them! (ignore the comic/writing idea in the upper right corner it may or may not be made into a full think idk yet—)

typed notes for each lu member + a little extra below cut

wild—

oval eyes

rounder oval ((ish)) face

amber earrings

healed scarring

androgynous

i tried to reference the boys’ canonical character models to individualize their features more. i love botw and totk sm but personally i’m not the hugest fan of the way the characters look for it? even so, i think the rounder sort of eye shape works really well for my wild

his colors specifically i drew to be a bit more sunset kissed/orangeish bc i was referencing a wild photo in which the time was sunset. thats abt it. but i think it’s really pretty on him so i’m probably just keeping that whenever i draw wild

warriors—

cheek bones/jawline

rounder ears

pointy eyes ((eyeliner that could stab a person))

cheek scar bc i felt like it

i stole away some of wars’ side fringes, forgive me i couldn’t decide whether i wanted them to cover up his jawline and chickened out. if anyone actually read the comic thing you’ll see smth abt the old man and wars talking abt how his hair parted to the other side of his face during the war. i made it to ‘vent my frustrations’ bc i drew his hair part referencing HW photos of link instead of LU wars and it’s now become my headcanon.

his hair color is vivid bc HW color pallet is pretty damn vivid and his eyes & earrings are a deeper blue to match his scarf. color coordination!

anw he’s a pretty boy so i made him pretty — that’s pretty much the rest i have to say abt that

time—

tired eyes

longest ears

(slight) rbf

both time & legend have half circle/oval eyes ((kind of. at least that’s what i tried to go for to give them a more worn/serious look))

i’m not the best with differentiating ages. i tried to make him look a bit more worn/oldest but i also wanted all of them to still carry some of that classic pretty boy link look. don’t have much else to say but he has the longest/angular ears bc fairy boy. let’s pretend four’s don’t look longer than his i drew him later and forgot

twilight—

<-takes more features from malon ((who i haven’t drawn yet so you don’t have any reference on that))

pretty boy face (wasn’t intentional but it is what it is)

twilight princess link is v pretty. twilights usually one of the more rugged (for lack of a better term) looking ones bc he’s among the taller ones/apart of the “adult” squad but i accidentally made him very pretty looking. oops. don’t know if that will remain consistent for him if i draw him more so we shall see

him and time share less features than i might’ve wanted? you can see a bit of time’s jaw in the way his face curves but overall they don’t share many features. again, he takes more after malon. but their hair textures are incredibly similar if that means anything

gave him jade studs bc they reminded him of midna and are practical enough that he can just keep them in the whole time (bc he will lose them or forget abt them if he takes them off)

sky—

rounder face

big eyes

lips

big ears

his hair color was a bitch to get right im not sorry i had to say it color is so hard to work with. in any case! skyward sword link has bigger looking eyes cus of the style and i just ran w that. his earrings are magenta to match sun’s dress but look red when the light catches them right (or wrong ig bc they look red in dim light too) just bc i realized his earrings were red to match his outfit/crimson.

sky and the next three (everyone sans wind) probly look the least off their character models

legend—

oval iris

full rbf

multiple piercings ((this is important for u to know))

longer narrow face & features

boy’s a strawberry blond bc i said so. and also legend purple eyes propaganda. i don’t know where exactly that originated but like i love it and im on board. he also has purple stud earrings he always keeps in — curious, isn’t it. he probably has more than i gave him but well, thats all i gave him. it gets the picture across. hc that legend realized he couldn’t get more fingers for his rings but he could get more piercings that could handle jewelry that did almost exactly the same thing. practicality!

also i couldn’t decide on legend’s hair length. its all hidden by that hat of his so i just… didn’t draw the back half portion of his hair. does that make my legend bald at the back of his head? you decide.

hyrule—

wide face narrow chin

freckles!!!

bigger earlobes

the earlobes is me projecting /hj but i tried to reference the og link’s face shape for him which idk if i like yet. he has freckles and more accent colors in his hair and eyes which is a subtle thing but a sorta maybe reference to his fairy magic. no piercings for him! i forgot them/didnt see them on og link and can’t really imagine when hyrule would ever get the time to pierce them so he and wind can do that together eventually to bond. legend will do it probly — he obviously has the experience and wild can’t be trusted (offered to pierce winds ears with a knife canonically)

wind—

big eyes

void eyes

big ears but rounder than skys

soft face

fluffy hair

wind’s 100 yard stare *does* things to the chain but none of them tell him that because he’d definitely use it to freak people out. i couldnt decide between going lighter sun bleached hair wind or bright blinding yellow toon link hair so i kind of meshed them together to create that. tried to make him the youngest looking

four—

symmetrical angles ((and then i drew a polygon quadrilateral bc thats the shape i used as a reference)) for cheeks and eyes

minish feather ((earring))

minish ears & nose

hime bangs

yk the picture of a minish that comes up when googled? thats what i used as a reference for his features. ears specifically, nose somewhat. four’s eyes are usually the greyish hazel color you get from mixing all of their colors together but i liked the split look for this piece more. his hair color is also wind’s but inverted so wind’s lights are four’s highlights and his darks make up the brunt of the base color as a slight reference to how it’s occasionally theorized/hc that wind is four’s descendant.

and the hime bangs were bc i wanted a little more “link side fringe” variation and i thought the sort of straight cut looked nice. hime bangs are not the right term tho bc he parts them to the side and doesn’t have that straight cut on his forehead but i’m too lazy to fight the correct term

— thank u for reading, go hydrate and eat if you have not <3

[ashleyleygraves]

If I were to make the next Zelda game, what would I change?

Bring back underwater traversal and real Water Temples.

If you were to think about any iconic Zelda item that isn't a weapon, you'd most likely think about the hook/clawshot. I like that we can climb, but I miss the claw/hookshot. Personally, I'd have the Skyward Sword climbing mechanics where you can climb a little bit but not much, but make it so that the hook/clawshot can go on any surface. Even better is a double claw/hookshot so you can swing around like Spider-Man

Linkle. That's right, from the original Hyrule Warriors spin-off game. It would be cool if we got to choose to play as Link or Linkle at the beginning of the game. Make it so that Link can't get into Gerudo Town without a disguise like in Breath of the Wild, but also make it so Linkle can't get into Goron City without a disguise, that way it's even and there's no major advantage.

If Linkle can't be an option, I'd have Link be a different race than Hylian. Tears of the Kingdom already teased us with this concept with the Ancient Hero. Before TotK, the closest we got was Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask Link who thought he was a Kokiri but found out that he was in fact Hylian and also had ghost masks to shapeshift into other races. (Or you could also add Linkle as this race too. But I think that's a bit much)

20 hearts OR harder enemies. With BotW, Link had 30 hearts. In literally every other Zelda game he had 20. With 30 hearts, it was a decent change in normal mode, but in Master Mode, it made it essential. Enemies did more damage and evolved from their normal mode counterparts. In TotK, Link has 40 hearts and no Master Mode. The enemies do basically the same damage as in BotW's normal mode and sometimes even far less with the decayed-unfused weapons. So I would make the series go back to 20 hearts or have Master Mode as the default difficulty.

A new fast travel system. Look, shrines were a good idea. Especially for a fast travel system, but if we're getting rid of the 10-20 extra hearts how I would do it, we need something else. For this, let's turn to Skyrim for just a second. The fast travel system there is broken because every cave, tower, dungeon, etc. is a fast travel point, but let's look at the towns/cities and important landmarks: they're fast travel points once we discover them. So let's turn those things into fast travel points in this hypothetical Zelda game. Now, what about the less significant parts of the map? Well, a few train stations around the map with a train. I mean, trains are in the Zelda universe. Spirit Tracks literally is about that, so it wouldn't be a big deal. I had this idea back in 2021, and now even fucking Fortnite has a train around a map with a few train stations in random spots.

This one will make a bit more sense if you read my "If I were to make a Zelda game, what would I keep?" post. Heart Pieces/Stamina pieces. You could go the normal route with 4 pieces makes a full thing or go Twilight Princess style with 5 pieces makes a full thing. These would probably be given as quest rewards in quests that are Side Adventures rather than Main Quests or Side Quests. Side quests would give you rupees or a rare item and Main Quests will give you more story progression.

Bring back the "one-and-done" races like the Kokiri, Twili, Minish, Zonai, Lokomo, etc.

[luna-lovegreat]

Hello!! What's your favorite Zelda game?

- hero-of-the-wolf

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Skyward sword :)

I uhh am kind of nervous to share but you asked so ima rant about my life and why I love skyward sword :))

I was the youngest child, which leads to some problems with being included- but with video games I was actually ok with that. I was always a coward- if a character so much as had red eyes I would have nightmares and not be able to sleep for uhhh a bit. So movies and video games gave me wayyyy too much anxiety. Jump scares and being surrounded were terrifying to me- I also felt I wasn't good at video games with the controls. But I did like spending time with my siblings!

Anyways my mom (love her) was one of the adults as a kid who thought video games were evil- she didn't necessarily buy the theory of it rotting our brains, but she did want us to get outside a lot. But one Christmas we did get a wii... and skyward sword :DDD

We played games together- I did the gaming sometimes, but it was mainly my siblings. I always had thoughts/suggestions on the dungeons lol. However we didn't really have enough attention spans as kids to finish it. It was funny because it became a kind of pattern- my siblings would decide to play skyward sword! :D and we would start the game and make it to like the first dungeon and stop XD. We still all remember and have the entirety of skyloft and the opening to first temple + ghirahim boss memorized, but us actually beating the game was a no. The furthest we got on a run was getting the water dragons scale, at which point we enjoyed swimming drowning link until we ran out of steam again.

But I was still so scared of playing video games myself- there was umm. A lot of screaming and panic whenever I was attacked, which was mildly annoying to my family. (Child me was chaotic but we love her <3)

Cut forward years and we ended up stuck in a house together during Covid... at which point my mom threw away all previous ideas of video games being bad and bought us a bunch XD. Then there came a point as (college) adults that we all wanted and bought Switches- my brother says he started the Nintendo "switch revolution" in our family since he was the first

My sister helped me a lot. She was the one who showed me animal crossing as a chill video game, and how I could calmly catch the scorpions and tarantulas in that game (eeeeeeeh). I watched her play botw on wii u and she helped me beat (eiffjjdfkjfkf scary) thunderblight ganon without panicking. After that I decided to have they were fun! Fights still give me anxiety sometimes, but overall I'm actually good at it- which I hadn't expected lol

And then I got skyward sword hd on switch. And this was like. The moment for me I started really loving video games. I played through like me and my siblings used to do (nostalgia man). And I fully finished a video game. And obviously sobbed over sksw Zelink. Then I helped my dad through it- we also played games with him (and he is not the best at it), so me and my dad played through sksw in a summer.

I love all Zelda games are so so good- I've played a lot like the og legend of Zelda, botw, totk, twilight princess- and I just got wind waker and am excited to play it :D

So I love skyward sword as my favourite video or Zelda game ever because of nostalgia- it was my first Zelda game and has a lot memories for me from when we were kids :)

:)

I hope I made sense idk if all of my words were understandable. And also thank you so much for asking I love you forever and might melt whenever asked about myself fifdigjdockng sorry for ranting so long

[skyloftsword]

Ranking Zelda stories because I am bored

Happy Easter and Trans Visibility Day! I'm bored and wanted to rank the stories of the 3D Zelda games. Spoilers of course. Ranked from favorite (top) to weakest (bottom). I also won't be including WInd Waker because I never beat it (not the game's fault, I bought HD during the Switch's lifecycle and got tired of the Wii U gamepad). A lot of my problems are just personal gripes and not really criticisms.

Tears of the Kingdom: Controversial placement, I know (I have been literally harassed SEVERAL times over this take, I am disappointed in humanity). It has its issues, but like, what thing DOESN'T have flaws? Everything is flawed, it came free with your entertainment. The plot beats for Tears of the Kingdom are absolutely insane. The Imprisoning War and the events leading up to it all felt connected and relevant to each other and the events in the present. Not to mention watching stuff like the Molduga memory and the Imprisoning War itself was extremely hype. Seeing the interactions between Sonia, Rauru, Zelda and Mineru got me really attached to these characters. The events in the present also feel meaningful and urgent. Your friends from the previous game are ACTUALLY in trouble in this game and not just being stalked by a giant robot that's doing nothing. The Sages also felt more connected than the Champions ever did. The camera not being locked behind a backtracking quest this time was cool too. Overall, this game's story hit the hardest, especially with the Dragon Tears quest.

Skyward Sword: Great story with a great cast. Backtracking is a bit of a pain and could have been handled better, but I love the events of the game. Groose's character development is truly excellent. Link and Zelda having a connection also assisted in making the adventure hitting harder.

Twilight Princess: As a former Twilight Princess hater, I would like to apologize to this game. I had a biased hatred against the game because I thought it was just TP fans that were toxic when in reality its just the Zelda fanbase as a whole that has a massive toxicity problem (not all Zelda fans are toxic). The whole beginning segment with Ordon Village and the Twili Realm sets up Link's quest perfectly. The story as a whole is really great until Ganondorf. Ganondorf in this game is genuinely really weak as a character, same with Zelda. They at least have the manga to help them but still...

Majora's Mask: I love the concept for this game's story and for the most part its really well done. Its just short and a lot of the interesting stuff is in the side quests. This is totally fine because it helps get me invested in the world, but most side quests are just... meh. Anju/Kafei, the grandma stories and the Romani Ranch quest lines (including the Ranch Race with the Gorman Brothers) are really great though.

Breath of the Wild: Man... This game's backstory is SO, SO, SO GOOD. Like wow is it good. I just HATE how its told. Stuff that would be cool to see is NEVER shown. Like why not show us Zelda and Link vs Calamity Ganon? Not to mention the Camera backtracking quest... I will say, at least it made the Champion's Tunic plot relevant. TotK should've made the Leathers important. Also the Divine Beast quests just don't sit right with me (outside of the Gerudo one, that one was really great). The Divine Beast fights are incredible though, they make up for the atrocious dungeon bosses.

Ocarina of Time: Too boring and unoriginal for me. Yes, TotK takes a lot from BotW's style of story, but it at least builds upon it and has unique aspects like Crisis at Hyrule Castle and Mineru's entire questline. I do like how Ganondorf mocks Link, especially in the Forest Temple, as it makes him more relevant. Ganondorf waiting until Zelda gave Link the Light Arrows just was incompetent though.

Alright, that's my ranking of each 3D Zelda story I have an opinion on. I very much expect disagreement (especially with TotK) and that's fine, just please do not attack me over this stuff. Its just opinions. I've been harassed way too much over my takes on TotK, its tiring.

[zelda-photography]

TOTK Trailer 3 Analysis

Alright, let's do this. There was a whole lot in this trailer, and just so you know i'm not going to be dissecting every second or everything that made me go 'oh cool!' Like, the rocket is way cool but I won't be providing a picture. Anyway, without further ado, here we go!

I really liked seeing the little robot guys doing stuff on the island, especially this little one fending off a chuchu :D I think it adds a lot to the understanding of the role of these robots

Not sure what's up with all the mushroom stuff but I love it! I like seeing that the villages are going to be changed :D

Yay, settlements! People trying to move into this area! A shame that the castle is gone now. I also really like the birds on the old fountains.

Big round rock is very interesting. It reminds me of the speed boost things in skyward sword, so that's my theory on what this one does.

Big thing rising from the Gerudo desert. It's probably going to end up just being Ganondorf's castle, but I really hope it's Arbiter's Grounds because that place horrifies and fascinates me.

Presumably a back shot of Ganondorf, and I gotta say I love his hair all glowing and crazy like that. He seems to be watching something explode, but I'm not sure what? Baby theory with the only proof of 'idk it'd make a modicum of sense', maybe it's the great plateau he's destroying?

Putting these two together since they seem to go together - ways to get below ground? Very interesting. Not psyched about having to wear the lame lava armor again, though. (and when I say go together, I realize this is probably an underground cavern in the Eldin area and not in Lanayru)

Flying ship flying ship let's go!!! Looks way cool and makes me wonder who is manning it. Robots? Monsters? The Zonai???

Floating balls of water are cool, but more than anything make me wonder if there will be a better swimming mechanic, maybe even diving?

Mostly took this picture because I like the red bird outfit Link is wearing. Presumably it'll slow his fall more than other clothes, but I also like the reference to the crimson loftwing.

Finally, the being we've been seeing on the wall carvings and ruins. What's her deal? Is this what all Zonai look like? She looks rad that's for sure. I've heard some people say she looks like a lizard, but personally I think she looks more like the three dragons.

At first, this is kind of a boring shot, until I remembered that Hyrule castle probably was very much destroyed in the final battle of BotW. Was it repaired? By the little magic sparkles around, I'd guess either Zelda is repairing it with magic, or this is some kind of memory.

Finally, the girl. Strange dais she's standing in front of, I'm so worried for her.

The Baby! Teba really said 'I'm too old for this shit' and is having his baby fill in for him! Rip Teba you were, well, a normal guy opposed to all the other champions. Here's to your cool kiddo.

I think I said this in my analysis of the last trailer, that I thought Link's vehicles would be able to transport Hylians, and I feel soooo vindicated right now! Yes, helping the citizens! I love it!

This is ridiculous and I love it. Just us with our dumb machine against a bunch of monsters. Reminds me of that woodcutting machine from beauty and the beast, I think because of the little arm making kind of chopping motions

BIG FUCKING MONSTER ATTACKING THE LITTLE BABY! I'M SO EXCITED FOR BOSS BATTLES NOW!

No idea what the little magatama is still other than 'probably what they mean when they say tears'

I have mixed opinions on ganondorf's design, but overall I think I like it :) He's green still, which is a little weird, but I guess he is technically a zombie, and damn did he rehydrate well.

Putting these two together to make a point (may also make it it's own post too) that I think Zelda isn't just wearing the above woman's outfit, I think the above woman is Zelda, the one from 1000 years ago. (I'll also mention now that what if the male voice talking to Zelda is some version of Ganondorf?)

At one point I was going to make a video about TotK theories, and one involved getting to fight with civilians. It was more of an escort idea in there, but hey, still looks exciting! I love all these people who are stepping up to the plate and aren't just going to let another calamity hit them!

Riju haircut! Sidon is King! Kind of weird that we say three of the four races, really hoping the gorons are doing okay. I'm really excited to see how the powers and strengths of the allies have evolved. From the footage, you already get the idea that Riju has started to use Urbosa's lightning powers.

Gleeok! We've all seen him coming, but hey, he's officially here! That's pretty rad!

Hard to see, but we're getting more of the wall mural thing, this time featuring ganondorf. I hope this thing will be, like, a physical thing in game so we can look at the whole thing.

And finally Zelda. My bets are that she's a) going to be found sleeping on that thing, very similar to Zelda 2's ending or that b) she's going to end up being sacrificed on it :(

[bluesdesk]

I've had a story in my drafts for a really long time.

I have so many things to do for university, projects, exams and so on, and I don't have time to do anything else, but once the session has ended, I'll surely complete it! Do you remember this post?

The story I have is going to be the full plot of this concept! I have the first part ready, here's a snippet!

Link and Zelda had just found some ruins under the castle. Zelda suggested to investigate, as always. She really loved doing researches, being a scholar, and now that she was a teacher too, for all those kids, she was really, and seriously, happy. He often found himself thinking about their own possible future kids, but didn't tell her, they had just gotten together. When she asked him if they could share the house, he couldn't and of course wouldn't ever want to say no. Maybe it was a bit small for them, Zela needed a study room for all her stuff, and he surely needed more space for his weapons and shields. He should find a better one. Maybe he could ask Hudson and Rhodson. He had to have a trip to Tarrey once this research under the castle was finished! The walls were covered in murals, depicting various eras. People descending from the sky, people during what looked like a ceremony, a mural depicting a festivity and tiny beings, the first appearance of Ganondorf, the era of the shadows, and the era of the huge war. Where the walls didn't have murals, statues almost as tall as the ceiling decorated the rooms and corridors. They depicted a man with mustaches and a long tunic, and a woman with a dress and tattoos. They also found one different statue, too damaged to be recognizable, but it surely wasn't that man or that woman. Both Link and Zelda guessed it must have been destroyed on purpose by their ancestors. Maybe, it was the menace of their time, like Calamity Ganon for them.

A set of stairs and a really narrow corridor made them go even further down. They found themselves on a balcony thing in a room with a huge green light the shape of a hand, gripped in what looked like a really old dead body, skin and bones, but with long hair. Zelda wanted to take some photos, get a sample of hair from the body maybe to know how old it really was, and mostly she wanted to know if the hand was pure light magic or maybe it was physical too. Link told her it was dangerous, she didn't listen. He, while reaching for her, shouted the phrase again. "I SENSE DANGER! DON'T GO!" It was too late. The dead body was somehow revived, the light hand disappeared and... she was falling. He hadn't saved her, he had jumped off to the void in which his princess, scholar, other half, fell, and the hand appeared right behind him and brought him back to the surface. The Master Sword was broken, and he had lost an arm in the process thanks to what looked like an enhanced malice Zelda had called "gloom". Link woke up and found himself in what looked like a temple. It was just a room, a huge round room with tall walls. There was a pedestal there, that looked pretty much like the one for the Master Sword, but older. Though, there was nothing there, other than some torches around the pedestal. Feeling lost, he impulsively tried to wield the broken sword, but as soon as he looked at himself for the first time, he noticed he had only his underwear on, and his right arm was gone. Instead, he had what looked like a prosthesis, but filled with the same light magic of the hand. He tried to move it and it worked. It looked like an old sheikah tech but it wasn't even a bit rusty, and he could sense it was made to contain more power than what it actually had. What was that? Who did that? Who saved him and literally replaced his injured and hopeless arm with an old but new sheikah tech?

Suddenly, a voice sounding like an old man got his attention. He had seen spirits before, but this... he couldn't see anyone. The voice presented itself as Rauru, and Link knew he had read about someone named Rauru somewhere... right! Zelda said he was the first king of Hyrule! Rauru informed Link that place was once adored and praised by every population. There, the first hero, chosen by the goddess Hylia, had wielded the Goddess Sword for the first time, and forged her into the Master Sword, the sword that banishes evil. During the eras, the original temple, as well as another huge one, the Sealed Temple, got buried and later the temple of Time was built over them. Now, Link was in the Depths, under the Great Plateau. Rauru invited him to go out and look at the magnificence of the temple. A huge statue of the goddess, that, while not having any power source, emanated a celestial light, enough to see the building perfectly, and even clear a portion of ground around it. The Sealed Temple was in front of it, the light of the goddess temple illuminated it too. There was grass, there were flowers around both the temples, but where the light didn't reach, there were only cold stones and dirt. All around, in the distance, he could see gloom encrusted to tall stone and dirt walls that seemed to reach the top, the "ceiling". And probably monsters, but he wasn't in shape to fight. He wasn't still acquainted with the hand, and arm of course, and his only weapon was the decayed sword. As Link could see, there was no exit from there. The entrances to the depths, as he had had time to see before the research, were huge chasms covered in gloom, too high to be reached by anyone, and even if he did manage to reach them, the gloom would have killed him in few seconds. One of the chasms was about in the centre of the enclosed area.

Right there, standing on the floor, was a strange-looking smaller statue. This one, unlike the temples, was rusty and some pieces were clearly missing. The bottom of the statue looked kind of like a stand for something, but the subject was missing, and Rauru instructed Link to go find a stone bird. After finding the stone bird, he had to put it back on the stand. Link couldn't do anything but accept. The bird statue was restored, but still old and without any sign of power. Rauru's voice instructed him to find 3 stone tablets. they were once used by the very first hero to create beams of light, capable of breaking the cloud barrier and activate the statues. Now, their power had surely faded out, but maybe the power of the 3 of them combined could at least make him go back to the surface. Link finally had to fight some monsters with the broken sword and with what he could find around the area. It felt like the beginning of his first adventure, like if he was still unexperienced, goofy, and so damn tired. He had to do it. It was an enclosed space, but big enough to host one huge Goddes Statue Temple and the Sealed Temple, and a vast space around. Some enemies had decayed but still functional weapons, he stole them. The 3 tablets were found in different spots. When he found them all, Rauru told him to go put them in the Goddess Temple. A stone panel with a missing rectangular piece emerged from the ground. The tablets were put together and they fitted. Outside, a blue light beam had appeared right in the middle of the chasm, bathing the bird statue with holy light, it was now as good as new and ready to be used. A treasure chest appeared there, with his paraglider, sewed and taped with white and sky blue pieces of cloth and sewing threads. That style was surely from another culture.

Link couldn't imagine the power of that light beam was still strong enough to launch him right to the sky. With the help of his paraglider, he landed safely on a floating island. There, he saw the source of Rauru's voice. The first king's ghost was exactly like one of the statues he and Zelda had seen under the castle. The white mustache, the long orange vest, the wise face. He was now standing before him. He could see a huge palace on another island. Somehow, he knew he had to go there. Rauru nodded. That palace was once the home of a sky tribe that refused to go to the surface when Hylia told them to, and now it was a temple, to remember those who gave their life to protect the land and what's good, from the depths to the sky. Link had to go there, in that temple as old as the kingdom itself. Someone was waiting for him in there. Though, the sky islands weren't reachable with a simple jump, he had to build devices. Rauru informed him that the construct hand was in fact able to hold more power, and increase its abilities. It wasn't just a hand. The sheikah, with the help of the Hylians and some familiar robots, the scrappers or, as they renamed them, the constructs, had built devices infused with Hylia's holy power. They had no equals, because Hylia herself had given them her power time ago, in her mortal form. Only the sages could restore his new hand, as Hylia had transferred each facet of her powers to them, chosen by herself and the 3 goddesses. Rauru told Link he could restore one power, being the original sage of light, and moreover, her son.

[shannonsketches]

Do you think that Oot/WW/TP Ganondorf is the same as TotK Ganondorf?

I know the former are all stated to be the same man (WW coming from the Adult timeline and TP coming from the Child timeline) but for some reason TotK doesn't feel the same guy.

I could be digging too much, but while they seem to have similar goals, they have different mannerisms. Not sure if this makes sense, but Split Ganon seems more like he plots while TotK schemes. Again, no idea if that makes sense, that's just how my brain likes to brain.

And I know this is probably a stupid comparison to make, especially since it was probably just to save money, but ancient Gerudo in TotK have pointed ears while Ganondorf’s are round, while every other time they all seem to have rounded ears (for the most part) which leads me to believe that even the past of TotK is set way after the known timeline, where Gerudo have been pairing with Hylians for a long while, while TotK Ganondorf is another reincarnation of Split Ganondorf/Demise.

(Also, if you would like me to stop sending in headcanon/theory rambles, please let me know. I tend to ramble to people I like, but I can stop if you want me to.)

Oh this is a great question!! I don't think it's a stupid comparison at all, and I always love headcanon rambles. It is the foundation on which this house is built lol So, you're right! From a strictly non-narrative perspective, it most likely was simply to save money on models that only show up a couple of times in cut scenes. Narratively, it may also have been intended just kept consistency with BotW's Gerudo designs which were meant to be far (10k+ years iirc?) in the future (which I, like you, initially wrote off as a side-effect of them having to cross genes with Hylians for so long, same with their bright green eyes where in OoT they were all yellow/golds), and even assuming our genetics theory is correct, from a gameplay perspective it might have been expensive and confusing for the very young players who aren't quite old enough to be thinking about evolution.

But because Ganondorf's model is 1) Being Debuted and 2) getting a lot more reuse, his ears were probably specifically rounded to reflect his previous designs (and also probably also to help make him Very Distinctly Not Like The Others).

To answer your first question: Yes and No.

I don't see BotW or TotK as a prequel or a sequel, I read it as a consolidation. Because there are 37 Years of Zelda Games, a myriad of confusing timelines, and just a metric shit ton of lore that constantly contradicts the lore in other games (which happens when you have 37 years and a bunch of different creative teams working under one title), when I played BotW the first time, I didn't think it felt like a Zelda game at all.

To me, it felt like an open world mechanics flex from Nintendo that happened to be Zelda-themed (which, Nintendo more or less confirmed that it was, from a design standpoint). It's a good game, don't get me wrong! But the fact that you could find items and references to ALL of the timelines, and ALL of the games, kind of made me feel like this was less of a chronological installment and more of a 'stop asking us about the timelines goddammit here take this this is the timeline now' from Nintendo. (In fact I believe in an interview "This is the end of all of the timelines" was their answer haha)

So when TotK came out, and it basically updated OoT's base plot to include Twilight Princess and Wind Waker and Skyward Sword and several other games all together to make it all One Story, with One Beginning, and One Ending, my takeaway was that it's not a chapter in the timeline at all, but a patchwork of all of the Zelda games, so older players can have all of these easter eggs and brand new players can have a big epic story that begins and ends in two games instead of nineteen games.

I saw someone in the tags comment on another of my posts about this that they were frustrated by my saying that BotW/TotK are a good place for new players to start, because the earlier games are MUCH more straight-forward, and that's true! Because they're not worried about fitting all this nostalgia and reference in. But I don't mean that in the sense that TotK is The End All Be All of Zelda games and there's no point playing the earlier ones. You ABSOLUTELY SHOULD play the earlier ones, they're good stories and they're really fun and there's a lot of good juicy lore to extract. I mean it in the sense of someone becoming interested in comics because you found a blorbo in the MCU, and now you can go back and read those comics and Leo_Point.Meme at what they used for the movies while also being able to have all of this much more focused comic book lore you can enjoy.

ANYWAY!! tl;dr, IMO he is and is not the same Ganondorf. He's not any one of them, he's all three at the same time.

[summertimemusician]

*reading the Four Swords Manga to refresh myself after taking yet another break from the Minish Cap figurine hunt, does a double take and almost drops coffee mug*

So was anyone going to tell me Four is the only Link with at least one alive parent still around who actually did something , or was I just meant to find this out by myself when going on a Zelda binge in preparation for TOTK?

Like, this man is a knight that gets captured and brainwashed by Vaati, duels his son thinking he is Shadow, but manages to snap out of it by throwing a dagger at Vaati while disguised as Zelda. He tries to curb Four's reckless tendencies and to remind him not to rush headlong into situations without his allies and to keep a cool head, it's not much but let that sink in like holy mother of Farore-

He couldn't have know that Link was really himself, he couldn't have know that Vaati wasn't actually the princess, yet he actually takes the gamble because even if he is exasperated by his son and isn't around much he actually cares. Honestly it arguably may not be much and their relationship will likely have some strain due to the brainwashing deal but it's something.

Just, let that sink in. Four is shockingly lucky in that department so good on him, him, Twilight, Time and Legend were arguably the luckiest in the parental figure/role model department (if we count Sir Raven for the time he was around after Link's uncle is gone, which I am doing so by the way, Legend really looked up to him and he's his ancestor and actually very hands on with helping him in the Oracle of Ages manga, a rarity in Zelda in general really and his uncle was also really nice. The only one who was quite as lucky to have a parent/role model actually help a lot in the plot was Twilight, because Time's Deku Tree dies pretty early in during Ocarina of Time after raising him with the Kokiri before the quest and thus can't offer him support and is, ya know a tree, kind of limited in action there). Maybe Wind too if we count Linebeck (this man stabs Bellum for the kid even though he's terrified and is disgusted with himself after the brainwashing for attacking him, honestly props and respect to the sea rat), I think we can also count Spirit if he's around due to Alfonzo? Though I haven't played Spirit Tracks in a bit so I could be wrong. Anyway, he's pretty darn decent and involved in the plot rather than just shoving it onto the Link's shoulders for one reason or another (unlike SOME PEOPLE. *Side eyes Gaepora in Skyward Sword for doing the bare minimum even though his daughter is missing and he's implied to have raised Link/Sky with her, side eyes King of Red Lions, side eyes BOTW's King Rhoam because he really wasn't helpful at all to either Zelda or Link and only did the bare minimum for the later, side eyes OOT's king for not believing is own daughter until Link/Time was already traumatized by the events of the game and coming in to spill the tea, side eyes- actually no, Dot's/Minish Cap and Four Swords' Zelda's father is actually half decent.), They could form a little support group or something.

... Now I want a fic where the Chain actually meets the guy and just, gets a lot of whiplash that "Wait a second one of us is NOT an adopted orphan in some fashion?", That or he just immediately integrates himself as a secondary father figure for some of the Chain members, give Time a bit of a break for a change in wrangling these chaotic green clad menaces (affectionate), someone to bond with Rusl and we can know someone other than Twilight has a decent father figure still around. That or the bigger and arguably more comedic whiplash of meeting Sir Raven, who looks like a young Time with hints of Sky what with the cloak.

[thegeminisage]

last night when i stopped playing i aimed myself at a stable and jumped into the tower so i had no choice but to fly there upon opening the game today, even though i was going to fuck around and do something else lol. at least stables make me remember my amiibo...

omg its the infamous underpants stable...finally i get to see what it's all about. i should run around in mine too. solidarity

PRINCESS ZELDA ORDERED THEM TO--????

OKAY GIRL GET IT IG LOL

lmao when i talked to penn with no clothes on he was like. are you gonna investigate undercover??

SCREEEAM this guy is like oh you're dressed in our new uniform

aw. beedle goes "we meet again and again - i wonder how many times we met in our past lives!"

the girl with the dogs who straight up won't look at or speak to any naked men, including me. lesbian queen

alright, up the mountain road i go...totally naked

killing me to ignore these koroks but they're all just too far out of the way :/

oh i found it! lmao they really do think i'm one of them

ik this is like. fake zelda. im hoping its yiga zelda tho bc this is simply too silly. it reeks of yiga shenanigans. real fake zelda was a bit uncanny

ah, i'm required to go gearless for this...smh this eventide bullshit

"we'll learn from your methods, we're just not confident in the physical side of this" THIS GAME IS RATED E FOR EVERYONE

wow. i just BARELY made it. whew!!

omg they MISHEARD HER?? it's not even a yiga thing?? man come on this truly is the urban legend of zelda

rip they put their clothes back on. it wouldve been funny if they got so inspired they stayed naked forever lol

i guess i'll put my clothes back on, too...

froze in terror like a prey animal when i saw this block puzzle but i did actually get it this time.

standing under a talus's crotch trying to ascend up thru its body when i caught sight of zelda and my throat got a little tight. life truly is so textured

lol these treasure hunting bros are here. thank you for telling me exactly how to solve the puzzle! what is this skyward sword (sorry skyward sword)

most of my complaints re: tears of the kingdom center on botw exhaustion - that i'm sort of tired of the map and have no more joy of exploration anymore after 100%ing such an enormous game (almost twice - on the first file i did everything except the korok seeds, but i got enough to max out my inventory i think). but every once in awhile i will come across an area that looks totally and completely innocuous and get incredibly tense out of nowhere. and sure enough in a minute i will remember, "a guardian used to be here," or "a lynel used to be here." it takes a minute, but i do remember! and even knowing they aren't here anymore, it's a little hard to relax. if i were ever to play botw again*, i bet i would feel the same way about areas that have hands now lol. (*highly unlikely given the previously mentioned botw exhaustion - maybe in many years after some other zeldas have come out for me to chew on! i highly doubt i'm going to replay totk either. as much as i love it, this is It. inevitably though there will be dlc so this runthrough won't be my only time playing it Ever)

ANYWAY i have to take a break now to do stuff and idw this post to be really long again. so.

[science-lings]

So because I like to be really complicated, I've decided to throw my favourite part of pretty much every Link's design (ofc the ones that actually change the design - looking at you Toon Links) at you. Idk, I'm an overachiever and I love gushing about one of the best character designs in video game history.

Obviously with the 8-bit designs, all there really is are artworks and the manuals to go off of because Link is a collection of tiny squares with 4 max colours. TLoZ and AoL are the same character so to be honest, I just love his earthy tones and facial features. Big nose rep. Goes for ALTTP, LA, and OOT as well tbh.

Speaking of ALTTP, that pink hair he has in-game is literally one of the best thing Nintendo has ever done.

A lot of child Links have this, but the baggy boots introduced in OOT are literally everything. I want to wear them every day of the rest of my life. The Oracle games also give him the flared lining and I would die to have them. Peak footwear. And the bracers Adult Link gets add so much to such a simple design, it's literally unreal.

The Four Swords games were cute with the bright colour swaps. I'm so mad they drew the artwork for the game in the Toon Link artstyle. Seeing artwork for it in ALTTP's art would have been so cool like what came on the European box art. The Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass came and introduced the most adorable Zelda artstyle. Like he's just a cylinder and I love him so much. It's a bit like FS(A) where he just got so much more colourful too. Spirit Tracks gave Link this cute engineer uniform that I cannot get over. Ever.

Twilight Princess. I'm sorry but he's just a whole hunk of man right there. The darker graphics went so far for him, his outfit was so detailed at the time and he's got such a masculine presence if you know what I mean. Oddly enough, there's so much I like about the design, it's so hard to put what I like into words other than 'a lot'. Sorry, I know it's not very helpful ^^;

Skyward Sword Link had such an amazing emotional range. He said absolutely nothing, but you could tell exactly how he felt, but unlike WW/PH/ST etc Link, his facial expression were really toned down and gentle. The most intense emotion he's ever had was fighting a god. Love that about him.

So I know ALBW technically shares ALTTP/OOA(/S) design, so I want to highlight the one thing that's different which is the giant, chunky bracelet he wears. Something about that makes me so happy for some reason.

Triforce Heroes' biggest accomplishment was the alternate outfits. Those boys literally strutting around in a forest in full gowns and costumes like it's nothing is literally peak fashion. Style over practicality any day.

BotW was literally a game-changer for Link's design in almost every way. I have no idea how Nintendo managed to completely change the design down to the fundamental GREEN of the Links before him to this cerulean blue and still keep the essence of what made Link a Link. And although Nintendo loves to go back on it in other material, I absolutely ADORE that they made his features so round and softly shaped, especially his eyes, compared to other Links. Nintendo will never take away how absolutely gorgeous that man is now they've achieved it. So we don't know much about TotK yet for obvious reasons, but he now sports literally the most revealing outfit in the franchise (other than him literally being half naked in BotW) and the fact it's paired with long hair is literally what I've been waiting my entire life for.

So yeah, I've probably made this so much more complicated, but there is literally so much I love about each Link, it's hard to choose my favourite overall features (except the boots, I love the baggy boots).

This is actually incredibly helpful thank you! I think one of the things I'm struggling most with the design is his hair, like he goes from a medium dark brown to pink to platinum blonde to bright yellow to almost orange and like... it's hard to make a decision lol. I do want to include bits of every game, whether that be with little accessories (like kinstones or belt buckles or jewelry) or more major features.

I am absolutely convinced on his schnoz though, he deserves a big pointy nose. It's going to be fun to try to balance some of his more harsh features with a lot of the softness we see in many other games, like he always has intense eyebrows (even in toon mode), but he also tends to have a baby face.

[gerudospiriit]

[catch me liveblogging the final battle and shit under the cut tho aljdf]

[I wish I were livestreaming this fight rn but this is the best I got alsjkdfkjaf:

oh boo i have to fight dehydrated Gan--nevermind. how you doing, Gan? 😏 have a nice rest? you probably really should have rehydrated sooner to get used to having you know...a not corpse body by lets gooooooooooo.

plan of attack: wail on him and try to figure out his moveset. so far, it's kind of working 🤣

oh fuck he can do the witch time thing too fuck. but it's good you can dodge out of it.

it's really cool that he's a master of all three types of weapons like link. that's neat and terrifying.

you can't flip out of the flurry rush liek me that means im better than you lol

now it's demise's turn i see

now you brought in reinforcements. BUT MINE ARE BACK TOO ASSHOLE HAAAAAA

glad you're enjoying this as much as me man. this fight is pretty legit fun.

wow those were my pals how dare you. and don't taunt/beckon me like that unless you plan on a different kind of battle somewhere more comfortable ok

wow man was not just glooming my hearts but also stealing my hearts wow. that was pretty tough

oh is he gonna eat it. is this what got spoiled. oh shiiiit

gandragoooooonnn

oh is he just gonna look like calamity ganon ish? laaaame

oh i got eated. shit.

is zelda dragon gonna come save me?

ah nabs is hurting again good. great. her feels.

oh there we go. now we got dragon ganondorf

yeah theres zelda dragon gonna boop his nose. or catch me. preesh

imagine if they all just ate their stones. what a battle man

zelda. zelda plz. catch meeeeee. :'D in all seriousness tho this is a neato fight too like daaaaamn. jumping off dragons and shit? fuck yeh.

so does this mean zelda didn't lose herself? called that one. She's always special girl haha

okay but i really feel like ganondorf is just making the same mistake as jafar here, like esp in kingdom hearts since video game comparison. so far, this fight is so much easier, and part of that is because he can't really touch me.

skyward sword prepared me for these midair fights and sky diving.

oh that blood moon is a nice touch wow

where am i going? his head? jump straight in his mouth, got it. (jk i see the glowing weak point lmao)

rip ganondorf again

another head stab nice

catche meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. thnks

this is how you do a final battle fuck. botw was so lackluster in comparison. THIS is memorable holy shit

A NUKE???

is link gonna go the way of goku at the end of gt? fly away on zelda's back?

rauru???? wait my clothes? where tf

oh we returning zelda back? oh rauru and sonia? wow

idk im gonna miss dragon zelda man. but she's baaaack. i knew it would happen but yaaaay

ey links arm is normal. and aw that's sweet. rauru and sonia leave together

gotta catch zelda now oh shiiit

OMG THE REACH TO MIRROR THE BEGINNING I GOT CHILLS AAAAH

im glad you understand cuz i don't. so did rauru and sonia like...keep her from losing herself? the warm loving embrace thing? or was that just want brought her back. the three of them together? their love and all that?

aklsjdf athat was honestly so good. liek im so glad they did amillion times better with totk than botw. *chef's kiss* im still confused af on a lot of things and might makes some more comprehensive posts about shit later, but this was a solid game outside of causing confusion lore 😭😭