#there'll be more plain old lore at some point

[linksthoughtbrambles]

Why Fi Started Talking in Link's Thought Brambles

In Link's Thought Brambles (my whopper of a 56-chapter, 200,000-word BotW AU fanfic), Fi is silent until chapter 48. Some have asked why - here's the answer, and also the answer as to why it has not been explained explicitly in the fic.

This is why I'd started making all those On Awakenings posts in the first place!

WARNING: Spoilers for my fic Link's Thought Brambles and the entire Adventure Log+ AU.

Conclusions from the On Awakenings posts I take as canon in that fic:

(From the analysis posts I put up--links at the end of this post).

a.) Fi can't talk to anyone on her own anymore after Skyward Sword. The person she's talking to... ......... must have their own magical power ......... must be fully aligned with the Triforce of Courage

b.) To be fully aligned with the Triforce of Courage, a person must have demonstrated the courage of a true hero by selflessly sacrificing their own life for someone else. Clarification: ......... The person doesn't have to actually die, but they must believe, at the time they make their sacrifice, that it's very likely they're about to die. It's that willingness to give their life entirely for the sake of the other person that makes them a true hero. ......... Recklessness and bravery are not the same as the courage of a true hero. Recklessness is selfish. Bravery is wonderful but you don't have to believe you're about to die to be brave. The courage of a true hero is a level up from that--the final, most significant form of bravery.

c.) Until that memory on the Blatchery Plain, neither Link nor Zelda in BotW could hear the voice of Fi (and couldn't hear Hylia's voice, either).

d.) There is a difference between Link and Zelda being able to wield magical artifacts (the Master Sword and the Triforce) and being able to use their own innate abilities. Artifacts have their own rules determining when and if someone can access them.

Magical artifacts have rules determining who can use them, when, and how. Above, Link appears to commune with the fully powered Master Sword after completing the entire Trial of the Sword.

I took the following things to be true in the fic, though they aren't necessarily canon:

e.) Pre-Calamity BotW Link is less aligned with the Triforce of Courage than any Link who came before him because of immense social pressure, pushing him toward conformity and recklessness. Clarification: ......... He couldn't hear Fi even if other incarnations of him after SS could hear her because of this. He has to re-awaken. He's been pushed out of alignment even though he had already met the courage of a true hero requirement in previous lives.

f.) Link has access to all of his own innate magical abilities regardless of how aligned he is with the Triiforce of Courage. (So does Zelda!). Those abilities are simply due to his unique soul.

g.) Link has subconscious access to his experiences/memories from previous incarnations of himself. He doesn't remember clearly, but he does, for example, naturally know how to be a total badass with a longsword, and he's a fantastic archer. He requires little training to be an excellent fighter (though training means improvement).

h.) "Alignment" with the Triforce of Courage is on a spectrum. Full alignment comes with all the abilities of the Master Sword, including hearing Fi. Someone courageous but not fully aligned could still interact with the sword a little. (I mostly decided this because I liked it, but there's evidence for it in BotW: Zelda's dream in which she interacts with Hylia but can't hear her).

Why is Fi slient at the beginning of the fic?

Fi is silent at the start of Link's Thought Brambles for the same reason she's silent in pre-Calamity BotW: Fi cannot simply choose to speak to whoever she pleases on her own, and Link is not fully aligned with the Triforce of Courage.

Why can Link do other cool stuff like the flurry rush and spin attack?

Because those abilities have nothing to do with Fi or the Master Sword! That's simply magic Link has by being his awesome self.

When in mid-air or after a well-timed dodge, Link can move so fast he effectively slows time around him. (I like to think of this power as 'time-dilation' because of the lengthening effect we see here and because of the slate's physics-themed runes).

What makes Fi "start talking" in Chapter 48?

I'm putting a huge WARNING sign here because below this is a major spoiler for the fic.

The idea that Fi "starts talking" isn't quite right even though it's how Link himself sees it/phrases it in the fic (he doesn't know exactly what's going on). To him, it seems like she suddenly starts talking, but she's actually been talking to him the entire time (being very snarky about it in the background, too), but he couldn't hear her.

In Short: The moment Fi "starts talking" to Link in the fic is the moment when Link demonstrates the courage of a true hero (just like he and Zelda both did at the Blatchery Plain in BotW). But she doesn't start talking. He suddenly is able to hear.

It was easy for readers to think Fi suddenly started talking because it was an "emergency situation" like she had no choice but to speak (kind of like on Blatchery Plain, where her speaking to Zelda has a chance of saving Link's life), but that wasn't it.

Fi speaks to Zelda for the first time right after her awakening in BotW.

The fic's text provides a clue that Fi didn't simply choose to talk to Link at that moment because of the emergency:

[Link screams because he just saved someone else by choosing to take a potentially mortal blow in their stead.]

-STER CEASE YOUR MOTION, REMAIN STILL-

That 2nd line in all italicized caps is Fi, shouting at Link immediately after he's severely wounded. The clue? Fi's already mid-word when he first hears her.

She was already shouting at him before he could hear--that's why that first word--"MASTER"--is cut in half.

She'd been shouting at him a good deal of that day, trying to warn him about magic she sensed, and while he could feel something was off and she even managed to communicate a direction to him (Fi's dowsing ability), he couldn't hear her words at all.

She'd tried shouting at Zelda, too, but to no avail.

After the first time Link hears Fi, he can always hear her when she speaks, but Zelda still cannot (because she is not yet fully aligned with the Triforce of Courage).

Wait a minute. What about the Melee in Chapter 19?!

Something similar happens in Chapter 19, in which Link is fighting to defend the Princess' honor. It's very brave of him, and noble, and all that, but it does not demonstrate the courage of a true hero for two reasons:

Link didn't believe his fellow soldiers in the melee were intending to kill him. (Beat the snot out of him, yes--though later he comes to think some did try to do him in).

Link wasn't saving someone's life. Sorry, Zelda. Your honor's great, but it's not life itself.

What about before then? Doesn't Link go monster hunting?

Yes, he does, but he doesn't believe he's going to die and he's not doing it to directly sacrifice himself for someone else.

Also... it's a bit reckless and vengeful, both things that fall into that selfishness category. It's reckless because he starts out as a kid going after bokoblins that have killed adults. It's vengeful because he starts doing it because the bokoblins killed people he knows.

Neither of those things is aligned with the courage of a true hero requirement.

Why doesn't Fi explain this to Link in the fic?

Fi absolutely under no circumstances can explain this to Link yet. It could ruin everything if she did.

Why?

I'm putting another blaring WARNING in here because it spoils something that hasn't happened in the ongoing fic Adventure Log+ yet.

Fi can't tell Link why he was able to start hearing her... because....

It would tell Link how to awaken Zelda's power.

Yes, you read that right.

Link absolutely must not know how to awaken Zelda's power.

And if you've been reading the fic, you may now be confused for two reasons: 1.) Wait, isn't Zelda's power already awake in the fic?! 2.) Why wouldn't Link be allowed to know how to wake it up?!

Hoooo boy. Here we go.

1.) No, Zelda's power is not already awake in the fic.

If you've read it, you know they've discovered some things about BotW Zelda in this AU: - She's unnaturally strong. - She has unnaturally high stamina. - She's essentially a perfect archer. Things in the environment can mess with her shot, but her aim is always perfect.

In the fic, once they discover these things, they assume Zelda's had her "sealing power" all along and they simply had misunderstood its nature. They have a whole festival and stuff to celebrate.

Oops.

What they're seeing are Zelda's innate magical abilities (and they haven't even discovered them all, yet). These are like Link' spin attack and flurry rush--they're things Zelda has access to simply because of her unique soul.

But just like she cannot yet hear Fi, she also cannot yet wield the complete Triforce (which is what shows up on her hand in the Blatchery Plain memory).

The power Zelda seeks to awaken in BotW is access to the complete Triforce. Only a person with a balanced heart who has awakened the hero within themselves is able to wield it.

2.) Link can't know how to awaken Zelda's power, because if he finds out, Zelda's pretty much guaranteed to find out.

But... wouldn't that be a good thing? Isn't the whole issue in those BotW memories the fact that they didn't know how to awaken Zelda's power? Isn't the problem that Zelda's mother died before she told anyone how to awaken it?

NO.

Because even sacrificing yourself to save someone else becomes a selfish act if you do so in order to awaken your own power. The courage of a true hero must be selfless. It mustn't be done with some additional goal in mind.

Zelda MUST NOT know how to awaken her power. If she knows how, she won't be able to awaken it.

I strongly believe that's why her mother never told anyone how.

[Note: SS Zelda doesn't tell Link that he had to awaken the hero inside him until he already had, either, for the same reason.]

The issue with Zelda's mother dying so early isn't that she never told anyone. It's that she didn't live long enough to make sure her daughter was exposed to situations in which she had the option to display such courage. King Rhoam and all the Champions play it safe with Zelda's life. They don't allow her to put herself in physical danger to protect anyone else.

Zelda's mother would have.

I can imagine a tradition of royal Hylian mothers and grandmothers taking their young princesses on grand tours of Hyrule, or perhaps to regions where they know help is desperately needed, to grow their princess' characters and give them ample opportunity to awaken the heroes within themselves.

As Princess of Hyrule, BotW Zelda should have discovered her power through connection to her people--and demonstrating willingness to give her life for them. On Blatchery Plain, she finally does thanks to her connection with Link.

That did not happen in BotW, so she fails to awaken it until Link is at death's door.

Back to the fic--okay, so Zelda can't know how to awaken her own power. Why isn't Link allowed to know?

Link can't know because if he does, Zelda will know very soon afterward. Either she'll read it on the Slate, or he'll tell her because now that he's talking to her, it's hard for him to keep his trap shut around her. 😂

Poor Fi. She has to keep this close to her metaphorical chest.

Thanks for reading!

If you stuck with me this far on a meta post about my own fic, WOW! Thank you!

Here are links to the On Awakenings posts drawing conclusions about how Link and Zelda's powers awaken (or fail to) in BotW and other Zelda games: - On Awakenings in The Legend of Zelda - On Awakenings... Part 2: BotW Link - On Awakenings... Part 3: Can't Fi Just Talk? - On Awakenings... Part 4: Why Can't Fi Just Talk?

They're more general Zelda lore, not just for Link's Thought Brambles.

If you like this stuff, check out my fic masterlist. The lore's interwoven in a lot of it (though some of it is pure comedy, which I love).