#why are there so many botw tags

[amidoobles]

Reunited

First page of my new sketchbook! I like to make the first and last page a series or game that I am currently into, so I chose Link and Zelda to start off this one. I am quite happy with the colors :D.

[linkedin-offficial]

concept i enjoy

[postergadorart]

i said i love zelink

[blueskittlesart]

me, thinking that i have at least a base level understanding of botw: :)

blue, about to write a 1,000+ word essay that is going to completely revamp my understanding of the game and interpretation of its events: bada bing bada boom

i dont know how you do it. i am incredibly impressed and using all of this for fic inspiration. keep writing

every time someone asks me how i do this shit i have to regrettably inform them that the real genuine answer is that i am fucking insane. my 2 passions in life are writing and video games and the place where the 2 converge fascinates me to no end and i am that special kind of crazy that is capable of latching onto something and not thinking about anything else for 10 years. so. the only thing i have cared about deeply for the last several years of my life has been the way video games are written and constructed. and zelda is one of the most interestingly constructed franchises i have found to date. these games are just like. the absolute perfect story for my brain to work with and i truly do not know who i would be without them. and i am genuinely incredibly grateful that ive been able to build a platform where people like. CARE about what i have to say and take the time to ask me to think about the games because like. i would be doing it ANYWAY but knowing that there are people who actually read my analysis and appreciate the amount of thought i put into this stuff makes me really happy lol

[esoteric-champagne]

Bravely I will wield my weapon / I made from fangs of those that died

[moinsbienquekaworu]

Damn I forgot how long it takes to make a good reclist. Between getting a good list tracking down all the fics writing all the relevant info and then a little comment if I have something to say, that stuff is time consuming

[loregoddess]

might have to add tears of the kingdom to my "got blacklisted not bc I hate the media (I love it so much actually), but bc the fans are fucking annoying" list

[turbofanatic]

More stuff for the linkverse thingy, which is being renamed to Bad Moon (later I will fix the tags).

Upper Image: a bunch of faces, mostly for practice. I’m having fun bridging the gap between classic Link twink in Ocarina of Time to “why is zombie Guts from Berserk teaching me sword fighting” Link in Twilight Princess. There’s also Nabooru, because let’s be honest, the Gerardo have a cool concept but were done so dirty so I’m going to try to revamp them a bit. BotW Link is being revamped a little. And finally, Twilight Princess Link has braids under his cap.

Lower Image: Twilight Princess Link AKA Fuzzbutt is a pretty pretty 2006 Livejournal werewolf. You can’t convince me otherwise. He also carries a harness with the gale boomerang and bombs. His wolf form is also weirdly human, with too many flexible toes and creepy blue eyes.

[xxlovelynovaxx]

The person in the tags really said "I see kindness and emotional availability as inherently feminine traits" like congrats! That's the radf/em brainrot!

Idk, why might people pick emotionally open men who aren't steeped in toxic masculinity to headcanon as trans? Is it maybe because of the intense pressure on the transmasc community to not "give in to our inherent toxicity" or "defy the evil nature of our manhood"? Is it maybe simply because people pick characters they like and relate to, to headcanon as sharing their identity? Should people be picking unkind and emotionally unavailable characters to personally headcanon because you don't like that the characters they feel connected to are niceys?

Also, wow, that's some transmisogyny in "the characters headcanoned as trans women are usually mean and aggressive". Are they? Are they really? Or are they unafraid to stand up for themselves in a way that transfems find empowering? Is there a transmisogynist expectation put on us to just take abuse and that we're dangerous and mean and aggressive if we refuse to? Also, I'm just curious, how many of these "mean and aggressive" characters aren't white? Is this an endemic problem of "mean, aggressive" characters, or is it simply a character type that's commonly found to be empowering?

Also just. "It's wrong that an alleged majority of headcanoned trans men are about nice people and an alleged majority of headcanoned trans women are not". So its wrong for people headcanoned as trans to be nice... but also to be mean? Like sure, don't get me wrong, there's a point to be made about variety in representation but these are headcanons. This is personal fandom. This isn't corporate media, it isn't even really media a lot of the time, not even fanworks! Headcanon≠rep in any way, shape or form.

But I do find it curious that whether characters should be treated as more nice or more mean is gendered, especially when I've seen other transfems make the exact OPPOSITE complaint about transfem headcanons - that they rely on misogynistic standards of femininity, especially in terms of "acceptable behavior" and that they in fact wished people would examine that and consider headcanoning women who were messy and imperfect as transfem. But, y'know.

(Also, this is focusing on a specific type of headcanon, almost to the point of tunnel vision. Because I guaran-fucking-tee there are plenty of transmasc headcanons that aren't "emotionally available sensitive man". Like, really showing that anecdotal bias. I've seen fucking Dean Winchester headcanoned as transmasc. Just about every TF2 character. Kim Kitsuragi, who I don't know much about but even if he is kind and emotionally available I do know he's supremely fucking dysfunctional. Harry Dubois as well, who I KNOW is not emotionally fucking available. Apparently from my trans partner, Sans fucking Undertale. Certain interpretations of botw/totk Link. Fucking interpretations of Miku Hatsune. Jade Hunter from Rainbow High.

But really, I keep going back to "people see feminine traits and say trans man because they see trans men as women" when the only traits named were LITERALLY "kindness" and "emotional availability". Fucking. If you think only women are kind and emotionally available you're reinforcing toxic masculinity and are in for a rude fucking awakening at toxic femininity and women who are bullies in general, and how these attitudes allow them to face less or even no consequences.

My fucking gods. Kindness and emotional availability. Feminine traits. Fuck.

[eerna]

I found your tags in that one post interesting because, for me, whenever I try to go back to playing BOTW after playing totk, I just don’t find it as engaging as it used to be. It’s not that it devalues BOTW or vice versa, just that I feel that BOTW is empty now. Hope you don’t mind me giving my take.

I don't mind at all, a lot of people feel that way! And I can see why, as TotK has more to do in it than BotW does. Some time after posting that I watched a comparison video that pinpointed the difference so well: BotW had only 3 progression bars (koroks, shrines/containers, equipment upgrades). The rest of the game was entirely vague and left to your choosing, not tracking your progress or instructing you what is worth your time. TotK has a whole bunch of new progression bars (Pony Points, recipes, cave frogs, etc.) that entice you to solve assignments, which actively goes against BotW's "make your own meaning" principle of freedom. Some players will prefer the first option, others the second. I'm in the first - in BotW a lot of the time I wouldn't even be doing quests, or trying to make any significant progress, I would simply boot it up and exist in the world, admiring its nature and architecture and music and worlbuilding, collecting material and roleplaying as an amnesiac wild boy falling in love with his kingdom. No other game has given me that level of immersion or made me want to do nothing but take walks, including TotK, because it's the only game of this kind that I've ever played, and I feel like not many people realized that more to do in a game does not automatically mean an upgrade. And that's the longer version of my tags!

[amidoobles]

Hurray! I drew Mipha and it actually looks like her! Whenever I played BOTW, I didn't really know much about her, but now she's one of my favorite character. I only wish there was more family fluff of her, King Dorephan, and Sidon.

[dreadfutures]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @plisuu and @rosella-writes - and tagging the whole rest of the DA FanFic server crew:

@warpedlegacy @rakshadow @effelants @bluewren @breninarthur @ar-lath-ma-cully @ir0n-angel @inquisimer @crackinglamb @theluckywizard @nirikeehan @oxygenforthewicked @exalted-dawn-drabbles @melisusthewee @blarrghe @agentkatie @delicatefade @leggywillow @about2dance

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

49

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,645,298

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Maximum Ride, Pokemon, Spirited Away, Zelda, Pathfinder CRPGs, Elden Ring, Dishonored, and of course, Dragon Age

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Dead Pasts and Dread Futures (Dragon Age)

Hero of the Wild (Legend of Zelda: BOTW)

When the Wind Whispers (Legend of Zelda: BOTW)

The Brave Guide (Dragon Age)

Light in the Dark (LOZ)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I try to. I fall behind very frequently but I always try to say thank you. So many people tell me why these stories touch them, and to share that with me, is such a gift that deserves acknowledgement.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably 'The Hope of Fen'Harel' (on AO3) or the scene where Solas finds out that young Ixchel is dead (here on tumblr).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

the road seems too wild for mixing it with blues (Dragon Age) - literally it is a Solavellan happiest of happy endings. There are brown butter donuts.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yes. Not infrequently.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sometimes! I do try to write titillating smut but if it's in my longfics, it's got to be for character reasons and serve the plot. But I have more than one smut oneshot that's just there to get people hot lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I have had ideas copied wholecloth.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of, but you are free to do so as long as you tag me and properly credit via the "inspired by" on AO3

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! ALL of my Maximum Ride fics were co-written. Literally sending passages back and forth over *yahoo instant messenger.* It was an absolute fucking joy. Those fics are gone now though lol.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

Prooooooobablyyyyyyy Haku/Chihiro. I will read absolute drivel if it's got them in it.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I WILL ABSOLUTELY FINISH MY BOTW FICS I AM WORKING ON THEM OKAY?! The one i don't think i will ever do is my young!Ixchel fic. It's too fucking sad. But it lives in my head and calls to me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dreamy prose, evocative horror, and really motivated plots.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm verbose, I have a hard time connecting scenes / passing time without it feeling like it's dragging.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

So, for fantasy languages that you have to conlang -- I think you should just write it in English. Especially if you're not making up YOUR OWN conlang and instead relying on the work of a notorious jackass. I have taken to "[[brackets and italics]]" to indicate when dialogue is happening in Elvhen. In real life languages, such as Spanish, the current movement in ownvoices communities is to include the dialogue in its original tongue, with no italics. Readers are smart. They can look it up. And they need to get used to languages other than their own without it seeming other, alien, or magical. In my original novels, where Spanish is often used, I stick with this rule.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Maximum Ride or Spirited Away.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

it ends or it doesn't (Dragon Age), my Felassan-as-Benoit-Blanc arlathvhen murder mystery!

blank form below:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?

[uncleskyrule]

Plot of The Legend of Zelda: Missing Link?

Yay, that's my favorite title from that list! If anyone sees this and is inspired to write/draw something based on this, be my guest! And tag me so I can see it :)

After the defeat of Calamity Ganon, peace reigns in Hyrule. With the help of her loyal knight who never leaves her side, Zelda works to rebuild the fallen kingdom and strengthen ties between the peoples. Though her heart lies in research, she is dedicated to fulfilling her duty as heir to the kingdom, with grief for the past and hope for the future spurring her on. However, as she and Link move throughout Hyrule, they notice something alarming: the monsters that should have disappeared once Ganon was destroyed are still there. In fact, new types of monsters have sprung up: gibdos in Gerudo Desert, horroblins in the Hyrule caves, like-likes around Death Mountain, gleeoks near Zora's Domain, and aerocudas flying over Rito Village. The townspeople who were expected to welcome Zelda and Link with open arms are now a cold and withdrawn few. Those that they meet in the street only spit angry words at the so-called saviors of Hyrule. Windows are shuttered and few houses have light shining through the cracks. Barely anyone lives there now, but with so many monsters about, the idea that someone would voluntarily leave the safety of their town is strange. They decide to camp on the outskirts, close enough to be sheltered by the houses but not too close in order to avoid more harassment. Zelda is tempted to feel uneasy, but Link's steady presence quells her fears, so she is able to fall asleep. When she awakens, Link is gone. Zelda never imagined her return to research would be like this. Hunted by monsters and shunned by her own people, she searches for answers while the sensation that she is running out of time hangs over her head. Why are there new monsters? Why are so many people missing? Where is Link? And why does it feel like she is always being watched?

Send me one of these BotW 2 speculative titles and I'll write a plot!

[tearsoffarosh]

THIS POST HAS SPOILERS FOR TOTKS ENDING!!!!!

as the title states this post has spoilers for totk that are tagged but still, be cautious

Im sure thousands have people have already noticed and pointed out that the Light dragon looks slightly different from the three elemental dragons that we were introduced to during BOTW,

a slimmer snout and shorter ears being the stand-out differences.

but the light dragon is not the ONLY dragon to look different from it's brethren, the demon dragon also looks different.

here's the original 3 dragons- who for simplicity i will be calling the goddess dragons, they all look basically identical, their differences lie in their colour scheme & horn shape, even their manes are the same style with the under colour being different

then we have the light dragon, who has a slender snout and shorter, pointed ears & an entierly unique mane too, overall however she looks the same to her sisters, with a long body, 3 sets of legs and spiked crystals running along the enteirety of her spine

however, looking enteriely different from his brethren is the Demon dragon. who is first of all, MUCH larger than the first four dragons, and while the Light Dragon is smaller than the others it's not by much, while the Demon dragon is HUGE- with many more differences than just size & snout shape.

so what does this all tell us? well first things first we know one thing for definite- Zelda and Ganon aren't the same race.

this explanation could explain why exactly these two look so different from each other & the other dragons, Ganon is a Gerudo who are known to be larger than the other races, meaning his draconic form is also going to be larger, Zelda's a Hylian who are known for their small pointed ears, explaining why her draconic form have small pinched ears.

with this knowledge it leads us to believe that the 3 goddess dragons are of the same species & I think that species would be the Zonai.

the three dragons have from my look here, three clear similarities with the Zonai's appearance, Leading me to believe that these three were once Zonai, perhaps members of the first to descend to Hyrule, and at some point ate their sacred stones and ascended to dragon-hood, why they did this? that's up for speculation but this does show us that the dragons retain characteristics from the race they were before draconification

[smilesrobotlover]

💛💖🏳️‍🌈?

💛 what’s a popular ship you can’t get behind and why?

Totk zelink, botw zelink, aoc zelink, just that entire zelink. Idk why, there is def chemistry, I just don’t like it. I actually have the entire zelink tag blocked cuz I’m sick of seeing them 💀 I’m kinda on the fence with zelink in general but that specific one I do not like.

💖 what is your biggest unpopular opinion about the series?

Kinda broad there XD idk, I guess phantom hourglass doesn’t deserve all the hate it gets and it’s not a bad game in general. Sure some can say it’s the worst in the series but to say it’s a bad game? Nuh-uh, that’s just wrong. There are much worse games out there I assure you. Phantom hourglass is flawed but there are so many GREAT things about it! Idk if that’s very unpopular tho, a lot of people have started liking it lol.

I guess a better unpopular opinion is that the ocean king temple isn’t that big of a pain to get through? At least if you know what you’re doing and if you don’t have a guide, it’s actually very fun to explore the temple. But this one I def understand the hate even tho my opinion has changed on it lol

🏳️‍🌈 any characters that are seen as queer but you don’t see them that way?

😳 do I even want to MENTION this? A specific character does not really come to mind truthfully, but I am sick and tired of people saying that Link can’t be cis or whatever. Like yes he’s androgynous for us to project ourselves onto him, and so people have every right to project their headcanons onto him and make him trans, gay, etc. but others also have a right to make him not queer. Now I really don’t have many lgbt+ headcanons about a lot of Zelda characters (save a few) so I ultimately don’t care about others having queer headcanons, and if you want to make Link or any Zelda character lgbt+ then go ahead! I admit I do that with some of the characters that I do have headcanons for! But if you believe that a link can’t be cis and straight because “that goes against his androgyny” you’re actually stupid. Cis people can be androgynous. Straight people can be androgynous. Nobody fits these perfect little boxes. I think we should just be respectful to headcanons and understand that none of them are actual canon, therefore people can do whatever they want 🤷‍♀️ no need to gatekeep or force people to have headcanons that simply aren’t canon, ok?

[summonerluna]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by: @aleheartilly

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 32

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 212,833

3. What fandoms do you write for? FFVIII, and recently Wild!Verse Legend of Zelda

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Second Time Around (42) (LoZ)

The President (36) (ff8)

Ain't No Sunshine (26) (ff8)

no quarter (22) (ff8)

Or From That Sea of Time (21) (ff8)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I am starting to. Because ffnet had a PM system instead of just a reply, my anxiety usually got the best of me and made me nervous to reply even if I wanted to just say "thanks! and I just used ao3 as a mirror site. Now that I am exclusively using ao3 and have a better grip on some of those anxieties, I want to interact more with people again and want to make sure people know how much I appreciate the comments.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Lazarus

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Since I mostly write one-shots and I don't know that any of them really have happy endings? The Successor still managed to have a fairly happy ending though despite the overall story being filled with death and angst.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not in the form of comments, but I know there are people who do not like me

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Sometimes, but rarely anything x-rated.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? No, although I love imagining characters from different worlds crossing paths.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I am aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, thanks to the amazing @aleheartilly!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, with @irishais

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Squall/Rinoa, always and forever, and I think like 90% of my recent Zelink brainrot is because of all the Squinoa parallels they have in botw/totk!verse

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I don't know. I don't want to say Dissolve because I don't want to admit I won't finish it, but my headspace is SO DIFFERENT from where it was when I started writing that, I think the only way I could finish at this point is to restart it and I'm not sure I want to do that.

16. What are your writing strengths? Writing place. Some stories are character-driven, some are plot-driven, and I think I write location-driven more often than I don't.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Starting something new because of that ADHD need to chase dopamine when I still have a billion WIPs. And being too vague because I'm afraid of being overly descriptive so I swing too far in the opposite direction.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I have in original stuff, but not in fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I wrote Hanson RPF when I was a wee young tween, living in the days of dial-up and printing off fics on my parents' dot matrix printer because I couldn't stay online long enough to read them, and staying up writing until I heard my dad get up to get ready for work. Then in hs I wrote a few LotR things before Final Fantasy took over my life once I got to college.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Fifteen Minutes Old

Tagging: @msstarlight @suleikashideaway @irishais @angelosearch though if you see this please do it because it's fun!