#zelda IS also strong

[lordsooga]

Was going through my files and stumbled on some old doodles of a triforce swap au i never finished

In this one, Gan’s got the triforce of courage. He both lost his parents and realized he had the triforce at a young age. He’s told it’s his quest to save Hyrule from the tyrannical Princess Zelda. He’s stubborn and determined to prove that he can be a hero and that he can do this by himself...

Until Gan meets Link, a history and archeology nerd scholar. After meeting Gan and realizing he’s a literal child trying to go out and save Hyrule alone, he says “No. Absolutely not.” and joins him. Gan didn’t exactly invite him along, but eventually he begrudgingly accepts his help. He also likes to steal the snacks Link carries around. 

Not much for fighting, Link mostly helps Gan by using his knowledge about Hyrule’s history and heroes past to help with navigation and solving the temples’ riddles. It’s only later that he realizes he has the triforce of wisdom

Zelda’s the princess of Hyrule who has turned to abusing her political and religious powers. She shows a different face to the rest of Hyrule and claims that she’s blessed with guidance and power from Hylia like her ancestors. But really, she’s turned her back on Hylia and is instead grasping for the triforce of power to fulfill her goals.

(in case you don’t recognize it, this is the meme on gan’s scroll) (ID under the cut)

[ID: Two pages with a series of sketches of an AU Link and Ganondorf. Link is a young, Hylian adult here with long ears, glasses, and a sleeveless vest worn over a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Ganondorf is a young, Gerudo  child wearing a short-sleeved shirt and often seen carrying the Master sword.

On the first page, Link and Ganondorf are seen outside an ancient temple overgrown with plants, outside what looks to be a sealed doorway. Link is reading from a thick book saying “I think if you play a specific song, it will open...” He turns to look at Ganondorf who is fruitlessly kicking at the door and says “...or you could just kick it, sure.” The next doodle shows an injured Link, slumped against a wall. Ganondorf stands in front of him, holding his sword in one hand and throwing out his other hand protectively in front of him. The last sketch shows Link and Ganondorf around a campfire. Ganondorf is sprawled out, fast asleep under a fairy- patterned blanket. Link has his shoes off, peacefully reading from his thick book by the light of the fire.

On the second page, Link and Ganondorf are seen, resting on a log. Link looks down at a scroll draped over his legs. In one hand, he holds a sliced apple. Without looking up, he holds out a slice to Ganondorf who begrudgingly takes it. The next sketches show Links bewildered face saying “Oh dear Hylia, you’re only 10?!” Ganondorf looks up at him stubbornly saying “Actually I’m 11 so shut the fuck up.” In the last sketch, Ganondorf holds out a scroll for Link who looks at him curiously. Unfurly the scroll, the meme attached above is seen. The meme is a screenshot of a facebook group. The name of the group is “As u can see i am only 11 and u are gay”. The icon image is a poorly drawn Knuckles with sunglasses on, and the header image is a car poorly photoshopped to be crashing into a building and exploding. \end ID]

[shellshooked]

in another life you would have been more than just a dream

[demi-pixellated]

a redesign: to sate my personal sensibilities

[powdermelonkeg]

You ever think about how wild it is that Link's so strong that he throws swords hard enough to shatter on impact

Or how he can carry a half-meter cube of ice over his head

Because I do

[smilesrobotlover]

Some phantom hourglass doodles

[leciraofthewilderness]

So, despite some faults, I really enjoyed totk, and on its anniversary I want to say something about it. Other people have said similar things before but it’s really important to me and actually a big part of why the story of totk was meaningful to me, so I want to also say it:

Zelda needed to come back from draconification. The story needed that. It wasn’t lazy and just ignoring “consequences” because (imo) that was the *point*

The point is to feel like there are going to be terrible consequences and then say actually, no. You can come back from this, with the help of other people.

To me at least, that was the theme of the whole story.

If botw was about how the world goes on past loss and grief and starts to heal (how flowers grow in the ruins and the world can be beautiful again, be worth saving, even if it has changed)…then totk was about a more personal kind of healing.

The weight of the world should not be on your shoulders alone…you, alone, should not have to fix everything…you should not have to sacrifice yourself, but when you do, someone will be there to save you from it.

This turned into a really long ramble so:

You (Link) gained so much and now it’s gone. It feels like you’re back to where you started and yet you know you have to do it all again…you were weak and you failed and you’re weaker now…but

You go down to the surface. Monsters swarm across it once again. Other people are fighting them too though. You help, but it’s not just you…

You go to the Rito, the Gorons, the Zora, the Gerudo…just like with the divine beasts, there are friends who help you save each region. But this time, part of them comes along with you when you leave. It’s nice, you realize, the first time one of them protects you from a monster you weren’t prepared for. You’re still weaker than you were before, but someone has your back…

When you go up to the sky you see a strange new dragon there. There’s something about them that feels familiar. You try not to think about it.

You go down to the depths too. It’s terrifying at first. You hate it. You only want to get what you came for and get out of the dark….but slowly, the light grows. You get stronger. The dark feels like a challenge you can face (and someone has your back).

There are spirits down there. You don’t know when they’re from, but some part of you wonders…are these all the people you let die in the Calamity? (You help them find rest from their wandering. The weight on your shoulders feels a little less heavy).

There’s so much gloom. The first few times the sky turns red and hands chase you (a reminder of what you’ve lost, how you failed) you just run. Eventually though, you have to fight. It feels like the (second) worst day of your life again. But you manage to get free of the grasping gloom and stand and fight, as wild and desperate as it is. Beneath the manifestation of your worst fears, there’s another thing to fight, but this time it has a face (a voice in the back of your head says…you know this isn’t all on you and your failure…it’s really Ganon’s fault right?). You get through it.

At every turn in your travels, it seems like something reminds you of Zelda. Her passion, her curiosity, her kindness. You miss her.

At first, the tears you find reassure you. She may be in the past, but she’s safe. She’ll come back somehow…but then you hear the word draconification for the first time. You want to believe she wouldn’t do it but you know her and the fear sits cold inside you. (Zelda is a lot of things. She’s been allowed to be more of them, since she was freed from her hundred year battle, without her father holding her back. But deep down inside her, there’s a vein of self-sacrifice that still runs strong. It’s what saved the world before, after all).

She did it. She really did it. She’s gone from you (from Hyrule) forever, and it’s all your fault. If only you hadn’t failed so utterly in the battle (you can hardly even call it that) under the castle. If only you’d caught her. If only you hadn’t let the sword break. You should have protected her you should have been better it’s all your fault and now she has to live with the consequences, forever. Everything really is on you, you should have been better.

(Zelda POV: you couldn’t call upon Hylia’s power in time, you were too content to let it wither and fade away from you, ready to be free of it. You shouldn’t have. He got hurt, the sword got hurt, it’s your fault…Sonia and Rauru help you channel it again, Sonia helps you learn how to turn back time…but you don’t save her. She dies because you couldn’t save her. Rauru dies not long after. There is no one left to guide you, once again. You could spend years trying to figure it out on your own. But you did that last time. It didn’t work. Self-sacrifice, stepping in front of someone you love, that worked. (You do what you can, to call upon the sages, to help Link in the future, first). And then you swallow the stone. You’ve come a long way, in the past five years, allowing yourself to exist. But in the end, self-sacrifice worked last time. It’ll work this time too.)

You (Link) go down beneath the castle. You were supposed to bring the sages but you didn’t. It’s nice, for someone to have your back. But no one else should get hurt to fix your mistakes.

They follow you anyway. They fight with you, against the hordes, against the greatest enemies you defeated together, along the way. They’ll have your back, even if you don’t think you deserve it.

You fight Ganondorf, and then the demon king, in the hardest battle of your life. You think it’s over and then the demon king decides it’s better to lose himself completely than let you win. You’re exhausted and afraid of yet another battle, but up there in the sky, when you’re falling, the Light Dragon catches you (you wonder why she changed her path to catch you, you wonder if there’s still something of Zelda left in there to save). With her help, you win.

And then you’re in some other realm. The spirits of Sonia and Rauru are there. You remember how the two of them and Zelda channeled such incredible power together. You think about Recall. Turning something back to the memory of what it was before, like Sonia said. You stand with them and you allow yourself to hope. Maybe the Light Dragon can remember the form she took so long ago, the person that she was.

And then you’re falling, and Zelda is falling, but this time you catch her. You catch her. She’s back home with you, finally, finally.

And maybe, one mistake doesn’t have to be the end of the world. You don’t have to be perfect. Sometimes, someone else can stand with you, and it’ll all turn out alright. (You can put the weight of the world on your shoulders, you can sacrifice yourself, but someone will be there to catch you, someone will be there to pull you back to yourself, when all is said and done).

[linkbetweenlinksau]

Some doodles and tests

[koobiie]

As much as I love the canon ending of TOTK, I think your half-dragon Zelda design is adorable, and I especially love that one doodle of her playing with the kids. Although I wonder: would her big tail be an inconvenience? I can't imagine what it would be like to try sleeping in a bed with a tail that big. Also, the spines would probably be a pain. Would Link still harvest loose parts of her body like her scales and horns?

i'm so glad you like her!! and with her spines + tail, good question… i feel like her biggest issue would be wearing clothes - she'd have to punch holes in all her shirts + pants to accommodate. as for sleeping, i'd imagine sleeping on her side or curled would be her best bet. something like this!

and about harvesting the spines/shards etc, id think maybe she naturally sheds them, or can choose to painlessly give link some (kind of like king dorephan's scales). so there's no need to shoot her with more arrows lol

[waywardsalt]

god i hate how the gerudo in totk are practically framed as though they constantly require hylian intervention to succeed… the way riju’s introduction stands out as the only one where she struggles to use her power until link comes along… the way link is chosen to decide how they should station the gerudo troops when fighting off the gibdos… the fact that one npc mentions how when zelda had visited she had somehow taught them new ways to fight in their own terrain, which should hopefully be obviously fucked up… the way the eighth heroine was revealed to have been a male hylian who came along and told the other gerudo heroines how to fight against their enemy… ugh ugh ugh

[raessketches]

Oh no! Zelda’s in trouble! Quick, Link come save her!

[unexpectedstormy]

Attention Everyone

I love Linked Universe Sky. That is all.

[zellkabellk]

Re-listening to LoZ : Twilight's Princess OST and damn it really makes me want to replay the game ;;;;;; ToTK Zelda may have sneaked her way into 'my top 3 fav Zeldas' but TP Zelda is still definitely in there too... (the third one is Tetra fdmksjhgkj)

[oceanwithouthermoon]

ok update on saiki k tomodachi life cuz there was so much drama 😭

nendo and imu broke up, then mera confessed her love to saiko, her best friend, and got rejected (which made their relationship really bad but theyre still "best friends") and then MERA STARTED DATING NENDO... AND THEN SAIKO CONFESSED HIS LOVE TO MERA !!! BRO SAW HER HAPPY WITH ANOTHER MAN AND TRIED TO WIN HER BACK !!! but she rejected him.. somehow, saiko and mera are STILL "best friends..."

also kubosai had a baby<3

[phoenixcatch7]

Love the idea of each previous hero's journey being mostly lost to time, such that each time the cycle starts again absolutely no one picks up the very obvious clues that might lead them to the hero.

Oh, you've named your blond haired blue eyed child Link, have you? That's a good name!

Oh, he's found a strange red and white maned horse he's named epona who has utterly bonded with him? How unusual!

Yes, the princess Zelda is the same age, isn't she? What a good omen for the family!

We know he doesn't talk much, but he's the sweetest lad, don't worry!

Don't fret, dearie, his wanderlust will abate when he grows up, I'm sure it won't get him in too much trouble before then.

Prodigious little swordsman, isn't he? He would make a great knight if he wanted to when he's older!

Oh? Rumours about a long forgotten temple in the woods? How strange! Are you sure it's not just the children telling stories?

Look at him in his armoured green outfit! That hat looks lovely on him - where did you find it?

[chipsoda]

epic girl compilation

[marenwithanm]

(slams hands on desk) "WHO LIVES WHO DIES WHO TELLS YOUR STORY" FROM HAMILTON IS MALON SINGING ABOUT TIME AFTER HE GETS HERO'S SHADE-ED THANK YOU GOOD NIGHT