#zelda worldbuilding

[aufi-creative-mind]

I hc that the Bargainer Statues are early depictions of the Fierce Deity (who's true form therefore has 4 eyes), who is referred to as a Kishin in Japanese, which according to folklore, are wrathful, powerful, even scary-looking beings & vicious fighters, but are also deeply compassionate, benevolent, & protectors at there core. They're said to enact just & righteous vengeance for those who've been wronged.

Anyway, my thoughts are that he is the 3rd in the Hylian/Demise triad, being where the Hero's Spirit originates from. I also hc that he created the Sheikah much like how Hylia created the Hylians. (So, if the naming conventions follow, his true name could start with "Shei" or "Sheik.")

Anyway, he's a god of war, the moon, heroism, & death. Which is why Link is always able to see spirits. He gathered spirits & fought or soothed Poes (the enemies) either by fighting them or playing the Song of Healing.

The Dark Clumps being pieces of the pseudo-flesh that spirits form to create Poes & the Depths Set being made from this pseudo-flesh.

Also, I hc that the symbols are actually ancient Sheikah script, which the Fierce Deity taught the Sheikah. And before losing or giving up his immortality, he tasked the Sheikah with taking his place, which is who delivered the spirits to the Bargainer Statues before Link.

This is part of the reason why the Sheikah are so heavily associated with death & graveyards.

As for who the Bargainers are, they are this thing called a bushin in Japanese culture, which there deities have the ability to split pieces off of themselves & create lesser copies that rule over certain areas, but are lead by the source deity. The same is said for the Goddess Statues. Basically, Hylia & Fierce gave up their immortality, but the statues are still being run by their bushin.

Stop me, I will literally talk you ear off if you don't.

Anyway, what are your thoughts??

.................................................... OP. My guy, my gal, my non-binary pal. Why did you drop this on my inbox? This needs to be its own proper post! This is a very fascinating take on the Bargainer and the other known deities in the Zelda world.

-

Ngl, I haven't thought much about the Bargainer and their role is since there's so little in their lore. Other than "guiding lost souls into the afterlife without prejudice" and exchanging materials, weapons and outfit sets in return of Poes... (Kinda like how the Goddess Statue exchanges Blessings for Hearts, Stamina and Sage's Wills).

And seeing so many Poes in the Depths in a state of purgatory, makes me think that they are akin to the Grim Reaper of sorts. On top of the Yiga notes about how those "strange statues" would rip the souls out of fellow members if they come too close to it in the Depths.

I also imagine that the name "Bargainer" is a recent title when they were (re)discovered by present-day Hyruleans. And their true name had already been lost to the looooooong passage of time. And for all we know, the "Bargainer" was the god(dess) of the long extinct Zonai people.

That's about as far as I have for the Bargainer.

As for other deities like Hylia, Demise and the Fierce Deity, I don't have much beyond what is present in the games and the popular headcanons shared within the Zelda fandom.

I do have headcanons on how each race and clans interpret these deities and their own faith systems. For example, the Sheikah view Hylia as a "two faced" deity with "light and shadow" themes in their faith. Which is in contrast to their Hylian counterparts who have more clear-cut views on Hylia as the benevolent protector-goddess of their people (And why the Horned Statue exists and is shunned and hidden away).

(Though this is all part of my BotW-TotK Family and Legacy story.)

TL;DR I don't have a lot of ideas / headcanons on who or what these deities are. BUT I do have headcanons on how they are interpreted by different peoples/races.

-

But seriously though OP, if you're reading this, you need to create dedicated posts and elaborate more on these headcanon ideas. They have POTENTIAL to become some very delicious reads.

#also quick edits on spelling and grammar #answered #legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #totk #zelda headcanon #zelda worldbuilding #breath of the wild #botw #hylia #demise #the bargainer #fierce deity #botw family and legacy #botw totk family and legacy

[ordon-shield]

Just saw a post that I… partially agree with but also feel that it’s misrepresenting/exaggerating some stuff? So anyway, here’s some thoughts on the economy of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild:

It’s clear that Hyrule has maintained an economy after the Great Calamity — for example, selling food is still a viable enough career for merchants to risk the monster infested roads, and paying for somewhere to sleep or for property is still a thing (notable in the comparatively rupee-poor Hyrule of BotW), but there’s some distinct differences from the capitalist economies we’re used to. To me, it feels that their lack of need for any form of government largely comes down to what seems to be a form of gift economy that relies on trust between individuals to both provide something of value in the exchange (eg. you give me this specific food, I give you some interesting information, I give you a cool rock I found, you give me some clothes I don’t need anymore), with the rupee economy being secondary to that, mostly being used for higher-value goods (eg shields, clothing, foods that can’t be found in the wild) or services.

#legend of zelda #loz #the legend of zelda #botw #breath of the wild #botw worldbuilding #zelda worldbuilding #Loz worldbuilding

[russeliarat]

Zora Anatomy - Skeleton

Masterlist

First pieces of worldbuilding for the Zora. There will be other sections of Zora Worldbuilding as Societal Structure, Traditions, History etc, which goes the same for the other races seen in BOTW. Just so happens I like the Zora the most out of all races lol. If you have any requests or questions, my asks are always open and welcomed. As usual, these are all headcannons so consider this an AU for my own story.

Content under the cut!

Unexpectedly, Zora have hard bones, contrary to the popular belief that they are flexible, similarly to fish. This means that they cannot be under deep pressure and are usually tied to the upper areas of the sea and similar bodies of water. Similarly to Hylians, Zora can only go as far as 300m down in the ocean before their bodies are crushed. This means they have very strong bones and can take quite a beating.

With a noticeable proportion difference, Zora have an elongated spine to assist in swimming, and grow in length during their first growth spurt. Before this, their spines are semi-fused, which doesn’t give them the greatest range of motion and hinders their swimming abilities until their first puberty. Their spine length also means they have slightly longer ribcages which de-fuse during their first and second growth spurts as they grow in height. They also have quite short legs in comparison due to their main mode of transport being through bodies of water. Arms are slightly longer due to their usage in early life, and often appear slightly muscular due to their constant use at that point in their life.

Fins have small bones which give a small amount of support, though are much more fragile than the rest of the body and can break easily without precaution. Usually this happens before Zora children hit their first puberty due to unpredictable motions and poor coordination when swimming, but generally tend to have tougher cartilage to hold fins in place and prevent the ability to swim from being lost. Another noticeable feature of Zora anatomy is their two-toed feet, formed after evolution fused the bones of the toes together.  A small fin is placed between the Hallux and Index toes to assist in swimming, though doesn’t have any bones.

The large tail connected to their heads has a smaller spine connected to the skull but is much thicker and sturdier to support and protect the brain, especially when withstanding water pressure when swimming. Fins on the dorsal tail (the dorsal fin) can be aligned both up and down or side-to-side depending on the type of fish they descended from.

Zora teeth can vary between diets, but will always have long, sharp canines for emergency meat consumption, usually coming from when they need a diet of meat to sustain large amounts of nutrients during puberties. The difference comes in which Zoras have molars and which don’t. Herbivorous and omnivorous Zoras’ teeth consist of molar, incisors, and long canines, whilst carnivorous Zora  have exclusively canines or canines and incisors. In only carnivorous Zoran children, a small row of molar sit behind their main row of teeth, which fall out before puberty as they have no need once puberty hits and subsided. They are considered baby teeth to a lot of Zora, whose teeth only fall out due to blunt force, disease, or illness.

#legend of zelda #zelda #loz #breath of the wild #botw #botw zora #zora #worldbuilding #zelda worldbuilding #Headcanon #zelda headcanon #loz headcanons #legend of zelda headcanons

[prokopetz]

The thing I like about the Blood Moon mechanic in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom is how it affords game-mechanical transparency to the player.

Like, we all know the reason it exists is because, like any complex open-world game, BotW and TotK periodically need to hit the reset button on all non-trivial changes to the world state; in games that don't, your save file has unbounded growth due to the need to keep track of every little thing you've ever done, and eventually the system runs out of memory, save/load performance goes to shit, or both. It's basic software engineering constraints dictating the shape of play.

The thing is, most open world games try to do this subtly, perhaps by setting individual timers for the consequences of different actions to expire, or by linking world-state cleanup to proximity to the player character, but in practice it never works – trying to be sneaky about it paradoxically makes it more obtrusive to the player by rendering it opaque and unpredictable, often prompting the development of superstitious gameplay rituals to work around it.

BotW and TotK take precisely the opposite tack and make it 100% transparent and 100% predictable. Once a week, at exactly the same time of day, there's a spooky cutscene and an evil wizard undoes every change you've made to the world that doesn't have an associated quest log entry. Why everything at once, and always on the same schedule? A wizard did it. Why exactly and only those changes that don't have quest logs attached? See again: a wizard did it.

And this isn't just a gameplay conceit. Everybody knows about the evil wizard! The fact that the evil wizard keeps resetting everybody's efforts to fix the befuckening of the world is a central plot point. There are organisations whose chartered purpose is to go around redoing stuff that's been undone by the wizard.

It makes me wonder what other potential synergies between fantasy worldbuilding and mechanical transparency are going unexploited.

#gaming #video games #the legend of zelda: breath of the wild #the legend of zelda: tears of the kingdom #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #tears of the kingdom #botw #totk #zelda #game design #worldbuilding #swearing #the legend of zelda: breath of the wild spoilers #the legend of zelda: tears of the kingdom spoilers #legend of zelda spoilers #breath of the wild spoilers #tears of the kingdom spoilers #botw spoilers #totk spoilers #zelda spoilers #spoilers

[powdermelonkeg]

TotK theory, do NOT read until you’ve beaten the Dragon Tears quest:

We never actually see the Golden Goddesses in past games. We see effigies of them, like the three Oscars flying into the sky in Ocarina of Time, or the three identical Hylian statues surrounding the Triforce in Twilight Princess, or the three pearl-holding statues in Wind Waker.

We meet their oracles in Ages and Secrets, and help those oracles get houses in Minish Cap. We meet their agents, the Twilight Princess Light Spirits, or the Skyward Sword dragons, or the three protectors of the Goddess Pearls in WW.

Even in Skyward Sword, we only see their symbols, despite being in the time arguably closest to them.

And now, in present day, when only Hylia is still worshiped, we have Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh. And thanks to Zeldra, we know how they came to be, to an extent.

We know they used to be mortal.

We know they had incredible power.

We know they sacrificed it for something.

A big question that’s always burned me since Skyward Sword is why did the goddesses leave?

Hylia didn’t. She stayed to help, stayed to fight until her last breath, then was reborn to try it again.

It always used to strike me as particularly cold of them that they’d ignore their youngest sister, even with all the power they clearly had at their disposal.

But what if they literally couldn’t help?

To become an immortal dragon is to lose oneself. They wouldn’t have even been aware.

Of course, why would an immortal goddess need to become an immortal dragon in the first place? Don’t they have everything?

Here’s my theory.

In TotK, we’re repeatedly told that the Zonai, when they descended, were praised as gods for their powers. And we know the Secret Stones amplify that power.

Coupled with the fact that we never see any consistent portrayal of the High Trio—

I think Din, Nayru, and Farore were Zonai.

I think they’re revered as gods because they descended from the heavens, as the Zonai were said to have been.

I think that their powers involved the terraforming they did to the world to make it habitable.

I think that Demise lived on the surface first, with the malice, with the gloom, and that the golden trio stopped his conquest of the surface peoples by force.

I think they swallowed their secret stones to keep them from being taken by Demise, since we now know what someone with even a fraction of his power is capable of doing.

I think when they became dragons, the power they shed in their wake coalesced into the Triforce.

I think Demise, when he waged war on the surface peoples afterwards, emerged from the Depths.

I think that Skyloft was Hylia knowing that the sky has always been safe, always been out of reach, and repurposing the lowest of the Zonai isles to protect them. Even though we know the Goddess Statue was on the surface originally, we don’t know where the rest of the isles came from—the Hylians rose with the statue, but spread to the other islands.

And I think that Demise telling Link that Zelda’s form pales in comparison to the magnificence of her former self is referring to the youngest Zonai sister’s former appearance. Because what a downgrade it must have seemed to him to watch one of the most powerful beings in the world, the one that sealed him away, turn herself into one of his prey.

#loz #zelda #totk #totk spoilers #skyward sword #theory #worldbuilding

[ultimateinferno]

I know the Zelda Timeline is hardly the most popular thing out there, but for me, it's always been endlessly fascinating. Everything is the same. It's all different. It's linear. It's cyclical. It branches and twists and comes back together. It disregards its predecessors. It can't let them go. It thrashes against change. It can't stay the same.

Every game is a reboot.

But they're also not.

I think the story of The Legend of Zelda is the epitome of narrative doublethink. In order to truly buy in, you must accept the simultaneous facets that none of the games matter to one another and that they all do. They're the same story. They're absolutely not.

The thing about the timeline, to me, by being both codified and nebulous, is what ties this cow tools of a narrative together. It's a puzzle without a box. It's total fucking nonsense, but so is reality. Things won't ever truly make sense, but what if they did. What if we took it from a new angle and... hmm. No. That won't work

Or maybe...

Ultimately, the Zelda Timeline is quite simply a farcical creative writing prompt. A dare. A challenge. To take these pieces not designed to fit together and give them order. Do the writers themselves care? Absolutely not. I do, though. So fuck it.

#zelda #the legend of zelda #tloz #loz #legend of zelda #ocarina of time #oot #breath of the wild #botw #a link to the past #alttp #tears of the kingdom #totk #like honestly its not really that confusing for me at large but patching up the holes is half the fun #no other series really has that ''everything is the exact same and also completely different'' #it scratches the parts of my brain that likes to piece together stories and worldbuilding #and also the part that likes to piece together science #like call this pretentious but real life is fucking nonsense too #this one is just a controlled environment

[rawliverandgoronspice]

One thing that TotK does constantly but really doesn't land for me when compared to BotW is that every NPC loves Zelda so much.

She is the sweetest, and she loves animals and is the very best at them, and she goes to every major landmark to spend time there and also she teaches the people secrets about the lands they have always lived in and they're like woow thanks zelda incredible I'll change my entire ways because you were just SO enlightening (Lurelin + Gerudo Town feeling particularly questionable here for obvious reasons), and she's so wise and beloved and talented --to the point that nobody (beyond the Zora King) even dares to question her actions when she starts acting off.

(Yunobo please stop letting her walk all over you, like it's alarming that you understand she basically brainwashed you and your entire race, and you're still running after her like a lost puppy for an explanation that will surely make everything make sense instead of, like, punting her into the sun? I know it's the eeeevil zelda, but that this situation could even remotely begin to happen feels... so offputting.)

In BotW, the rare mentions of Zelda worked because 1) she was an ancient figure and the modern hylians knew very little about her and would build her up as a legendary figure accordingly, 2) she was literally giving her life for them (I mean she kind of still does here but people do not know that or cannot infer that in any way --which is its own sort of problem), 3) she was extremely hard on herself, felt like a failure and... kind of was one (and she was given shit for it).

(also in BotW we are in a post-Hyrule kingdom world, while here we're living its re-foundation, and so it feels very... convenient that they excavate a previous version of their perfect kingdom to boister up the hylian claim upon the lands also --but that's beyond the topic)

So for anyone to give her grace and compassion in BotW, while a little eyeroll worthy at times, was endearing and made sense. None of this was her fault; she may have extreme power, but she didn't directly yield it --her imperfections the byproduct of a stressful situation every champion was being forced into due to the tides of fate. Also the king was criticized for being a little ruthless and asking too much of his subjects, including his own daughter. There was solidarity between you and everyone else at the same level.

But here? I don't know, it feels like the entire kingdom is terrified that the sheikah secret police will drag them back in the Bottom of the Well if they breathe wrong when talking about their beloved princess, it's so unsettling. I liked BotW Zelda, but... I don't know, I'm literally more comfortable around fake Zelda than the real one. Fake Zelda feels more like a real person that she does.

#totk #totk spoilers #totk critical #botw #zelda #they went so black and white in their writing they kind of turned hyrule into psychological horror #it's genuinely hard to feel like you're fighting for the good guys #and that you're not being puppeteered for darker purposes #like honestly if it was revealed midgame that Ganondorf straight up did not exist and was made up to reassert zonai domination or whatever #I would have been Ahhhh! Yes this actually makes sense now #I don't know totk's worldbuilding is so unsettling to me haha

[ganondoodle]

saw an older post from @golvio talking about miasma in totk (engl gloom..) and mentioned miasma RAIN

and it just kidna lead me to think up more stuff for the game that would have been so logical and cool as hell

if you have played kingdom two crowns, its basically about building a kingdom and defeating some weird goo monsters (idk the lore that well unfortunately) that spawn through portals each night, and once you destroy a portal there will be a bloodmoon night in which they attack wayy stronger

so what if instead of the bloodmoon being only that one cutscene to respawn enemies and clear cache, what if the whole night was coated in a red glow with the bloomoon looming over you the entire time and the cool ass cloud moving super fast effect from botw, with monsters spawning en masse, maybe even unique ones that arent seen anywhere else- or maybe rarely underground, this red night being the only time they will be able to spawn on the surface and the sky- NPCs running to hide and barricade themselves (so the outpost in front of hyrule castle actually has .. a function) and it beign an actual danger to you as well miasma rain being a possible special weather condition either happenign only during those bloodmoon nights or perhaps a few nights in advance to subtly warn you about whats to come soon, with the rains effects being that it slowly takes your health like acid rain if you stand in it for too long, and rarely a bloodmoon enemy spawning already, to give you a clear taste and warning of the coming night, they could form from the puddles building up from the rain!!

once the sun rises it will all calm down, maybe with a tiny cutscene using the good ol sunrise music from ww and showing people opening the gates of the towns again to transition the game from that event to a reset version again

it wouldnt just serve to make the gameplay and world more alive it would also help the narrative (not going into the HUGE problems i have with it in the canon game again) it would actually make it FEEL like you are living in a world on the brink of being swallowed by miasma and mosnters- botw was a looming threat in the background, with the security of zelda keeping it at bay but it still was there and in tone with the theme of the game (cough cough unlike some other newer game)- it would only make sense to then make totk be one where you actualy live through the catastrophe and try to find out its roots and help adress the core issue bC GODDAMN WHAT A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY IT WAS TO CONTINUE THE SUBLTE BUILD UP FROM BOTW INTO A MUCH MORE NUANCED AND INTERESTING STORY TO F-

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #totk #ganondoodles rewrites totk #ganondoodles rants #tloz #i have talked long over the frustrations i got with the game #both with narrative- if you can call it that lmao- AND its gameplay #bc i know its usually praised as fuck but the gameplay isnt all that great either #impressive on a technical level in some parts #but worldbuilding and narratively and just ... gameplay wise it also severly lacked #and im not aFRAID TO SAY IT

[ridreamir]

Setting: Tears of the Kingdom/Breath of the Wild and Pre-Calamity

This is a condensed reader insert, no gender is ever specified in my writing. (Various x Reader with focus on the Yiga Clan/Master Kohga) Edit: I didn't have time to proofread. I'll keep fixing the post each time I spot a mistake.

So what if, one hundred years ago, there had been a forgotten member of the royal family (by blood or by adoption?) This could be because of a timeline erasure or time split, but this person somehow still exists in the BOTW timeline before the events of the Calamity.

That person just so happens to be you.

Forgotten by the world, you're left to be a wandering traveler in a now post-apocalyptic Hyrule, but you still have a small connection to the power that saved you from certain death/erasure from existence.

Along your travels, you meet members of the various races, and those who were once aware of your existence can no longer recognize you, but those of significant bloodlines too carry faint traces of power not unlike that inherent in your own family. You hide your identity, but you meet old acquaintances and quietly resolve potential threats before they happen before leaving as quickly as you came.

This, of course, is met with no thanks, as you try to avoid being noticed as anything more than an insignificant traveler. Gentle rains, warm breezes, the air that follows feels vaguely reminiscent of a time before the kingdom's fall, and those old enough to remember those times now long past feel melancholic for the brief moment you pass through their lands. The light of the sunrise is stark upon the land, even in mist or morning fog.

During your time passing through the domain, a somewhat young Sidon might find you standing before Mipha's statue with your hands clasped together whilst everyone is sleeping, silently communicating the tales of your adventures through prayer.

He's easily caught spying with his large size, but you pretend not to notice as it makes no sense for a stranger like you to dwell on the memory of a long-passed princess. It probably looked like a passerby paying respect to the spirits. Eventually, he did come out of hiding to join you in paying your respects to the statue. Seeing her face immortalized in stone did stir unrestful feelings within you. You don't know why you survived when everyone else had perished, but you had a feeling there was still something here you must do. You weren't supposed to be alive, but having awoken with limited memories, you realized there were no records left of your existence as a member of the royal family, nor were you sure what role you were meant to play now that your existence had been nothing but a faded memory that only you had held onto.

As you traveled, you also slowly regained pivotal memories of the timeline you had hailed from.

Ironically, you had met your end at the hands of an assassin in disguise. It was just after the revelation of the divine prophecy given of a hero and the crowned princess, your death surely nothing more than a mistake that could have been avoided had you been important enough to protect.

Worse was that you had later realized that you had befriended a strange and silly traveler who had quite the personality, and would sneak away in disguise to meet with him. Sharing snacks purchased together in the market and getting up to shenanigans had become a frequent occurrence, and not once did you think that you'd be caught as the isolated member of the royal family that bore no importance to the monarchy or the crown. He was carefree, mischievous, and had a strange sense of humor that did not fail to amuse you. He might've not been the most pious person before you met, but he learned to pay for the treats you shared. He might have also been the only person to actually like you as a person and not hold contempt for you as a discarded royal.

But it seemed that friend of yours that became dear to you had also been lying about his true identity.

In this new life, you would find yourself desperately stranded in the middle of the desert, just after a violent sandstorm had brought you to a canyon strangely decorated with hanging talismans. It seemed to be the only place safe from the whipping winds that shredded your clothes and cut your skin. You'd felt compelled to see what had become of Gerudo town after the war, as the Gerudo and the Rito had all but cut themselves off from the rest of the world given their difficult-to-reach positions and the danger that now shattered this land.

But just as you thought you were safe, an arrow came flying past your shoulder. A piercing pain coursed throughout your veins, and it became evident that your assailant had not missed his mark. You were awake long enough to watch the world turn sideways before a pair of boots kicked the sand up and obscured the last of your vision. You awoke in a jail cell.

You could not see who stood before you, but you heard as he asked your reason for coming this far through the harsh desert sandstorm.

Of course, this was an interrogation. You were in an unfamiliar place, but something about here had been far too familiar for comfort. This man before you had been the cause of your death.

And this time, he seemed to really think you were just some poor, unfortunate traveler who happened to get swept up in the storm, and not the forgotten royal of a deposed family.

So, you played into his misconception. You supposed it wasn't far from the truth now that you were really just a nobody, but in the back of your mind, you kept looking for signs that this man before you had been the scoundrel who stole from stalls and offered up his spoils to you, his dear friend. His deep, dark eyes and kind smile had probably been a lie as well. The Yiga were known for their disguises, and you were a fool even up until now, holding the memory of him in fondness. That reality of yours was never true to begin with.

He was now introduced to you as the Head of the Yiga Clan. This was "Master Kohga."

#x reader #the legend of zelda x reader #tears of the kingdom #yiga clan #master kohga #master kohga x reader #sidon #sidon x reader #lady mipha #loz link #the champions #the royal family #alternate universe #alternate reality #I'm willing to write more of this if you guys are interested #worldbuilding #reader insert #the legend of zelda #various x reader #gender neutral pronouns #gender neutral mc #gender neutral reader #unedited #not beta read #More yiga clan propaganda #I've written others check my previous posts if you're interested

[batfamscreaming]

Listen. We direly must uncouple Hyrule from the fantasy of medieval Europe. If Hylia's power and the power of sages are believed to be passed down by bloodlines, that means the Hylian Royal family has a vested interest in controlling the bloodline, but also in keeping it healthy. Do you know about Royal European bloodlines? Yeah you can trace them back 1000 years, but everyone has hemophilia.

Controlling the bloodline means hapsburg style not marrying any other royal families because then that royal family has a legal stake in your land. Hyrule royal family has magical powers? Everybody wants to marry into that. Everyone wants a piece of magic power.

So you marry people who are already invested in Hyrule, which someone is saying "nobility who own the various lands in hyrule", but even if you keep a pretty close eye on shit and arrange marriages as far apart as possible, after a few generations, people are gonna start running out of gene pool space. The Hapsburgs lasted 500-700 years before the Spanish ones were literally were unable to conceive anymore and the other Hapsburgs finally married out.

We have to keep this up not just for 10k years, but indefinitely. So that's not going to work.

I'm not saying that the hyrulian royal family didn't marry nobles at all, but I am saying that it is super fucking common for them to marry like. Just a dude.

Maybe other kingdoms surrounding Hyrule are trying to make political marriages, but hyrulian princesses are basically forbidden from marrying foreign princes, and instead are encouraged to chat up the local blacksmith for example, or perhaps the nice young lad at the market selling flowers. The servant with the nice smile.

Does this lead to a big power imbalance? Yes. But it also has a weird fun side effect that a lot of prince and princess consorts know how common Hylians live and can provide input in ruling. It means the hyrulian people feel a little closer to the monarchy and may be more inclined to trust them, not just because of religious reasons but because they can see people like themselves in the royal family here and there.

Obviously if a royal starts courting someone way below them in social standing it's not easy, there's a lot that goes into literacy and schooling all of a sudden, and political training and manners, and then after starting all that good luck if they fucking break up. But it does make a very very strange, relaxed royal family for a very very strange kingdom fraught with blessings.

It also means that the bloodline has spread.

There's the line to the throne, of course, but most of the time if there are multiple heirs some of them simply never are used. They also cant marry out of the kingdom of course, to maintain control of the bloodline, but if the queen can marry a commoner, well... surely so can her sibling. And those children are even less likely to be used for the throne than their royal parent. I suppose this could make up a lot of nobility, but not all of it.

A lot of semi-royals end up bringing a dowry to commoner families and spreading that money in the community they settle down in. Their kids marry locals and so on and so forth until there's any number of people who have a connection to the royal line without even really knowing about it. After all, most regular folk aren't deeply involved in genealogy. Four generations back is plenty. And it's not like spares and their kids settle down all the time, it's just one or two a generation and the kids from others become not much bigger a deal than fun gossip.

Because no one is thinking about it, it seems strange and miraculous sometimes, how the kingdom of Hyrule remains prosperous and wealthy with a royal family that are strange and unformal but mostly hale, as if their blood is magical.

And yet, people are still surprised when it seems like their heroes come from nothing.

As if the whole kingdom shares a blessing.

#i dont like the bloodline thing but i just thinj if you use it you should use it RIGHT #legend of zelda #loz #beatext #worldbuilding #we can build a fire

[the-au-collector]

So the fact that Christianity exists in Legend of Zelda is endlessly interesting to me. Obviously, it's very different than our version that exists in real life but like... it's just really fun to play with.

Anyways here's my thoughts:

The Ocarina of Time Sages (Zelda, Impa, Ruto, Rauru, Naboru, Saria, Darunia) are saints

So I feel like this doesn't need a ton of explaining. In-universe, the towns in LoZ are named after the Sages so obviously they're pretty important. It doesn't really make sense to me why they wouldn't be canonized. Especially since they all have some sort of powers or holiness anyways due to being Sages.

But Who is Jesus

This one is a little less clear. Since I'm worldbuilding Legend's Hyrule right now (and I love the idea that Legend is Christian) and they kind of really hate the Hero of Time since he failed and all, it can't be Time. I feel like Sky and Sun are a little too intrinsically connected to Hylia and everything. And since Christianity believes in God and not Hylia I doubt they'd make Sky or Sun Jesus (they probably in some way still incorporate Hylia . Most likely, they have a saint based off her or she's an angel. Sky and Sun would likely become saints as well under that logic). So I have a few options:

Option One: process of elimination leaves the hero between Sky and Time as a possible candidate. That would be Four. I like the idea of the whole Christianity thing existing before the timeline split but, like in real life, it didn't get very popular for a few centuries. In the other timelines, it would have fizzled out. But because of Time's defeat, Christianity just gets more popular in the Downfall Timeline. I'm not sure what the exact story surrounding Four would be. I want it to somewhat mirror real-life Christian beliefs, after all. At the same time, I'm kind of on the fence about making the Jesus-figure one of the heroes.

Option Two: Mido is Jesus. There's this theory I saw about Mido becoming a hero after Time's defeat and helping during the Imprisoning War, which is why he gets a town named after him in LoZ. I just think it would be cool. Again, I'm not sure what his story would be yet but at least his is a lot more flexible to work with.

I'm curious about what everyone else things, though? I'm really torn between "Four is Jesus" and "Mido is Jesus." On one hand, Four would be funny, but Mido sort of make sense.

#linked universe #the implications of Christianity in LoZ #lu sky #lu four #lu time #lu sun #collectors worldbuilding rambles #in which I try to worldbuild Legend of Zelda/Linked Universe

[aufi-creative-mind]

Do you think the Twilight Crystal is still in Ordon? You know, the thing that let Twilight Link transform back & forth between Hylian & Wolf.

By present-day, no. The Twilight Crystal no longer exists in this version of Ordon. BUT it had played a big role in shaping the Ordon peninsula's history and faith.

-

The Twilight Crystal was originally the headpiece of the legendary Twili Empress, Midna's crown. She was the last Twili Empress who lived about 5000 years prior to the present-day and was considered as the figure who broke the curse of "eternal Twilight" that was inflicted on the Ordon peninsula by the Interlopers - aka her ancestors - and brought the four Light Spirit Guardians into the physical realm to help in Ordon's healing from her ancestor's twisted magic.

Midna has since acheived "ascension" and is considered as the "Patron Saint of Twilight" in the Ordonian faith.

The Crystal was similar to the Secret Stone in TotK, and was a kind of amplifer for Midna's powerful magic. After her passing, the Twilight Crystal became a sought-after treasure by thieves and treasure hunters.

One such treasure hunter used it to "recreate" the power of then extinct Twili people's legendary magic. And ended up causing the "Era of Great Darkness" where the peninsula was consumed by a shroud of darkness that twisted any unfortunate mortal's spirit into unspeakable monsters. This led to the rise of the Light Spirits and their Avatar vassals to vanquish the Darkness.

The Twilight Crystal was then destroyed by the Ordonian Avatar, Oron the Shepherd (aka this Ordon's version of Link, the Hero of Twilight) with the assistance of his Light Spirit, Ordonia.

This occurred about 3000 years prior to present-day.

Oron's descendants would go on to establish the united Kingdom of Ordon, the predecessor to the present-day country of Ordon.

#answered #legend of zelda #botw project ordon #botw totk project ordon #project ordon #ordon #zelda worldbuilding #midna #twilight princess #twilight crystal

[ordon-shield]

Based on this post, here’s all the different ways you can write out ‘Link’ and ‘Zelda’ (including some of Zelda’s other names!)

#legend of zelda #loz #the legend of zelda #loz worldbuilding #Zelda worldbuilding

[russeliarat]

Zora Anatomy - Body Types and Colouration

Masterlist

Last of the big upload! Hopefully. I will be posting more as time goes on but I just wanted to build up more content in the masterlist tbh. If you have any requests or questions, my asks are always open as usual! Consider this an AU as these are all my headcannons for the LoZ franchise and will not be 100% accurate.

Content under the cut!

It is no surprise that Zora come in a large variety of body types. Many Zora adapted from a wide range of fish and aquatic life, with the most common being shallow-water fish, but are no exception to deep water and larger fish. When seeing a Zora, it is likely you will never seen the same type of Zora without them being related. When observed as adults, it seems many Zoras’ height will pertain to the type of fish they come from; larger fish such as sharks, sturgeons, rays, and occasionally jellyfish tend to have much larger heights and frames. They usually tend to be muscular from adulthood due to their strenuous lifestyles.

Zora tend to have bright colours with many reds, pinks, blues, and greens in their scales. This doesn’t mean these are the only colours observed as yellow, orange, and purple Zora can be seen from time to time. The brightness of one’s scales is attributed to age as Guppies and young adults have the most saturated scale colours, which get darker after their second puberty. The oldest Zora in history (over 500 years old) look to have almost pitch black scales with an iridescent sheen.

All Zora have a primary white/off-white colour and a secondary, brighter colour, with some having tertiary colours to compliment the secondary. Females often have pure white scales on their face, torso and waist, fins, things, calves, and arms, whilst males have an off-white version of said secondary colour. Trans Zora or those wishing to change their scale colours are sometimes seen beside oceans and tidepool rubbing coloured corals against themselves to alter them.

Many are born with genetic conditions and mutations such as vitiligo (causing up to four colours usually in Koi Zora), melanism in their secondary and tertiary colours, albinism, and sometimes harmless red spots dotting their primary colours through puberty, dubbed ‘Fish Acne’. Body types can also be affected as Acromegaly and Dwarfism can be seen a few times every generation or so. Occasionally a Zora child will be born without a limb or two due to complications during pregnancy, but are only considered severe if the dorsal fins/tail is affected as the main limb used to swim is the previously mentioned tail. If a Zora has one confirmed genetic condition, it its likely they will have more hidden beneath the surface.

#legend of zelda #zelda #loz #breath of the wild #botw #botw zora #zora #worldbuilding #zelda worldbuilding #Headcanon #zelda headcannon #legend of zelda headcanons #loz headcanons

[prokopetz]

Some people say the Legend of Zelda series has too many different ancient sky-dwelling precursor civilisations. I say those people are cowards. The next Zelda game should feature the ruins of an ancient sky-dwelling precursor civilisation whose statues and murals all inexplicably look exactly like Tingle.

#gaming #video games #the legend of zelda #zelda #nintendo #worldbuilding #kooloo limpah

[powdermelonkeg]

You know, in retrospect, the Yiga being incredible with technology makes perfect sense.

The whole reason for the Yiga/Sheikah split was the first Calamity. After Ganon was defeated, the at-present king of Hyrule gave the Sheikah an ultimatum—bury and swear off their technology and return to traditional ways of life, or be exiled. And the ones who refused to comply became the Yiga clan.

So of COURSE when they found Zonai technology they imprinted on it like baby birds. They were exiled for being technologically proficient, they would have latched onto that legacy as the most important part of their identity purely out of (justified) spite.

#loz #zelda #botw #totk #theory #worldbuilding