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#Hyrule just happened to choose a bunch of fairies
minty-mumbles · 3 years
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Foundlings
Summary: What if the Links weren't born? What if they just... appeared one day?
Author's Note: This was inspired by some asks on @tortilla-of-courage's blog
(Read it on Ao3 Here)
~~~
Everyone on Skyloft had a profound bond with their loftwing. Everyone. They would trust their birds with their life, and more significantly, the lives of their children, if they had any. It wasn’t a rare sight to see your neighbor’s loftwing watching after their child, or to see a loftwing carrying a wayward child back home.
And, although Skyloft is a small island, not everyone knows each other.
So they can’t be blamed, really, that they didn't notice right away that all the loftwings on the island were playing hot potato with a small child.
They only really started to notice when the headmaster of the Knight’s academy found his loftwing looking after not just his own daughter, but a young boy as well.
Before he could question it, or pick up the boy, another loftwing swooped in, snatching the boy up by the back of his tunic. The toddler didn’t seem to mind, squealing in excitement as the bird took him up to the roof.
Gaepora still might not have thought anything about it, except that he knew for a fact that that loftwing’s rider had died a year ago. That’s why the bird was here. It was still mourning its partner, and it was better for it to be around other loftwings. The communal nests for the loftwings at the academy were perfect for that.
And, as far as he knew, the loftwing hadn’t picked a new rider. So whose child was that?
~
After a good two or three weeks of searching for the child’s parents and simultaneously trying to get the boy away from the loftwings, they were still empty-handed.
The search for the parents was futile. Nearly everyone on the island knew about the boy now, and most had even seen their own loftwings carrying the boy around. No parent had stepped forward.
On the other hand, no one could actually manage to get the kid away from the loftwings. It was rare for the birds to completely disobey their riders, but in this, they seemed resolute. The boy would be staying with the loftwings, at least for now.
Gaepora pinched the bridge of his nose, looking at his daughter, who was currently giggling with the yet unmanned boy on his own loftwings back. This boy was going to be nothing but trouble, he could already feel it.
~~~
The master smith of Castle town wasn’t a slouch at hand-to-hand combat. He had never been formally trained in the subject. But he was a smith. Being a smithy was very physically taxing. He may be getting on a bit in years, but he could still swing a hammer and withstand the blazing heat of the forge.
So when he entered his shop in the morning and heard rustling behind the counter he kept his lockbox behind, he did not run to call the town guards. They wouldn’t even get here in time, and Smith could deal with the thief by himself.
When he rounded the corner of the counter with a shout, what he found was not what he expected. Instead, he found a little kid. Really, he couldn't be more than two or three. Instead of the lock box, he had been rooting around in a jar of cookies that Smith kept in the shop for the rather common occasion he got the munchies in the middle of the day.
The child was watching him with wide eyes, his gaze not wavering. He had far too much of an intelligent gaze for a two year old who had literally gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Smith looked around, foolishly hoping that the child’s mother would pop out from behind one of the shelves to claim the him.
No such luck, of course. Cursing his bleeding heart, Smith picked up the child and, hanging a sign on the door to tell his customers he was closed for the day, made his way home.
~~~
The Great Deku Tree was very old. He liked to take naps, which sometimes ended up lasting months. And he forgot things sometimes.
But he was pretty sure he wasn't actually asleep for more than a few hours this time. And he was sure he would have remembered this.
There was a child laying between his roots. An infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes, nestled in a bed of fallen leaves.
The Tree didn’t recognize him.
He would know if this was a Kokiri child. It was not. This child was as Hylian as they came. And yet, somehow, he had ended up here. Deep in the lost woods, where no adult could reach. At the very least, the fairies or the Kokiris would have woken him if there had been an intruder.
The Tree took his time examining the child, looking for any clues to his origins. He found none.
After a while, the baby started to fuss. The Deku Tree hummed, calling for a fairy to go fetch Saria. She was a responsible young lass. She would make sure the boy was well looked after.
He stayed contemplating the child long after he had been taken away by the Kokiri. That child would be one to make note of.
~~~
They were calling him the Hero of the Wind, now. She had smiled when she heard that, but to her, he would always be Link. She gave him that name, after all. She had named him after the previous hero when she found him. There had been no mother in sight to give her a different name, after all.
She hadn’t known where the baby had come from. When she had gone on an early morning walk one day, it had led to her finding a woven basket with a wailing infant inside it, washed up on the shore.
No one on Outset Island had a child this young, or was even pregnant. But Hylia would be damned if she left the babe there. Besides, she was lonely. Her husband had died a few years back, and her daughter had left Outset, rarely visiting. She wouldn’t mind someone to share her house with.
There were rumors. Of course there were. Outset island was a calm and peaceful place, but that didn’t mean all the people there were kind. Suddenly acquiring a child out of nowhere was suspicious. People called her a witch behind her back, not so subtly accusing her of stealing the child.
She had claimed that her daughter had come back from sailing to give Link to his grandmother, but no one had actually seen the young woman do so, so there were always skeptics.
And there was indeed a good reason that no one had seen her come back. It was because the woman hadn’t. No one but Granny would ever know the truth of it, she had vowed to herself.
But, eventually, the excitement died down. Link was a sweet boy. And, well, he had his Granny’s nose, after all, and his mother’s bright golden hair.
(And a few years after that, when she found Aryll on her front porch, surrounded by seagulls, people said much the same about the little girl.)
~~~
The Hero of Legend had humble beginnings, just like most of his brethren. Before he had started his journeys, he had grown up on a farm, looked after by his uncle. In truth, though, said uncle had no relation to him at all.
The nearby village thought he was just an orphan.
It wasn’t unusual. Families were torn apart often these days, sometimes literally, meeting brutal ends at the hands of monsters. Many times, this left children to wander, with no one to care for them. Sometimes, families would take them in and care for them like they were their own.
It was a bit odd that Link's Uncle would do so, as he had no wife to help him in raising a child. But after all, he had no wife, and never showed any signs of looking for one. Perhaps he wanted someone to look after him as he grew older, or just someone to share his house with. It must get lonely, all by himself in that huge farm, so far from town.
In truth, he couldn’t have done anything else, except take the kid in. He had been sucked in by the big eyes set into the sweet face the first time he set eyes on the boy.
The boy never made any mention of his previous family. But, thought his uncle, that was probably normal. Whatever happened to him before he found his way here couldn’t have been pleasant.
It was probably normal not to want to speak of it. And besides, there were apples that needed to be picked, animals to be fed, grain to be cut. There would be time for talking later. For now, he would focus on teaching Link the proper way to hold a cucco without being mauled.
~~~
Legend had it that the Hero of Hyrule started his adventure in a cave. What the Legends don’t tell is that he also started his life in that cave.
In his era, monsters roamed nearly everywhere. There were a few exceptions. One of these was a small cave. It was hidden deep in a forest, and generally ignored by all who passed it. Most who saw it assumed it was too small to be a proper shelter for anyone.
It was this assumption that made it the perfect spot for its inhabitants to hide. A group of fairies had stumbled across the cave, and claimed it for their own. It was undisturbed by the bigger creatures of the world, and it was the perfect size for them.
It was deep in this cave, soaked in fae magic, that this group of fairies found a tiny child. Or more accurately, he found them. When he wiggled through the crack of the cave opening and saw them, he giggled, clapping his hands.
They were uncertain at first. What was a young hylian doing out here? It shouldn't be possible. Where had he even come from? He couldn’t have made it all the way out here by himself.
Being naturally helpful creatures, they tried to search for the small one’s parents, but came up empty-handed. All the while, the child played with the strands of magic they conjured to entertain him.
Fairies have a poor sense of time. They just kept searching for the child’s parents. They fed him when he was hungry, and sang him to sleep when he was tired. They didn’t even notice that the child was growing up.
~~~
Wolves are not a common animal to see in Ordon. Generally, they preferred to stay away from the village.
There were exceptions. If there was a harsh winter, wolf packs might approach the village, looking for the easy meals the goats presented. If a wolf was sick, they might wander closer in confusion as well.
So when Uli looked out the window, and saw a large golden wolf in the middle of the goat pen, she was understandably shocked. The wolf looked healthy. Its fur coat was glossy, and even from this distance, Uli could see muscles rippled under its coat when it moved. There was no sickness in this creature. It was the height of summer. The game in the forest should be plentiful. There was no real reason for it to go after her goats.
Looking closer, she could see that the wolf was standing over something, likely one of her goats. She cursed, gripping the bow from the mantle that they kept for situations just like this, and exited the house.
When the wolf saw that he was being approached, he calmly turned away. Moving at a quick pace, he left behind the prize he was guarding, and returned to the edge of the forest. When he reached the forest, he turned to look back at her. With what looked disturbingly like a nod, he disappeared into the woods.
After watching for a few moments to make sure the wolf wouldn’t return, Uli turned to inspect the damage to the herd.
Instead of finding a dead goat, she found a small bundle of blankets. Filled with curiosity, she knelt, moving the blankets aside cautiously. What she found was the last thing she thought she would.
A toddler, curled up and sleeping peacefully, as if they hadn’t just been two feet away from a wolf.
Well. What was she to do with this, then?
~~~
There is no record of the Hero of Warriors from before the War. Most people from his era assume that it’s because he came from a little town in the middle of nowhere. A farm boy, a nobody who crawled up the ranks to become a war hero, a captain.
In reality, the Hero of Warriors was a rather special case. He was made for war. He was a savior of his people, just like his brethren, but a child does not a warrior make. And a warrior is what was needed.
He strode into Hyrule castle, among the swarm of other young men who were reporting to the recruiters in the front hall. In the chaos, the one who greeted him neglected to ask where the young man was from, and Link did not offer the information.
From that point on, he was only called Link, with no surname on his record. Eventually, that became Commander Link, and then Captain Link.
No one ever questioned where he had come from. It was usually best not to think about those things too hard.
~~~
There was no one alive who remembered the Hero of the Wild’s origins. That was to be expected. It had been well over a century since he was born, after all.
The hero himself could not remember, and all those who had known him from before barely knew about his family.
The story of his birth was lost, or so it seemed.
The truth was that there was no story to be told. The hero’s family had been a small one. A knight who served in Hyrule’s military, his wife, and a little daughter. When the daughter had been born, the wife had nearly died. The doctor had warned them that another child would likely kill her.
So, though they dearly wanted a son to carry on their family’s name, and for his father to train him the way of the sword, they were content with their little girl.
Fate had other plans for them, though. One morning when the daughter was about a year old, they had just sat down for breakfast when there was a knock on the door.
The knight stood to answer the door. When he opened it, he did not find one of their neighbors, or a messenger from the castle, as he had expected, but a young boy, maybe five or six years old.
When asked what he needed, he simply said that he was their son.
He waltzed right in and plopped himself down at the table, pleased as punch with himself.
The knight and his wife looked at each other in amusement. This might as well happen. They could afford to feed an extra mouth for a meal or two. They could go look for the little one’s parents after they ate.
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jinmukangwrites · 3 years
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so what what would happen if the someone got wild's amnesia? Am i making sense?
Ooh interesting question.
Honestly, I'm not quite sure what would happen to each of the Links if they were to lose all of their memories, so instead I will discuss this in a way if all the Links suddenly lost their game memories. What I mean by that is that the Links don't get their memories completely wiped, they just lose their memories of what occured during their adventures in the canon games.
Legend is first that comes to mind, mostly because I think his situation would be quite funny. Out of all the Links, I think his personality and lifestyle would be the one to surprise the Links the most if he lost his game memories. Like, before Link's Awakening, Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, etc, he was really just Some Guy™. He didn't hoard magical items, he didn't have the attitude or trauma of someone who's saved the world multiple times, he's just Some Guy from an Apple Orchard who can't swim and loved his uncle. He'd be an absolute bag full of shock for the others, and I find that funny. The Link's would have to deal with a version of Legend that acts too kind, too peaceful, and too sharing to be the one they know and love.
Sky is another interesting one, because this guy was basically hyrules equivalent of a dorky collage kid before he went to the surface. This guy would be absolutely terrified and amazed to find himself on the surface with a bunch of small birds and the clouds ABOVE??? He'd barely be able to use his sword, let alone face the dangers of the surface without absolutely pissing himself. Although, he'd definitely be worried about Skyloft, his loftwing, and Zelda. The Link's would have to scramble to keep him out of wondering off and getting himself hurt.
Wind would be one who's change is so subtle that like, almost no one noticed for the first several minutes that something's wrong. Wind would be a bit more bratty, and bit more reckless, and a LOT more prone to getting himself hurt because he wants to prove he's not some little kid. He'd annoy the ears off the other Links asking about his grandmother and sister and then accidentally change topics when he realizes they've been walking a long time how big is the island they're on? He's never been off the island- hey you guys are all wearing hero tunics which is weird cuz you really only need to do that when you turn twelve but oh well be weirdos I guess, anyways about my sister-
Twilight, like Legend, would be Some Dude™. All of a sudden, his accent gets so much thicker and his personality becomes a lot more reserved. He takes the news of being a hero and losing his memory pretty well, considering, but looks uncomfortable and confused whenever Wild attempts to strike up any kind of banter. However, this Twilight is also more open, and willing to tell the others a little about his life in Ordon. And shockingly, he's a lot more reckless, forcing the others to realize that maybe the reason he's so stingy about safety... is because he's had to learn how to be that way to survive his quest. Eventually, Twilight finds the stone that turns him to a wolf and freaks out so badly that the Links that Knew almost pass out from laughing and making fun of him, and the Links that Didn't Know stand and watch in utter bafflement as Wild eventually shows Twilight how to turn back into a human.
Warriors is like Sky where this man is just a headstrong knight in training. However, Warriors is still very good with a sword. The main difference is that he's... not very good at planning ahead. Man can take being told he's a hero of legend and saved the world in stride and then run prematurely into a battle that, before, he would have stopped the others and made sure they had a plan of attack. He's reckless in the way he fights, swings are not precise as they should be. But there's an innocent look in his eyes, a look that hasn't been weathered down by war and death.
Time is an interesting one to consider because he was so young before his games. However, the first thing he'd notice is that he's big. He's with big people. Wtf. When did kids get big? He'd ask if they have fairies, because they're dressed like forest kids, they should have fairies, and then he'd get really excited that they don't have fairies and they're like him. After that? It's all wonder. So much to take in from a world he's never considered that he almost doesn't have time to wonder about the kids he left behind. There's curiosity, and a stupid bravery that has him chasing after anything that catches his eye. Returning Times memories is probably one of the hardest things the Links have ever had to do, because returning his memories kills that innocence, that easy smile, that bursting energy and curiosity. But he has a wife to return to, he has an entire life that he's fought to have, and keeping him as he was would be the same as killing him.
Hyrule would have close to no change, personality nor skills. This kid has been on his own since forever, and he's lived in the dangerous, monster infested woods since forever. Yet, there's a stark difference. This Hyrule has trust. He trusts the others immediately when they tell him of his memories. He trusts them when they tell him their quests. He trusts them when they say his food isn't poisoned. While this Hyrule may be almost exactly the same, the others are left with a gut wrenching feeling that something costed this innocent trust, and they hope they never find out.
Four is Some Guy™ part three. However, while skeptical of the other Links, he's a little more open to tell of his past, and everyone is shocked to hear he's childhood best friends with Zelda. He's also a lot more confident in his decision making too, while before he'd overanalyze almost everything, now when he chooses to do something he just does it, like whatever internal struggled he used to have before simply don't exist. Everyone feels like while they have Four, something is just... Missing. And it's not his just his memories. Perhaps it's the fire to his passion, his bite to his anger, the severity of his caution, or the haughtiness of his knowledge. Whatever it is, something feels wrong, where this Four almost feels like a cheep copy.
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botwstoriesandsuch · 3 years
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Aight I noticed smth in game and decided to see what my fav theorist thought about it: so, the dragons right? Farosh and Naydra both have areas in their respective regions named after them (Farosh Hills and Naydra Snowfield), but Dinraal doesn’t have an area named for it (unless I’m just dumb and haven’t found it yet). Missed detail by designers? or a purposeful piece of lore regarding the Triforce and how the people of Hyrule feel about each piece? After all the boar statues from the Zonai are also significantly rarer than the owls and the dragons
Fav theorist? Excuse me Zeltik and NintendoBlackCrisis are over THERE
Dragons!!! Right!!! 
The dragons are honestly one of the coolest things in the game. Their music, their design, the atmosphere is just... *chefs kiss*
From what I could find, you’re absolutely right! There are no lands named after Dinraal, (other than the Eldin region, of course, but the respective lands exist for Lanayru and Faron region too) 
Ok kids, let’s play a fun round of “find the correlation.” Here are all the dragon routes, color coded to their respective powers:
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Now below are all of the Springs of [blank] locations:
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And here are the locations named after the dragons Nayru and Farosh:
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So if we take our data, we can come up with some conclusions such as:
All the dragons have a spawn location are near their respective springs, meaning either the springs attracted the dragons, or the springs were specifically built after people saw the dragons fly there. [Farosh’s paths might indicate the latter...though it might be a mix of both?]
The naming of the lands “Nayru Snowfield” and “Farosh Hills” are near these dragon locations, hence, most likely named for the dragons sighting/proximity to these areas
These locations are in remote areas, meaning either the dragons choose to avoid populated towns, people choose to avoid the dragons, or some mix of both, perhaps for religious/sacred/respect reason
And also we have some fantastic additional insight from people on the server:
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Anyhow, what to do, what to do! I was just gonna leave this post here because I’ve honestly run out of things to say. I think you’ve put my thoughts down perfectly already, with the connection to the Zonai monuments, and the stigma against ganon. BUT! I wanted to do more, hence why this ask took a few days to get a response
I’ve been doing some thinking (a shocking action coming from me, I know) and I remembered something important that might be relevant to the purpose of the dragons in the games!
Feast your eyes on the Farosh Hills~
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Snug between the Spring of Courage, and the travels of Farosh itself, it seems a nice spot to view our electric friend. Hell, Scout’s Hill is even just a bit North East. So perhaps the reason for these location’s names is just to get the best view of these dragons. The path’s Dinraal tracks aren’t exactly the most tourist friendly...
But, but, but! As I was researching this, I came across some old nostalgia. 
See this pond??
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Travel here when you’re on death’s door, because this is a fairy spawn location.
It’s weird, I know, but trust me. I’ve traveled my share, but when I first came here on my very first play of Breath of the Wild, I was greeted by three fairies. They float just above the center of this pond, and with a little help from Cryonis, you’re three lives richer. 
There’s nothing new or special about these fairies, they work just the same as the ones you might find at a Fairy Fountain or Korok Forest.
But we know that a place a fairy spawns at must be a location of importance, right? I mean, looking at this object map, there are only nine locations where they spawn, five of them being Fairy Fountains. So why is this unnamed lake in the bunch?
I mean, what’s so special about this pond that is in the only area named after the sacred spirit of courage that is also close to the areas where Farosh travels and is also close to the Zonai statues of dragons which also represent courage, and is also close to the Faron Woods, and the dragon shaped river, and also the Spring of Courage..gee what’s so...special.....................
Do you see where I’m going with this? Perhaps not, but this location in Nayru Snowfield all but nags me to make this theory a reality
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Purification you say? Hmmmm...it’s almost like these dragons have some sort of correlation to the kingdom’s condition in a religious and sacred way and that their presence as a purifying or blessed effect on the land hMMM
I’m under the impression that the reason the dragons travel across Hyrule, before returning to the heavens, is to bless the land with their sacred energy. 
The dragons don’t attack anyone, they don’t eat anything, hell all that happens is that the music changes....indicating that their presence somehow makes the area more divine
Why do fairies hide in the grass? Perhaps it is because the areas they hide in have been blessed by the dragon’s energy?
Why does Farosh travel to so many places compared to the other spirits? Because the Triforce of Courage (Link) is gone for 100 years, so the land is in extra need of that courageous blessing
Why does the Calamity only seek to infect Nayru, and not Farosh? Because he’s been battling Zelda for 100 years, so taking out the spirit that blesses the land with its wisdom sure would be helpful to gain the upper hand against the wielder of that piece of the Triforce. 
Why does Dinraal only travel on one path? Because the land’s already got it’s share of the blessings of the Triforce of Power, in the form of the devastation of the Calamity. Hence, Dinraal traveling in the high in the sky for a third of it’s path (the dotted portion of the diagram) and away from the land, and only coming down for the Badlands, and voids of Tanager Canyon. 
There is no land named after Dinraal, because of a stigma against the original wielder of the Triforce of Power, yes, I believe that. But I believe it is because of the fact that there was no need to give high praise to a power that has already clawed its presence into the depths of a ruined Hyrule. 
[Enjoy this post? Rbs appreciated! Also, have an epilogue!]
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mavda · 6 years
Text
Melted
Ch.1 | Ch.2 | Ch.3 | Ch.4 | Ch.5 | Ch.6 | Ch.7 | Ch.8 | Ch.9 | Ch.10 | Ch.11 | Ch. 12 | Ch.13 | Ch.14 | Ch.15 | Ch.16 | Ch.17 | Ch.18 | Ch.19 | Ch.20 | Ch.21 | Ch.22 | Ch.23 | Ch.24 | Ch.25 |
Ch.26: The best princess, the best queen
Zelda's father was a great man. He was warm and big, and he always patted her head and gave her smooches when she was worried. Zelda's father read her stories when she went to sleep, always made sure the cooks made her favorite dessert on tuesdays and taught her about all the flowers in their garden.
Zelda's father's voice was deep and rumbly, fatherly and stern at the same time. He couldn't really sing, but he always hummed along with Zelda when she sang to her mother. And her mother loved that. And his father loved that. And Zelda... Zelda, too, loved that.
Zelda's father happened to be the King of Hyrule, Zelda's mother happened to be the Queen of Hyrule, which in turn meant that Zelda happened to be the Princess of Hyrule.
Zelda's mother was... a good, loving woman. A... beloved woman. Respected. Zelda's mother was... an image, a told memory. Zelda's mother wasn't really remembered by Zelda herself, she had been killed when Zelda was a child so Zelda could only remember her by how her father had been affected by her. And after her death, Zelda's father had been cold, lonely... sad.
Even though Zelda was still there.
When Zelda tried to recall memories she had to close her eyes - really put strenght to it. All she could really remember was feeling scared and lost, she couldn't remember faces nor sceneries but she could recall feelings. And Zelda could still feel strong hands moving her around, from one to another, from one place to the other. And her father was nowhere. But she had been protected, she had been guarded, and she soon realized that for everyone to feel safe the heir had to be fine. And she happened to be the heir.
"Daddy?" Her father spent long hours on his study, reading piles upon piles of documents. Zelda wanted to ask about her mother. Where was she? Zelda could swear her mother used to sing her to sleep. But now she was nowhere to be found. "Daddy?" Where's mommy?
A man took the princess and dragged her away. Had her father not heard her?
"Princess." It was usually Zelda. Just Zelda. But now they bowed to her, looked at her as if searching for something, "Princess, your father the King is very exhausted right now, would you not like to play some with me?"
Sure. Her father was exhausted, though? Why was he still reading so much, then? "Ok," the man looked tired, too, "but I don't really want to play, I'm looking for my mommy."
The man was smiling, smiling so hard Zelda could see his skin tightening at his cheeks. Like when the clowns laughed in front of her face. Tight. Not so close, please.
"Her Highness the Queen..." the man looked around. Zelda could only remember shadows, the only important one was the man in front of her. "Her Highness the Queen has gone away."
Zelda frowned. Without her?
Her father was looking out the window, the light came through and he had his eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sunlight.
"Daddy?" King Daphness opened his eyes, blood-shot, wrinkled.
"My child."
Zelda walked to him, tiny steps. She couldn't talk about her mother, she couldn't talk about her mother, she couldn't...
Her mother had died. Her mother had gone to heaven. Her mother had gone on a really long journey. Her mother was no longer with them, and King Daphness was sad.
And Zelda could not talk about her mother.
"Lord Louden has told me you have aced all of your exams." A congratulation without being one. It was the beginning of being proud of her without showing.
"I have, daddy." To make you proud, daddy. To make you smile. "Are you very tired today, daddy?" I want to go walk with you, I want to sing while you hum along.
Kind Daphness looked upon her daughter, all proper and prim, all small smiles and clasped hands. Before, she had been dirty knees and plasters on her face, all open laughs and big movements. Before... before they had killed her mother. Before... when he still thought he had time.
"You," My daughter, "You are an amazing princess."
Zelda stilled a second, could feel her breath stopping. A... princess? Was she not allowed to be Zelda anymore?
Is... Is that what you want, daddy? Will that make you happy, dad? I... I can make that happen, father.
"I will be the best princess there ever was, father."
King Daphness swallowed his shame, "I need you to be the best Queen, child."
Zelda thought about it. A queen, for Zelda to be queen... what was she supposed to do? "Can I become a queen, daddy?"
It wasn't a question of whether she could or not, sadly, "You have to," King Daphness' voice was deep and low.
Zelda blinked, her father was so big, so important. "Then I will become the best queen there ever was."
A promise.
An alarm she had to snooze every now and then.
Zelda pressed her forehead on the window of her study.
"He's dead." A reminder.
She had wanted to make her father proud. But he... he... "He's dead."
She had thought that achieving their dreams would make him proud. Would mean something. She had thought that maybe she would gain something from keeping up her promise. But now it was becoming more and more difficult to see the goal, to see the reward.
She had fought for so long. No male heir to the throne, an obstacle. A father who asked, and asked, and asked, an obstacle. A council who didn't find her fitting, an obstacle. Mistakes of the father being carried unto the child, an obstacle. The absence of the King to facilitate the transition, an obstacle.
"Can I ask for a favor?" Link approached her in her gardens. He must have timed it, because the guards were away and the people were scarce. He must have timed it, as she had heard he had been avoiding everyone.
She wanted to say that 'of course, anyhing', but the drill of waiting for them to talk first was etched into her mind. It pressured them to say what they wanted, it gave her a chance to retreat without being rude. Before Zelda had the chance to fight back and answer Link, he kept going.
"I promised to bring gifts when I go back to Ordon, you know? And I told Illia I would buy her some fancy clothes, maybe a dress?" Link's eyes were shining with enthusiasm, "And I'll be honest, I'm not the best at choosing clothes. If they work and look resistant I'm good to go," Link shrugged, he knew clothes with that characteristics were more likely to be far from fashionable, "and Illia made me promise I would have you look for something nice." Link cocked his head and mumbled that Illia didn't trust him that much. "So, only if you have time and want to, would you be game for it?"
Zelda had to check her schedules. Protocol dictated that she said no. Protocol dictated that she could ask a maid to work as her proxy.
But Zelda didn't really think too much, she accepted and had received a model and color preferences. And Link left, not before grasping Zelda's hand and whispering, "Zelda," a silence filled with things to say,  "there is a world out there."
Zelda closed her eyes. There was no way she could see Link arriving from where she was. And yet she tried.
"There is a world out there," Zelda whispered. She had forgotten about it.
When Link and Robert left the cave, Robert opened his arms and looked at the sky with bliss. "How I have missed the sun."
Link was covered in blood and guts and Robert had made sure not to joke about it. Link had been silent all the way back. Nice, amicable, but silent.
"Let's go find a river, I need to wash up." An understatement, as Link could even feel the sloshing of blood inside his boots.
Robert could feel Link's relief when they saw a river. Link excused himself and jogged to it. By the time Robert arrived, Link had taken off all of his clothes but his underwear and was frantically washing by the river.
Robert let his luggage next to Link's and looked for a tree to rest under. When Robert turned to tell Link, he froze. The light reflecting from Link's body, the water shining around, the blood being washed by the river, and-
"Keep staring and I'll charge you."
-and the scars. "Link" Have you seen-? Of course he had. How-? From fighting, clearly. Did it hu-? Robert would punch himself if he could. "How are you still alive?" There. That was a fair question.
Link looked up, thinking about that too. If he had to be honest, then, "Luck," a bunch of it, "and red potions," Link felt a shiver run down his spine, "and fairies."
Robert could feel his jaw falling, face filled with horror. Red potions? Fairies? Really? Link? "Link, those are-"
Illegal, dangerous, magic-filled things, "You asked."
Robert swallowed, remembered the screams, "An uncle of mine, he had a really bad broken leg. They were going to cut it off, as it was bleeding so bad. Then someone brought a red potion and-"
Link made a pained face, shook his head. And Robert felt the doubt lift from his body. He had really-
"It fused, right? He must have been left with a-"
"An excuse of a leg and a bad limp that still hurts."
Link clicked his tongue. "Yeah." and he went back to washing.
Robert stared back, traced one of Link's biggest scars with his eyes.
"I was serious when I said I'd charge you, Robert."
And Robert imagined Link, desperate, gulping down a potion and then waiting for it to work. "You had a partner, right?" Please, tell me you did.
"Yup, so you can imagine me gulping potions and having a voice next to me shushing me because enemies might find us."
Robert had thought-
Link looked back, and Robert's face was telling, "Hey, it sounds bad, I know, but she was right, we couldn't let them find us."
"They-?"
"And it's all in the past now, all right? I'm alive and kicking, so..."
Link turned to his clothes and sent Robert on his way. And Robert could not shake the need to know more.
"Could you please sleep?"
Link smirked and Robert wanted to scream things at the blond.
"I really am used to sleeping in short naps when I'm out."
"Sure, and the frown in your face and the bags under your eyes are a fashion choice, too."
The bags were really due to being sleep deprived, sure. The frown was thanks to the bublins allying with other monsters. That was worrying. King Bulblin had taken his men and left to be better and live freely. And yet some were still here.
"Please stop worrying and sleep, for Hylia's sake."
Link smiled, that was good advice.
That was good advice, and he was tired.
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beardycarrot · 7 years
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Why I’m excited for BotW
There’s a lot of be excited about, even beyond NEW 3D ZELDA GAME WHOO! I’m always excited when a new Zelda game comes out, but this one in particular feels like they’re really doing something new. Before Skyward Sword came out, the big selling points were 1:1 sword combat (which seemed really promising after Red Steel 2 the year before), and what Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi described as a change to the “dungeon-field-dungeon” format that had become the norm for Zelda games.
The reasoning for this change was understandable. The biggest complaints about Twilight Princess (at least at the time) were that the world was too big and empty, and that the mandatory sections of interacting with certain NPCs between dungeons were uninteresting and just bogged things down. Unfortunately, how they handled this change was by essentially making the “field” segments in Skyward Sword open-air dungeons, with your progression through them feeling linear and not at all like you were exploring.
With Breath of the Wild, they’ve swung completely in the opposite direction. You’re free to explore everything, whenever and however you want, and it’s completely non-linear. This may be a knee-jerk reaction to the backlash over how Skyward Sword was handled, but looking at what they’ve made, it’s clear a lot of consideration has gone into it.
Open World
The thing I’m most excited about is the game’s main feature, the huge, content-rich open world. My favorite thing to do in games is just to explore, goof off, get a close look at things everyone else just runs past. I love exploration and discovery, and Breath of the Wild seems to have been designed for that specifically. Not a lot to say here: open worlds are just awesome.
Gearing Up
My second-favorite thing in games is character customization. Whether it’s just designing a character at the start of the game or being able to choose clothing and such throughout, being able to customize how your character looks has always been a big selling point for me. Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, Splatoon, pretty much every western RPG. As a kid, I really liked being able to choose how Link looked in Ocarina of Time, even if the options were limited to three tunics, two swords, and two shields. Not only does Breath of the Wild have a bunch of clothing options and a ridiculous number of weapon and shield combinations, but if the end of the E3 trailer is to be believed, for the first time ever you’ll also be able to change Link’s hairstyle. It’s not a huge thing, but it will help to personalize your experience even more.
Continuity
I’m a sucker for in-game nods to continuity, and BotW seems to be referencing pretty much the entire series. The first trailer for the game after the initial teaser showed the Great Bridge of Hylia, a location from Twilight Princess. We’ve since seen what appears to be Hyrule Castle Town from TP, the Lost Woods from ALttP, statues of the goddess Hylia from SS, a pair of mountains inspired by LoZ artwork, and some people even claim that the starting area contains what looks to be the ruins of an area from OoT. Maybe there’s a storyline explanation for all this, maybe they’re just easter eggs thrown in for fans... Who knows, maybe this is finally the game to bring everything together that we all thought TP was going to be. Whatever the case, I love it, and will surely spend ridiculous amounts of time just staring at stuff.
Difficulty
I’m not one for overly-challenging games. I play games to have fun, not for bragging rights or anything like that, and getting frustrated... just isn’t fun. Thus, I typically play games on the normal difficulty setting, content that I’ll enjoy the experience and that it’s how the developers intended the game to be played anyway. That said, Zelda games have been a bit too easy lately. Twilight Princess put a fairy outside of every boss door, and Skyward Sword went as far as to increase your starting heart count to six... with the majority of early enemies being incredibly slow, clearly telegraphing their attacks, and only doing a quarter of a heart of damage anyway. Not wanting to frustrate players is fine, but it’s also no fun if you can just tank your way through every encounter. As a big open-world game, Breath of the Wild has a periodic auto save feature, meaning that enemies can hit a lot harder without fear of annoying the player too much by sending them back. You have to play strategically if you want to get through, and if you decide that you’re ill-equipped to deal with the situation... well, it’s an open-world game, you can just set a marker to remind you to deal with that area, then go off and do something else. As someone who has breezed through all the recent Zelda games, I’m actually excited for a bit more challenge.
Story
Games having a good story has never been a selling point for me. I’m not one of those people who will completely ignore a game’s story and mash buttons to get through, but I don’t necessarily seek out strong narratives, either. I’m a Nintendo fan, I value gameplay above all else. What’s this game’s story, Bowser is going all Balthazar on a bunch of fairy princesses? There’s no dialog in the entire game? Cool, I’m gonna turn into a cat and climb up some walls. I’ve always thought a setting a characters are more important than the actual story being told in a game, but what little I’ve seen of BotW’s story has me excited. Especially the bits where it seems Link will remember the events of one hundred years ago in flashbacks. Who are Link and Zelda? What’s their relationship? What’s happened that she falls into his arms, crying? This isn’t the kind of thing we normally see from Nintendo, and I’m super excited to see where they’re going with it. I’m also curious to know what’s going on with all this Sheikah tech, since we have yet to see any Sheikah characters. You’d think Impa would be one of the first they reveal, right? It’s entirely possible that the hype is unwarranted. I always get super hyped-up for Zelda games: it happened with Twilight Princess, it happened with Skyward Sword, and it will continue to happen in the future. Maybe there will be things I come to dislike about BotW; maybe having to heal all the time will get annoying, maybe I’ll constantly have too many weapons and keep having to throw out the weakest ones. It’s impossible to say at this point, but I honestly think this will finally be the Zelda game that does everything right.
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