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vioshortforviolence · 10 months

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So a post I reblogged about no Dark Link in TotK being a missed opportunity got me thinking about how he could've been implemented:

You could find one of those journals in one of the Yiga outposts in the Depths talking about him. Here's how I think it could read:

Spotted the Hero in the Depths today. I attempted to approach while disguised as a member of the Zonai Survey Team.

Bad idea. I was attacked immediately and viciously without hesitation. I barely escaped with my life!

That... was not the Hero.

Was that the Hero's Shadow spoken of in the old legends? It is said the Shadow would mirror the Hero's appearance and fighting skills... I believe it after that encounter.

ATTENTION YIGA CLAN MEMBERS: If you spot this figure during your patrols, DO NOT APPROACH. This 'Shadow' will viciously attack anything and anyone that dares get near, even the Yiga Clan.

Beware the Hero's Shadow.

Glory to Master Kohga.

End

Dark Link would be patrolling the Depths, and upon spotting you, he will chase you down and attack, similar to the Gloom Hands. But unlike the Gloom Hands, you cannot escape by climbing to high ground and waiting for him to vanish. He will simply teleport up to you.

You can either deal enough damage to him, which will make him leave and reappear elsewhere in the Depths (like how the Yiga flee when defeated), or you can teleport far enough away so he loses track of you. Thankfully, he will not follow you to the Surface.

If he spots you while you're wearing the Dark Link outfit, he will be temporarily confused, giving you very limited time to run away or hide before he figures it out and starts attacking you. Similar to the Lynel Mask.

Also while you're wearing the Dark Link outfit, the Yiga will not ambush you, because they think you're the Hero's Shadow.

Dark Link's number of hearts will match that of the player's, just like in OoT. The stronger you get, the stronger he gets too.

He would also have the smartest enemy AI in the game, besides Ganondorf himself:

He dodges any thrown items or arrows shot at him, which means he cannot be cheesed with bombs. He will simply hop out of the blast radius before it lands. You must fight him in close melee combat.

He will mirror your strikes perfectly if you fight him with a one-handed sword and shield. However, he only wields a sword and shield, meaning you can attack him more easily with a different weapon, like... oh I don't know... a two-handed hammer? 😉

I'm not entirely sure what he'd drop upon defeat... Maybe his sword and shield?

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'd love to hear other ideas :)

(EDIT: Added more stuff in a reblog!)

#bonus idea: dark link will be afraid to attack you if you're wearing the fierce deity set #but will still retaliate if you attack him first #totk spoilers #tagging that just in case #loz totk #the legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #dark link #yiga clan #the depths #wow this is a long post #I really like dark link okay #I wish he would appear in more games P:#WAIT this could make for a really cool DLC opportunity! I would buy it in a heartbeat!! Please Nintendo!! (hah wishful thinking 😌)

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charcoaldustonmyfingers · 4 months

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Skyward Sword Zonai AU!

Finding Zelda and the heart of the Depths…

Impa and Grannie would still lead Zelda and Link through their respective journeys, the latent power of the gods building within them until they both are powerful enough to create the Secret Stones of Time and Spirit respectively to use against Demise.

When Zelda seals herself away, she creates the Light Roots all throughout the Depths to hold the Surface together, stopping it from succumbing to the evil rot Demise has used to slowly decay his prison in the earth and turn it into to a breeding ground for monsters.

{Zonai Designs} {Shenanigans} {The Beginning} {Fi Design} {Dragons} {Meeting Dragons}

#legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #loz totk #loz skyward sword #skyward sword #zonai link #zonai zelda #tears of the kingdom #the depths #skyward sword impa #zonai skyward sword au

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martyfive · 11 months

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wandering the depths

#the legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #tloz totk #naydra #the depths #artists on tumblr

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incaseyouart · 11 months

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Activating a light root study~

#totk #tears of the kingdom #link #zelda #totk link #the depths #my art

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carrotsnake · 5 months

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since peacocks don't really exist in the wild era, riju's feather patterns on her armour seemed purely cosmetic until totk, where it resembles the leaves of trees in the depths. along with the gerudo underground cemetery, it's another leftover of her people's past involvement there, passed down from each chief.

#totk #totk theory #zelda theory #totk lore #riju #totk riju #zelda lore #loz #tloz totk #gerudo #the depths #totk depths

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forged-in-kaoss · 5 months

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in my moment of clarity for now i see that a pirates lifes the life for me

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putting-pomni-in-places · 4 months

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Pomni, but in the Depths from Tears of the Kingdom.

#the amazing digital circus #pomni #tadc pomni #tadc #pomni in a place #request #tears of the kingdom #legend of zelda #the depths

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dailylittlenightmares · 1 month

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#little nightmares #secrets of the maw #runaway kid #the depths

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hanayori89 · 4 months

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The Hand That Heals

You were one of the contaminated ones.

The Hylians didn't use words like 'infected' or 'diseased.' Not that those words were much better. No matter what the title was for your malady, they all hurt just the same.

But something about the word 'contaminated' made you feel stark and hopeless.

Incurable.

Infections and diseases often have cures. Something that is tarnished, something that is ruined, is not salvaged; it is just disposed of.

And that's exactly what you felt like.

Soiled.

Tainted.

Disposable.

Trash.

Which is why you disposed of yourself within the pockets of decaying earth that lay beneath

Hyrule's bedrock known as the depths.

It was your way of throwing yourself away before mobs of frightened citizens attempted to.

The depths were no place for the robust and bright-eyed. Or the 'uncontaminated.'

It wasn't all bad being exiled deep below in the cold and musty undergrounds. Especially since most of Hyrule had been thrown into peril by recent devastating events.

First there was the rise of the highly contagious 'gloom'. Followed by the princess and her loyal knight, who had both mysteriously vanished.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, was the coup being held by the restless Demon King known as Ganondorf.

Yes, you decided the healthy could have their surface; you were quite content existing in isolation, where the only threat was that of you and your gloom germs.

Living in the depths proved challenging for a mere mortal. Your circadian rhythm has been destroyed thanks to the lack of sunlight. Supplies were scarce, causing you to forage whatever you could find. Mostly mushrooms and glowing cave fish, but hey, fish have omega-3's, right?

The biggest challenge was the constant darkness- a darkness unparalleled to anything you've ever encountered before. Not even the glum of a thick and clouded wilderness or a quiet, uninhabited basement could compare.

You'd never known what it meant to be in the dark before your time in the depths.

They held a darkness that consumed you, making you question if you truly were even alive. Making you question if you ever even were. Part of you grew to appreciate what little the depths revealed, such as the unforgiving side effects of the gloom and how it mutilated you.

The depths did more than just shield you and your contamination from the healthy residents of Hyrule; they protected you from the trauma of what you had become.

But every now and then, when you threw a bright bloom seed or lit a fire, there was a remorseless glow that revealed the way the gloom was devouring you. It only took a single glance at your wiry fingers and the bedizen of ashen knuckles that led to the fungal tint of your nail beds, to be reminded.

You couldn't even begin to imagine the abomination that was now your face.

Before the gloom, you were considered to be beautiful, at least to some. You had thick h/c locks that, if shaved, could easily coat the heads of 50 dolls. Your e/c eyes were striking against your s/c complexion, garnering you an abundance of compliments throughout your life. You had a thicker body, a well-fed one. Your hips were wide thanks to the cheesecake slices you graciously never skipped when offered. But now, thanks to the slim pickings of the depths, your body has taken on a lanky, frail appearance.

You trekked back toward your camp, tossing bright bloom seeds along the way to illuminate your path. You held your breath, listening carefully to your surroundings. The past horrors of trying to navigate the dark and coming face-to-face with a contaminated Lynel left you with a bit of ptsd.

Besides the depths being difficult to traverse thanks to a severe lack of light, they were also a domicile of frightening creatures that had been metamorphosed by the transformative powers of the gloom.

Sometimes you couldn't help but wonder how long it would take before you became one of them.

The bright bloom seeds were a tool that provided enough light to hunt, but not much else. The irony of the depths was that despite the blockade of layers of soil and organic matter preventing the entrance of light, there was a multitude of bright bloom seeds that flourished down here.

Yes, the depths truly were a whole new world. Starting with this darkness, which could easily cause one to mistake hell for heaven. You weren't aware of all the secrets buried within these shadows, and you also knew you weren't too eager to find out.

You breathed a little easier when the comforting flames of your camp came into view. As you lifted your arm, aiming to launch another bright bloom seed, you saw a figure at your camp. The closer you got, the more you recognized the familiar outline of a short, spiny ponytail jutting above the familiar white sheen of a face mask.

"Of all the founding fathers of Hyrule, what is a Yiga buffoon doing down here?" You growled.

Anger propelled you forward; rebellion coursed through your veins and burned like lidocaine on an open wound. You had so very little left, and the desire to protect what little you possessed was fierce. Fish carcasses and mushrooms were strewn around the ground as the Yiga's grubby hands rummaged through your knapsack. In it were pictures of your family and what little rupees you had to your name, should you ever be magically cured of your gloom diagnosis and could return home.

You tackled the Yiga to the ground. "How dare you!" The Yiga screamed. As you gripped his arm, the gloom in your hands incinerated the fabric of his sleeves, branding his flesh with your handprints.

"You bitch!" He stumbled out of your grasp, dropping all of your rupees in the process. One of the photos of your father and mother fell from the knapsack and fluttered downward into the open blaze of your campfire.

You screamed.

You stuck your hand into the fire, wincing as you retrieved the charred photo. The melted faces of your mother and father stared back at you. The photo began to shrivel beneath a small flame that continued to eat it.

You puckered your lips, releasing hefty currents of your breath. You had to blow this fire out.

You just had to.

This photo was one of the few you had that was a memory of when your life was normal. The smiles of your parents were the last visible evidence you had that they loved you before you contracted the gloom.

With a sickle in hand, the Yiga sprinted toward you, hollering a bunch of muffled expletives you couldn't hear well thanks to his ridiculous mask.

As you braced for impact, the Yiga fell face first in the dirt before your feet. An arrow protruded from his back.

He had been shot.

You fell to your knees, holding the destroyed photo, where your parents' faces had been, that now held your fallen tears.

A quiet voice called out to you; so soft was this voice that you thought it was your imagination.

"Are you alright?"

A figure came into focus; you couldn't make out his face, just the scraggly tresses that were whipped around his shoulders and the outline of his beefed-up biceps.

"Stay back!" You warned. "I'm contaminated..." You stifled another sob. The heroic intruder held his hands up, demonstrating that he was not a threat.

Which was all the more reason you had to warn him that you were.

He took a cautious step forward. "I've only come to ask a question." He retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from a satchel on his side. He retained his anonymity beneath the shadows, allowing you to only make out the faint outline of his fine lips as he spoke. "Have you seen her?"

You stood, taking a step toward him but keeping yourself hidden as well. It was almost as if you both wanted to remain concealed from one another. Despite the smeared ink that bled slightly down the paper and the creases that obscured the image, you could recognize the viridescent glare of Hyrule's missing princess on the sheet.

"Princess Zelda? They're searching the depths now?"

"No acre of land below or above should go without searching until we find her."

"Well, as you can see, these depths here hold no one but me and my greedy thief friend you have so kindly slain."

He tucked the sheet of paper back into his satchel but remained in your vision, or what the hollowed dark allowed of your vision. "Say, did they find her knight? Lonk? Ling?"

You could see the stranger open his lips, only to clutch them back together. "Link. His name is Link. And no, no, they haven't."

You turned your back to the stranger, assessing the mess the Yiga soldier had made of your supplies. You bent back down and picked up your parents' photo, choking on another wave of tears.

The man's voice sounded from behind you, only slightly closer now. "I can fix that for you."

You peered at him from over your shoulder. He was close enough to the fire that you could see part of the bare skin of his chest and his sculpted chin, which led to his chapped lips.

You still couldn't quite see his eyes.

He held his hand out, and you noticed his fingernails were long and jagged, not having seen nail clippers in some time. An alluring glow seemed to trickle down his arm in an intricate maze of glowing jade lines. You placed the photo in his hand, careful not to touch him with your fingers. You kept your face hidden in your shoulder, afraid that the first shred of kindness you had been given would be taken if he should see you beneath the truth of the fire's flames.

He held the photo, his silence encompassing you both. He was so still, that for a moment, you thought he had stopped breathing. Until you noticed his clavicles and chest slightly puff out and contract with breath.

The soft, verdant glow became more visceral. You continued to keep your back turned and your face hidden, your eyes never leaving the radiance of his arm.

After a moment, he handed the photo back to you. You quickly turned to snatch it back, burrowing your face in your shirt. As you observed it, you saw the bright, shining smiles of your parents peering back at you unscathed. For a moment, you forgot the enticing and enigmatic stranger that stood before you, letting your shirt fall from your face as you studied the photo above the fire's not too generous lighting. You could make out a thin line of some type of green jelly adhesive that repaired some of the rips in the photos. Without the light, the glue that he had created with his hand was mostly undetectable.

You stared at him in awe. "This is... this is amazing. I couldn't begin to repay your kindness. This is all I have left to remind me of my life before the gloom. Of the way people loved me before I became a monster." As you lifted your finger to wipe a tear away, you remembered your face was on display before him.

Your face and all the crusty and haggard abrasions of gloom that now coat it.

"No!" You cried. You began to back away, burying your face in your palms. "Don't look at me!"

But the boy grabbed your wrist with his enchanted hand, pulling it from your face. "You're beautiful." He whispered with a tone that was almost believable.

"Yeah right. Look at what this gloom is doing to us; if it isn't destroying us, it's dividing us! My own family banished me from my home!"

The man let your wrist go and held his arm in your vision. He spoke matter-of-factly, remaining out of the fire's path, so he was still shielded from you. "I'm missing my arm."

He held his arm out; the urge to touch it made the tips of your fingers tingle.

"May I?"

"Only if I can touch your face."

"You'll become contaminated."

You heard a slightly unhinged chuckle. "I'm not afraid... besides, there is a cure for the gloom."

"What!" You gasped. You felt your feet become unsteady. You stepped forward, attempting to grab the man's shirt, only to realize it was a one-shoulder tunic that looked rather outdated.

"Please, I'll do anything; please, I want to be cured! I want to be myself again, to be able to look at people and not be plagued by the cruel judgment in their eyes when they see what I've become."

The man's arm began to emanate light once again.

"If that's what you desire, what your heart truly wants, then I can heal you."

Swirls of sage traveled down his arm, glimmering brighter and more blatant.

Your lips parted at the man who stood before you.

Your savior.

Your healer.

You whispered. "Who are you?"

Edited:12/22/23

#legend of zelda #link #loz #fanfiction #wattpad #link x reader #romance #the legend of zelda #fanfic on tumblr #fanfic #totk zelda #loz totk #tears of the kingdom #oneshot #not really #gloom #the depths

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justahintofzora · 11 months

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I just realized what the Depths remind me of!!!

The Toxic Jungle from Nausicaa

#legend of zelda #loz #the depths #nausicaa #studio ghibli #nausicaa of the valley of the wind #toxic jungle #TotK #tears of the kingdom

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aikoiya · 2 months

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LoZ: LU - The Chain in the Depths

I just had a thought. How would the Links react to the Depths?

Like, my theory is that it's actually what remains of old Hyrule from before BotW/TotK.

By that, I mean that the Deku Tree did what he said that he would in WW by using trees to reconnect the islands, which is what makes it possible for the Era of the Wild to be at the end of all 3 timelines. This is supported by how there are so many massive roots all over the place. As well as the fact that the map inside the Forgotten Temple shows that there'd been more water in Central Hyrule during Rauru's time.

But, specifically, how would the rest of the Chain react to the sheer amount of Poe Souls, the Shadow Soldiers, whether they all can see the Poe Souls & Shadow Soldiers (because, remember, apparently not everyone can according to a Yiga journal & the only entities to really make mention of the Poe Souls are the Bargainers), the Bargainers themselves, seeing the Heart Island with the green poe & the pink poe, & the Blupee Burrow?

Not to mention the implication that at least some of the Poe Souls belonged to people who died during the Calamity based on the Ancient Underground Fortress in Akkala. Also, how the triple stone mounds seem to correlate with monuments meant to honor & remember soldiers who died fighting the Calamity. All being at what appeared to be places where great battles took place.

I remember a fic suggesting that the Poe Souls were the souls of people who'd died excavating the Zonaite for the Zonai. However, the thing is that while I could see that being the case for a few of them, I don't think that's the whole story.

I think that the Depths are something of a liminal space where the dead of Hyrule just gather before moving on & that it has become a reflection of the Surface. "As above, so below" & all that. This is supported by, as mentioned before, the state of the Ancient Underground Fortress in Akkala.

This liminality can be partially attributed to having been saturated with magical water for millennia before the Zonai drained it.

And the "as above, so below" phenomenon could be due to the fact that in the Downfall & Child Timelines, Hyrule was lower in elevation while the Hyrule that the Deku Tree would've recreated would obviously have been at a much higher elevation. And when whatever it was that supposedly merged the 3 timelines back together (*cough*War of Ages*cough*) took place, plus the land beneath being saturated with magic, could've intrinsically linked the Surface with the Depths in a way that one simply doesn't see anywhere else. (Not that this is the case, but it's a possibility, I believe.)

And if this is the case, then it'd still allow for landmarks from previous games to appear on the Surface.

It's also possible that what actually fasilitated the merge in the first place was that the War of Ages allowed for things from all 3 timelines to also exist in the other 2, which may have allowed them all to create an inevitable outcome: The Era of the Wild. And once all 3 had a major enough event in common, it allowed for the merge to solidify. (But that's honestly little more than hairbrained speculation on my part.)

However, if this is the case, then it's possible that Ganondorf returning in the Adult Timeline could've simply been a very convenient excuse to cause the Great Flood which would've been a linchpin in allowing for the merge to happen at all.

Hell, it's even possible that had this perceived merge not taken place, then perhaps there wouldn't have been an Era of the Wild. Or a Wild, for that matter.

Also something to note is that we don't know how the Depths looked before the Zonai arrived, nor do we know how they looked during Rauru's reign.

Either way, I'd very much like to see someone go into this. Possibly even with Spirit in the Chain.

There's theories that he'd have what amounts to the Mind's Eye unlocked from birth. And I personally hc that the Spirit Train is used to transport the souls of the dead to the afterlife in New Hyrule, so if no one else, I def think that he'd be able to see them all. Possibly even better than Wild.

May even be able to talk to them & the Shadow Soldiers. Or just hear their final wishes if nothing else.

Fudge... imagine Wild learning that one of those Shadow Soldiers was the shade of his father desperately trying to do whatever he can to help his son... Aaaangst...

I believe this is concept art of them.

And imagine the shame of still not remembering him or the sister he once had.

Or, if he does end up getting his memories of them back & breaks down at the realization that he'd failed them. Obviously, it wasn't his fault, but let's be real here. Wild would absolutely take it that way. And imagine how much Wind would try to sympathize with him, but Wild might not appreciate it because Wind, at the very least, had been able to save his sister. Wild had failed his. (I know that it's implied that Wild's family had lived in the Hateno House.

And imagine the shock & fragile hope of learning that last his father knew, his sister was still alive & that this meant Wild might have nieces & nephews.

And now suddenly he feels so very small & strangely desperate to have just one more connection to the life he once had. Because he might not have been the same man as he was & he may even be happier now, but that does not mean that his old life was bereft of joy & love.

Perhaps, he wants a little bit of that love back. Even if only in second-hand stories of the family he hadn't quite realized until this exact moment that he lost.

Just one more thing that the Calamity pilfered from his grasp.

Or perhaps she's still alive, just incredibly old & weak & unable to even get out of bed anymore.

I also hc that FD is the Hyrulean god of death (among other things) & that the Bargainer's Statues are basically very early depictions of him.

That he created the Sheikah, who were tasked with helping the dead to move on & were once the ones who brought the Poe Souls to the Bargainer Statues in the Depths, specifically those who've trained their mind's eye. However, that has obviously changed.

Something else that I'm not sure I've seen. Time & Wind interacting with Wild's Deku Tree.

If anyone has info on the timeline & the order of the Links, it'd be him.

LoZ Linked Universe Masterlist

#loz #legend of zelda #totk #tears of the kingdom #lu #linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu wild #lu spirit #totk link #st link #the depths

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ghirahimbo · 11 months

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sigh

#totk spoilers #totk #loz #the depths #playing totk

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dalooneylass · 3 months

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Here’s Ganon’s traitorous children aka Shadow Link from FourSwordsAdventures and Dark Link from SpiritTracks as Dark Clergy!

So basically to try and keep the story behind this image breadth but not really, Shadow Link/Shadow and ST Dark Link but Trans aka Darka, Both work at a temple owned by the Death God depicted in the Bargainer Statues from TotK that servers as the tomb for the Heroes of Hyrule, the entrance of which is located in the Depths, they work with 2 other people of note who I’m not going to get into as well as some unnamed servants (of whom most are from Rauru’s era) that aren’t important. Shadow wound up there because Four got sent to the Heroes Tomb despite not being dead, regained a tangible form, and has overall grown up a lot since coming there, while Darka chose to go to work at the Heroes Tomb after being offered a position there some hundred years after Spirit Tracks and after everyone who appeared in that game died, and has since become well accustomed to living there. Shadow and Darka 100% consider each other as siblings and care for each other very much, and are the head Priest/Priestess of the Temple.

Now the explanation for my reasoning for Four being sent to the Tomb despite not being dead is that the Heroes Tomb doesn’t just look after the corpses of Hylia’s heroes, but also their gear, and that the various weapons and clothing items of previous heroes scattered about the Depths in Totk came from the Tomb of which I believe to have been lost during the Great Calamity. Notably there is no gear in TotK to represent Four, which leads me to believe that Four isn’t dead, and therefore still has his gear and or his gear wasn’t being kept with the rest of the deceased heroes stuff. In my head Four got attacked by Twinrova some time after FSA and his adventures with the Chain, and hit with a sleeping spell similar to the one used on Aurora, no one could figure out how to wake Four, not even Dot, and thus he was stashed somewhere for safe keeping, until the Hyrulean Civil War, Hylia felt that it wasn’t safe to keep Four on the surface because of the war, and thus sent him to the Heroes Tomb for safe keeping.

Also while Darka initially debuted in ST as the final challenge of the Take 'Em All On! mini-game in Castle Town, I actually head-canon her as having originated in WW, having been created by Ganondorf to defeat Wind, only for her to decide that she didn’t want to be evil and didn’t want to fight Wind, so she just straight up ditch Ganondorf, and went of to do her own thing, eventually winding up in New Hyrule and becoming a citizen who pays taxes, and works for Joynas at the Take 'Em All On! mini-game. Darka is ultimately a kind hearted soul, as seen by her leaving healing items in her room despite the rules saying that there’s not healing items to be found during the mini-game (Darka got in a fair bit of trouble when Joynas found out) and also hence she betrayed Ganondorf. Note while Darka is Trans, I do not head-canon Wind as trans.

#legend of zelda #loz #linkeduniverse #linked universe #four swords adventurers #spirit tracks #shadow link #lu shadow #dark link #Lu dark link but not really #lu four #lu dot #lu wild #hero of the four sword #hero of the wind #totk sorta #the depths #my art

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