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fioreofthemarch · 10 months

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repast

Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Pairing: Link/Zelda Words: 880 [✨read the oneshot's two companion pieces: yearnings and kin]

The first thing Link began to wonder about the Light Dragon – once his tears for her ran dry and his grief made room for a growing curiosity – was whether she ever got hungry.

In her previous life, she’d had a utilitarian relationship with food. Link had cooked all manner of dishes for her, and each one she would eat in a straight-forward, disciplined manner, dutifully setting about tidying up once she was done. If he asked what her favourite meal was, she’d say, ‘All of them!’

Now, it was possible that dragons didn’t need to eat. Immortality, its terribleness aside, probably had benefits like that. The question was, would they want to?

Link hadn’t paid the Light Dragon much mind during his travels. Dragons seemed to be ten a rupee these days, arising out of chasms, swimming over villages, winding through canyons and so on. Now that he had learned who the Light Dragon really was – telling himself he’d known for a long time to muffle the anguished guilt he felt at not having known right away – he had begun to track her movements. Occasionally, she would break her kingdom-spanning flight path to spend a few hours circling the skyward Temple of Time. It was there that he waited for her now.

“Zelda, I’ve come to make your favourite,” he called up to the Light Dragon from the roof of the temple, unsure if she’d heard. Undeterred, he set up a cookpot and began, sauteeing a dozen apples in a hefty amount of goat butter – this being the only meal Zelda had ever requested of him, maybe two winters ago on a freezing evening camped somewhere in Hebra. She’d said if she had one wish, it’d be a hot buttered apple, and with pride Link had made that wish come true.

At first, the Light Dragon didn’t seem to notice him. He considered hitting her with an apple-fused arrow to get her attention, but was worried he’d discover, in retaliation, that dragons had a taste for humans. Over the course of an hour however, she circled lower and lower towards the temple and the cookpot, until she gently touched down, her body wound around the outer perimeter of the roof. She rested her head by the cookpot, a huge bright eye fixed directly on Link. He froze, unsure if she was really in there, and also what the proper etiquette would be when dining with a dragon. As if in answer, she sniffed at the pot of apples. Taking one in hand, Link offered it slowly out to her; she sniffed it again and opened her mouth just enough for him to push the apple between her teeth. In astonishment Link watched as the otherworldly creature munched carefully on the apple and opened her toothy jaws for a second.

Half a dozen more he fed her this way and each one she ate faster, opening her mouth wider to demand more. By now the supply of savoury-sweet apples was running low. “I’ve only got a couple left, Zelda, but I can come back—”

Chomp! The Light Dragon snapped its jaws down around the cook pot, sending apples flying in all directions. Link reached up and grabbed the edge of the pot, trying to yank it free. “Stop! You can’t eat this! Let go!”

Then he was falling, relinquished from the Light Dragon’s teeth when she roared, and he landed on the gravel just before the cookpot landed on him. He cried out in pain, and in response the Light Dragon recoiled, drawing up into herself, the roof shingles crunching under her claws.

Dusting himself off, Link set about collecting the apples, finding them flung across the roof and soiled with gravel. With a sigh, he prepared to throw them into the cooking fire when, at his side, something soft nudged his arm. The Light Dragon, or Zelda, or whatever mix of the two she was, tapped him with the very tip of her snout, having crept back towards him. In Link’s hand was the final apple, mostly intact. The Light Dragon nudged him again, making a low rumbling noise, barely more than a whine.

“It’s okay, apology accepted,” Link said. “Glad you still like my cooking, old girl.”

Then, the idea coming upon him with a laugh, Link threw the apple as high as he could. There was a tornado of rushing air and dust as the Light Dragon soared upwards, unwrapping herself from temple and launching herself in pursuit of the apple, which she caught with a swift snap of her jaws. Her prize seized, she descended again to fly past Link, so fast he could barely touch her, before rising into the sky and out of reach. Her way of saying thank you, he supposed.

Later on, returning to the surface and Demon King-shaped task at hand, Link would horde apples by the dozen and spend even his last rupee on goat butter whenever he stopped by a town. From then, he knew that if his grief struck stronger than he could handle, he could return to the Temple of Time with as many apples as he could carry, and dine with Zelda again - just like they once had, in times gone by.

#zelink #totk #tears of the kingdom #link #zelda #light dragon #totk spoilers #this came to me basically in a dream and would not let go until I got it out of my system #my writing #i truly had no clue what to call this I dont do oneshots LOL #marble skies

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wayfayrr · 2 months

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If requests are still open, how about Wild and Tears comparing weapons? (Or really anything that gives you an excuse to highlight how they're similar and how they're different)

My brain has only worked out one little snippet, but I feel like it could be expanded upon? Idk??? This is what I've got so far:

Comparing Lynel weapons -- BotW's Lynel weapons (ooooh, I could see Tears geeking out over the craftmanship of Savage Lynel Sword, Crusher, and/or Spears) vs Totk Lynel horn weapons (I can see Wild absolutely losing his mind (/pos) over the existence of Silver Lynel Reapers and/or Maces. Probably begs & pleads for 200 of them lmao)

Little drabble suggestions like this are gonna be open for a while I think, they're really fun to write and I've got a pretty good flow for tears at the minute!!!

Also your ideas so far? In love/srs naming him lilac is honestly so big-brained and is such a perfect little nickname for him and I've already started using it, the weapons too - there is so so much potential, it feels like I've barely scratched it here (this is also set after they've talked out their issues about how they view their memories, after that gets cleared up they're literally twins your honour!!)

also @h4wari got some more of your boy here for you<333

“What are you holding, I don’t think I’ve seen something like that in my Hyrule.”

“I mean, seeing as you don’t have fuse that isn’t a surprise.”

“Huh?”

“I made it, that’s why you haven’t seen it around.”

Is that what I look like whenever I get excited over something? I’ll have to ask [name] to take a photo of me next time, I could make them something nice in return. Actually, I could probably take them on a quick tour of my- you’re getting distracted thinking about them Link.

“You made it, what from? How long will it last if I’m using it, how much damage does it do, where did you find the materials?” “It’s a silver lynel reaper, I fused one of its horns to a royal broadsword; it should last a good while.”

“Lynels drop their horns in your hyrule? Mine only ever drop their weapons…”

“Oh? I don’t think I’ve seen them drop weapons, well besides bows.”

Our Hyrules are far more different than I thought, maybe they would have been identical during my first quest, if I hadn’t rushed it then I’d be able to know for certain. If I had done it the same way he did… could everything with zelda have been avoided? She was so desperate to get me to remember her when I didn’t want to that she went into the underground and then, no, no point thinking about hypotheticals like that. What’s done is done.

“Would you like to swap?”

“Swap?”

“I’ll give you one of my lynels weapons and get that in return?”

That might have to be one of the most generous trades I’ve ever heard, neither of us can carry many weapons but I have enough horns to give everyone here one without batting an eye. I would be a fool to turn it down though. Giving one to the smith might be interesting actually, it would be interesting to see what he can do with it.

“Sure, before you’re set on this one though… you want to see the things I’ve made from shards of dragon horns?”

“YOU’VE MADE WEAPONS FROM DRAGON HORNS???”

#theres so much potential for weapons #hell tell any of the other links that he can make a LIFESTEAL WEAPON and it's carnage #bro is op #and we love him for it #link x reader #linked universe x reader #linked universe #lu tears #moss✦writes #lu wild #totk link x reader

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the-au-collector · 3 months

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Epic: The Musical and Linked Universe

So I’m sure someone else noticed this already but Epic: The Musical gives off Linked Universe vibes. So I’m honor of the Circe Saga releasing next week, I thought I’d put in my 2 cents about what songs I associate with each Link (+some non-canon LU Links). There’s a bit of another LU-Links-reunite AU building up in my head but there’s no real direction yet so have this brain vomit instead:

- The Horse and The Infant - Warriors. So this goes into my headcanon that Warriors is the hero of 10,000 years ago. No I have no foundation for that theory. It just IS. Anyways he’s fighting the Yiga with an army of Gerudo and Hylians. He has to kill the Yiga leader’s son, who’s the new incarnation of Ganondorf. The kid is an infant. I don’t think I need to explain more but yeah.

- Just A Man - Hyrule. This song is the ultimate Hyrule song for me. It explains his character in my Relinked AU too. It’s just… it’s Hyrule’s song. As for the story based off of Epic: The Musical itself, I think he’s running from some sort of war in his Hyrule (either a civil war or a war with Calatia). The details aren’t that clear yet, other than he kills someone and feels bad about it.

- Full Speed Ahead - Wind. Need I say more?

- Warrior of the Mind - our first non-canon Link: First! I Imagine First and Hylia kicking ass together during this song

- Polyphemus - Okay, we’re getting into true AU territory with this one, but this is Twilight’s song. He’s trying to piece together the Mirror of Twilight again and accidentally angers a Hinox or other large monster. With him is Dusk, Rusl (or maybe Colin), and Dusk is stabbed at the end. That’s all I’ve got for this one.

- Survive - Time. And this one has a Story. Ganondorf attacks Time’s castle town with an army of Gerudo and monsters. Time and the Sages fight him off but at the last second he breaks free and slaughters everyone, including Time. However, just as the song ends (the point where Polyphemus falls asleep), Zelda rewinds time and sacrifices herself to seal Ganondorf into the Mirror of Twilight. This is the moment the Downfall Timeline is created too.

- Remember Me - Our second non-canon Link, Shadow! He, Four, Dot, and others are fighting this monster. The Four Sword shatters, Shadow takes charge but in the end wants to do the noble thing. Oh and he gives his name as “Link” and not Shadow (or Shade, as Four’s beginning to call him in my headcanon)

- My Goodbye - Legend and Fable have a falling out. Legend’s sick of feeling used because he’s the hero, so he decides he’s had enough.

- Storm - Our third non-canon Link, Age! Basically a Tears of the Kingdom scenario except Age and his Zelda (Fauna) never went down below the castle. He never loses his arm and Fauna never goes to the past, but they have to evacuate Hyrule to the sky with the help of the Light Dragon who clears the way.

- Luck Runs Out - Sky and Groose. Idk what went down in Sky’s Hyrule but they’re having a disagreement about how Sky’s handling it.

- Keep Your Friends Close - Our last non-canon Link, Spirit! This one also has some story behind it to make the song fit. Idk why, but he and his Zelda (Phantom) have gone to speak to their Wind God, Zephos (the same from Wind Waker) who gives them a challenge. They fail and Spirit gets separated from the group. I imagine it might have something to do with Ganondorf who’s still stuck under the receding Great Sea.

- Ruthlessness - This absolute bop goes to Four. It’s also a follow-up to Remember Me, so that means the monster Shadow refused to kill is Special. Related in some way to Fierce Deity special. So the story here is after the encounter with the monster, Four, Shadow, and others (I’m debating giving Vaati a redemption arc?) decide to try to get help from the god Fierce Deity. Except Deity is pissed because he thinks Four is a weakling when it was actually Shadow who took the blame for what happened to the monster. Fierce slaughters all of Four and Shadow’s men, Four seals himself into the Four Sword to distract/hurt Fierce, and Shadow escapes but feels really guilty.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll add the Circe Saga when it comes out.

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bipp-bopp-time-to-stop · 1 month

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HTTYD LU Crossover: The Potential Plot(s)

Whilst brainstorming about this crossover, I have though up many ways for the plot to go. Some could lead to a shorter series while others would be longer. Rather than forcing myself to pick, I could just list all of the potential routes so I could not only get opinion on them but to also have them typed down to look back on.

Also, do not believe these ideas to be completely set in stone. I’ll undoubtedly continue to revise and change each idea to polish it out or make it flow better. This is, essentially, a rough draft of what my noodle has conjured up over the past few days.

Idea Number 1

The first plot idea has the Chain being the dragon riders and (Name) being something of a nomad. (Name) travels from island to island or village to village for reason xyz. They could potentially be apart of a nomadic tribe that flees from conflict and is therefore seen as a coward or they could have been exiled from their tribe. With them being an outsider, they’re obviously not trusted by others and even shunned by other tribes. This would naturally lead them to getting stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Perhaps they’re trying, and failing, to flee from a wild dragon. Maybe they’re lost out at sea on a raft and have run out of fresh water and food. They could be trying to avoid confrontation with a tribe because they’re either known to be hostile or they’ve maybe stolen supplies from them. Whatever the reason may be, they end up getting rescued by one of the boys.

Personally, I think Wind is the best fit for the rescuer. Why? Well, just because (Name) was in trouble doesn’t mean they couldn’t get out of it themselves, but Wind has something to prove. He’s both the youngest and least experienced of the dragon riders, so he takes (or makes) whatever opportunity he can get to be seen as both a hero and someone reliable so the others will start treating him fairly. When he spots (Name) in trouble, he rushes to their “rescue” and brings them back to his home island so they can be checked up on for injuries and so they can also sing Wind’s praises because he save them! Right?

Honestly, this is how the scene has been playing out in my mind:

Wars and/or Time: “Uhm… whatcha got there?”

Wind, beaming with his hands on his hips: “Someone who needed rescuing! Isn’t that right, (Name)?”

(Name), dangling precariously from the maw/ claws of Wind’s dragon: “h e l p”

As for where the plot goes after that, I think it’s sort of (Name) trying to find their place at this new island filled with crazy people because who in their right minds would tame dragons?! This doesn’t go over smoothly for a number of reasons I haven’t decided on yet. The island (of which I need to find a name for because New Hyrule feels basic) could be going through turmoil. Or, due to (Name)’s past, they’re not trusted by many but they can’t exactly leave because it’s far from the coldest welcome they’ve received. Roughly, I have an idea as to where to steer the exposition of this series but I’d still need to figure out some overarching character developments as well as the main conflict.

I should also state that this will contain not only the official boys, but also some side characters like Malon, Groose, Aryll, and Impa (might go for Hyrule Warriors Impa) to name a few. I will also include Zelda but I want to figure out which Zelda to choose. I think I may also include Tetra but as a different character than Zelda. They could be, like, cousins or something.

In this version of the story, I don’t think I’ll incorporate any of the human characters or named dragon characters from HTTYD. Because (Name) in this version has no ties to them, the most that they’ll be mentioned is as a distant, dragon taming clan. Or, perhaps one or two of the LU characters have briefly interacted with a HTTYD character. (Like one of the Chain having interacted with Eret when he still worked for the dragon trappers and mentions how he changed to love and respect dragons as well as ride one. This is a point that could be brought up when one of the boys argues with (Name) about their stance on dragons).

Also, I don’t know if (Name) will end up having a dragon of their own in this. I do want them to eventually be comfortable being around dragons, but taming and riding one would be a whole other story. That doesn’t mean they’ll never end up riding a dragon, but that’s not to say they’ll have a permanent dragon partner. If I do choose for them to have a dragon, I want it to basically be a dragon that’s distrusting in humans to mirror how (Name) distrusts/fears dragons. A slow enemies to friends kind of deal, if you will.

Idea Number 2

The second idea has (Name) being the dragon rider and the Chain being introduced to dragons through them. To explain why there wouldn’t be any HTTYD dragons flying around or near Hyrule, it could be because Hyrule managed to “sever” itself from the world for whatever reason (such as trying to contain Demise or to protect the land from outside forces). I would like to think that, due to this separation, the magical balance of the world was shifted. The people of Hyrule can still access and cast magic, but those outside cannot. The only creatures that have magic outside of Hyrule would, of course, be the dragons, and that alone is in small amounts. Magic is still present across the board, but its found in different mediums between Hyrule and the rest of the world.

Naturally, with (Name) being the dragon rider in this instance, it would make sense that they come from Berk/New Berk. I know that there are other clans/tribes/groups that are friendly to dragons, but they don’t ride them like Berkians do. The closest group out there in comparison to Berk are the Wingmaidens as they care and protect baby Razorwhips and use them to fly, but they release them once they’re old enough to care for themselves. Not to mention that the Wingmaidens were almost cannibals at one point (spoilers, I guess, if you haven’t watched RTTE).

I personally think (Name) would do well to fit in as one of the original/ second wave of dragon riders. They could be the adopted sibling or only childhood friend of Hiccup and acted as the brawn to his brain to protect him. They could have also been the first person to find out about Toothless instead of Astrid. In a way, their actions always revolved around Hiccup to an extent as that’s who all they really had growing up and amidst the conflict of the movies/ shows (they will have deep relationships with other characters but Hiccup is their closest bond and their dragon is the only one that rivals that).

So, now that they’re grown and everyone else sort of has their life figured out, (Name) now tries to be their own person. They can’t stay by their brother’s/ best friend’s side as he’s chief and has a village to run and dragons to look out for. (I will have the plot of this take place after the events of HTTYD 2 but not carry on into HTTYD 3. The reason I have for this is that the themes and certain plot points of HTTYD 3 do not match/ go against what is established in the other movies and shows. I think the movie was nice, and it did have good moments, but it just didn’t vibe with what the franchise had been pushing prior).

There would be two main points of conflict in this version of the story: (Name) finding out who they are/ want to be and their adventure into Hyrule. How they get into Hyrule is something I’m still figuring out. In HTTYD 1, the vikings couldn’t get to Dragon Island as they had no way of navigating the thick mist/smoke that surrounded the island until they had Toothless. The mist/smoke wall in this instance could also be magical so that anything that enters it is confused and unable to sense what direction is what or it makes them pass out (and end up drowning in the waters below). Another idea would be that Hyrule is in a whole other dimension entirely. To get between the two worlds, one would have to find and activate a gate/portal. How that works is still something I’m figuring out.

The dragon thing would also be a point of conflict between (Name) and Hyrule as dragons just haven’t existed there for centuries, if not longer. It would be hard to change the minds of a whole nation of people if there’s only one dragon to interact with. How dragons would slowly start coming back to Hyrule is another thing for me to figure out and which members of the Chain would actually consider taming and riding a dragon in this version of events. In this version of the story, I’d also have (Name)’s dragon be a fiercer dragon as it would both hinder and help them proving that dragons can be friends. A fierce dragon would be harder to be around without being scared, but it’d also show that even some of the scariest dragons can be befriended.

I could continue writing about each idea further, but there are some things I want to keep behind closed doors for now. Mainly because, if I explain everything there is about the plot, the characters, the dragons, and more, then there will technically be no surprises or plot twists. I will still have a few more posts such as explaining a little bit more in terms of world building and the dragon companions of the Chain/other characters.

Also, a tid-bit about the unofficial boys; they will not be included in the main story of either idea. Why? Because the character roster I’m already working with, as well as flushing out their relationships, is already a lot. Especially in the first idea as nearly everyone is going to have their own dragon and their own relationship with them. This does not mean, however, I won’t write short stories or even little mini-series about the unofficial boys in this Au.

#linked universe #linked universe x reader #lu x reader #linked universe au #linked universe httyd au #lu httyd au

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ganondoodle · 11 months

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so i sort of half accidentally did the end of totk on monday, i had over 130 hours and slightly over 50% of the game done and did the second to last fight with 3 hearts left and no way to heal but fairies after i gave up multiple times thinking the game might be trying to force me to fight a certain way xD

so im still playing it and am aiming for the 100% but i dont think theres gonna be much more to discover story wise the game is really fun and has a lot of detail and love put into it that you can really see, the music is fantastic as well, some of the characters get more love which is great but the story is … well disappointing but not surprising, especially in its treatment of ganondorf, who still feels incredibly flat as a character, which was to be expected but also … you cant fault people (including me) for faintly hoping theyd do something more interesting tho i will say the end fight is really well done and i cant think of a way to top that in terms of epicness xD

anyway, some unfiltered thoughts and opinions in no particular order (keep in mind i know its viddy game logic uwu but still some things can really destroy the immersion; and also i like to think too hard about the stuff i care about so take this with a grain of salt, i never expected the story to be world changing but i want to remind you that i am criticizing it bc i love this franchise)

--what the hell happened to all the sheikah tech?? botws story gets mentioned a few times but never is it mentioned what happened to all the tons of tech lying around everywhere? if they dismantled the towers for purah to build her new ones around i guess thats fine, but all the srhines? the titans ??? THE SHRINE OF LIFE??? its all gone, esepcially the shrine of life irks me bc the cave is still there and its still called by its bame but its nothing but a cave in a vague shape of how the buidling was it absolutely drives me crazy bc its so dumb?? even if it all stopped working for some reason why would you dismantled it all and even then where did the material go?? why would you dismanlted an neitre building like that anyway?? if you want to have a cave there just have it be half collapsed, if all sheikah tech has gotten useless just leave it there but overgrown?? and why is all of purahs tech still working then? zelda doesnt seem to care about it anymore either even tho shes been so obsessed with it for so long? the titans how would you even MOVE them?? you CANNOT tell me that all this tech that survived tens of thousands of years just went poof within a few years; and sometimes it even feels .. insulting? like you know how much robelo cared for cherry and now shes tiny and just serves as a way to buy fotos for your collection? the fact that the shrine of life is fully gone but the cave is vaguely shaped like its interior and where the bed used to be is a healing pool of water too? like idk if im just insane but it feels like 'haha lol remember what used to be here? get it? the water heals you like the bed in the shrine of life and lol there was the stairs HAHA remember? its gone now for no reason.lmao.' to be clear i like having some mysteries and all but that is just …. so weird? when i discovered the shrine of life i was so taken aback i didnt know what to do, it really broke my immersion, by alot even, it just makes it feel even more like all sheikah tech was replaced by much cooler (tm) sonau tech

--what happend to the sonau people? we only know that rauru and mineru are the last two remaining ones back then but … what made them die out like that? this is by far not as important to me as the issue with the sheikah tech but still feels like a point that could have been mentioned

--as much as i like the open world and how free you are to do things your own way but, regardign the dragon tears i think they should have been locked more behind story progression, i got all of them rather early on and it made it a lil frustrating to play through the other story parts bc you know the truth but you cant tell anyone and everyone around you is acting like a dumbass running after fake zelda while the real one is floating around above you, and i know thats partly my fault for getting them all so early but it still felt like some could have been more well hidden or locked or something since theres no hint to when it would fit to do which one; i expecpted impa to travel to each one but it seemed like she appeared on only a few here and there- additionally i fully expected her to be more important, that she would have an actual involment trying to help zelda undragonfy but that turned out to be very wrong lmao

--why are the enemies in the underground mining sonanium? ganondorf didnt seem itnerested at all in any of their tech, only in the mystery stones (only one too, he didnt seem to want any more of them either) they dont use it for anything? at least the ones on the surface collected stuff they could eat or use for fighting?

--did mineru really build herself a robot body just to fight ganondorf for a bit and then leave? as the last of the sonau, even tho long dead too, why wouldnt she tell their history and knowledge or something and instead if just helping a lil in the fight and then go poof (i half expected purah to be a surprise sage since the spirit one would have fit her i think)

--the zelda being the white dragon plot point lost alot of weight to me when it was just .. resolved like that in the end, i know she spent thousands of years like that and all but it seemed like a much heavier decision that later on felt a little less flat after fidning mineru even tho i felt like i didnt care at all at first bc of the way i found out ,and i half expected there to be an extra mission to try and find her soul again since that apparently gets lost when you do the whole dragon thing, but in the end that wasnt a problem at all, two ghosts and link (somehow naked again) blasting her with some magic(tm) and boom shes back and well and fine woohoo it was a non problem after all i didnt expect her to stay dragon since that would mean the end of the legend of zelda basically, but still it took away alot of the weight of her decision to me? like i get undragonfying her before the end would be difficult since you can get material off of her but still i hoped for something other than boom it resolved itself and i thoguht and worried about it for nothing honestly a post game or even another title where the main focus wouldnt be desstroying yet anyother one note evilest guy of them all and isntead the goal is to bring zeldas soul back and undragon her or something would have been a cool idea tbh tho i know its unrealistic

--did ganondorf think turning himself into a dragon would end the world somehow? did he mean the lil evil goo clouds he spit at you in the last fight to end the world? and how come that he was vunerable to fight? none of the other dragons could be hurt and for an 'immortal' dragon he sure went down fast also how did the stone get back on his forehead? you need to eat it to dragonfy yourself and zelda doesnt have her stone out either (i know viddy games logic but still) (on another note, gan shoving half his arm in his own mouth felt really cursed to watch)

--into WHAT exactly wanted gan to reshape the world into?? only destroying it is such a non reason if you want to rule it? theres nothing left to rule if you kill everything in it?? he just gonna play cards with some bokblins or what -i really wanted to fight ganondorf on the surface, not in his lil miasma incubation cave again :(

--so …. why he evil? are we really doing the and WHOOP suddendnly theres the eviliest guy of the world and he hates your guts for some reason thing again? no tension with the gerudo that seemed to follow him in the lil cutscene we see and the ones that went on raurus side? no actual origin? does he have ANYONE to talk to normally or did he just surround himself by monsters all the time or abadon everyone that once followed him once he got his power up?? you can make any design or fight as good as it can possibly be but in the end its still gonna feel hollow if the character has no character besides evil even the fake zelda wasnt actually him and just a lil puppet made of miasma so even him fucking with people is a little less interesting when he was actually just marinading in his lil goop cave, and the lil hand wink he gives you at phase two can only do so much lmao

--ganondorf is cool and all, but tbh he feels more like the evil miasma goop guy than anything else --why are the old sonau ruins in hyrule so different from the rest? like we know now that they arent actually a civilization from the sky alone but were even in the underground too, and all of their ruins have that blocky white style to it, the supposedly sonau ruins in phirone for example, albeit they share the dragon theme the style on the outside is very much different? and the ancient ruins from the other races dont match it either --are the sheikah descendants of the mixing of sonau and hylians? the white hair and third eye theme would fit to the only alive sonaus we see having white hair (fur?), the literal third eye and their affinity to techonology similar to the sheikah, and zelda having both light and time powers would make sense if its yet another descendant thing, but that would mean zelda was at least part sheikah .. (ngl white haired zelda might look pretty neat actually) but also … it didnt seem like sonia and rauru have been together all that long and no mention or even hint to them having children … which given that both of them die would be an important thing to mention no?

--why cant you do anything with the dongos but feed them????????? i wanna ride them :(

--where is kashiwa????????????????? they talk about him like hes a lost legend

--putting in all the amiibo stuff is cool and annoying at the same time, i spent 5 hours fighting my way throguh the underground to follow treasure maps and found 3 nigh identcal link hats from past games in a row, then two other parts of similar, then two aiimbo weapons and then jsut yesterday another one from a bigger quest that i expected more of; getting the armor sets of past games is cool if you want them but if i did i would have just gotten the amiibos back in botw, my inevntory already feels super bloated with all the new and old armor sets and now the amiibo stuff as well even tho i have like .. half of it all atm (and dont go and argue 'oh so complaining about more content for free???' yes. yes i am.)

--whats with this game and making link almost naked? rauru saving you from death? naked. (annoying) survival shrines? naked. weird teleport to alternate ghost dimension to blast zelda with magic power tm to solve all problems? naked.

--(added in edit) im glad dorephan didnt die!! i fully expected him to have died offscreen or something to make way for everyones favorite fish

--(added in edit) so are definitely other lands besides hyrule if yona came from there, also lol

--the story feels, espeically once you see the last cutscene, very …. uncomfortable to me if dare to think about it more than just taking everythign as its said to you, like … the oh so perfect descednants of the gods(what) marry a normal hylian lady and sourround themselves with perfetly obedient faceless servants of the other races so the perfect and good kingdom tm is born and oh suddendly theres an evil brown man (makign him grey doesnt change the implications, if anything, it makes it worse bc they wont even stand for it and instead are trying to hide it behind uuuuh no no its fine hes blue actally kinda way) from the desert that attacks the perfect good kingdom and king, then he swears alliance to them only to betray and murder da queen right away to get his hands on a super power the perfect and good king held and would have never never used it in a bad way nono and now they need to defend it by all means and at the end woohoo zelda has now again the perfect kingdom with no opposition except the yiga who are (as much as i love them) mostly played for laughs or .. well, evil(tm) as epic and cool the dragon fight was, zelda being the slim tiny white/gold/blue dragon and ganondorf being the evil spiky big black and red dragon and them literally being called white/black dragon feels like wow they arent even trying to hide the black and white storytelling huh (i know its a design trope to the bad be black(color) and the good anything else and spiky vs round and soft blah blah but that doesnt make it any better .. maybe even worse? idk)

the way nintendy was keeping stuff a secret and hinting around so much made me feel like it would finally be a little more nuanced and then it turned out to be even flatter than before and all that secrecy(?) was only to keep dragon zelda plotpoint a secret, something that was resolved no problem in the end anyway (i didnt need zelda to stay dragon but .. it all just lost so much weight the way it was done at the end)

-- (added in edit) master koga is the best character and no one can beat him, the most joy i felt was seeing him again and i am not joking, i wish i could talk to him normally tho without him being able to see through my yiga disguise :( im so glad he didnt die tho bc if he actually went to gan he would 100% be dead within seconds

--(added in edit2) i forgot to mention but was just reminded that link getting his arm back felt super weird too, so really everything that meant major changes got reversed basically ... coool ...back to status quo i guess, couldnt he if he wasnt missing it at least have it be discolored somehow? or scarred? any reminder? zelda too even, could she also have some sort of scar or similar due to her transformation ??

--(added in edit2) so where did the mystery stones even come from? gans and zeldas are gone after dragonfying i guess so ...what?

so in summary, im not eloquent enough to properly analyse all the problematic/questionable stuff and put it into the right words, but these are my random thoughts just spilled out, theres gonna be things i missed, forgot, or gonna think about later, maybe ill add it maybe not

again take it with a grain of salt, the game is still one of the most fun games i have ever played, my problems with it lie majorly in the story, its still very much worth playing!

#ganondoodles talks #long post #totk spoilers #totk spoiler #totkspoilers #at least i havent seen the botw gerudo outfit yet #maybe one evil was defeated after all #to be clear i havent seen all of it yet #i have 72 shrine atm and am missing alot of colletibles still #but i wanted to write out my thoughts so maybe they will stop bothering me this much #but all this being said #i am now more then ever confused about being told that something about my hylia design was -correct- before totk released #bc all i can think of is sonia being mistaken for hylia?#and even then what .... is their similarity??#man was i anxious about the game when it was just like referenceing stuff #like gan being called the demon king and all and the war being called the sealing war #i feel so dumb about everything now lmao

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the-depths-au · 4 months

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FAQ

*this post continues heavy totk spoilers

How did it start?

A lot of people started posting some really cool art of a TotK ending where Zelda returns as a hybrid dragon creature thing. I saw a few that called it a “bad” ending and I noticed she was often portrayed with dominantly human-features just like, with horns or a tail, or the purple eyes, etc. I love to play video games(clearly) and I enjoy the challenge of seeing various endings, not just “secret endings” (think Heavy Rain, Until Dawn, The Witcher 3, Drakengard- anyone else play this?) I got to thinking about how her coming back didn’t really like a true “bad ending”. To me, a bad ending, really, would be one in which she didn’t get to magically, miraculously come back in any form. A bad ending to me would be Mineru’s warning held true. And in doing so, it would become The Legend of Zelda because she becomes the stuff of myths. Of true Legend. Fulfilling destiny (botw-era and the series as a whole). My brain sort of took off from there regarding the implications this would have on Hyrule and specially, our boy Link.

How could you! A Bad ending? Is this story at least hurt and eventual comfort??? Does it have a happy ending??

I could tag this hurt and comfort, but usually people who read these types of stories have certain expectations of what “comfort” is (and that’s okay!). Same with a “happy” ending. I don’t need stories to be wrap up in a bow with warmth to enjoy them. Honestly, some of the stories that have touched me the most over the years have had “sad” endings/negative character arcs/tragedy. That being said, I don’t particularly enjoy pure whump, either. What I feel is most important and what I am to do with this story, is to make any suffering meaningful. With purpose. And hopefully- maybe- you’ll see the “comfort” that is possible even in these types of stories.

Wait! So Zelda remains a dragon?

Yes. They defeat the demon dragon. Rauru and Sonia appear in a silent thanks, then they disappear and Link falls from the sky alone into the water. The Light Dragon continues along in her flight above him.

Link is also the only one who can see/has ever seen the Light Dragon.

Are there any other major changes from TotK?

It follows the game pretty closely. It’s just hard to say exactly what is in this story from TotK because there is just so much. In BotW, I headcanon Link took his time. He doesn’t remember anything. He is alone, lost, and the world is a vast, broken place. Therefore, it is plausible/ realistic in my head for all the side questions to be done prior to the ending being reached. In TotK, especially with the headcanon he and Zelda were together in the time between BotW and TotK, I had a hard time imagining Link would waste much time on anything unnecessary to save Zelda. So, with this in mind, I’ve had to justify the side questions to include in the story. Link’s journey is a bit different than my own. Whereas I actually spent 80% of my playthrough exploring the depths, this Link only went down when necessary. Meaning many of the lightroots have not been unlocked and he only has part of the armor of the depths. In the Linktober and the early concept, he has the entire set but this has been changed for the main comic.

How far after the events of TotK does this take place?

Five years.

Is it completely planned out?

Yes. I have a complete rough story outline done. It’s 17 chapters. I am anticipating some editing as I go, but regardless, it’s a big project. A huge shout out to @zeldaelmo and @fioreofthemarch for helping me get the story set. They are both phenomenal writers for the LoZ fandom so be sure to check them out!

What happened to the comic?

I made the decision to tell this story (initially) in writing. I have a very specific style in mind for this story as a full comic and honestly, I just don't feel like my artistic ability and overall proficiency is where I want it to be at this time. I'm still learning! I will be continuing to post art, concept art, and some comic panels here as I go and eventually, I would love to adapt the story into a full comic, but for now, I'll be telling the main story in writing.

How long have you been drawing?

I’ve been drawing all my life. Just for fun, although I took a few classes in school. Digitally, self-taught, since fall 2022. Still very new to this with lots to learn! I have a minor in creative writing and feel much more confident and comfortable with that.

Feel free to send me a DM with questions anytime! I plan to update this periodically.

Last updated 2/26/24

#FAQ

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geminiskulleta · 9 months

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Thanks for voting!! I’m glad Flora won she’s my fave 💞

Flora - The Scholar

Link: Hero of the Wilds

Age: 10,123 (23 physically)

• The most resilient and devoted of all the Zeldas. She will never give up anything she sets her mind to.

• When she’s truly happy and confident her smile is really goofy, her smile is contagious too

• Came back from being a dragon about six months ago, she is still coping with her trauma and found leaving her Hyrule the most difficult.

• The others admire her a lot for all she has went through, but she still feels inferior as she “failed” her first mission - the others wholeheartedly disagree.

• Often has night terrors and bad dreams about losing Link again, Dusk is usually the one to help her through them.

• Dusk is like an older sister to her because of their shared love for education. She sees Lullaby as a mother figure and resonates a lot with her, too. She is the only one who knows about Lullaby’s first adventure.

• She is just as feral as Link. You wouldn’t guess it because of her calm and gentle appearance but she can be a menace when she wants to.

• Fable decided to help her to better understand her magic, but she seems to be falling into her old pattern of pushing herself too far again.

• Easily has the most powerful magic of all Zeldas, but she isn’t able to harness it properly so it is a bit unreliable. Sometimes she can use recall but it’s a bit finicky on when it decides to work. She hasn’t managed to make anything else work yet.

• She is trying to research the black blood and portals to find the links, and she has actually been a huge help to the whole team.

• She and Tetra get on surprisingly well too, they both share that curious nature.

• She looks up a lot to Sun, too as she is the first reincarnation of Hylia. She feels very insecure around her and is sure that she hates her.

• Will document every new flower, landmark, creature and recipe the Zeldas come across on her sheikah slate in hopes to show Link when they meet again. She misses him dearly and prays every night that he is safe and well.

• After being with the others she makes so much improvements on her magic, they are all so proud to see how far she came.

• Can get tunnel-visioned easily and once she gets an idea in her head she has little time to think of anything else

Relationship with link

• She and Wild are deeply in love, and when together they will never leave each others side. After TOTK, Wild refused to let go of her hand in fear of losing her again.

• Wild taught her shield surfing, cooking and also gave her some sword training and archery lessons. She is a very quick learner and after being away for so long she has made it her mission to learn as much as possible.

• Both of them feel very guilty towards one another, each thinks that the calamity was their fault and that they weren’t strong enough

• Sometimes Flora wonders if Link would still love her if he kept all of his memories, but she pushes that thought deep down.

• They are very very awkward around each other when it comes to being intimate, Floras face will go as red as a tomato any time Wild kisses or hugs her, but she loves when he does it.

• They always help each other through nightmares or panic attacks, both are very damaged but their saving grace is each other.

• Link brought her to every place he saw during his first and second adventure, and even to the sky islands. She found the constructs adorable and asked them so many questions about how they worked.

• She feels very self conscious about her rambling but Wild always listens enthusiastically- no matter the subject.

• The two constantly ride their horses around Hyrule and have picnics near lovers pond. She also started coming along with Wild whenever there were reports of monsters.

• When he was scooped up by the shadow after TOTK, Flora was hell-bent on finding Wild again.

#linked universe #loz fanart #princess zelda #lu wild #botw zelink #zelda totk #lu fanart #loz lu #legend of zelda #zelda tears of the kingdom

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avalypuff · 8 months

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I’m just gonna say it.

I don’t think Zonai and Hylians are capable of reproduction under normal circumstances.

This is Not to say that I doubt the existence of Sonia and Rauru’s offspring, or Zelda’s blood relation to them, especially given that’s the one thing the game did explicitly tell us.

But on to the reason I think this—

Zelda (as a series) has kept things pretty consistent as far as Hylian/[other] hybrids, with the only exception being an obvious one that Hylians and Gerudo are compatible. But other than that, we’ve never seen anything like a Hylian x Rito/Zora/Goron/etc hybrid (ok so the Goron one makes sense because of their canon asexual reproduction, but it just felt weird excluding them from my point) and it stands to reason why.

They’re not just different races. They’re completely different species, whose differences can’t even be compared to those of a horse and donkey, or lion and tiger. Just by looking at them it’s pretty clear the different peoples throughout Hyrule have incompatible DNA.

Yes they’re all sapient and can fall in love with one another, and that’s totally real and valid! But love isn’t enough to make babies when the lovers are one bird and one fish, or in the case of Rauru and Sonia, one goat-dragon and one human-shape.

However, unlike a Zora or Rito, I believe there is one factor that Zonai could use to create life with a Hylian… their God-like magic!

That being said, I am a lover of science, and if you are too, then listen up, my friends, because I have more to explain, because I STILL don’t believe they can reproduce by [normal means] don’t make me say it… I get enough bots following me

I believe, like other Zonai magic such as ultra hand or ascend, it has to be a conscious decision. A spell, in the simplest terms. Basically, it can’t happen by accident; not to take any romance away from the act, of course! (Putting the rest under a cut cause this is getting long)

To go a bit more in depth—and please keep in mind this is treading even deeper into personal headcanon territory—I believe the magic would neutralize Zonai DNA (or whoever’s providing the sperm. In this case it’s Rauru, but I wonder if he was the only Zonai to ever fall in love with a Hylian…) and it would work kiiind of similarly to parthenogenesis with the resulting offspring being more-or-less a clone of the female parent. That’s right. I believe their child visually looks just like her mother, Sonia, though she’d probably choose her own hairstyle. lol.

Anyway, mammals aren’t actually capable of parthenogenesis, and furthermore that act doesn’t involve sperm, but it’s a cool biology thing I wanted to build a headcanon sort of based around.

I’m also a boring old fool who doesn’t like idea of Sonia birthing a furry, even though I’m all about the ship of her and Rauru. Idk. Half the time I don’t even understand me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading. If not—if you want furry baby, just know I’m not directing this at anyone or trying to dismiss their ideas. I just wanted to share my own. Peace ✌️

#the legend of Zelda #tears of the kingdom #totk spoilers #Rauru #Sonia #Zonai #headcanons #don’t talk to me about ancient hero’s aspect #small ears digitigrade legs and tail #not a zonai #a hybrid wouldn’t look more animal than either parent #it’s some yet unknown race #that’s the only explanation I’ll accept

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imaginethezeldaverse · 9 months

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A little Zelink drabble - Tears of the Kingdom Spoilers mentioned! Also just want to say as a disclaimer I haven’t finished the game yet if this doesn’t feel 100% accurate, my apologies! I just wanted to write something Zelink today lol.

------- Looking down at her cup, Zelda watched the swirls of fresh Hateno milk mix and lighten the original darker hue of her black tea. Milk and two sugars, exactly how she liked it. Her gaze shifted to the window, the sky boundless and blue in its vast stretch across the world. She almost wished she could remember basking in it the way she had. “Link,” the princess called softly to her knight, who was pouring himself his own cup of tea. He looked up, cerulean hues moving away from the teapot and onto her. Zelda turned toward him wearing an almost wistful, but curious expression. “What was I like when I was a dragon?” The hero thought for a moment. So many memories he had of her in her temporarily immortal state. He remembered pulling the Master Sword from her head, the realization of who the Light Dragon truly hitting him square in the heart. Knowing the cost of her sacrifice held like a constant weight on him. He also remembered feeling light as a feather, laying in her golden mane as she traversed the skies; he remembered promising to get her back. Link realized his face must’ve read something sad when Zelda asked, “Not good...?” He straightened up, fixing his face to smile instead, “Big and scaly, that’s for sure.” Zelda giggled at that, “I’m sure, of course.” Link sat at the table with her and reached for the sugar, “You were always warm. I’ve ridden the other dragons before to grab scales and stuff, and I mean... they were always,” his eyes wandered as he tried to find his words, “Not cold, I guess - except for Naydra, he’s constantly freezing, but you - you were always pleasantly warm.” Stirring the sugar in his tea, he continued, “Your scales were always so pretty, they shimmered in the light, just like your mane did...” suddenly his spoon came to a stop. Zelda caught the wisps of sorrow that flashed across his eyes for a split second, “...But your eyes always looked sad. Even though they were this crazy shade of violet and you had these giant golden lashes...there was this sadness in them that I just couldn’t shake seeing.” Locking eyes with Zelda, Link felt a pang of hurt in his chest, the memory of her transformation still fresh in his mind, “I didn’t like seeing you so sad.” The princess’s lip trembled at her hero’s softened voice, though her memory failed her of her time as the light dragon, she understood the impact it had on all those involved: especially Link. Without a word, she reached her hand out to cover his, her doleful smile willing to offer him some comfort, “I’m not sad anymore, Link.” Like a reflex, he flipped his palm to turn upright, his rougher fingers curling around hers. He took a deep breath, really allowing the warmth of her hand to register with him. Slowly, he matched her smile, “I hope I can make sure you never are again, princess.”

#tloz #tloz: totk #the legend of zelda #the legend of zelda: tears of the kingdom #tears of the kingdom #totk #link #totk link #zelda #totk zelda #princess zelda #zelink #zelda x link #fluff #comfort #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom spoilers #totk fanfic #totk drabble

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luimagines · 5 months

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That Dragon au Part 5

@cafecourage Hallo Hallo :D You all know who this is for!

Masterlist

First chapter/ Previous Chapter/ Next Chapter

Content under the cut!

Chapter 5: Explaining a Mark

Warrior shakes his head. "Nonsense. Cia has been wanting me to claim her since we first met. Let her be lost to her own mind. I just want you."

There’s a knock at the door.

Enno hid themselves into Warriors more before realizing they should be the one to get the door.

“I’ll get up.” They said, not really wanting to face anyone right now but he is the injured party.

Warrior growls before they leave his grasp entirely, falling back into a whine. "Enno, it's fine."

They open the door and it’s Lana.

"I came as soon as I heard-" She gasps, borderline screaming. "Oh my - in! In, in, in, in!!"

She charges forward, pushing Enno through. "I knew Cia used a transmutation spell. But I couldn't figure out what."

She spins and yells out the door to some poor sap on the other side. "Call Zelda, it's urgent!"

Warrior huffs from the bed but he seems more relieved than before.

“Um…” Enno stood aside, wanting to stay out of sight of the people outside. “We called you for him instead of me but I’m happy about getting both over with.” They point at Warriors and his wing, wanting nothing more than to just go back and curl underneath him. “Do you mind if I just… go back to hiding until Zelda comes around?”

They shift awkwardly, completely ignoring to ask about their own health.

Lana pauses and looks at Warrior before folding over. She looks like she's going to vomit.

"Yeah..." She coughs. "I'll get right on it. For both of you."

She starts rummaging through her spell book, a knock at the door coming only a few minutes later.

Lana goes to open in and the Queen storms in. "I came as soon as I heard what seems to be the prob- gasp"

Her eyes widened at the two of them, instantly filling with tears. "Oh no..."

Enno poked their head out from their hiding spot. They smile a bit tensely, not wanting to deal with the tense atmosphere. “Yeah so I played a dangerous game and won a dangerous prize. It seems like she not only reverted me back to how I was in my world but also made me into a dragon. Not to make things uh… more complicated but uh… how do I say this… in my normal body I have a medical condition? So while there isn’t a rush because I feel fine for some reason. I still don’t want this to be the full norm if I can’t at least go back to being human.”

“You say this now?” Lana pauses what she was doing, a little stressed as it is.

“I haven’t worried about it this whole adventure!” Enno clarified. “The Hylian body I got didn’t have it.”

Zelda curses but she pats down her dress and pulls back her hair. "I'm sure we can revert you back to your Hylian form... the dragon I'm afraid..."

"I can't find a way to undo it completely." Lana whines. "All I can do is give you a Hylian form to revert to but the dragon part will have to say."

She shuts her book. "I'll have to keep looking if we're going for something more permanent."

Warrior frowns and nuzzles Enno tenderly. "Just whatever it takes to undo as much damage as possible "

"Oh. Link..." Zelda gasps. "Your wing...."

He coughs. "Worth it."

“Not worth it Sir,” Enno flicked at his jaw lightly. “But basically no matter what I have to figure out what exactly is wrong with me again?”

They sighed wiggling out of the big bad dragon that they’ve been hiding under. “It’s a start. Undoing it completely might not even be a thing.”

Their back still hurts a bit as they sit up, crossing their legs applesauce style.

“Hit me with it when you're ready.” Enno said, sighing and opening their arms, fully welcoming that it will hurt again.

Warrior nuzzles into their hip and rests next to them.

Zelda looks at Lana. They both share a look and turn to them, summoning their magic to their hands. They both hesitate for a moment before they fire.

While Cia's spell was hot, burning and tearing, this one is cold, freezing and it's as if all their joints have been glued together suddenly.

Still painful but arguably more bizarre.

Enno bit their tongue, trying their best to not scream. It happened anyway as things fell back into place. Their heart was pounding in their ears. They felt the blood rushing all over their head as if they had taken a hammer to their skull. They felt the vibration which comforted them to a degree but the pain was still there. When it was over, they collapsed. They took in shallow breaths but everything hurt. The best part was that they felt squishy again and there weren't any wings nor a tail on their back.

“Liiinkk” They slurred his name with a whine as they rolled to their side, blindly reaching for him. They’re freezing cold.

Warrior shakes himself off and suddenly becomes a furnace right next to them. He is incredibly warm as he cradles them into his side. "I'm here. I've got you."

Lana huffs put a breath. "I'll try to find a more permanent solution to the dragon side of it... But now, Link... we need to heal your wing."

Warrior grumbles but exposes the wound.

Lana looks through her book again with more practiced ease now that she knows what she's actually looking for. Zelda doesn't hesitate to chip in, the golden light from her hand cleaning up the blood and any impurities that might have formed in and around the wound.

When Lana finds the spell, her hand also begins to glow a faint blue and the wing starts to be reversed to its original condition.

"The Dragon Thing can wait. You guys have other things to focus on first. We still are going through this adventure." Enno slowly inched back into the hiding spot they were in. Everything was back to being super painful and super sore. They surprise themselves that they can still purr. "So what’s next?"

"What do you mean?" Lana asked while working on the wing.

"Cia. I doubt she is going to stop after today."

"We can keep her here." Lana sighed. "It's how we've been doing things so far."

"She would have kept the Hero of Time and the Hero of Wind's here since they came to this universe. Despite their significance back home, she wanted them to stay." Zelda crosses her arms, letting Lana take over the healing.

Warrior sighs in relief and tucks Enno in close. "We know how to deal with her. Between my claim on you and most of the heroes being together in one place might have set her over the edge. She's outnumbered anyway by people of equal strength."

"We'll do things as we always have." Lana frowns, a regretful smile on her face. "I'm sorry you got caught up on it."

"Eh. Don't worry about it too much. Not the first time I just got thrown into a weird situation." Enno isn’t taking this too seriously for their own sake. Humor helps the worry. "I'm probably gonna be careful and behave more though, just to not be too much of a bother."

They make note of the claim comment in the back of their head for now. They don't want to ask while Lana and Zelda are there. Just because this sounds like something they should ask in private.

"You could never be a bother." Warrior murmurs.

Lana sighs. "Still. We don't know the full effects of this. It's better to try and fix it before you go home."

Warrior huddles over Enno a little tighter.

Zelda hums, a soft smile on her face. "Well the major damage has been reversed. Link, I don't recommend any grandiose flying anytime soon. But it'll heal, even if it scars."

"Great, another one." Warrior huffs. "I'll look battle worn before I'm 200 if I keep this up."

Zelda laughs a bit. "All the more reason to keep you around. We could use someone like you to scare the younger ones into behaving."

"Har har." He huffs. But deep down it’s evident that he's just playing along.

"If it's all settled-" Zelda bows. "I'll take my leave."

"I'll come back to check up on the both of you." Lana nods to herself, marking something down in her book. "Just take it easy for a moment. Call again, if you need anything."

Warrior sighs. "Thank you Lana."

"Anythi-... Anytime Link."

Both girls leave the room.

"Byeeee, stay safe, love u both." Enno waves to Lana and Zelda. Waiting for a moment when the door closes, they crawl out from under Warriors and sit up straight, still sore. They hissed a bit, moving slower, but then went to sit on the top of the bed.

"Soooo what is this about a claim?" They move the cushions a little bit so it would be more comfortable sitting up.

Warrior shifts down this half form and sits crossed legged.

"Oh! Right, that was a thing I wanted to explain." He also hisses a bit when he has to shift his wings but otherwise he's just stiff. "Basically... I uhh.. wanted to be subtle. But a claim is a means of showing attention to those you consider your own. I wanted... I... got jealous.. and panicked when I saw you. I didn't want anyone else, dragon or not, to make a move before I could."

He blushes profusely but to his credit he stays in front of them, keeping eye contact. "I want to romance you.. I've wanted to for a while. But to make it clear to everyone else what my intentions were, I gave you the headband. Granted.. I probably could have done a smell claim, but humans don't smell as much as a dragon. I wanted you to at least understand the gesture when I came clean."

Warrior scratches behind his neck and bites his lip. "Cia knew. Because of course she does. She's been vying after my mother's headband for years. So she lost her mind when I chose you instead." He clears his throat. "Not that I think she would have kept her mind anyway. But it certainly didn't help matters."

Enno lets out a sigh as the tension starts to finally relax. They take in the information. "Is there any way she can swoop in and undermine the claim? Like she isn't a dragon but the anxious part of me wants to be prepared for like the worst case scenario here."

Warrior shakes his head. "I want you to be a part of my treasure. My heart and sole purpose of protection is bestowed upon you. It's my decision. Unless you reject me, Cia can't get rid of it. She can try to claim you too but I doubt she'd do that."

He places his fist against his cheeks and looks at them dreamily. "There's no room for her here, between us. She has no say nor any power in this. That's why she's so pissed."

He smiles boyishly. "I bet with your dragon half, you can start claiming things too. We can piss her off some more by just giving you some of my stuff and she won't be able to do anything."

They squirm, not really knowing how to hide the blush and are a tad bit self conscious. "She's gonna realize what she did and freak out more. I would bet she is gonna try to undo it once it hits her."

They look up at him "I'm not worried about her getting in between us. I am worried about her forcing it. I don't know much about magic and really since the start of this it seems like you can literally do anything with it... but I would like to keep pissing her off. She's gonna have to learn about dealing with someone with 0 impulse control, I guess."

Warrior laughs, loud and unrestrained. "I knew you were a good choice."

He calms down. "She can probably try but dragon magic is deep rooted and ancient. There's very little anyone can do to stop it once in motion except for those that are involved. You're not marked yet, which is a permanent claim. Between people, it's akin to marriage I suppose. Life long partners in crime."

Warrior blushes a bit, becoming a bit shy and flustered. "She can't undo a simple claim. A mark… she would probably be able to look into undoing but it's too deep to dig out, if that makes sense. I wouldn't worry too much about it being tampered with."

"A... Mark..." Enno nodded, confused. "So like, is that like a bite on the neck like werewolves? Or like…” They can’t think of other examples. “And when will that happen during this relationship?"

"Um!" Warrior flushes a deeper color. "For dragons there's a small courting process but things move really quickly. I don't want to pressure you, especially since you don't know all the bell and whistles of dragon culture."

"A mark is typically a small exchange of each dragon's magic... if both parties are dragons anyway... Like tattoos on your DNA instead of the typical rings humans use. There's also visual symbolism, like the rings, that constitutes the same purpose. Those are typically used when one party isn't a dragon. Smells as well... but it's mostly used for claims since it doesn't really work for all races."

"Sounds se-" Enno stops themselves from making an inappropriate joke but they still snicker thinking about it. "You know I don't mind it. I'm pretty good with anything at this point. As long as there isn't that much pain to it."

Something dawns on them. "The others are going to flip."

Warrior sits up as straight as a rod. "You.. um! Ok... Flip how?"

He starts off easy. "Admittedly a lot of things happened today, I just want to be on the same page here."

"They leave for town and come back to me being a dragon?" They point out. "That's something to be weirded out about."

"Ah." Warrior nods. "Yeah, that'll do it."

They felt better to get back on their feet so they slid off the bed and stretched before regretting it instantly. "Ahhhhh nope still sore. Anyway, how do I claim things?"

He snorts to himself and grins a bit. "Well... claiming is personal preference. If you build your hoard big enough you can use visual claims. If you want to use smells you need to find the spot where your dragon scent glands are at. That's different from dragon to dragon but you'll probably figure it out on your own soon enough. It happens naturally, just pay attention to some of your mannerisms. And then there's a magical claim, where it's put more on the object or person, like a temporary spell. Admittedly, I'm not good for it so Zelda would probably know more about that one than I would. But that one also varies from dragon to dragon as well since each has different branches of magic."

He scratches the top of his head and leans back, getting comfortable. "That's the basics anyway. It'll come to you in time or when you don't even realize it.... Sometimes it happens when you don't really mean to. It can give away your intentions before you realize they're there."

He smiles at them gently. "Do some soul searching and maybe poke around a bit. It'll come to you."

“mhm… So let’s say…” Enno walked over to where he was sitting, happy to get some steps in because it was starting to get cramped with simple sitting around. they carefully get onto his lap, hands on his shoulders.

Warrior watches them carefully as they move. He tenses when they approach and he flushes when they directly place themselves in his lap.

“I want to claim you. Would you be able to tell?” They ask, dragging their hands behind him so they could just lazily wrap their arms around his neck. “Like- How can I know that you have one on me?”

Warrior’s blush makes his scales seem brighter and he has trouble meeting their eyes. His hands land on their hips though and he's smiling. "Um...Yes... I would be able to tell. Be it smell or magic, it's quite obvious when a dragon marks another."

But then he smirks slightly. "You can tell I’ve claimed you because you’re wearing my scarf and my shirt and you were wearing my headband that I gave to you."

One hand comes up to twirl their hair around his fingers before dipping to guide their chin, bringing them closer. "You're absolutely drowning in my scent now. No one is going to second guess who you're with."

He leans in, giving them a quick peck on the lips before he pulls back, reverting to the distance they had before. "The only thing missing is some magical residue but that can wait. There's no need to go overboard."

Enno blushed at his words and looked down at themselves out of curiosity because they didn’t notice before. They bring the scarf up to see if they could smell something.

They pull back almost instantly as the scent instantly reminds them of a cozy night in front of a fire. Wood ash, the scent of an old book and something more floral. For some reason it made them really happy but also filled their stomach with butterflies. There was something underneath it all that smelt like the ocean and a grassy field. It reminded them of Wind and Time.

They pull back and turn to face Warrior. The words sitting on the tip of their tongue.

Loud bangs interrupted the moment. “WARRIORS, ENNO OPEN UP!”

It was Twilight. Enno yelps and jumps back, basically falling off of Warrior’s lap.

Warrior grabs onto them before they can fall and places them securely back where they were.

"It's open!" He calls back, a concerned furrow in his brow. His grip on Enno tightens instinctually but it's not enough to be painful or damaging. He's being very mindful of his claws.

Twilight throws open the door and ushers Wind inside.

Instantly, they can see that the boy has been crying. He doesn't hesitate to run to the both of them and throw himself into their arms.

Warrior adjusts accordingly, and lets Enno hold him while he moves to stand protective over them both.

Warrior looks at Twilight. "What happened?"

“Time has gone full Deity. Pinky was taken. There was a noble dragon stalking her since the ball. Wild saw him last night hanging around her room. We think it was him.” Twilight explained quickly gasping for air, putting down Time’s bags too. “He said Pinky was taken to the north. I think he is going to kill the guy.”

“Wait, back up. Pinky was being stalked and no one told her? Or like anyone else?” Enno was instinctually comforting Wind. Twilight turned to face them but went wide eyed. Enno sighed. “It’s a long story… where the hell is the guy?”

“I don’t know. I think Time just wanted to warn Warriors, since it is a nobleman. I can follow the scent but I-“ Twilight struggles for a moment. “I can’t fly. But I can still track in my Hylian form.”

Warrior stands fully and drops from the bed. His landing is a bit awkward. They can see it in the way he over compensates, nearly sending himself to eat the floor.

He grunts and pushes himself up. "No need. Do you have a description of him?"

"Warrior, what happened here?" Twilight asks, horrified.

Warrior growls. "I'm fine."

"That is not what I asked." Twi places his hands on Warrior's shoulder. "You're in no condition to fly either, so we're both-"

"We need to tell Zelda." Warrior interrupts. Which is unfortunate, given all the work she has to do anyway. "There are laws for this.... that is if Time doesn't kill him first."

Wind sniffles and frowns, looking up at Enno before turning to the boys. "Twilight can’t fly and Warrior shouldn’t..." His lip quivers. "We're not gonna get Pinky back.... Time is going to go crazy..."

Wind shoves his face into the crook of Enno’s neck. They can smell ocean salt radiating off of him from his jaw as he looks toward them for comfort.

They start rubbing circles around on Wind’s back not realizing they were claiming him as family.

“It’s ok Wind. She will be ok.” They whispered, picking him up. “The Deity is also a protector god. He won't let Pinky die.”

They look at Warriors. “You’re not going out there. But yes, we need to tell Zelda or Lan- IMPA! Isn’t this more in her area? We have to let Zelda know, yeah. But Impa is her right hand man.”

Twilight was still uncomfortable with the lack of answers he was getting about the events that happened here. “You two would know more than me, but I don’t think we can prevent Time from killing the guy.”

Warrior looks at Enno adoringly, his heart clenching at the sight of them with Wind in their arms.

"I'll send word for Impa then..." He turns back to Twilight. "Do you know what he happened to look like? Does anyone know what he looks like?"

Wind sniffles and shakes his head. "You didn't see him, Enno. I've never seen Time so powerful... I've never been so scared of him before."

“Red unkempt hair, brown eyes. He looked around your age. Lean, I think he was a knight because his posture was so tight. He was wearing a dark red suit yesterday and spent most of it on the sideline by the buffet table.” Twilight repeats back. “That’s all I know.”

“I know Wind, I know.” Enno tucks Wind’s head underneath their chin as they gently rock him “I got you now. Don’t be scared.”

They give the sailor a few kisses on the head, before turning to the other heroes. “You should get her now. The more time we spend talking the more likely the deed is done.”

Warrior's eyes sharpen. "I think I know who that is."

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #dragon au #linked universe x oc

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gay-jesus-probably · 11 months

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(Feel free to ignore this-! I’m just happy to hear someone’s deep takes on Zelda)

I really love your deep dives and interpretations/discussions on the Gerudo people and their history, influence and life in BOTW/TOTK (I totally agree with all you’ve said)

I just want to ask/Point out (after reading your imperialism post about TOTK) didn’t the Zora for many years like- not want to serve or be a part of the Hylian families army either? Like, even before Mipha’s death, weren’t the Zora very much against conforming to the Hylian’s rules and such? (In every game?) I’m a bit confused on how Hyrule is split up, the Zora’s having their own kingdom(s), the Rito and Goron’s having elder’s/their own leaders but still serving the royal family??

It’s always bothered me how these separate races all still have statues to the Goddess Hylia (Started in BOTW) and not their own deity’s to pray to or follow (Like the Zora praying to Nayru makes sense, or even something like Jabu Jabu to bring back- or the Rito could’ve prayed to Valoo, a great dragon or something.)

It just feels like Nintendo COULD’VE put so much care into all their races stories and histories! But oops no this game will be for Kids(TM) and we can’t put anything too deep or serious. Makes me sad :( I wanted to see them in a deeper context.

Oh yeah, it's very weird that they just put zero effort into explaining some of the worldbuilding. I mean, in BOTW it makes perfect sense to have the races be off doing their own things! It's post apocalypse, Hyrule does not exist anymore, these different communities have no real reason to interact with each other! And I really liked that BOTW outright showed that there was no particular effort for diplomacy, but people still got along as individuals - I liked that we saw different races hanging around each other. I loved that there were Gerudo in Goron Town to trade for their gems, I loved that Goron were allowed into Gerudo Town because they're a race of rock people that legitimately don't have any real need for gender and just use masculine terms by their own choice, and the Gerudo understood that. And I loved the whole Tarrey Town sidequest, because it actually felt really satisfying to build up a new town that had inhabitants from all the races, not for any particular reason, but just because they were people that wanted to live there and work together. They didn't need a big central government to make it a whole Thing; they were just getting by.

And we also saw the less good side of these things, like that one guy in Hateno that greeted you at the gate, and decided Link was trustworthy specifically because he was Hylian, making it clear that xenophobia still existed. I like that Kass was kind of thrown by Link asking if he was a giant bird, and the implication that Link was being kinda insensitive there and Kass was choosing not to be offended. I liked that there was a Hylian couple on their honeymoon in Rito village because the guy genuinely loved the town and its culture, while his new wife looked down on the Rito and hated being around them. And I liked that the older Zora still held a grudge against Hyrule for many things, up to and including the fact that Mipha died defending it, and the older generation would rather risk everyone's wellbeing than accept help from a Hylian that had been involved. And I like that you can run into other Hylian's near Zora's domain that outright tell you Zora have been trying to recruit them to do something important, but they all refused to get involved because they don't think that those weird fish people could have anything serious going on and it all seemed really sketchy.

My point is, BOTW really did feel like it'd been a hundred years since the end of the world, and everyone was just trying to get by and live their lives. You saw people being open minded and accepting other races for no other reason than the fact that they were all people, and you saw people being petty and bigoted just because they didn't trust people that looked and acted differently from them, but for the most part people were all just getting by and doing their own thing. BOTW gave the impression that Hyrule had been an equal alliance between the Hylian's, Zora, Goron, Rito and Gerudo (and with the Sheikah having a considerably less equal role, specifically built on the Sheikah having been forced to submit to cultural genocide to save their own lives, and the Yiga clan being the survivors that fought back instead), with Hyrule acting as sort of the core of the alliance, if only due to literally being in the geographic middle.

I mean fuck, the existence of the Divine Beasts suggests that things are equal! Yeah, Hyrule has a royal family with holy powers due to literally being the descendants of a Goddess, and they're the ones that always get the reincarnation of the Hero that's the only one who can wield the bullshit OP magic sword... but they don't get a Divine Beast (Link's dinky little DLC motorcycle doesn't count). The Divine Beasts were specifically made to be weapons of mass destruction, and they were specifically made for the non-Hylian races. That really does suggest an active effort being taken to balance the scales, that the ancient people saw that only Hylian's were granted divine favour, and so if the gods wouldn't give that power to other races, they'd fucking make it themselves. The existence of the Divine Beasts feels like a promise to keep everyone on equal footing, and say what you will about pre-Calamity Hyrule, but they didn't even question keeping that promise.

...And then in TOTK, all of that's just gone. The Sheikah aren't their own people with a complicated relationship to the throne, now they're just Hylian's with a different aesthetic. The 'alliance' between the races turns out to be built on Hyrule's first King and Queen pointing their stockpile of magical nukes at everyone and asking them politely to become their subjects, and pretending not to notice the implied threat that they'd magically nuke anyone who refused. In BOTW the Sheikah race being sworn servants of the Hylian royal family was acknowledged as a fucked up situation, and that power imbalance being horribly abused in the past was what created the Yiga clan. In TOTK, we're outright told that Rito, Goron, Zora and Gerudo all exist for the sole purpose of serving the Hylian royal family, and that is framed as a good thing and the proper way of the world; the first sign of Ganondorf being evil is that he refuses to submit.

And even putting all that super gross ancient past stuff aside, the present day is equally fucked. Hyrule has been gone for a century. In BOTW, few people even remembered that Zelda had ever existed, and of those people not many of them cared. Nobody was really interested in having a central government, they were all getting by just fine on their own. And again, it was made pretty clear that the pre-calamity situation had been an actively maintained collective alliance between independent nations. There was a reason that people were predicting that Hyrule's monarchy would be abolished in TOTK, and that's because we all saw that there was literally no reason for anyone other than the Sheikah to respect Zelda's authority as a ruler - the Zora were the only other people to still remember her, and they were completely done with the Hylian royal family anyways. If Zelda rolled up declaring herself the Queen of Hyrule anywhere else, she'd be laughed out of town, because that's the standard response to a random teenager showing up and informing you she was actually the highest authority in the land. Zelda had no inherent authority left at the end of BOTW, if she wanted to be in charge, she'd need to earn it. That's the state of the world that we were shown.

Except nope, nevermind, Zelda's the almighty God Princess of the world and literally everyone mindlessly accepts her ultimate authority. She can order people to strip naked and walk into a monster den to die for her amusement, and they would immediately do it without asking any questions (yes I know the underwear thing was a misunderstanding, but the fact that everyone jumped to follow the misheard order without a single question is horrifying). And the imposter Zelda arc just hammers home the point that Zelda is in a completely unearned, lifelong position as dictator of the world, and literally nobody cares if she abuses that power. Zelda brainwashed Yunobo and forced him to ruin his own business and nearly destroy his own people? He's just worried she'll be angry that the mask keeping him brainwashed was destroyed. Zelda summons a giant monster to attack Yunobo and Link then walks away? Oh my god, the giant monster Zelda just summoned to kill us might hurt her, we have to save Zelda from it! Zelda literally openly attacks King Dorephan and tries to murder him? He'd rather go missing in the middle of a crisis and suffer alone in hiding than let anyone know that Zelda just tried to kill him. I don't understand why they bothered with the fake Zelda arc, because literally nothing the fake Zelda does is allowed to have consequences.

It just doesn't make any goddamn sense. Nobody feels real anymore, there's no politics between the races, there's no reason for anything being the way it is now. The entire world of Hyrule has been reduced to just Zelda's Fanclub, and nobody would ever consider doubting her for a second. I don't understand why the fake Zelda arc is in the game, because it's never actually allowed to be part of the story. Nobody actually cares about 'Zelda' tormenting people, and so we're told that there is literally nothing that can possibly happen to make Zelda lose her authority. There's no stakes. We're not supposed to care about anyone who isn't Zelda, we're not given any real reason to care about Zelda herself, and so why the fuck are we still here?

...I've distracted myself a lot here lmaoo, I'm not really sure where I was going with all of this beyond just rambling about shitty writing and bad continuity. The point is, BOTW had some really good writing and worldbuilding. That Hyrule felt like a real place inhabited by actual people, and the different races were their own, independent people. When they worked together, it was a sign of them putting time and effort into reaching out to each other and meet on the same level. Meanwhile TOTK feels like it's made of fucking cardboard most of the time.

(Also for the record I agree that the Goddess statues being Literally Everywhere was kinda fucked, BUT I'm willing to let it slide as a matter of just game design; that's where you go to trade spirit orbs for upgrades, so you want a spot to do that in every major town for player convenience. And using different deities in different areas wouldn't work, because the players are introduced to the mechanic with a goddess statue; they're not gonna naturally assume that the statue of a giant fish can do that too, so most of them would assume the statue is scenery and just ignore it. I thought it was at least a nice touch that the goddess statues had different decorations in some towns, and that some towns put the statues away from the main areas; it gave the impression that while everyone while worshipping Hylia was widespread, everyone was doing it differently, and in some places it wasn't very popular - just look at the Kakariko statue being in the middle of town with a well maintained pond surrounding it and torches to draw more attention to it, then compare that to the Gerudo Town statue being down a side street on the edge of town, away from the main gate, with nothing of any real importance nearby, and nothing to get people's attention. It really works with the Sheikah's culture being built on their devotion to the Goddess, while the Gerudo's history with Hylia and her followers is a lot more complicated, and so their statue's location implies that worship of Hylia is pretty unpopular among the Gerudo.)

#tears of the kingdom spoilers #tears of the kingdom #my continued inability to shut up about this game #i hate the writing in totk and it's boring as hell if i take it as face value #but the fucked up stuff the bad writing accidentally implied is FASCINATING #also for everyone thats sent me asks about this sorry in advance if i dont reply to you #but they keep prompting me to deliver long rambling essays about my thoughts on this game #and i only have so much time in my life to do that #for context while i was typing this whole essay i got another 3 new asks #still dealing with a puppy over here. he's got another month before he's ready to leave his mama #and that means a month of trying to socialize him enough to make up for the lack of littermates #basically i'd love to do nothing but rant about totk but life is still very hectic right now

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