#bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler

[toushindai]

totk spoilers but are we ACTUALLY meant to think it’s poetic or flattering or triumphant that Rauru was like “oh YEAH? Well in thousands of years this guy called Link is gonna kick your ass”

How much has he even heard about Link? He must have had at least one more conversation about him with Zelda because the Master Sword doesn’t come up in the Zelda and Sonia tear, and by the King’s Duty tear Rauru’s just like oh don’t worry, if we don’t finish Ganondorf off I’m sure your bf can handle him. As I’ve said before, his “We rely on your knight” line rubbed me the wrong way starting with its appearance in the trailer, and it really does not feel less entitled after watching said knight (and that legendary sword he carries) very very VERY nearly get one-shotted by Ganondorf at the beginning of the game. And Zelda knows this! What does she feel watching her Better Dad Substitute sacrifice himself and simultaneously sic the evil bad guy on Link—a siccing which explicitly shapes Ganondorf’s attitude towards Link at the beginning of the game? At what point did she have the emotion of “welp. I know why Ganondorf knew Link’s name now.” The musical blending of the LOZ theme/hero’s theme with Rauru’s theme seems to suggest that it’s not an emotion meant to be had at exactly that moment, but I cannot watch Rauru sneer “remember that name” without yelling HE DOESN’T NEED THAT INFORMATION at the screen.

I played through the GSI in Japanese recently and Rauru did seem a touch less entitled to Link than I’ve been reading him—mostly because of the formal, polite, outgroup-equal language he used with him—but I still can’t get over the extent to which Rauru heard about Link a few times and decided, sight unseen, that he was going to clean up Rauru’s mess. My man what made you think that. What gave you the right to decide that. And how frightening to be Zelda and watch Rauru pin all the world’s hope on her beloved knight who Ganondorf absolutely fucking wiped the floor with. We see this worry in her in the Master Sword in Time cutscene! To what extent can Zelda’s transformation and before that her petition to the other tribes of Hyrule for Link’s sake be understood as a forced action due to Rauru’s conviction that Link could do this no sweat? Almost entirely, I feel—but does the game know that?

I just. Isn't it intentional? Doesn't it have to be? The fact that Rauru already needs the correction, once, that he cannot and should not face the Demon King alone. Then his melodramatic claim that Link has got this on lock. Then Zelda being like 😬 not sure about this actually and going through the whole process of talking to the ancient sages + draconifying for the sake of the Master Sword. Because Rauru absolutely set Link up to fail and Zelda is the one making sure Link has the resources, including the support of others, he needs to succeed. And the game is so much about community, about not doing things on your own.

And yet the way the scene is scored and animated and the way all the other characters talk about Rauru's sacrifice seems to treat this as a a moment of culmination, of triumph. I am getting such mixed messages here.

Understand, I’m saying all of this with an aching fondness for this poor self-deluded hypocrite. And also teeth-grinding frustration. I think he deserves to feel suffocatingly humiliated when Link almost didn’t survive Ganondorf’s attack and I also have tremendous sympathy for the shame and terror that it might be far too late to correct his mistake that he must have felt as he waited for Link to wake up. Both of those things. Hopelessly lonely man who found people to love him and built himself into a role he was never adequate for. I wish the game looked at this a little more. I wish I could tell if the game intended this at all.

(This is not the most intelligently written post but I assure you I mean every word of it.)

#totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom #totk rauru #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #tou and the tearful kingdom #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #nintendo look at me. look at me. do you KNOW how interesting your character is. did you do it on PURPOSE. or am I making this UP. #I love him I hate him I am shaking his terrarium SO SO SO SO HARD every day

[toushindai]

like every now and then I wonder. am I being too hard on Rauru. am I being too me about that scene by thinking that he's leaning on Ganondorf a little harder than necessary, that he's being just a little more condescending than he has to be, that he maybe likes a petty power play a little more than the rest of how the game seems to want us to think of him would imply.

but let's be real, he and Ganondorf are in full agreement that Rauru's fatal flaw is arrogance. and also. someone very kind directly translated* the Japanese cutscenes into English the other day (x) and I

G: “For our late attendance for your repeated invitations, we the Gerudo tribe offer our heartfelt apologies. We pray that you will allow us to join you as your lower-class vassal.” R: “Admirable Ganondorf, I recognise your submission to Hyrule Kingdom. A man is said to be born only once in every 100 years to the Gerudo tribe. To be able to welcome a warrior called ‘king by birth’ into my Hyrule… is indeed a reassuring development.”

(breathes calmly) lower-class vassal. your submission to Hyrule Kingdom. my Hyrule. the nasty little implication (am I imagining this) that Ganondorf--proud warrior, king--is now subsumed into Hyrule and is become Rauru's possession. I am still breathing calmly. I am deeply normal about this.

Like I have seen people argue that no no, the other peoples/tribes weren't asked to submit to Hyrule, they were simply allies of the new kingdom, but Ganondorf sure seems to think that submission is what Rauru's after or at least is the bait he will willingly take; and even knowing full well that that's an evil guy Rauru is more than willing to play along.

and yet the game still wants us to look at Rauru as a Good King figure. as a noble ruler. And the thing is I am honestly convinced that he does actually want or at the very least he is convinced he wants to unite the peoples of Hyrule simply so that everyone can be united and be friends! I do actually think this is his genuine desire! I also think he made up a kingdom so he could be king of it and this is inherently an action to be deeply suspicious of. He is arrogant. Again, the game is quite firm on that point. There is a sort of presumption that power should rightfully lie with him.

and I posit that when he's faced with Ganondorf, known evil bad guy, whatever part of Rauru's superego tells him that he should tamp down the part of him that enjoys being the one with power simply... steps back a little. because it's all right, here. Ganondorf is evil, so it's allowed.

* Disclaimer: I don’t think this is a superior translation, to be clear, and I do feel that both this and the official English are effectively giving the same vibe; I appreciate & share it primarily as another take on the same concept. It’s easier, I think, to solidify conclusions when you’ve got things to compare/contrast with each other.

#there are rauru apologists and there are rauru haters in this world and if either faction clowns on this post I will make it unrebloggable. #this post is for putting the goat man in a terrarium and giving it a good shake. thank you for your understanding. #ganauru #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #ganondorf (lozbotwtotk) #totk #totk spoilers #and we were both kings 😳 #I do need to listen to the Japanese again and see if I can pick out individual words now that I have subtitles rather than dubtitles #Japanese does so much with implication that I do want to do that on my own #but. hhhhhhh. wow #lozbotwtotk #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler

[toushindai]

I don’t want to lessen the impact of the line I just wrote by posting it outside the context of the fic but I want you to all understand that as a reaction to words I myself wrote I’m shaking Rauru’s terrarium mercilessly right now

#bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #tou and the tearful kingdom

[toushindai]

Hello, it is me again with a question for you regarding your Ganrauru series 😁

I was just thinking about how you have framed Rauru's relationship to power, that there is a part of him that does seek the sort of friendship and genuine connection it brings while also bristling at the idea of someone opposing him and discarding his attempts at making said peace and friendship. That being said I was wondering, given Rauru's very complex feelings and mental gymnastics around Ganondorf and his refusal to submit, in your opinion what would have Rauru felt compelled to do had Ganondorf refused his advances? What if he had continued to refuse his invitations to Hyrule? How about in the case where Ganondorf does give his false vow of fealty, but refuses Rauru's more sexual advances, seeing them for what they are? How do you think Rauru would handle this situation, and how would he justify himself in the sort of framework he has set for himself as a just king? (For the record I don't think for a second that Ganondorf would have refused, just because I see him as an opportunist and he would absolutely take the opportunity to exercise some form of power over this so-called king in his mind, even if he is deluding himself in the process and choosing to forget that Rauru is essentially keeping him like a prisoner and objectifying him. But, it is something I do think about, even in the context of canon itself. What would Rauru do if Ganondorf and the Gerudo dug their heels in and refused allegiance with Hyrule?)

Ooooh this is such a great question. Consent issues ahoy, let's get into it

I was thinking about something similar the other day from a slightly different angle; if I argue that the Gerudo's previous chieftain was leading Rauru on, maintaining diplomatic relations and humoring his overtures, what would have happened if she had eventually said "No, actually"? And I think with either negotiating partner, Rauru's first emotional response is a petty, confused indignation. Excuse me I am benevolent and my rule is beneficial, why are you not responding to me accordingly?. We see this kind of pettiness canonically, I think--Zelda introduces herself and his response can be interpreted as "No, I'm king here, you want to try that again?"; Mineru tells him he can't defeat the Demon King alone and he gives her such a look. My guy, what is going on with you.

How this plays out with Ganondorf and a protracted refusal from the Gerudo to join up is of course a slightly different question of course, and I can't really see any answer to it other than that Rauru just... will not hear a no. Hyrule just keeps pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with. The shrines are already in place on Gerudo land but what if there were, you know, a military outpost or two as well. How much control over trade does Hyrule have, and how do they exercise it? Is there eventually an attitude of, well, if the Gerudo want nothing to do with Hyrule, then Hylians shouldn't be marrying Gerudo? I'm spitballing here, but a lot of this has an air of punishment to it, yknow? Retaliating against the Gerudo for not responding positively to Hyrule's invitations/incursions, for not playing into Rauru's self-conception and thus revealing the ways in which it's not fully true. Wow, so benevolent.

I don't see any world in which Rauru escalates to armed conflict first but I see many, many worlds in which he escalates to a point that armed conflict is an understandable response from the Gerudo. I mean. Is not "I have decided I'm gonna be king of this new kingdom I just made up :) You're invited!" already pretty close to that point? If we're being honest? I do feel like it is. (And I wonder if there's any world in which he loses the support of the allied tribes, if this pressure ever could have been perceived as the imperialism it was.)

How does Rauru justify this to himself, this refusal to acknowledge the Gerudo's no, this inch-by-inch encroachment? By conflating, I think, his personal sense of injury with the threat of harm. Ganondorf does not want the Gerudo to become part of Hyrule is shrunk down to the petty, personal terms of Ganondorf thinks of me as an enemy and then expanded again into Ganondorf is an enemy of Hyrule. He's right about that last one because Nintendo is so very boring about this, but he's making a series of logical fallacies without realizing it. I don't see a lot of propensity towards self-reflection in Rauru. Not without Very Bad Things Happening to Him first. So he trusts his own feelings without questioning them.

As for what would have happened if Ganondorf had turned down his sexual advances... oh that would just be awkward for everyone, wouldn't it? In the sense that: I think that part of what keeps Ganondorf from pushing back when Rauru is being petty and imperious is Ganondorf's own recognition--conscious or not--that Rauru will not necessarily listen to a no. This is his experience of Rauru thus far, of someone who receives an implicit no and rather than respect it simply keeps asking and thinks himself right to do so (canonicallyyyyyyy). And so there is a risk for Ganondorf in saying "no": that of winding up in a situation where he has drawn a line in the sand that he cannot defend. One that Rauru will coldly step over. Rauru doesn't want to be in this situation, either: he doesn't want to see that he is a person who will only accept a "no" if he thinks it's justified. His mind squirms around admitting how coercive he's being, even to himself. But on some level he does know what sort of position he's putting Ganondorf in. He knows that Ganondorf is not in a position to say no, and that's a balm on the ego-wound that Ganondorf's political refusals have inflicted. One that reveals that the true nature of the ego-wound is not he does not think I am good but he does not acknowledge my power. (Again I gesture towards "I'm the only king Hyrule's got, who r u" and "excuse u, wat do u mean I can't defeat the Demon King")

So if Ganondorf did actually say no? In ACNOC, after that first kiss, a cold, "I don't want this, Your Majesty"? There is a part of Rauru that flares with the desire to take anyway, to say have you not come to offer me your submission?, but so early in the situationship maybe he is able to recognize that desire for the cruelty it is. ...Maybe. But god, can he afford to? Can he afford to apologize to Ganondorf for overreaching? Mm, absolutely not. Even if he ceases to try to goad Ganondorf into a sexual relationship, I think the answering dialogue is along the lines of "Then what makes you think you have the right to invade my personal space like this? Your actions belie your claim that you have come to offer submission to Hyrule." There's still very much a need to put Ganondorf in his place--an increased need, even, having just lost a bit of face by allowing Ganondorf to refuse him something.

(consent issues get louder)

At the end of UAWTATR, though, hhhhhhhh. Many times I have turned this thought over in my head. At that point. I think there might be some phrasing of the sentiment I don't want this that would stop Rauru in his tracks with the realization that hey this is WAY rape-ier than I wanna be, but I'll be honest. I haven't figured out yet what phrasing would do it. I think most protests that Ganondorf could have offered would have been met with something that boiled down to I know you don't want this, but your position relative to mine means you're going to do it anyway.

How he justifies that to himself later, I don't know. Ganondorf did try to assault him just the night before so that comes into it, probably. That Ganondorf immediately tries really hard to kill him keeps him from having to look to closely at it, either. He's still left with a feeling of nauseated shame and horror but he's got other things on his mind.

God. Nintendo cannot possibly have meant to make Rauru like this but then why did they make Rauru sO CONSISTENTLY LIKE THIS. I know I am expanding things. But I am expanding things that DO exist. Why is he like this.

#thanks for the ask! #bloobluebloo #repeated invitations ლ(¯ロ¯“ლ) ლ(¯ロ¯”ლ) ლ(¯ロ¯“ლ) #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #ganondorf (lozbotwtotk) #long post #noncon mention #tou and the tearful kingdom #and we were both kings 😳

[toushindai]

I finished reading your latest fic and I have to say your character study of both Rauru and Ganondorf and their relationship to themselves and power made for a very interesting read! My question: what parts of Rauru do you enjoy studying and elaborating on the most? What parts of his character endear you to him?

Thank you anon!! And thank you for the question as well. Rauru is my favorite character in the sense that my brain will NOT stop chewing on him but I don’t know if I have ever felt endeared to him, per se. My firstest reaction to him—when the final trailer dropped—was one of suspicion. “Did you kidnap my princess so that I would solve your problems?!” This was mildly unfair. He didn’t kidnap Zelda. He sure does want me to solve his problems, though? So the feeling somewhat persisted.

He’s just sssooooo. Infuriating. In a way that I’m maybe 70% sure the devs didn’t intend? I’m almost but not quite certain that the game’s writers just want me to perceive him as a noble king whose justly founded kingdom was threatened by a scary evil man who had no real reason for his violence against Hyrule, whose courageous sacrifice of his own life is to be admired and emulated (never mind that Zelda doesn’t need to be told that it’s a ruler’s duty to sacrifice themself for their people, she already did that for a century). Almost, but not quite, and 30% is not a small amount of uncertainty, actually. And that uncertainty comes from:

The specifically called-out fact that he repeatedly reached out to the Gerudo in spite of a lack of positive response, whatever that looked like. Buddy that is ✨coercive✨

His cold, superior treatment of Ganondorf in the Show of Fealty cutscene. Which is even more potent linguistically in Japanese and, I am told, in French. There’s something very twisted IMO about treating Ganondorf as a technical equal whose rightful place is beneath Rauru. It makes my brain go brrrrrrrrr real hard (this is known) and it is too apparent for me to think I’m not supposed to find it a little sick. s-sorry I'm just thinking about it and my brain is going brrrrrrr again. give me a second. ok

And—shifting away from that cutscene even though I live there—I have been thinking recently about how much of the game’s message is that you are not alone and yet how heavily Rauru’s instinct is that he must face the Demon King alone. How he sets up Link, only, as Ganondorf’s eventual doom. It’s Zelda and Mineru who build the framework for the future sages to fight at Link’s side. Rauru’s not fully aligned with the theme of the game, and he grunts at his sister, miffed, when she points that out to him.

So was this intended? He is arrogant—the game names this as his fatal flaw, he names this as his fatal flaw—but how much of his arrogance does the game criticize and how much does it treat as his right? My brain will not stop chewing on this question so I make it the central question of his characterization.

What do I like about him. As a person? Not very much. He is kind and supportive to Zelda. He loves his wife. His ears are very expressive and that’s cute. List ends here, I think. I don’t even respect as a person his desire to be a good and just king because it is far too wrapped up in that “king” part.

But as a character, I like him as someone who showcases—if unintentionally on the game’s part—how ultimately insufficient good intentions are. And how solipsistic it is to think that good intentions are everything. I like writing him as someone who truly wants to be a good person, as good as he can possibly be, and who suddenly finds that he has desires and instincts that don’t support that self-perception at all. I think that happens to all of us, sometimes. We all have moments where our instincts are crueler or more selfish than our ideals. It’s how we chose to react to those instincts that matters, and part of that process is to look at them honestly and admit to them. But Rauru, as I write him, fails this step pretty hard. And what happens as a result? He is left in this morass of inner conflict, he is not able to deal honestly with his own desires. They keep building, and he keeps blaming Ganondorf for provoking them. He faces them for just long enough to act on the worst of them and then, horrified by what he has done, he looks away from them again. Not ideal! Not a desirable outcome! But not, I hope, outside the realm of his characterization. (Zelda tells him he will sacrifice himself and he says well that’s my duty but (A) of all you weren’t here before so things will be different! dw about it! And then when he realizes that no, to sacrifice himself is the only option, there is heartbreak on his face. My guy, you were warned. Did you convince yourself this wasn’t coming?)

He’s complex. Maybe on purpose or maybe because the game doesn’t realize how insidious the evils of empire and monarchy are--I think probably the former greatly exacerbated by the latter. I have made up so much about him but he would not be nearly as interesting if exported into an OC because I'd be starting with the premise "ooooh he's a lil fucked up actually" as opposed to my making this point about the game writing about a character the game (mostly, I think) wants us to think of as purely good.

gnaws on him some more. puts him back in the terrarium. gives the terrarium a good solid shake. what a guy

#thanks for the ask! #anonymous #and we were both kings 😳 #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #tou and the tearful kingdom

[toushindai]

unhappier and wickeder than all the rest

Chapter one: Legacy

Three weeks after the arrival of the Gerudo to Hyrule Castle, Rauru’s control over the treaty negotiations begins to slip.

[ x ]

Please see AO3 for more details including more thorough tags and my intended posting schedule! The completed fic will be 25k words and should be fully up by this time next week. Thank you to everyone who's been waiting eagerly for this--I hope you enjoy it and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!!

#ganauru #tears of the kingdom #ganondorf #rauru #lozbotwtotk #ganondorf (lozbotwtotk) #ganondorf (legend of zelda) #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #and we were both kings 😳 #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #tou wrote a thing #unhappier and wickeder than all the rest

[toushindai]

Ganondorf makes a sound of disdain. His eyes drag down Rauru’s body, assessing, and Rauru feels something inside him flare. When Ganondorf takes a step forward, crowding Rauru against the throne with a leer on his lips, Rauru puts one hand on his chest to stop him.

Ganondorf raises one eyebrow. “What?” he asks, mockingly.

Magic gathers in Rauru’s palm. Something in you I don’t recognize. He swallows, and it doesn’t stop him from wanting. “I think you ought to be on your knees before your king,” he says, and with a twitch of his right hand, he pulls the gold cuffs on Ganondorf’s legs down and binds them to the floor.

(from A Certain Nobility of Character)

#ganauru #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #ganondorf (lozbotwtotk) #dubcon #I just think that they should be absolutely fucking awful to each other #and we were both kings 😳 #tou's art tag #tou wrote a thing #a certain nobility of character #lozbotwtotk #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler

[toushindai]

For Rauru who would the firm lecture have to come from where he would take their word seriously 😭

Me me let me give him a Reason You Suck Speech please I wanna tell him what a shit he is

Just kidding. He would NOT listen to me.

There is not really a good answer to this question, is there. Most of the people whose opinions he respects are on his side. Sonia doesn’t seem to think he’s doing anything wrong; she would be indulgent even when criticizing him (and the queen? Oh, she laughs). Mineru could do it, but I don’t think her purposes are misaligned with his, either, and I don’t think she pays enough attention to what Rauru and Sonia are doing politically or to what politics looks like on the surface to find his actions objectionable. She might have criticized his arrogant treatment of Ganondorf after Sonia’s death except that he would have been deep in grief and self-castigation at that point, and what is the point of worsening that when there is a cataclysmic war on their doorstep?

Ganondorf is a nonstarter because Rauru respects his opinions not at all, and also because as he’s written canonically I don’t think he has the lecture Rauru needs to hear in him. Rauru needs to hear that he does what he does not out of a desire for justice but out of a desire to be perceived as just and good. Ganondorf’s lecture is more along the lines of you are as arrogant as I am and that arrogance cost you your happiness. I’m sure Rauru heard all about that for thousands of years while they were stuck together. And those aren’t bad thoughts, but they’re not the thoughts that are gonna Fix Him.

In UAWTATR Marda (a Gerudo officer he has under arrest at the time) is soooo close to getting through to him. She tells him that he is arrogant and greedy and duplicitous, that he has insulted the Gerudo, that he is not good or trustworthy. He went into the conversation assuming he was going to walk out of it with her trust, so he is taken quite aback. And although he’s able to treat her reaction as a petty rebellion, the words do stick with him. Which isn’t to say “lol my OC could talk sense into him.” More that I think it would have to come from someone who wanted him to be better but who is able to say very flatly how he fails to be the person he wants people to see him as. And I don’t know if he has anyone like that in his life.

So I guess the time out + lecture isn’t gonna work out either. The blorbo is unfixable 😔

#tou and the tearful kingdom #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #thanks for the ask!

[toushindai]

I think what it is with Rauru is, he decided who he was as a person largely in a vacuum. He read the Zonai hero tales Mineru gave him and decided that was the sort of person he wanted to be, the sort of person he was! And so he idolized a specific set of traits, and so, also, he was inspired to travel to the surface to meet the people there. And the Hylians were familiar enough with the shape of his story (this god-like Zonai, descending) that he encountered encouragement, rather than resistance, in forming Hyrule Kingdom. They saw the role he saw himself in and let him live it.

But I read in him this sort of… tug-of-war between social hypervigilance (his ear-twitching when Mineru says that draconification won’t get Zelda back to her time and his hurried reassurance, having failed earlier to reassure her and gotten bapped on the hip for it) and a blunt social obtuseness. A short-sightedness? Am I making sense. The deeply and always belated realization that to be perceived by others the way he thinks of himself, he actually has to act in certain ways. In order to be perceived as warm and kind he must pay attention to others’ distress instead of asking the distraught girl from the future “so you said you were leaving ASAP?”. In order to be perceived as a good and just king he must rule well and justly—and so the resistance of the Gerudo induces this entitled indignation from him, because not only are they not playing along with his self-conception, they are creating situations in which he must respond in ways that contradict the image he has of himself.

I feel a lot of sympathy for him, in spite of also judging him mightily and relentlessly. Naïve and poorly socialized and wanting quite desperately to be good and unprepared for the work that being good requires. And the vast majority of this is headcanon, yes, but in my brain I have made up such a consistent, self-contradicting little guy. Gently places him in the terrarium and adds some sundelions for enrichment. Look at him go.

( @toushindai )

#are you making your favorite characters autistic again tou. #yes! but not on purpose. that’s just how brains work I think? (gets a message in my earpiece) I’m being told that’s not how all brains work #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #(But we’re not shaking the terrarium today) #tou and the tearful kingdom

[toushindai]

I was wondering, what was the thought process behind making Rauru submissive in the bedroom? I know a part of it will always be personal preferences, but I think the idea itself is fascinating since Rauru also behaves in an entitled manner otherwise, and it is probably a big contributor in why his relationship with Ganondorf is so caustic aka allowing Ganondorf to think that he has some real form of power over Rauru when Rauru is half living out his own fantasies and half kind of putting off whatever it is he is cultivating in this relationship until it comes to a head and he can no longer allow it to continue.

OH BOY psychology of kink, you’ve activated my trap card

I’m not very diligent about saying this, and it’s only ever a fig leaf anyway, but: minors, scroll on by this one

So yes, absolutely an element of personal preference, to begin with; especially in m/f ships I’m more comfortable writing dominant female/submissive male. So, that was my first-blush read of Sonia/Rauru just because that’s the way I like things to be, even before consciously incorporating things like “she baps him on the hip when he’s increasing, rather than lessening, Zelda’s anxiety” and “when he plays hooky she drags him back to the throne.” And well, obviously one cannot and should not assume that bigger always equals more dominant, but A Show of Fealty was actually the last tear I saw and I’d already been pawing at the window to ship Ganondorf/Rauru like a cat trying to reach a wild bird before that, and picturing Ganondorf in the more dominant role. That Rauru might also have a dominant streak was a revelation from which I do not particularly intend to recover.

But I do still read Rauru as predominantly submissive, and I think he identifies more with his submissive side, and there are a few reasons for that.

a) The image he cultivates of his own relationship to power is that of giving it away. To be a king means to sacrifice himself—broaden that—power ought to be used in service to others. His understanding of himself is as someone who serves, not someone who takes, and certainly not someone who forces. Now we see that this isn’t one hundred percent true of him, don’t we, but I think he absolutely attaches a value judgment here that to take or force is a negative, cruel thing. Which is true, outside a consensual sexual dynamic! So even if that flavor of desire ever arose in him in response to someone he respected—and honestly that’s a big “if” in my mind, I think he would never think of e.g. Sonia this way, let alone act on such a feeling—he would repress the feeling. It’s with Ganondorf, who is evil in his mind, who he feels he must control as a matter of kingdom security, that he allows these more dominant desires to run rampant. (I am conflating “dominant” and “noncon” here only and specifically because that is the shape of his desire for Ganondorf; the two are emphatically not synonymous by default.)

b) A submissive does not actually lack power. Their desires, their boundaries still matter and in some cases may even set the pace of a scene. But being in the submissive role may allow them to have desires met that they cannot consciously claim, or it may allow them to relax and do what they’re told to simply because they’re told to, regardless of their own feelings. I feel like this is a contradiction Rauru would inhabit quite comfortably: partially dissociating from his more complex relationship with power by leaving it in someone else’s hands.

c) There is a feeling I read in him that I have a hard time finding a word for. It’s like sitting on the edge of your seat. It’s like feeling observed. It’s social anxiety of a very specific flavor, one that absolutely comes with the desire to be told that he is good, the desire to be good and be of use to his partner. An anxiety borne of having very little interpersonal interaction for much of his youth, and one that can be eased by situations in which there are very clear terms set out for how he should behave in order to win approval. If he can make a partner feel good sexually by serving them, he can be sure of how that partner feels about him in that moment.

All of this is more why he would be submissive with someone he trusts, though, such as Sonia. Why does he still slip into submission with Ganondorf, as I write him? Well, first of all, because based on a-b-c above, I perceive him as someone whose mind will tip that way when faced with someone dominant. Submission is a conditioned response in him, and although he has what feels to him like an incongruous flare of dominant desire when dealing with Ganondorf, there are also chemical pathways in his body that are used to making the argument hey, if you let yourself be pushed around here it’s gonna feel really good. And I think also that he has a crater of loneliness in him, and any chance to be at the center of someone’s attention bypasses any rational thought and goes straight to what he needs most.

Moreover, he’s doing a LOT of mental sleight-of-hand when it comes to how he thinks of the power dynamics between himself and Ganondorf. Rauru finds his ability to be dominant over Ganondorf in the facetious submission of the Gerudo to Hyrule and even more so in Ganondorf’s need to maintain that fiction. But, when he, Rauru, submits to Ganondorf sexually, that has no bearing on anything outside the bedroom. Or so he tells himself. So like you said, Ganondorf is sort of having his own desire for dominance over Rauru met—at least he is given the opportunity to enact it—but at the same time Rauru is slipping out of that net, and that’s absolutely part of why the two get stuck on each other. This time, this time they’ll make the other see it their way. This time they will answer the question of who has and deserves power here for good. (They never will, not like this.)

In summary—submission is a much more roundabout way of approaching and owning power than dominance is, and I think that’s extremely fitting for Rauru and his internal conflict.

#thanks for the ask! #tou and the tearful kingdom #and we were both kings 😳 #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #bloobluebloo #kink mention #noncon mention #disclaimer that I do not speak for every experience of kink out there #additional disclaimer that consent between G&R is far too fucked to really consider what happens between them kink per se.

[toushindai]

unhappier and wickeder than all the rest

Chapter three: Synecdoche

Rauru never should have looked away from this.

[ x ]

*

This is the final chapter--thank you for reading! Please do take the noncon warning particularly seriously on this one.

#ganauru #tears of the kingdom #rauru #ganondorf #lozbotwtotk #ganondorf (lozbotwtotk) #ganondorf (legend of zelda) #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #and we were both kings 😳 #tou wrote a thing #unhappier and wickeder than all the rest #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler

[toushindai]

A Certain Nobility of Character

Rauru/Ganondorf, rated E, 6.2k

It's easy to be a just king when your subjects are well-disposed to you; it's easy to be a noble person when your desires align with your values.

Ganondorf makes things difficult for Rauru.

[ Read and comment on AO3 ]

Do please mind the tags and warnings on this one, but if it's to your taste then I hope you enjoy it because the dynamic between these two lit my brain on fire.

#ganauru #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #rauru #ganondorf (lozbotwtotk) #totk #tears of the kingdom #loz #loz totk #legend of zelda tears of the kingdom #tou wrote a thing #a certain nobility of character #and we were both kings 😳 #lozbotwtotk #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler

[toushindai]

does Nintendo know that their king of light canonically has some truly appalling unaddressed entitlement issues

#sorry I’m just thinking about the beginning of the game as happening #chronologically after Rauru brags about Link as his future champion #and it made me unbelievably smad for a second #tou and the tearful kingdom #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #been thinking about how I would justify my read of him if anyone gave me shit (no one is giving me shit) #and like. honestly? The way he treats Ganondorf is one thing but his entitlement to Link’s labor is a massive underlying part of it #It’s insidious and upsetting

[toushindai]

like don’t you get it. don’t you see it. the homoerotic tension between a man who feels himself entitled to power but hides that fact from himself and considers himself a good man (and tries to be one!) and a man who knows his own desire for power, knows it to be evil, and thus wields it much more effectively. can we not all just ‘yes and’ about Rauru. please. he tries to be good. yes and he founded a kingdom and made himself king and harassed a neighboring sovereign power that held out. yes and he sacrificed himself. yes and he made sure to tell the man he sacrificed himself to seal away “I’m not owned! I’m not owned!” when he did it.

in the real world “person in power thinks themself blameless and good while wielding that power” is honestly unremarkable. that’s just all of them. but in fiction it is SO much fun to hold onto those traits simultaneously. I’m having a blast.

#ganauru #and we were both kings 😳 #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #totk spoilers #totk #HORRIBLE man. his big sister tells him 'you don't have to face this evil alone' and he sends her an 'excuse you' look #he's just sooooo #*shakes him* #lozbotwtotk #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #tou and the tearful kingdom

[toushindai]

.

#haters found it #This is the preferable state of affairs between the two options to be clear but god please don’t let me me wake up #to tags full of hate for my favorite character who I want to put in a rock tumbler so bad #the point of the post is not Rauru is a horrible imperialist bc the game is having that conversation only by accident #The point of the post is. that Ganondorf and Rauru should [beeeeep beep beeeeeeeep] #and we were both kings 😳 #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler

[toushindai]

Here it is. Rauru’s terrarium (shaker charm version)

Bonus: he has been shaken

#tou's art tag #rauru (lozbotwtotk) #totk rauru #tears of the kingdom #lozbotwtotk #bad and imperialist zonai get put in the goat wiggler #he’s not being bad or imperialist right now. this is simply one form the goat wiggler takes.