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ezlo-x · 5 months

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Josha the Malotologist

A short comic abt Josha and her cute little test subject Malice :] (Dialogue undercut!)

Page 1 -

I am Josha and I am an aspiring Malotologist. I created this new field as I want to study this fascinating parasite, and to teach and show others to not be afraid of it.

I was born a year after the attack occurred, while I wasn't really directly affected by it. In a way, me and other children have to deal with the aftermath of The Calamity.

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What fascinated me of this "monster" was how it was possible to corrupt all the technology done by the ancient Sheikah, including the Divine Beasts.

The day I found out that Malice has a form of sentience, I show it to my teacher Purah and Robbie.

However, they seemed far from thrilled.

Page 3 -

I would ask simple "yes" or "no" questions and Malice would go to each side to answer.

I would reward it by giving it a small piece of meat, I shouldn't do this as I can see it is gradually growing from it's tank.

But I wanted answers and it seemed like such a rare opportunity to have to speak to one of the sources.

Page 4 -

One day, I woke up and headed to my lab and realized that the Malice that I was testing on grew a mouth filled with teeth.

"Do you understand me?"

'Yes...'

"How were you able to grow a mouth?"

'Meat...'

Ah. Guess that's my own fault. I decided to press on

Page 5 -

"I have a question, how were you able to corrode and corrupt the Guardians and Divine Beasts?"

'Low...Guard...Pathetic.'

It did not gave me a cohesive answer that I--

‘I…use. Guards…to see…I have eyes

I see every-thing-Hyrule.

I eat to grow, consume.

I have eyes, I see. Everything.'

Page 6 -

'[Ex]-cept, forest.

The Light

Sword of Evil's Bane

I must see I don't. Have. Eyes in there...

Help me grow turn me into one...'

Page 7 -

I put Malice back into its smaller jar.

I didn't tell anyone about this. For the first time working with this parasite I've felt true genuine fear.

I leave my lab more often than before, I'm afraid that one day it will catch me by surprise.

I wanted to discard of that jar...but it knows. It always knows.

#i just realized there are a few grammatical errors *explodes into a million pieces*#tloz au #josha #malice king #my art #comic #LF au #horror #ask to tag

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redundantz · 10 months

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Ancient Loz AU Story

10,000 years before the events of BOTW the Princess of Hyrule and the Hero who wields the sword that seals the Darkness first fought off the Calamity. With the help of the Sheikah, Guardians, Champions and the Divine Beasts. However, the hero and her best friend; the Prince of the Gerudo, were now missing. The only one to return from the fight was the Princess… Bloodied and bruised. She emerged from the castle alone. No longer the energetic, and free spirited person she used to be. Now, she is filled with a sole dedication to her Kingdom. But cold, and filled with deep sorrow. She orders the Sheikah to create shrines to train the next hero.They prepare the towers, store the Guardians under the castle till they are needed. Research started on the slate where it can be used for building infrastructure and even battle. Anything to help prepare for another Calamity.

The Gerudo Prince wasn't seen again and the heroes identity was forgotten But, the Royal blood of Hylia lives on….

Link is from a traveling caravan. His family has blood from the ancient Zonai tribe. He travels with a decent size troupe along with his sister, father and grandmother.

He meets Zelda during a festival where he was entering an archery contest in castletown. Zelda, who was disguised as Sheik, was also entering. She beat him at the contest(barely), but was extremely bothered by how good he was.

The festival goes on for about 3 days and at the end there is the sword ceremony where all the people coming of age(18) can attempt to pull the sword. She was presiding over it and witnessed him pull the sword and his whole life change. Not long after they meet officially and Link is appointed as her Knight; She introduces him to Ganondorf, her best friend from childhood.

And the chaos and comrade-ere ensues~

Over 3 years they travel, train, fall in love and wait for the day when the evil is supposed to show itself. With no sign of the great evil, they start to relax a bit. But that is when it strikes. Ganon travelling by himself at this time. Explores a cave in the Gerudo desert and encounters something ominous. Whispers in the dark speak to him and his fears and wants and his distaste for the King of Hyrule…. The voice is familiar, much too familiar, and before he can fight back it consumes him. When he awakes he is alone. He isn't instantly ‘evil’ but over time it twists his thoughts and actions. His closest friends and mother grow concerned. He becomes harsher and radical. Cruel. During a secret meeting with the King, Ganon assassinates him. Zelda happens upon Ganon covered in blood. She thinks he's hurt and is concerned by his behavior the past year. He snaps. He tells her every dark thing he has been thinking, and that he killed her father. In shock, and devastated, she can’t move as Ganon is about to strike her. But Link manages to get to her in time because the master sword was glowing, something he has never seen before but an instinct so old took over him. He races to escape with her. Ganon takes over the castle. But only as a steward because the King and the Princess are nowhere to be found. No one is the wiser to his malevolent plots. Yet. He knows she has to act fast since Zelda and Link escaped.

Zelda and Link make it all the way to Kakariko Village and Impa and they are all Informed that the Calamity is upon them. No one can believe it is their Ganondorf who is doing this but it is undeniable. They grieve, but they must act fast. With the help of the Sheikah they gather the guardians, monks and send word to the Races and Champions to prepare for battle. Zelda listens as Link hums an old Zonai Lullaby his mother used to sing to him. And it makes her remember something she read about. A story about there being an ancient Zonai device below the castle that would help defeat the Demon King.

Impa knows the tunnels She can help them sneak in. So they prepare to infiltrate the castle.

Under the castle they find the Zonai Artifacts that were left behind for sealing the great evil.

Ganon's followers saw them enter however and informed him. Knowing this is his chance he stops all pretenses and releases his power. Unleashing a mob of monsters and a cloud of malace into the castle and across Hyrule. But the Champions and Shekah are prepared to meet them.

Looking around for any clue. Trying to think of anything they read or that Link heard from his family that could be used to turn on the sealing jewelry. They don’t know how to activate it, but Ganon is going to be upon them soon as they had to fight through hordes of monsters beforehand.

Out of the dark behind them he emerges.

Zelda and Link manage to avoid the surprise attack. They both go on the defensive. They fight and try to reason with him. They can’t believe this is their friend, their lover. The fight is tough, because they all know each other's moves after training together for years along with the emotional turmoil. Zelda tells Link he needs to figure out how to activate the artifact if they are to succeed. She will hold him off. But by this point they are both exhausted.

Ganon manages to cut Link, spraying blood over the floor and the statue. Link falls to the floor and Ganon towers over him ready to strike him down, but Zelda blasts him away. Ganon turns his attention to her. Annoyed with her meddling and manages to land a blow on her also. Cutting the tip of her right ear off.

The statue lights up from the blood. The blood of a zonai. That was another part of the Lullaby from Links family Zelda realizes. The Jewelry glows and expands before flying off the wrists of the statue to Link. He is surrounded by a green glowing light that blasts Ganon and Zelda back. The bands constrict around his arms and legs disintegrating the clothing underneath. He screams. Zelda watches on in horror as Link transforms before her. His skin is turning black and his bones and skin stretch until he is 6 ft tall. What did she get him into? This was supposed to help them what was happening… She is living in a nightmare. What else will she have to give up. She cries as she looks at him, feeling his pain and fear. His hair band she had given him falls from his hair. Rolling across the floor towards her. “..Zelda….” He says

She picks up the hair band and goes to him! But he is not really responding. He is restrained and struggling within himself. His head is filled with the spirits of the Zonai he knows what he must do…he knows this is the last time he will see Zelda and Ganon. To seal the Demon King he must sacrifice himself. He says the last part of the Lullaby to Zelda and she knows. This is it. She kisses him. Though a bit strange now that he's so tall and his lips are cold. Ganon is getting up across the cavern from them, laughing. He mocks them and their weak attempts at thwarting him. One last clash. Zelda manages to get his weapon from him and Link plunges his arm into Ganons chest activating the sealing power. Glowing green. They both freeze in place and all is quiet. Entombed under the castle. The malice and monsters disappear. Zelda cautiously goes up to them. She doesn't touch them lest she break the spell somehow. The only thing she does is grab the hair bangle that fell to the floor in the final fight. It was the one from Ganon’s hair. And she left for the surface.

Alone.

Thanks for Reading! <3

#zelda #ancient loz au #zelda au #link #ganondorf #tloz #totk #legend of zelda #ganzelink #zelink #i finally wrote something!!! its not a fic but now you guys can fianally read mainly what i had in my head #thanks for liking my AU everyone i can say it enough #botw #there is probably so many issues and plot holes or contrivances but whatever im jsut having fun!#this doesnt even make sense now that totk is out but oh well #long post

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vampire-wizard-solidarity · 17 days

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@your-local-ruebit-hole-detective ok i’m sorry but. i will answer your question.

age of calamity advertises itself as a prequel but in reality it’s a fix-it au with slight differences and writing that’s pretty bad but i have grown to appreciate it for how insane it goes sometimes.

the actual plot is that as a child zelda used to have a little egg-like guardian robot that she was forced to leave behind as she grew up due to her father’s pressure etc, and when the calamity happened this little robot saw it and traveled back in time with the goal to prevent this and protect zelda, creating a branching off timeline. there’s also an extra villain who is this prophet (???? this games writing isn’t good enough for me to tell you what his deal is exactly) who worships ganon and for most of the game works with the yiga to bring him back, except he’s more insane than them and works directly with malice and also sucks at his job because when he finally gets to ganon he unceremoniously dies and everybody’s like “yeah we have no idea what this guys deal was”.

the one significant change that doesnt have to do anything with time travel shenanigans is the fact that link doesn’t find the master sword as a child, but instead gets appointed zelda’s bodyguard for his genuine skill and then finds the master sword during one of the in game missions. despite this, revali still hates him, and often times when justifying this revali cites reasons that are literal complete opposites of how his grudge was characterised in botw, cementing revali’s characterisation as just a cunt for no reason. it’s great.

the significant time travel related change is that when all the champions go into their divine beasts and fight the blights a portal opens and the new champions (teba, sidon, riju, yunobo) get teleported in and help defeat the blights. zelda also doesn’t get her power by protecting link from a bunch of guardians, the scene still hits the same beats of link fighting things off so zelda can run away except in this game how it happens is that the insane prophet shows up and literally summons all the blights against link which makes the scene ten times more insane.

throughout the game the yiga show up regularly, often times with master kohga himself showing up and being the overall goofy guy he is, except he also has a hunk of a body guard who’s name i genuinely can’t recall. multiple times in the game kohga gets defeated and said hunk of a body guard throws him over his shoulder says “it’s not over yet” and walks off carrying kohga like a sac of potatoes.

in the original game, when shit starts hitting the fan the yiga stop showing up as enemies and at some point in the story kohga shows up without said hunk of a body guard, says “the prophet is insane and the calamity actually isn’t a good thing as we’ve discovered”, highly implies that the reason for his change of heart is because said prophet killed his hunk of a body guard (who literally. doesn’t show up again for the rest of the game mind you. he legit died), and is like “yeah the yiga will help you. after this whole thing is over we’ll go back to being bitches to you but rn let’s just kill this ganon guy and then walk our separate ways”. the fact that the calamity being a bad thing throws the yiga’s whole ideology and purpose into question is never addressed.

the dlc makes the death scene explicit, also making it a parallel to zelink by, again, making the bodyguard fight all the fucking blights so that kohga can escape. the scene literally opens with the body guard limping as they try to escape. it’s so much a parallel to zelink it’s insane. im afraid do not know what the hell they were cooking.

some other choice moments from this game that go insanely hard for no reason:

1. the first portion of the game is dedicated to zelda recruiting all the champions, and when it comes to recruiting revali he for some reason assumes it’s an attack, and sends all the rito soldiers to fight the intruders off. the rito do not question fighting some random hylians one of whom is literally zelda. the mission ends with a boss fight of link vs revali, which only ends without them killing each other because zelda runs in and goes “stop???? the fuck ????”

2. the entire game has cute bonding moments with the botw champions meeting their idols and getting to spend time with them. that is, except for sidon, who spends the game saving his older sister in a parallel universe which he has to leave by the end of the game, meaning every scene involving him has him on the brink of eleven hundred simultaneous mental breakdowns. the dlc adds a scene where the little sidon who is native to said parallel universe gets to interact with botw sidon, and botw sidon tells him that he’s going to grow up big and strong and will protect his sister, and the entire time he tries really hard to not acknowledge the fact that they are the same person, and that mipha is his sister too, presumably because nobody wanted to animate sidon ugly crying. in that scene you can literally see his soul die in his eyes it’s great

3. the dlc features tulin, god knows why. i don’t know how he got there or what he’s doing. he’s just there.

4. you can make noble pursuits in the game and drink them before missions for a buff. pre-gaming defeating the calamity is a thing, i cannot stress how much it is a thing in this game.

5. there are two separate animated cutscenes where link eats rocks on screen. only one of them involves the gorons, the other is a scene where link is being discussed and as the characters talk about how great he is in battle the camera pans to him eating rocks, seemingly on a dare from the other soldiers, who all surround him and are immensely excited by the fact that he is actually eating rocks.

6. the dlc features a scene where zelda gets to cook. link is horrified the entire time. she does not belong in the kitchen. she belongs anywhere outside the kitchen. the dlc also gives her the master cycle as a weapon. she commits vehicular manslaughter

7. the king gets a redemption arc, where he apologises to zelda only after she unlocks her power. the reason he realized he was wrong was because a sheikah relic that he confiscated from zelda turned out to be an ancient shield and it saved his life from a guardian blast. his apology is literal dog shit and right after it the game forces you to play as him for a mission. it almost made me rage quit.

8. thunder blight has an attack where it just swings its hair at you

9. when you finally fight calamity ganon he doesn’t have the form of the spider ganon from botw or even the boar, he is instead a buff guy made out of malice. literally just the shape of a buff non descript guy made out of malice. his boss fight is endless and the entire time you’re just beating the shit out of a non descript buff guy shape with a stick.

10. there’s a cute little side mission called something like “girls beauty contest” (in reality they all beat the shit out of each other for the title), where you’re only allowed to select female characters. that is, female characters AND gorons. think of that what you will

#loz #botw #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #age of calamity #hyrule warriors #hw aoc #loz aoc

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exceedinglygayotter · 9 months

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One really neat little detail in Breath of the Wild I don't see get talked about that much is that Ancient Arrows are one of the only four things that can damage Dark Beast Ganon, alongside the Bow of Light, Twilight Bow, and energy beams from the Master Sword, the latter three of which are all sacred magical weapons.

It has the really interesting implication that either the ancient technology is divine in origin or created in emulation of divine power, either of which would make sense seeing as the ancient Sheikah are characterized as being very devout worshipers of Hylia.

It's entirely possible that the warping allowed by the Sheikah Slate was either inspired by or works using the same principles as that golden light thing that Zelda uses to transport Link off of the Divine Beasts after killing the Blights, and to move him to Hyrule Field for the fight against Dark beast. Both cause Link to turn into light and fly up into the air before rematerializing at the destination, even if it's not quite the same.

TotK adding Recall, a power that very likely originates with Hylia (and simultaneously heavily implying that Hylia is a goddess of Time, presumably the one mentioned in Majora's Mask), also puts Stasis in something of a new light. They're both color-coded as yellow, and Stasis basically does just freeze something in time. Stasis is likely an attempt by the ancient Sheikah to recreate the very power of the goddess herself.

The fact that a few characters refer to the Divine Beasts as being the guardian deities of their respective peoples (and indeed the very name "Divine Beasts") may be very literal, they might actually be artificial deities. Not major gods like Hylia, just lesser ones like Malanya and the Great fairies, but still.

I just think it has a lot of interesting implications.

#legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #botw #breath of the wild #tears of the kingdom #loz #loz botw #totk #sheikah

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babyloniastreasure · 9 months

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Enkidu FGO is absolutely a troublemaker. Enkidu Source Material was also absolutely a troublemaker, but of course he was! He was literally created to be the equal to the #1 Mesopotamian troublemaking king, Gilgamesh. It's basically a requirement

I see it from time to time, but there's an opinion that Enkidu was killed in the Epic because he was a troublemaker. This is not true, but easy to understand why it's a popular conclusion

The decision to kill Enkidu was made after he and Gilgamesh made some glaringly poor choices--the first one being the slaying of Humbaba, and the second the slaying of Gugalana. I think people attribute the reason Enkidu was killed instead of Gilgamesh to Enkidu's actions after Gugalana was killed, which something I will get to in a moment. It might be different in Fate, and depending on what version of the epic you read some details differ, but generally here's what went down

Gilgamesh one day gets the idea that he and Enkidu should go into the Cedar forest and kill its guardian, the monster Humbaba. Now, wood was a very sacred and rare material in ancient Mesopotamia, cedar wood in particular. Hence why the gods had such a powerful monster keeping it safe. Gilgamesh goes to Enkidu with his grand idea to hunt down and kill Humbaba, but he needs Enkidu's help to find him. Enkidu is very hesitant at first and tells Gilgamesh the equivalent of, "Dude that's a terrible idea. Humbaba is extremely powerful. Absolutely Not." Gilgamesh urges Enkidu to reconsider, because together they can survive anything! It'll be easy with the two of us and it'll be so much fun!

Enkidu is eventually persuaded and agrees, and together they track down and kill Humbaba, as well as his seven sons. They worship/thank the gods by sacrificing Humbaba-meat to a fire (as ya do), and they cut down a RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF CEDAR while they're at it, then sail home down the Euphrates on a newly carved boat and a bunch of extra wood. Needless to say, The Gods Were Not Pleased.

But since this was King Gilgamesh and Enkidu, they chose to simply take note of this transgression and not do anything to punish them so long as they didn't do something equally grievous in the future.

Fast forward a bit and Ishtar is upset that Gilgamesh doesn't want to sleep with her. Gilgamesh heavily insults her, naming off dozens of her past lovers and how she treated them, driving her to tears. She goes up to the heavens and pitches a fit to her father, Anu, about the rejection. She threatens to raise zombies all over Mesopotamia unless he gives her the Bull of Heaven (Gugalana) to lay siege to Uruk in vengeance against Gilgamesh. Sending out this divine beast is a HUGE deal, not a decision to make lightly. However, Anu doesn't want zombies. He gives her the Bull.

Ishtar immediately sends it down to Uruk where it promptly kills a BUNCH of people and causes a heap of environmental disasters. Enkidu fights it off alone for a while, but it isn't until Gilgamesh joins the fight that they are able to take it down. Gilgamesh makes the final blow, killing him, and with Gugalana defeated the kingdom celebrates victory. They worship/thank the gods by sacrificing Gugalana-meat to a fire, and Ishtar shows up again. She is very upset that Gugalana was slain. How DARE you two kill the Bull of Heaven? She says. Do you have any idea how important that was? She says. Enkidu responds by insulting her and throws a chunk of the meat from Gugalana's hind at her head. She is humiliated and goes back up to the heavens. I think this is where people get the idea that Enkidu was a troublemaker, and that this was why he was chosen over Gilgamesh to die. However. It is not. Once again, The Gods Were Not Pleased. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are out of control. They call a meeting.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu, as a pair, had:

Slain two divine beasts (which they knew the importance of)

Cut down a sacred forest (which they knew the importance of)

Heavily insulted the same goddess to her face. The patron deity of the kingdom, no less!

Three major transgressions! But the most concerning ones were the deaths of Humbaba and Gugalana, and were the primary discussion at the god-meeting. The others are bonuses.

The gods decide the fitting punishment is death. However, killing both Gilgamesh and Enkidu is too severe and must choose one.

Now there's no literal written reason for Enkidu being chosen. But looking back on the Epic as a whole, we can infer the reason he was...is Gilgamesh.

Enkidu was created by the gods to rein Gilgamesh in, to control him. Gilgamesh on his own was unruly, unchecked, overpowering and selfish. By giving him Enkidu, he had someone he could be unruly with, who would check him, who could match his power and balance his needs. Enkidu was literally made to be his perfect match, and thus he became the most important thing in the whole world to Gilgamesh. Some might say that Gilgamesh's wanton disregard was rubbing off on Enkidu, or that Enkidu's unwavering loyalty and support was making Gilgamesh overconfident, and that he was killed because he was no longer fulfilling his purpose. However, I do not think that's the reason, either.

There's this neat thing in Mesopotamian literature and poetry where the theme of the work appears again and again. Prose is often repeated, whole stanzas are recycled over and over, words and the way grammar is used, and lines are reused in patterns. Very often, a work begins and ends the same way. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a shining example of this and does it constantly. So,

Just like in the beginning of the Epic, in order for the gods to rein Gilgamesh in, they use Enkidu.

TLDR; Enkidu was not killed because he was a trouble maker. By killing both Humbaba and Gugalana, both he and Gilgamesh were in trouble but only one of them needed to die as punishment. Enkidu was chosen because he was created to control Gilgamesh--both through his life and through his death.

#wowie this took longer to write than i thought it would #mesopotamia my beloved #enkidu #gilgamesh #anyway everybody should read the epic of gilgamesh. right now

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sage-nebula · 1 year

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@sharpidiot — making a new post since the other one is super long, but yeah, considering the position of the Sheikah at this point in Hyrule's history, and how they got there and the existence of the Yiga Clan? It's a big problem.

It's not mentioned in BotW itself, but the entire reason why the Yiga Clan exist is because 10,100 years ago, after the Sheikah helped save Hyrule from the Calamity by building the Divine Beasts and Guardians, the King of Hyrule felt threatened by them and basically attempted a genocide on the Sheikah. All Sheikah tech was ordered to be destroyed, Sheikah were forced out of the main parts of Hyrule, and Sheikah were banned from doing anything more with science on punishment of imprisonment at the least. The Sheikah who survived all this dealt with it in one of two ways: they either went on to found Kakariko Village and live in secret, or they formed the Yiga Clan and swore revenge on the royals (and more importantly the goddesses) that betrayed them.

All of this is in the Creating a Champion book, scattered throughout the history section and in detail on page 368. It casts the Yiga Clan in an entirely new light. While they can't exactly be excused for wanting to kill those that had nothing to do with the paranoid king's decision and destroy the world, we also can't say they're just bonkers or that they formed for no reason. The Sheikah were sworn to the goddesses (and Hylia in specific) to protect the royal family of Hyrule (Hylia's descendents). This was their divine duty. And then they were punished for it, exiled and had their culture destroyed and were oppressed and imprisoned. Their goddesses did nothing to help them. The king and people they had protected were the ones doing this to them. Can we blame them for turning the way they did? I can't.

But now, a huge chunk of that just seems . . . gone, from TotK. If the Sheikah tech didn't exist, then the king from 10,100 years ago wouldn't have done what he did to the Sheikah. And if he didn't do that, the Yiga Clan wouldn't exist. It makes zero sense. What's worse is there are parts of the Zonai things that are very reminiscent of Sheikah things, such as the orbs in the shrines. We could say perhaps the Sheikah inherited those things from the Zonai, but . . . that's plot putty to try to spackle the holes.

I'm still early in the game (I have only finished the Rito portion) so I do not want any spoilers for anything that comes later. Maybe this will be fixed. I hope it is. But if it isn't, then I will probably consider TotK to be yet another video game fanfic, a la Age of Calamity (albeit one that is higher quality at least).

#loz totk spoilers #totk spoilers #totk critical #sheikah #yiga clan #oh and not to mention how on the in-game bios they list the Sheikah as Hylians?#when they are not Hylians. the Sheikah are a distinct people #just like the Gerudo are #it makes me very hhhhhhhhhhh

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ryin-silverfish · 24 days

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Headcanon: Dragons of the Four Seas

(inspired by a recent discussion with @the-monkey-ruler)

-Although Chinese dragons are water deities, there are dragons who control stuff other than water: Cold Dragons under the Dragon King of the North can freeze stuff, and Bailong Ma used to be a Fire Dragon in pre-novel variants of JTTW.

"Wouldn't it be interesting if the four major lineage of dragons all have their unique side-power, apart from water and weather manipulation?"

-It starts off as this, then spins out of control and becomes one giant worldbuilding exercise.

East Sea:

-The eastern direction is traditionally associated with the Wood element. However, I feel like plant manipulation will be too obvious.

-So instead, they are the master of Thunder and Wind——the trigrams that represent these two things, Zhen and Xun, are both Wood-aligned.

-Their lightning has a notable azure hue, and have adapted the force of Thunder specifically for underwater usage, creating highly potent sonic blasts as well as what basically amount to a sonar spell.

-They kinda consider themselves the archetypal dragon, representative of their kind, and certainly have the attitude to match.

-Like, they claim to be descended from the Azure Dragon of the East, even though the idea that a Divine Beast of the Four Directions, stellar guardian of the entire eastern section of the sky, can reproduce is...dubious at best.

-Don't you mention the time Ao Guang got bullied by Wukong. Or Nezha. Or Huaguang. Or the Eight Immortals. They are very touchy about that. Violently touchy.

-They also have close relations with water-dwelling Yakshas, who act as a sort of elite mercenaries in their military campaigns against other seaborn demons and rogue flood dragons.

-Basically, the proud generals of dragonkind, with a vast weapon collection to match. The dragon king's family also name their kids after Celestial Stems and Earthly Branches, much like the ancient Shang dynasty rulers.

-The East Sea dragons are the only lineage who has an official representative of the Celestial Host stationed in their territory, who's only known by his title, the "Water-dividing General of the East Sea".

-He seems to be an older sort of god, the half-man, half-beast ones who look like they walk out of an illustration of the Book of Mountains and Seas.

-Most of the time, he takes the form of a seal, lounging around on rocks and watching sunrises, and has the personality of a sarcastic old man.

-Whether he's here to keep an eye on them, or they are supposed to keep an eye on him, no one can say. Ao Guang certainly treats him like an old acquaintance, though.

West Sea:

-They are a bit tricky. West is associated with Metal, and the two Metal-aligned trigrams, Qian and Dui, represent Heaven and Marsh...which don't neatly map onto weather and natural phenomena.

-Then I had an idea. What if they have a natural affinity for heavenly bodies? In ancient times, the movements of stars are believed to affect weather, after all, not to mention the sun and the moon.

-This affinity can be figurative——their lineage has a strong relationship with the stellar deities of the 28 Lunar Mansion and Dipper Mansion——or literal.

-Like a natural talent for divination and astrology, predicting the future from the patterns of stars. They are no governors of fate, unlike the actual Star Lords, they are just fate's weather forecast guy.

-This puts them in an awkward position, though: the stellar gods act according to the Jade Emperor's orders, some of which are very much secret and beyond their clearance levels, but the best scions of the West Sea can just infer it from the movement of stars alone.

-Which makes them obsessed with proving their loyalty, as well as enforcing a draconian standard of secrecy, just so they wouldn't get into trouble for knowing something they weren't supposed to know.

-Even more rarely, they can harness the power of astral light. Most of the time, such light is of lunar nature——Star Lord Taiyin also holds sway over the ocean's tides, though it is an easily forgotten power.

-But sometimes, that light comes from a fiery, lively, or ominous star, and the power that results is just as temperamental as their stellar origins.

-Enters Ao Lie, Third Prince of the West Sea, who has highly potent fire powers despite not being a South Sea dragon, and became the subject of some rather tasteless gossips about his parentage the moment it awakened.

-All dragons love their pearls: it's kinda like an ordinary yaoguai's "inner core", an orb of solidified Qi that can be spit out and store separately from the body, but much more powerful and culturally significant.

-Well, the West Sea dragons use their pearls in the same way a Feng Shui master uses their geomantic compass, or a Zhou Yi diviner, their turtle shell and copper coins. The ones left behind by venerable ancestors are especially treasured, believed to lead to clearer insights and more reliable readings.

-Through that lens, Ao Lie's burning of one such pearl is the equivalent of descrating the dead + destroying a priceless, irreplacable supercomputer.

-Intentional or not, to a lineage that is so serious about their discipline, taboos, and absolute loyalty to the Celestial Host, it is enough to warrant death.

-To no one's surprise, they are the diplomats, the inter-department coordinators when it comes to weatherly business. Not just between relevant celestial bureaus like the Thunder and Water Bureaus, but also between local dragon kings of rivers and lakes.

-As a result, the West Sea lineage is the most open to marrying non-oceanic dragons, even though these are often out of practical and political needs.

-That's my explanation for why, in JTTW, Ao Run's nine nephews either guard rivers or work for JE/the Buddha. The West Sea lineage has really turned nepotism into an art form.

North Sea:

-In JTTW, we know that they have Cold Dragons that can chill stuff. It is certainly not too much of a stretch to imagine them as the ice-and-snow specialists, the ones you summon when you are sick of the heat or need to insta-freeze something.

-Historically, the "North Sea" in Chinese texts refer to Lake Baikal. However, I think it is cooler if their palace is literally in the arctic zone, under the ice caps.

-Instead of garden-variety shrimp and crab soldiers, they have lots of cultivated marine mammals. And elite legions of belugas and narwhals and bowhead whales.

-The smallest and most isolationist lineage also carries the grimest duty, as border patrols and prison wardens. Not only is the North Sea a hotspot of rifts that lead to the Underworld, it also conceals the portal to the Evil-Vanquishing Mansion of the North Pole——realm of Emperor Zhenwu, Lord of the North.

-Kind of like the Lord Father of the East and Queen Mother of the West, he is the sovereign of the northern direction and the Water element, as well as the direct superior of Xuanwu, one of the Four Divine Beasts.

-And his job? Subduing demons. The Evil-Vanquishing Mansion is basically a fleet of giant, hollowed-out icebergs, packed to the brim with powerful demons, ghosts, and rogue immortals.

-Any prisoners that make an unlikely escape will emerge into the North Sea, where the vigilant army of the dragon king awaits. However, that is not their main duty; it is the Eye of the North Sea that they swear to eternally guard.

-And the prisoner of the Eye is none other than Shen Gongbao, the infamous traitor of the Chan Sect who was behind most major conflicts in the War of Investiture.

-It was said that, though his body was stuffed into the Eye of the North Sea as punishment, in the end, his soul still gets deified as a minor water god.

-However, if there is only a mindless body left in there, why the need for such heavy security? Only the most experienced elders and veterans are allowed to go into the Eye's vicinity to check on Yuanshi Tianzun's seals, and repeated visit by the same people is strictly prohibited.

-Perhaps, instead of a split of soul and body, deification has split the soul itself: one half is exorcised of all the undesirable qualities, the other left to stew and simmer in them until it mutates into something unrecognizable.

-Such is the rumor among the North Sea's younger scions. But folks will make up anything to pass the time in those long, cold arctic nights, and whatever the truth is, it doesn't matter, as long as the seal still holds.

South Sea:

-Their element, Fire, is directly opposite to the North Sea's; much like the Cold Dragons, the Fire Dragons of the South Sea are heat specialists, creators of droughts and wildfires as well as bringers of warm winds.

-And their fire is a peculiar variant of Earthly Fire. Unlike Heavenly Fires, which draw from the blaze of the Three-legged Sun Crow, or the True Fires immortals used in internal alchemy, Fire Dragons channel the power of earth's flaming veins: that is, undersea volcanos and thermal vents.

-Though they usually display their power in less flashy ways——steam clouds, a playful whiff of sulfur, a blast of warm wind on a winter night, a Fire Dragon fully on the offensive is just like a mini live volcano, unleashing streams of magma and scalding smoke clouds.

-When dragons are mentioned as one of the Eight Classes of Demigods in Buddhism, more often than not, they are from the South Sea lineage.

-Like, the most popular Bodhisattva in Asia, Guanyin, resides in the South Sea. It's all but granted that the local dragons would also be heavily influenced by Buddhist teachings, in the same way their northern kins are drawn to the entourage of Zhenwu.

-Fun fact: the imagery of dragons has appeared in Chinese art since the Neolithic period, but the specific worship of dragons as gods of the Four Seas is a result of Buddhist influence.

-Prior to that, the gods of the Four Seas in the Book of Mountains and Seas are all beasts with human faces, wearing snakes as earrings or standing on a snake.

-And in Sui-Tang era works, some variants merged the Four Seas gods with the Four Directions gods of ancient times, and said that the god of the South Sea was Zhurong.

-A.k.a. the fire god that defeated Gonggong (in the most well-known version of the tale), who, being the sore loser he is, went and knocked over the sky support pillar with his head. Thus, Nvwa's patching of the sky.

-Legends of the South Sea lineage claim that the Fire Dragons draw their power from Zhurong's embers, and their king is descended from the two dragon mounts of the primodial fire god.

-To the outrage of more traditionalist dragons, they often intermarry with Nagas, the serpentine water gods of the Western Lands. Guanyin's dragon girl attendant is born of one such union, between the Naga lord Sagara and a princess of the South Sea.

-Their palace is located inside an underwater volcano, said to be the remnant of Zhurong's great forge. Giant tube worm gardening is a popular hobby among the South Sea nobility; however peculiar it may appear to outsiders, these colorful creatures thrive in the union of Fire and Water, much like the lineage itself.

(Pictures of the Four Dragon Kings come from Nezha 1979.)

(The animated film makes the dragon king of the West a black dragon, and the North, a white one, a reversal of the colors traditionally associated with the two directions——West = White, North = Black.）

#journey to the west #investiture of the gods #chinese dragons #worldbuilding #chinese mythology #headcanon

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skyloftian-nutcase · 1 year

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The sky burned.

He had never seen anything quite like it. He had never tasted smoke and ash so heavily, smelled metal and blood mixing in a nauseating manner that nearly emptied his stomach. He'd never seen so many bodies. He'd never fought for more than twelve hours straight.

And he'd never seen the sky burn.

The bells in the temple rang repeatedly, a warning and a petition, a prayer and a guide. It punctuated the screams, it harmonized the ticking of lasers as they charged and fired, shooting through the air with such intensity that it created miniature claps of thunder as the heat separated the air harshly before it returned together with a snap.

And the sky burned.

Abel watched as the castle was engulfed in flames, filling the night air with sickly hues of red that drowned out the oncoming sunrise. They had fought all night to hold the guardians at bay to no avail. The capital had fallen. The king had fallen.

Hyrule had fallen.

He should have died in the castle alongside the king. When the library ceiling had collapsed in on all of them, that should have ended it. He should have died so the king could have lived.

Instead he was the only one who survived.

He shook his head, ridding himself of the distraction and despair. He may have failed his duty to the royal family, but the fight was not over. Hyrule hadn't fallen yet. Just the capital. There was still an entire country. He had failed the royal family, but he would not fail its people.

Barking orders at what remained of his troops, the captain of the royal guard corralled as many people out of the city as possible. When his men had found some semblance of organization, he ran back into the fray, ending up in the square with three guardians. One swiveled its head, its eye, once blue like a placid lake, was pinkish red, infected by the blood stained clouds that shot out of the castle. The other two were preoccupied, one destroying a building while the other killed the remaining civilians in the alley where it had cornered them.

Abel felt his blood freeze as the center guardian's laser focused on him, and then his entire body screamed in rage. He echoed it with a battle cry, charging ahead with his shield. He remembered his son's trick, he remembered seeing his little knight deflect a stray accidental blast so long ago.

He just had to time it right.

The guardian fired. His heart skipped a beat. He put the shield forward, shoving with all his might just as it made impact.

His arm shrieked in protest, and his entire body shuddered.

And the guardian's head melted as its own blast reflected back at it.

Gasping for air, Abel let his arm fall limp a moment, remembering how the pot lid Link had used had shattered into a thousand splinters, his arm broken from the maneuver. He remembered rushing to the princess' aid while internally panicking over his son.

But duty had always come first.

He prayed Link and the princess were safe.

Would they be able to stop this? Would the divine beasts be enough aid to halt an entire army, as well as the calamity itself? Would the princess be able to fulfill her destiny alongside his son?

Abel shook his head. Now wasn't the time. He was growing weary from fighting all evening and all night.

The other two guardians noticed their comrade had been destroyed and immediately started to charge towards the knight.

"Captain!"

Abel turned to see a handful of his soldiers coming to his aid. He asked, "The civilians?"

"The other team is helping to evacuate them," one of his men answered.

The temple's bells rang again and then were silenced by a terrifying crash of thunder. The guardians ripped the building apart piece by piece.

And the two in the plaza charged their lasers.

Electricity shot through Abel's veins. He couldn't deflect two blasts at once, and using his shield as his sole strategy was going to get everyone killed. His arm was already aching from fighting all night, and the one parry had nearly crippled him.

Abel roared and charged forward, trying to continue zigzagging back and forth so he wouldn't be an easy target. If he could make one fire on the other, then maybe--

One guardian charged faster than the other, its blast creating a cavernous hole in the earth, sending cobblestone flying, and Abel along with it. The captain of the guard landed in a heap just in front of the other guardian as it reached its peak charge.

Abel refused to die this easily. Getting a glimpse of the other guardian in his periphery, he rolled over cobblestone and broken weapons and bodies alike, slipping under the guardian entirely as the other fired, knocking its companion onto its side and exposing Abel once more.

With one guardian at least incapacitated, his men charged forward to chip away at it while Abel was left with the other. He ran towards it again, trying to get to its legs, knowing that if he hit it enough times he could at least damage them and slow the metal beast down. When it charged another blast, he cried out in warning to his fellow knights, who had finished off the other guardian, and they all scattered. Abel dove into an alley this time, fighting the jolt of horror as he landed atop the still body of a child.

The guardian's leg tore into the alley, trying to reach for Abel. When the knight scrambled away hastily, it reached another leg above the alley entirely, slowly tearing buildings apart to reach its prey. The child's bloodied form vanished in the debris that fell. Abel felt sick all over again, but the situation was far too immediate and dire to ponder everything he'd seen over the last twelve hours.

The buildings around him crumbled entirely, leaving him cornered against the wall of another alley, and he reached for a sword he no longer had, having lost it back in the plaza.

He was pinned and he knew it.

Looking around for the nearest weapon, he found a large tree branch that had somehow been blasted into the area from the nearest garden. He grabbed it desperately, glaring with all his hatred into that baleful pink eye.

He would die a knight of Hyrule. The Calamity would never take that from him.

There was a cry that tore through the air, a little hyah that made the knight's entire being nearly crumble with the instant recognition. A small figure dove from the nearest rooftop, sacred blade glowing so brightly it nearly blinded Abel. The figure landed on the guardian's body and sank the blade so deeply into the guardian's eye with such vehemence that when it collapsed he had to brace against it with his foot to pull the blade back out.

The sky burned around them, and the little knight's eyes burned even brighter.

"Link," Abel breathed, collapsing.

His son's fierce glare melted into worry as he rushed to the captain, falling to his knees to be at eye level and look him over. Hovering behind the guardian was another figure, a girl whose white dress was already stained with soot and soil and sweat.

The princess.

"Link, you--you have to leave," Abel immediately said, putting a hand on the teenager's shoulder. Link's eyes narrowed stubbornly, almost as if in defiance, and Abel shook his head, growing dizzier by the second. The mere sight of his boy made the world crash around him, the fight finally catching up to him. "L-listen to me. I--my men are gone, Link. The castle has--"

He looked beyond his son for a moment, watching the princess as she stared at him desperately.

"The king...?" she asked quietly, her words barely audible over the destruction all around them.

Abel swallowed. "He's gone, Your Highness. I'm... I'm so sorry."

Princess Zelda's face grew whiter than her dress. She covered her mouth quickly, eyes horrified at the news, and turned away. Abel watched her a moment longer, feeling all the worse for having failed in his duty to protect the king, and then returned his focus to the young knight in front of him.

"You have to get her out of here," he said quietly, his voice beginning to shake.

Link immediately shook his head. He looked up beyond Abel, up at the castle, where the Calamity itself swirled around like a demon ready to consume its prey.

"Link!" Abel snapped, catching his boy's attention. "Listen to me! The castle has fallen. My men can't fight an army of these guardians! The divine beasts have done nothing, and if the Calamity can corrupt our army, then there's no doubt they can corrupt the beasts as well."

Link swallowed, brow furrowing together. His boy, who had tried so desperately to always be so stoic, began to look afraid. He shook his head again.

Abel's hand slid from Link's shoulder to his face, making him focus on him. "Son... they're gone."

The Champions are gone. You have no support. Don't you understand? Don't you see this is impossible?

Link's lips trembled, and he bit harshly to still them.

"Get her out of here," Abel repeated. "You can't win this fight. Not here, not like this. Go to Fort Hateno, Link. We'll rally the troops there and figure something out."

It was more than just bad news and a command. It was hope, and Link latched on to the words, his face growing stony with determination. Abel pat his cheek lightly and gave what little bit of a smile that he could muster. "I'll meet you there, okay?"

His son watched him, his façade cracking a hair, his breath hitching for just a moment. Abel slid his hand behind his boy's head, pulling him close so their foreheads rested against each other, and they both closed their eyes for a moment. "Keep her safe. Do your duty, Link. Now, go."

The moment was lost, and Link pulled away. He took a slow, deep, steadying breath, and then nodded. With determination set on his face, he turned quickly, rushing to the princess and grabbing her by the wrist, pulling her away from Abel, away from the castle, away from city and the ruin and the disaster all around them. Zelda followed helplessly, tears staining her cheeks as she turned back to look one last time at her home, her kingdom, before they vanished around a corner.

Abel sat there on the cold stone floor a moment longer, catching his breath and readying himself. He offered up a prayer for his son and the princess, for Hyrule and its protection. Then he rose, dragging his feet out into the plaza and finding his weapon and shield he had dropped.

And he moved forward as the sky burned above.

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themarydragon · 5 months

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So my friend sent me this link to a youtube video about why the TotK lore isn't interesting. I couldn't get through it without a ten-screen discord rant (on my PC monitor, not my phone) so I thought I would put some thoughts here.

I don't delve too deep into TotK story but there are def some spoilery statements below, consume at your own risk.

The initial assumptions here seem to be that (1) BotW was more respectful of "The Lore" than TotK, and that (2) TotK made some unforgiveable sins that BotW absolutely avoided.

Both of these are completely false. And I am NOT saying that neither BotW nor TotK shat upon accepted lore. They did. There is no recovering the Hyrule Historia timeline, objectively. Instead I contend that the truth is the precise opposite: Nintendo has NEVER actually cared to try to make LoZ games have ANY amount of continuity.

Take the slide at the 5 minute mark of the video linked, above, in which we see the Master Sword was created specifically to be used against Ganon, and then the 7 sages set out to find somebody valiant enough to wield it (this is from the user manual of A Link to the Past, from the SNES, which also was about The Imprisoning War). Which, if you're playing the home game, you know got ret'conned TWELVE YEARS AGO by Skyward Sword. He's using the slide to explain why it was ridiculous that Ganondorf was able to shatter the Master Sword in the prologue to TotK, which tells me they didn't pay much attention to the mechanic in BotW in which the Master Sword "runs out of power" if you use it too much. If Ganon is an aspect of Demise (again from Skyward Sword, far more recent lore than the slide being used in the vid) then the secret stone he's wielding is amplifying DEMISE (WAY stronger than just some dude), which is why he's able to shatter the blade - but still isn't enough to destroy the sword. His entire complaint about the Sword being broken suggests to me he either didn't play Skyward Sword or has forgotten it existed, and has DEFINITELY forgotten the 'weapons breaking' mechanic started in BotW.

He makes another complaint later about there not being an explanation for the disappearance of the Divine Beasts. Which, sure. I wondered what happened, and figured the 5ish years since then made it old news nobody was talking about it anymore. I get why that might have been a breaking point for somebody else. But it's not just a TotK problem; BotW didn't address it, either. We see the Divine Beasts being dug up by the Sheikah in Rhoam's flashback - how did they get buried? The towers shoot out of the ground, how did THEY get buried, after the last calamity? Who put the guardians underground? How? HOW, if nobody is allowed into the tunnels under Hyrule Castle? It didn't get explained for BotW, so why is that an unforgivable sin in TotK? They give more than a passing suggestion that Purah has repurposed the guardians - just LOOK at the Skyview Towers. The jumpscare for BotW players when you get grabbed in the Lookout Landing tower TELLS YOU where the guardians went.

There is a significant section in which video creator is quoting an interview I haven't seen (and don't give two shits about), and I think it needs to be said: what is in the game is canon. What is in the interviews from other people is, by definition, not game canon. If it was meant to be game canon it would be in the game. Neil Gaiman talks about this when people ask him for clarification of his stories, go check his FAQ if you want a really good delineation of canon from somebody with way more clout than me.

So let's just look at the lore he's defending from BotW. The map is wrong. Straight up wrong, from all the earlier Zelda games. Nintendo cannot decide where the Lost Woods should be, much less Spectacle Rock. The Temple of Time, which again is mentioned early on as a clear homage to the lore, is in the wrong damn spot. If this is the new Hyrule formed post-WindWaker (as indicated by the existance of Rito), the Temple of Time should have been destroyed. And why do the Rito and the Zora both exist? According to WindWaker, the Rito evolved from the Zora, who couldn't live in the salt of the sea. Which is a pretty big jump from the original game that had Zora in the ocean, and the two games following THAT in which they were straight-up monsters. I don't want to get into ALL the ways BotW breaks from the established lore, but there's a LOT. They don't mention the fucking Triforce ONCE, ffs, that's sort of a big damn deal.

I get there was a canon timeline published in Hyrule Historia. I bought that book for that exact reason. And, as someone who has loved this franchise since I got that first golden cartridge in 1987, I looked at that timeline once, laughed at it, and moved on with my life. BotW de-canonized that timeline already, in a LOT of ways.

So saying that TotK is evidence that Nintendo no longer cares about continuity or lore, and by NOT villifying BotW (or TP or SS) for the exact same problem is disingenuous at best. Saying that TotK is just nostalgia-baiting is ignoring the BotW map (Lake Saria, anyone? Ranch Ruins, anyone?) in general, as well as all the game-specific loot that had NO other reason to be there but straight-up nostalgia. The only reason for Zelda to mention the other heroes in the blessing we hear in the first memory is to (1) destroy the established timeline (skyward bound, adrift in time, or something about twilight, all in a world where Rito exist), or (2) prey on our nostalgia. TotK isn't any worse for putting the WW shirt and the Awakening armor into the game, in terms of wrecking the timeline or trying to feast on our nostalgia.

I'm not going to try to hypothesize what this person (or all his commenters) didn't like about the game, or why they're so willing to overlook all these problems in BotW to villify TotK. And everybody is welcome to like to dislike a game for whatever reason they want, IDGAF, you do you. What I AM saying is that for someone who's upset about the lore, he really doesn't seem to actually be aware of how inconsistent it's ALWAYS been. If TotK is the game that taught you that Nintendo isn't trying to follow their own lore, then I don't think you have been paying attention to the lore for a good long time.

tl;dr this is still my favorite series and if you hate that it breaks its own continuity then you've been asleep for the last 12 years of lore drops my good dude.

#loz #loz lore discussion #loz lore #botw spoilers #totk spoilers #botw #totk #totk directly contradicts skyward sword #and its fine #because SS directly contradicted all the original games #there has never been continuity #never #the total lack of continuity is one of the reasons I love it so much

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izunias-meme-hole · 8 months

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My Top 10 Ganon Incarnations (Remake)

Number 1. Tears of The Kingdom/Breath of The Wild - It's honestly surprising how this duology managed to crank out one of the greatest incarnations of Ganon in the series. In the first game, we see Ganon's power in the form of a demonic beast known as Calamity Ganon, and while this thing was basically an animal, it basically is the primary season why the world of BoTW is as baron as it is, and this monster does have both a large presence, and decent amount of activity though the Guardians, Blights, Divine Beasts, and blood moons, creating a fear factor for a good chunk of the game, which dissipates when you see that this things final form is just a flaming pig. However, in ToTK we meet the source of Calamity Ganon, the original Demon King Ganondorf from the era of Hyrule's founding and man does he deliver. He basically stays underground for a majority of the game after shattering the Master Sword and almost killing Link, but he never stops feeling like an active threat because of his Phantom Ganon's, Puppet Zelda, and the most dangerous thing in his arsenal, gloom. Not only that, but ToTK goes out of it's way to still present Ganondorf as a darwinistic asshole who worships power and actually thinks that his actions are justified, however unlike his other incarnations he has a terminal case of insanity from the get-go, which rears its head at every chance. These games made Ganon into a legitimate demon on all fronts, first introducing his pure demonic power without his dangerous mind and then introducing the true Demon King himself later on. And his final fate is ALL too fitting.

Number 2. Ocarina of Time/Twilight Princess - This was the best Ganondorf incarnation of a LONG time. He’s a timeless classic with simple, yet effective characterization who does so much with such little screentime. He starts out as a king of thieves with a large ambition who is willing to kill anyone who gets in the way of his prize, and said prize was the triforce, and he actually gets it, well a piece of it. Then in the future, he goes from that to a true King of Evil, and judging by the impact his reign has had on the land, and the fact that he nearly genocided the Zora and Gorons, is honestly enough to inform the player that he's somehow crueler than before. Also HE PLAYS HIS OWN THEME ON AN ORGAN IN REAL TIME AS YOU TRAVEL HIS CASTLE! And how could we forget about that horrific beast form. Also let’s not forget about his return in Twilight Princess, picking up where he left off after getting snitched on by Link. He's active through Zant for a lot of the game, and when we hear about him, he's basically built up as a ruthless ass bastard with a god complex, and he himself is such a god damn great final boss. OOT/TP Ganondorf was and IS the blueprint for any future incarnations of the character, and he was the best for a long time, especially when he returned in Twilight Princess. But now he finally has an equal.

Number 3. Hyrule Warriors - To sum up this incarnation of Ganondorf, he's a magnificent bastard, and arguably the best representation of Ganon outside of the main series. He thrives on the battlefield, has learned from previous defeats, has his arrogance and ambitions on check, operates in the shadows if he has too, and most importantly HE GOT THE FULL TRIFORCE. He also has a dank design. Were it not for the fact that he's in a warriors game, this Ganondorf would've been worshiped by everyone.

Number 4. Super Smash Bros - He was a last minute inclusion in Melee, a bad character to play as in Brawl, a joke in smash 4 gameplay-wise. So why is he Number 3? He was a good "Orcus on His Throne" villain in Subspace, he got a HUGE upgrade in Ultimate, and the aura around him and the energy he has in ALL the games is 100% Ganondorf, from his taunts to the heaviness of his attacks. One of his taunts is literally him taking out a sword and putting it away, implying that he could use it, but only needs his overwhelming power to beat his enemies, and it's the type of arrogance I expect from Ganon when he's at the height of his power. He ain't the best character in the games and is in need of buffs, but I do believe he's a good representation of Ganon outside the main series. Also when do you ever see Ganon interacting with Bowser, Sephiroth, Ridley, AND King Dedede in offical media?

Number 5. Wind Waker - After reassessing this take on Ganon, I realized that his biggest problem isn’t a lack of presence, because he does have that in spades still. His problem is a lack of general activity, aside from princess kidnapping which does end up hurting him a lot. But at the end of the day, Wind Waker’s Ganondorf carried by a great final battle, a good design, and genuine depth as a character. The best way to sum him up is "The Lord of A Dead Empire," and everytime he's appears, that becomes clearer and clearer. Despite this characterization of the big bad king being sadder than usual, this guy is still downright evil to the bone, so don't be caught off guard. Sure, he's lower on the list, but he's still pretty amazing, and he's also 50% of the fandom's favorite incarnation of him, which is honestly an achievement.

Number 6. A Link To The Past - I don’t feel like we give this man enough credit. He mainly pranced around as Agahnim in A Link To The Past, so he doesn’t have enough time to truly be himself, but even then he was still a great villain and a great final boss for his time. He’s aged like fine wine as a villain lore-wise and in some story elements, especially since Agahnim would not only be the inspiration for Zant, but the Phantom Ganons, literal extensions of Ganon himself. Sure he’s still a big blue boar, but he’s actually conniving, he’s got his mind intact, an entire realm that he has full control over, he actually took over Hyrule Castle via posing as a hero during his time as Agahnim, AND HE HAS THE FULL TRIFORCE. Sure he ain’t beating OoT Ganondorf, but he's the best Classic Ganon due to lore, feats, and the fact he walked so the other Ganons could run. Also this is the game that revealed snippets of Ganon’s origin, which we got to see in full in OoT.

Number 7. Yuganon - Ganon was feral and mindless before this, but after basically fusing with the narcissistic artist Yuga, Yuganon here basically became more destructive and ambitious than both Yuga and Ganon. Yuga was already a good villain and creative villain, but combining him with a mindless and feral Ganon just established that “yep… he’s Lorule’s Ganondorf.”

Number 8. Four Swords Adventure - I’m honestly split on this guy. While he’s honestly not astounding, Ganon was decent here. He’s a reincarnation of Ganon that was active as Ganondorf, but only appears at the end as Ganon. However I do feel like he could’ve made just ONE appearance as Ganondorf the man at some point rather than just final boss pig beast Ganon. Aside from that, he’s just decent altogether. Nothing infuriating, but nothing good either.

Number 9. Oracle Games - He's basically a prototype Calamity Ganon, but he never got a full time in the limelight because Twinrova revived him at the end. However, he is here because, well... this is ironically a fitting fate for Classic Ganon at this point in the timeline. Being reduced to a mere mindless beast that only cares about destruction and nothing else.

Number 10. Zelda 1 - Nothing special, but he’s the first Ganon, so he’s kinda an honorary member here.

#ganondorf #ganon #the legend of zelda #legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #breath of the wild #ocarina of time #hyrule warriors #super smash bros #wind waker #twilight princess #a link to the past #a link between worlds #four swords #oracle of ages #oracle of seasons #ranking

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linkedspirit-fanartfunart · 11 months

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Here's the Linked Spirit AU's Timeline!

(the distance between the points means exactly nothing.)

*edit: MM is now Forest, & Bean (was Grasshopper) is OoT only

text version under the cut:

Era of the Golden Goddess, the Surface created

War of the Spirits of Good and Evil (Demise & Maladus sealed)

SkSw (Sky: 17)

Interlopers War (Interlopers banished through the Dark Mirror)

Imprisoning War (TOTK)

Picori Blade Created- Hero of Men seals away the monsters created by Ganondorf

MC (Smith: 6)

FS (Smith: 13)

FSA (Smith: 16)

Dark Mirror remade into Twilight Mirror

Hyrulian Civil War

Timeline split- Child

OoT (Forest/Grasshopper: 8/15)

MM (Grasshoper: 10)

TP (Ordon: 17)

Timeline split - Downfall

AlttP (Rinku: 11)

OoX (Rinku: 14-16)

LA (Rinku: 16)

AoL Zelda I placed under Sleeping Curse

ALBW (Rinku: 17)

TFH (Rinku: 20, Hope: 18, Wild: 17-19?)

TLoZ (Hope: 10)

Overtake of Calatia (Hope: 13)

LoZ Cartoon (Hope: 14-16)

AoL (Hope: 17)

Timeline Split - Adult

The Great Flood

WW (Wind: 14)

PH (Wind: 15)

New Hyrule Created

ST (Engineer: 12)

> LS start (Hero: 16)

HW (Hero: 20)

Timeline Merge

First Calamity - creation of the Guardians & Divine Beasts

BOTW (Wild: 14-16? - 16-18?, Ordon: 27-29) > timeline split: AoC

TOTK (Wild: 22-24?)

#linked spirit #loz au #linked spirit au #ls timeline #totk spoilers #very minor spoilers imo but eh

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kurtisthesnivy · 5 months

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So about six years ago, I created a homebrew system for a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon tabletop game. It didn't quite pan out, so I migrated to a heavily homebrewed version of DnD 5e (also designed by yours truly.) Until about 4 months ago, I was running two different campaigns as well as a handful of smaller adventures. I can't take full credit, my boyfriend has been a massive help with running games and coming up with homebrew. Over the last half decade, I've kept a record of all of the characters that have played in our games. And as a celebration of finishing such a long journey, here's all 72 characters that have been played in PMDnD.

Also, I recorded the timelapse of the whole process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0b3rYlGvFU

All characters in rough order of being drawn

Xaio, Oshawott Rogue (old system)

Byron, Nidoran Mercenary (old system)

Qyzen, Litten Fighter (old system)

Tobu, Oricorio Black Mage (old system)

Argaveus, Scyther Zealot Barbarian/Blood Hunter

Tovu, Togedemaru Grave Domain Cleric

Issac, Riolu Gunslinger Fighter

Lest, Arcanine Pyromancer Sorcerer

Dolon, Sylveon Life Domain Cleric

Blaze, Charizard College of Swords Bard

Skye, Zoroark School of Illusion Wizard

Ludwig, Dartrix Oath of Redemption Paladin

Noelani, Floatzel Life Domain Cleric

Roger, Monferno School of War Magic Wizard

Joshua, Hakamo-o Gunslinger Fighter

James, Toxicroak Arcane Trickster Rogue

Micheal, Pachirisu Ancestral Guardian Barbarian

Koishi, Oricorio Dancer Bard

Clay, Lycanroc Battlemaster Fighter

Grace, Comfey Totem Master Fighter

Gabriel, Auroros Hexblade Warlock

Elena, Floatzel Horizon Walker Ranger

Allen, Scizor Way of the Kensai Monk

Haku, Zoroark Assassin Rogue

Alex, Weavile Thief Rogue

Stella, Chesnaught Fortune Teller Astrologian

Iona, Cinccino College of Valor Bard/Trained PKMN

Akira, Kekleon Alchemist Artificer

Shift, Eevee Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer

Justin, Sceptile Oath of Ancients Paladin

Arin, Roserade Pact of the Deep Warlock

Zhang, Smeargle Eldritch Knight Fighter

Firokhan, Houndoom Way of the Kensai Monk

Camilla, Gardevoir Divine Soul Sorcerer

Hyargrum, Alolan Marowack School of Necromancy Wizard

Lilliana, Audino Spiritmaster White Mage

Koko, Thwacky Dawnbringer Warlock

Aiden, Lopunny Path of Wild Magic Barbarian

Dex, Sableye Echo Knight Fighter

Jae, Banette Order of Scribes Wizard

Minet, Cinccino Way of the Kensei Monk

Ergin, Houndoom Arcane Trickster Rogue

Audra, Manectric Circle of Wildfire Shaman

Tristan, Goodra Cavalier Fighter

Kasi, Frogedier Way of the Dragon Monk

Mobius, Decidueye Gloomstalker Ranger

Rook, Krokorok Inquisitive Rogue

Jack, Decidueye Drakewarden Ranger

Guinness, Haxorus Path of the Totem Barbarian

Kadmos, Sceptile Way of the Kensai Monk

Pluto, Delibird Oath of the Ancients Paladin

Meryl, Golurk School of Abjuration Wizard

Penicillin, Meganium Life Domain Cleric

Cleo, Ampharos Celestial Warlock

Quin, Quilava Drakewarden Ranger

Rheda, Hisuian Sneasel School of Illusion Wizard

Rian, Zangoose Path of the Beast Barbarian

Lucas, Delphox Knowledge Domain Cleric/School of Divination Wizard

Rubix, Typhlosion Arcane Archer Fighter/Soulfuse

Henry, Kecleon Storm Sorcerer

Floss, Delibird Spiritmaster White Mage

Cassandra, Absol Celestial Warlock/Soulfuse

Calvin, Archeops Oath of the Crown Paladin

Ballard, Azumaril College of Whispers Bard/Hexblade Warlock

Adachi, Toxicroak Way of the Open Palm Monk/Barbairan

Zeish, Lucario Swashbuckler Rogue/Celestial Warlock

Sol, Charizard Gunslinger Fighter/Artificer

Thalnor, Charizard Oath of the Ancients Paladin

Ariana, Nidoqueen College of Swords Bard/Fighter

Clade, Absol Hexblade Warlock/Soulfuse

Jace, Luxray Battlesmith Artificer

#my art #pokemon #pokemon mystery dungeons and dragons #dungeons and dragons

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alphagirl404 · 1 year

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The King’s Sudden Turn Against the Sheikah

I often think about how The King of the First Great Calamity treated the Sheikah.

Why would the King suddenly believe that the Sheikah, a tribe that had served the royal family for THOUSANDS of years, would turn on them? What reason did he have to believe that? Why treat the people who helped save his kingdom so harshly suddenly?

Then it hit me:

According to 'The Sheikah Divided' section, page 368 of 'Creating a Champion' mentions how the King of Hyrule, after the first Great Calamity, began to fear & doubt the Sheikah and was plagued with an imagined betrayal by them. Anyone who has played Breath of the Wild knows that the King ordered the Sheikah to stop their technological advances and banished them from the kingdom. Half of the Sheikah were upset by this and became the Yiga Clan.

Then I remembered this

Visions of the future and fortune-telling are everyday things seen in the Zelda series (Breath of the Wild included). What if after the Great Calamity, the King saw a vision of the future of the Second Great Calamity destroying Hyrule, the Guardians & Divine Beasts that helped fight the First Calamity were fighting with it included? There was no context as to why but all it matter is what he saw

That would explain why The King was so harsh on the Sheikah and adamant about burying their technology after the Calamity. ‘Creating a Champion’ even stated that any resistance was met with severe punishments such as imprisonment. The formation of the Yiga Clan more likely solidified The King’s fears of Sheikah betrayal. Forcing the Sheikah to give up that aspect of their culture was wrong, but from his point of view, The King believed he was helping Hyrule out in the long run.

When in reality, it's yet another classic case of...

Burying the technology underground gave Ganon a chance to study them closely. Ganon let the people of Hyrule have a false sense of security for a decade. When the time came he took control The Guardians and Divine Beasts. A move no one had even fathom. Setting Hyrule for a course of chaos & uncertainty for the next 100 years.

Instead of preventing the Second Calamity, the King set the path for it. That would make what happen 100 years before Breath of the Wild tragically ironic.

But hey, its only a theory...

#legend of zelda #breath of the wild #tears of the kingdom #loz #botw #totk #sheikah #yiga #yiga clan #I do hope this gets addressed in tears of the kingdom #I will be forever adamant that the king ten thousands years before botw fucked over everyone in that game

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bloobluebloo · 5 months

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MAN when I think of how Calamity Ganon, after facing the Divine Beasts and the guardians once, was able to deduce how their technology worked so precisely that he was able to hack into their systems and take control of them, use them to kill their pilots, create his phantoms out of their pieces, and proceed to remotely control them while being battered by the power of light for 100 years is insane. This is just a part of Ganondorf's consciousness that escaped him, to the point that he is almost unaware of its existence, and yet it was almost as sophisticated and targeted as a being capable of thinking and manipulation of its own. That just tells me that Ganondorf himself must be incredibly intelligent, a genius of his time. He must have fucked up so much Zonai technology in his time. It's too bad that the extent of his engineering prowess we got to saw was the seized construct. The final battle between him and Link should have been an ultrahand showdown where the top engineer would come out victorious imo. Also, under different circumstances, I imagine Zelda would have been salivating at the thought of picking his brain for the things he knows, not only in terms of engineering and reverse engineering, but also in terms of plant life, animal life, monster life, the property of all sorts of minerals and so on and so forth. His knowledge on those topics must run deep for him to have been able to infect them with gloom and manipulate them in just the right way to benefit him, whether through the decay of weapons, the powering up of his own monsters, or siphoning power to him in the depths of Hyrule. Gloom is incredibly versatile when you think about it.

#ganonthots

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sage-nebula · 10 months

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PSA: Zelda was the light dragon for way longer than 10,000 years.

The event that takes place 10,000 years prior to BotW was the first recorded Calamity. The first recorded Calamity is not what we see in the TotK flashbacks, with Rauru and Sonia and all that. The first recorded Calamity took place AFTER Ganondorf was sealed, when his malice escaped confinement. This is the event the Guardians and Divine Beasts were built for. The Guardians and Divine Beasts were used successfully, the Sheikah were banished by the mad king of Hyrule and the Yiga Clan formed as a result, and Zelda was the light dragon for all of it.

So to summarize, the timeline is:

A really long time ago, probably the Era of Myth noted in Creating a Champion: Sonia and Rauru found Hyrule 3.0, Ganondorf starts a war and is sealed, Zelda turns herself into a dragon

A long time after that - 10,000 years pre BotW: First recorded Calamity, Sheikah tech helps avert it, Sheikah are subsequently banished & Yiga form, dragon Zelda chills in clouds

9,900 years later - 100 years pre BotW: Next Calamity happens, Divine Beasts and Guardians are corrupted, Champions are killed and Zelda (human) restrains Ganon in the castle while Zelda (light dragon) flies around

100 years later - BotW: Link wakes up, helps Zelda (human) seal Ganon again, while Zelda (dragon) hangs out in the sky

5 or 6 years later - TotK: Zelda (human) gets yeeted to the Era of Myth, beginning the time loop, while Link works to beat Ganondorf and eventually transform dragon Zelda back into a human

Some have speculated that the "10,000" number used for the first recorded Calamity is meant as a generalization or something similar, because how can history be recorded so far back? But regardless, these are the numbers we are given. Since the first recorded Calamity was stated to have been 10,000 years ago, and the Sonia and Rauru stuff would have to have happened before that, we can surmise that Zelda was a dragon for way longer than just 10,000 years. Thank you for coming to my LOZ Talk.

Bonus: the beginning of the timeline outlined in Creating a Champion as receipts:

#loz: tears of the kingdom #loz totk spoilers #totk spoilers #princess zelda #light dragon #silent princess #we're just going to sigh and move on from how Nintendo decided to rewrite the Era of Myth for TotK's flashbacks #bc TBQH i think the original idea was for the EoM to be Ocarina of Time #since it describes OoT perfectly #but nevertheless. TotK is a canon sequel so. it is what it is :/

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