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midzelink · 4 years

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What’s Going On with the Ears in Hyrule?

(Or: A Needlessly Comprehensive Deep-Dive into the Myst-EAR-ious Duality of Round-Eared Humans and Long-Eared Hylians, a Very S-EAR-ious Write-Up)

As some of you may remember from a few months back, I made an off-hand comment about my ideas surrounding the disparities between the different types of ears we see in Hyrule’s human citizens, and my desire to further expand on that at a later date. No, that was not a joke, and yes, I am finally Doing the Dang Thing. So! Let’s get started.

Long-time fans of the series will know that Hylians are a race of humans in the world of The Legend of Zelda with long, elf-like ears. Hylians most always dominate the land of Hyrule in nearly every installment in the series, with round-eared humans only making their first appearance in Link’s Awakening, a game that - spoiler alert - was all a dream in the first place. And though plain old humans again appear in the lands of Holodrum and Labrynna in the follow-up Oracle games, it is very in keeping with the theme of this blog that their most notable appearance happens to be in Twilight Princess.

Though it is never remarked upon in-game, Link is the only Hylian in a village filled with humans, such as Ilia and Rusl, leading the player to assume that he was not Ordon-born. Other notable examples include Ashei, who hails from the mountains, and even the inhabitants of (New) Kakariko (though only three in number) are all mere humans. The Hylians of this game seem to be centralized around Castle Town, with notable members including Telma, Shad, and Auru of the Resistance, and naturally, Zelda herself. Yet as I’ve already stated, the fact that there are two different sets of ears among the humans is never even a topic of conversation; it makes you wonder why the developers bothered to make the distinction at all, and indeed, plenty of fans have never even noticed that such a disparity exists. I certainly didn’t notice when I was ten years old, playing through Twilight Princess for the very first time - but we’ve come a long way since then, and I am delighted to finally be able to tell everyone why I think this disparity exists, and how it has bled into other aspects of the series. Let’s back away from Twilight Princess for a moment; all good theories have a beginning, and this one is no different. To understand where this all began, we must look thousands of years into the past, to Skyward Sword. More specifically, this all started...

...with this guy.

Yes, Beedle. That Beedle. But before we can even jump into how he relates to any of this, we must travel further back still, to the very opening cutscene of Skyward Sword.

In this cutscene, we hear a very dumbed-down tale of how Demise invaded the surface world that was ruled over by the Goddess Hylia; to protect the sacred relic placed into her care by the Golden Goddesses, Hylia rends a piece of land from the earth and sends it skyward, leaving the Goddess Sword and the Triforce with it. Together with the remaining peoples of the Surface, she seals Demise away, and millennia later the events of Skyward Sword transpire. The entirety of this cutscene is not in and of itself very important, but I would like to draw everyone’s attention to one particular line uttered by the narrator during this sequence:

“To prevent this great power from falling into the hands of the evil swarming the lands… The goddess gathered the surviving humans on an outcropping of earth.”

It is worth noting here that - though the word “Hylian” itself only appears in reference to the shield which bears its name - Skyloft is comprised entirely of people with long ears. Keeping these things in mind, let’s go back to Beedle.

Beedle is, by all intents and purposes, a fairly unremarkable character in Skyward Sword. That is to say, outside of providing Link with goods throughout his adventure, he bears no significance on the plot in any capacity, having only a single sidequest that involves retrieving a pet beetle (snickers) of his, for which the player’s reward is a small sum of Gratitude Crystals. But there is one, throwaway line of completely optional dialogue you can trigger towards the beginning of this sidequest, and it is upon this line that the entire basis for this theory has been built. When meeting Beedle on his home island apart from Skyloft for the very first time, the player is given the option...

...to comment on his accent.

[after selecting “Your accent!”] “Hmmm? The mellifluous timbre of my voice sounds different to you?

...Perhaps a touch, I suppose... But pray, what does it matter, hmm?”

What’s important to understand about accents is how they come about to begin with: namely, slight differences in pronunciation and rhythm of speech evolve over time as the language (in this case, some form of ancient Hylian) spreads to different locations. And of course, everyone who uses spoken language has an accent, but Link’s remarking upon Beedle’s is an indication that his pattern of speech is different from his own. In most other games, this would be unextraordinary - but in the context of Skyward Sword, where humanity has been isolated to a (relatively speaking) small outcropping of earth in the sky, it becomes extremely noteworthy. No one in Skyloft should have “an accent,” because theirs is a society and culture so small in scale that they should all have the same accent. Beedle having an accent makes sense if, and only if...

...he’s not from Skyloft.

And if he’s not from Skyloft, the logical conclusion would be that he must be from the Surface. In almost any other circumstance, this assertion would be smashed to smithereens by the sheer fact that getting to Skyloft without a Loftwing - companions blessed only to those who live in the sky - should be an unattainable feat. And yet, of all the people in Skyloft, Beedle is the only one who could have achieved such a thing...

...because his shop - which conveniently doubles as his house - is an electricity-powered flying machine. Within the context of the game, such a contraption seems almost nonsensical; if he were from Skyloft, why would he not just set up shop in a permanent location? Even if he wanted to live on a smaller island by himself, the people of Skyloft could simply use their Loftwings to reach him (which they still need to do, anyway!). Indeed, the existence of Beedle’s Shop makes far more sense...if it already existed by the time he arrived there.

Which brings us back to that introductory cutscene. The narrator states that Hylia gathered up all of the surviving humans (notice the use of the word humans here) onto an outcropping of earth and sent them skyward, and on a surface level, this seems straight-forward enough - but with the revelation that Beedle is very likely from the Surface himself, it’s very obvious that this is nothing more than a bold-faced lie. Some humans were left behind - they couldn’t all possibly have fit on such a small piece of land - and those humans were the ancestors of Beedle, in some way, shape, or form. What became of those humans is another matter altogether (one I will address briefly), as the Surface we explore in Skyward Sword is perfectly devoid of human life, barring Impa.

Now, let’s bring it back home: remember how I said that all Skyloftians have long ears? That was a bit of a white lie, though only if you count Beedle among that number. In truth, Beedle’s ears are obscured by the bowl cut of his hair - but this is true for every game he appears in, and the general consensus is that they’re round. This would make Beedle the only round-eared human in the entire game...and he, coincidentally, happens to be from the Surface.

Before I go any further, I’d like to establish a very base reasoning for the existence of long-eared qualities in the human races of Hyrule. Hylians are far from the only ones to bear long ears, what with the trait also presenting themselves in the likes of the Sheikah and, by the era of Breath of the Wild, even the Gerudo - though it is exceptionally notable that in Ocarina of Time, the Gerudo have round ears, and Ganondorf is no exception...at least, at first.

Y’see, what’s especially notable about Ganondorf is that he is the same exact character is each title he appears in, and in The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, his ears are long. This was actually something I only noticed quite recently, upon which I then fervently began scouring for information about his appearance in Ocarina of Time to try and make sense of it all, and the results are...very intriguing, to say the least. Below is a comparison of Ganondorf pre-timeskip vs. post-timeskip from the original Nintendo 64 version of the game:

As you can see, his model has changed in a number of ways, but... Well, I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

Amazingly, his ears got longer, which is...an interesting choice from a design perspective. Of course, it leads one to wonder why - and far and above the most significant thing to happen to him in the seven years between these two appearances is his procuring of the Triforce of Power from the Sacred Realm, a relic of the old gods. Evil or no, Ganondorf had forged a bond with a god unlike any had before him, and for some reason, this elongated his ears - so much so that by the time of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker, they are indistinguishable from your typical Hylian’s. It is notable, too, that the Sheikah (who have always had long ears) also bear a special connection to the gods, living to serve Hylia and, later, her reincarnation as the princess in the Royal Family of Hyrule.

“They say we Hylians have big ears in order to hear the voices of the gods.”

So now, keeping everything I’ve talked about here in mind, I think it appropriate to go over the series of events that likely transpired, beginning from Demise’s invasion of the surface world:

In a bid to keep the Triforce out of evil’s grasp, Hylia formulates a plan to send both it and the Goddess Sword out of harm’s way. She selects - perhaps by chance, perhaps by choice - a not insignificant number of humans to live on this skyward isle, but naturally not all of them can make the cut. These chosen humans would go on to found Skyloft, a land whose culture revolves heavily around the reverence of the very goddess who saved them and enabled them to live in prosperity (the existence of the Wing Ceremony, the Statue of the Goddess, etc.), while the humans who remained on the surface, left in a world scarred by war and ravaged by monsters, sought new lands, becoming the ancestors of people who would found Holodrum and Labrynna, to name a couple. In their reverence of Hylia, the people of Skyloft would develop long ears, as even the Sheikah had - but the humans left on the surface world...would not.

That is to say, the Hylians we see in almost every major installment of the series are the direct descendants of the people of Skyloft, and round-eared humans are the descendants of the people Hylia left behind.

Of course, not all humans fled from their homeland - though we see none in-game, it’s important to remember that we also see no Sheikah aside from Impa, though we know they are great in number. Beedle was, undoubtedly, one of these very few stragglers, and with stories of a land beyond the clouds on his mind - legends that have been passed down over countless generations - he sought to find this paradise by any means, through sheer blood, sweat, and tears (but mostly sweat, if that cycling is any indication) if necessary. In the end, he was successful, and he lives among the people of Skyloft fairly unassumingly - yet he also lives apart from them, on his own island because, at his core, he is not one of them, and never will be. He doesn’t get all of this Hylia stuff, and frankly, he doesn’t care - so long as he can chill on his own little crop of land with a full belly, a full wallet, and his pet beetle, that’s really all that matters.

And speaking of Hylia - the reason they are called Hylians is because they are the descendants of those chosen by Hylia, even if the knowledge of Hylia’s existence has largely been lost to history by the events of Ocarina of Time and beyond. (In a very similar vein, it is my belief that Lake Hylia also gets its name from her because the crater that would later become that very lake was formed...when she lifted a gargantuan outcropping of earth into the sky.) Hylians largely dominate Hyrule for so much of its history because the people of Skyloft were the ones who founded it - yet by the era of Twilight Princess, we see that a great many of the humans who had moved onto different lands have slowly but surely made their way back towards the place they once called home.

But I would be remiss to neglect to go back to Breath of the Wild; this game is a much more peculiar case, taking place in an era many millennia after any game that came before it, where reverence for Hylia is once again commonplace - so much so that statues bearing her resemblance have been erected in every town, village, and city across the country. Humans are once again practically nowhere to be seen (except, again, perhaps for Beedle), and even the Gerudo, who have now long intermingled with Hylians for the sake of having children, have inherited the trait (perhaps in part due to the fact that some of their own may worship Hylia, if the statue in Gerudo Town is any indication). In every single instance, no matter where you turn, these long ears seem to be a direct correlation to the people’s connection to the gods of Hyrule - but rather than their ears being a predetermined factor in how strong this connection may be, it seems that their faith is what influences this trait to rise to the surface, over how ever many generations or centuries that just might take. (Ganondorf Dragmire, who lives in a castle and inherited a relic of pure godly power, is an outlier and should not be counted.) As Shad so eloquently states in Twilight Princess:

“Hyrule was made by the Hylians, who, as we all know, are the closest race to the gods.”

And as long as we’re talking about Shad, I’d love to begin wrapping up this post by bringing things round to Twilight Princess once more - specifically the context in which Shad says the above quote, which is far and away one of the most peculiar instances of casual lore-dumping in the entire series. The quote in its entirety from the North American version of the game reads thusly:

“At the moment I'm absolutely entranced by the sky beings known as the Oocca. Yes, according to legend, Hyrule was made by the Hylians [...] But also according to legend, long ago there was a race even closer to the gods, and some say these creatures made the Hylians. When they created the people of Hylia, they simultaneously created a new capital, a city that floated in the heavens.”

What Shad is saying here is extremely farfetched, particularly for those of us who are familiar with the Oocca. But in truth, this was a minor mistranslation on Nintendo of America’s part; the original text from the Japanese version of the game clears actually reads much more like this, when translated correctly:

“The common opinion is that Hyrule was created by the Hylia people, the race closest to the gods, but...truth be told, there's also a theory saying that in ancient times, there was a race even closer to the gods than the Hylia people, and THEY created it [Hyrule]. And they, simultaneously with the birth of the Hylia people, created a new capital, a capital that floated in the heavens.”

So the Oocca - the bizarre, Cucco-like creatures who inhabit the City in the Sky - did not create the Hylians, but rather established the kingdom of Hyrule itself in the world that the goddesses created. But even with this mistranslation squared away, that still sounds incredibly odd, especially taking the events of Skyward Sword into account; we know that the people of Skyloft are the ones who inevitably found Hyrule, because we see the beginnings of this happening at the end of the game. Funnily enough, it seems that the very line that was mistranslated in the North American version of the game...was the result of mistranslation itself.

In-universe mistranslation, that is. Millennia of history being told, written, lost, and found, translated again and again and again, until it barely resembles its original state. What likely happened was that the Oocca, who live in the sky, were wrongly credited with the creation of Hyrule because the Hylian people who would go on the found Hyrule also came from the sky, as they were the people of Skyloft. Shad’s claim that the Oocca were “a race even closer to the gods" than the Hylians may not be entirely unfounded, however, as it is incredibly likely like the City in the Sky we see in Twilight Princess is what remained of Skyloft after its human inhabitants abandoned it; the Loftwings that the people of Skyloft had for so long relied on would go on to evolve into more sentient beings, suspending the city above the clouds long after Hylia’s magic had worn off - and Loftwings were, as the people of Skyloft believed, beings bestowed upon them as a symbol of the goddess’s divine blessing. In this sense, it is somewhat true that the City in the Sky and the Hylians were created at the same time; when the Skyloftians abandoned their home to live in a new land where they were not long after christened the Hylians, the skyward isle that they had left behind found a new purpose, and a new “city” was born.

Of course, maybe Shad was off his marbles (even if the Oocca are evolved Loftwings, there is still much about them and their connection to the Sheikah that remains shrouded in mystery), but the crux of this entire narrative is that the people of Hylia, the Hylians - at least, up until Breath of the Wild is concerned - were the descendants of the people of Skyloft, and Beedle’s eccentricities in the context of Skyward Sword are rather convincing pieces of evidence that this did not comprise all people of the formerly-known-as “Land of Hylia.” It is therefore only natural that a conclusion could be drawn about where the distinction between the two peoples comes from.

But in the end, even if this can answer the question of why there are round-eared humans alongside long-eared ones, it does not answer the ultimate question of what this distinction means. Why does a connection with and a faith in the gods elongate the ears of the people it touches? The Zelda Encyclopedia states that “in the past, Hylians were able to wield magic of considerable might,” a trait that could possibly distinguish them from your typical human being - but the canon nature of the Encyclopedia is...shaky*, at best, and downright disrespectful at worst. Link and Zelda are two Hylians we see wielding abnormal abilities, but their power can be explained with their respective pieces of the Triforce, not to mention the countless magic users in Hyrule and beyond who aren’t Hylian. Even if there was a time when the Hylians had special abilities, those abilities have long since faded. They are no no taller, no smaller, live no longer than their round-eared counterparts; they are, in every aspect aside from the length of their ears, in every way identical. To finish the quote by the unnamed Hylian man who speaks to a young Link in the Castle Town Market in Ocarina of Time:

“They say we Hylians have big ears in order to hear the voices of the gods...but I've never heard them!”

So...there you have it. I must admit that it is entirely possible that the people of Skyloft had developed long ears before their ancestors had been sent to the heavens - after all, the Sealed Temple was, in millennia past, a temple erected in her honor. Yet this would also make the story of Hylia gathering the “surviving humans” in order to save them all the more grim; could the gods be so callous as to save only those who respect their divine might? One cannot help but think of the Great Sea in The Wind Waker - for in a world populated by the descendants of those who were chosen by the gods to survive the coming floods, it is difficult not to notice that ears of the round variety are once again nowhere to be found.

And yet, when you get right down to it - though some Hylians seem to rely on their lineage as “the closest race to the gods” to maintain an image of self-importance - the difference between a long-eared Hylian and a round-eared human appears to be, ultimately...only that. And unless we see our round-eared friends return in a potentially future title, and the difference remarked upon, that will likely be how things remain.

Until that time, I will continue to do my best to fill the gaps with which we have been left - even if, at the end of the day, I’ve written nothing more than a meaningless, nine-page word jumble...about ears.

EDIT (5/9/2020): It has been brought to my attention (courtesy of @heartenvy) that there is a mild inconsistency with the narrative that Beedle could be from the Surface: namely, the “unbreachable” Cloud Barrier, something Hylia herself created to divide Skyloft from the Surface and keep its inhabitants and the Triforce safe. However, I would argue that the Cloud Barrier is not a physical barrier so much as it is a mystical one, meant to both keep its location secret (the barrier itself is completely invisible from the Surface) and to ensure the people of Skyloft remain complacent in their isolation (believing Skyloft is all there is, they remain there, and in so doing their long-forgotten secrets are kept safe). Zelda is pulled through it long before any proper portals are actually opened, and I would argue that the portals (that is, the pillars of light that appear when we place the corresponding tablets) are largely a gameplay mechanic meant to keep the story linear, as in a real setting Link would have simply ridden his Loftwing to and from the Surface and would have been able to fly anywhere he chose. It’s possible the barrier acts to keep out evildoers, specifically (which would explain why Ghirahim had to summon a vortex to pull Zelda through it, where he could reach her), or, not unlike the Isla de Muerta in Pirates of the Caribbean, Skyloft could very well be “an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is” - which, to me, makes the narrative of Beedle finding his way there all the more entertaining (the dude must have been, like, super determined). In any case, I stand by what I’ve stated before: that Beedle is from the Surface, as his accent and the peculiarities of his shop make too strong a case to ignore.

* * * * *

*The Zelda Encyclopedia states that Termina is a Dream World, despite Link’s Awakening having already done this and in a much more satisfying way. I can’t take anything it says seriously.

(Special thanks to @ghiirahiims for the high-res screenshot of Beedle, and shoutout to @gaybellatrix for in no small part convincing me to finally sit down and write this all up.)

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botwstoriesandsuch · 3 years

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Back here with another episode of:

Read Part 1 here!

If you’re on mobile, and tumblr hates this post, follow along on this google doc!

Rules/overview this rewrite in the beginning of Part 1

Alrighty then, so let’s just jump into it!

- - - - - - - - - -

Recap! So when we last left off, we had just finished off Act 1 of the story. We’ve used the character introduction segments and the gambit feature as a means to give more life to everyone, without sacrificing too much cutscene time. Allowing us to save and focus the major story details and set up on the more cinematic cutscenes.

I had forgotten, but after Part 1 came out, an anon pointed out that Impa’s character introduction could use some work, and while you don’t need to read it right now to understand the rest of this post, I encourage you to look at it eventually to see the strengths and flaws in the original Impa introduction, and the reasons for my rewrite changes! All you need to know is that eggbot was lying around, deactivated, but when in proximity to the Sheikah Slate, was turned on like other Guardians. Eggbot being activated by the Sheikah Slate is kinda brushed over in the original game? But in my rewrite it’s gonna have some later significance. Also during the Royal Lab cutscene, I want Robbie or Purah to mention how Zelda’s control of the Sheikah Slate is quite exceptional or something. It’s a bit obvious already in Hwaoc, but I need it to be verbally said in a story scene for, again, later significance. Alright that’s it for my added details, moving on now.

After Chapter 1, we moved into the characters accepting the Call to Adventure, whether by the general external reasons of wanting to save the world, and developed a little bit further with more internal related reasons to give nuances and identities to different characters. Revali wishes to prove that his hard work earns him better merit than a sidekick, Urbosa wishes to protect and help Zelda on an emotional level, Mipha wishes to get closer to Link and come back to her family proud, etc etc.

Then, the climax of Act 1 ends with the Yiga ambush, and the characters get a first taste of leaving their areas of comfort, and journeying into the unknown world. Although the gameplay and the successful defeat of the Yiga establishes the Champion team’s strength, our interaction with Rhoam shows us that they still have a ways to go. The momentum into the full story now has a bit of tension and conflict.

So now we crash into the beginning of Act 2, the longest Act in a story, as it’s the part where the....story, happens. Let’s take a look at changes to the Hollows, eggbot mysteries, Zelda character growth, and our first real dip into the character of our antagonist, the Prophet of Doom himself, Astor…

So in the game, Chapter 3 opens on the flank of Death Mountain, our heroes overlooking the view of Korok Forest.

There are a few problems I have with this scene. It’s really stale, there’s no movement, nothing dynamic about it other than the opening shot. They just kinda stand there and say words until Revali’s done ranting and summons Medoh. Also Revali’s dialogue is a bit “much” to say the least, and uh, spoiler alert, he’s gonna be reworked a bit more than the other Champions. Finally, this scene doesn’t have a lot of purpose or substance. Sure, it has some character conflict with Revali and Link and the team, but that’s kinda established already, plus it’s something that I’ve already fleshed out in the last scene with King Rhoam, so it’s a bit redundant. So that leaves this scene serving only as a boring current draw to the Medoh fight and nothing else. This is the opening set up for the Chapter where important story stuff goes down! Needs a lot more substance. So! Here’s my rework.

We open on the sound of running. Link, along with Zelda, Urbosa, Daruk, and Mipha are running upwards on a path by Edlin. They’re chasing a small group of bokoblins and it looks like it’s the end of the fight. Urbosa is more near the back, with Zelda, but Daruk and Mipha both kill a bokoblin, their bodies of the monsters exploding in a cloud of malice upon their demise. When the camera shows each of their kills, the shots are quick, but I want the angle of the camera to be in such a way that the malice evaporates center frame, with Daruk and Mipha being behind the malice. This is because for a split second, it looks like the malice lingers around them like smoke. Huh, I wonder if that’s foreshadowing or something.

Anyhow, Link chases the final red bokoblin uphill, boots pattering against rock. However, we’re now seeing this from a moving, flying, bird’s eye view [quite literally wink wink]

Cut back close to Link, he kills the bokoblins. Stands there for a sec as he sheathes his sword. And then...

“Well I’ll be plucked. You defeated it, eh?”

Reveal Revali flying from above, and he lands in front of Link, but faces away from him. “Who would have thought that some little knight, amongst a group of chosen heroes, would get some action. You must be pretty proud of yourself, hm?” Cue that classic Revali head turn with a glare. Also when Revali says “heroes” I want him to flick his scarf dramatically, while staring at Link’s armour, as if internally he were judging Link on a runway.

Zelda runs up and starts speaking. “Oh Revali, I apologize our meet up with Medoh got a bit delayed. I assume that you’ve already positioned them by now for the attack?”

Revali hums a yes, but doesn’t bother to entertain a more fleshed out answer. Instead, he flicks his wing (as if to say, “come on”) and turns his back to walk up the trail. The others follow.

“I was informed that only the Champions and yourself would be present. What are…” Revali flicks a wing in the direction of Link and eggbot, like a Karen shooing a waiter. “...they, exactly contributing?”

Zelda says some stuff about Link being her bodyguard like: “Well, my father was impressed enough with Link’s actions from the other week that he’s assigned to give me further protection.’ She can say this a bit grumpily, to Link’s ignorance. Daruk can pipe in like “And a good thing too! Always great to have little guy at our backs.” and Mipha can nod sheepishly or something. But their dialogue is cut off by another rude interjection (because hell if Revali wants to listen to more rambling about Link)

“Right, right. And this thing is still around?” Revali gestures to eggbot.

Zelda: “Well, This little one's technological prowess has been quite useful in battle, allowing us to access the rune functions and all. So I figured it’d be a big help should something unexpected happen. Plus...” cute shot of Zelda staring at eggbot, “it just...feels right.” Then the little eggshit can like, chirp happily or make some cute whistle or whatever. Just shove in a bit of that egg fanservice, might as well since I need to better establish its presence for later.

Revali mutters something about “big help,” before gesticulating with his wings as he continues walking up the trial. “Mooore like a big liability should anything happen to your little pet, and one of us be forced to risk our lives just to save it from becoming scrap. Honestly, when it comes to you, and you.” Revali points to both eggbot and Link, “Your presence is an entire waste of time. ‘Backup?’ Help?’ Tsk. Humouring.” Eggbot can make a noise or something while Link just tilts his head. Revali continues: “You’re only here because of a non-existent, fantastical, imaginary hypothetical in which I somehow fail, and I don’t, fail.” When he articulates that last part, he stops walking and does another little head turn/glare, but he still doesn’t bother to fully face him. “I’m sure that your duty will no longer be of importance once your reputation...is nothing but a memory overshadowed by today’s great feats. A forgettable knight, heh heh!”

“Revali,” Urbosa sighs, “How long do you expect us to put up with your showboating and prattle?”

That when Revali finally turns fully to face the group, with a more grim glare. They’ve reached the top of the ledge anyhow, so they’ve stopped walking. This is where the camera can view the Lost Woods in its fullest as it zooms on Revali. Then, that ending is the same as the game with the pan up to Medoh’s presence.

“Fine. I’ve said enough. The time has come to show you what I’m made of. Now witness...Vah Medoh’s divine power!”

So that’s that. Revali is toned down a bit, and his rude remarks have more of a precision as to their point. It’s a bit hard to explain over words alone, but the fact that this scene takes place as the Champions are walking up the trail, means it’s a lot more interesting to look at. (Kinda like the walk and talk premise that you see in The West Wing) Plus, the trail being uphill establishes that hint of power dynamic as Revali is above everyone else. Also there’s just a bit of some botw dialogue connection, not only in just the opening, [Hwaoc Revali vs Botw Revali “Who would have thought” is put in different context based on their development, so it’s a good establishing point to show where this Revali is at in dynamics with Link in comparison to botw, all in just one line rather than in a more longer explanation] but I also scattered a few dramatic irony pieces in there heheh. There’s a lot more reasons why this scene is an improvement [and hopefully to you, it already *feels* better] but I’m not going to explain them until near the end, as its importance is connected to the later scenes of this Chapter.

In fact, that's the overarching change that I’ve made to these cutscenes, I’ve actually connected them and related them to the other scenes. This is the very first introduction to Chapter 3, after all, so it’s important that this introduction serves to be of more significance than “ok here’s the champions, here’s revali, there's medoh. Now go wreck stuff.”

Medoh’s fight is the same, the cutscenes after are mostly the same. Except here, when everyone runs into Korok forest and you see Astor, I want this scene to end not on Astor’s face (because it’s not as significant anymore since we’ve already see Astor in full in Chapter 2 with Urbosa’s stage) but it should end with Astor reaching out a hand towards the camera. The camera angle would be just a bit below Astor. This is because I want the implication to be slightly more clear that he killed those two Yiga underlings to craft the Hollows. It’s a nice little “watch it for the first time it doesn’t mean anything” but watching again it’s like “ohh how did I not notice that” kind of thing.

Then, Hestu’s introduction is roughly the same. I don’t think I really need to rework it too much, since Hestu as a character doesn’t serve anything major to the plot, so it’s fine for it to just be fun and cute. I will however, change just a few pieces of dialogue.

Revali: “Are we even making progress? We could just be going in circles.”

Daruk: “Good point. If only someone could fly above and scout the way.”

Revali: “As though I could see anything through this muck. Honestly, do you even think before you speak?”

Revali!!! Don’t be so rude to Daruk. Like yes it’s a bit funny, but that last part with “do you even think before you speak” is a bit much, because honestly Revali doesn’t really have a reason to hate Daruk. He’s characterized as being rude to Link and those he deems unworthy of respect, but Revali respects Daruk, Mipha, and Urbosa fairly well, considering they were chosen alongside him. So personally, I’d just tweak this to

Daruk: “Good point. If only someone could fly above and scout the way...”

Mipha snickers at this. And Revali mutters more quietly to himself, “As though I could see anything through this muck.” and gives little “hmph!” at Daruk, moving away.

There we go! It still serves it purpose of showing how the Champions are still not completely in sync (which is what I can assume was the original purpose of Revali’s rude comment line) but it’s played a bit more comedic (which makes sense considering this is in the context of Hestu’s introduction) and we get to poke fun at Revali, since just early we had spent so long boosting up his ego. Also Mipha laughing a bit with Daruk while Revali broods adds to that point of them being too busy to see Hestu right behind them.

Another small change, I don’t want Zelda to discover Hestu first. I want eggbot to discover Hestu, maybe they shake their maraca and eggbot notices and gives a little curious whistle. When Zelda notices eggbot not walking with her, she looks right, and that’s when she notices Hestu. It’s almost insignificant, but I really want to establish the eggbot’s presence for this chapter. Especially since this game writes him out of cutscenes a lot.

Final small change. That Hestu scene ends, not with Revali wordlessly shaking his head and following the group after hanging back. But with Mipha actively turning back, saying something like “Come, Revali. We should all stick together. It wouldn’t do for us to get lost.” and then a reply like “As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to mystic swords, magic trees, lucky knights, and walking eggs...I already am.” I’m just trying to keep intact that Nintendo “vibe” of flicking the character stances right in your face, especially since this game's only forms of telling the story are through these less than a minute cutscenes.

OKAY! Gameplay stuff. There are no real mechanic or level design changes to the Battle of Korok Forest, BUT there is one important change that I want to make here.

When the party splits up to take on the bosses in order to get rid of the malice. I think that the Hollows should speak.

Not like full on sentences and stuff (yet) but I think they should mumble and groan and be able to speak a few simple words. Now why do I say this? Well, let’s take a look at how I think we should introduce them.

First off, I think it should be a cutscene. Not just some 2 second animation where the Hollows spawn in. Nonononononono, this needs to be a cutscene, because it needs to be acted, because we need to see the character reactions. Like, if you’re gonna have that cliche “dark evil clone of the protagonists” thing, then you might as well go all out with the angst. In fact, personally, I would have rewritten is as the hollows actually *being* the champions and astor can temporarily control them but then when he sees that fail later in the game that can be his motivator for making the blights to kill them off since they’re no longer of use to him alive or whatever but we’re scrapping that idea because like I've said I want to try to keep the integrity of the original story.

Ok, so you have a character come up to one of the map points, and when they get there it fades into a cutscene. It’s not gonna be super long, but here’s the vision.

Character is in the lost woods, they killed a stalbokoblin or whatever. Just some low tier enemy, and then it dies and becomes that whisp of malice. Great. Character turns to leave, but then they hear something. Like a snicker, or laughter. Cut to this angle from behind the trees, but instead of astor it’s the character you’re playing as.

They go over to investigate, creeping closer with caution, until they see a shadow. The shadow of a small figure, about no higher than Link, with a long, trident weapon.

FWOOSH! An explosion of malice, almost like a fountain behind the character. They turn just in time to block the attack, the Lightscale Trident, but yet...it’s not the Lightscale Trident, because it’s covered in malice. Hollow Mipha is striking from the air, because this is basically her fountain teleportation thing, but malice. Once the character blocks the attack, time slows just a bit so you can see Hollow Mipha’s face, and then cut to the other characters face to give them a reaction. And that’s it.

Then you can pop back into gameplay, but there should be textboxes on the bottom where you can see the character’s surprised reaction like

[Unimportant detail, but if Daruk fights his Hollow self I want his reaction to be like “Woah! I sure look grumpy. I look like I skipped breakfast.” and then his gambit attack is like “eat THIS!” Also Revali can say something about how imitation is a form of flattery]

Through that fight, the Hollows also have like one textbox and a line of Evil™ mumbling and/or laughing once they’re defeated. The laughing is kinda used in a later scene, but it’s never really seen again so I just want that to be more prevalent. You all could probably think of more angsty “evil version of you” lines that are specific to each character, but I’m just thinking stuff like “You...won’t...last” or even just *muttering*. In fact, this is another thing that I want to flesh out with my gambit feature. It not only serves as interaction between whatever two characters you’re playing as, but also as interaction between your antagonists. So if you use a gambit on Kohga, he’ll say something specific about the characters he’s fighting. Same idea with Sooga, or Astor, and now here, the Hollows can say stuff to you.

There’s gonna be someone out there more creative than me out there that can think up some cool dialogue for them, but basically what I want to establish is that we know that these Hollows are made from people’s like, souls? Or life force or whatever you wanna call it. So it wouldn’t be farfetched to give them the ability to speak. Over the course of the game, I want their textboxes/dialogue to be more and more lifelike, like without the pauses or muttering. This is because the entire point of the dialogue is not only to serve that trope of “I’m the evil you I’m gonna say stuff that emotionally impacts you mwahaha” but it also makes them just a bit more menacing in my opinion. Also overall gameplay wise, I think they need to become stronger with the Champions because idk if it was just me, but they were so easy that I just forgot about them.

So! Korok Forest Battle introduces these creepy mumbling Champions, people react and are a bit freaked out, but they eventually clear the malice and we hit the next cutscene.

This is where the shit goes down.

You all probably remember how this scene goes down so I’ll try not to spend too much time explaining it. But here’s my two cents as to why I’m gonna rewrite it a bunch. I think it’s not a good villain reveal.

Like first off, it doesn’t establish Astor as a threat. His memorable action here is the summoning of the Hollows, and while yes, they do beat up Link and that’s very good, it also let’s Link easily beat them and Astor as soon as he gets the Master Sword IN THAT SAME SCENE. There was no time to let the threat of Astor linger, and when we see Link instantly beat him once he gets his Mcguffin, it really hinders the effect of this reveal.

Secondly, everyone is just silent during this??? Like, obviously Link doesn’t say anything, but Zelda doesn’t do stuff? Astor just kinda says “kill her!” and thats about it. Zelda never says “who are you?” or “what do you want?” or anything because as far as she’s concerned this is just some random dude, he’s not Yiga or anything. Also Astor never even introduces himself?? Throughout the entire game??? So while we the player know who he is because of his fancy title card, as far as all the characters are concerned he’s just a Mystery Clown.

It’s just super weird how no one asks any questions during this scene like no one acts like a human being with common sense. In fact, one could say that no one asks any questions for this entire game. Things just happen, and happen, and happen, and everyones just kinda chill. And then Zelda just kinda receives 17 flashbacks over the course of two minutes at the end of the game like she’s speedrunning botw memory%. Obviously having an aura of mystery over the course of your game is fine, it’s good to keep questions lingering over the audience’s head. Just so long as you answer them in a satisfactory way later on. Like, that’s not something I need to spell out for you right? If you set up a question, give the audience a good answer. If you set up a mystery, give a cool explanation. If you set up an interesting character you have to give the people a pay off that was worth their investment into them, right? Right? Right? You understand right? Cause as the writer for a story, it’s you’re to explain the significance and importance of why things happen in a creative way. It’s almost as if that’s the entire purpose of storytelling, you know, an explanation of events in a compelling manner. Like please, this is a concept that you are able to grasp right? This isn’t just me right? See that’s how writing works when setting up anything ever, you gotta give an explanation to the choices you make in the plot. You gotta explain why. You gotta explain why. Explain why. Explain why. Explain, why? Explain, why? Why? Why? WHy? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WH

Sorry I got carried away. Anyhow, here’s the rewrite.

Link and Zelda don’t enter the forest at the same time. They run through the wooden tunnel thing, and Link makes a gesture like “go!” while he stays back a bit to hold off some monsters like stal-lizalfos or something. So Zelda runs into the center of Korok Forest.

As far as any of the characters know, this is a safe haven now, this was their destination, so there’s no monsters here, so they’re good. The princess is safe, the Champions are just cleaning up in their respective corners of the forest with the Hollows, and Link is fighting off the monsters by the entrance. So while there is still tension from the battle, Zelda lets out a sigh of relief once she sees the Master Sword.

She approaches it, cautiously, but doesn’t step onto the stone pedestal, still staying a ways back in the grass. “We’re finally here,” she says to herself. “Now we just have to protect the sword, await for the hero to retrieve it, and await for destiny to arrive.” She looks down at the ground, and then at the back of her hand (fuck what hand was the one with the triforce, her left hand? I’m gonna say left hand). So she looks down at the back of her left hand, before letting it fall. She turns away from the Master Sword and to herself she just mutters, “I only wish that I could make as much progress in fulfilling my own role...in making myself to be of actual use, like the others.”

There’s a moment of silence as Zelda wraps her elbows and closes her eyes. Then,

“If that is what you wish,” a sudden voice echos, and Zelda spins around to face it, “Then perhaps I can be of some assistance.”

Cut to Astor, standing in front of the Master Sword, facing Zelda. Roughly where he is shown here, but Zelda is a couple feet away from him, standing on one of those rocks.

Zelda steps back in shock for a moment. “W-Who? Who are you?”

“Me?” He takes one step down the stairs. “Oh, I am just someone, same as you, who wishes to see destiny fulfilled.” Zelda takes another step back, and seeing this, he stops approaching. “Ease your mind, Your Highness. There is no need to be frightened. You may call me, Astor”

Cut to title card on his face, it can be like this, BUT, no malice or glowing magic around him, it’s all still lush green forest, and I don’t want as much focus on his astrolabe. It’s just his face, and he’s giving a warm, yet chilling smile.

Zelda is still stammering. “Y-You...do I……. how did you—”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters now is taking every step towards stopping the Calamity, correct?” Astor starts to take a step towards her again, and this time Zelda doesn’t flinch.

“Y-Yes. Yes of course. But I’m afraid I’m still a bit confused. ...What exactly do you...want?”

Astor doesn’t immediately answer. He steps off the pedestal and starts to circle around Zelda, eyeing her, but still with that creepy smile. “Tell me, Princess, how fares your recent training? Adequate progress, I presume?”

He continues circling around her, still a few feet away. Zelda looks to the ground, defeated. “I’m afraid not. I’ve been trying to aid the researchers with the Guardians and Divine Beasts. But when it comes to this power…” she looks down at her hand again. “...it seems despite my great efforts and restless hours of prayers, they have yet to awaken.”

Using his free hand, Astor places a hand on his chest, tilting his head in a sorry pout. The gesture seems exaggerated. “My...you poor thing. How harrowing this must be for you.” He continues walking, eyeing her as he circles behind. “But, I am certain it is not your fault. You are but a child, after all.”

“I…” Zelda is still staring at the ground in front of her. Astor continues.

“I mean really, have you ever stopped to think about how absurd this all is? A collection of mis-match warriors, demanded to pilot gods. A sword for an unseen hero. The lives of us all, in the hands of one girl. Expected to lead us all, awaken a divine power, and save the world, all before her 17th birthday…”

After a beat, Zelda finally looks up at him, confusion and suspicion back in her eyes. “What did you say?”

Astor stops walking, he’s back directly in front of the pedestal. The camera is on him center frame, so that when he turns to face Zelda, his figure blocks the sword.

“Now Princess, is that truly what you want? Do you really believe yourself prepared to live up to such a monumental task?” He’s walking directly towards her now, arm outstretched.

“I—” Zelda pauses, before shaking her head. “Of course not, but that doesn’t mean—”

“Yeesss. Precisely! You needn’t not let yourself live like this, like some beggar to the gods, like a failure.” Astor is walking more quickly towards her, and Zelda is stepping back.

Zelda lets out a gasp of fear now, as Astor approaches, there’s a swirl starting to form around the astrolabe in his hand. “I don’t understand! What’s your point, what do you want? Who are you!?”

He stops walking, he’s so much closer now, just a foot or two away from her. “It’s quite simple my dear.” He gives another smile. “I’m a man who wants to live.”

Fwoosh! The air around them is now tinted purple, the astrolabe’s power surrounding them both. Zelda gasps again.

“If we truly wish to see this realm prosper, we must accept the indisputable truth.” Astor reaches out his hand. “You are not worthy of saving this Kingdom. You do not have the power to oppose such an unimaginable enemy! Therefore I shall relieve you of your burden, for the sake of us all. I will steal, your, destiny!”

Astor is seconds away from touching her, before suddenly...the sound of a sword unsheathing.

Astor flies back, crumpling on the steps of the pedestal, he looks up to see Link, sword at the ready. Link had pushed astor back with the pommel of his sword [because no stabbing or blood for our PG Nintendo game] and the motion has cause him to drop his astrolabe, which now lies a few feet in front of him in the grass.

“Link!” Zelda says, relieved. From behind, eggbot also appears. It walks infront of Link and gives a little whistle and does that sassy pointing thing in the direction of Astor, as if telling him off.

Astor frowns when he sees Link, but when he sees eggbot his face morphs into confusion. “You…? But I…” he glances at his astrolabe. Astor gets up to retrieve it and stands.

“It doesn’t matter how you’re here again. You can’t stop this.” Astor summons the Hollows, and they appear in front of him. It was harder to see in the lost woods, but here in the lush grass, its undeniable that the Hollows are draining the plant life around them.

“Kill whoever he is. Fight the Guardian if you must, though I’d prefer it intact. But don’t touch the girl.” He narrows his eyes. “Her thread shall be cut by my hand alone.”

Then it goes into that action sequence. Link is desperately fighting off the Hollows, while also trying to keep eggbot close to protect it. The hollows are laughing, even taunting him, as Astor is just walking calmly forwards towards Zelda, and Link can’t do anything to stop it.

Then it’s roughly the same, Link flies back as his sword breaks. Zelda is kinda helpless. And then just as Astor is about to reach Zelda again, Link cries out, the Master Sword glows. Everyone looks back, confused. Link pulls the sword. Boss fight.

After the fight and after Link defeats Astor, he’ll say something like. “That sword...is too powerful.” and blah blah blah. He looks up at Zelda. “Should you come to your senses, Your Highness,” he hisses the words, “I will delightfully accept an invitation with your company again.” He glares at Link. “Perhaps one day, when we have more time, you will fully come to understand where your arrogance is leading you.” He stands, though clutching his side in pain. “Until then, I shall make certain we meet again.” Link charges him, but he disappears in smoke and malice. End the Korok Forest arc.

Okay so! Why is this scene better? Uhhhhhhhh because it fucking is that’s why. We got 1) A villain introduction that’s more menacing 2) an establishment of character goals, but a mystery of character motivation to keep suspense 3) a more insightful look at different character’s feelings and thoughts 4) a much more interesting interaction with dialogue that raises tension and properly climaxes to the action and 5) the story’s momentum moves forward with ascending action, and new story details that set up later scenes.

I find it absolutely absurd that in the original game, these scenes are not written with more impact. This is the first look into the real mystery and substance that the story has to offer, and the first real look into the prime antagonist’s head. The actions and stakes throughout Act 2 have to properly ascend and rise in order to truly keep the audience engaged. You can’t just rely on mystery alone, you have to make use of character goals.

Reiterating Zelda’s internal struggles means that this can more easily connect and flow into the later segments where she doubts her ability and sees Link and the others grow stronger. In addition, Astor’s presence is a direct foil to Zelda’s arc. You can already see it a bit based on his dialogue, but I will more fully explain the true depths of how his is a direct foil to Zelda further down the line when all the aspects of his character are revealed. It’s almost as pacing the amount of information you give about a character can properly incite your audience to be more invested in the story, hmm. Anyhow, all you need to know for now is that good antagonists have similarities and aligning viewpoints as the protagonist in the beginning of the journey, much more, than you might think.

= = = = =

That is it for now! I can’t believe I had to dedicate an entire section to just one battle. But! That is how the story must go, as I need to flesh out as much as possible in only a few cutscenes without ruining the pacing. Tune in next time for flashbacks, backstory, Yiga husbands, token Zelink hours, aaand perhaps just a bit of Impa simping.

#Hwaoc: The Kip Cut #Part 2 #hwaoc spoilers #long post #hwaoc #age of calamity #hw age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity

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magicalshitposts · 3 years

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I give you a small Roblink oneshot that takes place in the HWAOC timeline.

(Have an Ao3 link too!)

Touch, it was something that was so common to Robbie. With the hands he rested on his friends shoulders or the head that leans against their chests, when Robbie was around someone had to be prepared for a random weight that would press into the side of their body. And of course he didn’t do this with everyone. Revali said that the uninvited contact was unwelcomed, so he didn’t touch Revali. Impa would swat him away whenever he accidently lent into either her or the Princess, so he avoided touching them. Link, well Link was different. Robbie never went to graze arms with Link or place his head on their shoulders. all because of a few months ago. It was an event that still played on Robbie’s mind. He usually never overthought a situation (it’s why he did so much by accident) but this was an awful film that played whenever he found himself around the Hylian Knight.

The evening was dark and the wind was brisk, but the fire Link had so effortlessly set up seemed to thaw the air. Everyone had drinks in hand and was stood around the lake nearby, all of course except Link, who gazed at their fire with a look of solemn determination.

“Hey there Link-o!” Robbie waved his free hand and fell beside the knight.

Link waved back, short and sweet as ever.

“You alright?” The Sheikah asked, noticing Links unwavering stare.

They decided a conversation was probably due.

‘Fine thank you, Robbie. Why are you over here?’ Link signed, tearing their eyes from the blaze to the man sat next to him, ‘Sorry, that didn’t mean to be so rude.’

Robbie laughed, the dimples around his mouth reached the goggles that sat over his eyes.

“Hey don’t worry about it. I mean, I was the one who came over and bothered you”

Link shook their head and smiled. ‘I appreciate the gesture. Thank you.’

“Well gotta keep and eye out for my favourite hylian!” Robbie lifted the googles that covered his face and shot a smile at Link. It was the type that would make pretty much anyone swoon.

Link intended to sign back, but their hands got lost on the way, hovering in mid-air. They instead were encapsulated with the Maroon eyes they found infront of them.

While seeing Robbie’s eyes was not a rare or surprising occasion, seeing them like this? Link felt it was as rare as the tunic that lay over their body.

Link felt they could see every individual line that appeared in the deep red eyes. They accidentally examined every inch they could see. They were enamoured by the burn scars that sat over Robbie’s right eye. They looked like canyons with the light of the fire that casted over them. Link felt that these seconds staring at Robbie’s discoloured skin was a lifetime, and they would be fine if it was.

And then the moment broke.

“Link? You with me Hylian?” Robbie spoke grabbing the hands that had been firmly in the air for the last few seconds. Link shook out of their thoughts and looked to Robbie’s smirking face.

“Like what you see?” He brought Link’s left hand up to his lips and winked.

Link panicked and tore their hand away from the man that sat opposite them and stared with an expression that stabbed Robbie a billion times. Fear.

“Link… Are you?” Link looked away, trying to hide the tears that formed in their eyes, “oh Hylia, Link I’m so sor…”

Link had gotten up and left Robbie to finish his sentence alone. The flames didn’t seem to warm anymore.

The two had never spoke about the incident. They instead opted to avoid any mention of the night. Purah knew, of course. She seemed taken back that Link reacted to strongly to a relatively sweet gesture, but Robbie warned her not to judge. They didn’t know why the Knight acted the way they did.

“So, and excuse me for asking, why did you cry?” Zelda asked, sat at her writing desk looking at Link in the mirror.

‘It has been about 15 years since someone has touched me with kindness, and not an intent to harm or heal me.’ Link signed, ‘your highness.’

“Oh…” Zelda looked down at the papers strewn over the desk, “How did it feel?”

‘Unreal.’ Link answered, ‘almost like a dream.’

A silence fell across the room.

Link huffed to get Zelda to see what they were about to sign.

‘I wish I hadn’t cried. I feel I scared him off. What if that was it, and I’ll never feel the touch of pure kindness again.’

“Well, I can say people are afraid of upsetting you, but if you talked to them I’m sure it could be resolved,” Zelda then realised that her knight wasn’t scared of other people touching them with kindness but only those who they wanted too. She smiled in understanding and walked over to her knight, placing a hand on their shoulder, “and hey, our guardian researcher is dumb enough to do it again, just talk him next time.”

Link nodded, ‘thank you’ they mouthed.

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ranger-kellyn · 3 years

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apologies if you follow me on twitter bc i'm basically copy and pasting from there, but i'm currently feeling a LOT about purah and robbie so have a glimpse of my ANGSTIEST AU FOR THEM TO DATE:

Long Story Short: Paya isn't Impa's granddaughter :)c

Paya is her grand-niece.

Robbie's journal says that Purah had slipped away from him while escorting her to hateno while he was lost in thought, but the truth is she slipped away from him early in the morning, after one last night together, where she begged him to not say how strong he felt for her

Purah swears up and down she'll take the secret to her grave. If she tells Robbie she's pregnant, he'll either come running to her, or she'll go running to him. It puts the future of hyrule in danger, so she swears to take it to her grave.

Well...except for Impa, of course...

Impa is the only person she tells, begging her to keep it a secret, as well as begging to raise the child she eventually has as her own. [i'm naming him Lo for now] Purah thinks he'll have a better life in Kakariko, and that Impa will be a better caregiver than she could ever.

And Lo does live a good life. Impa takes excellent care of him, raising him like her own. She's able to easily lie about who his father is, claiming he was someone killed by the calamity. Impa does as much as she can, sending him often to see his "aunt", who is always overjoyed to see him.

Lo lives a good life. He marries. Has a daughter, Paya. Everything is great until he and his wife are killed at a relatively young age, leaving Paya in the care of Impa.

Purah is devastated at the news, coming so unglued over it that she unintentionally tells Symin WHY she's so upset over her "nephew".

Symin, the good sweet man that he is promises to take the secret to his grave.

Somewhere around that time, Robbie sends a letter to her about the birth of his son, Grante. His son's mother is obv Jerren (WHO IN CANON IS PURAH'S PREVIOUS ASSISTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

So Purah is a Hot Mess. Buries her feelings deep down about it all. Doesn't want to think about Robbie moving on from her to hER ASSISTANT. Doesn't want to think about how she never told Robbie he had another son. So she buries herself in her work.

Canon catches up around here. She de-ages herself. Link awakens. Calamity Ganon is put to rest. The day is saved.

Then one day, (Later on, to where she's back to the physical age she was at during Age of Calamity probably) while Purah and Symin are working on something, Paya shows up with a letter from Impa.

Poor Paya is all out of sorts. More so than the anxious girl normally is. Purah is trying to not laugh at her as she sits her down at the main table, taking the letter from her.

Paya, “I didn’t read it like grandmother told me not to, but I mean, I’m sure I can guess what it’s already about. She’s been on my case for no reason, Aunt Purah!”

As Purah opens the letter, she feels the blood ABSOLUTELY drain from her face as she begins to read.

Impa's letter reads, “Either you tell her about why she can’t be with Robbie’s son, Grante, or I will.”

She all but shoves Symin out of the building as she preps herself for what to even BEGIN SAYING

Purah, “So...Grante, huh?” she asks, keeping her back to Paya.

“Aunt Purah, I don’t see what the deal is! I thought-- I thought Grandmother would approve! After all- he isn’t just some nobody! He’s /Robbie’s/ son!”

“He sure is,” Purah mumbles to herself.

Purah, “How’d you two meet?” she asks. “He comes through Kakariko now and again as he travels. We met a few years ago, before the calamity was sealed.” Purah hums, blinking hard before yelling out “FUCK” which startles Paya out of her seat. “Aunt Purah-”

“DON’T-- Just! Fuck! This was not how any of this was supposed to go!”

“Please, I don’t understand,” Paya says, about to stand. Purah laughs in a bit of a manic way. “Trust me kid, you’re gonna wanna stay seated.” She sits herself back down, if only to appease Purah.

Purah, “You want me to rip the bandage or take it slow?” “Is this because you and Robbie were involved back before the calamity?" she asks, explaining pictures she's seen on the Sheikah Slate that lead her to think that, as well as Jerren's hatred of Robbie's nickname for the ancient oven of Cherry.

Purah laughs again. “It’s not NOT about that, y’know?” “Trust me! I considered that! It’s why I kept him at arm's length for so long! I figured it would be weird, but-- I don’t know.” Purah shakes her head. “Oh, honey, you don’t even know half of how weird.”

Paya tries to defend, “He’s a good man, I--”

“Look, look, Paya-- I could talk you in circles all day, so let’s just get this over with: You can’t be with Grante because I am not your aunt, and Impa isn’t your grandmother.”

Her face instantly shifts to confusion.

Purah's voice trembles, tears forming in her eyes. “Impa is your aunt, and I am your grandmother.”

More confusion.

“Which means, let’s see-” she thinks on it for a second, still trying her hardest to remain composed. “Grante and Lo would have been half-brothers, making Grante your…?”

INSTANTLY Paya’s horrified. “wAIT WHAT?!”

Purah finds herself falling into a deathly calm. Like she’s just. Watching. Everything happening around her, but not necessarily in her body. “The only people who were ever supposed to know were me and Impa.” She shrugs. “Symin only found out because after I was told your father was killed-- I could barely hold myself together. I never told Robbie-- and I live with that torment every day...”

Paya can barely keep it together, she ends up running out on her, using her powers to poof away before Purah can do anything to try and smooth things over.

- - - - -

aNND THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT SO FAR :D

If you've read this far i love you and welcome to my own personal angst hell :D <3

#purobbie #my fics #kINDA #more like an outline #and a-ok to reblog if u feel so inclined #i've been sitting on this angst nonsense for foREVER and i just gotta share it with the void #EDIT: i thINK? grand niece is the relationship i'm thinking of??? great-niece????#idk i'm a touch drunk don't ask me relationship definitions are Hard

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occasional-drabbles · 3 years

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I’m Not Him - Chapter 6 - A BOTW Fic

Okay!! This is the last chapter that I have already written at the time of queuing this! Hopefully I’ll have more coming shortly!

Read the Fic on AO3 Here!

Quick Summary of the Fic: This is basically a ‘What If’ Fic. What if Link had actually died in BOTW, instead of being resurrected? The Hero would have to be reincarnated... into someone who isn’t Link.

Chapter Warnings: Nightmare, ask to tag

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Kibo wasn’t able to force himself to sleep that night. So instead he sat under the tree until sunrise, completely silent as he played with the grass around him and listened to the restless crickets singing around him. Once it was light enough he felt safe to travel again without as many monsters showing up, he slowly got up and gathered his bag, starting the walk back to Kakariko Village.

It felt like it took so much longer than it did to get there, but he struggled to keep himself distracted. He gathered some ingredients on the way and sold them at the stable he passed, so he at least had some money to work with by the time he reached Kakariko. Stopping only as often as he needed to to rest and get some food in his system.

Princess Zelda didn’t really talk to him much, knowing he needed some time to process what he’d finally come to completely realize, and to cope with it again herself. But the connection was still there, open if either of them were to reach out. A reassurance that they weren’t alone right now.

Once finally reaching Kakariko, he went straight towards Impa’s house, even though it was already early evening. He’s just hoping that she’s still awake. Kibo knows that he should probably go to the inn and get some rest… but he just wants to know what he’s doing next. It’ll hopefully give him something else to focus on besides just how dangerous his quest is.

So after knocking on the door and getting a response, he carefully walked in.

Lady Impa was immediately concerned by his appearance, ushering him closer and looking him over. “My boy, what happened? You look exhausted.”

Kibo gave her the best smile he could muster for now, carefully taking the Sheikah Slate out of his bag. “I got the Sheikah Slate.” He answered.

Thankfully, she seemed to piece together what must have happened pretty quickly on her own, her expression saddening just a little. “I see… You saw your predecessor…”

Even though it wasn’t a question, Kibo still nodded his confirmation, focusing on the slate now, running his fingers over the back of it. “What...what now? What’s my next step?” He asked, looking up at her once he could muster up the courage.

Impa focused on him, seeming to hesitate on her answer. She shut her eyes after a moment and took a deep breath, looking him in the eyes once she opened her own. “Now, you should go to the lab in Hateno. The director there will be able to ensure the slate is ready to work for the rest of the journey.” She instructed.

Kibo felt his heart skip a beat at the mention of going back to Hateno. He knew exactly where the lab was, having looked up to it almost every day of his life. He was always curious, but the kids weren’t really allowed to go up and investigate for themselves. But going to Hateno means he risks running into… literally anyone. It’s a small enough town that everyone knows everyone. And it’s only been about a week since he ran away from home.

Were his parents looking for him? Would people try to drag him back home if he was found? Would the director try to send him home when meeting him?

Impa must have noticed how anxious he was starting to get, as she raised her hand just slightly to get his attention, speaking up again once he seemed more focused. “For tonight though, I suggest you stay in Kakariko and rest. At least through tonight. You seem exhausted, child. It’s best not to make that trek in your condition.”

After a little fidgeting, she produced a small bag of rupees, offering them to him. “I realize I should have given this to you before you left for the Shrine of Ressurection, but it slipped my mind… I apologize. Now please, go to the inn and get yourself a room. And come by before you leave.”

Kibo was hesitant to accept the bag, but knew that he needed all the help that he could get. So he gratefully accepted it, bowing his head for a moment in gratitude. “Yes ma’am… I’ll do that. Thank you.”

Impa’s expression softened as she nodded, relaxing in her pile of pillows again. “Good. Now go rest, dear boy.”

Kibo gave another nod, adjusting his bag and finally leaving the building, going to the inn after glancing in the bag, adding his own rupees to the mix. Enough to stay in the inn and have some left over. At least he’ll be in a bed for the first time in a week.

After securing a bed and asking to be woken in the morning, he left his things underneath it with the exception of a sword, heading just outside of the village to try and do some training. Yes, he’s exhausted and logically knows he shouldn’t be doing this. But he doesn’t have time to waste. He needs to try and get better. So he tried to mimic what he remembered the Sheikah guard doing during his test.

You should heed her advice and rest, Kibo…

Kibo paused for a moment when hearing the Princess, taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes.

“I know… But I want to get some training in. I’ll go to bed at sundown.”

There was a hesitation in his mind, the feeling of her wanting to say something, but being unsure. It was a common feeling lately, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

I cannot stop you… but… I do worry. Please, rest soon…

Kibo just hummed in response to show he had heard, not that he really had a choice when she was literally in his thoughts. Then he lifted his sword and practiced his strikes again, eyebrows furrowing as sweat dripped off his chin already.

A few hours later, when he finally went to the inn just after sundown, he was exhausted. Putting on clothes that were more comfortable for sleeping, after taking a moment to wash up so he wouldn’t stink up the inn, he laid down on the bed. But sleep didn’t come as easily as he wished it would.

At least, at first it didn’t. Then there was a melody in his head, one he didn’t know, but somehow felt familiar. He managed to focus on it as he shut his eyes, listening to the humming that he assumed was from the Princess. Maybe a lullaby she was sung as a child.

Ever so slowly, as the melody continued, he felt the tenseness in his muscles relax. He was able to enjoy the softness of the bed and pillow more, his brain slowly becoming foggy with fatigue until he couldn’t fight it anymore, finally succumbing to sleep.

Unfortunately though, it wasn’t a peaceful one. Visions of the previous Hero, so much stronger and more capable than him, lying dead in that room still haunted him, even in his sleep.

Then it was visions where instead of Link’s body, it was his own. Where he failed Princess Zelda, where he wasn’t good enough.

He died without ever accomplishing his goal.

He woke with a sudden jolt, pain shooting through his chest. As he quickly sat up, struggling to control his breathing in his attempts to get enough air in his lungs, he frantically rubbed at the tears that were falling down his cheeks with shaky hands.

The humming in his head had gone silent. Maybe the Princess was asleep. Meaning he’s alone with his thoughts. With those nightmares and visions.

He pulled his knees to his chest and backed up until his back hit the wall, pressing himself into it and putting his forehead into his knees, choking back a sob. He didn’t want to make a lot of noise and disturb anyone. So he did his best to keep his crying quiet, even as his shoulders shook. He even took to biting his arm sometimes just to muffle himself.

By the time he had run out of tears, he was also out of energy. So he slowly sunk down into the bed again, hiding under the covers and pulling them over his head. He shut his eyes because they hurt so much, letting out a shaky sigh of relief when he just saw black.

Hoping that this time he’d be able to sleep without nightmares, he let fatigue take him again, falling into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

#botw #botw fic #loz #loz fic #loz botw #botw au #loz au #loz botw au #loz botw fic #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #fic #writing #my writing #original post #I'm not him #im not him #kibo

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hyliangrace-a · 4 years

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oh, i ended up spending so much time on this, but - it’s done ! it’s far from perfect but i’m pretty satisfied that there’s a visual guide to my idea of hyrule, post-seven years war. & now, god help you all, i’m gonna talk about it lmao. click here if you want to see a full-sized version of the map, but i’m also gonna put it under the cut in this post with the original map for comparison, & go on for a bit about how hyrule has, in my interpretation, changed under zelda’s rule.

( this gets long. like, really long. like, over 4,500 words long. read at your own risk. i’d say i’m sorry, but i’m really not. & fuck drawing water features forever. )

first thing’s first - the map !

( apologies for the giant watermark underneath it all but i’ve had my shit stolen before & i’m not enthused at the idea of having it happen again. clicking it open in a new tab should make it bigger if the link above doesn’t work. )

so, it’s slightly bigger than the original map which is featured in the game, haha. here’s a comparison of the two, actually, with my map over the top of the original so you can see what’s been changed or added & where. i’ll talk about what got added & why in a bit, i want to speak just about the actual map, first.

i did my best to keep the main locations of hyrule as specified in the game in the same place, & i think did an okay job, tbh ! my biggest nitpick was just how many dang cliffs & rockfaces there are on the original map. i know they serve a purpose in-game, which is completely fair, but they limited worldbuilding a little by making the map so small, so i took some liberties. not with every cliff, of course - i kept some in the southwest to keep the border between gerudo valley & hyrule field intact, & kept the ridge the river runs through - partly for the sake of continuity, & partly because i’ve always loved the fact that falling into the river in the valley washes you down to the lake. expanding them into a new area was fun, too, because at least then they go somewhere, rather than just locking you in to a certain place.

my main point of contention, to be honest, was the giant rockface in south hyrule field. again, i understand why it was there, but, come on ! so i ended up just doing away with it all, letting it lead a path to two new areas i’d like to work into zelda’s canon. the map just fades out in certain places, too, particularly the gerudo desert, so i ended up expanding that a little more & having it lead into the cliffs above lake hylia - the river already runs from the valley to the lake, so why not have more of the desert lead into the mainland ? the mountains, too, got their range expanded, because they just seem so ... small, in canon, when they aren’t being used specifically as dungeon locations. i’d say the only place on the map i didn’t expand in some way is that little gap between zora’s domain & the kokiri forest - the forest is so hemmed in & the domain is literally inside a mountain, hidden behind a waterfall, so i was happy to just let that be empty space. if you manage to climb over the cliffs surrounding the domain, or break through the treetops in the forest, you get a view of the ocean, & that’s that !

it was fun to look at the maps of the games that came chronologically before this one & see how the position of things in hyrule change, but i’m kind of glad that there was only the three before ocarina of time, because the mountains alone move across the map at their leisure, good god. there was a bit of freedom in it, too, because in zelda’s canon timeline, the gods are going to flood hyrule anyway, so i could make whatever changes i wanted because it’s all gonna end up underwater & unseen in the end - plus, it meant i could add in more mountains to take up empty space on the map, because the hylians have to flee somewhere to escape the flood, & i don’t think the peak of death mountain could hold them all. most of the new locations were inspired by the minish cap, more than any other, so i’m going to start at the top of the map & move down to talk about them.

i always loved royal valley & the royal crypt in the minish cap, to be honest. it was spooky & cute, & i’m surprised it, or a concept like it, hasn’t made much of a comeback in later zelda games. the royal family’s tomb being in kakariko village never bothered me much as a kid ( other than the fact their headstone gets utterly destroyed & you get assaulted by what we can only assume are the zombies of previous hylian rulers ??? & then it’s just left open for anyone to stumble in & possibly loot slash get murdered by said zombies ??? actually, y’know what, this bothers me a lot more as an adult, what the fuck - ) but kakariko was a village founded by the sheikah, originally for the sheikah, so i did always find it a little strange that at some point, a ruler of hyrule went ❛ that’s cool, you do you, but make space for us in your graveyard. ❜ i know the history between the hylian royal family & the sheikah is implied to be murky ( thank you, shadow temple ) but that’s a meta for another day, so i’m not gonna go into too much detail, but it’s still something that sticks out as strange to me. call it the sheikah continuing to guard the royal family in death or whatever, but, hm. weird. anyway !

the point is, after the seven years war ends, zelda decides that what originally belonged to the sheikah should be given back to the sheikah. kakariko village was opened up to non-sheikah by impa prior to the rise of ganondorf, & that’s her perogative & not something zelda would ever dream of interfering with, but that applies to the living, & those who die within the village deserve to be buried in the same place. it takes time to get around to the rebuilding of hyrule castle & its’ town, but when it’s time to plan for it, zelda chooses to utilize the abandoned valley which lies behind the castle as the new home for the royal crypt, but not solely for that ! she establishes & sponsors a university on behalf of the royal family, with special consideration going to the preservation of hylian history ( a lot was lost in the hyrulean civil war prior to her birth, nevermind the seven year war following that so quickly, & we can see in other zelda games, such as twilight princess & breath of the wild, historical preservation within hyrule is ... terrible, to say the least. of course, it will all be washed away when the goddesses flood hyrule, but fuck, at least she tries. ) the university also covers a range of other subjects, but history is the one zelda takes an active interest in, & she spends a lot of time with scholars who specialize in it. the royal crypt lies at the very back of the valley, the university being closer to the castle, & then ... watch this space ! i’m likely to add more things to areas around the map in the future.

hyrule castle & hyrule castle town i’ve left in the same spots, pretty much - i imagine the castle is rebuilt to be something like the one we see at the bottom of the ocean in wind waker, but i intend to put my own spin on that, too. zelda wouldn’t be focused too much on getting a castle up agaiin ( i’ve mentioned in a thread before that two years post-ganondorf, she is still sheltering at impa’s house in kakariko village, as rebuilding for the civilians is her main priority, & whilst i haven’t figured out exactly how long that lasts for, it’s a safe bet to say a good few years ) & she definitely wouldn’t want to be living anywhere especially y’know, grandiose & opulent, if her people were still struggling day to day. the castle town bounces back better than ever, expanding a little more to the left over time, but that’s a gradual thing. no real change except a distinct lack of redeads, which is always a bonus !

death mountain & its immediate surroundings, i was happy to leave as they are - it’s marginally wonky in place compared to the original map but it’s not a severe drift from canon, so lets just pretend it sits a little more to the left, shhh. it’s a volcano built into a mountain with a network of caves both inside & adjacent to it, plus a place of worship built into the heart of it, & you can’t really go wrong with that, so i focused on all that empty space beyond them left on the map. minish cap came in clutch again, because by fuck, did they have a mountain range, so i ended up dipping in to it for the names of this one. the gorons are clustered at the forefront of the mountain because everything beyond their city has been mined to the absolute death by those who came before for its resources, & abandoned by the same in turn, but they still send patrols to make sure it’s fine.

there’s a story of how, before the gorons settled into the mountain, a man of great strength climbed the mountain alone to make his home within it - he faced eruptions from a then-hostile death mountain, fought off the creatures who called the range home & weren’t fond of sharing, & forged on to what was said to be the edge of hyrule itself. it wasn’t, not quite, but it was far enough away from the central provinces of the kingdom that the mountains became capped with snow, contrasting the temperate mountains to the west. the story goes that the adventurer decided to call the furthest reaches of the mountain home, & singlehandedly carved out what would become the beginning of the mines, in order to gather materials for his forge. it’s been disputed whether said man was hylian or goron, as the biggoron family claim lineage from him, but the mountains he once inhabited are named for him now, & are one of the places zelda hid whilst on the run & masquerading as sheik - despite the extreme temperatures playing havoc with her & nearly killing her, it’s one of the harder to reach spots in hyrule, so it provided a measure of safety that other places could not. melari’s hold lies in the northeast, but the cold spot on the mountain travels further south than would be expected, resulting in a cold spot - the ice cavern - to the north of zora’s domain.

real quick, fuck zora’s domain. there was no way to make the water feature coming from here look decent, or properly portray the types of cliffs it’s surrounded by, so please don’t judge it too harshly. at the end of ocarina of time, zora’s domain is still said to be frozen, but recovering from the curse ganondorf placed on it, which, great ! i’m gonna say, i could be completely off here in how it works, but i wanted to change things up a little, so if i am, i don’t mind that much. i like a bit of artistic license. also, if we can have literal fish people, a genderless species made of rock, children who don’t grow up in a magical forest which horrifically warps those who don’t belong, & a giant fucking overworld field where the skeletons of what look like fucking children come out to fight you at night ? i’m okay with this reckoning being off a little.

so, eventually, zora’s domain unfreezes. i personally imagine, as ganondorf’s power ebbed from hyrule, that the process started slow, until one day, it wasn’t. it’s said that zora’s fountain is the source of all water in hyrule, with the domain lying under the mountain it rests on top of, & a few secret passageways here & there, which is fine, usually - the fountain never froze, just the domain beneath it. that becomes a problem, though, when the magical freeze put in place by ganondorf wears off, & the excess water from the melt ends up flooding the domain. not a problem from those who live within it, with the zora being essentially amphibian in nature, but when that excess water begins seeping out into the fountain, through cracks in the mountain, through the entrance granted to those affiliated with the royal family ? that all goes over the fountain, down the sleepless waterfall, through the river, & that river completely bursts its banks. the water level of the river rises significantly, washing away much of the path previously taken by those who wished to go to the domain on foot, causing minor flooding in hyrule field as it travels downstream, & resulting in the waters of lake hylia rising when the overflow reaches it, hence the lake being larger in my version of the map. the rebuilding of a path to zora’s domain ends up becoming one of the earliest projects zelda undertakes as queen but it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare for a while, considering that, with princess ruto ascended as a sage, zora’s domain is now in a succession crisis. does it have much bearing on zelda’s life ? not especially, but i thought it was a nice bit of worldbuilding, so here it is.

kokiri forest, the lost woods, & everything within doesn’t change much. with the dark magic vanquished from the forest, & the great deku sprout able to thrive, the forest continues to grow, & overgrow. it’s still dangerous to outsiders to go within, still dangerous for anyone to enter the lost woods without a fairy companion to guide them & save them from a grim fate, but the children of the forest do grow somewhat braver about stepping out from their home to see the rest of hyrule. it never lasts long - not all of the kokiri are as brave as link was, after all, & hyrule is so vast compared to what they’re used to - but it sparks their curiosity & their desire to explore hyrule which eventually trickles down to the wandering koroks.

the area to the south / southwest of the kokiri forest is entirely my invention. as i said, in-game, it’s just cliffs to hem you in & prevent you from breaking the boundaries of the world, but there’s none of that in roleplaying, so i just … did away with them entirely. part of this is lake hylia not being as hemmed in by these walls as it is in-game, opening up into a new river & streams which travel through the south & southeast. crossing this river leads to three paths - take middle path, & you may find yourself in what’s known as the rito village. now, i’ll say here, i know that the rito don’t technically appear in hyrule until after the great flood, when the zoras somehow sprout wings, but nintendo’s strange decisions don’t change the fact that there are many wonderful people in the zelda rpc who play rito characters with crossover verses that let them interact with those who play characters in other parts of the timeline. in order to better facilitate interactions with these roleplayers, i decided fuck it, rito village in ocarina of time. canon can be easily bent. if, however, i’m writing with someone who wants to adhere to strict canon, then it’s just other hylians who live within the village, & rito is just the name chosen for the village, with no connection to the as-of-yet-unevolved race, just a nice little coincidence. regardless of who lives in it, though, the village & its name are fixed here in a southern woodland, with the village nestled amongst the hills within.

cross the bridge to the south & take the third branch in the path, you’ll find yourself inside the bremen woods. i honestly haven’t got much to say about the bremen woods here, but it’s not because i don’t have ideas for it - i have another headcanon brewing concerning myths, fables & fairy tales within hyrule, because … i am just that type of nerd. about eighty percent of my blogs before this one involved fairy tale characters in some way. it is, as the kids say, extremely my shit, & i’d like to tie the bremen woods into that, so i’m going to save what i have to say for that headcanon, but don’t worry. it’ll probably be a lot smaller than this one. ( thank god, i hear you say. i know, i know. i’m still not sorry. )

cross the bridge, then, & take the first branch in the path, & you better have a sword with you. the castor wilds are a lawless place, which is fitting for the corner of the world where the last remnants of ganondorf’s forces lie. any that weren’t killed during the restoration of the kingdom were beaten back to the edge of the world, & it’s not a friendly place. the last of the monsters shelter in a run-down settlement known as dragmire’s hold, the last place where those who sympathize with the king of evil can speak freely, & it’s murder to get to. the entrance to the wilds is a marshy swamp, thanks to the run-off of lake hylia, but if you manage to get through the mire, the land begins to dry out until you reach the hold, where the earth struggles to bear fruit & it seems the grass refuses to grow. it is, in a few words, fucking grim, & as a result, the go-to place for banishments within the kingdom. zelda isn’t a fan of harsh punishments, but she’s no fool, not anymore, & she won’t abide those who plot to throw the kingdom back into chaos, be it in service of ganondorf, or their own selfish natures. it’s rare that anyone actually finds themselves wandering the castor wilds, unless they actively choose to adventure there, but it is a very good threat, considering its reputation as the land where the devils live.

jumping across the map entirely, we come to the cliffs of coroa to the left of lake hylia. another spot on the map which is notorious for being hard to reach, the cliffs are an inviting challenge to those who want to boast of their climbing skills & durability. if getting up the cliffs doesn’t kill you ( & there is a very real possibility that it will, especially if you fall, ‘cause this water ain’t soft ) the journey down might do it instead, & that’s if you survive your trip at the top. there has been rumours of a great treasure hidden away in the cliffs for years, though the debate on what it might be was pretty intense, if you got into it. for a time, some thought the legendary blade rested within the cliffs, & only those who could brave the rockface would be able to lay a hand on it; others argued that it contained more mundane, but still desirable, treasures, such as a great haul from a band of thieves, left behind when they were hunted down by the crown, growing only more valuable by the minute. some, with sense, said that the only thing atop the cliffs was certain doom for the morons who tried to make their way up them. the truth ? there’s nothing up there. sometimes, cliffs are just cliffs, & those who try to scale the ones facing lake hylia truly are fools. the gerudo people, however, had the right idea of how to get to them.

again, another aspect of canon i was happy to leave as it was. the gerudo desert is a vast, harsh swathe of land, continuously assailed by sandstorms, bordered to the north by what is called ❛ the great sand sea ❜ & to the south by the haunted wasteland, & it’s not hyperbole. spirit guides appear to those who seek the temple of the goddess of the sand, but very few have ever made it through the wasteland if they enter in pursuit of something else. one of the few who did was the gerudo heroine, ashai. a well respected warrior amongst them, ashai was the younger sister to the exalted rishika, the chief of the gerudo at the time, & one of the first to vow to conquer the wasteland & see what lay beyond the storm. though her sister cautioned against it, as tales of people becoming lost in the wasteland were not uncommon, ashai was a headstrong young woman, & she could not be swayed. she took with her a party of twelve, & in time, three returned to tell their story. ashai had forged a path through the ever-shifting sands & left it well enough marked that her companions were able to find their way back. it’s said that some succumbed to madness during the journey, tormented by the ghosts of the wasteland, whilst others fell ill whilst they traveled, choking on the sand which gathered in their lungs. seven of them made it through the wasteland to the valley which lay beyond, but ashai had grown sick during the crossing, & knew she would not make it back. instead, she spent the time she had left exploring the valley, & found a way through it to the peak of the cliffs of coroa. the legend says that is there she died, watching the sun rise atop the cliffs, speaking only of her sister, & her companions laid her to rest within the valley, which her sister then named in honour of her. whilst the gerudo are happy to let those who have proven themselves attempt the journey to the desert colossus, no outsiders are permitted to walk the valley of ashai, where a shrine was built for its namesake - it is considered sacred to them, & the journey to pay respects to ashai is now part of the trial given to those who wish to become chief of the gerudo, should the bloodline of the previous chief die.

that covers just about all the main areas & landmarks of hyrule, i think, so to move on to the last thing, the various settlements, villages, hamlets you see across the map. hyrule is a big place. yes, quite a few of the races are localized to certain areas, & yes, it’s entirely plausible the hyrulean civil war could have decimated the population, with the seven years war exacerbating that problem, but hyrule field just looked so … empty, once everything else was finished. so, rather than stick to a number of locales i can count on one hand, i threw a few more settlements across the map to try & make hyrule feel more like a real kingdom. not to breath of the wild’s extent, of course, but just something a little more than what was given. all those who survived the fall of hyrule castle town apparently fled to become refugees in kakariko village, which was opened to all by impa, which is fair, but i imagine as the world returned to something close to normality, & families started growing again, the village would quickly find itself overwhelmed. as queen, zelda would make it a priority to make sure none of her subjects go homeless - she knows all too well that struggle - & so she would begin a program to make sure there was enough villages or townships for every one of her subjects. those who volunteered would be given a set amount of money & plots of land across hyrule to build a home, which zelda would then personally visit to inspect, to make sure her people were thriving.

there’s little to say in detail about them all as of right now, as i’m still fleshing them out, but i have a few basic ideas. most of the settlements were named after the first to attach themselves to the project, but the names have the potential to evolve over time. they certainly won’t retain the hamlet / settlement status, that’s for sure. the offer wasn’t restricted to hylians, either - any other race in the land was free to join, though only a small number of gerudo accepted it, the others preferring to stay in their homes & travel as they need. ciela’s settlement was the one spearheaded by the gerudo who accepted zelda’s offer, hence its proximity to the valley. a lot of young men volunteered to go to this settlement, but zelda was happy to let ciela make her own call, & many were knocked back - only those with what ciela deemed viable skills were allowed in, & still, it’s very much a female dominated settlement, but it is thriving under her leadership, & blossoms into a successful village as time goes on. lon lon ranch is, well, lon lon ranch. with funding from the crown, talon was able to take on more staff & expand it at his leisure, but it is one of the very few places in hyrule which has stayed constant over time, & he was quite content to keep it that way, & zelda content with his decision.

to the south of lon lon ranch lies damia village, the largest of all the settlements from its inception. led by a fearless young man who gave his name to the village, it is a hub of activity which could rival hyrule castle town. with damia came many like-minded people, all eager to forge their own path in the world & prove themselves as he had, as he had been part of the group which volunteered to help beat back the remnants of ganondorf’s forces. many of the families within damia village are the families of soldiers who work at the castle & it has gained a reputation for being a village full of strong, capable, trustworthy people. arborwood, which lies further to the south in a more rural location, is an outlier in that the one who volunteered to lead in this settlement didn’t wish to put their name to it - they didn’t want glory, just a place to call home where they could finally live in peace. arborwood is an agriculturally focused village, filled with farmers & those who possess green thumbs. a lot of trade is done between arborwood & all the other villages - everyone in hyrule became proficient at growing & hunting their own food in the past thirty years, as was necessary to survive, but it’s nice to have a place to get food from which specializes in high quality meat & crops. why hunt rabbits, when arborwood can provide venison ?

last but not least, lynna’s hamlet, which settled at lake hylia at the request of the owner of the lakeside laboratory. as he was getting on in years, he wished to find someone to continue his work, & so specifically requested that any like-minded hylians settle close to the lake so that he could impart his wisdom & let them take over. he got quite a few more people volunteering than he bargained for, be they scientifically inclined, interested in cataloguing the history of lake hylia, or just desirous of a change in scenery. the smallest of the new settlements, lynna’s hamlet never truly flourished the way others did, but the buildings were never empty - as time went on & people began to move elsewhere, it became a popular spot for those who traveled the land to rest at when they came to the lake, with a very successful inn eventually being run by the lakeside, its doors open to any who wished to visit.

it’s not a lot of worldbuilding when it all comes down to it, compared to other things, but this is something that i’ve wanted to do for a long time. as i’ve mentioned in the section regarding the bremen woods, more headcanons are likely to follow regarding places on the map & how they change & evolve as time passes during zelda’s rule, but for now, there’s this ! something which makes hyrule feel less empty than what it was before, whilst still respecting canon, somewhat which was the goal all along. if you’ve made it this far, holy shit, go outside & feel the sun on your face. it’s been eighty-four years - but i can’t thank you enough for reading ! at least next time, the headcanon won’t be so long. i hope.

#⌜ ❛ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʀɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜɪsᴛᴏʀʏ & ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪᴛ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴛᴇʀᴍs. ❜ ⌟ ✦ ( headcanon. )#( eight. eight pages & 4700-odd words of rambling in google docs #i can't believe i spent so much time on this oh my GOD #but it's done !! it's one am & i'm going to bed but i have to get this out into the world before i go #tomorrow i swear i'll get more actual roleplaying done but for now have ... eight fucking pages of THIS i guess #if this is incoherent please let me know good god )

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fatefulfaerie · 4 years

Text

Night

First post of 2020. Pre-Calamity. I shouldn’t even try to call this a oneshot because it’s really long and I honestly don’t know what else to do with it except dump it here and see what happens. Might be chaos. You know what, it’s a longshot, I’ll embrace the pun just this once because it works. Making history over here.

What have I become?

A starry night glistened in the darkness, the sun long set and the moon high. The noises of insects and nocturnal animals were left unheard within the castle walls, the calm night rather unsettling.

Link breathed a sigh as he looked out the window, his hands drifting down to its’ sill. He bowed his head as he stared at his hands, calloused and worn from training.

A battle, that which, he knew not of. He trained endlessly for a fight that seemed both near and distant all at once. More and more he wished it would never come, that the Sheikah who prophesied the Calamity was fluent in gibberish.

Suddenly, Link heard three knocks at his door, his head popping up and his blue eyes alarmed.

He strode to the door cautiously, wondering at length who in Hyrule would call on him at this hour. His eyelids already had some weight, his fatigue creeping upon him like the impending threat to Hyrule.

Link opened the door lethargically with a creased brow until his eyes widened.

He felt paralyzed as the Princess entered his room with a distressed exclamation, the wild gesture of her arms showing her frustration as she walked further into Link’s quarters with an odd urgency.

“H-h-hi,” Link stammered in shock as he held the door open for no one.

She had never been in his quarters before, and surely there were tons of protocols that dictated against it, especially at this hour.

“Unbelievable!” she exclaimed as she started to pace back to forth. “I just...ugh!”

Link closed the door, his concern melting his expression.

He stepped towards her in her chaos, her anger steaming and rushing her to and fro.

“Hey,” he said gently, placing his hands on either of her shoulders. “Look at me.”

Zelda settled as her eyes found his.

“Tell me,” Link said. “What happened?”

The Princess gave an exhale. Her hands gestured surrender, giving in to the calm that Link was encouraging.

Link’s hands slid off her shoulders as a result.

“My father was waiting for me,” she started in a slow way, apparent that she was trying to keep her anger at bay. “I dismissed you for the night, walked in the library, and there he was.”

Zelda crossed past Link as he winced at the thought. The Princess sat on his bed in such a comfortable way that it didn’t seem improper at all.

Link followed suit, sitting next to her with a look of concern in his turned head.

“I just stood there as he yelled at me...I didn’t know what else to do. I had spent half the day away from praying to Goddesses, riding around a Hyrule with the Yiga Clan surely in wait. He had his work cut out for him as disciplinarian with me as his daughter.”

“He had called it gallivanting, scolding me for such frivolity. He couldn’t understand that...I just wanted a break.”

Zelda’s voice broke as her shoulders went up, her fists clenching the fabric of her pants.

“I’ve been trying so hard to unlock the sealing power...he...he can’t see it.”

Link placed a hand on her shoulder when he heard the change in her voice, how the coming tears warped her words.

“All he sees is my failure...and I...I can’t fix that when that’s all there is to see.”

“Zelda, you know that isn’t true,” Link implored, insisted, in fact.

“It’s what he told me,” Zelda said as her eyes met his, the green swimming with waves of new tears.

Link shook his head.

“I’m sure he didn’t,” he said, his hand coming off her shoulder.

Zelda nodded with a sniffle of her nose.

“How can you be so careless?” She relayed, her head going downcast. “No daughter of mine would try so little. Your failure can only be a fault of yours.”

Link felt something inside him completely sink, like some part of his body was torn from him.

He inhaled to speak, wishing to find words in a way that had eluded him in the past.

“He didn’t say anything after that,” Zelda said, speaking before Link could. “I could tell he wanted to, but the anger in his eyes told me that I didn’t want to hear it.”

“What did you do?” Link asked.

Zelda sighed.

“So much less than I wanted,” she replied. “I wanted to shout and scream, with the same anger that was in his privilege. I envied his candid rage as I stood there in the library, alone. I…didn’t know what else to do but stand there.”

“I felt directionless as I exited the library,” Zelda continued. “Weak...vulnerable...his words ringing in my ears, clouding yours and mine. I started to believe him.”

“Zelda…” Link replied. “You can’t. Nothing he said is true. You are so much more than a goddess reincarnate, than a weapon for Hyrule.”

“Like you are?” she retorted as she looked up.

Link was bewildered by her response, at a loss for words.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I just feel like that’s all we are here, tools and toys to be used and played with. Destined to be discarded in the wake of failure.”

Link was silent as he stood up, pacing to the opposite wall before stealing a glance at the Master Sword. It was resting on a wooden chest, sheathed and away.

Sometimes, Link preferred it that way.

Yet his train of thought shifted quickly as something came together in his head. He turned around swiftly to face Zelda, studying her hesitant expression.

His brow furrowed in contemplation, his head tilted slightly as his concern grew.

“You were angry when you came in here,” he said. “Not sad and despondent.”

Zelda’s eyes met his.

“Something else happened,” Link ascertained as he stepped forward. He focused greatly on the rising anger in her green eyes.

“He must have been looking for me...I don’t know how else he found me.”

“Who?” Link asked.

Zelda didn’t respond.

“Zelda, you’re starting to scare me,” Link said. “Who found you? Were you attacked? There should have been guards posted—”

Zelda waved her hand to stop him.

“Do you remember that Sheikah bard?

Link searched in his memory as a crease developed on his forehead.

As far as Sheikah went, there was Impa, Purah, Robbie...but they were all scientists and historians…

“He gave me flowers last week,” Zelda prompted, hoping that would be enough to jog his memory.

Link was the worst at remembering things sometimes. Zelda joked with him often that he would contract amnesia in his old age. To which, of course, he would refute her claim that he would need her help to reclaim his memories.

Mostly as a sense of pride, somewhat as a sense of playing along with the banter.

And a small part of him didn’t want to think about how much he wanted to be by her side in his old age, and all the ages before.

“Oh yeah,” he said as the memory overcame him. “I didn’t like hi—”

He stopped himself, realizing why he was the topic of their conversation.

“I wasn’t in the mood,” Zelda started. “My father had already taken everything out of me. I tried to tell him that I was tired, but he insisted on having a word with me.”

Link pulled up a chair, sitting across from Zelda and leaning his elbows on his knees.

“He...apologized for being so forward, attributing it to my early departure tomorrow. And then he...he…”

Zelda took a deep breath.

“He told me that he was...in love with me,” Zelda said, Link’s heart sinking and an anger rising within himself. “And that he wishes to court me.”

“What did you say?” Link asked timidly.

“I…didn’t get a chance to say anything before…”

“Before what?” Link inquired, his anger now showing.

“He...he tried to kiss me,” Zelda said, Link standing up in his reaction, resisting the urge to grab the Master Sword and track him down.

“I pushed him away before he did,” Zelda continued, Link’s hands balling into fists, “rejecting his proposal...but he was so angry…he didn’t understand that I had a mind of my own, that being a reputable target for men to fawn over didn’t lower my standards...that asking me warranted giving me a choice, and therefore respect.”

“It angered me how little he must think my opinion is worth, the way he tried to convince me of his own merit, I...I was fed up with once again having to stand there and listen to someone devalue me...my opinion…I...I snapped.”

Link turned his head to her in a fast motion.

“I told him something,” Zelda said. “That I shouldn’t have...loudly and improperly, without thinking. And...it made him more upset.”

“What could you possibly tell him that would upset him so much?”

Suddenly there were three more knocks on the door, Link and Zelda’s eyes widening as they met.

She stood up quickly, in her expression a building panic.

“I can’t be here.”

“You can’t be here,” Link repeated.

“They’ll think we…”

Zelda stopped at the inference, and Link shook his head at the thought.

He strode towards the closet, judging it’s size.

“It’s too small,” he said as he looked behind him.

But Zelda was already crouched near the bed, looking underneath.

“I think I can fit under here.”

Three more knocks came at the door, alarming Link and Zelda.

“O-one second!” Link called out.

“For goodness sake,” Link said quietly as she crawled under. “If whoever it is finds you here.”

“They won’t,” Zelda whispered, retreating further backwards into the space under the bed. Now on her stomach, she stopped moving completely, knowing she’d have to live with the discomfort.

The Princess heard the door open, Link exclaiming a suspiciously nervous,

“Hi!”

If Zelda could move, she would have buried her face in her palms.

“Hi…” the mysterious guest said slower.

But, soon enough, it was no mystery to Zelda, the tones of the Gerudo chief ringing in her ears.

“I don’t know where Zelda is,” Link said, Zelda wincing.

“I know,” Urbosa said as she let herself in. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh...Oh...kay..?”

“Close the door, Link,” Urbosa said as she crossed her arms. “Unless someone else is joining us?”

“Y-yes, of course,” closing the door.

“You seem more...talkative than usual, knight,” Urbosa commented, glaring down at the short-statured champion.

Link chuckled nervously.

“Perhaps that’s for the best,” Urbosa said. “I wanted to talk to you about Zelda.”

“What about her?” Link prompted.

“I’m just concerned,” she said with a sigh. “You probably spend the most time with her nowadays...I just want to make sure that you aren’t afraid to truly be there for her.”

“Y-yeah totally,” Link replied.

“Especially tomorrow,” Urbosa continued. “If her powers don’t awaken, she’ll surely blame herself...and I’d hate for her to feel that way.”

“Of course,” Link said sincerely.

“She’s like a daughter to me, and if I can’t be there for her...I need your promise that you will. I know it’s not technically part of your duty, but...she needs you.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” Link replied. “I...actually don’t know how I couldn’t support her like that.”

Urbosa narrowed her eyes slightly.

“So, you like her, huh?”

“Of course I—oh you mean like like...uhmm…”

Urbosa raised an eyebrow as Link gave a nervous chuckle.

“It, uhh...it isn’t...”

Link cursed that he could never quite find the words. Now would be a great time.

“...appropriate to talk about her in such a manner,” Link finally said with relief. “L-let her be her own person, you know.”

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

“Wait, what?” Link asked, panicked.

Urbosa laughed, the type of hearty laugh that only Gorons or Gerudo could brandish.

“I’m just kidding,” she said as she headed towards the door. “Lighten up a bit, hero.”

“And get some sleep,” she said as she departed, closing the door behind her.

Link gave an exhale of relief before kneeling to look under his bed.

And, sure enough, a pair of green eyes met his pair of blue.

“I imagine you don’t want to stay there all night,” he said with a smirk.

“I’d rather not,” Zelda said as she crawled out. Link watched as she stood up, dusting herself off.

“Never a dull moment, I suppose,” Zelda added, trying to fake a smile as she sat back down on the bed.

“Are you okay?” Link asked with concern in his eyes, sitting beside her.

Zelda sighed, closing her eyes.

“I’m just so tired of everything.”

“Except you,” she said, opening her eyes to see Link’s, their longing gazes piercing into each other as they stared.

“Sorry,” Zelda said averting her glance. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that.”

“It’s okay,” Link replied. “Honesty is good.”

Zelda met her back to the bed quickly with an exasperated sigh. Her hands entangled by her fingers, resting them on her forehead.

Link only looked to her over his shoulder, resisting following her actions.

“Have you ever thought about what you are going to do after?”

“After?” he asked.

“After all this,” she clarified. “Calamity Ganon...after we are done. What do you think you’ll do?”

“I don’t know,” Link replied. “I guess I haven’t thought about it.”

“I envy you,” Zelda said.

“Why?” Link asked, turning to her fully as Zelda propped herself up by the shoulders.

“You could do anything you want afterwards,” Zelda explained. “Go back to Hateno, settle in Lanayru, travel as you please. My father would surely understand if you wanted to resign your commission and would pay you handsomely for your deeds as the hero and as my attendant.”

Link turned away from her, leaning his elbows on his knees.

“I would give up much for that freedom,” Zelda added.

“Hyrule needs you,” Link countered.

“My father would disagree.”

“Your father isn’t the future,” Link said as he turned, locking eyes with her and putting a hand to his knee. “You are.”

There was a silence as Zelda looked down, pondering his words.

“Would you mind humoring me,” she said quietly. “Please? Just this once.”

“You say that a lot, you know,” Link said with a slight smile, turning to face her completely and crossing his legs.

Zelda only looked up, those pained green eyes apparently all he needed to be convinced.

Link shrugged before looking down, running his fingers along the bedspread.

“I’d probably stay here,” he said, his voice almost a mumble.

“You’d be promoted,” Zelda said, Link pursing his lips in response. “Is that really what you want?”

Link looked right to her at the question, his piercing blue gaze staying long enough for her to look at it skeptically.

“Yes,” he said, averting his glance. Zelda sat up as she did the same.

“But…” he started hesitantly. “There are other things I would love if I had the freedom you so described.”

Zelda eyebrows furrowed.

“Link...what are you talking about? You could do anything you want...I don’t understand.”

Link gave a small smile.

“It’s nothing,” he said as he stood up. “And if you are in here any longer, they will send search parties after you.”

“Oh come on,” she pleaded, also standing up. “I can keep a secret. Tell me what you want, m-maybe I can help.”

Link looked to the ceiling and whispered,

“Goodness sake.”

“Do you want to get caught in here?” he asked normally, turning her around to face the door.

“No.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Zelda turned around excitedly with a pointed finger.

“And then you’ll tell me what it is you want?”

“Sure,” he said, teasingly. “If you unlock your powers I’ll tell you all about it.”

Zelda scoffed, punching him playfully on the shoulder.

Link laughed, holding his hands weakly in surrender.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Link said with a continued laugh, before he forced a seriousness, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry.”

"I know,” Zelda said with a smile, slowly heading to the door.

“Hey, umm...Zelda?”

“Yes?” she asked, turning back around.

“When we get back from Lanayru, I...I know it’s against protocol, but...I want you to know that you’re welcome in my quarters anytime.”

Zelda smiled, Link eyes widening in response.

“Oh goddesses,” he said as he panicked running his hand through his hair, “I didn’t mean it like that, I...I swear...I just meant any time you need s-someone to talk to, I-I’m here, well not here specifically, I could be other places, you know, knight attendant...stuff...with you! You’re there! You know!”

Zelda was trying so hard not to laugh, her hands now over her mouth.

“No! N-not with you specifically, I meant…”

His words faded.

“You’re laughing.”

“Yes?”

Link chuckled.

“I suppose my embarrassment is worth it if it gets you to smile.”

“I suppose so,” Zelda said with a shrug.

“Goodnight,” he said, opening the door wider than he likely should have.

“Goodnight,” she replied before he closed the door with a respectful nod.

Yet, he lost all countenance once it latched close, his back and his head meeting the door.

“You,” he said. “It’s you I want, you silly girl.”

#breath of the wild #botw #link #zelda #zelink #calamity ganon #hyrule #Hyrule castle #urbosa #the champions #the legend of zelda

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scatterpatter · 4 years

Text

Breath of the Wild (and Hyrule Warriors) take place in the Child Timeline [Theory]

This is 100% Theory and I could be Totally Wrong but hear me out, because this makes perfect sense from my perspective and all it involves is considering Hyrule Warriors as a “main game”, talking about it under the cut cuz this is a long one

Okay so everyone knows that the Zelda timeline is a bit wonky, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but ever since Breath of the Wild came out the biggest question is “What timeline does it fall under?” And at first it seems like it should be an easy answer... except not. Ritos and Zoras co-exist, locations are named after characters that reside in any of the three timelines(even TERMINA), so on and so forth, it seems like it somehow dips into every timeline, which should be impossible... until I blow your mind.

Well one big thing we know is that wherever Breath of the Wild takes place, it takes place at the end of its timeline. So for BotW to have references to each timeline, it seems like there was some sort of... timeline convergence? Except that’s not how time works. Timelines can be split, but not thrown back together.

Here’s where I blow your mind, just roll with me because this’ll make sense once I explain: Breath of the Wild takes place in whatever timeline Hyrule Warriors takes place. I’ll go into detail why I’m convinced of this in a short bit.

First, I just want to throw the canon timeline from the Zelda Encyclopedia on here so we’ve got all our other games into one basket:

The only inconsistency note I’ll make is that Hyrule Historia places Oracles of Ages+Seasons before Link’s Awakening, though I believe this was retconned later on, and since Zelda Encyclopedia came out well after Hyrule Historia, we should believe this version more. But that’s a moot point anyways since that won’t affect my theory, just thought I’d mention regardless

So if we’re going to follow my theory on the fact that BotW is the same timeline as Hyrule Warriors, we need to find out which timeline Hyrule Warriors falls under.

First off, we know that Hyrule Warriors takes place sometime after Ocarina of Time, because Impa recognizes the name “Ruto”, so the events of OoT already happened. Therefore, HW has to take place in one of the three split timelines

I’m convinced that Hyrule Warriors does not take place in the Adult Timeline for the following reasons:

We don’t see much of the land of HW’s Hyrule, but it seems like a solid continent and not a series of islands, so this likely cannot take place before Spirit Tracks

The Triforce, Ganon, and the Master Sword are not seen since Wind Waker in the Adult Timeline, so this likely does not take place after Wind Waker

While Spirit Tracks is a new continent and a new Hyrule is established, Spirit Tracks introduces a new insignia, which involves a Force Gem, but everywhere in Hyrule of Hyrule Warriors we see the “traditional” insignia with the Triforce.

So with the Adult Timeline rendered nearly impossible, this leaves the Fallen Timeline and the Child Timeline, and I’m about to explain why HW most likely takes place in the Child Timeline

You see, Hyrule Warriors is an... interesting plot. In that the main antagonist, Cia, opens what’s called the “Gate of Souls”, or “the doorway to time itself”. With her powers, she essentially opens rifts in time and space so that areas such as Skyloft, Death Mountain(OoT’s), and Twilight Field(Hyrule Field from TP) are now within Hyrule Warrior’s world

So we have worlds from Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess opened. The reason why these worlds specifically are because of Ganon. Before the events of Hyrule Warriors, in one of Link’s lifetimes we haven’t seen in any Zelda game(yet), after Ganon was defeated, he was split into four pieces. 3 pieces were scattered across time and space, the fourth sealed away with the master sword that Link eventually uses in Hyrule Warriors. Now let’s take a look at where each piece of Ganon was sealed:

Lake Hylia(Ocarina of Time)

Sealed Grounds(Skyward Sword)

Palace of Twilight(Twilight Princess)

Master Sword(Hyrule Warriors)

What’s VERY important to note here is that while, yes, Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time exist in every timeline, Twilight Princess only occurs in the Child Timeline. It was at this point I realized: the main story of Hyrule Warriors only covers these settings/characters, and makes a Majora’s Moon reference one time, but all other instances of characters from other timelines occur as DLC. And we’ll get to the DLC stuff shortly, but let’s focus on the “main” story first.

It’s quite possible that this Link before Hyrule Warriors, when splitting Ganon into 4 pieces, only had access to his own timeline to seal Ganon away. It isn’t until we get the powerful sorceresses Lana and Cia do we start opening rifts to other timelines. This makes me believe that Hyrule Warriors takes place in the Child Timeline

Side note: Goron Forces appear to be a mix of OoT Gorons with TP Gorons, judging by their tattoos

Also, no Sheikah appear in any of the games of the Fallen Timeline, whereas we have Sheik and Impa(who are both Sheikah) in Hyrule Warriors. This still lines up because even though not-explicit, Impaz from Twilight Princess is implied to be a Sheikah, implying Sheikah traditions are passed down through the Child Timeline and eventually to HW

“But Scatter!” You cry out, frustration setting in “What the hizzity heck does this have anything to do with Breath of the Wild?!”

*Leans in close to you and grabs you by the collar*

~This is the part where I blow your mind~

So now that we’ve established Hyrule Warriors most likely takes place during the Child Timeline, yeah? And I said earlier we’d get to the DLC?

Let’s talk about the DLC.

So we now know that Cia and Lana are capable of opening and closing rifts to other times, even other timelines. Let’s look at some of the DLC characters that are playable in HW as a result:

Marin(Link’s Awakening- Fallen Timeline)

Ravio and Yuga(A Link Between Worlds- Fallen Timeline)

Toon Link, Tetra, King Daphnes, Medli(Wind Waker- Adult Timeline)

Toon Zelda(Spirit Tracks- Adult Timeline)

Skull Kid, Tingle, Young Link(Majora’s Mask- Child Timeline)

These, combined with the SS+OoT+TP characters from the main game, and we have access to settings and characters from all three timelines.

Now we could assume that after the events of Hyrule Warriors, the main characters never open a portal to another timeline again... but we could also assume the opposite. It could be entirely possible that the people of Hyrule Warriors regularly looked into these other timelines to learn from them. To study their past and alternate timelines really isn’t a farfetched idea when you have the power to do so.

With these portals opening, it’s quite possible that yes, Zoras and Ritos began living in the Hyrule Warriors world, explaining the co-existing of both races by BotW. With the technology that Spirit Tracks provides, the people of Hyrule Warriors could have eventually learned to build their own vehicles and machines, eventually leading to the Guardians and Divine Beasts. The ancient robots of Skyward Sword could have also contributed to these, alongside possibly paving the way for Sheikah technology, such as the Sheikah Slate, to be developed. Twili technology could also contribute to this, as well as whatever the heck is going on with Ganon in the BotW2 trailer.

With knowledge and access to other timelines, it makes perfect sense that the Child Timeline would face an immense industrial/technological boom in a very short time, leading to the Sheikah Towers, the Sheikah Slate, the Divine Beasts, the Pillars under the Castle, the Guardians, the Shrines, and more to be made for the battle 10,000 years before the events of Breath of the Wild. Sometime between then and the Great Calamity this technology was mostly lost(Zelda Wiki says this was due to fear over the power of such technology leading the Sheikah to hide their tech away, though I’m not sure where exactly in-game this info is revealed), paving the way for Breath of the Wild to occur.

There is no timeline convergence. Breath of the Wild takes place in a Child Timeline that obtained the ability to open rifts to other timelines.

Also one last little detail- this isn’t solid enough to be “evidence” but doesn’t hurt my theory either: Hyrule Warriors Link is the first Link to wear blue, meanwhile Breath of the Wild Link wears an entirely blue tunic

While this can’t be concrete evidence that the 2 are linked(HAH GET IT BECAUSE LI-), it could be possible that HW-Link started the trend of heroes wearing blue accessories. Again, a bit more of a stretch, but doesn’t hurt my theory either

So there you have it! I firmly believe that Hyrule Warriors and Breath of the Wild are both in the Child Timeline due to this evidence! And I’m so mad that of all games, Hyrule Warriors was the one to tie it all together XD

#loz #botw #hw #hyrule warriors #breath of the wild #the legend of zelda #zelda #zelda theory #and listen i know matpat was all 'bUT THE CAP AND THE LYNELS' but hey that could be a result of opening time gates too #long post #i hope i explained it well- sometimes something makes perfect sense to me but i have trouble getting others to see from my perspective XD

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jinmukangwrites · 5 years

Text

Alone

Summary: They think Wild had no one on his adventures, but they were wrong. Wild had a very special friend. He had a wolf.

-o-o-o-o-

Link wakes up alone. It's suffocating and he wonders how the emptiness of the room around him could make him so claustrophobic. There's a girl in his head, telling him his name and what he must do, but that is all he has. His body seems to move on it's own as he stands from the chamber and does as the voice tells him. He seamlessly walks and moves and opens chests without a single memory of him doing it before. He slips on his shirt and pants and walks out into the world he has never seen before but it all feels so familiar.

Like home.

An old man talks with him and he finds he knows how to talk too, though in a different way. The man speaks and Link lifts his hands and signs without thinking about it. The old man understands instantly and continues on like normal. Link then has an apple, and then he moves on towards the point marked on his slate, fighting strange creatures along the way.

And then his adventures begin.

It all goes by quickly, he journeys into the shrines and comes out a bit stronger easily. He gains new weapons, shields, and even a new tunic meant for the cold weather. He does it all without speaking a word, without single person offering to help besides the old man who has promised him a paraglider.

Eventually, he finishes everything, he learns the real identity of the old man and he discovers his own role into this world he was brought into one hundred years late. He gets his paraglider, ready to begin his journey to Kakariko Village to meet with a woman called Impa.

He remembers, all that time ago, how he stood at the edge of the great plateau, looking at the great horizon, the castle, the volcano, the rivers, the sky, everything and thinking he was responsible to bring justice to the entire land. He remembers jumping off the cliffs and gliding down towards the ground.

He remembers still being incredibly alone.

-o-o-o-o-

He's on his way towards Kakariko Village. The horse he rides neighs happily as he pats her neck. He has just caught her and registered her in the stable. He named her Epona, though he doesn't know why. He's never heard that name before but it sounded right, sounded like the correct name to gift to the strong, chestnut mare.

The forest passes slowly besides him. The weather is cool and the sky is clear. He rubs his stomach, thinking about how filling his last meal was and what he'll have to gather to make the same dish later. He also needs to find apples to give to Epona and find a nice river for water. He let's go of Epona's reigns for a second to glance at the Sheikah Slate. It's mostly black except for the small area he was in. Kakariko Village is just a days ride away, he can get there by the next evening if he pushes Epona a bit harder.

A little notification pops up suddenly at the bottom left of his screen. His eyebrows come together and he looks up at the sky, noticing how the puffy white clouds are slowly but surely turning a dark grey. It is to rain soon. That will slow him down.

He sighs and looks around him, there's cliffs to his side and depending on the wind he can make a comfortable shelter there to avoid getting wet in the incoming storm. The first rain drops begin to fall, making Epona shake her mane in discomfort when they land on her nose. He lets out a half amused snort and jumps off as more rain begins to fall. He guides her over to the cliff and sits back. He has some wood and some flint, he can make a fire and maybe just sleep the storm off. His stomach grumbles and it's Epona's turn to made an amused snort. He glares at her, signing that he's going to eat her apples, and she seems to either understand the threat or just not care about it because all she does is roll her eyes and bend down to nibble on the grass.

Link is lucky, the wind was blowing in such a way that his little spot by the cliff is completely dry as he sets up the fire. He pulls out some fox meat and begins to roast it with an old Bokoblins Spear as the sky darkens with the clouds and the setting sun. He wishes he had a bowl so he could add seasoning to the meat, but for now he'll have to settle. Beggars can't be choosers.

He pulls out a small bag of apples and stands to give Epona some food. She eats the fruits out of his hands with content whinnies and soft hooves kicking at the ground. The smell of meat overcomes the smell of rain around the time Epona is satisfied with her meal. He grabs an apple for himself and is about to sit down and check the meat when suddenly a branch snaps in the darkness.

With no hesitation, he grabs the sword at his back and holds it out in front of him. He glares at the shadows, searching for movement in the darkness. Epona makes a nervous huff through her nose.

The only thing he sees is what is illuminated by the orange glow of fire, so he attempts to go by sound. That turns up fruitless when the only noises that meet his ears is the patter of rain and the crackle of fire.

He's about to chalk it up to be his imagination when another snapping twig catches his attention, making his ears twitch. He spins around, senses on high alert, towards where the noise comes from and his breath catches in his throat when he sees a creature too big to be a fox, yet too small to be a bear. It's form is cloaked in darkness, from it's dark fur and from the shadows it's hiding in, yet he can see it resembles more of a dog from the stables; however, he knew this isn't a dog, this is something wilder.

He shifts and it's eyes flash with the light of the fire. He can hear it panting through it's large snout. It lifts a giant paw and steps forward and Link growls at it, lifting his sword ever higher. Epona stomps her hooves nervously behind him. It stops and blinks, tilting its head as if to say "what are you doing that for?" before it lets out a small whine. It's eyes travel down to the hand that isn't holding the sword, but the apple. It blinks as it's gaze traveled to the fire behind Link, where the fox is still roasting.

Link swallows and thinks maybe the creature is just hungry. He looks down at his apple and throws it a few feet away. The animal makes an excited bark and chases after the apple, biting into it with enthusiasm.

With his now free hand, he moves it to his chest and moves his fingers up and down. Hungry?

The creature finishes the apple with gusto and begins to pad towards Link. Epona makes a scared whinny and Link plants his feet into the ground, trying to look threatening. Yet, the creature seems to roll its eyes as it walks straight at him. Link knows he should attack the creature. It's teeth are sharp and it's big enough to maybe make a horse it's prey, but something stops him from doing so; maybe it's eyes that are much too wise to belong to any creature, or maybe it's the almost familiar personality of it. He doesn't know. All he knows is that he's completely still as the creature fully reveals itself in the light of the fire and bumps it's head against Links leg affectionately.

It's fur is as black as twilight, or most of it is. It has a green mane and tail and he finds as it turns over onto its back, yapping at him, that it has a white underbelly. It's fur is decorated with beautiful white designs that look almost painted on, too unnatural to be it's natural fur.

Link doesn't think before he let's the sword down and kneels down next to the creature. He slowly puts his hand down on it's belly and rubs the soft fur. It whines with content and wiggles closer so Link is petting it with both his hands, a smile tearing at his face.

He instantly adopts this strange creature as apart of his terribly small family, because there is something about it that says "you're not alone anymore, cub."

-o-o-o-o-

It's a wolf, Link discovers later. And a "he". The word comes to him randomly just like the sign, a clawing motion at his face. Link doesn't have a name for the wolf that intends to travel with him, but the wolf doesn't seem to mind. Link soon finds himself calling the creature what it is; Wolf.

Wolf travels everywhere with Link, even the places where Epona cannot follow. Epona at first didn't like to watch Link and Wolf go off on their own, but soon she too was melting for the gentle creature, enough so to share her apples with him when it came time to eat.

Wolf sits and watches as Link lifts his sword and practices against a tree, sometimes he seems to want to join in whenever Link stumbles or makes a wrong move. Yet he doesn't, he just growls like he was telling him to do it again. Wolf taught Link how to hunt, using the wind to his advantage. He sat with Link and let him cry against his fur whenever a nightmare he couldn't remember wakes him up, he seems to know exactly how to curl around Link at those nights to make him feel safe. He fights with Link, making sure every Bokoblin or Moblin are dead on the ground before he allows Link to pillage. He sits by Link when he finds a place where his memories lay, and it comforts him with a head against Links hand when the memory is too much.

It falls into a beautiful pattern and Link doesn't remember the loneliness he had felt back when he first woke up. He has Wolf, and Wolf will never leave him except for the times he knows Link must go in alone. Yet he will sit and wait patiently for Link to leave the Divine Beasts or the shrines and jump at him, licking his face, when Link does return victorious.

Link didn't think that would ever change, not even after so many months. Not even as he stands at the castle gates, ready to fulfill his destiny with the Master Sword in hand. Yet, he stands there now and Wolf has a sad look in his eyes, saying the Link has to go in alone. Saying that they will never meet again.

Link can't stop the tears from falling from his eyes as Wolf looks up at him sadly, as if saying goodbye. He bends down and rubs Wolf's ears with one hand and wipes at his eyes with the other. Wolf whines and stands up, he walks over and presses his whole body against Links legs as his own little goodbye. His own hug.

Link knows it's time to go, and he turns before he could hesitate. Zelda has waited long enough, she doesn't deserve to be kept waiting longer just because Link couldn't handle a goodbye with a wolf. He walks and opens the gates with his slate and he's a few steps in when he turns one last time. Wolf is sitting proudly, staring at him with his wise eyes as he begins to materialize into the air in the form of black particles. In moments, Wolf is gone, back to wherever he came from.

Link is alone.

-o-o-o-o-

Link doesn't trust the people in front of him. He doesn't trust most anyone but he has learned the faces of his world, and he has never seen these ones before.

They're all shades of blond with various lengths of pointed ears, but each look almost the same, like someone had taken a painting and repainted it in their own style in a multitude of times.

"You're name is Link?" One asked, he was taller than most in their group, yet not the tallest. He seemed the most stocky, yet Link can tell that it isn't fat on his body, but muscles. A white cloth stuck out from the rest of his garments, wrapped around his neck like a cape. "You can call me, Sky-"

"What do you want?" Link demanded, his voice raw and scratchy. It's been a year since the fall of Calamity Ganon and Zelda has been helping him with his speech, but he's still not very good at it. He prefers to sign, but that's hard to do when you're pointing a bow armed with multiple arrows at a group of people.

The wind blows lazily in Hyrule Field as the group of strangers looked at each other, trying to come up with some sort of explanation.

"You're Hylia's chosen hero, yeah?" Another asks, a blue scarf wraps around his neck. "That's the Master Sword?"

Link had only heard so much about Hylia, he mostly just knew of her from his small prayers to get more strength at the statues. He doesn't know what they mean by being her chosen hero, but he does wield the Master Sword. The comment on his sword makes him get into an even more defensive stance, people commenting on his hero status and his sword usually end up being Yiga.

"You have five seconds to surrender, traitors," Link growls as he pulls his bow string further back. The group tenses and reach for their own weapons, though none is drawn. "Before I destroy you all."

The oldest one steps forward suddenly and Link let's an arrow fly, landing right at the feet of the man. He doesn't even flinch. "Listen, you are part of an ever turning cycle of heroes. Surely you have heard of past… incarnations of chosen heroes."

Link steps back and reloads his bow. He has heard of that, mostly just stories and fairy tales. The sword alone is proof enough of past heroes. "Why?" He asks.

"Because, something is happening," another voice adds, this one looks older than most the group. His hair is dark compared to the rest and he looks like he grew up in a tribe instead of a city. There are strange markings on his face. "Something is bringing us all together, Link. We're all… heroes. All of us are Link."

Link studies the stranger. He looks sincere, genuine. Yiga Clan members usually give up after a few sentences at keeping a disguise. None would keep up the facade this long. Link's eyes travel up and rests on the person's face. His eyes… they're familiar.

Something flashes in the back of his mind, a small creature he hasn't seen for such a long time. Eyes, so wise and kind. The marking on the wolf's forehead… are the same as the man before him.

Wild stumbles back as if he's been shot by an arrow. The bow drops from his hand as he recognizes the stranger… the friend in front of him.

Before he can even think of it, his hand goes up to his face and goes outward as if creating a long snout. Wolf… a human version of him… looks at him with confusion but seems to relax since Link has dropped his bow.

The others smile and relax too, thinking that they had succeeded at convincing Link, but he had his eyes trained on Wolf… on-

"I'm Twilight, by the way," Twilight says, stepping forward and holding out his hand hesitantly.

And it's at that moment, that Wild knows he will never be alone again.

#linked universe #hero of the wild #wolf link #link #legend of zelda #botw #breath of the wild #fan fic #jin writes #hero of twilight

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katedoesfics · 4 years

Text

Shadows of the Yiga | Chapter 38

It had been over twenty-four hours since the Champions had found a chance to sleep. And though they were anxious to get Link to the spring as soon as possible before they missed their chance, they knew they would not have the energy to defend themselves should they be ambushed in the process. Begrudgingly, they agreed to set out in the morning, and one by one, their exhausted bodies quickly succumbed to sleep.

It was late when Mipha found Link, sitting alone in the living room. Except for the glow from the tv, the room was dark. She sat on the couch beside him, pulling her legs to her chest and letting her cheek rest on her knees. Link was staring at the tv, but wasn’t really paying attention to it, but simply spacing out. The news anchor was still talking, the volume too low to hear what was being said, but based on the footage on the screen, Mipha was sure that there was speculation about Zelda and Link. She caught a glimpse of the words scrolling across the bottom of the screen: Hyrule's Hero and Queen – Traitors? – Missing in Action.

Mipha turned her gaze to Link, but he was looking off into the darkness. She moved closer to him, pushing his leg to the side until she was able to lay against his chest. She sighed softly and closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. He leaned against her head and breathed her in. She listened to the beating of his heart. It felt like years since she had been this close to him, feeling his chest rise and fall with each breath, reminding her that they were still alive. Those days in high school felt like a lifetime ago, and here they were, back in the hopelessness of war.

Mipha turned her face up to Link and pressed her lips softly against his. He was hesitant, but after a moment, his body relaxed against her as he deepened their kiss. He pulled away just slightly, meeting her gaze. He searched her eyes, saying nothing for a moment. He closed his eyes and let his forehead rest against her. Mipha moved her fingers across his cheek, then pressed her palm against his skin.

“Will you promise me something?” Link finally spoke, his voice soft and hoarse.

“Of course,” Mipha said. “Anything.”

Link pulled away and met her gaze once more. “Take care of Aryll.”

“No,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “No, Link. You'll be here for her.”

He looked away from her, staring into the darkness once more. “You don't know that.”

“I do,” she said, her voice cracking. “You can't give up, Link. We'll fix this.”

“I'm not giving up,” he said, his brows knit together.

Mipha sat up. “Then what?”

Link turned his gaze to her again, but said nothing.

“You know I will,” Mipha said. “But I won't have to, okay? Promise me that?”

“I can’t make promises like that,” Link said. His brows furrowed. “I have no control over what happens to me. You need to understand that. If we don’t find a fix for this, I’ll be gone. That’s the reality of the situation.”

Mipha blinked through her tears and pulled her gaze away. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you have to accept it,” Link said.

“Accept it?” Her voice shook. “Accept your death as an inevitability?”

“There’s a chance I won’t come back tomorrow.”

She turned back to him. “I won’t accept it. You think you can prepare us for this, but you can’t. I can’t watch you leave tomorrow and be okay with the fact that you might not return. I won’t say goodbye!”

Link pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Then don’t,” he whispered against her lips. Despite thinking he had accepted his fate, he so desperately wanted to stay alive. To stay with Mipha, and Aryll, his father, and his friends. He wanted a chance. Just a chance to make everything right. With his father back, he was so close. It was all just out of his reach, and he wanted it more than anything else.

“We need you,” Mipha whispered against him. “You are not a tool. You are so much more than just a hero. You have not outlived your purpose, Link. Hylia… she wouldn’t reward her Chosen Hero like that. She won’t let you die.”

Link hesitated. “How can you be so sure about that?”

Mipha smiled at met his gaze. “Because I have faith in her.” She shrugged. “And I’ve seen some pretty crazy and unexplainable things over the years. Things that prove what she’s capable of. Proof that she won’t just dispose of you like that.”

Link was quiet. She wasn’t necessarily wrong. He desperately wanted to believe her; to have as much faith as she did. But even in that moment, he could feel the darkness hovering in his mind, ready to take over in an instant, threatening his entire existence. Still; they had one more trick in the bag. If Hylia really was on his side, the spring would be just the solution they needed. If they made it in time...

*****

Link hadn’t seen his father at all after he had stormed in the house. He knew from Aryll that he drove off shortly after, and no one seemed to have seen him since. So when morning came and they were preparing to leave, Link tried one last time to find him.

Rusl was lighting a cigarette when Link did find him, standing at the gate of the back pasture. He looked up briefly over his cupped hands to regard his son, then back at the ground as he returned the lighter to his pocket. He was busy destroying an ant hill with the toe of his boot when Link reached his side. He put his cigarette to his lips before he spoke.

“Heading out?”

“I guess so,” Link said.

His brows furrowed and he sighed through his nose. “Do you remember when you broke your arm?” he asked after a moment.

Link watched as he continued to flatten the ant hill. “Barely.”

Rusl smiled. He took a moment to inhale his cigarette. “It happened shortly after your mother died. Knocked yourself out cold.” He flicked the tip and ash fell to the ground. “I never expected to win any father of the year awards, but I figured I was doing good if I could at least keep you alive.” His brows furrowed again. “Two damn seconds I looked away and I thought you were dead.” He glanced at Link. “Unfortunately, you didn’t come with an instruction manual, and I was too stupid to know how do it alone.” But he laughed lightly. “Dorian was around so much, I’m pretty sure people thought he was my husband.”

“Like you could land a Sheikah,” Link muttered.

“I don’t even know how I landed your mother,” he said. He inhaled his cigarette. “I swore to myself - I swore to you - that you’d have as normal a life as possible. But after that, I realized I couldn’t avoid it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t prevent your future. I couldn’t even keep you safe when you decided to climb a damn tree. Unless I wrapped you up in bubble wrap and stuck you in a bunker underground, you were going to get yourself into trouble.” He hesitated. “All I wanted to do was keep as much of the pressure off your shoulders as possible. I couldn’t lock you away in a bunker, but I could at least prevent trouble from finding you. I at least owed you that.” His voice softened regretfully. “But I looked away again. And this time, you won’t walk away with a cast for Aryll to draw all over. You won’t walk away from it at all.”

Link shrugged. “Then I crawl.”

Rusl glanced at him.

“Hell, Daruk and Revali will drag me out if it comes down to it. Either way, I’m getting out.”

“You weren’t so confident earlier.”

“Yeah, well.” He hesitated. “Can’t let all your efforts go to waste.”

Rusl dropped his cigarette and put it out with his toe. “I fucked up,” he said. “It’s my fault this happened.”

“Shut up,” Link growled. “It’s no one’s fault.”

“I did everything -”

“I know!”

Rusl pressed his lips together and glanced at his son. He put a hand on his shoulder, then pulled him into a hug. “I love you, Kid.”

Link wrapped his arms around his father. “Yeah. I… I love you, too.” He sighed. “I’m coming back,” he said in an attempt to reassure not only his father, but himself as well.

Rusl pushed away and squeezed his shoulder. He forced a smile. “Yeah. I know. I’ll see you later, then.”

They made their way back to the driveway where the others waited beside Daruk’s SUV. Daruk was leaning against the driver’s side door, shaking his keys impatiently.

“Let’s go already,” Revali sneered at Link.

“Shotgun,” Link called as he made his way around the vehicle.

“Bitch,” Revali muttered. He stepped after Link, freezing when Mipha gripped his arm.

“If you don't bring him back alive,” she hissed. “I will kill you.”

Revali pulled his arm out of her grip. “Yeah, I know,” he grunted. “Don’t worry, I won’t put up a fight.”

Mipha frowned. Her brows furrowed as she watched them climb into the vehicle, then they turned down the driveway and out of sight.

“So,” Link started conversationally. “What’s the plan when we get there?”

“Assuming we find it,” Revali muttered.

“I’m not sure,” Zelda admitted. “I don’t exactly have experiencing cleansing the evil out of people.”

“You’ll be a pro after this,” Link said.

“You,” Revali sneered. “What’s up with you? Why are you like this?”

Link glanced at him over his shoulder. “Like what?”

“You’re…” Revali made a look of disgust. “Cheery.”

“I’m sorry,” Link started. “Would you like me to get pissed off and go Hulk on you and kill you?”

“I’d find that much more tolerable, yes,” Revali said, folding his arms across his chest and turning his gaze out the window.

“So, we have no plan?” Daruk asked.

“Do we ever?” Zelda said with an exasperated sigh.

“And Paya didn’t have any ideas?”

“No,” Zelda started. “She doesn’t even know where exactly the spring is.”

“Impa must know.”

“Perhaps,” Zelda said. “But as it stands, I’m still not entirely sure who we can trust.”

“Impa wouldn’t be against us,” Daruk said slowly. “Would she?”

Zelda sighed. “I don’t know anymore.” She paused. “Right now all we’ve got is ourselves. That’s all we need.”

“I beg to differ,” Revali said. “It would actually be really great if we had more people on our side. An entire army of Sheikah would be swell.” He rolled his eyes.

“Well, we don’t,” Zelda snapped. “Are you gonna keep bitching about it?”

“Yes,” Revali said with a frank nod. “We could have a long trip ahead of us. I’m going to make you all miserable by complaining about this whole fucked up situation.”

“Sounds about right,” Link said. “You complained all through high school. Why should now be any different?”

“Watch it,” Revali hissed. “I am not in a good mood. Would you like me to end your life now before we have a chance to get to the damn spring?”

“Jeez, what’s got you?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Revali said loudly. “Maybe the fact that you want me to just shoot you in the fucking face if this doesn’t fix anything. And if it comes down to that, I have to go back there and deal with your crazy ass girlfriend who will kill me herself. So, I guess really, it’s not so bad. At least I’ll die before all the real shit goes down. Good luck to you fuckers, Link and I will be checked the fuck out.”

“Oh,” Link muttered. “Is that all?”

“This is nice,” Daruk said. “Why don’t we do this more often?”

“Why?” Revali hissed. “Why me of all damn people?”

“I’m sorry.” Link rolled his eyes. “Who else was I supposed to ask?”

“Uh, how about Steroids? Or the bartender? I’m sure Dorian would get his rocks off ending your life. You know, assuming he’s not working with the Yiga.”

Link turned to Daruk. “Hey, man. If this goes down hill, will you do me the honor of blowing my head off?”

Daruk frowned. “Is that really the only option?”

“Someone’s gotta do it!” Link barked.

They fell silent. Revali crossed his arms and turned his gaze back out the window.

“Remember when our road trips didn’t involve murder?”

“I don’t care who does it,” Link muttered. “As long as it gets done. You can’t let the Yiga win.”

Zelda sighed loudly. “Anyone have any ideas on how to find this spring, anyway?”

“You’re the reincarnation of the Goddess,” Revali said, still sulking. “Shouldn’t you know?”

“It’s somewhere in Faron Woods,” Zelda said through her teeth in an attempt to keep from snapping at him.

“Those are some big woods,” Daruk said.

“Yeah,” Revali started. “I’m pretty sure people used to call them the Lost Woods. I’m guessing there’s a reason for that.”

“Do people get lost?” Link asked dryly.

“It’s sheer size isn’t completely to blame for that,” Zelda said. “There’s belief that there’s a power in those woods. I once read it was once the home to the Master Sword. Some even believe that in its depths, there’s a secret entrance to another realm entirely.”

“Sounds like people go in there and do a lot of drugs if you ask me,” Revali said.

“It would make sense for the spring to be in there, somewhere,” Zelda said, ignoring him.

“That still doesn’t explain how we find it,” Daruk said.

“I’m hoping Link or I will have an edge there,” Zelda said. “A little hero intuition, maybe.”

“Great,” Revali said. “We’ll die in there.”

“Let’s just get there,” Zelda said. “We’ll figure out the rest then.”

#loz #botw #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #fic #fanfic #soty #shadows of the yiga #soty38

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sobatsu · 5 years

Text

BOTW Zelda au

Part 2

Here’s the second part of the au as I promised and damn the first part had like 45 likes like wow

So the divine beasts, each would act differently when Zelda appears, Revali instead of sounding rude would sound surprised that Zelda could even get to the divine beast but also relieved to know that she’s okay after the calamity, Daruk would be the same as he was with Link (except would call her princess) because he knows that both of them are just a strong as the other, Mipha would be undoubtedly happy to see Zelda because she probably had a tiny crush on her (I’m super conflicted because I love Zelpha and Zelink and Linpha) , and Urbosa , oh Urbosa, she would be so proud to see how strong Zelda has become but also guilty because she couldn’t protect her from what happened to her and now Zelda who only knew very little about her mother before the calamity, now know nothing about her at all

Since Zelda has the triforce of wisdom, the puzzles in the dungeon would be simple enough for her, fighting on the other hand would be difficult for her since before the calamity she barely trained her body in that way since most of her time was focused on her studies and powers so the shrine that is in Karkariko village is crucial so she’d go there everyday and to other shrines that are tests of strength dungeons, but in the end good always prevails so she’d manage to defeat the divine beasts in some way definitely

I want to talk a bit about Zeldas memories as I feel like I want to change some of them, and since it was stated by Impa in the original game that Zelda took those pictures then she definitely would have taken more, so instead of just having the twelve, there would also be a picture of , A painting of Zeldas mother and her when she was younger which would result in a memory of her, the different springs that would result in a memory of her training in each one which would help her figure out how to properly control her powers after seeing each memory, a picture of her diary or her bed which results in her being able to remember the dream she had before the calamity struck

Her actually facing calamity ganon for her would be difficult because as I said she doesn’t have as much training as Link had but once Zelda gets their Link will be like, “I can’t hold him any more, he’s gotten too strong” so since Ganon isn’t being held in the sword anymore, neither would link be so what happens is both fight together, Zelda using the bow instead of Link and Link using the master sword because teamwork makes the dream work but in the end when Ganon is down to his last leg, it’s Zelda who hits him with the final blow, in the name of all of her people, friends, and family who she lost because of the calamity but more importantly, for the Zeldas before her, who just like were lost and confused with what they were supposed to do and the future generations of Zeldas who will feel the same way as she did

As she finally seals Ganon away after one hundred years, she’s contempt with knowing that although she’s not the first Zelda or undoubtedly the last Zelda to do this, she’s glad with the fact that for her those feelings are gone and she can finally rest after the work she’s put into freeing Hyrule from the calamity after so long

Her actual reunion with Link once Ganon is sealed away, is an emotional one, and by this I mean that they just held each other in their arms and cried their eyes out while whispering words of apologies, thankfulness, and telling each other how happy they are to see each other again after all this time because after reading through her diaries and regaining a lot of her memories, Zelda knows enough to realise that he is the main reason as to why she wanted to defeat Ganon at the very start of her journey when she didn’t even know who she was because she wanted to free the one person who believed in her when others didn’t

After this, the first thing that they both did was go to Purah asking about a way that they could announce about how Ganon was finally defeated and how the calamity was over and just by coincidence Purah the day before had discovered a broadcasting system on all the shrines which since mainly everywhere had a shrine meant that they just had to record the message onto the Sheikah slate, connect it to a shrine and then it would be broadcasted everywhere, the message mainly consisted of Zelda saying how the calamity was over, her apologising and then Link apologising (Both of them crying of course ) and them promising to bring Hyrule back to its former glory

It’s safe to say that there were parties going on everywhere and of course Link and Zelda had to go to Karkariko village and celebrate with one of their nearest and dearest friends and Zelda had to introduce her to Paya because she was Zelda’s best friend during her time training and everything but once the pain from the injuries and the tiredness had finally caught up with both of them Zelda and Link retired back to her house to finally have a good rest after one hundred years of fighting each of the knowing the other was safe as they laid there in each other’s arms

It would be great to know what you guys think about this au because any feedback is good feedback! But I’m definitely not done with this au yet because I do have some concept designs for what Zelda looks like after her one hundred years quest that I will hopefully post soon

#botw #link #zelda #zelink #zelpha #mipha #urbosa #revali #daruk #ganon #My zelda au #loz #loz botw #botw link #botw zelda

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the-delta-42 · 6 years

Text

The Pirate Prince Chapter 10

The Pirate Prince

Chapter 10: Lost

Link sprung to his feet and dashed towards the edge, skidding to a stop just before the drop. Link leaned over and looked down. Midna looked back up at him, hanging from a timber support, Impa a few feet below her. Link looked around for Aryll, but not spotting her anywhere. Midna quickly hauled herself up, with Impa following quickly behind her. Link then spotted something below on the floor of the fifth level.

Link tore threw the crowd that had gathered to look at the fire, a group of Zora and Rito extinguishing the flames. Link charged down the stairs, Tetra following him. Eventually, the two reached the bottom of the steps going onto the fifth level, Link quickly located the object.

It was a telescope. Aryll’s telescope, Link knew from the sea gulls painted onto the side of the casing. Link looked a few feet a head of him, his eyes stopping at Aryll’s broken form. Link staggered forwards, before falling to his knees. Tetra stood behind him, as he could only stare at his sister and hope she would say something, anything. Link reached out, his hand faltering before it reached.

To Link, everything was silent, no people, no birds, no sea. It was as if time itself had stopped, only to torment him. Aryll suddenly gasped, making Link and Tetra jump. Link scrambled forwards and tried to move her, only stopping when she groaned.

Aryll’s eyes slowly opened, as Link drew her into his arms, “Hoy big brother.”

Link’s breath caught in his throat, Aryll’s face was riddled with pain. Tetra’s hand landed on Link’s shoulder.

“We need to get her to a doctor.” Said Tetra, leaning forwards, “Or, at least, someone who can help her.”

Link’s mind immediately went to Telma, Link carefully slung Aryll’s arm around his shoulders, Tetra doing the same on the other side. Link became acutely aware on the fact that they looked like a drunk trio trying to get home. They staggered down two levels, with Link kicking the door to Telma’s bar open. Telma looked up to scold Link, before catching sight of Aryll. By this point, Aryll had blood leaking from her nose and mouth.

“What happened?” Demanded Telma, as she threw plates and cups off of the long table she had in her bar.

Link and Tetra set her down, Link barely able to speak.

“Dutour blew his house up, Impa and Midna were thrown off the level, along with Aryll, but they were able to catch themselves before they fell, but Aryll didn’t get such an opportunity.” Said Tetra, as Telma started checking Aryll over.

Link could only place his hand over his mouth and walkout the door.

TPP

Link looked at the empty whiskey bottle that laid on its side on his desk. Link had been in his quarters for the past three hours, trying to process what had happened. Aryll fell. She fell over a hundred feet. Link already knew that she wasn’t going to walk away from it, not without some life changing injuries. Link heard a gentle knock on the door. Link let his head thump down onto the desk, before hearing the door open.

“Alfonzo, I’m not in the mood.” Said Link, his face pressed against the surface of the desk.

“I’m not Alfonzo.” Came Zelda’s voice, making Link look up, “Telma managed to get Aryll into a better condition, but she said she’s not out of the woods yet.”

“Whoopy.” Grumbled Link, his voice muffled by his arms. Zelda rolled her eyes and looked around Link’s cabin. Aside from the desk, there was a bed with a set of draws next to it and a umbrella stand that was filled with swords, Zelda caught a glimpse of a few Master Sword replicas, only missing the tri force crest. Zelda also saw an axe and a flail hidden amongst the swords.

“Aryll might pull through, it seems the table broke her fall, even if it was only slightly.” Said Zelda, as she looked into the umbrella stand.

“That doesn’t change anything.” Said Link, “It doesn’t change that she was up there because of me, she was placed in harms way because I made a stupid decision that may have cost her life.”

Zelda looked at Link from across the room, before stomping over to him and grabbing his collar, “Link, listen to me,” Instructed Zelda, “Aryll has the same freedom as everyone else, if she didn’t want to go, she would’ve said. Do you honestly think that she would blame you for something that came down to mere chance?”

Link didn’t respond. Zelda let out an irritated sigh, before hauling Link to his feet, “Come on, you obviously need to talk to her.” Said Zelda, as Link staggered around, “Are you drunk?”

TPP

Impa sat outside the bar, quietly. Not many were aware of this, but the Sheikah, whilst having very keen eyes and ears, had little experience with death, the sight and sound of it nearly driving her to sickness. The majority of her years she spent were around the then Princess Hilda, who later became queen and became the mother of the new princess. Impa remembered her heart breaking, but also how holding the baby in her arms helped relieve that pain. The same pain she had started to experience again, following Hilda’s death. There was more that one reason Impa hated Henrik, a reason she didn’t dare share with anyone else, out for fear of becoming an outcast.

Impa was suddenly removed from her thoughts by Zelda dragging Link by the collar, while the boy wiped traces of vomit from his mouth.

“I don’t want to know.” Said Impa, after a moment of silence, before Zelda dragged Link though the door of the bar. Link was in there for a total of five seconds, before he rushed back outside and threw up over the edge of the level.

‘Please tell me that he isn’t the chosen hero.’ Thought Impa, sending a small prayer to the heavens, as the pathetic sight of the boy throwing up over the edge was slowly being burnt into her mind. Link straightened up for a moment and then collapsed onto the floor, before Zelda came back outside with a glass of water.

“I am never touching whiskey again.” Groaned Link, as Zelda set the water down next to him.

“Something that’s always confused me, Link.” Said Zelda, “All those arguments, all the running that came from them, what started it, what gave you the resolve to walk away when Ganondorf banished instead of going to him and begging for forgiveness?”

Link quietly moaned, before hauling himself into a sitting position.

“Seven or eight years ago I got lost in a sand storm, I was stuck in it for an hour before I moved,” Said Link, his voice hoarse, “I wandered around, unable to see more than half a foot in front of me and just as I thought I was going to die there, I heard them, like songs in spring, The heroes of old, every last one of them and with them the Colossi behind them, The Heroes chosen by the Gods. One of them, the Hero of Winds I think, waved his baton and the storm died and I saw their faces. The look of disappointment and shame was burned onto all of them, until they vanished, leaving only the Hero of Time and the Hero of Twilight, the hero of twilight looked as if he was weeping, before he too vanished and the Hero of Time had a look of rage, before he turned and walked away, his head bowed and his sword forgotten and all I could say at the time was ‘why?’ I didn’t know what drove me to ask that, but I was found shortly after. No one believed me, except Riju, she looked as if she were going to cry, she died that night and I decided that I would get an answer, for her, the woman who looked so broken at the tale. Fa-Ganondorf, didn’t want me to wander the desert ‘chasing fairy tales’, as he put it.” Link look so broken, Impa quietly wondered if she should make herself scarce.

“When that night came, the first thing I did was leave and when I had enough provisions, I went back to desert and looked for that sword, the only solid piece of proof that what I saw was real, and I found it, laying across Riju’s grave, as if she were telling me to go, and I did,” Said Link, his voice cracking, “And now, because of my stupidity, my sister is going to die.”

Zelda pulled Link towards her, his face burying itself into her collar bone, Link’s shoulders shook as he cried, his hands gripping the front of Zelda’s shirt.

Impa lent back and looked up at the sky, Link’s story had intrigued her, Impa made a mental note to ask Link about said sword, but the heroes had appeared to others before, they always spoke to them, offered words of advice and wisdom to the weary traveller, many not knowing that it was one of the heroes that spoke to them until after they had arrived at their destination. Impa knew this for a fact, for the Hero of Twilight had helped her return to her home when she was young.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I’m back at college and I’m trying to keep up with assignments and the like, have some of Link’s inner turmoil and why he left, even though no one asked for it.

#link #princess zelda #zelink #telink #impa #aryll #telma #The Pirate Prince #the pirate prince au #delta writes

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