#like the gerudo

[daeyumi]

Sentinels 🌅🏜️☀️

[2022]

#zelda #botw #breath of the wild #zelda botw #zelda breath of the wild #legend of zelda #link #botw link #zelda fanart #daeyumi art #gerudo desert #i still like this piece. a lot #one of my absolute fave locations in botw- i still vividly remember my first time finding/exploring this place

[puppyeared]

What did they do to you

#first image is botw and second image is totk #this did confirm my hunch that Link kind of.. matured? got more formal?? #I noticed his dialogue options in totk are shorter and more formal compared to the funny ones in botw :( #it’s a very subtle change. he is a little silly sometimes when he says stuff like saying ‘I am indeed’ when a kid asked if he was a voe #or a very enthusiastic ‘nope!’ when asked if he used a sand seal to get to Gerudo town #anyway don’t mind me I’m rummaging thru my notes and screen recordings because I’m chewing on this fucker like he’s a chew toy #It makes me wonder if this is him falling back into his persona from pre calamity #but he already went thru botw with amnesia and he doesn’t need to be as stiff anymore.. if anything he’s more relaxed abt it #tell me what u think #botw #totk spoilers #tears of the kindom spoilers #tears of the kingdom #totk #legend of Zelda #loz #yapping

[unironicallycringe]

#presented without context but like yall already KNOW #loz #legend of zelda #gerudo

[gay-jesus-probably]

Okay so I have a lot of thoughts about the whole thing of the Gerudo being a race of entirely women, with the only exception being one man born every hundred years, and that man automatically being their king. Now this worldbuilding comes from Ocarina of Time, and there's obviously a metric fuckton of unfortunate implications there, because it was 1998. And it seems that Tears of the Kingdom is sticking with the lore of Gerudo men being extremely rare and becoming the King of their people, which once again has a metric fuckton of unfortunate implications because it's 2023 and Nintendo has somehow gotten even worse about this shit.

But let's set aside the whole... everything, and look at this from just the in-universe perspective. How does it work? I mean, it's pretty clear that there is no overlap between the kings; the old ones are normally long gone by the time a new one is born, but the Gerudo manage to take care of themselves during the hangtime. So they must have an established system of government and leadership that doesn't involve a king, and somehow that system is set up in a way that does a smooth transfer of power once a new king is born and old enough to take the throne. But why bother always declaring a random guy to be your King when you already have a perfectly functional system in place?

I mean again, the whole thing has a lot of sexist implications, but we're not looking at this from a real world context, we're examining it in-universe. And we could just go the lazy route and say that their king is in charge just because he's the only man, but I don't like that. I mean come on, the Gerudo are a race of entirely women, and most of their outside problems come from Hylian men being creepy about it. They are entirely a matriarchy; there is literally no reason for their culture to have an inherent respect for men, even if the man in question is one of them. And they're desert people; they live in an extremely harsh and dangerous landscape, if they don't have their shit together, they will die. By sheer necessity, their culture needs to put a lot of value in being practical, because if they're stupid about things, people die. They really can't afford to have a shitty leader take over, and just letting some guy take the wheel doesn't really fit with the way their culture must otherwise work.

So again, why the fuck do they bother having a King?

I think it's mainly just a ceremonial position. Yes, if the guy is a good leader he'll be in charge, but if he isn't good at being a King or isn't interested in the job... fuck it, they've already got a functional government system that's been leading their people the whole time, why fix what isn't broken? The title of Gerudo King isn't about leadership or power. I think it's more about belonging. Because the Gerudo are a culture where every single one of them can be defined in the same way... and there is exactly one exception once a century. Men are considered to be inherently outsiders at the best of times, and more often they're enemies. A man born into this culture is a natural outsider; he is completely unique, and that means he doesn't really fit into his community. And well... when someone is fundamentally different from the rest of their community, they tend to be ostracized.

So I think that's why the position of Gerudo King exists. It isn't about them needing or even wanting a man to lead them. The title of King doesn't need to involve any leadership at all. It's about giving the man born every century a place in their society. It's a way of saying yes, you are one of us, you are a Gerudo, you belong here, you are wanted and you are loved.

The Gerudo know that every hundred years, one of their children will be fundamentally different from all of his peers. And so their society is built to ensure that a child who is completely different from them will still be loved and accepted. He will always have a place in their society. He doesn't need to earn their love, he has it just for existing. These are his people.

The title of Gerudo King isn't an inherent position of authority. It's a promise of acceptance.

#legend of zelda #ganondorf #tears of the kingdom #gerudo #look i have so many thoughts about how their society works #and for the record i really hate the implied bioessentialist gender stuff #but this is my headcanon on the whole gerudo king thing #if their king wants authority he still needs to earn it like everyone else #but they make sure he always has a place among his people #look growing up Different from your peers is a fucking nightmare #as any neurodivergent/disabled/queer kid can attest #i like the idea of gerudo society being structured around ensuring all their children felt like they belonged there #and having a system ready to go for the one kid they KNOW will be the most different

[smilesrobotlover]

Giving a Goron a secret stone is dangerous

#king of the Gerudo #totk #totk spoilers #💀💀 #oh daruk my beloved #at least Yunobo has some sense in him #along with the Goron sage #daruk is a himbo through and through #he won’t eat it of course but like #look at that thing #it looks tasty as frick #he would want a little lick #a little taste if you will

[ladyrijus]

me: what if we subverted the imperialism trope with zelda realizing that rauru is the aggressor in the equation because 100 years is not enough time to wash away her diplomatic skills and she just knows that the gerudo people would not be hostile if not for a justifiable reason. sure, it takes a while for her to gain ganondorf's trust just based on her association with rauru and sonia, but he does end up trusting her somewhere down the line and fills her in on what's happening. she's absolutely horrified. as a result, she works alongside ganondorf to seal away rauru by gathering the sages and convincing them to protect their respective domains from conquest. but here's the twist: what if link still gets mentored by rauru's spirit at the beginning, and thinks rauru is a benevolent king? imagine zelda's last words to him in the final memory, nothing but a frenzied "link, do not trust the king of darkness!" but he doesn't know which king: ganondorf or rauru, because the gloom has corrupted ganondorf's body and rauru, who had unsettled him since the beginning. but then he realizes it's rauru, and it's deliciously ironic since rauru's power is light but as always, every light has a shadow.

totk enjoyers: hold my beer i'm gonna fucking crucify a korok

#MAJOR TOTK SPOILERS #totk spoilers #but like also not really since it's a. rewrite #also if you ask me how the sages can help without the secret stone i never said that. zelda absolutely pulls a heist #sonia catches her and gives her that betrayed mother look #zelda teleports away with the purah pad #easy peasy lemon squeezy #and it's another case of irony since the gerudo were considered thieves but look at her doing the same thing #totk #tears of the kingdom #tloz #the legend of zelda #loz #legend of zelda #zelda #king rauru #queen sonia #link #ganondorf

[bahbahhh]

DAY 20 -HEAT

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#the 8th heroine lore got me like 👀👀👀 #linktober #linktober 2023 #loz #Gerudo #legend of zegend #link #legend of zelda #totk #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom #bahbahhhart #the depths au

[eeleye-mcshitposts]

Considering that the Gerudo are entirely made up of women, I feel like Ganondorf having internalized misandry would make a funny amount of sense.

#like...women are people to him but men? #voe are frilly little weak accessories only good for making babies #so link the twink walks up trying to kill him and gan's just like #silly little man thinks he's strong? go back to the kitchen dingaling. you'll ruin your pretty little face. #shitpost #loz tears of the kingdom #totk #the legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #ganondorf #gerudo

[ganondoodle]

you know, i had a totk thought (uh oh)

soemthign thats really bothering me about the whole "actually, ganondorf didnt like the guy appearing out of nowhere marrying a hylian and just saying yep das our kingdom now and we can mine it barren under your nose and also i got laserbeam pebbles that i totally wont ever use on anyone come join me or die just bc of all of that but mainly bc the guy brought some weird tech with him that he dont like" - thing is that ......... we see almost not a single tech thing in the past (and for that matter see nothing of the oh so perfect and peaceful paradise hyrule was before big evil desert man didnt want to join our paradise- like what is the point about making the whole point of the game be -we need to restore hyrule to this paradise it once was- when you dont even see it or get to care about anything of it)

it might sound like a weird hangup but no really, the most we see is like two servant constructs, thats it, when they 'prepare for war' im pretty sure all you see is some lightly dressed ( ... is it just me or does their whole get up look alot like native american/other indingenous people too ... i still dont know how to feel about that- kinda adjacent to some of the sonau armor, the battery one i think??, also having that look...) hylians with spears, where the heck is all that tech?? is it implied to be all down in the mines hollowing out the underground (for no real reason either bc .... theres only two sonau left and no one else seems to want use nor need the tech otherwise there should have been more traces or soemthing left of it -unless it all just magically appeared out of nowhere in mostly prime condition while all shiekah tech jsut vaporized for bs non reasons just for it to be in tha game but oh dont you see its always been there lmao- so whats the point really????)

or up in the sky as most battle constructs are and they cant get them down in time bc *gestures vaguely*

or is it intentionally kept out of view bc idk seeing an army of robots on raurus side he can send out on a whim might not make him look as oh so good and perfect as they want him to look when he already got laserbeam pebbles (most of which hes been hoarding until ONE falls into hands not under his control) ?? like it just ... feels weird?? so many battle constructs that can even be a threat to link are jsut fully functioning strolling around in the present still, why wouldnt you want to use any of them to battle gan and if they DID why wouldnt you show that (no the 3 second unicorn cutscene doesnt count bc its just .. gan and his monsters isnt it) ?? (also ... why isnt there a big like battle ground , like fine you dont have to animate an army of monsters and robots clashing but... wouldnt it be cool to have you discover a giant flat plain in the underground (that magically got put under ground like gan just decided to stroll down there to get sealed lol) and its the only mostly empty field in the game littered with thousands of monster bones and dead constructs intermingled?? just to give it all a bit of weight?? evidence that it happened?? cool ass discovery????)

(also also i cannot let go of ganondorf apparently being sooooo anti tech but then clamgan uses the shiekah stuff??? shouldnt he also be against that then or is that suddendly fine bc- oh woops sorry, forgot clamgan is actually just something, not connected to gan at all actually, i mean why else would miasma turn into malice only to turn into miasma again haha none of that is connected actually what is a calamity anyway? also im sorry to bring this up again but i just cannot let go of the ppl in the present being so obsessed with using sonau tech in every part of their life now- they just lived through an apocalypse of a barely understood strange tech but CLEARLY this other even less understood strang tech is not dangerous at all lets make CARS OUT OF IT and what theres no danger in miasma and that tech existing at the same time LIKE SOMETHING ELSE BEFORE THAT IDK SEEMS LIKE A BAD COMBO--- oh sorry forgot that ceased to exist in both the world and peoples minds for *gestures vaguely* plot reasons- why why why are monsters mining the sonanium?? they dont even work with the yiga no that is also completely disconnected we dont wanna draw and interesting connections after all- whats the point if it means nothing but to be a loot box for the player-- actually, so much of totk is just a so built around throwing you into a box of toys with no substance to it- listen i know games are kinda like toys but if it doesnt make sense and offers you nothing interesting to think about even slightly whAT IS THE POINT)

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #ganondoodles rants #totk #like not to make myself sound like a better writer ............ BUT #in my rewrite rauru does that also to suck the life out of the desert more and more to force the gerudo to be depended on their trade #to both pressure them and force them better into submission #bc of the whole plot point (in my rewrite) that rauru came from the underground with his dying people bc they discovered warnings of old #about the king of a deserts nation becoming a horrible world destryoing monster and so plotting with sonia to get gan secretly sealed #and by doing that rauru seals his own fate (rauru dies and its his stone that gets taken) like the fairytale prophecy thing making people- #-do exactly what leads to it while trying to avoid it #bc gan finds out and plots against it #-ANYWAY #when i see other people talk i need to talk again even if i make little sense

[solarwreathe]

misc zelda oc doodles, featuring cado and rola giving [DATA EXPUNGED FROM KAKARIKO RECORDS] archery lessons!

slight continuation of this post.

#totk #zelda oc #tears of the kingdom #legend of zelda oc #yiga #gerudo #sheikah #loz cado #loz rola #loz fanart #totk fanart #totk oc #kakariko village #sheikah oc #tloz: totk #yiga clan #young data expunged was like a cursed combo of malo and baby tulin

[wyrmwright]

Hyrulean Diplomacy

#tears of the kingdom #totk #tloz #legend of zelad #loz #ganondorf #sonia #queen sonia #totk spoilers #oh how the turns table #your majesty raura queen sonia has once again tried to regicide the king of the gerudo and rauru is like sips tea good for her #keeps ganondorf on his toes #give sonia and zelda a knife

[daeyumi]

Ruined Town 🪲⚡️

I’m actually super proud of this piece, I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone to do something dynamic & complex with hopefully a somewhat interesting composition, and I really worked hard on it. I’ve been feeling kind of down on my art recently tbh, like I’ve stagnated a bit, and this piece really helped me to experiment a bit more & try out some new brushes & techniques. Can’t wait to experiment & draw more soon! 🩵

#zelda #tears of the kingdom #TotK #Zelda TotK #TotK spoilers #TotK fanart #legend of zelda #zelda tears of the kingdom #zelda fanart #daeyumi art #link #TotK link #Gerudo town #gibdo fight #it’s only 3am & already my brain is too fried to remember how to tag things properly #i’m srsly so proud of this piece tho #i worked so hard on it #i srsly think seeing a gibdo in the ruins of Gerudo town for the first time is one of my fave moments from the game #bc srsly i saw that thing on the ground & then it stood up and i was like what the actual fuck is that #and honestly i think that’s my absolute favorite feeling in a zelda game for some reason?

[bloobluebloo]

See, even when the Gerudo are portayed as good, they have to meet the highest standards of “morality” in order to be given the benefit of the doubt. Even though the Sage of Lightning denounced Ganondorf’s actions, even though Urbosa proudly declared that bringing down Calamity Ganon was Gerudo business, even though Riju bent the sacred laws of her lands to allow Link passage into Gerudo Town in acknowledgement of his aid towards them, even though their eighth heroine is a Hylian man, even though the Gerudo repented for the actions of their chief it is simply not enough. The assumption is that as soon as things get “darker” it is the Gerudo who will become barbaric because their customs are strange and backwards and of course facilitates such immoral actions.

Even if we want to use the OoT/MM Gerudo, while they were a lot more hostile to outsiders there was, for example, no indication that they forced themselves on men or kidnapped them. They only imprisoned men who wandered into their territory (when those men knew they had no business being there). Even the gossip stones suggest that the Gerudo search for “boyfriends” aka an actual relationship. On the other hand, we see quite plainly how racist the rest of Hyrule is towards the Gerudo yet, frequently, this is used in order to either make the Gerudo out to be more aggressive and hostile (because of course they will be aggressive they have a right to be now right!?!) OR it is used as a catalyst for Hyrule to enact more violence on the Gerudo because they hate the Gerudo and will move to eliminate them. In this way, unless the Gerudo behave to the highest moral standards, they are the race that either inflicts violence on others or are the race that invites violence to be inflicted on them. This is also the general gist of the Gerudo we see in fanworks. Rarely do they simply get to exist as a people that have a rich culture and religion of their own. Instead, their framing usually comes with violence in mind.

It is insane to me how one-to-one the thinking is when people project onto fictional races the same sort of views that they project onto the real races those people are based on, no matter how fantastical the portrayal is.

#and then people wonder why i raise an eyebrow #when people just casually make hcs and im just like okay why are you thinking like that though #and they get defensive #gerudo #ganonthots

[waywardsalt]

god i hate how the gerudo in totk are practically framed as though they constantly require hylian intervention to succeed… the way riju’s introduction stands out as the only one where she struggles to use her power until link comes along… the way link is chosen to decide how they should station the gerudo troops when fighting off the gibdos… the fact that one npc mentions how when zelda had visited she had somehow taught them new ways to fight in their own terrain, which should hopefully be obviously fucked up… the way the eighth heroine was revealed to have been a male hylian who came along and told the other gerudo heroines how to fight against their enemy… ugh ugh ugh

#salty talks #loz #legend of zelda #totk #the riju one can be brushed aside as introducing how her power works in gameplay but like with everything else? #plus shes the only sage mentioned to have not figured their power up and like. anyone with a bow can help link aint special #i. hate how the gerudo are both portrayed as strong warrior women but also helpless without this specific kind of outside help #totk critical #god i fucking hate what was done with the gerudo in totk amazing how nintendo has not improved since fucking 1998 #thers prob more but UGH #bitching abt totk

[linkies-lines]

you ever think about yuga too long and then make an illustration with a highly redesigned version of him. i do. i did. view him.

#legend of zelda #a link between worlds #yuga #yuga albw #yuga a link between worlds #loz yuga #loz #have you ever thought about how yuga probably has a version of the gerudo (yes i know that theres no gerudo in albw consider fuck you) #like they would live in the snowy mountains right. listen to me. shakes you #im normal come closer

[smilesrobotlover]

Team B do kotg plus the Royal family. Idk how I feel about Urbosa’s design, truthfully I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, all I know is that I reallly wanted to give her boots because the idea of the Gerudo running and fighting in the sand in HEELS hurts my ankles. Like OW?? But idk I don’t like her pants. It’s not a final design anyways… I’m excited to explore the champion’s dynamic more. They’re so fun. I also wanted to give Rhoam very light blonde hair instead of white cuz I hate how he looks like he could be old enough to be Zelda’s grandfather 😭😭

#revali will shamelessly make fun of Link and Daruk #he of course loves them but he also is annoyed by them #as one does #daruk and urbosa are the parents to the three children #legendofzelda #legend of zelda au #zelda au #king of the gerudo #age of calamity #I didn’t mean to give Daruk big fangs I just #I like fangs … #also I feel like link doesn’t like dogs #he’s not a dog person #nor an animal person for that matter #which is funny considering the fish… and birds…