#power just ends up being the part of the triforce that bad guys want

[science-lings]

Okay I have another tiny insignificant grievance with the zelda fandom, the Triforce of Power isn’t evil. It doesn’t magically corrupt whoever is holding it and make them a monster. Wanting power, valuing it, is not evil. I know the trope is always that power corrupts and sure that happens, but whenever I see like a triforce swap au where when either Link or Zelda have the triforce of power, they’re suddenly barbaric assholes or scummy rulers or something and it’s just an infuriating trope to me. Just because they have that piece of the triforce they’re suddenly nothing like the characters they’re based on and are just someones evil little ocs. 

Power isn’t inherently evil. Wanting power isn’t evil. Wanting to be important and strong and able to do things you struggle with is not evil. It depends on the person it’s given to and their reasoning for wanting it. Ganondorf was evil because of his intentions with the triforce, he didn’t just magically turn into a maniac when he got the triforce of power. I mean in oot it’s mentioned that he was very bad before he even got to Hyrule Castle. He was blocking up important caves and feeding princesses to fish gods way before he even got near the triforce. He wasn’t some kind and gentle chief of the gerudo before the evil piece of the triforce got to him. 

Anyway that’s a lot of rambling for something that doesn’t matter at all whoops. 

#power just ends up being the part of the triforce that bad guys want #that doesn't mean that if a good guy got it that suddenly they would become the villian #its annoying #loz #legend of zelda #tloz #triforce swap #triforce swap au

[guideoftime]

▴ — @sapientiiae

It took only a second for the Princess of Hyrule’s world to shatter in the same way the Triforce of Wisdom had. Everything they had worked so hard to achieve, fleeting, because the one thing she’d been born to do in this world was bear the Triforce of Wisdom and protect Hyrule. And she’d failed. They had underestimated Cia and her powers, thinking with enough allies at their side she would fall as easily as the army she commanded.  How sorely mistaken they were.  With the assistance of the Great Fairy, they’d been able to take down Volga much easier, leaving Cia alone to be dealt with. The Hyrulean Forces held control over the Sanctums, and they’d truly believed they would leave victorious, but it had all gone downhill from there. Cia’s dark magic was far more powerful than they’d been prepared for — even Impa, a Sheikah, had been taken aback. Once the sorceress split herself into four, they knew they were outnumbered. It was a fierce battle, one that cost Zelda her Triforce, and it had taken everything Link had left just to get the two of them out alive.  Back at camp, their army did what it could to recoup and device a new plan, one that wouldn’t require the Triforce of Wisdom, as impossible as that may seem.  “Princess—“ Reviewing the map of Hyrule, Zelda was surprised when Impa had suddenly stormed into her tent, a look of alarm on her face.  “There’s a Sheikah—“ That statement alone seemed impossible. Though the Princess knew a lot of the Sheikah race, their presence in Hyrule was nearly non-existent, only slowly repopulating their tribe after the Great Hyrulean Civil War. In all her years, the only Sheikah she’d ever met was Impa, so where had this other Sheikah come from? “Where? Bring me to them!” She moves from around the display that held her map, rushing to exit out of her tent when Impa suddenly reached forward, grasping her wrist to pull her back.  “Princess! There is—I should warn you. This Sheikah has something, but you won’t believe it until you see it for yourself.” The statement sounded borderline ominous, pushing the Forces’ leader to exit her tent and investigate that much faster.

   They–they failed. 

   It’s not a feeling Sheik is used to. Failure at that level, watching everyone he fought so hard for die, watching–things just crumble around him. Sheik had been all that survived, all that lived, and he had grabbed the Master Sword and ran. Not his bravest moment, not something he had been proud of, but he had no other answer in what to do. No choice but to run. And there, in the Temple of Time, he had begged the sword for an answer. For help. For–anything. To keep whatever part of the Triforce it could from Ganondorf, to save their world, to reset time–it didn’t matter what it did, he just wanted help.

   Waking up in another war to fight that wasn’t his own–was mind numbing, confusing. He finds Impa and his heart stops–then there’s the Hero and things just continue to rapidly get out of control. Sheik fought because he had no choice, he fought because the other answer was to collapse, he fought because Impa asked him to. 

   Then they ended up in front of whatever this “bad guy” apparently was and Sheik–something was drastically wrong with him. 

   The Triforce was Princess Zelda’s, it was not his to bear. A shadow, a being of darkness, a void doesn’t possess the Triforce. He has to be dreaming, this has to be a nightmare. Some place the Goddesses put him because he failed them and failed the hero and Princess Zelda. It’s horrible, the fact they’re playing with him again. Twisting him into whatever little pawn that they needed him to be. To fit their narrative. 

   He leaves them for a bit after that, panic and runs. The Hero chases him while Impa goes off to search and find Princess Zelda. There’s talk about time gates, talk about different dimensions, different portals, and it’s confusing. He feels like he’s losing his mind and he hates it. 

   He feels like he’s snapping. 

   Link, because of course that was his name, is who ends up dragging him to Princess Zelda. Under orders, he’s sure, but also out of concern. They’re dripping wet from the rain, Sheik’s headwrap had fallen off and was stashed in the Hero’s bag. He tugs him inside the tent, out of the storm, and pushes him gently in the direction of the Princess of whatever nightmare he is living. She looks like his Zelda, but different too. Firmer. Fircerer. 

   “Your Highness, this is Sheik.” Link greeted, squeezing his shoulder briefly before moving off to the side. Sheik blinks numbly at the both of them, his head spinning far to much. He takes a shaky breath and then moves closer. 

   How does he get out of this nightmare?

#sapientiiae #▴ — path / guide of time #// long post

[gerudospiriit]

Ya know, Nabooru was one of the sages that threw Ganondorf into the Evil Realm. I wonder how she felt during all that shit?

[OH ANON. YOU LIKE CANS OF WORMS, DON'T YOU?

As I'm sure everyone has figured out, I play Nabooru with a lot more complexity than canon gives her. In other words, her position on standing against Ganondorf at all was a lot more complicated than "He's a bad guy and I want treasure!" (that last part is def not part of her ACTUAL motivation for my Nabooru). It wasn't something she always felt she might do. In fact, up until basically that point, she WAS loyal to Ganondorf. Outside of his mission for the Triforce, she BELIEVED in him and was fully on board with his mission to improve the lives of their people. She believed in his passion and ambition for their people, and wanted to help him wherever she could. Or, where he would ALLOW when his mission became more geared toward the Triforce and he began shutting himself off from her and the Gerudo more. For their protection back then(so he claimed), but then...he sort of forgot about them because absolute power blah blah gotta find that damn princess blah but that's a little further down the line.

Romantic relationship they totally had aside, it was probably months if not YEARS of her fighting with him and herself before she finally gave him an ultimatum (likely when she found out the REAL extent he was going to the get what he wanted) out of fear of his actions FURTHER endangering the Gerudo: she basically said if you keep this up, I'm going to have to stop you because she considered his mission dangerous to him and ther Gerudo as a whole. And well we can all see how well that went.

Thus, her "plan" was just that: defy his orders to stay away from the Spirit Temple and her own self exile to stop him...somehow (she didn't really have a solid plan; words? fight him? shake him until he saw reason? she didn't really know!). She didn't WANT to, but she felt her hand had been forced. So, being brainwashed, losing seven years of her life, and the coming out of that stupor and being awakened as a sage meant to help Hyrule? It's...not a role she wanted.

But she barely had time to consider her role because next thing she knew, Link was fighting Ganondorf and it became REAL. However this ended up, she was going to have to be part of it. And probably during that first fight? She probably wasn't sure she would be able to do it. Whatever IT was. But...she could also see how he changed. She knew all the things he had done to others, to HER, and she understood his motives had shifted to ones that no longer aligned with what was best for the Gerudo. They were selfish and all for the sake of power. And then when she saw him transform into a beast...she knew, or maybe hoped, that the Ganondorf she knew, that she loved and ADMIRED, was gone. That understanding overall hurt worse than anything, but it didn't make it easier for her to lend her power to seal Ganondorf away.

Still...she hesitated. And I HC that her hesitation and uncertainty was why he broke out later ehehehehe.

So tl;dr: she wasn't really happy with her role in sealing Ganondorf away. She wasn't happy that one decision to try and save her people--not necessarily Hyrule--got her put in the position of a sage expected to help protect a country that, to that point, had no interest in helping her people. She didn't want to basically kill Ganondorf at all. She just wanted to protect her people and keep Ganondorf from getting himself and the Gerudo into more trouble than they could handle.]

#[ ☀ ᶜᵘʳⁱᵒᵘˢ ᵐⁱⁿᵈˢ ;; ᵃˢᵏ ] #[ ☀ ʰᵉᵃᵈᶜᵃⁿᵒⁿ ;; ⁱ ʷᵃˢ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵐᵃᵈᵉ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵃ ᶠⁱʳᵉ ⁱⁿ ᵐʸ ᵇᵉˡˡʸ ˢᵒ ⁱ ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵇᵉ ᵖᵘᵗ ᵒᵘᵗ ] #idk if i hit all the points i would have liked to #or if this makes sense #but it was definitely not easy for her

[divineprank]

I’m not really sure why Ganondorf’s ears keep showing up as talking points for me but here I go, overanalyzing otherwise uninteresting parts of this fictional man’s body that changes with every game we get with him in it. I could be a total simp and talk about his peepee length or something but you’d expect that from Ganondorf’s Biggest Fan and I gotta stay fresh. Y’know, by talking about the same thing all over again. 

Sorry I’ll stop being obnoxious. ANYWAYS, those piercings, in my mind, aren’t just what Satoshi Takizawa thought looked cool on Christopher Lambert’s face, (see “Kind of like a big brother in metal...”)  and I really don’t think Ganondorf had them done because he wanted to look edgy.  

I feel like there’s some kind of personal reason for it? These piercings might mean something? As soon as he has the Triforce of Power, he maintains the double piercing. Interestingly, he keeps the heavier earring furthest from the bottom lobe. Which, I’ve been researching and I can’t find anything that directly talks about what a piercing’s position on the lobe should represent, I still can’t stop thinking about it. (Please correct me if you have more information.) It’s almost as though Ganondorf feels so close to accomplishing his true goal, but hasn’t quite reached phenomenal cosmic power. 

Something that I find especially fascinating is how an interview from Thursday, November 26th 1998, talks about how in Ocarina of Time Ganondorf is, quote, “a pretty good man”. What catches my eye, specifically, is how script director Toru Osawa chooses to describe Ganondorf as, “a very distorted, complexed thief and servile human being”. We briefly see this with Ganondorf’s bow towards the King of Hyrule, but those of us who have retrospect know that all of this was a ruse concocted by said “complexed thief” in order to get what he wanted all along. Are the lobe studs from that time period a falsehood, a visual cue to the King to help paint Ganondorf in a less harmful light? Many character artists will definitely tell you how employing round and circular shapes is a good way to represent a “warm, welcoming, safe” character. 

Fast forward to Twilight Princess Ganondorf... (I’m so sorry Wind Waker Ganondorf, you’re my favorite and I always underutilize you but your beard is too long to make a comment on your ear pieerrrrcccciiiiinggggssss.)

There’s been some speculation about the jewel in his earrings, with Breath of the Wild’s mention of protection against heat through the use of sapphire, that’s where most people are going to. But what catches me off guard specifically is that he’s missing the other earring... And this is the Ganondorf who was caught before the nastiness that happens in Ocarina of Time occurs. The pre-jacked ‘dorf.

We know that Twilight Princess occurs pretty much directly after Majora’s Mask in the child timeline. So something happened during his prosecution. He’s leaned totally into his bad-guy role at this point. The point of the “divine prank”, wherein he must have maintained his piece of the Triforce at the end of Ocarina of Time, just like Link does and presumably Zelda as well.

Personally, to me, this seems like a representation of Ganondorf’s distance from his interest in his own people. Ganondorf started out as a good man, the developers even confirm it, long before The Wind Waker introduced us to the empathetic antagonist trope. Hence the circular, less dramatic earrings. But when we see him at the end of everything, when he’s finally dead and his puppet no longer allows him to feed off of him. We see an empty shell of a man who has lost his way. Defiant even in death, unwilling to kneel in the wake of his own power staring back at him in his last breaths. He barely resembles the “good man” he supposedly once was.

He’s not remorseful, he’s not reflective. Ganondorf is obstinate. Just like the beast that we’re greeted with when he’s resurrected: a horrible, hellish demon that no longer knows nuance. He wants to win, he’s going to win and you have a gnat’s chance of harming him.

He’s not pierced. 

This isn’t Ganondorf. He once was, long ago. But he’s very far removed from that moniker now. This isn’t the same man. He’s something completely different now.

...Y’KNOW, UNTIL TEARS OF THE KINGDOM DROPS AND FUCKS UP MY THEORIES LIKE I SAID IT WOULD THE LAST TIME I ADDRESS HIS EARS

#The winds that blew across Hyrule brought something other... :: [HEADCANONS] #i WILL SAY #that the trailers definitely seem to VERY MUCH want to reconnect him to his gerudo roots #maybe that's why the rounded ear and double piercings are back

[onebizarrekai]

Meme Waker: That Final Thing

okay aight here we go here’s the big idea compilation you’ve all been waiting for or something like that

since I’ve finally accepted meme waker’s inevitable fate, I’ll share what I’ve had laying around about it. prepare yourself for a wild ride.

first of all, what existed of the planned character key:

Nightmare = Link Dream = Aryll Cross = Tetra Ink = The Entire Pirate Crew Granny Gertrude = Grandma Horror = Quill Killer = Medli Color = Komali Dust = Makar XGaster = Tingle (yes, you read that right) Fresh = Fado (?) Geno = Laruto Blueberry = Niko Error = Ganondorf Giant Flying Chicken = Helmaroc King Core Frisk = The King XChara = Zelda

So XChara was going to fill the role of Zelda–basically, what was going to happen was that when Cross and Nightmare reached sunken Hyrule, which was replaced by the Omega Timeline, they encountered Core Frisk and with their magical Core Frisk powers that apparently exist, separated XChara from Cross’s body. Because Error was hunting him down for whatever villainous reasons (I dunno, maybe he wanted to find Overwrite or something), XChara was going to spend the near remainder of the comic hiding in the Omega Timeline from Error. It was a pretty neat reference to the fact that Error doesn’t know where the OT is.

Unsurprisingly, considering when I was working on this, Nightmare and Cross may have eventually started dating. They were going to kiss during a fight that involved them accidentally rolling down a hill and then likely spend the remainder of the comic referring to each other as boyfriends, with no further indication of romance between them. I never really mentally decided whether I was actually going to incorporate this or not.

In moments where someone needed to present a musical instrument, Cross was going to play a keytar.

There is a very high chance that the entire comic was going to end up being an elaborate prank set up by Ink and Error.

After being rescued from the Forsaken Fortress, Dream was going to get crossbows and… I dunno, maybe be useful with them sometimes. One consideration was that he was going to complain about being stuck in a glorified retirement home and request joining the party.

Nightmare was going to have a fake ID with the name “Nathaniel Meyer” on it.

When Nightmare eventually pulled up the Gaster Sword, he was basically going to do a magical girl transformation and get a new outfit. I was considering holding a contest where people would submit new designs for Nightmare before I realized that I may have wanted to do it myself. Meanwhile, Cross’s design change at the same time was going to pertain to the fact that he had such a hard time with his uniform that he just wanted to start wearing normal clothes.

When XChara was separated from Cross, it would indicate that Cross can’t use the hack knife anymore, so I had to think of a new weapon for him. I considered giving him arm mounts with knives in them for no reason other than being extra, but I was probably just going to end up going with a regular sword.

Nightmare and Cross were going to be mistaken for missionaries at some point due to Nightmare introducing Cross as his ‘companion’.

Nightmare’s fake ID is actually a driver’s license. Cross questions how he could get one when he’s only fifteen, and Nightmare responds with “what can I say? I live in the country.”

The Giant Flying Chicken was going to evolve into the Cyborg Giant Flying Chicken before Nightmare and Cross fought it. It was already a robot, but someone decided it would be fun to make it look more robotic for some reason. Maybe too many people tried to eat it.

Because Blueberry was going to replace Niko, that meant there was going to be a form of challenge that he would present to Nightmare and/or Cross. They were probably just going to play Dance Dance Revolution.

The dress that Granny Gertrude gave Nightmare was actually going to be infused with magical powers. Either Nightmare could only access the power of the Triforce when he’s wearing the dress, or it was going to be a piece of equipment that turned his sword into a fire sword.

Nightmare was going to come back to the Village of Old People to see that his grandmother had conquered it with capitalism.

Dragon Roost Cavern was going to be replaced with a Pokemon gym.

When Nightmare supposedly kicked Error’s ass at the end of the story, he was going to say something along the lines of “Because fuck you!” and it would be the first and only f-bomb in the whole comic. Nightmare would proceed to say that it was the first time he’d ever said fuck and that he felt dirty.

The Triforce of Courage was just going to be called the Triforce of Porridge for exactly zero reason.

Some incarnation of Buffmare was going to exist in the comic, but only in a sequence taking place in Nightmare’s imagination.

When Cross realized his backpack was missing, it was because I realized his backpack was missing. I forgot to draw it. I decided that the backpack actually fused with him to create a Zelda-style magic pocket.

Nightmare was going to try to control a seagull with the command melody, but he was accidentally going to start controlling Cross instead and make him run into a tree.

The Tree Spirit was going to hold official interviews for placeholder guardians in Dream and Nightmare’s absence. These placeholder guardians were going to be Neil, the overenthusiastic French furry, and Ccino, the local emo kid who is absolutely done with everyone’s bullshit, and exclusively because they were the only ones who applied for the job. Neil was going to have an ulterior motive of becoming Gaston’s successor.

Neil and Ccino were eventually going to ‘get together’, if you can even call it that, and for no other reason than shitpost reasons.

Nightmare may have had a showdown with the Giant Flying Chicken while riding the Great Charizard from Dragon Roost.

Another possible concept for whole story was that it was a bad self insert fic written by a younger version of Nightmare, but it’s really unlikely that I would’ve gone through with that.

Nightmare and Cross may have needed to go on a fetch quest to find Ink’s brush in the ocean because they accidentally lost it, but honestly that would’ve served nothing for the progression of the story. Because XGaster put a tracker on Ink’s brush, they were going to have to enlist his help.

and that about wraps up my notes, now let me throw what I had sitting around of a script draft–reading this was a trip because I forgot that literally 60% of it existed:

(inside the mountain)

Cross: holy shoe, EVERYONE has wings? how is this a thing??

Cross: I’m frickin jealous

Chief: Oh. You must be. Those guys.

Horror: yeah man, I enlisted their help to capture the Chicken Terror, but then they were all like yo, it’s a robot!


Chief: horror robot or not I told you that we weren’t going to capture the chicken terror for food because we’re not cannibals we don’t eat birds

Horror: but

Horror: we’re hardly even birds!

Chief: you know your job Horror. now get back to work. your actual work.

Horror: But… being the mailman sucks!


Chief: Do I need to confiscate your axe again?


Horror: OKAY FINE. I’M GOING. (flies away in a huff)

Chief: AND DO YOUR GODFORSAKEN LAUNDRY!

Chief: I apologize for that… so, how can I help you two today?


Nightmare: You guys have like, some pearl thing or something? We need to like, collect three of them in order to… save the multiverse… or something like that.

(Camera dramatically darkens.)

Chief: It’s just as the prophecy foretold…

Nightmare: oh god what

Chief: You see, young whippersnappers… legend tells of a great hero that would rise up and save a bunch of people in times of desperation that they don’t even realize are desperate. the great hero would travel far and wide in search of the Pearls of Shiny to finally retrieve a great weapon that he would use to strike down the evil that few knew existed. also the hero would have a sidekick wearing stupid clothes.

Cross: EXCUSE ME

Chief: THAT’S JUST WHAT THE PROPHECY SAID

Nightmare: okay, y’know, I’m just gonna roll with it. where can I get the pearl?

Chief: Well… that’s where the hard part comes in. You see, the pearl belongs to my son… but he’s been acting like an edgy teenager lately.

Nightmare: Great…

Cross: Is there a reason he’s being edgy? Maybe there’s something we can do to appease his hormones.

Cross: Free food works like a charm for me.

Chief: No, it’s more complicated than that. When one of our people becomes of age, they climb to the top of Charizard Island to receive a scale from the Great Charizard that will allow them to grow wings.

Nightmare: the… great charizard.

Chief: But lately, the Great Charizard has been throwing inexplicable temper tantrums. No one can get close to him anymore. And with my son being of age, he’s decently pissed off about this.

Chief: We’re thinking that the Great Charizard is displeased about something, and it is also causing our shortage of food.

Nightmare: Wait, you worship something named after a Pokemon?


Chief: Anyway, perhaps you two will be able to talk some sense into my son. Maybe he just wants to talk to someone his age that isn’t Horror or Killer.

Nightmare: What kind of names are those?


Chief: There’s a letter that I wanted my son to read, and I’ve given it to Killer to hold onto. You can go get it from him upstairs in the first room near the stairs, just tell him I sent you. He’s the little guy in the short shorts, you’ll probably recognize him when you see him.

Nightmare: Can’t you just call him here?


Chief: No, it is of upmost importance that you experience a basic fetch quest in order to become a great hero, because those fetch quests will become needlessly complicated before you even realize it.

Nightmare: ?????

Nightmare: I can’t even tell if you’re joking or not–

Cross: dude let’s just go get the letter

(scene transition)

(Killer dramatically turns around and it zooms in and says his name SSB style)

Nightmare: Wait, why do you get a dramatic introduction?


Killer: Dayum. New faces.

Nightmare: Why is everyone ignoring my questions??

Killer: (needlessly sensual voice) So, what brings you here? (walking closer)


Nightmare: (backs into wall) NO BUENO

Cross: You have a letter or something?


Killer: Oh. Yeah. Chief gave it to me for some reason. Yo, catch.

(He chucks it like a ninja star. Cross catches it between his hands in front of his face.)


Killer: Ey! You actually caught it!


Cross: I’m a trained ninja.

Killer: So like, who are you guys?

Cross: I’m Cross. He’s Larry.

Nightmare: NIGHTMARE. MY NAME IS NIGHTMARE.

Killer: Aw man, I know the feel of having a really lame name and wanting one that’s cooler.

Nightmare: No. Like. My name is actually Nightmare. My senile grandma called me Larry earlier today and this loser picked up on it.

Killer: There’s no need to lie. I understand.

Nightmare: I’M NOT LYING!

Killer: anyway make sure you get that letter to Color there’s something I have to do–

(Killer zips out the door behind them.)


Cross: what even the frick?


Nightmare: that guy freaks me the frick out.

Nightmare: literally. I felt like he was coming onto me.

Cross: you’re imagining things.

(SCENE TRANSITION)
 Cross: all right Nightmare I literally do not trust your ability to communicate with another person in a way that will make them feel inclined to give us something so just let me handle this okay

Cross: okay better yet wait outside the room

(Nightmare makes a less than amused face.)


Cross: it’s for the greater good

(Cross walks into the room.)

Cross: hi my name is Cross and

Color: LEAVE

(Cross immediately exits the room.)

Cross: this is a lost causeNightmare: what

Cross: go make him bleed with your words

Nightmare: dude isn’t this the part where we give him the frickin letter

Cross: (pauses) :o

Cross: OH RIGHT

(Cross takes the letter and goes back into the room, leaving the door open)

Cross: oh yeah this letter is for you it’s from your dad or something

Color: Oh, wow. Can’t even be bothered to talk to me in person.

Color: Give me that thing.

(Color stares at the letter. It’s actually a letter from Killer filled with really bad pickup lines and other really creepy compliments.)

Color: What the hell, you said this was from my dad!

Cross: We thought it was–??

(Killer teleports in behind them, scaring the shit out of Nightmare)


Killer: Suuuup~

Color: Killer I swear to god.

Killer: Here’s the actual letter, though you might not be happy with it.

(He flings it at Color and it lands in front of him. He reads it over, rolls his eyes and throws it in the trash.)

Cross: So uh… I don’t know what the letter says but apparently we’re prophesied heroes collecting a bunch of pearls to save the multiverse and the pearl you have is–


Color: Can everyone just get out of my room already?

(everyone just leaves)

Nightmare: What even was the point of that stupid fetch quest?

Killer: Oh yeah, can you guys help me with something? Just a smalllll favor. And I can’t ask anyone else because I’m not supposed to do it.

Killer: I need some strong, reliable people…

Nightmare: Don’t touch me.

Killer: It’s just a small favor! And I mean actually small, it’ll take like two minutes.

Nightmare: I have doubts about this.

Killer: Great! Meet me out back by the spring.

Nightmare: Wait which side is the back–

(Killer is gone)

Nightmare: Cross which side is the back.

Cross: I don’t know??

(after spending twenty minutes going through the various exits trying to figure out how to get there)

Killer: What the hell took you so long.

Nightmare: Directions would’ve been helpful. There wasn’t even a freaking map anywhere in there!

Killer: The hollow is like the size of a middle class house! How difficult could it be to find out where to go?!

Nightmare: IT’S A DOME THERE IS NO BACK

Cross: OKAY, what matters is that we’re here, what the heck do we do now.

Killer: Okay, okay. (steps backwards) Look, if you look around here, it’s all a dried up spring. The Great Charizard was throwing a tantrum, a boulder fell down and it coincidentally plugged up the spring for the third time this week, which is literally our main source of fresh water. I’m honestly getting sick of this so I’m going to climb the mountain and see what’s going on because everyone else is too scared to do it.

Nightmare: God. You’re not gonna make us go with you, are you?


Killer: Oh, no way. I just need you to throw me up that cliff over there so I can get into the cavern that leads up the mountain.

Nightmare: Can’t you fly?

Killer: Not thirty feet straight up. Do these noodle arms look like they can manage that?


Nightmare: Whatever. But quick question. How the hell does one throw a person.

Killer: I weigh like fifty pounds. It shouldn’t be that hard. Also, if you’ve noticed, the wind is rapidly changing directions, so you’ll probably have the best effect throwing me when the wind is blowing that way.

Nightmare: Mhmm. Sure. Let’s just get this over with.

(Nightmare crouches down and Killer fuckin walks onto his shoulders)

Nightmare: Hey! Watch it!

(some way or another he throws Killer and Killer barely makes it to the cliff, face planting into the ground)

Nightmare: Well I guess that worked.

Killer: THAT WAS TERRIBLE!

Nightmare: YOU’RE WELCOME! COULD’VE JUST USED A DAMN LADDER!

Killer: NOBODY OWNS A LADDER HERE BECAUSE EVERYONE CAN FLY!

Nightmare: Then how the frick do people get up this cliff?!

Killer: THERE’S NORMALLY A BRIDGE BUT IT BROKE AND PROBLEMS LIKE THESE ARE PRECISELY WHY I’M CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN TO BEGIN WITH! ALSO I’M LEAVING BYE. (turns and leaves)

(cricket cricket)

Cross: Nightmare we should probably follow him.

Nightmare: No.

Cross: What else do we have to do. We solve their problem, Color can get his wings and then he stops being emo and gives us the pearl out of the goodness of his heart.

Nightmare: I’m not risking my life for this! If that guy is willing to do it himself I’m going to let him do it!

Cross: Dude, look at that guy. He looks about at capable fixing whatever the problem is as Ink is at providing emotional support. If this happens to be anything like a video game, we’re the only ones capable of solving anything. Besides, what else are we supposed to do? Hang around and wait for something to happen?

Nightmare: All right, fine. But how are we supposed to do something? It’s not like we can climb up a thirty foot cliff.

Cross: No, but we can swim, right?Nightmare: What?

(Cross draws a line around the rock covering the spring. It dematerializes into red squares and water starts to spew out of the spring. They both run back towards the side and climb up the cliff they came from)

Nightmare: Dude, what the hell was that?

Cross: I can draw lines around things with my sword and they do that and go away.

Nightmare: … do they go somewhere?


Cross: I dunno.

(Meanwhile in Xtale, a boulder slams into the floor and almost crushes Fresh because of course he’s there)

(The spring fills up)


Nightmare: You know I’m starting to have second thoughts about this swimming thing seeing as how I’ve never actually–(Cross kicks him into the water)


(LATER)


Nightmare: YOU ASSHOLE I ALMOST DROWNED

Cross: You’re exaggerating.

Random Dude: STOP RIGHT THERE!


Nightmare: who.

Random Dude: YOU AREN’T GOIN ONE STEP PAST THIS POINT! YOU’RE LIGHT YEARS FROM FACING BROCK!

(nightmare squints)

(comic suddenly goes into a battle sequence)

Nightmare: whoa whoa what the hell is happening

Cross: oh my god it’s pokemon NIGHTMARE IT’S POKEMON

Nightmare: I DON’T HAVE ANY POKEMON CROSS THREATEN HIM

(Random Dude sent out MEWTWO)

Cross: DEAR GOD

Cross: LISTEN THERE’S A HUGE MISUNDERSTANDING WE’RE NOT TRAINERS WE DON’T HAVE POKEMON

Random Dude: tHEN WHY ARE YOU IN A POKEMON GYM HUH

Cross: Uh… touring?

Random Dude: OH

Random Dude: I SEE

(The Random Dude returns his Mewtwo.)

Random Dude: THERE HAS BEEN AN UNFORTUNATE MISUNDERSTANDING

Cross: Say uh, you didn’t happen to see a scrawny dude with wings pass through here, did you?

Random Dude: Oh yeah, he went into the next room and took the elevator to the top.

(silence)


Nightmare: Why are there always elevators.

(two seconds later, they reach the elevator and there’s a dude standing in front of it)


Nightmare: um excuse me we need to use the elevator

Dude: oh man I can’t find my glasses anywhere what do I do

Nightmare: excuse me I said move

Dude: oh man I can’t find my glasses anywhere what do I do

Nightmare: HELLO

Dude: oh man I can’t find my glasses anywhere what do I do

Nightmare: MOVE ASSHOLE

Cross: I think it’s a preprogrammed NPC.

Nightmare: UAGGGGHHHHH

(Nightmare throws himself into the person, but he slams into the STEEL WALL OF NPC)

Nightmare: CROSS TELEPORT HIM AWAY

Cross: wait are you serious what if that freakin kills him I don’t know where these things go

Nightmare: YOU SAID IT YOURSELF HE’S AN NPC

(Cross shrugs. He draws a line around the NPC and the NPC disappears)

(one elevator ride later)

Nightmare: (chokes) oh god

Nightmare: the altitude

Cross: nightmare this island is still lower than ink’s house.

Nightmare: PSYCHOLOGICAL ALTITUDE

(fwip)

Cross: Oh look, it’s that guy from earlier.

Nightmare: Got captured somehow. Why am I not surprised?

Killer: YOU KNOW WHAT SCREW YOU GUYS

(A really buff guy abruptly slams into the ground)

Buff Guy: FEAR MY WRATH, FOR I AM BROCK! LEADER OF ALL THINGS ROCK HARD

Nightmare: Look man, we really don’t have time for this, just let the shota hoe go, we’re just checking up on the huge-ass Charizard up there.

Killer: excuse me

Brock: I AM THE LOYAL GUARDIAN OF THE GREAT CHARIZARD! You can only pass if you defeat me!


Cross: what the hell is even happening anymore

(Loud gym battle music as the gate at the entrance of the clearing slams shut)

Nightmare: LOOK WE’VE BEEN OVER THIS WE DON’T HAVE ANY POKEMON

(Brock war cries as he sends out a very anime geodude)

Nightmare: can someone please tell me I’m hallucinating all of this

Brock: WELL, IF YOU DON’T HAVE POKEMON, YOU’LL HAVE TO USE A RENTAL

Cross: What? But rental pokemon always suck.

Brock: YOU MUST PROVE YOUR WORTH SOMEHOW! AND BECAUSE YOU’RE SMALL CHILDREN YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN’T PROVE IT THROUGH SUMO WRESTLING.

Nightmare: I’m fifteen!

Cross: Nightmare I think you’re missing the point.

Killer: Good god, just let them through and let me out of here, they’re the heroes of prophecy.

Brock: PROPHECY

Brock: GOODNESS ME I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT

(Brock returns his geodude)

Brock: YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING

Nightmare: That would have worked?

Brock: BUT! IF YOU WANT TO FREE THIS TINY FELLOW HERE, YOU MUST COMPLETE A DIFFERENT CHALLENGE! FOR YOU SEE, HE TRIED TO PASS THROUGH HERE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION!


(Killer rolls his eyes. Nightmare squints, literally pulling a notebook out of his shirt. He writes something in it, walking up to Brock and holding it up. It says “Let the guy out of jail you dick”)

Brock: AHA

Brock: WELL

Brock: I CAN’T ARGUE WITH THAT

(He stomps his foot on the ground and the bars in front of Killer go up)

Brock: DON’T BE CAUSING TROUBLE NOW KIDS


(He ascends back into the sky)


Cross: I’m not even going to ask. That entire conversation felt like a drug trip.

(Killer dramatically throws himself onto Nightmare)


Killer: I knew you would come around, my knight in–

Nightmare: Why did I assume that you had become any less creepy in the last ten minutes. Why did I even do that?


Killer: Because your heart told you to.

Nightmare: Dear god stop touching me or I will literally pick you up and slam you into the floor.

Killer: Feisty. Anyway, I figured out why the Great Charizard is freaking out all the time. His tail is hanging down into the room below him and something is chewing on it like all the time.

Cross: What? Then why doesn’t it just, I dunno, pull its freaking tail out of the room like a reasonable creature? Or maybe take care of the problem on its own?

Killer: The Great Charizard is like a five year-old. It’s self aware, but it expects all of its problems to be solved by everyone else and throws tantrums when that doesn’t happen.

Nightmare: Well that’s stupid. Why does everyone act like it’s some holy being then?

Killer: Because it’s a massive, terrifying dragon that can breathe fire?

ok unfortunately this is where the script ends but I hope you enjoyed that

oh yeah, and some extremely old art that I found:

as well as a brief consideration to make the characters human before deciding that I just didn’t want to work on the comic anymore.

basically you will notice that most of this doesn’t have a solid outline, and you’d be right: I never actually planned it that meticulously. I mostly just winged it and threw stuff in over the course of time and never even really planned anything close to a definitive ending beyond “maybe it was a prank”. sorry if this is like… anticlimactic, but it’s all I could find!

#meme waker #long post

[ganymedesclock]

there's a post somewhere about how ganondorf's death is often presented almost as a holy death, deeply dignified and with appropriate silence. i think the term the person used was like a kind of anti-martyrdom, like. "a holy death, but not of something good". i'm not sure if i'm using the terminology entirely correctly, but that's something that's always hit me. like. i don't think that comes from just the general seriousness of the plot, but also that there's a quiet acknowledgement that fate

itself was against him - and the inherent tragedy of that. like. they're So Close to digging just a little further and questioning that concept of fate + supposedly inherent character weakness in the first place. this is present in oot - zelda acknowledges him as pitiful, someone who couldn't control the triforce. and in tp, zelda seems to do something like a quiet prayer. this aspect of zelda herself isn't present in wind waker (iirc), but is embodied by the king, who directly compares himself.

That’s a concept that a friend of mine talks about a lot ( @betterbemeta ) in almost those exact words but I asked her and she said she wasn’t sure of the specific post, just that she didn’t get it from someone else.

But, yeah, I feel like... there’s this interesting sort of counter-narrative within the Zelda series, I think? There’s the main narrative, which is the Legend and the Cycle and that it is Correct to perpetuate the Cycle and live out the roles people are given.

But there’s also a lot of counterpoints, of things making it clear that the Cycle is hurting people, that you will not be rewarded or kept safe for perpetuating it- and in Wind Waker this is very interesting, because, a lot of the evidence points to Ganon’s stance- “Your gods abandoned you!” being correct. 

Hyrule was destroyed. Most of its people were killed. Two young people who were active servants of the god at the time were murdered and nothing protected them. Ganon comes across as someone who’d know- because he’s acting as the Divine Opponent, here.

And there’s this scene, late in Wind Waker, where he reads Tetra’s dreams with his power.

This scene sticks with me, because it’s Ganon doing something unnecessary. He’s got no reason to treat Tetra hospitably at this point. He’s got no reason to tuck her into a bed, which he does, or acknowledge that she’s a child, or wonder who she is besides Zelda. 

And, yet, we have this. unexpectedly introspective soft scene, and while it’s followed by the puppet Ganon fight, the things he says there don’t seem just like villainous trash talk, but, nearly a plea for these kids to realize how messed up their situation is. They’re allegedly agents of the gods who are being chewed up by their Fates, used and cast aside, and while he has an agenda in not wanting this to happen (as their given Fate is to be parties in his execution) there’s a bleak humor Wind Waker Ganon has about the situation that, to me, has never actually been contradicted within the Zelda games. Words to the contrary ring hollow. In practice, we watch Hyrule desolated, we watch its executioners throw him on vulnerable populations (in Twilight Princess, the Sages know enough of the modern Twili to recognize Midna in her cursed form- so they had to have known the people they were leaving at the mercy of a wounded, panicked Ganon who was nonetheless fully capable of killing a person with his bare hands at that point).

In Breath of the Wild, which doesn’t even depict Ganon as a person who can argue his point (though the sequel may shed new light on that), he still nonetheless seems correct about the nature of the cycle; Zelda is unabashedly a survivor of child abuse who was forced to pray in sacred springs starting at age seven. 

BotW is basically the series’ most detailed thesis yet that the Cycle broke Link and Zelda and tore pieces from them they’re not getting back. Both of them lost a century. Zelda’s passions and interests were sublimated to force her into a passive role. People they knew and were close to died. Link’s habitual silence is depicted as a product of the anxiety that the hero role pressed on him, and he was also a human shield just to guarantee that of the Champions, Zelda at least could make it, that left him critically injured.

The only real coherent defense raised by the Cycle- which is meta-wise, “justified” by Skyward Sword, which establishes it as an unholy curse- is “this is the only way to save Hyrule” which is never challenged or argued or defended. It’s merely accepted. And we keep watching young, vulnerable kids following the paths laid out by their predecessors and being torn apart by these events.

Link and Zelda don’t look like people who are protected by benevolent gods that shine over them. Repeatedly, the deities of the Zelda setting are depicted as not especially loving. In A Link To The Past, the Triforce itself says it doesn’t care about good or evil, merely that Link has proven his worth and should now make a wish. Other characters in the setting describe it as fickle or a troublemaker. In Skyward Sword, Zelda, regaining Hylia’s memories and thus the clearest potential insight into how Hylia was thinking and feeling, states that Hylia obtained a mortal incarnation basically as bait for Link, who would be driven by compassion to protect his friend, and thus get functionally conned into acting as Hylia’s champion.

I think this is why fanworks that put the chosen three on the same side make sense, because, in this way, Ganon is more a contemporary to the heroes than the King of Hyrule, who, no matter how often he dies, never really has that sense of being a martyred hero who’s lost fragments of himself. Daphnes was able to choose his own death, and the death of his kingdom, on his own terms using the Wind Waker and then the Triforce; Rhoam controls the narrative at the beginning of BotW.

Ganon?

Just from what we know about BotW’s sequel (which is not much at all) Ganon is having a bad time. In a way, his fate seems to combine elements of Link and Zelda’s- he was confined for a long time in a death match with another force (Zelda), and he was heavily and brutally injured and may have lost consciousness (Link) only to awaken in an unfamiliar future where he’s been all but forgotten (both of them).

And part of this is the need that the games seem to have, to have everything be Ganon’s fault, but to never acknowledge or explore the relationships Ganon actually, has with the various entities he ostensibly commands. I love Wind Waker, but, as friends of mine have pointed out- there’s only flimsy excuses at best for Ganon to put the various boss monsters in the environments they’re found in. They’re themed to their environments so that they seem fitting elements, rather than something foreign placed there that’s disrupted an extant order.

It leads to this sense of Ganon more as a pariah than as a true Source Of Evil. Because he’s blamed for everything, including things that don’t actually seem to further any of his stated objectives and in fact, might even work against something he is stated to want (e.g. the withering of the Deku Sprouts in Wind Waker, which are stated to be a potential way to drain the Great Sea and leave the Land Below accessible once again- the big thing Ganon wants- but they’re stated to fail because of Ganon’s magic; or him outright saying he wants the sun to shine on Hyrule when earlier in the game Daphnes accuses him of cursing the entire sea into a state of darkness because he wants everything to be dark)

Ganon’s not blameless and harmless- like. he absolutely did shit and is rarely sorry for it or sorry but not enough to stop- but, it definitely feels like his role as Hyrule’s Enemy is a degree outside of his control, much as the Hero or Princess roles are out of Link and Zelda’s. This is a game series about people being forced into roles that cause them to suffer, and then the end takeaway is I guess It Was Worth It because the Bad Man Died.

It’s this situation where the narrative tells us we are dealing with a demon man who hates everything and the only holiness or justice can come from his death, and then at the same time we’re shown a guy who is a power-hungry jerk with a large list of offscreen and frankly mystifying crimes that don’t seem to add up with anything he seems to want or value or even his sense of humor. And it ends up leaving the whole Cycle... feeling rather bleak.

#Legend of Zelda #Ganondorf #Link #Zelda #like it's this Weird Thing of I guess the cycle has to be ultimately vindicated #so we can keep making more games #but also look at all this lovely drama of how the cycle is awful and hurts everyone #but don't feel bad for Ganon who has seen this murder wheel go around multiple times in his life #faelapis #long post

[zelesbians]

How do you pronounce Reneki? What's her favorite food? Is she good with any weapons? Does she sleep with a special stuffed animal? Does she know about Link and his adventure? If she had a piece of the triforce, which would it be and why? What's her favorite color? Is she more of a skirt or pants person? If she were caught in the zombie apocalypse, what would she be doing? Which booth at the bazaar does she spent the most time at?

Wow- thank you for all the questions!! :D /srs

How do you pronounce Reneki? It’s pronounced “reh-nee-key”! Though you can always call her Rene (pronounced just like the name Renée). I’ll be totally honest, when I first made her all those years ago I found this name on a gerudo name generator. It was supposed to be temporary, but I never ended up changing it so it just stuck.

What’s her favourite food? Her favourite food is probably some kind of desert! She’s got a huge sweet tooth, even if she doesn’t like to admit it.

Is she good with any weapons? Reneki is especially skilled with bows! She’s skilled with a sword too, but she finds bows a lot easier to work with. She trains a whole lot in her free time which has helped her become pretty skilled

Does she sleep with a special stuffed animal? Nah, sadly she doesn’t own any stuffed animals :,D

Does she know about Link and his adventure? Yes! She knows she can’t really help since he’s destined to be the hero, but she insists that if link ever needs help that he asks her (mainly because she’s incredibly worried about Zelda). During the events of skyward sword, its common to see her patrolling the skies in her off time because she’s really anxious about the whole thing. As for link, she’s pretty neutral towards him. Shes a bit jealous of how close he and Zelda are, but she knows he’s a nice guy and feels bad that groose is always being mean to him.

If she had a piece of the triforce, which would it be and why? I’ve actually thought about that before- and if I’m honest, I’ve thought about it a lot- a whole “what-if” scenario if she were another part of the triforce like Zelda, link and ganon. Before anyone comes for me I know the tetraforce was proved to not be canon but hey I’m just here to have fun :,)!! My idea for reneki would be that she’s the triforce of compassion. It sounds kinda strange, considering that in skyward sword she’s a bit standoffish- but in ever iteration her motivations are always tied to wanting to help others and better the world. She’d never really be any sort of destined “hero”, so the only reason for her maybe helping Link and Zelda is just because she wants to, not because she has to. I also got the idea for this because in majoras mask, there’s one great fairy per triforce piece: power, courage, and wisdom. But there’s also a great fairy of kindness, so I assumed if there were a fourth piece, something along those lines would make the most sense. I’ve got a lot developed for her in this “what-if” scenario of a tetraforce, but it’s kinda embarassing since I know a lot of people would be toootally against it, which I understand!! But I personally just have fun building upon the Zelda universe 💖

What’s her favourite colour? Her favourite colour is pink, because it reminds her of Zelda :,D but I mainly associate her with the colour purple

Is she more of a skirts or pants person? Definitely a pants person. She may wear a dress/skirt if she has to, but she finds them pretty impractical and definitely leans more towards pants.

If she were caught in a zombie apocalypse, what would she be doing? An interesting question!! Never really thought about that, but she would probably be setting up a small settlement with some friends, acting as the protector of the community. She may be kind of a loner, but she enjoys helping people and feels that working as a small group may be for the best. You’ve got more people to feed and look out for, but you’ve also got more hands to help out!

Which booth at the bazaar does she spend the most time at? Definitely Gondo’s Scrap Shop! Reneki has a secret interest in smithing and technology. She finds it incredibly fascinating, and kind of wishes that she could’ve become a blacksmith or something along those lines. If she ever hears that Link found old technology on the surface, that even still works, she’d be sooo jealous.

#oc #reneki #thank you so much for all the questions ;v; #this was really fun to answer!! #sorry i wrote so much i really love rene </3

[bxstiae]

⚜ ; [ HEALING && SCARS / HC.6  ]     CHARA. STUDY │ DEVELOPMENT

i’ve been thinking about this for days now & i just didn’t know how to go about it. mainly because there’s just so much to unpack with it. i suppose to put it simply -- link doesn’t have MANY scars. well i mean.... i suppose he does but many of them are... barely visible ( i.e. they are simply just discoloured lines/markings for the most part. ) he’s not scar ridden -- which is crazy to think but it has to do a lot with how many of his woulds in battle were treated. most of his injuries that would have scarred him were treated rather quick & with magic which causes him not to scar...  ( which i will also discuss in this post ) but that being said... link does have !!! some scars that are extremely visible. partially cause they weren’t healed/taken care of in time. 

anyway, i suppose i’ll break this up in parts for you though. I’ll start with what scars he has though. and then get down to the nitty gritty details of why he doesn’t have them && his sources of healing. HERE is a ref for his back i suppose? it’s just a quick doodle o a sticky so it’s not anywhere near from perfect, but the tags are also very important to note as well. anything else is going to be under a read more. read at your discretion. obviously this talks about injuries so keep that in mind alright? i really don’t wanna bother with tagging cause this is your warning now. if you need me to tag it then by all means please let me know. 

TRIGGERS CONTAINED: injury, stabbing, impalement, electrocution, near downing etc.

THE INJURIES

BACK

right shoulder -- from an arrow hitting him. it had snapped in the middle of the fight with the arrowhead still lodged in him && stayed there long enough to do some serious scarring. he couldn’t stop to take it out due to the fight. simply had too many enemies on him, and when midna took it out, they were nowhere near a spring nor did they have any faeries on them to patch it up.

gash-like scare on lower right side of the back -- from a poe. the scythe hit him hard enough to severely wound him. the faerie on hand could have either given the strength he needed to finish the poe off, or heal him completely. he chose the former as he wouldn’t be able to live otherwise. midna was able to teleport him soon after to save him from bleeding out but not soon enough prevent the scar. recovery time took about a week before he could get back on his feet.

stab-like wound from dynalfos on left side of his back. the tail-whip attack stabbed him and he genuinely didn’t realise until after the adrenaline from the fight wore off. he felt sore, and when he reached, he felt blood. being nowhere close to a spring he && midna spent a good hour or so looking for a faerie. they ended up having to cauterise the wound too so he wouldn’t keep opening it up in their frantic search. so by the time they DID find a faerie it was more for the pain && replenishing energy than anything.

LEFT SHOULDER

a reason why link doesn’t like flying. a kargarok grabbed him with its talons and pulled him upwards. in the desperation of trying to have it let go of him, it clawed him well enough. he fell into the water and was ultimately drowing because he couldn’t move his left arm at all. it was a zora ( who was heading to the water temple ) that pulled him out. that same zora was the one who brought him back to get assistance for his wound -- not knowing that they could have easily taken him to lanayru’s spring. so instead of being healed how he normally goes about, he was tended to the ‘old fashioned’ way. thus a scar

FRONT

he’s been impaled by a chilfos spear in the lower left abdomen.

there’s discolouration on right side of his chest from a burn ( not super noticeable )

WRISTS/ARMS

reason for his bandages actually -- kept getting cuts and scratches as a farmhand. had also burned himself a couple of times as well. mayor bo said enough and told him to wrap up his lower arms. 

they’re just various cuts that turned into small scars as he didn’t know about the spring’s magical healing properties at the time nor was the hero’s spirit awakened at the time.

left arm -- discoloured but not at all severely from a venomous sting/bite.

LEGS

right leg -- there’s an electrocution scar on his lower leg. again, not at all bad as time progressed. 

link’s injuries on his arms && legs have mostly healed up tbh -- from his constant bathing in the springs that is. but the ones on his back, front, and should still remain and are reminders that even he can scar. he’s not immune to injury. and he doesn’t have that perfect skin that you think he has. anyway moving on.

HEALING

SO... as i have mention in my other post. there are 3 reasons for his unnatural/magical healing.

attunement to the triforce && the its brand. the light spirits && their springs faeries

I’ll start in order tbh. but keep in mind that the latter two are the most IMPORTANT ones for link’s healing -- ESPECIALLY the light spirits && their springs.

TRIFORCE

being the hero of courage has it’s perks. that begin that there is a natural affinity towards magic. this means that most all other people? cannot get healed. at least not in the way that link can ( being healed by faeries or the light spirit springs ). the brand makes him able to tap into some of that magic. whether he knows that or not is still a question. it could be that it just naturally comes out at times -- or it could be that he knows and when he is able, he uses it. regardless being the bearer of the triforce means that theres some of that magical essence that can help him along the way. 

he may not be immortal, nor does this power make him so, but his soul is everlasting. so that is something you have to take into consideration. it’s a special soul that is bound to being life for an eternity, so it will have some magical properties to it.

LIGHT SPIRITS && THEIR SPRINGS

consider it like magical holy water if you will. these springs are blessed by the light sprits’ powers. which, in turn, help the hero along his journey. simply standing in it produces healing effects ( as you can see in the game ). but bathing or immersing youreself in it, you’re getting the full healing powers of the spring.

the water helps with just about any and all injury/pain. ( almost all pain ). while it cannot heal a broken heart by any means, it’s capable of soothing one’s body. it is very HOLY in this aspect. so naturally link will seek to bathe/cleanse himself when he can.

the spirits themselves possess healing powers. they can -- if you are a child of LIGHT -- help you to an extent. however their light is extremely strong, and sometimes can do more harm than good. so if you are, lets say somebody who isn’t a natural born triforce weilder and/or your soul is tainted in some way/shape/form, it could hurt you, make you sick, or even kill you. which is why you would want to go for their springs instead. cause the water has only a fraction of the light spirit’s true power but is capable of healing all the same.

one thing to NOTE, however, is that the springs do you better if you just recently sustained an injury. it’s fast acting as the wound is recent. but the longer you wait to go the the spring, the harder/longer it is/takes to heal you. you don’t want to wait on it. mainly because the spring cannot guarantee that you’ll be healed 100%. if you don’t go right away, then you’ll be left with a scar. end of story.

faeries

these creatures are much like the spirits of light, in that most of them are healers. since they do tend to hang around the spirits’ springs, it just goes to show you that they have a deep rooted connection with those light spirits. the special thing about faeries, though, is that tehy are quite versatile. their healing abilities can range. 

they can prevent death by granting a ‘second chance’ while VERY RARELY, you’ll come across a faerie that turns back the time just a little bit, all faeries that have healing magic can turn the internal clockwork of link -- cause his body to experience that time-like effect. they can either do that, or just BRING him back to life by giving him that energy.

they can also heal link RIGHT on the spot, just like the springs can, thus preventing him for obtaining a scar. however it’s just the same as the springs, you have to do it right then and there. the longer you wait, the less likely it will work.

i think?? thats about it in regards to this subject though? i know i am a bit scattered with this but i just wanted to let you guys know where i look at with link && scars. i’m not saying he has baby soft skin. but it really does speak VOLUMES in regards to how little scarring he has despite how many near death experiences that he’s had. && thats jut cause he’s lucky to have such places to go to for healing. it’s not because he’s careful. don’t get me wrong. he is NOT careful by any means. in fact, if we look at him and what he’s done with himself in some of these fights? you wouldn’t be looking at the same cute face you’re looking at right now. he just simply knows how to TAKE CARE of himself. or rather.... he’s bee fortunate enough to have these places. which, mind you, he kinda takes a bit for granted sometimes. not ALL the time. but enough to where he probably would have an oh shit moment if these things weren’t readily available or accessible.

but anyway, if you wanna know more about this. you can always ask lol.

#⚜ ; — [ ʰᵉʳᵒ ᵒᶠ ˡᵉᵍᵉᶰᵈ ▲ headcanon. ] #[ alright i've done enough ] #[ im gonna take a break now ]

[insertdisc5]

Yet Another Zelda Roleswap (the masterpost)

✨what's this AU?

Check THIS POST I DID that started it all and also the AU’s tag

✨in this au, the previous legends about the triforce are the same, aka “zeldas are princesses links are heroes and ganon/ganondorf is always the same guy and the big bad”! BUT THIS TIME DESTINY DID AN OOPSIE and ganondorf forgot all about his previous lives while link is the one who remembers them all!!! zelda just wants to travel and read cool legends and didnt expect to be part of one

✨ZELDA STUFF

-trans girl, found the name zelda in very very very old royal records

-she's like 16 or something

-seventh heir to the throne who wants to prove herself, so she goes on an adventure to save the world!!!!

-adventurous and impulsive and naive

-main weapon is bows, she also knows magic and sheikah techniques

-has six siblings who dont really pay attention to her. shes probably the youngest

-her point of view is very black and white at first

-even when she gets in the middle of link and ganon’s story she still doesn’t believe she is The Zelda of legend

-how could she she’s just a zelda, one among many, just a kid playing at being a princess

-(she IS the zelda)

-she gets a bird AND a white horse!!!!

-if she sees a weird cave she WILL go into it 

-would probably eat moss if dared

✨LINK STUFF

-genderfluid, uses he/they

-hes in his early twenties

-a man zelda meets during her travels, who seems to know a lot about old legends

-he can see koroks and fairies, who can’t be seen by most people

-gets all his past lives' memories after he gets the master sword, over a period of a day or two

-maybe link does remember his past deaths along with his past lives, but past deaths are maybe more muted…. less like he experienced them and more like someone told him about it. still fucks him up tho

-i feel like he’d be pretty nice and sleepy all the time, until you mention something that has to do with his memories (aka, ganondorf, but also like “oh ive heard some hero in the legends went back to being a kid to save the world or whatever) and he’d get this super serious, focused look… something like that, little things that would make zelda go :^?

-he just really wants to kill ganondorf ya dig

-SO MANY BOSS FORMS probably one per main title (kinda like xant’s battle in TP) (strongest/hardest to fight is majora’s mask link), and final form is definitely some twisted looking fierce deity

-as for his past selves he has all of their memories and its kind of… they’re not him, he’s him, they’re just memories that he has, but when he is very very stressed its “memories become actual personalities for a sec” time. 99% of the time its just him and then ganondorf is there and its like WILL EVERYONE SHUT UP IM TRYING TO MAKE A MURDER HERE

-he’s not controlled by malice or anything because it would feel like a deus ex machina to me

-in the end he doesnt die and he gets redemption because he didnt hurt anyone he just tried to kill ganondorf a few times hes good, and also zelda is his friend and an heir to the throne he’s got immunity. poor guy just needs help processing all those lives and needs a cabin in the woods with some fairies!!!

-re: his past lives, oot link SUPER HATES ganondorf while ww link is more sympathetic. links who havent fought ganondorf are ambivalent about him

-endgame ship is either with ganondorf OR beedle. beedle is the secret ending

-will eat moss

✨GANONDORF STUFF

-he's in his twenties i promise he just has resting old man face

-zelda’s old childhood friend

-doesn’t remember anything about his past lives

-gerudo king, very serious but fairly well loved

-lets not talk about malice it either doesnt exist/this ganondorf doesnt have any/this ganondorf knows how to control it. either way its not gonna affect the story

-”what are you wearing today king” “oh, just whatever” (its not whatever he spent hours finding the day’s outfit)

-found out about his past lives while reading a very very very old book, probably read it and stayed in his room for a week and then promised himself to never ever ever turn out like that

-genuinely a good person

-would never eat moss

✨RELATIONSHIPS STUFF

-zelda and ganondorf actually knew each other as kids! Both being royalty and all. legends do talk about a hero a princess a beast or whatever but don’t use link or ganondorf’s names since it’s been so long- it takes zelda and ganondorf both finding old, old books on their own to be like “AH OOPS”!!! Ganondorf learns about his past lives much earlier than zelda, who finds out during her adventures, and she goes from seeing ganondorf as a dear friend to being like “…but what if he’s really bad though”

they’re old childhood friends, you know, the kind that were best friends before and then grew up and saw each other less often (different kingdoms and all) so they kinda grew apart, and then zelda starting her quest made them reconnect again! Ganondorf is a little older than zelda so he always saw her more as his little sister who just jumps into mud because she totally saw a sword there i promise, and zelda sees ganondorf as her cool older brother who actually pays attention to her, unlike her actual siblings

-when link and zelda meet, zelda’s like “weird dude but probably harmless” and link is like “weird girl but probably harmless” and then she’s like “oh my name is zelda” and link goes “ah just likeWAIT” and he kinda observes her to… gauge her abilities? My Zeldas Were Better kinda thing. i guess during their final battle he’s like “you’re really a zelda, after all” and its bittersweet

the second zelda figures out link is also part of those legends she goes full hero worship mode, which makes link’s fall from grace… really… hard on her. ive been admiring you and wanting to be a hero like you all this time, turns out you’re not a hero and also Not Okay

-re ganondorf and link, after everything that happened uuuh

human brain: it probably takes them both a long while to get used to each other, given that one was almost killed by the other and the other has vivid memories of having their world(s) destroyed by the one, but after a while they probably bond over their shared uuuuh memories i guess. link visits gerudo city once in a while and they catch up and become friends and

lizard brain: after 100k words they DATE

no i wont write how it happens you will NOT make me embarrass myself in front of everyone because i earnestly wrote about how link visits ganondorf every time he’s in gerudo country and at first link just passes by to give ganondorf news about how zelda is faring as queen and news about the world, and as time goes and years go by  they start talking about their lives and struggles and just taking walks across the desert together and having sand seal races and everyone in ganondorf’s court is like “so when’s that little voe coming back” and ganondorf is like “i neither know nor care that its been three months since his last visit” and everyone’s like (smirk) “okay” and when has he even started to look forward to link’s visits anyway how did this happen and then link comes back and smiles gently and shows ganondorf this cool rock he found that looks like ganondorf’s face and ganondorf is smitten

takes them both Y E A R S to realize their feelings and then date tho. slow burn or bust

✨WORLD STUFF

-takes place in a time where the games’ adventures are only known as legends where they didnt even write down ganondorf’s and link’s names

-now that im thinking about it it wouldnt happen like THOUSANDS OF YEARS after any game because then ganon and link wouldnt be that worried about their destiny??? so maybe like 100-200 years after a game??? and the ppl writing down the legends were just terrible bookkeepers who couldnt even think write down link and ganon’s name

-(smash voice) EVERYONE IS HERE!!!!!!!! tingle and agitha the bug princess and sidon and especially groose who is uuuuum zelda’s rival who is totally not in love with her

-i think in botw its implied koroks are only seen by people like link and zelda??? so id say only people with uuuuh magical power??? can see them???? so koroks are just doin their thing, playing pranks, helping people without them knowing, and, in the case of makar, playing romantic music around couples

#Yet Another Zelda Roleswap AU #zelda #ref #im gonna put most questions ive answered on private so this tumblr remains pretty much art #but i might as well do a post with all the stuff ive said!!!! #i LOVE your questions and i still have some to answer but i usually put ask tags on private after a few days so #PLEASE SEND ME MORE QUESTIONS IF YOUD LIKE!!! #will update this post as time goes on

[vio1315]

So one of the panels I went to involved a guy trying to explain why Link/Zelda/Hyruleans were immoral in BotW and Ganon was good (to further a point about ethics being bs or whatever)

But he was factually wrong on a lot of things, so I’ll go through it

Point about monarchies being a poor governmental system, fine. Everything in that sort of category, I’ll give him.

The rest though

Monsters being intelligent, and thus wrong to kill:

Monsters often are shown to be smarter than animals in multiple games, yeah. They use tools, some of them have language, some can even start fires and show indication of cultures. Regardless on where we rate them on sentience though, the fact remains that they’re an invasive force who attack humans on sight. Even if we look at them on the same level as humans, they’ve essentially entered into someone’s country in an attempt to eradicate that people group or control them. If we believe at all in self defense, it’s justifiable. You can however question some methods as needlessly cruel.

Along with this point, it was also referenced that as long as people stayed in their towns and such, monsters didn’t bug them. So they were clearly living at peace until you decided the monsters needed to die

This is incorrect.

If you notice, every town is either walled off (in varying capacities) or in a defensible position. There are also generally guards of some sort.

(I think that fishing village is the only one not this way...? Though it does have a mountain on one end and ocean on the other, idk how good they’d handle an actual attack)

We never hear of this being a defense against people

Rather, we do see two women directly outside their town being attacked by monsters.

People on the roads being attacked by monsters

There’s not boundaries with these being newly established territories. People are staying in their towns for the added protection from monsters who attack on sight.

They would surely attack the towns as well if they weren’t defended.

So again, this is more akin to the country being taken over by a foreign power/people. The monsters, without proper guidance, can’t make coordinated attacks however, and thus are mainly built around. This doesn’t make self defense morally reprehensible however. Attacking their camps isn’t much different if say some foreign country sent groups to set up camps in our country with the intent of killing as many of us as possible to take over. 

(Stables are another beast entirely, though)

Ganon possibly being a good leader, which we have no proof either way on due to him never successfully gaining the position:

If we go back to OoT, we see that after Ganondorf takes over, everything is destroyed. People are dead in Castle Town, and he rules with an iron fist, hurting people in every civilization just to ensure allegiance. He about wipes out all zora and gorons.

Even if we don’t go back, in BotW, he is more beast like (though he maintains some amount of understanding due to his handling of the guardians) but I don’t think this would help his capacity as ruler.

Historically we see him commit evils, though we get less chance to see him do so in a direct capacity in BotW due to his being sealed.

The best we know is his destruction of Hyrulean cities/similar, killing them, all in their own country and capital. So in his current state, his version of ruling over Hyrule involves wiping them out. There doesn’t seem to be much distinction made between targets. Again, calamity ganon is different than Ganondorf was when he had his mind. Even back when he was human, he had a tendency for wiping out people groups, but as calamity ganon, there’s really no holding back in an attempt to have survivors to serve him

He also spreads the malice which seems to make monsters and the pollution that is harmful to humans (and all living creatures, as it even has extremely negative effects on a dragon, which is much more powerful than humans.)

If he has enough mind left, this at best is him wiping out all Hyruleans to have the land for his own... monsters? 

Not even his own people, as the Gerudo are not free from his targeting.

Likely, calamity ganon has lost his humanity, and is not capable as a ruler on any level, lacking strict control of his thoughts and actions. I mean, calamity is in the name.

The attack against Hyrule (resulting in the guardians being overtaken and Ganondorf sealed) being a justified attack:

It was mentioned that the Hyruleans were looking for weapons to destroy Ganon once and for all, and so his attack was self defense.

This required rewatching cutscenes, as I didn’t honestly remember, but basically the guardians were built before his return 10,000 years prior to BotW. They were employed after he struck again, which is where he got his knowledge of them

So they were made in preparation to fight against him. The fact that he knows about them when they’re attempted to be used again, 100 years in the past, suggests it’s the same Ganon, not a reincarnation.

Thus, they have reason to seek out weapons against him as they prepare for his next attack.

At this point they know he’s been doing this over and over again since the beginning of time

It being wrong to assume Ganondorf will be evil in all reincarnations:

Interesting, but this depends on what theory you go with.

I have usually felt it’s the same Ganon(dorf) without resurrection each time.

Such as

from OoT to TP, it’s the same Ganondorf

From OoT to WW it’s the same Ganondorf

in Zelda to Zelda II it’s the same Ganondorf (though he was killed and Zelda II is trying to /resurrect/ him)

in the seasons and ages games, I forget if they’re trying to break a seal or resurrect him, but it ultimately succeeds and he comes in as Ganon

That’s just from memory. 

So I always had the sense that while the heroes tend to reincarnate, through being sealed and breaking out of seals on top of resurrections, Ganondorf is the same, or very rarely reincarnates

This tends to make Ganon (the beast forms) make more sense in my eyes as he kinda loses more and more humanity in the process each time.

But if we are assuming each Ganondorf is separate unless explicitly stated otherwise, and we are assuming he doesn’t get any memories through the triforce of power (which I don’t think has ever been confirmed, and I forget any hints to it honestly, so it might be fanon) In that case, then yes, you’d obviously want to not just murder him as a preventative measure

That said

Every game where he appears does have him do something bad before you’re sent to face him. In BotW, as mentioned before, they’re expecting the same Ganon, who already seems to be in calamity form. And really, when you look at that, do you really think ‘Yeah that looks super mortal and killable’

No, they were expecting that same thing to return

Like they never went baby hunting or any such thing

In the old days, that would have been really easy too. Find any male Gerudo and kill him? Like before Ganondorf became a beast, it would have been simple.

However, most times the story is such a legend by the next game, that details like that tend to be lost to the people anyways

The Yiga clan being justified:

If Ganondorf can not be made out to be good, the Yiga also can’t.

They’re at a similar level to a cult in some ways, much as I enjoy them. They want Ganondorf to reign, though he destroyed half their country and has never spoken a word. We don’t see evidence that he’s even aware of them, I’d say? 

I’d argue they’re better than the monsters, since they only target Link as far as I recall (they’re human and thus capable of such coordination) but it still doesn’t really spare them for serving calamity Ganon who just killed half the country and then flew around the castle not saying anything for 100 years

(I might have missed some lore somewhere, idk)

And that’s without getting into all the ‘Link’s crazy, seeing his dead friends’ and so on stuff. We all know that stuff is part of the games high fantasy world, and we have been given no reason in the narrative to question the authenticity of seeing these things.

In terms of the point made about Link violating the Gerudos customs and cultures by forcing his way into their city? Desperate times is all I’ll say there. If we believe Ganondorf was a true threat, then we can excuse this sort of thing

Basically, the guy ended his presentation saying that ethics were bs (particularly in gaming?)

But honestly if you twist and misinterpret information, you can do that to anything. There’s very legitimate things to hook onto, but this doesn’t really drive home his point to think things through. If you don’t make legitimate cases yourself, why should I take you seriously?

You know in TP it’s implied that the royal family did pretty terrible things to the gerudo people? There’s literally a prison with torture mechanisms in the desert, classically depicted as where they lived, but no gerudo.

We know a lot of the prisoners were sealed away in another realm there too. It could be argued against, but there’s a lot more evidence for this sort of thing.

We know that in ALttP the soldiers who hunt down Link are being mind controlled/similar. They’re actual people that you kill. There’s something to be said there, and a lot of questions you can ask.

I mean, if you really want to stretch, in WW you’re working with pirates, and we never really know what they did before searching for new land. With how they handled things on Windfall, they did kind of do what they pleased to some extent.

These are off the top of my head, with a little effort, you could think of really valid points to question how we perceive good/evil in these games. I think it’s especially cheap to rely on player action to portray these matters.

If you went through a game like Skyrim, you can play it by joining the dark brotherhood and killing and stealing everything in your path. Or you can not steal, not kill outside of self defense, and so on.

The game gives you options, but it should not be assumed that the game’s protagonist has taken every single option.

You can steal in Link’s Awakening, but we can’t assume that as an inherent part of that Link’s character. That is entirely player choice.

So those are all my feelings involving the points brought up during the panel.

The inaccuracies bothered me is all, but I had little freedom to mention all my points at the time, so they go here.

#Vio's Personal #Not putting this in the tag though idk if it matters with search #anyways this is going off memory but I'm pretty confident in this stuff? #The tone of the guys voice told me he knew he was twisting things #but he annoyed me by not even trying that hard #And why is it that everyone who twists things always said #'I can see I just blew your mind' or whatever? #Like you blew my mind how inept you are at this #No. I'm aware what he was doing and that it was intentional #but the cockiness was a tad annoying when he hasn't even played OoT apparently #(and thus who knows what else?) #I agree that in games people make a lot of assumptions #but this was a poorly executed way of showing that #not to mention. He mentions Link being a mute psychopath. Link literally writes his own logs? #I know the English version changes this so I can't expect him to know this per se #but he literally writes stuff like 'I hope they're okay' 'that was fun' 'I hope to see her smile again' #I believe the English version puts it more like 'you hope to see her smile again' which still communicates this stuff #so you have to ignore that aspect of the game to decide he's psychotic

[zombolouge]

Body Dysmorphia - An Evil Parrot

So, as you guys may or may not have seen, I made that lovely post about my journey with weightlifting, which was largely what sucked all my time away in 2017.

Anyways, I thought I would share some of the psychological developments that went along with it, part of which includes my concept of reality collapsing in on itself like an ill-tempered flan.

Discussion of mental illness and weight loss below. Buckle up, babes, I’m gonna get salty.

Y’all probably heard by now, but I have some brain-space friends. Namely: Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, for those that don’t know and are too lazy to google).

It’s not a secret that I have a trifecta of mental illnesses, like I dropped down a well and found the world’s shittiest triforce with my goddamn face.

I’ve got this whole episodic, cyclical Zelda game happening with my thinking all the time, and it isn’t as fun as you would think. Link is running around my head for anxiety, sticking his sword in things and throwing pots full of bees so that I’m all twitchy and convinced that a swarm of murderous cuckoos are following my every move. Zelda is moping around the castle basement, Princess Depression herself, pointing out all the times where we failed to save ourselves and how nothing we do really matters, so who cares if we ever have fun or sleep or see the light of day, it’s all going to crash in a repeating cycle of despondence and chaos at some point. Then there’s Ganon, big ol’ behemoth PTSD, stomping around my brain and messing with my perceptions so that I don’t trust myself, I’m convinced I’m wrong, I’m convinced everyone I know is slowly coming to hate me or is out to get me, I’m sure that I’m messing something up at all times, and when anything bad happens it is obviously my fault. Worst of all, he’s just back there laughing maniacally the entire time and spilling more miasmic gooze all over everything.

I might have been playing too much Breath of the Wild lately.

Still, my point stands. It’s a shitty triforce, and it can make my life difficult because sometimes these pieces are working together to slow down my functionality while other times they’re all fighting each other, and I’m just caught in the crossfire.

I’ve coped, however. I lived (poorly, miserably) with the PTSD for about 5 or 6 years before I was diagnosed. It was my general physician that caught it (apparently constant, unrelenting nightmares that occur every time you sleep is not a normal thing. Go figure!), and she referred me to a therapist, who diagnosed the additional depression and anxiety. Those two were probably always there, but the PTSD came later. We theorize – “we” meaning myself and all the professionals I’ve ever seen – that the PTSD started very early when I was quite young. It wasn’t until I was in an abusive relationship that it really got powered up, however. The severity was probably exacerbated by my age – I was 17 when we started dating and just under 21 before I left him.

In any case, I got diagnosed, I got put on an assortment of medication, and I got treated. I spent 6 months in somewhat intensive therapy before it all sort of clicked together. One day I just…woke up. Having PTSD the way I did was like sleepwalking through life, as though someone had taken all of my essence and boxed it up somewhere inside me. When the therapy clicked, it opened the lid to the box, and I found myself in a life that felt incredibly foreign to me, like someone else had borrowed my body to live for a bit, handed it back with all these new shapes and situations.

Foremost of that – and more to the point of this post – was my weight. In the first year of my abusive relationship, I gained 100 pounds. After the relationship, the weight stayed around. After all, losing 100 pounds doesn’t exactly happen by accident, and I was still addled with PTSD for a large portion of it, which compounds your ability to lose weight. It would sometimes fluctuate by ten or so pounds, but never more than that.

The weight never seemed to bother me, though. After all, it never held me back from having relationships or making friends (nor did it contribute to any of the times I set those bridges I was building on fire, but that’s for another post). I didn’t feel like it stopped me from pursuing my writing career. I read a lot about body acceptance and I got to where I was at peace with my size. I can’t say that I found myself beautiful, per se, but I knew that I wasn’t ugly, and if I was ugly, it wasn’t because of the weight.

Now, fast forward about three years, and I find myself sitting on a hospital gurney in a hallway, a brace strapped around my neck and the world spinning and blurring around me. I had fallen about 30 hours prior to that point, slipping in ice. I had known that I bit the concrete hard when I went down, but I had thought I was okay…until the next day when I couldn’t type, started feeling drunk, and just barely got myself to an urgent care before I was slurring my speech. I won myself a concussion, a sprained wrist, a sprained ankle, and a sprained cervical spine, which is a terrifying thing to be told you have sprained.

After that, I spent about two months recovering. I couldn’t write much, had to avoid reading, so I just sat around and played a lot of video games that didn’t overload me with text. I thought I was fine, but I think not being able to read or write broke something in me, though I tried to deny it. It also highlighted how very little I enjoyed life without those things, even if I kept promising myself that my writing would be fine, that I would get to come back to it.

The end result of this storm of doubt and escapism was that I realized my life was full of a lot of waiting. Waiting to recover, waiting for the right time to publish my book, waiting for some random sign to descend from on high giving me permission to do all these things I wanted to do. I mean, I had a list a mile long of things I would like to be or do, but I just wasn’t taking any steps towards them. I had it in my head that somehow I wasn’t “ready”, and I was metaphorically pacing and twiddling my fingers as I waited for someone or something to tell me “it’s time”.

Turns out a concussion is a good way to snap out of that kind of bullshit.

Initially, I started my journey with weightlifting for two reasons: to use exercise to help control the symptoms of my triforce of garbage, and to gain control over my body that would allow me to do the things I wanted. You see, I like doing things. Things like going to concerts, wandering around a new city, trekking through the woods so that I can point at animals and shout their names like I’m five and discovering the world for the first time.

When I was in high school I did all sorts of active things before my abusive boyfriend came into the picture. Some of my fondest memories were from playing rugby in the park, often after dark, screaming with glee into the night air as we slammed each other into the grass with tackles that were more about clobbering ourselves than they were about getting to the ball. I was also in marching band, which doesn’t sound like much, but holding up a trombone for extended periods of time builds some decent arm muscles. I used to go hiking and fishing all the time with my dad when I was little, and regular swimming trips were a requirement until I moved to New Mexico where water is only a figment of your imagination.

The point being, I wasn’t doing a lot of things that I enjoyed doing, and part of that was because I wasn’t physically fit enough to do them. So, I started with lifting weights.

Now, again, initially this was not about weight. It was about getting stronger and giving myself more energy, it was about getting to a point where I could be the things that I wanted to be. I ignored the weight loss aspect in the beginning because I didn’t want to focus on it. Focusing on weight in the past had gotten me into unhealthy habits (‘sup, anorexia), and that was certainly not what the journey was about this time.

That attitude lasted up until the point where one day, almost out of nowhere in its suddenness, I looked in the mirror and recognized myself. Until that point, I hadn’t even realized that I didn’t recognize the shape that I had become. I mean, I was certainly used to it. It wasn’t as though the face in the mirror was unfamiliar. I saw it every day, after all.

But there was one day that I looked up in the mirror while I was brushing my teeth, and I saw a version of me that I felt a kinship with. Suddenly the image of myself that existed in my head had become physically represented. I looked into my own eyes, and I didn’t see the armor of weight that I had draped on my frame during the years of abuse. I saw the person that I felt I was underneath.

It was a bit like living for 10 years with cloudy skies, and then one day the sun breaks through and you remember that the fucking sky is blue, not grey.

This had a tremendous effect on my mood and confidence. I realized that I wasn’t happy with my weight, not because it was high, not because being fat was anything to be ashamed of or anything terrible, but because it didn’t look or feel like me. That life that someone had been living for me while I was locked in the PTSD box had included a body that just wasn’t mine, and I’d still been using it without realizing it wasn’t a good fit. Shedding the pieces of that ill-fitting suit of armor was liberating and poetic in its beauty.

I went through a period of deep and illuminating emotional discovery alongside the physical changes. I’m now more in touch with who I am and who I want to be than I’ve ever been, which is great most of the time. I would like to say that I continued getting to the size that I wanted, reached it, and lived happily ever after.

If that were true, nobody would complain about how hard it is to have mental illness. If there was really a magical happily ever after where we never had any issues with our mental problems ever again, well, it wouldn’t be so damn hard to exist.

In October of 2017 I lost someone important to me. The death was sudden, which was awful, and almost assuredly preventable if they had been at all focused on self-care, which was infuriating. In my grief, my triforce of terrible brain function reared its ugly head, and I developed a bad case of what I would later learn is body dysmorphia.

Now, I am by no means an expert on body dysmorphia. I can talk at length about depression, anxiety, and PTSD, because I’ve spent enough time with them and done enough research that they’re old friends by now. Body dysmorphia is something new to me, an unknown beast that’s camping out with the others. I didn’t even have a name for what I was going to until I had been venting to a friend about my frustrations with my self-image, and they turned to me from their position on the neighboring treadmill and said “Girl, that’s called body dysmorphia and it’s fucking normal when you lose half a person like you have.”

Well, shit.

So, I can’t speak for everyone’s experience with this particular issue nor can I tell you what’s common or average. What I can do is talk about what I’m going through personally, and shed some light on what happens when body dysmorphia hits during weight loss.

It was about three days after my loved one’s funeral that I woke up, looked in the mirror, and was convinced that I hadn’t changed at all. According to my eyes, I was exactly the same size and shape as I had been back in April before I started lifting. I could no longer see the muscles, I became convinced that my face had rounded out once more, and I stared at my stomach like it was an alien creature attached to my waist. I was certain that any minute an evil spawn wearing my ex boyfriend’s face would burst out of my torso, cackling wildly as it taunted me for having thought I escaped all those negative thoughts and habits.

This was, naturally, quite depressing. I sank into a deep, dark hole that didn’t really have a bottom or a top. It was just rough dirt and mud in all directions, and I was drowning. The only thing that saved me, that kept me from sinking into that muck for good, was – of all the strange things – numbers.

You see, what I saw in the mirror wasn’t matching up with what I knew to be the inalienable facts of the situation. If I was back to the size I was in April, how could I still be wearing pants that were 5 sizes smaller? If I had gained it all back, how could I still be wearing all the smaller shirts? Why would the measuring tape still show a one inch loss around my stomach from the last time that I had measured?

If I hadn’t been marking my progress with these things, I might have panicked. I don’t quite know where my headspace would have led me if I didn’t have actual evidence that was contrary to what my perception was trying to tell me. I know that it wouldn’t have been good, that’s for sure.

I suffered with this depression for only a couple of days before I blurted out my frustration to my friend, largely because I had just gone through a weightlifting session and wanted to cry after each lift, for no other reason than I had to see myself in the massive, wall-length mirrors the entire time and the visual made me feel weak and horrible. I wasn’t lifting less, I was still increasing my progress on-pace with my plan, but I didn’t look good in my own gaze, and therefore hated every bit of effort exerted that day.

That’s when he mentioned body dysmorphia, and this beast in my head was given a name.

I tried for about a week to resolve the issue on my own, but my depression kept getting deeper and darker. I started having obsessive, negative thoughts. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever had obsessive thoughts, but they’re quite frustrating, especially when you don’t want to hear them, and you certainly don’t intend to listen to them. It’s like I had a parrot hanging out on my shoulder, right next to my ear. It spent its time repeating the phrases that it had learned, all day long, and the person that had originally trained it fucking hated me.

Why would you ever think you could be strong or pretty? You’re hideous and you’ll never get anywhere in life because of it. Look, you’ve fallen back to where you started, because you fail at everything you do. It was downright delusional to think you had made progress in the first place. Welcome to reality, fuckup. Everyone who knows you must be so ashamed. They all doubted you and now you’ve proven them right. You’re probably terrible at writing, too. I mean, you can’t even exercise, what makes you think you could do anything else? You’re so stupid for trying. You’re stupid and your stories are stupid. You should die. You should definitely just kill yourself. You should take every pill in the house, lay down, and give up. You should drive your car off the side of a bridge. Nobody cares if you finish your stories, just forget about all of it. Just stop existing.

Yeah, that parrot was a piece of shit.

My experience with my garbage triforce is that those thoughts and feelings are always there, in the background. They never really go away. BUT. When I am handling the triforce well and coping in healthy ways, the parrot’s voice is so small that I can ignore it. I can barely hear it because I’m doing well and focused on working towards my goals. It’s like, when I’m functioning well, I get to shove a bunch of crackers in its mouth and I get some peace while it tries to talk around them. When I’m not coping well, the voice gets louder, and sometimes it will drown out everything else.

A week after giving my body dysmorphia a name, I knew that I was not coping well. I couldn’t muscle my way out of this rut on my own because the body dysmorphia and depression were gorging themselves in this big feedback loop. The more depressed I got, the worse my self-image was. The worse my self-image got, the worse the depression got. I was trapped in a circle of suck, and that parrot was fucking screaming at me from the minute I woke up to the minute I finally passed out at night.

Fuck that shit.

I did the research and found myself a therapist, after which I promptly requested (and was given) antidepressants.

This has been a lifeline, and I’m starting to see improvements even though it’s only been about a month. Therapy is helping me dig up the emotions that are at the root of this spiral, and the antidepressants are a nice supply of crackers to shove into Polly’s spiteful face. It’s not perfect – I didn’t wake up and find myself magically cured. Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see myself again and all the progress that I’ve made, and I feel amazing. Other times I can’t bring myself to be positive, and the parrot starts squawking all over again, though it’s not as obsessive. The suicidal thoughts are gone, which is nice. I never had any intention of acting on them, but when your brain is calling for death, it can certainly dampen your ability to do anything besides beg it to shut up.

I’m confident that I’ll get back to where I want to be, though. With the combined powers of therapy and antidepressants, I should be able to drive the parrot back into its cage and get control of my triforce once more. In the meantime, the steps I’ve taken keep all those problems from holding me back, so that I can still do all the cool things I want to do with my life, like writing and hiking and finally getting all those damn Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild.

But I wanted to share this aspect of my story, in case anybody else was grappling with whether or not they should go to (or go back to) therapy or get some antidepressants. I know it can be hard to know when that breaking point is; when you should throw your hand out into the darkness and ask for help. I figured out what that point was, and I’m glad I did it when I did.

Never let yourself suffer for longer than necessary. Always remember, it isn’t supposed to be that hard just to live. When it is, it’s time that you found someone to help you through it.

Get help, and tell that parrot to shut its goddamn face.

#zombolouge writes #discussion about weight loss and body dysmorphia #my journey through my own brain #shitty triforce #evil parrots

[comicteaparty]

April 25th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on April 25th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Castoff by Star Prichard.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Castoff by Star Prichard~! (https://castoff-comic.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

im probably going to go with frankie's introduction. this scene fulfilled several things for me. first, it explored more of the world in a super natural way that makes complete sense to the story and gives you a better picture. second, i super love frankie. he is a great character deserving of hugs. third, i enjoy how frankie joining the party works out. it felt like so logical how everything played out despite the difficulty in getting another person to join the party naturally.

just overall though i love frankie's addition. i think his personality is a great balance to vector and arianna's personalities since both are not the friendliest of sorts since one is super shy and the other super grumpy. and i feel like frankie perfectly fits the triforce

keii4ii

That triforce analogy is great and I agree

RebelVampire

another scene i really enjoy is the one where arianna captures vector. i love the lighting on the pages because it is so ungodly ominous and really sets the mood. plus, its the first major time we get to see magic and it looks amazing (edited)

but on the frankie train, i also enjoy how he offers vector something that arianna cannot. which is knowing what its like to be feared and kind of one-of-a-kind. cause i think this makes for a beautiful friendship between the two that offers vector more emotional support in a way than arianna can't. not to mention, one of my other fave scenes is the one where vector stands up for frankie against arianna and says nah my dude, hes coming with us. that was such a significant character growth for vector that hit me right in the feels. and i think it works cause of how vector clearly empathizes with frankie, so it all ties together

mathtans

Little one seems calm in her crib now. Hiyo, and awesome to have another creator who's a teacher. ^^

RebelVampire

hi math

mathtans

I made it through 5 of the chapters. My favourites in general through that is probably the "Wait, What" moments, just because I tend to use them myself... there was the one with Zera, about Arianna's full name, and then with Arianna, who did it about Frankie coming along with them. (Also, a hint that they're related? Hmmmm.)

Zera and Arianna that is, not Arianna and Frankie.

Good point about the Frankie and Vector similarities, incidentally. I wonder if the "Frankie" name is a riff on "Frankenstein"?

There's also the fact that "Vectors" can refer to small organisms like mosquitoes that carry diseases. I feel like there's stuff going on with names.

RebelVampire

nope arianna and frankie are related now. new head canon

arianna was also a robot this whole time

mathtans

It would explain how she died.

RebelVampire

you know what, i didnt draw the connection between frankie and frankenstein

thats a good catch math

and very fitting for the character

mathtans

Though I admit my own feelings about that are Arianna's got amnesia or something, which is why she can't be tracked.

Just kinda occurred after the dramatic reveal.

Also, since I teach math, I was already suspicious of the name "vector".

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. The comic’s central character, Vector, has many mysteries surrounding him. What exactly do you think Vector is? Why is Vector seemingly able to do powerful magic beyond any mage? Why does Vector make everyone become almost possessed and panicked, and why are Arianna and Frankie exceptions? Why do you think Vector is wanted for treason? Is Arianna right that it’s a trumped up charge to get rid of him? If so, why would Alveria want him silenced? How do you think Vector wound up with Ms. Robins? Last but not least, what might all this have to do with the prologue’s opening scene?

mathtans

I got this. Vector's the guy who was tied up in the prologue, they were trying to use him to do crazy magics... and he wasn't the first, since it's implied there's others. But with him it went wrong and the magic ended up inside him. Arianna was that girl peeking at the door when it happened, so she's okay with the crazy eye thing, and it's why they thought she died. They want Vector back to undo the magic stuff, hence "treason" in order to get everyone interested.

Also, for Vector... coo coo kachew, Ms. Robins' son, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

RebelVampire

math no XD

i also agree at least that vector is the guy from the prologue

and he got all the magic trapped inside him

and is now super magic baby

he is the living essence of magic

and the voice hes been hearing is the soul of magic

RumSoakedChicken

^^^

mathtans

Maybe it was a big plan to try to bring magic to the other parts of the world that went very bad.

RumSoakedChicken

but perhaps the yellow eyed one recieved a part of the magic

since i bleieve there was a lot of light paths coming off

and he was the first one we meet

mathtans

Speaking of which, massive props to starting things out with the failed radio-like device at the start. To put us into the frame of mind of magic. Sets the scene real well and acts as a misdirect later when you realize it's not worldwide.

There was actually a bunch of sneaky stuff then, like the mention of "Feron" ages and ages before it came up again. (Honestly, if the creator hadn't pointed that out, I'd have missed it.)

RebelVampire

i really need to go back and examine the prologue closely.

mathtans

I meant this part: https://castoff-comic.com/comic/chapter-1-page-8/

RebelVampire

ah. that is smart. good catch in details!

actually i take my theory back. reexamining the prologue, i dont think vector was the guy tied to the chair. but i do think hes basically an aspect of pure magic. and i agree that given all the light balls coming off the event, there are probably more of vector's kind out there(edited)

but since vector is an aspect of magic, thats why he has the effect he does. like maybe yellow magic is the magic of fear

vector was a yellow lantern all along

mathtans

Oh, that's an interesting idea. I like that. Since magic is colour based in this world.

(Zera is Green Lantern?)

RebelVampire

yeah see this is just an origin of the lantern corps story.

but i think vector being an essence of magic ties in all the dots. but rather than the voice being the soul of magic, maybe its the guy who probably got killed during that event.

mathtans

So how is Arianna red if zombies are supposed to be black lanterns...

RebelVampire

though if there are more vector's, youd think theres be more wanted posters. unless vector is the only one they never found

cause shes not a zombie probably

mathtans

There was no picture of Vector since he was just a wee one at the time. And I think it was said he was the only one with no image. The others they had pictures for. So if they weren't found, they're probably in hiding.

Probably amnesia. Zombie is a fun thought though.

RebelVampire

i mean its not impossible for her to be a zombie.

mathtans

An amnesiac zombie?

RebelVampire

another point for why i love vector and frankie's relationship though, if we go through this vector is magic theory, it means he and frankie are polar opposites. making their friendship more beautiful

best of both worlds i see

i can respect that

mathtans

That's pretty cool, actually. Do you ship them?

RebelVampire

i dont think i ship vector with anyone yet cause vector has to do some character growth first.

mathtans

Fair. (I think all I can ship is Arianna and Sonja. And the latter seems to have a thing for Zera.)

I do like Arianna's nickname habit.

kayotics

Popping in late to say Arianna is my fav because I’m a sucker for angry girls

mathtans

Hi kay. Cool. She seems to have had a harsh childhood.

RebelVampire

i wonder what her nickname for zera would be

maybe raccoon

cause of the dark circles

mathtans

She seemed to know him, from Zera's mental flashback. She was saying things were his fault. So maybe "jerkface".

RebelVampire

that is also plausible

actually tbf, double plausible

cause i doubt shes gonna be happy to know hes the reason shes wanted

whereas if he had just left it alone everything would be fine

and only vector would be the wanted man

mathtans

Yeah, puts a wrench into her plans. Whatever those are.

Maybe she's trying to find out her true identity. What with the amnesia.

(I should fix this broken record.)

RebelVampire

the plot twist is zera was what she wanted to steal back all along

QUESTION 3. Besides Vector, Arianna herself has some mysteries surrounding her. Who exactly is Arianna? Is she the real Arianna Marcel, or did she steal the name? If the latter, why would she steal it? Who is the real Arianna Marcel to Zera? What do you think will happen when Zera catches up with Arianna in his quest for truth? How do you think Arianna wound up on the streets as she mentions regarding her past? What do you think Arianna is after in the capital, and why was it taken from her? Ultimately, how do you think Arianna’s quest to retrieve her stolen property will interfere with her taking care of Vector and getting him home?

arianna is probably that person whose name got covered up by the speech bubble on that one page. and i think arianna took the name out of sorrow for missing who im just gonna assume is her sister. cause she desperately wished she was the one who was dead

mathtans

All you other Arianna's are just imitating so won't the real Arianna please stand up, please stand up...

I'm not sure which name coverup you mean, but I think it is clever how the art does faded bubbles for when someone's half unconscious or when someone's talking over someone else.

I do feel like Arianna's the real one though. And that she was the one spying in the prologue, as I said.

RebelVampire

i will try to find the page im talking about

the alternate is that she is the real arianna and the one who dies was her sister. i dont discount that

given the same last name i assume siblings tho?

in regards to the relationship between zera and her

mathtans

Tempting. Could be cousins.

RebelVampire

https://castoff-comic.com/comic/chapter-5-page-11/

that page bottom right

so there is clearly someone else with the marcel named that exists or once existed

mathtans

Ahhhh! So that's the mystery sister.

(Incidentally, been reading Chapter 6 in the background here. Elves are colour-coded too... makes me wonder if it's personality based or what.)

RebelVampire

i think when zera catches up to arianna hes gonna have a my life is a lie conflict and realize that whether shes the real one or not, he was never told everything about the death. cause the death of the real or fake arianna i think has a lot to do with why she was on the streets

i did get the impression the auras were based on personality

like arianna is super angry therefore gets the red magic

i feel somewhere it was mentioned real arianna's aura was pink?

which is why i do think this arianna is the sister of the real arianna. that apparently zera didnt care about at all. for shame zera. especially cause if i knew there was another marcel id be searching for that one to make sure there were no shenanigans

mathtans

Yeah, Zera said pink. Which is close, which is why I think she was just mentally tweaked a bit. Also, Arianna's eyes do the red glow thing, and I don't think that's necessarily true of others doing casting?

Starfish

Okay I’m back from class Will have to leave again in a bit but I just caught up reading everything and I’m enjoying all the theories

mathtans

Yay class! Next comes the grading. What a life. ^.^

Starfish

Ehehe, I’m technically an assistant teacher so no grading for me~

I’m an assistant ESL teacher in Japan- my part of teaching is mostly “get the kids to practice their English” via games and stuff

mathtans

Fair enough. Didn't mean to vector us off track. ^.^ Incidentally, I originally thought that maybe Vector's power didn't work on Frankie because he only had the one eye, so the eyepatch was saving him. Until the whole metal revelation.

biab

RebelVampire

ya know tbf that was a decent theory before the metal reveal.

im sticking with our arianna being fake and think shes after something of the real arianna's. like a magic gem or something. i do think down the line arianna is gonna have to pick which is more important: the thing she was trying to get or vector. and i think shell be a good person and pick vector cause shes growing and learning its not cool to sacrifice ppl for your aims

on a side note i hope we get to meet her merc company

im interested to see them(edited)

mathtans

Maybe they have gem boasting nights out. "Mine's bigger" and all that.

RebelVampire

i hope thats true somewhere in the comic's world XD

mathtans

It might be why people are annoyed at the elves.

Heh, "Best Friends plus Arianna", nice one. Made it to Chapter 7.

RebelVampire

i found it interesting that even the elves freaked out at vector. cause the minute they appeared that was the largest question on my mind. if theyd be effected or not

QUESTION 4. Of course, there are a few other mysteries present within the story. Do you think there is any story related reason only some continents in the world have magic? Why do you think Frankie, a machine, was created? Further, what is Frankie doing in Kardia in the first place? How do you think Frankie might help or hinder Vector and Arianna getting back to Alveria, especially since he’ll be aiding criminals? Back in Alveria, why do you think General Brisse was so critical of Zera? Do you think he might know something the others don’t? Overall, what do you think will happen once the characters are back in Alveria? Who will side with who on this matter?

i do think the lack of magic might be related. but i kind of think maybe its the opposite to what was already stated. and that the ppl in the prologue were trying to monopolize magic so they could be the superior country

mathtans

I think Frankie coming to Kardia is related to his injuries. Like he escaped from his creators or something. That's why they couldn't fix him and he had to do it himself.

Hmmm, maybe there's some big magic/tech war going on in the background and only the General is in on it. The magic people are temporarily undefended what with Vector having most of the magic bottled away, hence why their shield is only around their castle and not the whole capitol, and why they want Vector back - or dead, if that would spread the magic around.

RebelVampire

i considered that as a possibility. cause usually magic and tech are at war. and weve already seen evidence that magic users think tech is dumb cause how silly of ppl to want things that magic can already do.

but also math how dare you suggest frankie has such a tragic past

hes too innocent for that

and i have to go weep in the corner for him now

frankie was probably created with not good intentions. i mean i could pretend he was meant to test the legs of tech and see how far they could go. more likely they just wanted a robot assassin

am i the only one who things brisse has something to do with arianna's death? cause he seemed really critical of what is actually a good lead to finding a criminal he super wants. and i mean it could just be the last name thing, but i still get the impression he knows something

mathtans

Aw. I feel like all the characters have tragic pasts though. And when Frankie told his story, I did wonder why he had to fix himself up... like, did he maybe even kill his creator? And repressed the memory along with the defense personality?

I think Brisse is just pretty focussed and has probably read Zera's files. I could be wrong. Though it reminds me of Terran. I like him as a secondary character. Good puns, and good plans for circumventing things that aren't technically against the rules.

RebelVampire

yes i appreciate him having a loose interpretion of what he should and shouldnt do

i hope the creator isnt dead just for the story potential tbh

for frankie

cause thats just what they need

frankie's creator showing up to say "hey frankie what up"

and frankie can be like "oh noooooo"

mathtans

Twist, Frankie's creator is a zombie.

Still thinking about side characters actually, the scene between the bookstore woman and the priest was nice. Kind of superfluous at first glance, but it gave Vector more backstory and added more to the world.

Also confirmed not-dead.

RebelVampire

yeah i was intrigued by that scene. but tbf as a character ms robins is useful cause she can give us insight into whats going on in the capital outside of the royal guard

cause surely shell see the wanted poster at some point

and go wtf

maybe even try talking to someone

get thrown in jail

tell vector if he doesnt show up theyll assume she did the treason

i took that from happy to sad

very quickly

mathtans

That's a very good point. I hadn't considered that.

Maybe she'll meet them as they're approaching the city.

RebelVampire

yeah she could also be a key ally in helping them

cause for sure i think itll be obvious to the guards at a point theyre heading back to the capital

mathtans

She does seem very overprotective. I wondered about her reaction initially, as Arianna didn't seem so bad. Then, of course, she proved to be self-serving.

RebelVampire

after they get frankie his own wanted poster

mathtans

Wanted... for cuddling.

RebelVampire

wanted for being a great dude

mathtans

One other thing I want to mention before we wrap up is I dig the art style on the characters. I'm not quite sure what it is, the larger eyes or the hairstyles or some mix? But I like it.

Just don't get Frankie wet. He's like a gremlin.

RebelVampire

yeah i really love the art style as well. although what sells it for me is the magic. that magic circle in the prologue was beautiful with how it glowed and made me eager to see more of the magic.

but i might just be a sucker for magic circles

before we close out i do want to say i think zera will join forces with the main trio at some point

mathtans

Oh, I dig magic circles too. Big Nanoha junkie over here.

RebelVampire

cause zera does not seem like someone whod look at shady stuff going on and be like "im ok with this"

mathtans

Zera does seem to have a conscience. I think they'll butt heads first though.

RebelVampire

oh for sure

i hope terran finds something interesting in zera's file

like zera has a side career as a juggler once

mathtans

He finds... a magic square!

(Hey, if colours can vary, why not shapes. )

RebelVampire

ya know what, despite that being a joke thatd be very interesting

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Star Prichard, as well, for making Castoff. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Star Prichard’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://castoff-comic.com/

Star’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/castoff

Castoff’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CastoffComic

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #castoff #star prichard

[luminisvii]

So it’s pretty late right now and I’m liberally using the Bold function, but let’s talk about bad fanfiction.

Usually the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to bad fanfiction is My Immortal. Anyone who’s talked to me for more than five minutes knows that My Immortal is undoubtedly one of my favorite pieces of literature. And that’s not a joke, I think it’s an absolute masterpiece of bad. The misspellings, the reworkings of the characters to be goth/scene in an incredibly middle school way, to Marty McFly’s cameo to the chapter written by a self proclaimed troll--It’s a perfect storm of bad literature that makes for a hilarious read. I won’t get into a huge tangent but what makes My Immortal so funny is it has a certain level of naturalness to its writing where you’re never quite sure how serious the author is. The true joke is the mystery. We’ll never know who wrote the infamous fic and how serious they were when they did.

However, My Immortal is kind of scratching the surface. See, that’s a fic that’s actually funny bad. Most bad fanfiction is bad bad. Today, I intend to discuss the lesser known fanfic that I rank as being one of the most difficult reading experiences I ever had, and I only successfully pulled through after many years thanks to the love and support of my friends and us reading it out loud at 4 AM.

That fanfic is known as My Inner Life. Don’t let the title fool you, it was written well before our favorite goff showcase and it’s honestly a whole lot worse. This Legend of Zelda fic, written by one Jen and based on her dreams, features a young lady named Jenna who is a simple merchant traveling in Hyrule when one Link catches her eye and it goes downhill from there. The short version is that there’s a lot of overly dramatic sex, tedious clothes descriptions that include too many triforces, poor treatment of horses, Jenna getting praised and lavished with attention for no reason, and no research put into the lore.  After a while it straight up forgets about being an Ocarina of Time fanfic and launches off into some nonsense about griffins and an evil lord I can’t actually remember the name of (It was very late and I was very tired so I called him Lord Asshole after a while, it has the same effect) and also that The Griffins, who live just beyond the Black Mountains, do not trust easily.

If you wish to read it, you should probably quit now, but if you are too weak (which is honestly understandable) here’s my recounting of the story.

Where to start is a little bit hard, but a good place is the insane 2,000 word author’s note at the beginning. Jen, seemingly unaware of how thin skinned she’s being, goes on about how anyone who leaves her a negative review is being is immature and thin-skinned. Here’s a delightful excerpt that shows the author’s view on all of this!

“Also as a side note, I NEVER physically hurt ANYONE with this story. I got one reviewer that said. “Oh God please stop writing, your hurting everyone.” Now I want to know where I physically touched that person. I want to know how I’m twisting anyone’s arms to read this. I have never done anything of the sort in any way, shape or form and I DO NOT appreciate being accused of that! If you’re emotionally hurt over this, its your fault not mine.”

She spends quite a bit of time talking about how reviewers need to be more mature as she dedicates that much time to complaining about negative reviews and methodically rebuking everything they say from her poor grammar to Jenna being a Mary Sue. Now, props to the author for straight up saying that Jenna is the obvious author avatar that she is--Jenna is simply the dream persona of Jen, which okay, fine, that is not that bad. It’s what happens with Jenna that really makes me want to drink.

The other majorly telling factor is the first line of the story itself.

“Dreams come in many forms. Some good, some bad, some very realistic, even ones that feels very real.”

You may have noticed a redundancy there. That is only the beginning. If you get tired of hearing about the same things repeatedly, you will be VERY tired very quickly in here. Jen likes to constantly explain things to the point where she has footnotes in the story, and just after citing a footnote she explains what was cited in text anyway so now you have a double explanation.

“A tale of love, passion, despair and hope. I enjoyed my inner life. I looked forward to going to sleep to it every night. And I look forward to ones that will come, because LOVE WILL NEVER DIE.”

I love quoting that. I’m also not sleeping so I guess I don’t know the meaning of true love.

Anything beyond this point is where I start to die because I actually grew up playing Ocarina of Time and I’m quite well versed in its lore, so if you are too this is going to be about as pleasant as root canal.

Since me recounting everything in detail means we’d be here into the next year, I’m going to try to boil this down to its essence. TL;DR: Jenna meets Link and they fuck. Badly. A month later and they’re getting married so they can fuck more. This whole time you have King Hyrule who is treating a random merchant off the street better than Zelda, the Sages are just inexplicably back despite now residing in the Sacred Realm. Zelda also inherently gives up the throne because she will not marry and thus is no longer in the line of succession but this random guy from Kokiri Forest who married a random merchant is! Ruto is turned into a jealous harpy and the other sages hardly appear at all.

After they get married they go to the part where I quit the first time I started reading this fic which was the Bonding Ceremony. If getting married to a guy you met a month ago wasn’t enough, going to a monastery and getting telepathically bonded by drinking his piss sure is. Okay, it’s not JUST the piss drinking, but that was enough to make poor 2014 me stop trying and go lie down. They also fuck in front of the monks because that’s a thing straight people do, I guess.

Somewhere in there Jenna gets pregnant and has a child. She names the child Link Jr. I don’t have anything to say about that, I think it’s comedy in itself. On top of that Epona also gets pregnant so they get new horses named Midnight Star and Star Dancer. That’s not an important detail at all, my friend simply hates those horse names and I’m bringing them up on the off chance that she reads this.

Oh yeah, Dark Link is an antagonist at one point and he inexplicably talks exactly like a stereotypical villain and ties Link and Jenna up in a room and leaves them there for no reason like a small time crook leaving Batman in a cage with all his gizmos nearby. And turns out Jenna has magical powers and is from some ancient race of super people or whatever. They have to explain this over and over again in the same few paragraphs and I want to die.

Beyond all the bad sex that has tiger metaphors (Somehow Jen knows how tigers fuck) there’s the Original Material which had me crying more than the tragedy that was the remain of OoT’s story. Once we get tired of Link and Jenna’s love story and Tiger Sex, there’s suddenly an invasion from Lord Ariakas who is threatening the Griffins who live beyond the Black Mountains, just a day’s ride from Hyrule. He’s just some evil guy who threatens the Griffins, who do not trust easily, and who live near The Black Mountains. If you think redundancy is painful then prepare for the worst redundancy you’ve seen yet. I went insane when we were reading this and tallied all the times The Black Mountains are mentioned and turns out it was a whole lot less than I thought, but almost all of them happened in a short amount of time so it felt like an eternity of explaining The Black Fucking Mountains. Turns out I’m a masochist of sorts because this STILL didn’t shake me off. In order to repel Lord Arakias’ forces, Link and Jenna need to talk to the Griffins who like to make a big deal about how they don’t trust anyone as they instantly trust Jenna and let her into their royal court to give her support and magical gifts. It’s kind of incredible how Jenna does nothing and is constantly rewarded for it.

Sadly this ends in a cliffhanger, like all good terrible fanfics. But that’s a semi-coherent retelling of the actual plot. It takes way too long to explain any of these plot points in story. Characters constantly repeat themselves, there’s a bunch of small plot points I left out because we’d REALLY be here all year if we talked about this, there’s the original material where I have to give credit that she went and did this BUT ALSO DID YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS MANY TIMES WHAT THE BLACK FUCKING MOUNTAINS ARE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

I’m not okay. Time for some deeper analysis of particularly notable parts.

The sex scenes are sadly some of the less entertaining sections. They’re pretty boring for the most part, but then you have shit like “I turned tigress” and my personal favorite, “when I took his nut sack and caressed it with my hand, it was his undoing.” That exact sentence shows up TWICE in the fic, same wording and everything. Remember this, ladies, next time you have sex with a man, caress his nut sack. It’ll be his undoing. It’s not just the silly wording, though, there’s some stupid stuff in there too about how having sex makes your children stronger and also exactly how much fluid Jenna is ejecting which is a little bit alarming to say the least. Otherwise they’re a bit bland and use the same flowery language that you’d expect from poorly written erotica. Also they fuck in front of a bunch of monks. It’s for the bonding.

If you’re into LoZ lore then you’re going to have a bad time, too. My favorite thing is showing people the segment where Jenna explains how the OoT timeskip works because it makes zero sense to everyone, OoT fan or not. Let’s take a quick history lesson for OoT if you’re not familiar with it. In Ocarina of Time, a major plot point and element of gameplay is that Link travels between past and future in a seven year gap. From Link’s point of view, the change is instantaneous, right down to the fact that his age changes from child to adult and vice versa. To everyone else, they’re living those seven years. Time continues without Link there to observe it, and in Link’s absence Hyrule collapses. Thus is the plot--trying to stop Ganondorf from destroying the future with a power that Link and Zelda accidentally gave him. The point is all Non-Link people experience time normally, and the world moves on.

Somehow Jenna missed something that I inherently understood when I was a wee child of 8, barely able to play Ocarina of Time due to poor reading comprehension and lack of Zelda Puzzle Solving Skills™.

“Gannondorf tricked the soon to be "Hero of Time" into unlocking the door to the Sacred Realm. I even noticed that Zelda was a little older then I. Last I saw her she was four years younger then me. It was told to me that when Gannondorf went into the Temple of Time and into the Scared Realm, time jumped ahead in Hyrule seven years. Yet only two years passed in my land. And in the rest of the world.

After the "Hero of Time" defeated the King of Evil, the hero was granted to either return to the past or to remain in the present time. Since he chose to remain in the present Zelda jumped ahead of me in age by four years.  It seems that everyone in Hyrule jumped in age from the rest of the world.”

I’m not sure I really understand still. I’ve read this so many times trying to comprehend and maybe I’m just stupid but this doesn’t scan. But when you time travel it should affect the whole world or else that’d be pretty fucked. Back To The Future would be pretty wack if only Hill Valley was sent back to the 50s but everywhere else was still 80s.

God, I spent too much time on this. It still hurts my brain.

I also just have to have a section where I metaphorically hand Zelda a box of chocolates and a check for 5,000 dollars for even being in this mess. The real MVP of the story is Zelda for tolerating all this bullshit. She has to watch her father treat Jenna better than her, she gives Jenna a bracelet from her mother who is dead for Jenna’s wedding, she has to passively accept that because she isn’t married she’s lost her claim to the throne and it’s being handed over to Link and Jenna because despite both of them being nobodies they’re more legitimate heirs to the throne than the king’s own daughter. She also has to be the one to help Jenna birth her baby and it’s maybe a little bit weird to have the princess of a nation be your personal midwife. Even if she is your so called best friend. Were I ever in the circumstances of giving birth, I wouldn’t make my friends help. Please get an actual nurse. Also for some reason Jenna won’t stop calling her baby a miracle and it’s done so frequently it’s a little off-putting. Even the chapter where the child is born is called “The Miracle” like idk I know life is mysterious and miraculous but I’m not sure giving birth, something a lot of cis woman can do, is a “miracle.” Me not sobbing while reading this is a miracle. Zelda, honey, you deserve so much better.

I’m running out of things that will actually last a paragraph or so tangent wise, so time to wrap things up with smaller notes:

-Jenna thinks that you boot horses in the knees to get them moving. You are probably not riding a horse right if you can kick it in the knees while sitting on its back. That’s not even getting into other horse related mishaps like the fact that kneecapping them isn’t a good idea either.

-Link Jr. is capable of math at like, four months or something. I wish I was that talented.

-Ruto is my wife and I will not stand for this slander against her. Yeah, call me a fish fucker if you want, Sidon is cute too don’t @ me

-Take a shot every time Jenna mentions triforces on her outfit (actually don’t)

-Jenna makes a big deal about how Link has to go off to war and how she’ll miss him and he’ll miss her and it’s all very emotional but he’s back literally the next chapter

-One of my favorite moments is Mido rightfully pointing out that Jenna isn’t a Kokiri and thus has no right to receive a fairy but everyone thinks he’s being super rude for actually having common sense. They barely gave LINK a fairy and he grew up there!

-I inflicted this on my friends and it went as well as you’d think it would. Quote supplied by Jen who is not THAT Jen but a far superior one

-Somewhere in the fic suddenly Link and Zelda’s eyes are capable of changing color based on mood, or maybe they could do this the whole time and my eyes were changing based on mood alright, they were glazing over and I missed it

-Jen always types “threw” instead of “through” and it’s just enough to throw me off every time. Also every time a character starts a new sentence she starts another set of quotations even if they were already talking and occasionally she misspells “huge” as “hugh” which leads to some hilarious circumstances

-THEY DRANK EACH OTHER’S PISS

-Apparently when you are telepathically bonded with your Husband/Wife you aren’t allowed to be in a room with someone of the opposite sex AT ALL. Personally I think that reeks of insecurity

-Also because a good pal loses her shit every time we mention it, Jen couldn’t come up with a marriage ceremony that wasn’t just a christian one for a universe where christianity doesn’t exist, but she sure likes to put world building into those DAMN GRIFFINS

All in All? My Inner Life is not for the weak willed. It is INCREDIBLY long and redundant and while it’s still pretty funny, it’s mostly plain terrible. I consider is a much better showcase of what bad fanfiction is actually like, and also since it’s of a more standard awful, it means people can’t badly parody it while missing the point as to why it’s funny. So at least there will only be one My Inner Life and no imitators.

Seriously, I hate My Immortal imitators. Write your own terrible fanfiction, damn you! If I had a shot for every time a fanfic was compared to My Immortal I would be dead six years ago. Getting compared to MI is not a good thing, but not for the reasons you’d think. At least My Inner Life only shares the basic premise of a self insert character and the rest is a ride of complete bullshit that’s par the course for terrible Mary Sue fiction. Everyone loves Jenna for no reason and those who voice the valid concerns against her are seen as unreasonable and stupid. Characters are bent backwards to serve the threadbare plot and apparently Jenna’s love life alone is enough to constitute half of the story before we just plain forget it’s a Legend of Zelda fanfic and it goes off into some generic high fantasy horse crap with dragons and Griffins and some evil guy like what even is his name and it all ends without any real closure.

However if you are strong enough or maybe just a masochist (me) I highly recommend this fic for just being a test of endurance and also for all the funny little moments sprinkled throughout. It’ll certainly be a waste of time and it’s a good thing to read with friends. While it’s an oldie, it’s a goodie, and no one comes out unscathed.

Also the author apparently is a good sport about it now, although who knows. It’s just a thing I heard. While I like making fun of Jen throughout reading the fic, she doesn’t seem awful. Just perhaps young and unaware.

Truly, the real treasure was the piss we drank along the way. I’m sorry I will never be over that

#don't tell me tell #long post #REALLY LONG ASS POST #i couldn't sleep so i made this essay instead #i accept my fate as the bad fanfic expert #i might regret this later #but for now i need rest

[kaialone]

I’m gonna ramble about Ganon(dorf) for a bit

Proceed if you’re interested (I wrote a lot)

Okay so I don’t even know how to start this, I’ll just go.

(note that I’ll mention the timeline in this, please dont think that I dont know that the timeline could be changed at any moment should nintendo feel ike it, I just like semi-going by currently established canon. Also please note that I got no problem with people who dont feel like following the timeline for any reason, to each their own.)

I kinda really like the fact that Ganondorf is said to be a reincarnation of Demise, because, idk, somehow the idea of powerful demons needing to reincarnate into human form for some reason, and then once they have this form and live that life they start having human feelings and emotions and start struggling with what they want to be and maybe end up becoming good guys, is just somethign I really enjoy.

(If that sounds weirdly specific, Great Demon King Piccolo from Dragonball is one character with that kinda arc that I love.)

And then of course, one of the most interesting things about Ganondorf, imo, is how in the three different timeline branches, you got one incarnation of Ganondorf who turns out very different in each branch.

Something I always like is to just kinda, look at the different “last words” Ganondorf has in each timeline branch, and what they really mean for each of them:

"The wind... it is... blowing."

“I am the Evil King, Ganon...”

“The history of light and shadow will be written in blood!”

(though this gets a bit muddled in the Downfall Timeline, as technically Ganon died in ALttP, but was revived in OoX,´, which I see as his true death for now, but then again we dunno if any Ganons after that where him revived or reborn so *shrug*)

But first we should talk about the guy that “grows up” to be these other three.

I mean, personally I think no matter how you look at it, OoT!Ganondorf did lots of bad stuff, and wasnt a good ruler to the Gerudo (I dont mind different interpretations at all though), but I do think his initial intentions were good like we hear him talk about in WW, but lets not get ahead of ourselves here.

OoT!Ganondorf doesn’t really end up helping the Gerudo once he actually takes over Hyrule (all the Gerudo are still over in the desert, cept for maybe Iron Knuckles) and its heavily implied all the Gerudo were brainwashed to some extent (The carpenters note that the Gerudo seem nicer, post-Twinrova’s defeat), and Nabooru, who was very respected among the Gerudo, was explicitly against Ganondorf, but then brainwashed into submission.

Like even if you think Twinrova did all that without him knowing, not noticing your parents brainwashing your people doesnt exactly make you a good leader.

Adding to that, if A Link to the Past’s backstory is to be believed (and the timeline is not said to split until Link falls in the final battle) then, Ganondorf entered the hiding place of the Triforce alongside fellow thieves of his, and ended up killing them all so he could have the Triforce for himself.

Buuut before you think I’m just gonna talk about how bad OoT!Ganondorf is, like, I still think he genuinely wanted to help his people (at first) and that everything WW!Ganondorf says does represent his true feelings, and that at some point, he just really wanted to do something good.

I think its interesting to think about why that presumably changed for a while, wether you think its the usual getting mad with power, getting to close to the “dark side” or whatever with all the dark magic going on, or being groomed into this role by Twinrova, or all of that, or something else entirely.

I mean, he definitely did some bad stuff before that too, but in the context of Ganondorf being a reincarnation of Demise, I wonder if it could be possible that either seeing Link and/or Zelda or laying eyes on the Triforce ended up having some effect on him, like awakening some part of Demise within him so to speak, contributing to him losing sight of his initial goals and getting more about power in general.

Notably post timeskip Ganondorf seems to use a lot more monsters/dmemons to do his bidding than before, but this could easily just be the difficulty spike for the player.

Idk if this sounds cheap to people somehow, but I remember a popular theory being that the Triforce of Power turned him evil so, its not that different imo.

Of course, in the final battle we see OoT!Ganondorf become Ganon, presumably for the very first time, but honestly? The transformation itself isn’t that important to me, as it just feels like a visual representation of the downfall Ganondorf had undergone already anyway.

And then, when he is defeated, he infamously curses Link, and ZELDA, and THE SAGES, vowing to kill their descendants once he breaks free from the seal and all...

...which leads into who is everyone’s favorite Ganondorf, and rightfully so, WW!Ganondorf.

Before going into the present day of WW, there is its backstory, which is very interesting to me, cause you just gotta think, how do we go from a guy like OoT!Ganon to WW!Ganon?

At some point after OoT but before WW, Ganondorf’s threat became reality, he broke out of the seal and tried taking over Hyrule once more.

But I cant help but wonder how it mustve felt for him. I picture him for years, decades, centuries maybe, sealed away, picturing his revenge, imagining how great it’ll feel to get free and eradicate the descendants of Link and Zelda, and finally making Hyrule his.

But when he was freed, he likely found a Hyrule that was different from how he remembered it. Notably, there would be no hero, nor descendants of his for him to exact revenge upon. And while we know that a princess seems to have had existed at the time, who knows if she was “a Zelda”, if you wanna call them that.

I just imagine it wouldve felt a lot less satisfying that he imagined, heck, probably wouldve felt more like he was robbed if his chance to take revenge.

And who knows what even happened to the Gerudo by that point? I know lack of them in Wind Waker doesnt mean they are extinct, but for all we know they couldve left hyrule altogether? (Like they seem to have done between OoT and TP, and mightve done post OoT in the Downfall timeline, if you dont think they went extinct)

Overall I could see what Ganondorf mightve pictured/wanted to be his most glorious moment, his long awaited return, mightve just ended up feeling kinda empty.

Not that I think he wouldve done a complete 180 already because of that, but I could see it leaving him in a bit of a shock.

Adding to that, now just as he is about to conquer Hyrule for real, the gods decide to destroy it, essentially. Or at least, thats how Ganondorf felt about the situation, given how he speaks of it in the game. Its like the gods are playing with him, everytime Hyrule is just within his graps, they take it from him.

The flood mustve felt especially terrible for him, cause the way he saw it, it mustve been something like the goddesses saying “we’d rather just end hyrule and kill all its people than have you be its ruler”. What a slap in the face, to put it lightly.

After that, getting sealed away again, and all the stuff I mentioned above, probably gave him time and opportunity to reflect upon his life so far, and the future too.

I dont think that in WW, Ganondorf was just “going through the motions”, and just trying to finish what he started because he had no choice at this point. I do think he still genuinely wanted to try and conquer Hyrule, its just that he has had some time to think about it, a bit more about why he wanted it, and about what he did wrong before, and regretting those mistakes.

Like for example, he really doesnt seem like he wants to harm Link and Zelda anymore, if he can help it. He could be hating them, still furious for what happened during OoT, but he doesnt seem to be.

One of these days I wanna talk about all the contrasts and parallels WW seems to draw to Zelda games that came before it, especially OoT, but for this bit I just wanna mention this one thing.

How in OoT you confront Ganondorf, who smugly plays his leitmotif on the organ, the sound of which growing louder the further you approach his chamber. His back pointed at the entrance which he knows the hero will emerge from. Zelda, encase in a crytal, hangs above him like a trophy, like the hero bait she is to him at this point.

And then in WW, his leitmotif plays in his final dungeon, but actually grow more quiet the closer you get to him. That already makes you feel like, while it invokes OoTs atmoosphere, it actually turns it on its head. And then, when you do cofront him, “Zelda” is instead peacefully sleeping in a bed, (presumably Ganondorfs bed?) with him calmly sitting by her side, watching over her. He doesn’t face Link directly as he enters, but isnt completely turned away from his either.

Of course this scene still has some creepy atmosphere to it, especially when he starts reading her mind, but maaaan, the contrast to OoT (and games that came before it) just GETS ME everytime I just think about it.

Ahhh, I could go on and on like, you all know this stuff, you all thought about him in this game so much, didnt you?

I really hope nintendo will choose to give another Ganondorf this kinda depth, and maybe even just play with the idea of Ganondorf taking on a different role than “final boss” in a Zelda title. I would love that.

Now, let’s turn the clock wayyy back to when Ganon fought Link, and talk about the timeline that occurs when Link is actually killed by him.

To me, this is kinda of the “original” timeline, for various reasons, but I don’t wanna distract from our main man here too long.

In this version of the events, Ganon manages to actually aquire the full Triforce in the final battle of OoT, and causes quite a bit of misery before the Sages finally manage to seal him away in this version, too. But because he is so powerful with the Triforce and all that, it ends up costing a lot more lives to finally get to that point.

Now from that point on, this Ganon seems to just kinda rule the Dark World, a twisted “evil” version of Hyrule of his own creation. And of course most notably, either because of this worlds properties, or his general state of being, this Ganon seemingly always stays in beast form from that point on.

Sadly this one doesnt talk too much (though he is very much capable of doing so), so we dont get much of a grasp on his character.

To me, ALttP!Ganon feels like somewhere in the middle when it comes to Ganons. Despite his bestial appearance, he doesnt seem as blind with power and rage as TP!Ganondorf, maybe cause he doesnt call himself a god or something. But he of course is nowhere near WW!Ganondorf in terms of reasons and having reflecting upon his past.

Either way, it is clear that he is not happy with just ruling his very own personal Hyrule, filled with damned people that have become monsters like him, as in ALttP he does attempt to break his seal and go back to the World of Light

This might just be out of greed, but you could also imagine he might simply be unhappy in this demonic world, or even scared? Given how we see that some inhabitants of this land lose their humanity to such an extent that they’re turning into things like trees, maybe even completely losing their sense of self?

One of the more curious things about ALttP!Ganon is his relationship to Agahnim. No one is entirely sure what they are to one another.

In some of the mangas, Agahnim is portrayed as a human who gets possessed or turned by Ganon in some shape or form, and this portrayal is popular from what I’ve seen.

But in the actual game, Agahnim is described as being Ganon’s alter-ego. The term used in the japanese version is “bunshin”, which can mean a lot of things, including alter-ego or even reincarnation, but in the context of the Zelda franchise, there is another part in the series where it is used. In Phantom Hourglass, Oshus is described as being the “bunshin” of the Ocean King. So, if we assume Agahnim works the same way, his consiusness would have to be exactly Ganon’s, right? Of course that doesn’t mean other interpretations can’t exist, I myself am not even sure what to think.

The usage of the word bunshin does imply that to some extent, Agahnim literally was a part, or offshot of Ganon. So froma  certain point of view, we could add his character to Ganons, if we wanted to.

Something that intrigues me though is that in the Downfall Timeline, we never see Ganon in human form again. Could this be related to Agahnim? Maybe not exactly literally but symbolIcally?

Did Ganon split the humanity he had left off of himself, because that was the only part of him that could exit the Dark World before the seal was lifted?

If so, did Agahnim dying have any effect on him? Or did whatever Agahnim was in the end just return to him?

So much to think about here, ahh.

Of cours, ALttP!Ganon then gets killed by Link in their battle. Not sealed away, just flat out killed.

Normally this would probably be the end, but of course OoX happened, in which Twinrova tried to revive him, but didnt quite succeed.

Ganon is revived as a seemingly mindless beast, only actualy talking in his final moments, which is the quote from earlier.

In the japanese version, this quote is written entirely in katakana, which can indicate that its pronounced weirdly somehow, in cases like this likely because he had a hard time forming the words at all.

He also refers to himself as a Demon King in japanese, but that term hadn’t caught on in the english versions of the games yet.

Okay so, as I kinda mentioned above, this Ganon’s story gets a bit muddled from this point on.

Sometime after ALttP, but before ALbW, ALbW’s backstory (which is not ALttP) occurs, during which a hero fights a Ganon, who is then sealed away by him, the princess and the sages, but we dont know if this Ganon is the same, just revived again, or an entirely new incarnation.

But you could argue that it hardly matters, cause he barely does anything in the game, essentially acting as a power boost for Yuga...

However, there is a theory that he might do more than that actually.

So, according to this theory, Yuga actually was completely loyal to Hilda, and its only by fusing with Ganon that he starts wanting to betray, due to Ganons influence. The theory is nice in the sense that it makes Yuga more of an opposite of Ganon than he seems if you take the game at face value, and gives Ganon more to do. Depending on your interpretation, Yuga might just be influenced by Ganon, or they literally fuse into a being that is just as much Ganon as it is Yuga.

But of course that is just a minor theory, and you dont have to like it, naturally.

After that we get HF and AoL!Ganon, who is said to be more of a mindless beast as this point, no trace left of the human he used to be.

A rather sad fate.

Again it is unclear if this is the same Ganon, revived yet again, or maybe (anotehr) reincarnation.

But if its the former, you can only assume that, even if you dont think Agahnim dying had any effect on Ganon, just forcing him to ressurect over and over instead of letting him reincarnate properly, must’ve done quite the number on Ganon.

Somehow thinking about this version of Ganon in particular makes me think about the cursed boars in Princess Mononoke, who where lost to their anger. Especially the moment when the Wolf faces the Old Boar, who we have seen slowly lose his self at this point, and she almost pitifully says “Can’t you even speak anymore?” to him.

It almost feels like Downfall Timeline!Ganon is cursed by fate, in a sense. Not really in-universe either, but out of universe too!

History is already written (the first two games are already out) and thus Ganon has to follow the path that is already set for him, become what he will be in the future (what he is in the first two games), a frightening monster that terrorizes this kingdom of Hyrule for the sake of power, with no humanity in him (him having been human wasnt part of his character at the time the first two games where released)

I wonder if the demons failing to get Links blood in 2 will mark the end of this Ganon? (I hope not)

It was kinda nice to see BotW seemingly do somewhat of a modern take on this kinda idea of Ganon, something that has become little more than destruction of Hyrule in pyhsical form. I could see people place BotW as post- AoL for that reason, even.

And well, rolling back time yet again, we go to the last way OoT!Ganondorf turned out, which is TP!Ganondorf...

....who, compared to the others, actually has a bit more of a complicated “set-up” that kickstarts his character.

When Link gets send back in time at the end of OoT, his Tiforce of Courage breaks apart into the pieces we find in WW, presumably because Link was literally removed from that reality as he possessed it?

Then upon his arrival in the new Child Timeline, Link immediately gets the Triforce of Courage of THAT timeline, presumably cause he is in a state of being where he is meant to have a Triforce Piece of Courage?

Well, regardless of what you believe to be the cause, this is what happens, and as a result, the other two Triforce pieces choose Zelda and Ganondorf to bear them and end up residing in them. Thats how the pieces ended up with the three without the Sacred Realm being entered in this version of the events.

Link ends up warning Zelda and the king of the events that will transpire in the future, and thus Ganondorf loses the trust of the king and is unable to set his plan from OoT into motion.

Its a bit vague, but sometime after that Ganondorf starts a direct attack towards Hyrule, but gets captured and put on trial.

And as you know, as he was about to be executed, the Triforce of Power activated and saved him from death.

Now I am not sure if this is true, but I think up until that point, Ganondorf didn’t even know he had it.

But wether he discovered he had it now, or the moment it fist came to him, one thing I am sure of, he mustve felt so great for it. Cause he has no idea that a time travelling Link caused this to happen, right? From his perspective, the power of the gods just came to him like that because he is that great! And then, he cant even die as a result of this? He is literally immortal? Well, he must be the dang chosen one, right?

No wonder he got all god complex in this one!

Something I´m kinda interested in is how this guy spend years, likely centuries, in the Twillight Realm, and if his form in there is any indication, not exactly in physical form either, I mean isnt it implied he HAD to mae use of Zant like that in order to be able to have a physical form like that?

Ultimately TP!Ganondorf just is a lot like OoT!Ganondorf if you think about it, just kinda taken to a more extreme. He is no longer just human, but has transcended humanity much further than OoT!Ganondorf has, and feels superior to everyone because of it.

He is absolute in his own eyes, he is a god, his eventual victory is certain, his battle with the hero just a formality at this point.

And he sticks to that mindset until the very end, even as he is stabbed and fatally wounded by Link. It only makes sense, he couldnt be stopped by this before, why would it stop him now?

Of course the events that follow are rather vague, and people argue about what it means to this day, but I think it ultimately boils down to Ganondorf biting of more than he can chew, overestimating his own power. Or rather, what he thinks is his own power, cause its not even his.

From the moment he was impaled by the sword of the sage, Ganondorf has been a dead man.

He has only been kept alive afterwards through the power of others, the gods, and Zant as well.

This power was not his, and thus it could just leave him just as quick as it came to him.

The imagine of Zant snapping his neck, to me, either just refers to the fact that with Zant dead, who acted as Ganondorf anchor of sorts, Ganondorf himself dies as well, or it refers to the fact that Ganondorf, who saw himself as a god and superior to everything, was ultimately just as much of a mortal and simple being than the very person who worshipped him as a deity the most.

Yes, you could call Zant the very person that made Ganondorf a god in the first place, in more ways than one, so without him, Ganondorf is a god no more. And he dies just like any mortal would.

Ultimately this Ganondorf story feels like a story of hubris.

Simple, but neat.

(Its interesting like, its almost like, TP!Ganondorf was a human who longed to be a god, and WW!Ganondorf was like a god who longed to be human?)

But, do not think it ends here...

We’ve looked at all the people that OoT!Ganondorf grew up to be, but that isn’t all the Ganons there is, the story of Ganon actually continues further down the Child Timeline.

Yes, this brings us to FSA!Ganon, or as I sometimes like to call him, Ganon II.

I understand that most probably never played this game, and I probably won’t blow your minds if I tell you Ganon doesn’t actually do much in this game but, I still like to think about him.

He’s actually a proper reincarnation of TP!Ganondorf, folowing the latter’s death at the end of TP.

From some dialouge in-game we know a little bit about his past. Like his past life, he was a boy born to the Gerudo people, and was named Ganondorf.

Interestingly, in this game, the Gerdudo dont actually say that every 100 years a male child is born, they that every 100 years a “special” child is born, and of course Ganondorf was that special child. They still mention the “only man” part, but it doesnt come up with the “every 100 years” line.

Notably it also doesnt seem that Ganondorf was supposed to be their king, and it doesnt seem like they ever treated him like a king, they only mention he was supposed to be the protector of the Gerudo people and the desert.

This is just speculation, but perhaps, after what happened to the first Ganondorf, the Gerudo people decided it wasnt a good idea to treat the sole male like a king just because.

The Gerudo in the game tell you that the older Ganndorf became, the more twisted and obsessed with power he became, and eventually he started breaking their laws, too.

When he entered the forbidden pyramid, the Gerudo basically considered him banished from their tribe, but also didnt think he would ever survive in there and presumed him to be dead.

The Gerudo in this game really only talk badly about Ganondorf, which probably makes sense if he really just did bad stuff to them, but its a very stark contrast to OoT where the Gerudo seemed to just let Ganondorf get away with everything, kinda.

Something I wonder about if maybe like, Ganondorf wasn’t exactly treated well by the Gerudo, out of fear of him turning out like the old Ganondorf, or if Ganondorf just turned bad all on his own. Or maybe a mixture of both?

What is sorta interesting is the story of how this one came to be Ganon, which is that within the pyramid, he found a certain Trident, which is implied to have caused him to “awake as Ganon”, so to speak, as he picked it up. This is the inscription found with the Trident:

“Seek...you...the world? Seek you...power? Does your...soul...despise peace and...thirst for... more? Does your soul...cry... for...destruction and... conquest? We...grant you...power to ...ruin...the world. The power of...darkness. Evil...spirit of magic trident. You are...the... King of Darkness.“

The trident feels like it has more out of universe meaning than in-universe (though I do headcanon it to be a reincarnated ghirahim somehow, because I can). The trident being a weapon that franchise-wise is heavily associated with Ganon, and notably Ganon only, as Ganondorf is never really seen wielding a literal trident.

This Ganondorf picks up the trident, and with it the legacy of the interpretations of Ganons that came in the games before this one, so to speak.

I´m sorry for this part being so unstructured, but interestingly, Ganondorf is this game is referred to as “ancient demon reborn”, or something like “instrument of evil reborn” in japanese, hinting that even at the time of the game’s release, this Ganon was probably intended to be the reincarnation of a previous evil, likely a previous Ganon, of course.

What I wonder about is how much this Ganon is aware of that, though. When he grew up, becoming more and more twisted, did he know? Did he know he was the reincarnation of a villain that had previously plagued Hyrule? Did he feel his hatred? Did he know whose it was, or did he consider it his own? Or was it simply his own?

And when he picked up the trident, and transformed into a demon beast, did he understand what this meant? What he was? Did he ever obtain any memories of his past self, even?

Something that hints that this /might/ be the case is Shadow Link.

Now Shadow Link is not actually created by the dark mirror from the evil part of Link’s heart as the english localization suggest. Instead its created from the evil part of Ganon’s heart, using the dark mirror. It is said that through the mirror,the hatred and evil of Ganondorf, throughout time, took on the shape of Link. Likely because the hero is a major subject of Ganondorf’s hatred.

The fact that this happened when FSA!Ganon used the mirror, despite himself never having met Link up until that point, hints that he might, at least subconsiously, harbor the memories of his past incarnations?

But really, as usual there is a lot open to interpretation.

I´m just so intrigued, like in this timeline there is a “second Ganon”, a Ganon that came “after”, someone who had to take on this cruel legacy.

And, with that we have now talked about all the Ganon(dorf)s that have existed in the franchise to this day, not counting stuff like BS Zelda and the CDI-Games.

If you stuck around until this point, thank you so much, you’re too kind!

But also thanks to everyone that just skimmed this or looked it over briefly, I hope this wall of text did something for you. 

(Sorry for any typos I... type too fast when I get excited about a topic.)

#legend of zelda #ganon #ganondorf

[katedoesfics]

Shadows of the Future | Chapter 48

It was nearly an hour before Rusl was able to get his shoulder looked at, and an hour more before he found himself in a bed of his own to recover. The drugs had worn off by then, but the pain was much more tolerable than it had been. Aryll entertained him through it all, telling him her exaggerated tale of her adventure with Riju. In the chaos of Ganondorf’s return, Riju and Saki had managed to escape the city before the roads were blocked, bringing her to the beach for the day, where she had apparently seen a mermaid, among other various imagined scenarios. When the drugs had worn, however, all he wanted to do was sleep, and with Riju’s assistance, he sent his daughter off to check on Link. He hardly slept through the next hour, however, before he woke, the pain of his shoulder throbbing. He opted to distract himself with his phone, impatiently waiting for his discharge papers. He looked up from his phone, however, as a presence stood in the doorway. He regarded his son for a moment, then smiled.

“Can you believe how awful the WiFi is here?”

Link smiled and took the seat beside the bed. He draped his legs over the arm of the chair and leaned back to gaze at the ceiling. “Mipha told me what happened.”

“You mean how I got my ass handed to me by a pile of bones?”

“For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure their bones are made of steel.”

Rusl considered this with a small nod.

“Thank you,” Link said. “For protecting them.”

Rusl turned his attention back to his phone. “Someone had to.” He looked up, his brows furrowed, and met his son's gaze. His lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to speak, but then they pinched together instead. His face softened for a moment before he turned back to his phone. “You're grounded.”

Link's brows knit together. “The fuck? For what? I saved this country!”

“For getting gutted by a sword.”

Link slunk down against the chair and turned his gaze back to the ceiling.

“I told you not to get yourself killed.”

“I didn't,” Link muttered. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Hm. Guess Hylia has other plans for you.”

Link groaned. “I sure as hell hope not.”

Rusl smiled and let his phone drop on the bed. “Have you seen your sister?” he inquired. “She was bugging the shit out of me, so I sent her to bug you.”

“She and Riju are wreaking havoc and flirting with doctors.”

Rusl frowned. “She told me boys smell.” He shook his head. “I knew this day would come.”

Link rolled his eyes. “No one said they were flirting with male doctors.”

He groaned. “Girls are just as bad,” he said. “They lure you in with their good looks and charm and next thing you know, you’re married with two damn kids.”

“You would know.”

Rusl nodded. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll end up the same sucker.”

“Let’s see if I can graduate senior year, first.”

“If there’s one thing you’ve been smart about, it’s picking your women. Cute and smart. With a little luck, maybe Mipha can get you through the year.”

“I’m banking on cheating off of her the whole year.”

Rusl looked up at the ceiling. “Well, at least he has a plan.”

“I always have a plan.”

“Not that I’ve seen,” Rusl said.

“Life plans and battle plans are two totally different games, you know.”

“I would know,” Rusl said. “I’ve been doing it a lot longer than you, and not once did I get myself gutted by a sword.”

“You’re not going to drop that, are you?”

Rusl sneered at his son. “Seriously?” He opened his mouth to argue further, but was cut short by the sight of his daughter in the doorway. Her mouth was pulled into a full blown, childish frown.

“Are you guys fighting?” she asked.

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

“I knew it,” she said. “You always fight!”

Rusl patted the bed. Aryll trotted to his side and he lifted her to sit beside him. “We fight because we love each other.”

“Promise?”

“She’s going to be so dysfunctional when she gets older, you know that, right?” Link said.

Rusl grinned. “Dysfunctional? Never.”

“She won’t have any solid relationships because she doesn’t know how normal people show affection. That’s what you’re doing to her. That’s where strippers come from.”

Rusl turned to his daughter and poked her nose. “You’re not going to be a stripper, are you?”

“Daddy,” Aryll whined. “I dunno what that is.”

“You’re not going to have dysfunctional relationships, right?”

Aryll sighed, already giving up with their conversation. “Probably.”

Rusl planted a kiss on her head. “Ah, that’s alright,” he said. “You don’t need to have any kind of relationship. No dating until after you’re married.”

Aryll raised a skeptical brow at her father. “Okay, Daddy.”

“She’s too smart for you,” Link said.

Rusl frowned. “Yeah. I got lucky with you. You were stupid and easy.” He sighed.

Aryll grinned, her eyes closing. “Link is smart now,” she said. “He’s the smartest and bravest around!”

“Well, I don’t know how he got like that,” Rusl said.

“From you, silly!”

Rusl pointed a finger at himself, a look of surprise on his face. “No way.”

Aryll nodded enthusiastically.

“Huh,” Rusl said. “Well, I guess it runs in the family, then.”

Aryll nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

Link snorted, but said nothing further.

“I guess I have the best family, then,” Aryll said.

“Well, I’m glad you think so,” Rusl said teasingly. “I think so, too.”

“So, can we go home now?” Aryll asked her father.

“I’m sure we can soon,” Rusl said. “As soon as one of those doctors gives me the a-okay.”

“I’m friends with them,” Aryll said matter-of-factly. “I’ll tell them we can go home now.”

“Right,” Rusl said. “But take back-up with you just in case they give you a hard time.”

Aryll hopped off the bed and pulled at Link’s wrist. “Come on, back-up guy,” she said.

Link sighed but stood and let his sister pull him out of the room. He glanced over his shoulder one last time at his father, who was grinning. “Keep her out of trouble,” he called to him as Aryll pulled him down the hall. Rusl watched as his children disappeared, and he smiled.

*****

Rusl wasn’t alone for long, though he wasn’t expecting any company. The door was open, but he sensed Dorian’s presence before he came into view around the corner. He looked up as Dorian stood in the doorway. Their gazes met for a moment before he stepped in, closing the door behind him, but he did not move further into the room. Rusl narrowed his gaze on him in an attempt to hide the pain from betrayal that may have washed across his face. Dorian’s gaze, however, was not the same cold, hardened gaze he had grown accustomed to over the years. He seemed worn and tired, even struck with remorse. But Rusl was wary of his appearance. Dorian was more than capable of putting on an act and using their friendship against Rusl.

Rusl’s mouth opened, ready to snap at Dorian, but Dorian spoke, cutting him off.

“Wait.” When Rusl remained silent, he hesitated. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. He tore his gaze away, searching for the words he wanted to say to Rusl. “For everything. I’ve kept secrets from you. My actions have only caused you to lose trust in me. But you should know that I only did it to keep you and Link safe. And if losing your trust means that you will survive this, then I will do everything in my power to make you hate me. I’ve made promises to you, Rusl, and I intend to keep those promises.” He shook his head. “If I had known… about Link… I lost track of them. I’ve been pulled in every direction and I made a mistake. I failed you, and I’m sorry.” He met his gaze. “I don’t expect your forgiveness. In fact, you’ll be much better off if you continue to hate me. I’ll let you kill me if it will help.”

Rusl stared at him for a moment, holding his gaze. To say he was terrified was an understatement. His stomach twisted with fear; fear of losing his son. Fear of losing Dorian. And yet, fear that he was being played. He desperately wanted his friend back. Without Dorian, he felt more alone than ever. Dorian had been a constant in his life, at his side, for decades. No matter what, he was always the person he turned to in times of need. He trusted Dorian, with his life, with the life of his children.

Maybe he was desperate not to lose that. Or maybe it was his trust in Dorian that won over all his other instincts. But he didn’t want to lose him. He couldn’t lose him. Dorian, Link, Aryll - they were all he had left in his life.

He pulled his gaze away. “You’re just lucky Link survived,” Rusl muttered. “Or I would kill you.”

“I know.”

Rusl met his gaze again. “I… don’t hate you. I’d be lost without you, D.” His brows furrowed. “Tell me the truth. What’s going on with Kohga? Are you in trouble?”

“No,” Dorian said quickly.

Rusl was unconvinced, however. His gaze narrowed on Dorian. “You’re not planning something stupid, are you?”

“What, like you?” Dorian grinned, but his smile quickly disappeared with Rusl’s hard gaze. He hesitated. “I was ready to do whatever I had to do,” he said simply.

“You’re no good to me dead,” Rusl muttered. “What happens now?”

“Ganondorf had more strength than I realized,” he admitted. “More powerful than even Kohga realized. What I told you before is true. Kohga had planned to infiltrate the city to provide Ganondorf with a stronger army. By keeping the portals open, Kohga thought it would have been enough in case he couldn’t find the power to lift the ward. Link and Zelda may have closed the portal, but it didn’t matter. Ganondorf exceeded Kohga’s expectations. Still, he had planned for Ganondorf’s defeat as well, and he is now focusing his efforts on destroying Hyrule himself and bringing back Demise.”

Rusl’s forehead creased as Dorian spoke. “How?” he asked simply.

“He’s assembling an army for himself,” Dorian explained. “He’s bringing back the dead.”

Rusl stared at him blankly. “The dead?”

“There’s more,” Dorian started. “He’s working on something else. A dark magic.” He hesitated. “He intends to corrupt the power of the Triforce and turn it against Hyrule.”

“How?” Rusl asked fiercely.

Dorian shook his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted. His brows knit together. “It is imperative that neither you nor Link step out of the ward,” he said. “This war has only just begun.”

#sotf #shadows of the future #loz #botw #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #fic #fanfic #sotf48

[wherethestoryhasimagination]

More BoTW ‘sequel’ ideas;

(expanding upon this for @ramune-explosion )

additional links provided :3 likely best to gain full context from them;

SS TP MM

when you pick your starting Rune, your guardian programming is able to access secondary features not able to be run on Slate tech; (the other runes might be available later)

Bombs; instead of only creating bombs full of blue energy, you can also perform a variation of the Guardian’s trademark Beam attack; a quick shot that does the minimal damage of the bombs, usually used to get other explosives to go off, or a charged beam like the Guardian Scouts use; (Upgrades may give you the ‘super armor’ that the scouts get while charging)

Cryonis; instead of only freezing water in block formations, you can now create a Ball of Ice that does everything a Ball can do. roll around, run into things, get bigger if rolling through snow, hit switches... (maybe freeze non-water objects to make them brittle?)

Magnesis; not just moving individual metal objects; you can also electrify them temporarily; (a bit like thunder Blight) (maybe an upgrade will make thrown metal weapons home-in slightly on targets)

Stasis; not just stopping Time; can also accelerate certain objects; (maybe an Upgrade could let you reverse aging time on an object (with a hearty cooldown) to get something to return to where it once was; or maybe that should be the default; idk; stasis is kinda funny; a few possibilities here)

Camera; not just pictures; Advanced Tracking can Highlight Targeted objects, and provide much more specific Arrows, rather than just radar blips. perhaps also highlight enemies through walls? a good utility;

Disguise choice; Gerudo, Goron, Hylian, Zora, Birb... (and perhaps some other ‘secret’ disguises not available at the start) (like Shieka Monk) (customization is a Yes)

you start with just one, but might be able to get others later; each with certain base abilities & potential Upgrades. (some ‘plot shrine’ will give you your first, (maybe more?) upgrade part, which will automatically be used to create your disguise+base ability)

Picking Gerudo Male... As the one with the Triforce of Power... well... that might make things a deal harder at the start; to the point where the Player would be strictly warned about the consequences; A real, No-stealth, Glass cannon kind of choice; The Triforce of Power is Pleased by this Disguise, and leaks out a tiny bit more of its energy to you.

Goron; full Flameguard, but weaker stealth. later upgrades may give one-handed 2-handers, roll attacks, ext...

Zora; the ability to actually swim properly without getting waterlogged; faster swim speeds, (up to the rate at which Sidon went during the divine beast combat), waterfall climbing, ext...

Birb; far superior gliding, a weaker version of Ravioli Gale (which can be upgraded further), better stealth, ext...

Traditional Gerudo; (the advised, easier start choice) well, the Yiga Clan hideout isn’t far from Town; you can easily enter, and very likely get official Training in weapon use as a guard(ian). With Gerudo Town as a base of operations with plentiful access to decent items & gear, things ought to be a bit easier on you...

And if Link just so happens to be hunting you, and has seen through your disguise, (the guy has faced enough Yiga to know their disguises)... Well, they might cause a scene if they tried anything in town. You are safe there. maybe you’ll even sit at the same Bar.

Hylian; highly convincing disguise; upgrades include various quality/ease of life options, better Horse control, and, as a high tier upgrade, the famous ‘slow time’ ability Link possesses. (A Goron or Zora out in the Snow is very suspect, but a Hylian, well, they could be anywhere!)

(bonus surprise?) if you make and wear the full Guardian Armor Set, people might mistake you for Link

(extra thought; would better monster disguises be worth a thought? As a Bokoblin, while people would still call attention to you if you did bad things, it wouldn’t be as harsh a response as if you were found out to be ‘That Rouge Machine!’)

upgrades for your Guardian Tech exist as well; Runes, Tools...

The Scientists probably help you even though they know what you are cause they can be a bit kooky like that; just fascinated to see how you develop.

‘meals’ work differently; (unless you got the Hylian gastro-generator Upgrade)

You have a far more discerning Eye for Guardian Parts; while others might just see a dozen of the same type of Screw, you can tell the differences between them; Some that can be ‘cooked’ into ‘stamina’ restoring ‘meals’, electric resist, temporary hearts... basically all the usual cooking effects; Gemstones can be used in cooking to, with unique effects of their own. like maybe temporary elemental damage, changing the color of your default Guardian weapons to match;

yea, that’s another thing; while nearly every other weapon in the game would be better than them, (unless you upgrade them,) you should always have access to weak variants of the Guardian spear, sword, & Ax; (maybe you can unlock a guardian boomerang, or some other weapon types as well)

The great Plateau is, instead of a dizzying drop, a brutal climb. But, many important things can be found there... The Other Runes, for example, & a Certain Monk living under the shrine of Resurrection who will make sure you EARN those Runes. (maybe you can extract something from the 1-hit obliterator?)

maybe Shrine entrances will take you even further bellow the Shrines to the ‘Maintenance Level’. As a Guardian, you get taken to The Works, presumed to be there to fix things by the Shrine workings.

Also, forget needing to pray in very specific locations to upgrade, to the point where you have a dozen not-Spirit orbs waiting to be used; you are a clever Machine; you can upgrade wherever you want; (though maybe have certain high tier upgrades require a certain location in the maintenance level to get)

Plenty of potential here; it could be a Mechanical mess, or maybe things broke down a while ago, and dirt & rocks & such have gotten in, creating a whole new kind of environment. (might be cool if some variant of Mogma(Skyward Sword Moles) were to be found, with a secret disguise available for them with their own thematic upgrades) (also, at this point, a full and proper skill tree would probably be good; it isn’t as simple as ‘Heart or Stamina’ after all... Though different upgrades may include/be Hearts &or Stamina for different races. (high stamina birbs, high Hearts Goron...) )

|3 ... I’m running out of steam at the moment for ideas on Gameplay quirks... there’s probably something obvious that is a part of the base game that I’m missing...

! ah, Koroks? hmm... there could probably be some kind of excuse for Koroks, if they were to be re-used... either on the Shieka advanced Tech side of things, or the ‘right heart to see them’ side of things.

& Great Fairies... maybe they can help you get some of the last stages in a particular upgrade path, or maybe they physically enhance your non-organic Body, like they do to Armor; give you more health, more stamina, more base-Defense... (Maybe they could be the source of some more... unique, non-machine like upgrades; like the gastro-generator which lets you heal via people food)

Ending Ideas;

there could be just about anything down there. including the ‘neutral-?bad?’ ending; ‘fixing’ things down in The Works is the most lucrative source of Upgrade Parts, but if you Fix Everything... Then a whole lot more than just Shrines, Towers, & those massive Spires around The Castle will start popping up; ‘You did what you were designed to do; now bear witness to the World We Designed you to make; the Era of The Shieka will return’ You Survive;

‘Bad?-POWER’ end, you’ve gone around and blown up all kinds of important stuff; attacked towns & destroyed their fortifications & fully operational Guardian Stalkers... When you make it to the birb Divine Beast, you get a total Power Trip; Controlling the Beast Directly, able to rain down destruction. You Survive;

‘neutral end(s)’ you didn’t really blow anything up, but you didn’t really do all that much good either. When you win the contest being held to find the next Pilot of the Divine Beast, you are found out. You are Targeted; Link is ready to finally settle this;

(if you somehow manage to beat Link;) Zelda won’t stand by & watch Link Die; With her greater control over her Divine Power, and Greater understanding of the Ancient Tech, She Purges your Programming; You Die;

(If Link beats you...) You Die; but by beheading/helm splitting; your Program still exists... You Still have the Triforce of Power... maybe you’ll manage to find a new vessel eventually... you kinda survive in that way; Via... Reincarnation...

(good end; helping make things right with The World) :) You win the Divine Beast Pilot Contest, and you get to Fly it all the way to Hyrule Castle... (bad end if you start shooting; Link rips you from the controls, & fights you; same kind of results as neutral ends) But, once there... Link & Zelda finally realize who/what you are; much later than they do the other time; you must be acting much more like a real person...

Link has The Master Sword at the Ready, but... has their doubts about how much of a threat you are...

You drop the disguise...

You drop to your Knees...

You distill information in the way that is traditional for Ancient Shieka Tech...

...

You start to Cry...

In a moment of recognition, Link catches a drop with their Shieka Slate...

Your Memories begin to play back on the screen...

The beauty you’ve seen in this World... How much better it is than The World the ancient Shieka had planned...

The joy in meeting new people...

The help you’ve offered... The help you’ve gotten...

Your acts of kindness... And the kindness you’ve been shown in turn...

Every Smile you have seen along the way...

Your perspective of Link and Zelda... Fearsome Destroyers who hold control over whether you live or die...

...

You tell them that you don’t want to die...

...

And they tell you that everything is going to be ok...

#BoTW #loz botw #breath of the wild #zelda breath of the wild #nintendo #Guardian #Probably going to draw a rough picture of them later... a 'concept sketch' of sorts