Apothecary diaries au but Zelda is a scientist and Link is prince

But what happens if my world is falling to their doom?

Props to you for being one of the people who still actually analyze and find stuff to talk about totk. When nowadays it seems like the loud minority just wants to keep screaming about how it’s just dlc or didn’t live up to the hype (that they had way too high and don’t want to admit)

Lol thank you? I genuinely find recent fandom culture to be a bit, uh, negative with loud minorities shouting about the flaws stories and games have (which is absolutely natural). I try to focus on the positives and what we ARE given because I do cherish whatever bits and pieces they hid within the games for us to find!

Tears of the Kingdom does lack in aspects of the story (see the sages of old and repetitive cutscenes) but to me that’s still a small part of the story. I was hoping for a DLC to showcase the sages of old with Kass as our guide (because if I have one genuine gripe with ToTK it is the absence of Kass) but Nintendo has chosen to stand with the game as it is, which is fine. It’s a choice I don’t necessarily agree with, but a choice they made. Instead of crying over it and ranting about all the negatives, I made peace with it and decided to embrace all the positives.

So thank you! I try to be positive!

I remember a while back you said that TOTK ranks as one of the best narratives in the series, and replaying it again, I’m inclined to agree. Fans criticized it for being “incoherent,” but there’s literally nothing that happens in the story that isn’t set up in the opening/tutorial. The Imprisoning War, the Zonai, the statue depicting Rauru and Sonia, the Light Dragon flying near the temple, Link diving to Zelda, the Recall ability (how it serves as Link’s connection to Zelda throughout the game and will ultimately be how he saves her at the end). The recall ability is also how Link collects and examines the dragon tear memories. Even if you don’t collect the tears, Link’s last memory of her is the vision of her giving him Recall, so it makes sense that he restores her to how he remembers her (“coaxing the object’s memory” like Sonia says in one of the memories). The theme of community and togetherness is also woven into every aspect of the gameplay and story. BOTW and TOTK are both extremely narratively and thematically coherent.

THISSSSSS

Ive played the majority of Zelda games and some stories are iconic (OoT), some are DARK (MM), some are DIFFERENT (WW & TP), some are ROMANTIC (ST & SS), and all are adventurous and fun. This series has a plethora of interesting characters and captivating stories, but none truly compare to the intricacies of BoTW&ToTK. And this is achieved through the vast amount of details offered to players in each game.

BoTW has a TON of details for players who go looking for it, however none of them are actually necessary in completing the game. We know this is simply bc of the direction of botw and totk in terms of gameplay.

The stories are OPTIONAL in both of these games, but as you pointed out in ToTK, you don’t escape the Recall memory. And that ability is the one that is truly unique to the story and connects us directly to Zelda, and ultimately Zelda to her old self. Both of these games are directly related to Zelda’s journey as a character and are a testament to this Zelda and Link’s relationship. Without a romantic perspective (which actually requires you to neglect details given to us in both games), the story still stands in terms of development and emotional appeal.

I think everyone can agree that BoTW/ToTK Zelda is the most developed Zelda we have ever gotten, and if you accept that her development goes hand in hand with the story (which duh it does lol) then you realize that for all its faults, BoTW & ToTK has one of the best narratives of the series. To me, you can’t separate the games, because BoTW was the foundation of Zelda’s growth as a person and Zelda & Link’s relationship which resulted in the dedicated loyalty we see six years after the events of BoTW. Without that knowledge, we wouldn’t get the same emotional connection or understand how intimate the ending of ToTK is.

Link’s use of Recall, backed by Rauru’s light magic and Sonia’s time magic, is only achievable by HIS ability to remember Zelda, his own memories and the ones Zelda gifted him through the tears, in order to bring her back. This gives us the EXACT answer to the question BoTW ends on: “May I ask; do you really remember me?”

Like that is so impactful, it clears every other story in my opinion by a LONG SHOT. This doesn’t negate how amazing the other stories are, they are all powerful in their own way, but none compare to the fluid and consistent themes BoTW & ToTK are founded upon.

The story has its faults (as all do) and thus fans capitalize on them in order to tear down the games (which is natural for any popular franchise). But those faults do not impact what is perfectly executed in terms of Zelda and Link’s story. The things we wish to see more of are that of side characters and questions left unanswered (which provided the series a new set of lore to explore in future games). But I will forever stand by this era and it’s overarching story that still makes me stop whenever I see the light dragon or seek out those small details whenever I replay the games.

Sometimes I see people bag on Botw/Totk about how they aren’t real ‘Zelda’ games. Because they don’t follow the same format repeated since OoT. But when we think about it, OoT was ALSO a change from previous Zelda games. It was insanely different from the 2D games, having mastered linearity and adding a whole new piece to the story— time travel. We saw a sliver of this before but the way it was utilized was brand new.

Ocarina of Time introduced so many iconic moments, lore, and characters that have gone on to affect the series even now. It was DIFFERENT yet similar with its dungeon format.

Now, with BoTW and ToTK, we have a different format— a non-linear game with an open concept world. The dungeons are there but we all know they lack the same feel as the old ones, this was due to choice of developing the world over one-stop dungeons (at least in botw). We got a much more advanced version of these dungeons in ToTK, with more of a long form dungeon crawl that adds a better balance between the development of the world and these dungeons that we do get to go back to if we so choose.

Now, I’m now saying that these dungeons are the same as they used to be. They aren’t! But we have a world that I have not gotten sick of, in either game, despite this Hyrule being seven years old. This large expansive world is unlike ANY of the games.

BoTW & ToTK are transition games— they mark a new era of Zelda games. They have echoes of old games but are venturing into new plots and lore we have not seen. You see, these games are not a copy and paste of the lore and format we have gotten for literal decades. It’s something new, something that requires a transition.

If they had been copy and pasted formats, we would have haters calling it repetitive, a series long overdue for something different, etc. That’s just the way of the world haha

But these games are an exploration into a new era, a new set of lore and stories for us to enjoy. It’s something we can criticize but it isn’t something we can claim isn’t a Zelda game. It is. It’s just new, introducing new plot points and new mechanics. The series will have a plethora of new lore to delve into THANKS to BoTW/ToTK.

I’m excited to see where the story goes. No matter how much I wanted MORE I’m still quite content with what we have. It’s all the more reason to appreciate what we have and be excited for what’s to come.

Happy 7 year anniversary Breath of the Wild 💛

I’m lazy and don’t want to create a new link, but chapter four is up!

Now, I know this is an ‘as canonically accurate as I can make it’ fic, but would I be me if I DIDNT delve into the workings of magic and light vs dark? No, I didn’t think so.

ENJOY!

The romantic interpretation of Zelda and Link’s relationship between Botw and totk is peak because these two kids were healing together and fell in love. That is so insanely beautiful. 

Anyway chapter three is up :)

Me, watching Link snap his fingers after he releases Recall and getting flashbacks of Urbosa snapping so casually causing lightning to rain down on some poor soul: I’m fine

Happy 38th Anniversary to the Legend of Zelda series 💜

Somehow I JUST found Yunobo’s Diary. I’m so sad that it’s taken me this long.

Yunobo is so precious. He just wants to help everyone in his home and do what’s best. And he wanted to go help in searching for Zelda and Link when they went missing but he went to check the red haze from Death Mountain first. Which we know is basically when he received the mask from puppet Zelda.

I’m so proud of that lil rock. He’s such a softie.

Ok so consider this, if Link already got all the Dragon’s Tears, and he does the regional phenomena quest, doesn’t it still make sense and is still in character for him to not tell the others the truth? Like think about it, that is his girl, even if he knows what happened to her already, he just doesn’t want to believe it. He knows, but he can’t help but to keep chasing after her because he still has even a sliver of hope that MAYBE this time it’s actually her. That, and I think he also doesn’t want to confuse the others even more because how exactly is he even supposed to explain all that? And wouldn’t it just hurt them even more?

Anyway, that got longer than I intended, but I feel like people don’t think about that when it comes to that quest line.

THISSSSS^^^^^^

Link keeping Zelda’s fate a secret from everyone is incredibly telling of how he is dealing with it himself. Spoiler alert, he isn’t.

To put it in perspective, let’s remember that not only did everyone think Zelda was still around, but they thought she was wreaking havoc or being controlled. Everyone was so confused because that wasn’t the girl they all came to know and love.

So Link is dealing with the whole Zelda Puppet storyline on TOP of the memories that show Zelda’s true fate. She’s been in Hyrule all this time, but as a dragon that is healing the Master Sword.

Imagine raising the hopes of everyone once he reveals that the Zelda causing so much trouble was just one of Ganon’s puppets and then tearing it straight down by telling everyone that Zelda is actually a dragon with no way of returning back to her original form. That would be DEVASTATING.

While Link has accepted Zelda’s choice, he does NOT plan on it remaining her fate. We see that through the Find Princess Zelda Quest not completing until she is back home, in his arms, and her nerdy self. Link would not have rested until he got Zelda back. It’s the whole point of the game. That was HIS motive.

And I do think there is some complexity in his emotions where he just can’t accept the futility of her fate— that YES, perhaps that is her being held by the Yiga or any of the other Princess Spotting Quests. He has this small sliver of hope and doubt that drives him to investigate each of these rumors and chase her throughout the halls of Hyrule Castle. He can’t help but react. Because all of Link’s choices this game are purely emotion driven. And I think that is so amazing considering we barely get to see how he feels regarding the storyline, beyond micro-expressions and what OTHER characters tells us about him.

Act II of Fate's Cruelty Summary:

“Zelda, I would be absolutely honored if you would have me as your Champion,” He told her, her face immediately brightening at his words. “And I think you’re working yourself too much if you actually believed there was a chance that I would say no.”

“Really?” She asked in awe. “I. . . That makes me extremely happy. If you told me when we first met that I was going to be utterly distraught at the thought of not having you by my side a couple months later, I would have forged my father’s signature and fired you.”

He tilted his head, absentmindedly drawing shapes on the back of her hands. “That’s illegal.”

I decided to make this story a series, with each act of the overall fic it’s one part. Act I is fully published and *mostly* through the first round of edits. Have fun :)

The one where he flexes the fingers and then shakes the hand out a little bit makes me wonder if he's got some phantom pain/sensation (feeling the arm he no longer has, that is) and he's moving the new arm in the hope it'll do something about that feeling.

YES!!! EXACTLY!!!

It just gives us a glimpse of Link’s actual feelings and how he processes things. It’s SO NORMAL yet it’s something so special. It gives us this small little detail about him and the shit he’s been through.

Precious little knight 🥹

I think one of my favorite mini details is when Link stands too long, he holds up Rauru’s arm and inspects it, flexing his fingers and twisting his wrist… it makes you think that Link himself is in disbelief— not only is his arm gone but in its place is this replacement that is very much not his.

And you know that makes me think. And I, I just really love him.