#and i feel like botw and totk really walked that back | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ganondoodle · 3 months

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totk cataclysm event wasnt just a great (but utterly missed) opportunity to change the map in techincally little ways that has drastic consequences both in stakes and in gameplay (like i mentioned before, flooding the gerudo desert would have meant devastating consequences for its ecosystem- like imagine little islands of sand still poking out, acting as a sort of last doomed refuge for sandseals- but also cahnged the entire gameplay of it, good chance to introduce some neat new ways to surf on water like a new ridable creature or an ice shield freezing a path while you surf on it, the gerudo being forced to save the city from drowing in various means or now living on the roofs, trying to adapt by building boats ect - also call back to older games?? since totk loves that so much ..-, vah naboris serving as the savest refuge being high above the water, even if non functional; similarly takign away ALL water from the zora region, gaving it all dry out would imemdiately turn into something way different and could mean death for the zora- forcing them to move to the lower parts of akkala for example- maybe vah ruta is still halfway functioning bc the faith the zora have to mipha, dorephan and sidon is, while not enough to keep it fully functional, but enough to generate some water so the most stubborn or brave zora set up around it like a last oasis; i know its somewhat done with death mountain but the gorons dont really suffer from it bc their only problem is a drugged rock that makes them mean and lazy ..- what about collapsing or exploding it, leaving a large crater that over the course of the game could start to grow with plant life since vulcanic earth is so fertile- some never seen before ones that was dormant in the lava and now that its cooled off is springing to life, which might seem good at first but for the area and its wildlife means loss of their habitat; the rito freezing over, but actually having to move, maybe into the tabantha canyon, building their new makeshift homes in between the walls of it- generally just switiching things around a bit would have done so much wihtout having to edit every last detail ((seriously tho, how did this game take so long given that botw took similar but they did that ENTIRE main map as detailed as it is AND made it all coherent with itself and its themes- im ranting again ..)

-but it ALSO would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce new weather types created by the sudden change in environment, somethign like a super strong wind that slows you when walking agaisnt and lets you jump much farther when with it- a darkness thing that clouds the world in utter darkness with only little light getting through anything that is caused by mushrooms from the udnerground invading the surface and their spores snuffs out all light (which could explain the weird darkness in the ruins from botw too!!), or just simply mist! making everything misty changes the entire feel of any environment drastically- you could make vertain enemies spawn only in certain weather conditions, lessening the repetive overuse of them; and that is only on the surface- what if the sky had sunbeams so strong it sets anything on fire if you dare to leave the shadows- to comabt it get a armor with a giant hat!! the underground could have been filled with different environments in the first place, but then of course thered be those dark spores of mushrooms, an entire forest you have to carefully travers other wise making them release their spores and make it all more difficult, glowy mushrooms, MORE glowy mushroms, theres so many weird ass shrooms IRL you could take inspo from!! maybe soemthing like a forest of kelp, long flowy plants obstructing view and making you anxious by any movement- there could be one thats a mimic or infected with miasma, slightly off color and its knobs are malice eyes that open only if it thinks you cant see it

(also for the idea of taking botws stuff and recontextualizing it, the guardians or shrines, now non fucntional, could be infected my miasma sometimes, maybe randomly to keep you guessing- an overgrown shrine suddenly lifting itself up with hands clawing at you when you get too close or do sth wrong to distrub it- similar with guardians tho the effect might be less since you know them as a threat already- or sth i mentioned in another post, a tower being used as a weapon by a gigatic miasma monster- the one in the gerudo region with the bottomless pit for example, perfect for an arena for you to run around in the spiral while its swinging at you etc etc)

JUST taking what botw had and mixing it up, expanding on it, even if technically little change, it could do so much but in the actual game death mountain and rito is the only ones that saw anything of a change like it, and it largely .. didnt change anything or was reversible easily, and had no actual consquences that meant anything, neither stakes nor environmental or narratively (the gerudo felt like it at first but its also largely reversible, its just kinda .. adding a bit of city)

i hhhhhhhhhhhhhh have so many thoughts still, i am just better at holding them back .... also dont wanna annoy lmao

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #ganondoodles rants #totk #loz totk #i still want to do the rewrite #but man wheres the time #i will never not be salty about totk #“YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE”#i wanna yell bc it could have been ... so good

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twilight-vivi · 6 months

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Please Relax 🥀

BOTW/TOTK! Link x Witch!Reader

———————————————————————

It’s late in the night and yet here you are, cooking some kind of stew. You preferred the nighttime; it’s peaceful. Well usually. Ever since that “upheaval” monsters have been coming around more often.

Link hadn’t been stopping by as often. You understand that he’s busy fixing this damaged world but you worried. He’s just one man.

You hummed while cooking before covering the pot. You then glanced out the window when hearing something.

It was Link.

He looked disgruntled as he came toward the cottage. A clear face of annoyance and pain.

You walked out to greet him, trying to make some kind of eye contact.

“Link? Are you okay?” You asked softly while rubbing his shoulder, only for him to shake his head.

“Well… I made dinner.” You said. “You came just in time.”

He gave you a weak smile and held your hand as you led him inside.

He was quick to remove his boots and hood and you put them to the side.

The man sat at the table and waited patiently as you got a bowl ready for him. He was looking at his arm, the Zonai tech giving him a stinging feeling of anger.

Placing the bowls on the table, you sit in front of him, smiling as he excitedly grabbed his fork.

He was starving.

The man gobbled up the food so fast which honestly surprised you. He was practically feral.

“Link… are you alright…?”

He looked at you while playing with the remaining remnants of his food. Only sighing.

“Link…” you sighed while gently taking his hand. “Please, you can tell me…”

“I-… mmm… I just…” he couldn’t seem to get the words out. He was so frustrated that he could barely speak. Which wasn’t too abnormal.

“Sign it, love…”

Instantly, he started moving his hands. His sign was fast and sharp, an indication of annoyance or anger. You could barely keep up but every once in a while he’d add a word or two.

[ I cant stand this. I don’t understand why Hylia would do this?!] he signed.

“Everything!” He said with a loud whisper which startled you a bit.

[I’m back at square one!] He continued before balling his fists.

“Link—”

“Selfish.” He spoke up. “I’m selfish.”

“You’re not selfish.” You sighed while squeezing his hand. “You’re just one man. Too much has happened…”

He couldn’t really make eye contact with you and only looked out the window.

You move to sit next to him and rub his cheek. Why is he beating himself up so much?

He looked at you briefly before looking down, seemingly ashamed of himself.

“C’mon.” You stood up. “Let me see… I have new potions.”

“I’m fine…” he muttered.

“Just routine scar treatment. Please…”

Link nodded and stood up while following you to the bedroom.

You lifted one of his sleeves, noticing a more bruising than last time.

“Link… what happened here??”

He only signed one word. Fell.

You sighed while taking some cream like substance from a small jar.

“It’ll be a little cold…” you warned before rubbing it over his bruised arm.

He winced a bit at the pain but relaxed after you started humming.

To him, you’re voice was soothing. Almost healing. Specifically this song. You often referred to it as a song of healing. A song that has been passed down your family line. But you don’t exactly know it’s origin.

After an hour of healing scars on his arms and back he gets up, buttoning up his shirt, and ready to go.

“Link.” You frowned. “Sweetheart please… you need to rest.”

[I have stuff to do] he signed before putting his boots back on.

“Link…” you sighed. “I guess I can’t stop you. But please. Let me make you some tea. It’ll make you feel better.”

The man nodded, unable to reject anything you make.

You smiled as he followed you back to the kitchen. He sat back at the table and looked through the photos he took on the Purah Pad.

Once the water was boiled you put a tea base in along with some lavender.

You looked over your shoulder, making sure he wasn’t looking before you put some drops of something else in.

After mixing it with a small spoon, you brought the mug to him and set it down.

“There you are, love.”

Link smiled and signed the familiar ‘Thank you’

You kissed his cheek as he blew on the hot drink.

You cleaned up the kitchen as he drank, only coming back when you knew he was done.

Link sat there, staring at the empty cup. His vision was hazy as he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

“Love?”

He didn’t answer, instead his eyelids were drooping as he swayed a little.

You waved your hand in front of his face and even snapped your fingers to check. He didn’t react much, only slightly moving his head up.

You were pretty satisfied and took his hand.

“C’mon Linky.” You said softly while leading him to the bed. He didn’t resist, instead just complying with you.

You sat him down before brushing his hair from his face with your fingers.

“Y/n…” he murmured.

“Yes, love?” You replied softly.

“You… you-…” he yawned, unable to finish the sentence as he suddenly got a wave of exhaustion.

“Shh…” you put your hand over his eyes, making them close. “Just relax… get some sleep.”

With his eyes closed, Link started drifting off. He was fully exhausted as you laid him down

You hummed while leaning over him and rubbing his cheek. He seemed to subconsciously nuzzle into your hand.

Once you knew he was asleep, you stood and removed his boots then loosened his belt. You were about to put s blanket over him before pausing to look at his arm, and the scarring formed to attach it.

This was a point of contention for him. Having this foreign arm was useful but also not right. He hated to admit, but it did hurt a little. Not to mention the dark gloom that pulsed through his body. It was causing him to have… darker thoughts…

Slowly, you unbutton his shirt and open it to get s better view of his arm and chest. You’ve been trying to figure out how to get this darkness out of him. For now it seemed that only Hylia’s light could do it but it still hurt him and you wanted to help.

You’ve tried many things but even your own dark magic wasn’t a match for the demon king’s gloom.

You spent a bit looking through some books, surely there’s an answer. So you decided to try something. It may be painful but hopefully it can get it out.

After reading the spell in your head a few times you went back to the man.

You sat next to him and hovered your hands over his chest before whispering the spell you had read.

After repeating it a few more times, you notice a reaction. You could see the essence of the gloom coming out, not much but some. It seemed to transfer to your hands. The more essence that came out, the more intense it got. The tips of your fingers were turning cold and black, an indication of dark magic. You’d know as you’ve dabbled in it before.

But it was getting painful and you winced as your hands were strained and shaking a bit. You took deep breaths to soothe the pain. This was a slow process. But the gloom was coming out! Right?

A tear rolled down your cheek as it was getting very painful, like glass shards cutting into your hands.

But suddenly you felt something grip your wrist. It was Link.

“Stop…” he whispered. He wasn’t fully awake and his eyes were closed but he seemed somewhat aware of what you were trying to do.

“I’m trying to help you…” you whispered, trying to free your wrist, but he’s too strong.

“It’s okay…” he added while letting go and reaching up to grab your arm, indicating that he wants you to lay down.

You look back at your hands, the gloom dissipating from your skin as the spell wore off.

You laid down, resting your head on his chest. Link wrapped his arm around you, practically holding you as you relaxed.

The rhythmic sound of his heart beating had you slowly falling asleep.

You wished you could help him more…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 💚

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thezoraprince · 3 months

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Little Accidents - Link (BotW/TotK) x reader

“Hi! I was wondering if I could request Link (and Sidon too if you get the chance, separately) x reader where he accidentally hurts them. Like they’re fighting a monster and reader gets too close and he accidentally hits them with his sword or something. The boys would feel Sooo bad and probably be crying their poor eyes out more than the reader😭” - anon

both of these boys would be a mess, for SURE!!! Link would be so overwhelmed with guilt, and Sidon would be sobbing for well over a year.

i amy work on Sidon at a later date, but i HAD to write one for Link!! i don't get enough Link requests, so i was so excited to for this one!

i hope you enjoy!! <3

it’s a training day

you find yourselves just outside the home in Hateno

Link has taken it upon himself to help you master your sword skills

I mean, would he really let anyone else do it?

you both pick your swords

and then it’s time

he wants to go easy on you, but he knows you’re more skilled than you let on

he’s watched you fight before, and let’s just say you always impress him

the duel goes on

you block his every move with ease

it’s almost like you know his next move, as if you yourself choreographed this graceful dance

but in a twist of events, you step back and lose your balance, dropping your weapon… just as Link lunges forward

his sword slices your palm, and you gasp involuntarily

blood pours from your hand and onto your clothes

Link sword falls to the ground with a thud as he rushes to you

he quickly takes you to inside and sits you down at the table, not caring if blood stains the freshly washed tablecloth

it’s odd to see him this frantic, running around the home grabbing bandages and other medical supplies

he cleans your wound and begins to wrap it tightly

his eyes won’t meet yours

he’s scared; ashamed

“Link, it’s okay. It was an accident.”

after he’s finished wrapping your hand, he pulls you close

and once he has you in his arms, his emotions come in like a tidal wave

his grip is tight around you, scared to let you go

you try to reassure him that it’s okay

but he hurt you

and that hurt him

even if it was an accident

he manages to pull you closer, tears welling in his eyes as he nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck

you can feel his heart racing as he sobs

after a bit, you both walk up the stairs and lay down on the bed

he’s still holding you as close as he can

and he never wants to let you go

#link #link botw #link totk #botw x reader #tloz: botw x reader #loz: botw x reader #totk #totk x reader #the legend of zelda x reader #link x reader #link x reader headcanon #link x reader imagine

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hystericstar · 10 months

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maybe a headcanon or two for each link + sidon and how they do aftercare? I know it's not explicit but is still nsfw related, right? ;w;

Yeah, in my book it is! Just very soft :)

! MDNI !

𐂅 Twilight princess link 𐂅

9/10 times you’re gonna end up really sore, so he remedies that for you by giving the best massages you’ve ever had

Rough, calloused hands rubbing your back was something you never knew you needed till now

has a whole conversation with you

asking about your day, if you felt okay, etc.

goes into golden retriever mode as if you don’t limp when you walk

“ I couldn’t be happier your day went well darlin’. As for me, just your smile makes me forget anything else even exists.”

༆ Skyward sword link ༆

bath time!!!

Carries you to the bathroom and has you sit in the warm water while he changes the soiled bedsheets

he joins you when he’s done and y’all bathe together

his favorite thing is to brush your hair while humming

your’e always out like a light within minutes

idk why I just feel like he has the voice of an angel

“ Are you comfy enough? Let me know if I pull too hard on your hair, okay? Is there anything in particular you want me to sing for you dove?”

ᘏ Botw/Totk link ᘎ

Cleans you up, leaves, and then comes back with a tray full of munchies

you guys spend like half an hour praising each other

and then another half is just you happily listening to him tell stories of his chaotic adventures

a tickle fight may or may not be involved

“no matter how hard the battle was, it’d do it all again if it meant I’d get to have you look in my direction.”

𝄞 Ocarina of time link 𝄞

Gently holds you and takes a moment to just press his forehead against yours, admiring every aspect of you

starts gently making out with you cause he just loves you so much he physically can’t contain it

he’ll hold you for as long as you let him, face buried in your neck the whole time

holds your hand too cause he’s soft and if you disagree then you’re wrong

“you are my sun, sky, and earth. I am nothing without you.”

➳ Hyrule warriors link ➳

“I want you to breathe in and out for me, kay?”

bro performs a whole wellness check

“ I wasn’t too rough on you, was I?”

”thank you for allowing me the honor to pleasure you m’lady.”

don’t ask me why but I feel like he calls you that

actually it’s cannon Zelda just told me herself

anyways-

gentlemanly but can’t help tease you for that blissed out look in your eye

teaches you stretches to ease any kind of pain and exercises to help you catch your breath

ᖫ The fierce deity ᖭ

Asks you if you enjoyed it

wants to know if you did or didn’t like anything he did in particular

after all, he vowed he would serve you the moment he laid eyes on you

what kind of deity would he be if he couldn’t make his darling little human feel good?

“ I will do everything in my power to grant your every wish. I’d forge you jewelry made of the stars should you say the word.”

🜲 Sidon 🜲

Yk how I said twi would have golden retriever energy after?

yeah, scratch that

he is nothing compared to fish man

immediately sprints outside to get you some fresh zora spring water

don’t worry, he purified it like 5 times so that water is clean

you swear you can almost see the fin on his head wagging-

“are you hungry? Comfortable? Cold?”

eventually, he asks if you want to go for a swim

takes you to a private pond and lets ride on his back, or, if you’d prefer, you lay on his chest while he just floats along.

~《☆♡•°•°♡☆》~

done 😩

it was so fun adding in little text lines for them. Writing lines for characters is so fun istg

thank you for requesting!

#loz x reader #loz x reader smut #link x reader smut #loz link #botw link x reader #botw link x reader smut #botw x reader #sidon x reader smut #hw link x reader smut #tp link x reader smut #tp link x reader #skyward sword link x reader #oot link x reader smut #oot link x reader #prince sidon x reader smut #fierce deity x reader smut #fierce deity x reader

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 1 month

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am i the asshole for not lending my uncle my copy of zelda tears of the kingdom?

i (17f) have two uncles which are relevant to this story, both maternal. they're the oldest and youngest (not sure exactly how old, one is around 30 and the other is in his late 40s/early 50s.)

last year, the older uncle lent me his copy of zelda breath of the wild. this was after about a year and a half of him having it. during that time he made sure i was well aware how difficult and lengthy it was, which was why he couldn't give it to me to play yet. i don't profess to be a gamer or anything- i just enjoy playing videogames, and i didn't really know what the zelda series was at the time, so i kind of just shrugged it off. when he finally did give it to me, it was after i let his kids borrow my personal copy of animal crossing, and he kind of just stuck the cartridge into my hand while i was leaving and insisted i take it.

i was and still am a student, and just didn't have the time to start casually playing until a few months later in the spring, around may. i really enjoyed it and got 75% of the way through by the time summer vacation rolled around, which was when my cousin (his son) started dropping by to ask when i would be giving zelda back. i told him every day for three consecutive days that i would give it back when i was finished, but he was really anxious to start playing because my uncle only lets them have their nintendo switch in the summer. i offered my cousin his selection of any game we had (as we have done multiple times). he said he'd already played all of our games and that a couple of the newer ones my brother had gotten for his birthday were "trashy" and left.

the fourth time he came over he basically stood in the doorway and demanded the zelda game, said it was his dad's, and that he'd give it back when he finished it. my mom scolded him because of his attitude, saying that my uncle mostly just borrows whatever games they want to play from us for up to a year and a half at a time, and we never complain. she told me to go get the game and give it to him, and he started crying and left before i could. my uncle came over ten minutes later to smooth things over and left with botw. he never gave it back and i never got to finish it.

back in around november, my younger uncle, who is unmarried and has no kids, gifted me zelda botw and totk, specifically because he'd heard about what happened with my older uncle. when my older uncle found out at thanksgiving, he asked me to give totk to him. i told him i was busy with college apps and haven't opened it yet and he said it was fine, and that he would play it and give it back in a few days. i refused, saying that i wanted to open my own game when i wasn't busy, and my mom, who was also there, agreed with me and said that i deserved the experience of opening a present and enjoying it on my own time. he tried a few more times to convince me unsuccessfully and eventually relented.

two months ago i opened botw and am making very slow progress on it because i just don't have the time to finish it as quick as i'd like. totk is still in the plastic on my dresser. a few days ago my uncle messaged me asking for totk, and i ignored it. my mom told me just to tell him i already lent it to someone, but today he turned up on my porch while i was waiting to go to school and asked me for it, and in my exasperation i said, "i haven't even opened it yet." he again told me to let HIM open it and that "he'd give it back in three days after finishing it," and just to let him have it. i told him no. and then i told him no several more times. at one point he got annoyed and said, "fine, be like that," and walked away.

some additional context: my uncle is not broke. he makes six figures and has a very good engineering job. he bought a ps5 almost as soon as it came out. he makes the conscious choice not to purchase his own games, i guess because he feels no need to when he could just borrow them from us instead? my family doesn't make a lot of money but my mom saves up so we can have games, usually as birthday or holiday gifts. i have never borrowed a game from him except botw because he doesn't have any to lend. i also feel like if he really wanted zelda totk that bad he could just buy it himself, because he can definitely afford it. my mom, maternal aunt, and cousins (not his kids) are all on my side, and my aunt says that my younger uncle doesn't like my older uncle and would be pissed if i lent them to him. on the other hand i just feel bad for holding out and being difficult because i want to open it on my own time, and i even though i don't like him as a person i still feel guilty for being rude to and pissing him off because he's my mom's oldest sibling.

so, aita for not lending it to him?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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notgonnaedit · 11 days

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Fading Scars

Summery: After the Chain meet Twilight's family and friends, a portal takes them to another Hyrule

Focus Link: Wild

A/n: Art isn't mine, it belongs to @gia-d

I really enjoyed writing this one. There's a reference to the BotW overworld music in there too. Takes place after BotW but before TotK

Master list

Wild turned in his makeshift bed as he tried to fall asleep. The day's events should've left him exausted. Playing with the children of Twilight's village, exploring as much as he could, but no matter how much he tried, the Champion couldn't find sleep.

He had been waiting for Twilight to return. The Rancher had left suddenly a few hours ago, and hasn't returned. Wild worried for his friend. What if the Shadow creature found him and hurt him all over again? Not being able to stand it anymore, Wild got pushed his blankets off, and walked to the door. He made sure to be quiet as to not wake his comrades, and opened the door and stepped outside.

Wild took a breath of fresh air. He found that the smell of grass calmed him. Maybe it was because it reminded the Champion of his own home; a wilderness that cried out to travelers like him to explore.

Home.

A sigh escaped Wild's lips as he thought of his own Hyrule. In his own time, Hyrule was undergoing restoration. Princess Zelda had wasted no time in preparing to fix the ruined kingdom. A small smile came across his face at the memories of Zelda seeing the house he bought.

The Princess had almost cried at the thought of living in Hyrule Castle again. So when Wild offered for her to stay with him in Hateno Village, she was overjoyed. The children of Hateno loved her, and Zelda had taken to teaching them about the local wildlife. Her new role as an educator earned her the name "Miss Zelda" from the kids, and "Flora" from Wild himself, stemming from Zelda's love of flowers.

The soft sound of footsteps turned Wild's attention back to the present. He looked down from where he stood above the ladder on Twilight's house to see Twilight and Ilia walking from the path that led to the Spring. The two were smiling, and upon a closer look, Wild saw they were holding hands. A small smirk played across the Champion's face when he saw them, he knew from the moment they were reunited that the Rancher and his friend had feelings for each other. It had confused him, though. From the way Twilight had talked about Midna, the Champion was sure that was who he loved.

"How long will you be staying for?" Ilia asked. They were in Twilight's yard now.

The Rancher sighed. "I don't know. The portal that took us here was random, so we might be here for a while, or a few days." In truth, Twilight hoped they could stay for a while, like they did with Malon. Not only did he want to spend time in his home, he also wanted to show his friends his world. He could show them the Resistance and how they were working to help Hyrule, or maybe even Snowpeak and take Wild sledding.

Wild watched Twilight and Ilia, hesitant to make himself known, but also uncomfortable with eavesdropping. Sure, he listened in on people's conversations before, but that was to get information on the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab.

Deciding on showing himself, Wild acted like he'd just walked out and yawned, a loud, drawling sound. Twilight and Ilia looked up at him immeaditly. "How long have you been standing there?" The Hylian asked.

Wild shrugged. "I just came out. Nice night, isn't it?" The Champion could've sworn his mentor's cheeks were tinted pink.

Ilia smiled and looked at Twilight fondly. "Yes, it is."

The Rancher's blush deepened at her words, and Wild jumped down from his perch, avoiding the ladder.

Ilia looked between the two. "Well, now I know you're the same person. Only Link jumps off ledges like that."

Wild looked at his friend. "You told her?"

Twilight shrugged. "Kind of. She figured it out."

Ilia chuckled at them, and the Rancher and Champion couldn't help but join her. But suddenly, the earth seemed to hold it's breath. Twilight's senses were put on edge, and before them, a portal appeared.

"What is that?!" Ilia asked as Twilight stepped in front of her.

"A portal," Wild said. He turned to his mentor, who looked solemn. "You know what we need to do."

Before Twilight could answer, the door to his house opened, and the Chain tumbled out, all half dressed and bleary-eyed.

"What's happening?" Time asked.

Four gasped. "Another portal?"

The Links began to discuss among themselves and grab their things. Twilight did the same, saddling up Epona. As he secured their bags to her saddle, Ilia walked over to him.

"So I guess this means you're leaving, huh?" She said softly. She stroked Epona's neck, running her fingers through the mare's white mane.

Twilight sighed. "Yes. And I don't know when I'll be back."

"I'll tell everyone what happened, so don't worry." She said. Twilight took her hand and took a step closer. He moved in to kiss her, but Legend called him.

"Rancher, you ready to go?"

Twilight sighed. He looked down at Ilia and squeezed her hand. "I'll be back. I promise."

He let go of her and led Epona through the portal with his comrades.

~~~~~

This time, the portal was more pleasant. None of them landed face first in the dirt, but rather a grassy plain. Wild looked around, wondering where they could be.

"That was much better!" Sky said.

"This place looks like Hyrule Field." Four said looking around. Several of them nodded in agreement. There were ruins scattered here and there, and several broken automations that caused Wild to grab his Sheikah Slate.

He opened his map, and it was working again! They were in Blatchery Plain, just got west of Fort Hateno.

"We're in my Hyrule." Wild said, turning to the group. Everyone looked at him.

"You're sure?" Hyrule asked.

Wild nodded. "Yeah. Just over there is where I died."

"Uh, okay?" Legend said. But Wild couldn't stop smiling. They were only a short distance from his house.

"C'mon," The Champion said. "We can go to my house." He led the way as he walked. Epona nickered at the wild horses.

"Whoa." Wind looked up at the wall of Fort Hateno. "What is this place?"

"Fort Hateno." Wild said. "It's where Hyrule made it's stand against the Guardians. A bunch of fleeing farmers held them back here."

"A bunch of farmers?" Twilight asked. "What about the army?"

Wild sighed. "They were at Akkala Citidel, but they were overpowered. They say that it wasn't until Akkala fell that Hyrule was truly lost."

"The Guardians you mentioned." Time said as they passed through the woods. "We'll we see any?"

The Champion looked around the road, keeping an eye out for Yiga. "You already did. All those broken machines out there."

"How did they break?" Hyrule asked. "You make it seem like they were unstoppable."

A small smile played on Wild's face. "Zelda. She unlocked her power there and destroyed them. But I helped a little bit. I managed to take a few out before they got me."

"What is your Zelda like?" Sky asked.

Wild pursed his lips. Sometimes it was hard to describe her. After losing his memories, the Champion had to practically watch his old life, and with that the old Zelda. But she was much different now. She smiled more and laughed. She wasn't burdened by the coming of the Calamity. "She's very smart and kind. But she also isn't afraid to tell people exactly what she thinks.

By now they were walking under the Cliffs of Quince. They walked in silence for a bit, taking in Wild's homeland. It was strangely quiet, save for their footfalls and a few birds. It was nice almost, the other lands they'd been to seemed to be loud, and bold. Boasting their adventure with the sounds around them. But Wild's home was quieter. There were still sounds, but it's silence allowed them to really take in their surroundings. The ruins of a once boasting kingdom. They were walking through what was left, and the sounds around them seemed to know.

Soon they saw a tall tower that has the Sheikah symbol on it. Time looked up at it in interest. It seemed that in this time, the Sheikah were thriving, as compared to his own time when Impa was the last one.

Up ahead, a windmill could be seen, and a few houses as well. Wind brought his hand to his forehead to block the sun. He was riding Epona to get a better view. "Is that your village?"

Wild nodded. "Yep. I bought a house there. They're starting to put wells in too."

Time grimaced inwardly. He hated wells. It was bad enough having to navigate the haunted well under Kakariko Village, but fighting that...thing. Very few things scared the Old Man, but Dead Hand was one of them.

They walked along the part between Ginner and Midla Woods until they reached the front gate. A man familiar to Wild but not the rest waved. He had a straw hat and a pitchfork. He smiled when he saw Wild.

"Hey, Link! You're back? The Princess is at your house. She's been waiting for you to return."

Wild grinned. "Thanks, Thadd. I'll see you around." He led his companions up the hill and to the right, crossing the bridge over Firly Pond.

"Nice place, Champion." Warriors said surveying the property. "But the Princess lives here?"

Wild nodded. "Yeah. The castle is still undergoing reconstruction, so she stays with me. I am her appointed knight after all."

He opened the door. "Zelda?" He looked around, but no one was inside. It was a small house, she couldn't be far. "She's probably out back." He walked behind the house, and found the one he was looking for.

Zelda was sitting on the grass with a notebook and pencil in her hand. She had taken up the hobby of cataloguing the wildlife around her. At the sound of Wild's footsteps, she turned around. Her green eyes were as bright as ever. "Link?"

Wild gave her a lopsided smile. "Hey, Flora. It's been awhile."

She stood up and walked over to him, giving him a hug. "Where have you been?!" Her royal accent seemed to incenuate her words. She looked over his shoulder and saw the Chain.

Flora pulled away from her knight. "Who are they?"

Wild scratched the back of his head. "It's a long story."

~~~~~

Inside, all the Links were sitting at the table. Legend was looking at the pictures on the walls, and Four was examining the weapon mounts.

"Fascinating," Flora said. "So you're all the same person, yet not. And even more interested, you're all chosen by the gods to save Hyrule."

"Well, not me." Wind said as he fiddled with his sleeves. "My sister was kidnapped by Ganondorf, and in order to save her, I had to undergo lots of trials. Only then did the gods recognize me as the Hero."

Flora smiled. "You're all so different too." She looked at all of them as she spoke.. "From what you told me, you're from the forest, you're a captain of the Royal Army, you're a blacksmith, a sailor, a rancher, a knight in a new kingdom, a traveler, and you're..." She looked at Legend.

The Veteran shrugged. "Let's just say I'm a Jack of all trades."

Sky looked at the Princess. "You're so different from my Zelda, but so similar at the same time."

Flora brightened. "Really?"

The Chosen nodded. "You're both strong willed and powerful. But you're also kind and forgiving." He sighed at the thought of his Zelda. He longed to be with her once again.

Twilight shrugged. "I don't really know my Zelda very well, but you do have the same air of leadership, Your Highness."

Flora chuckled. "Please, there's no need for formalities."

"You don't know your Zelda?" Four asked, to which the Rancher shrugged. "I've known mine as long as I can remember." The Smith thought back to his loud friend, how her father and his grandfather had been old friends.

"I've known mine since childhood as well." Time chimed in. "But we went our separate ways long ago. I still see her sometimes when I'm delivering milk to Castle Town, but that's it really."

Warriors rapped the table with his knuckles. "I never really knew mine. But when the war started, I fought along side her. She is a powerful ally."

Wind grinned. "My Zelda hates being called Zelda. She prefers to be called by her middle name and lead us through the seas."

"How about you, Traveler?" Legend asked his friend. "What's your Zelda like?"

Hyrule had to think about it for a moment. He had two Zeldas. One that was captured by Ganon, and the other whom he awakened from a deep slumber. The former know lived in Hyrule Castle and was repairing her kingdom, much like Flora. But the latter was living on a small farm run by her and Hyrule, having chosen to lay low and live the life of a commoner.

"She working on helping my Hyrule, too." The Traveller said, choosing the Zelda from his first adventure. "What about you?"

Legend shifted. "She's the ruler, and a kind one at that." He wasn't lying, but it wasn't the whole truth. The Veteran didn't want to get into the whole scandal.

"Well, it sounds like you have very interesting versions of me as well." Flora said.

Wild nodded. "It really makes you wonder if there are more of us."

The group was silent as they thought about that. Could there be more of them. More young men with a heart of a lion, and more princesses with the blood of the goddess?

The setting sun shone through the windows, casting a golden light on the group's faces, and even making Wild's scares dance. Legend moved up the stairs and observed more pictures, but one caught his eye in particular.

It showed Wild and Flora in the middle, but both held expressions of surprise. There was a Zora girl who was thrown forward and just as surprised, and a bird man, a Rito as Wild and Wind called them, who seemed to be sqwaking in shock. A Gerudo woman was smiling playfully, and a Goron with a mischievous grin was pushing them all together.

"Who are they?" The Hero of Legend asked. They obviously held some significance in Wild's, and possibly the Princess' life.

Wild and Flora's faces saddned slightly at the picture. "Those were the Champions." Wild explained. "Like me, they were chosen to help in the fight against Calamity Ganon."

"Were?" Time asked.

Wild sighed. "They fell in battle, but they weren't as lucky as me. If I had been faster...

Flora stood and looked at Wild. "Link, you know just as well as I do that it wasn't your fault. You were protecting me, you were doing your duty."

Wild scoffed. "Yeah, and some job I did with that. Tell me, how long were you in the castle fighting Ganon while I slept?"

"Link–"

"A hundred years, Zelda." Wild said standing. "And how much longer did you wait as I ran around Hyrule, just trying to remember who I was. Not to mention how long it took me to free the Divine Beasts." He scowled. "I wasted so much time as you were on your last legs. Some appointed knight I am." He opened the door and left.

"Link–!" Flora tried to go after him, but the door was shut in her face. Twilight rose and rested his hand on the Princess' shoulder. Was he overstepping his boundaries? Maybe. But at that moment she wasn't the princess, she was a girl who needed comfort from someone Wild knew well.

"Don't worry, he be okay."

"How can you be so sure?" Flora sniffed. Wild had expressed very little to her, an old habit he was trying to break.

Twilight sighed. "A few weeks back, I was mortality wounded and was dying. He had a moment like this, but after some time alone he calmed down and was able to help the situation."

Flora looked at the Rancher. While she may be older in years, 118 to be exact, the young man was still older physically and mentally. Not to mention he had spent months traveling with her Link. She let out a sigh. "I'm going to speak to him." She walked out the door.

~~~~~

Wild sat at the summit of Ebon Mountain where Heartbreak Pond called home.

Heartbreak. That seemed to be the theme in the Champion's life. Doomed to fail and live with it. Sometimes Wild wished he had died a century ago, then he could at least be at piece with his friends. Or even his father and sister, who would have died by now anyway, even without the Calamity.

Wild didn't remember much of his family. Only his father's strong hands, and his sister's laughter. He had no recollection of his mother, but Zelda had found records at Hyrule Castle of each knight and their families. It seemed that his mother had died when his sister was only a baby due to an illness that swept over Hyrule.

Wild looked down at his gloved hands. Only his fingers showed, and the ones belonging to his left hand had scars on the tips. The scars. Each one a reminder of the pain he endured fighting for Zelda. His only goal to usher her to the safety of Kakariko Village.

It was strange to think about how much he had changed since that fateful day a century ago. Once a silent, dutiful knight, loyal to his king, he was know a rambunctious wanderer, who didn't trust as much as he used to. Random travelers turning into banana-crazed assassians will do that to a person.

A sigh escaped his lips as he watched the sunset, and another sound was heard. Footsteps. Wild turned around to see Zelda walking over to him. Her blonde hair looked like a waterfall of gold and amber in the day's last light.

"I've always wondered what caused this pond to have such a shape." She said sitting down next to Wild. "I've heard of another pond like this on Tuft Mountain. Maybe I'll go and see it soon."

"It's nothing much." Wild said. "There's a few fairies that come out at night, but that's it."

Flora hummed. "It doesn't sound like nothing to me. I'd like to take up painting, and that could be an excellent way to start."

"The people of Lurelin might recognize you." Wild said. "You've mentioned how you want to keep a low profile."

"Then I shall have to wear a disguise then. How well do you think I can wear a false mustache?" She grinned at Wild, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Not very well." He replied honestly. "Not with that long hair of yours."

Flora looked at him. "I've been thinking about cutting it. It gets in my way when we're traveling. We are headed to Faron to explore the Zonai ruins when you find out what's causing this mysterious portals. The climate there is humid and hot, so I don't know how well these locks will suit me. What about you? Have you given your hair any thought? It's rather long."

Wild felt his hair. The mane of gold reached down to his belt, but he didn't mind it. "I haven't thought about my hair in a hundred years."

The centenarians shared a laugh. Wild looked down at his hands. "Flora, I'm sorry for my outburst inside. I just–"

Zelda put her hand on his. "Link, it's okay. I myself have felt the same way. But you must remember what Urbosa told you to tell me. "No one need carry blame." "

Wild smiled at her, stretching his scars upwards. "Thanks, Zelda."

The two stared off into the sunset in silence. Wild turned to look at her suddenly. "You really think I should cut my hair?"

Flora chuckled, touching her fingers to her miumo as she so often did when laughing. "Well, it may help you sneak into Gerudo Town easier."

Wild gaped at her as she burst into laughter. "Fine. I'll remember that when you need someone to escort you to the Lost Woods."

She shoved him lightly. "I can navigate my way through the Lost Woods just fine, thank you very much."

Wild gave her the side eye. "Sure you can."

Now it was her turn to gape at him. "I can too! Honestly, Link, I'm surprised you even found your way through at all."

Wild smirked. "It was easy. Especially when you–" He stopped suddenly. "Oh, you almost got it out of me."

Flora sighed. "It was worth a try. Why won't you tell me?"

"The Lost Woods is the only thing protecting Korok Forest." Wild explained. "I'll teach you when we go to get the Master Sword back from revitalization. It needs to be kept secret."

"I suppose you're right." Flora admitted. "You're counterparts..." She said changing the subject. "You seem to be close to the one you call 'Rancher'."

The Champion looked at her. "Do you remember the wolf that shows up randomly?" Zelda nodded, and he continued. "Well, that's him. Except younger. He didn't know me until this journey, but I know him because he helped me in this time, but he doesn't know that. Does that make sense?"

Flora nodded. "Yes." She looked out at the sunset. "But this whole thing is extraordinary. What could possibly be driving the Hero's Spirit together?"

"I don't know." Wild admitted. The sky was nearly dark now. The Champion looked over to his charge. She still had her hand on his, and he enjoyed the feeling. It reminded him that someone living remembered him, unlike so many of the people of Hyrule. Some exceptions were Kass, Riju, Yunobo, Teba (though he took some convincing), and the entirety of Zora's Domain.

But Zelda was there when it happened, when Hyrule fell. When he died. She has been with him since the beginning of his journey as a Champion, and Wild treasured that more than anything. He was her knight, and would give his life all over again for her.

#botw #lu wild #linked universe #The chain

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neverchecking · 4 months

Text

More Sage Hc's

Because I miss him :(

And this is a wonderful half-collab with @angry-trashcan. I love you so very much and thank you for letting me yell ideas at you.

CW: Mentions of child abuse, child soldiers, Zelda slander, Sage

・❥・Welcome back. :)

・❥・So, we've established Sage as his own character at this point. I think it's safe to say he is not Wild. They are similar but two very distinct characters. That is something I'd like to clarify.

・❥・But we'll step into that later.

・❥・For now, let's talk about his entire timeline from start to finish.

・❥・So, Bailey and I talked about his parents and this is the conclusion we came to:

・❥・As everyone knows, Link in the AoC/BotW/TotK timeline was in the knights by a staggeringly young age. Either four or twelve or fourteen. I've seen them all, but I'm not sure if there's a canon age.

・❥・For Sage, we're going with four.

・❥・Now, let's start with his father. Sage's father was in the knights as a commanding officer, which is why he was okay with Link joining the knights. However, because of this a lot more expectations were placed on a very young Sage. And if he failed the punishments were much harsher and much less justified.

・❥・There were nights when Sage/Link was left on the ground outside because his father didn't deem him worth the effort and forbade people from helping him.

・❥・He'd walk past and spit on this terrified child because he didn't live up to expectations. "Your mother would've been so disappointed."

・❥・(shout out to Bailey for ripping out all of our hears with that line.

・❥・Because of this Sage finds much more comfort sleeping outside. Even a a century later, he prefers the comfort of a constant rather than a bedroom he was never allowed the privilege of knowing.

・❥・When he gets his house in Tarrey Town, he builds the stable extension first and slips outside with Epona.

・❥・We also agreed that his mother most likely died during the birth of his sister, which is probably why they had to move out of the Hateno house and closer to the castle, if not on the castle grounds.

・❥・If I had to make an assumption on his mother, she was probably a timid woman that never stood against his father.

・❥・This is really just my lil tidbit but because of that headcanon it's why I made Aaliyah such an abrasive character because I feel Sage would feel too much like his father with someone who reminded him of his mother. Or the little bits he remembers of her.

・❥・Anyway, his mother was probably a seen rather than heard woman,

・❥・Now, you're probably asking about his sister. We decided that she would've ended up as a maid/servant in the castle.

・❥・This is for two reasons:

・❥・One) It adds to hatred Sage has for the Royal Family. As a knight he would've had no choice but to watch this happen and would feel that burning guilt as a bystander, ignoring the fact that he has no choice in the matter. Maybe that's why he fought so hard pre-Calamity. Of course, he still fought because it was his duty, but I also like to imagine he was trying his best to protect his sister before it could ever hit her. Even if it was a fruitless endeavor.

・❥・Two) When Sage remembers this fact, it's probably before Tears of the Kingdom. The bridge between TotK and BotW probably is Link/Sage unravelling a lot of the trauma he tried to ignore regarding the royal family. So this is almost a catharsis to the entire feat. Moreso with Zelda/Natura's reaction.

・❥・She'd be flippant and almost ignorant to the entire ordeal.

・❥・Before anyone comes for my throat, let me explain Natura's character okay?

・❥・So, as far as I'm concerned, Natura hasn't learned anything. She's very much still the same character she was in AoC which is a spoiled individual with little regards to the woes others are facing. She had a tough time, yes I understand that and she was young, but she had no reason to act the way she did with Link. I don't care, argue with the wall.

・❥・She went digging around in the remains of what was left of her people post BotW trying to figure out how the guardians worked. She puts more emphasis on her studies and research rather than her people. Remember this is Natura. Not Zelda. This is my characterization in the same way that Sage is my characterization of Link.

・❥・Anyway, she didn't go looking for a way to solve the Gloom issue, she went looking for a way to capitalize on it. Like the pharmaceutical industry.

・❥・So you can imagine her reaction knowing that.

・❥・"We kept her off the streets like a worthless rat. You should be thanking me."

・❥・Yeah, it's not great.

・❥・So then TotK happens, yadda yada.

・❥・Sage loves animals. Let me get this straight. He's not heartless, he's angry and he's vengeful. Animals never wronged him. He finds comfort with animals as they can't lie to him. He can earn their trust and they'll remain loyal.

・❥・Because Sage is a dangerously loyal man. He still carries the loyalty of the hero's spirit, but it's amplified. Once you're his, you're his forever. Nothing can drag him away from you as he won't let it.

・❥・He's so loyal it turns from a positive attribute to a flaw. :)

・❥・He's possessive and protective and doesn't see an issue with it. Everything else has been torn from his hands but his fingers will be broken and bloody before he lets what's his go.

・❥・I bring up the animal thing just to say Sage gets a dog. You know that stable that closes down in the desert? And how all the stables have stable dogs? Well, this one follows Sage all over Hyrule. And if he goes in the depths thinking he's lost it, the second he's out the dog is sniffing his ass out.

・❥・Yes, he keeps the dog and feeds it the nicest cuts of meat, don't worry.

・❥・It's name is Droolius Caesar.

・❥・Timeline wise, let's talk about that.

・❥・So again, Bailey, and they're gorgeous fucking brain, brought up the idea of him being on a different timeline then Wild. I ran with it.

・❥・I don't see TotK falling on the timeline nicely no matter what we do. Not with the Zonai and not with the other game.

・❥・So what if it doesn't fall on the same timeline as BotW? The same events happen but now it's different.

・❥・Here's how it goes:

・❥・So when Time splits the timeline we get the normal one where, yay! he saves the day! and the other one where he doesn't. Call it the downfall timeline, the fallen timeline, the failure timeline, I don't care. For the sake of argument it's the Fallen Timeline here.

・❥・So there's an idea that the timelines merge somewhere between Wars timeline and Wild's. But let's say they don't. Because the Fallen timeline goes to Legend, then Hyrule. Then what if it doesn't fix itself and just continues. which is where it then leads to Sage's era.

・❥・Only this timeline is on hard mode at all times. Legend's adventures were difficult, Hyrule's era is absolutely brutal, so it makes sense that Sage's is just as hard.

・❥・We toyed with the idea that because this timeline is so hard, the heroes that reign from it are just that much more advanced. It's shown through Legend and then Hyrule, both of whom have wielded the full triforce at one point or another (I think). Somewhere between Hyrule's world however and Legend's, the goddess' didn't like this idea. They didn't like the idea of the hero having this sense of power, so they stripped it away entirely. They knew that somewhere the hero's spirit would be tainted and took away the power that could be used to dethrone them before it could manifest with Sage.

・❥・In turn, the hero's spirit carried on and grew stronger to overcome this. Sage still has the hero's spirit, but it's not like an actual spirit. No, it's more like the fallen hero carrying on and trying to amend for his sins.

・❥・Which Sage hates. He hates it so much, but it propels him before he can stop it. In the beginning of TotK? It's what propels him to jump in after Zelda. After however? The gloom is what finally kills that spirit. Rauru can save him, but fails to save the spirit.

・❥・And from there Sage evolves and arises into the rat we all know and love.

・❥・All of this to give my own lil headcanons on Epona.

・❥・So there's a theory that Malanya (Horse god) Is actually Malon and I like that. (Because she gave Link Epona OG and they sound similar) So in Sage's Era? Guess what?

・❥・Anyway, I imagine Malanya and Sage had a better connection because of this. Malanya goes out of their way to care for Sage and his horse because they feel they failed their Link.

・❥・So Sage gets an Epona in a way to apologize for their first failure.

・❥・Epona is a very good horse <3

・❥・So in the wise words of bailey to end this off,

The hero's spirit is dead. Long live whatever the fuck Sage is.

#yandere linked universe #linked universe #yandere linked universe x reader #linked universe x reader #legend of zelda #yandere legend of zelda #link x reader #linkeduniverse #loz #cinder writes #sage #lu sage #yandere lu sage #lu sage x reader #yandere lu sage x reader #guys he has a backstory now :D

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blueskittlesart · 10 days

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I've heard that while most people really really love BotW and TotK, some people hate those two for going open-world, and some people hate TotK specifically for something about the story. As the resident Zelda expert I know of, what do you think of those takes?

"something about the story" is a bit too vague for me to answer--if you look at my totk liveblog tag from back when the game was newly released or my general zelda analysis tag you may be able to find some of my in-depth thoughts about the story of totk, but in general i liked it.

the open world thing though is something i can and will talk about for hours. (I am obsessed with loz and game design and this is an essay now <3) breath of the wild is a game that was so well-received that a lot of the criticism from older fans who were expecting something closer to the classic zelda formula was just kind of immediately drowned out and ignored, and while i don't think it's a valid criticism to suggest that botw strayed too far from its origins in going open-world, i am more than willing to look into those criticisms, why they exist, and why i think going open-world was ultimately the best decision botw devs could have made. (totk is a slightly different story, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

Loz is a franchise with a ton of history and a ton of really, REALLY dedicated fans. it's probably second only to mario in terms of recognizability and impact in nintendo's catalog. To us younger fans, the older games can sometimes seem, like, prehistoric when compared to what we're used to nowadays, but it's important to remember just how YOUNG the gaming industry is and how rapidly it's changed and grown. the first zelda game was released in 1986, which was 31 years before botw came out in 2017. What this means for nintendo and its developers is that they have to walk a very fine line between catering to older fans in their 30s and 40s now who would have been in nintendo's prime demographic when the first few games in the franchise were coming out AND making a game that's engaging to their MODERN target demographic and that age group's expectations for what a gaming experience should look like.

LOZ is in kind of a tough spot when it comes to modernizing, because a lot of its core gameplay elements are very much staples of early RPGs, and a lot of those gameplay elements have been phased out of modern RPGs for one reason or another. gathering collectibles, fighting one's way through multilevel, mapless dungeons, and especially classic zelda's relative lack of guidance through the story are all things that date games and which modern audiences tend to get frustrated with. for the last few releases before botw, the devs had kind of been playing with this -- skyward sword in particular is what i consider their big experiment and what (i think) became the driving force behind a lot of what happened with botw. Skyward sword attempted to solve the issues I listed by, basically, making the map small and the story much, much more blatantly linear. Skyward sword feels much more like other modern rpgs to me than most zelda games in terms of its playstyle, because the game is constantly pushing you to do specific things. this is a common storytelling style in modern RPGs--obviously, the player usually needs to take specific actions in order to progress the story, and so when there's downtime between story sections the supporting characters push the player towards the next goal. but this actually isn't what loz games usually do. in the standard loz formula, you as the player are generally directly given at most 4 objectives. these objectives will (roughly) be as follows: 1. go through some dungeons and defeat their bosses, 2. claim the master sword, 3. go through another set of dungeons and defeat their bosses, 4. defeat the final boss of the game. (not necessarily in that order, although that order is the standard formula.) the ONLY time the player will be expressly pushed by supporting characters towards a certain action (excluding guide characters) is when the game is first presenting them with those objectives. in-between dungeons and other gameplay segments, there's no sense of urgency, no one pushing you onto the next task. this method of storytelling encourages players to take their time and explore the world they're in, which in turn helps them find the collectibles and puzzles traditionally hidden around the map that will make it easier for them to continue on. Skyward sword, as previously mentioned, experimented with breaking this formula a bit--its overworld was small and unlocked sequentially, so you couldn't explore it fully without progressing the narrative, and it gave players a "home base" to return to in skyloft which housed many of the puzzles and collectibles rather than scattering them throughout the overworld. This method worked... to an extent, but it also meant that skyward sword felt drastically different in its storytelling and how its narrative was presented to the player than its predecessors. this isn't necessarily a BAD thing, but i am of the opinion that one of zelda's strongest elements has always been the level of immersion and relatability its stories have, and the constant push to continue the narrative has the potential to pull players out of your story a bit, making skyward sword slightly less engaging to the viewer than other games in the franchise. (to address the elephant in the room, there were also obviously some other major issues with the design of sksw that messed with player immersion, but imo even if the control scheme had been perfect on the first try, the hyperlinear method would STILL have been less engaging to a player than the standard exploration-based zeldas.)

So when people say that botw was the first open-world zelda, I'm not actually sure how true I personally believe that is. I think a lot of the initial hype surrounding botw's open map were tainted by what came before it--compared to the truly linear, intensely restricted map of skyward sword, botw's map feels INSANE. but strictly speaking, botw actually sticks pretty closely to the standard zelda gameplay experience, at least as far as the overworld map is concerned. from the beginning, one of the draws of loz is that there's a large, populated map that you as the player can explore (relatively) freely. it was UNUSUAL for the player to not have access to almost the entire map either immediately or very quickly after beginning a new zelda game. (the size and population of these maps was restricted by software and storage capabilities in earlier games, but pretty muhc every zelda game has what would have been considered a large & well populated map at the time of its release.) what truly made botw different was two things; the first being the sheer SIZE of the map and the second being the lack of dungeons and collectibles in a traditional sense. Everything that needs to be said about the size of the map already has been said: it's huge and it's crazy and it's executed PERFECTLY and it's never been done before and every game since has been trying to replicate it. nothing much else to say there. but I do want to talk about the percieved difference in gameplay as it relates to the open-world collectibles and dungeons, because, again, i don't think it's actually as big of a difference as people seem to think it is.

Once again, let's look at the classic formula. I'm going to start with the collectibles and lead into the dungeons. The main classic collectible that's a staple of every zelda game pre-botw is the heart piece. This is a quarter of a heart that will usually be sitting out somewhere in the open world or in a dungeon, and will require the player to either solve a puzzle or perform a specific action to get. botw is the first game to not include heart pieces... TECHNICALLY. but in practice, they're still there, just renamed. they're spirit orbs now, and rather than being hidden in puzzles within the overworld (with no explanation as to how or why they ended up there, mind you) they're hidden within shrines, and they're given a clear purpose for existing throughout hyrule and for requiring puzzle-solving skills to access. Functionally, these two items are exactly the same--it's an object that gives you an extra heart container once you collect four of them. no major difference beyond a reskin and renaming to make the object make sense within the greater world instead of just having a little ❤️ floating randomly in the middle of their otherwise hyperrealistic scenery. the heart piece vs spirit orb i think is a good microcosm of the "it's too different" criticisms of botw as a whole--is it ACTUALLY that different, or is it just repackaged in a way that doesn't make it immediately obvious what you're looking at anymore? I think it's worth noting that botw gives a narrative reason for that visual/linguistic disconnect from other games, too--it's set at minimum TEN THOUSAND YEARS after any other given game. while we don't have any concrete information about how much time passes between new-incarnation games, it's safe to assume that botw is significantly further removed from other incarnations of hyrule/link/zelda/etc than any other game on the timeline. It's not at all inconceivable within the context of the game that heart pieces may have changed form or come to be known by a different name. most of the changes between botw and other games can be reasoned away this way, because most of them have SOME obvious origins in a previous game mechanic, it's just been updated for botw's specific setting and narrative.

The dungeons ARE an actual departure from the classic formula, i will grant you. the usual way a zelda dungeon works is that link enters the dungeon, solves a few puzzles, fights a mini boss at about the halfway point, and after defeating the mini boss he gets a dungeon item which makes the second half of the dungeon accessible. He then uses that item in the dungeon's final boss fight, which is specifically engineered with that item in mind as the catalyst to win it. Botw's dungeons are the divine beasts. we've removed the presence of mini-bosses entirely, because the 'dungeon items' aren't something link needs to get within the dungeon itself--he alredy has them. they're the sheikah slate runes: magnesis, cryonis, stasis, and remote bombs. Each of the divine beast blight battles is actually built around using one of these runes to win it--cryonis to break waterblight's ice projectiles, magnesis to strike down thunderblight with its own lightning rods, remote bombs to take out fireblight's shield. (i ASSUME there's some way to use stasis effectively against windblight, mostly because it's obvious to me that that's how all the other fights were designed, but in practice it's the best strategy for that fight is to just slow down time via aerial archery, so i've never tried to win that way lol.) So even though we've removed traditional dungeon items and mini-boss fights, the bones of the franchise remain unchanged underneath. this is what makes botw such an ingenious move for this franchise imo; the fact that it manages to update itself into such a beautiful, engaging, MODERN game while still retaining the underlying structure that defines its franchise and the games that came before it. botw is an effective modern installment to this 30-year-old franchise because it takes what made the old games great and updates it in a way that still stays true to the core of the franchise.

I did mention totk in my opening paragraph and you mention it in your ask so i have to come back to it somehow. Do i think that totk did the gigantic-open-world thing as well as botw did? no. But i also don't really think there was any other direction to go with that game specifically. botw literally changed the landscape of game development when it was released. I KNOW you all remember how for a good year or two after botw's release, EVERY SINGLE GAME that came out HAD to have a massive open-world map, regardless of whether or not that actually made sense for that game. (pokemon is still suffering from the effects of that botw-driven open world craze to this day. rip scarlet/violet your gameplay was SUCH dogshit) I'm not sure to what degree nintendo and the botw devs anticipated that success, (I remember the open world and the versatility in terms of problem-solving being the two main advertising angles pre-release, but it's been 7 years. oh jesus christ it's been SEVEN YEARS. anyways) but in any case, there's basically NO WAY that they anticipated their specific gameplay style taking off to that degree. That's not something you can predict. When creating totk, they were once again walking that line between old and new, but because they were only 3ish years out from botw when totk went into development, they were REALLY under pressure to stay true to what it was that had made botw such an insane success. I think that's probably what led to the expanded map in the sky and depths as well as the fuse/build mechanics--they basically took their two big draws from botw, big map and versatility, and said ok BIGGER MAP and MORE VERSATILITY. Was this effective? yeah. do i think they maybe could have made a more engaging and well-rounded game if they'd been willing to diverge a little more from botw? also yeah. I won't say that I wanted totk to be skyward sword-style linear, because literally no one wanted that, but I do think that because of the insane wave of success that botw's huge open world brought in the developers were under pressure to stay very true to botw in their designing the gameplay of totk, and I think that both the gameplay and story might have been a bit more engaging if they had been allowed to experiment a little more in their delivery of the material.

#wow it's been a while since i've written a real homegrown organic legend of zelda essay. i missed this #hi everyone. when the fuck is the next game going into development i need to have something to wildly theorize about again #god. it's been. seven years since botw came out. im going to go chew on live electrical wires #zelda analysis #asks

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rawliverandgoronspice · 11 months

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One thing that TotK does constantly but really doesn't land for me when compared to BotW is that every NPC loves Zelda so much.

She is the sweetest, and she loves animals and is the very best at them, and she goes to every major landmark to spend time there and also she teaches the people secrets about the lands they have always lived in and they're like woow thanks zelda incredible I'll change my entire ways because you were just SO enlightening (Lurelin + Gerudo Town feeling particularly questionable here for obvious reasons), and she's so wise and beloved and talented --to the point that nobody (beyond the Zora King) even dares to question her actions when she starts acting off.

(Yunobo please stop letting her walk all over you, like it's alarming that you understand she basically brainwashed you and your entire race, and you're still running after her like a lost puppy for an explanation that will surely make everything make sense instead of, like, punting her into the sun? I know it's the eeeevil zelda, but that this situation could even remotely begin to happen feels... so offputting.)

In BotW, the rare mentions of Zelda worked because 1) she was an ancient figure and the modern hylians knew very little about her and would build her up as a legendary figure accordingly, 2) she was literally giving her life for them (I mean she kind of still does here but people do not know that or cannot infer that in any way --which is its own sort of problem), 3) she was extremely hard on herself, felt like a failure and... kind of was one (and she was given shit for it).

(also in BotW we are in a post-Hyrule kingdom world, while here we're living its re-foundation, and so it feels very... convenient that they excavate a previous version of their perfect kingdom to boister up the hylian claim upon the lands also --but that's beyond the topic)

So for anyone to give her grace and compassion in BotW, while a little eyeroll worthy at times, was endearing and made sense. None of this was her fault; she may have extreme power, but she didn't directly yield it --her imperfections the byproduct of a stressful situation every champion was being forced into due to the tides of fate. Also the king was criticized for being a little ruthless and asking too much of his subjects, including his own daughter. There was solidarity between you and everyone else at the same level.

But here? I don't know, it feels like the entire kingdom is terrified that the sheikah secret police will drag them back in the Bottom of the Well if they breathe wrong when talking about their beloved princess, it's so unsettling. I liked BotW Zelda, but... I don't know, I'm literally more comfortable around fake Zelda than the real one. Fake Zelda feels more like a real person that she does.

#totk #totk spoilers #totk critical #botw #zelda #they went so black and white in their writing they kind of turned hyrule into psychological horror #it's genuinely hard to feel like you're fighting for the good guys #and that you're not being puppeteered for darker purposes #like honestly if it was revealed midgame that Ganondorf straight up did not exist and was made up to reassert zonai domination or whatever #I would have been Ahhhh! Yes this actually makes sense now #I don't know totk's worldbuilding is so unsettling to me haha

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syndxlla · 9 months

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best friends don’t look at each other the way we do

A low stakes, high reward, and self-indulgent Zelink fan fiction. Canon-compliant. takes place between BOTW and TOTK.

Unedited

chapter four: I’m better than ever

Read chapter three here

My masterlist

Song: Landscape with a Fairy by aspidistrafly

Summary: Link and Zelda start to get back on their feet, local problems in Hateno Village start to arise.

Warnings: PTSD, dealing with trauma

Word Count: 3.3k

Authors Note: sorry this took me so long to update! This is unedited so pls be kind haha. I love you all! Also I’m working on getting this uploaded to Ao3!

A few days go by, and Zelda finally starts to feel like herself again. After three days of laying in bed, drinking broth that Link makes for her, and falling into deep, dreary sleeps, she can finally get herself out of bed.

She walks downstairs, not feeling dizzy or nauseous, to find Link passed out against the table. His mouth is slack, and the smallest amount of drool dribbles out onto the cracked wood. His eyelashes are long and thick, and he has an old scar through one of his eyebrows, causing a clean-cut line of no hair. He looks so gentle when he sleeps, soft and peaceful. You would never guess he was the threat he was.

Zelda knew how badly he needed to sleep, he had spent days restless over her. She knew he got some rest here and there, but never enough to really help. She notices his shoulder shake, he isn’t wearing a shirt. She swears he never does at home. It was cold, despite it nearing summertime. Zelda goes to grab one of the wool blankets he keeps on a bench against the wall. Before she carefully drapes it around his shoulders, she examines the scars on his back. It’s littered with cuts and bruises. Some had healed well, and were only suggesting an injury. Others were a pale shade of tissue, some were still red and pink. One even still had his make-do stitches in it. She wondered who did them for him, and what battle caused the injury. Link still had bruises on his side and bicep from the fight with the calamity. They were starting to turn a jaundiced yellow and green, his body slowly healing them. Zelda’s stomach turns at the memories of the beast.

She shakes her head and sighs, placing the blanket over his bare skin and positioning it over his shoulders. Link stirs and his breathing shifts, he closes his mouth, swallowing before continuing his dreams. His hair is out of his hair tie, and it lies loose around his shoulders and face.

His face and look is so alluring, there's something about him that’s so comforting. She could sit with him all day, just with him as he slept, knowing that she’s safe.

She uses the washroom, taking her hair out of the old braid and letting the soft waves fall over her shoulders and cascade down her back. A pit churns in her stomach as she looks at her long hair. Her hair was always a part of her identity. Something she never cut, never damaged. It was beautiful, even after the years of divine wear and tear on it. She never had a choice with her hair. She didn’t get to make hardly any choices for herself. He runs her hands through her hair, sometimes she wished she could just rip it all out. Have a fresh slate.

She changes her clothes after searching for something fresh to wear, she would eventually need some of her own clothes. Zelda does all of this being as quiet as she can be. She doesn’t want to wake the sleeping hero at any cost. She finds an old pair of green pants that hit her at the knees, they’re comfortable, but tight to her skin. She finds the matching blue tank top that goes with it, and pulls it over her head. It feels nice to have some clean clothes on. When Link wakes up, she’ll ask if there’s a clothing store nearby.

The princess starts on breakfast, pulling some bird eggs from the cool inventory and a bit of goat butter. She has no idea what she’s doing, and very quickly realizes that she’s burning the eggs. In a panic, Zelda attempts to fix her mess, but somehow makes it worse. She quietly swears and before she knows it, Link is standing behind her, wrapping his arms around her body and replacing her grip on the skillet with his own calloused hands.

He engulfs himself around her, resting his chin on her shoulder as he pulls the burnt egg away from her. Her heart flutters, skipping a beat. She wonders how he was able to do an act that was so simple, so domestic. Did he think about it the same way she did? She felt safer and warmer in his embrace, wanting to linger there forever, feeling his bare chest against her back, but it's over all too soon. He steps away and fixes her mistake.

“I-I’m so sorry.” Zelda sighs. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with me.”

“Nothings wrong with you.” Link assures, “Open the windows.” He nods to the glass. Zelda goes to push them open, and they must not have been opened in years because they creak open with a tired groan and dust falls from the frames. Her breaths are quickly followed by coughs after the fact, and she scrunches her nose.

Almost immediately, Link is making a perfect omelet, and it smells wonderful.

“How do you do that?”

“Years of practice.” He smiles. “Grab some plates.” She follows his request again, his voice is still gruff and gravely from his sleep. Zelda places the plates on the table, facing across from each other. Link carries the pan over to the plates, cutting the omelet in half with his spoon and then placing each half on the plates, being sure to give Zelda the bigger piece. Zelda sits after thanking him, and instead of Link sitting across from her, he drags the plate for himself across the table to be next to hers, taking his place right next to her on the bench, legs pressing up against one another. Zelda begs her thoughts not to be too ambitious.

They eat mostly in silence.

“Is there a clothing store nearby?”

Link nods, “Yup, two of ‘em actually.” He looks at her, his eyes still sleepy, “I can go get you some if you like.”

“I would like to go with you, if that’s alright.” Zelda nods.

“Are you feeling well enough?” He asks.

“Mhm,” She hums, “I would really like to get out of this house.”

“What, you don’t like my house?” Link asks, pretending to be hurt.

Zelda giggles, chiding him, “I love your house.” She sighs, those words came so easily. The word ‘love’ lingers in her mind. “Will you teach me how to cook?”

Link laughs, “Oh no you can’t fix that.” He teases her in reference to her antics this morning. She frowns, unamused, and he sighs, “I’ll teach you, but in return I want you to teach me something, too.”

“Anything.” Zelda smiles.

“Teach me how to be brave. Like you.” He asks after a beat.

“What?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about it… and I’m terrified. All the time I am.” He swallows, scared to open up like this, proving his own point. He glances at the princess who stares at him with her beautiful, green eyes which inspires him to keep going, “I know I’m the courage guy and everything, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of things, like I’m not afraid to beat up monsters or jump headfirst into a well, but I’m filled with this… this dread. Like something bad is going to happen and no matter what I do, I can’t stop it.” He explains, never being this vulnerable with anyone anymore. He used to be with Mipha back in the day, but she was gone because of something Link couldn’t stop.

“Link… courage and bravery are two different things.” Zelda states, taking a risk and placing a dainty hand on his, the touch is electric, they both feel it. “Bravery is the ability to walk into an enemy camp with a decayed weapon and two apples. Courage is the strength to keep fighting when it feels impossible to.” She explains.

Link looks at her, and he realizes how easy it would be to just lean over and kiss her. Her lips are so soft, so pink, so inviting. He glances at them a few times. He decides not to.

“I just… I just don’t want to lose you again.” He pulls his hand away, looking down at the empty plate dejectedly.

“Hey.” She pulls his gaze again, their eyes meeting once more. “You got me. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” She reassures him, and then rests her head on his shoulder. They needed one another.

He’s worried sick about her the entire time they’re in town. He can’t quit watching her, and she’s enthralled by the stimulation of the world around her. She almost gets plowed over by a kid running through the street, and she just laughs when it happens, the brightest smile on her face.

She takes a deep breath, feeling the sun on her face. The warmth of early summertime makes her cheeks a soft pink and eyelashes flutter.

“Did you have to bring that with you?” She asks, referencing the legendary sword that was strapped to his back. “It’s safe now, remember?”

Link frowns, “You can never be too-safe.” He just nods and she shrugs.

Zelda takes a hop-like step to the bulletin board posted in town to read the notices. One read that there would be a sale on milk up at the farm the next week, another was basic town hubbub, but one stood out to her. It was written by the hands of someone who isn’t very skilled with penmanship. It was a note asking for books, probably by a child. The note asked that someone would kindly donate a few new books for this young reader, leaving them on the bench outside of the mayor's home. She smiled, this was the type of kid she was.

A completely different note catches Link’s eye.

New monster spotted north-east of town. Killed two cattle. Please be cautious.

Link hums, turning the paper over to see if there’s any more information, but that was it.

“What is it?” Zelda asks.

“A monster. I would guess it's just a Moblin, but the note says it's new.” LInk frowns, perplexed. “I’ve fought every monster in Hyrule ten times over, there are only Moblins and Bokoblins in these parts.”

“Should we be worried?” She asks, her eyes blown-wide. She’s in constant fear of having to go through anything traumatic again.

Link shrugs, “I saw a destroyed fence the other day up there, I should probably go speak with the rancher.” He shoves the note in his back pocket, “Come on, let’s get you some clothes.” He holds his arm out for her to take, something he hasn’t done in a long time. He almost pulls it away in embarrassment but she gladly takes it, smiling at him as she does.

Both of their hearts threatened to burst out of their chests, but they each calmly forced themselves to stay composed.

Link leads her into one of the clothing stores, the door ringing from a bell as they enter. The shop was small, but had plenty of things in stock. Zelda pulls away from his arm sooner than either of them would have liked to start browsing. Link follows three steps behind, where he usually was.

“Link!” A woman smiles from the back of the shop. Ivee walks towards him, cheerful. “You’ve been gone for so long! I thought I heard you were back in town.” She says before wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. Link is a little surprised by it and doesn’t really hug her back.

Link nods with a smile. “I’ll be in town for a while.” He states, being friendly but not too friendly. He and Ivee have some history.

“You? Never.” She giggled, stepping closer to him, she was a bit shorter than him, and had cute brown eyes that sparkled up at him. “You can’t stay put in one place for too long, you'll get bored!” Her body language was flirty, handsy, she thought Link was as handsome as everyone else did.

Zelda is made aware of the situation and tries to keep her cool. There’s no reason to get jealous. “Well you all better give me some work to keep myself busy.” He smiles, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh I would love to.” She sighs and Link awkwardly laughs.

Zelda steps in at that moment, “I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name.” She stands a little closer to Link than she normally does, not quite touching him, but close enough.

“Ivee.” She says to Zelda. “And who are you…”

Zelda takes a harrowing breath, “Who am I?” She asks, her tone increasingly offended, “Who am I?” She asks again laughing at Link, “Well I am the Pri-“ She starts to say and Link interrupts her grabbing her shoulder.

“This is Zelda, she’s from the west. She’ll be staying with me for a while.”

“Oh.” Ivee looks visibly hurt. She then looks at Zelda with a frown, “You know, it’s bad luck to be named Zelda. That’s what the Princess who killed herself a hundred years ago was named.” She sighs, glaring at Zelda. Her gaze softens when she returns to speaking with Link, “If you need any assistance, I’ll just be up here.” She smiles and turns around, “It’s great to have you back in town, Linky. I would love to walk up to the waterfall at Nirvata lake with you again. It was so fun last time.” She winks at him before returning back to her perch.

Links cheeks burn red.

“Rude.” Zelda mutters under her breath. “What in the name of Hylia does she mean by that?…Linky?” Zelda teases, scoffing at him. Link swallows, embarrassed.

He then signs to Zelda, ‘Ivee makes up stories’.

Zelda lifts an eyebrow, not believing it, ‘She’s not very polite’.

Link shakes his head, ‘She’s young. Times are different’. He pulls Zelda into a more secluded corner of the store, not wanting to embarrass anyone, ‘You can’t tell people you’re the Princess’.

‘Why Not?’ Zelda signs back, her expression frustrated and confused, ‘I am, aren’t I? I didn’t kill myself. Do they really believe that?’

Link nods, ‘Some people don’t even believe the Calamity happened’.

“What?” Zelda verbally exclaims.

Link holds his pointer-finger to his lips, hushing her, Conspiracy theorists or something.’ He signs, ‘besides, people won’t believe you if you tell them you’re The Princess’.

‘That’s absurd!’ Zelda angrily signs at him.

Link tries to calm her down, looking at her with his understanding eyes, ‘Until we can get the Zora to confirm for the Hylians that you are The Princess, It’s best to just lay low’.

Zelda frowns, wrapping her arms across her chest. ‘Fine’. She signs back.

Link nods, “Let’s get you some clothes.”

They leave the store with a good collection of items, some shirts and trousers, a hooded cloak, socks and a pair of boots for her. She was still wandering around in her goddess sandals. “Most ladies wear skirts these days, when you’re in town, you should too.” He explains as they walk next door to a nicer, more prestigious shop. Zelda was acutely aware that he did not offer her his arm when they left Ivee’s shop.

“So they’ve regressed?” Zelda asks, back in her day, it was becoming quite popular for women to sport trousers, even in formal situations.

“Very much, yes.” Link nods. “The calamity threw the world back, technology has been put on a complete hold, there have been little-to-no scientific breakthroughs since.” Link explains. It makes Zelda sad.

“That’s a real tragedy.” She frowns, “We were making so much progress.”

“I know.” Link says, “but now everyone just fends for themselves. If there's a famine or illness in a town, it's up to that town to solve it. There was a village in West Hyrule, before the canyon that had survived the Calamity. They were doing pretty well for the first fifty or so years. But then they had a bad plague, and were completely wiped out. There's nothing but a ruin there now.”

Zelda’s heart hurts, “It’s my fault.” She stops in her tracks. Link turns around, looking at her dejected composure. He walks back to her, taking her hand with his.

“Look at me.” He says, but she keeps her gaze set on the dirt road. Link takes his hand and gently lifts her chin to make eye-contact with him. “It’s not your fault. This is not on one person's shoulders.”

“I know but-“

“Zelda.” He stops her, “We can’t change the past. It happened. But we are both still here.” He takes both her hands now, “We survived, so let's look into the future. There’s only up from here.” He reassures her.

Zelda cracks a smile, and she desperately wants to lean in and give him a quick, gentle kiss on his lips. But she doesn’t, because she can’t guarantee he would kiss her back, and she would rather suffer in silence over her desires for him, but stay close, than jeopardize their friendship at all.

“Come on.” He leads her into the store, not letting go of one of her hands until they’re inside.

Zelda leaves with two dresses now, a soft, cotton dress that’s blue, and a white one with green and yellow details on the hem of the fabrics. “Thank you, Link.” She says as they begin their walk back home. “How do you have so much money?”

“Talus.” Link nods, not giving anymore context. Zelda shrugs, catching up with him.

They spent that evening cleaning, Link finally took care of all the junk he stored there, discarding old weapons and starting a burn pile outback to get rid of scraps and wooden bows. Zelda takes a big broom and dusts out all of the cobwebs, sweeping out piles of dirt, and taking care of the sand pile that had accumulated from his treasures found in the desert. She noticed how her heart twinged at the idea of the desert, the idea of Urbosa. She shakes the thought away, focusing on the task.

Dusk falls on them, and Zelda is wiping down the walls with an old rag while Link is sitting up in the rafters, dusting the wooden beams the roof is built on and trying to reach a bird's nest that had been built up there. He straddles a beam, shirtless, barefoot, and dusty.

As he sits up there, he peers down at the girl who kneels twenty feet below him, her long hair tied back into a bun and secured with a stick shoved through the center of it. Her feet bare and dirty, toes poking out from under her bottom as she sat on them. She couldn’t see him looking at her, couldn’t hear how his heart beat twice as fast when he thought about her, wasn’t aware of how his pupils grew at the sight of her.

She hummed, and he could hear it. Humming a song he didn’t know, but felt vaguely familiar, like he knew it in a past life. Link wondered if the past incarnations of the Goddess and the Hero ever loved each other. Surely they did, to some degree. Maybe platonic, or the type of love you have for someone you work alongside and deeply respect. He wondered if any of them ever loved each other the way he wanted to love his Zelda. Did it ever work? Had he been a king in a past life? Did their past selves ever have children? His stomach flutters at the idea of having a family with her.

She must have sensed his gaze because as soon as he begins to fantasize about Zelda having a baby with him, she looks up at him, and smiles. He’s so shocked by her sudden gaze, terrified that she could read his mind and almost loses his balance on the beam, falling his chest onto it and holding on. He smiles back and laughs. Zelda giggles at him.

“How’s the view? Up there?” She stands up and does a silly little dance around herself.

He sighs, and laughs, “the view is perfect!” He shouts down, “A little dusty.” Coughing a bit.

She asks, “Are you alright up there?”

Link smiles, “I’m better than ever.”

—

Chapter five

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tennybird · 4 months

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I have opinions about TotK. This is your spoiler warning if you haven't played/finished it yet. Also all of this is, once again, just my opinion on it and not a decisive fact! I will probably misremember things!

Anyway.

Okay so basically as someone who got it on release and beat it within a week, I'm a little underwhelmed by the game now that I'm looking back over half a year later.

It's not a terrible game! I'll say that first and foremost. But after waiting so long for it, and trying so hard to not hype myself up for it (failing horribly at that), it feels just a bit... same-y. The story is nice, and it's different. The boss fights and abilities you gain during your travels are nice. Everything else, though...

I like the map having stayed similar, with enough changes that I have to relearn some areas. The Depths are really fucking cool, and figuring out on my own that they're a negative of the overworld was incredible! But the sky islands were a little disappointing, I think. When we were told we'd be in the sky a lot, I thought there'd be more large islands like the tutorial one that you could walk around on. More references to Skyward Sword, too. It feels to me that they put more love into the Depths than the sky, in a way.

I like the main story. Figuring out Zelda was the Light Dragon (but not really believing it until the final Tears), and that she'd essentially spent thousands and thousands of years trapped inside herself, was AWESOME. Every cutscene involving her as the Light Dragon hit me hard, and I felt genuine sorrow everytime I saw her floating around the sky.

...That being said, I DO wish we could have a game where you get to actually travel with her. I WANT her to tell me about the minor lore of the world! I want to know about the various flora and fauna, and I want her to talk about Hyrule's history! Zelda is part of the royal family, and I'd imagine that part of her studies pre-BotW she'd have to learn about the history of her family (especially because of the importance of the Goddess' blood...). With how pre-BotW went between her and her powers, and her and her father, I'd imagine she'd make it a point to learn more about their history that ISN'T just the prophecy.

I, personally, did not like most of the temple boss fights. I can't really explain much of why- except for Queen Gibdo. I HATED Queen Gibdo because of all the smaller Gibdo chasing you, trying to chase down Riju for her power... It was a lot of things stacked on each other, and simply not my thing. Colgera was an absolute favorite however! The boss theme is AWESOME, the mechanics of being in the air and having to watch for projectiles, as well as crashing through the ice sheets to take it down? VERY, VERY FUN. Climbing through the sky just to get to the temple itself was one of my favorite experiences. Going up and up and up, and finally reaching the top where you break out above the storm clouds and see clear skies...

A thing that bothers me about the temples is that the cutscene at the end, where the ancient Sages gifts their powers to the new ones... I feel like they could've spent a little more time making them different, even if that meant more time in development. I would be okay with that! I think games should be in development longer in order to produce a good, finished product! Anyway.

The fight with Ganondorf was fun for me. I get SUPER immersed in it, so it was a fearful moment when I thought I'd beaten him, only to see his health bar fill again... and then go offscreen. And the DEMON DRAGON FIGHT? Holy SHIT.

I just wish there was more... substance to the game, I guess? It feels weird saying that. There are more things to do, but it's missing something I can't name. Something BotW had, but is now gone. I like TotK, like I said. It's clearly had love put into it, and I'm glad the developers spent more time on getting it as close to the perfect image they wanted as they could. Maybe it's just cause I've spent more time with BotW (over 300 hours), but I think I'm a little biased towards it. Maybe I'm just getting older and grumpier about vidya games, too. Who knows!

If you read all this, cool! I will reiterate that this is simply my view on it! If your view is different, good!! I'm happy to know there are people out there who enjoy it more than I did. Or if you hate it more than I do, maybe you have other things you want to point out about it that I missed.

#james speaks #long post #loz #totk #the legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #i love reading people's opinions so please tell them to me if you want somewhere to ramble!!#zelda #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom spoilers

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wooyoungisbaby · 1 month

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uhhhh Questions

@halavibe tagged me ty babes <3 i've known you for 2 days but i'd die for you i hope you know this

do you make your bed? - no i live in denmark

what's your favourite number? - 19 but only in spanish. in japanese it's 4 bc im edgy

what is your job? - after school childcare :)) i do like craft and arts stuff with them!

If you could go back to school would you? - i might go to school again at some point but it's def. not my first choice >_<

can you parallel park? - technically yeah but i havent driven in litrally like 7 years. so probably not.

a job you had that would surprise people? - uhhh idk, i did cleaning at a nursing home during the summer one year?

do you think aliens are real? - yes and i need them to fuck me. /gen

can you drive a manual car? - wtf does this mean

what's your guilty pleasure? - i was gonna say i don't feel guilty about things that make me feel good but i do about food sometimes :(( i genuinely don't have any guilt about media, music and stuff like that though.

tattoos? - yee i have a ukiss song lyric on my arm B)

favourite colour? - green and purple together

favourite type of music? - kpop. i genuinely only listen to kpop right now. used to listen to some j-rock too but not really recently

do you like puzzles? - not like jigsaw puzzles no, but games that have lil puzzles in them? hell yea. but if they're hard at all i will give up. i've looked up so many botw/totk shrine guides.

any phobias? - not any actual phobias no. but i'm a little scared of the sound of wind, audio played backwards, and of walking on stairs.

favourite childhood sport? - taekwondo uwu i had the green belt!

do you talk to yourself? - noh i just sing :3

what movie(s) do you adore? - spirited away, road to el dorado, uhhh. i've forgotten literally every other movie i've ever seen. oh!! Departures, a japanese movie from like 2008 that won an oscar.

coffee or tea? - hot cocoa fuck you

first thing you wanted to be growing up - the first thing i remember saying was tightrope walker in a circus. maybe i can still make it......

#ask #well kinda

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avionvadion · 11 months

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Sorry for the double ask but my curiosity is itching me. What instances of Zelink do you ship? Since you said you’re particular about your Zelink

Skyward Sword is the biggest, lol. I don’t really ship it in BotW, but in TotK I do. In OoT I’m too convinced they’re actually siblings, but in Twilight Princess they barely interact at all.

They just need to actually have chemistry for me to ship it. Like, they need to actually know each other. In Skyward Sword, they’re childhood friends. They grew up with each other.

When Link sees Zelda, he gets this absolutely adorable smile on his face and you just know he loves her. And after they get separated, every time they reunite, Zelda tries to run to him before Impa pulls her back. When she reveals she’s actually reincarnated Hylia, she says, “I’m still my father’s daughter. I’m still your Zelda.”

In BotW, sure, it’s said Zelda’s “love for her fallen knight awakened her power” but at that point in time it just feels kinda one-sided. She’s a dear friend of Link’s, but I don’t get the feeling he was in love with her.

Totk, though??? Where several years have passed??? When they’re walking together in the beginning, observing the ruins, and you can see them interact??? The way Zelda checks up on him and crinkles her eyes in a smile, the way Link takes the torch from her without her even needing to ask??? The way it’s hinted that they live together, and how Zelda’s diary says Link never leaves her side, so she had to have a secret study built in a well? How she has an extra hair tie for him in said well???

How Zelda hid his new tunic to surprise him, behind a puzzle of all things, because she probably knows he likes puzzles and wanted to challenge him a little??? The way she told Link to find her, knowing she wouldn’t be herself after she transformed, and was trusting him to help her remember???

Totk Zelink is just. It’s like an evolution of their dynamic in BotW. Zelda always cared for Link, but Link had been going through such heavy depression- it’s also more hinted that he had feelings for Mipha (at least to me)- and then he died. All of his friends were dead. He woke up a century later. Everything was left behind. He had no memories.

Link had to grieve and move on, and save what was left. He had to remember, he had to heal. And in TotK we get to see that healed Link. He moved on from the past. He moved on from Mipha. He found a future with Zelda. But now Zelda is missing. She doesn’t remember who she is. He has to fight and help her remember, just as she once helped him through his lost memories of her.

It’s. I dunno. It just feels like poetry.

I hope this makes sense, lol.

#totk #totk spoilers #BotW #Zelink #skyward sword #ask

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fourstarsoutofnine · 4 months

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can i request a short fic with wind where him and reader get separated from the chain inside a dungeon so now they have to work together to make it out alive? i'm very happy to see ur back i love ur work <3

A/N:Absolutely, and thank you so much!! I love writing for Wind, he’s precious. Also, I’m taking a little bit from undertale as far as the puzzles go. I haven’t played many Zelda games with dungeons other than minish cap, but it’s been a hot minute since I’ve played that as well, a few months at least. I remember a great deal about the undertale puzzles however so I’ll be getting inspiration for the puzzles from that. Also that one episode of gravity falls, if you’ve seen it. The bunker episode. It also heavily shows here that my main Zelda games are botw/totk—oops.

Warnings:none really other than fear, obvious botw/totk favoritism, and heavily made up puzzles/traps.

Escape

(wind and reader)

You’d been walking in this dungeon for what seemed like hours, and with no end in sight. You and the sailor had long since lost the group, and were making a good hearted attempt to find them again, but things were looking rather grim.

“It feels like we’re going in circles…” you muttered. Your hand hurt from holding the torch, so you passed it off to the sailor, and put a hand on his back to bring him closer to you. You knew he was very capable of holding his own, but he felt like a brother to you and you didn’t want to risk anything. He was still just a kid, and if you could take any fighting off of him to protect him, you’d do it in a heartbeat.

“How long have we been walking?” He looked up at you, your face dimly lit by the fire.

“I couldn’t tell you.” You sighed. Finally you came upon a corridor you didn’t recognize, eagerly following it. It led you to a room with buttons on the floor.

“Oh hey, a puzzle!” The sailor said excitedly and moved forward to step on one before you pulled him back by his shirt.

“Wait! We don’t know what these do, we need to be careful!”

“Oh, yeah, right…” he looked it over. You took the torch in one hand, and one of his hands in the other.

“Okay, step on it carefully…” you said and he gently put his weight onto the button. There was an eerie silence before a click!, then suddenly the floor fell out under him. You snatched him up to you and backed up as fast as your legs would carry you. Just your luck, though. You stepped on another button. Your head whipped around you as all of the buttons sunk in and the walls started closing. You set the sailor down. “Run!!” You shouted before taking off, his hand in yours to make sure he kept up. You pulled him up ahead of you and shoved him into the exit so you were sure he’d be safe. You, however, had your foot caught.

“Y/n!!” The sailor shouted. He held his hand out for you and did his best to pull you. The prognosis looked dimmer and dimmer for you. That is, until you finally pulled your foot out. It left a big scrape on your foot, and you lost your shoe, but at least you were alive. There was no time to think about that now, though. You sprinted towards the exit, trying to ignore the sharp pain on the top of your foot. You landed with a big thud just before the walls closed completely. Both you and the sailor sat on the dirty, dusty floor of the dungeon, breathing heavy. You looked at him and laughed weakly.

“How much you wanna bet the others found a cool room with treasure or a hot spring or somethin?”

“That’d be our luck.” He laughed. He stood and helped you up before the two of you continued on. The next room you found yourselves in was almost worse than the last one.

“Whoa, candy!!!” The sailor said, looking all around. To you, there was no candy in sight.

“Sailor, don’t trust it.”

“But—it-…I’m so hungry…”

“I know, we’re trying to find the others… I don’t see any candy here, bud. It’s trying to trick you.” To you, it showed exactly what you wanted most. And naturally that looked very, very tempting, but you knew the illusion. You’d looked away for just a moment, and the sailor was making his way towards what to him was a bowl of candy. When he got closer, you saw a like-like extend itself out of the wall.

“Sailor!!” You pulled him back before it could swallow him whole. You pulled your bow out and shot it, the monster flopping onto the ground where you could kill it while it lay momentarily unconscious. The room’s illusion dissipated around you, revealing many holes in the walls with like-likes all within them and the two of you once again made a break for it, favoring your lives rather than anything in there.

The next room finally led you to what you wanted. Your group. They looked at you confusedly when you came in disheveled. Your foot was bleeding, you were missing a shoe, and the sailor didn’t look much better either. His clothes were slightly torn.

“What happened to you two?” The vet asked.

“Don’t ask…” you sighed. The group took a moment to rest while the traveler tended to the wound on your foot, and the sailor got a snack to eat. You were patched up, given other shoes, and while finally back with the group, you all made it out of the dungeon.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #wind and reader #lu wind & reader #lu wind

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