I saw someone wanting refs for the ancient Gerudo Sage of Lightning, so here you go!! I'm obsessed with her hair

riju with her hair down because why not!!

Did a pose study, Urbosa as the Sage of Lightning! I love totk but I do miss the Champions TT

Giving a Goron a secret stone is dangerous

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

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

fit of the ancients / aubri, sage of hatin'

Linktober 2023 – Day 4. Sage

The Sage of Spirit and everyone’s favorite thief, the Exalted Nabooru.

I have a feeling we’ll see the other Sages later this month 😉

Previous (Day 3. Friend/Helper/Companion) | Next (Day 5. Race/Species)

Linktober 2023 Masterlist

Linktober 2023 OoT Seven Sages

It's taken almost a year, but I finally saved all the Sages. Still can't believe I came across Mineru second.

Nabooru

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

When I had initially heard the term “Sages” used in TotK, I have genuinely hoped for more of a nod to Ocarina of Time, including potentially having the ancient Gerudo Sage be another incarnation of Nabooru. We know she had lived on this timeline and fought against Ganondorf, because Urbosa mentioned how Vah Naboris was named after her.

I imagine the rift between Ganondorf and the Sage of Lightning started after the attempted molduga attack

gerudo oc her name is riya :)

Now I'm thinking about the "Save The Gerudo, Save The World" AU again.

Twinrova kills Nabooru in front of Link, and that's when he finally realizes that all the Sages are dead. They're all dead. He didn't know—his body may be an adult's but he is still a child, he didn't understand, and nobody had the heart to tell him outright in the very limited time they got to meet him after he defeated the monsters that killed them. In Ocarina of Time, in order for a Sage to fully awaken to their power, they have to die.

Link knows that Ganondorf's main motivation, prior to all this, was the safety of his people. He's off the deep end by the time Link is an adult, but it's possible that in the past, seven years ago, there's still enough Gerudo King in there to be swayed.

Navi says this is the worst idea ever. Link says he has to try.

So Link makes the decision to go back in time and offer himself—his allegiance, his Triforce, his life—in exchange for Nabooru's safety. Hero of Time or not, champion of Farore or not, Link is just one person; he knows he can't defeat the monster Ganondorf will eventually become while on his own and crippled with the knowledge that everyone he loves is dead. That isn't the future he's fighting for.

So he turns himself in to the Gerudo. He's brought before Ganondorf—and now he's a child, but he acts like an adult, he carries himself like someone who's been through every bit as much war as Ganondorf has—and makes his offer. Ganondorf can have whatever Link can offer him, if he saves Nabooru.

Ganondorf responds, "...What happened to Nabooru?"

And just like that, the horrible future Link was thrown into against his will is smashed to bits.

If Nintendo won’t give them a personality then I WILL

Anyways the sages from the ancient past! I wanted to design them, especially without the helmets on! I don’t have any ideas for names. I wanted to name them after the divine beasts but those guys are named after the sages from oot, and I’m not contradicting lore like this game enjoys doing so…. I’ll figure it out.

Anyways some character traits for them:

The Sage of lighting: a very tough woman who takes battle very seriously and comes off as cruel. She’s strong in battle and can kill an enemy with her glare.

The Sage of water: the leader type. She’s confident in her own abilities but also in others, and encourages them to unlock their true potential. She’s kind but can also be very sarcastic.

The sage of wind: a more laidback kind of guy. He enjoys messing around with different kinds of weapons and works well with different flavors of people since he’s more chill. He’s quite confident but not arrogant, and is quite kind to others while simultaneously being incredibly obnoxious.

The Sage of fire: the most gentle soul you’ll ever meet. There’s a reason why I modeled him after Iroh 💀 he’s extremely kind and emotionally supportive, and he notices things that typically go unnoticed

The sages seem to share the same personalities as the champions, and I wanted them to be their own people so I honestly gave them the opposite personalities lol (sort of). Since they’ll be interacting with the champions themselves, I don’t want them to feel like carbon copies. So yeah! Hated drawing them <3

Nabooru!! This was originally going to be a design for my AU, but I'm already too obsessed with her original design in OoT.