Hi, crow! How are you doing? 😁

for the ship ask game: revalink (hehe), botw/totk zelink, and miphlink (i think that’s the correct ship name??)

(ask game from here)

omg hi iri!!! I'm doing well hru? imyy thank you for the ask 🥺🫶

revalink - ship

what made you ship it?

last february i was going through my zelda phase again and i was looking for fics to read. previously i had read a lot of sidlink fics so I was looking for something new, and I decided to check out revalink fics and. oh em gee. i got hooked 😭

I remember insisting I only liked it ironically but 💀 look where I am now. #1 revalink shipper oopsies 🤭 their dynamic really stood out to me, I've shipped a lot of rivals to lovers before so I guess once I started to consider it revalink just made sense to me. also revalink fics are devastatingly good, like there's a couple that I reread religiously 😫

what are your favorite things about the ship?

omg I LOVE THIS QUESTIONNN. saurr many things like. I mentioned it already but I love their dynamic, especially when you start to analyze it beyond the surface level. I love headcanons about why revali lashes out at link in the first place, especially in relation to the champion's ballad dlc and how revali's diary reveals that he's just really insecure about himself. I think they're such good character foils to each other and that makes their interactions, both as rivals and as lovers, so much richer than some of the other ships in the game. their relationship is so open to interpretation and that makes it one of the most satisfying ships to make content for SHFJDBF

is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

hmm not that I can think of! i post a lot of headcanons and stuff but I don't think they've ever been unpopular, maybe just unique. like my all the president's men au 💀 i still think abt that sometimes LOL

botw/totk zelink - don't ship

why don't you ship it?

aghhh ok ok hear me out. i don't ship them romantically BUT i do think they are peak queerplatonic vibes. it's just, the idea of knight x princess already feels like a weird dynamic to me, like I'm not a huge fan idk? ughh idk how to explain it. to me I've always preferred them to have more of a sibling dynamic. urgh I know I said hear me out but I'm not explaining it well. the voices told me not to ship it idk

what would have made you like it?

ok tbh I think zelink is cute in like every other game! just not these two 😭 so I guess if you put the two characters in literally any other game I would like them? aghhhh idk what it is about this one that makes me not want to ship it!! maybe in this game if they had a different backstory I would have shipped it. but tee bee ache link was so unhappy as a knight that I'm rooting for him to leave the whole royalty system behind and go live in the woods with his bird boyfriend idk 😭

despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I literally think zelink makes the most sense as a ship, they're soulmates and they would go to the ends of the earth for each other, I'm sorry I feel so bad for not shipping them 😭 BUT on the other hand, I think all that can be true without having to be romantic yk? that's why I think they're a really good queerplatonic couple, they understand each other like no one else could, they always look out for each other and they can't imagine not being in the other's life. it's just not romantic. aughh I think they have such a good relationship but just not romantically 😣 maybe it's bc I'm also aspec

miphlink - don't ship

why don't you ship it?

I feel really bad but like mipha's crush was so clearly one-sided 😭 it's weird bc my absolute favorite trope is childhood friends to lovers, and they check the childhood friends box, but the ship just feels too vanilla/basic to me. I do think they're besties tho, because since they grew up together they'll be super close and know each other very well. but imo link doesn't see her like that and mipha eventually moves on

what would have made you like it?

I think a.) mipha's character should have been fleshed out more because she felt so one-dimensional and it kind of bothered me, her character had so much more potential and I love seeing fanon version of her where she actually has a personality. and b.) if there was a little more pining on both link's and mipha's parts. the best part of childhood friends to lovers is the pining!!

despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I love mipha and I love link and I think they'll always look out for each other and be besties forever!! the end 😽

This is something I’m curious about do any of the monsters have a love interest? With them not really having genders they can be naturally interested in both males and females.

We seen in the story Rezek had had lost its first kiss to its friend and anyone can see they had a zing happen, I wonder if the monster could find that someone too and Rezek can find a another that gives it a zing it had lost after it’s friend’s death.

And if anything the Zelda canon or fandom showed us race or love interests really isn’t a issue when it comes to love life in hyrule

Ooooooooo this is something I've been meaning to talk about (I remember getting an ask about something like it earlier but I got cold feet on responding I'm sorryyyy)

I will say off the bat that everyone has two hands (maybe more...) and I've basically been writing around that whole idea. It's weird being in the shoes of a writer to where I can make any relationship "canon" to my fic if I want. Especially between my original characters!

Right now in RATC I'm at a spot where I don't really wanna pair any of them up yet, but I'm trying to set the building blocks of their relationships with each other and then down the line see how that would blossom. It's fun, and has let me experiment a bit with character interactions by keeping things ambiguous - but still tease that they may be an item later >:)

But Rezek and Frifer's relationship was written 100% with romantic intentions, I'll say that much. Set in stone. They are through and through a tragic doomed love story. That's what makes Frifer's sacrifice that much more heartbreaking.

And yes I do love that aspect with the Zelda series, how there seems to be this general acceptance when it comes to love between the races/species throughout the games. Like how many times has Link been the target of affection for a Zora? And as a big Sidlink fan I love those sort of relationships where one of the obstacles they overcome together is their difference in species. It just gets me. It's my kryptonite.

But I'm also a fan of slow-burn (a little too much, I'd say ajhklsfdlk) so you can expect that type of relationships in the future just........it'll take time to cook LMAO

personally, i would love to hear (or read i guess?) your sheik essays-

alright if you insist!

I've already talked about this on my Instagram and a little bit here as well but I just. am constantly thinking about how sheik and link's relationship is going to progress and I always wanna talk about it because OUGH my heart is soft for these two.

at first sheik is. an asshole to link to say the least. he's convinced himself that he needs to be cold and rude to link so that they don't get close because then if something bad happens to sheik, it could impede link's progress. he's not "supposed" to be friends with link. he also uhh.. doesn't want to be involved in this whole thing in the first place so that makes him sort of angry and bitter and he ends up taking it out on link. the boy got dragged into this because his parents got murked by a guardian and he was brought to impa after being found and he fit the description of the person Zelda described almost 100 years ago. basically, he wants no part of this and just wants to live a normal life but the universe has other plans.

link tries his best to be friendly to sheik but sheik just. absolutely does not return it. link will try to start a conversation and it fizzles out so quickly because sheik will either give short, one word answers or just ignore him entirely. link is doing his best because he just wants a friend because it is so lonely out there. in reality sheik wants that too but he's not SUPPOSED to want that. but they don't hate each other! and Sheik cares about link and his wellbeing (I mean he literally has to but) link is persistent in trying to be friends with sheik and that annoys sheik because he feels like he doesn't deserve it and link shouldn't care about him since he feels like he's just. a human shield.

eventually link calls sheik out on his behavior and is just like "what's your problem?" and Sheik really realizes how much of a prick he's been. they're supposed to be working together but that really hasn't been the case. this is a turning point and slowly sheik starts opening up more. it's still rocky because sheik is anxious and expectations have been put on him and he doesn't want to end up fucking everything up.

but eventually!!! they do become friends (and maybe... boyfriends... 👁️👁️) (I say maybe- they DO become boyfriends because gay rights) because they spend literally all their time together and expecting them to not at least get to know each other is ridiculous and a bit of an unrealistic expectation because they have to work and fight together and if they hate each other then that.. probably won't end well. sheik apologizes for his attitude and how he treated link like shit even though he didn't deserve it and link forgives him and everything is good!

The more I play it, the more I just have to applaud the creators of the original LoZ. We’ve all heard about how much thought and care went into designing everything, but if you dive into the game, you can really feel it, and I love that. Just imagine: the first one, the Zelda made before anyone knew what a “Zelda” was, before there were conventions of the series or even an idea of how to make a great installment. They were just trying to make a great game. And they did! Honestly, going right from BotW to LoZ is jarring, visually speaking - even though I think it’s one of the best-looking games the NES ever had, if not THE best-looking. (I might talk about the obvious similarities and inspiration they took from the original some other time, as if it weren’t speaking for itself. XD) 

Check this out. The first labyrinth, Eagle (so called because, well, look at it) is the simplest dungeon in the game: in terms of puzzles and enemies, it’s only challenging enough to give you an idea of what you’ve got to look forward to, as a game should do - teach your game to your player in a fun way, instead of telling them. By the way, this is one of the many things I love about this series: even if someone gives you instructions - like “Hey you can jump by moving forward, why don’t you give it a try?” - you are still the one doing the thing. You get to experience firsthand what it feels like to jump across platforms or target with your faerie or leave an enemy open by blocking with your shield or backflipping - and what it feels like to fail at these things - in a controlled setting, so that you can see patterns of when to use these abilities when a situation really calls for them. Granted, in LoZ, you don’t get told anything. You’re thrust into the world like “here, you’ll figure it out” and you have to learn by complete experimentation. There are no pop-up help messages, no real map to guide you, and no helpful friend. You are utterly alone, and it feels like it. But figuring out 1.) to go into the cave, 2.) to kill things with your sword and collect what it leaves behind, and 3.) your sword only goes pew pew when your hearts are full, is all easy peasy, and that’s all you need to get you by until you find Level 1, which carries on the learning from there. Whoooo end tangent, back to the point. 

Eagle is simple, like I said - definitely simpler than its sibling dungeons. But it’s not as simple as you think at first glance. Here’s the game plan, and those who’ve played it a few times will probably remember: Go into the left and right rooms, kill the Keese and Stalfos, respectively, and get keys 1 and 2, go back to the entrance room and go up, up again, get key 3, go right, get compass, go left, up, left (I mean if you REALLY wanna talk to the “Eastmost Penninsula” guy that much), come back from that, go right, get Map, go up, up, left to get the Bow and key 4, come back and go right, Boomerang, right, key 5, up, BOSS TIME!  Unicorn Dragon Aquamentus! (that’s how I think Aqua would like to be introduced in a newer game XD)

Except: No. Haha. 

If you have bombs, you only need 3 of those 5 keys. Without bombs, you can still skip one of the locked doors. It’s great. Heck, you REALLY only need one if you want to skip the Bow and come back for it when you have the Lion Key. Or you could not even do that if you want, everything in this game is optional. The Bow definitely helps though. x__x

I just find that fascinating. There are all kinds of awesome things like that in LoZ! Of course, there’s no way to know without trying to bomb like literally every inch of every wall (or just the center of every wall, it seems to just be the centers in the dungeons, or rather, the “center” between the sconces or whatever), so for that and other reasons, I recommend taking a guide with you if you want to play this game. Otherwise, you’re gonna be spending hours trying to burn every tree in Hyrule and way too many rupees on keeping your bombs stocked.

If any of you are wanting to play The Legend of Zelda, even if you want a challenge, I at least advise using a detailed map to avoid the situation I described just now. nesmaps.com has a great one, with a helpful key and everything. As for dungeon maps, there is a map in the Gallery section of each labyrinth’s page on Zelda Wiki and each one shows everything you need to know. If you want more than maps and would like a 100% walkthrough, Zelda Dungeon has you covered. 

If you don’t want to use any guides, but want at least a few tips, let me know and I’ll throw some helpful hints your way. Or maybe I’ll make a whole post about that another time, we’ll see. Whether you choose to play with a map, a guide, or to go it completely on your own, I hope you have fun. This game may be from “ancient times” as far as video games are concerned, but it still shines through. If you don’t agree, that’s fair! But maybe just try to rub some of that dust away - you might find magic where you thought was only a “beat-up, worthless piece of junk”.

are there any stories/facts about your job/coworkers you can comfortably share? maybe something cool they did/you did with them recently? anyone that stands out in particular among them, without getting too specific for. clear reasons?

what's cheeseburger up to atm? any notable stories or anything about him recently, or has he been just living his best life as usual?

which of the skyloft NPCs do you particularly like? for arguments sake, this is excluding the more story relevant ones, so no groose + his gang, no zelda obviously, etc.

as an opposite to that, talk about groose! i've always loved him as a character, and the bits you've said about him and his relationship with link and zelda is always great! also, any notable kin memories you have of groose? especially things that occured after he left skyloft, or even after the demise fight. what did he get up to after the credits rolled?

fun stories about your loftwing? were there any traits you and him shared notably? or any that were more opposite?

what are some of your favorite things about your favorite iterations of zelda? what i mean by that is like... what do you like best about tetra/wind waker zelda? what about skyward zelda? botw zelda? they're similar but all unique people, so what endears you the most about each of them?

i know this is a lot, so don't feel like you have to answer in any specific time frame. take as long as is comfortable, and i hope this helps!! ~🍄

these are so many!!! thank you for being so generous!!!

are there any stories/facts about your job/coworkers you can comfortably share? maybe something cool they did/you did with them recently? anyone that stands out in particular among them, without getting too specific for. clear reasons?

most of the ppl i work w are. kinda rude to me all the time so i mostly just drown them out so i don’t go insane. but there is this one kid who is just, like, a ray of sunshine every time he walks into a room. and he works so hard and he cares about his work and i feel like he’s the only bitch who gets me. we vibe over zelda and will just get into debates about the lore on the clock and i look forward to seeing him a lot. 

what's cheeseburger up to atm? any notable stories or anything about him recently, or has he been just living his best life as usual?

he’s just doin he. he sleeps a lot. sometimes in boxes. sometimes under beds. sometimes directly on top of me.

a few weeks back i went to the ER for what i figured out was a kidney stone and while i was literally on my bed writhing in pain trying to hold out until my grandparents got there cheeseburger just like, jumped up on top of me and immediately starting pissing on me, as if to say haha, check this out. i can urinate better than you.

which of the skyloft NPCs do you particularly like? for arguments sake, this is excluding the more story relevant ones, so no groose + his gang, no zelda obviously, etc.

i love all of them so much oh no... everyone i love i love for kinnie reasons like i am tempted to say jakamar cause even though he’s kind of a sleazy dude he, as previously mentioned, smuggled me woodscraps to whittle fsdgjkfsgh

but parrow gives good hugs. and henya always has snacks hidden somewhere. and pumm will give you soup on the house sometimes if he can tell you’re in a rough mood. and and and........ i wuv skyloft. this is all kinnie bullshit actually.

as an opposite to that, talk about groose! i've always loved him as a character, and the bits you've said about him and his relationship with link and zelda is always great! also, any notable kin memories you have of groose? especially things that occured after he left skyloft, or even after the demise fight. what did he get up to after the credits rolled?

talked about him a lil bit in my last ask hehe

fun stories about your loftwing? were there any traits you and him shared notably? or any that were more opposite?

aepon & i were the kind of pair where we seemed really dissimilar on the surface but i think if anyone actually knew us they’d be able to discern pretty quickly that we were 100% twinning. like at face value i was a pretty calm and quiet person who was just, like. spacey and sleepy and vibing while things happened around me, and aepon was this absolute speed demon who had the biggest, loudest presence any time he entered a space. ppl in skyloft called him my red terror.

but the thing about my bird is that he was stubborn to a fault, and recklessly brave, and he just didn’t. stop. and he loved fiercely, the second i was awake in the morning i’d hear him circling overhead and shrieking his happy little shriek, he’d fill my head with all his thoughts of hanging out with me while i was trying to concentrate on work. all those things, we had in common, but i wouldn’t have been able to tell you that. someone like zelda probably would have. 

i think the best representation of it is at the beginning of everything when the tornado took zelda, the both of us just. dove right in. nothing else mattered, no conflict existed within either of us, i didn’t have to steer him in or send my intentions into our shared headspace, he just turned into an arrow flying straight into danger, and i went with him and we were one living being. like that’s our core. we are very opposite, until shit gets real, and then we are this beautiful unity tearing through the clouds. 

what are some of your favorite things about your favorite iterations of zelda? what i mean by that is like... what do you like best about tetra/wind waker zelda? what about skyward zelda? botw zelda? they're similar but all unique people, so what endears you the most about each of them?

HOW DO I COUNT THE WAYS I LOVE ZELDA AHHHHH

oot!zelda’s determination to defy fate... the way she refuses, from the start, to give in to darkness even though she’s only a little girl. the way she sees my commoner ass just waltz up into her private garden after breaking into her house still dressed in my stupid forest clothes and shes like. oh fuck yeah, wanna help me overthrow the gerudo king? and we’re, can’t stress this enough, ten. she’s so confident like she never worries about being powerless or out of her element, she never for a second believes this isn’t something she can fight. and when everything goes to shit she just keeps fighting!!! and still has the time to remind me that i can keep fighting too!!! literally where did she get that personality i love her so much!!!!

tetra’s fucking... simmering fire. her perfect balance between action and thought. like you can tell she’s pissed off and wants to start throwing punches but she always has the self-control to assess if it’s the thing to do in the moment. I CAN’T DO THAT!!! i’m pissed off i want to swords!!!! that motherfucker over there is PROVOKING ME!!!!! and tetra has the same fire inside her but she’s always just, like, “shut the fuck up, link. put your sword away. we need to get the jump on him.” and im like, AHHHHHHH because she’s always right. literally always. i don’t know how she does this but i think about it constantly. i love her level head and her scheming heart and her choice to carve her own destiny. i like how she finds out she’s a legendary princess from an age long past with sacred blood and shes just like ‘that’s cool but actually i’m tetra and i like to cuss and steal.’ and just does that forever. it resonates with me especially because even though the gods acknowledged me as the hero of winds i, like, wasn’t a ‘true’ incarnation of the hero. it’s just what i decided to be with what i was given. she and i are two sides of that coin and there is something beautiful abt that i don’t have words for. in a lot of ways she was my inspiration.

skyward!zelda’s um. everything? everything. i am so in love with her. i am so in love... with her. i am finding it harder to describe her than everyone else here which is so silly because she’s easily the person i was closest with. she’s just, like, made of fire and love? of passion. everything she is stems from what she loves--she loves old legends, and cliche romance stories, and stargazing, and going on adventures. zelda romanticizes everything in her life, she’ll stop mid-sentence to make you look at the sky because it struck her as particularly beautiful today, meanwhile i’m just like. thats the sky i see it every day i live here. and she’s so brave, so fierce, so resilient--there’s literally nothing that could scare her, i’m certain she got to the surface and immediately started spitting curses at blins, if ghirahim had actually found her alone she would have tried to come at him clawing and spitting. i was always so chill because all my anger was Stored in The Zelda, she’d just fight half my battles for me before i could register they were battles. idk. zelda was such an optimist who took everything in stride and believed, no matter what, that she could make it her own and make it beautiful and find something to adore within it. i might have had a quieter disposition, but she was always better at dealing with change than me. it was calming. i love her so much.

botw!zelda’s passion and inquisitive heart, oh my god, oh my god. i’m going to fucking fight everyone in the kingdom who ever made her feel like she talks too much. god it enthralls me, the way she just talks and talks and talks and LETS ME LISTEN, she lets me just SIT THERE and BASK IN IT like some kind of COLD REPTILE ON A ROCK. i literally cannot comprehend how she can fit so much knowledge about so many different things in her brain, and the way she’s ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT, literally just getting together with her techie friends and building whole ass machines when she was like 6 years old. shes looking at me like ‘oh this child prodigy curse my shortcomings why cant i be pulling enchanted swords when IM 12′ and im like PRINCESS YOU’RE FUCKING COOLER THAN ME LIKE CONGRATS I TOUCH A SWORD SOMETIMES AND YOU COULD LITERALLY MAKE A ROBOT TO DO THAT FOR YOU oh my god the way she doesn’t see how incredible she is makes me go insane i feel insane just thinking about it she’s the coolest fucking person i’ve ever met she’s the coolest person in hyrule the kingdom is too good for her i want her to take apart hyrule castle brick by brick and just leave a note behind that says ‘im too cool for you’ and then she gets on my ancient magic motorcycle and rides off into the sunset to some paradise far away and if i’m LUCKY she takes me with her. i love zelda

Hi again, I'm the anon that asked the question about the Master Sword and I'd like to echo Scrawlers's appreciation. I've asked a few questions before in the past and the answers you give are just the absolute best. Thank you so much for taking the time to not only respond but to do so in such an entertaining way. If you're up for another question, I recently picked up Link's Awakening and it got me thinking. How would RR!Link handle being stranded on Koholint Island? (1/2)

How would he deal with knowing that the whole island and its inhabitants have to vanish for him to escape? (2/2)

Aww, thank you!

So full disclosure, I have only played Link’s Awakening once, and that was back in the early nineties when it first came out.  So my memory of it could generously be described as hazy.

Having said that, RR!Link would handle being shipwrecked and stuck on an unfamiliar island about as well as he handled being out of Hyrule just before Reconciliations, or stuck in Termina in Majora’s Mask, which is to say: Not well.  Much anger.  Very growl.

I’m trying to remember if I liked the characters in that one, or if they all went into a box with Rauru and the Deku Tree in my head.  I think I liked the main lady (Marin), based on the fact that I remember her name and vague impressions of who I thought she was.  So she’d probably get to be his friend during that whole time.

I think the spin I would put on the end isn’t necessarily that its inhabitants have to vanish for him to escape, it’s that they never existed in the first place, and he has to deal with that.  By the time he gets to the end, he’d have relationships with them, opinions of them, and he’ll have memories of them after he leaves.  He wouldn’t necessarily feel guilt over “killing” them, but he’d feel betrayed by the universe for having faked him out like that.  Now he has to grieve them, but they aren’t real, so that’s a whole mental clusterfuck for him.  

Also, this isn’t the first time he’s been through something adjacent to this - he ALSO had relationships with people in the time between waking up as an adult in OOT and Zelda changing time at the end of the game.  While those PEOPLE are real and mostly still exist, the memories he has of them didn’t happen.  Those people don’t remember them.  Those relationships, in the shape and form and state they were in, don’t exist.  But he remembers them as though they do, and he feels things when he speaks to those people that are real to him and confusing for everyone else because the relationship those feelings are based on doesn’t exist anymore.  Also, some of those people don’t exist anymore, because some of them are dead.  They died and Link never met them in this timeline, they never knew him, he wasn’t a part of their lives, but they’re still a part of his.  And that’s a complicated grief to navigate.  At least with the others he can take steps to reestablish the lost relationships, but sometimes that’s just not possible.  There are also people who aren’t the same people as they were when he met them and established a relationship with them.  Changing time changed everything.  Not everyone followed the same paths, made the same decisions, became the same person they were in the lost timeline.  So there are people who WERE friends, but who will never BE friends now (maybe they’re in a better place now, maybe they’re in a worse one, who knows) because they aren’t the same person Link was friends with anymore.  Their life went differently and so THEY are different.

So him losing that whole island of people at the end is a mirror image of that pain all over again.  So if I were to fic it, if Majora’s Mask is Link processing his own PTSD, Link’s Awakening would be Link processing his grief over the loss of those seven years and everyone and everything within them.  Learning to accept it and move on.  Learning to forgive them for being different or absent now, for forgetting him when he can’t forget them, learning to forgive Zelda, maybe, because what’s done is done and sometimes it can’t be about what WOULD have been the right thing to do, and has to be about the fact that the only way forward is forward.

Also, probably I’d stick Zelda on that ship with him and they can get shipwrecked together and they can work through that fight as part of the plot’s unravelling.  And then Zelda can deal with her own side of that whole equation, which is not insignificant.  That grief I described for Link is ALSO her grief, except where Link lost let’s-call-it-a-year, since he was asleep in the Sacred Realm for seven years, Zelda lost that whole not-quite-a-decade.  She lost a childhood where she grew up as Impa’s actual daughter-son.  She lost all the relationships she made in that time too, and unlike Link she cannot reclaim them, because they were made when she wasn’t a Princess or a Queen, and her own context is changed by it.  She can’t travel all around Hyrule reaching out and re-establishing connections.  And then that gets into some interesting questions for her around how she feels about that, and how much of that she was ready for when she did what she did, and how that affected her decision one way or another.  Her decision was nuanced, and there are elements lurking in the shadows around her justification that she’s not really dealing with, and sticking her on a make-believe dream island with Link would force the issue.

Also, sorry, that was a tangent and I’m not sure if I answered your question, but if not let me know and I’ll try again, LoL.

I felt like writing a little snippet to give you guys an idea of how I write. And since it is my self insert / dimensional travel month and I'm super hyped about the sequel to breath of the wild I thought why not do that.

Here is a small drabble I did for fun that I might continue depending on reactions.

 The fields of hyrule where much calmer these days, since Link had done away with the calamity. Sure he had the aid of the princess and the goddess but the actual slaying part you solely gave to Link. But he had become your best friend of sorts. Well best friend and unwilling guardian. But you were so new to hyrule with your odd clothing and round ears he couldn't just leave you.

 You had told him everything after the first time you almost died. About why you fell out of a shrine where the monk was supposed to be...or rather what you thought. Lots of things about the string theory and parallel dimensions confused him more then helped but after a few hours he got what you were saying.

 Link had been rightfully weirded out by the entire 'I've seen how your future plays out and know more about your past in this life and old ones' but after promising not to tell him anything about any of that ever again unless he asked had quelled some of that bubbling anxiety he had about you sticking around.

 Almost a year and many, many near death experiences and you were proud to say you had the whole hylian thing down. At times it was fun, a real adventure like you had only dreamed but no matter how good things were going you always found yourself think of home...well your old home.

 Link had promised to help you find a way back or some clue to it at least after you helped him with a few divine beast. But with Zelda back he didn't have time for you. Which while painful you got it. You didn't truly belong no matter how hard you tried. You were an intruder on a story that was never meant for you.

 So while he did his best to help Zelda try and fix the mess the calamity had caused you decided to go and make your own story. For all you knew this was your world now and you had to make your spot in it.

 The knickering of your horse pulled you from your internal monolog.

"Something the matter Stacy?" You surveyed the land from beside your giant horse. It had always been your favorite in game and with its strength and power you had named it Devastator which had in a roundabout way become shortened to Stacy. He didn't seem to care.

 Stacy nudged you back into the cave as if trying to protect you from something. This was common for him. While Link had caught him at your insistence, you bonded with the horse making it chose you over the hero.

 You had learned to follow that instinct of the horse about danger. Sure you could fight but you couldn't take large groups or overly skilled ones. You were still learning. What you didn't expect was for the earth to quake and the sky to darken. This wasn't part of the story or game you knew of. Whatever was happening you and all of hyrule were going into it blind.

 "Fuck me...thats not supposes to happen!" Your awe was quickly fading to fear. The danger of everyone dying was supposed to he over. Safe now that the calamity was gone!

 In hindsight you should have known something would happen something big you wouldn't have known about. It was a real world after all not just a game that stopped after you had finished the plot. Time was realb these people were real, and the danger was very very painfully real.

 "Okay okay we got this Stacy. We'll just go back to Hateno village or the domain and find Link. He will know what's going on." You climbed onto the horse and began your journey to find Link and the answers of what was to come in the near future.

 "I wonder just how fucked Hyrule is this time yeah?"

Hello! It's your Super Smash Bros. Secret Santa!! Can you explain about Breath of the Wild and what's is so different about it? (Yes, I am quite new to Zelda games... 😅). And what is crackship? Need a good ol' help please? Thank you. ~Super Smash Bros. Secret Santa

Okokok, I THINK I did a somewhat-decent job answering all your questions under the cut, but for a writer, I am REALLY bad at explaining things, so hopefully it's alright!

Also, I want to clarify for ya, Anon-you can disregard any or all of the stuff I ramble about down here. In general, I added a LOT of super-specific stuff to my list to give whoever plenty of options, but frankly, you could give me a crayon doodle of one of my mains and I'd be happy. I don't want you to feel obligated make anything specific-whatever you think you can make, and whatever sounds fun to you!

#1: Okay, in the interest of not going on for FOREVER, the main reason I listed BotW specifically is because I like the Zelda series in theory, but I am very bad at puzzles and have too poor a memory to keep track of long quest lines, so I am Very Very Bad at most Zelda games.

But! Putting that aside, I also just really love the aesthetics of BotW, both the magic-tech-fusion and the beautiful wilderness and small settlements. Plus, the events of all the past games are so far off in the past that they're only seen in the form of old ruins and myths and it's just SUCH a neat mystery element, especially since they also throw in stuff that ISN'T related to anything else in the series just to throw you off your rhythm.

I also apparently have a soft spot for amnesiac protagonists? Which I didn't notice until my friend teased me over it, but yeah, I love BotW!Link but he makes me sad.

So, short version: I like the LoZ series as a whole; but I'm too dumb for traditional Zelda games and can only really handle wandering around lost in the middle of nowhere, and BotW is a really good take on wandering around lost in the middle of nowhere. #2: Crackship is basically shorthand for any particularly bonkers and weird ship. It could be weird because they wouldn't be a good couple, because they don't have any chemistry, or (in the case of basically EVERY Smash Bros ship.) because they're from straight up different times or universes. In the case of my Smash Bros. pairings-both romantic and platonic-there's basically no interaction between them even in the context of Smash, but it's fun to think about, and based on their personalities, I feel like they'd get along. #3: Playlists-how you go about it is really up to you! Usually, in this case it's a set of songs inspired by a certain series, character, ship, etc., based off of lyrics, or sometimes just the Vibes. That's what I've been doing for the SSB Secret Santa in the past.

(Example 1) (Example 2) (Example 3)

They tend to be a bit of an eclectic collection of songs, at least when I make 'em, since I both try to make them at least 15 songs long and have no regard for genres. The Kirby and Inkling one was mostly just 'action-y music that has the right energy,' the Pit one was more character-specific, and the Sheik one was somewhere in between. With Smash Bros., when in doubt, just adding upbeat music that feels like it fits the energy of that specific character is always a good option.

Of course, it's all up to you. If you're more comfortable writing, drawing, editing, whatever, that's awesome too! I just don't see a lotta folks doing fanmixes, and I think they're neat, so I thought I'd signal that it's an option.

#4: I was gonna say 'Oh, thanks for asking for one per volume, I'm bad at decisions,' but THAT'S NOT HELPING AS MUCH AS I'D THOUGHT, especially in some cases. *glares at Volumes 2, 4 and 7* So, some of these are doubled-up, sorry!

I Burn (full version, not the Yellow trailer version)

Either Caffeine or Sacrifice

I'm The One

Either Armed and Ready or This Life Is Mine

All Things Must Die

Big Metal Shoe

Either Hero or Brand New Day

Honorable mentions: I May Fall Die, It's My Turn, Lusus Naturae, Ignite, One Thing, War.

*shakes out hands* Now, my laptop battery is dying and I need to cook dinner, so lemme know if you need anything else, and I'll get ot it later/tomorrow!