So, I have a million questions I want to ask you about deity stuff, but since apparently I can’t WORD this week, I’ll just ask you what comes to mind since I’m writing a fic with an adjacent question at its core, and I love so many of your stories and insights.
What do you think would make Sky completely lose faith in Hylia? How would he respond, in your opinion?
what a question mark
i got this though, had to hop back on my compooter for this one tho get that full keyboard swagggg
OK throughout many of the zelda games, its demonstrated that good and evil is a conscious choice and effort. some of them explore the characters' boundaries with these choices, others explore the idea of corruptive forces as a natural illness.
and some people might say "well the gods are exempt" except the gods are not! demise and hylia have agency. they make plans and active choices and sacrifices in order to get what they want in whatever fashion that is. even in twilight princess the idea that ganon receives the triforce of power is a cruel joke from the gods
often explored in zelda is this idea of balance. the triforce came from three goddesses and yet we routinely see power be abused or the wielder of power destined to do evil. would this then not mean that the goddesses are also weighing their own virtues against one another in an effort to maintain a harmonious balance of good and evil
i think at its core, the zelda series (perhaps due to OoT having its own overarching religious meta regarding japanese buddhism) explores this notion of an ever present balancing act of good/evil, light/dark, divine/mortal and further that one is necessary for the other
SO what would make sky, a mortal, turn his back on hylia, the divine?
i think hylia actively making a choice of cruelty even for the sake of "the greater good". and maybe further, bc sky is so baked into it from the start, it takes him a while to realize hes been utilized as a pawn to exact some notion of cruel fate on someone else
it could be something dramatic like hylia calling for the death of maybe another mortal, but i think it could even be something which speaks to skys protectiveness. what if zelda was slowly unravelling in a constant tug of war between her own mortality and being a divine vessel? sky watches the woman he loves slowly lose touch with her people but have no company in her righteousness either. if zelda has prophetic dreams, what if she sees her loved ones die? what if sky sees them too? what if sky pleads to hylia to just please show zelda a little bit of mercy and give her some peace and hylia refuses bc thats what zelda was born for
or even within the realm of the heros curse, sky realizing that the curse was never *his* fault the way hes felt, but the result of a struggle between greater powers that he had to intervene in bc hylia *lost*
i dont think sky is entitled in any way, but imagine him sacrificing what remains of his childhood, giving up his own peace and serenity, seeing the ugliness in the world, and hylia cant do him or zelda this *one* favor and let her get a good nights rest or comfort him when he sees the heroes who come after
and then as that begins to snowball, sky slowly dwelling on this idea that he has no choice and never did. groose changes of his own volition. groose morphs from a bully into one of links closest friends (or lovers depending on the hc). groose makes an active decision to become a better person and write his own destiny by entangling himself with zelda and links. zelda and link never had the luxury of choice to begin with. they are divine objects more or less.
link gets to see other skyloftians build lives their way. they pursue their passions and make a place in the world through active self exploration but links fate was written for him before he was even born
and hylias not perfect otw demise would have never needed to be resealed right? he wouldve been destroyed
i think it would be a slow unraveling that starts with just a thread. one bad dream too many, one out of touch remark, one instance of zelda pulling away and i think it unrolls into the rest of this insanity and ultimately leads to an identity crisis
bc perhaps link *does* turn his back on hylia but is that really a choice he has? what happens when hylia needs her chosen hero again? will he be forced to act or simply compelled bc if he doesnt he'll lose everyone and everything?
in a way, that choice gives link an opportunity to exact cruelty himself bc hylia needs him more than he needs her
as for his response to the crisis, i think he would actually grieve. hylia is a lot closer to skyloftians than other instances of hylians. i think link would go through the 5 stages
denying that hylia could ever be capable of doing wrong or making a mistake
angry that it falls on him, angrier that it falls on zelda
bargaining for some kind of answer or response
depressed over his own lack of agency
acceptance that he can still make his own path regardless of faith or not
and i think in the end link would end up in a sort of easy reverence of hylia. not necessarily blind worship of her as maybe he did previously, but a deeper understanding of the worlds natural current. i think ultimately it brings him peace to know that his life *does* mean something, that hes done something worthwhile, and i think he develops his own compass out of it
after all is said in done, i think he relies on hylia and a divine structure less and looks inward for reflections and instincts. to that end, i think he mostly gives up on the hero thing and is determined to form his own identity. hero is not synonymous with good person and i think at his core, link just wants to be a good person and he realizes he can do that without hylias guidance
so i guess the loss of faith isnt a total loss of faith. he would still have faith in hylia to some degree that things will work out but i do think he loses faith in hylias capability
ANYWAY sorry this was so long, hopefully it makes sense lmao
we could get further into legacy too with link realizing that just bc hylia and himself cant be separated, she has nothing on his legacy through say his children or the way the kingdom gets built
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