Leave It In The Sun, a Wind Waker Fan Comic

This comic was made in 2021 for @zelink-fanzine. I spent a lot of time in 2020 playing wind waker and listening to the beach boys and i wanted to make something that captured the feeling. I really love Tetra and I really don't love how she gets sidelined in the third act of the game so I wanted to take it in a route that felt more like Tetra. I spent a long time on this comic and the composition and textures and listened to a lot of music. Specifically the dress pose on page 2 and the spiral mural on page 3 were the hardest parts of the comic by far. I wouldn't have been able to make this comic without the friends I talked to on the discord phone while making it. Pretty much every part of this comic I can look at something and remember the conversation I had while drawing that specific thing. I really felt an impulse to "Prove Myself" with this one, and I'm really glad I did! it had a really warm reception and made me feel like I Did It, if you know what i mean.

The name "Leave it in the Sun" is a reference to a Jeff Rosenstock song of the same name. The whole album "NO DREAM" was a really big part of giving me the energy to finish this comic but this song was specifically the big one to me. It may not have been intentionally written to be a love song but i just find the lyrics soo romantic and triumphant. Since this whole comic was about reinterpreting meaning from old texts I felt like it was the only thing I could name this comic! The main part was like

If you knew that I think about you every single day

would it make you feel like I'm too much for you?

Or would you kinda wanna say

"You don't have to feel that way

I've been trying not to think about you too."

To any who are interested here's a big youtube playlist of the music i listened to while making this. honestly was pretty useful! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwEKjLDquWHV9QsmbiK9qN_Rtf9C7Fc8j

Special thanks to Ria, Marty, Gabes, Lilly, Fizz, Becksa, Kram, Step, Maddy, Iz, and the zelink zine people. Everyone else helped a lot but without Ria I wouldnta got past the first thumbnail sketch..shoutout ria

What are each of the past link's wives/girlfriends?

Many of my Links in my story have had their time together with their loved ones, but some of them have missed it and some risked losing it. I explain it better below:

Sky: He lived a full life with his Zelda, they founded Hyrule and they protected all their inhabitants, they even had 1 son and 1 daughter who continued to pass on their values.

Time: After being sent back in time by Zelda, he decided to train to become a great soldier of Hyrule and get permission to marry Zelda. Their love was strong, but on the last battle Time lost his life, and their love was broken.

Wind: He and Tetra loved each other very much and after their adventures they continued to sail the seas together, but then Tetra wanted to explore very dangerous places looking for treasures and came into conflict with Wind who didn't want to risk losing her, that thing made their relationship impossible and they ended up separating. After so many years, however, Tetra returned to Wind having understood that her adventures were empty without her partner, and they returned to travel together.

Twilight: As I had already told in another post, Twilight manages to return to Midna despite dying, and the goddess gives him a new life as a spirit of twilight, and so they get married. Little curiosity I can tell you is that they have a daughter who is now the new twilight princess

Wild: Wild loves Zelda but I can't say anything about the two of them sorry, too many spoilers!

World: He was the classic "I love my freedom", he never had the desire to create a family and never got too attached to anyone.

I hope I have explained everything well and I hope you like my Terra design! Thank you for your request!

The Pirate Queen of Hyrule.

A lil' Tetra sketch I did

Wait. Drawing these two next to each other just gave me this comedic genius-

Idk person: What would you do if your partner is in danger?

Amity: Murder. No hesitation.

Wind: Tetra? In danger? Pfft- She is the danger. That girl shot me out of a cannon the first time I met her. I would run in the opposite direction.

I drew more WW stuff :]

Drew something a bit different this time ^^

I know I said not to think too deeply about it on my last Mask and Fi drawing [THIS] but... I thought too deeply about it, augh. Their relationship is so complicated but I wanted to show another side of it. Hopefully I managed it here.

Fi may not have understood the animosity Mask showed towards her back in the war, but that's not the case after everything. And even if they have a bond now (kind of) it's... messy. And it's not like Mask has the stones to open the door (nor does he think he should, what with what happened last time he did). So... yeah...

It's a bit bittersweet and there's still resentment there. Just. Complicated.

i like to imagine them in happy situations like these!

Toon Zeldas again

Man, I really love the Wind Waker Ganondorf fight. It feels different from other fights in the series in the sense that you aren't fighting to save a kingdom or the princess. Sure, Link went in that tower to get Tetra back and stop Ganondorf, but when the fight happens, that isn't why they are fighting anymore.

Tetra is already there with Link, and Ganondorf had already lost; Daphnes stole his wish. Ganondorf has lost everything, and now the only thing he desires is to take Link and Tetra down with him as the hope for the future he wanted was given to them.

A fight you go into expecting to be one to save a friend and stop the villain became nothing more than a battle of survival. The waters of the great sea are crashing down as it is to kill or be killed.

Throughout the whole journey, Link and Tetra both struggled against Ganondorf. The first visit to the forsaken fortress he throws Link into the sea to drown. The second time, he knocks Link down and is about to strike him down with his blade, Tetra just barely coming in to save Link on time, and even then, they're both not strong enough. Finally, in Ganon's tower, after going through Ganondorf's trials without even getting a chance to fight him, this man straight up beats this small child and steals his triforce. Every confrontation with this man has gone wrong, and yet it's now or ever because if they lose, they will die, and no one is there to save them this time.

The battle theme is intense. It really is two very small children fighting this huge man, but just as they're the hope of the future every once in a while, the great seas theme will play as if there is a gleam of hope. That they can make it out alive.

However, even then when they do win, it isn't a triumphant one. Anytime Link has beaten a boss in the game, he is overjoyed and ecstatic. He is jumping up and down as he slayed the monster. He won.

Yet for Ganondorf, this is his reaction for killing a man.

He looks to be in disbelief, frightened even. Whatever he is feeling, it sure isn't a good one. How could he feel good about this? One thing is for sure is that he is exhausted, and he almost passes out then and there, with Tetra needing to catch him.

I just love everything about this fight. From the music and setting to the aftermath and why you're fighting him. You're not fighting to win or save the day. You're simply fighting to live.

windwaker if it was actually a good game

link carrying! based on this tweet

Tetra's fucking eyes are not eyeing!!! Aksvdksvsksvsksvskd

Day 10: Zelda

Tetra, the pirate Queen! 🏴‍☠️👑

WW Link was raised on a tiny little island by his grandmother, with his closest in age peer being his baby sister. Both his grandmother and the two old men on the island taught him on stories of past Heroes and knightly valor. The only other family on the island has two little toddlers who adore and follow him around as if he hung the stars. This boy was raised to be a gentleman who helps everyone without hesitation, a perfect example of ideal knightly chivalry, protecting and caring for women, children and the elderly.

And then the day he enters adolescence, filled with stories of the Hero saving his Princess and the kingdom, he meets a girl his age for the first time in his life, captured and in danger just like the damsels in distress from his stories.

And she instantly starts bullying him

Because Tetra was raised by pirates who obey her every command without hesitation. This girl is half feral, will stab unprovoked, and has probably never heard the words 'manners' or 'no' in life. For all her ignorance of her lineage, she is still a spoiled princess, just instead of proper tutors and nursemaids at her beckon call she has a rowdy crew of pseudo uncles and brothers that are trying their best to raise this little girl but are still pirates. She says "I'm bored. Let's fight a sea monster!" and they gleefully say "Yes Miss Tetra! Here's your sword!" without hesitation.

And Link falls in love, with this feral gremlin, who thinks it's funny to shoot him out of a catapult, across open ocean, face first, into a wall, of a heavily armed enemy fortress.

And once their adventure is done, his little sister decides this is her new rolemodel.

And now Link is the Hero and Tetra is the Princess, and they're tasked with re-founding the kingdom of Hyrule.

And I really want to see more of their dynamic in this lifetime than we see in their two games. I want to see Grandma's reaction to meeting the Princess that her grandson loves and granddaughter idolizes. I want to see him attempting to woo her using how he was taught to treat people, and her just being so confused by all this sappy softness. I want to see the kingdom of Hyrule that was founded by a fierce Pirate Queen and her tender gentleman Hero, before it was stabilized by any future generations. Because the dichotomy of their upbringings has such comedic potential that is not utilized enough.