So I saw a screenshot of Ralph without his hat (for his wedding outfit + I think a DLC outfit didn't have it?) and honestly. There's a reason he wears it. It's unfair if he doesn't. Olive Town really is just "hot bisexuals in your area" and they would thrive if they advertised it as such.

ROUND 4 MATCH 7

Chrom propaganda:

“Chrobin (Chrom x player character) is so many tropes in one oml. You have friends-to-lovers (Chrom and Robin are canonically best friends according to Nintendo), enemies-to-lovers (Robin is heir to the Grimleal cult, the enemy of the Halidom of Ylisse which Chrom is the prince, and later king, of), there's amnesia, time travel, official next-gen AUs, changed dialogue to lore important events in the game if you marry Chrom, and Nintendo keeps teasing us with the ship. Cheery prince who knows when to be serious, very strategically smart but very bad at communicating, a guy that can comfort you when you're down, make a fool of himself when you're not around, and he's just generally a very sweet guy. Also please consider the fact that you get to watch a cutscene of him dying in the prologue and despite the horrors he's just so supportive of the protagonist. Chrom doesn't care about where you came from or who you're related to, he cares for YOU. He gets KILLED by the protag and he reassures them that they did nothing wrong and pleads with them to get out, to a safe place. I lost my soul to Chrom, I physically can't play this game without romancing him.”

“He eats oranges with the peel still on, he's an absolute himbo. Also the writers accidentally made his daughter canonically trans so he definitely supports trans rights. And technically you can only marry him if you play as female Robin but their dynamic is still just as romantic if you play as male Robin (they literally call each other their other half and m!Robin and Chrom have a valentine's day duo unit in the gatcha, and in the anthology manga m!Robin asks Chrom to make polygamy legal so he can also marry Chrom's wife and they can be a family) so most people play the game with the gay mod so they can still marry him as a guy. He's incredibly stupid ("yeah, let's set all our ships on fire then walk through a volcano, you're so smart, Robin" "I know you've had prophetic visions about killing me and our daughter came from the future to warn us it would happen but I'm sure THIS TIME it won't because of the power of our bonds") but also really sweet. In the summer DLC they're fighting on a beach and when he sees Robin get excited over a weird creature they found he immediately forgets about the battle and starts trying to make a bunch of crafts (and failing) and cooking food (and failing again) and writing "Chrom and Robin were here" in the sand so that Robin could have some nice beach memories. I'm obsessed with this man”

Asra propaganda:

“He GIVES AWAY HALF HIS HEART TO REVIVE YOU okay but like. He's the MCs roommate and they were together for a few years before the MC caught a plague and died and he obsesses over a way to bring them back before succeeding by making a deal with a god to trade half his heart for MC and betraying the emperor. And then when MC comes back but without any of their memories, he takes care of them and teaches them how to live all over again and he never asks for anything in return. On all the routes where you don't choose him he's really supportive and helps you out despite your history and overall he's just really nice and supportive of the MC and is their rock no matter what route you go down. Also he has a pet snake named Faust and I love her she's so <33 

Idk I just appreciate him so much”

"He gave you half his HEART!! He would literally go to hell and back for you!! He wants to take you on adventures all around the world—doesn’t matter where, as long as he’s by your side!! AND he’s nonbinary!!!"

Luis’ ‘Secret’ Death Cutscene

I don’t actually know how many people here on Tumblr know about this, so I figured I’d make a post- But in Seperate Ways during the part of the game where you have to rescue Luis from his burning lab, if you stand juuuuuuuuust outside of where he is but don’t actually go IN to save him, you get this special cutscene!!!!!!!!

And I just find the whole thing S O INTERESTING. Like,,,, first of all, we technically have a second (or third if you count the OG (and I’m not sure if there are any other cutscenes like this so correct me if I’m wrong!!)) Death for Luis!!!!!!! And it’s a goddamn poignant one at that too!!!!!!!!!

Like,,, first off; obviously, we have the paralells to his Grandfather burning in his childhood home. The fact that if it weren’t for Ada, there would’ve been a VERY REAL chance that Luis dies the same way his Grandfather died is just,,,,,, S O HEARTBREAKING TO ME?????????? Like Luis has a pretty repetitive theme of him almost dying in significant locations (If it weren’t for Leon, he would’ve died in a body bag underneath his childhood home) and unlike his Grandfather, who at least got to WRITE him a LETTER, he would’ve died in the exact same tragic way too!!!!!!! MAN!!!!!!

And then there’s the whole scene in general; A core part of Luis’ character is that he wants to do ANYTHING to survive. Not in a, ‘save your own skin’ kind of way, but he wants to survive because he wants to CHANGE. He wants to make a POSITIVE IMPACT and atone for his actions; he wants to get out so he can show the world he isn’t a monster and he wants to find love and meaning in life. Hell, he was even about to FISTFIGHT THE DAMN MONKS in that prison cell- THATS how desperate he was to get out and live and thrive!!!!!!!

Yet here he is, literally throwing himself into a burning building and- in this case- DYING without a second thought. He has to literally tear himself away from Ada to run into the lab

Because goddamnit he CARES SO MUCH ABOUT LEON AND ASHLEY AND ADA!!!!!!!! He would LITERALLY DIE for them!!!!!!!!!! He is NOT in this to save his own skin, CLEARLY- he sees his chance to finally show SOMEBODY he can do good and to HELP S O M E O N E for ONCE in his life, and he sees that goodness and that love in Leon and the rest of them- and he would do ANYTHING to help them get out, even if it meant throwing away his chance to live and escape Valdelobos.

And he doesn’t even hesitate, either?????? Like I said he literally has to rip himself away from Ada to run into the BURNING DAMN BUILDING cuz he’s that desperate and that was his first thought!!!!!!!!!!

And if Ada hadn’t gotten there in time, he WOULD have died. He would have died exactly like his grandfather; and he would have died with the world thinking he was the villain. He would have died having his actions only ever do bad. Even if he didn’t mean them to. He would have died in the middle of nowhere with no legacy to his name-

And worst of all, he wouldn’t have figured out to get the suppressants for Leon Ashley and Ada. He would’ve died, and Leon and Ashley would have had no idea. They probably would’ve thought he just,,, run off. They’d have no clue how hard he fought to help them.

I’m actually disappointed Ganondorf nuke explosion death had no consequences on the land. A bomb just exploded in a giant beam of light. And nothing happened? No mountain cracked, not a single tree destroyed, no land was burned? At least give us a crater. An honorary Ganon crater, just for him. Forever imbedded into the earth

I HATE THAT THEY EXPLODED HIM FOR SO MANY REASONS-

I feel like exploding Ganondorf was such a hollow way to end his life. Apart from my issues around the fact that this nullifies everything we've learned about draconification after the game spent a couple of cutscenes reinforcing the permanency and immortality factor of the act, it just felt really annoying that it didn't apply to either Zelda or Ganondorf who are the main dragons of this story. (And before someone comes at me with the "oh what if dragons are immortal like lobsters are where they only die when they are killed" well, okay, then why spend so much time telling me, in several cutscenes, that dragons lose themselves and are immortal and it cannot be reversed? When it's emphasized that much the purpose is usually to reinforce that becoming a dragon is really *really* a permanent change, not that by the power of love and friendship and the gods hate Ganondorf that much that none of those rules apply)

Then, yeah! As you said! Ganondorf's explosion was of nuclear proportions! Fine, Link and Zelda are special and being right in the vicinity didn't vaporize them somehow (I guess another power of Rauru and Sonia is to pull Link into some pocket dimension to initiate their changing of Zelda back to herself or something), but the rest of Hyrule? The light from that explosion should cause eye damage in like half the population. There should be a huge crater or at least the land around him burned out of all greenery and living beings (which would at least leave a permanent legacy of what Ganondorf had intended to do). I guess we never get to really see Hyrule post-game anyways, maybe they would consider these things if we did (I highly doubt it because Hyrule's a magical place where specifically when the king of demons explodes in death Hyrule's blessed light prevents the land and its people from suffering any consequences).

(Okay fine change Zelda back to herself but also, she doesn't remember *anything* from being a dragon? Man these characters really go through everything with no consequences suffered at all! You blame Ganondorf for being mad?)

And finally, my problem really with it is how Ganondorf's death is sort of treated like...well like he was just in the way instead of a meaningful part of the story. In OoT, when you first "kill" him, Zelda acknowledges him in a show of pity, implying that he had reached a point that he just could not be saved from himself. When he is sealed away, you can see in his eyes and his face how Zelda's words about his inability to properly control his power really shows itself, having gone mad and swearing vengeance on their descendants. In Wind Waker, his final words are "The wind is blowing", perhaps alluding to what he had said previously, that the only winds he had ever felt were the winds of death, and here he is feeling it once more in death, having truly lost everything in that moment. In Twilight Princess, Ganondorf dies on his feet, the scene silent as Link and Zelda watch, as Zant cracks his neck, as Zelda bows her head once he closes his eyes. You don't have to *like * Ganondorf, but his deaths and his sealing left an impact on the player, mirroring the message and themes of the game. This just felt like "well, let's just get him out of the way quickly so we can move on to focus on Link and Zelda reuniting" which, look, I think that final fall where you dive for Zelda is epic, it gets me in the feels ngl. However, it just like, what does it say about the antagonist? What did he die for? Is he that callous and meaningless of a character that we just explode him and never acknowledge him again? That is a pretty painful way to die isn't it? I don't have all the words to convey my feelings but it just feels like, for a game that markets itself as the one that really integrates Ganondorf as a character and "solidifies his character" that it handled his death so poorly. He was as much as a whisper of a legend that he was when Link and Zelda went into the depths of Hyrule Castle by the end of the game and that just doesn't sit well with me.

okay i figured out why i ship zelink in totk and not botw. first, the botw memories don’t feel parallel to the narrative in the same way as the tear visions. second, they’re both like five years older and i relate more, especially to zelda. third—and this is the big one—link does not remember zelda in botw! so when she speaks to him or he rescues her i just don’t see any emotion or investment, which makes sense! and in the visions he is animated to be so deadpan at all times, which is to the detriment of the story they attempted to tell. most of the time he just looks bored as zelda is like freaking out and being SO extra, which is totally fine for her to be, but it was hard to take them seriously as people who would have chosen to be around each other outside of the knight/princess dynamic. she was giving too much and he was giving nothing. the balance between them is so much better in totk.

in totk, link knows zelda and he so clearly loves her. platonically or romantically, it’s undeniable. there is so much care put into his animations and vfx to show the amount of importance she has to him, how much his gut tells him to protect her— not bc of prophecy or a station, but because it’s his zelda. i felt no urgency to save her in botw, but in totk, i did almost immediately, just to have peace of mind before i play the massive amount of side content.

and this love between them in totk is always present, because it’s not like she’s just in the castle speaking to him in his head, she is so much more active in her absence. there are so many clues in the world and from the npcs who know them to suggest that they are close. we learn about the nature of their relationship, the way they’re referred to often as a unit. it’s adorable.

and to be clear, i don’t really care about the spicy aspect of shipping them, in fact i like ace link a lot, but as these close friends spanning over entire timelines? they’re so much more that in this game. they felt so disconnected in botw from the rest of their iterations.

i’m inclined to think that they had only just started to actually like and trust each other before link died before botw, which makes his sacrifice and behavior in later memories even more devastating. and then after botw they got this second chance, and trauma bonded, and eventually helped each other overcome that trauma and formed a deep connection that was their choice. and then maybe two or three years later, they recognized the desire to be in a romantic relationship, but were already doing a lot of those kinds of close things already (living together, etc). that interpretation i can 100% see in the game’s context, and enjoy as a viewer, and accept into my personal headcanon.

girl, the way he cradles her head in the final scene. his face in all the cutscenes whenever zelda is brought up. the way she gushes about who he is as a person, so freely and lovingly, and goes to such lengths to find sages to help him before making her sacrifice. it’s all so good. i have been convinced. they are wonderful for each other, and for the story itself.

Oh yeah. I keep forgetting to post this draft. So I made sketches of Mika’s parents. I kept David mainly the same but Laura got a lot of changes including becoming a lot more relevant and intimidating to specifically the boys. I should probably finally go over David and Laura’s story but I’ll be brief…ish. It’s mainly about Laura btw as David lives a generally average life.

David is the son of CEO and Warlock Harold Anderson. He too, once, was a warlock practicing demonic magic as his father did. It was basically a family tradition. He would stop the practice all together when Laura was pregnant with Mika for reasons more relevant to Laura’s entire overhaul. He is aware of demons, angels, devils and the like but his distance from his father’s magic makes him susceptible to magical influence.

Now…Laura. For the longest time I’ve been saying that Laura isn’t completely human. But I never specified what she was. She is a nephalim. Same as Saero. Only she’s half angel-half human. Her father is long gone but she does have two living family members, her mother and half brother. These two are only relevant in James’ route where if you were to get the bad end, it would be revealed that the brother managed to convince the angel of destiny to return Mika to her mother.

But what happened to her? How did she end up marrying a human? Long story short, she got curious about the human world and the origins of her father. She attempted to go to the human world only to accidentally end up in the Abyssal Plains. This takes place six years before Mika’s birth. Demons don’t take kindly to angels and especially not the Demon Lord. Next thing she knew, she was in a cell for a year. Over that year, she did attempt a few escapes that didn’t work. She would lose a wing and an eye (hence the hair covering said eye) as “consequence”. It was only when she started talking to one of the prisoners, a woman draped in a red cloak, that she found her way out. The prisoner offered her a means to escape that she was going to take herself, Laura graciously took it and ran off.

One of those “means” was a spell to summon a portal to the human world for real and so, she ended up on earth. She was battered, bruised and injured but escaped. And then she met David. And the rest is history. She didn’t tell David the full story until she felt like she had to so her unborn child wouldn’t be exposed to demonic magic or magic at all and make the same mistakes she made. David, out of both respect for his wife and a new hatred for the cruel demons that would hurt her, stopped using magic and demanded his father do the same or never speak to his child. It was one of the many wedges in their relationship.

So Mika is 25% angel and I’m not just using that as a “fun fact”. I added a piece of lore that says that angels can’t be enthralled. Laura is completely immune to enthrallment and Mika is resistant. This closes the plot hole I notice where those who were enthralled would not be aware that they were being enthralled but Mika was aware even if she couldn’t resist. This is the reason behind that. As for how this would change the housewarming party, from Mika’s perspective (aka Seduce Me 1) it wouldn’t change. In front of her daughter, Laura would pretend to be enthralled and not question the boys.

However, there could be a cutscene or episode that reveals a moment where Laura walks away from her family and towards one of the boys, the one she suspects is trying to control her. And who would that be other than Sam and Erik, the two that opened the door in the first place.

Oh yeah! Another lore thing. Angels and sense demon magic and link it to said demon. Demon magic has a sort of aura that can linger on people that demons have used their magic against. Aka, Laura can see that Sam and Erik did…something to her daughter and she’s not happy.

Randomly written ramble about LiS2 endings alert ;-; (that was initially about the Redemption ending only but then I extended it to all of the endings lmao)

The fact that, in order to get the Redemption ending, Daniel needs to have a good moral. That means not, or barely, doing anything wrong for the whole game. So when you get this ending, Sean didn't kill or hurt anyone, didn't steal anything, did absolutely nothing wrong except when he literally didn't have a choice – and the wrong things are like. Working illegally because he was homeless, running away because he was wrongly accused of murder and stealing a car because he needed to find his missing 9 years old brother. This is literally the path where you do the less wrong things in the whole game. But Sean still gets to spend 15 YEARS in jail because he was accused of a murder he didn't commit, but he didn't want to tell the truth about the accident to protect Daniel.

This is the ending where he gets 15 years of his youth stolen from him when he didn't do anything wrong. Pure injustice from the beggining to the end. I'm not joking when I tell you the Redemption ending makes me cry even more than the Lone Wolf one. Because like. The Lone Wolf one. He dies. After a while I can get over it, like... I know he dies in this one, already cried about it a couple of times, now I'm used to this ending. But the Redemption one ? Seeing the cutscene makes me cry every single time, no matter how many times I watch it.

It's just so sad because. Daniel still has a chance to get a normal life again, but if he does, he'll never be truly happy since Sean is in jail – and in the Parting Way ending, he'll be watched by autorities for his whole life since they know about his powers so it's not even a normal life. But Sean ? He just can't ever have a normal life ever again. It's prison, death, or leaving forever.

And like. In every ending, you can see they have regrets. "What if we had another ending". That's why I don't really like when people try to force their favorite ending into being "the best one", "the true one" or "the only right one" because it's literally not. They're going to regret it anyway. They seem sad in all of the endings. It's not like the other LiS where you can see the characters are confident in their final choices. Sean and Daniel aren't. In any of the endings. Especially Daniel, as we can see. He looks sad about his own choices anyway.

Lone Wolf ? "What if I listened to Sean and surrended. He would still be alive."

Redemption ? "What if we didn't surrender. We would live in Mexico together and Sean wouldn't be traumatised after having 15 years of his life taken away for nothing."

Parting Ways ? "What if I didn't jumped out of the car. I would be with Sean right now instead of never seeing him again. I wouldn't have to wear an electronic bracelet for the rest of my life."

Blood Brothers ? "What if we surrended. I would have a normal life right now. Seeing Chris and my grandparents and my mom again."

Like. To me personally, Redemption and Lone Wolf are the worst possible outcomes, and Blood Brothers is my favorite. But really, these are only personal preferences about what YOU would want in this situation, because all of the endings are bad endings anyway. Their lives are fucked up forever because random events with random people led to random accidents, and nothing can change that ever since they can't just go back in time – genius parralel to the first game. And that's just how life goes.

This game destroys me fr

So I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 non-stop. Aside from the whole constant anxiety fuel that I've been through while playing the game, something very small absolutely impressed me. Something that I didn't see in a CRPG game for a long time. First of all, I know that influencing characters in RPG's are nothing new. A lot of games have that. However, the fact that characters also gradually start to befriend, tolerate and even like each other realistically is really something I rarely see. And I don't mean it like banters or occasional cutscenes with all of those characters and stuff. I mean you actually see it in real time how things evolve and change right in front of you.

Lae'zel and Shadowheart putting aside their differences, and even sympathizing with each other, Wyll and Karlach's unusual but heartwarming friendship, Gale's constant praises and support for everyone and the fact that he says that he cares about these people, Halsin's very fatherly approach to people even if he disagrees and of course Astarion's personality slowly changing as he starts to sympathize with everyone. There are still so many examples but, this is one of the reasons you start caring about these characters. It's not just YOU who is on the front. You might be the leader but things really don't revolve around you. These characters feel so real, it actually makes me question if I'm playing a game or actually living this. It feels like I've always had those characters around me irl as friends.

I am truly impressed and in awe.

Plus I got to be with the vampire man that I adore.

Thank you Larian, for your hard work and dedication. I feel like this game will stay with me for a very long time.

What do you think about the fact that people genuinely characterize / write PK in fanfiction systematically hunting down / killing stray vessels wandering around Hallownest? or kicking them down from the ramp in the Abyss? like this has been on my mind a lot since this was one of my first fandom impressions I've got from him, which hm.

But anyway, this seems very ooc of him, especially since he's more of a passive and negligent kind of person, than a intentionally actively agressive one. What do you think?

I think that its fucking stupid, and I have no idea where people got the idea for it. A really common interpretation of the lore when I first joined the fandom was that PK would hatch the eggs in the White Palace (or, just create them in his workshop like the kingsmoulds and wingsmoulds), train them for a bit, and then throw the impure ones into the Abyss. This was seen as canon by many people and was the prevalent interpretation of the vessel-creating process. Many people also believed that the Path of Pain was a method for testing if the vessels were pure, and that PK would actively throw them into the gauntlet. Which would kind of make sense as agility training for PV down the line, but not as a means of testing out purity, ESPECIALLY since it...doesn't exist in the physical world. The White Palace as we see it in-game is a twisted amalgamation of what it was in the past to keep intruders away from the Pale King's dying location. So all that fanart of PK kicking vessels into buzzsaws is just for memes, not for serious interpretation.

And while I see the potential for angst, it was extremely disorienting for me to see after actually playing the game because there's just...no proof of it whatsoever. Like, I don't even know where the concept of any of that shit came about in the first place, because we explicitly see how the vessel-choosing process worked in the Abyss cutscene. The eggs were placed in the Abyss; the vessels hatched from them, then were called to climb up to the ramp by the Pale King. Said climb is near-impossible for a newly hatched vessel, as proved by challenge runners who tried it without any upgrades, so 99.9% of them failed, likely dissuading many on the abyss's floor. The vessel that made the climb was therefore not only proven to be capable of following orders without question, but also being physically fit enough to seal the Radiance.

We don't know if others made the climb and were thrown back down by PK after judgement, but there's also no proof of that being the case, and the fact that some escaped via other means to be later tested by Hornet post-fall likely meant that PK was aware of them, but decided to let them live on as backup. There is no evidence that he actively hunted them down or was physically pushing them to their deaths- he merely stood by and watched them die. This is ALSO supported further by him gaining a soft spot for the Pure Vessel later on, as it is extremely likely that such a thing was only possible because the Pure Vessel was the ONLY one of his children that he had extended contact with. It wouldn't make sense for him to grow attached to them if he had been actively training and killing his other kids, because he likely had no experience with that particular brand of weakness before them. Remember, the White Lady grows less cold with Ghost the more that they interact with her, as if forgetting the fact that they are a vessel; neither of the Pale Gods were keen on the plan to begin with, and certainly do not seem to have interacted with their own children much, if WL starts questioning if one of them is more than 'just a vessel' after Ghost goes off and collects the Voidheart. They would be a lot more jaded if they had been actively raising and killing that many kids before Ghost and Hollow showed up.

This, like you said, also fits with the nature of the Pale King's character much better than the fanon concept of him, because he is deliberately set up to be an antithesis to the incredibly aggressive Radiance. Where the Radiance is passionate, aggressive, and reactive, the Pale King is reserved, calculative, and passive. She comes flying forth in a rage when challenged by the Knight; the Pale King forces them to go through a grueling, long, twisting maze to reach his corpse, then kickes them out of the Dream shortly after. Where she advanced and killed through aggressively infecting the dreams of the mortals, the Pale King devised a plan in secret to use his own flesh and blood to defeat her, keeping it so quiet that even his five Great Knights didn't know that other vessels had been created (which is more proof that almost all of them were hatched and killed in the Abyss). When defeat seemed close, the Pale King hid himself away to die rather than confront the Radiance himself. Hell, even his plot to kill her- BOTH TIMES- was passive, with the first being him stealing her worshippers out from under her, and the second being a plot to lock her away in an inescapable, unresponsive body until she slowly died from being forgotten. He is the very DEFINITION of a passive ruler, a title that is ALSO shared by his wife, who neglected to care for the kingdom in its dying throes because she was too busy being sad in self-imposed horny jail exile to give a shit. There is no way in HELL he would have actively trained, killed, and hunted the vessels. That's giving far too much credit and ambition to a character whose actions repeatedly point to him being a scheming little coward who'd rather run away from his problems than stand and face them.

So tdlr: its great for angst but is entirely a fanon interpretation with no basis in canon whatsoever, and in fact actually actively contradicts the information we are given in the game itself.

Is your Agent a double-agent?

There will be spoilers in this post, readers beware if you haven't played the Imperial Agent storyline, Shadow of Revan, or Fractured Alliances. I'm curious how many people do the double-agent route with their Imperial Agent. The first time I played the IA storyline I was super stoked for the option and was like 'Yes, please!'. I then realized I only got that option because I played very light-sided and let Ardun live. I know people playing light side on Imperial toons is very rare--or just feels very rare, lol--but I genuinely curious who else has gone the double-agent route. It was awesome to see that the devs remembered that choice after Yavin 4 with the extra cutscene and again during Fractured Alliances with the person who is sacrificed to Zildrog. (I'm still sad about Shara, although it was nice to see consequences of your choices.) And then I got to go full double-agent again with the choice to help with Republic from inside the Empire again. I've been having a blast with that. I love the fact that they STILL haven't put two and two together about all the failures in the war and the fact that Aketho is always the one there letting them know something failed...by himself...with no one to corroborate anything. (pretty sure Malgus figured something out, but isn't saying anything--next expansion maybe?) Wow, I went off on a tangent of sorts. So yeah, is your agent a double-agent? Why or why not?

Nero?

YESSS NEROBOI lets goooo

Ember, thanks for choosing Nero. I don't really talk about him enough, or, well, I rarely ever do talk about him at all sadly, and this injustice has to be eliminated! I adore the nephew/son, and he is a precious punk boi who I should appreciate more.

favourite thing about them

ONE-ARMED NERO. I love Nero for many things, but his time as a wounded/disabled is my favourite period of him for real. Boi was truly physically Hurt for the, probably, second only time in his life and he didn't stop for a second when the situation called for all hands on deck. One-Armed Nero literally stared down a demon king that has killed Dante before his eyes, and went 'I can take him'.

Of course, part of it was pure spite, sparda losers are known to be very good at using it as fuel, but also, this takes some fucking Guts and I really respect him for that.

Also the one-handed reload animation. I love many things about DMC5, but one-handed Nero reload animation might be the most underappreciated thing in this fandom, in my opinion.

least favourite thing about them

the fact that he got his arm to regrow. I genuinely wish he didn't. Being disabled didn't slow the boi down even for a second, he was even able to fight properly before Nico invented Breakers, Breakers themselves are very creative tools to help Nero be more capable in a fight, plus he even got two additional gorgeous dt wingclaws!

Just imagine if Nero didn't regrow his arm back:

The twins will have a constant visual reminder how close they were to losing everything they love, that despite how unimaginably bad it had gotten in dmc1 - dmc5 story was much Worse.

Nero himself would remain the same way he was. He could use with wingclaws to help with tasks if he really needs two hands, but he also adapted to living with only one hand. Maybe he could use the wingclaws to wield Red Queen and shoot at the same time.

I know some people enjoy the fantasy of a disabled character finding a 'cure' for their disability, but I am not one of those. I want to see characters suffer, get support from their family and then heal to live on with what they go through.

favourite line

credits cutscene. 'i won't cry (answers phone) devil may cry -fuck'. never fails to make me laugh

brOTP

Nero and Nico are siblings, they are great. Also Nero and Patty, they are cousins and get along like house on fire and I refuse to believe anything else.

OTP

NeroKiri. This is the rare case when I'm mostly happy we don't see much more of a canon Kyrie, cause I do not trust Capcom with any female characters at all, and I doubly so don't trust them with female characters from DMC specifically. So yeah, I'm glad here our fandom hands are free to make up our own version of Kyrie and her relationship with Nero. I do believe Kyrie to be a very capable and strong woman in her own right, otherwise Nero wouldn't have fallen for her.

nOTP fucking incest

random headcanon

He can play guitar and some basic drums, can dance, cannot sing at all, but he can rap very impressively well. Also, I support the 'Italian Fortuna' headcanons for the fun of it - bilingual Nero for the win!

Secretly likes to listen to Red Hot Chilli Peppers when Dante has them on.

unpopular opinion

sorry not sorry for this, but I heavily dislike the common fandom interpretation of the orphans he and Kyrie foster. Nero is a mature boi for sure, but not mature enough to be fostering children. It works for me if the fostering is a temporary solution, then he and Kyrie are more or less like camp counsellors or older siblings role, but I don't like the situation remaining that way forever. Don't get me wrong, I adore found families, it just seems to me like Nero is not mature enough to be raising children, half his age ones at that. At least, nothing I have seen in canon suggests he is mature enough for this.

song i associate with them

favourite picture of them

his classic :T face. extremely adorable and hilarious

Re: Coral Island 1.0

I've been playing Coral Island again after stopping earlier this year to wait for it to get to 1.0. It's been just the experience I hoped it would be.

I've already written about how much it feels like home, how refreshing it is to play a game so very clearly and lovingly inspired by maritime Southeast Asia. It feels even more so now, maybe because of where I'm playing.

I'm on December break, so I happen to be playing from my family's town, where I really can walk down to the beach and hunt for fresh urchins at low tide if I want. Mostly I walk out to a detached coffee stand much like Raj's (more of a hut than a stand, actually), admire my neighbor's dragonfruit vines on the way, and hope I get to say hi to dogs like the player gets with Bonbon and Taco. The town where I am has also gotten a lot more multicultural in recent years, so it really isn't a stretch that I'd run into people of different nationalities* and multiracial couples* and families in Starlet Town also. There's a Japanese man who set up an izakaya down the road from our place, and it's excellent.

[* Not to get into the sociopolitics of this, but maybe the fantasy of Coral Island for me is that none of the older white men are there looking for land to grab for their retirement and/or poor, younger, less educated women they can exploit as bangmaid brides.]

I don't looking forward to leaving town again, but I'm glad I'll have this game for a taste of home.

I'm only nominally a farmer, I think. Diving and clearing the sea has been my favorite activity in the game, and I think I'll continue even after I make the merfolk happy. I've been making decent money drying scallops and making kombu chips this Year 1 Winter, so making a living this way seems doable.

I've lamented elsewhere that farm life sim games set in seaside towns often forget how much the sea is part of the life of such a town — usually, such games make the ocean nothing more than another fishing spot. I love, love how much the ocean is very much a part of Coral Island. What happened to the ocean is why Starlet Town has been struggling lately. My progress underwater is tied to my progress overall. Merfolk have their own town, and I can befriend/date them; they aren't just blink-and-you-miss it sprites to liven up a fishing session. I still have a lot of seafloor to clear, so I guess I'll see if the ocean endgame is any good later. But just the fact that Stairway Games devoted this much of the game to the sea really touches me.

(I fucking love the ocean, okay? In another life, I was going to get a marine science degree right here in my family's town. But noooo, I decided to try being a writer, lol.)

As for dating, I'm not in a rush to woo any particular townie. There are almost too many attractive people in this game. So I just work on my farmer and on healing the island, and I let relationships develop naturally. Run into a townie? Stop and talk to them. Hand them a jepun blossom or a mushroom or a jar of jam. See whose stories and personality make me want to keep running into them once the first blush is past.

I've reached the winter, though, so I do have some clear favorites now.

I don't know if I want to marry Dr. Yuri, be her best friend, or be her. I just think she's so cool — the coolest person on the island even. I think I relate to her coming to the country after her adventures abroad and trying to do the best she can for the people around her. Maybe I want to be with another me-in-another-life, idk (after marine biologist and before writer, my next aspiration was pediatrician).

Mark recently won a popularity contest in the player community, and it's not hard to see why. In games like this, any scarred dateable who starts off gruff or mean is basically cotton candy left out for player ants. I haven't checked yet, but I'm willing to bet his dog-feeding cutscene launched a thousand fics ("Good girl" — woof). (Either that or something something garden rake up the ass something something.) Mostly I like him because he's the only one who actually seems to banter with the player, and he looks big and cuddly like my SO.

Chaem is the other initially aggressive character, and I think I like her, too. I was actually put off at first; in early access, she was only an aloof jock who was pretty focused on her workouts and her sport, not outright mean. I don't remember her being this rude to my farmer when I met her pre-1.0. Then I had a little think about why one would let Mark be a little mean to them but not Chaem. What do you know, getting to know her makes her warm up to you also.

I like Theo because he just gives off vibes that I need in my life.

Who else? I think I will always have a soft spot for Surya because he was my first crush in early access, and though the attraction has waned this go-round, I still want to be his friend. I want to be Eva's friend mostly because one of my friends really likes her. I want to be Lily's friend because I just want to know all about her and her bonsai. I haven't made enough progress with the merfolk yet, but I have a major crush on Princess Miranjani. (Agung, what we could've had if the devs hadn't baited and switched you with Semeru, hayy.)

Ah, and as usual, I have made it a personal mission to make the town grandma love me. Betty, I'm saving all my flowers for you, mano po, paturo naman po ng recipe sa mooncake.

Okay, I'm out of thoughts now; time to grab my diving suit again.

When I first started reading SitO I had no idea who Jackson was and when I looked him up and saw he was the guy you play in the nuke mission in the original MW I was so glad to see you use him because the part where he dies was one of the only two scenes I remembered from that game. Recently I learned there were scrapped mission objectives that were going to have him survive the nuke. Now all I can picture is Jackson's survival being a well known thing in military circles and him making cracks about it to other people because whose gonna tell the guy that got nuked he can't joke about it? "Gaz please, this mild fever is nothing compared to the heat of the nuclear bla-" followed by Gaz trying to suffocate him with a pillow. He and Ghost start trying to out dark humor each other about their trauma while everyone around them is horrified.

AJDNNFJFJF NO PLEASE BECAUSE I KNOW THAT JACKSON IS SO EXCITED ONCE THE 141 KNOWS ABOUT THE REBIRTH STUFF SO HE CAN FINALLY CRACK JOKES ABOUT DYING

"Jackson don't do that, its dangerous."

"Can't be worse than a nuke lmao"

Gaz: *doing anything*

Jackson: damn, you make me hotter than that nuke did baby holy shit

Gaz absolutely hates it. Ghost is actually getting along with Jackson for the first time since knowing him. Soap is horrified every time. Price is silently resigned. Roach has been dealing with this for years (Roach has Jackson in his contacts as "🍄☁️" and Roach is in Jackson's phone as "🔥🪳" no one but them and Ghost think that its funny)

I also know Jackson would drop a "Where's another nuke when you need one" when he's in any situation that he doesn't want to be in lmao

Also I've lowkey been very surprised at how many people have told me that they didn't know Jackson before reading my fic. I really shouldn't be surprised since he only has like 4 missions though andjfnnfnf

It lowkey makes me wonder if there are people who think/thought that Jackson was an OC when I first introduced him. ALSO I WISH THAT JACKSON LIVED OMG

Fun facts about when I played Jackson's missions:

When I got to his first mission it took me like 30 minutes to do because I didn't realize I wasn't playing as Soap anymore (I talk a lot while playing games and was not paying attention bdbfjfnf)

So they're calling for Jackson to go do things and of course I don't realize I'm Jackson, so in my head I just have to wait for this npc to do something before I can continue. So for like 30 minutes I'm sitting there listening to them scream for Jackson to do something and I'm like "Damn this Jackson guy needs to get his shit together this is taking forever"

Then eventually I just went and did it and they were like "good job Jackson" and I was hit with the sudden realization of "oh shit I'M JACKSON"

Also after the Nuke cutscene happened, I was still like chilling and legit said outlook to myself "wow, I wonder how his next mission is going to handle this" like two seconds before they flashed the KIA on the screen sjdnfnnfnf

I am also deeply chaotic while playing Jackson for some reason like I full on do the dumbest shit while playing his missions snfjfbbf it took me forever to get through them on veteran cause I kept getting run over by the tank lmao

is there like a trend or something of people shitting on n64 games...? bc i've been seeing the same thing with super mario 64

people really take 3d games for granted

I'm not sure, but recently I have seen a lot of people suddenly coming for OoT, and even goading people to say negative things about it. I don't know if it's because many people, post BotW/TotK, have been arguing that they miss the old Zelda games with its sprawling dungeons, their counter-argument being that OoT, and by extension games that are designed on OoT's philosophy, are dated. People talk about how their jaw dropped when they played BotW and realized how expansive its landscape was. Okay, imagine living in a time where most games were 2d. 3d games were very limited in scope, confining you to areas that would have to be loaded in. When you encountered enemies in the overworld you were taken to a separate battle screen before being put back in the overworld. In comes OoT where you have entire towns, fields, deserts, and landscapes you can explore freely. See this camera? You can move it all around you to look at the landscape, to find clues. Those enemies that are coming at you? Just take your sword out and fight them in real time. Those big enemy bosses regard coordination of movement, of reaching ledges and looking around for that weak point. You can zoom in on weak points to focus your hits. Dungeons were expansive and contained puzzles that utilized 3d assets and environment and looking around carefully to solve. There was a story with cutscenes and narratives. Can you imagine being blasted with ALL of THIS it was like what the fuck is happening? Even my parents who never played video games would walk in on me playing OoT and go "This is a video game???" Like even the 3d rendering was quite something for an N64. Of course OoT can't go toe to toe with games today. It was developed on a system that was straining itself handling 32MB. In contrast, TotK takes up 16GB which is like ~16300 MB. Yet, the philosophy that OoT introduced when it comes to open world exploration, combat, and dungeon crawling are still concepts being used up until this day. Z targeting is STILL a staple in LoZ games. It is timeless in that manner. Without the concepts OoT introduced gaming would be in a very different place today. Even if you disregard the monstrous impact OoT had on the gaming industry at the time, the fact that you can pick up the game today and still enjoy it without being bogged down by its technical limitations is a testament to how well made the game is. It is simply an insult to claim that people who praise OoT's greatness are coming from a place of nostalgia. Yes of course nostalgia plays a factor in how fondly someone remembers a game but it is absolutely a technical marvel and masterpiece of a game that set not only LoZ, but so many games in motion to become what they are today.

WIP Game

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! Tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Well, that last one is right out bc I know for a fact I have too many wips to tag enough people, so this is remaining an open tag. In no particular order,

Into the Dragon's Maw

Song of War

Midnight wanderings

final chapter temple knights

shb ishgard kitstinien

Post ARR/HW

Estinien's no good very bad horrible day

First feeding

Not living just surviving

Blood isn't everything

post EW healing

shibari Aymeric

Post funeral

DRK contingency

Endwalker

Kitali wears a dress

two become one

Back from the first

estimeric wall sex

These bitches gay! Good for them

Reuniting

A chance encounter

kitstinien 1

Echoes of a Refrain

Untitled document

Got Possessed Club

Conversational Cutscenes

post mothercrystal

SB dragoon line

.......I have too many wips.

In my defense, though, a good third of these are just tiny little scenes that will get folded into larger fics eventually, but. Yeah.

Tagged by @crackinglamb 💜

Tagging @crystallineconflict specifically bc I know you're just as bad with WIPs as I am, and anyone else who writes and wants to share!

Aaaanyways, who wants to hear my pitch for a pre-flood Zelda game that'll never happen. It was, like, the first thing I came up with as soon as I joined the fandom (...and it shows), but kept it for myself, mostly bc for some reason I was never able to design any visuals for the thing.

No, I don’t think that’s what actually went down in canon while the flood was happening. Yes, the story contradicts some facts from WW and OoT. I just tried to make it as much of a playable experience as possible. It's not perfect, but has its' moments.

The Legend of Zelda: The Unnamed Pre-Flood Game

Prologue cutscene features visuals similar to WW's intro and goes like this: "There is hardly anyone in Hyrule who hasn't heard about the Hero of Time. Half a century after his triumph over Ganon and the subsequent disappearance, the deeds of the Hero started to fade into myth, yet there are still people who knew him and remember him fondly. The legacy of his kindness and valiance led the land to an era of prosperity under the rule of none other than Queen Zelda. However, recently she stepped aside from the throne with no explanation, never to be seen again, and rumors of concern started to creep across Hyrule. If both the Hero of Time and the Princess of Destiny had left their people, who will protect the land in case the unthinkable happens?.." It fades into black, not-so-subtly hinting that the unthinkable will happen really soon, and that it'll be none other than Ganon.

The playable character is preteen and can be named. It may either look like your average Link or nothing at all like him, doesn't matter – but throughout the game you're constantly made aware that this kid is not a Link. You know how in the Child half of Ocarina many NPCs are dismissive of Link on behalf of him being a kid? That attitude is carried over here. No matter who you talk to, in the eyes of almost every character, the kid you play as is not the Hero of Time, so you have no business running around pretending to be one; even those sympathetic to your cause will make that distinction. That is a key concept. For that reason, I'll be referring to the playable character as, well, Kid.

Kid lives in Kakariko village, which has grown into more of a town, but not by a lot, and the Sheikah are beginning to recover from their near extinct status, though the majority of residents are still Hylians. Kid has parents! But they're both Royal Guards, and therefore are absent most of the time. For that reason, Kid is mostly left under the care of their neighbor, Auntie Malon – sadly, she had to sell her ranch and move, but that doesn't stop her from keeping some livestock. Kid's best friend is Nopiko, Auntie Malon's adoptive daughter who has a knack for sewing and getting into trouble; if you remember two Gossip Girls from Windfall Island, she looks exactly like the blond one, and is just as young. Mid-game Auntie Malon reveals that Nopiko is actually a Kokiri who wandered off from the Lost Woods; she took the girl in to honor the memory of her beloved Fairy Boy. Due to that, Nopiko is sensitive to the magic of the world – and one day, she informs Kid that something is off, and that they have to meet Nopiko's other friend, who lives all the way at Hyrule Castle. It's not the Castle you know from OoT, though: since Ganondorf emerged his Tower in its' place, the ruins of the Tower were considered cursed, and the new castle was built at Lake Hylia.

To get there, first you have to clear the game's tutorial dungeon – Sheikah Secret Archives. It's a secret police department with some similarities to the Shadow Temple, including the monsters, but also a giant office full of overworked Sheikah employees processing legal cases and such. It has some typical stealth sections where the guards can catch you (sorry), however, most of the time you can talk to the employees scot-free; they're all so overworked they have no energy to be bothered by an intruder and are mostly glad to vent to anyone willing to lend an ear. From their dialogue it becomes clear that they aren't happy with their job, but have no choice, being servants of the Royal Family and all. The amount of arrests the Sheikah Secret Police currently performs is abnormally high, too: Queen Zelda is gone without a trace, and for many her absence means something in the world is about to get really, really wrong, but none can place their finger on what exactly is about to happen, and that air of paranoia leads to civil unrests left and right. The prisoners are also there, ready to talk.

Sheikah Secret Archives is where you get the main (and only) item of the game, the Parasol. It's not a magical item: Kid just grabs some random Sheikah's umbrella in an act of self-defense, but you receive an item get pop-up all the same. You can use its' pointy tip as a makeshift sword or open it to create a makeshift shield.

The dungeon has no boss, so once you clear it, you arrive at the Castle Courtyard. Somehow, Nopiko is already there, talking to her mysterious friend about you. On your arrival, she introduces you by name and comments on how many times you've been caught in the dungeon: "See, Kid has gotten through the Archives and hasn't been caught/got caught only n times! They're so brave, and smart, and capable – if there's anyone in the whole world who can do this, it's them!"

This is where you get introduced to Nopiko's friend, Regent Princess Hepta. She, too, is drastically different from your average Zelda, with deep red hair in a pixie cut and a deadpan snark; she's also a bit older than Kid. Overall, she resembles a teenage version of Tetra's mom, sans the pirate clothes. Hepta sits in her room, talking with Kid and Nopiko through a window. It's clear that she is not amused by Kid, but begrudgingly accepts their help.

"I am of a Royal bloodline," Hepta explains, "but that blood connection is very weak, and I have very few magic powers, no match to those of Queen Zelda's. I have a gift of premonition, though, and it tells me something terrible is about to happen. I don't know what it'll be yet; however, I had a vision that the future of this land shall be revealed tonight at the Unicorn Fountain. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go there: you see, I am locked away by..."

Suddenly, Hepta shoos Kid and Nopiko away, and jumps off the window. They oblige, but catch a glimpse of a menacing middle-aged Sheikah woman, who seems to be angry with Hepta. The woman throws a glance at the courtyard, but doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary and leaves. Hepta, visibly distressed, reemerges and continues:

"My uncle, Daphnes Nohansen (and for anyone curious, yes, it's that Daphnes Nohansen) is the current king, but the actual power over Hyrule is in the hands of my nursemaid and the chief of secret police, Captain Byrna, who governs the land with an iron fist. She decreed that tomorrow I'll be officially crowned as the new Princess of Hyrule and take the name of Zelda in an attempt to quell the fears of the people. This is why I am locked in my room. But you, Kid, must understand that it is of utmost importance the vision at the Unicorn Fountain is seen by someone. You just might be the only hope that Hyrule has right now. Now please, lend me your hand".

Kid hesitantly offers their hand. Hepta kisses it, and an item get pop-up appears: "You got Regent Princess' Blessing! This magical gift will allow you to see the message of the gods!"

Then, a green fairy pops out from Hepta's room. This is Brimm, Nopiko's guardian fairy. He served as a messenger between her and Hepta – this is how they were able to keep up their friendship – but now will accompany you. Not only will Brimm deliver the vision you'll recieve to Hepta, he can also enhance your Parasol with the power of flight, allowing you to fast-travel to any check-point you discover. One of them is conveniently located at the courtyard; throughout the game, you'll be able to visit Hepta freely – she'll give you progression hints like the fortunetellers in Zelda series commonly do, provide some additional lore and lift your spirit with a sarcastic joke or two.

The Unicorn Fountain is your first proper dungeon. There, your Parasol gets a new ability: you can use it as either a boat or, using lilypads or any other flotsam to stand on, as a sail to glide across water. As the name implies, the dungeon is themed after a fairy fountain, is obviously full of healing fairies, and even the boss is a corrupted Great Fairy – she saw a glimpse of the revelation you're about to recieve, and it drove her mad.

After beating the boss, Kid emerges at a little clearing above ground somewhere in Hyrule Field, adorned with columns and such. It offers a view at the ruins of Ganon's Tower. It's midnight, the sight is beautiful and the air is very quiet. The three disembodied voices greet Kid, one of them weaker than the others, and are about to introduce themselves, but suddenly, a giant, ominous fissure cracks open throughout the Hyrule Field–

Ganon has returned.

His emergence is seen and heard throughout the land. From Gorons to Zora, from Sheikah to Gerudo – everyone covers in fear and desperately prays:

"Hero of Time! Come and save us!"

The voices seem to hear these cries for help and are distressed by them. "It's not in my power anymore!", the weaker voice exclaims in despair, "The Hero of Time was sent away from this world by a magic that I can't reverse – not in my current state!"

"Then", the other voice suggests with a calm that betrays the fury, "we have no choice but to fight Ganon ourselves until the Hero finds the way back".

"Ganon has the Triforce of Power at his side", the third voice solemnly responds. "We cannot fight him, but we can seal him away. That seal, however, will be a heavy burden on this land".

And so, the Hyrule was sentenced to the Great Flood.

The voices then address the terrified Kid. They crest them as the Guide, and their job will be to place the Beacons for the Hero to return to. With that, Kid is sent back to Kakariko, and Brimm flies away to bring all these news to Hepta.

From that point forward, the weather on the overworld is always rainy, and the ground starts to get covered in water; the water level rises with each dungeon you beat. Sometimes, Ganon can be seen roaming around like a big kaiju and wreaking havoc, but you can’t interact with him. Another thing that appears on the overworld in a similar manner is a structure that looks suspiciously similar to the Tower of the Gods, but with mechanical legs.

There is, of course, a long trading sequence sidequest spread through the game, but this time it comes with a twist: it only consists of Kid’s parents making them run some errands for themselves, Auntie Malon and Nopiko. Since they’re the Royal Guards, they’re constantly being relocated all across the country, and it’s Kid’s job to find where their parents end up. Parents also update you on what Captain Byrna does to stop you from doing your work, as she doesn’t believe the flood is happening and considers anyone who believes otherwise a threat to the public. She essentially has the same shtick as Jolene in PH, a random overworld encounter, just not as comedic.

There are four dungeons overall, each in a classic Zelda dungeon flavor: one in the Lost Woods, one in Zora’s Domain, one inside the Death Mountain and one in the Gerudo Desert. You are free to beat them in any order. Each dungeon comes with a settlement for an appropriate race. In each of them, you meet a key NPC – the type of person that usually turns out to be a Sage/Champion/whatever in any other Zelda game, but here they’re just ordinary people who are willing to help Kid despite them not being the legendary Hero. They all provide you with a little something to augment the powers of your Parasol, though: a magic rope you can tie to it to create a hookshot of sorts, a special handle that’ll allow you to zip across ropes, or a patch of fabric that’ll give the Parasol a magical property. Yes, it’s the kind of game where you obtain (some) items before the dungeon and not inside them.

(Btw, you do get to meet Laruto and Fado, they’re just too busy with the Sagely business to help you. They do acknowledge your hard work, though).

In Lost Woods, this person is a Deku Scrublet with a crush on one of the Kokiri. Kokiri themselves can’t grasp the direness of the situation: “How can a little rain hurt anyone? Water is what makes the plants grow, silly!” The Scrubs are more realistic about the situation, though, as they know they qualify as monsters and would be eliminated regardless of whether or not they actually serve Ganon. While most Scrubs fend for themselves, Scrublet in particular wants to save their crush above all else. By reuniting these young lovers, you help Kokiri realize that there is a way to save both races by uniting them with the magic of the Deku Tree. This is the origin story for the Koroks.

In Zora’s Domain, it’s a sweet elderly couple with an adult son. Zora, under the false assumption that the floodwater won’t hurt them, volunteer everywhere they can to protect other races, but that couple is among the few Zoras banned from volunteering due to their age, and they’re ashamed of their helplessness. Eventually, their son dies in a heroic accident, and it serves as a wake-up call for the rest of the Zora to start worrying about their own safety.

In Goron City, this person is a wise, yet nihilistic Professor. Gorons know for certain they’ll most likely survive the flood purely due to them not needing to breathe, but are too selfish to help other races (yes, I’m aware that Gorons end up as an antagonistic force far too often, sorry). Kid’s proactiveness makes Professor change his mind, though, and he suggests to the rest of the Gorons to leave the Death Mountain to the apparently vunerable Zora and evacuate elsewhere.

In Gerudo Fortress, it’s a young street artist. With Ganon’s return, Gerudo are obviously super conflicted. Some of them even start a doomsday cult, claiming that Ganon will surely come to his senses and save his people, and sabotage any and all attempts of evacuation. This leads to lots of infighting. The street artist knows that the doomsday cult people are in the wrong, but doesn’t think she can do anything to help – until proven wrong by Kid, that is.

With each dungeon cleared and Beacon restored, you get to see Ganon come and destroy the settlements. His arrival at the Gerudo Fortress is particularly blood-chilling: he insults his kin, calling them traitors and claiming that he is the only real Gerudo left – all while remaining in his beast form.

After you finish all four dungeons, the walking tower stops wandering, and you’re able to undertake the final gauntlet – the Royal Museum. The moment Kid steps inside it, a voice forbids them to advance any farther; Kid proceeds anyway. The final upgrage for the Parasol obtained here is the silver coating, making it essentially a Mirror Shield. The Museum, accurate to its’ name, hosts a plethora of artifacts from Hyrule’s rich history. The boss of this dungeon, then, is the curator and the one trying to stop Kid – and it’s none other than Sheik. After being defeated, Sheik shamefully admits that he left his life as Queen Zelda and stepped off the throne in an attempt to essentially bring the Triforce of Wisdom to his grave. He hoped that, with the Triforce of Courage shattered, the Triforce of Power sealed away with Ganon, and the Triforce of Wisdom buried in a safe spot, the Triforce will be effectively unable to reassemble back without being outright destroyed, stopping any future conflict over the relic.

Since the plan didn’t work out, Sheik decides to get more proactive. He bestows upon you an artifact that used to belong to a powerful mage from ancient times – the Wind Waker, and instructs you to bring it to Daphnes. While you deliver the Wind Waker, you are stopped by Captain Byrna for the final time. Upon the inevitable defeat, she notices the baton, realizes that you’re affiliated with Sheik, and it’s revealed that Byrna is actually OoT Impa’s descendant. That makes her snap back to her senses, she vows to stop letting down her honorable ancestor and starts evacuating Kakariko. The Wind Waker is safely delivered to Daphnes, and Kid gets to see him conduct before Fado and Laruto, performing the Song of Storms.

With that, Sheik appears behind Kid and, while acknowledging they’re not the Hero he used to know, still admits their exemplary courage and asks them to fight Ganon by his side.

The battle unfolds like any final battle in the series where Link and Zelda are fighting alongside one another, except now it’s Kid who serves as a support while Sheik deals most of the damage. The fight is split into several phases, and with each Ganon turns more and more humanoid. With the final hit, you get to see him fully becoming Ganondorf again. He is donned in the black robes that he’ll continue to wear up until WW, yet physically he still resembles his post-timeskip Ocarina self, but even more disheveled. He points out that, sooner or later, he will return, but the damage caused by the flood will have a greater impact than any damage he was capable of. Sheik, clearly not amused, ends him. All this time, Kid hides behind Sheik and is not acknowledged; the latter, done with Ganondorf, apologizes for the unfair world Kid gets to inherit, and expresses hope that they’ll right the wrongs of their ancestors, before willingly stepping into the rising waters.

Kid is also suddenly swept off their feet, only to awaken in an unidentifiable void that resembles the Sacred Realm more than anything. The three voices from the beginning reappear, now angrier than ever. They claim that, by helping Sheik, Kid interfered with fate itself, and, once again, remind that Kid is not destined to be the Hero… and then the owners of the voices materialize out of thin air.

Turns out, Ganon(dorf) was only a penultimate boss. The final obstacle of the game are the Golden Goddesses themselves; appropriately, the battle is frantic and harsh, and is focused more on surviving than dealing damage. Notably, only Din and Nayru are actively fighting Kid; Farore, while participating in the group attacks, seems to be in a lethargic state at first, and her signature green color is initially dull – but as the fight goes on, she gets more and more awake. Suddenly, she intercepts and urges her sisters to stop, as for the first time since the Hero of Time’s disappearance, she felt the surge of true Courage. She reaches out to Kid and says:

“It’s true that your actions defy fate and cannot be allowed to pass. For that I’m sorry. The world must awaken anew with no memory of your deeds. But I promise to remember the courage and kindness that sprouted from a place nobody expected, and I swear that the next time this world needs a Hero, it won’t be us gods who will forge him – he’ll pave that path himself!” With that, the whole world around Kid fades into pure white.

The final cutscene shows them waking up alongside Nopiko on a deserted island – the island that is revealed by a panoramic shot to be none other than Outset. In their hands lays the Parasol, quilted out of all the patches collected throughout the game.