taboonle

[taboonle]

Thanks for playing.

Actually, I do have a little more to say here. I’ve leaned into the understated, implied tragedy of these stories quite a bit over the last month — for good reason. Zelda is, fundamentally, a coming of age series. A series of stories that you participate in, all of which deal with unspeakable tragedy and loss through a deceptively childlike and playful hero’s journey.

The thesis of the Legend of Zelda is simultaneously simple and hard to define clearly. It’s about growth and loss, sure; and joy, and innocence. Mostly, I think, it’s about a very specific sort of courage. The kind of bravery everyone needs to cultivate in themselves at one time or another. The courage to face life as it comes, to accept grief and loss of innocence without succumbing to it. The courage to

live, when you feel small and alone. To get back up, to try again, to be part of the solution.

And sure, that means time moves on. You’re going to lose, eventually the game is over — and that’s a lesson we need to learn.

But sometimes, just sometimes, you get something back. A quiet farm life or a miraculous return from an irreversible disaster. Sometimes your faith is rewarded; sometimes that courage brings you home. And that’s a lesson we all need, too.

This was a hard month for me to finish. It might be my last Linktober; I feel like I’ve said a lot of what I had to say over the last few years. Heck, I feel like the whole taboonle thing might have run its course at this point. But either way, if you’ve read this far, I want you to know that I value and appreciate you. It’s going to be okay.

You’re so much braver than you think you are.

[taboonle]

Linktober 2024 day 30: Mount

[taboonle]

Linktober day 29, Deku. Definitely based on that one Theophany album cover

[taboonle]

Stalnox stalnox stalnox

[taboonle]

100 years of contemplation, grief, and solitude

[taboonle]

[taboonle]

Day 24: Deity

[taboonle]

Purah for Linktober

[taboonle]

[taboonle]

Day 19: Reward

[taboonle]

[taboonle]

The boy that time forgot

[taboonle]

I like twilight princess

[taboonle]

I apologize for this

[taboonle]

Look they can’t all be masterpieces

[taboonle]

[taboonle]