#*they'd come out & then they went to japan actually in the fall so like

[freckliedan]

i haven’t been actively in phandom since 2016 and i came across your anniversary theory the other day while trying to catch up, and since you originally wrote it in 2018 i was wondering if there’s been any new details in the meantime! (if this is okay to ask)

i'm so sorry but i'm medicated now

[arrowheadedbitch]

Overview of the things I've decided are canon for my son of zeus au so far (hopefully I don't forget any):

The gods are dicks. They arent *always* dicks, but I don't want to sugarcoat them from their original myths, they do bad shit and often

Denki is favored by Apollo, Dionysus, and Hermes the most, Persephone also likes him pretty well

Zeus is Zeus, meaning who knows when he'll decide he loves his son or hates his son or just genuinely doesn't care, he's such a little hypocrite bitch ain't he

Quirks are the exact same as they are in canon, the presence of the Greek gods didn't affect that at all, the gods have nothing to do with quirks and while they still are probably banging like rabbits they aren't really that active in Japan so no, no one else at UA is a demigod

Zeus slept with Kaminari's mom because he was intrigued by a mortal with a power in his domain (electricity) that didn't come from him

Since Kaminari's powers come from both his quirk and his dad, there's some complexities to them

Kamimari was born with lightning powers but they worked differently before his quirk actually manifested (I'm toying with the idea that his quirk manifested while being smiled by Zeus with lightning? I haven't decided if I like that or not yet)

Kaminari doesn't want other people knowing he's a demigod for classic hero story reasons but also because 1. Greek gods being real is a secret and he ain't about to be the one that spilled it 2. It'd be really complicated and annoying to explain and let's be real, at least one person would come out of that thinking he went crazy

Athena doesn't like him because, well, dunceface, duh. She does appreciate his strategic abilities though

Ares also doesn't like him because he doesn't like killing people, Ares and Athena hate that they dislike the same kid so much that they'd consider changing their tune about him on just that alone

In junior high he went on a big quest, I haven't decided on any details of it, but it involved a lot of fighting way to strong people while way too young as most quests do, this is also how he got into Apollo, Hermes, Dio, and Persephone's (and by extention Hades since he loves Persephone enough to deal with anyone she likes) good graces, the quest was likely given by Zeus and likely involved Hera trying to kill him

He's not really surrounded by people in the ancient greek community, it's not like he has a camp half blood and even if he did he'd skip it to go to UA training anyway, but he is pretty well known in those circles post big quest

I'm toying with the idea that he failed his first quest and thus had to go on a redemption quest

Kaminari doesn't like being serious, but despite what his classmates and teachers think, he CAN do serious, how else would he be such a big shot in the Greek community?

Imma be real, there was probably some kind of war that Kaminari had to lead an army in or something. I'm sorry, child soldier stories just have so many layers to dissect it's not my fault that they're compelling in a way

My point is, serious Kaminari is like war general levels serious, but not even LOA attacks are bad enough to bring out serious kaminari, are you kidding, did you gloss over the part about god war? He's having a little trouble taking literally any threat at UA seriously and he'll have trouble taking almost every threat as a pro hero seriously, it's not his fault junior high set the bar way too high on what situations are serious!

One of Kaminari's demigod powers, as the son of Zeus, is that he can't take fall damage. No matter how high up he falls from, he will never ever get worse than a few scrapes

Pissing him off really badly makes the sky get stormy, I'm talking immediate clear skies to nothing but gray clouds moving in and you can't even SEE the sky anymore, also possibly rain, he doesn't do it often but he can and he'd probably be able to control it if he were to practice his demigod powers along with his quirk but we all know he ain't gonna do that any time soon

He can sword fight, he hopes this never comes up

He has to keep reminding Dionysus about the legal drinking age, Dionysus thinks it's stupid and therefore never listens, they have argued about it multiple times

Apollo and Kaminari play chess together on occasion

Hermes at one point gave Kami a special knife when he decided he liked him enough to give him a gift, it's a magic thief's blade which is just a dagger that cannot be found on his person no matter what you do. Pat him down? You won't feel it. Scan him? It didn't show. Metal detector? It didn't beep at all. But he can pull it out whenever. He won't but he does *have* it just in case. I'm also deciding if making it not be able to leave him would be too much. I don't want it to feel like a riptide ripoff, I'm thinking maybe it sprouts wings and flies to him?

Yes, I've just decided, the Thief's Knife will fly to him if left behind and can squeeze into any crack no matter how small to get to him

I'm shinkami trash so you KNOW shinkami is about to be canon in this au

In either 2A or 3A, Kaminari tells Shinsou his secret about the gods being real and him being Zeus' son, he spends a great amount of time explaining all the details to Shin and answering his questions, it's a lot

What can I say? Shinsou is gus confidant, he was gonna have to tell him at some point 🤷🏻‍♀️💅

He doesnt tell anyone else, but obv they've got to eventually find out somehow, what you think I'd just let it be lame?? Even after they find out, he won't tell them anything he doesn't have to, waits until it comes up to explain things, it's just too complicated he doesn't want to go through all that AGAIN and with twenty people this time

Oh and before you ask, I'm gonna say no on the flying thing. I know it could be a power of a Zeus kid, I know it could be cool, but no. No he cannot fly.

I can't think of anything else right now but I can't wait to wake up in a cold sweat tonight and realise what i forgot

Also, I'm gonna go ahead and tag @iys-cloud since I know iys really likes this au :]

[torakowalski]

Swimmer Steve Part 10!

I think it's time to start apologising to the real life athletes whose medals and finish times I'm stealing for Steve.

Today I learned that there were no semi finals for these races in 1988. The fastest 8 went through to the A Final to compete for medals and the next fastest 8 to the B Final to compete for 9th to 16th place.

(part one | part nine)

Eddie thinks his ass might have left a permanent dent in one particular seat on the second tier of the Jamsil stadium.

It's a good seat, close enough to the action to still be able to make out Steve's expressions before and after every race but not so close that Eddie will be tempted to shout anything out to him, specifically.

He'd sat closer to start with, near a group who turned out to be the friends and families of a couple of the other swimmers. But when they'd clocked him as American, they'd wanted to know who he was here to support, and he'd had to make up some bullshit about being an exchange student with a swimming obsession.

Now, he sits between some Canadian and French supporters, who are either too polite to ask why he's there or don't give a shit either way.

Steve's heats are going well. He's through to the A finals in all the strokes that have competed so far. Eddie's been watching as the roving press get more interested in him, sticking microphones and cameras in his face while he's still wet and breathless from a race.

Eddie got a postcard from Mike this morning, that just said, For the love of God, make him put on a shirt, so Eddie guesses at least some of the interviews are making it onto TV back home.

Tonight, Eddie's back in his favourite seat, waiting for Steve's first final, the 100m backstroke, and all of a sudden, he can't breathe quite right. This is it. Shit. If he's nervous as all fuck, he can't imagine how Steve must feel.

"Don't expect too much," Steve had said last night, sitting barefoot on Eddie's bed. "Dave, the other Team USA guy? He's the world record holder."

And Eddie's not expecting too much, he swears he isn't, but shit he hopes Steve doesn't come last. No matter what Steve says, that'd hurt him.

Eddie tries to cheer like a regular fan, when Steve comes out, not like a besotted idiot who got given kisses seventeen through thirty-one last night.

It's hard though, because Steve looks really, really good. He slides into the water, all graceful and strong, miles of skin and inches of swim suit and takes up position, feet and fingertips on the side.

Steve's in lane seven, so on the opposite side from where Eddie is sitting. Eddie slides forward in his seat, then a little further, then a little further more. If he goes any further, he's going to end up breathing all over the dude in front of him, but at least he can see Steve better now.

The whistle blows, the guys kick off, and Eddie finds himself saying, "Fuck," without any input from his brain. He's pretty sure it's loud enough in here that even the guy he's breathing on doesn't hear him.

Eddie can see David Berkoff, the one Steve said is gonna win, out front followed close behind by a Japanese dude and two guys from the USSR.

Steve's in sixth just before the end of the first lap, which is great, it's not last, but somehow he's in fifth by the time he actually makes the turn. Heading into the second lap, the final one, he overtakes one of the USSR guys and suddenly he's in fourth.

Eddie jumps to his feet, leaning all the way forward so he doesn't miss a stroke.

Twenty-five, maybe twenty metres to go, Steve pulls level with the other USSR swimmer. Eddie is gonna throw up. Fully puke out all his tension.

Steve's joint third. Right this second, he's joint third. Even if he falls back now, he's gotta be happy with this race.

Except. Except he doesn't fall back, he pulls forward. The guy from Japan takes gold, David Berkoff takes silver and Steve takes the motherfucking goddamn bronze.

Eddie screams. He doesn't care if it's not subtle or if anyone is turning to look. He couldn't keep quiet if he tried. That's his guy down there and he's an actual, honest to god, Olympic medalist.

Down in the pool, everyone is congratulating each other. A few people swim over to clap Steve on the back, but Steve's eyes are locked on the umpire, like he won't believe it until he hears his scores.

"Sakuzi: 55.05; Berkoff: 55.18; Harrington: 55.21," booms over the tannoy, first in Korean, then in French, then finally in English.

Steve's whole face breaks into a smile, and Eddie watches as he laughs to himself, incredulous. He pulls off his swim cap, shakes out his hair, and looks up at the stands.

Eddie wonders, for a second, what Steve's looking for, then he realises that it must be him. He waves, both arms over his head. He should be too far away for Steve to see, but Steve's smile widens, and he waves his cap in Eddie's direction.

What the fuck?? he mouths.

Eddie, who is also thinking, what the fuck, can't do anything but send him an exaggerated, over the top kiss in reply. It'll look like a joke, if anyone sees, but he means it with all his heart.

(part eleven)

[satancopilotsmytardis]

Drabble-A-Thon Prompt #11

Pairing: Shigadabi

Rating: General

Prompt: Shigadabi happy after the war, having a place of their own and being together in whatever dynamic works for them.

Contents: Mentioned character death (of side characters)

Winning the war was... anticlimactic. He realized that Hawks was planning something and going to hit their base while Shigaraki was away, so he burned the bird to a crisp and had his body teleported right in front of the HPSC building as the chairwoman was leaving. If she hadn't paused to answer something one of her lackies said, she would have gotten crushed as his corpse dropped out of the sky. That put them in overdrive and the heroes wanted to make their next moves too quickly. He went to Ujiko and told him to pause Shigaraki's treatments and wake him up, and got approval for their other hero moles to start killing whatever members of the HPSC and other heroes they could get to. It ended up more a coup than anything else, and when some overly ambitious hero students, some stragglers, his father, and All Might in a fucking mech suit came at them, the treatments that Shigaraki had gotten were enough to help him level them. The Paranormal Liberation Army rivaled the heroes who were left, and Twice alone was able to fully control the police force, so he didn't feel bad about leaving the others behind as he went to fight Endeavor. He won, technically. His dad is dead, but it definitely felt like more of a stalemate at the time as he felt his arm crumble into ashes and the ground rushed up to meet him as he collapsed. He didn't even want Enji Todoroki's blood in his veins anymore, it seemed like an extra cruelty that he would be saddled with an eternity of their ashes mixed together. 

And then he'd woken up. He was still alive, and the doctor was working on putting him back together using what he had learned from creating nomu. He woke up and when the others heard, they'd all come rushing into the hospital room to see him even though they had a war to fight-- and Shigaraki had crossed the room, put all ten fingers against his skin without hurting him, stunned him into silence, and then made his heart stop when he'd kissed him. He hadn't been able to say a word and the rest of the room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop when he'd pulled away and breathed, 

"Don't ever leave me again." 

And Dabi never did. 

///

The warm sun is falling across their bed and Dabi wakes to Tomura's lips pressing against his head, and his arm tightening around his back. He nuzzles in closer to his chest, hanging onto this moment even though they've had the privilege of hundreds of them at this point, because the black skin of the arm he had grafted onto his body after losing his own was a reminder every day that they might not have. He could have died not knowing how much Tomura loved him. He nearly died not knowing that he could fall in love right back. 

They stay cuddled up in bed for a few minutes before Dabi presses a kiss to the scars on his lover's neck and they both decide it's time to get up. Japan is theirs, Tomura is the king, but they don't live in a palace-- at least not anymore. They'd tried that for the first three years after the war, and it was mainly good because it was a place for them to conduct their work and restructuring of the country more efficiently, but the war ended seven years ago. Their control over the country is firm. They don't need that kind of status symbol when they are so much more comfortable living secretly in this apartment building. 

They shower together most mornings, only abstaining if they actually have somewhere else to be, because they can never stop their hands from wandering otherwise. Some days they have a lot to do, but today isn't one of them, so Dabi makes them breakfast while Tomura reads out any reports they received overnight that may change their plans for the day. But having gotten the PLF behind them helped them so much when it came to changing the way the country worked. They have people who have led before, they have the experience to delegate, and they have the sheer power of their quirks to keep any potential uprisings at bay. Especially now that his quirk isn't killing him anymore. Now that it has awakened for the second time and he can chill his skin low enough to keep himself from burning even at his highest heat. 

Getting to sit down together and have a quiet meal never stops feeling like a novelty. The fact that they never thought they could get to this point, that Tomura can reach over to hold his hand in his own without it hurting before they start to clean up, makes Dabi wonder what the fuck they were living for before this. He didn't think that he would get a reward after all of the bad he'd spent his life becoming. He didn't think that people like them got to have happy endings, but he finds himself living through one every day. 

Some days they have things to do, meetings, going out and seeing the others as they pursue their own happiness. Sometimes Dabi goes to the place where the rest of his family is held. He still hasn't ever gone inside, and when he comes home looking for a fight to try and escape the way that just going there makes him feel, Tomura knows when to give it to him, and when he just needs to pull him close and let him burn himself out. Most days they work just because neither of them like to be without anything to do. They go to the palace where they're supposed to be living, making it seem like that's where they are now that Tomura has a teleportation quirk of his own. Only the League knows they're not there every day. They have separate offices there, having been told by everyone who has more relationship experience than them-- namely literally anyone who has ever been in a relationship since they were both batting zero for that before they got together-- that they'll need their space or they'll fight. That being together all the time wasn't going to be healthy for the longevity of their relationship. Dabi thinks that they can't possibly understand what he and Tomura have together. Dabi spent all of the time they were starting to get to know each other running away as far as possible from the faint flicker of emotion that was starting to kindle itself behind his ribs. He spent so much of his life knowing he was going to die for his revenge. The fact that Tomura could fall in love with him anyway, the fact that he knows Dabi's emotions better than he knows himself, is the only thing that matters to him. They don't need to be rooms away to give each other their space. They could stay by each other's side forever and never lose or let the love in their chests dim for one another. 

So they stay together throughout the day. They eat, they work, they talk about anything and everything that crosses their minds. Sometimes they bicker just for the hell of it. They spend time with their friends in a world they remade to be perfect for them. And every second spent together echoes one lingering declaration. 

I won't ever leave your side. 

Thank you so much for participating! If you'd like to join in consider checking out my Ko-Fi here! The Drabble-A-Thon ends on 9/15, so don't miss out!

[skitskatdacat63]

catie let’s discuss vettonso headcanons what are ur favs

*sends you to my vettonso tag* shsjkdkf kidding kidding, but wah this is so weirdly hard to answer despite the fact that I think about them literally every day of my life, ig they're just kinda intrinsic to me 😭 but I'll try my best!

I think Fernando really resented Seb for a while, especially during the championship fight years, and originally was very unhappy when Seb then went on to take his Ferrari seat away from him too. But then while he was gone from f1, he kept track of f1 still and realized Seb was going through the same ferrari bs and pain and failure to realize your childhood dream that he himself went through, and he then softened on Seb.

I find them literally to be the same person(but their narratives are offset.) And I think that's a big reason why they never really became friends, they're *too* similar to the point where it annoys each other too much fhfkkff Especially bcs theyre always ahead of one another in the narrative(fernando won his wdc before, fernando is in ferrari before Seb, seb is in Aston before Fernando, etc.) It's just weird to kinda witness someone that's so similar to you, but at a past stage in your life.

They would be the best and most annoying teammates ever. I think they'd both just constantly try to out-compete each other, and maybe it would be toxic back in the day and make the team fall apart like 2007 mclaren or martian rbr, but if it happened at Aston, I think it would actually make the team stronger and the car better. Like fighting for "who can give the best feedback" "who can do the most sim time" etc etc, I think it'd be really sweet 🥹🥹 I just imagine them making post-race debriefs last like 5 hours, except everyone else snuck out of the room at the hour mark, and they've just been debating abt the telemetry at each other, cause they only have eyes for each other <3

^ but yeah seriously think they have the type of competition that could bring each other together, not drive each other apart. Especially at their softened old man age. I guess I think, being forced into such close quarters with each other, they'd be able to realize how similar they are. Bcs otherwise it's just too easy for them to avoid each other. I mean I think a lot about the japan 2023 pics, them talking over the car that was practically the product of their joint effort, and that makes me so emotional 🤧

They absolutely love irritating each other, irs like a sport. I like to think though that Seb kept doing it soooo much pre-Fernando first retirement, and Fernando was always like 😐 just sooooo done with it, and often unwilling to fully play along. I love how seemingly Seb is one of the only ones who can kinda make his mask break, and have him show full annoyance. Like think about the "you must leave the space" clip, Fernando is sooooo annoyed, its just so funny. But yeah I love how Seb kinda forces Fernando in a way most others don't, if that makes sense? And then he comes back, rejuvenated, different mindset, and is suddenly willing to play along??? And now Seb is the tired one :( but Fernando has realized all he was blocking out before, and is willing to engage :,) BUT YEAH! see again, think about the fact that Seb literally paid a fee to not listen to Fernando talk. Mutually they are the only ones that annoy the other so much that they crack to that point, and I love it seemingly swapped over time. They're just such equals in that way.

Here's the interesting thing, I find them to be mirrors, right? I think like if they met each other when each were at the same place in their career(i.e. ferrari Fernando with ferrari seb, renault wdc fernando with rbr wdc seb), I think they'd have a better chance of getting along. Cause they understand where the other is at deeply, but the way it is in real life makes it so they're at different points and suddenly are at odds with each other. Ig that's why I wish we got them as teammates at Aston! It was pretty cute with alpine fernando x aston seb, but ah man if only we got the actual "conclusion", I would have loved to see what they'd be like when genuinely in the same parts of their career together. I think a lot about timeswap AUs I guess. Like both of them at ferrari being able to commiserate together, their wdc selves bragging about how many races they won(until they find out who the other had to beat to become wdc, and then they choke each other out.)

Me: ill try!!!

Also me: six paragraphs

Though I think if you asked me abt one of my AUs, I could come up with more than just daydreaming about their dynamic sjfkkg. Hope this was what you were asking for???? Also lmk, what are your favs!!!

[elysiumheartrp]

🗑️ ⚖️ 💚 !

Scrapped idea: God, so many. Newt went through like a million revisions before I ended up with this story. I made him for an OC server I'm no longer in and his story was completely different. The cyberpunk thing was actually an AU that I decided to run with once I had to revamp him because I stopped talking to the people from that server. He was originally from a plain modern universe and wasn't nearly as heroic--his original story was that he saw a serial killer murder someone and was forced to stay quiet, eventually falling in love with her. Once I stopped writing with the other person's serial killer OC, the idea became Violetta, but Newt reacted much differently. (His personality honestly didn't change that much, but I had more freedom over the outcome of the story, so his actions could be more impactful.) Camille is actually my partner's character because they saw all my old vent art of him smoking pensively and wanted to comfort him, LOL. (That's also the reason I don't write Camille on here even though she's a major character in the story. She feels more like Rose's character than mine, even though we share custody over her.)

Newt wasn't originally a documentarian but that development did come while I was still writing with the other person's OC, and it always bothered me that she just got away with murder and Newt helped (even though she did stop murdering for him). It felt out of character, but I'm much happier with his story now. It feels much truer to what I want the character to be.

Something stuck in limbo: Androids in this universe. I pretty much only develop them when I think about my OC Ken, an android con artist, but he's like the protagonist of a completely different story from Newt set in the same universe.

(I do love Ken though. I'll definitely add him as a muse on here eventually.)

I do know that androids are a very new technology, mostly found in Japan. There's going to be a specific company that manufactured Ken (I love my corporations) and they'll probably be the antagonists of that story, since Ken is a rogue android going around conning humans out of their money.

An upcoming idea that still needs development: I've been thinking about a new character but I'm shy to talk about her because it's always the same shit with me 👉👈 All of my plots are about obsessive love and it's getting ridiculous, and I know it's getting ridiculous, but, like, as a personal web of OCs, it's fine. It's once I start explaining it on here that I'm embarrassed by how I sound.

I separate Newt plots by documentary in my head and the other two were like, "what if a powerful person got obsessed with you?" and this one is "what if someone with no power became so obsessed with you that they'd go to any lengths to have power over you?" I was thinking about how famous people have stalkers and I started wondering what would happen if someone thought the only way to get attention (not just from Newt, attention from anyone) was to make themselves the kind of person that people make documentaries about. So I've been thinking about this new villain, even if I end up keeping her story to myself. Her name is Marnie and she kidnaps Newt to kill people on camera, and forcibly make herself the subject of a documentary people will be talking about long after she's gone.

[seven-oh-four]

It's important to remember that this is not JUST about who would win in a fight - they still also have to actually catch Kira.

Man With A Gun - The only one the death note will work on is Man With A Gun, so he's out of the question for being the one to catch Kira.

Fifty Eagles - Eagles have incredible eyesight, and they can fly, which not only makes them great detectives for this case, but also enables them to completely avoid most of these animals. The only real threat is Man With A Gun, who can shoot them out of the sky. And even then, there's fifty of them, and also it's illegal to shoot golden eagles in Japan, and also own a gun, which means Kira would have to kill Man With A Gun because he's a criminal.

In the original scenario involving these animals, about who would win in a fight, the eagles would have to swoop down in order to attack the other animals, leaving them vulnerable. But this isn't a fight, so they don't have to do that here.

Ten Crocodiles - I saw someone say that none of these animals can defeat a crocodile, and therefore ten crocodiles is the answer, but remember, they still have to catch Kira - and Kira lives in a city. And they're crocodiles. They'd have a very difficult time getting around and thus

Five Gorillas - These are probably the most intelligent animal, meaning they have the best deductive reasoning and detective skills. Although the gorillas have the most intelligence, they'd have a hard time defeating fifty eagles, ten crocodiles, three grizzly bears, seven bulls, fifteen wolves, four lions and ten thousand rats. They couldn't hide from or outrun the animals, and although cities are big, if they're going to solve this case they're going to have to get near Kira at some point, revealing themselves and getting torn apart by his army of animals. I guess you could try to hide them in like, a vehicle or something, but at that point what's even the point of the gorillas?

Seven Bulls - They're more powerful than gorillas, and there's two more of them. Also, while they can't just wander around the city willy-nilly, bulls in Tokyo are a lot more plausible than gorillas in Tokyo. Get them to pull a carriage, or something, and people will think it's weird, but they won't report it to the police. Tell people you're bringing them to a cow show - err, bull show? There's plenty of ways to get bulls through the city without too much hassle. Cattle are also pretty intelligent so they'd be good detectives too, though not half as much as the gorillas. That being said, Kira would probably become suspicious if he kept seeing the same seven bulls everywhere he went, and eventually the animals would kill them.

Fifteen Wolves - They've got great coordination and communication, being pack animals. They're decently intelligent. But they ARE wolves, which are extinct in Japan. They'll stand out so bad. I guess you could walk them on leashes and pretend they're just really big dogs? I could see a lot of people falling for that. There are some absolutely monstrous dogs out there.

Three Grizzly Bears - What do they even have going for them? They're not defeating Kira's animal army.

Four Lions - It's the same as the bears.

Ten Thousand Rats - Ten thousand rats would be incredibly powerful. They can sneak through the city with ease - nobody will bat an eye about seeing a rat. There's a lot of them, and they can go pretty much anywhere, making them perfect for gathering intel. If push comes to shove, they stand a decent chance at defeating the rest of the animals. And there's 10,000 of them, so they don't all have to fight the animals. We can have 9,000 fight the animals and 1,000 escape, so that even if they lose the fight, we haven't lost yet, we have another chance. It's highly unlikely they can destroy all 10,000 rats, is what I'm saying.

If anyone has any counterarguments to anything I've said, please let me know - this is a very important case and we have to choose very carefully who we want to be our detective. If nobody has any objections, though, I think either the 10,000 rats or the 50 eagles would be your best bet. Personally, I'd choose the 50 eagles, as they are more intelligent, but ultimately it's your call, detective.

3,500 Follower Special!

[attllhak]

I'd like to know anything you'd like to tell me about Japanese swords (and any other weaponry), please! Swords are awesome.

Okay so I wasn't expecting even one ask about this but I ended up getting two, so I guess I'm sharing my absurd amount of Japanese sword and dagger trivia now.

Also I'm just dumping everything I learned here, so I'm adding a read more so if you don't want to see me dump a bunch of random facts I learned looking things up then you can skip this.

So this all started because I was looking for a sword to give Link in Surface Too Soon. And my thought process was basically that the sheikah are very much based on the Japanese and ninjas, so they'd be using Japanese weapons. This is actually pretty much canon, since Impa uses a kodachi in Age of Calamity, and the sheikah weapons in Breath of the Wild are all based on Japanese weapons as well. So, was there a Japanese sword that looked like the western swords that Link would be familiar with?

The answer is yes.

Wow that picture is bigger than I thought it was. Also I just stole this from Google, so.

But this is a tsurugi/ken sword. It is the only Japanese sword I found that was both double-edged and had a straight blade. It's a bit thinner than most western swords, but that's more whatever.

Tsurugi swords were only used from the 5th century until the 9th century, one of the oldest Japanese swords, and they continued to be made until the 10th century but they were usually dedicated to Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples at that point. They're also usually about 100cm long, which amused me because I went looking into the specifics of the Master Sword a bit later and someone put that down as ~108cm. So that amused me.

The only other straight-edged Japanese sword was a single-edged sword, the chokutō. This came from the same time period, and stopped being made some time in the 9-10th century. Some straight-edged swords are still made in Japan today, for ceremonial purposes, but while they're called chokutō they aren't the same as the old swords. These were probably based on Chinese swords that ended up in Japan.

Also, Japan separates swords by time period, and both of these swords are known as Jōkotō, which are the oldest swords.

I also learned that katanas come in two slightly shorter forms. Japanese swords are measured in shaku, which is roughly 30cm. A katana is any slightly curved blade longer than 2 shaku (60.6cm+), and there are two shorter versions of it. A tanto is actually a sword, but is used as a knife and I've seen it described as a dagger since it's never longer than 1 shaku (30-ish cm), though at one point were made up to 40cm long. They also don't have the ridge that most katanas do. They were usually carried by samurai for self defense. Samurai also tended to pair it with a tachi, which I'll get to in a bit. Katanas were usually paired with a wakizashi, which were anywhere between 1 and 2 shaku (30-60cm). They were more suited to indoor fighting than katanas, which is probably why.

Katanas (and from what I can tell, tantos and wakizashi as well) stretch through almost every sword era, from Kotō (which came right after Jōkotō at around year 900 and ended in 1596) right up until the modern day Gendaitō (which is everything from 1876 to today).

Katanas were created slightly after a similar sword, the tachi. Tachi are older, beginning production shortly after the tsurugi and chokutō began to phase out, with katanas only showing up at around the 14th century at the earliest, which is also when the tachi started falling out of style. Tachi were roughly 70-80cm long and more dramatically curved than katanas.

Like katanas, tachi also have other swords that were basically it but shorter/longer. I mentioned above that Impa in Age of Calamity used a kodachi, which is a slightly shorter tachi. It's a little shorter than 2 shaku, and might have been a primary sword, unlike the similarly sized wakizashi, which was a secondary blade. But one source told me no one actually knows exactly what they were used for, so. An ōdachi (or nodachi) is a really big tachi. They're roughly around 3 shaku (90cm), but as usual there's no set size. The ōdachi were really popular around the 14th century for some reason but fell out of style around the Edo period.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the Windcleaver and Eightfold Longblade in Breath of the Wild are probably both based on ōdachi, considering the size of them. I want to assume Impa using a kodachi is a point in my favour in this sense, but I have no proof of this theory. They look similar to ōdachi/tachi and are big, that's all I've got.

There's also the nagamaki, but all I know about that sword is that sometimes it's handle is as long as the blade. It has a long handle. That's it's defining feature and that's all I know about it.

Moving on to dagger, because I did some looking into those as well when I decided to give Impa a dagger in Surface Too Soon.

Yoroi-dōshi were extra thick tanto, made for piercing armor and close-quarters grappling. They're usually between 20-22cm, though some were shorter than 15cm. And that's when I stopped looking into them.

Kaiken were actually very commonly carried by women, and women who married samurai where expected to carry one when she moved in with her husband, and were typically used for self-defense or ritual suicide. Between 20-25cm, and usually single-edged and very rarely double-edged, they had a little pocket sown into kimono where they were kept. They're actually still used as a traditional accessory for some kimono today!

Which left me with the two daggers I flip flopped on for Impa, the kunai and the kabutowari.

I'm pretty sure most people know what a kunai is. It's in most media with ninjas. What you might not now is that they aren't throwing weapons, and actually weren't originally weapons at all. They're repurposed masonry and farming tools, used to shape stonework and for digging holes and prying. The sides were left unsharpened for bashing soft materials like plaster and wood. Only the tip was supposed to be sharp.

Ninja actually did use kunai, since it's a repurposed farming tool. Most ninja weapons were repurposed farming tools, since they were easy to acquire and not particularly suspicious if you got caught with one. I mean, if you've got a garden spade on you most people aren't going to assume you're going to use it as a weapon. They were meant to be hand-to-hand combat weapons, meaning that any media depicting it as a throwing knife is incorrect, since they're actually hold-it-in-your-hand-and-stab-someone weapons. (Amusingly? The only media I've seen use kunai for their actual purpose is the original Hyrule Warriors. Sheik uses kunai as hand to hand weapons in that game.)

Also, Wikipedia made it clear that they can be confiscated by airport security. Like, I could have guessed that but thanks? It doesn't say this for any other weapon, I don't know why.

Kabutowari I'm pretty sure most people don't know about. Also called 'hachiwari', they were carried by samurai and resemble a jitte (a blunt, baton like weapon. I didn't do much research on jitte so don't ask me about them). They're usually about 35cm long but could sometimes be around 45cm.

There are two types of kabutowari, the dirk-type and truncheon-type. The only thing you need to know about the truncheon-type is that's nigh-identical to the dirk-type but blunt, and so not meant for stabbing. The dirk-type was sharp, and was used to parry an opponent's sword, hook the cords of armor or helmets, or separate armor plates like a can opener, and could be used to pierce the unprotected or weak parts of an opponents armor, like the armpit area.

I gave Impa this dagger for the simple reason that it looks cool. That's it, that's the whole reason. Also, it looks like the Eightfold Blade in Breath of the Wild:

See the hook? I couldn't find any other blade with a hook like that, so I think the eightfold blades are at least a little bit inspired by kabutowari, but made a lot bigger so it could be a sword. I have no proof for this outside of that hook though, so.