#EoC Ravio

[echoes-of-courage]

Day 18 - Shopkeeper

Who else but the silliest shopkeeper of all time?? Who else can I trust to steal my house and take all my stuff when I pass out?

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Has Commander made any links (no pun intended) between the people he knew in the War of Eras, like Midna or Marin, and the heroes he knows now?

He has his suspicions. He’d be shocked if Mask and Pirate haven’t come to the same conclusions, too.

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Last but not least of the November birthday gauntlet—November 22nd, the release date of A Link Between Worlds, Artisan’s first adventure.

While Artisan was certainly an inspiration for Ravio finding his own courage, Ravio had his own influence on Artisan. For one thing, Artisan was much quieter and more withdrawn before meeting his counterpart.

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what’s artisan’s relation with ravio? are they buddies? pals? begrudging customer and con artist merchant? And where is ravio in terms of echoes of courage? Is he in artisan’s house?

After the events of A Link Between Worlds, the rifts between Hyrule and Lorule closed, and Artisan hasn’t seen Ravio since then. Sure, he was annoying for a bit, what with the house-stealing and his renting policies, but Ravio became a dear friend and reliable presence during Artisan’s journey. He hasn’t had the opportunity to really reflect on what Ravio means to him now, after everything is said and done, but he keeps Ravio’s now-dormant bracelet on out of fondness and nostalgia. They could’ve been…. well, at this point, who knows? It’s a missed opportunity, but Artisan has never been one to wallow over the past.

Every Link has a reason to go through portals like the one that showed up in the prologue. While Artisan did partially step through because of moral obligation and familiarity with portals, there may be a spark of hope that he’ll get to see his old friend.

That being said, Commander did meet Ravio during the war but never saw his face. Like with most visitors across time and space, though, Commander heard plenty about this strange merchant’s hero, his golden reflection.

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i think i remember seeing in an earlier post something about ravio and artisan’s relationship and i have just got to wonder is their relationship strictly platonic here or was there something more between the two of them ?? or is there a secret 3rd option where neither of them know and basically never will (unless..?)

i know you probably left it vague on purpose lol but just to satiate my curiosity I’ll ask

I was wondering if this would get asked! It’s mostly the third option. Artisan loves Ravio very much, but as for what type of love he feels... that is unspecified.

Artisan falls into the category of heroes who were unfortunately old enough to comprehend the horrors of their adventure while they were going through it, and before then, his life was pretty mundane. He worked with the blacksmith’s family, hung out sometimes with the village’s old man (which is incidentally how he knows how to swing a sword rather than just make one), and the biggest threat to life was a bee in a bush or an octorok on the road. And then Lorule happened, and his only real anchor amidst the chaos and the missing people was the purple rabbit guy who took over his house because he didn’t have the heart to say no.

Like with Farmer and Midna, everything happening was far too much of a whirlwind for him to really define what any of it meant. They were certainly friends, of a sort, and despite falling prey to his renting policies, Ravio made sure that Artisan was alright, and that meant the world to him. As for whether there were any romantic feelings, that wasn’t a thought Artisan had until much later, when it was far too late to ask about it.

Artisan is definitely pining for Ravio, but whether that’s platonic or romantic, even he isn’t sure. He hasn’t even seen the man in three years. All he knows is that he cares very much.

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Bonus to this

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while I don’t know if it was your intention or not, the fact that collector has a rabbit hood that parallel’s ravio’s own is very funny to me considering that ravio’s canon design was actually based on link’s rabbit design from alttp

Very intentional, yes! It’s part of the joke, or reference, or whatever you want to call it, especially since it’s not exactly a voluntary thing on Collector’s part. Anything to make the usually unflappable Heroes of Legend stop and stammer :))