#I was thinking of drawing the Ganons too

[rainoverthewindow]

So, I drew all the Links.

If you like this, please let me know, cause I have some similar things I can post.

If you don’t like this, I guess you can let me know too. You know, for constructive criticism and all that, haha.

Ummm… so I know this is different from what I usually post, but I want to see how it does in relation with those posts. Also, I posted this on my Instagram, and I want to see how it does in relation with each program. I guess you could call it an experiment.

Also I was supposed to draw Eddie and…… ha ha. Oh boy. Eddie, yep.

[fever-project]

Ravioli Ship Week Day 1 - Love/Favorite AU. What encapsulates love more than listening intently to the person you love most ramble on and on about something you don’t understand at all?

I also decided to draw my own Ravio and Link for this, because my favorite au is my own :) I know no shame :) the only regrets I have is that I couldn’t make more drawings of them(I only finished two drawings for this week :().

EDIT: Not canon. Link doesn’t actually have romantic feelings for Ravio, he just thinks he does. He will still listen to Ravio ramble on, because he does care for Ravio.

Anyways, Ravio’s rambling about different kinds of magic tricks, because he’s a magician(and also a regular mage but he likes magic tricks) and Link is a victorian era acrobat! He’s also not a hylian but Ravi doesn’t know that lol. Gosh I want to talk about this au so bad augh. My little guys ＼＼\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／／ I love them so much pls ask me about them and even if no one does I will talk about them because I have problems lol

[mirensiart]

i heard you wish for knowledge on roolie. and for today i shall forbid my role as a ghost and become a genie. :D

SO. Hyrule's games don't really have too much of a story on their own, my guy is hcs galore here. But what is canon is that after he killed ganon, his blood became cursed, meaning if he dies ganon will be brought back from the dead to reign terror over hyrule, with no hero to stop him.

Now in Zelda 2 (the adventure of link) he successfully defeats all Ganons servants who know the ritual to bring back ganon, saving hyrule and ensuring its safety. but people saw that and went "nah" so in most hcs he can still be used to bring back the ugly blue pig.

this means that monsters and a cult called "The Eyes of Ganon" most often are constantly hunting him down to kill him and use his blood to bring back their master, meaning poor dude is always on the run and has no real area to call home. some people hc that he also stays away from towns for this reason, to not draw monsters there like the selfless hero he is

he also is often in fanfic deathly afraid of bleeding, because it draws monsters to him. in the pain-share au this might also add emotional pain onto physical pain because first he gets a wound bad enough to bleed, and then he's freaking out and panicking on top of that

onto his spells. hyrule in-game has a fire spell, a thunder spell, a life spell, a jump spell and a fairy spell. the jump spell isnt really mentioned because in most stories this guy is already capable of jumping without magic. his fire spell casts fire around him, thunder spell strikes lighting all around (which could be pretty risky for fighting in groups), life spell heals himself or others as we see with twi in the lu comic, and fairy spell turns him into a fairy. (a lot of people hc him to be a fae because of this)

he has a magic bar though, and a limited amount of magic he can use. many people hc that if he gets too low on magic it could be dangerous, but thats not canon in the game.

zelda 1's plot is pretty much just "get triangle, kill pig" and thats it. zelda 2 is that princess zelda has been cursed to fall asleep and cannot be woken up, so to save her sleeping beauty ass hyrule goes and gets the triforce. along the way he finds ganons servants in dungeons, and defeats them so ganon cannot be ressurected. he eventually finds an old man in a dungeon, and has to fight his shadow (which btw is the hardest bossfight ever like wtf) and upon defeating it, proves himself worthy of the triforce and gets it. he then cures zelda of the curse, wakes her up, and they make out. yes the last part was actually in the game.

hyrules placement in the timeline is right after legends in the downfall timeline, so they get to be the downfall duo together. also hyrule is often hc with a huge hero-worship thing going on with legend, and he's afraid to dishonor or disappoint his ancestor.

and thats about all i know at least, i may be wrong and im sure someone will correct me if i am, but i wanted to provide info anyways! im sorry for the huge ask btw ;-;

Wow, ok! First of all, thank u very much for all this, like this has been super helpful!

Like, seriously, tysm for taking ur time to explain everything to me, I really appreciate it 🥹💖

I did know some of these things so I suppose I wasn't that lost on hyrule's lore!

I do enjoy the downfall duo tbh, I did know beforehand that hyrule is the last one in the downfall timeline, since I used to own hyrule historia ages ago (it got lost during one of the many times I changed apartments 😔) I think it's cute for hyrule to have a hero worship on him and for legend to be soft to hyrule too lol

Anyway! This has been super informative, I'll make sure to keep it in mind from now on, thank you!

[jullbnt]

If you are still taking requests… could you do BOTW or Wind Waker specific ballets? I think those would be interesting. The King of Red Lions or Calamity Ganon could be puppets or, like, a really cool costume. Idk I think it would be interesting though.

Hello! At first I thought I would group your request with the other one I received about BotW ballet but WW ballet was too tempting :D

I picture the King of Red Lions as a part of the stage decor:

I guess this wouldn’t be the easiest thing to do though haha

Here's also Link and Tetra on their own cause they're a bit small on the first one :)

Drawing these too with normal human proportions was so fun!! They’re so cute 😊

About BotW, I think I would draw Calamity Ganon the same way I did Volvagia (I was inspired by the Chinese dragon dance by the way).

———————

I won’t accept more requests at the moment! This is a request I received for my 500 followers celebration and I still have a lot to do :)

Answered art requests

[multi-fandom-imagine]

«Love Me Harder || King Rauru ||

Warning1: Monster fucking { Zonai x Hylian!Reader }here so if you don’t like that then please scroll on by.

Warnings 2: P in V, Knotting, biting / marking, cream pie, a little rough fucking, Rauru has quite a mouth on him, squirting.

A/n: I apologize if this sucks 😩, it’s 2am.

It felt like it’s been ages since you’ve been with your King, and with the matter with Ganon dealt with everyone was celebrating. Your hand grasping your husbands as you pulled him towards the bed room.

A snort left his lips the moment you were out of sight and it seemed your husband had other plans on where he wanted you. A light shiver running running down your spine already imagining his cock pumping into your pussy, you were preset wet he wouldn’t even need to get your ready.

“This is always my second favorite bit.” Rauru murmured against your neck aligning his blunter cock against your dripping entrance.

Feeling your cheeks grow warm you adverted your gaze for a moment, to curious for your own good. You couldn’t help but ask. “W…what is your favorite?”

“Why, it’s watching my Queen lose their fucking mind.”

A cry slipped passed his lips, his hand muffling the the sound of your voice as his cock slid into your warmth. Your eyes squeezing shut as your nails dug into his shoulders, feeling the soft fur. You’re never quite prepared enough not go almost cum the moment he slips inside of you. Your lower back now lifted from the wall.

“Such a good.” Pressing his snort to your neck you were finally able to find your voice. A cry that communicates your needs in a better fashion that you could ever put into words, you cum for the first time just feeling you love slowly slide deeper inside of you. His claws digging into your plump ass as he pressed you against the wall. Chuckling deeply, Rauru sunk his fangs into your neck, sucking at the skin enough to leave a mark. “I think my Queen is enjoying this.”

It was hard not to miss the look on your husbands face as he held your waist with a single hand. “Do not worry my sunshine. You will be happy in the end.”

Closing your eye, you tried to keep your thoughts coherent but it was like he knew what you were thinking. Perhaps it was written on your face right now, you could see it on his even though it was subdued. Every time your spasming cunt squeezes down on him, you can see and feel him pause momentarily, grunting in pleasure, holding back the urge to ravage your cunt.

Rauru always enjoyed teasing you, on his first outstroke you can’t help but groan deeply arching your back off the wall as the pleasure washed over you. The texture of his cock just rubs you in the most amazing way and with how you’re so fucking tightly wrapped around him that it’s impossible not to have the entire inside of your pussy stimulated every time he with draws and pushes in.

He always manages to steal your breath away as he knows it too. With a firm hand on your waist to keep you in place while he continues to pump into you, it does not take more than three strokes for you to come again, your hips bucking into his immovable grip as you cried out his name not caring who might hear as your eyes squeezed shut in the throes of passion as you felt your King quicken the pace.

You scream. You can’t help but cry out his name, your dress was now in tattered around your shapely hips as your legs were raised higher as he thrusted himself balls deep inside of you, feeling him gore harder as he pulled you in for a sloppy kiss.

Plunging inside your wet pussy, the Zonai brings you to another thundering orgasm, light dancing in front of your eyes as you shudder and buck against him. You did your best to keep your legs wrapped around his waist as your back stayed pressed against the wall letting the tidal waves of ecstasy wash over you with every single thrust.

His free hand reaching up to grasp your breast, massaging the nipple with one of his talons and finally after what feels like hours of having him between your legs you sense he is close to cumming, something you are far to used too.

It is the way he grunts deeply, the measures rolling of his powerful hips giving way to desperate savage thrusts. The sound of skin slapping against skin echoing across the castle walls. The closer he gets to his own orgasm the more of a beast he becomes, his speed increasing until you are loudly screaming his name, shaking in his grip.

When Rauru finally cums, both of you give long, loud groans of desperate relief as his thick hot cum begins to gush into your pussy, his knott swelling. A slight soreness hits you and er everything feels so incredibly good. Panting and moaning you slumped against your King, your face nuzzling into his neck as you did your best to catch your breath. “That…was fucking amazing.”

Snorting, Rauru gave the mark on your neck a small lick followed by a kiss to your temple. “It was worth the wait.”

Sighing, you could easily fall asleep like this but knowing Rauru and how long you both waited sleep was going to be for sometime.

“Are you ready for round two Sunlight?”

“Of course I am.”

[bokettochild]

Thank to rub salt in the wounds, Twi.

Not only your timeline was perfectly FINE, not only the hero before you isn't DEAD but he left you a sword in a perfect condition.

Twilight didn't have to fight, as a child, to survive in a cruel world. The hero before him did'n't fail, he didn't leave the sword in a horrible condition.

I wonder if Legend has guessed that the hero before Twi was Time, seen Twi's smile. (it's kinda obvious seen how close they are)

Did he guessed that Time was the hero before him too? And he chooses to stay silence to not hurt anyone? Time has never been the hero of time in his timeline after all and is probably died as a child.

But outch Legend's face....it's a mix between "Yep you are a lucky boy" and "if only you knew about the hero before me or maybe "thank to remember me how much a tragic mess my timeline is"

Because Legend is too nice and patient to say "how nice for you, the hero before me died against Ganon, his sword was in a horrible condition with still his blood on her, so much that i have had to reforge her myself! As a CHILD."

No Legend is too nice to take his bitterness on Twilight who did nothing wrong and didn't know. He'll shallow it and says nothing about the sword's condition in his timeline.

I think that's a big part of who Legend is actually! He comes off as really bitter and cold, at least as far as Twilight is concerned, and I wish there was more focus on that interplay.

Twilight met Legend and, based off of a few limited interactions, mentally labeled him as a bully and a jerk and thus treats him accordingly. Not without reason of course, he's drawing mental parallels to actual bullies and Legend is unintentionally checking the boxes, but I think it's sort of sad that until this point, Twilight has still not bothered to get to know Legend at all beyond his initial observations .

But the fact remains that Legend IS from a world that was in shambles, a world where everyone is a threat, if not to everyone else than at least to him. Legend is a prey animal trapped amongst predators with little to no guidance. The cards of fate are stacked against him as far as his world is concerned, and while the goddesses may have granted him additional blessings and favor to make up for that, his world is still magically a mess, physically a mess, and just generally a mess.

The vet has no legacy of proud heroes to look back on. The First Hero died. The Hero of the Four Sword is a raging lunatic who tries to murder children and is sealed beneath the castle. The Hero of Time died in combat. This is the legacy he gets to follow in. Legend doesn't have the hope of becoming like those before, he has the fear of meeting a similar fate because life is never kind to heroes.

Legend's world was left in shambles, and he's had to be the one to help rebuild it, only to watch it get torn down again and again as enemies undo all his hard work. But on a more personal note, Legend has tried again and again to establish himself in the world just to have all the people he loves hurt or harmed on his account.

His Uncle died, and even though he was brought back, he disappears from the timeline shortly after, leaving a kid hero alone in the world. Legend's grandparents have high expectations and aren't the best at listening when he says that their wishes make him unhappy or uncomfortable, and instead push him to follow them anyway, only to themselves disappear from his life once the Oracle adventures are over. Din, Ralph, Raven, Nayru, Moosh, Ricky, Dmitri, all these are people Ledge befriended and was close to and had to say goodbye to again for one reason or another.

Marin.

Legend is always losing the people he loves most, watching his work get thrown in his face and receiving little to no thanks for his work. He's still actively treated like a nuisance and a threat by some people in his kingdom and no doubt there are others who simply don't believe him.

The whole world is against him, and yet the only thing it's done is made him defensive. Ledge isn't cold or cruel, you can see that he actively cares for and worries about the other heroes, he's just guarded more than they are about it. Still, in times of high emotion the walls fall and he's his true self: that kid who's got a heart too big for his own good and is going to get it broken again.

And Legend knows this. Legend actively knows that Twilight isn't fond of him, and that the other heroes regard him as an ass, but rather than correct them, stand up for himself, provide even one of the thousands of reasons he has to guard and defend his heart like he does, he just lets them have their peace because what good would it do to tell them about the losses he's suffered? The world he grew up in? The legacy he has to bear? The terrible fate he no doubt expects to one day meet? What good would it do to make them love him if that will just make their inevitable parting all the harder?

It's hard to lose those you love, but it's easier if you convince yourself they never actually loved you, so you're better off.

So yeah, Twilight is over here unintentionally rubbing salt in the vet's many wounds, but Legend keeps his mouth shut because it does no good to speak up, and in the long run, at least as far as he thinks, it's better to let it be.

I kinda hope Twilight will come to understand the vet better though, and maybe get a peek at what has hardened up the younger hero enough that he comes across the way he does. I'm pretty sure his whole outlook would change if he did, and his respect for the vet would definitely increase.

[legendofmorons]

Your honor, I humbly request that the Chain find out that reader has tattoos.

Some are easy to see and explain, “this is my mother’s favorite flower,” “I just like butterflies.”

Some are harder to explain, quotes from video games, references that are really important to reader but mean literally nothing to the Chain.

One is kept hidden pointedly. Just behind their ear on one side is the triforce, tattooed carefully. It’s covered up by hair most of the time (because let’s be honest, your hair hasn’t been cut in a bit since joining the chain, so if it was short before it’s kinda grown out by now) but one day the wind blows in just the right way or someone tries to braid Reader’s hair or maybe Reader just pushed it out of the way because it was annoying them. In any case, one of the boys sees this and recognizes it and now they have a *lot* of questions.

-VS

Tattoo or taboo?

Oooooo I love this idea! The boys would definitely be interested in tattoos AND ypur triforce.

Reader is assumed to have hair long enough to tuck behind their ear and cover a tattoo behind their ear.

Your tattoos aren't something you've been hiding, you just weren't sure that the boys would even know what they were.

What if the boys wanted a tattoo? You don't have the proper equipment! (Assuming you even CAN tattoo.)

But for whatever reason it hasn't come up until now.

An injury has revealed the top half of your body to the world, which includes some tattoos.

"You have such odd markings." Twilight says, leaning closer to a floral tattoo

"You mean my tattoos?"

"Tatt-whos?" Wind echoes with the wring pronunciation.

"Tattoos. They're ink."

"You draw on yourself? This one is on your shoulder balde!" Hyrule is now examining your tattoos.

"Someone else did them."

You then have to explain what tattoos are, how they're done, and the importance of the right artist with proper equipment.

Wind is IN LOVE with tattoos. He's probably seen them and just thought they were makeup/marker. He does spend time with pirates

Wild probably knows what tattoos are. If I understand the lore right his Impa has tattoos and so do other shiekah. He's just glad you

Legend and Four are also pretty interested, but they're not nearly as obvious

Twilight, Hyrule, and Sky want to know EVERY meaning (to you) behind each tattoo. They're all very intrigued.

Warriors and Time aren't against tattoos, but they figure that's your buissness. They're happy to help you with upkeep, though.

However, you are still hiding the triforce behind your ear. That one is one ypu ate keeping from them. Explaining that one would be a nightmare.

Wind is definitely bouncing tattoo ideas for himself off of you.

Unfortunately, your secret tattoo is found out one day after having to pull/pin your hair out of the eay.

"What is that?" Warriors asks, the first to see it.

Well, fuck yo.

Well fuck indeed

"What's what?" Wind asks helpfully, turning his full attention to you.

"Uhhhhh-"

One by one, each of the boys notices it.

And they have questions

Mostly why, how, and are you a hero too?

You choose the easiest route.

"My world is really far removed from any of your's. Your stories have ended up part of pop culture."

"People think we're pop culture?" Legend asks, looking upset.

"Yes. But none of us knew you were real. We thought it was all made up."

"You must live in a peaceful time." Wild says.

"Uhhh- there's no ganon or demise or anything like that."

"Good." Sky says, something in his face softer.

It takes some explaining, but you avoid telling them that not only are they not real to your time, but that people play as them through their adventures.

That seems like the kindest thing

Sometimes you have to leave things out

You also have to promise not to treat their stories as fiction anymore.

[muchmossymess]

A Revali Fanfic Recommendation

I urge you all to put your life on hold for a moment and go read this brilliant fanfiction:

A hundred years after the fall of Hyrule to Calamity Ganon, and the hero Link has finally sealed the darkness and freed the Divine Beasts of their curse - and with it, their pilots are finally free. But not just as spirits. Awake once again, the four Champions of old have a second chance at life and must re-adjust to this future world with their decendants. Well - all except for one Champion, who doesn't have a decentant. Or even anyone left alive that knew him. Teba is happy to take in his revived ancient idol as one of his own, but sharing a living space with a hundred year old Champion with an ego the size of his divine beast and who might have some issues he's not willing to share can be a lot sometimes and they don't always see eye to eye. Revali thinks he should return to leading the new generation of Rito warriors. Teba thinks this actual child should never have been leading warriors or fighting a war in the first place. Tulin is just excited to have the infamous Rito Champion in his house.

Beautifully written and lovingly crafted, this baby can fit so much trauma and whump into the most gut-wrenching and heat-breakingly found family story you may ever read. 130,000 words, 36 chapters (and still regularly updating!), and a CRIMINALLY low number of kudos. If that doesn't sway you, here is some gushing under the cut <3

You think you've read a champions revival fic before? This will have you saying "how the FUCK have I not seen this before" and completely change the way you view everything (mild exaggeration. m i l d). We have all of your favourite revali tropes: being a dick and getting owned, being a dick and being right, getting own and never showing those feelings to the light of day, getting killed, getting unkilled and loved, showing emotions but being super weird and revali about it, bonding with tulin!!, bonding with teba and the rest of rito village, bonding with the champions, having panic attacks and trauma, vah medoh being the best ever, being a terrifying force of nature, being an idiot kid, and so much more!

Do you like grumpy dad teba? Do you like revali swallowing his pride? Do you like revali immediately spitting his pride back up and being a bitchy bird? Do you like mipha and revali as gossip buddies? Do you like the complete and utter fool revali makes of himself everytime he so much as hears the name link? Do you like people seeing right through his facade and calling him out on it?

AND NOT TO MENTION THE WORLD BUILDING??? this fic is so in depth of the political climates, racism, lore, changes in culture during times of war, colonisation, biology of the races and just fucking everything?? It adds so much life to the world of hyrule I am genuinely shocked at how much this person clearly loves these games (botw/totk/aoc) and they are able to incorporate all of this amazing information in a way that flows so naturally and just hhrnngngg I am fucking insane about it. THE SCIENCE, oh my god how did I forget all the wonderous thoughts surrounding the divine beasts and the sheikah tech, oh god and how they write the magic system? Guys I swear it's so good.

Characterisation is on point, everyone feels so full of life and that they are reacting exactly how you would expect them too, and they just seem so real, like they are right beside you as you're reading. The author does an IMMACULATE job of drawing you in and making you feel a part of the story, all the while being just beautifully written?

Don't get me started on the attention to rito culture. I have never seen someone pour so much love into something before, genuinely on of the greatest things I've seen. I've always had a fascination over how the races of hyrule view each other, similarities and differences, how their cultures and histories intertwine, and conflicts that may arise. But oh. my. god. My jaw was on the floor every time, it's so rich and beautiful but not without the horrors (and oh god, they are Horrors tm) and again it's just so real!!!

Be warned, however, that there is gore and viscera and terror and hurt and war crimes and death (duh), but for each terrible thing to happen it is repaid tenfold in love and kindness somewhere down the line. (Unless you are into hurt no comfort, then sorry buddy!) It is a beautiful narrative and the exploration of trauma and self is mind boggling and just go read it!!! 😭 😭 😭 I just love this fic so much, it has instantly sky-rocketed to one of my top 3 favourite fics I've ever read, and I'm so grateful to have found it and now be along for the ride that if I could bring that to one more person then by god I will fucking do it

[sheikfangirl]

Since you're the Queen of Puppet Zelda, what are your thoughts on these possible explanations for her level of autonomy?

Is Puppet Zelda merely made of Gloom and acts as a physical extension of Gannondorf himself so he has a set of eyes, ears, and hands that can travel and exert influence outside of his perch in the Depths, but as a higher quality puppet/projection (and therefore more taxing on his power to maintain) than the Gloom Hands and Phantom Gannons? Or is she a separate being entirely, created by him, but given her own agency, mind, and will to make her own decisions, in so far as she's still a slave to doing Gannondorf's bidding? She doesn't need constant effort on his part to control or exist, but would have probably cost him a chunk of his power upfront to create.

Could she be something else?

First, let's rectify one thing: I am NOT the Queen of Puppet Zelda. Puppet Zelda IS MY QUEEN. (But thanks for the compliment, I am blushing over here 🤭)

Secondly, thank you so much for your interest in my HC. I will happily share my thoughts on this criminally underused character that has drama written all over. This is an overview okay because I feel I could write a freakin thesis paper on Puppet Zelda 

Quick note: I am not pretending to be right or to have the absolute truth. This is my headcanon, the backstory in the back of my mind when I draw my Puppet Zelda art.

All headcanons are valid, games are interactive media, and the relationship and connections one has with a game are personal.

As you might know, English is not my first language and  visual support helps me explain things... so I made a graphic. I hope this will help understand my take of this character and why I love her so much🤣🤷‍♀️

In a nutshell:

I think Puppet Zelda is an independent minion created by Ganondorf using his magic powers. He created a shell in Zelda's image from 10 000 years ago to do his bidding and re-used her 10 000 years later to distract Link to buy himself the time to regenerate to full power.

Exhibit A: Ganondorf's Magic

If Ganondorf can spawn a whole list of monsters and gloom hands, he created Puppet Zelda too. The monsters are not continually controlled by Ganondorf, right? They do his bidding, they do what they were "programmed & designed" for, we might even say. I think it's the same for Puppet Zelda. But she is definitely a more defined and complex creation.

Exhibit B: The Hot henchwoman trope

I am not gonna lie: This is one of my very favorite tropes.... EVER! I always fall for the hot henchwomen. Ganon's quote from the glorious Sanctum scene during  the "Crisis at Hyrule Castle" scene makes me absolutely think she is indeed autonomous. "Did my puppet distract you?" Ganondorf asks Link in that chilling and subtext filled scene.

Puppet Zelda had one objective: To distract Link.

Ganon was busy regenerating. Having to control or act through someone would've been too power consuming. I don't buy it's a manifestation of him. AT ALL. so...yeah. hot henchwoman trope. Also, I'm a lesbian and I have no interest whatsoever in Ganondorf.

...HOT HENCHWOMAN TROPE SUPREMACY!! Yep. Fanservice for me.

Exhibit C: Real Zelda's Angst

This is where it's getting twistingly FUN.

This is an HC I assimilated like a borg from my ZHS buddy @kazraza  Her theory is so ***** angsty and delicious and I love it! 

At the time of King Rauru and Queen Sonia, Ganondorf created a pawn with Zelda's appearance so that it could get close to them and attack.

Then, in order to distract Link 10 000 years later, Ganondorf had to "refine" his weapon. He needed "data and real Zelda knowledge" uploaded into Puppet Zelda to ensure her credibility and the success of her mission. He wanted to make sure she could distract Link and trick him. 

And where did all this personal knowledge of Real Zelda's innermost intimate thoughts and insecurities come from, you may ask?

Well from the real Zelda herself of course!!

But when and where was this data collected?

We believe all of Zelda's Angst was leached directly from her during her 100 years mystic battle containing Calamity Ganon in this Malice Cocoon in Breath of the Wild. *GASP* Puppet Zelda was there all along in Breath of the Wild....absorbing all of Zelda's angst!!!

This is why everyone was confused and tricked by Puppet Zelda in TotK. This is why Puppet Zelda asks Link if he remembers their time at Hyrule Castle: she has Zelda's pre-calamity memories and this why Link is so tortured in my art! She can REALLY mess with him big time. I really like to think there is a part of real Zelda inside Puppet Zelda. Her dark side: Her anger, her cockiness, her jealousy, her selfishness... her desire. 

She is also kind of Zelda's answer to Dark Link.

Alright I wrote enough for tonight. To whoever took precious minutes of their lives to read this well...thank you! I am now moving on with my life too 🤣

For more HC about Puppet Zelda, her powers and influences, this should be all covered in future art

(i hope)

Cheers!! And glory to Puppet Zelda ✋

[blueskittlesart]

since we learn later in eow that Null is the ultimate evil we’re fighting, does that mean the Ganon at the beginning of the game was an echo? do you think ganon is dead before the game even starts then, or is he trapped somewhere in the still world and by defeating Null he could come back? the possibilities and implications of Ganon being gone are making my brain go brr at a million miles an hour— what if Ganon’s encounter with Null let him do the Calamity, and the Malice we see in botw and totk is somehow void related, and that gave rise to calamity ganon? OH AND if you think the zonai stuff happened before eow, then ganondorf’s body would still be sealed beneath hyrule castle, where Null could have found him and that’s where malice and their encounter first started

(i’m so sorry for how long this is, i meant to just ask your thoughts then had many of my own as i was writing it)

WAIT EVEN MORE TO ADD TO MY LAST ASK- are the enemies were fighting in botw and totk then also echoes? they disappear in puffs of malice, and ganon is always able to bring back more of them, summoning them with a similar ish flair to how echoes are summoned by Null in eow

first of all yes, eow specifically tells you that the ganon link fights in the opening segment was an echo, as are all the major dungeon bosses of the game. I think the implication is definitely that eow ganon was either prematurely killed or trapped by null somehow, and the second option definitely opens up possibilities for a sequel with ganon as the main villain which I'd definitely be excited to see.

As for the botw/totk stuff, assuming eow is where I put it on this timeline, yeah, I think calamity ganon and its monsters were likely either an echo or something void-related. I've theorized for a long time--since before totk came out--that calamity ganon was some sort of manifestation of sealed ganondorf's power that was meant to draw attention to his resting place under the castle, but what power exactly he was using to manifest the calamity was never certain. I think it would make a LOT of sense if ganondorf either figured out how to replicate the power null used or straight-up stole it somehow and that's what caused the multiple calamities we hear about in botw. the way that calamity ganon and its monsters work in botw is fairly consistent with what we know about echoes, and calamity ganon bears a sort of uncanny resemblance to null in certain stages, too. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's how they choose to situate eow on the timeline in years to come.

[linderosse]

Cannot wait to see your new design for Echourora. I keep refreshing hoping to see you drop the design and comic.

On a proper question, what do you do with the Priestess/Shrine Maidens/Sage descendants from LttP for Wisdomverse? What's their relationship to the actual Sages of ALBW?

Hahaha I can’t wait to share it! I keep thinking of more things to draw around this little Echo|Aurora concept of mine. I’ve been working on a bunch of them in parallel so I can release them as I finish :).

I’m actually nearly done with the first bit! So many ideas, so little time to draw. I’ve been traveling a lot this week and last week, and it’s hard to draw in a moving car :)

But I can still type in a moving car, so hey, here’s an answer to your question!

I personally am merging all the characters from ALBW into their ALttP counterparts, and that includes the sages. Essentially, you can imagine that the sages from ALBW were the ones trapped in the jewels in ALttP— except one of them was replaced by Fable, because Fable is one of the sages in ALttP, but not in ALBW.

Dot in FSA gets a set of color-coded maidens of her own, so Fable doesn’t need one as well. And using the ALBW sages for ALttP is also much more consistent with the sages from OoT. Here’s a nice graphic that someone made online (not mine; I downloaded this ages ago as a drawing reference).

So, in ALttP: the sages get kidnapped/sacrificed at the start, just like the maidens were. At the end, they all come together to break Ganon’s barrier, with Fable (Zelda) as their leader.

That leads to the question: which of the ALBW sages is replaced by Zelda for ALttP, and then gets to be a sage again in ALBW? My vote goes to Seres, the priestess in blue at the end of the line— though I’m still giving her a role to play in ALttP.

In fact, I’m gonna trace where all of them could have been in ALttP. There’s a lot of fun contradictions to merge :).

Osfala

He’s Sahasrahla’s disciple/grandson, just like in ALBW, and gets kidnapped with the rest of them. This has the added benefit of giving Sahasrahla a personal motive to want to help Link at the start of the game (though of course he’s already down to help). Let’s say you can rescue/recruit Osfala in the Dark Palace in ALttP, because it’s the first Dark World dungeon and it’s near where he and Sahasrahla live in the Light World.

Rosso

I don’t think he has a counterpart in ALttP? If he does, I’ve forgotten. Guess he just gets kidnapped and rescued like the others. He can have the Ice Palace, because although I do like Rosso, I hate the Ice Palace and have to give it to someone. It’s a nice ironic choice for a Fire-aligned guy like him (since Turtle Rock is off the table—it’s Fire-aligned, but it’s the last dungeon and therefore has to be where you rescue Fable)

Gulley

Gulley is the blacksmith’s son and one of the sages in ALBW, and the counterpart of the Ocarina Kid in ALttP. In this merged version, he gets rescued from the Skull Woods dungeon, but he’s too young to hold himself together properly in the Dark World, and gives his ocarina to Legend and then dies when they reach that stump in the forest like the ocarina kid does in ALttP canon. Let’s keep that trauma for Legend.

(Note that a lot of people die in ALttP. It’s fine, dw, they’re all canonically revived at the end of the game)

But then the gang is missing one sage! How will they break the barrier, which requires seven sages total? Fear not, they have a plan. We’ll get to that later though. For now…

Oren

Oren gets to be the adult daughter of the aging King River Zora in ALttP who gives Link the flippers. This has the added benefit of giving the King Zora a reason to help Link despite the fact that his people are constantly trying to kill you. Oren gets rescued from the Swamp Palace, just like in ALBW. Water theme go brrrr.

Impa

Impa is Impa. Rescued from Misery Mire, because why not. Nothing special here.

Maple/Irene

Ah, Maple. She’s the granddaughter of Granny Syrup, the potionmaker from ALttP. Maple was added only in the GBA remake of ALttP as a reference to her appearance in the Oracle games. Her kidnapping would give Syrup an added personal motive for helping Link out.

I’m giving Maple the Thieves’ Town dungeon in ALttP because Thieves’ Town is special. Folks who have played ALttP, or who are familiar with The Secrets We Keep, may remember the dungeon boss Blind the Bandit. Blind masquerades as the captive from this dungeon and follows you— until you lead him to a special room and the light turns him back to his monstrous form.

I love the thought of a fake Maple following Legend around, pleading that she’s real, and to trust her— but Legend sees through the lies. When Legend rescues the real Maple, her dry cynicism is a breath of fresh air, and a distinct reminder that she’s the real version. It gives Legend a connection to Maple that he gets to build on more in the Oracle games.

Legend will also proceed to be traumatized by Blind twice more in the future (including TSWK), but that’s a story for another day :).

Seres

Finally, Seres is the daughter of the Priest in ALBW. In ALttP, the Priest hides Zelda in his church for the first half of the game, and dies valiantly trying to protect Zelda when Agahnim comes for her again. In this merged version, Seres was there too, and can’t do anything to save her father. This has the added bonus of giving the Priest a personal motive to want to help Link in the first half of the game (his daughter is in danger), and giving Seres a personal motive to help set the world to rights again in the second half of the game (she wants her father back).

In this merged version, Seres takes Gulley’s place in the final scene where Fable and the gang blast through Ganon’s barrier, so they still have seven sages. There aren’t really any elemental roles in ALttP and ALBW like there are in OoT, but if you consider the elements to still exist, you can think of Fable as a wildcard sage who can fill Gulley’s role, like Lullaby/Requiem does in OoT as the “Seventh Sage.”

Tl;dr:

And there you go! The ALBW seven, if they were in ALttP.

Did I overthink this? Yes. Will I change details of this later? Maybe. Was this fun to contemplate anyways? Hell yeah!

Thanks for the amazing question. I love these; keep ‘em coming, folks!

Masterpost

[mango0o0o0os]

Random LU Headcannons :3

Sky has lightning strike scars across his chest and back from fighting Demise. He never mentioned them before though, so they caused a lot of excitement and questioning from the rest of the Chain when they first saw them (I might draw it sometime, but the scars are a little tricky. Look it up if you don't know what they look like, I think they're really cool).

Wild dyes his hair temporarily from time to time. He never uses any permanent dye, as he doesn't want to commit himself to one color at a time when their are so many cool colors out their. Sayge (the dye shop guy in BotW and TotK) taught him how to make temporary hair dyes out of natural ingredients common throughout Hyrule. This HC was inspired by the fact that you can dye Link's hair in TotK if you dye one of the dragon headpieces.

Legend secretly loves to dress up in fancy clothes. He also has a lot of strong opinions about the rest of the Chain's fashion but keeps these to himself, as he is sure he will be made fun of for it. The only one who knows his secret is Wild, and they like to get together and, well, play dress-up.

Hyrule generally doesn't like to be touched unless the person is someone he trusts completely (that being only really Legend and Sky, former because they share similar experiences, and the latter because Sky could make anyone feel safe when he's near). Other than that, he prefers no one touch him because it will cause him to panic. Too many times he was almost captured by Ganon's forces and the past still makes him jumpy. The others respect this boundary.

Four is good at making friends and talking to people. He's good at getting people to trust him and enjoys small talk with random strangers. Somehow, he always finds a way to connect with them. He genuinely cares about the people he meets. He's very wary of cats, though (and baby chicks).

Twilight and Legend formed an unspoken bond when they first met, though neither of them realized it. Less of a brotherly bond and more of a "I recognize that you've been through some of the same stuff I have and see you as an equal" kind of bond. Both will deny this though, not feeling worthy enough to compare themselves to the other hero.

That's all I have for right now, I might share some more later on (Correction, I will share some more later on). Hope you like it :>

[randomkduck]

Catdow revival au chapter 1: A short chapter where Shadow wakes up and meets Red.

Note: This hops in and out of 3rd and 1st person pov for Shadow, generally whichever was easier to write the part in. Not sure if it’s disorienting, sorry if it is!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Everything felt fuzzy, and numb. Like I was floating in the air but laying down on the floor but dunked into a pool of water but laying with my body pressed in between two people but.... it was a feeling I just couldn't put a real name to but could put too many names to and thinking too hard on it made my head hurt, so I stopped.

I don't really remember what it was like before I was given sentience, but I don't think it felt quite like this.

It didn't help that I picked up bits of sound, and emotion, and sights that just... weren't heard, felt, or seen by me. Like I was glimpsing into someone else's life.

I felt tired and wide awake at the same time. It was exhausting.

It felt like I had done just good enough to not be, I don't know, sent to wherever hylians think bad people go. But did too much bad stuff to go anywhere nice. So now I was just stuck... wherever I was. Probably in Link's shadow.

Being in Link's shadow sucked. It was really boring and ugh.

Until it wasn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shadow woke up curled in on his side. Body feeling all too heavy and light at the same time, mind feeling fuzzy. He lifted his head, the fuzziness turning into dizziness, and forcing him to lay back down.

He layed there like that for a little while, lifting his head every once and awhile to make sure he was still safe where he was. 

He slowly pieced together part of what was going on. For one, he was alive when he was fairly curtain he shouldn’t be, for two he was in an alley somewhere in… possibly castle town? He hadn’t seen the place much from the skies as he razed it, but he had a vague idea of what it looked like from watching Link through the dark mirror before tricking him into drawing the four sword. And for three; he was currently in the body of a cat.

It wasn’t too weird for him, though it was surprising. He could shapeshift at will, and he was pretty sure that applied to animals as well, though he hadn’t really tried it. This kinda just confirmed he could.

Besides, it would be easier to move around without being spotted or identified by people this way. He could figure out why he was even back in the first place. 

Stretching his limbs and forcing himself up, Shadow took a few tentative steps out of his hiding spot into the rest of the alley.

Only to immediately be met with a very familiar gasp from someone nearby.

He jumped and looked over.

Well shit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What? Already?? And Why did it have to be him???

Red looked at me from the bright lights of the city street, eyes shining like he had just spotted the best thing ever.

Oh wait, I'm a cat. Hylians love cats.

Oh no.

I start backing up, hoping I can pretend he didn’t see me, and he’ll get the hint and leave me alone.

No such luck.

Red entered the alley, probably not wanting to scare me off, and crouched down just within eyesight. Extending his hand slowly, there was a sent wafting from it.

“Hey there little guy! I don’t wanna hurt you. Do you want a treat?” He said in a soft tone, smiling like he was speaking to a child. Shadow hated it, but his ears did perk up at the word ‘treat’. 

I could feel my rumble weirdly, kinda like a hylian’s would when hungry, but quieter.

Well that was new.

I mean, what harm was there in a small snack? Besides, it was Red The day he hurt an animal on purpose was the day that pigs flew.

…

Not including Ganon.

Alright fine, I’ll give the treat thing a shot.

~~~~~~~~~

He moved forward slowly, fairly curtain cats don’t just openly trust a person giving them treats. Even if he did know Red pretty well, Red didn’t know that, so why would he act like they’ve been friends forever?

He sniffed at whatever was in Red’s hand. It smelled nice, like a sweet from a bakery. Glancing at his other hand, Red had a basket that he had set down (but still had his hand on) to give Shadow his full attention, and sitting on top was a cinnamon roll with a piece torn off from it.

Huh. How nice of him. It looked like Shadow got the first bite!

He nibbled on the baked good, but noticed Red move his hand away from the basket out of the corner of his eye.

“Don’t you dare.” He growled, though it came out as a low ‘rrrrrrrrrrhh’. 

Red’s and froze, and his hand went back to resting on the basket.

He seemed to be barely containing his excitement that Shadow (or in Red’s point of view, the adorable pretty floofy baby) was giving him the time of day despite clearly not trusting him.

Once the treat was done, Shadow sat down. Not really sure where to go from here.

Now what?

Red turned his rand over so that his knuckles were facing Shadow, and let his hand sit there in the air. He wasn’t really sure what the boy was doing, tilting his head in confusion.

Red made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a choking sound. Shadow looked up at him in confusion and mild concern, what kind of sound was that?

The crimson clad hero’s eyes were wide and bright, his basket hand (right hand) now over his mouth like he was trying to contain that odd sound that had come out of him. He looked like this whole event had made his week.

Eh, what the heck. Shadow did what he saw some cats do and rubbed his face on Red’s still outstretched hand, absolutely revelling in the funny sound of pure joy that escaped the other’s mouth.

“Uh Red, what are you doing?” A voice broke the moment, a voice that he really didn’t want to hear right now, an annoying voice. Blue stood at the entrance of the Alley.

Welp! Treat time with Red is over! Shadow thought as he jumped up and bolted away.

He didn’t at all whatsoever feel even the smidgest feel bad at the sound of disappointment Red made. Though he didn’t really have to as Red turned and chastised Blue for ‘scaring the pretty fluffy cat away when we were in the middle of becoming friends’.

Blue did look like he felt bad, but mostly just looked confused and mildly offended.

It was a funny look on him.

[chaotomatic]

TOTK Trailer things I noticed, the master post <3

Welcome back gamers today I will be going insane

Post 1 of (3)

These towers?? They're not sheika towers. They look like they may be made of wood and are decorated?

Glowing stuff. seems to be leaning up on a hillside. It's most likely this glowing grass we see later in the trailer here

This grass isn't on a particularly steep hillside though, so it might be in patches everywhere. Also- these seem to be murals? Like, it's not in a pattern, it's like a giant something painted a drawing in the grass.

When the lightning flashes, there's a goddamn TYPHOON in the sky. It is STORMING

MUSHROOM AREA?? Malice is EVERYWHERE. The enemies are covered in malice and the fungus seems to be releasing spores? I dont know what else that particle effect coult be. The blue stuff at the bottom looks...collectable. My personal theory is that these could be "tears" you could collect? They float around almost like how wax floats around in Sky Children of the Light, so maybe I'm just biased.

That. That is a goddamn hydra. Dragon. Thing. Nothing like Dinral or Nayru at all, so not a dragon in that sort of sense. This thing is so fucking cool i cannot wait to kick its ass

We get a really good look at this shield, he seems to have a new bow too, but I'm not exactly a weapons expert for BOTW so I could be wrong. This is definitely Sheika-esque, but it's not what we're used to. Maybe this is something from the Sheika 10,000 years ago? Who knows.

The moon is shown to be almost exclusively red. (This blood moon is fucked up bruh) And it looks as though it will stay that way for the whole game, although again I could be totally wrong. The sky's normal (besides the islands) during the daytime. The whole "Night time is more dangerous" thing from BOTW has a chance to be intensified a LOT here.

Especially when the moon is throwing hands and blowing Hyrule up. that's not good. In all honesty, the "blowing up" part is likely part of a cutscene, but its funny to think about. Also I don't think the malice is coming DIRECTLY from the moon, but the moon (or Ganon THROUGH the power of the moon) is summoning these rockets of calamity to fuck shit up.

I. Don't know. What this is. Help.

another glimpse of the glowing grass, but I don't know if this is the same hillside as the one at the very beginning of the trailer or not.

REDEAD REDEAD REDEAD REDEAD WHAT ELSE COULD THAT POSSIBLY BE

Also the first little glimpse of a king bokoblin? Freaky.

At first, I wasn't sure if the storm was going to be relevant but you can see it a bit here again in the top left corner. Maybe something is hiding in the eye of the storm? Maybe you have to appease an entity to clear it, like in the thunder trial puzzle in BOTW.

I will be reblogging with more BS soon so stay tuned teehee

[nrwynter]

I haven't done one of these in forever! I think the last one I did was... four years ago? I thought it would be fun to make one again with my improved art skills and show the work that was put into this piece.

The final piece was one of three idea prompts I submitted for the zine. I was already sketching out thumbnails while I was waiting for approval, but I did draw for one of the rejected prompts as well. (Unfortunately I don't have access to them at this time but I'll add at a later date).

Once the weapon prompt was approved, I got started on a rough sketch. (The sketches were drawn cleaner than what I would normally do to make sure it was readable haha). The toughest part of the piece was its composition. Scattering the weapons was hard because I needed to make sure everything looked balanced and focus was placed on the master sword.

What ended up working for me was I managed to grab as many weapon models from the game as I could find, threw them into Blender, and arranged them until it looked good. A bonus of doing this was having good references for both the piece and the individual weapons themselves (which came in handy when I had to draw some of the detailing). The models were also size accurate so that helped a ton too. I did have to upscale the smaller weapons so they'd be more visible on the cover.

Some of the weapon placement was deliberate, others were put there to fill in space or for another reason. The majority of the characters wielded some variation of a sword so I sprinkled in different weapons and other things to break up the repetition. That includes stuff like the Fierce Deity Mask and Toon Zelda's helmet. The more sillier weapons like Tingle's balloon and King Daphnes' sail were placed in the back so they wouldn't clash too much with the other weapons.

I'll talk about some of the more of the symbolic stuff further down the post.

I also drew an alternative version of this piece with Link being in the center instead of the master sword.

Fun fact: at one point I did consider including Ganon since he's technically playable, but realized he doesn't have a weapon. This would have meant I would also had to include the big Cucco from the cucco mode so neither were ever conceptualized.

I intentionally left the art's tone ambiguous just in case the mod team had something in mind. I did picture it having a dawn color scheme though, and the mods wanted the cover to have a peaceful/hopeful vibe so that worked out. I did however add some sunset choices in my color concepts for more options. The four I made also had sepia versions to fit with the aesthetics of the game.

8 was the one the mods chose. However, I did end up slightly adding 6's colors into it to make the sky pop. This ended up being the finalized color concept.

(It looks a little fuzzy because I ended up layering 8 and 6 on top of each other and I didn't position them correctly fghj).

When I do illustrations I start with the background first so I can use its colors for the foreground and midground. I normally don't draw clouds this big and up close so I had to be pretty delicate with how I rendered it. I'm glad I only had to do one side and just duplicate it to the other. Also I made the oranges in the sky and clouds subdued.

After the background was done, I tried rendering the ground and it was a disaster. This was early on in the rendering phase, but what was meant to be dirt started to look like sand. I tried to see if adding textures would help but it made the problem worse. I ended up taking a break from the ground and moved on to the weapons.

Next was the most grueling part of the piece: linearting. I am not kidding when I say doing the lineart took three whole days. I was also juggling with my other illustration I was working on for the zine so the timeline ended up stretching to a week. I'm a detail-oriented person and stuff like this isn't usually that bad for me but this one was pretty rough. The sweat and tears paid off, I think!

After lineart was done, I went back to render the ground again. It was becoming more polished and included more small rock formations, but the dirt-looking-like-sand bit wasn't improved. I opted to add grass instead since that would be easier to render. That was probably the right call because I think that helped with the desired tone for the cover.

I flipped-flopped between working on the grass and the weapons. This screenshot was when I had added the shading, textures, and some highlights. Oh, and I slightly tweaked the sky a bit.

With the grass and rendering done comes my favorite part: color editing. Started throwing overlays, soft lights, what have you on everything and used color balance to level out the colors. Also added light reflection on the ground for some of the weapons.

Something was missing from the illustration and I had no idea what it was. A friend had suggested particle effects and that did the trick! Everything was set and done and I submitted my illustration. When I saw the cover with the title for the first time, I noticed that the illustration was made a bit brighter than what I originally had (likely so the title stuck out better). I actually really liked that change and edited my own copy of my illustration accordingly.

With that said, now I want to talk about some of the more subtle details in this piece. You guys probably noticed these already, but I want to talk about them anyway! I mentioned deliberate weapon placements some ways up so let me go over that first.

Ghirahim's sword, Zelda's rapier, and the master sword are placed in sort of a triangular way meant to represent the triforce (although I think I messed up on the distance between them). I originally wanted Ganondorf's swords being in Ghirahim's spot but I was worried about contrast issues with the swords' darker color scheme and battling attention away from the master sword. I think the idea still works considering Ghirahim is Demise's sword (and Demise is like the Ganondorf of that game). Though Ganondorf's current placement can be viewed as him being a looming threat, for Hyrule Warriors and other Zelda titles.

I have Lana's tome and Cia's scepter close together to symbolize them being two sides of the same coin. Toon Link and Toon Zelda's were placed on opposite sides of the piece but slightly facing each other. Toon Link's and Tetra's are also diagonal from each other, both also representing a type of connection to each other. It's a similar deal with both forms of Midna's weapons as well as Yuga and Ravio. Speaking of Ravio, his weapon is the only one partially buried, sort of peaking over at the master sword to reflect his cowardice natureand being Link's Lorule opposite (at least the Link from a Linked Between Worlds). A similar idea with Fi is that she is somewhat of a silhouette behind the master sword to reflect her growth in Skyward Sword. (I know technically Fi is represented twice here, but her "weapon" in Hyrule Warriors is a different blade so that's why).

Like I said before not all weapons have symbolic placements like this, but a number of them do.

One more weapon detail I wanted to point out is on the master sword. I had this planned from the very beginning but I intentionally draped Link's scarf over the master sword so that the triforce of courage on the blade is the only one visible. I also intentionally highlighted the engraving to make it more prominent.

In the background, the sky is shaped in a way to resemble the Hyrulean royal crest. With the gap in between the clouds looking like the wings, the Master sword acting as the body, and the three visible stars as the triforce (but I messed that up slightly). Only thing I didn't include was the feet of the crest. It's not an exact 1-to-1, but here's an outline for a better visual:

On the topic of stars, there are 29 in total to represent all 29 characters. The brightest star above the master sword is meant to represent Link, but the other 28 are scattered around. Some are more visible than others so it may be hard to spot them all, but they're there.

Saving this last detail because it doesn't really have anything to do with Zelda and more to do with my art. I have always wanted to do this with my work for a while but haven't implemented it until now so I wanted to bring it attention.

From now on, all of my illustrations will have a hidden little angler fish blended into the scenery. I got the inspiration from Adventure Time's snail that appears in almost every episode incorporated somewhere and thought I could do something similar with my art. I'll show you guys where I placed this one, but you'll have to find the next ones on your own.

Not the clearest, but I promise in the future it'll be better drawn (and in case you're wondering, yes there are also little anglerfish in the other zine illustration too!). I just thought this would be a fun way people can interact with my art (and also act as an additional signature).

And that's it! If you have read all of my rambles, thank you!

[deuterosapiens]

And that's that for Echoes of Wisdom! A pleasant, charming game to be sure!

There's good and bad to be had, but it's certainly an unusual game. I'll definitely be going back over it to collect those Echoes I'm missing, which luckily for me, is a scant ten, per the post-game break down. One of which, humorously enough, is the damn carrot Echo used to summon your horse. I did not actually bother to do the Horse Ranch quest until just after my fifth (or sixth, depending on how you're counting) dungeon. Just going to drop a break here though, because I want to talk a bit more freely about this game.

So, there are a couple of Echoes I've discovered fairly trivialize most combat encounters. The Wolfos echo, any of the Darknut series echoes (the Level 3 variant I actually used basically as a blender throughout the entire last act, in the Still Ancient Ruins), and the Chompfin echo for water.

This game does a fair job of combining the "play it your way" mentality of the recent Wild era titles with the more strict flow of classic dungeons' puzzles. While you have considerably more options in this game, they will typically amount to being a variation on the same sorts of themes. Use fire to light torches- whether that comes from a Brazier, a Torch Slug or an Ignizol is entirely up to you, for example.

Let's talk about the key feature that honestly probably amounts to one of the biggest draws of the charming little game: DUNGEONS (and their BOSSES).

Let's see, there's three main dungeons, followed by Hyrule Castle, then three more dungeons (plus the endgame). Which means we follow the Ocarina of Time dungeon structure, which actually means we follow the A Link to the Past dungeon structure, which is appropriate, all things considered.

Each dungeon requires the traversal of a short Still World segment, which will bring Pokémon Platinum fans immense joy, before pissing them off at the memory of the Distortion World's absence in BDSP, and Legends-Arceus. These segments are mostly platforming with little significant puzzle-solving. They are the reason the Old Bed echo appears at the front of my Most Used list. But the weird eldritch, distorted scenery is quite nice to appreciate. It really does a fine job of setting up the game's final boss too.

I'm a bit torn on if I have a favorite dungeon. I definitely have a least favorite, in the form of the Lanayru Temple. Oh sweet Demise, these ice puzzles pissed me off. I did, however, find that dungeon's boss (SCORCHILL) to be quite fun, so we've got serious points awarded. Eldin Temple is weirdly small, and kind of hallway-y, if you get my drift, but it has Volvagia which I absolutely refuse to complain about. Hated the Mogryph fight, though I expect that's because I made it significantly harder than it should have been. The Faron Temple is interesting in that it really tries to hide its linearity: the theme is Jungle Temple and it honestly captures that feeling pretty damn well: the miniboss is also immensely fun, at least in how it is presented to you, though it's not particularly challenging: Gohma is, well, Gohma, so I don't think we're winning any Boss points with it. Vocavor is a boss with an interesting design, but underwater fish bosses have never won any awards and they aren't starting to now (it did bring to mind a Bowser Junior fight in Mario Wonder, so there's that).

Huh.

Oh, right, Ganon. Eh, this is literally the exact same fight as in Link's Awakening and, if I remember correctly, A Link to the Past. Somehow, however, and I cannot for the like of me figure out how, Grezzo has completely thrown off the timing of this fight: for some reason, and I'm admitting this solely for opacity, the Dead Man's Volley sections are timed, and I literally cannot find a better word for it, wrong. Luckily, they are technically optional if you have the right Echo (which you will, as it's given to you in this very dungeon), but it brought me death and therefore annoyed me.

This game follows up with our recent (if you call Skyward Sword recent) trend of having a massive horde battle precede the final boss. Well, sort of a horde- Zelda's Echo casts Echoes of her own that should be a challenging horde, but alas! The Hylian Blender renders this fight significantly easier than any other.

I will have to look this up, bit did anyone on the dev team have any involvement with Kirby Star Allies? Everything related to Null reminds me of Void Termina, and I am struggling to believe this is simply a coincidence.

Speaking of Null, let's talk about Null!

This thing is one hundred and fifteen percent definitely my favorite thing this game presents us with. Null is an entity from the void, imprisoned within the world itself by the Goddesses of the Triforce (sorry, Prime Energy- this bothered ne immensely), imprisoned to prevent it from devouring all life that might appear within the void. A classic primordial horror, if I do say so, and if there's one thing I'm a sucker for, it's primordial entities who are world-bent on the annihilation of existence itself. When you see this thing's lair, Earthbound had better jump so far forward in your mind you are given extradimensional whiplash.

If I were a timeline fanatic, I imagine Null would screw it up so damn much.

So, where do I stand here. Where where where.

The ideas behind this game are quite odd, to say the least, and their execution is a bit short. I feel like if this map were larger, and if there were more Echoes and quests, I would have more thoughts on how it plays. I just finished the damn thing and I'm not quite sure how I feel about the actual experience of playing it, which is absurd, really.

This one does feel like a love letter to the franchise's highs and lows, a bite-sized sandbox just screaming "We love Zelda!"