#Kotake

[walrus-tusk-615bc]

Some pre-Hyrule Ganondorfs. I wonder sometimes if he was good to his people.

[good-advice-ganondorf]

[kagoutiss]

so the new iteration of twinrova in totk who appear in the bg of some of the dragon tear memories. who look oddly young and also never show up again or become plot relevant at all. anyway i keep thinking what if they’re his daughters this time around :’-0

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was playing a version of Ocarina of Time where I was told if I beat Kotake first, Hyrule would get flooded like in the adult timeline but if I beat Koume first then Hyrule would freeze over?

Kinda confusing because you defeated them both at once in Ocarina of Time.

[game-mush]

My Lullaby

Inspired by the song "My Lullaby" from The Lion King 2

[barbwalken]

What if in TOTK they are siblings and ganon is a troll...

[ellenent]

twinrova!

[ladyrijus]

Lately, I have been thinking about Kotake and Koume, and, out of interest, have read through a lot of interesting takes on their involvement in Ganondorf's upbringing during Ocarina of Time. However, I've noticed that some of these discussions tend to depict them as emotionally distant, exploitative, manipulative, and even borderline cruel.

Which, granted, isn't entirely out of line for their characters. What other personality traits could we expect out of witches who brainwashed their people into doing the bidding of their king, who were born nearly 400 years before the events of Ocarina of Time and therefore hold a vastly different worldview than the rest of their tribe?

But as always, I like to carry a bit of sensible skepticism when it comes to the narrative that is being pushed in the game. And I find it almost imperative to do so for Ocarina of Time, given that it is played through the eyes of Link, a child soldier who fails to question the orders that he believes he is meant to follow, and the kingdom of Hyrule, which had recently come out as the victor and dominant power after a "civil" war.

The question still remains, however. What, in Ocarina of Time, would "redeem" Twinrova? Where can we see evidence of their "goodness"?

In my opinion? Their powers.

Their powers, I argue, were not chosen randomly by the creators of Ocarina of Time. It was absolutely intentional to show their association with the Gerudo Tribe and more importantly, the Gerudo Valley/Desert. Just think about it, the climate there is scorching hot during the day, yet biting cold during the night.

Wouldn't you, with powers of ice, try to cool down your people after they return from a tiring yet successful hunt?

Wouldn't you, with powers of fire, try to warm your people up when there is not enough hides and furs to pass around?

And given that no one (aside from maybe Ganondorf) has these powers, it is safe to assume that the Gerudo regarded Twinrova as blessed beings; divine guardians sent by the Goddess of the Sands as a reward for their endurance in such harsh climates.

Again, this isn't to condone their actions that take place during the game. We see they are more than happy to kill in the name of their king, willing to coerce others into killing by ways of dark magic.

However, we should also acknowledge the fact that we're encouraged to see just that: two antagonistic witches who revel in brainwashing, killing, cheating death, and being unapologetically evil.

Boring. If we wanted absolutely evil, death seeking creatures, we can look to literally any other magical creature in Ocarina of Time.

Rather, it's important that Twinrova are humans (or humanoid, though either way their sentience still stands), as it forces players to 1) look at the bigger picture and question why the twins behave the way they do and 2) recognize that they have motives that go beyond simply helping a king assert control over an entire world.

Perhaps, Twinrova might have been prolonging their lives to look out for their people, as they had no one with magical affinity to mentor until Ganondorf had demonstrated his own prowess in the mystical arts.

Perhaps, over the centuries, they realized the chiefs and chieftesses before Ganondorf were not cutthroat enough like their Hylian counterparts to fend off territorial expansion/colonization.

Perhaps, after seeing their era of prosperity being snatched away from them, they grew hateful of the kingdom that lives in splendor, and wanted to see it burn and freeze the way they do.

Perhaps, after seeing the complacency of the new generation, how some of their best warriors seek out lovers in that damned Castle Town, they realized this boy was their only hope of restoring their honor and dignity.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

sorry I'm having late night majora's mask thoughts and they might be half thoughts and not super coherent, but... the fact that link learns the song of healing from the happy mask salesman from an organ...... like... I don't know, I'm wondering how that fits into this whole healing thing, since what he heard from an organ last time was basically the source of all his trauma, now becoming the first anchor to help people moving on (starting with himself)

I don't know, it's also the thing about koume and kotake being basically kind swamp grandmas in this one despite the gerudos being pretty much still gerudos (even arguably crueler) otherwise...

like I don't know if that's anything, but I'm wondering how his time in Termina helps Link process This Gigantic Part of his trauma, and how that ties up with Skull Kid and Majora (and the moon itself, awful and horrendous and destructive from outside then incredibly calm and beautiful and childlike within)... and what he gets out of this and reapplies to Hyrule later, especially given we're in the backstory of Twilight Princess and we all know how that goes!!!

I don't know, I always felt like Ganondorf (and Zelda, and any of the major NPCs) just not being present in the game (Zelda memories/fisherman situation not accounted for) was actually a pretty potent choice, because these characters are everywhere but in a distilled form; and I think Ganondorf especially (given he's the reason Link is not doing fine in the first place) exists in the moon, the Mask, Skull Kid, Ikana...

But also it's a game with such tenderness for the monsters (the re-deads dance when nobody is looking, the mummy is a loving father that his daughter tries to protect from you, the dekus are fully fledged people...), and it's a game that rejects evil as a fixed characteristic safe for the corrupting object (AND EVEN THEN you get the moon's insides where every boss becomes a literal child), so I can't help but wonder how Link's little brain is processing this whole mess on uhhh This Side of the equation

(I'm taking on the metaphor angle, I'm not onboard for the "it's all a dream" game theory sides of things, I think it can both happen for real and be a metaphor at the same time, to clarify, and I think it's the most interesting setup narratively so vOv)

[link-is-a-dork]

[princeoferror]

Linktober Shadow Day 12: Witch/witches

[good-advice-ganondorf]

Hey Ganondorf any advice on coming out as trans to my parents

[kagoutiss]

oot ganon etc etc

[batrogers]

Kotake hummed happily and sipped her tea. “Are you one of our apprentices from... I believe you’re displaced in time or space somehow, aren’t you? Link opened his mouth and had to force himself to close it, swallowing hard. He cleared his throat and shook himself before he managed any words at all. How did she know ? How much did she know? It made him nauseous to even think of it ; nauseous, and on the edge of hysteria that she'd guess him her apprentice . What did his magic look like to her that she thought that? “I never would’ve dreamed...” he breathed; he'd rather die. “I knew of you and your sister, but that’s all. It’s an honour to meet you.”

In which Time gets help from the last people he expected when Legend gets kidnapped. (Or, the most stressful tea party he never would have imagined.)

Quote from my Linked Universe fic, Skin & Gold

[game-mush]

Kotake and Koume. Lack of reference image…