#Like with the acknowledgement that BotW is BEAUTIFUL and did what it did very very well

[shannonsketches]

Nonnie you're so nice to me I'm so glad you weren't in chat when I played BotW the first time

[rosezemlya]

TotK impressions

Officially finished the game! Thoughts under the cut. Potentially light spoilers.

Mechanics fun, visuals beautiful, everything related to the story... weak.

If I split the story into two parts - part one being the ideas and maybe like a bulleted list of events, and part two being the actual "writing", like dialgoue and how the world reacts / interacts with the story: Part one (ideas), good. A lot of promise. Cool thoughts / interactions / images potential. Neat additions to existing lore (usual mixed of bag of confusing additions to, but welcome to Zelda, I guess). Plenty of opportunities for interesting character development or emotional growth or world building.

But the second part (execution) is where it all kind of falls down for me. In the first BotW, the flashbacks ADDED to the story, they didn't repeat each other, they interacted additively or multiplicatively with each other, but they could exist on their own. They tended to define or elaborate on character and relationship dynamics, with only light touches on plot points, which you were mostly getting through the modern-day interactions. I think that's probably most of how it didn't wind up confusing no matter what order you found them in.

I found in TotK the flashbacks were repetitive as Hell and often confusing. At first I thought maybe I was just finding them in a bad order, but then I found them all and I was like, oh, no, it wasn't the order. They just were trying to tell a certain kind of story with a vehicle that's either ill-suited or else they didn't know how to use it properly. I was so confused so often and there were so many things I just had to accept because it was clear the game was never going to offer anything more on the subject.

There was very little character development. I think I was supposed to care about Mineru waaaaaaaay more than I did by the end. This is the closest I've come to liking a Rauru in a Zelda game, and I actually think I could get there with this one, except there was a weird kind of vibe that left me feeling like the was stealing attention/thunder/story from Zelda that made me low key awkward, even when he was being cool.

The tone shifts in the flashbacks were wild, and there was little to no build-up to those shifts. There didn't feel like there was any real emotional continuity or arc between them, even though they had an order, and were relaying a linear narrative.

The world in general utterly failed to acknowledge ANYTHING I had done or knowledge I had at any point, and that significantly contributed to my confusion. I knew where Zelda was and what was going on with the stories about where she was waaaaaaaaaay before I got to the end of those questlines. So why did the world act like I didn't? I had the Master Sword and the world kept pretending I didn't yet.

I am EXTREMELY confused about how this game fits into the official timeline. With the note for those who are somehow here and yet not aware of my general position about the timeline, which is that I don't care about it and don't consider it much overall. But they made an official timeline, and there's supposed to be some sort of internal logic to stuff based on it. So why did this game feel SO MUCH like a complete retcon replacement of OOT? Is it supposed to be? Because it felt like it. Except it can't be. But it kind of has to be? But it's not. But I think it's meant to be? I'm confused.

Where'd the Divine Beasts go? Where'd the Sheikah tech stuff go? Why do people who I definitely knew very well in BotW not know who I am?

Why are the original sages wearing masks all the time and they don't get to be actual characters or people?

I just have a lot of questions and I'm honestly annoyed at the waste of a Zelda story with such good bones.

[allthegoodusernamesaretakenagain]

Hi Holly, my favourite favourite author! 👋

I came to poke you with some interaction stick. You can ignore me ^__-

BUT, if you are ok with answering a few Get To Know The Author questions:

What is the first Zelda game you've ever played?

Hopes about TOTK?

Do you have a book that you think impacted you the most? Or one that you think back to most often (can be a fanfic)?

Favourite fanfic of course ^^?

Oh my god this is so sweet, little old ME??? Of course I will answer best I can <3

1. The first ever Zelda game I played was the DS games, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. My Nan was a very big fan and I have fond memories of sitting in her kitchen and playing the games and she loved helping me with all the boss fights. I know they aren’t the best games in the series, however, they hold a lot of nostalgia for me. I never did complete them though, I just watched my Nan do it instead.

2. Oo that’s a good one. One of my main hopes for TOTK is to see a really well developed story. I know that’s super basic but one of the things I loved so much about BOTW was the memories and characters, so I really hope there’s some sort of memory adjacent gameplay that develops the characters more. Also, I kind of got tired of shrines in BOTW so I’m hoping for something new to explore in this game. But my main hope isn’t anything too specific other than a good game. What I want might not be what fits, so I just hope the years of waiting are worth it!

3. A book that genuinely impacted and stayed with me was Little Women. The narrative of following four strong, unique, and amazing woman through a little domestic life really made me reflect on myself. I’m a child of five (much like Quentin) and it made me think about what relationships like that mean. It made me want to write about domestic relationships and environments as much as others. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is another, which is a story narrated by death. It has a one line at the end: “I am haunted by humans.” and I think there is so much beauty and wonder in that. The idea of ‘humans’ can mean so much, and it always sticks with me when I write. And I can’t not talk about my favourite, albeit very sad, book. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. It’s a shorter novel but it’s so beautiful. It tells the meaning of letting go even when you don’t want to, and acknowledging how you feel. My favourite quote ever from that book is: “I wish I had a hundred years. A hundred years I could give to you.” And that book has just stuck with me.

4. Omg favourite fan fiction is so hard. I go through so many hyper-fixations. One that I always come back to is this fan fiction called Sorcerers Bane by BeautifulFiction for the Merlin Fandom. I remember reading it like crazy and nothing has topped that mad rush to finish it since. I can’t believe that fandom is still alive today tbh.

Thank you for the great questions, the ask made me all happy it’s so cool to have people interested, I get all flustered. Never feel like you’re bothering me haha I will always answer :)

I hope those answered your questions!!

[athetos]

My loz tierlist

Thoughts under the cut!

Masterpiece: Ocarina of Time is my favorite Zelda game, and I know it is at least partially due to nostalgia, but it holds up so well today and is still an absolute joy to play. Personally I think it is the peak of 3D Zelda, i give it 10/10 in every category across the board - dungeon design, overworld, plot/dialogue/side quest stuff, music, gameplay… tears of the kingdom may also be one of my favorites due to recency, and not nostalgia, but I find it very difficult to believe it will ever diminish in quality greatly over time. There is so much to do, and it really took what was good about botw and made it even better. I was in awe the entire time I played, and I will only continue to play it as time goes on, coming back to it again and again. I think there are a couple nitpicks the game could improve upon but it is an excellent early swan song for the switch. Botw, truthfully should be somewhere between masterpiece and not quite perfect, simply because totk improved it so much it’s harder to go back to it. But it was also an amazing journey.

Not quite perfect, but amazing: wind waker is a game i so desperately wanted to put in the masterpiece tier, but simply was unable to do so. There are several frustrations I have with the game that stop me from calling it perfect. I only had the GCN copy, so perhaps the Wii U version fixed these issues, but slow sailing, the triforce fetch quest, and how aggravating getting all the pictobox collectables are dampened my enjoyment. However, I want to emphasize that the dungeons are nearly on par with ocarina of time here; that the graphics are beautiful and aged well even on GCN; and that the music is a true delight. It’s why I recommend it to everyone, if you can handle these annoyances littered throughout.

A link to the past is another game I wanted to call a masterpiece, but had to settle for second best. I replayed it 2 years ago and while I had as much fun as the first time, there were surprisingly a couple parts that did not hold up as well as I remembered! Mainly, a couple of dungeons (fuck skull woods) and overworld progression. However, like wind waker, the highlights of the game are unparalleled and when the dungeon design is good, it’s fantastic. Majora’s mask is a very unique Zelda game, one that I personally champion, and like wind waker, it just has some imperfections that do frustrate me going back to it. For example, the tight time limits on dungeons (especially that godawful great bay temple) were agonizing, especially if you were trying to get every fairy. It was also hard to keep track of all the side quests, even with the 3ds journal. But it is such a special game!

Skyward Sword is a game I’m glad is being reevaluated now that it’s on switch with options for no motion controls and less of Fi. Because it’s amazing! I will never forgive anyone who told me the game was bad! Unfortunately, after games like botw and totk it makes the “open-ness” of the world feel very small and limiting; the great sky is empty and barren, and the surface being separate regions kind of hurts. Late in the game, it also gives way to padding; I think the spirit trials were terrifying and very cool, but “you’re trapped and now you need to find your gear again!” And “find all the stupid little tadpole things I forgot what they were maybe they weren’t tadpoles!” Was just so unnecessary. And I do not want to even talk about the imprisoned’s toesie-woesies!!! Kill me!!! But the rest of the game is so good it nearly makes up for all of it!!

Great, better than your average game: the minish cap is a game I remember very fondly, although not without a few gripes. I think the npcs and hyrule town are some of my favs in the franchise, and I actually enjoyed for the most part the Kinstone quests. But after playing parts of it again recently, and watching videos on it, I acknowledge it has faults that stop it from achieving true greatness. Phantom hourglass is also a game I think was great, at least partially because you made your own maps. I love making maps! And the gameplay was good! But my god, the ocean tower…. An absolute slog! A nightmare! Evil! The first Zelda is so simple, but holds up as being very fun even today, despite its shortness; of course it belongs in this tier.

Links awakening dx/hd had some amazing moments, but a few bad ones too. I either loved or hated the dungeons, some of the side quests were mehhh, but the overall game is delightful. Hd is recommended because you can have more weapons equipped at once! A godsend! Spirit tracks, it didn’t particularly stand out to me much, but I did have fun with it! And the Oracle games I am a fan of, I think they’re good but have a couple limitations from the hardware that irk me. If they had remakes, I think they would actually go to near perfection tier for me! Who knows!

Good/Average: I have a confession: I am not a link between worlds lover. I enjoyed it quite a bit when it first came out, but going back to it has been hard; I don’t get very far before dropping it. It feels kind of like a lesser link to the past, but with a worse central mechanic. I liked the non-linearity, but disliked having to rent items, and it meant that the only upgrades found in dungeons couldn’t be items you need for progression, really. A shame, because the dungeons could be quite good. Four swords adventure is good, but it’s such a hassle finding 3 other players and setting it up! I was never able to complete it. The adventure of link is rather unique, but not bad; in fact I liked the metroidvania elements! It’s worth playing, but will not blow your mind. Lastly, twilight princess… this may surprise you, but I was never a big fan. It’s so slow! The opening makes me tired thinking about it. I also felt the graphics aged poorly, and while the dungeons are good, they aren’t nearly as great as other games have been. It’s all very disappointing.

Bad - tri force heroes was bad I am not explaining why. You agree.

[cyraclove]

“I hit you with my car and was the only one to visit you in the hospital” with modern BotW Zelink would be amazing :') (you can choose who gets hit and who visits! it works very well both ways)

Link stared into the windows of the flower display, his eyes traversing the plethora of multicolored blooms for the hundredth time. He’d been standing there for a solid ten or fifteen minutes, the tinny muzak of the hospital’s gift shop threatening to drive him out of his mind. The furled petals of a bouquet of yellow roses shook softly as the refrigerated case’s motor kicked on, looking almost as though they were laughing at him.

He decided against those.

Swallowing hard, he absentmindedly rubbed his palms together as he took stock of his ribbon-bound options yet again.

Sweaty. Why was he so sweaty?

Just pick some, you idiot, barked a voice in his head.

“Excuse me, sir,” said a foreign female voice that startled him from his thoughts, “Do you need some help?”

He turned to see an older, brunette woman with the roundest eyeglasses he had ever seen smiling pleasantly at him, her hands clasped behind her back. ‘Alma’, her nametag read.

He shook his head, scrambling for words. “Oh, uh…no, ma’am,” he stammered, attempting a sorry excuse for a smile, “I’m just…browsing.”

“Are you looking for something specific?” She asked, peering into the cooler. “We have flowers for just about any occasion. Flowers can say a lot just on their own, you know.”

How about some that say, ‘Sorry that I hit you with my car, complete stranger,’ he thought to himself. Link chuckled uncomfortably, knowing that he was definitely going to have to lie to this woman. “I’m here to visit my, er, friend. She was…in a car accident.”

Read on AO3

Alma nodded solemnly, clucking her tongue. “Oh, how terrible. I’m very sorry to hear that. People really can be such careless drivers these days, can’t they?”

“Yes,” he said through his teeth, “they certainly can be.” His eyes were drawn to a bunch of sickeningly pink ‘It’s A Girl!’ balloons, a nearby oscillating fan causing them to bob violently every minute or so. The screech of the colliding mylar made his stomach churn, and he silently wished for death.

“Well,” Alma began, a cool burst of air escaping the display when she opened the door, “I’m sure that we can pick something perfectly lovely that’ll have your friend feeling better in no time.”

The woman pursed her lips as she surveyed the case, humming thoughtfully. She eventually gathered up a bouquet of light blue lilies, their pointed petals tipped with white.

“What do you think of these?” she asked, “We just got them in from Necluda. This variety is called the ‘Silent Princess’, I believe.”

Before he could answer, Link’s phone began to ring, the shrill tone making him jump a bit. He grinned sheepishly at Alma as he fished it from his pocket, groaning inwardly as soon as he glimpsed the screen. Tapping his thumb on the red ‘ignore’ button, he tucked it away.

“Those are great,” he replied, “I’ll take them.”  

Alma smiled brightly, motioning for him to follow her the checkout counter. “Excellent,” she chimed, “Can I put them in a vase for you?”

His phone rang again. Link felt his eye twitch.

“Uh, sure. I mean, yes, please.”

“Would you like to add anything else? We have these precious sand seal plushies that would be just ador—”

“Just the flowers will be fine, thank you,” he said, more hurriedly than he’d intended. Snatching his phone from his pocket, he turned away from the counter and held the cell to his ear.

“What do you want?” He hissed.

A jovial cackle came from the other end of the line.

“Well, if it isn’t CHU’s resident asshole.”  

Link pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as he inhaled deeply. This was, decidedly, the last thing he needed right now.

“You called me, Revali,” he snapped, “Do you actually need something, or did you just want to be a dick?”

“You wound me, Link,” the other young man drawled, “Oh, no—wait. I’m not the one who’s wounded, am I?”

Link clenched his jaw, the snip of Alma’s scissors on the flowers’ stems suddenly and inordinately loud. He glanced up at the woman only to have her swiftly look away, feigning focus on her task.

“You’re quite the hot topic on campus,” he heard Revali sigh, “I’m almost envious, what with the way everyone’s got your name in their mouths.”

“Who’s talking about it?”

“Who isn’t talking about it? Link, you hit a woman with your car. In the quad, for the love of Hylia. How’d you even manage that, anyway?”

“Okay, look,” he nearly seethed, “It was not in the quad, it was the intersection next to the quad. And it was an accident! I had the right of way, I didn’t see her, and the—the walk sign wasn’t even on!”

“Was she on the crosswalk?”

Link balked as he conjured up the memory from the other day. It had all happened so fast; one minute he was putting on his turn signal, and the next a young blonde woman was sprawled out on the road in front of his car. “I mean…well, yeah, she was on the crosswalk.”

“Then she had the right of way. Pedestrians always have the right of way, genius.”

“I’m hanging up now,” he muttered, disconnecting the call to the sound of Revali’s raucous laughter in the background. His near equal on the university archery team, Revali and Link were self-proclaimed rivals; well-known ‘frenemies’ to the rest of their teammates. While Link undeniably respected him for his skill, he could also be a real pain in the ass.

Releasing a weighty sigh, he faced the counter again, only to be met with a piercing glare of disapproval from the woman standing behind it. His blood ran cold as he and Alma locked eyes, hers narrowed in wordless acknowledgment of his sin. Approaching the register, Link flipped his wallet open and removed his credit card before sliding it toward her across the grey acrylic.

“Ring up the seal.”

-

The ride up the elevator was gruelingly slow, the jarring ding! of the door opening on what seemed like every damned floor made Link’s head throb. The air inside the garishly carpeted box was stuffy and stagnant, the scent of antiseptic stinging his lungs with each inhale. He looked down at the overpriced stuffed animal in his arms and frowned, its judgmental button eyes boring into him. The sluggish chug of the ancient machinery as it whined to a stop was nauseating, jostling him just enough to make him dizzy.

He finally stepped off and onto the tenth floor, referring to the clumsy, smeared numbers written on his palm in red pen. Link wandered down a white linoleum hallway, the idle hum of incandescent lights buzzing overhead as he peered at room numbers; the water in the vase sloshed softly as he went. With the plush tucked under one arm and the flowers cradled in the other, he raised his fist to knock tentatively on a door marked 1003.  

“Come in,” responded a quiet voice from the other side. Link instinctively held his breath as he pressed down on the door handle, inching it open.

The room was cold and clinical, painted and furnished in subtle greens and dull blues. Aside from several dim wall sconces, a large westward-facing window adorned with heavy curtains was the only source of light. Pushed up against the center of the back wall was a slim hospital bed, and in it sat a woman that Link had seen only once before—unconscious on the asphalt in front of his sedan. Her eyes flickered up toward him as he entered, darkening with realization mere seconds afterward.

“What are you doing here?”

Link froze, his thoughts scrambling as both his legs and tongue refused to move. All he could do was stare at her, eyes trained on the clunky, neon-green cast that enveloped her left arm. A purply-green bruise around the size of golf ball sat just below one of her eyes, swallowing the tiny freckles that peppered her cheeks. Her bottom lip puffed out, an angry cut splitting it vertically down the middle.

She looked awful.

And she had somehow managed to be strikingly beautiful at the exact same time.

“Well, I came to, uh,” he started, his words leaving his mouth before he had time to appropriately process them, “I came to see…how you were feeling.”

The young woman scoffed, turning her head towards the window. It was then that Link noticed the sutures running along the underside of her collarbone. Guilt roiled in his stomach for the millionth time that day as she began to speak.

“Let’s see; I’ve got bruised ribs, a couple of chipped teeth, and a concussion. Oh—and my arm is broken,” she replied in a biting tone, “So, I’m not great. Thanks.”

After a moment, he took a few tentative steps nearer to her bedside. He watched her gaze gradually slide in his direction, meticulously studying his movement. Link sighed, looking down at his feet with a shake of his head. His chest felt suffocatingly tight, as though someone had his lungs trapped in an ever-tightening vise.

“Look, I know that nothing I say right now is going to make any of this less shitty,” he told her, “and I’m sure that I’m the last person that you wanted to see today. That being said, it would’ve been even shittier of me to not at least try and come apologize to you. Because I messed up, big time, and I’m really, really sorry.”

The young woman said nothing in response, absentmindedly picking at her fingernails as she considered his repentant declaration. Her brows knitted above her sea-like eyes, consternation marring her delicate features. Link’s resolve just about shattered when he saw the impending tears brimming at her waterline.

“And I brought you this seal,” he blurted out, placing the patchwork creature on the bed near her legs, “You just seemed like, uh…a seal person.”

To Link’s relieved surprise, the corner of her mouth quirked up as she looked at the stuffed animal. Picking it up and setting on her lap, a watery giggle burbled from her chest as tears slid down her cheeks. The chuckle soon morphed into a full-on laugh, a bright, contagious sound that filled the room. Unable to help himself, Link smiled, and was soon laughing with her despite not entirely knowing why.

“It’s cute,” she sniffled, wiping at her eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, it’s really cute. Thank you.”

They smiled through the remnants of their laughter as it faded out, leaving the two in silence again. The setting sun bathed the room in rosy amber and cast fractured, pinkish shadows on the walls. Unsure of what else to do, Link set the bouquet on her curiously empty bedside table. It was then that he paused to take stock of the rest of the room, realizing that it did not resemble what he imagined the hospital room of someone who’d just been hit by a car to look like.

It was devoid of any other flowers save the ones that he had brought, and missing were cards and balloons from well-wishing friends. He furrowed his brow, and his heart sank when the most likely reason for the lack of gifts dawned on him. She must be in Central for school, he thought, and all of her friends and family were wherever home was. Or, even worse—they were around, but couldn’t be bothered to come and pay her a visit. Turning back to face her, he gestured to her plaster-clad arm.

“No one’s signed your cast,” he noted.

She gave him a queer look. “What do you mean?”

“Uh, that’s the thing to do isn’t it? Have your friends write their names on your cast? And put, uh, I don’t know…stickers on it.”

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never broken an arm before,” she replied, shooting him a sly look. “I haven’t got many friends, either, I guess,” she added under her breath, face falling.

“Do you have a Sharpie?”

“Oh, um, I think I have a few in my backpack. It’s just over there, on that chair. Should be in the little side pocket.”

Link made his way over to a grey pleather armchair and unzipped the pocket in question, reaching inside to pull out several permanent markers. Returning to the bedside, he held them out to the blonde, presenting her with her choice of color; black, red, or blue. She looked up at him from beneath delicate lashes, grinning as she selected the blue one. She extended her arm, and he sat on the edge on the bed as he gingerly braced it with his free hand. After popping the cap off with his teeth, he scrawled his name on the lime-colored cast as gently as possible.

“Link,” she murmured when he’d finished, “I just realized that I didn’t even know your name until now.”

It was true. He knew her name, simply because he’d had to ask for it at the front desk, but they had never been properly introduced. Not surprising, considering the circumstances under which they came to know one another in the first place. He’d never seen her around campus before the other day, leading him to assume that they must not run in the same circles. That had to be the case, because hers was not a face that he would’ve forgotten.

“My name is Zelda,” she said, “Even though you probably know that already.”

“I do,” he admitted, “but it’s nice to officially meet you. Zelda.”

Her eyes crinkled at their corners when he reached out to lightly shake her fingers that poked out of the cast. He stood up from the bed, shooting her a quick smile before crossing the room to return the markers to her bag.

“Thank you for the flowers,” he heard her say from behind him, “Oh, and for my seal.”

“It’s the least I could do, I think,” he responded, “I mean, considering.”

“Still,” Zelda went on, “It was kind of you to come. I just…I appreciate the company. It was getting a bit lonely here.”

Link stilled at that. So, she really was alone. He almost didn’t want to believe that not even her own parents had bothered to stop by, that not a single friend had sent a card. It had to be a mistake; there was no way that such an enchanting person had no one to call on.

“The, uh, food here must not be very good, huh?” He tried.

She cocked a brow at him. “What?”

“Hospital food. It’s notoriously bad,” he clarified, attempting to mentally signal to her that he was, in fact, going somewhere with this. “If you want, I could bring you something. Later, I mean, for dinner. I think I probably owe you that, don’t you?”

It could have been the sunset, but Link swore that a blush darkened her cheeks ever so slightly when she smiled at him, nodding. “That sounds great, actually.”

“Alright, it’s a date, then,” he announced without thinking, wincing immediately afterward, “I mean, uh, sounds like a plan.”

“Here, let me put my number in your phone,” she offered, holding out her good hand. He fished it from his pocket and handed it to her, watching as she tapped in her contact info with her only her index finger. After a short discussion about what kind of food she’d like to have, they said their goodbyes with the promise of seeing one another later that evening. Link closed to door carefully behind him, glancing back into the narrow window to see Zelda admiring her flowers.

He shuffled into the elevator, wedging himself in between a group of nurses and weary-looking man with a fussy toddler on his hip. It was humid and it was loud, and anyone else might have wanted nothing more than to go home and go to bed. Link stared at Zelda’s name in his phone as the elevator made its agonizingly long descent back down to the lobby, already counting the minutes until he’d get to ride back up again.

-

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-

I adored this prompt so much, I made it its own thing on AO3. Thank you for the ask! This was so much fun!

[serena-inverse]

Serena Plays: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Just beat Chapter 3: Freeing Korok Forest- and I have *thoughts*

Cut for spoilers- and again this is 95% me talking about my boi Revali. Also this absolutely got away from me and  turned into an essay about ‘Why Revali hates Link in Botw VS Why Revali hates Link in HW:AoC’

So a few random thoughts about this Chapter, and a few other general things I noticed while playing that I love:

Finally got to play as Vah Medoh and YAS!!!! I LOVED IT!

Hestu is adorable.

Revali is sassy and it’s great, “Maybe you could sneak by if you weren’t holding a giant pair of maracas”

Urbosa is such a Mom the way she immediately shushes Revali and goes to tell Hestu they’ll help him.

Fighting the evil clones of the Champions was weird and reminded me in the worse possible way of all the ‘corrupted Champions’ fanart I’ve seen.

Link pulling out the sword was *awesome*

I lol’d at the way the Great Deku tree had like 3 lines and then went straight back to sleep. ‘Saving the world is great and all but I need my beauty sleep’

The way Revali yelps ‘My feathers!” if he gets caught on fire is so cute.

The way Revali says ‘Fine Fine’ when you switch to his character during combat is A+, the delivery/tone is just great.

I notice that Revali has been drinking his respect women juice, because he was throwing a lot of compliments to Urbosa when I played with them both for a mission, for example, ‘You’re always so observant, that saved me today, thank you’. and also a line about her being a worthy comrade?

Now, all that being said- I have some *ISSUES* with Link and Revali’s relationship in this game so far.

So, we all know that in BotW Revali didn’t like Link, and spent a lot of time being rude and talking down to him. However there was (in my opinion) a clear and understandable reason for this. Revali worked tirelessly to become the amazing archer he is and earn his place as a Champion. We see him during a cutscene in the DLC launching himself into the sky over and over to try and master his Gale, heedless of the injuries he occurs in the process, and this gives us an idea of the lengths he’s gone to in order to become the incredible warrior he now is.

In comparison, in his own words, Link became a Champion ‘just because he happened to have that little darkness sealing sword on his back.’. You can understand his anger- it’s not fair that some random guy got to be a Champion just because a sword picked him, when he had to work so very hard to gain the same honor. Now we, the audience, know that Link has also worked very hard and is a Master swordsman in his own right, but Revali doesn’t. Unfortunately Link refusing to respond to Revali’s harsh words and criticisms only serves to anger the Rito further- and again you can understand the thought process of ‘What, I’m not good enough for you to acknowledge?? Just because you have the fancy sword?’ (Again, we as the audience know Link is functionally mute and hides his feelings as a way to cope with the pressure of being the chosen knight- but Revali doesn’t.)

Please note that I am not saying Revali was in the right to act the way he did, I will freely admit he was being an arrogant ass, but I can at least *understand* where his anger was coming from.

Now...cut to HW:AoC. I loved the way Revali and Link met in this game. I actually thought that perhaps they might have a better relationship here, because now Revali has had a chance to meet and battle Link *before* he became ‘The Chosen Knight’, before anger and resentment could cloud his perception.

But then Revali made that comment about Link being a ‘pathetic knight’ after Zelda broke up their fight. Which confused me a little, because by all accounts Revali saw Link mow through scores of Rito Warriors, and then the two of them had a fairly close fight, so why would he think of him as ‘pathetic’ after that? It didn’t seem to make much sense, but I put it down to (pardon the pun) ‘ruffled feathers’.

Then we come to the opening cinematic of Freeing Korok Forest and....wow. Just wow. Revali *lays into* Link. ‘Why is he the leader?’ ‘Why is he even here?’ And then the bit that in my opinion really crossed the line and was totally uncalled for ‘My one comfort is that your reputation will be completely ruined when you fail- the fallen knight’

*WHY* is he acting this way? As far as I can see Link has done nothing to earn this level of spite. Revali is arrogant and cocky sure, but you can’t just have him hate someone with that level of intensity without giving him a reason for it. It would make sense if he treated everyone that way- if he acted like everyone was dirt beneath his feet until they proved otherwise- but he doesn’t! Sure he might roll his eyes or tell them they’re ‘ridiculous’ but with the other Champions he works together with them fine- and even compliments them during fights!

I am holding on to the thought that perhaps later chapters might give us more insight, but at the moment I have this horrible sinking feeling someone decided Revali’s character was ‘the asshole’ and therefore decided to just use him to cause drama, regardless of whether it made sense or not. Revali is my favourite and I just...I really don’t want to see him used like that, when there’s so much more to him. Please don’t do that to my birb Nintendo.

Okay, it’s 3am, I’m going to stop now but I needed to get these thoughts down. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow and edit this if anything else has sprung to mind.

[syilcawrites]

archived memories | 1

Series: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild  Type: Multi-Chapter Main pairing: Zelink (Zelda and Link) Rated: T Tags/Genre: pre-calamity, fluff (middle chapters mostly), hurt (toward the last chapters lmao) Summary: bits and pieces of zelink scenes strewn in between the canon memories in botw! Snippet from Ch 1: “She leaned away, trying to read his expression, but to no avail, she couldn’t. She never could. He was a puzzle that would be impossible to solve, and she wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to in this lifetime.” A/N: Takes place between Memory 1-3 You can also read it on ao3! Click here to see all chapters on tumblr

Chapter 1: falling far from the tree

“Do you not have anything better to do?”

Zelda turned around to face him fully, arms crossed, glaring down. It was the only time she had the upper-hand in height—when they were on a hill, since he always shuffled behind her like some lost puppy.

“These parts of the woods are safe,” Zelda said waving her arms in the air in an attempt to prove something. “I’ve been here a billion times without anyone! Wait—“ Her glare at this point had become deathly. “How’d you even know I was here?” She was sure she snuck out using her secret passage—unless. Unless it wasn’t secret anymore, because now he probably knew where it was.

He didn’t speak, only looking up at her with those large blue eyes of his. Anyone could easily get lost in them, they were so vibrant. Startlingly blue, and she would admit it. They were beautiful, she was jealous.

Jealous about every aspect of him.

Typically she would ignore him completely—simply stare at him when she walked past him, or maybe huff out a breath of annoyance when they made eye contact—but today, she was tired. And she wanted to be alone.

She wasn't sure why she even bothered to ask him a question, because he never answered anyway. He merely gazed at her with pursed lips, which angered her even further. She let out a strangled, short shout of frustration as she threw her arms in the air again in an attempt to let out some steam. No matter how many times she spoke to him, the very few times she had, he would simply stare at her. Acknowledging her existence, maybe. But refusing to speak.

Which simply made her even more angry.

“Will you say something?” Zelda stomped toward him. To her slight surprise, his eyebrow twitched. "Anything?" A moment of silence passed between them. “Of course you won’t.” She muttered, mere inches away from his face.

She leaned away, trying to read his expression, but to no avail, she couldn’t. She never could. He was a puzzle that would be impossible to solve, and she wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to in this lifetime.

But really, she just wondered…

Does he despise her, being forced into this destiny without a choice? Does he despise having to follow her heel to heel, watching her back every day? These questions were constantly at the tip of her tongue, but she always swallowed them back, afraid to know the answer.

She turned around briskly, stomping back up the hill, and she could hear the sound of the Master Sword and his Hyrule shield clacking away behind her, following.

All she wanted, for one day, was to bask in the sun by herself.

Highlight: by herself.

But no, not even she could think about her failures in peace, and now she had some silent man following her every step, watching her every move, probably recording each and every mistake she’s made since then to report it back to her father.

Well, she wasn’t planning on giving him anything today, and she was going to continue walking until her legs gave out, and he’d think twice about following her out again.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The late afternoon shimmered away into dusk, and they were still pacing their way through the forest. The entire time Zelda had simply picked at whatever seemed interesting to her, making note of her findings. Somewhere down the line, the initial anger she had simmered down with the coolness of the air. She had snacks to munch on, but she never saw Link take a bite out of anything. His eyes had trailed her the entire time.

Zelda let out a sigh. There was no way he wasn't starving at this point, and she didn't want to be the one to drag his corpse back to the castle. Scanning the trees around her, her eyes noticed the familiar curve of a common tree. As she made her way there with purpose, she lifted herself up into it—now this caused a reaction out of him. He jogged up to her shortly after, looking up at her with concern, ushering her to come down.

“Just stay put for once.” She waved his hand away and continued to climb up until she settled on a branch with a satisfying ‘oof’.

She stared down at him, and noticed the twitch of his eyebrow as she did so. The second possible reaction of the day! Was it annoyance, perhaps? Had she finally evoked some sort of emotion out of him? If he wasn’t here, which he always was, she would’ve patted herself on the back.

“Hey,” she said, plucking an apple from a tree. His attention averted to the apple she held. She stifled a laugh when she saw him quickly lick his lips; she wasn’t sure if he even noticed he had done that. She tossed it down, and without a second to waste, he took a big bite out of it. She climbed further up to reach the next apple and snatched it. By that time, he was already done, and she tossed another one down.

She thought it was foolish of him to follow her without making food for himself, and so she decided to reach for a third apple higher up, until she remembered she had packaged herself a snack for the ride back that she could offer to him.

“Oh!” Zelda brightened up as she rummaged through her pouch for—

The branch beneath her groaned as it dipped—leaving just enough time for her to reach for the trunk, to fancy the idea of getting herself out of danger in time, before the crack of the wood ricocheted in the air.

Zelda yelped in surprised as she plummeted to the ground, the scenery before her whizzing upward in a flurry of green and brown—

And before she could even process what had happened, her mind still dizzy from falling, she was on the ground. Heavy breaths and swirling thoughts mingled with one another as she realized how… how warm the grass was.

And then realized how smooth the grass was, and how… how the texture just didn’t feel right. She quickly glanced down below her, but instead of being flattened on the grass, she was flattened against—him.

Link.

Zelda jumped out of his arms like a cat jumping out of water.

“I’m so sorry!” she scurried a few feet away from him, patting down her body to ground herself. “I—the branch and… the weight…”

Link laid there in the grass for a second, scratching his head, before he lifted himself on his elbows. His hair was littered with leaves and small twigs. A rare sight to see him in such disarray.

Zelda felt her heart drop as he picked himself up, not really responding to her apology. He shook his hair with both hands to get rid of the debris.

If he didn’t hate her before, she was sure he did now.

[queenof-literature]

I'm asking again because I absolutely adore your work! You write the Links telling stories amazingly. It truly feels that Wild was telling the stories. Could write the all Links talking about their loves. It would be mix of fluff and angst because we have Sky and Time, who are both happy with their respective partners, but we also have Wild, Twilight, and Legend who I imagine are all lost in their own ways. I have not played all the games so feel free to interpret how you wish!

Hi again! Thank you! I'm so glad you like my work! I haven’t played all the Zelda games either, but I have watched many playthroughs. I have played Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, and BOTW, and I’m going to play Link’s Awakening after I’m done with Hollow Knight, because unfortunately that’s all I have access too with the game systems I have. But I have watched playthroughs of the rest! So thank you for letting me have my own interpretation because I see a lot of the relationships besides the ones you mentioned and more platonic. I think Wind and Tetra would be sweet but they’re twelve during the game ya know? I apologize there is less storytelling in this one, but I feel a lot of them wouldn't be quite ready to spill all the beans. Hope you enjoy!

    Time didn’t really know how it had descended this far into chaos. One moment, Warriors was telling a tale of a ‘grand exploit’ in a tavern in his Hyrule, the next, there was screaming and yelling and multiple ‘innocent young ears’ being covered. Time thinks it all started when in the middle of the story, Warriors was telling them about a beautiful young lady he had met, to which Legend groaned and rolled his eyes. Instantly Warriors’ smile grew sharp and his eyes filled with teasing and mischief. Time knew that look, that was the look that promised Warriors was about to do anything to make the other boy uncomfortable, even making up the rest of the story if he had too. 

    Yes that’s certainly what began this quick but entertaining descent into Hell. Warriors began to tell how this young woman just ‘couldn’t keep her hands to herself’ as he stared right into Legend’s soul. Of course, Legend, not one to back down from a challenge, began yelling about his experiences in the tavern, also probably made up, and started screaming about a young lady who ‘really liked his magic items’ to which led Sky to yelling at both of them to keep quiet as he covered Wind’s ears. Wind then laughed and covered Hyrule’s ears, who giggled and reached up and covered Sky’s ears to create a Triforce of protecting the innocent. Twilight, seeing this happening, smirked and covered Wild’s ears to which he fought vehemently but Twilight wouldn’t budge. Four was shifting expressions so fast it was hard to keep track, from amused, to annoyed, to horrified, to resigned, and then a weird combination of all of them. 

    Legend and Warriors continued screaming at each other, and as entertaining as it was, if Time didn’t stop them soon they would be screaming all night. 

    “Gentleman. While I’m sure many of us enjoy hearing your exploits, I think the entire forest doesn’t feel the same way.” Time voiced, causing Warriors and Legend to blush and grumble while the rest of the group laughed. 

    “Yeah, yeah we get it Old Man. You have a beautiful and loving wife at home.” Warriors teased back.

    “Your point?” Time smirked. 

    “Yeah Warriors, just cause you don’t want to settle down don’t mean we feel the same way.” Twilight called from the other side of the campfire as Wild finally fought his way out of Twi’s strong hold. 

    “Who said I never want to settle down, goat boy?” Warriors called back.

    “You called my wedding ring a shackle.” Time chuckled. 

    “Well sure it is. But who knows if I want a shackle one day.” The camp laughed at this.

    “This mean you got someone Captain? Perhaps your Zelda?” Legend teased. 

    “No, my Zelda is amazing, and badass to boot. But I don’t really feel that way about her, at least not now.” Warriors smiled. 

“Yeah, same with my Zelda. I’m not sure how she feels about me anyway.” Hyrule sighed. 

“Same here.” Legend said simply, though the group could see a haunted look in his eyes. No one mentioned it, Legend would speak up if he wanted to, and most likely not in front of the entire group. 

“You don’t have to marry Zelda. I love my Zelda but not romantically.” Time stated gently to Hyrule.

“Yeah I know. I guess I’m still kinda shocked you got married Time.” Hyrule blushed when he realized how bad that sounded as Warriors held back a laugh disguised as a cough. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that I always thought heroes didn’t really settle down. They kept saving and saving.” Hyrule finished with his hands up in a placating manner, but Time wasn’t offended at all.

“I know buddy. As I said, it took me years to see through that lie. I’m happy with Malon, and I’m out here with you boys too. You can take time for yourself too, it’s not selfish.” Time smiled softly at Hyrule. Although he didn’t mean to, Time’s words sent a stab of guilt through some of the other members. He should be home with his beautiful and loving wife. Not here on another quest after he had done so much already. But they sure were grateful to have him. 

“What about you Wild?” Wind asked. “You and your Zelda seem really close from what you’ve told us.”

“Um, well I’m not sure.” Wild rubbed the back of his neck. “I love her, and I know I did before, but I don’t know if I can imagine us you know, kissing and stuff.” Wild blushed as laughter roared up.

“Very elequantly put, Wild.” Warriors cackled. 

“You got plently of time to figure that out Cub.” Twilight clapped a hand on his shoulder as the laughter died down. 

“What are you laughing for, Wind?” Warriors ruffled his hair as Wind knocked his arm away. “You always talk about Tetra.” Warriors smirked as Wind sputtered and flushed a deep pink up to his ears.

“Tetra’s awesome! I wish she were here to kick your ass for saying that!” Wind yelled as he smacked Warriors’ shoulder. 

Four elbowed Sky. “What about you lover boy. You wanna talk about your Zelda?” Four teased as Sky’s face lit up.

“Ugh don’t get him started he won’t shut up for the rest of the night.” Legend grumbled. But it was too late. Sky had already begun.

“She’s amazing. She can play the harp and sing like Hylia herself.” Sky started with a dreamy look on his face. “One time before the Wing Ceremony, she thought I was being lazy and pushed me off of Skyloft to try and get me to call my Loftwing, but he had been put in a place he couldn’t reach me. So she had to save me herself.” Sky still had that dopey look on his face as his brothers snickered at his story. 

As Sky rambled on about his Zelda, Twilight’s eyes had grown clouded, staring at the stars peeking through the warm orange glow of the coming twilight. Wild would catch him doing this sometimes, and it always looked like Twilight was having a bittersweet memory. Wild glanced over at Time, making sure he noticed too, he was Twi’s mentor afterall. Time made eye contact with Wild and gave a small nod to acknowledge he was on the same page Wild was. Before either of them could do anything, Warriors spoke up.

“What about you country boy? You have someone?” Warriors asked and the rest of camp perked up. Twilight had never talked about his love life, besides a few jokes about ‘his heart being shattered’. Hopefully he was exaggerating…

“Uhh no.” Twilight responded after snapping out of his daze to find the entire camp looking at him curiously. 

“Does this have anything to do with the princess you talked about when Wild showed us his scars?” Four asked carefully, trying to portray that he wasn’t trying to overstep any bounds. 

“Yeah I guess so…” Twilight trailed off. Legend felt something cold in his heart at this conversation. He could tell Twilight lost his love, because he had seen that same expression in the mirror for years. He wanted to help Twilight know he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t the only one that had his heart shattered by things out of his control. The boy had always been a sturdy shoulder for all of them, it was time he returned the favor. He just didn’t know how without revealing too much or making Twilight uncomfortable. 

“There was a girl once.” Legend’s voice emerged from the silence. “Hair more red than you can imagine. She lived on an island I… found but… I did something wrong. My curiosity got the best of me, and now she and the island are gone.” Legend got out as little of the story as possible as quickly as possible while still seemingly indifferent. It was one thing to open up to all of his brothers, but it was another to cry in front of them. He couldn’t. 

Twilight seemed genuinely surprised Legend had spoken up about what was haunting him. Legend was sure that the others were just as shocked but he only looked at Twilight. He wanted Twi to know he wasn’t the only one. He needed Twi to know he wasn’t the only one. Talking about it was humiliating and almost impossible and just downright painful. He needed Twi to know he had been there too. Twi gave him a gentle and understanding look, one that told Legend he understood what he was trying to do, and that he was more than grateful and supportive of him. Warriors set a gentle hand on his shoulder, slow enough that he could pull away if he needed to. Legend allowed it, but nothing more. It’s more for that idiot’s peace of mind anyway. He didn’t take any comfort in it at all…

“My companion on my quest was awful to me at first.” Twilight’s voice rang out to replace Legend’s in the silence around the campfire. “She was awful to me at first but we started to talk more along the way and we became closer. Then she just… left. I don’t know what I did wrong…” Twilight trailed off, once again looking at the quickly fading twilight above. He wanted to talk more about it, and he could tell Legend did too. They just weren’t ready yet. 

Wild bit his lip. Time was much better at comforting Twilight, but he was on the other side of the fire and making a move to be next to him would draw attention Twilight didn’t want. Wild leaned some of his weight against the older boy. He had to at least try to comfort him after all Twilight had done for Wild since they met. Twilight smiled slightly when he felt the weight and leaned back. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.  

“I don’t think you did anything wrong Twilight.” Wild spoke quietly, messing with the hem of his tunic. “I mean you talked about your companion being from the Twilight Realm right?” Twilight nodded slightly, looking pained. “Well maybe she had to go for another reason? I’m not saying you should just forget.” Wild rushed to say. “But maybe it was really complicated if both of you were growing closer to each other and she wasn’t as mean as before?” Wild finished his words with a question. Twilight never told him enough about his companion to know for sure what really happened. But he could at least try to comfort his mentor. 

Twilight looked down at Wild and smirked, but it lacked the tease it normally had, it held gratitude and love. “Thanks, Cub.” Twilight said simply, then reached out a hand to quickly ruffle the youngers’ hair. Wild yelped and slapped his hand away. Relief overwhelmed the boys in the group, thankful that the atmosphere had lifted slightly. 

“I know it’s not the same.” Warriors started once the others had settled down. “But there was this woman. She was the main one who tried to take the Triforce for herself other than Ganon. Apparently she was supposed to protect the Triforce, but she… fell in love with me.” Warriors waited for the teasing to begin. He knew he made many jokes about the women he had met, but it seemed the group could tell this sometimes plagued his mind. 

“That was one of the reasons she started the war that I fought in. I found out later that her light was driven from her to create my friend Lana, so she became completely dark. I had to fight in her temple and there were pictures of me all over the walls and…” Warriors paused. He couldn’t talk about his overconfidence yet. He couldn’t talk about his mistakes that led to Dark Link. What if the others hated him for it? “I don’t know it may sound silly. But having someone obsessed with you like that is, scary I guess. I mean, people died in those battles, because she was jealous of Zelda and me but I’m not even sure how I feel about Zelda. She died and I couldn’t help but feel guilty. I know I’m not required to have feelings for her, especially after all she had done, but it still made me feel… I don’t know.” Warriors sighed. Legend leaned slightly into Warriors’ hand on his shoulder. He never knew Warriors had that part of his story. The rest of the group felt twangs in their hearts at Warriors’ confused tone. 

“It’s not your fault Warriors.” Wind smiled up at him. “You’re right. You shouldn't force yourself to feel that way for anyone. The war wasn’t your fault.” Warriors smiled down at his small companion and nodded in thanks.

“Wind is right.” Hyrule stated quietly. “There were people after me because of the Triforce. That doesn’t mean it’s our fault.” No one mentioned that the word ‘were’ sounded a little strained. they’d have to keep an eye on him in his Hyrule it seemed. 

“Thanks guys.” Warriors grinned. It was a little more troubled than his usual grin, but it was a welcome sign nonetheless. Sky looked a little guilty at having proclaimed his love so confidently. Four pat his shoulder and shook his head. Sky shouldn’t feel guilty for being happy. None of the other boys would ever want that. 

“Look at all of us.” Legend teased with a wry smile. The rest of the group chuckled slightly. The atmosphere wasn’t as happy as it had been, but there was an odd relief, like the relief after crying. A bittersweet acceptance that hearts had been broken, but they still had brothers to fall back on. The group could tell no one else was ready to talk about anything else for the night, so they began to settle in. Surprisingly, Twilight laid his bedroll near Legend that night. While no tears were shed, the group was still exhausted from a long day of travel. After the other heroes had settled down, Twilight laid awake, looking at the stars. He knew Legend would be up too, the hero never seemed to sleep right away. And now Twilight had suspicions why after his tale.

“Hey Legend?” Twilight whispered after he was positive everyone was asleep, save Four, who was on the outskirts of camp keeping watch, too far away to hear their whispers.

“What?” Legend pretended to look annoyed but Twilight could see the curiosity in his eyes.

“What was her name?” Twilight asked quietly, praying that he hadn’t crossed a line. When Legend didn’t answer, he figured he would apologize and awkwardly turn over in his bedroll and pretend to sleep.

“Marin…” Legend whispered the name with such sadness, but such awe that it threw Twilight for a loop. “Your companion?” Legend questioned back.

“Midna.”  

[malo-mart]

Which zelda is your fav? Why? (This is full on permission if you wish to write a like, 30 page cited essay on it, i wanna read)

Anon this is such a loaded question you have no idea <\3 I love the zelda series so much and I've played it for so long that my favourites all kind of blur together. I was thinking I could tell you what my favourite aspects of my top 5 games are though lol? I would love to write a cited essay for you but I am basically illiterate hehe

Anyway so because I can't pick one here are five

Minish cap:

for a long time I said minish cap was my #1 favourite game! I love that it's a Gameboy game with that early 2000's pixel graphics it's so cute <3 and I loved the gameplay of big/small (it has that classic overworld/underworld Zelda feel) along with collecting the kinstones, it was so charming. I'm always really obnoxious about it on Tumblr because I think it's massively underrated and more people should play it! Also ezlo is a good companion and he reminds me the most of Midna!!

Twilight princess:

um is this not every single persons guilty pleasure game ?? It's so good. It's just. So good. People call it edgy and trying too hard to be Majora's mask but at the end of the day it was a solid and fun Zelda game that I love so much !! How can you not love turning into a wolf. How can you not love midna. I think it has a great plot twist and some of the mechanisms were really fun. The fact that you can hold cats is a huge highlight for me as well. Also I think I should mention that I don't ship anything in loz it's not that kind of fandom for me but I do enjoy a little midzel....as a treat

A Link Between World's:

i LOVE this game !!!!!! It was a breath of fresh air while also being a sequel to alttp? Botw 2 could never (we'll see).. I think albw brought back that classic loz feel while still being its own unique game! I thought ravio and Hilda were so loveable and they deserve so much more attention then they get. This while game in general deserved a lot more love. It's a favourite for me because the wall puzzles were so simple and clever n just so much fun!!!! I think I could write an entire essay about albw if I wanted to there's so much to commend!!

Skyward sword:

ok I know I said twilight princess was my guilty pleasure favourite but skyward sword is ALSO that. I'm replaying it atm and when the music started playing I teared up it's such an emotional game for me. The fact that it came out almost a decade ago?? Insane. I used to watch skyward sword zelink AMVs in 2011 so this game is crazy nostalgic for me lmao. I know people have a problem with the gameplay but I just think once you get over it it's such a fun and rewarding game? The plot is my favourite of all zelda games. I enjoyed actually having a relationship with zelda, it made me more motivated to play through the game because I wanted to save her <3 also it's low-key my favourite soundtrack (tied w wind waker) so like to all the people who don't like skyward sword- it's a good game i swear you just have to open your heart to it

Wind waker:

OBVIOUSLY wind waker is on this list it's a MASTERPIECE!!!!!!!! The MUSIC the ART STYLE the CHARACTERS !!!!!!!!!!! Anyone here give me one good reason why you don't like ww I dare you. Wind waker is the most fufilling and beautiful games I've ever played. It's beautiful it's gorgeous it's wonderful. Tetra is such a delight and ganondorf actually has a backstory and good dialogue!!! AMAZING!!!!!!! a really strong plot and interesting underworld/overworld dynamic. I love wind waker omg

Majora's Mask:

So I had to pick between Majora's and ocarina and honestly I think I do like mm more? I've only ever played it all the way through twice but I love how the whole game is dependant on how you interact with the side quests. Both times I played I made sure to get every mask because to me it just feels so fufilling to know I am getting the most out of the story. And like for every edgy game that has ever come out...mm did it first. It was creepy it was anxiety inducing but it did it so well. It didn't feel forced at all and I think it's my favourite game I've ever played that has a time dynamic to it. It feels so good to watch the credits of Majora's mask and see everyone be happy! Its a lot more unconventional hero in Majora's mask because I don't feel good for defeating majora I feel good for helping all these characters who I got to know. It's a good game I think everyone should try playing it but I can acknowledge it's not everyone's cup of tea

Anyway that was definitely six not five but I couldn't leave any of them out they're all so important to me !! I've played a myriad of other zelda games that didn't make the cut but trust me I also love them. I'm sorry this is the worst answer to your very specific question haha but hopefully it's not too boring. Feel free to tell me what your favourite game(s) is I'd love to hear. If ppl make it to the end of this you should reply with ur fave game and why! I'd love to read them :)

[heartofhryule]

Breath of the Wild: Captured Memories - Chapter 2

First and foremost; SPOILER WARNINGS. If you have not played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or completed the Captured Memories Quest and want to stay un-spoiler-ed for it, DO NOT READ.

So I am writing these as I play through BotW for the first time - which means they probably won’t be ‘one-a-day’ consistent as its taking me forEVER to get to all of them, AND they probably won't be in any respectable order - just what I get to as I find them. My intent is to find them all, and summarize once I have found and have a story for each of the 18 memories required to get the bonus ending for the game. Once that's done, I will wrap it all up with a final chapter after I beat the game.

I will post them as I can though! Promise! I also plan to include links to the cutscene for you to watch at the bottom, if so desired - at least for the ones I can find. Any other warnings that become necessary, I will add for content as I go. For now, enjoy!

Chapter 2 - Lake Kolomo

Unlike most of his other gear, wrapped efficiently in his strange, magical bag from Purah, the blue tunic of The Champion didn’t itch. Or weigh a ton, or pinch, or anything else that armor and uncomfortable clothing did. In fact, it fit like it had been made for him. Which if Impa was to be believed, it had.

She’d given it to him upon his return to Kakriko, saying she was now certain he was who he appeared to be. Link had been unable to internally roll his eyes thinking what in the world she would have done if he’d not been. But Impa was old, wizened… and he had the sneaking suspicion she could still kick his ass if she needed to. That and what would he have done if he’d not been who she’d hoped? Been lost, was the answer, so he didn’t dwell on it.

Now, he was fed, rested and on his way to the next place he thought he’d seen before. His map told him that the name was “Kolomo Lake”, and that he’d been by there, if not all that close. Merely close enough for the traveler to believe it one of the places pictured in the Princess’s ‘album’.

The day was bright, sunny and pleasant, Kakriko had been rainy the day before, the storm passing from the west to east, but now everything was bright, clear and inspiringly beautiful. He absorbed the sun, standing on the travel circle out front of the Oman Au Shrine to which he’d just traveled, and tried to let the rays warm through his skin into his soul.

It helped, but only a little.

Link was still unsettled from his memories beginning to return. A cold princess who seemed to resent him, champions who were nameless faces, and a broken world that stood to remind him the disapproval he saw in them from his scattered memories seemed to have been founded. The weight on his shoulders grew with every step the horse beneath him took.

However that line of thought was going to get him nowhere. To discover the truth of who he was, or perhaps to learn in spite of who they thought him what he could do to heal the world, he had to press on. And it was a beautiful day. Spurring his steed faster, Link put his head down and let the mare go. She was excited, full of energy and happy to run - so he let her. At the pace she set, it wasn’t long before Kolomo Lake was in sight.

Searching the birch tree-lined shores, it took half the day to make it around to the other side, and along the way he saw nothing familiar. It of course wasn’t until the sun was setting that the traveller found himself on the direct opposite side of the lake from whence he’d approached and discovered the spot from which the princess had taken a picture 100 years before. Dismounting, he didn’t recognize the area, couldn’t recall this place at all, but in trying to piece it together, he was taken by the memory.

***

She walked ahead of him, the cold, detached Princess of Hyrule, rambling on about the Divine Beasts. Nose glued to the Sheikah Slate, it was the only time she would really talk to him. And if he were honest, he had a suspicion that she would be talking out loud to the Slate just as she was now if he’d not been present. They were headed to Goron City, she was on about someone named Daruk, and all Link could do was watch her. Sure, he was passively absorbing some of the things she was saying, at the time he was taking being her Chosen Knight very seriously. But what was distracting him was the way the sunlight illuminated her hair. The way she walked with purpose. The way her voice changed when she was talking about something that interested her, how she tangented off into her wonder for the ancient technology…

She still had the voice from his dreams and nightmares.

But then she stopped walking in the vision, and he too stopped, a more than respectable distance away. She’d made it clear she didn’t care for him. He couldn’t recall why, merely that it was so. She didn’t turn to face him, just glanced over her shoulder as she spoke words like daggers into his heart.

“Tell me the truth,” she said softly, but not without the command of a princess. “How proficient are you right now, wielding that Sword on your back?” With the memory came the feelings he’d once had in the experience itself, reliving it as if he were again there. Up to that point, he’d felt confident. But her look, her tone, her body language all sewed real doubt within him. Fear, doubt… shame that he could not assuage her fears that he was ready to become better, ready to learn and be the Hero they needed. That she needed. But he was silent. He couldn’t assuage her fears. And she continued.

“Legend says that an ancient voice resonates inside it. Can you hear it yet… Hero?” “What if I can?” he asked her with a smirk. He’d not been with her long, but she was always so serious. Hopefully one day he could make her smile, even if a little.  She turned and frowned at him. “Do not lie to me.” “Then why did you ask?” Well. No smiling today then. “What are you talking about?” “You asked if I could hear the sword. Then when I imply that I might be able to, you accuse me of lying.” “I didn’t-” “You did, your highness.” Link shrugged. Her unwillingness to accept him was not entirely unexpected. He’d yet to prove himself - a fact he planned to remedy. Ignoring the sting of her revealed opinions, he started walking again. “We have a long way to go to Goron City. We should keep going.” She walked along slightly behind him for a moment before marching to retake the lead indignantly. “Not like I need a Hero anyway,” she grumbled as she passed him.

***

As the vision faded, Link’s false good mood was fading once more with the sunlight. Why exactly was he trying to regain his memories? Thus far, not a one of them had been good. Add to it that after recalling her go on about the Divine Beasts and the wonder and excitement she held for these things, Link was no longer on the fence. The voice, the one he heard in his mind and had heard from the moment he’d awakening in the Shrine of Resurrection, Her voice… was the Princess.

Turning with an enraged cry and some force behind it, Link punched the nearest birch tree, sending leaves and loose bark into the air. Everyone talking about how the hero failed, and yet the Martyred Princess was in their hearts and minds. If she was so great, and she’d had all these doubts about him, then why in the world had they let, or more aptly probably, forced him into the role? Were they not the ones to blame, whoever they were? The King? Princess? Those champions?

Letting the shooting pain of punching a tree run throbbing up his arm into his shoulder, chest, neck and head, Link tried to take a deep breath. He reminded himself that this was merely the tip of an iceberg that spanned an entire lifetime. Recalling no more than his name and two hours of a life he’d lived was not enough to know what had happened. There was no context, no recollection of what had brought him to the point he was recalling - and that was the true purposes of these travels. Not for the individual memories themselves, but the hope that the individual ones would ignite to restore the whole.

Hero or not, he still needed to remember himself. And, if like the Princess thought 100 years before - and he was currently believing here after failing - if he was not the Hero, he would dedicate his life to finding the True Hero and righting his wrongs from the past.

Sighing, the thought cooled his head long enough that he could let go the sting of his visions. For now. Looking around him, it was far too open to stay there for the night. They’d certainly run afoul of some kind of Stahl and if nothing else, the excitable little Mare didn’t need that. Riverside Stable wasn’t far from Kolomo, and he needed the ride. Needed to let the wind take his thoughts so he could clear them and keep focused, alert, on track and target for what it was he had set out to do.

As he mounted and took off towards the stable, the traveler acknowledged one more reason he needed to ride and move on, though it pained him to admit it - he needed to forget how much it stung to remember She hadn’t believed in him. He wasn’t sure why he cared, what with the broken recollections as they were. It did not change the ache in his chest, nor that he did. Tomorrow, he would ride again to find the next location. He had to. What else did he have?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b_45YCdaxk

[crystalnet]

In Defensio: Skyward Sword

Skyward Sword generally seems to have a luke warm to slightly negative-- at worst-- full out negative reputation online. It has been widely noted that the game appreciated an initial embrace by professional critics that gave way to a much less enthusiastic one generally, that would only depreciate even further over time. Now that Breath of the Wild has shown up on its white, King of the Mountain horse and conquered (almost) all naysayers and restored a certain amount of validity to the franchise, along with Link Between Worlds, I fear Skyward may continue to get an increasingly bad rap compared to BotW, but now that we're a full main-line game away from Skyward, I think I can speak from a more objective stand-point regarding the game. And while the game isn't as good as BotW, I still think it's an excellent entry, is easily better than Twilight (maybe roughly tied with Windwaker) and that a lot of the bad rap is kind of misguided in my humble opinion-- let's get into it...

I'll address the criticism in the order of its prominence online. Thus, the first thing I must acknowledge and contend with are all the critics-- usually amateur ones-- who assail the Motion Plus controls. Now, I'll admit that they aren't flawless, but that's a part of what makes them kind of interesting. Hear me out though, because I will say that out of the plethora of uses for the motion control that are employed throughout the game, there is one which I outright dislike, and that's the one that shows up whenever you have to select a weapon or item from your pouch/inventory. On a recent play-through, for whatever reason, this barely worked at all and I couldn't select the thing I wanted with any ease. Maybe I was just too close to the TV or something but still, it should be said that there are some flaws. But when people criticize it in general, I'm just convinced that they just either suck at it or are doing something wrong. Quite an assumption but really, the combat in my opinion is excellent and the fact that they were able to pull off simulating the actual position of the wii-remote accurately in the game is very impressive. For some reason people find it so easy to dismiss it, and the accuracy of the Motion Plus in general-- maybe it's because this was late in the Wii's life-cycle and this idea had grown stale just as they perfected, or perhaps it makes people view the game as being gimmicky and less than an ideal, hard-core Zelda experience. Whatever it is,  I think this view of the controls is taking a really unique and solid system for granted. 

Another guess at why it's a bit misunderstood: I think people imagine wielding the Master Sword and being able to mow through everything, but the whole point of the motion control is to allow for deep combat in which bokoblins and others are able to block your strikes if you telegraph your approach. So the game is purposefully pushing you towards being quicker and thinking ahead and waiting for openings, or using your shield bash, all techniques which would go unused if someone is just wildly swinging about. I personally think the motion-control is largely excellent, and being able to actually wield Link's sword feels revelatory to me, at this point, though I admit it was easier to dismiss back when it came out after games like No More Heroes and Red Steel had attempted variations on this idea. But for my money this is the best version of motion-controlled sword play on the market. And it's not just the sword-play, it's the sky-diving (which doesn't get fully unlocked until a mini-game later on), the flying, the bug catching, the aiming, the balancing, the swimming (for better or worse depending on who you ask) and so much more. The bug net specifically is in my opinion the best showcase. It responds perfectly to subtle movements of the wrist and twisting and scooping the net in order to capture the various bugs and others collectibles feels really responsive and even “immersive”. 

The last thing I'll say is that beyond being novel and unique, the motion control was a great way to make the combat deeper than previous titles, building signifivantly on the combat which was previously simple and slightly mundane, if serviceable (OoT through Twilight really, though it improves by WW/TP). The combat here and in BotW is a much deeper iteration of combat than we've seen in any Zelda really, and I'm all about moving away from the simple albeit still fun sword-play of previous console entries. 

The second big criticism is kind of two-fold or tied between two things: Fi and the linearity. First of all, I'm just not convinced Fi is as bad as people make out. Is it really so immasculating to get some general guidance every now in again (amounts to about two or three times throughout a whole region/dungeon-sized stretch really)? I don't think it's significantly more than Midna or King of Red Lions, plus she looks cool, is a robot spirit that lives in your sword and sometimes she even asks you if you want an explanation or not (seriously, she asks you if you even want to hear about dowsing the first time... you can say no!). And as for the linearity, I think this is a weird thing to focus criticism on and doesn't make sense given the similar amount of linearity in all previous Zelda's save for Zelda 1. There may be a bit less on the SNES/N64 era games, but WW and Twilight have a similarly linear progression. It doesn't necessarily seem excessive to me, though I will say BotW has shown us brilliantly how non-linear gameplay and a hands-off approach regarding exposition and excessive tutorials can work very well. But not all games should be held to that standard. 

I think a lot of the sour reactions to this game had or have something to do with the time that this game was coming out. This was well into the Wii and the seventh generation’s life, and compared to games that were coming out on 360/PS3 at the time, this game did not look nearly as polished or graphically advance. Of course it didn't-- the Wii essentially had the same graphics card as the Gamecube. But they make up for it with the beautiful style, and I'd take it over photo-realism any day personally. But again, when you think about how a game like Skyrim came out the same month as this game. it helps contextualize why some people retroactively grade this game harshly. But I counter that graphical/technical comparisons like this are superficial, and that there is a lot of depth to be found in this game in the various systems and design rather than in the sheer amount of pixels or whatever. 

It's linear in the sense that the sky/Skyloft is a hub for areas that you fly directly too, which are themselves disconnected from the other large areas. But within these areas, there is top-notch level design on display the likes of which we don't usually see outside of the dungeons in Zelda. I think people are distracted by the lack of a true Hyrule Field, since the sky stands in for that, and thus view the environments as overly enclosed and linear. But each region is very unique and through-designed in a way that sets them apart from the non-dungeon environments of previous Zelda games. I appreciate the open-ness of the Hyrule Fields in previous games and the way they connected disparate, unique areas, but despite the way it simulates realistic geographic spaces, it can be kind of empty and hum-drum as is the case in Twilight. I like the openness of the world in that game,  but the fields and areas that connect dungeons are essentially empty stretches of textures. This is a problem they wouldn't fix directly until BotW, but one which they circumvent entirely in Skyward. 

I love seeing open environments like this that have the same level of puzzle solving and attention to detail as the dungeons. And the areas are usually somewhat labyrinthine or non-linear in their own ways, which the scavenger hunt segments always showcase. I’d take these areas over the empty expanses of Twilight or the tiny isalnds of Windwaker on most days. I love the sense of exploration in Windwaker, but it would have been great to have a few larger, more substantial islands that were off the beaten path. This game makes up for the lack of big, open environments in WW, and big bland stretches in TP simultaneously. And it simulates the openness of WW’s sea in miniature with the use of the sky-hub, which is similarly underused, and like WW's sea could be expanded excellently on in future sequels, but for what it is, I quite enjoy it. The music and feeling of flying around is triumphant and though exploration is limited, it isn't non-existent, with over 20 floating islands. Some are merely a tiny platform with a chest on it, but then others include the super sick sky-diving mini game, or the pumpkin bar, or the sword-training mini-game, or a giant vortex with a dope Windfish boss flying around in it. 

I just think people get caught up on little things in this game, like revisiting areas and Fi occaisonally directing you, or perhaps its the dowsing segments which I suppose can feel fetch-quest-y. But again, I think the environments are excellent and as well-designed as the dungeons, for the first time, and so none of these things should really be seen as problems, as revisiting the areas under different circumstances and exploring them thoroughly to find various treasure/items is continually rewarding if you stop and smell the roses and appreciate each area for its unique design. Another way this is accentuated is the surprisingly deep insect and treasure-collecting. In fact, the collecting and weapon/item-upgrading in this game is deeper than pretty much any system in previous Zelda games save maybe the ring or mask systems in the Oracle games and Majora's Mask respectively. With so much stuff to collect and catch and upgrade, there is quite a bit of optional content. In addition to that are the generous amount of side-quests. Twlight was seriously hurting for side-quests and this game makes up for it and then some.

I appreciate that between every dungeon more and more quests become unlocked in succession. The first Goddess Cube you find unlocks a chest on the Pumpkin Tavern's island, which leads you there only to begin the quests associated with that island as well as leading you to the Graveyard/Kukiel quest back on Skyloft, which in turn leads you to lean about Gratitude Crystals and that demon guy and so on. And a lot of them are quirky, like the one where you can sleep in your classmate Fletch's room to find him doing push-ups and in-need of stamina potions, or the Moaning-Myrtle referencing bathroom-ghost quest. The fact that you’re a student in an academy makes this the closest to Persona that a Zelda game has ever gotten which is also a bonus. I generally enjoy how Skyloft functions as a hub, and it works as a nice way of gathering together various NPC's and locations for the many side-quests in the game. While Windwaker has good side-content, the quests could often be a bit obscure or miss-able for more casual play-throughs, and I think this game addresses that as well, so honestly it's the best side-quest game since Majora and Link's Awakening, which is saying something.

When people deride the game's linearity I just feel like their short-changing the depth of these various things including the side-quests, the upgrading and item collecting and the sheer amount of motion-control functionality in this. I truly think, at least as far as aiming things, that motion-control is the optimal method of control, making this and Twilight both superior in at least this one regard, in terms of the archery and sling-shooting, but all the other motion-control systems feel like individual little mini-games that just happen to flow consistently with the main game, and all add to the game as whole, making for a richer experience overall. I just feel a really nice sense of immersion with this game, and the controls seems preferable to older titles, unless I’m just feeling super lazy and can't even stand to keep my wrist slightly stiff. I may be a black-sheep in this regard, but I think the motion controls are successful with what they aim to do, which to me is create an immersive, intuitive as well as more visceral experience. Defeating a harder boss, like the amazing Koloktos, while using this control scheme, or head-shotting someone with an arrow feel so much more rewarding than when done with a single tap of a button, but hey that's just me.

And not to be outdone, if the environments are good in this game, I think the dungeons are generally strong as well, with the fourth dungeon being one of my top 3 Zelda dungeons of all time, and a few introducing some really cool ideas like time-traveling crystal-switches or the deconstructed fifth dungeon which is spread across a suite of mini-dungeons, each an unique trial of your wits and technique. Beyond mechanics, the story, characters and presentation are strong as well. The vaguely Scandinavian-concept art and character-designs and towns are a nice direction after the more drab, darkly medieval Twilight, and the look is also a bit more grounded than the sheer cartoonish quality that Windwaker had while still being just a bright and colorful. I also love this specific Zelda world, with the lore of Skyloft and the goddess being nicely fleshed out, and little aesthetic flourishes like the goddess harp that you use, or Girahim's unique design giving everything a pleasantly whimsical feeling that fits in well with the serious while being kind of different at the same time.

So yeah, I feel like that at least serves as a response to some of the criticism. Whether those critics would be forced to reconsider their opinion, I can't be sure, but I do hope that over time this game warrants a second appraisal by those who previously wrote it off. I think it's a great send-off for the 7th generation, and is one last romp with Zelda that offers an experience that builds on the previous games and adds a lot to the mix without being the pretty big departure that BotW is. In fact, it's my favorite Zelda after BotW, and I know a lot of people would call me a hipster for that, but hey, it's the one I like playing the most after BotW at this point, so sue me. If you disagree with my points, I'd love to see someone attempt to refute. Really let's get into it. This game rocks. Let's fight. Fuck you.

[cutegirlmayra]

Could you please do prompt #14 with botw zelink? I loved their chemistry in the game and I know you can do them justice ❤👍

This nails them to a ‘T’ in my opinion. Whether it’s botw or another game, I feel this hits they’re characters well enough for me to not have to strain so much to stay in character.

Thank you, I’m going to enjoy this :3

Prompt:

Zelda walked pristinely with her head down in long, slow strides down her castle halls.

Link, being ever faithful, remained close behind her.

This wasn’t new to them. After her father had ordered her to fixate the rest of her time on her prayers, she was soon found moping around the castle, having come back from previous praying.

She remained silent, almost as silent as the dusk, as the sun began to set.

Link kept up her pace, but looked down.

Something inside him told him something was wrong,… and he should say something.

Often remaining silent about his feelings upon everything, he wondered how long she would remain under silence…

The silence wasn’t new to him, but he knew it was silently paining her inside.

She was usually cheerful about the things she liked.

Perhaps…

He stopped walking a moment, and Zelda broke her stride, turning behind her.

“..Link?”

He remained looking to the side, outside the window, spotting something that completely took over his interests.

She paused a moment, before turning around, her dress carrying the motion. “What’s wrong, Link..? What do you see?” she turned to the window, and then back to Link, walking towards him.

“Has something caught your eye?”

He continued to stare…

Suddenly, he rushed forward, startling Zelda. “Ah! Link!” she faltered back, before stumbling to rebalance herself and ran towards the window.

He placed a foot up on the ledge, and jumped, looking determined as he flew downward with his arms out wide.

“Liiink!” she rammed herself against the edge of the windowsill, and looked around, worried.

When she saw him rushing to the garden, her eyes widened in shock, not sure what he was doing, and quickly darted to the stairs, lifting her dress up and hurrying to find out-

“What on earth had possessed you to-!?” she looked pretty angry, but mostly surprised and panicked with worry, before stopping in mid-sentence and stride, lifting a hand up.

“Ah…”

Link had picked a flower for her.

He held it with a neutral expression on his face, then nodded his head and walked towards her.

Bending to one knee, he ducked his head and held it out for her to accept.

Her eyes delicately stared down in wonder at the flower, before smiling kindly and tilting her head, understanding his true intent.

“Link…” she drew forth her hand, and lightly took the flower from his hand, barely skimming her fingers against his own.

He lightly blushed from the sensation of it, but with his head down, no one could tell.

He rose it up, as if half expecting her to acknowledge it, but knew he was probably just thinking oddly and shook his head, quickly getting up from kneeling.

He readjusted himself as she smiled even more warmly towards the flower, and held it up to her nose.

“…Link, have you been paying attention to my herbal lessons?” She tilted her head, a slightly cheeky look coming on her face.

He honestly didn’t know what she was talking about, and put a hand up behind his head, scratching it.

“Hmm… I guess not.” she turned around, facing her back to him.

“..This flower… is called Love Eternal.”

“Wa-ah!” he seemed to trip on her words, before regaining himself.

Had he just accidentally confessed!?

She giggled lightly, a breathy one, before lightly touching the petals of the flower.

“It’s said that when women are too shy to say it, since the tradition has always stood that men do those honors first… that they plant these in their gardens and flowerbeds… a silent invitation for him to propose.”

She lightly turned her head back to Link, nodding some comfort to him, but still teasing him.

“I assumed you didn’t know. It’s alright. I thought it was very cute, and awfully funny of you. Thank you… Link. It did make me feel better.”

Her kindness… her gentle reassurance not to worry…

His shoulders fell as he lowered his arm from being raised, and looked down, nodding in his embarrassment.

“Please, don’t act so modest. I honestly felt flattered.” Zelda closed her eyes and smiled, nodding another reassurance for him not to worry.

“Now then.” she lowered her hands, keeping the flower tightly in one of them.

She regained her natural dignity, and looked seriously back to the castle. “Father has forbidden me to leave the castle walls if not for the sole purpose of my prayers… we should return before he suspects us of any treason against his words…”

Link looked up.

He realized how much she held back.. the true pain at saying those words.

Even his adventurous spirit felt trapped and coped up here… but it was more than just tolerable, because he was protecting the princess.

So long as he had the princess….

On her way to her quarters, Link stopped once again.

“…” Zelda turned her head once more, “Link,…”

He looked out the window.

“..You’re not planning to jump out of the window again are you?” Zelda smiled, turning around, “I swear, Link.” she giggled, “You almost gave me a heart attack last time.”

He looked back at her, and smiled kindly, before looking apologetic.

He then lowered his head.

“…Link?”

He closed his eyes, deeply looking troubled and saddened.

“…What ever is the matter?”

Zelda walked back towards him, and waited in front of him.

When his eyes slowly opened, but didn’t look to her, she lightly raised a hand, but never fully touched him.

He looked up, following the gesture.

“…I know you’re worried about me.” Zelda looked understanding, and with every ounce of a gentle loving friend, she spoke again, “And I must ask you to keep enduring for me.”

“A-ah…” he voiced out, stepping to balance himself more.

She knew?

She looked down, turning her head away, and placing her hand holding the flower up against her chest.

“I understand you feel at a loss… wanting to help me, but not being able to disobey orders.”

He held his stare, but closed his mouth tightly.

“I’m sorry, Link… I truly do hope you know…” she looked back up at him, her pleasant face always sending a feeling through him… but he just wasn’t sure what to call it.

His eyes quickly darted to the flower, before blinking back up at her fast as instantly as he had glanced.

“I enjoyed the confession today.” She mischievously beamed.

“Gaah!”

She laughed, seeing his over-exaggerated expression.

She held another hand over her mouth, bending down and then slowly coming back up, enjoying his hilarious expression and reaction.

“Oh, Link! Haha, forgive me, haha! I couldn’t help but repeat myself again. Haha!”

She was smiling… she was genuinely laughing… at least that was enough.

Link continued to turn, embarrassed.

Later that night, as she slept silently in her bed, Link stood by her window.

He held his sword out in front, down to the floor, as his hands rested on it’s hilt.

In the shadows, he turned from his position of guarding to stare at her a moment… and the Love Eternal flower, glistening in the moonlight.

He slowly walked over to it.

Then bent down by Zelda’s side, looking over at her calm, peacefully sleeping face.

He leaned down, a quiet voice in her dreams…

“What if… I did..?”

She lightly stirred as wind passed by her ear.

the curtains of the open balcony window lightly draped over the moonlight, revealing the beautiful landscape of Hyrule outside.

“Always.”

The flower lightly dropped a petal from it’s watery glass.

“…Love you.”

Zelda felt something warm and slightly moist upon her cheek, but never spoke of the dreamed voice sense.

(Got a little AU at the end there. I should have just ended with, instead of ‘what if I did?’ to “Always” huh? May have kept it fully in character canon, lol)