#Link's characterization his relationship with Midna

[blood-starved-beast]

honestly going into the twilight princess manga nobody ever told me it was gonna be shoujo as hell and that Link and Midna's relationship would be very clearly sub/dom dynamic. Or that there would be massive amounts of Link whump. Or that Zelda and Ganondorf would have their own humanized version of the Hylia vs. Demise rivalry. The ending where Link rides into the sunset following the Hero's Shade that is simultaneously sweet, nostalgic, sad, and all around ambiguous?

People were saying it was good, didn't expect it to be good and catered to me personally that's what I'm saying.

[adel-memes]

3 and 17 for the fanfic ask game!!

Hiii! Thanks for the ask :D

3. What’s a fic idea that you have but haven’t written yet?

YEAH!! I got many answers for these so if anyone is interested just ask I got monster hunters au, e-rivals au, cyberpunk (PLEASE-) and royalty au. Here I'll talk about royalty :)

SO it's a fic that has all the colors from different regions as different roles. So for example, I'll start with Blue who we follow. He's a prince, Zelda's twin specifically, and they're the children of Nayru ruling Lanayru in a monarch type of system.

Green is Farore's chosen hero, she's the 'chief' of Faron where it isn't exactly ruled by 'royalty' but she does have selections of 'soldiers' who go through her trials to deem as her 'chosen heroes' (think Hylia's chosen hero now make it Farore's)

Vio is actually a rogue count. He was part of Farore's chosen heroes (think child prodigy) and then was like actually I don't wanna be here and left. Do we know where he went? Nope :] Will we find out? Maybe :]

Red is ??? cause I'm still thinking on it. Though he's from Eldin and rn Din & Ganondorf are at war over there with Din + Hyrule + Twilight on one side and Ganondorf + Lorule + Termina on the opposing side rn they're tense around each other but that's the reason Din is MIA most of the time. I'm thinking Red is her son OR Midna's son tbh

Shadow is kinda my favorite, he's lorule's bastard lmao. Hes hilda's younger brother who is adopted but people keep spreading rumors that he's Not and is actually a bastard lmao "who let the bastard speak?" - majority of other princes & princesses at Shadow

Anyway the story follows Blue and his bond with the others. (Yes he meets all of them and has separate dynamics with each. Example: Childhood friends to enemies with Green, bodyguard with Vio, opposites attract with Red, for once idk his dynamic with Shadow but the vibes in my head are pointing to unrequited mutual pining lmao)

I can ramble in more details about the idea and all but :) up to you guys

17. Are there any writers and/of stories that you consider an influence?

Definitely changeling-rin's dimensional links for links meet AUs. I feel like if I ever committed and wrote my links meet au I'd probably be more inspired by dimensional links fr

Also silversage elements fic with Blue, I feel like a LOT of how I characterize Vio's & Blue's relationship with each other is inspired by her fic and especially their relations with their respected elements

Other than that I'm not much of a reader atm (reading slump)

[themattress]

Ranking Link+Zelda and Ganon Incarnations

1. Hyrule Warriors - The more time has passed, the more I realize just how fucking good Hyrule Warriors was as a celebration of the Zelda series, which includes how superbly designed and characterized its Link and Zelda are. There are aspects of many past incarnations mixed in them, but they still manage to stand out as their own individuals. I especially love how Link is given actual character flaws, growing arrogant and believing himself to be the great lone hero of the story only to recognize that he, like all Links, never save the day purely on their own, and how Zelda is an absolute badass in combat as both herself and as Sheik, something that’s rarely seen outside of the Super Smash Bros. series.

2. Skyward Sword - Chronologically the first Link and Zelda, these two are some of the most human feeling. You really connect with them in all of their expressiveness and vulnerabilities. The relationships they forge with the likes of Impa and Groose only add to the sensation. It feels like they were written to be relatable people first and mythical figures of legend second.

3. Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom / Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - There’s been much talk of this version of Zelda and how interesting, endearing and relatable she is in all of her scientific nerdiness and feelings of inadequacy when placed with heavy burdens, and how admirable she is in her courage and self-sacrificial nature, and all of that is true. But I think that across all three games Link also shapes up into a surprisingly complex character that was unexpected given his initial stoic front in Breath of the Wild. And give both of them credit: they’re the first Link and Zelda to have a radical design overhaul in three decades.

4. Ocarina of Time / Majora’s Mask - The first 3D Link and Zelda were also the first to truly showcase some semblance of characterization and character development, as we watch them go from children to adults and gain great strength at the cost of losing their innocence.

5. The Wind Waker / Phantom Hourglass - I greatly enjoy these two in The Wind Waker, where they are very expressive and funny and sympathetic. But they lose some points due to Phantom Hourglass, which did them kind of dirty in favor of becoming the Linebeck Show.

6. Spirit Tracks - They look the same as their ancestors from The Wind Waker, but they’ve got a different, unique feel to them, with Link being a working class guy instead of some island bumpkin in over his head, and Zelda being a sheltered princess who has to learn to come into her own rather than an Action Girl from the beginning. They also have one of the tightest (and cutest) bonds of friendship out of any Link and Zelda given their circumstances.

7. Twilight Princess - Both of them are in service of the real protagonist Midna, whom they share an excellent bond with, but they still have distinguishing factors that make them stand out, with Zelda being more of a Queen than a Princess this time around and Link having his own arc of going from simple farmboy to Hero of Hyrule carrying forth his ancestor’s legacy.

8. A Link Between Worlds - Virtually clones of the next Link and Zelda pair on this list, but with somewhat more personality and agency, helped along by their Lorulian counterparts.

9. A Link to the Past / Link’s Awakening / Oracle of Ages & Seasons - The “classic” Link and Zelda who provided the template for the others. No real personality to speak of, sadly.

10. The Minish Cap - These two, who are childhood friends, have slightly more personality than the above...but I’m sorry, the “toon” designs do not fit beyond The Wind Waker and its direct follow-ups. It’s a freaking Game Boy Advance game, why give them these expressive designs if we aren’t going to actually see any expressions? Also, Link’s birb hat is distracting. 

11. The Legend of Zelda / Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - Basic blank slates that existed before the franchise truly got solidified on the SNES. Zelda especially just looks wrong now.

12/13. Four Swords & Four Swords Adventures - These are technically two separate incarnations of Link and Zelda, but they’re essentially carbon copies of each other. I can’t find myself giving the remotest shit about Link when there are four of him, and what the fuck is up with this different “toon” Zelda design? That giant red bow she’s wearing looks hideous!

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

1. Hyrule Warriors - Again, this game nabs the top spot and gives us the definitive version of the character. Ganondorf in this game has it all: the active villainy and terrifying chimera beast form like in Ocarina of Time, the capacity for self-reflection and self-awareness like in The Wind Waker, the manipulative usage of other villains as pawns like in A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventures, and even the mastery over his Demise rooted elements before Tears of the Kingdom. We even get three whole chapters of him as the playable protagonist, where he gets to show off his non-inherently evil qualities such as his tactical brilliance, good leadership skills, and sheer determination to achieve his goals.

2. Tears of the Kingdom - The latest Ganondorf, who is also the first in the series’ timeline, has been met with great acclaim, and rightfully so. Not only does he (mercifully) usurp Demise’s position as Demon King whose hatred fuels almost every great evil in the series, but he feels like Ocarina of Time’s Ganondorf on steroids: an active, omnipresent villain despite not being on screen that much but this time not even needing to be mobile to do so thanks to the horrific Gloom ecosystem under his control. And like the corresponding versions of Link and Zelda, he bucks tradition hard design-wise by having a dragon as his beast form rather than a giant pig. Add to this Matt Mercer’s epic voice and you’ve got a fantastic villain.

3. Ocarina of Time - The first ever Ganondorf created, this is the character that took Ganon from an average villain to one of the greatest villains in video game history. He actively drives every major crisis over the course of the game, lending him an aura of omnipresence despite his actual limited screentime, and is shown to be as cunning as he is powerful by tricking Link and Zelda into helping him conquer Hyrule, turning it into a dystopian nightmare. He’s also deliciously theatrical - the man plays his own theme music on a pipe organ, for crying out loud! The cherry on top is his horrifying Ganon form taken in an unforgettable final boss fight.

4. The Wind Waker - Ganondorf is kept at a distance throughout this game, locked away in his tower and pulling strings, more of a McGuffin than a nemesis. After Ocarina of Time, this is a disappointment, but it could be made up for with good pay-off. And man, does the game ever deliver. When Ganondorf takes action, he is terrifying, both animalistically psychotic enough to do anything yet humanely wizened enough to control this madness at the same time, giving Link the worst of both worlds to contend with. And not only do we get yet another epic final boss fight against him, but he even ends up as a tragic figure: a wretched old soul full of regrets but too full of greed and pride to act upon them, desperately clinging to his dreams rooted in the past while raging against the future that threatens to leave him behind.

5. Twilight Princess - Being just the power behind Zant until the very end, Ganondorf is just here to be the final boss. Again, this would disappoint if the game didn’t make him a worthy final boss, and it more than delivers in this regard. You fight this bastard in just about every way you possibly could fight him, all while he displays a chilling malevolence in every word and action. He really does feel like what he is: an aged-up version of Ocarina of Time’s Ganondorf whose goal is still well in sight and thus he’s able to play the long game to get it.

6. A Link Between Worlds - As many others have observed, Yuga-Ganon of Lorule ended up being a greater menace than his Hylian counterpart who comes directly below him on this list. Not only does he have a unique design and personality of his own, but he is an even more formidable opponent in battle, full of tactical creativity that is difficult for Link to counter.

7. A Link to the Past / Oracle of Ages & Seasons - The “classic” Ganon. He’s big, he’s got magic powers, and he’s got a wicked trident. Unfortunately, you barely ever see him, much less get a feel for any personality beyond baseline evil. Oh well, he still gets the job done.

8. Breath of the Wild / Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - He’s more of an evil force of nature than a proper character, especially in Breath of the Wild where he has been rendered mindless. What he lacks in substance he makes up for in style, as he is visually stunning.

9. Four Swords Adventures - The problem with this incarnation of the character is that he entered development as one thing and ended it as another. He was supposed to be the same version of Ganon as two spots above and this game would show his origin. But when Shigeru Miyamoto nixed that, we end up with a Ganondorf who is completely offscreen, and a Ganon who still just feels exactly like that version but with a different color scheme. The best that can be said about him is that he finally allowed there to be a truly gigantic 2D sprite of Ganon.

10. The Legend of Zelda - Ganon is one of video gaming’s greatest villains, but man would you not be able to tell that from his debut. All the build-up and mystery surrounding him, presented so well in the instruction manual (”no one knows how he looks like, for none have lived to tell”), and what do we get? A teleporting blue pig in a red jersey. That is SO LAME.

[sailforvalinor]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Awww thank you! I don't actually have a ton of fics up right now, and they're all one-shots, but here are a few:

Legend's Innisfree: A Legend of Zelda fic in the context of the Linked Universe comic (which I highly recommend, by the way), a comic where multiple different Links get thrown into the same time and have to figure out what's going on. The fic follows the Hero of Legend (nicknamed "Legend," from "A Link to the Past," "Link's Awakening," and a few other games) and the Hero of Hyrule (nicknamed "Hyrule," from the original "Legend of Zelda" and "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link"), both the heroes from the Downfall Timeline. Because Legend's games come right before Hyrule's, Legend often gets characterized as his mentor. This fic kind of explores that dynamic, as well as reflecting on Legend's doomed (?) relationship with Marin in Link's Awakening. I also got to work in some of my favorite folk songs into this one, which was a lot of fun! It's been a few years now since I wrote this one though, so looking back on it I would definitely do some revising, lol.

"I Will Never Be Like You": Another Legend of Zelda/Linked Universe fic about Legend and the Hero of Time (called "Time," from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, also for reference he is a lot older than the rest of the heroes in Linked Universe and is married to Malon). The heroes find themselves in Hyrule's Hyrule, which is a desolate, ruined place, and Legend has to grapple with the realization that despite everything he did to protect Hyrule, it still inevitably falls to ruin. Also, his buried resentment of his Hero of Time (who fails and is killed by Ganon in his Downfall Timeline) bubbles to the surface. (The Hero of Legend isn't my favorite Link, he's just easy for me to write about for some reason? Lol.)

"Lead, and I Follow": Legend of Zelda (but not Linked Universe), a quick Twilight Princess character study from Midna's point of view. This was a fic that was meant to be a couple paragraphs and then got wildly out of control because my feelings about Midlink are varied and complex. (Also, the title is a line taken from Tennyson's "Gareth and Lynette," which reminds me a lot of them.)

Blindfolds and Treasured Words: A Kingdom Hearts fic, set during 358/2 Days, following Riku and Namine right before Riku leaves to retrieve Xion--and the last time they see each other as themselves before Kingdom Hearts III. Rikunami is very beloved to me (although admittedly this isn't a super shippy fic, you don't even have to read it as that, although the tone is meant to be romantic).

[hawkepockets]

Hello I am secretly Zelda Lore Nerd and I must know your thoughts on like. The story progression and plot beats and how it's all put together in Twilight Princess because I've only ever watched playthroughs I haven't played it myself and I'm invested in your liveblogging of this now.

omg hi yaaaaaan

^ u n me rn

ok so im ONLY on the death mountain dungeon right but so far in terms of story structure & level design i love this game. i feel like it hits a real sweet spot of being a little perplexing but never punishing yk like u get to use your noggin but it’s easy to progress.

like i mentioned already i LOVED the tutorial ramping you up for a horseback adventure to hyrule castle as a human guy with a sword & slingshot and the power of speech only to take it all away with the wolf transformation and hurl you directly to the twilit castle so the journey you were promised is instantly fulfilled, and stolen, and given back much harder, darker, more complicated.

you haven’t spent much time with/as link atp but it HITS like. his screentime as a guy has been so well spent in establishing his relationship with ordon village, both animals & people, and hyping you up for him to prove himself and see the world in a way that he then isn’t allowed to. the transformation feels authentically violating—it’s fun to play as the wolf, but the first time you try to talk to a familiar npc and they scream, or to open a door and find it’s an unnavigable barrier to you in this form, the realization that just as link doesn’t know how to move through the world in this body, you don’t know how to move through the game without most of the mechanics you just learned… like it hits it hits!

the spirit cleanse 🐺 -> dungeon 🧍 -> spirit cleanse 🐺 -> dungeon 🧍 pattern works really nicely. keeps things fresh, means you didn’t really waste your time in the tutorial, and also alternates the dimly lit, easier but utterly lonely wolf phases with the brighter, more social and challenging human phases in a way that characterizes the twilight itself as a threat imo? it’s melancholy, it’s peaceful, it consumes without killing, it’s vast and feels like a natural disaster… but it’s also easier to reverse than more mundane instances of greed, corruption, and violence. the motif of link with and without a community is repeated over and over. it’s yummy!!

i like that the dungeons seem to have their own characters beyond just the set dressings too. the forest temple felt a bit like a memory pair matching game with a lot of backtracking to previously explored rooms with new context for what you found in there. the goron mines seem to be a lot more timing based, with a lot of speed checks and, so far, more linear forward progress. so the elemental character of each region goes into like. what’s the most challenging quality of each dungeon, instead of just everything getting harder across the board. wood & air for flow, growth, renewal, return. metal & fire for enthusiasm, impulse, persistence, and rhythm. YUM!

midna of course is a nonstop delight. it’s not always clear when she’s available to help mechanically, like it took me forever to realize she’ll only warp during twilight phases, but that’s ok—i’ve never regretted hitting the button to talk to her extra times. (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ to me, she’s the perfect fusion of TP’s dark and silly elements. it was love from the first time she yanked on link’s ears and told him to be a good boy. um. mm. hhehe.

literally my only game design complaints are that the day/night cycle isn’t explained in game and isn’t very intuitive (time doesn’t pass in every map), and since it does determine enemy activity & merchant availability i feel like that shouldn’t be smth you have to ask reddit for… and on the wii soooo many things are bound to the A button, and the console is NOT good at interpreting which function makes the most sense for a given situation. it makes some tasks a lot harder than they should be. ah well. forgiveable!

#1 best feature without contest or dispute:

that’s my 2 cents up to this point!

[legendofzoodles]

LOZ Character Analysis/...

Hero of the Sky part 1

Link was born for the expressed purpose of finishing off the evil entity Hylia and her Hero failed to defeat eons before his time. At first, neither knew the true scale of what they were getting roped into, but as the stakes rose, sacrifices had to be made. Link wasn’t at all interested in fighting someone else’s war, he just wanted to save his childhood friend. 

Fate however, demanded more of him, and through the course of his adventure he came to realise that this was bigger than himself. There was a job to do and as the new hero he was the only one who could do it. Although there were many dangers and trials on the path he took, one person kept him going.

It was all for her.

A/n: This is a reupload of an oldish post which I’ve taken too long to edit. I do go pretty hard on Sky’s character and SS’s storytelling. I tried to just cover Sky’s character, but most problems I had with also related to Sun’s lack of development- since the two are meant to grow and change together- which is the fault of the story as a whole. 

Any writing in italic will be my attempt to rewrite parts of SS, mostly just ideas though, not a fully formed script. Also, I have not proofread this, so expect edits. 

Even if you don’t agree with what I say, I hope it’s fun to read :)

~~~

This Link had it easy compared to the rest of the chain, especially Time and Wild. Sky was low-key coddled by Fi, whereas the other two were completely screwed over by her judgement. 

This boy spent his days sleeping on floating island, sleeping on a flying bird, and sleeping…everyday, all the time. He had a natural perfect bond with his incredibly amazingly rare crimson Loftwing, he was naturally the most gifted swordsman despite sleeping in class, sleeping in, frequently skipping class and whenever he was awake he’d mentally be somewhere else. 

He seems to have no family and Zelda seems like his only friend (but those are just assumptions). Also he got bullied a bit, but that was because Groose was jealous of him and his relationship with Zelda (wouldn’t be surprised if the whole academy knew that tbh). So I’d argue that this guy had the most idyllic and carefree pre-adventure life of any hero. 

Out of every incarnation of the hero, Sky should have been the one to get development. But instead he just sort of goes through the motions of the hero’s journey and doesn’t seem to be impacted by anything he goes through. Which worked for the other heroes who were either children with no responsibility in the first place (like Time, Wind and Hyrule) or proactive young adults with accomplishments (like Twi, Warrior and Wild), because their characters didn’t warrant an arc (they developed a bit though). However, it’s a detriment to Sky’s character because he starts out as a naturally gifted but lazy daydreaming individual and doesn’t go through any sort of development. 

...Btw having his spirit ‘grow’ after those Silent Realm trials isn’t all that symbolic and definitely isn’t character development (not to say that they were bad, they were scarily fun to play through). I will stand by the notion that despite being one of the most characterised incarnations, Sky doesn’t have an arc. Nintendo were able to give Midna an incredible clear arc that was driven by her adapting and responding to the selfless acts of Twi and Dawn. Meaningless metaphors and fetch quests aren’t good enough.

The game went out of it’s way to characterize Link, giving him dialogue options, varied facial expressions and information from other characters. Which is all well and good, but it doesn’t communicate what Link thinks and feels about the quest he’s on. From memory the only things I remember is that he cares a lot about Zelda, enjoys playing his harp and watching Fi dance, doesn’t seem to like combat much and thinks Groose has ‘nice hair’:

Ok forgive the tangent but...if Groose always styled his hair that way then Link would have no reason to comment on it. Which means that it was a new style he was trying out. In that case, the line can either be read as Link complimenting Groose or sarcastically making fun of him. Given that the line wasn’t relevant to the conversation, Link probably wasn’t listening and just said it to get him to shut up and leave him alone. Then again, Groose was stroking his hair constantly, maybe Link noticed that and complimented him to assure him that the new style looked good. The former reason sounds more like Sky though.

What could motivate an idle sleepyhead with great untapped potential rise up to become a courageous hero? Is it love? Maybe the theme SS was going for was that love can motive great courageous acts and inspire people to change for the better. To the game’s credit it does a great job of exploring that theme...most notable in Groose’s arc as well as the gratitude crystal side quests. 

With this idea in mind you’d expect Link to take charge, grab the reins of destiny and proactively go after Zelda- maybe even ignoring advice from Fi to chase after his friend, showing his unwavering resolve. He’d form a sort of rivalry with Impa, maybe even swinging the fact that he’s ‘the hero’ in her face to justify staying by Zelda’s side. He’s being selfish here, maybe he knows it but doesn’t understand what’s actually at stake here and so doesn’t care (I know he’s been told a bunch of exposition from everyone and their grandma- but getting too complacent/not taking his duty seriously and then messing up would be more effective at making Link shape up and improve. Especially when his life’s gone perfectly so far with little effort on). Then that mindset can blow up in his face, maybe endanger Zelda or a group of surface dwellers making him shape up as a hero, go out and kick ass. Changing for the better and selflessly dedicating himself to his role for the sake of those who can’t defend themselves from the evil he’s destined to face alone. 

Except Link has little to no agency in the game. He’s either following Impa’s demands or Fi’s ‘advice’, which makes me wonder if he’s doing all the hero stuff because he wants to or only because he has to. There’s no real sense of saving the world from a devastating threat when the Skyloftians are safe from any danger high above the clouds, and the beings on the surface appear to be blissfully ignorant of what’s at stake. 

Imagine how much more compelling it would’ve been to have the game open with beautiful watercolour storybook exposition about the Hylia and the war with Demise, before transitioning to Link and Zelda as children nestled in a sweet little blanket fort reading the story by lamplight (the old ‘show don’t tell’ us that they are childhood friends, and maybe they can remark on the fates of those left behind by Hylia as she formed Skyloft. Also, smol Sun and Sky). Then they make a promise to venture to the surface together when they graduate the academy, and it transitions then to them as young adults. 

It can play out the same as in the game, but after Link wins he surprises Zelda with plans and packed bags ready to go to the surface, recalling their childhood dream. They then sneak off to break through the cloud barrier, maybe through some shady Ghirahim shenanigans or Zelda’s Goddess powers can unconsciously awaken and create a path for them (that would then alert Ghirahim of her presence). 

Then there’s a cute montage of them exploring the surface world together. They would arrive in some part of the Faron woods, and would look at plants, marvell at the tiny birds and run after other strange wildlife. At some point they are attacked by Ghirahim, and after some fighting he overpowers Link, takes Zelda away and sends the teenager back to Skyloft. Via tornado, because that would be cool. 

Link miserably tells her father what happened. Before their adventure, he had a fight with them beforehand about going to the surface, so here he really chews Link out for losing his daughter, throwing everything he said days ago back in his face. Everyone on Skyloft hears what happened and they are all now on edge because they think something bad is going to happen. Meanwhile Link is a mess, regretting what he did and wishing things played out differently. Then Fi joins the plot and the quest begins. 

Now there are personal stakes, Link is more of an active character and he has a more personal vendetta against Ghirahim- who I think was meant to be like a rival type antagonist. There’s also more of a sense of urgency with this version, and some redemption and knight’s honour to be restored too. Plus it makes the surface world seem more dangerous, foreign and hostile from Link’s pov. 

But back to reality, the nightmare itself in game was kind of pointless. After all Link freaking ignored it! He didn’t act on it at all, he wasn’t anxious about it in any meaningful way during the ceremony and he didn’t even mention it to Zelda. It was just business as usual for him, until destiny smacked him and his bird out of the firmament. 

The night following Zelda’s disappearance, Fi appears in Link’s room and leads him to the Goddess Sword, thus starting his journey. And can I point out the ludonarrative dissonance going on in this beginning section. Link and the player are supposed to be laser focused on getting to Zelda, but since the game is all about exploration it also wants the player to slow down and look around. But that actively undermines Link’s drive to reach Zelda and makes it seem like he isn’t taking his role seriously. I would say that this reflects Link’s fascination with the surface...but Zelda was the one who wanted to explore the surface. That was her dream not his! It wasn’t established that Link felt about it just as strongly as her. 

Also why are we never shown how Impa meets Zelda? Heck, why aren’t we given more scenes of Zelda’s journey in general when she’s the deuteragonist? It makes sense that she’d drop her want to explore the surface in order to focus on her new duties. She was characterised as more responsible and active than Link, so her taking it seriously from day one and encouraging Link to do the same also makes sense. But how did she initially react to learning that she was the ‘spirit maiden’? When Link finally gets to her, she’s already dolled up in her Goddess drip, harp in tow and ready to do whatever Impa tells her. But why?! And why is she going along with Impa and not insisting that she and Link work together? 

The game doesn’t address it and I’m not going to bother coming up with reasons because there was no real reason in the first place why they had to be separated. Everything about her character told me that she would want to work with Link at her side, as childhood friends they would have unyielding faith in each other, yet this strong willed girl let a stranger control her every move.

That aside, can I also mention how manufactured the conflict is in the game? Every now and then the Imprisoned shows up to wreak havoc…but, that thing is never really a threat. To be honest, there’s no collateral damage and they fight it so many times it basically becomes a minor annoyance…almost routine. There’s Ghirahim sure, but Link is able to beat him three times, which begs the question: why does Link let Ghirahim live after each encounter? He is the one Zelda and Impa are running from and if he dies then Demise can’t be resurrected. It’s clear he hates him and knows he’s the biggest threat, so what’s stopping Link from killing him? 

It makes sense with the evil legged avocado, I guess, because each time it’s defeated Link just puts a magical band aid on its seal. I can understand him escaping once, but three times? Although I’d forgive him if he didn’t take Ghirahim seriously as a threat (even though his facial expressions in game prove otherwise), after all it’s not like Zelda is ever in any real danger at any point in the game. She’s either being chaperoned by Impa or asleep encased in amber.

Hey, here’s another question: does Link actually want to be doing all this? 

The obvious answer would be yes; with the other heroes this is something you don’t even think to question, at least a few dungeons in. But like I said earlier, Sky is different. Despite being almost an adult he’s still complacent and a daydreamer coasting through life on natural talent alone, (since he doesn’t go through any development I’ll assume he stays that way), and during his quest he has the servant of the Goddess dictating his every move. So it’s not like he could opt out, but he’s always told exactly where to go and what to do, with nothing going wrong. 

Would someone like that willingly put themselves through all this because they genuinely want to or just go along with it because they’re given everything they need to succeed?

Does he even like adventuring? How invested is he in helping people? Does he disagree with Hylia’s decision to flee into the sky, having seen the precarious state of the surface (at least that should be the case, and following my lore it is. But, the in game npcs on the surface are straight vibing despite the fact that a primal evil is trying to resurrect itself and destroy them all) without the Goddess’ protection? Does he feel guilty perhaps? Does he feel a need to protect the surface? Does he value the tribes on the surface as much as the people on Skyloft? Does he maybe resent Zelda for his circumstance, as Hylia’s incarnation/replacement? 

My interpretation is that he realises at some point that he actually doesn’t actually like adventuring and travelling (hence the frequent breaks headcanon and keeping everyone on Skyloft posted). He likes some aspects of it like seeing new sights, catching bugs, camping and gathering food/materials, but he finds long drawn out enemy camp battles exhausting, dungeons aren’t really his cup of tea (save for the Cistern and the pirate ship because they were amazing), he hates constantly needing to fight the evil avocado and more than anything despises Ghirahim’s numerous encounters- he doesn’t kill him...because he can’t, incompetence I guess.  

He does disagree with Hylia’s decision to leave the surface and he does feel awful that the other races were left to fend for themselves, but he doesn’t resent Zelda for it at all. Because it has nothing to do with her, she ain’t Hylia.

Speaking of, Zelda immediately being ok and accepting of the whole Goddess thing with no push back is a waste of potentiel. It could have been a huge paradigm shift for her, but nothing comes of it. Unless it was an act so that Link wouldn’t worry about her...but they’re childhood friends! Even if that was the case Link would’ve seen through it immediately, leading me to believe that her reaction was genuine. When I first watched a playthrough of SS, I thought she was possessed by Hylia and that’s why she was so calm.

It’s a shame because there’s some really compelling stuff that SS’s story doesn’t want to delve into. The story is mainly focused on the relationship between Link and Zelda, but there’s no interesting conflict there, instead it’s just Zelda is in trouble and Link needs to save her and save the world. I’d love to have seen them grapple with Zelda’s identity as the Goddess reincarnated or lean more into Link’s reluctance to play the hero (does he maybe blame the hero before him for Demise’s return?) or talk about Hylia’s decision to abandon those on the surface.

‘Even though I am Hylia reborn, I am still my father's daughter, and your friend. I'm still your Zelda...’

That’s such a beautiful line of dialogue. It would have been nice to have seen cutscenes of Link and Zelda as children to really hammer the feels home. It would have been even more impactful if Zelda came to that realisation after some sort of internal struggle. It would have been great to see the two of them work through this together rather than constantly being separated by the plot.

I feel like Sky frequently took breaks from the quest in order to return to Skyloft, possibly justifies this with the excuse of keeping everyone posted- hence why everyone in game knows his business. He has low stamina and I’ve always seen it as just another result of his laziness. However, some in the fandom have headcanons that he has asthma (at least I think that’s the connection, please correct me if I’m wrong), which was an interpretation I hadn’t thought of before. I’m not going to go along assuming that in this post, because it undermines my gripes later on, but it is something I wanted to acknowledge. 

Due to his low stamina, despite being the only one able to parkour (at least in human form, looking at you wolfie. In his case though wouldn’t it be...barkour?), he’s the least athletic. Being the worst at long distance running, swimming and climbing- long distance anything really. That being said, he can do some awesome parkour moves, such that during short term encounters he’s reliably fast and agile.

He is the book-smartest in all the chain, being the only one with a confirmed formal education (funny how the Link at the furthest point back in history is the most educated). I like to think he’s talented at math, with logic and numbers being easy for him to understand and use for problem solving. With geometry being his favourite topic.

However, he doesn’t pay much attention to his surroundings. The opposite of Time (veteran), Warrior (soldier boy), Twilight (nature boy), Legend (veteran) and Wild (survivalist) who are always 100% aware of their surroundings at all times. 

It would be funny if he gets motion sick on boats, because it would’ve made the WW style small boating section in the Lanayru Desert a nightmare for him. And the rollercoaster section(s) too I’d imagine. I wonder what Fi would think seeing the legendary hero throw up breakfast while he sped around in the minecart. 

...she’d probably just tell him to replace his batteries or something.

Where Twilight’s an elven Disney Princess, I think Sky wants to be as far away from cuddly animals as possible. Which is wonderfully illustrated whenever he holds Remlits. He always has them at arm’s-length and is even willing to yeet them off the island (it’s more of a gameplay thing, but the fact that the player even has the choice is quite interesting). 

He has a cute habit of wildly gesturing when he explains stuff (which is relatable af because I do that), like in the cutscene he explained to Zelda’s father that a tornado kidnapped his daughter.

He a soft boi. He’s sweet, well mannered, polite and so you’d assume from the way he acts that’s he’s got just the biggest heart ever and is super caring and friendly. Although, I like to think that’s only partly true.

Yes he can be all those things, but that’s reserved for those closest to him. He values people as individuals sure, but doesn’t care too deeply about them. If he was having small talk with a stranger/acquaintance and they told him facts about themselves or stories, he’d mentally tune out of the conversation. This makes him forgetful of details people have told him. So, someone outside his orbit would have to keep repeating the same facts about themselves and their life to him. Which would make repeat encounters with him awkward and not very engaging. 

Picture this: if he saw a stranger on the street crying, he’d either dither a bit before straight up ditching them or awkwardly offer them a hankie and a pat on the shoulder. If they tried to vent to him, he’d immediately retreat into his daydreams and just sit there not really listening. Even though he wasn’t paying attention, he’d still be sweet to them before leaving. 

The idea of Sky having a lack of consideration for others, especially those who are unpleasant came from that side-quest where Link has the option to give Cawlin’s love letter to Karane or the creepy toilet hand. Given that the latter is arguably the more satisfying ending, I have to accept that as canon, therefore making Sky kind of an asshole....not that the rest of the chain are saints. Sky’s flaws are much more normal than say, Warrior’s fatal overconfidence that is powerful enough to manifest as an evil version of himself if he doesn’t keep it in check. 

The two best conclusions to draw from this decision is either he really wanted the toilet hand to find love (although that’s still a dick move because it’s like saying that Cawlin would have no chance with Karane) or just preferred to help out his boy Pipit (tbh I don’t buy that they’re any more than acquaintances though).

Also yes, it is true that Link is exclusively kind and understanding with Groose his former bully. But (and just hear me out here) what that was only because he didn’t care about retaliating or getting even. He’s is on an epic quest, he doesn’t have time to settle the score with Groose, especially when he himself eventually makes himself useful. Being nice to him is just less mentally taxing. And don’t forget that Groose’s animosity stemmed from jealousy, and the player can enter Groose’s room and see a drawing of Link’s face on a punching back- plus the dude was never subtle. Link knew about all that which is why he doesn’t hold a grudge, plus I think he’s always liked him and wanted to be friends. 

Sky can be very unforgiving and is capable of holding grudges that last a stupidly long time. That sort of hatred is reserved for the worst of the worst in his opinion, i.e Ghirahim and Demise (Bruh did you see some of the faces he pulled at them in game? There was 1000% malicious intent in those eyes). 

Outside of being irredeemably evil, a couple of areas where you could incur his wrath include: 

Mistreating the Master Sword: sure Fi was pushing him along the hero’s path, but she’s servant of Hylia and also just following orders, so there’s no need to hold a grudge. As shown in SS, they became good friends over the course of the adventure. Link genuinely likes her. 

Badmouthing Hylia: he may not have agreed with everything she did or be too happy with finishing off her crusade... but as a citizen of Skyloft he’d have been a devoted worshipper like everyone else. Having it been drilled into him since he was little, because society be like that. Since he hardly suffered at all during his adventure and arguably did almost everything perfectly, he’d have no reason to stop worshipping her. 

Over the course of SS Link does prove himself and becomes a true hero, growing his soul after the Silent Realm Trials (he’s had nightmares about those since and you can’t tell me otherwise) and tempering the Goddess Sword into the Master Sword. I feel like this act severed Hylia’s connection to the sword, giving true ownership over to her hero’s successors. Now the blade draws its strength from the hero’s spirit not the Goddess’ power.

At the end of the journey Link finally fights Demise, and after a hard fought battle (in which the lightning coming from the storm clouds scars his right arm and torso- love those lightning scar headcanons, super creative!) he prevails and ends the Demon King once and avenging the hero before him. Or so he wrongly believes. With his dying breath, Demise curses Link to reincarnate with him in an endless bloody cycle for the rest of eternity. 

The fact that the game and Link both sweep the whole curse thing under the rug is jarring to say the least. 

To be fair, Skyward Sword’s ending by itself is absolutely adorable...so long as you forget the rest of the franchise exits. Including that context makes this ending bafflingly lighthearted given that it’s the beginning of Hyrule’s cyclical history of suffering and conquest written in blood. 

It really comes off as tone deaf to me. The characters, who are completely unaware of the hell that will plague their newly formed kingdom in the centuries to come, understandably feel at peace. But the player and therefore Link should not.

I feel like a bittersweet send off would have been better, a sort of ‘we’ve done what we can and can live in peace, but we need to protect those who come after us’ kind of vibe. Maybe have a post credit scene where Link is telling Zelda all about the epic battle with Demise (the oblivious adolescent dork acting out the whole fight in all his cute hand gesturing glory, with the Kikwis as backup actors), but when he offhandedly mentions the curse her smiling face suddenly hardens. 

She tentatively asks him to explain exactly what Demise said and Link does to the best of his memory, but stops part way when he realises that Zelda is now frowning. Voice low and shaking she begins to put together the true meaning of those words, but a defensive Link assures her that it wasn’t a big deal. Maybe he’s so adamant to dismiss it because Fi assured him that it was indeed over (but now he can’t call on her anymore to verify what she meant), but a small part of him trusts Zelda’s judgement and starts to worry. This turns into a fight that neither side end up winning.

It could get really petty. Zelda chastises Link for not finishing the job and he says that her paranoia is the result of Hylia’s influence- which would really sting if they had spent the adventure working through Zelda’s identity together. 

The issue is never properly resolved because both don’t have a clear-cut answer, and it starts to eat away at the back of both their minds. To ease her worries (and maybe his own regrets), he advices that they write down the possibility of Demise’s return as a prophecy for future generations. This prophecy is passed down what will become Royal Family in secret until Demise inevitably does show up further down the timeline. Now in his new and improved form: Ganon. 

I don’t believe that Sky would be all that into rebuilding civilisation on the surface immediately after saving the world. He’d want life to return to normal and go back to being a regular Skyloftian knight. I can appreciate Sun wanting to take some time off to heal and recover, but soon she’d want to go about establishing relations with the surface tribes and moving the humans back down. Link would go along to protect her and because it would make her happy, but his heart wouldn’t be as in it as hers. And as shown at the beginning of the game I feel like she’d still have to nag him to get stuff done.

Groose would be the goat though, he’d be all for building new inventions for the settlement of humanity and exploring the surface. Man, what a fantastic character. 

...

To conclude because I realise that this essay was kind of a mess, I tried to do what I could with Link’s character but the game simultaneously gives me too much and too little to work with. I see him as a soft and gentle spirit, but to the point of being idle. Since he’s crazy talented at a bunch of things, he’s spent his life coasting by on those talents without needing to try. Unlike the others his quest goes perfectly, or at least he doesn’t screw up in any meaningful way and Demise’s curse doesn’t impact him at all. How the fandom can paint him as this near perfect cinnamon roll, I have no idea. Like, he’s cute and a dork, but also kind of a jerk. 

For the record, despite my criticisms I do like Skyward Sword and I think the story has a lot of potential. I also just really love Groose, maybe I’ll do an analysis of his arc in the future. 

~~~

Thanks for reading! 

This is all my opinion, feel free to disagree but pls don’t take what I say too seriously. It’s supposed to be a bit of fun for me. 

Here’s part 2 Era of Hylia Lore 1 Demise’s curse theory

Masterlist

[well-fuuuck]

Themes with the LU Chains characters that I do not like (based on fics and fanon interpretation, not necessarily jojo's comic). I needed to rant about this, and get it out of my head, so here y'all go. Also these are just my opinions, but I'm objectively right

Four - either his character is supremely bland and barely in the fic, or he is the main character and it is extremely difficult to read the way y'all write his thought processes. Find a better, easier way for us to read him please.

Hyrule - genuinely, i have almost no complaints about his character. Some of the best LU fics I have read are ones centered around him. Y'all really go off when writing Hyrule. The only problem I have is when he is a side character and grouped with Wild in that 'omg we are so reckless, we put the whole group in danger LOL'. I despise that. Hyrule is from a land where he is constantly on guard and cautious - he is not reckless to the point of putting others in danger.

Legend - y'all love to make him a bully and leave it at that. There is so much more to his character than 'sarcastic and mean'. If you wanna write Legend as a bully, go off I guess but know that you're doing a diservice to his character.

Sky - ...yall make him. So. Bland. I think i have only read one fic where i genuinely liked Sky's character. He is almost always characterized as a love-sick fool. Sky is no fool. He is angry and guilt-ridden. He was used by Hylia, too, and he knows it!! She literally admitted it to him. He may be in love with Zelda, but I am almost certain he has some pent-up anger against Hylia. Also the demise curse?? Guys, Sky is so guilt-ridden, pls explore it

Time - 'basic gruff dad characterization' copy and paste. He is either way too gruff and angry, or has a little bit of playfulness mixed in. The playfulness never balances his gruffness though. His character is always boring to read, which is such a shame bc he is one of my fav game Links.

Twilight - again...such a bland character y'all make him out to be. Either he is reduced as just a mentor to Wild or he is reduced as just a son-figure to Time. Both of those I hate and they're both over-written. Its a goddamn fight to be able to find a fic where Twilight isnt a mentor to Wild, dear Lord. Also the majority of his angst (if there even is any in the fic) it is almost always based around Midna. And i get it, i do, but dear lord. Y'all do know that other stuff went down in his game, right??? That there are other women in his life besides Midna? Like, have none of y'all read the TP manga and the amiunt of angst potential in that??? Come on

Warriors - this one makes me a tad angry. He is just the pretty boy, the pretty link, the link who is always getting with women. 'Womanizer'. Women problems. And yep, Wars has women problems - but in the way that he doesn't like relationships and is uncomfortable with intimacy. Listen, i could go on and on about Warriors trauma, but I'll digress and just say this: Warriors is not a womanizer, and it is an insult to his character to make him one.

Wild - *deep breath in* *deep breath out* the way y'all write his character inspires a deep rage inside of me. Wild is not inept, he is not stupid, he is not 'feral', and he would not put people in danger even though he is reckless. I understand that many of you characterize him as feral and reckless, because that is how y'all played BOTW. I apparently played it much differently; very cautiously and fought from a distance. Listen to me, though: all of the Links are reckless, but none of them are stupid.

Wind - y'all make him so annoying, please quit. Wind is 13/14 years old and has been on 2 quests. He is not a 7 year old boy, playing at being a hero. He is an older brother, who went on a quest to protect his sister. Wind is proud and protective, not to be babied. And honestly, i think the other Links would understand that (and yes, even twi and wars can understand that)

[wutheringmights]

Twilight for the ask meme!

Some people think I only have strong opinions about Warriors, but that's not true. I am an extreme opinionated person and I have Thoughts on everyone, but especially Twilight.

What I love about them: TP Link was my first Link, and they say you never forget your first. He's sort of the standard I hold every other Link in the series to, and there's a lot of things about him I adore. If I have to pick one thing in particular to highlight, it would be how he's the epitome of a normal guy who gets caught up in a divine scheme that is far grander than him. He's the heir to a cursed line of heroes, but he's also just a rancher. Everyone around him is fighting for these larger than life stakes, like the fate of Hyrule and the light realm. And he just wanted to save some kids. He's way in over his head but he can't escape his destiny.

What I hate about them: I think LU Twilight is the most boring way you could have interpreted TP Link. I'm sorry, but it's kind of true. The comic renders him into what non-Zelda fans think Link is like. And it's a little trite. It's just a tad dull. When I write him, I try to imbue some of my person taste in TP Link into him, but even I gotta admit that it's a little hard to make him more engaging.

Favorite Moment/Quote: I really like that one moment when Legend is interrogating Twilight about being Wolfie, and Twilight says "everyone knows you can't keep wolves as pets." It's such a little shit answer and I love it. He knew what he was doing.

What I would like to see more focus on: I want to see more of his relationship with the other members of the resistance. There was a Twilight Princess fic I read a few months back that elevated their involvement in TP to the point where they all knew about Midna, and it really opened my eyes to how much potential there was in those relationships. So give me more of the resistance!

What I would like to see less focus on: Honestly, I think we've stunted Twilight's character potential by making everything about his relationship with either Wild and Time. I want to see more about him with the other boys. For example, I think Wind would have a little beef with him because Twilight was just handed the right to be a hero while Wind had to work for it. I also think his friendship with Sky would be god-tier if only more people would explore it.

Favorite pairing with: Midna. Did this even surprise you? I have been a Midna fan my whole life, and I cannot conceive of any version of Twilight that wouldn't be in love with her. They're not a perfect couple, but that's what makes it even better to me. They're not meant to be together, but god, they want to be.

Favorite friendship: Sky. There is no two Links who would understand each other better than Sky and Twilight. They both understand the feeling of being given divine expectations they had no control over. They both are so beyond their simpler days that they could never settle down again. But their personalities complement each other great as well, especially when considering the parts of their characterization that didn't make the translation to LU (like Sky's sass and Twilight's brashness).

NOTP: Shad. Listen. I support everyone and anyone who set out to get Twilight a boyfriend and landed on this scholar twink boy. Good for you, and I'm glad you're happy. Unfortunately, I have been harboring a resentment to that bespectacled bastard for over 10 years now. Not only is he an elitist bastard who looks down on me for being a poor country boy, but he makes me run all the way around Hyrule to finish his book. Bastard. Every time I replay TP, I want to punch him.

Favorite headcanon: You know the Anne of Green Gables situation? Where she was an orphan who was adopted by a family on the condition she would work on their farm and they would pay her way? That's what happened to Twilight. He was sent to Ordon by an adoption agency when he was 10 to work for Fado in exchange for housing and such. So even if Fado technically adopted Link, he's the whole village's kid.

[linkspooky]

This is kinda random, but what is your top 10 favorite otps?

Sure.

#1 of All Time SPUFFY

Spuffy, it wrote the book on both beauty and the beast archetypes, and enemies to lovers. For me the most important thing in a ship is the character development it brings about. Spike's redemption doesn't work without Buffy, because it's meeting the one person who expects better than him and won't put up with his selfish crap, that forces his character arc. Buffy's development is also nothing without Spike, it's meeting Spike that makes Buffy confront her dark side, and realize that being a good person isn't something you are, but something you work towards for the sake of your loved ones. The ideal ship should inspire this permanent character development and chane (Unless it ends tragically), they should be an inseperable part of each other's character arcs.

#2 Kumagawa / Ajimu

This is what I was talking about when I said "unless it ends tragically". Sometimes you ship two people who should never end up together, because they probably won't accept their differences. However, even in a failed relationship, two people can be important to each other. There's not really a hapyp ending for Ajimu and Kumagawa, despite their similiarities when they're together they just seem to make each other worse. In Medaka Box they are the anti-Zenkichi and Medaka. However, for Ajimu Kumagawa represents her only human connection, and for Kumagawa Ajimu represents the first person to be "good" to him even though their relationship soured at one point. Therefore I find the ship interesting because despite the fact that they are permanently separated they are still an incredibly important part of each other's identities and who they are now.

# 3 Matsuda / Junko

Basically for the same reason as what I said above. There is no universe where Junko and Matsuda end up in a happy relationship, as long as Junko is still Junko. However, Matsuda and DanganRonpa Zero as a whole add so much to Junko as a character. As long as Matsuda exists, Junko's more than just a black hole that only cares about despair, and I think together the side materials like IF and Zero show that Junko actually is capable of caring for people outside of her natural tendency to want to throw everything into despair, however, humanizing Junko in this manner doesn't actually make her a better person. She can have feelings like romantic, and familial love, and she still chooses to destroy those things and the people in her life. It just adds so much to Junko as a character, which is what I like ships as, an extension of characterization through character interaction.

#5 UIHAI

I love Ui and Hairu because it's like a broken fairy tale. It was a love that could have saved Hairu, but it didn't, because for Ui he always realized his feelings too late to save anyone. Hairu was obsessively chasing after Arima for the smallest amount of approval, when Ui was right there, and already in love with her. They seem like the perfect couple that could never get together, because Hairu is too fixated on Arima, and Ui is too fixated on his job. They are perfectly suited to giving each other what they wanted, and even in lots of side materials and sketches they seem like a pair, or Ui's feelings for Hairu come across as pretty clear but it never came to be in canon.

#6 ZACK / AERITH

Once again for the same reasons as above, it seems like a fairy tale romance of a knight, and a girl he wants to protect, but it fails completely to live up to that story. Zack and Aerith is a tragic story of first love for both of them, and it's also really formative for who Aerith is now as a character. Zack tried to be there for her, and he tried to be a hero to Aerith, only to very consistently not be there for her, and then disappear from her life all together. Much later on, Aerith is incredibly isilated, unable to fall in love with the real cloud without projecting Zack onto him. It's a relationship where in a better world they could have been there for each other, but also the failure of the relationship develops them as much as characters as them getting together might have. Zack and Aerith are one of those relationships that seems ideal on the surface but they are very different people with different wants, Zack wants to be a hero, Aerith just wants to be a person first.

#7 LINK / MIDNA

The best zelda ship period. Once again the most important part of a ship interaction is the change that both characters inspire in each other. Midna begins not caring about Link at all, never referring to him by name, only seeing him as an object, an old legend, a hero to be used instead of a person. Midna's a manipulative freak, and Link breaks through to her because he actually isn't interested in being the hero of legend, he just wants to save the people closest to him at the village because he feels indebted to them, and Midna inevitably becomes one of those people. Link and Midna's partneship makes the game, because it's Midna who pushes him and makes him into a hero, but it's Link through his unfledging acceptance of her who inspires her to be a person once more, and not just the twilight priness.

#8 Morrigan / Warden from DRAGON AGE ORIGINS

This and Spuffy are like the only two on this list who actually end up together, so let me just have this. Once again my favorite aspect of a ship is the transformation the relationship brings baout in a character. The warden is a non-character, but for Morrigan herself, her relationship with the warden is what allows her to escape an abusive household, and beyond that decide not to repeat the cycle of abuse with her new family. What made this ship an all time fave was in witch hunt when the Warden gets to ask her what she wants, and she's just completely confused. Even with her mother dead, Morrigan is still a tool of her mother's ambitions, it's still all about her mother wants. It's her love with the warden, either through friendship or romance that awakens Morrigan to the fact she's allowed to exist as a person with wants and needs outside of what her mother wants her to be.

#9 Kaine / Nier

It's the Most Humanizing Ship Ever Between Two Mass Murderers. As a story, I think Nier is about finding the life, and love, in a story that is ultimately, fatally doomed. Nier only worse and worse as the game goes on but that doesn't mean there was never any love in his life. For every bad thing Nier does, he was not bad to every single person, specifically Kaine, it was Nier's love and belief in her that allows the wounds in her heart to start to heal. As Nier and Nier gets worse, Kaine's own shadow self says, that her feelings in her heart are no longer hatred, or even revenge, there's just a pure white light of love left. In a game where everything only rots, Kaine has healed to the point where she can love again when she never thought it was possible. It's why I like ending D the best, because it's Nier knowing he can never escape his own sins, but he can use his last action to heal Kaine fully all the way and allow her to live on a few more years.

#10 SATOSUGU

Once again, there's no universe where they end up together, and yet still on opposite sides of a conflict they remain each other's closest friends. The most important thing about a ship is the character development it leads to and Gojo would not be who he is today without Suguru. I generally get the sense that Gojo's idea of a good person isn't himself, but rather who Geto used to be before he broke. Gojo actually relied on on Geto for a lot more than he realized, considering it was the one connection he had that seemed to humanize him. Geto provided the chosen one who can do literally anything in the world with his powers, support and guidance. He was the jade, and the foundation of their two person friendship, and then the jade broke.

Gojo and Geto's broken relationship is not only the most emotional thing in the series to me, it's also an incredible part of who they are ten years after the fact. Gojo straight up didn't bother to make friends for ten years later after the fact even though he could have, Geto still told his daughters that Gojo and him were best friends, they just had a fight. He couldn't comperehend in Volume Zero that Gojo would still regard him as a friend after everything that they had done.

It's like one of those "Can't live with them, can't live without them" pairs. They want to be each other's one and only but it just won't work because they don't understand each other, and neither of them is willing to compromise. They are also each other's perfect yin / yang complement. Gojo is the opposite of Geto, and still carries a part of Geto within him, and Geto even after becoming the enemy of the sorcery world while Gojo is the savior, still carries that friendship with Gojo inside of him as well. While their relationship is a failed one, it's also a past I hope that the next generation Megumi and Itadori both learn from, even if Geto never truly comes back.

[lightumbra]

we’re gonna...vent about the TP manga. under the cut.

because a lot of the tag has been the manga lately and there was just one thing i saw in particular that really made me feel, but in a bad way. and it was something to the effect of, midna and zelda being childhood friends is good, actually, because it gives zelda’s sacrifice justification.

when it honestly takes a lot away from zelda’s sacrifice. and changes her motivations in a way that is mmmmmbad. i think, at least.

because in game (and setting one of my head canons aside), zelda’s giving her life up to save midna already has 2 very compelling motivations that say a lot about her character.

1. while it is not her primary goal, midna and link, together, are the best hope hyrule has at being saved. they’ve already rescued the entirety of the kingdom from the twilight, at this point, and defeating zant (and ganon, it’s...debatable if zelda knows about ganon in game) is beneficial for both realms. link could potentially do this on his own, but midna is an added asset and a great help, so letting her die would hinder the quest, if not outright derail it.

and, more importantly,

2. though they don’t know each other all too well (they seemed to have developed some form of relationship before we meet zelda in game, but it’s hard to say what that relationship is), midna is a person. she is a person who is suffering and who is going to die, and zelda has the power to save her. it would cost her her life, but she would rather die than allow someone else to perish needlessly when she had the ability to stop it. it’s SUCH a powerful moment in game because they are near perfect strangers, because midna has been at the very best abrasive to zelda. they know each other, but in passing. there is no deep connection there, and yet zelda gives up her life to save midna without a second thought, because it is the right thing to do. because she will not sit idly by and allow midna to die.

and in the manga, all of that falls apart. this is a powerful moment in the game that says so much about zelda as a character (people saying she doesn’t have any character in game are bad and wrong and don’t see how much characterization she actually gets during her few scenes in the game) that is stripped away in favor of “they’re fwiends :)”

and i dunno it just sucks that people think that’s a better justification than zelda just having this soft, kind heart and sacrificing herself for no other reason than to save another person.

[averageagenderjoe]

Things that I wish we saw in Hyrule Warriors because I’m bored and want to talk about Hyrule Warriors:

- WHy the fuck was Lana white? Lana shouldn’t have been white. What the fuck. Like, I wouldn’t be so upset about this had Cia also been white, I guess, but the fact that the good half of a person was white and the bad had brown skin is just fucked up. Like, seriously?

- I would have liked puzzles. You know, like, the ones The Legend of Zelda is known for. Maybe that would have messed a lot with the gameplay, but I just think it would have been cool to have some puzzles. Instead, everything was easily solved by capturing a keep.

- I really wish in that one cutscene where everyone is present and have just traveled across the different times, and Sheik is revealed to be Zelda, and Lana admits she’s Cia’s other half or whatever, I would have liked for Impa to be like, “Lana, why the fuck did you bring a child with you?” And gesture to Agitha. I would have also accepted Zelda to look at her weird and ask, “Who’s this?” Or at least acknowledge that yep, one of their allies is literally eleven,

- Volga deserved better, damnit. I feel like his characterization could have gone on a little more—he didn’t want to be in a war, he was being brainwashed. Did he know he was being brainwashed? Was he aware that he didn’t want to be there but couldn’t just leave? Was he ever insubordinate due to the fact he didn’t want to be there? Also, what even HAPPENED to him? Did he die? Did they literally kill him?

- Also, what happened to Zant? At the end of that one scenario, neither Midna nor Lana really acknowledge what happened with him, just acknowledge his defeat and there’s so sign of him in the cutscene that takes place immediately after. Did they murder him? Was he thrown inside of the Gate of Souls like Ghirahim? I think that was kind of important.

- To make up for the fact that Ghirahim was a walking, talking, slaying Depraved Homosexual/Bisexual trope, I feel like he should have flirted with Link. Just because. I am a little bit of trash, I know. But even better, he should have entered a relationship with Zant, because why not? Yes, they would have both been evil, so to make up for that, they should have been sickeningly sweet on the battlefield, because why not? The entire game has a plot line that reads like a bad fanfiction anyway, lets take it up a notch!

I will likely add to this.

[midzelink]

Well, this is certainly something that happened.  

In response to a post I made stating the various reasons I don’t like the Twilight Princess manga (which was in and of itself a response to some replies I got on this other post), I got a barrage of replies from a user (who will go unnamed, they’ve already been blocked) in defense of the thing - which, ordinarily, wouldn’t be a big deal!  People are allowed to have different opinions and I never once stated anyone who liked it should feel bad!  I started writing up a reply to them in the middle of this barrage, but their replies just kept coming and got subsequently worse, yet it was all...so bizarre to the point that it would feel weird to not address that it happened.  I’m putting all of this under a read more, because wow this is a wall of text, but also this is the kind of nonsense I want people to avoid having to read if it can be helped.  At any rate, this is what they had to say:

I don’t know, this really honestly feels like reaching. It feels like criticism for the sake of criticism without actual narrative flaws being shown, but your anger seems to stem from “This interpretation is different from what I thought even though I admit all official art shows the charachter this way” and “Link HAD to be raised in ordon because of one quote from the enclosed instruction book”. Twilight Princess was literally made to be “the edgy zelda” in reponse to fan overreaction to wind waker. This is undeniable. All official art depicts link this way. He turned into a freaking wolf in the middle of the twilight craze! but no, he *can’t* be like that because of random expressions he makes when holding pets or items? First of all, even in the manga he isn’t an edgeboy all the time.

Secondly, it feels like you're merely glossing over all that was added in terms of charachterization! In the original game, I felt nothing for Ilia. She showed up, yelled at link for maybe getting epona slightly hurt, and then got kidnapped. Maybe a bit of tsundere stuff, but seriously, Midna is literally the best tsundere ever. You can't out midna-minda in her own damn game. XD In the manga, Ilia and Link actually have a warm and very close relationship, you can see them through all the slice of life in the first volume. I really grew to like her and truly felt sorry for her when bad things happened to her. She actually gets far, FAR more respect as a person and charachter in the manga than merely a trophy for link to get back. But no, you're far too focused on subtle expressions and insinuations because that is literally all anyone had to go on for the longest time. In reality, Link, as has been said many times, is an avatar as much as he is a charachter. You can't gloss over his official art depicitons any more than I can random expressions he makes when finding a heart piece.

Not to mention, you call the blog midzelink yet you make zero mention of the super obvious wlw-as-fuck zelda flashback in volume 5? It's a sad thing that Shad being straight is something I have seen people complain about, yet Zelda and Midna's relationship getting such a huge focus passes without a peep. It's a disturbing trend I see in my fellow Fujoshi. And on the subject of Shad, his relationship with Ilia is far more likely something included to give her a happy ending, rather than just seeing link off into the sunset to try to find midna and live forever alone in ordon. On that note as well, Link not being from Ordon fits PERFECTLY with the ending, Link being the only hylian, link being from there, all of this is SCREAMING that that is the place he never truly belonged, the manga simply takes it one step further and in this version says he was never from there any way, cementing that. It gives the concept that Link was using Ordon as a place to avoid being who he was extra weight. And Honestly, it makes him less of a jerk in the end for leaving ordon, as he never truly belonged.  

And It's actually a narrative flaw in the original for Lanaryu to make mention of misusing the power of the master sword and then having nothing come of that warning later. If you're going to set chekov's gun down on the table, you better use it by the end of the play. It's simply capitalzing on something that the story actually set up, and playing into the tone of the story nintendo marketed it. But really, most of my annoyance dosen't come from the fact that you don't like the manga. People can dislike what they want. It's that all your grievances seem to come from stuff at the very beginning, and you liked it for so long, when they were there just as much as they are now. This kinda reeks of someone else slowly influencing you over time, rather than your own thoughts.

Phew.  

Okay.  

First of all, what the f**k, dude.  Who leaves this kind of essay in the replies of someone else’s post?

Secondly,

(Note: a “fujoshi” is a woman who likes yaoi, usually used in a derogatory manner, but it seems to be self-proclaimed in this case.  That is to say, this person proudly announced they fetishized MLM relationships, and then proceeded to tell me my opinion was Bad and Wrong because I didn’t praise Himekawa for a scene that ultimately wasn’t WLW at all, even though I and a lot of other people liked to interpret it that way.  Do not give Himekawa credit for gay rep, ever.)

Again, I was going to reply to this person civilly...up until I read the Midzel/Fujoshi reply, which decimated me on impact. There’s a heckuva lot I could say in response to, well...everything else, but in the interest of making this post shorter, I’ll break it down into a bulleted list:

Link being raised in Ordon is not based on “one quote from the enclosed instruction book” - Ilia specifically states when she gets her memory back, “When we were young, you and I... You were always there... You were always beside me... Link.” (I already mentioned this in my original post, which they evidently neglected to read properly.) And this is to speak nothing of the familial bond between Link and all of the Ordonians that is fairly evident within the context of the game, i.e. Rusl trusting him to deliver a very important gift to the Royal Family, or all the children looking up to him as much as they do.

Saying “all official art depicts Link this way” in defense of his characterization in the manga being edgy (when his in-game persona is far-flung from that) is pretty shaky when you realize that the same can be said for Skyward Sword, which arguably has the most emotive and happy Link of any game. In all of SS Link’s official art, he is angry, mid-yell, or stone-faced.  That’s how character art works.  That’s how marketing works.  They wanted to market TP especially as a darker game, yes, in response to the critiques of The Wind Waker, but this is literally a man who smiles softly every time he picks up a dog or a cat. You can pet the goats.  You get excited about fishing.  If TP Link should be “edgy” because of his official art and no other reason, then SS Link should be, too.

it’s your own damn fault you felt nothing for Ilia, Ilia owns, suck it

MIDNA IS NOT A TSUNDERE, HOLY SHIT.  SHE’S NOT.  I WILL NEVER CONCEDE THIS. She doesn’t mistreat Link because she likes him, she mistreats him because he is nothing to her when they first meet, and this is a stance that slowly changes as they get to know each other!  She stops treating him like garbage when she stops seeing him as such, and her behavior throughout the game post-Zelda is a mixed bag of shame over how she treated him previously and a longing to make up for it.  How anyone can construe that as tsundere I will never, ever understand.

the Midzel comment is so wack I really can’t believe I had to read that shit with my own two eyes

no, Link likely isn’t from Ordon (again, already addressed in my original post, but again, I guess this person can’t read), but he was certainly raised there, see: the first bullet point

Lanayru never once mentions ANYTHING about misusing the power of the Master Sword, so that entire point is completely invalid.  I literally have no idea what they’re talking about here. Lanayru does have the famous line, “Those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it,” but that’s in reference to the Fused Shadows, not the Master Sword.  Which, you know, you would know if you actually knew the source material as well as you claim to, dude.

Lastly, yes, I did like the manga when I first read it, but as I already stated, that was because I blasted through all four (available at the time) volumes in one sitting, and it was immediately after my hyperfixation for this game resurfaced (about a week or so before I made this blog!).  I was Starved For Content, and the manga was Content.  Now I’m not Starved, and two more volumes have released since, and guess what!  People’s opinions can change!  And my opinion is that the manga isn’t for me, and this entire, extremely accusatory essay of yours in the replies of a post I made stating my own opinion was entirely uncalled for and rather intrusive.  So, yeah.  Blocked.

This has certainly been a trip.

[silverskulltula]

if you're still taking numbers for ye zelda questionnaire - 1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 15?

1. Top 3 incarnations of Link?

Breath of the Wild

Twilight Princess

Wind Waker

Keep in mind that each of these so are fucking close to each other that the list could easily be interchangeable. Breath of the Wild speaks for itself - there’s no sort of flowery wordsmithery that I can conjure that would be worthy of Link’s portrayal in that game, so in essence - it’s gud.

I covered Twilight Princess a bit in the last ask! I love my ranch-hand, pumpkin-eating, wholesome-big-brother Link to the death.

I considered putting OoT for third but honestly? Wind Waker deserves it more. For all the shit Wind Waker got on release it should be commended for taking the series in all sorts of new directions. Link in WW is a child in way over his head. All he wants to do is to go back to Outset Isle and wear his lobster shirt and hang out with his grandma. But when given a responsibility way past his years, his acceptance of the task is both unwavering and effortless. Link is a child, which means that his mind is the purest it’ll ever be, and that naivety is his strength. He stands against Ganondorf - old, broken, and jaded, but still consumed with a lust for power. Link shows him that youthful optimism is not something fragile and fleeting to be lost in the face of the world’s cruelty. It’s an unstoppable force for good, and no matter the opposition, it will always prevail. One thing that I really like about Wind Waker and its sequels is that the games focus on change. There’s the obvious change from Hyrule into the Great Sea. There’s the change of the Zora into the Rito, the Kokiri into the Koroks, and so on. They all feature change as a catalyst for moving forward. Moving forward into uncharted waters to establish new kingdoms. Moving forward technologically to create new machines and improve people’s lives. Moving forward sociologically and politically by expanding the government (even if the Chancellor turned out to be a demon but ANYWAY). The WW-PH-ST trilogy shows that progress is propelled by youthful optimism, and that’s a message that I will defend to the fucking death. 

ANYWAY.

3. Favourite and least favourite companion?

CIN TOOK MIDNA AWAY FROM ME IN THE LAST ASK BUT THEY AREN’T HERE TO TAKE HER AWAY NOW AHA SO yea Midna is my Big Favorite. The evolution of her relationship with Link is enough to bring me to tears. Anything less of a companion would’ve cheapened TP as a whole.

It’s predictable, but my least favorite would have to be Fi. I appreciate that the Master Sword itself is given some depth and characterization but Nintendo definitely failed in their execution of that entire game. Navi was annoying but endearing, and Link’s journey to find her again in MM is genuinely heartbreaking. Fi was exhausting to listen to and IMO the game did nothing to create attachment to her. The only thing I’ll give Skyward Sword is that some of its bosses were pretty killer, but that’s about it.

5. was covered in Cin’s ask!

8. Top 3 villains?

Wind Waker Ganondorf

Princess Hilda (DON’T CRY TO ME IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW - IF YOU’RE READING THIS YOU SHOULD BE EXPECTING SPOILES GDI)

Skull Kid

WW Ganondorf was a very welcome expansion on the shallow, evil-for-evil’s-sake Ganondorf from OoT. It made sense that Ganondorf, born as a mortal and with his own life experiences, would harbor his own resentment of Hyrule besides his main goal of claiming the Triforce. You can feel sympathy for a man whose entire life has been haunted by death and suffering, even if he tragically became the embodiment of those very things in his quest to rise above them. I’m not saying that Ganondorf didn’t deserve his fate - just that (demonic cycle of reincarnation set aside) at one point there was a voice inside him that wanted to make things better for himself and his people, and that understandable want was tragically silenced by the evil desires of Demise’s reincarnated soul. I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT GANONDORF, OK.

Believe it or not I wasn’t spoiled on the end of ALBW and it made it all the better, so I’m genuinely sorry if my answer gave away the twist for you. I suppose that Hilda IS the realization of what would happen if Ganondorf was driven to evil by a desire to help his people instead of his own selfish pursuit of power. Hilda commits evil in the pursuit of good (saving her world and her people), and that’s enormously refreshing in a series plagued by absolute evil just for evil’s sake. Zelda and Link’s unanimous wish to restore Lorule’s Triforce is yet another moment in The Legend of Zelda series that will bring me to tears.

And Skull Kid. Man, I guess that all of my favorite villains have tragedy in common. Skull Kid, a puppeteer turned puppet, who is forgiven in the end by yet another young hero suffering responsibility and pain beyond his years. Again - the children prevail over evil, a core message of TLoZ that I adore.

11. Favourite Ganon/Ganondorf design?

My favorite characterization of Ganondorf is Wind Waker, but in terms of literal chronological progression I immensely love the change from Ocarina of Time Ganondorf to Twilight Princess Ganondorf. Debatable timeline fuckery aside, I was stunned once I realized that the Ganondorf in TP was THE Ganondorf from OoT and I was facing this fucker yet again. His characterization wasn’t as deep as WW but his development was apparent in his tactics. He failed before by directly attacking Hyrule himself, so now he’s utilizing the fanatical proxy that is Zant in order to utilize the might of the usurped Twilight Realm in his stead. Ganondorf is more calculating and cautious than his OoT incarnation, but his boss fights show that he’s still every bit as ferocious. And I find this older DADONDORF hot and I want him to beat me to a pulp and call me pathetic ok

15. Top 3 dungeons? 

Thieve’s Hideout (ALBW)

Snowpeak Ruins (TP)

Sandship (SS)

Thieve’s Hideout is a personal favorite (and that extends to the Thieve’s Town in ALTTP as well). Overall ALBW was excellent at shaking up the traditional Zelda formula and it did that in Thieve’s Hideout by giving you an NPC companion. She was something between an escort quest and a movable assistant who provided really sassy commentary throughout the dungeon. She added a lot of flavor to what could’ve been a cut and dry dungeon and I appreciate that Nintendo was able to think outside of the box.

Snowpeak Ruins is another odd dungeon in that it’s not actually a dungeon. The derelict mansion was a visually interesting setting for a dungeon and the final boss was an even further subversion of the typical formula. The whole dungeon was a welcome change of pace and it’s one of my favorite parts of TP.

Holy fuck, I have something nice to say about Skyward Sword???? For better or worse, Nintendo attempted to establish an origin for Zelda’s lore in Skyward Sword, and part of that lore is that an incredibly technologically advanced civilization predated the Hylians (expanded upon in a much more interesting way in BOTW, but it technically had the idea first). They showed this by allowing you to shift specific areas back in time by activating Timeshift Stones (which were light blue… like a certain Ocarina… that allows you to travel through time… a little detail that I appreciate). One of these stones encompassed an entire pirate ship that sailed on the desert by timeshifting the desert immediately around it back into water. I haven’t played Skyward Sword in years, but I remember having a lot of fun with the robotic pirate swordfighting duel along the bowsprit. And of course, the end boss was a goddamn SEA MONSTER THAT TORE APART THE SHIP PIECE BY PIECE, SO THAT WAS FUN. Again, for all of Skyward Sword’s failings, some of the dungeons were fucking awesome.

[corseque]

Thoughts on BOTW's characters?

under a cut!

Urbosa, and her deep undying love for Zelda, is the best thing that ever happened to me. 

Link and Zelda are better characterized than they have been in a very, very long time - Zelda’s journal talking about her observations and misconceptions and finally her understanding of Link, made me really enjoy a Link’s character for maybe the first time. I was always frustrated by Link because people seem to interpret his character so many different ways, such a blank slate. 

But this game, now there’s actual characterization you can say for sure about Link, where you never really could do that before. Link (at least this incarnation) is quiet and doesn’t talk much because Link is overwhelmed and overcome by the duty of being the Hero. But Link is just like Zelda - young and inexperienced and just trying their best to do the right thing. Hoping to be strong enough by staying quiet. Even Link’s yelling and grunts in this game are much quieter than they were in other games.  I don’t know, the whole thing made me emotional, and it made me love Link a lot. I love that Link went out and caught Zelda’s horse to use, there were so many little details that I loved.

It’s like the character effort that usually goes into developing the Companion Character, who is usually the most complicated and notable character in most games (Midna, Linebeck, etc), instead went to develop Link and Zelda.

Zelda herself was so well-drawn, most of the material of the game was there to characterize Zelda. I felt like I really knew her by the end. Her complicated relationship with her father, I really especially enjoyed.

The woodsman at the beginning was such a good character too, so sad - all alone in a cabin working with wood, just waiting for you to wake up so he could pass on his regrets and his hopes. 

All those dead ghost characters crying from the dust, honestly. It’s such a lively game, and the races seem to be doing well and prospering, but at the same time most of the characters are regretful angry ghosts. I liked it. I liked the cheerful zora prince, and all the side characters looking and feeling so individual.

[cixalealu]

Chap 9 Update Info (and unwarranted Warrior character analysis) (3/25/20)

I’m super glad that I decided to change my updating schedule to every two weeks because this chapter’s getting quite heavy. There’s a lot of tricky dialogue I have to wrangle out. It’s probably going to end up one of the shorter chapters as I think it’s only going to be one scene, but it’s going to end up covering some tough stuff of Twi’s (and Warrior’s) past.

Speaking of Pretty Boy, I finished reading the transcription of the interview Jojo did on the LU server, and I thought the part about Warrior’s characterization was very interesting. (Over-analyzation below)

Warrior has commitment issues, is a massive flirt, prefers to work in groups, hates traitors, and nothing really fazes him/he can remain calm and level-headed in any situation. I feel like I’m much closer to understanding the character Jojo’s going for with him now.

My interpretation of that information is that he just loves new—new things and new people. He’s extroverted and gets his energy and highs from the mystery and thrill of meeting new people. However, he’s quick to adjust to new things (seen in his level-headedness, which comes in handy especially when in battle) and is therefore quick to move on once he’s figured someone/something out. Once the mystery is gone, it’s boring, so he moves on to the next new person/thing. He needs the new challenge.

With girls, it’s exciting for him to get a new girlfriend. What are her quirks? What is unique about her that he’s never seen with other girls? But when she’s not interesting anymore and the relationship gets stale, he dumps her. He’s on to the next one. It’s not even necessarily personal to the girl. He’s just can’t put his heart in the same old same old. (Thus the commitment issues.) He needs something new.

With the other LU boys, I think that’s where it’s going to get interesting. After all, he’s kind of stuck with them until they fulfill this quest. If he gets bored of them or finds them to be not interesting anymore, he can’t leave. This is probably where most of his clashes with them are going to come from. It might be that the enigma of Dark Link and the battles with the monsters along the way keep it interesting enough for him, but I have a feeling he’s going to butt heads with the other boys after too long.

I think this is where his conflict with Twilight stems from too—deeper than just city boy vs country boy. Twilight is very much Warrior’s foil in that he’s kinda a prude. He loves the unchanging, simple life of routine on the ranch. He’s loyal, and has more traditional values that rub against Warrior’s ambitious lifestyle. If Warrior were in Twilight’s situation, he wouldn’t let Midna leaving tear him up. He’d have just turned right around and tried to date Zelda, causing scandals galore.

(The first/original Link from before Sky scored a literal goddess. If any of them “inherited” that self-confidence, it was Warrior.)

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking about as I’m writing this scene. I’m glad I’ve already started working on it because it’s going to be a while before the dialogue’s going to sit well with me. Thanks for being patient.

[rosebanshee]

My LoZ ships

Only the games or manga I've played/read

Windwaker: my first LoZ game, I miss the gamecube. I didnt feel too snippy with this one because one they were all little babies and when I played it I was a little baby too, but if I had to choose definitely Link/Tetra. Tetra has to be one of my favorite Zeldas because shes ao cool and different.

Four Swords: my knowledge is more manga based but I ship Vio/shadow(they have a really cool dynamic and vio makes a unique hero with his deceit) Green/Zelda(one of the few where I do ship a link with zelda because they grew up together and she wasnt a meanie) and only sort of Red/Blue (I feel like it inescapable if you ship Vio/Shadow)

Twilight Princess: Link/Midna they're dynamic was fun and she was with him the entire game. He got to know her for her and not her looks since she was in imp form.

Ocarina of Time: I'm not going to lie I never made it to his adult form I got sick of the Ruta bit and just never picked it up again. I guess if I had to pick I'd say Link/Malon, but I also enjoy the weird angsty factor of Link/Dark Link I've seen people write.

Link between Worlds: hands down Link/Ravio "and they were roommates" Ravio is a cutie an I love him and Sheerow. I'm a firm believer he is the holder of Wisdom not courage since their triforce is different. I mean his actions in a certain light were brave, but he went and found the hero because he knew he couldnt fight the big bad in the same way Zelda does in a lot of games. I also kind of like Zelda/Hilda they'd just be so pretty together and they could talk to each other about the pressures of ruling a kingdom. Also Hildas has a weapon that shows the triforce. So that's another reason I think she has courage, maybe her staff is lorules version of the master sword.

BOTW: Link/Sidon mainly because this link is a sweet baby (I know hes a tough warrior too but playing the game, I lived for his happy excitement while cooking, his bashfullness when the fairies pressed their fingers to his forehead, the adorable blush he got wearing the gerudo outfit it all gave him such a sweet characterization) who I ship with positive encouragement and Sidon is the physical manifestation of positivity.

I dont ship Link with Zelda a lot because some of the games he doesnt even know her, and I hate romances based off of fate. If destiny told me I had to fall in love with a person because it was fate I would do everything to spite destiny. In Breath of the Wild I dont like how Zelda treats him in the memories I know they establish a friendship and I can see them in a sibling relationship but I feel this Zelda is a bit domineering in a way that wouldnt let this Link flourish as his own person if they were in a romantic relationship. However I'm not dissing this Zelda, shes actually one of my favorite Zeldas yet. Shes hotheaded and likes science. Shes doesnt just stand on the sidelines.