#Revali most of all

[kurolini909]

* Recall Medoh's Champion of flight,

before he fell to his fateful plight...

Behold: a bastard.

[colgeras]

did you know that the rito can’t see well at night?

did you know that they all come home to roost before sunset blankets tabantha frontier like a stage curtain, tucking themselves under each others wings before the night cradles them in her own?

did you know that when a rito is caught in the dark, the first thing they are taught to do is sing, in hopes that another will hear and guide them back to safety?

did you know that the calamity struck hyrule during an apricot-skied evening, and despite revali’s fervour, malice-soaked night had cloaked the kingdom by the time he had made it to vah medoh’s pilot’s chamber?

did you know that, transcending species, the body’s first instinct when frightened in the dark is to attack with desperate ferocity, praying that one hit might just land?

did you know that revali drowned out his own SOS signal with a warbled rito lullaby, because a rito like revali can’t see well at night?

[avenin7]

I’ve realized why I hate most fanon interpretations of Revali now. I can’t stand when people make him lie about or brag about things he can’t actually do. I’ve always seen Revali’s character as truthful and honest to a fault. (will insult you to your face if it’s accurate levels of truth) He’s egotistical yes. Because he can actually back up what he says. I find it so annoying irl when someone says they can do something when they can’t or lies about knowing what you’re talking about when they very obviously don’t. And I’ve noticed a lot of fanon takes his character that way because of the common headcanon that he’s insecure. But I find that trait so unbearably annoying and have never headcanoned Revali’s character that way. I’ve always seen him as humble when you know, he actually doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Or being able to acknowledge when someone else has skill higher than him. (the whole POINT with his beef with Link is because he was under the impression Link thought he was better than him. He just wanted a chance to either be proven right or wrong. His dialogue in the dlc implies that even if he lost, he would have been content to just know). That doesn’t sound like someone who can’t acknowledge when they’re wrong.

So when people are out here writing Revali in extreme denial and making him act like a complete asshat who thinks he’s hot shit when he’s very obviously NOT; it rubs me the wrong way. Feels like it does a disservice to his character a lot. and makes him extremely immature & annoying

[deeenae]

“Danger”

I’m late to Revalink week, but I was cooking!! Here’s my contribution, a short comic inspired by none other than @star-pup01‘s fic Skybound Wishes ❤️

It’s sad hours over here. I’ve been rereading this fic in honor of Revalink Week, and Link witnessing Revali’s demise firsthand… 😔 In the Silent Realm, “Vah Medoh painted Link a perfect picture of Revali’s last moments” and yeah I’ve been emo about it for awhile. Day 2’s prompt “Danger” seemed to align with the despair Link must have felt in this moment… UGHHH

I didn’t capture the full scene here so please just go read Skybound Wishes 💖 we all know what Link’s gestures mean even though he doesn’t AHHH 😫

Happy Revalink Week!! (edit: except I’m still sad after making this sorry y’all)

[isa-ah]

im watching a retrospective about Majora's Masks dungeon progression and realizing a little more every time he says "this game took a lot of very brave steps out to not be ocarina of time" that my disappointment with totk isn't out of place. I've been told "it's breath of the wild 2, why did you expect it to be different?" but like.. it's it's own game. why is it the exact same but with an arguably worse iteration of the story?

[smilesrobotlover]

Somethin about drawing the same guys over and over again does wonders for art improvement

[ofgalaxiesandstars]

Don't mind me I'm just quietly screaming over the fact that Link never got to give the champions a proper goodbye when he saw them again because he couldn't properly remember them :')

[greenvertumna]

Revali is a dick to you maybe. But he told me my perfect parry was well executed so I’m different.

[casiavium]

"we have Revali's gale at home"

[muffintonic]

I know the feeling! I love collecting figurines and toys so they can get dusty pretty quickly, some moreso than others (no idea why). I have his amiibo as well! He's being guarded by Falco Lombardi's amiibo. I wish they would have made something for Teba, Kass, and Tulin.

I don't have room for a lot of figurines, but it's definitely a hassle keeping the ones I do clean! Hahaha, that's so perfect since he and Falco are similar in a lot of ways! I'm surprised they didn't for at least Tulin and Teba since they were featured in HWAOC and played a larger role in TOTK.

[amiharana]

Might I suggest putting a spin on hey there Delilah as a revalink song?

OOOH interesting choice anon 👁️👁️ iirc, this song was written when the plain white T's guy met this one girl and fell in love with her right away, so he wrote a song for her??? and i think she hated it because it got so popular LMFAOKFJDH so i'm gonna take a little inspiration from that

thinking about... pre-calamity revalink with revali who has just realized that he has developed romantic feelings for link somehow, and he is trying desperately to Not have them but he can't help it :) he won't admit it out loud, but link is one of the most stunning people he's ever met in the vast entirety of hyrule. as stone-faced as the knight is, link shines bright and warm, bright enough to rival the sun itself. revali thinks someone must have put a curse on him to be so enamored with a hylian, of all people. it's simply... asinine.

and maybe it really is a curse; revali is a rito and link is a hylian. they're two different species and while interracial relationships aren't really looked down upon in hyrule, a relationship between a rito and a hylian is unheard of. biological incompatibilities would make intimacy or even mating difficult... and to add even more to the tragedy of it all, it was no secret that princess zelda and princess mipha held the same romantic feelings for link as well. there's no way that revali could compete for link's hand against two princesses, ones that could offer link the entire world if he so pleased.

so in all his frustrations and lamentations of such a tragic romance (or i suppose a lack thereof), revali goes to the castle gardens with a harp. no one knows that he has one or that he has any musical talent at all, but it's an instrument that's loved dearly by the rito; ancient legends say that a rito sage of the past wielded a harp as well and so the tradition of learning to play the harp has been passed down to honor their ancestors. revali will never tell anyone that he can play, but he's pretty fucking good at it.

anyways. thinking about revali in what he thinks is a secluded corner of the castle gardens, beginning to pluck at the harp at random trying to make a melody to lament his frustrations, and the song he plays is basically Hey There Delilah (except it's about link and obviously the lyrics would be localized to zelda stuff. imagine what a hyrule-ified new york city would be like. also i think revali would not actually use link's name but some sort of pseudonym? goddess forbid someone actually hears him sing about link, he would absolutely die).

revali sings about how far away he feels from link both physically and emotionally, but that he can see right through link's facade and how he wishes that link would let him in. revali singing about how he would give link as much as of the world as he could in comparison to the princesses if link gave him a chance </3 and that even if revali couldn't give link the same riches and power, he hopes his love could rival that. revali lamenting about how link will never return his feelings, but that if he did, the world would never, ever be the same. that link would be to blame. KDFHDKLJFHLSJDKFH

and oh me oh my, guess who decides to drop into the gardens for a nice little afternoon walk just after revali begins to sing his little heart out? :) link loves a little tune so of course he's going to be drawn to the sound of music and singing, but when he realizes the person singing is revali... and that revali is singing about someone who will never love him back...

TEEHEE i'll leave it there for now but i never would have considered Hey there delilah as a revalink song! thank you for suggesting it, anon 🤍

[rotisseries]

i don't read enough loz fic to know what the popular fanon is so maybe this already exists but there should be a revali and zelda besties agenda i think it would be good for them

[avenin7]

Revali cuddling Link in the same hammock? I feel most would expect Link to be cuddling the Rito, with all his feathers and all, but I can't help but imagine in this situation Revali would actually be the one to use Link as a body pillow.

Listen, Revali is an affectionate motherfucker. and if you're ever actually pet a real bird, they're feathers are, yes indeed soft, but not like fur at all. You can feel all the shafts of each feather and it's WEIRD. Link makes a shitty pillow most of the time because of his boney arms and knees but makes up for it with soft pillowy belly and head scritches

{also they quickly realized that Link may actually crush Revali's bones if lays on top of him so Revali has to be the human(rito) blanket. He is upset about it}

[kittycatcarla]

i've been playing botw this winter break but i've put myself some totk ost while im studying and damn it's making me want to drop botw and start a similar semi-challenge run in totk instead

[atwas-gaming]

Here's what I think about Revali's SOS signal:

Now, most people say, "Oh, Revali, he was so full of himself that he didn't want to send an SOS and he got himself killed because he was too proud to call for help."

That's not how I see it. I love Revali, but let's be honest: he's a preening peacock at best and a narcissistic bully at worst (honestly, he's somewhere in between the two). But he IS as good as he says.

So I think that, by the time he sent his SOS, it was an act of desperation. Not a desperation born out of realizing that he, himself, was about to die, but a desperate hope born out of realizing that they had been utterly defeated.

Like I said, Revali is as good as he claims to be. And he knows it (hence his superiority complex). So if he knew he was about to be defeated, then he KNEW there was no one left to save him.

So I think he waited until the last second because he knew it was pointless. Not so much pride as realism. "If I'm dead, then we're all dead." My guess is that he turned on the signal as a last-ditch effort, some survival instinct kicking in and hoping beyond hope, for the first time ever, that he was wrong, that maybe someone else had survived.

[gothic-soda]

Accepting help: Tulin and the Champions

For all the problems I have with totk, one thing I love about it is the development of the sages, particularly Tulin.

His arc is about learning how to accept help from others, which is so interesting when compared to Revali, who was very isolated and had to be self reliant. Revali seemingly had no family or anyone else in his life to fall back on, and as a result he had to become the best possible version of himself as a warrior to make up for that. In BotW we see Revali go to EXTREME lengths to be the best warrior he can be.

A comparison could even be made between Revali and the rest of the Champions. What they all have in common is that they all died alone in their divine beasts. No one came to rescue them. Zelda and Link had each other, and that’s ultimately how they both managed to survive the calamity. The champions had only themselves to rely on in their final moments, and in the end it wasn’t enough.

But back to Tulin, his arc (and to a lesser extent the other Sages arcs are about this as well) is about accepting help from others. Tulin has his parents, Link and the other Sages to fall back on. Tulin wanted to prove that he was strong enough on his own, but eventually realised that his strength came from those around him. Tulin receives the Great Eagle Bow when he shows that he can be strong AND accept help when he needs it.

Even the new Sage’s powers are all designed in a way that reinforces this. The Champion’s abilities were all gifts that they honed to use by themselves, they used their powers to fight alongside their allies, but still their powers were never really meant to be used though a second party. In a way, their gifts are weakened when they are given to Link. For example Mipha’s Grace can only be used on Link in BotW, but when she was alive she could heal anyone.

By contrast, the Sage’s abilities are supposed to be used with the aid of another, they are amplified by Link. Tulin’s gust is more or less useless to Tulin himself, but with another person it had a lot of utility. Yunobo requires someone to aim him to get the most out of his charge. Riju is still learning how to control her lightning and needs someone else to direct it. While Sidon could probably use the water shield on himself, Sidon wants to protect others, so his power manifests as a physical shield to protect his friend.

This idea of the champions being isolated and not being able to receive much help from others makes a lot of sense. They were the last line of defence for Hyrule, they were the Plan B incase Zelda did not awaken her powers. When they became Champions, all of them were well respected warriors amongst their people, a lot of responsibility fell on them to be the protectors of not only their people, but all of Hyrule. For them to show weakness would mean Hyrule losing faith in their beloved champions.

The new Sages have a support system that the Champions did not have, they are allowed to have faults and not be perfect, because they have other people to support them and I think that’s beautiful.