#also just... imagine dying in an era where ganondorf is six feet under and praying that your hero is doing well in his time

[ladyrijus]

Okay, so I know the Twilight Princess manga is not considered canon, but there is one aspect of the comic that I find very interesting for Princess Zelda's characterization.

In the manga, she's the reincarnation of Ocarina of Time Zelda from the adult timeline where Link defeated Ganondorf at the age of 19, and then was sent back to the past to warn everyone about the Gerudo King. But Twilight Princess Zelda, despite being this reincarnation, lives in the child timeline.

So far, so good?

If you're confused and trying to track how exactly Twilight Princess Zelda is reincarnated from Ocarina of Time Zelda from the adult era despite being from an entirely different timeline, I vaguely recall that the manga says the Triforce of Wisdom allows Twilight Princess Zelda to remember her previous life. With that in mind, we can assume Triforce of Wisdom transcends time due to the virtue of wisdom being existent in past, present, and future.

Anyways, as I was saying. So Twilight Princess Zelda's past life is Ocarina of Time Princess Zelda from the adult timeline and she gains her past memories, thus synthesizing two Zeldas into one. For that reason, I'm going to refer to her as Twilight Princess / Ocarina of Time Adult timeline Zelda.

Now I don't know how far into the story Twilight Princess / Ocarina of Time Adult timeline Zelda remembers. But I can't stop thinking about how once she does, she is now primed for the realization that her child self (Ocarina of Time Zelda from the child timeline) fucked up. Even after learning what she could from an experienced Link, she fucked up so bad that she turned out to be in part, if not fully, responsible for the mass genocide/exodus of the Gerudo people.

And sure, we can argue that's not technically Twilight Princess / Ocarina of Time Adult timeline Zelda, because she never did that. Link had not yet fought Ganondorf to tell her what could happen, and she didn't possess the political influence to stop Ganondorf alone because she was still a child no adult felt like taking seriously.

But it was for that exact reason why she sent Link back. Notwithstanding the guilt she felt for stripping away Link's childhood innocence, she desperately desired to pass the wisdom she shared with Link in her adult years to her past self (the child timeline Ocarina of Time Zelda) so that she could have stopped Ganondorf from laying hand on the Triforce and trying to take over Hyrule under better circumstances.

But that's the fucked up part, isn't it? In the timeline Twilight Princess Zelda / Ocarina of Time Adult timeline Zelda is now living in, the child timeline, Ocarina of Time Zelda tried.

And she still failed.