#and if this Hero who literally wielded the master sword wasn’t link then why and how too

[lithi]

Eugh finally got it!! The shrines were fun. But now I can’t stop pondering about why and how Link’s past incarnation was a Zonai lmao…

[championofsanghelios]

Linked Universe Story - “Rescue”

“...this is getting out of hand!” Legend’s voice snaps across the camp, startling most who had fallen asleep awake. “Twi and the Old Man left three days ago! Three freakin’ days! And we’re still sitting here, waiting for them like they’re going to come back!” “Will you relax?” Four sighs by the camp-fire, drinking from his water-flask. “Shouting isn’t going to help anything, it’s just going to make everyone grumpy in the morning.” “I just worry, Okay!?” Legend breathes out through his nostrils, dropping down next to him. “They aren’t usually away this long.” “Wars said he’d go out and have a look for them.” Four tries his best to assure him, though he doubts it will work. “Maybe he’ll come back with something...” “I hope so.” Legend, though not comforted by that general suggestion, can’t lie. “They better be okay.” . . . ELSHWERE - SEVERAL MILES AWAY . . . “...” Time groans, his head spinning, both literally as well as figuratively. He opens his eyes slowly, the light and heat of a fire being the first thing he’s aware of. He could make out the faint sound of snoring, and a quick turn of his head reveals the source....all 20 of them. “...” Bokoblins, all of them laying around a large fire, fast-asleep, having filled their bellies with goddess only knows what. Time himself was hanging upside down from a tree-branch, the ropes from Twilight’s satchel had been used to string him up. He looks about as best he can for any sign of the other Hero, but finds nothing until his eyes catch sight of something in one of the Bokoblin’s hands. A familiar black pelt, that of a small wolf, which Twilight always wore over his shoulders as a cloak. There were also several other items of his strewn around the place, all of which didn’t help to ease the rapidly building panic in his gut. Had they killed him? Were they all, equally, in the processes of digesting him? The thought terrified him, as well as made his blood boil. How dare they. How fucking dare they! Suddenly his priorities were changing. Originally he had planned to find Twilight and get out of there, but now that his fate was uncertain, he’d added “massacre these little bastards” to the list. Now then...how was he going to get out of here? . . . IN THE FOREST . . . How long had he been running for? It couldn’t have been long, the sky was still clear and dark, the moon hadn’t risen that far since he last looked up at it. Right now he was conflicted more than anything. Part of him felt awful for leaving Time behind like he did...but there was no chance in hell that he’d be able to fight through all those monsters in his condition. He’d already tried to transform into his canid form, it would have certainly made thing easier, as he could have followed the scent trail the two of them left back to Camp, however...he was wounded. When they had been ambushed on the road, he’d taken an arrow to the left shoulder, something that would normally be of no consequence, but right now his satchel was back there...and he wasn’t going to risk looking for it amongst the sleeping devil pigs. ...no he had to get back to the camp. Sky and Warriors would know what to do... ...if only he could find his way back. He had to, because there was going to be a point soon where one of those little blighters would awaken and using it’s collective brain-cells notice that one of their captures was gone. That and Time was still back there...if they discover he’s gone, they might just decide to kill him for their food instead. He comes to a stop as he enters a clearing, leaning against a tree to catch his breath. He was pouring with sweat, and his wounded shoulder which had been painful before, was now verging on excruciating. The pain had spread down through his arm, and left hand, and it hurt to look at, let alone touch or move. “...shit...” he says as he breathes, something else which was getting much harder as time passed. “...ow.” His tunic was torn at the shoulder, blood soaking the area around the wound dark red. Oddly enough one of the few thoughts that doesn’t concern his current predicaments is how he’s going to remove those stains later on? Suddenly a sound occurrs among the trees, the snapping of a few twigs, followed by the sounds of boots on grass. Twilight turns on the spot quickly, his eyes squinting as the flame of a torch appears between the vines and branches. “...wh-...who’s there?” he makes a pathetic attempt to confront whoever it is. “...co-come out.” Warriors steps out into the lunar light, his face melting into one of horror as he sees him. “...Twi...” “...Wars?” Twilight’s eyes narrow, he wasn’t sure if he was halucinating or not. “...is that you?” He takes a step forwards, which turns into a stumble. Warriors drops the torch the ground, it’s flame extinguishing when he catches him in his arms. “Twi! What happened to you!? Where’s the Old Man?” “...back-...” Twilight moves his good arm, gesturing weakly over his shoulder. “...back there...b-Bokoblins ambushed us...” “...here.” Warriors says, reaching down to his belt and removing a bottle of healing elixir, he uncorks it and holds it up to Twilight’s mouth. He drinks it slowly at first, but as it’s effects inevitably take hold, some of his strength returns. “...just drink that. It should help you.” He inspects the wound on his shoulder, letting out a hissing sigh. “You idiot. Why did you snap the arrow-shaft. It’s going to make getting it out a nightmare!” “...sorry.” Twilight finishes the last of the elixir, looking at him. “I should have thought about that as 10 miniature devil pigs tackled me to the ground.” “Well it would seem the first thing to recover is your temper.” Warriors huffs, shaking his head. He then goes to move. “Come on, we better get up off the ground.” “Nah...” Twilight shakes his head slowly. “You’re quite soft...I could go for a nap here.” “Are you serious!?” Warriors snips, before getting up anway. “Time is in trouble! I need to help him!” “There are at least 20 of the little bastards back there.” Twilight hisses, as much as the elixir had helped to get rid of some of the swelling and stopped most of the bleeding, the arrow-head was still stuck in his shoulder...which would make wielding a Sword nigh-on impossible until it was removed. A trip to Four he was not looking forward too. “...you can’t go in there alone, they’ll just overpower you as well.” “Just you watch me.” Warriors says, reaching over his shoulder and taking out the Master Sword. Twilight’s eyes widen at the sight of it. “Where did you get-” “-took it from Wild’s lean-to.” Warriors says, eyeing the blade with an element of trepedation and nostalgia. “...figured he wouldn’t mind me borrowing it whilst he’s partying with the Zora.” “...that doesn’t change the fact that you’ll be outnumbered.” Twilight shakes his head again. “You’d be better going back to camp and getting the others-” “-since when did you ever give up so easily?” Warriors eyes him incredulously. “Usually you’re game for anything, especially when one of our own is in danger.” “Don’t question my priorities!” Twilight suddenly snips. “If I wasn’t wounded I would have turned wolf and tore those little fuckers to peices. But right now, I am no fit condition to do that let alone lift a sword...and I’m sure as hell not going to let you go in there alone and potentially take my place.” “...” Warriors stares at him for a second, the look in his eyes said it all. “Wars...” Twilight calls to him as he suddenly takes off on his own. “Wars! Get back here, you’re not going to-” He hisses again as he paces forwards after him. Clutching at his shoulder, he curses under his breath. “...damn it!” . . . ELSEHWERE . . . “...come on...” Time mutters to himself, having tried, for the thrid time, to get the ropes bound around his legs to come free. Bokoblin’s weren’t the smartest of the creatures, so they hadn’t bound his arms together. “...how tight did they-” -growl- He freezes as he hears that sound, slowly he looks ahead of him to see one of the little buggers had awoken, and was now staring at him. Something stupid takes him over at that point, and he finds himself speaking before he can process the words that come out of his mouth. “What are you snarling at you little shit?” he says, flinching when he realises what he’s said. Normally he abhored swearing, and had given a few admonishings to the others because of their language, but right now he couldn’t help it. He was angry...no he was livid. As far as he was aware that little swine and it’s friends had eaten the closest thing he had to a son. He wasn’t about to let it go without at least a few harsh words...followed by a gutting. “...go back to bed.” “ajdhfgrdk!” the Bokoblin let’s out a loud squeal, and the Hero watches on in horror as one by one, all of the others jolt awake and leap up onto their feet. The one holding Twilight’s pelt, throws the object onto the fire as it awakens. “sjehsheufvu!” “...oh shit.” Time mutters to himself as he sees one of the charging at him with a club flailing. It barrels through the others, sending some of the flying in either direction, one even lands on the fire, screeching as its backside singes. “...” He closes his eyes as it reaches him, bracing himself for the strike, though it doesn’t come. -Swipe- -Thud- Time cracks one eye open in the silence that follows. He finds Warriors standing between them, the Master Sword in hand. The head of the Bokoblin that was about to attack him was now rolling away under him. He looks back up, his eyes narrowing. “Where the hell did you get that from?” “Glad you’re okay, Sprite!” Warriors replies, bringing the blade around and cutting the rope holding him up through the middle. “...you’re welcome!” Time hits the ground with a thud, and against his best efforts, the groan he lets out as he sits up, sounds as old as he feels. He kicks the ropes off of his ankles and gets up, only to stumble as the blood rushes from his head down to his feet. All around him there were Bokoblin’s being cut in half, or beheaded. One even stumbles past him, it’s innards hanging out of it’s front, before collapsing face first into the fire, erupting in a ball of flame. He reaches up to his forehead, applying pressure to his temples in order to calm himself and stop the world from spinning. When he finally does come back to his senses, the turns on the spot, only to find that Warriors had slain every last one of the monsters, all of them laying, in various states of mutilation, around the clearing. “...that was easy.” Warriors says, standing in the center of the space, leaning on the Master Sword like a crutch. He takes in a deep breath, only to fall onto his backside against an overturned boulder. “...peice of cake.” “Are you hurt?” Time slowly paces forwards, stepping over one of the dead swines. He drops down onto one knee as he reaches him, placing his hand on his right shoulder, looking him over. “...no injuries?” “I should be asking you that.” Warriors says, a small smile on his face. “...but you seem to be unharmed.” “Only thing that’s wounded is my pride.” Time sighs, looking about the camp. “...Twilight was with me when we were ambushed...I don’t know if-” “-he’s okay.” Warriors sits up a little, sensing his worry. “I ran into him a little ways into the forest. Seems he made a run for it.” Time visibly sags in relief, before dropping down just to his right. “...Thank Hylia for that...” “When you didn’t come back after the second night...Sky and I started to get worried.” Warriors says, his head coming to rest against Time’s left shoulder. “He went up North towards Kakariko, whilst I came down this way...I’ll need to ping him on Wild’s slate when we get back.” “It was stupid...” Time shakes his head, thinking back on the whole ordeal. “I thought we could cut our journey time in half by taking the road we did...if only I had known-” “-Oh don’t start with that.” Warriors says, cutting him off. “What matters is you are both okay- well. Twi has a little arrow head stuck in his shoulder, but other than that he’s himself...I gave him some healing elixir before I came to find you.” “...then we’d better get back to him.” Time says, turning his head to look at him. When he doesn’t get a response, he nudges him with his shoulder. “Come on, you can’t fall asleep here.” “I have been out all day looking for you two...” Warriors says sleepily against him. “I’m taking a 5 minute nap...” “Wow.” a voice suddenly speaks to the right. Time glances over to see Twilight emerge from the tree-line, his hand over his left shoulder. “...he actually did manage to kill them all.” “...i told you...fuzzball.” Warriors mumbles, his eyes closing. “Are you alright?” Time asks, only to happy to put and arm around the other Hero when he drops down next to him. “I was worried there for a while. I thought maybe these creatures had made a meal of you.” “I don’t think I’d taste that good anyway.” Twilight snorts, letting out a groan when the Old Man kisses him on the forehead. “...Hey...stop that.” “Never do that again.” Time says firmly. “Do what?” Twilight eyes him suddenly. “I didn’t do a damn thing.” “Not you.” Time shakes his head. “I was talking to myself. That is officially the last time we take that shortcut.” Twilight, despite himself, manages to laugh out loud at that. . . .

[silentprincess17]

Sometimes Things Have to Get Worse Before They Get Better

This is essentially a darker, heavier alternate take on Memory #7 - Blades of the Yiga. I wanted to write a fic with a competent Yiga Clan. (Yes you read that right). It is very angsty in the beginning and then becomes fluffy (hence the title!)

Summary: Link and Zelda have returned from Vah Naboris with Urbosa and have spent the night in Kara Kara Bazaar Inn. Link wakes up and finds her missing.

Cue the angst.

This story is complete and I will post each chapter daily on here but you can read the whole thing on AO3

Rating: Mature (Graphic descriptions of violence) Pairing: Link/Zelda (Zelink) Characters: Link, Zelda, The Yiga Clan, Master Kohga

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 7: Dawn of the Second Day

TW: Huge wounds, massive haemorrhage (a lot of blood loss yes I am a medic geek) and pain. Also Nintendo owns Legend of Zelda and some of the dialogue used. Please don't sue me.

This time, they teleported in, grabbed him, and teleported out.

Zelda screamed his name, but it got lost in the vortex of red paper slips, as he felt his insides split apart and then reform.

He was glad though. Incredibly glad that they’d taken him and not his Princess. He ended up on the floor, in the big arena that wasn’t an arena and he coughed, trying to get the sand out of his mouth, and eyes.

He heard Zelda shouting for him, and it suddenly hit him-this was it. The perfect opportunity. He could try and get her out. He was outside Hylia above!

And just as he thought that, four giant metal clamps locked onto his limbs. And that same cursed red glowing thing was applied so he couldn’t move. He swore at them but stopped struggling. He would have to bide his time, he already felt a little weak from not eating for three days, so every store of energy was precious right now. He had to wait for the perfect opportunity and then unleash it all.

He took a moment to try and calm down. Think things through. He was outside the cell, that was better than being inside. He just had to be observant and careful. He started by trying to determine what their motive was, but he wasn’t sure what was happening. Why had they decided to take him out, if they were only going to restrain him down again?

He looked up, at least they hadn’t clamped his neck. And then a… well. There was no polite way to think of him, if Link was being honest. And frankly, being polite was really quite low down in his list of concerns at the minute.

The Yiga Clan were... normally, at least, easily categorisable. All the Yiga Foot soldiers were thin, agile, capable of moving at lightning speed with their teleportation. The Blademasters were by comparison much larger, and they wielded the more powerful windcleaver. And now he knew of the researchers, but they looked a lot like the Foot soldiers, just with a red lab coat on.

This man… although dressed as a Yiga, didn’t match one of the above categories. He was, well, fat. He had a huge abdomen, which Link didn’t really see working in a fight, either with a sickle or a windcleaver and he was confused really. It was the most bizarre thing he’d seen since arriving.

Link wondered if the lack of food was getting to him.

“Yeah, IT'S YOU! You're that Link guy I've been looking for! And the Princess of course but she’s BORING."

Uh… what? This guy had been… looking… for him? Not to sound egoistical, but wasn’t it really obvious who he was? He literally wore bright blue and had the Master Sword strapped to his back. Admittedly, he didn’t have those two things right now but…

"I need to bust out my serious moves... A secret technique taught by my mother's father! It will...destroy you!"

Uh yeah. It probably would do that because Link was currently strapped to the floor with no weapons. So, whatever this guy chose to do, it would, in all likelihood, work by default.

“Release him from the magnesis bonds! NO WAIT! I need to finish my speech first!”

This man was starting to get on Link’s nerves, like a bratty child who wanted a sweet. But he just said to release his bonds. Yes, if that happened, he would destroy them all, steal all their weapons, physically break down those bars, rescue his Princess and then hightail it out of the desert. So, he would remain calm. Collected. And not think of what happened yesterday.

“Now. Hero of Hyrule. I will DUEL you. So someone told someone who told someone yada yada yada that I should give you a fair chance, and something testing something Princess, I'm not sure, I fell asleep half-way through, so here we are. Of course, you’re a KNIGHT so I assume you know what a DUEL is!"

Link remained silent. He figured it probably wouldn't work in his favour if he started to laugh.

"You know, your silence really is unnerving. ANYWAY, I will fight with my chosen weapons, and you will be provided with a Duplex Bow, ten arrows, a Vicious Sickle and a Windcleaver. A very generous selection, in my opinion. If you defeat me, I will allow you to walk away.” Link’s eyes widened. “YES, WALK AWAYYY!” He laughed, “I won’t kill you to DEATH! Even-if-that's-what-I-really-want-can-you-imagine-being-named-Top-Banana-Of-The-Yiga-Clan-comma-Slayer-Of-The-Hero!”

Okay yeah, there was clearly something wrong with this guy, but Link focussed on the important parts. A Duel. Of which the outcome would be freedom. But. He hadn’t mentioned Zelda. No matter, Link would be a fool not to accept. He’d defeat this fat lug and then Kill. Them. All.

And those Blademasters that had stood on that cursed table? He’d make sure to find his sword and would ensure they suffered a slow, prolonged death. But first, he’d win, take Zelda to the Castle where she’d be safe, and then he’d come back. And exterminate them like the rats they were.

He nodded.

They dropped the connection, freeing him, and he didn’t try anything. Not yet anyway. Once they gave him weapons though, Link would forgo whatever pact he’d made with this man. This didn’t count as an honourable situation anyway, this wasn’t a duel between Knights, it was a duel between captor and captee.

What he hadn’t been expecting, was the fat man to throw a small capsule in the middle of the hole, and the capsule didn’t fall, no, it hovered in place. And the outlines of a dome formed, it extended from the centre of the seemingly bottom-less hole and spread out to include a small ring of sand around said hole. All of a sudden, sound seemed to stop coming through, and he could barely hear Zelda, although maybe she’d come to realise it was futile and had gone quiet.

The capsule made a clicking noise, like an activation of something, and then a burst of red light cascaded from it, down the dome, forming a crimson-lined grid along the surface, almost like red electricity was crawling along the lines. They connected to metal ridges that Link hadn’t even noticed in the sand. He swallowed. He knew, instinctively, that he wouldn’t be able to escape. He wouldn’t be able to get out. Because it was the same thing that had trapped him in those cuffs.

It would have to be honourable. By default.

Still, Link wasn’t feeling that scared. If the fat man wanted a duel, Link would give it to him.

“In the name of Calamity Ganon!” He pranced around, shimmying from one foot to the other. "That's what you say when you start a DUEL right?!"

Link decided to ignore him, and simply looked over to where he thought the Princess was, the red light made it hard to see. “In the name of Princess Zelda Bosphoramus Hyrule, my charge, my liege… my Princess.” And his heart whispered one more thing, my soulmate.

It had started out well enough, the man simply summoned rocks at him, not unlike an octorok, but these ones were considerably larger, with a glowing upside down Sheikah eye on them. Still, he dispatched the obnoxious man in quick time, shooting a well-timed arrow into his head, and then jumping in bullet-time to attack with the sickle.

And then the fat man got angry, stamping his foot into the ground like a child having a tantrum. He moved to hover on top of the hole, and this time he had a blue barrier. Link had wasted one arrow hitting it, only for it to bounce right off. Useless. And there was no way for Link to jump in, seeing as he was without his paraglider and he'd fall down anyway, not sideways to the centre of the abyss where the man was.

So, he bid his time, going as far back as possible and decided to just observe the attack. He remained calm, although for some reason he was a little more flustered than he ordinarily was. Perhaps because the Princess’s safety relied on this fight. Yes, that wasn’t an unusual occurrence, but normally, she’d be hidden, well-protected, should anything go wrong with him. This time… If he failed, then who knew what the consequences would be.

He refocussed, the next move simply involved two rocks hovering horizontally and then vertically to the man, where his barrier faulted for a split second, just before he chucked them at Link. It was easy enough to dodge, and now Link knew what to do. He simply hit the man when the barrier was down, and the Yiga lost control of the rocks, so they hit him instead. After another couple of rounds, where Link looked worryingly at his meagre five remaining arrows, another tantrum fest occurred, this time jumping up and down with one foot whilst floating. Link rubbed his eyes in case he was hallucinating. No, he wasn’t.

And that is where everything went wrong.

The man was now using that accursed red thing to move a giant metal ball at him. The ball had spikes. Huge ones at that. And despite Link keeping his eyes trained on the man, his barrier did not fall. Not once.

Crap.

How?! How could the Yiga mentally control metal?! How was he supposed to defeat him now?

The spiked sphere continued to crawl after him, a slow and steady reminder of what was coming. Link was trying hard not to panic. What else could he do? He didn’t have any of his other weapons. He didn’t have shock arrows. He didn’t have his bomb bag. Maybe he could parry the sphere? But he didn’t have a shield either. He cried, almost, thinking back to his prized Hylian shield sitting in the Inn at Kara Kara Bazaar.

What else what else what else

He knew one thing for certain though. He wouldn’t be able to keep up running forever. Not as weak as he currently was from all the stresses over the past two days and the lack of food. Yes, the sphere moved slowly. But it moved. And eventually he would tire.

The man took back the sphere and Link aimed, hoping his barrier would come down for one second, but no. All he did was pause before sending the sphere. Straight. Back. At. Him.

Goddesses above he wouldn’t last.

Was this his true Hero trial?

Was this how he would die?

He decided to try to use the windcleaver to generate some gush of air that would what? Move the giant ball? He was crazy enough to at least attempt because what else could he do? None of his weapons would even reach the man, even if he chucked them, let alone penetrate the seemingly solid blue barrier.

He ran to the edge of the dome, hoping to be a little out of the ball's range to give him some breathing room should this go wrong, but he had no such luck, because it came, hard and fast for him. He waited until it came close then swung the blade down and tried to repel it.

It obviously failed; no colossal, incredibly heavy, metallic sphere was going to shift with the mere power of air.

Belatedly, he realised that the fat man could afford to be fat. Who was going to hurt him if he could levitate himself out into a pit of no end so there was no hope of reaching him, put up a barrier that you had no hope of penetrating, trap you in a hemisphere so you were effectively at his mercy and was armed with a deadly weapon only he could control?

Link only had just about enough time to turn, for his fingers to hit the dome, before the spikes rammed into his back and Link heard himself scream.

He was used to pain, he thought distantly. He’d hurt himself so many times, from climbing accidents, to training mishaps, to when he’d first started fighting monsters, especially those Goddess damned Lynel swords, oh, wait, no, the crushers were worse.

But he’d never had enormous sharp cones ram into his back, upper thigh and calves, all at once. He was effectively pinned against the dome. And then the ball was pulled out, and shoved right back in.

And again.

And again.

And then for flavour, the fat man shifted it just to the right, so now his wounds grew and grew, until he was slowly ripped apart, until the only thing actually holding him upright was the metal sphere.

Link lost track of everything. He’d never felt so humiliated, so weak.

He’d never lost a fight.

What would happen now? What would happen to him and Zelda?

He felt wet, lethargic and so, so heavy. Which struck him as odd, especially considering he’d probably lost a lot of blood. Shouldn’t he be light?

Little spots of blackness coated his vision, somehow he blinked and he was on the floor, on his knees, the dome gone, his hands shaking trying to hold himself up. His blood rushed through his ears, thundering too loudly, and everything else was muted, muffled, and he could no longer focus properly.

"-oga! Did you se- I did i-"

Link must have blacked out again, because the next thing he knew he was being hauled by his armpits back into the cell, and his injuries were stretched even more, and Link screeched in pain. He was so far gone it was silent, and he lost consciousness yet again, because he practically fell on top of Zelda, landing on his front, in her arms. She was shaking, maybe? Or was it him? Probably him, but he couldn’t tell, and he heard her furiously mutter under her breath about hypo-something shock, but really, he was barely holding onto the few remaining threads of consciousness he had.

“Link?” She sounded frightened, but he couldn’t bring himself to respond. Instead, when he opened his mouth, he coughed up an alarming amount of blood. He felt some of it dribble down his chin and he heard her half scream in response.

“LINK! No! In - name of Hylia st- with me! Link!” She gently held his head in her hands, his head rolling in her hold because he'd now lost what little control he had over his muscles. He focussed on the softness of her touch, and how it contrasted so deeply to the agony that he was in, although everything was dulled around the edges right now, probably from the blood loss. He stared at the growing pool of bright crimson around them, it seemed to be coming from everywhere. Like he was a dam that had suffered too many hits and now all the water was leaking through. That wasn’t that far from the truth to be fair.

“Zel-” He tried to say something, to reassure her that he would fight to stay awake. But it ended in another, harsher, coughing fit, and it felt like Daruk had grasped his chest in his hands and squeezed. Dear Goddesses, he felt his vision start to fade again, it was already half faded, in all honesty. And it scared him, because this wasn't the same blackness he'd had after being knocked cold from a fight. This was darker, more permeating. It felt... more permanent.

She cried, and it pained him to see her tears for him, but the blackness forced its way upon him, and he slowly closed his eyes, trying his hardest not to give in, but even from the start he knew it was a losing battle. Vaguely he wondered if the sword would remember him. He wondered what would happen to his family, to Hyrule, to her, if there was no Hero for the Calamity. He wondered, if he'd had more time, more courage, if he and Zelda could have-

She cradled his head in her arms, gently brushing his matted hair away from his forehead, and he allowed himself a final deep breath, for her lavender to imprint in his mind one last time.

Link was not... scared of death. He knew it was inevitable, and there was a significant probability of him dying, either in the line of duty to the Crown, or against the Calamity, his destiny-chosen battle. But... he was scared now. He was scared of what the consequences of him dying meant. Her verdant eyes stared at him, and she was saying something but he could no longer hear. She was his biggest regret, he couldn't stomach leaving her, here and now, because who knew what horrors would await her once he left. So much guilt, so much shame, so much despair hit him, in the final moment but there was nothing left to he done. He tried to convey that to her, through his gaze, that he was sorry, for not being enough, for not doing enough, for failing to get her out of here- the list continued, but he was rapidly losing what little control he had left, and he felt his eyes glaze over. He’d seen enough death to know where he stood. Because everything ached, he felt increasingly weaker, and his breathing grew progressively more ragged, as stabs of pain shot up his ribs for every centimetre he inhaled in.

He gasped for air, one final time, trying to commit her to his memory, and that seemed to be the very last assault his body could handle. Because within seconds he lost all sense of the world, his final thought was of his silent princess, and of a lullaby, that would forever haunt him till the end of time.

[unmaskedagain]

A wolf’s job

           Okay so I got this request from @ dark-chocolate-fudge-sweetracer . They more or less wanted me to write a OC/Kagami dating Au. They didn’t give me too much a prompt so I had a lot room to move. Normally, I would NEVER do an OC protagonist for a fanfic.  But the requester was really sweet about it so I thought WHY NOT. Lol. However, it did turned out that the one thing I dislike doing more than writing a sequel is writing an main protagonist OC. In fact I really struggled with it. So this will be the first and last time I do. 

Fair warning Adrien salt ahead

 He arrived on a Tuesday. It was an even bet at who was more surprised to see him. The class when they got to school and saw yet another new student in their class. Kagami, the last transfer student and his childhood friend, who he never told he was coming. Or perhaps even Reizo himself. He never expected to see his crush in his new class. He never expected her to be friends with the very people he had been sent to judge.

           His face turned bright red, “Hey!” Reizo smiled brightly. “What a surprise.”

           Kagami gave him an unimpressed stare that sent shivers through him. For a fifteen-year-old girl, she was really scary. “Quite so. Like you coming to Paris without informing me.”

           Ouch. Yeah, she was going to kill him. It wouldn’t be a nice death either. Before he could try to come up with a good excuse, one that was him admitting only being there to check the worthiness of the current Miraculous users, Kagami marched right passed him.

           Kagami and Reizo had been introduced through their parents who were work colleagues. Neither could remember when they actually met as they had been toddlers at the time but they had pretty much been a constant in each other’s life. And somewhere along the line, feelings developed. However, before anything could happened, Kagami moved to Paris.

           She was the main reason he had taken the mission from the council. The chance to see her in person instead of video chat. He missed her.

           She sat sit in the back with a bluenette he knew to be the hero Ladybug. The two were quickly joined by a pretty blond who sneered at the rest of the class.

As class began, the black hair, black eyed boy quickly realize something was… off. Wrong. The entire class seemed to be in a cold war; frequently glares were sent to the three girls in back. Said girls returned them with icy looks of their own.

Reizo would try his best not to get involved but he would make it clear where he stood; with Kagami. She was his oldest friend, his confidante, and (if he played his cards right) perhaps his future wife.

Throughout the day, the other students in class tried to pull him away from Kagami; swearing she and the other two girls (Marinette and Chloe were bullies.) Then it was Reizo’s turn to give out unimpressed looks.

After school, the young Yamato heir found himself fighting for his life. He had gone over to Kagami’s to apologize; though it was hard trying to explain that it never even crossed his mind to tell her he was coming to Paris. She knew he was a bit of airhead sometimes. Forgetful. Even more so when he had a task to do.

Though again, it wasn’t like he could tell her that the council of Guardians sent him to judge Ladybug and Chat Noir, both in and out of their masks, to determine if they were worthy to wield the two most powerful miraculous in existence. And to take them back, if he found that they were not.

The council had heard… rumors, and found they could no longer trust Master Fu’s word alone that he had chosen correctly.

Kagami seemed to accept his apology. He thought she forgave him, only to for Kagami to drag him to her training room, throw him a sword, and proceed to beat the crap out of him.

Normally, Reizo stood a much better chance. He had been training with a sword almost as long as Kagami had. It was a family tradition; one he came to adore as he grew older. One that resulted in him collected replica swords from movies; a lot of swords. Like a lot.

However, Kagami seemed to have rage fueling her every step. He never stood a chance. Mostly because she had always been a better swordsman than him. Partly because he was a little in awe at how battle just seemed to enhance her beauty.

After the fight, Reizo finally got ask the question that had been burning in the back of his mind all day, “What the hell is wrong with your class?”

           Kagami sighed, “They’re morons,” She said. “They have fallen under the thrall of a liar named Lila. She has made out to be villains because we refuse to be fooled like the rest. The other students, as a result, have exiled us.”

“Why don’t you tell everyone she’s lying?”

           She shook her head, “We have tried. They care not for the truth; only for the glitz, glamor, and promises Lila’s makes,” The Asian girl explained. “Marinette tried for the longest out of us all. However, eventually, even she conceded defeat. I’ve known her for almost three years, and it was the first time Marinette ever gave up on something. Or anyone.”

           Kagami went on to tell everything that she had witnessed since coming to Bustier’s class. The lies, the insults, the lack of having a proper teacher. She even revealed that she used have a crush on a kid in her Adrien.

           However, she was quick to add that the crush had faded quite some time ago.

           The class ending their friendships with Marinette happened around the same time that Marinette and Kagami’s crush on Adrien Agreste died. The blond had been upset that both girls kept saying Lila was lying and advised them on taking the high road. Kagami could see the situation for exactly what it was… Adrien didn’t want to risk ending up the same as Marinette; near friendless, ostracized, and all but public enemy number 1 to the rest of the class. He was a coward.

           The former rival in love, turned best friends, lost interest in the handsome blond boy quickly after that. As far as they were concerned Lila could have him.

           Nevertheless, Kagami still considered Marinette giving up as a dark day for Paris. Though she and Chloe both knew it was for the best. Marinette had been a bit naïve to the realities of the world. The cold realization that the betrayal from her friends had awoken something in the Bluenette. A fire that refused to be extinguished.

           No longer was Dupain-Cheng’s anyone doormat. Kagami had watched her best friend run herself ragged trying to help everyone with every little thing; always putting herself and her needs last. Marinette resigned as class president at the beginning of the year; saying she wanted to focus on the website she had launched for her designs. Free commissions were over. Marinette advised that they review her website for prices. She was sure to remind the new class president, Alya, that it was now the reporter’s duty to remember birthdays, organize trips, and fundraise. The free ride was over.

           The class had shrugged it off; not caring or realizing exactly what Marinette was saying. Until Rose needed a new dress and Marinette referred the blonde girl to her website. When she received glares, Marinette was quick to remind everyone she was now technically running her own business. She couldn’t give away anything for free.

           As days and weeks went on, he steered clear of the drama of the class which was hard to do as he chose to align himself with Kagami, Marinette, and Chloe. Still, Reizo was happy with his choice. He got to spend time with the girl of dreams. And he was pretty sure he ended up on something that might’ve been a triple date. Marinette with a handsome blond from another class named Felix Culpa. Chloe with a green haired boy named Luka.  Kagami and Reizo. They went to the movies, got ice cream, and the pairing seemed to drift away from each other as the “group outing” went on.

           However, it wasn’t until the day after the maybe date, when Reizo arrived to class, smiled at Kagami, who was in the process of being teased by Marinette and Chloe over something, and she blushed… That he thought maybe, just maybe, she liked him back.

Reizo paid close attention the actions of Adrien and Marinette. He used his own Miraculous a pair of cuff links that held a chubby grey Wolf Kwami named Pawz to watch the actions of Ladybug and Chat Noir from the shadow every time they fought. He recorded every fight and submitted it to the council. The videos left the elders with a lot of concerns. Mostly about Master Fu’s competency as guardian.

           Ladybug was great. She was strong. She was capable. She was smart. However, most importantly she took her role as protector of Paris seriously.

           Chat Noir, on the other hand, did not. He was rash and prone to jumping into situation (sometimes while Ladybug was trying to come up with a plan.) He clearly needed a class on sexual harassment in the work place. Most of the time he acted like a spoiled brat when Ladybug didn’t return his advances.

            Reizo’s job was to only observe, provide evidence to the council, and cast judgement.

           However, there was only so far he could be pushed.

           He had been watching Ladybug fight a particularly nasty and powerful akuma. He had waited for Chat Noir to appear; and waited, and waited. When he finally showed, both Reizo and Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief.

           …Until Chat Noir literally laid down on a roof instead of joining the fight. Ladybug begged for help. Chat Noir mentioned something about her missing their date, and that he wouldn’t help until she apologized.

“I never agreed to the date,” Ladybug said. “I don’t like you like that, Chat. I told you.”

           Chat glared, “You refusing to admit your feelings has gone too far,” He said. “Until you do, you can save Paris by yourself!” Then he was gone.

           That was the last straw.

           Reizo charged at the Akuma with all his might; knocking it off balance and allowing Ladybug a chance to swing away from danger. The two hero fought side by side with ease. When they finally defeated the monster, Ladybug looked at the wolf-themed hero curiously.

“Who are you?” She asked the new masked hero.

“Shadow,” He answered. “The council of Guardian sent me to review the chosen wielders of the miraculous to determine their worthiness.”

           Ladybug nodded. Fu had warned her that the council had taken an interest in the Parisian heroes. Eventually, he said, they would send someone to test them.

“The Council has made their decision,” He said. “You have proven yourself worthy, and will be given guardian training this summer.”

           A happy looked appeared on the heroine’s face.

Shadow gave her a hard look, “Tell Master Fu that Chat Noir will be stripped of his miraculous. Please advise the guardian to ready himself to explain exactly why he thought Adrien Agreste was a good choice.”

[ayameakuma]

Hi guys!

(It has been a while since I last posted something)

Welp, today I kinda wanna just post here some ideas/prompts for fanfics (either one-shots or multi-chapter ones) and if anything catches your eye and you have the drive to write it then just go ahead and start writing (if you post it just tag me or sent me the link to your work cause I really wanna read it)

Welp, here it goes:

1. Prompt/Idea #1: Boku no Hero Academia and Pokemon (crossover)

Izuku begins his pokemon jurney in a world inhabited by both heroes and villains. Now he has to deal with: his very much aggressive starter Eevee, the angry and clearly "not dangerous" hero-wannabe Bakugou Katsuki (and his class of superpowered kids), villainous organizations that want to either get rid of him or take his pokemon away, his dead father who is not so dead anymore, Pokemon Hunter J who wants to ... er... adopt him? and many others. Well, at least he is closer to earning every badge and every ribbon from Kanto through Kalos...

Izuku: "This jurney won't be that hard, right?" Famous last words, Izuku.

2. Prompt/Idea #2: Miraculous Ladybug and Animal Crossing (crossover)

Marinette is still bullied by Lila and, just as the liar said, everyone turned their backs on her. Things take a turn for the worst when Lila decides to get rid of Marinette in a more ... permanent way. Now, in an induced coma, Marinette's consciousness travels to another dimension. This one may look peaceful but the inhabitants (why are they all humanoid-like animals that walk on two legs!?) have been dealing with huge and powerful Black Butterflies that have destroyed their homes time and time again. The villagers call this particular city Arcadia and apparently they have lost their mayor a few years prior to Marinette's arrival. To say she is surprised about all this is an understatement, but Marinette is Ladybug and Ladybug always helps getting rid of Butterflies - even if Tikki is no longer with her. Maybe - just maybe - she can start anew here. And who is this cat named Fèlix and why does he seem so... human comparative to the other villagers? Meanwhile, in the real world, with Marinette in a coma, a new Ladybug must show up and Kagami is up for the task. If it means beating some sense into Agreste's and his classmates' heads then all the better. Look out Lila, your days as the queen of the class are numbered.

3. Prompt/Idea #3: Boku no Hero Academia and Yo-kai Watch 1, 2 and 3 (crossover)

At the young age of 10, Izuku is mostly used to being treated like trash. When his childhood friend turned bully dared him to go in the heart of the woods and bring back a ball from the infamous "Cursed Gotcha Machine", well, he wasn't surprised. What surprised him was that he got a ghost butler? and a fancy watch out of this (Not that Kacchan will actually believe him) And now he is able to see what the butler - Whisper - said to be "Yokai". Izuku is making friends - albeit not all are human beings, so maybe he can also become a hero with this watch and with the help of his Yokai friends. (As long as he can keep them from murdering Kacchan..) Navigating new friendships, learning how to love himself and how to let go of friends from the past is already hard enough. If, along the way, he ends up falling for another tormented child who may or may not be able to see yokai as well and whose father is a literal walking flaming trash can, well he will deal with this too.

4. Prompt/Idea #4: Boku no Hero Academia - Otome Game AU

Akatani Mikumo is a 35-years-old office worker who leads a plain life devoid of any amusement. People find him boring or unpleasant so Mikumo always finds himself alone, the moment of his death is no exception. Alone in his appartment who went up in flames while he was sleeping, Akatani Mikumo died ... and in another universe, 6-years-old Midoriya Izuku woke up on a bed with people - his parents? servants of the house? - surrounding him and crying of happiness. Apparently, Izuku almost died from a deadly disease, but only he knows that it is not their Izuku that woke up on that day. Mikumo wants to fulfill the kid's last wish: to keep both his family and the people around him happy for as long as he can. A tall order for 35-turned-6-years-old Mikumo but he can try. Now if only he can remember where did he hear the names of these nobles and why does the word "Quirk" seem so... familiar? Watch as Mikumo navigates life, makes friends for the first time, bullies nobles and, unwittingly, makes everyone he meets fall in love with him.

5. Prompt/Idea #5: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Pre-Calamity setting AU (original take on Link's past)

Growing up, Galahad was best friends with Raphael. Their friendship survived until today and is still going strong, and with kids on the way the two decide to make sure their children will also become friends. Fast forward 10 years later, Link (Galahad's son) and Haruto (or you can put any name you like here) (Raphael's son) live up to their father's legacies - both in friendship and career. Both were blessed with above average skills in hand to hand combat and swordsmanship. However, they never fought in a real battle against the monsters inhabiting Hyrule yet. But, after a mission in which their fathers dissapear, a fairy by the name of Fi - self-proclaimed a messenger of the Goddess Hylia - tells them that they have 1 year to save them from the Yiga Clan's clutches. In exactly 1 year, the Yiga Clan leader will sacrifice Galahad and Raphael in a ritual to awaken Calamity Ganon, believing the two to be the Hero who wields the Sword that seals the Darkness and his Shadow's reincarnations. Now, Link and Haruto need to travel across Hyrule and get stronger in order to save their fathers. While they overcome the trials put on their path by the Goddess, the past unravels itself to them and they might just face a bigger foe than the Yiga Clan - their own self.

(Bonus points if the two meet the pilots of the Divine Beasts and befriend them - yes, even Rivali for all his pride shall fall into the clutches of friendship - before Link is announced as the Hero that wields the Master Sword)

Welp, here they are. These are just 5 of my ideas. Maybe this will become a thing that I will do monthly, who knows.

If you are interested in anything from here or you want more information on one of them, just send a message and I try to reply as fast as I can. If not, then happy writing.

Bye! 🤗🤗

[gleam-and-darken]

Zelda AU #2: The Triplets

The sketch is rough at best, but Zelda is supposed to look like she does pre-calamity, Tetra looks like the girl from the BotW 2 trailer (because it is her, I might explain that later if anyone’s interested), and Sheik has his design from Smash Ultimate. This is really just my take on the twins AU which was originally created by someone else (rockingthegraveyard, I believe).

https://triforce-princess.tumblr.com/post/627266504652668928/this-is-awesome-your-brain-is-so-good

Anyways, I was thinking of what this might actually look like as a fleshed-out story, and I decided that Zelda’s twin could be named Tetra. And then I thought, “hey, we can’t leave Sheik out!” And so here we are. Basically, thanks to her siblings, Zelda is able to stop the calamity and (almost) everyone lives happily ever after. I don’t actually plan on writing this into a formal story so this is a long post where I just dump a lot of my ideas concerning the trio. I will not be writing this into a story, because I’ve never played BotW and I fear I would get everything wrong, but you’re welcome to! If someone ends up writing something based on this, I’d love to know so I can read it. I also have lots more ideas about this, so if you want more content (aside from this ridiculously long post), just ask!

Zelda is technically the oldest, although it hardly matters since they’re triplets. Thanks to this, she is arbitrarily the one who had all of the responsibilities heaped upon her. She’s pretty similar to how she appears in BotW, except Link isn’t even a potential love interest for her. He’s just her knight whom she’s gradually grown close to - as a friend.

Tetra is the middle child, and by far the most troublesome. She is outgoing, adventurous, brash, and basically everything you don’t want in a princess. King Rhoam tried to raise her to be proper, constantly reminding her that it was the hero’s (Link’s) duty to be the courageous one, not the princess. This often resulted in her running away and threatening to join the gerudo. She and Revali got along like a house on fire, often bonding over how overrated Link is. She absolutely hates Link, because to her, he represents not her failures, but the failures of her country and family. Why can’t a princess with no triforce be the hero as well? She makes no attempt to hide her distaste for him, although she might have changed her perspective a little if she realized that Link actually greatly admired her. It’s too bad that he was too scared of her to tell her himself. Speaking of being too scared to admit things, the one thing Tetra can’t bring herself to say aloud is that she has a huge crush on Princess Mipha.

Sheik is the little brother, known as the quiet one. Unlike his eldest sister, he knows how to fight, but hates doing so. He would much rather prefer to be exploring the lonely areas of the wild, or researching ancient tech with Zelda. He’s trans, and while his sisters support him and his father respects that, King Rhoam also saw that as an excuse to ignore him. After all, the legends never told of princes doing anything noteworthy. Thus, the king, and by extension almost everyone in Hyrule, more or less forgot about their quiet prince. The champions knew about him and were varying degrees of nice to him, especially Lady Urbosa, which was more than almost everyone he met could say. He didn’t mind it too much, and didn’t even realize that it was wrong until after his father was dead.

Link had a varied relationship with the triplets. Originally, both Zelda and Tetra despised him, because he reminded them of everything wrong in Hyrule - Zelda’s own self doubt, and Tetra’s failed attempts to become her own hero. Since his two sisters were always talking about how much they hated having this royal knight follow Zelda around, Sheik grew to dislike him as well, despite having never met in person. However, there was a time in the castle when Tetra practically kidnapped Zelda and whisked her away to an unknown location in Hyrule, sending everything into chaos. Sheik was pretty sure that they were both in on it and were simply trying to prove how well they could manage without Link, but they hadn’t informed him of their plan before they left, so he really had no idea. What he did know was that they left Link behind, and now the royal knight was panicking because he thought the king would blame him for letting his daughters vanish, and feared he’d be at the very least jailed.

Link, to his surprise, was not punished - the king was too busy cursing his own tomboyish daughter - but was sent to go find them alongside a team of Hyrulean soldiers. Not wanting to look useless, Sheik joined the quest. In their travels, Sheik discovered that Link was actually a lot like himself, just in completely different circumstances (and much more reckless, unfortunately), and the knight found that the prince was one of the few people who didn’t meet him with impossibly high expectations, for which he was thankful. They became fast friends, although since they both said an average of ten words a week combined, their friendship often looked more like them being present in the same room.

Much later, after both princesses had returned to the castle (“of our own accord,” Tetra had reminded everyone within earshot), the king doubled down on Zelda discovering her powers. She and her knight were rarely seen around the castle, always visiting springs and whatnot, while Zelda’s siblings were left at the castle doing... basically nothing. They were both training constantly for a battle that they were beginning to believe would never come.

Their seventeenth birthday started like any other day. They were at the castle while Zelda and her knight were off at another spring to pray, along with the champions. Then all hell broke loose. (Literally.) Something monstrous decided to rear its ugly head from under Hyrule Castle, and it took over the guardians to boot. Of course, both Tetra and Sheik became extremely concerned for their older sister, since she probably couldn’t fight a bokoblin, much less corrupted ancient technology. This, combined with the fact that the castle was probably the worst place to be right then, prompted the two to bolt into the field and find their sister. They had to fight guardians the entire way, and Sheik recieved a nasty injury, but kept denying how bad it really was.

Despite the storm, she wasn’t that hard to find, thanks to that explosion of what they guessed was her divine magic that had finally decided to say hello. They found her as opposed to the sheikah, but arrived on the scene a bit to late for the hero. He wasn’t dead (or was he?), or at the very least he could be saved/brought back, but he was clearly not about to help them fight. (Still, Sheik absolutely lost his mind when he saw the state Link was in, to the shock of his sisters. Neither of them knew he was close friends with the knight.)

Zelda quickly explained her plan to her siblings, where she would return the sword to the forest and face Ganon herself, to which Tetra said “hell no.” The Master Sword was right there! Hyrule needs saving, and the princess found herself to be a perfectly competent hero. The sword could be fixed. Somehow.

This part is where I’m a little on the fence about what happens. The sword’s health and power does seem to be tied to Link’s, as evidence by how it heals with him over 100 years and can only shoot sword beams when he’s at full health (I think), but since Tetra actually was worthy of wielding the sword, Fi could have been restored when she accepted the blade. Alternatively, Tetra and Sheik could have been the sages of earth and wind without realizing it, and we’re able to restore the sword on the fly. You get to decide how the sword repaired itself.

So now Tetra has roped herself into fighting Ganon with the Master Sword, Zelda by her side, while Sheik is losing his mind over what is basically the corpse of his closest friend. It’s at this time that Zelda realizes just how injured her brother is. She knows that he can’t fight the calamity like that, so she tasks him with taking Link to the Shrine of Resurrection, like Fi said. Initially, he refuses, but he soon decides that it’s all he can do and agrees.

The triplets go their separate ways. Somehow, the sisters are able to get to the castle very quickly, and start to challenge the Calamity. Zelda uses her new sealing powers to force him into a mortal form, while Tetra beats him up with her new weapon of choice. Ganon originally shrugs them off, more or less, but as they start to win he activates Panic Mode and summons all of his blights back to the sanctum to fight the sisters. Luckily, the blights were snatched right out of their battles with the champions, who were beaten and shaken but still alive.

However, thanks to his new allies, Ganon starts to win. Just when the princesses think they’re about to die, the divine beasts - which are under the control of the champions after the blights left - strike, finishing off the Calamity. Naturally Ganon has a few tricks up his sleeve and transforms into Dark Beast Ganon, moving to Hyrule Field. By Hylia’s (late) divine grace, Tetra and Zelda are teleported to the field as well, alongside Sheik, surprisingly. He’d just set Link up in the shrine before getting pulled here. Zelda is able to summon the Bow of Light, which becomes his weapon.

Together, the three of them are able to take out the dark beast. Zelda creates weak points, while Tetra and Sheik shoot them with Master Sword beams and light arrows, respectively. (Maybe Tetra DID die, but her health was restored by a fairy, or she’s at full health for some other reason.) So now Ganon is dead. Castle town is in shambles, and multiple people are dead, including the king. But don’t worry - Urbosa quickly makes herself the new parental figure of the triplets.

Hyrule is rebuilt. The people celebrate the defeat of the calamity, and the guardians are restored to their former abilities. Tetra becomes the new Champion of Hyrule Castle, wielding the Master Sword and the Sheikah Slate. For an extra happy ending, maybe she and Mipha formally become a couple. Sheik pioneers work on improving ancient and modern technology, showing a special interest in ways to reverse aging. After many years, Queen Zelda’s son, Daphnes Link Hyrule, becomes the ruler after her reign ends.

And so, the people of Hyrule live happily ever after.

... and 100 years later, Link wakes up.

[4dorks-1windmage-1shadow]

The Links as D&D Characters, Part 5: Shadow Link

Inspired by a question I saw on @hauntinghyrule ‘s blog. My character analysis and thoughts on what character class the boys would be if they were D&D characters, and why. Also! @atinybitweird has been drawing the boys D&D designs, and she’s doing really great! I’ll link to her posts on the individual analysis as well as reblog them here so look out for those : D

Green / Red / Blue / Vio / Vaati / FS Zelda

As a preface, there won’t be any doubles on classes except in the case of dual-classing, and in those cases the first class I talk about my justifications for will be the primary class (i.e. the class they would have chosen at level one). My choices will be based on the character theming and personalities, even though at a base level it would be easy to say “they’re all paladins, duh” because of the implied “holy knight chosen by the gods to eradicate evil” concept. For Shadow, there are plenty of shadowy-themed D&D subclasses to choose from. Kaenith mentioned Way of the Shadow Monk in his initial answer on his blog which is actually not a bad pick for him. However, I wouldn’t initially say that Monk is the class for Shadow, because he’s shown relying on magic much more than martial arts (like a Monk would) or even swordplay (like the other Links). He has a sword in the manga, but I think it’s mostly for show- a visual parallel to Link, who does use his sword to fight. This is just a small part of the big reason why I’ve chosen the particular classes and subclasses I have for Shadow, so lets look at the reason as a whole: Shadow’s origin, and how it ties well into the Sorcerer class.

The Four Swords manga and the Four Swords games don’t give us a lot of information about how Shadow Link was created (if he was born vs conjured like Dark Link) and also what exactly the Shadow Realm is. We never actually see the realm that Shadow came from (except for the Erune arc in the manga, and only a small town) so we have no idea if it is a true shadow version of Hyrule, like the Dark World/Lorule (if you believe they’re the same place) are. Furthermore we don’t see any evidence that there are others like Shadow Link, like we do with Lorule with Ravio being a parallel to Link and Hilda being a parallel to Princess Zelda. There’s nothing pointing to the idea that Shadow was born and raised the way a normal kid would be, and so the most logical conclusion canon-wise is that he was literally conjured from Link’s shadow. Magic would be weaved into every fiber of Shadow’s being, and we see this evidenced in the manga because he wields it naturally and easily against the Links. Sorcerers in D&D can be born as well as made, but the key thing that separates the magic sorcerers use from the magic used by wizards, bards, druids, clerics, and warlocks is that a sorcerers magic is innate, often carried through a bloodline or via transforming from the latent energy of a place. In this case, Shadow was literally made with the arcane magic he controls. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything introduced a Sorcerous Origin called Shadow Magic where the arcane magic is sourced from the Shadowfell (i.e. Shadow Realm for authenticity to Zelda), either through being exposed to and transformed by the energy of the place or from being descended from a denizen; neither of these situations are applicable to Shadow BUT I think being created from the source magic should and does count. The majority of Sorcerer abilities come from their Sorcerous Origin, but there are two features that all sorcerers regardless of origin gain that I think fit Shadow based on his story in the manga. Font of Magic and Metamagic can be linked to the Dark Mirror being Shadow’s source of life and magical power because of the abilities that Shadow is able to display while being linked to it. Font of Magic gives Shadow access to Sorcery Points, which he can spend to create new spell slots, or sacrifice spell slots to gain more sorcery points which effectively translates to giving himself more power to wield in battle. Metamagic lets him twist the magic of his spells to suit his own needs, using sorcery points to do so. It can let him double the range of spells, double the spells’ duration, potentially do more damage on a hit and target more than one opponent with a ranged spell that normally only targets one creature. I’m choosing to translate this as him getting a boost in power and flexibility that he normally wouldn’t have without the power of the Dark Mirror (though depending on your interpretation of post-manga shenanigans he could have these abilities anyway because of whatever method brought him back allowed him to have them). Back to Shadow Magic though. Thematically it makes the most sense: Shadow Link is created from shadow magic and thus is a Shadow Magic Sorcerer. But the abilities here are what we want to look at to see if it really fits. At 1st level, Shadow Magic gives Shadow a darkvision range of 120 feet, and the Strength of the Grave ability means he can charm his way out of death. That’s not entirely accurate- the actual text says he can take a Charisma saving throw and attempt to equal or exceed a target number equal to 5 + [amount of damage taken], and drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 if he succeeds. I think this makes sense- if he’s a shadow, he’d be able to slip out of battle or narrowly avoid life-threatening attacks just by the art of deception; this isn’t necessarily supported by the Sorcerer class itself, but if you mix the game canon into the manga canon, Shadow can technically clone himself and use those copies to his advantage. At 3rd level, he learns the Darkness spell without it counting against the amount of spells he knows, and he can cast it with either sorcery points or a spell slot (he can see through the effected area of the spell if he casts it using sorcery points). At 6th level, he can spend sorcery points to summon a shadow creature that effectively acts like an attack dog, which he can sic on a creature within 120 feet of him. Shadow is shown leading an army of monsters in the manga, so the Hound of Ill Omen feature actually lends itself well to that image- maybe one of the creatures he used to attack Hyrule Castle was his magically summoned shadow hound. It isn’t that far-fetched of an assumption to make. Shadow Walk lets him teleport through darkness and dim light up to a distance of 120 feet, which is an ability he already portrays in the manga and in the games. The only Shadow Magic ability he doesn’t get to benefit from is Umbral Form, and that’s because I want to call a parallel to Link that I think is fitting for Shadow’s role as his foil in the story. Shadow is not a copy of Link- I don’t want anyone to get confused by what I’m saying. However, he is still Link’s shadow, the reflection of everything Link could have become if he wasn’t the hero, didn’t grow up with all the people around him who loved him and supported him. Shadow’s main motivation in the story is loneliness and the desire to be recognized, but who is going to recognize him if he doesn’t make himself recognizable? I talked at length in my analysis of Green’s class about how Paladins take oaths that serve as pillars for their conduct and core beliefs as paladins, but what happens if you don’t have any of those beliefs or you did have them but chose to cast them away? In the Dungeon Master’s Guide, it describes a class option for Paladins called the Oathbreaker: essentially a paladin who has abandoned or broke their sacred oaths. Shadow probably never had any oaths to begin with, but he wanted to be recognized the way Link was, and so I think he chose to take the mantle of Paladin without really understanding what makes Link (Green) a true Paladin. He has to take at least 3 levels in Paladin to subclass as Oathbreaker, and that unlocks light and medium armor, shields and all weapons for him to use in combat. It also unlocks spells like Hellish Rebuke, Inflict Wounds, and if he takes up to 5th level in Paladin, the Crown of Madness spell. He still gets all of the normal Paladin abilities, but his Channel Divinity options are kind of the opposite of Green’s: He can control undead creatures with it, or use Dreadful Aspect to create an aura of fear around himself with a radius of up to 30 feet.  Depending on how you look at the option of Shadow being redeemable, there is an option for Oathbreaker Paladins to “atone” for their evil actions as an Oathbreaker. They lose the Oathbreaker features and gain the features of a Sacred Oath, and I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to his character journey than him becoming an Oath of Vengeance Paladin from the Player’s Handbook. It lets him fill a different niche of paladin than Green does, and takes his character into account in regards to the Tenets of Vengeance: Fight the Greater Evil (Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil, I choose the greater evil). No Mercy for the Wicked (Ordinary foes might win my mercy, but my sworn enemies do not.) By Any Means Necessary (My qualms can’t get in the way of exterminating my foes) Restitution (If my foes wreak ruin on the world, it is because I failed to stop them. I must help those harmed by their misdeeds) Taking Oath of Vengeance in this way would replace Hellish Rebuke, Inflict Wounds and Crown of Madness with Bane, Hunter’s Mark, Hold Person and Misty Step, and the Channel Divinity features include Abjure Enemy (inflicting fear on a targeted creature) and Vow of Enmity (basically pointing at an enemy and saying “I choose you” and then he gets to attack them with advantage for a minute [10 rounds of combat]). In conclusion, Shadow ends up as a dual-classed Shadow Magic Sorcerer/Oathbreaker Paladin (later changing to Oath of Vengeance Paladin to account for character growth). 

[skyward-ventus]

ganondorf & the eighth hero(ine)

I had already posted this on my twitter a few months back, after the BOTW2 trailer dropped, and just never got around to posting it here. This is basically my take on the hero in the story Impa tells you and Ganon’s role in 2 and his role before.

Ganondorf, the red headed hero and a lost statue:

A lot of people have been pointing out that the hero in the story told by Impa does not have blond hair like Link but actually has red. The line “wielding the soul of a hero” should make it about Link but then why doesn’t the hero look like him? The princess is obviously Zelda, with the blonde hair and the white dress. So what’s happening with that hero.

It’s become a common theory that it’s possible that the original hero in this story was actually Ganondorf, who was given the chance to be the hero in the story. And with the announcement trailer it doesn’t look like hero Ganondorf really got his chance to succeed.

But what if Ganondorf was actually the hero and there’s something backing this up besides the red headed hero in the story. 

Remember the Quest of the Seven Heroines? You head out to East Gerudo Ruins where seven statues, with swords, stand each statue symbolizing a unique power and once you moved the orbs to the correct statue you unlock a shrine.

The Seven Heroines are meant to be divine protectors of the Gerudo people but there are rumors of an Eighth, wiped from history and all forgotten except by those who still worship her. The statue and its sword has been separated - the statue being in northern Gerudo Highlands and the sword in Gerudo Summit. 

Doesn’t that sound kind of familiar? And I don’t mean Link. I mean the idea of the Hero itself - the hero and sword always separated throughout history. The hero isn’t forgotten but the person is while the idea lives on. And usually the Master Sword is alone and in a place forgotten by all, kept save under a watchful eye until the Hero should one day return. Except this Master Sword isn’t in the pedestal it’s completely in a different place. But except this time the hero isn’t our Hyrulean Link - its a Gerudo. 

It’s possible that Ganondorf, our red headed hero, is actually the Eighth Hero - forgotten by history and separated by his sword. A re-born Ganondorf, given the soul of the hero for once in history, attempted to take down Calamity, who failed the attempt of being reborn because there was a version of himself in the world already.

(Sure, the Gerudo are shown to be taller in BOTW than any Hyrulean but the fact that in any game before this, Ganondorf is always taller than average. Even with Link being as small as he is, I wouldn’t say all the Gerudo in game are giants.)

There isn’t a male Gerudo in Breath of the Wild and it’s been 10,000 years since Calamity first rose, unless the game is counting Calamity has the male Gerudo for the game. But maybe the paradox of Calamity and Ganondorf being alive at the same time, has cancelled out any new male Gerudos from being born. 

In Breath of the Wild, Link learns that the sword will slowly lose their life when drawing the sword. 

Maybe the hero, who wasn’t meant to be, had his life weakened due to using the Master Sword until he gave his life sealing Calamity away. Calamity, taking the body it wanted, started feeding off the energy within. 

Or maybe it's possible, that the Master Sword weakens those who try and wield, feeding its energy back to the supposed to be Hero in this story. 

The sword also runs out of energy in the original game, ignoring the Trail of the Sword dlc, having to take time to recharge until being able to use it again. The sword will literally disappear out of your hands if it runs out. 

Maybe the Master Sword has changed, due to being used by the wrong one for a period of time. The Trails of the Sword dlc could be seen has proving that Link is the True Hero, allowing the Sword to be correctly used after all this time. 

It’s interesting to point out that the Master Sword isn’t placed into the pedestal until Zelda does it after Link is put within the Shrine of Resurrection after Calamity rises once again. We do have a scene where Zelda passed down the Master Sword to Link.

It’s possible that the Royal Family took the Master Sword within the Castle after Calamity fell for the first time, keeping the sword locked away until the true Hero chosen by the gods returned. The sword being separated from its hero ties back into the Eighth Heroine story, who stands with a sword unlike its matching seven statues. 

An interesting note of the story of the Eighth Heroine is “still worshipped by those who remember her”. 

This is the text that comes from when you clear the side quest:

Interesting that they say ‘Gerudo Highlands’ and not just ‘the Gerudo’ or ‘Gerudo City’.

Let’s look back at the original story of Calamity once again. The Sheikah are cast out by the Royal Family after their technology becomes something feared, causing the Sheikah to split. One part of the group, threw away their technology based lifestyle and began living simple lives again. While the other, grew angry at the way they were treated, left the Sheikah and started a lifestyle worshipping Ganondorf. 

The Yiga Clan moved to the Gerudo area, settling down in the area that Ganondorf would have/did come from. A little more importantly, they moved in the Highlands. 

This part wasn’t in my original theory but in the entrance of the Yiga Clan Hideout are statues of the heroines. The only place in game where all eight are together. I don’t have a screenshot (because the Wii U doesn't do that) but as someone who stopped putting this together here to check if it was 7 or 8 - all 8 Heroines in the entrance. 

Bozai is the one that gives you both side quests not a Gerudo. Zelda Wiki does say that Padda, a guard in the Palace that takes care of Riju’s sand seal, will give you extra information on where to find the sword but this is the only time someone other than Bozai talks about it. Comparing to how the Shrine Quest for the Seven Heroines comes from within Gerudo City. 

Bozai believes that the entire thing is an urban legend, just saying that he used it to talk to the girl he thinks Link is. He becomes both shocked and excited when Link shows him the picture of the statue. 

Gerudo wouldn’t be proud of Ganondorf coming from them, the only male of their species continues to be the evil mastermind every lifetime. If Ganondorf was originally the Eighth Hero, it would make sense why they would erase him from history and the story. No one would be wiser to think that the urban legend of the Eighth one would be a male, since it’s rare for it to happen and there isn’t one for so long. 

Also the fact that the Eighth Statue seems to be known, Padda giving you the information after feeding Patricia, the sand seal. Maybe it’s meant to be an urban legend to all of those outside of the walls and outside the royal guards and family, the shame on their own being the ultimate evil in the world. 

Interested in what others think! 

[renatlia]

For Good

A peaceful silence hushed over the battlefield. It was won. However, the calm could only be enjoyed for so long before the scenery began to change.

Oh. It was over. Time and space were correcting themselves, closing the magical rifts that brought the group together. This was it.

Hearts sank watching the companions - brothers - around each of them fading away to their respective eras. Then, the transition seemed to pause midway. Caught halfway between the former battlefield and home, their surroundings looked strangely melted together. From the violent debris scattered along the ground, to the still eerily-dark sky, to the green grass beneath their feet, to the spectral-like figures of their friends.

There was no confusion on what was happening. The goddesses were giving their heroes the chance to bid farewell. Jaws clenched as emotions swelled and no words came to mind. Taking pity, Nayru cast her musical blessing on the silent protagonists, allowing them to express their feelings into song.

“I’ve heard it said,” the captain started cautiously, afraid to break the moment, “that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them, and we help them in return.”

“Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true, but I know I’m who I am today because I knew you,” the smithy replied. He wasn’t too sure if he himself had made that much of an impact on the others.

The farmhand was finding it difficult to breathe, just like last time, but he wouldn’t say nothing. He had to speak, and by the grace of Nayru, he was able to. “Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

He was surprised to see his cub once again after his adventure was over, but he was stunned meeting the Hero of Time. If his wild child hadn’t been the one to explain to him what was happening, he would’ve thought he’d finally cracked.

The old man had noticed his recognition, but he never asked about it. Instead, he took well to becoming a mentor, and they grew close enough to share secrets. While he felt horrible about having to keep the fate of his mentor secret, learning more about his ancestors was like a dream come true. Becoming Wolfie was a lot easier with someone to cover your absence. After all, it wasn’t just the old man and his cub on this adventure. Being greeted by someone new wielding the master sword was not something he thought he’d see again, especially not the man who forged it.

It was the man’s protege that sounded next. He had a feeling he was about to experience loss in an entirely new way since waking, and he wanted them all to know just how much they’d affected him. How much he loved them. How he wouldn’t forget them. “It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime, so let me say before we part... So much of me is made of what I learned from you. You’ll be with me like a handprint on my heart.”

Coming across a snarky, pantsless man was not as out of the norm as one would think. Someone completely lost and asking what the guardian carcasses were was. He helped the pink-haired man back to his camp. There he was assaulted with equally curious questions well into the night, especially once they recognized his sword.

They knew his name. He would’ve been suspicious if he didn’t feel such a strong sense of familiarity. He was almost afraid of the close brotherly bonds he was forming until they found the familiar face of an old companion. He knew then that no matter how much it would hurt in the end, he wanted to make long-lasting memories with these people.

“And now whatever way our stories end,” their eldest cut in, “I know you have re-written mine by being my friends.” To think, he and the mrs were just about to give up on having children. Now it was something they were looking forward to, and after having known these boys for the past several months, the old man felt slightly more prepared.

Contrarily, their youngest felt grossly unprepared. He didn’t know what he was going to do once the guys he’d grown attached to- lived with- fought together with... were gone. It was all too fast, and there was no new adventure or task given to throw himself into once he got home.

The young teen was choking on his tears. Through a watery and hazy filter, he could make out the face of a knight in shining armor, who he had been mentally referring as big brother, staring back at him in sad concern. No. That look wouldn’t do. The sailor needed to convey that he understood, that he was grateful to have this conversation, that he’d be okay.

“Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea. Like a seed dropped by a skybird in a distant wood. Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you-“ He shakily gasped to compose himself. “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

He wasn’t panicking. He wasn’t! He’s woken up in strange places before with no memory of how he got there. Looking around, he could see nothing but dark, rocky terrain. Okay, okay. He needed to breathe. He pulled out his compass and telescope.

Finding north, he started to slowly pivot with his telescope hoping to catch any sign of civilization. A giant blue gem filled his vision startling the boy onto his bum. Luckily, he’d met this blue-haired woman, though it had been quite a while.

This was going to be one heck of an adventure.

“And just to clear the air, I ask forgiveness for the things I’ve done you blame me for.” Whether the Hero of the Sky was asking from those listening or from himself was unclear. He knew he couldn’t hold on to the darkness eating at him anymore. The guilt he felt for causing an eternal struggle for so many in his future was met with bafflement by his friends. Even if he could be held partly responsible for ‘causing’ their curse, there was no ill will directed towards him. Alas, the Spirit of the Hero had a tendency for self-blame, so he would ask for forgiveness, if only to release the negative emotions he had trapped in his throat.

“But then, I guess there’s blame to share.” The Hero of Time took the opportunity to apologize as well. He knew his meddling with time had caused the drastically different outcomes in history the group had experienced on their journey together. And though there was always a chance of death, the fact that he was alive while another timeline suffered Ganon’s rule left him with a sour taste.

“And none of it seems to matter anymore!” The Hero of Hyrule could understand their guilt and thoughts of inadequacy, but what is done is done. They had done their best for all good intentions, and no one begrudged them for it. What mattered now was that his friends had to leave, and he would be alone. Having an apocalyptic world like he did, he had never really lost much. Never really had much to begin with. This was all very new to him.

“Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun,” the smallest swordsman quoted from earlier.

He was just going through his same everyday routine when he met an older, scarred man outside town. He had been taken aback when the man had happily showed him his large sword. Most would’ve waved him off as a nosy child.

The blade was was impressive. Almost twice his height! Proudly centered in the middle of an angular hilt was the Goron symbol. It was incredibly sharp and looked perfectly balanced. He wondered if it was one of Biggoron’s works.

He would have never guessed what would happen next or the journey it would set him on. The man crouched down. Your name wouldn’t happen to be Link, would it?

“Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood.”

A humble traveler walked along a yellow, worn path. Just a little farther and he’d veer off to explore a cave he’d seen once. If he hadn’t been in such a hurry before, he would’ve already done so, but just as well, he was excited. He just couldn’t get adjusted to living in a castle. This was the first time in a while he was able to sneak away.

He met a couple strangers before the mouth of the cave. Not uncommon, he introduced himself. He had not expected they’d actually been looking for him. Confused, he let them lead the way through the cave to their campsite where he spent the night hearing tales of old spoken in first person.

He would still need to explore that cave.

“Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea,” a new voice sang softly.

He was running late. Again. Why was it so hard to wake up if he struggled to fall asleep in the first place? How did that make sense?

Finally, he could see the blacksmith’s wife outside waiting for him. Gulley was also outside playing with the cucco. Good. Less embarrassment when he got inside. Curse his decision to continue pursuing the craft.

He took a moment to breathe when Gulley spotted him and waved. The kid winced in sympathy knowing full well the apprentice was just buying time. Well, he couldn’t pretend to wheeze forever. No one bought it anyway.

Out of literally nowhere, a giant club swung by a hinox knocked him sideways. The mother and son ran inside screaming. He counted three and cursed, struggling to stand. How and why were hinox in Hyrule? He cursed again realizing he was legit wheezing now. Lucky hit.

He booked it to the shop avoiding bombs the cyclopes threw at him. Inside, he gently pushed past the three fussing over him and stared the blacksmith dead in the eye. He was tossed a newly tempered blade. He couldn’t let those monsters continue to live in Hyrule.

Shouts disrupted the anxious silence. He ran back outside and balked at a couple of kids running around avoiding bombs. Cursing at everything, it took the three of them about ten minutes to dispatch of the scarily strong oafs. He had to admit, he was impressed.

He could tell what was coming before they could even open their mouths. Goddesses! Could he not catch a break?

“Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood.”

What? Where was this? He didn’t even get any divine warning! Groose was surely throwing a fit over him vanishing mid-convo. He could only hope the goof wouldn’t do anything stupid searching for him.

A strange, repetitive thunking was drawing closer from behind. He dove out of the way of whatever the beast was, but it had actually come to a stop a few feet before him. A young man with long blonde hair hopped off its back asking if he were okay.

He struggled to answer staring wide-eyed over the man’s shoulder. How was she here? Who was this, and why was she with him?

The man stared back contemplating something in his silence. The stranger then called him by name and seemed proud of the reaction he got. He was getting dizzy from the amount of questions racing in his mind. How’d this guy know him? Why’d he have Fi with him?

Why did he feel so familiar?

“Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?”

Bumping into a large gentleman in the bazaar was not how he imagined a new adventure to start.

The man asked him if they’d met before. They racked their brains for a good half hour trying to remember where’d they knew each other from. It was only when Lana found them followed by a familiar face that pieces were starting to fall into place.

No, it wasn’t Lana’s doing, and she knew nothing of how either. She did, however, sense their presence and knew they were safer together. The old man was still a mystery, but Lana assured them this was fine. Maybe they’d remember later. They all had the Spirit of the Hero.

Suddenly, they were in a new town. The whiplash of everything changing in a blink made him nauseous. Whatever this was, at the very least, they were somewhat experienced.

“I do believe I have been changed for the better,” the Hero of Legend sang quietly, his flushed face partially hidden beneath his hair. Soft smiles were sent his way.

“And because I knew you,” the Hero of Twilight prompted.

“Because I knew you,” the Hero of Winds agreed.

“Because I knew you.” Streaks were running down the vet’s cheeks. He could never catch a break.

To be fair, there wasn’t a dry eye present.

“I have been changed...”

The unison voices drifted away along with anything not of the world one hero would be standing alone in.

“...for good...”

[untameablesands]

@hyaciiintho ❤ ‘d for a starter! 

//Mood music for those who might like to read along~

         Neither of them was prepared for the future laid before them.

        Neither of them had been prepared for any of it, to be brutally honest.

        How could they have expected what had come to pass? They had been children, children who had been given the terrible burden of being Chosen by the Goddesses and for that... Hyrule had burned. Perhaps it would have been kinder if the lands had been allowed to burn completely instead of being forced to fester in its own decay; day by day any last lingering thread of hope being strangled out by the suffocating all-encompassing darkness that tainted everything it so much as brushed against. 

         Many had accepted Hyrule’s fate, had given up and believed there would be no one who could save them. Zelda had faith however, such unwavering pure faith that their Hero would come to them one day and help to right the wrongs that she had set in motion seven years ago- Sundira was... Slightly less optimistic than her. Wanting to have faith but struggling to believe that a forest child with wide eyes and a courageous spirit could be much help against Ganondorf and his legion of horrific merciless beasts.

        Ah, but perhaps this boy was not a mere child any longer.

        It had, after all, been years since last they had laid eyes upon the lad in green. When Zelda began stirring within his consciousness and begging him to take refuge in the Temple of Time because of a feeling she had, Sundira had been suspicious but obliged because he had long since learned that Zelda’s ‘feelings’ were often not just fleeting fancies or paranoia. He could not claim to understand her reasoning, but his trust in her was nigh unshakable. 

        So he waited.

       Time seemed to move slower in the Temple; the walls seemed to almost thrum with an old power, one of sacredness and destiny. There was no questioning why the Sacred Realm’s gate was within the temple, nor was there any questioning why the resting place of the Master Sword was within the heart of the temple. Just looking at the empty pedestal where the blade once rested caused chilled goosebumps to flare along Sundira’s arms as the hairs at the back of his neck stood on end. Needless to say, he attempted to not stare at it often.

         Attempted to, but with a growing sense of both unease and excitement growing in his chest (largely in part due to Zelda’s own influence, for she remained ‘awake’ as they waited for whatever was to happen to actually happen) it was difficult to keep his gaze from it. Even he could feel it, at one point, a shifting in the very air of the temple almost like reverent whispers- there was a change coming, and no one was prepared for this one. 

         In literally more than one way.

        The light was unexpected, and honestly rather blinding. Sundira was thankful for quick reflexes that had him shielding his eyes until the glow had dimmed then finally faded. Though the temple was sacred and theoretically ‘safe’ from evil’s taint or touch (Ganondorf had invaded this place once, had shattered the Triforce and plunged Hyrule into darkness with his power, perhaps now other lesser evils could venture within these sacred walls), Sundira still found himself reaching for a blade as he lowered his other arm from his face, refusing to let himself be caught unaware in the event this was somehow a surprise attack-

         Although it wasn’t an attack, it was still incredibly surprising and Sundira was proud he only sharply inhaled instead of loudly gasping when he saw who was standing before the Master Sword’s pedestal. Sundira had been doubtful when he learned that Link had disappeared, supposedly (according to Zelda and Impa) locked away within the Sacred Realm until such a time he was old enough to actually wield the Master Sword; that being said there was no doubting who it was that had just appeared in the room with him.

         Equal parts excitement and trepidation had Sundira hesitating on approaching the male. Though both himself and Zelda desired to speak with him, ask of his well being and ensure he was okay after being gone for seven years... He did not know what the Sacred Realm had done to Link, he hadn’t seen the Hero’s face yet even (for he was nestled high in the beams behind the Hylian), what if something had gone wrong that would be glaringly obvious with but a glance into those cerulean eyes? 

        What if it was just someone who looked like Link from behind? No, it was too dangerous to get too close at the moment, but he could not stay in the rafters forever. Somehow he needed to test Link; to see what had been done to him, how his mental and physical state was, and he couldn’t do that from here. Quiet as the softest breeze, Sundira pushed himself out of his crouched position and deftly all but threw himself from his perch.

         Years of training and practice had him landing near completely silently on his feet in the shadows behind the Master Swords pedestal, eyes sharp and watching the Hylians every movement as he waited with bated breath for what might happen next. Please, Link, be okay. Please be the Hero that Hyrule needs, that Zelda’s last lingering shred of hope had depended on... That Sundira didn’t dare believe could actually exist. 

        Prove him wrong, save the day; Hyrule was depending upon you. 

[thewrongexecution]

Scrambled Thoughts

hey how does bein’, like. exited about a thing, but coherently, work? ‘cos like. P5S was announced, and it’s not what some people necessarily wanted or expected, but. I think it’ll be good? in ways those same disappointed folks might enjoy, but aren’t necessarily considering? man where do I even start with this

(long)

so way back in the day, when the Wii U was still relevant, Koei Tecmo came out with Hyrule Warriors basically outta nowhere. now, I never played any warriors games and I think my first zelda was Twilight Princess? Skyward Sword? spent plenty of time watching my brother play them titles and consider majora’s mask one of the greatest games of all time, but I ain’t never touched ‘em, and because I already experienced them vicariously, ain’t ever likely to. but I was big on diablo, on that experience of mowing down hordes of enemies with a big overpowered hero, so I was like, yeah, sure I’ll keep an eye out

(maybe  I was able to latch onto Hyrule Warriors because I was more invested in the characters and story than the gameplay? I don’t know how zelda fans recieved it; I wasn’t as deep in The ‘Net as I am now. doesn’t matter.)

turns out just about everything in that game is great. the long-term gameplay isn’t anything to write home about; it’s all level grinding and weapons farming, but like it’s not necessarily a game for that. it’s a buncha dumb fun! hit things with big flashy attacks! watch actual dozens of bodies ragdoll off into the distance! play as your favorite heroes and and villains and then also some npcs we added for the hell of it!

That, see, is what I remember about Hyrule Warriors. the whole draw of the game, what I love about it, is the warriors and their weapons and their fighting style and fighting with style. like, each character can have multiple weapons, and each weapon is its own moveset-- relatively simple, but still pretty involved, and built around slaughtering a buncha dudes really flashily. and it just-- they went through like every zelda game, and went like, who’s important and how do they fight, and then they made them ALL fun to play as

there are forty two fighting styles to choose from and none of them are bad

actually no that’s a lie; the dominion rod, the summon gates, and agitha’s parasols are bad. maybe also the great fairy and sometimes the wind waker? and I never unlocked all the toon-era weaponry, but it doesn’t matter because there are like thirty-five other ways to play That Are All Fun

that’s the first thing. the second thing, which you may have noticed from the list of weapons I don’t much care for, is that some of these weapons get way dumb. like agitha’s parasols. you remember agitha, right? from twilight princess? the incidental, out-of-the-way npc with the completely optional sidequest to find extremely rare bugs? the character that hangs out at home all day and does not interact with any character outside of link? yeah lets make her a playable character in a game where you literally beat up entire armies, she can hit people with a shitty umbrella and also summon bugs, like a giant beetle to crush people with or a giant butterfly to ride on and dive-bomb, that makes sense lol

and the thing is! I think that’s great! it’s legitimately hilarious! and she’s viable!!! I don’t like her fighting style; she’s short range with long recovery times and her special mode relies on getting enemies airborne to actually hit anything with-- but she’s not unusable, her inclusion is a joke but she’s not a joke character, y’know?

and then they went ahead and did that with like every character and every weapon in the zelda series. like Impa, you know Impa, right? protector of the royal line, shows up in Ocarina of Time to teach you a lullaby, never actually displays any combat skills on screen? let’s give her one-a them slab-of-metal ultragreatswords, that seems reasonable. sheik plays a harp and is mysterious, let’s turn them into a ninja with kunai and shit and also a magic harp which does magic based on the songs from OoT that they teach you. how ‘bout Fi, the ghost inside the master sword that exists primarily to interrupt you with unskippable dialogue? well, she can turn into a sword, sure, but her main form of attack is interpretative dance, you know, like she does when you beat a temple. or the king of hyrule, who is a boat! very aggressively. hey why don’t we turn volvagia into a dude with a spear who can just turn back into a dragon while we’re at it

and that’s not even touching link, who has:

sword (obvious)

horse (obvious)

fire rod (flamethrower, giant laser, and most powerfully, axe)

great fairy (carries link in a bottle)

spinner (niche late-game mobility tool from Twilight Princess; 3rd best weapon in Warriors)

and gauntlets (support item that lets you carry heavy things throughout the series; 2nd best weapon in Warriors)

(the best weapon is ganon’s dual greatswords, but that’s aside the point)

and as though that wasn’t enough, they invented Link But A Girl so they could include the iron boots, which makes sense, and, fuckin’, dual crossbows.

you know, crossbows? link’s iconic weapon? that he uses exactly once?? in the game link’s crossbow training??? a throwaway motion-control-centric game for the wii???????

now. everyone is different. so I feel the need to clarify.

all of that? that’s praise. that’s adoration. this game is a love-letter to the zelda series, all of the zelda series, no matter how ridiculous, because it’s ridiculous. I love that, I aspire to that! to that dedication, that passion for a thing, the ability to take a joke and make it real, to make you forget it’s a joke because of how good it is. like when they announced pirahna plant for smash brothers, and then made him good? that emotion, informing the design of an entire game. let me stick this flail in the ground, and then use it to swing the entire earth around to hit you with, and then also, incidentally, because Link’s Awakening existed, because we can, the flail is a chain chomp!!

VIDEOGAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*breathe in*

*breathe out*

and then I think

the people that made that

are doing one with persona

and people have the gall to be disappointed?

like, no, okay, I know, that’s too harsh. I know this isn’t what everyone wanted. I know some feel lied to and betrayed, and my inability to relate to that means y’all might not relate to this. and I know the excitement I feel now is the same as the excitement y’all felt before y’all got let down. I know that.

and yet...

if these guys can pull 42 different combat styles outta the legend of zelda series, from people without even theoretical combat experience, and then you give them the cast of persona 5?

like yakuza man, who's in the yakuza? or guns child, who dual-wields guns? or the doctor, who plausibly has needles and scalpels and doctor-y stuff? or the already extremely anime shogi player, who, fuck it, let’s turn her into a summoner archetype, run people down with cavalry an’ shit! or the fortune teller, she reads tarot, let’s arbitrarily give her tarot-based powers, drop The Tower on some hapless goons, doesn’t gotta make sense if it’s fun!!

VIDEOGAMES!!!

but maybe that’s unreasonable.

I dunno how much creative control nintendo exerted over hyrule warriors, I dunno how much atlus is gonna exert over P5S. maybe they want a more serious experience, maybe chihaya won’t be playable. chihaya being playable doesn’t make sense, and I know that, that’s fine

but even then

I also think

persona 4 arena had the 4 in it

but they still had dudes from 3

so

you know

we’ll see.