#and in totk it ends with a girl falling out of the sky and a boy who catches her and they crash together it's SO. UGH.

[rotisseries]

do you want to ramble about botw and totk?

this got long

YESSSSSS OK SO. botw zelda. I'm starting this off with a real attention grabber for you she's strangers coded to me. anyway. plotline of botw. the last time this hyrule has had a ganon encounter was 10k years ago. hyrule's whole thing is that the legend of the knight and the princess and the evil is a legend that has been passed down for generations, (sidenote I kind of hold the fun little headcanon that each zelda game is its own version of the same folktale, as opposed to being part of a real linear history, because frankly I know the devs don't actually care about the canonical timeline and I think some fans care too much. timeline is still fun though) so as you can imagine, 10k years, the current hyrule of botw is VERY divorced from its history, that's a pretty large part of botw in general, reconciling with the past. anyway the sheer lack of knowledge about the legend and the goddess power and anything related to it is making things very difficult for zelda. they have reason to believe that they're gonna have another ganon encounter soon, they've uncovered all these ancient robots and mechas that were used in the last battle, they're assembling a team of pilots for the mechas, they've gotten the current wielder of the master sword to protect the princess (link and zelda are like. 16/17 for the duration of the plot but link got the master sword at like 12. fucked up) and zelda is being expected to access her divine power, she can't. she doesn't know how, and her mother died when she was 6 (she didn't cry at the funeral. fucked) so she can't go to her for guidance, and her father is having her go to, and has been having her do this for years now, to sacred spring after sacred spring to pray in the hopes of accessing it. so she's dealing with a lot of pressure, and she just wants to work on the robots she is such a scientific mind its the cutest, zelink infodumping scenes my beloved, but she's also really focused on the ancient tech cause it's the only way she can think of to help, and her dad just gets more mad (her dad is such a shitbag. at some point he tells her she's the heir to a throne of nothing but failure. asswipe) about it cause he thinks she's not focusing enough on getting her powers so she feels powerless she feels like a failure and when link gets assigned to protect her it causes a lot of initial dislike for him because, to her, he's this embodiment of destined perfection she can't reach. he has the master sword he's their most skilled and youngest swordsman she's just a failure she's convinced he must hate her. he must think she's useless. and link won't communicate with her (this is the first zelda game with voiced lines and so therefore the first one where they give a canonical reason he doesn't say anything in cutscenes. it's because of the endless amount of pressure he's under, he feels like he has to be the perfect stoic swordsman. I could kill myself) so it's not really helping. eventually he saves her life from some yiga clan grunts and the yiga clan are basically evil ninjas and they grow to be friends, she confides in him in cutscenes, she has a diary you can find that implies he confided in her off screen, fun stuff, but she's not any closer to getting her power. then, on her 17th birthday, she goes up to the spring of wisdom to pray, (yes there are two others they are the springs of power and courage) because that's the hyrulean age of majority and adults are the only ones allowed to go up the mountain to the spring, and she has a feeling it's the last time. it will work, or it won't. they come down the mountain to where the champions are waiting (the champions are the aforementioned mecha pilots and I haven't really talked about them but they're all really good characters I love them also totk has a second gen of champions basically that are called the sages and I like the sages but I still prefer the champions I found out at some point not everyone feels the same way which. I genuinely don't get. but I'm gonna shut up about that now) and it hasn't worked. zelda doesn't have her power.

they're in the middle of comforting her, they get cut off by this horrible earthquake, they look towards the castle, and there’s this swirling mass over the castle, ganon is attacking. the champions rush to their mechas, and link and zelda run. the number one priority is to keep zelda alive. they head for hateno fort. (yes as in hateno the town with the house in totk. you can buy the house in botw and there’s a theory it was link's childhood home) they possibly went to the castle first and found out exactly what happened though, because on the way to hateno, zelda has a breakdown, screaming and crying about how everyone is dead and its all her fault, and they ARE dead. everyone at the castle is definitely dead, but ganon also managed to posses every single one of the hundreds of robots they had, AND had put evil blights in the mechas to ambush the champions, and the robots are wreaking havoc and the champions die in a losing battle in what was supposed to be their weapons of war. zelda and link make it to the field outside hateno, but there’s still robots everywhere, and link is on his last legs protecting zelda. he's about to get shot, and then she pushes him out of the way and finally has her divine power, she shuts down all the robots, and then turns to where link has collapsed. he dies in her arms. he gets taken to this shrine of resurrection to be healed until he can fight again, and zelda heads to the castle to hold ganon off until link is ready. she waits for 100 years.

100 years goes by, link wakes up an amnesiac, has to be given the gist of it, and then you wander around hyrule finding out all that ^ through various recovered memories (there’s a similar game mechanic in totk but it doesn't work as well imo bc in botw you can discover them at random and nothing bad happens, you already know how this story ends, whereas in totk it DOES spoil shit) you have to go free each of the mechas from the evil blights (which btw have similar weapons and fighting styles as the champions but otherwise bear no similarities and I just think it would've been fucked if they looked like the possessed bodies of the champions idk) and then you gotta go save zelda from the castle. you and her end ganon, it's an emotional meeting, the ghosts you were haunted by fade, and then the two of them leave, presumably to rebuild hyrule. so basically botw is about reconciling with the past, looking to it for guidance and forgiving yourself for the failures but moving on in spite of it, and I'm fucking normal

and then totk. so. link and zelda are investigating ruins under the castle cause weird shit has been happening lately, gross magic pouring out and making people sick. and then they get really deep, and find the decimated corpse of ganon, the man, being held by a magical hand. the magic is coming from him. ganon wakes up when they get in there, goes to attack them with the magic, link gets his arm fucked up and also the master sword this will be relevant later, and zelda falls down into this pit, link jumps after her, but he's saved by the aforementioned magic hand, he loses zelda. they're reaching for each other. also totk takes place like 6ish years after botw that's his common law wife of 6 years. and they lost each other once already for 100 years. oh god I'm so upset. anyway then the whole plot, is trying to find zelda. you wake up on some sky islands there are sky islands, your arm is now replaced with the magic arm, and the broken master sword has to be put in this mysterious glowing golden light. you go around you get help from your friends, who get dubbed the sages, and you discover, through a game mechanism similar to the lost memories botw quest, that zelda fell back in time. zelda has light powers as a general thing that's usually her power, in some games she also has prophetic visions, and in totk, you find out she also has time powers in her ancestry, and she accidentally sent herself back in time. at least 10k years most likely more. and she's hanging out with her ancestors, the first king and queen of hyrule. (timeline wise they are not actually the first king and queen of hyrule but whatever) the king is an anthropomorphic llama?? from the sky islands. zelda franchise tends to have furry species btw. anyway ganondorf is a threat back then too and zelda has to help the king and queen come up with a plan to defeat him it's a really fun journey she gets a lot of healing to that self esteem that her dad fucked up BUT ANYWAY. they realize they won't be able to permanently get rid of ganon and zelda has unbelievable amounts of faith in link and says that if they can contain ganon for now you can take care of it in the future, the king ends up having to sacrifice himself, and his arm, to keep ganon contained. and zelda still has no way back home to her time. then she sees this glowing golden light, and whoo! there's the master sword! it's still fucked up though. the only way to fix the sword is through bathing it in sacred power, and it's REALLY damaged, and zelda STILL HAS NO WAY HOME. so she turns herself into a dragon. there's these special stones that amplify magical power, she has one, and swallowing it turns you into an immortal dragon, at the cost of losing yourself. she holds the sword to herself, and it's going to bathe in her sacred power for 10k years or more. at the point you find out about this it's so fucked up cause you come out of the cutscene and you're surrounded by silent princess flowers and oh my god I haven't even explained the silent princess symbolism to you oh my god that's a whole other thing, anyway and dragon zelda is flying above you and at this point you've seen her around the map several other times and there were 3 other dragons in botw so you were kinda confused where this one came from but it was cool and it's just. ugh it's so fucked up. I kinda guessed the possibility early I just didn't want to acknowledge it. anyway then you get the sword from dragon zelda and it is stuck in her forehead poor baby and the sword claim scene is GORGEOUS and to the best of your knowledge and link's knowledge zelda is gone forever, and she did this for you. IT'S SO FUCKEDDDD and then when you get to fighting ganon he eventually turns himself into a dragon and dragon zelda comes to help you battle it out with dragon ganon and when you finally kill him the spirits? of zelda's ancestors show up, I think via the magical hand, and the one with time powers reverse both link's arm damage and zelda's draconification, and then you're both falling, and he has to catch her.

and it mirrors the last time she fell, when he lost her, and this time he catches her, and he hugs her to him, and they fall into a pond, and he carries her out and she wakes up and looks at him and says that she was in a deep sleep and woke up when she felt a warm loving embrace and "oh link! I'm home" and AUGHHHHHHGH SHE HAD SO MUCH FAITH IN HIM THEY'RE SO IN LOVE I'M GONNA THROW UP.

anyway so totk continues botw's themes of contending with the past and moving past old failures and making things right, but it also is really good as a sequel to botw in that botw is a very lonesome journey, and everything about totk emphasizes that you are no longer alone. you have friends to help you, it's no longer you alone in world you don't recognize that doesn't remember you, it's you having help. you don’t need to do it alone anymore. and it's just. UGHHHH. I like botw better than totk I think totk's story feels a bit lacking at times? but I think overall it works really well as a sequel in continuing and working with the themes that botw has

[aegon-targaryen]

Beneath the Skin

Zelink Week Day 5: Spellbound | TOTK Zelink | read on AO3) | @zelinkcommunity

Some days, Link couldn’t take his eyes off her. And it wasn’t because of the giddy intoxication he’d felt at seventeen in that field of flowers, or at one-hundred-and-seventeen, when she stopped being a memory and started being a girl whose heart beat alongside his. That longing had come from hope. This one was born of desperation. Like if he didn’t spend every minute taking stock of her blond hair and her Champion-blue shirt and the excited bounce in her steps, all of it would fall away from him.

And here he was again, following the wavering light of Zelda’s torch into the darkness, only he carried more scars and a sword reforged by her sacrifice. There was no Demon King waiting for them this time. Surely the Depths were still populated by monsters and Yiga, but nothing that posed a true threat.

Right?

Link was sweating under his leathers despite the chill that permeated this place. He couldn’t help but glance behind him at the Brightblooms that led back to their anchored hot air balloon. They weren’t really necessary—he’d already activated most of the Lightroots during the Upheaval—but some combination of habit and paranoia made him keep dropping them anyway.

Besides, it was a welcome distraction from the restless ache that kept traveling up and down his right arm. The Gloom had left behind unnatural scars, but otherwise the limb was fully functional; he couldn’t guess why it was hurting now. Still, he’d choose pain over the alien sensation of wearing someone else’s skin any day.

“And how do Brightblooms work, exactly?” Zelda wondered. “Unlike other bioluminescent plants, they only glow when struck with physical force. Yet they produce so much light that their name is apt indeed!”

She kept thinking aloud as they walked, and Link tried to let the familiar flow of her voice ease his mind. They were here for research, nothing more. Perhaps he should show her one of the Zonai mines. Or a Frox, as long as her curiosity didn’t overpower her caution.

When Zelda halted in her tracks, his hand flew to the Master Sword—habit and paranoia once again; there was no sign of danger. She was crouching down to study a swath of blackened earth that spread outwards in jagged patches, as if scorched by a lightning strike or an experimental use of Fire Fruit.

Link saw her hand quest towards it and blurted out, “Don’t.”

She glanced up at him, her face alight with the thrill of discovery. “You know what this is?”

“It’s…where the Gloom used to be.”

“I see. Not so different from the marks left behind by Malice. It should be safe to touch, since the Gloom itself has all faded.”

Even so, she used the end of her torch to poke at the damaged ground. The sound was like ashes being scraped out of a hearth, but in its place Link heard a puppet’s mocking laughter, a screaming chorus of scarlet hands, a black dragon roaring at the ruinous sky. He dug his fingernails into his palm to make sure the flesh and the pain still belonged to him.

The scraping stopped. Zelda straightened, her lips pressed into a worried line. “Link?”

He met her gaze listlessly. 

“The Gloom is gone, you know. So is he.”

“I know,” he murmured. The proof was right there here at their feet, and all across Hyrule—their enemies were dead, and the chasm they’d used to get here no longer spewed foul red fog.

So why did his arm still hurt?

“I have enough pictures and samples to last weeks of study,” Zelda said softly. “Do you want to turn back?”

He almost said yes. He almost confessed that this place held nothing but bad memories of losing her, of wandering mindlessly through the dark after that final pool of tears revealed her fate, of throwing himself at Ganondorf in a heartbroken rage. But Zelda was taking his hand, prying his fingers open so she could kiss the crescent marks his nails had left upon the skin, every little movement a reminder that she was here. She was herself again, and Rauru and Sonia had given them a chance that Link didn’t want to squander. 

“Let’s keep going,” he said at last.

“All right,” Zelda relented, though she kept hold of his hand as they continued, dropping it only to take pictures with the Purah Pad or gather soil and plant life in the little vials she wore on her belt. As they left the Gloom-scarred earth behind, Link tried to see this place through her eyes: the strange fireflies fluttering around the shadows, the little Froxes scuttling in the dirt, the giant mushrooms growing tall without sun or rain. Zelda had been teaching him to see the world differently for as long as he could remember. If she could find beauty here, so could he.

Or so he thought until he heard a familiar squeal somewhere in the darkness. Link caught Zelda’s arm just as a pair of Bokoblins burst out from behind a boulder—an ambush, though not a very good one. He drew his sword with a sigh; this wouldn’t take long.

And then light came blaring out of the darkness. Not the orange glow of Zelda’s torch, nor the golden sun of her power—the monsters were shrouded in pure, miasmic red.

For the first time since the Demon Dragon had faded into the sky, Link felt his insides twist in recognition, corruption calling to corruption. Agony seized his fingers and raged all the way up to his collarbone. His jaw locked with terrified shock, so tight that he couldn’t scream even if he wanted to.

Only Zelda’s presence made him stumble forward, ducking past the first Bokoblin’s mace and plunging his blade through its chest. The motion was instinctive, mechanical. He couldn’t sense the weight of the sword, couldn’t sense his fingers wrapped around its hilt; there was no room for anything but the Gloom dragging his life away like a fish gasping on a hook.

The second monster swung its sword in a scarlet arc. Link was in the castle sanctum, the imposter’s laughter still ringing in his ears while rot climbed up his legs and choked his air and poured from Ganondorf’s phantom in an unstoppable tide. He’d been paralyzed then, and he was paralyzed now, because it was supposed to be over, they were supposed to be safe—

A wave of sacred power knocked the Bokoblin aside, and the Depths fell silent again.

“Link? Are you hurt?”

He stared at the corpses as if seeing death for the first time, spellbound by the red tendrils that rose from them like steam. His legs shook; his stomach roiled with sickness; it took him three tries to slide the Master Sword into its scabbard. Zelda drew closer, her brow creased with worry, a faint aura of light still shimmering around her as she reached for his shoulder.

The Gloom recoiled from her touch, and Link flinched back, clutching his arm, digging his nails in again to feel something, anything else. She snatched her hand away as though burned, staring at him through the darkness.

“Link?” she repeated, her voice shrinking down to something small and scared. “Can you answer me?”

“They—” he gulped, his throat suddenly bone-dry. Her fear always wrenched at him in a way his own never did. He concentrated on her familiar face, flushed with life the way it always was after she used her power. “They didn’t get me.”

“You froze before they even reached us. You never freeze.”

“I wasn’t expecting the—the—”

“Nor was I. Clearly the Gloom no longer plagues the Depths or the Surface, but perhaps the living things it infected are still…” Realizing what she’d said, her eyes widened with horror. “Oh, Link.”

Of course she’d figured it out all on her own. Link hugged his arm to his chest and stared at his boots. Zelda had lost him once, in the mud and fire of the Calamity, and under the castle they had lost each other. But that was supposed to be over. He wanted so badly for it to be over.

“It barely affects me,” he mumbled. “I thought all of it was gone until today.”

“But there are days when you’re tired and tense. The words I’m not hungry never used to be in your vocabulary, but you’ve said them more times than I can count since the Upheaval. I think I understand why now.”

He hadn’t even noticed. Then again, everything seemed manageable compared to the weakness he'd felt upon waking far above Hyrule, barely able to hold a sword. The person Link was before the Gloom ever touched him seemed as distant as his lost memories. Pain had never been a stranger to him, but Zelda was right—it hadn’t always been his constant parasite, either.

She pulled him into an awkward embrace, cautious of her burning torch and his trembling arm, and told him quietly, “We’ll figure this out. You’re going to be just fine.”

He released a shaky breath, resting his forehead against her shoulder. It always felt better to let her in. Why did he keep forgetting that?

Without another word, they turned and walked back along the path of Brightblooms. The ache laced up and down Link’s arm with every step, but that awful soul-sucking sensation had faded with the monsters’ deaths—not that it wouldn’t return.

He shuddered at the thought, and when Zelda rested a hand on his back, he allowed her to guide him the rest of the way to the balloon, allowed her to sit him down on the bench while she unchained the anchors and planted a Flame Emitter in the center of the basket. With a rush of warm air and a wobbling lurch, they were airborne, ascending slowly towards the surface.

Link laid the Master Sword across his knees, opening and closing his right hand as though he could expel what plagued him the same way he would ease a cramp. Zelda’s fingers drummed restlessly at the edge of her bench. He wished passionately that he could close the distance to hold her again without unbalancing the balloon.

“How bad is the pain?” she asked after a while.

“That doesn’t bother me. It’s more that…whenever I’m near Gloom, like with those monsters, it—it pulls at me and I—” He stopped at the look in her eyes, dropping his gaze to watch the Depths recede beneath them.

“I know you used Sundelions during the Upheaval. Did anything else help you?”

“The Lights of Blessing from Rauru’s shrines. A little of the Gloom left me every time I got one.”

“You felt that happen?”

“It…tried to hold on. But the light was stronger. Maybe that’s why I always felt better around…around you.”

Zelda’s hand crept up to press against the Zonai stone she still wore on a string around her neck, tucked under her shirt—because he couldn’t stand to look at it, and she couldn’t stand to let it go. Link tilted his head back to watch the widening sliver of sky above them, remembering the wind, the soft feel of her mane, the tears in her eyes and in his. For months, the light dancing over her scales had been both his only solace and the worst pain he’d ever felt.

“Then I may be able to help,” she said, and he was glad to be pulled back into the present, to see her sitting right across from him.

“Really?” Link’s voice sounded thin and childish. “I—I want it gone.”

“I know, Link. And I’ll do everything in my power, but if the Gloom tries to hold on, as you said���I’m worried I might hurt you.”

“You would never hurt me,” he promised softly, holding her gaze across the flames.

She gave him a small smile, half hope and half sorrow, and was about to reply when a sudden current of air made the balloon lurch. Zelda listed sideways, catching herself on the railing, and by the time he registered his brief flash of panic—by the time he remembered the last time they’d plummeted into the dark together—the basket had already stabilized beneath them.

“We’re okay,” Link murmured, wanting to say the words aloud.

“We’re okay,” Zelda echoed, and her smile returned—shaken, yet bright as ever. The balloon drifted quietly towards the sky, and not much later, sunlight broke through the shadows.

.

.

.

The evening was cool and quiet by the time they sat down in front of the pond, the balloon stashed and the horses fed and Zelda’s samples carefully transported down the ladder to her well. Plumes of smoke rose from the chimneys of Hateno, wavering in the wind that rustled the grass and rippled the water’s surface.

His arms were bare under the climbing tunic, prickling with goosebumps as she trailed her fingers down the whorled scars the Gloom had left behind and paused at the pulse point in his wrist. “If this works, I believe much of the pain will leave you,” she said quietly. “But…we should be prepared for the possibility that there might be some lasting damage, even so.”

Link nodded. He had enough scars to expect that.

“Are you ready?”

The Master Sword was nestled in the grass beside them. Zelda had healed them the first time they’d broken together, placing Link in the blue waters of the Shrine and the sword in an unbreachable sanctuary. How fitting that she would be the one to do it again.

“Yes,” he whispered, leaning in to press his lips to hers. There was fear in the kiss, both their hearts hammering in anticipation of the pain, and he pulled back to cup her face in his hands, reminding her firmly, “You would never hurt me.”

Zelda rested her forehead against his and took his hands. “Close your eyes, Link.”

He did, opening his other senses to the familiar smell of her, the cool wind on his skin, the sound of children laughing across the bridge. Light bloomed past his closed eyelids, and he knew without sight that it was golden and beautiful.

The Gloom reacted instantly, sinking its claws into the center of his being. Link clenched his jaw, resisting the instincts that screamed at him to pull away as Zelda tightened her grip on his hands and opened the floodgates of her power.

He’d spoken the truth: she couldn’t hurt him, but the corruption was writhing and snarling through him without mercy, trying to anchor itself against the flood. A whimper slipped through his gritted teeth. Zelda’s voice was on the verge of breaking when she told him, “Breathe, Link—it’s working, just breathe—”

Link dragged in a shuddering gasp, his mind casting about for a weapon against the pain. He found what he always found: the memories he’d gathered over the years, carefully stored and cultivated with the same meticulous attention she gave her flower garden, so when moments like this one came roaring in—as they always did and always would—he had some good to shield him from the bad.

He breathed in and remembered Zelda smiling at him for the first time, Zelda capturing a frog in her hands, Zelda pressing her lips to her stallion’s forehead while Link wished for things he never expected to have. A century of pain later, their lives intertwined in ways more precious than he could have imagined—the messy cooking lessons, the quiet journeys, the first night she’d sat up in bed and asked him to stay, the long argument that had ended with a kiss and a homecoming and a new beginning.

All of that was so much bigger than the pain, so much stronger. Link could feel the Gloom’s hold weakening, could feel wisps of it rising from his skin. But more than anything, he felt Zelda’s strong hands holding him fast, her forehead still pressed against his, her power embracing him the same way it had so many times. The last breath he took on Blatchery Plain, the first one he drew after she reached through the walls of her prison to wake him up, the way she crossed the sky to catch him as he fell, her white scales shining like a beacon at the end of all hope.

The Gloom was rippling out of him now, fleeing from the relentless flow of power. But the gnarled root of it was still latched onto his heart—one last legacy of the enemy they’d been born to fight, still trying to claim what would never belong to him.

Zelda lifted Link’s right hand and pressed it to his chest, her palm over his. He opened his eyes to meet her gaze, green as wildflowers and shining with tears.

“Let it go,” she said, the words so soft and so knowing, and he lifted his head, a long breath rushing out of him as he banished the last of the Gloom and watched it rise towards the sky in thin red ribbons, quickly erased by the wind.

Finally, the weight was gone, and Link had never realized just how heavy it was until this moment—until he dragged in his next breath and knew his body belonged to him again. He released a shuddering sob and kissed the glowing symbol on Zelda’s hand, reaching up to wipe the tears from her cheeks even as more fell.

“Thank you,” he choked out, “thank you, thank you—”

She hugged him so hard he thought his ribs might bruise, but that was the sort of pain he could cherish. When she buried her face in his shoulder, Link understood that this had fixed something for her too—it had returned some of the control she lost when she fell through the dark and landed in a place where all roads led to the sacrificial altar.

The setting sun burnished the sky, the wind swept long and low across the plains of Necluda, and they held each other until his stomach growled at a truly embarrassing volume. Zelda was the first to chuckle, and soon enough they were both sprawled out on the grass, laughing with hysterical relief.

“I’m hungry,” Link announced happily when he caught his breath, sending her into another round of giggles. “Zelda, it’s been so long since I’ve been really hungry.”

She clambered up and offered him a hand. “Well, we’d better fix that. What would you like?”

“Everything,” he answered, and though his skin was scarred and his muscles were tired, he felt light as air when she pulled him to his feet and drew into a deep kiss, her fingers tangling in his loose hair, her lips still fighting a smile.

“Everything,” Zelda promised.

They went home, turning their minds to simpler things. Link left the door open to the wind and the wild, glancing up from time to time to watch as Naydra rose from the Depths, climbed past the northern mountain, and soared into the starry sky.

.

.

.

[shannonsketches]

my favorite parts of totk, unranked:

The implication that zelda is related to rauru and sonia, but ganondorf murdered sonia and there was no implication she'd had a child, and then rauru died, so where tf did Zelda come from

Casually implying that Zelda is a furry by blood

What did that first Zonai/Hylian kid look like Nintendo, I wish to see the baby

The memories are all from Zelda's pov, so she could hear Ganondorf talking under his breath from an adjacent cliff?

because she's got big-ass rabbit ears in her blood probably

my personal headcanon that sand seals are the maltese dogs of domesticated molduga

the idea of gerudo being out here training and giving belly rubs to full size molduga, no wonder they're feared by literally everyone

rauru being a huge bitch about ganondorf's status while he's kneeling

ganondorf being a huge bitch right back about rauru's family being dead

rauru going >:[ bc Gan's 'professional way to say fuck you' game was too strong

rauru and sonia just peacing tf out and letting their unconscious timedaughter and the soldier they'd employed fall from the sky after they were done with them

mineru 'i am not only brilliant but I can transfer my soul into anything. i chose this deconstructed robot at the bottom of a hole please help' zonaidorter

sonia. she's complicit but she's cute, I have no notes.

ganondorf taking a stone off his forehead and eating the stone and that same stone somehow ending up back on his forehead, which seems very on brand for Ganondorf's entire experience

the triforce trio being heavily implied but never mentioned

the triforce being a part of everything but never mentioned

the implication that the other dragons are just girls who decided to eat shiny rocks, making the golden goddesses more relatable than ever

[lumireis]

Some renders of my BotW girls in TotK!!

Explanation for each under the cut!!

The tremors from the Ring Ruins falling onto Kakariko village shook the mountains and caused a cave-in where Nashi and Keaton were living. The villagers managed to dig them out and bring them to safety but by the time Nashi went back up to clear out the rubble in her home monsters had already moved in and taken it over, leaving them homeless. For the first time in years, the hermit was forced to live in the village

Even though there were ancient relics literally falling from the sky, Nashi had zero interest in helping the Zonai survey team and constantly refused Paya. She wanted to just stay inside and wallow in her misery but Paya ended up sending Tauro to ask her and not being used to talking to someone that attractive (and shirtless), she ended up getting volunteered to help

The sludge falling at Zora's Domain and Bazz getting sick from it was the first time Pichi actually felt like things might not turn out okay even if she kept smiling. Her boundless optimism was nearly shattered

[caramel-catss]

foundations

gift exchange with @deuynndoodles !!

on ao3

word count: 2k

zelda is sent to the era of the sky instead of to rauru and sonia; totk!zelda meets sksw!zelda

“Link!”

The ground cracks beneath Zelda’s feet, and she gasps. Looking up at Link, her mouth opens to call his name once more, but she is suddenly falling - down, down, down.

He turns, his eyes widening at her yell. Before Zelda knows it, he’s jumped, and they are both falling. Desperate, Zelda throws out her hand. Link reaches back for her. They’re so close, their fingers almost touching-

And then, he is out of reach.

Zelda is helpless as she watches Link fall further away. A warm glow trickles up her body, enveloping her. Because everything is in slow motion, she thinks to herself, This must be my end.

However, Zelda’s end does not come to be. She blinks, and she is drifting softly to the ground, unharmed. A stone ceiling stares down at her, vines growing over it. Sunlight beams through large cracks up ahead.

Zelda sits up, scratching her head. Where is she? She moves her head around, noticing that this place looks similar to the Forgotten Temple. She moves to her feet and brushes dust off her outfit. She hopes that Link’s safe, too…

Something (or rather, someone) catches Zelda’s eye as she ascends the stairs. A pillar had blocked her view when she landed, but this person is now in full sight. It’s a girl, golden hair trailing down her back, wearing pants and a layered shirt. She’s looking out around the temple, so she spots Zelda soon after Zelda spots her.

“Oh!” The girl says. “Who are you?”

“I’m,” Zelda sputters. “My name is Zelda, I’m the daughter of King Rhoam of Hyrule.”

The girl gapes at her, eyes wide. “You’re?”

Zelda’s eyebrows furrow. “Is there a problem?”

“No, well, yes, but…” The girl bites her lip. “My name is also Zelda. I’m…” she stops for a moment, puzzling over how to introduce herself. “...the Spirit Maiden, some call me.”

Also-Zelda’s face falls to a gentle smile, one so familiar it almost feels like a gick in the gut. “You’re the Spirit Maiden,” Zelda gets out. “And your name is… Zelda… so you must have powers of the Goddess…!”

This makes Also-Zelda nervously chuckle. “Yeah, I do… well, really, I’m Goddess Hylia incarnate.”

Zelda’s heart stops. “What?”

“Um, are you okay?” Also-Zelda’s eyebrows furrow.

“You’re Hylia,” Zelda breathes.

“Technically, yes… but  we should worry more about getting you home safely. Zelda, I think you’re-”

Zelda’s body moves on her own. She grabs the girl’s hands, holding them at the wrists. She’s not physically strong, but the weird stone now sitting in her pocket makes her feel powerful enough. Hylia gasps and jumps back, trying to tug herself out of Zelda’s grip.

This is all happening so fast. But if she and Link have been suddenly taken away from each other again, if Hylia’s swooped in to “save the day” by snatching Zelda after that mummified figure destroyed everything… Zelda will take this opportunity to yell at the pathetic Goddess.

“What have you done to Link!?” Zelda exclaims. She squeezes until her knuckles turn white. Hylia’s eyes are wide with panic.

“You know Link?” Hylia’s voice is somewhat steady, but her expression gives her away. Good. Let her be afraid.

“Do I know him? You, of all people, should know how much he means to me!” Zelda hisses. “Where is he! Where did you put him!?”

“I-I don’t know if we’re talking about the same person!” Hylia cries.

Zelda huffs, her anger growing. “My knight, who laid down his life to protect me!? Who I desperately waited for for a hundred years!? Who, despite everything, still came back to help me!?”

“Oh,” Hylia breathes. Her face is suddenly stone-still. “Oh.”

“Do you remember now!? How you let him die, because you chose to be late!”

“Oh, Zelda,” Hylia’s lip is wobbling. “I’m so sorry.”

“You should be! The people of Hyrule… the Champions… my father…” Zelda begins to sniff. “You… they believed in you, and you let them all die…”

Both Zelda and Hylia fall into tears. Zelda’s grip subconsciously releases, and Hylia’s hands wrap around her own face. An overwhelming wave of sadness crashes over Zelda. All those people. All those people the woman in front of her refused to save. But Zelda can’t will up any more anger.

“The curse,” Hylia sobs. “No…”

Zelda’s not paying attention. Her tears drip onto the floor; she can taste the salt on her lips. Everyone. Everyone is dead. And she’s been trying her best to get used to this new reality, but without Link by her side… Without the two supporting each other, she doesn’t know if she can handle this.

She lost him so quickly. Again.

When Zelda finally notices the other girl’s hand touching her shoulder, it had already been there for a few minutes. She looks up, pausing for a second. And suddenly, this girl’s face is not Hylia’s. No, she’s just another hylian, no different than Zelda herself.

“I’m sorry,” Zelda says, ashamed. “I don’t know what… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” the girl murmurs. “It’s not your fault. The Goddess’ blood… it can be a curse, too.”

“Are you really Hylia incarnate?” She can’t help but ask.

“Yes, but…” a slight pause, “I’m not her. I’m Zelda.”

Zelda nods. “I understand.” She feels horrible. 

Also-Zelda holds her arms out, “Hug?”

Zelda accepts. The other smells like… feathers. Feathers, and the very essence of the sun. This sun-kissed girl is just as much of a victim of Hylia as Zelda herself is. Maybe she’s even a reincarnation. And Zelda just screamed at her like she was dirt.

Opening her mouth, Zelda’s about to apologize again, but she’s interrupted.

“By the way…” Also-Zelda’s saying. “I think you might have traveled through time to your distant past.”

The hug is shoved apart so that Zelda can give Also-Zelda a bug-eyed stare. “What!?”

“It’s only a theory!” Also-Zelda confirms. “Look, you said you’re princess of Hyrule, right?”

Zelda nods, “I guess I am. Hyrule isn’t much of a monarchy anymore, though.”

“In my time, right now, Hyrule doesn’t exist,” Also-Zelda explains. Zelda blinks.

“You mean,” she says, “You mean it hasn’t been founded yet!?”

“Yes…?” Also-Zelda makes a nervous chuckle. “But we’re settling on the surface right now, and if that’s what the future holds, then… Goddesses, you might be my descendant! You have light powers too, right!”

“You’re the first Queen of Hyrule!?” And here Zelda’s gone again; she’s managed to spew nonsensical insults at not only her ancestor, but her ancestor who is also the founder of her kingdom! Incredible!

“Maybe? Not yet? I don’t know!” Also-Zelda laughs. “Oh, I need to take you to Skyloft! Then we’ll figure out how to get you back home… and where your Link is… I promise!”

“Thank you,” Zelda smiles. “But, um, Skyloft?”

“It’s where I live, half of the time! I was just down at the surface to see what we should do with these grounds,” Also-Zelda replies. “Wait - are you afraid of heights?”

“Um, not really?”

“Perfect, come on!”

And that is how Zelda ends up in the middle of the sky, clutching onto a large blue bird for dear life. If she wasn’t scared of heights before, she definitely is now. The Loftwing, as First Zelda (easier to say than Also-Zelda) calls it, is apparently being slower than usual, but Zelda is already feeling a bit of motion sickness. First Zelda tells her that they aren’t too far from Skyloft, and that she can rest soon.

Zelda is grateful when her ancestor is right. Before long, they jump off and land on a deck. First Zelda rolls into it while Zelda slumps over. She wonders how Link could possibly enjoy paragliding so much.

“Are you alright?” First Zelda laughs, offering Zelda a hand. She takes it.

“Dizzy,” Zelda answers.

“You get used to it after a while. It took me a few years,” First Zelda shrugs.

“Great,” Zelda rolls her eyes. They both giggle.

“I guess I’ll just bring us to my dorm, since Link and I’s house is on the surface,” First Zelda ponders. “It’s this way.”

Zelda follows the other. Her scholar brain immediately latches onto her surroundings, visually checking every nook and cranny. Weird green fruits. Hearts growing on plants. Colorful buildings, and imagery of those Loftwing things everywhere.

First Zelda leads her through a gate, and then into a large building. They walk up the stairs and into her room. There’s a large picture of First Zelda and a tall man behind her, which Zelda assumes is her father. Zelda notices some wooden figurines on the counter. She picks one up.

“Oh, Link made that for me,” First Zelda grins. A blush rises on her face. “He’s really good at woodcarving.”

“It’s pretty,” Zelda comments. “Is it your Loftwing?”

“Yes!” First Zelda smiles. “I didn’t think you’d notice!”

Zelda shrugs and places the bird back.

A knock sounds on the door, and First Zelda yells, “Come in!”

The door opens to reveal a boy with light brown hair, holding two bottles with something orange inside. He’s wearing a green tunic and hat on top of some chainmail.

“Link!” First Zelda lights up. Wait, that boy is Link?

“Hi,” Link (First Link?) says. “I brought you soup.”

“Oh, you are the best,” First Zelda gives him a hug. He smiles.

First Link turns to Zelda. “Who’s this?”

“Princess Zelda of Hyrule,” Zelda knows it’s overboard, but she bows her head. Sure, maybe it’s just to see the look on this guy’s face when she does. “...But now, I’m really just a scholar.”

“She’s traveled back in time to us,” First Zelda says.

First Link blinks. Then he blinks again.

Then, he offers one of the flasks to Zelda, asking, “Would you like some soup?”

Zelda considers it for a moment. “Yes, thank you.”

First Link gives Zelda the soup. It tastes almost like Kakariko pumpkins, and the warmth of home almost overwhelms her. She barely overhears First Link telling First Zelda, “I’m going to go back and get myself a bottle, too.”

“Can I talk to you outside, before you go?” First Zelda says to him.

Zelda can feel eyes turning to her and back. “Yes, of course.”

The pair tell Zelda they’ll be just a moment, then shut the door behind them. Slowly, Zelda places her cup on the desk. She creeps over to the door, and listens out. She’s not much of an eavesdropper, but intuition tells her there’s something suspicious about this.

“...here because of Demise, Link. You and I both know it.” First Zelda’s voice is in a hushed whisper. Zelda can barely make it out.

Silence. 

“When she heard I was Hylia reincarnated, she started yelling a bunch of things… and I, it made me worried about the future…”

More silence. Oh, Zelda realizes. He’s signing.

“I don’t know, either. Or how to get her back there. But her Link… she said he died.”

A pang hits Zelda in the chest.

“...Yeah. I think it was the curse that brought him back. At the very least, a new Link.”

Curse?

“It’s not. It’s not fair, not at all. I’m… I’m so sorry.”

Zelda’s eyebrows furrow.

“Shh, I know it’s not my fault… It’s just, that’s your spirit dying in battle…”

There’s a curse, a spirit, and something about Link being immortal. And First Zelda told her nothing about this.

“Link, don’t say that…! It’s not your fault, either… it’s all Demise’s.”

What else doesn’t she know? Things that might help her know where Link is? How to get home?

“It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

Zelda pulls back from the door. She sits on the bed, pondering. First Zelda also promised to her that she’ll find a way to find Link and go home. But there’s all these things she’s not telling her… granted, they haven’t officially done any searching yet, but judging by the whisper-sign combination, Zelda wasn’t supposed to hear about this at all.

Who are these people? Zelda thinks to herself. How is this girl so like and unlike Hylia at the same time?

But most of all, Zelda wants to understand one thing.

What is the curse?

[zarvasace]

hiii if you’re still taking requests! anything tying the boys (tm) to totk would be so on topic and i’d love to see it!!

...so I participated in a writing torch relay today, and had a silly idea for this. I had the torch for 2 hours straight, though, and just... kept writing... So this is rather unorganized.

I don't think any context is really all that necessary, it's just part of the beginning of TotK but with the FS boys and Shadow instead, with a focus on established Vidow. The only spoilers for TotK are all drawn from just after you get down to Lookout Landing.

Anyway! almost 2000 words! hope you like it despite it being weird! if you like, you can pretend that it ends after the first break!

---

Gloom smells weird. Shadow wrinkles his nose as he peeks into the chasm beneath Hyrule Castle, balancing carefully so as not to fall in. It smells like a combination of dust and monsters, but with something rather brimstone-y beneath it all. It looks and smells all too much like Malice, but it's even stronger than that was, before it all disappeared. 

The chasm is desperately dark, and Shadow does not fancy going down there. Luckily, Josha likes him, and won't make him do things he doesn't want to do. Even after six years out of Vaati's control, Shadow still sometimes finds it surprising when people ask rather than order. 

Shadow pulls back so he won't fall in. The Gloom doesn't make him sick like it makes regular Hylians sick, but he still doesn't like touching the stuff. He hears footsteps behind him, and sighs as he turns, ready to chew someone out for being this close to the chasms. 

Instead, he freezes, eyes wide, as his favorite face in all of Hyrule, above and below, rounds the bend. Vio looks a little tired, and something weird is up with his clothes, but it's him. He even does that little hesitation thing he does, like he's not sure Shadow actually wants to hug him or not. 

Of course Shadow wants to hug him. Shadow snatches Vio around the waist and spins him around once, holding him tight. He smells like the wind. 

"Vio, you're back!" Shadow gives him one more squeeze before pulling away enough to look at him. He doesn't really want to let go, but as much as he just wants to keep Vio pressed close for eternity, he also wants to see his face. 

Vio's smile is like the sun, and he's a bit breathless when he speaks. "Hi, Shadow. Miss me?" 

"Of course I missed you, Vi, I thought—" Shadow's interrupted by the other three arriving, dressed identically but for the colors again.

Something's definitely weird about their clothes, but Shadow lets it go in favor of pulling Blue into the group hug that Red initiates and Green throws himself into. He can't stop himself from jumping up and down a little to let off some of the sheer relief and joy that's filling him up. 

"Never seen Vio run so fast," Green says, and Vio smacks his head, but Red laughs. 

"It's been a few months." Shadow lets them go and looks them over with a critical eye. "You and Zelda have been missing, we thought you might have died, except people keep talking about seeing—"

"Zelda!" Red interrupts, pointing, and the five of them turn to see a girl standing out on one of the broken towers, a girl as blonde as them. Though the dress is different, Shadow clearly recognizes her. They don't even have time to register her appearance, though, before she lifts into the air and turns into sparkles. 

It's… weird, to say the least. Green looks like he's about to cry, and a heavier mood settles over the rest of them. 

"Guys?" Shadow begins. "Where have you been?" 

The four heroes exchange looks, and it's Vio who answers, sliding his left hand in Shadow's right as a comforting gesture for them both. 

"We woke up a few days ago," Vio says. "Up there."

Shadow follows his pointing finger—and that is definitely not a glove, seriously, what the hell—up to the largest island floating in the sky, far above them. "On the skyslands? Wait, wait, wait. A few days ago? What happened?" 

"It's a bit of a story," Green says with a sigh, his hands on his hips. 

They look tired. All five of them are in need of food, rest, and context. 

Shadow takes a breath and nods. "Let's head to Lookout, then. We're safe there. We can fill each other in, and you can grab some of your things. You're gonna get cold, wearing that."

---

For all that Shadow had meant that they'd tell stories inside a safe room, the others chatter away to him as they head down out of the castle and through the town ruins. He learns what happened when they went to investigate the tunnels below the castle that day months ago. He squeezes Vio's hand again as Green mentions that they'd almost died, so they'd been shoved back together into one body to heal, which also explains how they have identical, magical prosthetic arms. They tell him about finding the sword, but how using it to split again had weakened it too much to use. And if that wasn't enough, it had entirely disappeared into yellow light shortly afterwards. 

Blue talks a bit about the new enemies they'd fought, machine things that match up with some reports Shadow's heard. Vio's more interested in knowing how they work, going so far as to reveal that he'd been keeping parts of each one they'd defeated. It would sound stupid, but Red's all too excited to talk about the new abilities that came with their arms, and about how those machine parts came in handy. 

"Handy," Green repeats with a grin, and Blue shoves him to stumbling. 

"Be nice," Red scolds. "Hey, are those sky island pieces?" He runs ahead to look closer at the rocks that had fallen just outside of Lookout Landing. The area's deserted for the moment, so Shadow just tugs Vio along a little faster to keep up. 

"Yeah, a ton of these fell all over Hyrule when the islands appeared," Shadow says, watching Red inspect the rock. "They're kinda hard to climb, and we haven't really found anything we can use on them. Except the fruit."

"Oh, this is easy," Red says, looking directly up at an overhang. 

Shadow narrows his eyes. "What are you looking for?" 

Nobody has a chance to answer, because Red jumps straight up, his arm glowing. He jumps into the rock above him like a Zora headed off a waterfall into deep water. 

Blue laughs at Shadow's stricken expression, and Red appears on top of the rock again, climbing out as if it were just thick water. He goes to investigate the ruin on top. 

Vio takes pity. "He can do that now. That's Ascending."

"He can—swim through solid stone?" Shadow manages. "He can walk through walls?" 

"Not walls, just ceilings."

"How does that make sense?" 

Vio shrugs. "Is it really any weirder than being able to produce giant blocks of ice out of sufficiently large puddles, or having an infinite number of bombs, or"—he glances at Shadow—"teleporting through darkness?" 

Shadow has to admit, Vio has him on that one. He sighs heavily. "No."

Red calls down at them, poking his head over the edge. "It's just a steward construct, nothing dangerous. Hey, Green, how many crystallized charges do we have?" 

Green pulls out a device that looks suspiciously like a Purah Pad—when had he gotten one of those?—and answers. "Twenty-two?" 

"We need a hundred for another energy cell!" Red drops back down to the ground and hands off a few of those new fruits over to Green. 

Vio hums. "So that's how you get more."

"I have no idea what any of those words are," Shadow says flatly. 

"That's okay. We'll fill you in. But you need to fill us in, too." 

---

Lookout Landing isn't very big, but there are a few private rooms in the walls, mostly used by older folks. Shadow manages to snag two empty ones for the night, and the four of them sneak in without raising too much of a hullabaloo. Night falls, and things calm down enough that Shadow can breathe again. Things feel right with Vio sitting next to him on the balcony, looking up at the stars. He'd really missed this. 

When they'd gone down to investigate the tunnels with Zelda, Green had brought along the Sheikah Slate, despite its declining functionality. It appeared that once they weren't needed, all the shrines and towers and runes just… disappeared. The storage functions still worked just fine, though, so they didn't feel the need to switch to one of the prototypical Purah Pads.

Somewhere in the chaos, the Slate had disappeared, too, taking with it most of their magical clothing, which was pretty much all the clothing they ever owned. Shadow's pretty sure that they'll find more out in Hateno, but for now, they're wearing borrowed clothes from Shadow. He doesn't mind. 

He especially doesn't mind Vio wearing one of his outfits, dark sleeves and pants under a silvery lavender tunic. The moonlight bathing him makes him look ethereal. 

"I'm sorry we vanished there," Vio says quietly, nestled against Shadow's side. "I know there wasn't anything I could have done about it, but…"

Shadow pulls him a little closer. "You're okay. That's what I was worried about." 

Vio nods. "You, too. I'm glad to see the outpost growing. People here really respect you."

"I'm the closest thing they had to a Hero while you all were gone." Shadow snorts. "Thanks for coming back and taking some of that pressure off."

"Oh, I'm always glad to come and save my boyfriend from being too noble and chivalrous. Now you can get back to your regularly scheduled evil."

"See? You get it." Shadow lets out a deep breath and settles further into the contact. Vio is so relievingly warm and present. It makes Shadow feel more real, to have someone who knows him. 

Vio holds up his new hand to look closer at it. The nails are long, and he'd explained that they're really more like claws than nails. The skin is deep purple, but Shadow had seen it glow brighter when Vio had shown off his own new powers a little. Red could jump through ceilings (not walls, and not floors, they'd tried), Blue had a sixth sense for what weapons could be attached together for the best effect, Green pulled objects back in time, and Vio could make things. As if he needed a way to make his devious ideas a reality. 

It truly is a bit strange to see a different arm, but Shadow isn't really put off by it. He knows that he has a few strange traits of his own, and Vio loves him anyway, so of course Shadow would do the same. 

Shadow reaches out after a few seconds and takes the hand, lacing their fingers together to show Vio be doesn't care, just in case the idiot worried about it. "I assume you'll all be off soon? Are you going to stick together again?" 

Vio lowers his hand and turns his head into Shadow's shoulder. "We've got to go find Zelda, yeah, and help out with whatever's going on. Some of it sounds really bad. We already have one adventure down, so I'm not too worried about splitting up if we need to, but… it feels strange to think about actually doing that."

"Yeah, I get it. It does feel strange to think about."

"Are you going to come, too?" Vio asks. 

Shadow blinks up at the stars, wondering if he'd ever become so weightless he'd float up there. "What, me? Really?" 

"Sure. You have a Purah Pad too, a newer one. You have a lot of skills, and it isn't as if you'd be taking resources we need. I bet we could use the extra combatant, if you're willing to come along."

"I am so willing. I'm coming. You can't stop me, now."

Vio smiles. "We're going to cause so many problems."

"Hopefully fix a few, too."

"Yeah, that too."

[candy8448]

I FINISHED TOTK!!!!!!!!! :OOOOO

(Here's a bunch of my excited rambles)

Major spoilers for ending!!!

After over 130 hours i've completed the main story!!

(I have at least 100-200+ more hours on botw on other accounts)

It all buolt up and built up and built up, i was squealing like crazy the whole way to the boss fight and untill the very end it was SUCH a HIGH

AND THE MUSIC!!!!

ITS AMAZING!

The buts where you are leaping down to ganon's army where it keeps building up, returning to the start where you uncover the last murals on the wall to see the evernts of the memories, jumping down, music all building up!!!!

Feels SO GOOD!

Ganon's army was so fun to fight and the sages jump in and everything, all the bosses come and u go to fight ganondorf its so crazy

THE GANON FIGHT!!

I had to repeat it SO MANY TIMES!!! (Tip (aka the strategy i mafe after ages of figuring out how the fight works) just make it through the first 2 phases, have a lot of sundelions cooked and extra heart foods cooked but try not to use them to much, strap a bunch of rockets to shields for the third phase and rain bomb arrows on him and repeat till defeated, took me forwver to figure all this out)

WHEN HE REFULLED HIS HEALTHBAR TO THE END OF THE SCREEN I WENT CRAZY!!

THE DRAGON FIGHT!!!!

THAT WAS SO COOL!!!!!

Ganondorf ripping that secret stone out of his head and EATING IT!??!!?

IT IS SUCH A COOL FEELING TO BRING TGE FIGHT INTO THE SKY ABOVE HYRULE, And when the sky turns RED! THE M9ON LOOKS SICK

(Zelda is so small compared to ganon!)

GANON EXPLODES?!?!?!?!?!?¿¿

(Draconification supposedly makes one lose their heart yet Zelda immedietly comes to Link's aid!!!!!))))))

(Binkus is very expressive here!)

Zelda

Zelda

ZELDA

ZELDA

SHE'S BACK

THAT FALLING SEQUENCE!!

THE MUSIC

THE TRYING TO REACH FOR ZELDA

THE VEST COOLEST FEELING EVER

When u are diving for her it doesnt say "dive (R)" it says "Dive to Zelda"!!!!!!! AAAAAAAA

We finally catch her after all this time!!!

And watching them crash into the water!! Link holding her closely then princess carrying her outta there

Let me tell you how HEARTBREAKING Zelda's voice is when she first wakes up

She sounds so dazed and confused

Poor baby girl!

Her voice actor did an AMAZING job with her! This last scene is voice acted SO WELL!!!

AAA MY HEART!!!!

[amiharana]

OKAY I FINALLY GOT TO WATCH THE TOTK TRAILER HERE ARE SOME OF MY THOUGHTS

the more stuff that comes out about totk, the more interested and emotionally invested i become in the lore. where did these floating islands come from? who were the zonai and why are they back? do they have some sort of connection to ganon or hylia, or other races in hyrule (e.g. the sheikah)? how does the presence and existence of the zonai connect back with the rest of the zelda timeline?

like since there's at least? 10,000 years since the previous links and zeldas to botw/totk link and zelda, did the zonai exist in that 10,000 time period or way before and they were just never seen in previous games (for narrative purposes?)

do you think the presence of the zonai will give us some insight to the hero and princess of 10,000 years prior when the divine beasts were first used against ganon + all the ancient sheikah technology was still used? do you think the zonai had some sort of hand in helping shape that tech?

i know that during the development of botw, some of the things that inspired some of link's "abilities" were from hobbies of people on the zelda development team, e.g. the master cycle zero exists in the dlc because eiji aonuma is a motorcyclist in his free time. do you think someone on the team skydives for fun and that's why they added link falling through the sky and shit lol

they NEVER explained the paraglider in botw. you know me as your local revalink brainrot provider and what i think about the existence of the paraglider if you've been following me long enough. since the paraglider gets a little design update in totk (and unfortunately kind of loses revali's symbol in it

what the HELL are these glowing spires coming out of the ground everywhere. will they function the same as sheikah towers. what the fuck happened to the sheikah towers bc i'm either blind or they're gone. do shrines still exist in this game

hateno village (and other settlements) seems to have gotten updated! what new things do you guys think will be added in villages that weren't there before? also idk if it's just me but why do the three trees on mount lanayru look closer to the village??? i don't remember them being that close idk lol

DO YOU THINK WE'LL GET NEW NPCS IN THE SETTLEMENTS <33

THERE ARE LITTLE CAMPS IN CASTLE TOWN RUINS IM GOING TO CRYYYY they have the hylian crest on them so they have to be related to the royal family (in a business way) somehow? are these the construction folk who are going to rebuild castle town? do you guys think we'll get to see castle town completely rebuilt by the end of totk? DO YOU THINK WE'LL GET TO REBUILD EVERY RUINED SETTLEMENT TARREY TOWN STYLE??????? <3333

i know some people hated the fact that the botw map was reused and imo it's Nawt that serious girl calm down lmao. in fact i think reusing the map is an excellent challenge for the zelda team; how can you rework this familiar world into a fresh one the players can enjoy and explore again? with all the literal changes in the geographical markers of botw and the addition of new little thingie ma bobbies all throughout the map, i'm excited to see how the zelda team has approached this sort of challenge by reusing botw assets

THE THYPHLO RUINS AREN'T DARK ANYMOREEEE tbh i never finished that shrine quest LMFAOKDJFHJKD the not being able to see part always stressed me out and the fact that you had to fight a hinox in the dark 😭😭😭 IM SAWRYYY IM THE MOST ANXIOUS PLAYER EVER but i can't wait to explore it in the light????? i think someone mentioned how it also had zonai architecture; i'm just so invested in how the presence of the zonai shaped the now-world of botw/totk hyrule

so i wasn't able to see it in the trailers because i'm sooo blind, but did you guys ever see the divine beasts at all in the clips? i mean i wouldn't want to do a divine beast dungeon again LOL, but where do you guys think they are? are they just chilling in their respective regions? did they bury the beasts again? do you think we'd be able to actually go inside and explore the beasts for funsies now that they're not corrupted/in position lasered onto the castle?

WHAT IS OUT IN THE GERUDO DESERT. INSERT CARDI B MEME WHAT WAS THAT????? IS IT A SECRET DIVINE BEAST. FUCK. WHAT IS IT

the zonai have got to have some connection to time i know we could probably figure that out from the totk gameplay video from a couple weeks ago BUT STILL. let's have a twilight princess ancient hero comeback and just have old man ocarina bones sit in, or maybe multiple previous links spiderman no way home-style or whatever that movie was called. i didn't watch it sorry KDJHFJDK

ZELDA FALLING IN AND LINK JUMPING IN AFTER HER WITH HIS MALICE CORRUPTED ARM 😭💔 WHEN WILL MY BABIES BE FREE FROM THEIR FATES

THERE ARE FLYING PIRATE SHIPS TEEHEE. COME ON TREASURE PLANETTTTTT link but he's jim hawkins asf

water bubbles as transport like come on vesicles. come on transport cells. ANYWAYS THE LASERS link is a spy girl fr come on kim possible

WHO IS THAT. i can't take pictures i'm watching the trailer and pausing and unpausing on my switch while typing this on my laptop IS THAT A NEW HYRULEAN RACE. do you think it's like a fe3h ashen wolves moment where they've just been living underneath the ground because they were banished by hylia and no one knew lol

THE SANCTUM WAS RESTORED KSJDHFKJSDHFJKSDHF HOW DID THEY FIX IT SO FASTTTT what if link actually went back in time. the room is all sparkly so i'm like. did u fix it with magic or likeeeeee WHAT IS IT ASF

WHERE THE FUCK IS ZELDA. what do you guys MEAN you rely on link and the master sword. WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE??????? IS THAT THE ZONAI KING OR SOMETHING.

historically the hylians have believed in this like. pantheon of gods comprised of the golden goddesses + hylia, and i've always been under the assumption that other races just coexisted their faiths e.g. zora mainly believing in jabu-jabu, ww!rito believing in valoo, etc. what if there was like a pantheon of zonai gods but it's like greek vs roman style. what if hylia had a zonaian (?) counterpart. idk i'm spitballing out of my ass rn but i think it would be cool

re:WHO IS THAT. bulletpoint: WHAT IF THAT'S HYLIA'S ZONAIAN COUNTERPART. LOL

seeing all these flat little creatures floating in the sky makes me miss vah medoh and revali

WAS THAT TULIN. GO BACK HOME TO YOUR MOTHER?????????? WHERE IS TEBA.

link pulling people in wagon it's giving skyrim "oh you're finally awake" PAUSE WHAT ARE THOSE GREEN THINGS ON THE WHEEL. IS THAT ZONAI TECH/MAGIC

how the HELL did they build those shits on top of the talus. the bokos were really like It's Free Real Estate

link making himself a fully functioning tank rn. my brother in christ that is a vertical stone block with a cannon fused to its edge on wheels. i love it.

i kinda wanna know what happened to the elemental arrows. like in botw they tell you that rubies innately have the power of fire, but how does that differ from a regular fire arrow? does it do more damage?

HOLD ON TULIN WAS ABOUT TO GET EATEN BY THAT ICE MONSTER THING GO HOME??

what the FUCK is zelda cradling in her hands. is that a seed or life or something. it looks like an embryo lol. divine beast embryo

WAIT IS THAT HYLIA???? WHOAAAA

riju 🥺🥺🥺 the champion descendants 🥺🥺 doofus with a bucket on his head... SIDON WAIT HE HAS THE CROWN ON HIS HEAD

"link! you must find me!" WHERE ARE YOU GIRLLLL

i didn't realize there was a word limit. i just kept typing. ok those are my thoughts so far IM SO EXCITED

[epaily]

day 2 and 3 totk thoughts. spoilers under cut!!:

i found the fucking fierce diety boots hello????? in what world???? super intrigied about where the rest of that set is gonna be

blood moon is dramatic as fuque and zelda doesnt say please be careful anymore :((

the paired koroks were cute at first but theyre getting repetitive :(( i like my varied puzzles. i have 23 45 seeds currently and im already dying

met gleeok on the bridge of hylia. he was very mean. i like farosh more. also whos the orange dragon? not dinraal there was another one floating in the clouds that i could see from great sky island

got to hateno and was super freaked out by all the mushrooms lmao

i spent the whole mayoral sidequest in hateno hoping i'd get to cast a vote at the end. a little disappointed but that hat is fucking amazing LMAOO. with the royal guards tunic being avaliable in shop in game (and the feirce deity armour) along with a few others means i have my fingers crossed theres no dlc

manny in hateno is so funny. the girl he liked in the first game is married now so hes trying someone else.

fall damage is my biggest enemy in this. where do i get a fucking paraglider someone please tell me.

also how tf do i unlock the sky towers ive been running around with no map

ive found 3/????? dragon tears. searching the glyphs is alot of fun and relatively simple. i like trying to work out what they are.

i do wish theyd kept the animation of link gasping when he remembered a memory from botw. it feels more impactful then just kinda sighing.

i figured out how to steer the cars :D

throwing random items is fun

i like trying to work out how to fuse the best weapons. i have to be careful about the materials i use and i cant hog anything.

i still miss my old runes but i DID figure out how to nigate cryonis

why do gems explode so aggressively

exploring caves invokes something in me this is the most fun ive ever had

hehehehe smashing walls with a giant rubble hammer feels good to my brain

overall im having a good time