#cause you can make the case that the gerudo are still around in ww just chilling on their newfound coastline

[jheselbraum]

"oot Link committed atrocities" this and "oot Link is a war criminal" that you know who I never see mentioned in these "uh holy shit the Gerudo desert is fucking empty in Twilight Princess and that has some awful implications" discussions?

This little shit:

Like I'm sorry we're not gonna acknowledge that if oot Link was running around then oot Zelda was too, and that she would've been the one giving the orders? We're just gonna gloss over that?

[dipshitcoyote]

Breath of the Wild Daemon!AU

Ok so! I’m working on an actual fic using these concepts and this version of the BotW world, but I thought that maybe some of you might be interested in my ideas so here! I’m putting pretty much everything under a readmore, because this is copypasted from my planning document, which got very long and doesn’t even have anything to do with the plot of what I’m writing ^^’

Enjoy!

Link’s daemon is a Hyrule Field Mouse (lol get it) named Firielore (fih-REE-ehl-ohr), Firi for short. From Fi, Ciela, and Farore. They settled early, when Link first drew the Master Sword. Historically, the Hero most often settles as a wolf, but other forms are not unheard of and he isn’t the first Hero to settle as something more unassuming.

Pre-Calamity, most people, even other knights, thought that Link and Firi’s behavior was odd. Neither of them ever spoke (Link is mute, but Firi can speak and just doesn’t), and Firi was just as stoic and inexpressive as her human. As a mouse daemon, she was always on his person, usually on his left shoulder as was uniform for smaller daemons of knights and soldiers, but was rarely seen out of that position except for when she would turn to increase their field of view or leave him briefly to scout stealthily around corners/over boulders and the like.

Relating to the issues that make him canonically selectively mute, Link’s lack of self preservation re: his Duty translated to Firi as well. Things like stretching their bond too far for too long for the sake of getting the scope of a situation or enemy, but not letting the pain show externally where someone else might be brought to their knees with it. Other things like Firi using herself as a distraction, running from Link’s arm to the Moblin’s to divide its attention and leaving them both exposed to give Link a chance to strike. The monsters don’t know the difference between hitting a daemon vs. its Hylian, and that makes the contact less bad, but not insignificant. There were rumors throughout the castle that Link and Firi had been separated traumatically or that the Master Sword allowed them the distance, but both are untrue- their bond was no different than any other Hylian, they just pushed it further in the name of duty.

Link and Firi’s character development (in the memories) is subtle just like in canon. Through the Yiga attack she is always on Link’s left shoulder, even when they and Zelda are just traveling. On the hill with the Silent Princess is the first time she’s not there- she hops off his shoulder when he crawls forward to look at the flower and she moves closer to it. After Zelda’s failure at the Spring of Power, Firi touches Zelda’s daemon to comfort him, just for a moment.

Firi had and has (Impa gave it to them with the Champion’s Tunic) a small set of custom armor for protection, but rarely wore/wears it; she’s fast enough that any attack that would possibly hit her in battle would probably kill Link as well. On the battlefield she would either deftly scurry around Link and warn him silently about attacks from behind, or slip into a small armored pouch that existed to protect her in one-on-one combat unless an opportunity to assist presented itself. In the present, she doesn’t participate in battle the same way she would 100 years ago (with the aggressive distraction and the like), moreso providing Link extra ears and eyes in a fight.

Post-Calamity, she is considerably more physically active, but she still doesn’t speak out loud- except very occasionally to Link himself. I.e when they first wake up in the Shrine of Resurrection, Link hears Zelda’s voice first and opens his eyes to Firi sitting on his chest, also saying his name. However, she’s still a very quiet daemon, especially considering that Link communicates via signing and it would be considered acceptable for her to talk for him. In Post-Calamity Hyrule she’s more outgoing towards other daemons and will greet them physically if appropriate.

Zelda’s daemon, Hylayrune (hih-LAE-roon), Layrune or Rune for short, is unsettled until the moment she awakens her power, when he settles as a Snowcoat Fox (Real life equivalent: Arctic Fox). His name comes from Hylia (all Zeldas daemons’ names start with ‘Hy’), (La)Nayru, Hyrule, and rune/ruin. Before he settled, he took atypical forms for the sacred princess’ daemon that were more representative of Zelda’s scientific pursuits, such as bugs (usually a bee), frogs, and lizards. Almost always, the Princess settles as a bird of prey (often owl, occasionally eagle or loftwing), or in some cases a small dragon (as the three dragons Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra are said to be the daemons of the three Goddesses, with Hylia’s being most often depicted as a golden dragon or occasionally a huge, golden Loftwing).

Rune’s late settling, and his preferred forms before settling, were a huge cause of anxiety for him, Zelda, and their father. This is all tied into their self-doubt about awakening their sealing power and being able to fulfill her duty as the sacred princess, but it’s also personal for the King. His daemon is a Mountain Crow, which though known to be clever and resourceful are seen as a bad omen, even a curse, within Hyrule. It puts stress on his regime, and the idea that his daughter prefers frogs and lizards over forms that have become symbolic of the royal family and the sealing power is deeply troubling. Rune takes “appropriate” forms only at official appearances and ceremonies, and even then, usually a more wild hawk over an owl, eagle, or dragon.

Other characters:

The Old Man/King: Mountain Crow (real life equivalent: Raven)

Urbosa: Islander Hawk (with kind of a more desert coloration. real life equivalent: Harris Hawk)

Riju: Unsettled, usually a Sand Seal bc they love them

Impa: Blue-Winged Heron (real life equivalent: Great/Little Blue Heron).

Beedle: Hylian Retriever (A golden one, fight me)

Other random stuff/past Links:

- The Princess traditionally settles when she first unlocks/uses her powers, and the Hero traditionally settles when he draws the Master Sword. There are some exceptions, like the Hero of Twilight being old enough to have already been settled, and the Links in games without the Master Sword settling in other ways.

-Hero of Time and Twilight both had Wolf daemons. Their wolf forms are kind of a combination of them and their daemons’ appearances. Time had a lighter colored wolf and Twilight had a darker colored wolf.

    - BUT Hero of Time’s daemon is usually a mouse as a child, when he’s unsettled, alluding to past and future heroes.

    - The mouse thing (here and for the Hero of the Wild) comes less from personality and more from the feeling of facing an enormous dungeon boss as Link, like a mouse about to fight a lion.

-Both the Hero of Wind and Four Swords/Minish Cap Link also had mouse daemons.

    - For Wind this is because of the mobility he needed re: moving on a ship (also kind of like a ship rat? Disclaimer: I’ve never played WW)

    - For Four Swords/Minish this is because he shrinks down and is pretty much the same size as his daemon (she’d have to shrink a little bit too but not as much) and I just think that’d be really cute

-I’m not sure what Skyward Sword!Link’s daemon would be. Not a loftwing because it isn’t possible for anyone but a Goddess or a sacred princess (with Goddess blood) to settle as one, but I’ve never played SS so I can’t really say. It would have to be small enough to ride on a loftwing with him, or a bird of some sort- probably all of the people in Skyloft settled like that, now that I think about it. Maybe a beetle?

-Link from the original games probably has a wolf daemon, as well as LttP/LBW Link.

- Spirit Tracks!Link has a white dove daemon and she rides on his head like the birds in the game and its adorable

-Ganondorf always has a boar daemon in any iteration. When he transforms into Ganon they merge, similar to Wolf Link, but grotesquely instead of dissolving together in Twilight.

-Only the Hylians, Sheikah, and Gerudo have daemons

    -The Sheikah have mostly same-sex daemons, with opposite-sex daemons being about as rare as same-sex daemons among the Hylians and Gerudo. No one’s quite sure why.

    -The Zora have sort of a connection to their jewelry and weapons, but not necessarily a physical one. More of a literal “put your soul into your craft” type thing, which is why Zora armor is the way it is and most of the Zora have specialized livelihoods like sculpting and smithing.

    -The Gorons don’t have a physical Thing, they have a special brotherhood with other Gorons. It’s why you rarely see Gorons traveling too far from Goron City, and almost never alone. They can be alone, like a Zora can be without their craft and affects, but it negatively effects them after a while.

    -The Rito have their songs; though not all of them are musically inclined, its a cultural thing and not a physical requirement. Kass would be considered very spiritually aware and expressive, whereas Revali would not, but a non-musician Rito doesn’t suffer for it. There would only be an issue if there were no bards among the entire Rito race, and the songs faded from memory.

[potionxshop]

A very (very) long BotW theory

This is a looong post so if you don’t wanna read it please scroll really fast !

So few days after Nintendo showed this amazing BotW trailer during Nintendo Switch presentation, I watched a video made by two french youtubers (Bronol and Ico) posted on their second channel called “Team Trash” (their main channel being “Trash”) in which they exposed some of their theories regarding the upcoming loz game. I had stopped watching all these theory videos tbh but I had some time to kill and since I really enjoy these guys’ work I clicked it. And holy sh- I found it really interesting *-* In this video, they mostly talk about BotW’s spot in the timeline (which they situate after Ocarina of Time, in the “Hyrule’s decline” branch). I promised @rikzpt that I would translate it and share it with you all. It took me a long time to do so, since the video is 18:30 long ;u; Thus, I haven’t translated every sentence, I skipped some “unecessary” bits, and I apologize in advance for any typo or grammatical mistake.

↑ Here’s the original video, in case some of you want to watch it even though it’s entirely in french !

Here goes the translation ! (︶▽︶✿)

Bronol : A new Botw trailer just came out and it was amazing and full of new information. So Ico and I anlayzed it, frame by frame. We felt dumb cause we hadn’t seen it coming but Botw Link could actually be the same as in Ocarina of Time. […] So let us explain our theory.

What the Timeline says

Bronol : First there are three official timelines, Ocarina of Time has created some kind of… temporal paradox. There is a branch where Link leaves after defeating Ganon and thus leaves the people without a legendary hero. Then Ganon breaks its seal and since there’s no hero around well he just… destroys everything easy peasy which leads to Wind Waker’s world. In the second Timeline, after Link defeated Ganon, he goes back in the past then he and Zelda denounce him to Hyrule King. Ganondorf is then judged by the sages and is exlied in the Twilight Realm. [...] In this Timeline Ganondorf has never become Ganon and the line of Links could carry on. And then there’s this kinda phony third timeline, the one where Link loses against Ganon in the final battle of Ocarina of Time. Until now this timeline was pretty unclear, we could think that the sages had still sealed Ganondorf away despite Link’s death all of this was fuzzy and looked like a weird patchwork (don’t lie). Excepted that Botw could be in this timeline -as its missing link-. We tend to say that since (OoT) Link was deprived of the Master Sword at the very beginning of the battle against Ganon […], it is highly possible that Link was then killed by Ganon since he had no weapon to defend himself with. Then we could imagine that the sages somehow found a way to seal Ganon and took Link’s body to put him into stasis, since they knew they’ll need his help again, I’ll explain that later… […] Hence in BotW we would play as OoT Link after being resurrected [...] since -as we saw during this year’s E3- the first location we encounter in the game is called « The Shrine of Resurrection ». Regarding Ganon, the official chronology tells us that Zelda and the sages managed to seal him, however, despite being emprisonned in the Sacred Realm he still had the three parts of the Triforce so the sages knew that -with such power- it would only be a matter of time until he could escape from the realm. We also know that even if Link was defeated, they need him since he’s the only one who’s able to truly stop Ganon, we learnt that in Skyward Sword.

The connection with Ocarina of Time

Ico : Well it’s pretty obvious. Many elements were shown in plain view such as the Temple of Time which is exactly the same as in Ocarina of Time and what’s below this Temple ? The ruins of the former castletown, especially the huge fountain. Moreover this new Zelda game is full of references to the Sheikah tribe and please note that sentence that we read in the description of the Sheikah slate : "You've never seen this device before, and yet... there's something familiar about it." From there, to say that it is a gossip stone miniaturized thanks to new technology, there is only one step.

Let’s now talk about Calamity Ganon’s design. It’s still a spectral form but we can distinguish few things. Look at those eyes, looks at those horns, just look at this silhouette, it exactly looks like the Ganon we fight in Ocarina of Time.

Well on top of that, there’s this fairy that looks like the great fairies from OoT and MM [...], there are gerudos […] and there’s also the Great Deku Tree ! And he evens tells Link « That look on your face tells me that you have no recollection of me » why of course Link doesn’t remember him since the last time he saw him he was still in his sprout form.

What occurs in this new Zelda

Bronol : So now that we’ve talked about the similarities, what does this new trailer tell us ? First (and the royal family could expect it), Ganondorf broke the seal and has destroyed the new castletown. He had already destroyed the one in Ocarina of Time, then the hylians had rebuilt it in the meantime and he came back to destroy it again. Since the notion of time between each game is often unclear, we don’t really know how much time has passed before Ganondorf could escape from the realm. In any case, the hylians were given a sufficient amount of time to rebuild some kind of kingdom and see a new Zelda (maybe few generations) accede to the throne. Well yes while it might be the same Link as in Ocarina of Time, it doesn’t mean it has to be the same Zelda. […] Also, regarding Hyrule King’s voice that we hear in the trailer, we are almost certain that he’s in fact that old man we meet during the first minutes of our adventure, the one who acts like some kind of guide which really resembles King of Red Lions’ personality in Wind Waker, so couldn’t this be the same character but in a different universe ? (meaning different branch of the Timeline)

The Master Sword and its connection with the other games

Ico : Zelda has probably taken the sword after the battle against Ganon and has hidden it in one of the last barriers against the malevolent forces which is : the Kokiri Forest -since the Great Deku Tree has the power to push them back-.

Just a reminder : The Master Sword helped Link to defeat Ganondorf. Hence, Ganon -knowing how powerful this blade is- would obviously seek a way to destroy it completely. Thus the sword could not be replaced in the Temple of Time since this would be the first place where Ganon would look for it. This can also explain why the temple is in ruins since Ganon might have ravaged it. […] It was crucial to hide the Master Sword in a safe place since this blade is Hyrule’s only hope to defeat the king of evil for good. Now it becomes really interesting for this could also explain why the Master Sword looks so rusty. It has rusted because it does no longer benefit from the « temporal protection » dispended by the Temple of Time -since we know that this temple well… controls time-. This is why the Master Sword in TP is not rusty since it still stands in the ruins of the Temple of Time. Regarding WW, the Master Sword is still in good shape and yet we find it in Hyrule Castle, not in the Temple of Time itself. Well, since we know that the castle has been destroyed in Ocarina of Time, we could think that WW Hyrule Castle has been rebuilt around/on the former Temple of Time, leaving the sword where it belongs. All of this can also explain why we find the Master Sword in the Lost Woods in AlttP, which is a game that would take place -according to our theory- after BotW.

The races and their evolution

Bronol : About the Koroks : Ico and I believe that the Koroks are actually the Kokiris’ true original form. Okay we know that in WW, it is said that the Kokiris had to turn into Koroks in order to adapt themselves to their new surroundings. However, we encounter the same Koroks in BotW and yet the world has not been flooded as in Wind Waker. This could mean that their Kokiri appearance was actually a way to adapt themselves to a situation. Let me explain… We can notice that the world of Ocarina of Time is very « civilized », there are lots of Hylians. The Koroks would thus be well advised to modify their shape in order to look like « humans » and make the relations easier. But now that Ganon has (more or less) slaughtered the whole Hylian race, they no longer have a reason to keep their human form. They’d better go back to their original form which allows them to hide in the forest etc.

« What’s the connection with AlttP ? » you’ll ask me, since there is no Kokiri or Korok in this game, and there’s no Great Deku Tree either… Well, the answer is simple : they’ll die in BotW (lol) :) We’re pretty sure that the Great Deku Tree will die in BotW and what happens when the Great Deku Tree dies ? The Koroks/Kokiris die too, as Mido tells us in OoT (only in the french version apparently :c )

What about the other races ? First let’s talk about the goron we saw in the trailer. Well this guy looks like… every goron we know. Did you notice that the goron tribe is the only one (along with the Hylians) that doesn’t evolve throughout the ages ? As the years pass, the fewer they are. Take WW for instance which takes place a hundred years after OoT and there are only… 3 gorons left. They don’t fit in this new environment and yet they have not evolved unlike Zoras who turned into Ritos. Talking about Zoras ! We saw them in the latest BotW trailer and we know that they also appear in AlttP but the interesting thing here is that in AlttP… they’re bad guys. And take a look at their design in BoTW. We’re far from the simplistic Zora from OoT or MM, now they look like real warriors, they look like freaking sharks and all… I mean… I would not mess with them if I were you. […]

The role of the Sheikah

Ico : Okay guys, remember that this is only pure homemade theory. Here’s what could possibly happen regarding the Sheikah tribe in BotW. What if the Sheikah were the main antagonists in BotW ? What if they made an alliance with Ganon to invade the kingdom of Hyrule ? We came to that theory thanks to this lil’ guy who’s fighting against Link

[…] Let’s not forget the « Life in the ruins » trailer which starts with a Sheikah eye shedding a tear that turns into a puddle of blood (which evokes war) over which a forest will grow evoking a return to the wild. I don’t think one could make it less explicit. In Ocarina of Time, we learn that there had been a war before the beginning of the game. We don’t know who the enemy was but many theories speculate that it was the Sheikah tribe, which has then been defeated and tortured and humiliated (→ just look at all the torture devices you can find in Kakariko Village’s pit). This theory allows us to (potentially) imagine that the remaining Sheikah would have been banished from the Light World and sent into the Twilight Realm thanks to the Mirror of Twilight, thus becoming TP’s Twilis. We also know that Ganondorf’s main forces (aka the Gerudos) have switched camps and have become our allies after we showed them our badassery back in their fortress. By the end of OoT, Ganondorf had thus no remaining ally and no army and eventhough he is very powerful, it is hard to imagine that he could take over the whole kingdom without armed forces. Why not imagine that Ganondorf could have laid his hands on the Mirror of Twilight and freed the exiled Sheikah who would feel a desire for revenge and side with Ganon put the royal family at risk. That’d be cool, wouldn’t it ? […] But let’s not forget that originally the Sheikah tribe’s main purpose is to protect the royal family and the goddess Hylia, so inevitably some of them would still be on the « good side », like those that we meet in the shrines.

The story of Breath of the Wild

Bronol : Let’s sum this up. At the end of OoT, Link loses against Ganon (not Ganondorf). Despite his death, Zelda and the other sages still manage to seal Ganon away. After the battle, Link’s body is brought to some sort of sheikah sarcophagus to preserve him cause they know that Ganon will eventually come back with the whole Triforce in his possession and that it’s only a matter of time before the seal breaks. They just don’t know when it will actually break and they don’t know if a new Link would have appeared in the meantime. Hence, they prefer to keep the « old one » and resuscitate/revive him, because Ganon must be (and can only be) defeated by an incarnation of the hero.

Ico : […] Knowing that Ganon will eventually escape from the realm, Zelda has to protect the Master Sword and hides it in the last barrier against the malevolent forces, that is to say the Kokiri Forest, protected by the Great Deku Tree. Link will need this weapon to defeat Calamity Ganon. Some years pass (we don’t know how many), the kingdom is being rebuilt step by step and then Ganon comes back. However, Link is probably not ready to wake up yet (for whatever reason) so when Ganon kicks in… Link does not appear. It’s only one hundred years after that Link will finally awaken and discover a wild and completely devastated land, and will meet a new Zelda before setting off on a new adventure, helped by the princess. We can imagine that our hero, the Hero of Time, will have to awaken the sages’ descendants in order to finally seal the evil for good. And yes I said « seal » and not « kill » because this is what is said during the opening scene of AlttP. […]

Bronol : […] If you look closely, you can see that every huge 3D loz game holds a key role in the Timeline :

- Ocarina of Time is the centerpiece of the chronology

- Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild are the three junctions

- Skyward Sword is at the very beginning and relates the origins of the Timeline

And when we realized that (Ico and I) well… we were excited like kids, y’know.

Et voilà ! ᕕ(  °▽° )ᕗ ♥