#i do not care about zelink

[trans-rights-coastalmangoes]

y'all ever have that piece of media that you genuinely really love and it's got a huge active fanbase for it and everything but you can't really engage with the fandom at all because your experience with it was so so different than what other people are posting about

[scopophobia-polaris]

The fact I have to boot up totk AGAIN, honest to God yall after I make this one fuckass post it is au only I am not doing zelda discourse no more

[willyhoos]

final totk verdict.

[lastoneout]

So in botw you(as Link) buy the house in Hateno village and fix it up...but in totk everyone says it's Zelda's house...so we can assume post-Calamity Ganon fight Link absolutely took Zelda back there, and let her live there, and she did for SO LONG that the villagers consider it HER house???

It's very interesting, that's all I'm saying.

[animangalover-writes]

Im not hating on other Zelda ships when I say this, but i truly do not understand the appeal of pairing Zelda or Link with most other side characters. There are some exceptions, as in more understand then others(midna, ruto, medli, groose) but when I see link being paired with someone like malon or ilia, I just can't see it(and yes I'm ignoring the the theory that link ended up with malon). Because the appeal of shipping link and zelda with each other, or certain characters, is that they are the only ones to truly understand what they went through. To me, having them end up with someone normal, having them live a normal life with a normal spouse who could never begin to understand them, is boring. It's not narratively satisfying.

Now look I get it, a lot of people don't like to ship most versions of zelink because they see it as "main boy ends up with main girl" or "hero ends up with princess he saves" and I get that. Normally I hate those sort of ships too, because they're usually so meaningless. They have no chemistry and are just a reward for the hero. But the reason I think it works for zelink is because that's not the point. The point isn't that link gets the girl, in fact the only time he ever "gets the girl" is in the last few seconds of Zelda 2, where it's implied that Zelda kisses him behind the curtain. The point of this game, of their relationship, is that they are forced to be the heros. It was destiny, chosen before they were even born. They were going to be the holders of the triforce, and they were going to save the world together. They had no choice.

Ive talked about it before, how tragic their story is. To forever be doomed to this tale of hyrules saviors, to never have that choice. They are the only two to understand this, the only two to be forced by destiny, by hylia, by demise, to be chosen. They will never have that choice.

And they are the only ones who could ever actually understand that about each other.

Again, no hate to other ships, but the idea that zelink move on with their lives, marrying people who have no idea what they went through? Thats boring, that's even more tragic to me. I understand the whole wanting a normal life thing, the whole "i don't understand what you went through, but I will love you fiercely anyway" thing, but it just doesn't feel satisfying.

In these ships, link settles down and lives a happy life. Zelda marries some random royal and continues their line. But there's something tragic there to me, a love that could never be, or just the idea that their partners would never understand why they get awoken by vivid nightmares or dreams, why they work so diligently to defend their homes, why they always seem to look over their shoulders like their waiting for the next threat.

Yes, they can understand to the best of their abilities, but I've always been more inclined to fall for ships who hold shared trauma, who could wake up next to the other having a nightmare and understand completely, who can comfort them in a way nobody else could.

It just feels frustrating to have this idea of characters we follow so closely, see their journey and pain and trauma, who we watch meet a myriad of interesting characters, end up with the ones who i personally feel would understand them the least out of anyone.

Anyway this isn't meant to crap on any ships, I've seen the fanart, I've read the fics, they're adorable. This is just me being a zelink truther and talking about how I PERSONALLY don't understand the appeal.

So uhhhh where are my fellow lovers of trauma bonded zelink?

[aquanutart]

After saving the land before them Zelda and link were tied and they need to sleep. So they went on there Horse to the Village to Link’s house. As Zelda was so happy she was also glad to know that all that had happened was all in the past.

Zelda was so happy to not be in the Castle trying to stay awake. Everything was fine now she was with Link. When they got about 4 hours away Zelda saw that there were some people out in the distance. She had not seen people in forever she said to link to set up camp for the night and she would go talk to the people and she would come back with some food so they could cook.

Link looked at the people in concern I will be fine just go set up camp he nodded his head. Zelda loved to see the blue sky and the birds and the sway of the grass she never wanted to it to end. When she started talking to the people they were a little of but she just thought that they were excited to see her they just offered bananas to her. All at once she remembered that Link told her about a Yiga clans they would look like a normal person but they were not.

she screamed “Link” he came running at full speed and right on time the Yiga clan members were not the week kind but the much harder to kill ones. One did have a bow though Link killed the one with a sword first but the one with a bow was so fast Link told Zelda to run back to camp she didn’t want to leave him alone but she went behind a big rocks and hid.

Zelda Hurd nothing but a sweet sound of a little bird chirping in the distance. Then she heard a scream it sounded like a link she ran all the way to him the Yiga was not dead but it retreated because it has fulfill its duties. It had shot Link right in the chest with his bow 4 times he was wheezing and gasping for air. Link grabbed two of the arrows and pulled them out. Zelda squinted with fear she knew that it needed to be tended to right away. But all she had was bananas and a small cloth she was watching him grab the other two arrows and he was pulling them out. He Was in a great amount of pain. She tried to talk to him for the very first time she said “ we need to get you to a stable first but we then will rush to Hatnao village”. Link tried to speak but the pain took over.

“shh you need to save your strength right now” Zelda said. She could tell that he Was in A lot of pain. Blood started to turn his clothes red and Zelda new that she will need to hurry or he wouldn’t make it! she said to him can you get on the horse he said. I-can try-to get on…. She was getting so worried that he wouldn’t be able to make it. She helped him get on the horse and they started to ride.

after about an hour or so it started to get worse they were about 20 minutes away from the staple. And he fell off his horse Zelda jumped off and rushed to the side. He was Groaning with pain as much more blood came out. At this time he was as white as the cloud He was barely breathing and struggling when he was. They finally got to a stable she found some cloth and wiped off the wound with some water. He was wincing with pain she didn’t want it to be painful but she wanted to be clean.

she turned one of the horses in so they could ride together in and he can rest. Zelda did not notice how much blood he had Lost buddy was struggling because of the blood loss they were almost to the village about only 30 minutes away when it started to get worse blood was rushing out now and Zelda was worried. The time before his eyes were open but his eyes started the clothes slowly.

Zelda knew it had to be because of blood loss or was that the reason she turned around and stop the horse she put her hand to Link’s for head he had a very high fever. She knew that the fever was going to cause some pain and some discomfort but she knew she had to get to the village that was all of her concern. when she made it to the village people came running out of their houses link was not awake anymore so They took him to his house and laid him down on the bed. Zelda fell asleep on the bedside Well they tend to his wounds.

She was still very worried for him but than her friend pura came in she said check it her normal thing she looked at link and said what happened Zelda explain to the story as pura made some food on the stove for when he woke up and fore them of course. They talked for hours then Link woke up wai-r am I… don’t worry you’re in your house he fell back asleep after about 20 minutes he was obviously exhausted from blood loss and a fever. After he was all better and able to walk again I Zelda and him continue their adventures as one! The end. Thank you so much for your kindness and your help for your love and kindness always gives me energy.��️❤️❤️ I just want to ask if you can draw like a little seen out of this you are such an inspiration to me 😊

Hello! Thank you for all your kind words!! I'm really happy if I can give you energy; thank you for all your kindness and positivity as well! I always see you tagging people just to say nice things to them; it's really sweet and always makes me smile! 😊😊💖

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I really enjoyed reading it!! I don't take requests, but I did imagine this based on your story! (I'm sorry if it's not exactly what you had in mind!)

[thecagedsong]

When I post a chapter, I'm thrilled with every comment. The 'this is so beautiful :')' comments make me want to keep posting and sharing. Even mentioning just one detail a la 'my favorite part was where you made Zelda break a kiss because she realized exactly how much of an idiot Link was, had me laughing', gives me a chance to think oh, it was funny, that part worked like I hoped it would, I'm so happy the feelings I wanted to get across came across.

I'm not hoping for reviews because I expect some epic tolkein-esque poetry, five paragraphs long, showing love of my themes and characters and imagery through a parallel story.

I AM saying that reviewer Silversoul17, who did write my story epic tolkein-esque poetry, five paragraphs long, showing their love of my themes and characters and imagery through a parallel story, actually owns my heart and I wish I was getting married for the sole purpose of inviting them to my wedding and introducing them to my family as 'my friend Silver, who likes videogames and studies tolkein poetry and whom I adore very, very much.'

this is the comment, as it is too good to only be sitting in the comment section of Dear Hero.

This is the rest of the comment, the most important part, the poem! It didn't format right on mobile, but I got it all into tumblr friendly images eventually!

For context and comparison, the poem I left on Silversoul17's comment the previous chapter was just this:

This one is for Silversoul17, because the paragraphs I wrote gushing about the poem was not enough to show how much I loved it. I don't know if you follow me on tumblr, but I'm going to brag about you anyway. (Go ahead and message me/reply to this if you are following me on tumblr, I'd love to follow you back)

[postergadorart]

"No matter where I go to offer aid, Link remains at my side"

ever since i read that in game all i could picture was this

[rotisseries]

OH MY GOD and ganon? like what’s his deal

ok so. again the more recent games don't have much ganon (of the 4 I've played, only totk has ganondorf, the man, and he's not super important story wise beyond being a guy to fight. botw's enemy is ganon, as a miasma creature of hatred, and skyward sword's enemy is demise, who is not ganon. technically. and then link's awakening is not a standard zelda plot. so no ganon) the older games have more ganon, so I'm working with largely secondhand knowledge, but basically... nintendo will not give this man any sort of depth. he has some? in windwaker? to my understanding, i have not finished that one. but windwaker takes place in a hyrule that's been flooded and ganon always has a really long lifespan so he was there when it flooded and his people were suffering and he was trying to protect them idk the specifics and I don’t know how well done it is but it's there. and then in the rest of the games he's just evil for the sake of being evil?? which, if meant to be because he holds the triforce of power is dumb, because if there's three pieces of something the logical story conclusion isn't that one is automatically bad it's that all three should join in harmony. duh. they won't give him a real motivation for evil beyond conquering for conquering's sake, so if he HAS to be evil I think it'd be more interesting if they made him a victim of demise's curse? like, demise's curse demands a vessel for evil, if hylia's descendant always has the triforce of wisdom and her champion always has the triforce of courage, it'd make sense for demise to take the third piece, the holder of power. so like what if. this guy was just trying to be a good person, a good leader, but knowing from history books, from every ganondorf that has come before, and the triangle in the center of your hand, that you are predestined for evil, that hylia's vessel and her champion will cut you down one day. imagine fighting it. imagine being unable to. I JUST THINK IT COULD BE REALLY FUCKED UP. (also imagine a ganon who is on good terms with zelda and link. imagine having to be cut down by your friends. imagine having to cut down your friend)

the real world reason they won't give him any depth though is racism most likely. so. ganon looks like this in ocarina of time (his first appearance as a man, prior games ganon was just a creature again)

I'm sure you already know what zelda and link look like. he's from a desert tribe called the gerudo (a race of all women btw ganon is the only man they have one man born every hundred years they make him king) who are, in oot, referred to as a tribe of bandits and whatnot they just steal and attack you, so it's like. it's pretty obvious what's going on here, and the gerudo are characterized better in botw although their character design is still very orentalist which is an issue that doesn't really show through THIS ganon's design but IS an issue I promise go look up the gerudo women it's the jasmine in aladdin thing all over again. anyway. so. nintendo this man could be so cool and interesting PLEASEEEEEEE

[goldieclaws]

Going off on one with my bf (funny kind) bc I saw a post saying how TP Zelink is so cute XD when that version of Link and Zelda barely interact on a meaningful level and Link clearly has way more chemistry with Midna

Then I remembered Zelinkers are painfully het cis and most make their entire personality about two teenagers who are supposedly destined to be together simply bc they're main characters

[jheselbraum]

Like did Link have regrets and probably some buried resentment for Zelda due to associating her with the events of oot, if mm and tp are anything to go by? Yeah. But let's not pretend that adult timeline Zelda didn't help Mr Kid in an Adult's Body Getting Brothel Jokes Made at Him dodge a fucking bullet. And child timeline Zelda's plan only fell apart because Rauru is an idiot.

You know what's worse than seeing some dudebro blaming OOT Zelda for "ruining Link's life"?

A "Zelink shipper" saying the same thing.

It's like being stabbed in the back lmao

I think not everyone understands her character:(

[jxsterr]

back at it again but this time i’m worked up thinking about zelink and sleeping as a way to deal with all of the trauma of immediate post calamity.

because, realistically, they are both going to be beyond exhausted. that fight took everything they had within them and more—link had been preparing for it for months on end without so much as a proper night’s rest, and zelda had been slaving away for the better part of a century using every ounce of energy within her to keep this beast at bay. so it’s pretty reasonable that the first thing the pair of them are going to yearn for is a bed and some damn good sleep now that blood moons won’t be knocking on the window every few days.

but just hear me out. for the first couple of days going on weeks link’s only priority is making sure zelda is okay. he cooks for her, makes sure she’s drunk enough water, and keeps the bedsheets clean and comfortable for her to collapse into them whenever she wants. she’s essentially bedbound for the first week, only ever able to really sit up to eat for a bit before the waves of exhaustion call for her to come crashing back down against her pillow—whether or not she wants to. she’s in no fit state to do anything, bless her, and he recognises that. he’s exhausted beyond reason himself but someone has to be the one sat beside her bed, ready to soothe the night terrors that inevitably creep their way into her unsuspecting mind. he doesn’t really care either. the woman who has haunted everything he’s come across in this world, whose presence has touched almost every memory he can conjure up, whose spirit he just can’t seem to shake because he knows there’s something there, a reason as to why he can’t help but heed her call no matter what he does, has just returned to him. the only surviving remnant of his past, the only face he so desperately wanted to see smile again for reasons he couldn’t dig up—of course nursing her back to health is his first priority.

but she worries about him too, about her knight turned friend who just won’t stop doing things for her despite the fact that she can see the very consequences of his fatigue etched deep into his skin. she wants so desperately for him to stop for a moment and sit with her and let her do something in amongst it all. he’s so much lighter than he used to be before he died but by hylia herself has he not shed the skin of a warrior. he laughs more, talks with a little less restraint, and pulls out all sorts of ridiculous things he’s accrued across his travels for her to marvel at while sat up in bed—all for shadows to have set so deeply under his eyes and his face to have lost a little bit of that roundness she’d grown so fond of. she can see how much he needs to sleep too, to rejuvenate again even though he would simply argue that all he’s done is sleep. she sees it when she peers over the loft banister and finds him, face against arms, asleep at the kitchen table, or when she wakes up and realises he’s fallen asleep sat on the floor with his head against the mattress again and all she can do is feel guilt that she has his bed and not him.

so one day she has enough. she waits until she’s settled into bed with him on a stool at her side, book in hand, otherwise he’ll fall asleep himself, and she plucks it unceremoniously from his hands and discards it on the bedside table. she waits until he looks at her thoroughly bewildered for her to finally muster up the courage to say, “i need you to sleep, link. i see how exhausted you are, i see how much you push yourself. i feel awful for being the only one in this bed, so please, do me a favour, and sleep beside me,” and stares at him with enough conviction to move mountains that her own eventually concedes and climbs in next to her.

it’s nothing more than two bodies sleeping next to one another for the first few days, but it’s enough that it makes a visible impact on the pair of them. zelda sleeps better, more soundly, with a considerable dip in the number of night terrors, while link himself finally just sleeps for the first time in what feels like years. it does them wonders. so much so, in fact, they sleep away the first two days entirely. link wakes up, groggy, and turns over with the intention of getting out of bed because goddess knows what time it is and she probably needs something to eat—but a sleep-ridden hand moves quick enough to land on his shoulder with something mumbled about ‘don’t leave’ and it’s so sincere and desperate that he gives in and turns back over, only for said hand to only still once it nestles itself against the palm of his hand. he’s too drowsy to even think much of it so he just curls his hand around hers in return until that signature hum of hers rings out to signify that her wants have been quelled.

it continues like that, small increases in physical affection, until it’s the norm to absolutely entangle themselves in one another. until zelda is able to do more around the house but potters down the loft stairs in search of him to tug gently at his arm and tell him that she’s tired—a silent ask to come to bed with her even if it’s the middle of the day—and he obliges every time. it’s nice, being this useless to the world, enough where they can gather as much of themselves as they need to by merely sleeping the days away. until their mornings are signified by the raise of the moon and the slow bleed of pinks and oranges into the sky signalling their retreat to bed.

every nap goes the same, too. zelda scoots herself into the inner side of the bed and lays with arms outstretched, waiting for her knight to come clambering in between them so she may wrap them tightly around his warm body and pull him close until his face is nestled deeply into her chest, protecting him the way she’s always wanted to. she may not be able to wield a sword, but she can protect his open heart for as long as her hand weaves through his locks until she feels his body go slack against her. she likes her corner, he likes the safety of her arms, it works perfectly.

impa doesn’t appreciate just how long it’s taken them to realise they’ve been sleeping away the days for over a month now, and thus are visiting late, but it’s hard to object when her princess is sparkling and link looks more like himself than he ever has.

[lozelinkhyrule]

It's a little off but I don't care I love this fishy couple always worrying about each other 🥹

Why is it it's okay when Zelink does it everyone is head over heels but when they do it oh it's so wrong?

[olderthannetfic]

It's been more than one and a half years since Tears of the Kingdom came out, and I still can't get over how smug and rabid non-shippers got about the "canon" evidence for/against certain ships. But also, how ironically rabit they themselves were about shipping.

Like wow you talk shit about women and their ships and eww how gross that you'd force two dudes with good chemistry to fuck. Meanwhile you guys have been having the dumbest "IT'S CANON!!!" ship-wars about Link with any of the girlies. Bro, if I see another video essay proving that "ZeLink is canon" or "PayaLink!!!" Or whatever... Idk what I'll do but come on, you're just like the fujo girlies.

I think what made me extra eye-rolly was the pettiness about the canon Sidon/Green girl-ship. "Haha your fave ship can't exist." The ship girlies: Continue shipping SidLink. "HOW DARE YOU!"

I think the reason I'm a bit pettier about that one, is that they are so mad about women shipping SidLink that even when you give genuine concrit of the female characters they try to blame it on your shipping. Like me? I don't care that canon created the green girl, I don't care if canon confirms or denies my ships. But my shipping doesn't mean I can't criticise and have issues with characters who feel forgettable and boring, and that became my criticism with several of the girls in this game because they all felt like there was this "Waifu bait" vibe to them.

Anyway long ramble little substance. TotK was kind of a let down in terms of characters. Loved Ganondorf, the gameplay, but dear Lord the story was mid and several of the characters were forgettable and boring.

--

[summonerluna]

For the WIP game, I'm curious about "gloom sickness". The snippet says it's about Puppet Zelda, but it's post-totk, when she'd normally be long gone. I am intrigue

This one is going to be a collab with @sheikfangirl! When we started talking we realized we had a LOT of similar headcanons for how Puppet Zelda affects Link during totk so we started brain rotting on it together and it kind of turned into…a thing. Lol. But yes, it’s post-TotK so the physical form of Puppet Zelda is gone, but it’s going to be largely about Link being a complete disaster from going through all this time searching for her, not taking care of himself, and Puppet Zelda just getting into his head and absolutely destroying his psyche, and then after Zelda comes back, her unraveling everything that he went through. So a lot of back and forth from the post-totk time, to during-totk and Link’s interactions with PZ, what the gloom poisoning is doing to his body during the game and how it impacts his recovery. Multi-POV which I’m excited about because I’ll get to write Zelink interactions and observations from other characters.

I’ve shared a few excerpts from this in various places so apologies if anyone has seen this before.

He is too distracted with his thoughts to notice the sky darkening around him, until he feels his arm starting to throb and thinks it is his vision going dark with pain.

He yells out as the first hand swipes for him. Pulls a rusted sword from his back and slashes forward and the eye in the center of the palm blinks and lunges again, and–

“Let me help you.”

Her voice, cold against the back of his neck.

“Zel–”

Her fingers wrap around his waist and she pulls him against her, and he can see her other hand stretched out in front of them; the hands, all eyeballs and sinew and shadow–follow hers, not retreating; not approaching.

“There, there,” she says. She pulls him towards a rock and he stumbles backwards, and the hands retreat back into the earth. He wants to see her, but her head is pressed against his and she does not yield enough for him to turn and look. “Best avoid this area for awhile, my dear.”

She lets go. He turns as he falls to the ground but she is gone, gone. He sits dazed against the rocks she dragged him to, and decides he must be dreaming again, even though he cannot remember falling asleep.

[keep-looking-to-the-sky-me]

The zelda fandom and homophobia and sexism to shippers

Before you read I'm not trying to say ALL yona defenders, zelink shippers or people who dislike sidlink are homophobic/sexist. This is a 'if the shoe fits' type post but I encourage everyone to read.

A type of homophobia I've seen in the fandom which isn't new to fandom spaces is the idea of wlw vs mlm. Presenting wlw as pure, more genuine and sexless well mlm is just sex and can't be deeper than that. No mlm ships are inherently unpure or immoral, even if they do have a lot of sexual content. spending so much time calling mlm shippers freaks does nothing to support wlw ships. you don't have the right to go on and on about how zelink and sidyona are 'really lesbian relationships' or 'straight ships for gay people' or just gay in general and actively try to push out actual gay ships and gay fans.

Whenever an anti sidlink post or tweet gets popular we see in the comments and likes, hard line conservatives and homophobes agreeing with y'all. I know this is unintentional but with the constant focus of proving why ships between two men are disgusting, you invite those type of people into fandom spaces and making them more unsafe for queer people as a whole.

Me and many others don't like sidlink just for sex. We like them because we like them. The idea that someone has to have a dark alterier motive for liking something is also deeply flawed.

if you can't defend yona from misogyny without resorting to misogyny yourself and demeaning others than your not getting rid of sexism in fandom spaces but adding to it. You don't get points for demanding woman for their personal interests. You're not helping the character by calling people who dislike her or ship sidlink bitches, slut, fujos, coomers,fetishist,groomers, cum-for-brains,cumdumpsters, dickriders or literal slurs(all things that I've seen). inorder to be a good feminist you have to care about the feelings of real life people more than a cartoon stingray and realize misogyny affects every one in fandom, including people who ship things that you dislike.