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transskywardsword · 2 years

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i saw your tags about disliking flirty sleazy hw link, but what's your opinion on a more nuanced take on it? taking the flirtiness and 'prettyboy' characterisation and putting some depth to it. This is admittedly more about Warriors lu than hw Link (i'm very slow at getting through games unfortunately and thus have little info on the game itself), but i think that is where a lot of that characterisation started outside of him simply being pretty in the game? i've seen a lot of writing of him where people have really delved into WHY he's flirty and such, and i do have my own thoughts.

this might get uhh rambly hes my blorbo so i apologise if any of it is hard to understand lol

one aspect of it i think is the recognition and idea that beauty and attraction is something that can be weaponised and used to your advantage. obviously this is seen with: all of Cia and her obession with link (i do think his pretty looks is partly why she goes for him over others in these characterisations). so in turn Warriors knows it's a powerful tool and uses it to his advantage - presenting himself in a very specific way that makes him look the best, both for his men and as a barrier of sorts. if he's put together on the outside he's put together on the inside. it's also probably one of the few things he can control in war, making sure his scarf is perfectly positioned and his hair is neat and his sword is clean: the perfect image of the hero. I also think its a coping mechanism, this control.

another aspect i've seen is that his flirtiness and womanizer reputation is less sleeping around, and more not being able to handle romantic commitment, which is very interesting to look into, especially considering again, Cia's business. It makes sense that someone who has been told they're great and powerful (and had the rise and fall of that ego boost) has confidence, yet someone who has had that weaponised against them is wary of letting people in, especially in the context of relationships. that is often a vulnerable position, having someone know you, and with Cia's 'personal space issues' it makes sense he'd want to be in control of a sexual/flirty situation (by flirting and making the moves) yet not actually commit to any of it when the opportunity arises (touch averse, ptsd, etc).

a lot of it seems to be about a sense of control, and how quickly it feels you lose that once you feel you cannot control the surface level presentation you put forwad. he has a reputation of being a womanizer - a war started bec a girl liked him! - and thus he keeps it up to keep in control of the situation.

i also dislike the one dimentional playboy warriors/hw link characterisation, but this is what i usually do with it when writing and just rotating him in my head. if you have any info about hw link in particular that reinforces/contradicts any of this i'd be happy to hear it! and your general thoughts (dw too much about spoilers, my autism craves blorbo info over potential story spoilers and it'll be a while before i get to most of it anyway). i do also see Warriors lu and hw Link as two seperate characters, and am interested on where the deviation in characters they are, its always super intruiging to see where the differences are.

also, i hope you are having a good day/night! you got a cool blog :3

matching blorbo!! i am always down to talk abt hw link, i would die for that man.

now im gonna start w this disclaimer: im not the biggest fan of wars characterization in LU, mostly bc he's not that developed and the fandom took what little they had and ran with it in a direction i dont like. that's no hate to any fans or ppl who do like him, he just isnt my cuppa tea! i 100% see him and hw link as diffrent characters bc to me too much doesnt line up

so my dislike of the 'cocky overconfident sleazy flirty pretty boy' characterization comes to the oversimplification of the few traits we have (bc you're right, there isn't much to go on haha. hw is not known for its characterization), a lack of interest people seem to have in his and cia (and by extension lana)'s relationship and the trauma it causes, and people just relying on stereotypes instead of building character. we know a few things for sure from the game & out of game material: link has a strong sense of justice, he acts before he thinks to an extent, he is a tad overconfident (which bites him in the ass and he has to learn to grow from), he's kind, and can talk to fairies. it's not a lot to go off of, so i understand when people tend to grab onto a few stereotypes and not go anywhere from there but i think that does his character a disservice.

1)on the pretty boy thing: is link gorgeous? absolutely. he's the Prettiest Link by sure, just look at him. he's wearing fuckin eyeliner. but i think people look at that character design and turn it into meaning he obviously must be vain or self-centered. i'm fine with someone characterizing him as caring about his looks; i agree that he probably does to an extent-- no one runs around with something as much of a hazard as that scarf is (it's a wonder he wasn't strangled with it) in a warzone without being somewhat connected to your appearance-- but i feel like if you're going to write him as the 'pretty boy' it should be done like you idea was, with actual characterization in mind, and not like, okay his game model is hot so he must be obsessed with himself. i actually really, really like the ideas you gave abt stability and coping through self-expression btw, i think that's a great idea and i can completely see it. my problem with the 'vain pretty boy' characterization mostly comes from that i think of link as dealing with a lot of discomforts with his body over knowing that his looks are part of the reason why cia attacked; i figure that knowing that being attractive is part of the reason why people are dying (even tho it is 100% no his fault) would totally fuck up your relationship with yourself. i think that his appearance is something he takes care in as a coping mechanism while also being something he completely dissociates himself from. nothings gotta hurt like someone seeing you as purely the 'self-absorbed pretty soldier' when, in your opinion, you being the 'pretty boy' is costing people lives. i think his view of himself and his body is wrapped up in trauma so when people jump to 'oh he has eyeliner he must be completely obsessed with his appearance' instead of examining it further it makes me twitch.

(also, unimportant, but the reason i think cia chose him was because he resembles the first hero the most, and since the first hero is the ultimate form of the hero's spirit, link is the next best thing. she obv can't go after the first link, he's hylia's boyfriend, but this link is right there for the taking)

2) okay next point: playboy link. i also agree with your characterization! i just think that unfortunately, it isn't a very common one. so im like 97% sure that the flirty characterization came for LU, as there is like. no basis for it in game, and i think that a majority of people write it totally wrong. racist implications of a toxic dark-skinned woman chasing after a white man aside, link was stalked. he was sexually harassed and objectified. he had to go fight in a castle with his face fuckin plastered on it-- a war was started bc cia was obsessed and wouldn't respect consent, that's a big fucking deal, and i feel like people don't acknowledge that it is? that must mess with your sense of self, control, consent, agency, trust, etc so, so badly. i feel like sooo much of the flirty characterization 1) turns sleazy, which i see as wildly ooc, esp given his history with consent 2) glosses over the effects of trauma completely. any kind of relationship he's going to have for a long, long time during and post-war, friendship, sexual, or romantic, is going to be affected by cia. cia is likely something he's going to struggle to cope with his entire life. i see it as deeply warping his ideas of consent and causing a significant amount of self-worth problems. and so many people go 'okay he sleeps around' and stop there. it does a disservice to him. if you want him to be a flirt, you have to acknowledge his trauma, ya know?

3) completely cocky link. okay so we know that link is headstrong and acts before he thinks. we know this for a fact. as a private, he abandons his post at the castle to go and fight, and then in the same battle rushes off on his own to protect impa and takedown volga, an extremely stupid idea that would have gotten him killed if he didn't have the spirit of the hero. the fact that volga didn't roast him alive is a fucking miracle. @ link pls use your brain. we also know that he got overzealous when he drew the master sword. he saw his troops as invincible serving under the blade of evil's bane, which has slight validity tbh, it is the master sword after all, but then two things happen that i think really led to him changing himself as a person: dark link & the turn coats. so dark link is flat out a reflection of his negativities and having to fight it was a fuckin slap in the face that what he was doing was foolish and wrong. the turn coats also served to show him that he was very much not invincible. so between the two of those, i think he had a lot of growth. making him a cocky ass ignores that growth completely unless you acknowlage the world around him

also, on the fairies: fairies are good judges of character. i don't think he'd a bestie to the fairies who can talk to them in their own language and chills with the great fairy if he was a total ass

okay i think im finally done word dumping but uhhh i love this man so much. so so much. i adore him and i just want people to put thought into him when they write him bc there is SO much to explore if you just look

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