#i have the feeling the older daughter of ganondorf being also the queen first child is a brainfart rather than a good idea

[ganondoodle]

so, after this phase of depression, i am back at too many ideas at once and getting overwhelmed by all of it bc i cant do it all and dont know how to decide which one to focus on or which ones actually good and not just a brainfart

(so, some more botw2/totk rewritten ideas-

mostly text but i am unsure what to actually work on and draw or if its even any good, so id be very happy to hear your opinion on some of this qoq)

-was thinking about designing the sonau even though they might not show up physically, to keep their mystery alive, but i am playing with the idea of a dead one preserved in crystal in a larger cave, perhaps their last stronghold, i like the thought of them being rather small monkey like creatures with long tails that end in a light fern looking thing

--been also thinking more about the ancient queen zeldas and ganondorfs relationship bc i feel its compelling for them to have had a much more personal grudge agaisnt each other than i previously planned, gives more weight to everything-

though it is mostly background stuff that is not directly shown in the game, except for environmental storytelling -which botw was pretty good at- and diary entries you can discover (perhaps finding it and then telling riju and a gerudo researcher about it since it would be in ancient script zelda hadnt encountered before?), current thought was to have there be a secret lair that one of ganondorfs daughters used to live in after the sealing disaster sent both kingdoms into conflict, and with their mother dying in battle the eldest daughter would surrender and agree to whatever the princess of hyrule demanded, while the younger one would not bow down and those that followed her split off to live in the gerudo highlands, like another reoccuring theme with this being the prescursor to what happens with the shiekah and yiga later- of those are none left by this time (or should there?) and the diary of the younger daughter talks about her fathers secret hideout having being sealed shut as a sign of respect- it is inaccessible due to the structures beign damaged, but its serving as a hint there will be more; it will be made accessible after the mid game fight with ganondorf, in which you see the scene of the sealing, and he changes his position from hyrule castle that fell into the underground to the innards of the plateau- that being the final dungeon- in his room, might also be a part of his diary, at least from his younger days, and a bracelet of obviously hyrulian origin, which is meant to imply-

that the ancient queen zelda and him were in love once when they were both younger, though neither really acted on it (noble families pressures and conflictions yippie) until it was decided she would be married to a young knight of a noble hyrulian family, as it had been per tradition, after which they would not be able to visit each other anymore in the way they sued to as her father wanted her to prepare to take the throne and was way more strict than before, with one last meeting in that secret chamber and her leaving a bracelet there as a gift-

now heres the problem i ran into, that they had feelings for each other and used to be very close, as well as both having their own families later on is pretty solid and i want to keep all that but i also randomly thought about weaving the drama further (in that noble families kind of way especially, though again this would only be mentioned in his diary entry from the secret room you unlock, and since his younger daughter doesnt mention anything at all save for makign a point about not rummaging through her late fathers things out of her deep respect for him, its pretty clear she didnt know and neither did anyone else except for ganondorf himself and perhaps his mothers, this is all meant to make all of these characters have more depth even with getting little to literal no screentime, not to be a big focus)- so there was the stray idea of the ancient queen having a daughter 'just' after being married to that hyrulian knight.. and it being obviously not his, but gerudo, as gerudo traits are rather dominant(i think?) and the knight and ganondorf look nothing alike, so to avoid any sort of royal disaster that daughter would be secretly given to ganondorf to raise instead (which he would gladly do), and the official story being it was stillborn (the whole thing being worked out by a few maids sworn loyally to their queen .. im torn about the queen herself knowing or not tbh or if that even matters in the grand scheme of things (though i do like the idea of her knowing but acting like it is nothing to live up to being a wise and proud queen now thats shes under that pressure, she would change alot during her time of reign, going from that more typical unsure of herself but trying her best princess to a self confident cold and calculating queen, maybe he could even make a short remark about it), again this is still just vaguely implied background details most wouldnt even find out about, i just .. like to think about the background of things that make sense and give more weight to it all but arent what it revolves around and its neither essential to know, might as well be one of those things people would likely hear about in youtube videos)

i didnt find or dont know if theres any rule that princess zelda cant have siblings (i think she had a brother once but idk that may be different about sisters is the question) bc ganondorfs older daughter then not awakening any special (zelda reserved) powers could be simply bc she wasnt trained to do so (perhaps she would be able to hear things like zeldas often do but that too being only mentioned offhand) and him just not putting any focus on royal hyrulian traditions, it could be a secret rite too and honestly .. why would he try to train her to be the traditional princess of hyrule, awakening powers that are reserved for the hyrulian royals would make everything go haywire in terms of the secret about her mother, though im worried it would seem like her being gerudo is seen as 'tainted' instead, like she isnt a 'real' or 'pure' zelda and that being the reason, which somethign i do not like at all

either way that second part is purely an idea that i am 50/50 about using since its really not a big deal in the end and ultimately doesnt change much except make their relationship a bit more messier

---ahem, anyway, i also decided i wanted to model most sky islands after this one photo in my collection since it looks cool and would make sense to have these island be worn down by constant winds

---- i also want to flood the tabantha canyon with the forgotten temple and considered actually breaking of some pieces of landmass, like it is now a giant island, imagine akkala a kilometer away from the mainland for example, it wouldnt inherently change much about the structure but it would make it feel alot more different and provide good ground for different kinds of interactions since the people there would need to adjust to that, you can melt ice around the riot region easier than you can reattach a broken off giant piece of land after all

[bluesdesk]

ZELDA HEADCANONS

Sun:

-- considers "Zelda" and "Hylia" as 2 different identities. When she has to act as Hylia (to give a serious order, to do some magic...), she moves her fringe to her left side. Also when Sky makes her angry in a discussion she is like: "remember I can be Hylia!" and  not "remember I'm Hylia"

-- she wears shorts under her dresses, she would be pretty uncomfortable without them.

-- She has a very strong personality, like a girlboss, and she's as chaotic as Tetra

-- She's Hylia, and so she must handle magic pretty well. Also Sky didn't have problems, if not more frequent nightmares and lightning scars and fear of thunderstorms... But "fear of thunderstorms" doesn't even count! However, she noticed her hair became lighter near the tips, and wavier.

-------------

Dot:

-- the girly princess? No way! She grew up with Four, she's a smith too, she loves adventures and festivities. The fucsia jacket is a hoodie (she covers the hood with her cloack), she wears leggings and seakers nunder the dress, that's actually a high waisted long skirt she can remove

-- her hair is kinda orangey! Also it's pretty long

-- she's a relative of Four! In the italian version of Minish Cap she refers to Link's grandpa as "uncle Smith". This might mean Smith is her uncle, grand-uncle or greta-granduncle? Dot's mom might be Smith's younger sister for example.

-- She had a pretty simple life before MC and FS.  Dot had learnt some magic because of the whole "descendant of a goddess" thing. Not much, and she preferred to not use it. So, when she got petrified by Vaati's magic, she got the signs of it. Her hands and feet are as small as when she was 12 (MC), and her hair got way straighter than before. And when Vaati kidnapped her, she got some eye markings, like tattoos, on her arms.

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Lullaby:

-- genderfluid! But their father doesn't really support them and when they feel like a boy they just become Sheik and go in the woods or at Lon Lon!

-- They have a tanned skin and dark blonde hair

--They do want to be a mom though. Dusk is their daughter!

-- They can handle magic well, but Lullaby turned into Sheik for the first time when they were really young, and this had an impact on them. Their blue eyes became red with the Sheik mask (yeah I headcanon it as a mask!), and the repetitive use of it made their eye color turn from blue to violet even when they're "Zelda". They also got a sheikah eye symbol on their left eye, which they cover with their hair.

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Dusk:

-- She grew up with her grandpa (Lullaby's father)

-- She has Lullaby's skin color! Also she's thin and tall

-- She  didn't attend a royal/exclusive school but went at Twi's same one so they were friends as kids. She also studied swords and archery!

-- She simply didn't recognize Twi as a wolf, she thought he had become a spirit, because she didn't know he had the triforce too!

-- When Ganondorf turned her into his puppet, her skin became pale, and she had those black scars/signs and her eyes turned yellow. Her light power kinda healed this, but she now has light brown eyes, that turn blue when she's really happy and yellow when she's angry. Her skin color changed back to normal but her lips are always more violet than normal and she still has those black scars.

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Artemis:

-- Dusk's great-great-granddaughter! She has a similiar face, but her colors are different. Also she has chubbier legs.

--When the war started, she took the master sword and trained with it, until Impa told her she had to leave it for the next hero

-- She's been training with magic for a long time, since she can really use it perfectly, and she masters different kinds of magic. Every scar/sign she got is from the enemies' weapons, and not magic

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Flora:

-- She refused the whole princess/goddess thing, she just refers to herself as a scholar, researcher and adventure.

-- she loves Sheikah clothing!  She has stealth lessons with Paya

-- she tries to imitate Wild's cooking in secret, but she refuses to admit it because of the "powerful hero/ useless princess" thing

--She has also been training a lot with magic, and when she sealed herself and Calamity Ganon, her powers were awake. But being sealed for 100 years, with constant light powers on, and Calamity Ganon surely did something. The constant light made her photosensitive, and her hands are burnt, not as badly as Wild's face of course, but you can recognize they are. The usage of a newly awakened magic, for so long time and with that intensity made her unable to use magic for the next years after she came back, and if she'll ever get her magic back, it'll be only few.

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Tetra:

-- She grew up knowing her name wad Tetra. She didn't know it was just a nickname, so for her "Zelda" is a nickname she doesn't even like. In the italian version of WW/PH, her name is Dazel. She prefers Dazel over Zelda when she has to do royal stuff.

-- even as Zelda her skin is dark and her hair is all curly

-- Wind's grandma loves her and already adopted her in her mind XD but she keeps telling her she needs warmer clothes and she also gives her lots of Wind's clothes that became too small for him

-- she has blonde freckles on her dark skin, Aryll says she's a starry night

-- chubby!!

-- She had never heard of magic before her first adventure, so you might imagine she must have taken it really badly. She has a messed up sleping schedule and she falls asleep in the strangest ways, positions, and times. One second she's arguing with you, the next moment she's asleep, even if she's on her feet, this thing can get dangerous for her so she always brings someone (mostly Wind) with her. She has scratches everywhere from her petrification too, and being petrified surely didn't help with her previous situation.

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Fable:

-- she loves to wear pink and sky blue together! Pink is her favorite color and sky blue represents the goddess. She's a fan of jewels too!

-- Don't touch her hair, she'd get mad!

--Legend's step sister and somehow twin! She and Legend have different mothers and the same father (the father became a king after the marriage with Fable's mom, the queen). Oddly enough, they were born the same day of the same year.

-- She knows how to use a sword but she mostly uses magic and she can kick pretty well!

-- She can use magic almost perfectly, like Artemis! However, being in a painting gave her some lighter/"discolored" spots on her skin, pretty much like vitiligo. Just few spots, as she could handle that magic well too.

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Aurora:

-- a child. She's like 10/12. A pretty smart kid!

-- redhead, tanned skin, curly hair and lots of freckles!

-- autistic, her stims are most likely jumping and moving her arms! She loves springs and water in general, she could spend her entire days with fairies in a spring! Pretty enthusiastic about literally anything too!

-- she sees Hyrule as an older brother

-- She had negative memories about her brother, and giving the adjective "brother" to Hyrule is  like turning the page, seeing that adjective with a new meaning

--The poor kid often thinks her dreams are reality. She has problems in distinguishing vivid dreams from reality as she had been asleep for too much. On the other hand, she barely sleeps.

----------------

BONUS:

Phantom/Angel (Spirit Tracks!):

As the great granddaughter of Tetra, Phantom and Link should be related (One of Spirit and one of Phantom's parents must be cousins) Unless Spirit isn't the great grandson of Tetra and Wind... but maybe the great grandson of Aryll instead! This would explain why Spirit is in contact with the pirate crew but not royal, and since their first common relative is so distant (Wind and Aryll's parents) they wouldn't be considered as related and the fact they didn't know each other before would have more sense

-- She took her personality from Tetra AND Wind: her will to help and be a hero too, still being a bit sassy, and a little rebel (escaping from the castle). She's like, a perfect mix of their personalities.

-- As for her design, she has wavy hair, a slightly tanned skin (she's not dark skinned, unlike Tetra), she loves earrings and she has a lot of them!

-- She wasn't used to magic, she knew that but not too much, so being a phantom and leaving her body because of said magic had an impact on her. Her eyes were originally dark blue like Tetra, but they're now pink to purple and yellow! Her skin got lighter after ST, and so she wears makeup to seem less pale. Her eyes get irritated easily (red eyes when possessed) and she spaces out a lot, sometimes she has dissociative events

[howtodrawyourdragon]

There is a whole other story beneath Twilight Princess’ main plot- [1/3]

And it explains why the children of Ordon were taken in the raid.

They were taken because King Bulblin was searching for Link.

[Part Two]

[Part Three]

Okay, but hear me out for a second here, I come with a theory that I think really makes sense and it can possibly answer a few question in the plot of the game.

Why were the children of Ordon taken? (You Are Here)

Why was Link, after his first transformation, still taken as well?

Why was he taken to Hyrule Castle of all places?

And more.

Now, before I begin, which are some of the games we tend to associate with Twilight princess chronologically? Ocarina of Time. Which is the other game that also serves as a sequel to Ocarina of Time? Wind Waker.

I bring these two games up because there is a notable difference between these three incarnations of Link that I want to bring up before I continue.

OoT: Link receives the Triforce of Courage due to Ganondorf’s attempt at making a wish, causing the Triforce to break into three.

WW: Link earns the Triforce of Courage after finding all eight broken pieces found scattered in the ocean.

TP: Link is born with the Triforce of Courage.

Remember this detail.

(Video for reference from NintenU on YouTube)

Why were the children of Ordon taken?

First of all, what do we know of their abduction?

(Timestamp for video: 11:00)

We know that they were taken right before the Light Spirit Ordona was to lose their light as we know from the same cutscene that Faron was already cloaked in darkness. We also know that only the children were taken and nobody older than Ilia.

When Link is concerned we can only make assumptions whether he was meant to be taken, too. As, while he is knocked out cold by a bulblin, we see King Bulblin enter the spring as well and then not notice that Link is even there. He just blows his horns and hauls ass after a portal opens up. So whether Link was actually meant to be taken, too, is something that we can’t quite answer from the scene presented to us.

(Timestamp for the lines: 44:33)

When Link reunites with Colin, Beth, Malo, and Talo after light is returned to the Eldin Province, Colin and Malo tell Link that the bulblins had left them for dead somewhere far enough away from home for Renado to find them. The children aren’t injured either and Twilight Princess isn’t exactly above showing us injuries or even violence towards children.

We’ve seen Rusl covered in blood and bandages. We’ve seen him limp his way through Ordon when he hears Wolf Link in the distance and then later can be found sleeping deliriously on the sofa of his home.

And them being kids doesn’t spare them either as we see young Ralis (very likely) near death when we hurry him to Kakariko Village. His mother, the late-queen Rutela, states “I feel it. His presence grows fainter to me over time.” This most likely means that Ralis is losing his life.

(video for reference from Psuedo Twili, timestamp: 2:04)

And if you remember the cutscene in which King Bulblin charged through Kakariko Village, Colin wasn’t exactly left unscathed as he was run over and knocked out cold for the entire duration of the fight between King Bulblin and Link and then later found resting in bed with Beth and Luda looking after him.

The bulblins aren’t above hurting children, yet, instead of harming them any further, they choose to simply abandon the children instead. If they were harmed any more than they already have been, the game would have shown us.

It is also interesting to note from the Queen Rutela cutscene, that the Zora’s were raided, too, but their child, Prince Ralis, was not taken. This is a striking contrast, compared to the raid on the human village of Ordon, where the children were taken. Though, admittedly, this is possibly because they were raided by the Shadow Beasts and not the bulblins.

So what do we know?

The children of Ordon were taken, nobody older than Ilia (or presumably, older than Link)

They were brought all the way to the Eldin province, which is far far away from home.

Abandoned, left for dead. This makes their abduction strange and out of place, without reason.

Not physically harmed, from what we can see.

With these facts summed up, we have to wonder why the bulblins would steal people from their homes if they are just going to abandon them in the middle of nowhere anyway. What is the point? Why go through all that trouble of kidnapping them? (Besides moving the plot forwards and giving Link reason to set out, of course) And why do I claim that the Triforce of Courage has something to do with this?

Let’s begin with why I would bring up the fact that TP Link was born with his piece of the Triforce.

(Timestamp: 1:42:20)

Well, we’ve seen the cutscene with the Sages. We’ve seen that they attempted to execute Ganondorf themselves, believing themselves capable of bringing justice to the King of Thieves. But that it was a foolish attempt as Ganondorf, in what they call a divine prank, possesses the Triforce of Power and uses it to revive himself. Whether this was a conscious decision or not, we don’t know and for this theory it doesn’t really matter too much.

Now, the reason why this Ganondorf, which is canon to be OoT’s Ganondorf, has the Triforce is because OoT Link was sent back in time with his piece. We saw in the very last cutscene of OoT that the mark of the Triforce is on his hand, meaning that he traveled back with it still in his possession.

With TP Link stated to be his descendant by blood more than once in-game, it is natural that the Triforce would be passed down through Time’s bloodline until it eventually reached Twilight. What happens with the Triforce after Twilight is a mystery.

(I’m not familiar with Four Swords Adventure’s story, so I don’t know if the Triforce really makes an appearance in that game)

With Courage already gone, it caused Wisdom and Power to break apart and go to their respective holders as well. Wisdom, of course, to Zelda. Power to Ganondorf. (Link being sent back in time with Courage, may also explain why this particular piece is in literal pieces in WW. Or maybe it was explained why you had to find the individual pieces and I just don’t remember.)

We know that it is canon now that the Triforce tends to break apart under certain circumstances. I.e when evil touches the Triforce or when a piece is already missing, as was the case in TP, WW and presumably at the end of OoT. We also know that the former fact is a known fact, at least for those who know the Triforce and are familiar with its lore.

Knowing this, would it really be farfetched for Ganondorf, who already knew exactly where and how to find the Triforce in OoT, to look at the back of his hand, see one of the pieces of the Triforce there, and conclude that there are two others with the other pieces? I don’t think so, with how much Ganondorf already knew of the Triforce.

For one of the pieces, the most obvious choice would be someone of the Hyrulean royal family. Hyrule is where people know the entrance to the Sacred Realm to be at, tales say that is where the three Golden Goddesses made their exit after creating their world, leaving the Triforce at that exit that is now the Sacred Realm. It is even the reason why Ganondorf is so set on taking Hyrule, of all places, because it is The land of the Triforce.

But with Wisdom (presumably) already found, where would the third missing piece go?

Well, what are the chances Ganondorf knew OoT Link was in possession of one? That OoT Link, upon attempting to convince Hyrule’s King of Ganondorf’s treachery, was forced to show Courage as proof? If the King doesn’t even believe his own daughter, what are the chance he would ever believe Link without the Triforce?

Maybe this is how Ganondorf found out the third bearer was Link? A ten-year-old boy in possession of one of the three golden triangles isn’t exactly something that would stay under the radar of someone with a deep desire for said Triforce.

But before Ganondorf even realizes he has Power, he is captured (at a much later age than he is shown in OoT, btw), executed, and sent to the Twilight Realm when Power revives its holder.

Years pass, so many that the former Gerudo King is completely forgotten by everyone except for the five remaining Sages who banished him as a last resort.

In the meantime, Ganondorf, believing himself Hyrule’s rightful king because “the Triforce chose him”, figures out there are two others with Triforce pieces, remembers that this one boy was one of them. And then Zant comes along and Ganondorf sees a way to return.

Presumably, the first place Zant takes in Ganondorf’s name is Hyrule. It leads to Zelda surrendering instead of choosing to sacrifice the lives of her people in a battle with an enemy she clearly recognizes as powerful. Keeping Zelda hostage in her own castle, it is possible GanonZant find out she is in possession of Wisdom. The very reason she is still alive and kept well is most likely because of the Triforce. (but this is only a guess)

If Zelda can use hers to sense which magic Wolf Link has been cursed by after the Lakebed Temple, maybe Zantdorf can sense she has Wisdom?

And then their question remains; Where is Courage?

What if Ganondorf still remembers that young boy even know? Knows that it is possible for even a Hylian of low beginnings to have it as well? What if King Bulblin and his bulblins were approached by Zant, under Ganondorf’s instruction, and told to pillage each of Hyrule’s villages in search of the final one bearing the mark of the Triforce? Right before each of the Light Spirits had their light stolen?

King Bulblin, in their last confrontation, tells Link that they “follow the strongest side”. That this is “all they have ever known”. That makes them sound more like a mercenary type of group, people following those they consider “the strongest” unless the other side can prove himself more powerful, which Link does.

What if this is the reason why Ordon’s children were taken for seemingly random reasons? Because King Bulblin was actually "hired” and told to search Hyrule for Courage? For Link? Maybe he was even specifically told to look for children? Much like how, in Wind Waker, young girls with pointy ears were hunted down and kidnapped by the Helmaroc King?

It is interesting to remember that this very similar plotline started Wind Waker’s main game. Link started his journey to save his younger sister, who was kidnapped in Ganondorf’s search for Zelda.

It would, in my opinion, explain why the kids were taken and then just randomly left for dead without really physically harming them, in spite of the game clearly not being above hurting children and showing injury. Or it would explain why that horse battle scene after Colin’s second abduction went the way it did.

But I’ll come to that particular part in Part Three.

[Continued on Part Two]