#i'm 80% sure link would become an alcoholic after this shit

[rancher-dan]

I don’t think enough people talk about how young Link is (in botw is what I’m mainly focusing on because there are some games where he’s literally 5 and then there are some games where he’s 35 and has a part-time job and a bachelors degree in economics) because he is very young. He’s 17, i think, which is an adult but definitely young when you take into account that he is destined to save the world. I’m sorry but 17-year-old couldn’t even handle the stress of his APChem homework let alone saving the world.  Like, math homework is stressful, book reports are stressful, midterms are stressful, fighting a battle against a pig demon 120x your size with nothing but a magic sword, a bird, a big lady with sparkle fingers, a rock guy, a shark, and the supposed-to-be magical descendant of a goddess is mentally scarring. If you think about this enough, which I have...Clearly, it gets to the point where you realize this poor little guy is falling apart at the seams. 

Not only did he go through all of that stress but then, after almost dying and being comatose for a hundred years, he’s thrust into a world he knows nothing of where everyone but a shark guy and a community of talking root vegetables wish he had died during that fight  which he still isn’t sure he actually fought in until, of course, you realize that he would be remembering the nitty gritty of the fight (because there are memories of the fight but those are mostly with Zelda, think of what he remembers without her or any of the champions) and it keeps him awake at night. 

Which brings us to the fact that Link is entirely and completely alone on this journey with no one to talk to because, yes, fanfiction that’s slightly canon divergent likes to have this sweet little thought that Zelda is there or, maybe sometimes, the Champions are there or Sidon comes along but No. In the actual game he’s alone. He has nobody on his entire jounrey throughout Hyrule he has no one to talk to, cling to when he cries, to bring him out of panic attacks, he has nobody. Yeah, he’s got Impa and Purah and Robbie, Sidon, Riju, Yunobo, Teba, he’s got all of them but when you think about all the responsibilities he has, all the things he has to do and fights he has to win, he can’t go and visit them. So he’s alone for the months, years, who knows how long, riding across Hyrule fighting Lynels and Hinoxes and Guardians all up until the final boss fight where he as to fight the pig demon again and then, after he wins if he wins, then what? Hyrule is still a desolate wasteland, all of his friends and family are still dead. I guess he could start all over but how can he start a new life when he can’t even remember his past one? How can he rebuild his home if he doesn’t even feel at home when he touches the vine covered ruins of Hyrule? He diesn’t feel the least bit wistful nor determined to fix things because ho can he when all he feels is hollow????

All of this! ALL OF THIS! Would be horrific to experience as an adult now you have to multiply that buy google plex to get how horriffying that is for a child. Can botw2 be the last loz game please? My baby needs some rest. Or maybe we could compromise and he could have a sweet game where he and Zelda run around and take pictures of flowers with the Sheikah slate and Link HIYAH’s down a forest and builds them a log cabin where they sit and knit scarves.