#if link and zelda are ''her puppets'' then by all means she's a puppet of the higher gods as well...

[fourspiceblend]

Mentally rambled to myself yesterday about Hylia lore and how I find it fitting that the latest games should show how revered she is in Hyrule and how the land and people should be named after her as she was their sole beacon of hope as opposed to the creator goddesses who abandoned their people and instead created a servant for the sole purpose of maintaining the peace when they couldn't be bothered.... Left a sacred power that could grant any wish and went "nope, not my problem, it's YOUR job now".... didn't write any of it down. Hoping I remember most of it later today. My girl WILL be free

[echoesofwisdomcountup]

ONCE AGAIN 27 DAYS LEFT. Here is the new Trailer.

My thoughts in order:

Rip Zelda loosing her dad to the rift too

Into the rift we go and OMG SHADOW LYNEL

The Still World looks so cool. It gives me Twilight Princess vibes because of the petrified people.

Rude I wanted to see Zelda open up the chest

Setting the tree on fire and moving it was creative. I like the little taste of puzzles they are showing us.

Did Zelda… did she take a nap during the boss fight?? LMAO. I wonder if it heals you like when you sit in Skyward Sword. Zelda sleeping in the middle of battle and Link eating a three course meal in the middle of battle. I love them. (edit: It is for healing. Someone has informed me that you can hear the healing noise happen then and her hearts go up.)

All the environments look so fun. Still World regions that possibly reflect the overworked regions. I want to discover their secrets.

Boss Key chest spotted!!

A moving platform echo? How interesting.

Oh what was that spiral wind enemy? Not sure I recognized that one.

Not the angler fish out of water oof. If it works it works

Zelda you almost dipped ur toes in lava

Was that a jelly fish echo?? When she went up the water spout thing?

SWORD FIGHTER FORM (cough For everyone complaining about Zelda not having a sword, I bet you’re feeling foolish now huh cough)

Zelda in Link’s clothes and she’s holding the sword in her left hand and even does the little hyah

The hyah sounds like an echo, like I can hear Link's voice too. It’s like Zelda is channeling the spirit of Link. I freaking love it. 10/10 decision Nintendo

Hmm energy collection. It’s like the magic gauge. Also I wonder what the Lv 1 is for. Does that mean you can upgrade the size of the bar??

DAMPE IS BACK. Oh he’s making robots now? Good for him. Wonder how much they’ll cost tho.

What the heck was that slime monster thing?

Acorn guy… not as bad as tingle

Dojo Master (ah he’s back again). Wait why is the katana in the back sparkling? Can you use echo on it?

Parachute?? Oo do we get one?

GERUDO!! GORONS!! CATS!! GREAT FAIRIES!!

SHE CAN HIDE IN A POT

Did that water slime thing get bigger in the rain? Wonder what kinda puzzle that’s for

Yes fairy in a bottle

Oh shit they brought Volga back. Nice

PUPPET LINK!! WHAT HAVE I BEEN SAYING. LITERALLY JUST REBLOGGED THAT ANIMATION LESS THAN A WEEK AGO AND BEEN HOPING FOR THIS. WE CALLED IT GUYS.

In conclusion, I need this game right now.

[strawbbseason]

‼️ totk spoilers ahead (post-crisis at hyrule castle quest and tears of the dragon)‼️

so like of course link doesn't actually fall for any of the fake zelda bullshit that ganondorf and the yiga clan try and pull off right? their impressions of her are terrible and he knows its not her of course

so why do they think he fell for it? why does ganondorf believe he's lead link right into his trap with his poorly designed puppet? i think it's more than just link humoring them, there is something in his expression that makes them think he's so gullible

i think it's desperation.

link knows its not her -- of course it's not! her voice is all wrong, her expressions, even her general aura. he's spent the last probably 5 years never leaving her side, he could pick his zelda out of a thousand perfect imitations every time, but. he thinks he'll never see her again. even before watching the flashback where she commits the forbidden act of losing yourself forever, he feels it in his bones. his zelda is gone.

so when he hears that she's been captured by the yiga clan near dueling peaks he goes, because he needs to see her. it doesn't matter that she's not real, he is seeing her with his own eyes and not through a memory and it could be the last. he just looks at not-his-zelda for a moment and looks so desperate. then he heaves a big sigh and sends a few yiga soldiers back to their master.

then he sees her while working with the sages and the first time, maybe twice or three times, he sees her strange clothes and thinks it's actually her and every fiber of his being is screaming run to her but he's rooted to the spot just staring with wide eyes and open mouth because she's turned away from him, she's walking away -- and then at the peak of death mountain she disappears into the volcano and a beast is released in her wake and he knows its not his zelda after all. and yet every time she appears after that he feels his heart clench and his breath catch and he just takes her in and he doesn't care if it's not real because any time he sees her could be the last.

so link chases chirps and warbles across hyrule because sure, armor that will allow him to climb up cliffs in the rain sounds great and all, but perhaps one of these rumors will come with a glimpse at his lost princess and that is the force that drives him. he chases her like a high and briefly he considers his health because he actually gets an adrenaline rush every time he hears her name and its maybe not the healthiest thing to be perpetuating but he doesn't care, he'll put himself in danger over and over again if it means seeing her golden hair and emerald eyes just one more time.

when purah points him to the castle link doesn't wait for her to finish, just sprints to the tower and launches himself into the air so he may catch her once again. when he gets there he hears a voice that sounds like his princess but the tone is all wrong of course, he knows. he chases her through the castle and cuts through the enemies she leaves for him every time. in the sanctum, ganondorf mocks link for being so foolish, for falling for his puppet so easily and being led right to his trap. the demon king misreads the expression on his face as disbelief, and link doesn't correct him. he doesn't say that of fucking course he knows its not his zelda, it was a weaker imitation than fucking beedle could do. he doesn't say that he's been chasing a puppet because he's desperate to see her just one more time, and maybe there is a small part of him that hopes that this time might be the one where she stays, where she looks at him with the same desperation and hugs him and tells him she's home.

when she disappears that time it's for good, and he waits until the sages leave before breaking down.

[shadowsageingempress]

Before I collapse and fall asleep, I'm pulling up with Twilight Princess for the ask game hehe

❤️, 💛, 💚, 💖, 💕 and 🏳️‍🌈?

Thanks for the ask!

Either Link or Midna. For Midna, I’ll get more into her later, but for now I’ll say that she isn’t a tsundere, but she does have similar traits. As for Link, I’ve seen some people depict him as being somehow edgy or emo. This couldn’t be further from the truth, because just by playing the game you can clearly see that he is the nicest, sweetest, goodest boy of all the good boys. To give this idea some credit, I think it’s fair to say that post-canon stories where he’s depicted as a sad boy do seem accurate, since he was devastated by Midna leaving. But he would find ways to heal and healthily live on before deciding to look for her.

I’ve seen that a lot of people ship MidZel or ZeLink, and I can’t really see either of those. I’ve talked about how Link and Zelda don’t have any chemistry in the three interactions that they do have. As for Zelda and Midna, they do have more interactions and are acquainted, especially in the manga, but I don’t see any romantic connection between them. The best I can see is that it’s a one-sided crush that Zelda has, but nothing more.

Something I see often is people showing Midna as being cruel or even abusive toward Link. Even the manga shows this on occasion, but this just isn’t the case. While she does mock Link and his world a lot when they first meet, she isn’t downright mean and would never physically hurt him. She’s not a jerk or a violent person, especially not toward someone she’s trying to get to trust and help her.

My biggest unpopular opinion is that Zelda shouldn’t have been revived. I can see why she was, I don’t think Nintendo would kill off their titular character, but it doesn’t make sense to me and it kind of makes her sacrifice seem pointless. If I could change things as little as possible, I would still have the Puppet Zelda fight, but after that, she disappears for good.

I don’t know if I have any unpopular ships. I mostly focus on MidLink, and that could not accurately be described as unpopular.

I see a lot of people imagine that Zelda is gay and ship her with other female characters. I don’t really understand any of those. I do see the appeal behind some of them, such as Zelda with Ashei, but I don’t know where the idea of Zelda being a lesbian comes from. And to be fair, I also don’t really ship her with any male characters because I can’t see that either, but the main reason behind that is her lack of chemistry with anyone and having a personality equivalent to a wet end slice of white bread. Okay, I may have gotten a bit carried away, but my point still stands.

[teamcapwasrightandishouldsayit]

i have to admit, i'm a little disappointed that eow puppet link was just an evil clone.

i mean, it makes sense that he would be. the rifts echoing things they suck in is a major plot point. echo zelda is also a major plot point. nothing ever indicates the rifts/null have the ability to mind control/puppet people. it makes total sense that regular link is fine while an echo of him fights zelda.

it's just disappointing.

like- compare it to zelda's history as an unwilling antagonist. think of puppet zelda in tp and possessed zelda in st. i would've liked something a little more like that for link, where it's actually link being forced to fight you and not just an echo. that feels like it would have been more... idk, dramatic? like it would have had more feeling to it.

i do not care about eow echo link at all. i will sic 1 million birds on him without hesitation, because it's just some guy. not even that! it's just some manifestation of magic in the shape of a guy! like... the drama of puppet/possessed zelda fights, where it's really her but she's being forced to fight you? that's so interesting. there's so much feeling. so much character drama! but alas. it's only an echo. i'll sic 1 million birds on him and move on i guess

[ladybellissima]

an interesting mission

Link x Reader

A heavy sigh escaped his lips, while he let himself fall into the soft gras. Relieved that he was able to find a quiet place, peaceful and beautiful close to the castle of hyrule. How long till they would get him for another task? Lately it was getting out of hand. Or better more ridicolous.

Deep in thought about his life, the hero clothed in green watched out for his loyal horse epona. Resting beside him he felt at ease himself about her calm aura.

Was it right to become the Hero of Time? To follow the order of the great deku tree, leaving his ordinary life and fight for Hyrule.

"Sure… Somebody had to stop Ganondorf. It was my fate..but now? After all these years…", Link whispered unsure of his thoughts and about his latest tasks. Situations where he had to sort out quarrels of villagers. Unnecessary fights and exhausting conversations. He just wanted to rest…

"Link! There you are!", a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts and made him shot up from his laying position. Looking out he was met with a stressed looking Impa, quickly rushing to his side.

"Beautiful day isn't it?", Link spoke with a hint of sarcasm, knowing quite well something was off. The loyal guard of princess Zelda was quite overworked as well.

"Link, why are you here? Are you out of your mind! Zelda wants to see you, so get up and hurry.", she spoke with a sigh, giving him a serious look.

"Hello too Link. Yeah it is really nice. How is it going?.", he joked, while slowly getting up, meeting her grumbling gaze with amusement.

"Don't! You know exactly how it's going lately!", she grumbled annoyed, frustrated of the endless orders of the king of hyrule. "Beside my tasks, i had to look out for you! Like i have time for that! Unbelievable!", she spoke angered, while leaving the chuckling hero behind.

"And watch your attitude Link! Keep your composure in front of guests. You have a title! By the goddesses he will be the death of me..", she called out from the distance, this time making Link grumbling in annoyance. He was aware of his status. His title given by the king and princess. His reputation he had to prove everyday.

Which also means attending balls, escorting Zelda to meetings, attending ceremonies with important people, never being able to keep their names. He had to watch out his behavior, his speaking, act noble. Not really sure what Zelda expect exactly. Was it that bad to be just Link?

"She was mad just because i gave a hand shake and made a joke instead of a silent royal bow…ridicolous..", Link grumbled and headed to castle town. Still being aware that he had to change.

Silent and his look focused onto the ground to avoid any unnecessary meetings with royals, he reached the throne hall.

"Took you long enough, Hero of time.", a confident voice reached his ears and made him slightly stop in his tracks. Feeling moving automatically like a robot, Link started to step confidently along the red carpet of the hall. Head high, brave and kind of arrogant like he was told to. Like everyone wanted to see and cheer him on. Like a puppet, but the next moment his composure struggled after his eyes landed on a young shy looking girl next to princess Zelda and her father the king.

For a moment his breath stopped and he remained silent. Slowy Link reached the princess and the mysterious girl, who struggled with her nervoussness. Shaken she made a short bow and waited for the princess to speak.

Stunned about the fact that Link, this time, behaved well with a short bow, Zelda gave him a relieved smile. Even if it was more a short nod, but still he kept quiet in front of her father, who was always first to speak his thoughts.

"Link. This is (Y/N). She…"

"I am sorry that you have to wait.", he interrupted the king and stepped closer to the young girl missing Zelda's shocked gaze completely. Too focused onto the soft expression and beautiful bright eyes of the young girl. It kind of felt like Link's heart was about to explode. Nervously he took his hat off and smiled kindly at her shy gaze. She had something he couldn't really put into words.

Zelda furrowed her brows in frustration, but the next moment felt relieved of her father's short laugh. Beside keeping the land of hyrule safe, the king luckily  always felt entertained by the young man's carefree attitude.

The young girl on the other hand was quite surprised that he spoke so freely in front of his highness and impressed of his openness.

"What do you think (Y/N). He is the hero…", she thought stressed, while balling her fists to keep them from shaking.

She was so nervous, after she got the order to collect important herbs for the medical sector. It was her first high class mission. Something (Y/N) already felt overwhelmed. But the next moment she was escorted by Lady Impa inside the castle. Never would she have thought to enter this luxurious place. Her heart was about to jump out of her ribcage, after she had to step before the king and his breathtaking kind daughter.

"What if i fail? By the goddesses…this is too much and now the hero too!", (Y/N)'s mind was racing after the princess explained her order and the side note that the hero clothed in green would help her travel. The man who saved the world, who was cheered on by every girl and now her personal guard for her safety.

"Alone standing next to him is mind blowing. How i am able to handle that?!!", her mind was screaming of the moment.

She often saw him at the distance, riding his beautiful horse, helping townspeople, watching his nervous laugh and embarrassed state, after he had to handle his fangirls. Never being unpolite, always patient and understanding.

For her he was flawless. And at the same time someone unreachable. Just listening to villagers about his gossip, his stories. A mysterious person. Unrealistic to meet him in real. Like a myth.

And now? She was standing in front of him. Traveling with him and definately speaking with him.

"I…i don't..no problem! I didn't have to wait..", (Y/N) blurted out and avoid eye contact.

"How cute…", Link thought and smiled brightly at her slightly struggle.

"So Link if it's okay, i would explain everything to you.", Zelda spoke calmly, but gave the knight dressed in green a short strong glance to send her secret message. Link stopped and waited for her to go on, taking a glimpse once in a while of (Y/N) who was just so adorable with her red cheeks and shy behaviour.

"So (Y/N) has to collect important herbs at the Lost Woods. I want you to have a look on her for her savety. It will take one day perhaps, Link..(Y/N).. I count on you.", she ordered and gave (Y/N) a short nod to go on.

"We will be on our way.", Link spoke motivated and started to head back to the exit, followed by the young nervous girl.

Silence took place and (Y/N) was thinking of how to start a conversation. She had read about such things in books, but in reality those moments were much more complicated. For Link it wasn't easy either. Most of his journey he was on his own, but still he enjoyed having her company. It was the first time to be with someone for a longer time. On top someone who took his interest in an instant. His body was overflowing with energy and happiness, plus the sweet feeling of nervoussness. "A whole day to get to know her! She seems so calm and nice…", his inner self was jumping like a maniac.

"So… (Y/N). Are you motivated to get this quest done?", he said and held his hand out for her to take. (Y/N) watched his hand and took a deep breath.

''I got an important mission…and a day with…the hero of time. I have to be more confident'', she thought and grabbed his hand in a soft manner. He was fighting beasts and monsters, but his hands were gentle and felt warm. In an instant she relaxed and gave him a relieved smile of being able to get over her shyness.  This time Link was the stuttering boy, while guiding her red as a tomato.

xxx

"I am sorry Link that you have to go with me on such a beautiful day..", (Y/N) started nervously, after reaching the Lost Woods. She couldn't look into his beautiful blue eyes. "How could someone be so perfect?! Strong and brave!", she thought stressed. Quickly looking forward to find the right herbs on her way, she tried to avoid his gaze. On the other hand, for Link it was the perfect chance to watch her silently and enjoyed her beautiful being in the sunlight, heart racing of her excited smile, after finding something. He never felt such a wave of longing for someone. He even was able to get to know her better on the way and by the goddesses he felt even more head over heels for her. She was hard working. Helping others. Honest and kind. Speaking with her was so easy. Carefree he talked about his interests, working hard to control his heartbeat of her beauty.

"Link? Are you okay?", (Y/N) asked worried after she got no answer. Link just watched her dreamingly. After some time he realized his situation and blushed deeply. Quckly he hid his face with one hand and turned around to avoid her worried gaze. "Everythings alright. I was just..thinking of what we could eat later.", he struggled for words. "Good job Link, i am acting like an idiot.", he thought stressed.

(Y/N) laughed sweetly. "That was my question. Don't worry i made us some snacks. I wanted to thank you for your help so here.", she said excited and handed him her backbag. Link took a look and his face light up immediately, acting like a child. If it's about food, he couldn't behave properly. (Y/N) laughed and was happy to see his reaction.

"You are too good to be true! (Y/N) this looks amazing! Thank you!", he said full of joy and took a bite from one of the sandwiches. Suddenly he froze in the spot. "Link? Something wrong? Oh god, they don't taste good. I…i shouldn't have tried the new recipe..i wanted to make you something special as a thank you.i am such a fool..", she stuttered shocked and embarrassed, but was quickly stopped by two gentle hands, which grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to a heartwarming embrace.

"Link..what?..", she couldn't believe that he was hugging her, but slowly gave in. Hiding her face into his chest, she took a breath of his tunic. He smelt so good.. it felt so right, so calming and sweet to be in his arms.

"(Y/N)..don't worry… they are delicious! Where have you been this whole time?", he whispered with a soft smile. Shocked of his words, her gaze wandered up to his blushing face. He couldn't but gave her a soft kiss onto her cheek. His mind was screaming about what he just had done. But her soft smile showed him that it was alright. They were completely fine.

"I was always there…", she whispered back and tried to avoid his gaze. Link took her face in his hands, his deep blue eyes captured hers once more. For a moment nobody said anything. It was so calming and relaxing. Just they two, deep in the woods.

"I was looking for you…"

"For me?", she asked innocent. Knowing what this was about, but longing to hear more. Already trapped by his charme.

"Yeah the girl i fall in love…and make my life exciting again…",he said in a husky tone and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

Who would have thought that his work could also get interesting.

[ixtaek]

I am once again. “Fixing” TotK. And this time I’ve really done it; without taking ANYTHING out and making it fit with established lore.

The prologue plays the same. Under the castle, Zonai statues, gloom seems to be coming from there, Link and Zelda find the huge mural.

The change is, instead of the path to where Ganon is sealed being a crack in the wall with broken steps, it’s a large door with a cracked, slightly glowing, Sheikah barrier over it, like the ones over the monks in the shrines. The Gloom is leaking from this. When Zelda and Link approach it shatters, and they go down a slightly twisted hallway (where you maybe have to push a few boxes for Zelda to hop across to introduce mechanics idk) and then they find Ganon. Everything else plays out the same till you get to Lookout Landing, where Purah seems to not recognize you for a moment, till you speak, then comments on the terrible scars you picked up while missing. This happens several times, with the regional quests and Hudson and the other people who know you expressing sympathy and concern.

As you continue the main quest, you become slowly but surely aware of the truth: you didn’t just walk a few feet past that barrier.

You walked into another reality, a la Termina.

It also becomes clear that in this reality there WAS a royal knight named Link and a Princess named Zelda, but they disappeared a while ago. The calamity didn’t happen here. That’s why most NPCs don’t recognize you, you’re slightly different than the drawings even without the scars. Purah theorizes that if you get back into your old reality, you would be exactly as you were when you stepped through the portal.

This also means puppet Zelda isn’t a mere mirage—she’s the corpse of the timeline’s original Zelda being controlled by Ganon. If you bomb the mural in the original chamber you’ll find a corroded shield and broken master sword (uncollectable) leaning against the wall, all that remains of the Link of this timeline. My friend suggested the orbs from the shrine are you gathering his shattered spirit, and if you gather them all you can collect his sword and fuse it with yours into the Tempered Master Sword, getting the “good ending” where you’re able to lay the old Princess and Hero to rest and turn Zelda back, while in the “ok ending” you don’t finish the shrines, you kill Ganondorf but Zelda remains behind in that world as a dragon to protect it. (I did say I wasn’t taking anything OUT, but why not add an angsty second ending?)

This not only clears up why Zonai exist here but hardly anywhere before, it also STRENGTHENS the connection to the Hero of Time, because the same thing happened to him in Termina. It clears up lingering doubts about why Link’s arm came back or Zelda is no longer a dragon if you can get her back through the portal to your reality.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Ok so weird thing: Puppet Zelda. I mean, it was pretty obvious as a player Imo? But what I don't get: The tears show her ONCE! and it's the scene right before Ganondorf gives Sonia a backbreaking back massage. It's alluded to that she (he) did some other weird stuff to mess up for Sonia and Rauru, and it's not expanded upon at all. I was so put off by that, because it feels like that would have been a big chance for ACTUAL character development for ALL the characters from the past. What did P-Z do? Where was Ganondorf? Was he hidden, or was he inside the castle? How did Sonia react to it? How did Rauru react to it? How did Sonia catch on? Why was it only Sonia and Zelda confronting P-Z? Why wasn't Rauru somewhere hidden as well? I doubt Rauru would have dismissed such a serious accusation. Sonia confronts P-Z, Zelda comes out, then Rauru lies in wait to check for extra danger. The time it takes for Rauru to arrive also kinda makes me think he wasn't that far away? P-Z is a cool concept, but I'm still just so baffled by the absolute "non-story" they built by alluding to her bullshit.

Okay so. Yeah. I completely, 100% agree, and I want to use the opportunity to air out a very particular complaint I have not really seen a lot of people talk about, because I just rewatched that scene and I am shocked all over again.

The teacup scene, after Ganondorf submits, is, in my opinion, horrendous. Like not because of secret Problematisms (though yes also this, we just saw them asking their enemies to kneel and the very next scene they're having a little tea party with cake between royals while armed guards protect them and it's not supposed to be a red flag and it's wild to me), but because the actual writing, at a craft level, reads like a first draft at best. There are three narrative information beats that matter in this entire scene:

The war has stopped

Zelda wants to help her ancestors and not only return to her own era (??? okay, she already did and the problems are technically over already as far as they know??? and it's not a choice she's making since she still can't master her powers and never learn to btw)

Rauru learns Link's name

I'd argue the only real important thing is that Rauru learns Link's name, and it could have been done in a much more interesting and dynamic way.

Instead the scene just goes on and on with lore dumps that never go anywhere, reiterations of the bond between Zelda and Sonia we had already established, dialogue that is... shockingly bad...

Actually, let's examine just one case: "Ah. I can see that you have absolute faith in him."

Like, just, general pro-tip: if you use "I can see that X" in dialogue and it's not ironic or used as de-escalation and just there to reiterate what we have just immediately established, cut that line. It's doing nothing, it's dead weight, it's just grinding the pace of a scene to a halt for no reason (unless you want it to be about stagnation, like I could see a David Lynch dinner scene where every character restate each other's actions by saying "I can see that you really like the gravy." over and over but it's not.... very applicable to more generic situations). This is writing 101, and the scene is full of these nothing sentences that go nowhere and establish nothing about the characters or the world and set up nothing and pay off nothing and it's driving me wild!

(also it does my least favorite thing in game writing aka the game praising the player character for an unreasonable amount of time, but I realize this is a pet peeve and not as important but it always makes me roll my eyes incredibly hard when it's not earned and it wasn't earned or useful here, the fact that the scene ends on everyone being like yaaay link!!! is... completely disconnected from the actual story happening in the past and shouldn't be the focus of the characters at that moment --it would be more powerful if Zelda used Link as an image of strength to inspire Rauru after Sonia's death later, for example)

It's a scene that completely undermines the tension built in the previous memory, makes the timeline of events confusing, and it leaves a ton of questions open, like: where the hell is Ganondorf? What is he doing? What did Rauru mean by "keeping him close", if he isn't actually close? Do they think he returned to the gerudo lands while he actually stayed hidden in their palace to do his Puppet Zelda shenanigans? I don't know! There is no way to know, because we're being told about teacups and how Link is amazing instead of anything relevant to the plot!

So yeah. Would have *gladly* done away with that teacup scene and focused more on a very tense moment of Sonia and Puppet Zelda where she acts very suspiciously and maybe aborts a first attempt at stealing the stone that goes nowhere, and this is when Sonia catches on that something is off? Honestly, I would also have killed for an actual scene of tension between Zelda and Ganondorf where they, like. Talk to each other. Instead of this actual current version of the story where they never do. And maybe this is how he realizes that she has a special connection with Sonia and it's how he tries to get her.

But yeah. Sorry, I kind of hijacked the ask into a "this damn teacup scene!!!" *shakes my first at clouds*, but I think it mirrors the thought that priorities were not given to the actual tension points laid down in the story. Puppet Zelda inherently calls upon ideas of fear of imposture, of abuse of power, of insecurity, of a twisted version of what Hyrule *could* be, which is so interesting and ripe with conflict and counterpoints.

I would have done unruly things for a Zelda arc where she is struggling to be a ruler and she's still very insecure and wrecked by guilt over the Calamity thing and feel disconnected from the land because of the whole "being locked 100 years away fighting a demon" thing and her daddy issues, and this is this insecurity that Ganondorf picks up on and preys on by trying to dismantle Hyrule using her very image as he plans his Big Comeback, and our role is to unite all of Hyrule against this weird nasty caricature of her created by an envious man who was furious to see his rule rejected and his rebellion considered less important than peace, then go to her acknowledging the immense and unjust sacrifice she made becoming a dragon and being like "hey Zelda we all love you and we will all fight for you because we made the choice to believe in the future you want to build" and it would have been soososo powerful and I would have perhaps shed a tear or two or ten. ;_;

[caramel-catss]

big huge long rant/analysis about the hero of time and ganondorf in hero's purpose

i have a lot to say about this show so buckle up

first off, link. he's given his entire life, multiple times over, to the kingdom. and yet here he stands again. he enlists because he genuinely doesn't know what else to do with himself. he's known nothing but being the hero since he left the forest.

by continuing to fight, link reinforces demise's curse. and he doesn't. even. know it. zelda never told him. nobody ever told him. no matter what he does, link will only have to fight ganondorf again in his next life.

and he doesn't know what to think about it. when ganondorf finally tells him about the curse, he's so conflicted. being the hero ruined him. we've seen in the previous episodes his attempts to heal, to find something to give his life new meaning. but he only has found that in fighting longer. he doesn't know peace; only war. so when ganondorf tells him it's meaningless, this fight is meaningless, link doesn't know what to do. (these screenshots are from before he describes the curse but he tells link the exact details after)

he pauses each time before replying. his thoughts drift before he goes back to what he's always known, what's been told to him. he tries to come up with excuses why he should not listen to ganondorf - the people of hyrule (who don't remember him) and his father's death. zelda's lullaby plays as link and ganondorf fight. he is doing this for her. he is doing this for the kingdom. he's trying to remind himself that, because the alternative to fighting for hyrule is unthinkable.

but ganondorf is offering peace. he's offering something that to link, can only happen to other people. and his words make sense. link has been to the shadow temple, he knows hyrule's dark past. but zelda never told him about the curse. nobody ever told him that everything he's done will be meaningless in the next cycle. as ganondorf said, "meaningless courage."

this battle is not the hero of time's. it's between the chosen hero and demise. ganondorf and link are both only puppets for them, waging an eternal war they never chose to fight.

demise even takes over ganondorf's body at the end of episode five. and honestly, the same happens to link, too. zelda, skyward sword zelda, appears briefly when link's thoughts are literally changed to match his role in demise's curse. she laughs as well.

she appears again when link backs off for a second to comprehend ganondorf's words. the hero's spirit is literally not allowing him to stop fighting.

in episode six's teaser, the chosen hero appears, literally commanding link to return to him just like how demise commanded the same of ganondorf. the chosen hero raises his hand at the hero of time, and demise raises his at ganondorf.

final words about link. ganondorf's words may be a desperate attempt by him to make link give up the kokiri emerald, but he's right. all along, link has been a puppet. a puppet of the crown, a puppet of the hero's spirit, a puppet of demise's curse. fucking chills

okay next ganondorf. yeah i'm not done yet. holy shit i have so much to say about ganondorf.

ganondorf, unlike link, is aware of the cycle. "my ensuing demise has enslaved me." it is a cycle he is desperate to break. he still hates hyrule, yes, but he has put part of the blame for demise's curse on it.

he sees link as just as cursed as he is. and not "cursed and yet the hero", but "cursed to do horrible things." his view of the world is negative to all three triforce holders. he hates zelda, he hates link, and he hates himself. he wishes to break the cycle so that all three will no longer war with each other and kill the land.

his manipulation towards link is so interesting. obviously, ganondorf does not want to become buddy-buddy with link... but he tries to convince him that they should share a common goal. he knows link is traumatized. he knows link follows the kingdom's orders without question. and he uses that against him. though ganondorf might have debatedly "good" intentions, he is still using link. both zelda and ganondorf are using link.

and the scene where he realizes who link is. screenshots won't do this one justice so i'm linking (lol) a timestamp. (the video is embedding weird sorry, it's at 29:25). the music is incredible during this scene - all of the music for hero's purpose is, but i digress.

starting with the music. it's an arrangement of great fairy fountain... with final hours in the background. the greatness and holiness of link and zelda, and ganondorf's impending death. jesus christ majorlink, you've made something better than the game itself

ganondorf's first reaction to link is fear. above all, he is still terrified of the hero of time. the man who defied nayru's laws to kill him.

and look at the way link's first sight of ganondorf is versus ganondorf's first sight of link. they are both terrified of each other.

it's something to acknowledge that before ganondorf connects link to the soldier who stands before him now, he sees him as a child. when he tells link that they are similar in their uprisings and being forced into destiny, he isn't wrong. really, none of what ganondorf tells link is wrong. they are both victims in this story.

i'll likely reblog this later with more thoughts i have about them because this has been cooking in my head for about a year now. there's also great depictions of skull kid, impa, zelda, the happy mask salesman, malon, etc etc... i love this show. everyone watch it right now, even though if you read this i just spoiled episode five. and listen to the ost. and scream about the references to skyward sword and twilight princess with me.

ending this with a frame where impa cries out to the goddess and prays that the lives of hyruleians are not worthless, and then it cuts to zelda and link. and yes, link is a puppet to the crown - but impa and zelda still care about him very, very much.

[crazylittlejester]

Coming over here to bother you about my EAH AU thoughts because I want to write but this stupid fatigue wall let me write my daily prompt and nothing else today. Spent a good chunk of time staring at the document file.

I'm thinking about the Zeldas. Obviously most of them will fit in as the miscellaneous princesses for their respective Links, but not all of the stories even have princesses in them.

Artemis/Athena: Obviously I could just have her be Athena, but I feel like she could also do a Mulan story. She could match with Warriors, they could be Greek mythology buddies.

Flora: I think the thing that really sets her apart is her role in TotK, but there aren't any old fairytales about princesses that turn into dragons, so the best I've got is this book by E. D. Baker that I read when I was a kid. It's probably close enough? I'm already going to have to fudge things for Wild anyway.

Sun: Her whole thing is being the reincarnation of Hylia, so I feel like she should be either a full-on mythological goddess or the avatar of one. I feel like there aren't really any good real-world mythology equivalents because LoZ lore has such a distinct vibe to it. Since Sky's story is going to be about fighting the Jabberwocky, she's probably also from Wonderland, I just need to figure out her role.

Fable: I feel like she'd fit into one of the Charming families alright. Alternatively she could be one of the princesses from Oz, most likely Gayelette if she's related to Legend because they both would inherit magical abilities and Gayelette was both a princess and a sorceress. No clue how that's going to work with Camelot. Maybe Legend could have dual citizenship or something. Although I could be mean and say she's a human princess who fades into obscurity because he outlives her.

Dusk: I can't find any good old fairy tales about princesses that involve puppets or wolves. I'm probably going to have to fudge the entire thing. Which shouldn't be horribly difficult since TP is literally just a fairytale anyway, but I was really hoping to find something.

Tetra: Definitely a pirate. Probably Blackbeard or Bluebeard. Maybe one of those lady pirates that were 100% lesbians. (Side note: The Great Sea could totally be the ocean that Atlantis is under. Wind's divine parent could be one of the gods that sunk it or something.)

Dawn & Aurora: I feel like being miscellaneous princesses actually works in their favors because that's pretty much what they are in canon. I can probably just gloss over the details a little bit and say they're cousins and that Hyrule helped rescue them while he was out killing giants.

Dot: I'm just going to say she's the princess from the story about the four brothers since it fits perfectly. Least amount of work to give her a role. Honestly sort of wish she could be Dorothy from The stories about Oz because of her nickname, but that wouldn't work. She deserves a QPR with Four so that's what she's getting.

Lullaby: I don't think she really does much in OoT other than be Sheik? So my best idea is Mulan, but with the whole ocarina thing she could also be a type of magical princess like Fable, but those are in surprisingly limited supply.

Honorary mention of ST!Zelda: She should be a ghost. A victim of train assassination, maybe Orient Express style. Ends up befriending ST!Link and they get along like a house on fire and she helps him get used to being a ghost after he dies in a tragic train accident.

- A MULAN STORY OH MY GOD THAT SOUNDS AMAZING FOR ATHENA/ARTEMIS

- I am still so so so so so obsessed with Sky and the Jabberwocky I am absolutely just eating that up dude, and I can’t wait to see what you end up deciding for Sun

- A PRINCESS SORCERESS FOR FABLE GOES SO HARD and you’re right that is mean >:( im eating it up tho

- I suppose red riding hood wouldn’t work for Dusk? There’s gotta be SOME fairy tale about wolves out there, I dunno the rules of EAH but there’s gotta be at least some vague one

- YEAAAAAAAH LESBIAN PIRATE TETRA MY BELOVED 😭

- Dot as Dorothy would be soooooo good, and slay her havin a qpr with Four

- Any Mulan story I see I will absolutely eat up and encourage, that’s one of my favorite Disney movies

- ORIENT EXPRESS STYLE. I LOVE IT.

dude i am so excited for all this I love it soooo much!!! please come bother me about it whenever!!

[jheselbraum]

I love the fact that everyone 10,000 years ago was speaking Ancient Hyrulean because it means a couple things.

Zelda woke up to two random people speaking to her in Ancient Hyrulean and she just switched to that immediately with no hesitation, no questions asked

Link most likely doesn't actually understand any of what's being said in the memory tears, except for maybe the final one or during the master sword get sequence.

Either someone (zelda maybe?) updated the constructs so they speak modern Hyrulean to prepare for the future (would explain how he has a couple dialogue options with some of them and can actually use the shop ones) or Link doesn't understand what they're saying either (the infinitely funnier option)

Either ghosts can just instantly update their language to modern times or Link had absolutely no idea what the fuck Rauru was saying at all.

If ghosts can't just instantly update their language to modern times then Mineru had to have learned modern Hyrulean from being in the Purah Pad (I mean, what else was she going to do for 10,000 years?)

Ganondorf probably had puppet!zelda run around for a little bit at the beginning to learn modern Hyrulean since realistically he'd only know Ancient Gerudo and Ancient Hyrulean. How else would he start fucking shit up?

[ganondoodle]

I only just found your fancomic and art now and I’m really curious as to where Farore, Nayru and Din fit in with your AU, and where Courage fits in with it all too; is the first Link/hero that Hylia chose supposed to be the reincarnation of Courage?

Well, you see, i kinda took the zelda lore and remixed it until it tasted good to me uwu

actual answer is i rewrote the lore .. or put it in a different context so it might be confusing at first and i dont know just how much into detail you want me to explain bc .. theres alot .. like ALOT

to sum it up rly shortly:

in my AU/comic the gods (here a rough sketch i did last time i redesigned them, tho this is only nayru, actually all three are one entity but also not, like three bodies melted together at the hips down)

-each created a world, and once life started to thrive there they chose a mortal to call them to come to them, the gods then killed them and used the mortals spirit to create a deity, not mortal, but no god either, as their servant

"Courage" (not actually their name, just a word to call them since their language is long lost) is the first one to be created, but fails the purpose the gods had intended for them rather quickly; so they abandon them and flood the world until nothing but Courage survives, out of madness/desperation Courage then destroys the ancient statue of the gods and promptly discovers a path to another world through it

and that is the second world, in which "Demise" (also not his actual name) resides, he is the deity of that world and has so far succeeded, although not quite like the gods intended; he was told essentially the same prophecy we hear in the intro of skyward sword (invasion of a monster etc.) this monster is in this case Courage, who attacks Demise, who in turn seals Courage away quite easily, which isnt how the prophecy went, he was supposed to die, which makes him doubt the whole plan and starts intentionally delaying working further on it, so long in fact that Courage, now mishapen (similar to the imprisoned) and mindless, breaks free of the seal Demise then kills them, but loses one of his blade spirits in the fight (he used to have two here in my AU), now that the gods plan is not doable anymore (since Courage is dead) they abandon him and his world alot of stuff happens here, inclusing mortals turning to war, then against him, and him destroying his version of the triforce as he saw it as the source of the conflicts; but in the end his world dies a slow death by drought, just like Courage he destroys the ancient statue of the gods in his world and woop theres a path there

which is Hylias world, so, Demise is taken by wrath and grief as this world was allowed to thrive while his own died seeks to reach the the gods in revenge by all means necessarry but is quickly stopped by Hylia, who instead of sealing him like she was ordered to, spares his life, bc who she encountered was not what she was told, and wishes to know why that is, why the gods would lie to her

this is where the comic itself starts, the first encounter of her and demise is the first chapter :3

it is a theme that courage is very similar to link and demise to ganondorf (tho my hylia not that much to zelda hmmmm) but here it has no ACTUAL connection, and the triforce trio as we know in canon has no actual great lineage, no reincarnation, just mortals manipulated by the gods to make them do their bidding after all three deities revolted against being used as the gods puppets

as you can see, im very bad a summing anything up, i hope this didnt sound too lame or something, there is alot of thought and heart put into this story (i even have the background stories of each deity from before they were deities, even tho it doesnt come up in the comic) and i hope i will keep my motivation and passion for this giant project alive enough to get at least more than one chapter done (i have a bad track record of failed comics, im horribly afraid of abandoning this one too bc i put so much more work and love into it already, i guess it depends on the support from you guys how far i will be able to go qwq)

feel free to ask me anything about it, cant promise to respond right away but i cherish nice asks to a point that i dont want to post answers bc then its gone from my inbox lmao

anyway, its 3 am, goodnight and perhaps ... hopefully this gave you a rough idea of what im going for >o<

[science-lings]

feel free to talk about your totk role reversal if you want to 👍 I wanna hear it!! :)

okay so, first change that spirals everything out of control is when Link and Zelda get attacked by ganoncorpse. At that point, Zelda had casually handed off Rauru's secret stone to Link to hold, so it is now in his possession. He still tries to protect her and gets his sword broken and his arm fucked up. but when the castle rises from the ground, he's the one that falls. Zelda tries to jump in after him and uses her time power to send him back without realizing it. she gets caught by Rauru's arm and gets sent to the great sky island to start her quest.

Link wakes up in the past, his arm had to be amputated there's no magical replacement. Rauru and Sonia had found him passed out and dying from the gloom attack and knew it to be Ganondorf's doing so they took him in no questions asked. But they also noticed the secret stone (an item that only they possessed at the time) in his possession (I'm thinking it attached itself to one of his hair tails through some kind of cuff or other type of decoration, it also turned that champion/ luminous stone blue when he touched it)

So he's clearly very confused and just wants to go back to Zelda to make sure that she's okay (she's also doing the whole song and dance of trying to find Link, this time ganoncorpse is using him as the puppet to string her along).

before i get to the stuff im not sure about I'm going to explain what Link's secret stone amplifies, I mean he doesn't have any magic power like the sages or Zelda, right? WRONG! THIS IS WHERE I GET TO FUCK AROUND! NECROMANCER LINK IS BACK BABY! I'M GIVING HIM A GHOST ARM AND THE CHAMPIONS CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO HIS SPIRIT THROUGH TIME! either that or he gets some facet of time power from his flurry rush ability and he could still be the sage of time but idk how that would work amplified, would he just be able to slow time whenever he wanted? idk the ghosts sound cooler and I want to give him a ghost arm that he has to learn how to manifest and use while he's in the past because I think it would be cool and not just some magic fix to losing his arm.

Now because Link doesn't have the light power in order to restore the master sword, I realized that the sword would still exist in the past, since no matter when you think the founding of Hyrule happened, the master sword existed before that. So he goes on a quest to find it, but he has to build his strength first (idk if the shrines exist at this point or if he just has to endure light magic treatment from Rauru lol), I do think Zelda would have fun with them though so he'll probably get to hang out with his in-laws for a while.

(this could also be fixed by Rauru becoming the light dragon to heal the old master sword, but he would have to do that before the final battle and idk how that would work, Sonia is the one with the goddess blood so maybe she would be able to do it, so maybe when Ganondorf tries to assassinate her, Link is able to save her with some funky death shit and she could become the light dragon after Rauru seals himself and ganondorf away. I also want Link to be a dragon to get back to the present and it would look real cool but again, idk how it would all work or if the reasoning makes any sense at all)

that last part was me just brainstorming lol but if any of those ideas interests anyone I can turn it into the canon of this au that I won't be able to do much with lol

[fragmentedlegends]

Ganondorf: the creation of Puppet Zelda in TOTK

Finally getting around to posting some thoughts about everyone's favorite little stinker, Puppet Zelda. She's patronizing, she's cruel, she's loves to give Link the run-around—but who, or rather what, is she?

I subscribe to the theory that Puppet Zelda is a creation of Ganondorf's in much the same way that Bokoblin's are his creation. He calls her "Puppet" because that's what the creature is—a Puppet that can take on multiple forms. We actually get to see two forms that the Puppet can take: Zelda and, directly following the dismantle of her illusion, Phantom Ganon.

The puppet's form, without any illusionary magic applied, is an ever moving, living piece of malice. It does not need food or water, and any partaken in illusionary forms are purely for show.

When Ganondorf created the Puppet, he designed it to have enough intelligence to make decisions without him guiding it toward every step, but without free will to ensure it would always obey. In modern terms, the Puppet is a program with artificial intelligence that can run on its own within the limitations of its coded purpose.

If Ganondorf wants it to fight like him, it can take his form and imitate his fighting style based on an analysis of all examples of him fighting. If he wants it to look and act like Princess Zelda, it can take on her form with enough data input. This means that, while Ganondorf can't make a clone of anyone at a glance, he is able to essentially make a convincing enough duplication given time to mine the necessary data.

He can tweak the Puppet as needed, and often does, perfectionist that he is, and he can fit the data to it through a second-hand account, which is how he's able to make his Zelda puppet. It's never quite as good as when the Puppet can analyze for itself, though, hence why Phantom Ganon is a superior copy to Princess Zelda.

You can try to reason or talk with Puppet Zelda and the responses she gives you might even make you think that she has a mind of her own—and depending on how you define such a thing, perhaps she does. But again, she is ultimately bound to a program. She does not have free will. Her responses are merely mimicking what it believes Princess Zelda would respond with given the data it has of her.

[regnantlight]

Finally getting around to posting some thoughts about everyone's favorite little stinker, Puppet Zelda. She's patronizing, she's cruel, she's loves to give Link the run-around—but who, or rather what, is she?

I subscribe to the theory that Puppet Zelda is a creation of Ganondorf's in much the same way that Bokoblin are his creation. He calls her "Puppet" because that's what the creature is—a Puppet that can take on multiple forms. We actually get to see two forms that the Puppet can take: Zelda and, directly following the dismantle of her illusion, Phantom Ganon.

The puppet's form, without any illusionary magic applied, is an ever moving, living piece of malice. It does not need food or water, and any partaken in illusionary forms are purely for show.

When Ganondorf created the Puppet, he designed it to have enough intelligence to make decisions without him guiding it toward every step, but without free will to ensure it would always obey. In modern terms, the Puppet is a program with artificial intelligence that can run on its own within the limitations of its coded purpose.

If Ganondorf wants it to fight like him, it can take his form and imitate his fighting style based on an analysis of all examples of him fighting. If he wants it to look and act like Princess Zelda, it can take on her form with enough data input. This means that, while Ganondorf can't make a clone of anyone at a glance, he is able to essentially make a convincing enough duplication given time to mine the necessary data.

He can tweak the Puppet as needed, and often does, perfectionist that he is (this is becoming a Ganondorf headcanon post as well as a Zelda post haha I guess I'll send it over to the sideblog as well) and he can feed the data to it through a second-hand account, which is how he's able to make his Zelda puppet. It's never quite as good as when the Puppet can analyze for itself, though, hence why Phantom Ganon is a superior copy to Princess Zelda.

You can try to reason or talk with Puppet Zelda and the responses she gives you might even make you think that she has a mind of her own—and depending on how you define such a thing, perhaps she does. But again, she is ultimately bound to a program. She does not have free will. Her responses are merely mimicking what it believes Princess Zelda would respond with given the data it has of her.

[smilesrobotlover]

Shipping Game!

TP Link and....

1. Midna

2. Ilia

3. Zelda

4. Hena

Ok. Fun fact about me: any ship that involved Midna and Link that isn’t midlink I don’t like 💀 I am a wee bit childish but I just love them too much to ship them with others lol

ANYWAYS. Midlink. Yes. Absolutely my favorite ship of all time. So like… funny story, I HATED them in the beginning. I thought it was weird I was like “oh this makes no sense. This is dumb. Peopl are just shipping them together ONLY cuz they interact 🙄” but then I saw really good fanart of midlink and saw their dynamic and I saw many gifs from the game that I hadn’t seen before and I realized how much chemistry there was between the two of them and I just fell in love. I was also digging tall girlfriend and short boyfriend a lot and they fueled me. Just… their canon interactions is so tender and so sweet and they clearly care about each other so much?? And you can see it as platonic or romantic which is great cuz that means that their relationship is built on friendship first and foremost! And that is so much more special to me than two characters just falling in love out of nowhere. You see Link basically kill her with kindness and AUGH SHABSSJSBAKBAKABAKAAKAK THEIR INTERACTIONS HAAHVSWHWHKSSBKSJSKSK. I love them sm. You can see the way they work together and interact that there’s just so much LOVE. And then the end. Oh my goodness. Link holding her after she used the fused shadows, link running to her when she was yeeted away during puppet Zelda’s fight, their freaking grins at each other before beast Ganon battle, Link reaching for her before she teleports him away so she can fight Ganondorf herself, Link’s face when he believed she was killed by Ganondorf, Link running to her when he saw her alive with the light spirits, his FACE when he saw her true form and he was like “holy nuts you’re so hot”, and Midna’s flirting with him in the end and the romantic music AAHHAHAJABSKSSJKFBFJDJEKDBD TEJEBSLSJSJSOSJSN IM GOING FERAL JUST THINKINF ABOUT IT GUYS I LOVE MIDLINK MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF AAAAAAAGH

Ok. Phew… anyways… illink. I hate it. So so much. And that’s cuz I do not like Illia as a character. She’s too cliche and boring to me, while simultaneously being annoying. There’s nothing to her for me; I feel like I’ve seen her character ten thousand times before. I know people love her and I saw a hostile post about her haters once but it doesn’t matter. I don’t like her. And so I don’t ship her with Link… cuz any character I don’t like, I don’t ship with characters I do like. And I don’t feel any chemistry with them? I like the idea that Link felt pressured to be with her cuz he just really didn’t love her romantically you know? Just cuz you interact with the gender you like doesn’t really mean you’ll fall for them immediately. It’s just not how it works. Small tangent but I’ll leave it alone. I hate it.

Tp zelink is def one of my least favorite zelinks lol. They have NO chemistry. Sure people can like… try to justify it, but overall there’s nothing there. I overall am growing out of love for zelink in general? I hate the idea of soulmates and them HAVING to be together only cuz they’re link and Zelda. Just not a fan. I get how people love it but I don’t like it. They never even converse with each other honestly, and they give each other a very awkward look cuz it was the first time they’ve been alone with Link as a Hylian lmao. I also didn’t really like tp Zelda that much cuz…. I didn’t find her very interesting? And cuz I didn’t like the zelink ship I just didn’t like her? But after exploring her character more in love at twilight I’ve grown to greatly appreciate her. Just wish she was explored more in game (tho they probably would’ve given her an extremely generic personality so it’s probably for the best).

I had to look up Hena cuz I forgor who she was (I assumed she was that cute fisherwoman and she is :)) again, I’m more of a midlink loser so any other ship I don’t vibe with. But I don’t HATE it. I’ve actually never seen this ship before, but it’s definitely charming in its own way! I just really love Hena. She’s a very fun character very different from her other siblings and she’s super cute and pretty so like… yeah I’m not fully against it unlike illink and zelink lol.