#im drawing Link and Zelda together next

[felkithecreator]

Finally getting around to drawing Echoes of Wisdom fanart :D

Though before I start drawing the amazing Princess Zelda I wanted to draw a little tribute to our damsel in distress <3

It's not the best thing I've ever drawn, but at the same time I was fighting hard to get this thing done in under a month and a half, so I'm fine with it. (Goddesses that last thing took forever.)

Also I'm headcanoning EoW Link as Legend from LU so this could be considered fanart for both tbh

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

First Impressions (will be adding as I play)

DOMESTIC ZELINK THEH ARE SO FUCKING CUTE (like PLS he is such a gentleman and is still a short king, we stan— and Zelda always worried about him 🥺)

Link lost an arm to protect Zelda. My guy sets a HIGH BAR

Once I fully understand zonai devices it’s over for you bitches

Rauru my main man gets a love interest. What a dude

NOOOO NOT THE WAY THE MASTER SWORD GOES TO ZELDY IN THE PAST IM SO AHSJKDJSBAHSJZ I MISS FI SO MUCH

yo Hyrule be lookin DIFFERENTT AND OMG EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR ZELDA AND LINK

Fucking SHOOT ME IT WOULD BE LESS PAINFUL THAN SEEING HOW MUCH EVERYONE CARES ABOUT THEM LIKE ????? GODDDDDD

DID A TREE JUST FUCKING ATTACK ME WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF SHIT IS THIS those scrubs really upped themselves ig

TULIN MY CHILD IVE NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED THAT IS MY SON!!!!!! THATS MY BOY!!!!! lol I love that the game points you towards Rito first bc no matter what the game wanted me to do, I was going to Rito village first bc I wanted to see all my CHILDRENN

Where the FUCK is Kass.

Not me avoiding both the entire East portion of the map in preference of going to Gerudo to see Riju

YOOOOO GIBDOS????? Need the suns song

OH LIGHTNINGGGGGG interesting I am DIGGING THIS and we get to go into Gerudo without disguise???? BANGERRRRRRR

I want my HORSE 🥲 silence my trusty white stallion where art thou

I’ve made it to Hateno and I’m fucking sick of these Koroks, like get up you lazy tree spirit are you fucking KIDDING me

ZELDA’S HOUSE!!!!! IS!!! THE!!!! HATENO!!!! HOUSE!!!! THEY LIVED TOGETHER!!! We been knew but OH MY GOD ITS SO FUCKING OBVIOUS WITH ALL THESE IMPLICATIONS. HIS HAIR TIE. THENEW TUNIC. THE KIDS DRAWING OF ZELDA. I AM GOING FERAL THEY ARE SO GODDAMN DOMESTIC

Yo where the FUCK is Kass.

Okay okay I’m having a time with paragliding so I’m just going to do Rito Village’s thing so I can get Tulin’s power

Lmao they’re not gunna kill off the babies like they did with the last champions…. Right?

LOL OKAY OKAY COOL THEY WONT CRISIS AVERTED but MAN I’ve fucked myself bc it is nearly 5a and my sister is coming over at 8a 💀

my HORSEEEE I HAVE MY HORSE BACK yo that is TRULY the best thing I missed my horse so much

Okay now I’m going to do the tears of the dragon quest bc WOOOOOHWEEEEE I miss Zelda

This was a fucking mistake it is 3am and I have to be up in four hours for work and I’m SOBBING bc ZELDA HAS SACRIFICED SO FUCKING MUCH I CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS LIKE WHAT THE FUCK NINTENDO

At least I have the sword 🥲

I’m loving everyone sending asks and talking to me about this game I love each of you SO MUCH… not as much as I love Tulin and Riju but still LOL

Yo I’m so fucking sad bc of Zelda rn I think I’m just gunna get a shit ton of shrines and explore the depths

THE DEPTHS ARE SO FUN AND COOL!!! I also think I found a temple in eldin ???? COOOOOOOOLLLLL !!!!!

What’s not cool? Yunobo being all macho macho man bruh when that is not the sensitive little Goron I know and love. Marbled rock roast? Sureeee Cuz that’s not suspicious.

Okay I’m going to avoid Zora’s domain and head to the great plateau…. Why the fuck is the Old Man’s Cabin inhabited by the Sheikah what the fuck is this

Okay so the Yiga are just camped out in Akkala too??? Bitches. Next thing you know Kohga is alive and in the depths LMAO

Now I’m going to Zora’s Domain bc it’s my last pit stop before I actually continue the story LOL… scratch that Imma head to Tarrey Town and see how the fam is doin! And !!! Hudson has a daughter!! Guess that answers my question as to how long it’s been between games lmao

I keep procrastinating Zora’s Domain OOOOFT but I’ll go there now for reals—Sidon is engaged??? Man was like “Omg bestie it’s been forevs btw this is my fiancé” like damn okay how long has it been since Link went to Zora’s domain

I’ve been searching for Kass and I’m having major doubt atp 🥲 I want my beloved songbird back

OKAY DUNGEON TIMEEEEE Imma do Yunobo and while I know it wants me to save Riju for last I simply cannot stay away for long so I’ll go there next!

Yo these temples are fire I got majorly concerned with the Wind Temple but it genuinely makes sense to have a more familiar groundwork for players to begin with that’s just different enough that you notice so it prepares you for the more complex classic Zelda dungeon twist the rest of them have

I’m annoyed all of their abilities require me like ‘asking’ their spirits rather than having a function button to summon it at will

Except for tulin bc he is my child and all is forgiven. And Riju bc she’s pretty and I love her

DID I FUCKING MANIFEST KOHGA BEING ALIVE AND IN THE DEPTHS?????? BITTTTCCCCHHHHHH I thought these people be straight up loyal but nah he ain’t dead, just chillin in the depths

Yo I thought I was at the end of the game but nope I find out that the Zelda I’ve been chasing is a puppet WOW who would have guessed 🙃

BUT THE WAY GANONDORF WAS LIKE “using her made it so easy to lure you into traps” like my man KNOWS

Okay okay fifth Sage down and now I’m going to the Hyrule castle chasm

Was no one going to tell me this might be difficult bc I’m just tryna sneak through but that ain’t happening LOL

I’m going to shower and eat dinner and THEN I’ll beat the game

Oh my god we back at the place we started I LOVE FULL CIRCLES

I’m going to fucking sob this has been such a good fight!!! Getting to use the master sword the entire time >>>>>

(Even though i legitimately used a lynel bow and bombs to deal most of my damage to Ganondorf… don’t judge me I am ✨strategic✨ and I only managed fo do real damage if I did arrows, arrows, dodge dodge dodge, flurry rush, backpedal it up)

ZELDA BEING MY HOMIE IN THIS DRAGON FIGHT WE LOVE TO SEE IT !!! She makes me so happy she went straight for Link to save him bc that’s simply instinct

🥹🥹🥹🥹IM SOBBING THIS IS SO FUCKINNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG THIS IS SO GOOD I LOVE HER AND I LOVE THAT WE GET TO DIVE AFTER HER AND ACTUALLY CATCH HER 🥹🥹🥹

Lifting her out of the water… Zelda waking up to the feeling of a warm loving embrace… telling Link “I’m home” and that she has “so much to tell” him… I’m going to need another box of tissues bc I be EMOTIONAL

Awe all the sages pledging themselves to Zelda

Link just being a silent supportive boyfriend bc homeslice can and will do everything to protect Zelda (and okay he already did a ceremony for this but let me have my shipper goggles on)

I’m just going to say it. This might be my favorite game. And I’m a diehard Majora’s Mask fan. Like that’s been my favorite for a WHILE. I miss the simplicity for some of the game mechanics but thoroughly enjoy the new creations we can make. I also understand zonai devices now so when Kass comes in the DLC it’s over for y’all

Anyway botw/totk zelink is canon and no one can change my mind

[heliianth]

hey zelda nerd tell me about the inconsistencies in aoc i don't know much abt botw and i wanna hear

holy fuck. u have unlocked a pandoras box

ok to preface: i do not hate aoc. i clocked over 100 hours in the original hyrule warriors and i think aoc is better, and the only reason i dont have as much playtime is due to the fact that i am not 11 with infinite free time forever anymore. for a dynasty warrior type game where spamming ur light combo chain is typically a viable option no matter what it is actually decently difficult (at least to me) and the skill trees are engaging. there are no characters that feel like an absolute slog and the campaign is fun, if short. it is a fun game. and there ARE some character interactions that are gold—notably, the ones between sidon and mipha are genuinely heartbreaking, the DLC scene with revali and tulin is the best shit to happen to his character ever, and this version of link and zelda are adorable, despite what im going to talk abt for the next like. hour

the inconsistences that ive noticed are ones that like. u guessed it. have to do with link and zelda. in botw, they're the ones with the most screentime, and therefore have more material to botch compared to the champions who are pretty simple to understand and don't have more than a few establishing scenes outside of the divine beasts. they serve to support the theme as simple anchors for the player to relate each area in the game with the story. in comparison, link and zelda carry the themes of botw on their backs

botw is About a lot of things, but the main About is healing from failure by finding connection and beauty in yourself and the people around you. the story is fundamentally set up on a tragedy—the apocalypse happens, a countless amount of innocent people die, and in hindsight it seems entirely preventable, but it happens anyway. the entire game purposefully and starkly contrasts this backstory with serene, peaceful, grassy landscapes and an anxiety-free method of story delivery. there's melancholic optimism in the fact that even the most world-ending disaster is moved past by trees and wildlife and people. this video is an excellent deconstruction if you want something to listen to for like, an hour. it phrases things better than i ever could (it also dives into what im going to say abt zelda as a character but hang on with me for a little bit). to paraphrase it, botw says "life is tenacious". but it's also kind of hard to grasp this, for an audience, when it's on such a magnitude---most people cannot relate to the calamity ravaging hyrule and forcing it into a state where it takes 100 years to heal as a failure. to actually convey the theme, it needs more personalized representations for the audience to connect with

zelda and link, as characters, show different failures and ways to react to them. before i start i want to say that when i say "failure" referring to them, im talking about what is considered by the people around them as a failure. zelda physically not being able to unlock her magic or link being like, an actual person, is not a failure. social construction and all that. the importance is them believing, perceiving, it to be a failure among themselves. capiche?

im going to talk about link first, because link is the foundation that zelda builds on. ive made posts about it before, but the way links backstory is constructed as a collection of clues that must be strung together by people who are dedicated to it is representative of him as a person, or at least who he used to be. link is a child soldier who draws the master sword at 12-13 years old and finds the weight of being one of two people with the responsibility of killing the prehistoric incarnation of hatred and death unceremoniously dropped on his shoulders. to cope with that, his response is absolute conformity. he shuts down so completely that he doesn't speak, or even emote, to anyone, for fear of not being what hyrule needs from the mythical hero of legend. he decides dehumanizing himself is easier than not living up to that expectation.

zelda is similar but different in some very key ways. she has a direct lineage tracing back to the goddess hylia, all of whose female descendents possess some form of holy sealing magic that vanquishes ganon. she loses her mother at age six and the king thinks it is a brilliant idea to give her one year to mourn before forcing her into trying to unlock her sealing magic via rigorous prayer and devotion. despite her best efforts, she finds she cannot conform, that she genuinely cannot do what people are asking her to. instead, she tries to put herself to use somewhere else, finding passion and connection in the sheikah and their ancient technology, and holds onto a spirit of individuality for 10 years straight.

the way zelda builds on link is in the fact that she has a character arc. eventually, after a while of hating and projecting insecurity onto link, who refuses to communicate back to her, she develops the courage to reach out an olive branch. with that, she finds connection and worth and, yeah, love. link opens up to her a little bit, but cannot bring himself to lower his facade completely. this uhhh fucking kills him. he dies (or, i guess, "falls" but the place they put him in was called the shrine of resurrection. he was dead). and zelda lives because this newfound connection and understanding was the key to unlocking her sealing magic, which saves both her and fort hateno. with link and zelda, pre-calamity, botw says "finding worth, connection, and love (im really trying to dodge amatonormativity please see my attempts . please) within yourself and others is the key to overcoming failure. by denying your own humanity and isolating, you're dooming yourself." zelda uses her connection and love to ward off the calamity for 100 years. basic magic of friendship stuff

link has more development in the fact that hes the personification of the literal land of hyrule itself and the themes come full circle by his death healing him in the same way the land healed after 100 years and only when he regains his connection to zelda, uninhibited by the restrictions he placed on himself pre-calamity, can he go help her blah blah blah thats largely unimportant because that's post-calamity stuff, which is irrelevant to aoc.

and god we JUST arrived at aoc im so sorry but i needed to explain all that to succinctly explain why i'm bothered by the way it writes these two. ok. you see all that i just splurged out? with help from all my brainworms and 500 hours of playtime? aoc does none of this.

aoc was kind of doomed from the beginning. botw being post-post-apocalypse is so important to its themes and narrative that everyone and their mom expected aoc to be the darkest zelda game ever released. it was marketed as a botw prequel--- the fleshed out story of the calamity, which, as i mentioned, ends with everyone including link fucking dying, and that was what people wanted out of it. i personally had suspicions back in, what, 2021? that it wasnt going to end on a note like that but everyone was largely hopeful that it was going to remain faithful and let us experience the story that was largely told through flashbacks in botw. this is not the case and it was so obviously not the case that i feel silly for believing otherwise, because its hyrule warriors, and more importantly, its a video game. they're not going to end a video game, especially not one in a genre which has a gameplay loop that relies on post-campaign content and grinding, on an unwinnable final boss. would it have been metal as fuck? yes. but from an actual game content standpoint, where they want to reward the player for more playtime? not gonna happen.

so already were off to a bad start. but an everyone lives no one dies au isn't the worst case scenario, i suppose. but. um.

aoc not only straight up does not include the important parts of link's backstory that i mentioned (that is, the fact that he is deathly anxious and traumatized and that this is the reason why he's quiet), but it also doesn't really... have a pronounced "zelda finds connection" arc. at least, it's not notable enough for me to remember it. sure, she grows closer to link, and her love of him is still what unlocks her magic, but she never despises him like she started out doing in botw. there's little to no projection in a way that emphasizes her independence and self-respect that's in conflict with her self-loathing. there's no interpersonal conflict to link's conformity that makes them thematic foils. this all makes her revelation in fort hateno where link originally dies much less potent, discounting the fact that originally the result of her revelation gives her the strength to hold back hatred incarnate for 100 years. but that doesn't happen either because as we've established this is an everyone lives nobody dies au and link's character arc goes unfulfilled as well because, well, everybody lives.

for all the time travel stuff is weird and the egg is a retcon and king rhoam's death is set up as a sacrifice and then later rug pulled for the sake of another playable character (and also sympathy-baiting) its what ive mentioned above that grinds my gears the most because my favorite thing about botw is its themes and the way it handles them in relation to link, zelda, and the open world gameplay. and age of calamity doesnt tick any of those boxes. so while there are more gaping plot holes or nitpicks i could make, i don't really think theyre worthwhile in comparison to the issues ive described. thats why i cant love it the way i love botw and am loving totk right now, even though its technically part of the trilogy. its fun to think about in isolation, and it doesnt ruin everything the way a movie like httyd3 does, but it's also one massive "they would not fucking say that" which bothers me occasionally

woo. there u go. hopefully u had fun hearing

[syndxlla]

Fck now MY head is full of fanfic ideas because of you. I don't have anywhere to throw them so imma throw them at you 💕 take em! Don't take em! Tell em they're dumb! Say "yes and" or "yes but actually" or "no and" or "no but actually"! I don't do fanfic but I play dnd and that's like the same thing in a lot of ways.

Link comes back and is more hurt by Purahs words than he thought. Tired. Grumpy. Zelda feels a little guilty about all the work Link is doing. Asks to help him cook. Link is grumpy, he's bossy. Controlling. Conflict there? Zelda brushes it off but something is clearly bugging him.

Next day. Link is still upset. Zelda kept a journal previously, asks Link to get her a blank book to write in. Link is forced to go back to the lab, he's planning on apologizing, but it goes badly. Comes back, gives Zelda the book, and goes outside to blow off steam doing a bunch of manual labor. Cleans the horse pens. Chops a shit ton of fire wood. While he's working Zelda snoops more, and hatches a plan. Asks Link to draw her a bath again. Bathes. When Link is to come back into the house, she insists he's dirty and smelly. He needs a bath. Something something, reusing her bath water is embarrassing. While he's bathing she leaves.... but then she comes back and starts cooking the recipe he was being bossy about. He can't leave the tub or she'll see him naked, so he just watches her. In a hot tub. That she just soaked in. Eventually, she leaves so he can get dressed and the pot can simmer. Link is so freaking tired, after the bath all his muscles just relax. They talk about the thing Purah said. Bed time. Link puts on a bunch of fire wood, and sits next to the bed Zelda sleeps in. After him not being able to sleep, Zelda pulls him into the bed. He's basically not even conscious. It's warm with him there. He's asleep. The fire is hot. She takes her top off to stay cool.

Link wakes up to find himself in bed with Zelda. Panic! Gets out to not wake her. She's half nude. Stoicly ignore. Must busy himself to ignore thoughts. Eventually she wakes up too. Or was she awake when he got out of bed? Link pretends nothing happened. Zelda is frustrated. Internally, Link tries to work out how that happened. The next night, when Zelda goes to bed she notices theres no raging fire. He takes his shirt off and joins her, and the bed is just as warm.

Etc etc, someday Purah comes by and sees Link doing a bunch of chores while Zelda sips tea, watching him intensely, practically taking notes, wearing one of his shirts and Purah just sits there like. Oh. They've got it BAD.

Oh f wait the whole school story arc. Link helps bud a school?? Zelda gets better and plays with kids as Link falls madly in love with her watching her? Ahhh!

Something about tending a fire being a symbol for effort into the relationship or something? She uses the fire for closeness, he uses the fire to get away and be stoic or whatever. He wants to be stoic even though he wants to be close, she wants to be close but understands she must look regal to rebuild hyrule. Then they start doing the things together. Im sorry but building a school and teaching together is foreplay for "hey babe you want to have kids?"

haha i love all of this! you guys are all so creative! it makes me so happy that my works have inspired such creativity! i love a lot of these ideas. i’ve had lots of link taking care of zelda but believe be the tables will turn soon!!

[nimbus-writes]

Shackle and Chain Timeline

the zelda timeline as a whole is something of a mess, and its easy to get confused trying to parse out the inconsistencies and how everything fully ties together. ive seen a lot of different interpretations and how they differ from the canon timelines supplied by nintendo (none of which ive ever really agreed with, particularly the more recent idea of having the timeline split during minish cap, but thats another topic i wont get into here), but for my story i figured id give my shot at one that makes the most sense to me. there arent too many differences, but i feel any differences from the canon example at all are deserving of an explanation, so ill get into that here (along with my kinda shitty timeline graphic i threw together in like 5 minutes)

to make things simple, ive outlined every iteration of link in a square, and listed all of their games they appear in! also, the gaps in time arent really to scale, but in general are just there to help spread it all out. this doesnt feature EVERY character that i plan on having appear in the story though (such as how ravio has already made an appearance in chapter two, and i plan on him sticking around for a while because i love ravio) but lets get into the differences! like i said, this mostly follows canon, since i find a simpler option to be better, but there ARE some important changes ive made!

first off, ive included two non-canon games! im not planning on bringing in any others aside from the hyrule warriors games, but i felt these were necessary for the timeline as a whole. the first hyrule warriors is the only way to easily resolve nintendos stupid "breath of the wild is in all 3 timelines!" bullshit, since thats not how time works. at all. but if you take hyrule warriors as having merged the timelines back into one (with three parallel worlds as opposed to three timelines), then the problem is solved! and since i included one warriors game, i might as well include the other, which leads to the second timeline split as a result of terakkos actions. (and like, yeah i COULD have added in another "link dies" timeline there, but since neither that nor the post age of calamity timeline will ever get another piece of media, i dont see a reason to explore that concept)

the next change ive made is combining what canon considers two separate iterations of link (specifically the one from a link to the past and a link between worlds). i understand WHY theyre two different links, but a lot more of the two games just makes sense in my opinion if they arent different at all (specifically how a link between worlds has the same map, characters, dungeons and themes, AND the actions of link at the beginning of tri force heroes, where he tries to hide his identity. that just makes more sense to me if hes been through a LOT more quests, including one where he was labeled a criminal, than just one quest where he wasnt ever vilified)

the last change i made has to do with four swords and four swords adventures, and this change is a hill i will die on. THESE GAMES ARE A PAIR. DO NOT SEPARATE. i KNOW the timeline has them centuries apart. i KNOW this. but its wrong! at the beginning of four swords adventures, it directly references both the hero from minish cap and four swords, but only vaguely referring to minish cap while specifically calling the hero from four swords "link", which, along with implying the hero from four swords adventures already knows what happens when you draw the four sword, leads me to believe that these two games feature only one iteration of link! but then that leaves the question of where in the timeline both games fall? is it directly after minish cap? or after twilight princess? well actually, its neither! several things featured in four swords adventures shows that the two games can only exist during a brief window of time, namely the presence of zora as an enemy, and the existence of the dark world. both of these things are only found in the downfall timeline, after link is slain in ocarina of time, meaning both games have to take place there (not to confuse the dark world for the dark realm, which only exists in the adult timeline as far as weve seen. im pretty sure they have the same origin, but the dark realm was influenced less by ganon since he was sealed somewhere else in that timeline). the dark world narrows it down the most, since it gets restored back to the sacred realm after the events of a link to the past, so the game has to take place before then. this means the two games actually fit nicely into the period of time known as the imprisoning war, where ganon is properly imprisoned within the dark world (which, to those of you who played the game or read the manga, know that this is what happens in four swords adventures!). in my opinion, not doing this is the single most aggravating thing nintendo did to the timeline. everything else i can excuse, but THIS angers me to no end.

anyway, thats the timeline ill be working with! at least, assuming tears of the kingdom doesnt have MORE fucked up time travel bullshit. ill take a look at this again once the game comes out, but hopefully it wont change anymore!

[space--cadet-glow]

Translation: “The Minish Cap” in German, Part 3: The Picori Festival

We go to the Picori Festival with Zelda and receive a dinky shield. Fantastic! What could possibly go wrong? Here is my translation of the German version of "The Minish Cap" to English!

My translation key: DT: „direct translation" (translated word for word) EQ: "English equivalent" (as in, as close to an English-sounding sentence as it's gonna get) DT/EQ: „"direct translation/English equivalent" (for when the DT is so similar to an EQ that it's practically English already) OE: "offical English (translation as given in the European English version of "The Minish Cap")" (NOTE:) "anything I need to point out" (exactly what it says on the tin) BG: „backwards German" for the Minish language in reverse form

My translation work under the cut.

Prinzessin Zelda: „Hier bin ich, Link!" DT: „Here am I, Link!" EQ: "Here I am, Link!" OE: "Link! Over here!"

ITEM GET: „Du hast ein Herz gefunden! Etwas Energie kann nie schaden." DT: „You x a heart found! Some energy can never hurt." EQ: "You found a heart! Some energry never hurts." OE: "You got a heart! Your life energy has been slightly replenished."

ITEM GET: „Grünen Rubin erhalten! Klein aber fein!" DT: „Green Rubin received! Small but fine!" EQ: "Received a green Rubin! Small, but fine!" OE: "You got 1 Rupee. It's green! Don't spend it all in one place!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Link! Komm! Beeilen wir uns!" DT: „Link! Come! Hurry we us!" EQ: "Link! Come! Let's hurry!" OE: "Link! Hurry! Let's go!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Hier entlang! Na los! Beeil dich!" DT: „Here along! Come on! Hurry you(rself)!" EQ: "This way! Come on! Hurry up!" OE: "Over here! Come on! Hurry up!" (NOTE: „dich" is reflexive.)

Prinzessin Zelda: „So das ist Stadt Hyrule!" DT: „So this is City Hyrule!" EQ: "So this is Hyrule City!" OE: "Well, here we are! The town of Hyrule!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Guck mal, Link! Das wird ein Spaß!" DT: „Look (softener), Link! This will a fun!" EQ: "Look, Link! This will be fun!" OE: "Here we are, Link! Doesn't it look fun?"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Komm, wir gehen da hin!" DT: „Come, we go there!" EQ: "Come, let's go over there!" OE: "Come on! Let's look around!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Link hör doch mal dem Geschichtenerzähler zu!" DT: „Link check but once the storyteller out!" EQ: "Link, check out this storyteller!" OE: "Link, there's a storyteller here! We should stop and listen to--" (NOTE: „hör zu" idiomatically means "to check out something" while addressing one person, such as Zelda to Link.)

Prinzessin Zelda: „He! Was ist das da?" DT/EQ: „"Hey! What is that there?" OE: "Oh! I wonder what's over there..."

Prinzessin Zelda: „Minish gibt es also wirklich! Vater behauptet das auch immer!" DT: „Minish there are so real! Father claims that also always!" EQ: "There really are Minish! Father also always claimed that!" OE: "So the Picori ARE real! My father always told me they were."

Prinzessin Zelda: „He! Was ist das da?" DT/EQ: „"Hey! What is that there?" OE: "Oh! Look at that!" (NOTE: And thus came the theory that Zelda has ADHD.)

Prinzessin Zelda: „Im Schloss fand ein Schwertkampf-Turnier statt! Wer wohl gewonnen hat?" DT: „At the castle took place a Sword-Fighting Tournament (x)! Who has won (x)?" EQ: "A Sword-Fighting Tournament took place at the castle! Who has won?" OE: "Say, wasn't there going to be a sword-fighting tournament at the castle?" (NOTE: „fand" and „statt" are translated together.)

Prinzessin Zelda: „Hmm... Und jetzt..." DT/EQ: „"Hmm... And now..." OE: "I wonder who won this year..."

Prinzessin Zelda: „Gehen wir da hin!" DT: „Go we there over!" EQ: "Let's go over there!" OE: "Oh, wow! Over there!"

Bruna: „Hauptgewinn!!!" DT/EQ: „Jackpot!!!" OE: "We have a winner!" (NOTE: Could also mean "first prize".)

Bruna: „Unglaublich! Du hast bei der Lotterie den Hauptgewinn gezogen, Zelda!" DT: „Unbelievable! You have with the lottery the jackpot drawn, Zelda!" EQ: "Unbelievable! You've drawn the jackpot of the lottery, Zelda!" OE: "Oh my! Princess Zelda! You won the grand prize in our drawing? Wow!" (NOTE: „gezogen", meaning "drawn" in the sense of "pulling". And Pina is Bruna.)

Bruna: „Also dann, such dir etwas aus!" DT: „So then, seek for you something out!" EQ: "So then, pick something out for yourself!" OE: "You get your choice of any of these wonderful prizes. What will it be?"

Bruna: „Da hätten wir... einen herzförmigen Stein!" DT: „Here had we... a heart-shaped stone!" EQ: "Here we have... a heart-shaped stone!" OE: "First, we have... this lovely heart-shaped stone!"

Bruna: „Oder..." DT/EQ: „"Or..." OE: "Next, we have..."

Bruna: „ein schönes, großes Juwel! Oder aber..." DT/EQ: „"a beautiful, large jewel! Or alternatively..." OE: "this magnificent gem! And finally, there's..."

Bruna: „...einen kleinen Schild." DT/EQ: „a small shield." OE: "this teeny-tiny shield."

Bruna: „Nun, wofür entscheidest du dich?" DT: „Well, for what choose you yourself?" EQ: "Well, what do you choose for yourself?" OE: "So, which one would you like?"

Bruna: „Das Juwel? Der herzförmige Stein ist auch sehr hübsch!" DT/EQ: „"The Jewel? The heart-shaped stone is also very pretty!" OE: "Let me guess... the jewel? Oh, but this heart stone is very cute, too."

Bruna: „Such dir aus, was dir gefällt!" DT: „Seek you out, what to you appeals!" EQ: "Pick what appeals to you!" OE: "Choose whichever one you like!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Ich nehme den kleinen Schild." DT/EQ: „"I'm taking the small shield." OE: "The shield is so adorable! I think I'll take it."

Bruna: „Wieso!?! Warum?!? Wieso denn das???" DT: „How so!?! Why?!? How so then that???" EQ: "Why so!?! Why?!! Why that, then???" OE: "What!? Why? Why would you want that ugly thing!?"

Bruna: „So ein Schild ist weder schön noch kleidsam!" DT: „So a shield is neither beautiful nor flattering!" EQ: "Such a shield is neither beautiful nor flattering!" OE: "What about the heart stone! It's cute!"

Bruna: „Hier zum Beispiel: der herzförmige Stein. Ist doch hübsch, oder?!" DT: „Here for example: the heart-shaped stone. Is still pretty, or?!" EQ: "Here, for example: the heart-shaped stone. It's still pretty, isn't it?" OE: "Or... Or this giant gem! It's pretty!"

Bruna: „Oder hier: das Juwel. Eine wahre Augenweide, oder etwas nicht?!" DT: „Or here: the jewel. A real eyeful, or something not?!" EQ: "Or here: the jewel. A real eyeful, is it not?!" OE: "Honestly, they're both much nicer..."

Bruna: „Diese beiden Sachen sind doch viel besser als der Schild!" DT: „These both things are still much better than the shield!" EQ: "Both of these things are still much better than the shield!" OE "...than that nasty little shield thing."

Prinzessin Zelda: „Nein, ich möchte diesen Schild. Könnte ich ihn bitte haben?" DT: „No, I would like this shield. Can I it please have?" EQ: "No, I would like this shield. Can I have it, please?" OE: "Nope! I want the shield. Can I have it?"

Bruna: „Fräulein Prinzessin, ihr seid komisch. Aber gut..." DT/EQ: „"Miss Princess, you are comical. But good..." OE: "What a strange princess you are. Well..."

Bruna: „Hier, bitte schön, der kleine Schild!" DT/EQ: „"Here, you go, the small shield!" OE: "OK. Here's your teeny-tiny shield." (NOTE: completely idiomatic.)

Prinzessin Zelda: „So! Den schenke ich dir!" DT: „So! This giving I to you!" EQ: "So! I'm giving this to you!" OE: "Here! I want to give you a present!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Der Schild steht Link gut, nicht wahr?" DT: „The shield suits Link well, not true?" EQ: "The shield suits Link well, doesn't it?" OE: "Doesn't this shield suit you perfectly, Link?"

ITEM GET: „Du hast von Zelda einen kleinen Schild erhalten!" DT: „You have from Zelda a small shield received!" EQ: "You received a small shield from Zelda!" OE: "Princess Zelda gave you a small shield!"

ITEM GET: „Lege ihn im Item-Menü auf A oder B." DT/EQ: „"Set it in the Item-Menu to A or B." OE: "Hold the button to protect yourself."

ITEM GET: „Halte den Knopf gedrückt, um den Schild vor dich zu halten!" DT: „Keep the button pressed, in order the shield in front of you to keep!" EQ: "Keep the button pressed in order to keep the shield in front of you!" OE: "...It IS a little embarrassing, though."

ITEM GET: „Ein Geschenk von Zelda... für dich!" DT/EQ: „"A present from Zelda... for you!" OE: "It's so tiny!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Ja, wirklich! Du siehst toll damit aus!" DT/EQ: „"Yes, really! You look terrific with that out!" OE: "Yep! Just as I thought! You look great!" (NOTE: That's what she said.)

Prinzessin Zelda: „Jetzt kannst du mich beschützen, wenn ich in Gefahr komme!" DT: „Now can you me protect, when I in danger come!" EQ: "Now you can protect me when I'm in danger!" OE: "Now, if anything happens, you can protect me with that shield!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Oh, schon so spät! Wir müssen das Schwert im Schloss..." DT: „Oh, already so late! We must the sword at the castle..." EQ: "Oh, so late already! We must leave the sword at the castle..." OE: "Oh! I almost forgot! We have to take Master Smith's sword to the castle."

Prinzessin Zelda: „...abgehen! Komm, Link, gehen wir!" DT: "...leave! Come, Link, going we!" EQ: "Come on, Link, we're going!" OE: "Let's go, Link."

Prinzessin Zelda: „Also dann, Link. Lass uns zum Scloss gehen!" DT: „So then, Link. Let us to the castle go!" EQ: "So then, Link. Let's go to the castle!" OE: "Come on, Link. Let's hurry to the castle."

Prinzessin Zelda: „Auaaa!" DT/EQ: „"Owww!" OE: "Owwwwch!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Das sind die Händler-Dekus, von denen die Soldaten erzählt haben." DT: „These are the Merchant-Dekus, of which the soldiers told have." EQ: "There are the Merchant-Dekus that the soldiers spoke of." OE: "That must be the Business Scrub I heard the soldiers talking about."

Prinzessin Zelda: „Sie belästigen Passanten. Eine echte Plage, diese Laubkerle!" DT/EQ: „"They harass passersby. A real nuisance, those Deku Scrubs!" OE: "They were saying a Deku Scrub had been hassling all the passersby." (NOTE: Um... „Laubkerle" is the German word for "Deku Scrubs"... So...)

Prinzessin Zelda: „Link, tu doch etwas! So kommen wir nicht zum Schloss!" DT: „Link, do (x) something! So come we not to the castle!" EQ: "Link, do something! Or we can't get to the castle!" OE: "Link, do something about it! Otherwise, we can't get to the castle."

Prinzessin Zelda: „Wenn du diese Nüsse abwehrst, kommen wir bestimmt irgendwie weiter." DT: „If you these nuts fend off, come we certainly somehow further." EQ: "If you fend off these nuts, we can certainly go further!" OE: "If only we had some way to defend ourselves against those nuts of his." (NOTE: THAT'S. WHAT. SHE. SAID. IN BOTH VERSIONS.)

Deku-Händler: „Tut mir Leid wegen der Nuss." DT: „Sorry because of the nut." EQ: "Sorry about the nut." OE: "Please! Forgive me, sir!" (NOTE: "Business Scrub" became "Deku-Merchant"/"Merchant-Deku". Although I have heard him refered to as the „Reicher Laubkerl", or "Rich Deku" before.)

Deku-Händler: „Ich kam doch in die Stadt, um auf dem Fest Geschäfte zu machen." DT: „I came (x) to the city, in order to on the Festival business dealings to make." EQ: "I came to the city in order to make business dealings at the Festival." OE: "I heard there was a festival, and I came to town hoping to hawk my wares."

Deku-Händler: „Aber ich komme keine Worte, sondern nur Nüsse aus dem Mund." DT: „But I come no words, but rather only nuts out of the mouth." EQ: "But I get no words, rather only nuts come out of my mouth." OE: "Unfortunately, we scrubs have a tendency to spit nuts when we speak!" (NOTE: What???)

Deku-Händler: „Alle haben Angst vor mir und kommen nicht in meine Nähe!" DT: „All have fear against me and come not in my vicinity!" EQ: "All fear me and don't come near me!" OE: "Everyone got scared and ran away, and no one would buy anything!"

Deku-Händler: „So wird das nichts mir den Geschäften. Also, zurück ins heimelige Dunkel!" DT: „So will that nothing for me the business. So, back to the homely darkness!" EQ: "So that will do nothing for the business. So, back to the homely darkness!" OE: "This is a terrible place to do business! I'm going back to my cave!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Der Händler-Deku sah süß aus, aber er spuckt mit Nüssen." DT: „The Merchant-Deku appears sweet (x), but he spits with nuts." EQ: "The Merchant-Deku looks sweet, but he spits nuts." OE: "I actually feel a little bit sorry for that Business Scrub. But that nut hurt!"

Prinzessin Zelda: „Na ja... Gehen wir schnell zum Schloss und liefern das Schwert ab!" DT: „Well... Go we quickly to the castle and deliver the sword (x)!" EQ: "Well... Let's go and quickly deliver the sword to the castle!" OE: "Oh, well. He won't be hassling anyone now! We'd better hurry to the castle!" (NOTE: „ab" is translated with „liefern"; „abliefern".)

[kentstartt]

jack and deans 2017

heres a masterpost of everything (i think) jack and dean did in 2017, everything is linked if you so wish to see them also the dates might be a day off bc im in Australia and i cba getting the timezone correct. follow me on twitter @jackhowad for me and @jackandean for updates x (this took me like 3 days to put together id really appreciate if u read it xo

January 

6th- deans 25th birthday 

8th- they uploaded ‘the good the bad and the just plain sh!t parts of 2016′

13th- dean and his brother daniel went to a Nintendo switch event in london (x,x,x)

16th- deans ass is now available on vinyl & dean followed me on jack and dean updates

27th jack saw moonlight and mark hamill liked his tweet 

28th jack and hazel saw the lego batman movie

30th hazel uploaded “a lovely night” cover with jack

February 

9th the trailer for drunk history, which jack and dean were in, was posted (x)

10th they posted a photo revealing raleigh richie was going to be in jadoat & dean was on bbc radio 1 talking about games

11th jacks 25th birthday

12th dean did a twitch stream (the only clip i have from that is him saying he wants to fuck tom hardy so, enjoy) & jack and hazel went to the baftas (x,x,x)

13th superglued was the first jack and dean video to hit 2 million views & dean first drew the heart guy

15th bertie took some nice photos of dean (x,x,x,x)

19th dodie posted a cover of ‘someone in the crowd’ with jack and co

20th dean wants to eat ass?

21st they had a screening of jadoat season 2 for cast, crew and friends (x,x,x)

22nd dean posted the first designs for what would become his merch

23rd cayleigh posted the 120 chicken nuggets challenge with dean

27th dean posted the first “We Need To Talk About Games” podcast with bertie

March

1st the poster for jadoat season 2 was posted

3rd dean got his nintendo switch and died a bit inside

6th dean posted the second episode of the “We Need To Talk About Games” podcast with his brother daniel

9th the jadoat tralier was posted on youtube

10th jack went to stay in a cabin in the woods with hazel for the weekend

14th jack posted a vlog “naked man at the gym”

16th jadoat season 2 went online along with season 1 being posted in full on fulscreens facebook page

18th jack and dean (and co) went to dodies gig in london

21st jack posted a vlog “dont talk about it”

23rd episode 3 of jadoat went on fullscreen

26th dean finished playing zelda breath of the wild

27th jack and dean posted a #spon sketch “living room shootout” ft bertie and hazel

29th jack and dean were on hannah wittons fubar radio show (x,x)

30th the 4th episode of jadoat went on fullscreen & they were on the greg james show on radio 1

31st dean posted a vlog “Dean Updates You”

April

1st jack posted a vlog “my bad acne”

6th jack posted a vlog “hasnt seen the matrix" & dean posted the first dean draws ‘Dean Draws A Slime Ghoul’

7th jack and dean went to vidconEU in Amsterdam (x,x,x)

12th jack and dean did an interview with maximum pop

13th jack posted a vlog “movie directing secrets with gareth edwards”

14th dean did the photoshoot for his new merch store

15th dean posted “Dean Draws Space Elephant POTUS”

21st jack and dean posted jadoat S1E3 to youtube as “babysitters”

22nd dean posted ‘Dean Draws A Top Hat Mermaid’ & jack posted a vlog “things go wrong”

25th dean started his patreon back up again (go donate) & jack met james gunn (the director of gotg2)

26th their episode of drunk history aired & jack posted a vlog “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Thoughts/Review”

28th dean posted “Dean Draws A Candle Samurai Shark”

May

3rd jack hosted a roundtable thing with Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender & he met billy crudup & katherine waterson

5th dean flew to playlist live in florida

6th jack posted a vlog “whos the best chris” with hazel

7th daniel j layton posted “baking with layton also jack howard” & dean did a m&g at playlist live

8th jack and dean were on cbbc to play “say what”

9th jack was on an episode of reasonable beef to talk about guardians of the galaxy

10th jack posted a vlog “theres NOT hope for us all”

17th dean posted “Dean Draws Jack Howard Cthulhu” & jack was on another ep of reasonable beef to talk about spiderman 3

20th deandobbsstore launched 

21st jack posted a vlog “if wonder woman fails”

24th dean posted “Dean Talks #1 - Merch, Patreon, Jack & Dean and the next Dean Draws”

27th dean posted “dean draws a broccoli dinosaur”

28th jack and dean posted a sketch “bed head”

29th jack posted the bts/bloopers of bed head to twitter

June

3rd jack posted a vlog “bad brain days”

16th dean drew this adorable pic of him and jack

17th jack and hazel saw hans zimmer in concert

18th hazel posted “talking pictures” with jack

21st jack and dean flew to LA for vidconUS

23rd jack and dean attended viconUS in Anaheim

25th jack and dean hosted part of the vidcon livestream (x)

27th dean got his jacket embroidered with DAD (his initials) 

28th jack and dean officially became real youtubers when they were on “youtubers react to the nicki minaj challenge”

30th jack and dean posted a sketch “nazi bar” (which got trending and pissed off all the alt right piss babies)

July

1st dom fera posted a sketch “banana shirt” with jack

4th nazi bar was featured in philip defracos “today in awesome”

7th jack saw spider-man homecoming

13th jack and dean (& co) attended the dunkirk premiere (x) and jack met tom hardy

14th jack and dean were on another episode of youtubers react “Try To Watch This Without Laughing or Grinning” & nazi bar hit one million views so jack posted the deleted scenes to twitter 

15th jack posted a vlog “wonder woman review” & was on another reasonable beef to talk about spider-man homecoming 

16th jack posted a vlog “spider-man homecoming review”

17th jack posted a vlog “i love Christopher Nolan”

August

2nd jack and dean were in “youtubers react to 90s internet comercials”

4th dean attended sitc on his own for the first time ever

7th the fratocrats posted “Jack Howard, Muggles Vs Wizards and Roy!“

10th dean drew theresa may babbadook for a dean draws but the file for corrupted

11th wetheunicorns posted “dean dabbs”

14th jack announced that there wont be a jadoat season 3 :( (x)

17th dodie posted “in the middle (acoustic)” with jack 

27th jack and dean posted a sketch “handful”

29th jack posted the outtakes to handful on twitter

31st jack and hazel went to ireland

September 

7th jack attended the premiere of “Mother” (x)

8th deans week long gaming IG project started (x,x,x) & jack met Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky in paris with hazel

15th dean posted  "Dean Draws A Mystery Movie Poster - Cineworld Spon”

23rd jack posted a vlog ‘a chat with matthew vaughn’ 

24th jack posted a vlog “Kingsman: The Golden Circle - RANT & Review”

26th jack and hazel celebrated their 2 year anniversary 

27th jack was on reasonable beef to talk about kingsman: the golden circle

28th jack was in a video on school of life “Why we should show our hurt rather than argue” & jack and dean flew to toronto for buffer festival

29th jack was on the jackmaate podcast

October 

1st jack and dean posted a sketch “self conscious computer ft anna akana” after screening it at buffer fest

3rd jack posted a vlog “why do we binge” & timH posted a sketch “we’ve all been there” with jack and dom fera

11th josh edwards posted “game show” with jack and dean

16th dean did a photoshoot for season 2 of his merch

19th dean attended an event for mario oddyssey (x)

27th deandobbsstore launced season 2 with chill one hoodies and eat people beanies & dodie posted the official video for ‘you’ with jack and sav

28th dean attended MCM comic con in london 

31st josh edwards posted “houndz of the BASTARDvilles“ with jack, hazel, dan and dodie

November

3rd jack went on the orient express

5th dean posted “dean draws chill one (a really bad how to)”

14th jack did some baking as promo for daddys home (i think)

16th jack posted a vlog “the problem with marvel”

17th hazel posted “would you rather” with jack

28th they shot a new video

30th dean was on radio 1 talking about games

December

3rd jack and dean posted a sketch “cup phones”

idk if anyone will actually read this far, thanks if u do. also congrats to the lads who have had a p sick year, i’ve had a great time updating it. also s/o to felicity who proofread this for me, i appreciate it, even if i didn't use any of her changes. follow her on twitter, shes whipped for taron like me but its more sexy from her 

[cyn009]

I just didn’t know...

So, not a lot of you really know me. I think most people follow me for the Critical Role, and gaming stuff I repost from other people. I hardly ever post something myself. And because of this, and because i feel like i need to atleast write this, this is the best place to put it. Its ok if no one reads it, but here it goes.

I have always had a big imagination. I was always the quiet, A honor roll student that always obeyed her parents, and wanted nothing more than to make them proud. While making homework and whatnot, i would watch my older brother draw. He is an amazing artists, and i remember feeling like nothing compared to him. He was better than me at everything i loved. Art, video games, he had a big group of friends that got together almost every day. The only thing i could do better was coloring. It also really annoyed me how my brother would draw these amazing pictures, but in the faintest pencil markings. I was always telling him, “You draw so awesome! Why not make it noticeable enough for people to actually see it?” He always shrugged and said that he didnt care if people didnt see it. I did care. I always looked up to my brother, and i wanted other people to know how good he was. So i asked him if i could make his drawings darker, by giving them a second pass of my own. Not altering the drawing, but simply making the lines darker. He agreed. So i started drawing his drawing all over again, until they were noticeable. Then he would ask me to color them, and i would. He got to sell a lot of his art at fairs and stuff.

I did have friends. I had a group of 4 guy friends in elementary school, who i spent lunch reading Harry Potter books with. I also had 2 girl friends that were my neighbors, who i would “play” barbies with. They would bring their Barbies and all their accessories, and i would bring my Link figurine. The one you could order from the OoT Zelda pamphlet. It was so boring... All they wanted was to dress up the dolls and all that. I wanted to have adventures! 

Never happened with them, or my friends in school.

Later i moved to the US, and i went to middle school, where i met my future girlfriend. I remember so vividly that she said i looked like a whore for dressing up in a dress for a school dance. She was not a good person. But i stuck around. She was different and we would talk about anime and manga. We had this thing that we would do during class in which i would draw a stick figure on a page and pass it to her, who would add a stick figure of her own, interacting with mine. If was amazing! It didnt matter what either of us added to the page, the other would just go with it and continue adding to this story we made together. 

Heh, you could say that my first OCs were literal stick figures. 

We continued friends until high school, where something strange happened. I say strange cuse i dont know of anyone else personally that did this, other than us. I started embodying my OCs. I would say that “Cyn” was in her room, and someone else was possessing my body for the time being. But not just anyone, it was my own characters. People i thought would be best suited to face things than little meek me. Be it school stuff, family stuff, working out, ditching class, even my personal relationship with my girlfriend. She was also doing the same. Acting as her own OCs. I dont know how it started, but it just did. and we kept it up for a long time. All through high school, really. Up until she broke my heart. But it was strange because the girlfriends relationship was between some of out OCs, but not all of them. Some would actively ignore the other, while others just wanted each other in more ways than one. 

I cared so much for her, that i allowed her to rope me into her family drama. It took over my life so much that i had completely replaced my own loving family with her broken one... I say that she broke my heart, and she really did. But i feel like it was the best thing she could have done for me. Experiences with her made me grow up from the perfect little girl that makes her parents proud to a girl that apparently had split personalities.

When she left... I was kind of lost. Having so many personalities out in the open as someone else taking care of my problem didnt work anymore. I didnt want to sound like a crazy person by telling people, “Im not Cyn, im _______.” I realized i had to grow up and admit to myself that it was just me, and i was being the person i wanted to be with the excuse that it was someone else. Because i was nothing. It took me years to get over that. I still sometimes find myself talking to one of my personalities, having full conversations and confrontations. I still feel like it helps me.

Anyways, when me and my grilfriend broke up, i found a new friend. She and I were part of a group of friends that self-published a manga magazine. We organized some OCTs and all that. It was cool.

In one of those OCTs, i met a guy from the other side of the world. We started RPing with each other and started creating this world together that i loved so much that we opened the chat RP to other of our friends from the OCTs. It later turned into a forum RP in this cute website that ran for 1000+ forum pages. If you could see us. All sitting at a table with out computers, like a LAN party, but were just RPing in type. Waiting for each other to post our next thing, and refreshing the page over and over again to keep reading the story. 

Eventually, the forum story reached stagnation with the other characters in the story, so me and my friend took it out to a two person roleplay chat once again. 

We roleplayed with each other for 6 years. This consumed my life just as the other personalities did. I would be with family, but my face on my phone, roleplaying and creating this world that it was just ours. And it was built for years and years, building upon the world i had created since elementary. It was this amazing place that only the two of us knew.

Then i started watching critical role and i wondered if i could do that! Roleplay with other people, maybe bring them into my world.

My first DM experience was typical. I over prepared, and made the encounters so hard that my friends ended up just abandoning the mission and not wanting to play anymore. Atleast not with me as a DM. 

I was nothing again.

So i let my friend be the DM, and i became a player in the world i had helped create for years. Mostly because she didnt like how i was managing the world myself. She wanted control of it, so she took it. I felt like shit about that, but i was not going to be a petty as her. This was just a game. It was not going to mess with the ‘canon lore’ of our imaginary world no one else knew as well as us.

Anyways, it is predictable that we had a falling out, and strangely stopped talking over night. My family had always told me how they felt like my friendship with her was holding me back, and i was determined to not allow that to happen. The loss of her friendship would not stagger me. I am stronger than that. I am strong.

......

I started DMing again. With only one player. The one guy from my group of high school friends that i would have never expected to stay friends with me or willing to face my crazy world alone. But he did! I felt like an idiot that i never took his friendship seriously. He deserved better from me. (btw, Hi, dude!) I DMed a game for him for almost six months, until i felt confident that i knew how to DM better, and he felt like he needed help.

I decided to not invite people we already knew... This was something new, me opening my crazy and letting people play in the world i would escape to in my mind. People we knew would judge me for being broken. Strangers would get to know me like this, and hopefully understand that this is normal for me. 

This was the best thing i could have ever done.

I made that world my own. I erased the places that hurt me and replaced them with adventures and so many new faces. NPCs. Names of people changed, their stories changed, I changed. 

Now i have a group of players that have just finished the first campaign in my world. A 2 year long campaign. And they wanted to return to that world immediately, now having started Campaign 2 without even missing a single session. Not only that, but they ask me for extra sessions! They cant get enough! They are excited to be there and experience the story i will present them! I didnt know... people would like it. 

I asked them what kind of DM they would describe me as. They agreed on “The Depressing DM”. The one that makes them face harsh consequences and situations that challenge their morality. I... I didn’t describe myself as happy until i dropped my old relationships, when out on my own with my world, and found new adventurers. I have always felt loved by my family, but i never thought others could love what i do. I still cant believe it is real. I am actually happy. They want me around because of who i am, what i do, and what i give them. I wished i had known sooner... But i am glad i know now. I am so grateful for my players, my friends. Thank you for welcoming me with such open minds, and joining my game. You guys make me happy. :)

[viralhottopics]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Link has never been set so free

The Nintendo Switch launch title takes the Zelda franchise to a whole new level, producing something even greater than the sum of its finely honed parts

Nintendo tricked us all. For years, it gave the impression that it was content to live in its own little corner of the gaming world, making well-received updates to its own franchises, without really caring about what the wider industry was doing.

Now we know that for all that time, it was watching and learning. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the result of that examination: a game that marries the best bits of the franchises long history with the best bits of the rest of the gaming world, and produces something even greater than the sum of its parts.

At its heart, Breath of the Wild is an open-world exploration game, in the vein of titles such as Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and FarCry 4. After completing the small starting area (and these things are, of course, relative: that area feels about as large as the entire Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time), Link is thrown into a world scattered with quests to complete, people to meet and monsters to defeat.

He can find and climb towers to mark new areas on the map and travel at speed between them. He can break in wild horses and ride them, collect foodstuffs and cook them, collect new weapons and kill new things with them. He can also find, hidden or in plain sight, shrines which expand his life pool for each four completed; he can attack, or be attacked by, boss-level monsters wandering around the world, and solve environmental puzzles to collect Korok seeds that will expand his inventory. And then theres the other stuff dotted around the place that defies categorisation: the Great Fairies, the rare non-boss monsters, the small hints at the past of the world of Hyrule, and the strange characters youll sometimes meet, half way up a mountain playing an accordion or in the middle of a ruined castle being attacked by Bokoblins.

Theres a danger, when describing a game of this scale, to get lost in the checklists. Yes, theres a lot to do, but thats meaningless if doing it isnt fun in its own right. Thankfully, thats not a problem Breath of the Wild has. In fact, I cant think of a previous Zelda game which gets the core gameplay loop so right.

Lets pull back for a second, though, and look at the overall structure of the game. Once Link leaves the Great Plateau, in short order he finds the heart of his quest: to find and free the four divine beasts, techno-magical creations that are key to defeating regular series villain Ganon and saving Princess Zelda and the land of Hyrule from destruction. As Zelda plots go, its fairly standard, considerably enlivened by the cast of characters involved, and the fully voice-acted cutscenes interspersed throughout (Link himself, however, remains a mute protagonist).

Those four divine beasts are located at roughly the four corners of the map, encouraging full exploration even before the completionism and sidequests kick in. They occupy roughly the same role in as the classical dungeons and temples of previous Zelda games, with a series of puzzles culminating in a boss fight, and form absolutely spectacular set pieces.

Each of the beasts have their own radically different storyline leading up to the confrontation. Photograph: Nintendo

The first of the beasts I fought and you can approach them in any order you see fit, but the game gently nudges you to tackle them in a roughly anti-clockwise order started with a trip to Zoras Domain, battling through a long path to reach the land of the fish people. Once there, Link is enlisted to collect lightning-infused Shock Arrows (the Zora, being a watery folk, cant even touch them), before he teams up with the prince of the Zora to attack the divine beast, using the arrows to take out weak points on its outer shell and calm it enough to land on it. And thats only the beginning of the fight, which draws a clear inspiration from titles like PS2 classic Shadow of the Colossus and manga hit Attack on Titan.

Each of the beasts have their own radically different storyline leading up to the confrontation, and even in a more conventionally-structured Zelda, theyd be noteworthy for their impeccable mixture of puzzles, combat and flair.

But Breath of the Wild is not conventionally structured – at least, not for this series. Gamecube-era classic The Wind Waker comes closest, with its seafaring world, but where the open ocean that game offered was largely a wide blue expanse with the occasional semirandom encounter, Breath of the Wilds world is, and I cant repeat this enough, bursting at the seams.

If youre thinking, for instance, that four dungeons seems slim even Ocarina of Time had nine then lets talk about those shrines. Nintendo says theres 120 of them, dotted all around the map, and each of them is a complete mini-dungeon in its own right. Some are simple one-room puzzles, offering everything from a test of timing with your bow and arrow to a motion-controlled game of pachinko. Others expand that, up to a full multi-room series of Zelda puzzles, taking an idea (transport the fire, for instance) and iterating on it. There are combat-focused shrines, with one singular boss-tier enemy, and there are even shrines where the entire puzzle is simply finding the damn thing, or making your way to its front door.

If youre matching the description to your memory of Zelda games past, youll notice something: those shrines arent and cant be ability gated. If you can do anything in any order, the game cant require items that drop from one dungeon to complete the next, as almost every previous Zelda game has. Instead, youll secure the vast majority of your skills in the opening area, including bombs, a time-freeze skill, and the ability to manipulate metal objects.

There are still times youll find yourself in a shrine and unable to complete it, particularly some of the harder combat shrines, but even that happens less often than you might think, thanks to the games unique approach to collectibles.

Every weapon (and shield) is breakable. Not in a World of Warcraft, or Witcher 3, way, where they have durability scores to encourage you to head to a blacksmith periodically. No, these weapons will break, permanently, after a certain amount of use, and theres nothing you can do about it.

That means rather than a steady power increase, common to most RPGs, youll find yourself yo-yoing around: a brilliant sword dropped by a boss will give you a huge burst of damage, but only until it shatters. Its a canny concept, which has you playing around with a far wider proportion of the games armoury than most of its peers, which forces you to treat the vast majority of loot as junk.

Keeping tabs on which weapon to use can become complicated. Photograph: Nintendo

The downside is pairing that approach with an extremely limited inventory space, and the rapid desire to keep a few types of weapon on hand for specific uses (a metal blade for making sparks to light fires, for instance, and an icy weapon for killing fiery enemies), can quickly feel cramped. At times, Ive found myself with only one weapon I was actually comfortable using against common mobs, rapidly having to pick up a new club every time my old one shattered lest I wear down my Ancient Sword++ or Giant Thunderblade.

Just as your weaponry and inventory no longer act as a constraint on where you can go, so too does the world itself offer few barriers. You can go anywhere is a common selling point in open world games, but its rarely so true as here. Every wall, cliff, and tower can be climbed, with only Links stamina limiting how far you can go. And that stamina can be refilled, with food eaten halfway up a mountain, and enhanced, with items won from shrines, meaning that the sky really is the limit. And youll want to climb high, because the other major addition to Links motability is a paraglider, similar to the Deku Leaf from Wind Waker, which can take him a considerable distance if he jumps off a high-enough point.

All these things combine together to form that best-in-class core gameplay loop. In the back of your mind, you know you should make your way to the Zora Domain, to find the divine beast. So you climb a mountain to see if you can spy the way to the tower that will give you the map. You do see the tower, but you also spot a shrine halfway there. Pausing only to consider the landscape it really is pretty, isnt it? you mark the shrines location, jump off a cliff, and float towards it, but find your way blocked by a camp of Bokoblins. Fighting your way through them shatters the claymore youve been carrying, and costs precious arrows, but the chest at the end contains a hundred rupees, and you pick up a spear one of them dropped, so it nets out. Once you find the shrine, you complete the puzzle by setting your own wooden spear on fire, and then leave, with the intention of heading on to the tower.

But the shrine is a fast travel point, offering you the ability to divert from the trek and easily resume it at a later date. And now youve got a hundred rupees, you can entice a Great Fairy out of her hiding place. So you head over there, and chat to her, discovering that shell enhance your armour. But you need a few more Hightail Lizards to do so and so you put the trip to Zoras Domain on hold again, just for a few more minutes

You look up, and its five hours later, and you dont care.

Nintendo Switch (version tested)/Wii U; 59.99; Pegi rating 12+

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from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Link has never been set so free