#it looks like ancient sheikah tech

[pitchblackespresso]

My entry for @bahbahhh's DTIYS!

[alphagirl404]

After the First Calamity

Ancient Zelda: Let me get this straight: You banished the Sheikah, hide away their technology, and destroyed records of it? WHY?!

Ancient King: To protect the kingdom from a Sheikah uprising. The formation of the Yiga Clan is proof of the potential treachery

Ancient Zelda: The Sheikah have served our family for THOUSANDS OF YEARS! The Yiga form because YOU betrayed them! Do you not realize the other potential consequences destroying all records of the technology?! Leaving no traces of it for people to understand the upsides and potential problems?! How this might affect Hyrule in the future!

Ancient King: Don’t be so dramatic! What’s the worst that can happen?

*10,000 years later...*

Ancient King & Ancient Zelda: *watching Hyrule get destroyed by the Second Great Calamity from the afterlife*

Ancient King: ...

Ancient Zelda: Can I be the first to say...I TOLD YOU SO!

[moonteaa]

your dad teba stuff has me frothing at the mouth like a squirrel that needs to be put down. You got any head cannons to share?

AGH!! Thank you!! Hehe 🤍🏹

AND OH BOY DO I EVER!! Let’s see..

1. Teba literally sees every single member as his own, but definitely imprinted immediately when it came to Zelda and Riju. Teba now has 2 teenage daughters and he loves them. They banter and tease each other and Teba sometimes has to deal with typical teenage girl angst and it’s both hilarious and endearing 😭

2. If someone made Zelda cry, well Teba is gonna take that PERSONALLY. You’ll be dead where you stand if a single tear falls from Zelda’s eyes.

3. Teba is FULL of puns and terrible dad jokes. And he’s very nonchalant about it too 😭 the others will absolutely eat it up LMFAO but Zelda will literally look at him like “WHY” (he loves to annoy her like that.)

4. Teba has this paternal instinct to wrap his wings or place his wings over the others when there’s danger. It does not matter if they can handle themselves, he’ll just shield them instinctively.

5. That goes for weathers too, if it’s raining or the sun is too hot, he’ll place his wing over any of the others as means to shield them.

6. If Kass is performing a song and each member is joining in on a dance, Zelda will constantly want him to join in. Though he refuses at first, Sidon will push him towards the others and practically force him to join with a wide smile on his face, much to Teba’s dismay HAHA but he’ll have fun and if it makes Zelda happy then he’ll accept.

7. When they’re all done traveling and camping out, Teba will either (not sleep at all) or wake up in the middle of the night to do a run down and check on everyone as they sleep just to make sure they’re doing okay and not in danger or having any nightmares.

8. If one of them has nightmares, Teba is immediately there for them and stays up with them until they fall back asleep.

9. He’s protective. Like FEROCIOUSLY PROTECTIVE. You touch a single hair on their head? You’re dead.

10. If someone even dares to try to be mean to Zelda, or blame her for the events of the calamity or Hylia forbid, CALL HER A FAILURE? Oooof..you will be taken care of before those words can even leave your MOUTH.

11. Teba nicknames Zelda Sparrow/Linnet. The first time he did, it made Zelda cry because it reminded her of Urbosa and her mom (little bird) ☹️ Teba didn’t even realize he had nicknamed her something so close to Zelda’s moms. He felt so bad about it and thought he had done something bad by calling her that, but Zelda reassures him that it just means a lot to her. 🥹😭 🤍

12. The reason Teba calls Zelda sparrow is because she small and it literally translates to “little bird” and as to why he calls her linnet, is because Zelda has a pretty singing voice like a linnet bird. (I headcanon that Zelda has a hidden talent for singing 🤍)

13. If Riju asks Teba to look after one of her sand seal plushies, yeah he’s guarding that plush with his LIFE.

14. Teba taught Zelda archery

15. Teba and Zelda often go on little trips together and when Zelda begins to happily chat and geek out about ancient history and sheikah tech or what not, Teba happily listens and indulges with her. He even actually enjoys learning about it and discovering things with her.

16. If Teba finds some ancient looking artifact he’ll immediately tell Zelda or give it to her because he knows how much she loves to study it.

17. He constantly makes sure they’re all appropriately dressed for the colder weathers

18. Can and WILL intervene on a creep that’s trying to hit on Zelda or Riju. He will go feral and probably shoot any creeps with a bundle of bomb arrows. LOL

19. Absolutely helps Link try to get with Zelda (but he still also feels a little protective? Like?? Duh, it’s link. Ofc they’re gonna be together but he’s a dad, he can’t help feeling a little protective of Zelda at times even if it’s Link HAHA)

20. Each of them have all accidentally called him dad and he just accepts it at this point.

21. Teba wants to throw hands (wings?) with King Rhoam.

23. despite how close they are, in the beginning Zelda actually had a hard time trying to get comfortable with Teba for a short time. Because her experience with her dad wasn’t BEST, it was absolutely bewildering to see Teba be such a supportive and good father figure to everyone, she’s not used to that. She would watch them all interacting and analyze it, trying to understand but couldn’t. Teba however, was always very good to her and they quickly got really close and bonded.

24. Teba shows parental affection by placing his forehead against the others

25. Tulin now has 5 older siblings 🤍

(I HAVE SO MANY MORE ID BE HAPPY TO SHARE MORE IF THATS WHAT YOU ALL WOULD LIKE LOL)

[powdermelonkeg]

I'm certain you've talked about power sources for the Ancient Sheikah text, but what about Zonai tech? What are they powered by, if not just the same thing?

Okay, so I think that Sheikah tech is powered by grains of Timeshift stones, given how those look when powered.

Zonai devices don't have that, though. Any power they show off is green.

When they break, or when Zonai devices dissolve, it's in an explosion of blue-green light:

Which looks STARTLINGLY like the kind of power that permeates other, non-mechanical Zonai aspects, like the Shrines and Rauru's arm.

And that, we know, comes from light.

So, at its very, most rudimentary basic, I think Zonai use light as a power source.

But how does light become that green power?

So you know Lightroots?

Each of these can be found in the Depths, able to be activated with Zonai power, and connecting to a Shrine overhead. The only exceptions to this rule are the Shrines in the sky, which we can assume have been cut off from their lightroots—maybe that's why there are so many gloomroots in the Depths.

Look at that. Withered, seeping gloom everywhere, like decay.

How does this connect to Zonai machinery, though?

When you activate a lightroot, it doesn't just glow. Light cascades down THROUGH the base of the root, seeping into the ground, where it disperses and brings life to the area around you. That light all has to go somewhere, right?

And it does.

Here's how I think the whole process works (excuse the MS paint, I'm at work, it's the best I have):

Light becomes sealed in a Shrine, to "purify evil" (ie, to kill some monster that was trapped there).

The energy from that reaction travels down into a lightroot, where it builds up over time.

The light then filters upwards and infuses stone and metal, turning it into Zonaite.

Which then gets processed into Zonai machinery.

This has been going on LONG before Rauru; we know for a fact that his powers are hereditary, given how Sonia validated Zelda's existence due to sensing both their powers in her.

Monsters have existed long before the Demon King took control of them. Rauru's ancestors very likely used this as a way of dealing with them, which led to the creation of Zonaite in the first place, which they could then fully take advantage of. It's a sort of self-sustaining cycle built off the back of Hyrule's curse.

Which, in turn, gave rise to the ecosystem of the Depths.

And, depending on if you believe Luminous Stones to be connected to Zonaite, parts of the surface ecosystem, too.

[tashacee]

Do you have headcanons for the Ancient Hero?

Mine are that:

he’s Rauru and Sonia’s adopted son. He is the son of a Zonai woman and the Hylian son of a Gerudo (which are more commonly then Gerudo voes). Basically he’s half Zonai, 1/4 Hylian, and 1/4 Gerudo. He gets his red hair from his grandma.

As a kitten he accidentally tore off Ganondorf’s nipple. How? Rauru was trying to give Ancient a bath but didn’t notice that he had attached himself to Ganondorf’s nipple ring, at least not until Ganondorf was screaming in pain. Thankfully Zonai technology reattached his nipple and the ring.

Zonai have two names, one in animalistic growls and grunts and the other in Hylain when they’re older and have a grasp of the language. Ancient never got his Hylian until he was in his teens and it was Link. He hated it because of the fact it was chosen due to the Triforce marking he had.

Ancient saw Zelda (Flora) turn into the Light Dragon. He was only a kitten then but he wanted to help her one day return her to normal

During the first battle against Calamity Ganon, Ancient’s back got broken and this caused Calamity to sealed rather than destroyed. Zonai and Sheikah technology helped him walk again.

Ancient is very intelligent and helped create the Guardians and other ancient tech we see in Wild’s time. I got this headcanon from @ninma

He will steal anything shiny. He created the Sheikah Slate so he can store his shiny things after he filled all of his hiding spots.

I hope you enjoy theses. I also to see more Baby Ancient soon. Your art of him is so adorable.

THIS IS SO CUTE AND COOL! I'd love to see more of your Ancient Hero.

I'm gonna talk about Baby Aspect for this because if I talk about the one in Aspects I'll get into spoilers territory lmao

His parents are both Hylian/Zonai hybrids and in his era this is very common, so he's used to seeing a bunch of people who look like him

that said, he's seven, so he just doesn't question things like appearance. Are they friend-shaped? He will befriend them.

Yes, this includes unsuspecting monsters. He is very cute and catches them all off guard.

He speaks fluent Hylian as well as growl-purr-cat-language. Some of the older generations couldn't, but it's become the norm for everyone to be at least bi-lingual

When he meows it's the cutest damn thing you ever heard

He was born a few years after Flora became the Light Dragon, and she's already been mythologised by his time.

He doesn't have all of the tattoos/markings that he will when fully grown, but he does have them on his face. It's a painless and joyful ceremony that welcomes a child into the wider community and marks them with their family design, and it's really lovely. He's super proud of them and can't wait to get older and earn more.

His parents won't let him get his ears pierced until he's 12 and he's SO MAD

He loves fish so much. Especially cut into strips. And fried. In breadcrumbs. Fish fingers, he loves fish fingers.

Extremely susceptible to cuddles. Will fall asleep in your arms. Also purrs in his sleep. Extremely sweet. Actual bby.

Also oooooooooh you want more Baby art? Ask and thou shalt receive, watch this space!

[madamnerd]

I've deleted my Epilogue to my thoughts on Tears of the Kingdom post, basically because after a while, I realized that I don't quite feel that way at all, and was really only going off of what people said, so here's how I honestly feel about TotK. Spoilers ahead, so don't read if you haven't played it.

TotK is a fun game to play, and I enjoy playing it, but I have two major problems with it:

1. The game's mechanics and Zonai devices give the player unlimited freedom to the point of absolute ridiculousness. It's fun to play with, sure, but honestly I can't take it seriously as a Zelda game at all. It just looks too goofy... What I feel like they should have done is kept the concept of the Zonai as the Ancient Warrior Tribe of Faron (not bloody Ancient Aliens that practically replaced the Gods/Hylia, that was ridiculous) and made them magic users, while still keeping the Sheikah Tech from BotW... Sheikah Magitech combined with Ancient Warrior Zonai Magic... Now THAT would've been awesome!

2. The Story was shit. I'm sorry, but it just wasn't good at all... Not to mention that it makes a huge plot hole with Zelda becoming the Light Dragon for 10,000 years just so she could restore the Master Sword and return it to Link, like ??? Where was that in BotW then?

The total disregard for BotW that TotK has in general pisses me off so badly... I wanted a true sequel to Breath of the Wild, not a remake of it wiping out everything important before. Why is there still no Triforce? What the hell were these Secret Stones? Zelda doesn't need retconning like this (imo, it doesn't need it at all). Keep to the original driving force of the series, the Triforce. It's what's always been the center of the Zelda Universe.

... Maybe I'm just getting older and more set in my ways... I know that many of you out there love the game, and I'm happy for you, I am, and as I've said before, I like playing it too, it's fun to ding around with, but to me it just isn't Zelda. I know alot of older fans were really confused and let down by TotK. It was supposed to be huge, and, again imo, wound up being one of the biggest cash grabs Nintendo's put out there...

Hopefully Nintendo will learn from this mistake and combine some of the new elements with the older formula (cooking, multiple outfits, outfit dyeing, horse customization, multiple horses, ect.).

Feel free to comment and reblog. You think I'm wrong or an idiot? Go for it, tell me why. You agree with me or want to tell me something else? Go for it, tell me why. I welcome all opinions. Thank-you for your time in reading this.

[ganondoodle]

since i cant stop thinking about things i care about and also i cant shut up ever im gonna say my bit about the "well of COURSE they destroyed everything shiekah after botw bc it nearly killed the entire country DUH do you not understand basic worldbuilding??" type of comment i had directed at me (mostly on twitter to no ones surprise and almost exactly worded like this)

--how would you even destroy it, the only thing you can actually damage with anything are guardians and nano-guardians, anything else cant even get scratched, hell you cant even climb the darn things, are you seriously trying to tell me they somehow completely pulverized not just the shrines but titans (divine beasts), the shrine of life and the pillars holding the guardians in storage around hyrule castle and the dome beneath it (whereever that went lol) when it was built to and DID last over 10 000 years ... and if you did somehow find a way to dismantle literally all of it why would you not ... use its parts for something else and also research it (lets be real here, purahs new towers are just the sheikah towers but more impractical and would by all means not need all of the material from all the missing stuff and the purahpad is just ... literally the shiekah stone but looking more like the switch and also worse bc its got almost none of the functions the shiekah stone had) they were so integrated into botws landscape removing them and their chambers would have been so much effort better spent in other places and just so unnecessary (think of the shrines at the twin mountains, removing all of that would be so dangerous and difficult to do), removing the pillars and the dome under the castle would endanger it collapsing no? there also would have needed to be a giant mechanism down there to make the pillars rise up, why would you go and try to destroy that instead of focusing on rebuilding the most important infrastrucutre

(on a sidenote, yes there are holes to the underground in the place of some shrines but its by far not all of them .. .even so there at the very least should be some rubble of them lying about at the bottom plus in most of their places its just plain earth, or sometimes even a cave locked by some puzzle which is.... so weird)

really the only explanation would be that it all just ... disappeared after zelda sealed ganon, which wouldnt only be hella unsatisfying as an answer but also again pose the problem that i would have caused the castle to collapse considering how shiekah tech was so integrated into it... unless it turned to earth somehow ... which would explain that but still be as satisfying of an explanation as 'it was all just a dream uwu' additionally, the zonau stuff under the castle wasnt even that far down so it must have intersected with the shiekah stuff, like the pillars or the dome?? but no its all just zonau ruins now wahoo

if literally all traces were gone and totk was a paralel to botw but with zonau instead of shiekah OK, they still called it a sequel tho, they still talk about the events of botw but in a way that sounds like it was just another lost legend, the tapestry exists as well, and there are a few old guardian parts on top of the hateno institute (still feels like an oversight considering how cleanly everything else was wiped off the map), plus purahs towers and the purahpad are clearly based off of it, so it cant really be some time fuckery either, some things still remain; it just doesnt add up and its frustrating as hell .. ... especially if you were like me completely thrilled and intrigued to learn more about the ancient shiekah, what WAS that dome under the castle for?? what WAS ancient energy really and why was it found in these specific places only?? did they know about ganondorf?? if they built stuff down there shouldnt they have inevitably come across the old tunnels?? the monks literally talk to link in botw why would they withhold that info, what reason could they have?

--by far my biggest annoyance with that excuse is that ... if you are so afraid of tech you dont fully understand being taken over by the bad guy again to the point you destroy not just the titans you basically worshipped as divine protectors but also immovable shrines that literally couldnt do shit to harm you even if they were pumped up to the brim with malice/miasma after they have already become non threatening/non functional anyway... HOW could you just go and fully trust and personally play around with new tech that LITERALLY rained from the sky out of nowhere, from a group of people no one knows shit about (like at least the shiekah were still existing and had a small part of recorded history) and never cared either until now that they are suddendly everywhere, even if it cant get corrupted somehow (kinda disproven by the spirit temple) how the hell would anyone know that?? if anything this would be a reason to be MORE afraid of it

even the ancient king that persecuted the shiekah bc he was afraid of their tech when they invented it didnt order them to destroy it, just bury it, despite them of all people knowing the best of how to completely destroy it??? and zelda doesnt seem like the type that would order old history and relics to be destroyed liek that??

it would have been such a golden opportunity to show that hey, the ancient shiekah based their tech on that of the zonau, they found the mines and tech and reasearched it to built their own from it, strucutres that show they were down here building the shrines from underground, titan prototypes, you cant do anything with it, its old and broken, but its there, environmental storytelling and all that

the shrine of life especially pisses me off bc thats like .. ok it was kinda not the best maybe but it still saved links goddamn life, even if it all became useless for some reason at least leave it there as a sign of respect, if there needs to be a cave have it be half collapsed after the cataclysm or something wheres the problem

(also idk if im the only one with that but in botws true ending when zelda says that vah ruta, i think, has stopped working it seemed like a good setup for more? and that she wanted to investigate that in the sense of ah shoot i want it to keep working tho and not in the sense of hell yeah lets smash it to pieces i know this is theory territory now but it seemed like it somewhat confirmed that the titans need a pilots strong spirit to work since they are not connected to the ancient energy network and the spirits of the champions passed on at the end ... the idea that ancient energy was spirit energy either gained from luminous stones or directly spirits is so neat, and i loved that idea of hey the reason why all of the energy went out all of the sudden is bc ganondorf is breaking free after having been kept in a stasis to use either his malice or his strong spirit to fuel it all has never left my mind since i first read about it bc its such a good setup for intrigue, like oh heck the ancient shiekah werent so coolio and 100% perfectly good either, maybe they knew about gans 'future' or history and hey why not trick him or sth into being sealed against his will so that problem is out the way and whoop hes pretty much an infinite source of energy nice lets use that for our research and not tell anyone oh no we created a monster (calamity gan) l guess we are gonna use the tech we fuel with his own life against him lol, OR you could have connceted it to the zonau maybe doing the sealing first and the shiekah discovering him later and being like oh neat an endlessly rich powersource we arent gonan tell anyone about weehoo

it would have tied into the ancient shiekah stuff, explained why it doesnt work well anymore, give a reason to explore the underground and discover it all, give a reason to why it was kept a secret bc no one wanted to admit yeah we made this monster ourselves whoops, give ganondorf a reason to be this angry and make it all more nuanced bc yeah ok maybe the zonau knew about gan and in their effort to prevent it caused it instead by sealing him before he became a problem and it all started a domino effect of disasters leading into all this mess that now poor zelda and link gotta solve

im not saiyng this is the better version or that i am better but again you can literally do so much with the setup for it all and what totk ended up doing with it feels so ... not even underused but straight up backwards treading you had it right on front of you INFINITE POTENTIAL AAARGH)

theres only so much fun gameplay and fantastic music can save and man can you imagine what could have been if the story got the same polish as the gameplay and music ;__;

[skyloftsword]

Understanding Tears of the Kingdom

I'm seeing a lot of hate being thrown at Tears of the Kingdom again that really just gets disproven by the game itself. Yes I know this is like my 400000th post defending the game but its fun. I have in game evidence so spoiler warning!

TotK is a SEQUEL! It is NOT an alternate timeline nor is it an alternate universe! People who say this stuff clearly did not pay attention to literally anything considering...

As you can see, there is a lot of evidence that this game is connected to Breath of the Wild as a SEQUEL. Here's the biggest connection.

Breath of the Wild is summarized in its entirety! Symin even acknowledges the fact that Link already knows all of this because of his experience with the Calamity.

Now onto why Zelda was transported back in time. As we know, Zelda is a descendant of Rauru and Sonia (yes they have at least one child, they just aren't mentioned or brought up at all from what I have seen so far in my time with the game, nothing disproves them having a child however) so Sonia is where she got her time powers from. Now why did Zelda get sent back to that era specifically? Well its because that era was still in her mind. Link and her were just done looking at the murals from the past, not to mention the Demon King himself from that era was right there. So of course, all Zelda was thinking about was the ancient past of THIS Hyrule.

Moving on, the Sheikah tech excuse Aonuma/Fujibayashi stated in an interview is actually brought up within Breath of the Wild itself.

This of course specifically referencing the Shrines/Towers, now what would excuse the Divine Beasts? Easy. They were breaking down at the end of Breath of the Wild, meaning they were getting ready to disappear alongside the rest of the Sheikah tech now that their roles were fulfilled as well as them being broken.

I have gone over the ending in SEVERAL posts so I'm going to keep this section brief. According to the Molduga geoglyph Tear, others can amplify a person's power by putting their hands out. Because of this, Rauru and Sonia amplified Link's Recall ability and not only brought back Zelda's mental and physical state to right before transformation, but they also brought Link's arm back from pre-Ganondorf attack and got Rauru his arm back from Link. This was only possible due to the amplified Recall.

Now, the Triforce is actually in game and the Secret Stones do NOT replace it. The Triforce is the source of Zelda's light powers just like how it was in Breath of the Wild.

Its hard to see, but you can see it on her hand on the left. The Secret Stones themselves only AMPLIFY a person's powers (it also doesn't grant them sudden mastery of their powers). This is mentioned during the Mineru's Counsel Tear. So yeah, the Triforce is still very relevant and extremely important to the game.

So yeah, that's my millionth TotK defense post. Thanks for reading.

[hollysoda]

Okay so I know that totk turned one year old a couple of days ago but I was away for the weekend and didn’t get a chance to post something about it. Now I’m home again, I think I wanna just put some thoughts down

Firstly, I still love totk. It was a really fun game and had just as much fun playing through it complete blind as I did playing botw with only a loose knowledge of the game. In fact, I enjoyed it more than botw. Maybe it was because I knew more about Zelda than what I did back in September 2022 when I first played botw, or maybe it was because I could see the improvements they made when it came to dungeons and overall exploration. For at least six months totk was my favourite zelda game. Now, a year on, it isn’t.

I think on reflection totk is a very flawed game. While it is technically genius, story-wise it’s incredibly weak, possibly the weakest in the entire franchise. Here are a few points worth mentioning:

Why bother bringing back Ganondorf if he isn’t going to have any real motive? Is there a reason why he’s fighting with Rauru and seeking his own secret stone, or is he just doing it for funsies? Part of the reason why Wind Waker Ganondorf is so good is because he has a strong and clear motive. Without any motive, totk Ganondorf just feels like an enemy rather than a main antagonist

The main thing that drives forward a story is a theme to take away from it. Breath of the Wild’s theme was exploration and lost memories, Skyward Sword’s theme was loyalty and/or devotion, but it’s hard to tell what totk’s theme is. Sacrifice could be the outstanding one, seeing as both Zelda and Rauru make crucial sacrifices for the sake of Hyrule, but where else is it seen in the story? Totk just tries too many things, and having a clear theme would just help to solidify things

For a game that was supposed to solve the mystery of who the Zonai were it sure did a poor job at doing so. I absolutely adore the Zonai and in my opinion Rauru and Mineru’s designs as some of the coolest in the entire franchise but my god. Their lore is so underdeveloped it hurts. We know the bare minimum about their civilisation and culture. We still don’t know why they died off, why they built the labyrinths (and by extension who the Lord of dragons/owls/boars are), why they have secret stones in the first place, why is the Temple of Time in the sky when it was originally on the ground and most importantly why is draconification a forbidden act. If you’re gonna imply that the three dragons introduced in botw were once people then tell us!! Totk deserved a dlc that could explain all of this and not leave us in the unknown

Saying that the Sheikah technology just “disappeared” is an absolutely awful way of saying “uh yeah we never thought about that”. That’s some god awful world-building and planning on the developers behalf. Even if they just said that after the Calamity it lost its magic and then parts of it were repurposed for new technology, like the Skyview towers, it would be so much more believable. The Divine Beasts should have at least been in the game somewhere, perhaps in the depths. The lack of Sheikah tech makes the game feel so disjointed from botw, and makes totk feel as though it’s only a sequel because it has the same characters in it

The ending of the game just doesn’t sit right with me. Why bother having Mineru beg Zelda not to swallow her secret stone if in the end she would be able to turn back into a human. I understand the developers want a happy ending but at least let there be consequences. Let Zelda’s memory be a bit hazy or give her dragon features like many artists have done and let Link permanently be an amputee

Also the Ancient Hero angers me. I’ve got no problems with him not being a hylian because honestly it makes it wayy more interesting knowing that not every hero was hylian, but just explain why. If he’s some sort of Zonai, why doesn’t he look like Rauru and Mineru? Is he some sort of hybrid or a different breed of Zonai? And why does the tapestry depict him as a hylian if he’s not? Seems like an oversight more than anything

I think I should stop there because this post is getting long but uh TL;DR totk could have been a phenomenal game if they spent more time planning out the storyline and fleshing out lore. I get it, the game was originally botw dlc, but after so many delays we at least deserved a better story.

I do still love this game though Tears of the Dragon goes HARD

[plagueybirb]

Because I love all things creepy and spooky and horrifying, and it's basically spooky season, imagine how much MORE messed up the Shadow Temple could be if it were in the BOTW era.

Ten thousand years go by. The Temple has all but been forgotten and buried with the rest of the Sheikah's dark past. I don't doubt at least the chieftains are told, at least as much can be recorded and remembered safely, but that's not all that important. Cut to BOTW. Link is exploring, and he comes across a part of the cliff wall in the Kakariko graveyard that just. Doesn't look Quite Right.

Does he bomb it? Does he Magnesis it out of the way? Does he Stasis it and beat the ever loving crap out of it and send it spiraling into the stratosphere? Whatever the case, he gets it open. There's a long, long, LONG staircase down. It's dark, dank, and there's a heavy scent of something rotting and undeniably Wrong.

Link, being Link, descends.

It gets darker. The smell of rot and decay gets even heavier. The air is thick with it, so strong you can almost physically taste it. It's overwhelming. There's almost a dark aura in the very air, like the shadows themselves take up physical space and are no longer confined to a flat plane.

There's a dias at the bottom, like the typical Sheikah shrines have. There's torches, but they're techy, and glow like stars when activated by the Slate. Lighting them opens the first door. Is it magic? Advanced technology? Who knows, that's not important.

There are messages on the walls. Ancient writing, glowing red in warning instead of the usual blue. Warning you to turn back, that there's nothing worth finding here, that whatever is there is meant to stay buried forever.

Discarded tech litters the rooms, everything was left in a hurry. Tossed about randomly like people were just throwing things into the hidden underground labyrinth just to get it in there. But that's only the first few rooms, the ones that are easy to reach. The tech is nothing special, it's just everyday items one might've had over ten thousand years ago.

The next couple of rooms are very different. They're labs. There's large rooms with long tables filled with weapons that were scrapped. Ranged weapons, ancient blueprints for outfitting guardians with all sorts of weapons before a design was settled on. Sickles, scythes, even energy whips that would snake out and snatch you, little thorns and hooks digging into you to keep you trapped like a fish on a line. Guardians designed to go in water, Guardians designed to swim in sand. All plans, half tested, unfinished, and forgotten. Meant to fight monsters with brutal efficiency in all types of terrain, just in case the Calamity escaped Hyrule.

The rooms after that are very different. Locked behind a terminal you need such high security clearance that genuinely no one alive even has access to anymore. Link, having the last Sheikah Slate, is perhaps conveniently the only person who is able to unlock it. Suspiciously so. One has to wonder who's Slate it was originally, before passing through to Zelda and eventually Link.

The rooms are forbidden. The further in you go, the older and more ancient everything becomes. The more horrific.

There's a Dead Hand. But it's not normal. It lumbers through the halls, slithering among mounds of bones and discarded fleshy and techy amalgamations that failed. This Dead Hand has Gaurdian limbs jutting out at odd angles, dragging it along like a severely messed up spider. It's a horrible fusion of dying tech and revived flesh and too many hands. It's the only "success" of merging tech and flesh to try and create something or someone that might stand up to Calamity Ganon in the event the Hero dies. It was never meant to exist, and never meant to leave, and therefore must be slain.

And after that, it just keeps going. Up until you reach the bottom. There's another staircase and a stone dias, and torches. Actual torches, that need to be lit with fire to open the last door. It's older than anything else in the Temple, older than living memory. Almost like another temple that was just built on top of. From there it's just a straight shot through oddly familiar and terrifying torture rooms and death traps, a ferry that floats without any water to carry it, and a gaping pit that leads to an old arena.

Now, there's probably no Lens of Truth anymore, I doubt an already old artifact survived that long. So maybe there's nothing in the arena. Maybe it's just a big drum in a dark and vaguely poisonous abyss.

But maybe there is something. And Link just can't see it. Or can only see it through the camera on his Sheikah Slate. Something even worse than Dead Hand. Something that had to stay trapped down at the deepest, darkest, most ancient depths of the temple.

Impa would possibly be the only one alive who knows even a fraction of what Link would see in there. Perhaps Paya too, but who knows?

Would the Yiga Clan know? Would they know the horrors of a BOTW Shadow Temple? What would they do with the information if they did know?

Can y'all tell I've been thinking about this for a while? Just a tiny bit?

I just REALLY like the Shadow Temple and want to see it return someday in a way that spooked me like it did the first time I played OOT. It doesn't even have to be a main dungeon, it could be entirely optional and I'd be happy

[captain-krow-drozdov]

Two For The Price Of One

(Linked Universe/BOTW Wild/Link AU)

BOTW Link Has Two Braincells Souls

1. The Hero That Died 100 Years Ago (Link)

And

2. The Artificial Sheikah Soul From The Shrine Of Resurrection/The Player (Tech)

Upon Finding Out From The Old Man That Having Another Person In Your Head Isn't The Norm They Decided That Link Gets To Keep His Name And The Artificial Sheikah Soul Will Now Be Dubbed Tech (Once Joining The Chain Link Picks Up The Nickname Unity And Tech Picks Up The Nickname Wild).

Unity/Link Still Has Amnesia But Ends Up Gaining A Lot Of Their Memories Back Pretty Quickly After Finding All The Picture Locations And Wild/Tech Literally Just Got Here When They Woke Up In The Shrine So It Was A Learning Process For Both Of Em.

Unity/Link Is Good With Swords, Shields And Most Weapons Whereas Wild/Tech Is Good With Archery, The Sheikah Slate(Mental Connection Go Brr) And Stealth. Unity/Link Has The Heros Spirit And Wild/Tech Is Just Here For The Vibes And To Be A Chaos Enabler. (Unity/Link Was A Domesticated Chaos Gremlin By The Time He Died And Wild/Tech Is Going To Un-Domesticate Him If It's The Last Thing He Does)

They Are Unfortunately Both Idiots/Chaos Gremlins And Socially Awkward And Will 100% Play Mental Rock Paper Scissors The Loser Has To Deal With Socializing.

Wild Ultimately Looks The Same But Also Has Some "Something Supernatural Is Going On There" Vibes Like Sharper Teeth, The Fact That Their Eyes Glow/Eyeshine, Scary Good Night Vision, Always Cold, Movements/Vibe Just Off Enough To Trigger Some Primal Fear In Strangers, Their Blood Has A Faint Glow To It And When Wild/Tech Is In Control The Blue Glow In Their Eyes Is Brighter And More Noticeable.

Mentally However, Unity/Link Looks Like He Did Back When He Was A Knight Before The Calamity Hit And Wild/Tech Looks Like A Sheikah Recolor Of Unity/Link But They Have Ancient Technology Markings Near Their Eyes And Where Any Visible Veins World Be As Well As Blue Fire Eyes That Glow In The Dark Similar To Guardians/Ancient Tech.

At This Rate Unity/Link & Wild/Tech Are On "Do Not Separate" Levels Of Chaotic Head Roommates. They Can Actively Switch Out Who's Driving The Body At Will And With Enough Focus Can Copilot The Body.

They Are Actively Keeping Score Of Who Is Closest To Figuring Out That There Are Two People Behind The Mental Wheel Of The Champion Link (Four And Zelda/Flora Have The Highest Scores).

{I Offer Incorrect Quotes For The General Dynamic/Vibe Of These Two}

~

Wild/Tech: If you See Me Talking To Myself, Go Away! I’m Self-Employed And We’re Having A Staff Meeting!

~

Unity/Link & Wild/Tech: Am I a Boy? Am I A Girl? It Doesn't Matter. I'm Going To Burn Your House Down.

~

Unity/Link: Name A More Iconic Duo Than My Crippling Fear Of Not Being Worthy Of Being The Hero And My Anxiety. I'll Wait.

Wild/Tech: You And Me!!!

Unity/Link, Tearing Up: Okay.

~

Unity/Link, Trying To Put His Knight Training To Use: Ok We Need A Plan...

Wild/Tech, Currently In Control Of The Body Pulling Out A Bomb Arrow: We Have A Plan. The Plan Is Burn Everything Until We Are All That's Left Standing!

Unity/Link, Fighting And Losing To His Pyromania Demons: That'll Work =)

~

Unity/Link: Wild/Tech...

Wild/Tech, Bloody And Bruised From A Recent Tumble Down A Mountain Due To Ignoring Shield Durability While Shield Surfing: Oh No, 'Wild/Tech' In B-Flat.

Wild/Tech: You're Disappointed.

~

Wild/Tech: So That’s My Plan.

Unity/Link, A Trained High Ranking Knight: Are You Alright With Constructive Criticism? I Don’t Want To Sound Mean.

Wild/Tech: No, Go Ahead, I Want To Hear It.

Unity/Link: It Fucking Sucks We Are Going To Die.

Wild/Tech: That’s Not Very Constructive Of Your Criticism.

~

Unity/Link: I Prevented A Murder Today.

Wild/Tech, Who Watched The Whole Exercise Of Self Restraint Go Down: Really? How’d You Do That?

Unity/Link: Self Control.

~

Wild/Tech: I CAN'T DO IT UNITY/LINK!

Unity/Link, Laughing: I CAN'T EITHER!

Wild/Tech: I CANT FUCKING DO IT ANYMORE

Unity/Link: WELL I'LL TELL YOU WHAT WILD/TECH, YOU CAN GIVE UP NOW, OR YOU CAN FIGURE IT OUT. BECAUSE I CERTAINLY CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU, AND I KNOW YOU CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT ME.

Wild/Tech: . . .

Wild/Tech: I Appreciate It,

Wild/Tech: BUT LOOK WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH MAN-

Unity/Link: Wild/Tech-

Wild/Tech: YOU GOTTA DRAW THE LINE SOMEWHERE!

Unity/Link: Wild/Tech We Gotta-

Wild/Tech: YOU GOTTA DRAW A FUCKING LINE IN THE SAND DUDE. YOU GOTTA MAKE A STATEMENT.

Wild/Tech: YOU GOTTA LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF AND SAY 'What Am I Willing To Put Up With Today?'

Wild/Tech, Motioning To Calamity Ganon: NOT FUCKING THIS!

[corvidcrowned]

HI you are the first other person ive seen that hates totk!! can i understand ur reasons please? /genq :o

I’m the first??? I thought most people were agreeing it was stupid???

anyways

the story goes against the main themes of BOTW (specifically the message of. ‘relying on tradition is not how you solve current problems’) and ruins the cool and interesting calamity Ganon w bringing human ganon back and also he’s not even interesting. Just ‘evil desert man is evil’.

The sage abilities are extremely clunky and are way worse than the champions. Like, the champion abilities you could activate at any time but with the sages… you can’t use them if the avatars aren’t right by you which sucks. Also Sidon’s ability is dumb.

also, all the sage’s individual arcs are all over before they even begin and the ancient sage cutscenes are like. Word for word copy paste. It’s soooo lazy…. The champion cutscenes after beating the divine beasts were really individual so this is a major fucking downgrade.

Telling most of the linear story through out of order cutscenes is stupid. You can tell they just wanted to do the BOTW memory system again but that only worked because link had amnesia and it wasn’t like. The entire linear storyline. Also I hate what they did with the zonai . Also where the fuck was raru’s kid??? How is zelda descended from them????

they got rid of the sheikah tech with a bullshit excuse and no in game explanation. I get not wanting the shrines to be around but the divine beasts being gone and having the spots where shrines were be totally empty is bullshit. Also the new shrines are extremely ugly on the outside. The BOTW shrines were really pretty and so once again, major downgrade

the zonai look stupid. Why are their legs so fucking short?? You can see the stylistic decision with the Zora because they’re designed for swimming using muscles in their torso but zonai are land creatures. It’s total bullshit. Also these totk zonai? NOTHING like the zonai hinted at in BOTW.

They give link his arm back at the end. Bad disability rep. Boo

zelda’s outfit in the past is ugly (nitpick and opinion based but like cmon her outfit at the beginning of the game is cute…)

they released a game with a bullshit story + recycled models and map and wanted 70 fucking dollars for it.

Also, a lot of Zelda’s story in BOTW is wanting to be out there and studying things and being active in her own life and making her a damsel in distress AGAIN is. Stupid. They just make her sit around gushing about link and then she turns into a dragon. 👎

However the one good part: you can make pizza

[toushindai]

(totk endgame spoilers)

there is something I've been trying to put into words about how much of the game is spent learning to think like a Zonai. OK. Points:

Look me in the eye and tell me you've never tried to Ascend in another video game after spending a few hours in TOTK. You can't. I don't believe you if you do. I was looking for ascend-able spots in Pokemon the other day. I also saw a pile of just. random materials on the ground and went "what am I supposed to Ultrahand those into." And yes this is standard Tetris Effect nonsense, I'm not claiming it's unique, but in-world, think about Link, a Hylian, learning to rely so completely on these ancient powers. And his access to these powers not being technological a la the Sheikah Slate but being grafted onto his body.

The sheer number of shrines in the "A [Whatever] Device" pattern. Shrines designed very explicitly to teach you "here is the basic function of this Zonai device. Here are some more complex or novel ways to use that same device." I do wonder what purpose these shrines were intended to serve when they were created by Rauru before the Imprisoning War. Did he hope his children/descendants would inherit Zonai magic? Or just that Hyruleans would incorporate Zonai tech into their lives? We do see, for example in the "A King's Duty" tear, Hylians lugging around rockets...

And then there is the skydiving. The way that, at the beginning of the game, yes of course Link is willing to leap after Zelda no questions asked, but he can't catch her. But then you spend dozens of hours exploring the world, navigating the game's verticality. You maybe do the Zonai coming-of-age Diving Ceremonies. You maybe do the labyrinths and dive from the sky to the depths. It seems that these agile dives from high places were meaningful in Zonai culture--and they signified/demonstrated courage, so of course this is something for Link to become proficient in. And become proficient he does, such that at the end of the game he's able to dive and at last catch and save Zelda.

The Zonai are gone, at the end of the game. Rauru and Mineru join Sonia in whatever world beyond there is, and even Link's arm--the arm that allowed him to access this ancient culture, in ways both metaphorical and literal--is returned to normal. If ever Link felt a sense of disconnect, having this arm from another species grafted onto his body, I think he must feel that same sense of disconnect and displacement in having it removed. For a time, he was almost the last embodiment of this culture. And now he isn't anymore.

[mimus-of-bellingar]

There's been so many complaints about the ancient Sheikah tech no longer being around in TOTK since the release, but it kind of makes sense why they wouldn't be. Even without the official "oh, they just vanished" explanation.

I mean, just look at these things from the perspective of a modern citizen of Hyrule who had to deal with these things for a hundred years, probably even from a modern Sheikah's perspective, honestly.

The Guardians and Divine Beasts were suppose to be these bulwarks against Calamity Ganon, even though they didn't really understand how they worked and had still not figured everything about them out by the time the Calamity struck.

And Ganon absolutely destroyed the old Hyrule with it. So much death and destruction at the "hands" of the technology supposed to protect them.

On top of that, given Link's first reaction to Purah's repurpose of the guardian legs - extreme panic -, I think it can be surmised that the average citizen of Hyrule would most likely be traumatized by the sight of them.

It doesn't matter that the Divine Beast helped in the end, after they had already caused so much destruction. The Gorons considered Vah Darunia a nuisance that had to be held in check or else it caused havoc, the Gerudo didn't like Vah Naboris getting near their settlements and causing all these sandstorms, the Zora only seemed to accept Vah Ruta as the place of Mipha's rest and the Rito couldn't care less what Vah Medoh did as long as it didn't interfere with their everyday life.

And then they stopped working altogether if the epilogue of BOTW is to be believed.

So it makes sense that they would agree to have these weapons deactivated or destroyed and repurposed after the Calamity passed.

There was no way there was still room for them in the new Hyrule, no one would trust these machines again, not even the Sheikah themselves. After all, the Towers in TOTK are made of repurposed Ancient Sheikah parts, probably even from some shrines.

And if Link solving all of the shrines in BOTW is canon, there is no more purpose for them, unless another set of 120 Sheikahs are willing to spend their afterlives as living mummies for 10.000 years.

[bluesdesk]

TOTK REIMAGINED

First of all, the Link and Zelda from Skyward Sword are named Sky (Link) and Sun (Zelda) to distinguish them from Link and Zelda (botw/totk)!

The nicknames are borrowed from Linked Universe!!

MAJOR TOTK PLOT SPOILERS!!

- That Ganondorf? He's not Ganondorf, but another man. Maybe gerudo, an evil king. But not Ganondorf.

- Rauru is a Hylian, the son of Sky and Sun, first king of Hyrule and first sage

- the constructs are ancient Sheikah tech infused with holy power from Sun/Hylia! They look so magical and advanced because they are full of Sun's power nobody else has.

- Sonia is a Sheikah, and she isn't the descendant of Sun and Sky.

(spoilers ahead)

- Before leaving the world of the living, Sun created the sacred stones, taking 7 amber relics and adding her power to them, and explained her and Sky's son (Rauru) their purpose, though there was a collateral effect, the draconification, if one was to eat the stone.

- Link didn't start from the sky islands when he woke up after the accident under the castle, but Rauru's hand took him in the depths, in an enclosed area containing the Sealed temple and the huge goddess statue temple from sksw, that got buried with time under what's now the Great Plateau. The tutorial is both in the depths and, when Link reactivates the 3 stone tablets and the last remaining bird statue, he gets his paraglider back and is sent to the sky thanks to the bird statue, the only access to the sky other than using the rewind functionality if the hand.

- Link's arm is NOT Rauru's (that so strange, chopping an arm off a dead body and sewing it to Link... eww) but one of those ancient constructs. Rauru reactivates the hand but it's not fully ready, Link had to reactivate its functionalities (ultrahabd, rewind, autobuild, fuse etc)

- Mineru isn't Rauru's sister but his and Sonia's daughter, and she's half Sheikah half Hylian. When her mother passed away, and Zelda, a Hylian, took her place, Mineru was considered the Sheikah sage. Her parents didn't want her to get a stone though, she took it by accident out of curiosity maybe, or maybe I'll find a more fitting story/reason. Also, she doesn't die or turn into a spirit. She lives and the royal bloodline continues with her and most likely an Hylian as the royal family has always been known as Hylian. In modern times, her stone is passed to Josha.

- It's the power of all the new sages, the great fairies, the 3 dragons and Link together to bring Zelda back, and not the ghosts of Rauru and Sonia.

- The first group of sages was created by Rauru, giving the secret stones to wise people of different populations. He's the sage of light. The others are Sonia (sheikah), a goron, a "zora" (primitive zora, blue colored probably, a mix of oot looking zora and parella from sksw), a gerudo (oot style and nomad), instead of the Rito who didn't exist yet we get a member of the Wind Tribe, and Mineru. When Sonia is killed, Zelda takes her place, but with her own stone, as the enemy has taken Sonia's.

- Link won't get his arm back, but the construct arm will get esthetic upgrades to look less metallic and easier to use, smoother to move. The holy power inside will most likely fade after the whole adventure that used and "drained" it, so at the end Link will have a working prosthetic arm and hand but no special powers. He will as well learn to use both the hands to fight.

[sombersummerskies]

A Champion's Love: Chapter 9

Chapter 9: A New Beginning Word Count: 5294 CW: None

Want all the chapters? -> Masterlist

~~~ <> ~~~

The wind felt oddly cool despite it being summer. Calamity Ganon had been slain and an air of peace had settled over Hyrule. 

That morning, people all across the land had awoken to a terrifying blood red sky. Anyone with a vantage point could’ve seen the beast that was Ganon in the fields of Central Hyrule, battling with the Champion _____. And when Princess Zelda finally descended and used her sealing magic to put Ganon and rest once and for all, its golden light could’ve been seen all across the lands.

The people of Hyrule began to rejoice. Camps of monsters that had once terrorized civilians seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye. Ancient Guardian Stalkers that once prowled the land looking for anything to shoot at now glowed blue and were docile. The intimidating pillars that stuck out of the ground around Hyrule Castle were now blue as well, instead of the once menacing red that represented Calamity Ganon.

At the front gates to the castle stood Princess Zelda and you, her appointed knight, the Hylian Champion. The battle had ended and you were both exhausted, but Zelda informed you she wanted to see the castle before leaving for a village or stable to rest. You escorted her up to the gates, neither of you speaking much, too tired to have a true conversation.

The malice and monsters that once infested the castle were all gone. The building was silent and still now, not a soul inside. An odd feeling took over as you gazed upon it. You were both happy yet rather sad at the same time. Melancholic. 

You glanced over at the princess and she turned to you, tears brimming in her eyes. She smiled weakly and you offered your hand to her. She took it gratefully and the two of you began to walk away. As you walked, you unhooked your Sheikah Slate, looking for the nearest place to rest.

After a few moments of walking, Zelda broke the silence. “So, with the Sheikah Slate you can travel to any marked point on the map?” she asked curiously, and you found yourself smiling at the question. One hundred years later and she was still curious and eager to learn.

“Each shrine, tower, Divine Beast, and even tech lab has this thing called a travel gate. Using the Sheikah Slate, I can automatically travel to any place that I’ve accessed with the slate before,” you explained. “So, hypothetically, you could travel to someplace like Kakariko village in less than an hour, from anywhere in Hyrule, so long as you have a travel gate nearby,” she continued on. You laughed quietly and looked over at her, “Zelda, if you want to go to Kakariko village to see Impa you can just say as much. We'll test and see if it can transport both of us at once, and if it doesn’t work I’ll come right back here and we’ll travel there on foot.”

She pursed her lips, even after all these years you could still read her like an open book. “Yes… I want to go to Kakariko village,” she admitted in a quiet voice, slightly peeved that you could predict her so well.

“Alright, then let’s try it. There’s a shrine on the cliffs right above the village that we can travel to,” you informed her. You swiped across the map on the slate and selected the Ta’loh Naeg shrine right outside of Kakariko village.

You tightened your grip on Zelda’s hand and she did the same to yours, and within seconds both of you were lifted off of the ground, blue streams of light wrapping around the two of you and sending you away. 

Not a moment later, you landed on the shrine’s platform. Zelda stumbled for a moment, and you quickly helped her stabilize. “That was… a rather interesting feeling,” she said with a giggle as you stepped off of the shrine and onto the grass. 

The sun was higher up in the sky now, and you estimated it was roughly noon. As you and the princess took the path down the cliffs and into the village, you could see practically everyone who lived within Kakariko out and about. They seemed to be having a small celebration of sorts. 

Sheikah children ran around waving blue banners, there was a table of food set up which made your mouth water, and you could even see Lady Impa outside with her granddaughter Paya taking part in the festivities. 

As soon as they noticed the two of you everyone went silent. Zelda stepped away from you, and everyone turned to watch as she quickly walked towards Impa, embracing her in a hug. The princess and the chief have a quick conversation in hushed tones. The elder nodded thoughtfully as the princess took a step back, and cleared her throat before making an announcement to her village.

“The princess has confirmed it. She and the Hylian Champion have rid this land of Calamity Ganon!”

The people cheered loudly and began thanking both you and the princess profusely. After talking to a handful of people, a wave of exhaustion fell over you, and you could tell Zelda was feeling much the same. The innkeeper offered to let both of you stay cost-free, which led to the two of you passing out on your own beds and sleeping for a whole day straight.

For the first time in quite some time, you had dreams as you slept. Peaceful dreams, and though you couldn’t remember much of them once you finally woke up, you had fleeting memories of a familiar, sharp-toothed grin when you awoke.

… 

Two days later both you and the princess were well rested and very well fed. Zelda hadn’t realized how hungry she was after being locked in the castle for a century, but she did not hold back when offered a cooked meal by one of the children in Kakariko village, Koko. Impa even had some of Zelda’s old clothing saved within her home, clothing that had managed to survive the Calamity. The princess took the clothes gratefully and decided she’d keep these sets until she could purchase something new.

Currently the two of you are traveling north. Lady Impa had sent letters to leaders all across the land informing them that Ganon’s defeat was confirmed. You were all surprised when you received a return letter from King Dorephan, but after reading it Zelda explained that the two of you were going to head to the Lanayru region as soon as possible.

You’d been traveling by horse, yourself on Persephone, and Zelda on a pure-white steed that she’d named Storm. Zelda admitted that while traveling via the Sheikah Slate was much faster, it wasn’t exactly comfortable unless it was necessary in an emergency. Since there was no true rush, you could take your time while journeying now. 

You paused for a rest in some of the higher fields overlooking Hyrule, allowing both horses to snack on grass and apples in the meantime. From this spot you could see practically everything across the land; all four Divine Beasts, though none were shooting beams at the castle anymore. There was the Korok forest and the Great Deku tree out in the distance as well, and of course, Hyrule Castle right in the center.

“We’ll make our way to Zora’s Domain. Divine Beast Vah Ruta… looks like it stopped working,” Zelda explained, showing you the screen of the Sheikah Slate, and sure enough Ruta’s symbol was no longer blue on the map meaning it had been deactivated, “let’s investigate the situation.”

She paused, looking out across the land, and you could tell she was deep in thought. “Mipha’s father… I believe he would like to hear more about her. The least we can do is visit him and offer him some closure. Although Ganon is gone for now, there is still so much more for us to do… and so many painful memories that we must bear. I believe in my heart that if all of us work together we can restore Hyrule to its former glory. Perhaps… even beyond. But it all must start with us,” she explained, looking over to you with a soft smile.

You nodded at her and her smile turned into a grin as she began to walk towards your horses. “Let’s be off,” she started, before stopping in her tracks, “I… can no longer hear the voice inside the sword. I suppose it would make sense if my power had dwindled over the past one hundred years…”

She turned to look at you with some concern, which slowly blossomed into a smile, “I’m surprised to admit it… But I can accept that.” she giggled a bit to herself, and you shook your head before sprinting over. The two of you set off after that conversation, and you grinned as you thought of a little challenge. Part of you was quite excited to be heading to Zora’s Domain, the thought of seeing Sidon had you a bit giddy. You brought your right hand to touch your left bicep- the prince’s silver band was big enough to fit snug on your arm.

As your horses made their way through the tall grass slowly, a sudden and mischievous idea came to mind. 

“Zelda, you’ve got the slate now, meaning you’ve also got the map. I know this area like the back of my hand, so… first one to get to Zora’s Domain wins!” you exclaimed, before grabbing Persephone’s reins and snapping them, making her leap into a gallop. 

“Hey! Get back here!” Zelda yelled with a laugh, and you could hear the sound of Storm kicking into action and following closely behind.

… 

The sun had begun to set and was casting a warm glow over the land once you reached Zora’s Domain. Persephone’s hooves best against the smooth flooring of the Great Zora Bridge as you approached the entrance to the domain.

Pulling back on her reins, you brought her to a gentle halt once you reached the plaza. “Good job, Perse,” you said with a smile, patting her mane. She whinnied as you hopped off, and quickly ate up the apple you offered to her after that long ride.

You only had time to take one step before a voice stopped you in your tracks.

“_____!”

You spun on your heels when you heard your name- you immediately recognized it as Sidon. A grin spread on your face when you saw him, he was quickly making his way down the steps towards you. As soon as he reached you he engulfed you in a hug, quite literally sweeping your feet off the ground.

You laughed as he spun you around, and had to hold onto his shoulders so you could keep yourself stable. Your embrace had drawn attention from some nearby Zora, the guards watching were very clearly amused, and some children were watching and giggling to themselves.

After a moment or so Sidon set you down, the biggest grin you’d ever seen on his face. 

“My father told me the news once Lady Impa sent out her letters. I’d been watching the sky, of course, I was up in the early morning and was caught off guard completely when the Divine Beast suddenly shot a bright blue beam towards the castle. That light woke practically everyone in the domain up,” he explained to you, a look of relief finding his face, “I have so much more to talk to you about later, and so much I want to hear about… preferably in private. But I’m just so incredibly glad that you’re alive and well.”

You had a few more moments to converse before the sound of a horse galloping came closer. The two of you turned to the Great Zora Bridge where you could spot a pure-white steed bounding closer, and a disgruntled looking princess upon his back.

“_____, that was not fair and you know it, you took shortcuts!” Zelda sighed, bringing Storm to a stop next to Persephone. Though she was annoyed, you could sense the humor in her voice. She wasn’t actually mad at you, just peeved that she didn’t win.

Sidon gasped and quickly kneeled before Zelda, a sign of respect. “Your majesty! Allow me to welcome you to our domain-” he began, but Zelda cut him off with a small giggle as you dismounted from her horse.

“Prince Sidon, please, there’s no need for formalities, you can stand up straight,” she told him, and he quickly did get up, “my, you’ve grown so much- well of course you have, it’s been a hundred years. But last time I saw you you were barely above my waist, and your head fin was as long as you were.”

Sidon chuckled, nodding his head with a smile, “yes, it has been quite some time, princess. I believe the last time I saw you was the Champion ceremony, when you granted each champion their titles. But as we all know, that was very long ago. However, we can discuss the past at a later time. For now my father would like to see both of you, and I’m sure you would like to check on the Divine Beast as well.”

You and Zelda both nodded and followed him up the staircases, into the throne room. King Dorephan had seemingly been in the middle of a conversation with Muzu as you walked in, and he grinned at the sight of you and the princess.

“Princess Zelda! How good it is to see you after all this time, please do come closer, we have much to discuss,” he beamed, and Zelda smiled right back at him as you came closer to his platform.

The five of you had an in-depth conversation, discussing the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. Muzu explained how after Ruta shot its final beam at Ganon, its blue light had faded and it seemingly just turned off. Sidon had ventured up to its location upon the cliffs with some guards to investigate but they couldn’t find the problem- let alone a possible solution. 

“Well, I did do a great deal of studying each Divine Beast before the calamity,” Zelda began, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she turned to look south where Ruta was mounted on the cliff tops, “if my memory serves me right, Ruta gets its power from the orbs upon its back. That power then courses through the rest of the body, allowing it movement. If it has run out of power, I would assume that it must be an issue with one of the four orbs, or perhaps even all of them.”

She turned to you before looking down at the Sheikah Slate, reading something on the screen before nodding her head, “In the morning we can make our way up the mountain and check on the Divine Beast ourselves, _____. What do you think?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” you smiled, nodding your head, “We can sleep at the inn tonight-”

“No, please rest in one of the guest chambers of the palace- we cannot have royalty staying in the inn, unguarded!” Muzu quickly interrupted. You turned to Zelda, allowing her to make the decision for both of you. “Well… I suppose if it’s not too much trouble, then I see why not,” she answered, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

“Perfect! I’ll see to it that preparations are made as soon as possible so the two of you may relax comfortably this evening. In the meantime, I implore you to enjoy commodities in our domain,” the king suggested with a softer smile, and you nodded your head as you turned to Sidon and Zelda.

“Well, I don’t know about the two of you, but I’m starving. Sidon, you know where we can get some food?” you asked, and he merely chuckled at the question. “Young one, of course I do,” he grinned, and both you and Zelda followed him out of the throne room, the three of you in your own conversation as you did.

… Some time later you were stuffed with various sea foods- crab cakes, sauteed fish, escargot, fish and rice bowls. A happy and content sigh passed your lips as you sank back into your seat, but the sounds of laughter made you perk up immediately.

“What’re you two laughing at?” you asked in an accusatory manner, glancing over at the two who sat across from you at the table. Princess Zelda was giggling softly as she sipped on some water, and Sidon chuckled quietly as he looked down at your slumped form.

He set down the plate he had been eating from and cleaned his hands with a pleated napkin that had been laid out by one of the servants. “Young one, we merely find your antics humorous. I do believe each of us have finished our meals, is there anything the two of you would like to see in particular?” Zelda quickly perked up, a little smile on her face that you knew signified she had an idea. “Well, a few times when I visited to meet with Mipha I spent time in the library of the palace… could you maybe show me where it is, Sidon? I have some reading I’d like to do, I remember Mipha had penned a journal stowed in the library that held everything she’d learned about Vah Ruta before the Calamity,” she explained, setting her glass down as she glanced over at the prince.

“Oh, of course,” he replied, his eyes lighting up a bit at the mention, “we could use her notes to try and solve the issue with the Divine Beast tomorrow, I’m sure it could prove quite useful. Maybe it has a solution to possible energy shortages that she may have sorted out in the past.” The two of you got up from the table, and a servant of the palace quickly came over to clean up the plates and glasses you’d left behind. Prince Sidon wasted no time in guiding you and the princess through the domain, down steps that lead beneath the throne room. You vaguely recognize these hallways from when you’d paid Sidon a visit before heading to fight Ganon on your own. You didn’t take the same path, however. At a certain point you went down a different hall and found yourselves in a circular room. It wasn’t too big, more so the size of a study or office, but what did stand out about it was that each wall was covered in all sorts of books and rolls of parchment. Even more books were in stacks on the floor and piled on the table in the center of the room. The only light in the room came from a candle in the center, making the room dim but giving it a soothing atmosphere. You walked around and examined the shelves curiously. You pulled one of the books out and examined it- it was clearly very old, the spine and cover weathered from years of use and reading. You weren’t able to read the letters on the front very well, but even if you could you wouldn’t be able to decipher what they said as the alphabet used was one you didn’t recognize. You heard a gleeful sound behind you, and you turned to see Zelda rushing around the table to one of the shelves opposite of the door. She pulled out a small journal- it couldn’t be more than thirty pages long. But, when she set it down on the table and flipped it open you marveled at just how much was written on each page. Mipha, who penned the book, had wasted no space, filling in each and every line and margin that she could to mark these notes down. “Perfect. Luckily for us the princess had some beautiful handwriting and brilliant organization, so it shouldn’t be an issue to read through. I’ll be here thumbing through this, and maybe a few other books as well. If it gets too late, do come and remind me of the time, I tend to absorb myself in my studies without realizing it,” Zelda explained, and you smiled as you nodded your head. She sat herself down at the table, using the candle light to read through the late princess’ notes. You and Sidon glanced over at one another, and you shrugged your shoulders. You put the old book back on the shelf and stepped out of the room, Sidon following suit so the two of you could give Zelda some privacy. “So…” you breathed out as you began to walk down the hallway, “how do you suggest we spend the rest of the evening?”

Sidon tapped his chin as he seemingly thought about it, before a little grin found his face. “Well, I do remember your excellent marksmanship a few weeks ago, back when we first worked together to calm Ruta,” he began, looking down at you with curious eyes, “I would very much like to see a show of that skill once more.”

You smiled a bit mischievously, nodding your head at the suggestion, “I have no issues with that, just get me a bow and some arrows and a target to hit, and I’ll be able to show you anything you’d like to see.”

… 

A few hours later, both you and Sidon were heading back down to Zora’s Domain after going to an archery range set up for Zora Guards in training. You’d had quite a fun time showing off for the prince. After climbing up to the range, he gave you a silver bow and a bundle of ice arrows stored away there, then set up three targets for you to shoot at. The first you hit somewhat off the center, and you blamed it on you being a bit rusty after not having a bow on hand for a few days. The next two you shot were perfect bullseyes, earning you some hearty applause from the Zora prince himself. You stuck your tongue out at him, feeling cocky as you aimed up at the sky. You performed an arched shot, and both you and the prince watched as the blue arrow flew up in the air, sailing overhead, before arching and falling and hitting the center target. You’d earned a fair amount of praise from the prince after that. For the next hour or so, the two of you mainly goofed off as you picked up everything you’d taken out of storage at the range. As the two of you followed the path to go back to the Domain, you plucked some flowers from the ground, plucking the petals and letting them go so you could watch them dance in the wind. A calm silence fell over the two of you, though you could tell Sidon had things he wanted to say. This wasn’t the first time you’d sensed tension between you, but you knew that neither of you were brave enough to bring it up. A little sigh passed your lips as you let another petal go. This one acted strangely, it swirled around in the wind, circling both you and Sidon, before fluttering away as a normal petal would. You turned to look at it curiously, wondering why it had done that, wondering if it had perhaps been symbolic. But you shrugged your shoulders as you dropped the petal-less stem on the ground, and you and the prince merely continued your walk back.

Once you’d returned to the library to check on Zelda, it was roughly eleven o’clock at night. You peered into the circular room and giggled at the sight- the princess had fallen asleep at the table, a few books opened in front of her that she’d been no doubt reading before passing out. “Oh dear, should we wake her up?” Sidon asked, looking down at you.

You shook your head as you walked over, knowing Zelda was a deep sleeper so you weren’t too worried about a simple noise waking her up. You lifted her head up, and moved so you could hook your arms beneath her legs and behind her back. You easily lifted her up since she was lighter than you and you had the strength from all your journeys and battles. You carried her in your arms as you stepped out, and Sidon kept himself quiet, clearly not wanting to disturb her. “I’ll show you to the guest room so we can get her up to bed,”  he whispered gently, ushering you down the hallway as you held the sleeping princess.

A few minutes later you’d found the room. It wasn’t too unlike the prince’s own chambers, lit by luminous stone lamps, with two beds and a pool of water, likely for a Zora guest. Sidon opened the door from you and you walked in, setting Zelda down on one of the beds and gently laying her head on the pillow.

You took a few steps back, closer to Sidon who’d stayed in the doorway so as to not intrude. “I believe you should be able to find some clothing in the drawers, some robes or comfy articles, just so you don’t have to stay in this clothing for your whole stay,” he explained, giving you a soft smile as he spoke quietly. “Thank you, Sidon,” you reply softly, smiling back at him, “Well, I suppose this is good night. I’ll see you in the morning, I think we all need some rest for our quest ahead of us.”

He nodded his head, “Yes, indeed. Good night, young one, I shall see you in the morning.”

With that he lowered his head, and turned to head down the hallway towards his own chambers. You watched him take a few steps before shutting the door. You huffed a sleepy breath of air as you turned. You took a moment to look through the drawers, pulling out navy blue robes that were soft to the touch.

You discarded your tunic and pants, leaving on your undergarments as you wrapped the robe around you and tied its sash around your waist. You got cozy in the second bed, and before long you were drifting off into a comfortable sleep.

… that was until you woke up with a start. 

Something had startled you awake, and you jumped up in bed, your breathing erratic. You looked around, heartbeat calming as you realized there was no sudden danger- nothing in the room other than yourself and Zelda, who was still sound asleep. You had no clue what time of night it was, but it felt well past midnight.

You pushed the covers off and got out of the bed, needing fresh air to clean your head. You exited the room quietly and made your way down the hall, keeping your robe tied tight to contrast the cool of the night. You walked aimlessly, no real destination in mind, until you realized you’d ended up nearby the main plaza of the domain.

Your steps were soundless as you entered the plaza, but you halted your movements at the sound of a voice. You curiously peered around, and saw that it was Sidon speaking in front of Mipha’s statue. You couldn’t quite pick up on the words since his tone was soft and quiet… and quite sad.

You didn’t want to interrupt, but at the same time you wanted to check and see if he was okay. Slowly you took some steps forward, and it didn’t take Sidon long to notice you. “Oh… _____, what are you doing up at this time?” he asked, clearing his throat as he turned his attention to you from the statue.

“I um, couldn’t sleep. Woke up and needed some air. I could also ask you why you’re awake,  though,” you respond, flicking your gaze up to the statue, “do you… come out here and talk to her often?”

“On nights where I can’t sleep well, like this one,” he replies, nodding his head slowly, “... which tend to be more often than nights when I get decent sleep. I find her easy to talk to, however. She helps me find peace when I’m feeling turmoil.”

“Pardon me if this is invasive, but are you feeling turmoil right now?” you ask curiously, not wanting to make him uncomfortable if he doesn’t want to speak on it.

His brow furrowed a bit as he looked down at the ground, thinking about your question. “A bit, perhaps… alright, a fair amount of turmoil, I cannot lie to you easily, young one,” he answered truthfully, flitting his gaze from the ground up to you, “now pardon me if I’m invasive, but I have a question for you that’s been weighing on me for some time now.”

Now you looked up at him, curious about what he wanted to know. “Sure.. go ahead and ask,” you mutter, shrugging your shoulders nonchalantly. 

“... did you love my sister?”

The question caught you off guard. You mull it over in your mind, not sure how to answer. “I… I loved her as a friend. We were best friends when we were young, before you were even born. I grew up faster than she did, being a Hylian, and by the time she’d caught up to me in maturity I’d gone through my royal guard training… it had changed me as a person and I no longer had free time after that. The only times Mipha and I spent together after that was when the champions would hold meetings. I always knew she felt a certain way about me… but I just had too much on my shoulders to ever look into how I felt about her. If things had gone differently I think I could have loved her… but things didn’t go that way.”

Sidon reached a hand towards you, holding your cheek gently and swiping his thumb across it. You took a moment to realize he was wiping a tear off of your cheek. Your tearful gaze looked up and met his own, and you quickly realized he was crying as well.

You smiled a little weakly, raising a hand to place it on his as he continued to hold your cheek, “why… why are you crying, Sidon?”

He shook his head, closing his eyes, “truthfully, I don’t quite know, _____. But thank you for answering my question, young one. I do think you should get back to bed, however. Just because I can live without a night’s rest doesn’t mean you should do the same.”

“Okay… can… can you walk me back to my room?” you asked softly, and he smiled sweetly as he gazed down at you.

“Of course, young one. Anything for you.”

The walk back to the guest room was quiet. You and the prince stayed side by side, close, your bodies brushing up against each other but neither of you cared to move apart. Once outside of the door to the guest room, you look up at him. There was an understanding between you, yet neither of you had spoken a word since being up at the plaza. You were tuckered out from your midnight rendezvous, but before you could open the door the prince stopped you. He leaned down and pressed a very gentle, very sweet kiss to your forehead. You blushed, and you swore you could see a faint blush dusted on his cheeks as well as he stood up straight.

You bid each other good night, and you crept back into the room silently, a feeling of happiness surging throughout you… though, you couldn’t quite figure out its source.

~~~ <> ~~~

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