#ive done botw link but i really wanted to do totk link

[ghostfaceapologist]

his ass cannot reach the cue ball

[ofcowardiceandkings]

companion piece of young Link

AAHH i finally finished something :'D

i've uh had some very specific Thoughts about Zelda's childhood for a while now so its about time i put them to paper - this is actually round TWO since the original doodles are lost to ... somewhere ... i like these second editions better though so alls well that ends well

we're looking at ages around 4, 7 and 10 years old here touchin bugs in the dirt, archery practice, and playing a lyre ;w;

more detailed Thoughts under the cut 💙

iiitssss customary ranting about my BotW/TotK opinions tiiiimeeee welcome my darlingsss jfkdjfkd 💙

i had a much more solid idea about where i was going with Zelda than with Link but some of it is kinda abstract or weird lol

we know a fair amount about her upbringing in general, or can infer as much from Zelda's interactions with her father and what they and people around them wrote. she was clearly a smart and vivacious kid with a strong personality from the start, no matter how much you sort of squash that shit for the public face, repression etc. so yknow, her mother's death when she was 6, awful. her father's change in attitude especially in her teens, awful. being under public scrutiny her whole life, awful. restrictive structure of royal life, dull (i bet it bored Zelda to death at times no matter how strongly duty-oriented she is). having said that though, she got by and just by looking at her study, she clearly got stuff done to herself - you can take the kid away from the science but the science stays with the kid !!!

additionally, forgive me for mentioning ... timelines ... but in my humble onion, BotW/TotK serve as a Dragon-Break scenario which are SO far in the future from other entries that ALL timelines will inevitably converge and lead to that point, so it doesnt matter any more (i dont like extended Timeline theory, Nindooty doesnt like extended Timeline theory, the current writing team seem to want shot of it, let me be). being a history guy i also subscribe to leaning on the LEGEND aspect of 100 and 1000 year games of telephone, it makes things spicy. tradition is a strange thing, we do things we dont have much of a context for anymore, we're still living with the cultural hangovers of people living when mammoths were around and no thats not hyperbole lol its WILD. ive typed around the point enough lets get going

she was a bugs girl !!!! she still IS a bugs girl lmao but if our 16 year old girlie is gonna pounce on frogs apropos of nothing, that 4 year old girlie is gonna go catch bugs in the Royal Gardens and freak out her maids or escorts with them, good for her 💅

the other two are where my timeline thing comes in; the triforce is never mentioned by name, its just there in symbolism ?? something about the blood of the goddess ?? divine sealing powers ??? no one knows in the same vein, i like to think that its traditional for Hylian Princesses to learn archery and play a lyre or harp ... but no one remembers quite WHY ?? so Zelda does. the Priestess-Princess* role means the public is aware that Zelda had formal singing training, but its not really common knowledge outside of the Castle that the Royal Girls do THIS (no one knows why that part is important either, but it stays in the Castle). she might be a little out of practice now, but give that muscle memory enough time and she might be able to really surprise people.

*this is part of the Japanese translation, at least in Kass' final song Zelda is referred to as an term roughly meaning Priestess-Princess - which makes total sense to me

ohhh my god i talked a lot okay i just love my gorl fhjdkfjdk

actual footage of me explaining my shit and going way long

[1tsjusty0u]

HM you know what. any tropes YOU like/dislike in zelda games...?

OUGH HM..!!

so. ffull disclaimer here ichave. not played many zelda games. ive Started some (alttp got to the first dark world dungeon, oot got to the forest temple, majoras mask got to ikana canyon/stone tower, ww got to getting triforce pieces, albw got to the first lorule dungeon, twilight princess i. barely got through due to wanting to finish a game . i got to wolf and midna moment or the second ish act?, and i started triforce heroes.) but ive only finished. 2 games (botw and the minish cap). so my information may be limited here

starting with ones i dislike!

1. crystallizing zelda/keeping her damseled. when shes not in a “disguise” alla tetra and sheik she will be Immediately cast off to the side or trapped. like. i know the usual point of the games is to save zelda (except when. it isnt in the first half of the game) but please let her Do Something…!!! i love sheik and tetra theyre great, its just. as soon as they transform into zelda suddenly their characters and roles are discarded- sheik frame perfectly gets captured by ganondorf when theyre in their princess. state? tetra is a bit better but she and zelda really arent the same person- fuzz punch arcade put it better than i could saying “tetra is a pirate captain, the epitome of free-spirited career nut. zelda, is demure, takes the blame for things she cant control, and drops everything for link and the king.” this is probably a larger issue but. i dunno having zelda be . less of a concept would be nice? or like in games like botw, itd be nice if she wasnt a cutscene character but rather an npc who you can directly talk to. they almost did this in totk. with botw i understand it doesnt really work with the story, only working for post game . if. if there was one. but yeah. also this doesnt mean everyone has to like her or even put her in like. fanworks if they dont want to. some zelda games dont even have zelda in them like majoras mask its just if youre Going to do her please do her better

2. the monsters being Directly tied to ganon. like in oot its fine, great even, because those are boss monsters in specific circumstances (and also have the general theme of being parasites in the first half, the second half they just guard the sages). im talking about Every monster being tied to ganon in some way (like botw or totk). it makes him less of a guy who does things and more not a guy but the devil incarnate whos so so So evil trust me guys look hes even the source of monsters. how. hes That Evil. this is taking some liberties as monsters may have existed before ganon or at least the calamity in botw they were just docile, and in totk the shrines took care of the monsters but where they came from is up to debate, with the memory of ganon getting the stone i believe showing the. creation????? respawning of monsters it really does feel like they Come From Him though.

3. villages having one race exclusively. ive said this before but id like there to be villages where hylians and zora and gorons and rito and sheikah and gerudo live Together would be nice. especially in botw theres. ruins of settlements near places like rito village that have hylian esque designs. so rito and hylians could have lived in the same village. they technically do this in minish cap? the humans cant. See Them though except for kids

4. love interests in general or characters exclusively made to be love interests. whether its zelda or not im just not a fan though its more a personal thing.

5. i dont hate this more dislike it but bosses having one really easy tell. its just either not fun but you know what you need to go for or its fun but you know what you need to go for. i kind of wish they were done like lynels in botw- theyre Hard if you dont know what youre doing, but you Can after enough practice. also the great plateau lynel is great you cant do what you normally do with it you have to get headshots to stun it then go on its back to not take damage. figuring that out is not complex but shows you Know the game. i do understand bosses mimicking lynels in how they test the player is very hard to do especially how they can Keep testing the player

6. hyrule always being the best/greatest or just being. The Main Place or the main narrative being to defend hyrule. half of this is from the imperialism but half of the time im just tired of hyrule as a thing honestly. i dont serve any country not mine nor hyrule i simply game. i also dont know how prevalent this is in most games either so i may be biased here

i do wish i could think of. more lighthearted?? tropes for the above like neutral things like sages frequently appearing or certain items popping up but usually i dont care unless its done badly. totk is like that but the whole game is like that too so its an outlier to me, otherwise its just There.

onto things i like!

1. LENS OF TRUTH LENS OF TRUTH LENS OF TRUTH. i think its so neat :]

2. mail the concept of mail mailboxes and the no longer working tingle mail bottle feature in the ww

3. SONGS. MUSIC. the ocarina songs and them opening up places + certain songs being important generally like the ballad of the windfish

4. milk bars. im adding one to pre cal botw but i just like them !! especially the little songs that can play in there in albw

5. kakariko having graves for some reason. i do like graves in general but kakariko Specifically being the one to have them is interesting

6. dark worlds or other worlds. i especially like lorule!! termina is very cool too

id probably put more but i am. getting distracted by outside things. so for now that is it.

[heliianth]

how are you enjoying TotK's story so far?

on the dragons tears side i only have 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 so by no means the complete picture, but unfortunately i have been spoiled for the end of it, i think? ive also only completed the rito regional disturbance quest. ill talk abt what i think so far below the cut

from what ive seen of it, the story is interesting. i dont particularly like time shenanigans stories, more often than not they enable lazy character/writing decisions, create plot holes, and wander around too much to have coherent themes. when time travel comes up in stories i always feel like there needs to be a justification, some lesson or reason that is realized for why it needed to happen. so u can imagine that my experience with the dragons tears so far has been waiting for that justification moment, which i think i already have?

apparently zelda turns into a dragon. tear 5 talks about draconification and how people lose themselves, and ive seen fanart and dragon zelda's actual model in-game flying around the eldin archipelago (made me pretty emotional, though i do suspect any significant reaction i might have with this has been ruined by being spoiled). this is where the story is treading ice for me, and im being super careful to avoid the leadup to the whole dragon thing. because if its a situation where zelda is forced into it, theres no other way and she HAS to do this or else the world explodes or whatever, then i dont think ill be super fond. itll feel like a rehash of what happened during the calamity in botw, where zelda is forced into holding it back for 100 years until link heals. i dont like it when stories have good arcs (in this case, zelda's) but just retread it because theres a sequel and it doesnt know how to further develop the character.

on the other hand, if zelda chooses to make this decision with her own autonomy and reasons, like thinks about it, then i think this writing decision could work as a way of showing how much she's grown when placed in that similar situation she was in during the calamity. zeldas arc is all about love and connection, whether that be with link or her other friends, including love for herself. all i ask for is that the dragons tears story builds upon this instead of just redoing botw but worse

on the rito side of things, i thought it was fun. tulin is a fun little dude. i think its fascinating how hes positioned at the beginning as seeming arrogant and uncooperative, but grows to realize that he needs to rely on others to do the things he wants. hes almost a character foil of revali in that way. the wind powers being revealed as a sage thing is also interesting. obviously i and many other players have made a connection between tulins wind gust (i like to call it tulins tornado c:) and revalis gale, and we know teba isnt related in any way to revali like the rest of them are to the champions. so it does feel like a little extra W from beyond the grave on revali's end. turns out he really did bootstraps his way into rediscovering lost magic. TLDR; i love tulin to bits, even if i wish teba got a tad more screen time. who knows, maybe he'll show up more later.

i would try commenting on the events of the actual game and how they effect link, because link's arc (which happens during the actual game, which i guess the player guides him on) is really important to botw, and i assume it'll be structured similarly here. but obviously im not done with the game so theres not much for me to talk about. i will say that, god. link must be feeling like SHIT. i know when i went to hateno and saw he and zelda lived together, then saw that all the kids in the school loved her enough to draw pictures, i got really choked up. i know i said any significant reaction to the "zelda is a dragon" story beat ill have will be muted by being spoiled beforehand, but depends on how its actually revealed/how link reacts i might still take it like a little baby

so yeah. those are my thoughts

[divinebastet]

ive got quite a few but here's one of my favorites, arcturos:

he was my starsoul sorcerer for a pathfinder campaign. i played him from level 1 up to level 18 over the course of about a year.

he viewed himself in terms of his own usefulness due to his upbringing in the darklands- if he weren't useful he may as well be dead.

when he was eventually faced with the fact that he might have to make his own decisions and be responsible for himself, he responded by giving an outer god (Tawil at'Umir / Yog-Sothoth) control of his body. Tawil/Yog used him to open a portal at the end of the campaign through which a piece of Yog came through into the material plane.

he's a heavily traumatized character who was doomed from the start for insanity thanks to his starsoul bloodline (effectively, your bloodline has been touched by the outer gods, granting you your magic). he believed that, due to his blood and a series of coincidences leading him into the path he took, that this was his fate. he was obligated to follow it even if it lost him his mind or life.

through it all, however, he still generally did not desire to do harm and just... didn't fully consider the ramifications of aiding an outer god. he didn't see it as his place to consider it. he was, after all, only a tool. a very powerful one, at level 18.

his long-term post game is vague, but the idea is that he lived far beyond the rest of his party members as an elf, and a cult to yog-sothoth gathered around him. arcturos would have wound up as a big baddie, the final boss of a hypothetical campaign.

though during the final fight, he would have snapped out of his years-long reverie and realized that he had become exactly what he and his friends had made efforts to stop in his campaign (which was the rise of the runelords AP). he never actually would have done much himself, but the cultists around him committed atrocities in his name.

that's a quick rundown, but playing him and having his character develop in this manner with such an end was really really satisfying. he made a lot of bad decisions as someone with a lot of arcane power, without understanding the ramifications, but ultimately never once swayed into an evil alignment. his goal was never to bring harm- he just wanted to follow his own, absolutely disastrous path.

this has gotten long so here are links to others:

chel (and micah), my BOTW/TOTK ocs

Raftim and Kes from a story i wrote

Ike, who is from a setting made by my partner @nihilistic-body

most of the stuff in those tags is art, but i always welcome questions for anyone curious about my blorbos :]

umm. tell me abt ur non-homestuck ocs/lore