#like man the yiga could have been SO MUCH MORE

[weepingtalecowboy]

Fanfic prompt :Everyone always makes the joke that Wild and Hyrule are the most likely to get kidnapped

But in their literal game mechanics and the lore of the games

Hyrule must run from anyone and trust nobody or someone could hand him over to ganon he definitely is really skittish about trusting anyone but when he sees someone help him he does trust them a bit more (he knows the concept of stranger danger and had to become a master at it or else it was game over)

Wild literally just has to throw a banana and you can almost always tell it is a Yiga even before you even pull out said banana (it is part of the game mechanics after all)

But you know who is the one who actually canonically is the most likely to get kidnapped and not notice it at any point during the entire process

Wind who has jumped on the boat of sketchy old man and pirates during both his adventures

Like he was extremely lucky that nothing ever happened to him

And he probably doesn’t know the concept of stranger danger because nobody on the island is a stranger or dangerous to him how would he even figure out if nobody is telling him about it or showing it

Like the first thing he does when the game starts is run up to a random girl who has fallen from a tree then she turns out to be a pirate and even if she has told him the truth about the kidnapped girls

You don’t jump on the boat of a pirate no matter how nice they seem (for all we know she could have orchestrated this situation to kidnap him and it is pure luck that she was just nice like that )

Essentially because later during the failed heist he gets throw across the sea he literally just wakes up on a different boat with no record of how he got there and instead of alerting anyone (because Wind fell island has a prison so he could have told the guards that a random guy had him on the boat and all that) he breaks fucking tingle out of the cell just to buy a sail for the weird talking boat and then continue on with just the two of them together (like I get desperately trying to save his sister but telling a guard or two that your sister got kidnapped and that you are saving her to make sure that at least a few people will know where you are like grandma definitely doesn’t know that you no longer are with the pirates)

And even more unhinged is the fact that tetra is not a good person at all she has interrogated a guy who wouldn’t sell her bombs which should have tipped Wind of as a red flag she has scammed a rich man out so much that he lives as a beggar with his daughter (also a thing that makes it more vague than ever to know what she would have done to his grandmother like a promise telling him she would bring his sister back safely is very dubious)

Also he canonically has repeatedly went to tingle's tower and asked him to translate the triforce charts (like that is tingle and nothing more has to be said)

Like Wind has the most luck known to mankind

It also somehow gets even worse because during phantom hourglass he and tetra are on the boat (which understandable because she proved that she is someone you can trust and a good friend)

And after waking up on a random beach the first thing you do is go into an old guy’s storage unit to get his sword (and somehow again not get mugged , kidnapped or trafficked because you never go somewhere alone when a single person is aware of it with no weapon especially when someone told you to go there )

Then he went with a different shady guy he just saved at the temple who genuinely looked like a problem in the making (and it was a problem in the making like I love linebeck he is a father figure for wind but also he did have the problem with his ex who wanted to kill him and he looked really shady and you would not have been able to escape if he did kidnap you because you are on the sea )

Like obviously Wind hasn’t learned his Lesson at any point in time because every time it went well

But with Yiga nothing goes well with them

He would probably hold hands with them as well and any other kidnapper would have a very easy catch

He probably joined the chain in less then a second without any form of self awareness (like everyone definitely was nervous with each other but not Wind he heard they said everyone else can sleep while another takes watch and planted his face on a pillow and was just out like that while everyone else was uneasy and didn’t sleep well or also took watch to make sure they won’t be killed in their sleep)

The chain really has to teach him that lesson (for the sake of like literally everything he has ever done because that luck will run out at some point)

Like Warriors definitely is seeing Wind go with literally everyone and not understanding why like that looks like a trauma response (it is just wind with over 12 years never learning about stranger danger and a big misunderstanding but also not really wrong )

[gav-san]

THE QUEEN OF THE KING 15/15

Previous / ...

It starts with Phantom’s warning neighs.

One moment you are asleep, wrapped in your white shift and Ganondorf's arms, and the next you are being flung over his shoulder as he twists to plant you in between his hot back and the freezing rock of the shrine. Even when you try to wriggle, to help, he won’t let you, defending you with his body, his golden sword in one hand.

You are very discombobulated, but after a moment of gaining your bearings, you realize that you are not alone.

There are at least fifty people in black and red uniforms of a sort surrounding you, placed in circles, trapping you. They do not look particularly menacing, the tight clothing and tall hairdo are more funny than anything else.

If you knew you’d be having visitors, you would have dressed in more than a thin slip of silk last night. Though much else had seemed silly at the time, considering your, uh, activities, and how eager you had been.

One glance at Ganondorfs face makes you realize that he is making a face you have yet to see. It causes your stomach to drop in fear, but also a bevy of butterflies to erupt in a misplaced twist of lust. The way his skin sketches taught, the scrub of an unshaven beard shadowing the sharp jaw as it contorts is downright vicious. 

“Molduga Pits.” He says, clearly a curse, but not one you are familiar with, sounding exasperated and annoyed. “You bastards again .” You place a hand on his bare back, glancing at the people furtively. We’re these enemies of the Gerudo? Perhaps from an ally of Hylia? Maybe she could help.

You go to move forward, thinking that perhaps you can reason with them, but Ganondorfs stance is steel, not letting you move an inch out of his protection. 

“Greetings, Emperor of Calamity,” Someone says, moving up front, from inside the crowd.

The number of men scared you, but this man was far too dramatic to be serious. You look around, trying to see Ganondorf’s horse, Phantom, but he is nowhere to be found. He probably rushed off, as a good desert horse was trained to do, you think wryly. 

There go the quickest means of escape, and now you’d have to face the weird cult head-on. 

The foremost ring parts, and a thick-bellied male in a ridiculous golden girdle step over the red suit steps forward, taking a deep bow. “I, my esteemed liege, am the third Master Koga-” He drawls, his voice surprisingly whiny for such a rotund man. 

“I know who you are,” Ganondorf growls, rising to his full height and moving to better shield you, and you can’t help compare how intimidating his figure is, in comparison. “You think coming yourself will change my answer? Time and time again you Yiga have been told that the Gerudo do not hold to your foolish beliefs!” 

Yiga? You thought that sounded familiar. You swear you knew it, but it was hard to concentrate when thick muscles were just centimeters from crushing your head in. 

The Yiga’s footsteps pause, clearly considering a new plan. Or just watching you turn into a princess sandwich.

“Well,” The man begins again, voice less methodical but much darker. “We figured we needed a more direct conversation… since you’ve already found the dread witch who threatens your reign with her brainwashing,” There is a shift, and you realize, that there to hurt you. 

You go white.

And the Yiga’s admission, Ganondorf’s entire demeanor changes from cautious hesitance to tense anger.

“Keep your filthy mouths away from my queen’s good name!” Ganondorf says, and you’re surprised to see him come to your defense so rapidly. “She has nothing to do with your nonsense, and neither will I!” You cling to him as if only to remember he is not mad at you but for you.

How long had it been since someone defended you half so passionately? Your heart beat like it was going to bounce out of your chest.

Master Koga, the third, or whoever he was sighed deeply, like he had expected this.

“ A shame, really. That we have to step in.” And then he had the gall to sound offended! “I can tell this vain creature has enraptured you with her magic, and she should be dealt with by us underlings!”

Ganondorf made a growling sound, deep in the back of his throat. “If you come even a step closer, or make any moves to hurt my wife, I swear I will hunt every last Yiga fool down and leave you in the sand for the Moldugas to feed their young on! ” That small growl became a roar as he finished, leaving you far more wary of the man before you. He had never once come close to forfeiting his calmness, but it seems the thought of losing you was more than enough to unleash his fury. 

You can’t help but become warm at the sight of him roaring for you, his wife.

And, you think, you could spend the rest of your life listening to him say it.

But the Yiga, for all their talk about being subjects to their prospective king, had no wisdom in their loyalty, and they did not concede to his warnings. Instead, each and every last one of them turned to their weapons, from the glimpse you could see.

“We’d rather not fight our future king, but I can see we have no choice!” Koga said, moving from his pathetic position to unleash a wicked-looking, curved sword, one that indicated he was much more serious now. Gandorf copied his hand on the giant sword he had tucked at his hip, the other moving around your waist in an awkward, backward tango, as if he is going to jump over all the men. All the Yiga men grasp their weapons, nervously, like he is a giant water buffalo ready to charge them. But he doesn’t do so, instead, tucking something small into your waistband. He inches even closer, if possible, keeping his voice low.

“I love you.” He says, and you press into him, ready for whatever, “And I’m sorry I have put you in danger. I swear I will protect you with my life.”

You know he does. And you finally know that you do too. Probably since the first glimpse of him you had, he had taken your heart.

“I love you too.” You say, and he pauses like he is relishing it for the last time.

 Then he raises his sword, pointing it at the men, pivoting to the shrine. Magic, you think, swells at his fingertips, and the same golden presence wraps around your bands of gold.

“I will find you again, my moon. ” He swears.

Your heart dropped, the words far too fatalistic for comfort. You furrow your brows, confused as you place a hand on his own before it retreats. 

He gives a thin smile, though you only guess that, as he is still focused on the people before him, save for the intimate brush of a finger to loosen your grip. You think he must be ready to toss you over his shoulder or something.

But it seemed Ganondorf was risking no threat to you.

He immediately moves, and in one swift motion, you are pushed inside the shrine his magic has reopened. It’s as gentle as he can, but you still sprawl, as he moves so swiftly that you had no time to react. No time to disagree or do anything.

“Stop!” You lift out a hand, but he is too quick, moving to protect you, to leave you safe in the quiet, space, lit only but the eerily blue of the ever-glowing magic there.

You stumble to the ornate stone-clad floor, and can barely catch the moment that a giant stone slab seals over the entrance, cutting you off from the outside, as well as one another. You flail, running to the rock, pounding your fists. 

But there was no handle, nor even a seam that you could attempt to pry. The rock face was so smooth it was as if one had never been chipped away. Magic, you think in a manic frenzy, trying to will yourself to pound it to dust. 

There are no sounds of battle, nothing but the thud of your hands, which eventually stop, once they have turned bruised and bloody from your fallen endeavors. You sink to the ground, to your knees, fat, ugly tears pouring from your chin as you cry. They make your face itch, but you don’t wipe them away, instead letting them sink into the dust-less floor.

You aren’t sure how long that lasts, because, at some point, you fall asleep, only to wake in what seemed like moments later. You had not the ability to even forget a moment of your sorrow but were so drained, tired and your hands hurt so fiercely that you drug yourself to the cool edge of the pool.

It is unsurprising to see what a mess you are. Ganondorf had proudly braided your hair last night, proclaiming it to be an honor to do so, and it had held reasonably well, and you can comb it into place. But your face is drawn, with dark circles, and red eyes. Nearer to the lights, you can see that you have injured your hands, enough that not even the blister gel would work. 

You slap away the image, that cold water engulfing your hand. The coolness engulfs it, bringing relief and peace. You think it’s probably hypothermia, but after a few moments, you realize that it’s not it, bringing your hand up to the surface, breaking the smooth surface again. 

It’s healed.

You stare in astonishment at the flesh that has mended back together, blood and bruises completely gone. 

Your other hand goes in right after and you give a huge sigh of alleviation. 

It makes much more sense how you had not been sore the previous night, though your husband is quite big and very eager.

And that thought cuts short your wonder over the healing pool in the shrine, and back to your misery over your husband. Just what in Demise’s name was he thinking, sealing you away in here? Surely there was something you could have done! Even be a distraction! Your head pounds and you lean down, taking giant gulps of water, but misjudge in your haziness.

Slipping forward, you plunge entirely into the freezing pool. 

-X-

You aren’t sure how long you stay underwater. You think you may be dead at some point, but the cold never abates. But you don’t end up finding the side. Instead, you’re pulled out, by a pair of very brawny, bronze arms. You think someone is carrying you. Sand whips by your face from a strong breeze.

At some point, bright sunlight hits your face, and you wince. It’s not long after that the sunlight drops, and the steps turn smoother. Then you’re finally placed down on what seems to be a bed. Voices fade in and out, some you think you may recognize.

Gerudo, you think.

Hands press against your chest, shoving forcefully in. You give a sharp gasp, coughing on nothing as they push again and again. And just when you think you’ll die, someone turns you, and you throw up.

You can process the voices better now, that air has gone back to your brain.

“We found her in the shrine outside of town-”

“In?”

“Yeah, the door opened and she was in a pool there!”

“The shrine water- It was still in her lungs!”

“In a shrine pool?”

“Yes, she has the seal of the King!”

It’s mostly water that comes out, but you can’t tell, with your head banging. But you can breathe again even if it hurts, and so you immediately fall asleep. Or unconscious. 

But there are more hands now, pushing you to stay awake. 

-X-

The heat in the desert is very reasonable, under the thick woven hanging. You look out to the sand, towards the distance where a large mountain range juts like a knife standing straight up. The glint of sand makes it difficult to look straight on, but the Gerudo mask does a good job of deflecting any lasting harm. 

You try and stay out of the sun as much as possible. The Gerudo clothes do little to offer protection, as they have little need to do so, and are meant to be breezy and comfortable. And it is indeed breezy, wearing only thin silk with gold edging.

You think it shows off far too much of your chest and belly, but Queen Dramiria had insisted seeing you in traditional clothing was good for Gerudo's morale, with Ganondorf still missing. And since the regent queen was your mother-in-law, you couldn’t find it in your heart to refuse.

She was the one you had first met. 

“You have been missing for a month.” She said within the first hour of your recovery. She had more or less been waiting there since you had been brought in, and subsequently, the seal Ganondorf had slipped to you had been recognized.  “Of course, I knew right away, with that hair. My son wrote almost endlessly of your moon-like beauty.”

You hold that same seal now. You don’t think you could relinquish it if they asked, which surprisingly, they hadn’t.

You want to turn back to look at the sand, but you also want your mother-in-law to like you. You flush, throat too sore to say much, and not knowing what to say anyhow. Thankfully, others catch onto this quickly, especially Commander Urbosa.

“Time passes differently in the shrines,” Commander Urbosa says, arms crossed as she stares you down like a puzzle. “The magic is difficult to harness, and only the King knows how to handle it to a full extent. I suspect that’s why you ended up here. Even without air, the water continually heals, so it puts you in a stasis of sorts.”

The one thing you do manage to say is Ganondorf .

And the thing about the Gerudo is that they don’t sugarcoat the truth.

“Damn brat let himself be caught by the Yiga.” Queen Dramiria said sharply, making you draw back in alarm. But she merely pats you, crossing a long leg over the other as she leans back on her cushioned chair. “He’s never listened to reason, that boy.”

“Nabooru is already tracking them down, but they are tricky, hiding away in the mountains where we Gerudo have a hard time going. I am a bit surprised Ganondorf hasn’t just beaten a guard down and escaped.” Commander Urbosa stepped in, a bit kinder as she urged you to take a bite of the sweet-looking melon in a gold cup before you. You don’t want to eat, but tenderly you let yourself nibble the fruit.

 “He knew that they had started using that ancient, dangerous magic and he let his guard down.” The queen retorted, moving to her fruit bowl to polish off the decadent treat.

You put your head down, eyes closed as tears pricked at them. A hand came to rest on your knee, and you look up at the Queen, who looks very distraught. She has the same hook to her nose as Ganondorf and the same shade of red hair, and it makes the tears come quicker.

“Be kind, my queen. You forget that our new Queen-consort has been through much as of late.” Commander Urbosa advises softly.

“Oh no, don’t take my words too seriously,” Dramiria said, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Ganondorf always comes back from his adventures. And I have no doubt he is eager to have his bride back in his arms again.” He ends with a smile, and you do your best to stop sobbing but it just makes it worse. 

“F-Forgive me-” You say, turning back to the sand, shoulders sloped as you twisted the seal in your hands. “I… I would like some alone time, if p-p-possible.”

You don’t recognize yourself as you turn towards the bed in the healing room you had all been sitting in.

“Of course.” The Queen says, letting Urbosa help her up. “When you feel refreshed, just let the healer know. We’ll then give you a tour of your new rooms.”

You nod your head, shoulders shaking.

“Thank you, my queen, you are very generous.” She sighs, knowing she’s already told you to abandon such formal language but doesn’t press the matter. The thick red curtain swishes behind them as they leave, muffling their voices but not entirely concealing them.

“Ensure the Queen-Consort is settled into the King’s quarters swiftly. Knowing my son, he’d want her to feel comfortable as soon as possible. And I have a feeling that we’ll have a new little princess soon!”

You go red, head to toe.

What on earth would prompt that reaction? 

Your toes curl, trying to escape back into your body.

“Queen Dramiria!” Urbosa chides, voices further away. “Don’t go making our queen-consort feeling uncomfortable.”

“I know my son, Urbosa. If he’s managed not to make a fool of himself, then I ensure that we’ll be having a royal baby. Though the princess is quite small, she seems very strong-hearted, enough to please the gods of the shrines. I approve!”

You wondered what part of crying made you ‘strong-hearted’ but you supposed you shouldn’t complain. With one last look out to the sand you crawl back to the safety of your woven bed, and its many warm blankets, all woven with bright colors. It seemed to be very Gerudo to be in bright colors, though they didn’t help a pale complexion much.

Not that many Hylians had the skin tone that compliments it, you thought, brows furrowing. Do you think that Zelda would look nice in the rich blue though-

You blinked.

“Zelda?” You said, and the face peaked over the window again. She said your name, very softly in return, and clearly, great relief.

She glanced around before your cousin soars into the room. This is quickly explained as you hear a quick ‘hyah’, followed by another familiar face, this time jettisoning himself in.

“Link?”

Zelda launches herself at you, pulling you into a tight hug that reminds you of choking again, and you have to peel her off.

“I’m SO sorry!” She cried in a soft voice, clearly heartbroken, “I can’t believe Father let that evil man take you!”

“Oh Zelda,” You say brows pulling together. “What are you doing here? Link would be in a great deal of trouble if he was found.” 

“We’re here to save you!” She sniffs, holding you tighter. “I came as soon as I heard! I knew what everyone was saying was a lie!” You give a strained look, knowing that of course there were rumors, but irritated at them, nonetheless.

Link shrugs, giving a small look of sass before turning to a vase at the side of the room and looking at it. 

 You give a long sigh, and she pulls back.

“We are… aren’t we?” She looks into your face, gazing intently at your eyes, turning to glance at Link, who is intently staring at your hands. Her eyes fall to the crest in your hands as well.

“Married.” Link says, shortly, but meaningfully. He never did like expressing himself much with them.

You nod, softly.

“So…” Zelda pauses, throat thick, “You… left willingly.” You can see the hurt she has, the thought that you would so quickly leave without even giving her a goodbye.”

“It’s a long story.” You say quickly, “And I didn’t leave you willingly… But things have changed and I would not be welcomed back to Hyrule, even if you returned with me. But only if you’re willing to do a great favor for me.” You say, holding her arms.

Zelda nods, pulling your hands together as Link raises his brow.

“Yes, what is it?”

“I need help entering a cult.”

-X- To be continued -X-

[cactusisconfused]

I give you more ghoap botw ideas cuz I love the au

Here are the boys :DD ghost is designed more after link in totk cuz I felt that suited him more, and soap’s in a version of Zelda’s ceremonial dress (for him it’d be robes or some kind of suit)

For the ghosts/champions i also had some ideas

Revali - Nikolai (mainly cuz hehe pilot) or Gaz

Urbosa - Laswell

Daruk - Price or Alejandro (I lean more ale on this one, but I’ll get to why in a minute)

Mipha - Roach

Sidon - Rudy or Alex

Riju - Farah

Teba - could also be Nik

And I have no clue who Yunobo would be

King Rhoam - Price

Now hear me out, I know in hyrule warriors Rhoam was kinda a dick. I say Price would be the king because as a captain he had to make hard decisions same as a king. So in this au let’s say that Price sees that yes soap isn’t paying attention to his studies/training nor has unlocked the goddesses power yet, but he does see his son trying to help his people. (though in a really dangerous way)

So as the King, Price orders the swords champion as Soap’s personal guard to keep him safe with all the dumb shit he’s been pulling. While he’s still hard on Soap with unlocking his power; he understands that you can’t really rush it, and over all is just proud of how far Soap has come already. When the calamity hits Price fights with his people until his last breath, and prays to the goddess that Soap and Ghost are ok. (Whoa that got sad, i’m sorry 😅)

Ok sorry that this is very long, I just really like botw and totk and love the idea of this au!! Also have my recreation of that one memory :DD

OOOOOOOOOOOOO I LOVE THIS!!!!

AND YOUR ART-VERY TASTY!!!

Honestly I agree for the most part about the characters. Ravoli I feel is hard to place given he has a very cocky and self assured personality that none of our guys truly fit. I want to say Nikolai would fit the most, but I also think he would work great as Teba as well (mainly cause of the pilot thing.)

I wonder though, if roach would be a better Teba given Teba in game is seemingly a man of few words (but I also head canon roach as quiet but an absolute menace, so another problem there.)

Anywho, I also have no clue who yunobo would be either 😅

-

I feel Ghosts family should also somehow be implemented into the BOTW lore. I’m thinking that when he was going through the process of getting the master sword and training to be a royal knight, not because he felt he had a duty to the royalty of hyrule, but to gain enough respect and fear so that he could finally protect his family from not only his father but from monsters and other intruders.

However, he gains more than he ever thought he would, becoming more than just a simple knight. He has less time with his family, his mother, brother, Beth and Joesph.

Eventually, some event happens were Ghost has to go against the yiga clan. In response, the yiga clan sets out to massacre Ghost’s family, much like how they did in the comics.

I think that event, that failure to protect his family, is what drove him to go completely mute, on top of already being quiet in the first place.

Idk, this turned into a long ramble. I am living for your thoughts though, love them! :)

[nancyheart11]

Dad in a dungeon pt1

They were following fast on the trail of a group of Yiga, almost where they could touch them, Abel was sure. If they could capture just one, then he felt sure they could finally get some straight answers about where to find Abel’s son, along with the others. They moved down on a slope lined with colored rocks and a dip in the middle of the path from the many feet that had trodden it in times past. The Yiga scum slipped in a small opening of great wooden doors that had seen much better days, but peeling paint and chipped carvings aside, the doors were magnificent in scale and in lovingly rendered carvings of something Abel didn’t pay attention to as the Fierce Deity nearly threw the doors off their hinges in his haste to enter the space.

They finally cornered the Yiga against a wall only to hear dreaded giggles of the sort that were part of Abel’s nightmares. He could have sworn he saw one of the blasted traitors wink at him through the mask before the air was filled with dark, sickly sweet smoke and mocking laughter. He felt air move on his back and Abel whirled around squinting through the thick smoke and try and get a hit on one of them.

The air finally cleared enough to see more than the sword in front of his body and Abel felt as though he had been doused in ice water as the great wooden doors slammed shut with finality. He had a feeling that there would be no getting out that way, even with the Fierce Deity’s absurd Strength. 

“Well that didn't work out.” Rusl said with a scowl on his face.

Fierce simply turned away from the door, sheathing his huge blade as he did so. He inhaled very loudly and held it for what would have been a concerningly long time for a mortal, then let it all out in one annoyed exhale through his nose making Abel’s heart jump even as he had kept an eye on the Deity.

“I sense a great darkness further in this building and it grows, even now… My little one would feel obligated to clear the place, to protect the land from whatever may emerge from the depths. I suggest we do the same in their places.” Abel could’ve sworn he saw the shadow of a smirk on the deity's face, but a blink later and it was as impassive as ever. “Besides, the items sealed in such places are often very helpful.”

Abel raised one exasperated eyebrow. They didn’t have time to clear some forgotten ruin of monsters! They already dealt with far too many just trying to get to the next town, the next clue to where Link (and the other Links) could be. He turned to Rusl for help and found him lighting a torch, already moving to follow the deity further into the foreboding dark. Abel felt a headache start behind his eyes as he went to follow, hating that Fierce was right and knowing that the kind of man he’d been before the calamity wouldn’t have thought twice about trying to help.

The group started down crisp sharp stairs which after a small time turned a perfect 90 degrees to the right. Then again and again and–

Abel was right back in front of the giant wooden doors. 

He groaned in frustration because he had heard tales of people getting lost in seemingly simple dungeons and dying. He didn't have time for that!

He finally took his hands from his face only to see Rusl standing uncomfortably close to the edge, stone held in hand. Before Abel could ask how it would help Rusl dropped the stone straight down.

Abel felt something hit his arm. He turned to the threat drawing his sword as he did so only to see–

The stone?

Rusl grinned at him and Fierce, then confidently walked off the side.

When no sounds of Rusl’s body hitting the stone far beneath them sounded Abel began frantically looking for his brave but far too reckless– 

A whistle broke his thoughts and pulled his attention to a wall on the side of the stairs beneath him, where Rusl stood casually, like he wasn’t defying the laws of physics and oh look Fierce was joining him.

Abel brought a hand to his nose and tried not to scream, no wonder dungeons were so deadly if this was the kind of thing required to even get to the next door. Abel let all the air inside him out in a huge, disapproving sigh before following his companions, since he wasn’t going to let common sense of all things get him killed.

—-

It quickly became apparent that nothing in this dungeon was as it seemed at first glance. Normal doors when approached turned out to simply be startlingly realistic paintings, the actual doors being cleverly hidden until you were at just the right angle or needing to do things like leap across a series of poles to reach the ledge containing them.

 Upon reaching the first such door, Abel leaned his head against the smooth wood to catch his breath and wait for his heartbeat to slow, after all Tilieth was the one with the paraglider and he did not want to end up as a hylian pancake on the floor. He looked back just in time to see Fierce take a couple steps back, run at the wall and scramble up it smoothly in his armor, grabbing the ledge in one hand and pulling himself up with ease. Abel swallowed the hot envy in his mouth and went to open the door–

Locked

Why was it locked? Fierce seemed unsurprised, as did Rusl from where he perched a pillar way, since there wasn’t room for all three of them in the doorway at once.

“The Key must be elsewhere” Fierce nodded as though this was expected

He simply lowered himself and dropped the remaining 15 feet with no problem. And Abel’s knees groaned at the thought of having to cross those stupid pillars even once more, much less twice more just to make it back to this door which was most certainly not the end of the dungeon from the few bits of conversation Rusl and Fierce had shared on the subject.

“Hey Fierce, could you catch me?”

“Of course, little Farmer. It would be more efficient than crossing the pillars in fact.”

So of course Rusl jumped down, Fierce jumped up and, . . . huh that actually looked way more comfortable than Abel had imagined.

Fierce turned in his direction and raised one perfectly sculpted brow in silent question. Abel was grateful he didn’t have to answer out loud as he closed his eyes and took one small step over the ledge. Despite the armor the deity wore, his arms were gentle and he cushioned Abel’s fall and within minutes he found himself set back on solid ground.

With that done Fierce turned and began walking a direction they hadn’t gone yet. They found some red bokoblins camped around a fire soon enough and Abel almost relished something simple to do. Once they were defeated the group moved on, coming to a strange smooth curved wall.

Rusl’s touch flickered and in the corner of his eye Abel spotted scratches. He approached and based on the regularity and uniformity he felt sure it was writing! 

Writing he couldn’t read.

“Can either of you read this? Since we all apparently have different writing maybe it’s one of ours?”

Abel couldn’t help the hopeful note that crept into the end of his voice. He may not be a soldier anymore, but he still craved the easily understood nature of it. Stand here, fight these monsters, try not to claw your eyes out over this paperwork. He was starting to be more impressed with the other son’s if they had had to deal with things like this on a regular basis.

The others shook their heads and Abel felt his heart sink a little, but then Fierce tilted his head, then walked up to the wall and raised his arms, the tops of which easily cleared the top of the wall. Rusl came over quickly and Fierce lifted him to the top of the wall, then turned to Abel, grabbing him in an embrace with hands that nearly wrapped around his entire torso and lifting him up to join Rusl on the top of the wall.

Abel looked around and from this angle was able to see that the wall was entirely flat, save for a few areas that bulged out. He looked to Rusl who grinned at them.

“Looks like we just avoided a whole puzzle with Fierce’s height. Guess they didn’t expect anyone eight feet tall to come here.”

Fierce jumped the wall and helped them down from the other side without a word. Abel was starting to feel as though he wasn’t pulling his own weight with this whole dungeon exploring thing. Rusl had figured out that the whole dungeon didn’t follow the rules of physics as he knew them, while Fierce had been making what were surely meant to be dangerous and difficult obstacles seem like child’s play. Before he could back down Abel mumbled out a thanks, and felt his heart sink a little bit at the way Fierce’s eyes widened minutely at the words.

Finally looking forward Abel wanted to throw his hands over his eyes at the sight, in front of them was a stairway stretching as far as the eyes could see in stark black and white, somehow seeming to go both up and down at the same time, almost looking at thought someone had taken a chessboard, broken it into the individual squares and then put back together in the most confusing manner possible.

They moved until they were almost to the staircase and objects dropped from the ceiling! One black, one white and one half and half. Abel ignored them and went to put a foot on the stairs? If that’s what they were, but felt as though he had been doused in ice when he foot went through the square. He pulled it out quickly as though it had been burned and fell from the sudden change in momentum.

Rusl looked at him, looked at the stones? Boulders? Things that were round and large enough Abel would have to use 2 hands to hold them properly. Then his eyes lit up, he grabbed the white one, and stepped confidently onto the white square next to Abel. When he didn’t fall through Abel realized that colors weren’t just there to mock his eyes, but to make even moving on this strange staircase a puzzle of it’s own. He picked up the black stone and felt it’s weight, heavy, but not so much that he would tire quickly. Fierce of course picked up the swirled stone in one hand while holding his sword in the other and they all began to move on their designated squares. Rusl’s took him up, Abel’s took him down, and Fierce’s went sideways . . . for some reason.

Abel felt nervous separating from the others for any reason inside something as dangerous as a dungeon. Abel got to the bottom of the long walk and saw white on his left, so he held his head high and walked straight through what looked solid to find himself in a room with water running down open archways on all sides, with bright starlike lights wavering in the water with beautiful cerulean fishlike creatures swirling and occasionally blocking out the light. 

On the ledge of the archway he was standing on without falling in the four corners were four statues, one a bird with open wings, one a Lizard sunning itself on a rock, one a horse like creature with lumps on its back, and the last statue was so intimately familiar Abel’s heart hurt looking at it, for it looked Miphas divine beast, which he believed the girl had once said was based off something called an elephant.

He walked around the room trying to take in every detail and figure out what the trick was, trying not to think about how he was able to feel the cool trickling water under his boots and what appeared to be open space should he fall through.

His neck hurt from looking down so much, and Abel stretched it back as far as he could comfortably go, relishing in the relief it brought him before opening his eyes and immediately feeling stupid.

There was a bright shiny chest on the ‘ceiling’ in plain sight, and it probably held something that he very much needed to get out of here. Abel walked over to one corner made of good solid stone and put his foot on the wall wanting to see if he could walk up the side. He lifted his other foot–

And his back hit the ground, a long low groan being drawn out of him at the pain. He was never a thinker, it had never been his strong suit, but he was going to have to figure it out if he wanted to get his son and wife back, or ever leave the dungeon for that matter. Rubbing his likely bruised backside he got up and shook out his arms, now that they weren’t holding the weight of the stone–

Wait, where had it gone?

He looked and saw it had rolled just out of reach on the water he’d been standing on moments before. Moving a boot off the stone and into the water it went through, and Abel breathed out an annoyed sigh.

 Great, now he was confined to the stone ledge on the edges of the room since he didn’t want to find out just how endless the space below was and he didn’t have a way to reach the stone yet. He got up and seeing as his hand was able to pass through the water of the arch he was next to very easily, Abel decided to lean on the stone and stick his head out, to see just how distorted the space beyond had been by the water.

They outside looked like piles and piles of velvet layered on something, soft and luxurious almost calling to be touched, though he knew that it was too far away if it was even something that could be touched. Studded along the background where dots of pure white light, shaped like tears individually with what Abel had first thought to be fish now appearing to be whale’s in a deep blue at their center, lightning as they went out and delicate porcelain white patterns scattered along their surface as they swam peacefully in the area. The one he was watching moved  enough to unobscure the area and Abel sucked in a breath.

He knew that symbol in the not sky, everyone did, it was the one that had been stitched into the champion blue cloth for Revali. Abel quickly pulled his head back through the water headless of how much splashed everywhere. And he looked–

There

In the farther left corner from where he currently stood was the bird statue. Abel looked out the arch to his right and squinted, seeing the lizard of Daruk studded in the sky. He moved to the nearest statue, which was the lizard curled on the rock and started pushing with his whole body, gritting his teeth against the awful grinding noise made by the statue's movement. After continuing for some time and turning the corner he felt the statue click into place, and for a moment he wanted to jump in the air! He’d figured out some strange part of this all on his own, but then he remembered the other three statues and winced.

He cracked his knuckles and got to work. Eventually when the last statue (Mipha’s) was pushed into place after the light click there was a loud thonck as the Chest fell to the ‘floor’. Abel sighed wondering just how he was going to get out there before realizing that now the archways appear to have been filled in with translucent glass, no longer having water run in the space. He almost lamented the beauty lost before testing the sturdiness and went to open the Chest. Inside was a silver key along with a purple rupee and he was glad to see that because now that he was visiting towns more often money was something he had more need of.

Abel stuffed the key in his pocket, grabbed the stone, and found the area of the wall not as solid as it appeared to go back and hopefully meet with his companions. When he got back to the place the stones had first dropped he blinked at the pedestals that were definitely not there before they appeared as though they had simply grown out of the stone Abel stood on, with no joints or lines to separate them at all. As he watched a third pedestal bloomed in front of him to make three, and Abel got a feeling that the stones they had just used were meant to be returned here.

Rusl called out to him and Abel turned to greet him, only to begin laughing when he saw that Rusl’s clothes and hair were covered in splashes of various colors, all bright, none matching, and with his headband hanging askew on his head, nearly covering one eye. Coming from the opposite direction of where he had disappeared earlier was Fierce whose boots were once more bloodstained, though it was such a usual sight it took Abel a minute to realize most was fresh. 

They showed the things they had gathered in their individual rooms. Rusl had gotten quite a few rupees, Abel had his key and Fierce had both a key and compass for the dungeon. They put their stones into the pillars and watched as they receded smoothly into the floor. Behind them the strange stairway was disappearing, step by step, until a rather small door was left revealed. 

Abel frowned at it. So far everything in the dungeon had been spacious, to the point Fierce didn't have to duck his head to enter doorways, but this door was so short that even Abel, shortest of the group, would need to crouch to enter.. He grimaced at how much his back would hurt from just this room and moved forward. He went to put his key in the lock and Rusl put his hand on the door. Abel looked over and raised an eyebrow in question, far too tired for words already.

“We’ve been in here a while now, I think before we head in there some food might be a good idea.”

Abel wanted to get this over with and leave, but he saw the sense in Rusl’s suggestion and was also the only one of the group who could cook anything decent. Fierce made sense but how Rusl managed to char a sandwich? Abel didn’t want to know.

They sat on the smooth cold floor and Abel took some of the leftover rice from the night before and began shaping it adding salt, pepper and some hyrule herb as he went to make rice balls. He made sure to make ones too large for one hand so that Fierce would have an easier time holding them. He grumbled about others who were no good at cooking for themselves while Rusl sliced a few apples but felt his chest warm when both Rusl and Fierce hummed appreciatively at the rice balls along with the apple slices.

When that was finished Abel took several long drinks from his skin, swishing the water around inside to dislodge any random food bits and trying to decide how much to ration should they be stuck in this dungeon for days.

Then he got up, popped his knuckles and marched forward. Immediately upon entering the small room he saw a river rushing along inside a built stone bed, with pillars holding up the impossibly zig zagging structure. Abel mourned his briefly dry self before stepping into the cool water, since the ledges on the edge of the bed were quite thin and he didn’t want to test his balance. Then he realized the bed sloped downward, like an artificial hill in all the zigging and zagging, yet the water ran up? He turned to investigate and followed the flow of the water, feeling like that was the closest thing to a clue he’d encountered thus far.

Eventually he got to the top where the water arched beautifully off the stone as it was released to a water wheel? A water wheel that somehow held the water as it went upside down and deposited the water back at the bottom to move up again.

Looking closer at the water wheel Abel could see that it was guarded by a group of fish with extremely sharp teeth and that something was glinting at him from in between slats in the wheel.

It was times like these that Abel really missed the infinite bomb capacity of the sheikah slate. Instead he looked inside his bag, rooting through to see what useful items he–

Aha! He pulled out a spear triumphantly, then thought better of it and pulled out some rope as well.

After securing the spear with rope he threw it towards the bottom, it did not reach. So Abel trudged down a few levels ignoring how his head hurt when he looked too closely at the nonsensical architecture. He threw his spear once more and hit a couple of the fish head on, confirming they were monsters with puffs of smoke they emitted upon death.

With that out of the way it was simply a matter of getting more accurate in his throws the less fish there were to hit. When the area was cleared the water changed direction and Abel was swept off his feet unprepared for the change as he slid down the slope.

His arm jolted uncomfortably in its socket as the spear clenched in his hands caught on what felt like every corner and his legs hit walls before he could turn. Eventually he was deposited into a body of water, and once he gets his head above water he sees the water wheel.

Alright then.

He swims over to it and sees that there is now a solid stone platform he can climb on next to it. It puts him at just the right height to grab the strange object in the middle. There was a delicate sphere that looked like it was made from metal Spidersilk surrounding a triangle that didn't make sense. The triangle was made of a thin square piece of metal twisted upon itself in a way that just didn't work, yet here it was in front of Abel.

He twisted the sphere to get a better look at the triangle, where the blue side had been down, and once the red side was down there was the door in front of him.

Abel blinked and looked behind him,the room he'd just been in still there, but now he didn't have to go all the way back up the stone banks, so he shrugged and moved on.

He exited back to the now smooth room. Rusl was busy organizing arrows while Fierce watched on with interest. Rusl jumped a little when he noticed Abel. 

“That was quick, thought you’d be in there longer!”

Abel didn’t take offense to the statement, though he felt like he’d spent some time spearing the fish, guess he lost track of time doing so.

After Rusl had put all the good arrows back in his quiver they continued on, going back to the door by the pillars, though having Fierce lift them up and hand them the key being far easier of Abel’s joints than the alternative.

Rusl turned the key this time and they both pushed open the door, waiting inside for Fierce to lift himself and join them. Once he crossed the threshold the door slammed closed behind them and Iron bars slammed down over both the set behind them and the one in front, trapping them inside. 

Then the room rumbled and a paper crane fell on the floor? Abel furrowed his brow and went to pick it up, but at that moment a wave of paper cranes swooped down, seemingly of their own accord, all moving in one great rush to form some sort of giant creature. The thing roars at them and Abel can’t help wondering a little hysterically if this is one of the fabled dungeon monsters, something so dangerous it’s been confined to this place for who knows how long.

Abel readies his sword, feeling like the steel in his hand is woefully inadequate for the task before him, but prepared to fight with all his might–

Then Fierce almost lazily unsheathes his giant sword, slices it across the air nowhere near the monster shifting towards them, and Abel watches with something like disbelief as a beam of light is emitted, moving unerringly towards the monster and burning the cranes it comes into contact with. They were packed so closely together to make the creature that they are all ashes in moments.

Wait, something is still moving! Abel turns and almost feels pity at the sight of a lone crane, charred on one wing, pathetically shuffling along the floor trying to get away from them, Fierce walks over and sets one large boot on the thing, slowly grinding it underfoot with an expression of boredom, like this was beneath him. Abel feels ice in his veins at the reminder of the terrible power the deity wields so casually.

The bars slide up from where they came and a loud Click is heard as the doors unlock. Rusl runs up to Fierce and claps him on the back, grinning at him and Fierce seems happy? Pleased? Less bored at least with Rusl asking about the sword beam and thanking Fierce for taking care of the thing.

Abel shakes his head to try and clear it of such gloomy thoughts, sheathing his sword for the moment and following the others out of the doorway. They came out on what appeared to be giant hands, where they stepped out on the cupped palms of the hands, with the fingers coming up to act as a guard from falling. On the wall opposite them were notes? And under each note was an illustration of the hands with a finger raised, to make a total of 8 different images. But why!

Fierce made a little noise, one that sounded almost delighted? And pulled out a lump, with holes. He blew into the spout? And a note came out, smooth and windy sounding, though the grind of stone behind him quickly distracted Abel. The index finger on the right hand had lowered with the note, but when Fierce went to play a different one the first snapped back into place with a loud crack that made both Abel and Rusl jump. Fierce hummed and and played some more notes in varying orders, managing to find 2 that when played sequentially, kept both fingers down.

“This method is inefficient, there must be a clue elsewhere in this room that we can access to get the correct order of notes.” 

 Abel and Rusl both did their best to see what else may be in the room. It was Rusl who leaned around the hands and noticed the nails were painted in different shades. This made the fact that the illustrations on the other wall were colored more significant, though it didn’t help them know what order to play in. Abel, tired of staring down a seemingly endless abyss turned back to maybe see if they had missed something previously and noticed the door they came through was outlined in a rainbow of color. The rainbow was off, because it wasn’t in the right order! 

“Fierce! The colors around the door must be what order to play in!”

Fierce nodded, and immediately began playing from the innermost to outermost color. When he did, an object appeared in the middle of the room, another chest, joy.

Fierce then played from outer colors in, and once the simple melody was finished the hands now flat underneath them jolted, and began moving towards the far side. They stopped at the platform (held by nothing as far as Abel could tell) opened the chest and pulled out a map and compass? Fierce gasped and seemed happy to hold onto the items, Abel didn’t understand why you would need to solve a puzzle in the middle of a dungeon to get the map.

@skyloftian-nutcase here's the first part as promised! now to continue onward! hopefully soon i'll have this up so that the parts of Dad squad written to be post-dungeon can start going up as well!

[noirandchocolate]

For no particular reason at all (*coughIjustgotengagedmyself*), I've been thinking about Yiga Clan marriage proposal headcanons, and so I will share them today!

Clan members propose with ruby jewelry. For them, rubies are not only color-coordinated with their masks and traditional uniforms and outfits, but are highly symbolic. For one thing, they're the color of blood. The blood they and their ancestors have shed due to their betrayal by the Royal Family and the rest of Hyrule. The blood they hope to shed in achieving revenge and justice. And most importantly, the blood that binds all members together as a Clan, and that will bind the specific couple together as a family. For another thing, rubies in the AoC/BotW/TotK world have some heat and even fiery properties when utilized by those with magical talent. From a practical perspective, that means a jewel can literally warm the wearer up even just a bit on a cold night in the desert (or the Highlands, or anywhere else), if needed. From, again, a more symbolic perspective, the fire the gems are associated with is both the fire of the Clan's fervor toward their goal, and the fire of passion and love between the giver and receiver!

"But KidK," you might ask, “Rubies are valuable gemstones. Where does the Clan get them and why wouldn't they be selling or trading them for food and other supplies, since they're a marginalized and impoverished community in relation to the other races/groups of Hyrule?" The answer to the first part is, well, they live in a cave complex under a mountain range, and in Hyrule gemstones are just kind of found in rock formations all over the place. They find them, just like Link does in BotW etc. They’re rare! It’s not easy! In fact, going on a little quest to find a ruby to be made into one's proposal jewelry is part of the custom! But they do it—and that in itself is a part of showing the recipient how much the giver cares!

As to the second part of the question... Hey. It's cultural and the jewelry usually isn't that big or ostentatious--it's stuff that can easily be worn under a uniform or disguise. Everybody's not walking around with huge honkin' gems all over them. The custom has developed over millennia and it has all the symbolism I just said. Practicality sometimes takes a backseat to that kind of thing, and this is one of those cases. Plus, there's always the fact that in dire straits, a person with a ruby ring or necklace or such, out on a mission could always sell it. Or the Clan could pool such items as resources. I want to say the latter has probably happened at least a few times in the group's long history. But this is not something done lightly; like an Earth human in poverty having to pawn an engagement ring, it is...sad, to put it lightly, if such a thing becomes necessary.

Additionally, proposal jewelry and the gems set in it can be reused! Sometimes the quest to find your ruby is just keeping your grandfather's ear cuff to give to your sweetheart! Heirlooms/ancestral items are very important to the Clan in general, and this kind of thing is no exception. Again, it’s about showing care and commitment; using a family heirloom might be “easier” physically and time-wise, but it shows the giver wants to welcome the receiver to their family, and would give them something precious to do so.

All that said! In more recent times, Yiga who are for one reason or another unable to find their own rubies can always ask Master Kohga! Because. His father, back when he was his own mother's Right Hand, obtained a pretty big stash of them somehow (theft) and later doled them out to those in need while he was Master, and our current Top Banana is happy to do the same with what's left of the supply. He has tried to add back to the hoard when he can, too. The man loves love, and loves the Clan's tradition, and will help out a lackey in love whenever possible!

The proposal jewelry can really take any form but as stated, it's usually on the small side just so it can be easily worn (and concealed when necessary), especially when the recipient has a more martial role in the Clan. Small rings, earrings, tighter armbands with a jewel inset, things like that. Kohga's father gave Mama Hotaru a choker-style necklace with a larger ruby as its centerpiece, and later, after he became Master, had the jewel etched with his official insignia (you know, the Eye with the three horns on either side, like TotK Kohga put on his battle mech). And similarly (to honor his parents) but more over the top (because he cannot be stopped)...well. I'll invite you to look at this art by my girlfriend @purpledemonart and see if. Maybe you notice anything. That might make a little more sense after reading this far into this post.

ENOUGH ABOUT THE JEWELRY!

Either member of a partnership can propose to the other; the Clan doesn't Do divided gender roles.

What's more, the Clan has pretty much never cared about the sex and/or gender of who anyone wants to marry. (They really very don't consider it a big deal. They don't even have labels for sexualities like we do. They just kinda...live, and love who they want and try to find partners compatible with their attraction and who love them back. "Oh, she only likes women? All right, looks like I a man don't have a chance." Even for a Master, there isn't any pressure to produce a blood heir through a heterosexual marriage, since adoption or otherwise passing the title to a non-child relative or unrelated person is incredibly normal.)

There also isn't any one tradition about what you have to do to propose, like there's no "get down on one knee" Thing. Proposals are as varied as the people who make them! Some will be casual about it and ask over dinner at the dining hall, some will be a little more planned and take their partner up on the cliffs to ask as the sun sets, some might yell the question in the middle of a sparring match, some ask in song or poetry! Bringing your and your partner's families together for a meal and asking in front of everyone is popular. But really, anything is fair game.

HOWEVER! The traditional words used to ask are, "Would you join your soul to mine?" And the traditional acceptance is, "May our souls be joined." This hearkens back to the Ancient Sheikah, who used these same words. I headcanon that spirit and soul as concepts are incredibly important to the Sheikah and Yiga, and the way the question is phrased alludes not only to a partnership for the duration of one's life, but a bond that will transcend into the next. May our souls be joined. May our journey continue even beyond death. May we be linked forevermore.

The word Yiga use for "fiancé/e" is "intended"! As in, "My intended is so handsome," or, "Intended, would you lift your mask so I can kiss you?"

Following the proposal, the couple must wait at least six months for their wedding. This tradition was meant to prevent people from recklessly getting into marriage, and to promote general cohesiveness as many customs dating back to the Yiga Clan's early days tend to. Once partners are engaged they can get their sleeping space assignments within the Karusa Complex changed so they're sharing or alongside each other, they can get their task assignments arranged so they can work together or have breaks at the same time, or if they're due to be sent out of the Valley on a mission, they can go together if at all possible, etc. The idea is to allow a couple to spend more time together and make sure they really want to. Y'know. Join their souls. Marriage is not treated lightly! For spiritual reasons, to make sure partners are compatible and unlikely to break up and cause fractiousness between themselves and/or among family and friends, to also make sure both parties really are fully on board with the idea, historically there’s been lots of reasons.

My primary focus is on the Age of Calamity branch of the timeline, so as one last headcanon, I think that after Astor showed up in the Valley and kicked off the Clan's involvement with bringing about/assisting the Calamity and then later fighting against it, pretty much nobody wanted to propose to their partners because no one was sure what the future would hold (except Astor claiming to, but he kept his cards close to his chest and of course didn't deign to speak with random Yiga lackeys in any detail). Even though the Yiga had for centuries believed Calamity Ganon would destroy their Royal enemies and Hyrule as a kingdom would fall, it was never completely certain what kind of world would result after that goal was achieved. Sure, they thought it would be a time of wonderful freedom and revenge for them, but basically, people weren't really thinking so much about romance or kids when there was a conflict ahead--even if they thought they'd be on the victor's side. And then…well, if you’ve played or watched you know what happened. But now! That the Calamity has been vanquished with their help and the world is rapidly changing for the Clan...one sign of the hope they feel for this strange and unexpected future is that people have been going searching for telltale red glints in the rocks and caves of the Highlands and beyond...

I also have a TON of headcanons about actual Yiga marriage ceremonies but I'll make a separate one for that when I get some more time to write it out!

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Gerudo Town (Dad Squad)

All leads had indicated that the Yiga hideout was in the desert, as it had been in the past. Abel shouldn't have been surprised, honestly.

The issue was that he didn't know exactly where the base was. But a group of warriors did.

Trust was nonexistent these days, in the years after the Calamity. Gerudo Town had managed to escape much of the damage, but it also was cut off from the rest of Hyrule as a result. The oasis was abandoned, only utilized by weary and lost travelers, but no Gerudo roamed the sands around it.

"So let's visit this town, then," Rusl commented after taking another swig out of his newly refilled water flask.

"We can't," Abel sighed, leaning against a rock and basking in the coolness of the shade. "The Gerudo is a matriarchal society. They don't let men inside their walls."

Rusl blinked. Blinked again. Bemused, he remarked, "Matriarchal doesn't mean sexist. Surely they'll let us in."

Abel bit the inside of his cheek. He'd made this explanation plenty of times to his men in the years past. "I don't think the Gerudo are necessarily sexist. They don't distrust or hate men. It's just their tradition - whatever the reason, only girls are born to Gerudo mothers. So they just... don't interact with men in their hometown. It's tradition at this point."

"Strange," Rusl muttered. "The Gerudo are... rare where I'm from, but their distrust was shared equally to all, no matter their sex. They just didn't like anyone who wasn't Gerudo."

Rusl's words reminded Abel that they had yet to address a rather glaring matter. Ever since they had raided the abandoned Yiga camp, Abel had been pondering the fact that the Hero of Hyrule who the Fierce Deity had been protecting was a different Hero from his son. The Hero of Time was a children's story, a tale of folklore so old that barely anything was known of it except that the Soul of the Hero had traveled across time to save multiple lands.

So little was known of the goddess' destined Hero that Abel had often questioned the validity of any of the stories. He'd had no reason to disbelieve them, but... there was little reason to believe them either.

At least until his boy had come to him holding that sword.

So if the Hero of Time was one of Links being pursued by the Yiga... that just led to so many questions. Firstly, how the hell had they managed to do this??

Secondly... what was Rusl's boy? A potential Hero who could turn into a wolf? Abel had never heard of Ordon, so perhaps this Link was different - not of the Soul of the Hero but a savior to his own land nonetheless?

And now, this talk of different Gerudo cultures. Not only were these Heroes real, they and their guardians were plucked from Hyrule's history and thrown here.

I wonder their opinions on the state of things, Abel thought bitterly. How utterly we failed to maintain what they'd fought for.

It was a good thing his son was in a coma. He knew Link wouldn't be able to stand the judgment from the other heroes, whether it was good or bad.

"Either way," Rusl said, rising and interrupting Abel's musings. "I'll scout ahead to see if we can figure anything out without talking to them."

"The desert is treacherous," Abel warned. "It's foolish to go alone."

"I've gone to plenty a dangerous place alone," Rusl reassured him with a smile. "I won't engage in anything foolish, don't worry. I'll be back before sunset. This is just reconnaissance."

Abel supposed another issue to ponder was how little Rusl spoke of his past when he was clearly more than a blacksmith who knew some sword skills, but now didn't seem the time to argue it. He'd seen the man hold his own in battle well enough. Sighing, he waved a dismissive hand, watching the Ordonian walk away.

Glancing back at the oasis, he saw Rusl converse with the Fierce Deity briefly before continuing. The deity stared at the water curiously.

Abel wandered over to him. "Is something wrong?"

"This heat is mildly draining," Fierce remarked, dipping a finger into the water.

"You're more than welcome to swim in it if that's what you're wondering," Abel said. "But people do use it as a water source as well, so I advise cleaning yourself first."

"It does seem ill advised to drink from water that people can swim in," Fierce noted, raising an eyebrow. "My greater concern is hydration."

Abel blinked. If he was worried about hydrating, then why didn't he just drink?

"How much water does one need?" Fierce asked. "I have noticed you're both drinking much more since our arrival. Is it a matter of body heat regulation?"

"Have you never been to the desert...?" Abel questioned in disbelief.

"I don't recall," Fierce answered mildly, voice growing quiet. "I believe once, in battle, I was utilized, but not long enough for it to be a great concern."

Ah. Right. The things this deity did and didn't seem to know... it made Abel have so many questions. First and foremost, how the hell he was still alive.

But secondly... utilized?

"Drink more," Abel advised. "The body loses more water through sweating, and we all sweat more in the heat. Even you are."

"I noticed that much," Fierce replied with a chuckle, as if he were entertained at being taught something so simple. He dipped the flask given to him by Rusl into the oasis and began to drink.

Abel sighed, squinting against the sunlight. Link would certainly need more water if he was being held here. Or, well, had been held here. It seemed silly to go to the desert when their lead had been near Akkala, but... all Abel knew was that the Yiga stronghold was here, and they had all woken at the other side of Hyrule. They'd not had any luck finding any hints of their boys the entire journey here, so they had nothing else to go off.

After several hours of silence (Abel wasn't a particularly talkative man, and despite the deity's curiosity, he usually wouldn't speak unless prompted), Abel recognized Rusl's wavy silhouette in the distance.

The brightly colored handkerchief he was using to wipe his face was new.

"Did you have any success?" Fierce asked.

"Not really," Rusl answered. "However, I did figure out a way that we could get in to learn more."

"Is there a secret passage into the town?" Abel asked, curious. He had always wondered. He had always respected things that were forbidden, but that hadn't meant he wouldn't imagine ways of getting around it.

"Not from what I can tell," Rusl said. "But, with my plan, you could walk through the front door."

Abel found himself both curious and skeptical. He crossed his arms. "Really?"

Rusl held out the colorful handkerchief to him. Slowly taking it, Abel recognized that it was not, in fact, a handkerchief.

"The way the Gerudo dress lends itself to disguise," Rusl explained with a mischievous smile.

Abel held the veil at arm's length as if it would attack him. "You want. To do. What."

"Well if they only let women in, we have to obtain information somehow." Rusl shrugged. "You're smaller in build than me, and your hair's all grown out."

If looks could kill, Abel would have cut Rusl into pieces. "Absolutely not."

"What is it?" Fierce asked.

"He's suggesting I dress like a Gerudo woman to get into the town," Abel hissed. "The answer is no."

Rusl furrowed his brow, clearly frustrated. "Put your pride aside, Abel. This is important."

"Do you really think something like that would actually work?!" Abel motioned angrily towards the deity. "We might as well let him stroll into town in such attire for all the good it would do us!"

The Fierce Deity plucked the veil out of Abel's grip. "Will this allow one to look like a Gerudo woman?"

"Not necessarily," Rusl answered. "The point is that it will hide that he's a man."

"The veil will, but the rest is fairly apparent," Abel snapped. "I'm missing a few key components, Rusl."

"Nothing we can't tweak a little," Rusl replied easily.

This was insane.

"What other attire did you bring?"

Abel turned to argue with the deity about the stupidity of this entire half-witted plan when he saw the mythical man trying to figure out how to put the veil on.

He can't be serious.

"Well," Rusl said slowly as he pulled out more clothes. "I did grab varying sizes. The Gerudo are far taller and broader than I expected, so their clothes might actually fit you better."

"Very well," Fierce said casually, finally settling the veil in the right place. He started stripping his armor without a care, and Abel thought he was going insane. Was this actually happening right now?! A war god was going to cross dress in whatever insane attire the Gerudo chose to wear and--

And--

You know what, to hell with it. Better him than me.

When the Fierce Deity had finished switching clothes, the other two stared at him. Rusl crossed his arms, examining the disguise carefully while Abel just felt his sanity continue to slip away. He wasn't sure he cared at this point. Perhaps he could at least find some entertainment from this?

No, no he couldn't. It was too stupid.

Count your blessings, he reminded himself. At least they actually believe you about the threat the Yiga present now. They believe you enough to even try this fool's errand.

The Fierce Deity, usually a foreboding sight in his pale blue tunic and silver armor, striking attention with the royal blue scarf tied around his waist, was instead adorned in fiery red, which emphasized the paleness of his exposed, muscular abdomen and shoulders. He wore loose, baggy pants and flat footed shoes, silver hair and eyes glittering against a red and gold veil.

"This is not going to work," Abel immediately commented. "He's too big."

Too big, too broad, too muscular. The women of Gerudo were strong enough to probably lift an entire guardian off its feet, but their muscles were still distinctly patterned differently. Women's shoulders were not so broad, nor chest and waist so box-like. Whether the Gerudo assumed he was one of theirs or Hylian, he would still look too masculine to play this part.

"They'll find out immediately," he continued, feeling his stomach churn at the thought that came next. Maybe I should do it... it would be more reasonable, but... no. This entire thing is idiotic. It'll never work.

Rusl, who had been foraging for something else in his bag, suddenly pulled out two hydromelons. "Here, put these in your top."

Fierce took the fruit without argument, and Abel stared, eyes widening. Well, Rusl was certainly committed.

"Giving him breasts isn't going to fix the obvious issue that he is a man," he argued.

"Of course it'll help," Rusl replied. "He just has to... well..."

Rusl paused, staring at the deity as he fumbled to stuff the fruit in his top without them falling out and splattering on the ground.

"Play the part," Abel finished for him flatly.

XXX

Well... it wasn't an immediate disaster.

Abel and Rusl hid behind a dune as they watched Fierce approach the guards, who exchanged... baffled looks from what Abel could tell.

"Hello, fellow women," the deity greeted.

Rusl choked back a cough.

"This is not going to work," Abel hissed, his own voice strained in a competition between secondhand embarrassment, horror, and losing it.

"Hey, it would've been better if you did it!" Rusl whisper back.

Over my dead body.

Surprisingly, the guards shuffled aside to allow him passage after a few confused glances.

Abel stared.

"Ha!" Rusl huffed in triumph. "I told you it would work."

"You didn't know it was going to work!" Abel accused, turning to glare at him.

Rusl ignored him. "Let's see if we can get closer. We can peek over the far wall a little bit."

Abel sighed heavily, dragging his feet through the sand as the pair practically crawled around the edge of the town before climbing the wall opposite of the entrance. Abel half wondered why they couldn't just enter that way, but he supposed in such a small area they were bound to be noticed.

The pair peered over.

It was immediately apparent which one was Fierce. He was simultaneously blending in and sticking out like a sore thumb. His silver hair caught the sunlight, and his towering, imposing figure managed to outshine the Gerudo. Every woman who passed paused and gave him a strange side eye, but no one outright said anything. For his part, Fierce was standing still, surveying the area.

Abel groaned, pounding his forehead against the wall. "He doesn't even know what to do."

Rusl bit his lip, slowly climbing the wall and kneeling in the water that bordered the edge of the town. Abel hesitantly followed. Fierce immediately noticed of them with his superior eyesight. Rusl made little gestures, wiggling his fingers and mouthing words even Abel couldn't understand.

"What are you doing?" he hissed. "He'll never know what you're trying to tell him!"

Fierce nodded, walking slowly around the town.

"He's doing quite well for his first espionage mission," Rusl commented with a chuckle.

Abel groaned. "You're insane."

"Oh, Abel, you should lighten up. There are many ways to achieve a goal, it's not all about the sword."

"I'm aware of that."

The deity finally started to talk to women, disappearing in and out of the men's sight. Abel sighed, rubbing his face as he felt it steadily burning. Between the bright rays and the reflection from the water, he'd rival a Hylian tomato by the end of the day.

"Hopefully he can get some legitimate leads," Rusl muttered. "The sooner we can find the boys, the better."

Abel wanted to face plant into the water with the heat as bad as it was. Instead, he splashed a little on his face. "Yes, well, you're forgetting something very important."

"What?"

"Our esteemed deity is a war god with no idea how mortals function. He's probably going to ask them how they braid their hair."

"Come now, don't disrespect him like that. He's not an idiot."

"I didn't say he was an idiot. On the contrary, he's very curious. That's the problem."

"He'll focus."

Abel hummed, immediately thinking of his wife, Tilieth. Rusl clearly wasn't used to the mischief an inquisitive mind could stir up. Not to mention the deity wasn't exactly subtle. He was certain the deity's concern for his own Link would drive him forward, but he was likely to get distracted as well.

Assuming he could even keep the act up.

"A voe has been spotted! Up there!!"

Abel and Rusl both jolted, eyes wide as they looked down to see guards running their way with spears in hand.

"Time to go!" Rusl said quickly as the pair leapt over the wall back into the sand and scurried away.

Hours later as the sun cast long shadows and brought a chill to the air around the oasis, Abel paced anxiously until he and Rusl both caught sight of their companion's return.

"What did you learn?" Rusl immediately asked.

Fierce pulled the veil and shirt off, clearly having grown uncomfortable in it, and headed for his armor. "Mating customs are strange."

Abel immediately burst into laughter, vindicated. He honestly hadn't expected anything else. The day was wasted, but he supposed he could get what entertainment was available from it. Even he hadn't expected that to be the first thing out of the deity's mouth.

Rusl frowned. "What...?"

"Did Uli, your wife, assert her dominance to you, or is that a Gerudo custom?"

Abel's amusement multiplied tenfold, and he wheezed as he doubled over. Rusl stared at the deity in horror.

"I seem to recall you both spoke of varying mating customs in that village, after all."

Rusl immediately face palmed. "This... those are not the details you were supposed to be investigating."

"Fear not," Fierce continued, slipping on his trousers and under tunic. "I also learned the location of the Yiga hideout. One of the women reported having seen two boys and a wolf as well."

Abel and Rusl snapped to attention, earlier amusement forgotten.

"The Gerudo claim that the hideout was set on fire," Fierce explained. "They investigated it and discovered our heroes. My little hero apparently did not let them near him or his companions, but they were all alive as of one week ago."

One week. A million things could happen in that span of time. Link could have died in that time.

"Does anyone know where they went?" he asked breathlessly.

"The guards tracked them for a few days until they left the desert."

"They left the desert a week ago?" Rusl repeated. "That... so we must have--"

The Ordonian let out a strangled, frustrated groan, turning away as he shook his head. Abel felt similarly. They'd just missed them.

He wondered if the encampment near Akkala had been a more recent lead, after all. Then again, it had taken them a week to get here.

"We need to leave," he said. "The coolness of the night will be good to travel through in the desert."

The other two didn't argue. Rusl was growing frustrated and concerned at how long it had been. Abel was panicking at his son's condition. The three set out within minutes, determination set on stony faces.

Hylia... I... haven't prayed lately, I know, but... please...

Protect him. Protect... protect them all.

[petrenocka]

Wait, so we see Impa in AoC and she was young back then, but is a raisin in BoTW.

We also see Master Kohga in both games, but he literally remains the same up until ToTK times.

Yet Sheikah and Yiga are the same species. They are more on the long lived side, the most committed ones even giving Zora a run for their money life span wise. Still, Kohga should've aged as much as Impa, especially considering he is likely already older then her in AoC. But seemingly he didn't.

So like, what gives?

Is he the Yiga equivalent of the Sheikah mummy monk? Could he have been leading the Yiga since the split 10 000 years ago?

Does he have Purah's de-aging thech, or a ninja spell that does the same thing?

Did he die and have a successor who is somehow a 100% accurate carbon copy of him?

Maybe he did age, but is just still kicking ass as an old man behind that mask.

I guess we'll never know.

[ridreamir]

Yellow Footsoldier (Link and Kohga)

Slight spoilers for TOTK ahead, a (joke post) continuation of: Draft created Jun 15th, 2023, never posted. Figured I could do it at least that much :-)

There was something suspicious about the new guy.

With Kohga in the depths on another expedition, you'd been left with a few of the blademasters and footsoldiers, who were busy readying the Zonai parts brought back from the last scavenge and guarding the banana pile. Hey, that banana pile was really important to them. It was starting to become important to you, too.

These days, he'd been disappearing into the hellscape below Hyrule a lot more frequently than he used to. And while you half-understand that he worships a literal evil incarnate figure that's essentially their god and darkness is their thing, you can't help but feel every muscle in your body clench at the thought of going down there. Especially with the implications that you were once a member of a 'special' lineage. The crown princess was expected to literally glow. Who knows what might happen if you were to go down there.

His expeditions have been getting longer and longer. That was warning enough that things were progressing rapidly, and you didn't have the best track record with 'change'. He wasn't going to like it, and you weren't going to like finding out what he'd do if he caught you.

This was survival, you decided. And if he didn't want you to leave, he shouldn't have made escaping so easy.

......

There was something wrong with the new guy.

He hardly had a purpose amongst the clansmen, but he walked around the place like he was either overconfident or completely and utterly lost. Which of the two you weren't exactly sure, but when you caught him about to tip a pot over off the side of a particularly high shelf you called out for him to stop. Hey, you liked looking at that pot. It was decorative...

Then he stared at you, entire body tense. Must've been embarrassed about being caught, or something. Now the new guy really, really liked trailing you like some sort of creepy weirdo. Anything you tried to tell Kohga went right in one ear and out the other, though. The Yellow footsoldier was an esteemed member of the Yiga Clan and a very upstanding man, apparently. He's the strongest warrior, the best of the best, blah blah blah. So yeah. Asking your captor to pay special concern for you was, in hindsight, not the most logical idea. Expecting anything logical from these demon worshipping bozos was a bad idea. And so you've been plotting your escape. First the depths, now a man walking around in a banana colored suit who, though perfectly toned and *definitely* not all that, ehem, well endowed... cough... it's just too freaky! All wrong! It's all wrong!! He's attached to your hip! He hovers when you polish the Zonai fans, stares from across the room when you sit on the sandstone steps, watches ever more intensely any time you handle anything for yourself.

And he's been getting in the way more often than not, especially with how you fumble knowing that he's watching from some unseen corner at all hours of the day. Hylia above, you can't even sleep in peace without worrying he'll be peeking through the bars of your cell-turned-bedroom. At least the other footsoldiers give you some semblance of privacy.

That's it. You really can't take it anymore. Bye, Kohga, bye, banana man. Peace out. .... When you sneak out one night, you think you've gotten away with it. But then you hear the snap of a twig, turn around, and find Mr. Banana freezing mid stalk.

Ah, shit. And freedom was so close, too... You sigh, and decide to save him the trouble. You walk yourself right back into your cell.

(Meanwhile, you have no clue that Link behind you has been trying to get you out of there for weeks now.)

...

..

. The premise reminded me of this song's cover.

Here's a link to a video of someone dying the armor set with bananas:

[thequietkid-moonie]

Reader help Link after he wakes up

[ HEADCANONS ] [ The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild ]

I remember reading an idea like this some time ago and also there was This discussion of how Link doesn't remember anything and still have to save Hyrule 😟

So I decided to write my own versión, hope you like it! =D

Link had been waken up for a beautiful voice that lead him outside of the strange place he was on, and since Link had wake up he had been lead to do diferent things by people he doesn't know without much room to protest

Everything had culmine when the strange old man revealed to be the last king of Hyrule and tells him that he is a campeon destined to defeat the calamity that haunt the castle before disearing and leave him alone once again. Not knowing much than his mision or that he should go to Kakariko, Link start his journey

You could meet him on his way, either because you live in Kakariko or because you are an adventurer and find him on the middle of his road, either way who you meet isn't the warrior that had just wake up to fulfil his goal, who you meet is a man with old clothes that look at everything confused and amused, just like a toddler discovering the world for the first time

Lately had been happening strange things (like the towers that just appeared from nowhere) and meeting someone like him is pretty strange, he could easily be a Yiga, so being wary of him will be normal, and he can understand somewhat even if that place look somehow familiar he is nothing much than a stranger, no matter what he was in the past, is a past he doesn't even remember

When you asked him who he is or what he is doing he can't do more than look away shamessly, what he was supose to say? That the voice of the princess Zelda had just woke him up? that he is destined to defeat Ganon?

But when you ask him if he needs help he was taken aback, it doesn't matter if is for pitty or because you want to keep a close eye on him, you had just offer him your help. If you are an adventurer your help will be of great help actually, since he doesn't know how to do pretty much nothing right now, and even if you aren't one still, a little help is welcome

He still was unsure to acept your help, he didn't know if he should trust you, but in reallity he barely know what to do and some help will be good, so he hesitatly accept it. At first he just wanted to go to Kakariko to find Impa as the King had tell him, not wanting to make her wait more time than she already wait

Since he is still pretty new to everything soon you will get the opportunity to help him more, he has to visit all the kingdoms and search for the rest of the shrines and towers, even if the only things you could do for him is teach him some things about the world it would be a great help

After some time that you started helped him you two will end up being good friends, he holds you close to his heart since you are practically his first friend since he has waken up and he is grateful for your help

If you are an adventurer then the two of you will end up traveling together even if is just for a while and he will try to learn from you all he can too. Still, after he start to continue with his adventure he invite you over to travel to the other kingdoms (he doesn't express it but it would make him really happy if you accept), but if you decline his offer he will respect your choise and will still try to keep un contact with you and pay you a visist whenever he is near the place you are

If you aren't an adventurer that will become a motivation for him to became stronger so he could take you at least on a little trip. Also, whenever he cames to pay you a visit and this time is him who teach you something new he will feel really proud of himself (and gives him more motivation to continue with his journey)

In either case (when you don't go with him) whenever he visist you he always brings a gift for you from wherever he was, it could be different materials that you could use or he know you need, or something he knows you will like (specially from the kingdom you are more interesed on)

He wants to tell you about the places he visit or all the things he does, but since he really doesn't like talking too much (or isn't too confortable with it) he gets used to taking a lot of photos with the Sheikah Slate so he could show you

Also, he will let you try and experiment with the Runes of the Sheikah Slate, specially if you two travel together being that then you two will have more oportunities to try it, but please don't point it out because he will feel embarrased for being so irresponsable (he just want to have some fun with his best friend)

Whenever he retrieve one of his memories he needs some time to process it, it could be difficult for him since he is learning about his past and even about himself, so he could hold back himself a little and even quietly searching your company since it comforts him

[aikoiya]

LoZ - Yiga!Link is a Riot

I gotta say that the concept of Yiga!Link is effing hilarious. Especially if it's Zelink.

Because, think about it.

In this situation, Ganon has literally everything lined up perfectly. Link, his eons-long, multi-life arch-nemesis is essentially his minion & he likely doesn't even know it.

Kid's probably deep into the sauce too, man.

Then, either along comes this pretty little princess & he's like, "yeah, sorry bro, but I'm gettin' me some of that." Maybe he was kidnapped as a baby & Link & Zelda met previously as kids? Maybe she did something for him that he'd never forgotten, then when they remeet, she does something for him that seals a huge crush on her, & thus can't bring himself to kill her? I dunno, there's a lot of ways this could go. OR, he learns personally that he's the Chosen Hero, the very person he's supposed to despise & kill. Meaning that if the other members learn about it, they'll likely kill him. His whole life comes crashing down around him. The first blow to the cult's programming.

Like, it'd just be such a power move on destiny's part.

Like, as dangerous as Ganon obviously is, he simply does not win for very long. He always looses eventually.

And this would just cement that fact. Like, he had his effing arch-nemesis in the palm of his fucking hand & didn't even know it & he'll still fucking lose.

I dunno about you, but I'd be pretty damn demoralized after that.

I might just need the next 10,000 years dead before my next reincarnation to mentally recover.

---

At the same time, it does make me wonder. Why do non-Sheikah Yiga stick with them? Like, we know the reason why the Yiga was originally formed. A Hylian King from 10,000 years ago forced the Sheikah to decommission their technology, fearing it'd bring about Hyrule's demise. (Which, despite how unfair it was, he was... actually right. Makes me wonder if he actually learned that the Sheikah Tech could be taken over. Maybe he'd been an accomplished mage & had managed to use his magic to take control of the machines, then realizing that he likely wouldn't be around for the next Calamity, he ordered the Sheikah to find a way to prevent the machines from being possessed by magic. But no matter what they did, they couldn't manage to figure it out, or maybe they did for a while, but the king kept testing them to make sure it was fixed. However, much like hacking in real life, there will always be new ways to exploit the system, thus the king was left with no choice but to decommission them.)

But, anyway, what exactly do they tell their members to get them to want to stay? Hell, why were they even still a thing in BotW? Why hadn't they made their move? There were no more guards, or soldiers, only a few trained Sheikah, all of which were either too old to keep fighting or were swiftly getting there, & there'd been no royal family besides Zelda, who was keeping Calamity Ganon sealed away.

Why didn't they take over the rest of Hyrule, asserting their dominance & killing all the loyalists so that when the Hero returned, he'd be an outlaw, thus making his journey harder? (It certainly wouldn't have been the first time something like that would've happened in the series.) In fact, why reveal themselves to him when they meet? Just wait till his back is turned, then Eightfold Blade him in the back! Or have a Yiga replace the Sheikah & Hylian innkeepers/Stable Managers, then when Link rents a bed for the night, give him a poisoned complementary meal! Then, when he collapses, just execute him!

It's that easy! Or it should be, because they're effing ninja!

I mean, they were perfectly fine with killing Dorian's wife, who Dorian had been a member of the Yiga before, thus they've no issue with the act of killing.

Which, btw, why didn't they instead kidnap her, maybe even his daughters too, & use them as blackmail to keep him under their thumb?

LoZ Wild Masterlist

LoZ My Fanfic Masterlist

[speedyartist30]

Botw AU: Divine intervention pt4

Its been a week since Jay and Link returned back to Hyrule castle with the master sword and the news of Link being the chosen hero spread like wild fire. While it raised hope to the land for their success against the calamity. Link was appointed to be Zelda’s personal guard and was order to stay by her side much to the princesses displeasure. Still even with all the good news being shared some people couldn’t see past Zelda’s lack of power. But behind the scenes of all the celebrations and commotion,Jay requested to speak with King Rhoam alone.

King Rhoam:”Theres a hylian that has the same power the calamity possess? What’s the meaning of this?”

“Yes your majesty,but I’m afraid it’s not the exact same power. This hylian has pure malice which seems to be stronger and is capable of effecting spirits as well.He took control over a forest spirit, but I managed to remove it with my power.I also have suspicion that he may be behind the sudden strength and intelligence in the monsters. From what I gathered he was seen in Haneto village….Do you have a book on Hyrule history?”

The king pushed his chair back and moved to the bookshelf on the further side of the library. The man raised a hand before pulling down a large book that he puts on the table for Jay to read. The book was titled, “Hyrules Legends and History.” With a quiet “thank you” Jay began flipping through the pages in the search for a specific title but in the back of the book there it was.

King Rhoam:”The yiga clan? You believe this hylian is a assassin?”

“No, but I have a feeling they are involved with him somehow.The Yiga clan has history with worshipping Ganon and killing anyone who oppose to their ideals. But if this hylian is capable of possessing a power similar to their “God” then I suspect them to form some alliance. Especially if this stranger gives these bastards an opportunity in making their goal’s reality…Um sorry for the language your majesty.”

Jay gave a shy smile at the Kings stern gaze and kept searching for any clues about any outside accomplices to the Yiga, but didn’t find nothing besides the ruthless attacks they inflicted upon villages hundreds of years ago. The teen also noticed the lack of information on the orb Kaya told him about. But before he could tell the King a group of Royal guards came to escort him to a meeting he had with the Shekiah elder.The older man looked down at him and to Jays suprise gave him a task.

King Rhoam:”You seem to be well informed about the situation and capable of destroying pure malice. I’m holding you responsible to finding out more information and stopping this hylian. I want this problem kept hidden and resolved. I’m also sending you to accompany Zelda and Link to meet the pilots and hopefully Hyrules future champions.Hylia knows we can’t afford anymore setbacks.”

“Yes sir.”

Jay gave a low bow while the king left along with his guards. Straightening up,Jay put the book back on the shelf and began running out the library to meet up with the princess at the Royal Ancient lab. Zelda said she wanted him to meet her Royal advisor and the head researcher of the ancient tech team, but he couldn’t think of a reason to why. Once Jay got off castle grounds he walked the rest of the way to give himself time to think.

*So I got to finds this unknown hylian, keep an eye on the Yiga, accompany Zelda to meet these pilots, and help her find a way to unlock her own power.*

With a sigh, Jay ran a hand through his hair as he started planning out what to prioritize first, he decided that the champions were the most important at the moment. With them officially being dubbed champions that gives him more freedom to focus on the yiga and find the unknown hylian. Then that leaves no distractions are worries for Zelda to worry about and that’ll leave all her focus on her power.

Nodding to himself,Jay saw the lab up ahead and jogged the rest of the way until he was at the front door.He let himself inside and Jay tried not to get distracted by his surroundings but he never been inside a lab before.There were sheikah researchers talking and writing on these extremely detailed chalk boards, glowing charts,books all over the floor and walls, and a guardian was sitting in the back of the room!

“Woah…This place is huge!”

A few researchers looked his way and Jay blushed when a shekiah woman smiled at his reaction. Looking around he spots the princess and carefully stepped around the cluster of books to reach her. She was talking to two sheikah women, one of them he could tell right away was a warrior while the other wore a long coat. Behind them a sheikah man leaned against the table, he had weird glasses and a tech like bag resting on his back. Farthest from the group stood Link with a blank face, but he gives him the faintest nod when Jay waved toward him as a quick hello.

Zelda:”And he’s-Oh there he is! Jay this is Impa she’s my Royal advisor and this is her sister P-

Purah:”Aww check it!! I’m Purah and this is my partner in crime Robbie!”

As if they rehearsed this Purah and Robbie stood side by side and posed with as much flare and style as they could muster. Jay titled his head and Impa have a weary sigh. After a moment he realized they were serious so he gave short bow to be polite.

“It’s nice to meet all of you.”

When he rose, he noticed the observing glint in Purahs eyes and she confidently stepped up to him. She mumbled under her breath and circled him with her hands on her hips. Suddenly she told the other researchers to clear out the lab, she said they could have a earlier break but Jay felt it was a little suspicious that she decided to give them one as soon as he got here. When the last research walked out the door Purah locked it,Jay turned to Zelda for a explanation and the princess reassured him that it was just to give the group privacy to talk.

And just like that Jay went out to explain his power and his ability too see souls. He tried to keep his explanation short and brief but with Robbie and Purah constantly asking him questions made his suppose to be short response a whole lecture. By the end he ultimately decided to show his dragon form to them after telling to swear to secrecy. Let’s just say he wasn’t expecting to find himself on the table and showing off his powers.

Purah:”SNAP! You can make lightning that doesn’t shock! Wait I need a pencil! Robbie write this down!!”

Jay mindlessly kicked his legs as the two researchers scrambled around the room. Impa took intrest to his tail and poked at it with a curious eyes. She looked at him asked…

Impa:”You didn’t say what color soul a yiga holds. Do they not have a color?”

”It’s hard to give the Yiga a color since they are either hylians or traitors of the sheikah tribe.They can be either yellow or silver. The yiga also don’t have power around their souls.”

Purah:”So that’s how you knew Linky was the one chosen for the sword! You saw his power!”

Jay nodded and tried not move when Purah and Robbie touched the horns on his head or when they asked him to open his mouth so they could see how sharp his canines are. He’d put up with the two’s research if it means he has another person to trust with his true form. But he didn’t miss the subtle frown on Zelda’s face when Purah mentioned her appointed knight. Which was probably what led her to saying…

Zelda:”Jay I was wondering if you can help me with unlocking my power. When we were children you tried to before and I felt something. I think we should try again.”

“I don’t know…”

Zelda:”Why not? If I can unlock my power now then that leaves more room to explore these ancient relcis. As the princess I command you to take action.”

Jay eyes looked into determined emeralds, but he didn’t want to refuse and step all over her determination. And what if she is right? If he can help her unlock her power now then it’ll better their chances in winning. But there was one problem that he wasn’t sure he could solve.

*I’m older now so maybe I can help her this time.*

Taking a deep breath, Jay agreed and told Zelda to sit on the table with him. Scooting back to make room Jay sat crisscross and faced her. Zelda copied him and Jay grabbed her hands, he was not about to put his hand on her chest. Impa came and placed a supportive hand on Zelda’s shoulder while Link came up to her other side, but he didn’t get within reaching distance. Robbie and Purah stood behind him with journals in hand.

“Ok, I want you to do the same thing we did all those years ago princess. You need to feel your power. If you can feel it then you can take control.”

Zelda nodded her head and Jay let his eyes slit to view her soul. The same soft yellow he’s seen before, Jay concentrated on her power and closed his eyes while sparks circled his hands. He felt his surroundings fade away as he drifted into a meditative state, his tail twitching behind him when he felt a presence, but it was a unforgiving force that was beginning to form around him. Jay tried to overcome this unknown obstacle,but like a fish out of water he felt himself being forcefully pulled out. Letting go of Zelda’s hands Jay sighed and massaged his forehead.

Impa:”Did it work?”

Zelda:”I felt something again, but I lost it when you let go Jay. Let’s try once more.”

“I don’t think this will work.”

Zelda:”What? But Jay I felt…There was something there.”

“That’s the problem. I don’t think it’s me your feeling…What did you feel?”

Zelda frowned and held a hand over her chest, she looked at him before letting her gaze drop down.

Zelda:”It felt like a powerful force…Pushing something away.”

“I was worried this would happen….I’m sorry princess,but I don’t think I’m capable of unlocking your power for you due to divine intervention. In some instances there are things can’t be changed due to fate the goddess have already set.Throughout Hylrues history the princess has to unlock her power on her own just like the hero has to pull the sword himself. I think what your feeling…Is my power being pushed away from you.”

Robbie:”So your saying Hylia is stopping you from getting the princess power out, because she has it set for her to do it on her own?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Jay felt awful and the disappointment on Zelda’s face was just salt on the wound.Impa gave her a hung and Link watched her with saddened eyes. The knight reached out for her but slowly brought his hand back to his side. Purah came up Zelda next with a smile and pointed out…

Purah:”Well Hylia never had any easy challenges waiting for us, eh? This just means we all have to do our best and see this through!”

Impa:”Yeah, princess we still have time before the Calamity’s awakening and with your mind and determination I know you’ll find a way to unlock your power.”

Jay smiled at the women’s encouraging voices,he climbed off the table and gave Zelda a hand to help her down.With a confident voice of his own he tells her…

“Your not fighting this alone princess, we are all here to support you and I’ll still help you in anyway with unlocking your power.”

Link stepped beside him and gave Zelda a firm nod to show his support. Bubbly with laughter, Purah skipped around the two teens and pulled her arms around theirs. Doing her signature pose she grinned at Zelda, who had a little smile on her face.

Purah:”And when you do get your power will take the calamity down as easy as click, snap!”

Zelda gave a short giggle before her face smoothed out, she didn’t look sad anymore but determined.Standing up she went to a map of hyrule on the wall and with a pointer stick she lifted up and smacked it right in the center of hyrule.

Zelda:”Alright then, I believe it’s time I sought out our pilots for the divine beast. I want to travel to Zoras domain first, Goron city second, next will be rito village and the last stop will be greudo town. Any recommendations Impa?”

The sheikah woman stood up and glanced at the map herself before humming…

Impa:”It’s a sound plan princess, though I do advise you to stop by villages nearby by to restock on supplies. And you need to inform the king about this departure to see if he approves.”

“Actually I think he’s already aware of you leaving soon. He asked me to accompany you and Link to meet the pilots and to clear out the roads for travelers.”

That last part was a lie,but it was an exuse to give him some time to slip away without suspicion. Strangely Zelda didn’t seem to please to hear that Link will be tagging along.Turning her back she started writing on the board. Fidgeting with this earrings,Jay turned to Impa for help.

“Um ok…So who are the pilots?“

Impa:”Princess Mipha of the Zora,lord Daruk of the Goron, Master Revali of the rito, and Lady Urbosa of the Greudo. Have you been around those regions?”

Jay shook his head and reached in his bag for his own map, he had his own notes and Link let him copy notes from his map for the places hes never traveled to.

“Well I been around Zoras domain but I never actually went inside there place. I never went to the Hebra region because I have a low cold tolerance,I didn’t go to Greduo dessert because of the rule about men not being able to enter, and I didn’t want go to Eldin because I heard you will burst into flames which is…you know bad.“

Purah snorted behind him and tried to disguise it with a cough. It was poorly timed. Impa then help him find the places he should go to get proper gear for the trip and wrote down how long it would take him to get there on foot.

“Oh, I forgot to mention I can run really fast and fly, but I’m faster on my feet then I am in the air.”

Proving his point,Jay floated to the ceiling and when he landed he ran around the room to show his speed. Sliding to stop, he fidgeted with his hair when he saw their reactions, he forgot only Link knew about his speed.

Smiling a little Jays ears perked up at the sound of footsteps and he swiftly changed out his dragon form. The researchers had returned from their break and got back to work, so Jay decided to take this as his cue to leave.

“I got to go clear up the monster camps down the road. Again it’s nice meeting all of you.”

Pausing he held up a purple rupee and tossed it to Purah. Shrugging Jay nonchalantly said…

“I found it under your desk when I was running.”

Purah:”Oh, like this guy.”

Smiling Jay waved at left out the lab and once he was sure he was out of sight of any eyes he was off. The rest of the day was spent taking out new monsters that appeared in Hyrule fields. He noticed the increase of camps, but what had him feeling anxious was the lightening of purple souls. It made him wonder how many more have changed in the other regions, so out of curiosity he ran Faron, Neculda, and the outer areas of Lanayru. By the time he returned back to his room in the castle it was already dark out.

*Ok, let’s compare those three to hyrule fields.*

Using his sparks he lit the candles in his room to give him some light. Jay took out his journal and sat in the floor with a pencil in hand, he barely wrote anything when his door opened. It was just link, who was out of his knights uniform and in forest green sleepwear. But he still had his sword strapped to his back.

Link:’Sorry for barging in.You were gone the last few times I stopped by.’

“It’s ok. I see your done guarding Zelda for the night.”

Link sighed and sat on the bed, he brought his hands up to sign but looked to be thinking over his response. Jay changed back into his dragon form and gave his head a little shake while his tail wrapped around him. Bringing his own hands up he signed.

‘What’s the matter?’

Link:’She hates me and I don’t know why. I’m trying to stay by her side to keep watch,but she keeps purposely leaving without telling me. Then I have to run around and look for her.’

‘She doesn’t hate you.’

Link:’I saved her from a guardian blast today….I don’t know what happened,but it fired at her. I used my shield to block the shot,but when it hit my shield it deflected right back at the guardian. It destroyed it and she got really angry at me.’

‘You did the right thing. You saved her. A gurdian can be replaced.’

Link:’I know, but after she wanted me to stay away from her but I can’t because it’s my duty to be her guard.The king told me to never leave her side no matter what she command she gives me…But she doesn’t know that.’

Jay tilted his head. Did the king tell Link to keep that a secret like he told him to keep quiet about the yiga?’

‘Why not tell her?’

Link:’I tried. She’s not fluent in sign and she just stormed off when she couldn’t understand me.’

That made the descendants tail twitch with agitation, he knew how hard it was to talk at times so for the princess to do that rubbed him the wrong way.

‘I can tell her for you. That your under the kings command if you want? Or I can try to keep her in a good mood.’

Link:‘That can work., thank you.’

Nodding his head,Jay turned back to his journal and began writing down the information he gained from his quick exploration.He took his map out of his bag started writing more notes when Link tapped his shoulder.

“Hm?”

Link:’What are you doing?’

“I’m trying to see the difference in monsters souls. See, in hyrule fields the monsters are stronger than theses places that I explored earlier. It’s like whatever is making them stronger is slowly spreading.”

Link:”Like a blight.”

Jay paused at Links comparison before looking down at his map. All the places he marked were slowly spreading out to other regions just like a blight would do to a plant. The blight slowly changes the plant on the surface but in reality it’s slowly killing it.

“Yeah…But what is causing it? I don’t think it’s just malice…Do you know when the next blood moon will come?”

Link shrugged and Jay tried to think back on the last one. It’s been nearly a month since the last one so it happen any day now, he wasn’t looking forward to it. Link yawned and stood up with a stretch and slowly signed

Link:’But I do know we are going to Zoras Domain tomorrow. The princess wants to leave as soon as possible. I was trying to tell you earlier,but I couldn’t find you.’

“Oh, well thanks for the heads up.”

The two signed good night and link left to return to his chambers. Jay packed up his notes and went to wash up in the rooms overly big bathroom. Once he was cleaned and smelled nothing but lavander,Jay blew out his candles and floated to bed. One half of him was worried about his mission the king gave him, but the other half was excited to go to Zoras domain.

It was the first step into creating Hyrule’s Champions and a even closer step to facing the calamity.

[sittingoverheredreaming]

TOTK is so great but its story mostly doesn’t hit for me so

THINGS I WOULD CHANGE (major spoilers ahead)

Sonia purposely reaches through time for help against Ganondorf and that’s how Zelda ends up specifically in their time

Rather than being the first king and queen of Hyrule, Rauru and Sonia are the Zonai rulers in an unspecified past era prior to the 10,000 years ago of the Calamity legend

Also, instead of being Zelda’s ancestors, they are Link’s

BULLET TIME IS CLEARLY A TIME POWER, ZELDA DIDN’T HAVE TIME POWERS IN BOTW

BotW/TotK Link is more than just an ordinary dude but there’s no sign he’s chosen by the goddesses like in some other games so why not say he’d descended from the Zonai and a magical monster fucker with time powers

This also makes more sense why they think Zelda could make a difference, because her powers wouldn’t just be copies of Rauru and Sonia’s 

I think also it would be cool to have her be the Sage of Light while Rauru is the royalty/leader of the sages, basically a role swap from Ocarina of Time

Ganondorf (implied to have been resurrected rather than born into the Gerudo as a new man) originally wanted to ally with the Zonai against Hyrule 

Rather than being with the Gerudo, he’s with the beginnings of the Yiga clan (the Yiga are said to have been formed after the first Calamity, but the Shiekah have had a long cycle of being used and then discarded/persecuted by Hyrule’s rulers so I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to have it start before and history has just misattributed it to post-Calamity)

Part of Ganondorf’s argument is that the Sheikah of the time are copying Zonai designs and technology for the Hylian Royal Family’s use, and must be stopped (so much was SO similar I really thought it would be addressed)

The Royal Family already has the blood of the goddess/Triforce/etc, and still they reach for more

Ganondorf blames Sonia, as she is Rauru’s Hylian wife, for the refusal, which is why he targets her specifically

But the Zonai are a fading people, and even if they had the strength and numbers to stand against Hyrule Kingdom, the Sheikah using their technology and building on it is a way their work can survive after they’re gone, and they bear no ill will towards Hyrule

I wish I could have Sonia not die because I love her but that part of the story and the Light Dragon stuff are both solid

BUT before shit starts going down WE SEE HER AND RAURU’S KID. They clearly have one and I’m mad we didn’t see it, why will Nintendo not show us characters’ kids (yes I am still mad Age of Calamity didn’t address if Urbosa had a child/heir) 

Bonus points if the kid like, accidentally enters bullet time while playing around and that’s how Zelda starts putting together that she’s with Link’s ancestors

From there the past mostly unfolds the same as in-game, but maybe with a little more individuality from the sages so the moment when they see Zelda fly off as the Light Dragon hits a little harder

Rauru’s final lines about Link also then will have the weight of knowing Link is his descendant, Ganondorf has failed in eliminating their future

The present is mostly the same as well, except Link gains recall from a tear Zelda hid for him that amplifies the time powers he already has, rather than her giving him her own powers

Then in the final fight, once Ganondorf has swallowed the tear, he moves to attack Lookout Landing, and Link does the only thing he can think of to save everyone– he sends Ganon, along with himself and the Light Dragon, back in time

The fight progresses as it does in the game, up until Link breaks open the tear on Ganon’s forehead

Instead of dying, all Ganon’s malice pours out, coating the dragon and making it near invincible

This is the origin of Calamity Ganon

But this is not the time of legend, it is before, while the Shiekah have begun their work based on the Zonai designs, they are not prepared for an attack

Ganon must be sealed until they are ready, and there’s only one person who can do it

Link calls on all the power of the sages through his hand, reaching through time to draw their power and combine it with his own, and uses everything he has to reverse the tear out of Zelda and return her to her original form

His magic arm shatters in the process. He does not get his original arm back

Zelda seals the Calamity, knowing it’s temporary, knowing that even after everything she’s done, she cannot prevent the tragedies that have already happened. The best they can do is know that they’ve paved the way for their future where he can be fully defeated.

We end on her collapsing against Link, silent for a long moment, and then just, “Link, take me home.” 

[arecaceae175]

When A Good Man Goes to War commentary

Ooh! It’s been a while since I’ve thought about this one!

It starts out with Wild wanting to show Sky something cool in his Hyrule. He wants Sky to meet Branli since Branli is obsessed with birds! If they had made it, Sky would’ve told Branli about Loftwings then he and Wild would’ve had a competition to see who could glide the farthest. Sky’s stamina isn’t as good as Wild’s so he would lose by a lot, but it would’ve been super fun anyway.

They get captured because the Yiga sneak up on Sky and knock him out, then coerce Wild to go with them with a knife on Sky’s neck.

Sky does murder :). Below the cut bc it’s gross

There was only one left, the guard who took Wild. Sky couldn’t hear anything beyond the rushing of blood in his ears. He slashed mercilessly at the last Yiga in front of him, long past the point of death until their intestines were splashing onto the stone floor.

This experience is the first time Sky has ever killed another Hylian. He had a pretty sheltered upbringing just by the nature of existing on Skyloft, so killing other people isn’t something that has crossed his mind much. In the aftermath of this fic, Sky is going to have a REALLY hard time dealing with that- the fact that he killed someone, and the fact that there was a person evil enough for him to want to kill, and how thoroughly he killed that one in particular. It’s hard. Warriors and Wild help with that a lot.

Wild thinks he is going to bounce back from this experience like he has with everything else in the past, but he does not. He gets panic attacks for a little while and nightmares. Sky, as he promised, does not leave Wild’s side for a LONG time. After Wild is more emotionally stable, he feels a little suffocated because he’s used to having more time to himself. He has to have a conversation with Sky about boundaries. It is a hard conversation for both of them. After the conversation Sky cries, but he cries to Legend so Wild won’t know about it.

Blorbos <3

[fragmentedlegends]

Sometimes I accidentally RP on Discord. This excerpt with @mightiestbanana is one of those times. Enjoy~

—

Kohga: what. Is. WRONG. With. YOU!

—

Astor: Why. Do. You. Care?

—

Kohga: Because I’m a nice, caring guy, you idiot! How do you think it looks on my part having the Yiga Clan’s very own prophet lookin’ like a malnourished rat?

—

Astor: *purses lips in a “fair point” gesture before waving the words away* Very well. When our goal is complete, I’ll reserve a bit more time for my own body. You needn’t burden your *caring* heart—though, Master Kohga, I must admit I’m a bit disappointed. There’s no need for all of that, you can be honest here. *Nice* and *caring* is not quite who you are, deep down.

—

Kohga: *quirks one thick brow as he crosses his arms over his chest, the gesture inherently defensive despite keeping it out of his tone* Oh, that so? What makes you think I’m anything but candid here? Alright then, go on, tell me, who do you think I am? Since you *know so much*.

—

Astor stands, steps echoing as he approaches him, circles him, hands held casually behind his back: I *know* you are not the *benevolent leader* your clan touts you to be. And you know it, too.

Oh, yes, you’ll give the off ripe banana—some clothes here and there—shelter—

What do you ask in return, Master Kohga? Hm? Loyalty? Love? *Blood*?

Tell me, *mighty Master Kohga*—if you had to choose between *you* or your *clan*, why do I think they would lose?

For all their loyalty…

All their love…

(He places a hand on his shoulder from behind and dips close to Kohga’s ear)

*To save your own life, you would take their blood and run. I know it. I’ve **seen** it.* One of many possible futures—*you leave them all to die.*

—

Kohga’s blood begins a slow simmer beneath his skin, and as Astor looms behind, that hand creeping over his shoulder, it’s already reached a boil.

"I’m *nothing* like you," Kohga miraculously keeps his tone level, not an ounce of the rage he feels bleeding through. "Unlike the Yiga’s origins, I don’t intend on building off a legacy of blood and backbones to stay afloat. That," in one abrupt movement Kohga turns, gloved fingers finding themselves wrapped around a skinny throat, squeezing, squeezing, *squeezing*, "Is where you’re sorely mistaken."

Kohga clamps tight only as long as it took him to swivel around before loosening his hold. The hand remains in place, however.

"You’re *cute*, thinkin’ you can get under my skin. Thinkin’ you know a dang teensy thing about me."

…and yet, Astor’s words have managed to seep under his flesh, curling through his veins and down the marrow. Kohga doesn’t think he’s going to sleep well tonight.

—

It’s easy to forget, with his lackadaisical attitude, that Master Kohga is strong, that there is power behind those hands—but Astor *never* forgets.

Indeed, he considers it to be the man’s most wasted piece of potential. All that strength and power, and *so little done with it.*

When that hand grasps his throat, a crushing jolt of pain and theft of breath, there is no gasp, no clutch of the palm. Merely the slightest narrowing of eyes that accompanied a slim smile.

And then that tightness is gone, allowing air once more, and Astor feels that shoot of disappointment once more—before him was a man who could have been a king, but always chose to loosen his grip far too soon.

“The path to Hell is paved in good *intentions,*” he says, and there’s almost a trace of *pity* in his tone. But was it fabricated or genuine? “But I suppose we shall see.”

—

*Sick fuck*, Kohga thinks as that serpentine smile tugs at each end of Astor’s hollowed face. Astor’s getting far more enjoyment out of this than need be, so Kohga isn’t finding it so fun anymore.

And though he’d like more than anything to strangle the life outta that scrawny neck, watch as Astor claws at Kohga’s hand and chokes for air he cannot have… Kohga knows it’s a risk he can’t take now, not with the Calamity’s full power looming large over the both of them. The prophet is too important a piece in this little game of theirs. And it’s the *only* reason he keeps Astor around.

With a sneer, Kohga releases the seer, patting his chest with an open palm before turning away on one heel, waving a lackadaisical hand behind him.

"Alright alright, enough joking around. I’m gettin’ sick of your bull. If I wanted my daily fortune, I’d have asked. So *can* it."

—

Astor: Aw. No kiss tonight?

—

Kohga: NO.

—

Astor:

[finluz]

TOTK Rant: How Much Better Than BOTW?

//major totk spoilers ahead

The Good

Ultrahand is amazing, it's a simple idea with few limitations leading to a lot of complexity and flexibility

Ascend is fucking awesome. im not even gonna like, critically analyze this one. i wish i could jump through ceilings in real life

Being able to throw items is extremely useful, meaning you don't have to waste arrows to get certain effects

Zonai devices are all amazing, same principle of Ultrahand where they all have simple uses with few limitations, meaning that you can create really complex machines very easily

The Music™ 🎷🐛

Rauru's sopping wet man vagina

There's a shit-ton of new enemies, including like-likes, gleeoks, evil rigby mfs that crawl on the ceiling, floormasters, phantom ganon, the assorted zonai creatures, froxes, baby froxes, yigas with driver's licenses, battle tali, damn those trees are WALKIN

Depths exploration is fucking amazing

Depths atmosphere

Sky Islands when they have anything on them

Air travel

60 new side adventures, which are waaay fuller in good content than the side quests or even the main quests lmao

build your own house

the boss fights

the final boss fight

shrine puzzles with Ultrahand

Proving Grounds shrines

Master Kohga

the guy that walks around continually failing to demonstrate any degree of professional signage

the side dialogue is really funny and well-written

the isolated vibe of botw has been traded in for a feeling of togetherness as a kingdom

large-scale battles with tons of monsters and friendly npcs

muddle buds

zonai architecture

did i mention the ost yet

skyview towers > the ubisoft towers

link has his hair down

tauro

purah

short-hair zelda

rauru

ganondorf

mineru

been spending most our lives living in a bisexual's paradise

the lightning temple

the construct factory

the quest to obtain the master sword

dragonhead island

the dragonhead island music

fusing items to arrows and shields

the yiga clan expansion

do the earthwaker link come on quake that shit

the all-clucking cucoo

froggy armor

the lucky clover gazette

all of the new outfits

the dragon-themed outfits

horns on enemies

link let his hair down

the plethora of armor effects that are now also cooking effects, like slip resistance, swim speed, weather-based attack, and more

railgrinding

princess monoke themes doubled down on

gloom

robot arm

I think a common theme in this list is that rather than being different from Breath of the Wild, there is just more of Breath of the Wild.

"No shit, it's a sequel."

Yeah I get that, but this is the first time a Zelda sequel specifically has failed to really distinguish itself from the game before it.

Tears of the Kingdom has everything that Breath of the Wild had, including its flaws. The fact that it's just "more of it" and "better" kind of makes the previous game completely obsolete, which is a first in the series.

Majora's Mask, Link Between Worlds, Adventure of Link, the Oracle Games and Link's Awakening are all direct sequels of previous games, and yet their identity is so distinct that they become standalone entries in the series.

Majora's Mask is not Ocarina of Time 2.

Tears of the Kingdom is 100% Breath of the Wild 2.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and considering the series has been almost rebooted entirely I'm not even opposed to the direct serialization of these games,

but if they are going to go this route,

and there's going to be 6 and a half years between the two games,

You need to do better than the last game.

And so we arrive at,

The Bad.

With the exception of the aforementioned Lightning Temple and Construct Factory, the dungeons, and subsequently main areas and story in this game blow ass.

The Dungeons in this game are just Divine Beasts but with somehow even less creativity. Say what you want about the lack of interconnectedness between and the quality of the puzzles, but they provided a feeling of controlling and manipulating a huge, moving being that sets the game apart.

In comparison, TOTK's dungeons are completely devoid of any original ideas, instead opting to be divine beasts without the movement gimmicks, meaning that they're just "go hit the four or fie switches in any order"

Breath of the Wild traded in the unique and distinct atmospheres of the franchises temples to capture a different feeling that sets it apart. Tears of the Kingdom tries to return to the old temples, but without committing all the way and missing the mark completely.

The Water Temple in particular stands out as completely fucking lazy to me, since it is literally just a bunch of blue platforms in the sky with 4 un-themed and not even water-related puzzles and a boss that is treated as a joke. There's almost no buildup in Zora's domain as well, as you just do a couple of short tasks to unlock the path up and then beat the dungeon in 30 minutes.

It's the worst kind of Zelda dungeon, with generic elemental themes but none of the art to tie those into actually unique places. And considering that there's no dungeon items, no double-backing, or any sort of semblance of an idea of you completing an actual dungeon and not just four shrines in a meat grinder, I would say it's ultimately WORSE than the divine beasts from Breath of the Wild.

The rewards for dungeons

In every dungeon, you get an NPC follower that fights with you and has an ability that you press A on to use. These are used pretty well in their respective areas. When you beat the dungeon, your reward is a blue clone of them that does less damage.

I get what they were trying to do, I really do, and on paper, it's a really great concept.

It's the champions from the last game, except they are actually there and fight alongside you, using that togetherness theming i mentioned earlier.

However, having them out is pretty much a straight downgrade since they are annoyances 24/7.

Their abilties range from mildly useful in some contexts at best to "i would only press a on you by accident."

and trust me. you are going to accidentally press a on them a LOT.

Somehow, they manage to both be in your way when you want to do literally anything else and also never there in the rare circumstance that you actually want to use your ability.

Their AI is complete dogshit, and they rarely swing at enemies, and when they do, the damage is pitiful. Tulin flies through the air, and is mostly behind you when you need him, but everyone else paths along the ground and will often get stuck on rocks, river edges, or random patches of grass sometimes because they lack any intelligence whatsoever.

It's such an easy fix too, just have a "sacred stone" rune in the radial menu where the useless map one is and let me manually select which ability I want. Bam. No more blowing big hearty truffles off cliffs or setting them on fire when im just trying to pick them up.

Fuse does not affect the durability of weapons.

Rather than opting to have the interesting choice of being able to repair your weapons at the risk of losing a rare quality of them, rehabilitating them using items from your inventory,

Nintendo instead opted to have the durability not change at all when you fuse something.

Also, every weapon in hyrule has "decayed," which, as well as being extremely contrived, means that fusing is required for weapons to be viable.

So not only does this not improve the weapon system from Breath of the Wild, it actually makes it more tedious, since now you have to collect not just a weapon, but two parts of a weapon and then fuse them into a weapon.

It's taken every weapon in hyrule, broken them in half, and made you go find the pieces.

This also means that fusing funny stuff like minecarts or logs like they suggested in the trailer isn't viable, since it will only add a few damage points and waste a weapon slot.

In Conclusion

Yes, Tears of the Kingdom is the better game. It not only has more content, but the content is also just better, more experimental, and memorable.

And don't let my huge rant about The Bads misconstrue my thoughts on this game.

This is easily a 9/10, and probably my favorite game of all time.

But it certainly isn't a 10/10.

Breath of the Wild's flaws set it apart, it was easy to forgive them because they played into its unique experience.

Six years later, with an almost identically structured game, it's not as easy to set those aside.

Anyways, this has been World's Biggest Zelda Fan Finluz, and I want to raw link

[luimagines]

To Extend Our Reach to the Stars Above!

Part 6!

Masterlist

First Chapter/ Previous Chapter/ Next Chapter

Content under the cut!

Hyrule ran out of the situation like his life depended on it.

He wanted to feel bad about leaving Twilight to deal with the crazy girl but he’s seen the way he’s been hanging around her. He’ll be fine. Right? Yeah. No worries.

Hyrule moved around the base with relative ease. It was quite large for just the three of them. The items, tables and amount of food implied that there were more people that were once here but Hyrule couldn’t find any of them. From what he can see, it looks a lot like the Yiga hideout from the pictures that Wild had shown him.

And yet there were no Yiga.

The only other option that Hyrule could come up with was that these two others were Yiga and they just had a fairy type he hadn’t seen yet. However he had to fight some Yiga in the short time he had traveled in the group. These two didn’t seem to have that same sort of fighting style.

Not to mention that they didn’t wear the uniform and they weren’t after Wild or even the triforce. From what he could gather from his time in the bottle was that they were an independently formed group that sensed the evil tear in reality that called them all together. And they were trying to fix it.

He didn’t know why they needed Sky just yet.

He walked around the base with genuine interest, having seen nothing like it back in his homeworld. Within minutes though, he hears the voices of the other two members of the formed trio and Sky.

Sky seems unharmed for the most part which furthers Hyrule’s confusion for the reason they’re keeping him close. He counts it as a blessing that Sky isn’t in distress.

The young man seemed to be retelling the story of how he came across the sword and strengthened it. It’s a story he hasn’t told them yet and Hyrule tilts his head outside of the door to get a listen in.

Something else distracts him from the story though. It’s the sheer amount of magic that seeps from the other human of this group. Can they even be called human? They looked human enough. But that level of magic is higher than anyone else he’s ever met and it instantly sets his nerves on edge.

He sniffles and tries to smother it with his sleeve as he listens in.

“I’m going to go check on Pinky and fairy. Maybe they can do something about it.” The dark fairy speaks.

“Why do you want to keep that fairy anyway?” The magic user responds. “You of all people should know-”

“He can heal any one of us, obviously. He’s in the bottle so that he doesn’t escape! Keep the captive here and get more info. Watch the timer. I’ll be back.”

Hyrule freezes. He’s too close to try and hide now and no doubt the fairy would be able to sense his own magic and sniff him out anyway.

He steps away from the door frame anyway and covers his mouth with his hands.

“AAHHHH!”

Hyrule jumps and knocks over some items on top of the box pile beside him. He snaps his head in the direction of the scream and pales.

The fairy is still screaming and flies around his head in a flurry of purple blurs. “How did you- Who let you- You’re too big! PINKY!”

Hyrule coughs and waves his hand. “Hi. You know her name isn’t Pinky, right?”

“You’re supposed to be in the bottle.” The fairy screams indignantly still. 

“Yeah. I got let out.” Hyrule grins cheekily. He rolls on his feet for a moment. “I would have healed you if you just asked. I didn’t have to be captured.”

“That’s not the point!”

“You’re very loud.” Hyrule tilts his head. He didn’t get a good look at her earlier since she didn’t want to be by him all that much but from what he can remember, she was very cute. High heels, butterfly wings and her colors were a unique pattern that he’s also never seen before.  Where did these people come from? Hyrule can feel a tiny smirk stretch onto his face. “Flustered?”

“Shut up!”

Hyrule giggles.

“You’re so dumb!” The fairy bobs for a moment and Hyrule smiles at the way he can envision her stomping her foot in frustration. “No! This is not supposed to be what happens!”

Hyrule tilts his head and mutters the spell under his breath, which he hopes will either help or infuriate her more. His vision sharpens and his perception shifts. The world both enlarges and widens while his eye line stays the same. He blinks and lets the magic wash over him in the familiar way he’s used to. When he opens his eyes again, he smiles and can see the fairy for the form she truly holds. “Better?”

She squawks and dives for him.

Hyrule dives out of the way and laughs. He can faintly feel her chase after him and he begins their little game of keep away. He’s half convinced that she’ll try to get marginally violent but a part of him is also willing to rile her up some more.

“Get back here!” She yells at him. “You can’t just fly around here as you please, you fairy faker!”

“Catch me first!” Hyrule taunts and stops just short of her catching up before he free falls and flies in the opposite direction from under her. He laughs harder when he hears her scream in fluster fueled rage.  Hyrule isn’t sure what role she plays in this operation and he hopes to find out eventually- but he hadn’t realized just how flighty the time in the bottle had made him. It felt nice to stretch his wings again.

Hyrule ducks and dives throughout the hideout, leading the other fairy into a fruitless mission. He doubts she even remembers her previous plan. Hyrule figures Twilight owes him.