#markofahero

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

We were having fun in the @expanding-hyrule Discord and may have turned into this basic skill chart for our Links. Some of mine below, but the two blanks above if anyone would like to do this for their OC Links. (Left - MoaH!Link, pre quest, Right - GoS!Link, post quest)

[hummbirds]

“…under the shade of apple trees.”

Lineart inspired by the opening scene of @amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet ‘s original LoZ fanwork, Mark of a Hero! The idea for this image has been living in my head rent free for several weeks.

It’ll get a full render. Eventually.

[doubtfulloser]

Some fanart of one of my favorite Zelda fics, of which I’ve gotten the amazing opportunity to early read :] if you’re into Zelda, fanfics, and long form stories I definitely recommend it! This is a lineup of some of their main cast of characters. The fic is Mark of a Hero by @amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet

[amelias-hart]

WIP Tag Game

When you're tagged, share the names of each wip doc you have no matter how ridiculous! Tag as many people as you have WIPS, if you can. Open asks to talk about these WIPS!

Thank you for the tag @nocturne-side-blog! Since it's on main, I'm gonna do this for both fic and original writing as best I can. Very much doubt I'll be able to tag as many people as I have WIPs.

Original Writing

Word Walkers (Epic fantasy series, Book 1 - Stolen Secrets is published)

Book 2 - Harts On High

Book 3 - Death_s Doctor

Book 4 - What Silver_s Worth

Book 5 - In Heart & Caer

Book 6 - Secondhand Divines

Book 7 - A Golden Gift

Book 8 - The Frozen War

Book 9 - Blue Boughs

Book 10 - Foreign Fields

Book 11 - By Tide & Troupe

Book 12 - Spies On the Summit

Book 13 - Gilded Guidance

Book 14 - Child of the Call

Book 15 - Dragon Hunted

Book 16 - Stone & Iron

The Garden & The Graveyard (Worldhopping TTRPG project)

Alana Silverwood & the Starlight Rider (In canon YA fantasy series/Arthurian kind of historical figure retelling for the Faewere setting)

Cowboy Wizard (Arcanepunk western romance adventure? About two characters in the Shattered Plains setting)

Loveless Crew (Weird maybe abandoned fae-Peter Pan thing?)

At Night I'm Surrounded By Magical Maids (Jokey light novel series for my partner)

Is This Clear Enough? (Short story anthology)

Everlight (Attempt to un-Mary Sue an RP oc I had growing up)

Fic Writing

Goddess of Secrecy

Demise's Rise

Goddess of Secrecy_Prelude To War

Legend of Zelda_Goddess of Secrecy (main doc)

Returning To Lorule

The Woman With No Name

Legend of Zelda_Mark of a Hero (omnibus)

Legend of Zelda_Restoration Age

Legend of Zelda_Cinders of Life

Legend of Zelda_Day After Destiny

The B Team Druids (SSO)

Ageless (Myst)

And I think that's most of the ones that I would still consider possible WIPs and not fully abandoned. So tagging! Trying to remember all my writing mutual who I haven't seen tagged already.

@centeris2 @karama9 @doomed-era @drsteggy @mistresslrigtar @abbyzwrites @jorvikzelda @spicymcbean @stevenpartridgequill

And anyone else who'd like to participate.

[hummbirds]

Ok I said “eventually” but I had not much else to do today and the cat has been blissfully uninterruptive.

A repeat of what I put in the lines post but it’s worth repeating:

A piece inspired by the opening of @amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet ‘s fic, Mark of a Hero! Go check it out. :3

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Y'all liked the ones for Mark of a Hero, so here are some of the banners out for Goddess of Secrecy as its going through its edits. Thinking about some of these locations and how they're different in GoS versus MoaH has been a lot of fun. It's a concepting goal of mine to make sure that these locations remain unique in each interaction of Hyrule I make and has been a lot of fun of writing MoaH while I'm reviewing GoS.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Figuring out how to talk about original legend fic is super hard cause I don't feel comfortable, like, using other game tags cause it wouldn't be accurate even if it would make my stuff more visible, so then I have to summarize Mark of a Hero on its own as a story, which is the bane of my existence. Elevator pitch? How? I just got a bunch of what ifs! I guess here's a few of those:

Zelda but what if it had the energy of a D&D game

Zelda but what if the quest started 10 years late

Zelda but what if it was epic/comedic (as genres, not epically comedic, I wish) fantasy

Zelda but what if Zelda proved why she's got the Triforce of Wisdom and it wasn't just because of emotional intelligence

Zelda but what if Link missed every quest starter cue his whole life

What if Link didn't have to do the quest alone

What if they started the quest as adults

What if she hates him the first time they meet

What if this was all supposed to be an act not an actual legend

What if the world was more than just Hyrule

What if the world had opinions about Hyrule

What if the world had opinions about the legends themselves

What if we talked about the cultural impact of the legends in the worldbuilding instead having to put in back in in post

What if we got to have characters the games just can't have for tech limitation reasons

What if we had the conversation Nintendo must be avoiding by always killing Link's parents

What if this man is just doing his best

What if they got to grow up before the world was thrown on their shoulders

What if we told this new story, this new Link, this new Zelda, this new Hyrule, this new legend

Please read MoaH.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Rules: You are given a word - share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of that word!

I was tagged by @drsteggy with the word HELLO on my main. Thank you for the tag, excited to be doing more of these!

All of these are from book 1 of Mark of a Hero, surprisingly in order.

H - “How about you live up to one of those spring cleaning promises?” Lance called from the counter, before smiling at his customer and wishing them a good evening.

E - “Even with a month dedicated to that train of thought, I doubt I would know,” the princess answered, also glancing towards her mother.

L - “Like that?” Saddiqah asked, pointing off into the smoke.

L - “Lady Iber is the official representative of the Gerudo clans here in Hyrule,” Honora explained turning to Link, to which Iber inclined her head in affirmation.

O - “Outside of you needing to go in there, something has enraged Jabbi significantly."

Tags to @karama9, @sillylildude, @nocturnalfandomartist, @the--voided, @doomed-era, and anyone else who would like to tackle this one! Your word is WORLD.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

I really hope people aren't expecting a serious story out of Mark of a Hero, you will not find it.

Link pretending to be the Hero in a very All Might style of presentation? Check

Korok mob boss? Check

A different Korok with the vibes of that Luma from the Mario movie? Check

Meme references? Oh, just a whole bunch of checks here from jelly donuts to film quotes to vines

Fortune telling self insert? You bet it's a check

This is a silly story with silly characters because that's part of what Zelda is as a franchise. This series has never taken itself too seriously, not in its entirety. Are there serious moments? Yes. But they're about having fun. In trying to capture that, MoaH is about having fun. If you're expecting it to be serious because it's more adult, well.

It's not that kind of book, kid.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

If there are any questions about why I link my Wattpad before my AO3 when I know Tumblr has a preference for one over the other, I have two reasons. One, it's cause that's where my fanbase is presently. I started on Wattpad and I am only now joining AO3 for dual uploads. Basically all of the people following me on this blog as of writing this came here from my Wattpad, and I'm super grateful for the community I've built around that. They deserve some credit for putting up with my hiatuses.

Two is to give myself some credit on my fics' quality. Since I am so new to AO3 and I bulk imported a bunch of two of my fics, I haven't had time for a lot of people to find me on AO3. And I know kudos/hits work different from votes/reads, but like. One of these does make me look a little better.

Whichever platform you prefer, I hope you'll give Goddess of Secrecy or Mark of a Hero a read. There are definitely some people who like them, and I hope you to do too.

(Also my view on Wattpad shows chapters I have queued in the total, there are not more chapters out of MoaH on Wattpad than there are on AO3. That is not the case for GoS, it's getting chapters to AO3 as it's getting edited)

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Ah, Marela. There is so much coming up with her in the Nayru's Temple arc. Y'all know so little about her. I promised y'all she had a full character sheet, and I still can't tell you every reason why. For folks new to MoaH, Marela is Zelda's head attendant and best friend.

We're having so much fun messing with expectations with Marela. As the first named Zora woman in the story, series expectation says she should have a crush on Link. Marela is in fact not interested in men at all. That doesn't mean she's not interested in any Marksmen.

Marela is an absolute gossip and we love her for it. She is also one of those people that ships people in real life (actively doing so in story too).

Marela and Zelda have been friends since childhood, for backstory reasons that will make more sense soon. At the very least, the two studied spellcasting together, and so Zelda has a lot of enchantments that she designed for Marela, or helped Marela research. Marela's water teleport ability is one of those.

While there hasn't been too much of Marela's magic shown off, she is a talented seamstress (for cultural reasons), and a lot of her magic manifests in her sewing. It is a specific type of magic that Zelda is actually not that good at. Currently. Mechanically, this would be largely illusion spells.

Marela's combination class is a mixture of College of Eloquence and a custom subclass I still need to build. Both the subclass and the hybrid would reveal too much, but once y'all figure out her backstory, there might be some clues.

Bard was actually a really hard pick for Marela, she was tied with another class, but there would be too many ??? for the sheet to be really intelligible at that point. Also once I did the math on Jack of All Trades and Expertise, Bard was better. Persuasion and Insight on the Expertise by the way. Only one other person who can keep up with her in that regard.

Starting feat is Actor because she's dramatic like that. +2 CHA, +1 DEX

This also becomes clearer once there are more Zora women in the story, but screw gender dymorphism in fantasy. Marela has shark teeth like we see Zora men have. There are also Zora men and women of varying heights, to include shorter Zora men and taller Zora woman (like up to the height of Sidon comparatively).

Lots of races in MoaH have wider trait variants that they can't have in games for things like asset limitation reasons. Zora are one of those and Zora have traits reflecting multiple kinds of fish besides just sharks. Marela's traits are inspired by beta fish and jellyfish.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Mark of a Hero's Arcs Reference List

This is a reference post for my fic series, Mark of a Hero, and its arcs for spoiler reference. Hopefully it helps folks if they see me talking about a certain section of the books, this is how it's broken down and how I'm determining how to mark spoilers. For calculations, the intro arcs don't count as a full arc.

Current Releasing: Book 2 - Intro Arc

Current Writing: Book 4 - Arc 2

No Longer Marked Spoilers Through: The Horned Goddess's Temple Arc

Book 1 - Hyrule

Hyrule is at peace, or so the Royal Family would have its people believe. Something is afoot in the kingdom, and someone needs to do something about it. Least likely would be Marksmen Link Sayre- a mercenary and monster hunter doing his best to get by. Until a job goes wrong, and he gets roped into the secret plans of Hyrule's princess. Now Link must play the part of the Hero to dive deeper into the mystery, and maybe stumble into a legend of his own.

Introduction Arc - The Legend to Overworld Chapter 10 - It's A Secret to Everyone

Farore's Temple Arc - Overworld Chapter 11 - Final Affairs to Overworld Chapter 18 - The Lady's Reward

Nayru's Temple Arc - Overworld Chapter 19 - Shifting Focus to Overworld Chapter 31 - Check In

Din's Temple Arc - Overworld Chapter 32 - Threads - Overworld Chapter 44 - Firestorm

Hylia's Temple Arc - Overworld Chapter 45 - Letter of the Law - Dungeon Chapter 9 - Sealed

The Horned Goddess's Temple Arc - Overworld Chapter 54 - Uprooted - Overworld Chapter 66 - May the Road Be Ever Winding

Book 2 - Farona

A new champion draws the Master Sword, and the legend begins anew. But the door beneath the Temple of Time remains sealed, lest the Hero can open it once more. Link Sayre, Saddiqah El Amin, and Ambrose head west to Hyrule's forested neighbor, Farona, to seek out the first of the Sealing Stones. But perhaps their quest is not as secret as they'd like to believe.

Introduction Arc - Overworld Chapter 67 - Alward & Upward - ??? (Releasing chapters are here)

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??? - ??? - ???

Book 3 - ???

Introduction Arc - ??? - ???

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Book 4 - ???

Introduction Arc - ??? - ???

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??? - ??? - ??? (Writing is here)

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Book 5 - ???

Introduction Arc - ??? - ???

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Book 6 - ???

Introduction Arc - ??? - ???

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Book 7 - ???

Introduction Arc - ??? - ???

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Book 8 - ???

Introduction Arc - ??? - ???

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Book 9 - ???

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Prequel - ???

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Mark of a Hero (Updates on Tuesdays & Fridays, 2 of 9)

Hyrule is at peace, or so the Royal Family would have its people believe. Something is afoot in the kingdom, and someone needs to do something about it. Least likely would be Marksmen Link Sayre- a mercenary and monster hunter doing his best to get by. Until a job goes wrong, and he gets roped into the secret plans of Hyrule's princess. Now Link must play the part of the Hero to dive deeper into the mystery, and maybe stumble into a legend of his own.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

I don't know how to add these to AO3 yet, so I figured I'd share them for folks reading over there. Here are some of the setting banners so far for Mark of a Hero. On Wattpad, these go up to match where a chapter takes place (typically where they start if locations change), so here are all the ones for chapters out so far.

I get all of my background images from Unsplash, which is a CC photo repository.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Mark of a Hero | Post-Part 1 Q&A

First of all, thank y'all so much for the support on Mark of a Hero! This is the first fic I've actively been posting to AO3, I was/am previously on Wattpad when I was originally writing Goddess of Secrecy and MoaH, and the welcome here has been fantastic getting back into MoaH. Y'all are amazing. And here we are! Post part 1! So let's get into it.

When will MoaH continue?

Part 2 - Farona will start releasing February 4th with a full release week to get y'all started. I'll leave you with the new MoaH blurb at the bottom of this post as a teaser.

So you really mean it's 9 books long?

Yes, I really mean it's 9 books long. Plus a possible prequel, but I can't talk about that until book 3 is starting to release. You'll understand.

What are the odds you finish a 9 book series?

Considering that, as this is going out, I have just begun book 4 having written everything post the first 23 chapters as of coming back in May '24, pretty good. I will say support goes a long way to boosting those odds. Kudos, hits, bookmarks, visible support that people are enjoying my work enough to recommend it to other people/let me know. A big part I'm writing this for me, but I do also like to watch numbers go up and it gives me a lot of motivation when I hit milestones. And I'm a storyteller! I like to know people are listening, you know?

If you're looking for an easy comment thread I'm always interested in reading, I love people diving into theorycrafting and I've left a number of threads for y'all to explore. Easy one here, you all obviously know Farona is book 2 now, but what do you think the order of adventure the rest of the series will be and why? Let me know in the comments and reblogs of this post, or drop it in my ask box!

Will the release schedule stay the same/two chapters a week?

Very likely it will remain 2 chapters a week with the occasional week long release. Right now, the upload schedule gives me a good buffer to get ahead on MoaH without a lot of pressure to write on a "schedule." If I need to take a break, I have a backlog to fall back on. Staying ahead of it serves as its own kind of motivation. It may eventually speed up, but for now, I don't want to get ahead of myself and then fall behind on that backlog. And when I eventually get around to going back to do beta reading/second round edits, it means less chapters will be released having not had that pass. You can see more about my editing process below.

Is Ambrose really a normal old man?

Yes, of course, he's a normal old man.

What do you think of fanworks of MoaH?

Give.

No, but seriously, it's the biggest compliment to hear MoaH has inspired people. That I've already gotten fanart and fanfics of my fanfic is crazy to me. I have resources for most of the cast, and I will absolutely answer any questions y'all have (barring future spoilers). I'm happy to keep it in my folder too if you don't want to post it and cherish it forever on my own.

But to resupport the "how likely am I to finish the book" one of my early readers sent me fanart just like a week ago of the main cast and I cracked out 50k in three days for them because I was so motivated after to finish the arc and book 3 after. Food for thought.

What does your editing process look like?

So my editing process has three general stages: my pass, early readers, and then heavy edits/beta readers. Let's break that down.

First, my pass. This is my writing and editing MoaH on my own. Heavy edits can be a huge momentum killer for me and fic writing for me is primarily a hobby, so this is a pass of light edits for most typos, grammar, and easy worldbuilding catches. All chapters of MoaH get this.

Next is early readers/early book club. This is a process I have open on the Expanding Hyrule Discord if folks are interested (though probably not very many more folks), but it is a slightly more extensive version of the first pass: questions about overall story structure, pacing, and any glaring plot holes, but not really heavy edits. My early readers (shout outs again to @doubtfulloser and @the--voided) get the arcs as I finish writing them, and then give me feedback while I press on with the next arc. And I call it early book club because in big part it's getting to talk to someone about what's actively being written while chapters are so far ahead from what's releasing. They're wrapping up with book 3 right now!

Last, is heavy edits/beta readers. I would like to, eventually, go back through MoaH as I plan to with GoS with a fine tooth comb and really iron it out. But, like I said, heavy edits kill my momentum and I need to get this series drafted first as a whole before I can go back to refine. And a half decent first draft with the chance of support to finish the rest is better than squirreling this story away to myself while I get lost in perfectionism to make it the best thing ever. Right? This process will begin when all of MoaH is written, at current pace, probably when book 3 is releasing. This is also part of why I want the buffer, few chapters that will release without all three passes.

What can I expect from the rest of MoaH?

More adventure, more magic, more monsters! Part 1 ends with the massive quest of traveling seven new nations and tackling their dungeons. But much like entry into the Temple of Inverted Time, this will not be such a simple task. New friends and foes await on the path ahead!

There is also, rest assured, a long-term relationship left to build between our recently proclaimed love birds. More Zelink straight ahead as these two learn to balance their romance between the distance and the responsibility of their new titles. Along with exploring the mysteries of Link's already established party members as the quest tests their friendships! Saddiqah and Ambrose are along for the ride as well.

What would you recommend to tide me over to read while I wait on MoaH?

Oh man, first, big recommendation to anything in @expanding-hyrule if you're looking for more original legend stories like MoaH. I have read a lot of the lists or been recommended on the rest, and I guarantee you'll find something you like in there. Currently something like 50 works on AO3 already, plus some FFN works and some great comics and art projects to check out linked in the art archive on the blog too. And we're looking for more!

If you're looking for more from me, might I recommend diving into the story of the Hero of the Convergence and this Link's Shade with Goddess of Secrecy? This work is complete and being imported over from Wattpad in small bursts every week. While you don't need to read it to understand MoaH, they do share some connected lore, largely in minor nods and references but also in some worldbuilding notes, like the Horned Goddess. Kind of a OoT to TP/WW kind of connection. And maybe some hints on our favorite normal old man buried in there. It also happens to be sitting in Wattpad's top 20 or so most read LoZ fics, so I'm a little proud of it even if it's due some revisions.

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Mark of a Hero (Updates on Tuesdays & Fridays, 2 of 9)

A new champion draws the Master Sword, and the legend begins anew. But the door beneath the Temple of Time remains sealed, lest the Hero can open it once more. Link Sayre, Saddiqah El Amin, and Ambrose head west to Hyrule's forested neighbor, Farona, to seek out the first of the Sealing Stones. But perhaps their quest is not as secret as they'd like to believe.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

The Master Sword - First Technique Is Out!

New Mark of a Hero chapter out on AO3!

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Mark of a Hero (Updates on Tuesdays & Fridays, 1 of 9)

Hyrule is at peace, or so the Royal Family would have its people believe. Something is afoot in the kingdom, and someone needs to do something about it. Least likely would be Marksmen Link Sayre- a mercenary and monster hunter doing his best to get by. Until a job goes wrong, and he gets roped into the secret plans of Hyrule's princess. Now Link must play the part of the Hero to dive deeper into the mystery, and maybe stumble into a legend of his own.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

To go with the chapter today, here's Basement 3 of the Temple of Inverted Time.