#more of a broad sweep than specific headcanons

[soggedupfrog]

Hello I've decided to write an entire essay on my troll species headcanons, so if you wanna read all that click the read more thingy

Anatomy/Biology

First of all, trolls are bug-like so, bug references ahead.

All trolls are hatched from eggs born by the Mothergrub, therefore they dont have nipples or belly buttons. This also means they dont have reproductive organs like a uterus, as they dont reproduce that way. They create genetic material for the Mothergrub to use to make new trolls. Things to note on a trolls body that are different to ours are, horns, big bug eyes, and the protective plates on their skin that mostly covers their shoulders/upper arms, back, and neck. The stomach is the most vulnerable part on a trolls body, where the skin is the softest. The rest of their skin is pretty rough, while the protective plates feel much harder. Trolls also come with a bit of body hair that act as sensors on their limbs mostly, as well as a bit on their tummy. They dont have need for armpit, pubic, or chest hair. All trolls are also intersex! This means every troll has a variation of a “bulge” and a “nook” as they say, which for me, is the alien word equivalent to human word for dick and pussay, (along with assholes I guess, for shittin, but I forgot the troll word for those lol). I dont want to go into specifics of what their genitals look like obviously, but lets just say they are a bit different from humans of course. They are aliens. (I know most people use tentabulges when talking about troll genitals, but I dont rlly fw those for my personal hcs…) Anyways, moving on from genitals, like I said, trolls are born intersex, as well as genderless, because they dont really have a concept of gender like humans do. They just grow up however they choose and eventually adopt a set of pronouns that feel right to them overtime. All trolls are also bisexual, and dont really have differences in sexuality across their species like humans do, although they can have preferences. Moving on to boobs, some trolls have excess fat that grows more than others, and it just really depends on their genes. Trolls also have fairly flat looking faces do to their lack of nose bridge bones.

Troll Puberty (ft karkat)

I think trolls experience puberty a little earlier than humans would, to prepare them for the violent world that is Alternia. So about like… 4 sweeps old is the average age to go through puberty for trolls, which roughly translates to 10 human years. So this puberty would come with the growth of their horns, as well as their extra limbs falling off, and leaving behind grub scars. As a troll matures and get older their skin becomes more saturated/darker and their eyes fill in with their blood color, as well as getting pretty tall. For humans, we grow until puberty is over, but for trolls they grow during their puberty, stay that height until they reach maturity and have their second growth spurt. Kind of like a puberty part 2. Their maturity age would probably be 10 sweeps which would be about 21 human years.

Hemospectrum differences

Height

Lowbloods would be the shortest, the average height being 5’10. Midbloods are a bit above the average of a fully grown human, standing at around 6-7ft tall. Highbloods are HUGE. They stand at about 8ft tall, sometimes 9ft.

Characteristics

All trolls are pretty bug-like in nature, but each also have some unique characteristics based on their lusus and blood color. For highbloods they would have those fishy characteristics (they all share this). For low and mid bloods, they have more broad characteristics depending on their lusus and such. Using Nepeta as an example, she has feline-like eyes (while still being large like a bug) and be able to see in the dark, like Vriska with her spider eye.

Ears/horns/claws/teeth

Highbloods have pretty long and pointy ears + also having fish characteristics, along with very sharp pointy teeth/claws. Their horns will keep growing even after maturity. Midbloods have fairly long pointy ears, along with sharp claws/teeth. Lowbloods have short and dull ears along with slightly dull teeth/claws, but still sharp enough to draw blood, of course. Both midbloods and lowbloods horns stop growing after maturity.

Erm that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed. If you want to hear abt my nsfw hcs lemme know but it's not all that much.

Troll anatomy with Karkat :3

[tsthrace]

Do you have any headcanons about MFS season two? Especially about my girl Scylla?

So what I see throughout this story so far are characters letting the individual traumas of their past get in the way of them seeing the world for what it actually is, in all of its beauty and terror. Raelle is blinded by the (supposed) death of her mother. Scylla is blinded by the murder of her parents. Tally has been in open revolt against her mother’s trauma, and this leads her to idealizing the military. Abigail is blinded by the slow-cook pressure cooker she’s been raised in. Anacostia, Alder—they’re all blinded in some way by their past.

Their blindness causes each of them to commit themselves in a small-minded way to potentially dangerous ideology. 

By the end of season one, though, they’re all waking up to their blindness (except for maybe Alder). Raelle finds purpose beyond dying. Tally has gotten very disillusioned. Abigail discovers loyalty to her unit is more important than the ambition pounded into her since birth. Anacostia is questioning Alder.

But Scylla, she doesn’t wake up until the final scene of the season. Raelle has definitely made some cracks in her Spree ideology, but they’re not not enough for her to defect—she runs straight back to Willa.

And listen, I’m glad she did. It’s true to who she is and where she in her internal struggle—not to mention the fact that the Spree have some valid points.

All that said, I’d really love to see Scylla embody that tension not only individually but broadly: the tension of recognizing that the military and the Spree are pretty damn similar—both use witches to propel their radical agenda, no matter who they hurt; that Willa and Alder are two sides of the same coin—both wielding too much power with too much unresolved trauma. I think the military will be vying for Scylla through Anacostia, while Willa and the Spree will still be pulling on all her anger and devastation. 

I get the sense that Willa is SUPER manipulative, potentially even emotionally abusive. I know Raelle adores her, but it also sounds like she wasn’t around much when Raelle was growing up. I don’t trust her. At all. I hope the show proves me wrong.

I think Scylla’s going to be pretty lost for the first part of season two while Raelle finds herself, finds her power, finds her purpose.

I see them meeting again, perhaps on different sides of a table or battlefield. They’ll fight, maybe not literally but there will be a struggle. But they’ll eventually come back together. Because they, too, are two sides of the same coin.

And maybe eventually (very eventually, I hope, for the sake of the story and pacing) Raelle will prove to be the still point of Scylla’s turning world, the place where all that tension eases, and Scylla finally lets herself experiences the peace of her own truth, the truth of what she needs—not what anyone else needs from her. I think Scylla will also discover her power and purpose.

And when both Scylla and Raelle have found their power and purpose, and when they join forces—well, both the Spree and the military should watch out.

[a-luran]

Not to be a bother, and this may be late, but I loved to hear some found family headcanons amongst the british isles if you have any. Like how they may show simple affections for one another or who does what for when their living together to take care of the home. Please and thank you~! 💜 Also, have fun livin it up by the water, you deserve some time to relax!

You’re never a bother <3 and we had a lovely time here in the frigid waters of Orkney, thank you!

(I have a great many headcanons for the lads, so I’ll focus on the ones you mentioned.)

Affection

It comes with difficulty at first; and awkwardly. But the truth is this: they’ve come together by choice as much as by circumstance. Reaching across boundaries in mutual agreement, and that is a better foundation to build a home together than most ever get. Easy affection comes with time, sprouting through the cracks and born of an emotion that was already there quietly unacknowledged.

It comes easiest to Wales—to Dai, at least at first. The peacekeeper, the poet. He’ll cook at times (atrociously) and press a warm cup (later mugs) of tea into the hands that need them. Cut off a train of thought with a calm word or a small kindness. If i had to choose a love language for him it would be words of affirmation and gift giving. It catches on swiftly, and what he extends is returned to him in the form of knickknacks from Arthur’s journeys. Thought-out tokens from Ireland (always practical, always lasting). Handmade gifts from Scotland, who out of al of them enjoys crafting things with his hands the most (which is saying something— they’re a crafty lot).

Ireland— Sean, whose laughter rings through the house when he steps through the doorway unannounced like an Autumn breeze— has an ease of affection that the others don’t in that he’s tactile with it. Puts his whole body into it. Will slap Scotland’s back and shove Arthur’s shoulder, or Dai’s, without a thought. They are all frank about bodies but none of them quite as unashamed of them as Sean, who I like to think has always been drawn to healing and landlocked travel. It’s him who will press a cold compress to a fevered brow most readily; suture a wound, and keep the cage of their ribs wrapped, nagging and loud with his instructions to keep fecking still.

Scotland— Alasdair, oh a ghràidh nam fear! my dearest man— carries acts of service like only his broad shoulders could. I’ve always imagined him to be a homesteader, rooted and solid—one that is glad for company, and values it highly for all that he’s a bit lonesome by nature. A hot temper (a shared trait) offset by a practical mind and busy hands, he is probably the best listener, and the quickest to draw boundaries. Solve problems. A silent steadying presence at the other’s backs. Affection to Alasdair are acts of service; time spent together. And it makes him well suited to silent leadership.

And lastly, England. There is a ruthlessness that comes naturally to Arthur—a necessary one, but hateful. The kind that bitters in his mouth and robs him of sleep well into the night. But with something to protect it can be honed and sharpened into something fierce and unerring. I do have it that Arthur has the most difficult time expressing affection and receiving it, but he is also deeply skin hungry; very obviously (if you know to look) covetous of company and a steady port to call home. To the point that he might try too hard, at first, and set himself up for failure and conflict in doing that. That is until slowly he comes to the realisation that he doesn’t have to. In a way, the most genuine show of affection on Arthur’s part is trust. Trust and the sharp edge of a blade at the ready to defend their hard-earned peace.

Homelife

For the sake of not talking more of your ear off asdhkl I’ll change format here a little bit. Because my housekeeping headcanons are vast and overly-specific if i get going.

Arthur: cleaning. Deep, home-brewed-cleaning-agents-dating-back-to-the-Victorian-era-because-if-it-worked-then-it’ll-bloody-well-work-now cleaning. He is the kind to relish clean laundry pinned on a clothing line, and the kind to shout at the sky when the weather turns too quickly and promptly ruins his freshly laundered sheets with well, sheets of rain. Green-thumbed and proud of it, I also reckon he is a bit of a kitchen witch and garden apothecary. Home-made jams in fresh jars, and dried-and-labeled-home-grown herbs are the kind of favours he might extend to outsiders and visitors. Absolutely is the kind to go a bit nutty with it when they’re expecting visitors, especially India for instance. But if Francis is coming to visit? A million times worst but will never accept it. An absolute terror scrubbing the house top to bottom, cleaning the kitchen grout with a toothbrush and sweeping like a fury.

Sean: Sean “refuses” to clean the house (on and off) on account of the fact that he spends the least time in it. In practice he will lend a hand to Daffyd and Alasdair always but never Arthur. Thinks Arthur’s “Francis is coming to visit” cleaning rampages are absolutely absurd and aggravating and will let anyone within earshot (Dai and Alasdair, mostly) know it. Is immediately driven to exasperated despair when Alasdair pauses where he was about to take a sip of tea and perks up at the mention of Francis— and joins in on the absurd quest to make sure the house is spotless.

Dai: Will delegate dishwashing onto Sean but really doesn’t mind it much. He might even like it a bit (as much as anyone can enjoy washing the dishes). I like to think that Dai keeps a (very small) farm as his own home, so he’s got his hands plenty busy with that. it’s nice to be able to sleep in late and know chores are mostly handled when he comes around and stays. He enjoys helping Alasdair with general upkeep the most. I mentioned before that he’d be atrocious at cooking at first but he really does improve with time (over a couple of centuries), and his tea is unparalleled. No one brews a cuppa like Wales.

Alasdair: Groundskeeper describes him best. He enjoys manual about and repairs, being able to fix something with his own hands over a good day’s work. Roofing, plumbing, electric wiring, he’s tried his hand at it all and is probably the most proficient at it from them all (which again is not to say that the others can’t take it up, only that Alasdair is unmatched). The moment the words “just because Francis is coming to visit” leave Sean’s mouth, he gets a glint in his eye that makes Sean throw his hands in the air and leave before he gets a coronary (or once Francis gets there, an eyeful. He really doesn’t know what is worse, being woken up and tossed out of bed because “the sheets have to be laundered”—never mind that Francis has never stepped foot in his room— or catching the lot of them at it).

All in all, they’re a bit like a wolf pack of sorts in my mind i don’t know if that comes across.

[undertalethingems]

I’m a huge fan of Unexpected Guests, and I’m excited to read Bark at the Moon. Your depictions of the characters are amazing. I’m new to the Undertale fandom, and as a fan creator, I want to be able to do the characters justice. I want to be able to explore them instead of just taking them at face value, but I’m worried that I won’t write them correctly, or that I’ll meet backlash for my interpretations. Do you have any advice for an aspiring comic illustrator?

Aaah thank you! Tbh, I’m always worried about the same thing--some characters are easier for me to understand than others, or maybe I haven’t paid enough attention or missed some line of dialogue that puts a new spin on their character. So, here’s my thoughts on how to approach such a thing--they’re kind of long, so i put them under a cut; I hope you’re not intimidated :”D

So, for writing Undertale’s lovely cast and setting, I think the most important thing you can do is make sure you’re as familiar with canon as you can be, and do your best to reference it if you’re not sure about something! Watching playthroughs or investigating a situation yourself, looking up transcripts and screenshots--that’s gonna be your groundwork, the absolute starting point. It’s a lot of research, but it means getting to know your favorites a better and revisiting a great game^^

The second thing I look at is things like word of god--what toby’s said in places like twitter or the art book. It’s up to you whether you include that type of source--toby’s since deleted most of his tweets about the characters, and not everything in the art book made it into the final game--but lots of people take the 1st Anniversary Q&A he did as canon, since it’s all in-character. All in all, it can be the kind of info you base headcanons on, but don’t have to use if you don’t feel like the idea is strong enough.

Finally, reading other people’s analysis on characters can help you understand them, or put things into words you’d maybe only suspected. I’m not always able to understand a character’s deeper motivations, or not know how two aspects of them connect, so reading someone else’s take on the matter can help me get a better understanding. Reading different analyses on the same thing can counteract biases, or highlight aspects other interpretations miss too, so it’s a good idea to seek out a variety of authors. This is where headcanons and personal interpretations come into play though, so you have to use your best judgment on whether you take this type of info into account in your own writing.

phew, that’s a lot of work, right?

well, do as much as you feel like; maybe just another playthrough of the game will be enough for you. But, those are all the things I’ve done to help write everyone as close to canon as I can :”D Some of the other things i try to keep in mind are:

How do they speak? since undertale doesn’t have voice acting--only voice tones--I try to pay more attention to how their dialogue is written. How do they use punctuation? What’s their typical vocabulary like? Are they polite? Do they have a catchphrase or quirk? How do they sound when they’re happy, or angry, or sad? One of the strengths of Undertale’s writing is that you can almost instantly tell who’s talking just by the text alone, so paying attention to this aspect can go a long way in helping everyone feel in-character.

How do they move? Are they always striking poses or moving around? Is their body language relaxed, tense, awkward? Which hand do they use? Do they stand tall, or slouch? How does it change depending on how they feel? Details like this can help you convey a character’s personality and mood--you might give Papyrus broad, sweeping motions, while Undyne, a similarly active character, might be more impulsive and direct in her gestures. Being able to visualize how a character does something can help you describe it and put a more specific touch on what may be happening in your story ^^

Also consider their relationships! Not in a romantic sense, but just how they feel about one another. They might be totally professional and stiff talking to one person, and goof off or relaxed with another; if someone’s done something that upsets them, they might let it slide, bear a grudge, or actively confront them about it.

Of course this is hardly the end-all, be-all guide to this kind of thing; i’m no expert in writing, and this method probably won’t work for everyone. But, the end goal is to build up a thorough picture of each character that makes it easy to throw them into any situation and have them react naturally.

As for backlash...? Well, I don’t know if I have much advice on that... If you’re following canon, then you have that to back you up; if it’s your own headcanon, then explaining why you hold it could help people see where you’re coming from. Ultimately, it’s your story, so maybe some things will only make sense to you... But, you’re at least willing to put some effort into understanding these characters as the game presents them, and I think that’s a pretty good start ^^

[elsaclack]

em i don't really know how i feel about this episode but i know that i usually agree with your opinions so if you don't mind, could you tell me where you're at emotionally speaking with the "problematic" moments from tonight?

oh yeah for sure but please keep in mind that it’s 4:45 am and i have not slept for one single second on this fine april evening

i will also qualify this by saying that i think everyone’s opinions are significant and not to be completely dismissed by those with differing opinions, and that sometimes people just Don’t Like A Thing. i am here to tell u that u should definitely take all of this with a grain of salt. if you disagree with me, that’s fine. if you disagree with me but can’t quite figure out why, that’s 100% valid and okay.

i’ll try to be brief, and i’ll be answering this with the understanding that there were three “problematic” moments in this episode: jake’s broad and sweeping “i’ve never wanted kids” statement, amy’s line about starting over, and terry’s whole scene talking to jake about not having kids.

jake is a very emotional person and has canonically reacted emotionally to situations before without taking the time to logically think through his options and the consequences of those options. the timing of his statement is particularly important in this scenario - he was unexpectedly put on the spot and made to have a very serious conversation on an evening in which he was in no way emotionally prepared to have such a conversation. he makes it clear at the beginning of the episode, his intentions are to have a lighthearted and fun evening catching up and laughing with amy, who he hasn’t really hung out with in a month due to their busy work schedules. him saying “i’ve never wanted to have kids” is a definitive statement - one clearly meant to end a conversation he didn’t want to be having in the first place, reflecting him kind of stubbornly clinging to the lightheartedness he intended for the evening. to me, it’s not only indicative of his tendency toward emotional responses to uncomfortable situations, but also one of his own sense of procrastination - another canon-confirmed aspect of his personality. it’s not the mature way to handle the situation, but it is very human, and based on my perception of who he is as a character, is in-line with who he is and how he handles things that make him uncomfortable.

which brings me to amy’s line. i won’t even lie i said “yikes” out loud as soon as she said it bc boy it made my heart hurt. but, again, the longer i thought about it the more it made sense. it was just as emotional of a response as jake’s “i’ve never wanted to have kids” was - hers cut deeper due to jake’s childhood and his own experiences with fatherhood. i need to word this carefully and my head feels stuffed full of cotton so hang with me here. up until this episode, we as a fandom seemed to universally accept the headcanon that jake Really Really wants kids specifically because of his throw-away comments that have been happening since season 1 - prior to him and amy even starting a relationship. based on the limited exposure we have to his dialogue, we inferred that he wanted kids. i don’t think it’s that outlandish for amy to have made the same assumption because of those very same lines. was it stupid to not sit down and have this conversation prior to getting married to ensure that they were on the same page? absofreakinglutely. but they’ve been dealing with major curveballs and setbacks from the very get-go that most Normal couples don’t have do really deal with - i think the more pressing issue for them was “we need to get married before jake gets wrongfully imprisoned or sent back to WITSEC again.” not to mention the road between halloveen and jake and amy was not exactly smooth sailing for the department as a whole. i think amy was pretty content with her assumption that jake wants kids since he hasn’t really done anything to stop charles from constantly dropping hints about it and always responds positively whenever there are kids around. so when jake hit her with “i’ve never wanted kids” i guarantee it landed like a punch to the gut and left her feeling ambushed, isolated, and extremely emotional (specifically the killer combination of angry/hurt/confused). her talking about starting over was just that, talk - born completely out of her emotional state, without any real consideration of the weight of her words and the effect they would have on jake.

(by the way, i think jake was also operating on an assumption about amy, considering she’s never directly talked about wanting kids in canon, and never specifically said “we should start trying for a kid” when she showed him the water park picture. again, a classic and honestly realistic representation of miscommunication between a married couple. amy “forcing” him to make a decision “right then” (which wasn’t actually right then, just faster than jake wanted to make the decision) was her heading off his tendency to procrastinate dealing with serious and uncomfortable situations. neither of them were mature or even in the right, but it all strikes me as realistic.)

the terry scene also makes a lot of sense to me. i think most people heard the “don’t have kids” part at the very beginning and were understandably ticked, but to me his main message was “don’t have kids unless you’re 100% sure” since it isn’t fair to the parents to have kids they don’t want, but it’s ESPECIALLY not fair to the kids, who did not ask to be brought into the world or to deal with (a) parent(s) who don’t want them. because parenting is hard work and it’s really not for everyone. terry isn’t trying to talk jake out of ever having kids, he’s just trying to ensure that if jake does decide to have a kid, he fully understands the gravity of that decision. EDIT: now that i’ve stood up/walked around/gotten blood flowing back into my brain, i also think terry was concerned about jake’s history of making rash decisions without thinking things through, which again plays into the “be 100% positive.” in terry’s mind, if there’s even a seed of doubt, it’s something that needs to be very seriously considered and discussed before making that decision. terry isn’t as privy to jake’s emotional state as amy is, nor is he as concerned with jake’s procrastination habits and the affect that has on amy’s ability to have kids further down the line. terry only knows a fraction of the situation and his advice was based on that fraction.

my only issue with this episode was that they didn’t really give the resolution to all of this enough time to resonate. i can kind of follow jake coming to the decision that he does want kids as he’s talking to…whatever the woman’s name was. pam? idk The Woman Who Tried To Blow Them Up, but i wish they’d dedicated more of that time to his conversation with amy after he diffused the situation. that part felt rushed to me, and i wish they’d done something similar to what @peraltasames wrote in her most recent fic. but otherwise, i did like this episode and i thought they did a good job creating a tense situation based on miscommunication without compromising anyone’s character to do so.

but again that’s just my opinion!!! opinions are entirely objective and based on personal perceptions and experiences so if you disagree with something i’ve said that’s 200% okay and you are entitled to that opinion but please be nice to me i’m extremely sleep deprived lmao

[strangebedfellows-blog]

Miscellaneous and chill little establishing headcanon dump for some of my l.oz people, because they’re delightful and since I’ve never actually interacted with this fandom I’m not sure what’s commonly accepted and what’s coming purely out of my own head, so here’s some kind of framework. Ones involving other characters or the world at large are just there to give myself context, and obviously nobody else is beholden to ‘em.

Also because I’m too lazy to get to bio pages left and they deserve something.

Cool edit: hey personals, don’t interact with this post. Don’t like it, definitely don’t fucking reblog it. Oh my god. Basic etiquette. It’s not tagged with their general tags for a reason.

VAATI

It’s indulgent of me, but for the record, I like to think he won the swordfighting competition largely of his own merit. I like to think he’s smart enough to know he could have just...magic’d his way past it altogether if he wanted, but it sounds like he actually competed. 

I HAVE MORE BUT I’M JUST GOING TO EDIT THEM IN SOMETIME LATER WHEN I REBLOG THIS I’m typing at like four in the morning why must I dedicate this time to angry wind maus

ZANT

Comin’ in out of the gate: it’s silly personal headcanon but I generally peg the Twili as ancient Sheikah counterparts - part of the same community that split and cut ties firmly enough that by the time they were banished most people had forgotten, and the differences great enough that the latter was never in any jeopardy. They do have deific ties to Majora and the Fierce Deity, though it’s been so long there’s no telling if active worship...exists.

Is actually competent, and intelligent. Midna notes that he didn’t end up ruling the realm because people could pick up on his power lust, but no mention is made of the fact the dude is...a lunatic, and Midna seems to register it as something unfamiliar when he flies off the handle toward the end of the game. I think he kept an incredibly tight rein on himself at absolutely all times in the specific hopes of seeming collected and controlled enough to rule, and his outbursts only really started after he was passed over. They clearly kept him around for awhile despite knowing they wouldn’t be crowning him, so it stands to reason Zant is genuinely good at whatever his precise role was, and a magic user of some significant finesse. Not raw power, not until Ganondorf, but incredible dexterity when applied to delicate tasks. 

In the same vein as viewing the normal Hyrulean royal family as one certainly responsible for performing or enabling some heinous things, I assume the same could be said of the Twili royals. While I believe Zant’s “served and endured in that depraved household” is an embellishment he’s making spitefully because he’s narcissistic and falling apart, there’s a kernel of important truth. There likely were goings-on that would seem shady to us. I can’t imagine specifics, but it’s worth mentioning that Zant was not the only of the Twili who wanted to return to the real world, and while he had violence on the mind, one could certainly guess there were others who would have been more than content just negotiating a return, and to share it. It’s nevertheless treated entirely as some unreasonable desire, despite...the fact...they were ejected from their home and left to their realm so long they’re markedly different, so much so their previous environment kills them. ( One can only imagine adapting to the Twilight Realm was unpleasant, for the first over. )

50% of the reason he loses is because he’s a moron and an indulgent moron, who just can’t sate himself with winning; he has to win and having a living loser to point at and laugh. He has to have someone he can personally lord over, living testaments to the power of his wrath. If he smartened up enough to just kill people, I...really don’t think he’d have lost that one. 

The other 50% is that he’s so utterly unused to Ganondorf’s power, which is overwhelming in both volume and intensity. Zant can warp reality with it. He is, in some important sense, something of a god. And that’s so much that he, who is incredibly well practiced with making more efficient use of less magic, has no goddamn clue what to do with it. It’s difficult to channel and control, and the result are broad sweeps that are chosen for dramatic effect or specifically because they eat up enough to keep him comfortable, rather than practicality.

I’m not sure where I’m going with it, but it’s fascinating to me that most Twili seem to be pretty skin-baring whereas he doesn’t even show his neck under the helmet, and places such a clear focus on fabricating bulk that just isn’t there. I like to think parts of his outfit have weights, and it was partially an effort to physically restrain himself from any reactive-contorting at work. Sometimes you wanna break your spine but that would look most uncouth. 

Not a physical fighter. Hit hard, hit fast, hit erratic, then collapse because you can’t breathe. Twili are in general much more inclined toward magic than traditional fisticuffs, but Zant’s exceptionally physically weak among even them. Reedy ‘n Dweeby.

SIDON

Incurably shy kid, believe it or not. The complete lack of dialogue of his in Mipha’s memory was actually entirely because Zelda was there; he would have been sheepish enough had it been any outside figure, but especially someone he understood to be so important - how could he speak? So small. Sheepish. A lot less confident in himself than he’d eventually become, and Mipha’s gentle encouragement ( and its legacy ) was definitely the biggest factor in changing that.

Really really really worried, constantly, that he’s a drain on people. It’s something of a holdover from his shy youth, but also backed up by a lot of what he can observe. He places a great deal more pressure on himself after Mipha’s death as the new heir ( he was never supposed to be, and would honestly be a much more sincerely at ease adult had it not come down to him ), more than, frankly, anyone around him has. As clearly beloved as he is, and with the fairly warm and encouraging person we can surmise his father to be, there’s some demanding little tug he feels toward inadequacy at all times. He’s incredibly empathetic and not being able to assist everyone all the time, despite the impossibility, hurts him. 

He’s a little too warm-hearted and emotional, he feels, to be the ideal ruler. He’s far too dedicated to proving to others and himself that he could be, however, to fully indulge his personable and down to earth side. He’s caught teetering quite awkwardly on the edge where he can’t reap the benefits of his charming personality OR dedicated focus and work ethic. 

His father never told him Mipha was dead, as he refused to believe it himself. Most zora were split, but eventually enough people seemed defeated enough while murmuring about the matter, the statue went up, and Sidon was first forced to put it together for himself that she really, truly wasn’t coming back. The single most devastating day of his life, and to think it was years after the fact. He hurts more for it, and it’s part of the reason his night visitations are so constant.

On a happier note, he absolutely does tiny swimming drills with little zora kids whenever he can find the time and get a gaggle together. Much whistle blowing, big exaggerated gestures, so much encouragement, it’s a great time all around. 

Seeing Zelda and Link makes him regress, just the faintest touch; he certainly idolized Zelda as a child, and despite having some sister-stealing-related animosity towards Link, had spent the remainder of his youth looking up to him as well. It’s two childhood heroes perfectly preserved and dropped back in front of him, which is quite a happy and confusing shock. It brings a lot of Mipha back to mind, which is bittersweet, but he’s also...doggedly determined to try and prove himself to them, despite their approval meaning nothing at all for him beyond sentiment. 

No you really don’t understand how cool he thought Zelda was

Definitely....accidentally....got more than a handful of Hylians killed, trying to run them through what Link did. This is actually why he has to stop and check on you every leg of the way -- he really is concerned, and it’s a self-reassurance as much as he hopes it’s just normal reassurance for Link.  

REVALI

Doesn’t hate Link. Really. It would need to be coming from a much more intense, much more personal place to truly register as hate. He does, however, IMMENSELY DISLIKE him. It isn’t any kind of confused expression of affection -- I can’t stress enough, the antagonism is pure and genuine. Revali feels incredibly real bitterness toward Link, and to an extent that ever getting past it would be an entire arc in itself. An arc that’d literally be longer than his life, mind you.

I see it crop up a lot so it might be wide fanon? I wouldn’t know - I do generally believe he was an orphan, and Hyrule is so packed with ways to die I couldn’t begin to pin down a cause yet. That said I don’t imagine Revali himself would know, having lost his parents quite early in life and refusing information initially because it hurt, and after that because he convinced himself he was better not knowing. He was for the most part a fairly serious child, simultaneously aggressive and clingy. I imagine he was raised in a foster sort of setting, with an older guardian who passed naturally and with little fanfare when he was a young adult. They got on well enough, and they likely encouraged his at-first-shot adoration for archery ( as is Rito custom, but also Revali’s interest in its own right ) and let him have what space he wanted. Which was a lot. Solitary, even back then. He didn’t take many pains to involve himself with the community and was typically given a lukewarm reception. 

A completely unimpressive shot, initially, but he took to flying at a little more impressive a pace. Not exceptional at either for a long while. He got exceptional by working at it on a daily basis for...honestly, the entirety of his life after he first picked it up. No exaggeration. Minimal breaks taken, and only to make sure he had minimal time to heal or rest his muscles when sorely needed, and never more. He had some small reserve of natural affinity, but by and large his success came entirely because he worked his ass of for it. He took it seriously, kept at it, stayed passionate about getting better; not for a particular reason, even. He had most of the village’s best archers thoroughly outclassed* in his late teens ( or Rito equivalent ) and though he was a ways from even conceptualizing the Gale, was a thoroughly adept flier. He didn’t care particularly much about warrior-ing as a career but assumed it was where he would end up, and in the meantime supported himself comfortably enough through inheritance and some horribly tedious job nobody recalls because he glared them into taking it to their graves. This was eventually swapped with competition winnings as his star ascended. 

*  I’d like to note I generally don’t think the Rito are actually renowned archers, and it’s more of a cultural thing than one of skill. Revali asked for a practice range to practice at more elevations, which sounds like the sort of thing they’d have to begin with if they were putting intense focus on archery in combat. Revali’s skill wasn’t notable or locally renowned as some kind of curiosity, it was because he was outperforming actual warriors and taking an icon of theirs to new heights, and at a relatively young age. Note that no one else can make physical use of his bow, after his death. It’s not just that he’s good, it’s that he actually IS better at it than anyone else in the area. And this is before he invents the Gale. Additionally, he was entirely self-taught beyond the rudimentary tips to help him start flying as a young’un. It was difficult, but he isn’t broken up about it. On the contrary, it freed him to go at everything at his own overintense pace, and work on outdoing everything rather than necessarily polishing his grasp of basics before he absolutely had to. He really values self-reliance in others, for reasons like this.

It’s small, but his ‘I...could get used to this’ is enough to convince me in addition to being more stoic in his youth, he was something approaching humble. It’s not entirely that the sudden onslaught of praise overinflated his ego - it did, but that’s not all of it - but also that he felt the amount of praise was proportionate to the blood, sweat, and tears he had put into getting so good. He had no friends, mind you, no family, and beyond the one mention of Rito children looking up to him and the general legacy he left behind as a visionary in his craft, he didn’t have much of a life. He certainly enjoys it in an annoying way, but I think there’s some merit to the zeal.

I get the vague impression Rito are fairly removed, and while not unfriendly are a little closed off from other cultures. Revali reflects this, partially in his implied low opinion of Hylians.

Of the champions, Mipha and Zelda are his favorites by a ridiculous margin. Not that it shows all that often. The Mipha smile though? Significant. She’s Theeeeee favorite. ( Not that this means he didn’t probably pick on young Sidon, just a touch. )

Died because...I mean, the plot, but also because he was tired ( the distance he had to travel to get to Medoh, and in one go, isn’t ideal ), more shaken than he would admit on pain of a hundred deaths ( at what he’d seen on the way there, surely more chaos than he was accustomed to ), and the corruption of Medoh hit him especially hard as he had REALLY bonded with it. The ‘winging it’ line is partially true; after all of that, he...panicked, a little. 

The lack of living people that remember him? Eats at him way way way way way way way way way way way more than he’ll ever let anyone know. He’s a real sad bird, inside.

GHIRAHIM

His baseline ‘personality’ / set of functions is, at the core, largely a mirror of Fi. He is the version of himself that we know only because he refused to linger in his sword state -- ambition and initiative were things he had much more of than she did, and largely lacking in the tactful patience that’s more or less served her well. Being crafted rather than born and manifesting himself on his own, he at no point had anything resembling a guiding figure or much by way of...normal socialization. The lack of anything resembling a traditional foundation coupled with the RIDICULOUS amount of time he spent in incredibly mixed company seeking out whatever might help him locate his master, and the frustration that comes with such immense and ongoing failure, contribute as much to the end result as anything he was made / ‘born’ with. 

He actually isn’t an astonishing combatant against someone intelligent who knows what they’re up against; he is himself aware of this, and takes what other advantages he can get. I typically view Link defeating him as fair integration of gameplay and story and not something that had to happen for the plot - it ultimately came down to the sword Link was using. Ghirahim isn’t at his most powerful unless he’s in sword form, as that’s what he was designed to be, and some substantial portion of his energy is likely wasted on manifesting physically at all, any magic he performs, teleportation, so on and so forth. He can read people, he has his magical origins on his side, and he’s certainly strong, and all of those things are enough to fell whatever unfortunate people or monsters initially tried to attack him, but up against non-laymen and in the name of cutting down needless-but-numerous future challengers it’s in his interest to blow himself out of proportion. He’s a fantastic talker, good at making an impression, and once the first crop is afraid of him, it just snowballs until he doesn’t need to do much of anything - I imagine ‘Lord Ghirahim’ was something he didn’t actually come up with himself, but heard once and liked it so much he went out and made everyone do it. 

There’s some level of discontent with his ultimate fate, but it’s buried under his own resolute refusal to acknowledge or explore it consciously because he was made to serve and to serve one purpose, and was not intended for any higher aspirations, and because even on an unconscious level, his very being can’t accept it for long. During his impressive span of relative isolation and lording over scant surface-folk / monsters, he grew just a touch beyond his programming. Make no mistake, this doesn’t make him less of a threat -- has to or not, he is nothing short of a fanatic and would still do anything at all for Demise or to spite Hylia -- it’s merely that he briefly lets his mind wander, and suffers a somewhat human need to justify himself, which he has. ( In fact it makes him worse, because he’s gone from something of a mindless tool of cruelty to someone actively seeking it out, having convinced themselves quite firmly of its necessity and value. ) A general Thing I run with re: this whole series is that Hyrule’s actually a horrible place to live if you squint, and basically all the goddesses are horrible to the poor mortals below. Ghira’s owed a little frustration with his lot.

Related to the above? As delightful as it is to joke about, he’s not a sincerely sexual entity. Any and all weird tongue-waggling is done specifically because he knows it throws people off, and that’s what he wants out of a fight. He’s not socialized enough to know much of the nuance behind similar action, he just knows it gets a large reaction out of people, and typically that makes intimidation or murder even easier.