#no one knows I have BotW on 100%

[grimae]

happy Zelda day y'all. Here's the dragons I drew from BotW some years ago because I basically always loved Zelda's dragon designs.

[mysteryfeesh]

I sat and stared right where you left me.

@woulduknowmore’s Ganlink fic has me in shambles and I think everyone should go read it and it’s sequel!

[daughterofsarenrae]

The Characters are pieces of lettuce and my brain is a salad spinner

[situationallyintelligent]

I sure love being normal and having at least 440, but likely actually 500 hours within the botw/totk/age of calamity universe(s). Surely my connection in my mind with Link and the ways I have played in ways that specifically meant I was trying to think like him for the story of the game has not altered the way I think.

surely I am normal for dying all my botw clothes to match the environment they are worn in (to hide in an unfamiliar world) and dying all of my totk clothes in exactly Link's colors (sky blue and tan babyyy) to show how he has come into his identity in any environment and is now the one hunting down Ganondorf

[phoenixcatch7]

Love how every zelda has a special interest and that special interest saves the world.

[this-user-has-been-erased]

Master works actually says he remains by her side after botw though, along with her diary and an interview with fujibayashi. In fact the direct quote he says he still escorts her 💀 People literally aren't making shit up, it's literally a canon fact.Not liking certain facts doesn't make them not facts and everyone's somehow just bsing because you haven't seen the sauce.

And I also disagree he's not a character either. He's not a well fleshed out one sure. He has been given characterization. Again, just because you haven't seen the canon text people are using to base this stuff on doesn't make it non-canon all of a sudden. Like, it's official text...

Okay but if it really was so obvious that he's in love then why didn't they make it clearer in game, in every language? And yes he has been given like one or two bits of characterization, especially during the actual game, i.e. when he's cooking he's smiling and happy. But otherwise the only characterization we actually get is from reading other characters' diaries and hearing other characters talking about him, like in the tea party memory from TotK where Zelda just lists off Link's personality traits. I admit that a lot of my issues with these games are because of the god awful writing but it feels like such a step back from previous games like WW and SS where Link has so much personality throughout the entire game, without anyone having to TELL you about his personality.

For example, in the cutscene in SS where Zelda seals herself in the crystal, Link doesn't have to say a word, no one has to tell you what he's feeling, because he's visibly devastated and clearly cares a lot about Zelda. Compare that to TotK where, even after seeing memories of Zelda literally irreversibly turning herself into a dragon, Link literally just. does not react. To his supposed beloved girlfriend permanently sacrificing her humanity to get the Master Sword back to him. This is what's presented in the game. Even if it's different in the Japanese version, if they really wanted Link's feelings to be clear then they should have translated it correctly, but they didn't, and you shouldn't have to play the game in 2+ different languages and see every single interview to get a full picture of the story and characters. And ultimately, if Link is barely a character, then I just can't see how he's so in love with Zelda, let alone any character (because tbh I don't like most BotW Link ships).

But like I said, I think it more boils down to the fact that BotW and TotK simply do not have good writing, and a lot of my problems with this era's Zelink would be solved if they actually cared at all and put any modicum of effort into making decent characters and story. And of course, part of my frustration is also because it feels like no one even considers the possibility that Link and Zelda are... Friends. That's how I see them, as very close friends, and others don't have to agree with me but it's still irritating when people act like friendship isn't as deep or special as romance.

[autistickaitovocaloid]

I haven't done all the sidequests etc that I still want to do in my inital playthrough but I kind of want to replay totk...

[gottagobuycheese]

there’s got to be a faster way to play this game but How

[bonus-links]

Hello! Could we have a director’s commentary on Ruins pt.11 please?? It drives me insane 🥺🥺

YEAHHH this is gonna be a long one. link to the update

this is also one of my favorite updates (and 100% my favorite dialogue in all of ch.1, possibly the whole comic so far) but I'm glad I waited to do a commentary bc I think this is actually really relevant to the latest update

cause like the conversation Loft has with botw Zelda here is very similar to the one he has with Ganondorf, though he's much less snippy during it

I wanted to give Zelda a chance to be bitter and share her grievances with the gods. Her entire story in BOTW is largely about how the legends and the expectations put upon her by them fail not only her personally but the entire kingdom. And yet she's made to feel like it's all her fault.

A lot of his comic focuses on the legacy of the Hero, but I don't want to leave Zelda (or Ganondorf) out of the conversation. The cycle makes victims of all three of them in various ways, and while I can't do everything at once, it's still my goal to explore that. The Zeldas in particular are all in interesting positions as members of the Royal Family, because they're at once always thrown in peril by it with little agency, and expected to be the facilitators of its success as the people with the closest proximity to the gods. Much to think about.

on that note BOTW Zelda is my favorite Zelda. she is my babygirl. she is my everything. I will die a BOTW Zelda defender. we haven't seen the last of her in this comic i promise :-)

okay on to actually analyzing the comic. This top panel is framed like a diptych, two paintings hinged together. these are often (though not always) associated with religious paintings and are often altarpieces. I use a triptych format in the newest update :D sidenote I think it's very cute that some of the Hylia statues in BOTW have been decorated, so i gave her a little flower crown

I imagine praying starts to feel a little strange when you are dating ur god. yeah. Also I think it's interesting that Skyloft seems to mainly worship Hylia, with the other gods being more distant. It makes sense given the whole "she personally raised us up into the sky to save us all" thing. Even though Loft is the very first hero sent on a personal religious quest directly by his goddess, I've always imagined him as kind of,,,,casually devout? In that way that it's all you've ever known. Like obviously his beliefs are deeply ingrained, but he's not as into the formality of it all as other Links we might meet later.

I think about Zelda in that freezing pool on Mt. Lanayru all the time. RAHHHHHHH

I've posted this before but close up of Slate running their errands, the errand being talking to the Great Fairies about if they've noticed anything weird going on lol. I actually wanted to make it a whole update on its own, but I cut it for time and also because. I don't think the Great Fairies really have any information that was necessary other than "no I don't know what's going on". So u get this panel.

I like this shot of that little statue towering over the both of them, and I mimic it a little bit in the new update here. something something about why we build monuments and what they stand for.

negative sim interaction

Loft still has to believe that Zelda and Slate's negative experiences had to have been some sort of misunderstanding. If Hylia could have helped, she would have. Knowing and loving your goddess on a human level also makes you want to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I actually really love that in BOTW Zelda resents Link for having some sort of access to the divine that she just can't reach. She has her arc about it in the game, but especially now she's come to understand that having the gods' favor is a double-edged sword. Also, that's not really meant to be Peony, but I like the idea that Champion also had an affinity for fairies. :-( Intentionally the same pose as Slate at the fairy fountain, though Slate is so tiny I probably didn't need to bother lol

that was a lot of rambling lol but i have. so many thoughts abt the subject matter of this update. this is the shit about LOZ that makes me froth at the mouth tbh

[botwstoriesandsuch]

HEYA WHO WANTS TO LEARN ABOUT GRASS AND VOLCANOES

Yes I'm alive and yes I'm making posts and music again. Ok so moving on HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GRASS???

This patch of grass is from a Youtube video by Quincyvhs ranking grass in Tears of the Kingdom. He's a cool guy and has a similar video on Breath of the Wild and I highly recommend you watch it cause his editing is very cool.

HOWEVER. He made an egregious error today by ranking this patch of grass, this lovely, magnificent, extraordinary patch of grass upon Death Mountain as a mere B Tier. It clearly is an S Tier.

How do I know this? Well this patch of grass indicates miracles. It indicates determination. It indicates the spirit of adventure, of change, of liberty and mayhaps even the purest form of happiness the world round...

...and as later corroborated by the actual geologist that I am dating, it is an indication of the massive shift in Hyrule's ecosystem and climate.

Let's Begin.

Using my ace detective skills I have located the site in question in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (Botw and Totk). The general consensus is that there is a 5~ year time gap between the two games.

Given that the grass does not exist here in Botw, this means that this patch of grass took at maximum 5 years to grow. However, I'm going to prove that it probably took even less time than even that.

Below is the site on Botw's Map:

We are unable to get an accurate temperature reading of the area because the Sheikah Slate decided to give up. So we're going to use science to determine this soon to be important number

Given that wood near instantly ignites at this location in Botw, we can conclude that the temperature in the air is around 370 degrees Celcius or 700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now typically, rock and soil serve as good insulators of heat, so the air temperature around a volcano itself isnot usually that much higher than the ambient temperature (unless you are actively within a Pyroclastic flow, which would be a more pressing problem than analyzing grass to say the least)

However, when near the presence of lava, that temperature of the air can actually reach up to 1000 degrees Celcius (1800F) so this reading is actually even more reasonable when you note that we are in good distance of the Medingo Lava Pool.

Conversely, we can actually grab an active temperature reading of the area during the time of Totk thanks to the Purah Pad.

It's 102 degrees Fahrenheit.

Easy. Simple. Fantastic. I love when my job doesn't require four hours of research for every single question!

Anyhow, here are some figures from the Oregon State Volcanology Laboratory on the rate of lava cooling

Yes this post is still about grass, stay with me.

To truly appreciate the glory of science and the glory of this patch of grass, we are going to calculate the exact amount of time needed for the temperatures to lower on Death Mountain to one sustanable for growth (That being around 100 degrees Farenheit).

SPOILER ALERT: It takes less than 5 years. This is insanely impressive considering grass of this type* typically takes DECADES.

Anyhow, The Figure 2 and 3 have to do with the depth of the lava, and Figure 4 deals with the thickness. (Many thanks again to my partner for providing their geological expertise and resources)

The thickness of the Medingo Lava is very easy to calculate given that Link can literally jump in with a splash and drown in it like the world's worst hot tub--the bitch ain't thick at all. So we use the lowest listed reading for that.

The depth of the lava is more tricky, but comparing the lava pool in Botw and Totk, and using Link as a marker of around 5 feet, we can say that the pool is around 10 feet deep.

Therefore, the Medingo Lava Pool took around 2-3 years to cool after Death Mountain stopped erupting.

Now when exactly did Death Mountain stop erupting?

According to the catalog of Volcanoes of the World by the Smithsonian Institution, 93% of volcanos stop erupting within 3 years.

Now I know that Death Mountain only started erupting because of the return of the Divine Beast Vah Rudania, and Link only "stops" the eruption of Death Mountain by defeating it. So one could argue that Death Mountain's "eruption" had to be less than a year or something.

My rebuttal to that would be 1) Within the game's canon, I don't see how we could justify Link taking one day, or even one month to wake up from the Great Plateau, travel immeidately all the way to Death Mountain. and then tame the Divine Beast in less than a month, and 2) Link didn't really stop shit because we can clearly still see active lava flow after taming Rudania. He only stopped the rock falls caused by the Divine Beast, the actual activity of Death Mountain still continues.

Given its insane size, I am going to say it took the full 3 years for its active lava flow to stop on Death Mountain. Volconologists in the notes, feel free to correct me.

SO! The Timeline is:

3 years for Death Mountain to stop actively flowing

2 years minimum for Medingo Lava Pool to cool

= >1 year for temperatures to be right for grass to grow!

This is an insanely quick time period for grass to thrive! The literal instant that the conditions were correct, we are able to see not just grass, but stoloniferous grass as well other types of shrubbery thrive! We would usually need several years for the volcanic rock to erode to rich soil (such as the soil in the Akkala region)

Allow me to elaborate:

This is Fountain Grass. Fountain grass is usually the fist type of grass that you would see in a volcanic region. They grow from a rhizome root system, which is a very vertical downward root system as you can see. This is good for young volcanic regions where only specific dotted areas are good enough for plants to grip onto and grow.

They grow something like this:

This patch of grass below I would call some sort of rhizome. (Botanists feel free to correct me in the notes)

THIS. however. (amazingly) is an example of stoloniferous grass!

This is thick bladed grass (as opposed to the more thin, fine-bladed grass with rhizomes) that grow in a stolon spreading pattern that is much more horizontal. It's a lot like the grass that might grow in your front lawn, if you're rich enough to have one of those in this economy--

They grow a bit more like this:

This type of grass need soil! Especially if we want to classify that other red flower behind the rock there as some sort of volcanic flower

We're basically talking about mass, rapid volcanic erosion in less than a year for this to happen. For context, the soil necessary for the region of Akkala to grow could have taken anywhere between a decade to thousands of years. The weather and erosion necessary for this patch of grass to grow took, at most, 3 years.

And all this in the period of time following an actual apocalypse. How quickly the tides have turned for Hyrule's ecosystem!!!!

IT'S A VERY IMPRESSIVE AND COOL PATCH OF GRASS AND THUS IS DESERVING OF THE S TIER RANKING

Also here's some behind the scenes of what my much smarter than me partner had to say about it ["Last pictures referencing the rhizome grass which, indeed, would be the oldest grass among the patch given it needs the least specific conditions to thrive/less soil to get started]

Growth is cool.

[suniix]

one bed | (botw) link x reader

synopsis | you and link stop by an inn to rest, but there’s one small problem

word count | 1.3k

note | thought about it too hard so i wrote a fic about it (based on this little comic! pls look at it it’s so cute)

As the moon rose, the world beyond your hotel window fell into a peaceful slumber. The faint sound of crickets could be heard singing their calming melody. The peaceful night ambiance would’ve been enough to put you to sleep had it not been for your frantic beating heart.

In front of you lies your traveling companion, Link, whose back was practically against the wall, arms wrapped around himself as if afraid to accidentally touch you.

The silence in the room was deafening, neither of you knew what to say in this situation. After sleeping on the hard ground for weeks the two of you had agreed to spend the night at The Great Ton Pu Inn. The rain that quickly followed your decision only fueled your excitement for a comfy bed as the two of you rushed up the hill leading to Hateno Village. What neither of you expected was for every room to be booked, every room but one with a single bed.

Despite both of you being tired from traveling, neither of you could fall asleep because of the awkward tension that hung in the air. Ignoring it was proving to be impossible, someone had to say something, but you were hesitant to break the silence for fear of making things awkward (as if they weren’t already). You had been traveling with Link for weeks, months even! The two of you have shared several nights close together under the comfort of the stars, what makes now so different?

Maybe it was the smirk the front desk lady had given you both after handing you your key, maybe it was because despite how much you prayed for a room with two beds to miraculously become available you were secretly happy to share a bed with the Hylian boy, or maybe it was because despite you looking everywhere but him you could feel his eyes on you.

Just say something, anything!

You clear your throat, shuffling nervously under the blanket. “Um.. Rupee for your thoughts?” You asked in a hushed voice, an awkward smile making its way onto your face.

Link blinked rapidly in response, likely surprised by your sudden question. He continued to stare at you in silence, now tense as his cheeks turned a bright red.

Thinking you made him uncomfortable you quickly rise out of the bed. “Sorry! You know what maybe I should just sleep on the couch—”

Before you had the chance to remove the blanket from your body Link quickly sat up in bed and reached out to grab your wrist, shaking his head furiously. You stop when he does, slightly surprised to see how fast he had reacted when he looked so tired earlier. Your eyes fall on his hand which, despite the quick reaction, holds your wrist just tight enough to keep you from leaving but loose enough for you to pull away if you so wished. Realizing what he did he slowly pulls away. You immediately miss the warmth.

He looks down, blush remaining on his cheeks as he nervously fiddles with his fingers. “Don’t go, I..” he pauses, unsure if he should finish his thought. He looked up to see you staring at him patiently, waiting for him to finish. That was one thing he loved about you; you were always so patient with him. Although he was more talkative than he was 100 years ago he often found himself struggling to express what he wanted, likely an unconscious habit that stayed with him through his century-long sleep. Despite this you never hurried or pressured him into talking, allowing him to do it at his own pace. Taking a deep breath he continued. “.. I like being close to you.”

As soon as the words left his mouth you felt your cheeks burn. Did you hear him right or was it just a hallucination caused by the late hour of the night? You thought about pinching yourself, but the way he nervously played with his fingers (a habit you found adorable) and the way the ends of his hair curled up just a bit revealing a small scar on his shoulder made it too real to be a dream.

After a few moments of silence Link looked up, seeing your shocked expression. He quickly backtracked, thinking he made you uncomfortable with what he said. “Unless you don’t! That’s fine!—”

“I do!”

Link freezes upon hearing your response. You awkwardly clear your throat. “I-I mean, I also like being close to you..” you nearly whisper, feeling your ears burn with the embarrassment of blurting it out earlier.

Then the room went silent. Your heart was frantically beating against your chest; you hoped Link couldn’t hear it.

Your fear was proven false (unbeknownst to you) as Link was currently lost in his own mind. Link had become so accustomed to seeing you in that golden campfire glow that the current sight of you left him breathless. He thought you looked even more captivating in the moonlight.

He slowly nodded his head, eyes refusing to leave your form. “Ok.” He responded in a daze. It was the only thing Link could think to say as his mind was still elsewhere.

“We should probably sleep now..” You looked past Link and out the window, seeing the moon high in the clear sky. “It’s getting late.”

Link hummed, snapping out of the trance he was in and nodding his head in agreement. You settled back under the blanket and he followed your actions. Despite your earlier conversation, there was still a good chunk of space between the two of you on the small bed.

Wanting him to come closer, you begin to think of a way to convince him. “You know, it’s kind of cold in here.” You whispered (a small lie, it was the middle of summer), but you knew Link heard you when he looked back at you. Deciding to take a chance you scoot closer to him and you hear his breath hitch. “So I wouldn’t mind if.. you came closer.”

Hesitantly, Link listened and with a smile scooted just a little bit closer. You breathed out a sigh of relief you didn’t even know you were holding, moving closer to him again. Beneath the blanket, your hand slowly moved to reach his. As your fingers slowly grazed his he flinched. You were about to pull away before he intertwined his hand with yours. There’s that familiar warmth.

He pulled your hand close to his chest, gently tugging you closer. You complied, wordlessly moving closer to him once again. The distance between your bodies was minimal now; you were so close you could see the faintest freckles gracing his cheeks.

“Are you still cold?” He asked in a low whisper. You nodded your head (another lie, you were already beginning to feel sweaty). You couldn’t help it, now that you’ve experienced what it’s like to be close to him you crave more. Being greedy just this once wouldn’t hurt.

Link lets go of your hand, wrapping his arms around you to bring you against his chest. Your eyes widen at the sudden action, but you don’t pull away.

“Better?”

You nodded, slowly wrapping your arms around him in case he flinched away. When he didn’t you fully wrapped your arms around his torso and snuggled into him, a painfully large grin stretching across your face when he did the same. Your palms were sweaty as they tightly gripped his shirt. He smelled earthy, like damp dirt with a hint of smoke. You sighed in contentment, not caring that the two of you would likely wake up sweaty tomorrow. You didn’t release your grip and neither did he.

You silently thanked Hylia for not answering your prayer earlier before falling into a deep sleep.

thank you for reading till the end! :D

masterlist

[thejolteonmastertj]

The plot bunnies be hopping

Y’know how Link’s uncle is brought back to life at the end of alttp—but doesn’t seem to be living with Legend in Linked Universe? 🤔

What if Legend’s refusal to carry on the family’s knighthood as the sole surviving heir of his generation is part of why he’s grown distant from his uncle? I’m not saying his uncle had to have tried to force it or been an outright asshole about it—but maybe there’s some sort of tension, guilt or some other sort of melancholy there.

Y’know something else conveniently similar that’s been living in my head rent-free since I first played botw? That one memory where we learn literally the only detail about Wild’s family we ever learn in-game: His father was a knight of the Royal Guard. Also of/c that Link followed in his footsteps. But like—the whole theme of that memory was, “but what if…”

Specifically, here’s Zelda’s dialogue in the memory:

Your path seems to mirror your father's. You've dedicated yourself to becoming a knight, as well. Your commitment to the training necessary to fulfill your goal is really quite admirable… I see now why you would be the chosen one…

What if... one day... You realized that you just weren't meant to be a fighter. Yet the only thing people ever said... was that you were born into a family of the royal guard, and so no matter what you thought, you had to become a knight. If that was the only thing that you were ever told... I wonder, then... would you have chosen a different path?

We don’t see any response from Link of/c, but… the implications, from the mere fact that he remembers this specific conversation at all—especially in the context of LU, where Wild has already admitted he has a hard time believing the prim & proper soldier in his memories was even ever him.

Which is not even to mention anything else on whether he’d choose to be a knight if given the choice now. We know Wild carries around Roam’s diary, so he’s almost certainly read Zelda’s as well & would therefore know that even the him from before wasn’t doing too hot under all the pressure…

So like, hoo boy, Wild would get it. Legend may or may not initially expect it, but I think Wild would 100% back up Legend’s choice to stay out of knighthood... after a bit more development of his own that seems to be incoming of course. 👀

Hell, Legend might even step in on Wild’s behalf first if things happen to escalate—which would be neat. A lot of things would be neat between these two tbh (Y’all know me I’m obsessed with them. 🤣)

They’re the only two Links with a father mentioned or even implied in-game, (well, them & Twilight perhaps, but that’s off-topic) & both of them got complicated & juicy relationships with their inherited knighthood. 👀 There’s convenient parallels & I just think they’re neat. 🤭

[mikey-hunter]

Why Age of Calamity Did That (And Why Age of Imprisonment Will Too)

So when Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity came out, there was a very vocal contingent of fans who were upset about a particular twist in its narrative.

Age of Imprisonment was just announced, with a hauntingly similar setup, and I'm seeing a number of fans talking as if the same twist won't happen this time, or at least saying they hope it doesn't. I just wanted to lay out the reason why it happened the first time, and why it almost certainly will again.

I'm going to be dropping unmarked spoilers for all three previous games in this trilogy that's soon to become a quadrilogy, by the way. I imagine most of the people speculating about Age of Imprisonment will already know them, but just to cover my bases, you can stop reading now if you're behind.

So, let's start at Age of Calamity's announcement.

We were told it would be "A story 100 Years before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," and told it would depict the battles against the Calamity not previously shown. Fans immediately started joking about already knowing how it ended, that this was a game that would end with most of the cast dying.

Then the demo came out. A Guardian the size of an ostrich egg woke up at the same time as Zelda awakening her powers, traveled back in time, and activated the Sheikah Towers early. Also, Link was a regular soldier and not the Hero who had been wielding the Master Sword since he was a pre-teen.

Surprisingly, a large portion of the fandom either failed or refused to see the twist coming at that point.

But the twist came all the same: in the full game, the time traveling egg guardian enables the four successors to the Champions from BotW to save them, Zelda awakens her powers before Link is killed, they band together to slay Calamity Ganon, and a happy ending is enjoyed by all. Including the Yiga Clan, who defected because reasons.

Some fans were very upset about this. They were promised a prequel, and seemed to think it would be a good idea. But the reason it wasn't is fairly obvious if you think about it.

For one thing: Warriors games are about the fanservice power fantasy. Playing as beloved characters and mowing down hundreds of cannon fodder enemies as easily as one mows a lawn.

For another: one of the playable characters in the original Hyrule Warriors on Wii U was Agitha from Twilight Princess. She was included purely because one of the developers was a fan of hers and argued for her inclusion. Koei-Tecmo's Hyrule Warriors team includes people who are big enough Zelda fans to have favorite minor NPCs.

Now, consider for a moment what a "canon" ending to Age of Calamity would have looked like. The Champions are dead. Link is dead. Zelda awakened her powers a moment too late, so she's going to go hold down Calamity Ganon while the Sheikah trio carry Link's body to the Shrine of Resurrection. They don't know how long it will take to work, or if it will even work at all, so the three of them agree to live separately and wait for him, so that even if the Yiga Clan finds and overcomes them, at least the other two will live on to pass Zelda's message on to Link.

In other words, you just paid full retail price for a beat'em up where all your favorite characters die, and have a completely separate game to go play for the story's actual resolution.

Maybe you, personally, actually wanted that, but would a casual Zelda fan who just got the game for Christmas have wanted it? Would a Dynasty Warriors fan trying the game out as a gateway to the Zelda series have been okay with being told they now have to buy another game in a completely different genre to get their closure?

To be frank, no. Age of Calamity didn't lead in to Breath of the Wild because that would have made for a bad product. Instead of watching the Champions die, we got to see them live, be happy, and interact with their successors. If you want to imagine the full details of their deaths and be sad about it, that's what fanfiction is for.

And now we have Age of Imprisonment on the way.

Tears of the Kingdom, much like Breath of the Wild, has a sequence of flashbacks to a distant past, that ends on a downer note of "Welp, we're boned, but all we can do is wait for Link to come sort it out."

Just like Age of Calamity, Age of Imprisonment purports to be a full depiction of these events...

But the events of the Dragon Tears are in even more dire need of an intervention from the present than the Memories were, entirely because of the cast.

Taking this reveal trailer at face value, we can expect eight characters: Zelda, Sonia, Rauru, Mineru, and the four Ancient Sages. By the end of the Dragon Tears as we saw them in Tears of the Kingdom...

Sonia is assassinated

Rauru gives his life to seal Ganon under the castle

Mineru succumbs to her injuries and begins haunting Zelda's tablet

Zelda essentially commits fantasy suicide, because as far as anyone in the narrative is aware, becoming a dragon destroys your sense of self and is irreversible.

The Sages live, but with how little TotK gave them to work with, AoI is going to have to characterize them from scratch.

That's a hard sell to anyone looking to buy a fun video game full of Zelda characters, and that's not the only problem with this roster: it's also small.

Not counting certain characters having multiple weapons, the original Hyrule Warriors launched with a roster of 13, and then three of the bosses were made playable in a patch.

Age of Calamity launched with 18.

If we're sticking entirely to the founding era with this game, we're following up a game that set sales records for the Warriors series with a piddly little roster that tells you at the end to go play a different game, with the surviving half of the roster being the faceless nobodies. Who's actually going to buy that beyond the LoZ die-hards who pitched a fit because not every returning NPC in Tears of the Kingdom greeted Link with a "Hey, I remember you!"?

It's quite clear, to me, that Age of Imprisonment is going to have another time travel twist, this time bringing in the modern Sages, as well as Link, probably Purah, and perhaps some others. (Paya? Tauro? Robbie? Josha? Kohga, for some reason? All possible, but Purah's the only supporting cast pick I'm confident in.)

If nothing else, the fact that Nintendo announced amiibo of the TotK Sages the same day as Age of Imprisonment seems more than coincidental.

[sleepyskeleton-0]

Nooooo bc Time and Wild have such SIMILAR traumas it’s not even funny, like what do you MEAN both are afraid of waking up and having no one remember them?? (Wild post-totk especially).

I’m playing oot and there are so many parallels to botw/totk :(

Waking up and seeing the castle in shambles, waking up from a years long nap, being told immediately that they gotta save the world, the MOON (that’s mm but still), losing loved ones is a trauma they all share but listen -

Wild obviously is a little more insecure about his losses bc he thinks they’re his fault (due to his own incompetence - he doesn’t consider circumstance I imagine).

In Majora’s mask, there’s NO WAY Time would go who knows how long without making connections of some kind, even if they restart after 3 days, so watching the people he cares about be crushed by the moon??? I’d imagine he has nightmares where he just sees them die over and over again.

Wild would probably have nightmares of the champions dying over and over as well (possibly in the context of his 100 year sleep).

Not to mention they both died before.

Damn…

Edit for slight inaccuracies

[babbletaels]

Before tears of the kingdom came out, I was watching a video on youtube that talked about volcanic signs around hyrule. As they pointed out what different structures around death mountain and akkala could've been, I started seeing those kinds of structures and shapes everywhere and I realized..

Hyrule is on top of a very large volcanic area

I started looking for signs. I realized there were hot springs in tabantha, and hot springs is not just something that cold regions have, no, it's something volcanic regions have.

When tears of the kingdom came out one of my top priotities was to get to the depths and see if there's lava underneath these hot springs, and sure enough there they were! Not only that, I found volcanic shapes in the depths themselves, as well as lava in other places I didn't know about.

Why am I talking about this?

Because they're not just there as decorations, at least not to me.

Look at Hyrule great forest. It obviously used to be a big forest spanning from above hyrule castle all the way to the top of the map, covering the west part of death mountains foot. Now the trees are all burned down from a volcanic eruption, except for in two regions that have strangely moat-looking "rivers" around them.

I'm not going to pretend I believe these are rivers. I'm 100% sure they are man made. These moats were dug in order to protect important land marks, because the people knew that they live on a volcanic region. It's no coincidence that the castle has a huge moat around it as well. They are trying to be safe from their inevitable doom.

But it's not just this. Moats don't always save you, and volcanoes eventually go dormant.

I imagine if you're the least interested in zelda lore and the zelda timeline, you've asked yourself the question, "Why does the map change so drastically?". Well, here's your answer.

Death mountain isn't just any mountain, it's always the most recently active volcano and the place where the gorons live! The gorons move around, when there's a new volcano they move there!

Towns safety become threatened, and so they move. Look at the ruins on the sides of death mountain, they're not burned, they're abandoned. So the people move around, they literally have no choice but to do so, unless they take to drastic measures, like raising your town high above the ground and building a wall around it, like the great plateau.

Why are the sheikah towers buried under ground and designed to shoot up with incredible force? Why not just build them in place and why do they need to be so tall? Maybe they were preparing them to be able to function even after lava has covered the ground.

The extremely mountainous nature of all of hyrule is honestly the best sign we have of this. By looking at the mountains we can conclude where the latest volcano was, and I think it was in Hebra.

So when trying to piece together how the maps work together, you can't look at things like a town, a castle or a volcano, because those things are constantly moving. I'd say maybe the desert could be the way to go, but we've seen very clearly that deserts used to be oceans. If you look to the horizon in gerudo desert in botw, you'll see water.

I think that the gorons migrate when their volcano gets too cold. If we look at majoras mask and assume that termina is in fact a real place, this is the first time we see gorons living in a cold place, and they don't seem to be thriving. Gorons like the warmth that the volcano provides.

So why does death mountain switch places?? Because it's not the same mountain! Death mountain is always the volcano! So one volcano goes dormant, another one pops up and the gorons move there. And this also explains a loooooot of other geographical questions. The people of hyrule are living under a constant threat of destruction by volcano, and that's why they need to move their castles and everything. If we were to assume the temple of time from ocarina of time is the same as in breath of the wild, we clearly see they moved/abandoned the castle and castle town because of the close proximity of death mountain in ocarina of time. It all makes a lot of sense and makes me feel like the map changing isn't such a big problem to me anymore.

[parasolladyansy]

I have a question about your LoZ AU.

LoZ as a series has a bit of a weird depiction of humans. Hylians are almost always portrayed with pointed ears, although humans with rounded ears do show up sometimes (notable example is Wind Waker, where it's an actual plot point). I know this is a weird question, but would Ingo's, and by extension Ansy's, round ears be a point of interest to the inhabitants of Hyrule? I don't remember if BotW or Totk ever mentioned any area outside of Hyrule, and since everyone there have pointed ears, no one would have any idea as to where those humans came from.

Also, if I remember correctly, I think that pointed ears are a sign of a connection to the goddess Hylia. And given the generally polytheistic society in (most) Zelda games, then that could be another odd thing about Ingo and Ansy.

At the very least, their round ears would be a very clear indicator that both of them are not from Hyrule.

I know this is a weird question, but for some reason this topic has always been an interesting one for me. Especially since I remember my first reaction to Totk Ganondorf being that he's the only character in Totk and Botw with round ears. (Me : yeah sure his character design looks cool and he looks swoll, but LOOK AT HIS EARS-)

Pardon me, a flood of Zelda lore just rushed into my head lol - I’ve been a Zelda fan EVEN LONGER than I’ve been a Pokémon fan.

Okay, so round ears, our isekai-ed friends in Hero of Bombs / Isekai-ed Artist, & Ganondorf! (Lore dump ahead!)

It’s as you said - round ears have been a minor topic of interest in Hylian history, regardless of the timeline. I remember reading the booklet that came with A Link to the Past when I was little, about the creation of Hyrule & the Triforce. In there, they talked about how Hylians heard messages from the gods with their elven ears. One of the townsfolk in Ocarina of Time says the same thing.

Meanwhile, the earliest instance of round ears I can remember appearing is Ocarina of Time: ALL of the Gerudo (including OoT Ganondorf) had round ears - more on that in a bit. Another example came a little later in the Oracle games with the inhabitants of the other countries Oracle of Seasons / Ages Link visited (Holodrum & Labrynna), then again in Twilight Princess with the residents of Ordon Village (technically just outside Hyrule’s border).

(OoT Nabooru to the left, OoA Bippin & Blossom in the middle, & TP Colin to the right)

“Oh, okay. Gerudo & these folks from neighboring countries / villages just have round ears - easy!…Right?”

Until Breath of the Wild happened, reintroducing the Gerudo people after all these years with pointed ears like Hylians (not to mention different skin tones).

The Gerudo being an all female race (except for a male born every 100 years, often some incarnation of Ganondorf), they reproduce via men from other races (Hylian, Sheikah, etc). Stands to reason they would get traits from their fathers. Why, then, didn’t they have pointed ears back in OoT? Maybe round ears & darker skin used to be a stronger gene? I couldn’t tell you.

Why TotK Ganondorf has round ears might be an example of that gene coming back in the rarely born male, though honestly I just feel like they were just making a design choice to refer back to OoT Ganondorf, the very first depiction of him we saw in the games (though he was mentioned by name in A Link To the Past) as a love letter to us older fans.

(OoT Ganondorf to the left, TotK Ganondorf to the right)

I don’t think Nintendo wanted us to think too hard on it, or why some versions of Ganondorf actually does have pointed ears, even when it was the same Ganondorf (eg. OoT Ganondorf > WW Ganondorf / TP Ganondorf). All I know is that when ToTK Ganondorf stepped into the frame, my inner 10yo saw the villain from her nightmares (in the very best sense! 878)

As for Ingo & isekai-ed me (lol), the Hylians would probably just think of us as foreign visitors, maybe from Labyrnna / Holodrum. Link & probably some other key characters would know the truth, either by being told straight out, or intuition.

Side note: as Ingo muddles with his memories & ends up spending time with isekai-ed me, he wonders if we come from the same country / world (not quite, Ingo!)

—

(Editing to add maybe it was also a symbolic thing - pointed ears symbolizing communication with the divine, maybe it’s to say “he refuses to listen to heaven”? Who knows.)