#re. zelda ↳ setting

[timcless]

tag drop 2 / ?

[comixandco]

Tears of the Kingdom isn’t the first time we’ve heard the phrase The Imprisoning War in Zelda lore

It’s also the term used in the Downfall Timeline as a precursor to LttP when Ganon was unleashed from the Sacred Realm and the King and the Sages rushed to fight the Demon King and re-seal the Sacred Realm, with no mention of a hero

Could TotK Imprisoning War and the LttP Imprisoning War be one and the same, with specific details being lost to time by the beginning of the game?

[jheselbraum]

Nintendo is stupid here's my new better timeline:

Skyward Sword

Legend of Zelda

Adventure of Link

Minish Cap

Four Sourds

and it's sequel Four Swords Adventures

A Link to the Past

Link's Awakening (edited, whoops)

A Link Between Worlds

Ocarina of Time

The Hero is Defeated Timeline: Oracle games and Triforce Heroes that's it.

Child Timeline: Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess, as usual, easy peasy, for once no notes Nintendo

Adult Timeline: Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks once again pretty easy, no notes

11. Breath of the Wild 12. Tears of the Kingdom

[prokopetz]

It's been seven years and I still can't get over the fact that Nintendo's writers were like "the next Zelda game is going to re-imagine Hyrule as a post-apocalyptic high fantasy setting in the mode of Middle-earth, but that means we need a clear 'high elf' analogue, which is something that Zelda games haven't historically had", and they decided to resolve this problem by putting the fish on top of a mountain.

[little-acts-of-gratitude]

Hello, Tumblr! I am incredibly excited to announce the start of my biggest project so far: Little Acts of Gratitude! It's a post-WW AU fancomic that follows a Ganondorf redemption-ish story set on the Great Sea, in which Link decides to defy fate right before the final duel and bring his sworn enemy back to the surface. But why? The comic explores the Triforce Trio and the world around them, in an attempt to solve the ancient mysteries and tie the loose ends. Suffice it to say, I have big, big plans for this story >:^з.

If you have access to desktop Tumblr, I recommend reading the comic that way, as you’ll be able to see a fancy blog theme with a comfy pagination and a banner for each chapter! But if not, there'll also be a dedicated pagination system for mobile users, like this:

(Page 0) next > last ▷

And now, FAQ/Disclaimer/whatever:

There’s no upload schedule planned as of now. I’ll try my best to aim for monthly updates and have at least a little backlog whenever possible, but more often than not I’ll probably upload the pages as soon as I am done with them. Also I’ll make sure to announce any major hiatuses if for some reason updates will take more time than planned. Just please don’t send any asks/DMs regarding this matter.

As a non-native English speaker, I’d greatly appreciate it if you guys pointed out any grammar mistakes I might make! This goes double for the instances of me using ASL for Link, as I don’t have any kind of experience with sign languages.

You may see the artifacts on the pages - this is the result of me Glazing them, just to see how that pans out. I'll... probably think of an option to show you guys the clean hi-res pages eventually.

For now, the comic will stay a Tumblr exclusive — but I am thinking of potentially crossposting it on other webcomic-hosting platforms! Once I amass a decent amount of pages and decide where exactly to upload them, I will provide links. As for the social media presence, I... don't really have anything other than Tumblr (except, well, iykyk), so no promises there.

And for, uh, legal purposes: the Legend of Zelda series belongs to Nintendo; I am not affiliated with them and do not claim ownership on anything other than the artwork itself. Not that they're currently going for fancomics, thankfully.

And... Thanks for taking time to read this! My lack of work ethics is my lifelong nemesis, but I hope that, despite everything, this comic will see the light of day, that I won’t stop working on it until I’m done, and that you will have a great time reading my silly little AU for a silly little vidyagame ✨!

[sheikfangirl]

Since you're the Queen of Puppet Zelda, what are your thoughts on these possible explanations for her level of autonomy?

Is Puppet Zelda merely made of Gloom and acts as a physical extension of Gannondorf himself so he has a set of eyes, ears, and hands that can travel and exert influence outside of his perch in the Depths, but as a higher quality puppet/projection (and therefore more taxing on his power to maintain) than the Gloom Hands and Phantom Gannons? Or is she a separate being entirely, created by him, but given her own agency, mind, and will to make her own decisions, in so far as she's still a slave to doing Gannondorf's bidding? She doesn't need constant effort on his part to control or exist, but would have probably cost him a chunk of his power upfront to create.

Could she be something else?

First, let's rectify one thing: I am NOT the Queen of Puppet Zelda. Puppet Zelda IS MY QUEEN. (But thanks for the compliment, I am blushing over here 🤭)

Secondly, thank you so much for your interest in my HC. I will happily share my thoughts on this criminally underused character that has drama written all over. This is an overview okay because I feel I could write a freakin thesis paper on Puppet Zelda 

Quick note: I am not pretending to be right or to have the absolute truth. This is my headcanon, the backstory in the back of my mind when I draw my Puppet Zelda art.

All headcanons are valid, games are interactive media, and the relationship and connections one has with a game are personal.

As you might know, English is not my first language and  visual support helps me explain things... so I made a graphic. I hope this will help understand my take of this character and why I love her so much🤣🤷‍♀️

In a nutshell:

I think Puppet Zelda is an independent minion created by Ganondorf using his magic powers. He created a shell in Zelda's image from 10 000 years ago to do his bidding and re-used her 10 000 years later to distract Link to buy himself the time to regenerate to full power.

Exhibit A: Ganondorf's Magic

If Ganondorf can spawn a whole list of monsters and gloom hands, he created Puppet Zelda too. The monsters are not continually controlled by Ganondorf, right? They do his bidding, they do what they were "programmed & designed" for, we might even say. I think it's the same for Puppet Zelda. But she is definitely a more defined and complex creation.

Exhibit B: The Hot henchwoman trope

I am not gonna lie: This is one of my very favorite tropes.... EVER! I always fall for the hot henchwomen. Ganon's quote from the glorious Sanctum scene during  the "Crisis at Hyrule Castle" scene makes me absolutely think she is indeed autonomous. "Did my puppet distract you?" Ganondorf asks Link in that chilling and subtext filled scene.

Puppet Zelda had one objective: To distract Link.

Ganon was busy regenerating. Having to control or act through someone would've been too power consuming. I don't buy it's a manifestation of him. AT ALL. so...yeah. hot henchwoman trope. Also, I'm a lesbian and I have no interest whatsoever in Ganondorf.

...HOT HENCHWOMAN TROPE SUPREMACY!! Yep. Fanservice for me.

Exhibit C: Real Zelda's Angst

This is where it's getting twistingly FUN.

This is an HC I assimilated like a borg from my ZHS buddy @kazraza  Her theory is so ***** angsty and delicious and I love it! 

At the time of King Rauru and Queen Sonia, Ganondorf created a pawn with Zelda's appearance so that it could get close to them and attack.

Then, in order to distract Link 10 000 years later, Ganondorf had to "refine" his weapon. He needed "data and real Zelda knowledge" uploaded into Puppet Zelda to ensure her credibility and the success of her mission. He wanted to make sure she could distract Link and trick him. 

And where did all this personal knowledge of Real Zelda's innermost intimate thoughts and insecurities come from, you may ask?

Well from the real Zelda herself of course!!

But when and where was this data collected?

We believe all of Zelda's Angst was leached directly from her during her 100 years mystic battle containing Calamity Ganon in this Malice Cocoon in Breath of the Wild. *GASP* Puppet Zelda was there all along in Breath of the Wild....absorbing all of Zelda's angst!!!

This is why everyone was confused and tricked by Puppet Zelda in TotK. This is why Puppet Zelda asks Link if he remembers their time at Hyrule Castle: she has Zelda's pre-calamity memories and this why Link is so tortured in my art! She can REALLY mess with him big time. I really like to think there is a part of real Zelda inside Puppet Zelda. Her dark side: Her anger, her cockiness, her jealousy, her selfishness... her desire. 

She is also kind of Zelda's answer to Dark Link.

Alright I wrote enough for tonight. To whoever took precious minutes of their lives to read this well...thank you! I am now moving on with my life too 🤣

For more HC about Puppet Zelda, her powers and influences, this should be all covered in future art

(i hope)

Cheers!! And glory to Puppet Zelda ✋

[smolljester]

decided to start a new game in TotK just to re-explore everything (and not have duplicate armour sets) and realised something. Zelda, having a Secret Stone and time powers makes her the Sage of Time. you can only learn Recall after making the vow with her. Zelda is the first Sage Link makes a vow with.

i've had this game since launch and only just realised that. i'm so slow.

[fourswordsannotated]

akira himekawa are unbelievably cool.

soooo here's the thing. i was looking at akira himekawa's website on a whim and found a public blog, with posts that go all the way back to 2009. many hours of google translating later, and i've developed an even stronger admiration of these two women and their exceptional career as manga artists. they share so much in these posts about the creative process, their thoughts on social justice, their connections with nature, and their most major original story, gliding reki, which seems to have always been a passion project in the midst of commercial work.

from what i could gather, reki is unique in that they were determined to do it in full color. and they did it, because after reading about their career, it's clear to me that when these women set their mind to an idea, they make it happen. see also: they just recently produced and distributed their own art book, because no publishers were offering to do it in a way that pleased them.

their stated goals for reki were to make something more adult than their previous children's manga, taking place in a city, involving a lot of mechanical art, and featuring stronger romantic and self-described erotic subtext. good for them. before i get into the four swords-related stuff, i'm sharing what i could find on the internet about reki.

more under the cut, because there's quite a bit to discuss :)

not much that i could find on the blog specifically references four swords, but they have many fascinating insights about nintendo, the zelda fandom, and the franchise as a whole. i can't know for certain because this information was surmised from translated text, but it seems as if their manga with chibi link made them feel a little stifled, which is why they took a long break before returning to do twilight princess. it's not lost on me that even a work like four swords, which they may regard as not their favorite or best, still has inspired and brought together so many passionate, creative, and diverse people. this is especially sweet because it seems as if they met each other, and formed their creative partnership, because of a shared fandom interest of their own.

honda and nagano have shared their thoughts and feelings on this blog for more than a decade, and they have a lot of thoughts and feelings. throughout their entire career they've made commentary on work-life balance, their experiences as women in a male-dominated field, and their desire to create original art while simultaneously enjoying some commercial work as well. they are passionate about social justice, particularly re: women and indigenous people, and offer insights on aspects of culture and history and the state of the world that really could resonate with anyone. and they really seem to appreciate fans of their work, and emphasize repeatedly the care and thought they put into their manga in the hopes it will inspire and bring catharsis to readers. they love animals (especially wolves), being outside in nature, being nerds about art they enjoy, a certain subgenre of romantic manga that appealed to and empowered female readers in the 90's and 2000's, and traveling around the world to partake in activities like horse riding and falconry.

the coolest part is, they're still updating the blog to this day :) in fact they seem to have recently returned to it, reflecting that twitter is not their preferred manner of sharing things online. they seem very familiar with and fond of older-school blogging culture.

there's a lot more i could say here about my findings, some of which do pertain to... certain ships 💜🖤 . but i don't want my genuine appreciation for these authors to be overshadowed by that kind of conversation. in addition to a link to the blog itself, i'm including a few translated posts of interests, which you can interpret and incorporate into your perception of the media however you please. at the end of the day, it's a really cool gift that these artists have chosen to share so much over such a long period of time. by making their personalities, beliefs, and insights more visible to fans of their work, i hope it brings new context to the stories we already love.

a modern-day insight:

re: the zelda mangas. these are from several points throughout their career. please note that they have so many fond things to say about zelda as a franchise and their work on the mangas, especially regarding the way they've affected fans. i encourage you to look for yourself, on their blog and their other socials!

re: gliding reki

re: the creative process (and in the latter two, the fandom that seems to have inspired them!)

re: their two goofyass adorable tiny dogs that they dress up in outfits while also loving wolves like a lot, they love wolves (both domesticated and wild), they really love wolves

re: wolf day (every day is wolf day,)

re: indigenous rights

re: painting serious works on commission vs their manga. i can't know for sure exactly what it means, but it really does kinda hit

re: a fan and manga artist in training bringing them art and a note

and a moment from a twilight princess manga interview i found very sweet :)

okay. you've made it to the end. i know you're wondering. here you go. please remember that this is and always has been a public blog, and these posts are actually from 2009 and 2010. also please remember that the point of this post is not to cause or fuel fandom discourse, but to appreciate these authors and the things that they choose to express.

(also, this is the column they were referring to in image 1. it's FASCINATING. give it a read if you'd like!)

the dots are there. you're welcome to connect them.

thank you for your beautiful work and insights, honda and nagano. please never change.

[spicyicetea]

My Forest Spirit

A legend of Zelda BOTW/TOTK Yandere x Reader. This is obviously cannon divergent. Fem!Y/N is short and Curvy in this, and is often described with long hair. This story will contain NSFW! scenes, violence and profanity. MDNI

Previous chapter/Next chapter

Chapter 2: Campfire cuddles

Link ran fast through the grass with the others chasing behind us. He had shifted me so he could carry me with both his arms, sheathing his sword on his back. With a grunt, he jumped down from a ledge and continued to jog.

“Link! Wait up!”

“You can't have her!” he yelled back.

I looked up at him in shock, not having heard his voice before. The woman he was shouting out said he only speaks around people he trusts. Does that mean that he thinks I'm his friend? Do I have friends? I could feel my ears flick up and down in excitement and I puffed my cheeks out trying to stop them. Link just poked one of my cheeks as he stopped behind a rock, panting.

“You should put me down, catch your breath!”

He just grunted and placed me down, still holding me close. The others ran past the rock he had hunkered behind as I pried myself from his arms. His eyes narrowed as he reached out to grab me again and I pushed his arm down with a smile.

“Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere! Get some rest, I'll go get your friends.”

His eyes widened as I stood up fully and stepped on top of the rock. I could hear him start to speak but stop himself as he looked up at me from where he had crouched down. My skirt of leaves gathered by the Koroks was slightly messed up from his grabbing so I re-adjusted them before jumping to grab their attention. The blonde woman ran over quickly and grabbed my hands.

“Are you ok? It's starting to get dark we should set up a camp before heading back to Hyrule Castle tomorrow. We can use this as an opportunity to get to know you better!”

She smiled at me and pulled me towards the others as they began to set up tents that they must have been carrying with them. Her grip on my hand was just as tight as Link’s as if she was scared id leave. Link grumbled under his breath as he set up a campfire. It wasn't long until they were done and sat around the campfire.

The women went around the fire introducing everyone. I could only smile to myself as everyone began talking. Friends, I have friends that look like me now. Zelda just showed me the strange device she had, showing me the “camera” on it. Eventually, everyone went silent as I fiddled with the device, looking through the various places captured within.

“So, Y/N, if it isn't rude to ask, what are you?” Daruk asked.

I raised a brow at his question before the fish woman beside him spoke up.

“We know that the Koroks said you were a forest spirit, but you look rather similar to Hylians, like Link and Zelda. We're just a tad confused about if you're a type of forest spirit or a Hylain raised by forest spirits.”

“Oh, it isn't rude don't worry. I'm... Not sure. I've never left the forest before now, Hestu usually told me stories of their travels but I've never left myself.”

“Oh, you poor thing! We must take you around Hyrule and show you how wonderful everything is!” Zelda exclaimed, hugging me tightly.

“Dont bother, Rito village will be so impressive she’ll never want to leave!” Revali spoke confidently.

I just smiled and laughed. Daruk soon began laughing as well.

“You say that but the hot springs have a great power! I never want to leave them when I go!” He laughed.

The others began laughing as well, and I felt Link’s hand grab one of my fingers. I looked over at him and he rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. His eyes never left our stare until he faltered and glared at Zelda who was still hugging me. A strange feeling of dread settled in as the others grew silent and looked around. I was unsure what had alarmed them but I felt the wariness that sat heavy among the group. A strange red slip of paper landed on my lap and just stared at it, confused. It felt like someone was breathing against my neck.

“Hm, intresting, so the Princess has recruited another. I wonder what’s so special about her? What do you say, do we tell Astor?”

“She doesn’t appear to be a threat Master, but he will be angry if we don’t notify him.”

“True, let’s go.”

The slip of paper disappeared along with the voices. I looked around in shock as the others seemed to relax, had they not heard those voices?

“We should get some rest, goodnight!” Zelda said, crawling into her tent.

One by one they disappeared into their tents and I sat on the grass watching the stars. I didn’t wish to intrude on their sleep, that would be so rude. Link shuffled out of his tent and motioned for me to join him. I shook my head, his tent look so small, there would be no space between us. He just sighed and sat beside me, pulling my head to his chest while rubbing my back.

“Link? What are you-“

“Shh, sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

I went to speak again but something about his warm chest and scent lulled me to sleep faster than I had ever experienced before. It was like I was being hypnotised.

Oh, I wonder what those voices were aha ha... I made it so obvious I'm sorry-

[indierpgnewsletter]

New Games from April and May 2024

It’s been another great couple months for new games. If this is the first post like this that you’re seeing: every two months I highlight around ten games that were newly released on itch.io. I hear about most of these games through this form.

A Terrible Fate: A FitD game about cursed adventurers doomed to re-live the same three days until they stop the world from ending. Uses magical masks, inspired by Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. (@theresattrpgforthat / Mint-Rabbit)

Against the Monster: A story game about a monster hunt, the good of the monster, and the monstrosity of the hunters. Based on For the Queen. Comes in English & German. (Jasmin Neitzel and Andrea Rick, Plotbunny Games)

Numberless Secrets: An expansion for Hearts of Wulin that adds a Brindlewood Bay style mystery mechanic to the game of wuxia melodrama. For fans of Ancient Detective and such. (Lowell Francis, Age of Ravens Games)

Down the Road Through the End of the World: A game about people on a desperate journey through a post-apocalyptic world, looking for a haven. Based on Psi*Run. (Kodi Gonzaga)

Last Train To Bremen: A storytelling game of doomed musicians and poor decisions. One shot for 4 players exactly, using Liar’s Dice. From Caro Asercion, the designer of i’m sorry did you say street magic.

Deep in a Matrix of Flesh and Metal: A FitD game of crime and cyber-horror, where you and your crew of down-and-outs will try to become the biggest fish in the overcrowded pond that is Zone Zero, or die trying. (Calum Grace)

The Adventures of Gonan: A cute and innovative adventure game based on a fictional kids fantasy TV show, using a scene based structure that looks a bit like Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast. (Tragos Games)

Into the Blind: A scifi horror hack of Trophy that twists it to tell stories like Alien and other genre classics. (Riley Daniels/Sick Sad Games)

Full Spectrum: An expansion for Spectres of Brocken, the mecha game of former friends turned enemies. This contains a collection of alternate settings and scenarios for the base game. (Austin Taylor, Arisia Santiago, Ethan Yen, Fin Coe, Juliet L’mous, Mike Balles, Valis Teoh, Aaron Lim)

The Pact: A two-player game poem about best friends, one of whom becomes a vampire at some point in their life. Players explore their relationship & find out what they’ll do to keep a childhood promise… (Marc Majcher / Majcher Arcana)

And as a bonus, a game I contributed to, Chiron’s Doom is out. It’s a storytelling game about an ill-fated expedition to explore a mysterious monument. Can be played solo or up to 3 players. It’s pretty neat!

(This first appeared on the Indie RPG Newsletter.)

[minas-linkverse]

After a whole day of work, I was able to get all of Linkverse onto Webtoons. Please consider checking it out on there for a re-read or to catch up 🙏 It took me so much time that I am openly asking for interaction, it was that bad.

Massive thank you to the people who mentioned exporting the blog might make this process easier btw, that was absolutely a HUGE help.

[phoenixcatch7]

Just finished oracle of ages!!! Good game, good game. I have Thoughts.

I actually really enjoyed the story and characters! I figured going into the oracle games that it'd be a simple, cliché story, not much nuance or depth, and with Seasons that's basically what I got: din gets fridged in a crystal at the start of the game -> go get her -> you need a set of maguffins to do so -> fight big monster.

Admittedly it was the first game, which meant less story, but even if I hadn't linked (heh) the games for extra end game content Ages just did so much more.

Unlike din, naryu has someone else willing to help her. Ralph (the twinkiest twink to ever twink) was a young man who was her devoted friend (there was a weird crush triangle thing going on with him, Link and naryu, I always felt like I was missing subtext) and, spoilers for a 20yo game?? I guess?

He was the dethroned descendant of the ancient queen Ami. His family definitely still have big money though. He was pretty clearly supposed to be a comic relief character with a twist, but I ended up really liking him! He was over enthusiastic and over confident, but not unintelligent, a decent swordsman (I think) who was incredibly loyal to his friends and held some deep rooted responsibility for the people his family used to rule. Kind, determined, good with kids and people in general, he was terrified but willing to sacrifice his very existence to save the people.

The world building was also great! I don't think I've ever played a zelda game without gorons, but hylians were in short supply. To be expected outside of hyrule, I guess? Anyway, there were also lizard people on an island (tokay!) whose entire deal was.. A bit outdated? Rude, brazen and aggressive to outsiders, they lived in crude huts, worshipped things they didn't quite understand and were generally the old Hollywood stereotype of an isolated jungle tribe.

There was also, like, zora racism? There's a zora village underwater, and one of them was like 'us sea zora are nothing like those river zora 😒' which handily solved both my question of if the river/ocean zora divide was canon or fanon and the relationships between the two. Are they even the same species?? It just makes the rito even weirder but hey lmao. In all honesty I was pretty sick of the river zora at that point too, I swear there were two of them popping up in every screen that had even a sliver of water deeper than the knees and they CONSTANTLY shot fireballs istg they were such a pain. They were literally everywhere and so hard to kill.

On the plus side mermaid suit ^u^!! A dungeon item (the mermaids cave), the item had a desc like 'the skin of the mythical beast' which raised SO many more questions than it answered. The zora were delighted to see a young mermaid! The use of 'maid' implied either a) the zora all thought link was a girl and he didn't correct them (eyo genderqueer androgeny) b) the zora don't subscribe to gender the way humans do (eyo genderqueer androgeny) or c) all fish people look like mermaids regardless of their specific gender (eyo genderqueer androgeny). It literally could have been all three who knows. Maybe one day we'll actually meet a mermaid in zelda.

Also, there's a mini game in Seasons, which I played first, the subrosian dance. It's a pretty popular part of their culture, it's got music, it's got professional dancers. In Ages, you find the gorons doing the exact same dance! Rosa, a subrosian performer you meet in Seasons, is also there, saying her people's dance is better (tbf it is), but if you go to the past you'll find the gorons actually invented the dance first, as part of their love of games and entertainment, and you can talk to two subrosians who are talking about bringing the dance home! It's so interesting to see little details like this, where the travelling subrosians visited their fellow cave dweller lava eating people centuries ago, brought it back home where it exploded in popularity and centuries later became refined as a whole folk dance with spinning and everything, with the people forgetting where it came from, where the gorons keep their dance exactly the same (having to do a rhythm game without rhythm is hard).

Actually, there was so much political fantasy drama going on in the past?? Like, you've got the childless queen taking care of her people, a budding village and a few more settlements across the kingdom. Early in her reign she tried to build a tower to act as a beacon to her fiancé lost at sea, which is a romance story all on its own, but it was cut short (maybe because of funding?). Centuries in the future, it's just ruins. You've got people living on an ACTIVE VOLCANO starting a symmetry cult around a artifact called 'tuni nut' which, presumably, stabilises the volcano? And it's entirely cut off from the outside world. The goron elder is crushed under rocks and their economy is failing. The zora king got poisoned and he's about to die without an heir because a witch turned the fairy queen into an octorock, but the man in charge of the only cure refuses to hand it over until someone passes his tests.

Most of it is solved relatively easily by link and a copious amount of time travel, but the thing with the ruling queen only gets worse. When the evil witch invades the kingdom, she possesses the oracle of ages, naryu (who's a little implied to be the Actual Creation Goddess Naryu reincarnated) and travels back to the past to bring about an age of despair in the present. She does this by slipping into the royal court and befriending the queen as a serving girl, rising up the ranks to become her closest advisor and corrupting her (pretty sure mind control magic is used a li'l). She convinces her to restart the black tower project, pouring all of her and the towns resources into it - forcibly conscripting every able bodied worker and working them to the bone, all while monsters start to circle the tower. With all the fear and resentment, it quickly becomes a beacon of dark energy, a perfect focal point to perform black magics.

Link (and Ralph) end up in the past and get hauled in front of the queen, with possessed naryu at her side, who basically jeers at them and ensures the queen won't listen to their untrustworthy lies. The townsfolk are getting increasingly stressed as their village fills with rubble and their men are worked to the point of collapse. Armed guards start to appear to keep the workers under control. Eventually, Ralph uncovers a hole in the guard rotation, and he and link sneak into the palace through a secret entrance Ralph oh so casually knows about. Link and naryu fight, but with stupendous timing the queen walks in to see naryu collapsed on the floor, Link standing over her with a sword. She calls for the guards, but before anyone can react, the witch, banished form her first vessel, leaps into the queen herself instead. Ralph shoves past the arriving guards and into naryus arms, while link moves in from of them. The queen orders the guards to attack, but naryu, reawakened, pulls them back to the present in the nick of time. In the present, the black tower is magically growing, reaching higher and higher into the sky, terrifying the people of the city.

Then! Ralph, who at this point is suspiciously invested now his actual goal is completed and naryu is safe, vows to go back into time again, away from naryu, to live under the now evil queen and bring protection and comfort to the villagers as a direct act of resistance, because the witch is feeding on their sorrow to power an unknown ritual (link knows. Link, canonically, has told nobody). So this teen in fancy robes and cape goes back to the oppressed, poverty stricken town under the thumb if someone who wants him dead and lives there for weeks if not months dedicating himself to supporting the village and bringing people's hopes and spirits back up, presumably while living out of someone else's wooden hut. In the middle of a literal depression inducing miasma that's sapping everyone's joy and will to live.

That just. Takes insane strength of character. That's a feat of pure, distilled, compassion as anarchy.

Link's off bouncing between past and present doing dungeons and solving easier issues through either sword or magic item, but Ralph is out here doing the long hard slog for little reward.

Link finally returns to the black tower completed, affecting even the people of the present, and, preparations complete, rushes to the past. Ralph is nowhere be seen. Talking to the villagers reveals several have a crush on him, but an old man saw him running for the tower, sword drawn. There's a man pacing by the entrance, who saw the kid run in, tried to stop him. He said Ralph said that he no longer cared what happened to him. That the man realised that Ralph had quietly succumbed to the same curse of despair they all were under. Link fights his way up to the top of the tower, where Ralph confronts the evil queen, sword at her heart, but every step she takes into it, he steps back. The witch laughs. She asks him if he's really willing to write himself out of existence - being the queens descendant, and all. Ralph leaps back, into links chest. He's shaking and stuttering, but he lunges, and is knocked out in one blow. The queen now asks link the same question: is he willing to erase Ralph? If he strikes her, kills her, the queen will die, childless, and he will never live. She leaves, and link rushes to Ralph. He's awake but unresponsive, defeated. With a heavy heart, Link leaves him to chase the queen. It's naryu who finds him, brings him out of the tower.

When the witch is defeated, the curse is lifted, and Ralph is once more energetic and kind. He's a little quieter now, though, sticking close to naryu. For all he was a loud and headstrong kid, I gotta say I was very impressed.

He would have made a good king.

[i-cast-zone-of-truth]

I liked that Zelda was re-humanified at the end of totk! I don't think it was cheap, I think it makes sense that the zonai were wrong that she would be stuck forever (since thinking they know everything and being proven wrong is kind of their thing). And I think her thinking she was giving up any chance of existing as a little elf and seeing her future friends again is plenty of sacrifice.

I was gonna say the Ultimate Forever Sacrifice wouldn't be wrong, just way different, but actually I think it would suck. There's no scaffolding in the rest of the story to support it!

However, I do have some suggested tweaks:

1. Let Zelda keep those cute horns and maybe some other dragonish traits

2. Let her take some time to re-acclimate to speaking, walking, etc

3. No need to discuss the future of the kingdom, ok? The kingdom is set dressing.

3. Let Link cry over Zelda! That's his wife!

[jzibbles]

reaching for home · 30+ hrs, clip studio paint

totk spoilers below

Obviously, enjoyed TOTK. First time ever finishing a 3rd person POV game. Loved the end scene (who doesn't). IMO the sage storylines weren't as compelling as the champions, but loved seeing Zelda developed more. Wish they dove (hah) into her sacrifice and the depths (HAH) of her chara more, but then it wouldn't be as much a "kid's" game. That was also why it was important to me to render Link's scars.

This piece was really about exploring color, perspective, and CSP's built-in 3D modelling tools. Prolly my best colored piece yet, tho colors are still muddier than I'd like. Calling it done as I'm not interested in continuing to render the waves / clouds / sky islands, and can't quite wrap my brain around any other color changes at the moment. I know they set the last catch sometime midday to get that light blue / gold lighting effect (since purple and red are so Ganon-coded), but I really wanted to try the backlit sunset effect. Maybe we can say this is related to how, yk, ages of sacrifice to fight a demon king Might Actually leave an effect on somebody? Who Knows Ey?

Was careless about accessories / canon details in this piece as it was mostly for study, but: I'm happy about how Zelda's jewelry turned out. Nice and shiny.

Obviously, please don't copy + post elsewhere without attribution please! This took me a long time! Even if it is "just" a study.

(How might one upload in higher quality? This was a much higher res piece before it got compressed.)

[vagueandominousvibes]

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A ROUGH OUTLINE AND AN INTEREST CHECK.

Hey guys, remember this idea I had some months ago?

I'm aware there's already a couple of LoZ cookbook fanzines out there (specifically these two based on BotW and on TotK), but as far as I understand, these both focus on re-creating recipes and presenting fanart. (They look gorgeous btw and you should totally check them out!!)

Link's Cookbook is somewhat more diverse, in that it's essentially Link and Zelda's travel journal. It's where Link scribbles down recipes while on the road, and Zelda later tries to parse and correct his spelling. It's where Zelda sketches the world around them — everything from scientific studies of bumblebees to scenic views from a hilltop. It's where they keep track of encounters and incidents of varying importance.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a scrapbook of their experiences in the months and years between BotW and TotK as they get re-acquainted and together rebuild Hyrule.

To break it down, it would essentially consist of:

Recipes inspired by the recipes in BotW and TotK

As a loose guideline, grab a recipe from one of the games and explain how to make it in real life using real life food items.

Example: Cheesy Tomato (recipe from TotK). It's described as 'a simple dish of Hylian tomato topped with delicious Hateno cheese'. (Source | Image). In-game, you need Hylian Tomato and Hateno Cheese to make this.

Based on the illustration, a real life adaptation might suggest using cherry tomatoes, Edam cheese, black pitted olives as the main components, then add a drizzle of olive oil, some black pepper, and fresh basil leaves for flavour and garnish. Who knows, you could even suggest lightly roasting the tomatoes with a teaspoon of honey to really bring out their flavour!

Vaguely connected short stories about Link and Zelda, set in the time period between BotW and TotK, related to the recipes

Depending on how many would like to participate in this, there's a few ways of doing this: (1) people sign up specifically to write short stories; (2) the writers of the recipes either (2.1) draft ideas while working on the recipes and pass them on to short story writers to finish, or (2.2) the recipe writers also write short stories to go with their recipes; (3) or a single person is tasked with tying everything together with short stories.

(No I'm not overthinking this.)

Fanart related to the recipes

Study time! Y'know when you're taking an arts class and you have to do a charcoal sketch of an apple and a banana in very dramatic lighting? That's the vibe we're going for here. Use all the colours you like, but ultimately we're aiming for sketchbook art to really complete the overall journal vibe of the zine.

So yeah! If you're interested, drop your name, discord contact, and what you'd like to contribute with in the Google form right here by the 31st of January!

[gintrinsic-writing]

Fic Recs

Stories that made my heart hurt in the best of ways.

Ode to Storms by Sinnatious. Linked Universe. Honestly, if you haven't read this one yet, where've you been? Prepare to be crushed. I can't recommend it enough. Time and one unfortunate paradox.

Dirt and Ashes, or: The One-and-a-Half Body Problem by Tozette. Naruto. Sakura is trained by Hidan after the chunin exam invasion. It's gruesome and chilling and perfect.

The Lesson: A Whumptober Tale by WolfWarden. Linked Universe. Mask uses the Fierce Deity mask, and there are consequences. Nobody is left unscathed. WolfWarden absolutely crushed this.

Good Order and Discipline by Succorelle. The Clone Wars. A re-telling of the Clone Wars wherein Rex and Cody have a secret (illegal) relationship. I've re-read this probably four times since it was published.

Interim by starkraving. The Legend of Zelda. Zelda, Link and Ganondorf try to navigate friendship and more despite their predestined roles. It had me so stressed. Really great writing.

Crumble by anthemXIX. Linked Universe. Someone dies, and the LU heroes are left to mourn. On grief and moving on (sometimes before you're ready), with great writing to take you there.

Because He Is A Friend Of Mine by ofredandgold. Naruto. I was literally so excited whenever this story updated, but ouch. Meaningful relationships in a war-driven society that expects you to choose clan first, always. Set in the Warring States Period.

 "You have to let go"/Bound (Wind & Warriors) by LettersByTheLake. Linked Universe. To this day gives me chills. Short and so far from sweet. Warriors, Wind, and the terrible act of letting go.

In the Dark Zone by Just_Bonesy. Linked Universe. Who better to write horror than Bonesy? Twilight wakes up in darkness. Things get much worse from there.

In Good Company by weialala. Naruto. Sasuke can see and hear the ghosts of the previous Hokage. Ultimately, his life changes for the better, but Weialala's amazing writing will kick you in the heart first.