#revali would win

[theicarusconstellation]

regulus vs revali sass contest

[revalink-incorrect-quotes]

Link: God, if only someone loved me…

Mipha: *standing behind him with roses*

Revali: *holding box of chocolates*

Zelda: *has balloons and a card*

Urbosa: *facepalms* This is sad, you’re all hopeless.

[the-knife-consumer]

i think Sidon would maul Revali for trying to make moves on his bestie brother friend

He has an intense fear of the zora royal family, if you were wondering

[amiharana]

Hi it's the Slate anon again um. I love your posts on botw modern AUs just imagining all the antics they would get into. You know they would all have a group chat together, Urbosa writes with proper punctuation and everything, every one of Zelda's messages is programmed to sign with "Her Royal Highness Zelda Bosphoramus Hyrule CCLXXVII" and Daruk writes every single thing in all caps. Link as quiet as he is means every time they see "Link is typing..." it's a national event (and it ends up being "ok" or "🫡")

Daruk would have a long distance game night every week for a "bonding session" but an hour each time is spent in him figuring out how to turn on the camera for the video call. Mipha invites Zelda, Revali and link to her animal crossing island and Zelda does nothing but fill the museum with animals while revali spends an embarrassing amount of time decorating the island. A Mario kart session nearly led to the murder of multiple champions

HI SLATE ANON 🥺🤍 IT'S NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK!! and i'm glad to hear you like the modern aus!! imagining what the champions w zelda and link would be like in a modern au brings me much joy

zelda's signature LMFAOOO i bet she started off with just "—Zelda" and then kept adding shit until it was ridiculously long and she just keeps adding stuff it to the point where if she just sends the word "hi" her signature is 99% of the message. daruk absolutely types in all caps and he tries to use slang words but it's a hit or miss he's very much the How Do You Do Fellow Kids? meme. i agree w link being quiet in the chat, but i'm torn between him being online often and just lurking silently + reacting to messages with emojis or him constantly having his phone on do not disturb, low brightness, and <10% battery all the time 😭😭 the gang buys him chargers but he always somehow breaks them ksjhdfjkd

the idea of the champions having a game night over like a discord call or something is so fuckign cute im cryingfhgjk it doesn't matter what the game is, revali is going to end up being ridiculously competitive and try to win every single time. link effortlessly beats him every time tho LMAOKDJFHDKJF zelda link and revali playing animal crossing together 🥺🥺🥺 link lowkey be tearing up zelda's island and steals all her fruit though LOL

this kinda made me think of a twitch streamers au 😄 i think zelda would be like a just talking/variety streamer like think pokimane or valkyrae; mipha would play games like animal crossing or stardew valley, but then randomly do a fortnite stream but the thing is she would fucking slay at it????? 😭 i feel like urbosa would play a lot of horror games like dead by daylight, resident evil etc. me personally i can't handle horror so props to urbosa bc it doesn't faze her at all whatsoever

i'm not sure what daruk would stream? would he even be able to get his setup together like he lowkey gives me the same vibes as the one time snoop dogg did a stream and forgot to log off so the live was just on for like 12 hours or something LMAO. now revali and link....... they are The Streamers Ever. i think they're both variety streamers but also like speedrunner rivals and also revali would speedrun elden ring and link would speedrun super mario odyssey

imagining the champions+zelda getting brought together by like . fuckin, idk someone doing love or host (hestu but he's the austinshow KJDHFDJKH) and the dynamic between them all is just so good they end up somehow becoming a stream team :] the champions+zelda playing jackbox or among us together :> revali losing his shit when he gets killed but also being the most efficient murderer and so is link so they kill everyone else in the game Quick Asf 😳 revalink have a "We are a good team" klance moment LOL......

imagine the champions having a minecraft server that they stream on and it's called the CSMP (Champions SMP). zelda has admin perms and revali is always asking for admin too claiming that he's the second most responsible person on the team, and to prove a point, zelda then gives admin to urbosa much to revali's chagrin. while this is all happening, daruk is still learning the wasd keys and trying to move and link is already in the nether #SpeedrunnerLife! mipha is 1000 blocks away swimming with dolphins and finds a sunken ship with treasure :> they eventually add the descendants to the SMP too, and impa and rhoam make special appearances on link and zelda's streams!

i highkey love this au 😭🤍

[critical-birb]

Worlds laziest doodle but listen. It occured to me suddenly that if Rito only live to be 50, and if we assume Gerudo and Goron age relitivelly similarly to Hylians - then Revali, Urbosa and Daruk would have been able to live out their golden years together if they'd survived. Nice au where they win the Calamity war and thirty years later get to play chess and eat soup together while complaining about having sore knees.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

The Legend of Zelda: stats of the kingdom

A Statistical Analysis of Popular Fanfiction in the Legend of Zelda Fandom on AO3

I like numbers and stats and for some unfathomable reason I find it calming. So over the past couple weeks, I’ve been making this spreadsheet!

DISCLAIMER: This is not a judgement of the quality, value, or merits of any of the fics on this list. It's just me being curious about what's popular with the Legend of Zelda fandom on AO3.

Feel free to go explore the spreadsheet. My own observations and analysis under the cut.

TL:DR, Link has a lot of kinky sex. Sidlink and Zelink are vying for who’s the most popular ship. Also, this fandom has a shit ton of sub categories that are truly islands unto themselves and have their own conventions.

Methodology: I'm including all fics from the first page of AO3 results (20 fics per page) sorted by:

Hits

Kudos

Comments

Bookmarks

Anything tagged under the Legend of Zelda and Related Fandoms tag that was in the top 20 most hits, kudos, comments, or bookmarks made it into the spreadsheet. This ended up including 51 fics in total.

I put all the fics into one single spreadsheet in order to compare the differences between fics that are really high on the kudos count but not the hit count, or what has a lot of comments but fewer hits. Basically, I'm throwing a lot of things together to observe what gets engagement and looking at patterns that emerge!

Popular fandom subcategories:

Botw (41 fics tagged as such)

Linked Universe (9, including one mostly set in the world of BOTW)

OoT (2)

(I do wonder what it would be like to run these numbers on other fanfic sites, given the popularity boom of ao3 over the last 15 years or so. But also, Botw was an insanely popular game even by Zelda standards, so… who knows?)

Tags:

Character tags: Obviously, Link was by far the most popular character, but here are the characters that had a minimum of 3 appearances per category. Yay champions!

Zelda

Sidon

Mipha

Urbosa

Revali

Daruk

Story tags: Again, just going by sheer numbers, here are the story tags that appeared at least 3 times in every category:

Slowburn

AU – canon divergence

With honorable mentions to fluff, angst, double penetration, anal sex, amnesia/memory loss, and mute or selectively mute Link, who all cracked above 3 instances in 2 separate categories.

Relationships:

This was a tight race, but shoutout to Sidlink for eking out the win for the most highly rated ship in the Zelda fandom with 13 fics qualifying in my ranking. Zelink is close behind at 10 fics. (That being said, Zelink takes it by volume: 7,797 fics tagged as Zelink vs Sidlink’s 2,193)

Other popular ships:

Revalink (8) (this one surprised me! I didn’t realize my beloved birb was so popular)

Miphlink (3)

Link/Monsters (2)

Sidon/Reader (2)

Ganzelink, Ganlink, Malink, Miphzelink, and Miphzel all made single appearances.

(Pls don’t start ship war discourse in the notes kthanx)

All right, let’s deep dive into the numbers!

Fics in all 4 categories:

Interim - starkraving

Sands of time -tirsynni

Congrats you are officially the most popular Loz fics across all of ao3! at least according to my particular scope of analysis.

Fics in 3 categories:

Displaced - socksock

Drown In Me - bacchanalia

Alone We Fight - SilvermistAnimeLover

Blood Moon Rising - MarquesGillette

Popular authors (people who show up more than once in multiple categories sorry comments georg)

MarquesGillette

MaryDragon

SilvermistAnimeLover

ObakeAri

Hits:

Top 5 most popular fics by hit count:

Displaced - socksock

Interim - starkraving

To Save Hyrule - orphan_account

Sands of time - tirsynni

Drown In Me - bacchanalia

First page by hits:

Min: 117,917 – Sidon’s Epic Pining Adventure (ObakeAri)  

Max:  189,622 – Displaced (socksock)

Average: 145,385

Average wordcount for fics with the most hits:

140,909

Kudos:

Top 5 most popular fics by kudos count:

Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy - Icka M Chif

Interim - starkraving

To My Dearest Friend - surveycorpsjean

26 Minutes and 42 Seconds - T_5Seconds

Blood Moon Rising - MarquesGillette

First page by kudos:

Min: 4917 – Finding Link (Umbreonix)

Max:  10321 – Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy (Icka M Chif)

Average: 6981

Average wordcount for fics with the most kudos:

41,136

Comments:

Top 5 most popular fics by comment count:

Carlos from MarvelandZeldaFan's Children of the Heroes - KR5

This is an Adjuration - notfreyja

My Art - KR5

Sidon's Epic Pining Adventure - ObakeAri

Priestess of War - KR5

Woohoo! You all get to meet KR5 aka Comments Georg. Comments Georg has long conversations and RPs in the comments of their ao3 posts, which are usually fanart. TO BE CLEAR, THIS IS TOTALLY FINE AND COOL! I think it’s quite delightful! However, it does completely bork my ranking system because outside of comments, these posts do not have a lot of engagement (like, less than 100 hits and less than 20 kudos) and I don’t think they count towards my analysis of “what is popular in the Zelda fandom writ large”. But they qualified based on my criteria. Which I think speaks to the weakness of my criteria more than anything else tbh…

Anyways, shoutout to Comments Georg for truly showing off what it means to be a statistical outlier.

First page by comments:

Min: 1568 – The Quiet River Rages (MaryDragon)

Max:  43808 - Carlos from MarvelandZeldaFan's Children of the Heroes (KR5)

Average: 4131 (which goes down to 2042 if we exclude KR5’s impressive max, which is a full order of magnitude more than notfreyja in second place with 3470 comments. Very much demonstrating the power of a statistical outlier!)

Average wordcount for fics with the most comments:

275,593

Bookmarks:

Top 5 most popular fics by bookmarks count:

Interim - starkraving

Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy - Icka M Chif

Sands of time - tirsynni

To My Dearest Friend - surveycorpsjean

Alone We Fight - SilvermistAnimeLover

First page by bookmarks:

Min: 973 – Expatriate (thehoyden)

Max:  2984 – Interim (starkraving)

Average: 1468

Average wordcount for fics with the most bookmarks:

70,027

Fic Ratings:

G: 3 (literally all fanart from KR5)

T: 22

M: 8

E: 17

Unrated: 1

Observations:

I ran this twice. Once including crossovers, and once excluding crossovers. This filtered out a lot of large drabbles and things like “flash fiction fuckings” which, no judgment, you do you, they just weren’t super relevant for what I was looking for. If you wanna see these stats including all the multifandom stuff that shows up, here’s the link for that:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DXDKXutIzVC-Iac93fFSDohAkphrn67yV-DmRt9xXmU/edit?usp=sharing

(I’m going to break academic professional analysis here and get on my soapbox for a sec – please don’t post big multifandom one shots where you tag like 20 different fandoms and every single kink that gets written about across 103 different chapters. This is literally what series are for. These kinds of things just clog up the tags, and it also makes it harder for people to find the things you’ve written that they want to read! I know this was a convention on ff.net, but this is not ff.net! We can make authors' lives and readers' lives easier!)

There were 38,427 fics in the tag “Legend of Zelda and Related Fandoms” (including crossovers, that goes up to 41,634). I manually added one back in though because it was entirely a botw story, just loosely inspired by another game.

Linked Universe fans comment a LOT. Strong correlation between high comment and Linked Universe fandom subsection. Y’all are very involved and active, and you show support to your authors. I salute you!

Sidlinkers, y'all are horny and I respect it.

Zelinkers, dear god we do love a slowburn.

All the most highly kudos’d fics are very low in the comment count. It’s almost an inverse correlation.

Excluding crossovers increased the correlation between hits and kudos quite dramatically.

There were not very many au’s other than canon divergence. Only one modern au as far as I could tell from a cursory examination of tags.

Lots more clustering, far less disparity between min and max numbers than when I ran this with A:TLA numbers.

Far less consensus on a vibe. Way fewer big writers, but lots of little writers doing their own thing.

Truly a lot of E fics. We are horny bastards.

We need more stuff written for games other than BOTW!!

There aren’t as many fics that are like “oh everyone in the fandom has read these fics”. There are probably those fics in each subcategory of the fandom, or within the specific ships, but there aren’t as many general fics that have entire fandom-wide appeal.

Thank you for reading! This was a lot of fun, and I hope you found it interesting. Shoutout to the Hateno Hangout discord for helping me refine this mess :P

Further shoutout to my partner who helped with writing some SQL to help with tag analysis. Truly partner of the year.

If you want more of this kind of egregious nerdiness, I did this with the top fics in the A:TLA fandom a couple weeks ago: https://www.tumblr.com/cooking-with-hailstones/751749202663669760/statistical-analysis-of-the-most-popular-atla

[the-whole-shebang]

BOTW Champion Headcanons Part 11 (I think)

Mental health is dipping, so you know what that means more headcanons!

Purrah chews pens and has definitely bit through one at least once and swallowed a bunch of ink.

Luckily, the frequent and risky human experimentation Purrah performs on herself immunized her to any possible illness she could have acquired from ingesting said ink.

Link has sign language nicknames for all the Champions.

The Champions all got tattoos together.

Urbosa got a lightning streak down her thigh, Daruk got an image of Vah Rudania on his back, Revali got an arrow and a feather in an "x" formation, Mipha got a koi fish curled around a trident on her forearm, Zelda got a sleeping princess flower behind her left ear, and Link got a little dog. It has a little hat.

Urbosa got snake bite piercings at some point.

Link is far less serious than everyone assumes. He acts that way because he's uncomfortable around strangers, but once you get to know him oh boy there's no turning back.

Revali would be an excellent chess player, but he gets so wrapped up in meticulously planning a strategy that he doesn't realize Urbosa's winning until she says checkmate.

Daruk always feels awful asking Mipha to heal him, so he often sneaks away after fights to a field healer before she can fuss over him.

Zelda doodles on her hands. She also writes reminders on her arms.

For all their disagreements and teasing, Urbosa and Revali love to judge other people together. (Revali more so than Urbosa, but she sticks around cus his commentary is actually hilarious).

Zelda and Link got so comfortable around each other that they often communicate just in glances and unintelligible half sentences. It confuses the hell out of everyone else.

Robbie will eat nearly every organic thing you hand him if he's tired enough, and sometimes it doesn't even have to be organic. Purrah has been running a three year long study about the corellation between Robbie's sleep deprivation and the types of objects he'll ingest.

[asktheritochampion]

You know...now that I think about it, it's interesting you claim Link wouldn't have walked away if Zelda didn't intervene...but... did you ever stop to consider that if Link didn't stop mid swing after deflecting your arrow...he would have chopped you in half...Wow Revali you were literally seconds away from death, and it would have been from Link of all people. Did you sleep well that day? I think you're a lot more shaken up than you let on.

I slept like a baby that night.

Do you have any idea how frequently I am seconds from death? I'm the greatest warrrior of my people. I spend most of my waking hours fighting hoards of monsters ten times my size.

If I wasn't in life threatening situations at least fifteen times a day I'm fairly sure I'd be bored stiff. That skirmish, if anything, was merely entertaining for me.

I'm eager to repeat it so that I can go all out this time. Win or lose, it would be a fight for the ages, and I'd finally get the satisfaction of knowing which of us is best.

[revalinkweek]

🍁REVALINK HALLOWEEN WEEK FAQ🎃

WHEN DOES IT START?

25th of October is the official beginning of the Revalink Halloween Week.

REVALINK?

Revali and Link.

It's not necessarily needed as ship here. You can, of course, participate without shipping them! Always love to see different dynamics.

WHAT ARTFORM IS ALLOWED?

Everything creative! Fanart, Comics, Fanfics, Songlyrics, Crafts, and so on! If you can make it, do it.

(Please do not use AI)

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PROMPTS?

You can choose || between || the prompts. And should you feel overpowered, combine them!

Sometimes, I don't know how to draw the only promt that is given. So I give you the opportunity to pick your favourite.

DO I NEED TO PARTICIPATE EVERY DAY?

No. Of course, it would be cool to have you with us for the whole week, but you are free to do as much as you like!

DOES IT NEED TO BE HORROR/ANGST?

No. Every genre is welcome!

WHEN SHOULD I POST MY WORK?

Every prompt has its day! (See promptlist)

You can post your work whenever you see fit, but I will reblog them on their specific day. (And afterwards, should there be late [or very late] entrances.)

DOES IT NEED TO BE FINISHED?

Absolutely not!

You don't need a finished masterpiece. Rough ideas are also great. There is nothing to win here, don't be afraid!

We all just want a good and creative time!

CAN I DRAW OTHER CHARACTERS?

You can draw as many characters as you want. As long as you don't forget our name givers.

ANY DONTS?

Please no explicit gore or pornographics

HOW TO TAG MY WORK?

Please tag your pieces with at least one version of:

# revalink halloween week 2024 /

# revalinkhalloweenweek2024

And

# revalink halloween week /

# revalinkhalloweenweek

So I can find them. Thank you!

They are long I know. And I'm so sorry XD

Any questions unanswered? Just ask me, and I'll update the FAQ.

[josnhoes]

Hello! I just stumbled across your Self aware loz au, and I loved it! Do you have anymore ideas for ficlets for it? Oh! May I ask for the reader meeting Sidon? ( the timeline isn’t clear but I think it’s after Botw?) if not Sidon then Revali if it takes place during totk?

So my time frame for the series is post botw pre totk. Though I can't wait to explore Ganon's feelings on reader. Because there would be many.

Content warning: none.

Meeting Sidon had been big on your list of things to do. Link had told a bunch of stories of the fish man. And while you were still struggling with a heavy fog in your mind, you were ready to explore. Zelda had been hesitant to allow that. The fog was more a mixing of emotions and lives. She said it was a self protection from remembering being a God and adjusting to being back. She wasn't wrong but more it was like the you from your world was being turned into a God, not remembering it.

Regardless Zelda and Link knew if you wanted to go you would, they couldn't stop you. You were the high God. The progenitor. They had no right to make demands. So instead they went with you. Link was excited to introduce you to everyone. His silence had become less common since your arrival.

The domain itself was far more grand in person than it had been on the screen. Feeling the cool air and stone brought a sense of tranquility. The group had been swiftly approached by the prince who happily called for Link. And you smiled watching the *large* zora lift Link into a hug. Huh...you never realized how big the Zora truly were before.

Sidon was simply excited, he'd gotten the letter informing his people of their arrival. With the rumors of the return of the progenitor floating about he figured Link and Zelda would be looking into that themselves. Even his father had sent some troops out to find out more.

So the shock he felt when you were revealed to himself and his people weren't as big as they should have been. Though he supposed he should have noticed, with your round ears and ethereal glow you seemed to have. It was only there if you weren't really looking directly at you.

Sidon the first night didn't get to speak to you much, his father and people had called for a celebration and things had gotten very busy very fast. Though he was glad it was a good thing this time. But he observed you from a distance and felt himself feel *shy* about approaching you directly. Even as a guppy he hadn't felt *this* shy. Though he never had a God in the domain before.... at times Link had felt divine with the sheer strength he had. But that was just him bragging about his bestie again.

He promised to himself that tomorrow after you'd rested he'd approach you himself. Maybe if he charmed you enough you could be convinced to stay longer! Wins all around.

[linkemon]

House of memories (Link x Reader)

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you're interested.

Other oneshots can be found here.

"— ɪ ʀᴇᴀʟ��ʏ ᴡɪꜱʜ ɪ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛ�� ᴄʀʏ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ — ꜱʜᴇ ᴀᴅᴅᴇᴅ ꜱᴀʀᴄᴀꜱᴛɪᴄᴀʟʟʏ. ʜᴏᴡᴇᴠᴇʀ, ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜱᴇɴᴛᴇɴᴄᴇ. ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ɴᴏ ᴏɴᴇ ᴇʟꜱᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ꜱᴇᴇ. — ɪ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇ — ʜᴇ ᴡʜɪꜱᴘᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ʟᴇꜰᴛ. ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ʜɪꜱ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ʀᴇꜱᴏɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴ ʜᴇʀ ᴍɪɴᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴛɪᴍᴇ."

— I finally control this beast! Piece of cake! Goron shouted, turning sharply. — Let the other champions know and we'll see if they can keep up with the great Daruk!

[Reader] thought she was going to vomit. She desperately tried to keep her balance on the huge machine. Unlike the blonde standing next to her, who seemed to be glued to the surface of the giant lizard.

— Just look at these rocks scattered across the mountains. Delicious!

The girl wanted to cry with happiness when everything around her finally stopped spinning and her stomach seemed to be in place.

— I may not know much about this Ganon but believe me, I will defend Hyrule to the death. Do we understand each other? — The Champion patted them on the back.

[Reader] almost doubled over from the force of his impact on her spine.

She adored her giant friend but the ride had damaged her nerves so much that she didn't even have the strength to agree to his confession.

— By the way — he said to Link — congratulations on becoming the princess's personal knight! — Serious work, no pressure! — He laughed.

The girl didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. She did not share Goron's enthusiasm.

She protected the king and his daughter was often with him. This also made her Zelda's protector. They understood each other very well, they were of similar age. So she felt jealous every time she looked at the blue tunic that marked the blonde's important position. He was chosen.

Maybe everything would be easier if the princess accepted him. Meanwhile, she walked around as angry as a wasp every time he followed her. She was upset about the lost freedom that [Reader] had always respected. The boy, however, did not give her a moment's respite. Recently he had followed her all the way to the Gerudo Desert, where only women were allowed into the city. No one has ever found out how he managed to sneak there.

[Reader] looked up, only to see a huge piece of rock roll down the mountain.

— What the...

She closed her eyes, preparing for the impact. But when she opened them, she saw that Goron had covered them with a shield just in time. This broke the stone into tiny pieces. However, she was surprised to see Link shielding her with his body from a blow that never came.

— It was a bit strange. As far as I know, Death Mountain was dormant for decades. If it shakes enough to drop boulders that size… — Daruk frowned. — Never mind, forget about it.

The hero looked around, as if afraid of further shaking and moved away from the girl with a gentle smile.

Link trained often and for long periods of time alone. However, he especially liked sparring with [Reader].

When he first saw her against the Moblins, he asked for lessons. Unfortunately, it became clear from the very beginning that the chosen one of the goddess Hylia could not be taught anything more in terms of swordsmanship. Not with the skills she had.

The blonde sometimes cheated and let her win. She scolded him every time she noticed, shouting that no one spares anyone on the battlefield. He accepted criticism but precedents were repeated from time to time.

There was something about Link that made her agree to practice almost every night. Even when, tired after a long day of service, she just wanted to collapse and fall asleep, she ran to the meeting place.

That day, she also found Revali training in the square in front of the castle:

— Have you ever wondered why he is the chosen one? Why not you or me?

[Reader] blinked rapidly.

Rito, known for his inflated ego, was still jealous enough to dwell on it. She gave up on herself quite a few months ago.

— You have experience and you stand by the king every day. You're his age and you've achieved so much. There has never been anyone like this in the history of the royal guard. And me? I am the best archer among my people. Nobody flies better than me. I control Vah Medoh, for Hylia's sake! What does he have other than a sword on his back?

— I was thinking about it — the girl began. — And I think I've found a satisfactory answer.

The champion's eyebrow rose.

— Really?

[Reader] sighed and turned her face towards the setting sun, trying to gather her thoughts.

— His skills far exceed ours. Moreover, he cares about Princess Zelda, although she rejects him every time, which is probably the most important thing in his job. You know what character she has. I've also never seen him refuse to help anyone and he wants to protect all of us here. Let's face it, he's better than the two of us combined. The perfect hero.

— And yet he doesn't talk to you.

Revali knew where to sting so that it would hurt.

— That's true but sometimes actions speak louder than words.

[Reader] picked up her sword and returned to training, thus ending the conversation. Meanwhile, the champion shook his bow and then took off into the sky with his bow.

Neither of them saw the sincere expression of gratitude in the blue eyes of the boy hidden behind the trees.

The girl patiently listened to the story of how the hero dealt with the beasts. The princess told her about the battlefield he left behind and her worries.

[Reader] had to take care of a boy who showed up to training after the fight as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, the condition of the wound, which Zelda had somehow secured, did not look good at all.

Despite his silent protest, she took the boy to the infirmary. Unfortunately, there was no medic in the room who was treating one of the generals, so she was forced to check the injuries herself.

She didn't stop herself from turning red as the blonde pulled off his blue tunic, revealing clearly defined muscles. To hide it, she went to one of the shelves in search of bandages, of which she actually had plenty.

The room didn't smell very pleasant. She never liked the smell of medicines and various strange mixtures. However, she forced herself to concentrate in order to restore the patient to a relative state of use. At least for a moment.

— Wait, Link — she asked before he could disappear out the door. — You should submit your report this evening. This is the most important thing now that we expect Ganon to return. Contact me for documents.

The boy looked tired. She just had to look at his face. She didn't want to burden him with writing down the entire massacre on paper but she had no choice. If the princess was right, they had to prepare for the worst.

The boy responded with a nod. Nothing to add, nothing to take away. All of him.

— And one more thing — she hesitated. — You should let go a little sometimes.

She saw the fire of determination in his blue eyes. She knew what he wanted to express with it. Ever since she met him, she had to learn how to understand him without words.

— I'm not saying you should give up completely. My point is that sometimes you have to know when to retreat. There is no shame in running away and these fights are not the end but the beginning of something bigger. If at some point Hyrule comes to face the power of Ganon, we will need you. Until then, I want to see you in one piece. Do we understand each other, hero?

Link froze, as if unsure whether he should nod again.

— I really wish I won't have to cry for you — she added sarcastically.

However, there was much more to this sentence. Something no one else could see.

— I promise — he whispered and left.

The sound of his voice resonated in her mind for a long time.

Link knew this wasn't the time to dwell on defeat. He should pick up the princess and keep fighting.

Say anything. But what exactly?

— How... How did this happen? The Divine Beasts, the Guardians... Ganon has turned them all against us! Mipha, Urbosa, Revali and Daruk are trapped and it's all my fault. Our only hope ceased to exist because I could not harness this cursed power! — Zelda screamed. — Everything I've done so far has come to naught. I really am a failure! My friends, my kingdom, my father... [Reader]... I have tried and failed everyone. I left them for dead!

The hero felt all the words getting stuck in his throat. However, he couldn't get the thought out of his head that he hadn't said goodbye to [Reader]. They didn't have time to return to the castle when Ganon awoke. He knew that the girl had definitely stood by the king and stayed by his side until the very end.

Memories seemed to press into his head, wanting to bring tears to his eyes. Unfortunately, regret was a luxury he couldn't afford right now.

Another Guardian arrived.

The princess could no longer bear the burden of guilt that fell upon her.

— Save yourself Link! I can handle it. Run!

Standing on unsteady legs, he raised his sword, only to see Zelda run in front of him. Her hand emitted a bright glow, destroying enemies around them.

Power that was missing when it was needed most. It has awaken.

— Link! Everything will be...

Then darkness came.

[Reader] floated with King Rhoam and the four champions above Hyrule Castle among the blue wisps. She wished she had gotten a chance to talk to the boy one last time like the others. But she knew Link remembered her. He finally regained his memories.

She saw that hint of nostalgia in his blue eyes.

After a hundred years, she was finally able to admire the beauty of the world again, now free from Ganon's rule.

This was enough for her to disappear in a light breeze with a smile on her face.

Link and Zelda, as if on cue, turned towards their former home.

However, all they saw were the petals of the Silent Princess carried by the wind.

[homocidalpotat]

just saw ur post about wanting to rant about zelda, and i wanted to ask what you thought about the sages in totk. do you think that they’re useful as they are, or should they have been the original characters (mipha, revali, urbosa, and daruk) or something completely different?

Oooh good question!! Thanks for the ask <3

I'm not really sure, it's very dependent on a lot of factors. The sage's powers in TOTK compared to BOTW are very different and vary in usefulness.

Urbosa's power allows you to hold down your attack button and release electricity around you. Riju's power allows you to electrocute something with an arrow (although in water it spreads more and if something is near where you hit it, it probably gets electrocuted too). Riju is in this case more of a ranged weapon and better for sneak attacks than a mid-fight tactic. I think her power is more useful, because it can break rocks and is really powerful, and I like using arrows. I never really used Urbosa's power because I found it too fiddly to use.

Daruk's power creates a shield that protects you from any attack. Yunobo's power allows you to leave a line of fire and destruction that can break through most things, boulders included. This one is more circumstantial- without Yunobo's power, you wouldn't be able to progress in TOTK due to the weird red rocks (only Yunobo can break them). However, aside from the Goron quest, Yunobo is quite useless. Sure, it's useful to get through a wall of rocks but there are bomb flowers and timed bombs and Riju and boulder breakers, etc. Daruk's power is infinitely better- 3 chances every 15 (or so?) minutes to survive intense attacks from bosses and lynels and the like. Daruks power is better in this situation.

Revali allows you to fly about 30 metres upwards into the air. Tulin allows you to fly about 15 metres sideways in the air. I'm going to be honest. Tulin's power is pretty useless. Any distance you can travel with Tulin pushing you along stays about the same as if you gave yourself a 30 metre push before you went to the air. Revali's power also helps you escape monsters and get up cliffs and many things like that. Tulin's power doesn't even really affect his main quest- you can use the Zonai devices just as well. Revali will always be better despite his snide and obnoxious attitude. I love Tulin with all of my heart but it's just... not that helpful.

Mipha heals you if you lose all of your hearts (I don't think all the way but she still helps you a lot). Sidon gives you a bubble of water that you can splash at an enemy. Sidon's power is awful, not going to lie. You have chuchu jelly and splash fruit to remove the sludge. With Mipha, she can be depended on to save your life and keep you going during your most difficult battles. I love Mipha <3 Mipha wins that round by a mile.

So if you compare the BOTW champions to the TOTK sages, for the most part, the BOTW ones are a lot better. But if you look at the certain situations you end up in, you would struggle to get through the game, especially with Yunobo's power. However, I think it would have been cool to have the previous sages (that are shown in the memories), and had the current sages just help on the quest, like in BOTW. I think the powers are a bit bad, but it's made up for with the Zonai devices and Rauru's arm. I think with the BOTW champions, the game would have almost been too easy, but I did miss the aspects of healing and shielding in BOTW. I appreciate that the recharge time in TOTK is a minute fraction of what it is in BOTW however. So it really does depend.

[ghirahimbo]

lol so any of these story ideas/WIPs "winning" the poll does not guarantee an update, but I'm wrangling my WIPs together, and I was just curious to know generally where people's interest might be? I just realized tonight that I haven't posted anything to ao3 since I finished BBN in 2022, so, uh. Feeling a bit rusty, I guess 😅 Brief descriptions/links to the stories below:

The Importance of Being Link | gen, crackfic treated semi-seriously, BotW Link finds Ghirahim’s sword at the Breach of Demise and they both have to adjust to this | on ao3

Arbiter | ghiralink-ish (more referenced in the past than present), dark-ish, BotW Link finds Ghirahim imprisoned in the Arbiter's Grounds one night and can't help but return | on ao3

Better | Age of Calamity revalink | on ao3

Eternal Sunshine | revalink-ish, gradual memory loss, post-Calamity but pre-BotW, Revali's spirit is trapped on Vah Medoh, and sometimes Link's spirit comes to visit | wip snippet

A Prayer in Time Saves Nine | ghiralink-ish, dark-ish, save mechanic as story device | wip snippet

Of Yourself an Offering | post-BotW, Ghirahim as Horned Statue AU | wip snippet

Speak (temp title) | pre-Calamity, pre-Revalink, Link is not in a good place and Revali is somehow the first between them to realize this | wip snippet

Courage Remembered | big, long revalink fic, been simmering in my notebook for ages | wip snippet

That Randomizer Fic Idea I Had Once | semi-crack treated seriously, BotW Randomizer mod as plot device

[askthehylianchampion]

If you and Revali battled - who do you think would win?

I think we are both evenly matched. Many of my weaknesses are his strengths & vice versa. The right conditions could turn the tide of a fight for either of us, so it seems unfair to compare us. Though I will say, I would not want to fight him in the heart of Hebra. Nor would I wish to compete against him in archery. Perhaps shield surfing.

[amiharana]

fe3h revalink au. i don't actually have a full-fledged thought for this one but i'm imagining byleth!link and edelgard!revali, and the [FE3H SPOILERS] scene where you kill edelgard in the verdant wind route and the quotes "your path lies across my grave" and the "i wanted... to walk with you..."

revali, who won't back down for what he believes is right even though he didn't foresee how the war he started would destroy the country, and link, who wants to save him but knows that even if revali loves him, he won't back down from his beliefs. revali who begs link to kill him when link gets the edge on him during their final battle, because if link wants to fix this country then it will depend on him taking revali down.

"well, then? claim your victory," revali grunts, barely able to hold himself up with his bow. if link doesn't kill him now, the blood loss will kill revali first. "strike me down. you must!"

"i can't," link whispers, blue eyes wide and teary. it almost catches revali off-guard; he's never seen link break like this. link, who is always stony-faced and expressionless, whose eyes are now full of tears, the grip on his sword with the barest tremble. this isn't how he wanted to see link cry for the first time... "revali..."

"even now," revali says, gritting his teeth, "people across this land are killing each other. if you do not act now, this conflict..." he winces, the pain flaring all over his torso. link twitches, nearly jumping forward to reach for revali. "... will go on, forever."

he looks up at link. the little hylian is crying freely now, face morphed into a look of anguish. revali's gut tightens, in pain, in regret. he wishes it wouldn't have to end like this, but he refuses to back down now. it's too late for him anyway...

"your path... lies across my grave," revali barely manages. "it is time for you to find the courage to walk it."

"no, revali," link whispers, tears continuing to pour down his cheeks. "we can fix this together, just come with me, please—"

"if i must fall," revali cuts him off, breathing heavily and shutting his eyes, "then let it be by your hand." he forces himself to open his eyes again and look up at link. "please, link. this is the only way."

"i won't," link says, wiping furiously at his eyes. he staggers forward towards revali, his sword falling from his grip as he kneels before revali and cradles his face. "this can't be the only way, we can still save hyrule together, our paths can still be parallel, please, revali—"

but it's too late. revali supposes he still fell by link's sword; this final battle between him and link did a number on him, and there wouldn't have been any way he could survive it with the amount of injuries he has sustained, regardless. link was always an incredible fighter. he wraps an arm around link and pulls him close, inhaling the scent of his once-lover for the last time. link throws his arms around revali's neck, desperately holding him tight.

then, revali pulls away and presses his lips to link's forehead. "i wanted... to walk with you..." he whispers, exhaling finally and his grip loosening. with link in his arms as he takes his final breath, revali is finally at peace now.

link realizes a second too late that those were revali's last words, revali's last breath, revali's last embrace, and he screams. link howls and shouts and wails, holding revali's body, not caring that his armor is seeping with blood or that his body is heavy and sore. he begs, calling for mipha or zelda to heal, for anyone to help, for the goddesses not to take his revali from him.

link sobs, holding revali's body tightly rocking back and forth. he did this, he killed revali. and perhaps it was a necessary evil, for the good of hyrule and to end the war, but it's an evil link will never be able to live with, the blood of his lover forever staining and burning his hands with sin.

[critical-birb]

Daruk would kick the shit out of any of the other Champions at strategy board games/other similar types of games. People tend to pigeonhole him as the big dumb brute (and in some ways he is) but I think it's a very common activity for Gorons to play their own versions of board games (they've definitely got some version of Go and almost certainly checkers as well) by drawing lines in the sand and using rocks as their pieces. I'd even argue that they were the ones who did it first, and Hylians co-opted the ideas to their own games (which they "distinguished" with much more finely crafted pieces and higher society stigma and such).

A lot of Daruk's general silliness seems to stem from the fact that he's pretty set in his ways and isn't very familiar with things non-Goron. Moving pieces around arbitrary lines to win a game? That's Goron as hell. Daruk *knows* his way around a board, he has the art of the game DOWN. Zelda's the only one who can compete with him, though I think her knowledge of strategy was more of an expectation for her role in society, plus chess and its cousins are some of the only acceptable games for a princess to play. Urbosa's a little too aggressive and impatient, Revali laser-focuses on one strategy early on and often fails to notice counterplay he didn't plan for until it's too late, Mipha's too overanalytic and second-guesses herself into losing far too often trying to predict strategies that weren't there, and Link has no clue what he's doing. Daruk? Daruk is the board game guru.

He still doesn't like the games with tiny pieces though. Much prefers playing with good old fashioned basalt and pumice.

AHAHAHA OMG YES!!!!!!

Daruk (and the Gorons in general) are played off as such big dummies even though they're clearly a very powerful and capable race of people. They also have board games in their little houses in Goron City, they clearly know strategy.

I mean - in Botw how were each of the races handling their Divine Beast issues??

The Gerudo were just stumped, letting it wandering the desert and freaking out.

The Rito had two warriors try to take theirs down with bow and arrow dispite knowing from the first time it didn't work.

The Zora, at least, had a plan - but it involved shock arrows they couldn't personally use and needed help with.

The Gorons however had everything kinda covered on their own. They had a whole bunch of canons already built and set up, and it sounds like Yunobo and the leader guy had been blasting the thing for a while to keep it away. They were miles ahead of all the other factions of Hyrule. They stratigised and came up with a working plan in short time, utilising the skills and materials they had.

The Gorons are so unappreciated. They're mad smart.

I 300000% support Daruk being an unexpected board games FIEND and being able to absolutely trash all the other Champions.