#self aware tloz

[wayfayrr]

By your side from day one <3

finally set aside some time to finish off wilds turn for being self aware, the smartest one who found a way to get out without breaking your tv and getting the glass shards of screen everywhere. I'll be back on requests and such soon though!! <3

[masterlist]

“Come on [name], you can’t be serious about missing out on plans just to talk to someone you don’t even know is real.”

“You say like I would want to go clubbing tonight either way, besides he’s said he’s just been working up the courage to video call.”

“And you trust that?”

They’ve got enough of a conscious to look a bit ashamed when I look at them, I know they’re worried for me but of all the things to be so worked up about this seems harmless. 

“What if I told you that he was messaging me and telling me to stop talking to you.”

“Can you show me the proof.”

“Well… no. he deleted them immediately afterwards.”

Are they just jealous? This is so unlike them that it’s offputting. I know they can get a little worked up when I get close to other people but accusing my online friend - accusing wild - of threatening them? It’s petty and childish. Are they afraid I’ll replace them or something? 

“Okay, alright. This isn’t going to make me cut him off you know?”

“[name]...”

“Reach out when you don’t feel like senselessly trying to cut me off from others. I’ll see you around.”

Hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later, but if they don’t? It’s their own fault they thought they would need to sabotage my other relationships to get closer to me. They even have the audacity to call out after me as I’m leaving, still trying to warn me about him, like they can’t accept I would dare get close to anyone else. Not like it doesn’t feel awful potentially losing a friend like this, but what can I really do?

The trip home seems to pass in a blur, until I’m already collapsed onto my couch with a familiar notif going off on my phone. Opening it proves it is exactly what I expected it to be, a message from him, asking me how my day has gone showing me more care than nearly every other person in my life ever has. Not expecting me to drop everything on a dime for him, even if recently he’s been getting more possessive in his messages like he wants to be serious when I’ve never seen his face. 

- I’ve been decent, met up with a friend. Not much really, you? - 

- Had to do chores for someone I don’t like >:( wanna get away from everything tbh - 

- why not just up and leave? - 

- I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been planning something - 

Seems like the possessive streak has worn off now then, so I don’t have to worry about mentioning friends again. There isn’t even a reason he should be possessive of me though, unless he’s got a secret crush or something. Which I hope he doesn’t, he’s been speaking to me for barely a couple of weeks. 

- You free to call tonight? It’s been a while. - 

- I’m good rn if you are. I’ll just grab my headphones - one sec - 

- :DD perf perf - 

Honestly a call will be nice, I can just zone out for a bit, play some games and chat. It’s the perfect way to destress after everything that happened earlier, I still can’t believe they threw away our friendship over something so small. Maybe I should just block their number and drop them even if they do try and apologise, I don’t really need people like that in my life. 

“So then love, any plans for tonight?”

“I thought you said you were gonna drop calling me that?”

“It’s silly and you didn’t answer my question anyway.”

“Nah not really. I’m just loading up breath of the wild, been a bit since I’ve -”

“Oh shit.”

Has wild been link this whole time, wait - how did he get access to the internet, HOW IS HE SENTIENT?  

He’s just sitting in his hateno house, holding the sheikah slate like a phone and silently, through the switch anyway, talking. The look of horror on his face is gut-wrenching though.

“You - you…”

“Oh - uh - I mean. Come on love it’s not that bad is it? I - I’m not going to hurt you, I swear.”

“I don’t think I want to deal with this right now… I’m sorry I just.”

The look of horror and shame shifted terrifyingly fast when he noticed me moving to turn off the switch, replacing itself with fear and anger before he steeled himself, and presses his hand against the slate’s screen?

…

He - he’s reached through my phone to grab onto my wrist. 

“No, don’t turn me off, I can’t go back to being just a voice. Please”

“How… how are you DOING THIS?”

“That… Isn’t what matters right now.”

His grip feels so nervous, he looks it too - which makes sense, I would probably be petrified if I lost my body just because I was trapped in a game. I can’t turn him off that would be cruel… he deserves better than that. 

It instantly lightened as I moved to sit back down, a sigh of relief echoing through both my tv speakers and my phone, as he let go the second I sat with his hand retreating through my unbroken phone. 

“Okay, you promise you won’t try to turn me off?”

“I won’t if you’ll explain.”

“That - that’s fair, I can do that for you love and - if I told you that I think I’ve figured out a way to get out? Would you let me live with you?”

“So that’s why you were so forward abou- yes you can. When you’ve explained everything. And made it certain you’re not planning to kill me because you’re scared of me sending you back.”

The reverb’s stopped now, which makes talking a lot more pleasant and less like he’s trying to intimidate me now, not that I blame him for it if I was about to condemn him back to that hellscape. I just, I really hope he isn’t trying to get out just to kill me, I don’t think I would ever be able to get over my childhood crush wanting to kill me even if he has every right to want that.

“What- No no I don’t - why - why would you think I would ever want to even hurt you let alone KILL. I - love I. I love you. That’s why I’m doing all of this - I - I.”

He’s crying. I should’ve known that he wouldn’t do anything like that - it’s within his right to - but he’s link, he’s the hero, the protagonist who was stuck to my side through it all. I know I shouldn’t have said that it wasn’t meant to be cruel but it was careless enough to hurt him. 

“I’m sorry, I came on to strong, you - you have every right to be scared of me. I promise though love I - I will never hurt you ever.”

“I know… I just panicked. You can explain now I won’t overreact again I swear. Or if you’d prefer -”

“If I would prefer..?”

“Why not get out first, then explain?”

Lighting up a firework in my face would have been less blinding than his smile in that moment, it’s such a sweet smile - a genuine one too. Meaning that I said the right thing, that I’m doing the right thing by giving him this chance. 

Hopefully, I won’t regret it.

“Really? You’ll let me do that?”

“I think it’s a good idea, it’ll be easier to talk to you as well. Just - how are you going to go this?”

“Um, oh, well uh, I think I could possibly make your switch into a mock version of a warp medallion? Then link my slate to it and just well”

“That makes sense, you can go ahead then, shouldn’t take long right?”

“No, no it won’t.”

A couple of seconds was all the wait it needed for him to stumble out of the blue lights and right onto me, clearly disorientated by the shift into reality. Probably not as bad as any of the 2d links would have struggled to be fair to him. It was an even shorter wait for him to jump onto me and cling even tighter than a koala could ever hope to, nuzzling up against my neck like it’s the only - because - it’s the only real touch he’s ever felt. 

“So you want to explain then?”

“Could we wait? That took much more effort than I thought. I just want to rest a bit if that’s alright.”

“As soon as you’re rested enough to. You going to sleep for a bit then?”

“No I still want to talk, just about something less taxing?”

Seems like he’s more dodging the topic than anything, which is fine I can get him to talk about it later, there really isn’t a rush for anything. It’s fine. Besides he’s like an excited kid that’s staying up way past his bedtime right now, where’s the harm in staying like this for a bit?

“Mind if I ask why you’re so determined to call me ‘love’ then?” 

“Because you’re everything to me, my light, my love, my life - you’ve been with me through everything. From when I woke to killing ganon and you didn’t abandon me there. You’ve shown me your favourite cities, stuck with me when you had the choice to choose others because you said I am you favourite, so really? How could I not love you?”

“You were aware even in Mariokart?” 

His giggle is sweet, he’s so charming right now, especially with how unaware of it he is. It’s so earnest and unfiltered, just so raw, I could go the rest of my life with that being the only thing I ever hear again. Compared to how he acted in cutscenes as well? He’s happy. Tired but happy.

“Oh before I forget, You should be expecting a delivery actually!”

“What.”

“I’ve been wanting to get out of the game for a while so I ordered some things to try make myself more appealing to you.”

“Like what? Link you didn't need to do anything like that.”

He just shrugged, seems like I won’t be getting an answer to that till whatever arrives whenever it does. Seems he really wasn’t lying about being tired though, he’s already starting to fall asleep laying against me like this. Thankfully he’s light enough to move to a more comfortable position, although theres nothing I can do about how tightly he’s holding me and truthfully? There’s nothing I want to do about it.

“Y’know I think I could get used to this.”

“Yo’ will I pr’mise, I’ll make you addicted to m’.”

“Well that isn’t ominous at all… and you’re already asleep.” 

[laws-right-arm]

Hello people!! I've never started a writing blog on here before but I've been wanting to for awhile so please by all means...

Send requests!

Currently, I'm hyperfixiated with the following:

JJBA (specifically part 5 and 6 but I do love the other parts too!!)

One Piece

Those are the main fandoms I will write for, but additionally to that, I will also write for:

TLOZ

Omori

KNY

Shall we date? Obey Me!

As for requests, I will happily write for the following:

Character x Reader headcanons/oneshots

Character x Character headcanons (no oneshots, that's for my ao3)

General headcanons

As well as that, feel free to ask me anything or share your own extra headcanons along with your requests or simply just to discuss, I love hearing other people's ideas!!

Now as for rules in terms of what I will and won't write...

I will write Fluff and Angst

I will happily take hurt/comfort requests (it's a favourite)

I will write light NSFW, but I won't write anything overly explicit or any dark topics

I will write for both romantic and platonic requests

I won't write a request that I'm uncomfortable with

I won't tolerate any hate, this is a safe space where everyone (including me) should feel comfortable

Also please be aware that for some of these fandoms there may be a few character requests I may struggle to do because I either don't know much about them or (similarly) I haven't gotten to them yet in where I'm at in the fandom (i.e. JJBA I don't know much about beyond part 6, OP I don't know all Wano characters).

I think that's about all I can think to say for now other than that this blog is also very self indulgent (I don't usually write stuff like this lol) but by all means please please pleaseeee send me requests! I've been really excited for this and I hope to write more, so I'd love ideas from you! Thank youuuu!!

[nightyraven-art]

Hello welcome to my cave, you can call me Ash/Sky/Asher I'm 23 yo I go by he/they/xem.

☆ Trans+demiboy and enbie, also demisexual

☆ I'm from Italy so my English is broken, I mainly post my art (I'm slow due to my situation at home etc might change later on)

☆ I have anxiety and interacting with others it's kinda hard for me but I'll try my best and my dms are open just remember i take some time to reply.

☆ I'm Nd (neurodivergent) suspecting of having adhd and other stuff.

☆ I struggle with expressing myself so I ask you to be patient, I have anxiety and can be overwhelmed easily so be aware.

My tags:

#ashyrants for when i rant sbt something

#ashyvents when I vent (I don't vent often)

#ashyask for when I got asks

#ashyart or #asherart for my rants

Usually I interchange tags with #Asher or #ashy

#ashyrequests for art requests

(I don't use most or sometimes)

☆ In the future I might open art requests but I'll only draw requests I'll be comfortable with or I'm able to draw. I'm very slow so if your requests isn't posted it's bc I'm taking time.

☆ Art trade are always open (I'm still slow)

I don't take commissions, sorry I don't have enough energy and time for commissions.

My inbox is open but if gets too overwhelming or crowded I might take time. Please don't spam a lot in there, I can get overwhelmed easily. If I don't feel in the mood for answering questions don't be upset. Sometimes I'm here to distract my mind

☆ Fandoms I'm in: Tloz, any linkmeet au, my ocs, dbh, the last Guardian (in the future I want to branch out more) , other Nintendo games and and other games as well. I might be self indulgent and post old fandoms at times.

☆ i like crows/raven and ferrets i might spam sometimes stuff of them, be prepared XD

Tloz games i have played or watched: botw(watched planning to play), Skyward Sword (partially played), Twilight Princess (partially played), totk( in progress), La (to finish)

☆ I'll eventually play the others once I gained more games

On my list: fsa, albw, mm, oot and botw

☆ I'm a freelance artist and my artstyle is very inconsistent (sometimes i draw on traditional), I'm currently working on my own projects and other stuff, in the future I want to start writing.

Currently working on my linkmeetau, my post-botw au and other projects

☆ I'd love to meet new people and new friends but I'm rather shy at times. I'd ask you to use tone tags because I struggle to understand tones most of the time.

DNi:

If you are racist, homophobic, transphobic, no proshippers, no pedos here, being hateful towards other minorities or anything under this line, no terfs!!

Be aware that sometimes I struggle with communicating, please be aware and clear. As mentioned I can get overwhelmed easily so don't be upset if I'm very slow it's nothing against you, I'm just struggling, thanks.

Don't be creepy or parasocial w me, I'm an adult.

Other socials

Insta: @nightraven_asher_art (somehow active)

Cara: nightravenasherart (barely active)

Discord: ash.jinx (if you dm me there please remember that I'm not always online there, atm requests are only for friends, might open them later or just ask)

Divider by: @firefly-graphics

[mpregcatboyshin]

F, N, and P! :3

F-Longest fandom?

This one is a bit difficult, but if we're talking like engaged in fandom and creating things, then Hetalia takes the cake. I was in it for 4 or 5 years. But technically, my longest is TLoZ, as I've been in that fandom for almost 9 or so years. Pokemon comes close as well.

N-3 things I wish I saw more in my main fandom (Your Turn to Die)

1) Definitely more acceptance over the general themes of the game, as people tend to forget we're shipping characters from a death game. I don't want to get into serious talks about fandom ethics, but it'd be nice for people to have more self awareness and capability of reading into themes and such.

2) More love towards fics! I feel as though many the fanfic scene is relatively weak, and despite contributing much to it myself, I feel like there should be more engagement in general. I know art tends to be more popular which is fine, but it'd be nice to talk about fics with readers and such, which is why I push for more engagement

3) Similar to 1, I wish people understood the game much better ESPECIALLY when it comes to predicting the ending. As of writing the final part is not out yet, but what I've seen is people making really bad assumptions based on really bad opinions.

P-I would love to create a pikmin or splatoon au for any fandom you're in. I love these games and think aus surrounding these two games are underutilized

[purpl3-hlvrai]

It's fabled that a one-handed archer will seal away the forces of Ganon and free the princess of Hyrule, with a team formed from every corner of Hyrule, he will seal away the darkness, and save the land...

hlvrai botw pt 2! Had a lot of fun designing these guys!! I've had a lot of fun playing botw and imagining my little au with it. I gave up on Gman/Ganon because he's just a bunch of mechanics and fog in botw so 

individual pictures + bonus doodle:

[bigboobshaunt]

What multiple fans of color said: The treatment of the Gerudo in Zelda has always been bad, but it reached new levels of racist fetishization of women of color in their BotW storyline.

What a lot of white fans heard: It's entirely okay to do it with Ganondorf, though.

[robeatnic]

friendship <3

[helloitsghost]

Home Page 🕺

Hi! My names ghost and welcome to my art blog here on tumblr :P

Requests: open :D

Fandoms: (bold- not that into atm or I have lil info so requests are limited)

Aot

Demon slayer

Haikyuu

Pokémon

Spy x Family

Naruto

Chainsaw man

Tloz (I’m only aware of totk and botw)

Cookie Run Kingdom

Fnaf

Dr stone

Tpn

Mha

Saiki K

JJK

Mario Bros

Links I think will be important:

Requests and rules

Graveyard Shift (wip page)

About me + extra info:

As you saw my names ghost but honestly you can call me anything related to that (ex: ghostie, spooks, boo) I use any/all pronouns and not a requirement but I’d appreciate it if you changed up the pronouns you use for me let’s have some variety ya know? But it’s cool if you don’t wanna🕺

I am a minor atm (17) sooo yeeee adults and nsfw blogs are allowed to interact but ya know

Les nOt talk bout nsfw stuff as I’m a minor💀

I like to draw (as if that wasn’t obvious /lh) oh I also like volleyball and playing games and other stuff and especially sleeping

Just a heads up I’m gonna have a lot of self deprecating jokes and suicide ones but I’ll put a content warning for those :P

For the wip list and requests I’m going to try and keep myself on track and stick to them but if I go a while without doing requests it’s not that I refuse it’s just my horrendous impulse control but the wip list will give u an idea of what request is going to come when I draw them but other than that most of this stuff here will be shit I draw on my own cause I have no impulse control

Pretty much it honestly if u stayed this long here’s a cookie 🍪 but yeah lets just relax and have fun :D

[fioreofthemarch]

The Final FTGU Author’s Note

A little while ago I finished my magnum opus major BOTW work, From the Ground Up. I’ve been promising a final author’s note for a while, and after literally two months of putting it off, here it finally is. 

My wrap up post is a little more emotional about the journey FTGU took me on as a writer, whereas this post will focus purely on what I was trying to achieve, and the broad themes of the work. It’s a long one, and I’m putting it all behind a cut. So grab some Hyrule Herb tea (which has to exist), chuck on this album, and have a read.

Who, What, Where, Why

I think somewhere buried in all my asks is the full story of what inspired me to start work on FTGU in the first place, but I’ll summarise it by saying that I just hadn’t found the kind of BOTW fic that I wanted to read, and so I wrote it for myself. I never really expected anyone to read it, and am always, always floored and honoured that so many people did, let alone enjoyed it. 

My initial goal with From the Ground Up was to write a semi-plausible Breath of the Wild sequel that would feature a thematically resonant sequence of events after the end of the game. I was inspired in part by the open ending and what I thought was the strangely profound emotional depth of the game itself. I don’t think any other TLOZ game has dug so firmly into the identity of its protagonists (except perhaps Skyward Sword?) or dedicated so much time into building a coherent, lived-in world. Despite how much I love the ‘community’ feel of some older TLOZ games like Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, I think the technical limitations of those games held them back from feeling like fully fleshed out settings. 

Another major driver to create something ‘realistic’ was the uniqueness of the story of Breath of the Wild itself. For me, Legend of Zelda games are about the victory of will over evil and the telling of grand legends. But in Breath of the Wild, we are made keenly aware that this story is not one of those legends. Hyrule has already lost. All of our allies are straight up dead. We see Link die. We see Zelda fail, repeatedly, and only triumph when she has lost absolutely everything. The characters in BOTW are aware of the legends that preceded them -- as are we the players -- but they are just normal people (for the most part), and like normal people, they don’t always win, and we cannot help but think, ‘This is not how the legend goes’. That there is the core of FTGU.

The creative process for From the Ground Up can be summarised with two key methods: 1) ‘Okay, everything needs to be planned out and all the themes need to line up perfectly, here look at this spreadsheet I made’ and 2) ‘eyyy lets put this fight scene in because itd be dope af’. I had a LOT of help, from both beta readers and general feedback from readers (shout out to the person who pointed out that Saki would recognise Zelda, leading to the creation of Zelda’s disguise and fake name concept literally one day before publishing the chapter in which it first occurs), and I will never ever again commit to writing one 10,000 word chapter every five days. Jesus fuck, no wonder Stephen King did so much coke. 

Themes ‘n Stuff

From the Ground Up has a few key themes that came out of its conception. They are;

Assigned roles and breaking from them

History versus Legend

War is personal

I set out with the loose goal of addressing the first one, and the other two just kind of fell out of the story. 

Assigned Roles (And How to break from them)

“Do not tell me you toiled away for one hundred years against that Beast just to disappear from the world? You must find a way, and this time your own way, to fulfil your destiny.” (Impa, Ch 5)

So as I’ve kind of already explained, one thing that struck me about BOTW was the deconstruction of both Link and Zelda’s roles. Zelda hates Link just for fulfilling his destiny, a far cry from previous iterations, and Zelda herself - normally the super self-actuated wise and powerful Princess - is riddled with anxiety and self-doubt. As I said above, this is not the legend we expect. I wanted to go further and explore how both Link and Zelda would adapt once their big, predestined purposes had been accomplished. Who do they become when they finally have the freedom to be anything?

In FTGU, Link and Zelda clearly move in opposite directions. Zelda must learn to come into her role as a Princess and a leader, while Link must find a new role in a Hyrule that doesn’t really need a hero anymore. The role swap between Chapters 12 to 18 was a neat way to blow this idea wide open. Zelda obviously cannot immediately become a seasoned fighter and neither can Link immediately become a trained diplomat. They both struggle in unique ways -- Zelda must learn to become an effective fighter within the limits of her own strength and Link must learn to read people before he can hope to manipulate them -- and what I also enjoyed was working into those struggles the ways in which Link and Zelda had learnt from each other. By the end of FTGU, they have in a sense accepted their roles of Knight and Princess, but both are much more free to exert control over their lives within those roles. 

I devoted a bit more time of this theme to Link, because his ‘role’ is so much more enigmatic after BOTW. His frustration at needing to fight people rather than monsters evolves into a general confusion as to why he even became a Knight in the first place. Link clings to his assigned role because it’s the only real baseline he has, so I wanted to subvert that entirely by having his own father, Micah, recognise that Link doesn’t need to be limited by it. Link ‘meeting�� his father is probably my favourite scene in the entire work, not only because it’s that scene where Link realises his full potential, but because he also makes peace with his former life and accepts that he can now move on (“Let the memories rest, and the people with it.”). And in the end, we see this new potential realised as Link takes an apprenticeship with Robbie, and begins to reform the Knight Order into a (very wholesome) Hyrulean Knight Academy. 

Beyond just Link and Zelda, there are clear examples of this theme in almost all of the characters. The new Champions face challenges in their roles; Sidon in his apprehension to becoming King (resulting in him losing the title altogether), Teba in accepting that he can no longer fulfil his role as warrior and that his son may have a different role in society than he did in his youth, Riju in handling the pressure of her role as Chief (which she does not, leading to the Bridge incident and the jeorpardisation of her people’s safety), and Yunobo in just finding his role in life and his place in the world beyond Goron City. 

Cinelgen conversely rails against his ‘role’ assigned to him basically at birth -- that of a male Gerudo. The catch here is, Cinelgen’s mother never actually takes him to Gerudo Town, as she is afraid of how he will be treated. She doesn’t even entertain the notion that a male Gerudo could be accepted, and essentially condemns Cinelgen to his role as an outcast before he ever had a chance at a normal life. And it is Link’s legend -- his role as the hero -- that inspires Cinelgen to finally take control of his fate and shape the world around him, rather than conforming to its expectations (for...better or for worse). Baby Boy Inglis also deserves a small mention; he spends the entire work degrading himself as a mere ‘squire’ for his more important friends, but later rises above this role to begin his training as a fully fledged Knight. 

History Versus Legend

"Have you considered, Princess, what it means to possess all three?" (The Deku Tree, Chapter 17)

I knew I wanted to weave in some deep Zelda lore at some point, and it all sort of just came together in trying to marry the concepts of the Cleansing Ritual, Zelda meeting the fragment of Hylia, and Link ‘meeting’ his father. It started with my realisation that Zelda totally, absolutely has the full Trifoce in BOTW, and the dual-realisation that the Triforce normally splits to find the most worthy bearers of each of its three virtues. But it didn’t in BOTW, which means two wonderful things;

1) Zelda carries all three virtues in balance and, by extension 2) Link does too

Hence they are whole people, rather than legends that fit into these perfect moulds. I wanted to explore the ways in which Hyrule had lost its history and legends, and there are quite a few examples. Firstly in that the Triforce, Goddesses, and Sacred Realm are never mentioned by name (Zelda also does not recognise the symbols of Din and Farore at the Sacred Grounds). Secondly, the Sacred Realm has become a shell of itself, and Zelda only understands it to be ‘The Other Place’. While she does eventually learn of its significance (deciding to leave the Triforce there), she still never quite learns what it truly is. Even the legends themselves are mostly lost; the Deku Tree only has fragmented legends to tell Zelda, and he prefaces them by saying they are just that -- legends. We also see the legend of Ganondorf crop up to haunt Cinelgen, and even then he doesn’t know his actual name (”I was told I would always be compared to that King of Thieves.”). Apart from this, history itself is a sore spot for Hyrule. The camaraderie between the races has mostly been lost, even with the Champions still in living memory, and despite their shared history, the races struggle to play team initially (as Cinelgen describes, the Calamity has taught them to be survivalists first). 

The key scene is in Ch 20, where Zelda sees the whole of the ‘cycle’ that she and Link are trapped in. As the fragment of Hylia explains, there isn’t actually any way to stop it. Hyrule will never be free of conflict -- the only way to subvert legend is to prepare for it, and the only way to prepare for it is almost to reject it.  "Hyrule needs more than just fighters," Zelda says in Ch 22. "It needs people - whole people”. Tying into the first theme, Zelda comes into the view that the best way forward for Hyrule is to let bygones be bygones, and find a system where the whole Kingdom is ready for what comes -- not just the two kids chosen by fate to save it. And interestingly, when Link and Zelda find they have ‘all of history at [their] palm’, they reject that too. Zelda uses the Other Place only to look for what she needs to find (Micah) and Link decides against using it at all. Despite what history can teach, there must always be a way to move on. 

War Is Personal

"How can I fight when it's people on both sides?" (Link, Chapter 8)

I am not well versed in writing political drama, but I still wanted to incorporate that into From the Ground Up. So I had to plan, plan, plan, and it was the only thing I planned in fine detail. I actually have a spreadsheet that outlines my entire plan for the ‘civil war’ in FTGU, as well as every race’s relations to every other race colour-coded, along with the note ‘This should look like a fucking rave by the time we’re done’. The goal was to paint a complex picture of Hyrule centred around the idea that the Calamity had made its people very self-serving, and that it would take a second major threat (aka Cinelgen) to reunite them. 

But as I said, I’m not a political writer, so I focused hard on the personal aspects of war. This is why Inglis is such a major character, as he provides us insight into both Cinelgen and Milagre, giving a human face to the antagonists. And we learn that Cilengen’s motivations are mostly personal, as I discussed in the first theme. 

Cinelgen’s entire plan (as admittedly hokey as it is) is built on the personal. He befriends the disenfranchised, talks of building a new, fairer world, and makes it his MO to have eyes and ears everywhere. His utilisation of the Rito Yahn (Teba’s former apprentice) to influence Yahn’s father Yinli (a prominent Rito advisor) to support him is the best example of this. Beyond that, Cinelgen exploits his Gerudo heritage to fool the Zora into thinking the Gerudo have attacked them, sparking the entire conflict. The only race that he doesn’t infiltrate are the Gorons, simply because they are too happy and pure (bless). 

I very deliberately made his final downfall the mistreatment of his first allies -- the Yiga; Cinelgen takes control of their clan and uses them to capture Hyrule Castle, but neglects them once he has no use for them. Eventually, led by Aurelia, the Yiga rebel. Cinelgen was so focused on manipulating others that he forgot his own people -- didn’t even realise that some of the Yiga he massacred would have families -- and lost his life because of that. 

We also see the very real toll that the conflict takes on both Sidon and Riju, perhaps Riju more clearly. And while I know it received a mixed response, I stand by the ending of Chapter 19 -- where Riju uses her newfound Champion power to blow up the bridge and end the siege. I did this to show her desperation, and how an individual’s decisions can influence a wider political conflict, and that at the end of the day, despite our machinations, we are all just people. 

Some General Motifs and Assorted Notes

There are a few motifs in From the Ground Up that I probably did to death. They are:

The Song: Both the literal Song of Time that Zelda learns and is strongly tied to the Master Sword, and the ‘song’ that Link feels when he fights. Lexo’s poem (”His mask not worn as a disguise.") too, and Kass’ belief in the power of stories, are part of this as well, with the meaning of Lexo’s poem essentially being, ‘We have to believe in ourselves and our stories, even if they are not always the truth”

Water and Weather: again literal and not so. Water is very strongly tied to both rebirth (Link’s dive in Ch 4 and Zelda’s plunge in Ch 14), and grief/emotion (i.e. it’s usually raining when characters are sad, welcome to Obvious Metaphors 101). Characters are compared to storms, the seasons play out the death and rebirth of Hyrule (”Am I party to Hyrule’s funeral?” Link thinks when he sees Hyrule Castle blanketed in snow) and the dust storm in Chapter 1 that Leilo sees is not-so-subtle foreshadowing for Cinelgen’s incoming ‘new regime’. 

Objects of purpose: Link and Zelda receive objects of purpose at key moments in their arcs. Link’s are his crossbow and Rhoamet, whereas Zelda’s are her bow and Rito coat. I want to point out that Link makes his crossbow and tames Rhoamet, whereas Zelda is simply given her objects. I did this because Link is effectively already ‘worthy’ (as a Knight and accomplished warrior), and hence must make his new purpose. Zelda, on the other hand, must prove herself as a leader, and subsequently ‘earns’ her objects. 

Other random notes about FTGU are:

It was never meant to be a pairing fic: In planning, I actually specifically decided Link and Zelda would not even entertain the idea of getting together until the very last scene. That obviously changed

I stick by the swearing/violence: From the Ground Up took on a much darker tone than I was anticipating, so introducing a level of swearing felt natural. The Cool Fight Scenes (TM) and Link/Zelda straight up killing people again also felt natural in my darker version of Hyrule, but I felt this also highlighted how Hyrule had changed to become a more morally grey place

There are multiple, unashamed references to The Dollars Trilogy all throughout: Were you gonna die alone, Cinna?

Milagre is based on a very old OC of mine: by the same name. My icon on AO3 is a drawing of her from about six years ago. 

Final Thoughts

As I said, most of this just fell into place as I was writing. My only goals were to stay as true to the characters as possible and to give Link and Zelda clear, satisfying arcs. Something I’ll take forward into all future works is that the only real limitation is my own will. 

Overall, I’m really happy with FTGU and where it ended up. There are still aspects that I want to update/change and there are elements of it that I’m not 100% happy with, but for my first full-length fic (it’s essentially a novel), I’m really proud. I’ll be doing a big, work-wide edit soon, and after that I’ll actually have it printed! For now, thankyou once again to everyone who read it, liked it (hated it), left a review or a comment, made fanart (!!!) or just reached out -- you’re all amazing. I can’t thank any of you enough.

tl:dr i wrote a thing it was vvvv serious and t h e m a t i c ps. thank you everyone who read it yayyy

[purpl3-hlvrai]

I recently started playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild, it's my first ever Zelda game and I love it! so I couldn't help myself making a small au, even had a little story for it that I'm building on!

individual pictures plus bonus drawings: