#shallow tears

[leciraofthewilderness]

So, despite some faults, I really enjoyed totk, and on its anniversary I want to say something about it. Other people have said similar things before but it’s really important to me and actually a big part of why the story of totk was meaningful to me, so I want to also say it:

Zelda needed to come back from draconification. The story needed that. It wasn’t lazy and just ignoring “consequences” because (imo) that was the *point*

The point is to feel like there are going to be terrible consequences and then say actually, no. You can come back from this, with the help of other people.

To me at least, that was the theme of the whole story.

If botw was about how the world goes on past loss and grief and starts to heal (how flowers grow in the ruins and the world can be beautiful again, be worth saving, even if it has changed)…then totk was about a more personal kind of healing.

The weight of the world should not be on your shoulders alone…you, alone, should not have to fix everything…you should not have to sacrifice yourself, but when you do, someone will be there to save you from it.

This turned into a really long ramble so:

You (Link) gained so much and now it’s gone. It feels like you’re back to where you started and yet you know you have to do it all again…you were weak and you failed and you’re weaker now…but

You go down to the surface. Monsters swarm across it once again. Other people are fighting them too though. You help, but it’s not just you…

You go to the Rito, the Gorons, the Zora, the Gerudo…just like with the divine beasts, there are friends who help you save each region. But this time, part of them comes along with you when you leave. It’s nice, you realize, the first time one of them protects you from a monster you weren’t prepared for. You’re still weaker than you were before, but someone has your back…

When you go up to the sky you see a strange new dragon there. There’s something about them that feels familiar. You try not to think about it.

You go down to the depths too. It’s terrifying at first. You hate it. You only want to get what you came for and get out of the dark….but slowly, the light grows. You get stronger. The dark feels like a challenge you can face (and someone has your back).

There are spirits down there. You don’t know when they’re from, but some part of you wonders…are these all the people you let die in the Calamity? (You help them find rest from their wandering. The weight on your shoulders feels a little less heavy).

There’s so much gloom. The first few times the sky turns red and hands chase you (a reminder of what you’ve lost, how you failed) you just run. Eventually though, you have to fight. It feels like the (second) worst day of your life again. But you manage to get free of the grasping gloom and stand and fight, as wild and desperate as it is. Beneath the manifestation of your worst fears, there’s another thing to fight, but this time it has a face (a voice in the back of your head says…you know this isn’t all on you and your failure…it’s really Ganon’s fault right?). You get through it.

At every turn in your travels, it seems like something reminds you of Zelda. Her passion, her curiosity, her kindness. You miss her.

At first, the tears you find reassure you. She may be in the past, but she’s safe. She’ll come back somehow…but then you hear the word draconification for the first time. You want to believe she wouldn’t do it but you know her and the fear sits cold inside you. (Zelda is a lot of things. She’s been allowed to be more of them, since she was freed from her hundred year battle, without her father holding her back. But deep down inside her, there’s a vein of self-sacrifice that still runs strong. It’s what saved the world before, after all).

She did it. She really did it. She’s gone from you (from Hyrule) forever, and it’s all your fault. If only you hadn’t failed so utterly in the battle (you can hardly even call it that) under the castle. If only you’d caught her. If only you hadn’t let the sword break. You should have protected her you should have been better it’s all your fault and now she has to live with the consequences, forever. Everything really is on you, you should have been better.

(Zelda POV: you couldn’t call upon Hylia’s power in time, you were too content to let it wither and fade away from you, ready to be free of it. You shouldn’t have. He got hurt, the sword got hurt, it’s your fault…Sonia and Rauru help you channel it again, Sonia helps you learn how to turn back time…but you don’t save her. She dies because you couldn’t save her. Rauru dies not long after. There is no one left to guide you, once again. You could spend years trying to figure it out on your own. But you did that last time. It didn’t work. Self-sacrifice, stepping in front of someone you love, that worked. (You do what you can, to call upon the sages, to help Link in the future, first). And then you swallow the stone. You’ve come a long way, in the past five years, allowing yourself to exist. But in the end, self-sacrifice worked last time. It’ll work this time too.)

You (Link) go down beneath the castle. You were supposed to bring the sages but you didn’t. It’s nice, for someone to have your back. But no one else should get hurt to fix your mistakes.

They follow you anyway. They fight with you, against the hordes, against the greatest enemies you defeated together, along the way. They’ll have your back, even if you don’t think you deserve it.

You fight Ganondorf, and then the demon king, in the hardest battle of your life. You think it’s over and then the demon king decides it’s better to lose himself completely than let you win. You’re exhausted and afraid of yet another battle, but up there in the sky, when you’re falling, the Light Dragon catches you (you wonder why she changed her path to catch you, you wonder if there’s still something of Zelda left in there to save). With her help, you win.

And then you’re in some other realm. The spirits of Sonia and Rauru are there. You remember how the two of them and Zelda channeled such incredible power together. You think about Recall. Turning something back to the memory of what it was before, like Sonia said. You stand with them and you allow yourself to hope. Maybe the Light Dragon can remember the form she took so long ago, the person that she was.

And then you’re falling, and Zelda is falling, but this time you catch her. You catch her. She’s back home with you, finally, finally.

And maybe, one mistake doesn’t have to be the end of the world. You don’t have to be perfect. Sometimes, someone else can stand with you, and it’ll all turn out alright. (You can put the weight of the world on your shoulders, you can sacrifice yourself, but someone will be there to catch you, someone will be there to pull you back to yourself, when all is said and done).

[artsyebonyrose]

inktober day 24: shallow

(zelda from botw)

i am not happy with this one but oh well

[tonguesofsilence]

Light Asylum - Shallow Tears

[palebluebirdcomputer]

Vengeance of the Moon Knight theory

[urlocalwmnlvr]

The irony of the shareholders, who are like the rich people's idea of community, betraying the queen group at the first opportunity while the villagers paid back their money to help out the Baek family

[aeli-tomato]

If your emotions are so shallow, why are we all drowning in it?

[captainadwen]

not gonna lie i am disappointed that the trailer music from the wild robot wasn't in the actual movie

[bokettochild]

side effect of writing panic attacks: breathe is weird

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Hey what do you think of Master Khoga? I love the yiga in general but Khoga's been kinda divisive. Personally, I love him!

Hey, thanks for the ask!

He actually was my light in the tunnel while playing TotK, his boss battles were delightful and his whole persona was a breath of fresh air --I was grinning every time he was on screen, and I'm super happy they allowed themselves to get really goofy there. I really adored TotK's yigas, I think they make for great antagonists even from a gameplay perspective, as they directly interact with the Ultrahand mechanics and give a much needed spark to the Depths.

There's always the notion that, you know, it would have been cool to enrich the whole "the yigas have an actual reason to be pissed off, and they have gotten yet another step closer to Team Rocket level of shenanigans since BotW, where they already had that very well paced build-up of goofs, instead of exploring actual grievances with Hyrule, and given the game it could have been interesting", but I dooon't think the yigas, as they have been set up by the games, serve to explore this side super well given they are being undermined by the tone at every step. So I think the yigas are fine as is, but I just wish we would have had something else to fill up that role. In the absence of that, yeah, Kohga and the Yigas (great band name) might be a little much and/or underwhelming under a certain light, but I had fun, and I feel like everybody who worked on them had fun too, and that's good for me honestly haha

[buggy-is-a-warrior]

I'M FUCKGBING CRYING AUGHH I MISS HIM SWANSEA DAMMIT

[minorfamilysupremacy]

quick note: if you're turning on build due to the most recent chat leaks, do me a favor and unfollow, then learn critical thinking skills and ask yourself why you're happily playing into the hands of a known liar and abuser.

[yooniesim]

some of yall care more about ai than actual creeps and bigots in this community lol. like I get it, ai fuckin sucks, but god yall pick and choose the absolute pettiest subjects and easiest targets like crazy. every time I see something making its rounds on here it's always the most popular & inoffensive regurgitated opinions, usually with side shady comments against ppl u dislike that u think are easy to dogpile on or are going thru tough times aka are more vulnerable, bc ya always choose the path of least resistance as the only time you use ur voices. it's real easy to fight when u know ur gonna have plenty of backup, & the bad actors u inspire to spew in others' inboxes but don't have to take accountability for is just a fun bonus right? i mean god forbid yall actually say something when it aint some basic barely important take thats gonna get ya brownie points with some simblr u salviate over or a bunch of anons fluffing ya up. yall wannabe saviors wouldn't last a second with a strong opinion that don't line up with what's "safe" to say. like maybe it's the tism but I swear it's so easy to see when yall are either a) tryna make yourself feel/look good in one big circlejerk or b) shamelessly use a cause in order to attack someone ya didn't like anyway. i mean its been the same tactics since 2017 aint ya tired? like don't yall ever feel the urge to smell fresh air cos...

[brazilian-whalien52]

Next week will be the first time I am doing this, but definitely about to skip bahmee scenes in the trainee (let's wonder if there is any of the drama left)

[sageverrr]

talking to a gojo bot then he suddenly pulls up with the “i don't deserve you, but i'm selfish enough to keep you.”

[thefinnishcap]

Transmasc Zelda wip

[rottencandyapp1es-sideblog]

Despite the fact that most of my favorite loz game endings are bittersweet (oot, la, and ww my beloveds) I don't think having Zelda, and Link's arm, fully restored and it being a more of a fairytale happy ending in totk is a bad thing either. Did anyone complain about alttp's ending, you know the one where Link makes a wish on the triforce and everything is magically back the way it used to be (including his uncle)? Like I love me some bittersweet endings but those aren't automatically superior to happy ones.