#this analysis is not complete and I’m not saying botw is the only game to have ever contemplated any of this

[ezdotjpg]

wait I have one more ramble in me. botw shows how pinning all of the fate of the world on two chosen ones is maybe a terrible idea, both for how it affects the chosen ones and how it leaves the world doomed if they fail. and it lets them fail! it comes this close to questioning if things have to even be like this at all, if we have to follow what the legends say. but then it can’t really go the full mile, bc this is still a loz game, and you’re playing as link, and only you can defeat the calamity.

but I still think it manages to shake the table in an interesting way. you don’t need the master sword, you can use any old weapon. you can meander around aimlessly forever and leave hyrule doomed if you choose to play that way, and you don’t run out of things to do. your friends (in a more direct manner I feel like than past sages) can do SIGNIFICANT damage to calamity ganon before you even touch him. It feels less like your divine duty and more like you’re righting a past wrong. some of that is a consequence of the new looser open world format but it’s still in the game! It still has story and thematic implications to me! i think maybe that’s another reason why the shift in tone abt how totk talks abt link irks me lol

[botwstoriesandsuch]

10/6 Age of Calamity Trailer Analysis

It’s only 44 seconds but there’s stuff to be analyzed so let’s just jump into it!

First opening shot is of a familiar fade in, similar to that of the memory cutscenes in Botw, BUT, you’ll notice there Sheikah Slate marks covering it. Either meaning this cutscene is some flashback through a video on the Sheikah Slate, OR (the more likely option) it’s just a reference to the fact that the two focusing characters of this trailer (Robbie and Purah) and Sheikah Researchers. Neat detail nonetheless!

King dude sitting on his throne. From the lighting and referring to the layout of the room in game, this scene takes place sometime in early morning 

Similar to that, if we stick to our 180 line film school rule, Zelda standing below her father (symbolism of power dynamic but that’s a given) is also in the early morning. Given she’s in her researcher/field blouse, I’d say she’s going out to do a mission, and not doing any ceremonial pomp and stuff. I think this scene is her getting a stern talking to by her dad before she goes

Despite the overlap of the King’s dialogue here, this above shot is undoubtedly of a different scene all together. They’re [Zelda, Link, and Impa, who’s behind Zelda] outside of the Sactum/Throne Room, rushing off somewhere to do something. AND Zelda is holding some unknown device

Is this an instrument?? It looks like there’s holes in it like some sort of panflute. Could also be a gear? An Ancient Sheikah piece? Perhaps they’re bringing this to Robbie and Purah to look at?

I’m hesitant to put this shot in the same scene as the previous one because the lighting is different, but judging from the stone walls and his sigh, I’m thinking this is the “I see my daughter is rushing off to research guardians again even tho I told her not to” look of disappointment. Or the “I don’t wanna be harsh on my daughter but I’m the kind and we have duties” sort of thing. It’s something angsty at the very least, just look at the foreboding walls and shadows

He’s arrived! Electric guitar riff and all! You can also see eggbot on the table there, deactivated I assume. The egg bot isn’t glowing or anything, and from the looks of the above lamp thingy there is a source of Sheikah power somewhere so perhaps they’re trying to turn it one, or open it up and see what’s inside

I am 50% sure that this is at the Royal Ancient Lab. One because...he’s a Royal Ancient scientist...there’s a Royal Ancient Lab...so. Ahem TWO, because BRICKS!!

Make like Purah and CHECK IT because the wooden scaffolding and bricks in the background are of a different work than that of Hyrule Castle. Comparing the wall in the background with the models of the Botw game for the Royal Lab Ruins 

The style is much more similar, with smaller, alternating bricks rather than the Castle’s larger, parallel brick work. But I’ll explain why I’m only 50% sure in a bit. 

I can only assume they are looking at Robbie in disappointment both because of the editing of the shots, and because of the lighting. You’ll notice in my last screenshot that above you can see a distinct Sheikah-blue lamp.

Also, those models of paper and bookstacks in the background are the same/very very similar ones used in Hyrule Castle in Botw. So, if these guys are with Robbie, I’m inclined to believe this scene takes place deep in the Castle somewhere.

I don’t really have a lot to say about this part. I’m thinking the front of Hyrule Castle’s entrance, given the soldiers and the towering height of the wall behind them. Plus the style of the bricks in that classic fortress jutting brick style. This is at the time of day similar to the later shot with Urbosa and Purah, but I can’t define the orientation to see if this is sunset or sunrise. I’m inclined for sunset.

Also Purah and Robbie both have the same two red pins [THEY’RE NOT CHOPSTICKS PLEASE STOP SAYING THEY’RE CHOPSTICKS PLEASE] in their hair because of course our chaotic duo should match. I’m also very glad I can confirm pens exist in Hyrule so I can stop double guessing myself whether to use “quills” or “pens” in my fic. 

Also similar to Botw, Robbies googles are powered by the battery pack on his back, as you can see with the wire. We can even see it twitch in this scene, although it lacks the glowing googly eyes as the Robbie we see 100 years later. Safe to say he’d probably modified it by then.

Another reason why they’re probably not at the Royal Ancient Labs, the floor is different. The ones in the botw ruins are more of a naturally cut stone, rather than the rigid smooth squares we see in the trailer. I wouldn’t put it past Nintendo to completely ignore their canon and old details (even though it pains me) but I’m working with what I got here. Different floor, same blue musky lighting from the Sheikah overhead lamp, I’m 50% sure it’s Hyrule Castle. 

Guardian in the background, same wooden scaffolding as seen in Robbie’s initial appearance, plus the same lamps which are the same type you can find in the houses in Hateno, and in the Hateno Ancient Lab. 

Oh my god she is so cute I love her I am simping way to hard oh my oh my gosh

It’s Purah! Check it! She’s got her iconic glasses, the previously mentioned red pins, plus a cut red highlight ohhh mmy gogsh she isso prettby I-- She’s also got the Sheikah slate, and I can only hope with all my heart that in this moment she is taking a selfie because that would be so iconic. (But I doubt it because the orientation is the wrong way, you can see it’s the handle side up)

It’s a different brick type in the background now it’s exactly like the ones in the Castle interior with the wider width and shorter length the lighting is the same but is this really the same location as the one Robbie was shown in Nintendo what is the truth please

Maybe Purah and Robbie just have different offices, with the same blue musky overhead lamps. Then again...the only sources of the Sheikah Power/Blue Flame are in Hyrule Castle, Akkala, and Hateno, so maybe this really is in the Castle.

Anyhow, Impa looking embarrassed because of her sister’s antics is a mood.

This definetly takes place much later in the game. Link has the Hylian Shield (something only attained through trial) and Urbosa has already been made Champion at the Sanctum. This is around the front of the Castle Town wall judging from the style of the bricks and the rounded areas for the lookouts areas atop it. You can also see Sheikah working on fixing a wagon or something in the background

Don’t let Purah and her beautiful face distract you from the destruction in the background! Some walls or something have collapsed, and people are looking up at the wall and....

You can see the faintest glow of Sheikah blue as Purah moves her head. I’m thinking this is some sort of Guardian destruction, perhaps a test gone wrong, as I doubt they would be acting so casual if this was the work of the Calamity. 

The final shot fades to the same Sheikah Slate filter as the beginning of the trailer, and you can see Purah’s expression change in surprise because of something on the slate..hmmmm

Anyhow, moral of the story is: I am way too attracted to Purah, and I need Nintendo to keep consistent architecture and bricks please it’s the only thing I’m good at don’t take this away from me please I beg you I-

[c-jay321]

Lots of thoughts about Age of Calamity with SPOILERS!!!!

This post was inevitable lol I couldn’t not talk about this game. This is mostly just me trying to analyze the consistency of the story so far with BOTW’s. Since this is just a demo analysis, this isn’t my final judgement!!  

The Egg Guardian:

Ummm time travel?? Time travel?? What’s up with that? Like I ain’t about to say that time travel is weird in a Zelda game cuz we literally got Ocarina of Time but like.... the thing that kinda irks me about it is that Zelda and Link already knew that Hyrule would turn to ruin if they didn’t destroy Ganon.

I think them knowing that the Calamity wins is just... i dunno, it just kinda seems inconsistent with botw’s story. It’d be different if it was a “Oh, in the future, Hyrule falls to ruin so let’s do all we can to stop it!” scenario but another timeline existing within the game?? Plus the egg guardian bringing in malice from that said timeline into the current timeline when malice technically hadn’t existed yet???

I just don’t get it guys.

Link and the master sword:

Okay so the thing with Link is that he supposedly had the master sword waaaay before he became a royal knight (at least according to Creating a Champion), which was also the sole reason why Zelda disliked him cuz you know, she thought he got everything handed to him really easily, but in this game he doesn’t even have it yet?

I mean Link’s gotta be at least 16 or 17 at this point, cuz this game takes place a few months or about a year before the Calamity.

They talk about Link having to go get the master sword in Korok forest so that’s pretty strange to me. 

Zelda and links relationship/ the beginning timeline:

So the game’s story starts before the champions were even dubbed, so it a little before the Champion’s Ballad. So we’ll definitely see Link getting dubbed as one of the champions in the game. But since the first chapter ends with Zelda, Link, and Impa going out to search for the champions, I find it odd that Zelda hasn’t shown any animosity towards Link? Cuz at this point he’s already her bodyguard!

In botw, Zelda’s diary shows that she really wasn’t happy at Link becoming her bodyguard. In the Champions Ballad, Zelda already showed her disdain towards Link when Mipha asked her who the last champion was. Plus there was the memory where she officially made him the champion, so yeah, Zelda should hate him by now lol.

And as much as my Zelink heart loved seeing Link take Zelda’s hand to protect her from the guardian, I just find it so weird that Zelda hasn’t shown any signs of bitterness towards him.

The guardians and Shiekah tech:

Speaking of the guardians, the way the characters reacted to them was so odd to me, it was as if they knew that guardians were evil. At this point in time, the guardians were relatively chill with the exception of that one berserker guardian that Link destroyed by deflecting the laser with a pot lid. So I don’t get why everyone’s reactions towards the guardians were like:

“AHHH a guardian!!!” rather than “What’s going on with that guardian???”

I’m also still trying to figure out just why that one tower erupted. Also the runes being on the Shiekah slate is still a little odd, especially since most of them weren’t discovered until after the Calamity, but I’ll leave that one aside for now, it doesn’t completely break the game’s storyline especially since you need to collect all the runes as a gameplay mechanic in botw.

The Shiekah Trio:

I really wish botw told us that Impa travelled a lot with Zelda and the others. Impa being on the journey to find the champions when she wasn’t there at all during the Champions Ballad.... just reeks of inconsistency. Also her voice was NOT what I expected it to be lol. She kinda gives off a serious, but bit of an airhead vibe lol. 

Not much to say about Robbie and Purah but I like Robbie and Impa’s voices better in Japanese, sorry to sound like a weeb, but something about Robbie’s voice is a little I dunno? It’ll take some time to grow on me.

Overall Thoughts:

I am totally excited for the game to come out, and I’m sooooo glad we got a taste of it early! The gameplay was fun though it took a while to get used to, and being able to play as Zelda and Impa off the bat was fun too!!! I love that we’re getting cutscenes, (although the voice acting could be better but Zelda’s still pretty new to voice acting so that’s okay), the title theme is extremely mesmerizing and relaxing~

And honestly, I know that this story may retcon or have a lot of inconsistencies, so I’m mentally prepared for that. My only hope is that it won’t be too bad.

[caguaydreams]

I love how Attack On Vah Ruta(song) is built upon both Mipha's and Sidon's names. Since they're, you know.... semitone intervals, each, and the song is about them.

️Si-Do (B-C) / Mi-Fa (E-F)

Following the intro, which is similar to that of Sidon's theme, we begin with him, of course. He has his part, and then the melody goes up to reach Mipha, whose theme makes a brief cameo and then gets slightly altered before falling back down to Si. And we know this song plays in Mipha's Ballad, when she's teaching Sidon how to swim up waterfalls. It's bittersweet to have an epic rendition of what this song means, playing the moment we're fighting Ruta with Sidon's help, to save the soul of his sister.

️Note that Dorephan is also a musical name. Do-Re-Fa. Do and Fa being the second note of his son and daughter's names respectively. Re is the remaining note in the middle of both their intervals.

I also love how each of the siblings' individual themes are basically the same melody, only it's adapted to their respective keys. And, of course, they evoke different feelings. Mipha's theme is calm, sorrowful, and compassionate. It's a song about love, about optimism. But, to quote a YouTube comment I once read, "[Mipha's theme] is wistful; it sounds like someone who wished for something they knew they could never have". Be it the affection of the one she loved, or being able to protect her friends and family. She chose to pilot Ruta in order to help Link... A decision that cost her life later on. The entire domain mourns her for a hundred years, and resents the one they deem responsible for Mipha's death. Her song is more of a lament. A longing for a better outcome that never came, and for everything that could've been. Sidon's theme is much more optimistic. It tells us about his enthusiasm, his altruistic and kind nature, without forgetting about his bravery and diplomacy. Those traits are practically palpable in this song, but it also carries a depressing message that we aren't entirely aware of at first, until the moment we remember Mipha and hear her own theme. The resemblance is there, but is not obvious right off the vat for everyone (I know for me it wasn't, long ago when I first played botw) but as soon as you realise it, it becomes clear. Sidon has lived for a hundred years without his sister. He's grown up to become a proper prince, but always remembering Mipha and what she was like, probably aiming to be the prince she would have been proud of. And he will never know... but that won't discourage him from moving forward, from being optimistic like his sister. It's what Mipha would've wanted, for him to move forward. But we know that Sidon feels helpless regardless, because we see him staying up all night talking to his sister's statue. His song is like Mipha's, because he deeply wishes she was still around, and all he can do is to never forget her, living up to her example as best as he can. With shit like this in the soundtrack, I can't fathom why I would ever doubt my interest in it. Why I look into it that much at every chance I get. It's clever, it's intentional, every detail, every piece of the puzzle that is Breath of the Wild's story and characters that the music has to offer. No, I will never shut up about this game's soundtrack, ever. To say that Breath of the Wild lacks in music or has no memorable songs, is a complete and utter understatement. The music in this game is different, sure, but it's perfect for it, and it's there. Hinting at things that enrich it's world with plentiful of tales untold. This story, aside from what various characters have to say and the few memories Link can gather, is also being narrated through music, if Kass's presence and prevalence throughout the entire game didn't make that clear enough. Hell, we even get a DLC that relies on music, for crying out loud. So, anyway. Manaka Kataoka is a brilliant composer and a treasure, and AC New Horizons would have been so much better had she taken part in it's development. At least she's involved with Breath of The Wild, I tell myself, and I'm thankful, please let her stay around. [What's funny is that I've had a "little" analysis of Vah Medoh's dungeon theme sitting in my drafts for two weeks now, yet I wrote and posted this in the spawn of an hour. I do want to post Medoh's soon, if anyone is interested, merely because everytime I think about these songs I genuinely want to tell everyone about them lmao]

[sharktoraptor]

Linkeduniverse Daemon AU

So uhh I posted it on the Discord and thought I may as well share here too. I put a lot of work into this one, beware that there’s a LOT of text beneath the cut!

If you’re unfamiliar with daemon AUs (referring to daemons from the His Dark Materials series), the basic concept is that your soul lives outside your body in the form of an animal that represents your personality. There’s a whole lot of character exploration involved in making a daemon AU!

If you’re unfamiliar with Linkeduniverse, it’s a Legend of Zelda AU where all the different incarnations of the hero meet and are on a quest. This daemon AU should be understandable with just a basic working knowledge of what the Legend of Zelda franchise is, this is all character/daemon stuff and no plot!

Again, a whole lot of text incoming. You might want to get comfortable. Enjoy!

Time: Wolf (white/gold)- Faekuri [fay-KYU-ree] (Kuri)

From Farore, fairy, Deku, and Kokiri.

Hyrule: Wolf (brown)- Fernwai [FURHN-why] (Fern, or just Fernwai)

From ‘fernweh’ (German for wanderlust) and fairy.

Twilight: Wolf (dark grey)- Aiyvona [eye-VOE-nuh] (Vona)

From ‘ayna’ (Turkish for mirror), Navi, Fai (Fi), and Ordona.

Warriors: Wolf (light grey)- Audelfi [awe-DEHL-fee]

From ‘audax’ (Latin for bold/reckless), ‘bellum’ (Latin for war), and Fi.

Wild: Field Mouse- Firielore [FEE-ree-uh-lore] (Firi)

From Farore, Fi, and Ciela.

Four: Field Mouse- Emper [EHM-purr] (no nickname, sometimes Em)

From temper, as in to temper a sword.

Sky: Blessed Butterfly- Lydivia [lih-DIH-vee-uh] (Lydi)

From Hylia and ‘divum’ (Latin for heaven/sky/open air).

Legend: Hare- Faistina [FY-stih-nuh] (Fais, rhyms with ‘vice’)

From Farore, ‘aisling’ (Irish for dream), and ‘obstino’ (Latin for persist).

Wind: Seagull- Marumi [mah-ROO-mee] (no nickname, sometimes Umi or Rumi)

From ‘mar/mare’ (Latin for sea), Ruto, and ‘umi’ (Japanese for sea).

The heroes traditionally settle when they first are draw/touch the Master Sword. This is true for Time, Legend, Wild, Warriors, Wind, and Sky (when the sword was completed). It doesn’t matter how old they are when they get the sword- Wild and Wind were both quite young, and Time technically settled when he was 9 years old, just before going into his seven year sleep. The exceptions are:

Twilight- Was already settled when his adventure began, he and his daemon merged upon entering the Twilight realm to create their wolf form.

Hyrule- Settled upon receiving the Triforce of Courage. Of the Links, Hyrule settled the latest in his journey.

Four- Officially settled upon restoring the Four Sword; however his daemon was already close to settling and was a mouse for the vast majority of his first adventure.

~Form Explanations~

A lot of the forms here aren’t necessarily exemplative of the Link’s personalities like a real daemon is, rather more of a symbolic representation of the character.

...Or something I thought would be cute because my city now.

The Wolf Pack (Time, Twilight, Hyrule, and Warriors)

All of these together, because the forms are the same. Because “Link” is the spirit/soul of the hero reborn again and again, it makes sense that there would be some overlap with forms. Each Link is their own person, but having legends of the hero with the wolf daemon as one of the most common depictions of the hero sounds cool and makes sense lore-wise. Right off the bat we have Time as the Heros Shade as the Golden Wolf, and Twilight following him with Wolf Link, the divine beast of the Twili.

Analysis/personality-wise, the form doesn’t fit all four of them as well as I’d like it to, but aspects of it do and like I said, we’re going more Pullman form/lore/symbolic here (not Pullman’s ‘wolves = evil’ though, that sucks). Wolves are hierarchical (Warriors), cooperative (all), social (Twilight, Warriors, the others to lesser extents), hard working and loyal (all), etc. All traits that would fit most of the Links well enough, but I like it for these four especially.

Important note, though: though all of their daemons share the same form, they’re still incredibly different. The differences in color is the first thing they all noticed, but their personalities are their own- not just the “soul of the hero.” That goes for all of them, of course, but it’s especially important for these four.

Mouse Friends (Four and Wild)

My reasons for picking mice for Wild and Four are so, so superficial. The analytic form actually fits both of them somewhat (again in different ways)- some of the core traits are things like independent, adaptable, observant/aware, defensive (physically and emotionally), but here are the real reasons.

Picture this okay. Four shrinks down to the size of a Minish, but his daemon doesn’t (or maybe she does but just a little bit). Now they’re like the same size. He can ride on his daemon and it’s adorable what’s not to like?

I made a big post about my botw daemon AU already here (disregard stuff about the other Links, I made this post before I’d really gotten into LU or any of the other games). Part of it that I don’t think I mentioned is logistics of the way Wild gets around, climbing and paragliding and swimming and stuff. He needs a daemon that is small enough to cling to him and stay safe when he’s doing stunts and shit.

Pink Bunny (Legend)

The Dark World in ALttP picked Legend’s daemon for me… I can’t give him a literal pink bunny though, so I took liberties. He’s much more of a hare personality than a rabbit, with hares being bigger and wilder, more independent, and having coats that change in the winter (get it? Oracle of Seasons, get it?). Not much else to say here, again more so picking a form to match the existing lore rather than doing an in-depth character study for it.

Butterfly in the Sky (Sky)

Alrighty, Sky was kind of hard because of his setting. What I chose eventually for him is the (fictional) Blessed Butterfly from SS, for a few reasons. It makes sense to me that daemons of people in Skyloft have to fit a couple of criteria: 1) small or fast enough at flying to ride a loftwing and 2) only take forms native to the sky, because it’s all they know about. Blessed Butterflies are one of the only animals in the game (according to the wiki- I’ve never played it myself) that are found on the ground and in the sky, so it works symbolically for his character.

I used the Monarch butterfly analysis as reference to make sure it wasn't totally off base, and it works for Sky surprisingly well from what I know about him. They're adaptable and adventurous (as a migrating species), and value group cohesion and teamwork (again because of the migration swarms). Lots of liberties being taken here, but the Blessed Butterflies in game apparently appear mostly in groups, so I'm willing to roll with it.

*Inhale* (Wind)

Wind has a seagull daemon because look. Have you seen Wind. Have you seen a seagull. Yes.

In all seriousness, there are some obvious reasons. Most of Wind’s adventure(s) take place on the ocean, so he needs a form that’s either adapted for that or small enough to fit on a boat, or both. You can literally take control of a seagull in WW.  Plus she can nest on his head like the doves do in Spirit Tracks!

Personality-wise, I’m going to just copy from the ring-billed gull analysis because this one probably fits the best of all the Link’s, analytically. The form is listed as chaotic neutral (I’d say Wind is probably chaotic good but it’s the chaotic here that counts). Seagull souls value social interaction, cooperation, courage, confidence, and duty, and are stressed by lack of control, boredom, lack of purpose, and dishonesty.

~Individual Links and their Daes~

Time and Faekuri

Faekuri settled when Time drew the master sword as a child. He settled the youngest of all the heroes at 9 years old, and she was still settled even when they traveled back in time. Time is bitter about that; another aspect of the childhood he never had, stolen from him.

Before settling, Kuri mostly took forms traditional of the Kokiri ( small woodland creatures and fairies, though fairies are still separate entities). When they set out on their first adventure her repertoire expanded and she took bigger forms, but never left her forest shapes for long. Settling as a wolf was unexpected and jarring for both of them, especially the experience of waking up in an unfamiliar, war torn world in shapes that neither of them knew how to deal with. Going back in time to be a child again didn’t help- Kuri never changed again, and Time had to live with that.

Kuri isn’t quiet, exactly, but she’s not generally conversational. She’s fairly blunt with scolding or encouragement if it’s needed, but if something is important enough for her to talk about, the others listen. However, she’s the most physically affectionate of all the wolf daemons, often nosing at, walking alongside, or even playing/rubbing up against the other wolves. She and Time are usually touching during downtime, but not as openly cuddly with one another as some of the others. With age comes a deep understanding of one another, and that’s enough for them.

Hyrule and Fernwai

Hyrule, by contrast, has one of the oldest settling ages of the Links at around 16. Fernwai’s settled form (which she took when they received the Triforce of Courage) was somewhat of a surprise to them both, but not as shockingly out of left field as it was for Time. It was a form they had taken before, just infrequently. They settled towards the end of their adventures as the Hero, and because they didn’t have to navigate their journey in unfamiliar skin, it feels wholly right and natural to them now. Before she settled, Fernwai preferred bird forms over landbound ones. They knew that the Hero of Time had a wolf form, so they’d tried it before, just in case, but the Hero of Legend didn’t, so maybe it was a one time thing…

Fernwai is a little more pragmatic and cautious than Hyrule, but aside from that, they’re basically the same. She doesn’t often initiate conversation with the others, but is very chatty to Hyrule.  She’s less touchy with the other wolf daemons, though she’s become the most popular perch for the smaller ones while traveling, but she and Hyrule are the most openly affectionate with one another. It’s common to see them sleeping on top of each other, not just next to or touching like most of the others do. Their tight bond comes in part from the lucky timing of their settling; they had time to work through it without much distraction after, while most of the others weren’t so lucky.

Twilight and Aiyvona

Twilight was the only Hero to be settled at the start of his adventure, which he’s sometimes hyperaware of. Aiyvona settled when he turned 15, about a year and a half before meeting Midna. People in Ordon village joked about his being the ‘lone wolf’ of the village, but he was a member of a pack then (the village and the children), and he’s a member of a pack now. It’s always suited them, and it had the bonus of being a good, mobile form for herding.

The Twili don’t have daemons, and the spirit people in the twilight realm don’t either, which is horrifying from Twilight’s perspective. But that’s why when they were taken into the twilight realm, Twilight and Vona’s forms merged into Wolf Link, a combination of both of them. Both of their minds are in Wolf Link and they can both control the form, but they’ve only ever fought for control once, when Vona tried to stop Zelda from sacrificing herself for Midna and Twilight won out, holding her back.

Despite the obvious similarities between Vona and “Wolfie,” the Links that don’t know about their secret haven’t figure it out. It’s a pretty big leap of logic- besides, Wolfie has all those strange markings, and a shackle around their paw. Wolfie doesn’t mind if the others touch them, even if Vona is in there too- it’s a magical form unique to them both, and it’s neither of theirs completely. Vona is as mature as Kuri is, but more talkative with the others, less touchy, and far more willing to tease and rile the younger daemons up. She doesn’t actually talk to Kuri much- the two wolves recognized each other as soon as they met, and they have an unspoken understanding. She talks to Twilight the regular amount, but they don’t need physical contact as much as the others do- they can share a body whenever they want, and nothing feels as close anymore.

Warriors and Audelfi

Audelfi settled when Warriors drew the Master Sword, but she’d been taking a wolf form on and off for some time before that. It was a noble form to take and common among the unsettled soldiers; the legendary form of the Hero. They were both quite happy with the form, though settling in the middle of a conflict is never easy.

Despite her name, Delfi is absolutely Warriors’ voice of reason and caution. It’s not a mostly even split like it is with Hyrule and Fernwai, she got just about all of it and he got almost none. She’s the one to talk him down from his most reckless decisions, or to sit by exasperatedly when she can’t. It’s sometimes caused noticeable friction between them; every rare once in a while it gets so bad that they flat out won’t speak to one another, and Delfi has actually pulled at their bond to try and drag him away from a dangerous situation before. They (obviously) always apologize and make up, but it’s a cycle that keeps repeating.

Delfi sees herself partly as her Hylian’s protector (she’s not entirely wrong), so it took her a while to relax around the other daemons and interact with them instead of Warriors, who was the exact opposite and warmed up to the other Links very quickly. She’s the only daemon that will talk to the other Hylians uninvited, which they don’t mind, exactly, but find a little bit… forward. Her ego is definitely smaller than Warriors, but Delfi was the Greek center of the world, after all.

Wild and Firielore

Wild settled young,  drawing the Master Sword when he was 13. Firi settled as a field mouse, which was a cause for concern at first. Scholars quickly reassured the King that everything was fine; the Hero’s daemon was most often a wolf, yes, but there was at least one other in the ancient texts that took the shape of a mouse.

Wild and Firi have the longest bond distance of all of the Links, because of the painful pulling that they frequently put themselves through as a knight and as Zelda’s guard. Every once in a while she’ll climb a rock or something and Wild will go carefully still, automatically pretending not to be fazed- old habits die hard. Everyone has noticed, but no one brings it up. It’s none of their business, even when any one of them would be doubled over with the pain of the distance while Wild stands outwardly unaffected. Twilight tried talking to him about it once, and Wild didn’t respond but ignored him for the rest of the day, Firi like a statue of a mouse on his shoulder.

Firi is and always has been a quiet daemon, but she got even quieter as the weight of her and Wild’s responsibilities settled over them Pre-Calamity. She never speaks except to Wild, and even then, only softly and occasionally. She’s opened up considerably since their awakening in the Shrine of Resurrection in that she’ll leave Wild’s shoulder and interact with the other daemons for longer and longer periods of time, often riding with Emper on Fernwai’s back during long days of uneventful travel. The others have only heard her voice once or twice, and she always pretends that they haven’t in case they make it a big deal.

(More on Firi pre-LU here)

Four and Emper

Emper settled when Four drew the completed Four Sword during his first journey, but she was taking the mouse form long before that. It was just always who she had been, and it was really a relief to settle, because they’d been wondering why they hadn’t already. Four loves her form for a multitude of reasons- he’s small, and she’s small. She can’t really help in the forge, but she can fit into lots of places that he can’t (when he’s big). She can ride on his shoulder, and when he’s the size of a Minish, he can ride on her back. They’re perfect for one another!

Emper doesn’t shrink when Four does, but she does change when he splits. It’s kind of complicated. There’s not four Empers the same way there’s four Fours, but they each have an aspect of her the same way they do of him. What form that takes I’m unsure of- there aren’t four mouse daemons, though.

Emper is one of the calmer social daemons, just like her Hylian. She's very friendly with all the other daemons, and she was a big part of helping Firi to feel at home in the group (meeting Four and having their form validated was actually very important for her and Wild). It's hard to be super cuddly with a mouse, but she and Four manage. They prefer to communicate silently rather than openly, but they have a healthy combination of both.

Sky and Lydivia

Sky and Lydivia settled later in their journey as well, when Hylia’s blessing completed the transformation of the Master Sword. The people of Skyloft didn’t have as much form variance as they would as the people of Hyrule, because of how deeply ingrained the loftwings were to their culture. Daemons only took shapes that were small enough to ride on a loftwing, be carried, or fly quickly enough to keep up with one; though only the the Goddesses themselves (and by extension all Zeldas) could settle as one of the sacred birds. Lydi always favored the butterfly form, and it was fitting that she settled as something found both in the Sky and on the land beneath the clouds.

Lydi is quiet, because even though her wingspan makes her larger than Firi and Emper, it’s hard for a butterfly to be loud. She does speak sometimes, just very softly, and mostly lets Sky voice her thoughts if she needs him to. It’s not uncommon to see her settled on one of the other’s daemons, either listening to them talk or just being near them for comfort or camaraderie. She’s content to just be, listening to the other Hylians and daemons (who learn what the different movements of her wings mean and include her in conversations when they can) and talking silently to Sky.

Legend and Faistina

Faistina settled when Legend drew the Master Sword, like most of the others, but they already sort of knew. The Dark World reveals your true self, and they had been a rabbit- he feels unspeakably lucky they didn’t settle that way, though he’d never admit it out loud. A hare is a better form, faster, bigger, and more capable. He is not a defenseless rabbit.

When they’re forced into the rabbit form in the Dark World, it’s sort of the same experience that Twilight and Vona have when becoming Wolf Link, except that it’s a weakening and incomplete merging and not an advantage. It’s more like Fais- all of Fais, not just the parts that they always share- is forced into Legend’s mind all at once, and he takes on her base physical traits, but softened; the ears, the fur, the face… it sucks for both of them. He’s so glad they didn’t settle as a rabbit.

Like Hyrule and Fernwai, Legend and Fais have similar base personalities- they just don’t get along as well as they maybe should. It’s not like Warriors, where he and his daemon have spats and then reconcile, more like they have some unresolved things they probably should have talked about long ago but most likely never will. Her form still makes him uncomfortable and self doubtful, and she knows it, though she’s long accepted it herself. Fais interacts with the other daemons in the same way that Legend interacts with the other Links; a little bit needling at times, kind of aloof, but able to see when she’s needed to be serious or kind. Despite their differences she and Legend do love each other, of course they do, but they don’t show their affection as outwardly, instead verbally sparring with one another or sharing exasperated looks at someone else’s expense.

Wind and Marumi

Wind settled when he drew the Master Sword at age 12, young even for a Hero. He’s never had any issue with Marumi’s form; seagull daemons are pretty common on the Great Sea, and he’s happy to represent that. It’s a good form for a sailor and a pirate, as long as she’s perched when the King of Red Lions goes fast, and she can even glide from traincar to traincar to check on passengers and cargo if they’re careful about it. They aren’t upset at how early they were forced to settle, either, except maybe for the fact that Marumi didn’t get to play with forms as much as most kids. Time is bitter about it on Wind’s behalf.

Wind and Marumi are young and have an innocent, open daemon-Hylian bond despite their mature experiences. They’re used to silent communication, because she’s in the air whenever possible and it’s hard for her voice to carry over the roar of the sea and the wind. Marumi helps to serve as the group’s navigator if they’re lost and she and Wind can get up high enough to not stretch their bond too badly (they have a larger than average bond distance, which is helpful for avian forms, but it’s natural and not forced like Wild’s is). She has a good sense of direction and the flight power that Lydi lacks to get a good view of their surroundings.

Marumi loves to talk to the other daemons, and she and Wind have reacclimated fairly well to talking to each other verbally. Sometimes Wind will still yell out non sequiturs to her, though, because they’re used to the one way communicating. She’s not flying that high, and he does not need to yell so loud and startle all eight of his fully armed travel companions, thank you very much. Marumi stays in the air most of the time during the day, but nests in Wind’s lap or hair at night.

~Other Stuff~

- All of the daemons call their Link ‘Link,’ and all the other Links by their title. It’s not as confusing as one would think. Everyone learns the other daemons’ voices very quickly, so that if one shouts out in the heat of battle they can identify who needs help.

- Listening to the daemons talk about their Hylians can be confusing. Not for the daemons themselves, though.

- Most of them know on some level that Legend is unhappy with Fais’ form, they just don’t know why. Sky, Wind, Four, and Wild have tried pep talking him about not having a wolf form, thinking maybe that’s the problem. It’s not.

- They all worry about the extremes to which Wild and Firi push their bond, and how often they do it.

- If they need to split up, the wolf daemons communicate long distance with an agreed upon system of howls. Most of the group is impressed with how quickly Wolfie picks it up too.

[everythingeverything2]

sloppily used my own list format to make my top games of the decade list! meanings for each game under the cut. (couldn’t decide between BL2 and starbound)

1. MINECRAFT - Growing up, I adored playing Minecraft. I put hundreds of hours into my own small singleplayer world, building huge city complexes and tanks and farms and helicopters, skyscrapers and zoos, floating signs in the sky that cheered me up when I logged on. I fell in love with the freedom, the utility, the versatility and complete control at my fingertips. I joined a couple online servers when I turned 10 - HouseCraft (a Czechian/English survival server where I got scammed frequently, but loved it for its low-key atmosphere and homey feel) and FinalDawn (a warrior cats roleplay server - this is where I ended up spending most of my time). I met some of my closest friends there, I was traumatized as a result of that server, I became the messiest person I ever knew on that server, I grew and changed and I realized I was a lesbian because of that server. Without it, I never would’ve become the person I am now. Because of Minecraft, I’ve flourished so much, and I will always look upon this game with the utmost love, adoration, and respect. 2. MGS3: SNAKE EATER - This one’s fairly recent (I got my PS3 in the summer and only managed one run of the game before returning to school), but it’s my favorite all-time game in the Metal Gear series. Its complexities, its themes, its characters and its storyline, it all seemed so beautiful to me. I held it very close to my heart then, and I still do now. It’s an amazing game that everyone should play - and finish - at least once, to truly understand how beautiful and ridiculous a game can be. 3. LISA: THE PAINFUL - This was my very first take on a game requiring critical analysis and serious, complex thought. Hbomberguy introduced me to it with his LISA: The Analysis video, and I’ll always be grateful to him for it. I poured many hours into this one - played it twice over, and now I’m starting up a fresh save. It’s a truly complicated game, with its many flaws, and its takes on trauma, abuse, and how exactly an apocalypse can twist the very core of humanity, are beautiful to me (the theories on how the apocalypse itself started, what exactly happened to the earth, and various unfinished sidelines are a whole rabbit hole in and of themselves). Be warned, though: this game has VERY HEAVY focuses on child abuse, drug addiction/alcoholism, and general gore/sexual assault. It gave me nightmares because I played it too much.

4. TLOZ: BREATH OF THE WILD - My first switch game, and my first Zelda game. I was immediately smitten with this game: I started crying during the intro (when the camera pans away from Link on the mountainside) because it was just so beautiful, because I was finally playing the game I’d wanted for years. Every time the music swelled and melted into the LOZ theme, every time I came across a new, beautiful, amazing spot, I teared up or just started crying. Everything about this game was, and is, just so perfect to me. I love you, BOTW.

5. STARDEW VALLEY - I’ll be honest; when I first got this game, I had pretty strong doubts. I didn’t like the visual style all that much, I thought it would be a bland indie game I’d be wasting my money on. But I bought it, because I had a lot of cash on Steam at the time (Christmas money, really). Suffice to say, I got addicted to it. Stayed up til 4AM on school nights, dedicated every waking hour I had to Stardew Valley, racked up a hundred hours in a month and 30-40hrs per week. I pored over wiki pages, to the point where my entire PC started dying whenever I’d open up my browser because of the sheer amount of tabs. I love this game so, so much, despite its flaws. 6. YAKUZA 0 - This was another huge timesink. It was my first Yakuza game ever, and I was super excited to play it (preordered it, sat for hours in my sweltering room waiting for it to finish install). At first, it was a buggy mess, and I absolutely hated it. Then patches came out, and I booted it up again, and I fell in love. I streamed it for my friends, I played it on my own, I snuck around parental locks to get on and play it in the middle of the night - landing 70 hours in a week, at one point. It’s not that outstanding of a story, and its graphics - compared to the rest of the recent games - aren’t the most stunning in the world, but it’s still an amazing game. Fair warning for gore and some transmisogyny, though.

7. NIGHT IN THE WOODS - This was one of my first ever Steam games! I hold it very near to my heart, as I somehow managed to play it 4 times over and get almost every single achievement. And played all the other games. And gushed about it to everyone I knew. I loved this game so, so much, and I still do. I should play it again!

8. BORDERLANDS 2 - This was a very finnicky game for me. I had huge on/off spells with BL2, getting addicted to it one moment, falling off it for months another moment. I still loved it, still loved its characters, its storylines, and unfortunately got traumatized by some folks who loved some of the worse characters, but I still adore booting this up when I can. 

8. STARBOUND - I adored this game. It was a slow start, but once I was able to kick this off with some school friends, it became a massive timesink. I spent so, so much time on this, decorating my ship, exploring various planets, connecting with so many different societies and NPCs. Please, please buy and play this game. It’s utterly astounding.

9. POKEMON WHITE - My first DS game! Again, a finnicky one, got huge on/off spells, but it was the first Pokemon game I managed to play all the way through. And I was pretty damn proud of that: every other game I pirated, etc, I never ever finished (I hate repetitive grinding). 

[kylydian]

Breath of the Wild: Soundtrack Analysis Day 1

As I was listening to the Breath of the Wild soundtrack again, I started thinking to myself, that I should do an individual analysis of every track, exploring what each piece does to make this soundtrack special. In most tracks, there’s so much that we can learn from conceptually, musically and philosophically.

I said we’d be coming back to BoTW in the future, and I was originally thinking about taking more time before revisiting it. But upon thinking about it more, I think it’s best to strike when the iron is hot. We’ll actually start this examination with track 2, as the first track does some really really really awesome things, but to fully appreciate what the main theme does we need to go through every track in the game first. No joke.  We have to talk about everyyyyyything else first. So, for these posts I’m going to do a brief summary to organize thoughts and prep you to be on the same page as me.

Let’s get wild.

Track 2: Field (Day)

Genre: Impressionism

Featured Instrument: Piano

Compositional Techniques: Pointillism & Silence

Takeaways for Composers: Don’t be afraid of silence. Experiment with tone color.

Takeaways for Developers: Sparse music can be great for open worlds.

Simply titled “Field,” the first track we’re looking at is truly the heart of the Impressionist style that I had talked about before. If you need a refresher, feel free to go back and check that out, as it will set a good base knowledge to expand on this topic.

This track is the epitome of music in BoTW. And it’s simply used for…well, the field during the day.  The music is incredibly sparse, full of little motifs that seem connected, but only by composer intention, and they’re are gone before they can be comprehended. The harmonies are definitely non-traditional, and have a lot of fifths, fourths, and seconds. These harmonies are very definitive of Impressionism, as is the motivic development that seems as if it’s trying to describe feeling rather than doing.

The feeling in this case is exploring a huge, vast world that’s full of life, but at the same time needs to be fully traversed. The world is truly open-ended, and the music reflects this.  You hear a lot of silence between motives, because if music was playing the entire time it simply wouldn’t make sense with the sparse but dense world. There’s a vast feeling to the breathing world, so in turn the music needs to breathe as well for the player. Tension is added through the harmonies, almost based on feeling, but because the harmonies and ideas are so fleeting, they’re never distracting. It’s almost as if music is playing without having it be present. This relates directly to what I talked about with music being written to scenery. “Field” is music that could be naturally occurring in the soundscape of Breath of the Wild, and it accomplishes this through the use of harmony, and silence.

However, there’s more techniques being used here than just harmony and silence. Composition wise, the piece uses a style of composition known as “Pointillism.” Pointillism is a style of writing that was prominent somewhat during the Impressionist era, but often was employed by later composers in it’s truest form during the stages of expressionism and total control.

The idea of musical pointillism is taken from visual art, where paintings are created with individual dots. In a musical fashion, melodies and to a lesser extent harmony, are created with individual notes spread across registers, or instrument tones. This gives a very skittish feeling to the music, as it’s hard to focus your attention in one place. It’s not used enough to say “This was a pointillist composer” much like you could say Debussy was an Impressionist composer, but rather it’s a style of composition that was used to convey feelings and ideas. Much like the art of Impressionism itself.

Pointillism is used here in a couple ways. There’s a few instances of where the melody skips around registers. Piano is one of the most effective instruments to use pointillism, as it’s arguably the instrument that sounds the most one with itself across registers. In this track we only have piano, and occasionally it does seem as if notes are dotting the landscape of not only the music, but the field of gameplay as well. However, traditional pointillism isn’t used too often in this track, and only occasionally for what could be considered very large melodic leaps. Overall the focus of the music is on the contrast between open and tight knit harmonies, as well as the silence.

That’s why I would argue that there’s another type of pointillism used compositionally in this piece, and god it’s going to sound redundant. But it’s actually the use of music.

I swear it doesn’t sound like I know what I’m talking about sometimes.

The melodic fragments of this piece never really sound complete, they’re fragments of ideas that are loosely connected by feel. There’s long periods of silence. It’s not as noticeable during gameplay, but when you just listen to the track away from gameplay, it’s very evident that these instances of silence are long. When the music comes in, it’s a welcomed type of relaxation. This is why I would say that the use of music in this track is pointillistic. It’s pointillism simply by composition. Every time that a new fragment enters, we’re treated to an instance of pointillism simply because each cell exists by itself.

That’s not normal, but it’s really cool.

The different cells often focus on a different type of harmony, quartal/quintal or secundal. Some are more melodic, while others are essentially just chords. This further heightens the idea that each fragment exists on its own, but transitions into the next. Regardless of the type of harmony though, this means that the emphasis of harmony is meant to seek a specific tone color for each phrase. The piano is a very homogenous instrument, and the use of tone color capitalizes on this. We go back and forth compositionally between tension and release of the harmony, and oftentimes the release of the harmony is open fourths or fifths, which is the most ambiguous harmony, since there’s no tension, nor major/minor denomination. This is pretty common Impressionistic writing and serves to provide subconscious musical context to the world already marked by Impressionism.

The music leaves us relaxed and is as sparse as the world we’re exploring. But it’s marked by pointillistic points of interest, much like the world. This is music that’s truly a musical representation of the field during the day. It’s exploration music, and music that fully explores and captures the feeling of the wild.

Revisiting the points of interest at the beginning.

For Composers:

Silence is a powerful motivator in music. When used properly it can push emotions to new heights simply because the player is wanting music. Take the player to the point of where they start to find the silence uncomfortable, then take them just a little further before you bring music back for maximum effect.

In writing Impressionism or any genre of music, experiment with tone color between instruments and intervals. There’s a lot that can be said by the color of harmony. Oftentimes this will stray away from traditional harmony, and that’s okay. Push boundaries, don’t fall into routines.

For Developers:

As said in my earlier post, huge, open, sparse worlds excel with sparse music. The music should accompany the world, and the world should accompany the music. If there’s a vast landscape ahead of the player, take advantage of that in your music. Make your players want music, make them revel in silence. Find ways through the addition and subtraction of music to keep them subconsciously engaged.

Conclusion

As said in the previous post, much about Breath of the Wild as a game as well as musically is Impressionistic. This track is in my mind the basis for creating this sense of Impressionism, as it’s likely one of the first ones we hear. It preps our ears for everything to come, and honestly that might be part of the reason it’s so different as well.

There’s so much great information just to be gained from this one short track. These ideas can be applied across a wide variety of genres, instruments and games. The great thing about this information though?

There’s 23 more tracks to go on the OST.

We’re just getting started.

[gascon-en-exil]

The Not Really Definitive Ranking of the Zelda Series: #1

#11-19 (link to #11, with further links to each of the others)

#10 - Tri Force Heroes

#9 - The Wind Waker

#8 - The Minish Cap

#7 - A Link to the Past

#6 - Link’s Awakening

#5 - Ocarina of Time

#4 - Twilight Princess

#3 - A Link Between Worlds

#2 - Breath of the Wild

#1 The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (including the 3DS remake)

I may say with a small degree of hipster-y pride that I liked Majora’s Mask before it was cool, that in fact this game has topped my personal Zelda ranking practically since it was first released. I’ve already written in exhaustive length about how much thought I’ve devoted to the most efficient means of fully tackling the game while working around its infamous time constraints, so none of that bears repeating. Even when MM was new I loved the fresh challenge the time limit represented for 100% completion, and I loved all the more that the game feels tailored specifically to reward that kind of playstyle. In addition to the usual item upgrades and extra hearts, there’s also the mask collection system, which culminates in a sequence of fairly challenging mini-dungeons that award the intentionally overpowered Fierce Deity’s Mask. What’s more, most of the masks unlock scenes in the credits montage that relate to their acquisition. My twelve-year-old self couldn’t get enough of this ode to complicated logistical projects.

In the years since I’ve also come to appreciate everything else that this game has to offer, including its profound and unique impact on the fandom. No other Zelda game has inspired such a curious combination of fanwork, ranging from creepypastas to fanmade remixes and reinterpretations of the soundtrack to extended philosophical essays on the game’s existential narrative and themes. It’s not difficult to understand how MM made the leap from cult classic to beloved mainline entry in the franchise when those of us who love it clearly love it so very much.

For a certain, rather complex definition of “love.”

At the same time however I can understand why all the attention MM has received in the past few years has come with a subsequent wave of backlash. Perhaps because of its separation from many of the key elements of the Zelda franchise this is a game that demands to be approached as a distinct entity. Players who come into MM expecting something resembling the typical Zelda experience (even on its initial release, when there were only five previous games to compare it to) will probably only come away with criticisms: it recycles the Ocarina of Time game engine and only occasionally does anything interestingly new with it, the main story is short and fairly easy, there are only four dungeons, and the time limit and restricted save system can feel too punishing unless you know exactly what you’re doing. That’s all it ever will be unless you bring something else to the experience, and for that reason I completely understand why opinions are divided over this game, and for reasons less easy to quickly identify than graphical style or gimmicky controls or linearity (or lack thereof) like all of the other controversial titles.

That demand for more from the player is one of the aspects of MM that makes it stand out so strongly from the rest of the series. From the moment Link passes through the door leading into Clock Town and the ominous “Dawn of The First Day: 72 Hours Remain” appears on the screen the game forces the player to engage with its world and its defining mechanic directly, in such a way that not even Breath of the Wild with its varied environmental demands has been able to match. With very few exceptions you are always on the clock from that point forward, which in addition to its obvious ramifications for gameplay plays perfectly into the tone and atmosphere of MM. The bright and outwardly cheerful world of Termina contrasts sharply with the mounting dread of its inhabitants as the moon looms ever larger in the sky above, and everything from lighting to music to NPC activity (in Clock Town and Romani Ranch, at least) builds on that feeling such that the player can’t help but feel it too. Link may have a Get Out of Apocalypse Free card in the Song of Time, but the terrible fate of Termina resonates powerfully nonetheless.

I could go on in that vein for quite a while, and in fact many people already have - reading deeply into anything and everything in this game, from the physical world of Termina to the overwhelming number of personal tragedies that play out over the course of the story and side quests to the ambiguous villains that are the Skull Kid and Majora’s Mask. This has been recently expanded upon even further with the revelation in the 30th anniversary Hyrule Encyclopedia that Termina is a creation of the Skull Kid, which adds further (disturbing) dimensions to his personality and helps to explain why this parallel world of Hyrule exists as it does. This is a game that encourages overthinking, or what some would refer to accusingly as “reading too deeply,” and as I’ve demonstrated myself that even extends to something as comparatively superficial as game progression. It is, in other words, a work of art, something that encourages thought beyond the surface level of entertainment. I’m not suggesting that none of the other Zelda games qualify as art, and indeed the question of the definition of art and how it applies to video games is far too large a subject to get into here. However, in my opinion no other Zelda game (with the possible exception of Link’s Awakening) delivers such a multilayered experience, and for that reason alone Majora’s Mask still takes the top prize.

And I’ll be honest - I have a literary academic background and years of experience reading into queer subtext for personal pleasure. Of course I’m going to love a game that gets me thinking on that level. I don’t even really feel the need to expound upon how I find MM enjoyable purely from a gaming perspective either; after all, a game with a great story and thought-provoking themes can still be ruined if it’s not fun to play. But for those curious:

There are no really frustrating side quests or minigames, which as I’ve mentioned several times before can really irk me in a Zelda game. Even the famed complexity of the Anju and Kafei side quest is somewhat overblown; it only consists of about half a dozen required events, and many of them are brief.

The dungeons all feel distinctive and cleverly designed. There may only be four, but there’s not a bad one in the bunch. (And while Great Bay Temple may not be my favorite water dungeon in the series, I will absolutely step up to defend it if necessary.)

The transformation masks are an amazing idea that demands gushing over. It’s like controlling four characters in one, to say nothing of the deeper implications inherent in the masks both collectively and individually. They all get a significant amount of use and excel in different areas, and they incorporate the abilities of several pieces of equipment held over from OoT, ex. the boomerang and iron boots for the Zora Mask, which helps streamline gameplay.

The experience of MM improves drastically once you learn to work with the clock rather than against it, which I suppose counts as this game’s biggest learning curve. The nice thing is that you don’t even have to master time management to complete the game; you can still make it to the end if you take fifty cycles or five (100% N64 version), four (100% 3DS version), or two (any% either version - I think).

There’s really little more I can say. MM was a phenomenal accomplishment of gaming that almost feels like a fluke. It was produced in under two years as the immediate follow-up to the most lauded game in history at that time, and yet it emerged as a wholly unique entity that still demands attention and analysis from fans even today. Like several others I’m now left to wonder if Nintendo will follow BotW with a similarly unusual and groundbreaking work. Given how thoroughly that game has shaken the foundations of this venerable franchise, the material is certainly there. I don’t know if any Zelda game will ever surpass this one for me, but I’m open to the possibility. I enjoy being pleasantly surprised (almost) as much as I enjoy obsessive scheduling.

[sage-nebula]

Zelink for every game you've played :D

That is so many games … but CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Legend of Zelda (1):

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

I mean, I guess? Haha, there was really nothing here. Since this was the very first game, character development basically didn’t exist, so like … I really don’t have an opinion one way or the other. People can do what they want, and I’m not against it, but I personally just don’t see anything there worth really talking about or shipping, haha.

Adventure of Link:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

Same deal as above. My memories of AoL are really hazy, but iirc this is the game where Zelda is asleep for the vast majority of it, but also where we see an implied kiss at the end, which … honestly feels a lot like “here, you are rewarded with a gf” to me, which is why I “nonono” that. I’m mostly neutral, but also kind of really “meh” on it as well.

A Link to the Past / Link’s Awakening / Oracle of Ages/Seasons:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

I’m kind of neutral on shipping Zelda with the Hero of Worlds, because while I think there could be potential there, they spend virtually no time together and, in the Oracle games, the fact that they barely know each other shows. The fact that Link could mistake Marin, who has deep red hair, for Zelda (who is blonde) seems to further cement this to me. Yes, he was half out of it due to the fact that he had just woken up after being knocked unconscious during that storm at sea, but the fact remains that hair color is one of the most immediately obvious markers of a person’s appearance and he still made that mistake. This is no doubt due to the fact that he and Zelda have spent barely any time together, I feel. Additionally, Link did spend quite a lot of time with Marin, and the two of them even went on a date. While I’m not at all opposed to multi-shipping and while it’s clear that he and Marin cannot be endgame (I mean she might have become a seagull ffs), I’d much prefer to ship him with Marin before Zelda, hands down.

Ocarina of Time / Majora’s Mask:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

Again, this is a case where Link and Zelda didn’t really spend a lot of time together … and the majority of the time they did spend together was spent under deceit with Zelda pretending to be Sheik. I understand why she couldn’t tell him who she was (and I think that Link would understand, too) but that doesn’t change the fact that a good chunk of their relationship was spent with Zelda pretending to be someone else. And before anyone says anything, no, gender is not an issue here, especially since I am fully on-board with the headcanon of OoT!Zelda being genderfluid. The issue here is that Zelda pretended to be a completely different person entirely. Even if she had pretended to be a female different person, the same issue would exist. I think that, regardless of the necessity of the lie, Link would still have some trust issues, both in the sense of “if she lied to me about that, she could lie about other things,” and “don’t you trust me enough to tell me?” Then again, the second she dropped the disguise Ganondorf got her, so. :/

There’s also the issue of how she sends him back to his childhood at the end of the game. Link doesn’t speak, so we don’t know exactly how he felt about that decision she made, but she also doesn’t ask him if that’s what he wants, she decides that’s what he wants. And true, he does hand the Ocarina of Time over when she tells him to, but … that’s just it. She tells him to. The exact line is, “Link, give the ocarina to me. As a Sage, I can use it to return you to your original time.” Now, Link’s feelings on this are completely open to interpretation. It depends on how you characterize him and how you interpret his body language. But I just rewatched the scene (in both the original N64 graphics and the 3DS remaster), and it looks to me like he has a bit of hesitancy there—like he doesn’t necessarily want to, but technically the Ocarina of Time does belong to the royal family and, anyway, it’s a directive from the Princess of Hyrule. Can he really say no? Like, I guess he could refuse, but … mmmhh. He seems conflicted. But regardless of how he does or doesn’t seem conflicted, I do still think the fact that Zelda doesn’t ask him if this is what he wants is an issue. She decides that it’s what best. And whether the Triforce of Wisdom gives her insight that makes her right or not (and considering the timeline split, I think that’s debatable—I think that it would have been better to leave time business to the one who’s the Hero of it), I still don’t think the fact that Zelda thinks she can make huge life decisions for Link makes for an entirely healthy relationship right off the bat. I think they’d need to work on it.

That said, I do ship this in the context of Rose Zemlya’s fics (The Return and Reconciliation and all the one-shots and drabbles in-between), because in her fics they do work on it. They actually get to talk (and, well, fight) about Zelda’s tendency to deceive and lie because she feels it’s what’s best, as well as her removal of Link’s autonomy in the decision at the end of OoT. Additionally, I enjoy the way she characterizes both of them and think it works well. But outside of those fics, I’m neutral on it (kind of “ehh”), and in the end would probably rather ship Link with others (such as, for instance, Malon). I also think that, personality-wise, Zelda and Ruto could work well, though the fact that Ruto is a Zora gives me pause, as you know. XD

The Wind Waker / Phantom Hourglass:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

I looooove Link and Tetra! While I do take issue with the way Tetra was damseled multiple times so that Link could rescue her (though this is typical of Zelda games), and while I also take issue with how Tetra is mysteriously and disgustingly whitewashed the second she is revealed to be Zelda (though that has nothing to do with the ship), altogether I think that Link/Tetra is a wonderful ship, and this was the first time that I undoubtedly shipped a Link/Zelda pair. 

To begin with, one of the things that I really like about the Hero of Winds and Tetra is that they are both hotheaded and both levelheaded at different times. Link is provoked by Aryll’s capture and Ganondorf’s taunting; he chases after his sister and loses his temper and attack Ganondorf, both actions of which were poorly thought-out and result in him needing rescuing, by Tetra. However, Tetra likewise loses her temper when her crew is threatened, when she is captured, and acts recklessly to save Link from Ganondorf (which results in both of them needing to be rescued by the Rito lmfao). She’s not immune from thinking irrationally or impulsively, and I actually think that she would be more prone to losing her temper / getting annoyed in casual situations, whereas Link would be calmer and more level-headed. In this sense, I think they balance each other out really well.

Of course, both Link and Tetra are about twelve-years-old, so they have a lot of growing up to do! I don’t think either of them are in a romantic mindset by the time the game ends. However, they do go sailing off to find a “new Hyrule” together, and we know thanks to Spirit Tracks that they succeed (doesn’t mean they start the new royal family, of course—just means that they find new land together). I think that there’s plenty of potential there for when they grow up, and I also think that Aryll would be 100% on-board. (A shipper on deck, if you will. ;D)

Twilight Princess:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

I have nothing against it, but I also don’t ship it, tbh. I say “maybe” because they could always get to know each other post-game, could grow to care for each other, could grow to have feelings for each other—but that’s all hypothetical. They don’t bond at all over the course of the game (Zelda is barely in it, tbh), and I don’t really see potential there for them in canon. There’s no real interest, Zelda is barely a presence in the story. So I’m not against it, but I don’t really ship it, either. There’s not enough for me to.

Spirit Tracks:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

I only played Spirit Tracks once and I honestly don’t remember it very well, so I’m afraid I can’t give an indepth analysis on this one. However, I do remember really loving their interactions throughout the game, and that’s key—this Link and Zelda have plenty of time to get to know each other and interact, and it shows. I think that they were really cute and that, while (once again) they’re young, there’s a high probability that they could develop feelings for each other in the future.

Skyward Sword:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

This probably would have been a “MY HEART,” but then BotW showed me what “MY HEART” really means. More on that in a second, though. ;)

I really, really like what SS did with Link and Zelda. They’re childhood friends, and that shows; it’s clear that they care for each other a great deal, that Zelda is protective of him when it comes to the bullying he receives from Groose and the others, but that he’s just as protective of her when it comes to any threats. There’s an element of playfulness in their relationship, in that she teases him for being a sleepyhead, she’s not afraid to play around with him, she knows he’ll take it well. They’re honestly very sweet with each other, and I swear the scene where he takes her hand and drops into a kneel before her squeezes my heart every single time. (As does the scene where she seals herself away, tells him that he’ll have to wake her up this time, and he cries as he leans against the crystal, damn.) I will say that it does bum me out a bit that Zelda is damseled (sealing herself was an action she undertook as part of her own plan, so I’m not talking about that—I’m talking about when Ghirahim kidnaps her to resurrect Demise), but again, that’s par for the course with Zelda games, so I can forgive it.

I do think that this is the game they’re the most canon in, though. We know that this Zelda is the one who went on to form the Hyrulean royal family (and that all other Zeldas are descended from her), and I mean, their song when flying on the loftwing in the beginning is called “Romance.” I think we know who her king was, js.

Breath of the Wild:

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART

THE BEST ZELINK TO DATE, ALL OTHER ZELINKS CAN TAKE A SEAT PLEASE. 

The best part of this Zelda/Link pair is that it is undoubtedly a slow burn. They knew each other for quite a long time even prior to Link’s near death. In Zelda’s diary, she notes that “he” has been selected to be her personal guard, with the emphasis hers. This implies that she knew him beforehand, no doubt because he was already training to be a knight, as his father had been before him. (Often times knights were nobility, so it’s incredibly possible that she even knew him from noble court prior to his entering in to be a knight.) Despite knowing each other beforehand, however, they weren’t friends. We know that Zelda’s dislike of Link wasn’t really personal—it was wrapped up in a lot of her own issues and insecurities, and how she projected her feelings onto him—but all the same, the fact remains that although they knew each other and had a history, they weren’t close. This means that we see them grow closer over time.

While I am admittedly rather “ehhh” at the way her feelings shift is carried out at first, that we see her reconsider in a “rescue romance” type of light when he saves her from the Yiga assassins, I do appreciate that despite the framing of the memory it wasn’t really shown to make her fall instantly in love with him. Rather, it opened her eyes to the fact that she should get to know him better, that he doesn’t hate her, that she should make an attempt to talk with him. And she does, and they do. They grow closer, get to know each other, become friends first after such a rocky start and then let feelings develop. And what I really, really love is that Zelda never loses her complexity through any of this. Even when it comes to the moment when her powers awaken, although we do know for canonical fact that it was her love for Link that allowed her powers to awaken, I also feel like Zelda throwing herself in-between him and the Guardian Stalker wasn’t just because she loved him, but was also because she couldn’t bear for one more person—much less the last person she had left—to die because of or for her. Like, yes, love was there, but so was survivor’s guilt. Zelda loving Link did not reduce her to a love interest. And, despite the fact that you’re told to go save her for the duration of the entire game, Zelda is not damseled. She is not a prisoner. Ganon is her prisoner and she’s waiting for Link to come pick up the slack. They are, inarguably, equals, and that is such a nice and refreshing change. 

They still have so much to do, so much to catch up on. Zelda especially needs to get reacquainted with the world now that she can finally walk through it again. And, as we see in the Golden Ending, they have work that must be done and they are putting that on priority. However, they have time. They now have so much time to rekindle their friendship, grow closer, build a life together, and we’ve seen the foundation on which that can be built. This is by far the best rendition of the Link and Zelda relationship yet and I’m so glad it exists. A+++++, well done, Nintendo.

[chandelierslayer]

I FOUND A SECTION OF THE TEMPLE OF TIME THAT I HADN’T FOUND BEFORE! <<33

This is gonna be one of my special secret spots. Like the cavern above Zora’s Fountain in OoT. <<33

Yeah I used to climb up there and literally just hang out and do nothing just because it made me feel like I lived in Hyrule and had a cool hangout spot there and all my Hyrule friends were invited and LOOK this was the end of the Nineties and beginning of the Zero Years and I was lonely and scared all the time and the only things that made existing easier were escaping into my books and video games, and my radio. And then my CD player when I finally got one. So like. When I say I immersed myself into Hyrule, I cannot explain to you just how much I mean. And I think that’s a huge part of why I was anticipating BotW so much, and why I can’t put it down now. Like. 

I don’t really care about having an open world or adventure-RPG-like system or anything else of it being “like modern games” or “more grown up” or any of that bullshit. Honestly, I’ve been happy with Zelda’s direction all this time. Skyward Sword is still probably my favorite game of all time. ALBW is AMAZING. Wind Waker, Minish Cap, and FSA are all completely gorgeous and I could play them all forever. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks I’m still working on, so I can’t give a proper analysis yet. But dude? I love Zelda games for what they are: Zelda games. If I want any of the modern games that everyone had been harping on that Zelda “needs to be more like,” I’d go fxxking play those games. But I don’t. I want a freaking Zelda game. For a long time, I was very scared BotW was gonna disappoint me. I was really worried that I would hate it. But I kept offsetting that with my obsessive anticipation of having a huge world of Hyrule to explore. Because like I was saying, I don’t give a stinking pile of Keese guano about having some random open world to explore. If you put any of the modern huge games with vast worlds in front of me, I’d have fun exploring for a while, but eventually I’d get bored of it and start playing something else. It’s the fact that this huge open world is HYRULE, that matters to me. All the exploring I’ve always wanted to do in past incarnations of the world, all the studying of the world and its people that I can finally do on a larger scale, all the possibilities of perfect secret chill spots I can find and come back to at any point to just chill in front of a screen and do absolutely nothing for hours because HYRULE IS MY HOME. All of that, is what makes this game special to me. I’m happy to say it hasn’t disappointed in the being a Zelda game deal, because thankfully the shrines give me loads upon loads of the puzzles that for a large part make Zelda what it is, and you’re still only as good as the equipment and skills you acquire, and the people really feel like people - NPC’s actually have their own unique personalities, and aren’t just cookie-cutter space-fillers and quest-givers. It’s not like any other Zelda game before it, but it’s still got Zelda-ness to it.

...I’ve gone on like. Three tangents? I um. Didn’t even mean to start talking about any of this. It is way too late for this kind of crap. I just wanted to share a picture. XD I’m going to sleep. Goodnight. 

[jacksgamediary]

Entry #2, July 14th-16th, 2017

Grow Home (Reflections/Ubisoft, 2015, PC version)

So it turns out I liked this game even more than I thought. I went back to it the day after I completed the main game and finished the secondary quest, gathering the different “seeds” hidden throughout the environment and bringing them back to the ship teleporters for “analysis.” It was fun just to take on another challenge and explore the areas of this world that I missed the first time around. As a reward for completing this part, the game gives you a ninja suit for B.U.D. that makes him jump twice as high, which is cool but also kinda unwieldy at times. 

I don’t really have much to say about Grow Home here that I didn’t already cover in my first post, except that I underestimated how fun it was to skydive from the ship to the ground - reminded me of the rail grinding sections of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the GameCube, when my brother and I would race to complete courses and try to get to the finish faster by jumping off the rail and falling onto an entirely different section of the rail further on. We usually just missed the rail and died.

Also, this game is really fun to take pictures in.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild + DLC Pack #1 (Nintendo, 2017, Switch)

I went back to Breath of the Wild to finish the last sidequest of the game that interested me - “From the Ground Up,” also known as the Tarrey Town sidequest. It was fun, but I had to use a guide to find the Gerudo woman, and I found the ending to be pretty anticlimactic. I think it would have made a greater impact if I had actually discovered the quest on my own and completed it before going to fight Ganon. Still, the wedding was nice. I just wish that Tarrey Town had more functionality to it than a generic marketplace and goddess statue. Maybe some items or armor only available once you finish the town, or a shrine beneath the town that reveals itself only when you finish the quest? I dunno.

Satisfied with the status of my first Breath of the Wild playthrough, I decided it was time to embark upon Master Mode. It’s shocking how different the game feels when the difficulty is ramped up so high, and when you have to re-explore everything on foot rather than just teleporting everywhere. I’ve only completed one shrine and found two stables outside the Great Plateau so far, and died more times than I can count with both hands, mostly due to underestimating how difficult the enemies are. In the regular game, the enemies you encounter are difficult if you just charge in head-on, but they feel doable, even with the weak, low-durability equipment you have access to early in the game. In Master Mode, though, the enemies are so much stronger, with so much more health - which regenerates over time, by the way, so you have to defeat them quickly - and your early-game equipment has the same durability and strength as it did in the regular-difficulty playthrough. As a result, I keep finding myself going through my entire weapons inventory trying to kill a single moblin. I’ve found that the best strategy so far has been to use stealth, then wail on them as much as possible using perfect dodges and flurry rush. Even that has gotten me killed many times though, so for now I’m just trying to avoid enemies and wait until I get some better armor and weapons from Kakariko or elsewhere.

All in all, I’m excited to return to BotW and hopefully discover some new things I missed the first time around, in addition to approaching boss fights and combat in general in a new way. (Really, I’m just biding my time until Super Mario Odyssey releases in a few months... which, by the way, I think will be the Switch’s first actual big exclusive. Not to say that Splatoon 2 won’t be successful, I just don’t think it has the power of a 3D Mario platformer. Few things do.)

Roberta Williams’ Phantasmagoria (Sierra On-Line, 1995, MS-DOS/Windows)

My friends and I have somewhat of a tradition of getting together to play point-and-click adventure games, especially classic Sierra games like the King’s Quest series. I discovered Phantasmagoria through a Humble Bundle a while back, and as soon as I did, knew it would be a perfect fit for us - a supernatural horror story, complete with 90s fashion, full-motion video segments composited into CGI environments, cheesy dialogue, and over-the-top gore.

We played it over the course of a few nights, enjoying it partly because of how dated and cheesy it was, but also enjoying it earnestly, exploring a gaudy, yet interestingly-designed haunted house and interacting with a few genuinely charming characters. Of particular note were Harriet, the homeless woman and amateur psychic that lives in the barn; her dim-witted yet almost unbelievably strong son, Cyrus (at one point he fells a tree by pushing it over with his bare hands, rather than using his axe); the cheerful gossip/antique store owner, Lou; and the sleazy real estate agent Bob, a caricature of every greasy cigar-smoking con-man ever written, whom you can actually walk in on flirting with a prostitute at one point.

The puzzles were much easier than the typical Sierra game, for the most part, and the protagonist’s animations often had long, nonsensical pauses at the beginning and end of movements. That being said, it’s clear this was a project of passion and of great innovation for the time, and an altogether worthwhile experience, especially if played with friends.

[botwstoriesandsuch]

The Champion’s Identities 10,000 years back

I was tagged in this post by @no-themes-just-memes for a theory about the original Divine Beast pilots 10,000 years back. This was too big for a reblog so here is this...

This tapestry, the one that was passed down to Impa, over what I can assume is a lot of generations, is pretty much our only information regarding the original Champions. It’s well guarded, behind Impa, which is near where their “treasured heirloom” was kept so it’s definitely a valuable heirloom.

[Full theory/analysis below the cut]

Now the fact that it’s in Impa’s possession and clearly in the Sheikah style is obvious to the fact that it was Sheikah-made, but just to reiterate that point, you can clearly see the Sheikah text, swirl designs, eye symbol, and obsession with constellations that other Sheikah stuff (like shrines) have. Impa’s version is much more weathered, which in comparison to the much brighter and refined picture I have at the top, obviously means that this piece of art is old. This was definitively made by the Sheikah and not something that was from the Hyrulean Family as other people may think

Why is this important? Well firstly, and a bit off topic, but I think this confirms that the sealing of Ganondorf in botw 2 was done by the Sheikah as the wall art in the trailer is of Sheikah style and not the Zonai (although that’s on the pretense that this art of ganondorf is related to his sealing, and not just art depicting the events of something else entirely, which could also be likely to be fair)

Anyhow, the fact that this was done by the Sheikah, means that we can definitively say that the art here is not only accurate, but we can understand that the artist had the basic knowledge on what the different races across Hyrule were when making this. Basically, I’m saying that this isn’t a case of “Oh this was a legend passed down through time and this art was made by someone 100 years ago so the description of the Champions is not accurate.” No. This was by the ancient Sheikah, who had first hand, or at least very close hand, knowledge on the events and more specifically what the Champions looked like. 

[And I can further prove this because the tapestry in the trailer is obviously woven, and not inked into, unlike the other more “modern” art across Hyrule that you see in the game. It’s on an almost papyrus like “paper” and not the more modern book binding paper that is present across Hyrule, the only exception being the Rito, but again, this is definitely Sheikah design]

If we understand that the depictions of the Champions are accurate, and not the result of misinterpretation through myths passed down to later artist, we can actually use the art of the Champions as fact to identify them. 

I’ll start off with this, none of the Champions were Rito, Goron, Hylian, or Sheikah.

Rito and Goron are easy to disprove, the shape of the Champions are vastly different from the larger, circular Gorons, and there are no wings, beaks, or talons present on any of them, so Rito is a no.

You could argue that Medoh’s pilot has a beak, but 1) There’s still no wings or talons, tail, or even feathers. 2) It’s more likely a helmet, such as the Divine Beast Vah Medoh Helm which is canonically worn by the pilot/controller of a Divine Beast. We will come back to that point.

None of the pilots are Hylians or Sheikah, because the tapestry includes depictions of those very races in the same piece. The Hylians are depicted very human like, and the Sheikah are all with their signature masks with their symbol on it. Both, vastly different than the styles of the pilots. 

(And also the Sheikah race devoted themselves to assisting the Hyrulean family with their technology and knowledge and not with direct combat making it unlikely they were pilots)

[btw there’s a theory that the corpse in botw 2 is actually the hero because they could both be Gerudo/ganondorf, cause the hero in this tapestry was Gerudo cause of the skin tone and hair or something... but I’m 99% sure that’s wrong because 1) the curse of demise wouldn’t allow Ganon to be the good guy and 2) the hero clearly has pointed ears, something not developed by the Gerudo (who had rounded ears) for many many many generations]

[Fun fact! This last image showing the ancient Sheikah being cast out displays them escaping to the Forgotten Temple (with the large goddess statue) and some of them also splitting off to become the Yiga Clan]

The only possible known races left are the Gerudo and Zora, but I’m very hesitant to even say that for a few reasons I’ll get into later.

The reason they’re not crossed off completely is because they have distinct arms and legs which Zora and Gerudo have, shocker I know. In addition, it could be argued that the red hair that some of the pilots have indicate their Gerudo race. Also, the pilot for Divine Beast Vah Ruta has a skirt/petitcoat like fins around their waist which could be argued to indicate a Zora. However, this obviously won’t explain the other pilots, but we’ll get to that soon.

[I’m not gonna re-screenshot the other pilot just scroll up and look at how their hair color is red ok]

Now, other than those obscure observations, this leaves me with my two theories. The simplest one, is that the pilots were actually Hylians, or Zora, or some other race, but they’re depictions here have them in armour, so it is impossible to tell. This lines up with the amibo descriptions of the Divine Beast Helms, which were worn by those who controlled the beasts, giving reason to the pilot’s unusual head shape. Not far-fetched to assume that they’re might have been a fully fledged Sheikah pilot armour made at some point. 

[could be argued that the this helm explains the “tusk” or “trunk” like blue shape on the Ruta pilot’s face]

In addition, notice how the pilots are all wearing the same colors as their Divine Beasts. The Ruta pilot with the same shade of blue, the Rudania with the orange, Medoh with the green, and the Naboris pilot with the red (and yes its a different color than the Ruta one, I checked its a darker shade). This could explain away the coat-like shapes on the Ruta pilot, and and previously mentioned beak shape on the Medoh pilot. No race (other than the Zora, but again, they’re unlikely) have these colors naturally, so we can only assume it is armour that makes their weird body shapes.

[Again, I’m not gonna re-screenshot them just scroll up or take my word for it :p]

So theory one is just that, their races are ambiguous/unknown because of the ancient Sheikah armour they wore, perhaps to protect their identities? Or, perhaps because Nintendo was lazy and didn’t think it was that important, which is fair, it really doesn’t impact the story that much.

What it does impact is my ability to theorize and assign meaning to things that they didn’t intend to, in the hope that I’m might be right, which brings us to theory 2.

I say that the pilots are not Gorons, Rito, Hylians, Sheikah, Zora or Gerudo. Now you might be thinking “That’s literally every race in Hyrule how is that possible?” and to that I saw no, no it’s not.

If we skedaddle back to my brief mention of the Zonai in that one paragraph a good 5 minutes ago (for your average reading speed idk) we can remember the Zonai people, responsible for the ruins across the Faron, Thyplho, Upper Eldin, and all three of the mazes in the corners of Hyrule. Their culture and ruins are vastly different than the Sheikah and Hylian, but they’re assumed to have human-like characteristic given their relation to the barbarian armour set, as I assume that the tribe from the Faron region is at the very least connected with the Zonai

This armour, by the way, is only found when completing Sheikah shrines, meaning the Sheikah must have made contact with the Zonai at least 10,000 years ago. Much easier to be in touch with someone if they’re...I don’t know, recruiting their people to pilot a giant mech of yours, wouldn’t you say?

Secondly as to why I think the pilots are all Zonai, is this line from Impa

These pilots were from “across the land.” Of course, you might initially interpret that line to prove that the pilots must have been of different races and background (ergo, Theory 1) but then how could you explain the similarities all four of the pilots have to each other.

All the pilots have darker skin (something that might be common if your people originated from a lush jungle, such as the Faron?) they all have distinct arms and legs, they all have hair, and are all of similar proportion, which is different than that of the Sheikah and Hylian. 

I’m saying that all the pilots were off the same race, and what other race is present “across the land” other than Hylians? The Zonai, present in all four corners of Hyrule as proven by their ruins. 

The Champions of 10,000 years back were Zonai, wearing special Sheikah made armour and helms, and helped the Hylian princess and the hero defeat and seal Calamity Ganon. While the Sheikah were later pushed out, no such violence or discrimination was recorded against these Champions because they were not Sheikah. Their race and names faded with time because just like their Zonai people, they and their tribe disappeared mysteriously never to be seen again. This is why their identities and race were left unknown, because their people were not remembered.

But that’s just a theory...a GAME THEORY. Thanks for watc— uh reading? Thanks for reading :P