#track by track review

[noahreids]

2024 Tumblr Year in Review + RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE (in/sp)

[notyourmusebby]

in the sense that..

[ratboysims]

apartment for dustin broke and dirk dreamer, sponsored by my traumatic reasearch deep in r/malelivingspace

[notedchampagne]

finished reading piranesi. LOVED IT. 10/10. its a short(er?) book about a man called piranesi, stuck in an otherworldly place filled with labyrinthian hallways and statues. hes a very delightful character and you have to walk with his diary entries for a while before new events and revelations change him. the story is written in an epistolary journal form with a strong character voice, and it reveals more of the world + its characters and twists with satisfying pacing. it reminds me of the "born yesterday" concept of appreciating daily things with wonder and gratitude, which can be comforting if youre into that. the latter half of this book is also extremely plural (@/mosstrades told me this and i thought "oh thats nice!" then i got to the last part of the book and i thought oh jesus fuck this really is plural). youll like this book if you like nona from nona the ninth and possibly, poetry

[animentality]

I say the like most basic of coding shit to my work uncle and he's like I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT COMPUTERS.

And it's like my dude, my guy... I majored in anthropology.

Believe me. I dont know shit either.

I just know the bare basics now, because I work with software engineers all the time. It's like living in a foreign country for a year.

you learn the local language.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus Rating: 5/5

This was incredible! I picked it up solely because it was about a guy getting eaten by a whale but Kraus went the whole nine yards with it.

Part adventure story about said guy getting eaten by said whale, part devastating emotional drama about a guy trying to reconcile his tense relationship with his father. By getting eaten by a whale. Amazing.

There were definitely some bits that made me squeamish but the pace moves quickly and the gross bits being interspersed with the family drama and some truly charming observations about marine life made it much more palatable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. If you love survival stories like The Martian or Our Wives Under the Sea, I think you'll enjoy Whalefall.

[wifeofsyluszaynecaleb]

My red days are delayed but today's supposed my first day and my first use of the tracker. Honest review, it should give us notification outside the game but I only receive it by the LI I saved with. As of now, I'm giggling and kicking my feet.

I've choosed all the possible choices and this is the compilation of Sylus's Response.

[skitskatdacat63]

I'm not built for watching movies w straight dudes cause I can't say the things I want to say like, "James Bond would benefit from puppy play," "He should seduce a man next," "If I made a Bond film, I'd have him infiltrate a bdsm club as a sub" etc etc.

[ambriel-angstwitch]

2024 Fandom Review

January- ATLA, FNAF, Merlin, MHA, Percy Jackson, TDP, TMNT

Febuary - Batfam, Good Omens, Hazbin Hotel, Hellava Boss, Percy Jackson, Spiderman.

March - Batfam, Spiderman, Young Justice

April - Batfam, Good Omens

May - Batfam, Dracula, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Maxley

June- Batfam, Dracula, Helluva Boss, Jedatavius, Maxley

July- Anastasia, Batfam, Dracula, MAWS, MCR, Ninjago

August - Batfam, Gravity Falls, MCR, MHA, Ninjago

September - Epic, Gunntech AU, Heartstopper, TKH, MHA, Umbrella Academy,

October - Batfam, DP, Dracula, Epic, Gunntech AU, Heartstopper, Solitaire, TKH

November - Arcane, Dracula, Hatchetfeild, Helluva Boss, Henry Danger

December - Arcane, DBH, Epic, Hatchetfeild, Wicked

(Regrettably there is not enough tag space to fit all my fandoms also yes there are ships and dynamics put instead of fandoms because they are the main things I focused on.)

(I am posting this with only 15 minutes left in the year)

[dinerfries]

yay ^_^

[katysfavoritethings]

The Waterboarding Department: The Anthology: Track 2- The Tortured Poets Department

From the detached dejection of “Fortnight,” we go right into the bliss of the past. Sonically, it’s more 80’s synths that add to the nostalgia of the lyric. She starts off by acknowledging a beige flag of sorts: her lover uses a typewriter in the 21st century. While it’s set up that the typewriter itself is the beige flag, I would argue it’s the way the speaker fears she can’t be honest that's the real flag. “I think some things I never say.” It’s not just the typewriter, it’s other stuff, too! But in come the swirling arpeggiators and the wind chimes and off we go into domestic, if codependent, bliss. “Who else decodes you? And who’s gonna know you like me?... nofuckingbody.”

While self-respecting adults should not need anyone to “decode” them, there is a sweetness here. I love the idea of having a partner choose a “cyclone with you” and that even if you spiral like the tornado you are, they’ve “seen this episode and still loved the show.” This plays a string in my heart that hasn’t made music since “New Year’s Day”’s “Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere.”

The codependence grows into utter dysfunction, however, on the last verse. Here, the speaker confesses that she “felt seen” when she heard her partner say that he’d end his life without her, because big same on her end.

YIKES!

She then takes this as confirmation that they’re destined for each other, “everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be: ‘cuz we’re crazy.”

This is a particularly grotesque affair in the Swift oeuvre. It’s toxic obsession wrapped in a “1989” sugar-coating. If the listener misses this song’s core, its sonic charms juxtaposed with its lyrical darkness, then they miss the impetus for the rest of the album. What follows is a recitation of brokenhearted balladry, and if you did not buy into the magic of the relationship despite its clear toxicities, you will not feel a thing for the speaker as the affair continues to unravel across the album. I argue that this one moment is not only a melodic highlight, but the most important moving piece within “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Lyric Score: 3.75 / 5 Music Score: 3.75 / 5 Total Song Score: 3.75 / 5

Running Album Score: 3.25 / 5

Up next: Track 3- My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

[crystallyzing]

made these ages ago, just remembered them now, dont remember if i ever posted them here bc they are not in my memes tag

[puckpocketed]

me when i admit to being normal about my new captain

[idontknowreallywhy]

Thanks to @ficwip for the questions. Thought I’d have a go to see where I’ve got up to / maybe motivate myself out of a writing slump.

Didn’t quite manage to get it done by end of year but I never do finish anything by NYE and consequently as a mid-January birthday girl I often decide to have my new year start a little later in the month anyway so��

Herewith waffle mostly written while trying not to nod off on a plane…

1. How many fics have you worked on since January?

Complicated question… I THINK - 29 in total?

In terms of what I’ve actually POSTED here…

11 one-shots [ How to Infuriate Your Engineer , The Last of Them , Comb , Pressure , Push , Shine , Expert , Thread , Scott is Not Fine Catharsis , A Refrigeration Situation ] - 11,502 words total.

65 Chapters covering 10 fics [ Estera (3) ; Bearded (3) ; Presence (5) ; Composition (4) ; Resurface (36) ; Father’s Day (4) ; Teeth (2) ; 75 (3) ; Fishtank-ed Up (2) ; An Eyebrow-Razing Incident (3) ] - 72,263 words total.

54 WIP Snippets which haven’t become finished chapters or one-shots yet covering 3 of the above and 8 other fics [ Blue (15) ; Estera (12) ; Burn it All (8) ; Snapshots (2) , Octopus House (4) ; Red (3) ; Fishtank-ed Up (3) ; In a Glass Darkly (1) ; Oort Cloud (3) ; Resurface (1) ; ?? (2) ] - 17,703 words total.

All that totals 101,468 tumblr-posted fic-words so I did hit my target of 100k although I didn’t actually FINISH as many stories as I intended to!

Then there is an additional 46,000 I have in draft for the Estera universe… some of which might make in into publishable form at some stage, some just for my own amusement 🤣 plus another 4,000 or so for other fics including the end of Resurface… and a couple of brand new ones which may or may not see the light of day…

So objectively I really did do a fair bit of writing this year and shall endeavour to allow myself to be proud of this!

2. What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year?

Err… Finishing one? 🤣

Did I though… um…

Ok scratch that.

I wrote a cheesy little song for one of them then threaded references to it through some chapters in a couple of fics. That was new. Whether successful? Well I like it but I can hear it in my head which probably makes it work better for me than anyone else. However I enjoyed myself so…

3. What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.).

Well, my beloved Thunderbirds are Go, obviously! Hyperfixation much?

4. How many fandoms did you write for this year?

Just the one :)

5. What ships captured your heart?

Newly this year? I guess to interpret the word ‘captured’ literally to mean ‘possessed entirely against my will’ then I guess… Scott/Havoc (even though I still scream NOOOoOoOOoOOOOOO internally when I type that!). It’s not a natural fit for me as I do tend to favour some potential for a happy ending and it’s harder to see how it is possible with this ship but some fabulous fics have emerged on it. I do love a redemption arc though and I like how various people have developed Havoc’s character in their stories. But also still noooooooo my little guy deserves better-happier-uncomplicated. But also also yeeeeeesssssssss.

6. What characters captured your heart?

Weirdly, because I did not intend this at all and most of the time I want to slap him with a really large fish… I’ve written a fair bit of Jeff POV in the latter part of the year! Both pre-Lucy death and post-ZeroX. In between those times I still want to slap him with that fish.

7. Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year?

A new ship, yes. And one that was completely unexpected and I don’t think anyone else has tried yet but I’m enjoying it. Not made a lot of progress yet so won’t say any more than that!

8. What fic meant the most to you to write?

Resurface I think. It covers a heck of a lot of headcanons and yeah… it turns out walloping Virgil is a fun way to prod at all of the bro relationships. And I have enjoyed the process of iteratively fixing Earth&Sky because (as I seem to have written it at least) their partnership is beautiful but kind of messed up and I have to believe they can get a better balance back. I hope the way I’ve done it works for people.

9. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

I think 75. It was really fun to look forward and imagine a good love-and-family-filled future for them all, especially my boy who didn’t think he’d get one.

10. What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

Well I was hoping to say Resurface but given I haven’t yet… hmmm. I might also have said Father’s Day until I randomly started to write more of it 😅 err… what have I actually finished? Let’s say 75 cos I actually finished that! (and pretend I don’t have an idea for a follow on)

11. What fic was the most difficult to write?

Estera. Which is a strange answer in some respects as I’ve compulsively written loads of it (as above!) but well… I’ve had a bit of a crisis of confidence and hit a silly, anxious wall about writing the actual chapter that comes next in the story and thus it has hung in limbo for months. My dearest co-writer is despairing of me perhaps only marginally less than I am despairing of myself!

12. What fic was the easiest to write?

The early parts of Resurface just rushed out as fast as I could type them… it got harder as I tried to heal them from the mess I made though 🙃 More recently the Oort Jeff stuff has been the topic for the most readily flowing words.

13. What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year?

Ignoring WIP posts, shortest would be “Scott is Not Fine” which is barely more than a Drabble at 202 words.

Longest? If it needs to be entirely within the year - Resurface (49,720 & counting) but I added a little to Estera which is longest overall (72,319 posted) but that word count is shared with some other wonderful writers and is mostly 2023.

14. What were your go-to writing songs

I have a few playlists for depending on what I’m writing :)

I do listen to the OST a lot when out and about but often not when actually writing as I guess each part of it is so strongly linked to what is happening in the episodes that it is distracting if I’m writing something different. Often I get ideas by listening to something totally random. I listen to a lot of classical and it may only be a few phrases that nudge something -any kind of soprano/tenor instructment interaction (e.g. cello/violin, trumpet/french horn, flute/bassoon) immediately conjures Earth&Sky for me. 99% of my writing is with music of some kind in the background (because I usually have an earbud in) although in retrospect I might not be able to tell what it was.

15. What was the hardest fic to title?

Resurface. Because I had another title in mind but it was already the title of one of my all-time favourite fics. But then this one came to mind and fitted perfectly!

16. What's your favorite title of the year

Haha, well I like what I’ve been doing with the chapter titles of Resurface. But “An Eyebrow-Razing Incident” is probably my favourite for the pun / spoiler combo.

17. Share your favorite opening line

Virgil’s forehead sank onto the bar and squelched slightly.

18. Share your favorite ending line

A brand new score had been opened. But Virgil knew the notes now. They’d compose this next version together.

19. Share your favorite piece of dialogue

This one because I worked on it for so long to get it right. It’s by no means the only important moment between Scott and Virgil… but is the first of a few steps to sorting things out:

“And I’m… grey, then?”

“No! Not usually! You’ve always been blue, like the sky… there are so many shades of it, with hints of yellow or gold…”

“There’s a but coming, I can feel it.”

Virgil grabbed Scott’s hand again as if to reassure himself his brother wouldn’t float away before he managed to express this.

“Sometimes it’s like you fade a little.”

“I fade?”

“You try to be a lot of things, Scotty and it’s admirable, it really is, and you do it so well but sometimes I worry there isn’t enough of you left to be you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. You’re blue when you laugh at your own jokes, or smotherhen us and make a leaning tower of pancake… when you beat Gordy at his own prank game or act all melodramatic when you’re smuggling in the sweets Grandma doesn’t approve of. When someone says pie and your eyes gleam and when you randomly recite Shakespeare inaccurately and out of context or run up the stairs for no reason and surprise hug Allie… those times you’re a rainbow of blues. In the field when you’re problem solving at the speed of light and oh! That time you flew Shadow just for fun you came back shining so brightly…”

Yet again at the mention of Shadow, Scott had startled but recovered quickly and deflected:

“My Shakespeare is always in context.”

“Sure it is, Scott. And it’s very YOU.”

A flicker of resolve hardened his brother’s expression and Virgil was suddenly terrified as to how his clumsy explanation could have been interpreted by someone who was already chronically shackled to the ‘brave face’ impulse…

“But Scott, listen to me, this is important.”

He waited until his brother dropped his eyes from the horizon and met his own.

“I’m not saying it’s just when you are happy, you know? When you’re worried or angry or even sick or even… no, especially when you let yourself be vulnerable for one damn second, you’re you then too.”

“Then…” Scott sagged a little and an edge of indigo desperation coloured his voice “I don’t understand what the grey thing is meant to mean!”

“The grey thing… I guess it’s how my brain interprets the way I sometimes miss you when you are right in front of me. When you get hidden by everything else you think you are supposed to be. You lead so naturally, you do it without even trying but sometimes… sometimes you put on that damn grey baldric and it smothers you.”

“But the baldric is silver. My baldric is silver to match One!”

“It used to be blue though. Blue to match you.”

20. Share your funniest line

Ooh. I don’t know if I do “lines” - most of my attempts at humour are situation or context-specific…

But I’ll go with this little section from toddler-Scotty because it still makes me chuckle:

“Dada! ‘Cotty duck in fidge. Oh no!”

The tiny child lifted his apple sauce covered hands and looked at them as if suddenly realising they were attached to his arms. Bright blue eyes gazed down at him with an expression of extreme innocence:

“Oh no! ‘Cotty all messy! Ooopsiiiieee!”

Clearly realising his father had no follow-up questions to his comprehensive situational update, Scott plunged his hand back into the dish and shoved a fistful of pie crust into his mouth.

21. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

This is a tricky one because frankly everything I manage to create surprises me.

Resurface surprised me with its length. I am a sucker for detail and dialogue and combining that with the fact I had a lot to get the boys to work through… it shouldn’t have surprised me really. But it did.

22. What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand?

By hand? Hahaha, I’d never know what I’d written!

I’m still playing the risky game and throwing things down in apple notes on iphone, although have been trying to tag them a bit now so I can actually find things. I tried google docs - it drove me crackers by messing with my punctuation although I tend to copy paste into that when I’m finished to get a word count. Tried a couple of online drafting tools but they felt over-complicated. So am still in market for a good app I guess.

23. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

In retrospect I think maybe the end of Composition. Which is funny because despite having planned it for AGES as a kind of bridge between Presence and Resurface, I rushed the last chapter out in a hurry as I’d hit the point in Resurface that refers back to it and needed to ensure all the parts of the circle were in place. But exploring how Virgil sees the world is one of my favourite things and setting that short fic in a musical context was very satisfying. And it may be cheesy but this line still makes me smile:

With a satisfied hum, Scott pressed his cheek into his head and the timid, hopeful note in Virgil’s heart swelled into a triumphant chord of determination.

24. Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

Yes. I commissioned a piece of fanart and it is beautiful and perfect and I desperately want to share it but I must not until I finish the darn story because the whole point was it was a reward for finishing (I just got it a touch early…)

SOOON THOUGH.

25. How did you recharge between fics?

What is this ‘between’ you speak of? 🧐

26. Did you create fanworks other than fic?

No, unless Tiny Tracys count 🤣

27. How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!)

I’m not good at prompts with time limits, it seems. I did write a little for Fishtank Week and there was the Secret Santa of course.

28. If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

So many people, basically all of Thunderfam who have encouraged me to try something I never thought I could do. But if I start a list I know I’ll miss someone then feel bad so I’ll stick to just one shoutout to @sofasurf for constantly encouraging me in both writing and life in general and who is a most excellent co-conspirator.

29. What's left on your to-do list for 2024?

Well I WAS going to say “finish Resurface” but… *eyes calendar and sighs*

30. What would you like to write next year?

Obv finish Resurface, and then I want to find my confidence with Estera again. So many ideas for Scott & Jeff and Allie & Scott and some fish tank too… and I’d like to write more John and more Kayo… not to mention the big mad apocalyptic fic which I really need to plot out properly before doing any more with…

But probably I’ll just end up writing about the boys playing on an airport travelator or stuck at the bottom of a hole or something because sometimes the pieces I’m most proud of are the ones that come out of nowhere 🙄😅🤪

[loz-furbies]

Spirit Tracks Zelda

We've reached the surprise S-tier Zelda!

Design

Her princess look is the usual reused Toon design again, and this time it bothers me extra much since the game goes out of its way to namedrop Tetra as her ancestor. If you actively want me to think of multiple Zeldas in one game, you should give them different looks!

The Phantom design isn't really what I'm usually into, but it is cute when she retains her princess personality even when using a hulking suit of armour, and the Phantom isn't made any girlier (other than a slight pinkish purple colour scheme) just because a girl is controlling it. Though I wonder how much that is affected by the risk that little boys wouldn't want to play the game if the cover art had a girly suit of armour on it.

Character

The Sprit Tracks Zelda probably has more screen presence than the other Zeldas put together, and the extensive screen time is also luckily used to make her a more interesting character.

She starts out already as a mature and responsible ruler of her people (there's no king in this game), which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity, as you could give her more character development if she wasn't already so competent at her job. Regardless, the plot starts to happen and the bad guys steal her body to use it as a vessel for the resident big bad, and her now disembodied spirit gets to show quite the range of emotions and participate in comedic scenes as well. Like her horror at having her body kidnapped for end boss resurrection is played for laughs, because her first thought is just that the whole idea is gross.

Once her body is stolen, she gets both incredibly motivated to get it back, and starts bossing other characters around while she just sits back. One of the funniest scenes in the story is when she gets closer and closer to Link's face with each sentence as she pushes him to take the job. When the mentor character Anjean says that Link needs a companion, Zelda first goes through every NPC she knows, and Anjean has to be the one to suggest that Zelda go herself.

The way she is depicted about this changes more sympathetic once she starts to look just really helpless about the situation and that her not taking more action was more about that she didn't think there was anything she could do than just selfishly demanding others to do all the work. When it's eventually settled that she'll be the one to join Link, we end the scene with Link's exasperated sigh, which does give the whole thing a somewhat "great, now we need to drag this useless annoying girl along" vibe.

For the most of the game, Zelda has a friendly and cheerful personality, and feels more energetic than many of the other Zeldas. The opening credits where she flies alongside Link's train are so cute! One of her lines when boarding the train is an excited "Aaall aboooard!" too, which I was always happy to see.

She keeps her personality in her Phantom form too, so we get to see the Phantom do a giddy pose and say lines like "eeek!" and "hee hee". And while she initially complains how unpleasant being inside hot scrap metal is, she quickly becomes excited at her new power, and starts the Phantom gameplay sections confident that together they'll be able to get through. Once she takes part in a mini boss battle she even gets a little cocky and comments how good it was that she was there to help, but this doesn't lead to any plot line about her being overconfident or anything like that.

At first Zelda appears more concerned about getting her body back than preventing the end boss from taking over the world. Also after Anjean has done the "you two escape, I'll hold the enemy back" mentor thing, Zelda expresses vague worry. The player then gets to ask if she means Anjean, and Zelda's response is a pretty dismissive "oh right, her too", which felt really weird because this is pretty late in the game and she should have bonded with Anjean more at that point and shows concern for other characters at multiple points. While she is clearly heroic in the grand finale, I wish the plot line about her initially selfish motives (or I mean I think it's pretty fair for her to want her body back but she's portrayed somewhat flippant about it) had gotten a more concrete wrap up.

Another thing that quite didn't hit the mark is the possibility that even if they manage to drive the end boss out of Zelda's body, she might not be able to return to it. Zelda is understandably worried, but all this amounts to is one encouraging line from Link/the player. This does get some payoff when she is actually incapable of entering her body again and only manages to pull it off after a pep talk from a villain-turned-ally, so the plot line isn't completely pointless. But it does feel like it sort of fizzles out.

Other notable characteristics about Zelda are that she's ready to work with the aforementioned villain ally so she appears pretty forgiving, and also shows a dorky side of herself when she starts shadowboxing the air when she claims she'll "have words" with him later. She can also stand her ground and talk back when the situation requires it, and Anjean notes that she's feisty like Tetra.

It's also nice that Zelda gets some lines to just talk about herself, like that she used to visit the ocean world village during summer and hopes to come back again to swim together with Link, or that her grandmother playing the spirit flute used to calm her down as a child, or that she misses the castle and wishes she ate more of her favourite foods while she had the chance. She also hates bugs and tells Link to go to the forest village alone, but changes her mind since she doesn't like the thought of waiting at the forest train station alone with the bugs either.

In addition to her dislike of bugs, she is also scared of mice, which becomes a gameplay mechanic when she can't move if there are mice enemies around. Having your female lead get paralysed by fear from the sight of a mouse is kind of stereotypical and I wish they would have thought of some other way, but at least it's set up first.

Finally my analysis may make her seem more selfish and flippant than she is in the actual game experience; in most of the scenes she's perfectly friendly, shows concern for others and puts in the work herself. It's just that some scenes felt somewhat inconsistent and didn't have a proper payoff. Overall Spirit Tracks Zelda is a really strong character with many sides to her, but I do wish her character development was better defined by giving her a clear moment that references her initial inelegant reaction to losing her body and makes a note that she's different now.

Role in the story

The basis of the plot is the usual fare: Zelda senses that something is up, but gets kidnapped before she can do anything about it, and in the finale she does some big magic stuff to neutralise the end boss. But as we know this is the one mainline Zelda game (before EoW that is) where you get to play as her and she is present through the whole game, which makes a huge difference. Her presence makes it easy to keep in mind what's at stake at all times, and even if many Zeldas make great (and bigger/more dramatic) efforts and sacrifices that are essential to saving the kingdom, the player getting to be an active participant in all that just hits different.

Through the whole game and especially the multi-part final battle I was holding my breath for if Zelda would be damseled after all, but luckily that was not the case and she remains playable for the whole thing. The final scene where Link is pushing the sword into the boss's head and Zelda runs over to help really hammers it home that this was a team effort. A+ for that!

During my playthrough I got an unscripted moment where I was running away from an unkillable enemy and Phantom Zelda happened to stand in the way, so she was able to hold the enemy off for a moment while I made my narrow escape. Which was one of the most memorable things to happen in the game for me, moments like that just feel so much more meaningful when they're not in a cutscene. And in the context of the loz franchise it was cute for the roles to be reversed for once since Link spends so much time rescuing Zelda.

Gameplay wise Phantom Zelda is good as well. Or the sections where she is present include a lot of stealth and it's been well documented on this blog how much I hate that, but the puzzle and action parts with two playable characters who have different abilities are pretty fun.

Also a point in Zelda's favour as a companion is that I didn't feel like she was disruptive for the gameplay. Even if an NPC is likable, if they constantly interrupt the player their presence can quickly become a bother, but I thought that Zelda's lines didn't take too much time, and generally she shows up in situations where you would be reading NPC dialogue anyway.

Relationships

This time Link and Zelda aren't already friends, and instead meet for the first time when she officiates his train engineer graduation ceremony, and then requests his help to sneak out of the castle to investigate the Spirit Tower (because you need to go there by train). Which is a pretty logical way to get them working together, like sure she does trust a total stranger pretty fast but whatever.

Their relationship doesn't really get developed during the story, and is mostly just based around the implicit knowledge that going on such an adventure together naturally brings you closer. Zelda does regularly compliment Link for doing well so there's that at least, but I think most of their relationship relies on the player growing to like Zelda through the game and transferring those feelings to Link. They do end the game holding hands, which probably puts them in the top 5 canon Zelink couples, though I'd rather see it just as two friends who have gone through a lot together finally getting some relief; I don't remember anything else in the game that could be seen as romantic. Regardless it's cute that both of them move their hands at the same time so they're clearly on the same wavelength.

As for the other characters, the mentor Anjean feels more of a mentor to Zelda than Link, since she's the one whose emotional state is discussed a lot more. Aside from that one weird comment about being seemingly dismissive about Anjean's fate (or maybe Zelda was sure she was ok and thus didn't even think to be concerned about her safety? That wasn't my reading of the scene though), they care about each other and Anjean ascending to heavens at the end hits Zelda specifically.

The villain's henchman and a former student of Anjean's becomes a somewhat important character to Zelda as well. Once he's betrayed and incapacitated by the end boss (duh) Zelda becomes concerned for his well-being immediately, though it's not really explained why. I guess she's just empathetic? Him being Anjean's former student probably helped. Zelda doesn't directly say that she has forgiven him (not that he apologised), but she does say she has a bone to pick with him after they're done with the end boss in a very non-serious way, so I feel that it's implied. He is presumably moved by this and sacrifices himself in the final battle, and the failure to save him is the big bittersweet moment for the finale. This didn't really do much for me since their relationship wasn't that developed, but I guess it's nice that he got to do something at least.

Zelda's old teacher is also a prominent NPC and the two clearly care for each other, though this doesn't really get explored that much. Zelda does comment that the teacher would have loved one of the puzzles Link solves, and hopes to bring him to see it too. She also has a mutually respectful relationship with Link's engineering teacher and a former soldier.

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i really, truly, terrifyingly am unaware of who i am as a person. obviously, interests don't make up an entire personality. but what am i without them? the labels i use to describe myself no longer fit me. i have these swathes of names in my head that i don't want to belong to me and they do nonetheless. i am rotting. i am dying on the inside. one day i will fit to my own ideals and i will be happy and healthy and see beautiful sunlight stream through my windows again.