this is just asinine

I cannot believe how much I missed botw and I truly think replaying it once you finish totk gives you the full experience of the story. I’m at the point that I cannot separate the games story wise. Together it is just wonderful.

Because while so many people have said they have no need to play botw or that totk essentially disregarded botw…. The first game was ALL about Zelda and Link’s relationship. It was THEIR development.

It was understanding who THEY are as characters. To see the trauma unfold and for Link to recover his memories and find who he is NOW versus what he was before. All of this led to totk and how Link’s sole personal mission is to find Zelda. It’s HIS motivation.

He KNOWS where Zelda is once the Tears of the Dragon quest is completed. But that means NOTHING to him. Because Zelda isn’t home. She’s not with him. And that is the reason the Tears of the Dragon quest is so gut wrenching.

Because unlike botw where they had nothing but memories, the world they called home was long gone in the past, the friends they made nearly all gone… this new Hyrule is their home. It is THEIR kingdom that they are rebuilding. They have friends in each of the lands, they have built a new life together and home isn’t the same unless they’re together.

(And I feel like anyone who felt scorned by the Hateno House being called ‘Zelda’s House’ in the localizations really missed the implications of the game’s entire context but like that’s just my opinion)

Anyway I’m emotional about zelink bc I’m doing the dlc in botw today and finishing the game this week so I can replay totk on a separate account :)

So, I've freed all the divine beasts, recovered all but one of the memories, completed 107 shrines and found who knows how many Korok seeds

But I still have not managed to kill a lynel, and thus am a bit scared to face Ganon because there is no way a lynel is worse than the freaking calamity, right?

.....why are the BLIGHTS easier than a stupid lynel?

I once got so frustrated with a lynel fight that I went and fought ganon and beat the game to make myself feel better

you must find me

Watch out. There's chasms out there

Oh wow thank you....I would certainly have fallen to my death without your warning! Are there anything else in the world I should know about

Yeah

Something something Zelda doesn't mind waiting. She waited a hundred years for Link to wake up and face the Calamity. She waited 10,000 years for Link to find her and the master sword to finally face off against Ganondorf.

She doesn't mind waiting because she knows how the story goes. She knows what kind of narrative she and Link are doomed by. She knows Link will prevail.

But she also knows the narrative isn't what she or Link want. She wants a safe Hyrule. She wants her hero knight to be free. She wants herself to be an explorer, a researcher, a scientist. Being a princess is something she's born into and therefore something she's duty-bound to. Same as Link being duty-bound to being her royal knight.

In those hundred years of waiting and those 10,000 years of waiting, she is content for Link to just... Be Link.

We all joke about how Link is goofing around Hyrule while the Calamity is looming and Zelda is waiting. About how and Ganondorf is gathering power in the depths while Zelda is missing and Link is building contraptions to bring koroks to their friends.

But this is Link. This is him when he's not duty-bound. I'm not saying he doesn't like being zelda's royal guard, but his essence isn't just that. He's just a guy who likes to go around helping people. That stable woman needs a horse and horse cart? Sure, he'll use his new powers to get her sorted out. That man fell down the well (in lego city) and needs help fixing the ladder to climb back up? Yeah, Link's on it. Oh, you need help building this town into something so, so beautiful where everyone from all walks of life can come and meld their cultures together and live in a diverse sort of harmony? Link's your man to see your vision come true.

Link loves his role in Hyrule. As a helper. A wandering hero. As a guy who roams and cooks and tames wild horses and gets rid of monsters and helps anyone and everyone even if they're obviously disguised yiga clan members.

So of course Zelda would want nothing but for him to enjoy his little wonders. This transient moment that had been carved for him to be free. Sure, there is doom looming over him and Hyrule. But he's still fulfilling his promise. He's still protecting them all in his own small way. He's still Link. Just unburdened.

And now that Zelda truly understands the fuckery of time and fate and everything, she doesn't mind waiting. She can wait as long as Link needs to be free. She will roam the skies unbothered and unthinking and in her immortal, unaware state until Link is ready. Until Link needs her.

Until then she's content with waiting.

Link has powers. He can slow down time when he shoots a bow in midair or when he flurry rushes and I have the additional headcanon that he knows he’s a video game character and doesn’t care on like an existential level but will take advantage of it.

Which leads to an intetresting question, are they *innately* his? Did the goddess give them to him? Did Zelda give them to him accidentally? Side effect of 100 years in Shiekah bathwater?

Link ignores all of these questions and keeps throwing things at dragons.

I just realized Zelda dupe glitched Rauru's secret stone in totk and I love that for her

Always gotta be a gerudo lady who needs guts to make medicine for his weak constitution

I haven't seen anyone talk about how the blood moon changes after fighting Ganondorf's puppet in the castle. It may have been an imitation but it's so rattling that we don't hear her voice anymore.

Ok but I love that in botw Link was alone, like very alone in a big world full of ruins and dwindling societies. And NOW in totk it's shown that he won't be alone at all, he's got the new champions and all the people he's met on his journey have got his back too. That's just so wholesome to me. It's very literally everyone going "you helped us and saved Hyrule, now it's our turn to help you". I'm in tears.

I kinda just love the idea of Link going around doing stuff and battling enemies just chanting "let's go let's go let's go" and the sages avatars are so confused so sidons just like "ok water shield" and tulin is like "wind blast for enemy, they're too close anyways." And riju and mineru and yunobo have similar responses bc this punk will not stop saying "let's go" for a single second and they're all trying their best.

Fellas, is it gay to get down on one knee, ask for another man's hand, and give him a ring as proof of your vow?

i love the ambiguity of zelda and link's relationship. they are in love. they're just good friends. they're married. link just follows zelda around like a puppy and she got attached to him. they're t4t. they're work buddies. zelda is in love with link and hes just doing his job. link is in love with zelda and shes just doing her job. they're soulmates. they're bound together by their duty to hyrule. they're bearding for each other

This GAME man...

No but why is it so funny that in totk, Sidon gives a whole speech and he's down on his knees and he's singing praise to Link, trying through every word and action to convey the devotion he's feeling when he vows to fight by his side, and like 5 minutes later "yeah Yona we're married now. The ceremony can be us casually informing the populace of zoras domain from the balcony"

i dont think the sages are distinctly aware of everything their avatars are doing, but i imagine some things probably bleed through

When I get too frustrated in totk, I go to the little glider suit islands in the glider suit so the constructs will tell me how they like my outfit