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science-lings · 10 months

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I know the Zelda series has received fair amount of criticism (some justified) for its titular character often playing the role of the false in distress, but I particularly find complaints about TOTK’s Zelda being “damseled/fridged/sidelined/wasted potential” all because she sacrifices herself to save Hyrule a tad unfair. Most of these complaints come from people who expected her to be playable or at least an in-game companion, but I thought the sacrifice scene was effective and didn’t feel like a disservice to her character or arc. If anything, I felt respect as well as sadness for her because of her decision. What are your thoughts?

First off, I like Zelda's story in totk, I don't see her as a damsel in distress or a meek little princess who didn't do anything to push the plot forward, she was definitely involved in everything that happened in the past, she fought alongside the other Sages and set them up to be able to pass on their secret stones in the future, her sacrifice was the reason Link could defeat Ganondorf and I found the scene where she swallowed the secret stone incredibly powerful.

That being said, I am disappointed that we didn't get more with her, it was probably too much to hope for her to be a playable character in the past but it would've been incredibly cool to really get to experience how Hyrule was before it was founded and the characters we are supposed to care for.

I also don't think Zelda needed another impactful moment where she sacrifices herself for her kingdom. It wasn't some deep development of her character, aside from her feeling like she had a reason to be accidentally teleported into the past. We already know that Zelda is devoted to her kingdom, she already spent one hundred years alone fighting the calamity for her kingdom and all throughout totk, she's praised for being a humble, kind, inspirational person who people are proud to call their princess. Everyone loves her, to the point where when a doppelganger went around being an asshole, everyone was either so trusting of her that even when she did things that would normally start a war, they gave her the benefit of the doubt.

Making Zelda sacrifice her life, or what she assumed would be her life, for the wellbeing of her kingdom in the future, is incredibly in character, but not necessary to make the point that she is selfless and utterly devoted to her kingdom. We already knew she was selfless. and utterly devoted to her kingdom.

It feels like since botw her character has become slightly more bland, she's not really fiery anymore or shown to be anything other than a pleasant and calm presence. It's what made Ganondorf's puppet seem so unbelievable. If she was still shown to be a little snappy and have a little bit of an attitude, the whole sequence where there's an evil Zelda out there would've been more impactful IMO.

I don't think that her sacrifice was a waste, I'm really glad that she got her happy ending, though I think it would've been interesting if being a dragon for thousands of years could've left at least some kind of mark on her, but I feel like that's an idea that is explored enough in the fandom that it doesn't bother me that nindendo didn't really do anything with it.

Overall, I was really invested in her story and I was more interested in looking for her geoglyphs than many other main quest things. (though I did get one of the ones a little early that I definitely should've not seen as early as I did, but I was still really emotionally invested anyway) and the moment the truth was revealed, I ran to her, because I missed her, and I love her, and I was being led to believe that she never got her happy ending.

#i also don't love stories framing the suicide of a character as some noble sacrifice #it just doesn't sit right with me #not like: dying for the people they care about #that's fine and i totally get that #but the story of the light dragon felt more like a suicide #she didn't just die for her kingdom but she killed herself for it and it was devastating to watch #ask andromeda #totk #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom #tears of the kingdom spoilers #sorry this turned into far more of a rant than I thought it would

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generalluxun · 7 months

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Hey! I've been loving your Chloé/Alya AU story as well as enjoying your posts a lot in general, I'll be reading Dog Daze too when I can because it seems like it's your "main story" and I'm curious about the dynamics of Adrien/Sabrina as a ship (which I hadn't thought of before seeing your blog!) - I also just enjoy the way you write the characters a lot, especially because you're both a Chloé defender and a gay Chloé enthusiast like me lol. And your dunking on Astruc is delicious too, of course! Do you have any upcoming fics/vague ideas you've been considering that you feel comfortable sharing?

Thanks for the question and for your followup clarification, I'll answer both parts here.

First off: Thank you for reading! The Chloé/Alya fic was an experiment, and a bit of a gift to @flightfoot who is a big Alya fan, and a treasure to the community. I've come to love the dynamic as I've explored it.

Dog Daze is the largest AU, yes. Chock full of one shots after the main fic. It *Does* start with Puppy Love, which was supposed to be a one shot, then oops, I had an AU. Fin fact:Dog Daze was supposed to be endgame Adrienette, but the goobers just didn't want to let each other go. Oops. 🤣

Adribrina is my comfort ship. They are just so... 🥺 It's sweet, it's gentle, it's supportive, and they don't even realize it.

I wouldn't call myself a Chloé defender. I just don't like anything that belittles/justifies/ignores choild abuse. Chloé happens to be an abused child blamed for her own abuse by the narrative. I fond that particular aspect of ML reprehensible and so am vocal about it. If they had just left her as a 1D bully the entire time, it wouldn't be an issue. Once you demonstrate child abuse *on screen* then certain expectations change.

I do think Chloé as a character is in an amazingly dynamic position, teetering and able to go in many directions. This is why she features so much in my writings.

As you said in your followup, I do put Chloé in both het and lesbian ships(even some bi) for me, her attraction has a lot more to do with the person *giving her attention* and the plumbing is actually largely secondary. Not knocking anyone else's headcanon, that's just my take on her.

I don't set out to 'dunl' on Astruc, bit he has positioned himself as the voice/aithority/control so questionable narrative lands in his lap. He also seems to be ill suited to engaging on online discourse (no slight there, it can be hard!) But also seems to want to enjoy the access to praise it offers. This makes for a volatile mess. In all honesty I would love a chance to corner him and just ask 'why' for a lot of choices. I do fear though many of hos answers would boil down to 'Who do you listen to, me, or your lying eyes?'

I was thinking of actually doing a LoZ TotK fic in the near future.

If ML there are cirrently 3 options spinning.

1)Continue Dog Daze Continuity with a story set in the final year before university and bringing Kagami back into the mix.

2)Continue Gothic AU continuity with a story focusing on Adrien's acquiring of the Pig, and Sabrina's akumatization with the Goat while continuing to explore the other dynamics (like Ladybug/Peluche and Chloé reason for being... Lile she is)

3)Chloé comes back worse. Post S5 fic where Chloé is actually putting in effort to be a chaos demon, not just other people's pawn.

Thanks again for the ask!

#asks #dog daze au #Gothic ML AU #choé bourgeois #ml critique #writing #ml fanfic

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