#i think it's better for the story if Link and Aryll's tale is left unknown

[lazuliquetzal]

Bro I have a genuine question about dotf, but do you have like a full backstory for the Link that was executed? I’m being dead serious, I’d love to learn more of his backstory, if it exists. Simply because I think it’s very interesting.

OHOHO

okay, obligatory "I subscribe to Death of the Author, this is all up to interpretation, not canon to DotF, blah blah blah et cetera"

ANYWAYS,

In my head, Dead!Link was pretty boring, tbh. Good kid, handy with a knife, worked as a guard at Hylia's Temple, very devout.

I guess I don't really have a whole detailed backstory: it's more of a vibe? Like, imagine being a loyal follower of Hylia and suddenly people are witnessing you doing dark magic and attacking people. The only person who believes you is your sister, and she's trying desperately to find proof and also figure out what's going on but you can't find any evidence in your favor. Is someone you know and trust framing you? Did Hylia forsake you? Are you possessed? The stress of that.

Dead!Aryll's story has a bit more meat. She's able to figure out the Dark World/mirror thing -- she just figures it out too late. There's a whole adventure I'm never going to write where she puts it all together, shatters every mirror she sees, fights through the entire temple-turned-cursed-dungeon/clears the maze/finds the secret execution chamber -- only to fail because she can't handle the sound of her brother's agonized screams when she's trying to smash the mirror. But that's already implied in-text so.

Oh!! New behind-the-scenes detail that I could NOT get to work: the reason why the area is cursed into becoming a salt flat?

I was inspired by photos of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. Originally I was gonna have that final fight on the salt-mirror, but you can't smash a salt flat haha. I loved the setting so much that I ended up keeping it anyway.

#honestly rest in peace Salt Flat Fight it would've been so fucking cool #why did the temple place a mirror directly in front of their chopping block? Vibes™ #I don't really have too much detail for the backstory #i think it's better for the story if Link and Aryll's tale is left unknown #but you know what everyone should know? #shadow link's plan. 1) get sky alone. 2) kill sky. 3) shapeshift into sky and go pay a visit to the kiddos-- #thanks for asking i will ramble about dotf all day long!! #sorry my answer is so disjointed the TLDR is that it is sad #asks #dawn of the fourth lu #lazuli talks