#look I didn't write my first botw fic about this very thing just to have this nonsense persist

[heleentje]

So there's a take that crops up every so often in the Breath of the Wild fandom, and it goes something like this:

Windblight Ganon is such a piece of cake! If Revali were as talented as he claimed to be, he wouldn't have been defeated by it, so clearly he's just an arrogant blowhard.

I disagree. Because while Windblight might have been relatively easy for the player to defeat, circumstances conspired against Revali in every possible way.

Strike 1: The Blight Ganons were tailor-made to defeat the Champions

While it's not stated outright, the Blights seem to be custom-made to put their respective opponents at the worst possible disadvantage. So while Link can avoid the whirlwinds on the ground, they would be very disruptive to Revali's Gale (something he's only been able to do consistently for a short while). Arrows, too, can easily get blown off course by the wind even when using a heavy bow (so can a Rito, who is presumably lighter than a Hylian).

If, on top of that, it was raining (implied by memories #16 and #17), then Revali's favoured bomb arrows would have been useless. Not a great recipe for a fight.

Strike 2: Rito don't see well in the dark

Botw is a game that doesn't tell you a lot upfront, but you can find a wealth of information in every little corner. Case in point, in Gerudo Town there's a Rito named Frita. And she has a very interesting tidbit to share if you talk to her at night.

[Image ID: A Rito named Frita in Gerudo Town says: "Us Rito... We haven't got the best night vision, to be honest."]

When the Calamity emerged, an unnatural darkness blanketed the land. A darkness that persists from its appearance all the way through Link and Zelda fleeing and their final stand at Fort Hateno, up until Zelda temporarily sealed the Calamity (memories #15, #16 and #17).

That’s without even mentioning the laser show Windblight Ganon puts on. Ever encountered a car with LED lights on a dark road? Now imagine how Revali felt.

Strike 3: Revali had to fly non-stop for hours to get to Medoh

After sinking some hours into playing botw, you probably get used to warping all across the map via the shrines. Going from Lurelin to Rito Village is a matter of seconds. And if the Sheikah had been able to unlock the Sheikah Slate fully in the past, that would have been a massive boon to the war effort.

Unfortunately, they didn't. Which means that, when Calamity Ganon emerged, all the Champions had to take the long road to their Divine Beasts.

Now what does that mean for Revali? We can hazard a pretty good guess, but we don't have to, because the art book tells us: Revali flew straight from Lanayru East Gate to Rito Village. It's hard to tell exactly how long that would have taken him, but I'm estimating that would be about 8-10 hours flying non-stop.

[Image ID: A map of Hyrule showing the presumed routes the Champions took to get to their Divine Beasts. Revali's is a straight line across Hyrule.]

Which means Revali (like the other Champions) was probably already exhausted by the time he got to Medoh.

Aaaaaand that's three strikes, he's out!

But if that's not enough for you yet, here's one more thing. Admittedly, this is less solidly canon than the previous parts, but it's conjecture that, in my opinion, is backed up by the Champions' Ballad DLC.

Strike 4: Revali lacked his best weapon and may have been injured

The artbook shows us another salient tidbit. Revali could have detoured if he wanted to, but he didn't: he flew in the straightest possible line across Hyrule Field.

Hyrule Field, better known as the center of the chaos at the time.

Can we really expect a Champion, especially a Champion who's so eager to prove himself, to not stop and at least try to help? And while trying to help, what might have happened to him?

When you fight the Blights in the illusory realm, you gain a set amount of equipment, implied to be what the Champions carried with them at the time. And with Revali, something's missing.

[Image ID: The bow inventory during the DLC fight against Windblight Ganon. It includes a Falcon Bow, Duplex Bow and Phrenic Bow.]

Where's the Great Eagle Bow?

Would Rito Champion Revali, greatest archer in known Rito history, really not be carrying his signature bow, when every other Champion carried their favoured weapon?

This, combined with his route straight across Hyrule Field, makes me suspect that he did engage the Guardians, lost his bow, and may even have gotten injured in the process.

So there you have it. Just about everything was against Revali in that fight. And while Link, and by extension the player, may have had an easy time of it, they went into it at full health and with all the advantages of the Sheikah Slate.

Meanwhile, Revali arrived at Vah Medoh after a frantic hours-long flight only to be thrown into a fight he didn't expect against an opponent tailor-made to counter his every move, while he was unable to see properly and lacked his best weapon. And he still managed to put up one hell of a fight.

#botw #revali #meta #look I didn't write my first botw fic about this very thing just to have this nonsense persist #Revali is exactly as good as he claimed to be #and the Champions were thrown into a fight that had them at a massive disadvantage #(sidenote: Urbosa doesn't have the Thunder Helm either even though it probably could have saved her) #(Presumably she didn't want to detour when they were so pressed for time and she didn't expect a fight on Vah Naboris)

[okamiwind]

writing meme

stolen from my best buddy @lilcrickee

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason.

First ever published: you're the prize (i wish i'd won) EXO, kyungsoo/jongin lord almighty, it's almost been six years! how surreal is that. yeah, i had this idea for an enemies to lovers fic while watching parks and recreation. i dont know. it was one of those things that just absolutely compelled me. it's kaisoo bc i was reading a lot of kaisoo before jumping into the fandom. i look back on this one fondly, but i dont think i'm confident enough to reread it. might hurt my feelings lmao

Last fic published: i aim to be your eyes EXO, sehun/junmyeon my fuckin baby!!! still ongoing. probably will finish sometime in 2024. well. Crossing my fingers anyway. it's long and silly, but i love writing it. once i start reading over some part of it, i immediately feel like i need to add more to it. i love writing all the little characters and reading how people think things will end up. i still have yet to decide on the ending, but who knows, maybe i'll sopranos it.

Fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once: the million roads that lead to you MDZS, lan zhan/wei ying wrote this before even watching the live action. definitely not sure how it holds up. will almost certainly never write another fic for this fandom, but it was fun to write regardless!

Favorite fic you wrote in a fandom/ship that has the most works: in the blood haikyuu, keishin/ittetsu had no idea that haikyuu had more fics than any of my other fandoms. so it goes. it was interesting to see that nct has surpassed exo too. cwazy daisies. anyway, i love this fic, i think its kinda my masterpiece for haikyuu. i sometimes want to return to this pairing, but the lack of engagement sours my mood abt it a bit. i love writing it, but i feel like the more i shove it in people's faces, the less likely they are to read lol

Fic you wish more people read: lawyers, guns, and money EXO, sehun/baekhyun i thought this was a great little fic (she says, looking at the novel length word count) and i was really shocked that it didnt get more love. i mean, its fun, it's spacey, it's found family. i still really like a lot of the passages, i think they're very pretty. maybe i'll reread it myself since NO ONE ELSE WILL!

Fic you agonized over the most: chronos-826 EXO, sehun/junmyeon i can hardly remember the way this fest was run, but lord, i remember being irked. like there was noooo communication if you weren't on the discord, and i was like jeez, i know it said you could join but i didnt know it would be MANDATORY if you wanted information about the event lol. but yeah. despite all that, i really enjoyed writing this. and by enjoyed, i mean went insane. literally i felt like i was going crazy throughout the majority of it, and while the finished product is a lot different from what i had envisioned (something more along the lines of House of Leaves with that element of interactivity.... sigh) im still proud of what i managed to produce

Fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort: pilgrimage EXO, sehun/baekhyun yeah this fic was just so weird and like. Fantastical. it felt like it was dropped from god's hands into my brain. like i sat there and wrote the first 10k almost in a Flow state, didn't touch it for months, and then just banged out the rest like it was nothing. i doubt anything will ever come so easily to me ever again, but yeah. what a time to be alive!

Work you are proud of—for whatever reason: i write to you from the road and the red king's consort BOTW/TOTK, sidon/link i just think these are some really nice examples of my writing. idk. like i think they accomplish what they seek to accomplish, i think they're stylish and pretty, i think they have a lot of earned emotional weight to them. Just some nice fics by me imo. anyway. that's it.

anyone who follows me is free to follow in my meme-ing footsteps but i would like to tag @fff777 and @deepbutdazzlingdarkness to see their answers as well :3

#katya's writing corner #seho #sidlink #ukatake #i love to talk about myself

[mytemporarycomfort]

100 years in Vah Medoh With Revali.

A/N: I know Im writing a lot with Revali at the moment and he has my whole heart right now. I imagine the relationship dynamic is very close to my first fic of Revali as it has developed more. Please enjoy.

Summary: Details some of the time of Revali and Readers spirit as they are trapped in Vah Medoh.

Content: Angst, BOTW Revali death (not graphic), Reader death (not graphic)

Revali x Fem!Reader

It was tough. It was hard, even devastating. He told you to go. He told you to run, hide, anything. Begged even. But of course you didn't. How could you. The calamity was destroying everything in sight, yet he was the most important thing. to you in the moment, just like you were to him.

It was a long battle. Revali fought hard while his only thought was Protect her. Protect (y/n). Let her be safe above all else. Revali's love for you was deeper than anything. Fo you, he lost his pride, his arrogance. He would lose his life for you if you asked. He fought hard for you as well as Hyrule, but the Blight tore him from the sky he knew so well.

God, he was so scared for you both together. As he plummeted, his eyes met you. Shocked that you haven't left the divine beast to find cover. With as much will power left in him, he only hoped the love in his eyes for you was clear. It was his last thought to you.

You held his limp body in your arms, with tears running down your face. You stroked his face, not caring about the blight zipping around. Your hair whipped across your face before you felt a sharp pain at the back of your neck.

_____

It was all whispers when you felt your consciousness twinkle with what life you had left in you.

(Y/N), I told you to run. I told you to hide. Look at you now, you poor thing.

Because I love you, you silly bird. How could I run?

You shouldn't have died in here with me. You deserve more than this. Im sorry I didnt protect you more

For you, I would go anywhere, you stubborn bird. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than with you.

I wanted to take you sight seeing more often (Y/N). I wanted to show you the snow fall. The borealis was beautiful. You would've love it. It was just like the sunrises, my love, but at night. I love you, my little snow angel. I'm so sorry.

I love you, my silly bird. When the Calamity is gone, will you take me there? To the mountains to see the lights?

For you, anything.

It was all there was left. You both together trapped in a mind game of should haves. The same debate of whether you should've left played over and over again in Revali's mind gave him so much guilt. As much as he hated himself for his failure, he was also grateful to find comfort in his one companion he could be himself with. You reminded him of all the good there was in Hyrule.

With as much destruction and malice in Vah Medoh, you both held out for hope. For Link and Zelda to bring Hyrule to a state of peace. As much as it hurt to be stuck, it was made tolerable with him.

______

You watched Revali guide Link in fighting Windblight. It was a spectacle to say the least. With the final blow of an arrow, you laughed with pure delight. Revali couldn't help but chuckle as well. As he gave his power over to Link, you can see a light twinkle in his eyes.

It wasn't long after that, Link had taken hold of the castle with the help of Zelda, of course.

With you and the rest of the champions looking over Hyrule, You linked your hand with Revali's.

"We're free, (Y/N)."

"We are." You smiled. You looked over at the shadow of Revali. He looked over back at you. You were so glad that after all these years, this long century, his eyes still held the same passion as before. You hugged him as tightly as you can as he held you back.

The air around you picked up. Pulling back slightly, you can see a glint in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. Looking down, you can see the both of you starting to lift off the castle ground. Revali spread is wings causing you to hold on to his shoulders.

"At least you still know how to fly, my stubborn bird." You laughed.

"I would fly to the moon and back for you, my love." You and Revali laughed as you both soared higher and higher.

"I want to go see the borealis Revali, please, and a sunrise too?"

#botw #loz botw #Loz botw revali #botw revali #loz revali #revali x reader #loz revali x reader #botw imagine #loz fanfic #loz #loz imagine

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

sorry for hopping into ur ask box i jst dont wanna clog peoples dashs lmao. anyways AUAUAAA thats. :/ albw and alttp are different incarnations in the same hyrule what....... a big reason i havent gotten into LU is because it feels like it reduces the links to extremely specific personality types (like. sksw is the sweet one and time is the stern one and wind is childish and so on and so forth) and while thats not, like, terrible, it does permeate SO MUCH fanon content that it gets a little :[ sometimes. sky is the one that bothers me the most bc if u play past the beginning and watch his dialogue he actually gets more and more like, short and snappy and weary which makes sense bc it is a 38 hour game and his childhood friend tells him he wont see her until he fulfills a destiny he did not pursue so ofc hes DRAGGING himself thru it but !! no one thinks of that they just kinda use the LU char and thats that. idk i certainly hold no ill will to the creator or fans or anythin like that i jst wish one persons interpretation(s) didnt overshadow everyone elses ................. also i know bonus links but what were thos other ones u named !!!!!!?!

YEAH they are very much different links but I guess jojo (the creator) didn't want to deal with another character? None of the other links are combo'ed as far as I'm aware (except for maybe four? I'm not sure if he's supposed to just be mc/fs or if he's supposed to be fsa too)

Yeah they really are reduced down to very little :/ especially in fanon sometimes. notable example include: legend as the snarky/mean/broody/angsty one, sky as a sleepy soft boy, time as the responsible/parental one, etc etc. I have many many problems with this but ESPECIALLY with sky because I am incapable of being normal about anything in that game like. He's not? He's really not? 10 minutes into the game you get "nice hair" and um. I don't know how to break this to you but um. HE SAYS THINGS LIKE THIS A LOT. There's just... everything with Scrapper ("not that guy") and also.

Yeah. I think it's safe to say that he's very willing to fuck with people. (And the chandelier breaking and just-- yeah)

(I could refute the sleepy part too but then I would probably write a whole rant about how he's really not and also how it's unfair to him because he would be the "lazy" one and uhhh I can't say anything else bc I'll just work myself up)

Honestly just as an au in general its not THAT great. I would put it solidly in the "it's okay" category so it's really NOT deserving of how it's taken over EVERYTHING (fun fact-- have you ever tried to look up loz fics on ao3? Well if you haven't, ITS INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO FILTER IT ALL OUT. botw and lu fics SOLIDLY dominate a good portion of all the fics and-- man I just wanted to read some link's awakening stuff). Everywhere I go, I see lu names on posts that are not lu (there's using it once as a distinguisher but there comes a point when it's obvious that's not why you're doing it), and if you look up fics with more than one link in them you WILL get lu names and characterization even when explicitly stated to not be lu. Also, and correct me if I'm wrong, but. The hero titles? I'm pretty sure those don't exist (beyond hero of time, which seems to be a general thing), except MAYBE in the context of the names of the clothes you can get in botw with amiibo so like. Bad excuse, buddy

Anyway sorry for ranting I. Did not mean to do that. The other aus I mentioned are @/linked-maze and @/ageless-soul-au. The first is a comic, the other is a fic (which does bear some resemblances with lu at first glance but uh-- yeah it's not (if the alttp and albw combo bugs you a lot they do the same thing). Certainly not my favorite but its not bad)

#i dont think you were also asking about mine but if you WERE-- its not posted yet and really only exists as a few posts on a sideblog #sorry again for ranting lol. dunno what happened bc. i dont dislike lu. i just dont like how its everywhere (and a few characterizations). #really if you get me started on anything with ss ill immediately go nuts (i spent an hour writing a post about its clusterfuck of a timeline #and i think by the end i got very very incomprehensible) #mb and strawberryrosewood scream about hats

[dayrise1]

Prince of Darkness: Production Notes

Greetings, Tumblr! Production notes are going to be my various ramblings and some insight into my brain on my writings. Today we're going to be taking a look at my first ever Zelda fic, Price of Darkness (https://archiveofourown.org/works/42272985). Spoilers ahead, so go give it a read first lol.

This whole idea came from Ganon being referred to as the 'Prince of Darkness' in the plot synopsis in the original Zelda on NES. I kinda just let my brain go wild until I came with a premise of Zelda having a brother who was essentially Ganondorf, but wasn't aware of it. Setting it around BotW was purely because it's the Zelda era I'm the most familiar with and probably my favorite tbh.

From the beginning Darius always did care about Zelda, but the spirit of Ganon was whispering in his ear from before he was born, so that influence almost always won out. I considered making this multi-chapter and delving into Darius' slowly losing his mind to Ganon's influence, but I have enough multi-chapter projects without adding a new one to the mix (including another BotW one that I'm currently outlining ;))

Writing from Link's perspective was fun, because it made me much more hesitant to use dialogue to show his feelings and opinions. Usually my narrators are very vocal people, but that just isn't who Link is (but he also isn't mute, hence his three whole lines in this fic). I feel like I did a good job with his characterization in here, although I do also feel like it's a little bumpy at some parts. His relationship with Zelda can very much be read as romantic, I'm a sucker for the ship, but I did write it in a way that you can see it as their friendship growing over their field trip over Hyrule, just like the game shows it in the memories.

I toyed with having the Champions have a larger role throughout it, and if I had gone the multi-chapter approach they definitely would've, but I like what I went with in the end. Keeping them to the sidelines kept the story focused on Link, Zelda, and Darius, while giving them each a thing to do at the climax.

Originally I was going to end it with Darius fully turning into Ganon and killing Link before all of memory #15 happened the same besides that. Zelda would've immediately taken him to the Shrine of Resurrection blah blah blah, same as the game.

Changing it so that they break the cycle here shows what a risky gamble Ganon took here. He obviously didn't have too much control over his reincarnation, just like Link and Zelda, but he was able to just 'give up' on it to become the Calamity, and since that was 10,000 years ago he opted a piece of his spirit into the universal recycling machine, probably expecting to end up as a Geurdo like he had every other time. In this case, he ended up as the Hyrulean Prince and had a new piece on the board. Of course he'd keep it a secret and abuse it as much as possible, until he decided that he could blackmail Link and sabotage Zelda all in one go. In Ganon's mind it seemed like a 100% win strategy, but obviously it wasn't. Once again, something I would've delved into more if I'd gone multi-chapter, but something that I hope still came through in the story, even if with not nearly as much detail lol.

That's going to conclude these production notes, and my first Tumblr post! Catch you later!

#writing #fanfiction #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #tloz #the legend of zelda #princess zelda #link #botw #nintendo

[matriarchsdevotee-archive]

1, 5, 7, 10, 11!

Munday Questions - Not Accepting

1. how do you feel about reblog karma?

I always respect it when others express a preference, and I generally try to reblog from the source. With that said, for me personally? I don't give a damn! You've all probably noticed I reblog a lot of memes, and if you see something that catches your eye I want you to go for it! That's half the reason I reblog stuff in the first place. If someone does reblog from me, I usually try to send something in since they seem interested, but I don't mind one way or the other if they do the same. I'm old and tired and that kind of thing rolls of my back anymore.

5. is there a muse you really want to try? if yes: what’s stopping you?

I don't have any new muses that I'm particularly interested in, but I've considered picking Urbosa back up. I used to have her on my multimuse blog in the before times, but she didn't see much action. I also feel like so much of my Urbosa is wrapped up in extremely personal headcanons that, even if they're not canon-divergent, might put people off. I might look to it in the future, but I've got my hands full with Nabs as it is right now.

7. describe your favorite relationship dynamic. (can be any kind, platonic, romantic, familial, antagonistic, etc.)

Already answered!

10. what genre do you most enjoy, whether in roleplay, or fiction as a whole? (fantasy, period, superhero, etc.)

I like very light scifi - specifically cyberpunk and steampunk - as well as historical fantasy. I've never been one much for medieval high fantasy, but there's been an explosion in recent years of western fantasy, 19th century fantasy, old classical fantasy, and so forth. I get much, much more into that.

My roleplay reflects that to some degree. Though I usually have modern verses for my muses, I've never played a straightforward modern realistic muse. I don't even think I've played a modern-setting fantasy muse, come to think of it. I've historically played some variety of fantasy or historical muse, from the Queen of Hearts to Carlotta Guidicelli.

11. describe your ideal outcome/endgame for the muse you are currently writing. if you are a multimuse blog: do this for your current favorite muse, or the muse of the last reply you posted.

As some of you know, I'm a fairly prolific fic writer for botw and oot alike, so strictly speaking, I've already played this out. I do hc that Nabooru was the sage Ganondorf killed in the leadup to Twilight Princess yes that's canon divergent, no I don't care, but her ideal scenario is just letting her people to their own devices. In a realistic scenario, she and the Gerudo tribe peacefully live out their days as nomads and quietly rebuild their numbers, skill, and culture until one day they can stand up to other nations again without resorting to self-destructive tactics. In a Hollywood "happily ever after" scenario, another worthy chieftain would arise and Nabooru could go back to only being a Heirophant and leave the governance to the chieftain. She's still content with the legacy she leaves behind, and spends the afterlife as a servant of her people, as she did during her life.

#vicious-valor #answered asks #Out of Character #munday #there was definitely a time when I did care about reblog karma but. God I can't anymore #you wanna reblog a meme from me? Go for it!

[yourenotacat-writes]

I'm not sure that this is what this thing is for but I just wanted to say that "Sweet Dreams, Princess" is one of my top five fanfictions of all time, and I really appreciate all the effort you put into it :D One of the best parts of it is how you include smell in your descriptions, really brings it to life for me. How did you get started writing fanfiction? Did you play Zelda games as a kid? Tsym for everything!

Omggg thank you so much!!!!! 😭💕

Making my day is exactly what this thing is for lol I'm so glad you like it! I love adding little details like that, and I'm always happy to hear that they're appreciated! Also since you just followed, you probably didn't see this post from a few months ago, but it's the first 1500 words of the next chapter if you're interested! Feel free to ignore me if you already saw it tho lol

Anyway, I read fanfic in late middle school/early high school, but I never really engaged with fandom otherwise and just kind of forgot about it. I wrote original content throughout high school and went to college for screenwriting, but then had a very bad bout of depression which made me stop writing altogether. And then, BotW happened to me. I finished it, cried for 45 minutes, and immediately went to ao3 because I needed more. I got super nostalgic for the fics I'd read in my teens (though tbh it was mostly inappropriate stuff. oh to be young and unsupervised on the late-2000s internet hjghjdf) But it was the first time in a long time that I wanted to write and actually had ideas! SDP made me feel like I could write again or that I was even "allowed" to write again and rekindled that love-hate relationship for writing for me. So my little insomniacs will always have a special place in my heart no matter how much I've neglected them.

And I did!! OoT was one of my first video games! It was my aunt's n64 so I'd play with my cousin and my sister, and the rule was we could do whatever we wanted as long as we didn't save lol We were all under 7 so we didn't do much besides fly around with the cuccos or chase the dogs at nighttime or go fishing, but we played it for hours. And five year old me had the biggest crush on Adult Link, in all his polygonal glory sdfggdf I actually own that n64 and game cartridge now with her save file still intact, and I get extremely sentimental every few years I boot it up to replay and see her name in the second save slot. I also played all the 3D games throughout my life, though I've never finished WW or MM (...I know. Don't look at me like that 😩)

Thank YOU so much for this ask!! I had a difficult week and opening up my askbox to this tonight truly felt like such a gift. Thanks for letting me ramble for a bit 💖

#how did this get so long? fjghdg #thank you for asking!

[youssefguedira]

Aaah I've been absolutely living for your zelda au posts!!! I want to know everything- there's too much I can't think of where to start!!! I'm gready for absolutely any more details you want to want to share!!! (also, thank you so much for puttling those posts out in the world- your writing is just amazing and beautiful and you're just fab)

anon this is so sweet i wasn't sure anyone was actually paying attention to that au bc it's uh. pretty specific to me personally. so it's really nice to hear that someone is actually reading them and enjoying them!!!!! so, here are some thoughts i have about how nicolo gets the master sword because this is one of the things ive been thinking about recently. along with how they actually get together romantically but i'm not going to tell you that i would like to keep some things a surprise. i also am putting it under a cut bc it got long:

- i know there's no triforce in breath of the wild but i don't care this is my zelda au and i'll do what i want. for non-zelda fans, the triforce is basically the ultimate power, usually split into three pieces, which are courage power and wisdom. princess zelda holds the triforce of wisdom, ganon holds power, and link holds courage. so in this case yusuf's got wisdom (well. not yet) and nicolo has courage.

- i know in botw link got the master sword when he was like 12 but again i'll do what i want. i still havent finalised how old they are yet but theyre not 17.

- so onto what actually happens. at this point, they don't know who has been chosen to be the hero. nicolo has already been assigned as yusuf's bodyguard, the divine beast pilots have been chosen and are currently staying at hyrule castle, and nicolo and yusuf are just about reaching the friends stage.

- so. one morning yusuf wakes up to find nicolo at his door looking a more than a little bit freaked out. yusuf is, you know, worried about this, and nicolo shows him the mark of the triforce on the back of his hand, which appeared during the night after a weirdly vivid dream he had about a forest and a sword in a stone pedestal.

- (now as a quick side note - while in the zelda games the triforce always just looks glowy and gold and cool on the back of link's hand, nicolo's mark looks like a burn mark or a brand. this is because one of the main points in this au is that the triforce/being chosen is a burden more than anything else. it is unwanted. it is stressful. it often results in painful death. the zelda games occasionally hint at this but they're made for children 7+ so don't go into it. i, however, very much do. the triforce can be considered both a blessing and a curse, as it grants you abilities but also forces you to fulfil a destiny you may never have wanted. yusuf's feelings on it are complicated but he mostly considers it to be a curse. we don't see nicolo's feelings on it directly as the first part is written from yusuf's point of view but i will tell you that he has a complicated relationship with it too. this will be hinted at in part 2 but that is... also complicated bc reasons. this was not a quick side note at all. oops)

- that aside, yusuf knows exactly what the mark means, of course. because when his mother died and his father got weird about training he made it a point to learn as much about all of this stuff to try and figure out how to access the sealing power. it didn't work, but this does mean he knows what it means

- so, he takes nicolo to see his father, because he's not quite sure what else to do. long story short they organise a journey to the lost woods, where the master sword is. i probably won't actually call it the master sword within the fic but i'm referring to it that way here. (for non zelda fans: the master sword is the only weapon that can harm calamity ganon. at least in this au, because technically anything can harm ganon in botw but again i do what i want) the champions go along because i like them.

- another important detail in this is that while the mark of the triforce means nicolo is the one destined to wield the master sword, but that does not automatically make him worthy of it. the master sword stands as a test. if you try to pull it from the stone and you are not worthy, you just straight up die. again with the idea of destiny being a curse i feel like i mention that a lot. (it's a test of courage, see: you have to be willing to try anyway, despite knowing you could die. you must also be like kind and not evil or whatever)

- nicolo's not going to die (yet) but you know. nobody knows that. so understandably it's a little stressful. yusuf maybe tries to talk him out of doing it or something idk yet. perhaps tries to call it off when he sees nicolo in pain. but nicolo does get the sword in the end

- and yusuf has... complicated feelings about this. because you see he has been training for years, and he has achieved nothing, and now nicolo has the master sword. in yusuf's eyes, he is everything he is supposed to be, and yusuf is still a failure. (his father also says something like "finally, we are making progress" because yusuf's father is kind of a jerk)

- he gets a little withdrawn after this but then nicolo comes to find him after he doesn't see him at dinner (with cake. this actually happens on two separate occasions in the fic because i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about nicolo acts of service di genova and food as an expression of love) and they like. talk and stuff

- this is an important stage in their relationship tho because before they have been pretty formal with each other and almost-friends but not quite there and this is what moves them past that stage. yusuf is finally able to actually talk to someone. so is nicolo. i am not describing all of it because i do want to leave some things as a vague surprise but yeah

- so that's how nicolo gets the master sword

#neon answers #anonymous #the zelda au which lives only in my head #seriously anon i am always down to talk about zelda au so if you are ever wondering about anything chances are i have thought about it #extensively. please feel free to ask any time. i am really happy you're enjoying my rambling #i am actively encouraging people to ask about my zelda au i have spent a lot of time thinking about it #anyway MORE rambles in the tags because i'm not done #nicolo of course has to get the master sword BACK 100 years later. which is a little more complicated #he goes straight for it because he isn't sure about a lot of things but he knows he needs it #but when he gets there and tries to pull the blade from the pedestal he can't do it #the attempt nearly kills him. he passes out and probably gets some kind of memory/dream/flashback kinda thing #i've also been thinking a lot about how he gets his memories back #he travels to each spring to try and become worthy of the sword again and is able to access each one after completing the divine beast #at each spring he is given some of his memories back (specifically of yusuf: the others he gains before each divine beast / after freeing #the champion trapped in the divine beast) #he doesn't regain them all but he regains enough #at the spring of courage he remembers showing yusuf lovers' pond / their first meeting / A Certain Other Event Which I Won't Talk About #(they go to lovers' pond before they're even together like that. yusuf mentions the legend and nicolo's like oh i found that i'll show you) #at the spring of wisdom he remembers traveling up mount lanayru #not sure about power yet. i havent thought as much about the eldin / zora parts yet #i think the zora will have some kind of connection to mount lanayru #because they value wisdom above all else + mount lanayru is sacred to the goddess of wisdom #i have a lot of worldbuilding ideas tbh. i've been toying with the idea of moving the gorons further from death mountain because i don't #want them to be rock people in this so they're just human. i might end up moving them to akkala but still near the mountain #three of the divine beasts will remain the same - i haven't figured out andromache's beast yet. i think a snake would be cool tho #(this is when i find my copy of creating a champion and use one of the unused concepts. the crab was cool) #anyway. anon this message made me insanely happy. i hope you are having a nice day