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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Legend of Zelda: Are Zelda and Link Really Brother and Sister?

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In a recent look at the many unsolved mysteries and urban legends of the Legend of Zelda franchise, I briefly mentioned the idea that Zelda and Link are somehow related. At the time, I felt that the idea that those two characters could possibly be related was simply an urban legend. However, it’s since been pointed out that some interpretations of their relationship actually make that idea something closer to an unsolved mystery.

It sounds crazy, but what’s really crazy is that a deeper look into this subject reveals that the nature of Link and Zelda’s relationship throughout the years isn’t nearly as clear as it appears to be at a glance. Actually, if you spend enough time diving into this topic, you’ll not only start to see why people think that Link and Zelda are siblings; you may even start to convince yourself that it’s true.

Is it true, though? Could two characters most commonly associated with an epic romance that spans hundreds of years of history really be related? Here’s what we know about the long-standing mystery that has sparked a seemingly endless debate.

Princess Zelda Was Link’s Mom and Sister in a 1989 Manga (Kind Of)

Let’s start with one of the weirdest corners of the Zelda universe: the 1989 Legend of Zelda manga written and illustrated by Yuu Mishouzaki.

In that manga, Princess Zelda XVI has a forbidden relationship with an elf warrior named Rune. The two have a child (who turns out to be Link), but because the King of Hyrule is apparently prejudiced against elves, they decide to have Impa raise their child in secret. Later, Princess Zelda XVI has another child named (appropriately enough) Zelda XVII. So, in a weird way, there’s one Princess Zelda in that universe who is Link’s mom and another who is Link’s half-sister.

So was any of that information used in the games? Well, those early manga stories were technically based on the original Zelda games, but you have to remember that they were loose adaptations of games that were fairly light on plot. Their writers had to fill in a lot of gaps and were clearly afforded a lot of creative freedom in their attempts to do so. Still, it’s easy to see why these mangas have been dismissed as non-canonical over the years.

Interestingly, though, there are elements of these stories that did survive in later games. For instance, Zelda disguises herself as kind of a “tomboy” in one of the manga stories, which is an idea that we saw in Ocarina of Time years later. Another manga story suggests that Link is represented by a wolf in the Dark World, which is oddly similar to one of the core story/gameplay concepts of Twilight Princess.

Even if Nintendo has brushed aside those mangas as non-canonical over the years, that doesn’t mean they weren’t potentially inspired by some of their concepts when they were designing some of the future Zelda games. So was the idea that Link and Zelda are brother and sister one of those concepts? Well, that’s where things get even weirder and even more interesting…

A Link to The Past Created a Lot of Confusion About Link and Zelda’s Relationship

I mentioned this in my look at the various Legend of Zelda myths over the years, but it’s fascinating to see how many of the “Zelda and Link are brother and sister” rumors can be traced back to a Link to the Past.

To reiterate, there’s a scene at the beginning of the U.S. version of A Link to the Past where we see Link’s uncle say “Zelda is your…” shortly before dying. The dialog of that same scene roughly translates into “Y-you are the princess’…” in the Japanese version of the game. Both of those statements certainly seem to leave the door open for the possibility that Link’s uncle was about to say the words “sister” and “brother.”

Years later, the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past seemingly clarified this matter somewhat by turning the Uncle’s line into the much more informative “You must rescue Princess Zelda. Our people are fated to.” That new line appeared to make it clear that the original confusion was the result of a questionable translation and old-fashioned speculation.

Still, some fans insist that it’s possible the Link to the Past writers knew exactly what they were doing. While it’s a very, very loose theory, it’s not technically impossible that the writers were inspired by the manga interpretation of these characters and decided to at least leave the door open for the possibility that Link and Zelda are brother and sister. Still, we have no way of knowing if that was actually the case, and most of what happens next makes it seem highly unlikely that Nintendo seriously considered officially making Link and Zelda brother and sister in that, or any other, timeline.

Ocarina of Time Is Sometimes Cited as The Most Likely Instance of Zelda and Link Being Brother and Sister

While A Link to the Past is the most commonly cited piece of “evidence” in the Link/Zelda sibling relationship debate, it’s very much worth noting that Ocarina of Time comes the closest to embracing that idea (at least in the minds of many fans).

Simply put, there are several moments during Ocarina of Time’s ambiguous story that at least hint at the possibility that game’s version of Link and Zelda are separated siblings. For instance, we know that Link’s mother delivers him to the Deku tree when he was just a baby in order to save him from the horrors of an ongoing war. She died shortly thereafter. Because we also never see Zelda’s mother in that game (or hear much about her), it’s been suggested that Link’s mother could have been the queen of Hyrule.

Later in the game when Zelda and Link meet, Zelda has a line about how Link seems so familiar to her. On top of that, one of the Composer Brothers mentioned how Link reminds him of Zelda. That last line also touches on the fact that Zelda and Link were clearly designed to look very similar in that installment. Put it all together, and you certainly start to see how fans could jump to the conclusion that the two were separated at (or near) birth.

Those who support the theory that the version of Link and Zelda in Ocarina of Time could be related often clash with those who suggest that Ocarina of Time was the game that actually strongly suggested that the two ended up in a romantic relationship. Those two ideas aren’t necessarily independent of each other (as Game of Thrones proved), but they represent the two most popular interpretations of the characters’ relationships in the revolutionary N64 game.

The fact of the matter is that the events of Ocarina of Time are open to a fair amount of speculation. Whether intentional or not, there are a lot of questions that this game doesn’t explicitly answer. You could play this game with the idea in your head that Link and Zelda are separated siblings, and the events of the game alone won’t necessarily shatter your perception of their relationship.

Having said that, the evolution of the Zelda franchise’s storyline beyond this point strongly suggests that the idea that Zelda and Link are brother and sister in Ocarina of Time wasn’t intended to be as aggressively implied as some believe it was.

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Skyward Sword (the First Game in the Zelda Timeline) Established a Clear Romantic Relationship Between Zelda and Link

I’m willing to bet that the idea of Link and Zelda being related is most often immediately dismissed by those who assume that the two are eternally locked in a romantic relationship. Well, the truth of the matter is that kind of relationship is rarely forced into the Zelda games. Romance is sometimes implied, it’s sometimes denied, and it’s sometimes loosely stated, but few Zelda games are outright love stories.

Interestingly, one glaring exception to that rule is the first game in the Zelda timeline: Skyward Sword. While it’s not the first game to suggests that Zelda and Link have a romantic relationship, it is the game that tells the clearest love story between the two in the history of the franchise.

With that information available, the question becomes “What does that tell us about Link and Zelda’s relationship in the rest of the series?” Well, considering that the Zelda timeline is one of the most confusing in all of gaming, the fact of the matter is that it’s difficult to say for sure. You also have to remember that the Zelda chronological timeline does not match the release order of the games themselves. That means that there could have been a time when Nintendo was open to the possibility of Link and Zelda being siblings or at least wanted to leave the idea open to interpretation.

Having said that, the fact the two major Zelda games that precede Ocarina of Time (Skyward Sword and The Minish Cap) are also two of the games that emphasize the Zelda/Link love story the most would seem to imply that Nintendo eventually decided to really drive home the idea that the earliest versions of Link and Zelda were romantically connected on some level. The latter game implied more of a childhood romance but it was a romance nonetheless.

There are two ways you can interpret the Zelda/Link relationship we see in early games. The first suggests that future versions of Link and Zelda could be directly descended from the Skyward Sword couple. However, that interpretation requires a lot of leaps in logic in regards to what we actually do know about each character’s (largely separate) bloodlines and their roles in the grander lore of that universe. While the various Zeldas over the years are related by blood, only some versions of Link are directly related in such a traditional way.

It’s much more likely that Nintendo eventually decided to formally shut down the brother and sister talk by thematically introducing early examples of the Link and Zelda relationship which don’t necessarily lend themselves to that interpretation.

Zelda Does Have A Brother, But He’s Rarely Mentioned

Link and Zelda’s families are rarely mentioned in any of the games (which is honestly a big part of the reason the “siblings” speculation exists), but there has been at least one notable reference to Zelda’s brother in the past.

In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link a passing reference is made to Zelda’s brother: The Prince of Hyrule. It’s suggested in supplementary material that Zelda’s brother was either corrupted or possessed by a magician who eventually puts Zelda in the enchanted sleep we find her in at the start of the game.

It’s not entirely clear what ultimately happens to the Prince of Hyrule, but that is really the only time that one of Zelda’s siblings is clearly featured (or at least referenced) in one of the Legend of Zelda games. Make of this information what you will, but Adventure of Link is one of the last games in the Zelda timeline. Then again, it may be more important to consider that Adventure of Link was always kind of an odd entry into the series. It influenced future games in the series in some ways, but it’s largely considered to be something of an anomaly across the board.

In the same way that many of Zelda 2’s gameplay ideas were abandoned by later games in the series, it’s entirely possible that Nintendo just never really liked the idea of Zelda having a brother or never felt the need to bring it up in any earlier games in the timeline. Then again, others argue that the implication that Zelda and Link are related in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time (the next two major Zelda games for Nintendo consoles) suggests that Nintendo was interested in preserving that idea or were at least still playing with it.

So are Zelda and Link Really Siblings?

When you’re talking about The Legend of Zelda‘s various timelines, alternate timelines, and mythological mysteries, it’s hard to get a straight answer on anything. That being the case, there’s always at least a small possibility that Zelda and Link are related either directly or distantly in at least some of the games.

Having said that, so much of the evidence that sibling theory relies on is circumstantial and dependant on ideas introduced before Nintendo seemed especially concerned with the grander Zelda mythology. Granted, some would argue that Nintendo has never really cared about Zelda’s mythology and timeline, but it’s been made clear over the years that early Zelda games weren’t exactly designed to serve as the basis of some grand story Nintendo planned out years in advance.

That being the case, the most likely answer to that question is that if Nintendo ever intended for Zelda and Link to be brother and sister, they probably changed their minds at some point. Another possible explanation suggests that they looked at the interpretations fans developed in response to Ocarina of Time’s ambiguous plot points and decided to more clearly define the Zelda and Link relationships in future games.

Ultimately, though, Nintendo has never explicitly stated that Zelda and Link are brother and sister and the only instances where that idea has been explicitly stated in Zelda media are considered to be non-canonical.

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The more important point to keep in mind is that Zelda and Link are often destined to meet each other in every timeline regardless of the circumstances. The nature of their romantic or blood relationship has always been second to the idea that they’re tied together by destiny and powers that go beyond comparatively traditional relationships.

The post The Legend of Zelda: Are Zelda and Link Really Brother and Sister? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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themattress · 4 years

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The Butterfly Effect of Xion

So the Vince Vaughn movie Fred Claus has been on TV, and I have to paraphrase:

“I don’t hate you, Xion. I just wish you were never born.”

(XION FANS, DO NOT ENGAGE)

Dwelling on it recently, I came to realize just how damaging the existence of Xion has been on the Kingdom Hearts series. There were issues with her in her debut game of 358/2 Days, true, but they pale in comparison to what ended up happening in the games afterward. Xion’s existence created a Butterfly Effect, where five major problems that wrecked the series might not have occurred if the precedent hadn’t been set by Nomura and Kanemaki with Xion.

1. So, Xion is a replica. She was meant to be a replica of Sora, but because the memories she absorbed from Roxas (because that’s a thing now) were Sora’s strongest memories, those of Kairi, she became a girl who resembled Kairi. Except when she isn’t and looks different depending on who is viewing her. This didn’t only over-complicate the replica concept in Days, but it set the precedent going forward that replicas could be used for anything the plot demands and ended up as the go-to method to bring previously dead or disembodied characters back (that and time travel). Back in CoM, the Riku Replica was just a clone of Riku, the idea was simple to grasp. Now replicas aren’t even really replicas at all.

2. Let me point this out again: Sora’s fractured memories somehow escaped him and that’s never explained how this is possible. They go into Roxas and then “leak” out of him and into Xion, which is what gives her an identity. And Namine’s power over the memories of Sora and those aligned with him are now increased so that she can view memories currently being made by Roxas and Xion from a far away distance. This convoluted usage of the concept of memory only gets worse in Coded and 3D, and it’s unclear who remembers what anymore. Much like replicas, memories are now being used to make any ludicrous plot turn happen, and this especially damages Namine’s character given that she has power over memories.

3. So because Xion’s identity is composed of memories that need to go back inside of Sora, she ceases to exist after dying. Let me repeat: Xion ceases to exist. This is what is said by Namine, who is a pretty reliable source given how overpowered she’d become at this point:

If you return your memories to him, you'll disappear. And since everything about you was built on those memories...no one will remember you when you're gone. There won't be any "you" to remember. I can't save you, Xion - even a memory of you.

Except that this totally becomes a lie in Coded, making it so that what Namine should have said was “Don’t worry, Xion - I can totes save a memory you inside of data placed within Jiminy’s Journal, and everyone will begin remembering you again in a few months’ time until finally you can come back to life and exist independently of Sora. There’s no stakes here!”

And this begins one of the most damning trends in the series: previous canon is discarded on a whim in order to bring back characters who definitively reached a conclusion in order to give them an ideal ‘happily ever after’ ending as fanservice for everyone who likes them. Roxas, Namine, Xion, Axel, all the other Organization members, Ansem the Wise, Eraqus, even the goddamn Riku Replica...the dramatic power of their endings is completely undone against all internal logic and good storytelling sensibilities. And it all started with Xion, who even after ceasing to exist (making her deader than dead), still managed to give belated telepathic messages to Riku and Roxas the day afterward, leaving a door for revival open.

(Side-note: Nomura actually said in the BBS Ultimania interview that “there is no concept of death in the KH universe”. Really, now? Tell that to Hades, the lord of the dead. Or the numerous Disney villains who have died. Or good guys like Mufasa, Tadashi, or Bambi’s mother! Hell, even your own OC characters have acknowledged the reality of death: Xehanort’s entire impetus behind possessing Terra is because he was afraid of dying from old age before he could see his plan through to fruition! Nomura, you are an absolute hack.)

4. So, Xion is a Kairi look-alike who can wield a Keyblade. Chronologically speaking, she wielded a Keyblade before Kairi did, even though the game where Kairi did was released first. You have her in your party throughout Days, can play as her in Mission Mode, and then in KH3 she flat-out replaces Kairi in the party during the battle with Saix. Kairi, meanwhile, has never been playable, and had exactly 1 minute of time in the party before being taken out of it and replaced by Xion. Then she gets killed by Xehanort and is unable to take part in the big climax, but Xion does. And during all of this, Kairi is phased out of the trio between her, Sora and Riku, all while Xion is a retcon to the KH2-established duo of Axel and Roxas.

If Xion didn’t already feel like a self-insert Mary Sue from a fanfic before, she certainly does now. Kairi actually had narrative build-up and anticipation for years at becoming either a playable character or a full-fledged party member, and either way being an all-around capable Keyblade wielder who could fight alongside her friends Sora and Riku. But instead, this black-haired copycat of her who was created after the game where Kairi was given a Keyblade and was then said to be deader than it was possible to be gets all the glory.

Just look at the cover of KH3. Kairi sticks out like a sore thumb because she remains the only one with alleged combat capabilities who has never ever been playable across the entire series’ existence, and whose time as a party member is pathetic compared to everyone else. Perhaps if we didn’t have Xion, who got 30 more votes than Kairi on an official popularity poll, the game developers would have felt more of a drive to develop Kairi and make her a competent combatant. But I say perhaps because Nomura would be a sexist pig either way.

5. Lastly, let’s talk about the “Seasalt Trio” that became a thing thanks to Xion. In KH2, the narrative was that Roxas and Axel had been friends, with Roxas having something of a heart and Axel actually being able to feel emotions due to forging a close relationship with him. But Roxas left the Organization to find out the truth about himself, disillusioned by Axel’s lies and possessiveness of him. Ultimately, when it came down to truly helping Roxas or just helping himself, Axel chose himself and tried to kill Roxas. When this failed and Roxas merged with Sora, Axel became consumed by guilt and tried to get Roxas back until he finally realized that his selfishness was the problem and reached true atonement to Roxas through sacrificing his life for Sora. And for his part, Roxas learned to be at peace with an existence as part of Sora, as he felt more emotionally fulfilled than he did as a Nobody and could still be with Namine.

While Days mostly stuck to the narrative in regards to Axel, the addition of Xion complicated things so that Axel was made to be viewed more sympathetic than he really should be. The connection Roxas had with Xion, meanwhile, totally eclipsed the one he had with Namine in KH2, to the point where all of Namine’s helpful actions toward Roxas are retconned into her subconsciously keeping a promise she made to Xion to look after him. And the idealistic friendship between the three of them, where they enjoy working together in the Organization and having ice cream together atop Twilight Town’s clock tower guaranteed that many players would no longer accept Roxas’ fate in KH2 as a happy ending for him. After all, if he was perfectly comfortable as his own physical existence and had good friends he enjoyed eating ice cream with all the time, then nothing less than that seems like it could make him happy.

And ultimately, not even the narrative around Axel was to last. In Days, he says to Xion that she and Roxas can “keep on running, but I’ll always be there to bring you back!” In context, this was a selfish, possessive threat. It was Axel saying “Screw what you two want or need! I want and need you at my side in the Organization and I’ll drag you back there against your will no matter how many times you try to escape!” But once Axel is revived as Lea in 3D, the narrative pretends that wasn’t the case and now insists that it’s a noble pledge, a promise to “always bring his friends back” when they disappear, and that it’s legitimately what they want him to do. An interesting, morally gray character was totally whitewashed so that he deserves the ideal happy ending that he receives. All from something he said to Xion.

So yeah, this is what holds me back from being a big Xion fan, and while I hold no personal animosity toward her, I deeply wish she had never been introduced into the series at all.

I wish she was conceived exclusively for Shiro Amano’s manga instead!

#Disney #Square Enix #Kingdom Hearts #Opinion #Analysis #Xion #Bad Writing #Jumping the Shark #This Franchise Got Screwed Up #Anti-Xion #(Sort of)

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nicoletteduclare · 5 years

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These fireside meetings were always a bore, and Maxwell tried not to close his eyes for the brief respite that it would provide if only for the fact he did not need an earful right now. Someone giving him grief for not paying attention would require him to actually reply, and to reply, well, he'd have to cough up the whole reason for this meeting quite literally. That would be a whole new conversation and involve more questions and annoyance then Max was particularly interested in dealing with.

Besides, there was a headache blooming behind his temples, most likely thanks to the flowers in his throat. There were very few people he'd humor with listening to right now. They're all complaining about managing their own (admittedly, rather fragile for most of them) sanity more often. The surprising fact is that he is too. Unlike the lot of them, though, Maxwell is acutely aware of the source.

It would be lovely if they could just finish up already, he can make out some idea of moving camp, seeing as they can't seem to find the source, and he closes his eyes to ignore the shadow out of the corner of his eye, desperately wanting to cough.

This batch seems like it'll be painful. The dark petals are amazingly useful, or, well, they would be if he could actually use the codex more often, but having them come up randomly is quite damaging, even to his own mental resilience. Not to mention his physical state, which is far more delicate. There's been quite a lot of blood lately. Feels like his mouth always tastes of copper.

Even as a child who was far too eager to believe in magic and fae, even then, Maxwell had considered this a myth. Coughing up petals because the heart yearns for someone? Absolutely ridiculous, a complete fairy tale. Not to mention that he'd completely been too afraid to tell Charlie for at least a good few months, and he'd never coughed up petals then.

And he absolutely loved her, loved her so much... and then he'd managed to screw the whole bloody thing up and fail to protect her and ruin the both of them. If he'd just... if he'd only...

It left his stomach sour, and Maxwell valiantly tried to shake the thoughts of the past from his mind. That, honestly, is probably the biggest reason for these blasted flower petals, though there are quite a few.

Why get close to someone else again, when all he's ever brought to anyone is misery? Why fail someone again? He's ruined every single good thing in his life through a wonderful mix of no forethought and too much pride. Everything good crumbles in his hands, and who's to say, even if his affections where returned, that it wouldn't blow up in his face, that he wouldn't fail and ruin them the same way he'd ruined Charlie. What if they ended up worse off then Charlie?

What was the point of even considering that it was possible?

He'd rather let himself choke to death on flowers before letting that happen to someone that he cares about again.

There's a nudge from his side, and his eyes flutter open. "I'm really starting to wonder if you ever pay any attention to anything we talk about." Wilson was looking at him, a scowled frown on his face.

He either has to reveal the petals by coughing them up or just swallow them down, and as painful at it is, Maxwell chose the later, looking away from Wilson to speak. "I pay plenty of attention, Higgsbury." Even though his throat ached, probably scratched raw, he managed a dry, even tone, though it was a little strained.

Wilson pinched the bridge of his nose, an annoyed sigh escaping and Maxwell noticed the wilted flower crown perched quite nicely on his head. "Whatever you say. We're going to start moving camp tomorrow, maybe see if there's something new we've missed that's driving everyone insane. It's been getting pretty bad... though I doubt it even bothers you."

He just nodded along, pretending that whatever it was absolutely did not bother him, and watched Wilson sigh again and get up. A few moments in front of the fire before turning to go off to the tents, and Maxwell is glad they're all scattering, he can feel the urge to cough start to rise.

If only Wilson knew the half of it.

Though, if he even knew... Maxwell bit his tongue to keep from coughing just yet and moved to go find a private area to remove this mess from his throat. It wouldn't make much difference anyway.

- Death was becoming far too frequent, though it wasn't like any of them really noticed, or at least if they did, none of them pressed it. The most reaction he'd picked up on was Willow muttering something about being irresponsible, and he almost scoffed at her. He couldn't remember exactly what of this lovely floral disaster was the crux of all of his dying, the usual fog of revival masked it.

Since he couldn't remember, and he didn't want to exactly risk being found out, Maxwell fell into the habit of being alone for his own sake, and in some ways, everyone else's as well.

The idea of this... affliction, being found out, was mortifying. Besides the agonizing questions, this did destroy some of the facade he'd worked hard to put up; that none of them meant anything to him. And considering that, the idea that his affections would even be remotely reciprocated was downright laughable and utterly hilarious in the worst possible way.

So, Maxwell had accepted the thorny stems, sharp edged rust red and ink black petals, and the pain that came with it as his penance for even daring to let his heart consider another love after the first one had been utterly demolished by his own hubris. The headaches, the shadows out of the corners of his eyes, the world slowly becoming a gray husk shot with streaks of red? That was an added bonus. Even as he managed to keep himself from teetering at the edge of his sanity, the world was never quite as vibrant as it should have been.

The time between deaths was getting shorter, and the Maxwell couldn't help but wonder if there was a point where the time between his deaths would be only hours. That, or he'd finally succumb to the terrorbeaks.

Maybe this is what he deserved. It was about time, considering how many years it's been since Charlie pulled Wilson from the throne and threw the two of them together. Besides, the guilt surrounding this mad little game he'd thrown together certainly wasn't enough.

Just as well to have a bloody punishment to fit the crime.

The last death was only a week ago, or was it five days? One of the two, and no matter, even though he couldn't remember the circumstance surrounding the last handful of deaths, something told him this was near the end. He was on his hands and knees at the base of a pine tree.

He'd actually been trying to make himself useful for once, what a joke, honestly. There was a tiny notch in the tree from an axe, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the not-so-tiny pile of blood soaked petals underneath him, more blood dripping from his mouth as he stared at them, eyes trying to focus under the strain.

His arms were shaking to hold up his body weight, and yet, as he heard a voice, Maxwell tried to force himself to stand. A mix of pride and self-preservation, he couldn't let this be seen. Especially not by...

"Stars and atoms, Maxwell, what the hell are yo-..." The question was left unfinished as Max's strength left him, collapsing back down as he choked up more petals, an awful gagging noise before silence. Wilson was already next to him as there was a pathetic gasp for air, a warm arm trying to help him up or Heimlich, one of the two, winding underneath, but it was far too late this time.

The next thing Maxwell could remember was the cold marble flooring that meant camp, and that frankly, was absolutely terrifying. He hadn't had the materials, or really the strength to recreate a meat effigy since the first death by his affliction; touchstones were his main means of revival while he worked to at least manage the coughing fits somewhat.

Instead of the wood and broken stone around a touchstone, dead pig heads staring at him, Wilson was looking at him in the twilight, a small fire going, his own pack tossed nearby.

The place seemed... empty, for camp. Usually there was a lot more fuss if someone was revived, and while there was a little bit of relief towards that, it was... unnerving until he saw the lack of any of their usual structures, things were broken down to be reused. It was their old, recently abandoned camp, seeing as the fire-pit was still in good condition.

He hadn't gotten up yet, eyes just tracing so he could figure out what to do, but before he could get farther into figuring out the situation, Maxwell was joined by Wilson kneeling next to him.

"Why didn't you tell anyone, you absolute idiot!" He hissed between his teeth as he dug for something. While it was obvious he'd died, the reality of the situation didn't quite set in as he gave Wilson a confused look before pushing himself away in shock, sitting up.

Wilson must have seen him die. Logically, then, Wilson had seen the petals. Not that he could remember the man's reaction, which was probably a good thing, but it was the only conclusion to his words.

Wilson knew.

That was quite frankly terrifying; and while he was trying to process this horribly unlucky turn of events, Maxwell couldn't react before there was a godawful needle jabbed into his arm, the sleeve having been pushed up before he was fully awake.

"How long?" Wilson asked, eyes alert and narrowed as he practically glared at Maxwell, before turning back to the bag, fishing something else out with a mutter of "Frankly, if it wasn't for my mother's stories about her younger sister's death due to this, I wouldn't believe it." Maxwell used the mild distraction of rustling for something to stand up, his own pack was near enough to scoop up, ignoring the wobble in his legs.

"It's none of your business, Higgsbury." Lies are so easy, still, and but this one is quiet, Maxwell's shoulders tensed as he backed up, ignoring the gold chain in Wilson's hand.

It's dropped back into the bag as Wilson stood up, glaring at Maxwell, arms crossed. "None of my business? Really, Maxwell?" Looking away is so much easier then confronting this. Heavens, everything truly does go wrong, doesn't it. "You think that it's 'none of my business' when this is probably what's been affecting the rest of us? I saw the kind of petals you're dealing with, I'm not stupid. Not to mention that you're wasting resources then. I thought you might have just gotten into a few scrapes, but no, you were hiding this from us. You think that it isn't my business? Really?" It's certainly venomous, and while it looks like Wilson might have more to say, he isn't in the mood for this, teeth clenched to keep himself from coughing up more of the blasted petals right then, before he turned on his heel, not a word, and walked away.

It was always a lost cause, he knew that from the get-go, but this proved it far past a shadow of a doubt, and Max knew that he was going to be saddled with this for a long, long time, as he closed his eyes and headed to the woods.

Maxwell sorted through the pack, making sure his things had been undisturbed by any other survivor or monster that might have stumbled upon his bones from the last death. The codex was there, despite how useless it was in his condition. Every little bit of sanity counted, but on the off-chance he was surprised by a giant or something, a fighter might buy him some time to get away. He already had enough deaths to handle. Then there was his winter gear, traps and tools, some medical supplies; bandages and salves, plenty of torches and fire wood, and finally, thankfully untouched, was his stash of food. Nothing extremely wonderful, Maxwell wasn't stupid enough to risk his health more, but rabbits and mole-worms were easy enough pickings to supply him with meat, along with berries and carrots and the occasional gobbler.

He'd retrieved a few choice materials in the middle of the night, when Wilson revived him, but frankly, he'd already had most of his own supplies. Thankfully, his tent and chest were at the outskirts of camp by choice, and he was quiet enough to head off without anyone noticing. He hadn't actually taken much more then the winter gear and his copy of their maps, the essentials considering that it'd turned to winter only a week after he'd left.

He had a walking death sentence. Carrying more then the basics seemed stupid.

Still, sometimes it was a bit obnoxious, he wouldn't mind having a fur roll to wrap around himself right about now. Instead, he shivered as he slid the vest off the skeleton and retrieved his stupid warm hat. He managed both of them on before pulling out a frozen thermal stone out of the interior pocket of the vest, another shiver wracking his body.

He slid it into his pack to reheat soon, pulling out the map of the underground caves instead. He'd have to mark it off once he got a fire started, but he mentally noted where he'd been in the caves when he'd woken up. Another touchstone down.

It was obvious that he was going to run out of them soon, but he didn't want to, he couldn't, face any of the other survivors right now. Knowing Wilson's inability to keep his mouth shut (far more charming when it was about science, less so when it dealt with... well, this, and he probably had, as he said, it affected everyone,) he had to hope none of them had believed it. He wouldn't have, certainly. Even with the reality of honest to god magic, Maxwell would have scoffed at the idea of this fairy tale being real. It was a story, told to children and young adults to warn them away from being foolish with their hearts. To keep people from pinning for those they couldn't be with.

Well, he'd never been good at listening to warnings, had he? His chest ached all the time, these days, probably due to the floral infestation. He'd probably suffocate on them once again, and waste yet another touchstone.

Maxwell started to cough as he put away the map and stood up, a few petals falling out of his mouth and laying against the white snow. He couldn't help but remember the first morning this had happened as he walked away from the bones.

The night before, the pair of them had been forced into watch after stumbling back into camp late, and they took the time to patch themselves up. Hound mounds were always trouble, but cactus flowers were too useful to not gather in the summer. However, Wilson had forgotten the territory range, and ventured just a few inches too close for the hound's comfort.

A few shadow clones and a spear were perfectly fine for getting rid of the nuisance, but neither of them came out of it unscathed.

At least it hadn't been the dragonfly, but still. Wilson had pulled a hound off of his back, the last one, thankfully, but it'd torn open the flesh under his shoulder blade.

Normally, he'd have insisted he could take care of it himself, but between the exhaustion and pain, he accepted Wilson's offer of help, besides, it was hard to bandage his back. The normal banter, a few light jabs of 'how do you honestly survive out here, you're paper,' from Wilson, as well as a mutter of being glad it was superficial, hands gentle on the bare skin next to the wound as Wilson looked it over.

It'd been surprisingly... nice, but over all too soon. Wilson had shifted over so they could sit next to one another as Maxwell had looked at the damage to his clothing, already planning repairs before he looked over at his companion. Wilson looked... exhausted. The permanent bags under his eyes looked darker then normal, and he was well aware of how badly Wilson (and most of the others,) handled the night. It would be worse on an already tired mind.

Before he could really think about it, Maxwell offered to take over fully, a smart comment of "I don't need you falling into insanity on me," dying on his lips when Wilson smiled.

A tired thank you, and between the smile and the slightly wilted flower crown perched on Wilson's head to try and make the night easier had completely derailed any thought besides the soft, fluttery feeling in his chest as Wilson left. He'd tried very hard not to think about it for the rest of his watch as he repaired his shirt and suit jacket, until Wickerbottom arrived from her nightly reading nook to relieve him. He'd gone to bed halfway through the night with a frankly terrifying realization, and woken up to the start of a nightmare.

Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, unlike his own eyesight. That wasn't the catalyst of his affectionate feelings towards the scientist, but it was moment it finally, really, dawned on him. He'd tried to keep his distance from the other survivors once he was thrown into the mix, but Wilson was apparently a special case, and that was terrifying. Caring deeply about him scared Maxwell down to the very core of his being, and the realization of his feelings came with that terror.

It may have been that feeling, the fear that had buried in his stomach as he repaired his clothing, that brought these suffocating flowers along. Choking on his own fear.

But the fear was warranted. He ruined things so easily... especially Charlie, the last person he'd felt anything like this towards, he'd ruined her life and it was a thing he could never repair. Maxwell was fairly certain that even on the slim chance that these feelings were returned, he'd destroy it, without meaning to, as well. And with their last conversation, words that still sometimes came up in his thoughts, and another reason for avoiding the whole lot of them... well, at least he couldn't break something that was never going to happen in the first place.

A cold piece of comfort, and he shivered as the wind managed through the layers. Time to find a place to light a fire and warm up for the rest of the short day.

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localobnoxiousbisexual · 6 years

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Some word vomit on writing about vampires and abuse ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At this point I’ve written two fics about vampires (all judgement entirely warranted) and they just so happen to be by far the longest pieces I’ve written by myself, and also the only multichapter fics I’ve actually finished. So like, it’s safe to say vampires are A Thing for me.

And all blood kink-jokes aside, I know why that is? I mean, vampires survive by taking away something essential to another person in an intimate, invasive and sexualised way (literally sucking the life out of someone), and also there’s lots of lore-precedent for unbalanced power dynamics and emotional and psychological control. So in other words, to me writing about vampires is a ‘safe’ way of writing about abuse/abusive relationships without it hitting too close to home. Which is something I need to do, or have been needing to do for a while now.

So to me it’s obvious that any vampire story I write can’t end in a romantic relationship - aka in a way that has an endgame ship, aka the thing that most people read fanfic for to begin with. The first fic I wrote ended with the protagonist dying because the point I wanted to make was that abuse has consequences and the abuser won’t magically turn into a loving, caring partner if you cure them with love (which is what the source material was communicating, essentially). That was kind of a cathartic-thing for me, really.

The other fic I was initially going to end with the protagonist leaving the relationship(s) and finding healing with another survivor, but then kinda chickened out because I felt people would be disappointed and appreciative ao3 comments are like the thing that keeps be going in life atm. So I ended up writing a more ambiguous ending so that the people who wanted to see the pair together could imagine they ended up together. And like, as far as satisfying storytelling goes it wasn’t the strongest narrative choice ever but my readers were really lovely about it (idc what anyone says, the hamilton fandom has treated me as a fic writer way better than any other fandom I’ve written for). And in the end I’m… not unhappy with it even if it’s not in line with my original ~vision~, it felt good writing something a bit more hopeful and ambiguous and messy and more in line with my own experiences.

The problem is that while the subtext is obvious to me, the writer, the average reader comes to read a dumb sexy vampire-fic (reasonably enough) expecting a twilight/true blood/vampire diaries-ending. And like, understandably, they’re surprised at best and pissed at worst when they don’t get it. Well, the fandom of my first fic was kinda shitty about it, with the second one I feel like I avoided some backlash by conforming more to what I think people were expecting.

Maybe it’s just my shortcoming as a writer that people can’t seem to follow the narrative to the only conclusion that’s logical to me, who knows. Yea that’s probably it. Though i’m sure a culture that constantly romanticizes obsessive and controlling behavior doesn’t exactly help. I mean, especially in supernatural fiction that stuff is almost always portrayed as romantic.

There’s really no logical conclusion to all this I just felt like putting into words how I’m stuck writing about something important to me in a way that leaves people confused and unsatisfied lol

#sometimes i blog #personal

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sometipsygnostalgic · 6 years

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tipsy reviews: breath of the wild

So last month, early november, I went and got myself a Nintendo Switch. And for my new console I bought 3 games: MarioKart Deluxe, Super Mario: Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

What I used it for mostly during this time period was.... Mariokart. It’s a fun and addictive little game while the two openworld games required a lot of effort with no linear path, so I wasn’t looking forward to a lot of busywork.

To my pleasant surprise, when I finally sat down to complete Odyssey, I discovered that the game was filled with many little secrets. It would reward you for experimenting, for putting objects in funny places, and solving its puzzles. The addictive gameplay helped me steamroll through the game to its logical conclusion, and then beyond.

Breath of the Wild, fortunately, follows a similar path. Gone are the many hours of tutorials, talking swords, and narrow Hyrule paths. Now we find the world not only open, where you’re free to move in any direction and climb any mountain, but filled with many secrets and challenges to spend your days working through! It’s not fair to say that Breath of the Wild is without its challenges though; the open-world formula starts out with many, and though Zelda subverts the issues plagueing more well-known users like Assassin’s Creed, it does fall into some unique pitfalls.

In this post I will discuss the different areas of this game - story, gameplay, puzzle elements - and see how they compare.

Environment: I felt like it was most important to talk about this aspect first, because the world of Hyrule is so significant to the potential and failures of every other part of the game. Everything to do with story, puzzles, difficulty, it’s all related to the open world, what’s in it, and how you navigate. Breath of the Wild kinda looks like a barren, empty game when you look at its open world face-value. There’s very few cities, most of the place is ruins littered with some enemy camps and lots of caves. Not a lot of history at all! It reminds me of the empty Hyrule Fields in Ocarina of Time. And there are no sprawling dungeons like in its predecessors. The closest to this is the shrines, short mini-dungeons which were created by the Sheikah predecessors to help the Hero destroy Ganon. But what Breath of the Wild does RIGHT is utilize this seemingly empty open world to its full advantage. It’s filled with a variety of animals and critters to use for cooking, challenging opponents who you can loot, korok seeds which you need to solve a riddle to collect (but which are far less irritating than riddler trophies), hidden treasure for you to discover... And perhaps the most immersive tactic is how we are able to take damage from the environment - you can freeze to death on a mountain, or dehydrate in the desert, or roast in the Goron mine. All of this, combined with the many, MANY shrines and seeds and their corresponding puzzles, makes this world feel... alive. Like people and animals actually live here. And the most adrenaline-bursting part of all is entering a Divine Beast for the first time and realising you can manipulate the environment using the map. THIS is what makes a great adventure game. Now, it’s still a fair departure from the classic dungeon crawlers or the previous three entries, but I think Breath of the Wild pulled off its world very impressively. Much more fun to explore than London or North America. It is only for an issue I’ll discuss later on that I have to rank it as low as 8/10.

Story: BotW does make an interesting departure once again from before, though in some ways I feel this had lost potential. The story is COMPLETELY optional - as soon as you leave the great plateau, you can fight Ganon and call it a day. But if you choose to dig deeper into the memories of Link, you’ll discover that you were ALREADY the Chosen Hero, sealed deep into the Resurrection Shrine by instruction of Zelda. You were identified early because of your upbringing as the son of a Royal Knight, and that’s about it for Link’s known pre-mastersword history. It’s unknown what adventures you went on before. Now you and four Champions were chosen to prepare to fight Ganon. The backstory between you and Zelda is.... mixed, kind of depressing actually; she resented you for a long time because you were so good at your job as the Hero of the Sword while she was deeply insecure over her inability to activate her powers and how her father kept putting pressure on her to constantly pray when she just wanted to become a huge nerd, helping out in other ways. It ends with Ganon unleashing its power across Hyrule, the Champions being killed and trapped in the Divine Beasts they were going to use against him, and Link nearly dying protecting Zelda who saves him last second with an awesome Light that Burns the Sky. After watching 25-ish cutscenes, I... was quite disappointed, because they kept rehashing stuff I already knew; Zelda was insecure over her lack of power, she disliked Link but grew to respect him, and the other Champions are.... well, Mipha’s the only one who has any real history with Link. Revali sees him as a rival, Urubosa looks after Zelda, and Daruk is very hardy and enthusiastic. It’s really cool meeting these characters in the Divine Beasts but you don’t learn much more, and I heard the Champion’s Ballad DLC is the same... Ganon himself isn’t a chilling villain like before, moreso an intimidating threat. He’s not nearly as scary as the Twilight Beasts or any named Ocarina of Time boss, and he takes very little skill to defeat, even compared to some of his Blights (Thunderblight Ganon took me multiple attempts with its fast hard-hitting moves). In fact I think I’d be able to sweep him easily without saving any Champions. The worst part of all though has to be how it just CUTS YOU OFF. You complete the game? Yeah, that’s kind of it. There isn’t a “post-game”, it just lets you load your past save. That’s what pisses me off the most. I wanted to speak to Zelda about all those memories I found! Oh yeah the game is also sneaky and won’t load the secret ending cutscene if you didn’t report to Impa and recover the hidden memory after unlocking the Hyrule Tower memory, so good luck doing what I did and getting that one last just before the final boss. All in all, 5 out of 10. It did its job, but was nothing special whatsoever, lots of wasted potential.

Gameplay: When you first start playing Breath o the Wild it is extremely punishing. Your weapons are shit, your damage is shit, you WILL get oneshot many times. But when you pump more hours into it, you gain lots of momentum; since there are so many areas of gameplay, so many ways to approach a certain situation, it becomes inevitable that you’ll figure out a good solution to any fight. This is a double-edged blade; while it’s lots of fun to kill enemies inventively, the difficulty curb at the BEGINNING of the game is so steep that you’ll find it becoming stupidly easy later on, when you’re more overpowered and you’ve mastered the enemy attack patterns. Sure, they may turn black or silver and do hella damage, but what’s a god to a player who knows how to exploit their AI? And you’ll be swimming in so many powerful weapons that you’ll abandon them all after a certain point, cos there’s nothing worse to trade out. The biggest victims of the difficulty scaling have to be the Ganon bosses, all of them, which DO NOT gain health or difficulty at any point. It’s like fighting Champion Wallace’s level 40 watertypes with a level 70 rayquaza, which is what I did in my Emerald playthrough... This means that the greatest elements of Breath of the Wild’s gameplay are those moments where your tools aren’t quite enough, where you have to prepare and plan. Maybe there’s too many moblins to take on at once? Maybe you’re playing the Island Trial and you have no decent weapons? Maybe you’re trying to complete the Zora divine beast quest and you come face-to-face with the Lynel on the summit? Maybe there’s multiple Guardians aiming at your direction and you have no Ancient Arrows? In all these situations I’ve had to be inventive, sneak around and attack on the sly, or avoid combat altogether. But what’s even more reliable is the puzzles. You’re not handheld, you’re not told how to do anything outside of the very basic controls - every single puzzle you solve is completely your own accomplishment, your own skills, and sometimes it’s not set out clearly at all so you have to be creative. Nobody TOLD you to put that one rock in the gap between all the others, but you did it, and now you have a rock! And nobody TOLD you how to make a recipe that heals all your hearts and gives you 3 to spare, but your experimentation crafted a recipe. THIS, in my opinion, is what makes a definitive gaming experience - respect for the player. 9 out of 10 too many royal swords.

Music - No videogame review is complete without an OST ranking. Now.... BotW tried to play a certain role with its music, having it in the background colouring your experiences rather than defining them. This is quite appreciated because it would have been distracting to have booming enemy music for an opponent I knock out in 2 seconds (cough OOT cough). However, outside of its main theme, Breath of the Wild lacks almost all the signature Zelda tracks that have been defining for the series. I’d say that the absence of this booming music makes it.... not feel much like a Zelda at all. It better reflects the open and partially destroyed world, at the expense of recogition. That’s not to say it’s without gems though.. there are very few things more chilling than the music that plays in ganon-possessed guardian containing the tormented soul of your dead zora girlfriend. 7 out of 10, servicable and decent.

Conclusion - Breath of the Wild is a smashing game, which deserves the praise it gets, not because it’s an open world Zelda but because it REDEFINES the possibilities of an open world game. Instead of littering itself with countless copy-paste fortresses, it offers puzzles and challenges that show respect for the player’s adaptability, encouraging you to explore all the different options its mechanics offer. Instead of making you choke through an insufferable and possibly frustrating campaign to unlock new areas, it gives you the options and tools to go anywhere you like as long as you prepare. It says much when even this game’s biggest weaknesses can be played for strengths. And oh man, what a solid introduction to the Nintendo Switch generation.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 8 out of 10.

#botw #breath of the wild #loz #the legend of zelda

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