On one hand you have people saying Link likes Zelda and the two have more passionate moments and on other hand you have people that think absolutely nothing between the two in the game... while also believing that botw Zelink is much better.

Then there’s the people who like both.

That Zelda never felt the same resentment towards Link in AOC is partly justified because the Calamity happened earlier and Link got the chance to show his inner self sooner. In Botw Zelda and many others had a wrong image of him because he was that beloved celebrated hero before he even got the chance to really prove himself. The prophecy and master sword just said so.

In AOC Link and Zelda fight together before he even gets chosen by the sword or is appointed as champion and Zelda's knight. Does that take away from the development they had in botw? Sure but the game also isn't a Zelink fanfiction and there were story elements that'd deserve to be criticized much more.

And you know what in the end they just crush on each other like.. normal people do. That doesn't make it bad or worthless. I'm going to assume that the things I know about their personalities from botw are still true for this universe.

It's still nice to have those cutscenes of Link being flustered and Zelda smiling at him because I don't have high expectations for Zelink content in botw2. I wouldn't be surprised if they picked a silent princess together at the end of the game and that's all. Canon but not explored. And lighthearted content is something I expect even less with Ganondorf around.

For me AOC pretty much gives me what we weren't shown in BOTW but was still canon. I already saw Zelda being resentful against Link and I saw him being empathetic and that their relationship at some point got much better. But there's a huge gap in between. Impa told us that Link became the person she relied on, Urbosa mentions that Zelda is much happier, Daruk writes about them, Mipha notices it, but them being in love is something the game never showed us, just confirmed in it's own ways and that's exactly why it took a while before most people accepted it as canon.

But I also love TP and SS Zelda's designs in particular. TP because I always loved how her hyper-feminity is in contrast to her demeanor (and I like to imagine that they had a bit of a food shortage during the twilight invasion) and SS because she's literally a goddess-reborn and they still choose a very normal look for her. I think overall small-everything (boobs, hips) is still much better than most of the fictional female bodies we usually see.

I've really neglected my tumblr huh