Darius the Great

I’m operating here under the idea that there are multiple ways that magic abilities can be learned or gained in ALTTP. I know that it’s said that the maidens inherited their powers, but I think it’s a bit odd for all these sage’s descendants to be in the same place together after all the generations have passed, and for this generation in specific to be some of the only people who currently have magic powers. Perhaps some of the maidens are descendants, and others are more like successors, chosen to have this role for various reasons. Usually I don’t like changing canon things but I think there’s wiggle room here because we know so little about the maidens individually. And because it creates a more interesting contrast to Link and Zelda and their themes of destiny.

I’m using the fire/forest/light/spirit/water/shadow sage distinctions for them. I’m trying to use them as themes to determine why they’ve ended up as a maiden or who they are as people. Here’s some individual information (everything in this post is a WIP and subject to change):

Della the Fire Maiden, found in the Misery Mire crystal. Somewhat childish dialogue compared to the rest of the maidens. The sick bug-catching boy from Kakariko Village is her little brother. She is high-energy and passionate and glad to join the maidens in hopes of finding a way to help her brother. She is close friends with Sylvie.

Sylvie the Forest Maiden, found in the Thieves’ Town crystal. She is hopeful, commenting on Link personally and cheering him on but can’t help but worry as well. Blind copies her gentle demeanor to trick Link into believing his disguise. She lives with her family in Kakariko Village and is close friends with Della, though she feels more conflicted about her skill and role as a maiden than Della does.

Reyna the Light Maiden, found in the Ice Palace crystal. She is a relative of the previous Sage of Light. Has lots of knowledge on the maiden’s powers. As the daughter of the fortune teller at Lake Hylia, she is in-tune with magic and her family’s history. She is quite serious and bookish but gets easily flustered. She struggles to get along with the rest of the maidens, though she is interested in Naomi who she shares common interests with.

Naomi the Spirit Maiden, found in the Swamp Palace crystal. Interested in history and warping points, she likes to do research. Granddaughter of the lost old man on Death Mountain, who has taught her his healing magic skills. She likes looking into her grandfather’s Magic Mirror and the Dark World. She’s quiet and stoic and has her head in the clouds a lot but opens up and gets excited when she’s interested in something.

Roxy the Water Maiden, found in the Dark Palace crystal. She talks about the other maidens a lot, she does her best to be close with them. She’s friendly, like the glue of the group but gets frustrated quickly when the others don’t get along perfectly. She lives on her own in Kakariko Village ever since her parents have gone missing after going out to look for the Golden Power.

Facial Features and Bodies

Gilgamesh ( all these quotes are from the Helle translation!)

The text constantly talks about how young Gil is in the grand scheme and i've always found that so interesting, he's supposed to be pretty and dolled up, he' still a big guy but a lot leaner in my head, compared to say when he gets older he'd fill out even more!

I go the blue hair route as I like how its a good signifier he's not fully human. As for styling of said hair, I use his hair as symbolism of how rogue Gil is, he is described as having a restless heart and hair being styles so intricalty doesn't fit with that for me. So i forgo it just for his curls instead

I do ignore the cubit heights personally, tbh if I was in ancient times and saw someone 2 metres tall or more I'd also be like tf. They're both still huge just for the time period it makes it very exaggerated, for example Shamhat is like 1.6m in my head so she's pretty tall compared to the average. < just a personal choice lol

Enkidu

Enkidu is a lot softer solely cause we're going with the clay theme lol, he has a warm undertone for that reason actually. I chose to keep only bull ears and horns for his post 'humanisation' as I think it's interesting if the only bits of his past life he has, he cannot even see unlike say a tail or legs.

Hair wise same as Gil, I don't think he could stand to sit around and have it styled, PLUS i think its so thick like wool it would be a bit impossible too. Hair is kept long as well as I do think it would be intersting for him to lean more towards womans style of fashion, because of his proximity to Shamhat, this goes the same with clothes.

Clothes and Patterns

Clothing is the thing I'm most 'liberal' with mixing up as the nature of fashion is that we lose it to time

A lot of the cuts for things I gather from reliefs and statues, on the left is a woman and I tend to give both Enkidu and Shamhat this for reasons I said before. But I also take a lot creative liberty as I enjoy drawing clothes.

For patterns I use the most anachronistic source of Assyrian designs because I really like the mix between Geometric and 'Natural' shapes. I am a big fan of patterns so if it works it works I'll get it into the stuff I like.

A lot of the jewellery I reference is directly from the Royal Cemetary of Ur, I love how much lapis is used in crafts so i always try to include it if i remember.

At the end of the day there's no wrong way to go about designing them, it's so fun seeing how different people inteperet them they're very malleable characters!