sodalite speaks

01 .. white feather fletching

A swift blur of white surges between her and the beast. “Not this time!” Warnings: none, really. implied child neglect?

02 .. seeing red

What the heck is a fish doing on Death Mountain? Warnings: none

03 .. golden girl

Goddesses above, he's just been saved by a little girl. Warnings: none

04 .. sandstone

“Don’t you guys ever get sick of gettin’ your tails kicked?!" Warnings: none

05 .. on the road

A Curse born of Malice was right up Astor’s alley, unfortunately. Of course the prophet could sense Yunobo’s curse— he should have been more careful. He swears to himself. Now, he’s chained up so tight he can hardly breathe. Not that Gorons needed to breathe. Principle of the thing.

There’s a loop on the floor, a metal hook for this exact purpose— the cuffs around his wrists are wound through it, and the stupid collar is chained to the same point. Metal crosses his shell to keep him curled inward. The only part of him uncovered is his tail, which the Curse has twisted into the Titan’s ore deposit. Everybody knows a talus’ weakness is its ore deposit.

Said tail twitches, a damning display of nerves. He’s never been worried about the Yiga before. Back home, they weren’t strong or smart enough, without Master Kohga to guide them. Not that Kohga was particularly smart himself. Here, though, they had Astor— Yunobo’s not scared of him, exactly, but… he’s an unknown.

He rolls his shoulders, testing for any weakness— the whole cell seems to rattle as he does.

“Well, look at you.” A set of blademaster boots step into his vision. Yunobo glowers up at him. “Not so tough now, are you?”

Yunobo works his jaw. The next time anybody reaches for him, he will take fingers off. For now, though, he remains stoically silent. He’s… well, not scared, but he’s a little… nervous. Wary. Of course he is. That’s a reasonable response. He swallows thickly.

“Aw, poor thing,” the blademaster taunts, “weak and alone.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Yunobo scowls, baring his teeth in a way he hopes is intimidating. It’s not— the blademaster laughs at him. Oh, that’s just great. Even chained up, Yunobo can still put a foot in his mouth.

“No, I think this is perfect. Might be our last chance to see you, you know,” the Yiga laughs darkly, head tilting. He crouches to be eye-level, not that it matters in the mask. “Master Kohga’s gonna tear you apart.”

It’s Yunobo’s turn to chuckle, shaking his head (rattle-rattle-rattle). “I’d like to see that. You know what a sickle’ll do to a Goron? Not a thing.” He smiles, devoid of humor. “Your windcleaver wouldn’t even leave a mark, goro. ‘Specially not when you’re swinging it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Yunobo is chained up in a cell right now, taunting his captors, who can definitely leave a mark on him. He’s gonna get himself killed. His chest twists, terrified. “I think you know,” he says, instead of shutting his big mouth. Apparently he’s brave and stupid. Oh, Hylia help him.

“I suggest you watch your mouth,” the blademaster snarls, drawing said windcleaver. He points it at Yunobo’s throat in a clear threat. Yunobo’s throat has a metal collar on it and is overall not any weaker than any other part of his body, but he doesn’t say anything. “You’re not among friends, little rock. When Master Kohga gives the order, we will skin you alive.”

Do Gorons have skin? Y’know, Yunobo’s not actually sure. Gorons aren’t great about their own biology. In the interest of the situation, Yunobo decides he doesn’t. “Oh no,” he mumbles flatly, “my skin. That’s so sad.” He huffs a sigh through his nose, pulling his mouth tight. He shifts backwards away from the blade. “Do you even know how to kill a Goron, goro?”

“Do you think we’re going to kill you?” Hell. He hadn’t noticed Astor’s arrival— he’s being threatened, he’s doing his best! The prophet folds his arms, tilting his head back to look down even further at Yunobo. The blademaster retreats, cowed by his presence. “Oh, no. You have many things in store, Yunobo,” Astor murmurs, “but death is not one of them.”

With a wave of his hand, the cell door swings open. Yunobo can’t help his flinch, even as he keeps glaring— it might have been subtle, if the stupid chains didn’t loudly announce his every move.

“Are you scared, little rock?” Astor strides forward, crouching down to take Yunobo’s chin in his hand. Jerking back just makes the chains rattle louder. He is scared— and now the Yiga knew it. Damn it all! Astor chuckles. “You are.”

“Go to hell,” Yunobo snarls. His voice wavers. He calls for his Protection, but he needs his hands free to use it— he can’t. He needs to shut up, because everything he says is just amusing them. He does not do that. If they think he’s brave, maybe they’ll— leave him alone. “Great Daruk’s gonna smash your head in.”

“That would require him to be looking for you, wouldn’t it?” Astor sneers, like he’s talking to a particularly stupid dog. “You poor thing,” he hums, “they’re doing much better without you.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Yunobo snarls. Astor makes a small, unconvinced noise. Yeah, Yunobo walked right into that one. “You do nothin’ but lie, goro.”

They are looking for him, because Astor is a liar. He swats away his doubts, scowling.

“You’re so naive,” the prophet murmurs, patronizing and gentle. When Yunobo reaches the end of his slack and can’t pull away, Astor once more reaches out to grab his face. “We’ll fix that, won’t we?”

“You’re all talk,” Yunobo hisses. He takes a thin gasp of a breath. Astor’s hand is very, very close to his mouth. Yunobo snarls, sends a quick prayer to Hylia, and bites him.

…

Gorons can’t really be sliced or stabbed. A demon carver or a windcleaver don’t do anything but scuff them. What works is something like a hammer— heavy and blunt, for cracking instead of cutting. Fortunately, the Yiga don’t often carry things like that around.

Unfortunately, Yunobo does.

Astor uses his Malice to wield it despite its weight. Yunobo’s scales crack open under the swings. It fucking hurts. Blademasters stick sickles into open wounds, tearing where his scales can’t save him. A crack across his head sends him reeling forward, damn-near bouncing off the ground— a boot lands hard on the back of his neck, keeping him down. His chains chatter, too loud, a cacophony.

Gorons don’t concuss, but they have a lot of sensitive stuff in their heads that don’t like to be rattled around. Yunobo’s learning that. It’s similar to a squishy-folk concussion. His eyes blur, his ears stop working beyond the sharp ring. It hurts. His thoughts spiral around the words. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts—

Yunobo gasps thinly, trying to think. He just has to wait for the others. They’ll find him and they’ll tear these guys apart. They’ll find him. They’re looking for him. Astor’s a liar. They’re looking for him, and they’ll find him—

Agony explodes through his tail. The Titan’s weakness. He stops thinking. Some terrible scream tears through the room. It’s too loud. He can’t think. It hurts. He hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts—

..

Yunobo had been captured once, back in his time.

He’d made a bad call and had ended up in an ambush. They hadn’t known how to hurt him. He’d spent the whole time stalling, thinking of how he was going to placate the Boss. Surely he’d be worried. The City would be worried. He was fine, sure, but they would worry anyway.

He’d torn out of there in a few days time, not the only one who made a mistake. He’d warped back to the City. Nobody gave him a second look. Nobody mentioned his disappearance. Even the Boss had harumphed and given him gravel about slacking off, not even an ounce of worry.

It wasn’t like disappearing was a habit of his. Even on blood moons, Yunobo told the Boss where he was headed and what he was doing. He had never just left without telling anyone. And this… this had been why. Sure, Yunobo had said it was for Boss Bludo’s peace of mind, but... he’d always known, deep down. Even with the Protection, he wasn’t useful enough to be looked for. To be cared about.

Yunobo stopped telling people where he was going.

..

Agony gives way to ache gives way to consciousness. At some point, he’d gone from his chained-awkward kneel to laying on the floor. His body hurts in ways he didn’t know it could. Magma has soldified around him in a puddle, pooling around him like blood from a Hylian. His head hurts.

Boss isn’t looking for him. The thought is sobering, though it feels distantly wrong in a way Yunobo can’t place. Boss isn’t looking for him. Nobody else has even noticed he’s gone.

He sits up. Chains rattle, echoing in his skull. He’s still stuck to the floor.

He has to reach for his thoughts through a layer of fog, head pounding with the effort.

Yunobo takes a breath. It hurts. He shudders.

Nobody’s looking for him.

reference screenshot and first frame idea (this was originally an animatic)

external shell:

gorons dont have tails canonically, but they have tiny legs and the way that they curl up means that I give them tails. their tails have "notches" that hook to the underside of their first scute (highest up on neck) to make them round enough to get around.

note: since gorons dont have typical skin and bones, i dont think its technically correct to call their shells 'scutes' (grown in the deeper layer of skin) or 'scales' (grown from the epidermis). i call them scutes mostly because vibes, even though their shedding patterns are more adjacent to scales. Also because pangolins and armadillos have scutes and theyre the closest to gorons to me.

their shells are plated like pangolin armor; they have a central line of scutes down their "spines" that overlap each other to allow movement. think like scalemail. they can bend forward very far (duh) but they cant bend backward like, at all.

heres my really bad scute diagram GAHAHA i can't explain it the way it makes sense to me

1) between the tail and the back is a connector scute, its less durable and more flexible and is arched to allow the tail to curve the way it does

2) also allowing the tail to curve— I guess "backwards"?? opposite of the way it curves when they curl up into a ball— the tail-scutes extend out further from the body than back-scutes! back scutes are triangular like ^ while tail-scutes dont quite come back down at the end. Does that make any sense at all.

pebbles have softer shells than grown gorons do, sometimes closer to dirt than rock! at some point all of their "baby scutes" shed off and bigger, sturdier scutes grow in. sort of like hylian baby/adult teeth except it happens pretty much all at once; the grown scutes grow in fully and then the whole baby shell sort of Falls Off.

their fingernails are less fingernails and more claws; theyre evolved for digging, but most gorons use pickaxes/shovels/etc so most keep their claws trimmed

they dont just have skin hard as rocks they are Literally rocks. how do they move and do anything? magic. ok? ok.

bc of this, they are incredibly heat-resistant and basically lightning proof. theyre also incredibly heavy and therefore susceptible to getting stuck underwater.

they have eyelids but they mostly use them for sleeping/emoting; their eyes are kept moist by a brille (clear disc of skin/scale over the eye) like a snake's. their brilles are Literally made out of glass though.

their teeth are not really teeth, more like lizard jaw ridges. they dont have "baby teeth" or really lose them at all. comparing them to teeth anyway for the sake of convenience, they basically have a mouth full of molars, flat and broad to aid in crushing rocks.

internal & creation:

gorons aren't born so much as.. planted? emerged? sort of like gemstones in steven universe with less damage to the earth. gems have inherent magical properties in hyrule, and sometimes the magic becomes Alive and emerges from the soil as a goron pebble. tali/pebblits are created similarly!

most pebbles just pop out of the earth from natural underground gem deposits, and as such theres not really a lot of lineage or family stuff. it IS possible to create a goron willingly, though, which is how yunobo is daruk's "grandson". more on that later.

this forging is why theyre all agender. theyre rocks

the gem a goron is created from loses its physical form to create the pebble's shell, and the magic inside it becomes a goron's "spark", equivalent to basically a hylian's entire internal organ structure but most commonly compared to a heart. this spark does Everything: breaks down food, stores energy, even serves as the nerves and brain.

speaking of food: when a goron eats a rock roast/flambe/etc, its melted down; the actual physical earth and nutrients become magma, and the inherent magic of the earth is absorbed by the spark. the magma then becomes a sort of blood equivalent i guess? when a hylian bleeds, their blood dries and creates scabs to protect their insides; goron magma basically does the same thing. just without all the carrying oxygen etc etc.

they CAN eat hylian* food, but it doesnt do a lot for them. ENOUGH hylian food could hypothetically sustain a goron, but the amounts would be unreasonable, and it would definitely make them super sick. also most gorons dont like the taste. (*hylian used as a catch-all for non-rock-roast-eaters. this is the typical wording used in reports due to monarchy-induced hylian-centrism)

gemstones usually Taste Bad due to their high magic-low nutrient composition, but theyre not usually inherently harmful to consume. gemstones cause rocksickness more than any sort of rock roast though. and a goron probably couldn't survive on a gemstone-only diet even without any "allergies", again due to their low nutrients. too much magic and not enough nutrients is NOT good for a spark, sort of like drinking a whole energy drink on an empty stomach

because their insides are Very Hot and Magma-Based, gorons are very qeak/susceptible to cold. even an ice arrow, which wouldnt damage their 'skin,' can cause a lot of problems for a goron. they're very lizardlike when they get cold, mostly to conserve energy but also in particularly bad cases their magma starts to solidify

gorons dont get traditionally sick (run too hot) but theyre prone to getting "rocksick" when they eat minerals their sparks dont agree with, sort of like allergies or food poisoning. they also exhibit similar behaviors to hylian illness when tired/hungry.

speaking of. they dont really get Hungry, because they have no digestive system. hey also don't NEED to sleep; they mostly do it to conserve energy. "tired" and "hungry" are the same thing to them, caused by their spark running low on fuel

gorons are, in theory, incredibly long-lived, even moreso than the zora. however the calamity destroyed/corrupted a lot of hyrule's natural magic and rudania's malice polluted a lot of the rock. very few gorons survived, and the next generations were noticably weaker.

most gorons are now incapable of using magic despite being connected to it. the rock roasts they eat are just enough to keep their sparks going without a lot of leftover energy to play with. (yunobo is like three kinds of anomaly. hes perfect.)

gorons are generally Very difficult to kill. with the exception of the calamity. For obvious reasons. their rock shell and lack of organs mean they have very few weak points (even their eyes have solid scales over them). gorons dont have a set lifespan, but their most common cause of death is defined as "old age"— when their spark stops being able to absorb energy, and finally goes out.

when a spark goes out before its supposed to, though, it releases its energy quite suddenly. aka it blows up. this leaves very specific markings on a goron's chest known as "corpse cracks". its not as graphic as it sounds, I swear

when a goron sheds their baby scutes, the inside of their skin crystallizes and they become visually geode-like. I dont have a science reason for this one. I just think its very cool.

cultural:

due to the nature of goron creation/forging, there's not usually a lot of traditional family units, which is why they all call each other brother

the important exception to this is/was the "line of lords". the details of the tradition are fuzzy due to time, but the commonly accepted story is as follows: the ancient goron champion, first pilot of vah rudania, made a vow to the goddesses to protect hyrule. to ensure there would be somebody to uphold this promise once he was gone, he laid a ruby into the earth, and forged it as his son. his son then forged his own ruby, so on and so forth, until daruk quietly placed a ruby in the soil before departing for the spring of power.

the line of lords didnt really hold that much power, not like the gerudo chief or the zora king; they were mostly just ambassadors and occasionally generals during wartimes. even then, there was a power vacuum when daruk never came back. the spot was filled by the then-young-adult bludo and he took on the boss title.

daruk's ruby emerged incredibly late; boss bludo took him in and raised him... mostly to keep himself in power. he's not tyrannical— if anything he does Less as a leader than daruk did— he just likes the attention. he tells yunobo he's daruk's grandson instead of just son to keep a buffer between yunobo and his right to rule. "obviously boss bludo deserves to be in charge— hes the step between yunobo and daruk!" yknow? yknow.

gorondian, like ritoan, is entirely spoken & doesnt have a written equivalent. they use common hylian for their writings, though its not uncommon for a goron to know gerudo writing. they dont usually speak it though (v sounds are tricky)

due to it being their literal lifeblood, food sharing is a big thing for gorons! companionship! this is why daruk is constantly getting link to eat rocks /silly

relationships are strange and nebulous and very very queerplatonic. are they friends? are they lovers? you may never know. they just vibe. that being said, its not entirely unheard of for gorons to enter romantic relationships with other races, but monogamy is strange to them

due to the inconsistent nature of goron aging, they dont become adults at a certain age. instead, a goron officially stops being a pebble when they shed their baby shell. not a lot changes you just stop getting looked after as much by the older gorons.

it's tradition to give baby scutes to the lava rivers or to death mountain's caldera to return them to the earth, gorons who are "resting with the rubble" aka dead are treated the same (it's a great honor to be returned to the lava!)

when a goron dies of "old age," they less-so have a funeral and more a celebration of their life, lived to its fullest extent. a goron can usually tell when their time is coming and has made arrangements for where they want to return to the earth. they make their arrangements and usually simply go to sleep.