#cyclebound

♡ / @cyclebound

     It's only been two days since the healer's deemed him, ahem, "unfit to fly" on account of his wings being a little messed up from The Battle to End All Battles, and Tulin already feels like he could just about lay down and die.

     "I'm so jealous of you," he croons to the sparrows hopping along the railing he's slumped against — which is a new level of despair for him, for sure.

     Blizzards, being grounded sucks. Hearing the Windlines, feeling the Windlines, and being able to do anything but actually be with the Windlines must count as some sorta wild and highly effective torture. Doesn't help that the air 'round here tastes so unlike the air back home; Lookout Landing's breezes are less crisp, thicker, more swollen with the scent of roots and earth and the idea of having your feet stuck on the ground at all times. Not that it's bad, just...very distinctly different in a way that keeps Tulin's heart longing and aching. Even being as high up as he can get here with useless wings, at the town's huge, awesome scope, isn't comforting.

     He heaves a gusty sigh, startling his tiny companions enough that they flap away without so much as a bye. Ughhh. Stupid "no flying until further notice" rule. He strains to stretch a wing out, muscles stinging, before it's snapping back to his side at the footfalls he catches clacking up the ladder behind him.

     He quietly, desperately hopes it's not, for any reason, the healer. Or worse, Uncle Harth, whose annoyingly watchful eye he just slipped away from. Thankfully, it's not anyone he's really expecting when he turns — half 'cause it's still kinda strange seeing her so close-up nowadays, half 'cause, well, it's kinda impossible to see her by herself nowadays — but their presence is one he definitely welcomes!

"Your Highness? You're here? We thought you..."

It was a strange situation, indeed. Reports from across the kingdom had mentioned rumors of the princess across many reaches that had amounted to stranger developments and weirder circumstances. Still, as a priest of Hylia, Sypha wasn't one who gave them much weight when the evil had since been vanquished and put those groundless claims to rest.

♡ / @cyclebound

     As much as their appearance had at first roused such indelible curiosity, in the passing days and nights, Zelda's presence has become well-nigh commonplace. Enough for the sight of their approach — even here, where he has stolen away from the castle, and even now, when he has left being king consort behind for some spare moments — to kindle only mirth rather than honest surprise within him.

     "Was it the fair lady herself who sent you my way?" he laughs, bright and fond. His periodic jaunts into the wilds aren't exactly a secret of any kept nature, but he's tried, still, to slip between the cracks of a hectic schedule when least anticipated. Though he'd been expecting Sonia today, as she's established he always should, and just a little more time to himself — trust his queen to get the better of him and his indulgences yet again.

     Ah, but not all is lost!

Add Some Sparkle -- @cyclebound

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[SEND - Betrayal sentence prompts]

Zelda's declaration, filled with determination and defiance, reaches his ears through a rushing current of futile bravado. Finding her words amusing, a fleeting sense of enjoyment twists into a sinister smirk across the Demon King's lips. In his eyes, she is nothing more than a meek little mouse, hardly worthy of his attention.

To her threat, a loud thunder of laughter erupts from deep within the dark usurper's chest, a rumble that echoes through the air like rolling thunder. It's a sound that reverberates with a commanding power, seemingly resonating in every corner of the chamber they inhabit, each chuckle carrying a weight that seems to shake the very foundation of their surroundings.

His laughter is not the jovial mirth of a lighthearted soul, but a sinister symphony of dominance and malevolence. It starts low, a menacing growl that builds gradually, like the gathering of storm clouds before a raging tempest.

As his amusement grows, so too does the intensity of his laughter, the resonant booms filling the air, drowning out all other sounds, should any dare compete with his humor.

With each deep laugh, Ganondorf's malicious presence seems to expand, filling the space with an overwhelming aura of darkness. The sheer force of his amusement is palpable, like an oppressive wave crashing against the shore, washing over the air in a suffocating embrace of his contemptuous entertainment.

As the Demon King begins to quiet himself, the echoes of his laughter seem to linger like the aftershocks of an earthquake, a haunting reminder of his unshakable power. With the final reverberations faded away, the room is left with an unsettling stillness. It's as if the very air holds its breath, wary of the omnipotent force that Ganondorf embodied.

"I take such pleasure in witnessing the feeble struggles of those who cannot comprehend the true extent of their helplessness," sharp eyes target the young woman. "Your defiance is but a fleeting distraction in the grand tapestry of my dominion."

With a dismissive wave of his hand, he turns away from the princess, his attention already shifting to greater conquests. Zelda's presence has become inconsequential, swallowed by the vast darkness of his limitless ambition.

I have never, ever, liked zelink.

I have never actively hated it but I have never liked it.

I can't easily articulate why other than it's just been a vibe check/ personal preference thing. I do think there's some deeper story implications that I want to resist but mostly it's a matter of taste.

One, it's not the type of ship I go for. I have always liked villain/hero, rival, antagonist ships. I mean for fuck sakes my top three OTPs are: Zelgan, Reylo, and Zutara. I simply have a style and that style is a.... strong, powerful woman with the guy she beat up? Yeah, I won't lie, watching Katara beat the crap out of Zuko in the Season 1 finale of AtlA then watching Rey beat the shit out of Kylo Ren in TFA, probably shaped my brain as a teenager. Just did things to me.

You know what, this is completely off topic, but I want to rant about Reylo for a bit and why the hate it receives drives me up the wall because you guys don't get it.

Okay, so first of all this scene is actually perfect. From the chemistry between Ridley and Driver, to the framing and cinematography, to the dialogue. I didn't care for their relationship before this scene. Afterwards I was fully, and completely, invested.

I think people take this ship at its face value. They see Kylo Ren as this cool, bad boy villain, dark knight, and Rey as the perfect good girl, could do no wrong. And if you do that, and you look at people who ship them, you don't understand it. You just don't understand why you would want these characters together; you only see this dynamic as abusive and manipulative. But you also completely miss why we do like it and it's fundamentally because of the interrogation scene.

Kylo Ren is a loser, he is supposed to be a loser, and that's why I fucking love his character, he sucks. Because sometimes characters have to absolutely fucking suck so you can see their growth. If you're establishing a character that fucking sucks so you can see growth, TFA did a great job. How the rest of his arc was handled is another essay, but TFA did it's job.

On the other side is Rey who is not good boy, himbo, Luke Skywalker. Rey walks into TFA with a lot of personal baggage, which makes her difficult, stubborn, and chaotic neutral at best. She has aspirations of good but she's driven by her abandonment complex. When she gets mad, she gets pissed. It's actually fascinating how the movie treats Rey's anger vs. Kylo Ren's. Kylo Ren's anger is a joke (because it's forced, farcical) and Rey's anger is a weapon (because it's genuine). Kylo Ren is a character who, for various reasons, has ended up on the dark side when he belongs on the light, and Rey, for various reasons, has ended up on the light side when she belongs in the dark. What I'm saying is that there is a very dangerous edge to Rey that the fandom can completely miss. Like, lmao, this is not Rey's first time around the block.

TFA never wants the audience to actually think Kylo Ren is cool. Sure, he's introduced as the Darth Vader expy but the movie then spends the next two hours picking him apart to reveal him as a whiny, loser boy who has lost his way underneath. (Because he's a deconstruction of Anakin/ Darth Vader but I digress). He's powerful, he's capable, and he's dangerous, but at the end of the day he's just a young man trying to fill shoes much bigger than his own feet. (Which is intriguingly played with in TLJ I might add, but that's a different essay). However, you really get to see this switch from the presentation as "cool villain" to "whiny loser" in the interrogation scene.

Because there's a way you expect this scene to go. We saw it with Poe.

Kylo Ren is going to approach the poor helpless heroine, crack open her brain like a walnut, and get what he wants, and she'll be rescued by Finn and Han in a couple scenes. Poor baby Rey, perfect cinnamon roll never did any wrong.

But by some miracle, the writers do not suck in this scene.

Instead, Kylo Ren, using all the mighty power of Skywalker digs into Rey's brain, uses what he finds against her, and starts to push his thumbs into the cracks of her weaknesses. Then, the scene shifts, it's this turn and twist in your expectations as we see Rey fight back. Kylo's hand starts the scene pushing into her space, by the end he's holding on. Rey isn't just fighting back, she's winning. Until she strikes back with that vicious revealing of his own personal fears. Kylo Ren leaves the interrogation room like a dog whipped, tail between his legs. For the rest of the movie his mask pretty much stays off and you're stuck with Adam Driver's pitiful puppy face. Rey gets out of her restraints herself.

You're left with the distinct and tantalizing sense that these two characters are equals.

A lot of people bitch and moan about how Reylo is abuse and all that. It is not, these are two characters on opposite sides of a war and they treat each other accordingly. (I mean God they're not even remotely friends until about the mid-part of the next movie). At the end of the movie Rey wounds Kylo Ren, and he spends the rest of the series with a scar on his face. They are constantly pushing and pulling, and fighting, and jostling with each other. TLJ is a brilliant showing that they can get along in the right circumstances, that these two people are not so different after all, and yet still maintains Rey's morals and boundaries. Reylo is the textbook enemy-to-lovers (the absolute shit show that was RoS aside) and yet for some bizarre reason fandom can't be normal about it.

I don't think most people want enemies-to-lovers. I mean real enemies-to-lovers. Because they assume that just because these characters are fighting, hurting each other, and acting like, well, enemies, that must be abuse! But the point of enemies-to-lovers is not just redemption arcs but forgiveness. If you don't think forgiveness is possible, even in very extreme cases, then enemies-to-lovers is not for you. For some reason people claim they love enemies-to-lovers and yet act like clowns when characters, lmao, actually act like enemies.

Critically, at the same time, is the power balance. Enemies-to-lovers does not happen in a power imbalance, or not one that lasts. So, Zutara only works because by the end of the first season, Katara demonstrates that she can 100% kick Zuko's ass. It's the same thing with Reylo, but the end of TFA, Rey can kick Kylo Ren's ass. These are not characters that are helpless cinnamon rolls who are being taken advantage of. They're competent characters with agency and both Rey and Katara strike boundaries when they're bad boy boyfriends act up. It's honestly more insulting when people act like Rey and Katara are victims instead of, say, you know, competent characters with agency. What I'm saying is that abuse occurs in: an established, personal, intimate relationship with a power imbalance. Enemies-to-lovers is fundamentally not that. Reylo is not that, Zutara is not that, Zelgan is not that.

And that's why I like Zelgan over Zelink.

To me, a big part of the fun of shipping is playing with the power balance. I want characters that will push and pull at each other, argue over things of substances (personal beliefs, experiences, philosophy), and be willing to stand up for what they believe in. At the same time, have that constant dynamic growth of redemption and forgiveness. It is not just the 'bad guy' who changes but also the 'good guy.' To me, it's about these two characters who believe they are fundamentally opposites realizing that they are not. A good guy sees their shadow, a bad guy sees their light. It scares the shit out of both of them.

All of which Zelgan offers in spades, if done right.

That's the key thing, done right. Lots of writers like enemies-to-lovers and dark romances with villains but do not understand how key the power balance is. At no point do I want to feel like the 'hero' (usually female) is a weak idiot, they have to have something as a leverage point. Because those 'interrogation scenes' where the power balances switches are brilliant, like stand out of your seat and cheer, and weep for joy, brilliant.

The problem I have always had with Zelink, however, in fact is the power balance. Because the dynamic, both in fanon has always hinged on the day that Link will do anything, go anywhere, be anything, just to save Zelda. He's the Knight in Shinning Armor, with all the sexist chivalry baggage that comes along with it. He's the one who saves Zelda. Even if games like OoT, ST, TP, etc., don't lean into that dynamic at all, recent once definitely have, and lmao, I hate it. Because it makes Zelda an object, passive, someone who needs to be saved, and helped.

The only time I have ever liked Zelink is in ST. That's the one game that really convinced me that they're not only friends but also trust each other and are on equal terms as partners.

It wasn't uncommon for the Zora Princess to be caught training for combat. That was what the Hylian princess came to see, Mipha attacking a dummie that she had set up in the domain. Her trident piercing it's torso, causing the hylian rice inside of it to pour out onto the ground.