#lu meta

Another year of fic, another LU AO3 Wrapped!

Find 2024’s here. Find my (somewhat messy) spreadsheet with all the numbers I used here.

Longest Completed Fics

Steel Can’t Carry Me Now by @elle-rosewater

Kintsugi by @whitewinterstar

Shades of Sea Glass by @irenkaferalkitty

Does Warriors have PTSD?

The first place to address this is that – can we even say if Warriors’ response is PTSD over pure adrenaline? He’s already been in a strenuous fight that leaves him breathing hard and sweating before Wild sends him racing to the end of the hall and out of the water, which was not a minor jump. Anyone would be shaking after that kind of exertion.

However, on top of that Warriors is dealing with the fact that in that flash of light and sound, with his back to the hallway he has no way to know if Wild is okay or not. This is not a man who takes others’ injury lightly: he’s constantly checking on the other heroes, and clearly hyper-aware of how they feel (which I’ll touch on again later.) He may have trusted Wild had a plan, despite not being fully sure what it was or how it was going to work, but that doesn’t mean he knows Wild was okay until he sees him climb up after him.

Often, the two reactions are linked for a lot of people. Anyone who’s played a Hyrule Warriors game knows that running between events is a major part of the game. When Twilight goes down in Sunset, Time sends Warriors racing to his side ("Get to him! Hurry!"): connecting physical exertion with terror is something you can reasonably assume Warriors does.

But can we still say whether it’s PTSD or adrenaline, or both?

i love that hc so much and it fits him so well! like no one taught him bc hyrule was mostly empty, and he wouldnt even know he had it himself because why would he! its genius!

Sure, I’m happy to info-dump lmao.

I know other people have already come up with the "Wild has magic" headcanon about botw before, but for me it honestly started as a series of jokes with a friend. Basically it made sense to me since all the other Champions’ abilities are either outwardly shown to be magic like with Mipha and Urbosa, or at least implied to be, as in the case of Daruk’s magic being hereditary, and Revali’s being something no other Rito has managed to achieve.

So we were both like “oh yeah, he’s got to have magic” *cue shitposts and memes*

There’s minor evidence to support its existence in botw; Teba says to Wild “it was as if time stopped with every arrow you let fly”, and Daruk’s Training Journal mentions that Link once told him that it feels like time slows down when he focuses. Some people take this to mean Wild has really good reflexes and others went with magic. I’m in the ‘Wild has magic’ camp bc someone did the math and worked out he’s like… almost moving at super-sonic speeds when he closes the distance to start a flurry rush.

The reason I say he can’t really control it is bc the only time he’s ever shown being able to do so is to enter and exit bullet time. That’s literally it. If you dodge at the right moment, even if you don’t want to flurry rush, it’ll still trigger and give you the opening to perform one (which ends after like 1-2 seconds of inaction). Wild also doesn’t have a magic meter like some other Links do; he uses his stamina. He’s literally brute-forcing his way through his magic (which, side note, Urbosa must’ve hated watching). And, to build off that last sentence, this means that Wild probably doesn’t have a lot of magic, but he does recover it incredibly fast – especially compared to the others who have to use potions. More on this last part in a moment.

It’s true that no one was there to teach him per se, but I think it’s a tad more complicated than that bc botw has an odd thing where it shows a lot of magic users (at least as far as I understand when compared to other games) but doesn't go into detail, which is fair given the Calamity. This means we don't really have a concept of how prevalent magic usage is in the grand scheme of things.

Looking at the series in a whole, for hylians/humans magic is largely limited to the Royal Family (specifically the women of the Royal Family), and they seem to mostly wield light and divine magic, very different from time magic. (The Ocarina of Time is there, but that’s an heirloom and not severely limited with its function based on whether its user has royal blood or not.)

And given how the Sheikah have been treated in botw's Hyrule's history, as they are the only other hylians aside from Flora and Wild who are shown using magic, I'm guessing it's not a skill you want to encourage, and innate magic users, even if they weren't Sheikah, were probably affected by the roll-on effect of the genocide for a very long time. This would create a long, deep-set history of missing knowledge that eventually affects the present.

If you ignore the potential loss of magic teaching, honestly I would assume it’s still hard to teach someone magic when you don’t share that particular type bc it probably requires knowledge that you don't have in regards to how it flows and can be controlled in order to be used. I do very genuinely believe Wild knew that he had magic before he died tho, bc I think Urbosa would’ve told him. It was the only time she ever heard him speak and the convo went something like Urbosa: you have magic. You just did magic. Link: nuh-uh Urbosa: FYM NUH-UH

This lack of training and general knowledge of how magic works is what I partially attribute to his weapons breaking as fast as they do. Attunement doesn’t actually exist obviously, but in fantasy worlds where it’s a part of the magic system, it’s a conscious step. It’s only seems to become an involuntary one when the person attuning the item has a lot of experience with the field that item is used in.

What I mean by that is Wild’s obviously never learnt actual theory (and it might be too late to fix the groundwork he's already laid), so he’s only ever been able to make his magic work in conjunction with the one thing he’s already being trained to do: weapon-fighting.

This is why he has flurry rushes, bullet time, and his fast recharge time. His magic manifests alongside his physical capabilities (so it will recover just as fast as his stamina does) and is attuned to flow through physical objects that simply aren't designed to withstand prolonged exposure to it (so his weapons, bows and shields will degrade and break faster).

I do believe his magic is something he has the ability to train (take the change to how bullet time uses stamina between botw and totk for example), and I personally like to write him getting a one-hit-swing second of slowed down time whenever he parries, but I think these ‘upgrades’ would honestly just come from fighting more and pushing himself in those situations, not from learning basic magic principles lmao.

And honestly, Wild’s magic is just really funny to me bc it has shenanigan potential that’s really only limited by your own creativity and his stamina wheel.

I say that because part of this magic headcanon actually grew from a post-totk headcanon where I whole-heartedly believe that Wild and Flora end up sharing the Sage of Time title, since there’s one extra Secret Stone floating around and they both specialise in different types of time magic. The joke w/ my friend has now become “well, if Wild can’t even willingly activate his magic unless highly specific circumstances are met, wtf is going to happen when it's amplified?"

Answer: he has literally no idea what he’s doing. He has accidentally slowed time on several pots/ladles/plates/etc that got knocked over, mistakenly frozen a yiga sword which yanked it straight out of the yiga’s hand – he meant to freeze the yiga whoops – and intentionally managed to slow time on one (1) bokoblin (and has not managed to replicate that result since). … he’s getting there. Maybe.

In divine dark reflections, Twilight uses the dominion rod on a small owl-like statue.

(x)

and then Legend, cursed in rabbit form, uses the master sword to return to his normal shape.

(x)

Twilight then later chases the Shadow through the ruins of a dungeon.

(x)

(note: you can see the puzzle that they will later solve! jojo's attention to detail is amazing)

Later, (after Twilight almost dies) they walk through a portal and are met with the very same dungeon, but in the past, where everything is much more intact.

(x)

This is all incredibly similar to the Temple of Time in Twilight Princess, in which Link, cursed into his wolf form, uses the master sword to return to his hylian form, gaining the shadow crystal.

He then walks through a gate of time, to the exact same place but instead of ruins, it is an intact dungeon, where he finds the dominion rod

Time also specifically notes that there is an owl motif.

(x)

included in these is Kaepora Gaebora, from Ocarina of Time, also known as Rauru, the sage of light, who resides in the sacred realm inside of the temple of time

Around this time, shortly after the divine dark reflections arc is also when Wind discovers his connection with Time, and one timeline split is revealed.

Wild: We already know this one, he cooks. He loves it and is delighted to have friends to share his food with. He doesn't do it every night because even a good thing can become tiresome but he does it most of the time.

Sky: We also know his hobby, whittling. The longer this quest goes on the more adept he becomes at walking and whittling. He couldn't do it when traveling by himself but with the others he doesn't always have to be on watch. Sky is free to focus on other things while traveling.

Warriors: I like the headcanon that he embroiders and sews. He's always doing repairs on the other's cloths. He'll have a lot of work to do after battles. On the rare occasions there is nothing to repair he works on adding embellishments to handkerchiefs, gloves, and blankets. Little things they are already traveling with. Everyone's stuff has been embroidered at this point.

Four: He likes to repair chainmail and sharpen blades. Most of the others can sharpen their own blades but they all agree Four is the best. Plus he likes it, if he wants to do it the others are happy to offer up their gear.

Wind: Rope making, net weaving, macrame. Necessary skills to live on the great sea. They weren't his favorite chores but now that's he's traveling by land he misses it a little bit. The chain doesn't need this many nets so Wind leaves them at any village with a river or lake to fish in.

Hyrule: He likes playing with the land around him. He'll draw in the dirt, make sand castles, rearrange rocks. It makes him excited to think of someone else coming along and finding his art.

Time and Legend: They, more than any of the others like to play their instruments. They were so delighted to find a jam session partner. If one of them is on first watch the other might stay up just to play soothing lullabies together for the others to sleep to.

You know, I love the idea of Legend and Fable being siblings because…

…It could actually make sense. and it could have a reason to exist.

Time died in this timeline, whatever it was a timeline where he didn't have the seven years gap and get killed as a child, either he failed during his final fight as adult.

Whatever how Time died, he died. Hylia's hero failed, because he was too young, not enough experimented, ect…

Lullaby/Zelda barely managed to do something after Time's death and the situation was not great. For years, centuries, it has been terrible.

It was the start of the Downfall Timeline.

Years and years after the death of the poor young one, Hylia realized that Ganon was going to return. That she had to trigger the two reincarnations, Zelda and Link, to stop him. Or it would be the end of the world.

But she didn't want to make the same mistake. Link wouldn't be a nobody or a helpless child. He would have more power. So he would be more armed to face the menace, more prepared.

He would have the blood of Sky, her second hero, he would have the blood of Four, who married his Zelda at his Era. And he would have her sacred blood. The kid would be powerful. So he wouldn't face a tragic end.

And so Legend and Fable were twins.

What Hylia didn't plan was the reaction toward a little prince. Good thing, the mother of the twins refused to let her baby die and asked to her most faithful personnal knight to take the baby and to protect him. He accepted, thinking that killing inocent baby was a horrible thing, whatever a prince was a monster ONE time, this baby didn't do anything.

The twins didn't grow together, of course. Legend was a energic kid, and he was very smart for his age. He was able to speak to animals and to trees. At first his uncle didn't believe him but was forced to do it when faced the truth. Legend was a sensitive kid who always wanted to help people. He didn't want to become a knight but he liked the sword traning.

Sadely, the events of Link to the Past happened a lot sooner than Hylia had planned. Legend was barely eight. (Hylia has really failed her tactic to kill Ganon with a prepared adult, yeah)

He had some training with a sword, but wasn't a soldier. He survived to all the trials until finding Fi. Because he was talented, smart, lucky.

Fi was…not in a good state. Nobody hads taken care of her since the death of the previous hero. She was forgotten. She had still his blood on her. And then this tiny child take her in his little hands and she recognize her master's blood, he hears her voice. She sees how much he was young, fragile, still innocent and decided that no, this one wasn't going to die.

So Legend, without knowing it, has learned some of Sky's fighting style thank to Fi.

He has reforged her with his tiny hand, treating her as the most precious thing in the world.

He was always holding her when sleeping because he had a lot of nightmares for obvious reasons.

And Fi corrected his movements in a fight.

He could hear her because of Hylia's blood and because of Sky's blood in his veins.

And so the idea of Hylia, after the death of the previous hero, deciding to reincarne her hero as Sky's descendant, as her descendant to give him more powers, more capacities to survive….is very interesting.

And imagine, during the events of Linked Universe, Sky being like "you have the same fighting style than me?"

"The master sword teached me!"

And, truly, how many of us have played Wind Waker? I watched someone else playing, which means that his games are practically the only Zelda games I haven't played.

I remember a few things.

Wind cares about his image and a lot of his acts are him trying to look cool. Even when he raises the Master Sword, he seems more like a child rehearsing a cool play than a hero who just found his battle partner.

At the beginning, he thinks hero's tunic uncool and uncomfortable. But,he wears it for all his journey, probably as he sees the tunic as a security blanket or as a sign that he can and will save his sister.

He is a doting big brother. His sister lends him a spyglass for his birthday and Wind is like "I love it little sis ;-D".

He saw King Daphnes as a sort of grandpa-figure. Then his Grandpa dies for real just so Wind and Tetra can forge their own path.

Wind leaves his hometown for real at the end of the game. He is now part of Tetra's crew which wants to find a New Hyrule. He has abandoned the nest and goes where the wind takes him.