#zelda40th

“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”

Happy 40th Anniversary Zelda!!

My tribute to 40 years of the eternal cycle.

Vessels of light, soulmates bound across time, destined to find each other beneath life’s fleeting bloom.

I created this piece after seeing a painting by Alphonse Mucha at an exhibition months ago. It depicted two lovers on a spring night, framed by cherry blossoms — a symbol of life’s impermanence.

The moment I saw it, I could not stop thinking about them.

I chose to give them the appearance I envision for the third arc of the novel I am currently publishing on AO3. At present, the story still unfolds in the pre-Calamity era; this version belongs to a distant future, after the events of Tears of the Kingdom.

Zelda’s gaze is colder. Hardened by millennia of draconification, and by the burden of a light that has grown ever more consuming.

Link bears the marks of all his battles — lost and won. The tattoo remains as an indelible scar, a permanent echo of the Zonai arm.