#zeldatron

 I’ve been skeptical for a while that two species that were allies for as long as the Galra and Alteans were purported to be could neatly split along species lines on what seems to be very short notice, and Haggar just kind of cemented that suspicion. 

I specifically wanted to make Link a galra and ally of the Alteans because thematically, in many of the games, Link is not from Hyrule even though he becomes its hero. He’s presented as an outsider of humble or strange origins and often one who bridges unrelated realms. 

It also makes sense because he’s often thematically tied to wind, and the guardian spirit of Sky, the Black Lion, is tied to the former home planet of the galra. Furthermore, Link often utilizes the power of his enemies directed against him (ALBW, Twilight Princess) and an easy way to represent that is if he has galra genetics to mess with the biometric locks.

As a backstory, it also highlights some of Link’s main character traits: his fierce loyalty and his determination to do what seems to be the right thing. So in this AU, during the fall of Altea, Link took the Alteans’ side and tried to hold a defensive line against the invading forces. Kinda got wrecked in the process, had to get put in a healing pod and fitted with cybernetics (notice his left hand)

My idea here is in this AU that Altea’s solar system was actually a series of kingdoms united under the main Altean crown. These other planets had castles of their own, though none as grand as the Castle of Lions, and their own royal families. One of those castles managed to escape, and make a wormhole jump thanks to Zelda, who kinda had to take over in a hurry because her parents died during the fall.

So Zelda in this is basically Romelle, and would be dark-skinned to bring her closer to Allura. The triforce is basically just a symbol in this setting- it’s the crest of what becomes the Hyrulean royal family. 

They end up landing on Hyrule. Hyrule is kind of a refuge planet, playing host to several other species of destroyed planets- the Zora, Rito, and Gorons. Notice I didn’t mention the Gerudo, because the gerudo are also Alteans in this setting.

So they arrive on Hyrule, and start settling in, and putting poor Link back together again, and there begins to be… conflict. Ganon, in this setting, is an advisor of Zelda’s family and has held the position for Quite A While. He’s also a fairly impressive inventor and technician- in the interest of differentiation I’m dialing back a little on the magic for him, especially because he’s kind of an underdog compared to Zarkon- and, well, the main thing that makes Ganon an antagonist in classic Zelda lore is the guy can hold a grudge for centuries, so in this situation he’s not nearly as focused on Link and Zelda because Zarkon managed to royally tick him off first.

But basically, Ganon wants to militarize, ASAP, and he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in Zelda who is like sixteen and a little messed up because everything she knew and most of her people just died, and one of her closest friends is in critical condition from trying to save her. This crossover is based (loosely) on BotW so you can guess where this is going.

With official sanction and public support, Ganon develops a bunch of machines to buff up the nearly destroyed Hylian army, among them the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, the latter as an attempt at recapturing the lost image of Voltron. There are only four DBs, because nobody really wants to make a new Black Lion immediately after Zarkon happened. He also, privately, starts experimenting more with cybernetic augmentation and develops his personal opus- the Malice, a self-replicating nanomachine construct that can be controlled by a cranial implant and has the ability to overtake other technology and make it work for him.

At the same time, again, he doesn’t have a lot of faith in Zelda, and is pretty sure if Hyrule is going to survive when Zarkon comes back to finish what he started, they need a more experienced leader. (You can guess where this is going…)

Zelda, smelling a rat, has Link’s pod quietly relocated out of the castle, somewhere it can finish the recovery process and sustain him. Which, turns out that it’s a good thing that she did. There’s a confrontation, Ganon uses the Malice to try and overtake the Castle’s systems. Zelda chooses to seal herself in a cryopod, while manipulating a system similar to the one Alfor used to create his AI to basically install herself in the castle in such a way that she’s able to maintain and hold the barrier, so Ganon is also stuck.

Cue ten thousand years, during which Ganon heavily overhauls himself with his cybernetics research to stay fresh, Zelda is a digital ghost, and nobody wakes up poor Link when they really should have. During which time the pilots of the Divine Beasts and their successors lead, do what they can to keep people safe and fend off the occasionally feral machinery roving the countryside. 

Link finally gets jogged loose, with a pretty shaky sense of memory because he wasn’t supposed to be in there that long, but, he has a friendly AI and a really cool adaptable sword/bow thing housing said AI, so he has at least some idea what’s going on.