He closed his eyes and pressed his lips more firmly to hers: he truly kissed her. He let his tongue slide into her mouth, desecrating it. She welcomed him without hesitation, as though she had been waiting for that moment all her life. He felt her turn towards him and held her tightly, pressing his chest against her breast.
The kiss quickly grew in intensity. The knight’s tongue sought hers, gently at first, then with an urgency that became harder and harder to contain. Zelda followed his movements, clinging to him, as though in a dance whose steps she did not yet know. The water rippled beneath the night sky, breaking their reflections under the silent eyes of the Goddess.
His masculine scent pervaded her, warming her deep within, while their bodies grew burning hot against one another. She felt his hands move down along her hips, hesitating a breath away from the fullness of her curves, held back only by the last, thin shred of self-control.
Light of the Sacred — Chapter Six: "Unholy"
Read on AO3
New to the story? Start Light of the Sacred from the prologue here.
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But, one issue that has remained unaddressed throughout the entirety of the LOZ canon and apocrypha is the lack of a royal mint.
This implies that rupees are a commodity (a physical material that has value) rather than a fiat currency (a currency not backed by a commodity but by faith in a specific government that ensure it's value).
Most modern governments use Fiat currencies because:
"Fiat money isn't a scarce or fixed resource like gold so central banks have much greater control over its supply. This gives them the power to manage economic variables such as credit supply, liquidity, interest rates, and money velocity." [1]
We can see evidence of Hyrulean government's failure to manage their economy during the runaway inflation of Wind's era
This graph depicts the price to buy an arrow in each specific era of the Legend of Zelda games. The price of arrows between Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass jumped by two rupees and arrow, indicating inflation.
The Origin of Rupees
So if Hyrule's Royal Family isn't minting rupees, where do they come from?
The Hyrule Compendium entry for blupees mentions that "these peculiar little things have a penchant for collecting rupees" but the identity of the compendium's author is unverified and so is their research.
The unregulated nature of Hyrule's commodities-based currency becomes a problem in Tears of the Kingdom, when Koltin asks Link to slaughter all 167 bubbelfrogs.
The life cycle of blupees, bubbelfrogs, and the King of the Mountain requires further study but it is evident that when a blubbelfrog is killed, a blupee is generated. So Link's quest to collect bubbelgems introduces 167 more blupees into Hyrule's ecosystem. These 167 extra blupees eat, drink, and more importantly to us, shit.
So how much did this quest impact Hyrule's economy? To answer that question, some math is required.
The first number we need is the average amount of rupees that blupees shit. To determine this, I shot 30 blupees and fitted the resulting data to a standard distribution.
Blupees Moneybags Georg who shat 51 rupees was an outlier who should not be counted and thus was removed from the dataset.
Multiplying that average amount of rupees that blupees shit by the blupee population [2], gives us the amount of rupees being shat in hyrule.
As you can see, a lot more rupees are being generated during the events of Tears of the Kingdom than in Breath of the Wild. How big of a problem is this? Well, to answer that, we need to know the size of Hyrule's economy.
The Size of Hyrule's Economy
I deciding to determine the size of economy by collecting the prices of every item sold in Hyrule by every merchant (except Ramella, I forgot Ramella).
With the collected price data, we are able to estimate the amount of currency changing hands among the people of Hyrule every year.
So after all this, we can see that the amount of rupees being shat per year should cause significant inflation. And yet, you may recall from our first graph, the price of arrows hasn't significantly changed and neither has the cost of most goods and services across Hyrule with some limited exceptions.
So why aren't prices skyrocketing?
Because the Great Fairies act as the Federal Reserve. They regulate the economy by removing varying amounts of money from circulation via their enchanting services.
In Breath of the Wild, the Great Fairies collectively charge Link 11,600 rupees to wake all 4 great fairies.
In Tears of the Kingdom, they charge Link per individual item of clothing enchanted. This, in total, costs 78,280 rupees.
Accounting for a target 2% rate of inflation, the Great Fairies remove 3.28% of all rupees shat during Breath of the Wild. In Tears of the Kingdom, their rupee removal rate is 5.17% of all rupees being shat.
The Great Fairies are definitely removing less rupees than are being shat but most blupees inhabit far-flung locations that most Hyruleans are not venturing to in these chaotic times. I have confidence that the Great Fairies can adjust their rate of currency removal should the need arise.
But who is attempting to cause this inflation and why?
One thing has always bugged me about Tears of the Kingdom, it wasn't the emptiness of the depths, or the fact that it was easy to miss out on the paraglider, or even the fact that that one cutscene kept being repeated after every temple. It was that Koltin asks you, Link, to go on a rampage of ecological destruction, to hunt the species of Bubbelfrogs to Extinction.
Koltin is clearly passionate about his quest to become a Satori, but he also has a secondary motive, to help out his brother: Kilton.
Kilton started his own currency that competes directly with the rupee and admits as much.
Kolton recruits Link under false pretenses in order to destroy the Bubbelfrog population, increase the amount of blupees, and cause skyrocketing inflation. This would devalue the rupee and incentivize the adoption of mon as a currency.
In the end, Koltins crimes caught up with him and Link helped the Great Fairies stabilize the economy, but Kilton is still out there and who knows what he has planned next.
Theory/Headcanon about the Shrine of Resurrection being connected to the Bargainer Statues as entities of the afterlife. Hear me out:
In the Depths, directly beneath where the Shrine of Resurrection once stood, there are healing hot springs, a sort of ancient spring. Nearby stands an ancient temple with the largest of the Bargainer Statues, the one whose eyes must be restored.
And at the entrance of that temple stands the first of those veiled-woman statues, which then continue in a series throughout the Depths: a figure strikingly similar to Zelda in profile, and quite possibly an ancient effigy of Hylia.
We all know that, at the beginning of Breath of the Wild, Link emerges from the blue waters of the Shrine of Resurrection, waters with healing and regenerative properties. What if that water was not simply the result of Sheikah technology, but part of a system drawing from the healing spring beneath it?
And what if that water was connected to the nearby Bargainer Statue, as an entity tied to the afterlife? What if the Hylia statues beginning from that temple symbolised a pact between the Goddess and that soul-devouring demon?
What I mean is that, when you put all these things together, the picture seems to suggest something more complex, and perhaps darker.
After all, bringing someone back to life should come at a price, shouldn’t it?
“Tell me, Hero… how does it feel to kill her with your own hands?”
Full 🌶️ version here
I reimagined Puppet Zelda as a succubus. In my darker interpretation, she is a demon devoted to Ganondorf, sent to torment Link after he discovers Zelda’s sacrifice.
Every time, he is forced to kill her brutally before the gloom can take hold of him.
But just before the final blow, she changes her eyes to Zelda’s green and begs him to let her live.
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“Oh, Link, Hero of Hyrule… didn’t you miss your wife?”
WIP — Link x Puppet Zelda 🌶️
Full version HERE
from my X side account @/zae1unethh
I’m thinking of rendering it with the red light of the Blood Moon and the blue glow of the Master Sword cast across her face. Let’s see if I can pull it off.
I’ve wanted to draw a Link x Puppet Zelda piece for MONTHS, but I could never quite figure out what I wanted it to be. I needed it to capture the erotic tension, Link being absolutely consumed by rage, and Puppet Zelda’s smug little demonic smile all at once.
And then, finally, the idea clicked. At least I think it did haha. I don’t know, I’m kind of obsessed with it.
When I post the final version, I’ll share the little dialogue/mini story behind this image too. It’s going to hurt. :)
She repeated the hymns dozens of times, but the higher the moon rose, the more her heart tightened with pain before Hylia’s inescapable silence. And yet she continued to pray, again and again, until the image of the bleeding sky returned to torment her. The words her father had hurled at her grated inside her head: The talentless Princess, who will bring Hyrule to ruin.
“Goddess of light, weaver of time—” She broke off suddenly, clasping her hands tighter. Her gaze fell to the mirrored surface of the water, searching for her own reflection: fractured in the moonlight, her body seemed to belong to another world… and it was not hers even there.
Zelda drew a deep breath before continuing. “I need your help.” Her jade eyes lifted, yearning once more towards the granite face of the effigy.
“I have always been told that the Sealing Power must be awakened through prayer.” Her voice was uncertain and trembling: this was not the mantra she had repeated thousands of times in her life.
“That is what I was taught, and so I pray… I have prayed for as long as I can remember. But it does not work.” Her breathing grew heavier. “My mother told me every night that her gift would soon bloom in me as well. That the sacred spark would ignite and fill my body with golden light.”
She inhaled deeply.
“But I feel nothing… only silence and darkness. No matter how much I try to reach you, you keep drowning me.”
Her words rang out in the faint gurgling of the water: the silence of the night and the high rocky walls of the Spring amplified every syllable. Link was far away, standing guard on the shore as always, his gaze turned towards the temple entrance: he could not see her, but her pain reached him inexorably.
“And my father…” Zelda continued. The image of the Goddess rippled, veiled by tears she was struggling to hold back. Everything trembled in the cold moonlight.
“He says it is all my fault, that I am wasting my time.” Her tone suddenly sharpened. “Stop playing at being a scholar! That is how he scolds me… every time.”
An empty laugh broke her breath. “And yet he knows… he knows perfectly well that I have prayed every day for eleven damned years!”
The words echoed bitterly.
“Curse you.”
She let her arms fall into the water. The cold droplets thrown up by the impact struck her like tiny needles. She felt her heart turn livid beneath the weight of those blasphemous words. She closed her eyes for an instant, letting the tears run hot over her reddened cheeks.
“You ripped the life from my mother’s eyes before my own… you abandoned me, and yet you still want me to be your Sacred Princess.” Her sobbing broke free.
“There is nothing sacred in me. Nothing!” she cried, drawing closer to the half-submerged altar: the gown clung to her legs at every step, heavy as a chain, while the water lapped at her hips.
“Even here, in this land blessed by the ancient gods, no voice reaches me.” She had to pause. She lowered her head and set her trembling hands upon the altar. She remained like that, her breath ragged, searching within herself for the strength to raise her gaze.
When she managed it, she found the empty eyes of the immense effigy fixed upon her from above, in the most deafening silence.
“Tell me, Goddess… what is wrong with me?” she asked through her sobs. Her nails scraped the frozen stone.
“I shall do your will, whatever it may be. Let this cursed power burn me alive if it must, but allow me to protect my people. Allow me to protect Hyrule! Speak to me, I beg you… just once. But tell me… tell me what I must do!”
Her sobs grew beyond restraint. She lowered her head again and tried to control her breathing, to cling to the last shred of dignity, but the air seemed to flee her lungs.
Her chest felt pierced by blades and her temples throbbed with pain, as though caught in the grip of divine judgement.
From that agony burst a dark, guttural scream, laden with all the despair she had hidden within herself for a lifetime. She collapsed in on herself, wrapped in her own arms and made herself small, while the water soaked her white gown: she drowned in her own tears and her throat tightened around her sobs.
“Princess…”
She started: shame set her face aflame. She held her breath, in a clumsy attempt to smother that unworthy display. She could only stare at the stone before her, sinking her nails into the flesh of her own arms. She felt herself sinking, unable to answer or turn around. She hoped she had gone mad, that Link was not truly there.
“Zelda…” The knight’s voice struck her shoulders once more.
Her heart seemed to leap from her chest when she heard him speak her name. She hesitated… then slowly turned, her head still lowered. Timidly, she lifted her gaze until it reached the Chosen One’s face. She was immediately caught by those celestial eyes, fixed upon her as no one else dared.
“Link… you should not see me like this.” Her voice was faint. Her pale skin was beaded with water, her golden hair falling fluidly over her shoulders, reddened slightly by the cold.
He studied her in silence, his breathing calm and controlled only in appearance. It was not the cold that froze his bones, but the echo of that harrowing scream that had dragged him into profaning the sacred waters. He could not take his eyes from her, seized by the sole thought of tearing her away from that despair.
Zelda continued, her face wet with tears and her voice trembling. “Why… why am I so wretched and unholy in the eyes of the gods?”
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When Zelda timidly raised her head, Link hesitated for an instant. Then his hold loosened and his arms slowly slipped away, releasing her. Their gazes barely touched, both aware that they had broken every imaginable protocol: the knight’s eyes moved cautiously towards the effigy.
“Look at her…” he said in a low voice, almost as though he himself feared the divine gaze.
Zelda turned towards the altar. Hylia’s statue towered over the mirrored water, motionless beneath the silver moon.
“The silence that torments you…” Link continued, moving a little closer behind her. “I cannot understand it, nor explain it. I wish I could tell you that one day you will hear the voices of the gods… but I cannot be certain.”
The Princess did not answer. She only felt his presence drawing nearer and the warmth of his body at her back.
Then the knight’s arms encircled her again: they moved over her waist, then down to her hips, until his hands clasped before her stomach. Zelda felt her heartbeat quicken and her cheeks burn. Her eyes, still red from crying, widened, unable to leave Hylia’s face. Her legs almost gave way, as though the stone beneath her had suddenly turned to clay.
“But I am certain of what I see…” he went on.
“…And what do you see?” she asked, her voice uncertain.
“I see you. I see your devotion… everything you do.” He whispered the words close to her neck. “And I have faith in you.”
Those words passed through her heart like light: it was the same sensation she had felt in the Gerudo Desert, when he had lifted her in his arms for the first time. In the space of a heartbeat, she yielded against his chest without even realising it.
She remained that way for a long moment, allowing herself to be held by that forbidden warmth once more. The scent of leather mingled shamelessly with the damp smell of spring water, dizzying her more and more. The knight’s breath brushed her skin like a sacrilegious summons, while his body pressed against hers.
Slowly, she turned her face towards him, meeting once more his blue eyes, magnetic in the moonlight.
“Link…” she whispered his name like a prayer.
The knight’s gaze pierced through her, binding her to him with no possibility of escape. Then, as in Deya, it descended hesitantly until it brushed her lips.
But this time he did not stop: he tightened his hold and drew closer still, until his mouth grazed hers. Zelda closed her eyes, tilting her face slightly. She felt the softness and warmth of his lips press gently against her own, while his arms tightened more firmly around her stomach.
Their breaths had already mingled, but Link looked at her for one more instant. She was so close he could have counted her eyelashes, and yet he could still have stopped.
Light of the Sacred - Chapter Six "Unholy" is out on AO3: HERE
Dear Zelink fandom, Legend of Zelda fandom, and others:
I've been involved in the Zelink fandom for over 20 years, and have always loved it for everyone's creativity and inclusiveness. However, I can no longer remain silent about a person who claims to be a part of this community, but is actually a hateful bigot who has been harassing and terrorizing dozens of people in the past year, many of whom I respect and consider friends.
Her name is Kaede/Dragon Princess (kaede_kairi on X/Twitter, kaedekairi on bluesky, mylonelydreaming on tumblr), and she has many alts she hides behind to send people anonymous, abusive, and often bigoted messages. She will target people for "crimes" including:
Being a multi-shipper (not shipping Zelda/Link exclusively)
Shipping Riju, even when portrayed as a consenting adult
Shipping non-human characters, even when they're fully-sapient and consenting
Writing a fic with a tag she perceives as "wrong", even if the actual situation is moral and consensual
Giving kudos on a fic with the "wrong" tag
While many of us in the community have tried to ignore her abuses for a long time, her recent messages have escalated to personal, violent threats. This is why I can no longer stand by and watch her terrorize the fandom.
(TW: The following screenshots contain upsetting language, including Islamophobia and transphobia.)
Kaede_kairi, you are not covered by your innocent fangirl mask. We have thorough evidence and proof of the person you truly are: A bully, an abuser, a bigot, and a hypocrite to boot. Get the fuck out of my fandom.
(For more details, see this Google Doc for a full extensive list of her known aliases, records of her harassment against over 20 individuals, and proof of her actual political stances. Warning: Contains many more examples of bigoted/abusive language.)
For everyone else: please note that although this is a callout post, my biggest goal is not so much to hurt her, but rather to tell everyone who has experienced attacks from her, or may be targeted by her in the future:
Don't be afraid. You aren't a bad person because of her accusations. You're not alone, and she is just one person. The fandom does not support her.
❓"What if she has a point about some of those things though?"
She's actually just using those topics for excuses to bully people, as evidenced by how she sends hate mail based on an ao3 tag without even having read the story. Furthermore, writing or enjoying a work of fiction aren't crimes, whereas she is the one who's going out of her way to send abuse to people minding their own business.
❓"What can I do?"
Reblog or otherwise share this post. Spread her name far and wide. She's involved in other fandoms (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Sonic, Arcane) too, and I don't know their stories - she may very well have hurt people there too. The more people know about her, the less power she'll have.
WELL, EXCUUUUUUUUUSE ME, PRINCESS! — Wild Zelink version (post-Calamity).
Still a dumbass in every era.
Mullet, scars, and a good dose of sass to cope.
Previous: Twilight, Time, Movie
Next: Warriors 👀
It took me a while to decide how I wanted to portray Zelink in the Era of the Wild, but in the end post-Calamity won out: partly because of how I personally imagine them, and partly because this is also very close to how they’ll look aesthetically in my illustrated novel Light of the Sacred (once we reach that arc).
This piece is intentionally more meme/comedic in tone because it’s part of a series, but there’s also a genuine layer of truth to how I imagine Link with Zelda in the post-Calamity era. In BOTW/TOTK we often get surprisingly sassy and sarcastic dialogue options from him, even if they’re still brief (at the end of the day, this is still Link). My headcanon is that this side of his personality developed precisely to cope with all the trauma and the crushing weight of failure he carries around.
I could honestly yap about this for hours, but I’d probably end up spoiling parts of what I want to explore in the novel, so I’ll stop here.
Nobody is going to read all this rambling anyway. Sorry, I’m insane.
“The goddess clearly answered (…) Lady Zelda says she felt a newfound clarity in her mind.”
This is exactly the moment, to me, when Zelda heard the Goddess’ voice for the very first time. And it was here that Hylia told her how to restore the Master Sword. If you look at it this way, everything fits perfectly… am I overthinking it? Probably.
I genuinely cannot stop thinking about this scene: Zelda walking into the freezing cold to pray, kneeling there for hours asking the Goddess for help. Asking how to return home. How to return to Link. And finally, after a lifetime of silence, Hylia answers her.
She gives her precise instructions. Tells her that she will not be the one travelling through time — the Master Sword will. That she will have to call it back to herself across the ages. And that she herself will remain there, crossing the eras in the form of a dragon.
She tells her to swallow the Secret Stone while holding the sacred blade. That this is the only way to defeat the Demon King. To let the sword bathe in sacred light for millennia.
She is essentially asking Zelda to die for her.
And Zelda accepts without hesitation, even with her heart in pieces… because deep down, she believes this is the only way to atone for failing to awaken her power in time during the Calamity.
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