Summertimemusician - To You, A Thousand Years In The Future

*nails digging into my hands* Yeah I'm chill. (You're literally stressing me out and bulldozing all over my boundaries) *through gritted teeth* Yup, just peachy (For goodness sake give me space so I can feel human again).

WARNING: TOUCHING THIS SWORD WILL TRANSGENDERIZE/ CAUSE YOU TO BE QUEERED INTO OBLIVION

DO YOU STILL WANT TO DRAW IT?

Join the gay lu discord server?

*downs four mugs of extra strong coffee with a sigh* So, that new trailer huh?

Too sleep deprived to go full theorist, so instead I'll compile all of the instances/triggers I can remember for each of the Link's journeys to distract myself from from Skyward Sword because boy having patience with the emulator controls is actually driving me batty. But if I lived through Minish Cap, Zelda I, OoT and Majora's Mask then I can probably do this.

Spoilers below I suppose?

Skyward Sword Link/Sky looking for Sun after she fell from the Cloud Barrier even though he had zero idea what was going on because she's his best friend and his main childhood friend and literally killing a god for her after he hurt her with lethal intent.

Minish Cap/Four Swords (Adventures) being fully intent on vibe checking Vaati for turning his best friend into stone, stealing the Light Force from her and then kidnapping and almost marrying her against her will and succeeding, came to care for Ezlo and the Minish later on as something of a happy incident, because they've basically been with Link through all of the journey and I feel like Link helped Ezlo heal from Vaati's betrayal as a result (my headcanon is that even if the doorway is closed, him and Ezlo still kept in contact and Ezlo taught him tricks of the Minish Trade in magical items)

OoT Link lost the Deku Tree, his father figure at the literal start of the darn game, and went to fulfill his last words by meeting the princess, who then asked him for help and Link being Link wouldn't refuse (that's a fairy for another day, I have so many thoughts on these boys), then Saria, his literal childhood friend and adopted sister, being taken by Ganon and to likely a lesser extent Ruto, who I feel he would come to see as friend even with the whole marriage thing. He also cares for Navi, the entire point of Majora's Mask is that he went looking for her at the end of the game, and he came to care for Sheik who is later revealed to be Zelda so of course he was going to kill Ganon and either succeed or die trying (well, did die trying in the Fallen Timeline Branch which was technically the 'True' one, before Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were a thing and no I will not let any of you forget that technically the Hero of Time was always meant to die but kicks it in different ways depending on the timeline, give this man a BREAK, he may as well be the Odysseus of The Legend of Zelda at this rate, the powers that be keep screwing him over yeesh).

Wind Waker Link wasn't even related to the Hero's Spirit, Ganon just fucked around and found out with the wrong kid's little sister that Wind Waker Link basically made the fates and gods bend with the force of his fury to get Aryll and later on Tetra back into making him the hero just so he could throw hands with Ganon, friendly reminder he's one of two Links that actually kill the guy, and the plot of Phantom Hourglass is also related to getting his new bestie Tetra back.

Spirit Tracks Link literally only became the Hero because his Zelda asked and they became close friends and likely remained close by the end of the game, plus his mentor and likely one of his main caretakers in his youth was basically mortally wounded during that whole deal, 'nough said.

A Link to the Past Link mainly helps Zelda because it's his uncle's final request, but then later on they actually are show to be close enough for him to invest himself on her safety even without that motivation, see A Link Between Worlds and also the Linked (hah) ending of OoA and OoS. He likely also was willing to help Zelda with the wish because, even with the awful prices and freeloading and lying, he came to care for Ravio as a friend and to a lesser extent Hilda too as she was his main guide through Lorule. Plus Marin, who really was an emotional gut punch for everybody I think (read: I played Link's Awakening as a kid and whenever I go visit a beach and a friendly seagull comes by I immediately get flashbacks, I don't know how they are in y'all's places but where I'm from they're shockingly chill).

The Original Zelda's Link aka Zelda one and Zelda II's main motivation was to find the princesses, though that one is slightly shakier because we have no idea if any of them knew each other before the world basically became an apocalyptic scenario or if it was just to vibe check Ganon again, find his vibes lacking and save the land again so it could start to heal.

Twilight Princess Link had the village children (one of them basically being like his surrogate little brother in Colin) and childhood friend taken by Ganon's minions, man had no idea what was going on or even WHO Ganon was before the game mind you, he was just a farmer herding goats in Ordon, he was just determined to get his family back no matter the cost, then he came to care for Midna and the plight of her people and what Zelda was going through and was specially close to Midna, the real thing that set him off against Ganon enough to go in with lethal intent was when he thought Ganon had killed Midna, so not only was he the source of the suffering of most of the people he cared about, but he also was under the assumption one of them DIED while he couldn't do anything about it, it's no wonder he snapped so hard and was just READY to obliterate Ganon.

Cadence of Hyrule is actually an interesting case, because not only does Link go looking for Zelda when she's trapped in an eternal slumber and then comes to care for Cadence, Zelda actually goes looking for Link too if he's the one trapped, that actually gives them away as pretty close be it as friends or something else.

Hyrule Warriors, boy is it also a complicated one. Warriors Link is a soldier willing to break rank to defend his country rather than to wait around with his fellow trainees, so him and his Zelda weren't close at all before, but I can see them becoming close when Zelda breaks out the Sheik identity as there's more chances for them to fight and interact side by side and then heal after the War of Ages is over, plus Lana and Linkle, though realistically speaking, Warriors Link would probably care about all of his comrades in battle on sheer virtue of not only their time spent on the battle field but also of the after, it's easy to relate to someone who knows what it's like to suffer through the same experience, though it's very likely he'd be the closest to Zelda, Linkle and Impa after all was said and done. They'd all have pretty similar nightmares I think.

And finally BOTW because I honestly cannot remember if Link in AoC actually lost someone close to him or if it's a Hyrule Warriors situation. Boy where do I even BEGIN with this dude (I say, as BOTW has been existing rent free in my head ever since the final TOTK Trailer dropped, honestly an achievement as usually that spot is reserved for Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask), okay. First he lost his childhood friend in Mipha when the Calamity first struck, and then the other Champions whom I feel he grew close to with time (yes even Revali), likely his family as we see concept art of a sister and a father, Zelda and finally Hyrule, his life and memories, his entire identity as a person though thankfully he was nudged into getting parts of it back. And is probably going to experience that same trauma all over again in TOTK.

Any other instances and I'll add here but Tl;Dr : All of the Links (except maybe the First Hero, Hero of Men and 10.000yrs Ago Hero, though that one is unlikely if you ask me) probably have a lot of separation/abandonment issues plus very big problems with failure (see Skyward Sword Link, no thanks to you, IMPA. And also BOTW Link who probably has the worst of the bunch) or just failing people in general, and as a result are extremely protective of whoever they consider their person and most likely always need to reassure themselves they're still there and are very dedicated to them as a result, in this essay I will-

Tears of the Kingdom

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