rlin's linked universe things

I like to write LU things. Posts goes up daily if there's stuff in the queue, but no promises that it'll be populated.

[rlinwriteslu]

About

I've been writing Linked Universe content for more than 4 years now, which is kind of crazy to think about, but now I have a Tumblr. You may know me for some things I've written, or the opinions I occasionally put into the LU Discord over characterization. I'm not sure whether I'll do that latter thing here, but I'll definitely talk about the fics.

My AO3 can be found here.

Things I've done:

Forging A Chain

Forging A Chain is, to me, my main project in the LU fandom. It was originally intended to let me dip my toes into writing LU content and getting myself familiar with the characters. It's grown into much more than that and has basically taken over most of my creative impulses for it. The basic premise is that the Links join up individually in order of the release date of their first game.

A Hyrule to the Past - Hyrule meets Legend. I have opinions on this fic that I may talk about at some point.

The Boy with Many Masks - my current project. Hyrule and Legend meet a pre-Termina Hero of Time, who then goes through all of MM and then joins the group as Mask.

Four's A Crowd - Four joins. Legend has a massive crisis due to his experiences in the Palace of the Four Sword.

The Winds of Time - Wind joins, problems are had, the meaningfulness of free will in a setting with destiny is discussed. Perpetually on hold and will continue being on hold until I leave rewrite purgatory.

Other in-progress fics

Defined loosely as stuff that I've started that I at least intend to continue at some point. Which means it may be a long time before we hear from them again.

A Wolf in the Wilds - Twilight accompanies Wild throughout the events of BotW. Needs to be massively shrunk in scope before I can continue it.

Four's Annotated Hyrule Compendium - Four goes through the BotW Hyrule Compendium and comments. Is being actively maintained but I keep procrastinating on making new entries. Still a perennial crowd-pleaser.

Oneshots

Miscellaneous OOT/MM content - can you tell what my favorite games are? Probably some of my least read content but stuff I'm quite proud of.

On Masks, Physical and Psychological - character study of the Hero of Time throughout his games with an emphasis on OOT. Forms the basis of how I write Mask in Forging A Chain.

Silence - quick oneshot trying to capture the mood of the final hours of every cycle in MM.

Low-effort oneshots featuring Wild - it bothers me that they seem to get more attention than, say, Forging A Chain.

Fire Arrows - discussion of arson.

Cornucopia - what if the entirety of the inventory of BotW could be disgorged all at once.

[rlinwriteslu]

I just finished The Boy with Many Masks Chapter 17. Now if it were only the chapter I needed to work on right now

[rlinwriteslu]

Chapter 14 of The Boy with Many Masks is out!

“Mask, do you remember when I said I wanted to investigate rumors of a stash of treasure somewhere relatively close? Yeah, I found out roughly where it is.” “Ah. I take it that you’re going to go try finding it?” Hyrule nodded. “You want to come with?” “Sure! Is Veteran going?” “He said he couldn’t make it.” “I see. Well, that’s his loss. At least you get the opportunity to spend some quality time with me, right?” It occurred to Hyrule that he hadn’t really spent that much alone time with Mask. Mask seemed to like sticking around Legend instead, especially since they seemed much alike. “Yeah, I suppose. I guess we’ve been needing to do something like this.”

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[theegh0st]

HORROR WARNING

Previous part

[jazzmage28]

These were just supposed to be doodles but my hand slipped and now they’re finished yayyyyy ✨✨

Anyways I absolutely love witch hat atelier and clothes they have

And I’ve put these two though so much that here , they’re just in little outfits , being witches together

[rlinwriteslu]

Legend shook his head. “…I just didn’t want people to find out like this.” “To find out what?” “You’ll see.” Legend swam to the shore. It was only a few seconds before he was in shallow enough water for his body to become visible. First his shoulders, and then his torso, and then… “What?” Legend got his arms onto dry land and pulled most of his body out of the water. He turned himself onto his back and gave a rueful look at his lower body. “I’m sorry you had to find out about my curse this way.”

A parody of the "mermaid curse" trope.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[leaperfr0ggin]

Catching a Friend

Happy Anniversary Majora’s Mask!! You’re 26 now :]

[linkeduniverse]

[russeliarat]

I've got interesting historical thoughts about this and the sentences are simply too long to put coherently into the tags like I wanted to, so I have interesting (positive) thoughts about this art piece I wanted to share from a historical view point.

Credentials? Medieval English history (specifically 12th century) is a special interest of mine and I'm a member of one of the UK's largest (and only nationwide) 12th century educational re-enactment groups. I also have a special interest in fashion history and a large fragment of what is known about medieval fashion is through manuscripts and survival textiles. Though if any of this is wrong or you have additions, let me know, I'd love to learn.

First thought upon looking at this - I adore the slightly more realistic style of mural Jojo chose to use. Despite the "Medieval Era" spanning around 1,000 years across entire continents, most people recognise the general art style of the Early, High, and Late Medieval Eras to be the Illuminated Manuscripts with strange proportions, weird faces, and various animals that look nothing like their real counterparts. These were often drawn this way for a few reasons, the major one being that it was religious - usually drawn by monks who used various elements to create a mythological spin on traditional art. There are several styles of Illuminated Manuscript, but Jojo seems to draw from Gothic, which was more realistic and known for its extensive usage of gold and intricate borders. However, based on how Epona is drawn, it seems she is drawn to appear more akin to a less-realistic 12th century style of marginalia and bestiaries.

(If you're wondering what styles would be used for this sort of thing in a historical context in my opinion (because I love giving my opinion for no reason than I want to), I'd reckon either Gothic or Carolingian for its realism if portraying what people in universe believe to be truth, or Romanesque used historically for biblical artwork if the characters would believe the legends of heroes to be mythology.)

Second, I noticed the fashion Jojo chose. It's noticeably different and far more historically accurate to our history than anything seen in the entire franchise or any of her canonical designs for Linked Universe. First of all, thank you Jojo for portraying a rather historically accurate style of Early-Late Medieval clothing to be bright and colourful, because that is exactly what it was - despite Hollywood believing everyone were filthy, beige peasants, in truth they were humans too who loved to be donned in bright (often clashing depending on the time period) colours and be clean, even the peasantry.

Secondly, the time period chosen seems to be a combination of 12th, 13th, and perhaps 14th century clothing styles (seen especially in Zelda). I live in a historical English city currently, known for a specific historical medieval mythological figure (guess and you get brownie points lol), and the trim of Link's overtunic reminds me of dagging seen on 13th century men's chaperons (hoods/head coverings). The tunic/cotte's neckline is cut into a curved notch which is also very historically accurate to the 11th - 13th century rather than the more typical square notched neckline I usually see in medieval-inspired media. Additionally, the boots look to be a very similar pattern to equivalent leather shoes of the 12th century, only adapted to be winged to represent the Pegasus Boots.

Zelda's outfit seems to take inspiration from a 12th century court dress of a Majordomo/Dame rather than royal based on colour and lack of embroidered detail, an ornate circlet of around 13th-14th century origins, and a metal girdle of a similar style seen in some paintings from the 14th century. For an illustration featuring the world of Linked Universe where characters have such historically vague medieval designs, having such historical accuracy makes me very surprised and very happy.

I have no deep historical analysis of this fact, just want to point it out, but I do really like the contrast between both the art style of the main group of Links in the foreground and the mural's more realistic Illuminated Manuscript style, along with it's differing artistic depictions of medieval clothing.

I personally believe this depicted Link to be Legend, mostly based on the depiction of the Oracles - why the Oracles and not the goddesses you ask, mostly just because these seem to adhere very closely to the canonical designs of the Oracle games', so whether you believe the goddesses to look the same is up to you because I don't believe that's been confirmed or not? - as well as the appearance of Zelda in her blue dress and Link with blond hair.

Also, pig Ganon appearance, though the enemies drawn above all appear to be a variety of designs by intention seemingly from Jojo's original tags - seems to be designed to be fairly ambiguous which era this mural was meant to depict. The enemies appear to be: Tektite/Gohma (LoZ 1), Keese (BotW/TotK design), Moblin (either OoT or AoL design), Gleeok (LoZ 1), and Wallmaster (LoZ 1 design). These enemies have all appeared in Legend of Zelda 1 and all but two being in Adventure of Link, despite their different designs depending on the game. (EDIT: I also noticed there is a Deku Baba and Wolfos upon proof-reading which first appeared in Ocarina of Time!) There's also depictions of Loftwings (Skyward Sword) and a fairy (first appearance in A Link to the Past) in the borders too. Speaking of borders, I cannot tell if the decorative floral-looking elements are merely flowers or if they are fairies and manhandla (?) stylised florally.

Overall, this illustration makes me so very happy on a historical level from the perspective of an educational High Medieval Era reenactor and someone with a fashion history interest. This must have taken a lot of research and planning so kudos to you, Jojo!

[themortaldraw]

it feels like i drew this 51 years ago

[notavampireartist15]

the text isn't from anything btw, i just had an idea lol

[rlinwriteslu]

I looked at my doc and apparently I've managed to write about 18k words since I posted BMM Chapter 13 back in July. This is about 4-5 chapters worth of content, which means that if I had managed to write at that pace and also in order I would have been able to post chapters at my usual pace of once every two-three months.

I suppose stuff like this is why I'm usually reluctant to write out of order. I only did it because I was really getting stuck with some parts of Chapter 14.

If there's any reassurance I can provide about how much I can get posted after Chapter 14, it's that most of Chapter 15 and 17 have been written.

[chibinur]

I think I never showed this here, so here it is !! I'm sorry for not being active ;w;

Also, my drawings look a little different because I used a tablet this time ! Yeh I bought a new one in like December eheh, I always used my phone to draw up till now !

This is only my interpretation of Link and Zelda's inner thoughts, if it doesn't fit your headcanon, it's totally okay !

[grenapple0547]

Tough journey

[rlinwriteslu]

There's about half a scene left for me to write for BMM Chapter 14 which naturally means it'll take another month before I finish it

[rlinwriteslu]

wow I was only a week off

[rlinwriteslu]

“How are we going to get in there?” Hyrule pulled out a candle on a holder and grinned. “How do you think?” He walked over to the remnants of the encampment and held the wick to a glowing coal. It burst alight in a few seconds. “I probably should have seen that coming.” Hyrule walked back to the tree. “Trees like these that cover something tend to burn readily for some reason. So this trick only really works if there really is something underneath. In case you were worried that we’re about to start a forest fire.” He held the flame to the tree, and it readily started to burn. Mask instinctively stepped back from the heat of the fire. “How dry is that tree?” Hyrule shrugged. “I think there’s some sort of oil in the bark that’s really flammable.” Mask stepped back a little more as he watched the fire rapidly grow to engulf the entire tree. “You know, for someone who really likes finding things in the outdoors, you seem really willing to burn a lot of things you come across.” “Can’t make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.” “I think you can’t make an omelet regardless of what you do.” Maybe Mask was channeling Legend a little too much there with that barb.

After nearly 10 months, Chapter 14 of The Boy with Many Masks is finally complete! It'll probably be another couple of weeks after that to get some revisions done, but it'll finally be out in a relatively reasonable timeframe.

[rlinwriteslu]

The latest update had reminded me that despite playing both A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, two games that feature the Pegasus Boots, that I have completely forgotten to as much as allude to Legend actually using them since 2021

how does this happen

[tenten18282]

weirdo