Aight tell me more about your og Link and Zelda. As a fellow Link OC haver, I always love to learn more about people's OCs!! Spill spill yap yap tell me everything you've got òwó
Oh gosh where do l even begin... I've been holding the lore quite close to my chest given I haven't started writing the story yet (I'm indulging way too much in an lu au with my Link instead), but I can yap a bit about it !!
Essentially, my Link is from an alternate universe where he takes the place of the Hero of Time, but he isn't the Hero of Time himself. Remember how the timeline got super spliced when oot Zelda sent oot Link back to the past? Well, this alternate dimension exists almost as like a tear in the fabric of reality from the use of that instance of time magic, and takes the fall as the biggest price paid for oot Link to be sent away because it's a horrible, horrible dimension lol
I love how dark Twilight Princess is, so this story follows that sort of theme, except maybe even a bit worse. There's no magic, only dark sorcery, so no classic Zelda game monsters exist unless they've been corrupted by dark magic. So monsters like lizalfos and lionels are just animals unless touched by dark power. And Ganondorf, instead of being an evil, magic-wielding mastermind due to the Demise curse, is a more clear-minded, Gerudo Warrior Chief from the desert who comes to rage war against the Queen of Hyrule, and I’ll tell you why.
The story goes that long ago, one of the first Queens of Hyrule banished the Gerudo far from their home, and she did this because of a prophecy she foretold where a Gerudo man would rise as a reincarnation of Demise, and destroy the kingdom. For hundreds and hundreds of years, the Gerudo were living in the worst wastelands of the furthest desert, and this lasted until Ganondorf was born with the Triforce. After growing up in that terrible land with death all around him, Ganon was like, ‘I'm gonna reclaim our Gerudo lands now,’ and began a campaign against Hyrule.
I won’t get into the gritty details given I’ve talked about Ganondorf enough already, but the war lasts for a while (three-four years) and Hyrule suffers a lot from it, so much so that the morale for the Queen is super low due to famine and all the war effort. And Ganondorf has a lot of allies, these being the Rito (there’s a whole other story with why they form an alliance), as well as Bokoblins (the boko’s in my story are a lot like the Bulbins from Twilight Princess, and are a race of people instead of just monsters).
Eventually, after claiming village after village and steadily making his way to the castle, Ganondorf picks up a three month old Link- whose parents die in the assault (these things happen in war)- and marches right into the castle. To quickly preface my next plot in the story, I want to go over how Demise and Hylia shadow the narrative. Ganon is still a reincarnation of Demise, but he is more level-headed than l'd say most Ganondorf iterations are, especially at the start of the story. As it progresses, though, the curse begins to come to him in evil whispers, and his corruption slowly begins. As for Zelda (and this applies to all Zelda’s), Hylia's hatred for Demise is incredibly potent, and it corrupts her descendants to the point where they will stop at nothing to kill Demise and his reincarnations.
This is why the Queen at the time essentially left her citizens to starve while still striving for war, even though all Ganondorf wanted was the desert. But because she refused, he pushed the fight all the way back to the capital. Once he storms through the gates, he offers the Queen- along with her freshly-born newborn daughter (my Zelda!)- their lives, as well as a place in the Kingdom. But corrupted by Hylia’s hatred as she is, the Queen refuses, and they fight to the death, where Ganon ultimately kills her. In that time, Impa and the closest Royal Guard (the Sheikah) flee with the baby Princess, and Ganondorf becomes king of all of Hyrule and Gerudo Valley.
Okay, now it’s time to get into Link and Zelda ! Sorry to bombard with all this backstory, I just saw no other way for everything to make sense without prefacing it all with the beginning plot points !
So about Link: In my au, Ganon has a sister named Ninmara, and it's actually her who takes baby Link as their own. After growing in a land with so much devastation around her, she was deeply upset at all the destruction caused by the war, which was never the intention. So when she finds a little baby in the arms of his dead mother, who’d gotten caught in the cross-fire, she takes him both because of her guilt, and because she notices that beneath his swaddle, he bears the Triforce on his hand, too. As for Ganondorf, he doesn't actually believe in any prophecy, but a part of him wants Link close anyway as like a fail-safe plan in case it does come true. So Link is raised as the Prince of both Hyrule, and the Desert!
As far as he knows, he is Ganon’s biological son. In my au, male Gerudo are not as uncommon as they are in the games, though females still outnumber them by many. Link is also- what I like to call- a Highland Hylian, which helps his case a bit ! To explain, there are three kinds of Hylian that exist (I sort of talked about this in an art post I did, I think you liked it!):
-Highland Hylian, which are very tall, robust Hylian’s, with noticeably long ears. They originate from mountainous regions. (they are also the rarest kind and not many remain)
-Midland Hylian, (which is the version of the Sheikah in my au) which have tan skin, and a leaner build. They originate from forest regions.
-Lowland Hylian, which is the classic, short Hylian with short ears (basically the Hylian design in all the games). They originate from valley-like regions ! (they are also the most populous)
And you know how in botw/totk there’s a Hylian guy who has a daughter with a Gerudo woman, and their daughter looks entirely Gerudo? The same can happen in reverse- where a Gerudo can have a child with a Hylian that looks only Hylian- so that also boosts the coverup that Link could very well be Ganon’s biological son! So Link, clueless to the prophecy/story of the hero, Link believes the Triforce is a birthmark he shares with his father, and lives his life doing everything he can to impress his father.
From jousting, to fencing (where he gets his chin scar!), to archery, to tournaments- Link is involved in an endless list of royal affairs, as well as politics. To boost his efforts to stake his claim as a worthy son, there happens to be another war to help him do just that. The Zora, as allies to Hyrule, refused Ganon’s rule, and the strife eventually leads to combat that officially begins when Link is only 14. This second war lasts for much longer, and only ends when Link is 20, where the Zora are defeated. So outside of princely duties, Link is a knight, and spends a lot of his life essentially as a child soldier, as battle is a huge part of Gerudo culture, and he is also the King’s son !
But outside of war, and Link’s self-deprecating tendencies (Ganon is a hard man to impress), Link grows up with quite a lot of good things in his life. He has his aunt, Ninmara, which is essentially a mother to him, and he has cousins ! Urbosa is in this story, and she is Ganon’s cousin, and head of chief of Gerudo Valley. Since Ganon remains in Hyrule, she rules the desert in his absence, and she has two children: a son (who I don’t have a name for yet) and a daughter, Riju! And remember when I said the Rito were allies with the Gerudo? The Rito is led by two clans, one by Teba, and one by another Rito (another character I don’t have a name for yet), but who is Revali’s father! And Revali and Tulin, as ‘royalty’ themselves (at least in the case of their standing in the clans) are also like Link’s cousins! Tulin is a lot younger than Link, so he makes for a very good little brother :)
Link also shares similar relations with the Bokoblins, where his professor growing up is a super duper old (and I mean like 400+) Boko elder lady pig. He is also buddies with the children of the Boko King: a ‘princess,’ and twin ‘prince’s’ (even more characters I don’t have names for, there’s just too many people to keep track of).
Overall, character-wise, Link has a lot going on. He’s kind and respectful, but has a personality that leans more on the serious side. He puts a lot of effort into being someone his father can be proud of, and focuses a lot on his own shortcomings. He also, unfortunate or not, has a side to him that is very violent. It stems from that Gerudo desire for battle, and also from Ganondorf, who is a no-nonsense man. He is capable of deep hatred, but at the same time, deep love, and is able to give a lot of either. And… he hates Zora. Him and Sidon (yeah, he’s also here) have crazy super beef, but I won’t say why…
I’ll talk about Zelda now instead ! So, Zelda follows the ‘runaway Princess that’s presumed dead’ trope, of course ! Raised by Impa in a village abandoned during the Ganon vs. Queen War (I’ll have to come up with a name for that too), she resides alongside the rest of the Hylian forces that resist/openly rebel against Ganon’s rule, and got away during the war. Zelda is also a Highland Hylian (they are the makeup of the royal family), and I’m in between whether I want her people to know she is the Princess, or just Impa and a few of the more important Sheikah guards.
But whether they know or not, they all rebel against the new Hyrule in the name of the royal family, and Sheik leads them. They’re basically a massive rebel group amassing their forces for the ultimate goal of reclaiming Hyrule, as well as finding the hero to fulfill the prophecy! Zelda’s mother, the Queen, was not born with it, but Zelda was born with the Triforce on her hand, and she wishes for nothing more than to bring the prophecy to life. She wants a better life for her people, her mother figure, Impa, and her little Sheikah sister, who I also still don’t have a name for, but I was thinking of naming her Midna!
Personality-wise, Zelda is embittered by her hatred for Ganondorf, as well as the deep, ancient hatred Hylia has for Demise. Her hatred, in turn, burns for the ‘Crimson Prince,’ (Link), and all the stories she’s heard of his role in the war against the Zora. To her people, she is viciously caring, and she takes every step she can to help them, but she has an element of violence to her as well, and she lacks mercy for the Hylian’s who are loyal to Ganondorf, seeing them as traitors to her mothers rule.
In turn, Link hates her, too. He doesn’t know she’s the lost Princess, only that she’s a he- a Sheikah Warrior that goes by the name ‘Sheik,’- and who’s attacks on the kingdoms outposts are dangerous, and harm civilians. They essentially hate each other without knowing each other because she’s never seen his face, either (most in the kingdom actually think Link is Gerudo because he’s not actually been seen by a lot of villages, and whenever he’s on envoy he’s wearing his helmet and armor lol and yes this au is super medieval-themed like 11th-15th century).
Ultimately, this au is like a weird reflection of the story of Ocarina of Time. When Link does finally see Zelda, he keeps his identity hidden from her, but after seeing the Triforce on his hand, she begs for his help- for him to pull the Master Sword- and for him to save her people. Because Ganondorf, at this point in the story, is succumbing to Demise’s curse, he doesn’t want to put an end to the Sheikah rebellion, he wants to wipe out the ‘traitors’ completely in an act of genocide, and in the face of this terrifying insanity, Link cannot side with his father, but he is lost. He learns a lot of truths, realizing he is not his father’s son, and realizing more and more that I don’t yet want to say because they are pretty major plot points, and I’d like to save them for when I write the story, but… that’s the au !
I’m sorry I took a while to respond ! As you can see, I ended up saying a lot, and this took me a long, LONG time to write down… but I’m so very grateful you showed curiosity in this lore of mine! So far, I’ve talked to no one else about this other than my brother, and to have shared it with someone who shares the same love for The Legend of Zelda and all the wonderful au’s there are across the fandom, well, I was so very happy ! I really want to get this work started, but like I said, I’m currently indulging way too much in a Linked Universe au of this Link oc I have, and so I’ve been busy writing chapters for that, but I doodle him every now and then!
But again, thank you for asking and for reading ! I hope it wasn’t too confusing… a lot of stuff happens in this story, and I honestly didn’t even say half of it here at all. Please, if you have questions, ask! Unless the answer would involve spoilers, I’ll respond! And, I’d also like to know more about your au’s and oc’s too! I’m actually pretty new to the loz fandom, and I really only became involved late last year… so there’s a lot of au’s out there I don’t know about, but would like to ! So yes, this is me admitting I’m about to snoop your account…
Also, I was considering maybe merging my art and writing account together since I post way more on my writing one (which is basically my main) and I’m thinking of using this account as more of an archive for my art instead, so if you’d like to chat more about anything, I’d appreciate if you could talk to me there ! And again, thank you so much for letting me yap your ear off ! ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )
