world where captain is the same but he is happy. he has the harkinian name behind him. he is not abandoned and as desperate. a small change but with such long-lasting consequences... It's still a war, he still has to struggle through it all and I'm sure he fights with Lincoln about how he does things... but he's likely more inclined to listen once he's calmed down. (And I assume Lincoln has less of a bias against him lol) Does new captain still have the same heroes in his war?
Is this in reference to the tags I threw onto the Spirit murdering Warriors AU post? I hope so, because that's what you're gonna get from me.
Link Harkinian is an amazingly well-adjusted person one when considers that he is the ultimate nepo baby. He grew up in his father's shadow, raised to be the next Master Knight. While he achieved a lot in his life very early and very quickly, it's often attributed less to own impressive skills and more to the opportunities Lincoln was able to offer him.
That's not to say that Link does not have his struggles. For one thing, his parents actually got married in this world and it was NOT a happy marriage. Lincoln and Marigold on their own were decent enough coparents, but they were extremely cold towards each other. I would call them business partners, but that implied a level of tolerance neither of them had. Despite both of them living at the citadel and the Harkinian estate in Faron at the same time, they made sure they were never in the same room. Things were tense.
In Link's mind, this was just the reality of the situation. He didn't think either parents was in the wrong, and neither parent tried to turn Link against the other. But after Marigold passed, 16 year old Link witnessed the way Lincoln was deeply, deeply relieved to finally be out of that marriage. In the years following, Link grew to resent how little Lincoln seemed to care about Marigold's death. He felt unsupported in his grief, and Lincoln didn't anticipate suddenly being blamed for how bad his marriage was. They're good now, but it was rocky for a while there.
Link never had any real friends his own age. He knew the kids at the citadel, and if he joined Lincoln on a trip anywhere in the kingdom, he could find kids to play with. But every friendship was superficial, as he never found anyone who could relate to being raised with so much weight and responsibility. He was like a mini-adult. His closest companion was Orlanda, but she was more like an older cousin figure who took care of him.
Plus, he was under a lot of scrutiny as a hero. Having the political backing Knights of Hyrule meant that Link was never as vulnerable as our CTB captain. But he also never had the Sheikah's loyalty and the aristocracy was poised to resent having to listen to Lincoln's dog. He felt a lot of pressure to be perfect, to embody the type of hero his father raised him to be. Any screw up, no matter how small, ended up as bad publicity. He couldn't cope with alcohol or sex because any minor infraction was magnified out of proportion. This means he's incredibly high strung, with a perfectionist complex. If he's not perfect 100% of the time, he's going to die.
So in this scenario, I imagine that no version of Mask or Spirit, or just other heroes in general, end up in his war. I'm 50/50 on whether we get characters like Midna, though. Maybe the companions are there, but he developed closer bonds with a complete different set of characters, like Tetra, Ravio, Marin, and Medli. Overall, he's very professional but now he's found a few people who can related to the pressure of having to live up to the expectations of some old legend, thank you very much.
Just to spit ball some ideas here, but do you know who I think he would have a close relationship to? Agitha. This is a universe where (unfortunately) Linkle does not exist. I think it would be very cute if Link accidentally stumbled into realizing that he has some latent older brother instincts. Is anyone going to take care of this child who has no reason for being here? No???? Okay, that's my sister now. Fuck off.
