Sorry, I don’t know too much about the linked universe, so I’m still hesitant on drawing scenes with them 😓🥲 for now, here is some old doodles I made after reading some of the fics from hyper light heroes (Daz, Kial, and Paisk)
I stayed up way too late last night with these lol. Anyways, Jackal! Both colored and uncolored (and a bit of headcanon indulgence for her “true” form, as seen in my AU Hyper Light Heroes). I haven’t done art in a hot minute though lol I had to remind myself how to use Procreate
It's here! On the 1 year anniversary of my crossover AU series, I've finally posted the finale for the main story. Don't worry though! I've still got a lot of spin-off one-shots (and a LoZ-only sequel fic, and potentially a HLD-only prequel fic) in the works!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Boom! Hyper Light Drifter and Legend of Zelda (Linked Universe) crossover be upon ye!
I've been really bad about telling people this exists lol. Anyways! It's almost 275,000 words! And we're back in HLD world now! It's been so fun to write and I'm so thankful for all of you readers who've read and kudosed and (especially) commented. I'm very much looking forward to continuing 🩵❤️🧡
14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
I’m sorry if I put too many questions, and if I accidentally sent this twice 😓
No such thing as too many questions! I love talking about this! And dw I only got the one ask 👍
Answers under the cut because it got longer than I'd expected (story of my life).
2. What scene did you first put down?
Oohhh....That's a hard one. Mostly in terms of remembering which came first lol. I remember a few scenes that came EARLY, the Panacea chapter was in my daydreams for a while, as well as the swim-day, cave-in with Warriors, non-canon body-swap, Sky’s dream and first talk with Jackal, Jackal and Titan’s goodbye, and the final battles against Judgement and Dark Link (though the dragon came in later when I discovered a plot hole). A few more one-shots that I can't get too detailed about since they're not posted yet too. FIRST though? That's a bit harder. Honestly, probably the first meeting came first, which is a boring answer but whatever. It was also the first one I actually wrote, before I'd even figured out the greater outline. It was originally a one-shot. Funny how things turn out lol.
11. What do you like best about this fic?
You are not going easy on me! How can I CHOOSE! In general, I love how everything is interconnected, and how I've sprinkled throwbacks, references, and easter eggs into the narration/dialogue that probably no one else catches but me but they're there! I promise! For example, in chapter 5 of "It's Not Easy Being Blu," Twilight says he's had a lot of practice with a crossbow. That's a reference to the Wii game Link's Crossbow Training! It's inconsequential but it's THERE and it makes me happy to sneak those kinds of things in. Another one is in chapter 5 of "The Start of Apoptosis;" Legend says "I don't know how to help you. Tell me how I can help you." Which is a direct quote from Marin in "Little Dreamer!" Who’s gonna notice that? Nobody! But I do! Those kinds of things are everywhere throughout the entire series!
But I digress.
Back on topic, the worldbuilding for this AU was/is legitimately so fun, even if the LoZ timeline was a BITCH to figure out and I had to change a bunch of stuff because Nintendo doesn't know the definition of consistancy. I am very much looking forward to delving deeper into that and how the Heroes’s journeys tie into each other once the main story finale is posted; I've got the foreshadowing lined up already.
My favorite character (but not really a character) to write is definitely The Jackal; her not-dialogue is so confusing but so rewarding to get right. All the other characters are so emotional; I have to reread her sections and edit anything that even comes close to a feeling/biased opinion (that's not about Judgement) and its HARD, but it's SO GOOD once it's over. Her lore took me the longest but it’s undoubtedly the most important in the entire AU.
Another bonus is how long it is. I can clearly see my writing improve and my narrative voice develop over the course of the story. While I CAN go back and edit the old fics, I'm not going to. I've gotten better, and I'm proud of it.
Okay I'd moved on but I remembered something so I gotta scroll back up. The music! I am SO GLAD I decided to do the music. Researching video games to pick one that fits the themes of the chapter, and then looking through the soundtracks to pick one that plays at specific points in the game that ALSO adds to the chapter, and then (if necessary) looking through all the COVERS of that song to pick one that fits the PACING of that chapter, it's all just so fun! And now I have a lot of new games on my list to play when I have money.
12. What do you like least about this fic?
Honestly? I have very little to complain about. If I have to pick though, some of my uploads I don't think were my best work. Chapter 2 of "A Dragon is a Goddess to the Lizards Below" comes to mind, as well as "Walk a Mile With Someone Else's Feet" and "A Sniffle or a Cough." I think I pushed myself to write when I wasn't ready and my work suffered for it. That's more of a me thing, though, and not really the fic itself.
14. Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from this fic?
This isn’t really a story with a moral, per se. I can’t really simplify it all into a “slow and steady wins the race” type lesson. However, there are definitely themes I tried to push. Family/brotherhood, solidarity/resilience, the different types of courage, cycles/fate, identity (and its relationship with memory), grief/mourning, the damage of apathy, righteous anger, and hope for a better future being some of them. There are probably others that slipped in there accidentally, but that’s another thing I like about this fic, that I can come back and reread it and surprise myself. If I had to pick the biggest ones, they’d be family/brotherhood, grief/mourning, apathy, and hope. Almost everything else ties into those four.
15. What did you learn by writing this fic?
Real talk for a moment. I started writing this fic after losing my grandpa —who I was very close to— to cancer. My brain needed to latch onto something, I watched Indie Cross, Hyper Light Drifter grabbed my interest (and my emotions, for obvious reasons), my Linked Universe hyperfixation came back with a vengeance, and I figured I’d write something for the first time in literal years instead of just wallowing in depression and rotting on my bed. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but then it just kept going, and now I am in a much better place with something I’m really proud of to look back on. Idk if that’s really a learning thing, but I’m certainly better for it. I think he'd be proud.
I also did a lot of research into historic and current racism/ablism, as well as sexual assault and its effects on the victims. I was very ignorant before writing this, since I recognize that I am very privileged in many ways. Now, I feel like I understand a lot more about these topics, and I hope that I portrayed them accurately (or at least respectfully) for someone who hasn’t experienced most of it.
Okay real talk over. On a sillier note, I now know a lot more than I used to about chemistry/physics (thank you Flora, Titan, and Jackal), technology/coding (thank you Drifter, Wild, Ward, Dief, Flora, and Khavel), blacksmithing (thank you Four), foraging (thank you Hyrule and Thakkar), cooking (thank you Wild and Malon), farming/ranching (thank you Malon, Time, Twilight, and the entirety of Ordon Village), medieval army practices/tactics (thank you Warriors and the entirety of the Hyrule Warriors cast), fae lore (thank you Hyrule), sailing lingo and boat anatomy (thank you Wind and Tetra), ballet (thank you Fi), statistics (thank you Fi), economics (thank you Ravio), instruments/music lingo (thank you Time, Dark Link, and Legend), soccer (thank you Kial), alcohol (thank you Daz and Warriors), injuries/first aid (thank you literally everybody), and probably some others that I’ve forgotten. I’ve gone down a lot of rabbit holes lol, and some of that knowledge was edited out or is present in chapters I haven’t written yet. I am taking an American Sign Language class right now for college, so I might do some more research into that too for a one-shot, though I’m not super confident in my ability to turn a visual language into a written one effectively. On the fence about it, so we’ll see.
That took a while lol, but it was fun to think about! Thank you for sending in the ask and especially for reading! As you can probably tell by the massive wall of text, I am very proud of this series and while I am essentially writing it for myself, you guys are an integral part of it as well! Multiple times someone’s comment have inspired one-shots, broken writer's block, fixed plot holes I didn't even know were there, or inspired major plot points in the story. While I may be physically writing it, you guys are part of it too! And I love talking about this with you!
I still go back and reread your guys’ comments whenever I get discouraged or something in the story isn’t working how I want, and every time without fail your kind words inspire me. Thank you for the ask, though this might’ve been a bit more than you bargained for XD
