In 1982, The Dark Crystal movie was released and several decades later it became a key part of my childhood and a source of inspiration artistically for me even today.
Since it’s been on my mind, I wanted to do a little mashup between my two current fixations and Jen-Link figuring out which is the real Triforce of Courage was born. 🤍
(the song that’s been playing in my head nonstop ⬇️)
Looking for reputable lobotomists so i can actually work on my wips and not get distracted with stuff like this! Someone drill a hole in my skull so i can get some breathing room here! Or a manager!
Anyway i was pulling up my computer and my eye caught the small loz decal and my brain assaulted me with Gravity falls loz crossover because i get NO PEACE around here.
Bills Ganondorf for obvious reasons, holding the triforce of power.
Fiddleford's Princess Zelda, has the tirforce of wisdom.
And Fords Link! He wields the triforce of courage! He's here to be a hero and save the day!
Much like loz botw Ford got discovered early as the wielder of the triforce. He's thrust into lessons, and although he can wield a sword his actual talent comes from the arcane, learning spells. Which would be great! Except the Master sword is a sword, he needs to know how to use it? Whatever, they're in a time of peace, they might not even need the hero! And Prince Fiddleford can't really wield the triforce of wisdom effectively either, they'll learn together as they grow!
Enter Bill, the palaces newest advisor and reincarnation of evil. No one knows he has the triforce of power or plans to overthrow the kingdom with an army of monsters. Prince Fiddleford is suspicious of him but not for any tangible reason he can use to get him kicked out, and his paranoid and fearful nature makes everyone roll their eyes and dismiss his worries. Meanwhile Ford's absolutely charmed by the one adult who doesn't push for Ford to learn how to wield a sword and encourages his scientific curiosity. Bill covers for him so he can go run off in the woods and study creatures, says his swordsmanship is already decent enough, and they get along so well! Bill and the prince are Fords very good friends in the castle and its a time of peace and lifes good!
Then Bill strikes. He's finally, finally gotten to a point in the cycle of reincarnation where he can take out the prince and hero in one swoop. Prince Fiddleford is locked away and the hero is chained in the castle basement, there's no one who can stop Bill now! He's finally spit in the goddesses eyes and won! The ultimate demon king right here!
Except Stan is also still here.
Stan is Fords near identical twin brother, the one that some people wished was the hero except his personality is.. hmm. Their entire life everyone's moaned that maybe Ford inherited the heros spirit but Stan took the hero's skill. He's great with a sword, strong, but not willing to stick his neck out for others and has criminal tendencies he can't hide as well as Ford (and are generally more malicious. Fords mischievous in his own right but likes to appear to be law abiding). They were really close when they were younger but over the years everyone comparing them to each other drove a wedge between them, Ford hating that Stan's the better swordsman and Stan hating that everyone puts him down as the dumb twin who must have stolen Fords talent in the womb. Gets worse as they grew older and Ford finally started bulking up, slowly reaching then surpassing Stan's skill. Now Stan really is the extra twin here, unwanted and unneeded. Fords living it up in the castle and no one even realizes Stan's left to wander around the kingdom and try to find purpose in life as the hero's brother. Can't get a job because people keep going 'oh the hero! no wait, its you :/' and he hates it. Secludes himself in the woods and hangs out with the fairies and gets mopey that no one even tried to look for him (Ford noticed Stan left, but at that point their relationship was so strained he figured Stan was finally off to start his criminal life and drag Fords reputation through the mud. Which he sort of did but mostly on accident).
Bill is only sort of aware Stan exists but has no interest in him as he's not a person of prophecy. Does nothing to stop him when Stan realizes whats happened and goes on an Epic Quest to save the kingdom (which is really an Epic Quest to save Ford and maybe rub it in his face, and the kingdom just so happens to be a byproduct of that). Stan's not the Hero, but through doing the Heros Quest sorta becomes one a la Windwaker. He goes to the temples, gets the different artifacts, and since he and Ford are identical rumors spread that Ford is out there, fighting off Bill and here to save the day!
Which leads to Bill checking up on Ford chained in the basement far too often to make sure he didn't somehow escape the last ten times he checked. Like thats Ford right there, chained up and growling, so who's this other guy slaughtering Bill's demon henchmen and gathering the power to end Bill? Not Stan, that guys not worth anything, so maybe... Fords ghost? Is he astral projecting through sheer rage or something, whats happening here?
Anyway Stan finally gets to the point where he can get through the forest and retrieve the Master Sword except, for all his heroic actions, he's still not the Hero. He can't pull the sword that seals the darkness, he can't use it to save Ford.
Fine. He'll just make a new sword. The.. SUPREME Master Sword (similar to ww phantom hourglass if i remember correctly) . Take that Goddesses! Stan's not gonna quit because a sword doesn't like him or something! New quest time! He's gonna travel to the most obscure cursed and abandoned places and get the rarest mystical materials to take down Bill and finally prove he's more than the spare hero. Now he just needs to find someone to put everything together to make the sword that mega seals the darkness.
Well, Prince Fiddleford is a known inventor and smart guy, Stan was raised with the skinny nerd and watched him bring all kinds of things to life. All Stan has to do is rescue him, shove the materials into his hands, and BAM! New super weapon created and he can go take on Bill and save Ford and everyone will finally start mistaking Ford for him! Hah!
Saves Fiddleford from wherever Bill had him locked up to find the Prince insane from repeatedly wiping his mind because he couldn't handle the Horrors. Alright. Alright! Whatever! Stan can handle this! He's already cleared a million temples and run around the kingdom so much he has every rock memorized! Whats one more epic quest to restore the prince's lost mind!
So he does that, and then there's a heartwarming moment where Fiddleford is finally sane, reaches out to thank Stan, and ruins the moment by calling him Ford. The punch to the face is very deserved, they both agree.
But now Fiddlefords back to himself and cant take all of Stan's pocket stuff and make cooler stuff out of it. Fiddleford agrees, because Stan did save his life and help return his sanity, but spends the whole time asking why Stan doesn't just go and rescue Ford directly so Ford can draw the Master Sword and take down Bill? Thats sorta his whole thing? Stan's stubborn though, and at this point he's spent too long doing all the heavy lifting he's not gonna let Ford steal the show. Stan's gonna save the day and then people will finally see him for himself (and Ford will say thank you, and they'll be brothers, fighting off the remaining demon hoard and doing cool combo moves and it'll be great).
Yada yada, stuff happens, Stan takes his new cool Supreme Master Sword (Its not called that Stanley! Its the Sword that Cuts the Darkness and there's downsides Stanley! Stanley stop running off and ignoring my warnings!(unsure what the swords actual name is here. Maybe the Champions Sword (reference boxer Stan)? The Chosen Sword (have to chose to weld it)? The Ultimate Sword (for ultimate sacrifice)? Who knows.) to the castle to confront Bill and save the day, rescue Ford, be a hero, not the spare!
Except Bill's not there, Ford is, Stan does rescue him, but Ford is not happy to see Stan. He's furious.
Going through the temples is Fords job. Saving the day and being theHhero is the reason he was born, and Stan going around doing it meant Bill was taking his anger out on Ford, rubbing in the fact that maybe they were wrong and Stan was the hero all along, huh! Turns out Fords not the hero, he's the guy who stole the triforce of courage in the womb! He's the spare!
Fords been hearing this on repeat for however long this has been happening. Storms off to do the actual heroes journey as the actual Hero and makes himself even more furious at all the completed temples and the fact he can't find the hidden passages and defeat the monsters because Stan's already done it. Gets his blessings or whatever, stomps over to the Deku tree, pulls the sword, and goes off to find Fiddleford so the two of them can complete the prophecy and save the day. Even angrier when he finds Fiddleford already rescued (Stan really is stealing his life here, and if he's not the hero than who is he? What was this all for?). But Fiddleford is happy to see him at least! His old friend, and together they can-
Ah. Fiddleford wants to go after Stanley. Cool. Cool. WHY!
Turns out Stans Super Mega Master Sword (which existence infuriates Ford further) is made of super rare materials and blessed by the goddesses. Its the Sword that can Cut through the Darkness, and as long as someone has the spirits blessings they can wield it. Good thing Stan got all that when he did all those temples huh? So whats the problem asks Ford?
The problem is that Stan is not a hero or someone protected by fate and reincarnation. He does not have any part of the triforce like WW Link. He's impressed the goddesses and spirits with his tenacity and ability to do what only the hero should do, but is still not the Hero, and if he uses that sword to take down Bill its a literal double edged sword. He'll slay the darkness and take himself out with it. Probably. Fiddlefords a little unsure on the details because he was possessed a little when he made it but something bad will happen for sure.
Well Fords angry at Stan but not so angry he wants his brother to kill himself doing Fords job. Its a rush to track them both down and of course Ford and Fiddleford show up mid battle, both demon king and Stan looking rough but still in it to win.
Only part i'm unsure of is how it'd all end. Does Ford swoop in and deal the final blow? Sealing Bill and then turning to yell at Stan for ignoring warnings and almost killing himself? Does Fiddleford get in the final strike, preventing the brothers fighting from costing them the battle? Does Stan strike Bill down, and either dies with him, gets his mind wiped as the cost for finally defeating evil, become the new vessel for evil (cutting it out of Bill and it latching onto him?), maybe dies and becomes the sword spirit, maybe the price is Stan being unable to wield a sword again, maybe Stan disappears in a flash of light and now Ford has to save him? Endless possibilities, and in the end Stan was never the hero for the right reasons, and he wasn't the Hero but he was the hero who saved the kingdom.
Now i'm kicking this thing out so i can get some actual work done around here.
Me avoiding leaving Wind and Tetra alone with Wild in his era because he will show them his dragon riding pictures and they will want to go dragon riding and what can this man say? He has already revealed that he has more protective armor than he knows what to do with and a tablet full of fairies. Flora is busy being the team herbologist. He wants to be Responsible Dad Friend but c'mon, these kids fought GANONDORF under the ocean and Wind already has a glider. How do I stop him?
Or should I let him take the children into the sky and probably get yelled at by his wife and their tiny princess friend and the terrifying ninja princess...? It seems too mean o.o
Lego Monkie Kid and Legend of Zelda cross over but it’s just MK and Link running around causing trouble and eating rocks and Link constantly tries to pick up MK’s staff to no avail (he’s sure he’s gonna get it one day) and MK messing around with the master sword (albeit, he snuck it away from link while he was asleep) and accidentally producing a beam and setting a tree on fire. And Link stirs awake and MK freaks out and throws the sword.
Link: [MK, Wheres my sword]
MK: uhhhhhhhhh would you accept in my ear as an answer?
Two Hero of Legend's walk into a restaurant, and neither is ever, ever going to tell their respective group what they just saw.
Swift:
Legend:
Swift: ... Never talk about this?
Legend: deal.
Gates of Courage and Linked Universe are entirely different trees in the garden of time. They can see each other, and entangle their branches, but they can only ever grow and drop their own leaves. Legend is from a universe where he will - maybe - retire and have a life. Swift did... not do that. Did not do that at all. Legend dreamed and woke up, faith in happy endings shattered. Swift's nightmare kept going when he left Koholint, and that quest isn't the only one with nothing to show for it except bad memories and poor sleep.
(There is only one Ravio per timeline, after all, and Swift dreamt his away by accident. Much like many other quests he only barely remembers completing across time and reality itself... He's not really sure what number he's up to, and he's not sure quests in realms that may no longer exist after his timeline converges in the War of Eras matter in the count.
In the end, between the two, only one of them carved an Ocarina out of a time stone, and of all his regrets at least Legend doesn't have to lose sleep over that.)
Because of how massive the fandom base is for LU, I might as well state the differences up front so people don't get confused by changed characters and circumstances for each link. No, they aren't part of the same timeline (tree, I've decided to consider it) but they have a lot of shared patterns. The most glaring differences is both the number of Links (Gates has... an unholy amount) and the sequence of events. (The True OG timeline is the Downfall in Gates. Deal with that information how you will. Just know that Swift will be coming to terms with both saving untold numbers of people of the absolute destruction that originally awaited them when the Heroes Spirit broke, and condemning possibly hundreds of thousands of people to witnessing the same cycle of chaos that had plagued the world since the First Hero. You know that scene in Sinbad, where Eres shows the Sand Ocean? Yeah... close shave, mate.)
I can't not acknowledge the importance of LU in how I've made and altered certain characters - I've had to completely rejigg certain ones entirely whenever I notice I'm unintentionally mimicking or running alone the same ideas as Jojo - but that goes without saying, as does the influence all the other 'Link Group Quest' fics and comics have had over the years. There are so many that I, personally, have read and liked that it'd be impossible to list them. Regardless of that, I will happily tag my fanart of other people's pretty dam awesome depictions, and my own as vastly separate entities, and will do my best to extend that curtesy to all the others making their own Mega Works.
The most enjoyable part is, thanks to the Magic Systems and Major Divine Plot Bunny that makes my AU what it is, crossovers can be whatever you or I wish it. This is our sand pit, and we all have been given our buckets!
[In other words, don't let the size and complexity of LU scare you out of making your own variations of the idea. Nor the idea that others like me have been making ours for a while, or have seen the idea before. There is no crime punishable in playing with barbie dolls, go absolutely bonkers.]
I'm usually not big on cross-overs, but I'm actually a huge fan of combining Ninjago with LoZ
Like in my head they're in the same universe, but Ninjago and Hyrule are just different areas
I wanna see Lloyd interact with Rito and Zora, because why are there snake people but not bird people or fish people?
There are, they just live in different regions
Humans live in Ninjago and Hylians live in Hyrule
The people of Hyrule have never seen a human before, so when Lloyd and the other ninja travel to Hyrule, everyone is amazed at these new tall folk (Hylians tend to be around 4-5 feet tall, and I'm convinced Cole is like 6'5" or something)
Due to their ninja appearance, everyone mistakes them for being part of the Yiga Clan at first
Headcanons Below
Kai is the only one who can walk freely in Goron City without fire protection
Cole is very welcomed in Goron City because he can very easily help the Gorons find gems
Nya prefers Zora's Domain and it's surprisingly common for some of the people there to compare her to Mipha
I feel like Link and Lloyd don't get along, and it's partially because the people around them compare them to each other a LOT more than they'd like
"I'm literally the chosen one of Ninjago, I should lead-" "I'm the hylian champion and hero of Hyrule, and I know this area better than you, I should lead going into this-" "I fought my own father and defeated the Overloard, the manifestation of pure evil." "I defeated four different versions of Ganon to take back the Divine Beasts-" "Do you even know what an 'Oni' is?" "Have you ever encountered a Lynel!?"
Link and Lloyd are the same height, they're both tiny
The Gerudo fucking love Nya?? They're all so impressed by her intelligence, fighting skills, and elemental power
The boys really dislike not being allowed into Gerudo Town, and instead having to stay at Kara Kara Bazaar
Kai waits outside the walls of Gerudo Town to wait for her because he's really protective and doesn't like her being somewhere he can't get access to
Link helping them get inside Gerudo Town because he's done this before???
The Ninja all dressed as women just walking through Gerudo Town and they're all super anxious they're gonna be found out and tossed back over the wall or something
"Jay, you know you can take that outfit off now right? We've got Nya." "I kinda like it, it's breathable. And I was definitely a prettier girl than any of you were :) "
The ninja explaining the Serpentine to Link, and Link in turn introduces them to the Rito because animal-people
Zane fucking thrives up in the mountains
Guardians terrify Jay, he hates how much they look like spiders, and the fact that they lock onto you also freaks him out
Both Jay and Zane are fucking delighted to collect the Guardian parts though when they defeat one
I feel like Zane takes the Sheikah technology back to Julien for him to study and make use of
Omg, the Ninja helping take back the Divine Beasts, each of them partnering with Link based on their Element
Like Kai and Cole accompany him into Vah Rudania, Nya into Vah Rutah, Jay into Vah Naboris, and Zane into Vah Medoh just because he's the only one that can handle the cold up there, and I feel like Lloyd and Link would have to set aside their differences and face Calamity Ganon together
As you can see, I have thought about this a lot lol
