Hero of the Tempest
So I've been on this kick of creating Original Heroes within the Zelda realm (Linked Universe specifically). I've created five so far, so I'll probably start drawing and introducing them one by one.
Happy to introduce Linka'ar, the Hero of the Tempest. He's the fifth hero in the timeline after BotW/TotK. He's a natural-born Gerudo Male (though not the only one in his generation, it's still exceedingly rare).
Click below for more details on his story and some fun facts about him!
Though his childhood was rather rough due to the stigma of being a male Gerudo, he had a loving mother growing up. Though she was taken by illness when he was young (probably around 12), he was quite self-sufficient and already showed immense talent with the art of enchantment.
He has a particular gift with creating magical enchantments. Instead of merely carving the runes into the object he's trying to enchant, he's created a method of engraving the magic itself onto the item, allowing for an enchanter to alter or edit the enchantment when needed, as well as fit more magic and specifications on the item than the usual method would allow. As such, by fifteen, he was running a rather well-off business.
He saved a young Hylian Kestral (a desert dwelling wind-attribute bird native to the Gerudo Desert) and named her Spreena. Said bird is incredibly loyal to him and becomes his companion on his Journey.
Linka'ar begins his first Journey at age fifteen, after a dream from a Goddess warning him of a coming evil. This leads him to his Zelda—a princess whose Sheikah father has passed on the trait of white hair and an aptitude for stealth. Though her father, the former king, is no longer alive, her mother, the Queen, is very much alive and healthy and ruling quite well.
Jumping ahead in the plot, the Demon King Ganondorf (from TotK) managed to shove part of himself in a shard of the Secret Stone and over the past thousand years or so, he's managed to form another body for himself. His revival has created what people call "The Tempest"—an explosion of Malice (nearly Gloom) across the land.
Malice Storms envelop the major areas of Hyrule—from the Rito and Zora settlements, to the Hylian, Sheikah, Goron and Gerudo ones. These Storms involve high winds and Malice raining from the skies like acid. Linka'ar must use a special crystal given to him by the princess to weather these storms and destroy the core—in most cases, this is some kind of boss monster at the end of a dungeon.
Malice Storms will also occasionally travel across the land, destroying crops and harming livestock. It also can taint the water sources, so Linka'ar is forced to create purification-based enchanted items to add to the lakes and rivers.
In short, Linka'ar ends up having three Journeys, though the latter two take place in the bordering kingdoms of Rajwal and Ashtern (two kingdoms of my own creation).
His first Journey takes place when he's 15 years old. His second at 17, and his third at 18 (mere months after the completion of his second Journey).
Though he and his Zelda are not romantically involved, the two get along quite well as a pair of best friends with equally strong wanderlust.
Fun facts
At one point during his first Journey, Spreena gains a goddess-given ability to grow to something akin to Loftwing size, allowing Linka'ar to ride her places.
Also at some point during his Journey, he finds and obtains the Sword of the Hero—a blade forged by the Hero of Divinity, who comes right after the Hero of the Wild. It is said that the Sword that Seals the Darkness was lost somewhere around the era of the Hero of Ruins.
Loftwings have made a reappearance in the world by this point. There are Sky Knights who fly about Hyrule and its lands to protect the people from any airborne dangers. The Sky Knights had a lot of trouble with the Malice Storms
The Zonai Sky Isles have been re-discovered, though most of the Zonai inventions are too complex for most people to make sense of, or has too few resources for people to further develop.
The ruins of Skyloft are also still there, above a pierced cloud barrier. However, the Goddess Hylia has a secondary barrier around what is now called the 'Sacred Isles', and only those who she takes a liking to are allowed entry.
At one point, Tempest rides Spreena up to the Sacred Isles. He eventually meets the Goddess Hylia, who enjoys taking a mortal-like form and pranking the Sky Knights who she allows up there. There are rumors among the knights of a pretty girl who lives on the island, but hardly anyone actually has the chance to speak with her. Tempest is among the few who gets to sit down for a conversation.
Hylia eventually reveals who she is to him and offers him special training. Since the ruins of Skyloft are considered a realm between the gods and mortals, she's able to temporarily revive those whose spirits rest among the gods. With his permission, she calls upon the Hero of the Skies—the Link from the Skyward Sword games—to personally instruct Linka'ar on swordsmanship (he's very good with a scimitar, but a broadsword isn't really familiar to him).
I do have a story planned (not sure if/when it'll ever be written) that is Linked Universe-centric. Wild, taken from the Chain with no warning or time for farewells, is sent back by Hylia to his own lands. It takes 7 years for the TotK Journey to begin, and a year and a half to complete said Journey. When all is said and done, he's given up hope of ever returning to the heroes—it's been 9 years, after all.
So when a portal appears, he's sick with hope and worry. He's overwhelmed with disappointment when he realizes it's not a portal to bring him back to his brothers, but a portal for him to gather new ones.
Wild becomes the leader of a group of 5 heroes—all ones who come after him. They look at him with the same admiration as the others would look at Time. Somehow, Wild becomes the leader of this new Chain, the 'Old Man', if you will.
The plan for the story is to have them stumble upon the original Chain a year into their travels, merging the two together and letting chaos ensue.
The story's concept is called Pathfinder.
I hope you all look forward to seeing the other heroes in my Pathfinder AU.
