#pocket change

[photobookbee]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

It's out! After seven months! Actually, as I'm typing this, I've realized that's kinda appropriate lol. I will do my best to not wait seven more months for Chapter 7.

Chapter Summary: Wind gets to play for a little bit, as himself (or close enough). The foggy future begins to slowly clear.

[rhododendron-day]

Obscure LoZ character that makes me Insane

So, while writing the latest chapter of Pocket Change, I included a dream sequence. After I finished writing it, I realized most readers probably assumed a character featured in it was Time/ the Fallen Hero. This is a completely reasonable assumption to make, and it is probably a more intuitive choice even for people who are familiar with the character I had in mind while writing it.

The character in question being The Flute Boy from ALTTP.

For those of you who are interested, summary under the cut:

The Flute Boy (or Ocarina Boy in Japan according to the wiki) is a tad tragic. You can meet his father in a tavern and he tells Link that his son ventured into the Dark World to find the Triforce. If Link goes to the Haunted Grove south of Kakariko, he sees an apparition of the Flute Boy playing a song with his pet bird. In this instance, his sprite looks more like Link than Link's does in this game (both of them have different designs in game vs artwork). I actually love his sprite design.

When you actually meet him in the Dark World, he is in the form of a strange creature in the location corresponding to the Grove. Kinda resembles a brown elephant to my eye. He gives Link a shovel and asks him to go back to the Light World and dig up his instrument. If Link brings it back to Flute Boy, he asks the Hero to play him a song so he can hear it one last time. He then turns into a tree, implied to have died right in front of Link.

Link then must bring the instrument back to his father in the tavern, informing him of his son's fate. In thanks, his father tells Link to keep the instrument and play it at the Weathercock. This calls Flute Boy's pet bird, who becomes the fast travel mechanic. This is a required sequence in the game.

In the end-credits, Flute Boy has managed to return home. This makes him one of several characters to come back to life due to the Triforce Wish. Others include the King, Link's Uncle, and probably The Loyal Sage/Priest at the Sanctuary. And who knows how many others.

Theories/Discussion:

So a fun fact about the Flute Boy. while his sprite design is very reminiscent of Link, it is also extremely similar to Gulley's design in ALBW (despite there being a seperate Flute Boy in that game who seems completely unrelated). In baseline LOZ, I could be convinced that ALTTP Flute Boy and Gulley are two incarnations of the same character or otherwise related.

In LU, it of course becomes a little more complicated because the games are only a few years apart instead of over a century. I think Gulley is implied to be a little too young in ALBW for them to be the same character here.

Separating the two, I do think there is a way to link them to the Fallen Hero or the Hero's Spirit in general. Maybe the apparition wasn't the Flute Boy himself but the Fallen Hero trying to be helpful?

However, I think its easier to connect Gulley/Flute Boy to the Kokiri. Flute Boy does turn into a tree, and, spoilers for ALBW: Gulley is a child sage who wears a lot of green. Connection to Saria or WW Fado, perhaps?

Really, I think there is a lot that can be done with this character. He is vague, somewhat tragic, and has a lot of similarities with so many others from across games. Go wild!

[transstorytime]

POCKET CHANGE POOL POST

Pool up for BLACK TRANS TEXAS CONNECTION

BTTC is a Houston organization working toward the liberation of Black queer and trans folks. They operate Thrive House, a small housing cooperative sheltering Black trans women survivors.

Funds will go towards electricity and groceries for those staying in Thrive House.

Can you commit to donating weather its $3 or $5 or $10

Yes

No

Voting ended onDec 18, 2025

[beatsforbrothels]

Visit Original Link

Nappy Nina - Pocket Change

[evilhorse]

Just fifteen thousand?

(Justice League International #24)

[daphrona]

I stole a child and this broad has the audacity to only give me 400 gold...

[one-time-i-dreamt]

The Galactic Empire took over my city and I was running around searching for a shapeshifting robot who looked like Minecraft Steve and was helping the rebels. There was a crumpled piece of paper with secret information on the floor under the table so I bent down to grab it but the Imperial governor saw me. I pretended I was grabbing some change (75¢) off the floor and gave it to him. He took it and said he expected to see me at his wedding later.

[jtem]