BECAUSE HONESTLY IT’S THE LEGEND OF ZELDA AND IT JUST MAKES SENSE!
First of all full credit. This headcanon is inspired by many wonderful works of fan art and mods, specifically the Zelda Conversion Project, nearly all of my screenshots are from their youtube chanel. This whole idea of Zelda as the hero made me freak out because it is just steaming with potential!
I am not the first person to come up with this idea and I will be crediting all fanworks that insipired this headcanon. Please check out the links because frankly these works are amazing. I will not be reposting their work.
-Chronologically all the memories are the same upt to Memory 16: Despair. Zelda and Link are running away, tears in Zelda’s eyes as she laments that everyone she knows is dead and it’s all her fault and she breaks down into tears, that’s all the same
BUT THEN
-Memory 17: Zelda’s Awakening is where things go differently. Link is fighting against a Guardian. There is a moment where it looks like the Guardian might get the best of him and Zelda runs in front of him in a desperate bid to protect him but just as she lifts her hand up...
Link recoveres enough to get back in front of her and, with a final strike, cuts the Guardian down. There’s a moment of silence while he and Zelda catch their breath before he hears it. A voice inside the Master Sword, a voice that Zelda (and the audience) can’t hear, he turns to look at her with sadness in his eyes. Before Zelda can ask Link what’s going on two Sheika... Young Purah and Impa because honestly it should have been THEM and not some random Sheika males in that memory.
FOR REAL THO it would have made such a strong impact on the game to see Young Impa and Purah, to have a direct comparison to what they look like now in the game. That the impactof 100 years can be felt in these two characters still being alive and looking WAY different. The emotions would be so much stronger. And YOU Nintendo just gave me too random dudes when this memory so OBVIOUSLY needed young Impa and Purah considering they say that they were the ones who put Link in the shrine in the first place. Just UGH missed opprotuintiy so now its in my AU. bitterwhosebitternotme.
ANYWAY
-Purah and Impa come forward and Link tells them to protect Zelda and keep her somewhere safe. Impa tries to stop him at first, stating he is abandoning his duty to the princess before Link reveals that the Master Sword itself told him to go. Impa reluctantly lets him leave and Link gives Zelda one final glance and whispers “I’m sorry” before dashing off towards the castle. Zelda screams at him to come back, that she doesn’t understand, while Purah and Impa take her away.
-Memory 18: Wounds. As Impa, Purah and Zelda run through the woods Impa tells Zelda to trust her knight, that even if he’s leaving her he’s doing it to protect her. Zelda wipes her tears away, stating she hates it, hates that others are dying for her when she hasn’t accomplished anything. Impa gives her a knowing look and says “That is not why Link-” But Impa is cut off as the three of them get ambushed by a rogue Guardian. Before Impa can react Zelda gets gravely injured by a Guardian beam. Zelda passes out and Purah holds her in her arms as Impa quckly takes the Guardian down. Impa begins to panic before Purah suggests that the Shrine of Resurrection might just save her. Impa agrees and together they carry the girl to the shrine.
-Thanks to the “Sword that Seals the Darkness” Link is able to keep Ganon contained in the castle for 100 years.
-The game starts with Zelda waking up to a voice, soft spoken but clear in the Shrine of Resurrection.
-“Open your eyes.” The voice continues to speak. “We never spoke much in life. My fault, not yours. I thought that staying silent gave me strenght, though now...I wonder...” Credit to the aformentioned dialouge to http://a-perplexing-puzzle.tumblr.com, seriously the work is beautiful as is the quote. Check it out!
-The voice also encourages Zelda to take the Sheikah Slate and to start her journey. Zelda has lost her memories. Making her way out of the shrine she finds her old prayer dress, still covered in dirt, in one of the chests and makes her way up to the Great Plateau. Cue cinematic of a young confused princess staring at her kingdom, a kingdom she doesn’t even remember. Title drop.
-There is also amazing fanart by http://jujuthevuvu.tumblr.com/ of this moment. Go check it out!
-In the corner of her eye she sees an old man who looks familiar and thus the tutorial begins!
-The fighting mechanic is basically the same but all of the tutorial clues are in Link’s voice “Parry,” “Keep your guard up” “Use a sneak attack” stuff like that, Zelda isn’t sure who she is hearing, if it’s some sort of memory of someone teaching her to fight or there is a voice literally inside her head, either way she picks it up fast.
-The old man at the end of the tutorial brings Zelda to the Temple of Time and asks her to pray at the goddess statue, Zelda does as he asks and nothing happens…the old man sighs in disappointment but Zelda just looks confused.
-Then in a dramatic reveal the old man presents himself to be the King of Hyrule and gives Zelda the backstory of how this young knight named Link kept Ganon away for 100 years using the “Sword that Seals the Darkness.” He also explains how he is the ghost of her father and how he wished he hadn’t been so hard on her in the past, he also tells her to go seek out Impa as she was the one who put her in the shrine, and right before he fades away he tells her he loves her.
-Zelda despite not remembering him, is shown to have a single tear running down her cheek before clutching her fist and diving off the tower.
-She may not know much about this Ganon fellow but that ghost says she is a princess and that logically means she has a duty to her people. It also hurts to hear this man who says he’s her father be so sad, she doesn’t know him but she wants to make him proud.
Look at her go!
-And it’s at that moment that Zelda hears a voice in her head, it’s the quiet one from the shrine, and he only says one thing “I believe in you.”
-Zelda has no doubt that it’s Link, and feels a bit of comfort in this strange new world.
-She makes it Kakarioko village and seeks out Impa, Impa is shocked to discover Zelda has lost her memories but mumbles that perhaps its for the best as Zelda was so hard on herself 100 years ago. She tells the “Legend of Reincarnation”, “The Triforce” and how Zelda is the “Force of Wisdom” and has the power to seal Ganon away.
-Zelda asks if she has that power why didn’t she do it 100 years ago.
-Impa gets quiet for a long time and then finally states that Zelda got very injured before she had a chance to use that power.
-Zelda nods and says she’ll find a way to use this power, she just needs to remember.
-Impa smiles knowingly and agrees. “Of course you will Princess.” She then tells her to seek out the three springs of the Goddess to help her unlock her power.
-Impa also tells her to go see Purah to get her Sheikah slate upgraded.
-She also also tells her that once she has recovered her sealing power she can free the Divine Beasts and release her friends from their prison.
-To get to any of the springs Zelda must first pass a series of trials. There are encampments of monsters that test her courage, shrines and puzzles that test her wisdom and mini-bosses that test her power. When she gets to each spring and begins to pray nothing happens. However at each spring there is a memory to unlock.
-At the Spring of Courage it would be Memory 5: Zelda’s Resentment. If she finds this memory, by the place where Link would stand watching over her when she prayed. Once she prays again he gets a a third of her triforce. One triangle. With just a third of her sealing power she can now sense when Blood Moons will rise. It’ll be a menu icon that shows a mooncycle.
-At the Sprng of Wisdom, Zelda can now witness Memory 7: Blades of the Yiga. Again once she recalls this memory she can now activate another third of her triforce. She can now stun enemies with a blinding light before getting a few attacks in.
-At the Spring of Power Zelda finally recalls Memory11: Shelter from the Storm This memory makes her pause, uncertain if she should pray, if perhaps she is unworthy. But Link’s voice cuts in and states that she has come so far and accomplished so much on her own and that of course she is worthy. Reninvoigorated by his words Zelda prays again and completely unlocks her sealing power. She now has the ability to drain monsters of HP. The power is weak at first, no stronger than the Master Sword with attack damage of 30 but Zelda states that with time and practice she can make it stronger.
-Not to get all ZeLink on you but it’s Zelda’s recollection of her love of Link, the knowledge that he is proud of her and the experience of facing all these trials alone is what allows her to unlock her sealing power. Basically Zelda’s memories got taken away to give her a chance to rebuild her confidence.
-Link tells her after the final Spring that while she has unlocked her power the Master Sword is telling him that it is unfocused and that if she were to find the Great Deku Tree in the lost woods she would find something to help her channel her power.
-Link also tells Zelda that she now has the power to free the Divine Beasts and save their friends.
-If Zelda goes back to Impa she can now unlock all the other memories in the game, since she now has her sealing power reflecting on these memories won’t break her self confidence but renew her resolve to defeat Ganon.
-Finding all 19 memories will make her sealing power stronger and will make the cool down slower.
-Going to the Great Deku tree will reveal the Bow of Light trapped in the ground, it will take 13 hearts to pull it out of the ground. The bow will never break but if Zelda uses 10 light arrows (not a collectable they just come with the bow) in a row, another arrow won’t respawn until a designanted cool down time. Then she can use them again. Using the bow also raises the damage to 60 per arrow instead of 30 when she just uses the power without the bow.
(Dot Voice) Pretend it’s a bow okay?
-And at the Great Deku tree Zelda gets to see the AU version of Memory 17 and Memory 18. That’s right we’re tossing out the mechanic that the memories are tied to location, in this AU they are tied to story progression.
-Using the Bow of Light will increase her damage of sealing power and also decrease the cool down. Without the bow Zelda can use five blasts of sealing power in a row before a cool down, with the bow she can shoot 10 arrows before a cool down.
-So Zelda’s now on her way to every Divine Beast and instead of some random boss like “Fireblight Ganon” it is now the body of the champion possesed and corrupted by Ganon. This is totally based off this super cool fanart by https://roposhipin.tumblr.com/. So the emotional toll in battle is higher, Zelda has to fight through her guilt as well as shock of seeing her friends so mutilated. Also these corrupted figures use the powers of the Champions against Zelda. Basically corrupted!Revali can fly high and avoid your attack, corrupted!Daruk can block your attacks, corrupted!Mipha can heal quickly and corrupted!Urbosa can emit blasts of lightining against you. It’s hard for Zelda to fight against them but Link tells her that if she wins she will save them and that gives her the strenght to fight back. It takes a combination of Zelda’s sealing power, fighting prowess and words of FRIENDSHIP to break through.
-Stuff like “I’m sorry I let you die.” “Your father is so proud of you.” “You were the best warrior in your village.” “You are stronger than this.” Basically, WEAPONIZED EMPATHY and closure all wrapped into a cool battle.
-At the end of each sequence Zelda apologizes for letting them die and wants them all to know that she will defeat Ganon. Each champion presents their gift and says something along the line of being glad that Zelda helped them be free.
-And the final fight at Hyrule castle aka ZELDA TAKING BACK HER HOME!
Get out of my house!
-Zelda fights Ganon using her weapons, the help from the Divine Beasts, and her sealing power, either raw or concentrated with light arrows. During the Dark Beast Portion, Link appears before her with the sword to seal the darkness. He looks around confused and Zelda is about to speak, “Link! I-” when Dark Beast Ganon appears. Sharing a nod of determination they both get on the same horse and as Link cuts holes in the beats’s defenses with the master sword Zelda fires arrows into those hoes to seal it away, you have to avoid the beast blasting you but eventually together with Link, Zelda seals Ganon away.
And stay out!
-The final cinematic is Link saying “I’m so proud of you” goes to bow “My Queen.” And then Zelda with happy tears in her eyes runs towards him and throws herself into a hug, both of them falling to the ground.
-Final post credit scene, Zelda asks Link what the sword said to him that made him face Ganon in the castle. Link is hesitant but eventually says, “The sword knew you could never unlock your sealing power when you felt that you were in my shadow, never living up to your potential the way I had. It said that I had to leave and trust you to survive on your own in order for you to gain access to your sealing power.” Link looks away from her and then back again. “Leaving you that day was the hardest think I’ve ever done but I’m glad I did for I got to see your journey and see you flourish and grow into the great Queen I always knew you could be.”
-Zelda smiles with tears in her eyes and then shakes her head and says “Thank you.”
-They make their way to Vah Ruta, it’s not working and the credits fade to black.
-And yeah the rest of the game is pretty much the same, it’s about Zelda’s arch of redemption, exploring her kingdom, helping her people with side quests and training herself to fight Ganon and become the Queen she was always meant to be.
This is my kingdom and I shall defend it!
-Oh and because I know some of you will ask instead of an elaborate trick to get into Gerudo Town, Zelda has to dress up in that thick Flame Breaker armor and do a side mission with some of the young Gorons and pretending to be a “brother” in order to find Yunobo and begin the Vah Rudania quest.
