Literally no one is talking about the way Zelda and Ganondorf parallel eachother in totk
Zelda makes the ultimate sacrifice and turns into a dragon in order to channel her powers to heal the mastersword and to come back to her original time. Without 100% sure that she would be able to turn back. Yet, she sacrificed her freedom and her Hylian form for Link to just have a small chance of getting the mastersword and saving Hyrule. She is still not even sure if the sword would reach him, but she still risked it.
While Ganondorf does it for the exact opposite. In fact, he doesn't even hesitate to swallow the stone as soon as he realizes he is losing the battle against Link. He turns into a dragon to destroy Link and Hyrule. Willing to completely sacrifice his freedom just because of his undying hatred towards Hyrule and Link.
Zelda does it just because of a small glimpse of hope that Hyrule will be saved.
While Ganondorf does it to completely destroy Hyrule and Link.
I have a headcannon that after botw and before totk link was getting better about staying silent all the time.
Being around zelda definitely made it a bit easier. Zelda, the only person who could understand the weight he'd had to hold. She helped him adjust to the world post-ganon.
He started saying hi to the people in Hateno Village. And evntually telling the children stories about his adventures.
The years went by and the people of Hyrule forgot like didn't used to speak. He had a home. He was at peace. He had Zelda.
And then the upheaval happened. He'd lost his arm. Zelda was in another time. He was back in the war.
And he quite speaking again.
He had been so friendly to everyone in Hyrule. Smiling wide when greeting them, immediately asking about their family.
And to see him again, blank faced and silent. (And filthy. The man doesn't bathe unless Zelda makes him) off course some people didn't recognize him.
Many people only saw him in passing and by the time they say him again.
I stumbled across this video, it's about 10 minutes long if you have the time, but honestly it perfectly illustrates my feelings about botw/totk
I feel quite an isolation from fandom stuff because I haven't been able to love totk the same way I do botw, and this is kind of why.
Totk is a good game, objectively, without doubt. It adds so much. But honestly I don't like that there's so much to do. I'm not a particularly engaged gamer, coming from the likes of animal crossing, so the open air and easy vibe of botw appealed to me. I found myself overwhelmed by the endless tasks, resource collection, and places to revisit in totk that it felt a bit more like get to the end than enjoy the atmosphere as you go.
I feel like the negative space in the game gave the fantastic atmosphere space to breathe, and made the more engaged parts of the game feel more exciting by comparison.
I do feel as though totk could have done a lot more if it hadn't been stuck on structurally following botw. In botw, the vast map, fragmented memories and link's silence fit with an atmosphere of isolation and the aftermath of a great tragedy. (I may also personally be biased cause I'm a depressed bastard and I like those themes...)
But totk has a different story. It's about rebuilding, and community. I don't feel as though the focus on the past worked as well as focusing on the future could have. It felt somewhat repetitive for reasons that didn't benefit that specific story, where they could have done something different.
Anyways, no hate to totk, it's a good game, but I just wanted to share this as I was surprised to come across a video saying exactly what I've been thinking when I couldn't even say it.
this is a half-baked thought but something that caught my attention as I was playing Tears of the Kingdom the other day is that TOTK feels less...embodied than Breath of the Wild? like sure, ruins raining down from the sky? floating ruins? that stuff is cool. but BOTW's shrines have a deeper relationship with the land they occupy. some of them have sat out in the open for a hundred years, being a part of the landscape, but a ton of them are buried in the ground. you can feel the ground rumbling as they emerge. they are very physically part of Hyrule even when people don't know that they're there. and at the end of every shrine, it's not a statue that greets you: it's a full on corpse. a person who remained in that shrine in a state of suspended animation, it seems, solely to provide the hero with a reward that will make him stronger. it was equally as planned as the Zonai shrines, set up to deal with a future evil/calamity, but especially with the overall empty and abandoned feeling of BOTW it feels like the last organized stand of sheikah monks against an overwhelming force of destruction. meanwhile the Zonai shrines feel almost happy go lucky by comparison. the story of what happened in the past feels like it has stakes, but that energy doesn't carry through as much as it could past the initial "Zelda is trapped!!" scenes.
but on the other hand I really do like the dual plot with Zelda and Link and the themes of community and the way side characters are more engaged and present in TOTK. I just don't know yet what to make of how the shrines feel kind of lackluster to me as the central mechanic in TOTK. I guess part of it is that constructs are cool and dangerous but way less fear-inspiring than guardians. incidentally guardians also have literal contact with the ground, which maybe makes them feel more sturdy. they also feel less sapient than constructs, which in some ways make them scarier - they feel programmed just to keep attacking you, so you better have a plan or you're screwed. maybe I'm also biased by already knowing the map itself pretty well from BOTW so there's less discovery involved, even with the TOTK changes. and on a meta level I understand why TOTK is so different from BOTW and I'm not faulting the devs for making a different game in itself. but it's also frustrating being like, there were zero hints in BOTW about Zonai tech/early Hyrule despite all that stuff coming into being right away in TOTK. or if there were any I can't think of them. surely SOMETHING would have been hanging around in a place where Link might notice it.
I'm actually hoping that by starting to analyze this stuff I'll gain a new appreciation for TOTK. I don't think I'll ever like it as much as BOTW. but I want to give it a fairer chance by thinking about it.
my headcanon theory for why no one remembers Link in TotK is that since it's Link's thing to have a bad memory (Purah even mentions this herself), everyone is super over-accomodating, and act like they've never seen him before to save the Hero of Hyrule from embarrassment in case he randomly forgets who they are one day
In my honest opinion, Tears of the Kingdom's story and overall tone feel both darker and lighter compared to Breath of the Wild, but overall brighter. Like sure, you have more horror elements such as the Depths and new monsters (Gibdos, Gloom Spawn, Phantom Ganon, etc.), but you also have multiple companions who travel and fight alongside you, and people all over Hyrule tell you how much they support you and are working to help you in any way they can. Not only that, but the average citizens are also working to help each other during the Upheaval even without your input. You've got the monster-control crews clearing out monsters as a team, researchers studying the Zonai ruins and Depths, people delivering supplies to Rito Village during their food shortage... And those are just the examples I can come up with off the top of my head. It's a huge change from BOTW, where you were constantly traversing the wilderness alone and it felt like you were the only one who could or would save the world. Compared to TOTK, BOTW's world feels so much lonelier and more desolate.
Basically: the world has become a scarier place, but you don't have to face it alone anymore. There are plenty of people who are willing to help you, and we can accomplish great things when we work together.
It's a theme that resonates with me a lot, especially given the world and the changes happening around us today. I think it would resonate with a lot of other people too.
Since I can tell you really like Rauru, this won't be something that I think you'll enjoy seeing, but I feel like I have to point it out...
He's basically an imperialist.
Yeah, I said it.
Think about it; this guy has the Hylian equivalent of the world's entire nuclear stockpile, he and his wife each wear one as jewelry, and presumably the two of them have "peacefully" asked each ruler to form an alliance with Hyrule. Is that not mildly creepy? And he doesn't give anyone who isn't a Hylian a Secret Stone until they swear absolute loyalty to him.
I'm not saying I think Rauru is the sort of person who would actually use his stone to wipe out a nation that defies him, because I don't, but just that possibility freaks me out.
And as for his one political interaction with Ganondorf, you've probably heard about the racist implications of the Middle Eastern-coded race being effectively strongarmed into swearing allegiance to the British Empire-coded race.
I'm sorry if this isn't something you wanted to see, but I feel the need to ask around about this.
I'm not entirely sure what your intention with this ask is so if you're trying to get me to get defensive or slip up and give weird poilitical opinions so you can call me out please don't, I'm just trying to have fun playing a game here.
That said I think you're absolutely right.
I've said I like Rauru because I think his character design is asthetically really cool, which it is, and I liked the emotion and drama in that one scene which I assume you've seen the post about. I also think he's great compared to king rhoam from botw who was in many instances playing a similar role, he's nicer to Link in the opening tutorial sections, and he's a much better father figure to Zelda in the memories.
You're completely right about the questionable political and imperialist implications of what goes on in the game though. Like right from the very beginning I was feeling kinda iffy about the whole gods coming down from the sky and ruling over hylians thing with the zonai, my brain was screaming colonialism, and the racial coding of the Hylians vs the Gerudo in loz has always been a problem. Which is something I liked better about BOTW and TOTK where they're the "good guys" (with the exception of Ganondorf) and there are acutally nuanced and important characters from that race, compared to earlier portrayals in games like Ocarina of Time where they're basically just evil thieves.
I haven't got all the memories yet, so I haven't seen everything and I don't know everything about the specific events with Rauru, Sonia, Ganondorf and Zelda and I can't give too many opinions on that.
The memory where all the sages swear undying fealty to Rauru as king is creepy as and I hate it. It felt very cultish and had very questionable implications.
I do like Rauru as a character and a person (so far), but i'm well aware of the problematic system he's a part of and the things he represents.
The start of a series for all the memories from TotK. A collab with @twist-dg where we translate the french version of LoZ into english and compare it with the english version - This is Memory #1. Analysis contains FULL STORY SPOILERS read at your own risk
Frn!Deku Tree: Quelle joie de vous revoir... La prêtresse royale d'Hyrule... et le maître de l'épée de légende... Link... Ton arme a retrouvé toute sa puissance. Tu vas pouvoir la brandir à nouveau.
Direct translation: What joy to see you again... The royal priestess of Hyrule... and the master of the sword of legend... Link... Your weapon has regained all of its power. You will be able to brandish it again.
Eng!Deku Tree: It is good to see you... Princess Zelda of Hyrule. And Link, keeper of the Master Sword. Your blade has been fully restored. Go on then, Link. Draw it once more.
Analysis: Not "Princess Zelda," oddly enough, but "Royal Priestess." No instruction to take the sword again in French; this does not really change the context of the scene.
Direct translation: Venerable Mojo Tree, many thanks!
Eng!Zelda: Great Deku Tree, thank you so much.
Frn!Deku Tree: Inutile de me remercier... Rien de ce que s'est produit n'est de mon fait !
Direct translation: It's unnecessary to thank me... Nothing of what happened is of my doing!
Eng!Deku Tree: Ha ha ha... There is no need for thanks. I merely watched over its renewal.
Analysis: Frn!Deku Tree's laugh is not subbed.
--
Frn!Zelda: L'épée se régénère d'elle-même avec le temps ? Quelles que soient les blessures qu'elle reçoit, elle retrouve toujours son intégrité ?
Direct translation: The sword regenerates by herself with time? No matter what injuries she receives, she always finds herself in her entirety?
Eng!Zelda: It is amazing that a sword can heal itself, no matter how badly damaged it becomes...
Analysis: Frn!Zelda asks a question, where Eng!Zelda makes a statement. It makes the scene feel slightly different in terms of foreshadowing.
--
Frn!Deku Tree: Cela va même encore plus loin... Qu'un pourvoir sacré l'abreuve, et la puissance légendaire de l'épée divine grandira encore. Plus grand est le pouvoir qui la nourrit, plus puissante sera l'épée. Telle est la nature de la lame formidable qui selon les mythes et légendes fut forgée par la Déesse...
Direct translation: This goes even further... If a sacred power waters it, the legendary power of the divine blade will grow. The bigger the power feeding it, the more powerful the blade will be. Such is the nature of the formidable blade that according to the myths and legends was forged by the Goddess...
Eng!Deku Tree: It can do more than heal. The sword will continue to gain strength if bathed in sacred power. The stronger that power, the more powerful the sword becomes. The potential of this fabled blade may well be limitless. Truly the work of a goddess.
Analysis: Frn!Deku Tree seems more sure of what the blade can do compared to Eng!Deku Tree.
--
Frn!Zelda: Alors, sa puissance peut croître encore... L'épée de légende...
Direct translation: So, her strength can still grow... The sword of legend...
Eng!Zelda: A sword... that grows ever stronger. The Master Sword.
Analysis: The French version doesn't really have a name for the Master Sword, they just call it "the sword of legend".
