#war trio

[ghosthoard]

Here I am, still missing you

Twilight & Wild

Time & Twilight

FICTION

an great piece by @123secofapen for this art!!! check out their ao3 while you're at it!!!

[bokettochild]

ummmm some headcanons about when the war trio first met again?

Sure!

Time/Mask was first. Warriors was still new to his position when he met the kid and he actually went through the first half of the war with just Mask (because in game, you can't actually play any levels with Wind until you've unlocked an item from fighting Ganon, which isn't possible, in world, until after Cia is down)

Mask is only unlocked after a level where you have to fight him as the end boss, so I HC that Wars met him on the battlefield. Mask got dropped into a strange world and the soldiers all assumed he was some sort of a demon who was disguised as a child because he was seen using his various masks, and so they attacked, thinking he was from the enemy side. Naturally, Mask fought back, and it took Warriors showing up and putting 2 + 2 together (after defeating him) for Mask to be considered an ally rather than a foe.

Being treated as an enemy for a sort while did prompt Mask to hold a grudge against War' soldiers for a very considerable amount of time and he still has some residual beef with them even now, although it's channeled more into pranks and scaring the wits out of them than any actual harm anymore

As I mentioned in one of my other HC posts, Warriors is, essentially, a foster Great Fairy, by total accident, and the residual magic from the fairy corps is one of the reasons Mask eventually came to trust him. The second Mask saw that the guy had a fairy, he started rethinking whether he was a friend or foe, and then when he found out there was a whole fountain of them (a gathering for fairies is called a fountain) he just up and decided Wars was a good person because when are fairies ever wrong? If they like him, he's gotta be a good person (also, it makes him think of the Deku Tree)

Half the army are convinced that Mask is some sort of changling, and he leaned into that HEAVILY. Wars didn't care as long as he behaved himself for the most part (he's not entirely unconvinced that it's not true himself; the man's a Celt and thus, while not neccessarily superstitious, he's also not stupid; he believes those things are real and to be respected)

Warriors took legal custody for Mask after the battle with Cia. prior to that, there was too much happening at once for anyone to care too much about the politics of it. Impa gave up trying to tell Mask to stay at camp and basically just told Wars the kid was his problem and to keep an eye on him, and that was that. they're not family by choice so much as Mask was assigned Warriors' Charge at arrival

Mask was very much not present when the trio (Warriors, Artemis and Lana) all met Cia for the first time and split off into different eras to track her down. He was thus left out of the time travel part of the journey and spent the whole while just having a freaking panic attack until they got back

Warriors returning with the Master Sword in hand was very jarring for Mask, but he was also just so relieved to have Wars back that he sort of forgot about it. Prior to this, he was trying to maintain the tough guy act, but he actually opened up a lot and got downright clingy once War got back from Skyloft (he realized that he could lose Wars and that even the idea of that was heartbreaking, so he decided to give into his feelings already and embrace their dynamic)

Wars and Mask bonded a lot over the fairies and Epona.

Mask avoided talking about the Master Sword with Wars, but when he saw Wars starting to get cocky, their relationship started getting rocky and they had many fights about it

Mask blames the sword for Warriors nearly dying, and getting captured by Cia, a rescue he was not allowed to be part of, much to his fury

BECAUSE Mask and Wars had the first half of the adventure to themselves, they already had a pre-existant dynamic by the time Tune rocked up, which meant it had to shift and change to accommodate him, something Wind was very aware of

Warriors was fresh out of training and with no experience parenting a twelve year old when he met Mask, so he ended up taking on a more brotherly role initially, handling mask like he would his sisters. By the time Tune showed up though, it was becoming more of a paternal position because he'd taken custody and was coming into himself as a leader and somebody to be looked to, not just relied on.

As I've mentioned in fics, Mask was very jealous about having to share Warriors with Tune, and made many attempts to make it clear just how unwelcome the sailor was. None of them really worked, but it just made him even more angry when Tune didn't even get upset by it

Tune actually though Mask was just a bratty little imp for the first bit, and as a big brother, he is very used to childish chaos, and sort of took a lot of it in stride

the boys ended up coming to a tentative truce, not because they grew fond of each other, but because Warriors was under so much stress all the time and they both wanted to help him

Tune is the cook of the trio, Warriors is the medic, and Mask had the scary dog privileges. Maybe not a traditional family, but they made it work

Being as he's very possessive, where Mask was previously just a bit clingy with Wars, the second Tune showed up he was basically glued to the man's side. Refuses to sleep in his own bedroll and always had to be walking closest, so on and so forth. Typical jealous child stuff, just turned up a bit because this one was raised by the fae

Wind has several scars that are just from Time having bitten him as a child.

Warriors came to see Mask as a kid who needed his help, guidance, and love, but Tune more as someone he could rely on, trust, and discuss things with. This sparked a lot of jealousy from Mask, but also set a standard in Wind's mind of how older heroes SHOULD be treating him

I have only played to the battle against Cia, and thus though the first half of the game, so I can't say too much more ATM, but I hope this will do!

Thanks for the ask! I didn't realize I had so many ideas after my playthrough!

[damn-right-reo]

Sometimes I think I’m funny.

Wars is so done with his friend/brother/son being a pain in his ass.

redraw of this vine! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKD9cZSwx6Q

[zero-is-nebulous]

I can't beleive their trio name is the buttercups

[ghosthoard]

⚠️blood and main character death and bad quality video⚠️

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

GET FANJOYJULY'D @elle-rosewater!!!

The politics! The humor! The brotherhood! The emotions! The intrigue! The magic! The misunderstandings! THE ANGST HITS THE SPOT! ELLE WRITES SO GOOD!

this fic is the epitome of: *slaps warriors* this guy can fit a so much trauma in him!

damn does this fic make me want to shake Warriors about so his sense of self-worth gets knocked into place

thank you for sharing the fic, elle!

(It’s 3 in the AM for me and I wanted to schedule this post for the morning which means I can’t think properly so I might add some stuff later)

for better quality bc i don't know how to fight tumblr about the video quality

[ghosthoard]

[ghosthoard]

*slams this on the table*

I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS WARRIORS SLANDER/j

APPRECIATE THE PRETTY BOY CAPTAIN

[ghosthoard]

spooks! this is a formal request for you to share the behind-the-scenes creator's commentary on the making of your war trio "porque te vas" animation! how'd you get the idea for your spin on it? how'd you decided which lines went to who and when they moved? which part was easy peasy? What gave you the most trouble? how dare you? anything about the process surprise you?

THE WRITER OF THE HOUR

request granted! thank you for asking, i love sharing my thought processes!

related links:

The fic in question:

MUST READ!

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

(the link widget finally decided to work!!!)

The art in question: war trio's porque te vas

this is how it happened:

Around April: so i'm scrolling tiktok and the porque te vas animation meme was trending and around the same time i had a brain worm named "Steel Can't Carry Me Now" by ElliotRosewater (you (yes, you) should read it btw)

and there were three versions of the porque te vas trend, the original in Spanish, the Portuguese, and the Russian. and all of them were devastating versions in their own way. BUT the original, spanish version threw that brain worm named steel a bone because it. was. PERFECT

All the promises of my love will leave with you You'll forget about me, you'll forget about me Next to the station I will cry just like a kid Because you're leaving Because you're leaving Because you're leaving Why are you leaving?

for context before i get into why this fits the fic so well:

the premise of steel is that after all the links die, they meet in a version of heaven. reunions happen and their shared spirit is singing and rejoicing because yay everybody is together! everything is as it should be! nothing is missing, the eight of them are finally together again.

but no, they weren't complete, (they're a set, do not separate), because someone is missing.

warriors isn't there? they forgot him??? how could they have forgotten him, even for a moment??? their brother??? it gets worse, bc when they start searching for him, they're told that a hero of warriors doesn't exist. his whole era doesn't exist.

dun dun DUN

so my theory is that warriors, the self-sacrificial, the bottom of the barrel self-esteem, mr. i-don't-deserve-any-of-this-in-fact-i-deserve-the-worst, hero of warriors is the cause of his own deletion from history, memory, and celestial being. it wasn't hylia or lana or cia, it was warriors who decided that nobody will miss him so actually, it's not even a sacrifice if he deleted himself from memory to save something or someone.

YOU SEE THE PERFECTION OF THE FIRST TWO LINES??? DO YOU SEE IT???

All the promises of my love will leave with you You'll forget about me, you'll forget about me

(but also if my theory isnt correct the lyrics can still apply which is great)

WARRIORS

i started drawing May 2nd at 8:20 pm, my procreate file says. and apparently i posted a wip the same day XD. this was after my family moved during my 2 week break and i only had a couple of days left to draw and i was so relieved to sit down and draw again.

i honestly feel like i have to draw to live, it was killing me not to

i had two goals for warriors's animation

i decided wars is going to smile while he's saying these devastating lines. he's going to have the saddest smile you've ever laid your eyes on with love in his eyes.

he's going to die. and he's going to die in a way that'll make your heart wail. i wanted his death to be awful and tragic and he's going to be dead for the majority of the video

i also just love the first line. the way i interpret it is that his love for them will stay with them, he's letting them and his love for them go, he'll be with them, his love will be with them, but they won't remember him or his love. but also, ultimately he's breaking the promise of his love by making them forget him.

(also i was inspired by @mirensiart to start adding a beauty mark under wars's right eye! and in japanese it's called a 泣きぼくろ, pronounced "nakibokuro," translating to "tear mole." and according to folk belief, it can mean someone is prone to crying, is crying on the inside, that they have a tragic life, etc. LINK TO WHERE I GOT THE QUOTE and i will be adding it on every warriors fanart from now on, thank you very much)

MASK AND TUNE

next lines were perfect for tune and mask

Next to the station I will cry just like a kid

in my head "station" was replaced by "portal".

and "i will cry just like a kid" makes me think of how both tune and mask grew up to be the men that they are because of wars and without wars. and that's their BIG BROTHER! WARS RAISED THOSE TWO RASCALS. so they're going to cry like a kid even with their years and their experiences because thATS THEIR BIG BROTHER SUFFERING AND DEAD AND GONE AND FORGOTTEN.

so this is when i made the damning mistake of thinking:

"wouldn't it be sad if they both turned to look at warriors (dead)?"

in the original animation meme, the main animations were the eyes and the mouth. characters would just move their eyes to look at each other and they would lip sync the lyrics. that's it. because animation memes have a set format and the format is usually simple bc THEYRE SUPPOSE TO BE DONE SIMPLY AND QUICKLY

BUT NO! MY DUMBASS WAS LIKE "wouldn't it be sad—" AND I MADE IT SO MUCH MORE COMPLICATED AND IT TOOK ME SO MUCH LONGER AND COLORING WAS MY ENEMY. ANIMATION TAKES SO LONGGGG

but it was worth it. i love what i made and i love that i could give back to elle.

the character acting for mask was fun to do. it's fun making that kid cry. mask looks away from wars first bc he doesn’t want to confront the truth of it but eventually forces himself to face it. And when he does, he’s looking at wars still for just a moment hoping he’ll look back. he's also the more angry looking of the two because he's angry this is happening, angry at warriors, angry at himself, angry angry angry. he's holding on to the scarf, he's holding on to wars, he wants him back, give him back.

tune is the braver one, he's the one who has more of an understanding of what's happening with wars, but he's trying to keep it together. for himself, for wars, for mask. which is why he turns to wars first, he says "because you left" directly to wars's corpse first, knowing what he’ll see and he still looks bc he owes wars that much and he needs to be brave for mask, but he’s still his captain’s baby tune and he can’t stop himself from breaking down.

Also I saw some people who were doing the trend change the last “bc you are leaving” into “why are you leaving?” And I loved that, I thought it really added more angst. I thought it might be something the Spanish language does where there can be two meanings of the sentence but maybe it’s just a mistranslation. if someone knows, educate me!

Finally, i wanted both of them to rest their heads against wars just to hurt people, just to be quirky

AMARANTHS

at some point in the process, i asked elle "do you have a specific flower that represents steel?" and elle said amaranths, specifically the "love lies bleeding" one

something like this:

and i looked up what amaranth meant in flower language and ugh! poetic! ELLE’S MINDDDDD!!!

an imaginary flower —(remember legend saying "I can't feel him. Not like he's too far away, but like he'd never been there at all." remember how they were told "There is no Hero of Warriors.")— that never fades (remember Time saying "If it weren't for my own memories of him, it would be as though he had never existed." remember how "Legend brushed softly over the bond with the captain, and he wasn't the only one" how sky claimed what's his "I want all of them – of us – together. I don't want what remains to be bigger or stronger. I want the people that should be here to be here")

"love lies bleeding" and "an imaginary flower that never fades" (remember how he did fade in their memory even for a moment, remember how they were told he wasn't real, remember how warriors left all of his love for his boys, remember how he lied bleeding, here I'll remind you)

LAST FEW QUESTIONS

the things that gave me the most trouble was the color and the background.

coloring because, i had the animation done! i got a wave of dopamine and it felt like i was done because hey! they were moving! it's done right? WRONG you gotta color, idiot! but i knew it would look better with color so i buckled down.

the background! a similar problem, i wanted to be finished so bad because if i didn't finish that weekend, it meant that i would have to wait until next weekend to finish and i could taste it, i could lick the finish line. i do think i rushed it, i at one point considered leaving the amaranths out because i wanted to keep the scarf because i love the idea of wars and his love still supporting and enveloping them as symbolized by his all-encompassing scarf,

but then bc of the scarf i had no room for the amaranths except for the gap between the two ends of the scarf. so it looks a bit unfinished and the blue definitely is ALL ENCOMPASSING. i think if i rendered the scarf better i would be more satisfied because it looks a bit odd to me.

And I also added the amaranths bc i honestly had no choice. they’re pivotal. they gotta be there.

A little thing I overlooked until it was too late was that tune and masks tears shouldn’t be going straight down their face when they’re laying down, they should be going to the sides. but I noticed late in the game and I said screw physics and continued on my way

Overall though! i still love it!

something that surprised me was that i did enjoy coloring! even if i would rather not have done it XD. I think i like the way i rendered the boys and i learned a new way to color!

also wars lost his color and warmth because the hero's spirit left him.

lastly:

how dare I??? HOW DARE YOU!

everybody, you got the wrong guy, it's elle you should be upset at! /joke.

*points in elle's direction* this is all her fault! it's her you want!

FINAL THOUGHTS

did you guys know elle leaves some of the best comments??? i remember elle first by how she commented on my first ever warriors and mask video and her comment really made an impression on me. and every time there was a whiff of mask and wars and tune she'd be there in the comments. finally i got curious enough to go look at her profile and found that she has an ongoing fic. I read it and it grabs me by the neck. I start yelling back at elle about her fic just like she yelled about my art.

i also love dropping hints in my wips. i love showing people a small puzzle piece and when the puzzle was done they point and say that's what that piece was for?!?! and i did this to elle for weeks, she got a bunch of sneak peaks and she says she didn't expect it in her comments but i don't know if i believe her honestly bc i thought i was being pretty obvious and she was just too nice not to point out that the jig was up.

elle has such a beautiful, painful understanding of these characters. every time she talks about them it opens my mind!!!

im glad you liked the animatic, elle! again thank you for writing and sharing steel with us <3<3<3

EXTRA & ITS GOING INTO BIGGER FIC SPOILERS:

the animation meme usually has all of the characters look up at the same time in the beginning of the video, but! for this one, I had wars look up alone and die before the other two looked up. because they were too late. they missed each other.

in the fic, what really stuck with me is a scene where wind yells at mask/time "I did the best I could, but I had to do it backwards!" both tune and time missed their chances to help wars for their own reasons and i wanted to convey that through how they look up after wars dies and also how they look at wars at different times, tune looks first, mask looks second, it doesn't matter in the end because wars is already dead.

also also, wars never looks at either one of them. he can't bear to. so ultimately he misses his chance.

isn't that fun :D

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