TWO HEROIC MEN TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 9

TWO HEROIC MEN TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS

I stood a while with Sidon on the dock before we spoke. When we did he turned and flashed his winning grin at me—a bit more subdued this time.

I don’t suppose waiting would have made it any easier. But then.... somehow, with Sidon there, in all his mad grinning confidence, his unwavering surety.... maybe it didn’t seem like such a hard thing after all.

He leapt into the water, flipping like he does, and called me in. I would ride on his back. He would get me close, and with my Zora Armor I would be able to ascend the four waterfalls spilling from Vah Ruta’s back, to land my Shock Arrows on the orbs above.

And away we went, slicing through the water at incredible speed! Prince Sidon’s dulcet tenor spurring us onward, steady as a rock—that guy could move. And when Vah Ruta reacted to our presence—I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that!

How it trumpeted, crying out so loudly—pulling huge blocks of ice from the water, hovering them up as if by magic, and hurling them at us one after the other.

“Get rid of that ice!” the Prince shouted to me. Two of the bergs struck us, and it hurt—Sidon punched through—before I got my fumbling bow into my hands, whereupon I started dropping them out of the air one by one as Sidon flew through the water in a wide curve, arcing round the beast. Spray flew, rain slashed at our faces, and when Vah Ruta’s opening volley had run dry, Sidon darted in toward its side—“Do you have those Shock Arrows?” he called.

Man. His voice so fair and princely even here.

I readied them in my quiver. Sidon came right up against the raging beast’s side, maintaining a swift movement—no static targets here—as he bounded back and forth between two of the waterfalls. “Now, Link!”

I took the fall on the right side, I leapt from his back, spearing upward, upward, leaping in and out of the current like a fish, testament to the handiwork of Lady Mipha—until I broke through the upper surface and shot into the air—high above my target. I drew my bow, looked down, and time seemed to slow.... There was the orb, huge and pink, I drew, pulled back, let fly.... everything crackled and yellow and then I was falling....

I plashed back into the water with jarring violence, back in the tempest, back in the storm, back up to speed—“Nice going!”—there he was—and I grabbed onto the Prince’s back again and he hauled us outta there—Vah Ruta had collected more ice to try and crush us with—grateful I was carrying so many arrows.... though my bows couldn’t take all the firing.... grateful I was packing more than one bow....

Again and again, THAT VOICE.

WHO VOICED THIS GUY?

“Can you stop that ice?”

“Get those Shock Arrows!”

“You did it, Link!”

“Shock Arrows ready?”

And as I plummeted from the final orb—“Marvelous!”

AND YOU KNOW? It’s possible it’s not even a stupendous actor and he’s just lucky to be riding on the writing and animation of a character who already bleeds charisma! But I just like him!

Just channeling through the water like a mad torpedo on the back of the Prince of the Zoras, diving up waterfalls and sailing into the sky for freefalling archery with that friggin’ dulcet tenor still playing the cheer squad and EAUGH!

Do you know how hard I pumped my fists, how high I pranced and skipped as I went to close the curtains because it was getting dark, how convicted my affirmations to the house at large that “THAT WAS SO COOL”?

GAUGH.

Yes, I think the voice acting did add something, thickened the atmosphere of the charged, charged moment.

And as the Divine Beast Vah Ruta quieted, as the waterflow cut off and the sky became brighter.... Sidon took us in close—there was a platform....

“You wanted to get inside that thing, right?”

I did want to get inside it.

I still had to infiltrate its depths, and retake it for Princess Zelda.

“Finish the job, Link,” Sidon urged, low and even from the water below as the Beast began to float higher and I was lifted away, higher and higher....

Shatterback Point

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 8

Shatterback Point

I could see the Lynel down through the pines, still prowling over his meadow.

That was a beast so fierce....

I’d gotten my twenty shock arrows. Plus four more I found stuck in the highest tree on the mountain—near which I saw a sign jutting out of the rock. It read:

JUMP AT YOUR OWN RISK

For there was the precipice.

I still wore my Zora Armor, and was not catching a chill.

Shatterback point, it seemed, was still in an accessible altitude.

The sun was brighter up here, and far, far below in the Reservoir, the Divine Beast Vah Ruta still spewed and churned its endless surge of water up into the air.

My gosh the views from up here.... I could see a few unvisited shrines! But such a strain to look back over the long miles I had traveled since my awakening. The Dueling Peaks lost in the surging waterspout. These were landscapes unfamiliar to me. I was far from.... well anywhere really.

I took several moments to catch my breath.

The force to be reckoned with here....

But.... eventually I had nowhere else to go.... but down.

I knew if I jumped over water, I would arc into a dive.

And this was a good diving spot, Gruve had said. His favorite.

And I could see the Reservoir below me. Misted over by mere atmosphere, my gosh....

And screwing up my courage.... I leapt.

Plummeting, plummeting, spearing down through the air and—a diagonal line of contrast cut across my view almost directly below me. Dark on one side, light on the other.

It was the shore, no, I was going to land in the shallows—Gruve was this part of your diving thrill?

It rushed toward me as I joysticked upward and could not deviate from my course and—no, it was not the shore—it was the mountain’s shadow on the water—

Splash!

I had arrived at the—in the Eastern Reservoir.

Thank goodness there was a shore, though, just a short swim behind me now. I made for it....

Once on solid ground again I hiked back westward over the paths and craggy rocks toward the Reservoir wall above Zora’s Domain. There was a long pier there—one of four, I think, about the Reservoir—hewn of the same light blue stone as all the other Zoran architecture I had seen. A hop, skip and a jump more to a big bald shelf of stone, and I came even with it.

Prince Sidon was standing there at its end, gazing out over the grey water.

I called out to him, but I don’t think he could hear me. Probably the roar of Vah Ruta’s constant waterspouting.

But it was only a few more moments of climbing, and jumping over some guardrails, before I made it to the pier myself.

It was quite nice, broad and spacious, with a kind of ramada on the wallward side, away from the water, with a bed underneath it. A soft bed, sheltered from the rain....

Sidon was keen to my presence by this point, but I’d decided I needed to rest up for a bit before we did this, and he respected that.

It was some time after seven in the evening. I figured a full night’s sleep would do me good—I’d just about had it with that Lynel.

I rested until the morning....

Dance with the Devil

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 7

Dance with the Devil

(In the pale sunlight as it happened)

As I ascended the mountain, I thought I saw yellowish shafts protruding from the high pines. Stray discarded Shock Arrows.

It started getting cold, and my nose and cheeks turned rosy and my breath came out in little clouds. I wondered if I would have to switch to my Warm Doublet.

Higher up, a weak sunlight managed to penetrate the clouds and water—I could see Vah Ruta far below me in the Reservoir, casting it all up into the sky by its trunk like a smokestack. So much water.

But in the slightly stronger light I could see clearly: these were definitely Shock Arrows stuck in these tree trunks. I plucked a few of them out, tucking them away for later. I would need quite a few. I hoped I could get this over with quickly and deftly....

Sunlight reflected off the long wet grass into my face, glowing the ground into a blinding aura near the high, wide meadow.

Would it be like Talus Junior? Would I be able to see it? I moved slowly, very slowly.... taking my time at every step, keeping my distance, holding back....

But all at once a cinematic made the introduction for us.

Save me there it pawed the ground: six-limbed, four strong hooves, two brawny arms, muscly, horned, thick red-maned, and armed. What was its face but a terrible dark blur with glinting eyes?

The cutscene left me waiting round the side of a large boulder as the Lynel approached from the meadow.

I stepped out where it could see me—and I could see it—and raised my Sheikah Slate as it charged.

I think I captured the last sight any number of good men may have seen. If Laflat didn’t like that photo, I didn’t know what she would.

And after that....

After that....

....

Y’ever play ring-around-the-rosie with the Devil?

It was big. And it was fast. And its weapons were many, for what little implementation it possessed. Sword and shield to be sure—and claws—and fangs—and horns—and kicking, trampling hooves like flints. And snapping, crackling Shock Arrows.

I ran. You bet your sweet Canadian mullets I ran as hard as I could. Fast it would come charging at me, the swing of its gigantic sword missing me by inches as I tore to the side. I just needed to get those arrows I saw sticking out of the ground and out of the trees everywhere.

Have you ever stopped to climb a tree when there’s a giant man-horse-lion beast galloping at you?

Other times I was not so lucky—if I could not clear its path in time, if its sword caught me, or its swiping hands found me—

I know at least one fairy came to my aid.

More than once I was sent flying, reeling and wheeling head over heels through the air, spinning, spinning to slam back onto the wet grass below—

“Get up get up get up, Link, get up!!!”

Where was it? And it would make another pass, come at me again. Stop, raise its bow—I would hear the crackling of yellow lightning in its hands—I leapt from the puddle I had stopped in—the arrow stuck in there wouldn’t do me any good if I got fried trying to retrieve it—barely made it out before the zapping explosion erupted behind me—

The Lynel was so fast, both on its feet and in its tactics, and I was small. I was eating through my restorative provisions at the fastest rate I had ever done—I’d cooked so many meals in Zora’s Domain beforehand that even my hammerspace pockets couldn’t hold anymore.... Well they’d have more room now, I thought.

And Holy DIN when I jumped aside from one of its attacks to see it skidding to a vicious halt, its claws and teeth chewing and RIPPING into the grass, into the ground, into the low prey-space I had vacated by only a fraction of a heartbeat—it meant to rend me asunder and then devour me.

Only a few more arrows....

But I couldn’t keep this up forever....

Uphill, uphill, UPHILL!! It had left some arrows below its meadow.... maybe there were some higher up as well....

Uphill, Link, uphill, run run run faster, Link, faster....

The Tale of the Dread Octorok

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 6

The Tale of the Dread Octorok

I saw one more stone bearing a carved history, as I made my way up the mountain.

This one was actually about Prince Sidon.

He traveled to—I don’t remember the name of the bay—to confront an enormous octorok that had been terrorizing the populace there, and wreaking havoc on the fishing trade.

He battled with it valiantly to be sure, but in the end—it swallowed him whole.

Many a brave Zora had gone that way, and none had ever returned.

But just when all seemed lost, the octorok began to writhe and twist in pain—its stomach distended and bulged—Prince Sidon’s spear tip pierced its side.

The beast could suffer no further wounding, and so coughed up the Prince onto the beach and fled away into the sea.

And none had ever seen it again.

....

Why do I have a feeling that might be about to change....?

What is Courage?

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 5

What is Courage?

I had thoroughly explored the Domain, and there were two roads I had not followed to their ends—because their ends trailed away into mountains and wildlands and I had had enough trekking through the dangerous wilderness for the time being.

But now I had to follow the east road out, which would lead me straight onto Ploymus Mountain.

Laflat met me at the edge of the square.

She knew where I was headed, and she told me there was some fool in the Domain, a diving fanatic, who kept pressuring others into going there as well and diving off Shatterback Point by questioning their courage.

“Oh yeah, Gruve, I know that guy,” I didn’t say.

The problem, she said, was that the mountain was too dangerous—Laflat knew there was a Lynel living somewhere on it, and she often tried to discourage people from going there, but she needed help.

She asked me to take a picture of the Lynel and bring it back to her. That way she said she could better describe it in terrible detail to frighten her fellow Zoras away from going there and doing anything stupid.

Well.... I’m not one to condone fear-mongering.... though I don’t suppose I can blame her. The application of Fear is, time-tested, the easiest and most effective way to control other people, after all.

But she didn’t seem like one to abuse it; this particular fear sounded like it might perhaps be a healthy one. I agreed to help her.

I had been delighted to see Mikau and Lulu Lakes on my map. But as I approached them now and prepared to ascend their many-layered falls under the brooding downpour, they brought me no joy. Just a handful of herbs and a few good frogs I could cook up later.

I had heard of Lynels before. I’d even seen a picture once or twice. I know what your centaurs are now, Joseph.

How big would it be?

Was it fierce?

Did it really carry a sword and shield?

Would I have to wait for it to shoot every single arrow I had to collect? Pick them from the ground?

I gazed up the darkened curtains of water. The sky had been gloomed over so grey, the same color, day and night, for so long. You couldn’t even tell what time it was without looking at a clock.

How soon would I find the Lynel?

Or would it find me first?

“‘Not the absence of fear’,” I reminded myself in a murmur, and speared up the first waterfall.

DEEPLY MOVED

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 4

DEEPLY MOVED

When I traveled back to Zora’s Domain, I exited the shrine’s grotto, and came upon Gruve looking over a waterfall that spilled into the lowest lake at the base of the Domain.

He was impressed with my new Zora Armor, and told me to show him what I could do with it: dive down—with my most beautiful diving form!—and then swim back up the waterfall.

I peered over the edge. I’d combed the bottom of the Domain and scooped up plenty of fallen treasures down there, and I knew there were also plenty of rocks.

But I took a leap of faith, arced right over and speared into the water like an arrow.

Gruve was moved to tears by my graceful execution, and called me to swim back up the waterfall.

Well, King Dorephan had said I’d be able to do that with the Zora Armor.... now was as good a time as any to try it. I swam to where the roaring column of water pounded into the lake below in a swirling, churning froth.... and pressed A.

I shot up the inside of the funnel like a salmon!—leaping out at whiles like a dolphin!—until I shot out the top of the fall, high into the air, high above Gruve, and at the very height of my freefall clung onto my glider to hover slowly back down to the platform.

Gruve just could not get over the stunning display of my hydrodynamic form.

He gave me some seeds I can cook with that will make me run—and swim—faster.

Mystical Shishkabob

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 3

Mystical Shishkabob

I sometimes wonder what people must think when I use the Sheikah Slate to Travel. Disappearing in a ribbony blue glow right before their eyes.... I hope poor Muzu didn’t have a heart attack.

I came down at the shrine above Kakariko and headed into Cotera’s forest. One of those little rabbit-spirits was running around—I’d heard that anyone with the skill to hit one with an arrow would find a nice surprise.... Oh but they’d seemed so cute and sweet, I thought, even as I nocked my arrow and took aim....

It squeaked when the arrow connected, and ran off through the grass. But at the spot where it had been hit, that spot of ground.... there were rupees! Thirty of them I think! One red and two blues, yes....

Well!

Perhaps I oughtn’t to be so shy of hunting them in the future!

It’s always pleasant to visit Cotera. Her woods are full of useful herbs and there are plenty of fairies to catch—though I didn’t see any this time.... Maybe they were all already in my pocket—if one of them heals me.... does it return home to Cotera’s spring? ....I’ll have to look....

She did her thing and used a few spare Lizalfos horns I had to enhance my new Zora Armor, upping its defense for me a bit.

It seemed a pretty special garment; I hoped Mipha wouldn’t mind the alteration to her handiwork. It was for the sake of keeping me better protected. I’m sure she would have understood.

Hundred-Year-Old Memory

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 2

Hundred-Year-Old Memory

I donned my new Zora Armor, and went downstairs to find Sidon and Muzu by the statue of Lady Mipha.

The Prince seemed a little hot-headed about something, seemed to be holding something in.... and it was in the pattering rain, with narrowed eyes that he finally said it plain to Muzu’s face:

I, Link, was the one Lady Mipha had loved.

I reeled.

I didn’t move, but I reeled.

What? Me? How? But—

“I didn’t know it at the time of course, being only a child,” the Prince went on, “But for years after her death I had always heard the tales from my father about my sister’s undying love for a Hylian named Link—”

“Until you can show me one shred of proof—!” Muzu contended.

I felt.... so guilty then as I looked up into her face in the statue.... staring, staring.... I gasped—

A sunny time in the Reservoir when Vah Ruta was quiet, and Mipha and I sat atop the very tip of its trunk raised high in the air—so tiny on its bronzy, gargantuan form....

Just talk. Just talk as she moved her hand over my arm, the pulsing blue-white glow from her palm swaying gently over the deep gashes in my flesh.

And she was reminded of when I was just a reckless child, and she was always willing to heal my wounds, and how I looked grown-up so fast....

And maybe if Calamity Ganon did come back, and we could seal him away.... maybe things could go back to the way they used to, she said, and maybe.... maybe we could spend some time together—

“You’re shivering like a hatchling, what’s wrong with you?” Muzu spat.

“Mipha.... I remember,” I said.

“Oh don’t tell me you remember her now, when it’s most convenient.”

“Don’t you get it yet, Muzu?” the Prince interjected. “The proof is right in front of you. Look at him.”

It slowly dawned on both Muzu and myself that.... the Zora Armor crafted by Lady Mipha.... fitted my body perfectly.

My human body.

She had made it for me.

Muzu quieted.

If this was really the one Lady Mipha had loved....

He told me there was a great monster, on Ploymus Mountain—a Lynel.

Oh dear.

Prince Sidon gasped. “It’s a man-beast!” he shouted.

Muzu told me it had the Shock Arrows. They could be found high on Ploymus Mountain. I could collect them there. They were scattered all over.

But, he confided to me there was a chance I might not survive.

But I had to help the Prince. And retake the Divine Beast as last instructed by Princess Zelda through Impa.

And.... for Mipha’s sake.... I had to do something.

Sidon flashed his winning grin and called me to the plan—he would head for the Eastern Reservoir, where Vah Ruta was, and I could use the Zora Armor to take the shortcut up Mikau and Lulu Lakes to the high meadows of Ploymus Mountain—and after I got the Shock Arrows—at least twenty of them, Muzu suggested—we could meet up at the piers on top of the Eastern Reservoir.

Right now? I thought. I felt like I’d just lived a hundred years.

I had lived a hundred years.

And by the way who was he to address me as Young One when we first met when I may very well have been his same age or even older—

That grin.

He’s a good leader, Sidon is.

“I’m in. Let’s do this!” I chose the bold response.

I just needed to take a couple of detours first....

Lord of the Zoras

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017

Lord of the Zoras

Well, it was time to follow Sidon, and go and speak with the Zora King.

I found him in the high throne room.

He was massive. Royal blue body and back, pale moon-white front and face, and a bulging lobe like a beluga’s with a lighter-colored slash across the front—the mark of his battle with the Guardian. Jeweled silver armor and regalia spilled over his great, pleated barrel chest, and his trailing head-fin—longer than many trees I had ever seen—had been pushed to hang down his left side. Towering, towering above me, he sat proud and tall between his son Prince Sidon on his left, and a bent old green-skinned, ray-headed Zora on his right.

He recognized me too. And he said so.

But Prince Sidon had not. “That Link?” he said, “THE Link?” He had thought my name sounded familiar, I remembered he had said before.

That the Hylian Prince Sidon had found to aid them would turn out to be no less than the Champion Link.... King Dorephan concluded that our meeting, then, must have been nothing short of destiny.

But I told him that I had lost my memory. He seemed aghast that I could not even remember his daughter, Lady Mipha. Shocked.... but not unsteadied.

All the Zora elders seemed to hate me because I had taken away their Lady Mipha—and here was Lady Mipha’s father. Perhaps the one with the most reason of all to despise me. And yet he showed no trace, gave no sign.... I had.... a great admiration for the civilized tone he still used with me.

He seemed a goodly king; had his head on straight—he was trying to think of all the people of Hyrule. Vah Ruta had the ability to create an endless supply of water, and if it wasn’t stopped soon, not only would the resulting floods wreak havoc among the Zoran kingdom, water-breathers though they were, but it would also affect countless Hylian lives in the lands downstream. Already the effects were showing—I had even seen Ledo, and an apprentice of his named Fronk, trying to work repairs on a number of support pillars that had become damaged in the downpour.

Vah Ruta needed to be dealt with, very soon, and the truth, King Dorephan conceded, doing me the courtesy of being bluntly honest, was that the Zoras could not handle the Divine Beast alone.

The four orbs upon its back, which controlled the waterflow, were offline and out of control, and they needed an electrical current running through them to stem the flow of water.

This was what I was here for.

Because my body was more insulated against the Shock Arrows they would need to stabilize the orbs.

They asked for my aid.

Well, I had good news for them: Princess Zelda had tasked me with nearly the same goal.

King Dorephan—the unbelievable bulk of him—shot forward in his throne. “Princess Zelda is alive?” he asked.

“Yes, in Hyrule Castle,” I said.

He concluded once more that our meeting must have been fated. If there was a chance to retake Vah Ruta, there was also a chance to seal away Calamity Ganon for good....

He would give me all the help I needed—and he gifted me a set of beautiful Zora Armor, which has been crafted by Zoran Princesses for generations.

At this point the ray-headed Zora, Muzu, had had enough. Hylians, he argued, were the reason the world was in the state it was in in the first place, ever since they had sought out and abused the ancient technology of the Sheikah one hundred years ago.

To give one of them a Zoran Princess’ armor—armor that was traditionally supposed to be crafted for the one the Zora Princess would marry....

And Lady Mipha had crafted that armor herself! How could King Dorephan just hand it over to the very one who led Lady Mipha to her death?

Prince Sidon rebuked him, telling him to watch the way he spoke to the King and his guest, and reminding him that working together with the Hylians was their best chance of stopping Vah Ruta.

But Muzu wouldn’t have it, and he left the throne room.

Prince Sidon followed him.

The King asked me to follow as well, to try and talk to him.... because Muzu was the resident expert on just where and how Shock Arrows could be found.

Zora's Domain

Waking of Friday, March 17, 2017 ~ 2

Zora’s Domain

I took my time meeting all the Zoras I could. I even found Gruve! So he’d made it down off that tower after all—dived off into the river, he told me. Said he was so deeply moved seeing his reflection in the water as he came down. Said a Zora’s diving form is his most beautiful form, the very pinnacle of grace and beauty. Diving is his favorite thing, you know, and he loves looking for diving spots. But his current favorite is Shatterback Point, at the top of Ploymus Mountain overlooking the Eastern Reservoir. I couldn’t help have seen that one on my map, with a name like that.

But, as Rivan had suggested, in meeting the people I tried to stay away from the elderly—they really didn’t like me around here.

But there was one wizened old dust-red Zora I found gazing into a pool beneath some waterfalls. Kapson was his name, and he told me he tried to condemn the action rather than the person, that he wanted to try to forgive, and that was comforting. He didn’t scowl or sneer or hiss at me like most of the other elders did. “Mortality lays claim to all,” he said, or something like it. I gazed with him a while into the pool, too.

And there was one little girl from the Prince Sidon fanclub, what was her name.... Laruta or Laruto? One of those. She kept singing a song about a scale of light cleaving or separating a veiled fall.... And I’d heard of a Lightscale Trident, and on my map I saw the Veiled Falls....

Things I wanted to keep in mind....

Something else interesting I noted.... Rivan and the elders didn’t seem to be the only ones who recognized me. The innkeeper, a pinkish lady Zora, addressed me excitedly as Linny.

“Linny! It is you, isn’t it!?”

Oh how I grinned at the response which simply read, “Precisely.”

But that wasn’t who I was in this game.

And one of the guards before the throne room, Bazz—though he seemed a little abashed to ask me outright to verify my identity, simply hinted to me that any member of the Big Bad Bazz Brigade would know their secret catchphrase or passcode or whatever it was.... “Fluffy white clouds, Clear blue....”

“Zora?” I supplied.

That was it. Somehow I’d known.

I think.... he said I used to train him. At the sword.

I must have come here often in my previous life.

I wish I could remember....

Whenever I tried to ask people about Mipha, they told me a little bit—she was the Zora Champion, she was Sidon’s elder sister, she had fallen to Calamity Ganon....

“But,” they kept telling me, “you really should hear this from King Dorephan.”

Dorephan. I recognized that name. That was the name of the Zora King who had defeated the Guardian. The account had said he still had a scar upon his head from the battle—a mark of his bravery.

How long do Zoras live?

I also caught a little of what the Zoras—or Prince Sidon anyway—possibly wanted me for. I’d heard that some of the Zoras had tried to quiet Vah Ruta’s ceaseless water-raging by using Shock Arrows. Bazz’s father, the former Demon Sergeant Seggin, was in fact hunched at the top of a staircase poking at a Shock Arrow repeatedly in an attempt to up his tolerance against them—the Zora are weak against electricity you see. They have trouble even touching them. And I recalled that Goron I’d met in the general store saying he was there because Prince Sidon has recruited him to help deal with Vah Ruta “because I can touch Shock Arrows!” He clenched his massive fist and grinned. But Prince Sidon had told him he’d ‘never be able to carry you on my back’....

What did it all mean....?

I wondered....

I really wondered.

The Deviated Hero

Waking of Friday, March 17, 2017

The Deviated Hero

I once again meandered about the beautiful Zora’s Domain, and on this occasion took my sweet, sweet time.

“You’re female, right?”

The single option available for Link to select when he speaks to Dunma.

“Why, yes. How observant you are!” Or something to that end, she replies.

“How old are you?”

“....That’s not a question appropriate to ask a girl you’ve just met.”

The game does.... Well I think it is the least blank I have ever seen Avatar Link before. And not just in Zora’s Domain; there have been other places where a definite attitude all his own has cropped up, in his various response options.

By which I mean it’s a little bit of a tighter fit for the player to impress his own image into the Avatar—sometimes I haven’t cared for any of the responses I’ve had the option to give! (I think Skyward Sword offered a better variety of personality for the player to assume.) But.... I suppose it’s easy enough to pick the responses most appropriate—or least unappropriate as the case may be—to the persona you wish to project into the gameworld.

Not to say Link’s hinted personality is not, at times, charming in its own right.

And I do.... respect it....

As I respect the semi-voiced dialogue—spoken words during important cutscenes....

Dang you Prince Sidon that dulcet tenor timbre and the winning grin just—

....

It’s always tough to match up the lip-flaps.

Unsaved

Waking of Monday, March 13, 2017

Unsaved

I only walked about. I was weary from my long hike up the river.

I talked with some of the other Zora I saw moving about—and saw a few familiar faces! Ledo and Torfeau.... I found out Tona actually worked in a shop up here, but I didn’t actually see her until I bumped into a group of Zora girls downstairs on the other side of the . . . . do I call it a square? It seems to want a more elegant word than that, so high pillared above the beautiful waterfalls.

The group of Zora girls, it seemed.... were members of a Prince Sidon Fan Club.

Seemed the prince was quite popular with the ladies around here! Somehow I didn’t find it surprising. The man bled charisma.

Tula was the name of their club president. Laflat was the name of the secretary I had met before. Dunma was the name of Rivan’s.... daughter, it turned out. Not a son.... I had met so many Zora.... and a Goron.... There were a lot of people up here.

I suppose it was comforting to find so many goodly folk all together, and safe, in one place, but.... maybe just a little bit overwhelming for a small-town guy like me.

A small-town guy?

Maybe I only thought that because small towns were the only places I’ve been—or the only places I remember being.

I’m not a small-town guy. What am I?

A Resurrection Chamber guy?

I hope I can find my memories soon.

Not the least reason for which is because every aged Zora I spoke to in Zora’s Domain was unhappily disgusted to see my face.

What had they thought I’d done to their beloved Mipha?

....

What had I done to their beloved Mipha?

I couldn’t vouch for myself—I had no memory.

What had I done?

I went to see the king, and quit without saving.

Rivan

Waking of Saturday, March 11, 2017 ~ 7

Rivan

The road to Zora’s Domain was the longest and most dangerous I had encountered yet. But I did make it to the top.

Near the end I found a couple of large stone tablets bearing records of ancient deeds—the first recounting one Zora King’s triumph against a Guardian that no other Zora soldier could best.

The second was very worn down, and told of the Ancient Hero’s defeat of.... something that was always missing some letters due to time and erosion.

Had I done something?

The first time I saw the word, I could only make out the first and last letters—both L’s—Ah, “Lizal”, perhaps? It would make sense with all the Lizalfos around.

But at the next encounter of that word, the second letter was Y, not I. And I think the one before the final L was an E.

Oh no.

I think I might know what Joseph’s centaurs might be.

I have never played a game wherein I had to fight one. But....

It seems they are powerful but I must not be daunted.

I must remember my old self.

I made it to the top. David asked if that were Minas Morgul. “See the glowing walls?” he said.

“Yes. That is Minas Morgul,” I said, and continued on.

At the far end of the final long bridge, Prince Sidon met me, grin still flashing and eyes still burning and strength still exuding from his royal person. He said it was time to meet his father, and to come this way—

I would.

At a walk.

The road had been long.

Two Zora guards were the first people I encountered. The one on the right seemed.... piqued by my appearance. “Hmm?” I heard him murmur. And when I turned to him— “MASTER LINK!” he shouted, “It’s me! Rivan! We used to swim together when I was but a child!”

Oh my, this was—

But I didn’t recognize him.

He conceded that.... perhaps that was understandable, given that it had been a hundred years. “Come to think of it,” he continued, “shouldn’t you be dead?” And then he backtracked murmuring something about perhaps that question being too personal for a Hylian....

His son, the other guard, reminded him they were on duty.

This.... Rivan.... He said he was now a hundred and thirty years old....

How long do Zora live?

Oh I wished I could stay and talk to him, but....

Farther on there was a fountain with a statue of what I learned to be Lady Mipha, who once controlled the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. The personal secretary of the Zora King told me this—I don’t remember her name.

She told me Mipha’s skill at healing the wounded had been unparalleled, and that all the aged soldiers who had fought by her side so loved and revered her above all others.

Lady Mipha.... someone I had known....

I was running out of juice.

I just needed to keep following that orange glow just ahead....

I made it to the shrine, went inside, was you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me’d by the goings-on inside, solved it all anyhow, received the Spirit Orb....

And saved.

Cheer Squad Prince Sidon

Waking of Saturday, March 11, 2017 ~ 6

Cheer Squad Prince Sidon

I really think I should have used Prince Sidon’s elixir more effectively—that is to say at all.

Because I tend to save special things until I really, really, really desperately need them, and I’m afraid to waste them because what if something worse lies farther on?

And so they never get used.

But those Lizalfos archers with the Shock Arrows....

They cost me a very important shield I had picked up earlier—it could deflect Guardian blasts!

DANG THOSE LIZALFOS—NO MERCY HENCEFORTH SHALL THEY FIND FROM ME.

But....

At whiles, Prince Sidon would call to me from the water, and let me know how I was progressing, how far I was along the route....

And he would always end with encouraging words for me.

“DON’T GIVE UP! I BELIEVE IN YOU!”

“KEEP GOING! YOU CAN DO IT!”

That sparkling Zora grin now REALLY....

He really does make a fine leader among his people I think. Or I expect he would; I’ve yet to find out. But I can only imagine what manner of respect a Prince would give his own people, who treats an outsider with such praise and encouragement. It seems no facade to me. And he came downriver to search too.

On a high bridge very near the end of the road, he gave me further guidance and encouragement—and then suddenly broke off to warn me that an enemy approached from my rear....!

I turned—

Black moblin—

Oh no, I’d avoided these ones, always managed to avoid these ones except with bombs or arrows, but now....

I had nothing for it, I unsheathed my strongest, fastest weapon and went to it—and....

Perhaps it’s because I’ve been finding stronger and stronger weapons lately.... he did manage to strike me once or twice—and it hurt—but he went down smoother than that first one with the hammer had done.

Well that was encouraging. I could handle them after all.

Blood Rain

Waking of Saturday, March 11, 2017 ~ 5

Blood Rain

The rain didn’t stop when I saw my fifth blood moon early on the road to Zora’s Domain.

It makes me wonder—Has it been five months since I first started my journey out of the Resurrection Chamber?

How long has Princess Zelda been waiting for my help?

How long can she hold out still?

Mechanics getting too deep into my head....

The Man with the Winning Smile

Waking of Saturday, March 11, 2017 ~ 4

The Man with the Winning Smile

I entered the shrine and received the Spirit Orb, came back out, beat up a stray Lizalfos and stole his sword.... and made my way toward the bridge.

Another voice called out to me.

“Yo, hey there! Young one!”

I looked around.

“Up here, above you!” the dulcet tenor sang out again.

The beefy red Zora leapt down and landed impressively before me, standing slowly and grandly from the impact.... and it dawned on me.

“You’re Prince Sidon?” I yammered, my eyes bugging.

I mean.... the only other Zora Prince I’d ever known was Prince Ralis, and he was.... well kind of a shrimp. No pun intended and no offense implied.

This guy was.... well all the Zoras so far (the ones I could compare myself to on land anyway) had been taller than me. But Sidon was just huge!

What in the world did he need me for?

He wondered if I had a moment to talk, and he asked my name. When I told him Link, he raved with much fist-pumping of what a powerful name it was!

I must say, he did have quite a winning grin. And his musical theme was as light and determined as Sheena’s, from Tales of Symphonia. Definitely the same flavor, if not the same chord progression, with strong half-cadences prefaced by proper second-inversion tonic chords—most tenacious!

He told me Zora’s Domain was in great danger due to the ceaseless rainfall caused by the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. He had been looking for a great warrior of the Hylians to help him—he asked if I were of such kind among my people.

“Not particularly,” I said. I didn’t feel like a Hero.

“Oh don’t be so modest!” He told me he had been watching how I work, and he had great faith in me. I don’t see how he could have done, but.... he had seemed to be keeping a weather eye on all his surroundings. And he did seem to have many eyes and ears among his people, all out searching on his command.

Since I couldn’t swim up the river like he could, he showed me the road that would lead me to Zora’s Domain. He also warned me that there were many enemies upon it—enemies who used electricity. He supplied me with an elixir that would protect me somewhat from its effects, and we arranged to meet in Zora’s Domain....