The Forest

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 9

The Forest

You know, I really enjoy the little stance dance Link does whenever you leave the controller alone for too long. In Ocarina of Time it was the dirt-removal toe-tapping or the infamous tunic-straightening. I’ve seen him sneeze when he’s cold in Majora’s Mask, or swing some moves with the sword in his hand. He would stretch long and luxuriously in Wind Waker, or just take a rest on his haunches when he was a wolf in Twilight Princess. There are dozens of these idle animations.

But in Breath of the Wild.... he just nods off. XD His eyes glaze over and his mouth starts to sag until his head drops a little too suddenly and he shakes himself out of it with a hilariously surprised look on his face!

Ahh delightful animations in this game....

Well.

I’d seen what I had come to see at this tower.

When day broke with a clear sky, I jumped from the top and paraglided toward the road that led to the woods. That old man at the Woodland Stable had said something about the Lost Woods in the heart of the forest.... I would plunge ahead in a minor exploratory sweep until I ran into something too dangerous to face—which I was sure would inevitably happen—whereupon I could simply warp back to Zora’s Domain, and Upland Zorana. Robbie was waiting.

Maybe Karson would react to that pictograph of Tye and Sorelia....

The trees were thick along the road. I followed it until I came to a narrow pass between two sheer hills. Like a canyon.

The overwhelming sense of caution coursed through my veins and filled my lungs, and the bold exploratory sweep was promptly forgotten.

I chose the hill on the right side; it seemed to offer access to even higher foothills....

But up on its grassy top, between the tree trunks, I saw something I had not seen before: lean grey shapes with tufted tails. Canine. Two, no, three, no there were more of them—

Wolves.

I turned right back around. Perhaps the hill on the left would offer me something better.

It did. It was quite clear. However, it was too far away from the right hilltop for me to spy out what creatures might have been lurking there....

Or snipe them.

Drats.

Well, I had a look around anyway.

This Great Hyrule Forest was.... interesting. It seemed completely misted over with a thick, thick fog. The trees looked dead. And far away in its very heart, one tree stood supremely huge above them all. It looked.... like a giant cherry tree....

So many dead limbs with no leaves growing on them made it seem easier to see in there. And yet.... the tangle of it all seemed dangerous....

Was Hestu in there somewhere?

Ugh, but did I really want to go in there?

Wait, but I’d been planning to, hadn’t I?

And couldn’t I just warp away if anything happened?

Then why couldn’t I make myself move?

I surveyed the surrounding landscape a bit instead; the hill was tall enough to give me some fairly good views. I looked behind me and could see the tower I had scaled, standing amid all the platforms in the little circle of the bog—

WAIT A SECOND.