What Garill Knew

Waking of Saturday, May 4, 2019 ~ 2

What Garill Knew

It’s 8:40 in the evening.

I’ll go out and get Dragmire.

Oh, but not before snagging a Korok behind Impa’s house first.

After that I come back to the broad thoroughfare before the house; I’d left Dragmire there to graze and lounge beside Cado and Dorian.

I give him a carrot.

And we are on our way.

Dorian says it’s dangerous to travel at night, but....

I’m going.

I round onto Hestu’s Hillside and can see the Dueling Peaks Stable in the far distance.

Very close.

Dragmire and I continue down the road at a trot.

Talk with Brokka.

Talk with Bugut.

Old friends.

But still keeping my eyes peeled for enemies.

I see the disguised Yiga by the foot of the mountain. In your dreams, creeper.

I pass by, and cross Kakariko Bridge.

And.... there’s another lady walking on the road. I suspect her, but—I hear them.

Stal creatures. And a Yiga man, laughing as he foregoes pretense and somersaults from nowhere to have it out with me....

I put on my Radiant Gear—too late—and kill the Stalkoblins, and the Yiga Archer....

And with the threats put down I see the lady breathe a sigh of relief....

I collect the spoils, and then go to check on her....

.... But she is yet a Traveler?

I must say, this is a trick I had not seen them use before.

Fine. What.

“Hey, buuuuuddy!”

“Me?” My response.

“Awwww! You’re so cuuute!”

Really.

“Want to spend some.... tiiiiime with meee?”

My choices: “OK...” and “I refuse!”

I’d rather not, lady.

“I refuse!”

“Whaaaaa—?! But whyyyyy?” she pouts. “Don’t you like meeee? If you doooo, please cloooose those eyes!”

Choices: “Well...OK, then.” or “No, I don’t like you.”

I’m not going to play your games.

“No, I don’t like you.”

“You’re so meeeean. Well, theeeen... Hylian Champion...”

The tissue-thin guise dropped and her face contorted into a snarl.

“Begone, enemy of my Master!”

YOU begone!

It’s on.

Aaaand it’s over quickly.

Not tonight.

I am busy.

So near the stable.

I’ll put Dragmire to manger first.

And I do. Thanks, Tasseren.

It will be light, soon.

....

I think I’ll go find Garill.

I kill things that get in my way. But that Bokoblin.... it went after someone else. I pursue and kill it anyway.

Still wary from the bridge I do not talk to the other man this time until I’m sure I know him. It’s Agus. And his donkey.

Don’t think the Yiga keep donkeys....

I buy all his milk and butter.

Thanks, Agus.

Heh, and as I continue along the winding road.... here comes Joute, the old Witcher III guy who spooked me in the rain before on his pale horse. Joute.

“White horsies, giants, and bony ones too. They’re out there for catchin’, and that’s what you should do...” he sings. “You like my song about the legendary horses? There’s only one of each, but I took some liberties to make it musical.”

I do like it, Joute.

The Guardians grow thick now. Here in the Valley of Terror.

I heard that.... Octorok....

Found it. Killed it.

So close to the fort now.... I’ve surely passed where the memory lies....

But I continue....

Garill. My friend. ^_^

“Incredible!” I hear him say.

And I visit with him.

“The more I see of this place, the more it hits me just how hard the old tragedy struck here. But even knowing that, seeing so many Guardians... It boggles the mind. That warrior must have been some threat to the forces of darkness, huh?”

Huh. Well, I would like to think so at least.

Garill doesn’t say anything else.

....

Good old Garill.

I’ll take his pictograph.

I coax him to speak again; try and get him to look up....

“If I’d been alive 100 years ago...I like to think I’d have fought these Guardians here, right at the warrior’s side.”

More....

“The warrior and his soldiers at Fort Hateno risked their lives to protect the world. I wasn’t there at the time, but I’m alive now because of them, and I’ve got to make sure future generations know it!”

Now there’s a good smiling face! ^_^

Got a good pictograph.

Now.... to find that memory....

Heh, I see Toma heading back toward the crossroads too, on her horse.

More familiar faces than I’d realized, around these parts.

Wander, wander.... back into the field.... I won’t be able to tell until I’m within a few feet of it.... There was a Guardian’s husk in the foreground of the painting on Impa’s wall. I look around all the clusters of Guardians, but.... No.... Must be further out....

I might have to kill all the central baddies....

And I do. That Frostspear did come in handy!

Searching, seaching.... Not in any of these clusters near the wall, then....

Perhaps that cluster farther back. Is that the one with an active Decayed one in it?

I go. Find three more Bokoblins, but.... nothing else.

I won’t be able to tell until I’m within a few feet of it.... Was that a trick of the setting sun’s glare? Or....

No.

It’s here.

It’s right here.

My memory.

!

And.... a lot of.... swords. In the ground. Oh....

Oh...

What....

What happened in this place?

....

It’s been two years and two months and two days.

It’s time for me to find out.

Impa's Final Message

Waking of Saturday, May 4, 2019

Impa’s Final Message

It was still the waking of Saturday, May 4, 2019, but I was into the morning of May 5, 2019, because that was two years, two months, and two days since this game came out, and DANG IT if I wasn’t gonna get some time in on it today. I wanted to see Impa. And so help me after so much bloody laundry and dryers and other chores and the sucking black hole of the following circuses of self-medicinal YouTube and its inebriating memes and vines for ever I WAS GOING TO FREAKING PLAY THIS BLOODY GAME.

I was already in Kakariko.

It was 8:00 pm.

Paya was polishing the guardian deity statues.

I decked myself out to look presentable. No beast weaponry.

Now. Impa.

I went up the stairs. I went through the door.

I had all Divine Beasts. All memories.

What would she say?

She sat cross-legged on her little tower of pillows.

I spoke to her.

“I sense it... Their presence.

Daruk. Urbosa.

Revali. Mipha.”

Her old face furrowed. “A hundred years ago, I put my life on the line to fight alongside everyone. But...I could not protect them. They died without fulfilling their destinies. I have lived all this time thinking they died in vain.” She looked so downcast, and then, “But this energy I feel from their presence...” she trailed off.

“It seems they have not given up,” she smiled. “I can also sense...that they were all overjoyed to see you again,” she said, still smiling.

Heh, even Revali?

Well.... guess he can’t hide it from Impa.

That’s comforting.

And then suddenly intent! “Now you all serve the same purpose! Now it is time to attack Calamity Ganon, while he is weak! Hurry to the princess! Go, now!”

Oh, my map opened. And there was a new dinger at the castle.

“I believe you will find Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle.”

And I came back out of the map now.

“Even with blessings of the Divine Beasts on your side, you must be careful,” Impa went on, “Calamity Ganon will be well protected. Be prepared for anything!”

And then, “By the way... How are you faring thus far?” A bit jarring. And with a dynamic little zoom out in the cinematography, back to my person and then coming in close.... all dramatic.

Ah, on to the other quest, I see.

I gesticulated my response.

“No... All twelve pictures already? You’ve visited every place?!”

Was it really that shocking, Impa, with how long I’ve taken? |D

“Hmm... Then I suppose it’s time.” The camera zoomed in toward her face. The music had changed. An eerie, haunting, mystical version of some Sheikah tune.... “I will reveal the location of the final memory,” she said, and there was another zoom in toward myself.... in such a beautiful shot....

This is what I have been waiting for. I’ve seen the empty place for the last memory. I remember flashes of trailers. I’ve heard the stories from all the people in the land.

But will it be where I think it is?

“Here is what happened.” Impa.... got up off of her cushion!—I’d never seen her move from that spot before—and walked over to... where are we going? I followed.... “Lady Zelda asked me to wait to show you this. She gave me very specific instructions.” Or some such words!??

“This is the final picture.”

What is it....?

I looked....

The painting on the wall.... illuminated by a small standing lamp.

It was a rolling green field full of.... Guardian husks....

I knew it.

The flashing final stand in the rain beneath my hood.

Watching the lurching, gleaming beasts from the highest battlement.

The Valley of Terror.

Garill’s Haunt.

Fort Hateno.

“Does it look familiar?” Impa asked, “From this village, you should be able to get there in a half day’s time. Now go, child. Seek out what Lady Zelda has shown you.”

And the music went back to normal.

Free the Divine Beasts – Complete.

The long, long-awaited banner gleamed across my screen.

....

How did Zelda.... tell Impa.... that it was....?

....

I will go. And regain my final memory.

....

Impa still won’t let me touch the orange orb though.

How....

Exhale

Waking of Monday, April 22, 2019 ~ 5

Exhale

I clung to the castle’s apex, beneath the blustery, unholy skies.

Talk about King Of The Mountain Syndrome.

....I should check and see whether I really can get onto one of those Guardians atop one of the Five Columns, I thought.

Fathomless tiers of glaring castle-land tapered dizzily in the doom-glow beneath my feet.

Oh my gosh.

But which column?

I got the memory.

Which column....

The one I knew had a Guardian?

Dad was here and the ensuing atmosphere was tight and hard. Didn’t want to move....

And I was getting hungry.

I had not eaten all day today.

I am on top of the tallest, tallest Castle Spire.

Where to go from here....

Hmm....

I considered the northern Pillar.

Noo, I already know it has one.

Then.... one of the ones toward the field. For I wanted to fly afterward. Guardian or no.

7:05 am.

The sun was rising.

I go.

After spending the night on this godforsaken spire....

I jumped at 8:45 am toward the southeastern Column, the one on the way to the eastern edge of Hyrule Field. Seemed the safest.

There was a Guardian up there.

I landed on its head. It seemed to be dead.

The air was so much clearer down here. Am I.... Am I out of the Malice? I think I am.... No I’m still in it. Just down in the clearer air is all.

I could go anywhere from here.

I will.

But.... first.... remembering my clipping mishap through the northern Pillar.... I wondered if I could stand on this column.

Hop down from the Guardian....

I can.

....

Neat.

....

There wasn’t a lot of room or much to do.

....

....

I’m going to visit Benny.

....

Okay didn’t quite make it to Benny’s, but bent wide to the east to avoid the field Guardians. Killed the Hinox, got guts, sweet. Then to Benny’s.

Then the Stable was right there. Wetland Stable. Save Leekah, go to Stable. Blood Moon.

Hmmmmm....

Could go get Hinox guts again....

Think I’ll just sleep here at the Wetland Stable. It’s 1:00 in the morning, game time. Sleep until morning, yeah. I am half-dead.

Sleep. Get back hearts.

It’s raining in the morning.

****

Okay boot it up one more time before bed just to.... get my fix....

I watch all the memories I have in order. With Mom because she’s sweet.

And now.... things are beginning to make more sense to me, recalling it all in order.

We watched them all. Some of them I hadn’t even seen since the very first time I saw them. For I didn’t let myself go back very often, if ever. Even when I was first recording them.

Cinematics, viewed often, lose their charm after all.

But now seeing them all....

That was special.

....

But there is still that.... hole.... there, near the bottom of the list.

Between Despair and Hope.

What happened to me?

I feel like.... I might see Garill again soon.

I do like Garill.

I’ll find out.

Very soon.

Fort Hateno Again

Waking of Friday, March 10, 2017 ~ 2

Fort Hateno Again

As I was saying, there were a series of old pictographs of different locations around Hyrule stored on my Sheikah Slate. Purah recommended I go talk to Impa about them.

So I did. Brown and I went back to Kakariko, and Impa had a look. And she recommended I try and reach some of these locations, and perhaps that would unlock some of my memories. Because Princess Zelda had probably taken these pictures herself, and I had been her appointed Knight. So it was quite possible I had been to those locations with her.

Maybe I’d find something....

One picture showed a view of the Dueling Peaks as seen from the west, featuring a body of water with aspens in the foreground. I tried to line myself up and have a look at all the bodies of water I could find, but.... nothing seemed to fit. I needed to be further north. And that would take me off my map. I wanted to first see if I could find anyplace I’d already charted....

Next I tried a picture that featured a statue of a horse. It looked kind of like the centerpiece of an ornate fountain. I recalled that I had seen a fountain back among the ruins on the Plateau. But when I went there and compared the two.... it didn’t line up as well as I’d thought it might.

There was another picture that showed some kind of gatehouse or enclosed turret along the top of a battlemented wall. I thought of Fort Hateno.

I’d done all this through warping and left my horse in Kakariko, so I warped to Dueling Peaks Stable and it was another long jog through the Valley of Terror to get to the old fort.

But when I got there, those ancient structures didn’t line up either. There were more stone buildings in the pictographs.

I felt just a little bit deflated. I’d been excited at the prospect of learning what might have happened to me here, if everything Garill had said about the old Champion were true.

Ah well. I climbed about a bit, found another Korok (they’ve been hiding everywhere), and just.... thought.

I didn’t know where else to look.

It started to rain.

I turned about, and looked again on the field of frozen Guardians crawling toward the fort. I was standing on a raised turret, above the lower parapets. This.... seemed like the highest point on the wall.

Had I stood here before? This very place?

Shouted commands to others in my charge, perhaps?

The rain fell harder.

Flashes in my mind brought the imagined past into vibrant, terrifying focus, and the great lumps on the battlefield moved and lurched, slowed but still coming, and their lights pulsed dangerous blues and reds, and their terrible lasers cast crimson explosions into the stone, into the air, in cacophonous minglings with the storm’s thunder.

And the same flashes—lightning or my mind?—brought me back to myself, made me shake my head and rub my face as the rain slicked down my hood, skin and clothes.

Did I have such Courage once?

By the Fire

Waking of Tuesday, March 7, 2017 ~ 5

By the Fire

It started to rain again. It certainly rained a lot in this region.

I saw Garill running for cover from the downpour, making for the campfire with its wok, which was situated beneath a great pine tree with generously overhanging boughs.

I followed him.

We merely stood for a while in the fire’s warmth as the rain rattled a treble din all around us.

Then Garill said, “I used to think the old Calamity was ancient history, nothing to do with my life, but.... when I think that my life is only possible because they fought tooth and nail for us.... Well it sort of brings a tear to my eye.... though that could just be the rain....” He brought one hand toward his face.

I’m rather beginning to like this Garill.

Ears Burning

Waking of Tuesday, March 7, 2017 ~ 3

Ears Burning

Okay, it was time to walk the road from Dueling Peaks Stable to Hateno Village. And it started off once again.... with a walk through the Valley of Terror. This time without my horse, and without Brokka [Toma].

David told me to search the Guardians at whiles. And.... I did. For ancient parts.

The ones very near the road anyway.

I ran most of the way through the Valley of Terror—yes, I think that name fits—but I slowed down for Fort Hateno this time. The place with the big wall, the portcullis, the scaffolding, the campfire.... and the woods beyond.

I saw one man on the road very shortly before I got there. His name was Garill. He seemed to take quite an interest in the old fort and its history. He spoke to me of the old tales people told of the war, and the Champions that had fought.

“But oh,” he said, “One of those Champions lost his life here, didn’t he?”

I listened.

“Though some say,” Garill went on, “that Champion was put into an enchanted sleep....”

My attention spiked. He was talking about me.

Lost my life here?

“Wouldn’t it be interesting if that were the case, and if the Champion could awake in my time?” said Garill, “It would be amazing to meet him.”

....Ah-huh.... my churning mind thought in bewildered fondness.

I passed through the fort’s gate, and had a look about the scaffolding. The view over the wall at all the frozen Guardians was.... still frightening. What could men do against such machines? Who would even stand where I was? An archer? What good would that be?

Had I really been here before?

What had happened?