I wrote “The Memory of Stone” back in 2020, when the announcement of a sequel to Breath of the Wild encouraged many Legend of Zelda fans to speculate that the game would feature Princess Zelda as a playable character. I returned to this story after finishing my second playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom, which reduces Zelda to a voiceless source of crafting materials. It was a disappointment, to say the least.
One might argue that there are other games with female protagonists, so why insist on playing as Zelda? I would counter this argument with another question: why not play as Zelda? The concept of Zelda as a playable character makes perfect sense within the context of the games’ stories. Link’s journey almost always runs parallel to a journey that Zelda undertakes on her own, after all, and being able to explore Hyrule with a different set of skills (and from a different narrative perspective) would be a lot of fun.
“The Memory of Stone” follows Zelda through each of the temples in Ocarina of Time, and it’s a small attempt to imagine what the eponymous “legend of Zelda” might look like through the eyes of Zelda herself.
You can read the story on AO3 here:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/25230271
The illustration of Sheik included in the story preview graphic was drawn by the revolutionary Nolvini, a fan of shōjo anime who creates magical character illustrations filled with personality and flare. You can check out her work on Twitter (here), on Instagram (here), and on Tumblr (here), and she also has a shop on Etsy (here).
Digital Fantasy Diary 