Tag: Legend of Zelda lore

An Elegy of Earth and Sky

~ Kathryn ~ 2 Comments

An Elegy of Earth and Sky
https://archiveofourown.org/works/55003288

Long ago, in a time now lost to the ages, Hyrule was a formless void roiling with primal darkness. Seeing potential in this untapped energy, three goddesses descended from the source of light to shape Hyrule according to their will. They bestowed three sacred virtues upon their daughter before leaving her in the land they created, where the god of the earth waited to grant her a gift of his own.

I’ve been intrigued by the mythology of the Legend of Zelda games since I first read the fantastically illustrated story of Hyrule’s creation in the game manual for A Link to the Past, and I’ve enjoyed how games like Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword have expanded on the divine cosmology of the series. I was frustrated by the lack of any foundational mythology in Tears of the Kingdom, so I decided to write my own version of Hyrule’s origin story. The first half is based on Hesiod’s Theogony, while the second half borrows from one of the stories about Izanami and Izanagi in the Kojiki. Hopefully this short story reflects the poetry of its inspirations!

The illustration that accompanies this story was created by Hylias_Disgrace, a purveyor of the strange and divine whose gorgeous character art and intriguing comics can be found on Instagram (here). It was the artist’s decision to use the famous Gustav Klimt painting The Kiss as a way to bring out the parallels between Hyrule’s deities and the myth of Hades and Persephone, and I love how this dynamic illustration celebrates the cycles of the natural world.

They Only Come Out at Night

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

Grog has noticed a number of peculiarities in Kakariko Village. Eerie lights flicker in the mountain valley after dark. Murky black water fills the old stone well that no one uses. Golden spiders spin their webs under the eaves of abandoned buildings. Little does Grog know that the legendary Sheikah of Kakariko still live, and that they are watching.

I’m one of the many children of the 1990s who read Stephen King way too young. I think I must have been ten years old when I first encountered the IT, and I read the novel like it was Harry Potter. I was too young to understand a lot of what was going on, but what I took away from the story was a lifelong fascination with haunted towns.

This is one of the many reasons why I love Kakariko Village in Ocarina of Time. Like Derry, Kakariko seems pleasant and idyllic in the daytime, but all manner of horrors creep through its sewers. Over the course of his journey through Hyrule, Link learns that Kakariko is a Disneyland-style stage setting that covers an underground labyrinth of corpse-choked dungeons. Impa opened the depopulated village to the refugees from the civil war that left Link an orphan, which means many of the people living in Kakariko have no idea what their homes are standing on top of.

I’m curious about the perspective of normal people who live in fantastic worlds, and I’m particularly interested in Grog, the odd young man who greets Link at the entrance to Kakariko after dark. His dialog is iconic: “People are disgusting. My own father and mother are disgusting. You must be disgusting, too!”

When Link returns to Kakariko after seven years, Grog is nowhere in sight. No longer a surly teenager who resents his parents, Grog has gotten himself caught up in some truly strange business. It was only when I played Ocarina of Time as an adult that I was able to put together all the pieces of Grog’s story, which ends with his death (or perhaps suicide) in the Lost Woods.

I think Grog’s unfortunate fate is representative of what happens to people in Hyrule who see too much or ask too many questions. He’s therefore a fun character to use to look at Kakariko from an outsider’s perspective while speculating on what may have happened to the Sheikah. “They Only Come Out at Night” uses some of my favorite Stephen King tropes to tell a story about a deeply haunted village, and I really enjoyed writing it.

If you’re interested in peering into the shadows, the story is on AO3 here:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/51149224

I wrote this piece for The Eyes of Hyrule, a Legend of Zelda fanzine about the mysterious Sheikah clan. The zine will hold leftover sales on Etsy (here) during November, and you can check out more of the work appearing in the zine on Twitter (here) and on Tumblr (here).

For the story illustration, I was fortunate to be able to join forces with Frankiesbugs, a true master of cute and creepy art. You can follow their work on Instagram (here) and on Tumblr (here). I also recommend checking out their current video game project in development, which is on Steam (here) and on Instagram (here).

The Best Wells in Tears of the Kingdom

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

“The Best Wells in Tears of the Kingdom” is a series of short travelogue essays celebrating the hidden secrets, environmental storytelling, and understated exploration elements of Tears of the Kingdom.

One of my main criticisms of Breath of the Wild was that its world felt curiously flat. Why wasn’t Link allowed to go underground? What was lurking underneath Hyrule?

When I first discovered that Tears of the Kingdom was filled with wells and caves, I made it my mission to track them all down. Ganondorf would just have to wait. I’m currently taking my time and leisurely enjoying myself as I go cave diving, but I managed to locate all 58 wells before completing the first dungeon. Each of these wells is unique, but what I’ve been most impressed by are the small stories told by the characters who’ve found themselves at the bottom of a well by accident – or by choice.

For the record, these are my favorites:

1. Kakariko Village Well
2. Haran Lakefront Well
3. Rikoka Hills Well
4. Popla Foothills South Well
5. Kara Kara Bazaar Well
6. Zelda’s Secret Well

You can find the annotated list on AO3 here:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/48633913/chapters/122678209

The cover illustration for this piece, which depicts the veteran well explorer Fera, was created by the magical MiroiMirage. You can find their lively and colorful artwork on Twitter (here) and on Instagram (here). It was a joy and an honor to work with Miroi while getting a glimpse into their creative process. All of the groundwork they laid for the final painted illustration was amazing, so much so that I’d like to share one of their preliminary sketches, which you can see (here).

A Legend of Shadows, Part Three

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

This is the third and final section of a speculative comic about gods and mortals in Legend of Zelda lore and mythology. The first part is (here), and the second part is (here). This is a continuation of the ideas I expressed in a short collaboration comic called Hylia’s Chosen Knight.

The goddess Hylia is more than a little scary, and it’s interesting to think of Ganondorf as being the hero of another story. I’m fascinated by the theme of “the failed or corrupted hero,” and I think it would be interesting if Ganondorf went on a quest that paralleled Link’s journey. Maybe young Ganondorf saw Hylia as the villain, but the power he needed to stand against Hyrule ended up overwhelming him. To me, that’s much more compelling than the idea of power only being “good” when it’s wielded by the “chosen” person.