So... have I ever mentioned that Wind Waker was one of my first Zelda games and happens to be the first I've beaten and one of my favorites, right under Majora's Mask? ...Yes, I've mentioned it extensively, and you wish I would shut up about it? Well too bad.
In other news, I got Skyward Sword for Christmas. Yaaay!
In other other news, HAPPY NEW YEAR'S! Let 2016, the year of Zelda U, be the greatest year of all for random Wind Waker novelizations! Speaking of novelizations, I've never done one before, so this is a little out of my comfort zone. So... we'll see how this goes.
I should also probably mention that this may have some minor differences/additions, and the dungeons will be completely flipped on their heads due to dungeons not being particularly good reading material, but the main plot is, of course, the same. Oh, and the dialogue, obviously, will be changed, or, in Link's case, added, because otherwise it's not nearly as fun or interesting to read. Also, there might be heavy TeLink undertones because I am trash, but this will be a canon story with minor bits of headcanon, so nothing further than you see in canon.
Let's get this party started!
Prologue
Legends
This is but one of the legends of which the people speak...
Two young children practically clung to their grandmother's knees, staring intently at her wrinkled face as she smiled and began to tell the familiar tale.
Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden. It was a prosperous land blessed with green forests, tall mountains, and peace.
A young boy, dressed all in green, bounded through the lush grass of the forest. Behind him, a green-haired girl gave chase, eyes twinkling and lips parted in a huge grin. Laughter drifted through the trees that stood all around them; laughter that seemed to echo all the way to a magnificent castle, where a petite blue-eyed girl smoothed out her prim dress. As soon as her supervisor turned his back, the blonde tugged her cumbersome skirt up around her knees and clambered over the nearby stone wall, landing with a plop outside the castle grounds. Guards saw her as she made a break for it, but smiled at each other and looked the other way, allowing her to steal her freedom back; now were peaceful times, and the worst she could do was run into town.
But one day, a man of great evil found the golden power and took it for himself. With its strength at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom. But then, when all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand...
Gnarled skeletons with mere clumps of flesh clinging to their bones. The pervasive stench of blood and rotting meat. A tall, masked figure with a blonde braid huddling in a corner of the cold cathedral once no one is looking and tucking her face into her knees.
...a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere.
The masked blonde leaped gracefully over a horde of the monstrous things that may have once been human and lightly stepped up the chilled marble of the steps leading to the towering, dark building. Inside, a green clad boy—no, a green-clad man's eyes shot open and he looked rapidly about, grip on the sword in his hands only tightening. He turned and began to leave, only to stop, spin on his heel, and finally spot the blonde figure. Something about the blonde seemed almost painfully familiar.
Wielding the blade of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light.
The sword sunk into the green-skinned beast's skull almost too easily.
This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time.
"No!" the green-clad man screams as the Song of Time drifts lazily around him. He feels the notes wind around his limbs, physically restraining him; dragging him back, back, back. It didn't matter how much he protested; the blue-eyed girl nearby just fixed her eyes on the hem of her skirt, continuing to play the delicate blue instrument in her hands. The green-clad man felt tears stream down his face as everything he knew was torn away and, once again, he was left alone in a world where no one knew him and he didn't even know himself.
The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend...
But then, a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom.
A blue-eyed woman stood tall on her balcony, clutching her skirt. The moon was dimmer than it should have been, and smaller; a tiny grayish dot in the deep, rich blue of Hyrule Field's night sky. She apprehensively turned and returned to her bed, curling up underneath the light sheets and staring at a painting of a green-clad man hung on her wall.
The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero once again crept forth from the depths of the earth, eager to resume its dark designs.
He was no longer quite human. Not quite as beastly as he had been years ago, the blue-eyed woman acknowledged as she fled. Not physically, at least. But he was large and bulky, and he didn't seem at all phased by having been dead a mere month ago.
The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them...
A redhead huddled close to a slumbering horse in the charred remains of what used to be her stable. A zora woman sunk like a stone to the bottom of Lake Hylia, hoping irrationally that she would never have to resurface. A gray-haired Goron lumbered to the top of Death Mountain, somberly humming a familiar tune. A green-haired girl climbed high atop the tallest tree and looked over the forest. All four of them thought in tandem, although they couldn't have known at the time. 'Please, Link. Please come back.'
But the hero did not appear.
The blue-eyed woman wondered, much later, if it was because he hated her for sending him away.
Faced by an onslaught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to the Gods. In their last hour, as doom drew nigh, they left their future in the hands of fate.
People, sobbing, bowed frantically to golden statues of Din, Farore, and Nayru. Complex tapestries depicting triangular golden symbols were torn down and hugged close. Mothers wrapped their arms around their children and whispered fiercely into their ears, keeping them busy as the fire spread outside. All the while, a green-skinned, red-haired man stood and laughed, even as the water level rose from ankle-deep to knee deep.
What became of that kingdom? None remain who know.
Oceans. Oceans. Oceans. Oceans. Nothing but oceans as far as the eye can see.
The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath. On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend.
The rays of dawn peaked through the open window, smiling upon a short, gray-haired woman and the sleeping form of a small blonde-haired girl. She toiled endlessly, as she did whenever they weren't awake or when they were out playing, her needle flashing along like an arrow. The pile of slightly rumpled field-green material clutched loosely in her fingers was finally coming together; now all she had to do was add the finishing touches. Stealing a glance at the sleeping blonde, who was finally stirring, she smiled faintly, slipping the belt over the outfit and quickly sewing it into place.
Finally, with an intense feeling of triumph, she held up her finished product and smiled. A green tunic, just like the one worn by the Hero of Time, but in Link's size. "Aryll," she called softly, her voice raspy but steady. The blonde looked up curiously from the window, where she had run to do her morning survey of the island as soon as she woke up. "Would you go find your brother and tell him Grandma has something for him?"
Is it bad that I know the entire opening legend by heart? ...Yes, it is bad? I need to work on getting a life and/or job? Well, that's not happening anytime soon, so you'll have to make due! I played this game a lot as a kid, okay? Shut up!
Also, isn't it awesome how realistic Grandma from the game is? ...for you she's not realistic at all and I shouldn't assume all grandmas are the same? STOP ANSWERING MY RHETORICAL QUESTIONS WITH YOUR SILLY LOGIC, OKAY?!
Next time on Whatever I'm Gonna Call This! Aryll goes to tell her big brother that Grandma has something for him! Where will she find him? What is he doing? What will she do for his unspecified special event today? And what exactly is that unspecified special event? Find out in the next installment of... I Still Don't Have a Proper Title!