Hi! I'm alive!
Well, it's been... like, over a year since I've written anything, which makes me itchy, and the whole 'Corona' situation has provided me with oodles of unwanted free time, so...
Here's what is probably the last entry in my 'Timeline' mini-series, in which I explore the ways in which Link and Zelda's dynamic may have played out after the various games in the series. This time, we're looking at 'A Link to the Past' and 'Link's Awakening' (since they're the same Link and Zelda). No, you do not have to have read any of the other entries in the series for this story to make sense, but if you would like to, please feel free! You know where to find 'em.
Timeline
-Link's Awakening-
Shorelines
Link could remember when Hyrule castle had seemed like the most marvelous place in the world.
Back when he'd lived with his uncle in their ramshackle hut, he would wake in the morning, step out into the bright Hyrulean sunlight and gaze across the treetops towards the pearlescent palace on the horizon as it glowed almost ethereally beneath the rising sun. In those days, he had truly believed that he would never lay eyes on anything nearly as grand.
He'd never have imagined back then what the future would hold for him. Sneaking into the palace under the cover of a raging storm to break the princess out of her dingy prison cell. Charging in brazenly some time later to face the usurper responsible for killing the king and his uncle and putting the nation in turmoil.
The castle, once the stuff of peasant daydreams, had become the battleground of his nightmares. Yet, sitting as he was now on one of the many balconies of its many towers, after having seen and done so much - within Hyrule and without - and after his many, many adventures… it struck him as odd how the building that had at one time seemed so mystical and at another too terrible to imagine now felt so... inconsequential.
Years had passed since his duel with Ganon atop his golden pyramid, his own twisted distortion of this very palace. Years filled with adventure after adventure, traveling the land, sailing across the seas, finding and fighting and filling his days with stories and treasures and accomplishments that he would, inevitably, return with to Hyrule and share with any who might be interested.
And always, after a journey, he would return to the castle and pay a visit to the princess.
At some point, after rescuing her twice and saving her country, they had become… congenial. He would arrive at the gates of the castle and request to see her, and usually, within a few hours, he would be granted an audience. Though he was usually given only about a half an hour squeezed between everything else she had to do, meetings and audiences and whatever it is princesses do, she always made time to hear his stories, and he always made it a point to visit when he was finally back in Hyrule.
Yet, just as ever before, he couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that he didn't belong here. It had frightened him before, back before his duel with Ganon, and then after all was said and done, it had even amused him in a way that was almost arrogant. All these upper-class snobs with their noses in the air and their heads in the clouds, these stiff-backed knights who spent day after day staring at nothing… Compared to the things he'd done, the places he'd seen, how could they think themselves so superior?
Now, however… Now it just made him feel tired.
The gentle clink of a porcelain tea cup reminded him again of his surroundings. Of where he was, who he was with, and how odd it felt to be there. Yet, as always, it had been his decision to come, so there wasn't much use in complaining.
He fidgeted in his seat, an old, cushion-less chair, beautifully lacquered and clearly more intended to be seen than used if the soreness in his backside was any indication, and tried not to let too much of his discomfort show. His eyes were trained on his boots, road-worn more scuffed than not. He probably should have paid some urchin on the street to give them a shine before he'd arrived at the castle gates, but his mind had been so one-track since arriving at the docks that morning, he hadn't given a single thought to his appearance.
Odd, that a peasant nobody like him would pay a visit to the princess of Hyrule and not even make the slightest effort towards making himself seem at least somewhat presentable. He'd taken a bath at least, and though he'd changed his tunic, it was still somewhat ratty and patchwork. The guards at the gate certainly hadn't looked impressed with him when he'd arrived - but then, they never were. They hadn't forgotten how they'd all been brainwashed by Aghanim a few years back and how this nobody from the sticks had been the one to save the nation and the princess, not them.
In previous visits, he'd usually smirk at their discomfort with vain pride. Their annoyance with his presence, and with the exceptions the princess had made on his behalf, were things he would lord over their arrogant heads with no little amusement, strutting through the halls like a peacock. How good it always made him feel to know that these self-righteous soldiers were made to bow and scrape before a mere commoner like him…
Today, the whole thing just seemed childish. He didn't have the energy for it.
His companion made a noise from across their small table - something that might have been the clearing of a throat only it was much too light and dainty for that to be it - and with a look of suspicious uncertainty, the two guards who had been stationed by the balcony door saluted and retreated back into the castle, leaving the princess of Hyrule alone with her uninvited guest.
On the other side of the small table, containing a lavish tea set and a small selection of pastries that had gone untouched by either party, sat Princess Zelda. Years ago, a meeting like this would have been unthinkable - the absolute highlight in the life of any ordinary citizen, something that would leave the village gossiping, that his kids and grand-kids and great-grand-kids would tell stories about for years to come.
It was amazing to Link how, even though half a decade had passed since they had defeated Ganon, the princess still looked much the same. She wore a blue dress today, the kind that was overly frilly and frivolous though it matched the color of her eyes nicely. Her hair was the pure gold of the Triforce itself, falling straight back like a waterfall, with bangs that framed her light azure eyes and the sapphire that hung from a chain on her forehead.
Once, that gemstone might have drawn his attention, but not anymore. He'd obtained a veritable mountain of similar treasures on his journeys, and had thrown most of them away because they weren't worth carrying. He'd stopped caring about money long ago. It wasn't what he'd been searching for, after all.
Her smile, omnipresent as always, was sweet and docile and kind - three words that perfectly described Hyrule's princess. There were some who might undoubtedly find that endearing, the perfect traits for a perfect princess, but to Link, it had always made her seem somewhat dull.
Talking with her was always genuine, even despite their disparity in station, but he'd never been able to shake the feeling that he was speaking to a caricature. She was… too ideal. Too perfect. Like a figure from a storybook.
Or maybe he'd never been able to get over how uncomfortably out-of-place he felt in her presence.
"Forgive me if this seems forward, Hero," she spoke suddenly, voice like wind chimes stirred by a late afternoon breeze, "however… You seem unusually troubled today."
Link winced. She'd noticed after all. Well, he'd never been very good at hiding things, and he hadn't exactly been trying...
"If you wish, you may… speak to me. I don't know how much help I can be, however-"
"No, don't worry," he answered, absently waving his hand as though she were a fly. "It's nothing you need to worry about. I just…"
Truthfully, that was exactly why he was here. He needed somebody to talk to, somebody to listen to his concerns. It was only after returning to Hyrule after yet another adventure that the cold, uncomfortable truth that he'd been ignoring for so long finally hit him.
There was no one in Hyrule waiting for him. No friends, no family. Nobody.
He was alone.
At what point had he stopped adventuring for wealth or fame or the pursuit of justice? When had the stories he'd gathered become excuses used just to get someone to talk to him? To make him feel like people wanted him around, even if only while his stories held their attention?
"Your latest adventure. It has left you confused."
He chewed on his lip, suddenly anxious. The wind picked up, tousling their hair, whistling in his ears, and for a moment, he almost thought he could hear the notes of a song. A bird flew over the distant ramparts.
"I just want to know if it was real," he found himself saying. "I just… I want to know someone else believes."
"I believe you."
Link started in surprise.
"You do?"
She turned to him, her eyes just as kind, her smile just as sweet as it had ever been. Yet… there was something in her expression, something she'd never shown before… or perhaps it had always been there and he'd simply never noticed.
"Of course I do. Why shouldn't I?"
"I mean," he said, dragging a hand absently through his untamed hair, "It's… It's kind of insane, isn't it? A flying whale born from an egg, an island trapped in a dream… Everyone else I've talked to thinks me mad."
The princess laughed, a soft, tinkling melody too light to be mistaken for mockery.
"Hero," she began, "you and I were both taken to another world by an evil wizard once before. We have Great Fairies and spirits of nature who dwell in our kingdom. Who is to say that other beings do not exist elsewhere in the world who are capable of doing the same?"
"Right…" he answered slowly, feeling somehow bizarrely off-kilter. "But it's just…"
"It is just…?"
Her eyes were so wide, so innocent. So naive.
Insecurity and fear tangled the words on his tongue, and he changed what he was going to say.
"Don't you ever wonder if I'm lying to you?"
She gazed at him for a quiet moment, and his eyes desperately searched hers for some indication of what she was thinking.
"No," she finally murmured in response, and to his surprise, Link found himself scowling, suddenly angry.
"No?" he parroted back, his tone sharper than it should be. He'd been astonished, even relieved, when she'd told him she'd believed him, but what was her belief worth if she never questioned the things he told her? If she blindly accepted every word that came out of his mouth?
As though oblivious to his internal turmoil, the princess calmly turned away from him to gaze back out over the balcony, her blue eyes lost among the distant clouds.
Link opened his mouth again to speak - whether to shout or berate or deride, he didn't know - when her quiet voice cut him off.
"Who am I to question the tales you bring me?" she whispered, almost as though her words were meant for her alone. "I am already taking advantage of your kindness. I would not insult you by suggesting that you would lie."
He blinked, the words collapsing in his throat.
She thought she was the one taking advantage of him?
Before he could even begin puzzling out what she could possibly mean by that, the princess turned her wide, innocent eyes back on him and offered one of her slow, serene smiles.
"Perhaps this is merely wishful thinking, but I would like to believe that I know you better than that."
Did she know him better than that? He could count the number of times they'd spoken on his fingers. He was a wanderer, a wild man. A nobody who thought himself grand because he'd seen a little more of the world. She was the heir to the throne, kept sheltered within her ivory towers. What could she possibly know of him?
The princess's eyes returned to the skies, gently skimming their surface like fingertips on a pond.
"You are concerned about the woman you met. Your friend, Marin."
Something seized hold of his esophagus, choking his airway, making his heart thunder.
Zelda's eyes remained on the skies, sightless.
"Tell me. Would you rather know that Koholint was real so that you could trust that your time with her had actual substance, or would you prefer knowing that it was truly a dream so that you need not mourn her loss?"
The silence stretched on. The wind rose again, tugging at his clothes, roaring in his ears like the sound of the sea.
"It wouldn't matter," he whispered. "I mourn her anyway."
She smiled again - sweet, docile, kind - but there was an undeniable sorrow behind the action.
"Then I believe you have your answer, Hero."
He considered her words, then shook his head roughly like a stray dog shaking off a flea.
"Maybe so," he conceded, not wanting to talk about Marin. Somehow, the princess had known that she was at the core of it, but that didn't mean he intended to discuss her, or the impact she'd had on him. Her bright eyes, her sunny smiles, her dreams…
Whether Koholint had been real or not, he'd still lost her. And there was no getting her back.
The despair surged up from within, tossing him about like that night in the storm. He balked, flinching away from the misery, bottling it away, keeping it contained, but it wouldn't hold. It never did for long.
In desperation, he cast about for a change of subject.
"But still," he said, his tone falsely-jovial, "I'd like to know if it was real or not. If it was really the Wind Fish's dream, why were there swords and dungeons and things I recognized from the real world? Why would a big fish think of things like that?"
He hadn't expected the princess to answer. After all, how could she? Who could possibly have an answer to that save for the gods and the Wind Fish himself? It wasn't a real question anyway.
So he was surprised when she answered.
"Perhaps the dream he dreamed was not his own."
Link stared.
"What does that mean?"
The princess shrugged lightly, the casual movement somehow elegant and refined.
"I am afraid I can offer you nothing more than idle speculation, Hero, but after hearing your tale, I began to wonder if you affected the Wind Fish's dream when you were pulled into it. The Wind Fish was trapped by nightmares, but the fact that the solution to his problem involved scouring dungeons and battling monsters, and that you were provided with weapons and tools you were already familiar with to do the deed… It seems to me that your subconscious might have altered the state of the dream without you knowing."
"So, you're saying that the dungeons and weapons… they came from me? From my dream mixing with his?"
"Possibly."
"Huh."
The shuffle of footsteps approached from behind.
"Highness," came the quiet, respectful voice of an elderly maid. "The Council will be ready to meet with you shortly."
"Ah, of course. You have my thanks."
The woman retreated with a bow, eyes never once lifting from the floor. Link was not acknowledged once, as if he wasn't even there at all. Just another reminder that here, just like everywhere, it seemed, was not where he belonged.
"I apologize, Link," the princess said as she rose gracefully to her feet, "but it seems I must cut our meeting short here. Thank you for always coming to visit me. Know that I am always praying for your safe return. Until next we meet."
And, with a small curtsy, one far too respectful coming from the future ruler of Hyrule, she smiled with a kindness miraculously unfeigned, the kind, it seemed, that only she could ever give, and turned to walk away.
"Princess."
She stopped, turning to glance at him, her expression politely quizzical.
He hesitated. He'd already taken up enough of her time. Really, who was he to demand that the princess of Hyrule speak with him? True, she'd always seemed more than happy to meet whenever he returned from one of his adventures, but… If he were being honest with himself, it was always him taking advantage of her kindness. It had made him feel so important, but he'd always felt guilty about it. But now…
He swallowed thickly.
"What did you mean earlier, when you said that you were taking advantage of me?"
He'd been angry when she'd said it before, but now he felt an odd twinge of fear. What if meeting with him was something she merely put up with rather than enjoyed? She had every right to use him however she wanted so long as he insisted on taking up her time, but the thought that she would do so left him feeling…
She sighed softly. Everything about her was soft. She always was. Her lips quirked up in a gentle smile as her eyes, the muted blue of the winter sky, met his own.
"You and the Wind Fish are not the only ones with dreams, Hero," she replied, her voice quiet, for his ears alone. "The days that you grace the castle with your presence are some of the happiest that I've known. Though I will never be able to go and see the world as you do, when you come and tell me of your travels, for a while, I am allowed to pretend as though your adventures are my own. In a strange way, I suppose… You are my dream."
Link could only stare. In the back of his mind, he saw her again in the shadowy corner of the dungeon cells, the very first time they ever met. Her eyes had been fearful and untrusting, then.
Did she ever think back to that night? The two of them, running pell-mell through the pitch-black sewers, shoes soaked in filth, breaths ragged, her clammy hand gripped tightly in his own as he tried to fight back his frightened shaking. Death chasing behind and no idea of what lay ahead, and no comfort from the oppression of the dank and the dark but her frightened hand in his.
She had been his first adventure.
She took a step back, an unsubtle reminder that her many duties required her to leave, but from the look in her eyes, he almost thought she wanted to stay, just a bit longer.
"You are blessed with freedom, Hero. More than most. I know you have hardships of your own, but, selfish as it may be, I hope that your freedom continues to bring you back every now and then."
"I'll always come back, Zelda," he said, not even realizing that he'd slipped up and said her name.
She smiled. Not the soft, gentle, quiet smile that had seemed to so encapsulate everything he thought he knew about Hyrule's Princess, but a real, true, full-lipped, toothy beam of unadulterated happiness for once not muted by propriety, and Link felt something in his chest lock up.
Her eyes… They glittered with warmth, shimmering with a painful familiarity. All at once, he was transported away from the castle, back to a time not too long ago, on a makeshift bench made of driftwood. The shoreline had seemed to stretch on forever as Marin, her eyes warm and bright like sunlight on the sea, told him all about her dream.
Several days later saw Link leaning against the railing of a dock that was attached to an island only a few hours away from Hyrule. The shoreline stretched out endlessly in either direction, the barrier between this land and the lands beyond, but he kept his eyes trained on the sea.
Once, he had believed that the seas had held infinite promise. Anything could be out there, anything could be waiting beyond the horizon for anyone with the pluck and wherewithal to claim for their own, if they were willing to seek it.
Now, however, the endless oceans seemed like impassable buffers meant to keep him separated from what he'd always secretly been searching for. A place to be. A place that could be his.
Somewhere that would take notice and care if he left. Somewhere that would look forward to and celebrate his return. Somewhere he would someday find himself not wanting to leave.
Somewhere that could be his home.
After his uncle had died and Hyrule was saved, Link hadn't wanted to confront the fact that he no longer had a home. His uncle was dead, and, with him, his only remaining family. His only tangible human connection.
Fresh off the taste of his first real adventure, he had decided that maybe going out to see a little more of the world would do him good. The taste had proven just a little too addicting. His wanderlust had kept him from settling down for years, but the fact that he always felt compelled to return to Hyrule, to see the princess who always set aside a little time for him, should have been his first clue.
He returned to see her because he craved that connection. Because deep down, all he wanted was to find someone that wanted him to stay.
What stung was the realization that, in Koholint, he had almost found it. But he knew now that the seas were not the avenues to endless discovery that he had once believed. No boat could ever take him back to Mabe Village. His shoreline remained forever separated from the island he'd found in his dreams.
His meeting with Zelda had led him to other realizations as well. Her words towards the end of their meeting had been nagging at him from the moment he'd left the castle, and even now, sitting on some forgotten, barnacle-encrusted dock on the south end of nowhere, he found himself unable to think of anything else.
Her suggestion that his appearance had influenced and changed the Wind Fish's dream made too much sense to ignore. Why else would the spirit dream of swords it could not wield or dungeons it could not explore? He'd been trapped within his nightmares, and the dream had shifted not only to accommodate Link's presence, but to provide him a way to protect and save.
The problem was, Link was beginning to suspect that his influence on the dream had not ended there.
Why would the Wind Fish dream of a village of humans? What purpose did they serve? Insofar as rescuing the spirit was concerned, none. But they meant something to Link, something unique to him, something inconsequential to the task he had been provided.
In his mind's eye, he saw the way Zelda had smiled at him, just before he'd left. It was easy to picture even after only seeing it once, not just because it had been breath-taking, but because he'd seen it before. Several times before.
Everything about it, from the curve of her lips to the creases near her eyes and even the warm sparkle in her irises like seashells in the surf, had been familiar. That was because it was Marin's smile. Marin's, even down to the way her nose had crinkled.
He thought at first he'd been seeing things, but now, after days of consideration, after contemplating the events of the dream and his potential effect upon them, he was certain.
"If I was a seagull, I would fly as far as I could! I would fly to far away places and sing for many people! ...If I wish to the Wind Fish, I wonder if my dream will come true…"
"Though I will never be able to go and see the world as you do, when you come and tell me of your travels, for a while I get to pretend as though your adventures are my own. In a strange way, I suppose… You are my dream."
Somehow, in some way, Marin's existence in Koholint was the result of Link washing up on the beach. And subconsciously, he'd connected her to Zelda.
On the surface, it seemed impossible. The two may have the same smile, but other than that, they were completely different. Marin had red hair and tanned skin from spending every day under the sun. She loved to sing, to play pranks, to joke and laugh and live. Everything about her was so alive, so warm, so friendly. She was captivating, and she'd captured his heart just as surely as the sirens sailors speak of who haunt the seas.
Zelda was her opposite in almost every regard. She was blonde and pale, thanks to a life restricted within cold castle walls. She was quiet and soft-spoken, patient and kind, but never pushing the boundaries of propriety. Never betraying what thoughts or feelings she kept chained up inside. She was everything other people wanted her to be, but her own wants were by and large a mystery.
Marin wore her heart on her sleeve. Zelda's heart was kept locked away where no one could see it but her.
At first, Link had dismissed the similarities under the sheer weight of their differences, though if he were being honest, he simply didn't want to believe that there could be a connection. He wanted Marin to be real, he wanted Marin to be her own person. He didn't want to face the fact that he'd fallen in love with a dream.
It was only after remembering what they'd both said about their dreams that he came to his conclusion.
Marin was her own person… but only because the person she was based off of did not exist. Koholint and Mabe Village represented what LInk had always been searching for. People who could care for him. A place he could belong.
Marin was, in many ways, the dream's interpretation of what his ideal woman would be. Beautiful, friendly, vivacious, adventurous, warm, inviting, kind. Someone who could be his friend. Someone whose eyes would light up when they saw him. Someone who wanted him to be there.
Everything Zelda was not.
That was the key, he'd realized. Marin was Zelda - the Zelda Link had always wanted her to be. A Zelda who had grown up outside of castle walls, who showed her emotions, who made mistakes, who lived and laughed and yearned passionately for anything and everything she desired. A Zelda who was down-to-earth, who could relate to him, who cared for him, who he could care for without feeling like he was reaching for the moon.
His shoreline may not be forever separated from Hyrule's, but in a way, he was every bit as far from Zelda as he was from Marin. Zelda would never be Marin. It was unfair of him to expect that she should be. It was unfair for him to assume that she wasn't perfectly happy being just who she was.
He wasn't sure what that meant for him. Could he say that he truly loved Marin, a woman who was, quite possibly, nothing more than an unrealistically perfect dream, one created from his own subconscious needs and wants? Could he say that he actually loved Zelda deep down, even though his heart's desire was apparently that she change everything about herself to fit his own 'ideal'?
It didn't matter either way. He would never see Marin again, and whatever his relationship with Zelda, it would never be what he wanted. He wasn't sure that he'd want it even if it did happen; not the way she was right now, at least. She was, in many ways, every bit the dream Marin was.
For now, however, he resolved himself to move on. The seas may not represent infinite possibility anymore, but somewhere, on some distant shoreline, maybe he could find something close. Something to finally fill that hole inside. Something to end his searching.
But no matter what he found the next time he came ashore, he knew he'd find his way back to Hyrule eventually.
If only so that he could tell Zelda all about it.
So, back when I had the original idea for this series and jotted down my ideas for how the chapters would go, Nintendo had come out with their first ever 'official' Zelda timeline... only to later on change it. As some of you may recall, the original timeline had the Oracles placed between ALttP and LA, and while I know that doesn't make total sense for some internal continuity issues, I still... kinda like it better? I don't think the Oracles make much sense as stand-alone games - not for any lore reasons, it's just weird personal preference. So when Link mentions his 'many adventures', I'm alluding to those games, just not directly. So you can consider this to also be the Oracles entry - or you can not if you prefer. After all, doing so would have weird continuity issues with this story, too, just like the games. See how dedicated I am to crafting these? Ha.
But yeah, with this, I'm pretty much done with this mini-series (baring any future games that may come out). I included almost every iteration of Link and Zelda found in the series, and the ones that I neglected are really only absent because I didn't have any ideas good enough to work with or... because they're 4 Swords and I only played that game once years ago and don't remember it.
I'll try not to stay gone for a whole year again. Stay safe during these troubled times, kiddos.
Keep it Zesty.
ZC