Pose and expression practice of the best gal! Used reference and inspiration from @ rerenga_cosplay’s images on instagram, please check them out they’re incredible!
Something something Zelda doesn’t mind waiting. She waited a hundred years for Link to wake up and face the Calamity. She waited 10,000 years for Link to find her and the master sword to finally face off against Ganondorf.
She doesn’t mind waiting because she knows how the story goes. She knows what kind of narrative she and Link are doomed by. She knows Link will prevail.
But she also knows the narrative isn’t what she or Link want. She wants a safe Hyrule. She wants her hero knight to be free. She wants herself to be an explorer, a researcher, a scientist. Being a princess is something she’s born into and therefore something she’s duty-bound to. Same as Link being duty-bound to being her royal knight.
In those hundred years of waiting and those 10,000 years of waiting, she is content for Link to just… Be Link.
We all joke about how Link is goofing around Hyrule while the Calamity is looming and Zelda is waiting. About how and Ganondorf is gathering power in the depths while Zelda is missing and Link is building contraptions to bring koroks to their friends.
But this is Link. This is him when he’s not duty-bound. I’m not saying he doesn’t like being zelda’s royal guard, but his essence isn’t just that. He’s just a guy who likes to go around helping people. That stable woman needs a horse and horse cart? Sure, he’ll use his new powers to get her sorted out. That man fell down the well (in lego city) and needs help fixing the ladder to climb back up? Yeah, Link’s on it. Oh, you need help building this town into something so, so beautiful where everyone from all walks of life can come and meld their cultures together and live in a diverse sort of harmony? Link’s your man to see your vision come true.
Link loves his role in Hyrule. As a helper. A wandering hero. As a guy who roams and cooks and tames wild horses and gets rid of monsters and helps anyone and everyone even if they’re obviously disguised yiga clan members.
So of course Zelda would want nothing but for him to enjoy his little wonders. This transient moment that had been carved for him to be free. Sure, there is doom looming over him and Hyrule. But he’s still fulfilling his promise. He’s still protecting them all in his own small way. He’s still Link. Just unburdened.
And now that Zelda truly understands the fuckery of time and fate and everything, she doesn’t mind waiting. She can wait as long as Link needs to be free. She will roam the skies unbothered and unthinking and in her immortal, unaware state until Link is ready. Until Link needs her.
