The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild



Zelda’s Redemption



By Violetlight


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Chapter 1: Silent No More


It was over. It was finally over.

After so much time trapped in limbo, waiting, hoping, praying that the resurrection chamber would work, that her hero really would be revived, it was all over. Calamity Ganon was sealed once again, and she had her knight, her hero to thank. Now, finally, as Princess Zelda gazed out over the rolling hills of her kingdom, could concentrate on what was really important – rebuilding Hyrule. With her loyal, true knight at her side, there was nothing she could not do. It was just like the old legends, the ones her mother had told her, that had fascinated her as a child, that had led to her lifelong love of reading. Of learning. Of discovering. Hero and Princess, bound together by destiny, fated to save the kingdom from the ultimate evil ….

“I can no longer hear the voice inside the sword. I suppose it would make sense if my power had dwindled over the past one hundred years …” Zelda mused, mostly to herself. She turned, and smiled at Link. “I’m surprised to admit it …but I can accept that.”

Yes, she could. There was, however, a part of her that regretted the loss. After all, it was the cumulation of the years she had spent praying, years I could have spent studying instead. But wasn’t that what the Princess was supposed to do? To be a vessel for the Goddess? As uncaring as she was, deeming only to release her power once it was too late … Still. This was how things were supposed to be. That had to be it.

One word from her Hero, however, brought all Zelda’s self-doubts back to the surface.

“No.” Just one quiet syllable, but when spoken by the normally silent knight, it resonated.

“Link? It’s alright, really. The power…” Zelda began.

“That’s not what I meant.” Link said, determination so evident in his quiet voice that even Zelda, who usually missed such subtleties, had to pay attention. “We’re not going to Zora’s Domain. King Dorephan has been through enough. Leave him be.”

“But, Vah Ruta’s malfunction … we really should …”

“There’s nothing to ‘investigate’! Don’t you get it? Ruta stopped working because Mipha …” at the Zora Champion’s name, Link’s voice cracked. “My beautiful Mipha …” his quiet voice became a whisper.

“Link?” Confused, Zelda tried awkwardly to put a “comforting” hand on Link’s shoulder, and gasped when he shrugged her away. She watched as Link walked towards his stubborn, black horse, Tenacious. Was he ignoring her? Feeling like she should say something, Zelda began, “Mipha was my friend too, and she wouldn’t want you to feel this way …”

“You have no idea what she – what we wanted,” Link said.

“We? What do you … oh Hylia …” Realization hit Zelda like a Hinox’s fist. Memories of her ultimately futile quest to unlock her powers at the Sacred Springs came flooding back …


***




She had prayed to the point of collapse at the Spring of Power, protesting that she wasn’t finished even as Urbosa’s strong arms lifted her out of the chilly water, as Mipha’s magic flowed over her, soothing her shivering form. Bundled up in her sleeping bag and losing her fight with exhaustion, Zelda barely heard the footsteps of another of her companions as he joined the Zora Princess at her side.

“Don’t exhaust yourself too. Zelda will be okay.”

“I know … I just wish there was some other way. Pushing herself like this … it isn’t healthy for her.”



“You care so much. That’s one of the many things I love about you.”



“Oh Link …”



“Don’t worry, Zelda will figure this out. She’s too stubborn not to. Must be a princess thing.” A small giggle at that comment. “Come on, she’s asleep now. We should be getting our rest too.”



“I suppose …”



“This will all be over soon, I’m sure of it. Then, finally, our life together can begin.”



Through half-opened eyes, Zelda could barely see the two of them … Mipha relaxed back into the arms of her lover, a small smile on her face as she reveled in his embrace. Link placed a kiss on her brow, then the two of them walked, hand in hand, to a dark corner away from the campfire. Too tired to contemplate it, Zelda had fallen into a dreamless sleep, completely forgetting that ‘her’ Hero had already found his Princess …




***


“I am such a fool,” Zelda stood, frozen at the side of the white stallion who looked so much like her horse from a century ago. Shadowfax -- as Link had named him -- snorted, seeming to agree with her assertion. “But … why? The Hero and Hylian Princess are destined to be together. That’s what all the legends say; that’s what’s supposed to happen …” Too late, Zelda realized she had spoken aloud.

From atop Tenacious, Link stared at her. He dismounted, and came right up to her. For a minute, Zelda was afraid he would draw his sword.

“That’s what you care about? Seriously?”

“Link, I …” Zelda looked at her feet, ashamed of herself for being so trivial. Then, as she thought more about everything she had been through, all she had been wrong about, she clenched her fists, shame changing to anger. “No! I’ve had enough of feeling like an idiot! So what if I took the stories literally? It’s not like my father and everyone else didn’t! If I had to spend my entire life in useless prayer, a slave to destiny, was it so wrong of me to want the one seemingly positive thing out of this whole farce?! So yes, I fell for you! I didn’t want to, not with everything coming so easy to you! It wasn’t fair! And I had absolutely no idea you were already smitten with a Zora, of all things!”

“What’s wrong with Zora!?” Link was yelling now, just as much as she was.

“They’re fish!”

“I wouldn’t care if Mipha was a Bobokin! I love her!”

Zelda had seen Link face down Yiga assassins without so much as a grimace, had watched him mow down bobokins, moblins, even lynels with no more emotion than a stoic determination. The anger she saw now … she honestly did not know how to respond. Still, that explosion had been better than the coldness that followed:

“Mipha … Daruk … Urbosa. And Revali. Did they all have to pay the price for your stupid schoolgirl crush?” Link said darkly.

“That’s not what …”

“Don’t give me that. I remember how I died.”

Running from Guardians, every other weapon broken long ago, the Master Sword itself chipped and worn. When that robotic eye had looked down on them … the thought of losing Link, losing the last person she loved in all the world … after a lifetime of forsaken prayer, that’s what awoke her power? Surely it was meant to be! Zelda had a glimmer of hope, before she saw that the Guardians were not all the beam had blasted. The look he gave her before his breathing stopped … it was a look of pure hatred.

“What did your stories say about us losing?” Link’s voice snapped her out of another terrible memory.

“Wha … losing? Ganon is gone! We didn’t --”

“Look around you, Zelda! Notice something that’s not here?” Link grabbed the Sheikah Slate out of her hands. “Look!” He pointed the slate at a pile of stones way in the distance. It zoomed in, and Zelda could see they were not simply rocks. They were ruins, all that was left of a once-prosperous village. He pointed the Slate in another direction, and a devastated ranch appeared on its screen, the husk of a Guardian stretched across the overgrown track where horses once ran. “It’s like this all over Hyrule. I’ve seen more ruins, more devastation, than actual towns. Hateno, Lurelin and a scattering of stables -- that’s what’s left of your kingdom. Do you still think we’ve ‘won’?”

There was no answer. How could there be? To make matters even worse, Ganon was only sealed. This would all happen again sometime in the future, when a new Hero and Princess would be forced to live out this vicious cycle, as they had, ever passing on the responsibility to a new generation. Not that there was any other choice.

Link mounted Tenacious and set off at a slow pace across the plains. Reluctantly, Zelda followed on Shadowfax, despite the horse’s annoyed snorts. “We’re not going to Zora’s Domain. You’re going to Kakariko. If you want someone to bow and scrape to your every ‘royal’ whim, I’m sure the Sheikah won’t mind. I’m done.” With those words, Link once again became the silent, stoic hero that Zelda, against her better judgement, and as futilely as anything else in her life, had fallen in love with. In a strange way, it was almost a relief that he did not feel the same.

Chapter 2: Crescendo of Regret


From her seat at the table in Dueling Peaks stable, Zelda rubbed her aching temples, and tried to concentrate on the Hyrule Compendium data she had been examining on the Shiekah Slate. For once, however,studying was not having the desired effect of calming her down, no matter how interesting the slate’s scanned data on various shield designs was.

Favoured byhunters for its rabbit design, which is said to bring … “oh, who cares?” Zelda moaned, and lay her head on the table.

Maybe it was because of the route Link had taken her on to get here. After the narrow, canyon path from Sahasla Slope, where they had their … disagreement, to Kakariko Village, had been blocked by a landslide that no amount of Rune Bombs (or swearing at said bombs) would clear, he had taken them on an alternate route, around the side of one of the strange, shattered-looking pair of mountains, and down the riverside path between them. It had been practically the same route they had taken 100 years ago, though at a much more leisurely pace. At least they had not been hunted by Guardians this time. The present-day journey, however, had been just as stressful to Zelda, even if the stress had been of a completely different kind. Back then, I was absolutely sure Link would protect me, no matter what. Now …

Zelda raised her head and looked out through the stable’s open entranceway, to the swampy field beyond, still speckled by Guardian remains, where her Hero had taken what would have been his last breath. Did the similarities between the two routes even register to Link? Had he taken them down this path on purpose?

No. Zelda shook her head. He likely had no idea. The Shrine of Resurrection had done its work a little too well. Besides, after their earlier … spat, Link had been mostly quiet, yes, but as courteous and dutiful as always. Formal and stoic, as a knight is supposed to be to his lady.

As he has always been with me. Not like the other Champions. She remembered Link laughing and joking with Daruk, sparring with Urbossa, even having what sounded like a friendly argument with Revali on occasion, though she could be mistaken on the “friendly” part. She never was very good with recognizing that kind of thing, she admitted to herself. And Mipha … she still inwardly kicked herself for not even seeing the closeness between the sweet Zora Princess and Hylian Knight. Not that Mipha would have dreamed of saying anything that might have been interpreted as uncomfortable. She was much too proper, much too nice to say anything that might hurt another.

“She must have read me like a book,” Zelda murmured to the Shiekah Slate, and leaned the tablet against her forehead in frustration. Even if she had hurt my feelings,it would have been so much better in the long run if Mipha, or Link, for that matter, had just told me they were together! Preferably before I developed that “stupid schoolgirl crush”. I would have been happy for them! Really!

Had the other Champions known? Urbossa probably, and would have not said anything for the same reason as Mipha, for not wanting to hurt her. The Gerudo chieftain had always been so protective of Zelda, like the big sister she always wanted. Still, she wasn’t some fragile little flower! She could have handled it. Daruk, being a Goron, probably didn’t know, as Gorons usually had enough trouble grasping how Hylians didn’t find rocks delicious, never mind the other, numerous differences of Gorons compared to the other races of Hyrule. Revali … he probably knew, and simply didn’t care. Zelda honestly didn’t blame him for staying out of the tragic drama that her life had become,without her even knowing.

Not that any of that mattered now. She would never again be almost knocked off her feet by a pat on the back from Daruk, be simultaneously told off and comforted by Urbossa, or hear Revali’s proud boasting. Never again would Mipha give that small, sweet little smile of hers when she healed a papercut that hurt so much more than it really should have. And Link was completely, utterly correct. Their deaths, and those of all the Hylians who had their lives snuffed out by the ironically named “Guardians”, the life of the Kingdom of Hyrule itself … it was all her fault.

To blame Calamity Ganon for the disaster … it was like blaming a storm for its lightning …

Zelda’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of humming from outside the stable. She gave a small smile at the sound; some things never changed.

Sure enough, Link entered the stable a few minutes later, balancing two large and small plates each, along with a couple mugs, on top of his shield. Before taking his place at the table, he quietly spoke to the Stable Keeper, who smiled and called for his brother, as well as the traveler with the positively gigantic backpack, evoking a loud, happy “Thank you!” from the latter. Evidently,Link had made enough dinner for the entire stable.

And what a dinner it was! Spicy prime meat and seafood fry, with a side of fried wild greens, mugs of warm milk, and … was that fruitcake for dessert? Her favourite! “Thank you Link.” Zelda echoed the backpacked traveler’s sentiments.

Link gave an “it was nothing” shrug, and immediately started shoveling down his meal. It looked like his amnesia had done nothing to change Link’s table manners, or lack thereof.

“Are you alright?” Link interrupted Zelda’s picking at her own meal. Despite her hunger, she just could not bring herself to eat much. She was surprised he noticed.

“What?”

“You look angry.”

“I am not mad. I was just thinking.”

Link didn’t counter her assertion. He not-so-quietly gulped down his milk, but didn’t speak again until a few more minutes had passed. “I suppose I should thank you.”

Zelda was genuinely surprised at this. “For what?” she asked.

“For holding Ganon back for as long as you did, for weakening it to the point where the battle … I was expecting much worse.” Link said as he started on his dessert, while Zelda was still on her main course.

It was Zelda’s turn to be silent as she picked at her greens and thought about this. True, Link appeared to have no significant injuries,and she knew nothing less than the knight’s considerable skill would have been able to defeat Ganon. However … Link seemed tired. Worn out. Even Zelda could tell it had nothing to do with the battle.

To have him acknowledge the part she had played, the tiny, almost insignificant part, after all she had cost him … she couldn’t accept it. “It wasn’t just me,” Zelda finally said. “Ganon must have put a lot of power into the Blights, so when you killed them, it weakened the Calamity considerably. Also, the Divine Beasts’ blast did quite a bit as well.”

“I guess …” Link got quiet again.

Any mention of the Champions and their beasts (well, one Champion in particular) was obviously still a sore point. They ate in silence for quite a few more minutes, until Link changed the subject.

“I was meaning to ask you something. Are Blood Moons still going to happen?”

“I…I don’t remember there being any record of the Blood Moon occurring before the Calamity, not in all my studies, so I believe it’s safe to say it will not occur again for as long as Ganon remains sealed.” It gave Zelda a strange sense of relief to have, not just Link, but someone, anyone, actually ask her an intellectual question, and value her answer. A trickle of relief, but followed immediately by a wave of guilt for thinking as such.

If Link picked up on her troubled emotional state, he gave no indication. “I met a researcher who said it started up about a hundred years ago – at this very stable, in fact.” Link nodded in the direction of another of the stable’s visitors, a black-haired Hylian man with quite an impressive mustache, just coming back inside with his share of dinner, who nodded back in acknowledgement. “So the monsters will stay dead now?”

“Um… yes. Yes, of course.”

“Good.” Link nodded, and finished off the rest of his fruitcake. He stood up from the table, but before taking his dishes outside to the wash tub, he paused. “I’m going to need you to formally relieve me of my duties when we reach Kakariko,” he said. It was a statement, not a request.

“Yes. Of course.” Zelda repeated sadly, as she avoided Link’s gaze. She was then left alone once more at the table, alone with the Shiekah Slate, and her thoughts, neither of which were very comforting.

***

After a not-so-restful night at the stable, most of which she spent further studying her Shiekah State in futile attempt to read enough to silence the inner voice that kept telling her how terrible she was, before she finally passed out from sheer exhaustion, Zelda awoke, much too early the next morning, to the kindly face of the Stable Keeper’s brother … Rensa? She was terrible at remembering names.

“Your boyfriend’s ready to go now, Miss. He woke early, got your horses ready, and baked some apples for a nice, horseback breakfast. Very considerate.” The stable keeper chuckled knowingly. “He’s a keeper, that one.”

“Thank you, but he’s not my boyfriend,” Zelda yawned, and reluctantly got out of bed. At least she didn’t need to bother getting dressed. She had fallen asleep in her traveling clothes.

“Brother then? Sorry to assume.” Rensa continued as Zelda ran her hands quickly through her hair, in lieu of a brush. “Link, right? I’ve seen him come and go a few times over the last few months, but I haven’t met you before. He’s got quite the way with horses! Tamed one of the wild ones from out back in just a few minutes, believe it or not! Broke my record!”

“Yes, Link has always liked horses.” Zelda tried to be polite as she untied her messy braid. Why was he continuing to talk to her?

“So what’s your name, Miss?” the overly-friendly stable keeper asked.

“Me?” Zelda paused, confused for a moment, before remembering that of course, nobody in this time would know who she was. “I’m Prin --” she cut herself off. “My name’s Zelda.” she said, finally.

“After the long-dead Princess? No offence, but what were your parents thinking? Everyone knows that name’s bad luck.”

“I’d say!” One of the stable’s other visitors added, not seeming to care that he wasn’t part of the conversation. He sat on the side of his bed, his travelling companion, who Zelda had briefly noticed the night before, still sleeping in the adjacent one. “Hylia-damned royals, bunch of rich boko-heads,sitting up in their castle, making the rest of us ‘common folk’ pay them taxes, and for what? They probably caused the Calamity, for all we know!”

Zelda froze, utterly in shock. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing!

“Not like you ever paid them a green rupee, Prissen! Shut it!” The stable keeper, Tasseren, barked from his desk. “Sorry about that,” he turned in Zelda’s direction.

“No. No, it’s alright …” Zelda began. That’s what people think of us? She picked up her Shiekah Slate, her hands shaking.

“I’m just saying, a giant city-smashing monster appears from below the castle, of all places. How do you think it got there?” Prissen continued, utterly ignoring the stable keeper’s warning.

Rensa gently put his hand on Zelda’s back, and led her outside. “You got everything, Miss?”

“Yes,I believe so.”

“Don’t listen to that idiot. He keeps going on to anyone who will listen about his great-grandpa, how he barely escaped from old Castle Town alive. Not like he’s special,” Rensa snorted. “Everyone’s got family stories. One hundred years ago …it was a dark time. Not that you kids need to worry about that.”

Zelda wasn’t paying much attention to Rensa’s reassurance. Not when her long ears caught a few snippets from the resulting argument taking place inside the stable:

She’s named after the Princess! Her family’s probably Royalist!
So they’re stupid.So what?
I’m trying to run a hospitality business here, boko-head!
Catering to nostalgic idiots?
She could be named after Princess Peach for all I care! Rupees are rupees. Don’t screw with my customers, you no-good thief!
That’s TREASURE HUNTER!

Evenif the stable keepers’ kindness was genuine, not just business, and Zelda honestly could not tell which it was, it was obvious that the Hylians of this age were more concerned with survival than anything else. Once again, Link was proven right. Even if she attempted to rebuild her kingdom, would her people, the relative few whose ancestors had survived the Calamity, even care?

Hearing the stable keeper’s voice, Link walked over from the side of the stable, where he had been adjusting Tenacious’ bridle. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his hand instinctively going for his sword.

“Nothing much. Just that ‘treasure hunter’mouthing off,” Rensa replied. “You two have a good trip, and remember, we Hylians are a tough lot. Though you might want to think about a … um …travel name, Miss Zelda.”

“Thank you for the advice,” Zelda managed to say as she mounted Shadowfax, still shaken.

“Take care of your sister, Link.” Rensa said as a farewell, as his brother waved from the stable.

“Sister?” Link handed Zelda a couple baked apples, then walked over to Tenacious. “What was all that about?” he asked.

“Nothing important,” Zelda sighed. Shadowfax’s disappointed-sounding whinny echoed her sentiments as they left Dueling Peaks Stable behind.

***

The sun had just about reached its peak position in Hyrule’s deceptively peaceful-looking blue sky, when Zelda and Link reached the decorative gateway to Kakariko Village. Just outside the gate, under the symbolic watch of the Shiekah’s ever-present eye symbol, Zelda slowed Shadowfax’s trot to a stop. She clutched her Shiekah Slate to her, and sighed. “Link …” she began.

The silent knight didn’t answer, but slowed Tenacious to a standstill as well. He was listening.

“What are you planning on doing?” Zelda asked reluctantly.

Link was silent for another moment, before answering quietly, perhaps as reluctantly as Zelda. “First, I’m going to put this cursed thing back where it belongs.” He didn’t even need to point to the Master Sword, sitting in its scabbard on his back.

Zelda nodded. Ganon was sealed. There was little reason to hold on to the sacred blade. Link was proficient in more than enough other weapons. “And then?” she asked.

“I still need to find quite a few shrines. Those monks have waited 10 000 years for their ‘hero’; it would be cruel to just leave them. Besides that … there’s a few other things I need to do.”

“I could hel ..” Zelda began.

“I can’t babysit you anymore!” Link snapped.

“I don’t …” Zelda began to argue, but gave up with another sigh. It was clear Link’s mind was made up, and nothing she could say would change it. She climbed down from Shadowfax. “Well, I’d better not keep you then. Let’s get this over with.”

Link nodded and dismounted Tenacious. He knelt before Zelda, in much the same way he had in the ceremony where she had declared him the Hylian Champion and her Guardian Knight. Had it really been so long ago?

“Sir Link, Knight and Saviour of Hyrule, Hylian Champion and Chosen Wielder of the Sword that Seals the Darkness …” Zelda began, trying to keep her inward shaking out of her voice. “As Princess of Hyrule, I hereby honourably discharge you from your service to the Crown. You … never need to bow again.”

Linkgot up, and wordlessly went to climb back into Tenacious’ saddle.

“Wait…” Zelda stopped him. She paused, huggedher Shiekah Slate one last time, then held the artifact out to Link. “You’ll need this more than I.”

Link raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”

“You’ll need it to get into the shrines at the very least. Don’t argue. Just take it.” Zelda said, and turned away, not wanting Link to see the tears threatening to burst from her eyes.

Link gently took the slate from her hands, and Zelda heard the distinctive sound of something materializing from it. “Here.”He placed something in her hands in exchange. “I’m hoping you’ll never have to use this, but if you find yourself in trouble, and knowing you, you probably will, wear this mask, and most monsters will become passive around you, as long as you don’t attack them first.” Link explained. “It won’t work on Lynels though; it just makes them mad. Not that I hope you’ll ever face a Lynel.”

Zelda looked down at the brightly-coloured, vaguely heart-shaped mask, fringed by multi-coloured spikes. Was it Zelda’s imagination, or did its huge, round, orange-yellow eyes seem to stare right through her? “Are you sure you won’t need it?” she asked. There was something … unnerving about this mask.

“Believe me, I won’t.”

“Alright then …” Resigned to her fate, Zelda tucked the mask under her arm, took Shadowfax’s reins with her other hand, and walked under the gate to Kakariko. She tried not to cry as she thought about how Link would soon walk out of her life. The trickle of tears down her cheeks proved that once again, she had failed.