A wild konami appears~
"You'll only put them in danger."
Zelda's expression contorted into an expression of pure rage, "I am NOT letting my subjects be enslaved!"
"Sheik, those are shock bolts. If one gets fired it'll kill everyone within several meters of where that bolt lands. Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to run in there and free those people. But I won't let innocent people die."
She grips her reigns tightly, gritting her teeth, "Dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"
She turns her horse around, just as a few guards were noticing the two of you with your horses at the side of the road, and sends her horse into a gallop.
You catch up with her easily enough, her horse was nothing compared to Epona. She eventually slows her mount to a trot, and you get a good look at her face. Even with the rain you could tell tears were flowing, her face scrunched up in anger, her reigns clutched so tightly they were digging into her hands.
"Dammit... Dammit..."
You don't know what to say to her...
For a long time it feels as if Link has been the 'wisdom' to what
should be Zelda's primary domain. The girl is pugnacious, hot headed, impulsive, not a little bit neurotic, and most importantly
untempered in comparison to the usual calm and cool Zelda's we see.
She's like a mix of the adventurousness and hotblooded Tetra and SS Zelda's youthful innocence, but without the open seas life experience of the former nor the calm surety of the latter. Probably because RB Zelda's developmental period was utterly borked with a razorwire eggbeater.
Half of her adult role models were killed by a plague, the rest of her family and friends (supposedly until she discovers there are other miraculous survivors) murdered by
notTywin, sent on the run, and holed up in a tiny little village with nothing in the way of news or outside communication. Is it any wonder Zelda became so obsessed with knowledge?
Previously, as a child she was shown as rambunctious and playful. I can't confirm whether she was a bookworm before everything, but signs point to her
obsession with Sheika technology and general knowledge as a coping mechanism for what occurred during her childhood.
If she knows
everything, than she can
fix everything, right?
She Has To. Because she's the princess, the chosen of the goddess, the rightful ruler of Hyrule, a girl who doesn't want to lose everything she has all over again.
And really, she's mentally
just a little girl. Ish. Sure she's grown up, but her total life experience is supremely sheltered and filled with all sorts of dogma from her expectant subjects. A further point is how often Link tends to point out that she hasn't really
changed all that much since their childhood.
It really doesn't help that she's being thrown back into the nightmare that was her childhood face first. Zelda's peaceful little dream bubble filled with the occasional nightmare of her perceived
duties has been popped with all of the shit that's happened to her.
Yiga assassin could be dealt with, it was a reminder that she wasn't safe, yes, but wounds can be healed.
Castle Town was the next eye opener. Seeing what was happening to Zora lands and the later reveal that the rebellion is only
eight people strong was like shining a flashlight into her forcefully opened eyelids.
Then Link 'dies'.
Jesus, is it any wonder that Zelda's cracking apart at the seams?
I get the feeling if things continue on, Triforce pieces are going to change hands.
Ganon has the courage to say fuck destiny.
Link has the wisdom to survive the world.
Zelda is
powerless. Again.
"It isn't right, it isn't right that they're able to get away with this," She growls, adjusting the pack on her shoulders, her feet sinking into the mud as she walked ever forwards.
"We're going to meet up with the resistance. We'll be able to do something then, maybe they even know of a shrine that might have... something that'll help."
A little bit of hope that too is almost shattered. I think Zelda really would've lost it if it wasn't her childhood adult figures and playmate we discovered. As is, she's
coping.
"You know? I bet they hate Hylian's and this is all pointless!" Zelda bitterly says after checking your position on the Sheikah Slate and you both realized how far you were from your goal still, "I wouldn't blame them, their people have been enslaved and their land despoiled by the Empire. I'd hate us all as well!"
"Zelda, that's the swamp talking."
Zelda lets out a breath, looking back to you, "Yeah it is... Ugh, its getting dark."
You nod, "Yeah, it's going to be too dangerous to continue at this rate. Is there someplace nearby that isn't marshland?"
Far from the first time Link's had to be Zelda's voice of reason, but you can tell that things are getting pretty bad if her self-hatred is starting reach Taylor levels.
"Shackles. Those are shackles," Zelda says quietly, stepping back from you. She glances around, in face contorting in fury, "No wonder this wasn't on the map, it's a road to transport slaves!"
She was hyperventilating, shaking with anger, "They probably use this shrine as a stopping! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She
"Curse them..." She mutters, "Curse them for their evil, for making me want... want to hurt everyone responsible. To... to want to ki-BAH!" She snarls, slamming her fist into the pillar.
"I.... I refuse to be the Princess who only sits back and prays. I need to do something, anything for those suffering! For Mipha, for Medli, the Rito, the Zora and everyone else who've suffered because of those with evil in their hearts!" She says to you, eyes alight with conviction.
"Topaz..." Zelda mutters, brows furrowing in confusion before her eyes widen in horror, "Oh goddesses, you put shock collars on them!"
Realization seems to dawn on Zelda, and her next words are spoken with anger you had never suspected she was capable of, "You... you...!"
She raises her bow, arrow nocked as she snarls, "I'm going to kill every last one of you!"
Snapping point.
"M-Mipha?!" Zelda sputtered out, her expression that of utter disbelief.
Barely saved by Mipha appearing, but the state of the world and Zelda's burdens only grow further entrenched.
---
Latest chapter only brings up Zelda's powerlessness
again. She can't save her friends, and if she can't save her friends, how the hell is she supposed to help her people?
As for current vote choices... well, here's what I think she'll believe
internally despite her outward response.
[] We're your friends, and no matter what we'll stick beside you.
"But you're all going to die because you're so close to me."
[] No one who worries so much about the plight of others is a selfish monster.
"I have to be perfect, but I want to be free."
[] We all know you're a great person, we're with you because of that.
"Am I? Are you?"
[] Nothing is wrong with you, you've been dealing with so much.
"And so has everyone else Link. Why am I so weak?"
[] You can get through this, you're so much stronger than you think you are.
"I'm not."
Keep in mind that whatever our response is, we have to
make it true. Zelda's not going to really believe a word we say. She might cling onto it like a lifeline, but she won't really
believe it.
