cant_be_tamed | towerofanimus App: I saw a werewolf drinking a Pina Colada in Telma's Bar

Player Information

Name: Andy!
Personal Journal:

girlyboylush
Age: 26
Contact Info: Plurk: BaDandy | AIM: alternianfool | Email/Live: badandi86@gmail.com
Other Characters Played: Tatsuya Suou [OU]
Do you need an invite? Nop

Character Information

Character Name: Link
Character Series: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Character Age: 17
Character Gender: Male
Original Canon
Canon Point: After the Arbiter's Grounds and learning about Ganondorf, how he became banished to the Twilight Realm, and that he's the one giving Zant power. Link and Midna need to gather the three missing mirror shards to get to Zant and, hopefully, defeat him.
Background Link: Twilight Princess

Personality: What is there to say about Link? He's The Hero. He rides in to save the day. He defeats bad guys. He saves Princesses. He has more items than anyone else knows what to do with for all kinds of situations. He delves dungeons like a tiny Indiana Jones. He beats Ganondorf and everyone's happy. What else could you possibly say about him?

Oh, plenty of things. But we can start with the things they all have in common.

Every Link is imbued with the Spirit of the Hero. It is very hard, perhaps even impossible, to break their spirit and they will keep pushing forward, no matter what possibly happens to them. They are also the designated guardians of the Triforce of Courage, much like every incarnation of Zelda is the guardian of Wisdom and, according to an interview with Miyamoto, every Impa incarnation is the guardian of Power (Ganondorf just keeps stealing the Power part of the Triforce, that asshole). They represent qualities that the Goddess Farore favors greatly, not just "courage" as an abstract concept, but the willingness to leave their comfort zone to protect all life, no matter the cost to them. They are all born as the archetypal Hero who defends the Goddess Hylia's descendants and defeats Demise's incarnation of hatred, as we learn in Skyward Sword.

Okay, that's a good start! But what about this particular Link?

The Link in Twilight Princess is a ranch hand and wrangler in Ordon, a village in the Ordona Province that isn't officially part of the Kingdom of Hyrule yet, but it's probably on its way due to the expansion of the kingdom, in the same way that land in the United States were territories before officially becoming states. There are two things that make him stand out from everyone else in the village: his pointed ears that show his Hylian bloodline and the mark of the Triforce of Courage on his left hand, which is just out in the open the entire time. It's interesting that nobody comments on this or treats him any different, even though Link clearly wasn't born in Ordon village. Then again, he has a religious symbol on his hand as a sort of birthmark, so there you go.

It helps to look at Link by comparing him to his closest ancestor, the Hero of Time. They're pretty similar, but while Time rarely, if ever, smiled or showed any sort of emotion unless you startled it out of him, that doesn't seem to be a problem for Twilight. It's easier for him to smile or show anger or sadness in more subtle and composed ways, since he never had to defend himself from bullies rustling his jimmies like Time did. He also grew up with responsibilities like farm work and watching the village kids. Not that Time didn't or wasn't self-sufficient (just look at the gardening tools he has in his house!), but that seemed to stem more from looking out for himself than it would from knowing that people depend on him for everyday tasks and that his actions have consequences, which is something he learns during Majora's Mask. Twilight had the luxury of being raised by Rusl, a smithy and a competent swordsman, in a close-knit community with adults, so he doesn't have any trouble with this concept. In fact, it's commented on several times that he's a worrier. He has to be told several times that the children are safe now and they'll be watched with the utmost care so he can go Do the Hero Thing, and even then Colin, Rusl's son, sticks around and tells him that he'll be fine, that he'll do his best to be strong like Link, which does wonders for Link's blood pressure. Even Midna notices this right away and uses his worry for the children's and Ilia's well-being to her advantage, since helping her obtain the Fused Shadows will help them find the kids and Ilia. And, while Ocarina of Time focused on that Link's journey to becoming a Hero and his growth, Twilight Princess focuses more on Midna and on how this Link helps her take back her kingdom. That he becomes the Hero Chosen By the Gods is less about him growing as a person and more to introduce him to the Kingdom(s) he's supposed to save and tossing him out into the world.

Speaking of being the Hero, there's a sense of him having to stand in the Hero of Time's shadow almost constantly, despite Time not "officially" being a Hero in the timeline. Midna touches on this and teases Twilight about all his hard work fading into obscurity or never being known by anyone. This is something that bothered the Hero of Time, as we learn later on while interacting with the Hero's Shade, but we're not so sure if this bothers Twilight, since he's never shown that he's always wanted to be a Hero. The clothes that Twilight gets belonged to him, along with the Hero's Bow (which the Gorons kept safe, interestingly enough). The Hero of Time even teaches Twilight some of his ~~Sweet Moves~~ Hidden Skills as the Hero's Shade, as a ghost that wanders Hyrule and waits to pass on his techniques to his descendant.

That has a tendency to get very old very fast. Yes, he has the Triforce of Courage and is the Hero of Time's descendant. Yes, he's the Chosen Hero for this generation. No, he's not exactly like his ancestor. No, he's not going to do everything exactly like his ancestor did, even though learning from him is a pretty nice way to bond. This is why Twilight being spoken of in Midna's realm as the "sacred beast" who will save her world is important; he's not just another Hero in Hyrule's case, but he's Twilight's first as well, and he doesn't have the Hero of Time's looming shadow hanging over him in that case.

Speaking of Sacred Beasts...the wolf thing. What's the deal with that? Well, when he was stuck in Twilight, the Triforce of Courage protected him and kept him from turning into a wandering spirit. Instead, it had him change into a form that reflected his nature: a wolf. Why a wolf? Well, wolves are considered divine in Japan, which is appropriate for him, being the Hero Chosen by the Gods. They're different from dogs in that they're not utterly beholden to humans, which reflects how Twilight is a relative outsider when it comes to the Kingdom of Hyrule and more saves it because it's the right thing to do and less because he's honor-bound to save it (similar to his ancestor, who also takes the form of a wolf as a spirit). Telma notices this, commenting on his eyes and how they look "proud and fierce, like a feral beast's," (Subtlety: Nintendo doesn't know what it means). Wolves are also intelligent strategists and very good at observational learning, which makes it hard to hunt and trap them. Most of Link's battles with powerful enemies consist of strategy, and it's good to try something once to see what it does to get ahead in the twisted mazes of dungeons. Wolves are also a handy symbol of being closer to nature, as can be seen in plenty of New Agey symbolism and Three Wolf Moon t-shirts. The amount of animals that Twilight loves, cares for, and gets help from borderlines on making him look like a Disney princess. The fact that he teaches the people in his village both how to call down hawks for falconry purposes and how to call and tame horses with a very familiar song, that he works on a ranch and knows how to properly handle animals, and that he can conceivably view them as legitimate friends from talking to them while he's a wolf (he has a framed picture of Epona in his house even before the Wolfy Thing) makes him more similar to

SHIPPING ALERT

Malon

SHIPPING ALERT

than to the Hero of Time. He also hates it when people toss their things where ever they please, but that ties into him not wanting to be wasteful. That's a perfectly good boot, after all! Tossing it in a lake isn't doing anyone any favors.

It's also interesting to note that in some traditions, wolves serve as mounts for powerful witches and were male symbols that served women, and, well...

I'll just leave that here.

In general, this Link has less of a medieval forest child thing going for him and more of a Country/Western flavor thing happening. He's from what's considered the frontier by Hyrule's standards (and is viewed in this light by people who know where he's from). He's proud of being from Ordona and will do anything to protect the people he views as family. He's the kind of guy who would drive a beat-up truck and listen to Lynard Skynard and talk about the weather in a more serious way than just idle chatter while sipping a beer and going, "Yep..." He's laid back, but he's definitely not outright lazy, since he has a pretty intense job already that requires hard work. He also knows a ton about animals and about how to make the best of what you have and hates wastefulness, animal cruelty, and harming anyone, including children. Goddesses help you if you try to harm his surrogate kids.

He also fucking loves fishing you guys.

Abilities: As a Hylian, his abilities are pretty normal when he compares to other Links, with some exceptions. Twilight is very hardy and can take a serious beating, using the Heart Container game mechanic to grow stronger with time. I like to think of hearts and heart pieces and containers as his morale to keep himself going before he keels over and dies, since they can spring up from his fangirls outside the STAR tent or after he helps the yeti couple in Snowpeak, but it manifests as a physical thing, since other characters comment when he gets heart pieces. This could potentially be played with while in the Tower (his morale draining over time could be seen as him losing heart in a literal way, for example). He currently has eleven heart containers.

Twilight also has a ridiculous amount of items, not all of them able to make it to the Tower in his trunk. Currently, he has:
-The Triforce of Courage: On him since he was born. It protects him from the effects of Twilight, changing him into a wolf instead of having him be a wandering spirit. It doesn't give him courage so much as reinforces the courage he already since, since he's its chosen guardian.
-The Master Sword: Not only does this help him defeat evil, it also helps him use Zant's crystal to help him transform into a wolf and back, although he general asks Midna before doing this because handling that thing is dangerous.
-Zant's Crystal: Zant curse solidified that trapped him in the form of a wolf, which the Master Sword dispelled and allowed Link to control.
-The Hylian Shield: Which he bought from Malo, the eight-year-old entrepreneurial genius. He doesn't view this as odd in the slightest because it's Malo and he's pretty used to him by now.
-Lantern: Half full of oil. Comes in handy for more than just seeing things...
-3 Bottles: 2 are full of lantern oil and one has a reviving fairy in it.
-Bomb Bag: Full of 30 regular bombs.
-Another Bomb Bag: Full of 15 water bombs, which are like regular bombs, but they work underwater.
-Yet Another Bomb Bag: Full of 10 spare regular bombs.
-Gale Boomerang: Not only useful for being a boomerang, it also causes wind gusts, since it houses a wind spirit.
-Hero's Bow: Passed down from the Hero of Time. He's a pretty good shot with it, which is pretty weird when he thinks about it after Malo comments that he's never seen him anywhere near a bow. Oh well, at least he can use it! His quiver got upgraded to hold 60 arrows.
-Bomb Arrows: Which is just him putting a bomb on an arrow and...firing. It's awesome.
-Hawk Eye: It's a strange mask that works like a scope on a rifle, turning him into a sniper when he uses it with the bow. He rarely uses it because he doesn't need it most of the time and it also looks ridiculous.
-Clawshot: He fires it to get to the top of things like Batman! Sadly, he only has one clawshot.
-Iron Boots: They are boots with iron on them that make him heavy and also able to walk on powerful magnets??
-Spinner: It's a hovering gear thing that he can ride and it spins!! Mainly useful in the Arbiter's Grounds, but who cares, he's going to pull it out and ride it around anyway sometimes.
-Hero's Clothes: They don't do anything special, but the chain mail under the tunic is nice.
-Fishing Pole: Colin made it for him! Fishing's one of his hobbies and it's a good way to relax. You never know what you'll find until you fish for it!
-Zora Armor: Kind of like the Zora's Tunic, except it's more like magical scuba gear. It also helps him be better able to actually swim underwater. Makes him take more damage to fire and ice attacks. Also looks ridiculous.
-Regular Clothes: His regular, patched together farming clothes. Don't do anything except be comfy as hell.

Twilight is also good at sword fighting, being raised by a black smith and swordsman, and has learned five of the seven Hidden Skills from the Hero's Shade. They are:
-Final Blow: Link pounces on you and stabs you in the gut and/or crotch to finish you off.
-Shield Attack: Link smacks you with his shield to stun you before attacking. Can also be used to knock physical and magical projectiles back at the attacker.
-Back Slice: Link jumps to the side and attacks you from behind.
-Helm Splitter: If the enemy is too fast to do a back slice, a combo is started. First a shield attack to stun the enemy, then jumping right over and slicing at their head, then landing behind them for a back slice.
-Mortal Draw: Link tricks you into thinking that he's not going to attack you, then suddenly draws his sword and attacks. There's no way to defend yourself from this because he's quick enough to attack while you were lulled into a false sense of security and lowered your guard. It one shot kills normal enemies but isn't used a lot, since it's risky to pull it off.

The fact that the Hero's Shade has to teach Link to fight dirty says a lot, though whether it's about the Hero's Shade or Link is anybody's guess.

Due to his job as a ranch worker and wrangler, he's also pretty buff and can pull off things that other Links simply cannot do, like sumo wrestling despite his weight range (the Iron Boots help when it comes to Gorons, though) and wrangling goats, horses and boars, and...Gorons (again, Iron Boots). He also knows the basics of handling animals and how to raise them, going so far as to name different species of things like fish and bugs, where they're normally found, how many there usually are (mainly with fish [he's a fishing enthusiast okay]) and knowing how to train a hawk for falconry simply by whistling a tune for it with some specific grass.

Buff as hell cowboy with ~animal friends~, pretty much.

In his wolf form, Link can't use any of his items, but he can still attack and give himself a burst of speed with dashing. He also has the benefits of an animal form, which includes being able to talk to all animals, being able to track scents (he can only do this with one scent at a time) and using "sense" to see things humans can't, such as ghosts and wandering spirits and places to dig (which he is also very good at now). He can also howl in this form, and it's his main means of summoning the Hero's Shade for more lessons.

Too bad he can't open doors.

Sample Entry:
Dear Mun Post
Thread with Ghira-her
Thread with Sleepy Ancestor
Test Drive Meme

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A++ ACCEPTED. LUNK'S COLLAR COLLAR WILL BE RAINBOW AND HE IS ROOMING IN SHINJIRO'S HOBO HAT.

Sorry this app is rejected for LACK OF EXPLOSIONS.

REJECTED Because I know all you want is my harem, boy.

Twilight also has a ridiculous amount of items, not all of them able to make it to the Tower in his trunk. Currently, he has:

-The Master Sword:

put it back

you don't understand, i need this to not be a wolf anymore

i need it to open doors

it'll go back when i'm done

i dont caaaaaaaaaaaaaaare

put it baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

i wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill

did you not heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

it's going baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

ooooooooooohhhhhhh