TOTK where everything is more or less the same except the dragon tears are as giant as the springs that Zelda went to, and Link has to wade through them to experience the vision. On top of that, after he sees the vision in full, he can relive that vision for as long as he stays in those tears.
Now, the reason why I want that is because I want to see Link witness the final memory and turn numb with denial and guilt and grief. It should not have surprised him the way it did; he knew in the previous memories she had planned to do it. But there were still more geoglyphs to search, still more time and hope for her to realize there was a different way, a better one that didn’t ask her of so much.
He was wrong, of course. Destinies like theirs were never so generous.
Imagine that he appears expressionless, a stark contrast to his more emotional nature that has come out during gameplay. And yet his eyes are noticeably glazed over and he’s frozen to the bed of the spring. The sages watch him through their vows, knowing this to be the last memory, and they feel it, immediately, that something is wrong. They desperately try to talk through their avatars, much to the surprise of their loved ones.
“Link? Link, snap out of it!”
He hears nothing.
And so the scene parallels to the off-screen moment Urbosa had with Zelda – a careful Sidon wills his avatar to carry Link away from the cursed waters, and is pained when he’s met with vehement resistance. Why would his wonderful friend drag himself back there, when whatever he saw tore his heart and shattered his soul? It wasn’t good for him, to deal with grief in such a poisonous manner.
But for Link, he would weather the heartbreak in watching that bright, curious, ambitious girl sacrifice everything that made her who she was infinitely if it meant he could commit her face to memory. The Sheikah Slate that he took pictures of her with had been dismantled, and the Purah Pad contains no recollection of Zelda. He would watch his princess lose herself, over and over again, in that damned tear, than forget what she looked like.
He couldn’t do that to her. Not again.
In the meantime, Tulin, Riju, and Yunobo have created a circle around him together, blocking the hero from hurting himself any further.
By this point, Link’s expression is wavering, brows furrowed and lips pressed to a thin line. They don’t get it, do they? All of the closest friends he had from an era past are gone; yes, Impa, Purah and Robbie are still alive, and they belong to that era too, but they didn’t know him like the Champions did. Like Zelda did. She fought for him in death as much as he fought for her in life, and now he lost her too.
He finally collapses to the ground, shaking, and cries.
He had one job: Protect the princess. And he failed her. Twice.
i guess the problem with this post possibly breaking containment is that i don’t know how to explain that ron canonically cannot grow hair on one of his legs.
