The Legend
of Fodlan is a Fire Emblem: Three Houses / The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild crossover fanfic written by Leirbag 15.
By quitting his homeland, he had hoped to revitalize his life, to find the excitement of his evil-fighting days once again. When he finds himself at Garreg Mach, he doesn't yet realize that he is going to get everything he wished for — for better, but especially for worse.
Basically, Link becomes bored after wandering aimlessly in Hyrule for years and decides to explore the lands surrounding it, only to end up wandering aimlessly in Fodlan several years later. By pure coincidence, he finds himself involved in a bandit attack on the students of Garreg Mach, and so begins the Legend of Fodlan.
WARNING: This fic contains heavy spoilers for both Fire Emblem: Three Houses and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
UPDATE: The fic has been discontinued, with Leirbag15 citing a lack of motivation after posting the aftermath of the Bandit arc.
The Legend of Fodlan contains examples of:
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- In-Universe example: Leonie knows of Byleth's existence in this timeline, due to her accompanying Jeralt and his men when they saved the former’s village from poachers.
- Thales and Solon appear in their true form in chapter 8, plotting to disrupt the Golden Deer's assignment.
- Demonic Beasts appear as soon as the class' assignment in Zanado instead of in the Tower of Conand like in canon.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Both Zelda and Paya were in love with Link when he lived in Hyrule. However, he could not reciprocate their affections because he barely remembered Zelda and he does not see Paya as a potential romantic partner.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: It quickly becomes clear that Seteth is this, often being stressed out from his work as well as the unexpected arrival of Link and Byleth.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- In Fodlan year 1177, Link saved Bernadetta's uncle and his companion by defeating a giant wolf which was about to kill both of them.
- A Demonic Beast tries to attack Hilda while she's bringing the unconscious Claude to safety. Fortunately, Lorenz manages to use a Fire spell to save them both.
- Cherry Tapping: Link apparently tried to defeat Calamity Ganon with a wooden spoon. Only the thing's limited durability prevented him from going through with it.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Link seems to suffer from this, as he feels compelled to help everyone in need that he finds.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Link sometimes shows signs of being this. For example, his idea for attacking Kostas' group is an aerial assault on kites.
- Combat Pragmatist: The Black Eagles decide to take a more defensive approach to the mock battle compared to the other two Houses. Notably, Hubert attacks Lorenz and Leonie from the security of the forest when they fight Ferdinand.
- Contrived Coincidence: Played With. The fact that Link appeared out of seemingly nowhere and becomes accepted in the monastery right as Edelgard becomes a student makes her and Hubert suspect that he actually is a spy of TWSITD.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- The bandits who attacked the students at the beginning of the game already stood little chance against Jeralt, Byleth and the House leaders. With Link joining in? None at all.
- While Jeritza manages to force a draw on Link by breaking both of their weapons, it’s clear that the Hylian was merely playing around with him.
- The Golden Deer House gets beaten with ease by both the Black Eagles and the Blue Lions during the mock battle.
- When the Golden Deer face off against a Demonic Beast in Zanado, the students are initially overwhelmed due to their lack of experience. It's only thanks to collective effort, a well-thought tactic, and luck that none of them gets killed.
- Disney Villain Death: When the Golden Deer students are faced with a Demonic Beast for the first time, they are incapable of directly killing it. In order to win, Ignatz and Lysithea barely manage to send it down the ravine that they were fighting next to.
- Dope Slap: A young bandit prays to Saint Seiros to help them while they are profaning holy grounds. This trope is one of his fellows' reaction to this.
- Emotionless Girl: Downplayed. Byleth is often noted to have a blank stare, but she noticeably emotes a lot more than her canon self.
- Everyone Has Standards: Anna may be Money Fetish personnified, but she will not commit any illegal acts in order to make a fortune. In fact, the first thing she does when Kostas and his men attack the town she's currently in is to outright cut the throat of the nearest bandit.
- Experienced Protagonist: Link in this story has already gone through the events of Breath of the Wild, with the skills and powers that he gained in this time.
- Foreshadowing: In chapter 8, Lorenz tells Leonie that he will not use the Fire spell in a mock battle, because since he hasn't mastered it, he could injure himself. In chapter 9, he uses it out of desperation against a Demonic Beast and, sure enough, the spell blows up in his face and burns his hand.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: During battle, Lorenz uses the Fire spell, which he specifically had no real mastery over, in order to save Hilda and Claude. This results in him misfiring and grievly injuring his own hand.
- Irony: One of Kostas' minions becomes discouraged by his group's low chance at surviving both the Church of Seiros and the Beasts of the Red Canyon, and he prays to Saint Seiros to help them pass through this hard event. Unknown to him, Rhea, who is really Seiros, is the one who wants them dead.
- It's a Small World, After All: In Fódlan year 1177, Link met Bernadetta's uncle and saved him and another man from a monster attack, which leads him to meet the young girl. When he ends up being invited to stay in Garreg Mach, three years later, he runs into her again, since she has become a student.
- It's All My Fault: Link feels like this towards the death of the Champions in Hyrule, even though he doesn't remember the events that led to that point.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Lorenz may be smug and somewhat unpleasant to most people, but he does have very good reasons to doubt Claude's legitimacy as the Alliance's future leader.
- Magically Inept Fighter: Link mentions that he cannot cast magic by himself.
- Named by the Adaptation: Bernadetta's uncle, who is unnamed in canon, is identified as Jonas von Varley here.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Kostas has asked to his men that they do not kill anyone as they steal supplies around Garreg Mach. Not because he cares about lives, mind you, but because it gives less incentive to the Knights of Seiros to kill them all.
- Pyrrhic Victory: How Felix felt about the Blue Lions winning the Mock Battle. Even if they did win, the Golden Deer house got the better end of the deal for having Byleth as both their teacher and combat instructor.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Golden Deer House is this, compared to the Black Eagles who are well organized and follow their leader Edelgard, and the Blue Lions who already know each other from the most part.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In this story, Bernadetta's uncle survived until the present day, thanks to Link killing the pack of Giant Wolves who were about to kill him.
- Snobs Vs Slobs: Lorenz and Leonie quickly develop this kind of dynamic.
- Strategy Versus Tactics:
- When Manuela refers to Byleth as a strategist, Byleth corrects her and says that she is a tactician, more specialized on lower-scale tactics.
- Unlike the games, where Byleth has to win the mock battle against the other two houses, she loses in this story because rounding up a group who are not completely united at the start isn't easy. No matter how great of a tactician she might have been, her tactics can turn potentially moot if the group's foundations are fragile.
- Tempting Fate:
- Sidon suggests that Link names his ship a combination of their names, and thus "Sink" is born. Link even lampshades it himself.
- Bernadetta's uncle, Jonas von Varley, tries to reassure his companion when they pass through a somber forest, saying that he didn't need to worry at all. This gets them attacked by a giant wolf which would have killed them had Link not shot explosives arrows at the thing.
- That Man Is Dead: Link tells Sidon that whoever he may have been a century ago, this quiet, serious vassal died with his memory. This is also why he cannot reciprocate Zelda's feelings for him.
- Two-Teacher School: Garreg Mach, as in canon, only has three main professors for the three Houses: Manuela, Hanneman, and Byleth, with Jeritza being a weapon handling instructor for all three.
- Victory by Endurance: This is how Dimitri and Hanneman manage to defeat Byleth during the mock battle. Since the Prince was backed up by Mercedes, a competent healer, he could maintain enough stamina to wear off Byleth.
- Walking the Earth: Link, prior to the events of the story, left Hyrule in order to search for new adventures. He eventually becomes an aimless and regretful wanderer, sometimes missing out on human interaction for weeks at a time.
- Master of None: When discussing with Lysithea about whether or not she should train her skill in physical fighting, Byleth concedes that while having a good grasp on both Magic and Physical attacks can allow someone to adapt to their opponent's weaknesses, they end up being mediocre at both more often than not.
- Worth Living For: Rhea actually has this goal in mind regarding letting Link stay in Garreg Mach. She can see that he is actually a sad and aimless man, and thus she wants to give a cause to live for.
