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1 - The Awakening
- The narration perfectly reflects the ominous introduction to the original game. For a long time, it's just blackness and a lot of nothing until some voice starts speaking to Link, addressing him by name.
- Link finds himself alone outside of the Shrine of Resurrection. While the landscape is beautiful, the distant castle's dilapidated state cuts into that beauty, especially the columns around it that bore a strange magenta glow.
- Link immediately notices something enormous crawling around the distant volcano. Gamers know that this is just Divine Beast Vah Rudania, but seeing a giant creature crawling around a volcano in the distance is a frightening concept.
- When Link first encounters a Bokoblin, he inadvertently triggers Flurry Rush and shreds the Bokoblin to pieces. While this is awesome to see, it's also a bit unnerving that he killed the creature so violently, establishing the much more mature and violent nature of this Dark Fic compared to the relatively light-hearted game.
- Link's Covered with Scars, and he recognizes that this is not a good thing. Whatever happened to him, whatever memories he lacked, something horrible happened to him to cover him with all these scars. It's solidified when he learns that he was asleep for a century, meaning something happened that caused him to be placed where he woke up.
- Finally, there's the iconic introductory shot from the game, the most famous of all establishing shots in the Zelda franchise: Calamity Ganon's appearance. The towers have all risen, Link realizes that he's been asleep for 100 years, and he realizes that his scars paint a really dark violent story. Then he feels an earthquake, and he witnesses the rise of this spectral boar rising from around Hyrule Castle, manifesting in a swirl of black-magenta clouds. It rises into the air, roaring with a volumetric mouth at a ninety-degree angle whose roar sends winds all across the land. The hero has awakened. So has monster.
2 - The Trials of the Runes
- The first time Link sees a Sheikah Monk, he gets to see a mummified corpse with the Sheikah symbol painted on his face that speaks without moving his mouth. The imagery is a little unnerving, even though the Sheikah Monks are nothing less than truly heroic people who exist to help and serve Goddess Hylia.
- As Link wanders the plateau to find the four shrines, he repeatedly encounters strange pottery-shaped structures akin to Sheikah technology like the old man had described. They're all defunct...until one of them suddenly awakens and stares at him with a dark blue eye, and aims at him with a red laser. It's Link's first battle with any kind of Guardian, and it comes close to killing him because he has nothing to kill it with aside from his shield.
- There's a point where Link has to cross a treacherous gorge with a makeshift bridge made from a tree he had blown down with a Remote Bomb. It's already perilous when the wind kicks up and the log blows off the edges of both sides of the gorge, and Link almost doesn't make it across in time. Either way, he's now stuck on the far side of the gorge with no apparent way to get back, and the only other way to go is up the cliff.
- The cliff climb is just as nightmarish. Just as he gets to the top, the rock he's holding gives way, and he nearly falls with only his fingers holding him safely up. It's enough that the old man freaks out when he sees this happening. Yes, Link has Plot Armor, but it's still a freaky scene for acrophobes, or even just people with a slight fear of falling.
3 - Secrets of a Century
- Link finally learns what happened. He learns the entire truth of what happened, why he's here, why he can't remember anything aside from his own name. King Rhoam reveals it all to him. The story of their attempt to fight against Calamity Ganon, how it took control of the Divine Beasts and the Guardians and used them to almost completely obliterate Hyrule from existence.
- The depiction of this scene, contextualized as King Rhoam using spiritual telepathy, to show Link what happened isn't much better. Link briefly sees the columns rip from the ground, describes Ganon's dark mystical thunderstorm as a hurricane, and describes his chunks of Malice as being akin to meteors.
- This is the chapter that points out how at this point, Link is entirely alone. He had no relationships and no memories from which he can drawn strength and motivation. All he has are the skills he didn't remember learning and a few clothes and weak weapons and shields. And now he has to wander into the desolate post-apocalyptic world.
4 - Kakariko Village
- Link has his first fight with an entire encampment of monsters. They're primitive, and he fights them all of with relative ease as Link is much stronger now. However, they're still described as being animalistic in their ferocity, especially the Lizalfos that Link hadn't yet encountered by that point.
- When Link investigates the monster camp, he finds a lot of treasure, and a pile of dead bodies. Some are skeletal, others are freshly killed victims. It's clear that they've been terrorizing this area around their camp for a long time, which solidifies Link's need to hunt down monsters as much as he can.
- Link meets Hino, the guy from the video game who has an obsession with the Blood Moon. He serves as Mr. Exposition of the Blood Moon. He describes it as the method through which monsters are resurrected by Calamity Ganon, and this clearly has been happening for a long time such that people almost give it no mind anymore. It solidifies this apocalypse as a borderline Hopeless War, with the only saving grace being that the monsters of Hyrule (that aren't Guardians) don't stray far from their claimed territory.
- As Link travels to Kakariko Village, he suddenly finds a red beam focusing on him. He realizes that a Guardian Stalker has found him. This is Link's first fight with a full Guardian, and he has no weapons that can hope to harm it. His fight with this thing relied almost exclusively on his defensive skill in being able to reflect three shots from the Guardian back into its eye. This is the first fight that Link is almost completely helpless.
5 - Locked Mementos
- The introduction scene features two Bit Characters, Holden and Mara traveling during the night. We get a little bit of innocent dialogue with them establishing their marriage and their relationship...right before it's established that monsters are closing in around them without them even realizing it. When they're attacked, their horses throw them off when they panic, and the two are left to the Bokoblins with no weapons to fight back. The Bokoblins close in on them, and the only reason the two aren't killed is because of Link's interference. It's a much darker and realistic take on the game's mechanic of allowing Link to save NPCs who can't actually be killed in the game.
6 - Ancient Weaponry
- Link's dream at the start.
- He wakes up in the dream to see something glowing red outside, with the clouds rushing by as the sky turns red. Link ends up running outside to see what's happening, only to find himself in Hyrule Field.
- Beyond the setting, there's also the fact that he ends up speaking with a Gerudo man constructed entirely of Malice. His only words to Link is a plea to "destroy the curse of Demise". He then turns into what we will know as Dark Beast Ganon, and literally tears apart the ground with his huge tusks, and finally vaporizing Link with a giant energy beam.
- When Link awakens from his dream, he looks out the window to see the exact setting he dreamt of. The rapid clouds, the red cloud, the giant red blobby moon in the sky. And then right as midnight strikes, the whole sky turned red, and Calamity Ganon's growl is heard across the land. Gamers already know that this is a Blood Moon, just as Zelda tells Link. Calamity Ganon's power reaches its peak, he manifests around the castle, and all the monsters of Hyrule are resurrected.
- In hindsight to future chapters, this gets another layer of nightmare fuel added to it. That was Ganondorf Dragmire speaking to Link, begging Link to end the curse that has enslaved Ganondorf for eons.
- Rina's Exposition Dump about Akkala Citadel Ruins. She describes the futile Last Stand against the Guardians and Calamity Ganon. She also mentions that this event left a lot of people without their family members, and as a last disturbing statement, mentions that the Guardians don't leave the citadel...like they're looking for survivors somewhere left inside.
- Akkala Citadel Ruins is an absolute wreck and a localized hell-hole. It's described as looking ready to collapse any second, and there are monsters everywhere, not just the Guardians. And of course there's the pool of Malice at the base of the tower beneath Link.
7 - Sacred Ground Ruins and Lake Kolomo
- The introductory establishing passage gives out a vivid description of the landscape in and around Hyrule Castle. Old ranches and farms were rotted away into fields, Bokoblins dances around the dead bodies of Hylians they had just killed, and Guardians roamed around the decaying castle and the town. Bot of these places are filled with the dead skeletons of victims of Guardians, and there's explicit description that some of these skeletons are from babies and children, and most of them were in pieces, with only skulls and a few bones left.
- There's a moment where two traveling women are attacked by a couple of Silver Bokoblins, the second-strongest types of Bokoblins, just below Gold Bokoblins. These two are far more vicious than the other kinds of Bokoblins Link had encountered up to this point. Injuries that were fatal to weak Bokoblins were just mild inconveniences to the Silver Bokoblins.
- The two women that Link had saved reveal that the Guardians weren't this active before Ganon manifested around the castle. According to them, they originally just stayed around the castle, but recently have been spreading outwards. In their words, it's like they're looking for something, and she's right. This also means that they probably claimed a wave of new victims who were caught off guard when they started spreading outwards.
- Right before Link recalls the ceremony, he ponders if he should remember, given how much trauma is linked to those memories. However, Link decides that re-experiencing the trauma is necessary. Poor Link is in for a hell of a ride as players of the original game know.
- That night, Link and the residents of Riverside Stable all witness Calamity Ganon's spectral boar form manifest around the castle, spiraling around as it did when Link first saw it. Link has a conversation with a stranger who claims that this has been happening with increasing frequency.note And then the stranger says that it's a sign that "our great God will return soon". Link is obviously shocked that someone said that. The stranger keeps on going about how Calamity Ganon will right the wrongs done in the past and destroy an ungrateful Hyrule, before asking Link to join the Yiga Clan. After telling Link who the Yiga Clan is, he gives Link a Slasher Smile, transforms into a Yiga Footsoldier and tries to kill Link.
- This is the Yiga Clan's first scene. It reflects very well what new players of the original game likely experienced when they spoke to a random traveler on the road only to suddenly find themselves fighting a Yiga Footsoldier. The experience rattles Link enough that he drops a Precision F-Strike.
- The way Link kills him is just as disturbing. He gives the Yiga a Slashed Throat. Blood gushes from the guy's neck, and it's enough that he chokes and gurgles on his own blood until he bled to death.
- The residents of the stable are horrified just the same. The owner of the stable fills Link in on the Yiga and who they are. He describes that they've been going crazy since Calamity Ganon manifested around Hyrule Castle.
8 - The Ancient Columns and Kara Kara Bazaar
- Medoh's establishing scenes here have it circling around Rito Village without end, all while glowing an ominous magenta color. And everyone knows that they are helpless if it suddenly decides to go down and destroy Rito Village.
- A milder example is Tulin being awake to listen to his parents having a small fight. The disturbing part of it is that he listened to his father, Teba, mentioning that if they do nothing, everyone in the village would be dead. His mother, Saki, doesn't let Teba finish his statement, but it's obvious what he was going to say.
- There's a moment where Link realizes that the traveling Rito minstrel Kass called Link by name, even though Link never introduced himself to Kass. He's unnerved enough that he asks about Kass, and learns that, at least to the other Rito, is a complete Nice Guy.
- "Zelda's Resentment"
- Zelda's mental instability is much more on-display than in the game. When she starts to let out the frustration and anger she's been holding in for all this time, it manifests in her three weak powers suddenly exploding outwards with dangerous power. It's enough that Zelda has a moment of My God, What Have I Done?, and even Link is shocked with this. Emotional Powers are dangerous when the user's mental health isn't stable.
- Naboris's introductory scene makes the machine appear to be a complete Eldritch Abomination in its own right. At first, Link thinks he's just looking at a sandstorm, until he sees Naboris inside the sandstorm. And on the ground itself, the beast's footsteps can be felt, and its roar is described as something akin to a scream of pain.
- "Blades of the Yiga"
- Zelda is just walking along the desert sand when she senses that she's being followed by a strange woman. Even worse is that Zelda is all by herself. This alone is a scary situation for women in real life when they're out in public and notice someone following them, which can happen in a place as public as a grocery store.
- The stranger following Zelda is unsurprisingly a Yiga Clan member. When she shifts into her Yiga appearance, Zelda runs off where she ends up cornered by two other ones cutting her off. We're treated to a scene where Zelda desperately tries to use her powers to shield herself and escape, but her mental instability has weakened her powers to such a degree that she can't shield herself for long, attack her foes, or escape. For a long time, she's just completely helpless at the hands of murderous ninja terrorists.
9 - Eldin Canyon and Irch Plain
- The scene where the siren-like voice sings to Link from the Lost Woods can create some unnerving imagery. Game fans know that this is just Fi, the Master Sword spirit, calling to Link, but anyone unfamiliar with Skyward Sword may be unnerved by the depiction of her singing as like that of a siren.
- In the same area, an Ice Wizzrobe (actually a Blizzrobe) nearly gets the drop on Link because he was so distracted by his surroundings to get to the next memory that he didn't notice its approach until the last minute. You can never let your guard down in this world.
- "A Premonition"
- Zelda mentions that there has been an increased presence of monsters, and they're growing more powerful. She correctly fears that this is a sign of Calamity Ganon's imminent return. She doesn't realize just how bad things are going to become in the near future.
- There's a small piece of the chapter where Link is jotting down notes about the ancient dragons, when suddenly people start screaming because a Guardian, the Demonic Spiders of the original game, is coming right at the stable. There's one woman who almost gets killed by the Guardian blast (later chapters reveal the results of this). Had it not been for Link's presence, the stable would be gone, the people would have been killed, and the horses too. The Guardians are to be feared, and with good reason.
10 - West Necluda and Hyrule Castle
- Link is writing in his journal and suddenly realizes that Malice is suddenly everywhere in the air. He was so focused that he didn't even realize a Blood Moon was happening. Imagine if he was fighting a Lynel, only for the Blood Moon to abruptly rise and resurrect it.
- Link comes to a horrible realization when remembering the Guardian attack on the stable: he's a Showy Invincible Hero whose victories are almost unquestionable, but the people around him aren't so invincible. If he fails, Hyrule falls with him, and it's now that he finally appreciates why.
- The Stal-monsters make an appearance. Stalkoblins catch Link off guard and wound him, and it takes him some effort to fight them and figure out how to kill them all. The wound heals quickly thanks to a little tonic that the women he saved before gave him.
- Symin reveals that the presence of the Stal foes is a sign of Calamity Ganon's rising power. While they don't really appear much after this, it's used to indicate that the clock is running out for Hyrule.
- This story milks the potential Fridge Horror of being a full-fledged amnesiac who lost his entire life, and in this case, with a 34-year-old instead of a 17-year-old. What are among the things Link forgot? His own daughter. He forgot that he had his own daughter. While he processes this, he also realizes that he had a a daughter 100 years ago. Whoever this daughter he had was, she had to be dead, as was her mother. As heart-rending as it is, it is also an incredibly nasty realistic result of what could happen with an amnesiac.
- This chapter is the first time that Link traverses Hyrule Castle, the epicenter of the apocalypse, and where Calamity Ganon has all of its power concentrated. The Malice concentrated here was so prominent in the air that it altered the color of the sky, and the Malice is explicitly described as smelling like rotting meat. Link has to fight for his life against Guardian turrets and Guardian Skywatchers.
- The confrontation between Zelda and King Rhoam is much more disturbing than it was in canon. While it's line for line at first, the scene diverges when Zelda reveals her control over Nayru's Love to her father, and then calls him by name. She proceeds to fly into a fit of anger and tears into her father for how he's treated her over the years. Link and some of the guards witness this spat. It's a frighteningly realistic depiction of what it's like growing up with a toxic parent, especially when the parent's child reaches their breaking point.
- Even more is that there could have been a good chance of Zelda becoming a dangerously Unstable Powered Woman in this moment. It's already known that Nayru's Love, Farore's Wind, and Din's Fire are all Emotional Powers, and we already saw what happened when she last lost control of her emotions. Had that happened again in the castle, she could have done a lot of inadvertent damage, and maybe even accidentally kill her father and Link and anyone else nearby. The fact that she didn't is a testament to her true willpower.
11 - Spring of Power and Sanidin Park Ruins
- During a strange scene, Link awakens and walks outside to find himself in a wispy dimension, and then comes across a golden wolf missing an eye that transforms into a massive dark knight that had no skin or flesh or even bones. The armor was just held up by a strange translucent figure underneath the armor.
- Link and this skeleton, which Link instinctively knows is the Hero's Shade, get into a vicious fight with each other. Link unleashes a Flurry Rush on the Shade, only for it get up like it was nothing. The Shade attacks so fast that Link almost can't avoid the attacks. Link realizes he can use his bracelets to redirect the magic energy fired at him, and uses it to conjure a vicious beam...that the Shade still survives. The fight ends when Link impales the Shade through the throat, but the Shade has just enough strength to impale Link right through his abdomen.
- While the Hero's Shade, especially for anyone familiar with the games, is Good All Along, it is still rather ominous from Link's perspective. He sees this strange skeletal phantom that seconds ago was trying to kill him, and then abruptly pulls a 180 and addresses him like a friend, even mentioning the fact that Link has a daughter. It certainly makes it more ominous when he watches a large pack of wolves emerge from the fog, each one with bizarre features. There's no explanation given, and Link is left to wonder what just happened. It borders on Surreal Horror.
12 - Lanayru East Gate and Hyrule Field
- "Return of Calamity Ganon"
- Everything is just as somber as it was in the original game's cutscene. But then things take a much more sinister turn when the ground starts trembling violently, with the ground rippling like water with Hyrule Castle at the epicenter.
- And then Calamity Ganon itself appears. Dark magenta and black clouds swirl around Hyrule Castle, and above it, complete with magenta lightning shooting down from the dark clouds. The spectral boar of Calamity Ganon with its malicious glowing yellow eyes starts flying around the castle, roaring out of its Volumetric Mouth.
- Zelda comes to the horrible realization that she was too late to awaken her powers as Calamity Ganon's clouds start spilling out over the rest of the kingdom. The dark lightning coming from the clouds, and everyone reading already knows the inevitable end to this day.
- "Despair"
- The original memory only focuses on Link and Zelda trying to escape the devastation. It's vividly described how the victims of the Guardians hardly have any body parts left to identify, and this includes men, women, and children alike. No one is safe from the dark apocalypse overtaking Hyrule.
- Link and Zelda are trapped outside with nothing but their clothes, his sword and shield, and her three powers to help them. They are facing down a literal army of magitek robots and mechanized animals roaming and flying around, with a giant Eldritch Abomination at the center of it all. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and they won't be able to fight forever. They are truly trapped in a Hopeless War.
- Remembering these traumatic parts of his life is so intense that he literally relives the trauma. The trauma doesn't see time and is so intense that it knocks him to his knees, to the point where he could for a moment still hear and see everything that happened.
13 - The Blatchery Plain
- Link interacts with a woman who offers him some Mighty Bananas. He buys them, and every gamer immediately expects this woman to transform into a Yiga Footsoldier and try to kill Link. But she just lets him walk away...and promptly suffers from a Slashed Throat courtesy of a Yiga Footsoldier that was watching them.
- We're also treated to a long description of the woman's final moments. She desperately clings at her throat and can't even scream for help or breathe because of all the blood in her throat. She ends up Dying Alone in the field with no one to even try to help her survive.
- Right after is when the Yiga Footsoldier suffers a cruel fate. They attack Link who dodges with just good enough timing to trigger Flurry Rush. Unlike the Bloodless Carnage of the game, this one fully shows what happens when a living body is rapidly sliced into with a sword: their body falls to pieces, and their severed limbs are twitching thanks to the nerves still being active.
- "Zelda's Awakening"
- This is one of the most nightmarish memories in the game. Victims of the Guardians are described as having one of three fate: blown to pieces, reduced to just pieces of skin or their eyes, or just completely erased from existence at all.
- Link and Zelda are forced into a battle for their lives in the Blatchery Plain just outside of Fort Hateno. They're actually separated during the fight, and both are forced to fight on their own. Zelda's the focus, and we see that she's getting weaker from her extensive use of her powers.
- Zelda finally fines Link wounded. His Hylian Shield is broken and the Master Sword is rusted and cracking. They're both completely helpless, since even Zelda's powers can't save them here. They're literally drowning in an ocean of corrupted Guardians with no way to escape.
- Even when Zelda's sealing power awakens, Link still dies in her arms. It destroys her enough that she just gives up and decides to lie with Link and die with him. Had it not been for Fi's interference, Calamity Ganon would have won, and everyone would have been killed by the apocalyptic power of this entity.
14 - The Korok Forest
- The Hero's Shade, the spirit of the Hero of Time, admits to Link that he lost his son when he fell into a lake and drowned. That's an all-too-real way that real life parents lose their children, and this happens even with just pools in backyards.
- Link drawing the Master Sword. In the game, all we see is Link's health getting lower and lower until he's either dead or draws the sword. This version describes how his body and soul are literally being drained of life, an act so painful that the pain resonating through him robs him of his eyesight, his hearing, and even his ability to breathe when it floods his lungs.
- A line describes it like his body was being sucked into the sword inside-out, all the while being torn into smaller pieces.
- This chapter finally gives this universe's explanation for the connection between Demise and Ganondorf. It's a lot to unpack, and much of it is not pleasant to learn.
- Ganondorf Dragmire is the reincarnation of Groose from the Era of the Skies, and the one destined to carry the Boar Spirit of Power as part of a trio of heroes to combat Demise's curse. However, this curse took Groose's soul and power as its own, enslaving him. According to this fanfic's universe, Ganondorf has been a slave for his entire existence, unable to escape the fate forced upon him by the curse from a demon he was meant to fight against.
- At the Snowfield Stable, Link notices the White-Maned Lynel in the distance. One of the most powerful monsters just loiters within view of a stable. Link is immediately unnerved with its presence, but is glad that it doesn't come after the stable.
15 - Lakna Rokee Quest
- This is a low-stakes chapter compared to the relative high-stake story, but it's still not without its nasty moments given how t recreates the Missing Heirloom sidequest from the original game.
- Someone had broken into the house of a seemingly frail grandmother and her Shrinking Violet granddaughter. Paya is immediately struck by the worry that someone could have tried to harm them, and feels completely violated by this.
- Paya immediately mentions that outsiders aren't allowed into her home. She immediately realizes her own implication that someone from the village may have been the one to steal the heirloom.
- Dorian's entire plight through the chapter.
- The Yiga Blademaster tells Dorian that his life was forfeit the moment he abandoned the Yiga Clan, and further tells him You Have Outlived Your Usefulness. The Yiga once more are established as ruthless murderous Calamity fanatics.
- When Link follows Dorian, he realizes that Dorian is meeting with a Yiga Blademaster. His hatred and anger shoot up to eleven just being in the presence of one. It's such that he chooses to waste an ancient arrow to instantly kill the Blademaster, and then threatens Dorian with the same fate unless he starts talking. An early moment of Link turning into a Terror Hero.
- Dorian admits the truth that he was Yiga, but betrayed them after meeting his wife. He left the Clan, who then killed his wife as punishment. They also threatened to murder Impa and Paya if he didn't act as a spy for them.
16 - Reaching Zora's Domain
- For acrophobes, Gruve's entire plight is the worst case scenario: being trapped atop an open tower with no safe or easy way down...other than jumping to your seemingly unavoidable death.
- Sidon doesn't realize who Link is, so from his perspective, seeing a bunch of Silver Moblins closing in around Link is a horrifying sight to see, especially since he can't get up there in time to help him. His worries end up unfounded, but his horrified screaming is as disturbing as it is heartrending.
- Link becomes notably vicious against the monsters of Hyrule. Now that he has access to the skills of his predecessors, especially the Hero of Twilight, he now knows how to kill monsters in incredibly violent and quick methods. He uses the Mortal Draw to diagonally decapitate a Lizalfos, he uses the Jump Strike to use a shockwave to kill every Lizalfos around him, and he uses the Great Spin to cut a group of six Silver Moblins in half. It's as awesome as it is disturbing to see Link dishing out such violent aggression with his newfound skills.
17 - History of the Zora
- Lochlia looks out to the East Reservoir Lake, where she watches the trunk of Ruta spraying out water is already ominous enough, until Lochlia hears the Lynel's roar from Ploymus Mountain's Shatterback Point. It's described as an Uncanny Valley roar, right on the border of sounding human and animal at the same time.
- The Zora's entire situation. Ruta's endless rainstorm is threatening to flood the reservoir and break the dam holding it back, which would completely annihilate Zora's Domain, and the rest of Hyrule in a massive flood that would completely destroy everything in its path. It's the greatest existential threat in Hyrule outside of Calamity Ganon itself.
- Ruta's elephantine roar is so intense that it makes everything in the domain tremble as if an earthquake was happening. Cerako projects a video back to the Sheikah Slate, showing him that it was the giant mechanical beast rising from the water. Every single part of it that glows is glowing in a dark magenta color. Lochlia watches it with complete dread.
18 - Battle Against the Lynel
- Lochlia's backstory isn't exactly the most pleasant. She experienced quite a bit of subdued bigotry from her own people that drove her to do something drastic and brash to try and get their love and approval. She went after the Lynel on Ploymus Mountain. This poor girl, who was the equivalent of a Zora teenager at the time, decided that fighting the most dangerous monster known was a better alternative to what she was going through. Link is understandably furious that this happened to her.
- Even worse is that this girl repeatedly fought and defeated this monster repeatedly, since the Blood Moons continually resurrected it from the dead, each resurrection getting stronger and stronger.
- The Lynel on Ploymus Mountain is a Golden Lynel this time, not just the weakest Red-Maned Lynel. This one is the most dangerous overworld monster in the land. Its roar is as powerful as it is, making it clear that it has claimed Shatterback Point as its home. Lochlia, Cerako, and Link have to fight together just to survive the fight, and this thing survives wounds that would be fatal to any other living thing.
- Its powers include its own immense strength, resistance to electricity, speed, archery, weapons mastery, and a whole slew of skills it didn't have a chance to use. It's no slouch in a lethal fight, and it really makes Link and Lochlia earn their victory. There are multiple points where the Lynel very nearly kills them, such as when it tries to throw Link off the mountain to his death.
- The Lynel's fate isn't exactly pleasant either. Rasputinian Death doesn't come close to describing how much punishment it takes to kill this thing, which by comparison, ends up being more than what it takes to kill the Blights.
- Link impales the Lynel in the back of the neck. This only annoyed it.
- Link slashes and impales the Lynel's flesh using Flurry Rush.
- Lochlia impales the wound left by Link on the back of its neck.
- Cerako blows up Remote Bombs in its face. It barely notices this.
- Lochlia launches an incredibly high pressure beam of mystical waternote . This only angers the Lynel, and it doesn't even flinch.
- Lochlia impales her spear a into the creature, a foot deep. When it throws her off, she takes off a huge chunk of flesh with it, exposing the Lynel's bone.
- Lochlia impales the Lynel's thigh and rips out even more flesh, and then slashes its back.
- Lochlia throws her spear into the Lynel's eye, blinding the eye and destroying it. This is the first time it reacts to the pain with actual agony.
- Lochlia uses Flurry Rush herself to stab and impale the Lynel's flesh.
- Link uses the Mortal Draw to slice open its neck almost halfway through, and at the same time, Lochlia pushes her spear so deep into its neck that it comes out on the other side. This finally kills it.
19 - The Disenthralling of Ruta
- When Sidon is looking out to Divine Beast Vah Ruta in the East Reservoir Lake, Ruta is outright described as looking like an Eldritch Abomination akin to Calamity Ganon itself.
- Ruta's attacks becoming increasingly more intense and vicious with each orb that Link electrocutes. More than that, Ruta's roars become more vicious and angry, which Link speculates might be because of Calamity Ganon's control over it. At one point, a monster of ice is formed in the water. It's never given any descriptors to compare it to a real creature, and is immune to Cryonis. It takes Link using ancient arrows to kill it before it can attack them.
- As Ruta is Link's first Divine Beast, much of the area is tense and Link isn't as confident as he would become. It's a bit unsettling as he tries to navigate the Divine Beast with the area completely covered in Malice and Malice maws that launch skulls at him.
- However, there is a point where Link notes that this seems all too easy. He finds most of the terminals within Ruta without much of a struggle. He knows that something is probably up, but he has no idea what it might be. He decides that he needs to hurry up to activate the main control unit before it's too late. Of course, he doesn't realize what's going to happen when he does.
- Waterblight Ganon is the first Blight Link encounters, and as it is his first, he's horrified with what he sees and the circumstances behind the monster.
- We all know what would happen once Link attempted to activate the main control unit for Ruta. We've all seen it before, and we'll see it again. But Link is rightfully horrified when Malice suddenly erupts from the control unit and consumes it. Cerako is screeching in horror as she and Link watch as streaks of bright blue light coalesce to become a monster of horrendous amalgam of Sheikah technology, Malice flesh, and a mask-like face with a mane of red hair with an unnatural screeching scream. Link realizes that this was the monster that had been controlling Ruta for 100 years, and it inside of Ruta the entire time Link was there.
- As Link fights the monster, it has a habit of grabbing Link and tossing him away to protect itself. While Link originally has the upper hand, Waterblight eventually gets smart and floods the chamber to prevent him from having much room to fight. More than that, it starts poking at the water like it was hunting a fish, and Cerako can't help because the spear is so long that it can reach her no matter where she is.
20 - The Lightscale Trident
- This is the lightest chapter in the fic, with Heartwarming Moments, Tear Jerkers, and Funny Moments. But there is one little scene that is a little bit unsettling, the very beginning. Lochlia waits for Link to return, not knowing if he's sacrificed himself in the Divine Beast or if he survived. Especially disturbing for Lochlia, who knows that Link is her only surviving parent. It's nothing but a tense unending fear that she's lost her surviving parent from her perspective, but thankfully the audience already knows that Link is fine.
21 - Entering Gerudo Town
- Divine Beast Vah Naboris is still rampaging the desert. No one knows why it hasn't already tried to attack the bazaar or the town, but they also know that this Divine Beast is unstoppable it it abruptly chooses to attack either one.
- When Link infiltrates Gerudo Town and is afraid that he would be immediately coded as a voe when he enters. It is played lightheartedly, even for some humor, but imagine being a man who is infiltrating a town full of buff muscular warrior women who have a law against men entering the town. Link does not want to find out the answer to this.note
22 - Reclaiming the Thunder Helm
- Once again, Link's Berserk Button is pressed when Captain Teake mentions the Yiga Clan. In fact, it's so intense that even with his face covered, Teake notices his reaction and asks him about it.
- The Yiga Clan Hideout is a chamber of nightmare fuel.
- On entry, there's a large element of Nothing Is Scarier. There's just sand pouring in from the edges, and everything is so quiet for several long moments. The first noises come from cackling Yiga Clan members that Link immediately kills via decapitation and bisection.
- The first thing that Link finds in the hideout is a prison...which is less a prison and more of a vicious torture chamber. There are four cells that Link comes across, each one filled with victims of the Yiga Clan's bloodthirsty brutality, fully establishing just how monstrous the Yiga Clan is.
- The first cell has a nude Hylian man who was tied up to a post covered with brands. He was also clearly starved for a long time, meaning he was alive for the torture and probably died of starvation. He had been left in that cell for long enough that he was visibly rotting.
- The second cell had a Hylian family, two parents and their child. The parents are decapitated, and the child is burned to the point where all that remains are flecks of ashy flesh covering burnt bone. Link speculates that the parents were likely alive to witness their child's death.
- The third cell has a Rito woman who's feathers were plucked from her body, once again Link thinking she was probably alive for this. Even worse is that the poor Rito woman was cut to literal pieces, her limbs all cut off.
- The fourth cell has the worst sight of them all. Inside is a Sheikah woman who was tied to a chair with her stomach ripped open, as in someone physically ripped her skin and flesh open...and there was the corpse of a rotting infant in front of her. This was a pregnant Sheikah woman whose baby was ripped from her body by traitors to her own Sheikah tribe.
- After seeing the torture chamber, Link loses any and all semblance of civility towards the Yiga that may have lingered. He first encounters a clerical Yiga Clan member, captures her, and interrogates her for Barta's location, with his voice being described as dripping with complete anger and hatred. In horror at facing Link, she tells him...and he just kills her anyway by snapping her neck so hard that she's pretty much also decapitated internally.
- The Yiga have a book with various names on it. According to the Yiga woman, it's a list of the people they've killed. Given that it's a book full of people, who knows how many people they've murdered?
- Link find Barta. The poor woman's fate is horrendous. She's left tied to a table, her hair messily chopped off, her skin burned, flayed, and cut into with sharp instruments. And the worst part is that she was still alive. Thankfully, Link saves her life with Mipha's Grace, completely healing everything that was done to her.
- Barta and Link fight the Yiga together. They leave nothing but gutted, throat-slit, impaled, and dismembered bodies in their wake. Link specifically uses his Great Spin to completely obliterate a bunch of Blademasters into Ludicrous Gibs. It's a Moment of Awesome, but still a disturbing image of violence. Even heroic people are not immune from committing acts of violence. Barta kills a Blademaster by using her large blade to crush the Blademaster's skull into mush.
23 - Prepare to Fight the Sandstorm
- Link is revealed to have "cleaned house" after killing Master Kohga, killing everyone else left in the hideout. After the massacre of the Yiga Clan, he returns to Gerudo Town. He's left with trembling lips, a pale face, and shaky breathing, and a trembling hand. Everything he saw and did have left a hell of a traumatic impact on him. It's enough that even with his face covered, Buliara easily spots that he has trauma through his eyes and his shaking hand.
- Link describes to Buliara that he wanted to kill the Yiga. Not just that, but he wanted to make them suffer for what he had seen them do. So he did exactly that, going on a traumatic Roaring Rampage of Revenge. It's one of the highlights of Link's bloodlust against the Yiga Clan, something that is rather shocking coming from someone normally portrayed as the most ideal of all heroes.
24 - The Liberation of Naboris
- A couple of times, Naboris nearly steps on Link. One of those times, Kali and Link nearly fail to notice this. Another time, they get separated from Riju and Patricia, and almost fail to get under Riju's shield before Naboris's lightning strikes at Link.
- Thunderblight Ganon presents a much more dangerous fight than that of Waterblight. Thunderblight's extreme speed and power over electricity actually give Link a fight.
- Case in point, Link tries to use the Ending Blow on the monster, impaling through its body. It's only wounded, and returns with a counterattack where it impales Link through the heart and electrocutes him nearly to death. Only Mipha's Grace saves his life.
25 - The Daybreaker and the Scimitar of the Seven
- Link reads from the book from the hideout, which details dozens upon dozens of victims that have been/will be assassinated by the Yiga. All Link saw were the last few victims. He doesn't want to imagine what may have happened to the others already assassinated. The book also lists all the people who have fled from the Clan. Now that Link has the book, he hopes those people will be a bit safer.
- After everything happens, this chapter seems poised to be yet another Breather Episode. Except not this time. This time, Link is ambushed in his own home when a Yiga Clan woman attacks him with her Demon Carver. While she gets the drop on him, Link immediately turns the tables on her and shows off exactly why he's the most skilled swordsman in the land, and fully embraces a Good Is Not Nice Terror Hero image. He's frightening when infuriated.
- He uses the Scimitar of the Seven to slice open her leg and electrocute her. He then tosses her outside his home so hard that her legs snapped like twigs, with the bone exposed and all. Link approaches her with a Menacing Stroll where he floods the Scimitar of the Seven with electricity and stares at her with a vengeful . He's described from the Yiga Footsoldier's perspective as an angel of death, a demonic entity of light.
- The Yiga woman gives a "Reason You Suck" Speech to Link claiming that he's no different than how he believes the Yiga to be. Link's quietly furious reaction is to scoff at the Yiga, heal her, and hold her down. Link gives her a calm Shut Up, Hannibal! Kirk Summation speech that tears down their hypocritical ideology, calls out their needlessly violent actions, and finally executes her by impaling her with the Scimitar of the Seven, electrocuting her to death, and then rips the blade out, taking some organs and bones with it.
26 - A Dark Premonition
- Link has a nightmare of Urbosa's fate within Naboris. He dreams that he is Urbosa, watching from her perspective what he believes may have happened to her in her final moments of life. Despite her greatest efforts, it kills her violently when it impales her through her heart. Worse is that it's made clear that he's had similar nightmares involving Mipha's fate. Despite his heroism, he's still experience residual traumas from the worst period of his life.
- Paya describes that the Yiga that Link executed the previous night was someone she knew. It's also incredibly sad, but it's also extremely disturbing to realize that an old childhood friend who vanished one day turns out to have been a member of a terrorist organization. Witnessing her violent death the previous night obviously rattled Paya.
- In the same conversation, Paya mentions that she had her first exposure to the Yiga was during a trip outside of the village with her grandmother when she found a victim of theirs...beheaded. And she was just seven years old at the time. It traumatized her so much that she had nightmares about travelling which is used to explain why Paya is the only person of her age in the village. While everyone else her age travels, she's trapped herself in Kakariko Village because it's the only place where she feels safe.
27 - Learning from the Rito
- Kola is the first Rito that speaks to Link in the chapter. She's also a young child who is rightfully terrified about the "bird monster" flying around in the sky. She reacts to it just like a child scared of the monster under their bed, but this poor child has to contend with a real monster flying nearby that could in fact kill her. Not something a child should be exposed to at such an age.
- While the other Divine Beasts are all a threat to their hometowns, Medoh presents the most apparent threat. Rudania marches around Death Mountain's crater, Naboris wanders the desert, and Ruta's threat is indirect just because of its perpetual rainstorm. Medoh, however, flies around Rito Village in a circle without end...which is very similar to how real life birds of prey like hawks when they're hunting for prey. The Rito as a race of Bird People, probably recognize this behavior, hence why they treat Medoh most like a monster out of all the races in Hyrule.
28 - Finding an Ally in Teba
- The scene with the Great-Horned Rhinoceros provides a scene mixing nightmarish imagery with something oddly beautiful. The Great-Horned Rhinoceros's horn is absolutely enormous, more than enough to impale and kill Link without a struggle. Yet, it's still a beautiful creature that doesn't attack Link on sight and is even content to let Link touch it. It's a subtle scene making it clear that real monsters are the ones who choose to be.
- The fact that Teba says that they need to fight Medoh at night. Remember that the Rito have poor night vision, so the fact that he needs to risk fighting during a time of day when he can't see is just a testament to how dangerous trying to combat a Divine Beast is.
29 - The Unbridling of Medoh
- Divine Beast Vah Medoh is far more dangerous in this story than in the game. It uses the laws of physics to its advantage, creating gusts with sudden movements to throw Link and Teba off their game, which is effective enough to get to Link, necessitating Teba's rescue of him. And then when it's down to one cannon, it does a full-fledged Spin Attack to try and protect itself.
- The atmosphere within and around Medoh is a much more tense one than usual. Link has the perpetual threat of falling to his death if he makes one wrong move. This is not pointed out by him or the narration, but the imagery of the chapter creates a very poignant image of how treacherous the setting of Divine Beast Vah Medoh is.
- Windblight Ganon makes its appearance. Aside from the unnatural malformations and Body Horror universal to all the scourges, this one is just as nightmarish as the rest of its kind.
- This thing is tactical, leading its shots on Link to hit him with its blaster. It also is pragmatic enough to just grab Link and throw him off the Divine Beast to get rid of him. When it Turns Red, instead of staying within Link's attack range, it teleports a large distance away and charges up a unique attack not present in the original game. The drones it summons help it charge a massive beam that almost breaks through the barrier produced by Link's Daybreaker Bracelets.
30 - The Great Eagle Bow
- Despite the victory in the previous chapter, Rito civilian Bedoli mentions that no matter what happens with Medoh, there is still the greater threat of Calamity Ganon. Whether it happens today or in the future, that thing will break free from the castle and destroy everything. The fact that she states it so flatly is just further evidence of people becoming accustomed to the horror of their world.
- The final scene in this chapter is disturbing on so many levels.
- The first is that Link and Paya come across a couple of travelers under attack from strong Bokoblins, Gold and Silver ones. Link and Paya immediately jump into the fray to help them, but they are too late to save one of the travelers who is already dead when they get there. It truly is a dangerous world to traverse, and no one is safe and can be attacked at any moment. However...
- Paya realizes that the man wasn't killed by blunt trauma, but was killed by a slit throat, a favored tactic of the Yiga Clan. Sure enough, the woman that they save turns out to have been a Yiga Footsoldier who immediately attacks her supposed saviors. While the Yiga woman is killed quickly by Link, the experience clearly rattles Paya a bit. But Link notes that her reactions is far less extreme than he'd expect from her, which leads him to wonder how much this has affected her, something clarified in the next chapter.
- The narration makes it clear that the monsters of Hyrule are not allies with the Yiga despite their shared association with Ganon. The Yiga are so violent and bloodthirsty that even the monsters prowling Hyrule don't like them either.
31 - Traumas of a Survivor
- Dorian confirms that the Yiga will be much more aggressive and bloodthirsty for Link's death since he's now killed Master Kohga. More than that, Dorian himself immediately becomes frightened with Link's actions that will likely have consequences for the rest of Hyrule.
- Paya's training consisted of her literally dying over and over, suffering every bit of pain that warriors suffer in battle, and it finishes with her being Forced to Watch her loved ones being killed while she's utterly helpless to stop them. The last one seems especially horrifying, as it seems to serve no real purpose. Sheik claims that it's the final test, and if a Sheikah endures it and comes through, accepting this chance of this Fate Worse than Death, they are officially a warrior. This gives a whole new meaning to Training from Hell. Needless to say, Link is furious that the sweet Paya was put through all this agony that he didn't think she needed, and for what it's worth, Sheik isn't happy with it either.
32 - Finding Goron Painkillers
- Poor Yunobo's situation, while a comical moment, is actually quite disturbing. Imagine being a youngster who gets trapped in a cave-in, and you're trapped there knowing there are monsters roaming outside. You stay hidden until the cave-in is somehow blown away, and you're certain that you're trapped with nothing but monsters coming in around you, and you're cornered with now way out. That's essentially his situation when Link finds him.
- This chapter ends with a disguised Yiga Footsoldier leaving Goron City. He returns to the Yiga Clan hideout, which is still filled with the dead mutilated bodies of the Yiga that Link had slaughtered. This scene introduces Sooga, Astor, and an Original Character Kolana. All three of them now lead the Yiga Clan in the wake of Master Kohga's death, and they declare their intention to completely wipe out all of the rest of the major hubs of Hyrule. They plan on attacking eight settlements at once. Dorian was not kidding when he mentioned the Yiga would step up their game.
- Astor's reaction is quite disturbing. While Sooga and Kolana are more formal and more pragmatic with a twinge for some revenge, Astor is outright bloodthirsty, and giggles at the prospect of killing so many people.
- Barta is eavesdropping on the whole thing, and she is mortified at it. She has to very carefully sneak out when she realizes that they intend to do this after sunset, and it's already getting late in the day. Her escape is nothing if not a desperate one.
33 - The Goron Chief of Old
- "Daruk's Mettle" retains the clip where Daruk expresses concern for the fact that Death Mountain was shaking so intensely, but there are a few additional lines changing the nature of the scene. Daruk admits that it could be Igneo Taluses doing this...save that they'd been extinct for a long time beforehand. Yet another sign during the flashback of Calamity Ganon's rising power.
- The final scenes, where the Gerudo learn of the danger facing down Hyrule. They're completely isolated in the desert with no way of getting word quickly out to the other settlements, and all they can put their hopes in are some female Rito who they send to fly out and spread the warning.
- The very last clip is Sooga leading out the remnants of the Yiga Clan from the hideout. His speech to his people is a massive declaration of outright war, where he declares his intention to Leave No Survivors in any of the settlements. What had been seen in the Yiga torture chamber seems poised to spread across all of Hyrule.
34 - The Emancipation of Rudania
- This is the chapter where we first get to witness Fireblight Ganon. It's a full-on Lightning Bruiser that can move its copy of Daruk's weapon with extreme speed, far faster that its large size would imply. Even worse is that its vacuum attack is an actual attack itself. The suction is so powerful that it nearly sucks Link and Cerako right to it, and even worse is that the attack is not a Painfully Slow Projectile, but an enormous explosion that would have killed Link and annihilate Cerako had he not been able to escape.
- Even worse is that this monster survives when Link stabs it in the eye and floods it with Urbosa's Fury and his own divine power. This is a move that killed every other blight before it, so the fact that this thing lived through this otherwise fatal attack is a testament to what Daruk had to face in his final moments of life.
- The final scene of the chapter has all the towns being surrounded by Yiga Clan warriors, with only one single town being fully aware of the impending danger. Just when everything seems to be looking up, the Yiga are poised to rip it all down.
35 - The Boulder Breaker
- The heroes finally learn that the Yiga intend to go through with a massive invasion force across the entire area, against every settlement. Even worse is that they literally only received warning right before the planned invasion time right after the sun sets. They know that if they lose this fight, there's a good chance that there will be nothing left to stop the return of Calamity Ganon. And Riju's warning indicates that even if they did, she doesn't believe that they'll have a home afterwards.
- The warning that Impa receives makes her visibly horrified, when she otherwise expressed little more than slight emotion beforehand, even when acknowledging her daughter's plight during her training in the spiritual realm. If it was enough to horrify Impa, you know this is serious.
36 - Rise of the New Champions
- This chapter really goes in depth to display the hellish nature of war between powerful factions. The action is divided between the four races and their four central settlements.
- Zora's Domain fights back viciously, taking advantage of the Yiga's own use of shock arrows. They create walls of water to electrocute them all to death, but the ones that aren't almost literally fried are mostly bisected and dismembered violently by the pressurized mystical water from the royal family's weaponry. And then it gets to its worst when, even as the Zora push back against the Yiga, an army of Malice-constructed Guardians comes right at them. It's a full Zerg Rush that they can't stop, and King Dorephan was willing to sacrifice himself to slow them all down. Mipha thankfully keeps that from happening.
- Gerudo Town's warriors ambush the Yiga with bomb arrows, obliterating several of them into bloody sprays and chunks of flesh and bone. That being said, the Yiga get in some nonlethal hits on the Gerudo and get past their shields. Plus, there's the fact that Riju, the chief who's still a young child, is in the middle of all this to the discomfort of Buliara and others. Finally, things come to a head after Riju fights with Kolana and it's revealed that it was a distraction while they summon the Moldugas and Molduking to completely destroy their home. And they came very close to doing so, were it not for Urbosa.
- Rito Village is nearly destroyed by flaming catapults by the Yiga Clan. The Rito warriors put this to a stop using their bows with bomb arrows, and just like everywhere else, the Ludicrous Gibs are made clear. And then the nightmare reaches its apogee when an armada of Malice Skywatchers come at the village, an armada that could have wiped out everything in its aerial path. Teba and Harth are almost helpless, with their only saving grace coming in the form of Revali who put a stop to the armada in a single strike.
- Goron City does the best against the Yiga, as they are made of rock, and thus have the best armor. But there was one major problem: the Igneo Talus Titan, The Dreaded of all the taluses. In fact, when it's revealed that the Igneo Talus Titan was coming for the city, many of the residents could only look on in horror, especially when it started coming closer and closer, and was apparently being healed by Yiga members piloting it. Had it not been for Daruk, there would have been no way to stop this Advancing Wall of Doom as it approached Goron City.
37 - Hyrulean Resistance
- Like the previous chapter, this one focuses on four individual settlements combatting the Yiga, and it's still disturbing to see.
- Kakariko Village goes the opposite route with a mostly Mook Horror Show. Impa casually tells the invaders of her home how she intends to kill them, and she fulfills it exactly as she says. Bomb arrow archers protect her from above, exploding Yiga members into Ludricous Gibs. Paya ends it when she invokes a Total Party Kill on the invaders with a single attack that either obliterates Yiga or instantly kills them by shattering their bones and insides.
- Hateno Village's inhabitants are most certainly not cut out for combat. As a result, much of the time in Hateno Village is spent on the families that are huddled together hiding in their homes, trying to keep their children safe from the danger. There's also the Yiga's intent to completely raze the village to the ground. And then there's the Diminutive Guardian Sisters' utter brutality with fighting the Yiga, especially Argiko exploding Yiga's heads like watermelons. Bomb arrows set other Yiga members on fire, and when the dust settles, the whole village is littered with bodies.
- Korok Forest had pretty much no defenders and are almost entirely helpless as the Yiga Clan comes to their home. In fact, Korok Forest came closest to being destroyed successfully by the Yiga Clan, who would have burned the forest and the Great Deku Tree to ashes. The only saving grace was that they didn't send a lot of Yiga Footsoldiers.
- Akkala Ancient Tech Lab is the smallest area that's attacked. When Granté spots Yiga teleporting near the lab, he panics and obviously assumes the worst is about to happen to his loving parents. At the lab itself, Link invokes an ominous image by hiding his hateful scowl with his hood. And finally, Link discovers here that Sooga is strong enough to keep up with Link, meaning that the powers of the entire Sheikah Monk clan weren't enough to overpower Sooga's physical strength.
38 - Recovery
- The aftermath of the entire Yiga War is still bleak. Even though the heroes suffered no losses, the entire kingdom is still traumatized by having nearly been wiped out, and each community has to find a way to recover and heal from this. They also have to dispose of all the violently killed bodies of the dead Yiga.
- The Gerudo, having the most experience with the Yiga Clan, know that if they were to let their guard down, the Yiga would come in and kill everyone in their sleep. So even in the aftermath of everything that happened, they had no time to rest.
- The Gorons didn't sleep either, as they were still afraid that the Yiga would somehow conjure an army of night unstoppable Igneo Talus Titans.
- The Rito are just as traumatized, with the warriors being so alerted that none of them stayed with their families. They had already nearly lost their village once and the warriors weren't ready to let that happen. It comes at the cost of time with their families.
- The Zora children are so traumatized by everything that they'd seen that not even Sidon's bombastic entertaining stories could put them at ease. These poor kids likely really believed that they might have been dead.
- Kakariko Village is left in a tight spot. A large chunk of people want to abandon the village out of paranoia that the Yiga would come back, but ultimately it's left to Impa to make this choice. She has to make a decision that could either save her people or get them all killed, a very difficult place for any leader to be in.
39 - Barriers
- A little bit of Astor's true nature slips through in this chapter when he calls the Yiga Clan junk. Those who played the games already know what he really is like, but he's done a good job at being Faux Affably Evil so far, but here, the first crack is showing.
- Sooga and Kolana's reaction to Astor's disparaging remarks about their people. As awesome as it is to see them put Astor in his place, their fury is still a bit ominous, because no matter what, these people are still trying to kill the heroes and bring back Calamity Ganon. That same anger is exactly what the heroes have to combat.
40 - Trial of the Wolf
- As awesome as it is to see Link fighting and defeating all these big monsters in the trial rooms, just the idea of being entirely alone with no weapons and no armor against incredibly powerful monsters is a frightening idea.
- Case in point, the first enemies he encounters are all golden. Golden Bokoblins, Golden Moblins, and Golden Lizalfos. And this is the very first room. Imagine fighting the most powerful common monsters with literally no weaponry or armor.
- The next floor, he has some primitive weaponry. While that would have served him well in the overworld, the next floor has him fighting the strongest of Hinoxes. He still has no armor, and has to fight a literal giant that can swing trees like clubs.
- The next floor has him caught on a large expanse of sand with a Molduking, the strongest of all Moldugas. He's literally helpless at first with the Molduking coming after him like a classic land shark until he finds his way onto some ruins.
- The final room has Link fighting Golden Lynels, two of them. He still has no armor, and now the setting is in the snow. It's enough that Link almost becomes hypothermic, and the first thing he has to do is desperately steal a sword with flame magic to shield himself from the sheer cold.
41 - A Corrupted Generation
- The Hollows. All of them are this entire trope incarnated. Each one of them is a perversion of the Champion and creature that they imitate and mock. They're literal constructs of Malice that exist only to kill. They are also capable of being torn apart and not be any worse for wear. This also includes the Malice Guardians, which are just as murderous as we've already seen in prior chapters.
- Hollow Mipha has powers over mystical acid that it manipulates just like water that eats through anything. It wounds Sidon, but thankfully Lochlia heals him.
- Hollow Urbosa has the same moves and powerset as the real Champion. However, it regularly survives being bisected, and its lightning is powerful enough that it shatters the floating rocks all around them.
- Hollow Revali combines all of Revali's skills with the immense bloodlust of Calamity Ganon. Thankfully, it's the weakest one, and Teba kills it without a struggle.
- Hollow Daruk has all of the real Daruk's power and strength, complete with its own copy of Daruk's Protection that could compete with Yunobo's own set of powers.
- The Malice Guardians are just as violent and vicious as they were in prior chapters.
- Hollow Link has all of Link's combat skills, complete with a copy of Link's Master Sword that is dubbed the Malice Sword which can launch Sword Beams, and Combat Clairvoyance that allows it to effectively fight off four warriors at once.
- The final scene in the chapter seems to be a nice cooldown as the group examines the purified Sheikah Orb until Paya suddenly does a back bend and her eyes turn pure white. It's so sudden that it catches the entire group off guard.
42 - The Fourth Spirit
- Paya is shown being surrounded by a barrier after her strange possession by the freshly purified Sheikah Orb which resulted in her eyes changing to white. Impa is understandably extremely frightened about this, no matter if she wasn't actually being hurt.
- Paya gains the power of precognition courtesy of the Sheikah Orb. Her first vision shown in full detail is nothing pretty. She sees her grandmother Impa in a field. When the three Spirits, the Boar, Wolf, and Owl, fly around her, she suddenly transforms into a giant spirit animal herself, a Frog. At first, it seems just awesome, and then they turn into dark versions of themselves. The Boar becomes Calamity Ganon, while the other three spirits suddenly turn into Calamitous entities akin to Calamity Ganon too.
- Once again, there's a sign of Calamity Ganon's imminent return when the beast suddenly emerges around the castle, and Zelda keeps him at bay with her power.
- The fact that the Sheikah Orb has sentience means that whatever inhabits the machine was a total unwilling slave to the Malice, much like Ganondorf's enslavement to the curse of Demise.
43 - Scales of an Ancient Era
- The women of Impa's family, Paya and Purah and herself, all trek through Hyrule Castle. Unlike the last time, we actually get to see this fanfic's version of the interior of the destroyed castle, and it's nothing nice. There's the Scenery Gorn descriptions of the castle, but there are several ominous descriptions of the various areas within the castle.
- Once again, we see the area around Zelda's Study. It gets no better the second time around. It's treated less ominously thanks to Purah's extreme energy and vibrancy influencing the narrative tone, but even then the imagery is still disturbing. Purah literally is a child navigating through a literal localized apocalypse.
- The second area seen are the docks that lead to the library. Paya takes the helm here, and has to go through the old docks beneath the castle. The docks have armor-dressed skeletons around, and the sight of them disturbs Paya a little bit.
- The third area is the prison. The toxic Malice floods the entire area inside. More than that is the Stalnox inside. Impa's not frightened by it, but she is disturbed by the fate of the original Hinox inside: starving to death all alone and left to rot inside the prison to become a Stalnox. A Cruel and Unusual Death for any living thing.
44 - Pearls and Flames
- The Sheikah Monks reveal that everything that's happened in the last 10,000 years has been orchestrated by the Goddesses themselves. The Great Calamity was always going to happen, no matter what anyone did, and the monks were aware of this. Imagine being these Monks, going into a deep meditation of self-mummification, knowing that the beautiful world they loved would be nearly destroyed into nothing, and they could only stay by the wayside.
- The Guardians of War. A trio of advanced Guardians stronger than the ones that invaded Hyrule that Impa must fight in a trial by combat. These things are moss-covered and have weapons embedded all over them, indicating that they had seen a lot of combat against living beings like Hylians. They turn out to be heroic upon being defeated by Impa, but their descriptions can be unnerving. Regardless, they all give Impa one vicious fight.
45 - The Kindness of the Frog
- As awesome as it is when Impa emerges from the Forgotten Temple in her glory as the Frog, it's also nightmarish from the perspective of the outsiders. From their view, the ground itself trembles like when Ganon's spectral boar emerges around Hyrule Castle, and then they see the clouds of power enshrouding the area. For a long moment, they likely thought that another monster was emerging out of the ground.
- Once again, a Blood Moon rises, but this one is treated more ominously than the others. It brings back all the monsters just as usual, but Link and Impa both quietly acknowledge that it's the last one. The implications of this are not good: either Ganon will break free the next time, or they'll stop him. And if the former was the result? Well...
46 - Trial of the One-Hit Obliterator
- The moment where Link gets his life force drained from him by the One-Hit Obliterator. It comes off almost like what happens when people are electrocuted, in that he's literally incapable of letting the weapon go. It weakens him so much that even Impa and Kass notice how weak he looks. He's also completely without the Champions. Mipha wouldn't be able to save him from death.
- The second trial is a bit ominous for much of the time. Unlike the first one, the spikes everywhere that can kill him in a single strike. Especially tense is the moment where Link has to sprint, in his weakened state, down a bridge that has no railing, and has columns covered with spikes coming at him. There's worse moments, but this one actually makes the stoic Link nervous.
- The last trial where Link has to go through an entire shrine in complete darkness. This is not bad on its own, but the idea of trying to navigate a bunch of dangerous traps when you are literally on death's door is something that can probably cause PTSD in real life. It's only worse when he encounters a whole bunch of Guardian Scouts that thankfully don't see him before he destroys them.
47 - Songs of the Warriors
- Each fight in the realm of minds. Link has to rematch against every Blight, but this time, he has only the weapons that would have been available to each Champion when they fought the beings that slayed them, plus a few extra weapons and the powers of the Champions.
- Waterblight Ganon. Link can only use ten arrows with a Zora Bow and the Lightscale Trident. His Champion powers give him an edge over the Blight, but he still is fighting the monster that killed the mother of his child. It's a close reflection of what likely happened in Link's unseen dream where he dreamt of what had possibly happened to Mipha in her last moments of life.
- Thunderblight Ganon. This fight is the most aggressive of the fights against the phantom Blights, as both Link and Thunderblight wield similar weapon sets by nature. This one is a bit impactful, because we have already seen Link's nightmare where he dreamt of Urbosa's fate. This time, if Link fails, he's dead for real.
- Windblight Ganon. This one is the easiest of the four fights, but it's still disturbing in implication. Had Revali had any of the other Champions' powers, he'd have been able to easily win his fight with Windblight.
- Fireblight Ganon. While the fight mostly goes in Link's favor, there's a frightening moment where Daruk's Protection shatters under the force of Phantom Fireblight Ganon. It left Link to wonder how this happened to Daruk in life, given that this was his best defense against the monster. Link had numerous other powers from the other Champions, but who knows how helpless Daruk was in his last moments of life.
48 - The Champions' Ballad
- The equivalent of the Cold Open of the chapter has a little moment of this. While all of Hyrule is preparing for the final battle coming up, they all see a little...object floating in the sky alongside some giant entity with long white hair. While it's revealed that this is Monk Maz Koshia, it's still unnerving to see their aerial battle from the perspective of regular people.
- Monk Maz Koshia is not a monstrous villain, but the moment where Link witnesses him moving his finger and closed his hand unsettles Link to no end. Especially because Monk Maz Koshia still bears the appearance of a mummified corpse.
- Monk Maz Koshia is a full-on No-Nonsense Nemesis against Link. He's a full pragmatist in a fight, forgoing the theatrics that plagued Master Kohga. He floods the area full of elemental arrows, surrounding Link with vicious independently powerful clones, and grows to enormous size to overwhelm Link with powerful attacks. Link's left on the defensive for a huge part of the fight. Hell, when Link tries to use his Daybreaker Bracelets to attack Maz Koshia, he pulls a move straight from Zack Snyder's Justice League, and catches the bracelets and kicks Link away.
- There's a moment where Monk Maz Koshia attacks Link with a collection of metal balls. Monk Maz Koshia used the arena to launch them in air and summon down lightning with his sheer power, electrocuting Link, and causing Link to break his legs, splintering them apart. As with every other instance of near-death, Mipha saves him, but still, Link was nearly dead at the hands of Monk Maz Koshia.
- Finally, there's the fact that Link doesn't defeat Monk Maz Koshia. He just puts up a good enough fight that Monk Mas Koshia decides that Link is finally worthy of the ancient Sheikah's final gift.
- The last scene in the chapter. Zelda's power starts glowing, and she pleads to Link to hurry, telling them that time is almost up. Kass, Impa, and Link all look on in horror, seeing Zelda's power finally reaching its limits.
49 - Calamity Ganon
- The sheer fact that Calamity Ganon actually started to break free from Zelda's deadlock with him. Had Impa and Link not got to them when they did, Ganon would have won.
- As Calamity Ganon's power rises again, the originally regular moon transforms into a Blood Moon, triggering the growth of Malice all across Hyrule and conjuring monsters all over the land, from Bokoblins to Lynels. Guardians start flooding the landscape, coming from the columns and getting ready to decimate the kingdom yet again.
- The state of the Sanctum when Link and Impa arrive. The throne was intact, but the entire room is rotting away with the banners torn and destroyed, especially with the giant disgusting cocoon. It's described as an unnatural womb in which Calamity Ganon was regrowing inside of it.
- Calamity Ganon finally makes an appearance in the flesh in this fanfic. It's just as hideous as it was in the game, rife with Body Horror. It's described like a demonic spider with bright red hair and a skeletal face, and that's the only hint it was ever human. Then there are the weapons all over its body, carrying the weapons of the Blights and the scissor-like weapon. This thing seemed to be trying to prey on Link's terror from the Blights, as if to taunt him about the slain Champions.
- Calamity Ganon is much more vicious than in the game, no longer limited by gameplay maneuvers. His attacks are so vicious that at many points, Link and Impa have to desperately shield themselves from the attacks.
- At first, Link and Impa hold on well, until Calamity Ganon Turns Red, and becomes invincible and aggressive. For reference, Calamity Ganon No Sells Urbosa's Fury. It gets clever and uses a laser beam to pin Impa down by forcing her to shield herself. It then comes right at Link, hurling large spears. When Link uses Daruk's Protection, it attacks him relentlessly until it breaks his shield, at which point it actually gets a fatal hit on Link. His only saving grace was Mipha's Grace coming to save his life just as she promised he would. This monster is not playing games, and it is lethal.
- Dark Beast Ganon's appearance. At first, it looks like Ganon has been defeated, but the Malice doesn't go away this time. Instead, Link and Impa manifest on Hyrule Field and witness an immense tornado of Malice gathering together, and then they see this kaiju emerge from it, so strong that its beam could carve up the ground like a blade. This is the closest Link has come to fighting Demise since the Era of the Skies.
50 - The Silent Princess
- In an otherwise peaceful dénouement, the Yiga Clan establish that they are still active and ready to try and strike back against the heroes at a point in the future, but for now, they intend to rebuild their numbers. Astor also realizes that he no longer needs the Malice Orb, as he seems to have the power of Malice within himself.
- Astor's declaration about a mummy hidden somewhere in the land. He claims that everything that had been seen with Calamity Ganon...was but a fraction of Calamity Ganon's power, a drop. He declares that the mummified body is a far greater source of the dark power. Fans of the game know that this is a reference to the Tears of the Kingdom trailers which feature a mummified corpse implied to be Ganondorf's original body. And now the Yiga Clan knows about it, and they are preparing to use it to try and finish the job started 100 years before.
