Video Game / Hyrule Conquest

This ain't your granddaddy's Zelda.

A real time strategy game set withing the fantasy setting of Hyrule. Command one from over two dozen factions from the Zelda mythos.

— The Moddb Description

Hyrule Conquest (formerly known as Hyrule: Total War), is a fan total overhaul mod for the free Real-Time Strategy game 0 A.D. based on the The Legend of Zelda series. Created by modder Ice Cream Man (formerly known as UndyingNephalim, also known for his work on the fan game Star Fox Event Horizon), it allows players to take command of many iconic characters and races from the series in a real-time strategy format.

Formerly a mod for Medieval II: Total War started in 2011, the game was ported to 0 A.D.'s Pyrogenesis engine in 2017, due to the former's engine limitations, with regular updates adding in more characters and playable factions. Sweetening the deal in the porting is that, while Medieval II costs $19.99 on Steam, 0 AD is 100% free, meaning more people will have access to the mod, and is also 100% open-source, meaning the creator has free rein to make the game however he wants.

The mod can be downloaded from ModDB here.

Although the "official" development in Medieval II has ceased, an unofficial version is still being maintained and regularly updated, which can be downloaded here

Not to be confused with Hyrule Warriors. For the author's other project, see Star Fox Event Horizon.

---

This Game Provides Examples of:

• Abnormal Ammo: Quite a few. Gohma ranged units and buildings lob their own sterile young at foes, the Zora use magic-based cannons, Sheikah Needlestorms fire giant needles, and the Moblins favor coating their siege weaponry in their own waste.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Kingdom of Hyrule: Generalist. A strong all-round selection of troops, but does not excel at anything.
  • Gerudo: Ranger. The best archers and light cavalry in the game, offset by a near-complete lack of armour.
  • Gorons: Elitist/Brute. Gorons hit hard, with their infantry almost as strong as other factions' cavalry. Just don't expect them to perform well from afar.
  • Zora: Elitist/Ranger/Loyal. Very powerful ranged troops and artillery, not as good in melee due to lack of armour. They have the best morale in the game.
  • Kokiri: Spammer/Guerrilla. Many soldiers who do not tire easily and move fast, but individually are weak and prone to fleeing.
  • Gohma: Spammer/Brute. Pretty much the definition of Zerg Rush, with the exception of some powerful high-end units. They cannot even initiate diplomacy.
  • Ordona Province: Brute/Technical/Economist. The best cavalry in the game, backed with a bonus to farming income. They can also pit eagles and goats at enemies.
  • Lanayru Province: Ranger/Guerrilla. Good at mobility and fighting at range, but not so great up close due to light armor.
  • Moblins: Brute. All about charging with raw, brute force.
  • Deku Tribes: Spammer/Guerrilla/Technical/Pariah. Huge numbers of varied units, expert at hiding, boasts the worst morale in the game, and nearly every unit has the ability to spit seeds at enemies.
  • Stalfos: Spammer/Generalist/Industrial/Loyal. Stalfos troops are recruited from the dead of those armies they defeat, letting them assemble a powerful and balanced but brittle force that neither tires nor routs.
  • Darknut Legion: Elitist/Brute. The core of the Darknut army consists of heavy infantry and cavalry. While lighter and ranged units are present as well, their quality is not exactly high and they mostly serve as support alongside the rare artillery and the varied mercenaries that the Darknuts can hire more easily than other factions.
  • Labrynna Regime: Ranger/Research. Most soldiers have poor melee skills but have the best guns and cannons in the game. They are also the most technologically advanced faction, able to field tanks and organ guns.
  • Fairies of Tarm: Spammer/Ranger. The best Glass Cannons in the game, who can quickly kill enemies with dazzling beams of death, but can as easily be swatted aside by normal soldiers.
  • Sheikah: Elitist/Guerrilla/Espionage. Very small units able to hide anywhere, outmanoeuvre enemies, and gain a massive bonus in flanking. Basically melee glass cannons. Also able to subtly influence neighbours one way or another in the campaign.
  • Kingdom of Ikana: Elitist/Generalist. Experienced, high-quality troops that cannot be replaced easily.
  • River Zora: Brutal/Industrial. A faction of raiders, they can train more troops from what they pillage in conquered cities.
• Action Girl: Every girl, who will kick ass and take names on the battlefield. It's something of a requirement in this universe.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • All the races and kingdoms that needed Link to save them before? They have their own armies and can fight now.
  • Pretty much every female character that's ever appeared in Zelda series suddenly kicks ass.
  • Particular faction examples include the Kokiri, who go from being terrified of weak monsters in-game to tribes of feral children with knives, the Deku Scrubs, who go from a joke enemy to a tribal alliance of murderously violent shrubbery, and Ordona, who go from a bunch of villagers terrified of a single wolf to a powerful feudal state, and Labrynna went from a Hyrule stand-in with overall unremarkable features, to a Atheistic Imperialistic with Steampunk elements.
  • The Anouki stand out as the biggest example. Take a look at their original game design, then watch their sketches for this game.
  "Holy depth and meaning Batman! The Anouki have been given a deep culture, mythos, background, and written language! I never expected those teletubbies to end up like this!"
  "Never underestimate a disappointed fan with no life and a point to prove, Robin."
  — Undying Nephalim
• Adaptational Heroism: Both Ganon and Ganondorf are a lot more noble than their canon portrayals. Demise is still evil for the most part, but has a warped sense of honor, unlike its Demonic kin.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Nylin Zelda Nohansen I, the first hylian monarch to bear the title of Princess Zelda, was a cold, militaristic, and xenophobic ruler, and killed an unarmed Ganon in cold blood.
  • In canon, Hylia is a benevolent God of Good. Here, she's a manipulative mass murderer who has let Hyrule be nearly destroyed over and over out of revenge.
  • Oren, the River Zora Sage from A Link Between Worlds is Oren Sokuuf, the manipulative and bloodthirsty Queen of the Zola.
• The Ageless: Several:
  • The First Sages were Spirits tasked to be the immortal guardians of the Triforce by the Goddesses. The later Sages would inherit their immortality along with their other powers.
  • The Spirits of Hyrule, such as Fi, Ghirahim, and Ono Mouzan, are immortal and persist long after the mortal kingdoms of Hyrule have fallen.
  • The Kokiri and Zalunbar, who are kept from aging by the Great Deku Tree and by Vaati, respectively.
• Alternate Continuity: Word of God says that this game has no ties to the official games in the series, on account of the official timeline being somewhat confusing.
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Any battle against the Fairies of Tarm.
• Amazon Brigade: Many factions field female soldiers, and in the case of the Gerudo, entire armies composed entirely of women. Gender-inverted by Iron Knuckles, who are the Spirits of long-dead male Gerudo Kings brought back to fight for the Gerudo.
• Annoying Arrows: Typically averted: A Rain of Arrows is a very good way to take out a boss unit.
• Anti-Cavalry: The Labrynna Regime, with their Late Renaissance/early Baroque aesthetic, are devoted to this school of thought.
• Arcadia: Ordona Province and Horon. Literally, in the form of Arcadia from the The Legend of Zelda cartoon series.
• Armor Is Useless: Against magic units, whose attacks ignore armor values, as well as units with true damage.
• Art Evolution: Undyingnephalim's skill with 3D modelling and animation has improved significantly since he began the mod in 2011. Many factions such as the Order of Wizzrobe are garishly detailed. Compare the Order of Wizzrobes before◊ and after◊. With release of Hyrule Warriors and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, many visual cues from newer Zelda games have worked their way into unit and building designs.
• Artificial Stupidity:
  • Implementing a custom AI set from 0 A.D.'s Petra AI has proven the ingame AI was never particularly suited for highly irregular or symmetrical design. Factions with unusual building styles have had difficulty properly functioning under AI control.
• Attack Animal:
  • The Gorons can use trained Salamanders as adhoc scout and fighters.
  • The Kokiri can train hunting foxes to gather meat from wildlife and scout out maps, as well as Wolfos to rip enemies to shreds.
  • Ordonians can pit their hawks against enemies, and set goats to ram through enemy lines.
  • Twili have various alien creatures, like Kargoroks and Shadow Bloats, to use in battle.
  • Gomess attacks with a swarm of keese.
  • The Sheikah have access to both rats and bats that they use as attackers.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Though some are quite small, most Titan units are notable for their extreme size, easily dwarfing even some of the factions' buildings.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Titans are (so far) for novelty purposes only. Extremely strong and satisfying to watch, they are an instant WIN button... but the cost is so prodigious (6000 of each resource except food) that they are essentially impossible to create in the first place if your opponent is competent, and you could have built hundreds of normal soldiers in the titan's place.
• Back from the Dead: The Stalfos heroes.
• Backstab: The Sheikah often do this if you manage to sneak them up behind enemy troops.
• Badass Longcoat: Labrynnian Pathfinders.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The first The Legend of Zelda game where Princess Zelda herself can be brutally assaulted and killed by Ganon.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Every character becomes blood-soaked after fighting in combat for several moments.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Nearly every important villain, monster or other antagonist make appearances.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Almost every Fairy that shows up in the game.
• Blessed with Suck: Being a Sage is almost like being a willing slave — you pretty much just do the dirty work of the Goddesses and not much else, and centuries of that takes its toll. Very apparent with Saria, who was chosen against her will, so it kind of sucks for her.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Lots of bodies and blood; let's not even talk about some cutscenes...
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Any archer unit with the Melee Weaponry attribute is proficient in both short and long ranges.
• Brats with Slingshots: Kokiri slingshots. Curiously, they share the same range of Labrynnian guns.
• Bring It: Most characters and troops do this at the start of each battle.
• Bug War: By necessity, any conflict with the Gohma is one. Hundreds of them will die in every battle, and hundreds more will take their place.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: In the old Total War version, your generals and heroes can get or start off with rather weird traits. To name a few, Ilia is an angry drunk Hypochondriac and Ruto is "sexually liberated".
• Carry a Big Stick: A few races make use of maces, but the most terrifying example are the Darknut's Doomknockers. Armed with colossal maces with heads as big as a man's torso, they're the Legion's answer to anything that might be wearing armor that could compete with their own.
• Casting a Shadow: Sheikah monsters.
• The Cavalry: The main use of cavalry is, surprisingly, to quickly defend nodes far away from each other.
• Chainmail Bikini: Mostly averted. Virtually every female character, even the usually naked Princess Ruto, is well-clothed or well-armored.
• Child Soldiers: Subverted with the Kokiri; they look like children, but they're actually as old, if not older, than most adults of other species.
• City Guards: Contrary to their complete and utter ineffectiveness in canon Zelda games, Hylian Town Guards are now very effective military units.
• City of Gold: Zora bases are extensively decorated with walls and canals made of brass.
• Close-Range Combatant: Used to be one of the main gimmicks of the Darknut Legion, who had to rely on Zuna Crossbowmen or other mercenaries for ranged support. After a considerable update, the Darknuts can now field peltasts who, thanks to their immense strength, can hurl their javelins alarmingly far.
  • The Gorons also fit this mold.
• Collared by Fashion: Many of the female characters.
• Composite Character: Given the large amount of characters in Zelda, this is done out of necessity.
  • Link takes after the majority of Links, but most resembles his design from Hyrule Warriors mixed with a scarf of the Chosen Hero from the Skyward Sword manga. In his youth, he also resembles Young Link from Ocarina of Time.
  • Zelda's design is mostly taken from her young version in Ocarina of Time, but mixes it with her plotline in The Wind Waker, and her Tetra identity from that game.
  • Ganondorf takes cues from multiple of his appearances, but resembles a mix between his designs in Ocarina of Time and Hyrule Warriors.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: The reason why the Sheikah and Darknuts are dozens strong while Kokiri and Gohma number in the hundreds.
• Cursed with Awesome: The Kingdom of Ikana. While its citiziens have been cursed to relive their three-day civil war for all eternity, now that they have been unleashed upon Hyrule by Majora, they've kept the experience of these millennia of fighting, and whenever they'll be killed, they will just respawn from a Termina fissure. It is said even the Stalfos envy them.
• Crapsack World: Considering virtually every race in Hyrule is going to war...
• Crippling Overspecialization: While at first it may seem like this trope, they can be circumvented one way or another. Not to say it is EASY to do so.
  • Gorons are a melee faction who only have one missile unit (bomb throwers) which can be easily beaten by any other kind of missile unit. On the other hand, Goron infantry have exceptional charging ability and speed because they can roll around.
  • Similarly, the Darknuts are a heavy infantry faction with little in the way of ranged ability and only heavy cavalry, with only a few units able to even run. Yet this same armor leaves Darknuts practically immune to anything smaller than siege weaponry — and even then, they can be seen getting back up after the first few shots. In addition, their unit sizes tend to be extremely small, meaning they can be easily overwhelmed and flanked... but they are horrifying enemies to fight in chokepoints, and with larger formations of mercenaries protecting their flanks, they can chew up most armies' main infantry lines.
  • The Fairies have the opposite problem — they are absolutely horrible at melee combat. However, as almost all of their units can shoot lasers, their enemies will really have to put significant effort into exploiting that weakness. Not to mention Tarm itself — see BFG.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
  • All the Deku Scrubs.
  • Paya.
  • Princess Ruto.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Fighting with most boss units will end badly, unless you have masses of archers to deal with them.
• Darker and Edgier: Mass warfare, actual blood, and the potential slaughter of iconic characters from the official games. Word of God says a darker Zelda game that he could actually take seriously again was one of his motivations for making the mod.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Many races normally considered evil in the official Zelda generally have nobler motives for their actions. It's actually implied that the Hylians are Jerkasses enforcing their will on everyone else. In fact, the only traditional evil factions with no other motive than slaughter are the Gohma and the Phantom Army. Even the would-be tyrant manipulator Veran just wants Onox back, alongside the domination thing.
• Dark Mistress: Veran, who apparently has a relationship with Onox.
• Death from Above: The Great Fairies' main method of attack, as well as most archer based units in the game. Occasionally, Sheikah Assassins will also dive bomb unto enemies.
• Death Mountain: Oddly, it seems to be inactive during the events of this game.
• Death or Glory Attack: The Darknuts' combination of tremendous attacking power, heavy armor, and slow speed makes every charge into one of these. If they hit and win, they devastate the enemy. If they hit and lose and then rout, it’s highly likely that none of them will survive, because they'll be run down in moments by much faster enemy infantry.
• Decomposite Character: Ganondorf and Ganon are two separate people in this game.
• Degraded Boss: Many creatures that were bosses in canon Zelda are now generic units.
• Dem Bones: Stalfos and Ikana, but the former is more literal, the latter is a cursed kingdom.
• Devil's Pitchfork: Ganon fights with a trident, which is later inherited by Ganondorf. Miniblins and Dodoblins attack with mini tridents.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Rocktites throw boulders at enemies.
• Dual Wielding: Princess Zelda, to great effect, dual wields swords.
• Egopolis: Several cities:
  • The Deku Tree's Grove, obviously.
  • Airu, named after the first Zora that took a Hylian wife.
  • Gor Dalagra, after the last Goron king overthrown by Dakkon.
  • Baral's Stand, after a Darknut warrior who held an entire army by himself in the fortress.
• Elves Versus Dwarves: The Zora (Elves) and Gorons (Dwarves) are rival factions here.
• Epic Flail: General Onox tossing aside dozens of soldiers in his path... with his bare hands.
• Everything Fades: Bodies slowly sink into the ground to avoid clogging up the game and causing performance issues.
• Evil Empire: Averted. Every organized military in the game seems to be jerks with noble intentions. The exceptions are the Gohma and Stalfos.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Black Tower in Labrynna.
• Expy: Majora is now rather similar to Gollum. He even uses voice clips of Andy Serkis for him.
  • Zelda and her successors are all bloodthirsty but competent action girls, what was the last time we've seen a Zelda like that?
• The Fair Folk: The once-harmless Fairies have been re-interpreted as this.
• Fairy Battle: Averted. Fairies in this game can ignite entire legions of soldiers on fire.
• Fallen Angel: Sulkaris, the Fallen Sage, once a guardian of the Triforce created by the Goddesses.
• Fantastic Racism: The Hylians and Gerudo seem to despise each other openly. The Gorons and Zora seem to hate each other, though not openly. Every other faction seems to look down on the Moblins as uncivilized beasts. The feud between Hylians and Moblins started millennia ago.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Every boss.
• Forever War: From its formation in 3000 BG, the Kingdom of Hyrule has known peace for barely two centuries.
• Frontline General: Most heroes in the game are generals and personally lead their armies into battle.
• Genius Bruiser: Ganon, who is both One-Man Army Lightning Bruiser and a cunning planner.
• Glass Cannon: Almost every Sheikah and Fairy unit.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Some races of Blins. Most notably Ganon. Complete with Glowing Tears of Doom.
• Goddamned Bats: The Deku Scrubs are an In-Universe example. Deku Palace is recorded to have been constantly but unsuccesfully assaulted by Kokiri, Lizalfos, and Monkeys. Why? Because the Scrubs kept endlessly harassing all of them.
• Godhood Seeker: Zalunbar, who is revered as a god by other Darknuts and serves as Vaati's puppet with the promise of becoming a real deity.
• Gonk: Virtually every Moblin unit.
• Gray-and-Grey Morality: Every faction in the game seems to be capable of being assholes and heroes, contrary to their portrayals in the official Zelda games.
• Guide Dang It!: Some of the more esoteric factions have mechanics that are not readily apparent, along with the conditions for spawning certain units and hero characters.
• Happily Married: It's implied that each incarnation of Princess Zelda has a fair relationship in order to give birth to the next Princess Zelda.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Many heroes don't wear helmets. Notable exceptions include King Gustaf and Darunia.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: All artillery and several boss units.
• Hidden Elf Village: The Deku Tree's Grove and Tarm Ruins and
• Horse of a Different Color: While there are a few horse riders, unconventional mounts are far more common:
  • Kingdom of Hyrule: Horses.
  • Gerudo: Horses, camels.
  • Gorons: Salamander Dodongos.
  • Zora Dominion: Hydrophants.
  • Kokiri: Bucks, does, Deku Trees.
  • Gohma: Long-legged Gohma that act as a cavalry replacement.
  • Ordona Province: Horses, goats.
  • Lanayru Province: Pradle Prawns, Hermitids.
  • Moblins: Bullbos.
  • Darknut Legion: Giant horses, Lynels, Horseheads.
  • Deku Scrubs: Orhat Beetles.
  • Lizalfos: Helmasaurs.
  • Labrynna: Blue bears, Aquadondos.
  • Sheikah: Horses.
  • Stalfos: Undead horses.
• Humans Are Bastards: Every humanoid race in the game, with the possible exception of the Kokiri. Very apparent with Hyrule and Labrynna, who want to impose their will and rape the land, respectively.
• Horseback Heroism: Helmasaur Riders. They can barely keep themselves from falling off for crying out loud.
• Implacable Man: General Onox. Nothing short of a massive volley of arrows seems to be able to stop him from plowing through fields of enemy soldiers.
• Interspecies Romance: Lanayru Zora are the offspring of Hylian/Zora romances, hence why they look so different from Domain Zora.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Wizzrobe Illusionists, who during a fight will randomly teleport past the enemies and bash them from behind with a magic staff.
• Lady of War: Every female character that shows up in the game.
• Large and in Charge: Ganon and the Great Deku Tree to name a few.
• Laughing Mad: Majora, whose laugh was supposedly provided by Andy Serkis.
• Lighter and Softer: Over the development of Hyrule: Total War and later Hyrule Conquest, various factions have been presented in a less grimdark perspective than their initial presentation in Undyingnephalim's fanwork.
• Light Is Not Good: The reason the Church of Majora attracts so many people despite being cheerfully open about being the local equivalent of Cthulhu cultists - the Goddess factions have not made a good name for themselves.
• Limited Wardrobe: Each race tends to have very similar outfits amongst themselves with minor variations, whether they are military uniforms or civilian clothing.
• Loads and Loads of Loading: Every time you start a custom battle...
• Leeroy Jenkins: General Onox, who tends to mindlessly charge into massive hordes of enemies regardless of being ordered to or not.
• Made of Iron: Pretty much any unit with the Armoured secondary type (symbol of a kite shield).
• Mad God: Who else but Majora?
• Medieval Stasis: Little has changed in the millennia of fighting between Moblins and Hylians. The only exception to this is the Steampunk Labrynna Regime, which enslaves other races and rapes the land to keep developing.
• Mind-Control Device: Sulkaris' willpower alone can directly control the movement of thousands of Gohma.
• Monogender Monsters: Played straight with some of the demons, averted elsewhere. Almost every creature in the game is actually given a gender and a degree of sexual dimorphism, even the Moblins.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: Faction-wise, 'heroic' factions are made of peaceful people like Gorons and Kokiri who have to defend from 'villainous' ones which can be made of either Well Intentioned Extremists, the (willing or not) servants of a God of Evil or both.
• Mordor: The Kingdom of Ikana, after being cursed.
• The Musketeer: Labrynna Gunners.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Virtually every Hylian character in the game.
• Off with His Head!: Gleeoks can lose and regrow their heads mid-fight.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: More then half the music in the game. Two of the three Main Menu themes take the cake.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: More then half the music in the game. Notable mention goes to the track called The Goddess Mocker, which is the Song of Time and Majora's Theme performed in nothing but pipe organ.
• One-Federation Limit: The playable factions whose names specify their government: The Zora Dominion, the Deku Tribes, the Darknut Legion, the Labrynna Regime, the Sheikah Cadre, the Order of the Wizzrobe, the Church of Majora, the Rito Clans and the Empire of Bellum. Averted with the Cobble Kingdom, the Kingdoms of Ikana and Hyrule and the Provinces of Lanayru and Ordona.
• One-Gender Race: The female-only Gerudo and male-only Gorons.
• One-Man Army: Most Titans and some heroes.
• Only Six Faces: While named characters generally get unique appearances, most of the units just use a handful of variants, if at all.
• Onrushing Army: Ordona Province's tactics are largely based on this.
• Pants-Free: Great Fairies, who glide into battle wearing nothing nothing but underwear.
• Patchwork Fic: Takes characters from all Zelda games and timelines and puts them together.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Any of Princess Zelda's outfits. Long dresses, ornamental armor, and detailed waist crushing corsets are totally helpful in a pitched war zone.
• Plant People: The Koroks, Deku Scrubs, Deku Trees and Maku Trees.
• Praetorian Guard: Princess Zelda's Light Arrow Archers and Ganondorf's Arbiters.
• Precocious Crush: Saria seems to have the hots for Link.
• Princesses Rule: Princess Zelda, Princess Ruto, Princess Midna and the Deku Princess.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Every single Darknut except Onan, who wants to reform the Darknut race.
• Psycho for Hire: Some mercenaries, like Tarosi and Pol's Voices, are more than glad to get paid for hitting people with sticks.
• Race Lift: Tetra's skin tone is a step in between her tanned appearance as Tetra and white as Zelda in Wind Waker.
• Rage Against the Heavens: The Church of Majora's primary motivation is to throw off what they see as the oppressive grip of the Goddesses. By any means needed.
• Rainbow Pimp Gear: Apparently frilly pink panties help Great Fairies unleash long ranged flamethrowers.
• Rainbow Speak: Following the tradition of Zelda games, important words are highlighted with different colours.
• Raised by Dudes: The Gorons.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Surprisingly, Ganondorf, who's simply trying to assure his people's survival in the face of oppression of the Hylians.
• Religion of Evil: The Church of Majora.
• Right Under Their Noses: Sheikah battle tactics revolve entirely around this.
• Sapient Steed: According to their description, some Wolfos are able to speak.
• Shock and Awe: Zora Mages. They've even built cannons, defensive spires, and mounted elephant-analogues that wreak tremendous havoc on infantry using their lightning.
• Shout-Out: Malon wears a Bowser brooch on her belt.
  • Ganon's quote "You must die!" in the loading screen.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Half the characters in the game that are in positions of power. Possibly even Princess Zelda.
• Siege Engines: Nearly every faction has at least an artillery or creature unit that can break enemy fortifications.
• Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains:
  • Moblins: Demise is a type I, Ganon is a type III, Ogalon is a type IV.
  • Kingdom of Ikana: Igos, Keeta and the Garo Master are type II.
• Speaking Simlish: Midna, Fi and Majora.
• Spider Tank: Or more rather, Tank Spiders known as Armogohma.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Pretty much any match involving the Gorons.
• Suspiciously Small Army: The Sheikah, and to a lesser extent, Darknuts.
• Take That!: Ice Cream Man has taken numerous jabs at the direction that Nintendo has taken with the official games. The original intro encourages the player to "welcome back the lost grandness that was once The Legend of Zelda." The author seems to claim that his remarks are not intended to show any malicious intent towards Nintendo, rather they are more in line with You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!.
• Technicolor Death: Any poor soldier hit by the Fairies' pink laser beam of doom.
• Took a Level in Badass: Without Link around, the usually conquered peoples have not only become less pleasant, but also far more capable of defending themselves against the likes of the Moblin and Gerudo. Particularly Princess Zelda, who finally dons armor, dual wields swords, and actually engages in battle after years of being kidnapped, firing arrows sporadically from a distance, or surrendering to Zant before lifting her sword in Twilight Princess.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Every single character due to the Darker and Edgier shift.
• Torches and Pitchforks: Ordonian farmers and Mobs of Moblins.
• Tron Lines: The Twili, the Fairies of Tarm, and the Kingdom of Ikana.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: The first Zelda game that lets the player commit mass genocide.
• Villain Protagonist: Choosing a villainous faction allows you to train their characters and have them conquer other factions.
• Villain Team-Up: Multiple factions and their heroes can team up to form these.
• Vulnerable Civilians: Workers, merchants and children walk around the faction bases. You can actually attack them if you want.
• We Are as Mayflies: The Hylians and other human-like races have roughly the same lifespan as real life humans. In comparation, the Gorons, Zora, Moblins and Lizalfos have an average natural lifespan of more than a century, the Darknuts and Huskus can live for half a millennium, the Fairies and Wizzrobes can live for thousands of years, and the Ikanians have become undead. About the only major Hyrulean race with a shorter lifespan is the Deku Scrubs.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gerudo. Arguably Princess Zelda.
• World of Action Girls: Just about every female character is a major asskicker.
• World of Badass: No matter who you are: Kokiri, Hylian, Goron, Zora, Twili, doesn't matter. If you wanna survive in this world, then you need to be a badass.
• Would Hurt a Child: Any faction that fights the Kokiri.

---