Being one of Nintendo's darkest franchises (and a High Fantasy work at that), fans of The Legend of Zelda are prone to ramping up the darkness, removing the Bloodless Carnage, and delving into any bit of Fridge Horror.
Examples:
- Blind Courage is an Elsewhere Fic where Zelda and Ganondorf fall in love. The plot kicks off when 17-year old Zelda gets pregnant and exiled because she refuses to miscarry the child.
- The Boy Without a Fairy explores and emphasizes the negative psychological effects that the pressure and dangers of saving the world would have on someone as young as Link.
- Final Toll is a Majora's Mask fic that explores Cremia getting her little sister drunk during the Final Day. It's heavily implied that the moon does kill them.
- Hyrule Conquest is a game mod for 0 A.D.. Formerly known as Hyrule: Total War, the game is a dark, high fantasy twist on the series, with strong lore and lots of violence.
- Insomnia is a dark Majora's Mask novelization. The Song of Time only works for five loops, counting the one Link spends trapped as a Deku Scrub, so the race against time is even more pronounced here than it is in the game.
- Let the World Smile presents a darker version of Hyrule than in canon. A teenage Zelda is forced into a marriage without her consent and then made to leave her old life behind to live with her new king, Ganondorf. Her words on matters isn't of much importance.
- Naming is introspective Zelda II: Adventure of Link fic about how much of a shock waking up centuries in the future is to Zelda. It's also shown that Hyrule has fallen in the centuries since Zelda fell asleep.
- In Shadow of Another Hero, Zelda II's ending isn't a Happily Ever After. Zelda has a fit upon realizing she's been asleep for hundreds of years, while Link has an existential crisis after his journey.
- A Tale of Two Rulers is a webcomic where Zelda and Ganondorf have an Altar Diplomacy. It covers various dark topics, including Hylian's relationship with Gerudo resulting in fetishism and prostitution, the Gerudo being a Dying Race due to a genocide centuries ago, and Zelda's daughter Rinku being a Child by Rape she had at thirteen by a tutor.
- The Their Bond series is a lengthy Zelda/Impa Dark Fic that composites various games into its narrative. It's also themed around death, war, various forms of abuse, and other graphic elements.
- Zelda's Honor: Despite being based on a game franchise aimed at kids and youth, the story is quite dark; enveloping themes such as war, death, rape, abortion and more in graphic detail akin to Game of Thrones. A far cry from the sunshine feel of most Zelda games.
