What were these men to a Princess? What were these men to a dragon?
A Song of Storms
is a The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild fanfic written by 1UpGirl1
and Deilia Medlini
.
The story is an Alternate Universe that transplants the setting of House of the Dragon into Hyrule, and while many Zelda characters take on direct roles of characters from that series (such as Princess Zelda being Rhaenyra, King Rhoam being King Viserys I or Mipha being Alicent Hightower), the fanfic it’s not a 1:1 adaptation as it takes many liberties from the source material and in many cases gives it an original spin.
This fanfic provides trope examples of:
- Adaptational Nonsapience: Both incarnations of Rauru were clearly sapient. Here, he was King Rhoam’s late dragon steed.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Sidon in canon has a female love interest, making him either straight or bisexual. Here, he’s homosexual.
- Adaptation Species Change:
- To accommodate for the more Low Fantasy tone of the new setting, races such as Gorons, Zoras and Rito are changed to Hylians. Averted with Gerudo and Sheikah, since they were already fairly human-looking.
- Downplayed with Naydra. She’s an eastern dragon in the games (long, serpentine body and no wings) while description makes clear that she’s a western dragon (muscular, lizard-like body, wings) to match how the dragons look in House of the Dragon.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Zelda no longer has her sacred powers from Breath of the Wild, but she’s one of the few people in the world who can tame and ride dragons.
- Adaptational Villainy: Dorephan in canon was a genuine good king who cared a lot for his family and his people. Since the fic turns him into a stand-in for Otto Hightower, he’s now a power-hungry and ambitious schemer who has no trouble setting his daughter to marry a man old enough to be her father.
- Adaptational Wimp: Ganondorf is no longer the Sorcerous Overlord from the games and has to rely on his charisma and manipulative skills to get ahead.
- Bodyguard Crush: There is plenty of chemistry between Zelda and Link, and the story tags already spoil that they will be the fic’s Official Couple.
- Darker and Edgier: Even the darkest Zelda games tend to lean on the idealistic side and always have clear-cut heroes and villains. The new setting, however, is much more morally complex and deals with topics that the games wouldn't even dream to touch, such as Link being the product of an extramarital affair.
- Decomposite Character: Sheik is always treated as alter ego of Zelda, while he's his own character here. Also an example of Composite Character, since Sheik is the unnamed Sheikah poet from Breath of the Wild who had a crush on Zelda and became Kass' teacher.
- Dragon Rider: Being a House of the Dragon AU, this goes without saying. The riders seen so far are Princess Zelda, Damian and Paya. King Rhoam used to be one, but his dragon died and didn’t take a new one.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Zelda is so distraught over her dad marrying Mipha that she gets completely wasted at the wedding.
- Expy: Invoked. Many Zelda characters are given roles and a similar personalities to characters from House of the Dragon, such as Princess Zelda taking the role of Rhaenyra, King Rhoam being King Viserys I, Dorephan and Mipha being Otto and and Alicent Hightower, and Original Character Damian being a stand-in for Laenor Velaryon.
- Fan Disservice: Chapter 6 begins with a lovely and very explicit sex scene between Rhoam and Mipha.
- Fusion Fic: The story uses the cast of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the setting of House of the Dragon.
- Hated by All: Ganondorf is both hated by the royal family and most of Hyrule's nobility. He tells Zelda that he's not as hated as she thinks and has many supporters, a claim chapter 5 proves true when he shows up with an army large enough to conquer Gerudo Desert.
- Heroic Bastard: Link is a kind and courageous knight who is revealed to be the result of an affair between a Lord and a commoner woman.
- Heroic BSoD: Zelda suffers a long and deep depressive bout after her mother’s death at the end of the first chapter. Link is able to help her get better, then Rhoam announces that he will be marrying Mipha, sending Zelda into an even bigger depressive slump.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Ganondorf. Everybody knows that he's up to no good, but no one can tell the true extent of his goals. While his ambition seems to be limited to ruling Gerudo Desert, others think it goes much further than that.Zelda: What do you know of Ganondorf?
Link: No more than anyone else, I'd imagine, Princess.
Zelda: You don't have any soldierly insights into his mind?
Link: I'm sure I could guess a thing or two, but only from luck. I know that his intentions wherever he goes are murky.
Zelda: What intentions do you refer to?
Link: His conflict with Lady Urbosa as a whole, for one. And his attempts to control you.
Zelda: Me?
Link: I saw you with him at the wedding. It's in his eyes. He's a hunter. A soldier with his own agenda. He needs you for something. - Lie Back and Think of England: Mipha has to think in something else (usually Link) whenever she has to have sex with Rhoam.
- Little Miss Badass: Zelda became the youngest dragon rider in history by claiming a dragon when she was only seven. Also, said dragon had a reputation of being untameable, as many have tried and failed to ride her.
- Mythology Gag:
- King Rhoam’s late dragon was called Rauru.
- Dorephan's wife is named Rutela.
- Parental Marriage Veto: While Rhoam allows Zelda to choose her future husband, he forbids her from marrying Link, as he's not of noble blood. A future chapter would reveal that Link is of noble blood, albeit a bastard born out of an affair.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation:
- Impa was originally Paya’s grandmother, while she’s her mother here.
- While Link and Aryll were siblings in The Wind Waker, here they’re half-siblings.
- Related in the Adaptation:
- There was no relationship between Zelda and Naydra in the game. Here, Naydra is Zelda’s bonded dragon.
- Also, there is no relation between Cado and either Impa or Paya in the game, while in this fic he’s married to the former and is the latter’s father.
- The Rival: Both Ganondorf and Urbosa have a struggle over the leadership of the Gerudo.
