Hero of Time (Application)

[younghero]

Player Information

Name: Tam (toomanydogs)
Age: 30+
Contact details: toomanydogs @ plurk
Other characters: None

Character Information

Name: Link
Canon: Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask
Canon Point: Post MM
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: CRAU: Three years at the Wake (Nautilus, the City of Change)
Age: 14 (+ 7 years of magic induced slumber)

World Information: Link hails from Hyrule. While he was raised in a secluded forest by eternal fairy children and a talking tree spirit in relative isolation, he became very familiar with the rest of his homeland during his quest to save Hyrule (and Zelda) from Ganondorf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe_of_The_Legend_of_Zelda

Personal History: When Link was an infant Hyrule was in the midst of a civil war. His mother was mortally wounded in this conflict and used the last of her strength to take her son to the Great Deku Tree in a desperate attempt to save his life. The Great Deku Tree recognized Link as having the Spirit of the Hero and took him in for this reason.

He was raised by the Kokiri, a race of eternal children each partnered with a fairy. Link was an outcast, having no fairy himself. He was bullied and never quite fit in.

When he was about ten years old, he started having dreams about a girl fleeing on a white horse, and a truly terrifying man on a black steed.

After having this nightmare he awakes to find he has been granted a fairy, named Navi, who bids him to go see the Great Deku Tree.

Link's joy quickly turns to sorrow, for despite saving the Great Deku Tree from the curse placed on him, Link's adoptive father informs the boy he is going to die. He gives Link the Kokiri's emerald and tells him to go find the Princess.

Thus begins the Hero of Time's Journey.

https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Hero_of_Time

Link has been a child trapped in a man's body, and now he is a hero trapped in a very young body. He's still got much growing and maturing to do, but, he isn't quite the naive child he appears either.

By the time he arrives, Link has been accidentally sealed away for seven years, successfully saved Hyrule, sent back in time seven years to regain his childhood, and has successfully saved the world of Termina. With the time travel and fractured timelines, he is not recognized as a hero in Hyrule, by anyone other than that version of Hyrule's Zelda. This, coupled with never being able to pass on his skills to another, will eventually result in him haunting Hyrule as a Stalfos Warrior after his death.


Personality: Link is kind to a fault, willing to help people at his own personal risk--to the point where others have told him that he's "too nice" and a "sap". He prefers to be outside, loves music, loves to help, loves animals, and detests formal education. He's been pretty badly traumatized, and this pops up in odd ways (such as a distrust of adults 'in charge' and being almost impossible to discipline in the parenting sense.) The distrust of adults comes from being raised by other children, and seeing how adults ignored Zelda's warnings.

He can be at times serious and wise beyond his years, and other times a normal young teenage boy. Waves of seriousness can cross his face like a passing storm, and yet leave him just as quickly. Having had so much asked of him so early on, he is very willing to shoulder any burden asked of him--for the sake of others. Asking him to undertake things for himself, such as his own education or care, is another story. Getting Link to take his own safety and welfare seriously is almost impossible.

To make Zelda happy, he has tried to embrace his second childhood (having slept through the first). But, he struggles at times. He gets along best with other kids and teens, but, he's usually got little to nothing in common with them. Parents? School? Modern items like computers or cars? All very foreign to him, still.

Link tends to take being a hero very, very seriously, and does not understand the concept of superheroes/dual identities. He sees covering one's face as an act of cowardice, and feels people should have access to a hero at any time. This does cause him to be a bit harsh and even cold towards superhero types.

In Hyrule he was incredibly close with his partner Navi. He credits his survival in a large part to his fairy companion. Having Navi leave him at the end of their adventure together is not something Link has come to terms with.

He was close with each of the Sages in Hyrule in various ways. Ruto had a childhood crush on him. Darunia deemed him a "brother" and named his son after Link. Impa entrusted Zelda's safety to him. Saria was his first and best (and possibly only true) friend among the Kokiri. Nabooru considered him an ally. And then there was Zelda herself...

Zelda: the literal girl of his dreams, the princess he traveled through Hyrule and across Time itself for, and for whom he would willingly lay his life down. Their souls are connected through eternity and throughout endless reincarnations---and this incarnation absolutely adores her. She's smart, kind, and beautiful.

Being sent back by Zelda to regain his childhood hurt him, but, he understood that it was supposed to be for the best. Understanding doesn't mean he liked it, merely accepted it, and the pain that went with it. (For he wanted very much to help Zelda rebuild Hyrule.)

Because he has been sent back in time, lost so many dear friends, and was promptly abandoned by Navi, his fairy companion when he arrived seven years in the past--Link has some abandonment issues. He's scared of people leaving him, but, feels the fault is in himself and wishes desperately to fix this flaw. He hates loneliness and wants above all else to have a family someday, and to teach what he's learned to his sons.


CRAU developments: Going to another world was fine by Link. Perhaps he'd find Navi!
Or perhaps the people in the city needed a hero?

While in the city of Nautilus Link was adopted by a mage named Clef, was reunited (and separated once more) from his Zelda, and adopted Shadow Link as his older-brother (/future great-great-great-etc-grandson). During his time there he helped defend the city from threats, and ascended to the rank of Ashura, a fairly powerful "magic" (called "bending" in Nautilus) user. It was in Nautilus that he discovered he hates formal education. He finds having to read books repugnant, but, will happily listen to someone read to him. He claims books are "lonely" and he'd much rather be with someone else, having spent so much time apart and alone as a young child.

Clef's request to adopt him, took the young hero by surprise. No one had even thought of such a thing in Hyrule. The people there were willing to let a young boy with a sword make his own way. Link loves his adoptive father, but, they do clash from time to time. Clef is horrified (rightly so) by Link's lack of concern for his own well-being. During one of these clashes Clef called him an idiot, and Link took the word to heart---and applied it, very wrongly, to his lack of education. This had a lot to do with Link's negative feelings towards education. But, Clef gave Link more stability than the boy had ever had, and in turn, Link tried to get the mage to be more social and more aware of other people in the city.

Meeting Shadow Link was more of a roller-coaster. At first, Shadow had lied about who he was, saying he was just a cousin of a future version of Link. (As opposed to the literal shadow of said hero.) But, after many reality storms, giving both boys AU memories of being brothers, Link quite happily and readily started looking at Shadow as his true brother.

When the truth finally did come out, and Shadow told Link of his part in the destruction of Hyrule, kidnapping of that era's princess, and working for Ganon himself, he'd expected rejection. Despite the fact Shadow had redeemed himself and helped fix those wrongs. Link, being Link, easily forgave him. The boys are close, Shadow taking on an older-brother role, and refers to Link as "sapling".

He was reunited with Zelda for a time as well. Both Hero and Princess spent a lot of time worrying about one another. Link, wanting Zelda to be happy, and to not feel guilty about sending him back in time---and Zelda feeling bad because she felt she had ruined the boy's life. Still, both enjoyed one another's company, and Link was incredibly grateful to have the additional time with "his" Zelda.

Link has met a few superheros in the city. Chat Noir's puns grated on him in battle, when fighting at the other's side. As stated earlier, he does not understand superheros having a secret identity, and feels this makes the heroes inaccessible to the general public. After others pointed out it was to keep their families safe, Link grudgingly has tried to cut the costumed heroes more slack.

All in all, Link likes Nautilus. People come and go, but, he felt there was a reason he was called there.

Key themes: Courage, Love, and Regret

Main Motivation: Depending on the situation: Love or Courage.

Skills: This adorable boy is the best swordsman in all of Hyrule. Link can and will figure out how to use any weapon set before him. He's also a pretty skilled musician and horseman.

He also unintentionally charms the heck out of girls his own age. He's relatively clueless about this.

Bending, a skill he gained in Nautilus, allows him to create items through Willpower. Mostly, Link uses it to make milk from Lon Lon Ranch, bombchus, bombs, and arrows.

Item: the Master Sword. This is the Sword of Evil's Bane. Evil cannot touch it--someone with ill intent would be zapped/burned by laying their hand on it. Only Link (any incarnation thereof) can wield it. Much like Thor's hammer, he's the only one who can pick it up and use it. It can be used to act as a seal (to the Sacred Realm, or to help seal Ganondorf away.) (Depowered as mods deem appropriate.)

Sample:

Link wanted to help. He wasn't too used to cooking over anything other than a campfire with a sharpened stick, but, the boy couldn't think of a better way to show his new friends his appreciation for them. And everyone needed to eat, right?

Right.

Fish stew, Link decided, was something he wasn't too likely to mess up. Just toss water, fish meat, a few vegetables and salt in a pot, right? How hard could it be?

He carefully cut the meat and vegetables into mostly uniformly sized pieces, dropping them into the pot as he did so. Oh--milk! Link grabbed a bottle of milk (it had previously housed an evil spirit and before that a collection of beetles) and dumped it into the mix.

The boy grinned a little, pleased with the way his stew was starting to look like actual stew. He stirred it, whistling cheerfully to himself, dipping a finger in now and again to taste his progress. Occasionally he'd add more salt or milk.

But, wait...didn't cooks add spices and stuff? The Hero of Time eyed the collection of spices, giving a few jars a delicate sniff. They all smelled good to Link, so he added generous shakes of each container.

The stew changed color from pale cream to a murky burnt orange, which, Link assumed meant it had more flavor. He smiled, pleased at his work.

His new friends were going to love it!


Notes: Far too many notes for my taste. And most of them about Christine. All we've heard since we came is Miss Daae's name--