After the final battle against Calamity Ganon, Link and Zelda are content to rest and try to figure things out, to catch up and mourn the loss of their fellow Champions…but a turn of fate throws this on its head.
Because the Champions have somehow come back to life.
Except…where is Revali?
Farther away, the traveling Rito bard Kass runs into a fledgling, barely old enough to be an adult and utterly disoriented with no memory of what happened or who they are. And in Lake Hylia, a Yiga scientist has found the resting place of an ancient demonic sword…
no one ever mentions fear is a The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild fanfic written by HopeStoryteller, that takes place directly after the final battle, except the Champions are revived instead of passing on…with the twist of Revali having suffered amnesia due to a reckless decision he made, and the subsequent shenanigans and revelations about Revali that follow.
This fic can be found in Archive of Our Own here: no one ever mentions fear
The story has the following examples of...
- Abdicate the Throne: Mipha ultimately ends up doing this, noting that by this point her brother Sidon has had a century's worth of experience being trained to rule their people compared to her, and that she doesn't have any desire to take the throne anyways. Fortunately, her father Dorephan doesn't contest the point, and she has full confidence that Sidon is capable.
- Abusive Parents: While the fic does bring some note to King Rhoam's less than stellar parenting of Zelda in canon with less than pleasant remarks from the Champions, there ends up being several in this story who end up being far worse than him.
- The biggest one is Alcyon, Revali and his brother Hiru's father. Initially seeming to be a distant father, he slowly reveals himself to be a Glory Hound and a power-hungry Rito who was not only dismissive of his sons, but was also willing to murder the leader of the Ritos at the time to grab power, and to send Revali's brother to his certain death after the latter was badly injured. After Revali challenges him for leadership of the village and exposes the depths of his depravity, Alcyon tries to murder Revali via a Nightshade-tipped knife (which would have been fatal for a Rito), only barely failing due to Link taking the blade instead. Alcyon cements himself as probably one of the most evil characters in the entire fic with his lack of redeeming qualities, and it's a point of satisfaction to Revali that his father has been completely forgotten after his death.
- Sheik's parents, Pina and Gamon aren't any better, being fanatically devoted to their hatred of Sheikah tech to the point that when they found out about their barely six year old son's curiosity about the ancient technology, they try to murder him out of the belief that it was better for him to be dead than to be a heathen. This absolutely enrages just about everyone who finds out, including Impa, Purah, Zelda, Paya, Robbie (who by his own admission isn't the best parent), and the entirety of Kakariko Village. When Pina tries to justify her actions by citing Purah being disowned by her family, Impa corrects her by pointing out that they did so because of their fear of what the more cruel members of the Sheikah like Pina would do to her, disowning her to protect her. Impa frankly notes that even when her parents didn't understand Purah's interests, they never would have gone to the depths that Pina and her husband did.
- Adaptation Expansion: The story expands a fair bit on Revali’s character, including his past with his brother and abusive father in Tabantha, as well as his complicated love-hate relationship with Link. The story also expands on Mipha and Zelda's relationship, and the happenings of the Yiga clan after the defeat of both the Calamity and Master Kohga, and the return of Fi alongside Ghirahim.
- Adaptational Sexuality: In canon, there is no indication of Revali's interests, mostly focusing on his bravado and disdain of Link. In this story, he is ultimately shown to be romantically interested in Link, with this being cemented in the final chapters of the fic. Additionally, Mipha and Zelda are canonically both interested in Link. In no one ever mentions fear, Mipha has slowly fallen out of love with Link and instead seeks a romance with Zelda instead.
- Berserk Button: The Yiga Clan have several, including Link and anyone who hates Mighty Bananas. However, the one thing that will drive all Yiga up the wall is betraying their Family of Choice, due to Hyrule's royal family and the Sheikah turning their backs on them. Lord Ghirahim leaving Sheik for dead proves to be the last straw to their shaky alliance, and the Yiga chooses to accept a truce with the Gerudo rather than risk losing even more of their clan. This also ends up applying to Sheik's abusive parents, Pina and Gamon, as the former finds out after she is exiled from Kakariko for trying to murder her son.
- Death by Adaptation: Officially in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Master Kohga survived his fall into the Depths and returned as a boss. In this story however, Master Kohga is presumed dead. This has dramatic ramifications, as this event drives the Yiga Clan to make a dangerous deal with Demon Lord Ghirahim.
- Dramatic Irony: A huge part of the story's conflict in the first half is how much the fledgling temporarily named Varel cannot remember who he is, constantly being surrounded by stories of the Champion Revali and how the Hero of Hyrule and the other Champions are searching for him...while failing to realize that he is Revali. Further adding to it is how literally every Rito, including the perceptive Kass and Teba, does not realize that their wayward visitor is one of the Champions.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Another layer to the irony of Revali's disappearance is driven by the fact that none of the Ritos in Rito Village expected their Champion to be so young (and thus not exactly very tall), and as a result none of them can really help find Revali since they simply don't know what he looks like. It's also a point of distress among the more family-oriented types like Kass and Teba just how many of the Champions (Mipha, Zelda, Link and Revali) are barely young adults.
- I Hate Past Me: As "Varel", Revali ends up having less than positive feelings about his past self, especially after reading his old diary, seeing himself as not only an arrogant blowhard who was so fixated on his own petty disdain of Link while utterly failing to recognize his own shortcomings as a Champion, but also not necessary anymore for failing stop the Calamity and not even showing to help protect his village from Lord Ghirahim. The sheer irony aside, this ends up proving to be a massive headache for Link when he has to go into Revali's mind to get Varel to remember his true identity, as the latter doesn't exactly want to remember by that point.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Ghirahim slowly irritates and frustrates the clan due to his egotism and lack of any genuine camaraderie with them, but they tolerate it due to their shared desire for vengeance against Link. This ends up blowing up in Ghirahim's face when he decides to abandon Sheik to his presumed demise after their first plan failed, which once the Yiga find out about, results in them deciding they want nothing to do with him out of spite, leaving him without any support and much more easily contained by the heroes.
- In a funnier case, Revali ended up giving Link a Headbutt of Love, but disguised its true meaning with him by claiming it was an old Rito custom for thanking people that isn't often used. This comes back to bite Revali in the ass when Link, unaware of the true meaning, ends up doing it after their final battle against Ghirahim...in front of Teba, who very gleefully and in sheer amusement clues Link in that it has a very different meaning than Revali claims, forcing the Rito Champion to come clean.
- Logical Weakness: For all that Ghirahim is a powerful demon lord, he is also still a sword spirit, and thus made entirely of metal. Urbosa's Fury, as a result, is absolutely devastating against him. This ends up being taken to absurd degrees, since she can basically summon lightning on command, even in places where lightning shouldn't be able to exist, much to his agonized frustration.
- Lord Ghirahim: "HOW?!" "How can you summon lightning when we are underground! It makes no sense!"
- Being made of metal also makes Ghirahim very vulnerable to magnetic pull, as Zelda finds out by when she tries to use the Magnesis Rune on their sword...only to accidentally grab his entire being and fling him off Vah Medoh by mistake.
- Tin Man: A large part of Fi's character arc is facing the reality that not only is she not an emotionless being that she tries very hard to pretend to be, but that it's alright for her to actively want things for herself and to be selfish about it. Her initial difficulties with facing this truth (and subsequent pain after Robbie bluntly tells her that she's a thinking being who deserves much better than to restrict herself to being anything less) ends up causing a lot of emotional turmoil that nearly leads to her trying to return back to the Master Sword for her eternal slumber. Fortunately, this is barely averted after a talk with Daruk, and she becomes more willing to accept her own desires and interests.
- Uncertain Doom: The ultimate fate of Pina, after she's exiled from Kakariko Village for her attempted murder of Sheik a decade ago. The Yiga Clan (who absolutely hate those who harm their own, and all of them know about Sheik's tragic past) pay her back the same amount she did to him. What this actually means for her is unknown, though it's not pleasant in either way.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: An interesting case as just about everyone else treats Fi as being a fully sentient person...except Fi herself. Her continual insistence on treating herself as purely a robotic being crafted by the goddesses, and to have no interests or desires for herself is troubling to Link, and Robbie (after getting very excited at meeting her) outright makes it clear that he views her as one of the finest sentient beings he's ever seen created, and that she severely undersells herself as a person to her own detriment. Unfortunately, due to less than stellar phrasing, Fi ends up taking offense, because to be sentient (and thus not the perfect sword spirit in her eyes) is something that shouldn't happen, and that it only proves her as a failure.
