Fanfic / The Myth of Link & Zelda: Age of Calamity

All spoilers for The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

The Myth of Link and Zelda: Age of Calamity is the second installment of The Myth of Link & Zelda and the second in the Survivors of the Calamity subseries. It covers the entire namesake game, but is stated to take some greater divergences. It is completed and is available on Archive of Our Own here.

Preceded by in production and succeeded chronologically by The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was followed up by a sequel to both called Tears Of The Kingdom.

Tropes:

• Action Girl: Aside from Impa making her return, the narrative also introduces Tyria as an elite knight who fights alongside Link and the other high-ranking knights.
• Actionized Prequel: To a story that was already an Actionized Adaptation. In this fic, the second chapter alone had a massive battle sequence, while the prior fic didn't have massive battles until the story was nearly over. There are also several consecutive chapters detailing the Champions' action-packed quests to earn control of their Divine Beasts.
• Adaptation Distillation: Impa's introductory scene from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity plays out here, but it occurs in a different context, as Impa isn't running from monsters.
• Adaptation Expansion: As this is a prequel, it allows for the entire backstory of Breath of the Wild to be seen in much greater detail and from a much more varied degree of perspectives.
  • Link's fellow knights appear, with two of them being active alongside him, fighting and playing a role in the story.
  • The Yiga Clan's activities are also shown in great detail, especially the leadership's dealings with Astor and the Catalyst Guardians.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: While the original Age of Calamity game made it clear that Zelda and Impa were close friends, but the actual story of said game mostly showed her as more of a formal friend and morale support. Here, Impa's much more like a best friend and sisterly figure to Zelda, giving her a surprise birthday cake and a little birthday gift.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: The mummified corpse of Ganondorf first seen in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom makes its first appearance here.
• Anyone Can Die: Once the Great Calamity hits, anyone not Saved by Canon is free game. Cheria, Mrs. Liya, Uava, Grépe, are among the casualties.
• Apocalypse Cult: Astor's cult appears here, and only for just a chapter, because he kills every last one of them after he's "chosen" by the Calamity.
• Ascended Extra:
  • The Yiga Clan are featured in a greater number of scenes, and especially Master Kohga who was around for all of one scene gets his own story within this. And they're revealed to be different than the Yiga seen 100 years later, as those are evil knockoffs of the true Yiga meant to serve Hylia from the shadows.
  • Cheria is never seen beyond being a simple Sheikah merchant traveling from horse stable to horse stable in the original game. Here, she's given a role where she gets to interact with Impa and Zelda, and serves as one of the Sheikah technology researchers.
  • The Zonai were never mentioned beyond just the ruins in the southern regions of Hyrule. The Zonai here are finally given a story presence, as King Rhoam requests that Link visit the three labyrinths across Hyrule, which were constructed by the Zonai race. Their carvings and history are of great mystery and time is spent trying to unravel them.
  • Hestu is also present from the first chapter, and is a huge help for the heroes early on, compared to his insignificant story appearance in the original game.
• The Bait: King Rhoam uses himself as bait for the army of monsters coming. He lets them come at him so that his army can ready and aim the cannons to take them all down at once.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Master Kohga has one. He's fighting back against Astor's control over him, and it manifests as a Malice construct of Astor trapping the real Kohga in a tornado of Malice that robs him of control, allowing Astor to pilot his body.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Zelda's 16th birthday goes by rather smoothly...until a massive army of monsters starts marching towards Hyrule Castle.
• Call-Back:
  • The first game and the first fanfic in this trilogy had the main character asleep, only to be woken up by a glowing light and a close friend to wake her. This time, it's Zelda who is awakened by her friend Impa to give her a birthday surprise.
  • Zelda had already mentioned that her father had given her a bouquet of Silent Princesses for her birthday. We actually get to see that here. We also get to see the comb that had originally been given to her.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Chapter 2 reveals that Hyrule uses signal fireworks of different colors to signal different things.
  • Red fireworks signal the presence of attackers and that they need help.
  • Blue fireworks signal the retreat of attackers from an area.
• Combat and Support: In Chapter 2, Tyria makes her introduction as the "support" to her colleague Ulo's "combat". She covers his flank because he doesn't have a defensive weapon during this battle.
• Continuity Nod:
  • King Rhoam gives Zelda a bouquet of Silent Princesses, and was good to her on her sixteenth birthday, which she said in the previous fanfic in a memory.
  • The memories of Zelda involving the Champions show snippets of the memories shown in Breath of the Wild, either from a different perspective, or just as a tease to the original scene. For example, Mipha's last words after Zelda approaches her are her first words in the flashback that played out in the previous fic.
• The Dead Have Names: A Red Shirt is killed in the second chapter's battle sequence by a Moblin. Another Red Shirt who isn't killed mulls over his body for a bit, and gives him the name Nyllo. There's even a little bit where others come to comfort him.
• Death of a Child: The narration in Chapter 2's battle sequences describes that among the dead are children whose bodies were beaten to the point where their bodies are mangled by broken bones. Some of the children are with their equally dead mothers.
• Demonic Possession:
  • The three Diminutive Guardian Sisters are shown emerging through a portal in the Coliseum. They're followed by Ganon's Malice which catches up to them and takes control of them.
  • Master Kohga suffers from this courtesy of Astor's powers over Malice.
• Description Porn: The entire first chapter contains vast and vivid descriptions of the landscape of the pre-Calamity Hyrule. It also gives extensive details on Impa's twelve Hand Seals.
• The Dreaded: Impa isn't Zelda's personal guard, but nonetheless, she's such an effective fighter that few people dare to even try to approach the princess when she's around.
• Doomed by Canon: It's a prequel to Breath of the Wild, so Hyrule is destined to fall to Calamity Ganon.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Numerous women and gay men are ogling the shirtless knights during Link's gladiator fight with four other knights.
• Edible Theme Naming: New Sheikah characters are still named for fruits.
  • Cherries for Cheria.
  • Guava for Uava.
  • Grapes for Grépe.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Link is a member of the "elite knights" who are apparently the most skilled knights in the land. They suffer no losses in the battle sequence in Chapter 2, but the regular Red Shirt Army suffers losses.
• Establishing Character Moment: Chapter 1 features this for several characters, though it's unusual in that their first appearances overall are in Breath of the Wild, meaning this isn't the first time they're seen. Nonetheless, the scenes play out in a similar manner to establishing character scenes.
  • Impa and Zelda are established as close friends, and the former is evermore supportive of the latter to the point of sisterhood. She's also shown to be serious minded and studious, practicing her mudras even when spending a quiet moment alone with Zelda.
  • Link is shown beating four knights in combat and easily predicting every move they make. But at the same time, he's very respectful and kind to his adversaries, giving them some advice, making his combat skill and his natural kindness and heroism immediately evident.
  • Zelda's openly doubts that she'll ever become queen of Hyrule, and even reassurances from Impa aren't enough to make her feel better. Her three natural powers are very weak and unstable reflecting this. But she's noticeably more animated when her father gives her a little gift in the form of a Sheikah technology relic that she and her mother found together.
  • King Rhoam's first shown giving his daughter gifts for her birthday in the form of a Sheikah relic and Silent Princesses, which he knows she loves. However, it's undercut by his request that she return to training the next day. He truly does love her as a father, but is also focused on stopping Calamity Ganon.
• A Father to His Men: Master Kohga is confirmed as being this for his people. It gives him the fuel to fight back against Astor's mind control over him.
• Fantastic Fireworks: A unique Sheikah technology cannon can fire massive silent blasts of light. It's used by Link to create a blast of sparkling light in the sky described as sparkling like a purple gem in the sky. It's used to signal for Hestu from the Korok Forest.
• Female Gaze: An entire scene features shirtless male knights whose bodies are described as being very muscular and some of them scarred. They're watched by several women and men who find them very attractive, and some of these women are pregnant.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: From the very first chapter where there's not even any conflict or combat, it's evident that this dynamic is present with Link, Impa, and Zelda. All three are shown practicing some of their respective abilities. Link is shown training in forward combat as a fighter, Impa is shown practicing her mystical Sheikah Hand Seals, and Zelda channels her weakened trio of Goddess magic spells.
• Frontline General: King Rhoam fights alongside his soldiers in the massive battle in Chapter 2.
• Fusion Fic: The story adapts aspects of the original Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity game, but rather than having an alternate timeline, the events are instead integrated into the backstory of Breath of the Wild.
• Genocide from the Inside: Astor kills his own Apocalypse Cult, which includes his wife and child.
• Harmful to Minors: The narration in Chapter 2 describes adults shielding their children from seeing the carnage of the monster invasion, whether they are their kids or kids they found during the battle.
• Hand Seals: Impa uses these. She's shown practicing them even in safety. She's so good with moving her hands that even when Zelda is leaning on her shoulder, Zelda doesn't really feel her moving.
• Hypocritical Humor: Impa calls her sister "the crazy one". Zelda counters this, pointing out an incident where she proved herself crazy by accidentally slicing a hole in her wall. Impa doesn't try to rebuff it.
• Law of Conservation of Detail: This is the Doylist reason for the flashbacks being shown from a different perspective. Those scenes have already been played out, so there's no need for the audience to reread those scenes again.
• Mythology Gag: Impa's first scene in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity starts with her running from monsters towards Link asking for help, tripping over, accidentally throwing the Sheikah Slate at him, and ends with Link catching it. This scene is recreated in the second chapter of this specific fanfic, only that she's not running from monsters.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Zelda pokes fun at Impa for a time where she apparently cut a hole in the side of her own home with her kodachi Razor Wind. It makes Impa feel extremely sheepish.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In Chapter 2, an army of Moblins, Bokoblins, and Lizalfos attacked Hyrule Castle. These are the same monsters from the prior installment did nothing to anyone unless they came close, something that Link and a few other character lampshade.
• Original Characters: Ulo and Tyria are two characters created for this story. The "elite knights" are this as a whole, as there's no indication of there being such a group of knights in the original game.
• Pet the Dog: After being established in the first game as a strict and controlling father, he actually gives her a birthday present, and even allows her to have the day for herself. It actually makes Zelda happy and is a welcome surprise for her.
• P.O.V. Sequel: Prequel actually. The fic show the flashback scenes from Breath of the Wild, but from a different perspective than that of Zelda and/or Link.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Downplayed in that there are no rapes happening, but the monster invasion in Chapter 2 leaves lots of people dead, injured, traumatized, and because of the "burn" part, without their homes or livelihoods.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": An unnamed soldier repeatedly says "no" quietly to his dead Red Shirt friend, Nyllo.
• Really Gets Around: The narration implies that some of the elite knights who aren't in relationships take home different women or men every night.
• Revision: As this prequel takes place around the same time as the backstory shown in the flashbacks of the first fic, this entire story runs on this, showing different perspectives during the same time period.
• Rousing Speech: King Rhoam gives one to the Hyrulean army when the monsters are closing in on the castle. It's taken word for word from the very first chapter of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
• Stable Time Loop: Of the You Already Changed the Past flavor. Terrako, Cerako, and Argiko are awakened by Zelda's sealing power and travel back in time to try and prevent that from happening. Calamity Ganon's Malice pursues and possesses them, using them to enact the very Calamity they were trying to prevent.
• Shout-Out: Impa's Hand Seals are taken straight from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which are in turn taken from Naruto. The position of her fingers, palms, and even knuckles are described in deep detail, and they're each given a name that matches perfectly with the twelve hand signs from Naruto.
• War Is Hell: In Chapter 2, an army of monsters, which include voracious Bokoblins and much stronger Moblins, and also features the same explosive red barrels. This fanfic shows the much less child-friendly realistic result of this battle: several soldiers are killed violently, several civilians (including children) are killed, and several buildings are wrecked by the Moblins, displacing a lot of people from their homes.
• The Worf Effect:
• Wrench Wench: Zelda proves herself in Chapter 3. She fixes up a Guardian in just a few seconds after getting inside of it, quickly activating it to save the day from the possessed Guardian trying to kill her.

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