Their Bond is a series of The Legend of Zelda fan-fics by HermioneSparta. It consists of The Legend
, Lotus Jewel, and Between the Realms (also available here on Archive of Our Own).
Lotus Jewel is the main story itself. The Legend is a short introductory to Lotus Jewel, while Between the Realms consists of outtakes from Lotus Jewel.
Hyrule has been at war with King Ganondorf for many years now. However, the war is almost ending. A teenage Princess Zelda, her surrogate brother Link, and her Guardian Impa live in relative peace together at Hyrule Castle. Zelda and Impa have a special bond that goes beyond what is expected from them, but neither are initially open to their lingering mixed feelings. After the war's bloody end, Zelda - now Queen Zelda - must deal with the aftermath. Even more-so, there are secrets she's been hiding from her Guardian for years that threaten to be let free.
Lotus Jewel is a Dark Fic that takes place in a nondescript mix of Zelda titles that uses elements from various incarnations. It uses Impa from Ocarina of Time, Zelda and Link from Twilight Princess, and King Daphnes from Wind Waker but exists squarely in its own universe, with its own backstory and characterizations for the characters. Lotus Jewel is a Zelda/Impa fanfic but its plot does not solely revolve around their romance.
Their Bond provides examples of:
- Adaptational Sexuality: In this fanwork, Link, Zelda, and Impa are homosexual whereas their incarnations in canon have only ever shown heterosexual interest.
- Adaptational Villainy: Ganondorf in canon is pretty vile, but he hasn't gone to the extent of his Their Bond version. Ganondorf in Their Bond began torturing Princess Zelda at age twelve.
- Adopted into Royalty: King Daphnes took in Link at ten when Zelda found him sick by the castle's lake. Link and Zelda are as close as siblings, though Link refuses the title of "prince".
- Age Lift: Link is seventeen in Twilight Princess, while Zelda is twenty. Here, Zelda is only a few months older than Link and both are eighteen. This is likely due to Zelda being a Composite Character of the younger Ocarina of Time Zelda.
- The Alcoholic: Shad, who himself is a recovering alcoholic, decides to force his boyfriend Link cold turkey without his knowledge by throwing away all their liquor. Link refuses to believe he even has a drinking problem.
- Ambiguously Human: Twili are descended from humans but it's unknown if they're a separate species yet. They're humanoid and have the same blood as Hylians, but they look extremely inhuman.
- Alpha and Beta Wolves: Wolfo packs have a hierarchy system ruled by alphas. Goro assigns these ranks to "two-leggers" as well, with Link being an alpha and Zelda being an omega (later upgraded to a beta-omega).
- Brother–Sister Incest: There's a Not Blood Siblings version between Link and Zelda. There's no sex involved but they do kiss. Neither one particularly enjoy it but Zelda uses it to cope with her trauma.
- Broken Bird: Zelda doesn't easily "get better" after she tells Impa about her past. Her recovery process is difficult and she frequently relapses. Even though Zelda trusts Impa, years of abuse make her rethink things constantly and act negatively.
- Child Soldiers: Link and Zelda are a mix of the "precocious" and "tragic" type. They were forced into a war as young as 12 and spent the majority of their teens fighting in it.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: At age 12, Ganondorf began physically torturing, sexual abusing, and Mind Raping Zelda. He threatened her with her peers deaths if she told anyone. Zelda didn't want anyone, especially not Impa, to get hurt because of her, so she didn't tell anyone for years.
- Composite Character:
- Zelda uses her Twilight Princess design but, like her Ocarina of Time incarnation, she has an adult Impa as her guardian and escaped with Impa after Ganondorf attacked. She also takes from the OOT manga as Zelda met Link similarly to it.
- Link is based on his Twilight Princess incarnation but met Zelda as a child like his Ocarina of Time incarnation and is the Hero of Time as well. He has a similar backstory to his Ocarina of Time incarnation, except he left the forest not because the Great Deku Tree died but because he needed medicine to heal a sick kokiri.
- Dark Fic: Lotus Jewel is not a lighthearted fanfic. It deals with a lot of tough topics such as war, torture, and sexual abuse.
- Death by Childbirth: Zelda's mother died giving birth to her. Zelda herself almost died because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck.
- Domestic Abuse: Link sometimes acts physically and emotionally abusive towards his adopted sister Zelda and lover Shad, especially when he's intoxicated. Later in the story, he is sent to rehab to help him with his various troubles.
- Driven to Suicide:
- In an attempt to rid herself of her guilt and pain, Zelda runs off and tries to kill herself with her sword. Impa finds her just in time and takes her to the Twilight realm for help.
- It's mentioned that Zelda's been suicidal for years but she either would never go through with it or Link would always stop her.
- Gender Nonconforming Equals Gay: Malon was able to tell that Link was gay due to his knowledge of fashion.
- Happily Adopted: Link is an orphan who was taken in by King Daphnes as a child. He views Daphnes' advisor Mikal as his father.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs:
- Impaz damns Ganondorf to "to the Lightest of the Goddess' realms", which would be a loose equivalent of Hell.
- "Who'd conned those two into bridal showers? Silver rupee said it was Link…"
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Zelda associates Ganondorf with cold multiple times. Ironic as he comes from a dessert.
- Mental Health Recovery Arc:
- The main story is about Zelda recovering from her past abuse and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
- Link suffers from mental health issues, worsened by his drug and alcohol usage. Part of his story is recognizing his illness, understanding he needs help, and learning that You Are Not Alone.
- Mind Rape: Ganondorf used his mind-link with Zelda to his advantage by torturing Zelda with it.
- Mistaken for Romance: There's a long-standing rumor that Link and Zelda are a couple. It's not true. They're Like Brother and Sister, plus they're both gay.
- Mysterious Past: Link's past is shrouded in mystery, even to himself. All that's mentioned is that he's probably Ordonian but also lived in the Kokiri Forest for a while.
- Named by the Adaptation: Impa's surname is given as "Se'al".
- Parental Abandonment:
- Link is an orphan. His past is alluded to but it's unspecified what happened to his biological parents.
- Zelda lost her mother to childbirth and her father dies near the start of the story.
- Parental Substitute:
- Zelda's mother died in childbirth. Impa was the closest thing to a mother she had growing up.
- Link mentions that Saria raised him like a mother.
- Once Link began living at the castle, Link's father figure became Mikal.
- Patchwork Fic: Different characters from different Zelda eras are mixed together. The fic takes from Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.
- Powerful People Are Subs: Used darkly with Princess Zelda. She uses being submissive as a way to deal with her sexual abuse.
- Slash Fic: The main focus is Impa/Zelda. Impa and Zelda have always been close, but their relationship becomes romantic several chapters into the story.
- Self-Harm: Zelda began cutting at fourteen but hid it using potions.
- Suicide Watch: Impa keeps an even-closer-than-usual eye on Zelda after her Interrupted Suicide.
- Rape as Backstory: Zelda's torture always involved a sexually abusive element. It started with forced kisses and by age fourteen escalated into rape. The plot of the story deals with Zelda's trauma over the events.
- Related in the Adaptation:
- Wind Waker's King Daphnes is the father of the Twilight Princess Zelda.
- Link and Zelda are adopted siblings, instead of friends at best.
- In Twilight Princess, Impaz is implied to be Impa's distant descendant. Their Bond makes her into Impa's grandmother.
- Wise Beyond Their Years:
- Due to being the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, Zelda has always been wise for her age. This is mentioned several times by her peers.
- Even at age ten, Link behaved more precociously than others. His wisdom was a reason why he was allowed to become a soldier at only twelve. Lin also held a lot of trauma for a boy his age, which added to his precociousness.
- Xenofiction: Parts of the fic are from the POV of Zelda's pet wolfos-dog, Garo. He doesn't understand humans well and tends to refer to people by rank (beta, alpha, etc). He's also more scent-oriented than humans.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- A few people beat and robbed ten year old Link while he was trying to get to Castle Town. Link was only rescued by Zelda, who found him unconscious.
- Ganondorf has no issue doing a variety of awful things to a twelve year old Zelda, ranging from mental abuse to physical abuse.
