@charcoaldustonmyfingers / charcoaldustonmyfingers.tumblr.com
My first doodle of a Dragon Link form!
I drew this initially two years ago for an extremely long comic I am still working on. I was reluctant at first to post it since TotK was still new and it was extremely spoiler heavy, but I think I’m going to start posting it soon!
I only pray I have enough buffer pages… there’s so much fancy clothing to draw on the characters… what I wouldn’t give to be able to just use their 3D models I swear. My wrist would be so much less broken lol
Zonai Skyward Sword AU!
Hey, It’s been awhile!
Anyways, I recently replayed SS after being absolutely enamored by Echoes of Wisdom, so I thought I’d doodle a bit more about it :)
It’s tough thinking of comics for this AU, since there’s not a lot of lore surrounding the zonai that’s all that concrete, but I do hope to expand it sometime! I did give some thought to the Loftwings though.
I think it might be cool if they were a little more prehistoric/dinosaur looking, though I tried to keep them as similar to their in game counterparts as I could. I like to think they’re cared for like the Sky Bisons of ATLA, and they get to choose a partner for life as children.
I also love the idea that Link’s loftwing has the same spirit as Epona, and that she has reincarnated with him as his eternally loyal friend. No one knows where the crimson Loftwing came from, only that she appeared to Link one day and never left his side.
It takes a little from the prequel comic to SS, where Hylia’s Loftwing pledged its loyalty to the Hero.
I just- I can’t! I just love this little creatures SO MUCH!!!
And @charcoaldustonmyfingers ‘s design for Link and Zelda as zonai are just- !!!! I have no words! I adore them so much!
I returned one or two original zonai features to them, hope it’s okay)
I’ll also leave a speedpaint for this one right here. Simply cause I can) Enjoy)
AHH!! This is amazing!! I love your shading style and linework, it looks straight out of Tears of the Kingdom, and the added Zonai touches look great! Their expressions are so cute! Absolutely wonderful art!! <3
I love seeing your process, it’s beautiful work! Thank you, @cyanferret21 !
Ah, Penn. I felt so bad for taking every news story from you, but also how the heck did you become a journalist.
Also rip Link. First he forgets everyone, now everyone forgets him. Guy is unrecognizable without Zelda nearby apparently lol
Dialogue under cut:
So I decided to try this because the image was very funny to me. I tried to draw them true to the style of their respective media!
A hylian, a horse, and a human-turtle mutant step into a car. Two of them don’t know what an automobile is and the one who does can’t drive.
A little doodle of Link and Tulin’s summon!
While I was camping to snipe some scales off a dragon, I noticed that if Tulin had nowhere to land he’d just hover next to you with his idle animation looking around quickly like an actual bird. It’s very cute! He was the only one I had summoned most of the time, the boy is a Yiga’s worst nightmare with his headshots
I fully ascribe to the idea that Link continues to help teaching Tulin archery after BOTW. He’s like a little brother!
I'm curious! What do the Loftwings look like in your SS Zonai AU? Are there any Loftwings at all?
There are! I have an unfinished comic of Link meeting his Loftwing for the first time
Link in SS has a hobby for woodcarving, and bird statues are used as sacred objects pretty often. In TOTK, Link’s abilities are summoned from something, and the Zonai seem to have an ability to wield extremely strong magic and create lifelike constructs. I decided to combine these elements in this au!
The general idea is that Loftwings are carved from ancient stone and imbued with soul, becoming companions for life that can be summoned in times of need.
Consider: Happy mask salesman
Masks or faces seem to be a common thing in zonai jewelry, and the Hero’s Aspect item in totk looks like some sort of mask itself! There are plenty of interesting things that seem shrouded in mystery, from the Salesman with his many masks, the keatons whose faces are popular masks for children, the zonai sages and their masks, all the way to the twili with their fused shadow helm.
If the zonai were the ones raised to Skyloft, perhaps some of them never made it to the safety of the island and thus had to survive the devastation of the Surface in a different way.
Perhaps in Hyrule there have long been interlopers among the people, hiding their true forms with strange magic…
Skyward Sword Zonai AU!
Meeting the Dragons! Link must prove himself to each of the dragon spirits so they will help him on his journey and he can claim their Secret Stones. Hopefully, with their power, he can muster up the ability to defeat a deity, Demise.
Lanayru is not impressed with how little he knows at first, being the spirit of Wisdom, and mourns that it must be a child on which they all rely to strike down such a powerful evil. Link gains her respect as he learns and grows along his journey.
Eldin only cares about those who prove themselves enough to be interesting to him, as most mortals are too weak and short lived for them to deem worthy of their attention. While he cares not for Link’s gentle character, he does respect his warriors nature and ability to enact ruthless ends on his enemies.
Faron is very kind after he is revived and finds a kinship with him as the spirit of Courage, standing up against impossible odds. He guides Link and admires his cleverness and daring, while appreciating Link’s respect to all innocent creatures around him.
{Zonai Designs} {Shenanigans} {The Beginning} {Fi Design} {Dragons} {Finding Zelda}
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This is all I have of this au for now!
Skyward Sword Zonai AU!
Finding Zelda and the heart of the Depths…
Impa and Grannie would still lead Zelda and Link through their respective journeys, the latent power of the gods building within them until they both are powerful enough to create the Secret Stones of Time and Spirit respectively to use against Demise.
When Zelda seals herself away, she creates the Light Roots all throughout the Depths to hold the Surface together, stopping it from succumbing to the evil rot Demise has used to slowly decay his prison in the earth and turn it into to a breeding ground for monsters.
{Zonai Designs} {Shenanigans} {The Beginning} {Fi Design} {Dragons} {Meeting Dragons}
Skyward Sword Zonai AU!
The Dragon Spirits! It was very fun seeing how I’d combine the look of the dragons from Skyward Sword and Tears of The Kingdom, they are so different.
They’d be a little confusing in this au, since their elements don’t line up perfectly in between games. Ignore the notes of the first slide, I was trying to figure out how Lanayru and Faron would work with their regions basically being opposite!
Lanayru would be the spirit of Wisdom with the element of water. She is a strict teacher and does not tolerate ignorance or laziness, so it’s a bit of bad luck for Link to come across her first in his journey at the Lanayru Great Spring.
Eldin would be the spirit of Power with the element of fire. They’d seem laid back at first until it becomes clear that they are simply uncaring for mortal lives that mean so little to them, only respecting those that stand out among the crowd.
Faron would be the spirit of Courage with the element of lightning. Once guardian of a vast jungle, his domain was the first to be destroyed in the initial war against Demise, as his love of mortals led them to congregate there in the lush land and invent amazing technology with electricity. He is deeply kind and grandfatherly, carrying with him a sadness for all that has been lost.
Levias would be the last spirit, that of Hylia and the element of wind. He is calm and jovial, content to let the bustle or mortals pass him by. While not a dragon himself, Levias would still be powerful enough to produce a Secret Stone like the dragons, granting Link the power to confront Demise.
Skyward Sword Zonai AU!
Sword Spirits!
Ghirahim drags Zelda to the Surface, and Link must team up with Fi to find her once again. Fi is much younger compared to Ghirahim, so she is curious about the Surface just like Link, though she’d probably also keep him from accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms or trying to pet dangerous wildlife. She slowly gains more and more knowledge and emotions over time as they become good friends!
Being sword spirits, their legs are bladelike and can dance through the air with ease like skaters on ice, and while they have no arms they can form one pair or many through magic.
Skyward Sword Zonai AU!
And so it begins!
Zelda hears whispers from beyond the clouds and nightmares plague Link, all while the innocent creatures of Skyloft turn fierce and monsters begin to crawl out from cracks in the ground. Link takes up his worries with his professors, but surely the age warring deities is over and there are no more demons to fight, right?
The Zonai do have a third eye, though it looks a little spooky!
{Zonai Designs} {Shenanigans} {Fi Design} {Dragons} {Finding Zelda} {Meeting Dragons}
Skyward Sword Zonai AU!
School shenanigans with the zonai crew!
Zelda is the daughter of the Headmaster still, and is best friends with Link. They go about their days in the academy, learning to fend off monsters that have long since disappeared from the floating islands of the goddesses’ chosen people. Link is a lazy boy, content to loaf around and glide freely on his loftwing, while Zelda is much more studious.
Trying to figure out how to draw the characters to be similar to their in game counterparts yet still with zonai flair was quite fun! Even if I toned the zonai decorations down to make them easier to draw lol
Link’s model in Skyward Sword has bags under his eyes, and he begins the game having nightmares about an evil force crawling up from a crevasse in the earth. Perhaps he often dreams of terrible omens for things to come?
How it felt when Tears of the Kingdom first came out…
I didn’t sleep for like three days lol
This one’s an oldie! I drew this before the Switch version came out. For all its faults I absolutely loved Skyward Sword growing up, though I did want another sky battle like Levias. Loftwings were just so cute!
What if, rather than saving the Hero and sealing Ganon for a hundred years, Zelda never unlocked her power and the worst case scenario came to pass?
So here's what happened to Link after the collapse. Lurking within the Great Forest, long since overtaken by eerie mist and malice, what remains of him watches over the resting place of the Master Sword to ensure no one can dare raise it against his new master.
I have a lot of fun ideas for this AU! Including reincarnations of our fallen heroes in different forms, and how they must navigate a Hyrule far more inhospitable and broken than in game. I hope on giving the new Champions a bit more limelight, especially in how their personalities may have shifted alongside their circumstances.
