Okay this image and what I am about to say is a huge spoiler for the fanfic I drew this for... but what the heck ever, I got a lot of things spoiled for me before reading because it was the fanart I kept stumbling across that lead me to this story.

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This artwork is in honor of the fanfic "The Legend of Zelda -The Return" and its (still not complete) sequel "Reconciliation" they can be found here http://www.fanfiction.net/u/6351/Rose-Zemlya

In this story Ocarina of Time Link is King of the Gerudo.
If you were to tell me this upfront and I would be like "uh what? um... no..."
But this fanfic makes it work:

Ganondorf in OoT is over 100 years old, extending his lifespan unnaturally via magic
A male Gerudo is born every 100 years, a "son of the wind" granted to them by the Goddess Geru (love the Gerudo lore she set up in the fanfic)
Link does not look Gerudo because normally a Gerudo is sired by a Hylian.
Link is the first known Gerudo to have a Sheikah father, the pairing unthinkable due to the races being at war with each other.
Link's desert parentage and right to the thrown is proven via a sting from a Maeasm scorpion, instant death for anyone without Gerudo blood in their veins.

"At first he had looked nervous and doubtful, especially upon Hunter's reaction to the Maeasm. She had been convinced at that point that there was no way he could be the King. Any true Gerudo would have faced that Maeasm with confidence and determination and courage instead of with nervousness and doubt.

But then he went and did just that.

His face had hardened and he had reached out for the Maeasm without so much as a blink.

And then she started to doubt herself.

And then he had survived the sting . . . proving he was, in fact, a King of the Gerudos, and that he had a Gerudo's heart. Strong and hard and unforgiving.

Or so she had thought."

The covenant holds The Son of the Wind as their greatest honor and treasure to obey and protect and thus they follow Link, but with time they follow Link not just because they have to but because they want to.

As this story progressed I began to love Link as a Gerudo... and thanks to Rose's writing I now adore/respect/appreciate the Gerudo even more than I did before, the way she writes about the Gerudo just makes me love em to bits.

In the story Link is never described as wearing Gerudo garb... but as the stories progress Link really begins to meld with the Gerudo as family... I loved seeing him take such pride in being Gerudo... and so it is easy for me to see him donning Gerudo garb if requested of him for ceremonious occasions or, heck, even just because it's more comfortable to wear in the heat of the desert... which is another thing I liked in the story, how Link came to "own" the desert and the Gerudo: this snippet of the sequel below for example concerning the Gerudo who became trapped in the dark world while on a mission for Ganondorf, slowly turning into wolves trapped in the mind-warping despair that shadows every living thing.

"It's already broken most of the Gerudo here.

It's breaking Apheri right in front of me.

I hate this place more than I've ever hated anything in my life. I can't let it have her. She's the only woman here who remembers her sisters back home, the only one who's resisted this long. Seventeen years she's fought this war alone.

My mistake wasn't in thinking Apheri was angry. It wasn't in thinking she was just like the others.

My mistake was in thinking she was Ganondorf's.

She hasn't said anything about him, she hasn't expressed her opinion, but she doesn't have to.

She's not one of Ganon's.

She's one of mine.

And I won't let him or his twisted prison have her."


So, yeah, I loved reading Rose's fanfics, the plot kept me intrigued, the OCs are well done and likeable if not loveable, the personality given to Link is fun, doses of humor admits the angst keeps things fresh (awesome angst mind you) it is just well worth a read if you have time. This story kept me amused for months as I read it in my spare time, and now that I reached the end of it I am just clawing for more ;A;


PS those that read the fanfic should know all about how he would have gotten that big ol scar on across his middle

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Drawing is pencil on paper, colored by mouse with blunt chalk in Corel Painter X