Once Upon a Time in Hyrule (Patreon)

Once Upon a Time in Hyrule (The Story of Zelda, Reimagined)

The Legend of Zelda is a different story every time it's told. Here is our version, which, for once, actually tells the story of the Princess herself. And, yeah, we're kinda worried about this. Chances are high that some of you - possibly a lot of you - won't like it. Changes to the traditional Zelda story always feel a little unsettling in game form, so hopefully you won't think us too presumptuous for waltzing in and reworking things ourselves. As is hopefully apparent, this video took a long, long time to put together. We were hoping to have it done two weeks ago, but there was a problem with the sound editing that meant it all needed to be done again from scratch. Plus, it took us a while to get the music just perfectly right. This is all original stuff we recorded ourselves (in spite of BretonStripes forgetting that we were recording and putting the washing machine on, which ruined one take - oops!). Music isn't our strong suit, but we wanted something that perfectly matched the feel of the intro to Wind Waker, and that meant making something from scratch. We made a first attempt two weeks ago, then figured it wasn't Wind Wakery enough. So, back to the drawing board, which meant analysing the music from the into scene, then learning to play it, they composing something that sounds as similar as possible without actually being identical. This isn't our forte, but we think it turned out alright in the end. The visuals went through a similar progression. Originally, Kotor wanted to draw it in a sketchy, children's pencil art style, but it just didn't look right, so he had to keep looking to find the right way to draw this. Some of our Patreon supporters were instrumental in finding the perfect look, so thanks very much to you guys for pointing us in the right direction! The hard part about drawing like this is it means making intentional mistakes, which is something Kotor hates. The simplistic artstyle of the Wind Waker intro is hard to get right because it's just a little off, as if it were an ancient illustration, so Kotor had to struggle with it a bit to find the right weathered look. And then there was the story - we've always loved the Legend of Zelda's core story, and it's always been fun to think of these tales as campfire stories, told by village elders to inspire their children (Kotor drew something similar to this at the beginning of our video about Shigeru Miyamoto). It's nice to think how the Legend of Zelda might change depending on the village's needs. Perhaps the story is told at a time when the town is caught up in the joy of music, and we get Ocarina of Time, or maybe there's a flood, and instead, the story becomes Wind Waker. Maybe after a wolf attack, the village needs to be comforted, and the hero of the story becomes a wolf himself, as in Twilight Princess. If that's the case, then what kind of story do we need now? It's no accident that Zelda has a more hands-on role in Breath of the Wild than she's had in some of the older games. Nor is it a coincidence that Hyrule Warriors introduced Linkle. For our family, personally, we need stories about strong young women who are wise, but kind. This is the type of story that we want to teach our little daughter, so that she grows up to know that she can do more than wait to be rescued, and that not every conflict needs to be settled with violence. For that reason, we've put Zelda front and centre in this video, giving her a moment to shine as she displays just why she possesses the Triforce of Wisdom. Maybe some people won't like the alternative take we've decided on for the story. Maybe you'd prefer if the Master Sword was actually a sword (although Kotor is particularly pleased of the very much canonical use of the bug-catching net to defeat Ganon in our story, even if BretonStripes isn't quite convinced), or if Link were the same age as Zelda, or if Ganon was locked away instead of simply allowed to roam free at the end. If you're not thrilled with this twist on the original story, we're sorry. We're actually fairly nervous that you might not like it. Ultimately, though, we've decided to tell this story our own way, to reflect our needs as a family, and we hope that you'll engage with it in a thoughtful, open-minded manner, to see if there's any benefit to our take on the classic Legend of Zelda. Thanks, you're wonderful, BretonStripes (http://twitter.com/bretonstriped) and Kotor (http://twitter.com/kotorcomics) Zelda: The Story of Shigeru Miyamoto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF-NVeR3qPo&t Majora's Mask: The Story of Eiji Aonuma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_SJIrALLU&t=8s Music by Razor Leaf (because every band needs a fun name, and we chose this one)