The Kokiri Violinist

This story is primarily based on The Wind Waker, but there are references to The Ocarina of Time. Still, it should be understandable to anyone who has played only The Wind Waker. There aren't really any spoilers for either game, however.

I step nervously past the guards and into the throne room of Hyrule Castle. I take a moment to glance nervously around room. It's austere and white, and it feels suffocating. I've lived my whole life in a forest; being in a grand building made of white stone is an entirely new experience, and not one that I prefer.

Not that Kokiri Forest was not always the most welcoming place to me, either. But this is neither the time nor the place to dwell on such thoughts. I am about to meet with the King of Hyrule. I clear my head of everything except the meeting to come. I have no idea why the King summoned me, a random Kokiri, of all people.

I suddenly realize that I've been staring at the long red carpet at my feet. As I advance along it, I force myself to raise my gaze towards the throne.

It's empty. It's an ornately decorated throne, to be sure, but it contains neither the king nor the princess. In fact, the entire room contains only one other person, standing at the foot of the throne. It's a Zora, a humanoid woman wearing a dress but with fins coming off of her arms and a ponytail like a fish's tail. As I approach her, she turns around. I notice that she holds in her hands a golden harp.

She speaks. "Are you Fado?"

I nod slowly, wondering why she knows my name.

"Hello, Fado." She bows formally towards me. "My name is Laruto, from Zora's Domain. The King just told me about you, but he ran off to get something. Like you, I was summoned here for some reason, but I don't yet know what." She pauses. "You're a Kokiri, right?"

I nod again.

"So where is your fairy?"

I roll my eyes and sigh. I get out of Kokiri Forest, and still I'm asked the same question, over and over.

"If you don't want to explain, that's fine. But it's nothing to be ashamed of or anything. I mean, the Hero of Time was a Kokiri without a fairy. I'm sure you're just as courageous and charming as he was."

"Oh, don't start on that," I say in annoyance. "That comparison has been made so many times. He wasn't even a real Kokiri—and he did end up getting a fairy companion, unlike me."

The Zora woman just looks at me silently before fiddling around with her harp. It resonates with a pure D minor chord, echoing off of the stone walls and filling the room.

She starts to hum absentmindedly, accompanying herself with her harp. It's a calm, flowing melody, one that makes me relax a little despite the unwelcoming interior of the throne room. It reminds me almost of a river or stream.

She stops abruptly. "I hope my harp doesn't bother you," she says. "I do that when I'm nervous. Do you play any instruments?"

I nod before I can catch myself. The Hero of Time was a musician, as well; I don't need Laruto to know another point of comparison.

"What do you play?" she asks. "The ocarina? I know the Hero of Time played one—a magical one, in fact—and so did the Sage of Forest."

I sigh. "Just because the Hero of Time played an ocarina doesn't mean that all Kokiri do." I glare at Laruto a little bit before taking a leaf-shaped violin out of my storage bag.

"Oh, that's a violin!" she says. "You're a violinist!"

"No duh."

Laruto ignores me. "Say," she continues, "do you want to play a duet together? What songs do you know?"

I shrug. I'm a little annoyed at her, but I decide to just comply with the request. Maybe she'll stop trying to compare myself to the Hero of Time. I put the violin under my chin and just start playing whatever comes to mind—it ends up being a solemn hymn in A minor. I don't know what I'm playing; I've never heard this song before in my life. I just let my fingers and my bow fly across the strings almost by their own accord. The melody is hauntingly calm, one that almost seems to have a transcendent quality to it.

I hear chords resonating from the harp that Laruto holds. I glance at her, and she is closing her eyes, strumming to the melody that I am playing.

Time passes. I don't know how long we've been playing this solemn air when I look up at her again, and she looks back at me. Collectively, we slow down, concluding the music on a grave A minor chord that echoes faintly off of the stone walls until it fades to silence.

"What song was that?" Laruto whispers hesitantly. She is not looking at me, but stares instead at a blank spot on the walls.

I ignore her. It was eerie, the way that the hymn sounded almost familiar—and yet magical at the same time. I felt almost as if I were communicating to the Golden Goddesses themselves through the hymn.

But something about the song also felt… off. Too serene. Too calm. I place my violin back against my neck and start fiddling the same tune, but much more animatedly. I add a few embellishments and make the song into more of a tribal jig. I tap my foot, producing a stronger beat to underscore the melody.

This new, upbeat version of the song feels more right somehow. I can practically hear the voice of Farore whispering sweet words into my ears, but as I try to listen closely, the words become indecipherable.

I end on the same A minor chord, but it sounds much happier to me. The first time I played it, it was perhaps a somber tribute to the gods, but this second version makes them much more alive to me. They are not cold and distant like the stone walls around me, but rather, the living, breathing protectors of this land. In fact, it is almost as if I can still hear the voices of the goddesses…

I realize that I actually can. And they're becoming clearer and clearer. I can just barely make out the words.

"Fado… You are more than you think. Take your violin, and pray that evil be repelled from the Master Sword. Pray that evil be repelled from Hyrule. You are not the Hero of Time, but your courage shines as brightly as his. You have survived for so long in the shadow of the great Hero, but now it is time for you to show your true courage. You, too, can save Hyrule. Remember this song, the Wind God's Aria…"

The voice fades into a song that plays inside my head. It is a joyous song in D major, one that sounds naively innocent, in contrast with the heavy hymn that I just played. As it finishes, I hesitantly repeat the song on my violin.

As I play the last note, I hear a soft laughter. "Good job, Sage of Wind," the voice whispers in my head.

Sage of Wind? But as I start to question the term, the presence of the goddesses leaves my head. Yet somehow, I know what they meant: I am this Sage of Wind. I glance towards Laruto, and she looks back at me.

"Did you… Did you get a message from the goddesses, as well?" she asked.

I nod mutely.

"They told me that I'm the Sage of Earth. Fado, are you a sage, as well?"

"The Sage of Wind," I say.

Laruto nods and is silent for a moment before saying, "Fado, you look nervous. I… I mean, I'm not one to talk, but I don't think we ought to be nervous about becoming a sage. I don't think anyone is ever ready to be a sage—it's a big responsibility, to act as an intermediary between the goddesses and Hyruleans. But I'm sure you're the one of the most qualified people. I mean, you've come here to Hyrule Castle, haven't you? You're the first Kokiri to do so since the Hero of Time—"

"Stop that," I interrupt. "Everyone always compares me to the Hero of Time—I'm a Kokiri without a fairy, I'm a musician, I have a similar hairstyle to him, and now, apparently, I have to protect the world. I'm tired of this comparison. I'm not the Hero of Time. I'm just a Kokiri violinist."

Laruto stares at me for a moment at my outburst. Finally, she says, "You know, Fado, I know you feel pressure from the reputation of the Hero of Time, but you ought to just be yourself."

I frown. Isn't that what I'm trying to prove to people, that I'm myself and not a Hero? I am about to voice my thoughts, but Laruto continues.

"It's no good trying to live up to unfulfillable expectations—and indeed you aren't trying to do so. But what it feels like you're doing, Fado, is avoiding being anything like the Hero of Time, and that's not who you truly are, either. Like the Hero of Time, you are a good musician. You were both known as fairyless Kokiri. You both look similar. But you're also not a swordsman, whereas he was. You are like the Hero is some ways, and not in others. You shouldn't, though, try to change yourself so as not to have even a passing resemblance to him. Just embrace who you truly are inside."

"I am embracing who I truly am!" I cry out. "I'm not the Hero of Time!"

Laruto is silent.

"Why are you just staring at me like that?" I finally snap at her. Frustrated, I turn my back towards her. Will anyone not compare me to the Legendary Hero?

But as I stand there fuming, I start to realize that I can't really say she's wrong. I have been obsessing over the Hero of Time, trying to distance myself from him. But it's not my fault, I tell myself—if I don't distance myself, they really will think I'm the Hero.

Still, the goddesses who spoke to me said similar things—that I am courageous and can do good for Hyrule, like the Hero, even while being different from him. I am about to start a new life as a sage. Now would be a good time to start rebuilding my identity—not as someone who's the opposite of the Hero of Time, but just as Fado the Kokiri, unrelated to Hero of Time's identity.

I turn back to Laruto and sigh. "Sorry for that outburst," I apologize. "But thank you. I needed that. I'll try to stop being so touchy about being compared to the Hero of Time."

She smiles as the door to the throne room opens. The King of Hyrule enters with an ornate white conductor's baton in his hand.

As I bow towards him, I make a promise to myself. As the Sage of Wind, I will try to be just myself. Not the Hero of Time, but not not the Hero of Time, either. Just me, the Kokiri violinist.

Author's Note:

This story is a complement to "From the Postman," and "A True Knight of Hyrule," two of my other Legend of Zelda oneshots. However, they can also each be read as stand-alone oneshots—in fact, they were not initially meant to be related at all. Only once I posted both "A True Knight of Hyrule" and "From the Postman" did I realize the similarities. They both were stories in present tense from the point of view of a minor character, and were about the character's relation to Link (who is not called by name in either story).

I came to realize that the two stories took place in two of the three timelines that come after Ocarina of Time (the Downfall Timeline for "A True Knight of Hyrule" and the Child Timeline for "From the Postman"). So naturally, I felt compelled to complete the set of oneshots with this story, taking place before The Wind Waker in the Child Timeline.

Furthermore, I've seen it said that each timeline represents a different the piece of the Triforce: the Decline Timeline represents Power because it was initiated by Ganondorf's victory, the Child Timeline represents Wisdom because it occurred after Zelda told her father to imprison Ganondorf, and the Adult Timeline represents Courage because it was what happened after Link defeats Ganondorf.

As an extension of this, each of my stories take on their respective aspect of the Triforce. For more details about "From the Postman" and "A True Knight of Hyrule," see the respective story, since I have added an author's note to the end of them with an explanation.

For this story, there's a superficial connection to the idea of courage: Fado must have courage to face his new life as a sage. However, this story does not really focus on his becoming a sage; it is more about his acceptance of himself.

The story is primarily about how Fado feels pressured by the expectations set by the Hero of Time. On one hand, he can choose to try to live up to these expectations; on the other hand, he can choose to refute all expectations and try to subvert them all. The latter option is what Fado has chosen.

However, Laruto presents to him a third option: completely ignore the Hero of Time's reputation. This option requires a significant amount of courage, since it requires that he face his true self. In a way, this story is about Fado partially embracing the first option, not to avoid doing anything the Hero of Time did, especially now when he must help protect Hyrule as the Sage of Wind.

Published May 16, 2013