Hey guys, this is Vivi3030.

I'm going to keep a running explanation of Hyrule: Year 3000 here, and I might start an actual blog on reddit or something if you guys want me to. I write for the people reading this, so I like to hear what you guys think. I hope this helps improve everyone's reading experience. I'll basically be putting down my thoughts on each chapter and providing more insight into my thought process. You will learn things here that probably wouldn't have crossed your mind, but I won't include spoilers.

Metric vs Standard/American units: I'm American, but I use the metric system in my story because I don't see any reason an advanced civilization would use the Imperial system. The metric system makes more sense, as well as using Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. Why the hell is Fahrenheit even a thing?

Midna: It's been a while since I wrote the "bridges," so the readers who followed this story a long time ago may have forgotten about Midna's involvement. It was minimal, to say the least. I've never been good at including the Twilight Realm in my stories, which is part of the reason I put my last story on hold. Midna's personality is an entirely different animal than anything else in the series, so it's also difficult for me to use her as a character. So did I kill off a character because I couldn't write her? No(t really). It just felt like the right thing. Her and the Hero of Light both waited thousands of years for closure, and leaving them in the story would have required the current Link to not provide an outlet for that closure. He knows that it's the right thing to do.

Time: Time is seen flowing differently from Hyrule in two different occasions so far. First, the Twilight Realm seems to crawl at a snail's pace compared to the "Light World," as it would be called in A Link to the Past. Next, Impa tells Link that the Gauntlet pauses time for the people inside, and Hilda tells Link that she is from his timeline. However, Impa's promise to Link that she would not have to wait for him was obviously a lie, since she went back to Faron and started to organize a war against the Eta Ali. Due to Link's continued absence in Hyrule, it can be assumed that time was not actually paused. That being said, Hilda's comment brings up questions about how time works in the Gauntlet. If she is from his timeline, are there people with him who are from a different era?

The Gauntlet: The moon itself is actually a version of post-nuclear Earth. It doesn't help to ask how it ended up orbiting a gas giant. This is sci-fi fantasy, that's how. When Link is camping in the desert and runs into the shadow people, they're actually the tortured souls of people who lived in the Phoenix, Arizona area when the bombs started dropping. The shadow people are also based on an experience I had when I had been up for over 50 hours at a training exercise in the summer of 2015. Between ~60-72 hours of being constantly awake, I started seeing them because of sleep deprivation. Fortunately I wasn't so tired that I started thinking I had to fight them off (In Link's case, they were very much real). The giant machines Link runs into are the ruins of the oil refineries in Midland and Odessa, Texas, and he runs into Raj Gahar in what would have been Abilene, Texas. This continent is only going to take two chapters, and future continents may take less. I'm not trying to make this arc take forever.

The Continent of Tests: This is actually loosely based on the WebToon "Tower of God." It takes place in what would have been Sydney, Australia. Rose and Riari will be returning, and Link made a few enemies throughout the process of advancing through the tournament. Killing an aspiring member of the ruling family certainly didn't help, either, whether or not it was an accident. On the other hand, he made a few powerful friends and allies.

21 JAN 2018

The Continent of Endurance: It's finally over. I feel like each part of this story has been harder than the last to write, and this new continent wasn't an exception. The river Link almost drowns in is based on the Mississippi, with the ruined bridge being the one that crosses from Louisiana to Vicksburg, Mississippi. I've driven over that bridge several times, and I'm pretty sure it could survive a nuclear war (but not Raj Gahar, apparently).

Teah: I've introduced a new character seemingly out of the blue, but this was actually planned for a while. I just had to find the right time to do it. Her name breaks from the trend of LoZ character names, although she's loosely based on Tetra from Wind Waker. The red color under her eyes that she covers with makeup is the only visible sign of her demonic heritage. Ultimately she's just a cog in the machine that Impa has been putting together for her entire life, but she obviously plays an important role. The Temple of Chaos is named appropriately, since according to legend Din was the one who had power over chaos and disorder. Teah is a good reflection of order created from chaos due to her demon grandfather (more on that in a later chapter). I actually put more words in this chapter from Malon's point of view because I thought Teah's introduction was more important than Link finishing the Continent of Endurance.

Farore: It's obvious who the goddess is. She says nothing to Link because she doesn't need to. She also leaves him a new set of clothes and enchants his cloak that he made from bear fur. In a previous story that I've since taken down, I actually made Farore a central character and ended up regretting it. The goddesses are deities on a different plane of existence, with Hylia being the only one to actually integrate with regular people. I don't think that they have any need to show themselves to humans, let alone speak to them. Farore saved Link once before when Aveil tried to poison him, but that time she didn't show herself because Link hadn't asked for help. As Malon says, he's only a lukewarm believer, although it seems like that will change after this experience.