I will be covering all the variants with Character Sheets, as well as the character as a fan fiction character. I will be correcting the spelling (with U.S. English spelling, as Ryuu is, as far as I am aware, from the United States) and commenting on logical errors. Corrections will be in this color.
(I will also use hover-text to show the original misspelling, if anyone cares.)
To preserve space, a Mary-Sue Litmus test will be conducted in a separate entry.
Today is the first incarnation: child Ryukenden. [From Nov 17 2005]
Name: Ryukenden (he doesn’t remember his last name)
Nick-Name: “Boy,” “Kid,” “Lad,” anything you want to call him, really.
Gender: Male
Age: 8 years(1), 2 years(2)
As a note to our readers who may not know, there are four different Ryukenden Atrineas character sheets in the thread this one comes from, not counting Dark Link (which Ryuu calls the “before” version of Ryukenden Atrineas) or the Wind Waker Ryo.
Therefore, I don’t understand why this particular character sheet has two histories in it. If he was already willing to make more than one Ryukenden character sheet, why couldn’t he make two kid Ryukendens, and make it easier to keep track of them?
Though, honestly, why one character has multiple character sheets and histories, I don’t understand. Yes, one could argue Link, from Legend of Zelda, but that would take a lot of time to argue and counter-argue. Instead, let’s cover that later, and get through this topic without making it longer than it really has to be (too late).
Height: 3'0"
Weight: 66 lbs.
While the weight for Ryuu is in the upper end of the eight-year-old age group, it is still within the average range. Additionally, it being on the higher end is more than explained because muscle weighs more than fat. (It is later explained that Ryukenden is somewhat more muscular than usual for a child.)
However, the height is not merely on the low end of the average range. It is far below the average. According to the average growth development for male children, Ryukenden is ten inches below the lowest average line. That is not to say it would be unheard of, but weight hangs differently on a person depending on build and height. With this height and weight, the child Ryukenden would very likely appear pudgier than I think Ryuu intended.
Physical Description (body): Ryo is a cute little boy who can’t ever seem to hide his emotions even if he tries. His large, midnight blue eyes give it away. His white eyebrows along with the sparkle of his eyes are so adorable and expressive. His hair is blazing white with shadows of yellow and orange as if it was made of pure intense flames. It rolls down the middle of his back, while his bangs end at the bottom of his jaw. Hair also flows out in front of his ears, ending at the middle of his chest. His skin is overall darker than other peoples’ skin, but nowhere near as dark as a Gerudo’s. Ryo just seems to have a “natural tan.” His skin is very soft as well. His torso is small, but not smaller than normal; He’s just a little kid. He has a little bit of muscle compared to most kids, which even he is confused about. His legs and arms are smooth and strong - for a kid, at least. His hands and feet are larger than normal, and his ears are longer than normal. For this, kids often say he’s a kind of “freak.”
The appearance of a character is important to establish, but I feel immediate concern when adjectives like “cute” and “adorable” come up almost immediately to describe him. It also seems to clash with other kids calling him a freak, because his ears, hands, and feet are over-sized. That isn’t to say he couldn’t be an adorable kid, but it has a conflicting tone, nevertheless.
(There’s an issue with the hair being described as intense flames, but that is not entirely an error in character composition, so it will be covered in another post.)
Physical Description (apparel)(1): He wears a long, red, pointed hat on his head that extends to his bottom. He has a beaten up red tunic with a brown belt and golden buckle. The belt has a small sheath on his right hip. He has loose, old, clumsy brown boots that he’s only recently mastered to run in.
Physical Description (apparel)(2): Shirtless, Ryo has only a pair of white pants that are held on by a black belt. He wears golden Goron Bracelets on each wrist. He has no shoes.
Physical Description (apparel)(3): He wears a black tunic over his body. It fits with his tanned skin. The tunic itself looks like it’s been through a lot of adventures, but it’s just because he gets dirty often. He washes it, though. The tunic looks similar to Link’s TP tunic, but black and small. He also wears child-sized form-fitting black boots. These are much like TP Link’s boots, but black and small. He wears a Goron Bracelet on each wrist for strength. Most times he has a black long cap too, but he doesn’t wear it often.
First, I do think it is somewhat cumbersome for the character sheet to have three different descriptions for outfits. Clothing does not seem so important that it warrants this much attention.
Aside from that, there are questions not answered by the history that are raised by the descriptions. In the first description, it mentions a sheath – presumably for his weapon that was not mentioned in the history. Where did it come from?
Actually, this begs the question, how does an eight-year-old get this sort of equipment and apparel? The red tunic was the only thing explained. A hat is not a necessity, so why does he have one, and where did he get it?
As for the second description – why does he have Goron Bracelets? The Gorons are not typically the most open to outsiders. Link was given his Goron Bracelets in return for cheering up Darunia, despite Darunia’s claim (out of his Goron Pride) otherwise.
Furthermore, I am going to have to point out that using phrases like, “The tunic looks similar to Link’s TP tunic,” and, “These are much like TP Link’s boots,” shows a lack of originality and a lack of ability to properly describe what a tunic is supposed to look like. Overall, it’s not really advisable to say, “It looks just like [something belonging to X character], but [change of color or statement of improved quality].”
It’s lazy and it certainly makes quite a few people roll their eyes.
Physical Description (weapons)(1): Though usually seen without a weapon, there are times Ryo is armed with a dagger. This dagger is simple - a silver hilt that looks like a normal broadsword’s hilt, the handle is wrapped in red leather for good grip. It has a short blade of steel. Nothing fancy, but don’t underestimate it. Red inscriptions line the middle of the blade and they tense to change color from red to orange to yellow and back to red... curious, no?
Physical Description (weapons)(2): Though usually seen without a weapon, there are times Ryo is armed with a small sword. It’s a starter’s sword, so it is small in size. The hilt is straight with a ball fixture at one end and a half-sphere on the other end. The handle is orange. The ball fixture is metal like steel and can be a good butt-end to bludgeon someone with. The other end, the half sphere cuts to the top, for a blade is fixed on it.
Neither of these weapons are covered by his histories. I don’t understand how Ryukenden came to have them, given that he is an impoverished child with no family to provide for him. Especially if one of them has a hilt made of silver. I may be mistaken, but dyed leather also sounds fancier than what one might call “nothing fancy.” And that’s even if we ignore the obviously magical inscriptions that Ryuu is trying too hard to make readers curious about.
(Tip: take out the “...curious, no?” part out. It sounds like you’re trying too hard to be interesting.)
I’m also confused if both Ryukendens with their two separate histories both have these weapons or if the numbers correspond to which one has which. I say that because there were three clothing appearances for the character, with no sign of which clothing goes to which character. It’s a little hard to keep track of, at times.
As another tip, some of the weapon descriptions for the second weapon are confusing to me. “The hilt is straight with a ball fixture at one end and a half-sphere on the other end.”
The hilt of a sword is the non-blade part of the sword – the guard, the grip (“handle”), and the pommel (the... “ball fixture”?). The other end goes to the blade. From refreshing myself with several sword diagrams, I thought maybe the half-circle was a rain guard (chappe), which was used to keep rain out of the scabbard, but I had a chat with Rinku about it, and he had this to say:
“If that's Little Ryo, I'm betting the half-sphere is supposed to be the guard, like with the sword Orca gave to Link. Which is a dumb description, because it's not a half sphere. [...] Yeah, he ripped off Link's sword. http://www.zeldawiki.org/File:Hero%27s_Sword.png (The art makes the guard look flat, but it is a circle 'round.)”
If perhaps a little more understandable sword terminology were used, it would be a little easier to understand what the sword was meant to look like. If it was a lack of knowledge about swords, then I highly recommend doing research on swords. It’s both fun and useful.
Looks most Like: Young Link, but with changes
Image: (New Image soon to come)
Again, regardless of the history, there is no reason to have a “Looks most Like” portion of a character sheet. Even if the character is a clone (like, literal clone, not just a character taken and changed), there’s no reason for this. If a character has similarities, it should be properly explained in the history and physical appearance of the character sheet.
Having this part of the character sheet, in some ways, also makes it easier to think it’s okay if one character is taken from other characters.
At “best,” the option is redundant. At worst, its uncreative bordering on theft.
Personality: He’s the shy, sensitive type. He’s cautious around people, especially adult men. He has mixed feelings about being by himself - He won’t have to worry about anyone trying to play a trick on him, but loneliness is never a good feeling. He wants a real friend at least... and a mother at most.
Power(s): He can blow fire out his mouth like a Flame-Thrower. He also has an amazing resistance to heat and fire.
Upside to Power(s): Fire has little to no effect on him and heated areas power him up. He can burn things that can catch fire and be a bit of a distance away from his target.
Downside to Power(s): Projectile fire is only available if he can breathe. His element of fire makes him sensitive to cold.
Strengths: Small and nimble, he’s hard to hit. Intense heat actually makes him heal faster and his fire-attack be stronger.
Weaknesses: He’s just a kid; kind of gullible and can tire out fairly easily. Cold and ice have bad effects on him much more quickly than it would a normal person.
His powers are somewhat explained by his second history, but they are not explained by his first history, at all. While magic exists in Hyrule, the average person doesn’t have it. Link didn’t get magic in Ocarina of Time, for example, until he talked to a Great Fairy – the same as in Majora’s Mask. In Adventure of Link (the second Zelda game, and the first to feature magic), Link was taught his spells by an elder.
Yet, little Ryukenden, in at least the first history (though, why a character needs two histories on one sheet is still a mystery to me), has no explanation for his presumably magical abilities.
History:(1) Ryo was a fine infant with his mother and father in the Hyrule Castle. His mother was a caring, loving mother with a beautiful and his father was a great knight for the Hylian Army. When Ganondorf struck, his dad was first to confront the threat, where he was never seen again. Ryo stayed close to his mother, but during the fray of a great battle, his mother was said to be killed, and Ryo presumed dead as well. He was but 3 years old, then. For five years Ryo has had to live among the ReDeads, Poes, and Deku Babas that litter the entire land of Hyrule.
While this is admittedly handy for setting up the time-line Ryukenden lives in, as far as Hyrule is concerned, it still has its problems.
I’m going to have to ask ‘How?’, because that sounds nigh impossible and ridiculous. Why were they in the fray of a battle? Was it a battle in the actual city? Did they look for the kid at all? Where did the kid go?
This raises more questions than it answers, while shattering a typical suspension of disbelief.
As an aside, the way it says that his father was first to confront Ganondorf/Ganondorf’s army (I presume one existed), it’s ambiguous. It could either mean he was in the front lines (which is noble), or was literally the first to confront him, which seems logically unlikely.
In the Lost woods, he found the Goron City and found a Goron Tunic that had shrunk, for it was made of a different material (which is actually tougher). The Gorons let him have it, and it’s the tunic he still wears to this day.
More questions arise, here. How did he get through the Lost Woods far enough? Why was there just an old shrunken tunic lying around for a kid to pick up?
Moreover, it seems tactless to say that Little Ryukenden just finds a shrunken Goron tunic that just happened to be child-Ryukenden-sized that just happens to be stronger than Link’s Goron Tunic.
I’ll also have to ask how long he’s been wearing it, since children actually grow out of clothes faster than adults do – due to the fact that they’re still growing.
He left the city and has wandered through Hyrule aimlessly. Unsure what the next day will bring, Ryo is but a lost boy who needs someone to love him...
His whereabouts are unknown.
History:(2) Seven years after Ganondorf had taken over Hyrule, the Hero of Time had come back to defeat the King of Evil. He explored through the dungeons and had defeated Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple as well as Volvagia in the Fire Temple.
The Water Temple was next, but it proved perilous for Link. Water levels rising and lowering was a hassle and the whole place was littered with villainous beasts. Link was able to easily counter-act these creatures of the cursed dungeon, but there was one thing Link hadn’t counted on fighting... himself.
It seems to me that anyone who has played Ocarina of Time would know this much of the story. This information potentially bogs down the character sheet with unnecessary information. Yes, one could just scroll past it, but that doesn’t excuse poor composition.
When Link had entered the Water Temple, the source of the curse took notice of his arrival. This source, called Morpha, knew that if Link had gotten to it, it’d surely die. Morpha knew it wasn’t much capable of defending itself, for it relied on its magical powers to cause the will of Ganondorf to become true. In this thought, Morpha copied Link’s body with its mythical abilities. The copy was a complete and perfect copy of Link in every way except one... Though he had muscle, he had no strength. Though his heart was strong, it was silent. No air moved in his lungs. It was complete, yet lacking. The copy came into this world dead. To Morpha, this didn’t matter. It only needed two things from this creation... the essences of Anger and Hatred. These, it extracted with ease and formed them together in a more solid, yet phantom-like figure. This figure was Morpha’s plan to stop the Hero of Time from going any further.
Sometimes I can’t help but nitpick, and this is one of those times. Here it says “a perfect copy in every way except one,” and then it lists several things afterward. And if all the listed things mean anything but ‘it’s lacking,’ then I can’t figure it out. (Honestly, I can’t even figure out “one thing” it’s lacking, either.)
Link progressed through the Water Temple without serious affliction at first. The tables seemed to turn when he entered a room which seemed to be a grayish, hazy place that had a slight resemblance to outside Lake Hylia. He passed the single tree in the center and raced to a building that seemed like the fishing hut. The door wouldn’t open, no matter how hard Link pushed or pulled. Giving up on the door for now, he turned around to find a black figure leaning on the tree. This figure looked exactly like him, but all coal black - hair, clothes, skin, everything - except for the flaming red, demon eyes. The figure glanced at him with a smile capable of unsettling Twinrova. Before words could be spoken, it launched at Link and the two were engaged in combat quickly.
This seems like a long summary of a story, not the summary of a character’s history for a role-playing sheet. It has plenty of unnecessary details. Wouldn’t it be easier and more effective to summarize the fact that they fought?
Of course, this is another one of those parts of the game canon that most people should know. It could stand to be left out.
(I still don’t understand what he’s trying to say, when he wrote, “without serious effliction [sic].” I gather he means, though, that Link made it through the Water Temple without much trouble. I suggest a revision in word-choice.)
The records tell of the battle between Link and his dark self... but what of the body? The copy in which that dark form was made...? Morpha left him behind, seeing as he was useless to it. On this moment, the Goddesses of Hyrule - Din, Nayru and Farore - looked down upon him with pity. This lifeless body, this soulless man should have more than to be just a leftover to a sinister plan. It concerned Din, saddened Farore and broke Nayru’s heart to see such waste... an innocent person being created for the sole purpose of destroying another. Nayru was in tears as she had such pity for him. Farore also felt terrible that even a monster had no feelings. However sorry they felt, it was nothing compared to Din’s anger of these events. Ganondorf had gone too far. Din made a promise to Nayru and Farore that this one would live and be a directly-created man by their power. In essence, she promised them that this one would be their son. Nayru and Farore instantly agreed, but they had to wait until the essences that were taken had returned to the body.
I feel like I missed something. I know that Morpha apparently made a body, and somehow extracted emotions from it and made the phantom from that, but... I don’t understand why.
It seems overly complicated. Why couldn’t Morpha just use the body to fight Link? It seems like the convoluted plan is merely the by-product of a person who wants to have a reason for why his character is a copy of Link but still liked the idea of Dark Link being a spectral thing with no fleshy body too much to change it.
Then I have to question how the copy was seen as an individual person to the three goddesses. If it was an incomplete copy of Link, did it even have a soul to begin with? And if it did, how does Morpha have that ability? If it had that much power over the creation of the goddesses, it seems to me that Morpha would be, in some ways, more powerful than Ganondorf.
And why couldn’t they do anything with it until it had its essences of anger and hatred back? Wouldn’t it be a more powerful construct against evil if the Goddesses used what would constitute Dark Link’s opposite (everything BUT the only two things that make him).
Link bested his phantom, and the Dark Link form dissipated into nothing but the essences. They returned to their host and just as promised, the three Goddesses went to work, singing all the while.
I’m sorry, I just have to ask – why singing all the while? Is this a Disney Movie? Are we in the Emerald City of Oz?
I don’t mean to be rude about this, but that line sticks out a lot and I just have to ask why it’s there. It makes no logical sense, to me, to include that useless bit of information.
Taking him into their own hands, they lifted the copy into the air. Farore was first to give her gift to the man. She breathed into him the breath of life and pressed the center of his chest. By doing this, his breathing began and his heart pumped. With this action, the body became living. Nayru, then, blessed him knowledge and wisdom. He gained learning for basic living and survival... all one would need to get by. In a sense, she gave him the natural instincts any human would have. Din formed in her mighty hands a sphere of fire. Enveloping the man in these flames, he became infused with the element of fire. Power was given to him, for his muscles now carried strength in them. To finish their work of life, the trio focused their powers onto him, forming a new soul in which would inhabit this body as their son - the Child of the Triforce.
Did he not have a soul of his own? If he didn’t, then I have to ask, again, why it was necessary for the Goddesses to get so angry about the copy. Yes, it wasn’t exactly the most good thing to do with creation, but I find it hard to understand their motivation for caring so much about this.
Or is Ryuu’s excuse that we shouldn’t question the goddesses with human logic?
And if the body was dead, why was it necessary to bring it to life, anyway? It was a copy of Link – and Link is still alive. Actually, why was there no concern over Link? He was copied in his entirety – the essences of his emotions and all – with no harm done to him?
No, now I have another question. Why did it have emotions and no soul, if it didn’t have a soul? Of course, that all goes down into a big philosophical mess about what a soul is and where emotions come from, and that may be getting a little too nit-picky, but it’s hard for me not to nit-pick when I have absolutely no suspension of disbelief.
I also don’t understand why Din infused him with the element of fire as well as strength. It seems to me that strength would be enough, but whatever.
They knew their works for this one’s life was completed, but one should not go into the world as an exact copy of someone else. Each individual should have their own traits and unique appearance. This one would be no exception. They began to form him to their own desired form. The Hero of Time has a pleasing base, but one should not copy him, and for that they scolded Morpha’s lack of originality. Din stroked his hair gently and intense white, flaming locks overpowered the gold that was once there. Nayru brushed his face, deepening the blue of his shimmering eyes. Farore did not think color was enough, for she began to lengthen his ears and sharpen their form and their performance. Din saw Farore’s plans and began to do work of her own. She enlarged his hands and gave to them a grip which one would have to wrestle him to make him let go. She enlarged his feet for firmly standing his ground, endurance for long travels, a powerful kick, and great running. Nayru thought performance and power were nice, but he needed another kind of touch. She felt that it would not be good for him to be without a childhood, so still keeping the work of her sisters intact, she transformed the body of a man to a body of a cute little child. His hair became longer, down to the back of his shoulder blades. Having their work done, Din kissed the man’s left hand, leaving her symbol there to replace the hollow shadow of the Triforce of Courage.
Why would a “hollow shadow” of the Triforce of Courage remain? The copy never had the Triforce, so there’s no reason why it would have any “shadow” of it. And Why would Din need to give that mark (and give it with a kiss, no less) to cover it or replace it? They’re the three supreme Goddesses. If they wanted, they could merely make it vanish.
Now, I know they wanted to fix him and make him like their son, but I still don’t understand why, and I still don’t understand why Din put the extra attention into him over the other goddesses.
Ganondorf had nothing to do with this, the way the character sheet tells it. He just teamed up with Morpha. If Morpha had orders to create Dark Link, that would be something else, entirely, but it seems Ganondorf’s getting more of the blame than Morpha, if Din’s that mad about it (assuming Din is more critical of Ganondorf because he holds the Triforce of Power associated with Din).
Besides, it’s not as if he was created to be a champion against Ganondorf. Link is already chosen by destiny to fill that role, from what I know of the games.
Furthermore, if the goddesses wanted to make him more different beyond a few larger body parts and different colorations, they could have changed his appearance a lot more. They have that ability, obviously. It isn’t terribly creative only to change “enough” of Ryukenden to make him not exactly like Link.
They had also erased the memories of fighting Link as Dark Link. Such knowledge at this given time would only bring confusion and horror. Any knowledge of what had happened was gone except for dreams that occurred on occasional nights. Sadly enough, he also does not know of his origin in any way... this means he does not know that the Goddesses are technically his mothers... but he does know the name they had given him - Ryukenden, which means Dragon - He likes the shorter version, Ryo, which he refers to himself as to this day.
”Ryukenden” does not mean “Dragon,” and “Ryo” is not the short version of “Ryukenden.”
Furthermore, “Ryo” does not mean “Dragon,” either. For more information, see What’s in a Name?.
That having been said, it seems to defeat the purpose of having a character that is a reformed Dark Link, but then erase those memories. I know they could be terribly troubling for a child, but not everything in life is, or should be, sunshine and rainbows.
But the world was not safe for a new child just yet. Farore suggested that the boy be placed in the Kokiri Forest with the other children. After all, the curse there has already been broken by the Hero of Time. Nayru and Din agreed that this would be done. Before they did this, they summoned the Sage of Dreams - Tyria Solaris - to their heavens. They instructed her to take care of this child while he slept, for he will need a motherly touch to his life. Until his origin was revealed to him, Tyria would be his caretaker - a nanny, as it were. Tyria agreed without hesitation. With this taken care of, Farore gave a prophesying dream to the Deku Tree Sprout that the Son of the Goddesses would be among the Kokiri. After such a dream, they brought Ryo to the forest, leaving him in front of the Deku Tree Sprout. When Ryo awoke, his new life began.
If the world was not safe, then that leaves more questions for the non-goddess-child history of Ryukenden. I also question the logic of adding new sages, since the sages all seem to play a part in banishing Ganondorf. That’s why the sages of temples needed to be awoken in the actual game, unless I am mistaken.
Adding new sages leaves plot holes that would need a lot of explaining. It also serves to be one more thing that makes the character extra-super-special, as overpowered and unbelievable characters tend to be.
Extra:
Ryo loves to be in Tyria’s company. Because of this, he tends to sleep a lot.
RPG Style: Zelda RPG
Overall, the character sheet is a chore to read. It leaves many questions open that seem like they should be covered – like how he survived through his childhood, in the first history, for example.
The second history also seems like it has extra information or elaboration that isn’t necessary at all. For example, his changes placed in him by the goddesses could have been shortened by an easy summary.
Of course, the character also sounds like an overpowered Mary Sue, and seems to be literally breaking Ryuu-Atrineas’s own forum rule: “No god-like characters.”
The basic idea of a reformed Dark Link isn’t bad – it’s an idea I’ve seen done before that worked fairly well. An original take on it (or, as original as it could get) wouldn’t be bad, but this character has issues with the logic behind its creation.
It also takes away from the charm of being a reformed Dark Link by removing the memories of being Dark Link.
I rate this character a 2/10. I might’ve ranked it higher, if the character sheet wasn’t essentially two character sheets smashed into one.
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