...my god.
I don’t think I crammed this much reading in months. Having no time is NOT fun, but I somehow had enough time to cram this rose of a story (heh... get it?) into any free time I could. I... I just love this story, and your stories are magnificent! Actually, your Fem!Link story brought me here, and I admit I was skeptical about Link being a mask maker when I saw the description at first, but I JUST... GAHH! I LOVE THIS SOOOO MUCH! Navi’s a well-intentioned sweetheart, and... this was amazing. KEEP UP THE MAGIC, DEAR WRITER! The ending was satisfying, even though I’m sad to see it end. Cheers to you, stranger! :-D

This is old AF but I don't care. Wanted to mention how much the whole Triad and origin of the gods story is so well thought out, like jeez.

I'm a bit sad that this is the end you know. It was a good story. It's wasn't what I would call a mindblowing story, incredible tale full of emotions and adrenaline. It wasn't. But it was a very good read, one I think I'll read again one day, and one I could use the word awesome for. It's just that there was a humble vibe to it that prevents me from doing so. And it makes it all the more likeable.

It's a bit as if you were asked to choose between action and feelings at some point. And you chose feelings over action. Which I'm glad you did. Because you still put in action, but not that much relentless action that will give me adrenaline rush but just what is needed to immerse yourself into the context of your story. Because really, to me, though the plot was great, it was mostly a context for the characters to exchange and develop. And to be honest, I'm very happy about it. I would pick a story driven by characters over one driven by plot anytime. Because that's how the best plots come. I loved yours. I found it original, I'd even say it's unique. And I don't know. Maybe the pitch wasn't that original, but all that came with it made it that, unique.

I loved seeing Link and his troubles setting in, growing up, moving on. But most of all, I loved to have a glimpse at what happened between this story and the games. What all the others became, how Link is perceived, the unknown hero of some sort. I loved Jim because he showed what Link seemed to most people: a crazed dangerous shady man, not a hero. I loved the graveyard guy (I have myself for not remembering his name) because he showed Link was still reckless and caring, though not so sociable. I loved Igos because, well, he was fun! But it was nice to see a more carefree confident to Link. I loved the fierce deity so much. I think you did wonders at letting us feel your love for him. And the dead professor, so full of respect, and that magician apprentice, and Pamella... Oh God, Pamella and Jim were the best surprises of the story! Jim for what he turned out to be, and as I said before, because he represented a very interesting point of view on Link and Pamella for the way you managed to give her not only a history for how she became who she became in the story (in what, 3 sentences in a dialogue?... I love that you didn't paraphrased the games) but also made her develop along the story (that night meeting was so good!) without writing much of her. In fact, there are 3 characters who were more static in your story. Which is kind of normal as they represented some constant to Link. Those are Zelda (for how much we saw her, I'm not sure how it would have been possible), Anju and Kafei. And if I had to give some points that could have been better, maybe it would be with those two. I would have loved to see more of them accepting Sheik's gift. I think you could have pulled it off. But I'm being picky here. And as said, apart from those three (and maybe I should discount Zelda. Her dialogues with Link were greatly fun and she just didn't have the time or the type of involvement in the story to shine) I think you really did a wonderful job with all your characters and their personal stories.

And Sheik... I liked her. I liked her denial, I liked her carefree attitude, I loved her in the flashbacks, and I loved what you made of her in the epilogue. Maybe it's because I love theatre, but I just loved that moment when she acted with Link in front of the crowd... I just thought she was so close to that Sheik of Link's memories, and it's awesome how you made her be someone else, but the same, and grow to be the same. Because you really did. And I loved how you managed to show all the fondness Link felt for her, just by the way you described her through his eyes. It was great. And speaking about Link...

OH MY GOSH HOW I LOVED YOUR LINK! (fangirl mode turned off) He was cool, fragile, complicating things so much it's nearly ridiculous, and most of all, loving. (I said fangirl mode turned OFF) I've read quite a lot of Zelda stories now. Not that much if I compare with other fandoms but enough that I don't remember them all and read many different Links. Well, yours is one of my favourite. With the reluctant and fearful type (I just love to read about characters who have to overcome themselves so that they can face whatever has been thrown their way). Now that I think about it, right now, it is my favourite Link when I compare him to all the Links I remember reading so far. I loved him that much. I loved his story, I loved how he looked at things, I loved how people looked at him, I just loved him. I'm not sure I'd love him in real life (who knows, I may think he is a creepy liar or something if I met him in real life!) but in this story, I loved reading about him, discovering more and more about him,... Which is good because to me, the story was all about him (but maybe he stole the spot light in my eyes?). And it may show in this review. I loved his development too and well, when you love everything about a character, it's hard to point out all of the reasons for it, right?

To put it simply, the way you wrote Link and the others had depth. I feel you know far more about their life than what this story explicitly tells. Everything that happened had a consequence, and sometimes we saw the consequences without the causes, but felt them nonetheless. And I love this impression, even though it may only be that, an impression and you had no idea what the characters went through after the game... I find it hard to believe though. I thought "this story is great" everytime you introduced a new character. Every interaction was in tune to the story, and thus, your plot moved forward at a pace that seemed completely fitting. Because it was at no other pace than the one of the characters. And that's awesome when you read it.

And now, I'll move on from talking about the characters. Or at least I'll try. (and I started typing "I liked your characters" in the next paragraph... No kidding...)

I liked how you showed the relationship between people and the way you showed how they looked at things. It seemed you went into their head, your dialogues showed what history, feud or friendship they shared, and maybe that why it was so easy to love the characters separately. Because they worked so well together. I'm sorry because I will use an expression I used in another review for another fic today, to explain how I liked how the people were related together. But I feel it's pretty fitting here for how I feel about the relations in your story, for a different reason. A web of relations. Because in this story, the relations shaped a web which supported your world and story. I'd even say your world and your story were a web of relations, with Link in the middle. The romance was great, the friendship and reverence, the care, etc... Easy to feel through any action from one to the others. Maybe I felt all that thanks to the way you wrote about details. I loved reading Link work on his mask, I was somehow fascinated by the way he created them. And surprised when I realised it. But maybe it's because everytime there was a character witnessing him work on his masks, it was with respect, appreciation and maybe a bit of wonder? So yeah, I loved how you wrote the relationship because it went way further than simply stating them. Past history, looks, body language (loved imagining King Igos putting his arm behind Link's back like two old friends),... You gave all you could to make the relations realistic. (because I'm picky, I would have liked for Pamella and Link to have that night further away from Link saving her. Some months or years later... But that may not have been possible with the way Sheik would deal with her memories)

Now about the plot, I'll simply say again that I loved it. It was simple but let you take as many detours as you wanted (loved all those moments that ended up with Link making a special mask). And I liked how you mixed in the flashbacks to tell us about who and what exactly Link missed. Though I must admit I read the flashbacks way faster than the rest. They were interesting, but didn't hold my attention as much as the rest of the story. Maybe because these moment felt less surprising given what I read in other fics, or because what you let on implicitly about that time during the "present" parts was enough to guess it for me? I don't know. I still enjoyed discovering the Sheik of then.

I mentioned so before, but I'll repeat it here, I liked how you dealt with Link's deeds as the hero of time, or the hero of masks. Of all the Links in the games I know, I feel he is the most tragic and the most interesting. He is the one who did the most, between saving Hyrule, Termina, and I can't help thinking he also played a big role in saving Hyrule a second time during Twilight Princess. But, he wasn't remembered for his deeds. His first adventure never happened, and by taking on so many different identities, and with the limited time he had, not many living people in Termina would remember him. (which again makes me glad that Jim existed in your story. He interacted with Link before, but had no idea what he did and who he was, so he still doesn't know who Link is to have so many connections and why he should be trusted). In fact, I kind of agree Anju and Kafei are one of the people he interacted with the most. They really confided in him and he helped them so much...

Which leads me to another things I would have loved seeing in your story and didn't. And before saying it, I'll state something. When it comes to stories with a great universe, I'm very greedy and curious. I always want more.
I would have loved for Link to go to the Milk bar and just listen to the Zora band play new songs with a new guitarist. I would have loved to see how they moved on without Mikau after he mysteriously disappeared. I would have loved to see Link see the dancing sisters and have them basically let on he ta

I thought I would be able to wait till the last chapter before leaving a review.
Then, I read this chapter and one of those incredible harmony miracles happened. And I know it doesn't mean anything to you right now but don't worry, I will explain. In fact, it is the only thing I'll say in this review. I'll try to explain all that I thought of your fic in the one I'll leave after reading the epilogue.

We all have our own rituals, ways of doing things, ways we like to do things. And this applies to reading Fanfictions. One of those things I like doing is listening to music. I plug in my headphone to my cellphone, and let it play music as I read on it. I don't always do it, when I do, it's usually at night, or when I feel very, very antisocial. The way I do now (you're right about the wonders of anonymity).

Anyway, I listened to music when I read the last few chapters. And when I read that one, at some point, I realised I had reached the harmony point, you know, that moment when things just fit in, and you don't want them to stop. That moment when suddenly you feel you're getting everything is telling you and forgetting all that don't fit into this harmony you're feeling. It's one of the reasons I love listening to music when reading, though it's a rare occurrence. I won't describe how the music mixed with the lyrics, your chapters are long, and unfortunately, I don't read fast enough for the music to last all the dialogue. But I'll give you the name of the music that played at that moment, Love & Loss by Two steps from hell. Yeah, even the name is fitting.

Maybe you'll want to see if you agree with this music fitting, we all have different ways of interpreting music after all. And maybe you won't even see this review, as I didn't look at when this fic was published, updated, let alone when your last fic was updated (something I'll have done before reviewing the whole fic). But on the off chance that you're around and read this review, or that someone else read your fic and read this review, I wanted to share with you what let me go through a moment of magic during this chapter.

Now, on to the epilogue!

Towards the beginning of chapter 11, you wrote Nazi instead of Navi. This must be remedied!

Wow, you had a hard time with Majora using the Fierce Deity mask? I was feeling too impatient to get all 20 freaking non-transformation masks, and I still totally whupped his demonic ass somehow. (To be fair, I played Oot and Oot Master Quest before MM.) I remember the Zora boomerang thingies were a godsend during the spinning mask bit, otherwise I'd have been totally screwed. Think I used up a fairy maybe though. Still proud I managed it first try without the FD mask. (Screw you Oni!). :D

Amazing o loved this XD

i think conway twitty did a version of that song i remember hearing it on the radio when i was little

Ahh. I could read this story more than once and it'd still be amazing. This is one of my favorite stories, honestly. I really like Shink too, ahah. Ah. I've read this before but I don't know why I never bothered to review or favorite this story. (I favorited Once Upon a Fairytale I think.) Anyways. I love this story. Its an amazing read.
See ya..!

Hello! I had read this story a bit ago and than sat there thinking "Why the hell did I not review that thing!?"
So here is my review! And I saw that I have the honors of being your 300 reviewer!
To say that I like this storu would an understatement...I love this...it is astonishing...astounding and amazing!
I take my hat off to you! Well done!

Awsomenessssssss

Hi, it's jojo! (The one that bugged you nonstop during Beloved Monsters, the one that haunts your very existence... wait, what?)

Just from reading the first chapter, I can tell that this is going to be great... It's not that often that I see a female Sheik, but I guess I just haven't been looking hard enough :P

I love the crystal-ball mask and how it hurts for a purpose :3 a little like putting spikes and sandpaper on the computer keyboard when I can't be tempted to use it... *I'm getting ideas again... your writing gives me ideas...*

Ah, Navi, whyyyy?
Also, elongen should be elongate :)

Link, wat ru doin.
Link, STAHP.
Sheik is your girl, not Pamela! D:

Shad is the archeologist! :D I hope