The Legend of the Princess, Cover Illustration

[rynling]

Since I'm getting ready to write a climactic chapter of The Legend of the Princess before putting the story on hiatus for a few months, I want to put together a series of posts about the incredible illustration work Lightsintheskye has been doing for me.

So far she's completed four illustrations, and I'm going to start with the cover illustration, which she finished in July 2016.

The basic idea of the fic is that, in order to save Hyrule from Ganondorf (or, more precisely, from her father Daphnes), Zelda needs to better understand what Ganondorf is trying to do (ie, find the Triforce) by visiting various points in Hyrule's past. This is based on the premise that the timeline leading up to The Wind Waker is an alternate version of the events in Ocarina of Time.

Therefore, the Ganondorf in this story isn't Ocarina of Time Ganondorf, but a younger version of Wind Waker Ganondorf. He's just come to Hyrule as an emissary of the Gerudo, and he's about twenty years old. He has a curved nose and mid-length hair that looks like it's been blown back by the wind. Instead of the armor of Twilight Princess or the fabulous leotard-over-a-bodysuit outfit from Ocarina of Time, he's wearing loose pants and an open robe over a shirt with a military collar. The important thing to me in Ganondorf's visual and narrative portrayal is that he doesn't come across as a video game villain. He's definitely up to no good, but at this point he's still in the initial stages of trying to figure out what the Triforce actually is.

Zelda is a few weeks shy of her twentieth birthday; and, as in Ocarina of Time, she has a Sheikah alter ego that she uses to do and see what "Princess Zelda" cannot. Zelda is blonde, but not the yellow golden blonde of Ocarina of Time Zelda. She isn't getting a lot of sleep, and so her face isn't as radiantly beautiful as it always seems to be in the games. Aside from her sidelocks, she's got her hair pinned up. The world of this story is less of a medieval fantasy and more the kind of mid-to-late nineteenth century historical period in which something like Bombchu Bowling might actually exist. Zelda is a princess, but this isn't a fairy tale, so she's wearing a practical split skirt with a sash at the waist instead of a fancy dress.

This is an illustration of a scene from the opening chapter of the story, in which Zelda encounters Ganondorf early in the morning in the corridor outside the library of Hyrule Castle. He is standing in a bay between windows, so he's partially in shadow, and Zelda is standing with the light from the window falling on her. The windows are looking out over the castle gardens, which is important not only because Ganondorf covets the "gentle wind" of Hyrule but also because Zelda and Impa use the garden to cultivate poisonous plants that later become crucial to the plot. When Zelda and Ganondorf look at each other, they are distrustful and reserved yet secretly fascinated. What the reader will find out in the next chapter is that they have had their eyes on each other for some time. Zelda knows that Ganondorf is up to something, and he knows that she knows.

Hyrule castle is constructed of white marble; and, since the library is in an older part of the castle, the hallway outside it probably a bit dirty and not paneled over with wood or plaster. In my initial description of the garden, I said that it contains white morning glories - or, more precisely, a morning glory phenotype called Datura, a real flower that was once used in many East Asian cultures as a hallucinogenic and which can be fatal in larger doses. After Breath of the Wild came out, however, I edited all mentions of these flowers so that they became Silent Princess lilies, the idea being that their poison has traditionally been used by the Sheikah to deal with problems silently and elegantly.

Lightsintheskye was somehow able to take all of this information and create a perfect illustration. Zelda's hair and clothing are perfect, Ganondorf's hair and clothing are perfect, Zelda's body language is perfect, Ganondorf's face is perfect, the gorgeous stonework on the windows is perfect, and the curtains are perfect. I especially adore the detailing on Ganondorf's collar and sash, and Zelda's hairstyle is exactly what I was envisioning. I also think that the cool tones the artist used for Zelda and the warm tones she used for Ganondorf are a great fit for both characters.

The statue of Hylia in the window bay was entirely artist's idea. She explained that it makes a lot of sense in terms of the division of space, and it's also interesting that it's Ganondorf positioned beside this representation of history and legend, not Zelda. The way the skylight shades Ganondorf's face is brilliant, as is the entire interplay between light and shadow in this piece.

Lightsintheskye is amazingly talented, and it's been such a pleasure to work with her. The full piece can be found (here)!