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Mudora — Fi - The Last Cycle

Published: 2011-12-27 23:18:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 4162; Favourites: 141; Downloads: 42
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From Rose's Tumblr:

Last Cycle - Fi
Posted 22 hours ago

So what follows is really rough - any/all of this could change, but I kind of want to just stream of conscious some half-formed thoughts and see if anything comes of it.

SPOILERS for Fi…if those count as spoilers…

So I am happy with what I said in a previous post about Fi mechanically (sentinel, posessing Master Sword, generations worth of upgrades to the sword have restored her to most of her previous glory), but now I need to start fleshing her out in terms of her personality.

I do want her to be recognizably Fi, to an extent, but I have so many issues with the way she was presented in SS, PLUS it’s not like the game gave me a lot to go off of. Here’s what I got from the game:
She was Master of the Obvious;
She likes data and mathematical calculations;
She likes to dance at really inappropriate times;
She’s good at finding things;
She’s a good singer; and
She has Opinions about how well people transfer important information (and a general disdain for Oral Histories).

Okay. So, some of those are explained/dealt with already through the mechanics behind her in TLC.
Master of the Obvious and her love of math are both because she was only a fragment of her previous self and not able to fully function. She had a partial collection of memories from which she could draw, but most of them were so old as to be useless in her new historical context. She remembered really wanting to help Link, but couldn’t quite remember what it was he needed help with. She remembered Hylia’s instructions - those would have been ingrained in her through the process of ditching her last physical form and trading it in for the Goddess Sword - but not the full context around them. So she liked taking in data and processing it because she was aware of the holes in her own brain and wanted to fill them as quickly as possible.
She was, in essence, a little glitchy in Skyward Sword. As time went on, and more and more Heroes picked her up and started upgrading/tempering/strengthening her, and using her, thus allowing her to take in more and more data, she was slowly able to heal herself.

The dancing and singing were actually holdovers from her original form - Fi as she was originally formed legitimately loved music, any music. That piece of her personality made it through her transformation into the Master Sword. The generally odd times she chose to dance was a result of the glitchiness, but there was genuine expression in the dancing, which is what kept Link from being creeped out every time she did it. She was happy and some part of her brain remembered that when she’s happy, she dances, so she danced.

The good at finding things is because Fi, originally, was some kind of scout. Finding things was, in fact, her job. She will have helped Hylia locate the Triforce after she and Ganon lost it the first time. She would go looking for enemy camps, missing people, other artefacts. These skills are all useful STILL now that she’s a sword, because every Zelda game ever is basically 60 hours of Link running around trying to find stuff. Spiritual stones, Triforce pieces, imprisoned maidens, Zelda…you name it. Fi, as the sword, is able to augment these abilities in Link and kind of help him out, even if she’s not manifesting as a person (which she didn’t do very often after Skyward Sword, preferring to preserve her energy for more important stuff).

The Opinions about the transfer of information is also left over from her originally, and remains to this day. Mortals are total crap at remembering their own damn histories and legends and freaking religions. She watches them run around screaming about dying in the name of one deity or another and they are pronouncing it wrong because they suck. And they screw up their own stories and it’s just annoying because half the time she was there and that’s not how it went. It’s just a pet peeve. Drives her right up the wall.

TLC will be the first time - possibly since SS - that she’s been able/willing to take a physical form for an extended period of time, and she intends to abuse the privilege - plus, there is a part of her that sense this is the beginning of the end for the cycles, and therefore her role in them, so she wants to enjoy this time since she’s not sure how it will all end.

She has a sweet tooth (thanks to Lindsey) and the fact that Link is a baker will, in fact, drive her loyalty meter to him up. A well-fed Fi is a happy Fi. As much fun as it is to be able to locomote under your own power, being physical means being hungry and cold and wet and tired and hurt, and that all sucks and she doesn’t like it because SWORDS DON’T HAVE NERVE ENDINGS HOW DO YOU PEOPLE FUNCTION? It’s been a long time since she had nerve endings.

As much as she’s in a physical form now, it’s not necessarily her original physical form. She can’t get that one back right now. She gave it up in order to become the Master Sword and to take it back would be to change her mind, which she’s not doing, no way, no how, not even after all this time. So she’s in a humanoid body with all the downsides associated except for aging.

She’s been wandering around in physical form for quite some time before Link and Zelda find her (and proceed to have no idea that she IS the Sword they’re looking for). In order to make money to feed herself and buy new shoes and deal with the general vagaries of life she has been travelling all over the world (Empire and Alliance lands) as a bard, telling stories, singing songs, playing a harp, and getting into fights in taverns with drunk people who keep insisting she’s telling the story wrong. When musical employment is hard to find, she’s not above working as a sell-sword and scout for whoever wants to hire her.

Link and Zelda will, on their quest to find the Master Sword, pick her up as a party member long before they know who she is. She, evidently, would know who they are if she was blind, and this whole thing probably amuses her just a little bit. She’ll let them go through their adventure and pass whatever tests fate decides to throw their way, and at the dramatically appropriate moment will present herself to Link as the Master Sword and re-take her sword form.

She is probably, very likely, just a little bit in love with Link. She has known him for as long as he has existed, in every possible permutation you could have, and been through more with him than he will ever know. She gave up her original form to help him, and would do it again a thousand times over if it was required.
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Comments: 27

Kathaersys [2012-11-12 23:40:43 +0000 UTC]

Ok soooooooooooooo.... I went on Rose's tumblr and i was kinda confused. I realised that she had tons of zelda fanfics going on at the same time. So what are the zelda fanfics that she wrote ? I only know Return and Reconciliation. Are they all linked one to another or is there a certain timeline ?
Oh and I absolutely loooooooove this version of Fi, she is so beautiful.

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Mudora In reply to Kathaersys [2012-11-13 15:49:13 +0000 UTC]

She didn't really "write" new fan fics. She mused on them and wrote snippets for them.

Return and Reconciliation are obviously related to each other. You know that.

What comes before that is Keaton's Mask, should be tagged under LoZ KM on tumblr.

What comes after RR is The Last Cycle - tagged: LoZ TLC.

These are canon to her story line. So it goes like this - LoZ KM, LoZ RR, LoZ TLC.

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Kathaersys In reply to Mudora [2012-11-13 17:47:12 +0000 UTC]

Ok thank you so much !!! And who wrote the Reforge ? Cause I am interested in this one too

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Mudora In reply to Kathaersys [2012-11-13 18:54:32 +0000 UTC]

I did. The Reforging. It's also just collective musings, because I don't really have a ton of time to write anymore.

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Kathaersys In reply to Mudora [2012-11-14 16:26:57 +0000 UTC]

Awesome !!! You are such a talented person ! Where can I find it ? On tumblr ?

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Mudora In reply to Kathaersys [2012-11-14 16:31:46 +0000 UTC]

Should be under the tag: LoZ TR, chubby!Link or the like.

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Kathaersys In reply to Mudora [2012-11-14 17:00:53 +0000 UTC]

Ok thank you so much !!! It's a lot clearer to me now

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Naxios10 [2012-01-17 11:34:11 +0000 UTC]

Wow, what a backstory! Yeah, I was kinda sad at the end of SS..... but to be born anew would be great!
Where's the rest of the story, actually? I'd like to read more!

Oh, but may I point out something that's been bugging me about the picture?
Well, it just kinda looks like she's got stubble..... makes her look rather masculine. Other than that, it's great!

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CapitanaRecondita [2012-01-14 22:57:55 +0000 UTC]

wonderful work

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Mudora In reply to CapitanaRecondita [2012-01-15 17:25:39 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much. I'm glad you think so. :>

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CapitanaRecondita In reply to Mudora [2012-01-15 17:28:48 +0000 UTC]

you're welcome, my friend!!!

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Filiana [2012-01-07 11:14:14 +0000 UTC]

This is absolutly amazing

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LightlyBow [2011-12-30 15:19:59 +0000 UTC]

This is really nice! Love the intense look and the shading on the flaxen hair.

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TheJoanaPADJ [2011-12-30 14:30:57 +0000 UTC]

OMG!!! Mudi... where is "The Last Cycle"?! I searched on rose's fanfictions place but I didn't find it! T.T
(hope you don't mind I call you Mudi.... I have a tendency to give weird nicks to people....)

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Mudora In reply to TheJoanaPADJ [2011-12-30 17:55:28 +0000 UTC]

It's on tumblr, not on fanfiction. You'll have to go here to read her musings for it:

rosezemlya.tumblr.com

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TheJoanaPADJ In reply to Mudora [2011-12-30 18:18:48 +0000 UTC]

Ohhhh!!! So it's on that place!
Hm... tell me... for a person (*cough* poor me *cough*) that didn't play SS yet... does it have manny spoilers?! xD

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Mudora In reply to TheJoanaPADJ [2011-12-30 18:24:01 +0000 UTC]

Yes. They aren't major, per se, but We do discuss Fi and Ghirahim. Rose will usually tag it, though, if it does have spoilers. So some posts are spoiler safe.

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TheJoanaPADJ In reply to Mudora [2011-12-30 18:25:58 +0000 UTC]

Oh cool!!! Thank you! :3 I'll check them out... when I finish the return... GOD... I'm so lazy... I don't want to read a thing! xD

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CrimzonLogic [2011-12-28 01:38:26 +0000 UTC]

I did not read the description for fear of spoilers, but this has me intrigued--Is that really Fi? Damn, I need to finish the game already!

Lovely lighting here, especially on her ear. I like the background, too--simple, yet effective.

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Scrawlers [2011-12-28 00:30:16 +0000 UTC]

Hmm . . . I think this is just about the first time in all the time I've known her and her work that I completely disagree with one of Rose's interpretations of something in the Zeldaverse (here being her interpretation of Fi -- I mean, I agree with some of it, just not the majority of it). xD; Ah, well, that's just the beauty of the Zeldaverse, isn't it? It's so broad and open that everyone is free to interpret things how they like.

Anyway, like all of your work, this one is beautiful, too. Awesome job.

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Mudora In reply to Scrawlers [2011-12-28 00:44:04 +0000 UTC]

I don't know... she did state the obvious quite a bit which got annoying.

I'm curious what you think of her, though.

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Scrawlers In reply to Mudora [2011-12-28 01:04:41 +0000 UTC]

Oh, like I said, I agreed with some of what Rose said, that being one of the things I agreed with. xD "This is a huge door. It must be important for something." Yes, Fi, it must. In fact, it looks just like the boss doors in the previous two temples. And look! I have this huge ass puzzle key right here. Hmm . . . I wonder where it goes?

As for what I do disagree with . . . mostly, it's the "making her more human" bit. I don't know, even with her flaws (and I do like the idea that she was glitchy in Skyward Sword -- fits right along with the idea that some of her memories were missing), I liked the fact that she was a cold, somewhat robotic little android creature. It fits right along with the fact that she was specifically supposed to be a foil for Ghirahim, who was a lot more lively and human-like. (Well, insane bloodlust aside.) She was the Blue Oni to his Red Oni, and I liked that a lot.

So for something like this, well, I'd like to keep that for her. I think that Fi doesn't think like humans, really -- when she does feel emotion, it might puzzle her, and take her awhile to work out. Even if it's something as simple as happiness, or irritation, she wouldn't recognize it for what it is at first. Time spent around humans consciously (as in, outside of the sword) would help her realize what they are a bit faster, but even then, I don't think she'd react as a person would. She'd recognize that she's happy, per se, but instead of showing it outwardly, you probably wouldn't even be able to tell that much had changed. If something startles her, she'd probably blink, but still appear very straight-faced. She might tell you that she was startled, but you wouldn't be able to tell because there wouldn't be too much reaction there except for her saying what happened.

I also think that it took her awhile to be able to read facial expressions and the like -- and that the only way she became able to really read Link's was because she has a special connection with him. (I'm referring to the Peatrice sidequest, where -- if you return her feelings -- she'll say something like, "I can tell by the way you look at her." or the parts of the game where she tells Link that she's learned that if she gives him positive news about Zelda, it makes him look happier.) Or rather, she may even need very expressive expressions (that sounds so redundant) to pick up on it. Basically, being the android-ish creature that she is, I don't think that emotions are really . . . in-touch with her. She's not human, at all, even less so than fairies in my opinion, and as such she learns what she learns completely through observation, and thus is comically out of touch with it.

(This may also explain her stopping Link to point out the obvious sometimes. Well, besides the meta answer that it might have been another way for Nintendo to hand-hold players through the game. Because she needs bigger clues to see if a person understood something, if Link was tired and just pushing his way through the dungeon at that point, she might not realize that he noticed the door, and thus stop him to point it out. His exhaustion might read as confusion to her, because at the time she was so out-of-touch with human emotional expression that she didn't quite know the difference.)

Also, because I view her as more of an android-creature, I don't think she would need to eat, sleep, or anything like that. So even in the vast future, when she finally reawakened from the sword again, I don't think she'd take an ordinary human form, but rather, the same form she had in Skyward Sword. I mean, in my eyes, she IS the sword. She's not the spirit of the sword, but rather, the sword itself; she's metal and steel and leather(?) grip. And magic, too, of course, but you know what I mean. So she'd look at least extraordinarily similar, with the same colorings and markings, even if not exactly the same. And since by that point she'd have been sleeping for hundreds, possibly even thousands, of years (because I think that anything she experienced while the sword would be experienced subconsciously, rather than consciously; so she'd absorb it, but into subconscious memory, rather than something she'd know off the top of her head), she'd have to re-learn much of what she'd already learned about humans all over again.

As for her love of Link, I completely agree with that . . . in a way. I think that she would definitely love Link, more than just about anyone, but I don't think she'd be in love with him. There is a difference. And furthermore, I don't think she would consciously think of it as love, but it'd be more of a . . . hm, not possessiveness, per se, but definitely a protectiveness. Someone trying to hurt him would bother her. Anything bothering him would bother her. She would want to help, even if she didn't fully understand the situation. (And I draw this from her offering him advice, such as again with the Peatrice situation; if you return Peatrice's feelings, she advises Link to keep this a secret from Zelda. She doesn't seem jealous at all, but she just warns him that telling Zelda would be a bad idea.) I think that in some ways she would treat him as Navi would, except even a step further. It's a bond that's even closer, because Navi had a bond with one Link; Fi, as Rose pointed out, has a bond with all Links.

So those are my thoughts, and I'm aware that I didn't explain them very well, and for that I'm sorry. And, again, this is just my interpretation -- I'm not saying Rose's/yours is wrong! It's just different from how I imagined her in my head. It is safe to say, though, that Fi ties with Tatl as my favorite of Link's sidekicks/companions, so I also have thought about her more than I'd think about, say, Navi or Midna.

(Oh, and I do agree with Rose that Fi quite obviously has a love for music of all kinds -- and I think the fact that all of the different Links are so musical (almost every single one of them has an instrument of some kind) helps a lot with that, too. )

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wings33 In reply to Scrawlers [2012-01-07 11:45:57 +0000 UTC]

Sorry to butt in, but I really liked what you wrote about Fi the android-like sword spirit.. thing. I agree with your general interpretation, and felt the same way reading this description. Like at the end when Fi says something akin to "I wasn't programmed for happiness" (programmed not being the right word, but it seems very applicable) I pretty much take that at face value-- Hylia created her for the singular purpose of being the (eventually) Master Sword and assisting the Hero in his quest. She can read emotions (the Peatrice thing and the beginning where she analyzes Link's apprehension and deduces what she needs to say to convince him to draw the sword) but doesn't need to feel them herself. There's magical wiggle room of course, and maybe developing from Goddess Sword to Master Sword expanded her capabilities to the point where she could begin to feel and recognize happiness in herself as she and Link grew together, kind of infusing her with something of him. I don't think she was ever human, just a magical construct. I did however think she ought to have a "human form" the way Ghirahim does, and if she were to come back it would be fun for her to use it.
As for music... music and magic are so closely related in the Zelda-verse, particularly as so many items of power are in fact instruments. Now we know any such artifact passed down through the royal family is more or less a relic from the Goddess herself, it would make sense that Fi too has music woven into her being.

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Scrawlers In reply to wings33 [2012-01-07 13:20:45 +0000 UTC]

Ghirahim having a human form while Fi doesn't (though Fi's is human-esque) was supposed to highlight the fact that they're foils to each other. Ghirahim is Demise's sword, Fi is the Goddess/Master Sword. Ghirahim is emotional, Fi is not. Ghirahim is violent, and Fi is not. They're supposed to directly parallel each other in every single way, so just as Ghirahim can be emotional and verbally gifted, he can also have a more human-like body to showcase that. Fi, having all of the emotions of a technologically advanced computer, has a body to show that.

At least, that's how I interpreted it, anyway.

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wings33 In reply to Scrawlers [2012-01-07 14:03:49 +0000 UTC]

Ah. Well I interpreted his black, shiny form as his true weapon form. There he resembles Fi's form, with hair that's a shape rather than hair, statuesque eyes, and as previously mentioned, shininess. The human form he appeared in for the majority of the game I thought of as a... disguise? Which of course Fi has no need for because she's straight with Link about what she is from the start. I thought she might still be capable of one though, should the need arise. For instance, had Link still been reticent to draw the sword, she might have adopted a more human form to make him feel more comfortable-- a further persuasive measure, I think being the phrase she used.
Not that I don't appreciate the parallels in character design and personality : )

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Mudora In reply to Scrawlers [2011-12-28 01:55:14 +0000 UTC]

Oh dude, those points make great sense. All versions of Fi are awesome. I was just curious after all, so thanks for obliging me.

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KaliKuks [2011-12-27 23:43:26 +0000 UTC]

That is incredibly epic

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