Ocarina of Time Prologue
"When the fates of gods and mortals intertwine, legends are born..."
-Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
A/N:
Hello and welcome to my novelization of The Legend of Zelda- Ocarina of Time. Given how many novelizations there are of this awesome game, I have taken some liberties with this story. Regardless of what a certain annoying owl by the name of Kaepora Gaebora might say, this is not a standard repeat of the story, and the plot will not play out exactly as it does in the game. All the major and minor characters from Ocarina of Time will still appear and their roles in the story haven't been changed.
To listen to the audiobook version of the story, click on the video above to view it on YouTube. If you'd rather listen to it on your favourite podcast player, you'll find a link in the video description. Alternatively, and because Wattpad won't allow me to include the URL, copy the following into a search engine and you should find a link to your favourite podcast player:
the legend of Zelda audiobook productions DragonRand100
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this story.
*Cover by ImberLapis at Wattpad
Prologue
This is but one of the tales of which the people speak: a tale of an ancient land with verdant meadows, lush forests, and tall mountains- a land blessed by the Goddesses, where the powers of light and shadow existed in perfect balance. This is the story of a king who sought to control the power of the Goddesses. It is the story of a boy without a fairy, who rose above trial and tribulation to take his place amongst legends. It is a tale that through generations became memory. With the turning of Time's Wheel, memory faded to legend, and even legend became a whisper, riding upon the winds of time...
Navi, the fairy, watched as a comet blazed across the heavens above her home. It streaked through the darkening sky, high above the kingdom of Hyrule, its tail spreading far behind it, blazing like the curling tongue of a dragon's fire. It was nearly half the size of the moon and just as bright.
Those who lived beyond the forest viewed a comet as an omen of evil. Navi didn't understand why; it was nothing more than a star passing by on its journey through the heavens and into the realms beyond. Yet amidst the populace of Hyrule, it was a messenger of the gods, a bringer of dark tidings.
Navi wasn't surprised by this. Her leafy abode, the Lost Woods, inspired just as much fear as the herald that blazed across the starlit sky. So great was the fear of unseen horrors lurking amidst the trees, that most people wouldn't dare go near the ancient woodland.
To the Gerudo, who heralded from the desert in Hyrule's west, the woods were a place of shadows, where the trees grew thick and their heavy boughs intertwined, blotting out the sun. To the Hylians, it was a place of mystery, where monsters lurked and the spirits of old roamed, guarding their sacred groves. But to Navi, her people, and the Kokiri folk, the woods were home.
The Kokiri were a legend amongst the people of Hyrule. Their existence was debated among Hylian scholars, for it had been centuries since anybody had actually seen one. It was known that the oldest Kokiri, despite being hundreds of years old, looked no older than twelve. For this reason, many Hylians called them the children of the forest. Despite their youthful appearance, most of the Kokiri would never appreciate being called a child.
As dusk fell, the jubilant melody of their songs would hum through the ancient groves they called home. Each of these groves was presided over by a spirit that took the form of a Great Deku Tree.
The ancient sentinels of the woods were said to have originated from cuttings of a tree found somewhere in the Lost Woods, and just like the Kokiri they watched over, these spirits were incredibly secretive, preferring to remain hidden from prying eyes. These ancient spirits could warp the minds of travelers, making them lost. More often than not, the unwitting trespassers were sent walking back to the edge of the woods, leaving the poor souls to wonder how in Hyrule they had ended up back where they came from. Most of the Great Deku Trees were benevolent, but it was said that some would curse any Hylian who wandered too close to their homes.
Navi's home was the oldest known of the ancient groves, as well as the most sacred. The Hylians called it the Kokiri Forest since it was the only Kokiri village known to exist in Hyrule. It was home to the eldest of the tree spirits, known to all simply as the Great Deku Tree. It was said that he had created the Kokiri to tend to the forest, allowing them to spread to the other glens within the Lost Woods.
If a Hylian somehow stumbled upon this grove, they would have thought the Goddesses had made themselves their own secret garden. Visitors who found their way to the ancient glen of the Kokiri were greeted by vibrant hues of green, hanging vines, and moss-covered rocks. Ferns nestled along the banks of a small stream. Holly, hazel, honeysuckle, and bramble bushes adorned the edges of the glen, while sycamore, beech, and oak trees could be found scattered amidst the edges of the village and beyond. Perhaps the most breathtaking sight was the enormous Dekus where many of the Kokiri made their homes. These enormous giants of the forest could have accommodated a few houses within their enormous girth, yet none of them were quite as big as the Great Deku Tree himself. A small village could have been comfortably built within his trunk, if he were hollow.
As night fell on the woods, smoke wafted through the dense forest canopy from the dying embers of cookfires. Enchanted lanterns hung from the trees, their sparkling light illuminating the wide, winding staircases that seemed to almost be carved into the Dekus' trunks.
Wide platforms lay in the canopies; bridges of woven vines connected them to neighboring trees, linking an intricate network of tree houses. Fireflies danced amidst a tangle of tree limbs, and music drifted through the air. Only a few of the Kokiri were still outside; almost all of them had retreated to the shelter of their tree houses as the crisp autumn night set in.
Stirring from her resting place amidst the gnarled branches of an old tree, Navi shivered. The comet still blazed through the heavens. Like her, the relatively carefree Kokiri paid no heed to it. Something else bothered the little fairy. Her brow creased in concern as she recognized it. She could sense a disturbance in the air, but there was no sign of a storm coming...
A faint crack made her jump.
Get a hold of yourself, Navi, she scolded herself inwardly. It's probably just an animal looking for somewhere to sleep for the night.
She glanced down, seeking the source of the sound. Curious, she flew from her resting place to perch on a lower branch and hide in the shadowed limb.
Snap.
Another stick cracked. There was a slithering sound as something heavy was dragged along the ground, stirring the leaves in its wake.
"Odd," Navi murmured, "Where is that coming from?"
She doubted she was hearing an animal. Whatever it was, it disturbed her that she was not able to see it.
Listening harder, Navi was sure she heard boots crunching through the litter of leaves. The fairy realized the sound was getting louder, and she looked down at the ground to see footprints appearing in the soil. The boots were far larger than a child's, but for the life of her, she could see no sign of their owner.
As the footsteps came close to her hiding spot, several things happened at once. The insects stopped chirping; everything became eerily silent, and something sapped the warmth from her body. As it grew colder, Navi shivered, fluttering her wings slightly to keep them from potentially freezing. Every instinct told her to fly away - to flee from this unknown force, but she found herself paralysed on the tree branch, only able to helplessly watch the scene unfold with barely concealed fear.
Whatever the terror was, it didn't take notice of her. In fact, the being walked straight by Navi's tree without pausing in its strides. There was still no sign of whoever owned the footprints. Navi guessed the cold-bringing being was invisible. It was strange. The only beings that could make themselves invisible were spirits, yet the fairy knew that spirits never left footprints on the ground.
Suddenly, the horrible chill that froze her to the core was gone, and she gasped.
What was that?
Navi had experienced something like this before when she last left the woods. It was then that she recognized it.
Shadow magic.
Without hesitating, she took off in hot pursuit of the shadow magician, keeping hidden as best she could amongst the tangled branches of the trees. She knew where those tracks were headed, and fear threatened to overwhelm her. Whatever this creature was, it was no friend of the Kokiri or the forest.
Navi thought it was odd. The woods were protected by magical wards, so the creature moving amidst the trees should not have been able to enter the woods at all... Right?
The trail of boots ended in a clearing. At the center of this enormous glen stood a huge, ancient tree. Its canopy took up most of the clearing, and the edges of some of its branches touched the trees on the fringe of the surrounding forest. A giant face appeared to have been carved into the trunk, and anyone discovering the tree for the first time could have easily mistaken it for the work of a master woodcarver.
This was the Great Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the Kokiri. He was their protector, assigning each of the forest children with a fairy that looked after them.
All except one, Navi recalled.
There was one child who did not have a fairy. She had never actually seen him, but the other fairies knew him. Navi thought they pitied him, just as they pitied her. Unlike her kin, she wasn't bonded to a Kokiri- at least, not anymore. Not since...
Navi shut her eyes to fend off the memories intruding on her thoughts.
The fairy focused on the trail of footprints. The marks suddenly came to an abrupt halt in the clearing, any further trace of the being's presence disappearing with it. Navi fluttered in the air for a moment, unsure of whether to continue, afraid to go near the point where they ended for fear of being paralysed again. Making a compromise, she instead found a hollow within a tree nearby, close enough to watch any potential action yet far enough to be away from most of the danger... hopefully.
Navi sensed the forest guardian acknowledging her presence. As it touched her mind, Navi could sense the spirit more clearly, enough to feel the emotion emanating from it.
Fear.
She was right; something was wrong. She wanted to call out to the Great Deku Tree, but a warning flashed through her mind before she could even beat a single wing.
"Beware, Navi."
Navi wanted to ask what was going on but froze as two words intruded her thoughts:
"Stay hidden."
Alarmed, Navi let out a small squeak of fright and hastened to conceal herself as best she could against the inside of the hollow. Still anxious to know what was happening, she peered back out towards the forest guardian.
She gasped as the air in front of the Great Deku Tree shimmered, rippling and coalescing in the fractured moonlight. As the air cleared, a man appeared right where the trail of footprints ended; the shadow magic affected her even from her hiding spot. With red hair and green skin, Navi recognised him as a Gerudo - one of the inhabitants of the desert in Hyrule's west.
What is he doing here? Navi wondered. How did he get here?
A million more questions charged through her mind. An outsider in the forest? It was supposed to be impossible. It was not the man who got her attention so much as the mask he removed from his face. A white mask in the shape of a human skull with the lower jawbone missing. It looked repulsive.
Navi's blood ran cold as she looked at it; surely those eyeless slits were staring at her. Despite the mask being off the man's face, those slits seemed to drill into the fairy's mind, calling her with their captivating darkness. Then suddenly, she tore her eyes away from the mask, as hard as it was to keep herself from being lost in the skull's depth.
And then the man spoke, his voice deep and commanding. This was a man who expected to be heard and obeyed without question.
Navi could sense a growing apprehension from the Great Deku Tree. The tree spirits communicated by melding with the minds of those around them, so she was not privy to what was said. More words were spoken, the man folding his arms against his breastplate, expression defiant. After a time, his expression darkening with each moment, the man gave an angry snort, malicious eyes conveying his apparent displeasure at whatever the tree had said. Straightening, the man stepped forward, placing one hand on the tree's trunk. Navi wanted to scream, but the same cold from her first encounter with the man struck her again. Her teeth rattled from the bitter cold as every last bit of warmth left her. The evening birds paused their song, the insects stopped chirping once again, and Navi was sure she could have heard a leaf fall in the silence that followed. She watched in horror as the bark where the man's hand was touching the Great Deku Tree went black, as though dead. The grass around the man withered, turning black before her very eyes, and the air itself seemed to hum with energy.
As fast as it had begun, it was over. The man took his hand from the tree and the bark returned to its normal healthy brown. The Gerudo stepped away from the tree, pausing halfway toward the clearing and turning around, his cold eyes surveying the trees. He was in earshot of Navi this time.
"Hear my words, ancient one!" The man's voice carried distinctively across the clearing. "You have but a month to grant me my request, or else I will take that ancient relic by force. You cannot stop me! Even now the creature within you is sapping your power, and you will wither and rot from within, as all creation surely will."
"A curse?" Navi clasped a hand to her mouth, as she stifled a cry of horror.
Her tiny voice must not have been heard because the man continued, "It will be slow and painful - even for you. I can stop it; all you have to do is give me that stone."
The man frowned, and Navi sensed a renewed wave of determination from the Great Deku Tree - a desire to do all within his power to stop the man and his curse. The Gerudo smirked, amused by the tree's response, "So be it. You will reap the rewards of your defiance, as shall the Kokiri. The wards that guard this forest will not protect them for long, and the efforts of your forbearers will be for naught."
The threat was not idle. Navi realized the man intended to harm the Great Deku Tree, he had harmed the Great Deku Tree, and from what she understood, he didn't intend to stop there. Hyrule was a realm wrought with suffering, as Navi had discovered for herself, but the Kokiri were sheltered, protected by the ancient wards. Should those wards fail, the Kokiri would be unprepared for the grim realities of the world beyond the forest. Hyrule trembled with memories of its recent war, the ghosts of its bloody past haunting the night. A past to which the carefree Kokiri remained blissfully unaware.
The man donned the white Skull Mask, and as quickly as he had appeared, vanished. Navi watched his footprints leave the glen, heading towards the forest edge and leaving nothing but a cold silence in his wake.
Navi looked back up at the comet, blazing red and malevolent as it streaked across the heavens.
As she shivered from the lingering cold, she idly wondered if the Hylians were right this time - if the star blazing through the night sky truly was a warning from the gods.
Acknowledgments
Intro inspired by The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and completed by Brandon Sanderson.
Next Chapter
Reviews
FakeJake93
Long overdue that I’m finally giving this story a read. Excited to see the origin for all your successful audio books. I’ll probably alternate between reading here and listening. But I’ll try to leave a review here every time!Love the WW inspired intro. The prologue does a really good job building out the Kokiri Forest as more than just an isolated game area. Love the idea that there are multiple Great Deku Trees and the added detail of fauna.I think it’s easy for prologues to fall in the trap of becoming lore dumps, but I appreciate you framing it from Navi’s perspective and having character moments for her already.I really like how you built up Ganon here, even laying some groundwork for how his powers work (he can turn invisible, but maybe can’t teleport – his mask lures Navi in). Very cool details. And excellent work tying it back into the comet at the end. I’m excited to keep reading this! It’s been 7 years or so since I last played OoT, so this will be a fun way to revisit it.
Listened to this in the car with my daughter on the way to school this morning and was very pleasantly surprised! It’s actually quite well-written! Sure, it needs an editor, as there is too much info-dumping / telling (we can forgive that though as it’s Zelda), the pose can be quite purple with superfluous words, and it suffers from the usual fanfiction novelisation problem of wanting to dramatise absolutely *everything*. But! The author understands point of view, has made up some clever and compelling extra scenes, and is good at seeding story questions that even someone who has played the game will be interested in finding the answers to by keeping reading! e.g. Who was Navi’s original kokiri? This may even end up being better than Zeldamaster’s novelisation (which I’ve read all of as well). It’s certainly going to be longer. Bravo!
Hello from Reddit!So it’s been a long time since I played OoT, so I don’t exactly remember the plot, but this opening chapter was amazing!However, I happen to be writing my own Zelda fic right now, so I will have to come back and read the rest of this when I’m done with that, lest I mess up my own plot in my head lolThanks for writing!
Sheep6873
Lol just rereading some of this I kinda get the vibe that sheik is like Olivier queen from arrow and like is like Barry Allen from the flash personality wise
I like your beginning – poetic, mysterious, and captivating. You have a good grasp of the language and you’re good at describing things in a magical way.I think you have too much lore after that, though. Are there some elements you could take out, or perhaps put somewhere else later in the story?I also get confused when it comes to the roles and differences between beings: are the forest wards fairies? Navi isn’t a Kokiri but a fairy? I love Navi, by the way. I like how you wrote about her – concerned, sweet, mostly care-free. I’m very intrigued by her past with the Kokiri.Lastly, first you said the night was chilly, but then when the invisible stranger comes, his presence makes “the usual welcoming warmth of the forest’s air” go away. Nothing big, though. I like how you write. :)This was a well-written beginning for your story, with interesting questions posed. I’m looking forward to reading the next chapter!
SunPraiser31
Great first chapter. As someone who completed Ocarina of Time for the first time only somewhat recently, I have to say this did a much better of job of grabbing my attention than the game did, as far as the story is concerned. I particularly like the description of the Kokiri and the forest, well done.In a way, I’m a bit miffed that I already pretty much know how it ends, but I’m interested to see where you diverge from the established canon. It’s sure to be a good read regardless.
merna moon
The feels. the feels were so real. why?
Barbacar
Seems like a pretty good story so far. It seems to stay true to the original game’s story and tone while also having some style of its own
Wow. So I just read the prologue and I’m kind of amazed and truly grateful that you haven’t accused me of stealing your ideas lol it seems like you and I share a lot of opinions when it comes to handling the Zelda universe, and I find that pretty awesome. Your writing here is pretty awesome, and I think it’s kinda funny how you have also rewritten large portions of this story. Sorry I didn’t check this out sooner!
acctdisabled
I thought this was a strong prologue that really set the tone for your novelization. What really was conveyed well was the beautiful imagery in contrast to Ganondorf’s murky actions and immoral thought processes. I liked that the prologue was essentially Navi’s POV, since she’s almost an omnipresent character in herself being extremely cognizant of her surroundings and just ‘knowing’ things.[Navi the fairy….storm coming…] I thought the opening was very nicely done exposition, and really painted the readers a nice picture. There is a lot of exposition, and I think it works pretty well, but a suggestion if you are still editing earlier chapters is to consider interweaving Navi’s thoughts into this part- would be a great contrast to show her discomfort against the beautiful imagery.I was pretty interested when I read about Navi’s [not since…] line because there’s a story behind it.Ganondorf wearing the Skull mask was a nice nod to the Skull Kid’s future use of Majora’s Mask- not sure if that was your intention but the parallel of using a mask to commit bad deeds is there. It’s also a very subtle foreshadowing of later events you summarized with Ganondorf trying to get Majora’s Mask through the HMS.[cold and venomous as a viper] very apt description of Ganondorf. I thought the section with Ganondorf’s threat was well-executed and if you wanted to could expand on it a little more to increase the tension. Hard to describe, but reading his lines really ‘felt’ like Ganondorf- unforgiving and relentless.[Navi clasped a hand to her mouth] I chuckled at this line- maybe wings covering her body? I like the idea of Navi having hands and mouth, but I don’t remember that being in the game. : )Overall, the writing is good, flows very nicely, and is enjoyable to read. One thing to look out for is comma abuse- there’s a few sentences that have several commas that could be broken up into multiple sentences. I know this because I’m a comma abuser and consciously look for it.Nice work and looking forward to reviewing the rest of this!
This story fascinates me. Although I’ve merely read the prologue, I find myself already captivated by the eloquent words and descriptive language used to describe everything; your world-building and imagery is excellently done.
Guest
Random suggestion, not about this chapter, but maybe you could revive all the bosses after defeating Ganon. (Maybe Volgavia will get its memory back…?)
Tthe insects stopped chirping” – “The insects stopped chirping”
“And then man spoke” – “And then the man spoke”
“so she he was not privy to what was said.” – “so he was not privy to what was said.”Okay, I finally got to your story (so sorry it took so long) and I only found three errors; and as an added bonus…dun, dun, dun, dun YOU GET A REVIEW :DP.s. no really you do get a reviewReview TimeOkay, so I’ve never played or watched Ocarina of Time, and I never do intend to because of the graphics, but the Prologue right now makes me want to think twice about my action. This story you wrote was full of…stuff, more correctly put; description. I just love people who can write like how you can. I can’t believe that I put this off so much, now I’m hooked and I’m looking forward to the next time I can review
Much more depth than I expected!
Decided to check out yours since you checked out mine (meant to do it the first time you reviewed, as is my policy, but I guess I got sidetracked…?). I’m not saying yours is tropey as far as OoT novelizations go, since I haven’t read any others myself, but I’m glad to see that you and I seem to be going in very different directions, particularly in regards to Ganondorf. Originality is one of my main concerns when it comes to my own novelization since there are just so many of them already.Damn but you can set an atmosphere though! You very nearly had chills going down my spine sometimes! I have yet to get into any of the really dark stuff in my own story, saving that for after the Master Sword, but you go for it right off the bat! Even this brief glimpse of Ganondorf is really intimidating, something I sometimes feel my Ganondorf lacks since I try to make him less evil and more corrupted and power-mad.You’ve also brought the world much more to life than I did. Your version of Hyrule feels a lot more magical than mine, especially when you mentioned the wards around the forest. I tend to be a lot more sparing with my use of magic, mainly because I feel it can lead to loopholes when I’m trying to create tension.Also… 2006? Wow, man, you’ve been working on this forever! Talk about dedication! Kudos to you sir, and I hope you persevere until you reach the end!Onward!-Norkix-
Vergil1989 the Crossover King
Well, that wasn’t scary at all. I love LoZ, always have since I was a kid, and OoC was and always will be my favorite. This prologue was as the game itself is, perfect, adding a layer to everyone portrayed here, even Ganondorf himself. That Skull Mask was a bit over the top lol, but it just added to his terror inspiring presence. Anyway, I might have found something new to read if the rest turns out half as well.
Local Minstrel
You certainly do have a talent for writing though typos do seem to be your Achille’s heel. “Passed,” for example, when it should be “past,” as in, “Mido wouldn’t let Link past.” There was a “his” somewhere and I think it should have been a “he’s.” And a few more besides.As for the overarching chapter, it forces me to abandon my previous notions about Ocarina of Time’s story, but it is a well written and intriguing story. It evokes some strong emotions in me (“No, Navi! You can’t die!”) and the details are such that I’ve never considered before, which make the story, indeed, intriguing. I will have to resist the urge to commit plagiarism.I will have to continue poring over this account. An intriguing story… intriguing, indeed…
Ok I figure I’ll start here, since I’ve skipped around the chapters to see if it’s anything I’ll like. So far I’m really impressed with this story. All too often you find these Ocarina of Time novelisations and they’re either dead or simply awful. This is the first I’ve found that is pretty lengthy so far and that has any measure of quality. The way you write actually engages me and makes me want to keep reading to find out what happens next, which should be the goal of any writer. This is especially true since some of the events that take place are completely original ideas. I really think you have something here and I just hope beyond hope that you can see it through to the end. This site deserves good stories and so far this is an excellent one. I’ll definitely keep watching to see where this story goes.
ok man i like your first chapter and im willing to give your fanfic a chance, I haven’t been able to read an oot fanfic scenes Arxane so please don’t disappoint me by stopping your story in the middle of the of action, your doing really good and i cant what to read more keep them coming
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