In 2007, I opened a Christmas present, and found a game for the Nintendo DS. It didn't really seem like the kind of thing I was interested in. I set it aside. After a number of poorly made games I'd gotten on the Game Boy Advance, I had a greatly reduced interest in games. I was in fact disappointed to get my DS, as I wanted a Lego train set instead.

However, Christmas break went on, and eventually, after I'd played with everything else, I picked up this game I'd originally dismissed.

And that was how I discovered The Legend of Zelda for the first time. After so many pixel perfect platforming games on the GBA, the fluid, forgiving stylus controls felt so freeing to me. I remember after my first time entering the temple of the ocean king, assuming that the game was getting close to being done. I had no idea the adventure that awaited.

Or for that matter, adventures. Spirit Tracks followed after. Then Ocarina of Time. Majora's Mask.

I realized through these games that games could be good. Not just good, but genuinely engaging, gripping little adventures. I began to say I wanted to go into game development, began learning it, all from this.

One summer in high school, I had to get a surgery. We were informed that we would need to wait multiple hours before I'd go in. It was going to be horrible. But then I saw a TV with a GameCube. Despite having been in elementary school around the time the console was out, I had never played much of it.

There I discovered the glorious game that Phantom Hourglass had been a sequel to - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Like all games, it has flaws. But I love so much about it. Its art style, its interesting storytelling for the series, its twists on the characters, the stellar music, and so much else. To this day, I still consider it my favorite game.

I began writing this story back in 2016. At the time, it was little more in my mind than a fun little hobby. I started writing it in first person, entirely from the perspective of an old Link, telling the stories of his adventures. This didn't really get too far.

But years later, on a day of boredom, I thought of my old ideas with this. I began writing the opening of the game in a poetic style. Then, I thought it would be fun to rewrite said poem in Skyward Sword Hylian (yes, this is what I consider "fun"). And being on a little Zelda obsession, I decided to start writing my novelization of the game once again, starting with the poem.

I wrote it in longhand, due to circumstances of the time. It was painful. I don't like writing longhand. I was slow going on it for a long time. I got stuck at many parts. Things in games like going into a dungeon over and over again, and fighting monster after monster may work for a game, or an ancient epic, but not for modern fantasy.

So I resisted working on it for a while. I considered it just one of my many abandoned creative projects. But every now and then, I would chisel away at it. I would change things around to better fit the story into a narrative structure.

And soon, I was writing my own original stories. A science fiction novel. Then a fantasy novel. Now, in the past year, I have realized that, while I would enjoy a career in game design, I want, in some capacity, to be a writer.

I considered it a duty to myself to finish this story. I changed my attitude on it, considering it my fantasy training wheels, to learn how to write things like character arcs, and on just getting through dull unfun sections of writing.

Finally now, after all these years, I can say that it's done at last. They're training wheels, but they were dagum good ones. Although some points of writing this were not fun at all, looking at this final product makes me feel extremely satisfied.

It is bittersweet, knowing this is fanfiction, and Nintendo's feelings towards such things. Although I consider this story my headcanon of The Wind Waker, and the franchise's Adult Timeline, I have nothing but respect for the men and women that have brought this game, and the Legend of Zelda series to life.

Eji Aonuma, the director of the game. Yoichi Kotabe and Yoshiki Haruhana for their work on the game's art style. Then countless others who all made the game great.

This story may never be able to be published and sold, but hopefully I'll be able to keep it up somewhere. In the meantime, it has given me the confidence to work on my original fantasy (which you can find on my profile) and showed me that I can finish a creative project.

I hope that you enjoyed this story. If you're a fan of the series, and of the original game, hopefully you don't think that I destroyed its beauty (sweats nervously). If you are reading this unfamiliar with the series or the game, then I hope that you didn't just skip to read the ending...

If you haven't played it, I very much encourage it. If you have, I hope that maybe I have added a bit of magic to that awesome game. It's probably obvious - I'm sad that this unique part of the series has not gotten another game of Wind Waker's size.

Someday, I dream of being able to see that last adventure realized - to be with Link and Tetra in New Hyrule, and finally complete their story.

But if there's something I've realized, its that I don't want to be left at the mercy of what a corporation decides is a better story, which is why I'm writing original fantasy now.

I'd encourage you to look into that - as I consider it a step up from this.

I've rambled on quite long for an afterword. Thank you for all of your support, and your mutual love for this awesome game.

- Wasatch Wind, March 28th, 2021