Before the Hero's Awakening - cover

The Legend of Zelda: Before the Hero's Awakening

Of the war of the Kings and the flood of Hyrule



Finally I'm uploading my top Legend of Zelda project on the gallery, the fancomic Before the Hero's Awakening.
This is the cover, a stained glass like the beautiful promotional illustrations of The Wind Waker, which sums up the overall theme of the story. It's a prequel to the Gamecube game and covers the events that precede the awakening, both symbolical and literal, of the Hero of Winds starting from the second coming of Evil in ancient Hyrule.
The picture of Link at the center hints at the very first scenes of the game, in which he sleeps unaware of his destiny and withouth the dress that makes him the Hero, a role he will take after being awakened by his sister and which will lead him to confront and beat Ganon once and for all.

The main character of the comic is Daphnes Nohansen, my favourite of The Wind Waker and the whole Zelda saga along with Skull Kid from Majora's Mask. I find him to be underrated, often disliked because of what, to me, seems a misunderstanding of his character and background. This story is, in fact, almost an apology for the old King of Hyrule, one who lived the worst moment in the story of his land and in the mythos of the series, and was actually able to react, to do something. Withouth an Hero capable of wielding the Blade, defending Hyrule and defeat Ganon, he didn't simply succumb to his dark forces but tried it all to protect his people, which in the end were forced to choose the most dramatical solution to be free and hold on to a future.
The second character in order of importance is the antagonist Ganondorf, the opposite King, and the idea which led to this comic came from the simple image of this clash of wills, so powerful in the last moments of the game. They're the central characters, but overall the comic was conceived as a very choral story, filled with differents points of view about its tumultuous events.

The landscape behind Link in the stainglass is the part of Hyrule we see under the Great Sea in the game, the main location of Before the Hero's Awakening and one that alone conveys this struggle by comparing the keeps of the two Kings: the Castle of Hyrule and the Tower of Ganon. Here they're shown as we see them the first time we enter Hyrule: sleeping like the soon-to-be Hero, black and white in the stasis of the seal imposed to them. It's the way they should appear at the end of this story, right before Link wakes up in the ocean above to join the King and accomplish what he wasn't able to do in his age.

The fight between Ganon and the two lions is a metaphorical rendition of the clash of wills and forces I've spoken about.

The three parts of the Triforce, divided since the ancient age of Ocarina of Time, are respectively the Power in the left, where the Black Tower lies; the broken Courage in the right, near his future bearer; and the Wisdom in the bottom, kept by the Royal Family and under the protection of the Red Lions.

The circles in the upper part of the illustration hint at events that should happen near the end of the comic, they tie Old Hyrule to the Great Sea portraying an escape for the surface. They bear images of some tribes of Hyrule in their efforts to survive the flood and of their guides, sent by the Gods.



Unfortunately, none of these things will ever be seen because I'm pretty sure this comic won't see an end, or even a real beginning.
I started it shortly after finishing The Wind Waker for the first time, more or less when I was seventeen, but working on it has always been so complicated that I advanced very slowly for years until I decided to abandon it during the first year of university for lack of spare time.
At the time only 25 pages were done and I don't think I'll ever continue it because it requires too much effort and I have far more important obligations and projects to take care of, but nevertheless I'm happy to make it public and maybe share it with some other fans all over the world.

It's very far from perfect and nowadays I would do many things differently, both visually and story-wise, but it's not a disaster and I think it could be even redeemable if I ever had the time and the willpower to continue it.

Unfortunately, as for now it's impossible for me to work on this project.




First page of the comic.

Whole comic folder.