The Legend of Zelda: Rings of Dualty

Every time the Master Sword has recieved a new master, its master has been that hero, Link, be he a small boy or a young adult. Every time it has chosen a single master.
But the godesses know that, someday, an evil so powerful, one weilder of the Master Sword would be insufficient, would come. They had an idea of what to do in such a case, should the legendary Four Sword, which has the power to split its weilder into two, three, or even four selves, be inacessible. They just did not know what would happen when their plan was finally forced to be used...

—Intro narration passage

The Legend of Zelda: Rings of Dualty^[1] is an in-progress Action-Adventure (with a dose of comedy) Zelda Fanfic for written by Ferre Trip ("FT" for short) started in late November 2007. It is written like a Novelization of a game that exists entirely within the author's (and reader's) mind... complete with new items and fully-narrated dungeons.^[2] The main gimmick behind the "game" is that it is an almost entirely co-op 3D game, with two similar yet distinct main characters: The hylian Link, of course, and the intelligent lizalfos Samba. It can be found here on FanFiction.net.

The premise is this: Some Big Bad is threatening Hyrule, and all the people who have a clue what it is know is that one person holding the Master Sword ain't gonna cut it...and the Four Sword is unavailable. The goddesses had the feeling this would happen, and thus engineered a way to get past the Master Sword's One Hero Limit and have its power shared between two wielders, via three rings called the Rings of Dualty. The basic way it works is simple: Whichever one wears the most Rings at the time has the Master Sword while some of the sword's power is granted to the other one. Of course, only the chosen may wield them, and they're scattered about the land, punishing anyone unfit who tries wearing one.

When circumstances lead to Link getting one Ring, he decides to collect the others to keep them out of the wrong hands, and so goes to Hyrule Castle where he learns another lies. At the same time, a new character, the blue lizalfos, Samba, obtains another Ring, and goes off to the castle to get it, too...though for somewhat different reasons. They end up getting to the third Ring at the same time and, after some exposition, set off on a quest to stop this evil threatening Hyrule as the chosen Knights of Dualty. They must gather eight MacGuffins, which of course are held by eight powerful bosses, which of course reside in eight big dungeons (after two smaller ones to get the Rings). The MacGuffin theme this time is rather unique, however--tools representing the different kinds of materials that people use (wood, stone, metal, etc.). The bosses guarding them are appropriately called the Leviathans of Material.

Extremely wordy (something the author fights with for everything), chock-full of Lampshade Hanging and justification of different mechanics and aspects of the series, and not lacking of gratuitous effort and attention to detail in certain places, the fic is supposed to make the reader feel like s/he is actually playing a Zelda game, with the two main characters often thinking like players. (The author wants to make a sort of interactive version on his own wiki^[3] someday to make it more like a real game, letting players figure out what to do themselves.) It, like most other fanfics, falls victim to pretty Egregious Schedule Slip because of various factors, the biggest being college. (Second-biggest is various other projects, third- being indecision.)

Tropes used in The Legend of Zelda: Rings of Dualty include:

• The Atoner: The Leviathans after being defeated, but particularly Anjoltvrya.
• Author Appeal: A reason why Samba is a main character and why the dungeons are fully made. That and Rule of Cool.
• Big Brother Instinct: Samba with his little sister, Vardi. It plays a pretty important role in his part of the first act. Her going missing prompts him to enter the second dungeon...and her being held hostage by the chief afterwards forces him to assault Hyrule Castle in an attempt to get their Ring of Dualty.
• Body Horror: Here and there, it being The Legend of Zelda.
  • When Kargaro transforms, his skin is torn apart from the inside by crystal.
  • What happens to some of the Leviathans when their transformation occurs.
• Deadpan Snarker: Link and Samba both get their moments, as do a number of NPCs.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Link and Samba, though subverted because the battle came to a draw.
  • Played straight with the Leviathans.
• Didn't Think This Through: The whole fic. FT didn't even know what the actual plot would be when he started!
• Disappeared Dad: Samba's father has been gone for so long, he says he can't remember what he looked like.
• Expy: A few. Some include Darcia as Malon, Betta as Rusl, and Daigorno as Darunia. Places, too, such as Korken Woods for The Lost Woods.
• Foot Focus: Samba, frequently, with his unusually large feet. While probably partially Author Appeal, it's always to either point out the consequences of having such feet (better balance and kicking power, but no ability to sidle along narrow ledges due to size) or to be silly. Even used for characterization; naturally, Samba was and is teased for them.
• Furry Fandom: The author is a furry, which is pretty obvious if you look at his avatar. ^{[dead link]} The influence is fairly apparent in the fic, though it doesn't hamper things. (It helps that there are already a number of non-human races in the Zeldaverse.) The most egregious example is probably Krungratrg when they meet him again at Here; he's a giant, muscular, overweight armadillo who loves how big he is...however, his personality makes up for this.
• Loads and Loads of Characters: Given it's trying to be a Zelda game, it's almost to be expected.
• The Lost Woods: Korken Woods, as well as the first dungeon, the Forest of Peril.
• Mythology Gag: It being a Zelda "game", they're all over the place.
• Original Character: Samba in particular, but given the fan game premise, the grand majority of characters apply, too.
• Parental Abandonment: Link is raised by his grandfather, parents gone.
• Punny Name: Less than you'd expect.
  • Betta is a swordsman. (Fighting fish are called betta fish.)
  • It's fun to say you agree with the lizalfos named Thyu.
  • Kwilliam draws maps.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Pols Voices are seen as this, at least by Samba...when they're not trying to squash him.
• Scooby Stack: A head-stacking version is employed by both the Hyrule Castle guards AND the support team sent with Samba during the assault on Hyrule Castle...which is later noticed and lampshaded.
• Shout-Out: Plenty, because the author is a nerd, and writing fanfiction is fun. Good luck finding all of them!
• Slasher Smile: The second boss. Even after he's supposedly "cured" of his madness!
• Storming the Castle: From two factions at once from opposite sides: An impatient Link from the front gates, and Samba and a few other lizalfos from the back. Both are able to get inside thanks to a distraction from the lizalfos and incompetent guards. Serves as the climax to the first act.
• Take Your Time: But of course. However, there are a few times in the story where time is important.

1. ↑ "Dualty" is a word the author thought existed and, if it didn't, should exist; means roughly "the state of being two things at once/of two things acting as one". Likely a misspelling of "duality", which may or may not mean what the author intends. Regardless, he's keeping the spelling as-is for the moment due to laziness and plot purposes.
2. ↑ Originally, these were not going to be fully narrated, but positive response from what few readers commented caused FT to cave and do so. This resulted in six chapters of a dungeon set in a relatively plausible working foundry.
3. ↑ meant as a guide to his overly-complex stories and other creative works, not to fluff his ego