May the way of the Hero…
…lead to the Triforce. The Hyrule Parody is now posted on Substack by section to provide a free digital edition. There are nine chapters, or seventy-nine sections.
Inspired by the 1992 classic game A Link to the Past, enjoy this lighthearted tale of contemporary totalitarianism. No gaming experience required to read this story!
If you ever get lost, refer to this visual index:
What am I looking at?
In short—two illustrations, seamlessly placed side by side that depict the underlying narrative design of The Hyrule Parody, referencing landmarks from A Link to the Past.
This is the visual index from the hardcover edition (hence the specific page numbers) but you can refer to it here while reading the saga online to understand where you are.
The left illustration is a full-spread metaphoric aerial1 (in the book, the sword aligns with the center binding gutter). And the right illustration is a full-spread section.
Correspondingly, the elevation lines carry across these two diagrams as they are describing the same terrain, just represented from different views so to speak.
As shown on the right illustration, The Journey of Dark World Topologies is linear, which is to say the adventure simply descends in elevation from high to low. However as you can see from the banner titled Parody Progression – this descent is reordered according to a philosophical schema that structures how the chapters are laid out.
Said differently, the journey progresses one step at a time, from the upper-left of the section elevation (the right illustration) down to the lower-right. But the chapters are arranged into three tercets (each a triad) that follow this theme of moral delusion.
There’s a geometric logic to this layout which you can infer from the story:
The first tercet is Book One covering the delusions (or dark side) of Wisdom that are found at elevations one (Myopia), four (Rationalization), and seven (Conviction).
The second tercet is Book Two, where the story explores the warps of Power that are found at elevations two (Desire), five (Jealousy), and eight (Envy).
The third tercet is Book Three, wrapping up with the distortions of Courage that warp any soul at elevations three (Fright), six (Phobia), and nine (Anxiety).
Just to spell that out as the saga is printed and by book number:
Chapter One takes place at elevation one (Myopia), Chapter Two is elevation four (Rationalization), and Chapter Three is elevation seven (Conviction).
Chapter Four is situated at elevation two (Desire), Chapter Five is elevation five (Jealousy), and Chapter Six happens at elevation eight (Envy).
Chapter Seven occurs at elevation three (Fright), Chapter Eight is elevation six (Phobia), and Chapter Nine is elevation nine (Anxiety).
So that’s how The Hyrule Parody is put together, visually represented above.
Catch the pattern? If not, don’t worry—you’ll feel it once immersed!
Peruse the tandem diagrams to see which elevation is what landmark. Each chapter features one main character who is destined to overcome their respective delusion.
And yes, if you’d prefer to read the story as the characters experience it, you can follow the sequential elevation steps (each is its own chapter) to straighten the whole narrative out.
If none of this makes sense upfront, do not fret! Dive in and this underlying narrative design (or taletectonics2) will become evident as you proceed through the parody.
Read the saga as a trilogy of paperbacks, or all in one tome!
Physical book versions are available on Amazon, comprised as a trilogy of three books just as the parody is organized here on Substack, along with a full single saga tome.
Subscribe as paid and after $100 receive your Collector’s Edition of the full saga:
The Hyrule Parody is an original work by Jason Brain and protected by fair use doctrine. Substack thumbnails and book illustrations by Enrique Fernández. Ask the author anything!
This fanfiction is a parody of The Legend of Zelda and is not associated with, approved, or endorsed by Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda, names, and its images are the official trademarks of Nintendo. No artificial intelligence was used whatsoever in the creation of this work.
Watch the animated trailers and additional video content on our YouTube channel.
An oblique bird’s-eye view of a landscape that does not accurately depict distance or even locations as a units-based map might. Almost isometric in fashion, places are shown in relation to each other, but not necessarily where they actually are cartographically.
The tectonic structure of a tale or foundational logic of a narrative design that is common in medieval sagas. A preconceived view that guides an allegorical journey. Story architectonics.
