Wind Waker: An emergency life jacket.

 Wind Waker: An emergency life jacket.

Piece of Heart: Pieces of Heart are often given as a reward for solving a puzzle or finding some hidden zone. Collecting four pieces of heart allows Link to increase his total hearts available by one. Wind Waker is kind enough to have many different charts and hints pointing Link to most of the locations of the 44 total pieces of heart hidden throughout the Great Sea.

In the event of an emergency, a life jacket can be the difference between drowning or staying afloat. Wearing a life jacket effectively staves off drowning, but it isn’t going to do anything to keep you from freezing to death in the arctic waters that stretch to the horizon in all directions. Damn that iceberg, damn that fool of a captain, and damn that designer for claiming this damned ship unskinkable.

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Always wear your life jacket when boating. You never know when you will be knocked overboard and have to fight to stay afloat.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A belay pin for tying off life lines, or severing them.

 Wind Waker: A belay pin for tying off lifelines, or severing them.

Heart: Hearts are Link’s measure of health. Picking up a heart restores up to one complete heart in his health bar. Found in freshly cut grass, broken pots, or defeated enemies Link must quickly pick up a heart or it will fade away to nothingness.

In the roil of the stormy sea, every sailor must have their lifelines tied to the mast or risk being lost at sea. When the overbearing first officer orders the fool cabin boy to check the lifelines, you see your opportunity. What a shame it would be if that very officer’s lifeline somehow came untied during the storm and sent the officer to their watery grave.

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Belay pins are the wooden rods that sailors used to tie down lines to the mast and other secure attachment points throughout a ship. Lifelines were literal ropes tied around a sailor’s waist and secured to the ship with a knot around a belay pin.

If you haven’t experienced Treasure Island in some form go read the book or watch one of the many movie adaptations. I am particularly partial to Muppet Treasure Island or Treasure Planet, but there are many wonderful adaptations to enjoy.

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Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A fairy’s cello, or a fine fiddle, depending on who you ask.

 Wind Waker: A fairy’s cello, or a fine fiddle, depending on who you ask.

Wind God's Aria: The Wind God’s Aria is learned from a monument hidden on Gale Island. This song is used to awaken the new Wind Sage, destroy obstacles in the Wind Temple, and fix signs that Link has slashed to pieces. I did not know about that last one when I played through Wind Waker. 

When a young farmhand heard music playing from the grove of trees beyond the field they didn’t expect to find a lone fairy so lost in their music as to be totally unaware of the mortal’s approach. Having taken a fairy by surprise, the child could have wished for whatever they wanted, but they only wished for the friendship of the fairy. The kind open heart of the child was rewarded as the fairy taught the young one to play the fiddle better than anyone living or dead, mortal or divine.

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There is the common idea of “be careful what you wish for” in fiction, but I would love to see more instances of “wishing for selfless things being rewarded.” Maybe if we had a large body of shared fiction where people used the near limitless power of wishing to improve the lives of others we all might try to improve the lives of others. 

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Be excellent to each other.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: The harp of a sage.

 Wind Waker: The harp of a sage.

Earth God's Lyric: The Earth God’s Lyric is learned inside a tomb on Headstone Island. Link must conduct this song to awaken the new Earth Sage and to destroy stone blocks obstructing his exploration of the Earth Temple.

There are stories of a musician so talented that they could calm a volcano with the playing of their harp. These stories are true, but the musician is long dead and their spirit now rests in the underworld. If someone wanted to learn from such a virtuoso, they would have to travel to the land of the dead and then find a way to return to the lands of the living with their newly acquired skill.

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This instrument and the next instrument are items in Wind Waker. I absolutely love the art style of the game, so I drew the wonderful items from the game whenever possible. 

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Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph