Sunday, February 23, 2025

The Minish Cap: A borrower’s shield.

 A borrower’s shield.

Small Shield: Link’s first shield is a simple affair given to him by Princess Zelda. He can use it to block simple attacks and deflect rocks and arrows.

Dogs, cats, and rats can bother the tall folk, but the same creatures are deadly threats to the borrow-folk. Fights between borrow-folk are almost unheard of, but many still carry shields and buckers to protect themselves from the many dangers of their diminutive world. That button missing from your shirt or cuff might be the difference between life and death to the borrow-folk you unwittingly share your home with.

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I have so much nostalgia for the stories of the Borrowers. Little people living secretly in the unused cracks of your house is the exact sort of semi-plausible fantasy every kid should enjoy. I definitely built houses and left supply caches out just in case my room had borrowers.

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, February 16, 2025

The Minish Cap: The chief’s hook talisman

 The chief’s hook talisman

Magical Boomerang: This magically enhanced boomerang strikes harder, travels farther, and can change direction mid-flight. Link must fuse kinstones with the Tingle Siblings to reveal the hidden location of the boomerang. 

The stories tell us that long ago the people lived on only one island because there were no other islands in the open ocean. A clever chief decided to fool their siblings into making new islands by exclaiming they had hooked the greatest fish when they had purposely hooked the ocean floor. Paddling hard, the siblings pulled up the ocean floor into island after island for the people to discover and inhabit.

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Manaiakalani is Maui’s hook in Polynesian traditions. After the existence of Moana, it is much more difficult to find sources discussing folkloric traditions instead of Disney films. 

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, February 9, 2025

The Minish Cap: Blessed Boomerang

Blessed Boomerang 

Boomerang: This boomerang stuns enemies, flips switches, and picks up distant items. Link can purchase this from Stockwell’s shop with enough rupees.

To be accepted as an adult, you must climb the big rock and throw your boomerang from its edge beneath the stars. It is considered auspicious if you can find your boomerang on your journey home. If you are fortunate enough for your boomerang to return in the dark of night, you are considered blessed by the great spirits.

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This is one of those drawings that just didn’t turn out well enough. I don’t enjoy it, but it's done and that’s good enough.

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, February 2, 2025

The Minish Cap: A leprechaun’s shillelagh.

A leprechaun’s shillelagh

Cane of Pacci: The cane is found while exploring the Cave of Flames. The bolts of energy flung by the cane flip objects upside down which can be helpful when dealing with carts that need to be emptied or well-armored enemies. The cane also uses its inversion magic to turn holes into trampolines. Instead of falling into a hole, the effect of the hole is flipped and it becomes a bounce platform. 

This walking stick makes its bearer magically lucky by stealing luck away from nearby folk, leaving them to suffer more of life’s little mischiefs. It doesn’t take long for people to realize the fellow with the stick is too lucky by far and deserves some evening out. This chaotic bit of magic was woven by a leprechaun who wanted to make sure that if their shillelagh was ever taken, it would cause enough mischief to find its way back home. 

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There are plenty of magic sticks to choose from in the greater fairy tale and folk story canon, but I think the shillelagh is the perfect balance between mundane and magical that typifies fairy tales instead of general fantasy.

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph