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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Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

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.

Since you’re enjoying my work, please consider donating:

Make a one-time donation with Ko-Fi:  https://ko-fi.com/theeasyspeaker

Become a sustaining supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ItemCardswithTheSpeakingSquid 

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords Adventures: Throwing axes with bloody pasts.

 Throwing axes with bloody pasts.

Boomerang: Like other pedestal items, the boomerang can be used by any Link that picks one up, but only until they pick up a new item or finish the stage. Boomerangs can be used to pick up far-away objects and stun enemies, and in Four Swords Adventures Link can cause the boomerang to hover in midair before calling it back.

The tomahawk belonged to a freedom fighter who waged a guerilla war against an oppressive colonial empire. The hatchet belonged to a crime lord whose blood reign of terror was ended with their own axe. Together they represent some of the finest examples of tools becoming weapons in the hands of the powerless and are a highlight of the Collector's most recent acquisition.

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The connection might be a bit weak here. Boomerangs and throwing axes are both thrown weapons. That’s it.

My first exposure to the concept of the Axe Gang was through Kung Fu Hustle. If you haven’t watched it, you should.

 If you enjoy my work, please consider donating:

Make a one-time donation with Ko-Fi:  https://ko-fi.com/theeasyspeaker

Become a sustaining supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ItemCardswithTheSpeakingSquid 

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: My favorite zelda boomerang from Wind Waker.

My favorite Zelda boomerang from Wind Waker.

Boomerang: This boldly yellow boomerang is the main dungeon item in the Forbidden Forest, a forest island entirely inside the stump of a once titanic tree. Link can use the boomerang to flip switches, grab items, and stun enemies. While targeting, Link can select up to five targets that the boomerang will fly through before returning to his hand.

This boomerang was gifted to a young hero after they rescued a storm spirit that had been tricked into bondage. The spirit took the shackles that once bound it and reforged them into this bright boomerang. The elemental powers bound within this boomerang allow the thrower to guide the path of the boomerang. 

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The cartoony visual of this boomerang is the perfect representation of the evocative visual style that Wind Waker brought to the franchise. It doesn’t need the gritty realism of Twilight Princess to have a compelling story. The story is no less epic for having a delightful and wacky visual style.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords: Two returning weapons from Four Swords.

Two returning weapons from Four Swords.

Moon Glaive: Night wardens in the worship of the moon goddess use these three bladed glaives in their endless crusade for total domination of the night. The most talented of the moon goddess’ army can throw the glaives with deadly accuracy. In addition to their great skill, some are blessed with divine powers to cause thrown glaives to ricochet between enemies and then return.

Not a colorist: Five full color items from Oracle of Seasons you may have seen before.

Five full-color items from Oracle of Seasons you may have seen before.

What you’ve got there, that’s not a knife. Now this, this is a knife.

Not an artist: Six swords from Oracle of Seasons that channel the power of the elemental sovereigns.

Six swords from Oracle of Seasons that channel the power of the elemental sovereigns.

Magical Boomerang: The magical boomerang is recovered from the Ancient Ruins, the sixth dungeon Link explores during his adventures around and under Holodrum. The magic of the boomerang allows Link to control its path after throwing as well as making it fly longer strike harder than the mundane boomerang.

While the magic boomerang is obviously a magical wind weapon, I was struggling to come up with an evocative item to draw. I had already drawn Trueflame and didn’t want to exclude its sister weapon Hopesfire. Since Hopesfire has a shock damage enchantment, I decided to channel the wind theme from the Elemental Fury dragon shout or the Windfury totem. Since I had already drawn two elements at that point, I decided to just finish out the rest of the elemental damage types. I also just included a blank ebony scimitar for good measure.

Given only to the most trusted and skilled warriors in service to the elemental forces, these scimitars are able to channel the powers of the elemental sovereigns the warriors serve. The power of each sovereign manifests differently on the blade, but they all clearly show the bearer's allegiance. The connection to the elemental power is instantly severed if the warrior is slain or if they lose their master’s favor. 

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Brace yourself, election day is coming. 

Please vote.

Voter turnout sucks in the U.S. I feel like a lot of that is to do with the fact that so much is done to make voting hard, but it is so important that you use your power and vote. Take the country's future in your hand. Help guide the ship to better waters.

I don’t want to tell you how to vote, but again, I implore you to remember that all people deserve equal rights and dignity. We should also all have the chance to lead full and healthy lives.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Not an artist: Five items from Oracle of Seasons used by the oracle.

Five items from Oracle of Seasons used by the oracle.

Rod of Seasons: This rod is the core item of the Oracle of Seasons. This rod allows Link to change the season in the nearby region. Unfortunately, when Link is given the rod in the Temple of Seasons, its power is mostly sealed. Link begins with the power to call winter and must struggle and earn each additional season. The spirits of the seasons are trapped in other parts of the temple inaccessible to Link until he has obtained specific items. Eventually, Link gains total control of the seasons and can call in whatever season is convenient from atop the tree stumps that dot all of Holodrum.

The oracle’s duty is to maintain nature’s balance and to ensure the regular progression of the seasons. The rod of seasons is passed from one oracle to the next, given to the inheritor in the winter of the last oracle’s life. This powerful artifact has the ability to force the seasons to change, but no oracle would ever use the rod’s great power unless the balance of nature had been upended.

I'm not an artist: Five items from Oracle of Ages one could find in the far future of a fantasy world.

Five items from Oracle of Ages one could find in the far future fantasy universe.

Boomerang: The boomerang is not a required item or even a dungeon item in Oracle of Ages. Link can win it in the Goron Shooting Gallery in the Rolling Ridge but doesn’t have to in order to stop Veran and save Labrynna. The Oracle of Ages boomerang does all the standard boomerang stuff including stunning enemies and grabbing items.

Advancements in drone technology have made increasingly robust and useful drones. The tri-rang system is a modular drone that can be configured for many functionalities including surveying new planets, surveilling persons of interest, package delivery, and combat support. To deploy the drone, one need only throw it like a boomerang and command it through the standard neural interface.

I’m not an artist: Five items from Ocarina of Time you could find in an endless forest village

Five items from Ocarina of Time that could be found in a village in the endless forest. 

Deku Stick: Improvised weapons and temporary torches, Link uses these sticks in the same way many children do. Unlike Link, most children are not on an adventure with the fate of intertwined worlds hanging in the balance. In drawing the deku sticks, one was bare while the other had deku nuts still attached. I imagined the stick with nuts sounding like a rattle when swung. 

Children practice the basics of all sorts of skills by playing with sticks. Fishing, drumming, fencing, and even wand skills are all first learned by playing. This connection between children and their sticks is reinforced by the ritual of dowsing that all children in the village undertake as they come of age. Adolescents entering adulthood are tasked with venturing into the forest near the village alone and return with the stick that calls to them. The adolescent, returning with a stick, returns as an adult in the village. The nature of the stick is interpreted by the elders to determine what vocation is best suited for the newly christened adult. Most people in the village keep their dowsing sticks as mementos of the ritual that determined their place in the world. 

I'm not an artist: Five Link's Awakening items found in an Academy for Witches.

Five items from Link’s Awakening you can find at the Sibylline Academy for Witches.

Broom: Link is given the broom in thanks for delivering a letter to a lonely man in a long distance relationship. The relationship is actually a sham. Mr. Write is actually being catfished as the photo included in the letter is not representative of the letter’s author. 

Any witch worth their salt rides a broom. In her youth, Josephine Sibyl was bullied mercilessly for being too poor to buy a broom. Instead she had to borrow a worn broom from the school and return it at the end of every semester. Josephine Sibyl eventually rose to fame as a wildly talented witch and champion of the common people. Her adventures earned her much renown and even more gold. When Josephine founded the Sibylline Academy for Witches, she left it an enormous endowment to ensure that any student in need have the equipment essential for an arcane education provided at no cost. The endowment has grown over the many years due to Sibylline graduates happily donating to the endowment that gave them the tools to succeed when they were in need. 

i'm not an artist: Items from A Link to the Past a Ranger Scout would have.

Five items from A Link to the Past any Ranger Scout would be proud to own.

Boomerang: A basic boomerang that stuns enemies, grabs items, and flips switches from afar.

The wide open plains seem to open up infinitely in all directions. Many areas are devoid of anything that could provide meaningful cover or act as a landmark for reference. Ranger Scouts earning their plains patches can take advantage of the open air to master the boomerang. The returning nature of the boomerang also helps Ranger Scouts not lose their tools in the long grasses.

Stories of the hero in green have been passed from one generation to the next since the hero first appeared to save the world from the forces of darkness. When children hear that the hero often employed a boomerang in their adventures, many inevitably wish to learn to use the weapon. It is not uncommon for children to embellish their first boomerang with images of creatures and symbols from the stories that inspired them to learn the boomerang in the first place.

I'm not an artist: Five super items from A Link to the Past

Five items from A Link to the Past. Each with an adventure seed from the super powered city of New Metropia.

Blue Mail: The blue mail offers Link increased damage reduction and a cool new pallet swapped sprite. The armor is found in an ice themed dungeon and it really only connects with the dungeon’s theme via the color blue. The symbol on the chest is based on various images from color theory so I’m thinking about colorful as a concept when I see this breastplate.

Rainbow Defender became the first openly homosexual crime fighter in New Metropia almost seventy years ago. The citizens of New Metropia were not always accepting of Rainbow Defender, but they have always defended the rights and liberties of each and every person. Always appearing in their distinctive rainbow colored armor, they are all but invulnerable to harm. Some theorize that the armor has actually been passed down to a new generation allowing the original Defender to retire.

 The Radiant Raiment was bestowed to a particularly devout paladin in service of the Searing Light. This crusader of the light was last seen traveling towards Sengiriztan, a land avoided by all but the bravest or most foolish due to its fearsome reputation for being secretly ruled by a vampiric oligarchy.

I'm not an artist: Six items to close out The Legend of Zelda.

We made it! This is the final set of images from The Legend of Zelda. To celebrate the occasion I have included six images instead of the five I usually post. 

Magical Rod: This is about as true to the original 8 (?) bit image as it could be. This is a great entry-level magic rod that any caster or gifted dilettante earns as a reward for completing their first adventure. The basic design allows for this to be tied to any school of magic or specialty. 

I'm not an artist: Another month, another five items from The Legend of Zelda

Happy Easter Fools Day. Another five items from The Legend of Zelda drawn by me.

Magical Boomerang: The dot on the gem at the center was supposed to be a highlight. Now that I look at it after some time away, I sort of get a Cylon eye vibe. This boomerang could be intelligent or be controlled mentally like a RC drone. You could even use this as a sort of surveillance device that allows the user to look out from the perspective of the gem as it flies.