Zelrrako

Zelrrako is the friend ship between Zelda and Terrako from The Legend of Zelda fandom.

Canon
Princess Zelda as a young child was assembling Terrako with the supervision of her mother and once she adds the final piece, Terrako becomes responsive, and she excitedly shows it to her mother. Since then, Terrako has always been the one to play her lullaby for her every single night. After her mother passes on, Zelda can be seen looking at the moon missing her and Terrako plays her lullaby again and hopes that it would not leave her. While it did not certainly leave her on its own accord, her father King Rhoam ended up confiscating despite her pleas for him not to as he believed it would distract her from her duty of her spiritual training.

Years later, as Calamity Ganon was laying waste to Hyrule with Zelda awakening her sacred power to protect Link, it ended up reactivating Terrako, who was in the box in her study. As Terrako breaks free from the box, it hears her pleas to protect everyone. Now given a purpose to help her, Terrako activates a Gate of Time and jumps through despite a nearby Guardian Stalker's attempts to stop it. After reaching the present, Terrako ends up getting into a fight with Harbinger Ganon, its evil counterpart from the new timeline and ultimately ends up being defeated and inactive, Link would eventually come across it and Impa can be seen throwing it to him as she is fleeing from the Bokoblins. The Sheikah Slate reactivates Terrako, who also surprises everyone by raising the Sheikah Towers. It also reunites with Zelda, who does not recall meeting with it, but she does know that it reacts to the Sheikah Slate. King Rhoam somewhat recognizes it, but nonetheless lets Terrako go with them as it will prove useful, but he reminds his daughter that she has a sacred duty she must fulfill as well. When Harbinger Ganon possesses a nearby Guardian to kill the princess, Terrako also activates an inactive Guardian and does the same to the others to weaken it until it can be destroyed to protect her. They deliver Terrako to Purah and Robbie, who decipher its memories which showed Calamity Ganon ravaging Hyrule which greatly disturbed them, though Zelda is determined to at least try despite the outcome.

Terrako has proven helpful to her as it is to the other Champions, such as sharing an image of Divine Beast Vah Ruta with Zelda and Mipha to help them turn the tides, as well as generally helping the rest of the Champions. As Sooga ambushed the group in Castle Town, Terrako attempted to take the blow for Zelda, only for Link to push it aside to block the kunai with his shield, much to Terrako's annoyance. After the group finds the Master Sword with Link being able to succeed where she did not, she becomes worried on the way back, only for Terrako to play her lullaby as she briefly recalled her history with it before they encounter a disruption. After the Champions were promoted, they hang out at the gazebo where Terrako tries to speak with her only to get into an argument with Impa as she tells them that they have no need for childish fights. As they activate the Sheikah Towers, Terrako actively helps them activate Guardians when needed which also helps when Sooga tries to stop them froma activating the Akkala Tower to find their location.

Once Calamity Ganon arrived and King Rhoam is presumably killed by the Guardians, as Terrako share the images of the Divine Beasts falling under corruption which would also mean the deaths of the Champions, she sinks into despair as she cries of being a failure as Terrako summons four Gates of Time which were sent to the Divine Beasts, which still have the blue circuitry through they were in danger of falling under control due to the malice affecting them, Link, Zelda, and Impa head out to save the Champions and thanks to the future warriors that Terrako had summoned, they were able to protect the Champions from the Blight Ganons. As they make their trip to Akkala Citadel, Zelda recalls the adult Sidon giving his testimony on how they ended up in their time, Zelda thanks Terrako for its help as they continue. Terrako continues to assist her subsequent battles to which she is able to awaken her power to save Link from Astor and the revived Blight Ganons.

Later, during the battle at Hyrule Castle, as Harbinger Ganon consumes Astor when he tried to order it to destroy the Hyrulean forces, its Malice possesses Terrako and despite its attempts to resist it, it succumbs and forced to fight Link and the princess. After it was defeated, Zelda mourns it as Terrako, having regained its senses plays its lullaby to her weakly which Zelda fully remembers its name and full history. This leaves her determined to defeat Calamity Ganon no matter what. As the battle is turned against them and Zelda tries to seal Ganon, her power brings Terrako back up and it sacrifices itself to shatter its invincibility, allowing them to destroy Ganon once and for all. Terrako's blessed screw returns the future warriors back to their own time. With everyone working to bring the fifty Terrako components, it was reassembled at the Ancient Royal Lab where it didn't respond at first, but Zelda's presence allowed it to become fully functional to the relief of everyone as Zelda happily reunites with it as it plays her lullaby once again. In the secret DLC ending, Terrako and Zelda float away from the Sheikah Tower on a paraglider together and note that saving the kingdom was well worth it.

Fanon
Zelrrako is a rare ship within the fanbase with nearly ten fanfics in AO3 that focus on their friendship. Fans have considered their relationship to be one of the more, if not the most heartwarming relationship, especially for the princess who would be fragile over the pressure she was under throughout her life. One of the reasons their relationship is so beloved is that it was responsible for the good things that have happened to her when something bad happens from playing her lullaby to ease her worries and protecting her from the Guardians and the Yiga Clan, to performing even greater feats such as saving the four Champions from the Blight Ganons, the very people she cared about.

Fandom
FAN FICTION