Zeldaruk

Zeldaruk is the friendship between Daruk and Zelda from The Legend of Zelda fandom.

Breath of the Wild
As Princess Zelda is gathering the Champions, she meets with Daruk and inquires his proposition to become the Champion of Divine Beast Vah Rudania, which Daruk immediately accepts to do so even if it costs him his life. Zelda thanks him as Daruk goes on to speak of the strange increase of monsters while wondering if this is Calamity Ganon's doing, but he reminds her that she should not go out without a horde of mighty Gorons at her side. Zelda replies that he sounds like her father, and he is appointing a knight who will stand by her side wherever she went. Daruk realizes whom she is referring to due to meeting this person, but it was not long before they see a group of Bokoblins attacking someone and Daruk tells her to stand back as he charges at the Bokoblins, using the Boulder Breaker to send them flying. They run away in terror as he declares that no one stands a chance against Daruk and laughs. Zelda finds the victim and assures that it was safe, revealing to be a Hylian Retriever, much to Daruk's disdain as he trembles in fear at it and activates his barrier when it barked, to Zelda's surprise. As the dog leaves, Daruk tells it to stay safe as he apologizes for showing his fearful side as he had a very bad experience with dogs having chased him a lot in his youth. Zelda could hardly imagine that Daruk has a weakness with him asking Zelda if Ganon is some kind of a dog creature. The two of them ended up laughing instead. Daruk was willing to share some Rock Roast with her which she thanks him, but she is holding back a grimace as Daruk deduces that she does not have anything good on her mind.

Daruk and the Champions attend the Champions' inauguration ceremony which they are given special blue cloths to commemorate their roles. Once they take a break outside in the gazebo, Daruk is tired out while the other Champions take interest in Zelda's Sheikah Slate. Upon hearing about the Camera Rune, Mipha makes a request to Zelda. Purah brings everyone together for a photo shoot and positions them until it was satisfactory and takes the photo, but Daruk pulls everyone in as she is doing it. Daruk attends the ceremony where he notices how dismal Zelda's speech is and leading the other Champions to make comments on it. Daruk tells Link that Zelda has trouble seeing beyond the peaks.

Later, Daruk and the Champions meet with Link and Zelda as they return from Mt. Lanayru. Daruk tells her not to keep her in suspense as Zelda confirms that she did not gain her power. As everyone wonders what to do next, Calamity Ganon returns, which everyone went to their positions as Daruk told them. Unfortunately, Daruk and the Champions have lost their lives when Ganon took control of the Sheikah Tech, to Zelda's dismay, with Link being wounded enough to be sent to the Shrine of Resurrection as Zelda uses her newfound power to seal Ganon inside Hyrule Castle. A century later, Link awakens from his century slumber and heads out to free the Divine Beasts, which Zelda is grateful for. Once Link confronts Calamity Ganon, the Champions open fire to weaken it.

Fanon
Zeldaruk is a rather uncommon ship between Daruk and Zelda with only over ten works having been published in Archive of Our Own. Even then there were ships that do have them interacting with each other a lot more with him being fatherly to her, mainly due to fans believing that he would have made a better father-figure compared to how King Rhoam was, as Zelda noted that he sounds like him when he tells her that she needed protection. He is also the one to cheer her up whenever she needed it as he is often depicted as comedic. His referring to her as "tiny princess" is often shown as him showing great respect for her as he does with calling Link "little guy" rather than being degrading to her due to her being shorter than him, with the Royal Family aware of the Gorons' mannerisms. Fans do appreciate their friendship with each other, and they have fan fics that show more of their relationship.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION