ReMix:The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds "Love Thaws the Heart" 7:06

We've got the next part of RebeccaETripp's ongoing Zelda series water medley featuring Medllix, Gamer of the Winds, and Steven Higbee! Featuring six themes, the shape of water, if you will, looks like this:

• 0:00 - "Ice Ruins" (ALBW)
• 1:00 - "Swamp Palace" (ALBW)
• 2:11 - "Lake Hylia" (TP)
• 3:59 - "Zora's Domain" (OoT, MM, TP, BotW)
• 5:35 - "Sailing the Sand Sea" (SS)
• 6:12 - "Mipha's Theme" (BotW)

As the arranger, Tripp charted the course and explained to us where this segment fits within her grander effort:

"I had a lot of fun with this section, graduating the lonely chill of OoT's "Ice Cavern" (where I had left off in the first third of the whole medley), through increasingly warmer and kinder aquatic themes, until finally thawing out with Mipha's love. The first movement is a descent into water's mystery. The second movement represents the trials, joys, and transformations within its embrace. The third movement will represent the water's transcendent release!"

I appreciate where Rebecca was coming from in terms of this set of sources being comparatively "warmer and kinder"; while nothing about Tripp's previous water segment ("Legendary Depths") sounded antagonistic, there was an even mellower vibe here that you can bask in. Judge Hemophiliac expressed appreciation for Tripp's medley construction as well as her and the performers renditions meaningfully standing apart from the original themes (another Tripp specialty):

"I have to say I feel like you improved on the original of Link Between Worlds "Ice Ruins". The original has a very grating and super bright quality to it, and you've removed that and created mystery instead of a harsh chill. "Lake Hylia" from Twilight Princess has been warmed up with lower-range violins and violas, and high-range cellos. Weaving between each different source is done very well as they are meshed in a way to really cover their transitions. The percussion really helps with that as well."

The shift into "Lake Hylia" was a nice bit of contrast, forgoing the percussion for about half a minute and focusing more on the strings and brass, and I also enjoyed the transition into "Zora's Domain". While it's all meant to be mysterious and mystical, there's meaningful effort put into the transitions as well as varying up the energy of the textures, even if the instrumentation is pretty fixed, because you have different parts dropping in and out. I dig it, just like judge Chimpazilla did:

"I love all these themes! Rebecca and I are both Zelda lovers, so I am extremely familiar with these lovely themes. I agree with Hemo, I love what you did with Ice Ruins! This arrangement is a medley like so many RET arrangements, and like the other ones this flows (see what I did there) beautifully from theme to theme and the arrangement is cohesive as it moves and changes over time, telling a lovely story. The transitions are smooth as heck, especially moving into Lake Hylia, as Larry pointed out. The soft rain at the end is the perfect way to close out the piece.

The mixing is fine, everything is clear and gorgeous. Mastering is just right for this style. This is a lovely romp through the icey/watery realms of Hyrule."

We're looking forward to that third and final movement as Captain Tripp and her crewmates float along in the realm of Zelda water themes! Kudos to Medllix, GotW, and Steven for establishing such a great rapport both with Rebecca *and* the music of Hyrule! :-)