Darunia
Cor Darunia (a.k.a. Goron Colossus, the Backbone of Death Mountain, The Sage of Fire)
Darunia is the unofficial leader of the gorons of Death Mountain during the time of the Hero of Time's journey. His position as the tribe's patriarch is only unofficial because it is not recognized as a legitimate position of authority by Hyrule, and as far as the ruling kingdom is concerned there is no leader of the gorons, there is no authority other than Hyrule's royal family. He is highly respected by his fellow gorons, a respect that he has worked hard to earn over the course of most of his life. For decades, he has committed himself to uplifting, supporting and strengthening his tribe, to the degree that he is referred to by the community as 'the backbone of Death Mountain.' When any form of communication is held between Death Mountain and Hyrule, Darunia is the one representing the gorons.
His demeanour is generally quite serious and calm. He is very level-headed, which is why he's known to be reliable in times of crisis. He takes very seriously the things that he believes should be taken seriously, and is more than willing to take responsibility for his community and their wellbeing, on small and large scales. At the same time, he is just as happy to kick back, relax, and party with his fellow gorons when the time comes. He believes that nothing ever truly beats a real hearty goron celebration. He loves music, and he loves to dance-- in fact, he's known to be a real wildfire on the dance floor. According to the rest of the tribe, it's really a sight to behold, and it's only enhanced by the fact that Darunia stands at a full eight feet tall, incredibly big even for a goron. Some say he can dance hard enough to shake the magma loose from the mountain, and Death Mountain itself erupted from his dancing on the day of his coming of age celebration.
It did do that, but not necessarily because of his dancing.
Darunia first meets Link as a child of twelve, when he comes to Death Mountain in search of the legendary Goron Ruby. Link had been told by Impa to bypass the Hyrulean guards blocking the road and go straight to Darunia, and tell Darunia that she was the one who sent him, as she and Darunia are close allies-- "sworn brothers". Unfortunately, however, the gorons have been suffering from a famine for several weeks already, and their please for aid from Hyrule have all been ignored. Something moving around deep in the mountain triggered violent tremors which caused several of their mines to cave in and become impassable at multiple points, and the entrances were destroyed; including key mines from which they harvest their bomb flowers, and their food, respectively. Without bomb flowers they cannot bypass any of the cave-ins to access their mineral farms, and without access to the mineral farms, they are starving.
Darunia, tired and frustrated, at first snaps at Link, but is immediately apologetic and becomes very receptive and gentle towards the young boy as they both explain their situations. He's grateful, but concerned, and acts protectively when Link professes his desire to help the gorons. He tells him that, if Link is going to do as he plans, he will need something to help him succeed. He pulls the gold ring off his thumb and offers it to the boy, who puts it on as a bracelet. Darunia tells Link it's a magical power charm, and wearing it will make him stronger and sturdier. Link is excited, saying he can feel it working already, and he goes into the caverns filled with confidence and vigour. He continues to wear the charm afterwards when Darunia says he can keep it, keeping it on nearly at all times. Link doesn't learn until seven year later that the ring-slash-bracelet was never magical, and that Darunia simply wanted to help Link believe in himself by giving him a token of his own confidence in the boy. Link, bereft of a father figure since the death of the Great Deku Tree, is incredibly moved by this.
Darunia makes for an excellent father figure especially, thanks to the fact that he himself is a father for real. Before the breaking of Demise's seal, Darunia had an egg incubating in the underground natal lava pools, which he had been anticipating the hatching of for a long time already. Despite the hardships he and his tribe were experiencing at the time, he was still excited knowing his child would join them soon. The egg did hatch in short time, as he predicted-- only, the first crack appeared on the same night that Link drew the Master Sword and disappeared, the ancient god of destruction of Demise was released and possessed Ganondorf, and a demon monster army was summoned from the depths of the realms. The moment Darunia first held his newborn son in his arms was also when the news reached him, that much of Castle Town had been ravaged or ransacked, Hyrule Castle occupied by demons and evildoers, and many people were either dead or missing, including the entire royal family, and including Link.
And so, Darunia named his own son after Link, believing the brave young boy from the forest had been killed in the waves of violence, the kind and selfless boy that had taken upon himself to save so many of them when no one else could or would help, the boy with a pure and true heart. Darunia often found himself wondering if he in return could have saved Link from his untimely fate, if only he had delayed his departure from Death Mountain by a day or two... he doesn't learn until seven years later that Link had survived, and is overjoyed to see him alive and well again.
Link definitely cries a little bit when he learns that Darunia named his son after him.
Soon after, Darunia is revealed to be the sage of fire. He tells Link he already knew of his role as the sage, as many years ago he'd had several mysterious dreams rife with messages from the gods, which led him to discover he was to be the next sage of fire. All he had yet to do was formally awaken, which he knew would happen when the time was right.
Relationships
Link the Goron (son)
Notes on Darunia's redesign
All my goron designs involve giving them less cartoonish and caricature-like features and proportions, so of course that was the first thing I tackled here. I made him very square-and-solid looking. I wanted him to have an appearance that read both as very dignified and also very personable. One should be able to tell at a glance that he is someone who commands a great deal of respect and is worthy of that respect, while also being approachable and trustworthy. Simultaneously larger than life and down to earth. His expression is stern, but with an undertone of warmth. In the original game, Darunia seemed to me like a character who wasn't really meant to be taken seriously, but for our version we want to give the opposite impression. When Darunia speaks, you will listen. I intended for him to be a character that commands respect both from the other characters around him and from the audience as well.
Aside from that, his defining characteristics remain, especially his beard and hair which are what make his silhouette most easily distinguishable. Rather than changing very much I mostly just added more, like his accessories, clothes and tattoos. Many people in the past have pointed out that the gorons, in oot especially, have many elements that appear to be based off various cultures from across the African continent, but again, especially in oot, that was done rather insensitively. So I also decided to look to the west African region in particular for some inspiration for my Darunia redesign. I ended up using mostly references from Ghana after searching through a few different sources, and the traditional clothing there influenced how I dressed Darunia, like with the brightly coloured and patterned cloth of his waist-wrap thing and his sandals-- which from now on I have decided to draw all gorons wearing sandals. The cloth Darunia wears is not fully patterned like those from Ghana since I played around with a few different patterns before settling on this, but in the future I may try drawing something more 1-1.
His tattoo symbols are also based off the Adinkra symbols. Researching the Adinkra symbols was very exciting and interesting for me, and there were many that were perfectly suited for the things I had planned. I didn't want to just copy them directly, so I made slightly altered versions of some of the symbols with their original meanings. My hope is that anyone familiar with the Adinkra symbols would easily recognize them as the source, and be able to tell which fantasy versions are derived from which real ones, with or without the meaning listed alongside it. The ones I referenced for Darunia specifically were the Dwennimmen, meaning humility and strength, the Akoben meaning vigilance and wariness-- which depicted on his necklace-- the Nkonsonkonson meaning unity, or brotherhood, and the Aya meaning endurance and resourcefulness. The anvil symbol, the one representing Temna/creation/ingenuity, is one I invented imitating the existing symbols' style.
The red tattoo sleeve framing the goron ruby is meant to represent streams of lava flowing down the mountainside. This one single element gave me more grief than any other part of the redesign, I went though so many drafts of just that one tattoo and it was what caused this redesign to take so long! Though now that I have emerged victorious from the bloodstained battlefield (clip studio paint), I am very pleased with the final result!
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