A creative Legend of Zelda fan has left fans awe-struck at the sight of their genuine stained glass Hylian shield. The creation is wonderful to look at and required a whole lot of work to reach completion.
The Hylian shield, even if not known by name, is likely one of the most recognizable objects to players. The shield's iconic design contains both the Triforce and the Hylian Crest, and has been carried by Link in nearly every Zelda game since it made the transition to 3D with Ocarina of Time.
Reddit user Cellocalypsedown shared their impressive piece of work with the Zelda community. The Twilight Princess Hylian Shield replica looks spot-on, with each piece of glass having been painstakingly shaped and positioned to match the original design of the shield as closely as possible. The choices of color are also impeccable, with the deep blues, vibrant red, and gold of the Triforce popping spectacularly when the light shines through.
Zelda fans in the comments have been quick to shower Cellocalypsedown with praise for their work. According to the creative fan, the entire project took about 30 hours of work from start to finish, and an image album shows fellow fans glimpses of the project starting from the very beginning, when the design was still on paper. It seems to have inspired a few fans to consider taking stained glass classes of their own, as well.
While this particular creation is bringing joy to Zelda fans, it's not the only work Cellocalypsedown has created based on the series. They note that they previously made a Hylian shield several years ago, and have also built stained glass creations based off of a Triforce GameCube controller and even built a custom stained glass shield inspired by the Wind Waker. Their shared creations have inspired fellow fans before, and it seems likely that this particular stained glass Hylian shield won't be the last time they look to Zelda for inspiration.
Making stained glass art isn't something that everyone can easily do, but it's thematically quite appropriate for the Zelda series. Stained glass windows and objects have appeared in a multitude of Zelda titles, and sometimes helps to tell a story. Wind Waker in particular features stained glass depicting the battle between the Sages and Ganon. Perhaps stained glass will be used in an interesting way in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but fans will have to wait and see.