Digging all the Heraldic stuff :3
We do know my Mom's-Dad's lineage and Heraldry. On his Dad's side, he descends from a Swiss Mercenary Clan called the Aebersolds/Ebersoldt; "boar-soldiers," known for being incredibly tough and stubborn, to the point that they wouldn't even die properly when struck down on the battlefield (Note: this die-hard hopeful stubbornness has persisted in the family). According to his records, at one point they were incorporated into a regiment of the Swiss Guard. I don't have a picture of my Grandpa's Heraldry on hand, but it featured a green sapling with 7 symmetrical downward-curving branches, with spear-shaped leaves on the end of each (plus one at the top). This grew straight out of a short, green semicircular hill, with 2 red 6-pointed stars to either side at the top, all set against a silver field. His mom's side (which I know considerably less about) are the Harwoods, who apparently also have a crest though I've never personally seen it.
My BioDad's lineage is an unknown, and I can't track my Mom's-Mom's Saari lineage back to Finland either; they anglicized her Father Gustaf's surname heavily when he came to the US (as with many Finish-Americans, they chopped off the entire later half of the name because it was too foreign-sounding). We don't have good records other than that his family name meant "Head of Bear Island", and one of Grandma's siblings thinks it was "Saarenpää". Her mother's story is tough to figure out too; she was young and so excited to be getting married to the fella she met on the boat over here that, instead of giving her soon-to-be-overwritten-by-marriage Finnish family name when she was immigrating, she gave them the surname "Touhuilija", which translates to something like "Worthless/Garbage." It's unfortunate when trying to find her family, but I guess it was a
fucking stupid sweet gesture? We think her last name might've been Teppo/Tapio, for an old Pagan Finnish God of travelers and hunters, but it's been hard to confirm.
Finally finished the latest Zelda. Was a good game.
I only started it a few days ago. Got far enough in that I started to get a good feel for it. I love the way they took Zelda in an open-world direction, yet kept the charming characters and slowly-unfolding story. The storytelling-through-environment is top-notch, the world is genuinely fun to explore, the way you scavenge for weapons and supplies works excellently, and I love the bite-sized puzzle dungeons and on-the-road encounters with other travelers and traders.
Also this incarnation of Link is So Absurdly Pretty I mean damn.