The Hero’s Shade is an embodiment of legacy and honor. He is a spirit with a warrior’s, well, spirit — which is why he does everything he can in Twilight Princess to help the Link save their beloved homeland of Hyrule.
Link first meets the Hero’s Shade outside the entrance to the Forest Temple. Shade greets Link while disguised as a glowing wolf, and by “greets” I mean he growls viciously at Link, lunges at him, and magically transports them both to some alternate plane of existence.
I’m not going to lie, I was caught off guard when I first watched this happen. All signs pointed to this being some strange mini-boss encounter, especially the point when the wolf turned into an imposing, ghostly, sword-wielding skeleton. Things took an unexpected turn, however, after Link found his bearings and faced off against the specter.
Shade stares Link down and steps back and forth, waiting for the young hero make a move.
As Link once again returns to his feet, the Hero’s Shade reprimands him for his current strength and insists Link must find his courage in order to grow stronger and save Hyrule. Link is annoyed by this statement, but Shade goes on to say if Link truly desires to find his courage and be a hero, then he will be worthy to learn the
This was a twist I was not prepared for. What initially appeared to be an enemy was instead a teacher who would throughout the course of the game teach Link new and powerful attacks. This mysterious ghost, who for some reason had detailed knowledge of Link’s role as the legendary hero, was going to be a valuable ally.
Link meets the Hero’s Shade six more times throughout his quest to learn the remaining hidden skills. One by one, Link learns these skills and becomes a stronger, more confident warrior. Skills such as the Helm Splitter, the Great Spin, and my personal favorite, the Mortal Draw, become Link’s tools to use in his battles against Zant and Ganondorf’s forces.
All of these new moves were fun and useful, but what was truly fascinating to me about the encounters with the Hero’s Shade were all the aforementioned references to the duties of the Hero. It was not clear why he has such intimate knowledge of Links destiny, that is until Link learned the final skill. This was when the Hero’s Shade, satisfied with Link’s progress, revealed his history: “Although I had accepted life as the hero, I could not convey the lessons of that life to those who came after. At last, I have eased my regrets.”
It all made sense. The Hero’s Shade was the legendary hero of an era gone by. Though his own role as the Hero of Legend had ended and his time had come, his unbreakable sense of loyalty to Hyrule and all things good forced the Hero’s Shade to continue on in the world of the living.
He was a true warrior and a true hero, and the idea that all of his knowledge would not be passed onto the next hero to help them protect the kingdom was unbearable. Until he was certain Link was prepared, death would just need to wait.
