Everyone has heard the Cinderella story a million times, so things get interesting when we flip the story around. What happens when we take the girl who has it all — the dresses, the money, the luxuries of life — and sweep everything right out from under her? What kind of person is this girl without all of her material possessions? This is exactly what happens to The Wind Waker‘s Mila.
Mila and her father were the wealthiest people on Windfall island, as evident by her father’s elegant attire and ravishing household. Unfortunately, Mila became one of the Helmaroc King’s victims, being mistaken for Tetra due to her long ears. She, Maggie, and Link’s sister, Aryll, are held prisoner in the Forsaken Fortress until Link’s second raid when he frees them all from Ganondorf’s grasp. They are all taken by the pirates and Maggie and Mila were returned to their home — for a price.
Mila’s father spends every rupee he has to rescue his darling daughter. Doing this, however, leaves the family dirt poor, forcing them to move out of their home and wear rags for clothing. To add insult to injury, Maggie and her father, who were the poorest residents of the island, have become fabulously wealthy by selling the presents Maggie received from an admirer. Maggie and her father both now live in the home that once belonged to Mila and her father, and thus Mila and her father must now work as the common folk to make ends meet.
Mila does the right thing and takes up a job with Zunari, a local shopkeeper. She works tirelessly every day to earn the money her father and she need in order to get by. While all this seems fine and well on the surface, this eats away at Mila on the inside. Suffering all this loss does no good for her self-esteem or her ethics. She plans something, a heist of sorts. She needs money and she needs it now. Luckily, our hero is here to save our little vagabond one more time.
In the dead of night, Link happens upon Mila, who acting strangely. Becoming suspicious, he stealthily follows her around the island, occasionally letting out the sound of a cat’s meow to avoid suspicion. (Though there are no cats on Windfall, I’ll give Mila the benefit of the doubt because she’s under a lot of stress.) He follows her all the way to Zunari’s shop where she attempts to break into his personal safe. Heart pounding, she races to unlock the strongbox but is caught in the act by the good Samaritan who has been following her.
At first, Mila tries to put Link in the spotlight instead, accusing him of being a creep who follows people around. Link, however, declares that he is an ally of justice, and Mila reveals all to him. She shares the tragedy she’s been through, hoping to get an ounce of compassion out of Link. She blatantly plays herself as the victim, feeling sorry for herself more than anything, and while Link does agree that what happened was terrible, she needs to get her act together.
Mila doesn’t understand at first why Link will not just let her go. Then she reflects on what she said and realizes how ridiculous she sounded. At that moment, Mila decides to become a better person, not making any more excuses from that point on. As a thank you for hearing her out, Mila gives Link the only possession she has: an empty bottle. It’s a useful little trinket, but nothing compared to the valuables she used to own. Now it’s all she has, but she gives up this treasure to thank this stranger who helped her.
She bids Link farewell and leaves the store’s premises. The next time the two meet, Mila is working diligently at her job. She has an upbeat attitude and seems more at ease, though, to quell any of his suspicions, she does make mention to Link that she has a second job off-island at night.
The pressures of life drove Mila to a point where she decided to take drastic action, but one heart-to-heart talk made her realize that her values had become askew and that she was a better person than she believed. She would not fall to the standards of a common thief. With Link’s help, Mila grew and became an honest worker, hoping that her soul would one day become as sparkling clean as the tiny treasure she presented to Link. In the end, the treasures Mila truly wanted and earned were far more important than any material possessions: Honesty, accomplishment, and self-worth.
