Easily one of the most beloved companion characters in the entire series, Midna is a devilish little imp who stole the hearts of many while exploring the Hyrule of Twilight Princess. Though she introduces herself as a mischievous troll, only agreeing to help Link if he becomes her servant, Midna turns out to be a central character to the story of Twilight Princess with a true form that is much more humanoid and regal.
She is most known for the impish design she inhabits for most of Twilight Princess, which stands out even among the other Twili, as she looks both cute and fiendish as opposed to mysterious and otherworldly. As it turns out, according to the art director for Breath of the Wild, Takizawa, Midna’s design originates from a “secret project” that existed before Twilight Princess.
While this enigmatic secret project certainly piques my interest, the details of this project are not explained much in the article where it’s mentioned. So, unfortunately, most of this project remains shrouded in mystery, and likely will forever. The details we do know are that the development notes for the game include descriptions of a character clearly familiar to Midna, describing a strange and mischievous monster child with unclear intentions. The early design sketches for Midna, according to Takizawa, look a lot like this secret project’s character.
Some of these designs are reminiscent of other Zelda characters, such as the Skull Kid, but it’s not mentioned whether or not this secret project would’ve been a Zelda game, or whether it would’ve been a game at all. The Zelda team is known for being resourceful, often incorporating scrapped or incomplete ideas from previous projects into new ones, so it’s likely that other ideas from this secret project have emerged in Zelda games besides Twilight Princess.
Would this character have been the central character for the secret project? Could this design have eventually become one of the many designs for Link? Would the entire world for this project mirror Midna’s design? Is the Twilight Realm we see in Twilight Princess what the world of that project could have been? I can’t help but theorize and dream about this mystery project, especially considering how unique the Twilight Realm and Midna are to the world of Zelda. After learning about this secret scrapped project, I do hope that, someday, we get to see the Zelda team develop and release a project outside the world of Hyrule.
