The beauty of light and shadow: An appreciation of Twilight Princess’ heroes and villains

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is one of the most enthralling games in the Zelda franchise. Anyone who has played it can speak to how its incredible story and gameplay made their experience with the game land somewhere between memorable and life-changing. Some Zelda fans have their gripes with the game, and some almost seem to have a strange desire to avoid giving the game its dues, but any argument that Twilight Princess is not one of the best Zelda games of all time cannot hold much validity for very long. The game is simply too good to say that it falls short of greatness.

The previously mentioned components come together to create a grand adventure, but there’s one more element that often stands as the fans’ overall favorite aspect of the game: the characters.

The great shame, however, is that while many people adore the characters, they often ignore or overlook the minutiae of how they are constructed. They sometimes look only for the obvious character developments, and they miss the greater purposes that some characters serve.

These subtle elements are what I have always loved most about two key groups of characters in Twilight Princess: the heroes and the villains. Simply put, they are characters driven by singular, obsessive desires. There’s some growth along the way, but the driving forces behind them are their simple goals of getting what they want.

Characters being goal-driven is nothing new in Zelda games, but what makes it truly compelling in Twilight Princess is that the desires of the heroes and the villains are in symbolic opposition to each other. The game’s main motif is the idea of light and dark and how they clash with each other in fundamental ways. This dichotomy is made visual by the heroes, Link, Midna, and Zelda, and the villains, Ganondorf and Zant.

The Heroes Of Hyrule

The representatives of the light, Link, Midna, and Zelda, show how people behave when their ultimate goal is to protect their loved ones. They are (mostly) selfless in all that they do. Each is a protector of a group, whether that group be close friends or loyal subjects. These heroes would do anything for their people and their homelands.

Link

Link, the destined hero and sacred knight who alone can defeat evil incarnate, dreamed of nothing more than to wake up each morning, peer out of his bedroom window, and gaze upon the sun-soaked valley that he and everyone living in the Ordona Providence called home. He loved to watch as his friends began the day, with the children playing, their parents tending to their gardens, Fado opening the ranch, and Ilia tending to Epona’s needs. These people were his family, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for them.

All his life, Link had followed his innate desire to help people. When he saw a problem he could solve, he didn’t hesitate to make someone’s day better. The Ordonians saw, loved, and respected this quality of his. The relationship between Link and the villagers was one that constantly grew and strengthened with each passing day. Especially his ties to Rusl, who was a mentor of sorts to Link; Colin, who clearly saw Link as an older brother; and Ilia, who had a bond with Link that everyone could recognize easily. What more could Link have asked for than this? This was why he gave his all when someone tried to take it all away.

Once the Bulblins and the Twilight itself invaded Link’s modest village and absconded with both the village children and Ilia, he became dogged in his pursuit of them. This led him through many hardships. Being trapped and imprisoned in the Twilight while also being turned into a beast was only the start. After meeting Midna, Link was exposed to a wide and intense world that was on the brink of collapse. This darkness had permeated all of Hyrule. He needed to find his friends. He needed to bring them home and keep them safe. The problem was that he knew he couldn’t leave his work at just that. Ordon was distant and detached from other regions of Hyrule, but it was still part of the kingdom. The only way his family would be safe was if the kingdom was free from the Twilight for good.

Link accepted the responsibility of being a hero and fought for the sake of protecting everyone. He was dedicated to rescuing people in peril and would do all he could for them.

Zelda

Princess Zelda was duty-bound to protect her people and the land of Hyrule at all cost. She was their sovereign princess, charged by the Goddesses to lead the land in both good times and bad. She had been groomed by everyone she knew to be ready to lead the kingdom. From the beginning, she needed to have a full understanding of what it meant to sacrifice for others.

It was during Zant’s invasion that Zelda faced her greatest test of dedication to Hyrule. There was no hope. Her loyal guards lay broken and battered, their spears splintered and swords shattered, as Zant approached the throne and offered an ultimatum: surrender and live, or resist and die. He was willing to kill her, but more importantly, he was willing to kill her subjects. If she would not lay down her arms, he would turn his wrath to the people of Hyrule.

Surrendering was something she never wanted to do. She had more of a desire to fight than that. She was ready to die, but she wasn’t ready to make her subjects make the same sacrifice. This was about them. Her choice would plunge them into darkness, but she hoped it would buy her some time. With a heavy heart, she accepted Zant’s heartless offer and relinquished the kingdom to him. Zelda humbled herself before the self-proclaimed King of Twilight, even to the point of becoming his special prisoner.

Perhaps it was not the right choice to make, but there was no way for her to know. Zelda understood that she had to do something. Fighting to the last breath was the option she wanted to take, but she unfortunately did not know if her people felt the same way. She took the dark route of subjugation for the sake of letting the people make their own choices. And thanks to either luck or providence, a young, brave Hylian came along to make the choice she could not. Her sacrifice for her kingdom saved everyone, and now they could still fight.

This chance to fight was a gift. That’s why Zelda wouldn’t let it go to waste. When Link and Midna returned to her, Link cursed and Midna dying, Zelda knew she had to save this last hope. In this moment, fate chose to again give her the right to fight to the last breath. If it meant that her kingdom would be restored, she would give her heart and soul to save Link and Midna. And later, when this was revealed to not be Zelda’s final fate (thanks to either the Goddesses or Ganondorf’s designs), she again humbled herself to ask for Link’s aid. Nothing mattered to Zelda more than the safety of her people.

Midna

There is nothing that Midna would not do, no one that Midna would not trample, in her quest to bring down the Usurper King, Zant. In her homeland, a land far removed from the vibrance and life of Hyrule, Midna and her people had found a way to live a peaceful and happy life, content and appreciative of what was theirs. And Midna would protect their quality of life as the next in line to rule over the Twilight Realm. That was the plan, at least. The plans changed when Zant seized the throne by use of an overwhelming magic, cursing and deforming Midna in the process. Everything was taken from her, and her people and her kingdom were warped and twisted into vile manifestations of Zant’s lust for authority.

Fueled by rage, Midna’s goal was to find a way to usurp the usurper. Midna was never a sentimental person, but she was a princess, like Zelda, and she wanted to save her people. The difference was her background and current situation. Midna needed to operate in both an unfamiliar location and an unfamiliar body. She was caught unprepared, but that was not going to stop her. Zant would pay.

Midna’s dilemma was quickly solved when she came upon a boy turned into a beast. She knew what it meant for Link to have transformed into a wolf. She knew how useful he could be to her. So, she would get him to do what she wanted, one way or another. It just so happened that all she needed to do was press his desire to save the Ordonians.

By her own admittance, Midna did not care what happened to Link, Zelda, or Hyrule. She was only doing what she did for her land’s sake. It was serendipity that they benefitted from it as well. All it was to her was a temporary arrangement. At least, it was until she watched as Zelda sacrificed herself to save her. Again, Midna was not a sentimental princess, but she knew the importance of sacrifice. These Hylians, Link and Zelda especially, gave her a reason to reconsider her stance on the light world. It was through them that she saw how the light and the dark, the Hylians and the Twili, were more similar than they were different. From that point, Midna would make the choice to fight to protect both worlds.

This realization came to its height when things looked dire during the fight against Ganondorf. Zelda was so weak, and Link would not be able to withstand the full might of Ganondorf, who attempted to unleash said might as a living embodiment of wrath and fire. There was only one thing to do. Midna chose to repay Zelda’s sacrifice by using her tribe’s magic to both whisk Link and Zelda to safety and face the enemy alone. She ultimately could not withstand Ganondorf’s might, but her effort gave Link and Zelda the one chance they needed to slay the dark lord.

Midna had survived her fight with Ganondorf, and the curse on her was broken when the evil king died. She finally had everything she had first set out for. There was nothing more that needed to be done, so Link and Zelda escorted Midna to the Mirror of Twilight, the magical mirror and last access point between the realms of light and dark. Though the bonds between the three heroes of Hyrule had grown strong, Midna knew she could not allow the mirror to remain. It endangered both worlds. With a heavy heart and a single tear, Midna made the hard choice to destroy the mirror, costing her the friendships she had made but ensuring that both worlds would be safe.

Hyrule’s Scourges

The heroes of Hyrule never deviated from their all-consuming desire to protect who and what they loved. They only wanted to defend what they had. This motivation is what puts them at such drastic odds with Twilight Princess’ villains, who only sought to take what they did not have. Their greed made them into a threat the world had never seen before, but it also made them tragically pathetic.

Zant

Zant was a selfish, arrogant being who wanted the Twili throne above all else. He believed it was his birthright. That is why he was filled with hatred for his people and jealousy of Midna when she was chosen to be the next in line as ruler instead of him.

His hatred was so strong that it reached out across the void of the Twilight Realm and awakened a hidden and waiting Ganondorf, who felt a similar yearning for wrath and power. Ganondorf promised Zant power in exchange for obedience. The Twili’s desire for what did not and never would truly belong to him was too strong, so he gave himself over to the evil king without hesitation.

Almost immediately, Zant used his newfound might to overthrow the monarchy. He mutated Midna along with everyone else in the Twilight Realm. Midna escaped, but Zant stripped the others of their free will. He did so because he wanted their obedience, he wanted their strength, and most importantly, he wanted them to learn a lesson.

His greed and arrogance combined with Ganondorf’s did not let the Twilight Realm be enough. He turned his sights on Hyrule. The Golden Land that was home to the Goddesses’ chosen people. The same Goddesses’ that had cursed the Twili. He would take the Hylians’ glory and bring them to ruin.

The Usurper King was relentless in his quest and ruined many lives to make his greatness clear to all. And once he cast the land under the darkness of the Twilight, he essentially laid claim to every waking moment that the Hylians had.

He felt invincible, which is why he tried to manipulate, torture, and mock Midna and Link. He waited for them to retrieve the Fused Shadow — the ancient magic Midna hoped to use against him — and then he showed them how useless it was by stealing it.

His madness led to his defeat. He saw no way for Midna and her friend to defeat him. He was the rightful king and could not be silenced. His god would see to that, he thought. This is why he had the immense confidence it took to mock Midna one final time by telling her that her body could not be restored. He tried to take her hope, but that only resulted in his destruction.

Zant was led by his hate, and it led him in the next life as well. As Ganondorf stood dying, he reached out to feel his connection to Zant. Zant’s spirit had endured thanks to Ganondorf, but there was nothing either of them could do to withstand the Master Sword. Zant, being the fate that Ganondorf deserved, accepted death to take his master’s life.

Ganondorf

Ganondorf is a character that is often criticized for his supposed lack of depth in Twilight Princess. The criticisms are warranted to an extent, but his purpose was never to be a character rich in complexity. He was meant to be the opposite of the heroes.

Ganondorf was hellbent on taking over Hyrule because he never saw any need to resist his innate desire to control everything around him. Control is power, and Ganondorf, any version of him, will always have an endless and ravenous hunger for power. There might be additional motivations, such as how his alternate self from The Wind Waker desired the gentle and fruitful nature of Hyrule, but those desires are trivial. Even the Ganondorf from The Wind Waker wanted more than nice weather. Ganondorf will always want everything, because obtaining whatever he wants is proof that he was greater than everyone else, even the Goddesses.

This lust led to carelessness, however. Before the events of Twilight Princess, Ganondorf’s evil plans for Hyrule were discovered. Thus, he was captured, taken to a remote prison, and swiftly executed.

If only it had been that simple. Ganondorf survived that attempt on his life. He was the chosen wielder of the Triforce of Power, and though he had not obtained it by some normal means, he still had a connection to it. The Triforce would not allow him to die until he played his part in history. He broke free of his restraints, and after killing one of the Sages who had attempted to execute him, the others were left with no other option but to seal him away in the Twilight Realm.

Though trapped in a cursed, alternate dimension, Ganondorf’s lust for power did not waver, not even the slightest. All the Sages did was offer him an additional world to conquer. He would not stop until he controlled everything, and he found a proxy in Zant to help him continue his quest.

When Ganondorf finally did make his return to Hyrule, he wasted no time in establishing himself as the ruler. He had Zant seize the throne for him and cast the land under the curse of the Twilight Realm. Ganondorf’s desire was to blot out all light and hope and to rule every living being with an iron fist. He took what he wanted, when he wanted it. He also refused to let Zelda die when she sacrificed herself to save Midna. He wanted her alive to serve as a permanent reminder of his victory.

Even down to his last moments, while the life faded from his eyes as the Master Sword lay lodged in his chest, Ganondorf clung to his stubborn desires. There was no lesson for him to learn because he wasn’t willing to hear one. Throughout his life, Ganondorf had only ever seen the evidence that he deserved to rule. Death had failed to claim him multiple times. In his mind, he was a god and above reproach. He displayed no complexity, because he had earned the right to be nothing but arrogant.

A Beautiful Balance

The heroes and the villains, though not always the most intricate of personalities, were integral to Twilight Princess’ narrative. The characters needed to feed off of each other’s differences. Without that dichotomy, the tension would not have reached the levels needed to deliver the intense experience that the game wanted to deliver.

Characters we can connect with or relate to are always appreciated, but they aren’t always what is needed, and sometimes they can distract from what is more important. Twilight Princess, when all factors are considered, offered a strong balance between character and plot. Similar to what Princess Zelda said about the shadow and the light, the characters and plot are two sides of the same coin, and both sides came together to make something complete and remarkable.