Twilight Princess manga Volume Ten review: All-out war erupts at Hyrule Castle

Link and Midna have obtained every piece of the Mirror of Twilight, they’ve defeated Zant, and they’ve liberated the Twilight Realm — all that’s left is the highly anticipated confrontation with Ganondorf. Volume 10 of the Twilight Princess manga reads like a nonstop set piece as the bravest members of the Hyrulean resistance go to war with Ganondorf’s army of monsters. It’s a book that flies by in a blur, the kind that you’ll be surprised to find is already over by the time you turn to the last page. 

Read our review of Volumes One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine of the Twilight Princess manga.

Spoiler Warning:
This review contains information about important story details from Volume Ten of the Twilight Princess manga. Read at your own discretion.

There’s a sense of scale in Volume 10 that we’ve never experienced in a mainline Legend of Zelda game. Ganondorf’s forces are so numerous that they can be seen from miles away, their ranks appearing like a black cloud on the horizon. This element of immediate danger is also unique to the manga. The Legend of Zelda video games are traditionally structured for the player to complete the scenarios at their own pace, with objectives and enemies simply waiting for Link to arrive. The manga dials up the urgency in a big way by having Ganondorf’s forces advance across Hyrule with carnage on their minds, initially setting their sights on Castle Town and its residents.

When adapting the Twilight Princess video game, the artist duo of Akira Himekawa have understandably been forced to slim down some of the more elaborate scenarios. They can’t possibly use half of a volume to show Link solving every last puzzle inside one of the game’s huge dungeons. (Although, as seen in Volume 8, they’re very capable of visualizing entertaining dungeon adventures.) The game’s larger battles, specifically those involving multiple combatants such as the fight with King Bulblin’s gang or the caravan escort to Kakariko Village, are where Himekawa have been able to flex their artistic talents and choreograph outstanding action sequences.

In Volume 10, Himekawa takes the fan-favorite moment from the video game where the Resistance snipe a bunch of Bulblins and Lizalfos to help out Link and expands it into an absolute pier six brawl. It might not be the scale of the greatest battles in The Lord of the Rings or the Shannara series, but it’s still a raucous affair that spills across Castle Town and the Hyrule Castle courtyards. It’s the kind of army vs. army encounter that we’ve only ever seen in a game’s prologue as part of a historical account, and have only been able to take part in ourselves in spinoffs like Hyrule Warriors or Age of Calamity.

As expected, Link is a one-man wrecking machine, but the most entertaining bits come from everyone else who is there to lend a hand. Both Rusl and Ashei mow down enemies. Auru practically disintegrates a monster with his cannon. The Hylian knights, Darpa, and the rest of Link’s friends from his original hometown all get involved. Even King Bulblin eventually joins in after he tricks Link by switching allegiances — before proceeding to obliterate Ganondorf’s cronies.

Midna owns the highlight of the battle, and the whole volume for that matter, when she uses the Fused Shadow to take command of the Shadow Beasts and directs them to cut a swath through the enemy ranks. It’s an exciting twist on her abilities once she channels the full power of the ancient Twili artifacts — something that makes perfect sense in the context of Twilight Princess lore — and adds that extra dose of spectacle to an already thrilling fight scene.

Things get pretty violent pretty fast when the two armies clash (although the most grisly sight is found at the very end of the book during Link’s encounter with Dark Beast Ganon), with Himekawa illustrating graphic deaths on both sides of the conflict. It will make the reader think back to the bloody raid on Ordon Village from Volume 1, as it refuses to temper the brutality of war while the combatants fight for their lives.

As Hylians and monsters drop left and right, it’s fair to start worrying if all of the heroes are going to make it out alive. We all know that the returning characters like Ashei, Rusl, and Auru are probably safe from being killed off, but Link’s pals from his hometown — original characters who Himekawa can do whatever they please with — don’t have that same plot armor. The couple of close calls they find themselves in feel like they were legitimately a panel away from suffering an untimely demise.

This is all not to say that Volume 10 is purely one giant fight scene devoid of meaningful character moments. Tensions flare during a lull in the chaos after Midna nearly loses control of the Fused Shadow and attacks Link, making Auru and the Hylian Royal Knights question if she can be trusted. Darpa and Link’s other buddies speaking up in Midna’s defense is a great touch. Then, of course, there’s Ganondorf’s familiar monologue when Link confronts him in the throne room of Hyrule Castle. Plus, King Bulblin’s heroic turn is an amusing wrinkle added to the manga. But these pauses are few and brief. Himekawa knows what we’re here for by this point in the adaptation, and they deliver the spectacle that we expected from the storming of Hyrule Castle.

It’s so entertaining that everything following it doesn’t stand a chance of matching up to it. As one of the shorter entries in the series at around 160 pages, Volume 10 only has room for the clashes with Puppet Zelda and Dark Beast Ganon before the book comes to a close. They’re not boring by any means, they just don’t hold a candle to all of the carnage that played out across Castle Town and Hyrule Castle. The battles inside the throne room are also very rare instances where Himekawa’s art has a couple of hiccups. Puppet Zelda’s face is an odd design choice, her features are very exaggerated and lack in detail to the point that it feels cartoonish.

Once Dark Beast Ganon takes the stage, the action gets a little messy. Heavy, jagged pen strokes and a lot of ink splashes used to represent particle effects obscure some of the finer details. It’s also a disappointingly short encounter, which is all the more frustrating after the fight with Puppet Zelda was allowed ample pages to play out. At least it ends memorably, though it isn’t for the squeamish. Wolf Link ripping out Dark Beast Ganon’s heart with his bare fangs has got to be the single most gruesome moment in the entire Legend of Zelda franchise, be it manga, video game, or any other medium.

We can also be thankful that these encounters were adapted at all. Himekawa could have skipped them, along with shortening the battle against Ganondorf’s army, to ensure that the story wrapped up in Volume 10. Instead, they’re taking special care to pen each and every last leg of Twilight Princess’s unforgettable conclusion. One final volume remains for them to take their time illustrating the decisive final duel with Ganondorf and the story’s ending. The Twilight Princess video game goes out on a high note, and all signs point to its manga adaptation doing the same.