[Article]Light and Shadow: A Tale of Two Princesses

Light and Shadow: the Tale of Two Princesses
By gliderpilotgirl and Love_of_Zelda




In the recently released Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, many fans may have noticed that our beloved heroine of the series, Princess Zelda, was virtually absent from the game. She had a minimal amount of screen time and was not present the majority of the game. But did the title really lack a strong female lead? Not at all.

Early in the quest our beloved hero would encounter a strange impish creature by the name of Midna, whose attitude and spirit certainly belied her small body. She quickly took the reins and put our nascent hero to work, guiding him in his confusion, all the while keeping her own counsel about her motives. As the adventure went on, more and more of her story would come out, until it would be revealed that she was none other than the Princess of the Twilight Realm herself, determined to take down the game’s villain and save her world. Sound familiar? It should. To any fan of the Legend of Zelda series, the concept of a Princess fighting in disguise has been used since Ocarina of Time.

But this time, the heroine was not the Princess of Hyrule, but rather a separate entity and she did most certainly not initially have the interests of the world of Light at heart. But through her interaction with the occupants of Hyrule, and especially Link and Zelda themselves, she would be so internally changed that she would eventually follow Princess Zelda in giving her life, before being restored in the end.
Before Midna returned to her world and sealed the link between the realms, an also restored Princess Zelda would say this to her:

“Shadow and light are two sides of the same coin...One cannot exist without the other.”

Twilight Princess was the tale of a hero and two Princesses, one of light and one of shadow. Both women were of remarkable strength, possessed self-sacrificial natures and their performances both deserve a standing ovation. Their methods may have been very different, but at heart, where they so different? We don’t think so.

In order to demonstrate the similarities, and differences between these two Princesses, we need to make a small character study on each, especially where they came from in the beginning. It explains much in their character.

A Character Study of Midna:
For those acquainted with the older Zelda games, the concept of dual worlds may seem quite familiar. This was first explored in A Link to the Past, where the Dark World is the corrupted and tainted Golden Land, which was originally spoken of in Ocarina of Time as the Sacred Realm. But the realm had been poisoned by Ganon’s evil power and had become a terrible place.
While the Twilight Realm appears to be a physically different place than the Sacred Realm, the concept of “Light and Shadow” seems strikingly familiar. But in this case it’s not the world that has been poisoned, it’s the people. Banishment and imprisonment from the world of light has made them angry and bitter towards the people of that world, and regardless that was their own actions that doomed them, they feel resentment for the treatment. Take this statement of Midna’s as she recalls the events passed down through the generations:

“They [the Twili ] were banished. They were chased across the sacred lands of Hyrule and driven into another realm by the goddesses. It was another world entirely... The antithesis of Hyrule, where the sun shines bright. Its denizens became shadows that could not mingle with the light. Eventually, most came to call it the Twilight Realm, and from it, none could return to the world of light...They were forever doomed to live in the twilight, flitting in the half-light of dusk, mere shadows of Hyrule...”

Midna’s reaction after this speech showed the anger and resentment still festered under the surface, and Zant, while more extreme in likelihood than the average Twili had this to say:

“You speak of magic? Still your tongue for a moment, whelp, and I will tell you of both magic and the oppression of ages...The people of our tribe...a tribe that mastered the arts of magic...were locked away in this world like insects in a cage. In the shadows we regressed, so much so that we soon knew neither anger nor hatred...nor even the faintest bloom of desire. And all of it was the fault of a useless, do-nothing royal family that had resigned itself to this miserable half-existence!”

Another aspect to be considered is the sense of abandonment. These people, while undoubtedly aware that their actions caused the banishment, felt dumped into a dark world, and shut off from all the rest of humanity and left to rot. Loneliness was obviously there, as Rusl comments in the beginning of the game, in a statement that easily is a reference to the plight of the Twili:

“Tell me...Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls? They say it's the only time when our world intersects with theirs...The only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our world. That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight...”

So now that we have established the feelings and the mood in general of the Twili at the outset of the game, we must consider how that affects Midna.
She is the ruler of her people. It is her job to safeguard the lives of her people and be their leader. Her people are her life, and like Zelda for the people of Hyrule, she feels their plight keenly. She also likely has a better basis of knowledge in the history of her people, exactly like Zelda, and the events of the banishment likely are quite vivid to her.

So both of these factors would conspire to poison her against the Light Worlders regardless of how good a person or ruler she may be inside.
Midna has a people who feel abandoned, forgotten and even lonely but most of all, they are angry. Angry at the goddesses and Light Spirits for banishing them, angry at the Light Worlder’s for not falling alongside them, and even themselves for getting so greedy for power that they would cause their own downfall. But they have no doubt taken this later aspect into account, and do accept to some degree their own involvement. Midna had this to say:

“You want to know why none would call you king? It was your eyes,
Zant.
All saw it, a lust for power burning in your pupils... Did you think we'd forget our ancestors lost their king to such greed?”

The people of Twilight have obviously realized the error of their previous ways, and while internally bitter, they have accepted it to some degree as time passed. In fact, Midna even had developed a unique appreciation for her world.

“Some call our realm a world of shadows, but that makes it sound unpleasant...The twilight there holds a serene beauty... You have seen it yourself as the sun sets on this world. Bathed in that light, all people were pure and gentle...”

That being said, our point is that even though Midna’s ancestors were banished because of their evil, their new world was not terrifying, ugly, or even without it’s own type of peace. The guardians of light and the goddesses had mercy on those who had tried to usurp their power and that would become significant and notable later on in Twilight Princess.

But the anger was still there, and festering. The statement from the elderly member of the Group in Castletown: Auru, stated that the mirror of Twilight had been used effectively as a dump for criminals by the leaders of Hyrule. This predicament would allow the evil of Ganondorf to enter the realm of Twilight, and the villain says this:

“Your people have long amused me, Midna. To defy the gods with such petty magic, only to be cast aside... How very pathetic. Pathetic as they were, though, they served me well. Their anguish was my nourishment. Their hatred bled across the void and awakened me. I drew deep of it and grew strong again.”

Midna knew that the source of the evil had come from the world of Light, and it was unforgivable in her eyes. Her people were changed into shadow beasts, her throne usurped by one who would use her people as his minions, her very physical form taken from her, and then sent to the very world of Light she despised. All of this undoubtedly conspired to “poison” Midna against everyone she would meet, especially Link and Zelda.

She initially saw Link as an inconsequential farm boy, oblivious to the outside world yet chosen to be a hero. She states that in her people’s legends that the Hero would appear as a beast, which he did when she found him. She knew what he was but couldn’t find it in her heart to treat him well, she used him.

She also treated Zelda with blatant disrespect, misjudging her as a coward and unworthy of her station when Zelda initially surrendered to Zant. Midna, in her self-righteousness and anger, could not see the wisdom in Zelda’s actions. With relation to Zelda, another cause of her negative treatment could be a perceived sense of inferiority. In their exile to the Twilight Realm, the Twili likely came to the realization that they truly had only themselves to blame for what happened to them, and the people of the world of light were in all honesty innocent. But it’s easier to shift blame onto to someone else than take responsibility. So Midna could be angry at Zelda, who is supposedly better than her all around, doing what she considers unacceptable, surrendering. Midna wants to do something, but has been cast out of her realm, knocked off her throne and is basically powerless, both physically and mentally. So she is overwhelmed with frustration at her circumstances, and likely at herself. Seeing a part of herself in Zelda, she is quick to be angry and pounce on it. Again, not seeing the wisdom in Zelda’s actions, she derides Zelda for inaction.

Our last point in this section is about Midna’s character involves analyzing her motives behind her actions. Are we talking solely a selfless dedication to her people, or could the Twili’s original hunger for power be in play here? Maybe a little bit of both. While she is first dedicated to her people and world, that desire is not untainted. It does not take a psychologist to realize that Midna has some personality issues with arrogance, power-hungriness, and can even be rather self-absorbed at times. When speaking about Zant, Midna said on more than one occasion, “His power is a false one.” This statement can be interpreted as one of pride, but it also seemed to have a hint of power-hunger to it.
The same thing that again, led the Twili into trouble at the beginning. When she and Link go to the Palace of Twilight to confront Zant, she seems to be positively amazed at her innate ability to kill Zant with hardly any effort. Again, that fine line with power and it’s ability to corrupt is seen. The arrogance and self-absorption could come from there, as well as maybe even deep seated issues with Midna’s personal insecurity and fear of failure.

But despite her predilection towards power-hungriness, it should also be noted that she has some measure of conscience. Look at she says when she thinks she has achieved her initial goal, and realizes it was literally on the back of Link’s hard work.

“There it is! The last Fused Shadow...I'll just take that, thanks! Now, don't resent me for all I've put you through. I NEED this thing! Besides, we have to do something aboutZant, the one who thinks he is the king of shadows...”“I've done everything I needed to. I'm sorry for dragging you all over the place with me...”

Despite her using Link as a puppet, she still feels bad for her actions. This could be the mark of her change, but we like to think it’s not only that ( to be covered in an upcoming chapter ) but also a result of the decent heart she possesses underneath, a heart poisoned by her upbringing and the Twili’s collective feelings. But she is still inherently good.

At this point, we believe we have assessed Midna’s initial character sufficiently enough to allow us to elaborate on Zelda’s character next edition of “Light and Shadow: A Tale of Two Princesses”, and then tackle the changes in Midna and her relation and similarity to Zelda.

References:
Quotes: gamefaqs, text dump by Mgoblue201.
GameFAQs: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (WII) Game Script by Mgoblue201

This analysis would not exist if it was not for “The Missing Link”’s wonderful article below, his take on Midna definitely influenced this.
ZeldaBlog » Blog Archive » Twilight Princess Explained… Maybe? (Goron-sized Spoilers)