Midna

Midna
'The Legend of Zelda series character
Midna's first appearance Midna as she appears in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
First game	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto

Midna (ミドナ, Midona) is a fictional main character in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. A newer character to the series, debuting in Twilight Princess, she teams up with the protagonist, Link, to battle a "greater evil" that she alone cannot overcome. Like Navi in Ocarina of Time, she acts as a guide who helps the player learn the controls and advance in the game. In fitting with her dark nature, she has a playfully devilish sense of humor and cynical demeanor. She also has the most extensive voice acting of any character in the series, as all of her dialogue is represented by audible (though unintelligible) vocalization.

Story

File:Linkandmida.jpg

Wolf Link and Midna as they appear in Twilight Princess

Midna is one of the Twili, a race descended from wielders of powerful and evil magic, who were banished to an alternate dimension by the goddesses Din, Farore, and Nayru. This alternate dimension, out of which the sublimated descendants could only exist as shadows, eventually became known as the Twilight Realm. In recent time, the Twili have been converted to fearsome "shadow beasts" (and Midna into an imp-like form) by the self-styled Twilight King Zant. The name "Midna" comes from "midnight", in accordance with her race's "darkness" theme.

Late in Twilight Princess, it is revealed that Midna is the eponymous "princess" and true ruler of the Twilight Realm. However, Zant, using the power of his new-found 'god', Ganondorf, curses Midna into an imp form after he is passed off as ruler of the Twili. He takes control, while Midna is forced to flee.

Midna first meets Link when he strays into the Twilight Realm, in which he is transformed into a wolf (Midna says that the savior of the Twili was to appear in beast form.) She helps him escape and return to Hyrule. Midna makes it clear that she is only helping Link to save her own world and has no concern for the Realm of Light. She informs Link that they should recover a powerful magical artifact known as the Fused Shadows.

Later in the game though, after gathering the third Fused Shadow, Zant appears and gravely injures Midna by exposing her to the light world, therefore draining all of her power, and takes the three Fused Shadows away. The fourth Light Spirit luckily transports a cursed Wolf Link and injured Midna back to Hyrule field. Wolf Link takes Midna to Zelda hoping Zelda can fix the curse on him and restore Midna's power. She tells Link to find the Master Sword to break the curse on him; less could be said for Midna. As Midna is nearing death, Zelda decides it's for the best that she give her own powers to Midna (making their hearts one). With Zelda gone and Midna restored, they set off to find the Master Sword. From here on out, Midna takes on a much more serious and kind attitude, and she decides that the Realm of Light must be saved as well as her own Realm of Twilight.

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Midna in her true form as the Twilight Princess

When Link and Midna confront Zant near the end of Twilight Princess, a long battle ensues. When Zant's physical form is destroyed, she regains the magic of her inheritance. She is then able to use the Fused Shadows to transform into a giant spider-like creature. By the end of the game, Ganondorf's spell is broken, and Midna regains her true form. In a comical moment when Link first sees her true form, she is amused by his silence and asks, "Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?". She then takes leave of the Light Realm, saying good-bye and thanking Zelda. Turning to Link, she begins a sentence "I..." before breaking off and saying "See you later" (which she says to Link throughout the game) and throws a tear to shatter the Twilight Mirror that connects the two worlds. Midna then returns to her realm just before the mirror breaks, leaving behind Link and Zelda.

Relationship with Link

Although Midna's earliest involvement with Link was nothing more than to use him to save her world, the relationship between them grows as they work together to find the Fused Shadow pieces. Following a near fatal blow by Zant, Wolf Link carries Midna to Zelda in the hopes that she could be saved. Zelda seemingly sacrifices herself in order to save Midna. Following this event, Midna has a change of heart and holds Link, Zelda, and the entire light world in a much higher regard. She then vows to help Link save the light world as well as her own twilight realm. The relationship between Midna and Link continues to grow from their work together collecting the twilight mirror shards. It is hinted that they develop feelings for each other. Midna places her hand on Link's face for a full half-minute in one scene and despite the obvious invasion of personal space, Link does not seem uncomfortable (notable as a first for the character of Link, as previous incarnations usually shied away from such intimacy). Also, after Link defeats Ganon, he runs to Midna to see if she is okay after Ganon's attack. He seems extremely relieved when he finds out that she is unharmed. While Midna and Link may have had feelings toward each other, Midna's feelings after Zelda helpd Midna could have actually been from Zelda's own feelings because in the game, shortly after the battle between Link and Ganon while Ganon was in his beast form, Zelda commented that her heart and Midna's were one. This could mean that where ever Midna was, Zelda was too in heart and after Zelda gave her power to Midna to keep her alive, their personalities could have combined as well, along with all feelings and desires. Meaning that what ever Midna felt could have actually been from Zelda's own personality combined with her's, such as her sudden change in desire to want to save the Realm of Light and her increased feelings toward Link. Near the end, those feelings in Midna must have stayed even after Zelda became herself again. At the end of the game, Midna seems saddened to leave Link. She says "Link... I... See you later." This unfinished sentence seems to indicate she was about to express her feelings but suddenly changed her mind at the last second, maybe from realizing that her feelings for Link may actually be real but mostly due to Zelda's feelings as well when their hearts were one. This theory that Midna may have developed feelings for Link because of Zelda's own feelings towards him seems to conflict with the fact that this Zelda has never seen Link or known of his existance before the events of Twilight Princess. As a result, its unlikely that Zelda would have developed these feelings and influenced Midna's own feelings. It is possible then, that Midna developed these feelings for Link and Hyrule on her own.

Gameplay

Midna is similar to Navi or Tatl, in that she is a supernatural companion who assists Link at all times, albeit reluctantly. In the Twilight Realm, she rides on Wolf Link's back helping him with some attacks and jumps. In the light world, she is part of Link's shadow (this is especially evident before completely clearing the Twilight from Hyrule, when Wolf Link moves through the light world, she is visible only in his shadow), yet she can still communicate with Link and is needed to pass from the Twilight Realm to the light world. Unlike the fairies of previous games, she does not provide any information on enemies other than hints during boss battles.

Early in the game, Midna will allow Wolf Link to teleport to Twilight portals across Hyrule, thus quickly spanning great distances. Once Link obtains the Master Sword, talking to Midna will allow Link to freely transform into wolf form and vice versa (Unless he is in the presence of any other characters, Midna will forbid him from transforming so as not to cause an uproar.)

Her spoken dialog is vocal samples of what amounts to gibberish while the character is talking. In this sense, Midna is the first fully "voiced" character in a Zelda game. However, Midna's "language" does not actually have defined words; that is, the same sentence will be pronounced different ways each time Midna speaks it.

Her headdress is the fourth piece of the Fused Shadow artifact. It should be noted that in the Wii version, her right eye is covered, but in the GameCube version (as well as promotional images), her left eye is covered. This is because during development, the entire game had to be mirrored to make Link fit with the Wii's general right-handed controls. Due to this, the markings covering her body are also reversed in the two versions.

Midna's true form is also reminiscent of Veran, the villainess from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.