Rewriting Twilight Princess: The Childhood Friend

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a fantastic game, filled with epic battles, an enormous world, and a…horribly flawed storyline. Each week we’ll be looking at one of these flaws to determine what went wrong and why, as well as to discuss ideas of how the tale could have been rewritten to fix these problems and strengthen the story as a whole. …Preferably without drastically departing from the original storyline of the game, but I make no promises.

Despite this being our third article on issues focused around the Ordon children, I actually had very few problems with the kidnapped kids themselves. They were mostly minor characters with minor roles, who completed their character arcs early in Link’s adventure and stepped out of the spotlight without vanishing or becoming stagnant: Malo took over the store, Talo manned the lookout tower, and even Beth and Colin at least had different things to say as you continued through the game. Most of them were fine as-is.

Key word: most. Not all. One of the abductees completely failed to live up to her potential, which is even more disappointing given how strong a character she was in the first half of the game. Let’s dive in and take a look at the child of Ordon whose role definitely deserved some improvement: Link’s dear childhood friend, Ilia.

The Game We Got

Ilia is kidnapped along with the other Ordon children at the game’s start, but is separated from them and imprisoned elsewhere. She escapes and makes it to Castle Town, albeit with amnesia, and Link later helps her and the sickly Ralis reach Kakariko safely. Once there, she stands around doing nothing until after you complete the Temple of Time, at which point Link and friends actually start trying to figure out how to restore her memory. At long last, Ilia remembers who Link is, and for the rest of the game you can be proud every time you return to Kakariko to find her…still standing around doing nothing.

The Problem

For a character who meant so much to our protagonist – either as a friend or as something more – Ilia does a whole lot of nothing in the second half of the game. It’s a stark contrast to her roles in the first half, where her kindness is matched by a fierce protectiveness of those she holds dear and a fire that brews in the face of her worries. Even as an amnesiac, her concern for Ralis and the courage she displays in getting him to Kakariko are admirable traits – traits that are essentially forgotten in the second half of the tale.

Honestly, the problem with Ilia comes down to her, like so many other characters in the story, being demoted to the simplistic status of “plot device.” After being provided with multiple scenes that really established a strong character for her, her arrival in Kakariko heralds her abrupt and unwarranted transformation into a one-dimensional love interest who exists only to later point Link to the Hidden Village. Rather than being compelled by that hinted romance, as the developers were likely hoping for, most players became decidedly turned off by her sudden lack of character and importance.

A year ago I wouldn’t have thought that (I assumed back then that most Ilia hatred just came from obsessive Zelinkers whining about the competition), but now it’s impossible to unsee. Ilia’s personal arc is completely abandoned as the game goes on, and as a result her entire character is called into question: is she an ardently courageous woman willing to risk life and limb to help those in need? Or is she an ignorant little girl who lounges on the sidelines while her loved ones fight against the great evil plaguing the land?

Take a wild guess at which one she ought to be.

Proposed Solution

Some people don’t care for Ilia, hopefully due to her character in the second half of the game – according to all the arguments I’ve seen online, if you don’t like her during the first half then it’s likely because you’re focusing exclusively on the early scene where she takes Epona from Link. I see this actually as a very realistic reaction to finding Epona injured: Link is about to leave on a long trip, but he’s hurt Epona by – as far as she knows – goofing off. She was already probably worried and sad about his upcoming departure, but now she thinks he’s being plain old irresponsible.

‘Doesn’t he realize how dangerous this trip could be, how bad things could get if he hurts Epona out in the wilderness and can’t get to safety before nightfall?’ So she snaps at him. It’s not an unreasonable response at all.

…Sorry, went off on a tangent there; I get ticked off at people hating on Ilia for acting…human, of all things, so I had to say something about it. But yeah, back to the task at hand.

Regardless of your personal opinion on Ilia, we can’t just remove her from the game, as she is a (if not the) key motivator for Link’s journey in the first half of the game. His drive to reach Lanayru is [supposed to be] to find and rescue Ilia from whatever danger she’s in, and that drive eventually earns him all the equipment and knowledge he needs to enter the Lakebed Temple. Ilia’s role in this part of the story is not only solid, I daresay it’s superb – not something I’d say about a lot of TP’s tale. So she’s there to stay in the first half of the story. And it’s my personal belief that the only good way to remove a major character part way through a story is to kill them off.

All you haters who just started celebrating: silence. We aren’t going there. Ilia’s memory side-plot is still key in locating the Hidden Village, and killing romantic interests is an overused trope that I’m tired of seeing.

Ilia’s Compassion

What Ilia really needed was a way to stand out yet again in the second half of the tale, rather than merely standing around in Renado’s house. And for that, she needs to have more reasons to show off her determination and desire to help others – which, fortunately, we’re already set up for thanks to the attack on Castle Town.

Specifically, its refugees become excellent pawns in our effort to restore Ilia’s character. Castle Town’s surviving citizens would of course spread out all over the world, but it makes sense that the majority would flee to Kakariko. We’ve already seen Ilia’s compassion through her care of Ralis, and now she could provide that same support to dozens of homeless and likely injured refugees. This gives her an active role to play in the latter half of the game; until her memory is restored, though, that’s really about all that she can do.

Ilia’s Memory

On that note, why does it take so long for Link and co. to start trying to restore Ilia’s memory? Not only does this make no sense (“Oh no, my childhood friend and probable love interest has lost her memory! I’d better go do anything other than help her.”), but it also considerably restricts Ilia’s personality. She becomes timid and afraid because she has no idea who she is – which is, again, a very realistic and human reaction, but also an unfortunate one. Clearing up her memory side-plot sooner would help return the passion we saw in her back in Ordon Village, not to mention provide a lot more opportunities for character interactions with the other Ordon kids.

(And no, there was no excuse for her to not have any such post-remembering interactions in the game we got. That was just Nintendo deciding to ignore her completely; it’s little wonder that many fans do the exact same thing. *shakes fist at Nintendo*)

Here’s the other side of this coin: having Ilia remember things any earlier in the game would have had no effect on the main storyline. Sure, you might storm the Hidden Village a bit earlier in the game, but Impaz still won’t give you the Ancient Sky Book until you have the Dominion Rod. The main storyline and its sequence of dungeons are completely independent from the quest to restore Ilia’s memory – so let’s treat them as such.

Reworking this is simple: allow Ilia’s memory to be restored much earlier in the game, say, at any point after Castle Town falls. While she cares for the refugees, talking to Renado would give you his insight on how to start this subplot (I mean, did he really need all that time to come up with such a simple theory as “trace her movements backwards”?). You can then visit Telma, the Doctor, and Louise…if we even still need the cat to have stolen and hidden the statue. With the town destroyed and consumed by the Twilight, simply reaching the Doctor’s office would be a trial all on its own, so perhaps the statue could still be there.

From there, things play out as already planned: head to the Hidden Village, save Impaz (and the other kidnapped children), and get Ilia’s Charm to restore her memory – which can also get us the Horse Call a lot earlier in the game. That would’ve been nice… Um, but, yeah, Ilia’s memory is restored, possibly even before you reach Gerudo Desert, which gives her a lot more time to grow as a character. At the very least, she’ll have more chances to converse with Link or the other people in Kakariko Village.

Ilia’s Fire

But conversations are only the bare minimum of what Ilia should do when her memory returns. Standing around doing nothing is just not her style – I mean, what happened to that fire she displayed when she learned Epona had been hurt back in Ordon? Not only is that a far more interesting characteristic than the demure attitude she adopts in the game we got…it’s also a far more useful one. Because with that kind of fire in her veins, I just can’t see Ilia sitting on the sidelines while Link saves the world.

She’d want to help those who are hurt, be that emotionally or physically, a fact which is reinforced by her care of Ralis and the refugees from Castle Town. More than that, however, she’d want to be out there doing something to help Link in his battle against evil. She would want to help, even if it means fighting.

With this in mind, I propose that she join the Resistance.

Rusl would obviously be against it, but I think Telma and any other Resistance members she’s made friends with during their time in Kakariko could very well override his objections. Keep in mind the changes we’ve already decided to implement with the Resistance, and suddenly Ilia has a major chance to prove her worth. When Rusl and the others join the fight against the Fused Shadows, or when they decide to hold off an army of monsters so that Link can go confront Ganondorf, she’ll be standing right alongside them.

Would she actually fight? Maybe. I see her as taking more of a support role – watching for sneak attacks, restocking ammunition for the others, tending to injuries, etc. – but it’s certainly possible that she’s gotten some combat training while in Kakariko. It doesn’t really matter how she helps; what’s important is that such actions would show that she is willing to put her life on the line in order to help the nation and her friends. This change alone would have made her role and growth feel much more complete – in the course of the game, she’d move from simple farm girl to scared victim, to a caring soul of the sick and needy, to someone who fights for others even at the risk of her own life.

It would have given her a fantastic character arc – and that, mah boi, is what all true writers strive for.

The End Result

Ilia is kidnapped alongside the other children of Ordon, eventually escapes, and flees to Castle Town, losing her memory along the way. From there, with Link’s help, she heads to Kakariko to help Ralis, and soon finds herself tending to many more people as refugees flood in from the destroyed capital city. Shortly after this, Renado speaks to Link about how to spark her memory, and the Hero’s efforts soon see that happen. For a while she continues to care for the refugees, but she eventually joins Telma’s Resistance and fights alongside them and Link when they go to challenge Ganondorf and retake Castle Town from the beast army.

Much like with Zelda, Ganondorf, and the Light Spirits and Sages, the crime against Ilia is principally one of disuse – if she’d been doing something during the times when she wasn’t involved with the main plot, her character could have been…okay, at least. As it was, the lack of action made her seem pointless for much of the main storyline, and so Ilia got a lot of criticism and hatred from the fanbase. Had she been a minor character, or even just held less importance, it could have been forgiven – but because she played such a key role in several parts of the storyline, it just seems like a waste, like the writers left her to rot while Link went on to fulfill his destiny.

Don’t think that characters are the only things that can suffer from disuse, though – plenty of items in Twilight Princess got criticized for the same reason, and even entire areas of the game fell victim to it. Since items are more gameplay-centric, though, we’ll ignore those in favor of examining one of the most disappointingly-underused locations in the game. Next time around we’ll give it a good look and discuss ways it could have been held new purpose.

Until then, this is Alpha, signing off to go do…stuff.

“Rewriting Twilight Princess” is a series focused on examining the many narrative issues of this epic Zelda game in an attempt to understand why it has garnered such negativity from the fanbase over the years. Join us each week as Tyler “Alpha” Meehan delves into each of these issues, explains what was wrong with it, and explores ideas for how the storyline could have been rewritten to salvage such problems.

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