Rewriting Twilight Princess: The Final Product

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a fantastic game, filled with epic battles, an enormous world, and a…horribly flawed storyline. Over the past few months, we’ve reviewed numerous issues with the story and proposed methods through which they could have been resolved – all while trying to maintain the same basic story as in the game we got. It’s one thing to provide a solution; it’s another challenge entirely to do so in ways that the development team could have feasibly implemented. Sure, not every idea was that simple…but then, I made no promises that they would be.

All the work we’ve done has been segmented: we’ve dealt with one issue at a time, rewriting it as best we could. Even so, it should be clear by now that I’ve been writing these articles with an overarching perspective – after all, we’ve often taken aspects of previous articles to use later in the series. So today, since we’ve gone through all the major issues that I noticed, I figured it was a good time for a general recap.

Herein lies the entire reworked tale of

Twilight Princess, replete with all of the changes that I’ve put forward over the course of this series. It’s my hope that, by viewing all these changes in one place, you can see the vision that I’ve had for the game. Twilight Princess‘s storyline was not fantastic, but it sure could have been – here’s how:

Proposed Solution

Our story opens with Link living peacefully in Ordon Village alongside his many friends. He is supposed to deliver a present to the Hyrulean royal family, but things go awry when King Bulblin and his minions burst into the village and kidnap the children. Link, his own captor-wannabes scared away by a strange light in Ordona’s Spring, is the only one left behind. He races after them and is drawn into the Twilight, where he transforms into a wolf and is taken to the Twilit Hyrule Castle. There he is led by the strange Midna to Princess Zelda, who informs him of how the kingdom fell to a mysterious masked man.

Midna returns Link to Ordon, and they proceed to cleanse Faron Woods of the Twilight. Once restored, Link attempts to head out to Hyrule Field, only to find the bridge leading there destroyed. He seeks an alternate route through the Forest Temple, where he saves several trapped monkeys and defeats the Twilit Parasite Diababa. Not only does this open a path, but it also earns them one of the Fused Shadows which Midna seeks.

The pair heads on to Hyrule Field and enters the Twilit region of Eldin Province. Within Kakariko Village, they locate four of the five Ordonian children, who managed to escape from the Bulblins – unfortunately, his oldest friend, Ilia, remains a captive and was apparently taken into Lanayru Province. Once Eldin is cleansed of Twilight, Link heads for Lanayru but is stopped by a massive boulder blocking the path. When bombs prove ineffective against it, Link scales Death Mountain to enlist the Gorons’ help.

Said Gorons refuse to let him up the mountain, however, leading Link to return to Ordon. Along the way he recovers his horse and finds that the monkeys have rebuilt the bridge connecting Faron Woods to Hyrule Field. Ilia’s father gives him the Iron Boots, and he returns to Kakariko – where he finds King Bulblin has taken Colin hostage again. Epic showdown ensues.

With Colin rescued, Link returns to Death Mountain. After proving his strength, a deal is struck: the Gorons will destroy the boulder if Link will help them save the Goron patriarch, Darbus, who has been corrupted by the Fused Shadows. Link does so, retrieving another Fused Shadow in the process, and proceeds to Lanayru. Meanwhile, the kingdom’s conqueror, Zant, confronts Zelda about Midna; the princess stands strong for a time, but threats to her people make her reluctantly capitulate. In the process we learn that she only stays a prisoner because of such threats; even Zant admits that she is powerful enough to bust out if she was willing to abandon them.

Link heads to Hyrule Castle Town, where he finds Ilia and cleanses the region of the Twilight. Once revived, the Light Spirit Lanayru recounts the tale of the Dark Interlopers as a warning of the Fused Shadows’ dark power, but nonetheless informs Link that the final one rests at the bottom of Lake Hylia. Link returns to Ilia to find her suffering from amnesia even as she cares for the sickly Ralis, and he takes them to Kakariko for treatment. Thanks to the spirit of Rutela, the former Zora queen, Link is able to reach the Lakebed Temple and retrieve the final piece Midna needs to challenge Zant.

Or so she would think, as no sooner have they emerged from the temple than are they confronted by Zant in the flesh. He defeats them effortlessly and takes the Fused Shadows before nearly killing Midna – only Lanayru’s teleportation saves them, though Link is trapped in Wolf form. At Lanayru’s suggestion, they head to Zelda and meet with her spirit, which has separated from her body, and learn of the Master Sword, which rests near Ordon Village. Zelda then merges her soul with Midna, saving her life.

The pair departs from the castle, only to witness a giant barrier appear around it – and they watch in horror as monsters swarm out of the barrier and attack the townsfolk. Link and Midna race back to try and fight off the beasts, but in Wolf form he is entirely ineffective against them. Distracting them alongside a group called the Resistance lets some citizens escape, but the city still falls; to add insult to injury, Twilight descends upon the town once again.

While the survivors scatter, Link returns to Ordon as instructed – only to quickly learn that monsters have come to the Village again. He charges in to help fight, proving much better against these weaker beasts, though his wolf state soon attracts the attention of the villagers (and not in a good way). Nevertheless, he stays to fight and succeeds in driving off the monsters, at which point Ordona leads him to a secret section of the woods surrounding Ordon Village. This area leads to the Lost Woods of Faron Province, wherein he finds the Sacred Grove and the Master Sword it holds. Freed at last from the curse, Link takes the sword as his own.

Meeting up with Telma’s Resistance in Kakariko Village, Link learns of Auru’s investigations near Lake Hylia. Auru’s aid grants Link access to Gerudo Desert, which holds the ancient Arbiter’s Grounds. After another showdown with King Bulblin and a battle against Twilit Fossil Stallord, Link and Midna enter the Mirror Chamber to discover the Mirror of Twilight, a gateway to the Twilight Realm from which Midna and Zant hail, broken into four pieces.

The Light Spirits suddenly appear to inform them of the chamber’s history, as it was a site where the dark lord Ganondorf was once sentenced to death by the spirits themselves. Alongside Link and Zelda’s ancestors, they had attempted to execute the man, only for him to survive, requiring they banish him to the Twilight Realm. They also inform the pair of the three regions where they can find the fragments of the Mirror of Twilight.

As Link travels to these three regions – Snowpeak, the Sacred Grove, and the City in the Sky – he finds each of the other settlements – Zora’s Domain, the Grove (not a settlement, but still pretty important), and Kakariko Village – under attack by monsters. Link fights alongside the Light Spirits in each area to drive off these beasts, at which point the Spirits strengthen the magical defenses on their lands to keep such attacks from reoccurring. Link also has many chances to speak with Castle Town survivors, from whom he learns a bit more about Hyrulean life and about Princess Zelda, who many of the people love and fear for after the fall of the castle. A few also tell him stories of Ganondorf and the war he once waged against Hyrule.

He also gains the chance to help Ilia recover her memories. With the help of the Gorons, Telma, and Renado, he collects various items from Ilia’s past that help her recall a town hidden in the mountains. Darbus aids Link in entering the Hidden Village, which is infested by Bulblins. Once all of them have been defeated, Link finds numerous other kidnapped children in hiding with the elderly Impaz. They had helped Ilia escape the city before, but were unable to join her; hearing of her plight, Impaz returns a charm Ilia had left with them. It reawakens Ilia’s lost memories, and she starts helping the Resistance members to care for the refugees.

Aside from those tangents, Link seeks out the Mirror Fragments with the help of the Resistance. Ashei guides him to the Snowpeak Ruins, where a Mirror Fragment awaits in the care of the Twilit Ice Mass, Blizzeta. Rusl calls him back to Ordon Village to deal with the mysterious Skull Kid, who guides him to the Temple of Time to fight Twilit Arachnid Armogohma for another Fragment. Using a book received from Impaz, Link and Shad discover the path to the City in the Sky, where our Hero battles Twilit Dragon Argorok and obtains the final Fragment.

With all the Fragments regained, Link and Midna reassemble the Mirror of Twilight, and the Light Spirits reappear to apologize to Midna, whom they reveal as the Princess of the Twilight Realm. Our heroes enter the Twilight Realm, where they recover a pair of Sols and confront Zant. Without acting like a pathetic clown with a half a brain (thank

goodness), Zant informs the pair of how he met his “god”, Ganondorf, who gave him the power he deserved so that he could conquer both the Twilight Realm and the realm of light.

With the story complete, the battle against Zant begins. The false king begins the battle full of confidence, but as time goes on and Link lands hit after hit, he starts losing his composure. At long last he cracks completely and uses the power of the Fused Shadows he stole to increase his own strength – at the cost of his sanity. His attacks become wild and reckless, leaving enough of an opening for Link to take him down.

The pair returns to Hyrule Castle Town to confront Ganondorf, banishing the Twilight over the city with the help of the Light Spirits and the Shining Master Sword. Joined by the Resistance – which now includes Ilia – Link navigates the city and reaches the castle gates, where Midna uses the Fused Shadows…but she cannot control the enormous beast their magic forms. The group battles against it until it is weak enough for Midna to force its submission, and she uses its strength to shatter Ganondorf’s barrier.

The destruction of the barrier is noticed by monsters across the realm, who charge towards the castle, and the Resistance forces Link to go ahead while they hold the beasts off. He works his way through the castle and confronts Ganondorf in an epic showdown that restores Zelda’s spirit to her body and kills the Dark Lord. Midna is returned to her true form, and everyone returns home to start recovering from the war.

And there is much rejoicing. Yaaaaaaay…

The End Result

With all of these alterations, the story remains largely the same, but stronger in key areas.

Link’s character is much more consistent. His goals are laid out and stood by – first save the children, then help Midna with the Fused Shadows, and only later does his task expand to saving all of Hyrule from the threats of Zant and Ganondorf. The failure to save Castle Town combined with his ancestor being one of those who failed to execute the Dark Lord provides our Hero with personal motives to fear and fight against him. Doing so further establishes this as Link’s story, rather than him being but a sidekick in Midna’s tale.

Zelda’s character is much more prominent. Even though she herself remains largely unseen in the game, her presence becomes pronounced through NPCs. Her strength is no longer in doubt either, as it is the threat to her subjects that keeps her Zant’s prisoner, rather than any threat against her personally. With her importance and power firmly established, her role in the final battle not only feels justified, but necessary – it’s finally time for Zelda to show the strength that has been hinted at throughout the game.

Zant’s character degrades, yes, but in a much more believable fashion. Right up to the beginning of the final fight against him, his composure and power remain consistent; it is only as Link begins defeating him that his pride comes into play and sends him frantically reaching for some path – any path – to victory. With this comes a dependence on a power that his feeble spirit cannot command, and as such his sanity is shattered by their dark influence.

Ganondorf is treated as the malicious threat that he is supposed to be: a cunning warlord whose centuries of plotting are finally coming to fruition. The battle against him becomes far more personal with the revelation of how he nearly overcame Link and Zelda’s ancestors – and the rivalry is pushed up to eleven upon realizing that it was he, not Zant, who initiated the destruction of Castle Town. Ganondorf is given numerous reasons to be feared and loathed in this game, rather than relying on his previous roles in the Zelda series to establish such things.

The Bulblins’ actions at the start of the game make sense now, too, and allow for us to establish even more of an antagonistic rivalry between Link and King Bulblin. Goodbye, unsolvable mystery that completely flies in the face of our villains’ motives and intelligence!

The Light Spirits have expanded roles that greatly strengthen their importance in the world. Rather than disappearing for most of the game, they serve to guard the regions of Hyrule from the assaults of Ganondorf’s armies. Passing the role of the Sages to them also further integrates them into the story and its historical elements: the threat of Zant and Ganondorf is partially their fault now, providing them new motivation to utilize the Fused Shadows that they themselves sealed away long ago. Lanayru’s warnings to Link are also given more potency, as the Spirit’s fears are later realized by both Zant and Midna’s attempts to use the Fused Shadows.

Ilia gains new consistency as well – the fiery determination and the desire to help others that are so prominent in the first part of the game now get carried over to the second half. By allowing her to regain her memories much earlier in the story, she achieves new opportunities to display these traits: she cares for those wounded in the flight from Castle Town and later joins the Resistance’s support of Link as he confronts Ganondorf.

Speaking of which,

the Resistance receives roles in the climax of the tale that match their importance to the narrative. Obstacles along the path to Ganondorf can only be overcome with their assistance, and they very nearly sacrifice themselves in order for Link to face the Dark Lord unhindered. Not to mention, Rusl actually does something to help Link access the Temple of Time, as it is now with his help that Link locates and/or chases down the Skull Kid for a second time. As for the Golden Cucco…well, good riddance.

Finally,

the people of Ordon Village receive several more chances to shine, as their home is no longer stagnantly devoid of change – rather, Link must revisit it at least twice more to access the Sacred Grove, and both times allow for us to see how the town has changed during his journey. Some of the citizens might learn to trust the strange wolf they once feared; others will continue to blame him for all of their problems and woes. Either way, these characters gain new opportunities to develop and grow beyond what is seen of them initially.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a fantastic game, filled with epic battles, an enormous world, and a story that, while flawed, was incredible, memorable, and drew many new fans into our favorite series. The game was fun; it was exciting; it was massive. It was, without a doubt, worthy of the Zelda title. Let no one ever say it was a bad game…just, let no one say it could not have been better.

The writers of Twilight Princess failed to recognize one thing: stories are driven by characters. The above points make this clear; almost every one of our changes was made not to directly strengthen the story, but instead to strengthen certain characters within the story. Once it has stronger characters, the tale itself naturally grows stronger as a result. Removing inconsistencies and providing more development opportunities results in characters that we can better understand and develop a connection with – be that a connection of respect and admiration, as towards Zelda and Ilia, or one filled with justified rage and a righteous anger, as towards Zant and Ganondorf. As we forge these connections, our investment in the story automatically grows stronger and deeper, until the tale as a whole becomes unforgettable.

Until it becomes legendary.

It wouldn’t have fixed

all the game’s problems, but a better focus on and consistency of the characters in TP’s storyline would only have helped. Let us all hope that, in the future, Nintendo and other developers learn from these shortcomings and are able to provide us with truly legendary tales once more.

Closing Comments

Well, this has been fun. I love stories and I love Zelda; this series has been a fantastic melding of the two. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed reading these articles as much as I enjoyed writing them, and if you didn’t, well, it’s over now…until and unless we come up with more gaming plotlines to critique. If you know of any good candidates – be they from Twilight Princess, a different Zelda title, or even another gaming franchise altogether – leave a comment about them! Maybe you’ll inspire me to start rewriting other games or franchises.

Until that time comes, however, this is Alpha, signing off to go do…stuff.

Probably replay

Twilight Princess. I’ve got an itch for that game now…

“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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