Twilight Princess Epona's Injury

[Shadsie]

This was something I was thinking about the other day. Call it a combination of clicking links from TV Tropes and events going on at my place of work...

I remember making a topic like this a long time ago at another board (Knights of Hyrule if I'm not mistaken). Anyway, the other day, I was clicking around the Internet and caught a couple of episodes of someone's Abridged Series of Twilight Princess. It was mildly amusing (not as funny as eps of a Majora's Mask Abridged I'd seen)... The part where Ilia was scolding Link over Epona was shown and exaggerated, with some text superimposed over it "Yes, this was what she was really doing in the game."

It reminded me of how most players really see that scene.

To me, Ilia's reaction was perfectly natural.

I work at a barn, horse farm. One of the show horses just had surgery on his back legs. When I'd first played TP, I was unemployed at the time, but *had* worked on farms/with horses before. I'm no equestrian, myself (novice rider and haven't ridden in years) and I'm not a veternarian, I just take care of basic care and cleanup, but from what I do know of horses...

Ilia never struck me as out of line. Maybe she was a little overdramtic (for the sake of a comedic scene - Link and Bo's "we're getting the third degree" faces were priceless), but I never saw her as "getting loopy over a scratch." I always thought "She must see a swelling in Epona's leg."

If a horse has swelling in the legs, it's serious business. Horses depend upon their legs and are prone to injury in them. The animals might be big and strong, but they're surprisingly fragile. People don't put horses to death for every problem in the legs anymore, but even a seemingly small injury can render a horse unable to jump, unable to carry a rider.

So, I don't know - must be a matter of perspective. When I see game fans talk alot about Ilia overreacting or getting crazy over something "small" I think "I didn't see her as nuts." She pretty much acted like I've known equestrians to act.

 

[Epona98]

YAY! I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO READS TV TROPES But anyway, I lease a horse and I've been showing for a while now, but anyway you ARE right. I believe that was xanauzumaki's abridged series, I did laugh at that part, but whenever a horse receives even a minor injury, action DOES have to be taken preferably as soon as possible. Even if there's just a scratch, it should be cleaned before it gets infected or anything. You're right, Illia was doing what any normal person that rides horses would do, because they really are delicate animals. I've known horses that were put down because they broke their leg just playing around with other horses.

 

[Shadsie]

How about kicking the bars on the stall window? One of the people who keeps horses at the farm I work for has a young horse (I'd say colt, but he got gelded) - I wonder how many people on here know what a "gelding" is? He's not trained yet, still in baby-stage and he injures himself all the time bucking around in his stall.

Yeah - the abridged was funny, I'm not knocking it, it just reminded me of the reaction I've seen from many Zelda fans over this scene in TP. It seems most fans think "Overreaction much, geez, Ilia!" and I always saw it as "Hey! Nintendo did their research!"

The scene probably isn't informinative enough for me to edit TV Tropes' "Shown their Work" page for Nintendo/TP, though.

If you ever read TV Tropes and cruise over to the Legend of Zelda section (fun, fun reading the many, many tropes there), click on the Fanfic Recs. Someone put one of mine there. If you search further in the Troper Works, in response to the rec, I actually made a tropes page for that fic - just for fun.

 

[Ganondork]

To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure how Epona even received the injury in the first place. If I recall, Link was yelled at by Ilia when he returned from saving the children from the Bokoblins (I forget his name, either Malo or Talon). I remember distinctively that Epona didn't pass the gate that was blocked by the first enemy in the game - a Deku Baba. If Epona didn't even make it to the halfway mark, or run into a monster of any form, how did she acquire this wound?

But anyway, onto the topic at hand. I do feel that Ilia greatly overreacted. I believe it was just a tiny scratch that Epona received, it wasn't like she was hit so hard that she collapsed, preventing Link from using her ever again. I can understand (as you said) that there was a comedic point to it as well, Link and Bo both had a funny look on their face when they were being yelled at.

Now, I've never really handled horses, so I'm not 100% sure what exactly a horse can handle, but Epona is a tough horse. She's been with Link for a very long time in Ordon. Her legs are very muscular - far more than in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask - and I think that Epona could more than easily take a few scratches. Horses may have complications with their legs when their legs are injured, but Epona is Link's trusty steed and has been through a lot with him. The horse has more than likely been through a whole lot with Link; hard work, strain, and probably many other things. Epona was able to fare just fine in heat of battle against the Bulblins when retrieving Colin from King Bulblin. That was a lot of hard work, and Link definitely had to kick his boot into her legs to get her moving on many occasions. Then he has to joust King Bulblin twice and then battle Ganondorf on horseback. Epona is definitely a sturdy steed.

So in conclusion, yes, Ilia overreacted. Epona is no ordinary horse, whether it be due to "Nintendo Logic" or just the fact that she was a strong horse. Epona can take a lot of things, and she has proved this by the end of Twilight Princess.