The Resistance: What Rusl Could Have Been in Twilight Princess

In

A Link to the Past, Link’s uncle goes

to Hyrule Castle in search of answers, and when he doesn’t return, our young

protagonist’s adventure begins. In the following game, Link’s Awakening, it is only thanks to Marin nursing Link back to

health that allows him to uncover the secrets of Koholint Island and the Wind

Fish. In both, a stormy night precedes the start of his quest.

A

lot of importance is placed on Link’s first interactions. The fervour and

excitement that comes with the first play of a new Zelda game form our initial opinions – the characters we meet are

largely influential. Rusl plays that significant part in Twilight Princess when, with an unerring serenity, he says, “Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk

falls?”

Already,

the start of the game is slower and quieter than in the aforementioned Zelda titles. Perhaps it’s because this

game is longer and has the opportunity to spread the story out. We get given a

chance to herd goats and fish, to help our fellow neighbours. Minutes in, we have

already established connections with the people in Link’s life. But Rusl never

gets his chance to shine, be it as a way to emotionally offset the storyline or

as a physical presence in the heart of Link’s fight for Hyrule.

This

is the third in a series of explorative articles about the Resistance, how

their part in Link’s quest panned out, and where they could have used

improvement or development.

Much

of the early part of the game sees Rusl as Link’s friend and mentor. He gives

Link his first sword, crafts his second, and is a major figure in the province and

beyond. We don’t know Link’s background — why he lives in Ordon Village or how

he knows any of its inhabitants — but Rusl is there as a support to our

solitary hero, allowing us as players to explore the gameplay and the idyllic

setting.

After

a slow build-up, the game truly gets going. The search for children in a forest

cave, the assault on the village, and the onset of twilight. It is a long time

before Rusl is seen again, and when he is, Link discovers that it’s him under

the helmet in Telma’s Bar. The story has come full circle. Colin’s kidnapping

is what led Link out of the village, in pursuit of his foes, and here his

father has united some strangers to the very same cause. Unlike Auru and Ashei

before him, Rusl is already Link’s friend, and it makes his help in getting

Link to the Sacred Grove all the more worthwhile.

What

adds to their relationship, and the mystery surrounding Link’s background and

childhood, is Rusl’s standing as a father figure to him. Because Twilight Princess never seeks to explore

the emotional impact of that idea, we are left as players to piece as much

together as we can. What is clear is that Link acts on impulse to save Ilia and

Colin. They are in a way as much his family as the Kokiri in Ocarina of Time or the snotty-nosed kids

on Outset Island in The Wind Waker. Those

around Link have always done what they can to aid and assist him.

In

the back of Telma’s Bar, in the heart of Hyrule Market Town, Rusl explains, “I wanted to help the cause. These friends

here…I have had a connection with them for a long while.” It is the trust

in friends that enables Link to feel supported, and that the fight is bigger

than any predetermined prophecy. Rusl has travelled as far as we have, following

Link out into the world in search of his son. In many ways, Rusl’s role is more

important than those of his counterparts in the Resistance. We know very little

of the strangers sat around that table, but Rusl is from the same stock as Link

and that makes his part to play all the more important.

However,

the game focuses so heavily on Link’s progress — gaining the Fused Shadows and

then the Mirror Shards — that it forgets to linger on the smaller moments.

Previous Zelda games have given the

father and child relationship more emotional integrity. Take Prince Komali and

the Rito Chieftain, for example. They, and so much of what happens on Dragon Roost

Island, are affected by the armoured Gohma in the belly of the mountain. She is

the seed from which their suffering emanates. And in Ikana Canyon, the Music

Box House is a beacon of hope in an otherwise desolate landscape. Through Link’s

brave actions, Pamela and her father are reunited; her patience and bravery in

keeping the Gibdos at bay is rewarded. These quests feel more impactful because

of their far-reaching consequences on characters around you.

In

the point at which Rusl hands over the Golden Cucco, having waited at the edge

of the Sacred Grove, he succeeds in fulfilling his element of the search for

the Master Sword and another shard of the Mirror of Twilight. If Rusl had

attempted to find the Sacred Grove himself, there might have been potential for

a much deeper and longer lasting resonance with the player.

In

the Lost Woods, Link encounters a reinterpretation of the Skull Kid, hearkening

back to one of Majora’s Mask’s key

figures. In Twilight Princess, he contributes

to the labyrinthine feel of his surroundings, but his character doesn’t engage

with Link any more than another common enemy. We know that Skull Kid is

supposed to be a child that once got lost in the woods and that, over time, the

spirits of the woods have changed his appearance and his behaviour to a lesser

extent. In Twilight Princess,

although he still loves playing games, Skull Kid seems to be more dangerous,

displaying further symptoms of insanity.

The

Zelda series has already had its fair

share of Skull Kid, but he had the potential to unravel a new dimension to the

story with accentuated and emotional storytelling. The idea that he might have

been an old childhood friend of Rusl’s, who got lost years ago and never found

his way home had the potential to resonate with the fortunes of his own child,

Colin, in the hands of King Bulblin and other servants of the enemy. Perhaps as

a child, Rusl felt helpless as the elders of the village were resigned to the

fate of one of their own. And now, Rusl isn’t willing to let Colin share the

same fate. That already changes the way we think of Rusl and his place in Link’s

life. An emotional quest always outweighs a prophesied one.

On

a more practical level, Rusl could have been controlled by the player too,

finding a more intricate way into the Lost Woods. As things stood, the Golden

Cucco felt a little underused. Although Auru and Ashei’s presence in the game felt

at times unfulfilled because of the game time and player control that could

have enhanced them, I think Rusl may have benefitted more as a catalyst for

storytelling and emotional reaction for Link. That said, controlling a

character with his experience in swordplay and his knowledge of the forest may

have felt like controlling an older version of Link, which raises a whole new

series of questions about the expanding legacy of Link. Playing as Rusl then might

have tied in nicely once reverting back to Link’s control and stumbling upon

Rusl in the Lost Woods intently studying the Skull Kid.

It’s

always possible in video games for the connections that are made between the

protagonist and the most immediate characters around him or her to resonate

beyond the time spent playing the game. That is what has made Zelda so strong over the years. Twilight Princess isn’t entirely bereft

of emotional backbone — of course not. Midna, as we’ve just discovered in the ZVS

Partner Championship polls, is widely considered a much loved companion and

brought more than enough personality to the game that revolved around her. But

that’s just it — the other characters need to have influence in their own way.

They’ve been created to be part of Link’s adventure, and in a way Link is part

of theirs.