![]() What I really wanted was for Ganondorf and Zelda to work together to change Hyrule while Link and Midna helped to create a bridge between worlds, but instead Link kills Ganondorf and Zelda and Midna never see each other again. If they had not insisted on continuing to fight the increasingly humanized Ganondorf out of nothing more than their desire for revenge, then Hyrule would not have been denied the opportunity for energetic growth and powerful dynamism that he represented. Before he fights Link and Midna, Ganondorf accuses the them as being “faithless,” which is unpleasantly apt. Ganondorf, who was chosen to receive a portion of the Triforce, might have become an external force that could have shocked Hyrule out of the sort of cultural stagnation that beset the Twili and the Oocca. Twilight Princess begins with Link’s mentor Rusl asking, “Tell me… Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?” As melancholy and lament are two of the major themes of the game, I get the feeling that the Hylians are entering the twilight of their civilization. Couldn’t she and Ganondorf have worked something out? Before Zelda passed the Triforce of Wisdom to Midna, she had explained, “These dark times are the result of our deeds, yet it is you who have reaped the penalty.” This would indicate that Zelda is aware of the blame that falls on her people, as well as her own responsibility to make amends. To put it bluntly, there’s no need for Ganondorf to die. Zant’s defeat restabilizes Midna’s world, and her curse is lifted by the four Light Spirits. Moreover, since normal people can’t perceive the Twilight, it doesn’t seem to matter if Link is successful or not. The central plaza and thoroughfares are buzzing with commerce and playing children regardless of whether Zelda is on the throne or not. Interestingly, no one in Castle Town suffers because Zant’s siege of Hyrule Castle. Hyrule itself is filled with ruins and ghost towns, a mere shadow of what it once was. The Twili were condemned to eternal banishment for something that Ganondorf had earlier referred to as “petty magic.” The Oocca, whom the scholar Shad believes to be a race that inhabited Hyrule by the Hylians, obviously once had incredible technology but, when Link goes to their home in the City in the Sky, it is poorly maintained and falling apart. When Link finally bests him by driving the Master Sword into an ancient wound that never healed, Ganondorf speaks one of his most famous lines, “The history of light and shadow will be written in blood.” Based on everything Link has learned during his interactions with Midna and the four Light Spirits, this statement is not wrong. In other words, he progressively sheds his layers of dark magic, bestial rage, and his past as a warlord to finally stand as himself, armed with nothing more than the sword once used to execute him without trial. He begins as Ganon’s Puppet Zelda, transforms into Beast Ganon, then fights on horseback using the ghosts of dead riders, and finally faces off against Link alone. Ganondorf also becomes more human over the stages of the final battle. He calls the Twili people pathetic and speaks of their anguish, but it’s clear he’s projecting his own suffering as someone who was similarly “cast aside by the gods.” This is an ironic juxtaposition against his words. ![]() ![]() The camera uses forced perspective to make it seem as if he is holding them in his hand, even though they are far away. As he talks to Link and Midna, he gestures toward the symbols of power he has acquired, Zelda and the stone Triforce above her throne. He has finally achieved it, but it no longer has meaning. ![]() Everyone and everything he once knew is long gone, and all he has left is his former goal. When Link finds him in the Hyrule Castle throne room, he is sitting alone. The opposite is true in Twilight Princess, in which Ganondorf is introduced as a monster and then becomes an actual person. In Final Fantasy games, for example, the main antagonist will start off as someone pursuing a reasonable goal and gradually become less human and more symbolic of a greater evil. In most games, there is a narrative process through which the villain is demonized. I finally beat Twilight Princess last night, and I was not emotionally prepared for what happened. ![]()
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