- The Twilight itself seemed to put everything into a pseudo-stasis, basically taking a freeze-frame of a region, then allowing for movement. Therefore, water becomes ice, wind stops (allowing a certain valley to fill with poison), and people become nearly immobile spirits who move, if they move at all, in slow, mechanical, "pre-programmed" movements, like the regiments of soldiers moving in lockstep through Twilit Castle Town. Looking back on this, it appears to be a deconstruction of Going Through the Motions as well.
- The final boss's death scene. It's a pretty common point of confusion the way Ganondorf seems to lose the Triforce of Power. He's not losing it; the crest fading out signifies that it can't save him from being impaled by the Master Sword like it saved him when he was impaled by the Sages. Master Sword trumps Triforce-granted powers. Confirmed by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, where it's stated that the sword was originally created with the ability to block the Triforce's power. A fragment compared to the complete Triforce is easily depowered.
- Additionally, Din, whom the Sages implied may have handed Ganondorf her Triforce piece as a prank (possibly even knowing what he did with it in the Adult Timeline), may have decided that her 'divine prank' had run its course, given her chosen champion had been defeated, and revoked her favor, taking the Triforce of Power away from him and leaving him to die.
- Ganondorf retaining the Triforce might have to do with the tripartite nature of the timeline — by gaining it at all, he possesses it throughout the multiverse and must be deprived of it in each of the three branches. In the Child Timeline, he loses it in this game. In the Adult Timeline, he loses it in The Wind Waker. In the Hero Defeated branch, he loses it in the original Legend of Zelda. Once he loses it, he loses it for good, and never again draws his power from it. The Sages in the backstory of Twilight Princess probably thought that by executing him before he launched his conquest, he would not be able to get the Triforce of Power. Because the Triforce exists outside of time and space, they were wrong; he always had it.
- Each stage of the final boss tests Link in a different way: for example, Beast Ganon tests his beast form against your beast form, Horseback Ganondorf tests him on horseback with you on Epona, Spirit Ganon tests Midna's spirit form against his, and Ganondorf is a final test of your skill as a swordsman. It could be argued that Possessed Zelda is a test against you as a player, as you must use most of your skills to defeat that which you have sworn to protect. The analogy makes even more sense when you consider this: You are essentially "possessing" Link, as a counterpart to Ganondorf possessing Zelda.
- What's more, Beast Ganon's theme
is an evil variation of the herding game's theme. It's hinting that handling Beast Ganon is no different than wrestling one of the goats back in Ordon Village; it's just scaled up.
- What's more, Beast Ganon's theme
- It may seem quirky for Midna to try wearing the Ordon Shield like a mask. However, Twili culture seems to have an affinity for masks and helmets (e.g. the plates on the faces of the Shadow Beasts, Midna wearing the Fused Shadow piece, Zant's signature helmet). In her culture, it would make sense to place it upon one's face first.
- Ganondorf's silly reaction to the Fishing Pole: He's from the desert. He has no idea what that thing you're holding is. Of course he's going to keep his eyes on it, especially when you're bringing it out in the middle of battle with him! For all he knows, that Fishing Pole is some kind of Ultimate Weapon!
- About the Howling Stone melodies, they each share emotional significance to the Link of Ocarina of Time.
- The first is "Song of Healing", the song Link used in Majora's Mask to heal Mikau, Darmani, Pamela's father, and other suffering people.
- Next is "Requiem of Spirit", which was the warp song for the final temple in Ocarina of Time, the Spirit Temple. Here Link had to travel through time and use both his child and adult selves to advance.
- After that is "Prelude of Light", the first warp song learned and last one used to meet Zelda at the Temple of Time.
- Then "Goron's Lullaby", used to soothe the crying Goron child in Majora's Mask.
- "Ballad of Gales" appears odd considering the confirmed timeline, but it shares much of its melody with the final part of "Minuet of Forest", the warp song of the first adult dungeon, the Forest Temple, and a connection to Link's childhood friend, Saria.
- Finally the "Twilight Princess Theme", the theme of Link from Twilight Princess, protege of the Hero's Shade. This was probably chosen to represent the new Link's rise to heroism and the Hero of Time Passing the Torch to him as the Hero's Shade.
- According to Hyrule Historia, the Hero's Spirit is the Hero of Time. At that point, one remembers Fado's warning to Link in Ocarina of Time. And thus, what is the Hero of Time's ultimate fate?note
- The whole ordeal bears another mention. Notice how the first song is the "Song of Healing", used to pacify the spirits in mourning, but it's for the second Hidden Skill, not the first. Why? Because the first skill, "Ending Blow", is MANDATORY; you need it to complete the game. The remaining six skills, on the other hand, ARE NOT MANDATORY. Remember that the Hero's Shade is grieving his inability to pass on his knowledge to an heir, so by continuing on with the second skill, the first to require a wolf duet and using the "Song of Healing", you're choosing to heal the Hero's Shade's pain by taking on his knowledge, knowledge that he doesn't have to impart to you but wants to.
- The Hero's Shade final skill, the Great Spin, isn't physically demonstrated by him unlike the other skills (bar the Ending Blow; he does perform the Shield Attack to demonstrate the Helm Splitter). He mentions that the user's health must be brimming full. Considering his status as an undead, it makes sense he wouldn't demonstrate the Great Spin; not because he doesn't want, but because he can't.
- The entire power of love subtext for the Snowpeak Mansion arc is made even better by Link's receiving the Ball and Chain.
- The locations of the Clawshots coinciding with both the highest (City in the Sky) and lowest (Lakebed Temple) points in the game.
- It's often wondered why Zant's men took the children of Ordon Village away and kept them hostage, as they do not do that to anybody else in Hyrule. It's possible that OoT/MM Link settled down in Ordon Village (where his descendant, TP Link, lives) and that Ganondorf somehow knew this, so it was suspected that one of the children might have inherited the Triforce of Courage. This could explain why TP Link was taken to Hyrule Castle instead of staying with the other children (as his... unusual reaction to the Twilight pretty much gave himself away).
- Zant and light:
- When Zant manages to attack you at Lanayru's spring and when he assaults Hyrule Castle, he (albeit temporarily) is in the Light. But he's a native Twili, and if going by Midna's reaction to being exposed to Lanayru's light and the fact she remains a shadow until Zelda grants her the ability to dwell in the Light, he should probably be in pain, or not even there at least. The thing is, like when Zelda gave Midna her soul/Triforce piece/whatever she did, Zant had received Ganondorf's ability to live in the Light, and thus was able to be in the realm of Light without harm.
- Alternatively, he is the only Twili we see wearing clothes until the end, when Midna shows her true form. Perhaps clothes protect them. And looking at Midna, perhaps not everything needs to be covered, but Zant's covered from head to toe.
- Midna being only partially clothed may also be justified by the fact that, when at full power, she wouldn't need to wear any kind of protective armor, as she could simply cast a protective spell of sorts.
- Rutela's theme is the Serenade of Water from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
- The Hylian soldiers in Twilight Princess have an uncharacteristic level of cowardice compared to other Zelda titles. They're easily scared of Wolf Link whenever he's in town, and when a group of them volunteered to escort the civilians to Kakariko village, they ran away the moment Telma mentions that the path would be filled with monsters. But considering what had happened to them up until now, it's not all that surprising:
- Zant's attack on Hyrule Castle no doubt killed several soldiers, without them even being able to fight back. With Zelda surrendering to Zant added into the mix, morale would suffer a devastating blow and not likely to recover any time soon.
- With several soldiers now dead, new men, who would otherwise be unsuited for a military career, would most likely have to be drafted just to try and keep any semblance to Hyrule's military might.
- Among the golden bugs you can find, there are two snails. If you check their descriptions, it seems Link is not sure which one is the male and which is the female. In real life, most snails are hermaphrodites.
- The Finishing Move is called the Ending Blow because it is the one that, in a sense, ends the game by finishing off Ganondorf.
- The Gorons in Castle Town charge moderately more for their items than most other shops. The young one on the ground floor says his dad calls it "regional pricing". Makes sense, as the only other shop in the area charges thousands of Rupees for its goods, and most potential customers don't teleport. (Of course, then they may end up being a casualty of Malo's buyout, as now they have the highest prices anywhere...)
- Most dungeon bosses have an eye (which may not belong where it is) that both functions as a weak point and turns into a Heart Container upon the boss's defeat. This may be a Japanese pun: "eye" is a homophone of ai (love). It comes full circle when you beat Blizzeta and the Heart Container comes from an expression of ai.
- Ganon's Sword is the sword used at his own execution. It created this white scar on him that was his fatal weakness. Canonically, most of Ocarina of Time's events didn't happen in the Child timeline, which Twilight Princess takes place in. No wonder he took the sword. It was likely the only weapon to ever seriously harm him, considering he's never seen the Master Sword before. note
- The scene of Zant snapping his neck right before Ganondorf dies seems to be confusing at first glance, to the point that even the director didn't know about its significance. But Zant himself explains before his boss fight that when Ganon housed his power in Zant to recover, "[Zant's] desires will become MY desires". So when what's left of Zant, seeing his God's power fade and him on the brink of death, snaps his neck, he expresses his desire for Ganondorf to die - which, despite wanting to the contrary, Ganondorf does by succumbing to the Master Sword.
- Zant's motivations start to make more sense when you realize he was confident that since he and Ganondorf were connected, he expected Ganondorf to revive him at some point right before Midna killed him (probably due to his devoted service). However, before the heroes face him in the final battle, Ganondorf goes on a rant about how insignificant Midna's ancestors are in their attempts to gain power — the same ancestors who were Zant's entire motivation for usurping (due to believing that his royal family had gone soft) — as well as implying that he found Zant too useless to resurrect. Have your own "god" spit on your dreams after saying he'd desire what you desire and find that he isn't as godly as you thought while he tries to use what remains of your power to stay alive, and...
- Perhaps a simpler interpretation could be that Zant saw Ganondorf losing and came to the realization that defeating Link was impossible and therefore thought any hope he has to retaking what he lost to Link and Midna was gone. Which could mean that unlike Ganondorf, who has an impressive history of being a Determinator, Zant was Driven to Suicide because he realized what chances he had to fulfill his desires were lost and saw no point in fighting anymore.
- Many players may find it a little odd that most characters react to Wolf Link in such an extreme way, and don't even seem to know what he is. Even the residents of Ordon think he's another monster instead of some canine, even though you'd think they'd have they fair share of dealings with wolves, since they're a rural community that raises livestock on the edge of the forest. Well, as it turns out, there are no wolves left in Japan, as all native varieties went extinct. Given that the game is made in Japan, it actually makes a bit of sense that most of the people in Hyrule have never seen a wolf before, nor know what to do when they see one.
- Twilight Princess was released 8 years after Ocarina of Time (only a few days short), so when you go into the past temple after striking the Pedestal of Time, you are going back ~7 years in actual time.
- It's kind of weird that people seem to cower in fear of Wolf Link, even calling him a monster despite the fact that he just looks like a wolf. It starts to make more sense when one realizes that White Wolfos in this game are much more akin to real wolves than their appearance in Ocarina of Time. The people calling Wolf Link a monster aren't afraid of a simple wolf, they probably think he's a Wolfos!
- How come that various Zoras make reference to Ruto being a sage, despite the game taking place in the Child Timeline, in which the future portion of Ocarina of Time (which was when she became a sage) never happened? Because, as shown in Ganon's execution attempt, he managed to kill the Sage of Water. His death should have prompted Ruto to wake up as a sage in order to fill in for him (just like in the other timelines), so it's likely that she became a sage in the Child Timeline too.
- Why is there a random shop near the Forest Temple? Since Coro sets up his main oil shop at the entrance to the Ordon region, he likely learns their destinations and there are enough people adventuring to the Forest Temple or even the Lost Woods, and Coro realizes people will need more oil or health either on their way there or on their way back.
- Zant's Villainous Breakdown makes sense when you examine his story of rejection by Twili royalty. The way he words it seems overly critical, specifically of their lack of desire for justice, for power over the light. It seems that the Twili shunned Zant in the first place for his zealous passion. After internalizing this, once he came into power he started to emulate the way his royalty had acted: calm, aloof, serious. It's what he knows a ruler should be like. But once his plan begins to collapse, he loses this built-up facade and lets his true self out once again, this time turned up to eleven. Just as the Twili feared, he never did have what it takes to be a ruler.
- His breakdown can also be traced through his battle. For the Diababa and Dangoro phases, he seems quite confident in his powers as he laughs and toys with Link. When those don't work, he ups the ante in the Morpheel and Ook phases, increasing the battle's scale and trying to disorient Link to win back the advantage. When those don't work either, he goes for brute strength in the Blizzeta phase, desperate to squash Link like a bug. Once exhausted, Zant takes Link in front of Hyrule Castle - the beginning of his conquest and the lair of his master, Ganondorf - and reverts to a manic lunatic, attempting to show up Link in swordplay desite being completely untrained. The shout he does when changing each phase even become more unhinged as he goes.
- The reveal of King Bulblin's honor and his I Fight for the Strongest Side! creed is truly brilliant. The entire game, Link and Midna (and the player) have been led to believe that Bulblin was merely an oafish agent of chaos. But this blows that all out of the water. The idea that King Bulblin has lived his life as merely a slave to the ideals of others, along with the rest of the Bulblin race, is profoundly melancholy. In the end credits he is seen prancing about Hyrule Field with his servants, but his true fate is left ambiguous. Have the Bulblins finally decided to live for themselves? Or will they continue to serve Link and Hyrule until a stronger interloper appears?
- A common criticism of Ganondorf's characterization in this game is he doesn't really seem to care about anything going on in the final battle, trudging around slowly and barely putting in any effort in his attacks, and acting as if he'd rather be doing anything else. But that's the thing: he really would rather do anything else than fight Link. At this point, he's already defeated Midna, his main opposition, and made a mockery of Princess Zelda by possessing her body, leaving Midna's errand boy (whom he has no prior interaction or knowledge of, and has no personal interest in) as his sole opposition. Thus, Ganondorf really couldn't care less about his fight with Link; Link is just a minor annoyance so far beneath him and has no real part in any of his plans that Ganondorf doesn't bother putting in any real effort in his attacks (hence the low damage and his slow movements). Not only that, both Midna and Zelda are leaders of a country with a vast amount of political power and resources, and pose a significant threat to Ganondorf's plans. Link, meanwhile, is a simple goat rancher from a small farming community, which likely didn't do anything to improve Ganondorf's opinion of him.
- Zant calls Ganondorf the "King of Twilight" at one point, despite Zant himself both wanting and considering himself to be the King of the Twili. This is actually a stealth insult that Ganondorf knew would fly right over Zant's head: by giving himself the title of king, Ganondorf was implying that he was the true ruler of the Twilight Realm and more worthy of holding the title than Zant or Midna, and by taking the tile, he was subtly telling Zant that he would never be worthy of holding the title of king himself. Zant didn't question or stop to think about it since he wouldn't question his "god" about anything.
- When ascending the tower of Hyrule Castle to confront Ganondorf, transforming into Wolf Link allows one to see the ghosts of dead soldiers at a certain point. These soldiers probably died defending the castle from Ganondorf, and guide the way in hopes of being avenged.
- After playing through Skyward Sword, the City in the Sky takes on an entirely new perspective. One can only assume it's what is left of Skyloft after all these years. The place looks positively futuristic compared to olden times, but in the end, the place is falling apart, and not just because of Argorok. It's really kind of sad in that way.
- With the nightmare fuel involved in Arbiter's Grounds in mind, let's think long and hard about what it actually is. It's a PRISON. A prison where the Twili were detained before their banishment to the twilight. Think about the contents of that prison. All the Redeads and Choul Rats and Poes, and that's the stuff that must have moved in. The skull of Stallord is ancient. Very much so. So ancient, it probably was already there, maybe even alive. And the Death Sword. That is bound in a prison. Perhaps it was some kind of guard gone wrong? And all of the chains and spikes and bones. And gears. And quicksand. And advanced machines with death-causing devices on them. You get the picture. Arbiter's Grounds was a concentration camp that culminated in banishment to another world not meant for humans.
- This was likely a symbolic execution. Disagree? Let's consider that they sent Ganondorf through it to get rid of him when other attempts failed. The execution itself did seem rather ritualistic. For all we know, the twilight was just the final part of it, and they decided to just send him through. It's almost worse if it wasn't meant for execution. The sages willingly sent Ganondorf into a world that might have been filled with innocent people completely unprepared for a threat of that magnitude, as they had no Triforce to match his.
- In the fight against Ganon, his weak spot is the scar left by his failed execution. One might assume that this means if you're a wielder of the Triforce of Power, you don't die and your usually lethal wound becomes a rather sensitive scar instead. Now, imagine if Ganon hadn't died (e.g. because he was attacked with a normal sword instead of the Master Sword) due to this protection. After enough fights, he'd end up covered in very sensitive skin that might just hurt whenever anything touches it. Meaning he'd be in constant pain. There's no known way to just get rid of a Triforce piece, is there...?
- It appears the entire population of the Twilight Realm was converted into monsters by Zant, meaning they most likely wouldn't have served him any other way. Was it because Midna was a popular leader he disposed, or was Zant simply that horrific of a ruler that no one would willingly follow him?
- It is implied that humans/Hylians can be transformed into Twilt Beasts. Some of those Twilt Beasts that Link had been beating up could be potentially innocent people!
- Some? The Twilit Beasts are actually transformed Twili, so try most, if not all of them.
- Keyword being "most". Barnes mentions that when the people of Kakariko went to save a woman being attacked by a Twilit Beast, she was nowhere to be found and there were instead two of the monsters, implying that she was turned by her attacker.
- Take a look around during the sword duel with Ganondorf. Notice anything familiar? It's the Bridge of Eldin area. Right outside of Kakariko Village. Meaning the Ordon children, Illia, and the Gorons were right next to the Gerudo king himself without even knowing it.
- It's never made clear whether or not Ganondorf even knew they were there, or how much Link cared about them. But if he did, that makes it incredibly disturbing imagining what he may have been planning to do after killing Link considering what he did with Midna...
- Very mild example compared to all the evils addressed above, but... how's Agitha going to take it when she finally pairs off all her prized new bugs for her fancy play-time royal ball, only to see the female mantis do what comes naturally and bite the head off the male?
On the headscratchers page.
