Midna

Midna (ミドナ Midona) is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Midna, a Twili, teams up with the protagonist, Link, to battle a "greater evil" that she alone cannot overcome. In fitting with her dark nature, she has a playfully devilish sense of humor and shows a somewhat cynical demeanor during most of the game. She also has the most extensive voice acting of any character in the series, as all of her dialogue is represented by audible (though unintelligible) vocalization. Most of her magical abilities feature her hair taking on the shape of an arm, or having some other relation. Midna's voice is provided by Akiko Koumoto.

Midna, like all creatures from the Twilight Realm, cannot tolerate light, and she hides in Link's shadow when he is in the Light World. The only time she takes her physical form is when he is in the Twilight or is a wolf, or otherwise in a dungeon. This may also imply she cannot fraternize with the light-dwellers. This would seem to fit with Zant's claim that Midna is incapable of consorting with light-dwellers. However, when Zelda restored Midna, she also gave her the ability to withstand the light.

Biography
Midna is one of the Twili, a race descended from wielders of powerful and evil magic who were banished to an alternate dimension by the goddesses Din, Farore, and Nayru. This alternate dimension, out of which the sublimated descendants could only exist as shadows, eventually became known as the Twilight Realm. In recent time, the Twili have been converted to fearsome "shadow beasts" (and Midna into an imp-like form) by the self-styled Twilight King Zant.

Midna first meets Link when he first strays into the Twilight covering Faron Woods, and is transformed into a wolf. He then passes out and is dragged off by a Shadow Beast and chained up in a cell. She helps him escape and return to Hyrule. Midna makes it clear that she is only helping Link to save her own world and has no concern for the Realm of Light. She informs Link that they should recover the parts of a powerful magical artifact known as the Fused Shadows.

Later in the game though, after gathering the third Fused Shadow, Zant appears and exposes Midna to the light of the spirit Lanayru. This almost kills her. He then puts a curse on Link to trap him in Wolf Form, and takes the three Fused Shadows away (strangely, he allows Midna to keep the one she wears on her head). Lanayru transports the cursed Wolf Link and injured Midna back to Hyrule Field. Wolf Link takes Midna to Princess Zelda, hoping she can reveal how to remove the curse on him and heal Midna. She tells Link to find the Master Sword in the Sacred Grove to break the curse on him; less could be said for Midna. As Midna is nearing death, Zelda decides it's for the best that she give her own powers to Midna, though Midna tries to stop Zelda. With Zelda gone and Midna restored, they set off to find the Master Sword. From here on out, Midna is no longer cynical (most of the time) and takes on a much more serious and kind attitude, and she decides that the Realm of Light must be saved as well as her own Realm of Twilight. Midna tells Link that in order to destroy Zant, the duo must find the Mirror of Twilight to access the Twilight Realm again. When the two find it in the Mirror Chamber of Gerudo Desert, they realize that it has been shattered into four shards, one of which still remains on the Mirror's pedestal. The Ancient Sages of Hyrule appear and explain that it was Zant who broke the Mirror, but this only happened because the sages had previously sealed Ganondorf in the Twilight Realm, who inevitably gave Zant his power. Midna later reveals that Zant could only shatter the Mirror; only the true ruler of the Twili could utterly destroy it. After going through the Snowpeak Ruins, the Temple of Time, and the floating City in the Sky, home of the Oocca, the pair travel to the Mirror Chamber to restore the Mirror of Twilight. At this point, the Sages reveal that Midna is the Twilight Princess, leader of the Twili.

When Link and Midna confront Zant in the Palace of Twilight, a long battle ensues spanning tactics and arenas from past bosses and sub-bosses of the game. After the fight, Midna retrieves the Fused Shadows from Zant but does not return to her original form as she had hoped. Zant then reveals to her that only by killing Ganondorf can the curse truly be lifted and Zant truly be destroyed. That was the purpose of the barrier erected outside Hyrule Castle — it would allow a safe place for Ganondorf to hide so Zant could stay alive. In a fit of rage, Midna uses the Fused Shadows to impale Zant with several locks of hair and kills him. After returning back to the Light World and Hyrule Castle she regains the magic of her inheritance and becomes able to use the Fused Shadows to transform into a gigantic, dark arachnid-like creature and shatter the barrier surrounding Hyrule Castle. Link and Midna then confront Ganondorf and after Link battles both Zelda (who is being used by Ganondorf) and Ganon himself in beast form, Midna teleports Link and Zelda out of the castle and faces Ganondorf alone. After transporting Link and Zelda to safety, Midna once again transforms into a spider-like creature and engages Ganondorf in battle, with the castle being destroyed in the process. However, it is soon revealed that Ganondorf was victorious. He emerges from the castle carrying Midna's helmet before crushing it in his hand. Thus, Midna was seemingly killed. After Link, with some assistance from Zelda, defeats Ganondorf once and for all, it turns out Midna survived and Ganondorf's spell on her was broken, allowing Midna to regain her true form. In a comical moment when Link first sees her true form, she is amused by his silence and asks, "Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?". Link is speechless. She then takes leave of the Light Realm, saying good-bye and thanking Zelda. Turning to Link, she begins a sentence "I..." before breaking off and saying "See you later..." (Which she says to Link throughout the game). She states that so long as the Mirror of Twilight remains intact, she and Link could see each other again someday before throwing a tear into the Mirror, shattering it. Midna returns to her realm just before the Mirror shatters, destroying the only known bond between the worlds (though this may not exclude the possibility of Midna returning in a later game).

Gameplay
Like Navi in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, she acts as a guide who helps the player learn the controls and advance in the game. Unlike the fairy companions, she does not offer information on enemies and talking to her will give Link a small tip on what the player must do to progress or defeat a boss. Whilst Link is in wolf form, she usually rides on his back and assists him with an attack that creates a field of dark energy, allowing Link to lock onto any enemies within it and charge at all of them consecutively. When her icon appears, she can assist Wolf Link with jumps the player normally cannot perform. In the light world, she appears as a somewhat ghostly silhouette out of Link's shadow, yet can still communicate with Link and is needed to pass into the twilight from the "light" world.

Early in the game, Midna will allow Wolf Link to teleport to twilight portals across Hyrule, thus quickly spanning great distances. Once Link obtains the Master Sword, calling Midna will allow Link to freely transform into wolf form and vice versa (except for when in the presence of people, where Midna will then forbid transforming to avoid startling them). Her hair can form into a hand, allowing Link to jump to faraway locations, open doors, or catch charging enemies.

Abilities
Midna has a variety of powers from her tribe's shadow magic, which include:


 * The ability to use her hair like a hand to grab enemies.
 * To extend an object's energy field.
 * To grab something from outside the twilight and pull it into the twilight. (Note that this is available for any Twili)
 * To make use of twilight portals.
 * To perform psychokinesis.
 * To turn her hair into red spikes and impale things.
 * To turn into a deadly twilight creature with a twilit spear using the power of the Fused shadows
 * To keep an item in an unknown hammer space. She has been seen to be able to keep the Ordon Sword, the Ordon Shield, and Zant's charm and have it reappear floating in her hand at will. She may use this power to store Link's items while he is in wolf form.
 * To create waves of energy strong enough to break metal.
 * To take the form of other beings.
 * She also displays the ability to break down her body into twilight particles. She uses this to move through the bars of the cell in which Link was imprisoned.
 * She seems to have the ability to create twilight portals. She is seen doing this after each dungeon boss is defeated. These portals appear on the ground rather than in the air, as most portals are.
 * She, being the true ruler of the Twili, has the ability to destroy the Twilight Mirror.

(Note: Most of the powers Midna has may be given to her by the crown of the Fused Shadow that she wears on her head throughout the game. The Fused Shadow may also give her powers that are not shown throughout the game.)

Theory
Midna's behavior toward Link near the end of the game, as well as her unfinished sentence before breaking the mirror, hints toward a possible romantic attraction.

Trivia

 * When asked if Midna would return for a future game or not in an interview with GameInformer, Eiji Aonuma stated: "Because of the way Twilight Princess ended, I don’t see her making a reappearance, but who knows? If we hear enough voices for her to come back, how can we not?"
 * As seen in the early trailers, Midna's hair style has undergone change. Originally, her hair was longer, more flame-like and was red-orange with green running throughout it.
 * It should be noted that in the Wii version, her right eye is covered, but in the GameCube version (as well as promotional images), her left eye is covered. This is because during development, the entire game had to be mirrored to make Link fit with the Wii's general right-handed controls (Link is traditionally left-handed). Due to this, the markings covering her body are also reversed in the two versions. On her trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it was all changed back.
 * Midna's irises are colored red in the inner parts and orange in the outer parts. This can be seen clearly in close-up shots of her face throughout the game. Her sclera are also yellow.
 * When in an area dispelled of Twilight before Link restores all of the Light Spirits, when in wolf form Midna's shadow can be seen riding on Wolf Link's shadow, even if she isn't physically on Link's back.
 * In the basement of Link's House there is a mirror. It will reflect any weapon or tunic Link takes out but will not show Midna's reflection. Some fans see this easter egg as symbolizing that Midna has no soul; this is unlikely, however, considering how kind (if not slightly sarcastic) Midna is to Link throughout the game. It may instead show that Midna simply does not belong in the light realm, and thus has no reflection. It also should be noted that in order to "see" the mirror in the darkness, Link must use his senses, and smelling a reflection is impossible.
 * In the official Twilight Princess trading card deck, Midna has two cards -- one for her imp form and one for her true form. The trivia information on the back of the imp card states that the imp form is four feet tall. "Princess Midna" is one of the nine gold cards in the deck.
 * The name "Midna" may have been inspired by the word "midnight," meaning the middle of the night, specifically 12 o'clock.