The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess‘s final obstacle, the quest for the Mirror shards, is heavy on gameplay and light on plot. This isn’t uncommon for the series, but it’s still a notable departure from the game’s plot-heavy first half. It’s also notable that two of the three dungeons can be accessed without any interaction with the children of Ordon, further deemphasizing their role in the plot. On the other hand, Midna continues to develop during this obstacle, as the quest is tied into her character arc.

To find the first Mirror shard, the sages instructed Link to head to the snowy mountains. As Link has not yet visited a snowy region at this point, he heads to Telma’s bar for information on how to reach it. In yet another lucky coincidence at Telma’s, it turns out one of the bar patrons, Ashei, has gone to the mountains herself and left instructions for how to follow her.

Using Ashei’s map, Link and Midna reach Snowpeak Mountains and meet with Ashei. She tells them of a beast in the area that’s been terrorizing the Zoras and stealing their fish, but the thick snow has made it too difficult to investigate. Once the Zora prince Ralis tells Link where to find the fish the beast wants, Link can use his keen wolf senses to track the scent and find the beast in the storm. The beast, Yeto, tells Link that he’s found a piece of the mirror and invites Link to the dilapidated mansion he calls home. This mansion also happens to be a dungeon, which bucks tradition by integrating non-player characters into the exploration. Although this is not the first time the Zelda series has featured character interactions in a dungeon, the narrative integration still a welcome change of pace after so many straight-forward dungeon crawls.

The mansion substory focuses around Yeto’s wife, Yeta. She’s fallen ill because of the Mirror shard, so they’ve locked it away on the highest floor of the mansion. Unfortunately, the Mirror has drawn out all sorts of monsters, so Link must fight his way through the mansion to reach the top. When he finally finds the Mirror, Yeta attacks him in a blind rage, but he’s able to subdue her and Yeto forgives her for her actions under the evil spell. Link hands the Mirror shard over to Midna, who laments that Yeta had to suffer under the Mirror’s power, and comments that both of their worlds can be cruel.

To find the second Mirror shard, Link and Midna venture back to Faron woods, to the grove where Link found the Master Sword. Along the way, they meet with Rusl, Colin’s father. Rusl doesn’t have much to say about his son—who still hasn’t come home, not that anyone seems to care—but he does have the tools to help Link reach the next temple. This brief interaction is a stark reminder of how little the children now matter in the narrative, as even their own parents are doing fine without them.

With Rusl’s help, Link and Midna find the entryway to the Temple of Light, hidden deep within the ruins of the Temple of Time. This temple has very little story content, but it does give Link yet another chance to met with one of the Oocca. They’re small, misshapen bird creatures who have acted as warp points in previous dungeons, but their roles expanded with the search for the Mirror shards. The Oocca in the Temple of Time, Ooccoo, is there searching for the technology that will let him reach his people’s city again, which exists high in the sky. Link agrees to help him, as the City in the Sky is the next temple on his list.

Before Link can help Ooccoo, he must receive the Mirror shard from the Temple of Time, so he clears out the monsters and kills the spider at the temple’s heart. Like everything else in the Temple, the spider is an interesting callback to Ocarina of Time, but it lacks the narrative punch of the brawl with Yeta from the previous dungeon. When the spider gives up its shard, Midna comments on how powerful it is and wonders if they may have to destroy it once they use it for their purposes. This is a nice little bit of foreshadowing that pays off later, once the mirror has been fully assembled.

With one Mirror shard left to go, Link returns to Telma’s bar once more. She asks him to check in on the others in Kakariko Village, as another patron, Shad, is headed there as well. When Link and Midna arrive in the village, Shad is there with Renado and the Goron elder, and together they’ve uncovered a potential way to restore Ilia’s memory. It involves piecing together the last moments Ilia can remember, which involve the Rod of the Heavens that Link found in the Temple of Time. This is yet another staggering coincidence in a story entirely built upon them.

With Telma’s help, Link locates a wooden statue that Ilia remembers from her kidnapping. It was given to her by the woman who took care of her in a village she can barely recall. The Goron elder recognizes the statue as a creation of a long-forgotten tribe in Lanayru. Unfortunately, their village is plagued by monsters, so Link must clear them out to learn more. When he finally does, an old woman named Impaz comes out of hiding and thanks him for his help. She admits that she did help hide Ilia in the village, then recognizes the Dominion Rod and gives Link an ancient book that should help him on his journey. It will allow him to better communicate with the Oocca, owners of the last Mirror shard.

Link takes the book, along with a horse call that Ilia made for him while she was in hiding, and heads back to Kakariko Village. When Link returns with the horse call, Ilia’s childhood memories return. She recalls Link always being beside her, but it rings hollow without any build-up from previous acts. Everything the player knows about Link and Ilia’s relationship at this point is based on two interactions, and both were centered around Ilia’s love for Epona. After that, she lost her memory and became a blank slate, which set her relationship with Link to zero. By bringing that relationship back to its original state without ever establishing what the original state was, Twilight Princess does both the story and the audience a disservice.

Once Ilia and Link finish their reunion, she promises she’ll be fine and says she’ll wait for him to return from the last leg of his journey. Whether she actually does is unclear, as this is the last time Ilia appears in the story. Even though there’s an entire act to go, Ilia is no longer a character in Twilight Princess—not that she ever was.

Once Ilia’s plotline is concluded, Link is free to continue his quest. He gives the ancient book to Shad, who has been researching ancient Oocca texts. With Link’s help, he transcribes some of the missing symbols, and Link can use the Dominion Rod to reveal a hidden room beneath Renado’s home. It houses a cannon similar in style to the cannon Link used to reach Arbiter’s Grounds, one so large that it can almost certainly reach the Oocca’s City in the Sky.

With the aid of the Lake Hylia cannoneers, Link penetrates the clouds and reaches the home of the Oocca. Like the Temple of Light before it, the City in the Sky is devoid of plot, and the story only picks up again once Link and Midna find another Mirror Shard. As they prepare to return home, Midna states that Zant couldn’t shatter the mirror because he wasn’t the true ruler, which means the real thing should easily beat him. It’s not yet clear what she means by this, but the meaning will unfold in the story’s next segment: the Disaster.