The Hylia - Twilight Requiem

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Six months and counting. November 15th, 2005 was to be Zelda's greatest day. That was, until August 4th, when Nintendo announced Twilight Princess would be delayed for six months. While the wait should be worth it, it seems Nintendo is not hyping the game as much as it should be. This may be true to an extent, but I have a feeling in the end, this game isn't going to need anymore hype once the truth about the nature of Twilight Princess is revealed. The truth that Twilight Princess' ending is going to rock the world of Zelda.

If you remember the first trailer for Twilight Princess (found here), notice what the text says near the end. "But as the light fades...will the hero rise again? Or will darkness reign?" The entire trailer sent shockwaves around the community, mainly because of the return to this mature look, or perhaps fans thought Zelda would finally be taken seriously again. What I noticed was how the trailer conveyed this world that was pretty bleak and Link was trying to fight off what seemed to be a surplus of enemies. The trailer also played on Ocarina of Time's trailer, which questioned if Link would succeed or not in his new game. We all know that much of Ocarina of Time was pretty bleak, with Ganondorf ruling Hyrule for the Adult segment.
Is this Link's fate in Twilight Princess?
But such thoughts were cast asunder in March 2005 when at the Game Developer's Conference, Eiji Aonuma said the new Zelda would take place after The Wind Waker. Fans were more concerned about how Hyrule would return in the new game, and dismissed much thought about the potential for a bleak outcome for the new Zelda game. However, over the next few months leading up to E3, clues about this "twilight" were leaked out by the creators, hinting that Hyrule was being taken over by some mysterious force. At E3 2005, we finally saw this force unleashed and were introduced to the Twilight Realm, a helpless and mourning Princess Zelda, and inklings of Ganondorf possibly returning. However, the bombshell that was dropped this time was where Twilight Princess now would take place; decades after Ocarina of Time, and before The Wind Waker.

How could this be? Didn't The Wind Waker clearly state that after Ocarina of Time, the Hero of Time vanished and Ganon came back? And because of this, the people were helpless and the gods were forced to flood the land of Hyrule? How could any game take place between these two games...especially if Hyrule is flooded and no hero appeared? Unless, Twilight Princess ended with the flood. But that still left the question of Link in the new game. If he exists in it, and is our hero, how can he exist if he's not mentioned in The Wind Waker's intro? Especially if Ganondorf truly is in Twilight Princess?

I hope you are picking up on my drift. It's an unspoken horror in the fan base, but I know the idea has been tossed around. And I believe over the next few months, as Twilight Princess begins to rebuild up its hype for its Q2 2006 release, fans are going to begin to realize the undeniable and unbelievable truth. Link is going to die in Twilight Princess, and Hyrule is going to fall into ruin.

I do not know this as a fact. I may even be overdoing it. But if everything holds true, there is going to be a very sad ending for Twilight Princess. But do not just take my word for it. See what Takumi Kawagoe said this month in Nintendo Power: "Personally, I hope that Zelda will liven up and regain her cheer by the end of the game, but I suspect that it may not be in Hyrule's destiny this time around."

Sure, Takumi Kawagoe is just the person behind the Twilight Princess trailers. But who do you think gives Takumi Kawagoe direction? Aonuma and Miyamoto. Aonuma admitted the faults of The Wind Waker and vowed to not let them happen again. He acknowledges that Link is much more mature, much more wild in this game. He admits the game deals with more mature issues, and that romance between Link and Zelda is considered. Ganondorf is going to be involved, but Aonuma is being awfully quiet about just how involved he will be. Aonuma knows what fans want. He's giving fans what they want. Something to topple the great games, something to put Zelda ahead of them without any doubt. Perhaps Aonuma has supplanting the Death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII in mind for his way to make Twilight Princess "historic".

Regardless if believe the hype or not in this article, something needs to be made clear. Twilight Princess is definitely darker than its predecessors, and it is obvious this game is being catered to the older fans. If everything holds true until the release date, we know Twilight Princess HAS to end with something like the flooding of Hyrule, or at least something not so "happy". With all the repetition in Zelda, it's time the creators screwed with the fans common beliefs and actually shock us for once. If you can, remember the first time you played Link's Awakening. Remember how you felt when you beat that game, and saw Koholint vanish. That's just a taste of what's coming in Twilight Princess.

The Wind Waker was supposed to evoke emotion in the players. Twilight Princess is finally going to deliver on that promise. Zelda is about to become very emotional, and I expect there will be a lot of teary eyes by the time the credits roll. But it is something the series needs. It's time for the series to grow up a bit, it's time for Zelda to deliver a truly great story. If it must come at the price of Link's life, so be it. It's about time evil won in the happy world of Nintendo games.

- Mike "TSA" Damiani is the Senior Editor and Owner of The Hylia.