Twilight Princess: Midna's Decision...

[Overusedname]

HERE WE ARE. This series took a long time, but it was one hell of a ride. I had a lot of fun, and just want to thank all the viewers both here on the escapist and around the web for all the feedback over the years. My channel reached it?s 3 year anniversary while working on this series, and it?s awesome seeing how far it?s come. Thank you so much, and please enjoy!


I thrive off feedback, so any comments and sharing is appreciated. You can follow the channel and Facebook page for updates on my future projects with the links below! :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSwIxTBkr6lL79B8VA9KlvQ
https://www.facebook.com/EmceeProphIt?ref=br_tf

 

[ThereIsNoSanta]

Glad I found you recently, I didn't have to wait to long for this epic conclusion. This was great man, and actually kind of effected me. These themes are things we all deal with, and the way you interpreted Midna especially stands out to me on a personal level. I think I'm gonna watch it again now lol.

I'm glad you seem to be gaining more viewers lately, but it's to slow dude! You need way more. XD

 

[Overusedname]

Great conclusion. I left my thoughts in a comment, I felt the ending was a bit different but we kind of see eye-to-eye in that its definitely tragic and one of the more sad TLoZ endings.

Would I be correct in assuming that Skyward Sword is planned to come up sometime further down the line?

It will certainly come up, but at the moment I'm actually not sure how I'm going to handle it. I'm sure people want a symbolism video, but after playing through it, I don't really think it's complex enough to justify the full symbolism treatment. I would love to do a massive analytical review of it, talk about what it did right and what it got wrong. More of an elaborate critique. I'm a little worried, since SS is a bit controversial, but I definitely need to tackle it at some point.

Thanks for watching man, and what's yer youtube account just so I can know what comment it is? Same name?

 

[Guffe]

That begining xD
"We got to move"

Second thought:
BORN IN 1991!?!?!?!!
NO WAY!!
YOU are the same age as me?
That can't possibly be -.-

Third:
Very good ending and fourth episode!
Thought gripping things, got to be honest I've been thinking about the setting an example and other stuff you talked about, but hearing someone else say it makes it somewhat more powerful.
Really enjoyed the whole thing and really looking forward to your net project!

Big fan here!
Been for a while already
-Guffe

 

[Wary Wolf]

Got to say, you tidied that up quite nicely (Thought you might have had a five parter there). I like that you didn't stay focused on the theme of fear, and looked various other themes all in one episode. Particularly liked the theme of 'being a role model'. Very watchable, and best of the four.

Thanks for bringing some more insight into one of my favorite games, and getting me to dust off the old GameCube. Yeah GameCube.

Whilst the ending was bitter sweet, I thought seeing Midna's final form was apt reward

Feel sort of bad about seeing her without playing through the entire game and busting Ganon. Oh well, I'd better remedy that.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

While I know it's probably not exactly in your wheelhouse, I was wondering if you ever thought about turning your unique and interesting analytical gaze toward some survivor horror titles like Resident Evil, Dead Space, and Silent Hill? I love your videos, even if the only game you ever analyzed that I liked was Ocarina of Time, but it'd be awesome if you spread out into some other franchises.

 

[ThereIsNoSanta]

So nice I watched it twice. I'm VERY excited about Chrono Trigger. Will that be a 'normal' review, as opposed to a symbolism vid?

 

[Overusedname]

Well that's a lot of comments.

While I know it's probably not exactly in your wheelhouse, I was wondering if you ever thought about turning your unique and interesting analytical gaze toward some survivor horror titles like Resident Evil, Dead Space, and Silent Hill? I love your videos, even if the only game you ever analyzed that I liked was Ocarina of Time, but it'd be awesome if you spread out into some other franchises.

Thanks dude, and don't worry, I'm taking a break from Zelda. I 'symbolized' two zeldas this year alone, so I'm branching out.

I'm not personally into horror, but I've always wanted to check out Silent Hill and I get a lot of requests for it. I'd love to review them, but I have to play them first. On the chopping block for this year and next are some indie games, classics on the Snes and PS1, and (hopefully) Okami.

So nice I watched it twice. I'm VERY excited about Chrono Trigger. Will that be a 'normal' review, as opposed to a symbolism vid?

Yep, normal review, analyzing how it influenced game design as a whole. Glad you're looking forward to it!

Got to say, you tidied that up quite nicely (Thought you might have had a five parter there). I like that you didn't stay focused on the theme of fear, and looked various other themes all in one episode. Particularly liked the theme of 'being a role model'. Very watchable, and best of the four.

Thanks for bringing some more insight into one of my favorite games, and getting me to dust off the old GameCube. Yeah GameCube.

Whilst the ending was bitter sweet, I thought seeing Midna's final form was apt reward

Feel sort of bad about seeing her without playing through the entire game and busting Ganon. Oh well, I'd better remedy that.

I was dreading the five parter once I hit about 30 minutes on this video, but I managed to cull it back for the sake of my own sanity, hah. And have fun man. Is it disorienting looking at the flipped wii footage? Cuz gamecube footage messes with my head because of that.

That begining xD
"We got to move"

Second thought:
BORN IN 1991!?!?!?!!
NO WAY!!
YOU are the same age as me?
That can't possibly be -.-

Third:
Very good ending and fourth episode!
Thought gripping things, got to be honest I've been thinking about the setting an example and other stuff you talked about, but hearing someone else say it makes it somewhat more powerful.
Really enjoyed the whole thing and really looking forward to your net project!

Big fan here!
Been for a while already
-Guffe

Ha, everyone thinks I'm like 10 years older than I am, lol. It's pretty much always been that way. I once got offered alchol at a party, sitting next to my parents when I was 12.

I'm glad my stuff hit home, always cool when that happens. And thanks for watching man

I haven't actually gotten to Skyward Sword yet, I really was just wondering if that was in your wheelhouse.

Different name, IllCaesar. I basically posted that I thought my interpretation ending was not quite as depressing as your interpreted it, just in a lot more words than this sentence.

I read it, and yeah, it is a bit open to interpretation. That's the fun of it.

And try to go into Skyward Sword with an open mind. It's certainly not a bad game, I just found it a little underwhelming personally.

 

[Wary Wolf]

I was dreading the five parter once I hit about 30 minutes on this video, but I managed to cull it back for the sake of my own sanity, hah. And have fun man. Is it disorienting looking at the flipped wii footage? Cuz gamecube footage messes with my head because of that.

Yep

Your video kind of freaked me out. Midna's helmet was on the wrong way, all the maps looked different, cut scenes were a little off and Link was right handed... Weird.

Well, I'll look forward to Chrono. That's going to be interesting. Are you going to look at the various endings? Look at the love triangle (Lucca dammit!)? Parallel temporal physics? I guess I'll wait and see

 

[The_Darkness]

Okay, after a busy set of weeks... well, life hasn't really gotten any less busy, but I've finally got around to writing up my thoughts on video 3!!!

...And you've already released video 4. You know, it's a good job that I don't exactly have a deadline on these...

(Hope you don't mind me posting this in the most recent thread - I figure you'll be checking this one more often than video 3's thread.)

I liked the explanation of the Acid-Trip-Light-Spirit-Fused-Shadow-Warning sequence... Link and Ilia as representations of the every-person, and falling giggling Ilias as an image of a descent into madness. Makes sense.
Although, that said, seeing that sequence again thoroughly reminded me of just how much I want to see Dark Link as a primary antagonist in a future 3D Zelda game... (Okay, so it would basically be a repeat of Metroid Prime's Dark Samus storyline... but who cares! That storyline was officially awesome!! )

Regarding my earlier comment (on video 2) of how holding the Triforce of Wisdom for a while (or whatever it was that Zelda leant to Midna) cured Midna of being allergic to light - IIRC, the game never really explains why the Twili are allergic to light. I'd guess that it's an extra punishment put in place by the goddesses, making it even harder for them to return to the Light World - but it's strange that they're also cured by light (the Sols) in the Twilight Dungeon. (Midna did remember to take the Sols back with her at the end, right? ...Right? ) Overall though, I guess that's more of a lore thing than a symbolism thing

Also - out of interest, what exactly were your alarm bells that were set off by my earlier comment about Midna being cured of light-sensitivity?

Rewatching all of this also reminds me of how genuinely gutted I was to discover that the Mirror of Twilight was broken. Not in a good way, mind you - I was looking forward exploring the Twilight Realm, meeting new characters and possibly completing multiple dungeons in there. Instead, what had been built up to be a whole new world is instead relegated to being a single dungeon. Not to say I disliked the Temple of Time, or the Sky City, or the brilliant Yeti Mansion... But still. Feels like a missed opportunity.

(Then again, what do I know? What I wanted probably would have required a whole new open world on the other side, and that sort of thing tends to blow the budget a bit. You know, just slightly...)

Regarding the Ganon-plot-hijack business - it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. I mean, on the one hand, it disappointed me at the time because Zant had been so imposing and alien up until that point. On the flipside of the coin, had they just stuck with Zant as he'd been portrayed up to that point, he'd have basically been Ganon but with a different coating of paint. (As you point out in video 4, he is essentially imitating Ganon.) At the end of the day, the boss fight with Ganon is awesome, so I'm quite happy with the finished product.

Love your deconstruction of the Triforce... And that's all I have to say about that I really can't disagree with your conclusions about how different characters have different balances of Courage/Wisdom/Power.

Okay, that turned out a bit longer than I was expecting... Enjoy the essay submission Mr Teache- Uh, I mean Mr Emcee! Thoughts on the final part will be up soon...ish. Maybe. Dammit, I think I need to find a shop that sells time...

 

[The_Darkness]

Fully justified chair under the door at the start there...

Okay, I'm not gonna do a point by point thoughts-on-the-vid here... Because I really just want to discuss TP's ending.

*Sighs*

Yeah. You're totally right. It's not a happy ending.

Midna gave into fear, despite everything that the game's events had taught us throughout. That's a valid interpretation of what happens on screen - in fact, the more I think about it, it's the only interpretation that makes any sense to me.

She'd concluded that the worlds of light and twilight couldn't co-exist in contact with each other. Considering what Ganon - a being from the world of light - had done to the world of twilight, I can even understand her making that conclusion...

But... Gah...

Okay, I need to separate a few of my own feelings here, because they're overlapping a bit too much.

Firstly, I disagree with Midna's decision. Yeah, I know, I'm presumably supposed to. But... There was just as good an example of how light and twilight could peacefully co-exist. Her successful alliance with Zelda and Link - especially considering that she was the person to bring that alliance together!

Right, I've got that out of my system. Thing two:

Secondly... I can't help this niggling feeling that the main reason the mirror was broken was so that Nintendo didn't need to explain what the Twili were up to in the next Zelda game. Which is... not a helpful feeling when I'm trying to focus on why the characters did what they did.

And thing three. This is the biggie:

For all that I agree with your interpretation of events, I don't feel that the game explains itself very well. There's one line from Midna about how the two worlds can't mix, then Zelda waxes philosophical about how the goddesses presumably intended for them to meet (which, as far as communicating to the audience is concerned, overwrites Midna's prior statement as the thing consciously in the player's mind)... Then Midna breaks the mirror. I felt that the game needed to drive home Midna's motivation a bit more.

Maybe that's just me, but... *Shrugs*

Nonetheless, despite my complaints, Twilight Princess is by far my favourite in the Zelda series. (Okay, maybe not 'by far', Majora's Mask is actually a pretty close second...) And I've very much enjoyed your analysis of it. Your presentation style is, as ever, awesome.

So - Thanks. It's been a blast watching this latest PAHnalysis series Enjoy your well-earned break from Twilight Princess!

 

[Wary Wolf]

@Overusedname:

However, on reflection, you missed the fact that all that Ganondorf wants to do is settle down and go fishing.

It's now common knowledge that Ganon is an easy win if you take out your fishing rod and launch it through the air, as Ganon stares hypnotised at its majestic arc, leaving him open for a few quick stabs.

Why else would he be distracted by your fishing rod in the final fight, unless he had a deep, undeniable secret yearning to catch the Hyrulian Loach?

Clearly this is an indication that despite all his yearnings for power and evil and general bad-assery, he cannot escape the inevitable conflict within him that arises whenever he sees a fishing rod. The conflict within the soul that cannot help but wonder at what life might have been like just fishing away in blissful harmony, whiling away happy hours.

Instead, Ganon is tormented that in his pursuit of evil, (which is actually really hard work and quite stressful, particularly when you're constantly being smacked up by some kid in green throughout time) he has neglected his own happiness and pursuit of dreams. And it is this conflict within him that ultimately causes Ganon to fail.

Disappointing that you missed that bit of obvious symbolism there; why else would Ganon be distracted by your fishing rod?