Twilight
From Zeldapedia, The Legend of Zelda wiki
- "You don't have to look so sad! We actually find it to be quite livable! I mean, is perpetual twilight really all that bad?"
- — Midna
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Twilight is matter originating from the Twilight Realm that plagued Hyrule during The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a century after the events of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The self-proclaimed Twilight King, Zant, was granted power over Twilight by Ganondorf, in exchange for his body being used as Ganondorf's spirit's host. Twilight covered the land and reduced Hylians to spirits, and gave shadow power to various enemies. Eventually, Link restored power to the Light Spirits of Hyrule, cleansing the land. The Twilight was stopped for good with the death of Zant.
When a normal person enters the Twilight, he or she, if not a Twilight creature or any other evil monster, is usually morphed into a spirit. However, the Hero of the Realm would take shape as a "divine beast" to signify he would be the one who would save the two Realms. That is what happened to Link. Princess Zelda keeps her shape in the Twilight because of the Triforce piece she carries.
Midna makes it clear that in order to enter a place where Twilight lurks, you must be a creature of the Twilight or have a Twilight creature that can take you inside it. Midna also states that not many people can leave the Twilight that easily.
When a person is transformed by Twilight, according to Light Spirit Ordona, it is usually not possible to regain their true form. However, awakening the Light Spirit in that region will accomplish the task.
Twilight creatures use the aid of portals to transport in and out of the Twilight. Midna, Ganondorf and Link, to a certian extent, have the ability to change into Twilight and use it to warp. Using Twilight, Ganondorf took over Princess Zelda's body.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
[edit] Behind the scenes
The original concept of Twilight was vastly different from the Twilight that made it in the final version of Twilight Princess. Instead of being yellow and golden the Twilight was originally a colourless realm of black and white. Only the characters themselves had any colour. For whatever reason, this was changed when the game was delayed in the summer of 2005. Perhaps it was to make the Twilight Realm seem more like the natural twilight that is seen on earth.
[edit] Notes
The Twilight might be a tribute to a game called Okami in which there was a darkness attacking the world from an unknown origin and the player takes a role as wolf Goddess (Her powers were stored away into other Minor Gods so that it would be a challenge to seek out her powers) and destroy all the darkness and kill the origin of the darkness.
