Midna

Midna (ミドナ) is one of the main characters of the 2006 Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. She is a member of the Twili, a fictional race of magic-wielders, who chooses Link to help her accomplish her goals. While appearing as a diminutive imp monster, her actual form is human-shaped. She was voiced by Akiko Koumoto and illustrated by Yusuke Nakano. She has also appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a collectible item. Midna's first appearance was in a trailer for Twilight Princess at the E3 2005. At the time, her gender was unknown, leaving some journalists confused about it.

Since appearing in Twilight Princess, she has had some merchandise, and has been generally well received by the public and press alike. She is an important character in Twilight Princess and has been compared to an earlier character called Navi, amongst other similar characters, the former having accompanied Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Description
Midna's primary form is diminutive and an "imp". Her body is black and white, while featuring turquoise markings on her arms, legs, and ears, the latter of which are pointed. She has orange hair and red eyes, and is seen wearing a Fused Shadow (powerful magical relics of her race) as a crown or helmet that covers one of her eyes. In her humanoid form, she is seen wearing a dress as opposed to her imp form where she is wearing nothing. She features similar qualities to her imp form, including the skin color, hair color, and the markings. However, she appears taller, more refined, and more feminine. In her imp form, she frequently speaks in sinister and sarcastic ways, often acting aloof at what is happening, as well as Link's plight. Her voice is a fictional language of Hyrule, and thus unintelligible.

Appearances
Her game of origin, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, reveals her backstory as being the next in line to rule the Twilight Realm, making her the "Twilight Princess" referred in the game's title. However, a power obsessed Twili man named Zant usurps the throne from Midna using powers granted to him by Ganon. Stripped of her power and turned into a diminutive imp-like creature, Midna flees to Hyrule. Midna later spies on Link's capture and transformation into a wolf by Zant's Shadow Beasts. She shows up in the prison to rescue him and coerces him to join her, forming a mutually beneficial relationship. While searching for the remaining Fused Shadows, items she believes can help her overthrow Zant, Midna becomes less insensitive and sassy toward Link. After obtaining the last Fused Shadow, Zant catches the two of them off guard and seizes the Fused Shadows; and exposes Midna to the Light Spirit Lanayru, causing her to fall ill and cursing Link to remain in wolf form. They seek the Master Sword to reverse this. Princess Zelda uses her abilities to heal Midna, though causing Zelda to disappear, and Midna to become a being of light. After obtaining the Master Sword, they begin their search for the Twilight Mirror. Upon discovery of the mirror, they find that Zant has broken it and scattered its pieces. After the mirror's restoration, Midna and Link finally travel to the Twilight Realm, where they defeat Zant. The two of them travel to Hyrule Castle to defeat Ganondorf, the source of Zant's power. After defeating Ganon's Bestial form, Midna uses the all of the power of the Fused Shadows to attempt to finish off Ganondorf, but is unsuccessful. After Ganondorf is defeated and Hyrule Castle is destroyed, Midna is revived and restored to her original humanoid form. At the end of the game, she returns to the Twilight Realm and shatters the Mirror of Twilight, an act that only the true ruler of the Twilight can do, preventing Light and Twilight from mixing, and causing a potential repeat of Zant's actions by someone else.

Midna made minor appearances in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in the form of multiple collectible stickers and trophies. A song from Twilight Princess, "Midna's Lament," was featured as a song as well.

Concept and creation
Midna was first revealed in the E3 2005 trailer of Twilight Princess, which also first showed the Twilight Realm and Link's wolf transformation. At this point, her gender was unrevealed, causing confusion over what gender she was. IGN editor Matt Casamassina commented that the "colorful character" clashed with the then-black and white world of the Twilight Realm, though he was excited to see how the wolf-and-rider mechanics would work. She is voiced by Akiko Koumoto; she was illustrated by Yusuke Nakano. When asked by Game Informer editor Billy Berghammer if Midna would make a follow-up appearance to her role in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Twilight Princess developer Eiji Aonuma found it unlikely that she would return due to the ending of Twilight Princess but added that if there were enough demand, the developers may consider it. In describing Midna, Aonuma called her "tsundere", which means a character who starts the story as snobbish and brash, but who becomes gentler and kinder over time, a character archetype both he and Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of The Legend of Zelda series, are fond of.

Reception
Midna has received mostly positive reception from both the video game press and the public for her role in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. She was included multiple times as part of a series of trading cards by Enterplay LLC, based on Twilight Princess. Game Informer editor Andrew Reiner stated that she, along with Link's wolf transformation, had incredible effects on Twilight Princess' gameplay. Fellow Game Informer editor Billy Berghammer stated that he loved Midna, describing her as a cool character due to how she messed with Link throughout the game. 1UP.com editor Jeremy Parish stated that the supporting characters of Twilight Princess make up for Link's laconic nature, Midna more so than others. He described her as being acerbic and thoughtful, as well as an intricate character who moves the plot forward for her own means. While America's Intelligence Wire editor Dave Arey described her as intriguing, he felt that she could have been more so if Nintendo had developed her further. GamesRadar listed her as one of the 25 best new characters of the decade, stating that before Midna, the only characters they could relate to were Link, Princess Zelda, and Ganon. RPGamer editor Matthew Rickert stated that he found nothing intriguing or likable about her, complaining about how much more plot time she receives in spite of this, arguing that she offers little help to Link and that it felt like she had replaced Princess Zelda in Twilight Princess.

She has also been praised for her overall role in the series and as a Nintendo character. She ranked at fifth place on the top ten best female video game characters by members of the Official Nintendo Magazine's (ONM) forum. The ONM staff added that she was well loved by Nintendo fans, and her back story made it difficult to dislike her. G4TV editor Michael Leffler called her a wonderful addition to the series, adding that she balances Link out. Nintendo Power, in discussing the ending to Twilight Princess, describes the relationship between Link and Midna as one of the most compelling in The Legend of Zelda history. IGN editor Lucas M. Thomas refers to her as essentially the second playable character in Twilight Princess.

Midna has been compared to several characters in fiction, most often to fellow The Legend of Zelda series character Navi. The Register editor Tyler Stewart made such a comparison, calling Midna annoying. Nintendo World Report editor Jonathan Metts compared Midna to Navi as well, calling them analogues to each other but differed in saying that he did not find her annoying in the least. He added that unlike Navi, she had an actual personality and an ambiguous sense of morality. A preview of Twilight Princess in magazine GameAxis Unwired also compared Midna to Navi, though criticizing her inability to identify enemies' names and weaknesses like Navi could. Shack News editor David Craddock compared Midna to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask partner Tatl, a character physically similar to Navi, calling her "very sarcastic" and "very amusing." Because of this, he found her to be much more interesting than Navi. In the book "The meaning of video games: gaming and textual studies", author Steven Edward Jones discusses multiple non-playable characters that assist the playable character throughout the game, including Midna. He compared Midna to another wolf-riding assistant named Issun from the action game Ōkami, adding that they both seem to be based on Navi. He went further to suggest that these kinds of characters could be based on Tinkerbell from Peter Pan.

Before the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Midna's inclusion as a playable character was a popular suggestion amongst fans. In an article detailing the top ten most-wanted characters for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, IGN editors Phil Pirrello and Richard George ranked Midna third, citing her controlling personality and shadow-based powers, which they say would add some much-needed unconventional gameplay to the Super Smash Bros. series. Midna was also featured in two of IGN's Smash It Up editorials; first as the Reader's Choice and later amongst other dual characters. Both of these were written by Lucas M. Thomas, who also praised the character for her potential as a quality Super Smash Bros. fighter. In response to their top ten most-wanted characters list, a group of Midna fans began sending many emails to IGN, causing members of the IGN Stars staff to create an article mentioning their forum as well as their cause to have Midna appear in more video games.