Breaking down borders in video games.
Characters Done Right: Midna the Twilight Princess
Midna rides on the back of a wolf
A few years ago, on my personal blog, I started a series called “Characters Done Right” to highlight positive examples of women in video games. I hope to revive that series now, and invite other authors to write their own-characters-done-right posts to highlight positive character design.
*This post contains spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess*
The first subject of my praise is Twilight Princess’s namesake, Midna. She is a small, imp-like person who meets Link when she rescues him from prison after he has been transformed into a wolf by Shadow Beasts. It is fitting in a game where almost all the major supporting characters are women that Midna is an example of how to make the princess-in-distress plot-line empowering. Midna’s world, the Twilight Realm, is under assault, so she actively goes out in search of a hero to fight with her, not for her. When Link is in wolf form, she rides on his back and fights with him, not for him. When Link is a wolf, I really feel like I’m playing Midna and Link is merely her mount.
Midna is smart, cheeky, and initially ambiguously motivated. She’s feminine, but not sexualized, and still a woman even though she is petite and imp-like. Her rich characterization works well with Link’s blank slate to make the game really about Midna. Link is a tool to achieve the ends of power women.
Midna is so important that she’s the game’s namesake, the Twilight Princess; the game is about her, and she’s definitely worthy of the spotlight. Three years ago I predicted that Midna is going to become the descendent of Beyond Good and Evil’s protagonist Jade as an iconic feminist videogame hero. I don’t know how widely recognized she is as a feminist figure, but there is a huge fan following of Midna demanding her inclusion in future games. I hope to see her again.
The only thing that bothers me about Midna is that at the end of the game, she turns into a sexy lady. Nothing against conventionally beautiful women, but I couldn’t help feeling that I “liberated” Midna from her “ugly” imp body. For me, what is so great about Midna is that she isn’t a stereotype or even an archetypical hero. For Midna, being a princess and powerful does not mean she has to be sexy and super-feminine. Revealing she’s really a beautiful princess underneath it all detracts a bit from that.
Midna in her imp and humanoid forms. On the left, she wears a U-shaped mask that covers one eye as she snarls at the camera. She is nude, pear-shaped, with green hieroglyphics twirling around her limbs and pointy ears. Her skin is black and gray. She has point ears, a yellow and red eye, and spiked orange hair. On the right, Midna is a tall, thin woman with gray-blue skin and long orange hair. She wears a cloak and partial skirt. Her belly and one thigh are bare.
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about 5 months ago
I agree that Midna was very well characterized. The transformation to “sexy sexy princess” (apparently without a top?) was a bit disappointing, though, I agree. It was foreshadowed a bit in a way I didn’t like as well: (spoilers) when you first enter the Twilight Realm, imp-Midna refuses to be visible around her subjects because she’s embarrassed at not being in her proper body.
This struck me as being out of character for her, since up until then she’d been imperious and mischievous and headstrong, generally not the sort of person who cares very much about what other people think. I suppose it’s justifiable that she would care more about the opinions of her own subjects thought than those of the Light World people, but it could’ve been handled in a way that was more consistent with her personality.
about 5 months ago
I always found it silly/stupid that the franchise is called Legend Of Zelda, but it’s actually all about Link. It should’ve been called Legend Of Link then.
about 5 months ago
Did anyone else think Link was named Zelda as a kid?
At least Zelda fights in Twilight Princess. I love the battle where she rides on Epona with Link and shoots arrows at the boss. I wish there was a game where Zelda was playable. She kicks ass in Smash Brothers in both her Zelda and Sheik forms.
I would love to see an analysis of her Sheik alter ego. I think there is something to be said about her transformation into a male alter-ego (and arguably male body).
about 5 months ago
“Did anyone else think Link was named Zelda as a kid?”
*raises hand*
Took me until sometime after “A Link To The Past” for the SNES to finally acknowledge otherwise.
-Ani8
about 5 months ago
Ditto.
about 5 months ago
One of the many good things about Twilight Princess is that it also provides plenty of character development. While Midna indeed is quite overbearing when compared to Link in the beginning, her attitude does improve as the game progresses. In particular, Zelda’s sacrifice changes Midna’s opinion of the the Light World people, and by the end of the game, Midna and Link are equally heroic. One good barometer of this is the “giddyup” idle animation while Link stands still as a wolf. While it may have been annoying in the beginning of the game, it feels almost playful in the end, even though it’s the exact same animation.
about 5 months ago
disclaimer: haven’t played the game
I’m really not sure what the point of suddenly revealing her to be a Traditionally Beautiful Princess at the end is, since even the crazy people who draw porn of Midna (this is the internet, there is porn of everything) draw it of her imp form. … As far as I know. I haven’t exactly done an exhaustive survey.
Still, I had no idea that another form existed, since every time I’ve seen the character anywhere online, it was the imp version.
Some interesting ideas could be drawn from that, in terms of people being more accepting of non-mainstream bodies after spending time with them, and developers foisting rewards on you that they THINK you want… (Well, I’m sure there are some people who prefer the other form.)
about 5 months ago
Very interesting point! On the other hand, a lot of the non-explicit fanart on sites like Deviant art is Midna in humanoid form.
I don’t really know much about how people approach criticism of porn, but it would be interesting to analyze how Midna and other video game characters are drawn in fan-porn. A lot of it seems to be same old sexist & racist porn tropes, but I really haven’t done my research.
Oh yeah I also participants at Border House generally try to avoid calling people “crazy” here because it’s a slur against people with disabilities.
about 5 months ago
ah, sorry!
about 5 months ago
No worries! Anti-ableist language is just catching on and it’s hard to shake it from our vocabularies. (I still say some pretty offensive things on accident.)
about 5 months ago
The impression that I got was that the developers were working from a traditional fairy-tale framework. Wolf-Link is a rather handy version of the old frog prince, and imp-Midna maps remarkably neatly to Tatterhood– an ‘ugly’ little princess who rides an unconventional mount and fights as well as any man, but eventually reveals herself to be a ‘proper’ pretty princess beneath an outre exterior. The kingdom is set aright, the hero is returned to a human form, and the princess sets aside ‘childish’ or ‘tomboyish’ pursuits to assume the appearance of a feminine ideal.
Making the impish form integral to a player’s first impression of her definitely affected things, I think. If more press effort had been devoted to showing her ‘true’ form, players and related discussion probably would have been much more focused on ‘curing’ her or showing her in ‘proper’ form than they are.
I can’t comment on the porn, because… yes. No matter how unlikely, there’s always been porn of it.
about 5 months ago
I was so angry at the end of Wind Waker when the “naughty” pirate Captain Tetra finally was revealed to be Zelda – not because of the reveal (the foreshadowing was pretty obvious) but because BAM! the princess is a blonde white girl again, isn’t she pretty now?
I felt very similar about Midna’s transformation – it’s as if she wasn’t good enough before.
about 5 months ago
The fact that Zelda, the cute princess, dressed as a pirate and went out on adventures isn’t enpowering? In instead of waiting to be rescued, she decided to take action!
Zelda was always a blonde white girl. Since 1986. They wouldn’t change it for Wind Waker, would they? She’s back as a pirate for Phantom Hourglass. Yay!
about 5 months ago
I loved the execution of Tetra, don’t get me wrong. She was an awesome character, and I loved having Zelda involved in the final battle. I just felt it was a shame to completely change her race back, when they’d done such a great job of introducing an awesome non-white character to the main cast.
They changed so much for the better with Wind Waker that I absolutely don’t see why they wouldn’t have stuck with a non-white Zelda. It would have barely even hit the press – you don’t find out until the end of the game that she’s Zelda at all.
about 5 months ago
I get what you’re saying now. Sorry if I got carried away, The Legend of Zelda is my favourite videogame series, I’m totally biased…
I agree with you we need more non-white characters in games! Though it cannot be Zelda, she was always like that since the beginning of the series. But they could make one such as Linebeck from Phantom Hourglass.
If you think of it, the Gerudos were not white, if I remember correctly from Ocarina of Time, and they were women warriors. The lack of the Gerudos in Twilight Princess was actually my biggest disappointment with the game.
about 5 months ago
No wonder Midna is my avatar
Love this game, of the best ever in my opinion. I cried at the end, thought it was so beautiful (remember the sunset? She saying goodbye to Link and Zelda?). My dream would be she would appear in a future game and would be playable. I would love a game where Zelda saves Link as well. There’s already a game we play as Zelda, for the CDI, but that was a bad game, reviews say.
I didn’t mind her new form at the end of the game. I was too busy being surprised at her transformation. I thought her design was on par with the other characters, meaning Zelda, Link, people from the first village…
I think I might be a little bit too biased to comment. But to defend Midna a bit I must say we almost don’t see her body in the game,she’s not exploited in this manner. Well, I didn’t think so. It’s different than looking at artwork in the internet. In the game, we see her face most of the time. She only appears as human in the end. Zelda doesn’t wear the clothes she wears, so maybe that’s just what the people in the Twilight world wears? We could also be complaing about the Zoras, these naked men and women from the sea. Their queen is also a beautiful lady, but that doesn’t invalidate she was also a powerful (but minor) character.
My point: Midna’s a fantastic character. I don’t think she was ugly for most of the game, she was just this weird being. She turned into this sort of pretty lady. It was her true form! She was always quirky and playful, so that may be translated to “sexy” as you see her in her new form. But she was playful for the entire game, not just when she was human.
I don’t think she was very feminine either, she is not what women are supposed to be. She made Link do what she wished and went away after everything was all right. She was not submissive, obedient of any other qualities linked with femininity. She was bossy and rude! She was still that at the end of the game, she didn’t change that much! It’s only her body! She’s not a proper princess, she doesn’t behave like one! Not even Zelda behave like one!
Sorry, I think I got carried away
By the way, people made porn out of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.
about 2 months ago
I haven’t beaten Twilight Princess, or played very much of it but in my opinion, Midna is a quirky chick that’s fun but bossy. She’s interesting and fun
about 3 weeks ago
camt wait for skyward sword! ill bet theyll be so many references to the other games becuase its a prequal to the entire series!
about 2 weeks ago
I’m playing Twilight Princess and I’ve literally fallen in love with the character of Midna. Nintendo did a great job developing her. I love video games and I’m glad I stumbled on your post since it’s true, the world of video games needs more heroic women, queer people and colored people. I’m subscribing and following.