Press
Clips from interviews about Twilight Princess and/or pertaining to Midna.
IGN E3 2005: Eiji Aonuma Interview
IGN: Can the wolf and Midna separate at any time or are they glued together when Link enters the Twilight Realm?
Eiji Aonuma: In the Twilight Realm when Link is a wolf, he and Midna will always be together. Gradually, as Twilight gets pushed back and light is revealed, Link will transform back into human form and then there would be a partnership between he and Midna in a slightly different sense.
— IGN.com
Zelda's Twilight Prince: The Eiji Aonuma Interview
GI: In one of the trailers, after Link had transformed into the wolf characters due to the twilight – who was riding him?
Aonuma: That character’s name is Midna, and she’s a character that exists in the original Twilight realm. When Link goes into the Twilight realm and transforms into the wolf, and encounters Midna, the two of them partner together and begin cooperating. What’s really going on, which isn’t really clear who Midna is or what her objectives are, but Midna has an objective in the Twilight realm, and kind of makes Link cooperate in trying to achieve that objective. But likewise Link needs Midna’s help to achieve the things he needs to achieve – so a partnership is formed.
GI: Is the cooperative relationship between Link and Midna friendly, or are they working together because they have to?
Aonuma: That’s a very good question. The truth is that Midna is a character who happens to know why Link has transformed into a wolf. Because of that the two of them partner up, and Midna uses that to get Link to do what she wants him to do.
GI: So they’re using each other for their own advantage?
Aonuma: That’s a good way of putting it. They’re both in a situation that without each other they can’t do what they need to do. As the game progresses we’ll see that relationship change and develop, and maybe change into something a little more friendly.
— GameInformer
GDC 07: Zelda's Link to the Past and Future — the Eiji Aonuma Interview
GI: Will we ever see Midna again?
Aonuma: (laughs) Do you like Midna?
GI: I loved that character. I was very skeptical at first. She was a cool character. She was different. It’s fun seeing Link get messed with, I guess. I was sad at the end of the game. It was a very good moment at the end of the game.
Aonuma: (laughs) In Japanese, there’s a phrase called “tsundere,” which means in the beginning you’re kind of snobby and cruel, but towards the end your shell kind of breaks off and you become sort of sappy. Women with that kind of personality, I think guys are really attracted to. Both Miyamoto-san and myself are quite fond of characters like that.
GI: Sounds like a lot of my ex-girlfriends, actually. (laughs)
Aonuma: (laughs) Because of the way Twilight Princess ended, I don’t see her making a reappearance, but who knows. If we hear enough voices for her to come back, how can we not.
— GameInformer
Afterthoughts From 1UP.com
EGM: Speaking of the story, Midna's a great character—the perfect foil for Link. Did you know she would become so hot at the game's end?
Bill Trinen: [Laughs] We knew pretty early on that she was going to be changing form.... When we were getting early versions of the game, we would use the debug menus to skip through and look at all the character models. We kept going back every week, trying to find when they added the final Midna model. We were just like, "Wow," when we saw it.... [Laughs]
EGM: Were you afraid she'd almost steal the show, because she's so fun compared to Link?
BT: She does have a really fun personality, and that was something that we really tried to highlight. When we talked with [the team] about it, they were very clear that she is—up through the first three dungeons of the game—very mysterious.
EGM: Her motives are suspect.
BT: Yeah. And she's not willing to share information with Link, and when she does...she doles it out bit by bit. It was really important to build up this idea that perhaps she is just using Link for her own ends.
EGM: I think all players feel that, "Well, maybe I'm just a pawn in Midna's game here."
BT: Exactly. I think that was the intent from early on. And then [the team] kind of told us that once you get past this point in the game, then at that point she starts to warm up a little bit toward Link. And then, from there, they gradually get closer and closer. The writers and the development team really wanted us to highlight that as well in the English version. We spent a lot of time going over the text, and of course meeting with them, talking with them during the process.
— 1UP.com