The Legend of Zelda ~ Twilight Princess: Volume 8 {Manga Monday #8}
Hello, Internet, and good mornight to you all!
My name is Taffryne, shoppekeeper of Midnight on Memory Lane, and it is my absolute delight to welcome you to this week's gathering of Manga Monday!
'Tis a pleasure, 'tis a pleasure indeed.
As the title of this post says, we're going to be talking about the eigth volume of Akira Himekawa's manga series, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
I humbly present my thoughts for your enjoyment and consideration. Accordingly, please mind that there will be spoilers ahead!
AniList Link: click here!
Disclaimer: I apologize if there are any crucial cultural notes or nuances that I misunderstand or fail to recognize. I, unfortunately, must trust the accuracy of the translated text to accurately represent the story and characters.
Trigger Warnings: Fantasy Violence, Ganondorf, Fighting, Impalement, Dead Bodies, Spiders
Chapter 41 ~ The Temple Where Time Sleeps (Part 2)
Recollection
- Link and The Hero of Time have their apparently life-span costing training session to prepare him for stronger foes and Ganondorf
- Midna laments that she and Link will never be "true friends", but then slaps herself back into only seeing him as someone to use to save her Twilight Realm
- The Hero of Time reveals to Midna that he is in fact her Golden Wolf, and she thanks him for being a comfort to her
- He also reveals that Link's hometown exists somewhere in the Twilight Realm
I would like to give massive props to the mangaka here for adapting a fighting tutorial into actual story format so well. It was recognizable enough to where I could literally see the button prompts in my head, but sensible enough to not feel world-breaking.
Midna...girlie, when will you just accept Link as your friend, here? I understand you have your duties as the titular Twilight Princess, but you've already admitted to caring about him. You are actively adventuring through time and realms together. Stop lying to yourself!!!
Wolfie, Mr. Hero of Time, sir. What an absolutely fascinating purgatory you must exist within. You can change your forms as Link can, but you are forever alive in a dead way. I wonder if you'll stay around after this Link successfully defeats Ganondorf? Part of me thinks you're only stuck because you're still connected.
Chapter 42 ~ The Temple Where Time Sleeps (Part 3)
Recollection
- The Hero of Time says he doesn't know if the people of Link's hometown are still alive, but Link resolves to find them
- The bell ringing makes the temple pass through time again and Link comes across a Mirror Guard that he then defeats using his new techniques
- Midna goes to grab the Mirror Shard, but a nasty spider monster appears that Link defeats using his new techniques again
- The Hero of Time disappears with the promise of returning again to teach Link more things when the need arises
- Midna collects the Mirror Shard, but remarks that it might be better if the Mirror of Shadow vanished from the world entirely
What an absolutely vile thing, that spider monster. BABY SPIDER EGG ATTACK?? I'd have nightmares for weeks and have to beg my shoppe to send that memory to the incinerator. Ehguehgueg.
I do hope that the people of Link's hometown are still alive, but my worry is that so much time has passed and they're more likely to have been made into monsters by Zant.
Midna...I don't like your cryptic, heavily foreshadow-coded choice of words, Midna...
Chapter 43 ~ Attack
Recollection
- Back at Telma's bar, Shad is excited over finding an intact Oocca book that could lead him to the "City in the Sky"
- Rusl gives Shad information about related owl statues in the woods, which brings up the topic of increased monster activity from the woods, so they resolve that the time for their rebellion to start moving is now
- While Ilia is with Epona, Castle Town comes under attack by monsters again
- Ilia flashbacks to being held hostage by the monsters after the King of the Bulblins shows up pathetically in an alley
- He laments at his loss of strength and status after being defeated by Link, citing the "Law of Strength"
- Ilia comforts him and shows him the concept of "kindness", but he flees once Rusl shows up to retrieve her
- Ashei and the others resolve to defend Castle Town while Link isn't there
In the great words of Austin Powers, WHY WON'T YOU DIE??? I'm happy you're having a huge heaping of humble pie and that Ilia can show up as the Angel of Kindness. However, you fell off a very high bridge after being slashed in a variety of manners. I'm no forensic expert nor medical practitioner, but I do believe you should be a corpse. I keep an open mind, though. Maybe you'll redeem yourself somehow???
The Oocca, hm...there's no way that's just going to be an offhand reference is there.
Chapter 44 ~ City in The Sky
Recollection
- Link gets back to Castle Town after the carnage has died down and the Tavern crew are focused on treating the injured
- Link catches them up to speed on his travels and tells Shad that he needs to help Link find the City in the Sky (Shad is overjoyed that someone finally believes him, but peeved that it has to be his self-imposed nemesis in love of all people)
- Renado takes Link and Shad to the secret owl statue where Shad uses his translation of the book to activate the gate
- After some contemplation about Light v. Twilight from Midna, she activates the revealed Sky Canon for Link and Shad to take up to the Sky City
- Shad and Link come across their first Oocca and Shad is able to use his knowledge of Sky Language to speak with her, but Oocoo also knows Hylian because she was a tour guide
- A rampaging black dragon starts attacking the Sky Islands again, wherein Oocoo reveals that the dragon used to be their Golden Protector but corrupted and went mad randomly one day
- Link gets a claw shot after scaring off some grug-seeking dragon-ruffians to prove his combat prowess to the Oocca
- Shad almost kills himself multiple times because he's too distracted in trying to study and take notes on everything in the Sky City
- Link makes one of the dragon-ruffians take him to the Black Dragon in order to defeat it and claim the last Mirror Shard
- Oocco helps Link defeat the dragon by acting as a distraction, and Shad helps by killing a bystander dragon-ruffian on accident when tossing the Master Sword back to Link
- The Golden Dragon is freed from the corruptive influence of the final Mirror Shard
- Shad thanks Link for helping him gain confidence and believing in his book, so a peace is made before he gets pinballed back down to Castle Town
- Link and Midna make way to prepare to enter the Twilight Realm
Aww, congratulations on your character development, Shad!!! I'm so happy that you got a beautiful double whammy of achieving your life's work while also snipping your jealousy in the bud! Very good, very good.
On the Oocca...what an interesting character design. Dodo bird body, humanoid face. Why do I feel like these look adorable in manga-print but would be absolutely horrifying in real life, hehe. The back of this volume has a coloured drawing of them and they're such a fun golden-goose decor style. Bright red eyes, though. Those would be scary for sure.
I have to wonder, is this City in the Sky a reference to Skyward Sword?
Chapter 45 ~ To the Twilight Realm (Part 1)
Recollection
- Link and Midna have a final moment of reflection and bonding under the night sky before they make way to the Mirror Chamber
- Link vows that he will see their quest through and restore the balance of Light/Twilight and Midna's place as the True Leader
- Midna feels guilty for abandoning her people and agrees to tell Link all that happened to get her to where they first met while the silhouettes of her and Zant fill the panels...
EXCEPT NO SHE DOESN'T BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE THE CHAPTER ENDS, AGGGHHHHHH!!! Jeez, we are coming right up into the final major arc of this manga, finally getting to Midna's prologue, but noooo, we have to wait until the next volume! I type this as I'm actively looking at Volume #9 sitting pretty on my mangashelf, aheh.
I am so tightly wound in anticipation for what Midna's story will be. Yes, yes, it's all grand and well that our heroes are getting closer and closer to winning but...the lore!!! As a humble curator of memories, I simply cannot resist a good lore drop.
Link and Midna are well. The Hero of Time is off...somewhere. Our Tavern Party held their ground while taking excellent care of Epona. All that leaves me to wonder amongst my myriad of curiosities...what the heck is happening with Zelda and Ganondorf now???
The Questioning Queries
- How do you think Midna ended up in her gremlin form?
- Do you think the disgraced King of the Bulblins will have another major role in the story?
- What do you think will happen to the Hero of Time once it's all said and done?
Bonus: Who's your favourite of the Tavern Party?
Thanks for Reading!
I hope you've been able to read (or play) the story for yourself!
If you haven't, that's okay too! My thoughts are here to keep you updated and entertained in the meantime.
This caps off this week's gathering for Manga Monday, so off into the nighttime we go in preparation for tomorrow!
I hope you'll come back for tomorrow's Taffy Tuesday! I'll be showing off all the new bells and whistles added to the blog alongside revealing the title choices for the spooky month of October!
May we meet again at Midnight!