Midna

Midna (ミドナ, Midona) is a playable character in Hyrule Warriors. A character that debuted in Twilight Princess, she is the ruler of her own kingdom and close friends with Link in her initial incarnation.

Her true form is a separate playable DLC character called Twili Midna (真のミドナ, Shin no Midona; literally "True Midna"), based on Midna's true form revealed at the end of Twilight Princess.

Role in Games
When Cia first creates the Time Distortion, warping various periods of time within the Zelda Timeline into one plane of existence, the spell had an unintended side effect: Midna is transformed into her cursed Imp form. Midna would come to learn this when Cia, Volga, and Wizzro come to aid Zant in taking over the Palace of Twilight in order to earn his trust as an ally.

Angered by her loss to both Cia and Zant's forces she went to gather forces of her own, consisting of undead Darknuts and Stalchildren. After she had managed to form a decently sized army, she would come across Lana, Agitha, and the Hyrulean Royal Army at Twilight Field. She had captured Agitha's Goddess Butterfly, fearing it might spread poisonous pollen onto her forces, however upon learning it could take her anywhere she asked, she demanded it take her to where Cia was.

She would then fly off to follow the butterfly, eventually finding Cia and demanding she undo the results of her spell, to change her back. Cia simply taunts her in her current form, then vanishes, filling Midna with a seething rage and causing her to lash out at both Cia's remaining forces and the Hyrulean army. Eventually she was beaten in battle by both Lana and Agitha, and came to learn that they too were after Cia.

The three would eventually travel together to the Palace of Twilight, and battle Zant's forces in order to gain her kingdom back. With the aid of Lana, Agitha, and the Great Fairy, Midna was able to defeat Zant and Argorok and reclaim her throne. Her victory is short lived, however, as Cia appears to once again taunt Midna about her cursed form. In a fit of rage, Midna forms her hair into a large fist and punches Cia so hard, it both knocks off her hat and her mask, revealing her identity as Lana's other half, much to Midna's surprise.

Later when all the forces reunite, Midna is the one who convinces Lana to explain her origins to everyone. At that point Midna travels with the main group to the Temple of the Sacred Sword, and she uses her powers to awaken the Statue of Twilight in order to open the doors to the temple. If the player chooses to play as Midna in this stage, her role of activating the statue is given to Agitha. When playing as Midna in this stage, after learning there was a false Lana controlling the spirits guarding the Temple, Midna takes it as a personal insult, stating that the impersonator could never fool her into thinking they were really Lana.

During their confrontation with Cia at the Temple of Souls, Midna helps take down the magic keeps to the west. And when Link is in trouble, Midna works with Darunia to block a possibly fatal blow from a Dark Link. After which when Ganondorf's forces appear, she aids the party by finding an escape route for them to use in order to get away from him. During the final confrontation at the Valley of Seers, Midna chooses to stay on the battlefield while Link goes to face Cia.

After the final confrontation with Cia's forces, Midna is returned to her own time period, saying "See you next crisis." before leaving. Eventually she would return during the heroes' battle at Gerudo Desert, when Lana calls for her allies' help. She initially claims she didn't want to be bothered, but then says that she is not only joking, but looking forward to fighting more baddies.

During the final battle with Ganondorf at Ganon's Tower, she works with Lana to take down the Argorok at the northern end of the map. Like the others, she gives her power to the Light Arrow in order to help take down Ganon once and for all.

Both Imp Midna and Twili Midna have a bonus story scene in the Twilight Princess Puzzle Rewards Map. In this story Imp Midna has discovered the source of her lingering cursed form: keeps within the Twilight Field containing items that are causing the curse to linger, placed there by Zant. Imp Midna and Link team up to take over the keeps while Zant attempts to stop them. Agitha will wander onto the battlefield as a third party force, and either Midna or Zant can approach her and recruit her. Once all keeps shrouded in Twilight are taken, Imp Midna will transform into Twilight Midna, much to the dismay of Zant. Midna's forces then defeat Zant's, and Midna relishes in the fact she has her original body back.

Twili Midna is included in part of the new story segments introduced in Hyrule Warriors Legends as an ally of Linkle at the Palace of Twilight.

Development
Eiji Aonuma stated on Miiverse that when designing Midna's true form for the end of Twilight Princess, he felt sad that such a beautifully designed character would make such a minor appearance in the game. He claimed he was happy to see Koei include her in Hyrule Warriors, as he had always wanted to have an excuse to have her appear in another Zelda game, but could never figure out how to do so due to the ending of Twilight Princess.

Personality
Midna is a sarcastic yet kindhearted individual. As Princess of the Twili, she is capable of acting prim and proper when need be. However, her brazen streak causes her to do what she wants most of the time without thinking of the consequences.

In her Imp form, Midna is far more hot headed and easy to anger, likely due to her impatience and distaste for being in that form. She is snarky, and prone to lash out in fits of rage if pushed too far.

In her Twili form, Midna is shown to be just as sarcastic and snarky as usual. However, she is far calmer and regal in her natural state. She's far less easy to anger, though when angered she doesn't hesitate to throw her status as a princess in people's faces as a means of one-upping them. Often times during battle Midna will express great satisfaction at no longer being an imp.

Quotes

 * See also: Midna/Quotes

Gameplay
Shackle=

Midna has a Darkness Meter that's located underneath her special attack gauge. It fills up either when she successfully crushes an enemy with her strong attack X, or when she uses her fourth charge attack. If it's full or partially full, her attacks will have the Darkness element applied to them. The Darkness Meter passively drains over time until it is empty. Most of Midna's attacks involve her attacking with the wolf she is riding. If Midna is not riding her wolf when she starts attacking, her first attack will have a minor amount of starting lag where she summons her wolf before attacking.
 * X: Midna grabs nearby enemies in front of her with her hair and crushes them. This completely fills Midna's Darkness Meter if the grab connects. This attack does not work on Giant Bosses.
 * Y, X, X, X: Midna grabs an enemy and slams them on the ground, summons two wolves to knock her enemies into the air, then jumps into the air to slam the group back down with her hair. This combo will fail if there are no enemies to grab.
 * Y, Y, X, X, X: Midna summons two wolves at either side of her that dash forward in an X pattern, before repeating the same attack backwards. Afterwards, the attack ends with Midna throwing the wolf she's riding directly forward like a spinning disk.
 * Y, Y, Y, X, X, X: Midna grabs an enemy and flails them around in a circle before summoning two wolves to run in circles, creating a whirlwind that sucks in and damages enemies. The attack ends with the whirlwind exploding. This combo will fail if there are no enemies to grab.
 * Y, Y, Y, Y, X: Midna charges forward on her wolf steed while wildly slamming her hair on the ground around her, picking up enemies and knocking away others before throwing any gathered enemies forward. Midna can be controlled while she's dashing forward. This attack completely fills Midna's Darkness Meter.
 * Y, Y, Y, Y, Y: Midna lunges forward on the Twilight wolf, then dashes forward again in a drilling motion. Midna then slaps the ground with her magic hair and sends out two wolves that spin forward like buzzsaws. As the wolves strike their targets, Midna balls her hair into a fist and charges forward on her wolf and does a massive forward punch.


 * A: Midna creates a massive ball of twilight energy with her hair and throws it to the ground some distance in front of her, where it explodes.


 * Focus Spirit + A: Midna summons the other Fused Shadow parts from Twilight Princess and combines them with the one she wears on her head, transforming her into a massive spider-like creature. She then pulls out a trident and stabs it into the ground.
 * Focus Spirit Finisher: Midna poses with her wolf steed, which then runs in a single circle around her while Midna slams the ground with her hair to create a large magic explosion.


 * Weak Point Smash: Midna winds up her arm like she's getting ready to punch, but instead uses her hair for the hit, sending the enemy flying.

Midna is essentially a grappler. Half of her moves will not work if there is no enemy to grab, which limits her moveset slightly against larger enemies if no smaller ones are around. She is very effective at crowd control while at the same time having ways to infuse her attacks with the darkness element. This lets her make easier work of single enemies, as darkness increases damage the more a single target is attacked.

Midna's ability to summon wolves is a direct callback to her riding Link in his wolf form in Twilight Princess. Her attack with the fused shadow is how she destroys the barrier preventing Link from entering Hyrule Castle in Twilight Princess. DLC only.
 * -|Mirror=

Twili Midna has a darkness meter underneath her special attack gauge. It fills up whenever Twili Midna strikes an enemy. How full it is influences her strong attack's charge time, how big it is and total damage.
 * X: Midna creates a slowly expanding field of dark energy that greatly damages all enemies caught in it. Filling up the Twilight meter makes it charge faster.
 * Y,X: Midna summons her giant hand to slam the ground, then uses her mirror to summon it again to attack enemies from below.
 * Y,Y, X: Midna slams the ground with her giant hand, does a wide 360 spin with it, and finally summons a small ball of light from a portal that she slams down in front of her.
 * Y,Y, Y, X: Midna summons a very large cannon to fire three large shots at enemies in front.
 * Y,Y, Y, Y, X: Midna telekinetically swings a broken bridge around to attack enemies.
 * Y,Y, Y, Y, Y, X: Midna makes several wide swings with her giant hand, has it fire five green energy blasts, then summons three Twilit Wolves to charge forward, with the one she rides on growing to giant size.
 * Y,Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y: Midna makes several wide swings with her giant hand, has it fire five green energy blasts before charging forward, and finally uses her mirror to fire a beam of light. Midna can rotate while doing this to attack surrounding enemies.


 * A: Midna summons the spear used by her Fused Shadow form and slams the ground with it, damaging all enemies caught by the shockwave.


 * Focus Spirit + A: Midna sheds a tear and uses it to shatter reality like glass. All enemies caught in it will take damage.
 * Focus Spirit Finisher: Midna creates a wave of dark energy to damage all surrounding enemies.
 * Weak Point Smash: Midna summons her hand and punches the enemy.

Weapons
Shackle=

DLC only.
 * -|Mirror=

Badge Materials

 * See also: Hyrule Warriors/Badges

Trivia

 * During Nintendo's E3 2014 Nintendo Treehouse event, Midna was shown having two separate weapon slots, hinting at her having an additional moveset. In the final product she only has one.