Overthrow of Midna

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The Overthrow of Midna was the name of a coup staged in the Twilight Realm by a Twili named Zant, who overthrew the rightful ruler of the Twilight Realm, the Twilight Princess Midna, and seized control of the realm by force. After blotting out the light given by the Sols by sealing them away within the Palace of Twilight and transforming the Twili into Shadow Beasts, Zant reopened the portal between the Twilight Realm and Hyrule, meaning to conquer the World of Light and allowing the Dark Lord Ganondorf to escape back into the land of Hyrule once more. Meanwhile, the overthrown Twilight Princess escaped to Hyrule as well, seeking a means to defeat Zant and return the Twilight Realm to peace.

Turmoil in the Twilight Realm

Roughly a century after the failed execution of Ganondorf by the ancient Sages and his subsequent banishment, the Twilight Realm entered a period of political tumult when the Throne of the Twilight Realm was suddenly vacated, leaving the realm in the midst of a power vacuum as there were apparently no male heirs from the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm, the ruling family of the Twili, the descendants of the Dark Interlopers that were banished to the Twilight Realm at the conclusion of the Interloper War many generations ago. With no heir apparent, one of the primary candidates to ascend to the Throne of the Twilight Realm was one of the Royal Family's most hawkish advisers, a Twili named Zant. Zant was known to have a great lust for power and a thirst for conquest of the World of Light, Hyrule. However, it is implied that the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm had long rejected Zant's ideology that the Twili should be the rulers of both worlds rather than being trapped in the Twilight Realm like "insects in a cage", the Twili having instead grown by and large into a much gentler and peace-loving race after learning from the mistakes of their dark ancestors, who lost their own king to their greed and suffered banishment at the hands of the Golden Goddesses. Nevertheless, though the Royal Family rejected his ideas for conquest of the Light World, Zant had served the Royal Family loyally up to this point, believing that as there was no heir apparent to take the throne, he would be a natural candidate to become the next ruler of the Twili.

However, the populace of the Twilight Realm had grown to distrust Zant due to the lust for power they could see in his eyes, and rather than allow him to take the throne and pursue his wild dreams of conquest, they opted to allow the seemingly lone candidate remaining from the Royal Family itself, Princess Midna, to ascend to her family's throne, proclaiming her the one true "Twilight Princess" and rightful ruler of the Twilight Realm while bestowing the special status and powers of the rightful ruler of the Twilight Realm upon her. Having been passed over for the title of King of Twilight, this action sent Zant into a deep depression, possibly costing him his sanity in the process. With his hopes of ascending to the throne shattered, these events further caused Zant to distrust his own people and to resent them greatly, causing him to seek his own path to power and to turn inward away from the rest of his tribe. This also sparked a deep hatred of Midna within Zant, whom he felt had taken what was rightfully his and that she represented a continuation of a "do nothing" Royal Family.

A Fateful Meeting

One day, shortly after the proclamation of Princess Midna as the Twilight Princess, Zant fled out onto one of the high balconies of the Palace of Twilight, greatly saddened and frustrated that he had been rejected by his people. Pounding his fists into the ground and groaning over his loss, Zant turned his head toward the heavens in search of an answer to his woes and was stunned by what he saw: a great, all-consuming orb of dark energy was hovering over the balcony on which he stood. This orb then descended upon the balcony, engulfing Zant in the process. Inside, he saw a manifestation of a fiery head, the head of Ganondorf, the King of Evil that had been banished to the Twilight Realm a century in the past after his failed execution at the hands of the Sages. Ganondorf posed as a god to Zant, offering to house his power in Zant and give him the strength and power to take the Throne of the Twilight Realm by force, in exchange for release from the Twilight Realm once Zant had secured himself as ruler. He also promised Zant that he would revive him if he should ever be killed or die, leading Zant to believe he was being promised immortality. Blinded by his shock and lust, Zant agreed to this proposition and was endowed with a fraction of the magic of the Triforce of Power which Ganondorf possessed. What Ganondorf did not reveal to Zant however was that he was merely using Zant to escape the confines of the Twilight Realm back into Hyrule, and that in reality he had no intention of reviving Zant in the event of his death once he had fulfilled his purpose in releasing Ganondorf back into Hyrule. Zant did not stop to question Ganondorf's motives however and moved to enact the first phase of the pair's plan: the usurping of the Throne of the Twilight Realm.

Overthrow of the Twilight Princess

Zant donned his fearsome mask and attacked the Palace of Twilight head on, using his power to transform the Twili into Shadow Beasts that were forced to answer solely to his command. Using some of these reinforcements, he easily conquered the Palace of Twilight and faced the Twilight Princess herself on one of the palace balconies. As Midna backed away in fear while Zant approached her, Zant waved his hand and struck Midna to the ground. However, when she recovered, she realized that not only had Zant knocked her off her feet, but he had also transformed her into a small, impish creature that bore not even a passing resemblance to her original stunning beauty. Horrified by her new appearance, Midna fled the Palace of Twilight for Hyrule in search of her ancestors' dark magic, the Fused Shadow, in the hope that it would give her the power to battle and defeat Zant and restore peace to the Twilight Realm. Meanwhile, Zant usurped the Throne of the Twilight Realm, proclaiming himself the King of Twilight and taking over the Palace of Twilight as his own. He took the two sacred orbs, the Sols that were the sole source of light in the Twilight Realm akin to the Sun in Hyrule, from their resting place in the Sol Shrine in the plaza of the Palace of Twilight and sealed them within the eastern and western wings of the palace, guarded by Zant's Hands. This action left the Twilight Realm susceptible to darkness and brought much sorrow and misery amongst the transformed Twili as they were forced into submission to Zant. While the Twilight Realm suffered beneath Zant's wicked rule, Midna was able to successfully use her power as the true ruler of the Twilight Realm to escape the realm to Hyrule, hoping to form a plan that could dethrone Zant and save her people.