- "But, Link... Can you at least promise me this? No matter what happens on your journey, don't try to do anything...out of your league. Please. Just come home safely."
- — Ilia
Ilia (イリア Iria?) is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The daughter of Bo, the mayor of Ordon Village, she is a close friend of Link's and has a fondness for his horse, Epona. Although Ilia is the daughter of the mayor, she prefers to spend her time in the wild. According to her official Twilight Princess trading card, she is 16 years old.
Biography[]
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Born in Ordon Village, Ilia is extremely close to nature and is fond of Link and his horse, Epona. As the daughter of the village's mayor, she acts as sort of a big sister figure to the Children of Ordon. Due to her fondness for Epona, she can be somewhat overprotective of her even though she doesn't belong to her and is implied to be somewhat envious of Link due to Epona's bond with her owner. At the beginning of the game, after Link returns home after helping Rusl gather wood in the forest, Ilia takes Epona to the Spirit's Spring without asking. Link who needs Epona to round up Ordon Goats at Ordon Ranch finds her with Epona at the Spirit's Spring and learns that Ilia had taken her to give Epona a bath. Before he leaves with his horse, Ilia reminds Link to take care of Epona, reminding him that Epona is a girl like her, before asking him to play the song that Epona likes on some Horse Grass for her.
The next day, on Link and Epona's day off, Ilia stays in her room all day and orders her father not to let Link enter the house. Later in the game it is revealed that Ilia was making a Horse Call for Link and the reason she asked Link play Epona's Song on Horse Grass was apparently to keep the song fresh in her mind the next day while she was crafting it.
On the day Link is to leave to take the Ordon Sword & Ordon Shield to Hyrule Castle as an offering to Princess Zelda, Ilia notices Epona is injured and becomes angry, berating Link for his supposed carelessness (as she mistakenly assumes it came from him carelessly jumping fences). She takes Epona to the Spirit's Spring to heal her locking the spring's gate to keep Link out, forcing him to crawl through a tunnel to gain access to the spring. However, Colin explains to Ilia that the injury occurred because Link was forced to have Epona jump the locked rope bridge fence that prevent him from entering Faron Woods when he rescued Talo from Bokoblins the day before. Realizing her mistake, Ilia apologizes, even begrudgingly admitting that Epona will always choose Link over her.
However, their moment of reconciliation is cut short by the Bulblins' attack on the village. During the attack, Ilia is hit with an arrow and kidnapped along with the Children of Ordon by King Bulblin and his Bulblin henchmen. She is imprisoned along with Impaz in the Hidden Village. With Impaz's help, Ilia escapes, leaving the Horse Call with Impaz as a good luck charm, as she is charged to remain in the village until a certain person arrives.
At some point after this, she rescued the young zora Prince Ralis when he was attacked by Zant's forces en route to Hyrule Castle Town to alert Princess Zelda of the situation in Zora's Domain. However due to being separated from water for so long, however, Prince Ralis grew ill and Ilia brought him to Telma's Bar in Hyrule Castle Town, where Doctor Borville refused to give the Zora prince medical attention, causing Ilia to lose hope of saving the boy, until Telma mentions that the shaman Renado of Kakariko Village may be able to help the boy. Meanwhile as Doctor Borville leaving, Link arrives at the Bar and finds Ilia, but when she sees him, it is apparent that she does not recognize him.
Link along with a group of Hyrulean Soldiers overhear the conversation between Ilia and Telma about taking Ralis to Renado, and the soldiers offer to take her and the Zora to Kakariko Village, but are scared off as Telma mentions the dangers they will face. Willing to confront any danger to help his childhood friend, Link remains and steps up to assist Telma and Ilia in transporting Ralis to Kakariko Village. While Ilia is preparing for the trip to Kakariko Village, Telma recognizing that Link knows Ilia, reveals that Ilia has lost her memory.
During their trip to Kakariko Village, Link mounted on Epona protects the horse-draw cart driven by Telma, while Ilia stays in the back of the cart with Ralis. Atop Epona, Link manage to defend the cart all the way to Kakariko Village as it is besieged by Bulblins, Kargarocs, and faces King Bulblin himself in a rematch on the Great Bridge of Hylia. They arrive in Kakariko Village where Renado manages to save Ralis' life, much to Ilia's relief. After stabilizing Ralis' condition, Ilia remains in Kakariko Village while Renado works on finding a way to restore her memory. Due to her amnesia, Ilia is impressed by the children and Link's kindness towards her, unaware that it is because they care about her. She instinctively retains her fondness for Epona, despite having no memory of her. During conversations with Link, she reveals that she is sensitive to a horse's feelings.
After Link defeats Armogohma in the Temple of Time, receives Renado's Letter from Renado to give to Telma with explains how to treat Ilia to restore her memory. After receiving the Letter, Telma gives Link an Invoice to give to Doctor Borville which grants him access to the Doctor's office in the Medical Clinic. While searching the office for information on tracking down the Wooden Statue which Borville had taken from Ilia while treating her illness, Link finds the Medicine Scent. Using his Wolf form, Link follows the scent which leads him to Telma's cat Louise. Louise reveals that she stole the Statue from Borville, only to end up losing it to some Stalhounds south of Castle Town. Link defeats the Stalhounds and recovers the Wooden Statue. Link returns to Kakariko and shows the statue to Ilia, which causes her to regain some of her memory and tells Link that the person who saved her is in danger. Gor Coron examines the statue and tell Link that he believes it came from the Hidden Village. Link travels north of the Bridge of Eldin. With help from Darbus, Link gains access to the Hidden Village and meets Impaz, the old woman who aided Ilia. She gives Link the Horse Call that Ilia had given to her.
Back in Kakariko Village, when Ilia is shown the Horse Call, Ilia recovers her memory and gives Link the Horse Call so he can summon Epona at any time. It is possible that there is a romantic connection between Ilia and Link, based on the way that the two interact with each other at the beginning of the game and after she regains her memory.
The Light Spirit Lanayru uses Ilia's likeness, including a warped, evil version, to represent the warring tribes of Hyrule during a vision of the Hyrulean Civil War.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
Behind the scenes[]
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Early concept art of Ilia
It appears that in early production stages of Twilight Princess, Ilia was a member of the Hylian race as opposed to human. This was changed later on, however, perhaps due to the fact that she would blend in with the other human villagers of Ordon Village better if she was one of them.
Other appearances[]
Subseries warning: This article or section contains information on a subseries within the Legend of Zelda series and should be considered part of its own separate canon.
Hyrule Warriors[]
Ilia appears as an alternate costume for Princess Zelda, available through the Twilight Princess DLC pack. The Ilia costume has pointed Hylian ears instead of Ilia's round human ears, due it actually being Princess Zelda dressed in Ilia's clothes and sporting her hair style. This makes her resemble early concept art design of Ilia as a Hylian from Twilight Princess.
Hyrule Warriors Legends[]
Ilia's Clothes return as an unlockable outfit for Princess Zelda that can be obtained on the Twilight Adventure Map.
Subseries warning: Subseries information ends here.
Non-canonical appearances[]
Non-canon warning: This article or section contains non-canonical information that is not considered to be an official part of the Legend of Zelda series and should not be considered part of the overall storyline.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]
Ilia appears as a trophy.
Non-canon warning: Non-canonical information ends here.
References[]
- ^ This age comes from Nintendo licensed products such as the trading cards and official player's guide. Please do not change it unless you have a more respected source (in-game quote, developer interview, etc.)