sick about Zant meeting Ganon again, sick about servitude, about being a dog and an unloved kid. sick of the wounds of the past festering and festering and festering !!!!!!
Zant served the Royal Family so faithfully all those long years, he did whatever they asked of him. Hadn't he been their dog? Hadn't he been a good dog? Didn't he deserve to rule?
Zant and Midna as psuedo-siblings. The King and Queen as authority figures/ the head not only of all Twili citizens, but of all the servants too. Literally the highest authority figures in the castle and the whole Kingdom. They become imprints of "parental" figures for Zant. Midna the destined heir, Zant her parasitic almost-brother-- raised in the same household, given the same lessons, playing in the same playrooms. He swept her floors, he served her meals, he wiped snot off her fucking face. He's the older brother, he's the one who ought to live up to the throne, he's the one who should lead. And this view is so deeply ingrained within him-- he literally thinks of the Twili as "our people," when he's talking to Midna. OUR people. Not "the" people, not "us." He wanted to be the "next to rule our people."
But at the end of the day, none of it matters. He's still just a dog. He tried so hard, he worked, he served so faithfully. And isn't that just the problem? He's only ever fated to sit at her feet.
And where's the JUSTICE for that? Huh?
Doesn't that pain turn skywards after a while? Don't you start to ask what you did wrong? Why you weren't enough? Hadn't you given all you had to them? Hadn't you served them the best you could? Weren't you a good son I mean dog I mean son?
This is the worst fucking day of his life, and there's something so incredibly human about monsters being born out of moments of weakness, because this is the moment the knife's edge balances on. They're born in the same place, heroes and monsters. Zant is rejected by his family. He is rejected by his people. And this is the turning point.
He runs out to the balcony, he literally falls on his knees, he's all curled in on himself crying in frustration and hurt, I mean the fanfiction writes itself here people. What was wrong with him? Why wasn't he enough for them? Why wasn't he enough.
And Ganon, leaking orange light down from the sky, whispering a seductive promise. If you can't live up to them. Then live up to me instead.
The thing about a pain like this is that it doesn't make you right or wrong. Not really. There's a case to be made here that perhaps if Midna or her parents had tried to reason with Zant, had rewarded him for his service-- had perhaps given him a place at the table as an advisor, instead of naming him heir to the whole monarchy-- had compromised and recognized his hard work, his dedication. If they had just recognized how much he wanted to love them and be loved in return. This whole thing could have been avoided. Part of you can't help but want to shake the Royal Family. Why couldn't you have just loved him? Why couldn't you have just--
But then again on the other hand, Zant's always had those fanatic's eyes, the four-way split lips. His character design tells us so much. He's always been a hole looking to be filled, he's always been trying to fill that chasm inside of himself. Maybe he was always doomed to be a one-dimensional evil force that would seize more and more and more power until he was put down. Some dreams are like that you know, they can't just let go, they have to be shot.
Zant's fanatic's eyes, the way his pupils are completely consumed in orange light, the way his body is LITERALLY consumed by Ganon's orb in order to commune with his spirit. The thing about a pain like this is that it doesn't make you right or wrong. But it DOES make you easy to manipulate.
In the end I think Zant's original sin was simply wanting to loved. Wanting to be enough and daring to think that he could be. And then being foolish and hurt enough to shake the devil's hand when he offers to help you up of course.
