Lady Maud

Lady Maud (also referred to as simply The Lady) is the main antagonist of The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes.

Background

Lady Maud hailed from a special tribe that was renowned for both fashion and magical abilities. Her younger sister was Madame Couture, who became well-known for the outfits she designed throughout the kingdom of Hytopia. Apparently, Maud's skills were not recognized in favor of her younger sisters, and she relocated to The Drablands so that the monsters there would appreciate her fashion. She grew power hungry over time and would eventually target Hytopia's Princess Styla. She sent the princess a gift: a set of cursed tights that the princess would not be able to remove without her magic. The game implied that Maud did this out of contempt for Styla's "unbearably cute fashion sense", while the Encyclopedia instead claims that her motivation was making Styla something that she felt fit her better than the dresses she always wore.

Regardless of The Lady's motivations, her gift set the kingdom into a state of panic. Styla was hidden from the public, embarrassed by the tights that she was trapped in, while the kingdom's citizens started to fear being targeted as well if they were fashionable. A group of Tri Force Heroes (consisting of Link and either two similar-looking boys or two Doppels) were assembled to explore The Drablands in search of a way to stop The Lady's curse. The heroes battled the monsters under Lady Maud's command and gained one of the three pieces of clothing needed to fashion The Lady's Ensemble, an outfit that was identical to Maud's clothing and which came with similar power.

Maud first confronted the Tri Force Heroes at The Lady's Lair, the last area of The Fortress. She expected gratitude for her gift to Styla and felt insulted when Link demanded that she lift the curse. Maud accused them of lacking fashion sense and summoned her pets, the Tri Furies, to dispose of them while she teleported away. The heroes were able to defeat her pets and earned the second piece of her Ensemble from the battle. Lady Maud then retreated to her true lair, the Sky Temple. She was enraged when the heroes found her again and proceeded to dispose of their weapons, as she considered them to be unfashionable accessories. With that, the heroes engaged her in battle and ultimately defeated her. In the wake of her defeat, Lady Maud surrendered and teleported away. The heroes then found the final piece of her Ensemble, and with its power, the curse was lifted from Styla.

Lady Maud's whereabouts after her defeat were unknown. However, King Tuft implied that she would not face any charges for her crime, after Styla was restored to normal.

Trivia

• In Japan, she is simply known as Sister Lady.
• 'Maud' is an Old German feminine name which means "great battler", and it is also associated with gray plaids that Scottish shepherds once wore. Her name could also be referencing the term "Mod", which was a type of Bristish subculture/fashion from the 60s.