Ilia

Ilia in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Ilia
Species	Human
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Green
Relatives	Bo (father)
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Ilia is a young girl who appears as a supporting character in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Background

Ilia was the daughter of Ordon Village's Mayor Bo and a mother who died at some point in her childhood. Ilia was known for her strong will, which is a trait shared with her late mother, and she often wound up ordering her father around as she considered him to be too weak-willed. She was a good friend of Link's and helped to take care of his horse, Epona, but Ilia got angry at Link very easily whenever Epona was injured even in a minor way. They were still very close, having known each other since childhood and being the oldest of the village's youths.

In Twilight Princess, she was first seen tending to Epona and asking Link to play Epona's Song with a grass whistle. As Link was leaving to visit Hyrule Castle Town, Ilia prepared a special Horse Call for Link as a parting gift. She did not get a chance to give it to him as the next day, she noticed Epona had an injury and so brought the horse to the nearby spring to be healed. Ilia was cross enough with Link that she set up the gate to keep him from entering. Colin was able to calm her down by explaining the details of how Epona had been injured, as Link was using Epona to rescue Talo. Ilia apologized to Link and asked him to be safe on his journey. This meeting was disrupted when King Bulblin began his attack, with Ilia and Colin being among those taken captive.

Ilia was the only young captive who was not eventually rescued, and she was brought to the Hidden Village. During her time trapped there, Ilia befriended the only resident, Impaz, and shared her hopes that Link would rescue them with her. Impaz also told Ilia about her people acting as messengers to the heavens, and Ilia learned about the "rod of the heavens" from her. Impaz eventually helped Ilia to escape and entrusted her with a Wooden Statue. Before she left, Ilia entrusted Impaz with the Horse Call to keep it safe for Link. Ilia was eventually discovered and presumably treated by Doctor Borville, who also took the wooden figurine for herself. Telma provided her with shelter at her bar in Hyrule Castle Town, although Ilia suffered from amnesia presumably due to the trauma of her captivity, and she could not remember her life before being brought to the castle town.

At one point, Ilia found a sick Zora boy, Ralis, collapsed in the road and brought him to Telma at the bar. They sought some way to treat the Zora child, but Doctor Boville did not know how to treat Zoras. Telma thought of taking him to see the shaman Renado at Kakariko Village, and they only person they could find to escort them there was the recently-arrived Link, whom Ilia did not recognize. Ilia introduced herself to Link and already saw him as a kind person. Once they reached Kakariko, Ilia stayed there under Renado's care and had fun with other children, even though she no longer recognized them from Ordon. After some time, she started to regain some memories from just prior to her rescue. She first began to vaguely remember talk of the "rod of the heavens", which prompted Link to find the Dominion Rod, and after further investigation of Ilia's path, he was able to retrieve the Woodern Figure for her. This triggered memories of and concern for Impaz, and Ilia urged Link to ensure her safety.

After Link secured the Hidden Village, he returned with the horse call. This restored the remainder of Ilia's lost memories, and she finally remembered who Link was. She told Link she was fine now and that she would be waiting for him when he finished his quest. Ilia also pondered what Impaz had told her about what Impaz meant when she had told her about the messenger and rod of the heavens. After the fall of Ganondorf and Zant, Ilia was returned to Ordon Village with the children.

Trivia

• In the cutscene which shows the backstory of the Twilight Realm, the female "dark interlopers" are represented as shadow versions of Ilia, in the same way that the males are shown as Dark Links.
• A trophy of Ilia appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
• In Hyrule Warriors, one of Zelda's alternate costumes (originally made available through a Twilight Princess-themed DLC pack) is based on Ilia's appearance, utilizing her clothing and her hair style.