"Goodbye" > "See you later" (a small story echo that I enjoy in Twilight Princess)

In the climactic final battle of Twilight Princess, when Midna throws herself -- with the full power of the fused shadow -- into battle against Ganondorf, and clearly believes she's sacrificing her life to save Link and Zelda (and, of course, the people of both realms), she pointedly says "Goodbye" to Link, just before she warps him and Zelda away to Hyrule Field.

But at the end of the game, the very end-credits end, when Midna is in the slow-moving act of destroying the Mirror of Twilight, the one and only connection between her world and theirs -- by casting her brightly shining crystal tear to shatter the mirror after she steps through the portal -- she instead, carefully, after a few broken false starts, says "See you later" to Link.

I like to imagine that this is one more character-growth moment for Midna, the character who by far grows the most throughout this story. I like to think that it signals one more development for her from doing it all herself, as again in that battle a few days before the end-credits scene, through the interventions of the Light Spirits after, to Zelda's ringing articulation of Zelda's own understanding -- that the goddess had directly intervened to preserve the mirror to ensure the three of them met -- such that Midna no longer feels it is all on her own shoulders, and no longer shrugs off, defies, underestimates, or -- most touchingly -- feels personally abandoned by her own or Hyrule's divinities (which I'm pretty sure she did before, cf. Zelda's remark about what Midna has suffered). Nothing will be impossible, Midna may be admitting, no hope is beyond reason, by saying "See you later" rather than "Goodbye."

But she still has to shatter the mirror. She cannot allow it to be misused again from either side. No matter what it costs her, personally.

Some corners of the fandom sometimes speculate that Midna killed herself in destroying the mirror. If one wants to make a story where that was an unintended consequence, more power to storytelling! But on purpose? No way. If that, she would have said "Goodbye" again. And she didn't.

Three friendly distractions (in case anyone needs one)

Pompeii. I believe that many of you are interested in historical Pompeii. You should not miss the latest archaeological news from there, which is that new DNA evidence is overturning imagined identifications of individual victims of the eruption, some dating back to the nineteenth-century rediscovery of the site. For example, one human cast long referred to as that of an elderly beggar is in fact that of a child; similarly, a famous pair always assumed to be two sisters or a mother and daughter is actually a man and a woman. Here's a subscriber gift link to the New York Times article (it should take you through the paywall): "With DNA, Pompeii Narratives Take a Twist: In 79 A.D., a volcanic eruption engulfed a town’s residents. They weren’t all who scientists thought, newly extracted genetic material suggests."

Shakespeare. Some months ago, my YouTube recommendations algorithm unusually struck gold when it started suggesting ShakespeareNetwork. You can read about their organization on their site, but what's specifically relevant for this recommendation is that their YouTube channel makes available amazing Shakespeare productions since almost the dawn of talkie cinema, filmed stage plays as well as movies, television, and indeed radio productions, many starring some of the best actors of the past century. (So much Judi Dench!) Much of it, especially the oldest productions, are available in full; recent productions tend to be represented by only a trailer or a few excerpted scenes. Those of you who love Stratford should definitely check out this channel; you'll find treasure.

Zelda as a TV show (not the '89 cartoon). Wondering what I'm up to with all these The Legend of Zelda references, but not interested in games or manga or, goodness forbid, let's-plays? ZeldaUniverseTV's got you. These fans have produced multi-episode "TV shows" of several of the games, thoughtfully edited, with full voiceover acting. For example, Twilight Princess is 13 episodes of about 30 minutes each (playlist). Breath of the Wild is available as either a single 7-hour movie or 4 episodes of about 100 minutes each (playlist).