Twilight Realm
From Zelda Wiki.org
See also: Twilight
Tell me...Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls? They say it's the only time when our world intersects with theirs... The only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our world. That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight...
—Rusl
The Twilight Realm exists as a separate dimension from Hyrule. While the normal Hyrule resides in the World of Light, the Twilight Realm exists in perpetual Twilight, which is the absence of light. Not light in the normal logical sense, but in the spiritual sense. It is a realm in which there is no light, but Twilight. The Twilight Realm is a gloomy, hazy, yet very serene world. It is often called the World of Shadows, but that makes it seem unpleasant. There is a serene beauty to the Twilight Realm, a beauty which the Hylians have seen every time the sun sets, during Twilight hour.
After the Usurper King Zant took over, the Twilight Realm underwent a malevolent change. The skies darker, the mood more ominous, it's people changed into Shadow Beasts.
The Twilight Realm is home to the Twili tribe, a race of powerful magic users. The Twili once long ago resided in Hyrule, in the World of Light. The Twili used their very powerful magic to try to take control of the Sacred Realm and the Triforce. Yet, the Twili were eventually defeated and banished by the Gods into the Twilight Realm, to lock them away forever. The only link between the World of Light and the Twilight Realm was the Mirror of Twilight, handed to the sages for safe keeping.
There are in fact two different aspects to the Twilight Realm; there is the Twilight Realm itself, the alternate dimension where the Twili reside. And there is the Twilight which exists in Hyrule. Here, the Twilight is merely an area of Hyrule in which the there is no longer "light". And the result of the absence of light is Twilight, which slowly covers and blankets an area in which the light is either lost or taken away. The Light of Hyrule is kept by Light Spirits. During the events in Twilight Princess, the light from the Light Spirits is stolen by Zant and the respective area in which the Light Spirit reigns is overtaken by Twilight. However, the Twilight can be pushed back and destroyed if the Light is brought back to the Light Spirits. Once the Light Spirits receive the Light back, light can once again exist in the respective area and the Twilight will vanish. However, if all the Light Spirits in every province of Hyrule loses their light, eventually the Twilight will blanket all of Hyrule and transform it into another "Twilight Realm".
During the events in Twilight Princess, Zant the Usurper King of Twilight has found a way to cross dimensions into the World of Light, into Hyrule. But his people cannot live in the World of Light. To combat this, he sends members of the Twili race, now Shadow Beasts, to confront the Light Spirits and take away their light. Once taken, light fades, and Twilight blankets the area, slowly growing. Zant is able to take away light from the four light Spirits, and Hyrule slowly succumbs to the Twilight. With Hyrule losing it's territory to the Twilight, Zant makes Hyrule ready for the Twili to exist in Hyrule, to finally be free of the Twilight Realm. However, Link eventually retrieves the light and hands it back to the Light Spirits, then the Twilight vanishes, and light is brought back again.
The nature of the Twilight has very peculiar effects of Light World denizens. Once overtaken by the Twilight the inhabitants of the Light are turned into lost spirits. They lose their physical bodies, and become spirits. They are for the most part, unaware of the events, but can see the shadow creatures and other actions performed by them. Once someone has entered the Twilight, it is often impossible to escape or recover. Only with the help of a member of the Twili race can lost soul or anything trapped in the Twilight escape. However, there are a select few that can survive in the Twilight without becoming a lost soul. Bearers of the Triforce can usually withstand the effects of the Twilight. Link, bearer of the Triforce of Courage, has been blessed by the Gods to survive the effects of the Twilight Realm. So instead of becoming a lost spirit, Link turns into a wolf, much like his transformation into a rabbit when he entered the Dark World in A Link to the Past.
