The Hero Dies in this One
Like pretty much everybody else, I am as excited as heck for the new Zelda game, Twilight Princess, which is scheduled to be released around the holiday season of this year. This game marks a return to the older Link and darker themes and graphics that we saw hints of in Ocarina of Time. The image of Zelda that has been released shows the fierce determination and resolve on her face. She is calm, cool, collected, and every bit the Zelda we know and love. Note that she's not smiling in this picture, when she is in the concept art for pretty much every other game, save Ocarina of Time. But that's not even the best thing about the picture.
That's right, Zelda now sports a sword! From the picture it seems to clearly belong to her, as it is seems to have a purple hilt and match her outfit. Besides, it's clearly important to her character if the original concept art shows her with it. It isn't as large as the Master Sword and seems to be lighter, thinner, and designed for a more skilled and less hack-n-slash kind of wielding. It's not quite a rapier, though, and we'll have to wait to see it in action. (Please?) This is a nice answer to Zelda's supposed weakness after that whole incident with the Master Sword in Ocarina of Time.
Another thing to note is the mysterious cloaked figure beside Link in one picture. As per the tradition of introducing Zelda in the guise of another character, a lot of people would speculate that this hooded figure is the princess. Another thing to note is that the character has the symbol of the Sheikah on the back of his/her cape, furthering the speculation that the character is Zelda. However, by now we've learned to expect some sort of "Zelda in disguise" twist, so it's possible they're trying to throw us another curveball. Either way, I'm excited! The Sheikah were extremely awesome and it's nice to have their legend added into the mix.
As the game is called Twilight Princess one would hope that it has Zelda playing a large role again. (All the major titles of the series do, so I am not so worried about that.) However, it is possible that Zelda is not the Twilight Princess. That would be interesting, to say the least, but I hope it is Zelda because...I like Zelda. (Gee. Who'd have thought that?) Anyway, if Zelda is the Twilight Princess, it would imply something hazy in her character. Twilight implies a time between night and day, so the obvious implication is some sort of moral ambiguity. In the manga, the character of Sheik was much more mysterious, as he worked for Ganondorf as well as secretly aiding Link. My feeling is that the mysterious cloaked figure has something to do with all this, whether or not the character is Zelda.
Other things I'd like to see for this game are: more Zelda with a sword (like, having her actually use it) and more LinkxZelda action. (Woo!) And also, I sooo called that Link was the wolf.
Edit: It's now been pretty much confirmed that Zelda is the cloaked figure. Also they delayed this, making me sad.