By the way, you had excellent delivery giving the line of "So the story does a very good job establishing just how tight nit and loving the community is... before it promptly ransacks the town and abducts all the children."
So, Midna is probably my favourite 'assist' character throughout the Zelda games... Her character arc, from distrusting, demeaning and using Link, through to a begrudging respect, then being saved by Zelda and Link and ultimately becoming fast-friends... Yeah.
I'm REALLY looking forward to what you make of a certain final credits scene, since in my view, it rather damages the lesson of the rest of the game - the lesson of learning to work together despite differences.
I've very little knowledge of Japanese perceptions of Wolves, but you didn't mention Western view doesn't always paint them as the villain. I mean, Roman mythology does have Romulas and Remus being raised by wolves. Though yeah, we do paint them as the villain fairly often. Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, after all? Belief in werewolves is also European in origin... Though didn't Odin have some wolf pets that were believed to be good? (I'll admit my own bias here - I've always liked the mythological feel that wolves have!)
There's also an interesting parallel in having the bearer of the Triforce of Courage transform into a wolf. A lone wolf is one that has left its pack, having either been forced out or having left voluntarily - something that Link is forced (through circumstance) to do in the opening section of the game. Surviving alone, for a wolf, requires strength of character and courage, something that Link goes on to demonstrate. So, yeah - Link is a lone wolf.
