title: Ralph Vaughan Williams

text: "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1951), the composer's last opera, was the culmination of more than forty years' intermittent work on the theme of Bunyan's religious allegory. Vaughan Williams had written incidental music for an amateur dramatisation in 1906, and had returned to the theme in 1921 with the one-act "The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains" (finally incorporated, with amendments, into the 1951 opera). The work has been criticised for a preponderance of slow music and stretches lacking in dramatic action, but some commentators believe the work to be one of Vaughan Williams's supreme achievements. Summaries of the music vary from "beautiful, if something of a stylistic jumble" (Saylor) to "a synthesis of Vaughan Williams's stylistic progress over the years, from the pastoral mediation of the 1920s to the angry music of the middle symphonies and eventually the more experimental phase of the "Sinfonia antartica" in his last decade" (Kennedy).


title: Ralph Vaughan Williams

text: Vaughan Williams conducted a handful of recordings for gramophone and radio. His studio recordings are the overture to "The Wasps" and the ballet "Old King Cole" (both made in 1925), and the Fourth Symphony (1937). Live concert tapings include "Dona Nobis Pacem" (1936), the "Serenade to Music", and the Fifth Symphony, recorded in 1951 and 1952, respectively. There is a recording of Vaughan Williams conducting the "St Matthew Passion" with his Leith Hill Festival forces. In the early days of LP in the 1950s Vaughan Williams was better represented in the record catalogues than most British composers. "The Record Guide" (1955) contained nine pages of listings of his music on disc, compared with five for Walton, and four apiece for Elgar and Britten.


title: Ralph Vaughan Williams

text: All the composer's major works and many of the minor ones have been recorded. There have been numerous complete LP and CD sets of the nine symphonies, beginning with Boult's Decca cycle of the 1950s, most of which was recorded in the composer's presence. Although rarely staged, the operas have fared well on disc. The earliest recording of a Vaughan Williams opera was "Hugh the Drover", in an abridged version conducted by Sargent in 1924. Since the 1960s there have been stereophonic recordings of "Hugh the Drover", "Sir John in Love", "Riders to the Sea", "The Poisoned Kiss", and "The Pilgrim's Progress". Most of the orchestral recordings have been by British orchestras and conductors, but notable non-British conductors who have made recordings of Vaughan Williams's works include Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, and, most frequently, André Previn, who conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the first complete stereo cycle of the symphonies, recorded between 1967 and 1972. Among the British conductors most closely associated with Vaughan Williams's music on disc and in concert in the generations after Boult, Sargent and Barbirolli are Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Andrew Davis. Record companies with extensive lists of Vaughan Williams recordings include EMI, Decca, Chandos, Hyperion and Naxos.


title: Ralph Vaughan Williams

text: Vaughan Williams refused a knighthood at least once, and declined the post of Master of the King's Music after Elgar's death. The one state honour he accepted was the Order of Merit in 1935, which confers no prenominal title: he preferred to remain "Dr Vaughan Williams". His academic and musical honours included an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Oxford (1919); the Cobbett medal for services to chamber music (1930); the gold medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society (1930); the Collard life fellowship of the Worshipful Company of Musicians (1934, in succession to Elgar); an honorary fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge (1935); the Shakespeare prize of the University of Hamburg (1937); the Albert medal of the Royal Society of Arts (1955); and the Howland memorial prize of Yale University (1954).


title: Ralph Vaughan Williams

text: In 1994 a group of enthusiasts founded the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, with the composer's widow as its president and Roy Douglas and Michael Kennedy as vice presidents. The society, a registered charity, has sponsored and encouraged performances of the composer's works including complete symphony cycles and a Vaughan Williams opera festival. The society has promoted premieres of neglected works, and has its own record label, Albion Records.


title: Ralph Vaughan Williams

text: Composers of the generation after Vaughan Williams reacted against his style, which became unfashionable in influential musical circles in the 1960s; diatonic and melodic music such as his was neglected in favour of atonal and other modernist compositions. In the 21st century this neglect has been reversed. In the fiftieth anniversary year of his death two contrasting documentary films were released: Tony Palmer's "O Thou Transcendent: The Life of Vaughan Williams" and John Bridcut's "The Passions of Vaughan Williams". British audiences were prompted to reappraise the composer. The popularity of his most accessible works, particularly the "Tallis Fantasia" and "The Lark Ascending", increased, but a wide public also became aware of what a reviewer of Bridcut's film called "a genius driven by emotion". Among the 21st-century musicians who have acknowledged Vaughan Williams's influence on their development are John Adams, PJ Harvey, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Anthony Payne, Wayne Shorter, Neil Tennant and Mark-Anthony Turnage.


title: Ralph Vaughan Williams

text: The Royal College of Music commissioned an official portrait of the composer from Sir Gerald Kelly (1952) which hangs in the college. The Manchester Art Gallery has a bronze sculpture of Vaughan Williams by Epstein (1952) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) has drawings by Joyce Finzi (1947) and Juliet Pannett (1957 and 1958); versions of a bronze head of the composer by David McFall (1956) are in the NPG and at the entrance to the Music reading room of the British Library. There is a statue of Vaughan Williams in Dorking, and a bust by Marcus Cornish in Chelsea Embankment Gardens, near his old house in Cheyne Walk.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a 2006 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii home video game consoles. Originally planned for release exclusively on the GameCube in November 2005, "Twilight Princess" was delayed by Nintendo to allow its developers to refine the game, add more content, and port it to the Wii. The Wii version was a launch game in North America in November 2006, and in Japan, Europe, and Australia the following month. The GameCube version was also released in December 2006 as the final first-party game for the console.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The story focuses on series protagonist Link, who tries to prevent Hyrule from being engulfed by a corrupted parallel dimension known as the Twilight Realm. To do so, he takes the form of both a Hylian and a wolf, and he is assisted by a mysterious creature named Midna. The game takes place over a century after "Ocarina of Time" and "Majora's Mask" and before "Four Swords Adventures", in an alternate timeline from "The Wind Waker".


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: "Twilight Princess" was critically acclaimed upon its release, received numerous game of the year awards, and has been called one of the greatest games of all time. By 2015, it had sold 8.85 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling "Zelda" game until being overtaken by "Breath of the Wild" in April 2018. In 2011, the Wii version was rereleased under the Nintendo Selects label. A high-definition remaster for the Wii U, "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD", was released in March 2016.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" is an action-adventure game focused on combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. It uses the basic control scheme introduced in "", including context-sensitive action buttons and L-targeting (Z-targeting on the Wii), a system that allows the player to keep Link's view focused on an enemy or important object while moving and attacking. Link can walk, run, and attack, and he will automatically jump when running off of or reaching for a ledge. Link uses a sword and shield in combat, complemented with secondary weapons and items, including a bow and arrows, a boomerang, and bombs. While L-targeting, projectile-based weapons can be fired at a target without the need for manual aiming.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The context-sensitive button mechanic allows one button to serve a variety of functions, such as talking, opening doors, and pushing, pulling, and throwing objects. The on-screen display shows what action, if any, the button will trigger, determined by the situation. For example, if Link is holding a rock, the context-sensitive button will cause Link to throw the rock if he is moving or targeting an object or enemy, or place the rock on the ground if he is standing still.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The GameCube and Wii versions feature several minor differences in their controls. The Wii version of the game makes use of the motion sensors and built-in speaker of the Wii Remote. The speaker emits the sounds of a bowstring when shooting an arrow, Midna's laugh when she gives advice to Link, and the series' trademark "chime" when discovering secrets. The player controls Link's sword by swinging the Wii Remote. Other attacks are triggered using similar gestures with the Nunchuk. Unique to the GameCube version is the ability for the player to control the camera freely, without entering a special "lookaround" mode required by the Wii; however, in the GameCube version, only two of Link's secondary weapons can be equipped at a time, as opposed to four in the Wii version.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The game features nine dungeons—large, contained areas where Link battles enemies, collects items, and solves puzzles. Link navigates these dungeons and fights a boss at the end in order to obtain an item or otherwise advance the plot. The dungeons are connected by a large overworld, across which Link can travel on foot; on his horse, Epona; or by teleporting with Midna's assistance.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: When Link enters the Twilight Realm, the void that corrupts parts of Hyrule, he transforms into a wolf. He is eventually able to transform between his Hylian and wolf forms at will. As a wolf, Link loses the ability to use his sword, shield, or any secondary items; he instead attacks by biting and defends primarily by dodging attacks. "Wolf Link" gains several key advantages in return—he moves faster than he does as a human (though riding Epona is still faster), digs holes to create new passages and uncover buried items, and has improved senses, including the ability to follow scent trails. On his back, he also carries Midna, a small imp-like creature who gives him hints, uses an energy field to attack enemies, helps him jump long distances, and eventually allows him to "warp" to any of several preset locations throughout the overworld. Using Link's wolf senses, the player can see and listen to the wandering spirits of those affected by the Twilight, as well as hunt for enemy ghosts named Poes.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The artificial intelligence (AI) of enemies in "Twilight Princess" is more advanced than that of enemies in "". Enemies react to defeated companions and to arrows or slingshot pellets that pass by, and they can detect Link from a greater distance than was possible in previous games.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The game begins with a teenage boy named Link, who works as a ranch hand in Ordon Village. One day, Bulblins take away the village's children. Link pursues and encounters a wall of Twilight. A Twilight monster pulls him beyond the wall into the Twilight-shrouded forest, where he is transformed into a wolf and imprisoned. Link is soon freed by a creature named Midna, who offers to help him if he obeys her unconditionally. She guides him to Princess Zelda, who explains that Zant, the Sorcerer/Usurper King of the Twili, invaded Hyrule Castle and forced her to surrender. The kingdom became enveloped in Twilight, turning all its inhabitants besides Link and Zelda into invisible spirits. To save Hyrule, Link, aided by Midna, must first revive the Light Spirits by entering the Twilight-covered regions and recovering the Spirits' light from the Twilight beings that had stolen it. Once revitalized, each Spirit returns Link to his Hylian form and informs Link and Midna of the hidden location of a Fused Shadow, one of the fragments of a powerful relic that will have to be used to match Zant's power to defeat him. During this time, the ghost of a , the Hero's Shade, also appears to provide swordsmanship training he had failed to pass on before his untimely death, as well as information regarding Link's destiny in Hyrule.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: During his journey, Link also finds Ordon Village's children and assists the monkeys of Faron, the Gorons of Eldin, and the Zoras of Lanayru. After restoring the Light Spirits and obtaining the Fused Shadows, Link and Midna are ambushed by Zant, who takes away the fragments. Midna calls him out for abusing his tribe's magic, but Zant reveals that his power comes from another source, and he uses it to trap Link in his wolf state. Failing to persuade Midna into joining forces with him, Zant attempts to dispose of her by exposing her to the light of Lanayru's light spirit. Bringing a dying Midna to Zelda, Link learns from her that he needs the Master Sword to remove Zant's curse and she proceeds to sacrifice herself to heal Midna, vanishing mysteriously. Moved by Zelda's act of selflessness, Midna starts to care more about Link and the fate of his world.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: After gaining the Master Sword, Link is cleansed of the curse that kept him in wolf form. Deep within the Gerudo Desert, Link and Midna search for the Mirror of Twilight, the only known gateway between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm, but discover that it is broken. The Sages there explain that Zant tried to destroy it, but only managed to shatter it into fragments; only the true ruler of the Twili can completely destroy the mirror. They also relate that they once used it to banish Ganondorf, the Gerudo leader who attempted to steal the Triforce, to the Twilight Realm after failing to execute him. Link and Midna set out to retrieve the missing shards of the mirror. Once it has been fully restored, the Sages reveal to Link that Midna is actually the true ruler of the Twili, usurped and cursed into her current form by Zant. Confronting Zant, Link and Midna learn that he forged a pact with Ganondorf, who asked for his assistance in subjugating Hyrule. After Link defeats Zant, Midna recovers the Fused Shadows and destroys Zant after learning that only Ganondorf's defeat can release her from her curse.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Returning to Hyrule, Link and Midna find Ganondorf in Hyrule Castle, with a lifeless Zelda suspended above him. Ganondorf fights Link by possessing Zelda and then transforming into a gigantic boar-like beast, but Link defeats him, and the power Midna received from Zelda is able to resuscitate her. Ganondorf revives, and Midna teleports Link and Zelda outside the castle so she can hold him off with the Fused Shadows. However, as Hyrule Castle collapses, Ganondorf emerges from it victorious, crushing the Fused Shadow piece that Midna wore on her head, and pursues Link on horseback. Assisted by Zelda and the Light Spirits, Link eventually knocks Ganondorf off his horse and duels him on foot before finishing him off with the Master Sword. With Ganondorf defeated, the Light Spirits revive Midna and restore her to her true form. After bidding farewell to Link and Zelda, Midna returns home and destroys the Mirror of Twilight, ultimately severing the link between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm. As Hyrule Castle is rebuilt, Link leaves Ordon Village, heading to parts unknown.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: In 2003, Nintendo announced that a new "The Legend of Zelda" game was in the works for the GameCube by the same team that had created the cel-shaded "The Wind Waker". At the following year's Game Developers Conference, director Eiji Aonuma unintentionally revealed that the game's sequel was in development under the working title "The Wind Waker 2"; it was set to use a similar graphical style to that of its predecessor. Nintendo of America told Aonuma that North American sales of "The Wind Waker" were sluggish because its cartoon appearance created the impression that the game was designed for a young audience. Concerned that the sequel would have the same problem, Aonuma expressed to producer Shigeru Miyamoto that he wanted to create a realistic "Zelda" game that would appeal to the North American market and meet Miyamoto's original vision of realism for the series. Miyamoto, hesitant about solely changing the game's presentation, suggested the team's focus should instead be on coming up with gameplay innovations. He advised that Aonuma should start by doing what could not be done in "Ocarina of Time", particularly horseback combat. Early development of what would become "Twilight Princess" began and special care was taken to improve the realism of the horseriding, with lead character designer Keisuke Nishimori riding a horse for himself to feel what it was like.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Just as the original "Legend of Zelda" game was inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" novels, the aesthetic of "Twilight Princess" was inspired by the "Lord of the Rings" films as they had just come out and were very popular at the time. The game was developed with having a large convincing world in mind, one with a vast scale to meet the expectation for fantasy worlds that audiences had become accustomed to with the "Lord of the Rings".


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: In four months, Aonuma's team managed to present realistic horseback riding, which Nintendo later revealed to the public with a trailer at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2004 and was met with enormous praise. The game was scheduled to be released the next year and was no longer a follow-up to "The Wind Waker"; a true sequel to it was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007, in the form of "". Miyamoto explained in interviews that the graphical style was chosen to satisfy demand and that it better fit the theme of an older incarnation of Link. The game runs on a modified "The Wind Waker" engine.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Prior "Zelda" games have employed a theme of two separate, yet connected, worlds. In "", Link travels between a "Light World" and a "Dark World"; in "Ocarina of Time", as well as in "", Link travels between two different time periods. The "Zelda" team sought to reuse this motif in the series' latest installment. It was suggested that Link transform into a wolf, much like he metamorphoses into a rabbit in the Dark World of "A Link to the Past". The concept for Link to transform into a wolf and its surrounding narrative elements came from a dream that Aonuma had while overseas on a business trip. He dreamt that he was a wolf, locked inside a cage, and, after he woke up, he was confused and disoriented and it took a while for him to remember where he was. The story of the game was created by Aonuma, and it later underwent several changes by scenario writers Mitsuhiro Takano and Aya Kyogoku. Takano created the script for the story scenes, while Kyogoku and Takayuki Ikkaku handled the actual in-game script. Originally, Link was planned to be a wolf from the game's start to bluntly contrast the "Ocarina of Time" formula, but this was changed so that new players could be eased into Zelda's traditional gameplay and narrative formula. The narrative premise in the story regarding the children of Ordon village getting kidnapped was an example of the game featuring darker story elements than any past iteration.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: From a gameplay perspective, the "twilight world" portions of the game were vaguely inspired by the fact that prior Zelda games had always distinctively separated its dungeons from its overworld. It was wondered what the result would be if the players took a traditional "Zelda" dungeon and put it inside the open world instead. This resulted in the hunt for tears of light the player partakes in when in the twilight covered world. Regarding the atmosphere of the Twilight covered Hyrule, as well as the Twilight Realm dungeon later in the game, the intent was to make players feel uncomfortable, but special care was taken to ensure that this was balanced right, so that it did not make the player so uncomfortable that they did not want to progress further or could not enjoy the experience.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Aonuma left his team working on the new idea while he produced "" for the Game Boy Advance. When he returned, he found the "Twilight Princess" team struggling. Emphasis on the parallel worlds and the wolf transformation had made Link's character unbelievable. Aonuma also felt the gameplay lacked the caliber of innovation found in "Phantom Hourglass", which was being developed with touch controls for the Nintendo DS. At the same time, the Wii was under development with the code name "Revolution". Miyamoto thought that the Revolution's pointing device, the Wii Remote, was well suited for aiming arrows in "Zelda", and he suggested that Aonuma consider using it.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Aonuma had anticipated creating a "Zelda" game for what would later be for the Wii, but had assumed that he would need to complete "Twilight Princess" first. His team began work developing a pointing-based interface for the bow and arrow, and Aonuma found that aiming directly at the screen gave the game a new feel, just like the DS control scheme for "Phantom Hourglass". Aonuma felt confident this was the only way to proceed, but worried about consumers who had been anticipating a GameCube release. Developing two versions would mean delaying the previously announced 2005 release, still disappointing the consumer. Satoru Iwata felt that having both versions would satisfy users in the end, even though they would have to wait for the finished product. Aonuma then started working on both versions in parallel.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Transferring GameCube development to the Wii was relatively simple, since the Wii was being created to be compatible with the GameCube. At E3 2005, Nintendo released a small number of Nintendo DS game cards containing a preview trailer for "Twilight Princess". They also announced that "Zelda" would appear on the Wii (then codenamed "Revolution"), but was not clear to the media if this meant "Twilight Princess" or a different game.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The team worked on a Wii control scheme, adapting camera control and the fighting mechanics to the new interface. A prototype was created that used a swinging gesture to control the sword from a first-person viewpoint, but was unable to show the variety of Link's movements. When the third-person view was restored, Aonuma thought it felt strange to swing the Wii Remote with the right hand to control the sword in Link's left hand, so the entire Wii version map was mirrored. Details about Wii controls began to surface in December 2005 when British publication "NGC Magazine" claimed that when a GameCube copy of "Twilight Princess" was played on the Revolution, it would give the player the option of using the Revolution controller. Miyamoto confirmed the Revolution controller-functionality in an interview with Nintendo of Europe and "Time" reported this soon after. However, support for the Wii controller did not make it into the GameCube release. At E3 2006, Nintendo confirmed that both versions would be available at the Wii launch, and had a playable version of "Twilight Princess" for the Wii. Later, the GameCube release was pushed back to a month after the launch of the Wii.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Nintendo staff members reported that demo users complained about the difficulty of the control scheme. Aonuma realized that his team had implemented Wii controls under the mindset of "forcing" users to adapt, instead of making the system intuitive and easy to use. He began rethinking the controls with Miyamoto to focus on comfort and ease. The camera movement was reworked and item controls were changed to avoid accidental button presses. In addition, the new item system required use of the button that had previously been used for the sword. To solve this, sword controls were transferred back to gestures—something E3 attendees had commented they would like to see. This reintroduced the problem of using a right-handed swing to control a left-handed sword attack. The team did not have enough time before release to rework Link's character model, so they instead flipped the entire game—everything was made a mirror image. Link was now right-handed, and references to "east" and "west" were reversed. The GameCube version, however, was left with the original orientation. The "Twilight Princess" player's guide focuses on the Wii version, but has a section in the back with mirror-image maps for GameCube users.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The game's score was composed by Toru Minegishi and Asuka Ohta, with series regular Koji Kondo serving as the sound supervisor. Minegishi took charge of composition and sound design in "Twilight Princess", providing all field and dungeon music. For the trailers, three pieces were written by different composers, two of which were created by Mahito Yokota and Kondo. Michiru Ōshima created orchestral arrangements for the three compositions, later to be performed by an ensemble conducted by Taizo Takemoto. Kondo's piece was chosen as music for the E3 2005 trailer and for the demo movie after the title screen. Midna has the most voice acting—her on-screen dialogue is often accompanied by a babble of pseudo-speech, which was produced by scrambling English phrases sampled by Japanese voice actress Akiko Kōmoto.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Media requests at the trade show prompted Kondo to consider using orchestral music for the other tracks in the game as well, a notion reinforced by his preference for live instruments. He originally envisioned a full 50-person orchestra for action sequences and a string quartet for more "lyrical moments", though the final product used sequenced music instead. Kondo later cited the lack of interactivity that comes with orchestral music as one of the main reasons for the decision. Both six- and seven-track versions of the game's soundtrack were released on November 19, 2006, as part of a "Nintendo Power" promotion and bundled with replicas of the Master Sword and the Hylian Shield.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Following the discovery of a buffer overflow vulnerability in the Wii version of "Twilight Princess", an exploit known as the "Twilight Hack" was developed, allowing the execution of custom code from a Secure Digital (SD) card on the console. A specifically designed save file would cause the game to load unsigned code, which could include Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) programs and homebrew Wii applications. Versions 3.3 and 3.4 of the Wii Menu prevented copying exploited save files onto the console until circumvention methods were discovered, and version 4.0 of the Wii Menu patched the vulnerability.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: A high-definition remaster of the game, "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD", was developed by Tantalus Media for the Wii U. Announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation in November 2015, it features enhanced graphics and Amiibo functionality. The game was released worldwide in March 2016.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The idea for a high-definition version of "Twilight Princess" first originated during the production of "". Nintendo experimented with an HD version of "Twilight Princess" running on Wii U development kits when trying to settle on a graphical style for the new game. This ultimately led to the production of "", whose success encouraged the "Zelda" team to pursue other high-definition remasters. After its release, which was developed internally at Nintendo in only six months, the "Zelda" team settled on an HD remaster of "Twilight Princess". At the time, most of the "Zelda" team was preoccupied with "Breath of the Wild", so Nintendo sought a partnership with an external development studio, the Australia-based Tantalus Media, to work on "Twilight Princess HD".


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: According to Eiji Aonuma, who directed the original release and produced "Twilight Princess HD", ensuring the remaster would take advantage of the Wii U GamePad was a point of focus early in the title's development. The control scheme used in the GameCube version was adapted for the remaster due to similarities between the button layouts of the two consoles' controllers. Aonuma considered underwater gameplay in the remaster significantly improved. Other enhancements include speeding up a handful of cutscenes that seemed overly long by modern standards and reducing repetitive gameplay elements, such as collecting Tears of Light while in the Twilight Realm. A commitment to "preserving the feel of the original" inspired several design decisions, such as keeping the frame rate at 30 frames per second. Tomomi Sano, the assistant director of the Wii U version, noted the degree of refinement the graphics would receive required much consideration: "When we created more precise models of objects to go with the higher resolution, we found that everything was too clear and we lost that soft and delicate atmosphere that you get in particular at twilight or with the light in a forest".


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Certain bundles of the game contain a Wolf Link Amiibo figurine, which unlocks a Wii U-exclusive dungeon called the "Cave of Shadows" and can carry data over to "". In the Cave of Shadows, Link fights waves of enemies while restricted to his wolf form. Comparable to the optional "Cave of Ordeals" present in the original release, opportunities to recover health during the trial are sparse. Other "Zelda"-related Amiibo figurines have distinct functions: Link and Toon Link replenish arrows, Zelda and Sheik restore Link's health, and Ganondorf causes Link to take twice as much damage. A CD containing 20 musical selections from the game was available as a GameStop preorder bonus in North America; it is included with the limited-edition bundle in other regions. A three-disc original soundtrack consisting of 108 pieces from the game was released in Japan in July 2016.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: "Twilight Princess" was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. It received perfect scores from major publications such as "1UP.com", "Computer and Video Games", "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Game Informer", "GamesRadar" and "GameSpy". On the review aggregator Metacritic, "Twilight Princess" holds scores of 95/100 for the Wii version and 96/100 for the GameCube version, indicating "universal acclaim". It is the highest-rated game of 2006 on Metacritic. "GameTrailers" in their review called it one of the greatest games ever created.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: On release, "Twilight Princess" was considered to be the greatest "Zelda" game ever made by many critics including writers for "1UP.com", "Computer and Video Games", "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Game Informer", "GamesRadar", "IGN" and "The Washington Post". "Game Informer" called it "so creative that it rivals the best that Hollywood has to offer". "GamesRadar" praised "Twilight Princess" as "a game that deserves nothing but the absolute highest recommendation". "Cubed3" hailed "Twilight Princess" as "the single greatest videogame experience". "Twilight Princess" graphics were praised for the art style and animation, although the game was designed for the GameCube, which is technically lacking compared to the next generation consoles. Both "IGN" and "GameSpy" pointed out the existence of blurry textures and low-resolution characters. Despite these complaints, "Computer and Video Games" felt the game's atmosphere was superior to that of any previous "Zelda" game and regarded "Twilight Princess" Hyrule as the best version ever created. "PALGN" praised the game's cinematics, noting that "the cutscenes are the best ever in "Zelda" games". Regarding the Wii version, "GameSpot"s Jeff Gerstmann said the Wii controls felt "tacked-on", although "1UP.com" said the remote-swinging sword attacks were "the most impressive in the entire series". "Gaming Nexus" considered "Twilight Princess" soundtrack to be the best of this generation, though "IGN" criticized its MIDI-formatted songs for lacking "the punch and crispness" of their orchestrated counterparts.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: "Twilight Princess" received the awards for Best Artistic Design, Best Original Score, and Best Use of Sound from "IGN" for its GameCube version. Both "IGN" and "Nintendo Power" gave "Twilight Princess" the awards for Best Graphics and Best Story. It also received the 2007 award for "Outstanding Achievement in Story and Character Development" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. "Twilight Princess" received Game of the Year awards from "GameTrailers", "1UP.com", "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Game Informer", "GamesRadar", "GameSpy", Spacey Awards, "X-Play" and "Nintendo Power". It was also given awards for Best Adventure Game from the Game Critics Awards, "X-Play", "IGN", "GameTrailers", "1UP.com", and "Nintendo Power". The game was considered the Best Console Game by the Game Critics Awards and "GameSpy". The game placed 16th in "Official Nintendo Magazine"s list of the 100 Greatest Nintendo Games of All Time. "IGN" ranked the game as the 4th-best Wii game. "Nintendo Power" ranked the game as the third-best game to be released on a Nintendo system in the 2000s decade.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: In North America, the game was sold with three of every four Wii purchases during its first week. The Wii version sold 412,000 copies in the United States during November 2006, representing 87% of Wii launch sales that month, the highest attach rate for a launch game since "Super Mario 64" launched with the Nintendo 64 in 1996. It went on to become America's fifth best-selling game of 2006 with copies sold for the Wii and GameCube in the US that year. In the United Kingdom, the Wii version received a Platinum sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the UK.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The game had sold 5.82 million copies on the Wii , and 1.32 million on the GameCube . , the game had sold 8.85 million copies worldwide across both platforms, making it the best-selling single title in the series until it was surpassed by "" (2017).


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: "Twilight Princess HD" holds a score of 86/100 at the review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The title received the Nintendo Game of the Year award at the Golden Joystick Awards in November 2016.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: The remaster sold 52,282 copies during its first week of release in Japan, which placed it at second place in the video game sales charts. The following week, it came in at number 9 on the charts, selling an additional 7,705 copies. By comparison, 30,264 copies of "The Wind Waker HD" were sold in its first week in Japan. In the first week of "Twilight Princess HD"s United Kingdom release, the remaster was the second best-selling game and the best-selling game released for a single platform in the country. "Twilight Princess HD"s sales dropped 84% in its second week in the U.K., making it the ninth best-selling game in the country. In the United States, it was the third best-selling game sold in brick-and-mortar retailers throughout March 2016, according to market-research firm The NPD Group. As of December 31, 2020, the game has sold 1.15 million copies worldwide.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: An 11-volume , penned and illustrated by Akira Himekawa, was first released in Japan on February 8, 2016 and ran until January 30, 2022. The series is available solely via publisher Shogakukan's MangaOne mobile application. While the manga adaptation began almost ten years after the initial release of the game on which it is based, it launched only a month before the release of the high-definition remake. Viz Media began releasing an English localization of the series in 2017.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: To commemorate the launch of the My Nintendo loyalty program in March 2016, Nintendo released "My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess", a Picross puzzle game developed by Jupiter for download to the Nintendo 3DS.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

text: Midna, in both her imp and Twili forms, Zant, and NPC character Agitha, all appeared as playable warriors in the "Zelda" crossover title "Hyrule Warriors" and its various iterations. Since the release of "Hyrule Warriors", Agitha has been recognised as a "main character" of "Twilight Princess".


title: Hinduism in India

text: Hinduism is the largest religion in India. According to the 2011 Census of India, 966.3 million people identify as Hindu, representing 79.8% of the country's population. India contains 94% of the global Hindu population. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions: namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—collectively known as Indian religions that believe Moksha is the most supreme state of the "Ātman" (soul). The vast majority of Indian Hindus belong to Shaivite and Vaishnavite denominations. India is one of the three countries in the world (Nepal and Mauritius being the other two) where Hinduism is the dominant religion.


title: Hinduism in India

text: The Vedic culture developed in India in and . After this period, the Vedic religion merged with local traditions and the renouncer traditions, resulting in the emergence of Hinduism, which has had a profound impact on India's history, culture and philosophy. The name "India" itself is derived from Sanskrit "Sindhu", the historic local appellation for the Indus River.


title: Hinduism in India

text: India saw the rule of both Hindu and Muslim rulers from to . The fall of Vijayanagar Empire to Muslim sultans had marked the end of Hindu dominance in the Deccan. Hinduism once again rose to political prestige, under the Maratha Empire.


title: Hinduism in India

text: The 1947 Partition of India gave rise to bloody rioting and indiscriminate inter-communal killing of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs across the Indian subcontinent. As a result, an estimated 7.2 million Hindus and Sikhs moved to India and 7.5 million Muslims moved to Pakistan permanently, leading to demographic change of both the nations to a certain extent.


title: Hinduism in India

text: Apart from this, there are 10 States/Union Territory of Hindu majorities. With Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal having more than 70 percent of population.


title: Hinduism in India

text: The Hindu population has increased more than three times from 303,675,084 in 1951 to 966,257,353 in 2011, but the Hindu percentage share of total population has declined from 84.1% in 1951 to 79.8% in 2011. When India achieved independence in 1947, Hindus formed 85% of the total population and pre-Partition British India had 73% of Hindus and 24% of Muslims.


title: Hinduism in India

text: Among the community, it is estimated that Forward castes comprise 26 per cent, Other Backward Classes comprise 43%, Scheduled Castes (Dalits) comprises 22% and Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) comprise 9%.


title: Hinduism in India

text: Of the 28 states in India, Hindus form the majority in 22 states except for Punjab (Sikh majority), Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram (Christian majority). In Manipur, Hinduism is a plurality religion, where Hinduism is practised by 41.39% and Christianity is followed by 41.29% of the people. Out of the eight Union territories, Hindus form the majority in five.


title: Hinduism in India

text: Out of the eight states of northeast India, Tripura, Sikkim, and Assam are Hindu majority while four are Hindu minority, and one as a plurality.


title: Hinduism in India

text: Two districts in West Bengal, Malda and North Dinajpur, had a Hindu majority in 2001 census which, by the time of the 2011 census, had become a Hindu minority or plurality. The percentage of Hindu population in the state has decreased from 78.45% in 1951 to 70.54% in 2011. Another district, Murshidabad, is a Muslim majority district where the Muslim population steadily increased from 55.24% in 1951 to 66.27% in 2011.


title: Hinduism in India

text: The proportion of Hindus in the Saharanpur district was 59.49% in 2001. This had declined to 56.74% by 2011 – a drop of 2.75%. At the same time the Muslim population proportion increased from 39.11% in 2001 to 41.95% in 2011.


title: Hinduism in India

text: A study on population composition of Assam reveals that the Hindu population proportion in Assam has declined from 70.78% in 1951 to 61.47% in 2011. In 1891, the Muslim population proportion in Assam was only about 5%, but by the 2001 census it had risen to above 30% and by 2011 to above 34% of the total Assam population. According to the 2001 census, there were six Muslim-majority districts in Assam, which increased to nine by the time of the 2011 census.


title: Hinduism in India

text: The population of Hindus in Kerala has more than doubled from 8,344,351 in 1951 to 18,282,492 in 2011 census, but the share of Hindu population has dropped from 68.5% in 1901 to 54.7% in 2011.


title: Hinduism in India

text: A decrease in the 1991–2001 period is observed in Manipur, from 57% to 52% population share, where there has been a resurgence of the indigenous Sanamahi religion. The Hindu population share in Manipur also decreased in 2001–2011 from 52% to 41.4%. The religious conversion of Hindus to Christianity and migration of Christians from Nagaland are considered to be the reason for this decrease in the Hindu population.


title: Hinduism in India

text: Many Right Wing Hindu organisations have demanded that India should be declared a "Hindu nation" by constitution. As far citizens concerned, only 3/10th Indian hindus are in the favour of making India as Hindu Rashtra.


title: Hinduism in India

text: As of 28 July 2020, there were pleas going on Supreme Court of India to remove the words secular and socialist from the Preamble to the Constitution of India. Recently ex-Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy's have made Plead to Supreme Court of India for Deletion of "Socialist" & "Secular" words from Preamble to the Constitution of India.


title: Hinduism in India

text: Although the Constitution of India has declared the nation as a secular state with no state religion, it has been argued several times that the Indian state privileges Hinduism as state sponsored religion constitutionally, legislatively and culturally. The original copy of the Indian constitution has the illustration of Lord Ram, Sita, and Lakshman in Part III on Fundamental Rights and Lord Rama has been considered as the true guardian of people’s rights. Article 343 (1) of the Indian Constitution also states that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script". Also, Article 48 of Indian constitution prohibits the slaughter of cows or calves (a sacred animal in Hinduism) and it is a criminal offense in most of the states of India.


title: William Tell

text: According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of the Austrian dukes of the House of Habsburg positioned in Altdorf, in the canton of Uri. Tell's defiance and tyrannicide encouraged the population to open rebellion and a pact against the foreign rulers with neighbouring Schwyz and Unterwalden, marking the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy. Tell was considered the father of the Swiss Confederacy.


title: William Tell

text: Set in the early 14th century (traditional date 1307, during the rule of Albert of Habsburg), the first written records of the legend date to the latter part of the 15th century, when the Swiss Confederacy was gaining military and political influence. Tell is a central figure in Swiss national historiography, along with Arnold von Winkelried, the hero of Sempach (1386). He was important as a symbol during the formative stage of modern Switzerland in the 19th century, known as the period of Restoration and Regeneration, as well as in the wider history of 18th- to 19th-century Europe as a symbol of resistance against aristocratic rule, especially in the Revolutions of 1848 against the House of Habsburg which had ruled Austria for centuries.


title: William Tell

text: The first reference to Tell, as yet without a specified given name, appears in the "White Book of Sarnen" (German: "Weisses Buch von Sarnen"). This volume was written in c. 1474 by Hans Schriber, state secretary ("Landschreiber") Obwalden.


title: William Tell

text: It mentions the Rütli oath (German: "Rütlischwur") and names Tell as one of the conspirators of the Rütli, whose heroic tyrannicide triggered the Burgenbruch rebellion.


title: William Tell

text: An equally early account of Tell is found in the "Tellenlied", a song composed in the 1470s, with its oldest extant manuscript copy dating to 1501. The song begins with the Tell legend, which it presents as the origin of the Confederacy, calling Tell the "first confederate". The narrative includes Tell's apple shot, his preparation of a second arrow to shoot Gessler, and his escape, but it does not mention any assassination of Gessler.


title: William Tell

text: The text then enumerates the cantons of the Confederacy, and says was expanded with "current events" during the course of the Burgundy Wars, ending with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477.


title: William Tell

text: Aegidius Tschudi, writing c. 1570, presents an extended version of the legend. Still essentially based on the account in the "White Book", Tschudi adds further detail.


title: William Tell

text: Tschudi is known to habitually have "fleshed out" his sources, so that all detail from Tschudi not found in the earlier accounts may be suspected of being Tschudi's invention.


title: William Tell

text: Such additional detail includes Tell's given name Wilhelm, and his being a native of Bürglen, Uri in the Schächental, the precise date of the apple-shot, given as 18 November 1307 as well as the account of Tell's death in 1354.


title: William Tell

text: It is Tschudi's version that became influential in early modern Switzerland and entered public consciousness as the "William Tell" legend. According to Tschudi's account, William Tell was known as a strong man and an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, the House of Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri, and Tell became one of the conspirators of Werner Stauffacher who vowed to resist Habsburg rule. Albrecht Gessler was the newly appointed Austrian "Vogt" of Altdorf, Switzerland. He raised a pole under the village lindentree, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before it.


title: William Tell

text: In Tschudi's account, on 18 November 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son. He passed by the hat, but publicly refused to bow to it, and was consequently arrested. Gessler was intrigued by Tell's famed marksmanship, but resentful of his defiance, so he devised a cruel punishment. Tell and his son were both to be executed; however, he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head of his son Walter in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow. Gessler then noticed that Tell had removed two crossbow bolts from his quiver, so he asked why. Tell was reluctant to answer, but Gessler promised that he would not kill him; he replied that, had he killed his son, he would have killed Gessler with the second bolt. Gessler was furious and ordered Tell to be bound, saying that he had promised to spare his life, but would imprison him for the remainder of his life.


title: William Tell

text: Tschudi's continues that Tell was being carried in Gessler's boat to the dungeon in the castle at Küssnacht when a storm broke on Lake Lucerne, and the guards were afraid that their boat would sink. They begged Gessler to remove Tell's shackles so that he could take the helm and save them. Gessler gave in, but Tell steered the boat to a rocky place and leaped out. The site is known in the "White Book" as the "Tellsplatte" ("Tell's slab"); it has been marked by a memorial chapel since the 16th century. Tell ran cross-country to Küssnacht with Gessler in pursuit. Tell assassinated him using the second crossbow bolt, along a stretch of the road cut through the rock between Immensee and Küssnacht, which is known as the "Hohle Gasse." Tell's act sparked a rebellion, which led to the formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy. According to Tschudi, Tell fought again against Austria in the 1315 Battle of Morgarten. Tschudi also has an account of Tell's death in 1354, according to which he was killed trying to save a child from drowning in the Schächental River in Uri.


title: William Tell

text: There are a number of sources for the Tell legend later than the earliest account in the "White Book of Sarnen" but earlier than Tschudi's version of ca. 1570.


title: William Tell

text: These include the account in the chronicle of Melchior Russ from Lucerne. Dated to 1482, this is an incoherent compilation of older writings, including the "Song of the Founding of the Confederation", Conrad Justinger's "Bernese Chronicle," and the "Chronicle of the State of Bern" (in German, "Chronik der Stadt Bern").


title: William Tell

text: Another early account is in Petermann Etterlin's "Chronicle of the Swiss Confederation" (German: "Kronika von der loblichen Eydtgenossenschaft") of 1507, the earliest printed version of the Tell story.


title: William Tell

text: The "Chronicon Helveticum" was compiled by Aegidius Tschudi of Glarus in the years leading up to his death in early 1572.


title: William Tell

text: For more than 150 years, it existed only in manuscript form, before finally being edited in 1734–1736. Therefore, there is no clear "date of publication" of the chronicle, and its date of composition can only be given approximately, as "ca. 1570", or "before 1572". It is Tschudi's account of the legend, however, which became the major model for later writers, even prior to its edition in print in the 1730s,


title: William Tell

text: A widespread veneration of Tell, including sight-seeing excursions to the scenes of his deeds, can be ascertained for the early 16th century.


title: William Tell

text: Heinrich Brennwald in the early 16th century mentions the chapel ("Tellskapelle") on the site of Tell's leap from his captors' boat. Tschudi mentions a "holy cottage" ("heilig hüslin") built on the site of Gessler's assassination. Peter Hagendorf, a soldier in the Thirty Years' War, mentions a visit to 'the chapel where William Tell escaped' in his diary.


title: William Tell

text: The first recorded Tell play ("Tellspiel"), known as the "Urner Tellspiel" ("Tell Play of Uri"), was probably performed in the winter of either 1512 or 1513 in Altdorf.


title: William Tell

text: The church of Bürglen had a bell dedicated to Tell from 1581, and a nearby chapel has a fresco dated to 1582 showing Tell's death in the Schächenbach.


title: William Tell

text: The Three Tells ("die Drei Tellen", also "die Drei Telle") were symbolic figures of the Swiss Peasant War of 1653. They expressed the hope of the subject population to repeat the success story of the rebellion against Habsburg in the early 14th century.


title: William Tell

text: By the 18th century, the Drei Tellen had become associated with a sleeping hero legend. They were said to be asleep in a cave at the Rigi. The return of Tell in times of need was already foretold in the Tellenlied of 1653 and symbolically fulfilled in the impersonation of the Three Tells by costumed individuals, in one instance culminating in an actual assassination executed by these impersonators in historical costume.


title: William Tell

text: Tell during the 16th century had become closely associated and eventually merged with the Rütlischwur legend, and the "Three Tells" represented the three conspirators or "Eidgenossen" Walter Fürst, Arnold von Melchtal and Werner Stauffacher.


title: William Tell

text: In 1653, three men dressed in historical costume representing the Three Tells appeared in Schüpfheim. Other impersonations of the Three Tells also appeared in the Freie Ämter and in the Emmental.


title: William Tell

text: The first impersonators of the Three Tells were Hans Zemp, Kaspar Unternährer of Schüpfheim and Ueli Dahinden of Hasle. They appeared at a number of important peasant conferences during the war, symbolizing the continuity of the present rebellion with the resistance movement against the Habsburg overlords at the origin of the Swiss Confederacy. Unternährer and Dahinden fled to the Entlebuch alps before the arrival of the troops of general Sebastian Peregrin Zwyers; Zemp escaped to the Alsace. After the suppression of the rebellion, the peasants voted for a tyrannicide, directly inspired by the Tell legend, attempting to kill the Lucerne Schultheiss Ulrich Dulliker.


title: William Tell

text: Dahinden and Unternährer returned in their roles of Tells, joined by Hans Stadelmann replacing Zemp. In an ambush, they managed to injure Dulliker and killed a member of the Lucerne parliament, Caspar Studer. The assassination attempt — an exceptional act in the culture of the Old Swiss Confederacy — was widely recognized and welcomed among the peasant population, but its impact was not sufficient to rekindle the rebellion.


title: William Tell

text: Even though it did not have any direct political effect, its symbolic value was considerable, placing the Lucerne authorities in the role of the tyrant (Habsburg and Gessler) and the peasant population in that of the freedom fighters (Tell). The Three Tells after the deed went to mass, still wearing their costumes, without being molested. Dahinden and Unternährer were eventually killed in October 1653 by Lucerne troops under Colonel Alphons von Sonnenberg. In July 1654, Zemp betrayed his successor Stadelmann in exchange for pardon and Stadelmann was executed on 15 July 1654.


title: William Tell

text: The "sleeping hero" version of the Three Tells legend was published in "Deutsche Sagen" by the Brothers Grimm in 1816 (no. 298). It is also the subject of Felicia Hemans's poem "The Cavern of the Three Tells" of 1824.


title: William Tell

text: Throughout the long nineteenth century, and into the World War II period, Tell was perceived as a symbol of rebellion against tyranny both in Switzerland and in Europe.


title: William Tell

text: Antoine-Marin Lemierre wrote a play inspired by Tell in 1766 and revived it in 1786. The success of this work established the association of Tell as a fighter against tyranny with the history of the French Revolution.


title: William Tell

text: The French revolutionary fascination with Tell was reflected in Switzerland with the establishment of the Helvetic Republic. Tell became, as it were, the mascot of the short-lived republic, his figure being featured on its official seal. The French Navy also had a named , which was captured by the British Royal Navy in 1800.


title: William Tell

text: Benito Juarez, President of Mexico and national hero, chose the alias "Guillermo Tell" (the Spanish version of William Tell) when he joined the Freemasons; he picked this name because he liked and admired the story and character of Tell whom he considered a symbol of freedom and resistance.


title: William Tell

text: Tschudi's "Chronicon Helveticum" continued to be taken at face value as a historiographical source well into the 19th century,


title: William Tell

text: so that Tschudi's version of the legend is not only used as a model in Friedrich Schiller's play "William Tell" (1804)


title: William Tell

text: but is also reported in historiographical works of the time, including Johannes von Müller's "History of the Swiss Confederation" (German: "Geschichte Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft", 1780).


title: William Tell

text: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe learned of the Tell saga during his travels through Switzerland between 1775 and 1795. He obtained a copy of Tschudi's chronicles and considered writing a play about Tell, but ultimately gave the idea to his friend Friedrich von Schiller, who in 1803–04 wrote the play "Wilhelm Tell," first performed on 17 March 1804, in Weimar.


title: William Tell

text: Schiller's Tell is heavily inspired by the political events of the late 18th century, the French and American revolutions, in particular. Schiller's play was performed at Interlaken (the "Tellspiele") in the summers of 1912 to 1914, 1931 to 1939 and every year since 1947. In 2004 it was first performed in Altdorf itself.


title: William Tell

text: Gioachino Rossini used Schiller's play as the basis for his 1829 opera "William Tell." The "William Tell Overture" is one of his best-known and most frequently imitated pieces of music; in the 20th century, the finale of the "overture" became the theme for the radio, television, and motion picture incarnations of The Lone Ranger, a fictional American frontier hero.


title: William Tell

text: Around 1836 the first William Tell patterned playing cards were produced in Pest, Hungary. They were inspired by Schiller's play and made during tense relations with the ruling Habsburgs. The cards became popular throughout the Austrian Empire during the Revolution of 1848. Characters and scenes from the opera William Tell are recognisable on the court cards and Aces of William Tell cards, playing cards that were designed in Hungary around 1835. These cards are still the most common German-suited playing cards in that part of the world today. Characters from the play portrayed on the Obers and Unters include: Hermann Geszler, Walter Fürst, Rudolf Harras and William Tell.


title: William Tell

text: In 1858, the Swiss Colonization Society, a group of Swiss and German immigrants to the United States, founded its first (and only) planned city on the banks of the Ohio River in Perry County, Indiana. The town was originally dubbed Helvetia, but was quickly changed to Tell City to honor the legendary Swiss hero. The city became known for its manufacturing, especially of fine wood furniture. William Tell and symbols of an apple with an arrow through it are prominent in the town, which includes a bronze statue of Tell and his son, based on the one in Altdorf, Switzerland. The statue was erected on a fountain in front of city hall in 1974. Tell City High School uses these symbols in its crest or logo, and the sports teams are called "The Marksmen." The William Tell Overture is often played by the school's pep band at high school games. Each August since 1958, Tell City's centennial year, the town has held "Schweizer Fest," a community festival of entertainment, stage productions, historical presentations, carnival rides, beer garden, sporting events and class reunions, to honor its Swiss-German heritage. Many of the activities occur on the grounds of City Hall and Main Street, at the feet of the Tell statue.


title: William Tell

text: John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, was inspired by Tell. Lamenting the negative reaction to his action, Booth wrote in his journal on 21 April 1865 "with every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for and what made Tell a Hero. And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat."(He himself was shot to death, without standing trial, days later.)


title: William Tell

text: Following a national competition, won by Richard Kissling, Altdorf in 1895 erected a monument to its hero. Kissling casts Tell as a peasant and man of the mountains, with strong features and muscular limbs. His powerful hand rests lovingly on the shoulder of little Walter, but the apple is not shown. The depiction is in marked contrast with that used by the Helvetic Republic, where Tell is shown as a landsknecht rather than a peasant, with a sword at his belt and a feathered hat, bending down to pick up his son who is still holding the apple.


title: William Tell

text: The painting of Tell by Ferdinand Hodler (1897) became iconic. Tell is represented as facing the viewer, with his right hand raised, the left holding the crossbow. The representation was designed as part of a larger scene showing "Gessler's death", one of seven scenes created for the Swiss National Museum competition.


title: William Tell

text: Hodler's depiction of Tell was often described as sacral, and compared to classical depictionons of God Father, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus, or the Archangel Michael. In Tell's bearded face, Hodler combines self-portrait with allusion the face of Christ.


title: William Tell

text: The first film about Tell was made by French director Charles Pathé in 1900; only a short fragment survives.


title: William Tell

text: A version of the legend was retold in P.G. Wodehouse's "William Tell Told Again" (1904), written in prose and verse with characteristic Wodehousian flair.


title: William Tell

text: The design of the Federal 5 francs coin issued from 1922 features the bust of a generic "mountain shepherd" designed by Paul Burkard, but due to a similarity of the bust with Kissling's statue, in spite of the missing beard, it was immediately widely identified as Tell.


title: William Tell

text: Adolf Hitler was enthusiastic about Schiller's play, quoting it in his "Mein Kampf," and approving of a German/Swiss co-production of the play in which Hermann Göring's mistress Emmy Sonnemann appeared as Tell's wife. However, on 3 June 1941, Hitler had the play banned. The reason for the ban is not known, but may have been related to the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1938 by young Swiss Maurice Bavaud (executed on 14 May 1941, and later dubbed "a new William Tell" by Rolf Hochhuth), or the subversive nature of the play. Hitler is reported to have exclaimed at a banquet in 1942: "Why did Schiller have to immortalize that Swiss sniper!"


title: William Tell

text: Salvador Dalí painted "The Old Age of William Tell" and "William Tell and Gradiva" in 1931, and "The Enigma of William Tell" in 1933.


title: William Tell

text: Spanish playwright Alfonso Sastre re-worked the legend in 1955 in his "Guillermo Tell tiene los ojos tristes" (William Tell has sad eyes); it was not performed until the Franco regime in Spain ended.


title: William Tell

text: In Switzerland, the importance of Tell had declined somewhat by the end of the 19th century, outside of Altdorf and Interlaken which established their tradition of performing Schiller's play in regular intervals in 1899 and 1912, respectively.


title: William Tell

text: For example, in 1923 the Swiss Post introduced horns for their coach service based on the overture of Rossini's "Tell" opera,


title: William Tell

text: and in 1931, the image of a crossbow was introduced as a logo indicating Swiss products. The "Tell-Museum" in Bürglen, Uri, opened in 1966.


title: William Tell

text: After 1968, with ideological shift of academic mainstream from a liberal-radical to a deconstructivist leftist


title: William Tell

text: outlook, Swiss historians were looking to dismantle the foundational legends of Swiss statehood as unhistorical national myth.


title: William Tell

text: Max Frisch's "William Tell for Schools" (1971) deconstructs the legend by reversing the characters of the protagonists: Gessler is a well-meaning and patient administrator who is faced with the barbarism of a back-corner of the empire, while Tell is an irascible simpleton.


title: William Tell

text: Tell still remains a popular figure in Swiss culture. According to a 2004 survey, a majority of Swiss believed that he actually existed.


title: William Tell

text: "Schweizer Helden" ("Swiss Heroes", English title "Unlikely Heroes") is a 2014 film about the performance of a simplified version of Schiller's play by asylum seekers in Switzerland.


title: William Tell

text: In the Manga Wolfsmund, a Japanese historical fantasy seinen manga series written and illustrated by Mitsuhisa Kuji. Published by Enterbrain, with eight volumes compiling the chapters released.The story of Wolfsmund is a retelling of the rebellion started William Tell. The story revolves around the oppression that took place in the Middle Ages in the middle cantons (states) of Switzerland.


title: William Tell

text: In the 2019 Spanish comedy film "The Little Switzerland", a Spanish town () discovers the tomb of Tell's son and tries to become a Swiss canton (), affecting a Swiss identity.


title: William Tell

text: The historicity of William Tell has been subject to debate. François Guillimann, a statesman of Fribourg and later historian and advisor of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II, wrote to Melchior Goldast in 1607: "I followed popular belief by reporting certain details in my "Swiss antiquities" [published in 1598], but when I examine them closely the whole story seems to me to be pure fable."


title: William Tell

text: In 1760, Simeon Uriel Freudenberger from Luzern anonymously published a tract arguing that the legend of Tell in all likelihood was based on the Danish saga of Palnatoki. A French edition of his book, written by Gottlieb Emanuel von Haller ("Guillaume Tell, Fable danoise"), was burnt in Altdorf.


title: William Tell

text: The skeptical view of Tell's existence remained very unpopular, especially after the adoption of Tell as depicted in Schiller's 1804 play as national hero in the nascent Swiss patriotism of the Restoration and Regeneration period of the Swiss Confederation. In the 1840s, Joseph Eutych Kopp (1793–1866) published skeptical reviews of the folkloristic aspects of the foundational legends of the Old Confederacy, causing "polemical debates" both within and outside of academia.


title: William Tell

text: De Capitani (2013) cites the controversy surrounding Kopp in the 1840s as the turning point after which doubts in Tell's historicity "could no longer be ignored".


title: William Tell

text: From the second half of the 19th century, it has been largely undisputed among historians that there is no contemporary (14th-century) evidence for Tell as a historical individual, let alone for the apple-shot story.


title: William Tell

text: Debate in the late 19th to 20th centuries mostly surrounded the extent of the "historical nucleus" in the chronistic traditions surrounding the early Confederacy.


title: William Tell

text: The desire to defend the historicity of the "Befreiungstradition" ("liberation tradition") of Swiss history had a political component, as since the 17th century its celebration had become mostly confined to the Catholic cantons, so that the declaration of parts of the tradition as ahistorical was seen as an attack by the urban Protestant cantons on the rural Catholic cantons.


title: William Tell

text: The decision, taken in 1891, to make 1 August the Swiss National Day is to be seen in this context, an ostentative move away from the traditional "Befreiungstradition" and the celebration of the deed of Tell to the purely documentary evidence of the Federal Charter of 1291. In this context, Wilhelm Oechsli was commissioned by the federal government with publishing a "scientific account" of the foundational period of the Confederacy in order to defend the choice of 1291 over 1307 (the traditional date of Tell's deed and the Rütlischwur) as the foundational date of the Swiss state.


title: William Tell

text: The canton of Uri, in defiant reaction to this decision taken at the federal level, erected the Tell Monument in Altdorf in 1895, with the date 1307 inscribed prominently on the base of the statue.


title: William Tell

text: Later proposals for the identification of Tell as a historical individual, such as a 1986 publication deriving the name "Tell" from the placename "Tellikon" (modern Dällikon in the Canton of Zürich), are outside of the historiographical mainstream.


title: William Tell

text: The Tell legend has been compared to a number of other myths or legends, specifically in Norse mythology, involving a magical marksman coming to the aid of a suppressed people under the sway of a tyrant.


title: William Tell

text: The story of a great outlaw successfully shooting an apple from his child's head is an archetype present in the story of Egil in the Thidreks saga (associated with the god Ullr in Eddaic tradition) as well as in the stories of Adam Bell from England, Palnatoki from Denmark, and a story from Holstein.


title: William Tell

text: Such parallels were pointed out as early as 1760 by Gottlieb Emanuel von Haller and the pastor Simeon Uriel Freudenberger in a book titled ""William Tell, a Danish Fable"" (German: "Der Wilhelm Tell, ein dänisches Mährgen"). This book offended Swiss citizens, and a copy of it was burnt publicly at the Altdorf square. Von Haller underwent a trial, but the authorities spared his life, as he made abject apologies.


title: William Tell

text: Rochholz (1877) connects the similarity of the Tell legend to the stories of Egil and Palnatoki with the legends of a migration from Sweden to Switzerland during the Middle Ages. He also adduces parallels in folktales among the Finns and the Lapps (Sami). From pre-Christian Norse mythology, Rochholz compares Ullr, who bears the epithet of "Boga-As" ("bow-god"), Heimdall and also Odin himself, who according to the "Gesta Danorum" (Book 1, chapter 8.16) assisted Haddingus by shooting ten bolts from a crossbow in one shot, killing as many foes. Rochholz further compares Indo-European and oriental traditions and concludes (pp. 35–41) that the legend of the master marksman shooting an apple (or similar small target) was known outside the Germanic sphere (Germany, Scandinavia, England) and the adjacent regions (Finland and the Baltic) in India, Arabia, Persia and the Balkans (Serbia).


title: William Tell

text: The Danish legend of Palnatoki, first attested in the twelfth-century "Gesta Danorum" by Saxo Grammaticus, is the earliest known parallel to the Tell legend. As with William Tell, Palnatoki is forced by the ruler (in this case King Harald Bluetooth) to shoot an apple off his son's head as proof of his marksmanship.


title: William Tell

text: A striking similarity between William Tell and Palnatoki is that both heroes take more than one arrow out of their quiver. When asked why he pulled several arrows out of his quiver, Palnatoki, too, replies that if he had struck his son with the first arrow, he would have shot King Harald with the remaining two arrows.


title: William Tell

text: According to Saxo, Palnatoki later joins Harald's son Swein Forkbeard in a rebellion and kills Harald with an arrow.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a type of cancer that can form masses in the skin, in lymph nodes, in the mouth, or in other organs. The skin lesions are usually painless, purple and may be flat or raised. Lesions can occur singly, multiply in a limited area, or may be widespread. Depending on the sub-type of disease and level of immune suppression, KS may worsen either gradually or quickly. Except for Classical KS where there is generally no immune suppression, KS is caused by a combination of immune suppression (such as due to HIV/AIDS) and infection by Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8 – also called KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV)).


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Four sub-types are described: classic, endemic, immunosuppression therapy-related (also called iatrogenic), and epidemic (also called AIDS-related). Classic KS tends to affect older men in regions where KSHV is highly prevalent (Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, Middle East), is usually slow-growing, and most often affects only the legs. Endemic KS is most common in Sub-Saharan Africa and is more aggressive in children, while older adults present similarly to classic KS. Immunosuppression therapy-related KS generally occurs in people following organ transplantation and mostly affects the skin. Epidemic KS occurs in people with AIDS and many parts of the body can be affected. KS is diagnosed by tissue biopsy, while the extent of disease may be determined by medical imaging.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Treatment is based on the sub-type, whether the condition is localized or widespread, and the person's immune function. Localized skin lesions may be treated by surgery, injections of chemotherapy into the lesion, or radiation therapy. Widespread disease may be treated with chemotherapy or biologic therapy. In those with HIV/AIDS, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) prevents and often treats KS. In certain cases the addition of chemotherapy may be required. With widespread disease, death may occur.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: The condition is relatively common in people with HIV/AIDS and following organ transplant. Over 35% of people with AIDS may be affected. KS was first described by Moritz Kaposi in 1872. It became more widely known as one of the AIDS-defining illnesses in the 1980s. KSHV was discovered as a causative agent in 1994.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: KS lesions are nodules or blotches that may be red, purple, brown, or black, and are usually papular.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: They are typically found on the skin, but spread elsewhere is common, especially the mouth, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract. Growth can range from very slow to explosively fast, and is associated with significant mortality and morbidity.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Commonly affected areas include the lower limbs, back, face, mouth, and genitalia. The lesions are usually as described above, but may occasionally be plaque-like (often on the soles of the feet) or even involved in skin breakdown with resulting fungating lesions.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Associated swelling may be from either local inflammation or lymphoedema (obstruction of local lymphatic vessels by the lesion). Skin lesions may be quite disfiguring for the patient, and a cause of much psychosocial pathology.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: The mouth is involved in about 30% of cases, and is the initial site in 15% of AIDS-related KS. In the mouth, the hard palate is most frequently affected, followed by the gums. Lesions in the mouth may be easily damaged by chewing and bleed or develop secondary infection, and even interfere with eating or speaking.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Involvement can be common in those with transplant-related or AIDS-related KS, and it may occur in the absence of skin involvement. The gastrointestinal lesions may be silent or cause weight loss, pain, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding (either vomiting blood or passing it with bowel movements), malabsorption, or intestinal obstruction.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Involvement of the airway can present with shortness of breath, fever, cough, coughing up blood or chest pain, or as an incidental finding on chest x-ray. The diagnosis is usually confirmed by bronchoscopy, when the lesions are directly seen and often biopsied. Kaposi's sarcoma of the lung has a poor prognosis.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also called HHV-8, is present in almost 100% of Kaposi sarcoma lesions, whether HIV-related, classic, endemic, or iatrogenic. KSHV encodes oncogenes, microRNAs and circular RNAs that promote cancer cell proliferation and escape from the immune system.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: In Europe and North America, KSHV is transmitted through saliva. Thus, kissing is a risk factor for transmission. Higher rates of transmission among gay and bisexual men have been attributed to "deep kissing" sexual partners with KSHV. Another alternative theory suggests that use of saliva as a sexual lubricant might be a major mode for transmission. Prudent advice is to use commercial lubricants when needed and avoid deep kissing with partners with KSHV infection or whose status is unknown.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: KSHV is also transmissible via organ transplantation and blood transfusion. Testing for the virus before these procedures is likely to effectively limit iatrogenic transmission.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Despite its name, in general it is not considered a true sarcoma, which is a tumor arising from mesenchymal tissue. The histogenesis of KS remains controversial. KS may arise as a cancer of lymphatic endothelium and forms vascular channels that fill with blood cells, giving the tumor its characteristic bruise-like appearance. KSHV proteins are uniformly detected in KS cancer cells.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: KS lesions contain tumor cells with a characteristic abnormal elongated shape, called "spindle cells". The most typical feature of Kaposi sarcoma is the presence of spindle cells forming slits containing red blood cells. Mitotic activity is only moderate and pleomorphism is usually absent. The tumor is highly vascular, containing abnormally dense and irregular blood vessels, which leak red blood cells into the surrounding tissue and give the tumor its dark color. Inflammation around the tumor may produce swelling and pain. Variously sized PAS positive hyaline bodies are often seen in the cytoplasm or sometimes extracellularly.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: The spindle cells of Kaposi sarcoma differentiate toward endothelial cells, probably of lymph vessel rather than blood vessel origin. The consistent immunoreactivity for podoplanin supports the lymphatic nature of the lesion.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Although KS may be suspected from the appearance of lesions and the patient's risk factors, a definite diagnosis can be made only by biopsy and microscopic examination. Detection of the KSHV protein LANA in tumor cells confirms the diagnosis.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: In differential diagnosis, arteriovenous malformations, pyogenic granuloma and other vascular proliferations can be microscopically confused with KS.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: HHV-8 is responsible for all varieties of KS. Since Moritz Kaposi first described the cancer, the disease has been reported in five separate clinical settings, with different presentations, epidemiology, and prognoses. All of the forms are infected with KSHV and are different manifestations of the same disease but have differences in clinical aggressiveness, prognosis, and treatment.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Blood tests to detect antibodies against KSHV have been developed and can be used to determine whether a person is at risk for transmitting the infection to their sexual partner, or whether an organ is infected before transplantation. However, these tests are not available except as research tools, and, thus, there is little screening for persons at risk for becoming infected with KSHV, such as people following a transplant.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Kaposi sarcoma is not curable, but it can often be treatable for many years. In KS associated with immunodeficiency or immunosuppression, treating the cause of the immune system dysfunction can slow or stop the progression of KS. In 40% or more of patients with AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma, the Kaposi lesions will shrink upon first starting highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Therefore, HAART is considered the cornerstone of therapy in AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma. However, in a certain percentage of such people, Kaposi sarcoma may recur after many years on HAART, especially if HIV is not completely suppressed.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: People with a few local lesions can often be treated with local measures such as radiation therapy or cryosurgery. Weak evidence suggests that antiretroviral therapy in combination with chemotherapy is more effective than either of those two therapies individually. Limited basic and clinical evidence suggest that topical beta-blockers, such as timolol, may induce regression of localized lesions in classic as well as HIV-associated Kaposi sarcoma. In general, surgery is not recommended, as Kaposi sarcoma can appear in wound edges. In general, more widespread disease, or disease affecting internal organs, is treated with systemic therapy with interferon alpha, liposomal anthracyclines (such as liposomal doxorubicin or daunorubicin), thalidomide, or paclitaxel.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Alitretinoin, applied to the lesion, may be used when the lesion is not getting better with standard treatment of HIV/AIDS and chemotherapy or radiation therapy cannot be used.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: With the decrease in the death rate among people with HIV/AIDS receiving new treatments in the 1990s, the rates and severity of epidemic KS also decreased. However, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS is increasing in the United States, and it is possible that the number of people with AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma will again rise as these people live longer with HIV infection.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: Because of their highly visible nature, external lesions are sometimes the presenting symptom of AIDS. Kaposi sarcoma entered the awareness of the general public with the release of the film "Philadelphia", in which the main character was fired after his employers found out he was HIV-positive due to visible lesions. By the time KS lesions appear, likely, the immune system has already been severely weakened. It has been reported that only 6% of men who have sex with men are aware that KS is caused by a virus different from HIV. Thus, there is little community effort to prevent KSHV infection. Likewise, no systematic screening of organ donations is in place.


title: Kaposi's sarcoma

text: In people with AIDS, Kaposi sarcoma is considered an opportunistic infection, a disease that can gain a foothold in the body because the immune system has been weakened. With the rise of HIV/AIDS in Africa, where KSHV is widespread, KS has become the most frequently reported cancer in some countries.


title: Nicholas Turturro

text: Nicholas Turturro Jr. (born January 29, 1962) is an American actor, known for his roles in New York City based films and on the television series "Blue Bloods" and "NYPD Blue". He has collaborated with director Spike Lee since the late 1980s, starting with voice work for "Do the Right Thing", and playing a supporting role in "BlacKkKlansman". Nicholas is the younger brother of John Turturro and the cousin of Aida Turturro.


title: Nicholas Turturro

text: Turturro was born in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Katherine Florence (Incerella), was an amateur jazz singer, who worked in a Navy yard during World War II, and was born in the U.S., to Italian parents, with roots in Sicily. His father, Nicholas Turturro Sr., was a carpenter and shoemaker who emigrated from Giovinazzo, Apulia, Italy, at the age of six and later fought as a US Navy serviceman on D-Day. In 1983, Turturro, then a struggling actor, was employed as a doorman for the Manhattan apartment building where Billy Joel resided at the time. Turturro would rank all the women Joel brought home by holding up his fingers; Joel's soon-to-be wife, Christie Brinkley, was the only one to get ten fingers twice.


title: Nicholas Turturro

text: He received an Emmy Award nomination for playing James Martinez on the television series "NYPD Blue" and was on the series for its first seven seasons. He was a guest ring announcer at Wrestlemania XI for the main event of Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel. His list of credits include portraying Al Capone on "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and playing the role of Brucie in "The Longest Yard" and Renaldo in "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry". In July 2009, Turturro began co-starring in the comedy web series "Dusty Peacock" on Crackle. He played Sgt. Anthony Renzulli on "Blue Bloods" from 2010 to 2016.


title: Nicholas Turturro

text: Turturro is an avid New York Yankees fan and is known for his passionate videos on social media supporting the team.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man (Simon Williams) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, he first appeared in "The Avengers" #9 (October 1964). The character, who was initially introduced as a supervillain imbued with "ionic" energy, fought the Avengers and after a series of events, he was reborn as a superhero joining the team against which he originally fought.


title: Wonder Man

text: Williams will make his live-action debut in the upcoming Disney+ original series "Wonder Man", set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man debuted in the superhero-team title "The Avengers" #9 (cover-dated October 1964), and appeared to die in that issue. Four years later, "The Avengers" #58 (November 1968) revisited the events of #9, explaining that the Avengers had electronically saved Wonder Man's mind in a computer. Wonder Man was not seen again until "The Avengers" #102 (August 1972), where he made a cameo appearance in a comatose state. Wonder Man's body is revived by the villain Kang in "The Avengers" #131-132 (January – February 1975), and then again by the Black Talon in "The Avengers" #152 (October 1976), and finally by the Living Laser in "The Avengers" Annual #6 (1976). After this last encounter, Wonder Man finally recovers his faculties and joins the Avengers in a full-time capacity in "The Avengers" #160 (June 1977). Wonder Man and his fellow Avenger the Beast were cast as buddies and lovers of nightlife, which would become a fan-favorite dynamic of "The Avengers" and continue to be used after the two characters left the series.


title: Wonder Man

text: Marvel Comics' then-publisher Stan Lee said in 1978, "You know, years ago we brought out Wonder Man, and <nowiki>[</nowiki>DC Comics<nowiki>]</nowiki> sued us because they had Wonder Woman, and... I said okay, I'll discontinue Wonder Man. And all of a sudden they've got Power Girl [after Marvel had introduced Power Man<nowiki>]</nowiki>. Oh, boy. How unfair."


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man later appeared as a founding member of the spin-off "West Coast Avengers" first in a four-issue miniseries (September – December 1984), and continuing as one of the primary characters in the series' 102-issue run. After that team disbanded, he joined the team Force Works in a series that debuted with a July 1994 cover-date. After that team splintered, Wonder Man rejoined the Avengers in "The Avengers" vol. 3 #4 (May 1998). After the collapse of the team in "The Avengers" #503 (December 2004), Wonder Man joined a new splinter group called the Mighty Avengers, co-starred in that team's series, which premiered with March 2007 cover-date.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man starred in a self-titled graphic novel in 1986. He then starred in a 29-issue series, "Wonder Man" (September 1991 – February 1994), which was followed in by the three-issue miniseries "Avengers Two: Wonder Man and the Beast" (2000). In 2007, he starred in the five-issue miniseries "Wonder Man: My Fair Super Hero".


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man appeared sporadically throughout the 2010-2013 "Avengers" series, but played an important role in the "End Times" storyline in issue #31 (December 2012) through its final issue #34 (January 2013).


title: Wonder Man

text: Comic book writer Rick Remender revealed in an interview that Wonder Man would be a member of the Uncanny Avengers, starting with issue #5.


title: Wonder Man

text: Simon Williams is the son of rich industrialist Sanford Williams, owner of Williams Innovations. Simon inherits the munitions factory after his father's death, but the company's profits fall due to its biggest competitor Tony Stark and his company Stark Industries. On the advice of his brother Eric, Simon tries to embezzle funds from his company but is caught and incarcerated. Simon blames Stark for this and accepts the proposition of master villain Baron Heinrich Zemo after the Enchantress pays his bail, as a pawn is required to infiltrate the Avengers. The desperate Simon Williams agrees and is transformed into an ion-powered being with superhuman powers. His powers are tested, and he is shown to have great superhuman strength and durability, even defeating the Executioner. Called Wonder Man by Zemo, he is then sent to meet and join the Avengers, with instructions to betray them at a critical moment so that Zemo's Masters of Evil can destroy the Avengers. Zemo ensures Wonder Man's loyalty by advising him that as a result of the treatment his body now requires periodic doses of a serum to survive—a serum that only Zemo can provide. The Avengers are lured into a trap and captured. The plan fails when Wonder Man decides to save the Avengers and aid them against Zemo, apparently at the cost of his own life. Hank Pym records Wonder Man's brain patterns in the hope that one day he can be revived. Unbeknownst to the Avengers, Wonder Man's body has simply entered a catatonic state as it adjusts to the effects of the treatment. Eric Williams becomes distraught over the apparent death of his sibling and, blaming the Avengers, assumes the identity of the Grim Reaper in an effort to destroy them. The Grim Reaper steals Simon's body at one point, and attacks the Avengers three times before Wonder Man finally returns.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man remains in suspended animation for years, and it is during this period that Ultron, the evil robot creation of Hank Pym, steals the brain patterns recorded by the Avengers for use as a template for the synthezoid Vision. It is later revealed that Vision is built from the original Human Torch, an android created by Professor Phineas Horton. This only happened in mainstream continuity and other origins were possible courtesy of the Forever Crystal of Immortus.


title: Wonder Man

text: During this vulnerable time, Wonder Man is used as a pawn on three occasions. Wonder Man is briefly revived by Kang the Conqueror to battle the Avengers as part of his Legion of the Unliving, and later "resurrected" as a zombie by Black Talon and the Grim Reaper to attack the Avengers once more. On the final occasion, the Living Laser hypnotizes a now-awake but still very weak Wonder Man, in an unsuccessful attack on the Avengers. After this encounter, Wonder Man was restored to true life and chooses to remain with the Avengers, aiding them against Attuma and Doctor Doom. He also fought the Vision, and helped the Avengers battle Graviton. He soon after defeats the Grim Reaper, who was intent on destroying the Vision as he was "artificial" and a "mockery" of his brother; Wonder Man at this point is revealed to have become a being of ionic energy.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man eventually joins the Avengers in a full-time capacity and becomes close friends with his teammate, the Beast. For several months after his resurrection, Wonder Man suffers from slight claustrophobia and a fear of dying in battle, as he did once before. Wonder Man finally overcomes his fear of death during the final battle with Korvac. Wonder Man invaded his former plant which had been taken over by the Maggia, and fought Madame Masque and the Dreadnought. Developing an interest in acting, Wonder Man stars in minor roles before moving to Hollywood, where fellow Avenger Hercules uses his contacts to establish Wonder Man's career. Wonder Man also works for a time as a stuntman, an ideal vocation since he is invulnerable to virtually all conventional weapons.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man helps form the West Coast Avengers, and his new-found confidence begins to become arrogance. He develops a serious rivalry with Iron Man, but sees the error of his ways after a brutal battle with the Abomination. He also foils Doctor Doom's plot to control the world. His acting career rises, and he is cast as the villain in the fourth film in the successful Arkon franchise. Wonder Man eventually accepts the Vision as his "brother", but there is a setback when the Vision is dismantled and rebuilt as an emotionless machine by a global conglomerate. The Scarlet Witch—the Vision's wife—asks Wonder Man to provide his brainwaves once again in order to rebuild the foundational personality matrix of the original Vision, but Wonder Man refuses, having feelings for her himself. The Wasp further deduces that the Vision's original relationship to the Scarlet Witch may even have been predicated by Wonder Man's initial donation for the original personality matrix; at this, Wonder Man confirms that several of his hesitations about making the attempt arise from these doubts and the subconscious desire he's felt toward the Scarlet Witch since her separation from her husband. He is then ensorcelled by the Enchantress, and battles the Avengers.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man battles old foes Goliath and the Enchantress, before meeting his would-be sidekick "Spider" and battling Gamma-Burn, resulting in wrecking his jet-pack. Wonder Man then battles the assassin Splice for the first time. Wonder Man takes part in the Kree/Shi'ar War, and had his powers altered when he and the Vision failed to prevent the Shi'ar Nega-Bomb from detonating. He battled Angkor, and then journeyed to Hades where he battled Mephisto, Blackheart, the Enchantress, and the Grim Reaper; he then learned that he was immortal. When Avengers West Coast (renamed) disbands after a dispute, Wonder Man becomes a founding member of its successor group Force Works, but is disintegrated in an explosion during their first mission against the alien Kree. Many months later, the Scarlet Witch accidentally resurrects Wonder Man in ionic form; while in this form he appears when she is in need. Several months later, the Scarlet Witch is able to fully revive Wonder Man and he now exists in an independent, more human form. It is also discovered later that the Grim Reaper - dead at the time - is also revived. Wonder Man becomes romantically involved with the Scarlet Witch, but ends their affair during the Kang Dynasty saga, due to her residual feelings for the Vision.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man is blackmailed into working for S.H.I.E.L.D. during the "Civil War" storyline. Due to charges of misappropriation of funds in his non-profit organization, Wonder Man is pressured to work for the pro-registration side in the ensuing Civil War drama. In addition to capturing renegade vigilantes and criminals, Wonder Man is instrumental in creating televised messages to educate the public and yet-unregistered superhumans about the specifics of the Registration Act. Wonder Man became a member of the Mighty Avengers.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man began a romantic relationship with fellow Mighty Avenger Ms. Marvel warning her not to use her position as leader of the Avengers to keep him out of potentially dangerous situations just because of their relationship.


title: Wonder Man

text: Following the events of the "Secret Invasion", Norman Osborn created a new team of Avengers, effectively retiring Wonder Man during the "Dark Reign" storyline. Wonder Man later appears on television, lamenting his tenure as an Avenger, claiming it was all a waste of time, and that using violence to uphold justice has caused nothing but heartache and death. He ends his speech by sadly admitting that having Osborn in charge is exactly what the country deserves. After this, Wonder Man is imprisoned as a member of the new Lethal Legion. This group opposes the tyrannical efforts of Osborn; Wonder Man joins to try to keep them from hurting innocents.


title: Wonder Man

text: Wonder Man has been seen alongside his old West Coast Avengers teammates, Ronin, Mockingbird, Tigra and War Machine in battle with a new version of Ultimo.


title: Wonder Man

text: During the "Heroic Age" storyline, Simon is approached by Steve Rogers to join the new team of Avengers. Simon refuses stating that the Avengers have caused more problems than they have solved and implies as Rogers leaves that he will make sure his old allies realize the mistake they are making. Simon also mentioned as having been in jail until Steve bailed him out. After learning that Rogers had disregarded his advice, Wonder Man attacks the new team causing some damage to their base before inexplicably disappearing. Thor and Iron Man later contact him to try and reason with him, but Simon refuses to listen to their arguments, stating that the dead heroes that have resulted from the Avengers working together should be a clear sign that the concept is doomed, departing as Thor and Iron Man try to argue that all heroes are aware of the risks when they begin. Significantly, Iron Man notes that Simon is 'leaking' ionic energy, suggesting that his current mental condition may relate to his powers rather than being simply a matter of choice.