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Defeated Enemies

Qwerty0805

Pixelated Sword Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Location
Long Island
What do you think happens to enemies after they disappear? I always thought it was like a book I read where killed monsters die "temporarily" and come back to life eventually, because after you defeat them they always reappear after a while.
They can't just die because enemies dissapear in a puff in most games, so what do you think happens to them?
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2008
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In my coffin
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Non-binary
I don't think that anything happens to the enemies when they disappear.
I think that they only disappear for gameplay reasons.
I mean otherwise there would be dead bodies everywere and the Zelda games would be rated T.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2009
Location
The Universe
Well, according to some random theory I just thought of, when Link kills monsters they burn or blow up due to the black magic making them up disbanding.
Then Ganondorf replaces them with the same kind of monsters.

Don't listen to the message above.

Anyway, I guess they disappear because the developers don't want bloody bodies all over the place.
If there were, then they would block the way most of the time. I think.
 

Zemen

[Insert Funny Statement]
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Location
Illinois
It's just for gameplay purposes. There doesn't HAVE to be a reason behind every single detail of the game. There are very few games that actually keep the dead bodies visible for long periods of time after the creature's death.
 

Petman1325

Poe Catcher
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Location
Georgia, USA
Well, it all started when Nintendo started tightening their belt. Prior to the founding of the ESRB, Nintendo had it's own rules. One of them was no graphic decpitions of death, as well as no blood or gore. So, it could be that Legend of Zelda was one of the titles that had this. Then again, another one of Nintendo's old rules did not allow any religious symbols in the games.

Since the cross is seen several times in both artwork and in game, that can make it gone. But, asking why enemies dissipate is asking why when Mario jumps on a Goomba does it vanish? However, it could only reside in the imagination of the player as to why enemies disappear.
 

El Bagu

Wannabe Mr. 1-8-1
Joined
Jul 5, 2008
Location
In Woods. N of River!
I believe (somehow) that the enemies were created by "Ganon" magic and when they disappear (after you´ve defeated them) the magic is lost. Not much of an explanation but that´s how I believe at least parts of it could be explained.
 

peanutjoepap

Mr. Peanut
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Location
I don't know, let me out of here!
I think like you said that they are reborn very quickly so that when you leave the room they are automatically back. But if that is true than what happens to bosses. And what about the brainwashed guards from alttp, those were real people. They wouldn't come back, basically that does not make link a hero more like a heroic cereal killer. And that book you mentioned was that Percy Jackson and the Olympians?
 

angelkid

TRR = SWEET
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
I think they just die. They are creatures in the wild fighting for their territory, and when one creature dies, another comes along to claim that territory. It's just alot quicker in Zelda games for gameplay reasons. In some of the games, when you kill all the creatures, they stay dead. Or they come back, but there are less than before, this could be because there weren't enough other creatures around at the time or something similar.
 

Qwerty0805

Pixelated Sword Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Location
Long Island
I don't mean why for gameplay reasons, of course we all know why for that.
And yes that was the series I meant
 
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basement24

There's a Bazooka in TP!
Joined
Feb 28, 2009
Location
Ontario, Canada
I suppose I never really gave it much thought, but I always liked the retro cartoon idea that Ganon's got a big conjuring jar in his lair that all of his creatures are summoned from. They return there when vanquished, so they're not really dead. When they return, they can report back on the statue of things, and then can be sent on to other locations.

This idea really doesn't work for natural inhabbitants of places Link ventures into though. I don't think when he raids a cave in TP that the spiders and chus are servants of Ganon (or if in another game -- the villain in that case...). In the case of natural enemies, I really don't know where they head off to when they explode.

Have we seen a human character die other than Link at a Game Over screen? I suppose Link's Uncle in ALttP. It seems humans don't vanish, so I doubt that this is a Jedi-like occurance of living things becoming "one with the Force" for lack of a better term / ease of explanation.
 
Joined
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Have we seen a human character die other than Link at a Game Over screen? I suppose Link's Uncle in ALttP. It seems humans don't vanish, so I doubt that this is a Jedi-like occurance of living things becoming "one with the Force" for lack of a better term / ease of explanation.

Yes, in the very first Zelda game, when Link dies, he spins around in circles and seems to "pop" out of existance.

But I know we are mainly refering to the newer games. I don't see why they can't just die. There has to be hoards of these enemies everywhere, even from Ganon. Its a better way to have Moblins just disappear than for them to be left in a bloody heap on the battlefield (at least by Nintendo's standards).

You must also look at the rate of enemies around the place. There are so many moblins and such, that having their sprites stay on that screen, dead, for a long period of time, would make the game lag (especially the older ones). Extended death scenes, such as the one's of Ganondorf/Ganon or the temple bosses are an exception. Most of the temple bosses explode into oblivion, while Ganon/dorf has, for the majority, had very different death scenes from each game.

In the end, its not a problem to consider them "dead", only because they vanish or explode into a puff of smoke. That is just the way Nintendo wanted them to go out; A way to get them off of the screen instead of leaving them lying around.
 

Vincent

Retired Super Mod and HK
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I have always felt that they enemies die when you defeat them. Though in more recent games, that seems to be changing. Blowing up into puffs of smoke could mean a number of things. Like being sent back to the Dark World, or that jar, like in the Zelda cartoon. In the case of the Twilight Messengers, I think they just go back to the Twilight Realm when they're defeated, seeing as their remains get sucked into the Twilight portals.
 

Shadsie

Sage of Tales
The Bulbins and Bokoblins seemed to have a degree of sapience, with their camp organization and complex use of weapons, but they truly were monsters – possessed of evil magic and only vicious intent. What was more was that, whenever Link dispatched one and left the area, inevitably, it would be back when he’d returned to that area. There were several that he’d come to recognize – the one with the scar on his arm, the one with the runny eye, the one with chinks in his chain mail… When he’d killed them, he was never entirely sure that he really had, in fact, killed them. Clearly, there was something supernatural going on with them, and with most monsters. In their case, it wasn’t a moral dilemma – it was just frustrating. __ A Night on the Mesa, a Twilight Princess Fan Fiction by Shadsie.


Just one of my fanfics that dealt with this subject. Then again, in other fanfics of mine, I've just left carcasses laying there.... one of my AoL fics opens with Link yanking his bloody sword out of the body of a Daira.

I always figured that the blowing up and puffs of smoke and such were representational. They represented defeat - death in some cases, maybe not in others. In OoX, you're clearly killing evil beasts because you can get the Slayer's Ring. When it comes to human and more human-like oppopents, I am just not sure.

I can't see A Link to the Past's Link as being entirely heroic or the "good boy" he's supposed to be if he's actually killing those poor posessed guards. (You do have to to keep from dying), but I always figured that their "poofingn out" was representational of defeat rather than death (that the guards were exhausted and/or injured laying in the grass or zapped to the Evil Jar for a while to borrow a bit from the much-loathed cartoon). After all, they do return to the same spot if you go a few screens away and then go back and they look like exactly the same guys.

So, I guess I always imagined that the monsters faced bloody death but humans/innocents caught up in mind control and whatnot just got their rears handed to them.

At least that's how I write it all?
 

Bob Majinki

Deku Director
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Location
USA
But I know we are mainly refering to the newer games. I don't see why they can't just die. There has to be hoards of these enemies everywhere, even from Ganon. Its a better way to have Moblins just disappear than for them to be left in a bloody heap on the battlefield (at least by Nintendo's standards).

A bloody heap of dead Moblins would be so awesome.

Anyway, I think they just die and new monsters come in.
 

Waker of winds

Finally playing PH!
Joined
Jun 9, 2009
Location
Mexico, si señor.
Heh, now that you mention it, there are a lot of funny situations like this one, like why Link never eats anything, or how its posibble for Link to run so much and never get tired, or why everytime you talk to someone they repeat the same thing over and over, or...
 

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