The Moments in Zelda That Inspired Fear or High Anxiety

[ChargewithSword]

We all know that there have been moments in gaming that you actually felt afraid and alone. Metroid for instance, inspires a fear in you that begs for companionship in those alien worlds.

In Zelda have you ever had that feeling? Even as a child did you have that feeling during certain points where you weren't just afraid of a boss or a certain monster, but that you were actually afraid of your surroundings?

When I was a kid my deepest fear was the Bottom of the Well/Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time. The music crept behind me and frightened me to no end. I always felt that something around there would end up jumping me from the shadows. It also didn't help that there two places were home to many Redeads (wretched things).

If you never had a feeling of fear while playing a Zelda, tell me what area could have inspired fear in you but lost its chance.

 

[blubb]

Hmmm, as a kid it might have been aLttP's Skull Woods or the Dark World Death Mountain, it was the music that totally creeped me out. But even now at age 22, when I first played Twilight Princess, it was those "Hands of Zant" which gave me some chills, I just hate being followed by something and having to be fast to escape it :shake:

 

[bbevington90]

The Bottom of the Well in OoT always did it for me. The first time I entered it I had no idea how easy it actually was, and I was falling down the holes and traps and whatnot because I obviously couldn't see them without the Lens of Truth, and it totally freaked me out. I had to actually leave for a while and go back to it later. There was just no sign of life, happiness, or safety in that place, not to mention it being the bottom of a well which makes it underground. Ganon's Castle had a similar feeling to it.

 

[Zeruda]

I didn't experience real fear in Zelda until OoT. I still freak out. It's the redeads. Going into the tomb in the graveyard.... I really, REALLY freakin' went nuts. I have this issue with undead things as it is, andddd.... yeah. I tried to avoid walking into the acid, but instead I woke just about ever redead. They all did that death shriek and every time I got away from one, another got me. It was a horrifying experience. @_@

 

[vatti]

When I bttled my first boss in Tp, and when I was getting the Sols from the palace of twilight in Tp.

 

[Random Person]

The first time I experienced fear was in MM when I was pretecting the barn from "them." The creepy music built up anxiety and the fact that I failed leaving Romani to face her fate left me scarred. After that some places that gave me fear include

When I first saw a real bombchu charge at me in MM.
When a wallmaster first grabbd me in MM.
Beneath the well on both N64 games. (Gibdos and Redead)
Dampe's race in OoT. (Redead)
The shadow temple in OoT. (Redead)
The hands of Zant in TP.

And on a personal note I would just like to say that the original redead in OoT were ridiculously scary. That noise they made whenever I entered a room made me freeze, turn around, leave the room, and think for a good minute before getting enough courage to go back in.

 

[jlemon9721]

The bottom of da well and the Shadow Temple, no doubt about it. The ReDeads in the well were pretty okay with me..... the music and surroundings creeped me out....... then i got to the Mini-Boss at the end........ that was the worst part.

 

[Pocket Asian]

The first Zelda game I ever played was Twilight Princess, so I got scared a lot in that game. It wasn't so much the dungeons, but every time I got to the boss. You don't see those kind of things in Mario games

Ocarina of Time was the second Zelda game I played. The only parts that scared me were the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple. I don't know what it was, but both of them sent fear through me. I think for the Bottom of the Well, it was the ReDeads and definitely Dead Hand, plus the Like Likes, they scare me the most out of all Zelda creatures. For the Shadow Temple, I believe it was merely the design of the walls. Also, having to use the Lens of Truth to see some things also scared me, like the invisible platforms in the guillotine room.

Also, in any 3D Zelda game where you can, going underwater. The fact that the water slows you down immensely is one factor. Also, when going under without anything to give Link oxygen is something I don't like doing, the breath meter in Twilight Princess goes down way too fast in my opinion. In Ocarina of Time, having to go underwater scared me since all Link could in that one was use the Hook/Longshot. Now, in the Wind Waker, going underwater was taken out, but getting knocked off the King of Red Lions always scared me. Another case of being in water in the Wind Waker was in the x-Eye Reef (x being a variable). Sometimes after defeating the boats I would forget to change the direction of the wind and use the Deku Leaf to attempt to get to where a Treasure Chest was, only to go floating into the water because the wind. I would always try to rush to my boat whenever that happened.

 

[Ikana]

There are some things that scared me like when I was in the Bottom of the well in oot that place scared me allot when I was a kid.Next one was when I was in Ikana Canyon and I had the volume up and I forgot I had the Garo Mask on and a Garo jumped out of nowhere that scared me.Then those Hands of Zant use to scare me the first time I played TP I hated that they followed me.

 

[Xinnamin]

The Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple, as most everyone has already said, were indeed among the scariest locales in the Zelda series. It was, I think, a combination of the music and the traps, most of which were invisible, adding to the stress. I remember the first time I went into the Well, after draining the water and turning around to head back to the entrance, that green bubble rounded the corner at the exact same moment I did and my heart nearly ripped out of my chest. The place is creepy enough without enemies flying right into my face. The Shadow Temple had the potential to be extremely frightening, and it still was, but not nearly as much as the Well since I got most of the jitters out of my system by then.

Oddly enough, I remember OoT's Forest Temple was abnormally eerie. It was the music, the constantly changing dynamics, soft and eerie to loud and creepy back to soft again. The music sounds almost like ghosts echoing through the walls, especially at its loudest. I distinctly remember being out in one of the garden rooms, listening to the music gradually increasing in volume, that odd echo effect combined with the strange ambiance of a gorgeous ruined manor, and I was genuinely uneased. That was perhaps the most disturbing moment I've ever experienced in a video game, because it was scary in a uneasy way rather than a frightening way.

 

[Rito]

D:Some of the monsters really creap me out mostly the redeads in the windwaker and orcina of time. There screams scare the heck out of you when the volumes way up. Also those hands that grab you and suck you in in the windwaker were kind of scary. In the orcina of time I never got to the shadow temple because I gave up when I tried the water temple so I didn't get to see how scary that was. Also the second game I got was the orcina of time the first being the windwaker. I was so used to the way ganon looked in the windwaker that in the first cutscene Ganon and the thunder mysteriosly staring at you creeped me out.D: Also some of the TP scenes where kind of scary. I remember the first time I played it I had the volume way up when link gets sucked into the wall and then turns into a wolf that was creepy. Also I always think zant is kind of scary.D:

 

[Miss Moonlight]

NOT TAKE MIRROR!!

.... that was scary as hell Until I beat, lol.

 

[Scythe-of-Chaos]

i was deathly afraid of morpheel when i fell into the water because i was afraid to put on the iron boots to sink down and challange him because i didn't know what he was. also in WW when sharks would come, THAT was scary they'd ram you off and try and omnom you up and the submarines were scary too because they were dark and monster filled. also (i must sound really easily scared right now but) the cave of ordeals. not all of it just some of it

 

[Phantom Zelda]

When I went into the tomb in OoT really freaked me out but I havnt gotton to the Well or Shadow temple yet but it sounds really scary.

 

[M-SwordLink]

For me, it definately has to be when Yeta went all crazy because of the Mirror of Twilight shard and turned her head and yelled, "NOT TAKE MIRROR!"