The Scariest Zelda Enemies

[Nicolai]

I know it's cliche, but... Dead Hand. But its not so much about the enemy itself as it is the entire bottom of the well.

He's not an enemy, but if I were able to choose him, I'd choose this guy:

 

[CM30]

Always found the Redeads some of the creepiest to me. Yeah, the Dead Hand is scary too, and I'm still unnerved by the presence of Wallmasters. But it's the Redeads that nearly traumatised me the first time I played Ocarina of Time, then creeped me out again when I played The Wind Waker and encountered them there too. Gibdos are similar in behaviour, but mummies just come across as less creepy that zombies to me, especially in regards to how they're portrayed in the Zelda series.

 

[Felixavier]

There are many great scary Zelda enemies! Really, though, there's no contest. It has to be Deadhand. The OOT Redeads def get an honorable mention though, purely for their screams, and the wallmasters are also runners up for sheer creep factor. The way they stalk you is terrifying.

Come to think of it, the hands that you steal the orbs from near the end of Twilight Princess, in the Twilight realm... and then they come to life and start following you relentlessly while you try to escape with the orb? That was some scary stuff right there.

 

[RolyPoly-Rampage]

It's pretty close to a tie for me between Dead Hand and Redeads. Dead Hand is just literally one of the freakiest parts in the whole series. I think we all remember getting grabbed by one of those long skinny arms and held against your will as one the terrifying slug like creature slowly makes its way over to chomp your face off! I think the only thing scarier that I can think of is when you make your way to the Silent Realm in Skyward Sword. That is really the stuff of nightmares.

 

[Mipha]

those poes from the arbiters grounds are the only Zelda enemies that actually creeped me out a little

 

[karu]

I think we can all agree that the Dead Hand was the freaking most scariest thing to have ever lived in the Zelda universe!!! you know other than re-deads. Look for me the whole dessert dungeon Arbiter's Grounds from TP was a thing that gave me nightmares!!! I'm a scared-y cat

 

[Mipha]

I think we can all agree that the Dead Hand was the freaking most scariest thing to have ever lived in the Zelda universe!!! you know other than re-deads. Look for me the whole dessert dungeon Arbiter's Grounds from TP was a thing that gave me nightmares!!! I'm a scared-y cat

The arbiters grounds was far scarier than Dead Hand or ReDeads, IMO

 

[Salem]

wall or floor master or like-like.

 

[Balzier]

The ReDeads in Wind Waker are pretty creepy.

 

[BoxTar]

Dead hand, definitely. I mean, for whatever reason, ReDeads scared me more as a kid. I think it was the screaming that they had, or the fact that they freeze you. But Dead Hand, now that I'm older, is definitely the more frightening concept. These arms that hold you down by the face and this weird floppy pile of flesh with this long neck and big jaw slowly waddling towards you...euch, just disturbing imagery. Wtf Nintendo.

 

[InsomniacAttack]

Wallmasters in the forest temple of OoT. Those qualify as straight jump-scares in my book. Even playing the game now, when I know where they are give me the willies.

 

[Hyrulian Hero]

Nintendo ruined it by showing it in the dang trailer but those ghost rats in Twilight Princess scared the crap out of my wife when she first encountered them. And yeah, without knowing about them, they would be terrifying.

 

[Sheiken]

Redeads affected me the most as a child, so I will always see them as the scariest.

 

[Terminalprp]

ReDeads, specifically, Wind Waker's ReDeads. They were just so creepy and scary. I remember this one room that freaked me out. I was on a ledge, and looking down I could see a line of coffins curving around the wall beneath me. I knew that if I dropped down, the ReDeads would all come out and shuffle towards me, shrieking and dragging their bloated corpses towards me as I stood, shivering, too afraid to move. Man. It took me a long time to gather the courage to jump down.

This exactly. Redeads are scary in general but with the scream in wind waked they graduated to nightmare-inducing.

I do remember being scared by merely seeing their artwork from OoT, that's heavy for an 8 year old. I remember going as far as avoiding learning the sun song haha.

 

[AncientPoe]

When I was in middle school first playing through Ocarina of Time, my first encounter with the Wall Masters scared the **** out of me. So from then on, it was a long time before my impression from that initial interaction faded, and they were the only enemy I'd have to psych myself up a little bit to face. Though I did eventually fully decondition my reactions to them, no other enemy (not even Redeads or Dead Hand) managed to have that effect.