Throughout many decades, The Legend of Zelda series has been very popular among gamers, and has become well known throughout the world. Most gamers and even many non-gamers recognize the game, the famous characters, or at least the Trꦯiforce symbol. It’s a series that has often reached critical acclaim and has become one of most popular game series for Nintendo.
What the Zelda games are also well-known for is their accessibility. People of different ages could enjoy the games, kids and adults alike. While there was often fantasy violence and maybe a bit of blood, most games didn’t exceed the E10+ rating (The exception being Twilight Princess)⛦. They were great adventure gam🌄es that most kids over the age of 10 could play with few problems.
However, that doesn’t mean that the Zelda games didn’t have moments that were genuinely scary, disturbing, and creepy. You don’t have that many games without getting a few disturbing storylines, creepy enemies, and unsettling characters. And surprisingly, the Zelda series has quite a few creepy moments. So, I’m going to talk about 20 times The Legend of Zelda series got rather creepy.
Keep in mind that this isn’t comprehensive list of creepy moments for Zelda. But I felt that these particular moments were ones that stuck out in my mind as genuinely disturbing and creepy, especially considering these Zelda games were played by kids.
If you think there are some even creepier moments in The Legend of Zelda games, be sure to comment below!
20 A Truly Dist🍸urbing Vision
In Twilight Princess, after you cleanse the Lanaryu Province from the Twilight, the Spirit Lanayru gives you more background on the beings of the Twilight Realm, the beginning, and what happened. This is all done through what is likely the strangest vision that’s ever come out of Zelda.
The vision starts out innocently enough, but slowly gets stranger as we get images of Link and his friend Ilia with white eyes, evil Link, Ilia with a dagger, and more. The vision ends with several Ilias falling from the sky slowly all while laughing. This vision is unlike anything the Zelda games has really done. It’s strange and rather unsettling, making it a rather creepy vision. It makes sense for it to be in Twilight Princess since this game is a bit darker in tone. It definitely is a scene that we won’t f🐻orget anytime soon.
19 This Scream Will Paralyze You
The Redeads in general are a pretty creepy enemy, but their creepy factor is upped quite a bit in Ocarina of Time. Their appearance looks like a malnourished human with sightlওess eyes. If that isn’t creepy e𓃲nough, they constantly let out these low moans as you come near them.
But the most frightening aspect about these guys is ꧂the way they attack. If Link gets close enough to a Redead, it lets out this horrifying shriek that causes Link to freeze up in fear. Then the Redead slowly walks over to him. If it gets close enough to Link, it will jump on him, wrap its legs around him and start biting.♈ What makes this so creepy is that moment when you’re desperately trying to get Link to move out of his frozen state while this ghoul-like creature is slowly coming towards him. It’s a subtle kind of horror that was done rather well.
18 The Deadliest Climb 𒅌
The Ancient Cistern dungeon in Skyward Sword is regarded favorably by many gamers, mostly for its originality and🧔 interesting use of water. But what really sets this dungeon apart༒ are its two contrasting levels.
The top part of the dungeon is brightly lit with a huge statue in the middle, resembling Buddha. But when you find your way down to the bottom of the dungeon, you get an entirely different setting. In this area, it feels like you’ve walked into the underworld, with a giant skul🎶l in the background, pools of toxic water, and undead bokoblins coming up out of the ground. But the greatest (and creepiest) part is exiting this area. The only way to get out is to climb up this thin line that will take you up to the statue room above ground. But as you start climbing, many undead bokoblins start to follow you up the line. So while you’re climbing, you’re also fighting off these undead creatures as you slowly make your way from this ghastly underworld to the light. It’s creepy and thrilling, making it a fun element to the dungeon.
17 This Invasion May Spell Your Doom ♊
At the Romani Ranch, Romani will ask you on the first day to help her fight off the ghosts that will come to invade the ranch and steal the cows. If you stick around for the ghosts to arrive, you’ll find out that these “ghosts” are likely aliens. Yes, aliens in Zelda.
The aliens are pretty unnerving, and surroundiꦇng them really adds to the creepy atmosphere. It gets even creepier should you fail to stop the “ghosts” from reach🌜ing the barn. They then take the cows and Romani. If you come back to Romani Ranch on the third day, you’ll see that Romani is back, but something is... off about her. She seems a bit spaced out and not all that present. The implications of what happened to her are rather unsettling.
16 A Temple Of De♋ath And Torture
Out of all the temples and dungeons that Link goes to in Ocarina of Time, the Shadow Temple is definitely the creepiest. The atmꦅosphere in this place is just dripping with death and torture. Throughout the temple, you’ll find various torture devices, suspicious bloodstains on the grounds, trap doors, death traps, and all sorts of gﷺhoulish enemies. Half the time, Link isn’t just in danger from enemies, but from the temple itself.
If that isn’t creepy enough, . It has🍷 some rhythmic drums and creepy sighing vocals. It’s not particularly loud or flashy music, but the subtle darkness of it is what really adds to the creepiness of this entire dungeon. You can practically feel the presence of the souls of those that perished here screaming out for some sort of relief. It’s creepy, unsettling, and even a little sad.
15 ꧟ These Transformations May🐻 Be Incredibly Painful
The whole concept of these three masks transformation masks in Majora's Mask is a little creepy in of itself since they came to Link as a result of the death of someone (he actually witnesses Mikau the Zora die). And wh🔜en Link puts on the mask, he is transforming into that dead person.
What adds to this creepiness is the whole scene that happens when Link puts on the mask. He starts out gasping, choking and then he finally screams as the mask on his face contorts into some sort of expression of pain. Then a bright flash of light happens, and Link is transformed. Granted after the first time, you can skip these scenes by pushing a button, but the implication of this is that ever🧸y time Link puts on this mask, he goes through a process that loo♈ks and sounds very painful. Think about how many times you put on the different masks and it gets a little disturbing.
14 A Truly Horꦚri🗹fying Yeti
As you search for the shards of the Twilight Mirror in Twilight Princess, one is found in the ruins of a giant mansion in the middle of SnowPeak. The only residents there are two yetis named Yeto and Yeta. Both are fairly friendly creatures an🔥d are willing to help you get the mirror shard.
Eventually Yeta leads you to room where the shard is. As she gazes at the mirror shard, she croons about how pretty it is. Then something strange starts to happen. Her face starts to twitch as she grunts. Then her head turns around completely to reveal the face of a dark twisted creature with fangs and red eyes. This scene is rather terrifying. To see a gentle creature like Yeta suddenly become a shrieking demon-like🔯 creature is both jarring and frighte🧔ning.
13 ♊ The Creepiest Final Boss🐲
Maybe this was just me as a kid, but I found the final battle in Majora’s Mask to be terrifying.🌱 You fight Majora’s Mask in three stages, the first one being the mask itself, the second having the mask growing limbs and an eye, and the third having the mask grow a head with sightless eyes. The design of this final boss is very creepy, and the area that you fight in is strange and a little trippy.
Everything about this battle is unsettling; the design of M🌜ajora’s mask, the way it fights you and the way it transforms into the different stage are all surprisingly creepy. Even just looking at the mask itself is pretty c🐠reepy with its eyes that seem to bore into your soul. Overall, that entire battle was just plain freaky.
12 The Curse Of The Sword
Death Sword is a mini-boss in the dungeon Arbiter’s Grounds in Twilight Princess. What makes the battle with Death Sword creepy is actua🌊lly the introduction to this enemy.
As you first step into the room, you see this giant sword half buried in the ground. There are several glowing ropes tied from the sword to the ground. Various charms seem to hang from these r♎opes, so you can tell that this thing is supposed to be sealed here. So, you go and slice one of the ropes, of course. The sword then breaks away and seems to move about on its own. But if you transform into a wolf and use your senses, you can see the wielder, a seriously creepy ghost that then screams at you as it tries to kill you. This guy’s creepiness mostly comes from the atmosphere around it, but it’s still pretty grotesque.
11 🎃 A Surprisingly Disturbing Man
Some gamers may see Tingle to just be a little weird, but others have found him to be a bit creepy. This is a thirty-year-old man who dresses up in green tights (because he believes he’s a fairy) and spends his days dancing around. Something about this is just a little unnerving. His fixationꦛ on Link as a fairy is also a little creepy.
Another issue is when you meet him in Wind Waker. He’s in a cell for unknown reasons, but if you set him free, you can loo𒅌k around his cell to find a hidden tunnel. After crawling through a maze of tunnels, you eventually find a room where the Pictobox is, something that Tingle apparently stole. What’s creepy about this is that there are several bones and skulls in this room as well, implying that Tingle may have done more than just steal to get landed in that cell.