The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, pioneered 3D video gaming, and—along with Super Mario 64—set the standard for all 3D games coming after it. The game is indisputably one ꦚof the greatest of all time, and still remains fresh nearly twent𓆏y years later.
Taking place in the mythical land of Hyrule, the game follows one of the incarnations of the hero Link, who rescues one of the incarnations of the princess Zelda from one of the incarnations of the evil Ganon. Their conflict centr𓄧es around the Triforce, a powerful object made by the three goddesses—Faroe, Din and Nayru— after their creation of the world. Each one of the three main characters controls one third of this Triforce: Link holds the Triforce of Courage, Zelda the Triforce of Wisdom, and Ganon the Triforce of Power.
This game, its simple but entrancing storyline, and its second-to-none gameplay formed an integral part of many of our childhoods. However, there is quite a lot within the game🐷 that isn't really appropriate for the kids who formed the majority of the game's player-base, and—though we may not have noticed it then—we can go back to the game as adults and appreciate how screwed up some stuff in the game really was. Here are just a few of such inappropriate moments in the N64 classic.
20 🃏 Link Commಞits War Crimes
Link is summ🌞oned to begin his quest as the Hero of Time by the Great Deku Tree, yanking him out of a quiet, idyllic life as a carefree Kokiri child in the forest and into a tumultuous life of travel, battle and little rest. The learning curve for our hero is quite steep from the very start, both in terms of raw skill and emotional numbness. Before he has even left the forest, Link must go inside the Deku Tree and battle his way down into the roots in order to end the monster that is infecting him, Gohma. But this first boss battle of the game is dark in nature. During the battle, Gohma lays eggs, and the babies will attack Link. In order to win the battle, Link must hack these children apart in front of their mother. It is a grim way for our hero to start his journey, and probably got rid of any inno🀅cence.
19 🌌 Hyrule's Dark Past ෴
If Link did have any innocence left after that, it is definitely gone long before his adventure reaches its end—especially during his quest to obtain the Shadow Medallion, which is remembered as one of the bloodiest chapters in the Zelda series. Link must travel through blood-splattered chambers, complete with realistic looking racks, chains and skeletons, while ghosts whisper vague but disturbing hints about what might have gone there. On top of that, he must dodge spikes and knives, all the while always having to fear invisible enemies and pits. This stuff gets scarier than some survival horror games. As is the case with the Great Fairy, I'm unclear why some of this stuff didn't bump the game's rating to to 'T,' at least.
18 Why Kids💞 Aren't Allowed Out After Dar꧟k
There is something more subtly inappropriate connected with the Karariko Grave𓃲yard Link encounters long before embarking on the quest for the Shadow Medallion: the gravedigger Dampé and his “tours.” Dampé is a strange old man who lived in a shack in the graveyard wh😼en Link is a child. For a fee, he will take the young boy on “Dampé's Heart-Pounding Gravedigging Tour.” This involves showing Link around the cemetery, digging up any grave that Link likes and giving the child whatever of value buried with the deceased that they find. I don't think I need to point out that there is something terribly wrong with a creepy old man meeting children in a graveyard and night and charging them to vandalize the graves—and no wonder the spirits of the area are so angry and unsettled.
17 "People Are Disgusting" 🐼
There are plenty of ꦡother strange people who come out of the woodworks of Kakariko Village at night. One of these strange types is Grog, the son of the the head carpenter. Pale, gaunt and sullen, he is probably whatever the Hyrulean equivalent of a goth would be called. Link can find him sitting against a tree near the centre of town, brooding on how “people are disgusting,” including “his own parents.” He ends by telling Link that he “must be disgusting too!” It is an extremely jarring and inexplicable encounter that does not serve any purpose to the game, or even get clarified, for quite awhile. The player is just left to wonder what kinds of disturbed darkness lurks unknown in the minds of Hylians just underneath the fairly family-friendly exterior.
16 ಌ Link The Mule 🦂
It is awhile before any explanation of Link's encounter with Grog is offered, but the character later forms the core of a side quest undertaken by an older Link—as part of the wider trading chain leading to obtaining Biggoron's Sword. In the intervening years, Grog has left his family and run away to the Lost Woods. His sister, Anju, asks Link to bring her brother his favourite Cucco, who had not crowed since its owner left. When Link finds Grog, he will be asked to take a magic forest mushroom to Granny in Kakariko to make an “odd potion” to bring back. Grog, in other words, is a user as well as a misanthrope—although this is not directly stated, the vagueness of what the potion is for is kind of a dead giveaway—thus making him probably the single most child-inappropriate character in Zelda history.
15 👍 Father Of The Year 𒊎
There is actually quite a lot of family disfunction going on in Ocarina of Time's Hyrule. Take, for example, the relationship between the owner of Lon Lon Ranch, Talon and his daughter Malon. Talon—jovial and fun loving but a terrible father—abandons his daughter to fend for herself twice over the course of their game, and Link has to step in and fix the situation on both occasions. The first time, Link finds Malon alone at the Castle Town's Market. She will tell him that her father went to the castle to make a delivery of milk, but never came back. Link then finds Talon asleep next to the crates he was supposed to deliver. The second time involves him leaving her to behind to fend for herself when he loses control of his rওanch, rather than staying to defend his family. While Talon is presented as comic relief in the game, child abandonment is not really something to laugh at.
14 The Man Standing U♏p Against The Man
Link can find many more unsettling details of Hylian life by nosing arouꦡnd the Castle Town's Market. For example, if he goes into the guard station right inside the town gates, he will find a solitary guard there among a sea of breakable pots. This area is probably most remembered for these pots—it is a wonderful place to blow off some steam by breaking every last one of them, and you can make some money by collecting the rupees that come out, and the guard would actually seem to approve of such chaos. If Link speaks to him, he tells link that “things would be a lot more interesting if there were more ... troubles in the world.” He then asks Link to keep this deeply unprofessional opinion just between the two of them.
13 Eye Candy For On🐻e Eye
The anarchist guard is gone when Link visits the same gatehouse as an adult, and has been replaced by an creepy hooded figure with one red eye. This strange individual runs a business buying and selling poe souls, and Link can obtain an empty bottle by hunting big poes for it. This figure is an unnerving presence which serves to introduce the kind of changes 🌳that have gone on in Hyrule since Ganondorf has taken over. If Link speaks to t♑his person, it will tell Link that it could be doing something other than dealing in poes: “If I looked as good as you,” it tells Link, “I could run a different kind of business... Heh heh heh...” One could guess what kind of “business” this person might be thinking of.
12 🍷 They Probably Shouldn't Let Her Be A Sage, Actually ꧟
The one-eyed hooded being being in the gatehouse is not the only person in the game who remarks that Link is “handsome.” Near the end of his journey, Link must travel to the Spirit Temple, hidden deep in the desert, in order to retrieve the spirit medallion. When he goes there as a child, he will meet Nabooru, who asks Link to retrieve Silver Gauntlets for her, promising that she will “do something great” for him in exchange. She is captured by Twinrova before she is able to fulfill that promise, however, and we never learn what exactly she meant. But when Link returns as an adult and sees her again, she tells him that is “a handsome man” and that she for that reasons wishes she had fulfilled her promise years ear꧒lier. This implies that she was physically attracted to the child Link and had intended to offer him favours.
11 W𝓀ay Too Muc𒈔h Information
More suggestions of being creepy towards children can be found back at the Castle Town Market. Among the many citizens milling around the market square, Link can find a pair of lovers dancing a tight circle close to the fountain. This couple—actually named Honey and Darling, at least when they appear again in Majora's Mask—are transfixed with each other, and exchange sweet nothings to each other. The woman, Honey, compliments her man by telling him that he is “more handsome than the King of Hyrule.” This is flattering, of course, if🤡 somewhat generic as flattery goes. Darling's compliment to Honey, however, is a touch more disturbing. He tells her that she is “more beautiful than Princess Zelda.” Zelda,🏅 however, is ten years old, implying that he considers a child to be a standard of romantic attraction. This is not exactly the kind of sentiment he should be voicing in public.