The ReDead of Hyrule

                I’ve told you all about my first horror game love, “Resident Evil.”  She is my first love even if she may not show it.  I was always given tough love by her in the way of a screen repeatedly telling me “You are dead,” but that has never deterred my feelings.  If everyone can keep a secret though, I have something to admit.  “Resident Evil” wasn’t the first game to scare me as a child.  That award goes to the brilliant masterpiece “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.”

This game is a masterpiece.

                Now, reader, you might be thinking right now, “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time?  How in the hell did that game scare you?”  To this question I ask that you put this into some perspective.  “Ocarina of Time” came out in 1998.  At the time of its release I was a mere seven years old.  With being just the tender age of seven, it was quite possible for anything to scare me.  New animals, weird bugs, bumps in the night, clowns, everything has the capacity to scare a child under the right circumstances especially old people.  Everyone knows that the reason an old person’s skins sags is because it is being pulled to the underworld.  I’m getting a little off topic now.  Basically, all you must know is that “Ocarina of Time” boasted one such circumstance.

As a child, old people are terrifying creatures.

                “Ocarina of Time” is possibly the greatest game of all time, and that is not a term that gets thrown around lightly.  Its level design, gameplay mechanics, graphics, and sound created new benchmarks in the realm of video games.  The variety in its design and levels is absolutely astounding and makes the game a delight to play even to this day.  This variety is helped along by a clever time travel mechanic built into the game.  You play as Link and he is the “hero of time.”  At a certain point in the game you gain the ability to use the Master Sword, which, when brandished from its pedestal in the Temple of Time, will cast you seven years into the future.  When you awaken, Link is now a full-fledged adult and every place in the land of Hyrule has drastically changed.

The pleasant atmosphere of Hyrule Castle Town.

                One of the most drastic changes to the territory is Hyrule Castle Town.  As a youth, Link visits Castle Town multiple times interacting with the cheerful inhabitants and buying their goods.  Everyone in Castle Town is colorful and more than happy to help you out.  A good portion of the game makes you repeatedly have to run through this area or do quests for its people.  You get to know them and enjoy their little quirks.  When you get thrown seven years into the future, nothing in the town is the same.

Castle Town has seen better days when Link revisits it in the future.

                When Link leaves the Temple of Time as an adult and enters Castle Town for the first time, it is a shocking contrast to what had been there.  All the buildings are tattered shells of their past life and the worst part of all is the town’s inhabitants.  The pleasant people of Castle Town have been turned into creatures called Redeads.  These hideous creatures are characterized by horribly emaciated bodies and wear wooden masks on their face with deep sunken eyes.  All that could go through my head was that these were the zombified remains of the people who had always been so kind to me.  It is impossible to not have them get the jump on you the first time you run through the town.

"WHY DOES HE WEAR THE MASK?"

                Redeads have an ability that paralyzes Link with a blood-curdling screech that causes terror to set in.  Within this time of paralyisis, a Redead will slowly shamble over to you and proceed to jump latch onto your body and eat at your head.  The zombie character literally is trying to eat your brains.  It is a terrifying thing for a seven year old to witness.  Even worse is the fact that Redeads will actually stop and eat the dead remains of another Redead you may have killed.  The most frightening part of an encounter with one of these creatures is the fact that it just leaves you feeling helpless.  With just a scream you become nothing more than a piece of meat waiting to be gnawed on.  I was terrified of them as a child and did my best to avoid the forsaken hell hole that was Castle Town.

                Now as an adult I find my fear of these creatures somewhat silly, but they do still leave me with a feeling of helplessness at times which I despise.  They are easily known to be some of the most horrific creatures in the Zelda universe and that is why they made it to my blog post.  The first creatures to teach me that zombies crave brains cannot be easily forgotten.

Thanks for reading everyone!  Be sure to sound off in the comments section and let me know what you have thought of my blog posts so far.  Any criticism, constructive or even soul crushingly brutal, is appreciated so let me have it.  If I have entertained you, be sure to follow me on Twitter.  I am @nevstorm5 and most the time I talk about excessively nerdy things and vie for everyone’s approval.  Be ready for my blog post next week which will be about the brand new video game “Resident Evil 6.”  Until then keep your pants dry, folks.