November 21st, 2023 marked the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Japanese launch. To mark this historic Hyrulean occasion, we're running articles throughout the week dedicated to the game, our memories, and its legacy. Today, Alana wants to talk about the ReDead, the Zelda series' scariest enemies...
Heading to Kakariko Village's graveyard for the first time as the young Link in Ocarina of Time, we probably should have expected something sinister to be lurking under the earth.
A lot of us try and blot out the memory of what lies beneath the Triforce-adorned grave — after all, Kakariko Graveyard is where we meet Dampe and go on his Gravedigging Tour; it's where the musical brothers who composed the Sun's Song have been laid to rest; as an adult, it's where we get the Hookshot. It's also the home of the Shadow Temple, but let's put aside that well of horrors for another time. We're here to talk about Zelda's most terrifying creature: the ReDead.
Before I continue, I should highlight that, as a kid, I was scared of the Deku Tree. Yes, really. Look, I was six years old — that polygonal face was terrifying. But even getting past that towering tree, I wasn't prepared to come face to face with the undead. So, blissfully ignorant, I played Zelda's Lullaby at the foot of the Royal Family's Tomb and uncovered one of the most horrifying fictional creatures I've ever laid my eyes on.
Given the impact the ReDead had on so many kids back in 1998, it's kind of amazing that these undead-looking creatures have only appeared in five mainline Zelda games as of 2023: Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess (though as knights that attack with swords) and Tri Force Heroes.
And yet, when I think of Zelda, ReDead are one of the first foes that come to mind. Walking into that green smog-filled tomb for the first time, I was already unnerved by the murmuring groans. The bone-filled room with Keese beforehand should have been warning enough, but no. I braved the noise, tiptoed in, and was greeted by a trio of slow, meandering, empty-eyed creatures. One saw me, it shrieked, and suddenly Link could do nothing.
I panicked. I had no idea what to do as this zombie-like creature sluggishly stepped towards the powerless, tunic-wearing hero. Now I could see the creature up close: its face was expressionless, covered by a clay mask that left dark holes where its eyes and mouth should be, and its rib cage was protruding through terracotta-coloured skin, wrinkled and unnatural. Then, with sudden, lightning-fast movement, it threw itself at Link and clung to his back, biting, sucking his life away as he struggles.
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The idea of losing control is terrifying, no matter what way you slice it. We've all had nightmares where we're trapped or can't escape from somewhere, or sometimes you're falling and you can't stop yourself from careening into the abyss. It doesn't matter how old you are, this entire sequence is terrifying because it taps into that fear. The ear-splitting shriek is enough to send shivers down anyone's spine, and everything blends to create an unsettling encounter that sticks with every single player.
Even as adult Link, the fear of losing control to ReDead doesn't get any easier to deal with. I always associated Ocarina of Time's ReDead's not with that initial encounter but with their appearance in the Market in the Castle Town. After taking the Master Sword in hand and falling into a deep sleep for seven years, Link leaves the Temple of Time only to find an abandoned, ruined Hyrule Town. Oh, and a bunch of ReDead.
We've seen Hyrule Castle Town alive, bustling, packed with people, shops, and little amusements that the younger Link could spend all day and night enjoying. Now this once-lively town is home to shambling corpses who can freeze the Hero of Time with one piercing shriek. It's a shell of itself, inhabited by horrifying hollow husks. As a youngster, Link couldn't stop Ganondorf from pursuing Zelda, nor could he prevent what happened to the Princess and Hyrule. As an adult, we have to immediately face the results of that reality.
Becoming the Hero of Time is Link's destiny, but it doesn't stop me feeling uneasy about past failures; the ReDead in the Market stand as a reminder of his earlier inability to steer his fate, his prior lack of control. Their shrieks still paralyse him dead on the spot, and he remains helpless as they inch closer, grumbling and groaning all the while.
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However, once you manage to push past the fear and anxiety that these creatures inflict, it's surprising how easy they are to defeat. A few slashes of the Master Sword will take a single one down.
But the horrors don't end there. If you kill a ReDead and they're in a group, the rest will walk towards the corpse and crouch beside it, watching until its body fades away. They won't attack Link, leaving them open to his attacks.
I used the word 'horror' there again but, in this context, it's a different kind and one that actually evokes sympathy for the creatures. It goes back to that idea of control again — these ReDead are simply controlled by Ganondorf's magic. They're animated husks. Some fans think they're undead, reanimated corpses of those who have died in Ganondorf's wake, while others (going by Super Smash Bros. Melee's trophy description) believe them to be "ghastly" magical clay creatures used as mindless pawns. Whether they're actually dead humans brought back to life or mindless automatons, it's still upsetting to watch them mourn their fellow ReDead. They're unable to do anything but grieve; it's the only action they have beyond mindless pursuit and soul-sucking.
ReDead return in Majora's Mask, and these will dance if Link is wearing Garo's Mask, the Gibdo Mask, or the Captain's Hat. That fits with Majora's Mask's decidedly weird, unsettling tone, but the Gossip Stone reveals more potential horrors behind these creatures — that they may have once been dancers. So they're creepy, weird, horrifying dancers now? Wonderful.
Wind Waker straight-up refers to ReDead as undead in their description, but these now grey-skinned ghouls are a different kind of horrifying. They've lost the mask and they now have teeth — excellent, that's exactly what a paralysing zombie-like creature needed. I don't need to see the teeth to know that it bites, I've been through it all before. Tri Force Heroes, however, leans back towards the clay-like depiction, with bodies that look like they are melting into the ground. Those masks return, too.
Not knowing 100% what a ReDead is only makes me, and many other Zelda fans, fear them more. It's the same for a lot of Zelda's other unsettling features — how would you describe a Like Like to someone, after all? Or the 'gloom hands' (Gloom Spawn) from Tears of the Kingdom? These beings have one thing in common with the ReDead — a loss of control. Mouth or hand, they can grab hold of Link and prevent him from moving. And in a series like Zelda, where action, movement, combat, and exploration are key, that loss of control feels devastating.
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The ReDead certainly aren't Zelda's first 'scary' monster, but 25 years after their debut, I think they're still the most impactful. The similar Gibdo may have come first, debuting in the original Legend of Zelda, but these mummified creatures feel a little more bearable to me, perhaps because I've seen them in 8- and 16-bits. Though seeing them in TOTK for the first time, particularly the flying ones, definitely gave me pause. And don't get me started on the sentient hands that are the Wallmasters.
It's that uncanny valley of the ReDead that tips them over the edge as one of Zelda's scariest. They look like gaunt humans, their lives drained from them, their faces covered with masks, expressionless and emotionless, only able to show sadness. Their name says it all, too: ReDead. They were dead, and are still dead, reanimated for the sole purpose of impeding Link — you.