Nightmare Fuel / Hyrule Warriors

Warning: Spoilers Off applies to this page. Proceed at your own risk.

You see that cloak? You wanna know what's under that cloak? You don't wanna know what's under that cloak.

• Remember the Moon from Majora's Mask? Allow Hyrule Warriors to reintroduce you to it in HD… The kicker? You are the one that pulls it down this time…all to take down a dragon no less (despite said dragon being named Argorok). Thankfully it's a summon spell made of fairies this time around.
  • Grab a hookshot powerup. Use the hookshot on any enemy while the powerup is active. Proceed to wet yourself as you immediately bring down the moon on whatever unfortunate soul you snagged.
  • The Moon apparently isn't done tormenting us yet. Cue the Great Fairy's default Special Attack (and she's laughing, no less) and Young Link's Focus Spirit Special Attack. With Young Link's, though, the Skull Kid shows up and brings down the moon himself.
  • Then comes the Majora's Mask outfits. While many of them are funny, like Zant's mask being worn on his helmet or Midna's mask being just the Ordon Shield from Twilight Princess, we eventually come to Lana, who now has the option of dressing up like a Skull Kid. Complete with Majora's Mask. Even worse, in truth she's nothing more than a shell containing Cia's positive personality and hopes; guess how Majora would react to that?
    • And sure enough, this scenario is played out in the Rewards Map challenge The Giants Gather. In this challenge, which is a reenactment of Majora's Mask, Majora's Mask takes control of Lana and has her attempt to bring down the Moon on the Sealed Grounds. Young Link must gather four giant Bokoblins to thwart her plan, then bring her back to her senses. Then the Mask summons two King Dodongos in a last-ditch effort to finish Young Link off. Even in a spin-off game, Majora's Mask is still as frightening as ever. See it all here.
  • And much like Lana, Cia also gets Majora's Mask as a winnable costume from this map. Now, we've seen how she is under Ganondorf's control; who knows how dangerous she can be under the control of an omnicidal Eldritch Abomination?
  • The Termina Map has you trying to stop the moon from falling with the usual 72 hour time limit (with turns taking the place of hours in this map). As if the 8-bit moon weren't already creepy enough, the map starts out with 3 hours left, pretty much forcing you to watch as you meet with a terrible fate...
  • Somewhat muted by Young Link's Focus Spirit where Skull Kid appears with the moon and Link, as Fierce Diety, slices the thing in half. Along with any hostiles in front of him.
    • Also mitigated with Skull Kid's Focus Spirit release; he kicks a moon-shaped beach ball at his enemies instead of sending it crashing down.
    • Less so with his Focus Spirit timeout; after spending so much power kicking the opposing army's collective asses, the dark magic gets too much, and releases in a massive explosion, leaving Skull Kid dangling Limp and Livid from Majora's Mask.
• Because this game combines different places from the Zelda timeline, some of Link's deadliest adversaries get to make a comeback. From Ganondorf, to Zant, to Ghirahim, all the way up to The Imprisoned (A.K.A. Clipped-Wing Angel Demise, who is thankfully not present himself).
  • Also, the fact that Ganondorf is teaming up with Zant and Ghirahim would make nearly anyone soil themselves.
• And speaking of everyone's favorite King of Evil... his new design is terrifying. His human form is more bestial-looking than ever (flaming red mane of hair combined with his equally red facial hair, sunken gold eyes with dark shadows around them, clawed gauntlets and fur adorning some parts of his armor akin to a barbarian, two black, serrated great swords that he wields in each hand no less (and with upgrades that are even more demonic-looking — especially the third tier)), and some of his finishers and special attacks seem to transform his dark magic into shadowy versions of his Dark Beast self. And yes, we're going to have to fight him sooner or later.
  • The Temple of Souls stage is a clear example of how terrifying Ganondorf can be. The stage starts off pretty good, with the only concerning thing being Link's growing overconfidence. But after the heroes manage to clear out the magic keeps, Cia lures Link to the Sorceress Room and uses the recently nurtured darkness in his heart to spawn several Dark Links that continuously respawn. Things can't get any worse, right? Wrong! Ganondorf unexpectedly rears his ugly mug with his army in tow, intent on taking the Triforce pieces. The reaction is a Mass "Oh, Crap!" from everyone, and Zelda in particular orders an immediate full-scale retreat. Keep in mind that he wasn't even at full power at that time. Even at his weakest, Ganondorf is that damn frightening and powerful.
• The group meets Cia in person early on, but she defeats them and takes the Triforce pieces, almost killing them.
• Then there's the most terrifying part of the game. After executing a flawless Xanatos Gambit where he wins no matter the outcome, the revived Ganondorf amasses an army to assail Hyrule Castle and take the complete Triforce, which he successfully accomplishes. But that's not the scary part. Oh no. The kicker? The very reason he wins is because he is a playable character in the main story for the three chapters where he gets the completed Triforce. In other words, you helped him win. That's right, you, the player, stole the single most powerful artifact in the Zelda universe while playing as its most dangerous villain. Hope you can live with yourself, Hero.
  Ganondorf: Yes, I owe it all to you, kid!
  • Read that statement of his again, and wonder who he's talking to from now on. Brrr...
  • The cherry on top? For the first playable time in the entire series, Ganondorf faces Link in open combat, and WINS. This Link is able to actually use his Triforce of Courage, plus he has an entire army to back him up, and Ganondorf still beats him into submission alongside Impa (a clear-cut badass Sheikah general) and Zelda (who is also capable of actually using her Triforce of Wisdom and was previously masquerading as the badass Sheik), all three of whom can get battered to a pulp at least twice each during the siege level. Their combat chatter even gets more and more desperate every time you take one of them down.
• Cia and her cronies:
  • Wizzro. Originally a ring, he sports a decrepit and haunting appearance and an old but high-pitched cackling voice (which indicates how twisted he is), displays a cutthroat cunning that exceeds even Zant's own intellect (how about trying to kill the hero as he's drawing the Master Sword for starters?), showcases a gaggle of horrific dark arts and an insatiable hunger for destruction and mayhem, and usually sports a single eye as his only facial feature that frequently morphs back and forth between that and a single frightening mouth. The worst part is that he's a shapeshifter who can impersonate anyone he desires. Meaning he can take the form of someone you love before killing you in the most horrific way. And he's sadistic enough to do just that.
    • Speaking of his shapeshifting, how about when he disguised himself as Princess Zelda and went to Death Mountain? When Impa and Sheik (the real Zelda) arrive, they find Darunia, who's been driven mad to the point of kidnapping Ruto. From the looks of things, it could very well be implied that Wizzro mind-raped the poor Goron chief! And that's not getting into how he's willing to berate the enemy soldiers while still putting up his facade, lowering their morale and making them that much easier to take out, sic King Dodongo on your troops, send Assault Troops after them in Legends, and even take Ruto hostage and have a Lizalfos knock her around to try and force a surrender! Talk about a scarily efficient strategist.
    • Best part? Wizzro's not quite just a him - Wizzro's a them. The cursed ring tricked sorcerers into wearing it and proceeded to drive its victims insane with power and constant voices until they could join the other souls trapped inside the ring itself. It makes one wonder if this might have been Cia's eventual fate had their "partnership" gone on long enough...
  • Volga. A berserker knight who is meant to invoke memories of the dreaded Volvagia, he demonstrates his battle lust quite frequently and roars quite a bit, is capable of transforming his human-like limbs into draconic ones or sprouting draconic wings, is able to completely turn into a winged flaming dragon himself, and his eyes are black like coal. The fact that he nearly killed Impa and Link at the beginning of the story by roasting them alive should be enough nightmare fuel.
    • Volga wasn't even originally that scary - as you play through Cia's story it's shown that he just wanted to be left alone in his volcano with his subjects and deliberately kept out of human affairs. Cia forced him into servitude and stoked his bloodlust to control him, unleashing him onto humanity, who quickly come to be terrified of his power.
  • Cia. While she isn't that scary-looking (very fanservice-looking, actually), she's essentially a female Ganondorf (since he is the one who corrupted her) in all but one area; her unrestrained obsession and possessiveness of Link (for which you should scroll down for a better look). Then we get to the part where she starts losing her mind and comes across as a demented sorceress who will stop at nothing to get what she wants (or rather who she wants).
• The garden in Cia's palace◊ is a Stalker Shrine to Link, containing statues of his various incarnations^note Young Link, Wolf Link, and right-handed Link. And if that weren't enough, in battle, she can summon a Dark Link to assist her. Houston, we have a problem...
  • The place is actually called the Temple of Souls, a palace that exists in another dimension and is implied to be able to change itself to reflect a person's mental state^note sound familiar?, which should be an indicator of how messed up Cia is.
  • The fact that said shrine includes Young Link (who is now playable to witness the horror himself) and Wolf Link is a bit disturbing.
  • Hell, consider the Temple of Souls from Link's perspective. As far as you know up to this point, the Sorceress Cia is a lady that threatens Hyrule's existence and she apparently has a thing for you… but not much more than that. Then, you step into the Temple and see that she doesn't just "have a thing" for you; she is a goddamn lunatic Stalker with a Crush who has started this entire war so she can have you (not to mention that you are part of the reason she was corrupted in the first place). That would cause even the toughest of fighters to suffer a My God, What Have I Done? influenced Heroic BSoD (or at least a nervous breakdown).
  • Cia's Sanity Slippage, particularly in the final level of the Master Quest DLC. As Link and the heroes foil her plans and she undergoes her Villainous Breakdown, she becomes more and more desperate and willing to take bigger risks, such as using her own life force to bolster her magic, knowing full well that this will likely kill her. If that wasn't enough, Ganondorf tries to take the Triforce of Power from her. Lana tries desperately to save her, but by that point, Cia is too far gone and starts to lose it, especially when her allies begin to abandon her. The Madness Mantra she gives is quite disturbing.
  Cia: "The hero is still by my side... the hero is still by my side..."
  • Cia is so hot to trot for Link that it's clearly visible in her dialogue. Only those who don't have a dirty mind will miss the not-so-subtle drops.
  Cia: Oh ho! Link! Did you get a shiny new sword? Mmm, I'd like to see it...Come to me!
  Cia: Link, stop wasting your time with petty brawls! Come show me what that sword can do...
• This version of Ganon added two gigantic horns to his design. However, they aren't just for show, they're also gigantic mouths that split open and fire bloody bullet-like projectiles at you.◊
  • Oh, it gets even better. You see that lightning laser attack he unleashes from his left arm? Take a good look at the forearm. No, you aren't imagining it. That is a bulging, bloodshot, twitching eyeball gouging out of it. It's safe to say Koei wants this Ganon to be damn frightening.
  • The Boss Pack's already treating us to some nasty surprises. Multiple giant bosses being fought simultaneously, which includes dark versions of some of them (including Ganon, as if he wasn't already frightening enough), and the Dark Versions are immune to Weak Point Gauge exposing (and even if they don't have armor anymore, that does not make them any easier to defeat, except for Dark Ganon). But that's not even the most scary aspect of it, oh no siree...It's Ganon being playable that's worthy of bowel-loosening horror. He even needed his own mode just to be playable, dubbed "Ganon's Fury". While it is among the ultimate fanservice to finally play as the dark beast who terrorized Hyrule for millennia, take notice of how Ganon seems to be more powerful here than when you fought him, with his special attack being Ganondorf's strong attack on steroids, attacking at a much faster speed than his boss fight and capable of dodging (which he never did in his boss fight), towering over every other giant boss and easily able to take them down with his pure brawn (and on top of being able to copy their abilities to use their Boss Attacks to boot). And his weak point smashes are Ganondorf's C5 on steroids and him summoning his trademark trident, which he is still shown to be adept with (how about jump slashing craptons of feet into the air and chucking his trident into a giant boss?). He also gains a Focus Spirit Mode, as if he still didn't have enough power, and his Focus Spirit attacks are either Ganondorf's Focus Spirit passive attack on steroids or him tossing his trident ahead of him, utterly wrecking everything in its path.
• Cia's, Wizzro's, and Volga's victory scenes will convince you to NEVER play as them again. Why? They attack the camera (or rather the player).
  • Young Link also counts since he's transformed into the Fierce Deity before he slashes the screen from up high. Especially if he has the Vengeful Deity's Mask, which comes with a very evil-looking sword. And how he's just smiling like the most adorable and innocent kid ever after he transforms back from that thing...
    • With the adition of the Level 4+ weapons, now Young Link has access to the Burning Deity Mask, which has the same sword model as the Vengeful Deity Mask, but colored in a reddish-pink color that has a slight organic feel to it, almost like he was weilding Soul Edge.
• What Cia does to Volga during her final stand. He's already strangely silent during that level, when every other time you encounter him he is hamming it up through constantly shouting insults at everybody as soon as things get started. But then she gets the idea to make him fight one more time, and bolsters his strength with dark magic. Cue his screams of agony; not yells, not roars, screams of agony.
• Apparently King Dodongo is enough of one in-universe to make Darunia of all people run for cover. And no, it's not the yellow-colored one (even though that one is pretty scary too); it's the one from Ocarina of Time, meaning the one that was pretty damn scary even when not comparing it to the usual King Dodongo. And this is the same guy who (later into the game as it was) proclaimed that Ganondorf himself didn't faze him.
  • Mitigated if you playing as him in that chapter. Darunia will instead announce that he will take on his mortal foe.
  • And King Dodongo isn't the only classic boss who got a makeover (besides Ganon, of course). Gohma now has an unbreakable carapace on its forelegs, which it uses to protect itself every time you attack them. Yes, even if you Attack Its Weak Point, it blocks that without fail. The only opening is when it unleashes its Eye Beams, and there's nothing forcing it to use that attack. This thing will devastate your army if left unchecked. And it's fast.
  • Manhandla has gotten one hell of an upgrade. Remember how it used to be four PAC-MAN heads attached to a square? Now it's four giant Venus Flytraps lined with blood red razor-sharp teeth attached to a tightly-closed flower. Made of metal. And the heads are indestructible — only by stunning them can you expose the crystal at the flower's center, the one weak spot on the entire thing. Oh, and its intro involves it bursting out of the ground and trying to eat the camera. And Manhandla also possesses one of the worst attacks to ever get hit with.
    • Extra Nightmare Fuel when you imagine that these are probably what the original 8-bit sprites were representing. Imagine being the very first Link in the series according to release date; you've just fought through an agonizing dungeon, killed bats and skeletons and who knows what else, and think you can hear the Triforce piece in the depths of the dungeon, so you open a big heavy door... to come face to face with one of those things! And unlike almost every other Link, this one has no one to fight beside him. No fairy, no Twili imp, no sword spirit, nobody. You are completely alone with a giant plant that could literally eat you in one gulp.
    • To show just how far those three bosses have come since their first incarnations, see this post here.
• Every time the adorable Young Link has to activate his Focus Spirit. This time around, he doesn't necessarily look like he's in too much pain. Rather, he looks mad and as if he's about to unleash some unbidden horror onto the world (you do remember the original description of the Fierce Deity's Mask, right?). The fangs are not helping either.
• When you encounter Skull kid during Linkle's story, he's there BEFORE Cia opens the time gates. Skull Kid and Majora either time travelled by themselves, or have just been waiting for untold ages to cause destruction again.
• The cutscene that plays when encountering Ganon in Adventure mode; the very air around him cracks like glass as he appears.