History NightmareFuel / TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast

** It's downplayed as only a couple people have that reaction, but suddenly coming upon such a person for the first time can be quite a surprise.

* THE GORIYAS. In this game, they're fairly large, they mirror your moves (the red ones also shoot fireballs), and ''there are black hollows where their eyes should be''. Did anyone miss the boomerang-throwing they used to do?
* Here's some FridgeHorror: The most common enemies you fight in the Light World are brainwashed human soldiers, members of Hyrule's military. You're killing members of your own side whose minds have been enslaved by their enemy. And imagine what things will be like after Agahnim and Ganon have been defeated for the families of the brainwashed soldiers.

** It's implied that the WorldHealingWave at the end undoes this, as [[spoiler:the King and Link's Uncle]] are shown alive and well at the end - so why not the random innocent mooks you killed?
* Agahnim is probably one of the most competent Zelda villains; he kills the King and apparently vaporizes the maidens, including Zelda--the latter right before Link's eyes. When he's defeated the first time, he transports Link to the Dark World. The only reason that Link survives is because Agahnim had no way of knowing that Link has the Magic Mirror, or possibly no way of knowing that it can warp Link back to the Light World.
** In the Japanese version, Agahnim actually sacrifices Zelda and the other maidens. Link really does wish everyone alive ala the Doctor.
** To Boot after you defeat him in Hyrule castle, various changes occur in enemy layouts as well as most of the talkable people outside vanishing (with soldiers openly patrolling the village). Did he do one last spiteful curse as he pulled Link into the dark world?
* In the opening to the game, you can see the Hyrule King deader than dead (meaning only his clothes and bones are left).
** in the GBA release you're forced to watch the intro every time you start a new file, whereas in the original SNES version it only came up as long as you didn't press start on the title screen.
* The many [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DGYFtaYRYo thieves]] lurking in both the Lost Woods of the Light World and the Village of Outcasts of the Dark World. They follow you constantly (unless you fake them out and leave them obstructed by a tree stump of whatever), if you ''do'' encounter them directly, they bump into you '''without warning''' and make off with your hard-earned goodies(!) like Rupees and bombs before you can even grab them back for yourself, and both versions by themselves are pretty creepy in their own right. Since animals replace people in the latter, when you first see it, you think nothing of a random fox until it approaches you and the former has a permanent scowl on his face and ''has white triangles where his eyes should be''. The worst part is that they're the only enemies in the game that you CANNOT kill. No matter how many times you slash them, shoot them, bomb them, or even blast them with magic.
* If you exploit some glitches to battle and defeat Agahnim early in the game before you get the Magic Mirror or Moon Pearl (as mentioned under UnwinnableByInsanity), you get transported into the Dark World, where you get transformed into Bunny Link and can do absolutely nothing beyond wandering around helplessly until you eventually get killed. In addition to being a scary enough concept in itself -- not helped by the somber "Bunny Link" theme playing as he gets pelted by spears and bombs from the assorted enemies -- the horror of the situation is turned UpToEleven when you realize this was the fate of ''everyone'' who wandered into a magical transporter or got zapped into the Dark World by Agahnim.
** A bit FridgeHorror: Agahnim turns Hyrule Castle's gate into one of these transporters, meaning anyone so much as visiting it got subjected to the same horrible fate.
* This is the first game in the series where Ganon has the ''entire'' Triforce, rather than just the Triforce of Power.

* Blind's Hideout. At one point in the dungeon, you find one of seven lost maidens you are to rescue. So after leading her into a big, empty room with a big patch of sunlight, she screams "GYAAGH! TOO BRIGHT!" and [[spoiler:Surprise! It's actually Blind, the boss of the dungeon! The young, pretty "maiden" is now a big, ugly red monster that floats around the room, shoots fireballs everywhere and sends out his multiple heads to do the same thing.]]
** [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/6/68/Blind.png/revision/latest?cb=20100405003643 Some of the artwork]] follows this interpretation, going so far as to show Link, back turned, express dawning horror as [[spoiler:the fake Maiden has transformed into Blind]], almost like something out of a horror movie or creepypasta....
* Reading certain headstones in the Sanctuary's cemetery will cause [[spoiler:a ghost to pop out of the top of the grave and give you chase, albeit slowly and through levitation]]. Even better, the exact same happens in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' if [[spoiler:you go into ''their'' cemetery!]]

* Ganon might look like a silly blue fat pig man here, but remember: according to ''Hyrule Historia'', this is the same Ganon that ''killed the Hero of Time and took the Triforce of Courage from his dead body''.
* The first time you for some chance get into the [[EasterEgg Chris Houlinhan]] secret room can be kind of a spooky surprise: you fall into a hole (among other methods) and instead of the cave/room you were expecting to appear in, you are inside a cave full of blue rupees and a telepathic tile on the northern wall. When you press it, someone with a definitely-not-hylian-name asks you to keep it as a secret. When you get out, you're suddenly outside of Link's house.

-->''After vanquishing his own followers, the leader stood triumphant before the Triforce and grasped it with his blood-stained hands. He heard a whispered voice: "If thou hast a strong desire or dream, wish for it..." And in reply, the roaring laughter of the brigand leader echoed across time and space and even reached the far-off land of Hyrule.''

* This game's representations of the Zoras. While in ''Ocarina of Time'' they're a race a beautiful humanoid fish people who help you, here you have these creepy swamp creatures that resemble a catfish's uglier brother. Worse, although half of the creatures shoot fireballs at you, the other half will jump out of their puddles and ''follow'' you! And let's not mention the leader of the Zoras (although he's GoodAllAlong, selling you the much-needed Zora flippers). Ironically, the Dark World's versions of them, which usually have a twisted version of their Light World equivalent, are more friendlier-looking (but no less dangerous.)
* The first time you for some chance get into the [[EasterEgg Chris Houlinhan]] secret room, can be kind of a spooky surprise: you fall into a hole (among other methods) and instead of the cave/room you were expecting to appear, you are inside a cave full of blue rupees and a telepathic tile on the northern wall. When you press it, someone with a definitely-not-hyllian-name asks you to keep it as a secret. When you get out, you're suddenly outside of Link's house. At least this trope felt uneasy for the rest of the day while asking himself what the hell just happened.

* Be careful on whom you speak to in Kakariko Village prior to defeating the game. In particular, there are three girls who will not speak to you. One of the girls will run away if you get too close to her [[note]]Although if you have the Pegasus Boots, you can catch up to her and she'll compliment you on your speed before hiding[[/note]] while the other two will [[spoiler: cry out that it's you, the one who "kidnapped" Princess Zelda, run into their house and shutting the door behind them and the peaceful music of the village will abruptly stop as a ScareChord soundtrack now appears and a Royal Guard comes and attacks you. The music will remain until you either defeat him or leave the screen.]]

[[caption-width-right:256: Ahh! KillItWithFire! [[note]] Literally. The only way to go inside is to burn the mouth with the fire rod. [[/note]]]]

* The music in the Dark World before you obtain the moon pearl. Try accessing the map screen and you see a lifeless, gloomy, twisted version of Hyrule laid out while that music is playing. The lack of warning before this segment, combined with how sudden the atmosphere of the game changes is downright unsettling at best, but seeing as many people started playing this game as kids, it wouldn't be surprising if they lost any sleep from this segment solely.

** Speaking of Skull Woods, this is the first dungeon where the Wallmasters make their ceiling falling debut. (Though they were in Zelda I, they came out of walls in that game.) Even though they aren't as terrifying as the 3D ones, just think of being a kid playing this game for the first time and randomly getting grabbed, pulled up to the ceiling, and returned to the entrance by a disembodied hand.
* THE GORIYAS. In this game, they're fairly large, they mirror your moves (the red ones also shoot fireballs), and ''there are black hollows where their eyes should be''. Did anyone miss the boomerang throwing they used to do?

** It's implied that the WorldHealingWave at the end undoes this, as [[spoiler: the King and Link's Uncle]] are shown alive and well at the end - so why not the random innocent mooks you killed?

** in the GBA release you're forced to watch the intro everytime you start a new file, whereas in the original SNES version it only came up as long as you didn't press start on the title screen.
* The many [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DGYFtaYRYo thieves]] lurking in both the Lost Woods of the Light World and the Village of Outcasts of the Dark World. They follow you constantly (unless you fake them out and leave them obstructed by a tree stump of whatever), if you ''do'' encounter them directly, they bump into you '''without warning''' and make off with your hard-earned goodies(!) like rupees and bombs before you can even grab them back for yourself, and both versions by themselves are pretty creepy in their own right. Since animals replace people in the latter, when you first see it, you think nothing of a random fox until it approaches you and the former has a permanent scowl on his face and ''has white triangles where his eyes should be.'' The worst part is that they're the only enemies in the game that you CANNOT kill. No matter how many times you slash them, shoot them, bomb them, or even blast them with magic.

** A bit FridgeHorror: Agahnim turns Hyrule Castle into one of these transporters, meaning anyone so much as visiting it got subjected to the same horrible fate.
* This is the first game in the series where Ganon has the ''entire'' Triforce.
* A telepathy tile in the Swamp Palace explains that objects exist simultaneously in both worlds, and that the state of the object in one world affects the other. With that in mind, think of the trees. In the light world, certain trees have goodies that fall out when bashed into. In the dark world, the trees standing in the same place as those trees are people you can talk to. Puts "Quit bothering me, and watch where you're going when you dash around" in another light, doesn't it?

** [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/6/68/Blind.png/revision/latest?cb=20100405003643 Some of the artwork]] follows this interpretation, going so far as to show Link, back turned, express dawning horror as [[spoiler:the fake Maiden has transformed into Blind]], almost like something out of a horror movie or creepypasta...
* Reading certain headstones in the Sanctuary's cemetery will cause [[spoiler: a ghost to pop out of the top of the grave and give you chase, albeit slowly and through levitation.]] Even better, the exact same happens in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' if [[spoiler: you go into ''their'' cemetery!]]
* The entrance to the Misery Mire dungeon looks like a [[http://i.imgur.com/wjTrffm.png nightmarish monster face.]] It's almost worse in [[http://i.imgur.com/Nv7MPcd.jpg this artwork.]]
* Ganon might look like a silly blue fat pigman here, but remember: according to ''Hyrule Historia'', this is the same Ganon that ''killed the Hero of Time and took the Triforce of Courage from his dead body.''

[[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/6/68/Blind.png/revision/latest?cb=20100405003643 Some of the artwork]] follows this interpretation, going so far as to show Link, back turned, express dawning horror as [[spoiler:the fake Maiden has transformed into Blind]], almost like something out of a horror movie or creepypasta...

* THE GORIYAS. In this game, they're fairly large, they mirror your moves (the red ones also shoot fireballs), and ''there are black hollows where their eyes should be''.

* Agahnim is probably one of the most competent Zelda villains; he kills the King and apparently vaporizes the maidens, including Zelda--the latter right before Link's eyes. When he's defeated the first time, he transports Link to the Dark World.

** A bit FridgeHorror: Aghahim turns Hyrule Castle into one of these transporters, meaning anyone so much as visiting it got subjected to the same horrible fate.

* Ganon might look like a silly blue fat pigman here, but remember: This is the same Ganon that ''Killed the Hero of Time and took the Triforce of Courage from his dead body.''

* The music in the Dark World before you obtain the moon pearl. Try accessing the map screen and you see a lifeless, gloomy, twisted version of Hyrule laid out while that music is playing.

* Ganon might look like a silly blue fat pigman here but remember. This is the same Ganon that ''Killed the Hero of Time and took the Triforce of Courage from his dead body''

* The entrance to the Misery Mire dungeon looks like a [[http://i.imgur.com/wjTrffm.png nightmarish monster face.]] It's almost worse in [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/f/f1/Misery_Mire_Artwork.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140129204952 this artwork]].

* The entrance to the Misery Mire dungeon looks like a [[http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda03/Walkthrough/11/004.png nightmarish monster face]]. It's almost worse in [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/f/f1/Misery_Mire_Artwork.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140129204952 this artwork]].

[[caption-width-right:256: Ahh! KillItWithFire! [[note]] Literally. The only way to go inside is to burn the mouth with the fire rod.[[/note]]]]

* Both the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9lu1V5Wc-0 Light World]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ObFGkl_-4 Dark World]] dungeon themes give one a sense of desolation and dread.

* Reading certain headstones in the Sanctuary's cemetery will cause [[spoiler: a ghost to pop out of the top of the grave and give you chase, albeit slowly and through levitation.]] Even better, the exact same happens in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' if [[spoiler: you go into ''their'' cemetery!]]

* The many [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DGYFtaYRYo thieves]] lurking in both the Lost Woods of the Light World and the Village of Outcasts of the Dark World. They follow you constantly (unless you fake them out and leave them obstructed by a tree stump of whatever), if you ''do'' encounter them directly, they bump into you '''without warning''' and make off with your hard-earned goodies(!) like rupees and bombs before you can even grab them back for yourself, and both versions by themselves are pretty creepy in their own right. Since animals replace people in the latter, when you first see it, you think nothing of a random fox until it approaches you and the former has a permanent scowl on his face and ''has white triangles where his eyes should be.'' The worst part is that they're the only enemies in the game that you CANNOT kill. No matter how many times you slash them, shoot them, bomb them, or even blast them with magic. So indestructible are these guys that they literally make Ganon look like a chump. And Ganon was the ''King of Thieves'' before he became the ''King of Evil'', no less. YIKES.

* THE GORIYAS. In this game, they're fairly large, they mirror your moves (the red ones also shoot arrows), and ''there are black hollows where their eyes should be''.

* Blind's Hideout. At one point in the dungeon, you find one of seven lost maidens you are to rescue. So after leading her into a big, empty room with a big patch of sunlight, she screams "GYAAGH! TOO BRIGHT!" and [[spoiler:Surprise! It's actually Blind, the boss of the dungeon! The young, pretty "maiden" is now a big, ugly red monster that floats around the room, shoots fireballs everywhere and sends out his multiple heads to do the same thing.]]

* A telepathy tile in the Swamp Palace explains that objects exist simultaneously in both worlds, and that the state of the object in one world affects the other. With that in mind, think of the trees. In the light world, certain trees have goodies that fall out when bashed into. In the dark world, the trees standing in the same place as those trees are people you can talk to. Puts "Quit bothering me, and watch where you're going when you dash around" in another light, doesn't it?

* The many thieves lurking in both the Lost Woods of the Light World and the Skeleton Forest of the Dark World. They follow you constantly (unless you fake them out and leave them obstructed by a tree stump of whatever), if you ''do'' encounter them directly, they bump into you '''without warning''' and make off with your hard-earned goodies(!) like rupees and bombs before you can even grab them back for yourself, you CANNOT kill them or even wound them, and both versions by themselves are pretty creepy in their own right. Since animals replace people in the latter, when you first see it, you think nothing of a random fox until it approaches you and the former has a permanent scowl on his face and ''has white triangles where his eyes should be.'' Yikes.

* A telepathy tile in the Swamp Palace explains that objects exist simultaneously in both worlds, and that the state of the object in one world affects the other. With that in mind, think of the trees. In the light world, certain trees have goodies that fall out when bashed into. In the dark world, the trees standing in the same place as those trees are people you can talk to. Puts "Quit bothering me, and watch where you're going when you dash around" in another light, doesn't it?
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DGYFtaYRYo The thieves]] are the only enemies in the game that you CANNOT kill. No matter how many times you slash them, shoot them, bomb them, or even blast them with magic. So indestructible are these guys that they literally make Ganon look like a chump.

* A telepathy tile in the Swamp Palace explains that objects exist simultaneously in both worlds, and that the state of the object in one world affects the other. With that in mind, think of the trees. In the light world, certain trees have goodies that fall out when bashed into. In the dark world, the trees standing in the same place as those trees are people you can talk to. Puts "Quit bothering me, and watch where you're going when you dash around" in another light, doesn't it?

* This is the first game in the series where Ganon has the ''entire'' Triforce.

* The basic soldiers have very good AI and will actively chase you if they see or hear you. They can also hide in shrubs and only appear when you cut one, or disguise themselves as bushes to snipe you with crossbow bolts.

* Aganihm stations guards right outside Link's house, meaning he knows where Link lives.