Zelda Theory: What are ReDeads?

[ZeldaConqueror]

Once again another Zelda theory! Let me know what you guys think and if you agree or disagree.

 

[Jirohnagi]

I think i'll chip in here, OOT Redeads strike me as Burial Effigies. Judging by the mask made from a coffin on their face would say that they are stand in's for those who've died, In other words those who die in war or the like whose bodies are destroyed, their souls will bind to the burial effigies, Objects made of Wood and clay, I also think Gibdo's and Redeads are two halfs of it, the Gibdo is the mummified corpse and the Redead is used for when a body cannot be found, MM Gibdo-Redead cannot be taken as anything else but a parallel world, Things are different in Termina, The Suns Song will work on them as they are unrestful spirits inside a phylactery.

Right onto Termina, yea Gibdos become Redeads in Termina because of the burial beliefs, they wrap the effigies in wrappings to try to ward the soul from returning, Those Gibdo's are likely well prospectors or warriors so unclean deaths there, The dancing Troupe are true redeads similar to those we see later in the series, Dark Power is flowing through Ikana bringing the dead back, those who died in battle are brought back in their burial garb and those who are rotting in the castle gain new life as it's custodians.

 

[Dio]

http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/ReDead?file=ReDead_Artwork_(Ocarina_of_Time).png

The file was too large to upload. If you look at that official artwork which is how everything is meant to look in OOT but can't due to graphical limitations, you can clearly see sinews and veins on these creatures. They aren't clay at all. They are the dead.

ReDead appear in graves when link is a child and in Hyrule Castle town when Link is adult, and despite smash claiming the townsfolk got to safety. OOT shows otherwise. Many guards and townsfolk are actually never seen again. This says to me that these are not simply creatures of magic spawned by Ganondorf, especially as he did not visit Kakariko Village and enter graves to put them there when link was a child. It is also stated in game that the suns song makes the dead freeze. Funnily enough it works on ReDead and Gibdo's only.

The wooden masks they wear in OOT must have been an old Hylian tradition and a design choice by the developers to make these creatures appear more scary, its not an indicator of them being effigy's. In WW you see ReDeads wear no such mask and appear out of sealed coffins. Which is the very place to store a dead body indicating even more that is what ReDeads are.

Further evidence indicating these things are zombies is that they are a recurring enemy throughout Zelda. I mentioned WW but the graphics make things unclear however in the most realistic looking entry ( TP) they are shown as mummified corpses. There is no logical reason for them to be clay monsters in one game and a corpse in another and bear the same name of ReDead.

The only source that says or indicates they are anything other than corpses is the non canon, Super Smash Brothers. Its description is almost certainly wrong, as there is no in game evidence or evidence from an official Zelda source that ReDeads are anything other than zombies. Therefore zombies is what they are.

 

[Jirohnagi]

http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/ReDead?file=ReDead_Artwork_(Ocarina_of_Time).png

The file was too large to upload. If you look at that official artwork which is how everything is meant to look in OOT but can't due to graphical limitations, you can clearly see sinews and veins on these creatures. They aren't clay at all. They are the dead.

ReDead appear in graves when link is a child and in Hyrule Castle town when Link is adult, and despite smash claiming the townsfolk got to safety. OOT shows otherwise. Many guards and townsfolk are actually never seen again. This says to me that these are not simply creatures of magic spawned by Ganondorf, especially as he did not visit Kakariko Village and enter graves to put them there when link was a child. It is also stated in game that the suns song makes the dead freeze. Funnily enough it works on ReDead and Gibdo's only.

The wooden masks they wear in OOT must have been an old Hylian tradition and a design choice by the developers to make these creatures appear more scary, its not an indicator of them being effigy's. In WW you see ReDeads wear no such mask and appear out of sealed coffins. Which is the very place to store a dead body indicating even more that is what ReDeads are.

Further evidence indicating these things are zombies is that they are a recurring enemy throughout Zelda. I mentioned WW but the graphics make things unclear however in the most realistic looking entry ( TP) they are shown as mummified corpses. There is no logical reason for them to be clay monsters in one game and a corpse in another and bear the same name of ReDead.

The only source that says or indicates they are anything other than corpses is the non canon, Super Smash Brothers. Its description is almost certainly wrong, as there is no in game evidence or evidence from an official Zelda source that ReDeads are anything other than zombies. Therefore zombies is what they are.

So why is it they don't look like that in OOT3D? the Official Artwork is still only artwork, And we don't actually see any coffins in OOT that a Redead Rises from, why? because Redeads are at least partially created from those coffins, we see that in dampe's remark about the spooky mask which bares an overly large resemblance to Redeads Also why do Gibdo's become Stalfos in ALL bar one game? Redeads aren't true undead in OOT and seeing as OP stated he'd be focusing on that that's what i am going with. But to answer your thing on Redeads in later series maybe in OOT Redeads are an amalgamation of Dead Body the spirit coming back and seeking refuge in it and then turning the wooden clay like coffin into a new coating of flesh so they don't immediately rot away to nothing.

In WW Redeads we see are inshrined in Stone Coffins not Wooden or clay ones so clearly they don't have that plus they look a hell of lot healthier than OOT Redeads, so WW Redeads are either Exceedingly fresh or there is a stronger magic behind them, i would be inclined to the fresh idea due to Ganondorf killing both sages prior to the game but we don't know how much sooner that was so i'm leaning towards a stronger magic keeping them going.

Redead Knights from TP (they aren't Normal Ones) Are from what i've seen are either high ranking wardens of Arbiter's Grounds (where they are most common) Or they were Knights who fell in combat which again is a logical conclusion. I don't believe we see Redeads in any other games bare TP, WW, OOT and MM

MM redeads i'd say are the dead who've not been given the burial rights which a gibdo has been given. Hell Gibdo's on the whole stink of Egyptian Mummies and their curses in this game.

 

[Dio]

So why is it they don't look like that in OOT3D? the Official Artwork is still only artwork, And we don't actually see any coffins in OOT that a Redead Rises from, why? because Redeads are at least partially created from those coffins, we see that in dampe's remark about the spooky mask which bares an overly large resemblance to Redeads Also why do Gibdo's become Stalfos in ALL bar one game? Redeads aren't true undead in OOT and seeing as OP stated he'd be focusing on that that's what i am going with. But to answer your thing on Redeads in later series maybe in OOT Redeads are an amalgamation of Dead Body the spirit coming back and seeking refuge in it and then turning the wooden clay like coffin into a new coating of flesh so they don't immediately rot away to nothing.

In WW Redeads we see are inshrined in Stone Coffins not Wooden or clay ones so clearly they don't have that plus they look a hell of lot healthier than OOT Redeads, so WW Redeads are either Exceedingly fresh or there is a stronger magic behind them, i would be inclined to the fresh idea due to Ganondorf killing both sages prior to the game but we don't know how much sooner that was so i'm leaning towards a stronger magic keeping them going.

Redead Knights from TP (they aren't Normal Ones) Are from what i've seen are either high ranking wardens of Arbiter's Grounds (where they are most common) Or they were Knights who fell in combat which again is a logical conclusion. I don't believe we see Redeads in any other games bare TP, WW, OOT and MM

MM redeads i'd say are the dead who've not been given the burial rights which a gibdo has been given. Hell Gibdo's on the whole stink of Egyptian Mummies and their curses in this game.

The graphics of OOT3D are not very good. They are gamecube quality as they are on the 3DS. Untill a true HD title is made neither ReDeads or any other character or creature will resemble the official art.

Whether they used the wood from coffins and added clay to themselves to prolong their existence, my point still stands that they are corpses and not simply monsters. That is what would make them ReDead and not any other type of creature. Gibdo I think are just corpses that have been mummified which is why they are exactly the same enemy as the ReDead.

 

[Jirohnagi]

The graphics of OOT3D are not very good. They are gamecube quality as they are on the 3DS. Untill a true HD title is made neither ReDeads or any other character or creature will resemble the official art.

Whether they used the wood from coffins and added clay to themselves to prolong their existence, my point still stands that they are corpses and not simply monsters. That is what would make them ReDead and not any other type of creature. Gibdo I think are just corpses that have been mummified which is why they are exactly the same enemy as the ReDead.

But they aren't, Gibdos are significantly stronger than a redead, which is likely due to their preserved state. But yeah i get your point that aren't solely creatures made of clay or anything.

 

[Snow Queen]

Apparently, ReDeads were never human to begin with, according to their Smash Bros. trophy descriptions.

 

[ZeldaConqueror]

Apparently, ReDeads were never human to begin with, according to their Smash Bros. trophy descriptions.

Watch the video, I stated that in the beginning and why it's wrong lol, plus Smash Bros is non-canon.

 

[ZeldaConqueror]

But they aren't, Gibdos are significantly stronger than a redead, which is likely due to their preserved state. But yeah i get your point that aren't solely creatures made of clay or anything.

Also don't forget, gibdos rarely appear in OoT, but they can be found in a specific room in the bottom of the Well and Shadow Temple, not sure if you knew that, but just saying

 

[Jirohnagi]

Also don't forget, gibdos rarely appear in OoT, but they can be found in a specific room in the bottom of the Well and Shadow Temple, not sure if you knew that, but just saying

Just been in those places in my MQ run but yeah, and you can see there that they are alot stronger than regular ones, so preservation methods did work

 

[hwrdjacob]

The graphics of OOT3D are not very good. They are gamecube quality as they are on the 3DS. Untill a true HD title is made neither ReDeads or any other character or creature will resemble the official art.

Well hold up here because the ReDeads in OoT3D and MM3D DO resemble the art. There are veins and visable ribcages on the 3DS ReDeads.

As for the wood thing, They are clearly wearing Spooky Masks, which a Gossip Stone says is made from the wood of a coffin.

 

[HeroOfTime]

The fact that the Sun's song, and the light bows work extremely well on them also lends to the evidence that they are zombies. As the bow of light also works potently on the gibdos, which are unarguably mummified undead humans, it also strikes down the redeads, which also are undead.

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

The fact that the Sun's song, and the light bows work extremely well on them also lends to the evidence that they are zombies. As the bow of light also works potently on the gibdos, which are unarguably mummified undead humans, it also strikes down the redeads, which also are undead.

Another thing that supports the idea that they're zombies is the way they attack. ReDeads attack by screaming and then quite literally sucking the life out of you. Now while zombies traditionally don't scream, they do bite people to attack, essentially eating their life away. It's the same basic principle.

Then we can also look at where they appear in game, because that's pretty important. For example, they are in the Royal Family's tomb beneath the Graveyard. Yes. A tomb. No doubt, they are the reanimated corpses of the royal family members buried there. Then they appear Beneath the Well, a place that is full of torture devices and skeletons. There are even zombie hands in the poisonous water. People were obviously disposed of beneath the well, perhaps these are people that were not as important as the members of the royal family. We also see a lot of ReDeads in the market. This one is easily explainable. The market was attacked by Ganondorf and left a wreck, no doubt some people died in that attack. Over the course of 7 years, their corpses could have decayed and reanimated into the ReDeads that inhabit that place in the future. There were way more people in the Market in the past than there are in Kakariko Village in the future, showing that not all of them made it out alive. Finally, ReDeads are present in the Shadow Temple, which also contains lots of torture devices and dead things.

I think it's pretty safe to say that the ReDeads are in fact zombies, reanimated corpses of people that had died. It's the easiest explanation and it makes a lot of sense.

 

[CrimsonCavalier]

I agree that they are zombies. I can see no other explanation other than the fact that they have reanimated corpses. Gibdos are similar, of course. The only difference is that Gibdos have been wrapped in linen and Redeads have not.

It should be noted that not all mummies were wrapped in linen. Some bodies have been mummified by different compounds in the earth in which they were buried, preserving them fairly well.

Mummies (in horror lore) are nothing more than zombies wrapped in linen.

As a side note (again), I actually watched this video randomly on YT without knowing you had put it on here. Or that you were even on these boards. Well done.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

They're zombies.

Man Hyrule and its surroundinflg countries must suck, even dead you can't rest.