Daily Debate: What are your Favorite Town or Village Musical Themes Outside of “Kakariko Village?”
Posted on March 19 2025 by Sean Gadus
One of the best things about the Zelda series are the incredible soundtracks that were created for each game. Each Zelda game has its own set of memorable new songs, and newer games in the series often have interesting arrangements of old favorites. Some of my favorite pieces of music from the Zelda series are the musical themes for the different towns and villages. These themes usually convey a sense of safety and security, but they also have to help create a distinct identity for the town or village. The most well-known town theme from the series is probably “Kakariko Village,” which first appeared in A Link To The Past. This theme has reappear many times throughout the decades including in games like Ocarina of Time, A Link Between Worlds and Four Swords Adventures (where the musical theme is used for Village of the Blue Maiden). While there have been other musical themes used for Kakariko Village in games like Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild, they are not as famous as the theme that originated in A Link To The Past.
With all of the wonderful music from the Zelda series in mind, what are your favorite town or village themes outside of Kakariko Village?
For this exercise, I tried to limit the list of musical themes to songs that plays exclusively in a town or village area, so I did not consider songs like “Gerudo Valley” (which plays in a variety of different locations including Gerudo Valley, Gerudo Fortress, and The Haunted Wasteland).
My favorite town theme outside of “Kakariko Village” is “Hateno Village” from Breath of the Wild. The music for the town is so calm and peaceful; I love the marimba section that opens the piece, and there is also a beautiful section of the melody performed by a string instrument. Additionally, the day and night variations of the song are both wonderful. One of my other favorite town themes is “Hyrule Castle Town” from Twilight Princess. The player spends a lot of time in Hyrule Castle Town exploring the different areas in the large town or as part of various quests, so this song needed to be memorable. The song feels very upbeat and energetic, and it is perfect for the thriving center of Hyrule. There are some interesting variations to the theme depending on which area of Hyrule Castle Town the player is in; this includes a version of the song played by a group of street musicians in Central Castle Town.
What do you think? What are your favorite town or village themes outside of “Kakariko Village”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Sean Gadus is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, and he loves all of the 3D Zelda games from 1998-2011. He is currently playing Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the first time (what an amazing game!). He wants to help build a kinder, more compassionate world. You can check out his other written work at The-Artifice.com.
