Ocarina of Time What's So Scary/eerie About the Forest Temple Theme?

[Ventus]

Back in '98, it was the random spawns like Skulltulas and Wolfos that really creeped me out. To compound that fear was the theme itself, it was just freaky. If you did a 180 degree turn, you could find an enemy practically covering your TV screen, and that still frightens me to this day. Another thing taht the theme did was emphasize the feeling of getting lost. If you've ever had nightmares about OoT's Forest Temple, likely you'd dream about skulltulas and poes coming into your bedroom. I remember once I cried because of that. Silly, I know, but with a good reason to a child.

 

[Vaati's Success]

well I think it can be creepy because of that strange sound that wavers in and out during the song. Plus you have the whole feel of the temple around you and its kinda unsettling.

 

[Retsdob]

Musically, I found that what made it eerie was the ever-so slightly out of place crescendos and decrescendos. They made it feel as if there was always something lurking at the edge of the screen...just bearly out of sight, bearly out of consiousness. It put the mind on-edge, along with the Masters of any sort (most horrid creatures in zelda), darness, and the giggling poes it made the dungeon quite eerie.

 

[maskedgoron43]

i think it was because it sounded empty and made you feel isolated...

 

[DeletedUser9]

I do have a theory about why it scares other people, though. I think it's mostly the spiders, skeletons, and ghosts, perhaps the cobwebs and the feeling that you're in an abandoned, haunted mansion.

It's nothing compared to the Shadow Temple, though. The Shadow Temple was truly frightening.

Yes, the mansion feeling is something unique to the Forest Temple. It feels more like a normal building that really any other dungeon of the game, and it becomes more disturbing because of that. I would however argue that the Shadow Temple only managed to be roughly as scary as the Forest Temple, just that they're scary in very different ways.

i think it was because it sounded empty and made you feel isolated...

This is a part of it. The Forest Temple, aside from maybe the Spirit Track, is the closest to being at the "end of the world". It's at the fringe, and it feels and IS isolated. The dungeon is quiet and empty. It is also the first dungeon that you do upon becoming Adult Link, meaning it's the first step in your quest to topple Ganondorf's reign, and that was a scary time in Ocarina of Time, when you were up against a corrupted kingdom. The Forest Temple had many things that returned it to the feeling of classic dungeons, and that includes a sense of danger that the Child Link dungeons just didn't have.

Combine all these together with the Forest Temple's surreal nature and unique M.C. Escher-like feel, and it was terrifying in its own way.

The music really just complemented this nature, so although it was eerie in its own right, I think it was just a component to what made the Forest Temple frightening.

 

[ZeldaMaster]

Well its not scary/eerie its just the way it gets you pumped up for the phantom ganon battle ...( i got my butt kicked) but thats just my opinion.

 

[Abbs]

Eh, I don't see how it terrifies so many people but hey - that's their opinion not mine. It might have something to do with the Wallmaster dudes and the skeletons, but I personally just find those gremlins seriously annoying.

Personally, I thought it was pretty cool. The nice, lush greenry in the courtyards admist broken down ruins would make a lovely picnic area. That is, if you can ignore the little vermin prowling about. And yet people complain about ants.

 

[Linknerd09]

it's like someone is watching ur every movement! Ugh, so eerie!!*shivers*

 

[Tony]

I thought it was a mixture of Eerie/Melodic. The Chanting was pretty eerie it made me feel like a wolfos was going to pop out and kill me. While the other part is just as eerie but it felt more melodic.

 

[Vanessa28]

I didn't find it scary but somehow it matches with the environment. And the look of the temple including the wallmasters make it more creepy.

 

[Aurelia]

This isn't scary nor eeire. The music just had to match the Temple, and it did. Nothing really scary about it. It might of been like, "What...?" but other than that, it isn't scary. It's just music that matches the Temple very well.

 

[Celeboy]

It is eerie, theres no denying it. But it's NOT scary. I think the thing that creeps most people is the chanting and rising and falling of the music, so it makes you feel that something is there when it isn't. Also the big empty rooms and tall walls compliment to the creep factor and panic that it's a place where you can't get out of and it implements a trapped feeling.

 

[MrLuigi]

The Shadow Temple for me wasn't bad, that kind of horror doesn't have much affect on me. The Forest Temple though scares the living diarrhea out of me.