Which one is more frightening: The Forest Temple or the Shadow Temple?

[Link Floyd]

I know this sounds really weird but I always found the Forest Temple to be a lot more scary than the Shadow Temple. I guess it was because of the eerie music and the general vibe of the place. It always felt more remote/isolated than the Shadow Temple which was right behind Kakiriko village.

So how do you feel about these two temples? Does one scare you more than the other?

 

[Dio]

Forest temple wasn't that spooky of a place for me. It had two scary enemies in it. A Wallmaster and a Floormaster. The setting actually seemed rather pleasant especially with the grassy outdoorsy bit.

Shadow temple on the other hand was downright scary and horrifying for me. The place was filled with torture devices and contained pretty much all the games scary enemies: ReDeads, Dead Hand, Gibdo's, Wallmasters and Floormasters and it had to be done to that creepy ass music!

 

[funnier6]

I never found either of them to be frightening, though those wall masters in the forest temple scare me to death.

 

[Link Floyd]

The setting actually seemed rather pleasant especially with the grassy outdoorsy bit.

It's pleasant in the same way that meadow is in MM right before you face Majora.

 

[Spirit]

Shadow temple takes the scary crown (not that i found it scary but it has all the hallmarks of a horror show).

Forest temple.. i like decay and overgrowth so i was really taken with it. Hated actually doing it though.

 

[Azure Sage]

I don't think either of them are particularly scary, but the Shadow Temple is definitely creepier. I mean, its a totally different vibe. The forest temple has more of a haunted vibe to it, while the shadow temple had more of a "cursed with the resentment of the dead" thing going for it.

 

[Dio]

It's pleasant in the same way that meadow is in MM right before you face Majora.

Depends if you find Forest Temple to be scary or not. I found the contrast between the surreal meadow and Majora to be more effective because I found Majora to be creepy and the meadow lush and beautiful. For me the Forest Temple is just an old ruin with certain scary bits (The ones with the wallmaster amd floormaster... eek!) but not a particularly unpleasant one overall. I actually find the poes to be rather pleasant to look at. I like the coloured lanterns. Though the infestation of spiders other nasties do bring the place down a bit and I'll admit I wouldn't want to live there but out of the dungeons the Forest one certainly isn't one of the ones I would really hate to go to. Shadow on the other hand would be an absolute avoid for me.

 

[Pen]

Both dungeons are definitely spooky themed. To me enemies don't really decide how creepy a dungeon is with the exception of some bosses and mini bosses, so that doesn't really affect the dungeons that much imo. I found both of the dungeons to have some pretty creepy esthetics; about equally creepy actually. But when it comes to music and ambient sounds, Forest Temple has Shadow Temple beaten by a long shot in my book. So overall I find the Forest Temple to be the more frightening.

 

[Jirohnagi]

Forest temple and Shadow temple are both spooky places, but i think Forest temple is more so, it's a human construction a dwelling where presumably the poe sisters once lived and now they haunt it's halls, the overgrown by nature vibe is unsettling and the flooded well as, ahah, well adds to this theme of nature reclaiming, but that's not what creeps me out more so than the shadow temple, it's the music, we went from the lost woods whose tune is quiet high and cheerful into a temple whose entire theme is discordant and resonates at a different pitch than the outer area.

Shadow temple as a contrast, you've kinda been inoculated by this point of the horrors it will possess thanks to the ever terrifying well bottom, the music goes from a gloomy kakariko to a harsh underground tone with sibilant hissing as a insinuation. You expect horror at this point because you are just grasping how truly bad it is, we've seen the torture devices and the like and now we get to see where they got buried. Shadow temples entire theme is about a journey to the underworld to face the "devil" or devil like figure, but again it's not as discordant as the forest temple because at this point you expect it and are looking actively for it.

basically it comes down to
Forest temple is a subtle creepy the creepy of an abandoned home that's haunted by it's former residents, nature is slowly reclaiming it for her own and boy do they spring the Stalfos on you.
Shadow Temple is more overt creepy, it's a literal tomb of the dead of hyrule, there's torture devices and methods of decapitation, death is it's signature and you ride the ferry to hell's own doorstop.

 

[athenian200]

The Forest Temple was a little eerie, and there were a couple of freaky moments the first time I encountered a Wallmaster (it made me scream), but the Shadow Temple and the Bottom of the Well scared me so much that I would run out of them screaming and tried to save those dungeons for last in the game, going out of my way to do the Spirit Temple first without the lens.

I mean, I actually pictured the smell of rotting flesh in those places thanks to the official walkthrough's detailed descriptions. There were actual medieval torture/execution devices in there with bloodstains nearby, and I somehow recognized them as such. The idea of evil magic and illusions and walls made of bones just made me feel so creeped out. It didn't help that ReDeads, Gibdos, and Dead Hands were some of the scariest enemies in the game to me because of their ability to paralyze you, along with the creepy artwork and descriptions I saw.

 

[Ninja]

I believe the Forest Temple definitely has its scary moments, however the fact that it is your first full fledged adult dungeon plays a huge part in that. The overall environment has a gloomy atmosphere with the introduction of the four Poes, the creepy Wallmasters, and the chilling music. Despite this, the Shadow Temple is far more dark and frightening..

Let's start with actually getting to the temple. Listen to this song while reading this post. You enter Kakariko Village and see it's in flames, and under complete disarray. You see Sheik standing at the well, screaming at you to get back, as an evil spirit bursts out from the well. Once you manage to get back to the past, you have to complete Bottom of the Well.

This place is a nightmare, but foreshadows events to come. You are in a massive underground area with obvious blood on the walls, skeletons of dead bodies everywhere, and on top of that, you get to fight Dead Hand, a demonic creature that will literally bite chunks out of you, if you are unable to escape it's grasp.

After you get the Lens of Truth, you are able to enter the Shadow Temple. Holy ****. This place is ridiculous. You get to listen to the soundtrack, which is extremely ominous and dark. You venture through rooms of torture chambers, blood stained walls, another Dead Hand, spike traps, guillotines, and a damned shadow ferry. Once you complete this torture-death-chamber of a dungeon, you have to fight Bongo Bongo, a giant shadow beast with a severed head wound as a weakpoint.

Shadow Temple, for me, is definitely more frightening than the Forest Temple. It has everything you want in a scary dungeon, and then some. 11 year old me was definitely happy when I could finally move on and head to the desert.

 

[el :BeoWolf:]

Shadow Temple by a long shot. Full of traps and torture devices, and just has a scarier vibe to it. the Forest Temple is just mysterious and a little spooky.

 

[karu]

I believe the Forest Temple definitely has its scary moments, however the fact that it is your first full fledged adult dungeon plays a huge part in that. The overall environment has a gloomy atmosphere with the introduction of the four Poes, the creepy Wallmasters, and the chilling music. Despite this, the Shadow Temple is far more dark and frightening..

Let's start with actually getting to the temple. Listen to this song while reading this post. You enter Kakariko Village and see it's in flames, and under complete disarray. You see Sheik standing at the well, screaming at you to get back, as an evil spirit bursts out from the well. Once you manage to get back to the past, you have to complete Bottom of the Well.

This place is a nightmare, but foreshadows events to come. You are in a massive underground area with obvious blood on the walls, skeletons of dead bodies everywhere, and on top of that, you get to fight Dead Hand, a demonic creature that will literally bite chunks out of you, if you are unable to escape it's grasp.

After you get the Lens of Truth, you are able to enter the Shadow Temple. Holy ****. This place is ridiculous. ou get to listen to the soundtrack, which is extremely ominous and dark. You venture through rooms of torture chambers, blood stained walls, another Dead Hand, spike traps, guillotines, and a damned shadow ferry. Once you complete this torture-death-chamber of a dungeon, you have to fight Bongo Bongo, a giant shadow beast with a severed head wound as a weakpoint.

Shadow Temple, for me, is definitely more frightening than the Forest Temple. It has everything you want in a scary dungeon, and then some. 11 year old me was definitely happy when I could finally move on and head to the desert.

I'm replaying OoT and now this just made me NOT continue it for a really long time. Thank you for linking the scariest composition in Zelda history

 

[Castle]

AWESOME TOPIC!!

Yeah, Forest Temple is my favorite dungeon ever and everything and not just because it's creepy, though that's a major reason. I like it for its aesthetics and also for how confounding it is- which lends to its freakyness. Like Shrionagi pointed out, it's the ruin of a haunted castle in the depths of the Lost Woods where everyone fears to tread presumably haunted by its former residents. There is some sort of history to this place, yet it's never given. Whatever it is, it has to be something sinister and quite possibly tragic. For better or worse, we'll probably never know. The better to preserve its mystique.

While the Forest Temple has its in-your-face freaky moments - wolfos ambushes, lurking poes, stalfos cage matches, twisty rooms with wall masters, a multi story chamber filled with flaming demonic skulls - the Forest Temple's scare factor is less overt than the Shadow Temple. There's just this presiding feeling that something's wrong with this place.

While the Shadow Temple is the pinnacle of all things freaky in Ocarina of Time, by the time you get to it you've kinda been through it all. When the time comes to brave the Shadow Temple, you feel you're up to it. If surviving the Well hasn't psyched you up enough then I'm afraid Hyrule is doomed (It took me months before I could get enough nerve to enter the Well the first time, even though I'd actually wanted years for it!!!). If the poll had the choice between the Forest Temple and the Well, then the Well is undoubtedly scarier because that's the first time the game really pours on the horrors. While the Shadow Temple pulls out all the stops, by the time you get there you're ready to do this. Or at least, I don't think it's all that scary by then.

EDIT: What I find most chilling about the Shadow Temple and Well is that they're like right there. When you first discover Kakariko it looks like this friendly little medieval hamlet. But right from the start there just seems to be something off about it. Then you delve into the Well and you learn that this town's basement has a forgotten crypt with an unimaginable horror in it!! (ya'll know what I'm talking about) and all sorts of freaky stuff and illusions and a rampaging demon skull and it's like right under this quiet little town!! Then you discover that the Shadow Temple is this insane murder dungeon where the Sheikah have been doing hylia knows what godawful things and it's right on the other side of the graveyard! The town's right there, its residents blissfully unaware of the unseen horrors right beneath their homes and in their own backyards.

 

[pyjamas5189]

I just have 2 worlds for the shadow temple.... Dead hand! That thing is terrifying and keeps trying to bite my face off! I think that everything about the shadow temple has been designed to freak you out whereas the forest temple is more subtle, it's not supposed to be a scary place and yet it still manages to let off that vibe.