Most of the people from Hyrule Castle Town managed to escape to Kakariko Village once Ganondorf began his raid. But it’s clear that many of them unfortunately became ReDeads, as they stand tirelessly in the ruins of the marketplace. There is one individual, however, who lands somewhere in the middle of these two fates: the guard from the house next to the front gate, whose future self is unquestionably the Poe Collector from the Ghost Shop.
The place where the man permanently resides goes through a transformation that is equally as interesting as his, and both versions of the building play a part in Link’s journey. The Guard House — later reinvented as the Ghost Shop — offers Link not only useful resources but also a small look into the life of a curious man who wants a more interesting life, even at the cost of Hyrule’s downfall.
Located in the entrance of Hyrule Castle Town, just to the right of the main gate, the Guard House is a humble keep in which a single soldier stoically stands watch. While its primary purpose seems to be a watchpoint, with three outlook windows and a few weapons ready for an enemy attack, it also appears to be a storage room for someone’s wealth of rupees and pots.
This is where Link’s addiction to pot breaking truly began.
Most Ocarina of Time players will remember revisiting the Guard House multiple times to smash up some pots for extra cash, particularly if you were saving up for the Hylian Shield (and weren’t brave enough to get it for free from the Kakariko Graveyard). The soldier is either very bad at his job or very good at not caring, letting you break all that military surplus. His dialogue suggests the latter though, as he encourages Link to “let off some steam by breaking these jars.” So, he also has a pot addiction it seems — no wonder he’s so chill.
All jokes aside, I really enjoy the simplicity of the guard’s character. He is likely one of the first people outside of Kokiri Forest you’ll speak to once you arrive at Hyrule Castle Town, setting a first impression of the world outside of Link’s secluded life. Instead of being greeted with a patriotic, professional persona that you might expect from a guard, what we see is a pretty grounded personality. He’s a bored guard in a boring room in a boring (or, more accurately, a peaceful) world, and the player can actually closely relate to him. He wants adventure and excitement just like you, but he is stuck on guard duty day and night — with no company other than some pots and crates and a Golden Skulltula. And you, of course. You bring some well-needed anarchy into his life by slicing up those pots, crashing into those crates, and stealing some rupees from the broken jars.
You gotta hand it to the guard — he may not protect all the pots from being broken, but he’s clearly the one replacing them. Do you think he sits there gluing them all back together after you’ve left? Or does he have a reliable pot supplier? And what about the infinite rupee supply? He must be paying out of his own salary — all this because he’s bored. He definitely enjoys having Link visit, and he knows the pots and rupees are an incentive for him to come back. You and he might be best friends.
After all, he remembers you seven years later.
When you first meet the Poe Collector in the now-renovated Guard House, known as the Ghost Shop, he somehow knows your name. He claims he can read your mind, in keeping with the supernatural vibe he’s got going on, but we know this is the same ghost-loving guy you visited regularly as a kid.
It’s clear that it’s the same small room where you both reveled in some pot destruction, but like the rest of the world, it is now much darker, both physically and metaphorically. A single, tattered bed sits under a cage containing Poe spirits, and bottles of what is clearly alcohol sit next to the bed. The cheery house music that once played has been replaced by an eerie yet alluring melody that lets you know you’re somewhere truly strange.
Another noteworthy detail is that there are fewer pots scattered around, which tells us two things. One, the guard has finally found a more fulfilling job than the uneventful life of a guard, as he now collects Poes. And two, this newfound business is a better source of money for his best bud than breaking a bunch of pretty much-unguarded pots.
The Poe Collector makes some rather controversial comments about the great Ganondorf allowing the Poe economy to flourish, but we will let those slide for now. After all, we’re here for the only thing that’s better for storing goods than a pot: an Empty Bottle. It does make you wonder though if he was affiliated with Ganondorf in any way before the downfall. But that’s theory territory.
Although not a mandatory part of the game, visiting the Ghost Shop is in my opinion one of the most fun side quests, as scouring the vast expanse of Hyrule to shoot Poes down truly tests your bowmanship skills. Having said that, I remember seriously struggling to find the 10th one, as it’s hard to remember which you have or haven’t found yet.
Each Poe earns you 50 rupees though, and 10 Poes will earn you a beautiful Empty Bottle (which would have ironically been a big help in your Poe collecting quest). And if you were a completionist like me when playing Ocarina of Time, this was not optional. You’d be frequenting the one-eyed Poe Collector’s Ghost Shop, feeling less creeped out as you grew familiar with him, but more curious each time as to why he was collecting them. Some people collect Cuccos for how cute they are, others collect spiders to save a family. I guess when the world is all going to hell, those with creepy hobbies can thrive.
At least if you ever want to see your good old guard buddy again, back when ghosts were only a side hobby of his and the world was perfectly interesting the way it was, you can travel back in time to when it was a Guard House and smash up some pots — just like the good old days.
