Disclaimer: For the purposes of this article and in order to protect my daughter’s privacy, I will be referring to her by the name “Shadow.”
Despite not being traditionally known as a “horror” series, each year when the spooky season comes around, the Zelda series has players covered. From enemies like Dead Hand and the ReDeads of Ocarina of Time to the creepy statues created by the Elegy of Emptiness and the terrible, agonizing screams Link makes every time he puts on the Deku Mask in Majora’s Mask, the Zelda series can do horror. As creepy as all of those moments are, though, there is one moment in the series that we barely even speak of in my house. One moment that the slightest glimpse of causes us to turn away in horror. A single moment that we always “nope” out on: the Interloper cutscene from Twilight Princess.
My daughter has been exposed to pretty much all the games in the Zelda series. Shadow can even sit down and discuss the finer points of Bellum with you. Bellum. That’s how much my kid knows without even having played through too many of the games. As we share each new game, my daughter will often ask me to sit down and play through either some or all of it together.
A while back, Twilight Princess fell into this camp. We’d seen videos showing the terrifying majesty of Stallord and the unrepentant sassiness of Midna, and my daughter believed that this game was made for her. As I restarted the game, Shadow was enraptured by the title screen cinematic and loved the howling Wolf Link. Ordon Village was initially a big hit for no other reason than that it had cats, but like it did for many of us, it quickly became boring to watch as I had to put Link through everyone in the village’s list of chores. Interest piqued again when the hero was pulled into the Twilight and Wolf Link was introduced. The slight creepiness of the spirits of the soldiers who had been forced into the darkness was a big hit, as was the slightly abusive way that Midna initially treats Link. He’s really more steed than partner at that point! This somber, shrouded version of Princess Zelda and the story of Hyrule Castle’s fall into the Twilight were also pretty well liked. Shadow likes some spookiness! But then Twilight Princess went way, way too far.
I warned my daughter that this next part may be a bit scary, but it was like an oath had been sworn. Shadow would not falter. I should have known better. We all thought we could handle it the first time. As the Interloper cutscene started, my daughter was into it. This kid’s a lore lover. Take any fictional story and explain that there’s lore detailing the smallest points about some mysterious creature, and suddenly video after video is watched and book after book is read on it. As the familiar creation myth of Hyrule played, we both just happily just soaked it all in.
“Aw, look! Link and Ilia are standing together. That’s cute!” Then, like the video, things started to veer off track.
“Uh, Ilia, what are you doing with that knife?”
Ilia turned to reveal her cold, soulless eyes as she attacked and was attacked in turn by the spectral Link of this vision, and my daughter recoiled in horror. We’d passed the threshold from spookiness and into nightmare-inducing terror. Shadow’s head was quickly turned and snuggled in to avoid all that the spirit, Lanayru, was still to subject us to. The blank eyes of a murderous Link, the three red-eyed Dark Links, the wicked smile as the dead-eyed Link seemingly vaporizes our hero, and the terrified scream that escapes from his mouth just as it seems like his eyes may also escape from their sockets was all too much.
Despite a few years having passed by, it still is. To this day, when we’re watching a Zelda theory and this cutscene plays, I have to quickly turn the screen to shield it from my daughter’s eyes. If I’m too slow, I risk punishment by the tiny monarch of my heart. At some point, perhaps we’ll be ready to see the tale of the Interlopers together. Or maybe it’s just time to admit that really, none of us are ever ready for the horror of it.
