The Curious Case of Kakariko Village - Zelda Theory

[Music] kakariko village is a familiar name in the zelda series a reoccurring landmark in hyrule's landscape though different in each installment from a japanese-style shika village hylian farming settlement to something straight out of a classic western but by far my favorite rendition of this iconic village is the one found in ocarina of time a quaint little town at the foot of another famous landmark the active volcano death mountain home of the gorons but it's not the town itself that makes this place so interesting it only has a small handful of buildings and inhabitants most of which don't play a key role in the story and yet this seemingly peaceful little village holds a plethora of some of ocarina of time's biggest mysteries the cursed family living inside the skulltula house the origins of the song of storms haunted graveyard and of course a woman who is allergic to cuckoos yet choosing cocoa farming as her profession why would you do that seriously that's like a peanut farmer with a severe peanut allergy but the biggest mysteries about kakriko village are not the ones found on the surface but rather that which lies underneath by far the craziest and most unsettling aspect about kakariko is that right below the feet of its unsuspecting settlers lies a vast network of tunnels caves rooms and corridors which when put together are way bigger than the actual village that stands above ground most famous are of course the shadow temple and its sister mini dungeon the bottom of the well two locations which on their own already hold a lot of mystery especially because of their gruesome haunting atmospheres and aesthetics hints of torture imprisonment mass graves and even the living dead are a common sight down here the more you uncover about kakariko village the more you realize that there is something seriously wrong with this place and today we will attempt to get a bigger picture to see why and how this part of hyrule came to be so wretched together with nintendo black crisis we will cover the construction of kakariko's underground its ties to the shika dark history implications of spirit magic how this all ultimately led to some eerie and unforeseen consequences and even a possible connection to breath of the wild and its upcoming sequel there is a lot to dissect so join us as we take a deep dive into the curious case of kakrico village [Music] although kakariko village is a hylian settlement by the time the events of the game take place it is told to us that in the past it was predominantly a chica village instead a place where they lived and operated from during one of hyrule's most brutal conflicts the hyrulian civil war the sheikah basically served as a sort of secret police for the kingdom of hyrule an elusive tribe who operated from the shadows out of sight from the public eye on behalf of the royal family by the time we visit the village in ocarina of time the conflict has only been resolved for about nine years the shika are close to extinction with its only known living member being impa who now serves as princess zelda's personal caretaker the rest of the tribe has been laid to rest in kakariko's graveyard and the village itself has since become occupied by hylians as is often in bloody conflicts all sides like to think of themselves as the righteous ones the good guys in the story hence the gruesome fate of prisoners of war are preferably kept out of public sight and for good reason i mean from what we can see the stuff the shika were doing isn't exactly something you would want the world to see obviously the royal family of hyrule had a reputation to uphold and signs of such cruelty would stain that reputation and this is where kakariko village allegedly came into play given their secret of nature the chica were the perfect candidates to catch imprison and dispose of prisoners of war and their hometown basically became ground zero for these horrible acts of war however to obscure the cruelty carried out in the name of hyrule's royal family they either constructed new underground structures in and around the village or repurposed those that were already there before like the bottom of the well for instance these structures such as the aforementioned shadow temple and bottom of the well would serve as both prisons torture sites as well as the final resting place for the unfortunate souls taken down here never to be seen again now this is all nothing new there have been theories about these locations and practices for decades and most agree that this was indeed the most likely purpose of these underground locales all the evidence seems to point at this scenario but what it doesn't explain is exactly how these places as well as the town above became so ripe with curses hauntings and vast amounts of undead lurking beneath the surface i mean it's likely that many people died all over hyrule during the civil war right so how did kakariko in particular come to be so tainted the fact that a lot of people died here doesn't automatically explain why they would rise from the grave there has to be more to it than that a catalyst which led up to all of this it's clear that the chica did quite a bit of digging in and around kakariko the shadow temple and bottom of the well are already pretty extensive but these are not the only underground sections found around the village looking at it from above shows just how much underground space there is below this little town and my best guess would be that these underground sections were all excavated and built by the chica around the same time given their similar architecture some may have even been connected at some point or were at least planned to be connected but never finished after the excavations were abandoned first we have the shadow temple whose entrance is inside the graveyard we have the royal family's tomb bordering the temple and some of the other smaller chambers inside some of the graves and one in the center of town then we have dumped grave which is a vast network of man-made corridors and tunnels snaking underneath the graveyard and into the village itself it's safe to assume that this grave was not dug solely for the purpose of donpe's final resting place it's a bit excessive for one person wouldn't you agree not to mention we find multiple skeletal remains here indicating that more than just one individual was buried here the crypt also has frequent dead ends and some of these tunnels look like they were still under construction by the time the project was abandoned all this ultimately connects directly to the windmill inside the village the windmill in turn is capable of draining the well outside giving access to the bottom of the well we even see a schematic of the windmill hanging on the wall which clearly depicts that it has mechanisms and access points extending below ground and judging from the size comparison the bottom of the well runs right underneath the windmill all this points to these underground sections being much more connected than we are visually allowed to see it's almost like an underground city existing below kakariko and the villagers who live out their lives here don't seem to be aware of the horrors that lie only a few meters deep [Music] so we have a vast interconnected network where some horrific events took place out of sight from the general public interesting for sure but it still doesn't explain the connection of the dead coming back to life via cursed and other oddities plaguing this town what is perhaps most alarming about kakariko's underground is that with the exception of one grave which leads to a fairy fountain every single one of these underground areas houses the reanimated corpses known as re-deads even the royal family's tomb is not exempt from this there's been a lot of debate in the past about whether or not re-deads are actual zombies or not this uncertainty stems from the fact that smash brothers melee included a trophy of a re-dead stating that they were nothing more than magic animated into hideous humanoid shapes it even points to ganondorf being the source of the redeads something that is never made clear in the actual game however we fully side with celtic on this matter there's simply too much evidence that contradicts the melee's trophy and instead points to redeads indeed being hyrule's equivalent of zombies aka the reanimated bodies of the deceased and not just magic clay figures so to speak and if we as zelda fans had to choose obviously information from the main game will always have priority over a trophy in an unrelated fighting game we won't get into too many specifics as that is a theory on its own but watch celtic's video if you want to know more what is important to note however is that it is quite literally impossible that re-deads are solely ganondorf's doing not only do re-deads exist outside hyrule in places like termina far from ganondorf's reach but the re-deads in the royal family's tomb were clearly there before ganondorf's invasion of hyrule you can access the tomb long before his power grab and up until that point ganondorf was still laying low and playing nice with hyrule's leadership the ancient scriptures carved inside the royal crypt also directly refer to the living dead another indication that the existence of the redeads was a known fact long ago perhaps even back when the tomb was built it stands to reason then that the same thing goes for all other re-deads in this general area the ones in hyrule castle could very well be placed here by ganondorf but for the ones in kakariko it just doesn't add up not to mention we also have dead hand gibdos and other undead enemy types roaming the catacombs of the village as well and even bongo bongo seems to share the same traits of an undead being how exactly this was all achieved remains totally unexplained but there is one particular thing that in our opinion could provide a strong hint something that a lot of these locations have in [Music] common when visiting the bottom of the well the shadow temple and even the royal family's tomb one might stumble upon these pools containing some weird green substance not only that but in the case of the well and the shadow temple they are found at the deepest level of the structure this liquid is harmful to the touch dealing a quarter heart of damage to link when he comes into contact with it what this stuff actually is is never explained in the game but it's only found in these parts of hyrule and nowhere else now in the zelda series green energy has always had a connection to a couple of things two of which being spirits and magic and there's an argument to be made that the two are one in the same or at the very least deeply connected in breath of the wild we find the luminous stones which are said to house the spirits of the dead the green glow emitted by the deceased such as king rome and the champions and of course the green spiraling energy surrounding the corpse in the reveal trailer of breath the wild 2. the correlation between spirit energy and magic is made even more clear by the champion abilities when link frees one of the deceased champions they will bestow parts of their soul upon him giving him access to the magic ability they possessed in life we know that magic is important to the chica even as far back as ocarina of time the door leading to the shadow temple requires the use of magic to be opened the lens of truth which is a shika artifact literally runs on magic and in other installments the shika utilize natural resources such as crystals and liquids to power their technology in breath of the wild this is framed as something scientific but it might as well be magic in the eyes of those who don't understand its inner workings and even here spirit energy is still utilized as the divine beasts require the spirit of a powerful individual to be operated again there's clearly a blurred line between science and magic in this universe perhaps by the time of breath the wild these processes were better understood by the sheikha hence it took on the shape of science rather than magic one thing we know for sure is that certain individuals can conjure up magic on their own ganondorf being a good example though we also have vati princess zelda herself and more recently the four champions of the divine beasts beings who through the power of their spirit have access to magical abilities but this seems to be quite rare in hyrule most ordinary people don't seem to have the gift of magic and interestingly enough link himself too doesn't have magic powers of his own at least not an ocarina of time he's only able to use magic because of certain weapons and artifacts enchanted objects with magic power which grant him access to a variety of spells and attacks in that sense anyone could potentially use this magic if they're in possession of one of these objects without inherently having powers themselves so here's a crazy idea what if during the excavations below kakrico village the shika dug so deep that they accidentally stumbled upon an underground pocket containing this green substance which then spilled out and pulled up inside these caves and to take it even further that this was the first discovery of spirit magic in liquid form a ghostly substance or fuel seeping through the cracks of the earth which allowed for the enchantment of objects powering technology and other access to magic for those not naturally gifted it could have even been the reason why the hylians gained the upper hand in the civil war the discovery of destructive magic able to be used by common soldiers would no doubt turn the tides in a war mostly fought with medieval weaponry however because this was a new discovery it stands to reason that this substance wasn't well understood at the time after the initial discovery the chica being the scientists we know them to be likely studied it extensively experimented with it and one of the discoveries made could have been the effect it had on the dead and it is this that may have led to the intentional or unintentional creation of the first redeads by the looks of it the green lake found at the bottom of the well seems to be the location where the liquid was first discovered as this part of the well still looks like a natural cave the walls are not made of brick nor are they decorated like they are on the upper levels it still genuinely looks like an actual excavation site there's also signs of this green energy being studied here as there are man-made walkways laid across the lake and we even see hands sticking out of the pool an indication that the sheikah may have attempted to resurrect bodies by throwing them inside or even more morbid gone as far as to throw live prisoners in as a way of testing the effects perhaps the sheikah first figured that this liquid may hold the potential for eternal life or bringing back loved ones the royal family could have seen great potential in this as well which could explain why the liquid is also found inside the royal crypt as opposed to the bottom of the well where this liquid seems to have pulled up naturally here it is evenly distributed into what seems to be man-made gutters or basins almost as if it was placed here on purpose so could this have been one of the first attempts to resurrect the deceased perhaps the kings and queens of old who had long since passed that or the liquid along with the redads were purposely placed here to protect the royal crypt either way it's pretty messed up if this is true it probably didn't take long for the shika to realize that those brought back from the dead had little to no humanity left in them no cognitive ability at all just mindless zombies and nothing more even so hyrule's leadership may have ordered them to continue creating rededs and other undead creatures such as deadhand essentially creating an undead army to serve the kingdom heck even bongo bongo could very well be one of these creations had this substance only been found in the bottom of the well in the shadow temple we could have simply concluded that it's a byproduct of bongo bongo something it produces or gives him more power but the fact that it's also found in the royal family's tomb which is built inside a former chica village makes me point to them as the ones who messed around with this stuff and placed it in some of these locations after all this stuff is already there when link enters the tomb as a child which is before bongo bongo breaks free anyway while all these attempts at necromancy were going on the shika advanced their research into the green substance further and further and as crazy as it sounds this ghostly fluid may have even served as the basis for the creation of the first magic potions perhaps at some point they could have been successful in processing or refining it into something that is consumable and harmless to the user funnily enough this would also fit the zelda timeline as a whole since no game taking place prior to ocarina of time features a magic meter in some of these installments green colored potions are present such as the stamina potion but these don't have any correlation with magic later on new waves may have been found to extract or produce magic potion without having to dig underground the game never explains where magic potion comes from but in later games they are produced from chu jelly among other things although choo choos are not present in ocarina of time they are found in termina as his magic potion so it's unlikely that the substance below kakariko is the only way to obtain magic however the possibility still remains that this was the first time the hylians and the shika first came into contact with it with access to replenishable magic the sheikah subsequently created the lens of truth and other magical artifacts which ran on magic power however the fact remained that the unprocessed version of the liquid found below the village had a serious dark side to it be it during or after the war the shika and royal family may have realized that the undead created in these morbid experiments either served their purpose or were hard to keep under control and too dangerous to keep around as such the entrances to these underground crypts and chambers were sealed off trapping the dead including bongo bongo inside something which according to the backstories impa played a big role in here they remained sealed away in darkness for what was presumably intended to be all eternity and the green energy remained festering underground its fumes continuing to rise filling the underground caves and crips with its dark influence we're not done yet there is even more evidence that the discoveries of the chica made in kakariko's underground were significant something which advanced their understanding of magic and technology in this era in several houses around hyrule books with the famous chica eye symbol on it can be found laying around these include impasse house the sculptula house the medicine shop at hyrule castle town granny's potion shop in kakariko village the lakeside laboratory and lastly dampe has one stashed away inside his shack as well as the symbol suggests these books were clearly written by the shika and since most of them were dead by the end of the war they were probably written before the war was over aka during the time that these supposed experiments and discoveries were taking place around kakariko village is it a coincidence then that both medicine potion shops in hyrule have chica literature lying around books written by the same tribe who potentially discovered and refined magic they aren't found in any of the other establishments either not the bazaar goron shop zora shop nor the kohiri shop or any other house in hyrule for that matter has one of these books lying around as for the other locations these books are found these two make perfect sense impa's house is pretty obvious of course as she is a chica the only still living member we know of the lakeside laboratory makes sense too since well it's a laboratory a place where research is done so naturally they would have books written by the most advanced race in hyrule coincidentally the scientist working here also happens to be the only person in hyrule who knows that the spooky mask which resembles the face of a re-dead is made from an actual coffin could be something that he learned from the book as well how else would he know such a specific detail dampi being in possession of one of the books seems a bit out of place at first until you realize that he is literally tending to a big part of lands that hide the secrets below kakariko being a pretty old guy and with access to the shika writings he was probably well aware of kakariko's dark history and some of the stuff that lay underneath it this also explains why he specifically chose the one grave he knew had a giant network of caves inside it as his final resting place as well as the hiding place of his most treasured possession the hook shot lastly we have the sculptula house this one isn't much of a surprise either and may even explain the origin of the curse cast upon the father and his five sons who reside here in the game it's never fully explained where the spider curse came from all we know is that it was the result of their greed they are described and even depicted as a family who was once very rich which suggests that the curse was cast upon them due to their never-ending desire for more wealth but who's to say that this so-called greed is referring to physical wealth such as rupees greed can come in many forms including power and since we find a shiga book covered in cobwebs inside their house it may very well be possible that they were tampering with some other stuff stuff related to the shika as it seems a possible connection between the family and the shika tribe can be found in the shard of agony previously known as the stone of agony on the nintendo 64 it's a relic which can magically track down hidden caves and grottos and in the picture we can see one of the brothers holding the shard as the family proudly displays a fortune hinting that the shard is what brought them their riches in the first place and here's the thing the shard of agony too is rumored to be a shika artifact just like the lens of truth it's also made from a green crystal another possible connection to the green substance it's never revealed how the family came into possession of the shard of agony but what is clear is that their insatiable cravings and greed for riches by abusing the relic ultimately backfired on them leaving them mutated deformed and unable to leave their abode for many years yet another example of the dark forces that come with shika-related objects not to mention where have we heard a reference to greed before oh yeah the shadow temple here lies hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred the hatred part is pretty on the nose what with the torture and killings and all but the greed part could just as well be referring to this sought after magic power which led to the experimentation the necromancy construction of magic artifacts and other dark practices rather than the conquest for land and power by the kingdom of hyrule it's clear that during and after the war some individuals like dampe the potion makers the family of the sculptureless house and another select few gained access to the sheikah writings a product of their knowledge and discoveries from the dark times at kakariko village knowledge which may have been passed on from that moment even all the way up to breath of the wild even if the green liquid is not at all related to magic potion specifically it could at least still be possible that it is linked to the rise of the dead the curses hauntings and so on this could also be a hint as to why ganondorf's corpse refuses to die completely the forces at work here could be the very same that created the first redeads as ganondorf's body bears some strong resemblances to the infamous undead fearing his endless reincarnation whoever put the seal on the demon cain may have used the knowledge of spirit magic to keep him from death and instead froze his body in time barely alive yet with a faint but persistent heartbeat and that pretty much sums up the theory there's a lot of what-ifs in this one and it's pretty extensive too covering multiple mysteries at the same time but i hope i was able to pitch in some new ideas and of course be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below so we can get a good healthy discussion going i would like to thank nintendo black crisis for joining me in this video we also worked on another video together on his channel in which we talk about some of the biggest scams found in the zelda series so if you like this video be sure to give that one a watch too the link will be in the description and in the pinned comment a big thanks as always goes to my gracious patreons and members who continue to make my content possible and a joy to work on we've got quite a lot of new faces since the last few videos so if you will give a big warm welcome to ketochi ian he i cannot pronounce your last name kyle marsh aaron hare cornelius h belmont 10 north sora nelson and isaac m dewitt how amazing of you to join i cannot thank you all enough for the support anyway this has been a fun one and i hope you found it entertaining i will see you all in the next video this is dawn signing off and have a good one [Music] you

Channel: Monster Maze

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Rating: 4.9582834 out of 5

Keywords: Ocarina of Time, Kakariko Village, Kakariko, Zelda Theory, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda Majora, Zelda Breath of the Wild 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild Sequel, Breath of the Wild 2 Theory, Breath of the Wild 2, Breath of the Wild 2 analysis, Breath of the Wild Theory, Legend of Zelda Theory, Breath of the Wild 2 Release, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Zelda Ocarina of Time

Id: prlHq_yTtTM

Length: 25min 26sec (1526 seconds)

Published: Wed May 19 2021