Timelines in video games caused me to worry
way to much as a kid. I know that may sound odd, but hear me out. The general flow of a game’s story from
beginning to end can be weird sometimes. Just like in real life, being at a specific
place at a specific time can mean everything. I felt like this was something I didn’t
have to worry about much prior to the Nintendo 64 either, as most of the games I played were
standard sidescrollers where story elements happened in-between levels, or at the end
of them. But the Nintendo 64 and Playstation turned
that completely upside down for me. The first time I played through The Legend
of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, I missed an event that baffled tons of people. But, I never knew it existed. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time,
and so the event passed without me ever even experiencing it. That’s why we’re turning back the clock
today. To revisit the one of Ocarina of Time’s
strangest scenes, that so many people, including myself, overlooked. This is the mystery of the dying guard and
how this one scene is a clue to something much bigger. Up until this point, I’ve produced quite
a lot of Nintendo-focused content. Honestly, I absolutely love it. But sometimes games from other platforms,
or even super short-form content doesn’t do so hot on YouTube. That’s why I’ve been trying out Amino’s
new Story feature lately, as it feels a bit different than short video formats I’ve
seen elsewhere. There’s a lot of things I want to talk about
in games that I can’t always make YouTube videos on, so if you want to see what I’ve
been up to, check out my Amino stories by clicking the link in the description below,
or search for Amino apps and download Amino. You can find my stories by searching for SwankyBox
- and while you’re there, be sure to follow me for my latest stories. Just like on YouTube, every time you watch
my content on Amino, you’ll be supporting me - which I greatly appreciate. So, click the link in the description below,
search for SwankyBox, and then check out my recent story about messing with Link’s size
in Ocarina of Time. And I want to thank Amino for sponsoring this
video and supporting me as a creator. Missing out in video games sucks. Obviously you could replay the game, but for
longer games, it can be quite the ordeal. Especially in the days prior to YouTube. Nowadays, you can always look up what you
missed. But this wasn’t always the case. Obviously we’re talking about Zelda here,
but this concept amplified itself in other games too for me, especially longer RPG’s
like Star Ocean: The Second Story, Legend of Mana, etc. By missing these things, and hearing about
the things I missed, I feel like I developed severe in-game FOMO - or, the fear of missing
out. And that kinda sucked. From that point forward you’d play the game
while always double checking everything, and overall, wasting a lot of time. But I digress. Let’s rewind and place our childhood hero
outside of Hyrule Castle Town, prior to his quest exploding in scope. In the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, we
obviously need to collect all three spiritual stones to open the door of time from a story-perspective. Some of you skilled players out there might
just backflip sidehop through the door like a boss, but let’s focus on the game’s
actual story. Link gather’s the stones, and upon doing
so, is confronted by Zelda and Impa rushing out of the castle, with Ganondorf in hot pursuit. Link gets blasted, picks up the Ocarina, and
then proceeds to the temple of time. But let’s stop this right here. This is where our mystery starts. Now obviously, Ganondorf just came plowing
through the town on a horse chasing the Princess. The sky was dark, and evil was afoot. But, everything in the town seems completely
fine. You talk to the guard up front, and he cheerfully
welcomes you into the town - despite everything that just took place here. People in the main town area do comment that
horses came plowing through, but nothing about the ash black sky. Town-wise, everything seems fine. So you do what you’re supposed to do. You head to the temple of time, and kick off
your quest. But once you turn into an adult, Sheik blocks
you from returning to a child until you’ve completed the Forest Temple. So for the next few hours you’ll be doing
just that. But, the thing is, if we headed in the opposite
direction, as in, the alleyway instead of the Temple of Time, that’s when we run into
this strange occurrence I mentioned earlier. The thing I missed when I played this as a
kid. In the back part of the alley is a guard who
is collapsed against the wall. No one is around either, and he doesn’t
look at you or even move like other people do when you walk by. But when we talk to him, he springs to life
and relays the following. Quote: “Unnngh...are you the boy from the forest...?
I-I-I've finally met you... I-I-I have something to t-t-tell you...Ganondorf,
the Gerudo King of Thieves, betrayed our King...Zelda's nanny, Impa, sensed danger and escaped from
the castle with our Princess...I tried to stop Ganondorf's men from chasing them...but…the
Princess was...waiting for a boy from the forest...that's you... She wanted to give something to the boy...If
you received it from the Princess, hurry...to the Temple of Time…” End quote. When he finishes his dialogue, he spazzes
out for a moment before falling to the side and becoming still. If Link tries to examine him, the game says
he's not moving anymore... The Hyrule guard just died in front of us,
and I feel like if I actually saw this as a kid, it would have freaked me out a bit. The worst part is, we aren’t able to tell
anyone about this soldier. Everyone else just carries on with their dialogue
as usual. If we renter the alleyway, we’ll find he’s
sitting upright again, but he’s still dead. As a child I would have thought someone moved
his body, but now I know the game just loaded his default animation pose again. But all of this still doesn’t make any sense. Before dying, the guard claimed that he tried
stopping Ganondorf’s soldiers from chasing Zelda and Impa… But, where are Ganondorf’s men? Why was no one else hurt during this raid? If it all happened at the castle, why is this
guard here? It seems extremely bizarre to only have one
character mention any of this. One townsperson in particular claims something
probably happened at the castle, but that’s about it. The weirdest part of this whole guard encounter
is that he obviously was fatally wounded at the castle, based on what we read in the game,
but somehow he made his way all the way here unnoticed. Everyone else is still chipper and carrying
on like usual, only with some dialogue swaps. This whole ordeal is very similar to the Hyrule
Castle raid in a precursor Ocarina of Time comic I covered in another video, but I have
a theory as to why this guard exists. So let’s quickly go over this entire scene:
Heading towards the castle, the gate is still closed, and it wouldn’t make sense to let
a dying guard hobble through the entire field and gate to go to the town and die. If he was trying to warn people or something,
a healthy guard probably would have ran there. There’s literally a healthy guard still
standing by on the path to the castle too. So Ganondorf’s men could have been an internal
castle-based event, but this guard is an outlier. Townsfolk were startled by the horse and are
talking about it, but no one mentioned a dying guard - who would have totally made everyone
panic by the way - entering the town and then hiding instead of asking for help. So what gives? This doesn’t really make sense… And that’s why I believe this guard was
left behind by mistake by developers. The story and what happened may have been
different. Let me explain. I believe the town area used to have a changed
state that is no longer in the game. Think of it as an in-between state, that was
in the middle of the town’s normal cheerful state, and the ruined town of the future. Everything the guard talked about had to have
occurred because it caused him to die, but what he says almost exists in a vacuum. He gives us the only information pertaining
to what happened. This means he had to have been at the castle,
but also in the town since he wouldn’t have made it here wounded. Perhaps there was supposed to be a state of
the town where it was damaged from Ganondorf’s men attacking, but it complicated the hero’s
journey to the temple of time too much. Instead of heading directly to the next phase
of the game, the player would have became distracted, talked to everyone about the damage,
and would go on to explore Hyrule Castle instead. Since everything seems normal and people all
have extremely similar dialogue, most players head straight for the temple to continue the
story. After talking to three or so people who all
say similar things, you get the gist of it and move on. If the town was attacked while Ganondorf was
moving towards the castle though, then it would definitely explain how the guard got
here and died - as there was both fighting at the castle and in the town. Ganondorf and his men had to have come through
the town regardless on their way to the castle, as there are no other paths to get there. Especially if Ganondorf was on horseback. Without this dying guard, we would have never
known Ganondorf had armed forces with him. So my theory is that’s how the original
storyline went. But instead of erasing all aspects of this
scene, they forgot to delete one character. The story was changed so that Ganondorf chased
Zelda and Impa out of the castle by himself - and thus no one in town ever comments about
any other people besides those three. Because the dying soldier is on a separate
map, he was overlooked when the scene was revised. These different maps are also why the main
guard by the front of Hyrule Castle town says absolutely nothing about the horses racing
through - despite how he was the one who had to probably open the gate to let Zelda out. Remember, the gate is up when the cutscene
first began, and then it opens, so him being oblivious is super strange. The castle gate being up at any time of the
day means something was wrong - either at the castle or in the town. It’s a defense mechanism that doesn’t
let anyone in, but also doesn’t let anyone out. All of this hints that the events of Hyrule
Castle town were changed heavily, and the clean up process wasn’t the most thorough. Now you may be thinking, but he’s still
in OOT 3D? If he wasn’t supposed to be there, why is
he still in the remake? And to that, I have to say that the seed was
already planted. Different teams work on different projects. The people who did the 3D version of the game
probably are not the same people at all who made the original. So they just use what they’re given without
questioning why it is there. And so, its replicated. In the manga, Hyrule castle town is assaulted
and the castle is overrun. Ganondorf and monsters do attack, which makes
sense. But it makes you wonder if they wrote this
scene in as well simply based off the dialogue of this random guard. Instead of this scene taking place as a kid,
it takes place during the adult timeline in the manga 7 years later - immediately when
Link exits the Temple of Time for the first time. This time the guard doesn’t die, but he
sits to rest against a wall - similar to how he can be found sitting in the game. So the dying soldier, while being strange
and unsettling, may have been a hint at something greater overall. Some say they even encounter his ghost for
a few frames when loading the area sometimes - which is quite spooky. But overall, what are your thoughts and experiences
on the dying guard? Any good stories? Remarks on the theory? Let me know in the comments below. And with that… Thanks for tuning in for this alternative
look at this strange occurrence! I got lots of other cool topics, so check
them out. Thanks for watching guys and gals, and until
my next video - cheers!
