10 Most Terrifying Zelda Mysteries That Were Never Solved

The Legend of Zelda is arguably one of the longest-running and most successful franchises in the gaming industry. Created in the late 1980s, it remains incredibly vibrant today – proving to gamers, title after title, that "it’s dangerous to go alone."

One of the things I love most about this legend is how it manages to be simple and complex at the same time. It’s simple because the story always centers on the same key figures and core myths, and it's complex because it reinvents itself with every new adventure, delivering a unique experience every time.

With 40 years of history and over 30 games (including the mainline entries and spin-offs), the lore is truly massive! It’s so vast, in fact, that it leaves plenty of room for unexplained mysteries and curious fan theories to emerge.

Since we are currently in the 40th anniversary year of The Legend of Zelda, we’ve decided to be different from Nintendo and actually acknowledge the date. So, let’s look back at some of the biggest mysteries in the series that remain unsolved to this day.

10 The Origin of ReDeads

Zelda’s Version of Zombies?

I find it quite funny how ReDeads are among the most recognizable enemies in the franchise, yet literally no one knows where they actually came from.

They are zombie-esque monsters capable of paralyzing Link if he gets too close, often letting out some blood-curdling screams. Their very first appearance was in Ocarina of Time, and while we’ve seen variations in later games like Majora’s Mask and The Wind Waker, the mystery of what exactly they are remains.

Sure, you can label them as zombies, but who were they in life? Why are they in this state now? Most characters who die in Hyrule don't turn into the undead. And where do those petrifying powers come from? There are so many questions, and to be honest, I don’t think Nintendo has any intention of explaining this one.

9 The Secrets of the Dark Interlopers

How Deep the Twilight Realm’s Story Goes

The Dark Interlopers are a concept introduced in Twilight Princess. What has been confirmed so far is that they were a tribe banished to the Twilight Realm after attempting to seize control of the Sacred Realm (and the Triforce) using dark sorcery – and, over time, they evolved within that realm into the shadowy force we encounter in the game.

That alone shows they weren't exactly nice people, but we have almost no other information about them, which has sparked questions among fans that have never been properly answered.

For instance, where did they actually originate? Many speculate they might have been Hylians, but that has never been confirmed. And why, when they are first introduced in a cutscene, do they share the appearance of Dark Link? This eventually led to theories that they are somehow linked to the Hero of Time’s story, but that’s another mystery I doubt will ever be resolved.

8 Who is the Happy Mask Salesman?

That Damn Smile

If someone asks me who the most terrifying character in Majora’s Mask is, my answer won't be Skull Kid, and it certainly won't be that bizarre moon staring at us the whole time – it’s that damn Happy Mask Salesman!

It’s funny how we spend practically the entire game helping him recover Majora’s Mask while Skull Kid commits atrocities across Termina, but all without knowing a single thing about the man himself.

There are so many bizarre details about him, like the fact that he is the only person (besides Link) who seems unaffected by the three-day time loop, and that he seems strangely disappointed at the end of the game when he receives the mask back and finds its evil powers have vanished.

Also, many players noticed that all the Moon Children found at the end of the game look like child versions of the Salesman (pay attention to their hair!). This implies there’s much more to him than meets the eye, and perhaps he isn't as “happy” or “good” as he claims to be.

7 Link’s Empty Room

A Tiny Secret in The Minish Cap

As soon as you can return to Link’s room in The Minish Cap with Ezlo, your tiny companion drops some strange lines hinting that something is hidden there.

“I sense something unusual here... Is it something hidden?” he says. However, literally no one has ever found anything inside that room. Players (including myself) have tried interacting with every nook and cranny of the place, and nothing has ever turned up.

I don't know about you, but Zelda developers rarely include dialogue like that for no reason. So I still believe there is something there that just hasn't been discovered yet, even 20 years after the original release. Maybe in another 20 years, someone will finally crack the code, right?

6 Ganon’s Trident

An Even Deeper Evil Force

Anyone who has ventured through the older 2D Zelda titles will remember that Ganon, since A Link to the Past, uses a trident as his weapon – and there seems to be much more to this tool than just being an intimidating piece of power.

This idea actually gained more traction in Four Swords Adventures, where you discover that the Trident of Power was kept inside a Pyramid and intentionally left for Ganon to find. Its inscription is quite interesting, as it promises its wielder great power to “destroy and corrupt” the world.

This basically means that someone left this weapon specifically so Ganon, which is the reincarnation of Demise (the origin of all evil in this universe), could wreck everything. So here lies the biggest mystery: who left the weapon there in the first place? Is there a villain hidden even deeper than Demise? That’s a question I would love to see Nintendo address in the future.

5 What Happened to Navi?

Hey, Listen!

Navi is one of the most iconic companions in the franchise, even if she could be a bit annoying with her constant "Hey, Listen!" interruptions. But one of the biggest lingering mysteries is: what exactly happened to her after the events of Ocarina of Time?

Throughout the Nintendo 64 classic, she is Link’s faithful companion on his journey through time to stop Ganondorf. However, once the mission is complete, there is a single scene showing her simply leaving the protagonist and flying away without so much as a goodbye kiss.

This brings us to the territory of Majora’s Mask, where many believe Link is wandering the Lost Woods, specifically looking for Navi. Yet, throughout that entire game, Navi isn’t even mentioned, and we are introduced to other fairies like Tael and Tatl instead (with Tatl taking her place as a companion, by the way). So, what really happened to our original chatterbox after all?

4 The Song of Storms Paradox

Making Everyone Mad

Music is a vital part of Zelda lore, and The Song of Storms is easily one of the most iconic tracks – if you call yourself a fan and never had this as your ringtone, please don’t talk to me!

Introduced in Ocarina of Time as a weather-changing mechanic, it can turn even the clearest day into a storm. A cool detail about this song is how it's connected to the game’s time-traveling nature, since you learn it as Adult Link from the Phonogram Man inside the Kakariko Windmill, who claims he learned it from a “little kid” years ago.

Then, you travel back in time and play the song for him, which is when he actually learns it. This means Link was the source all along, creating a paradox! But this raises a bigger question: who actually composed it? And where does its power to control the weather come from? This is something we’ll likely never know for sure.

3 The Fortress in the Snow Temple

What the Hell Happened Here?

Snowpeak Ruins is one of the standout dungeons in Twilight Princess, since it perfectly fits the game's dark aesthetic by being incredibly creepy (thanks, Blizzeta, for one of the biggest jump scares of my life) and filled with mysteries.

And we could talk about the weird skeletons in the graveyard, but something even more mysterious is the level design itself. While exploring the ruins, it becomes clear that this place was once a heavily armed fortress, complete with deactivated catapults and reinforced gates. What’s also interesting is that this contrasts with the cozy rooms featuring fireplaces and velvet rugs – it feels like you’ve suddenly stepped into a castle from Game of Thrones.

However, the real question is, why was this place once a fortress? It is literally located in the middle of nowhere, and the snow makes it quite isolated. This led to some theories about evil creatures that maybe once terrified the owner of this place – who knows? I bet that we never will.

2 Carvings in HD

When a Re-release Brings Lore

For most players, the HD re-release of Twilight Princess on the Wii U was just a way to modernize the journey of Wolf Link and Midna. But for fans obsessed with details (like me), it brought new information through visual upgrades.

The most interesting discovery is the appearance of mysterious carvings at the entrance of Hyrule Castle. In the original version, the entrance only showed blurry shapes, but the HD version features very clear illustrations.

The mystery deepens because these illustrations show figures that are clearly important, but the context makes no sense. It basically brings three scenarios: the first shows a Goron offering a Triforce to a woman accompanied by a child and a man; the second shows the woman and child among Rito-like creatures; and the third shows a Zora seemingly confronting the man and child while an Oocca separates them – I mean, what?!

The linear layout also suggests a chronological order between these three scenarios, but literally no one has figured out what it means. But hey, if it's at the entrance of Hyrule Castle, it has to be important, right?

1 Aliens in Romani Ranch

I Want to Believe, Link

One of my favorite Zelda mysteries (and one I wouldn’t change a thing about) is Romani Ranch in Majora’s Mask because it is easily one of the scariest moments in the entire series.

Basically, during the day, the ranch is one of the only peaceful places in Termina. But if you talk to a little girl named Romani, she mentions she’s practicing her archery because "they" are coming at night. That alone is creepy by itself, but you actually discover what she’s referring to if you visit the ranch at 2:00 AM on the first night. As soon as you step inside the once peaceful ranch, some pretty bizarre, alien-like creatures appear and try to abduct the cows – and also the little girl!

If you fail to stop them, a brainwashed Romani reappears the next day with no memory of what happened, and without the cows, the ranch's business is ruined. However, if you managed to save them, then they live happily ever after (in my head, at least).

Our focus on bringing this specific parallel story, though, is that the identity and origin of these creatures remain completely unknown, to the point of not even having an official term or name for them! The only thing we have are speculations about its design, since they look a lot like the Flatwoods Monsters, which is a big conspiracy theory from the 1950s that became part of Japan’s UFO culture, appearing in many movies, TV shows, and games.

But honestly, not having any information about them is for the best. If we knew more about them, they wouldn't be nearly as terrifying.