The Nightmare of the Shadow Temple (Zelda Theory)

What was the Shadow Temple's purpose and who is Bongo Bongo?

Special thanks to LLLLLink, LoruleanHistorian and Chateau LonLon for providing translations and/or adding to the discussion.

0:00 - Second Channel
1:45 - Introduction
6:07 - Timeline & Mystery of the Seal
10:44 - Bongo Bongo Origins
20:39 - The Shadow Temple
32:15 - Beneath the Well
35:01 - What Really Happened?

Link to Second Channel (Archive 64)

Bongo Bongo Render Made By Nick Perrone

Title Cards Made By Monster Maze

Check Out Gary Lee Todd's Photos

Footage taken from:
myself :)

Special thanks to my Patreon supporters!

#OcarinaofTime #ShadowTemple #BongoBongo

[gamerghxst]

I myself would like to thank you for your no commentary-game Playthroughs being made available for video editing. That is very solid of you and I know a lot of people will definitely benefit from that. From students of video editing to just content creators in general, that is a very major resource.

[Lordlaneus]

Using flowing water to cleanse corruption is a prominent idea in Shintoism, and might explain why Kakiriko needed a windmill to move water around in the first place, and even why the guy who teaches you Song of Storms is so angry

[davetoms]

My headcanon is that Bongo Bongo was a drummer for the Sheikah execution ceremonies. Just a normal Hylian or Sheikah but they witness (and participate in) so many atrocities that they return as the hate-fueled demon drummer Bongo Bongo.

[bedelian]

I'm realizing now how stressful The Bottom of the Well is. After many many playthroughs of this game, every other dungeon I feel like I could beat in my sleep, but I've never quite felt comfortable at the bottom of the well. I always dread going down there. It's the only place where you can still feel overwhelmed even if you have a fully upgraded link.

[ninkstheultimate]

A neat fact is that if you get the map for the bottom of the well, and you go to the shadow temple as an adult, you can actually see that the bottom of the well is a part of the map layout for the shadow temple as it appears as a part of your dungeon map (or at least it was part of the original N64 OoT)

[prejudicedpizza]

My thoughts/conclusions: It seems to me bongo bongo ends up being both a spirit, and the curse of the temple. Maybe he was the man with the lens of truth, but either way I think he was an enemy of the sheikah or royal family. And he was taken to the shadow temple, and tortured by cutting off his hands, and eventually beheaded. His pain and anger are what drives the curse after Ganon s power brought him back. Explains why both the well and temple feature such a heavy theme of hands and heads.

[ShaneMurphyHendrickson]

It’s ironic that the people escaped the Castle Town’s ruined Market Place that was invested by ReDeads just to go to Kakariko Village that has ReDeads at the Bottom of the Well, inside the Royal Family's Tomb and inside the Shadow Temple.

[no.]

My own daft theory is that The man who could see the truth was an executioner/torturer for the sheika/royal family and his house being above the well was so that he could discreetly access it. I think the bottom of the well and the shadow temple were meant to be connected originally but Nintendo probably made them seperate to reduce on backtracking.

Taking a shot in the dark I reckon that the man who could see the truth being an executioner for whatever reason became an enemy of the sheika, perhaps betraying their trust by making the lense of truth, and then met an ironic fate. With so much anger and contempt in his heart when he died he came back as a vengeful demon. And perhaps the significance of his hands being cut off relates to him stealing the power of the sheika with the lens of truth.

[MagicalMaster]

I would disagree and agree simultaneously about Bongo-Bongo being in the well. We've seen that there are EXTENSIVE tunnels in the graveyard that lead to odd places. One of which is to the windmill which is undoubtable connected to the Well as speeding up the windmill drains the well. Another thing to consider is that all bosses are active and doing their evil deeds when Adult Link awakens. Phantom Ganon has Saria hostage, Volvagia is preparing to eat the Gorons. Morpha has all but drained Lake Hylia and Twinrova has an iron grip over Naburoo's soul.

Bongo-Bongo is likely also active, but as the man in Impa's house outright says he's being resisted. So what changes to cause the cutscene? It only goes off when other forces of evil have been hurt. It's a reaction to your actions elsewhere. To trigger this you need to complete the Water Temple, which means you need to have the tokens which contain the power of the sages of Light, Forest, Fire and Water at this point. Plus the Master Sword. Plus the Triforce of Courage. Plus the blessings of the great fairies. Plus whatever Navi brings to bear. PLUS Zelda with the Triforce of Wisdom is in disguise right next to you. I have no doubt in my mind that whether or not Zelda's disguise was good enough to hide a third of the Triforce, Link alone would have stood out like a FLARE to that monster.

I think it broke off the attack, rushed through the graveyard and then went through the windmill and into the well to jump out and attack Link by surprise. Then when something caused the attack to fail. Likely Impa coming back to help coupled with 'Shiek' being right there. It rushed off for the temple for round Two or more likely Three with Impa. It had been sealed prior after all.

Also, one final note is that Ganondorf has been called the King of Thieves in the past and Bongo Bongo's hands are distinctly chopped off. What is the penalty in a lot of medieval era societies for theft? You get your hand cut off. Follow it up with an execution and take the head away, and the body slumping off a gallows would look a lot like Bongo Bongo, wouldn't it?

[ultimate]

I just started playing OOT again for the first time in 20 years, and I noticed something potentially mind-bending- I think its implied that Link himself was the one responsible for weakening the seal of Bongo Bongo. And it has to do with retro causal, closed time loops. (I am sure someone else has already thought of this, but it's a thought I came to on my own regardless)

Consider for a moment how Link learns the Song of Storms - he is an adult, and the musician in the windmill tells him about a boy that taught him the song 7 years ago, and then the musician teaches adult Link the song for the first time. Then, you go back in time as a boy and play him the song and it's the first time the musician has ever heard it. In other words, it was always going to be a future version of Link, traveling back in time to teach the song to the musician. Which then caused the well to dry up, thus beginning to weaken the seal. My guess is that the act of lowering the water in the past, started the process of weakening the seal. But then it took several years for the seal to fully break, and it just so happened shortly after Link became an adult/claimed the Master Sword. This theory is further supported by the entire theme of the windmill and Song of Storms - everything keeps going round and round, repeating, and the musician even makes reference to this. It could be argued this is symbolic of a time loop.

[cabbelvancabbel]

So amazing to see theories from an over 20Year old game still come up today. Timeless Masterpiece

[tydusfma]

Another supporting fact for the Bongo Bongo being a collection of dead souls theory that I was just thinking about watching this is that Bongo Bongo immediately attacks Sheik (who looks like a sheikah obviously) when he comes out of the well and doesn’t attack Link until he holds up the Hyrule shield a symbol that the dead souls would hate quite a bit. Almost like he’s attacking the things that he recognizes as what killed him.

[thegreatmajora]

23:44 Gotta appreciate Pierre, always doing his best to lift up the mood

[saraross]

There could be a bit of a time paradox going on with regards to the sealing and/or as to why child Link wasn't told to stay away from the well. The perfect example of this actually has its own connection to well: The Song of Storms. Link doesn't learn this song until he is an adult, taught to him by Guru Guru(? the guy in the windmill), who claims a kid with an ocarina played it causing the windmill to go out of control. Now at this point in the game (Link being the only one running around with an ocarina) this event hasn't actually happened, yet at the same time it has since it occurred seven years ago. Skyward Sword has its own version of this where you can peek through the doors of the Sealed Temple and see Zelda's hibernation crystal even though it is the first time you landed on the surface. She's already sealed herself, but it hasn't actually happened in the game yet. The easiest, however still mind boggling explanation is that while it has happened in the past, you have yet to go to the past to make it happen, thus creating the duality.

I seem to recall (a very long time ago) that it was said, or at least implied, that Link was responsible, at least partially, for the seal on Bongo Bongo being broken. This was due to the water being drained from the well if I remember correctly. It's possible that this was mentioned in the N64 player's guide, but my family's copy was lost ages ago so I have no way to check this firsthand. If I can find anything about this possibility, I'll edit it in. Even so, it doesn't explain why he sat around in the well for seven more years (assuming he was in there), but it could have taken that long to fully break.

Perhaps the simplest explanation as to why he wasn't told to stay away is that you don't tell your residents that there's a monster lurking beneath your quaint little town. Simply put, they didn't know, and maybe Impa felt that he was securely put away.

I very much enjoyed the video, and I especially appreciated you mentioning the differences between the N64 and the 3DS version. So many like to only show and highlight the 3DS version, perhaps not realizing the differences, especially to the decor, then speculate on their meaning not knowing they're not original to the game.

[darknesswave]

Not gonna lie when I was a kid this dungeon freaked me the hell out. I didn't end up finishing it until later on but now I love it

[shuatock]

The only way you can make it to the shadow temple is by playing a song. There is no path to it, so I would bet that the developers may have even planned, originally, for the well to be a path to the dungeon, but decided not to for whatever reason. It would make sense for that to be a part of the game lore too, as mentioned
Amazing video man

[xurxurlawolf]

There's also a chance that the green pools bringing back the dead was their censorship at hand.
Ganondorf was shown in early editions of the game to spew out blood that was red during the final fight, that was later changed to green to avoid higher age ratings.

[duskwalker]

When you were talking about the connections to Anubis I remembered. Egyptian mythology also has a ship that sails the river of souls, in fact Anubis, Ra, and the other gods took the voyage of souls every night that's why the sun rose and set in Egyptian mythology. Furthermore the sun bringing relief to the dead is one reason the Journey through the underworld was taken by Ra it helped balance the darkness of the underworld and the brightness of day

[ruemzq]

Small mistake I noticed: when the description of the evil monster appearing above ground is on screen at 7:00, it says the person who says it is impa despite it saying impa is in danger. Just thought I’d let you know!

Amazing work, as always!! The shadow temple has been a favourite of mine for a while because of how mysterious and dark it is. So thank you for doing a huge video on it!

[AnaReginaNica]

There is something I always wondered about Bongo-Bongo. Big text, so, please, get some popcorn and sit confortably:
Back when he was alive, he was clearly tortured and executed inside the Shadow Temple, right? Who are the people behind torture sentences and death penalty on Hyrule? Yep, the royal family.
Just, give a good look at him... Like, a veeery good look... He had such an horrible death! Was executed upside down... With both hands cut out... And decapited by hangling (and for the skin to get like that, it was slow and I can't even imagine how painful!)... So, Bongo-Bongo had all the right motives to be royally pissed off against anyone who did that to him, anyone from the royal family, right?
The thing is, Bongo-Bongo was the ONLY boss who came into close and personal contact with Zelda. Exactly him, who has an eye who can easily see through her disguise.
Soooo... He obviously knew she was the hylian princess the instant he grabbled her. He could have done anything to her, Link couldn’t do anything to save her. He could even communicate it to Ganondorf, if they were at the same side.
However... He spared her.
Strangelly, even bizarrelly, if we think... Bongo-Bongo choose to spare Zelda.
And not just her. Link as well. The other sheikahs as well. He just put some houses aflame, nothing really serious, comparing to what he could have done to Kakariko at that momment.
His vendetta was against Impa, and no one else. So, he just wanted to kill her, and spared everyone else.
If we think about it, this projects an entirelly new light over Bongo-Bongo as a character. Not just as a monster, but as a character as well. Who he was and about his personality as well.
After noticing that, something I really admired about his creation as a character is the fact he could see people (and their acts) individually. He knew Zelda was part of the same royal family who ordered his execution, but didn’t blame her since she most probably wasn’t the one who gave the order, so, he spared her (I wonder if it was her father, and what would be Bongo-Bongo’s reaction if it was him on her place). Many people wouldn’t have a doubt to obliterate her in his place, but Bongo-Bongo was actually after the people who REALLY hurt him, and was above hurting anyone else. That was an amazing quality for a villain, and made me wonder if Bongo-Bongo, if better explored, would even be a villain after all. Like I said, a lot of good people wouldn’t be so lenient in his place.
I feel like, Bongo-Bongo would be an amazing villain, like the ones we actually end agreeing with, if his history was better explored in the game.