The Legend of Zelda franchise has proven a critical darling and commercial success since its initial outing in 1986. A mix of Shigeru Miyamoto’s childhood explorations, the works of Tolkien, and the Arthurian legend, the franchise has produced some of the greatest video games of all time. Typically, the games are set in the Kingdom of Hyrule with a Princess named Zelda to save, and a relic named the Triforce required to do such.

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Yet, for a franchise spanning almost 4 decades, it has had to find innovation and creativity to keep its allure alive and well. Among the many creative directions from home console to handheld titles, The Legend of Zelda had not been afraid to take a darker direction. Among its many titles and brilliant worlds, many have been outright intimidating and unsettling. Below are some of the very worst worlds found in Zelda for a person to live in.

6 Silent Realm

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Despite a cheery art style and the unique setting in the clouds of Skyloft, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is not without its unsettling locales. Without a doubt, one of the most intimidating locations the player encounters in Link’s adventure is the Silent Realm. Presented as a test of the goddesses’, Link has to traverse the trials entirely alone without his companion Fi after placing his sword on the given trial gate. Across the game, the player will only access three areas of this Silent Realm, and they are all equally daunting.

To pass the trial, Link must collect sacred tears within 90 seconds at a time or armored guardians will give chase. The player will be rumbled should they step into an overseer’s light or make contact with water. Adding considerable pressure, the only way the player can keep the fearsome guardians at bay is by collecting the sacred tears to extend the 90-second timer. In an otherwise uplifting setting, the Silent Realm is one of the series' most atmospheric and unnerving worlds of the series.

5 Hyrule (Post-Calamity)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Set some 100 years after the arrival of Ganon who decimated the Kingdom, the Hyrule presented in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is no place to live. It should be stated, that this is a beautiful game with an incredible art style that gives open-world exploration an allure like no game before it. This being said the threats of enemies and foes across the Kingdom are dispersed and varied in their ferocity. Moreover, no weapon to defend oneself within this Hyrule lasts. Should a person living in this Hyrule wish to defend themselves, they are at the mercy of whatever weapon they can get hold of, and they can be sure it's certain to break on them sooner rather than later.

Should this not be enough of an ordeal, the guardians found in this decimated rendition of Hyrule are unforgiving and notoriously hard to defeat. Their incredible laser targeting from great distances and ability to stalk a target across enormous areas is truly unsettling. Breath of the Wild presents a wonderful open-world experience, but that is no place to live, especially when the blood moon arrives.

4 The Depths

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The sequel to Breath of the Wild would bring players back to Hyrule some years later, with the Kingdom once again under the threat of a resurrecting Ganon. In Tears of the Kingdom, Hyrule is arguably more difficult a terrain to navigate with enemies even more unforgiving. However, in this follow up, the land of Hyrule is not the focus but its skies above and, in particular, what lies beneath. Players would be astounded to find a full entire map underneath the map of Hyrule, plunged in darkness only titled ‘The Depths’. In a brilliant tipping of the hat to FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, The Depths is among many features that assured this sequel was far more than Breath of the Wild’s DLC.

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Bar a couple of sections, The Depths is an entirely optional area for the player, and it is most unforgiving. Full of enemies that deliver damage that can't be restored and entirely unlit without the player’s intervention, The Depths is an atmospheric underworld full of fallen statues, uncanny flora, and aggressive foes. How livable The Depths is begs a question in itself, but you can be assured it would make for a far from joyous existence.

3 Hyrule (7 Years Into the Future)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Once the player has traveled some 7 years in time, quite a different Hyrule awaits them in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Stepping out of the temple of time, the player is greeted by a Hyrule Town full of the undead. While the player is an older, more grown link with items, abilities, and tunics to discover, Hyrule itself is a land dripping with the effects of evil. Most notable for their chilling atmospheres are the game dungeons that arrive during this time, living anywhere near the Forest Temple, the Shadow Temple or Kakariko Village would be quite the appalling fate.

While these are masterpiece dungeons, brilliantly designed they are also some of the creepiest locations ever committed to a Zelda title. Hyrule as presented in the opening sections of the game is not without its threats or problems, but once the seal to the Door of Time is opened – the Hyrule in Ocarina of Time is no place to live.

2 Twilight Realm

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

One of the series' stylistically darker entries, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was greeted with critical acclaim on its 2006 release. After The Wind Waker’s cel-shaded and colorful styling, many fans were hoping for a darker and grittier Zelda. Following the release of The Lord of the Rings films, Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto developed the game around one of the series' original inspirations, Tolkien. The game features an array of dark and mysterious locations and characters including Snowpeak Ruins and one of Link's best friends, Midna, not to mention Wolf transformations and some startling nightmare sequences.

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Yet it is the parallel dimension threatening the entirety of Hyrule, the Twilight Realm that is the most disturbing. This realm of shadow ruled over by Zant is filled with the Erie shadow beasts, once Twili, descendants of Dark Interlopers into Hyrule ages ago. Little is known of this mysterious parallel dimension with the Sol Shrine and the Palace of Twilight being its only landmarks. The realm of utter darkness, beasts, and banishment of natural light renders it a horrendous world to live in.

1 Termina

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

In an incredible 2-year time frame, the unparalleled Ocarina of Time would have a sequel set just two months after the game’s events. In a brave and bold artistic choice, Majora’s Mask would take the series in an entirely different artistic and creative direction. The familiarity of Hyrule would be dropped for the ominous Termina. A parallel world that is as weird, and dark as it is mysterious, with a disturbing moon threatening to fall to the earth in just three days. The player controlling Link must navigate a series of time-manipulating powers and masks to conquer the realm's four dungeons and prevent the moon’s fall. So much of Termina’s depth and darkness is found in its NPC interactions from the creepy mask salesman in Clock Town, to Lulu the depressed Zora, to the land of the dead found in Ikana Canyon.

Even the mask mechanic, which is entirely dependent on the game’s completion has a dark edge to it, with Link screaming in anguish after each transformation. Majora’s Mask is the unsung hero of the franchise, not nearly as celebrated on the scale of other more famed entries, but arguably, none have a more pervasive and unsettling atmosphere. An incredible title, but as for Termina, its inhabitants only have three days to live and few appear all that happy.

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