Shadow Temple History

This is a thread that basicly discusses OoT's Shadow temple and its history, idk if i'm allowed to make this thread or not but here it is anyway. I personally think it was there to serve as both a reminder of how hyrule was before the goddesses and as a prison for evil, the first one stems from the fact that there are things that say about hyrules *bloody history* along the temple, and the second comes from all the enemies in there as well as the whispers that navi hears. Although all the enemies may come form bongo bongo at the heart of the temple, and he escaped from the well, so its quite likely that the shadow temple and well are connected somehow. Maybe a tunnel or a connection of the dark energy? There are similar themes to the well and the temple, so it is possible.

I'm pretty sure when the say Hyrules bloody history, it is refering to the war that Hyrule had. My theory with the Bottom Well was part of a battlefield from the war and it was just burried underneath Karkario Village. The Shadow Temple was just another "graveyard" to the wondering ghosts and spirits during the war.


But back to the topic that you were stating; Yes, both the Temple and the Well have some type of connection, but it doesn't mean it has some type of "dark" connection. Bongo Bongo came out of the Well and migrated into the Shadow Temple and thats pretty much it.

I personally think it was a place of torture. I mean look around the place. I think after they were tortured they were left there to die. Eventually some escaped and attacked the village (Kakariko) their bodies were thrown in the well.

I'm pretty sure we'll learn it in Skyward Sword.

Originally Posted by Spoon Link

I'm pretty sure we'll learn it in Skyward Sword.

Skyward Sword is a prequel to OoT, thus the link of that time has no clue about hyrule until he goes down there. How would he know of the temple or well if he didnt even know about hyrule?

I think it's just whoever designed both was some kind of gothic death metal fan who thought skeletons and such were cool. No but in all seriousness, it may have just been the site of a great battle in Hyrule during the war where people were buried and honored. As for the well, it could have been some kind of underground outpost/prison during the war that was eventually converted into a well. When I think about it though, who in their right mind would build a well where you're supposed to be able to get fresh water from over a burial ground for rotting and decaying carcasses?

I think the developers wanted to put something to spook the ♥♥♥♥ out of the players in the game, so they took a bunch of creepy elements and threw them together to make the Shadow Temple and The Well.

But, that's no fun is it? Well, here is my er... "idealistic outlook":

The Shadow Temple is a place where those who were condemned for horrible crimes were sent to die or be buried. In turn the maliciousness of these spirits gave birth to the horrifying creatures that are seen roaming the halls of the tomb. Eventually the practice of punishing criminals by sending them to the tomb faded away, and the burial ground was abandoned...

While the temple was abandoned, the dark presence of the spirits lingering within the halls manifested itself into Bongo Bongo. The being grew powerful enough to break the seal of the door and escape into the outside world...

The Well on the other hand was a secret chamber where prisoners were prepped to be sent to the Shadow Temple. (Hence all of the prison cells that can be found in it) My guess is that the passage was hidden inside the house of the man who had the "eye of truth" that the old man speaks of in Kakariko.

Impa, being raised in Kakariko, knew of The Well's backstory as well as the Shadow Temple and managed to somehow subdue the beast and trap it inside The Well...

That's pretty much my fanfic on the whole subject. The only thing that gets me is, if Bongo Bongo escaped from the Well in Link's future, and Link went back in time to go inside the Well, then would he not encounter Bongo Bongo as a child? Bah, no story is 100% perfect. (Especially if you're just trying to make a good drama like me.)

Clearly we can agree on there being a connection between the well and the temple itself, yes?
Seeing as I am currently re-playing through OOT (Again) I will have my memory jogged in a not-too-distant-future, and will hopefully be able to make more sense of all of this, but I think I agree with the statement of the temple being a prison, and the well being a sort of back-up plan for those who either escaped, or just started to cause a rather large, bloody fuss in the village.
Am I remembering correctly in that there are numerous skeletons chained to walls in both places? NUMEROUS. SKELETONS. CHAINED. (to) WALL(s). Key words there. Sounds like a jail or torture-based setting to me. No one just falls down a well and somehow ends up in chains on a wall till death. They were put there, and KEPT there, for whatever reason(s). I am very hopeful that Skyward Sword will explain something about this, as well as many other questions I (and others) have, but that's a different discussion for a different thread at a different time.

Originally Posted by Sapphire Sword

I think the developers wanted to put something to spook the ♥♥♥♥ out of the players in the game, so they took a bunch of creepy elements and threw them together to make the Shadow Temple and The Well.

But, that's no fun is it? Well, here is my er... "idealistic outlook":

The Shadow Temple is a place where those who were condemned for horrible crimes were sent to die or be buried. In turn the maliciousness of these spirits gave birth to the horrifying creatures that are seen roaming the halls of the tomb. Eventually the practice of punishing criminals by sending them to the tomb faded away, and the burial ground was abandoned...

While the temple was abandoned, the dark presence of the spirits lingering within the halls manifested itself into Bongo Bongo. The being grew powerful enough to break the seal of the door and escape into the outside world...

The Well on the other hand was a secret chamber where prisoners were prepped to be sent to the Shadow Temple. (Hence all of the prison cells that can be found in it) My guess is that the passage was hidden inside the house of the man who had the "eye of truth" that the old man speaks of in Kakariko.

Impa, being raised in Kakariko, knew of The Well's backstory as well as the Shadow Temple and managed to somehow subdue the beast and trap it inside The Well...

That's pretty much my fanfic on the whole subject. The only thing that gets me is, if Bongo Bongo escaped from the Well in Link's future, and Link went back in time to go inside the Well, then would he not encounter Bongo Bongo as a child? Bah, no story is 100% perfect. (Especially if you're just trying to make a good drama like me.)

Not necessarily. If I remember properly, bongo bongo was sealed by some Sheikah a long time ago and only after Ganondorf's rise to power did it get powerful enough to break that seal. So maybe you didn't see him because he was too weak to break free of his prison within the well at the time.

Originally Posted by Aurelia

I'm pretty sure when the say Hyrules bloody history, it is refering to the war that Hyrule had. My theory with the Bottom Well was part of a battlefield from the war and it was just burried underneath Karkario Village. The Shadow Temple was just another "graveyard" to the wondering ghosts and spirits during the war.


But back to the topic that you were stating; Yes, both the Temple and the Well have some type of connection, but it doesn't mean it has some type of "dark" connection. Bongo Bongo came out of the Well and migrated into the Shadow Temple and thats pretty much it.

I think similar to this. Except that the Shadow Temple was a prison of some sorts. If I remember correctly, there were some chains and what-not on the walls and it's kind of a labrynth so I doubt prisoners would be able to escape Then the war ended, kakariko was made, and i suppose they made the well there to connect it to the Shadow Temple on purpose?

It added a neat feature to the story. It created ALOT of cool and fun speculation too. I think its history is just the remnants of evil from the past.

"Shadow Temple.... Here gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred."
This is why I think it was a place of torture. The greed could refer to them trying to take over someone's land. Hatred could mean multiple things. Jealousy over the land perhaps? Or is it just referring to them being enemies at war?

i belive the "bloody history" to be the wars that the hero (the original link)was in

On the note of the well...
The Well is now where some man's house used to be. That man was the original owner (and/or creator?) of the Lens of Truth. Whether or not he tortured people in his basement, I do not know. But I just remembered this fact by talking to the creepy old wizard-looking guy in the Future Kakariko.

Originally Posted by Aurelia

I'm pretty sure when the say Hyrules bloody history, it is refering to the war that Hyrule had. My theory with the Bottom Well was part of a battlefield from the war and it was just burried underneath Karkario Village. The Shadow Temple was just another "graveyard" to the wondering ghosts and spirits during the war.


But back to the topic that you were stating; Yes, both the Temple and the Well have some type of connection, but it doesn't mean it has some type of "dark" connection. Bongo Bongo came out of the Well and migrated into the Shadow Temple and thats pretty much it.

I read a theory on 4chan that suggested that Bongo-Bongo was the spirit of the thief from when you're a child. It said in the theory that he was killed and his body was tossed in the well or something like that.