Breath of the Wild's Lost Woods mystery CURSE (Zelda Theory) 

Who do you think cursed The Lost Woods? And what do you think the life of a Stalfos would be like?

I personally live in the lost woods and I can tell you from experience it is very cursed.

They should let you roam freely in the woods in botw 2 and put a bad ass cemetery/dungeon in the middle

The medicine lady you give the mushroom to in kakriko village in orcarina of time, is actually the mother of guy who gives you the mushroom and wife of the head carpenter

The strangest thing is about the lost woods in BotW is that it is in a completely different area entirely to the where it was in OoT.

I'm glad that Zora's domain finally has Wi-Fi

While I agree that the Lost Woods in Breath of the Wild is cursed/protected by the deku tree, I am convinced that the location and tree are not the same as in Ocarina of Time. That location is the Ash Swamp.

Love these videos and even longer ones ❤ So much ambience

Just found your channel and I hope you continue doing this your vids are really thought out and have good editing

Aren't there skeletons in the Korok Trials? They exist but just in one part of the Lost Woods

I think it was cursed by a sheikah during the hyrulian civil war to attack the royal family their stronghold, and kakarikos flank, the forest temple. The forst think we see of it is that the steps seemed destroyed, almost like the ones inside had been trying to keep something out. but judging by the several armored stalfos, the ghosts, the flying skulls and wall masters (basically giant severed, mutanted hands)... the curse got in. Maybe it was even stronger once, and could do other disturbing things to people's bodies, minds and souls at one time. Unfortunately for bongo bongo or whoever, the royal family had a portal to the temple of time (passing through the sacred realm) in the basement, and tortured him at the shadow temple until finally killing him and sealing away his soul in a surprising effective way to quell the curse and stop it from spreading. Link ended up where he did, because i just can't see a mortally wounded person running with a toddler (or even a baby) from castle town or lon lon ranch. Maybe lake hylia, but theres not much evidence of the hyrulian army besides the one destroyed gateway house at the entrance, which is a possibility but i like to believe his mother made it through the cursed woods because she was holding Link, who's spirit is likely divinely protected as the reborn chosen hero. Which lead into my mext part: i don't think the kokiri are actually affected by the curse. At least 3 in oot enter the lost, 2 stay for quite some time, seemingly protected by whatever magic created them. But... hylians definitely are. In fact, i think Link's mother helped other kids escape the battle too while fleeing the fort, or tried to. Some got lost along the way, but one other made it and tried to fit in as a kokiri like Link would have to. But between the survivor's guilt, the displacement and (in my head) an disfiguring injury caused during the attack (i think the maze is just the basement of another fortification and possibly barracks that was burnt, thus the forest temple was alerted and sealed only to fall from inside). This child was the "kokiri" that was unhappy with his face, so they in time give up, and join their friends in the Woods. Thats why he's obsessed with masks, and why he's close to Saria. Just like she was so kind to Link, she was likely empathetic to another tragic survivor. That also may be why Meado picks on Link, because he sees him as a potential threat to the village. A ticking timebomb just waiting to go of, hence: "you'll never be a real kokiri". It also may be why he regrets bullying Link. He hopes Link is out there, because he fears Link also gave himself to the wood like the other child, because of him. Just some of my own headcanons. I like adding to the dark undertones of the zelda series. Hope whoever took the time to read this enjoyed. You're a trouper and i commend and thank you. I'm not tech ĺsavy enough to make my own vids :( would totally love if someone stole my ideas for their own vids lol just gimme a shout out, i got a million more for ya

Damnit XD have to write everything again... *takes notepad* So before I write multiple pages again: I find the topic and video really interesting, but I don't see why the curse should have changed. The woods in OoT and BotW work pretty the same. I think Stalfos are missing because the people that would be turned into Stalfos didn't turn up for the last couple of hundred or maybe thousands years. *opens essay* *- No Stalfos -* It's pretty easy to agree that the curse of the woods can: turn people into other creatures, turn people into different types of creatures by some sort of characteristic, and can bring people back to where they started. It didn't really change that much. The Question is what determines the outcome of what people turn into. If you take OoT at face value then ALL adults should turn into Stalfos, but honestly, that is one Kokiri mentioning this, or maybe two? Anyway, how many adult Hylians did the Kokiri meet and still remember? The Deku-Spout mentioned that they don't have a concept of aging and forget people easily or at least don't recognize them. So the question is if age alone is enough to turn people into Stalfos or Skull-kids or whatever or is it something else maybe. As you say later in your video the curse should differentiate between good and bad people and I think it did this, to begin with. Something in the character of a person resonates with the curse of the woods and starts to turn them into a creature that reflects their personality the closest. We know from OoT that there was some sort of war and many people fled. So it's not too far-fetched to think that they were also pursuit by their aggressors. There could be a lot of warriors and soldiers that were forced by the chain of command to enter the woods even if it turns them back, over and over again until may were lost entirely. These lost soldiers then turned into Stalfos. Children turn into skull-kids because they aren't neither totally good but also not really evil, just reckless and turn easily to do mischief. So when you look at BotW. Not even the 100 years the game plays around it's desolated of real wars but also the last 10,000 years there seems to be no major conflict. Well as long as you don't count the massacre of the Sheikah (or guess they know enough about the curse of the woods not to enter) the world was relatively in peace. there were simply no warriors that entered the lost woods with greedy/evil goals. *- origin of the curse -* I really like the point at the beginning where you think about what the curse actually is and why it's there in the first place. For me, the woods is always the place where the Master Sword is sealed. So with the exception of some games (why OoT ... Why did you do this? You were the chosen one!) I think there is a good answer to this in Skyward Sword. I'm honestly no fan of Skyward Sword but even so, it adds some nice elements to the lore to play around with. So there is only Faron Woods in Skyward Sword but it pretty much serves the same purpose as the lost woods. Something is sealed close by and overseen by the Deku-Tree not too far away. This time it's an old evil god that is about to break out as his bindings lost strength over time. The evil breaks out but at the end is beaten by the hero and sealed inside the sword, which later is sealed inside a forest, closely watched by a Deku-Tree (actually why wasn't there a Deku-Tree inside Twilight Princess? Is it the forest temple, dead, hollowed, and dried up?). Personally, I think not the Deku-Tree is the one to start the curse, but the one managing its influence. The real core of the curse would be the Master Sword itself, sealed deep in the forest. What changed is the approach in how the seal on the Evil works. Before the seal was shut closed but weakened and broke at some point. Now the sword is placed inside a sanctuary to slowly dissipate the energy closed inside to never let it grow to the point where it would actually break free as a whole. This energy resonates with the character of the things around them and starts to change them, but the Deku-Tree can in some way or another channel this to some extend. Or there are multiple curses at work where the Deku-Tree uses his power to at least turn people away before they turn into creatures by the actual curse. Also one thing about people turning. There is this fluff, Ice-berg of Links mother in OoT turning into a tree herself. While it's not part of the actual game, I guess people or living things turning into trees, has some merit to the story. It's possible that some people don't turn into monsters but trees themselves. And in BotW we have so many haunting trees because many people fled in dread there in hopes of peace and safety. Or some trees are monsters that started to enter the inner woods but got turned into trees over time.

The ice wizards face is kind of creepy if you look close at it

I remember when I was super bad at botw and the first time i found the lost woods I so confused on what was going on with it in general with my smol Zelda knowledge lmao I just subbed btw

Aww, this is a hecka cute theory, good job, man!

This is such an underrated channel. You deserve way more viewers. Up there with Monster Maze and Nintendo Black Crisis for me, for sure

The Majora's Mask music was epic!! Take care IZ, good video.

Actually, Majora's Mask does not have the lost woods, it has the woods of mystery.

Thank you for addressing the Lost Woods curse! I've been wondering about this for years and never found a really satisfying theory for the curse and it's evolution in other games. This is by far one of the best theories I've heard about the Lost Woods in a while. Great video Infamous!

Interesting Nintendo Black crisis did a video with similarities and shows the counter to the curse being real or not. Love this perspective

In twilight princess phantom ganon is a boss in the woods

Link's mother became a house in Kokiri forest after she died. So there is that.

The lost woods in breath of the wild is creepy

What's with the frizzrobe in the thumbnail? It didn't come up

Wouldn't that make it an enchantment and not a curse?

Wait, I don't think that navigating Lost Woods in BOTW was music-based

Excellent content again sir

Love the videos!!! Keep up the good work

The curse of the lost woods I always felt was a protective measure by the Deku tree that was just too strong to fade after he went.? In some cases it was cursed by ganon or evil in general in 2d games but usually I feel like it's a protective measures. How are people struggling with understanding this? I don't get it. I'm glad you seem to get it though. The only way to find your way through the mist is literally to fallow the torches. Let the wind be your guide as it blows the embers along the path you must take. The music does nothing in breath of the wild. I tired it and I got lost every time. With that being said it is possable to brut force your way through it. It's only latter that I learned about the ember path. Even in ocarina of time you just kind of had to memorize it. In fact it's almost always a memory game. If you walk in the same places unaffected you will remain unaffected in those places. That's the way it has always been. I do like the idea of the up dated curse. I feel the need to correct again. Scrubs are natural inhabitants of the forest! They are not cursed. Stalfos and skull kids are however! The mad scrubs are specifically stated to be cursed, aka acting weirder then usual and more aggressive, business scrubs and such are not! Oh and skull kids are literally kids that got lost in the woods! Tale even tells you this! Stalfos are adults that got lost in the woods. They can be evil but the hero shad proves that it's not always the case. Don't the karoke even say something along the lines of it's a protective measure that the duke tree created to protect them from outsiders? Though how much of that we can trust is unsure as he also told them they would die if they left the forest and they are seen outside the forest perfectly fine at lon lon ranch at the end of ocarina of time. In breath of the wild you even find them all over the place as koroks. Yes Karoke and Koroks are the same spices. They are both born from the great duku trees. Karokes are implied to be able to take many forms. Koroks are just the most recent and only other form we the players see. They are eventually wood spirits, or spirits of green things.