Descending into Gloom's Lair (All Phases) - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (OST) 

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Also when it said, "A Sages Power Cannot Reach You" I was like 🥲

Me diving from the Imprisonment Chamber: "Here we go, we're now deeper than the intro, let's go!" Hitting the bottom, chanting begins, Zelda's torch at the bottom: "... shit, what have I done"

I love how in all previous Zelda games with Ganondorf, the music always builds and builds as you ascend to his tower. But in this one, it builds as you descend down into the loneliest and darkest depths to his level. Him being so far underground is in some ways far more sinister than him waiting in a tower if you ask me.

for all that its worth, this is exactly how you execute a "this is it, the end of the game" type of beat.

When I got there the first time and noticed Zelda's torch still lying around, I knew shit gets real

Once Phase 4 of Into the Gloom kicked on and that organ came in, my wife looked at me while I was playing and said, “okay, this isn’t fun anymore, this is scary. It’s like you’re descending into hell!”

One of the greatest soundtracks and atmospheric sequences in video game history. Two moments stick in the mind; 1) "A sage's power cannot reach you." 😬 2) When you get to that final platform at the bottom, this music peaking in the background and it says "Jump". I was like "fuuuck!" So good.

From the moment I found the torch, to the moment where Ganondorf emerged from a literal womb of darkness at the deepest part we have ever been to, I was wound up tight, tense and anxious. When the fight started, I quickly realized I should have brought more food, so I tried to teleport out. Nope, point of no return was passed when the sages power couldn't reach me anymore. Truly alone, in the depths of darkness, fistfighting the literal demon king. And the entire time, this fantastic tune driving the point home: You wont be leaving here alive.

“….The wind, it’s blowing”

The entire finale, from the descent into Gloom's lair to saving Zelda after the final battle, is just incredible. Nintendo went all out on making TotK's endgame memorable.

In heinsight, I should’ve realized that this was the path to the final boss a LOT sooner than I did

Running past enemies I wasn't confident enough to fight, just to reach a chasm, and see a huge red object far, far below me as 23:39 hit was an experience I'm not gonna forget soon.

This was a masterpiece. This entire final descent. The music had throwbacks to so many previous game soundtracks. The cave theme from link to the past, choir notes from ocarina of time, the spirit tower from phantom hourglass, and the battle themes had twilight princess vibes. This final descent turned the game into a horror game. The stone pillar that holds up hyrule castle reminded me of that big spike lodged in the imprisoned from skyward sword, and the chasm did remind me of his arena. And lo and behold, at the base of that pillar we drop into a suspiciously skull shaped formation into one of two eye socket looking holes to begin the descent into the gloom. As if showing us just how potent demise's influence is with this incarnation. And we were descending into his body of influence to the twisted heart of the gloom. Speaking of which, I know some of us were thinking calamity ganon was the closest to demise he's been, then nintendo just goes "hold my lon lon milk." Makes you wonder just what *was* calamity ganon? I'm starting to think it was a glorified phantom ganon. Either it was an attempt to build himself a body since he was imprisoned beneath hyrule, or just wanted SOME way to wreak havoc on hyrule. And since ganon was comatose the whole time, he was able to focus and channel more power through the blight.

The Depths in general can be pretty scary but despite this place not being completely dark, the music really helps sell this place in particular feel like Hell. It's so scary, I love it

23:19 This. This part right here. The absolute fear this part induced in me when descending was like no other. The first time in ANY game that I’ve ever played that the music alone made me genuinely scared to keep moving forward. An absolute masterclass in invoking anxiety and fear into the player about what comes next.

This music genuinely made me feel scared. My heart was pounding as I walked up to the final drop before the big fight. And the ensuing boss fight proved the bite of this music was justified as this is probably the toughest iteration of ganondorf there is

The way it just kept stretching deeper and deeper. It's like Calamity Ganon was rotting away the ground beneath the castle for those hundred years.

Walking to the final boss with this track like “I’m so ready for this/I didn’t prepare enough/ I’m gonna die I’m gonna die” on repeat the whole way while trying not to die or freak out 😂

I have no idea if this was intentional or not but taking that final leap onto the gloom infested platform kinda looks like a heart as you drop down to it. Almost as if its saying you have reached the heart of the gloom. Such an amazing game!

The Hyrule Chasm into the decaying castle and from there into the Forgotten Foundation then the Gloom Lair is the most amazing slow burn ending in video game history. Spiraling into the depths without end is an isolationist darkness without compare. Some evil genius who is perfectly in tune with nightmares becoming reality made this. Nobody else could dream of this level of abandon and arcane mystery.

*The power of a sage cannot reach you.*

Best video game ending i ever played tbh

If you look on minimap radar, you can see how deep or high you are at the sea level. The deepest point down in the gloom origin is about 2.5 kilometers deep... In real life, only select few mines are deep beneath 1000 meters...

Tears of the Kingdom has solidified Hyrule as the main character of this story and uses BotW as the first part of a larger series (TotK being second) to build upon. The climb up to meet Calamity Ganon in BotW was very forthright and overt; the music, very fanfare-like and had a distinct form to it. The descent to the final confrontation in TotK is antithetical to BotW's. The path is hidden and, though straighforward, winds almost endlessly downward. The music is disjointed, chaotic, and menacing and becomes even moreso the further down one goes. Only at the very end, during the final freefall to Gloom's Lair, does the music coalesce into something with a foundation; but this only adds to the tension. As final as Ganon's defeat seemed in BotW, Tears comes along to show us that the Calamity was nothing but a recurring symptom of a cancer entombed deep within the land of Hyrule. By defeating Calamity Ganon, we were merely buying time. The addition of the depths and the sky islands in Tears of the Kingdom is broadening how we perceive Hyrule and quite possibly preparing us to encounter what is truly causing the cancer. What is the motivation driving Gannondorf to so ruthlessly pursue dominion of this land? Why did the Zonai choose to depart the heavens and settle here? I feel we are only two-thirds of the way through this story and that there is a reason a certain symbol/object that is typically ubiquitous in Zelda canon has had so little mention.

I went here first before even getting my paraglider and as phase 4 hit I knew I might've stumbled stubbornly into the worst place I could be, a truly haunting experience and left me with a concrete goal for the rest of my playthrough.

this otherworldly subterranean rumbling is music to my ears

I love the change in music from fighting enemies in other parts of the game. The stakes feel much higher. Brilliantly done by Nintendo. It all felt like being in a movie almost.

Opening the glider to wait for phase 5 goosebumps to end.

This is one of the best songs ever in Zelda history. I never thought such terrifying and beautiful music would be in a Zelda game.

I feel like the descent to ganondorf was a lot more anxiety inducing when you now that theres a gloom spawn somewhere in these caverns, but you don’t know where or when its going to show

0:00 feeling curious... 04:05 feeling anxiety... 07:15 having memories... 10:07 no more memories please... 13:08 distrust... 15:59 bad feeling... 19:09 entering the dark... 20:10 prepare for the worst... 21:19 there is no way back... 22:24 live or die... 23:27 You have already arrived, give your life in the name of all.

I really love the preluding phases once you jump into down into that battle arena. The build up is amazing.

Imagine not only Link but the other Sages (not as their avatars) had to face hallucinations of their worst fears and memories throughout Hyrule Castle Depths. Sidon with the loss of his sister, Riju under the crushing weight of being a leader at such a young age, Yunobo's general insecurities, Tulin's frustrations with being treated as a little kid and proving his worthy as a prodigy. And Link has to help and reassure them through all of it, maybe even fighting off malicious apparitions representative of their fears and memories. For Link, having to relive Hyrule's period before/by the time of the Calamity. The Champions are alive, the King Rhoam of Hyrule is alive, his parents are alive, Zelda is back to being a Hylian with her complete sense of self. He may bask a bit in the nostalgia before ultimately being forcibly reminded of failing to stop the Calamity and how everyone close to him died to it. He's overcome with crushing emotions of guilt and regret. Bit, he's pulled out of it and reassured by the present Sages like he did for them. This section of the game was ripe for existential horror, psychological horror, and pure nightmare fuel.

I was very thankful to find that my travel points worked where Zelda’s torch landed. Holy shit what an unsettling journey into hell.

The creepy passage to ganondorf is so cool.

First play through I went down to the depths right after completing all of the regional phenomena and as soon as I got to a little past the Lynel I realized I was severely not ready not only gameplay wise but also not mentally prepared when I heard this music designed with the atmosphere and buildup was so good, honestly the ending is one of my favorite Zelda endings if not maybe the best in the series

Walking up to the platform where you have to jump from with this playing on phase 5 absolutely SCREAMED "Save now, or you will regret it." And I'm glad I did, because I was horribly unprepared the first time I went in. Thankfully I was able to reload my save, put down a travel medallion, and nope outta there to prepare some more.

Maybe it's a coding mistake but there is a spot under Irch Plain where the first track from this set plays. It isn't particularly near Hyrule Castle and yet it's the only other spot in the Depths that has this track.

Finally, i found the Master Torch

The first time I went through this place I was wondering what was in the giant hole in the castle and wondering if I could go to the shrine from the intro. Then I ran through and found the final boss by accident, thank god you can still sheika teleport your way out of there.

Also there's something quite emotional about that final approach and the final dive itself. The music gave me goosebumps.

Reminds me alot of the music that plays in spirit tracks as u climb the tower of spirits, especially the last part

botw and totk may not have many songs that are great to listen to outside of the games, but they do exactly what they are supposed to do: build an atmosphere, this track being one of the best examples.

unironically my favorite track in the game yes all the final boss themes were amazing too (+ colgera, shrine theme, spirit temple, etc.) but this whole sequence was the epitome of slowly inexorably rising tension

into the gloomだけで５フェーズもあってシームレスに切り替わるのすげぇな

all of this reeks of "You aren't supposed to be here."

I was almost tempted to not even fight Ganondorf, because the gloom roots looked cool, didn't wanna ruin the vibe for him

I just love how you either stumble upon by pure curiosity of exploration like I did, or deliberately dive under the castle. You go deep under ground. Then deeper. Then deeper Then even deeper! And even deeper (WTFFFFFF) And WAY deeper to find the pre-boss room. Needless to say I was very impressed with this. Not to mention the music was the chefs kiss to the creepiness factor.

The reference to the cave theme from A Link To The Past is *chefs kiss*

Nintendo really went all out with the dark/spooky factor in this game with Ganondorf and I really love it. No matter how many times I play the endgame, this music and “the power of a sage cannot reach you here” never fails to give me chills.

This was easily the scariest Zelda since I played shadow temple as a 9 year old.

This song makes my anxiety gradually increase hahaha fantastic OST

The forgotten foundation bit I’m in love with! It’s horrifying and with the flute playing it feels like I’m going a horror version of Alice in wonderland god I love the flute mixed in with the spookiness.

You literally feel you are descending to hell

Thank you for this! The final area was amazing, gave me lots of Fate Heaven's Feel vibes

It feels like something straight out of Fallout. Can you imagine hearing this in the first game as you descend to find the Master? Dont know why, but seems fitting for a wasteland ambiance.

hooolyy thank you so much, this is not in the soundtrack and i had no way to find it, it was so damn epic listening to this for the first time

The most well-rounded compilation of Descending into Gloom’s Lair available on RU-vid. Up to this point, most of the rest are sad imitations. Thank you 🙏

Accidentally went into the very beginning of this area about halfway through my first playthrough. When that dark, ominous choir started up, I realized I was not supposed to be there, and I fast-traveled the fuck out of there.

top ten video game moments to experience alone at midnight

When I hear this music all I can think of his how before the calamity, is everyone living peacefully in hyrule castle when little do they know the deepest darkest pits of hell are right under them

04:05 this eerie and terrible feeling that you shouldn’t even be here. Sounds even more shooting in Spanish the name of this area: “Conducto del Aura Maligna”

23:27 this part makes you question if your truly ready for the final battle

omg into the gloom is a BOP, i might be crying during phase 5...

0:00 Gloom's Approach 7:17 Gloom's Fortune 13:11 Gloom's Lair 19:09 Gloom's Presence 23:27 *The Gloom*

Truly suspenseful. The only thing we're missing is that 'drop' we hear as soon as Link touches down at the bottom of Gloom's Lair.

Before the calamity, I wonder if the people in hyrule castle knew that the most evil being on earth was living right below the floorboards…

When I entered this place I only intended to scout and explore the area a bit. When I reached the end of the forgotten foundation the game had me completely under it's control and I was not able to put it down. Totk may have problems but it is still, by far, the superior game to breath of the wild.

The descent into that place was really the most intense end of game experience I've ever had. A masterpiece.

A sages power cannot reach you here.

Anyone else get a MGS2 Yell Dead Cell vibe from the Forgotten Foundation fight music?

Yeaaaaah this ganon was much less of a pushover compared to the last one. Got my ass kicked a little bit

Descent Into Madness...

Of course Nintendo can create this masterpiece

When I was told that the sages can't reach me down here I wasn't bothered until I ahd to glide across a pit without my man bird tulin.

Despite the games flaws, this end game far surpassed BotW for me with the sheer amount of buildup from Glooms Approach/Lair.

Descending down the lair and making it back to where the imprisonment of Ganondorf began from the opening but there is nothing there. Just a chasm and a need to continue plunging deeper into the depths. I took a screenshot of this point and compared it to when I first played the game and took a screenshot. I was filled with awe and excitement at both moments of what this game would guide me to experience.

Does anyone hear, "Be careful of the evil Ganondorf" in the chanting of Forgottten Foundation 2?

forgotten foundation battle music sound like a creepier version of tge boss battle music from metal gear solid 2

Love this

Not gonna lie, the descent towards Darkside I mean Ganondorf did invoke fear and anxiety in me. Forgotten Foundation 2 was already good in the intro. It was a point where I really got my hopes up for the game ending on a high note for me. But, since it's Tears of the Kingdom, of course it managed to disappoint. with an overall underwhelming boss-fight against Ganondorf. And then we just stand there and allow him to ramble and transform to his final form as if this is Dragon Ball. Saving Zelda ... holy contrivance Batman, thank God the irreversible thing is suddenly easily reversible by convenient spirits doing convenient spirit things, conveniently at just the right time. Imagine if they had done it after we retrieved the Master Sword, aka after she fulfilled her mission ... no conveniently suddenly self-aware Light Dragon to act as our steed. And oh boy, that after credit scene where we were supposed to be all sad for mining equipment we had 10 minutes of interaction with, instead of, I dunno, showing how our main characters, and Hyrule overall are doing. Instead, they even ruin Zelda's ordeal by having her state 'oh, I don't really remember'. I don't know how anybody could play this game and actually enjoy the story in its execution. Cheap nostalgia bait ('member Ganondorf? 'member Sages? 'member OoT?), riddled with continuity errors even with BotW, big 'twists' being visible from miles away, contrivance galore, TWO extremely lame sages ex machina moments, and overall characters being painfully dumb regarding puppet Zelda, the Zonai being pretty pointless as characters, other than bait for furries, maybe. The core idea was great, and the gameplay still fun, but man, I've never been more disappointed by a Zelda game. What a fucking waste of a premise that BotW has set. We could have explored the first Calamity, maybe have an intriguing story how BotW came to happen because of shenanigans back then (since Calamity Ganon is supposed to be cunning).

If I had to change one thing it would have been when you go down the imprisoning chamber it would have been a pitch black gloom maze and you had to use brightbloom seeds to light it up.

Best soundtrack of all time

This game is a fucking masterpiece

SAVE. HYRULE.

Someone needs to make a Daycore deeper version of this

Is it only me or the Foundation battle theme had a mix of Majora's and Twili's elements in it?

This is relaxation music

i didnt realize they made a whole album for the entire hyrule castle chasm i fuck with all of it tbh I BEEN LOOKING FOR LONGER VERSIONS OF THE INTO THE GLOOM PHASES SO CAN YOU PLEASE EXTEEEEND

Malice is power used for destruction Gloom is courage twisted into weakened sorrow I know that only 2 oracle games were ever made and that they were just 2 old games from the past, but if there's a third game, will we see some new substance that is wisdom only knowing of despair?

OMG THE GREGORIAN CHANTS

13:12 3rd foundation

I live with eternal regret by playing most of the game with glitches first. Although glitches are fun, they defeat the purpose of a challenge. I beat ganon with 6 hearts, and that was the peak of my experience. The rest of the game would have been better if I completed it with no glitches first.

How tf did this not win goty

7:26 Anyone else getting Metroid vibes???

WE WUZ ROBBED OF GOTY

An audible pit in the player’s stomach.

should have been called the final dive

Be me Burn through the enemies with your sages vow Be game “your sages vow can not reach you from here” Be me again Shit yourself Fight gloom hands Fucking book it away from the pathway Turn off game and cry in a corner for an hour