To many, The Legend of Zelda series might seem like a fairy tale rife with adventure, conflict, and a dash of romance. In fact, if it wasn't a tightly locked down Nintendo property, it'd be right up Disney's alley. But that doesn't discount the unshakable feeling that there are some parts of Hyrule that are home to the worst horrors imaginable.
That's right. If you've truly played through any of The Legend of Zelda games, you understand all too well that there are enemies that could easily return in your nightmares. It's a scarier game than you might think. Poor Link might need a bit of therapy after his adventures.
10 Skultula
Ah, the Skultula. Natural arachnophobia aside, this eight-legged critter is made all the scarier by its general design. If you're adventuring in Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask, these monstrous spiders have skulls emblazoned on their bodies.
During Skyward Sword, the Skultulas have a horrifying visage of wide-eyed facial expressions on their bodies. Generally speaking, Skultulas are the embodiment of death, and these critters can be found across several Zelda games ranging from Twilight Princess to Spirit Tracks.
9 Koloktos
This robotic monstrosity has multiple appendages and is ready to give Link a really bad day in Skyward Sword.
As a boss fight, it is rather straightforward as Link must destroy the cores that keep his body in operation. That doesn't discount the fact that the designer of this "ancient automaton" might have been a tad disturbed.
This multi-armed mechanical beast attempts to squash Link before gaining legs and "arming" himself with several swords to cut the poor hero up into tiny pieces. When Link finally defeats Koloktos, the robot outstretches its neck with a creepy wide-eyed smile and laughs like an infant before imploding.
Yikes.
8 Dead Hand
Do you want pure nightmare fuel? Well, here you go. Dead Hand from Ocarina of Time is likely to haunt your worst dreams. It's an amorphous being with a long slender neck that has a skull-like head attached, with a face that looks like all of its defining features are sunken in.
To add further creep factors to this monstrosity, it has bloody arms that emerge from the ground around attempting to grab the monster's intended victim likely so that it can chow down. Just look at the size of those chompers.
7 Shadow Beast
Many fans hold Twilight Princess in high regard. Perhaps, that's because it has some of the gnarliest enemies. Shadow Beasts populate the land of Twilight Princess, and they're imposing creatures that work together with their own kind and can even revive their downed buddies.
But it's truthfully the dark, faceless form these creatures take that is truly frightening, as they often emit an eerie howl and can quite literally drop in out of nowhere. Because they like to run in packs, it makes them all the more intimidating.
But let's be honest, you'd soil yourself if you saw one of these creeps running full speed at you.
6 Guardians
In Breath of the Wild, Link must contend with these nefarious mechanical monstrosities that dot the land. Often, it proves to be more advisable for your health to silently sneak around them or simply avoid them at all costs, and once they lock on to Link, they're terrifying as they shamble to and fro.
Their glowing eye beams of death are, perhaps, the most terrifying aspect of their operations. They're highly accurate, and each hit is devastating.
5 Big Poes
Poes are often kind of cute for disembodied spirits. Even the hostile ones look like nothing more than floating lanterns with faces.
Big Poes don't really look all that much different - in most games. However, Twilight Princess decided to inject a bit of hair-raising horror into the design of its Big Poes.
In Twilight Princess, these ghastly specters look more like spooky wraiths draped in white cloaks with black, sunken faces. This more haunting, skeletal approach to the visual design of the Big Poes is enough to create a lasting memory.
4 Gomess
Speaking of wraiths, try this one on for size. Gomess can be found in the Stone Tower Temple of Majora's Mask, where he acts as a mini-boss that preludes obtaining the Boss Key needed to fight the actual boss.
Still, Gomess is rather intimidating in his own right. In comparison, the Grim Reaper is probably the closest description of what Gomess looks like.
This being carries a scythe, has piercing glowing eyes, and is often shrouded in bats which Link must cause to disperse with light arrows in order to deal any meaningful damage to Gomess. He's creepy, but once you get over his appearance, he's not too difficult to bring down.
3 Blizzeta
This boss fight in Twilight Princess is born out of the cute and initially friendly character Yeta. This little yeti becomes possessed by the Mirror Shard and turns into a frightening red-eyed demonic imp who then transforms into a massive ice monster.
To make matters worse, Blizzeta is a rather formidable contender in Twilight Princess.
Despite Yeta's friendly appeal, this goes to show you that even the best characters can be corrupted in the world of Twilight Princess. Haunting, indeed.
2 Lynel
These hulking beasts are just as tough as they look, if not more so. In Breath of the Wild, rare beasts known as Lynels will walk the land.
These creatures look like centaurs mixed with lions, and they are far tougher than any boss fight you'll encounter in the main storyline.
If you assault a Lynel, prepare for a punishment that comes rather quickly. Seeing one of these massive beasts charge you is also enough to give anyone goosebumps.
1 ReDead
The ReDead have appeared in multiple Zelda titles, and each time they are just as creepy as their prior iteration. In terms of actions, they are basically zombies, and they shamble very slowly, but what makes them dangerous is their ability to freeze you in your tracks with a glare and a haunting scream.
When they catch up to Link, they jump on him and seemingly squeeze the life out of him like they're giving him a big bear hug. It's not fun or pretty.
These beings were scary in Ocarina of Time. Wind Waker only proved that with a little variation on their scream and adding piercing red eyes, they could be that much scarier even in toon form.