A Theory Behind the Bottom of the Well and Shadow Temple

The Shadow Temple sure is a creepy, mysterious place. With halls lined with guillotines, undead monstrosities from nightmares just found everyone, deep meanings and a very bad state of hygenic cleaniness for everything within, it is no surprise that many theories have come up about what each area may represent, or why enemies that appear there do so. In a similar light, the Kakariko Well area has sparked off many an article, relating to torture, death and the miseries of the actions of mankind (I look too deep into this, right?). So here are my thoughts about what each area could simply represent, and the thoughts of others re-posted to boost my theories.

The Bottom of the Well

The blood stained dungeon that lies under this well is most probably a much deeper thing than is thought at first, and my idea is that it is not just a prison, a torture chamber or an abandoned house, but all three in one, just over differing time periods and ages.

It is quite obvious that prisoners were kept in this place during the inprisoning war talked about in many Legend of Zelda games, and by the looks of much of the rest, they were quite probably tortured and then later died in this rather grim location.

The cells are an interesting thing, as by the looks of both the grim walls, bars and blood which lays around them, I would go as far as to say that someone, but no one knows who exactly was kept within those caged walls, probably as some form of military prison for 'prisoners of war'.

The large X shaped object in the middle of the main room could also very well be a clue. It has been said before by some individuals that this could have been a form of medieval styled torture rack for those kept here. I agree, as their logic of the blood, the skeletal hands in the green acid beneath and the pits seems to honestly fit this conclusion.

But if it was a prison and torture chamber, why do the people say a house used to be where the well is now? Well a good theory is that the bottom of the well is also what remains of the inhabitants home, as not only is his favourite object, the Lens of Truth lying around in a chest, but also the paintings of what may be the house owner, and what show quite a sinister figure may have lived here. This would also explain the fact the outside is like corridors in a house, that there are many strange rooms around, and alcoves with paintings and colours on the walls. It would also explain the monstrosity that is Dead Hand, which I personally think is probably what remains of this guy, after his death the remains probably took this zombified form for whatever reason the well's atmosphere allowed the redeads and gibdos to 'live' after their actual death is meant to have taken place. Or it could be because they have been re-animated by dark magic, and part of that has effected this person to become this hideous creature.

It can also be said that he most likely had some connection to the actual happenings at the bottom of the well, and that he was one of those responsible for the grim areas construction, seeing as so much can be seen using the Lens of Truth, which seems to be his favourite artifact.

Either way, in a very typical horror story way, it is most likely the fact that the souls of those who died here were tortured that provided the energy for the zombified monsters which may lurk within the walls of this place. And the spiders? Well, what do you expect in a zombie filled underground tomb complex? Zombified spiders!

Shadow Temple, more of the mystery

The Shadow Temple has very strong connections to the bottom of the well, but what it is I believe may actually be something more philosophical than just a temple. In fact, this temples makes me think of the Greek underworld, or the ancient Greek believed version of hell, as there are many similarities to this kind of place.

For one, there is a murky river which has a ferry that goes to the far side of the temple. This could be very symbolic of the River Stynx in greek mythology, which was the barrier to the underworld which had to be crossed to enter the afterlife.

The redeads and gibdos I will say may have been kept alive only to prolong their misery for their evil deeds in their life, as they seem to hate the place which is here, which may symbolise punishment to the evil.

Now, Dead Hand is a very different thing. I personally think that it's possible that when you killed him the first time in Kakariko Well, that he kind of got sent to this version of hell that is the Shadow Temple as an eternal punishment for the beings behaviour when it was alive. And when you killed it again of course, the monsters soul may have been finally put to rest once and for all.

Here lies the remains of Hyrules evil and greed. Or something along those lines is read quite well in the Shadow Temple, and it is indeed possible that the text actually shows that the temple is the punishment or a permanent monument to the evils that may have occurred in the past of the land, and that the temple is filled with what became of those that were killed in that time.

This idea though, of it being some kind of dark afterlife place fits in well with the torture instruments and devices, possibly symbolising what happens after death. Oh, and to note, I'm actually quite sure that the Stalfos aren't actually from this area, as the way they fall from above seems rather like they were sent there to destroy Link by Ganon, like is shown in official art where Link is surrounded by such monsters, such as Stalfos, Moblins and Lizalfos, which are quite probably from Ganon's Army.

Finally, the reason Bongo Bongo is there isn't because it came from the area, but because it was unleashed from the well. A good estimate is that it was sealed away as some form of demon beneath that well, and somehow got unleashed by the dark power of Ganondorf.