The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Why did Link grab the Moon Pearl? He had no way of knowing he would need it: at that point in the game, he thought his quest was (1) get the pendants, (2) get the Master Sword, (3) kill Agahnim. There was no expectation that he would spend 2/3rds of the game in the Dark World -- that's just metagaming. Heck, the stupid thing doesn't even serve a purpose in the dungeon we're given it (and the only other example of THAT I can think of is the Raft in the first two games)!
    • Because Link is a Kleptomaniac Hero, and has a tendency to nick anything that isn't nailed down, looks shiny and/or enchanted, or might be of value to someone at some point.
    • Because I'm fairly sure there is at least one point you can access the Dark World at by that point and the people there tell you you need it to not be a defenseless pink bunny?
    • As the above troper states, one of the two people you can talk to the first time you access the Dark World as a way to access the Tower of Hera, mention the Moon Pearl as a way to protect yourself from the effects of The Golden Power. Then in the first room of the Tower, Sahasrahla tells you to retrieve the Moon Pearl so that The Golden Power won't turn you into a bunny.
      • This. The purpose of the Moon Pearl is to protect the bearer from the Golden Power. Link's ultimate goal at that time is to kill Agahnim, a wizard who is seemingly infused with the Golden Power. Bear in mind that Agahnim is supposedly some great wizard, but his sole powers seem to be firing an energy ball, firing another type of energy ball, going Palpatine on yo' ass, teleportation, and sending people into the Dark World. At the very least, that last point would have been a consideration to anyone confronting him; and at the most it could be that the Moon Pearl's power protected Link from Agahnim's deadly "Cause Subject To Sneeze Out Every Internal Organ Through Their Left Nostril" spell. It's not coded into the game (And hey, it's actually possible to skip the Moon Pearl), but it's a possibility. Actually, going back to the possibility to skip the Moon Pearl, I'm not joking when I say you can do it. The game seems to carry on whether or not you pick it up, and it's possible that a player not particularly savvy to how the game operates would think "eh, I've just been through the Dark World, and I doubt I'm going back there again, I don't need the Pearl" only to find that they're stuck as a bunny after the first battle with Agahnim. You can skip most of the treasures in every dungeon, and a few of them aren't actually required to complete the game (Both Mails for instance). In the Light World, you can skip the Bow and it's never actually required until the Dark Palace. The only dungeon item you require before Agahnim is the Power Glove. Collecting the Moon Pearl may appear as metagaming, but so is collecting the Bow and the Ice Rod (Which is useless up until Trinexx, where it becomes a goddamn requirement without anything as much as hinting to it.)
    • It's in the largest, hardest to reach chest in the tower. It's obviously valuable in some way, so why not grab it just in case?
  • I actually beat Agahnim without getting the Moon Pearl. The text at the beginning at the Pyramid of Power advices you to go back and get the Pearl. As a bunny, you can't actually access the first dungeon, cut down bushes, lift stones, or fight the relentless storm of baddies after you.
  • What was the point of Blind the Thief posing as the fourth maiden? He refuses to go outside, despite asking you to take him outside, doesn't lead you into ambushes, trick you in any real way, or even directly attack you before you force him out of his disguise.
    • This. He asks you to take him outside, but then won't follow you out the front door. What to do with him is even more confusing if you didn't manage to bomb the ceiling beforehand.
    • He's trying to keep you inside his dungeon longer so his horde of monsters has a better chance of killing Link. Outside of gameplay, if Link thinks he's got the fourth maiden he won't be looking for the real one. This troper's father speant almost two hours running around the dungeon trying to find an alternate exit before he realized he could blow a hole in the floor and then got curious and walked through the light patch.
  • Did anyone else think the location of the Flute (Ocarina) was a Guide Dang It moment? Because I didn't think it was very clear where it was, and I searched all over Hyrule for months before I caved in, bought a guide, and found it.
  • Was Aganihm really responsible for bringing peace to the lands by dealing with those problems using his own special magic? I was under the impression that he was merely dispelling the spells he had cast in the first place.
  • Why is Agahnim's official art red when his in-game sprite is green?
    • Just a coloring error in-game, maybe? The sprites also have Link's hair looking kind of pinkish, after all.
  • Did it ever occur to Ganon to ask the Triforce, that was in his possession the whole time, to escape the Dark Realm? Or am I missing the point? And Please don't answer, then there wouldn't have been a game. I know that already.
    • Because he had presumably used his wish to rule Hyrule, and the Triforce granted him the magical power to do it. The Triforce doesn't seem to directly grant wishes.
    • The Triforce grants what your heart truly desires. In Ganon's case, this was conquest.
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