Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Escape From Ganon's Castle

Warning: auto-destruction sequence activated. Evacuate immediately

Just like Sauron’s Tower has to fall at the end of Tokien’s trilogy so does Ganon’s Castle representing the downfall of evil. And just like Samus has one last exciting timed escape sequence from all the planets she is in so does Link get one. It is a respected video game tradition. This one pairs the princess and the hero in gameplay for the first time in the game, reminiscent of when we did the same in the prologue of A Link to the Past. However, this time the mission is giving the players the opportunity to really play the hero and see Zelda in action helping back; you feel the need to protect princess Zelda in real time and you hear her react each time you are injured. All this because Ocarina of Time needs to end in truly cinematic fashion.

The climactic escape from an exploding lair, another staple of cinematic excitement. The timer, everything falling apart around you, the rumbling sounds and the music all contribute to a tension filled finale; the bad guy’s base has to blow up, it’s a rule of fiction that shouldn’t be broken—usually a bomb is to blame, or in this case it’s Ganondorf’s final spell— One last challenge after defeating the villain. After all that the heroes have done, could they perish alongside the collapsing castle?

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 0 / Section 1 / Section 2 / Section 3 / Section 4

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 125 (ritardando to 90 in section 0)

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: C Chromatic; C Diminished

Princess Zelda and Link reunite and join forces once again in order to escape the crumbling castle. This thrilling and dramatic moment is accompanied by a track that immediately rings the alarm with brass chords and loud percussion; this alarm of course has to choose the most panic inducing intervals, focusing on the tritone, the perfect fourth and the augmented seventh (minor second) all at the same time, similar to the ‘Enter Ganondorf’ cue and played in a rising chromatic sequence; it would be difficult to find a more diabolical note configuration.

The remaining sections are dominated by a propulsive ostinato where the passive, foreboding piano from the basement of the castle returns in full distress mode, burying itself with its fortress—the delay effect from the piano heard in the castle dungeon is also reprised— the strings can’t help but play sustained tritones in this situation, slowly ascending to create the sense of lingering danger and creating more dissonance with the piano. This part has similar countours and rhythms to the main Ganondorf’s Theme in the way that the intervals ascend chromatically.

Sections 2 and 4 with a whirlwind of chromaticism urges the player to move quickly and creates the necessary stress for the scene. The cadence of the melody is also reminiscent of the cadence from Ganondorf’s Theme.

Like many a combat track, this cue derives most of its effect by employing the percussion section to emphasize the rhythms of the otinatos, going so far as to using the two sets of timpani samples from the soundtrack’s set of instruments.

The loop of the piece is actually very short since it only starts after the strings begin their melody. So the entire first part with only the piano only plays once. This long introduction is used to showcase how the layers of the piece progressively combine.

The timer of the mission is reasonably set so that practically anyone can complete it on the first try. Otherwise it would be anti-climatic and not cinematic enough.

After the intense escape—with a cruelly placed ReDead right at the end—Link and Zelda (with navi) watch as the tower collapses, the only thing left from the majestic Hyrule Castle being its ruins. But this isn’t over yet, you slowly realize as what remains of the castle slowly transitions into a battlefield. Ganondorf in a last ditch effort will clung to the Triforce no matter what it takes and with his unnatural powers managed to survive; he comes from the depths of the debris for the real final battle, a clash whose tales will fulfill the narrative aspirations of becoming a true legend.