The King's Suicide

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Because of my video downloaders being glitchy, I had to rip those cutscenes from the ROM.

It was a Friday 13th, and I never really believed its myths, until that day. I just got a single cutscene when I was done with the rip: "suicideking_01.avi", a clip of 2 minutes and 58 seconds. It was not even in it's specific format, it came directly as an HD video, somehow. The cutscene began like in the intro for Faces of Evil. But it

was mute, all what I could hear was an faint, eerie static noise in the background. Link was just strenching at the screen, saying nothing. The next scene was different. The King was drinking his wine, he didn't move. There was no background at all. Then, Link in zoom-in, immobile.

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">For a split of second, he had no face. I was getting really scared, because nothing of that was part of the game. Then, it went back to the King. This time, he was suposed to say the famous "Mah Boi" part, but he was looking different. His hair and beard was white, his pupils were red, and his skin was a little pale, and he was mute, like in the beginning. I felt like decades passed through both scenes, like if he was older. The scene went back to the place where Link was suposed to be, he was not there.

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Instead, a big stain of blood was on the bricks, and some windows were broken. The scene went back to the King, who was staring at the scene for a few seconds, then went back to his wine, slowly. And again, a focus on Link, but he was a lot stranger. He was almost completely black, his smiling mouth had sharp, shark-like teeth, bleeding. The background was black and red, and there was a creepy music in the background. The scene went black and mute, for a milisecond, Link's smile was left behind, with a pair of red pupils staring at me. I was majorly scared at that point already.

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The scene went black for a few seconds, and then, I saw the King's chalice slowly falling down, with what sounded like the Song of Healing playing backwards in the background. When it hit the middle of the nothingness, it shattered. Then, the King was falling to his back, with eyes closed. I was sure: he was dead. Now the title made sense. He committed suicide. How? The chalice maybe had poison in it? Who knows. Without any noise, he hit the ground, immobile.

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Then, for a split of second, his colors were different. There was an iron stack going through his chest, and the triangle of his forehead was an inverted cross. I didn't want to continue, but my curiosity was stronger, and forced me to keep watching. More darkness for a few seconds. And then, a random sword pointing down appeared, silent. It was blinking in inverted colors for a few frames. And then, Link's hand came down and held it, pulling up. His black silhouette appeared on a red background after 2 seconds of black screen. He was saying some sort of demonic whisper, but not during all the scene. It went mute and he continued talking. When it went black again, he said something distorted.

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">After I tried to hear it 5 times, it was clear: "Kill anyone friendly." I was really scared at that point. And then, Gwonam came in like in the first real scene, but he had that older style, and no sound or background. When his speech ended, Link's sword appeared, a demonic whisper was slowly getting louder. Then, Gwonam again. And then, Link holding the sword and pulling it up. And then, Gwonam again. When it turned black, slaughter noises. And then, Link's sword reappeared, but it was covered with blood. Link's black silhouette reappeared, with a different background this time.

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">More black screen. And then...Link's sword. He came in again, and picked it up. But this time he began to kill lots of people with the sword. I was unable to see their faces, I could just see the sword swinging and the blood spilling around, with lots of screams and massacre noises. Those screams were making me feel completely scared. Link stabbed one person who slowly raised his hand, then chopped it off. And then, there was a chained dude in the background, struggling to escape while he watched Link kill 2 more people. He was begging Link to not kill him, but Link approached and cut him in half. For a split of second, a pair of horrendous eyes appeared at the screen. More black screen.

<p style="border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">This time, it was longer. But then, Link was slowly coming toward the screen, faceless, fading-in, with different colors. As he was approaching, random images were appearing for single frames, an eerie music was coming with more and more volume. When he was "looking" at me, he began to glitch up, until a deep close-up at his empty face. Before the video ended, the King appeared in a single frame, zombie-like. After that, I got a blue screen.