Tingle Island Revisited: The Horror Returns

A few years ago, around the time Strange Moments in Gaming was created, we talked about Tingle the man-elf.  Tingle is easily one of the creepiest, if not the creepiest character in the Legend of Zelda series, so it was fitting that he made an appearance in this blog.  However, looking back on the article I feel like I had not done justice to Tingle Island in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker due to my somewhat brief mention of the place.

Because of this grievous mistake, and because this current entry marks the 100th post in Strange Moments in Gaming, I have decided to once again face the terror-who-wears-green-spandex by giving a more in-depth look at Tingle Island.  Join me on my adventure to the land that makes Lost's island seem like Disneyland.

Upon arriving in the vicinity of Tingle Island, I find that the land itself is somewhat small and barren.  Dominating the landscape is the massive and threatening Tingle Tower.  This tower is composed of a single column carved with various designs which we'll see in a bit.  As a warning to all passing sailors, the top of the tower is capped with a gigantic rotating Tingle head, making this a lighthouse from hell.  Let's take a closer look shall we?

After making landfall, it immediately begins to rain on the island.  I think we can all take this as a bad omen; something is warning me to turn back while I can.  Instead I gather my courage and continue on a little closer to the tower, to observe the various carvings on its column.  It doesn't take long for me to notice that one of the carvings is the giant pig head of Ganon himself (or one of his minions).

Something is definitely not right here.  For someone who claims to be a fairy, why would Tingle create a monument to the world's biggest threat?

Wanting to get to the bottom of this, I begin to scale the single ladder that leads to the top of Tingle Tower.  At the top I make first contact with the island's natives, which consist of not just one, but three Tingles!  The horror is tripled and Link and I are both fighting the urge to power off the game, but we stand our ground and begin to make some observations.

First, there appears to be some slave labor occurring here.  Two Tingles in light-colored spandex struggle to rotate the giant Tingle head we saw earlier, while the green spandex-wearing Tingle we all know and fear watches over them like an overseer.  He doesn't lift a finger to help despite the grunts of agony from the two laborers.

I decide it's finally time to speak to the "man" himself, the green Tingle.  I'm sure he'll provide some insight into this whole operation, right?

Tingle is as creepy as ever.

Nope, not only does he provide no explanation about the purpose of this tower, but he refuses to acknowledge the back-breaking work of the other two Tingles.  Instead he insists the tower runs on "fairy magic."  I figured this would be a good time to back away from the delusional man-elf and take to the seas, but I felt obligated to do one last thing: experience Tingle Island at night.

What better way to maximize the creepiness than this?  Seeing the carved Ganon head during the dark of night serves to make the tower appear even more imposing, and to top it off the rotation of the giant Tingle head now sounds like the moaning of tortured spirits.

I then proceeded one last time to scale Tingle Tower, where I was greeted with...oh no.......no........

How I survived this ordeal I'll never know.  I appear to have woken up in my office chair, where I have been hastily writing this article to warn you all of the dangers of Tingle Island in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

On a more serious note, I hope you've all enjoyed this 100th post in Strange Moments in Gaming!  Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting on my posts, I enjoy hearing from all of you.  Here's to another hundred posts!