Did you ever notice strange things about them. In OOT, just ordinary monsters, which give out much money, and avoided with the bunny hood.
In MM, however, these creatures appeare to be some sort of civilization, the Stalchild Civilization.
The heartland is the graveyard in the east, where their leader is located guarding his precious mask. They have fun, travel, and terrorize anyone who happens upon the graveyard at night, guarded by monsters on the path to the Graveyard. It is sort of a hunter-gatherer setting.
In the western beaches, however, they have infiltrated the Haunted Masion themed Spider house thing. They have learned of the secret of the masks in the mansion, indicating and intelligence among them. They would kill the spiders and gain the treasure, however, the leader said only to guard it, indicating that in the past Stalchilds put the treasure there, possibly.
They, apparently, have much to do with the kidnapping of one of the ghosts of the musician brothers, who once played for the king of the eastern valley, showing they could be children massacred by the king and seeking revenge by torturing his servants.
They seem easily fooled, however, when Link puts on the mask from the stalchild king, showing it has powers or the Stalchilds rely heavily on face appearance.
From what is gathered, the Stalchilds are a minor civilization in the graveyards of Termina, seeking for new homes, liked haunted mansions, while their hunter-gatherer brothers in the graveyard slowly advance. They could have hid great treasures across Temina, like the treasure in the haunted spider mansion on the beaches, and the rupees in the graveyard. They are loyal to their king, but apparently have a grudge against the kings of the eastern valleys. They are apparently rich, seeing as if they kidnapped the musician, they hired a Darknut to keep him locked up.
They're undead, so I wouldn't consider them a civilization. Although they seem to have been a civilization once. Oh, and it's Stalchildren. :-*
However, you just gave me a thought. Because they're supposedly children, is it possible that the ones in OoT are Kokiris who've left the forest? :-\
Or maybe they're children who were killed in the war?
I've never thought of Stalchildren as being real children. Instead, I think they are just weaker versions of Stalfoses.
Actually, I find out they are dead soldiers of King Ikana, just ones that turned to this weak state.
Also, it is possible the undead can become a civiliztion if they can think.
Either they thought the king hated them and made them weak, making them evil towards him; they are loyal to him, but have a feudal lord to be more loyal to, which is why they captured the musician, who was an enemy of the king; they are massacred children who faught in an unsuccessful war for King Ikana, which made them rebel while undead.
They do seem to be rich in both N64 games, but in OOT rival the richer Skullkids (look at the money you get beating them!), and are slowly developing to a civilization. They do show less loyalty to Ikana, seeing as they can think, unlike the gibdos and redeads. As shown to how they sent a few of themselves to the beach Gold Skulltula Mansion, they probably gained their richness by pillaging, hunting, and attacking lone travelers.
Still, they have natural protection, a "culture", money, and apparently have hired guards for treasures and prisoners (the bottle in the graveyard could be theirs, and the Big Poe guarding it could be hired), and have a king and feudal like lord, showing signs of an increasingly growing civilization.
The ones in OOT don't have to be related (and are probably not) to the ones in MM. And I don't think they create a new civilization, but rather continue the one they had while alive.
No undead in tloz games is incapable of thinking. They might be caught in a certain pattern or emotion, but they could think.
Prove every undead can think, rather than being a mindless zombie bend on destroying whatever comes by that is alive:
Poes: Sharp, Flat
Ghinis: Gina
Ghosts/Spirits: Spookter, Spekter, the girl in the graveyard of FSA and some other ones, usually an older man, in dungeons in FSA.
Stalfoses and Stalchildren: Those you've mentioned yourself. I just wanted to include every type of undead. :)
Garos (ghosts): about every one of them Link meets.
Gibdos: Every one of them Link meets in Termina
Redeads: No real prove, but they do seem to care about their peers. They also seem connected to Gibdos, making it more likely they are capable of thinking.
Dead Hand: No idea about this one. There is hardly any information about bosses and subbosses most of the time.
Well, zombies in LA can't think, and neither a 'zombie' in the mall. :P
Still, you have a point, the entire undead/ghost things in TLOZ series could be part of one huge but seperated civilization(s), with Ikana the most important and civilized.
LA is different. Koholint is a dream world, and dreams are subjective because one's reality is. If the WindFish never "met" an (intelligent) undead, it's not likely they will be anything else than standard enemies. :-\
Small thing I forgot to mention is that there appears to be a dimension or subworld for the dead. That Ghost Ship in TWW really freaked me out. If you'd look outside, all you could see were ghostlike beings. It was obvious Link wasn't in Hyrule anymore. It could be what connects the dead.
Link was still in Hyrule's remains (Great Sea), but he was sent into the memory of the ship in the sea. It is possible that the ghosts are the crew, and that the monsters killed it about the time Ganon got out. It is also possible that the Ghost Ship is the remains of the ship and spirits of Tetra's parents.
Then the ship had like, an uncountable amount of crew members. It ain't them. It's like a river of ghosts/spirits. Have you seen the state it was in? I doubt that is a memory. More likely how it looks at the bottom of the ocean. It also seems very old (quotes regarding it), so I doubt we can connect it to Tetra's parents. My guesses are that ship was meant to save some people from the flood.
Anyway, it was not Hyrule, but a "ghost zone" or something. It has to be, looking at the ship (inside and outside), the ghost river and that awkward beam of light that really comes from nowhere.
Well, more than one crew have ridden the same ship before. It could have been kept in great condition over the ages, and then Ganon killed them all and their descendants and relatives, cursing them to ride it for eternity.
I really doubt that is Ganondorf's doing. It's not his style to kill people if it isn't neccessary. Nor is finding relatives of the people he killed to kill them too (would have really helped him if he would've done it in ALTTP). Ganondorf wants to rule, and considers destruction and death "justifiable" methods of archieving his goal. But he doesn't do it without a reason.
It is possible he knew the family had the Triforce of Wisdom, so he probably began a massacre of them in order to get the Triforce. He never founded them, and could have killed other pirates in an attempt to find them: Quote from Tetra
QuoteThe Foresaken Foretress once belonged to a rival group of pirates.
He doesn't appear to be aware he has to look for a pirate-girl. He was quite surprised when he found out Tetra had it.
The reason I think he took over the Forsaken Fortress and possibly killed all its inhabitants, is simply because the portal ended there. Pure convenience, nothing more.
Actually, Ganon created that portal.
So? It still leads to a perfect above-ocean hideout. I'm pretty sure that's what he was aiming for and not its inhabitants.
But when is it stated that he created the portal?
In the part of the story in Ganon's Tower when you open the portal.