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[[File:Haunted9.png|right|thumb|300px|The distorted Link as seen in BEN.wmv.]]
{{Infobox Community
The '''Haunted Majora's Mask Cartridge Story''', commonly referred to as '''BEN Drowned''', is a {{wp|creepypasta}} story and alternate reality game. It retells pseudo-paranormal events that occurred between the days of September 7 and September 15, 2010 to Jadusable, a sophomore at an undisclosed college. Upon receiving a second-hand [[Nintendo 64]] from a friend and buying a non-descript {{MM}} cartridge from an eccentric old man, the narrator begins to notice misplaced and missing graphics and strange connections to a boy named Ben, who was said to have died eight years before, from within the game. The story attracted believers from all across the Zelda community; however, "Jadusable" has since revealed the story, on his site, as being simply an experiment in testing the gullibility of readers when presented with a story written and carried out in a believable form.
|image= File:BD The Truth.png
|caption= The thumbnail for "The Truth.wmv"
|creator= Alex Hall {{Small|(known as "Jadusable")}}
|media= MM
|timeframe= September 2010 - October 2020
|website= {{List|[https://www.youtube.com/user/Jadusable Jadusable YouTube Channel], [https://jadusable.withinhubris.com/Main_Page Jadusable Wiki]}}
|language= English
|status= Ended
}}
'''Ben Drowned''' is a creepypasta story and alternate reality game written by Alex Hall. Taking place over three story arcs, it first recounted events from the perspective of Jadusable, a college student who received a second-hand copy of {{MM}} from an eccentric old man's garage sale. The latter story arcs diverged from the first-person narrative established by Jadusable, featuring a wider array of characters and an interactive plot that explored the group responsible for the cartridge and, ten years later, the consequences of their actions.


The story encompasses three parts: Haunted Cartridge Arc, Moon Children Arc, and Hubris Arc.
The story rapidly gained traction throughout the wider gaming community during its original run on /x/, 4chan's Paranormal board, from September 7 to September 15, 2010. During the second arc, Hall revealed that his story outgrew its initial scope and would need to be put on hiatus.<ref>{{Cite Person|quote= A number of factors - money was a big issue - the whole thing just got too expansive for me and the cheap webhosting I had wasn’t able to handle more than a few thousand people at once on the website without going down. If I was going to involve my website this throughouly in my ARG, then I would need a better host, and those cost quite a pretty penny. Also I needed more manpower, given that all this time I had been doing the writing, filming, managing, updating myself I couldn’t balance that, school, and retaining a social life. Something had to give and regrettably it had to be the ARG.|name= Alex Hall|title= Haunted Majora’s Mask Creator Opens Up in Exclusive Interview|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160825200327/http://www.zeldainformer.com/news/jadusable_interview|archive= |published= September 23, 2010|retrieved= November 6, 2022}}</ref> The second arc finished in 2011, where the story would remain until its conclusion began on March 17, 2020. ''Ben Drowned'' concluded on October 31st of that year.<ref>{{Cite Person|quote= It's been a long road, but the finale to Awakening - and Ben Drowned itself - premieres today on Halloween at 4pm Eastern Standard Time. This video will conclude the story that started ten years ago and follow Sarah as she attempts to stop the fourth day glitch from consuming all of Termina.|name= Alex Hall|title= The End.wmv premieres today at 4pm EST|url= https://www.patreon.com/posts/end-wmv-today-at-43371793|archive= https://web.archive.org/web/20220516160346/https://www.patreon.com/posts/end-wmv-today-at-43371793|published= October 31, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022}}</ref>


==Haunted Cartridge Arc==
==Story==
===Chapter 1: Day Four (9/7/2010)===
The narrative of ''Ben Drowned'' took place over three separate story arcs, each with their own methods of storytelling and interaction with the audience.
[[File:Haunted8.png|200px|thumb|left|The haunted menu screen displaying the "BEN" name not created by the narrator.]]
The narrator started by orienting the reader to his setting: a college dorm. A friend had recently given him an old Nintendo 64, packaged with [[Super Smash Bros.]] for his dorm room. Out of boredom, he subsequently drove around the college's neighborhood in search of more games. After purchasing three vintage Nintendo 64 titles from yard sales, he came across a strange house. A "displeasing", seemingly blind, old man greeted him outside the house, and retreated inside after hearing that the narrator was interested in buying old video games. "Peculiar" paintings were displayed on the man's yard table; the narrator notices that one of them resembles [[Majora's Mask]], but does not think much of it. The man returned and handed Jadusable a blank cartridge with the word "MAJORA" written across it, and said that he can have the game for free. Apparently, the game belonged to a child that no longer lived at the house. Fighting with inner skepticisms, the narrator takes the game back to his dorm, but not before thanking the man.
[[File:Haunted3.png|200px|right|thumb|The "twilight zone"-like Clock Town seen in day four.wmv.]]
He boots up the game at the college to find one save file, titled "BEN". He is astonished to find the save file so close to completion, and started up his own file. The gameplay was strangely fluid for a nondescript cartridge; only textural problems are evident, and sometimes the NPCs called his character "[[Link]]" and at other times "BEN". He decided to delete the BEN save file, but that did not help; the characters now called him "_____". He put the game down for the night. Upon picking the game up again the next day, he attempted to do the famous "4th Day Glitch", but it did not go as planned. His character appeared in the Majora boss room, with [[Skull Kid]] levitating above. The narrator moved to press the reset button on the N64 when the game flashed a quote, seemingly communicating with him. A choice option appeared next on screen, and upon selecting a choice, the game faded to black and Link appeared in a "twilight-zone", uninhabited [[Clock Town]].


At this point, the narrator felt as if he himself was in some form of danger. Clock Town had the feeling that "something was there", in place where the normal inhabitants had been. Creepy music began to continuously loop, ascending and descending in volume. The strange atmosphere brought the narrator "on the verge of tears"; an unseen force seemed to be placing him into a void of depression from the screen of the television. He found that he was unable to leave Clock Town no matter what he tried. He then saw a frightening clip of Link clutching his head, the face and scream of the [[Happy Mask Salesman]], and eventually was being followed by the Link Statue that could be summoned using the [[Elegy of Emptiness]]. Link was constantly followed by the Statue; the Salesman's head continually flashes on screen; Link appeared back at the top of the Clock Tower where he would towards the end of the normal gameplay of ''Majora's Mask''. Before he could play his Ocarina, Link busted into flames and died. The screen faded to black, and returned to the menu screen; the file that was originally LINK was now "YOURTURN" - he selected it only to see a half-minute of Link dead and the Skull Kid levitating just above. Upon resetting, the menu screen not only revealed the file "YOURTURN", but one below it that read "BEN".
===The Haunted Cartridge===
On September 7, 2010, a college student using the name "Jadusable" made his first post on /x/ regarding his experience with a shady copy of ''Majora's Mask'', which was in the standard grey cartridge with "MAJORA" written where the label should have been. After receiving the game from an old man's garage sale, Jadusable brought it home and noticed that a save file named "BEN" was left behind by the previous owner.<ref name="Guide">{{Cite Web|author= Alex Hall|published= February 21, 2011|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110426092443/http://z15.invisionfree.com/Within_Hubris/index.php?showtopic=494|title= The Haunted Cartridge - The Complete Story|site= Within Hubris}}</ref>


===Chapter 2: BEN (9/8/2010)===
Over the next five days, Jadusable would post updates to his original summary, each with attached videos showing his gameplay. The first video, day four.wmv, featured out-of-place sounds, missing textures, and the continuous appearance of an {{Term|Series|Elegy of Emptiness|link}} statue, seemingly chasing Jadusable throughout each area.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= September 7, 2010|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6D2XCJUJHY|title= day four.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Each subsequent video would show increasingly disturbing events, with Jadusable's summaries growing more panicked. The penultimate /x/ post was made by Jadusable's roommate, who announced that Jadusable had moved back home.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= September 12, 2010|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE7YUEtpHoY|title= jadusable.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref>
[[File:Haunted10.png|200px|left|thumb|Link seconds before spontaneously bursting into flame in Termina Field.]]
That night, the narrator dreamed about the Link Statue at great length. In the morning, he decided to go back to the house of the man who sold him the cartridge. No one is home. He asked a few questions to a next-door neighbor cutting grass, and eventually asked about Ben: an "incident" occurred with Ben that forced his parents to move from the neighborhood, eight years ago. The narrator returned to his dorm, and selected the BEN file, after a bit of hesitation. The file is a mangled mess of graphics and sound; a twisted, seemingly dead, Link stood outside the Stone Tower Temple amidst devilish sounds - a Link Statue formed out of nowhere, and then everything faded to the "Dawn of a New Day" screen. The screen opened and he was now controlling [[Deku Link]] in Clock Town from a strange camera angle, looking from behind the Clock Tower door. The Salesman appeared, and the screen flashed to [[Termina Field]], switching to Link again. The strange music continued; walking through [[Termina]], the Salesman, [[Epona]], Skull Kid, and the Link Statue were all standing in a line near the entrance to the [[Southern Swamp]]. The Salesman's gaze followed Link wherever he moved; the narrator took out his ocarina and played the Song of Healing. After finishing the song, a shrill audible sound rocked the room, the Salesman's theme increased in speed, and Link, again, died through spontaneous combustion.
[[File:Haunted12.png|200px|right|thumb|The Link Statue found at the bottom of the [[Great Bay]].]]
Immediately, Link was sped to Great Bay, after a small cutscene of a Zora Mask transformation. He found Epona on the shore; it seemed that she was signaling something. Thus, the narrator dived into the water to find a Link Statue at the bottom of the lake. Suddenly, [[Zora Link]] began violently choking and died, right next to the Statue. The menu screen flashed on the television, and the narrator realized that the game wasn't playing with him, but recounting the exact way in which Ben died: by drowning. The file "YOURTURN" is replaced by "BEN", and a new file appeared under "BEN", entitled "DROWNED".


===Chapter 3: DROWNED (9/10/10)===
Three days later, a document promised by the roommate, titled TheTruth.rtf, was released to the public per Jadusable's wishes. The document contained an even more detailed account of the incident, revealing that BEN had gained access to Jadusable's computer when the console's capture card was connected to it, as well as the apparent presence of a second entity. Between the game sessions, BEN would speak to Jadusable via Cleverbot, an AI bot-chatting website, with each interaction wearing on Jadusable's mental state. The final section of the document made it clear that Jadusable lived in a single dorm and therefore had no roommate, ending with a heartfelt thanks to those who had stuck with him throughout the experience.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= September 15, 2010|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.mediafire.com/?6t16r3dp7gt2wbt|title= TheTruth.rtf|site= MediaFire|type= Word Document}}</ref>
This short chapter was more of a personal reflection: the narrator tells the reader that BEN seems to have taken over his dreams. He attributed every action he did in the game to the fact that he thought BEN was watching him and simultaneously controlling his ideas. The narrator had skipped all of his classes and closed himself in his dorm, so that BEN could not "watch" him. He noted the game had spoken to him, using Ben's name, but remains confused as to the game's purpose and reason for tormenting him. The game file he created originally has returned, but he has no interest in continuing the game; all he wanted to do was go back home to his parents.


===Chapter 4: Jadusable (9/12/10)===
108 minutes after the document was posted, a final video titled "free.wmv" was uploaded to Jadusable's YouTube channel. Still taking place within ''Majora's Mask'', its sole contents were a black screen and the text, "The counter resets. I'm glad you did that."<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= September 15, 2010|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4VH6Sr-Xxw|title= free.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Shortly afterward, viewers noticed that his YouTube avatar had been changed to an Elegy of Emptiness statue.<ref name="Guide"/>
[[File:Haunted1.png|200px|thumb|left|Link levitates before Skull Kid. A second later, he bursts into flame and dies.]]
This chapter was written from the perspective of Jadusable's college roommate, and is grammatically messy. The roommate was sure that Jadusable was alright, having just moved out - he was returning home. However, he did note that he had been rooming with a friend, as he had been wary of Jadusable's recent paranoid behavior: he rarely ate, slept, or left the room. Before leaving, Jadusable entrusted his roommate with a flashdrive that held all of his recorded footage from the cartridge. The flashdrive not only contained the videos, the password to Jadusable's YouTube account, but also a document entitled "TheTruth.txt", the latter of which explained as "notes" taken during the gameplay. He revealed that he is to reveal TheTruth.txt to the world on September 15, as per Jadusable's request.


The fourth video that accompanied the text followed Link through a regular run-through of the Ancient Castle of Ikana. However, right before Link reached the door beyond the dancing Redeads, a sepia photograph of the Salesman and the Link Statue flashed on screen. The interaction with the head of Igos du Ikana in the next room is all gibberish. The head taught him the Elegy of Emptiness, and immediately a Link Statue materialized. Link was then introduced to Gomess, at a camera angle inside Link's hat, and was soon killed in the newfound, blue fog that surrounds him. Link was then warped to the Graveyard, where he checked the statements on some of the tombstones. Link fell into the one gravestone that stood in front of a Link Statue, and was taken to a windy corridor as the quote "It'll be our little secret, okay?" flashed on screen. Link walked the corridor, but was ambushed by a Link Statue and another quote, "You can't run." The screen returned and showed him, dead still, beneath the Clock Tower with the Salesman and a Link Statue by his side. The screen faded to black, with the quote "Please... help me..." The game returned to the menu screen and the file that was once "BEN" was now named "MATT".
===Moon Children===
Two days after free.wmv was uploaded, Jadusable's channel began posting coded messages. Once solved, viewers were directed to a website for the Moon Children, a cult dedicated to the moon.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/first-cycle|title= Home|site= youshouldnthavedonethat.net}}</ref> On first glance, one could see three active moderators making posts on the main page. After some searching, readers noticed various connections between the site and the prior incident with Jadusable, the most pressing of which being a hidden webpage that explicitly referenced Ben.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/ben|title= How did you get here?|site= youshouldnthavedonethat.net}}</ref> This page contained a countdown set to end on the following night. The next day, some readers managed to contact one of the site's moderators, Ifrit, who revealed that Ben was once a member of the Moon Children and had disappeared. As a result of contacting him by Gmail, his real name was revealed to be Matt.


===Chapter 5: The Truth (9/15/10)===
As the countdown neared its end, Ifrit told those emailing him, "Hang on, someone is knocking at my door." These messages coincided with a post on Jadusable's channel with a set of lyrics from The Genies' "Who's That Knocking": "What's that calling, calling my name/Tossed a brick through my window pane/Boom boom boom, bang bang bang".<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101001222716/http://www.youtube.com/user/Jadusable|title= Jadusable's Channel|site= YouTube}}</ref> When the countdown finished at 9:00pm EST, the site directed readers to a new video from Alex, a former member of the cult, depicting Link playing the {{Term|Series|Song of Time|link}}.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= TheLinkMissing|published= September 18, 2010|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JsRPJNHMIg|title= fj6rt|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Shortly afterward, the site was taken offline, leaving the audience with the realization that they had just been sent back in time by three days.
[[File:Haunted7.png|200px|thumb|right|Link in an uncomfortable laying position atop Clock Tower, after bursting into flame.]]
The Truth was a document that described Jadusable's interactions with the game in a bit more depth than his text or video recounts. He recounted how he originally believed the game to be an "elaborate hoax", but when he was contacted by a CleverBot online by BEN himself, the hoax became real and slowly began to consume his life. It became evident that BEN enjoyed playing with him, messing with him through the game; Jadusable realized that BEN went so far as to alter his video of the game and his summaries of the events as he saw them. Thus, Jadusable not only wanted others to know of BEN and the events, but even went as far as to cleverly name his videos in a way so that BEN would be unaware, and never used the Lens of Truth or Gossip Stones throughout any playthrough. The document ended with Jadusable signing off, glad that he was able to transfer the information to the world, though warning others to be wary of the summaries and videos as they may still contain BEN and remain dangrous.  One of his last remarks is that he never had a roommate, confirming that the person who posted the last video and its summary was indeed BEN.


The final video uploaded by Jadusable concerning the event was one that had the quotes, "The counter resets." followed by "I'm glad you did that."
The next day, readers discovered that the site was back up, yet in an earlier and more incomplete state than when it was discovered. Notable among these minor differences was that no mentions of Ifrit were present on the site, with a different moderator, Insidiae, taking his place on the site's main page.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/second-cycle|title= New site|site= youshouldnthavedonethat.net}}</ref> Over the next several hours, readers attempted in vain to contact Ifrit. On a whim, one person decided to respond to one of Jadusable's videos using YouTube's since-defunct video response function, uploading the {{Term|Series|Inverted Song of Time|link}}. This triggered a response on the channel, confirming that playing songs from ''Majora's Mask'' would have an effect on future events. Several songs would be played over the next few hours; however, as an unfortunate result of the audience's lack of coordination, yet another person was lost to the entity who had knocked on Ifrit's door the previous night. During the rush of events, its identity was seemingly revealed as Kelbris, the vengeful founder of the cult who had apparently been killed years earlier.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/second-cycle-2|title= WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?|site= youshouldnthavedonethat.net}}</ref>
{{clear}}
==Moon Children Arc==
A few days after free.wmv was uploaded, Jadusable's YouTube channel underwent several changes, including the addition of several ciphers that led to a new website: [youshouldnthavedonethat.net].  On the surface, it appeared to be a site belonging to a cult who worship the Moon, but careful observers found that it contained subtle to overt references to Majora's Mask. The site contained several sub-pages, particularly including doomsday theories and one regarding a figure named Kelbris, a forerunner of the cult who had died in 1998. The main page contained posts from the moderators of the site, some referencing "ascension," a form of ritual suicide thought to bring one's spirit closer to their deity, Luna.  Nekko's posts and the ones following it confirm that he had went through with it, and is the youngest to do so.


Along with several changes and cryptic references, readers began finding hidden pages that led them to a counter ending at 9pm the next day. When the timer reached the last two hours, the music changed to a song titled Matt's Final Hour and one of the hidden pages gave the users an email address belonging to the cultist Ifrit, whose account gave his name as Matt. He was able to tell them that Ben was a member of the cult, he couldn't see the hidden pages, and that Alex, another member, had been missing since the "blackout."  At the last few minutes, any email to him was met with the reply, "Hang on someone keeps knocking at my door."  No answers were received afterward. At 9, a response to free.wmv, in which Link plays the Song of Time, was uploaded by TheLinkMissing, whose YouTube account gave his name as Alex.  Afterward, the site went down.
The Song of Time was played once again, resetting the cycle for the final time. Just a few hours into the cycle, however, the curtain was drawn and the author, Alex Hall, announced that the story would be put on hold for the time being. The site was converted into a hub for readers to re-read the story from, and appeared to be a solely out-of-character site.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/ooc/home/9-20|title= Latest News|site= youshouldnthavedonethat.net}}</ref>


The next day, the site came back up as it was three days before, but with the notable exception of any reference to Ifrit. Players realized that once a character has been killed, much like the four bosses of Majora's Mask, they do not return when the Song of Time is played. During this "cycle," they gained the ability to use songs from Majora's Mask.  The New Wave Bossa Nova was played, which allowed them to communicate with Rosa, Matt's sister. The Song of Healing was played, which most likely caused her disappearance later that night.  The Oath to Order was played in order to try to save Alex from whatever was stalking him, but ended up killing him.  Afterward, a video of Link using a fairy was uploaded as a response, reviving him.  The Song of Time was played again, resetting the cycle, and it was found that Rosa had been killed, but Alex's revival was confirmed.  A user uploaded the Sonata of Awakening as a response, but that video caused Alex to disappear once more, shown in the final video of the story, huntyoudown.wmv.
A few weeks later, on October 6, readers who refreshed the site in the early hours of the morning were met with a disturbing sequence of site changes.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/ooc/glitch|title= Cry Cry Cry Cry|site= youshouldnthavedonethat.net}}</ref> Among them was the discovery of over 60 hidden files. Many of these files were assets visibly in use by the site, but a substantial number were entirely new; cryptic text documents, disturbing audio files, and previously-unseen images, many hidden behind passwords. One such document, Ifrit's final words, contained two ciphers, one of which is unsolved to this day. The other, which read, "KAYD HENDRICKS YOU ARE IN DANGER", led to a brief intermission wherein the aforementioned Kayd attempted, ultimately unsuccessfully, to evade the grasp of the unseen entity chasing him.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://youtube.com/user/Ryukaki|title= Ryukaki's Channel|site= YouTube}}</ref>


Soon afterward, the game was put on pause by its runner, "Jadusable," whose name was later revealed as Alex Hall.
The next few months would see sparse activity, but nothing substantial. Readers would ultimately wait until February 17 for the introduction to the next phase of the story. That day, a new forum called Within Hubris was created as a central hub for the story, attempting to bring together the various groups who had formed in the previous months.<ref>{{Cite Web|quote= This is a general forum designed to have every tool, every text, and every cipher available at the player's fingertips. This forum is not meant to replace any existing forum, but rather, its purpose is to serve as a central hub for you, the player.|author= Guide|published= February 17, 2011|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110428140852/http://z15.invisionfree.com/Within_Hubris/index.php?showtopic=17|title= Read This First!|site= Within Hubris}}</ref> Soon afterward, the site was revealed to be itself a new incarnation of the story, with secret forum groups appearing and disappearing within moments. One of these, titled Wayward Horizon, contained posts that heavily implied that several of the Moon Children's souls were trapped in the site, with each reacting differently.<ref>{{Cite Web|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110427140404/http://z15.invisionfree.com/Within_Hubris/index.php?c=4|title= Wayward Horizon|site= Within Hubris}}</ref> A new video was uploaded the following week, teasing the future storyline, but this would ultimately be the final piece of the second story arc, followed by a nine-year-long hiatus.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= February 27, 2011|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQCNJ07Fpfk|title= h b i s r ea l (re-upload)|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref>


In November, short bursts of activity began on the now-out-of-character youshouldnthavedonethat.net, hinting that the game would continue soon.  A new video called "2" was uploaded, showing a cipher on black and over the sounds of drowning.
===Awakening===
{{clear}}
The first canon video in nine years was uploaded to Jadusable's channel on March 17, 2020.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= March 17, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbSsjrasDU8|title= awakening.txt|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> The first section of the story was told with two parallel timelines, with the first narrated by "Jadus", a survivor of a cataclysmic viral outbreak that has ravaged society. Throughout his videos, he described the ways his life was affected by total societal collapse, from the initial public response to scouring ruins to find survivors for his settlement.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= March 20, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM4Mtt0nQwY|title= end.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= March 23, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCVt-wS2pM|title= transmission.txt|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> His story came to a pause following the revelation that he was asked by a friend of his, Baker, to leave St. Louis before the impending riot made it impossible, and that this was the last thing he remembered before he "woke up on a cold tile floor on the 23rd of April."<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadus|published= April 19, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://archive.ph/ChusA|title= me//thods|site= methodsofrevolution.com}}</ref>
==Hubris Arc==
In February 2011, after months of short hints, players were directed to Within Hubris, a forum whose purpose was the centralization of the players for the upcoming climax of the story, in which they would take a much larger role.  A new video was uploaded later that month, showing the interior of a house to be featured in the Hubris game, then in development as a supplement to the story, which would cost around $3.00 USD.  Unfortunately, the ARG was put on hiatus that June for several reasons, including lack of resources and communication from the team developing the game.  Afterward, Hall devoted most of his time to producing a film.
{{clear}}
==Future==
Currently, youshouldnthavedonethat.net has been recovered by fans and is being turned into an archive. In 2020, the ARG officially resumed, and finally concluded on Halloween.


==Videos==
The other timeline in this story appeared to continue the narrative established in ''The Haunted Cartridge'', albeit in a disjointed and fragmented way. Footage from ''Majora's Mask'' appeared scattered throughout several videos, but the nature of these videos was not made clear until the upload of CHILDREN.wmv, one of Jadusable's own videos that had not been uploaded at the time. This video confirmed the presence of a second entity, an idea briefly hinted at in TheTruth.rtf and during ''Moon Children'', and that it inhabited an unused character model.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= April 4, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYSDjEwPMqU|title= CHILDREN.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Running concurrently with these videos was methodsofrevolution.com, a repurposed blog containing a number of secret pages. Over the next few weeks, the site acted as a method of deciding the next course of action, with each newly-discovered page answering old questions and raising new ones. This phase ended with the upload of THE FATHER.wmv, the true final video recorded by Jadusable, and a definitive confirmation of his death at the end of ''The Haunted Cartridge''.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= April 11, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymWm0O51iG0|title= THE FATHER.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref>
{{Youtube|X6D2XCJUJHY|200|left|<Center>Chapter 1: Day Four Video</Center>}}
{{Youtube|iGOJmdxdjeA|200|left|<Center>Chapter 2: BEN Video</Center>}}
{{Youtube|K48QdVhCBfQ|200|left|<Center>Chapter 3: DROWNED Video</Center>}}
{{Youtube|QE7YUEtpHoY|200|left|<Center>Chapter 4: Jadusable Video</Center>}}
{{Youtube|D4VH6Sr-Xxw|200|left|<Center>Chapter 5: The Truth (Free) Video</Center>}}
{{clear}}


{{Real World}}
The second phase of the story began on April 23 with the upload of the first video in the "Methods of Revolution" series. This series followed a newly-awakened and unnamed "Second Player" after waking up in the bathroom of a hotel in which those who leave their rooms are terminated.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= April 23, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD3qudbRCE4|title= Methods of Revolution <nowiki>[Day 1]</nowiki>|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Several days pass before he is compelled to leave, making it to the next floor before being caught by the jailer.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= May 16, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7d6yFvvTF0|title= Methods of Revolution <nowiki>[Day 11]</nowiki>|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> After his termination, a woman named Sarah awakened in his place, and upon deciding to remain in her room, she was presented with a gift: a Nintendo 64 and the very same ''Majora's Mask'' cartridge previously played by Jadusable.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= May 23, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0DlwVMVSyw|title= Methods of Revolution <nowiki>[Day 21]</nowiki>|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref>


[[Category:Hoaxes]]
Sarah then began her journey into the broken world inside the cartridge, finding it in an unstable state as a result of The Father's influence.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= May 30, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsnk30knrGI|title= Methods of Revolution <nowiki>[Ben.wmv]</nowiki>|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> After playing the Song of Healing to Ben, the child trapped inside of the Elegy statue, she was given a mask that transformed Link into his adult form. With this newfound power and the goal of saving everyone inside the cartridge from The Father, Sarah played the Song of Time. This resulted not only in a return to the Dawn of the First Day, but in the world's total reversion to the state it was in prior to Jadusable's arrival.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= June 21, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJUVDRyFiVs|title= The Truth.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= June 22, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTW6ODviaw4|title= Methods of Revolution <nowiki>[The Truth.wmv]</nowiki>|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref>
 
Sarah's arrival in Clock Town was followed by an encounter with the same unused NPC encountered by Jadusable in CHILDREN.wmv, who would later be identified as Matt. Matt then instructed Sarah to defeat the four Moon Children and activate the Fourth Day glitch as a means of weakening The Father.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= June 28, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NcuetoHtQ4|title= The Last Hero.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Her journey to defeat the Moon Children and their respective bosses progressed, with each area presenting new challenges and encounters with others trapped inside the cartridge. After defeating three of the Moon Children, her progress was interrupted by another Link, inhabiting the body left behind by her when she obtained the Adult Link mask.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= August 9, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwONw_Y_XmE|title= The Predecessor.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> This other Link, intent on killing her, donned the {{Term|Series|Fierce Deity's Mask|link}} and challenged her to a fight. His identity was then revealed as Jadusable, who had himself been trapped inside the cartridge after his death. The duel ended with Sarah's defeat, and shortly afterward, a new website was revealed.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= August 23, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9-glGb1cc|title= The Showdown.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref>
 
The new site, run by the Eternity Project, described a revolutionary method of preserving one's consciousness after death by uploading it to a digital medium, allowing the deceased to live forever in their favorite movies, video games, or even alternate worlds that parallel our own.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Xavius Solutions|published= August 30, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.eternity-project.com/about|title= About|site= Eternity Project}}</ref> By digging through the site's archives and accessing an older version of it, readers revealed that the Moon Children was an experiment conducted by the Eternity Project, with its members' consciousnesses confined inside of the ''Majora's Mask'' cartridge, dubbed "World άλφα", after their deaths.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Xavius Solutions|published= August 23, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.eternity-project.com/about|title= ABOUT (legacy)|site= Eternity Project}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Web|author= Xavius Solutions|published= August 23, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://archive.ph/19Kqs|title= RELOCATION|site= Eternity Project}}</ref> More digging would reveal a way to reverse Sarah's death and allow her to continue playing, which was successfully implemented.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Abel|published= August 30, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c029b6_05a3f33e0ecd41148bddf1fcf0896019/1080p/mp4/file.mp4|title= Unnamed video|site= Eternity Project|Type= Video}}</ref>
 
In the time since her death, the world had deteriorated so much that basic functions of the game were now impossible. Sarah found her way to the Mayor's Residence and witnessed a meeting between the few remaining denizens of World άλφα, which was now experiencing its final hours on the Final Day. They argued among themselves about whether to stop the {{Term|Series|Moon|link}} from crashing or to just accept their fates as the world collapses like it did before. Sarah then set out with her final objective to activate the Fourth Day glitch, which was ultimately successful.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= September 13, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohNuyrIgI9w|title= The Final Hours.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Matt appeared soon afterward to thank Sarah for activating the glitch and dooming the world to its destruction by The Father, which in reality would not have been possible without the glitch. After witnessing NPCs burning the Happy Mask Salesman at the stake, she entered the Clock Tower only to find Ben and a weakened Jadusable awaiting their doom. Jadusable then revealed that his plan to stop Sarah was for the good of World άλφα, knowing that her objective would doom everyone inside it. In one last attempt to stop Matt and the final Moon Child from summoning The Father, Jadusable passed his soul and strength to Sarah, sacrificing himself and allowing her a chance to defeat them.
 
Sarah then began her final approach, engaging Majora's Wrath in combat after some taunting by Matt. Her hits appeared to be ineffective against it despite Jadusable's power transfer, and with her last hearts she equipped the Ocarina of Time and played the Song of Healing as a desperate final resort. This succeeded in killing Majora's Wrath, causing Matt great distress. Moments later, Matt disappeared. As Sarah turned around, she came face to face with The Father, who revealed that his actions are reflexive and that he is designed to respond to the world's stimuli; being attacked by Jadusable and called upon by Matt caused the world's destruction, where Sarah's peaceful reaction prompted him to speak. This allowed his reactive parameters to be changed, and as a result of his new directive to keep the world safe from harm, all anomalies were determined to be incompatible. Sarah, an anomaly herself, accepted her fate, knowing that the world would not remember her or Jadusable's sacrifices after the reset. The Father then removed her from World άλφα.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Jadusable|published= October 31, 2020|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPEr9YbgtEw|title= The End.wmv|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref>
 
The story ended here, with Sarah's ultimate fate and the status of the Eternity Project's simulated worlds left ambiguous.
 
==Development==
The first story arc of ''Ben Drowned'' was written by Alex Hall during his second year of college.<ref>{{Cite Web|quote= Yeah, so I think I might have said this before, but I was a sophomore in college, and I had read a few creepypasta stories before.|author= Alex Hall|published= January 23, 2017|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gP7owTgsQs |title= Jadusable Answers: How did you come up with Ben Drowned? Breath of the Wild & more|site= YouTube|type= Video}}</ref> Following its viral success, he continued the story intermittently over the next few months on a budget provided by PayPal donations.
 
The original third arc of the story, titled ''Hubris'', was largely intended to be experienced via an in-development game that would have been supplemented by changes to the existing Within Hubris forum.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Alex Hall|published= April 23, 2011|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110427131739/http://z15.invisionfree.com/Within_Hubris/index.php?showtopic=2296&view=getnewpost |title= 4/23 Update|site= Within Hubris}}</ref> However, the lack of communication between the team and Hall resulted in the story's semi-permanent hiatus in July 2011.<ref>{{Cite Web|author= Alex Hall|published= July 15, 2011|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110910091354/http://z15.invisionfree.com/Within_Hubris/index.php?showtopic=2987 |title= Hubris Project Put On Hold|site= Within Hubris}}</ref> Following this, Hall expressed his intention to finish the story following the release of his film, titled ''Methods of Revolution'', which remained in development hell for several years.<ref>{{Cite Web|quote= I want to finish up the final arc for the Jadusable story, because I've already invested a fair amount of money into it and because I owe it to my fans. I think taking this break and working on something else will be therapeutic for me and allow me to reapproach Arc 3 with the vigor needed to make it everything I want it to be.|published= May 12, 2012|retrieved= November 6, 2022|url= https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/tphqf/i_am_jadusable_creator_of_the_haunted_majoras/|title= I am Jadusable, creator of the Haunted Majora's Mask Creepypasta, director/writer of Methods of Revolution, AMA|site= Reddit}}</ref> When the ''Awakening'' story arc began in March 2020, the former ''Hubris'' arc was recategorized as the final section of the ''Moon Children'' arc.
 
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Latest revision as of 00:05, 12 May 2023

Ben Drowned is a creepypasta story and alternate reality game written by Alex Hall. Taking place over three story arcs, it first recounted events from the perspective of Jadusable, a college student who received a second-hand copy of Majora's Mask from an eccentric old man's garage sale. The latter story arcs diverged from the first-person narrative established by Jadusable, featuring a wider array of characters and an interactive plot that explored the group responsible for the cartridge and, ten years later, the consequences of their actions.

The story rapidly gained traction throughout the wider gaming community during its original run on /x/, 4chan's Paranormal board, from September 7 to September 15, 2010. During the second arc, Hall revealed that his story outgrew its initial scope and would need to be put on hiatus.[1] The second arc finished in 2011, where the story would remain until its conclusion began on March 17, 2020. Ben Drowned concluded on October 31st of that year.[2]

Story

The narrative of Ben Drowned took place over three separate story arcs, each with their own methods of storytelling and interaction with the audience.

The Haunted Cartridge

On September 7, 2010, a college student using the name "Jadusable" made his first post on /x/ regarding his experience with a shady copy of Majora's Mask, which was in the standard grey cartridge with "MAJORA" written where the label should have been. After receiving the game from an old man's garage sale, Jadusable brought it home and noticed that a save file named "BEN" was left behind by the previous owner.[3]

Over the next five days, Jadusable would post updates to his original summary, each with attached videos showing his gameplay. The first video, day four.wmv, featured out-of-place sounds, missing textures, and the continuous appearance of an Elegy of Emptiness statue, seemingly chasing Jadusable throughout each area.[4] Each subsequent video would show increasingly disturbing events, with Jadusable's summaries growing more panicked. The penultimate /x/ post was made by Jadusable's roommate, who announced that Jadusable had moved back home.[5]

Three days later, a document promised by the roommate, titled TheTruth.rtf, was released to the public per Jadusable's wishes. The document contained an even more detailed account of the incident, revealing that BEN had gained access to Jadusable's computer when the console's capture card was connected to it, as well as the apparent presence of a second entity. Between the game sessions, BEN would speak to Jadusable via Cleverbot, an AI bot-chatting website, with each interaction wearing on Jadusable's mental state. The final section of the document made it clear that Jadusable lived in a single dorm and therefore had no roommate, ending with a heartfelt thanks to those who had stuck with him throughout the experience.[6]

108 minutes after the document was posted, a final video titled "free.wmv" was uploaded to Jadusable's YouTube channel. Still taking place within Majora's Mask, its sole contents were a black screen and the text, "The counter resets. I'm glad you did that."[7] Shortly afterward, viewers noticed that his YouTube avatar had been changed to an Elegy of Emptiness statue.[3]

Moon Children

Two days after free.wmv was uploaded, Jadusable's channel began posting coded messages. Once solved, viewers were directed to a website for the Moon Children, a cult dedicated to the moon.[8] On first glance, one could see three active moderators making posts on the main page. After some searching, readers noticed various connections between the site and the prior incident with Jadusable, the most pressing of which being a hidden webpage that explicitly referenced Ben.[9] This page contained a countdown set to end on the following night. The next day, some readers managed to contact one of the site's moderators, Ifrit, who revealed that Ben was once a member of the Moon Children and had disappeared. As a result of contacting him by Gmail, his real name was revealed to be Matt.

As the countdown neared its end, Ifrit told those emailing him, "Hang on, someone is knocking at my door." These messages coincided with a post on Jadusable's channel with a set of lyrics from The Genies' "Who's That Knocking": "What's that calling, calling my name/Tossed a brick through my window pane/Boom boom boom, bang bang bang".[10] When the countdown finished at 9:00pm EST, the site directed readers to a new video from Alex, a former member of the cult, depicting Link playing the Song of Time.[11] Shortly afterward, the site was taken offline, leaving the audience with the realization that they had just been sent back in time by three days.

The next day, readers discovered that the site was back up, yet in an earlier and more incomplete state than when it was discovered. Notable among these minor differences was that no mentions of Ifrit were present on the site, with a different moderator, Insidiae, taking his place on the site's main page.[12] Over the next several hours, readers attempted in vain to contact Ifrit. On a whim, one person decided to respond to one of Jadusable's videos using YouTube's since-defunct video response function, uploading the Inverted Song of Time. This triggered a response on the channel, confirming that playing songs from Majora's Mask would have an effect on future events. Several songs would be played over the next few hours; however, as an unfortunate result of the audience's lack of coordination, yet another person was lost to the entity who had knocked on Ifrit's door the previous night. During the rush of events, its identity was seemingly revealed as Kelbris, the vengeful founder of the cult who had apparently been killed years earlier.[13]

The Song of Time was played once again, resetting the cycle for the final time. Just a few hours into the cycle, however, the curtain was drawn and the author, Alex Hall, announced that the story would be put on hold for the time being. The site was converted into a hub for readers to re-read the story from, and appeared to be a solely out-of-character site.[14]

A few weeks later, on October 6, readers who refreshed the site in the early hours of the morning were met with a disturbing sequence of site changes.[15] Among them was the discovery of over 60 hidden files. Many of these files were assets visibly in use by the site, but a substantial number were entirely new; cryptic text documents, disturbing audio files, and previously-unseen images, many hidden behind passwords. One such document, Ifrit's final words, contained two ciphers, one of which is unsolved to this day. The other, which read, "KAYD HENDRICKS YOU ARE IN DANGER", led to a brief intermission wherein the aforementioned Kayd attempted, ultimately unsuccessfully, to evade the grasp of the unseen entity chasing him.[16]

The next few months would see sparse activity, but nothing substantial. Readers would ultimately wait until February 17 for the introduction to the next phase of the story. That day, a new forum called Within Hubris was created as a central hub for the story, attempting to bring together the various groups who had formed in the previous months.[17] Soon afterward, the site was revealed to be itself a new incarnation of the story, with secret forum groups appearing and disappearing within moments. One of these, titled Wayward Horizon, contained posts that heavily implied that several of the Moon Children's souls were trapped in the site, with each reacting differently.[18] A new video was uploaded the following week, teasing the future storyline, but this would ultimately be the final piece of the second story arc, followed by a nine-year-long hiatus.[19]

Awakening

The first canon video in nine years was uploaded to Jadusable's channel on March 17, 2020.[20] The first section of the story was told with two parallel timelines, with the first narrated by "Jadus", a survivor of a cataclysmic viral outbreak that has ravaged society. Throughout his videos, he described the ways his life was affected by total societal collapse, from the initial public response to scouring ruins to find survivors for his settlement.[21][22] His story came to a pause following the revelation that he was asked by a friend of his, Baker, to leave St. Louis before the impending riot made it impossible, and that this was the last thing he remembered before he "woke up on a cold tile floor on the 23rd of April."[23]

The other timeline in this story appeared to continue the narrative established in The Haunted Cartridge, albeit in a disjointed and fragmented way. Footage from Majora's Mask appeared scattered throughout several videos, but the nature of these videos was not made clear until the upload of CHILDREN.wmv, one of Jadusable's own videos that had not been uploaded at the time. This video confirmed the presence of a second entity, an idea briefly hinted at in TheTruth.rtf and during Moon Children, and that it inhabited an unused character model.[24] Running concurrently with these videos was methodsofrevolution.com, a repurposed blog containing a number of secret pages. Over the next few weeks, the site acted as a method of deciding the next course of action, with each newly-discovered page answering old questions and raising new ones. This phase ended with the upload of THE FATHER.wmv, the true final video recorded by Jadusable, and a definitive confirmation of his death at the end of The Haunted Cartridge.[25]

The second phase of the story began on April 23 with the upload of the first video in the "Methods of Revolution" series. This series followed a newly-awakened and unnamed "Second Player" after waking up in the bathroom of a hotel in which those who leave their rooms are terminated.[26] Several days pass before he is compelled to leave, making it to the next floor before being caught by the jailer.[27] After his termination, a woman named Sarah awakened in his place, and upon deciding to remain in her room, she was presented with a gift: a Nintendo 64 and the very same Majora's Mask cartridge previously played by Jadusable.[28]

Sarah then began her journey into the broken world inside the cartridge, finding it in an unstable state as a result of The Father's influence.[29] After playing the Song of Healing to Ben, the child trapped inside of the Elegy statue, she was given a mask that transformed Link into his adult form. With this newfound power and the goal of saving everyone inside the cartridge from The Father, Sarah played the Song of Time. This resulted not only in a return to the Dawn of the First Day, but in the world's total reversion to the state it was in prior to Jadusable's arrival.[30][31]

Sarah's arrival in Clock Town was followed by an encounter with the same unused NPC encountered by Jadusable in CHILDREN.wmv, who would later be identified as Matt. Matt then instructed Sarah to defeat the four Moon Children and activate the Fourth Day glitch as a means of weakening The Father.[32] Her journey to defeat the Moon Children and their respective bosses progressed, with each area presenting new challenges and encounters with others trapped inside the cartridge. After defeating three of the Moon Children, her progress was interrupted by another Link, inhabiting the body left behind by her when she obtained the Adult Link mask.[33] This other Link, intent on killing her, donned the Fierce Deity Mask and challenged her to a fight. His identity was then revealed as Jadusable, who had himself been trapped inside the cartridge after his death. The duel ended with Sarah's defeat, and shortly afterward, a new website was revealed.[34]

The new site, run by the Eternity Project, described a revolutionary method of preserving one's consciousness after death by uploading it to a digital medium, allowing the deceased to live forever in their favorite movies, video games, or even alternate worlds that parallel our own.[35] By digging through the site's archives and accessing an older version of it, readers revealed that the Moon Children was an experiment conducted by the Eternity Project, with its members' consciousnesses confined inside of the Majora's Mask cartridge, dubbed "World άλφα", after their deaths.[36][37] More digging would reveal a way to reverse Sarah's death and allow her to continue playing, which was successfully implemented.[38]

In the time since her death, the world had deteriorated so much that basic functions of the game were now impossible. Sarah found her way to the Mayor's Residence and witnessed a meeting between the few remaining denizens of World άλφα, which was now experiencing its final hours on the Final Day. They argued among themselves about whether to stop the Moon from crashing or to just accept their fates as the world collapses like it did before. Sarah then set out with her final objective to activate the Fourth Day glitch, which was ultimately successful.[39] Matt appeared soon afterward to thank Sarah for activating the glitch and dooming the world to its destruction by The Father, which in reality would not have been possible without the glitch. After witnessing NPCs burning the Happy Mask Salesman at the stake, she entered the Clock Tower only to find Ben and a weakened Jadusable awaiting their doom. Jadusable then revealed that his plan to stop Sarah was for the good of World άλφα, knowing that her objective would doom everyone inside it. In one last attempt to stop Matt and the final Moon Child from summoning The Father, Jadusable passed his soul and strength to Sarah, sacrificing himself and allowing her a chance to defeat them.

Sarah then began her final approach, engaging Majora's Wrath in combat after some taunting by Matt. Her hits appeared to be ineffective against it despite Jadusable's power transfer, and with her last hearts she equipped the Ocarina of Time and played the Song of Healing as a desperate final resort. This succeeded in killing Majora's Wrath, causing Matt great distress. Moments later, Matt disappeared. As Sarah turned around, she came face to face with The Father, who revealed that his actions are reflexive and that he is designed to respond to the world's stimuli; being attacked by Jadusable and called upon by Matt caused the world's destruction, where Sarah's peaceful reaction prompted him to speak. This allowed his reactive parameters to be changed, and as a result of his new directive to keep the world safe from harm, all anomalies were determined to be incompatible. Sarah, an anomaly herself, accepted her fate, knowing that the world would not remember her or Jadusable's sacrifices after the reset. The Father then removed her from World άλφα.[40]

The story ended here, with Sarah's ultimate fate and the status of the Eternity Project's simulated worlds left ambiguous.

Development

The first story arc of Ben Drowned was written by Alex Hall during his second year of college.[41] Following its viral success, he continued the story intermittently over the next few months on a budget provided by PayPal donations.

The original third arc of the story, titled Hubris, was largely intended to be experienced via an in-development game that would have been supplemented by changes to the existing Within Hubris forum.[42] However, the lack of communication between the team and Hall resulted in the story's semi-permanent hiatus in July 2011.[43] Following this, Hall expressed his intention to finish the story following the release of his film, titled Methods of Revolution, which remained in development hell for several years.[44] When the Awakening story arc began in March 2020, the former Hubris arc was recategorized as the final section of the Moon Children arc.

References

  1. ↑ "A number of factors - money was a big issue - the whole thing just got too expansive for me and the cheap webhosting I had wasn’t able to handle more than a few thousand people at once on the website without going down. If I was going to involve my website this throughouly in my ARG, then I would need a better host, and those cost quite a pretty penny. Also I needed more manpower, given that all this time I had been doing the writing, filming, managing, updating myself I couldn’t balance that, school, and retaining a social life. Something had to give and regrettably it had to be the ARG." —Alex Hall (Haunted Majora’s Mask Creator Opens Up in Exclusive Interview, published September 23, 2010, retrieved November 6, 2022.)
  2. ↑ "It's been a long road, but the finale to Awakening - and Ben Drowned itself - premieres today on Halloween at 4pm Eastern Standard Time. This video will conclude the story that started ten years ago and follow Sarah as she attempts to stop the fourth day glitch from consuming all of Termina." —Alex Hall (The End.wmv premieres today at 4pm EST, web archive, published October 31, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Alex Hall, The Haunted Cartridge - The Complete Story , Within Hubris, published February 21, 2011, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  4. ↑ Jadusable, day four.wmv , YouTube (Video), published September 7, 2010, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  5. ↑ Jadusable, jadusable.wmv , YouTube (Video), published September 12, 2010, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  6. ↑ Jadusable, TheTruth.rtf , MediaFire (Word Document), published September 15, 2010, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  7. ↑ Jadusable, free.wmv , YouTube (Video), published September 15, 2010, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  8. ↑ Home , youshouldnthavedonethat.net.
  9. ↑ How did you get here? , youshouldnthavedonethat.net.
  10. ↑ Jadusable's Channel , YouTube.
  11. ↑ TheLinkMissing, fj6rt , YouTube (Video), published September 18, 2010, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  12. ↑ New site , youshouldnthavedonethat.net.
  13. ↑ WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? , youshouldnthavedonethat.net.
  14. ↑ Latest News , youshouldnthavedonethat.net.
  15. ↑ Cry Cry Cry Cry , youshouldnthavedonethat.net.
  16. ↑ Ryukaki's Channel , YouTube.
  17. ↑ "This is a general forum designed to have every tool, every text, and every cipher available at the player's fingertips. This forum is not meant to replace any existing forum, but rather, its purpose is to serve as a central hub for you, the player." — Guide, Read This First! , Within Hubris, published February 17, 2011, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  18. ↑ Wayward Horizon , Within Hubris.
  19. ↑ Jadusable, h b i s r ea l (re-upload) , YouTube (Video), published February 27, 2011, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  20. ↑ Jadusable, awakening.txt , YouTube (Video), published March 17, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  21. ↑ Jadusable, end.wmv , YouTube (Video), published March 20, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  22. ↑ Jadusable, transmission.txt , YouTube (Video), published March 23, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  23. ↑ Jadus, me//thods , methodsofrevolution.com, published April 19, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  24. ↑ Jadusable, CHILDREN.wmv , YouTube (Video), published April 4, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  25. ↑ Jadusable, THE FATHER.wmv , YouTube (Video), published April 11, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  26. ↑ Jadusable, Methods of Revolution [Day 1] , YouTube (Video), published April 23, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  27. ↑ Jadusable, Methods of Revolution [Day 11] , YouTube (Video), published May 16, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  28. ↑ Jadusable, Methods of Revolution [Day 21] , YouTube (Video), published May 23, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  29. ↑ Jadusable, Methods of Revolution [Ben.wmv] , YouTube (Video), published May 30, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  30. ↑ Jadusable, The Truth.wmv , YouTube (Video), published June 21, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  31. ↑ Jadusable, Methods of Revolution [The Truth.wmv] , YouTube (Video), published June 22, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  32. ↑ Jadusable, The Last Hero.wmv , YouTube (Video), published June 28, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  33. ↑ Jadusable, The Predecessor.wmv , YouTube (Video), published August 9, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  34. ↑ Jadusable, The Showdown.wmv , YouTube (Video), published August 23, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  35. ↑ Xavius Solutions, About , Eternity Project, published August 30, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  36. ↑ Xavius Solutions, ABOUT (legacy) , Eternity Project, published August 23, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  37. ↑ Xavius Solutions, RELOCATION , Eternity Project, published August 23, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  38. ↑ Abel, Unnamed video , Eternity Project, published August 30, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  39. ↑ Jadusable, The Final Hours.wmv , YouTube (Video), published September 13, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  40. ↑ Jadusable, The End.wmv , YouTube (Video), published October 31, 2020, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  41. ↑ "Yeah, so I think I might have said this before, but I was a sophomore in college, and I had read a few creepypasta stories before." — Alex Hall, Jadusable Answers: How did you come up with Ben Drowned? Breath of the Wild & more , YouTube (Video), published January 23, 2017, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  42. ↑ Alex Hall, 4/23 Update , Within Hubris, published April 23, 2011, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  43. ↑ Alex Hall, Hubris Project Put On Hold , Within Hubris, published July 15, 2011, retrieved November 6, 2022.
  44. ↑ "I want to finish up the final arc for the Jadusable story, because I've already invested a fair amount of money into it and because I owe it to my fans. I think taking this break and working on something else will be therapeutic for me and allow me to reapproach Arc 3 with the vigor needed to make it everything I want it to be." — I am Jadusable, creator of the Haunted Majora's Mask Creepypasta, director/writer of Methods of Revolution, AMA , Reddit, published May 12, 2012, retrieved November 6, 2022.
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