It's dangerous to go alone!

Did You Know?

• The player is given no further explanation within the game world on how to progress after receiving the sword.
• Series creator thought that it would be more enjoyable to play the game without any help.

Reception

The phrase "It's dangerous to go alone!" has been endlessly remixed and turned into a popular image macro over the years. IGN ranked it 22nd on its list of the top 100 video game moments, calling it one of the most quoted sentences in gaming and the purest example of exploration in The Legend of Zelda. GamesRadar included it on both its list of the 40 most repeated video game quotes and its top 100 best video game quotes. According to Ozzie Mejia of Shacknews, the line has become inseparable from gaming itself over the last 35 years and has spread far beyond, popping up in other games, TV shows, merchandise, memes, and more.

Christian Donlan of Eurogamer described it as one of the most famous lines in all of video games, acting as a universal guide for how to play Zelda. He also argued that its staying power comes from its short, slightly odd wording—what he called "the perverse music of utility." Phil Hornshaw of GameSpot reflected on what the quote means within the original game, noting that nothing compares to wandering its vast, mysterious world with almost no hints or explanations.

It was dangerous to go alone, he wrote, because no help was coming, no guideposts existed, and the only rewards were hours of discovery. NF Magazine pointed out how often the line appears in gaming culture, calling it representative of the original Zelda's nonlinear design. While taking the sword from the old man was the smart move, the player could skip the cave entirely and explore the overworld unarmed. In the book Power-Up, Chris Kohler criticized the line as the work of a Japanese speaker with an imperfect command of English, though he admitted it was "practically Shakespeare" compared to other lines from the same character, like "one who does not have Triforce can't go in."