Indoors (Magic/Sword Powers) | Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Orchestral Arrangement

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I was saving up the Indoors track to be placed between the 1st and 2nd versions of the Palace and Boss Fight. It's the only other quieter track in the game, and a break is sorely needed from all the intense and epic tracks that make up the soundtrack. I was originally intending to have two versions of this track too, but would have them play sequentially. Being that there are only 4 bars, it's easy to spin them off and expand them however I wanted. However, as I tried to blend them I started to see a vivid narrative driving the music, and the result is what you hear now.

My idea is to have the chill part of the theme to be very idyllic. I was inspired by "Dream of the Shepherd" from Aion, where the music is mainly played by a couple locals chilling to the side. Maybe some other people get inspired and join in. This adds to the feeling of respite Link must feel when he enters a town after crossing through dangerous inhospitable terrain. The townspeople themselves however may not be as relaxed as they are relatively defenseless. They need Link to help deal with their problems, but they will help in their own way with information, healing, and treasures.

While this is referred to as the Indoor track, I always associated this music as the "power up" tune. It's much louder and overbearing than the outside town theme. Each time Link enters the house of the wise man, he and always has to walk down a long corridor before descending down into the basement. The game gives a big buildup to the reveal of the magic spell /sword technique, and the player's anticipation is high. My original plan to arrange the track was to have the piano play long low chords while the strings dance on high with light fast ostinatos, and the brass playing the 4-bar phrase solemnly. The gist of it is there in the end, but I shifted it a bit to incorporate more of the "townspeople" instruments participating, to show that they're there in support of Link.

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Arrangement and illustrations by Jeremiah Sun
Original Theme by Akito Nakatsuka