BEN Drowned

**BEN Drowned** is a three-part multimedia alternate reality game (ARG) web serial and web series created by Alexander D. Hall under the pen name Jadusable. Originating as a creepypasta based on the 2000 action-adventure game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and published by Hall from 2010 to 2020 with a hiatus in-between, the series is known for creating many of the common tropes and themes of creepypasta that are used nowadays and for subverting themes from The Legend of Zelda series. The series concluded on October 31, 2020.

Serving as Hall's first project, the first arc of the series titled Haunted Cartridge was released in 2010. It follows college sophomore Jadusable, who, after acquiring a haunted Nintendo 64 video game cartridge of Majora's Mask, is plagued over the course of a single week by the presence of a seemingly omniscient artificial intelligence called BEN. The second arc, titled Moon Children and taking place from late 2010 to early 2011, follows the public emergence of a mysterious cult known as The Moon Children, who worshipped the Moon by way of human sacrifice, or in their words, ascension. The third arc, titled Awakening, began in March 2020, following new and returning characters who have become involved in multiple events of the current year. This arc introduced new scenarios detailing the aftermath of an in-universe event in 2018 that caused the collapse of civilized society, as well as continuing stories established in the previous arcs with the intent of tying them together.

## Story

BEN was first encountered by Jadusable when he bought and played the Majora cartridge. During the recording of day four.wmv, he manifested himself in the form of the Elegy of Emptiness statue, an action he repeated each time the game was played.

During the recording of BEN.wmv, it revealed the cause of Ben's death to Jadusable. It drastically increased its activity during DROWNED.wmv, and even exercised the ability to either change the game from Majora's Mask to Ocarina of Time, or alter the video to the extent that it appears to be the latter. This video featured the first use of its signature phrase, "You shouldn't have done that..."

BEN's activity is believed to be initially minimal during jadusable.wmv, as it redacted the first half of it redacted the first half of the video (then called Matt.wmv) prior to its upload. Having promised to leave Jadusable alone if he helped it, it tricked him into playing further into its game. BEN wrote and posted the summary of jadusable.wmv in the guise of Jadusable's nonexistent roommate, and used the readers' obliviousness to escape via their download of TheTruth.rtf. It confirmed its escape in free.wmv.

Within days of its escape, BEN began to utilize Jadusable's abandoned YouTube channel. The ciphers it posted led followers to youshouldnthavedonethat.net, the base of operations for a cult known as the Moon Children. The avatar used by the admin, DROWNED, contained a hidden image of the Elegy statue when moused over, hinting at a connection between himself and BEN. The next day, during the period of time in which Ifrit was able to communicate, BEN posted lyrics from "Who's That Knocking?" by the Genies, which implies that it was responsible for Ifrit's disappearance.

After the first reset, users figured out the system of using songs to affect events involving the Moon Children, which BEN confirmed. It was then unheard from until Ryukaki began uploading videos. The next mentions of BEN came from hidden files in YSHDT, including mhftt.txt and fate.txt. 2 featured the sound of drowning, a direct reference to BEN.

BEN had an account on Within Hubris prior to its takedown. The house featured in h b i s r ea l is implied to be BEN's, due to the presence of a pool in the backyard.

### Appearance

It's unknown what BEN looked like before he drowned, although most assume he had a striking resemblance to Link. After he possessed the cartridge he took the form of the Elegy of Emptiness statue of Link. BEN is most commonly drawn in fan-art having black eyes, with red pupils, which appear to be dripping a red liquid (presumably blood) from them.