Morth

Morths are small round enemies found in the forests of the Great Sea in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. They seem to be the offspring of Mothulas.

Appearance
Morths are small, round beasts, each with a single multi-coloured eye in the middle of their bodies. There main torsoes are black but the spikes which protrude from their bodies and are used to latch onto Link are orange.

Origins
When Mothulas are attacking Link, they will frequently turn away from him and spray him with a group of Morths from a compartment on their hindquarters. Whilst Link is incapacitated the Mothula attacks. The way in which Morths are produced seems to suggest that they are larval Mothulas, but none live long enough in the game to develop in any way.

Occasionally Morths will be found in forest areas without any Mothulas. How they reached these places is never explained in the game, but it is possible they were left by a Mothula which then flew away.

Some Morths are clustered together in hiding places such as strange pine-cone structures or in patches of black earth which are dug up by Link the Pig. When Link apporaches they spring out and all attck him at once. Whether the Morths were set up in traps by other henchmen or whether they simply chose to hide in those places is never made clear.

Attacks
Morths cannot actually cause any direct damage to Link. They 'attack' by leaping at him when he moves and latching onto his body, slowing him down and making it difficult for him to jump. The more Morths there are attached to Link, the slower he becomes and the harder it is for him to move. This makes it much easier for other enemies, usually Mothulas, to attack and damage Link.

Defence
Morths are extremely weak creatures. They can be defeated by a single blow from most of Link's weapons. When they latch onto Link, he can simply shake them off by rolling or using his sword to do a Spin Attack. Using the spin attack will usually kill most Morths attached to Link.

Another weakness of Morths is that, because of their light weights, they can be blasted away easily by the Deku Leaf. This sends them flying through the air and makes them vulnerable. However, Morths do have one defensive ability which many other enemies do not: they can float on top of water rather than drowing as many other monsters do.

When killed, Morths never leave spoils.