Moblin

Moblins are recurring enemies in the The Legend of Zelda series. They are pig- or bulldog-like monsters belonging to the Goblin race, that often reside in forests. They most often carry spears, but are known to carry swords and clubs as well. While most Moblins are simply just underlings of Ganondorf without much explanation, there are a few exceptions; there are few individual Moblins who appear in their game's story in some capacity or another.

The Legend of Zelda
Moblins wield spears and are frequently found in the Overworld. They come in two colors: red and blue, with blue being stronger than red, as they require more hits to defeat. Their spears can be blocked by Link's shield. Secret Moblins can be found hiding in grottos around the Overworld, where they give Link Rupees.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Unlike in The Legend of Zelda, Moblins appear to be tall and quite thin as a result of the game's two-dimensional perspective. Moblins came in four varieties — red, blue, and two different kinds of orange. One orange Moblin charges straight at Link stabbing in front of him, and deducts experience points upon impact, while the other stays at a distance, throwing spears at Link. Red Moblins carry spears and can stab either high or low much in the same manner as Iron Knuckles. Blue Moblins stab low, and throw their spear instead of stabbing high.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Moblins can only be found in the Dark World, taking the place of the variously-colored soldiers in the Light World. While the Pig Soldiers appear to be Moblins, they are never referred to as such. These Moblins throw spears, which can be deflected with Link's shield. The ending added to the Game Boy Advance remake implies that Moblins and Pig Soldiers are actually Ganon's only true soldiers, and that the other enemies are not on his side. Several throw Bombs constantly at Link instead of throwing spears.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Moblins appear in different areas on Koholint Island; the most prevalent being the Mysterious Woods, the Moblin cave near Mt. Tamaranch and west of Goponga Swamp. For the first time, Moblins wear Swords and Shields. Unlike the other Moblins, who attack by wandering aimlessly and firing arrows at Link whenever he is within reach, the Moblins with swords home in on the player, similar to the Hyrule Guards from A Link to the Past. There is also a mini-boss known as the Great Moblin, who kidnaps Madam MeowMeow's pet, Bow-Wow.

A Moblin swordsman named Karuna is featured in the Link's Awakening manga. Claiming himself to be the most powerful warrior on Koholint Island, he almost kills Link in the Angler's Tunnel, but is later defeated by the hero.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Moblins appear only in the Sacred Forest Meadow when Link is an adult. Two kinds of Moblins are found; normal ones that wield spears, and a single one that wields a club. The Club Moblin stands at the end of the Sacred Forest meadow maze and he shakes the earth when he strikes. This Moblin is also substantially bigger than other Moblins found in the game. Link can either choose to sneak past the spear-wielding Moblins in the hedge maze, or defeat them with his Hookshot by firing it at their backs or sides. The Moblin with the club guards a narrow passage that leads to the entrance of the Forest Temple. To defeat these, Link must dodge the shockwaves on the ground repeatedly; this will allow Link to go behind the Moblin's back. Once this has happened, the Moblin can be defeated with the sword or Hookshot. Upon defeat, the Moblin drops a substantial amount of Rupees. When Link exits the Forest Temple, the Moblin can be found on the opposite edge of the passage.

In the Master Quest version of the game, a Club Moblin can be found in the Spirit Temple.

Unlike other enemies, Moblins cannot be Z-targeted at all in Ocarina of Time. Consequently, Navi can't identify these enemies as Moblins.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons
Moblins are one of the most common enemies in the Oracle games. They act exactly as they did in Link's Awakening. They come in red and blue variants; the variant Link sees is determined by either the current age or season. Red appear in the Present, and blue in the Past.

The Great Moblin is a mini-boss who appears in both games. In Oracle of Ages, he resides within Great Moblin's Keep on Rolling Ridge and manufactures bombs, presumably to run the Gorons out of business. He also appears in Oracle of Seasons, west of the Sunken City, and guards a Piece of Heart. During a Linked Game, he will make mention of his previous encounter with Link in the originator game.

In both games, Link can acquire a magical Ring that transforms him into a Moblin. He cannot use any attacks while in this form, but he is ignored by any Moblins (with the exception of the Great Moblin), and also cannot be eaten by Like Likes. The ring can only be found in the possession of Maple, or inside of a Gasha Nut.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Moblins are similar in appearance to those from The Minish Cap and wield either a Bow or Spear.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Moblins are large, grey pig monsters that carry Long Spears and sometimes Lanterns. They appear less frequently than in certain other games, on account of them being much more powerful than most types of Moblins. They serve as guards within the Forsaken Fortress; during Link's first visit there, if he is caught, they will set him alight with their lanterns and throw him in a jail cell. Any Moblins that subsequently appear will either stab or swipe at Link with their Long Spears, causing him to fly back and take quite some damage. The Long Spears that the Moblins wield can be stolen from them by Link and wielded as a clumsy weapon. Disarmed Moblins use hand-to-hand combat until they retrieve a weapon. Link can temporarily scare away Moblins by taking out a Bomb. Quite humorously, if one sneaks up on a Moblin from the back and stabs it, the Moblin will run away, holding its bottom and its head shaking back and forth, with its spit flying everywhere. Furthermore, when a Moblin is defeated, it may drop a Skull Necklace. A Moblin appears as the mini-boss of Dragon Roost Cavern, where it duels Link on the summit of Dragon Roost Mountain.

The Wind Waker also features a Moblin with a backstory, whose name is Moe, though he is never definitely seen in-game. Apparently, Moe worked at the Forsaken Fortress, and, during Maggie's captivity, he developed a relationship with her. This is the first instance in which a Moblin can read and write, probably in some form of Hylian, and that perhaps Moblins are capable of love. Found in the Forsaken Fortress as well as the Savage Labyrinth are Moblin Statues, stone statues identical in appearance to Moblins; they are indestructible and attack by firing laser beams at Link when he is near.

Furthermore, the first form of the final sub-boss of Ganon's Castle, Puppet Ganon, seems to be based on the Moblin; however, it may be based on Ganon's pig-like form, which in turn may have inspired the appearance of the Moblin.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Moblins are virtually identical in appearance to their The Wind Waker counterparts, however, they do not carry lanterns. They are equipped with either bows or spears. The bowmen will shoot Link on sight, while the spearmen charge at him in a straight line (they have no slashing attack whatsoever). They come in "flesh" and grey varieties, and often drop large amounts of Rupees when slain. Occasionally, a defeated Moblin will also drop a green Kinstone.

In the Royal Hyrule Library, there exists a book titled Married to the Moblin.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Although they never actually made an appearance in the final version of Twilight Princess, a Moblin was shown as a beta enemy for the game. These were only seen in the first trailer released for the game and in a few early screenshots there after. Their bodies greatly resembled the Moblins from The Wind Waker albeit with a more realistic look. Their heads, however, are covered in metal masks and they have much sharper teeth. They were shown attacking with a long ax showing similar attack patterns to their Wind Waker counterparts. After 2004, however, they were never seen in the game again. The reason behind their removal remains unknown.

The Legend of Zelda animated series
Based on the Moblins from the original game, Moblins in the The Legend of Zelda animated series somewhat resemble bulldogs. Their trademark stupidity repeatedly leads them to foul up plans of their master, Ganon. However, they have the intellectual capacity to think for themselves, and at one point decide that Ganon is so hopeless (Link always thwarted his schemes) that they are better off without him; they overthrow him and form the Brotherhood of Underworld Monsters, but it meets a similar end as one of their master's many schemes, and they return, groveling to Ganon's side.

The Legend of Zelda comics
As in the animated series, the comic-book Moblins are not intelligent, but even so have personalities (and can speak) that has not, as a rule, carried across to the games, although Moblins in The Wind Waker are known to speak and understand Hylian. Certain prints of the comics also refer to Moblins as "Molblins".

Molblin's Magic Spear
An officially licensed children's book published by Nintendo, Molblin's Magic Spear takes place during the events of the original Legend of Zelda. It is noteworthy that the book was published before the decision was made to permanently change the spelling to Moblin. Link faces off with a specific adversary, whose magic spear makes him impervious to most attacks.

The Legend of Neil
Moblins appear both as enemies and distinct characters. Moblins are characterized as being vaguely more humanoid in appearance (possibly owing to the low budget of the series) and featuring a version of the color scheme used for the stronger Moblins from The Legend of Zelda. Schlam Maroney is a Moblin who kidnaps the Fairy and imprisons her within a jar in order to steal her fairy dust, a powerful stimulant in the land of Hyrule. Schlam owns Mirth's Pub, in which he and his Moblin friends, Quiff Graven and Glorm, get drunk and use fairy dust. Link manages to sneak inside the pub, disguised as a Moblin, only barely maintaining his cover. Link is later rescued from certain death by Pippy, who tells him to keep it "a secret to everybody."

Name discrepancy
The word Moblin was, at one point, believed to be Molblin, sparking debates over the true title. It is a generally accepted fact that Molblin is a mistranslation on the part of Nintendo of America's localization team. Nintendo of America is well known for their mistranslations and inconsistencies, more well known for the infamous mistranslations Gannon, Zola and Miyahon. The original Japanese name for the Moblin is モリブリン ("MORIBURIN"). This was rendered as "Molblin" in The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It is also the spelling used in the officially licensed children's book Molblin's Magic Spear. From The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for SNES and onwards, the name was rendered "Moblin" in all official sources.