Poe

Poes are ghost-like entities that can be found at the dead of night. They are described as ghosts of concentrated hatred towards the world, and can be found haunting graveyards, empty fields, and plains. Poes serve a variety of roles, and often carry lanterns, they come in different types and have changed over the course of Zelda history. Perhaps they were named after the famous poet Edgar Allan Poe because of the books he wrote.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Poes first appeared in A Link to the Past, where they floated around the graveyard, similar to Ghinis from earlier games. They drifted around the Dark World, circling their graves or other places of death, such as destroyed houses. They would not actively pursue Link, however.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, they are found in graveyards, and in Hyrule Field during the Imprisoning War. Once defeated, they would drop their soul-housing lanterns and Link could collect the spirits of the Poes in bottles and bring them to a shop in Hyrule Town where they can be sold. Link is also able to drink the spirit of the Poe, although, doing so usually causes negative effects. Poes go invisible when Z-targeted

They would attack when their graves were disturbed or Link got too close to an idle lantern. They would attack by wildly spinning their lanterns. Also, some poes wandering Hyrule Field would simply circle Link and lob fireballs at him. They would not turn invisible when targeted.

Two Poes, in particular, play a minor part in the game, (making a major appearance later on in Majora's Mask) Flat and Sharp are the Composer Brothers who created the Sun's Song.

Poes let out a distinctive laugh when disappearing, attacking, or if their souls escaped. Their souls also took on the forms of purple, green, or gold fireballs with faces imbued into them that told the temperament of the Poe in question.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Poes in Majora's Mask behave the same as ones in Ocarina of Time (see above).

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
In Oracle of Ages Poes are surprisingly friendly, even more so than Flat and Sharp. One Poe gives Link a Poe Clock in exchange for helping it into its grave.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
In The Wind Waker, Poes must be caught in the light to be made tangible and then killed with any weapon. In order to do this, Link must first obtain the Mirror Shield. Poes can also possess Link, causing the controls of the game to flip backwards. Poes mostly appear in the Earth Temple, and are ruled by Jalhalla.

They had faces that looked like skull masks and their bodies seemed to be comprised of brightly colored pajama-like garments. When possessing Link, their distinctive masks chattered and laughed above his head.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, Link begins to find Poes after he talks to Jovani, a man from Hyrule who was consumed by greed and turned into a gold statue. He requests Link to find 20 Poe Souls to return him to his human form, but when this fails, Link must collect all 60 Poe souls in order to save him. Once this task has been completed, Link can talk to Jovani to receive 200 Rupees. Additionally, speaking to Jovani's cat as a wolf can garner 200 Rupees anytime Link has no money.

In order to collect the Poe souls, Link must assume his wolf form and use his enhanced senses to see the Poes and tear out their souls. Their exact details are difficult to make out with Wolf Link's senses, but they appear to be small creatures with large, smiling, stitched mouths. They carried thier lanterns with their taloned feet and carried vastly oversized scythes to attack.

Four, taller Poes play as secondary minibosses in Arbiter's Grounds. These have been comfirmed to be the "true" Poes of the game and the smaller Poes are "Poe Imps". After defeating the first Poe, Link can learn its scent to find the other Poes. After defeating all four, a door is opened to the second half of the dungeon. Their souls count towards the souls Jovani needs. They appeared very different as tall, robed figures that used their lanterns as weapons.

The four, taller poes may be a refference to the Poe Sisters considering that, like the poe sisters, there are four of them, one of them makes three copies of itself, and each of which has a flame required to move on to the main part of Arbiter's Grounds.

The beta version of the Imp Poe originally had it lacking a lantern and being a solid figure, not a corporeal one. This was most likely due to help aid in designing it, being it would be harder to add details to a more ghostly one.

Big Poe
Big Poes are larger cousins of the normal Poes.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In order to obtain a bottle from the man in the Ghost Shop in Hyrule Castle Town Market, Link must find the 10 Big Poes which are scattered across Hyrule Field and deliver them to him, hereby receiving points for his Magic Card, and, eventually, being rewarded by the bottle. The Big Poes look just like Normal Poes but considerably larger. They also had lighter colored robes and their hoods went up into a crooked point. They too carry lanterns.Unlike normal Poes, they only come out when link is riding Epona and will disappear once they hit a wall or an obstruction.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Big Poes appear as a sub-boss in the Beneath the Well dungeon and in the third night's open grave in Ikana Graveyard. It is summoned when three blue flames appear and merge together. By defeating this Big Poe located in Ikana Graveyard, Link is granted a bottle. This Big Poe attacks much like a normal Poe, although after each attack it disappears and reappears from another direction, usually from behind Link. It will also hover higher than most regular Poes, nearly necessitating the use of arrows. The bottled Big Poe can be sold for 200 rupees at the Curiosity Shop, although one is needed to trade with one of the Gibdos beneath the well.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, there were Poes but bigger and also much more rare. They only appeared in the swamp, in the graveyard part. Big Poes can only be defeated if Link lights the nearby lantern posts.

Notable Poes

 * Poe Sisters
 * The Composer brothers
 * Jalhalla
 * The Diabolical Cubus Sisters