Gohma

Gohma (also known as Ghoma, but henceforth referred to as Gohma) is a recurring boss in The Legend of Zelda series. Its incarnations are all armored arthropods that are characterized by its single tell-tale large eye.

The Legend of Zelda
In the original Legend of Zelda, Gohma is simply a large armored spider in possession of an enormous eye that is susceptible to arrows. It shoots fireballs at Link, yet will eventually be defeated by having arrows constantly fired at it's eye. It is considered to be the mother of all Tektites.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
In Link's Awakening, two small Gohmas act as a miniboss in the Catfish's Maw dungeon. They strafe backwards and forwards across the room, one behind the other. Only when Link is within attack range will they open their eyes, which makes them vulnerable to attacks with the sword or Hook Shot.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time


In Ocarina of Time, Gohma holds the full title of Parasitic Armored Arachnid, Queen Gohma, and as the description implies, is a spider. Queen Gohma is part of the curse on the Great Deku Tree, and is the game's first boss. To defeat it, the player needs to wait for Gohma to climb down to the the floor and throw a Deku Nut or shoot with the Fairy Slingshot at her eye. This stuns Gohma, and her eye can be slashed via sword, ultimately defeating her. You can also shoot the eye of Gohma when she is laying eggs. Doing so will stun her longer then with a Deku Nut.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
This incarnation is very similar to that of the original The Legend of Zelda, however, it more resembles a crab than a spider, complete with quick sideways movement and crab-like claws. It is fought mostly the same way as the original. However, instead of immediately shooting it's eye with arrows, one must first slash and destroy its prominent claw and then shoot seeds into its eye with the slingshot. It guards the fourth Essence of Nature in the Dancing Dragon Dungeon.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Gohma in The Wind Waker is arguably the most diverse from all the others. While other Gohma's seemed to be more of a spider/crab, this one obtained a considerable amount of legs, creating the allusion of a centipede. Additionally, while in past games killing Gohma focused entirely on shooting projectiles into its eye, in The Wind Waker, Link does not directly attack it until halfway through. With the newly acquired Grappling Hook, he must first grapple onto the swinging tail of Valoo, which is hanging through a hole in the ceiling. Once attached, Link swings across the room and the roof comes loose and falls down on Gohma, damaging its shell. Once repeated several times, the shell will eventually break, exposing Gohma's vulnerable body. Now lacking proper defense, Gohma will attempt to body slam Link, bringing its characteristic eye within Link's sword range. Link can also use the Grappling Hook to pull Gohma close enough to attack. This process done a few times more will slay Gohma. He returns as the first boss to appear yet again in Ganon's Tower, only in black and white to refer the fight as a flashback to Link.

This Gohma is sometimes thought to be the mother of the Magtail species.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Gohma appears as Twilit Arachnid Armogohma in Twilight Princess and is the boss of the Temple of Time. She appears as a large tarantula with a large, sinister eyeball on her thorax. This eyeball fires a laser beam at Link and also serves as Armogohma's "weak point". Link must fire an arrow at the eyeball to make Armogohma fall to the floor; when she does, Link takes control of one of the nearby statues using the Dominion Rod and crushes Armogohma. As in her Ocarina of Time form, Armogohma gives birth to several little spiders who attack Link. After taking serious damage, Armogohma appears to have been destroyed (even cuing the "boss victory" music to begin playing), however, it is revealed that the massive spider body was actually a suit of armour, and that Armogohma's real body consists almost entirely of the eyeball. At this point, rather than attack Link, Armogohma hides in the center of a cluster of her young, and simply flees until she is destroyed.

Name confusion
For the earlier Gohma bosses, two spellings - Gohma and Ghoma - were used interchangeably. However, due to the similarity of the bosses regardless of the name, they are usually all referred to as Gohma.