Darknut

Darknuts (also known as Dark Nuts) are recurring enemies in the Legend of Zelda series. Though they have changed over time, Darknuts are best known for their defensive capabilities. Darknuts are slow moving yet powerful knights. Typically, the thick armor and sturdy shield of a Darknut renders it nearly invincible from the front, forcing its foes to circle around and strike from behind. Their erratic movement patterns also tend to be quite a challenge, one that is only compounded when they appear in groups.

The Legend of Zelda
Darknuts resemble caped knights. They come in red and blue varieties and are only a danger when Link comes in direct contact with them. Red Darknuts move slowly, deal one heart of damage when Link has no rings, and take four hits to kill with the Wooden Sword. Blue Darknuts move much faster, require twice as many hits to defeat, and deal twice as much damage as Red Darknuts. Darknuts are impervious to attack from the front because of their shields.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Kanalet Soldiers in Link's Awakening are identical to Darknuts from the Oracle games and are even called Darknuts in the Japanese version of the game.

They are found only on the grounds of Kanalet Castle and come in two subtypes. One wields a sword and shield and charges Link when it sees him; the other has no shield and throws spears from a distance.

Unlike other versions of Darknuts, these are vulnerable to all attacks and are quite weak, causing only half a heart of damage.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons
Darknuts in the Oracle games come in red and blue varieties. There are two subtypes; some wield a sword, and charge towards Link when they see him. Other Darknuts throw spears from a distance. These Darknuts do not have a sword and cannot block attacks from the front.

In Oracle of Seasons, Darknuts can be pushed and pulled using the Magnetic Gloves. In addition, a Golden Darknut appears on the Western Coast during spring.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Darknuts appear as mini-bosses in Four Swords. The Darknut is only vulnerable to strikes from the side or rear, as its front is well-guarded. Darknuts tend to be quite nimble, making them considerably difficult opponents.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
There are many different varieties of Darknuts. Some are armed only with large swords, others bear their trademark shields, and some even wear protective capes that must be burned or cut off. These versions can be stripped of their armor using properly placed attacks. Link can also knock off all their armor at once by hitting them in the back with a counterattack. Once Darknuts have lost their armor, they become more dexterous. When disarmed, they utilize a simple form of martial arts that includes a straight-palm punch and a roundhouse kick. If given the chance, they will run and pick up their weapon again, that of other disarmed Darknuts, or even the weapon of another type of enemy. If a disarmed Darknut has not yet retrieved its sword, Link can pick it up and use it himself.

When killed, they drop Knight's Crests, which they appear to wear as a belt. The crest can also be stolen with the Grappling Hook, but only after their helmet has been removed.

Despite their burly appearance and bulky bodies, Darknuts are astoundingly nimble. Their strength allows them to break the marble pillars found in the Tower of the Gods and the Savage Labyrinth in two with their bare hands, as seen when Link disarms one and lures it towards said pillars. If Link tries to charge up a Spin Attack, the Darknuts will do the same as long as they are armed. They can even imitate the Hurricane Spin. In fact, Link can exploit this ability by grouping Darknuts together and performing the Hurricane Spin nearby, causing the Darknuts to imitate it in close proximity to other Darknuts, possibly cutting their own capes and armor straps. Somewhat humorously, if Link continually retreats from Darknuts, they will never attack but simply follow him around.

After their armor is gone, a quick way to kill Darknuts is to shoot one with an Ice Arrow and then immediately swing the Skull Hammer sideways, breaking the ice and subsequently defeating the Darknut. This requires fast reactions as Darknuts can break out of ice much more quickly than other enemies.

The faces of Darknuts are also revealed for the first time and can be seen if Link unleashes an overhead counterattack that removes its helmet; they have a demonic canine appearance.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Their name is spelled "Dark Nut." They are heavily armored, and the red variety have a powerful sword thrust attack. They can be stunned with bombs or with a sword hit to their only vulnerable spot, their caped backs. A special classification of Darknuts appears only in this game -- the Royal Dark Nut, which is seen only in Dark Hyrule Castle. The strongest of all is the Black Knight, who is also found only in Dark Hyrule Castle. He appears twice, first as a mini-boss and then again in the company of some of the Royal Dark Nuts, trying to prevent Link from interrupting Vaati's ritual.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
This clip was provided by lleeoo2010 kE49v41GTiI The armor that Darknuts are clad in must again be sliced off piece by piece. They are armed with large swords or maces. They are capable of blocking any attack or weapon that Link uses, and can only be hit when they are about to attack. Once they have lost enough armor, they throw their larger swords at Link and draw a smaller longsword. With this weapon their defense is not as good, but they are much faster, faster even than Link. Additionally, after Link learns the Helm Splitter, it can be used to effectively remove Darknuts' armor.

The first Darknut Link encounters appears as the mini-boss of the Temple of Time. After that, several others appear as enemies in some forced battles in the Cave of Ordeals and Hyrule Castle. They fight in groups of one, two, three, and even four. These Darknuts are also individually slightly easier to defeat than the mini-boss, though when they fight together, they become much more dangerous.

The Twilight Princess Darknuts are far larger than Link and seem to be humanoid. However, their bodies under their heavy armor are wrapped in chain mail, and their form underneath that is never seen.

Link's Crossbow Training
One Darknut appears as the boss of stage 7. It looks exactly the same as Darknuts from Twilight Princess, but it has different attacks. As in Twilight Princess, the armor that the Darknut is wearing falls off as it sustains damage. However, it also splits into hundreds of bat-like pieces; some of which seem to be luminous, and give Link more points if he shoots them. Additionally, when in human form, the Darknut has the ability to send bats flying at Link when he slashes his sword; There are also a smaller number of larger flying creatures which are worth 100 points each that he sends at Link.

Etymology
It is possible that the Japanese for Darknut, タートナック (Tātonakku), was possibly intended to represent the English words "Dark Knight," especially considering the nature of the enemy in question and Japanese conventions for representing English with katakana. The localization team may not have realized what the katakana was attempting to borrow from English, and the series simply recycled the original mistranslation throughout the games rather than correct it. However, this raises the question of why ダークナイト (Dākunaito) was not simply used instead, as it more accurately represents "Dark Knight" phonetically.

It should also be noted that Darknut shares the same katakana ending as Ironknuckle アイアンナック (Aiannakku), so the Darknut should then most accurately be "Tartknuck" or "Tartknuckle." If so, its name was probably meant to relate it to the similar Ironknuckle enemy.