Armos

Armos are recurring enemies in the Legend of Zelda series. They typically pose as a statue or suit of armor, but attacks when touched or approached. In most games, they appear to be animated statues or suits of armor that are not actually living beings.

The Legend of Zelda
Armos appear mainly near Death Mountain or the Lost Woods, where they are covered in orange and green armor, respectively. Certain Armos move quickly, while others move slow. Armos occasionally cover up hidden staircases that can be revealed by touching the Armos, causing it to move.

Armos takes three hits with the Wooden Sword to kill, and does one heart of damage to Link if no rings are worn.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Armos are found in the Eastern Palace. They stand dormant until they are bumped into, which causes them to bounce towards Link. Inactive Armos are gray, oval-shaped statues, but change to light brown when awakened. Six Armos Knights serve as the bosses of the Eastern Palace, bouncing around in formations. They are similar other Armos, but are bigger and blue. They can each be defeated by three arrows; the final Armos Knight will turn red, and angrily stomp around the room, trying to crush Link.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Several Armos and one single Armos Knight appear in the Face Shrine. The Armos are similar to those from The Legend of Zelda, except these do not move as fast. They often hide among similar looking statues. Many statues resembling Armos form a maze near the shrine to the south of the Face Shrine, but only a few are true Armos. Each wall has one Armos that must be found to reach the Shrine. Inside the Shrine, an Armos Knight guards the Face Key. His main attack is slamming the ground to paralyze his foes.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Armos Knights in both of these games mostly appear in dungeons, and are giant, grey, aged statues. Some look the same as regular inanimate statues, making them more dangerous. Actual statues can be pushed around, but Armos Knights attack when approached. A single bomb is enough to destroy them. In Majora's Mask, Armos Knights only appear in the Stone Tower Temple.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons
Armos Knights are exactly as those from Link's Awakening, as Flagship built upon data from that game. They are in no specific area, and can only be destroyed with bombs or the Magical Boomerang. There is a Mini-Boss in the fourth dungeon of Oracle of Ages named "Armos Warrior". He throws his sword, which locks onto Link before returning. The only way to damage him is to strike him from behind or let his own sword strike him. Eventually his shield breaks and he begins charging at Link. Link must dodge the charge, letting the Armos Warrior hit the wall and become stunned, making him vulnerable to attack.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Armos and Armos Knights come in small and large forms in The Wind Waker. When Link enters a room, the small Armos activate and bounce quickly towards Link. They can be paralyzed by an arrow in the eye and striking the crystal on their back will cause them to spin around wildly and self-destruct. The Armos Knights are gigantic statues that will slowly bounce Link when he approaches. To defeat one, Link must throw a bomb into its mouth, which opens occasionally, or can be made to open by shooting its eye. After the bomb has been thrown, the Armos Knight spins around and self-destructs.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
These Armos Knights are slightly different from the Armos found in previous games, bearing resemblance to the Armos in the original Legend of Zelda. In this game, they are red statues powered by a flame inside their head; only a Minish sized person can turn the flame off. When Link approaches, the Armos activates and quickly runs towards him, occasionally pausing. Sometimes Link must activate an Armos to clear a path and other times he must deactivate one to prevent it from blocking a path. To do this he has to change into Minish size through a Tree Stump and climb up the ladder on its shield.

In the game, Armos are revealed to be mechanical creations of the Minish. If Link transforms to his Minish shape, he can climb up the shield of a deactivated Armos to activate/deactivate its power switch.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Armos appear as skull-like statues with large hammers. Fighting them is similar to fighting them in The Wind Waker, where they must be stunned and hit from behind. Once struck on the crystal on their backs, they spin around, screaming with rage, and swinging their hammers violently before bursting into a cloud of dark smoke. Unlike Ocarina of Time, they do not harm you when they explode, however their last moments include swinging their hammer rapidly, so Link should still stay at a safe distance. They are found primarily in the Temple of Time and the Cave of Ordeals. An other way of defeating Armos is shooting a Bomb Arrow a them, then they do their hopping.

A beta form of this enemy, Armos Titan, was not included in the final release of the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Armos return once again in Phantom Hourglass, but with some slightly different characteristics. When struck enough, they will stop moving instead of exploding. The stopped Armos can be moved as normal statues, and as such can be used to hold switches down.

Soulcalibur 2
One of the weapons Link can purchase (for 900 gold) is called "Armos Series", and it resembles the ovular shield of stone and short sword of the Armos. If Link uses these, his offense is at 100%, his defense at 70%, making it the second worst weapon Link has (the first being the Bug-Catching Net with Hylian Shield). As a side effect, offense increases with soul charge, but soul charge effect slowly decreases. It should be noted that the shield has the worst defense of Link's weapons, which isn't surprising when one considers how easy it is for Link to hurt an Armos, sometimes with only his sword.