Stallord

Twilit Fossil, Stallord (蘇生古代竜 ハーラ・ジガント) is the boss of the Arbiter's Grounds, the fourth dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Stallord is the skeleton of a dead beast found inside the Arbiter's Grounds. It has a roughly humanoid upper body protruding from a pit of sand, and a horned animal head comparable to a goat or dragon. Its lower body is never seen; in fact, whether its lower portions were even present at the time is unknown. Several weapons are embedded in beast's skull, possibly the cause of its death. The music played during the battle against Stallord incorporates, partly, reinstrumentalized versions of the music played during the battles against King Dodongo and Volvagia in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Interestingly, throughout the Arbiter's Grounds, wall engravings show a figure with a shield fighting a large monster, possibly Stallord, which infers that Stallord's first death was because of an ancient hero and not of natural causes. Shapes similar to Stallord's head are on all the doors in the Arbiter's Grounds.

Story
While Link is searching for the Mirror of Twilight in the Arbiter's Grounds, he comes upon a huge skeleton in the chamber of the dungeon's boss. Zant then appears and plunges the Twilight Sword into the skull of the remains, reanimating them as Stallord.

Battle
The only way to damage Stallord is by tackling his lower spinal vertebrae with the Spinner. Stallord will try to keep Link away by summoning Staltroops and spitting blasts of dark fire from his mouth. Link must knock away Stallord's three lowest vertebrae, and the beast will fall. The sandpit recedes, Stallord's eyes cease glowing and the battle appears to have been won.

However, Stallord comes alive once more. His head starts floating and pushes Link into a large circular pit. Link should use the Spinner to chase Stallord, which spits fireballs at Link. He avoids these by jumping between the two walls. Along the way there are Blade Traps that can knock Link down. Link should then jump into Stallord's head with the Spinner, and he will fall to the ground. Once in this vulnerable position, Link should slash the blade embedded in his skull as many times as possible before Stallord reawakens. If Link repeats this process, Stallord will fall for the final time, and then explodes, leaving the Twilight Sword, which turns into a Heart Container.

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Link's Crossbow Training
Stallord appears as the final boss of the single-player mode in Fossil Stallord Battle. Stallord looks similar to his Twilight Princess counterpart, but its head now has far more horns, its hands are darker, and it has a slightly different color of shading. This battle takes place in the desert beyond the Arbiter's Grounds (visible in the background) rather than within the Grounds themselves. To defeat Stallord in this timed battle, Link must destroy three red targets, one on each of Stallord's hands and on his head, while avoiding Stallord's fireball attacks and destroying the clouds of Bubbles the beast releases.

Volvagia
Stallord may be the dragon Volvagia from Ocarina of Time, as he was never revived in the Twilight Princess timeline and has a very similar appearance (aside from being only a skeleton), abilities (fire breathing) and the same music. However, this seems to be unlikely, as Stallord is considerably bigger than Volvagia was, and Stallord is found in the Arbiter's Grounds which is directly across from Death Mountain where Volvagia had lived. There are also physical differences such as Stallord having some hair around its neck, while Volvagia had a mane of flames; Stallord's dental structure differs from Volvagia's; Stallord has ten digits in all while Volvagia only has six; and Stallord has relatively long arms, while Volvagia had very short ones.

Another way Stallord could have been Volvagia, was that techically, Link never actually faught him. Due to Princess Zelda sending Link back in time, and Link stopping Ganondorf from taking the Triforce of Power, Volvigia was never killed by Link. Some believe that as a last resort, Ganondorf created a few monsters (one being Volvigia) but was arrested by the Sages. The reason Stallord was in Arbiter's Grounds, may be because Volvigia couldn't be killed, so they sealed it inside to keep it from doing any harm. How Volvigia died however, is a different story. It very well could have been as simple as starvation. The vast numbers of Staltroops seemed to wear similar armor to the Knights in Castle Town, so they may have been the warriors that died helping to take down and seal up Volvigia.

King Dodongo
There is also a theory that Stallord is King Dodongo, another boss from Ocarina of Time, which is reptilian in appearance, similarly to Stallord. Sections of the music played during the boss battle against King Dodongo is re-used during the battle against Stallord. However, this theory is also discredited based on several physical differences (arm length, digit number, general proportion of limbs, torso, hair and head). Also, the Desert and Mountains are very far apart, and when King Dodongo was defeated, his body was apparently trapped in the lava of his own chamber.

Dark Dragon
It is also possible that Stallord is based on General Onox's Dark Dragon form from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. The body proportions, in terms of arm length, horn size and shape, and facial structure, are quite similar. In addition, Stallord also has no lower half rings similar to how Onox has a tail and no hind legs. However, the Dark Dragon only has four fingers, unlike Stallord, and also had wings, which Stallord lacks (although they may have been buried into the sand before the events in the game). Also the Dark Dragon only seems to have eight teeth during its boss fight, unlike Stallord, which has ten teeth (although arguably, not all of the Dark Dragon's teeth were seen). Lastly, Holodrum and Hyrule are very far apart. However, it should be noted that Onox's speech before the final battle implies that he was actually native to the Dark Realm and not to Holodrum.

Execution Beast
Another possibility is that Stallord was used for execution when the Arbiter's Grounds was still in use. This can be evidenced by the fact Stallord's chamber is situated directly beneath the chamber where those condemned were banished to the Twilight Realm; the chamber itself seems like it was designed so that several people would be placed on the pillar and lowered to the bottom where Stallord would subsequently devour them. Supporting this is the abundance of Staltroops, being animated skeletons, which are theorized to be prisoners killed by Stallord.

Other Origins
Another possile theory is that Stallord was simply an unnamed monster killed prior to the game by another hero. This is plausible because it's name is stated as 'Stallord', stal- being a prefix for skeletal enemies, rather than retaining the name of its living form.

Etymology
The name "Stallord" is a portmanteau of the "Stal-" prefix (Staltroop, Stalfos, etc.) and "lord", and could thus be called a "Stalfos lord" &mdash; or, seeing as the "Stal-" prefix refers to skeletal enemies, a "Skeleton Lord".