Enemies,(Series)[1][2] also known as Monsters,(BotW)[3] are a recurring mechanic in The Legend of Zelda series.
In any video game, enemies are common foes that pose a threat to the player character and attempt to harm and defeat them in order to stop the player itself from completing their primary objective, whether it is a hostile human or creature. They are most often simply minions of the main antagonist and are generally basic in terms of how dangerous they are based on attacks or their appearance. However, some are stronger than others, and the most advanced are large stoic guardians, serving as Sub-Bosses or Bosses. Although the Final Boss is also technically an enemy, these are separate from lesser opponents in the plot, as they are almost always the main villain of the game.
An example of a typical enemy in the franchise, the Moblin (from A Link Between Worlds)
In the Zelda series, enemies are generally evil monsters created by Ganon or other lead antagonists through shadow magic and are sent by them to take down Link or other playable characters, alongside causing havoc to the world, coming in great numbers. They are also in many different shapes and sizes. Therefore, these foes are the "grunt" force of the villain of each installment. Some of the most commonly known enemies include Moblins, Stalfos, Octoroks, Keese, Armos, Bokoblins, Poes, and more. They are generally found in Dungeons, but also often appear in the Overworld as well. Fitting the medieval-like setting, most enemies in the franchise can easily be slain by Link's Sword, but some may require different items and even the Shield. When defeated, Link is sometimes rewarded with Recovery Hearts, Magic Jars, Rupees, ammunition (Arrows, Bombs, etc.), or in rare cases, Fairies.
Link encountering two Mario enemies, a Goomba and Piranha Plant, in Link's Awakening
Interestingly, enemies from different Nintendo franchises, mainly Super Mario, make appearances in a few games to fight against the hero as well, such as Goombas, Piranha Plants, Thwomps, Shy Guys, and even Kirby (despite this particular enemy is not the actual character, who is a central protagonist like Link), as primarily showcased in Link's Awakening.
Some Animals, although not technically enemies, can attack or even defeat Link when provoked, such as Mutts, Pigs, and most infamously, Cuccos.
Much like the Mario series, many enemies of The Legend of Zelda are noted by fans for having rather strange names given the appearance of certain species such as Keese (bat), Rope (snake), Ghini/Poe (ghost), Pols Voice (rabbit), Tektike (crab/spider), Gibdo (mummy), or the tube Shield-consuming Like Like.
Overview[]
The Legend of Zelda[]
The Adventure of Link[]
A Link to the Past[]
Link's Awakening[]
Ocarina of Time[]
Majora's Mask[]
Oracle of Seasons[]
Oracle of Ages[]
Four Swords[]
The Wind Waker[]
Four Swords Adventures[]
The Minish Cap[]
Enemies appear both in the Overworld and inside Dungeons in The Minish Cap. Many of the Enemies from Four Swords reappear in The Minish Cap, though some of their appearances have been altered.
Enemies do not appear at all in the game until Vaati opens the Bound Chest at the Picori Festival, releasing monsters into Hyrule.[4][5][6][7] After Vaati is defeated by Link at Dark Hyrule Castle and Princess Zelda uses the Mage's Cap to undo the damage he caused to Hyrule, all the Enemies disappear from across the land.[8]
Twilight Princess[]
Phantom Hourglass[]
Spirit Tracks[]
Skyward Sword[]
A Link Between Worlds[]
Tri Force Heroes[]
Breath of the Wild[]
In Breath of the Wild, Monster is the name given to the category of most animals who harm and are hostile towards Link.[note 1] Most types of Monsters have different variants that differ in strength or attacks.[9]
Color variants consist of the basic Monster and then blue, black, and silver variants of that Monster, each with an increase in attack strength and health. While playing in Master Mode, a fifth color variant is added, gold Monsters, which are even stronger than silver Monsters. When just starting the game, the Monsters encountered would consist mainly of basic Monsters with occasional blue-variant Monsters; a hidden tally of the Monsters defeated is kept by the game, and when certain milestones are hit, the Monsters scale-up to stronger color variants.[9] For example, Link would encounter regular Bokoblins and occasional Blue Bokoblins when just barely awakening from the Shrine of Resurrection, but by the time he frees a Divine Beast, he is most-likely encountering Blue Bokoblins more often and is now encountering new Black Bokoblins.
On top of color variants, elemental variants separate different Monsters by elemental abilities; the three elemental variants include Fire, Ice, and Electricity.[9] Fire and Ice are the opposites of each other, and hitting a Fire-type Monster with an Ice-type Weapon (or vice-versa) will instantly kill the Monster.[9] For example, hitting an Ice Wizzrobe with a Flamespear will instantly kill the Monster.
Furthermore, many Monsters also have a skeletal variant that randomly appears at night to attack Link called stal monsters.[10] These include Stalkoblins, Stalizalfos, Stalmoblins, and Stalnoxes.[note 2] Their bodies are counted as a separate entity from their skull, with the latter bearing the Monsters's health bar. Generally speaking, skeletal Monsters only drop first and second tier Monster Parts and drop an arm in addition to their held Weapons upon death.
Boss[]
In addition to regular Monsters, Boss can be encountered anywhere throughout Hyrule at any time. Boss that can be encountered in Hyrule include Stone Taluses, Hinox, and Molduga. Two elemental variants of Stone Taluses, Frost Taluses and Igneo Taluses, reside in very cold and very hot climates, respectively. Stone Taluses and all the color variants of Hinox can be found in the grassy plains that take up most of the Hyrule Kingdom. Unlike the other two bosses, Molduga can only be found in the Gerudo Desert.
The rest of the Monsters that make up the Boss category are encountered in one-time only battles; Fireblight Ganon, Thunderblight Ganon, Waterblight Ganon, Windblight Ganon, and Monk Maz Koshia are fought in each Divine Beast, Master Kohga is fought in the Yiga Clan Hideout, and Calamity Ganon is fought in Hyrule Castle.
Monster Parts[]
All Monsters drop Monster Parts when defeated, which are a class of Material. Monster Parts are grouped into three tiers, with the higher tiers only being dropped by Monsters in higher color variant tiers. (i.e. Bokoblin Horns, a first-tier Monster Part, can be dropped by any Bokoblin, but Bokoblin Guts, a third-tier Monster Part, can only be dropped by Blue Bokoblins or higher.) Monster Parts can be used to create Elixirs, upgrade Armor with a Great Fairy, or sold for Rupees. They can also be sold as the only way to obtain Mon, the currency that Kilton uses in his shop, Fang and Bone.
Tears of the Kingdom[]
Echoes of Wisdom[]
After defeating a non-boss enemy in combat, Zelda can summon them as echoes to fight for her.
Other Appearances[]
The Legend of Zelda (TV Series)[]
Zelda (Game & Watch)[]
A Link to the Past (Ishinomori)[]
The Faces of Evil[]
The Wand of Gamelon[]
BS The Legend of Zelda[]
Zelda's Adventure[]
Ancient Stone Tablets[]
SoulCalibur II[]
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland[]
Link's Crossbow Training[]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]
Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love[]
Nintendo Land[]
Mario Kart 8[]
Hyrule Warriors[]
Cadence of Hyrule[]
Trivia[]
- For video games in general, most often in action-adventure genre titles, although enemies during gameplay are meant to be dangerous to the protagonist and therefore must be defeated, it is not always the case. Seldomly, some creatures can actually be harmless or even friendly but are still treated as such, as the game targets them and can be attacked by the player's choice. Examples include Puffskeins in the early game adaptations of Harry Potter (PlayStation only) or the White Mushroom in the Kingdom Hearts series. A few Nintendo games have similar cases as well.
- As with bosses, The Adventure of Link is the first game in The Legend of Zelda series to have a battle theme for enemies. However in the title itself, the Japanese and international versions are completely different for their music. The latter for the NES has a rather longer, more upbeat theme fitting for the non-combat encounters while the former for the FDS has a darker, more menacing tone.
- The initial Japanese battle theme would be remixed for the Mini-Boss theme for The Minish Cap and is reused for the boss music in Super Mario Maker 2 of the Mario series when under the effects of the Master Sword power up.
- In the 3D Zelda games, whenever Link is near an enemy, a battle theme begins to play in the background music, which will last until he moves a certain distance away or if the enemy itself is defeated. This can prove useful for a player having difficulties searching for hidden foes in dark Dungeons.
- In Ocarina of Time, the theme is still heard after receiving a Game Over if Link is defeated by enemies or accidentally dies while being close to such creatures. This does not carry over to later installments.
- Hyrule Field in the aforementioned game is also known to have a unique theme when the main protagonist fights enemies, as it plays a "combat" version of its main theme.
Link encountering two Chain Chomps in A Link to the Past, a Mario enemy meant for his home series
- One certain enemy, the Chain Chomp, although a recurring foe from the Mario series, was originally intended for The Legend of Zelda. This also applies for the Fire Bar hazard. Both have made a few appearances since A Link to the Past.
- Despite some various enemies from other Nintendo franchises, mainly Super Mario, had appeared in certain The Legend of Zelda games, this series' own foes very rarely make appearances in such titles. The most well-known case, however, the Super Mario Galaxy installments have unique enemies called Octoomba, which itself is a variant of both the Octorok and Goomba. On the other hand, aside from the Manhandla rumored to be jumbo-sized Piranha Plants, some enemies and bosses from both franchises have parallels (as they were originally created by the same development team). For example, the Deku Scrub, Poe, and Deku Babas from Zelda are similar to the Snifit/Birdo, Boo, and Piranha Plants from Mario. This also applies to the main antagonists themselves - Ganon and Bowser.
Enemy battle theme samples[]
The Adventure of Link (Japanese FDS version, debut)
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
The Wind Waker
Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess (Twilight Realm variant)
Skyward Sword
Nomenclature[]
 Names in other regions  | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Name | ||
| This table was generated using translation pages. | |||
References
- ↑ Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, pg. 162 (Series)
- ↑ "You defeated the correct enemy!" — N/A (Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition)
- ↑ "Monsters" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ "Empty? There was nothing in there but a rabble of monsters?" — Vaati (The Minish Cap)
- ↑ "Creepy... It’s like all these monsters just appeared out of nowhere..." — Bremor (The Minish Cap)
- ↑ "It will be a dangerous journey, now that those monsters have been freed." — King Daltus (The Minish Cap)
- ↑ "So, that Picori Blade was just a lock keeping those monsters in that chest? The rumor is that Vaati was looking for something inside the chest... I mean, something other than monsters. But nobody knows for sure what it is." — Vassal (The Minish Cap)
- ↑ "The hat has the power to turn the thoughts of its wearer into reality. Vaati’s heart was filled with evil, and that was reflected in what he became. But it seems that Zelda’s pure heart, coupled with the hat’s power... ...has created a miracle!" — Ezlo (The Minish Cap)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — The Complete Official Guide (Expanded Edition, 2018), Piggyback Interactive Limited, pg. 300
- ↑ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — The Complete Official Guide (Expanded Edition, 2018), Piggyback Interactive Limited, pg. 322
Notes
- ↑ A few select animals, like Maraudo Wolves, are classified as Creatures even though they are hostile towards Link. Furthermore, many animals are able to cause damage to Link, but are not actively hostile towards him, causing them to be classified as Creatures.
- ↑ Stalnoxes are a Boss which do not randomly appear.