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This page is about the recurring Enemies in The Legend of Zelda series. See Guardian (Disambiguation) for similar terms.

Guardians are recurring Enemies in The Legend of Zelda series.[1][name reference needed][note 1]

Characteristics[]

Breath of the Wild[]

Guardians are ancient machines created by the Sheikah, originally created to aid in the battle against Calamity Ganon. Most Guardians are under the control of Calamity Ganon during the events of Breath of the Wild and are scattered across Hyrule, attacking those who approach. Guardians that are not possessed by Calamity Ganon's Malice, such as those that reside within Ancient Shrines, in the Trial of the Sword, at Upland Zorana, and in the Final Trial, glow orange and blue instead of the pink that corrupted Guardians display. Despite not being possessed by any evil force, they will still attack Link, as they were tasked by the Monks to fight him as part of the trials that he must undergo.[3]

While Guardians are formidable opponents, they have multiple weaknesses. A Guardian's eye is its weak spot; shooting it with an Arrow causes extra damage and stuns the Guardian for a brief period of time. While sufficiently strong weapons can deal a fair amount of damage to a Guardian, it is especially weak to Ancient equipment, which deals much more damage to it. The Master Sword, which doubles its attack power near malice, including corrupted Guardians, is another effective weapon against it.

Guardian Stalker[]

Main article: Guardian Stalker

A Guardian Stalker is an agile Guardian, sporting 6 legs, high health, high resistance, and a laser beam attack that deals up to 15 Hearts of damage. If a target is too close to it, the Guardian Stalker will attempt to distance itself in order to fire its laser; otherwise it will relentlessly pursue the target until it loses track of the them. When defeated, it may drop any combination of Ancient Screws, Ancient Gears, Ancient Springs, Ancient Shafts, Ancient Cores and Giant Ancient Cores. Link can sever the legs of a Guardian Stalker, temporarily stunning it.

Decayed Guardian[]

Main article: Decayed Guardian

A Decayed Guardian is a Guardian Stalker that has lost its legs. It is found buried in the ground, unable to move due to its aforementioned lack of legs. Most Decayed Guardians appear inactive until Link approaches one, where it will activate and aim its laser at him in preparation to fire. Decayed Guardians are found in numerous locations, including Hyrule Castle and the Great Plateau, sometimes in large groups, as seen in Lomei Labyrinth Island.

Guardian Scout[]

Main article: Guardian Scout

A Guardian Scout is a smaller variant of the Guardian Stalker that can be found within Ancient Shrines and Divine Beast. It comes in four different variants, ranging from I to IV. Depending on the variant, it can be equipped with different weapons, increasing in damage the higher the variant. The stronger variants found within the "Test of Strength" shrines can also use their laser to repeatedly burn the floor surrounding them, sending Link back if struck. Additionally, when near destruction, they will charge a stronger laser attack that cannot be interrupted.

Guardian Turret[]

Main article: Guardian Turret

A Guardian Turret is a stationary Guardian that fire powerful lasers at Link. Upon spotting Link, a Guardian Turret's head will begin to elevate and it will charge its laser in preparation to shoot. Several Guardian Turrets guard the entrance to the Sanctum of Hyrule Castle, where Calamity Ganon resides.

Guardian Skywatcher[]

Main article: Guardian Skywatcher

A Guardian Skywatcher is a flying type of Guardian. It scans its environment with a red searchlight and will begin charging its laser upon locating a target. Many Guardian Skywatchers patrol around Hyrule Castle and the Akkala Citadel Ruins.

Sentry[]

Main article: Sentry

A Sentry is a type of flying Guardian, similar to a Guardian Skywatcher. In the "Divine Beast Vah Rudania" Main Quest, Vah Rudania dispatches Sentries as Link and Yunobo approach Death Mountain to hinder them as they attempt to disable Vah Rudania.[4][5] Sentries use red searchlights along the path up Death Mountain which, should Link or Yunobo be spotted, will cause Vah Rudania to furiously unleash Magma Bombs at them.[6]

Other Appearances[]

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity[]

Guardians are automatons created by the ancient Sheikah civilization to combat the original Great Calamity. 10,000 years later at the onset of the second Great Calamity, the Guardians are are infested with Calamity Ganon's Malice causing them to attack the forces of the Kingdom of Hyrule.

A Guardian named Terrako was activated by Zelda as young child. After being confiscated away for many years by Zelda's father, King Rhoam, Terrako travels back in time to aid Zelda after the fall of Kingdom of Hyrule during the second Great Calamity. Terrako has the ability to bring and send others through time and remotely activate other ancient Sheikah technology.

Hostile Guardians present are additionally infested with Malice from the future, creating new forms such as Electric Guardians, Fire Guardians, and Malice Guardians.

In the first DLC pack, Pulse of the Ancients, a battle worn Guardian can be unlocked as a playable Warrior, an older but more powerful model that had not been infected by Malice.

Tears of the Kingdom[]

The only Guardian in the game is seen in Hateno Village used as the roof of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab; it is clearly no longer functional.

Trivia[]

  • Guardian Stalkers were based on the Octoroks from The Legend of Zelda, which to people on the development team seemed huge in comparison to Link, leading to the cephalopod-like design of the Guardians and the technological theme of the game.[7]
  • When Link is targeted by Guardians, the map on the HUD and on the Sheikah slate will show a red dot indicating their location.[8]

Nomenclature[]

TMC Forest Minish Artwork Names in other regions TMC Jabber Nut Sprite
LanguageNameMeaning
United KingdomEnglishBRGuardian (BotW)
JapanJapanese守護神 (Shugoshin) (TAoL)[9]
ガーディアン (Gādian) (BotW)
Same as English.
Guardian
NetherlandsDutchWachter (BotW)
FranceFrenchEUGardien (BotW)
GermanyGermanHüter (SS)
Wächter (BotW)
Same as English.
This table was generated using translation pages.
To request an addition, please contact a staff member with a reference.

Gallery[]

Notes

  1. Guardians were referred to as Guardian Vehicles in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — The Complete Official Guide.[2] However, as this contradicts the name given in-game, it is not considered Canon.

References

  1. Creating a Champion, Dark Horse Books, pg. 204
  2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — The Complete Official Guide (Expanded Edition), Piggyback Interactive Limited, pg. 311
  3. "Hello everyone. I'm Hidemaro Fujibayashi, director of The Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild.

    Today's interesting detail is about the color of Guardians.

    Spoilers ahead!

    ---------------------------------------------------------------

    In The Champions' Ballad DLC Pack 2, Kass acts as the storyteller and sometimes appears near a Divine Beast to recite a ballad.

    In one of the challenges in The Champions' Ballad DLC Pack 2, you will encounter a Guardian that glows a shade closer to orange instead of the common reddish color. This is actually a Guardian that hasn't been corrupted by Calamity Ganon.

    If you look carefully at the small Guardians that appear in the Shrines of Trials, they also glow orange. This means that these Guardians were prepared by the Sheikah Monks for the trials, and diligently fulfill their tasks.

    To help you fight Guardians, here are the materials to create one Ancient Arrow: Ancient Screw (x2) Ancient Shaft (x1), and Arrow (x1). You can receive them by starting up the game with the button below. Just make sure that you either have the game card inserted or the digital version of the game on your system.

    We hope this helps!"
    — Hidemaro Fujibayashi, How to enjoy The Champions' Ballad DLC Pack 2 - Part 3., , published December 26, 2017, retrieved December 28, 2017.
  4. "These sentries dispatched from Divine Beast Vah Rudania are equipped with searchlights that can spot intruders." — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  5. "Oh... Yikes... A sentry is always a nuisance, no matter where it is or how many of them there are." — Yunobo (Breath of the Wild)
  6. "If one finds you, Rudania will go nuts, which will cause Death Mountain to erupt, goro. I...always get spotted, and then magma bombs come raining down one after another." — Yunobo (Breath of the Wild)
  7. "In creating a huge world, I went back to the first Zelda title. And I wanted to see an enemy like Octorok. Octorok to me when I was playing felt really large. That’s why the first enemy I created for the game was the Guardian. But then just creating a large octopus is kind of gross, so we decided to take the more sci-fi, technology route, and that’s where the visual for the Guardian comes from. And that decision leads into the storyline, and influenced many other elements we added to the game." — Matt Peckham, Why Nintendo Had to Destroy Tradition to Create the New 'Zelda', Time, published June 15, 2016.
  8. https://www.reddit.com/r/Breath_of_the_Wild/comments/af7qwd/til_that_when_a_guardian_starts_targeting_you/
  9. The Adventure of Link manual, pg. 14

de-niwa:Wächter

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