Molduga

Molduga are recurring Sub-Bosses in The Legend of Zelda series.^[3]

Characteristics[]

Breath of the Wild[]

Hyrule Compendium Entry

149 (154) Molduga	Description This massive monster swims beneath the desert's sand. It spends most of its time submerged, but if it senses sound, it will breach the surface to feast on whatever it can grab. Running around carelessly can be dangerous if you suspect there may be one in the area.
	Common Locations Gerudo Desert
Recoverable Materials Molduga Fin Molduga Guts

Molduga are giant sand monsters that can be found in four locations in Gerudo Desert. They resemble a four-legged fish with crocodilian characteristics and lurk below the sand, patrolling their territory in search of prey. Once they become aware of Link's presence, they will barrel towards Link and attempt to ram into him. Moldugas can be fought while Shield Surfing with the help of a Sand Seal. They are very sensitive to loud noises, so they can also be fought by detonating Remote Bombs or shooting Bomb Arrows near them. This will cause a Molduga to fly out of the sand, stunned, and vulnerable to Link's attacks.^[4] If Link is especially quick, he can stun a Molduga as soon as its recovers. It's belly has a x1.2 damage modifier when hit.

When defeated, a Molduga drops one or two Treasure Chests containing various weapons, Molduga Fins, and Molduga Guts. Link must collect Molduga Guts in order to complete the "Medicinal Molduga" Side Quest. After completing the "Destroy Ganon" Main Quest, Kilton will give Link a Medal of Honor if he defeats all four Moldugas.

Locations[]

Tears of the Kingdom[]

Molduga reappear in Tears of the Kingdom, acting the same way as in the previous game. One is the subject of the WANTED: Molduga sidequest for Gralens of Hyrule's monster-control crew in Lookout Landing.

A flashback to the founding of the Kingdom of Hyrule revealed that, during that time, they were domesticated to act as war beasts by the Gerudo, as they attempted to instigate a stampede of several to assault Hyrule. However, they were defeated effortlessly by Princess Zelda, King Rauru and Queen Sonia via their respective Secret Stones, forcing the Gerudo king, Ganondorf, to change his strategy to one of subterfuge.

Locations[]

Toruma Dunes
Palu Wasteland South
North Gerudo Ruins
East Barrens

Other Appearances[]

Non-Canon Information

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity[]

Moldugas appear as mini bosses in Age of Calamity, first appearing in Urbosa, the Gerudo Chief, where the Champion herself deliberately provokes one into scaring away some Yiga Footsoldiers and can be fought afterwards. They are later encountered in various Scenarios involving Gerudo Desert, but are most easily defeated with Divine Beast Vah Naboris.

Nomenclature[]

The Molduga stands as one of the many Zelda enemies using the "Mold-" prefix, a term commonly used to denote enemies with an affinity for sand or burrowing (e.g. Moldorms). Molduga itself can be read as a portmanteau of "Mold-" and "beluga", a species of Arctic whale, befitting their whale-like features and anatomy, including blowholes. This theme extends to many of the Molduga's names internationally, being corruptions or portmanteaus of whale species or terms. The original Japanese and Korean names feature the respective words for whale (kujira/クジラ and gorae/고래) with their characters reversed and slightly corrupted (-rajīku/ラジーク and -raego/래고). The French suffix "-arquor" can be seen as a partial anagram of rorqual, a French term for a family of baleen whales, with the Italian name being a portmanteau of "Mold-" and "balenottera", the Italian term for this same whale family.

Names in other regions
Language		Name
	Japanese	モルドラジーク (Morudorajīku)^[5]
	Chinese^TR	莫爾德拉克斯 (Mòěrdélākèsī)
	Dutch	Molduga^[6]
	French^CA	Moldarquor^[7]
	French^EU	Moldarquor^[8]
	German	Moldora^[9]
	Italian	Moldenottera^[10]
	Korean	몰드래고 (Moldeuraego)
	Russian	Молдора (Moldora)^[11]
	Spanish^EU	Moldora^[12]
	Spanish^LA	Moldora^[13]
This table was generated using translation pages. To request an addition, please contact a staff member with a reference.