Ah, enemies, a core part of many adventure and action games. Unavoidably, there are ones that the player base begins to hate, sometimes universally. Sometimes it is just that the enemy is difficult. Sometimes said enemy has an annoying mechanic. Whatever the reason, there are some enemies that are just doomed. The Legend of Zelda series is filled with creatures, and people tend to dislike them for what they do best. Searching threads around the internet, I found 10 most commonly mentioned enemies that people simply cannot stand:
Wizzrobes
The wizzrobe has had many design changes over the years. However, one thing that remains is their tendency to rarely stand still.
Wizzrobes appear in many games in the series, and in many incarnations. A common tactic employed by the creatures is to teleport around and fire off orbs of flame in your direction. The ones in Majora’s Mask may create clones of themselves to disorient the player, and there are some in The Wind Waker that are capable of summoning other enemies to aid them. Wizzrobes in The Wind Waker are also guilty of producing strange noises when they appear, or simply laughing at you if you fail to hit them before they finish their spells and disappear.
In the end, if there are many of them in one room they can create a rather hazardous environment to navigate. Getting into sword combat range with them is difficult, if not impossible in certain instances, as some will disappear if you approach, or after they finish casting. Some are simply invulnerable to swords.
Wizzrobes are such a pain that Nintendo has dedicated several mini-boss battles to them
Wind Waker, I’m looking at you. Majora’s Mask also has one of these, but Wind Waker’s has more of them and can easily get out of hand if you allow the yellow summoner types to keep summoning. Apparently there is a wizzrobe based boss battle in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, but it is hard to say how many have experienced it given Zelda II is both confusing and rather challenging (for most players).
If you see one, get rid of it before it becomes a nuisance. Arrows are usually the best way to eliminate them.
Wallmasters
Wallmasters are the bane of many a Zelda player’s existence.
Why, Nintendo? Why did you have to plague us with shadowy, disembodied hands that fall from the ceiling (or fly across the room)? If that is not creepy enough, nearly every Zelda player has experienced this:
Nope nope nope nope nope.
And that brings us to the exact reason wallmasters (and floormasters, in Wind Waker) are so disliked: if they manage to pick you up, they will throw you back to the beginning of the dungeon (or at least a few rooms back). Then you have to run through the dungeon to where you were before, possibly having to solve a few puzzles you would rather not have had to solve again.
Something putting a slight dent in your progress irks people no matter the arena.
Fortunately, they can be killed with the sword, if you are careful enough. And in some games, if you get skilled at the process of luring out wallmasters without getting caught (and then later eliminating them), they are a pretty decent source of rupees.
Avoid them or kill them, but that they are there means you need to always be on the lookout and cannot always just rush into an area. If one catches you by surprise, be more careful in that room next time.
Shadow Insects
Shadow insects are minions of Zant, and hold the “tears of light” that form the light spirits of the land of Hyrule.
Yes, I am aware that shadow insects, or twilit parasites, as they are also known, only feature in Twilight Princess. However, I am also aware of the immense amount of annoyance they cause. If you are not using your senses in Link’s wolf form, all you can see when one scurries by is the electric current running through them.
Perhaps they would not be such an irritation if the game did not force you to hunt down 16 insects per province in three different provinces (Faron, Eldin and Lanayru provinces), if you want to continue. That, and they can be incredibly quick and difficult to catch. If that were not enough, Nintendo decided it was necessary to assault our eyes with the mother of all disgusting bugs:
The Twilit Bloat is the last bug in a series of insects you must hunt down and kill for the tears of light.
My mind is forever scarred.
Shadow Beasts
Shadow beasts are people of the Twilight realm, turned by Zant’s foul magic and used as footsoldiers to conquer Hyrule.
Shadow beasts are exclusive to Twilight Princess as well. They tend to show up at the most inconvenient of times, although the little portals they leave behind are useful, once you can transform back and forth between your wolf and human forms.
What makes these creatures aggravating at times is that they come in packs that must all be killed all at once.
Midna is able to counter this with an ability, but the setup of the closed in arena you are trapped in every time you fight the shadow beasts becomes increasingly complicated as the game goes on. If you miss one or two, expect them to emit a horrible shriek and the others to rise from the dead.
Figuring out exactly where you need to stand to kill them all in one attack is trial and error (especially if you are not visually inclined), something that can make a game frustrating.
Redead
Redead are more infamous for their Ocarina of Time incarnation than the Twilight Princess one, pictured above.
Redead. I hate redead. I must ask: who likes them? Their paralytic screams keep you bound to the spot until they can get close enough to either take a bite out of you and drain your life force, or slice you with a sword. Though the Ocarina of Time versions are far more infamous for their habit of getting close and latching onto you with their entire body, I have decided that the Twilight Princess ones are worse. Those redead, which are more like redead-gibdo, have screams that are nightmare fuel. They also hit like trucks.
The creatures might be slow, but unless you have bomb arrows or some other projectile that allow you to keep your distance, you will have to get up close. That is usually when they start screaming and things go downhill. The Sun’s Song is useful in this case, but the stun only lasts for so long.
Being repeatedly paralyzed is no fun.
The whole ordeal tends to lead to frustration and relief, not a feeling of triumph when you finally kill the redead. Most people do not consider redead a challenge (merely a hassle), but if they come in groups of three or more and you get too close they can start to become hazardous to your health.
Peahats
In Wind Waker, peahats are a useful source of golden feathers if you use the grappling hook to steal from them. Otherwise, they are pretty much just there to annoy the heck out of you.
There are a few monsters out there I would pick out as being designed in some Zelda games to merely be an annoyance. The peahat would be one of them. In some games you hardly ever see them unless you approach them, or they cannot attack you. But in The Wind Waker they star prominently, taking it upon themselves to fly into you when they can. This has inevitably caused me to fall into the Great Sea, the abyss, a pit…you name it.
Admittedly, Wind Waker peahats hardly present any challenge whatsoever. They are pretty easy to dismantle with a deku leaf and a sword, or just the hookshot. Sometimes I forget that they are absurdly light and the deku leaf can blow them away, even mid-flight. But they still get in the way when you need to cross a chasm or otherwise are airborne. And that alone makes them qualify.
Like Likes
“Mmm, zora tunic! And…wait. Did I just taste a unique item? That is unacceptable!”
Over time, I have learned that being suspicious of rooms solely dedicated to a treasure chest or random piles of rupees lying around is healthy. Why? The potential for a like like to pop up from under the ground or to fall from the ceiling is high.
And we all know what like likes do best. They have a taste for certain items, namely tunics and shields, and will steal them from you and completely digest them if you are not quick in killing them. Oddly, they do not seem to like unique items, but that would likely present a large issue if the creature consumed the only mirror shield in existence, or for some unfathomable reason is capable of consuming the master sword (unlikely).
Nevertheless, sometimes a like like manages to take your items and digest them.
Often that means you have to teleport out of the dungeon, or wherever you are, and buy them again. This counts doubly for places like the water temple in Ocarina of Time where it is essential that you be able to breathe underwater. Sometimes you do not have the rupees either and have to earn them all back, resulting in a lot of time wasted. Thanks a lot, like likes!
Hookshots can help stun the creatures, but be careful you do not throw yourself right into a like like’s gaping maw that way.
Keese
Keese come in an ever-expanding variety, from the regular ones to the ice keese that make our lives so difficult.
Keese. These bat-like enemies are so simple, dispatched by a single arrow, and yet at times they have me on my wit’s end. Though the normal ones will just fly into you, which is not too bothersome on its own, fire keese will light you on fire, and burn wooden shields. Thunder keese (exclusive to Skyward Sword) will break shields made of metal and electrocute Link if he attempts to attack them with his sword while they are electrically charged. Ice keese have a tendency to repeatedly freeze you if you do not get rid of them. There are one or two other kinds, including a type that can make it temporarily impossible to draw your sword.
Similarly to like likes, many keese will take away your gear or inhibit your movement or defenses.
The keese alone are mere pests. With other enemies around such as stalfos, however, they present a larger threat in that they may get the chance to destroy your shield, making it harder to defend yourself from the more powerful enemies. If you are on a later dungeon chances are you will also have to exit to get a new shield.
In short, keese are annoying because they like to fly into your face, and occasionally knock you off of ledges. Additionally they may force you to backtrack, possibly grind for rupees, and then make your way back through puzzles you have already done.
Freezards
Freezards are mostly isolated to select parts of the games they feature in, such as the Ice Cavern in Ocarina of Time, and Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess.
We have all been in this position. You are slipping and sliding over the floor, collecting silver rupees to open that gate. You get hit by an ice keese and get frozen. While you are frozen, a freezard silently appears and creeps up behind you…and when you thaw out, summarily freezes you again.
Most freezards can move and will freeze you with their icy breath or on touch, though in Twilight Princess there are some stationary freezards that are split into mini freezards with the ball and chain. Still, dealing with them is a pain when you are most likely already slipping and sliding around the floor, and are more likely to slide into them.
They are not like ice keese, where you can just hit them with an arrow and be done with it. The Twilight Princess mini freezards are especially bothersome as if you are standing on the ice they will chase and swarm around you.
Redead, freezards, it does not matter. Constantly being unable to move is an aggravation.
Admittedly, there are strategies to deal with this, but freezards can be hard to avoid, even harder than redead, as there is no Sun’s Song for freezards that pop up unexpectedly. The ones you do see you can hit with fire arrows or the ball and chain.
Beamos
Methods of eliminating beamos have changed from game to game.
Playing a game of hide-and-seek with a rotating pillar may seem silly, but if you do not have the proper equipment to take out a beamos then sometimes it is necessary. Skyward Sword‘s beamos are probably the most challenging to defeat, as unless you have a bow, you have to deal with the motion controls and slash in specific directions to bring the top part of the beamos’ turret down to your level and stab it.
If you are not ready to take down a beamos, then be ready to run away from a laser beam and possibly get trapped in a corner. You could lose the turret’s interest eventually but usually that is not as easy as it sounds.
Ultimately, being chased around by a laser beam (or multiple laser beams if there is more than one beamos in the room) can slow things down. Usually the designers find a way to put beamos in rather inconvenient spots. Once you have bombs or a bow, however, they are generally easy to take care of and should not give you much of a problem.
Honorable Mention: Cuccos
Cuccos are only your enemies…if you make them your enemies.
I could not help including this one. At one time or another, most of us have made the mistake of attacking an innocent, unsuspecting cucco. But then most of us also found out how truly bloodthirsty and merciless the chicken-like creatures are when provoked. They swarm en masse and will never stop. Ever. Well, at least until you go into a building or dungeon, they will not stop.
The feathery fiends are invulnerable and will destroy you if you let them. Why Hylians keep these creatures as pets I will never understand.
There will always be that one foe that makes us cringe
Almost all adventure games have that obnoxious enemy we do not want to have to face, unless all the creatures are simply generic. Zelda games are no exception. The games are still worth playing, even with countless beasts that make it their mission to make your life as the chosen hero tougher than it already is. If you have to, put the game down and come back later with a fresh mind. A little time away from the game will probably make that annoying enemy seem a little less annoying.
References
AuronKaizer. (2009). Wizzrobe (The Wind Waker) [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
AuronKaizer. (2010). Redead (Twilight Princess) [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
AuronKaizer. (2011). Like Like (Majora’s Mask) [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Birdman5589. (2012). Thunder Keese [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Duochrome. (2009). Beamos (Twilight Princess) [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Duochrome. (2009) Shadow Beast [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Duochrome. (2009). Twilit Bloat [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Triforce 14. (2009). Shadow Insect [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Triforce 14. (2009). Wallmaster (Ocarina of Time) [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Triforce 14. (2010). Freezard (Ocarina of Time) [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
[Untitled image from Hyrule Historia]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
[Untitled image of a Wind Waker peahat]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
[Untitled gif of cuccos in Hyrule Warriors]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
[Untitled gif of wallmaster in Ocarina of Time]. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
