Daily Debate: Which of These Armored Foes Should Return in Zelda U?

Encountering armored foes on your journey is quite the challenge. But nonetheless, it’s always so much fun, and you just can’t seem to get enough of them. Over the course of the Zelda franchise, we’ve encountered the Darknuts, Iron Knuckles and even the Phantoms. We already can speculate that there is likely to be an enemy that shares a common quality these three seem to have- heavy armor and hard-hitting attacks.

Firstly, we have the Darknuts. The very first armored foe encountered on the first Zelda game. Darknuts take on different forms, much like the Phantoms from Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks do. In The Legend of Zelda for the NES, we encounter a basic Blue and Red variation. In Twilight Princess for GameCube and Wii, we encounter two types as well, however the one pictured to the left is exclusively encountered in the Temple of Time and a more bulky variant in areas across the overworld.

In Wind Waker, for GameCube and Wii U, we encounter multiple variations which give us some insight into what could possibly be a ranking system.

The next armored foe we look at is the Iron Knuckle. This enemy first appeared in Oracle of Seasons as the main antagonist, Onox, but was not present as a standard enemy until Ocarina of Time where they appeared in the Spirit Temple as a mini-boss.

Though this was not the end of them, they made a minor appearance in Majora’s Mask and can be found in the Ikana region of the overworld. Iron Knuckles are slow, as other heavily armored enemies are, but their lack of speed compensates for their insanely powerful attack. One swipe with their battle ax will knock three hearts off. And if you’re unfortunate enough to get hammered by the vertical attack, then you lose a whopping six hearts. As for their defense, they can sponge most of Link’s attacks for a while. Like Darknuts from Twilight Princess and onward, the more damage you land on an Iron Knuckle, means the less armor it will be left with and the faster it will become. Be wary of this.

Our final enemy we’re looking at in this article is the infamous Phantom. These enigmatic foes first debuted in Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo DS handheld. In Phantom Hourglass, Phantoms are portrayed as heavily armored beings who endlessly stalk the corridors of the Temple of the Ocean King, and will drain the Life Force of their victims, if caught. In Phantom Hourglass they come to us in three variations. A standard Phantom who walks at a decent rate and runs somewhat slowly, donning blue armor and a broadsword. A Phantom clad in red armor who can speed walk and run almost as fast as Link himself, who holds a Long-sword. And a phantom clad in golden armor who walks extremely slow, cannot run and wields a sickle. This variation is especially interesting since its ability to warp across the room compensates for it’s slow movement.

In Spirit Tracks, also for the Nintendo DS, they make a brand new return and they are integrated into the story way more than their Phantom Hourglass counterparts. The variations of these phantoms come in four types, each holding a special skill. They are encountered in the Tower of Spirits. The first one you encounter is a very basic variation that wears gray armor. It can run and walk at a decent rate. The second variation only appears in darker rooms of the Tower. These phantoms wear red armor and wield a sword engulfed in fire, they are known as Torch Phantoms. The Third variant wears Blue armor and has a standard sized sword, they can warp across the map, like their precursor counterparts can.These are known as the Warp Phantoms.

The final Phantom variant we encounter is the Wrecker Phantom, which is clad in black armor and only attacks link by curling into a ball, and attempting to crush him. This variant sometimes will use it’s sword to attack Link, should he come very close, but it is a very rare occurrence.

While each of the three types of armored foes showed above have the common goal for stopping Link, they do have their major differences and reasons for attacking. The Darknuts appear in many places and protect areas within dungeons that have high importance. The Iron Knuckles serve a similar purpose, though they only make very minor appearances in areas such as the Spirit Temple, Ganon’s Tower, and a secret area within Ikana Castle. As for the Phantoms, they try to kill Link to protect the Temple of the Ocean King or because of evil corruption, as mentioned in Spirit Tracks.

Which of these foes do you believe would make it into Zelda U? Let us know in the comments!