General Zelda Backstories to Enemies

[BoxTar]

Hey there all! Thought I'd come out of retirement and ask something I've been wondering about.

The enemies of the Zelda franchise. They are certainly some of the most interesting creatures I have seen in gaming (Silent Hill included, mind you). Their design is one of a kind, their behavior odd, their importance unmatched (in a weird sort of way). But what I wonder about them is this:

Some of the more major enemies, such as Dead Hand, ReDeads, certain bosses, etc, I would LOVE to know more about. So much so that I wish they had their own backstories involved. Now, I'm not saying ALL enemies need backstories. I could give a sh*t about the life of an Octorock. But I would really have loved to hear the legend of Dead Hand while exploring the Bottom of the Well. How did this monster come to be?

My theory behind Dead Hand is he was once the owner of the well or lived near the well. I recall someone saying in Kakariko that a man once lived near the well and possessed "eyes that could see the truth". What if Dead Hand is this very man that had owned the Lens of Truth in the first place, and he lives on forever inside the well? (I know that having a Dead Hand in the Shadow Temple kinda puts a major hole in that theory. I still would like to think that is how he came to be).

So, this isn't meant to focus on Dead Hand. This is meant to be a creative little area where we can discuss the creation, backstories, or possible theories behind enemies/bosses. Or just tell us about an enemy/boss story you liked, such as Volvagia or whatever. Just have fun with it!

 

[Salem]

In all honestly, I'm getting tired of backstories in Zelda games in general.
With that said though, I don't mind if it's only short hints here and there for only a few of the bosses and min-bosses, I don't want full-blown backstories and motivations of these enemies, in some cases implications are better than long explanations, I don't want Zelda to go the Metal Gear route.

It's funny that you brought up Volvagia, OoT in general handled the storied of the Temple bosses really well in my opinion, a short explanation from other characters about these bosses before we enter their dungeon is all we ever needed.

 

[Justac00lguy]

To be honest, I'd love for this sort of thing in an actual game, it's not too much trouble, just give the enemies some kind of origin story, this will just give us a better understanding as well as giving that enemy a feeling of depth.

I've always been interested in the "Blin" race - this mainly refers to enemies that end in "blin", so you have; Bokoblin, Moblin, Miniblin, Bulblin etc. These are seen as standard enemies in the series, in fact I would label them as the key enemies, but yet we barely know nothing of them as a whole. They are usually evil, but to what extent? They seem more menacing than anything else, basically there for the purpose to cause chaos, mischief etc. Not really for the greed or the Triforce.

In Twilight Princess we actually got a better picture, they worked under Zant and his Shadow Beasts, you could say alongside, but since they're inferior I would say they served the higher ups. In fact near the end if the game, after several battles with King Bulblin, he finally surrenders and reveals he only follows the strongest side. Now this statement right here is important, this seems to point out that they aren't independent, but instead they are sheep like.

I see this race as quite unintelligent, apart from specific variants, they are just there for Link to overcome, I would like to think they are of some independence, but they showed that they're not in both Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. So in the future, I would love to get some kind of story of how they were formed, what are there intentions etc.

 

[ihateghirahim]

Yeah, it could make it all more meaningful, but at the same time it could be repetitive and boring. I was just playing FFVI (III for you old gamers), and the enemy encounters are for the most part random. Every boss and enemy, well most, shows up out of nowhere. Each is a more bizzarely designed than the last, and there's neither rhyme nor reason to the designs. Yet, I feel an explanation would slow down the game and make it tedious and boring.

I'm fine with brief or non-existent explanations in game; although pre-order booklets and internal trophies (or something like that) could actually help satiate fan desires and make things more interesting. They could be fun.

 

[NoRush]

I think backstories to Zelda badies would be pretty sweet. They don't have to be long, drawn out stories in all cases, but some like that would be really neat. It would add even more depth and help with timeline theorgy and general knowledge. For instance in LA, we know the dream world is influenced by ALLTP, so the bs to those badies is fairly evident. That alone is an interesting take in that the monsters are reflected in Link's subconscious in certain ways, and that reflection is based off the real thing in ALTTP, but what is the story behind ALTTP's badies?! See? It could go far.

I think giving common enemies such as Octoroks a bs would actually be even more interesting. The bs to a common monster that appears in so many games would definitely have to hold up to a lot of different aspects of the stories of the games themselves.

 

[Salem]

Yeah, it could make it all more meaningful, but at the same time it could be repetitive and boring. I was just playing FFVI (III for you old gamers), and the enemy encounters are for the most part random. Every boss and enemy, well most, shows up out of nowhere. Each is a more bizzarely designed than the last, and there's neither rhyme nor reason to the designs. Yet, I feel an explanation would slow down the game and make it tedious and boring.

I honestly think the randomness of the enemies makes it better, because that makes the game unpredictable.

For instance in LA, we know the dream world is influenced by ALLTP, so the bs to those badies is fairly evident. That alone is an interesting take in that the monsters are reflected in Link's subconscious in certain ways, and that reflection is based off the real thing in ALTTP, but what is the story behind ALTTP's badies?! See? It could go far.

Aha, but them what's the story of Marin and Tarin's appearances? Hyrule histories said they come from the memories of Malon and Talon from OoT, so does that mean Alttp/LA Link and OoT Link are one and the same?

 

[Chiraku]

In response to the Marin/Tarin thing, they're referring to the Malon and Talon that showed up in Oracle of Seasons.
As for enemies with backstories, I think an optional guide at least would be cool. Kind of like scanning in Metroid Prime except it's optional.