Discussion #004: Is Gohma Actually a Spider?

[GreenGyser]

Be advised that the following article contains unconfirmed, fan-made theories or speculation. I know this is a very strange article subject, but Gohma looks like a spider in all Zelda games, apart from Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker. I have little evidence of why this happens, but let's begin...

Gohma is one of the most reoccurring boss fights in Zelda history. In the original Legend of Zelda, Gohma was just a typical six-legged giant spider, with its weakness which is it's eye. It was exactly the same in Link's Awakening, a giant spider. But when Ocarina of Time finally released, Gohma was the very first boss, and she wasn't a spider.

In Ocarina of Time, her back story was that Ganondorf cursed the Great Deku Tree with Gohma so Link couldn't get the Kokiri Emerald. When finally finishing the first dungeon, you confront her with her one massive eyeball. Okay, she does have the eyeball and she does have the six legs but that doesn't make her a spider.

First off she walks around on two legs, I mean what kind of spider does that?! Also, the shape of her body doesn't resemble a spider whatsoever. Her colour (color) is slightly off too, random bits of her are bright glowing bluey-green and the rest of her is black. Away from her herself, the room she's in is covered with spider webs, which defies what she actually looks like. Furthermore, her larva look absolutely nothing like a spider at all!

Okay, let's actually look at the fact here. Parasitic Armored Arachnid: Queen Gohma, that's her full boss name. The word "parasitic" may mean that she's been altered with by Ganondorf or something. Just like the Parasite Queen from Metroid Prime, she was genetically enhanced by something, but something as technical as that couldn't happen in a Zelda game. If it is true though, then it explains why she looks so different.

"Armored" sounds like the Gohma from Twilight Princess, Armogohma, which is a mixture of an Armos statue ans Gohma. At least that boss actually looked like a spider. But that means that Gohma must have armor plating on her, but it's not visible. "Arachnid" is the most important thing here though, that means that Gohma is a spider, well, it's meant to be a spider. Even with the Nintendo 64's graphical limitations they could have at least make it slightly resemble a spider.

"Queen" is quite an odd one, Gohma was never a queen in any other Zelda games she's been in. I have no clue why Gohma is a queen in Ocarina of Time, she's certainly not treated like a queen! (Exception of the Deku Scrubs) "Gohma", back to the beginning again. Gohma not being a spider in Ocarina of Time can be argued with, because there's evidence of her actually being a spider and reasons why she doesn't look like one. But, the Gohma from Wind Waker cannot be argued with, it's the most bizarre change I've ever seen in a Zelda boss fight.

Gohma appeared again in Oracle of Seasons, going back to its original look. Then came along Wind Waker with its first boss fight, Gohma. Gohma? Gohma you say?! This isn't Gohma! The so called "Gohma" of Wind Waker is a gigantic, skeletal, magma filled, centipede thing! The only resemblance to Gohma this thing has is it's one eye! It looks more like Volvagia than Gohma!

"It" was placed there by Ganondorf just like she was in Ocarina of Time, but this time in a giant pool of magma underneath a fat-*** dragon with its tail dangling from the ceiling. There is no evidence on why Gohma looks like this. To the present day, Gohma has been appearing in lots of Zelda games, as a spider. In future Zelda games, let's hope she'll stay as a spider.

In conclusion, there's no reason why the Wind Waker Gohma had to change but the Ocarina of Time Gohma can be argued with. Put what you think below! Have a nice day!

- GreenGyser :chu:

 

[TwilightDeku]

In the original Legend of Zelda, Gohma was not a spider. According to the official Nintendo manual, she was a crab o_0. I think that Gohma is just a reoccurring multi-legged monster. I wonder if Gohma means something in another language...

 

[GreenGyser]

In the original Legend of Zelda, Gohma was not a spider. According to the official Nintendo manual, she was a crab o_0. I think that Gohma is just a reoccurring multi-legged monster. I wonder if Gohma means something in another language...

In the manga and the animated series she was considered a crab yes, and I'll try and find out what it means :-)

 

[GreenGyser]

This isn't what parasitic means at all. Parasitic implies Gohma is a parasite herself and the literal definition of parasite is "An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.". This word doesn't strike me as part of her title, rather more like an explanation of what she is. An organism taking advantage of another by dwelling inside it.


Arachnid does not necessarily mean spider. It is merely a group of organisms that a spider falls into. Things like scorpions fall under this catagory as well, hence why WW Gohma isn't that far out from OoT Gohma.

I really don't see the point of this theory thread to be completely honest. Are you trying to assert that Gohma isn't a spider? Or that Gohma is a spider and shouldn't be? Or am I missing something here... I can't actually see a theory.

The theory is, "Is Gohma Actually a Spider?"

 

[dur.i.am]

"Queen" is quite an odd one, Gohma was never a queen in any other Zelda games she's been in. I have no clue why Gohma is a queen in Ocarina of Time, she's certainly not treated like a queen! (Exception of the Deku Scrubs) "Gohma", back to the beginning again. Gohma not being a spider in Ocarina of Time can be argued with, because there's evidence of her actually being a spider and reasons why she doesn't look like one. But, the Gohma from Wind Waker cannot be argued with, it's the most bizarre change I've ever seen in a Zelda boss fight.

In the Alien series, we eventually find out that there is a Queen Alien who is producing the eggs within which are the Facehuggers. Eventually these hatch from the eggs and latch onto their victim, laying another egg inside of the victim. This egg then hatches and the Alien is born. It is in this sense that the Queen Alien is actually a Queen, as she is technically the mother of all of the Aliens.

In real life, the Queen Bee is the mother of all of the bees in her hive. So applying both of these examples to the Queen Gohma, I can only conclude that it is given the title of "Queen" as it is the mother of all the Gohma Larva inside of the Great Deku Tree.

 

[Gannon]

Maybe Nintendo just likes to reuse the name for the boss that mainly resembles an insect or bug.

 

[Cfrock]

The theory is, "Is Gohma Actually a Spider?"

Well that's just a question, not a theory.

TheBlueReptile said it all really. "Parasitic" doesn't mean Gohma was altered by magic or whatever. It just means Gohma is a parasite.
The term "arachnid" doesn't necessarily mean spider either, it's a term applied to any animal with 8 legs. I think Nintendo are kinda loose with the literal definition of the word in Zelda games and just use 'arachnid' to describe monsters with lots of legs.

As Durion explains, the Queen Gohma in Ocarina of Time lays lots of eggs containing the Gohma Larvae. In the insect world, a Queen is generally the insect that gives birth to the rest in a given group. Durion used the example of a Queen Bee, but this is also true of ants and other insects, like termites.

Gohma is just a name that gets applied to the bosses which are arthropods. Rather than look at the differences, look at the similarities. Each Gohma has a segmented body, jointed appendgaes and an exoskeleton. Although Gohmas have been spiders, crabs and Wind Waker's more centipede like Gohma, they are all still examples of arthropods. Hell, Skyward Sword's Moldarach could have been called Gohma.

So to answer the specific thread question, "Is Gohma actually a spider?" the answer is, while the Twilight Princess Gohma is a spider, it's more accurate to describe it as an arthropod, as this more closely associates it with the other Gohmas throughout the series.

 

[Vanessa28]

In the Alien series, we eventually find out that there is a Queen Alien who is producing the eggs within which are the Facehuggers. Eventually these hatch from the eggs and latch onto their victim, laying another egg inside of the victim. This egg then hatches and the Alien is born. It is in this sense that the Queen Alien is actually a Queen, as she is technically the mother of all of the Aliens.

In real life, the Queen Bee is the mother of all of the bees in her hive. So applying both of these examples to the Queen Gohma, I can only conclude that it is given the title of "Queen" as it is the mother of all the Gohma Larva inside of the Great Deku Tree.

That is what I think too. She definitely is the mother of the larves living inside the Deku Tree. I don't think she is a Spider. I rather think she is a being who takes the shape of something between a Spider and a crab since she is an "alien queen". At least to me she doesn't look like a spider at all but because living inside the tree made her change her appearance and adjust it according to her environment so she can move and hide and walk on the ceiling. Maybe she used a spider as the host and because the tree is cursed the original spider was cursed too and Ghoma appeared.

 

[SuperMetroid]

The theory is, "Is Gohma Actually a Spider?"

So... does that mean that I always thought Gohma was a spider?

 

[GreenGyser]

So... does that mean that I always thought Gohma was a spider?

Well arachnid is more commonly know for specifically meaning spider, even though it means eight-legged bugs in general. Perhaps I could have put "Is Gohma Actually an Arachnid" as the title, but doesn't that sound a little bit weird?

In the Alien series, we eventually find out that there is a Queen Alien who is producing the eggs within which are the Facehuggers. Eventually these hatch from the eggs and latch onto their victim, laying another egg inside of the victim. This egg then hatches and the Alien is born. It is in this sense that the Queen Alien is actually a Queen, as she is technically the mother of all of the Aliens.

In real life, the Queen Bee is the mother of all of the bees in her hive. So applying both of these examples to the Queen Gohma, I can only conclude that it is given the title of "Queen" as it is the mother of all the Gohma Larva inside of the Great Deku Tree.

I agree, that's very clever the way you've explained that.

Arachnid does not necessarily mean spider. It is merely a group of organisms that a spider falls into. Things like scorpions fall under this catagory as well, hence why WW Gohma isn't that far out from OoT Gohma.

I do agree with you, for example, the Skyward Sword boss Moldarach is a scorpion. That has 'arach' in its name.

 

[TrueChaos]

In OoT she was an arachnid, all spiders are arachnids but not all arachnids are spiders so no. seems to be more like a centipede in WW. definitely a spider in TP

 

[felipe970421]

I have always seen gohma as an insectoid/arthropod species whose defining trait is an eye acts as neural center, for less fancytalk, they are bugs with a brain in the eye

Every Gohma and also Moldarach (etimology: Mold-Usually used with long tailed monsters and Arach-Arachnid) falls nicely into this , the neural center thing occured while battling Moldarch, I found it weird that the eye is riculously weak and yes so important, I figured it simply doubled as brain, even Armogohma supports it when you are revealed that her real form is a tiny spider with a huge eye, which somehow controls the rest of the body, I find it plausible to think it, regardig them being "spiders", not really.

Just occured to me, based on my definition Morpheel is easily a Gohma, but I'd rather see it as an evolution of Morpha

 

[anuraag]

IMO they r all just different forms or maybe even just different creatures

 

[thejohtoboy]

Well I have a theory, in OOT it does say Armored Parastic Arachnid Queen Gohma, and that word spawned of the original greek word arachne and that made up spider.

 

[SNOlink]

First off she walks around on two legs, I mean what kind of spider does that?! Also, the shape of her body doesn't resemble a spider whatsoever. Her colour (color) is slightly off too, random bits of her are bright glowing bluey-green and the rest of her is black. Away from her herself, the room she's in is covered with spider webs, which defies what she actually looks like. Furthermore, her larva look absolutely nothing like a spider at all!

Coloration does not make Gohma any more or less of a spider. Now, given that even in the original Zelda game, Gohma only had six legs, she is then not a spider because all spiders are arachnids and all arachnids have eight legs.

"Armored" sounds like the Gohma from Twilight Princess, Armogohma, which is a mixture of an Armos statue ans Gohma. At least that boss actually looked like a spider. But that means that Gohma must have armor plating on her, but it's not visible. "Arachnid" is the most important thing here though, that means that Gohma is a spider, well, it's meant to be a spider. Even with the Nintendo 64's graphical limitations they could have at least make it slightly resemble a spider.

Well, given that her only weakness is her eye, there is armor around the rest of her body. That blueish, greenish, black stuff could very well be armor.

"Queen" is quite an odd one, Gohma was never a queen in any other Zelda games she's been in. I have no clue why Gohma is a queen in Ocarina of Time, she's certainly not treated like a queen!

Okay, let's think about this as a usual bug relationship. The queen of a hive (like a bee hive) usually is the only female in the group and controls the rest of the hive. Gohma is the only female in the Great Deku Tree and she seems to control the rest of the Gohma larvae and the Deku Scrubs which just have the inconvenience of her being around and under her control.

The so called "Gohma" of Wind Waker is a gigantic, skeletal, magma filled, centipede thing! The only resemblance to Gohma this thing has is it's one eye! It looks more like Volvagia than Gohma!

They could be related in an ancestrial or evolutionary sort of way. I actually think that Moldarach from SS is an ancestor of both of the Gohmas.

In future Zelda games, let's hope she'll stay as a spider.

...I don't really see why this needs to be. The Zelda enemies don't need to stay the same. In the original Zelda, Moblins used to be dog-like creatures. Then they became a strange mix of a beaver and a dog in OoT, in WW, they were more like pigs, and in SS they were more like fat Bokoblins. I see no reason why they should keep Gohma the same.