Shadow Nightmares

Shadow Nightmares

Games	Link's Awakening
Dungeons	Wind Fish's Egg
Rewards	The awakening of the Wind Fish
Attacks	Giant Bot GB/DX: Contact Switch: Contact Agahnim Contact Ball Moldorm Contact Ganon Contact Fire Keese Trident Throw Lanmola Contact DethI GB/DX: Contact Switch: Contact
Effective Weapons	Giant Bot Magic Powder - 3 hits Moldorm GB/DX: Sword - 16 hits Koholint Sword - 8 hits Switch: Sword - 8 hits Koholint Sword - 4 hits Ganon GB/DX: Sword Spin Attack - 12 hits Koholint Sword Spin Attack - 6 hits Pegasus Boots - 6 hits Switch: Sword Spin Attack - 5 hits Koholint Sword Spin Attack - 4 hits Pegasus Boots + Sword - 5 hits Pegasus Boots + Koholint Sword - 4 hits Lanmola GB/DX: All weapons except Magic Powder - 1 hit Switch: Spin Attack - 4 hits Bow or Bombs - 4 hits Boomerang or Magic Rod - 8 hits DethI GB/DX: Bow - 16 hits Boomerang - 1 hit Switch: Bow - 10 hits Boomerang or Magic Rod - 20 hits

"We were born of nightmares... To take over this world, we made the Wind Fish sleep endlessly! If the Wind Fish doesn't wake up, this island will never disappear! We would have been the masters of this place... But you had to come here and disrupt our plans! Heh heh! You can never defeat us!!! Let's rumble!"

— The Shadow Nightmares

The Shadow Nightmares are the collective final boss forms in Link's Awakening. The final Nightmare is a collection of multiple Nightmares which takes on six forms known as Shadows that Link has previously fought in his adventures around Hyrule and Koholint Island. The Nightmares are the primary antagonist on the island of Koholint in the Wind Fish's dream who are responsible for the Wind Fish's forced, continued slumber.

Wind Fish's Egg

After defeating each of the eight Nightmares and receiving the Eight Instruments of the Sirens, Link can finally enter the Wind Fish's Egg located on Mt. Tamaranch by playing the Ballad of the Wind Fish with the Ocarina and the Instruments of the Sirens. After navigating through the maze-like area and falling down a hole at the end of the maze, Link encounters the Shadow Nightmares.

The Six Shadows

Giant Gel

Also known as Giant Zol and Shadow Bot, the Giant Gel is the first shadow Link must fight. Like the name describes, it is a giant Gel, a common enemy encountered previously in Link's adventures through Hyrule, Koholint Island, and other lands. Like any Gel, it bounces after Link while trying to harm him. In the original game and the DX version, contact with the Giant Gel will harm Link with only half a heart. In the Switch version, it will instead deal a full heart of damage. Occasionally, it disappears into the ground only to appear elsewhere. Unlike Gels, though, the Giant Gel cannot be harmed with Link's sword as striking it will simply cause it to shatter and reappear elsewhere. Sprinkling the Magic Powder on it whenever the opportunity arises will harm the shadow. When sprinkled with Magic Powder three times, the shadow transforms into its next shadow.

Agahnim's Shadow

Agahnim's Shadow resembles the evil wizard and one of the main antagonists from A Link to the Past, Agahnim. This shadow can attack with two different projectiles. One is a large ball of magic while the other projectile is an X-shaped blast of magic that cannot be reflected and can only be dodged. If Link tries to reflect this blast of magic, this will cause it to damage him and then scatter, splitting into smaller bolts of magic traveling around the room. Both of these types of magic can inflict one heart of damage to Link. While it is typically random which type of magic it uses, the first orb will always be the attack that can be reflected.

Unlike Agahnim, Agahnim's Shadow doesn't use other attacks such as lightning or summon clones of itself against Link. In order to defeat Agahnim's Shadow, Link must use the same method to defeat the true Agahnim, a game of Dead Man's Volley, by reflecting its own magic back at it with the sword. After being hit four times by its own magic, Agahnim's Shadow will spin around, similar to Agahnim being defeated in A Link to the Past, at the same spot and break apart before transforming into its next form.

A strange way to fight Agahnim's Shadow is to use the Shovel to deflect the balls of magic, similar to how Link could use the Bug Net to deflect Agahnim's balls of magic in A Link to the Past.

Moldorm's Shadow

Moldorm's Shadow is the third shadow that resembles Moldorm, the first boss fought in Tail Cave from Link's Awakening. While the technique and attack strategy of the two are the same, the hazardous pits that had surrounded the arena in the first battle are now gone, and it takes Link more hits from his sword to defeat Moldorm's Shadow. Like most of the Shadows, it inflicts one heart of damage upon contact with Link. Similar to the Nightmare's first battle, it can only be damaged by using the sword to hit the tail of Moldorm's Shadow. Another way for Link to defeat Moldorm's Shadow easier is while the Shadow Nightmares are transforming from Agahnim to Moldorm, Link can quickly attack it, which can make the Moldorm remain in place. This will cause the head of Moldorm's Shadow to be the only successful body part to form, letting Link be able to easily defeat Moldorm. After Link has defeated Moldorm's Shadow, it will transform into its fourth shadow.

Shadow of Ganon

The Shadow of Ganon resembles the main villain of the The Legend of Zelda series, Ganon, while taking the appearance of him from A Link to the Past. Being similar to the first phase of Ganon in A Link to the Past, it attacks by twirling its Trident to summon a flurry of Blazing Bats in Link's direction to aid him as he moves across the room. After summoning the Blazing Bats, the Shadow of Ganon will throw its trident at Link. Link will take one heart of damage from all of its attacks. In order for Link to defeat the Shadow of Ganon, he should either equip his Pegasus Boots and charge at it with his sword or avoid its attacks and use the Spin Attack. Once Link has defeated the Shadow of Ganon, it will transform into Lanmola.

Lanmola

Unlike the Lanmolas encountered in A Link to the Past and the Desert Lanmola in Link's Awakening, this Lanmola, also referred to as Lanmola's Shadow, doesn't have distinctions/relations with them. Seemingly appearing as the Shadow Nightmares' collective form that Link catches a glimpse of in between each form, Lanmola serves as a last ditch attempt to defeat Link. While moving around the room, Lanmola leaves trails of itself behind it. While its only attack is to come into contact with Link, it moves quickly around the room taking one heart of damage to Link every time it comes in contact with him. Lanmola is invulnerable to Link's regular sword attacks, but unlike previous forms, Lanmola can be defeated with most of Link's items including the Magic Rod, a Spin Attack, the Hookshot, a Bomb, the Pegasus Boots, or the Boomerang. In the original game and the DX version, only a single strike is needed. In the Switch remake, each weapon does a different amount of damage. The Boomerang is the most interesting, as it not only damages Lanmola but also temporarily stuns it, making it incredibly easy to get hits in.

Once it is defeated, Lanmola stops its movement and transforms into the Shadows Nightmares' final, deadly form.

DethI

Nightmare's final form is that of an original design consisting of two long, muscular arms, and a central eye, which is his only weak point. He proceeds this battle by swinging his arms about the stage, which take out one and a half hearts if hit in the original and DX, one heart if hit in the Switch remake. This can easily be avoided though by using the Roc's Feather and jumping over them when the time is right. The only way to damage this form is to wait for Nightmare to open his eye, which can then be damaged by using the Bow. In the original and DX, it takes a healthy 16 arrows to bring down this beast If the Boomerang is acquired, however, it can be defeated in only one hit. In the Switch remake, the Bow, Magic Rod, and Boomerang all work. It takes 10 arrows to defeat it or 20 hits of the Magic Rod or Boomerang.

Awakening the Wind Fish

Once Link has defeated The Shadow Nightmares, a stairway appears that leads to the sky. Here Link meets with the Owl once again who explains to him that he is an essence of the Wind Fish's spirit. Link will be led up to the now awakened Wind Fish, who explains that the world of Koholint Island and all of its people are nothing more than a dream. After this, Koholint Island vanishes, where Link finds himself awake in the middle of the sea on a piece of his wrecked ship. As he continues to wake up, he looks up at the sky to see the Wind Fish flying above him, with Koholint only a part of his memories now.

Gallery

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  Official artwork of DethI

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  In-between form sprite from the DX version

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  The Giant Bot form in the Switch version

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  The Agahnim form in the Switch version

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  The Moldorm form in the Switch version

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  The Moldorm form extended in the Switch version

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  The Ganon form in the Switch version

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  The Lanmola form in the Switch version

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  The DethI form with its eye open in the Switch version

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  The DethI form with its eye closed in the Switch version

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  Fighting DethI

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  Defeating DethI

References

1. ↑ "The Shadow Nightmares" — Link's Awakening Nintendo Player's Guide, pg.103
2. ↑ "The Shadow Nightmares" — Nintendo Power Volume 116 (January 1999), pg. 104
3. ↑ "During Link's final battle in Koholint Island's Wind Fish Egg, he faced a series of dark guardians. The fist of these monsters was Shadow Bot, a massive blob of evil which wildly bounced around the room." — The Great Hyrule Encyclopedia, Shadow Bot
4. ↑ "The Giant Gel is the easiest of the six Shadows to defeat." — Link's Awakening Nintendo Player's Guide, pg.84
5. ↑ "Agahnim's Shadow can be defeated by hitting his fireball shots back at him like a tennis ball." — Link's Awakening Nintendo Player's Guide, pg.84
6. ↑ "Hit the Moldorm's Shadow in the tail." — Link's Awakening Nintendo Player's Guide, pg.103
7. ↑ "The Shadow of Ganon will remind heroes of their final battle in A Link to the Past." — Link's Awakening Nintendo Player's Guide, pg.84
8. ↑ "The Lanmola looks menacing, but it can't take the heat of the battle, especially if you attack it with the Magic Rod." — Link's Awakening Nintendo Player's Guide, pg.84
9. ↑ "During Link's final battle in Koholint Island's Wind Fish Egg, he faced a series of dark guardians which were shadows of his former foes. The fifth of these creatures to appear was Lanmola's Shadow, which Link defeated by attacking it with the Magic Rod." — The Great Hyrule Encyclopedia, Lanmola's Shadow
10. ↑ "Hoot! Young lad, I mean... Link , the hero! You have defeated the Nightmares! You have proven your wisdom, courage and power! ... ... ... ... As part of the Wind Fish's spirit, I am the guardian of his dream world... But one day, the Nightmares entered the dream and began wreaking havoc. Then you, Link , came to rescue the island... I have always trusted in your courage to turn back the Night- mares. Thank you, Link ... My work is done... The Wind Fish will wake soon. Good bye...Hoot!" — Owl, Link's Awakening.
11. ↑ " ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I AM THE WIND FISH... LONG HAS BEEN MY SLUMBER... IN MY DREAMS... AN EGG APPEARED AND WAS SURROUNDED BY AN ISLAND, WITH PEOPLE, ANIMALS, AN ENTIRE WORLD! ... ... ... ... BUT, VERILY, IT BE THE NATURE OF DREAMS TO END! WHEN I DOST AWAKEN, KOHOLINT WILL BE GONE... ONLY THE MEMORY OF THIS DREAM LAND WILL EXIST IN THE WAKING WORLD... SOMEDAY, THOU MAY RECALL THIS ISLAND... THAT MEMORY MUST BE THE REAL DREAM WORLD... ... ... ... ... COME, Link ... LET US AWAKEN... TOGETHER!!" — Wind Fish, Link's Awakening.