Zelda Creature Nomenclature and Terminology

Have you ever wondered why so many Zelda bosses and enemies have similar prefixes or suffixes? Think about it, we’ve got a Moblin, Bokoblin, Miniblin, Bulblin, and the newest addition from Spirit Tracks, a Big Blin. Why are they always referred to as ‘Blin’? What the heck is a Blin anyway? It would seem to be based off enemies that could be classified as goblins. I personally don’t see what is so goblin like in a bulblin.

There are a ton of these terms that repeat themselves in the Zelda series. Prefixes such as Deku- and Boko-, or suffixes such as -Fos or -Baba. Ben Gelina of the Edmonton Journal has put together part six of his Legends and Myths of Zelda series, and this one is focused specifically around the creature nomenclature and terminology.

I personally really enjoy the little connections amongst the enemy names. It makes me think of them as part of a distant family in a way. As if they were part of the same evolutionary chain of species where they have some rather similar traits, but differ slightly. Especially how in Spirit Tracks, there were loads of miniblin, but they are also accompanied by a big blin. Additionally, the Forest Temple within Twilight Princess has numerous enemies that had the ‘Deku’ attached to the beginning of its name. At times Nintendo has gotten a bit creative by offering enemies such as Mad Scrubs and Business Scrubs, which in turns are indirect relatives to Deku Scrubs.

The addition of the big blin in Spirit Tracks was nice and I’m interesting in a continuation of this trend in the future, with ever new Zelda title adding a new, yet familiar name to the long list of enemies.