Gohma
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with Bosses in The Legend of Zelda series. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2007. |
| It has been suggested that this article be merged with Enemies in The Legend of Zelda series. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2007. |
Gohma is a fictional monster and a recurring boss character in the Legend of Zelda series of video games, where the player fights it as the protagonist, Link. Although Gohma's appearance is different in every game, it is always a giant cyclopic arthropod and its eye is always its weak point. In the non-canon CD-I titles it bore a strong resemblance to an Alaskan King Crab.
Appearances
The Legend of Zelda
In the The Legend of Zelda, the first game of the series, Gohma is a boss creature, appearing as a large, one-eyed arachnid that shoots fireballs at Link. Gohma could be harmed only by shooting arrows at its eye when it opens. Gohma has two variations. One is orange and takes a single shot by a normal arrow to defeat it. The other is the same size and shape, but is blue and takes three shots from a normal arrow to defeat it. Since one rupee is required to shoot an arrow, it is possible that the player could run out of rupees during the battle with Gohma, and if this is the case they must leave the room to collect more. Most other boss battle rooms in this game do not have this feature, the only other being the smoke-hating Dodongo. In the first quest, the red Gohma is the boss of level six and blue Gohma makes an appearance in level eight. In the second Quest, the blue Gohma appears in levels five, six, and seven, and acts as the boss of level six as well.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, multiple Gohmas appeared as a sub-boss in the Catfish's Maw. They would jump back and forth with their eyes closed, and would only be vulnerable to the Hookshot when they were open. They can either lunge forward or diagonally, and when they open their eyes, a projectile will soon follow, but if attacked soon enough the effect is canceled.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Gohma is the very first boss the player battles. In this game she is referred to as Parasitic Armored Arachnid: Queen Gohma, and is a giant spider-like enemy used by Ganondorf to curse the Great Deku Tree in when he was denied the Kokiri Emerald. Link was requested by the Great Deku Tree to rid him of Gohma. While inside, Link found that there were several Deku Scrubs who swore allegiance to the Queen Gohma but they revealed her weakness to him when he defeated them.
Eventually Link reaches Gohma's lair deep inside the Great Deku Tree. The battle does not commence until Link, the player, enters first person view and spots her glowing red eye high on the ceiling. The creature itself manipulates its legs to look like a mutated hand with an eye ball in the center, but upon further inspection one can see it does still in fact have its arachnid appearance. During the battle Link is meant to attack her eye with the Slingshot (or throw Dekunuts in her eye) and the Kokiri sword, since the bow is not yet available.
She will eventually retreat to the ceiling to spawn eggs that drop and, soon after, hatch into Gohma Larvae, small Gohmas that were encountered as enemies earlier in the level. It is possible to shoot Gohma in the eye before she drops any eggs, in which case she crashes to the ground, stunned.
Link battles and destroys, but the Great Deku Tree reveals that Gohma had done too much damage to him already, and soon dies.
Gohma Larva
Gohma Larvae are the offspring of the Queen Gohma. They only have two legs (no arms or additional legs), one eye, and appear to be sprouting something atop of their head. These creatures can be killed with ordinary sword attacks. It is also possible to destroy the eggs with a sword strike before they hatch, although they can still hurt Link if he touches them. They attack by lunging at the player.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, Gohma guards the Dancing Dragon Dungeon as a giant fiddler crab. Link must hack away at its pincer to get a clear shot at Gohma's eye. This version will also summon Gohma Larvae to attack Link.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Gohma serves as the boss of Dragon Roost Cavern in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, where it had been harassing the dragon Valoo, which disturbed the order on Dragon Roost Island. In this game, Gohma appeared more like a cross between a centipede and scorpion with a hard carapace. It appeared that this version of Gohma was a larger and more powerful version of an enemy from that game, namely the Magtail, a species of scorpion/centipede hybrids that resided in lava and also had one eye. Gohma attacks by trying to crush Link with its body, or breathing fire at him. Link fights back by using his Grappling Hook on Valoo's tail, which in turn makes a part of the rocky ceiling fall down on Gohma, crushing some of its carapace and letting Link slash away at its exposed eye. It is later fought again (in black and white) in Ganon's Tower.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures
In the The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures Gohma appears in two variations. The first type is a large, one-eyed arachnid that aimlessly wanders about the fields of Hyrule. The second type also appears as a large, one-eyed arachnid, but it acts as mini-boss that shoots fireballs at Link. Both types of Gohma could be harmed only by shooting arrows at its open eye.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Gohma goes by the name of Twilit Arachnid Armogohma, and appears as a giant spider with an eyeball located in its back. Its name is most likely a mix of "armor" and "Gohma", as it seems the creature is wearing some kind of armor on its main body around its eye. Such an assumption gains strength after the first form of Armogohma is defeated. It is found in the Temple of Time, the sixth dungeon in the game. This version of Gohma is hairy and has eight legs, heavily resembling a huntsman spider or tarantula. Its classic single eye can shoot a fiery laser, and of course, to stun it, Link must shoot the eye with an arrow. To further damage it, the player must fire the Dominion Rod at one of the massive statues in the room; doing so allows Link to make the statue swing its fist onto Armogohma's carapace. Armogohma can also lay dozens of eggs, which hatch to reveal small spider-like enemies, known as Baby Gohma. Upon getting its body destroyed, Armogohma's eyeball reveals itself to be a small spider on its own, and humorously tries to escape along with some of its spawn. It is killed after a single sword strike (or uses of any weapon), and releases the third shard of the Mirror of Twilight. If one of the Dominion Rod-controlled statues is employed in smashing Armoghoma's eye, a brief and humorous sequence takes place in which the entire cluster of spiders is flattened like a pancake.
It is interesting to note that Armogohma's eye resembles Arrgus and Vitreous from A Link to the Past; she uses Arrghas' pattern of surrounding herself with her offspring to defend herself, while her eye resembles Vitreous without the lightning bolt attack.
Young Gohma
Young Gohmas are presumably the offspring of Armogohma, and are common enemies in the Temple of Time. They are roughly human-sized, one-eyed spiders (resembling tarantulas, like their adult counterpart) with four legs. They attack by ramming Link. Link is able to use the Clawshot to drag one to himself.
Baby Gohma
Baby Gohma are the offspring of Armogohma. They are incredibly weak, easily being killed with even the Slingshot. Although they all look the same, they act differently depending on where they are fought. When they are fought as normal enemies, they will run away from Link when he faces them, but will attack him from behind. When Armogohma spawns Baby Gohmas after taking damage, this litter will attack Link aggressively, whether or not he is facing them. The last variation is formed when Armogohma's body is destroyed, leaving only Armogohma's eye. They crowd around their parent, running away from Link with the eye. Interestingly, Baby Gohmas greatly resemble Mitites from Pikmin 2.
TV series
Gohma made at least one minor appearance on the television series adaptation of The Legend of Zelda series. On the TV show, however, Gohma was a large, blue crab-like creature, very similar to the Tektites. Like its other incarnations, its eye was its main weakness. In the episode "Cold Spells" Ganon attempted to feed Zelda and Link to Gohma, which behaved a lot like a tamed pet, but Link managed to trick Ganon into destroying Gohma by dodging a fire attack meant for him and causing it to hit Gohma in the eye, destroying it. In another episode "Stinging a Stinger", Ganon attempted to feed Zelda, Link, and another character named Sleeze Nose to Gohma, but Link and Zelda managed to defeat this one.
Trivia
The creature resembles the Pit Worm from Half-Life:Opposing Force.
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