Gohma

Queen Gohma and her larvae from Ocarina of Time.
Gohma
Type	Crustacean/Arachnid
Debut	The Legend of Zelda

The Gohma is a one-eyed parasitic creature that appears as a recurring boss or mini-boss within the The Legend of Zelda series. It resembles a mix of a crustacean and an arachnid, although which of those creatures it resembles more depends upon the game.

Information

The Gohma is usually shown as a six-legged creature with a single eye. The eye always acts as its weakness and is vulnerable to arrow attacks as well as sword attacks in some cases. They also release young in large amounts during battles in later games, in an attempt to fend off enemies. The crustacean-like Gohma, which was primarily part of classic Zelda games, simply scuttles back and forth around the area, and it sometimes can shoot lasers from its eye. In one incarnation, it even had a crab claw. The arachnid-like Gohma, which is used primarily for the 3-D games, is much more mobile, and it will usually climb along walls and other surfaces.

The Wind Waker featured a very different creature known as Gohma. This Gohma was an armored centipede-like creature that resembled a giant version of the Magtail enemy that was present within the same dungeon, although it still retained its singular eye as its weakness.

Appearances

The Gohma was first shown in The Legend of Zelda as the Dragon Labyrinth's boss, and one later appeared as the miniboss of the Lion Labyrinth. The weaker one was red (and was destroyed by just one arrow) while the stronger one was blue (and could take three arrows), and both could fire beams. A pair of Gohmas appeared together in Link's Awakening as the dual minibosses for Catfish's Maw. They shot beams and also tried to ram into Link, but they were vulnerable to the usual arrows.

In Ocarina of Time, Gohma was the boss of the Deku Tree Dungeon and was the game's first boss. The first arachnid Gohma, its title was Parasitic Armored Arachnid, and it was known as Queen Gohma to the Deku Scrubs serving under it. This Gohma was placed in the Deku Tree as an infection by Ganondorf. Gohma spent much of the battle on the ceiling and also released eggs which hatched into Gohma Larvae. Gohma could be stunned by shooting its eye with the Slingshot when it turned red, and Link could then attack the eye with his sword. Although Link slayed the creature, it had already done enough damage to cause the Deku Tree's death. In Oracle of Seasons, a Gohma appeared as boss of the Dancing Dragon Dungeon. This was the most crustacean-like Gohma to appear yet, complete with crab-like claws. Gohma used its larger claw to intercept projectiles heading for its eye, and it also tried to grab Link and toss him with the claw. The claw could be destroyed through sword attacks, or otherwise Link could sneak in seed from the slingshot whenever the Gohma moved its claw. If its claw was destroyed, Gohma would begin released larvae that would slow Link down.

The Gohma in The Wind Waker was the boss of the Dragon Roost Cavern and was also the game's first boss. Gothma has special bio-armor and lived in lava. It seemed to have been sent to the Dragon Roost Cavern to torture Valoo and keep him busy for Ganondorf. Gohma was able to encase Valoo's tail in a sheet of bedrock to keep him rooted in the volcano so that it could continually attack his tail. Gohma attacked with its claws and could also spit out lava. To beat it, Link had to first swing from Valoo's tail with the grappling hook to loosen the layer of bedrock and make it fall on Gohma's head. This would crack Gohma's armor, and Gohma would quickly replace the slab to keep Valoo trapped. After this happened several times, Gohma's armor was shattered. Link then was able to use the grappling hook on Gohma's eye to reel it in so that he could attack it directly. This eventually led to Gohma's destruction.

The classic version of the Gohma later reappeared in Four Swords Adventures. Three of them appeared within The Fields as enemies who blocked the way forward and could not be beaten until the Links found bows to battle them with, and two more appeared at the Lost Woods. Single, fireball-spitting Gohmas also acted as minibosses for the Lost Woods, the Desert Temple and the Palace of the Winds (which had three of them). There were also two normal Gohmas in the Tower of the Winds during Link and Zelda's escape at the end of the game.

More arachnid Gohmas appeared within Twilight Princess in the Temple of Time, including two variations on the larval form. Baby Gohmas appeared throughout the temple as common enemies and attacked in swarms, although they could be individually be defeated with ease. There were also slightly more mature and competent Young Gohmas. The boss was Armogohma, which resembled a large armored tarantula and had four normal eyes, in addition to one large eye on its back. That body was actually a shell, with the giant eye actually being a smaller spider-like Gohma creature. When Link fought the Armogohma, he had to harm it by shooting the eye and by using the Dominion Rod to make statues attack it. After its larger body was destroyed, the eye body revealed itself and tried to escape. This form could be defeated swiftly and was then crushed by one of the statues.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Hyrule Warriors, it appeared as a giant boss in Legend Mode and Adventure Mode. It could block most attacks with its thick front claws and could attack with laser blasts as well as claw attacks. To fight it, an arrow has to be shot into its eye while it is charging an attack or directly after firing a laser, which could flip it over and leave it temporarily vulnerable to attack. In Legend mode, it was battled in the scenarios "The Sorceress of the Woods", "Ganondorf's Return" and "Darkness Falls".
• In Cadence of Hyrule, a music-themed version of Gohma, known as Gohmaracas, appeared as the boss of the Lost Swamp. It resembled the classic version of Gohma but wielding a giant pair of maracas. Its attacks included hopping around, firing a laser from its eye and producing young Gohmas to attack for it.