6 Legend of Zelda enemies we want to see return most in a future game

One of the most important elements of a successful video game is its enemies and as one of the longest-running and successful video game series of all-time, The Legend of Zelda has its fair share of well-designed, challenging and impressive ones.

While recurring enemies such as the sword-wielding skeletal Stalfos, the dogpig-faced Moblins and Link’s arch-nemesis, the dark sorcerer Ganondorf are sure bets to appear in a Zelda game because of how iconic they’ve become over the years, some enemies haven’t been seen in quite some time or nearly enough.

The following is a list of Legend of Zelda enemies we want to see return in a future game.

Horsehead

When you think of horseheaded humanoids, comedic characters like Bojack Horseman or Fabio Sparklemane from Fortnite might instantly canter to mind.

While that’s certainly nothing wrong with that, for me, horseheaded humanoids foment a very different emotion: dread. And that’s all thanks to Horsehead, the first boss from 1987’s Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

The most obvious explanation for why Horsehead evoked such terror in six-year-old me is that Zelda II was a difficult game (and a vast departure gameplay-wise from the original Zelda) and he was a heavily-armored knight with a horse’s head wielding a giant, spiked mace that could knock Link all the way across the screen.

There was also the enigmatic question of why; why was there a single horseheaded knight guarding Parapa Palace? And why are there no other instances of a horseheaded knight enemy in Zelda history other than Horsehead?

The only information there is on Horsehead, or Mazura as he’s referred to in the Japanese version of the game is that he was “created from a horse by the King of Hyrule.” (The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia)

That might have been a good enough explanation back in 1987, but now that it’s nearly 40 years later, we think it’s time to bring Horsehead back.

Perhaps we learn that the King of Hyrule was lying and that Horsehead was actually a former human knight cursed to bear an equine head? Or maybe Ganon’s dark magic might have had something to do with it? Or maybe we learn there’s a secret society of horseheaded people somewhere in Hyrule?

Whatever the case, Horsehead is one of those Legend of Zelda enemies we most want to see return in a future game.

River Zora

If you’re an old school fan of Legend of Zelda who hasn’t played since the Link to the Past days on the SNES, then you might remember the Zoras looking like this:

Reptilian, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Gorgon-like swamp monsters who popped their heads out of lakes and spit fireballs at you.

If you played from Ocarina of Time and thereafter though, the Zoras looked more mermaid-majestic, friendlier and far more human like this:

Or this:

So why is there such a glaring discrepancy between two characters that bear the name Zora in the Zelda mythos?

As far as we can tell, the former, more reptilian-looking Zora are River Zora. The more elegant-humanoid ones are the Ocean Zora. The one game in the Zelda series which accentuates this variance is 2001’s Oracle of the Ages, where both forms of the Zora can be seen side-by-side.

A Sea Zora even says in haughty fashion, “Don’t think us noble Sea Zoras the same as those savage, vulgar River Zoras!”

So what gives? Are the River Zoras and Sea Zoras simply members of the same species that exhibit drastic differences because of years and years of selective breeding and/or environmental influences? Is it a case of divergent evolution? Or maybe some sort of industrial pollution in Hyrule that altered the River Zoras’ physical constitution?

It’s time we brought back the River Zora as an enemy in Legend of Zelda to further shed some light on the matter and further explored the schism between the two Zora tribes.

At the very least, let’s bring back King Zora, a seemingly benign River Zora who sold Link a pair of Flippers in A Link to the Past and hear his side of the story.

Aquamentus

Speaking of aquatic-based races/enemies in Zelda lore… Aquamentus isn’t actually one of them.

As far as we’ve seen thus far, he’s just a terrestrial dragon with a horn.

But with a name as intriguing and distinctly etymological as Aquamentus, why not retcon him into having some sort of affiliation with water, as the aqua in its name suggests?

Perhaps Aquamentus could be some sort of river deity to the River Zora in the same manner that Jabu Jabu is a deity to the Ocean Zora?

As one of the most storied Legend of Zelda enemies ever – it’s the first boss ever in the series, serving as the Level 1 boss in The Legend of Zelda – Aquamentus, the unicorn dragon deserves some love and is one of the Legend of Zelda enemies we most want to see return in a future game.

Plus, seeing Gleeok return in 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom makes us all the more desirous of seeing Aquamentus in 3D.

Goriya

Don’t get us wrong, Wolfos and Moblins are excellent animal humanoid Legend of Zelda enemies and some of our favorites in the series – but they’re not boomerang-flinging mice-canids.

And we want to fight boomerang-flinging mice-canids in full 3D. Bring back Goriya.

ReDead

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a ReDead, the Hyrulian zombie in a Legend of Zelda game – 2003’s The Wind Waker being the last mainline title for anyone keeping track.

We think 23 years is enough time for us to finally overcome the countless nightmares caused by these paralysis-inducing, shrieking, skinless, back-biting abominations and properly introduce them to a whole new generation of Zelda players.

Iron Knuckle

While Iron Knuckles, the heavily-armored knight enemies who haven’t been seen as enemies in Zelda since 2000’s Majora’s Mask are very similar to Darknuts, they’re not exactly interchangeable.

While the two armored knight enemies bear many similarities, such as coming in red and blue color variations and serving a similar purpose in the game, generally Iron Knuckles are even larger, more heavily armored/tankier and more difficult to kill than the more common and mobile Darknuts (the Blue Iron Knuckles are some of the most difficult enemies to kill in Zelda II).

Darknuts have made plenty of appearances in recent Zelda games, so it’d make a lot of sense to bring back the Iron Knuckles in a future one to further differentiate between the two knights and set straight the unofficial fan theory – that is, are Iron Knuckles actually Gerudos inside the armor or it was simply the developers reusing an in-game character model to save space?

Helmasaur King

As the first boss you face when you transition over to the Dark World in A Link to the Past, Helmasaur King is the enemy that truly hammered home the notion I was in a completely different reality thanks to its jarring, alien-sauropod design and the fact that it was the most difficult boss I’d ever faced in a Zelda game up until that point.

The Helmasaur King hasn’t been seen in a Zelda game since A Link the Past or technically, through the form of its counterpart, the green Gemesaur King in 2013’s A Link Between Worlds.

We’re sure a 3D version of the Helmasaur King in a future Zelda game would have us just as awestruck and frustrated as as the original had us when we first faced it down over thirty years ago.

What did you think of this list of Legend of Zelda enemies we most want to see return in a future game? Are there any enemies you’d add or omit from the list? Let us know in the comments.