History DemonicSpiders / TheLegendOfZelda

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' introduces the Gloom Hands, multi-armed mobile patches of Gloom. They're surprisingly fast and able to follow Link through environments that many other enemies can't. Each Spawn has five arms that must be defeated individually within a couple of seconds of each other (lest they respawn), and it's extremely easy to get completely swarmed as each arm attacks in succession. They're also one of the only surface enemies that can inflict Gloom Damage, [[MaximumHPReduction reducing your total number of hearts]]. However, if you ''do'' manage to defeat it, it spawns Phantom Ganon, who beyond the initial OhCrap moment is a serious downgrade from the Gloom Hands. For the most part, he just slowly walks up to you and throws out easily dodged sword (albeit hard-hitting) swings.

** Lynels are commonly considered the toughest enemy in the game. They have a ton of HP. They hit like a truck, being able to one-shot you until a decent chunk of the way into the game. Good luck trying to run if they spot you, because if you're far enough away they'll whip out a bow and snipe at you with uncanny accuracy. And the worst part? They only get stronger as the game goes on, as similar to the standard three enemies they come in stronger varieties that are ColorCodedForYourConvenience. Silver Lynels have 5000 HP and have weapons that rival or even surpass the Master Sword's true power.

** Octoroks. While they can be killed in one hit, they are particularly annoying because they shoot rocks at you... aiming for ''where you're going to be''. They can be faked out, but it still makes trying to get somewhere while an Octorok is shooting at you very annoying, and furthermore, while a single attack doesn't do a tremendous amount of damage, if they keep hitting you it can add up. Also, unlike in other games, hitting their rocks back at them with your shield isn't guaranteed to kill them.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' introduces the Gloom Spawns, multi-armed mobile patches of Gloom. They're surprisingly fast and able to follow Link through environments that many other enemies can't. Each Spawn has five arms that must be defeated individually within a couple of seconds of each other (lest they respawn), and it's extremely easy to get completely swarmed as each arm attacks in succession. They're also one of the only surface enemies that can inflict Gloom Damage, [[MaximumHPReduction reducing your total number of hearts]]. And to make matters worse, if you ''do'' manage to defeat it, [[spoiler: it spawns Phantom Ganon, who's just as dangerous as the swarms, if not moreso. While he's only one enemy, he's extremely fast and has very hard-to-read attacks that do enormous amounts of damage, on top of inflicting the same Gloom damage that the Gloom Spawn hit you with.]]

** Lynels make a comeback in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', which happens to be their ''first'' appearance in a 3D game, and they're [[BossInMooksClothing even harder]] this time around. They're found across Hyrule rather than just Death Mountain, and are able to keep up with Link on horseback as well as carrying various elemental arrows to kill the player before they can even get close. They have between 2000-5000 HP (compare to the 200 you'd find on a Moblin or Lizalfos), resistance to all forms of elemental damage, and if by some miracle you manage to get close they can easily one-shot an unprepared player with a massive sword or axe. They're also [[ArtificialBrilliance smarter]] than most other enemies: if they notice Link, they don't always mindlessly charge, and may simply observe from a distance and wait for him to approach and initiate combat. If Link tries to hide behind a rock or a hill to avoid their arrows, they'll fire them in a high arc and hit Link from above instead. Finally, they are the only enemy in the game that can see through a disguise; if Link is wearing a Lynel Mask it will fool them for only a minute, as opposed to other enemies which never figure it out until either they see you attacking them or a nearby species that doesn't match the mask weeds you out. However, the Ancient Arrows can be used as a OneHitKill against them and other non-Guardian enemies, but players may be reluctant to use them at times due to the fact that it disintegrates them along with their equipment (meaning you get nothing from the kill).

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' introduces the Gloom Spawns, multi-armed mobile patches of Gloom. They're surprisingly fast and able to follow Link through environments that many other enemies can't. Each Spawn has about half a dozen arms that must be defeated individually, and it's extremely easy to get completely swarmed as each arm attacks in succession. They're also one of the only surface enemies that can inflict Gloom Damage, [[MaximumHPReduction reducing your total number of hearts]]. And to make matters worse, if you ''do'' manage to defeat it, [[spoiler: there's a chance that it might spawn Phantom Ganon, who's just as dangerous as the swarms, if not moreso. While he's only one enemy, he's extremely fast and has very hard-to-read attacks that do enormous amounts of damage, on top of inflicting the same Gloom damage that the Gloom Spawn hit you with.]]

** They were drastically nerfed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' knocks them back up a little but not too bad, until the BonusDungeon where three of them walk in this tightly-huddled group that doesn't allow you to attack all of them. And if you try to attack one? The OTHERS strike you. Doesn't help that the ''Twilight Princess'' ones are still menacing when their armor's off.

It gets worse with the EscortMission late in the game, wherein Scrapper will, as usual, get suicidally close to you as you attempt to strike these fiends down. Even later on, they gain cursed breath which completely disables all of your weapons. No sword, no shield, nothing at all-- you're completely defenseless until the curse wears off, which takes a long time.

* ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', having a much different playing style than the other ''Zelda'' games, can seem full of demonic spiders to players who haven't got the hang of the mechanics yet. And even then, some border on this. For example, blue Lizalfos, which in this game 1) use a shield that blocks most of Link's attacks, and 2) throw hammers that his shield can't block without the reflect spell. But the champion of ''Zelda II'' demonic spiders would be the appropriately-named Fokka in the Great Palace. Like blue Iron Knuckles and Lizalfos, they have a shield and shooting sword. You can block OR attack. Like every shield enemy, they can block AND attack, and at different heights. They also take huge leaps with no warning, which causes them to kick Link in the head, interfering a lot with the standard strategy for beating enemies with shields. Oh, and with Link's defense power at maximum, they take off 1 and 3/4th of a block of life, out of (up to) 8 total. Oh, and where the aforementioned blue Lizalfos was worth 200 experience points? Fokka are inexplicably worth only 70 (red) and 100 (blue).

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' has the Beamos. Not only are they unkillable, but their beams are stupidly fast, unblockable (even with the Mirror Shield) and also pack a lot of punch.

* The dreaded, temporarily-invincible, stunning, [[AsteroidsMonster splitting and regenerating]], sometimes invisible ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' version of Floormasters. These things are more [[NightmareFuel nightmarish]] than the Wallmasters. They're actually much more menacing at small size, after the big ones separate. When grabbing you, they take out several hearts, and stopping them ''from'' grabbing you is nigh impossible. If all three latch onto you, you are ''dead'', plain and simple. The full-size ones' strikes aren't nearly as bad. Oh, and they become full size after a while, requiring you to hit them again and brave even ''more'' of the miserable beasts. Three are nasty. Six are insane. Nine? There hasn't been a ''final boss'' in any ''Zelda'' game as bad as nine of those things.

* ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', having a much different playing style than the other ''Zelda'' games, can seem full of demonic spiders to players who haven't got the hang of the mechanics yet. And even then, some border on this. For example, blue Lizalfos, which in this game 1) use a shield that blocks most of Link's attacks, and 2) throw hammers that his shield can't block without the reflect spell. But the champion of ''Zelda II'' demonic spiders would be the appropriately-named Fokkas (the bastards don't have an official English name) in the Great Palace. Like blue Iron Knuckles and Lizalfos, they have a shield and shooting sword. You can block OR attack. Like every shield enemy, they can block AND attack, and at different heights. They also take huge leaps with no warning, which causes them to kick Link in the head, interfering a lot with the standard strategy for beating enemies with shields. Oh, and with Link's defense power at maximum, they take off 1 and 3/4th of a block of life, out of (up to) 8 total. Oh, and where the aforementioned blue Lizalfos was worth 200 experience points? Fokkas are inexplicably worth only 70 (red) and 100 (blue).

* Redeads, in any of the games they appear in. Though not too difficult once you've landed a hit, their ability to let out a horrible scream that paralyzes you can often make doing this practically impossible, especially if they gang up on you. It may reach a point where you cannot move at all as they come closer, which, depending on the game, either means you will be hacked to pieces by a zombie skeleton or disturbingly humped to death. These guys are some of the [[NightmareFuel/TheLegendOfZelda scariest things in the series]].\\