While most enemies and beasts in Zelda games attempt to intimidate players with designs based on mythical sources, the various Gyorg species are rare exceptions that are inspired by real-life fears. Gyorgs have not appeared in many games, but their nature of being a deadly creature that lurks below (or even above) has made them hard to forget.
The first Gyorg to appear in the series was the third boss fought in Majora’s Mask, the “Gargantuan Masked Fish: Gyorg.” This boss was an aquatic beast that resembled a mix between a piranha and an angler fish. Its gaping mouth was lined with long and sharp teeth, and its body was covered with razor-like and durable scales. Though it seemed almost mindless, the Gyorg would quickly and stealthily attack Link at any opportunity. It would lunge from the water in an attempt to bite the hero, or it would ram into the battle arena’s lone platform to try and launch Link into the water, where it would try to swallow him whole.
Defeating this boss required the use of the Zora’s Mask. Link needed to attack the fish with the arrows or the Zora Mask’s Double Cutters to stun it. Once it was immobile, Link could ram into it using the Zora Mask’s magic barrier to deal damage. The boss would eventually release many, smaller fish from its mouth after Link dealt enough damage, but these enemies were little more than distractions. Repeating the attack pattern a few more times earned Link a victory over the scaly nightmare.
This boss battle was reworked significantly for the 3DS remake of Majora’s Mask and was split into two phases. The first phase involved Link attacking Gyorg from the center platform, much like in the original fight, but the focus was now to stun the beast enough to reveal a giant eye located in its mouth. Once the eye was visible, Link was free to barrage it with arrows.
After it takes enough damage, Gyorg begins the second phase by sinking the platform, forcing Link to don the Zora’s Mask. Once in the water, spiked depth charges tied to chains would rise out of ports in the ground. Link needed to stay close to one of the charges and wait for Gyorg to open its mouth and attempt to inhale everything close by. Link could then cut the chains so Gyorg would swallow the bomb, which damaged and stunned the beast. At this point, Link was free to attack it with the magic barrier. Like with the original fight, Link needed to repeat this pattern multiple times to defeat the boss.
A species of Gyorg appeared three years later in The Wind Waker. These Gyorgs were much smaller than the original boss version, and their design was inspired by real-world sharks (though they did have a similar purple color scheme to the one from Majora’s Mask). Link encountered these enemies in numerous locations throughout the Great Sea and was usually made aware of their presence by the ominous Jaws-inspired theme that played whenever they approached.
Despite their threatening appearance and accompanying audio, the Gyorgs’ only method of attack was to ram the King of Red Lions in an attempt to launch Link into the water. Link could either simply avoid the sharks by jumping the boat over them, or he could kill them with either bombs, arrows, or the boomerang when they approached.
These Gyorgs appeared again in Phantom Hourglass and used a similar attack pattern, with the only difference being their ability to jump from the water to tackle the S.S. Linebeck. To defeat them, Link needed to strike them with bombs while they were airborne.
A vastly different style of Gyorg appeared in The Minish Cap. This time, the Gyorg was a pair of monsters and that served as the collective bosses of the Palace of Winds. The entire fight took place in the air high above Hyrule, requiring Link to jump back and forth between the male and female Gyorgs to attack and avoid attacks. The main goal was to defeat the larger female Gyorg by using the White Sword to create multiple copies of Link so they could attack all of her eyes simultaneously.
The last version of the Gyorg appeared in Spirit Tracks in 2009. These were the Malgyorgs, sand-dwelling sharks inspired by the Gyorgs from Wind Waker. Aside from their brown and yellow color scheme and rock-like snouts, the Malgyorgs were nearly identical to their underwater counterparts, particularly in their style of attack and Link’s method for defeating them.
It has been a decade since the Gyorgs appeared in a mainline Zelda game, but their reputation for ferocity still makes any encounter with them in the older games an unnerving experience.
(For more information on Gyorgs and the other fascinating creatures of Hyrule, visit Zelda Wiki.)
