Of the countless discoveries that players can make while exploring Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule, one of the coolest can be found in one of the most unassuming spots on the enormous map. Meadela’s Mantle is a large, snow-covered terrace that sits just northwest of the Yiga Clan Hideout in the Gerudo Highlands. Aside from a copse or two of pine trees, there aren’t many features of note on the frigid cliffside, at least until you spot those who are roaming about. A gang of mounted Bokoblins patrol Meadela’s Mantle, but these Bokoblins aren’t using horses as their means of travel. They’re using something much bigger, and much meaner.
These Bokoblins are riding Honeyvore and Grizzlemaw Bears.
If you never knew that bear-riding Bokoblins were even a thing in Breath of the Wild, that’s because it’s a very rare sight. Meadela’s Mantle is the only place in all of Hyrule where you can find them, and they’re just about the only point of interest on that small part of the map. There’s no Shrine located on Meadela’s Mantle, nor a sidequest associated with it. The Gerudo Highlands as a whole barely figure into Breath of the Wild’s story, so it’s not unheard of for players to completely miss Meadela’s Mantle and its bear-riding foes on their first playthrough.
I only came across them long after I finished the story and completed all 120 Shrines. I was well over 100 hours deep into the game, with nothing left to do but merely wander about the map for the heck of it (no, I wasn’t interested in collecting all the Korok Seeds, thank you very much). There I was, thinking it was just another snowy, desolate stretch of the Gerudo Highlands I trudged through, until I spotted a pair of brawny shapes barreling toward me through the shadows of night. Bear-mounted Bokoblins was pretty far down the list of things I was expecting to see in Breath of the Wild at that point, but I got a major kick out of meeting such an unexpected and absurd enemy.
Forget Guardian Stalkers or Lynels, these are easily the coolest enemies in the game!
There are four Bokoblins in total patrolling Meadela’s Mantle: two armed with bows and two armed with axes. They can be seen harassing Tabantha Moose and Great-Horned Rhinoceri before the player makes their way onto the terrace, but their attention will quickly turn to Link as soon as they spot him. Unlike the Bokoblins who can be found riding horses throughout various regions of Hyrule, the bear-riding Bokoblins aren’t so easy to deal with as simply knocking them off their mount. Where horses either gallop away or stand idle once losing their beastly rider, the Honeyvore Bears and Grizzlemaw Bears will continue to attack you even after getting a Bokoblin off their backs, quickly turning it into a four-on-one fight against Link.
Urbosa’s Fury doesn’t affect wildlife, so while that may subdue the Bokoblins, you can’t count on it to stop a pair of angry bears in their tracks. Having Wolf Link around is a much better option, as he’ll relentlessly go after the bears just like he does with other animals. If you check out the video above, you’ll see firsthand that Wolf Link seems to have a very big bone to pick with the bears for some reason.
It will always feel like a missed opportunity that we couldn’t use any of our weapons when riding a bear in Breath of the Wild, but at least the game provided one instance, however obscure, to see them go to battle. In fact, it’s all the more reason why these four particular Bokoblins deserve a lot of credit. They accomplished something that not even the Chosen Hero could!
