The Legend of Zelda TV series retrospective: Episode 13, ‘The Moblins are Revolting’

The Moblins are revolting. So are the Stalfos, Goriyas, and Gibdos.

The Zelda animated series is chock full of puns, and this episode title is one of the best. It’s also one of my personal favorite episodes from the entire show. For a series that had some pretty ridiculous plotlines at times, this episode actually has a really good premise: Ganon’s monsters have had enough of following their master’s ill-conceived plans to steal the Triforce of Wisdom and being punished when they inevitably fail. They decide to get rid of Ganon, take over the Underworld, and take revenge on Link and Zelda.

Just how successful their endeavor will be remains to be seen.

Let’s kick Ganon out!

The episode begins with yet another attack on Link’s tower in North Castle, home of the Triforce of Wisdom. This time, a small stealth team consisting of two Moblins and two Goriyas sneak into the tower while Link, unaware, lies on his bed reading. He’s only disturbed when the monsters storm into the room, but the Goriyas, who swung in through the window, crash into the Moblins, who came in through the door, and they all land in a heap on the floor. Not a great start, but before Link can react, one of the Moblins is already back on its feet. It looks like our hero might have to put up a fight after all! Oh wait, in classic Zelda cartoon style, the Moblin trips on an apple core lying on the floor, accidentally discharges his bow, and the result is a comedy of errors where the four monsters all zap each other away before Link even has a chance to stand up.

It’s the type of physical comedy common for the animated series, and Link’s reaction is also very much in character for this show: “Boy, I’m good,” he declares before returning to his book, almost as if he had deliberately placed the apple core on the floor as a trap instead of just being gross and untidy.

Ganon, naturally, is furious at the failure and incompetence and zaps the Moblins and Goriyas as punishment. Stuck in the Evil Jar, they grumble among themselves that it isn’t fair because it was Ganon’s plan that failed. One of the Goriyas questions why Ganon’s the boss when, according to him, they could do better, and suggests kicking him out. “I know just how to do it,” one of the Moblins states, and, whispering, they plan their mutiny.

Their chance soon comes when Ganon’s attention turns to a new magical device he’s made, a Capture Staff, and he’s looking for someone to test it on. Ganon returns to the Evil Jar and selects one of the Moblins, taking him out and then using the staff to trap him in a bubble that’s completely indestructible and impervious to all magic, save for the Triforce of Power. He puts the Capture Staff down and carries the bubble over to the Triforce to demonstrate this last point, freeing the Moblin who falls and lands next to the unattended Capture Staff. While Ganon is boasting that the staff is the perfect thing to use on Princess Zelda, the plucky Moblin picks it up and uses it on him.

The Capture Staff works just as advertised, and Ganon is unable to use his own magic to teleport out of the bubble he’s trapped in. His blasts rebound off the inside walls and hit him. He realizes exactly how helpless he is when the Moblin throws him down a bottomless pit. “We’re taking over, and you’re dropping out,” the Moblin quips as Ganon begins to fall.

The Brotherhood of Underworld Monsters

The Moblin leader’s first task is to open the Evil Jar and free all of the other monsters. We get to see a wide range of Zelda enemies in this episode, but, interestingly, not every single one that was featured in the show. This might be because while The Moblins are Revolting was the last episode to air, it was earlier in production order (10th), but even then there were enemies seen in earlier episodes that didn’t make it into this one, such as Tektites, Ropes, Deelers, and Patras.

Soon after taking charge, the lead Moblin begins to learn why Ganon’s always so frustrated with them. He asks another Moblin to look after the Capture Staff and the other Moblin immediately drops it on the ground and breaks it after misunderstanding an instruction to not drop it.

The monsters are elated to be both free and ruling the Underworld. And with Ganon out of the way, the next thing on their minds is revenge on Link and Zelda.

Link, meanwhile, eventually decides that he should tell Zelda about the earlier attack, but while he’s doing so, a rock with a note tied to it is thrown through the window. The note demands that Zelda surrenders or be destroyed and is signed, “The Brotherhood of Underworld Monsters.” They look outside and discover that the castle is surrounded by all of the monsters and several siege weapons.

I’ve always felt that the idea of the monsters forming a brotherhood was a nice detail. Although there’s one Moblin acting as the leader, a role he fell into by default as he’s clearly the only one with a shred of intelligence, he’s not trying to be the next Ganon or do this for himself. They’re all working together, for each other, sick of being treated poorly and never having a proper chance. I almost feel sorry for them.

Actually, I do feel sorry for them because it’s all downhill from here. Their attempts to storm the castle fail due to a combination of misunderstood instructions and blunders. All Link and Zelda need to do is watch on and laugh as the monsters trip themselves up again and again. They do note the absence of Ganon on the battlefield, and, when it becomes clear that the castle isn’t in any serious danger, decide to find out what he’s up to.

The only monster that successfully makes its way into the castle is one of the Moblins, who is accidentally flung in by a slingshot. Link laughs at him and tells him that this is the stupidest attack that Ganon ever cooked up. Defensively, the Moblin replies that it’s not Ganon, that they got rid of him, and they’re in charge now.

“Ganon’s… gone?” repeats Zelda. “Let’s go get his Triforce!” both she and Link exclaim gleefully in unison before dashing off to the nearest Underworld entrance.

A safe kingdom doesn’t need a hero

It turns out that not all of the monsters are laying siege to the castle, as when Link and Zelda arrive in the Underworld they are attacked by a Dodongo, an enemy that did not appear in any other episode. Link, in a moment of forgetfulness, attacks with his sword. As his sword beams bounce harmlessly off the beast’s thick hide, Zelda steps in and saves the day with a trusty bomb.

Now, you didn’t think we’d get through this episode without Link asking for a kiss, did you? He thinks that bombing a Dodongo is a great reason for a kiss, but Zelda laughs him off, preferring to focus on the task at hand. As she approaches the Triforce of Power, she pauses to tell Link that with both Triforces, her kingdom will be safe forever. Link suddenly realizes that means he will be out of a job.

Don’t write Ganon off just yet though. When the evil wizard starts to get over his anger at his predicament, he realizes that his magic still works inside the bubble. He conjures a balloon to float the bubble back up and out of the bottomless pit, emerging right as Link and Zelda are about to take his Triforce.

“Don’t you dare!” he shouts, but he’s unable to follow through with an attack. Link decides to have some fun with the bubble-bound Ganon and begins tossing him into the air. Zelda, ever the voice of reason, tells Link to stop fooling around so they can grab the Triforce and go. Link tells her to lighten up and throws Ganon at her. She pushes the bubble away, but her deflection sends it crashing into the Triforce, freeing Ganon.

Link immediately realizes his mistake, and as Ganon charges up a magical attack, he and Zelda book it out of there and back to safety. Ganon declares that he’d normally pursue them, but right now he’s got other things to deal with.

While our attention was on Link, Zelda, and Ganon in the Underworld, the Brotherhood of Underworld Monsters were continuing their assault on North Castle. By the time Ganon catches up with them, they’re exhausted and defeated, and only the Moblin leader still seems eager to continue the attack. Ganon’s punishment for their treachery? Clean up the Underworld — with their tongues.

One thing that was very clear throughout the TV series was that Ganon always came closest to succeeding when he got his hands dirty and took part in plans himself rather than sending his minions to do it for him. Seeing how his monsters got on without him will probably have him thinking about going it alone in the future.

The end … Or is it?

The final scene has Link and Zelda back at the castle after their close escape from Ganon. Zelda is angry at Link for messing things up when they almost had the Triforce of Power. Link admits it was his fault and says there’s only one thing to say. You know what that is. One last time, let’s say it all together:

“Excuuuuuuuse me, Princess.”

This only further infuriates Zelda, and the episode — and the series — ends with Link smiling and saying, “Oh well, at least I still have a job.”

It’s very unlikely that the show’s producers knew that it wouldn’t be renewed when they wrote the 13 episodes, so it’s natural that the status quo was maintained at the end to allow for future episodes. Unfortunately, the cancellation of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show spelled the end of the Zelda cartoon, as it was part of the show. Viewers are left to imagine that, in this alternate, cartoon Zelda universe, Ganon will continue making bungled plans to steal the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link will continue looking for opportunities to steal a kiss from Princess Zelda. I wonder if he’ll ever get it?

While this does mark the end of the Zelda animated series, we did have an opportunity for another glance into its world. Another Nintendo-based cartoon, Captain N: The Game Master, was also produced by DIC, and a few episodes crossed over into Hyrule, where we see slightly older versions of the Link and Zelda from the cartoon, voiced by the same actors.

This also marks the end of our retrospective on each of the 13 episodes of The Legend of Zelda animated series. It’s an interesting piece of Zelda history, a relic from an earlier era, yet it’s still the only time we’ve officially seen Zelda on the small screen. It had its highs and it had its lows, but there was something magical at the time about seeing Zelda brought to life on TV.

Some may argue that the cartoon is the reason why we shouldn’t see Zelda on TV ever again, yet I can’t help but feel that if done right, it could be something pretty special. And so I live in hope that, one day, I might get to tune into another Legend of Zelda TV show.