Armos

An Armos as seen in The Wind Waker.
Armos
Type	Statue
Debut	The Legend of Zelda

Armos and Armos Knights are living statues that appear as recurring enemies in the Zelda series. Armos Knights are usually portrayed as stronger versions of the normal Armos.

Traits

The Armos are stone soldiers, often built to guard certain areas. The design of Armor Statues tends to vary, but generally have the same behavior. When touched, they will come to life and begin attacking, and in some games they will explode soon after activating. They are often used as guardians in dungeons or particular areas on the overworld. In The Minish Cap, the Minish claim to be the creators of Armos. As a result, they can climb into idle Armos statues and move them around.

There are also two different levels of Armos statues. The smaller ones tend to come in great numbers. However, the more advanced ones are known as Armos Knights and tend to be less common and harder to beat. The two basic designs of Armos tend to be those that are solid statues that hop around or statues fashioned like humans that can walk around. Many times statues will resemble Armos, but cannot actually be awakened.

Game Information

Human-like Armos from Legend of Zelda

In The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, the Armos statues are statues that resemble armored knights. Most often they are found in rows and columns and will sometimes be standing on top of a secret passage. When awakened, they will immediately begin attacking, but at varying speeds.

In A Link to the Past, Armos statues surround the Eastern Palace. This version is the first to have a simpler statue design in which they hop around rather than walk. Although strong, they are particularly vulnerable to arrows. The palace boss is composed of eight Armos Knights who move around in a predetermined pattern. These stronger versions are also vulnerable to arrows. The very last remaining Armos will turn red and begin jumping in the air and slamming down on the ground. The Armos Knights are battled again within Ganon's Tower. Within the palace is another closely related enemy: the Eyegore. Armos statues similar to these would later appear in Four Swords Adventures and A Link Between Worlds.

In Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, Armos are solid statues that hop around in order to attack and appear exclusively in dungeons. Once attacked, they will hop around in a frenzy and then explode. In the latter game, an advanced form known as Death Armos exists, which is capable of floating and is vulnerable only to the Light Arrow. Many of the Armos statues in these games do not activate and can instead be moved around to hold down floor switches.

In The Wind Waker, Armos move around on their own in the familiar hopping movement. They can only be defeated by shooting an arrow into the green gem in the center of their body, then following up with an attack. They will then begin to hop around in a frenzy before exploding. The larger Armos Knights do not have this weakness, but instead will open their mouths to breathe fire. At that moment, a bomb can be placed inside the mouth to destroy it.

In The Minish Cap, Armos statues were built by the Minish to guard the Wind Ruins. As a safety mechanism, the Armos statues were built with a switch inside their head. A Minish (or someone their size) could climb into one and turn the Armos on or off. Armos that are not activated cannot be destroyed. In order to progress, Link had to switch on or off a number of different Armos statues.

The Armos appear very differently in Twilight Princess, where they are long-faced statues (similar to the Moai of Easter Island) that wield large hammers for crushing enemies. Their bodies are outlined with blue lines, similar to Gohdan of The Wind Waker. They can be defeated by targeting a weak spot on their rear. They can also be defeated prior to activation using the Ball & Chain or a Bomb Arrow. Armos also appeared in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, where a single bomb would immobilize the Armos, making it akin to a normal statue. Afterwards it could be pushed to solve puzzles.

In Skyward Sword, the Armos had a more colorful appearance that was reminiscent of South American design. Each Armos had one mouth on each side of its body, and they could be defeated using the Gust Bellows to spin the winding device on their heads, which forces their mouths open. Each mouth contains a small diamond that must be destroyed to destroy the Armos. Armos statues were only found within the Lanayru Region in the past and were confined to a limited moving space.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Soul Calibur 2, the Armos set of sword and shield is one of Link's unlockable weapons. The sword retains his normal offense, but the shield has only 70% of normal defense.
• In Cadence of Hyrule, one-eyed Armos statues appear as enemies. Additionally, a music-themed version of the Armos Knights, known as the Bass Guitarmos Knights, appears as the boss of the Gerudo Ruins. They resemble giant versions of the Armos Knights from A Link to the Past wielding bass guitars, with four blue knights surrounding one larger and more powerful red one.

Trivia

• In one room in Four Swords Adventures, not only do the floor tiles and pots go flying towards Link, so do the Armos statues.
• In Twilight Princess, there was an enemy known as the Armos Titan that was never included in the final version of the game. This version fought with its fist and had its diamond weak spot located on the chest.