Darunia

Darunia in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Darunia
Species	Goron
Hair color	White
Eye color	Red
Relatives	Link-goro (son)
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Darunia is a Goron who appears as a prominent supporting character in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where he acts as one of the seven sages.

Background

Darunia was a descendant of the legendary Goron who slayed Volvagia the dragon long ago. Because of his noble heritage he became the Big Brother of the Gorons in Goron City, who watched over the tribe and their Spiritual Stone of Fire, the Goron's Ruby. Despite his tough appearance he was pretty sensitive underneath, and when he heard a tune he liked he was known to break out into wild dance moves.

Darunia faced several crises in Ocarina of Time. His people starved when Dodongo's Cavern, home of the best sirloin rocks, was infested with Dodongos and had its entrance blocked by a boulder. Ganondorf offered to help them in exchange for the Goron's Ruby, but Darunia was unwilling to make a deal with him. He chose to instead lock himself in his room with the Goron's Ruby until a messenger of the Royal Family arrived. When the "messenger" came and turned out to be the young Link, Darunia was at initially offended as he had expected more from his Sworn Brother, the King of Hyrule. Link then played Saria's Song for him, which immediately reversed Darunia's mood and prompted him to happily dance along. With his depression gone, Darunia gave Link a Goron Bracelet and, seeing him as a good person, offered him the Goron's Ruby if he would slay the Dodongos. Link succeeded, and Darunia gave him the Spiritual Stone. Darunia also declared Link a Sworn Brother and a friend.

Over the next seven years, Darunia named his own son after Link despite his disappearance. But the next crisis of the Gorons arose when Ganondorf revived Volvagia and kidnapped the inhabitants of Goron City, taking them to the Fire Temple to be fed to Volvagia. Only Darunia, his son, the Goron shopkeeper, Medigoron and Biggoron were not captured. Darunia thought that this was his chance to live up to his legacy and slay the lava dragon as his ancestor once did, but he could not find the legendary hammer in the Fire Temple and lost his fight with Volvagia.

After Link destroyed Volvagia, he and Darunia traveled to the Chamber of Sages. Darunia had been awakened as a Fire Sage and granted Link the Fire Medallion. Darunia had to stay in the Chamber of Sages and leave his people behind. With the other Sages, Darunia created a rainbow bridge leading to Ganon's Castle and later sealed Ganon within the Dark Realm. Darunia traveled in the form of a red sprite to Death Mountain with the other sages in the ending, and from their perch they witnessed the Lon Lon Ranch festivities.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Darunia appears as a Spirit within the World of Light mode, with this Spirit being represented by his Ocarina of Time artwork. When found on the overworld, he had to be defeated in a battle in which his Spirit possessed Donkey Kong on terrain covered in laval and backed up by several Jigglypuff (due to their Rollout moves resembling the Goron rolling). After being defeated, his Spirit ran the Boulder Style Dojo, where other Spirits could undergo a training that increased defense and speed while decreasing offensive power and jumping ability.

Hyrule Warriors

Darunia also makes a prominent appearance in Hyrule Warriors, where he can be unlocked as a playable character and also initially serves as a boss in one mission of Legends Mode. In battle, his weapon is a hammer that is infused with the element of fire. He also has alternate costumes which make him resemble Darmani, Darbus and Biggoron as well as a Deku Tree-themed one.

Storyline

His first appearance within Legend Mode is in the "Land of Myth" scenario, where Wizzro had taken on Zelda's form and brainwashed Darunia with the aid of some Big Poes. Under their control, Darunia kidnapped Princess Ruto and waged war against the Hyrulean Forces that were lead by a time-traveling Impa and Sheik. During the battle, he made several advances towards the enemy base, and whenever he was badly hurt, he would restore his health through some sirloin steak. However, Sheik eventually rerouted the Gorons' boulders to destroy his supply of steaks, which enraged Darunia. Ultimately, Sheik and Impa were able to defeat the Big Poes controlling him and then beat Darunia himself. This brought Darunia back to his senses, and he proceeded to free Princess Ruto while apologizing for his actions.

Afterwards, he joined forces with Ruto, Impa and Sheik in fighting the imposter Zelda's forces at Lake Hylia in "The Water Temple". Darunia came to the 'present' era of the game with Zelda's forces to help in the final battles. In the scenario "The Sealed Sword", Darunia managed to play a special role. The entrance to the temple containing the Master Sword was sealed by three special statues which could each only be awakened with the respective powers of Darunia, Impa and Midna. So, each of them covered a statue, with Darunia covering the Statue of Fire and Water, and so Link was able to claim the Master Sword. Darunia then helped out in the following mission and was among those who came to Link'd aid in repelling the Dark Links. After the final battle with Cia, the time portals were opened, and Darunia and Ruto returned to their own time. They were summoned again by Lana in "Enduring Resolve" to help in the final battles against Ganondorf, and at the end of "Liberation of the Triforce", they all faded away, seemingly returning to their own times.

He also appeared as an ally in the Linkle's Tale scenario "Powers Collide", where Linkle helped Darunia and Ruto to fend off Volga's attempt at invading Lake Hylia.

Trivia

• Darunia shares his name with a town in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, as did most of the other sages. This was done to increase a sense of history within the games, and it implies that within Hyrule's chronology, the towns were actually named after them.
• His likeness is depicted on a stain glass window in The Wind Waker.
• In Breath of the Wild, the Divine Beast of the Gorons, Vah Rudania is taken from mixing up the syllables of Darunia's name, and a lake of lava on Death Mountain is also named Darunia Lake in reference to him.
• His Terminan counterpart seems to be Darmani.
• In Hyrule Warriors, his victory animation consists of him doing his dance from Ocarina of Time to Saria's Song.