Lynel

A Lynel as seen in The Legend of Zelda.
Lynel
Type	Beast
Debut	The Legend of Zelda

The Lynel is a hybrid creature that has occasionally appeared as a powerful enemy in several games of the The Legend of Zelda series.

Information

The Lynel is a bestial creature with a horse-like lower body, a human-like torso and a lion-like head. They are usually found in mountainous regions and have been described as guardian deities, although their level of sentience is unknown. Lynels usually wield blades and have been known to attack by firing either sword beams or spitting fireballs. Their projectiles can only be blocked with advanced shields. The Lynel is hardy enough that it will usually take multiple hits or special weapons to defeat them. There are usually red and blue variants, with the blue version being stronger.

Appearances

Lynels originally appeared in The Legend of Zelda, where they are primarily found along Death Mountain. In A Link to the Past, only red Lynels appeared on Death Mountain, and they were different from the previous depiction in that they did not have any blades. This version of the Lynel was very rare and can only be hurt by an advanced sword, Magic Hammer or Silver Arrows. The red and blue Lynels appeared in several areas of Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, and in Oracle of Seasons, a Golden Lynel would appear at Tarm Ruins during the winter during the Red Ring sidequest. It was more powerful than the other Lynels.

In A Link Between Worlds, Lynels were similar to their depiction in A Link to the Past', except that they breathed out streams of fire rather than fireballs. They were again primarily found at Death Mountain. These Lynels were red with white manes, but a more powerful version could be faced at the Treacherous Tower, which was black with an orange man.

They were also featured in Breath of the Wild, where they were among the most powerful enemies of the game. Twenty-two of them were found throughout Hyrule, mostly in mountainous areas, as well as an additional one that appeared at the Great Plateau in Master Mode. They could wield a variety of weapons and shields in this game, and they were skilled at attacking Link in a variety of ways both from close-up and from a distance. This game also featured more variations on the Lynel, with red-maned Lynels being the basic version. The more powerful versions, in ascending order, were Blue-Maned Lynels, White-Maned Lynels, Silver Lynels and Golden Lynels. The latter only appeared in Master Mode. As part of the game's story, it is said that a Lynel on Ploymus Mountain menaced the Zoras in the past and was defeated by Link. In the present time, Link was encouraged to face the Lynel as well in order to gain the Shock Arrows that it was guarding.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Cadence of Hyrule, Lynels appear as powerful miniboss-level enemies. They attack with bows and arrows. Stronger versions of Lynels are purple.

Other Media

• In one episode of the The Legend of Zelda cartoon, Link and Zelda battled a pair of Lynels (one of each color) on their way to fight Ganon.
• Lynels were also featured as the primary enemy forces in an issue of the Valiant comics, where they helped to attack Saria Town. Zelda managed to rally the villagers to fight them off.

Trivia

• Its name simply seems to be a play on "lion".
• In Breath of the Wild, it is possible to mount a Lynel and attack it while riding it, but Link will be knocked off quickly.
• In Breath of the Wild, Link can obtain a Lynel Mask from Kilton's shop, which will temporarily prevent Lynels from attacking him. Lynels will also not attack Link when he is wearing Majora's Mask.