Gleeok

A three-headed Gleeok as seen in The Legend of Zelda.
Gleeok
Type	Dragon
Debut	The Legend of Zelda

The Gleeok is a multi-headed dragon that has been featured as a recurring boss for the The Legend of Zelda series.

Information

The Gleeok is a savage and dangerous type of dragon that is notable for the multiple heads it sports. They usually have somewhere from two to four heads, although Gleeoks with only single heads have also been known to exist. The Gleeok's heads are vulnerable to attack, but it will not be defeated until all heads have been destroyed. If a Gleeok is decapitated and still has at least one head left, the disembodied head will usually remain alive and float around while trying to attack Link. There was even one case in which a Gleeok was able to live on without any heads as purely a skeleton.

Throughout the series, Gleeoks have primarily attacked with fireballs. There was one instance of a two-headed Gleeok with elementally-powered heads (one fire and the other ice), while Tears of the Kingdom featured several elemental varieties: Flame Gleeoks, Frost Gleeoks and Thunder Gleeoks were all three-headed Gleeoks that each focused on the element in their name. There were also King Gleeoks, which had one head of each aforementioned element.

Appearances

Within The Legend of Zelda, a two-headed Gleeok appeared as the boss of the Snake Dungeon, a three-headed Gleeok was the miniboss for the Dragon Labyrinth, and a four-headed one was the Lion Labyrinth's boss. In Oracle of Seasons, a two-headed Gleeok was the boss in the Explorer's Crypt. After it was seemingly defeated, the Gleeok shed its skin, and its skeleton attacked Link by charging at Link and pounding the ground to stun him. It would eventually be brought down with enough hits from a sword.

A similarly-named dragon-like creature called Gleerok appeared as the boss of the Cave of Flames in The Minish Cap. Its figurine entry refers to it as a Gleeok, which made it the only known instance of a single-headed Gleeok thus far. A Gleeok with two masked heads appeared as the boss of the Temple of Ice in Phantom Hourglass. This Gleeok was submerged in water such that only its heads were visible. One head had fire powers while the other had ice powers, and each head was weak against the other's attacks. For this fight, Link had to set up his grappling hook so that its rope would deflect one head's attack at the other's. This would damage and destroy their masks. At this point, the Gleeok heads only used powerful charged elemental attacks. Link had to grapple onto a head's tongue while it was charging and reel it in to attack directly with his sword. This led to that Gleeok's destruction.

In Tears of the Kingdom, Gleeoks made their first 3-D appearance as powerful overworld bosses. Fire, Thunder and Frost Gleeoks inhabited specific areas of Hyrule, while King Gleeoks were found in special arenas in the skies of Hyrule. Unlike other appearances, Gleeoks would not lose their heads over the course of a battle; when an individual head's health was depleted, it would only be temporarily downed and would eventually regain its vitality, until the Gleeok's overall health was completely depleted, at which point the monster would be defeated. Once much of a Gleeok's health was depleted, it would take to the skies to unleash a giant attack of its respective element. The Flame and Frost Gleeoks (as well as their corresponding heads on a King Gleeok) were weak against each other's respective element. The Gleeoks were said to have started appearing in the aftermath of The Upheaval, and there were fourteen of them altogether in the game: three each of Frost and Thunder Gleeoks, as well as four each of the Flame and King Gleeoks. Only three King Gleeoks were found in the skies, while the fourth was a gloom-infused one found in a part of the Depths known as the Gleeok Den (marking the only appearance of a Gleeok in the Depths).

In Other Zelda Games

In Cadence of Hyrule, a music-themed version of Gleeok, known as Gleeokenspiel, appeared as the boss of the Temple of Storms. It was a four-headed version of Gleeok with its body merged with a glockenspiel, and it attacked by spitting fireballs as well as bolts of lightning. Each head that was defeated would float around afterwards; after beating all of the heads, its body would have to be attacked to destroy it completely. It left behind the glockenspiel item.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Gleeoks have made a few appearances in episodes of the The Legend of Zelda cartoon, and have been battled by both Link and Zelda.
• In the The Legend of Zelda comic, one story depicted Link battling a four-headed Gleeok.
• Creatures called "Gleeocs" appeared in an issue of the A Link to the Past comic adaptation, although these creatures actually resembled smaller versions of the game's Helmasaur King as opposed to the actual Gleeoks.
• The Gleerok appeared in the managa adaptation of The Minish Cap. It turned out to be a peaceful plesiosaur-like creature that became a monster due to Vaati's curse and was restored to normal when defeated by Link. It freely gave Link the Fire Element once restored.

Trivia

• In the original game, there was unused code for a one-headed Gleeok.
• They do not appear in Breath of the Wild, but one bridge in Central Hyrule is named Gleeok Bridge in reference to them. The bridge still bears the same name in Tears of the Kingdom, though no Gleeoks are located near it.
• A sticker of Gleeok from The Legend of Zelda appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.