Gibdo

A Gibdo as seen in A Link to the Past.
Gibdo
Type	Undead
Debut	The Legend of Zelda

Gibdo are mummy-like monsters that have appeared as recurring enemies in the The Legend of Zelda series. They are commonly found in dungeons and crypts.

Traits

Gibdos are undead mummified beings who tend to be strong enemies and are generally found in dark places. They tend to be extremely resilient of damage, perhaps as a virtue of their preservation. In general, they generally have little variation in their attack pattern and have often been portrayed with a weakness to fire. In some cases, fire is enough to instantly kill a Gibdo or destroy their bandages.

They are closely associated with fellow undead enemies, the Stalfos and ReDead. In some games, they are simply stronger versions of the ReDead, and in cases where a Gibdo's bandages can burn away, they can be revealed to be either a Stalfos or a ReDead underneath.

Game Information

Gibdo made their debut appearance in The Legend of Zelda. They could first be seen in the fifth dungeon as recurring enemies that usually appeared in large groups. Though they (like most enemies in this installment) did not try to directly attack Link, they were capable of taking several hits and were among the strongest of the enemies in the game. In A Link to the Past, Gibdos appeared in the Skull Dungeon in the Dark World. They were even stronger than in their previous appearance and would pursue Link as well. Despite being strong enough to take over 10 hits to defeat with the Master Sword, they could be killed instantly with the Fire Rod or Bombos Medallion. Gibdos also appeared in Link's Awakening where they remained powerful enemies, and in this version they were more formidable in that they would not be repelled backwards when attacked. They would appear behaving in the same manner in Oracle of Ages and Seasons, but in these games hitting them with an Ember Seed would turn them into a Stalfos.

For Ocarina of Time Gibdos were presented as stronger versions of the ReDead. They appeared in the Spirit Temple and the Bottom of the Well. Like ReDead, they would screech at opponents to temporarily freeze them in place, then the the Gibdo would latch onto them to begin gnawing on their foe. They could be paralyzed by the Sun's Song. They remained unchanged in Majora's Mask, but they played a more significant role in the story. Pamela's Father came up with a special song known as Farewell to Gibdos that drove the Gibdos away from his home. It was a result of his long research into their kind, which ultimately led to him becoming a half-formed Gibdo that his daughter kept in containment. While he was mummified, his house was surrounded by the Gibdos who were desperate to get him to come out and join them, until Link got the watermill going and the song going again, which successfully repelled them. As for Pamela's Father, he had to be cured by the Song of Healing. This earned Link a Gibdo Mask. While wearing it, he could talk to any Gibdo without being attacked. In the Ikana well, Link had to give Gibdos a variety of items in order to pass through the doors they were guarding. According to the research conducted by Pamela's father, the Gibdos were originally greedy people who had entered the well seeking the treasure hidden inside.

The classic depiction of the Gibdo has also appeared in Four Swords, The Minish Cap, A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes. These were all games where, as in the Oracle games, the Gibdos would turn into Stalfos when hit with fire.. In The Minish Cap, they showed up in the Palace of the Wind and would aggressively attack Link. In Twilight Princess, a variation of the Gibdo appeared at the Arbiter's Grounds. This type of Gibdo was armed with a sword that it would use to attack after stunning an enemy with a shriek, much like the Gibdos in other 3-D appearances.

Gibdos were also featured in Tears of the Kingdom, where they were closer in appearance to the ReDead, as they resembled tough tan corpses without visible bandages. They tended to move slowly, but they could also move quickly on all fours while attacking. Their armored bodies tended to be resistant to most attacks, but they were still weak against fire and electricity. This would temporarily cause their bodies to turn white and shrivel, leaving them vulnerable to attack. There was also a variation called Gibdo Moths, which flew around with large wings that resembled that of a moth. They still had the same weaknesses as a Gibdo. As part of the game's story, they appeared suddenly in the Gerudo Desert with a sands shroud. They were produced from mushroom-like nests which could be destroyed by Riju's electricity. They overran Gerudo Town until Riju drove them back with help from Link. The source of the Gibdos turned out to be a Queen Gibdo, which resembled a giant version of the Moth Gibdo with even more insectoid features. After the Queen Gibdo was destroyed in the Lightning Temple, the shroud disappeared with most of the Gibdos.

In Other Zelda Games

The Twilight Princess version of the Gibdo was featured in one level of Link's Crossbow Training and as a type of enemy Captain in Hyrule Warriors. In the latter game, there was a fire-based variation known as ReDead Knights.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, a Gibdo appeared as the first boss faced in the game. He was based in the abandoned church of Sakado and was raising the dead to enslave the living populace. He was also shown to play the organ.
• In Cadence of Hyrule, Gibdos appear as enemies in some areas.

Other Media

• The Gibdo appeared in several episodes of the The Legend of Zelda cartoon, and one episode featured one disguised as a maiden trying to seduce Link. Once they kissed, it turned Link into a frog while revealing its own true form, but Zelda was able to intervene and quickly defeated it.

Trivia

• In the instruction manual for A Link to the Past, it was referred to as "Gibdos"; as other enemies were not referred to in plural form, this implied that "Gibdos" was the name for a singular member of the species. This was likely an oversight due to the similarity to Stalfos, another undead enemy.
• According to an item description for the Gibdo Bandage from Tri Force Heroes, Gibdos like to clean like themselves like cats.
• Some player's guides in Twilight Princess referred to the Gibdo from that game as ReDead Knights or simply ReDead. Hyrule Warriors would later refer to them as Gibdos (with the ReDead Knight name being used for a variation), while the official Encyclopedia would later officially refer to them as Gibdos.