Whispy Woods

Whispy Woods as seen in Kirby Super Star.
Whispy Woods
Species	Tree
Debut	Kirby's Dream Land

Whispy Woods is a sentient tree that has served as a recurring boss character within the Kirby series. It was the first boss faced in Kirby's Dream Land and since then has traditionally been faced as the first boss in most other Kirby games.

Background

Whispy Woods is a large apple tree. It has three holes in its bark which function as its eyes and mouth, as well as a jagged branch acting as its nose. Whispy is known for two different types of attack: it will blow gusts of wind at enemies and try to drop large apples from its branches on them. Kirby will usually defeat Whispy Woods by sucking up the apples and spitting them back at it. There have been very few variations on this basic attack pattern over the years. Little is known about Whispy Woods's motivations, although in Epic Yarn the tree was referred to as a "forest king" whom has lived in Dream Land for ages and is constantly in Kirby's way.

Whispy Woods initially appears in Kirby's Dream Land as the first boss faced iin Green Greens, and it is faced again at Mt. Dedede with other past bosses near the end of the game. In the Extra mode, Whispy Woods has faster attacks and will also drop Gordos. In Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, Whispy Woods guarded a piece of the Star Rod and was fought at Vegetable Valley. Whispy Woods is the boss of Grass Land in Kirby's Dream Land 2, but this time it initially wore a surgeon's mask as well as a pair of swirly glasses, and it attacked by protruding spike-like roots from the ground. Whispy lost the accessories once sufficiently damaged and reverted to the original attack pattern. It was also featured in that world's bonus level, where Kirby had to collect the stars that Whispy Woods shot out while avoiding the apples.

Whispy Woods also appeared in several of the sub-games within Kirby Super Star, including the remake of the original Dream Land known as Spring Breeze. In Revenge of Meta Knight, Whispy Woods is faced as a boss within the second chapter. This is followed by a battle with the Twin Woods, a variation on Whispy Woods that consists of two identical trees on opposite sides of the screen. They could switch pieces of bark and drop worms as well as Gordos, but they could be beaten with the same methods as the original Whispy Woods, and only one would attack at a time. An autumn variation on Twin Woods appears as a boss for Floria in Milky Way Wishes. Whispy Woods also has a minor appearance in the ending of Dyna Blade where it is shocked when Kirby feeds its apples to Dyna Blade's children. Kirby Super Star Ultra later had Whispy and Twin Woods as bosses in the new Helper to Hero mode, and Revenge of the King (a harder version of Spring Breeze/Dream Land) replaced Whispy Woods with a stronger, unhealthier version known as Whispy's Revenge. This version was poisonous, which was shown in its purple leaves. In addition to normal apples, it drops rotten apples which will damage Kirby when inhaled, and it can drop worms as well as creating small tornadoes.

In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Whispy Woods was once more the boss of the Grass Land, but this time Whispy Woods was different due to Dark Matter's corruptions. This time, Whispy spat out various fruits and vegetables that Kirby could shoot back at it. After being hit enough times, Whispy Woods became enraged and would actually chase Kirby using its roots as feet. Its fruit also became rotten, and Kirby had to continue shooting the fruit at Whispy Woods until it was beaten. There was another variation in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, this time utilizing 3-D. Whispy Woods was the boss faced for Pop Star and had three seedlings known as Whispy Wood Jrs. surrounding it. It once more dropped and was vulnerable to apples, but this time Kirby had to defeat the Jrs. first. This would enrage Whispy Woods and make it begin attacking Kirby with its roots in addition to dropping apples. Whispy Woods could not be directly attacked, and instead the roots had to be attacked.

It also appeared in Kirby's Epic Yarn at the end of Whispy's Forest, where Kirby faces it in Tankbot form with missiles, and the tree uses its usual attacks. This game also contains enemies known as Twiggy Woods which resemble smaller versions of Whispy. In Kirby Mass Attack, it was the boss of the Green Grounds and had several variations on its normal attacks in that it dropped spiked fruits that either shattered or bounced into the air upon landing. Whispy Woods would also extend its body to keep its face safely out of reach in the top screen, and the Kirbys would have to bring Whispy back down by destroying the individual segments, which sported mushrooms and sometimes spikes. The tree was also faced in the minigame Strato Patrol EOS. There were also two enemies based on Whispy Woods known as Whispy Woods Jr. and Whispy Woods Sr. (which was an older-looking tree with a mustache). In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Whispy Woods is the boss faced at Cookie Course and guards the Lor Starcutter's oars. Its attack pattern starts out as the traditional one, but it grows larger after being hit several times and will drop various minor enemies from its branches. Another new attack is that Whispy will try to inhale Kirby's team and chew on them. Extra Mode featured a version of Whispy Woods that was nearly identical to Whispy's Revenge.

Minor/Puzzle Appearances

Whispy Woods was faced as a boss in both Kirby's Pinball Land and Kirby's Block Ball, where it used versions of its usual attacks that were adjusted to match the game's respective styles. Within Kirby's Dream Course, multiple Whispy Woods acted as bumpers that could injure Kirby but were vulnerable to the Spark ability. Whispy Woods also appeared as the second opponent in Kirby's Avalanche, which is the only time it has had dialogue, where it cautions Kirby not to treat on its roots. In Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, Whispy Woods could teleport Kirby to different parts of a level. Whispy Woods also had a docile appearance in Kirby Air Ride, where it was found amongst other trees in the city's West sector in City Trial mode. In Kirby: Squeak Squad, Whispy Woods has its most minor appearance as a cameo appearance on the title screen.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. games, Whispy Woods has appeared as part of the Dream Land stage from Super Smash Bros. and the Green Greens stage from Super Smash Bros. Melee, with both stages also appearing in the other games of the series. In both stages, Whispy Woods affects the stage by blowing winds across one side of the stage. In Melee, it also releases apples that either are healing items or can be thrown as weapons. It also appears as a trophy in Melee, a sticker (from Kirby Super Star) in Brawl, a trophy in 'Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and an Ace-Rank Primary Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When fought in a Spirit battle, he would possess Kirby for a battle on the Green Greens area in which there were strong winds.

Other Media

• In the Kirby anime, Whispy appeared in several episodes as an ally of Kirby who ruled the Whispy Woods Forest. He was depicted as being elderly and wise.

Trivia

• In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, a stone boss known as King Golem acts as a replacement for Whispy Woods.