Hookshot

The Hookshot in The Wind Waker.
Hookshot
Type	Weapon
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Hookshot (sometimes spelled Hook Shot) is a recurring item that has appeared in several installments of the Legend of Zelda series.

Information

The hookshot consists of a spring-loaded chain with a pointed edge, and it has several uses. Its most common use is as a grappling gun, as it can hook onto certain points and pull Link to them. The hookshot can also be used to reel in items and some enemies which would otherwise be out of reach. It can also could simply function as a weapon to pierce and destroy enemies. Some games have upgraded forms of the hookshot, such as the Longshot, which merely have longer reach.

Appearances

In A Link to the Past, the hookshot was found in the Swamp Palace. In Link's Awakening, it was located at Catfish's Maw, but the Master Stalfos stole the item and had to be defeated before Link could actually claim it. In Ocarina of Time, it was the first weapon Link could find when he was older. Dampe had discovered the hookshot and was buried with it when he died, as it was his treasured item. Link had to beat Dampe in a race underneath Kakariko Village's graveyard in order to earn the Hookshot. The advanced version, the Longshot, was found in the Water Temple and could extend twice as far as the original Hookshot.

In Majora's Mask, a hookshot with a unique gold design was found at the Pirates' Fortress. It apparently had been stolen from the local fisherman, who used to use it to catch fish off the coast. In The Wind Waker, the hookshot was found in the Wind Temple. It could be specially used in conjunction with the Iron Boots to reel in statues and other large objects due to Link being weighed down.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. games, Link (as well as Young/Toon Link) uses the Hookshot to reel in opponents as his grappling move, although it is replaced by a Clawshot for the older Link in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. A sticker of the hookshot from Ocarina of Time is also available in Brawl.

Trivia

• The Hookshot is replaced with similar items in other games, such as the Switch Hook and Long Hook in Oracle of Ages and the Clawshots in Twilight Princess. Another item with a similar function was the Grappling Hook, which coexisted with the Hookshot in The Wind Waker but was featured separately within Phantom Hourglass.
• The hookshot can only fire directly forward in the 2-D games, but in the 3-D games the player controls it through a first person perspective. The targetting icon is shown as a red dot in the N64 games (reminiscent of a sniper rifle) and as a rotating starburst in The Wind Waker.