Octorok

An Octorok from Ocarina of Time.
Octorok
Type	Octopus
Debut	The Legend of Zelda

The Octorok is a cephalopod-like creature that has appeared as a common recurring enemy throughout the The Legend of Zelda series. It is known for appearing in some form in nearly every Zelda game, with its only absence being from Twilight Princess.

Information

The Octorok is a small, octopus-like creature that is known for firing rocks from its mouth. In Skyward Sword, they are said to have evolved from mollusks. They come in two major variants, although they are not officially distinguished. The most common is the 'Land' Octorok which, in appearance, is a very rugged-looking creature built for living in any sort of habitat. The less common 'Water Octorok' makes its home in bodies of water. It spends its time submerged until it detects danger, at which point it will emerge to attack.

The common denominator among the two is that both are capable of storing large rock-like objects or sometimes other projectiles in their body. These are stored and are propelled through their mouths, as if shooting them out of a cannon. Any good shield can deflect the attack, but this becomes difficult when dealing with multiple Octoroks. Though land Ocotoroks are easily killed by conventional means of close-range weapons, water Octoroks are very quick to submerge underwater when the threat draws too close. As such, the most effective way to defeat them is by deflecting their own 'rock' back at them by means of a shield. Alternatively, most other methods of attack, such as arrows, are equally effective. Their habitat is perhaps the most varied of any species, as they will be found in swamps, rivers, deserts, forest, grasslands, mountains, caves, and just about anywhere else.

Although typically red, Octoroks have other color variations. In Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask they are a pinkish color. In the 2D games, they are typically colored red. Blue Octoroks usually have higher defense (in Four Swords Adventures, a blue Octorok can take over ten hits). Also appearing in Four Swords Adventures is a purple variation which, while weak physically, are able to fire rocks out repeatedly at a rapid rate, making it extremely deadly if caught off guard. There is yet another variation in Link's Awakening, which is a winged Octorok that is able to jump into the air. Skyward Sword features a different take on the Octorok in which they hide under grasses or rocks (depending on the habitat) and will only attack Link from a safe distance, at which point they can be defeated only through the Water Octorok method of reflecting projectiles. When on land, this attack pattern isalso reminiscent of Deku Scrubs.

Breath of the Wild notably featured a number of different variations of the Octorok, both from previous games and some new ones. The tradition aquatic types were known as Water Octoroks. They are described as having an air sac, and because of that, rain will cause them to temporarily inflate and float into the air. There were then several different types of Octorocks that, like the ones in Skyward Sword, lived underground and tried to camouflage themselves among the scenery. These types were the Forest Octoroks, the Rock Octoroks (which suck up debris around them to spit out a singular flaming rock, but can also be tricked into ingesting bombs that can destroy it from within), Snow Octoroks (which burrow through the snow and spit out freezing snowballs) and Treasure Octoroks (which hide beneath fake treasure chests and attack Link by springing up when he gets close). In Master Mode, there are also Sky Octoroks, which float around with bodies and are used to hold up enemies and/or treasure chests, although these ones do not attack anyone themselves.

A red Octorok once acted as a boss in The Minish Cap for the Temple of Dewdrops. It was a normal-sized Octorok, but Link had to fight it at Minish size which made it a Big Octorok to the player's perspective. It was initially frozen, and the battle was triggered when Link thawed the ice. The Big Octorok was still hurt by reflecting its rocks at it, but it had the ability to re-freeze the area to cover itself in icy armor. The Big Octorok also had foliage on its back which Link could attack with the Flame Lantern in order to thaw the ice so that it could be battled normally.

There has notably been one friendly Octorok NPC throughout the Zelda series. That was Octo, a child living in Lorule in A Link Between Worlds. He played a baseball-like game called Octoball Derby with two other children and possibly Link, in which he spits out balls that must be hit by the batter. He was also notably the only known Octorok in Lorule, as Octoroks were otherwise replaced by Slaroks in Lorule.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• They appeared in all three of the CD-i Zelda games. They were large and powerful enemies in the first two games, although they could be instantly defeated with a Bomb or the Power Glove. In the last game, they bore a stronger resemblance to real octopi and did not spit rocks, but they could be defeated with several attacks from Zelda's Wand.
• Octorok appear as enemies in several Adventure Mode levels of Super Smash Bros. Melee (based on their appearance from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask]) and in the Smash Run mode of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. In Smash Run, their Skyward Sword design is used, and they follow the strategy of hiding when not attacking. When an Octorok is hidden in the ground, it cannot be hurt, but it can be instantly defeated by deflecting its projectiles back at it.
  • They have also been represented as a trophy in Melee, a sticker (from Ocarina of Time) in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS Super Smash Bros. and a Spirit (using art from Skyward Sword) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When fought in a Spirit battle, the Octorok's Spirit would possess a group of Diddy Kong duplicates and focus on his Peanut Popgun attack.
• In Hyrule Warriors, Octoroks do not directly appear in the game, but they appear in sprite form (using their sprites from The Legend of Zelda) on loading screens, where they take part in little skits where they chase and attempt to attack Link.
• In Splatoon and Splatoon 2, 8-bit Sprites of Octoroks from the NES games could be found plastered to surfaces in some areas.
• In Cadence of Hyrule, Octoroks appear as common enemies, based on their classic 2-D appearance. They appear both in water and on land.

Trivia

• Until Twilight Princess, Octoroks had been the only Zelda enemy to be in every single Zelda game.
• In The Wind Waker, Manny has an 8-bit image of an Octorok emblazoned on his bag. This seems to be a nod to the Octorok having been in every game at the time, along with the Octorok figurine describing them as being the "Winner of the Perfect Attendance Award". The HD remake would later change that distinction into "Series: Exemplary enemy".

See Also

• Big Octo