Stalfos Knight

Stalfos Knights are a large sword-and-shield-wielding variety of Stalfos found primarily in earlier The Legend of Zelda games. Some qualities that define them have since been applied to ordinary Stalfos.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Stalfos Knights, referred to in English as simply Stalfos, appear in some of the early palaces. Stalfos come in red and blue. They attack with a sword and wield a shield at chest height, but leave their feet unguarded, allowing Link to attack them by swinging his sword while ducking. Red Stalfos are also capable of Down Thrusting when they spawn, but will not jump back in the air to do so. Blue Stalfos can, however. A stronger, helmeted version called a Parutamu is found in some later dungeons.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Stalfos Knights, also referred to as Skeleton Knights, appear in the Ice Palace, where they fall from the ceiling. They are much larger than ordinary Stalfos, and wield long swords, which they slash at the ground with. Attacking them will cause them to temporarily crumble; from here, they can be destroyed with a bomb. They are only capable of facing towards the screen. In the Game Boy Advance version, ones with slightly different color appear in the Palace of the Four Sword.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
One large Stalfos Knight named Master Stalfos appears. He steals the Hookshot in Catfish's Maw and must be fought four times. He acts like the ones in A Link to the Past, but takes more hits. Like the Gohmas, he is not encountered again in Turtle Rock.

Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda
In Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda, Stalfos Knights appear as minibosses and now wear teal helmets with orange horns. They wield huge battered swords and spiked orange shields, and are again larger than normal Stalfos. Their attack pattern is similar to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, with a few notable tweaks. They must be attacked from the side or with other means such as a bomb to make them crumble into an inanimate pile or bones, at which point the Stalfos Knight Head will aggressively float around and fire lasers. Defeating the Stalfos Knight Head will merely make it retreat back into its body, which will return to life, but its fallen body can still be attacked in order to defeat it. It has a dark variety called Black Stalfos Knight, which has a red helmet with gold details.