Gohdan

"You have done well to find your way to this place. Oh, chosen one... Accept this final challenge..."

- Gohdan

Gohdan, the Great Arbiter is a giant stone machine that acts as the boss of the Tower of the Gods in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Unlike the game's other bosses, he has no affiliation with Ganondorf nor is he evil in general, simply acting as a final test to see if Link is worthy. He is made up of a giant floating head controlling two giant floating hands, each with an eye in the palm. He has several behavioral similarities to the Armos Knights found in the tower, though the game never explicitly connects the two. He bears a large resemblance to Ramrock in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Mazaal in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and appears to have some design basis in ancient Mesoamerican relics, particularly of the. During his battle and in his artwork, he is shown as a deep teal color, though his figurine depicts him as gray, suggesting the former color is merely the result of the lighting.

When Link arrives in his chamber, he is at first at rest in three alcoves in the wall high above. He congratulates Link for making it so far, then offers to spar as a final challenge, floating down to near Link. The battlefield is a large circle surrounded by a shallow pit with glowing electric floor. To attack, Gohdan uses its massive hands to try and knock Link into the pits or clap on him. Additionally, Gohdan can charge up and shoot volleys of exploding yellow energy balls at Link, which can cause him to catch fire. To damage Gohdan, Link must use the bow to shoot at Gohdan's palm-eyes. Two arrows deactivate the respective hand, though it will reactivate quickly if the other one is not also taken care of quickly. Once both hands are incapacitated, Gohdan's face eyes open, at which point Link must shoot at them. Due to them being smaller targets and Gohdan moving around, this can be more difficult. Additionally, he closes them when using his energy attack. Once both eyes are shot twice, Gohdan falls to the ground, mouth agape. Link now needs to place a bomb inside of him, after which he makes a motion and noise indicating he "swallowed" it. Once it explodes, Gohdan's nose and ears comically leak smoke, after which he begins floating again and the whole process starts over. If Link runs out of arrows or bombs during the fight, Gohdan will help him by sneezing out more, though this can also reactivate his hands if they are down. However, Gohdan's face eyes will not reset, thus making the hands optional to deal with in this case. With each successful bombing, Gohdan moves and acts quicker, but after the third one, he admits defeat.

Once defeated, Gohdan begins glowing from behind and tells Link the path forward is open. He then tells him Link is now responsible for the fate of the world, so he should proceed with caution. He then returns to his place on the wall as a purple beam of light and magic shines down to the center of the room to lead Link to the top, then sneezes out a Heart Container for him. Gohdan remains in this spot for the remainder of the game.