Eagle Knight

Eagle Knights are enemies found only in the Great Palace in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, seemingly tasked with protecting the Triforce of Courage by the old King of Hyrule. True to their name, they are heavily-armored humanoid birds of prey. They act like fast-moving versions of blue Ironknuckles, but with the ability to jump, which they do quite high, and even more attack power. Their jumping ability allows them to throw daggers quickly at many different heights. As such, they are among the most agile and most dangerous enemies in the game, though their jumping gives them a weakness to the Up Thrust. They come in red and blue, with Blue Eagle Knights being faster and even more powerful than the red ones. A female counterpart, or possibly simply a relative called Soprano, also lives in the Great Palace.

Additionally, statues of them replace the typical Ironknuckle statues for this dungeon, and similar to the Ironknuckle statues, may give a red Magic Jar, a red Eagle Knight, or nothing at all if struck with the Magical Sword.

Trivia

 * Eagle Knights are the only Great Palace-exclusive enemy to have artwork produced by Nintendo; the others are in turn among the few enemies in the game to lack artwork by the same source.