Trap

Traps, also known as Blade Traps, are a recurring obstacle in the The Legend of Zelda franchise. They slide along the ground and other surfaces, poking intruders with their spikes. Some only move upon detecting someone, while others are constantly in motion.

The Legend of Zelda
In The Legend of Zelda, traps appear as a common dungeon threat, appearing in almost every dungeon. Usually, four appear in each corner of the room they are in, but occasionally a pair will also appear nestled between blocks in the middle. When Link walks along the x- or y-coordinate of one, it will quickly slide over to him before slowly sliding back. In the game itself, they are blue with straight spikes, while in artwork, they are orange with triangular blades.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Traps appear in two sizes, both of which are unique to Dark World dungeons. The small, gray ones appear in many dungeons starting with the Palace of Darkness and are covered with twelve spikes. Some act like the ones in the first game, but most endlessly slide back-and-forth by themselves or hold still. Aside from in normal dungeon rooms, they also appear during the battles against the Helmasaur King, Mothula, and Trinexx, where they primarily hold still, though occasionally shoot out in Mothula's fight. Large, golden ones also appear in the later dungeons, starting with the Ice Palace. This type always uses the original behavior.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Blade Traps have a circular base, a pair of eyes, and four diagonally oriented cleaver-like blades. They are again common, appearing as early as the first dungeon, the Tail Cave, all the way up to the last normal dungeon, Turtle Rock. In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, they are colored red, while in the Nintendo Switch remake, the blades come together in a circular shape and spin around the base.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Blade Traps are once again common. They resemble a stack of two black disks, each with four spikes pointing out different directions, resembling an eight-pointed star from the top. They are first found in Dodongo's Cavern, where they react to Link's presence. Others move slowly back-and-forth without stimulus, while one in the Ice Cavern moves in a huge circle at a high rate of speed.

In Ocarina of Time 3D, their design is heavily tweaked, featuring an extra row of smaller spikes and a red ring on top with faint Hylian script.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, four Blade Traps appear in the Big Poe's room beneath the Well, being an uncharacteristically rare obstacle in this game. They all move back and forth along one side of the room each regardless of what Link does. Unlike the ones in Ocarina of Time, they twirl as they move.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
In both The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, Blade Traps resemble their designs from Link's Awakening DX, but appear in an array of colors. None denote any functional difference, however. They are again very common, and sometimes multiple colors appear together. They also can use multiple attack patterns, including the fast circle type from the Nintendo 64 games. On rare occasions, they appear in sidescrolling segments. The giant ones from A Link to the Past also appear. They now have a skull shape in the middle and move along irregularly-shaped looping paths through mazes. These games also introduce a similar enemy, the Chaser.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Traps appear in some possible rooms of the game, notably in the Hero Key path of Death Mountain. They resemble their Link's Awakening DX appearance, but without eyes and with metallic white blades. They appear in three colors with different behaviors, with blue ones able to attack in one direction, red ones attacking in multiple directions, and green ones following a path.

In Four Swords Anniversary Edition, they also appear in the Realm of Memories stages based on A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda, with the ones in the latter using a red version of their original sprite. They are also in every stage of the Hero's Trial.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Traps are rare, being only found in the Wind Temple and Ganon's Castle. They have a brown square base like their original design, but with cleaver blades.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Traps are an occasional hazard, first appearing in Hyrule Castle, where they debut in a pair guarding a staircase. They resemble their Four Swords design, but with a thicker outline.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Traps are again quite common, first appearing in the Cave of Flames. They look like they do in Four Swords, though only the green and blue ones appear.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Traps are round, have a row of conical spikes, and are constantly spinning, appearing in Arbiter's Grounds, the Temple of Time, and Hyrule Castle, each with a different specific design. They commonly appear along Spinner tracks, and additionally do so in the Stallord fight. In the Temple of Time, they can be destroyed by a statue brought to life with the Dominion Rod. Traps in this game do not respond to Link's movements.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Traps are small and square with four large, knife-like blades placed at an angle. Whenever they move, they also spin. They first appear in the Temple of Courage.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Traps look and act as they do in Phantom Hourglass, first appearing in the Fire Temple.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Traps are an extremely rare Lanayru Desert obstacle, which like most others is only active while under the effects of a Timeshift Stone. They again have a ring of spinning spikes and move without further interaction from Link.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Traps are again spinning, circular, and freely moving, not at all resembling their counterparts from A Link to the Past like most shared entities. They are also relatively uncommon but appear as early as the Tower of Hera this time. They also are capable of floating through the air as they spin.

Zelda's Adventure
In Zelda's Adventure, Blade Traps resemble their appearance in the first game but are gray with three spikes on each side. They first appear in the Shrine of Destiny, where an early room has a group constantly moving back-and-forth across it. A Crystal Switch on the other side of the room causes them to disappear and can be hit with a projectile spell. Other rooms lack the switch, and as such they must be avoided outright.

BS Zelda no Densetsu
In BS Zelda no Densetsu, Blade Traps are again common, appearing in every level. They resemble their original sprites, but with blades like their original artwork.

BS Zelda no Densetsu: Inishie no Sekiban
In BS Zelda no Densetsu: Inishie no Sekiban, Blade Traps look like they do in A Link to the Past and appear in a few dungeons, starting with the fourth, the Lost Woods. This dungeon alone also features the larger type.