Goriya

Goriya
Artwork of an orange Goriya from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
First appearance	The Legend of Zelda (1986)
Latest appearance	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo Switch remake) (2019)
Notable member(s) Goriya Bros.
Variant(s) Hungry Goriya
Relative(s) Moblin
Comparable Goriya (A Link to the Past)

This article is about the boomerang-wielding enemy first found in The Legend of Zelda. For the copying enemy first found in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, see Goriya (A Link to the Past).

Goriyas are boomerang-throwing wolf-like devils found in some early games. Oftentimes, they have prominent white mustaches.

History

The Legend of Zelda series

The Legend of Zelda

Goriyas first appear in The Legend of Zelda, where they come in both red and blue variants, with the blue ones being stronger. Both types walk around rooms, occasionally throwing their boomerangs forwards, which can damage Link. They commonly appear in large groups, typically ranging from three to eight. They first appear in the first labyrinth, Eagle, but appear most prominently in the seventh one, Demon. Defeating a specific group of red ones in Eagle gives Link the boomerang to use, while defeating a group of blue ones in Moon gives him the Magical Boomerang.

On a few occasions, a hungry Goriya will block a path in a dungeon, only leaving if Link gives some food to it.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Goriyas are among the remnants of Ganon's minions who wish to resurrect him by spilling Link's blood on his ashes. They now appear in orange, red, and blue, with the middle-strength red ones appearing first. They now commonly appear in caves or on plains regions, and tend to attack alone or in duos. They can throw their boomerangs in an overhand or underhand swing, affecting its height. While usually the boomerang will go over or under Link by default, sometimes it will be at a level Link can block it with his shield or jump over it. After it has passed Link, it will return on his level, so he must turn around to block it. Furthermore, stronger ones have multiple boomerangs, and as such they can have more than one boomerang in the air at a time.

Early in the game, a red Goriya in a cave at Tantari Desert stole a Trophy from a house in Ruto. Defeating it and returning the Trophy earns Link the Jump magic.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, a single Goriya can be found in a cave at Toronbo Shores with the aide of the Magnifying Glass. This Goriya is friendly, and will trade his powerful boomerang for certain items Link has in his inventory. However, if spoken to again, he will eagerly ask for it back. Likely due to his role, this Goriya has a friendlier design. In Link's Awakening DX, the Zora in Animal Village gives a hint for finding the Goriya.

If the Goriya's room is entered through glitching in certain situations, an enemy using Goriya's graphics will appear. It uses Mask-Mimic's behavior, and in DX, palette, so it seems to be a Mask-Mimic with the wrong graphics loaded, likely due to sharing the same tile coordinates between locations. Worth noting is this behavior is extremely similar to the A Link to the Past enemy of the same English name.

In the Nintendo Switch remake, the Goriya's mustache has been reinterpreted as a bare muzzle with a split lip.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

Main article: Goriya Bros.

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, ordinary Goriyas do not appear, but two Goriya brothers appear as the mid-boss of the first dungeon, the Gnarled Root Dungeon. The dungeon also features ordinary red Moblins throwing boomerangs as a callback to Goriyas.

CD-i games

Link: The Faces of Evil

In Link: The Faces of Evil, Goriyas appear as muscular blue wolves, and still throw boomerangs, though they may walk around or crouch in place while doing so. They first appear at the beginning of the game in the icy Nortinka alongside Moblin Spearthrowers. In Harlequin Bazaar, it is shown that Harlequin turns Koridians who lose at his gambling games into Goriyas.

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

In Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Goriyas look and act the same as in The Faces of Evil, but are introduced much later in the game. They first appear in Nokani Forest, and reappear in the final area, Reesong Palace.

Zelda's Adventure

In Zelda's Adventure, Goriyas resemble indigo-clothed white-furred yeti or lion-like humanoids, and make roaring noises. One can first be found around the Plain of Andor, and drops the boomerang spell when defeated.

Gallery

• TLoZ Goriya art.jpg

  The Legend of Zelda

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  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (red)

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  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (blue)

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  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ゴーリア Gōria	Goriya, potentially from the Spanish word "guerrilla," which is pronounced very similar in its language of origin