Iron Knuckle

Iron Knuckle
First appearance	Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Latest appearance	Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda
Notable member(s) Nabooru Rebonack
Variant of	Gerudo (3D games)
Relative(s) Darknut
Comparable General Onox

Iron Knuckles (originally Ironknuckles) are heavily-armored soldiers.

History

The Legend of Zelda series

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

They appear in orange, red, and blue throughout the palaces, and were presumably placed there by the King of Hyrule. They move relatively fast, and are capable of slashing their swords at chest height and knee height. They also have shields to block Link's own attacks. The blue ones are additionally capable of throwing knives or sword beams, depending on the version of the game. Down Thrusting can be done to avoid an attack being blocked by the shield, though a blue one may be too fast for this to be effective in some situations. The boss of the Island Palace, Rebonack, is an Ironknuckle that rides a metallic horse that can run on and off the screen. He is later found twice in the Three-Eye Rock Palace.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

They are found in the Spirit Temple as mid-bosses and Ganon's Castle as enemies, and appear with various colors. However, the colors do not signify any strength difference. They are much wider and much slower than in Zelda II: Adventure of Link, and additionally wield huge axes. However, a pre-release screenshot showed a golden Iron Knuckle with armor resembling their previous design. To attack, Iron Knuckles will swing their axes at Link for massive damage, even capable of destroying certain stone structures. Most items will not damage them. Once they have taken enough damage, their outer armor will fall off, and they will become faster, but more vulnerable. They are now able to use their axes like a shield, but will flinch when being damaged.

One unique Iron Knuckle with only one phase of battle is revealed to be a brainwashed Nabooru. In fact, in the original version, all Iron Knuckles have Nabooru-like Gerudo heads under their helmets, potentially for testing purposes as they appear to use a prototypical design. They can be seen by positioning the camera just right through the front of the helmet. In the 3DS version, all the heads were removed from view, except for the one that houses Nabooru in-story. However, the top of a Gerudo torso can be seen, and in fact is visible in the second phase of battle in all versions of the game. All Iron Knuckles, including the brainwashed Nabooru, have very deep vocal grunts despite being ostensibly female in this game.

In Master Quest, one appears in the Fire Temple, and some are also in the Gerudo Training Ground.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Iron Knuckles appear four times. Twice as minibosses underneath the graveyard in separate graves (a black one in the first grave and a silver one in the second), and another time as a lifeless, sword-wielding bronze suit of armor in the Curiosity Shop. On the other side of its helmet is a hole in the wall Kafei uses to spy on what happens in the shop. The fourth one is another silver one found in the battle-themed Moon challenge. The fightable ones look and act exactly the same as in Ocarina of Time, and keep the same Gerudo head in the original.

CD-i games

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

An Ironknuckle is a boss, having kidnapped most of Sakado's residents and taken them to Tykogi Tower, despite Mayor Cravendish telling him that that is "illegal." Once he is defeated with the Power Glove, his Armos minions watch him break apart, revealing a beating cartoonish heart, which is used as a Heart Container.

Zelda's Adventure

IronknucklesTemplate:Citation needed are found in the Shrine of Strength. They wander around with swords drawn and pointing forwards, similar to Darknuts in the first game.

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, Iron Knuckles appear as enemies. They have masks resembling their design from the Nintendo 64 games, but rounder. Iron Knuckles are depicted as being very stout, and appear alongside Sword Guards, which are smaller, and Darknuts, which are about the same size, but more muscular and with smaller helmets. Potentially in reference to their English name, Iron Knuckles appear to have studded fists instead of typical weaponry. They move after several beats and will attempt to charge up a punch if the player character is close, at which point it leaves the button on its back open to attack. Comically, it reveals a cartoonish eye winching in pain for a frame of animation when damaged. It has a black variant known as an Iron Knuckle Chieftain.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	アイアンナック Aiannakku	Ironnuc