Moblin

Moblin
Artwork of a sword and shield-using Moblin in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
First appearance	The Legend of Zelda
Latest appearance	Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda
Notable member(s) Great Moblin (in Ocarina of Time) Moe Monster Lady Nilbom the Tailor
Variant(s) Big Moblin Boarblin Cursed Moblin Moblin Chief Quick Moblin Secret Molblin Stalmoblin
Relative(s) Bokoblin Bulblin Miniblin
Comparable Goriya Oinker Sky Shield Soldier Spear Soldier Sword Guard Taros

Moblins, originally translated as Molblins, are common enemies that usually wield spears and live in forests. In fixed-camera games, they are commonly among the weakest and most common of humanoid enemies, though in free-camera games, this role often goes instead to the related Bokoblins, with Moblins being depicted as stronger. Generally, they resemble bulldogs or pigs.

History

The Legend of Zelda series

The Legend of Zelda

In The Legend of Zelda, Molblins appear in large amounts in forested areas from the edges of the screen, and throw an endless amount of spears that resemble Link's arrows. The spears can be blocked by Link's shields. Molblins resemble bulldogs and appear in two colors, being orange and teal. Along with Zolas, they are notably the only entities that use the overworld's "teal, red, and black" palette outside of flashing from being damaged. In the Satellaview remake, BS Zelda no Densetsu, they are now red and blue. Secret Molblins appear in certain hidden caves and will bribe Link with varying amounts of Rupies while telling him to keep it a secret from everybody.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Molblins appear in early forest areas, and come in three colors. Orange, red, and blue Molblins tend to run from off-screen, throw their spears, and then run back off screen. Orange Molblins can also charge forward in endless amounts. When they do this, they do not give experience points upon defeat. In fact, in Western releases, being hit by this type of Moblin takes away experience points.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Moblins are redesigned to resemble pigs, likely to connect to Ganon. They only appear in the Dark World, and act as an analogue to the soldiers that throw spears. They have brown skin, and only appear with indigo clothes.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Moblins are found primarily in the Mysterious Woods. They resemble bulldogs again, and can either throw spears or wield a sword and shield, acting like the sword soldiers from A Link to the Past. Later, a group of Moblins led by a Moblin Chief steal the BowWow from Madame MeowMeow. Additionally, the mountainous regions are home to a variant called Pig Warrior, which is based off their appearance in A Link to the Past. They share the same behaviors, but are slightly stronger. Additionally, Darknuts and Shrouded Stalfos also use these behaviors. In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, they are all given the blue palette.

In the Nintendo Switch remake, all Moblins resemble pigs, with the forest ones resembling furry, pointy-eared feral pigs, and the Pig Warriors (now identified as Boarblins) looking like the Moblins in A Link Between Worlds. Normal Moblins also make pig squeals when attacked. Moblins and the others that share their behaviors can now be seen pulling out their spears before throwing them. The sword-using ones have been changed drastically: their shields are much bigger and they actively use them for defense, making successful attacks difficult. Hitting against the shield causes them to halt their movement, so Link may be able to run around to behind them, and hitting it enough sometimes makes them drop their guard temporarily, allowing them to be attacked easily.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Moblins (also referred to as Moriblins) only appear in the Sacred Forest Meadow in the future. They resemble brown bulldogs with gold-colored armor. They are quite large, but only have a single hit point. Navi also lacks commentary on them, and in fact cannot even target them. They slowly walk back and forth through the maze-like area, charging into Link if they see him. At the end, a large Moblin with a club will be fought. In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Moblins' models are refined an especially large amount to more closely resemble their artwork, with their facial wrinkles now being modeled instead of just textured on.

Moblins in this game have an unused behavior. Moblins that are roughly adult Link's size who actively search for Link instead of patrolling a single area or being stuck in place exist within the game's coding. If spawned, they can be blocked with the shield, though this carries the risk of them pushing Link into a corner inescapably due to how the knockback works.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, both Moblins and Pig Warriors (now themselves simply called Moblins) appear in red and blue, using spears and swords. The latter are now led by the Great Moblin. In the former game, a golden Moblin can be found as part of a quest, and boomerang-wielding red Moblins can be found in the Gnarled Root Dungeon as a stand-in for Goriyas, while normal ones are common in the Woods of Winter and appear in the dungeon accessible from it, Snake's Remains. In the latter game, they are common in the Fairies' Woods and the Deku Forest, which are the same place in different time periods, and also appear in Spirit's Grave and the Crown Dungeon. In both games, Link can use the Moblin Ring to look like a Moblin.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords

In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Moblins use their design from the development of The Wind Waker, being large brown pigs with large mouths and small legs. They can wield either spears or bows, being called Spear Moblins and Bow Moblins. Spear Moblins charge forwards when they see a Link, with Bow Moblins being a closer analogue to the previous 2D behavior.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Moblins are top-heavy pigs with big smiles and beady eyes. They wield large spears that they can swing or poke with. If they lose their spears, they will continue to attack with their fists. They also carry Skull Necklaces around their necks, which can be stolen with the Grappling Hook. Brown Moblins simply fight, but teal Moblins carry lanterns, which they can throw to cause a huge blaze of fire. Teal Moblins primarily appear in the Forsaken Fortress, where they constantly look and sniff for intruders. On Link's first visit, he has lost his sword and as such is defenseless, so being caught by on will cause him to automatically be thrown in a jail cell. He can sneak past by hiding in barrels. When they are sniffing, they are more aware of Link's movements, and will jolt when they become suspicious of his presence. One Moblin, Moe, made friends with one of the girls captured there, Maggie, and provided her with enough Skull Necklaces that her formerly-destitute father made a fortune selling them.

The Moblin design in the game is ultimately what inspired the aesthetic the rest of the game would have. The Moblins' previous role as a typical weak enemy was for the most part given to the smaller Bokoblin.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Moblins appear with their varieties and graphics from Four Swords, and color variations from The Wind Waker. However, the colors do not seem to denote any functional difference. A teal one is initially summoned to battle Link by Vaati after he gains two of the Elements. Brown ones can be found commonly afterwards, with the teal ones reappearing in Dark Hyrule Castle. Their Figurines and the Swordsman's Newsletter claim that Spear Moblins appear in the Minish Woods, but this in fact is not true. The Newsletter also calls Moblins a good source of income, likely due to them having a relatively high probability of dropping red Rupees and green Kinstone shards. There is also a Moblin in disguise as a woman living in Percy's house; this Monster Lady is exposed if the torches in the house are lit. The Moblin will then bribe Link with Rupees to not tell anyone, similar to the Secret Molblins from the first game. Additionally, a red-tinted Moblin is prominently featured in the game's stained-glass-style backstory shown at both the beginning and when the Four Sword is complete.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

An early demo reel for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess shows Link battling what seems to be a Moblin. It is a stout creature with large teeth and a single large crooked horn, and attacks with a large spear. They are not present in any capacity in the final game, where they are seemingly replaced with the related Bulblins, which wield clubs and arrows. The model itself seems to have been overwritten or altered and repurposed beyond recognition.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Moblins are depicted as extremely fat red oni-like monsters. They wield spears and giant shields, and tend to swipe or charge with their spears. They are divided between Wooden Shield Moblins and Metal Shield Moblins. Wooden Shield Moblins are the more common of the two. Their shields can be sliced apart with enough sword strikes, though they tend to rotate them to keep covered. Even without the shield, they are quite resilient, with their large bellies shrugging off most blows. Once they are defeated, they slowly start to fall forwards. If Link is in front of them when they do so, he will take damage. These Moblins start appearing in Faron Woods midway through the game, but are wiped out after Faron the water dragon floods the wood to destroy the monsters within. They also appear around the outside of the Lanayru Mining Facility. They later appear late in Ghirahim's horde battle in the past Sealed Grounds.

Metal Shield Moblins are rare mini-bosses. They wear helmets, and their reinforced shields cannot be broken. However, they can be climbed upon, allowing Link to get behind them and attack the Moblin's back.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Moblins appear in Lorule with the same purpose as in A Link to the Past. They are now orange and stockier, and their spears can hurt other enemies. There is also a shirtless sword-and-shield-wielding variety, that acts more like Sword Soldiers. Unlike Sword Soldiers, their shields are very large and difficult to hit around. The shield can be sliced with the Master Sword Lv2 or Master Sword Lv3, and can also be removed with the Hookshot.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, Spear Throwing Moblins are fairly common early-game enemies, and look as they do in A Link Between Worlds. Their spears go in a downward arc, so sometimes they stay on high platforms or, more commonly, on top of Totem Armos, requiring a Totem position to attack them. There is also a dark, purple-colored type in the Den of Trials that seems to be physically based off the sword variety from A Link Between Worlds. The spears these ones throw carry curses which cause the Links to be unable to use their gear. The Totem Armos they ride are dark-colored as well.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Moblins are depicted as being tall and lanky with a head resembling a cross between a rhino and an aardvark or wild boar, having a crooked horn like the unused Twilight Princess design. Like most humanoid enemies in the game, they come in red, blue, and black, with silver ones showing up after an extremely large amount of total enemies are defeated. DLC also contains an even stronger golden variety. Moblins have various types of clubs, spears, and bows associated with them, which are sometimes swapped with Bokoblin and Hylian weapons. Due to their height, an unarmed Moblin will prefer to kick Link rather than punch him. If he is out of range, they will throw rocks at him. Black Moblins and stronger may also throw Bokoblins. Ordinary Moblins are likely to be the first new enemy Link encounters after leaving the Great Plateau. Moblins can be fooled using the Moblin Mask, although they will follow Link curiously for some distance. At night, Stalmoblins appear in certain more high-difficulty tier locations, and can also be fooled by the mask. Depending on the color, defeated Moblins can drop horns, fangs, and various internal organs to use to make elixirs. Stalmoblins, however, cannot drop the organs.

Zelda (Game & Watch)

In the Zelda Game & Watch game, Molblins are called Goblins. One must be defeated on each floor to progress, aside from the boss rooms. They can throw spears, which can be blocked by the shield.

CD-i games

Link: The Faces of Evil

In Link: the Faces of Evil, Moblin Spearthrowers, also referred to as spear-throwing Molblin are extremely common enemies, first appearing in Nortinka, a starting location. They either charge at Link, or crouch while throwing spears. They are also capable of entering buildings behind Link to ambush him. The boss Lupay turns Koridians into Moblin minions by replacing their souls with Rubies.

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

In Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Moblin Spearthrowers appear as they do in The Faces of Evil, and are again quite common, initially appearing in Kobitan, a starting location.

Zelda's Adventure

In Zelda's Adventure, Moblins are called Mobilins. They appear in the forest regions, and generally just wander around aimlessly, attacking Princess Zelda if they see her. A talking mushroom jokes about how "slow and stupid" they are, claiming they are "still trying to eat soup with a fork."

Nintendo Land

In the Battle Quest mode of Nintendo Land, hand-crafted representations of Moblins appear as the primary enemies, coming in many colors, such as cyan, tan, pink, and purple, with each getting slightly more powerful. Due to generally being weak, however, they tend to attack in large groups. Most wield clubs, though some toss a single bomb and run away, while others hold still and shoot burning arrows. The club-wielding ones can also carry shields made from wood or metal; much like in Skyward Sword, the player can slice through the former, though both types use their shields to guard from specific angles rather than just from the front. Some with clubs or bombs also wear cooking pots as helmets for further protection, though the archers always wear floppy, wide-brimmed hats. The game also features a giant type called Big Moblins and a thin, ambushing type called Quick Moblins.

Hyrule Warriors

In Hyrule Warriors and its remakes, Moblins appear as the Wooden Shield Moblins from Skyward Sword. Metal Shield Moblins are just called "Shield Moblins," despite both having shields. Neither type of shield can be destroyed. They are very powerful, have a large amount of defensive area, and are quite durable. However, they are generally quite slow. They have many attacks. They can swing their spears back and forth over a wide area, throw them a great distance, charge quickly, flop onto their bellies, and spin around rapidly while moving around. The latter two attacks leave them open for powerful attacks to be made against them, and the last one can be canceled out in later rereleases. In the Adventure Mode maps, Moblins are represented by the orange Moblins from The Legend of Zelda, while the Shield Moblins are represented by the teal ones.

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, Moblins appear as stout pigs, and appear in various colors. When they detect the player character, they throw their spear in the air, which will land on the marked space in the next beat.

Gallery

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  The Legend of Zelda

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  The Legend of Zelda

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  The Legend of Zelda (Milton Bradley)

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  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (orange)

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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

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  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

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  Barcode Battler II

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  The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

• OoT Moblin art.jpg

  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

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  The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages

• TWW Moblin art.jpg

  The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

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  The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

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  The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

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  The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

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  The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

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  Nintendo Land

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  Nintendo Land

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  The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	モリブリン Moriburin	Molblin, from 森 (Mori, forest) and "goblin"