Sopranos[1] are feminine bird enemies found in the Great Palace in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. They walk back and forth slowly over a short area, occasionally jumping while constantly holding their wing aloft, and spit out several fireballs in an arc at Link, thus making them essentially a more powerful counterpart to the Gūma enemy from previous palaces. When the fireballs land, they become a normal flame and travel a short distance in his direction before slowing to a stop, even if it is the same direction the Soprano is in. They seem to be a female counterpart, or at least a relative to the Eagle Knights also found within the Great Palace, though the Eagle Knights have hands instead of wings.
The Soprano is among the few enemies in the game to lack artwork from Nintendo. Since most of the others without artwork are also from the Great Palace, this may have been to keep them a surprise, though it may instead be due to the fact that the sprite of the Soprano seems to have a bare chest with visible nipples. A similar case of a nude harpy in a Nintendo Entertainment System game is the Syren in Kid Icarus, though in that case the enemy does have artwork, and said artwork is far more blatant about the nudity than the sprite. The Soprano is given artwork in the licensed Futubasha guide, though it would seem that the illustrator misinterpreted the open-mouthed sprite, resulting in an alien-like creature being drawn.
Names in other languages
| Language
|
Name
|
Meaning
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| Japanese |
フォッケル
Fokkeru |
Fockel, possibly corrupted from ファルコン (Farukon, falcon)
|
Trivia
- The Soprano's English name comes from the name for the highest-pitched vocal register. It was likely named that for its feminine appearance, association between birds and singing, and attacking with its breath while opening its mouth wide.
References
- ^ Averill, Alan, Jessica Folsom, Erik Peterson, and Jacob Ward. The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition Player's Guide. Pages 40 and 41.
