Beamos

Beamos
Artwork of a Beamos for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
First appearance	The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)
Latest appearance	The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (2021)
Comparable Armos Guardian (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

Beamos are a recurring security apparatus that is capable of rotating an eye around its body, from which it can fire a laser at intruders. In some games, they are treated as a simple obstacle, though in others, they seem to be actually sentient. In most latter cases, they can be defeated, generally by destroying the eye.

History

The Legend of Zelda series

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Beamos are called Rotating Green Laser Statues, Laser Towers, Laser Turrets, Beamos Statues, or Laser Eye Statues. They are tall green pedestals that are first found in the Desert Palace, later appearing in Misery Mire and Ganon's Tower. If they see Link, they will fire a laser in his direction before continuing to slowly spin. Sometimes, they are found on conveyor belts moving in a rectangle pattern.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the Statues are now called lasers. They are much shorter than before, but act essentially the same. They appear as a short dome shape with a rim on the bottom, and are first found in the Face Shrine. In Link's Awakening DX, they are tinted blue, and in the Nintendo Switch remake, they are redesigned completely, now being a sphere with an inset eye over a square tile.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Beamos appear under their current name and are far more aggressive than before. They now have a rotating eye within an eyelid over a metallic body resembling a sneering face balanced on two tiny feet. They appear with a subtle amount of size variance, though the game makes no distinction between them. They are first found in Dodongo's Cavern, and reappear in several later dungeons like the Spirit Temple, the Shadow Temple, and inside Ganon's Castle. If they see Link, they will fire a continuous laser towards him while actively trying to keep their gaze on him. They can be defeated with a bomb or Bomb Flower to the eye, which destroys their body while causing the eye to explode a few seconds later. If the bomb is too far away when it explodes, though, they will simply close their eye for a moment.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Beamos look and and act the same as in Ocarina of Time, though they are now slightly larger. They appear in the Stone Tower and the temple within, and can be fooled by the Stone Mask.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Beamos are called Lasers and appear as they do in Link's Awakening, though the beam is now a contiguous line rather than a series of dots. In the former, they first appear in the Dancing Dragon Dungeon, and in the latter, in the Crown Dungeon.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, two types of Beamos appear, both appearing in the Tower of the Gods. The green type fires in a set direction, only able to change the distance it is firing, while the red type spins rapidly and fires at Link on sight. Both types can be defeated with an arrow to the eye, which only appears when Link is close. Otherwise, they simply have a small spinning light on top. They notably lack a figurine; taking a pictograph of one and giving it to Carlov results in an Armos figurine, and a pictograph of one is only treated as valid if the eye is visible.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Beamos look like they do in A Link to the Past, though the eye is now a simple 3D model. Once again, they debut in the Desert Temple. If shot in the eye with the bow, the entire Beamos will disappear.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Beamos are very tall and have two designs depending on location, but act like the ones in Ocarina of Time beyond a faster rotation. Both can be defeated via an arrow to the red eye. The first is a dark-colored rectangular monolith found in Goron Mines and a lantern cavern near Lake Hylia. After being defeated, some of these can be pushed. The other type is light-colored and more cylindrical, being unique to the Temple of Time. These can be completely destroyed with a statue controlled by the Dominion Rod.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Beamos are gray cylinders with a yellow and green eye. They have the same basic behavior as in previous fixed-camera games. They are first found in the Temple of Courage, and later appear in the Goron Temple.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Beamos are a common enemy in the past of Lanayru, first appearing in the Lanayru Mining Facility. They appear as tall robotic totem poles, and can be defeated via an arrow strike or sword poke to the eye. To reach the eye with the sword, Link must perform horizontal slashes across the lines on its base, cutting it down. Additionally, by using the Gust Bellows on the fins on its head, he can briefly disorient it. If one is outside the effect of a Timeshift Stone without first being defeated, it appears as a tan-colored pile of pieces.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Beamos look mostly like they do in A Link to the Past barring having a flat eye, and again appear in the Desert Palace, though Link will likely encounter them before in the Swamp Palace. They attack significantly different from before, however. They sit perfectly still until Link approaches, at which point they begin firing a laser while slowly making a complete loop. By merging into the wall, Link can avoid it.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, Beamos look completely different from in A Link Between Worlds, unlike most enemies shared between the two games. They appear as a spike ball with an inset eye, acting like most previous fixed-camera games. The Links can use a totem position to attack one and knock it off its pedestal, but once they do, it begins rolling after them while flashing, eventually exploding.

Hyrule Warriors

In Hyrule Warriors, Beamos are first found in the Valley of Seers and appear solely as keep obstacles. They resemble their appearance from the Nintendo 64 games, but with a darker, more rocky appearance. They only ever attack allied forces, even if their keep has been taken over. To attack, they charge up a laser and fire several lasers in a line on the ground, with an explosion coming from each shortly after. They can be defeated with bombs.

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, Beamos resemble their original appearance, but with a blue "head." They act basically the same as normal, but unlike most fixed-camera appearances target the player's position on the floor rather than a beam to the end of the screen in their direction. They have two hit points.

Gallery

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  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

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  The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ビム Bimu ビーモス Bīmosu	Diminutive of "Beam" (before Ocarina of Time) Beamos (Ocarina of Time onwards)
French	Sentinelle	Sentry
German	Strahlzyklop	Beam Cyclops
Chinese (Simplified)	彼莫斯射线塔
Chinese (Traditional)	彼莫斯射線塔

Trivia

• During the design phase of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the small, box-shaped laser turrets found in certain shrines were considered to be Beamos. Nothing in the final game identifies them as such, however.