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Lynels are recurring lion centaur-like enemies in The Legend of Zelda series.[1][2][3]

Characteristics[]

The Legend of Zelda[]

The Legend of Zelda Manual Description
The Legend of Zelda logo
Lynel
The guardian who attacks all those who come near Death Mountain. Watch out! He's pretty strong, and Link's little shield can't stop his sword.
TLoZ Lynel Red Sprite 2

Lynels appear in red and blue variations in The Legend of Zelda, with the blue one dealing twice as much collision damage and taking 6 hits to kill instead of 4 with the wooden sword. They can be found around Death Mountain. Lynels fire beam projectiles at Link, which cannot be blocked with the Wooden Shield,[4] only with the Magical Shield. When defeated, red Lynels may drop either a Heart, a Fairy or one Rupee, while blue Lynels may drop either a Heart, one Rupee, four Bombs or a Clock.[note 1]

A Link to the Past[]

Lynel ALttP

Lynels appear on Death Mountain in A Link to the Past where only 3 are found by the east bridge near Ganon's Tower. They shoot fireballs at Link, which can only be deflected with the Red and Mirror Shields. They can only be damaged with the Magic Hammer, Silver Arrows, a Spin Attack from the Master Sword, or an attack from any of its upgrades.

Oracle of Seasons[]

Lynels appear in red and blue variations in Oracle of Seasons. They mostly move slowly, but charge towards Link when in sight. They shoot fire arrows at Link which can pass through certain walls. These can only be blocked with the Mirror Shield, which can be obtained only in a linked game with Oracle of Ages. A Golden Lynel appears in the Tarm Ruins during Winter after talking to the golden-robed Old Man. Defeating the Golden Lynel alongside the other Golden Monsters rewards Link with the Red Ring.

Oracle of Ages[]

Lynels appear in red and blue variations in Oracle of Ages. They mostly move slowly, but charge towards Link when in sight. They shoot fire arrows at Link which can pass through certain walls. These can only be blocked with the Mirror Shield, which can be obtained only in a linked game with Oracle of Seasons. Both the Switch Hook and Long Hook are ineffective against Lynels

A Link Between Worlds[]

Lynels appear in two variations in A Link Between Worlds, a white-maned type found on Death Mountain and a black variant with an orange mane that is found in the Treacherous Tower. They attack by breathing a long stream of fire that takes three hearts,[verification needed] which can only be blocked with the Hylian Shield.

Breath of the Wild[]

Hyrule Compendium Entry

121 (125) Lynel
BotW Hyrule Compendium Lynel
Description
These fearsome monsters have lived in Hyrule since ancient times. They possess intense intelligence, resilience, and strength, making them among the most dangerous monsters in all the land. This is compounded by the fact that they have a natural resistance to all elements. You would be wise to challenge a Lynel only if you're very well prepared.
Common Locations
Lanayru Great Spring
Hyrule Field
Recoverable Materials
Lynel Horn Lynel Hoof Lynel Guts
BotW Perfect Guard

Link using a Perfect Guard against a Lynel

Lynels appear in five different variations in Breath of the Wild, including the standard red-maned Lynels, Blue-Maned Lynels, White-Maned Lynels, Silver Lynels, and the Master Mode exclusive Golden Lynels. With the exception of the Lynel on Ploymus Mountain, after spotting Link, a Lynel will often refrain from attacking for a short period of time and instead stare him down. This allows Link to escape before it initiates a battle. Lynels exclusively use weapons of the Lynel Gear equipment archetype, of which they are the sole source. The only exception to this is the Lynel encountered in the Coliseum Ruins, which carries a Flameblade when encountered as a Silver Lynel. Depending on their location, Lynels can wield a Sword and Shield combo, a Spear, or a Crusher. They also wield a Bow that is equipped with either Regular Arrows (only at Gerudo Summit), Fire Arrows, Ice Arrows, Shock Arrows, or Bomb Arrows (only on the Great Plateau in Master Mode). Their multishot arrows ignore invulnerability frames (thus Link can get hit by each Arrow). Though Lynel Spears and Lynel Crushers are two-handed Weapons, Lynels are capable of wielding them with one hand.

Lynels have a variety of attacks, both ranged and melee, such as shooting fireballs, body slamming, dashing, and trampling. Lynels also have the ability to teleport, doing so to either briefly flee from battle or to give chase after Link. Link can perform a Perfect Dodge or a Perfect Guard on most of their attacks, leaving them vulnerable for counterattacks. He can also utilize the wind gusts created by their fire attacks to glide up and shoot an Arrow at their head, stunning them and inflicting double damage. Link can temporarily mount Lynels either by sneaking up from behind, jumping on while they are stunned, using the Paraglider to drop onto them from above, or immediately after they perform a dashing Sword swipe or charge at Link. While mounted, Link can repeatedly attack the Lynel up to five times with any Weapon without it losing any Durability. If Link's Stamina runs out however, he will be thrown off and lose a quarter of a Heart. Though they can be mounted, they cannot be soothed and tamed. If Link dies while attempting to mount a Lynel, the Lynel will roar.

Every kind of Lynel from red to golden are completely immune to all elemental types[6]. That includes the additional damage and the effect an element would normally inflict. It is therefore pointless to use offensives like elemental arrows and elemental melee weapons whilst fighting them. The only exception to this is Urbosa's Fury which does not abide by this rule.

When defeated, Lynels drop their Hooves, Horns, and Guts, along with their Weapons and a bundle of their Arrows. Silver and Golden Lynels occasionally drop Gems and Star Fragments as well. A total of 22 Lynels can be found throughout Hyrule. An additional Lynel also appears on the Great Plateau in Master Mode. Two Lynels also appear in the Trial of the Sword.

Link can buy a Lynel Mask for 999 Mon from Kilton's Fang and Bone shop after completing three Divine Beasts. It can be used to temporarily avoid being attacked by Lynels.[7] Majora's Mask can also be worn to deceive Lynels, but will only work for a short amount of time and the Lynels will attack Link if he lingers too long.

Tears of the Kingdom[]

Lynels reappear in Tears of the Kingdom, acting the same as in Breath of the Wild (along with some AI changes when staring Link down), but can also attack Link with their new Saber Horns. Furthermore, Lynels wielding 2-handed clubs have a variation of a spin attack that is angled. Their charge attack can now turn more sharply, making simply running to the side (assuming no obstacles, and no speed up enhancement on Link, and Link being anywhere at a distance in front of the Lynel) almost impossible to avoid. Running out of stamina while mounted deals more damage. Furthermore, if there are any Zonai device or any obstacles near them, they will roar, causing the obstacles to despawn. Due to the weapon fuse mechanics and the removal of Lynel melee weapons, most of them wield a Soldier melee weapons.

Strangely, if Link dies while mounted, they no longer roar because they remain frozen during the game over sequence.

There is now Armoured Lynels of all variants, which can appear. Like other armoured enemies in Tears of the Kingdom, their armour must first be broken using blunt weapons or explosive damage before the Lynel itself can be damaged. While Armored, they cannot be mounted, if Link attempts to do so, he will immediately get thrown off and take damage due to the armor being spiky.

Like many other enemies, Gloom-covered Lynel variants appear in The Depths, which deal Gloom Damage when striking Link with their body (but not with fire breath). Notably, in the Floating Coliseum is a trial where Link must defeat 5 Gloom-covered Lynels in order: Normal/red, Blue-maned, White-maned, Silver and Silver Armoured.

Other Appearances[]

The Legend of Zelda TV Series[]

Lynels (Sing for the Unicorn)

Lynels in the TV series

Two Lynels appear in the "Sing for the Unicorn" episode of The Legend of Zelda TV series. Before Link, Princess Zelda and Sing made their way to Ganon's lair, where Link must fight a pair of Lynels, one blue and one red. The hero blocks their attacks and then proceeds to zap both of them, with one of them dropping a Recorder that allows them to escape the Underworld later on in the episode. Blue Lynels also appear as part of the Brotherhood of Underworld Monsters in The Moblins are Revolting firing their projectiles a little too early on the Moblin leader's command before Link and Zelda leave for the Underworld.

The Legend of Zelda (Valiant Comics)[]

In the The Legend of Zelda comics by Valiant Comics, Lynels appear in the "Day of the Triforce" story. These foes, along with other of Ganon's minions, go to the Water Town of Saria to set fire to the village, as well as capturing and injuring many of its people.[8] When Cassiopia goes to the North Palace to inform Princess Zelda of what has happened, Zelda decides to go to Saria to aid Cassiopia and the rest of the citizens. Upon arrival, Zelda encourages the townsfolk to fight back,[9] and together, the princess along with the Saria people, successfully defeat the Lynels and the rest of the monsters.[10]

Cadence of Hyrule[]

Lynels appear as Minibosses in Cadence of Hyrule. They have five Hearts and fight using their bow and arrows similar to Breath of the Wild.

Trivia[]

Nomenclature[]

TMC Forest Minish Artwork Names in other regions TMC Jabber Nut Sprite
LanguageNameMeaning
United KingdomEnglishBRLynel (CoH)
JapanJapaneseライネル (Raineru) (TLoZ | ALttP | BotW | CoH)[14][15][16]Same as English.
ChinaChineseSI莱尼尔 (Láiníěr) (CoH)
Taiwan, Hong Kong, MacaoChineseTR萊尼爾 (Láiníěr) (BotW | CoH)
NetherlandsDutchLynel (TLoZ | BotW | CoH)[17][18]
CanadaFrenchCACentaléo (BotW | CoH | HWAoC)[19][20]
FranceFrenchEULynel (TLoZ | BotW | CoH)[21][22]
GermanyGermanLeune (BotW | CoH)[23]
ItalyItalianLynel (BotW | CoH)[24]
South KoreaKorean라이넬 (Rainel) (BotW)
라이넬 (Lainel) (CoH)
PortugalPortugueseEULynel (CoH)
RussiaRussianЛевр (Levr) (BotW | CoH)[25]
N/A (TLoZ)
SpainSpanishEUCentaleón (BotW | CoH)[26]
Latin AmericaSpanishLACentaleón (BotW | CoH)[27]
This table was generated using translation pages.
To request an addition, please contact a staff member with a reference.

Gallery[]

See Also[]

Notes

  1. If Link defeats 10 enemies without getting hit or teleporting with the Flute, then the 10th enemy defeated will drop five Rupees. However, if the 10th enemy is defeated with a Bomb, then it will drop four Bombs. If Link defeats 16 enemies without getting hit or teleporting, then the 16th enemy will drop a Fairy. After the 16th enemy, Link must get hit and reset the counter to zero in order to achieve this effect again. Defeating Armos, Like Likes, Keese, or Gels will not be counted.[5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, pg. 190 (ALttP | OoS | OoA | ALBW)
  2. "Lynel" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  3. "Defeated By: Lynel" — Game Over (Cadence of Hyrule)
  4. "Watch out! He's pretty strong, and Link's little shield can't stop his sword." (The Legend of Zelda manual, pg. 30)
  5. n.a., Forced Drops, redcandle.us, published n.d., retrieved August 17, 2017.
  6. A hit with a Royal Bow using normal arrows deal 38 damage to any Lynel. A hit from an arrow with an element attached to it will also deal 38 damage. This was tested with all 3 elemental arrow types.
  7. "Kilton's handmade Lynel headgear. It's so well crafted, it can deceive a real Lynel. Equip it to blend in with Lynels, but don't linger too long. Those beasts are smart." — N/A (Breath of the Wild)
  8. "Princess Zelda! Please, I must find Link! We need his help! [...] Lynels, Gannon's Death Mountain centaurs, set fire to my village! Many of my people were captured, or injured!" (The Legend of Zelda comic, Valiant Comics, pg. 2)
  9. "See, how I alone can handle your foes? Stand up and fight, Saria! Together we can beat ALL the fiends!" (The Legend of Zelda comic, Valiant Comics, pg. 4)
  10. "We have won! All hail Zelda!" (The Legend of Zelda comic, Valiant Comics, pg. 5)
  11. デスマウンテンに近づくものを撃退する守り神。Eng translation: A guardian deity who attacks anyone that gets close to Death Mountain.
  12. "Before Link could enter Onox's Castle, he had to get by the two Fire Cats guarding the entrance." (Oracle of Seasons book, Scholastic, pg. 52)
  13. Greenalink, Zelda A Link to the Past Extra Ending, YouTube, published Feb 8, 2007, retrieved February 9, 2021.
  14. Hyrule Encyclopedia, Ambit Ltd., pg. 210
  15. Nintendo Official Guidebook—The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Vol. 1, Shogakukan, pg. 128 Nintendo Official Guidebook—The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords, Shogakukan, pg. 22
  16. "121 ライネル" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  17. The Legend of Zelda manual, pg. 30
  18. "121 Lynel" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  19. "121 Centaléo" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  20. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity pour Nintendo Switch - Détails du jeu Nintendo, www.nintendo.com, retrieved September 8, 2020.
  21. The Legend of Zelda manual, pg. 30
  22. "121 Lynel" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  23. "121 Leune" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  24. "121 Lynel" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  25. "121 Левр" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  26. "121 Centaleón" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
  27. "121 Centaleón" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
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