Twinrova

Kotake (コタケ) and Koume (コウメ), collectively known as Twinrova (双生魔導師ツインローバ, Twin Sorceresses Tsuinrōba) are a pair of Gerudo witches who feature in several Zelda games, most notably in Ocarina of Time, in which they act as the boss of the Spirit Temple. The two sisters, Koume - Sorceress of Flame, and Kotake - Sorceress of Ice, are able to fight individually with elemental attacks or combine together into a more powerful form known as Twinrova.

The two Gerudo witches play an important role in a few games in the Zelda series. They are both the surrogate mothers of the Gerudo King, Ganondorf, being somewhat his more devoted servants. Their specialty is brainwashing others to serve Ganondorf (most notably Nabooru) and merging to form the stronger witch "Twinrova", where their combined power is much deadlier. The brooms the sisters use to fly become scepters Twinrova performs her spells with.

Ocarina of Time
Kotake is the Sorceress of Ice and claims her magic will "Freeze Link to his soul". Her twin sister is Koume and she is one of Ganondorf's surrogate mothers. Like Koume she has greenish tinged, wrinkled skin and dresses in black robes with white Gerudo pattern near the hems and an obi-like belt around her waist. Her teeth also appear to jut out which, along with her green skin, gives her a mummy-like look. To help identify which twin is which, she has a blue jewel on her forehead, blue slippers, and the markings on her headband are in red with a blue boarder. Surprisingly her only weakness is her sister's flames. She claims to be 380 years old after Koume said she was 400 years old. This sparks a fight between the sisters in which Koume points out they are twins and have to be the same age.

Little is known about her past life beside that she is a Gerudo sorceress, and she is a surrogate mother and loyal follower to Ganondorf.

Majora's Mask
In Majora's Mask, Kotake is the owner of the Magic Hags' Potion Shop, where she sells the standard selection of Red Potion, Green Potion, and Blue Potion. However, she doesn't sell Blue Potions right away - she requires a Magic Mushroom, which she will happily take from Link if offered to her, and she will use it to create the Blue Potion which will be available for the remainder of the three days.

Kotake cares for her sister quite a bit. When Kotake hears that Koume was attacked by Skull Kid in the Woods of Mystery, she gives Link a bottle of Red Potion to deliver to Koume. If a whole day passes and Link does nothing to help, Kotake will leave her shop and proceed to the Woods of Mystery herself to search for Koume.

Ocarina of Time
Koume is the Sorceress of Fire and claims her magic will "Burn Link to his bones". Her twin sister is Kotake and she is one of Ganondorf's surrogate mothers. Like Kotake, she has greenish tinged, wrinkled skin and dresses in black robes with white Gerudo pattern near the hems and an obi-like belt around her waist. Her teeth also appear to jut out which, along with her green skin, gives her a mummy-like look. To help identify which twin is which, she has a red jewel on her forehead, red slippers, and the markings on her headband are in blue with a red boarder. Surprisingly, her only weakness is her sister's ice. She claims to be 400 years old though her sister, Kotake, claims to be only 380 years old.

Little is known about her past life beside that she is a Gerudo sorceress, and she is a surrogate mother and loyal follower to Ganondorf. Koume tends to be the leader of the two, usually appearing first and deciding the course of action. (She was the first to introduce herself during the boss battle and also came up with the idea to combine with Kotake to form Twinrova.)

Majora's Mask
In Majora's Mask, Koume is the guide for Swamp Boat Tour. She occasionally goes into the Woods of Mystery to look for mushrooms for Kotake to use in the Magic Hags' Potion Shop. However, one day she ran into the Skull Kid and was injured. Link was sent by her sister to find her in the near by woods. Upon discovering her, she asked for Red Potion to heal her. Once Link gave her the potion, she returned to her post at the Swamp Boat Tour, where she gave Link one free tour in return for healing her. Also, for saving her Link is rewarded with the Pictobox. The boat destroys the Big Octo blocking the path and allows Link to travel to the Deku Palace and continue on his journey.

Ocarina of Time
Kotake and Koume reside in the Spirit Temple and they make their first appearance when they kidnap Nabooru (the rebellious second-in-command of the Gerudos) who is the Sage of Spirit. They brainwash her, disguise her as an Iron Knuckle, and make her face Link seven years later. Link wins this battle and releases Nabooru. However, the witches reappear and cause Nabooru to disappear in a golden light, saying that they will brainwash her again and make her serve Ganondorf for even longer.

Link travels to the next room, where he meets the duo again. This time, they mock him and appear out of the floor, announcing their intentions and showing their abilities. Koume and Kotake fight using magic bolts of the elements from which their power comes: fire and ice. Using the Mirror Shield, Link is able to redirect the attacks of one sister against the other. Koume's fire attacks must be aimed at Kotake, and Kotake's ice attacks must be aimed at Koume. After taking a total of four hits, the pair will merge into Twinrova, a single being with the combined powers of both witches. Before the battle starts, Link flinches in shock and Twinrova winks at him.

Once merged into Twinrova, the Mirror Shield remains essential in defeating Twinrova. Link is able to use it to absorb the power of both the fire and ice spell. He is required to collect three consecutive charges of one type of spell, which then allows him to release the spell back at Twinrova. However, since Twinrova frequently alternates between fire and ice attacks, care must be taken to only block attacks of one type at a time; blocking a fire attack followed by an ice attack, or vice versa, will cause all power currently stored in the Mirror Shield to dissipate.

Once Twinrova is injured by the reflected attack, she collapses on one of the four outlying platforms, allowing Link the opportunity to jump over to her side attack with his sword. After having repeated this process two or three times, Link will have dealt sufficient damage to defeat Twinrova, at which point she will split back into Koume and Kotake. The two witches then say they are going to get tougher, but they soon realize that they have halos above their heads. The witches then argue about their age, after which they ascend to heaven in a column of bright light.

Majora's Mask
Koume and Kotake also exist in the parallel world of Majora's Mask's, Termina. The two run the Swamp Boat Tour and the Magic Hags' Potion Shop in the Southern Swamp. Koume searches for mushrooms in the nearby Woods of Mystery, while Kotake generally stays at the shop.

When Link enters the Woods of Mystery,he finds an injured Koume who tells him she was attacked by the Skull Kid and asks for a Red Potion to heal her injuries. After Link gives her the potion, Koume returns to help run the swamp boat tour guide and assist Link. These versions of Koume and Kotake, being from the alternate world of Termina, are not evil like their Hylian counterparts.

Unlike most characters from Ocarina of Time, Koume and Kotake both retain their original names in Majora's Mask. Some fans have theorized that they could in fact be the same pair from Ocarina. However, this is contradicted by the fact that they appear to be much nicer.

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons


In Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, Koume and Kotake sent Veran and Onox to cause chaos and light two of the three flames needed to resurrect Ganon; the Flame of Sorrow and the Flame of Destruction. Once the flames were lit, the two kidnapped Zelda to light the final flame via sacrifice: the Flame of Despair. Link fought the sisters both individually and as Twinrova, as in Ocarina of Time. After Link defeated Twinrova, she chose to become the vessel for the ritual herself instead of Zelda, so that Ganon could return. Unfortunately for the pair, their sacrifice was in vain as it only allowed a mindless, raging Ganon to come forth. Thus, Link was able to defeat it and save the day.

Trivia

 * Twinrova served as a surrogate mother to Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time.
 * On an interesting note, the Hylian writing on Kotake's and Koume's headbands is in fact the different, new Hylian alphabet used in The Wind Waker, and not the one used everywhere else in Ocarina of Time. The bands simply say "Kotake" and "Koume".
 * "Koume" is a Japanese pickled plum.
 * "Kotake" is a type of Japanese mushroom.