Medusa


 * Not to be confused with Medusa Head, a boss in Oracle of Seasons.

Medusa are a type of Stone Statue that appear in Dark World dungeons of A Link to the Past and dungeons in Inishie no Sekiban.

A Link to the Past
Medusa are a type of trap that first appears in the Palace of Darkness, and appears commonly in many of the dungeons throughout the Dark World. They are usually placed in the corners of rooms, but sometimes are placed out in the open. They will not cause damage if Link touches them, but they will shoot fireballs at him at regular intervals. These fireballs cannot be stopped by his small Fighter's Shield and will cause a whole heart of damage, so exploring these dungeons without the protection of a Red Shield can be challenging. Unlike Stone Statues, Medusa will shoot fireballs at Link even if all the other enemies in the room are destroyed. Medusa themselves are invincible.

In Turtle Rock, some Medusa appear that will not shoot at Link, but instead they will have Guruguru Bars spinning around them.

Inishie no Sekiban
In this game, Medusa will also appear in many of the dungeons, starting with Level 2. Unlike A Link to the Past, these dungeons are in the Light World. Also unlike the previous game, not all Medusa are active, with some of them not shooting fireballs at all.

Yomo Medusa
Yomo Medusa (literally Every Direction Medusa) are a unique variation of Medusa that appear in A Link to the Past. They first appear in the Swamp Palace and later appear in other Dark World dungeons.

Unlike normal Medusa they do not appear as a snake-like statue and instead appear as a small raised structure with four holes, one at each compass direction. These statues will remain harmless unless they detect a sword being drawn, at which point they will immediately fire a fireball from one of the four openings that is closest to Link. Their otherwise nonthreatening appearance and rapid firing makes them a threat to unwary adventurers, but if Link does not unleash his sword they will not attack. They commonly appear near the center of rooms with large groups of enemies to maximize their threat.

Trivia

 * In Turtle Rock, it is possible to avoid taking damage from the Guruguru Bars spinning from the Medusa statues by extending the Hookshot, which causes Link to become invincible as the platform moves past the flames.