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Soldiers, also sometimes known as Troopers are a recurring enemy in the Zelda series. They are guards and knights of Hyrule that have been taken over by the powers of darkness. They are either controlled by dark magic, or are merely empty suits of armor animated by evil forces. They wield a variety of weapons, and are similar to Darknuts. They first appeared in A Link to the Past.

Characteristics
Soldiers resemble normal Hyrulean Castle Guards, but their face, if they still have one, is always obscured by their distinctive helmets that give no indication of what sort of man lies beneath. The only thing visible from under their armor are two glowing eyes. They weild a variety of weapons, and their armor has subtle variations between each type of Soldier. Usually the color of the armor denotes their defensive strength, but the green variety is probably the most common. Most soldiers wield a shield along with their main weapon, but unlike normal Darknuts they are often defensively weak, and protect their front not with their shield, but their weapon. They make up for this weakness by usually attacking in large squads. In A Link to the Past and Four Swords Adventures Soldiers are controlled by Agahnim and Vaati respectively, while in Link's Awakening they were once Richard's men, now controlled by the Nightmares of Koholint Island. In Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, Soldiers follow Onox or Veran.

Soldier
The basic Soldier actually behaves quite differently to most other varieties. Rather than actively hunting out Link, its behavior is much like a Darknut from The Legend of Zelda. They will not react to sound, but will merely patrol around the interior of Hyrule Castle and also around Kanalet Castle. In A Link to the Past they weild a small dagger-like blade and will charge directly at Link when they see him, but will not react if he moves. They are notable for wearing capes, unlike other soldiers.

In Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages most Soldiers will also not directly attack Link, but will throw spears at Link when they see him, although other Soldiers fight with swords much like a Sword Soldier. Some are even found behind statues on the walls of Kanalet Castle, and can only be revealed by using Bombs.

In Four Swords Adventures, they behave like Sword Soldiers, but are considerably weaker, and usually appear in very large packs, often following a Chief Soldier. They come in Blue, Green and Red varieties in this game, with Red being the stronger. Green varieties only appear in dungeons, and are the same strength as the normal blue types.

Sword Soldier
Sword Soldiers are the most distinctive and common type of soldier in A Link to the Past. They are by far one of the most intelligent enemies in the game, following patrol routes and reacting to Link upon sight or sound. When they notice him, they will charge and attack with their blades, and must be fought off one by one. Often if Link gets in a battle with one soldier, the sound of the fight will cause more to join in. If Link has a chance, he should attack from behind, as while their shields do not stop his attacks, they can parry Link's swipes with their swords. They are succeptable to being knocked down pits when not aware of Link's presence, so stealth is advised. They come in three varieties, Green, Blue, and Assault. Assault Sword Soldiers appear only in Hyrule Castle Tower, wear different armor, and hold their blades above their heads, attacking aggressively as soon as Link enters a room. In Four Swords Adventures, they come in Green and Grey varieties. The grey ones are the strongest type of basic soldier in the game.

Spear Soldier
Spear Soldiers appear in A Link to the Past and use trident-like spears. The basic type only appears when people in Kakariko assume Link to be a villain and call for guards. The music will change, and these Soldiers will hound Link across town relentlessly until defeated. They are otherwise like normal Sword Soldiers, but can cause twice as much damage with their spears. There are three other types, the Assault Spear Soldier being the most common. These wear red armor and can take many hits and appear in Hyrule Castle Tower and commonly around the Overworld once Agahnim has been defeated for the first time. Javalin Spear Soldiers have different armor, and are commonly found around the Cemetery and Hyrule Castle prior to Agahnim's defeat. Instead of charging at him, they will throw their spears when they see Link. Finally, Tussock Spear Soldiers are essentially the same, but hide in the tall grass around Hyrule Castle and throw their spears at Link when he comes near.

Bow Soldier
Bow Soldiers appear in A Link to the Past and Four Swords Adventures. These archers wear blue or green armor, and will unleash a hail of arrows upon Link when they spot him. Thankfully their arrows can be blocked by the most basic shield, so adopting a defensive charge before attacking aggressively when close is the best tactic to deal with them. Some are known as Tussock Bow Soldiers, these will hide in the tall grass and launch arrows at him when Link is near. In Four Swords Adventure, if you cut the grass around the soldier, they will be unable to hide again and become a regular Bow Soldier, but in A Link to the Past, they will remain in the grass no matter what happens.

Bomber
The Bomber or Bomb Soldier is a specific type that generally appears on the walls of Hyrule Castle, throwing Bombs at intruders. They do not move, so if Link can get close, they can be defeated quite easily. It is also sometimes possible to throw the bombs back at them to cause damage. In Four Swords Adventures, there is the normal Blue variety and a stronger Green Bomber that appears in the Realm of the Heavens. In Link's Awakening, there is an enemy known as a Mad Bomber. It will appear from holes within the Kanalet Castle grounds and throw bombs at Link, chosing a hole at random each time. It can take a number of hits to defeat, but it needs to be defeated to get one of the Golden Leaves.

Ball & Chain Soldier
The Ball & Chain Soldier, also known as a Ball & Chain Trooper is one of the strongest types of Soldier, and often appears independantly of them as a Mini-Boss in certain games.

Chief Soldier
The Chief Soldier is a powerful enemy in Four Swords Adventures who usually appears commanding a number of regular soldiers. It is considerably larger than most soldiers, and commonly appears as a Mini-Boss.

Gold Soldier
The Gold Soldiers that appear in A Link to the Past are not enemies, and are instead the soldiers of Hyrule that have not yet been taken over by Agahnim's magic. They wield no weapons, but carry huge shields. They are generally friendly despite their imposing armor, and will offer advice to Link if he speaks to them. One Soldier within the castle walls speaks about how it is only a matter of time before he too would become like those consumed by Agahnim's powers.

A single Gold Soldier appears in Oracle of Seasons as one of the Golden Monsters. It behaves like a normal sword-wielding Soldier, but takes considerably more hits to defeat.

Gold Soldiers also appear in Four Swords Adventures. They will occassionally appear following the orders of a Chief Soldier, performing drills. If Link interrupts the drill, they will turn into a normal Blue or Red Soldier.

Cannon Soldier
Cannon Soldiers are enemies that can still be found within the code of A Link to the Past but were not used in the final game for unknown reasons. The enemy will work perfectly if inserted into the game, although unlike other enemy soldiers he does not appear to have a shadow. Cannon Soldiers wear blue armor and appear manning a relatively small red cannon. They do not move from their position, but they do turn to aim at Link, and return to their spot after being knocked back slightly by the recoiling cannon. Their cannon fires spiked cannonballs. They don't do too much damage and despite having blue armour, they only take two attacks from the Fighter's Sword to defeat them. It's likely that they would have appeared within or around Hyrule Castle or the Castle Tower, and would have been placed in a hard to reach location where they can fire upon Link from one or multiple compass points without fear of retaliation. It's possible they were replaced by the Bomb Soldiers.

Relation to Darknuts
While many enemies from the original The Legend of Zelda returned in A Link to the Past, Darknuts did not, instead the Soldiers took on this role. For all intents and purposes they are extremely similar to Darknuts, but are more varied and are generally weaker and have a focus on numbers rather than overwhelming strength. The Soldiers of Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons were known by the same name as Darknuts in Japan, while the Soldiers of Four Swords Adventures are briefly referred to as Darknuts in the Official Nintendo Player's Guide for the game.

Trivia

 * In the GBA version of A Link to the Past, blue Spear Soldiers are shown in the introduction, but they do not appear in the game itself.
 * It is possible to knock a Spear or Bow Soldier hiding in the tall grass of A Link to the Past onto land that has no grass using certain weapons, although his behavior will not change.
 * If a Chief Soldier is defeated while normal soldiers remain, they will either simply be destroyed, or they will run wild with no orders, and eventually explode.