Dead Hand

Dead Hand (デドハンド, Dedo Hando) resides at the Bottom of the Well in Kakariko Village as well as the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time. Whether this monster was set there by Ganondorf or whether it was a natural occurrence is unknown, but many consider it to be a part of Ganondorf's group. Dead Hand was basically a lump of decaying flesh with two puny arms with bleeding ends (either indicating that the arms waving about were cut or bitten off), and a neck the length of a piano. It's head resembles that of a zombie, although with a large jaw. Purple blotches (most likely bloodstains) decorated its undead body, and there were 4 to 6 hands sticking out of the ground, dotted around the room. The monster uses its detached arms to snare Link, and then it walks up and tries to devour him with its mouth. The main body was kept underground at all times, until it felt a hand grab something or someone. This enemy is considered one of the scariest Legend of Zelda enemies by many fans.

Link defeated the Dead Hand by intentionally being grabbed by the hands and slashing the Dead Hand in the face when it appeared. Afterwards, Link claimed the Lens of Truth as his reward.

Another one appears in the Shadow Temple (or several more in Master Quest), this time guarding the Hover Boots.

An easier way to defeat one once you have the Lens of Truth is to use it and look around for a shadow. Once you see one, place a bomb there. Once it explodes, Dead Hand will come out to attack Link. It should be noted that the wave of earth created by a Dead Hand's emergence or burrowing can injure Link, and if it takes too long to catch Link, it will bury itself again. Also, by using the spin technique with the sword, the hands can be destroyed; if enough of them are destroyed, the Dead Hand will emerge (however, unless the monster is defeated, the hands will regenerate about 20 or so seconds after it's defeat).

Trivia

 * Despite the blotches over it's body showing a reddish tint colour, it in fact bleeds green blood.