Poe

A Poe is a ghost of concentrated hatred toward the world that freely roams graveyards and other haunted locales in Hyrule and other such places, and they always carry their signature lanterns which contain their soul in some games.

It can be speculated that the name "poe" has been derived from the name of the famous poet Edgar Allen Poe, as he is known for his dark, gloomy works. A possible argument for this is that there is also a reference to Edgar Allen Poe in Super Mario 64. In the level  Tick Tock Clock  one of the objectives is called  The Pit and the Pendulum  which is also the title of one of Poe's books.

A Link to the Past
They originally appeared in A Link to the Past, filling the role Ghinis served in the first game. The original Poe behaved nearly identical to its predecessor, flying randomly around gravesites and appearing from pushed tombstones, they also had unusually high endurance.

Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask
In Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, Poes take on the appearance of hooded wraiths with no faces and glowing eyes. They are identifiable from a distance by their distinctive lanterns while the Poe itself comes into view as Link approaches. Targeting Poes in these games will cause them to become temporarily invisible, although they will become visible every once in a while. Their lanterns remain visible when they vanish, allowing the player to at least dodge and keep track of the invulnerable enemy until it reappears. When a Poe is defeated, its physical body disappears, and the lantern it was holding drops and breaks, revealing its spirit. The Poe Spirit appears as a purple flame with a sad face, and disappears after a while. Before it disappears, Link can put the Spirit in a bottle, which is primarily used to sell for Rupees. Drinking it will usually make you recover health, but it can actually damage you as well.

In Ocarina of Time, Poes are mainly found in Kakariko Graveyard and in Majora's Mask, they are found in the Stone Tower Temple. There are also ten Big Poes in Ocarina of Time that are scattered throughout Hyrule Field when Link is an adult. Big Poes can only be easily hunted down on Epona and killed using the Bow from horseback. Once killed, you can collect their Big Poe spirits and sell them to a cloaked man in the gatehouse of Hyrule Castle Town.

The Poe Sisters
There are four Poes known as the Poe Sisters: Joelle, Beth, Amy, and Meg. In Ocarina of Time, these Poes are the sub-bosses of the Forest Temple. They stole the four flames necessary to fight Phantom Ganon, and Link must defeat them in four separate battles to relight the torches. They are fought as a mini-game in Majora's Mask, as well.

Flat and Sharp
In Ocarina of Time, the ghosts of the royal composer brothers named Sharp and Flat tell Link about the Sun's Song and other music-related things after he defeats them in Kakariko Graveyard (Flat and Sharp fight like regular Poes). In Majora's Mask, Flat rewards Link with the Song of Storms, which is used to defeat Sharp later on.

The Wind Waker
In The Wind Waker, Poes have a difference appearance, now masked with multicolored bodies. They harass Link by burning him with their lamps. They can also jump into Link's body, possessing him, and thereby reversing the player's movement controls. The Poes are now permanently translucent until direct light is shone on them using the Mirror Shield. The Poes will then become solid and run frantically about the room, making them vulnerable. They appear in the Earth Temple.

Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, Poes take on a substantially different role. First, there are 60 total Poes which are only visible at night and using Wolf Link's Sense ability. Second, there are two different types of Poe: smaller whitish Poes (Imp Poes, see below) that stand atop their lanterns and swing scythes to damage Link, and four special Poes that can be found within the Arbiter's Grounds. The normal Poes form the objective of one of Twilight Princess's subquests. A character named Jovani sold his own soul to the Poes. The Poes require the pieces of his soul to live, and can only be defeated by ripping out their souls. Due to this, there are a finite number of Poes in the game, and once one is defeated, it is gone for good (similar to the Golden Skulltulas of Ocarina of Time). After returning 20 Poe Souls to Jovani, he rewards Link with a Bottle full of Fairy's Tears. After defeating all 60 Poes, his cat, Gengle, will grant unlimited silver rupees (200).

Imp Poes
The majority of the Poes which hold the pieces of Jovani's soul are Imp Poes. Imp Poes are smaller than normal Poes, and can only be seen as floating blue lanterns while Link is in human form. In order to see their bodies, Link must transform into Wolf Link and use his senses. When seen as Wolf Link, they are bright bluish-white, they carry their lanterns with their feet, and they wield large scythes which they use to attack. Many Imp Poes are difficult to find and are scattered throughout Hyrule, making it difficult to collect all 60 Poe Souls.

There are 56 Imp Poes in the game. To defeat an Imp Poe, Link must transform into a wolf to see it, and then attack it twice to knock it down. After this, he can "finish" it by ripping out its soul, otherwise it will simply get back up and fight.

Poes
In an event similar to that in the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time, four Poes (the only regular Poes in the game) steal the flames that open a door in the Arbiter's Grounds. These Poes are larger than Imp Poes and wear cloaks. After being killed, the cloak remains on the floor (despite being ghosts, they have a scent that Wolf Link can track). The fourth Poe you fight has the ability to make three clones of himself - an ability that only Meg of the Poe Sisters has. They will circle around Link, and one will eventually start to shine brighter than the other three signaling he is the real one.

Notable Poes

 * Poe Sisters
 * Big Poe
 * Jalhalla, Protector of the Seal
 * Diabolical Cubus Sisters