Lynel

Lynels are recurring lion centaur-like enemies in.

In, Lynels appear in red and blue variations, with the blue one dealing twice as much damage. They can be found around Death Mountain. Lynels fire beam projectiles at Link, which cannot be blocked with the Wooden Shield, only with the Magical Shield. When defeated, red Lynels may drop either a Heart, a Fairy or one Rupee, while blue Lynels may drop either a Heart, one Rupee, four Bombs or a Clock.

In, Lynels also appear in Death Mountain. They shoot fireballs at Link, which can only be deflected with the Red and Mirror Shields. They can only be damaged with the Magic Hammer, Silver Arrows, a Spin Attack from the Master Sword, or an attack from any of its upgrades.

In and, Lynels appear in red and blue variations. They also shoot fireballs at Link. In, a golden variation appears in the Tarm Ruins during winter after talking to the golden-robed Old Man. Defeating the Golden Lynel alongside the other golden monsters rewards Link with the Red Ring.

In, Lynels appear in two variations, a white-maned type found on Death Mountain and a black variant with an orange mane that is found in the Treacherous Tower. They attack by breathing a long stream of fire that takes over five hearts, which can only be blocked with the Hylian Shield.

In, Lynels appear in five different variations, including the standard red-maned Lynels, Blue-Maned Lynels, White-Maned Lynels, Silver Lynels, and the Master Mode exclusive Golden Lynels. With the exception of the Lynel on Ploymus Mountain, after spotting Link, a Lynel will often refrain from attacking for a short period of time and instead stare him down. This allows Link to escape before it initiates a battle. Depending on their location, Lynels can wield a Sword and Shield combo, a Spear, or a Crusher. They also wield a Bow that is equipped with either Regular Arrows (only at Gerudo Summit), Fire Arrows, Ice Arrows, Shock Arrows, or Bomb Arrows.

Lynels have a variety of attacks, both ranged and melee, such as shooting fireballs, body slamming, dashing, and trampling. Lynels also have the ability to teleport, doing so to either briefly flee from battle or to give chase after Link. Link can perform a Perfect Dodge or a Perfect Guard on most of their attacks, leaving them vulnerable for counterattacks. He can also utilize the wind gusts created by their fire attacks to glide up and shoot an Arrow at their head, stunning them and inflicting double damage. Link can temporarily mount Lynels either by sneaking up from behind, jumping on while they are stunned, using the Paraglider to drop onto them from above, or immediately after they perform a dashing Sword swipe or charge at Link. While mounted, Link can repeatedly attack the Lynel up to five times with any Weapon without it losing any Durability. If Link's Stamina runs out however, he will be thrown off and lose a quarter of a Heart.

When defeated, Lynels drop their Hooves, Horns, and Guts, along with their Weapons and a bundle of their Arrows. Silver and Golden Lynels occasionally drop Gems and Star Fragments as well. A total of 22 Lynels can be found throughout Hyrule. An additional Lynel also appears on the Great Plateau in Master Mode. Two Lynels also appear in the Trial of the Sword.

Link can buy a Lynel Mask for 999 Mon from Kilton's Fang and Bone shop after completing three Divine Beasts. It can be used to temporarily avoid being attacked by Lynels. Majora's Mask can also be worn to deceive Lynels.

TV Series
Two Lynels appear in the "Sing for the Unicorn" episode of. Before Link, Princess Zelda and Sing made their way to Ganon's lair, where Link must fight a pair of Lynels, one blue and one red. The hero blocks their attacks and then proceeds to zap both of them, with one of them dropping a Recorder that allows them to escape the Underworld later on in the episode.

(Valiant Comics)
In the, Lynels appear in the "Day of the Triforce" story. These foes, along with other of Ganon's minions, go to the Water Town of Saria to set fire to the village, as well as capturing and injuring many of its people. When Cassiopia goes to the North Palace to inform Princess Zelda of what has happened, Zelda decides to go to Saria to aid Cassiopia and the rest of the citizens. Upon arrival, Zelda encourages the townsfolk to fight back, and together, the princess along with the Saria people, successfully defeat the Lynels and the rest of the monsters.

Trivia

 * In the, Lynels are incorrectly identified as "Fire Cats".
 * Even though only three Lynels appear in, five of them appear in the new ending added to the Game Boy Advance version.
 * In, the Lynel (and all of its tiers) are the only type of mountable entity that cannot be tamed. Also in , while mounting a Lynel, if Link dies by running out of stamina or gets hit by arrows, the Lynel will howl during Link's death animation.
 * In, Lynels are capable of wielding two-handed weapons with a single hand (however Lynel Crushers, cannot be swung single-handedly).