Gohma

Gohma is type of recurring boss in the Zelda series, usually depicted as a large, one-eyed arthropod. They are the mothers of the Gohma Larva and and have appeared as one of the most recurring bosses in the series since its conception.

The Legend of Zelda
Gohma makes her first appearance in The Legend of Zelda. She is the boss of the Dragon Labyrinth, and also appears in the Lion Labyrinth as a mini-boss. Gohma is a huge arthropod living in the labyrinths. Her hard shell will repel all attacks, but her weakness is her large, single eye, which is vulnerable to Link's arrows. Due to this weakness, Gohma frequently keeps her eye closed, and attacks by shooting beams from a distance. In the Second Quest, a blue Gohma guards the fragment of the Triforce found in the Dragon Labyrinth.

There are two varieties of Gohma in this game, red and blue. The red Gohma takes merely one arrow for victory while the blue one takes three.

BS The Legend of Zelda
Gohma also appears in BS The Legend of Zelda. A brown Gohma first appears as the boss of the sixth dungeon, and can be taken out if it is shot in the eye with a single arrow. Two blue Gohmas also appear in the eighth dungeon as a double mini-boss battle. They are much more resilient, and will take three arrows in each eye, or two silver arrows before their defeat.

Link's Awakening
In Link's Awakening, two Gohmas appear as the main mini-bosses of the fifth dungeon, Catfish's Maw. They would move back and forth sideways with their eyes constantly closed, and would occasionally try to ram into Link. Only the Gohma closest to Link would try to attack. They would also sometimes open their eyes to release a fireball, which also makes them vulnerable to the Hookshot.

Additionally, Link could also use a bow and fire arrows into their eyes, which appears to deal more damage than the Hookshot.

Ocarina of Time
Parasitic Armored Arachnid: Gohma debuts as the first boss enemy Link will encounter in his adventures in Ocarina of Time.

After the Great Deku Tree refuses to place the Spiritual Stone of Forest into Ganondorf's hands, the King of Thieves curses the ancient tree with a monstrous, Tektite-like creature, Queen Gohma. With the Queen ravaging the inner body of the Deku Tree, spreading her offspring, scattering her web, and leeching on the Tree's life, the Great Deku Tree has no choice but to request for Link's help with the aid of Navi the fairy. Queen Gohma is found on the deepest floor inside the Great Deku Tree, resting atop the ceiling.

When Link confronts her, he discovers she has one weakness: her eye is vulnerable when it turns red. By shooting at her red eye with a Deku Seed via the Fairy Slingshot, Gohma will be stunned, leaving her open to attack from Link's sword or Deku Sticks. After being hit at least once, Gohma will climb to the room's ceiling and, if she is not stunned with a Deku Seed in time, she will attempt to hatch three Gohma Larva to aid her in battle. However, there is another strategy to defeat Gohma faster, only requiring one Deku Stick. Once Gohma is stunned, he must jump strike with the Deku Stick and then do multiple shield stabs (done by attacking with the sword while holding R but not Z-Targeting). It is possible to kill Gohma on the first Critical Point this way. The amount of time Queen Gohma remains stunned for varies according to the technique administered: two seconds for using a Deku Nut, five if Link fires a Deku Seed with his slingshot while her eye is red, and around eight if she is shot whilst hanging from the ceiling.

After Link strikes Gohma's eye enough times, she will be defeated, causing the curse on the Deku Tree to break. As a reward, Link receives a Heart Container and the Kokiri Emerald from the Great Deku Tree before he passes away.

Oracle of Seasons
Gohma also makes an appearance inside the Dancing Dragon Dungeon in Oracle of Seasons. However, this time around, the beast has an extra appendage, a very deadly claw. If Link runs in front of her, she will charge and grab him, then throw him to the ground causing damage. The claw can be removed by slashing with the sword. Also, to avoid the claw the Roc's Feather can be used to jump over it. Once the claw is destroyed, the Slingshot can be fired at its open eye, while avoiding the larvae it summons. Defeating Gohma yields the fourth Essence of Nature, the Soothing Rain.

The Wind Waker
In The Wind Waker, Gohma is placed by Ganondorf below the resting spot of the Spirit of the Sky, Valoo, high on Dragon Roost Island's peak, without the Sky Spirit knowing about it. Doing so torments Valoo and thus angers him enough so that he would become violent and unpredictable and cause trouble, confusion, and panic among the Rito, the protectors of Din's Pearl. Link offers to help the Rito, and when he reaches the boss room inside Dragon Roost Cavern, he finds an impressive, lava-resistant, Magtail-like monster as his foe. Despite its menacing figure, Link manages to crack open Gohma's armor and delivers many lethal strikes to its eye with his sword, then finally kills her.

To defeat Gohma, Link must wait for an opening to grapple onto Valoo's tail, which dangles from the roof, while avoiding Gohma's pincers. When Link swings to safety, part of the chamber's ceiling falls on Gohma, cracking her armor. After repeating this process several times, Gohma's armor will completely fall off. At this stage, Link grapples Gohma's eye so he can access it with his sword. Once the eye is in range, Link must attack it with his sword until the boss perishes by hardening and exploding.

For defeating Gohma, Link's prize is a Heart Container, and an apology as well as Din's Pearl from the Chieftain's son, Prince Komali. During the course of the game Gohma must be defeated twice, once in Dragon Roost Cavern, and once in Ganon's Tower to complete the game. If Link manages to actually get a picture of Gohma and make it into a figurine, her armor is actually white with pale, purplish markings, meaning the lava is what gave the appearance of gold armor and brass markings.

Four Swords Adventures
In Four Swords Adventures, Gohma appears in two variations. The first type is a large, one-eyed arachnid that aimlessly wanders about the fields of Hyrule. The second type also appears as a large, one-eyed arachnid, but it acts as mini-boss that shoots fireballs at Link. Both types of Gohma can be harmed only by shooting arrows at its large open eye.

Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, a more spider-like incarnation of Gohma appears, called Twilit Arachnid: Armogohma. Her name is a portmanteau of "Armos", as in Armos Statue, and Gohma. Like all previous incarnations, its eye is the weak spot.

Like some of its previous iterations, the dungeon in which Armogohma is featured includes many spiders and spider-like creatures as enemies; namely the slow moving four-legged Gohma Larvae and tiny, bloated Baby Gohma. Also similarly to its previous incarnations, Armogohma drops eggs whilst hanging from the ceiling at certain points during the boss battle. They quickly hatch into Baby Gohma, which Link must defeat before continuing with the main boss battle.

Animated series
Gohmas appear in three episodes of the Zelda animated series. Their appearance is similar to that of the original The Legend of Zelda.

In "Cold Spells", after Ganon traps Link and Princess Zelda in a glass container, he calls a Gohma to exterminate the heroes. However, just as Gohma is trying to get Link out of the container, Spryte arrives in time and shoots a powerful bolt of energy at the Gohma, allowing Link to escape. Ganon then shoots fire at Link, which the young hero evades just in time and causes the fire to hit Gohma instead, instantly defeating the giant foe. Another Gohma makes an appearance in the "Stinging a Stinger" episode after Ganon locks up Sleezenose, Link and Zelda inside the monster's lair. With Gohma slowly approaching the group, Zelda gets out a Magic Rope from her pouch and Link a boomerang while the young hero orders Sleezenose to use his lockpicks to open the gate. Zelda then ties the rope around one of Gohma's horns, which causes the creature to spin her around the room. Link takes this opportunity to use the boomerang and make a giant stalactite fall on top of Gohma, allowing Zelda to continue to spin around until all of the rope is tied around the beast. This immobilizes the Gohma and gives the group a chance to escape its lair.

In "The Moblins are Revolting" episode, two Gohmas make a brief appearance after a Moblin frees all of the monsters from the Evil Jar. These Gohmas can be seen grabbing the Evil Jar from its base and moving it to another covert.

The Legend of Zelda comic
A single Gohma appears in the story of To the First Power from the Legend of Zelda comic. When Zelda enters the Eagle labyrinth to train against Ganon's minions, a Gohma appears behind her. Surprised that a Gohma has appeared in such an early level, the princess tries to fire a Sword Beam at the foe's eye, but to no avail. Zelda manages to escape the Gohma's grasp and eventually finds the labyrinth's item: the magic bow. This allows the princess to defeat the Gohma with a single shot and make her way into the final chamber of the maze.

The Crystal Trap
In The Crystal Trap, Princess Zelda encounters a Gohma as she's traveling through the Desert and accidentally steps on a hollow surface, which houses the creature. According to the book, Gohmas are known to be clumsy creatures, but once something or someone steps on their territory, they will never give up. The princess, knowing this, begins to circle around the Gohma, which eventually causes for it to fall on its back due to its dizziness. Noticing a faint white spot on its belly, Zelda fires an arrow from her bow to quickly defeat the monster.

Ocarina of Time Manga
In the manga version of Ocarina of Time, Gohma can talk, and her true form was little barely a scarab, apparently due to the cause of dark magic. She is first seen attacking, entering, and eating the Great Deku Tree. She was originaly sent by Ganon to obtain the Kokiri's Emerald, until she is defeated by Link and Mido.

Trivia

 * In earlier versions of Ocarina of Time, there was a Gohma glitch that caused the game to freeze.
 * Gohma has made the same amount of appearances in a main Zelda game as Ganon/Ganondorf.