Iron Knuckle

The Iron Knuckle is one of the toughest sub-bosses Link will have to defeat. It swings a mighty Axe that deals devastating blows to whatever comes in its way. If Link is hit by this Axe, he will lose quite a considerable amount of life energy. In Ocarina of Time, Iron Knuckles are associated with the Gerudo. In Majora's Mask, they are a part of the Ikana tribe.

To defeat an Iron Knuckle, you must run in, do a stab attack, and back-flip quickly. The Knuckle will slash with the ax, and when he is done slashing, run in and get two more good attacks in. Repeat this process until he loses quite a bit of his armor. He will then become more frantic and begin charging at you much faster. Just step in and repeatedly stab him. Do not stop stabbing until he kneels to the floor and dies in a flood of purple flame.

The Iron Knuckles appeared in games such as Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. In The Adventure of Link, they are frequent enemies in the dungeons, and an Ironknuckle astride a floating horse appears as the boss of the third dungeon. A pair of them later appear in the sixth dungeon as sub-bosses. The easiest way to defeat Iron Knuckles is probably throwing bombs. In Ocarina of Time, Nabooru is captured and brainwashed by Koume and Kotake, a pair of Gerudo witch sisters. Koume and Kotake then force the brainwashed Nabooru to don armor and protect the entrance to the final chamber in the Spirit Temple as an Iron Knuckle. When Nabooru is defeated in her Iron Knuckle form the armor falls away and reveals her, apparently releasing her of her hypnosis. Immediately, the witch sisters appear and threaten to brainwash her again (suggesting that the hypnosis was temporary and had to be maintained). After Link defeats Koume and Kotake, Nabooru becomes the Sage of Spirit and is freed from her hypnosis permanently. The fact that the other two Iron Knuckles in the Spirit Temple dissolve completely when they are defeated suggests that they were animated by magic and not hypnotized people, like Nabooru.

The idea of hypnotizing inherently good characters to serve as evil soldiers is not singular to Ocarina of Time. While no Iron Knuckles appear in A Link to the Past by name, Agahnim apparently controls the soldiers of Hyrule by some evil magic.

Possible History
Although widely accepted that the Iron Knuckles of the Spirit Temple are animated by magic, it is theorized that the Iron Knuckles of Termina are the last warriors of the Ikana Tribe (except for the one on The Moon), although no definate proof supports this claim.