Poe

A Poe (ポウ, Pō) is a spirit 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 has been speculated that the name "Poe" was derived from the name of the famous poet Edgar Allen Poe, who is known for his dark, gloomy works.

A Link to the Past
Poes 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. It is very similar to the Reaper in both behavior and appearance.

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 recover health, but it can actually damage Link 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 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. These poes are often a nuisance, as they are fond of backing into nearby walls and vanishing.

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.

Haunted Wasteland Guide
To get to the Spirit Temple from the Gerudo Fortress, Link needs to cross the Haunted Wasteland, using a Poe guide. The path only becomes unlockable after the guide passes through, explaining why the same path cannot be taken again as a child.



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 after he defeats them in Kakariko Graveyard (Flat and Sharp fight like regular Poes, except for their ghosts are colored green after their defeat). In Majora's Mask, Flat rewards Link with the Song of Storms, which is used to defeat Sharp later on.

Big Poe
In Ocarina of Time, ten of these ghostly creatures haunt Hyrule Field. They only appear while on horseback. When Link spots one, it will run away, so he must quickly defeat it with arrows. After being defeated, they can be bottled and sold to the Poe salesman. Capturing and selling all ten of them will earn Link another empty bottle.

In Majora's Mask, defeating the Big Poe at the Ikana Graveyard earns you an empty bottle, and defeating the one inside the Ikana well allows you to give its captured soul to a Gibdo to proceed.

The Wind Waker
In The Wind Waker, Poes have a different 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. It is also said that Jalhalla, the boss of the Earth Temple, rules over all Poes.

Four Swords Adventures
A singular Poe appears as the core form of Jalhalla, king of the Poes.

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 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). One of the Poes 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.

It is rather likely (though not proven) that the four Poes in Arbiter's Grounds are in fact the Poe Sisters from the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time. In both cases, the temple cannot be advanced in until the four Poes are disposed of, and the four lanterns must be re-lit. Both incarnations of Poes steal the flames. Both incarnations have a "leader" of some sort, the one in Twilight Princess being the Poe that can duplicate itself. The aforementioned Poe strongly resembles Meg in that it makes 4 clones that circle Link, with only one clone being the real one. Ganon may have revived their souls, as he is known for doing.

Trivia

 * An early beta design of the Imp Poe has been found.


 * In Majora's Mask, the aliens only known as Them bear a fair resemblance to Poes.

Phantom Hourglass
Poes appear aboard the Ghost Ship with a radically different look. They look somewhat like floating tadpoles or puffer fish with purple body markings, and attack by teleporting back and forth and periodically spitting a ball of blue fire at Link. They can only be struck when visible, and will actively avoid Link's attacks.

The Cubus Sisters more closely resemble the traditional Poe design as well, though they have not been confirmed to be Poes.

Notable Poes

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