Stallord

"But this is truly a bittersweet reunion... Truly! For I fear this is the last time I will see you alive!"

- Zant, before plunging the sword into Stallord's skull

Twilit Fossil: Stallord (蘇生古代竜 ハーラ・ジガント, Resurrected Ancient Dragon: Haara Jiganto) is the boss of Arbiter's Grounds, Twilight Princess's fourth dungeon. Originally, Stallord is a lifeless skeleton of an ancient beast. Zant however, reanimates Stallord's fossils by plunging a twilight made sword into the skull, thereafter disappearing.

Strategy
Stallord awakens and a large sand pit forms all around him. His skeleton half protrudes from this pit sand. Link was forced to attach himself to the edge of the pit with the Spinner and ride around it. At the right time, he would detach from the wall and immediately direct himself towards the spine, attempting to dodge the non-aggressive, yet armored zombies, called Staltroops, that attempted to block his attacks. By either dodging or killing them, Link was eventually able to attack the spine three times, cracking it and bringing the Stallord down.

After this the head fell to the ground, and the sand drained out of the room. By spinning the Spinner into the spinner lock in the center of the room, Link actived the gears, which caused a central pillar to rise in the middle of the room, leading to the second part of the battle.

Stallord, now just a skull, is still as alive as an undead monster can be, and as much trouble as ever, if not more. Stallord's head flew around the raised pillar, attempting to bombard Link with fireballs. Only by riding along the wall with the Spinner was Link able to catch up with Stallord's incredible speed. Stallord would attack whenever Link got close enough, and forced him to jump from wall to wall to evade. By striking him with the Spinner, Stallord was knocked out of the air, giving Link the chance he needed to attack the sword Zant had placed in Stallord's skull. However, each time Stallord rose again, more Blade Traps filled the walls, making it harder and harder to ride the wall, and forcing Link to stay on either side of the wall for a fair time, allowing the Blade Trap to pull away far enough to be harmless. Apart from this, the strategy hadn't changed, and eventually Stallord was defeated, leaving behind only a Heart Container.

Link's Crossbow Training
In the Wii spin-off title, Link's Crossbow Training, Stallord appears as the final boss. He is identical to his Twilight Princess appearance, but no longer has Zant's sword embedded in his skull and has 6 horns instead of just 4. He also appears to be a little darker in color, but this may be due to the different battlefield. He attacks by showering Link with meteor-like projectiles and striking him with his hands. He is vulnerable in his palms and his head. When he has taken significant damage, Stallord will shoot out Bubbles to attack Link while he moves forward.

Volvagia, King Dodongo, or Gleeok?
Stallord is theorized to be the skeletal remains of one of Ocarina of Time's Death Mountain bosses, Volvagia or King Dodongo, or Gleeok from the original Legend of Zelda.

Stallord seems to be based on Volvagia for the following reasons:
 * They both are (or appear to be) dragons.
 * They both have hair.
 * They both have horns.
 * They both lack wings.
 * They can both breathe fire.
 * Both Stallord and Volvagia's head is not only their main weakness, but also the last part of their bodies to be beaten.
 * Stallord's second phase music is a remix of the Volvagia and King Dodongo fight from Ocarina of Time.
 * Both are revived by the games' main villains.
 * Both are subterranean 'dragons'.

With all of this potential evidence, it is possible that Stallord is the skeletal remains of Volvagia. However, two facts discredits almost every bit of information here:


 * While Stallord is a huge, almost dinosaur-like skeleton, Volvagia is little more than a snake in terms of appearance. The skull of Stallord alone is three times the size of Volvagia's.
 * Volvagia's skeleton was disintegrated after its defeat.

With this in mind, Stallord is theorized to be the reanimated corpse of King Dodongo for the following reasons:


 * Stallord's second phase music is a remix of the Volvagia and King Dodongo fight from Ocarina of Time.
 * They can both breathe fire.
 * Only part of King Dodongo's body was destroyed, rather than completely being destroyed.
 * Stallord seems to be based more on a dinosaur, than a dragon.
 * King Dodongo is approximately the right size to fit Stallord's skeleton.

However...


 * King Dodongo is incapable of flight, with or without his body. However, Stallord's skull has the ability to fly. Although considering the power of Zant's sword revived Stallord, it could also have given it the power to fly.
 * The horns atop Stallord's head do not match those of King Dodongo.

It might be theroized that King Dodongo might have withered and were eroded into eachother.

Stallord might also be the skeletal remains of yet another boss, Gleeok, for the following reasons:


 * Both Gleeok and Stallord can "live" with their head detatched from their body.
 * When Gleeok's head was severed, it flew around and shot fireballs at Link, remarkably similar to Stallord.
 * In Oracle of Seasons, Gleeok is found in the Graveyard, a place remarkably similar to Arbiter's Grounds, both of which have Poe.
 * Stallord has only one head, while Gleeok usually has at least two but the Gleeok from Minish cap; Gleerok has only one head. Besides, even if Stallord was a two-headed Gleeok when it was alive, maybe only one skull was left intact after it had been slayed. There is also a possebility that the other head could be burried under all the sand in Stallords chamber.

Despite evidence any which way, one important fact remains: the skeleton was found in the Gerudo Desert, not Death Mountain. But perhaps, both King Dodongo and Volvagia were eroded to the Gerudo Desert. Stallord can also summon to his aid Staltroops, to defend his spine, an ability both Volvagia and King Dodongo lack. But then again, it could be the doing of Zant.

Another possible theory is that Stallord was the left over remains of a creature that may have attacked the land of Hyrule at some point in time. The creature may have been captured and imprisoned in Arbiter's Grounds where it was used as a monster to fight with prisoners of the massive dungeon. If it was used to fight with prisoners, this may explain the reason why Staltroop wander throughout the arena.

Trivia

 * Stallord is currently the largest known member of the 'Stal' family. Given its name, it may likely stay this way.
 * Given the fact that its body is only revealed by the spine up, some rumor that if the sand from its room was drained completely prior Link's battle, Stallord would be an extraordinarily large dragon-Stal-thing.