Zelda Races: The Humble Moblin

Moblins may not generally be considered part of the pantheon of Zelda races, but in many ways, they are one of the first and most important in the entire Zelda series.

Of course, there’s the unavoidable fact that most of the Moblins you encounter try to kill you, and as a whole, they bear a striking resemblance to Ganon. Considering the simplicity of The Legend of Zelda’s story, this makes them clearly villains and monsters, as set apart from Link and his quest as Ganon himself. Amusingly, however, the Moblins also stumble into helping Link, and seem to take an interest in Hyrule’s economy, however rudimentary.

The Legend of Zelda presents us with two prominent speaking races–the Hylians and the Moblins. Hylians , scattered about Hyrule, run shops and give Link advice about how to progress on his journey. Moblins play a more interesting and ambiguous role, often helping Link but seeming purely self-interested. One also gets the impression from their character design that they’re not particularly bright.

The Legend of Zelda is chock-full of Engrish and simple English, but the Moblins’ “It’s a secret to everybody!” and “Grumble grumble…” have to rank as some of the most memorable lines in series history. They all represent something, too. Rupees are hard to come by, and knowing where to find these characters can be a great asset to anyone who doesn’t want to grind for money.

This is a small-scale version of what we would see later, but they are notable for being some of the first real characters in a Zelda game. Before Kokiri, Zoras, or Gorons, this odd race of enemies played an important role in Link’s quest. They’re also inseparable from the charming world that houses them, and from the franchise as a whole. We’d get different interpretations of these creatures in future entries–with the gigantic but dumb-looking beasts from Ocarina of Time and the fluidly animated, personality-laden boars from The Wind Waker being personal favorites–but the ones from The Legend of Zelda have to be the most iconic, and they’re definitely the most important. It all started here.