Meanings of the Names of the Enemies in the Legend of Zelda
In the Legend of Zelda, there does seem to be a fair amount of rather random behavior, such us burning down trees for money and riding a whirlwind around a very small kingdom.
Of course, Zelda has its own logic that is a little closer to normal logic then say, Bubble Bobble. Not only that, but in 1986, the developers of the game sprinkled in some meaningful names, a process of adding subtext that was to continue through such games as Terranigma and to reach its peak (so far) with Xenogears.
In particular, the names of the enemies in Zelda, as opposed to the usual random jumbles of syllables in games of this time, actually mean something.
- Leever is probably derived from the Latin root "Leva", meaning "to rise", present in such words as leavening and the Levant, and which makes sense in relation to this enemy, which hides underneath the sand and then pops up.
- Lynel is the strongest enemy in the Overworld, and is somewhat centaur like in appearence, at least as far as I can tell from the eight bit graphics. It could, however, be a type of Lion, which would explain the name.
- Like Likes, the annoying little enemies that eat your magic shield, are probably related to the root word "lich", meaning to suck, found in such words as Lichen and Lick. This also makes quite a bit of sense, since the Like-Like's suck the shield right off of Link.
- Goriya, the boomarang tossing rat creature, could derive its name from the Spanish word Gordo, meaning fat. This name somewhat fits this enemy since they are kind of slow moving, and, in a famous scene in Level 7, one will only let Link through if he is bribed with some meat.
- Ghini is probably a fairly simple derivation from ghoul or ghost
- Tektike are somewhat spider like, so their name be a derivation from tick, one of the members of the arachnid family.
- Aquamentus is the boss of Level One and Level Seven. It's name means "Water Mind", and this may have something to do with the fact that the entrances to Level One and Level Seven are located in the middle of a lake and underneath a pond, respectivly.
- Patra, which doesn't show up until Level 9, sounds like it could derive from either "pater" meaning "father" or "peter" meaning "rock", neither of which make sense.
- Ganon, the big evil pig himself, has a name of Irish extraction meaning "little fair haired one". It could possible be a cognate of the Welsh Guinevere "Fair and Beautiful". Ganon, of course, is neither Fair nor beautiful, but such is the nature of the game.