The Mystery of the Darknuts (Legend of Zelda)

[Music] the legend of zelda's dark nuts are among the series most lethal enemies brutes in steel armor wielding greatswords as large as link dark nuts first appeared all the way back in the original game on the nes where they're described by the manual as knights who defend the labyrinths they're powerful heavyweight enemies and their armor renders them invulnerable to attacks from the front which makes them difficult to handle in larger numbers since their debut dark nuts have fought link across many games in the series both 2d and 3d though they usually remain firmly grounded in their roots as elite close combat warriors weak to attacks from the rear but as the series and the law surrounding it has grown the dark nuts have remained largely unexplained while the origins and true identities of some of ganon's other troops have been explored the law of the dark nuts never has who they are under the armor remains a mystery in fact there's evidence suggesting that the dark nuts aren't simply creations of the demon king such as how their armor bears unique markings unrelated to ganon so today let's take a closer look at the law and identity of these steel juggernauts are they just armoured demons or do they have a human origin dark nuts are among the oldest zelda enemies in their debut game they appear as both blue and red variants blue being the stronger of the two and are described in the manual as knights who live in labyrinths as you'd expect from such a cryptic game that's all the information we get on dark nuts in zelda one the same is true for their appearance on coholint in link's awakening and holodrum and labrina in the oracles they're dangerous knights but nothing more is revealed about who they are we get slightly more information in the minish cap where their trophy description describes them as armor-clad soldiers and instead of just having different colours there are clear and defined ranks silvers are the base enemy red dark nuts are apparently commanders and the rare black knights are presumably the highest ranking of all being by far the strongest chronologically the minish cap is the first appearance of the dark nut in the zelda timeline though they borrow their design here from another game the wind waker their 3d debut the hero of wind's first encounter with the dark nut is within the tower of the gods a sacred dungeon built as a trial for potential heroes he unlocks and enters a small chamber and comes face to face with an armored behemoth the dark nut fights with a great sword and is nearly invulnerable to damage except for its back where a gap in its armor allows link to shatter its defenses once the armor is completely destroyed it's revealed that the man underneath the suit isn't a man but a bipedal dog warrior this is the only time in the series we can see a dark nut's true form and it absolutely raises more questions than answers it definitely helps move dark nuts closer to the category of enemies created by ganon rather than enemies possessed or brainwashed into servitude like enemies such as ocarina of times iron knuckle twilight princess also features dark nuts again as heavyweight warriors who can be defeated by slowly chipping away at their armor which reveals a quicker more agile form underneath this time though it's just another set of armor the knight still wears chainmail and cloth even when without his heavy plate but even though we don't get as clear a look at an unarmored dark nut here as we did in the wind waker we can just about get a glimpse of its face under its helmet and it's eerily human or at the very least far more human than an anthropomorphic dog which again raises the question are these monsters or are they men in the wind waker dark nuts wear ornate belts known as knight's crests these are prized by orca on outset islands who claims that they're the symbols of courageous knights and can only be gathered by a soul who possesses power wisdom and courage every dark nut encountered in the game wears one of these crests which means that it's less likely that they stole them and more likely that they are these courageous knights that orca talks about the crests bear a strange symbol that of a bird with outspread wings formed from three feathers and a crescent-shaped head this symbol is echoed on the armor of twilight princesses dark nuts while not identical extremely similar crests adorn these knights plate armor and greatswords and interestingly these symbols are uncannily similar to the hylian crest the symbol of the royal family of hyrule which is derived from the shape of a loft wing might these symbols be bastardizations or stylistic interpretations of the sacred emblem of hyrulean royalty could dark nuts really be courageous knights that once served the royal family before being brainwashed possessed or converted to evil the placements of dark nuts might help give us an insight into their purpose the first encounter with one in both 3d appearances is a solo mini boss fight both taking place in a sacred ancient tower dungeon featuring advanced technology the tower of the gods and the temple of time both are positioned as guards protecting the dungeon's main items the hero's bow and a dominion rod the latter of which is known to be an important artifact owned by the hyrulean royal family used for communication with the oka dark nuts are also found in abundance in twilight princesses hyrule castle and wind waker's sunken hyrule often positioned to defend important areas or items the symbols they wear and their placements do seem to suggest an affiliation with hyrule rather than ganon powerful knights who served the royal family now seemingly turned against their kingdom this is easy to believe for the twilight princess iteration of the dark nerds who again have human-like faces visible beneath their masks it isn't a stretch to believe that they were once highly in nights in fact i'd argue that this is the most sensible assumption based on the evidence but the wind wakers dark nuts if these were once knights of hyrule why do they look so monstrous there's an interesting connection between the wind wakers darknets and another enemy in the game the warships found across the great sea these tiny boats attack link in the king of red lions on site most warships are grey but there's a single golden warship found at needle rock isle guarding a triforce chart at first the designs of these ships don't really tell us much except for this symbol depicting what looks like a centipede this is the exact same design found all across the dark nuts armor and shields in fact the general design of the warships closely resembles the helmets of dark nuts the standard ships are grey and feature horns but the golden warship has two triangular protrusions and a crest on top incredibly similar to the helmets of higher tier dark nuts unfortunately the warships are possibly the least fleshed out enemy in the game we don't know anything about them in fact karlov doesn't even recognize them and you can't unlock a figurine of them for the gallery but they're obviously somehow connected to dark nuts and their design might hint at who is inside who mans these ships the basic grey warships all fly the same flag a crude looking grey oval with two holes this is the symbol of the moblins it depicts their snouts and the same flag can be seen all across the forsaken fortress so while these ships closely resemble dark nuts in design they're most likely being manned by moblins or bokoblins this centipede symbol isn't found anywhere else in the game on any of ganon's other minions or weapons which might suggest that it isn't a symbol connected to ganon and the moblin flag on the warships might mean that ganon's minions simply seized control of these vessels in japanese culture the symbol of a centipede often means impurity or evil especially so for the mukadi or japanese giant centipede which interestingly often travel in pairs just like the symbols found on the dark nuts but the centipede was also a symbol often worn by samurai because of their aggression and tendency to attack prey much larger than themselves the centipede was associated with military success and features on the battle flag of takeda shingen a powerful samurai leader so in the wind waker the centipede symbol is probably hinting that the dark nuts had or have acted like samurai which would make sense considering how orca describes the night's crests as symbols of courageous knights in feudal japan upon the death or fall of a samurai's lord or master the warrior was expected to commit supuku a form of ritual suicide those who did not were called ronin which means wanderer and were shunned many forced to find work by acting as mercenaries or criminals by the time of the wind waker if the darknets were samurai-like warriors in service to the royal family they have lost their masters the elite knights of a forgotten kingdom so perhaps the dark nuts we see in service of ganon do so much in the same way as ronin samurai who have lost their lords and found employment in crime and evil the fact that dark nuts are frozen alongside moblins in hyrule castle and presumably have been since the great flood does hurt this idea somewhat but it's still possible that they joined ganon's service or control when he returned but before the kingdom was destroyed by the gods darknets could be powerful knights of hyrule who have outlived their kingdom their warships now commandeered by moblins and the coblins it's a strong possibility but again there's the crucial problem that they're not hylian they resemble dogs but putting monsters in armor and using them as guards or soldiers isn't past the hyrulean royal family in fact we might see an example of this very situation in twilight princess in the ever enigmatic snow peak ruins this abandoned mansion was obviously used by someone with a strong military there are storerooms filled with weapons and the symbol found throughout the house features two crossed swords atop a shield this symbol strongly links the mansion to the royal family it can also be found in princess zelda's tower and the suits of armor seen in many different rooms in snow peak ruins closely resemble the armor found throughout hyrule castle i've theorized before that a purpose for this mansion could have been for the breeding and training of bastille soldiers evidenced by the dungeon's mini boss dark hammer dark hammer wears the same armor as the suits that decorate snow peak ruins which again is very similar to the armor found in hyrule castle in fact the game files for the suits of armor in hyrule castle actually contain the textures for dark hammer and its ball and chain weapon helping solidify a link between the two but despite a possible connection to the royal family dark hammer clearly isn't hylian it's more akin to a lizalfos or dinolfos than anything else in the snowpeak ruins video i proposed that twilight princesses darknuts might be the final product of an attempt to breed and create elite soldiers to defend hyrule which does sound like a stretch but there is evidence there to support it and if this is the case if the hyrulean royal family were connected to snow peak ruins and the monstrous dark hammer then it wouldn't be unbelievable that the wind wakers canine dark nuts were elite knights who served hyrule while not being hylians themselves just like dark hammer these dark nuts are highly skilled incredibly tough monsters with mysterious connections to hyrule and its royalty despite being among zelda's most iconic enemies the dark nuts remain some of the most enigmatic clearly there's something more to these knights than just monsters in ganon's service they aren't just regular demon spawn created to do his bidding they're probably the classic enemy i'd most like to see return in breath of the wild's upcoming sequel i'd love to see another unique interpretation of these armored titans and get another glimpse at their origins and potential backstory what do you think are dark nuts simply the creations of ganon or vati or is there more than meets the eye let me know in the comments if you like this video leave a like or subscribe if you haven't already for more zelda content cheers guys and i'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Zeltik

Views: 260,118

Keywords: Zelda

Id: VuiyP0EKU48

Length: 13min 42sec (822 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 26 2022