Throughout the many Legend of Zelda releases to date, there have been hundreds of dungeons to crawl through. And, within them, there's always a boss to fight. That's not even counting all the spin-off games or just the elite enemies/mini-bosses that have unique designs.
Depending on the game, these monstrosities will be disgusting, hilarious, imposing, intimidating, and even horrifying. That last one is what we'll be focused on here, as it's time to dig through the tomes and find the 10 Scariest Zelda Bosses out there.
10 Wart: Majora's Mask
Starting off with probably the most offputting of The Legend of Zelda titles, at least atmospherically, it's Majora's Mask! This game was renowned for frightening all the children when it first came out. Frankly, all they had to do was look up and see that nightmare-inducing moon.
LoZ: MM is packed with downright scary monsters all over. One of the worst is Wart, who guards the Great Bay Temple. This gigantic gross eye-beast is surrounded by flesh-colored bubbles that frankly seem almost too organic. It's just an offputting fight in general, but not even close to the worst Majora's Mask has to offer.
9 Puppet Ganon: Wind Waker
This next one might not make sense to everyone, but for those who dislike puppets or animatronics, it'll be quite clear. Puppet Ganon from Wind Waker is janky in the worst kind of way. This is the prelude to fighting the "thicc-est" of the Ganondorfs and has three stages in all.
Its first form is the standard boar-like form, while the second has a more arachnid appearance and finally ends with a Moldorm-like fish look. Sure, Puppet Ganon is cartoony, but it's much larger than Link! Plus it moves so dang unnaturally. All this adds up to one of the most uncomfortable and atmospheric fights in Zelda.
8 The Shadow Nightmares: Link's Awakening
While we're on the topic of cartoony bosses, let's talk about the Shadow Nightmares. this is the final boss of the classic Game Boy title Link's Awakening. In it, this boss takes six different forms, with five being similar to the major bosses defeated by Link previously in this game.
Each of these imitation forms is different, in that they're an all-black version with creepy glowing eyes. Sure, it's an 8-bit game, but for players with overactive imaginations, it's really scary! Especially since right after the fight the entire island is revealed to be a figment of Link's imagination.
7 Diabolical Cubus Sisters: Phantom Hourglass
Masks seem to be a specialty when it comes to the Zelda franchise and Nintendo has a real knack for making some creepy ones. The designs for these four and their overall aesthetic are examples of classic horror sensibilities. The ship their boss fight takes place on isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows either.
The major problem with these girls is that the actual fight against them is pretty basic. Avoid the lasers, hit the ball back. There's no opportunity for them to do anything especially creepy when it just comes down to the world's worst match of volleyball.
6 Gyorg: Majora's Mask
Hopefully, people can relate to this. Gyorg is one of the scariest bosses that we can think of. Maybe it's the fact that the awkward controls for the Zora in the OG Majora's Mask made it hard to run away, but whatever the reason, Gyorg was terrifying.
This fiendish fish is gross in every sense of the word. It has another gigantic eye in its mouth, sharp yellow teeth, and armor and horns all over its body. Basically, it's like an eldrich piranha. That's creepy enough, nevermind the open water aspect of it.
5 Bilocyte And Levias: Skyward Sword
Scary things are best when giant. Sure a unique design helps to make a giant creature terrifying, but the size alone will do most of the work. In fact, it's what Shadow of the Colossus is primarily built upon. No Zelda boss represents this idea better than the Levias from Skyward Sword, especially when it has Biolcyte's frankly nauseating eyeball tentacles popping out of every orifice.
The Levias was huge, mysterious, and all-encompassing, while the Bilocyte brought that bio-organic horror that we all just love to hate. Sure, the fight itself was nothing to scream home about, but judging purely on the atmosphere of the fight, it's one of the best.
4 Zant: Twilight Princess
Zant, a truly fearsome Zelda antagonist that ended up as some eccentric byric by the end of the game. For most of Twilight Princess, however, Zant was a pretty imposing villain. He had such a unique appearance, moved incredibly erratically, and it was never clear if he was about to throw a tantrum or something much worse.
That by itself is offputting, but combined with the mask he wore and his pointed shark-like teeth, kids got scared. Too bad that he loses all that fear factor as soon as his helmet comes off.
3 Armogohma: Twilight Princess
Here's a boss that's a bit more centered in reality. Armogohma is the boss of the Temple of Time in Twilight Princess, and it's basically just a huge spider. But, hey, spiders are gross. Especially ones with gigantic, pulsating eyeballs in their backs.
The whole fight against Armogohma is a weird blend of tension and wackiness because Link only damages the arachnid by crushing it with giant statues. If the spider wasn't creepy enough already, it has another trick up its sleeve: once it's taken enough damage, it sheds its outer body and becomes just a big eyeball with spider-legs, surrounded by its children.
2 Bongo-Bongo: Ocarina Of Time
Now let's get a bit more "classic" with the game everyone thinks of first when it comes to The Legend of Zelda. That is, of course, the one, the only, Ocarina of Time. The N64 graphics don't exactly hold up to standards today, but at the time our imaginations really filled in for what the blocky textures couldn't.
For example, a shockingly open black room with an abyss surrounding it was much scarier than it should've been. When a giant one-eyed eldrich horror comes down to take Link out for standing on his drum? Nu-uh, that's too far.
1 Majora's Three Forms: Majora's Mask
Now we have the absolute most unsettling creature in the entire Legend of Zelda franchise, the Majora Mask. This mask, based on its design alone, is a work of fright-tastic art. The complementary colors of the orange and green eyes are offputting, and the intricate patterns give it quite the mystical appeal.
Plus, it's rare that something so colorful can work in a horror setting. But, none of that compares to how much weirder this Mask gets during the last stretch of the game. Majora's Wrath is three different human-like forms the mask takes during the final battle, and each one is terrifying in its own way. All-in-all, one of the biggest and most disturbing icons of the series.