Lanmola

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Lanmola

Game(s)	The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past Link's Awakening
Other Media	A Link to the Past comic Zelda's Adventure
Dungeon(s)	Death Mountain Labyrinth Desert Palace Yarna Desert
Weakness(es)	Sword, Arrows, Ice Rod
Reward(s)	Pendant of Power Angler Key

Lanmolas are powerful, centipede-like^[1] foes found in several Zelda titles. While they were originally normal enemies, they began to serve larger roles in subsequent games in the series, acting as boss or mini-boss. Their first appearance shows them as having an elongated segmented body, with two appendages per segment and a single eye complete with iris; later games show them as clearly having two compound eyes and no appendages, giving them a more worm-like appearance.

The Legend of Zelda Manual Comment

Appearances and Strategy

The Legend of Zelda

In The Legend of Zelda, Lanmolas are only found in the Death Mountain Labyrinth in both Quests and are powerful foes. They come in red and blue varieties, with the latter ones being faster. Like the Moldorms in the game, the Lanmolas grow shorter by one segment with each blow, but only the tail part of their body is weak at first; the head can only be harmed once the remaining segments have been destroyed. Their fast movement, multiple legs and their weakness in the tail actually makes them more akin to Moldorms of later games.

A Link to the Past

A group of three Lanmolas are the bosses of the Desert Palace in A Link to the Past. In this game, they hide underground and occasionally surface to attack, then return to the underground. When they burrow out of the ground, they send bits of rock flying in several directions. The sword is the most common method of dealing with them; however, arrows and the Ice Rod are both effective as well. After two are defeated, the last one will begin to move faster, and creates more bits of rock upon surfacing. Once the final one has been taken care of, Link gets the Pendant of Power and a Heart Container.

Another group of three Lanmolas later return in Ganon's Tower as a mini-boss, where they are fought the same way as before. This time, however, there is a Stone Statue in the room that will occasionally fire beams at Link.

Link's Awakening

In Link's Awakening, a Lanmola appears as a mini-boss guarding the Angler Key in the Yarna Desert. It attacks in the same fashion as those encountered in A Link to the Past, but this time it fights in a patch of quicksand. If Link sinks into the center of the pit, Link will fall into a cave and, after returning, all damage dealt to the Lanmola will be reversed.

One of the final Nightmare's forms is known as Lanmola, but it is fought very differently. It behaves more akin to the Lanmolas of the original The Legend of Zelda, and must be defeated with a powerful attack to the head, like the Magic Rod.

Non-canon Appearances

Non-Canon Information

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A Link to the Past comic

In the A Link to the Past comic, a Lanmola appears after Link, using the Book of Mudora in the Desert of Mystery, reveals a scorpion statue that has the Pendant of Power hang on it. Before Link can approach it, he sinks into the quicksand and resurfaces on top of a Lanmola. Link tries to attack it with his sword but its skin is too hard to cause any damage to it.^[2] However, after the Lanmola launches him in the air, he lands on top of the scorpion statue and retrieves the Pendant of Power.^[3] With the pendant's energy in his hand, Link successfully defeats the Lanmola by striking the foe's underbelly with the sword.

Trivia

The Lanmolas from the original The Legend of Zelda have some similarities to Tailpasaran from Ocarina of Time.
Both Twinmold from Majora's Mask and Molgera from The Wind Waker are similar in appearance to the Lanmolas from A Link to the Past.
A similar but far smaller and weaker creature is known as a Swamola and appears in the Swamp of Evil in A Link to the Past.

Gallery

Red Lanmola in The Legend of Zelda
Blue Lanmola in The Legend of Zelda
Lanmola artwork from The Legend of Zelda
Red Lanmola artwork from The Legend of Zelda
Blue Lanmola artwork from The Legend of Zelda
Lanmola in A Link to the Past
Lanmolas artwork from A Link to the Past
Battle against Lanmolas in A Link to the Past
Lanmola in Link's Awakening
The Lanmola form of the Nightmare in Link's Awakening
Lanmola from A Link to the Past comic

References

↑ "A gigantic centipede. Attacking his head won't work. Boy! Does he move fast!" (The Legend of Zelda manual, pg. 36)
↑ "This is hopeless! Its skin is like armor!" (A Link to the Past (Nintendo Power), pg. 15)
↑ "Nice move, ugly! But now you're playing with the Pendant of Power!" (A Link to the Past (Nintendo Power), pg. 16)