Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda is renowned for its intricate gameplay, sense of adventure, and devilish puzzles. Beyond that, it also has a well-deserved reputation for being… kinda horny. The franchise is studded with characters from all fantasy species that seem desperate to jump Link’s taciturn bones. Yup, the saga really is full of flirty characters who are very easy on the eye.
Perhaps that’s an article for another day, because we’re here to reveal the official 10 hottest The Legend of Zelda characters. So strap on your red tunic, and let’s get spicy!
10. Flare Dancer
There are going to be some very well-known hotties on this list, but we want to start by paying tribute to Flare Dancer, who never quite got the fame he deserved. Flare Dancer appeared in Ocarina of Time as a sub-boss in the Fire Temple. They seem to be composed of living flame, which earns them a spot on this list, as this means they cannot be below 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spicy!
As you’d expect from the name he can also strut his stuff on the dance floor, and has a truly explosive finale to his routine. Hats off to Flare Dancer!
9. Fire Chuchu
It’s also worth noting that some of the hottest characters in Zelda aren’t even necessarily that scary. Chuchus are adorable gelatinous blobs of joy that come in a variety of flavors, including Ice, Electric, and uh, Regular. But we think you know which one we’re here to talk about. Yup, it’s the Fire Chuchu.
This hops towards you as if it’s simply looking for a hug, though its molten body means Link should be wearing a full Flamebreaker set of armor before even thinking of cuddling up to it. Hug it without that set, and Link is looking at catastrophic full-body burns and a painful and limited future! Seriously, though, if we were in a cold climate we’d love to have a Fire Chuchu around to warm up the place at night. Let’s just keep it away from our collection of wooden shields…
8. Fyrus
At first glance, Fyrus looks like a disappointingly chilled-out boss, especially coming after Twilight Princess‘s flame-kissed Goron’s Mines dungeon. He’s still, matte black, and simply breathing heavily, but things quickly hot up when Link approaches him as he roars and becomes wreathed in flame. Now we’re talking!
Unfortunately, Fyrus isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Shooting an arrow into his mask causes him to stumble about like an idiot, and yanking his chain sends him tumbling to the ground for a wallop with the Master Sword. As an early Twilight Princess boss, he goes down fairly quickly and ends up cooling down and bursting into cinders, but at least while he’s up and about he’s bringing the heat.
7. Fire Keese
Fire Keese are such a common enemy in Zelda that most players won’t stop to think about the mechanics of what’s going on here. It’s one thing for a giant humanoid or squishy blob to be on fire, but a bat? These are some of the most delicate mammals you can find, relying on their tiny bodies and leathery wings to get them airborne. We would expect any regular bat to burn up in a second if set alight, so for the Fire Keese to happily flap about in Hyrule it must be one of the most flame-resistant creatures around!
Sure, they’re not exactly tough to defeat, but in Breath of the Wild their mere presence has seen many a wooden shield and sword reduced to ash. Hats off to the little guys.
6. Darunia
We suspect this Ocarina of Time pick may ruffle the feathers of heat enthusiasts out there, as he isn’t technically physically hot himself. But we had to include at least one volcano-lovin’ Goron on this list, and who better than the Sage of Fire himself? Darunia is not only a fearsome warrior on the battlefield but he loves to party. When Link first meets him he’s despondent, but it only takes a quick toot on the Ocarina and the jaunty sound of Saria’s Song to break him out of his depressed funk.
He later reappeared in Hyrule Warriors, where he underlined his Sage of Fire credentials by punching the ground so hard geysers of lava consume enemies and tossing giant flaming boulders. Just like the Gorons, we love a bit of heat, and Darunia certainly gets us hot under the collar!
5. Fire Lynel
For the vast majority of players, Lynels are a real headache. They hit hard, move quickly, and are responsible for a whole heaping pile of dead Links. But set one on fire? Now we’ve got problems. Fire Lynels pop up in Age of Calamity and present a tricky opponent, wielding their Savage Lynel Crusher and peppering the battlefield with fire waves and flaming arrows.
As you’d expect the quickest way to cool them off is with the Ice Rod, which acts as the sober yin to their raging yang. Turn up without one, and you’re in for a truly scorching battle. A Lynel is never a creature to tackle lightly, and this type fully harnessing the element of fire makes for an incandescent battle!
4. King Dodongo
You’ll be slicing up the flame-breathing lizards known as Dodongos all throughout Death Mountain in Ocarina of Time, so when it’s time for the boss fight, their daddy turns up for revenge. Link plunges into Dodongo’s cavern to battle the “Infernal Dinosaur,” who rolls around, lets out jets of white-hot flame, and generally causes havoc. Unfortunately, the King shares a weakness with his subjects, having to inhale deeply in order to blast fire at you.
This is an opportunity for Link to toss a bomb flower into his gullet, which proves to be a spicy meatball that blows him up from the inside. After a few of those his internal organs are turned into overheated mush, and he feebly rolls into the lava pit to be consumed by the fire. If you can’t stand the heat King Dodongo, then get out of the kitchen…
3. Magmanos
Skyward Sword also delivers a truly premium fire-based monster in the brilliantly named Magmanos. As Fi explains, this hand-shaped baddie is composed entirely of molten lava, rendering most of the Link’s attacks completely ineffective. But this magma form proves to be as much a help and a hindrance, particularly as Water Fruit seems to grow close to where they dwell. Drench them in those sticky juices and they’ll quickly solidify into a brittle state and then – you guessed it – it’s smashing time.
As a purely lava-based creature, the Magmanos must be running at an impressive 2200 degrees Fahrenheit, making it definitively one of the hottest characters in Zelda. We’d shake it by the hand for this feat, but let’s pack asbestos gloves first.
2. Scaldera
While we’re on Skyward Sword, we can’t ignore the “Pyroclastic Fiend” that is Scaldera. Like Magmanos, this is a creature of pure lava, though comes with a red-hot rocky carapace to protect its squishy interior. Water Fruit won’t help Link here, and he must make smart use of bombs to blast through its armor, before tossing another into its gaping maw. This exposes the one part of its body that’s not aflame; its eye.
Bonk that weak point a few times, and Scaldera goes down. So what’s the lesson here? Well, if you’re going to go with heat as your primary attribute, be consistent and get that property down 100%. If Scaldera had upped its game and heated up its eye, too, we suspect Link would never have made it out of the Earth Temple, and seeing as Skyward Sword is the earliest game in the Zelda chronology, the Legend would come to an abrupt end right here.
1. Volvagia
Give it up for the boss of Ocarina of Time‘s Fire Temple! The “Subterranean Lava Dragon,” Vooolvagia! Death Mountain is so hot Link can’t even step foot inside without the red tunic, and at the very core of the volcano lives the ancient dragon Volvagia, renowned as the fiery spirit of the volcano that looms over Hyrule. Volvagia is so hot that he literally eats Gorons for breakfast, and is on a mission to turn Hyrule into a burning wasteland.
Taking it down proves to be an intense battle, with Link forced to play Whac-A-Mole and bonk him on the head with the Megaton Hammer. Stun him and it’s Master Sword bashing time, and if you triumph he’ll eventually flame out into a burning skeleton. For us, Volvagia is the hottest character in The Legend of Zelda that easily takes pole position.
All that said, we’re currently knee-deep in Tears of the Kingdom, and while we haven’t spotted any notably hot characters in there yet, we’re definitely on the lookout. There’s got to be something truly incandescent at the heart of Death Mountain here, right?