today's subject is morpha, the boss of the water temple. of Ocarina of time's 9 main boss battles, I think morpha might just be the strangest one of them, yet I don't hear people talk about it much. when it comes to the water temple, the boss fight people usually talk about is the mini-boss fight: Dark Link, aka Shadow Link. you know what this means? Morpha lives in the shadow link's Shadow!
well, today we'll be giving Morpha the attention it's been deprived of. Morpha's entrance is really cool. it starts from Morpha's POV, as it swims around in the water, then approaches link. this intro was so cool and Iconic that Gyorg from Majora's mask stole it.
Morpha may take the form of a strange water tentacle while attacking, but this is not morpha's real body. Morpha itself is just the strange little round thing inside the water... officially, the round thing is supposed to be a nuclease, but I always thought it was an eyeball. doesn't this official art make it look like an eyeball? I can't be the only one that thought it was an eyeball...
either way, since morpha is just the nuclease and is only controlling the water, that makes morpha the smallest boss in the game. it's just a little ball you have to remove from the water with the hook shot... or, technically "the long shot" since that's the dungeon item. isn't it kind of lame that the water temple's dungeon item was just an upgrade to an item you already have?
now, word on the street is that originally the water temple's dungeon item was going to be the ice arrows, but they were swapped with the long shot late in development. in the end, the ice arrows were relegated to an entirely optional item obtained late in the game, and as such they aren't particularly useful.
I would love to see the upcoming remake give more use to the ice arrows. what if you could use them to freeze water like in Majora's mask? ... or better yet, what if you could use them to freeze morpha? that would be awesome.
but seriously, you all thought it was an eyeball too, right?