Poe
A Poe is a ghost of concentrated hatred toward the world that freely roams graveyards and other haunted locales in Hyrule and other such places, and they always carry their signature lanterns.
A Link to the Past
They originally appeared in A Link to the Past, filling the role Ghinis served in the first game. The original Poe behaved nearly identical to its predecessor, flying randomly around gravesites and appearing from pushed tombstones, they also had unusually high endurance.
Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask
In Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, Poes take on the appearence of hooded wraiths with no faces and glowing eyes. They are identifiable from a distance by their distinctive lanterns while the Poe itself comes into view as Link approaches. Targeting Poes in these games will cause them to become temporarily invisible, although they will become visible every once in a while. Their lanterns remain visible when they vanish, allowing the player to at least dodge and keep track of the invulnerable enemy until it reappears. When a Poe is defeated, its physical body disappears, and the lantern it was holding drops and breaks, revealing its spirit. The Poe Spirit appears as a purple flame with a sad face, and disappears after a while. Before it disappears, Link can put the Spirit in a bottle, which is primarily used to sell for Rupees. Drinking it will usually make you recover health, but it can actually damage you as well.
In Ocarina of Time, Poes are mainly found in Kakariko Graveyard and in Majora's Mask, they are found in the Stone Tower Temple. There are also ten Big Poes in Ocarina of Time that are scattered throughout Hyrule Field when Link is an adult. Big Poes can only be easily hunted down on Epona and killed using the Bow from horseback. Once killed, you can collect their Big Poe spirits and sell them to a cloaked man in the gatehouse of Hyrule Castle Town.
The Poe Sisters
There are four Poes known as the Poe Sisters: Joelle, Beth, Amy, and Meg. In Ocarina of Time, these Poes are the sub-bosses of the Forest Temple. They stole the four flames necessary to fight Phantom Ganon, and Link must defeat them in four separate battles to relight the torches. They are fought as a mini-game in Majora's Mask, as well.
Flat and Sharp
In Ocarina of Time, the ghosts of the royal composer brothers named Sharp and Flat tell Link about the Sun's Song and other music-related things after he defeats them in Kakariko Graveyard (Flat and Sharp fight like regular Poes). In Majora's Mask, Flat rewards Link with the Song of Storms, which is used to defeat Sharp later on.
The Wind Waker
In The Wind Waker, Poes have a difference appearence, now masked with multicolored bodies. They harass Link by burning him with their lamps. They can also jump into Link's body, possessing him, and thereby reversing the player's movement controls. The Poes are now permanently translucent until direct light is shone on them using the Mirror Shield. The Poes will then become solid and run frantically about the room, making them vunerable. They appear in the Earth Temple.
Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, Poes take on a substantially different role. First, there are 60 total Poes which are only visible at night and using Wolf Link's Sense ability. Second, there are two different types of Poe: smaller whitish Poes that stand atop their lanterns and swing scythes to damage Link and four special Poes that can be found within the Arbiter's Grounds. The normal Poes form the objective of one of Twilight Princess's subquests. Jovani, a man cursed for his greed, asks you to obtain the souls of all of the Poes so that he can be restored to normal. Poes are scattered everywhere in Hyrule, making this similar to the Golden Skulltula subquest in Ocarina of Time.
Notable Poes
- Poe Sisters
- Big Poe
- Jalhalla, Protector of the Seal