Leever

Appearance: LoZ Quick Facts: Found in all sandy areas of Hyrule. Blue variety is stronger than red. Often found near Octoroks. Unusual concentration in desert area close to Death Mountain.

Appearance: AoL Quick Facts: Found in the deserts in the eastern continent of the AoL map. There is only the light blue variety, often accompanied by the light blue Octorok.

Appearance: ALttP Quick Facts: Green and purple Leevers hang out in the Desert Palace in the Desert of Mystery. A monster similar to the Leever, but which stays above ground and jumps, can be found all over the Dark World.

Appearance: LA (DX) Quick Facts: Only one kind of Leever, which can be found in many sandy areas of Koholint. In the DX version these type of Leevers are red.

Appearance: OoT/MM Quick Facts: In OoT, the green Leever is found in the Haunted Wasteland, near the Desert Colossus. In MM, it can be found on the beaches of the Great Bay. They move quickly and are difficult to dodge. So many attack at once that it is usually easier to just move on instead of attacking them.

Appearance: OoA/OoS Quick Facts: Blue jumps better than orange.

Appearance: TMC Quick Facts: Most Leevers are found in near the ruins in the swamp in the southwest corner of Hyrule; Castor Wilds. Apart from a more detailed sprite, they are very similar to the ones found in the Oracle games.

Description

Overall

The Leever is a type of worm or bug that lives under the sand. It can only be found in sandy areas, such as deserts or sandy shores. According to the LoZ manual, "they live in the ground and eat up the energy of creatures that approach them." It has a stubby, tube-like body, with blade- or leaf-like protusions on the top. These protusions may either rigidly stick out, or hang down loosely. There are several varieties of Leevers. LoZ has blue and red Leevers, AoL has light blue ones, ALttP has green and purple Leevers with loose orange protrusions, and OoT and MM have green Leevers with light green rigid, and red loose protrusions. The Leever seems to be related to the similar Geldarm, Twinmold, and Lanmola, and Moldorm. Lanmolas and Twinmold, in particular, have the same blade-like protrusions on their face. The Leever's skin may look slimy and warty, but it is most likely hard and tough, to enable them to move easily under the sand.

Leevers attack by digging out of the ground some distance from the target, charging straight at the target at high speed, and then burrowing back under the ground. They will repeat this, popping up at random locations, as long as the target is in the general vicinity (i.e. the same screen). Leevers tend to stay in groups, all the better to overwhelm unwary adventurers. In LoZ and AoL, Leevers are also often accompanied by Octoroks. Perhaps they are teamed up, and have a symbiotic relationship.

Legend of Zelda and Adventures of Link

In LoZ, blue Leevers are a little stronger than red Leevers. They can be found in the area surrounding Hyrule's central lake, or in the desert lining Death Mountain. Red Leevers tend to pop up closer to their target and charge right in. Blue ones come up a little farther away, and wander around a bit more instead of charging directly. In AoL, there is only one variety of Leever, light blue in color. It is found mainly in the deserts on the eastern continent of the part of Hyrule shown in AoL.

A Link to the Past

In ALttP, Leevers are only found in the Desert Palace in the Desert of Mystery. Perhaps the heat of the desert drove them into the cooler palace, or they had too much competition from vultures and Geldmen? The purple Leevers are stronger than the green ones. Also found in the Desert Palace are "mother Leevers" (name?). These large Leever-like monsters dig partially out of the ground, but stay put and throw fire at their enemy. A Leever-like enemy can be found all over the Dark World. This creature (name unknown) looks like a Leever, but its blades are very long and loose, it doesn't live underground, and it moves by jumping around. It may be the Dark World's twisted version of the Leever.

Link's Awakening and Oracle of Ages/Seasons

In LA (DX), there is only one type of Leever (thanks to the original Game Boy's monochrome screen). The Oracle games have blue, red and yellow Leevers, with white rigid blades. But the Leever sprites were taken from the Game Boy version, so they probably aren't true to life. Blue ones are stronger than red. In Holodrum, the blue Leever can be found in the Natzu Wasteland, and the red Leever in Samasa Desert. In Labrynna, red Leevers can be found on Talus Peaks in the present, and blue ones in the past.

Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask

OoT and MM feature the green Leever. In OoT, this Leever can be found in the Haunted Wasteland, and near the Desert Colossus. They move very fast and are difficult to dodge. The small, green ones tend to all pop up in a group, surrounding their target, and charge in all at once. The best strategy is either to avoid them, or use a spin attack as soon as they appear. But they appear so often that is usually easier to just pass them by. If you keep killing Leevers, every once in a while a bigger, stronger, slower purple Leever will appear.

In Termina, small numbers of the green Leever can be found only on the coasts of the Great Bay. A sign near the entrance warns to "Beware of Leevers, dangerous deep-sea life-forms!" It is uncertain whether this is really talking about the Leevers, or if its just a translation goof (see the Translation Notes below).

The Minish Cap

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Four Swords Adventures

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Relevant Quotes

The Minish Cap

Figurine Description:

Leever

Appears in Castor Wilds, Mount Crenel,
etc. These baddies move freely
underground and pop out for a surprise
attack. Keep your shield up!

Translations

Notes

The Leever's name is written as RI-BA in katakana. This appears to be a simple transliteration of "Leever" into Japanese, with stress placed on the first syllable.

The name "Leever" is used in the English and French versions of OoT, and the Spanish version of MM. In the German version of OoT, Navi calls it the "Widerliche Sandkiller." In the German version of MM, Tatl calls it simply the "Sandkiller." Also note that the names used in MM are also reused in TMC.

There is a sign in MM that warns to "beware of Leevers, dangerous deep-sea life-forms." The French version of MM warns to look out for the "anguilles géantes," or giant eels. The German version says to be wary of "BUWLF (Bösartige Unterwasser-Lebensformen)," or malicious underwater lifeforms. The Spanish version, however, follows the English translation in warning to take care around Leevers, a form of submarine life. However, from what I can make out of the Japanese, the original says to beware of the Leever, a living thing inside the ground. It seems to me that the translation got confused between warning about the sea creatures and warning about the Leevers on the coast.

See also

• Geldarm
• Lanmola
• Moldorm
• Twinmold