Red blue and Black Hinox Locations on the Map

Hinox are recurring enemies in The Legend of Zelda series. They are usually shown to be brutish cyclopean creatures of large size, and can range from enemies to sub-bosses depending on the game.

A Link to the Past

Hinox are one of the first enemies that Link encounters when entering the Dark World. First found near the Pyramid of Power, these one-eyed monsters have the ability to toss bombs.

Hinox will move around rather slowly, but if they make eye contact with Link, they will charge in his direction. Even when the Hinox is charging, it does not move too quickly, so Link will have some time to react. While the Hinox will toss bombs out randomly, if Link strikes the Hinox with the Master Sword, the Hinox will immediately turn in his direction and toss a bomb.

These massive enemies are quite durable and will take a number of strikes to defeat. Link will need five direct swipes from the Master Sword to defeat them. Link can use its own power against them, defeating them with a single bomb strike. One might think arrows would work against these one-eyed creatures, but Hinox will need five direct strikes from the Bow and Arrow before he goes down.

The bombs that Hinox throw at Link will only do one heart of damage. However, if Link makes physical contact with the Hinox, three hearts of damage will be done to Link.

Link's Awakening

Hinox makes an appearance in Link's Awakening as the mini-boss of the second dungeon, Bottle Grotto. Later, a red and Blue Hinox appear as the mini-boss of Eagle's Tower and Turtle Rock. However, the behavior and strength of these two Hinox are the same as the first Hinox encountered in Bottle Grotto.

The Hinox is more difficult than its A Link to the Past counterpart due to Link having to face it in a room instead of open space. It walks around the room slowly, and it occasionally charges and dashes toward Link. If Hinox gets close enough to Link, it will grab him and toss Link to the side. Every time Link damages the Hinox, it retaliates by throwing a bomb. Link can defeat it by using his sword to hit the Hinox. Alternatively, Hinox has a natural weakness to Bombs, of which Link can defeat him with two bomb attacks. Later in the quest, Bomb Arrows, the Boomerang, or the Magic Rod make it much easier to defeat these monsters.

Four Swords Adventures

In Four Swords Adventures, the Hinox appear on Death Mountain Foothills as one-eyed ogres. They throw Boulders and shake Force Gems out of Link. There are a total of 23 Hinox, 20 of which can be defeated by entering a nearby cave obtaining the Quake Medallion and throwing it on them. The Hinox later appears in the Palace of Winds.

Phantom Hourglass

Main article: Eye Brute

In Phantom Hourglass, a similar enemy known as an Eye Brute appears on Dee Ess Island and Goron Temple. Unlike previous incarnations, the Hinox is now blue and its ponytail resembles a fuse of a bomb.

A Link Between Worlds

The Hinox in A Link Between Worlds are a lot like the Hinox in A Link to the Past. There is also a snow variant of the Hinox that are found only in the Lorule Death Mountain and throw snowballs at Link. There is also a Hinox in a secret cave, called the Cowardly Hinox, who will give Link Rupees. However, if Link asks for more Rupees too many times, the cowardly Hinox will attack Link and cannot be defeated. The only way to escape is to run out of the cave.

Tri Force Heroes

In Tri Force Heroes, the Hinox appear similar to how they appear in A Link Between Worlds. They appear in Stage 4 of the level Hinox Mine, and are the main challenge of this level. Unlike in A Link Between Worlds, they wear helmets that resemble bombs. They ride on mine carts and will throw bombs at the three Links. In order to defeat them, they either have to be shot with a bow, or the Links will have to throw the bombs back at the Hinox.

Breath of the Wild

The Hinox in Breath of the Wild are mini-bosses that are sprinkled around the world of Hyrule, of which there are forty of them in total. They are usually found sleeping and can be awakened with attacks or loud noise. Like Bokoblins and Moblins, they're pig-like creatures. They use their large size and fists to hurt Link. If Link gets close enough, they will try to punish him by stomping the ground below them. Often they use their environment to their advantage, which can include them uprooting nearby trees and attempting to flatten Link with them. However, they are fairly slow enemies and their moves can be telegraphed quite easily.

Hinox may wear wooden or metallic shin guards, and the former can be set on fire. They may wear one or two shin guards, but never two of the same material. The shin guards prevent Link from striking its legs when it's standing, so it's recommended to either burn the wooden ones, or strike the Hinox once it's sitting down on the floor. They may sport melee weapons of many types that they wear as jewelry (often a sword + spear + two-handed weapon), though some Hinox may also wear Ancient Orbs as well in the same fashion.

Hinox can be stunned by attacking their eye. However, after about half of the Hinox health has been drained, it will begin to use its hand to protect its eye when aimed at. As such, the player must wait for the Hinox to attack for them to uncover their eye.

Blue Hinox

Main article: Blue Hinox

While the standard Hinox has red-skin, a more powerful Blue Hinox variety exists. This Hinox has more health, often carries stronger weapons, and will deal more damage. In the Master Mode version of the game, many standard Hinox are replaced with Blue Hinox.

Black Hinox

Main article: Black Hinox

Black Hinox are the strongest variants in the game and are even more powerful than their Blue Hinox counterparts. In the Master Mode version of the game, many Blue Hinox are replaced with Black Hinox.

Stalnox

Main article: Stalnox

Undead Stalnox will appear at nighttime in certain areas of the world. These bone structured enemies battle similarly to Hinox and Link must attack their eye. When they are weaker, their eyeball will fall to the ground and Link will need to deal damage before it returns to the rest of its boney body. If daylight approaches while battling a Stalnox, the boss will crumble to pieces and Link will need to wait until the next night before he can battle them.

Drops

Hinox monster parts are used to create elixirs, or to upgrade armor. The different types of Hinox do not represent different strength levels, but have different HPs and yields aside from toenails, teeth, guts and assorted weapons:

Hinox Type	HP	Extra Yields	# of Individuals
Red Hinox	600	Non-cooked fruits	7
Blue Hinox	800	Cooked seafood	16
Black Hinox	1000	Cooked meat and poultry	7
Stalnox	1000	None; yields only Hinox Tooth and embedded weapons^{[HC 1]}	10

↑ The Stalnox at Hyrule Castle is an exception, which triggers a Hylian Shield to appear in a chest when defeated.

If Link is stealthy enough, he can steal some of the weapons that usually hang around their necks by climbing on top of its hand while either wearing the Stealth Set or having consumed stealth-heightening elixirs/foods, and then the Hinox will place Link on top of its belly. These weapons range from rudimentary clubs and bows to broadswords and metal bows that may give an advantage to the attacker. The more HP a Hinox has, the better weapons it yields, and also, as the World Level rises (as the player defeats more enemies, and frees more Divine Beasts), the Hinox in general will have better weapons to yield. However, unlike other base monsters, Hinox do not change to stronger species under the same circumstances as there are no "Silver" variants in the base game, nor "Gold" variants in Master Mode; however, in the latter, Hinox do go up one berth, so there is only one Red Hinox in Master Mode for Hyrule Compendium completion purposes.

Quests and Additional Hinox

Five Hinox are tied to Shrine Quests to remove Ancient Orbs hanging from their chests, either by fighting them or by procuring the Orbs:

The Three Giant Brothers quest at East Necluda includes facing three Hinox, Red, Blue and Black (referred to as Youngest, Middle and Oldest Kin respectively), to activate the pedestals to reveal Tawa Jinn Shrine;
The Shrouded Shrine quest, which entails facing a Blue Hinox hiding in the complete darkness of the Thyphlo Ruins to activate the pedestal to reveal Ketoh Wawai Shrine;
The Stranded on Eventide quest which entails facing a Blue Hinox without wearing armor or having weapons from outside Eventide Island in order to activate one of the three pedestals to reveal Korgu Chideh Shrine.

Slaying all 40 Hinox in the base game will, after the Destroy Ganon quest has been completed once, allow Link to receive the Medal of Honor: Hinox when visiting Kilton. The award itself serves only for bragging rights.

Three Hinox are present as part of the DLC-exclusive Trial of the Sword. These are not included in the total for the Medal of Honor:

A Blue Hinox is the final boss of the Beginning Trials (floor 12);
A Black Hinox is the second boss of the Middle Trials (floor 10);
A Stalnox is the first boss of the Final Trials (floor 5).

Trivia

Hinox are vulnerable to Urbosa's Fury strikes at a 300 HP damage per strike. As such, it takes 2 strikes to kill a Red Hinox and 2½ strikes for a Blue Hinox, but 3 strikes are not enough to kill a Black Hinox (1000 HP versus 900 HP damage), so it has to be finished with weapons.
Hinox don't need to be awake for them to receive damage, in spite of their health bar not showing until they face Link.
Hinox, unlike Stone Taluses and Molduga, are the only mini-bosses in the game who have Stal versions.
Albeit rarely seen, Hinox are fast swimmers, but they drown if they're in water for too long.
There are no Hinox in either Death Mountain or the Gerudo Desert, implying that they can't tolerate heat. The fact that they can be found at Hebra but not at the Gerudo Highlands implies that they may have been driven out of the Gerudo province altogether by the Gerudo people.

Age of Calamity

In Age of Calamity, the Hinox first appears as one of the bosses during The Yiga Clan Attacks! scenario. It has an identical appearance as its Breath of the Wild counterpart. It will attack nearby warriors by smashing its massive hands on the ground, as well as occasionally leaping in the air and trying to squash its adversaries. The Hinox will also roll on the ground towards any nearby warriors.

When defeated, a Hinox may drop a Hinox Toenail or a Hinox Tooth. Additionally, the player will receive a Hinox Trophy each time one of these bosses are defeated. These can be used to complete quests or upgrade weapons of the various warriors. Stronger variants and elemental variants of Hinox also appear throughout Age of Calamity, including Blue Hinox, Black Hinox, Electric Hinox, Fire Hinox, Ice Hinox, Malice Hinox, and Stalnox. The stronger variants appear in later scenarios, with the elemental variants appearing in levels corresponding to their elements.

Gallery

Hinox sprite from A Link to the Past
Red Hinox from Link's Awakening
Blue Hinox from Link's Awakening
Blue Hinox lifting Link up in Link's Awakening
Artwork of Link fighting a Hinox
Black Hinox in Breath of the Wild

[HylianShield-1] The Stalnox at Hyrule Castle is an exception, which triggers a Hylian Shield to appear in a chest when defeated.