Bellum

This page is about the character. For the boss fight, see Bellum (boss).

Bellum
Artwork of Bellum
First appearance	Phantom Hourglass (2007)
Gender	Male
Homeland	World of the Ocean King
Alternate form(s)	Spoiler: Bellumbeck

"I was savagely attacked by an unfathomable evil. His name...is Bellum."

— Oshus

Bellum (ベラムー, Beramū^?) is the primary antagonist of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Bellum is an evil deity that drains other beings of their life energy, and has plagued the World of the Ocean King for unknown periods of time. Bellum's motives are never touched upon; his singular agenda seems to be the continued draining of life force, and the perpetuity of destruction and strife. He is also one of the few villains to never utter a single line of dialogue.

Interestingly, Bellum was known as "Grande Octo" (meaning "Big Octorok") during early development, as he was originally planned to be a large Octorok.

Abilities

Despite seemingly not being as sapient as other villains, Bellum is still a formidable opponent. Along with power to absorb Life Force from others, Bellum is powerful enough to overwhelm even the Ocean King, who is a deity. It's abilities also allow it to create Phantoms servants, who are also powerful creatures. With the Life Force it absorbed, it can grow stronger in power, with the Life Force it absorbed from the Ocean King giving it even greater power. Fitting for it's ability to absorb Life Force, it can also sense large amounts of it from other worlds. When nearly defeated, it can possess others to act as a host, which may further increase it's powers.

Biography

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Bellum and his Phantom servants

After finding Tetra, who has now been turned to stone, on the Ghost Ship, Oshus appears, revealing to everyone his true identity as the Ocean King, and his continuous battle against Bellum. He explains that Bellum was able to feed off the Ocean King's life force to the point where Oshus had to split his soul apart and escape his real body. To prevent Bellum from capturing the Three Spirits, Ciela's soul was also split apart, and she no longer was the Spirit of Time and Courage.

With no one left to oppose him, Bellum cursed the Temple of the Ocean King to drain the life force from anyone unlucky enough to enter it, and created the Ghost Ship for the same purpose. He also created servant beings in the form of Phantoms and related enemies, vulnerable only to the Phantom Sword, a vulnerability shared by their creator. Oshus tells Link to gather the Pure Metals needed to forge the Phantom Sword, and defeat Bellum once and for all.

Upon Link's return with the sword in hand, Oshus combines it with the Phantom Hourglass to create the true Phantom Sword. Link is then able to descend deep into the lower floors of the Temple of the Ocean King, where Bellum has dwelt all this time, continually feeding off the life energy of the Ocean King and unlucky adventurers. After Link defeats multiple manifestations of Bellum in battle, the Ocean King is restored to his true form, Tetra is returned to normal, and peace is returned to the World of the Ocean King.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass manga

Non-canon warning: This article or section contains non-canonical information that is not considered to be an official part of the Legend of Zelda series and should not be considered part of the overall storyline.

Initially, Bellum appears only indirectly, making himself known when he summons Crayk to kidnap Ciela's memories, and being discussed by Oshus and Link. He first shows himself directly when he takes over Linebeck to form Bellumbeck and demands that Link give him the Phantom Hourglass. When dueling Link in the Temple of the Ocean King, he states that it does not matter which combatant wins, just as long as he is able to reap enormous amounts of life force from the outcome.

Link manages to hit him when Ciela summons a Phantom Sphere, and the wounded Bellum flees from the scene of battle. He soon reappears, planning to execute a suicide attack on the Ocean King, but is soon wounded by the cannons of the S.S. Linebeck and Jolene's ship. Link then uses a Super Spin Attack to fatally wound Bellum. Though he refuses to succumb, Bellum perishes quickly.

Non-canon warning: Non-canonical information ends here.

Etymology

Bellum is a Latin word that, depending on context, can mean either "flower" or "war". The creature in itself somewhat resembles a flower, and its merciless violence can give the impression that it is "warlike". Furthermore, "man-of-war" is an expression used by the Royal Navy to describe an extremely powerful warship, and is also used for the Portuguese man-of-war, a dangerous jellyfish-like aquatic animal, appropriate to the nautical themes of the game itself, as well as Bellum's distinctly aquatic design.

Another possibility is that it may refer to a part of the brain, the cerebellum, due to Bellum's ability to possess people. Incidentally, his possession of Linebeck may play on this: Linebeck is a sailor, which could be connected to the "warship" interpretation of the name.