Earth Guardian

The Earth Guardian is a type of land-bound guardians guarding the supernatural reality known as the Silent Realm. Both the dwellers of the Silent Realm and the realm itself was created by the Goddess Hylia and as such the Earth Guardians are entities created by the Goddess to perform a certain task. This task being testing the desincarnated spirit of the hero who would eventually wander into the Silent Realm in search of relics left behind by the Goddess.

Behavior
They usually lay dormant and as such don't attack Link at all as long as they remain in this state. The will awoke if any intruder trespass outside of the protective circles of the Trial Gates, which serves as entry points to the Silent Realm. They can be rendered dormant again by collecting Sacred Tears, which also warps them back to their resting location for a period of 90 seconds. They can also be awoken if Link step into Waking Water or by Link being caught by a Watcher. Since Link is unable to use weapons in the Silent Realm, the Earth Guardians are unable to be defeated in battle. Since they are land-bound, they cannot pass certain obstacles, which is why they are also assisted by the flying Sky Guardians. They can defeat Link's spirit in a single blow, forcing him to restrart the entire trial.