Two poes float alone at the center. Are they star-crossed lovers who came to a tragic end? Are they soul mates who met one fateful day at the pond on the surface and lived a long, happy life? Did they never meet in life, and only found each other after death?
Would they want to be collected and returned to the Bargainer Statue, or would they prefer to left in peace, to float for all eternity at the center of the Ancient Observatory?
Something that would’ve been a cool addition to the Depths in TotK would’ve been malicious Poes as a tough enemy or roaming boss in the same way as Froxes. The Depths seem like the perfect environment for them. I don’t mind the idea of collecting Poe souls for the bargainer statues, but I remember how I became excited when I consulted that first statue in Lookout Landing and heard about their existence in the game, only to be disappointed when I found out they were just a collectible.
Poes are a classic enemy in Zelda games, and given some of the cool adaptations we’ve seen of old enemies in BotW and TotK, I feel like we could’ve seen a great take on this ghastly foe.
I could easily see tough Poes yielding greater amounts of Poe souls for us to collect, or even special souls that we could take for rare prizes or upgrades at the bargainer statues.
On top of that, there’s a general lack of enemy and landscape feature variety in the Depths that I think Poes could’ve helped add to. We had the Gerudo Underground Cemetary filled with Gibdos, so why not other places of burial or even underground battlefields that Poes have chosen as their haunts.
And just like angler fish in the darkest parts of the ocean, imagine a swaying light in the pitch black of the Depths waving back and forth, luring you in, only for you to be at the mercy of a Poe once its trap is sprung. It phases in and out of existence, taunting and hitting you from odd angles with spectral flames and smacks of a lantern.
Once you’ve defeated it and claimed its soul, a hidden grave pulls back to reveal a reward: some prized possession it once clung to in life along with the countless souls it collected over the ages from its ruse.
“Acordei no meio da noite suando de bicas. Tive um sonho que eu tava numa sala de cirurgia, ai vinha uma mulher vestida de médica, raspava meu cabelo todinho e eu ficava careca. Depois vinha outro médico e me perguntava se as dores de cabeça eram constantes e eu dizia que sim, ai ele perguntava em que região da cabeça e eu apontava com o dedo no lugar, ai ele abria minha cabeça com um bisturi e saia pedacinhos do seu corpo de dentro da minha cabeça, Galega. Porra era tudo tão real que eu acordei em pânico, tentei deitar novamente, mas não consegui..”
— Cartas para Joana.