Cairn
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Cairn is an enemy that appears exclusively in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. It resembles a stack of flat rocks, which get smaller towards the top. The topmost and smallest of these is red and possesses a pair of oval, black eyes, while the middle and bottom ones are entirely featureless and of an orange and greenish brown shade, respectively. All three are not firmly attached to one another, being capable of moving further apart and back together while the Cairn is in motion.
First appearing in the second stage of Pop Star, Cairns follow a very simple movement pattern solely consisting of two small jumps followed by a single larger one. While touching them causes harm to Kirby (thus requiring him to jump over or walk under them if they are not destroyed) and certain specimens move left and right within a small area as they leap up and down, the majority of these lithic opponents do not actively attempt to hurt the pink hero and move strictly vertically, never leaving their starting point on a horizontal axis.
Cairns are vulnerable to any attack. Being made of rock, they grant Kirby the Stone ability if inhaled and swallowed.
Trivia
- In real life, a cairn is a type of anthropogenic stone pile. In some cultures, these are assigned anthropomorphic qualities and understood to represent humans, likely explaining why their Kirby incarnation is animate.
- Sparkys appearing in Kirby's Return to Dream Land may behave very similarly to Cairns, jumping up and down in place in a repeating pattern of two small leaps and a larger one.
