Phantom

"LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT. IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME."

- Phantom

Phantoms are an incredibly sturdy, knight-like enemy debuting in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, always found patrolling mazes, with their area of sight visible on the map. They act as guards of whatever location they are stationed, but cannot enter safe zones, nor can they detect Link while he is in one. If Link is spotted, all in the room will aggressively pursue him, and if they land a hit on him, he will be forced back to the beginning of the room, but only take a single heart of damage. Sometimes they are assisted by Phantom Eyes, which are weak and have no offensive capabilities. Only very strong, specific weaponry can defeat Phantoms, though they can be done away with via trapdoors and stunned via an arrow to the back. They have numerous subtypes with their own abilities.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Phantoms are prominent in both adventure and battle modes. In adventure mode, they are found in the Temple of the Ocean King, appearing from the second visit onward. They have blue armor, and their helmets each have an orange tassel. When they and each subtype first appear, they descend to the ground as a small purple sphere before bursting into their normal form with a distinct noise. They are the creations of Bellum, and have his eye on their backs, though it is not capable of sight and instead merely acts as a weak point for arrows. There are two primary behaviors: some patrol specific paths, while others stand still and look in various directions. Some of the patrolling ones carry small keys, which can be knocked away by any attack, including the Boomerang. From the fourth visit onward, most patrolling ones are replaced with Swift Phantoms. Once Link obtains the Phantom Sword, he is capable of defeating them by hitting them in the back, though they can block his swings with their shields from other sides. Once defeated, they weakly attempt to swing at him before falling over, disappearing while the eye bounces out from their back and disappears afterward. At the bottom of the temple, the final obstacle before Bellum is a fight against three Phantoms, followed by three Swift Phantoms, then three Gold Phantoms.

In battle mode, three Phantoms appear as three of the four possible players, with the remaining one being Link. These three are capable of more actions and have gray, horned armor.

Reaplings on the Ghost Ship act similar to Phantoms, and are included in the same lineup in the files as Phantoms, indicating at one point they may have been considered for a fourth type before branching out into their own entity. Of additional note is that the files are labeled "Tartnack," a romanization of the Japanese name of Darknut, which looks strikingly similar to the Phantoms, particularly from Battle Mode. This indicates that possibly Phantoms' models were originally intended for Darknut before being repurposed, or Darknut was simply used as a design template.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Phantoms are now depicted as the guardians of the Tower of Spirits, and resemble green-tinted versions of the battle mode ones in the previous game. Normally, they would not attack good people, but due to the Spirit Tracks vanishing, evil spirits have become able to possess them. One initially spawns in front of Link on his first visit to the tower, thus prompting a hasty retreat. Link can stun them by hitting their backs with his sword after collecting three Tears of Light. Zelda's spirit is capable of entering them after Link stuns them, allowing her to control them to solve various puzzles. In this form, she can also speak with other Phantoms, leading to several comedic quotes. They also appear in the Lost at Sea Temple, itself a replica of the Temple of the Ocean King itself. Additionally, Phantoms again appear in battle mode.

Super Smash Bros. series
In the Super Smash Bros. series, Phantom Zelda appears in Zelda's down special, Phantom Slash, from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS onward. This replaces the ability to turn into Sheik, likely both due to the lessening of transforming moves for the series and complaints about spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. When use, Phantom Zelda is summoned and slashes forward before disappearing. Once used, it has a cooldown period where it cannot be used again for several seconds.

Hyrule Warriors series
Phantom Zelda appears as DLC for Hyrule Warriors Legends and in the base game of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition as the form taken by Toon Zelda. The weapon is called Phantom Arms, and with it she is capable of various moves normally specific for one type of Phantom. Despite possessing the armor normally in battle, her talk icons show her as normal, not even having the color desaturation of her spirit form.