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Phantom Ganon
| Phantom Ganon | |
|---|---|
 Artwork of Phantom Ganon in Hyrule Warriors Legends | |
| First appearance | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) |
| Latest appearance | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023) |
| Counterpart(s) | Agahnim Phantom Zant |
Phantom Ganon is an artificial ghost created by Ganondorf in his own image. Phantom Ganon is capable of weaker versions of Ganondorf's own magic, which usually must be reflected back at him for damage.
History
The Legend of Zelda series
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Evil Spirit from Beyond: Phantom Ganon is the boss of the Forest Temple, being the first boss Link faces as an adult. He does not appear until Link enters and attempts to exit his battle arena, at which point metal bars will block the path in front of Link. Phantom Ganon then reveals himself, taking the form of the Ganondorf from when Link was a child, riding on a floating version of the Gerudo stallion. He then replaces his face with a horned skull and jumps with the horse into one of the six identical giant landscape paintings around the room's walls.
In the first phase of battle, Phantom Ganon and two darker-colored copies ride towards Link in three different paintings. When they reach the "screen" of the painting, the real Phantom Ganon jumps out in a large flash of purple light while the fakes simply turn around. To damage him, Link needs to use the Fairy Bow to shoot at the real one as he exits. Otherwise, he will use his trident to launch an electric attack. After three hits, Phantom Ganon dismounts the horse and begins floating himself. For the next phase, Phantom Ganon uses his trident to shoot an energy beam at Link, which can be blocked by the swing of a sword or, as part of a series running gag, an Empty Bottle. After parrying the ball back-and-forth in a tennis-like fashion enough times, Phantom Ganon will eventually mess up and be hit, causing him to fall to the ground and become vulnerable to direct attacks for a short period. Sometimes, he twirls the trident before charging at Link directly.
When Phantom Ganon is defeated, Ganondorf himself projects his voice to the temple to congratulate Link, but warns that he will not be anywhere near as easy to defeat. Deciding Phantom Ganon is worthless, Ganondorf banishes him to the "gap between dimensions" as he writhes in protest.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Phantom Ganon is a recurring individual miniboss with his own battle theme. He is now depicted as muscular and pure black with glowing cyan details, yellow eyes, long horns, and skeletal limbs visible from a missing glove and shoe. He wields, a massive, similar-colored sword. He first appears to ambush Link upon arriving to the Forsaken Fortress a second time, using the reflecting energy ball attack from before as well as teleporting around at ground level to attack him from behind, though it also leaves him open to direct attacks. After enough hits, Phantom Ganon teleports away, with a sinister laugh ringing out to signify he is not truly defeated yet, followed by the Skull Hammer appearing.
Phantom Ganon reappears in Ganon's Castle in several consecutive battles in a Lost Woods-esque maze. Here, he teleports away and leaves his sword behind after one hit, with the way the hilt points after falling directing to which door needs taken. As more of these battles occur, Phantom Ganon gains more moves to use against Link, summoning a giant ball of energy that breaks up and requires a Spin Attack to fully parry (similar to Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time) as well as surrounding Link with three or four copies that slowly move inward to attack all at once but can be disintegrated by attacking them. After defeating him in the final room of this maze, Link obtains the Light Arrow and is teleported back to the main portion of Ganon's Castle, where Phantom Ganon attacks him again. Link must use the Light Arrow on him when he is stunned or preparing a giant energy ball to destroy him completely, with his dropped sword being used to destroy the wall leading to the castle's final staircase.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Ganon in his The Wind Waker appearance is the first boss, appearing on top of Hyrule Castle likely as a nod to the similar acting Agahnim. He now has white details, though the lighting causes them to appear purple, and is much larger. He is the first indication of Ganon's involvement in the plot, as before only Vaati and Shadow Link had been shown. He again attacks with returnable balls of energy, becoming vulnerable after he is hit and falls to the ground. He also swings his sword forward to attack. After enough hits, Phantom Ganon explodes.
Later, Phantom Ganon appears again as the boss of the Temple of Darkness, creating three copies to aid him. The balls the copies spawn are colorless and merely disappear upon being hit, though the real one still acts the same. Whenever he is brought to the ground, the copies vanish until he gets back up. Once again, hitting him enough destroys him.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, multiple Phantom Ganons aid Ganondorf in the horseback battle in Hyrule Field. They are summoned by an energy ball that Ganondorf throws behind him, which splits into a line of Phantom Ganons that charge forward and knock Link off Epona if they his him.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Phantom Set included in DLC is based on Phantom Ganon's original design. Developmental notes in Creating a Champion also refer to the four Blight Ganons as a group of Phantom Ganons.
Hyrule Warriors Legends
In Hyrule Warriors Legends, Phantom Ganon is the villain of the new chapter inspired by The Wind Waker. He resembles his appearance in that game, but with greener turquoise details, magenta eyes, and being much larger, being one of the game's giant bosses. In the story, he siphons the power of the missing Cia and steals the Triforce of Power away from Lana, thus accidentally creating a fold in the space-time continuum and causing the time period of The Wind Waker to intrude upon the Hyrule of Hyrule Warriors. Link, the two sorceresses, and the heroes of that era battle him together. Phantom Ganon also appears occasionally in Adventure Mode maps. This chapter and the maps return in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, and with them so does Phantom Ganon.
In battle, Phantom Ganon has two distinct phases and unlike most other giant bosses, is not weak to any item, making him one of the more behaviorally complicated ones. During his first phase, he teleports around, spinning with his sword when close to the player. He also often surrounds the player with copies and slowly moves inward, like in The Wind Waker. Occasionally he charges up a giant energy ball, which can no longer be used against him. However, when he charges up a normal energy ball, attacking it will cause a cinematic of the warrior and Phantom Ganon bouncing it back and forth to play, eventually hitting the latter and exposing his Weak Point gauge as he floats to the ground.
After taking enough damage, he conjures up a second sword, lowers close to the ground, and begins acting like Ganondorf in his boss battle at the end of The Wind Waker. He swings his swords directly at the warrior while also constantly using them to defend himself, only being able to be damaged by ducking around behind him to hit his back. Attacking him from behind enough will cause him to slump and expose his Weak Point gauge again. Upon defeat, Phantom Ganon gives a random weapon, Phantom Ganon's Sword, or rarely Phantom Ganon's Cape.
Gallery
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Names in other languages
Phantom Ganon
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ファントムガノン Fantomuganon |
Phantom Ganon |
| French | Ganon Spectral | Spectral Ganon |
| German | Phantom-Ganon | - |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 幻影盖侬 | |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 幻影蓋儂 |
Evil Spirit from Beyond: Phantom Ganon
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | 異次元悪霊ファントムガノン I Jigen Akuryō Fantomuganon |
Other-Dimensional Evil Spirit Phantom Ganon |
