Phantom Ganon is a recurring Boss in The Legend of Zelda series.^{[4][5][note 1]}

Characteristics[]

Ocarina of Time[]

In Ocarina of Time, Phantom Ganon is the boss of the Forest Temple.^[7] Once the battle starts, Phantom Ganon jumps into one of the six paintings around the room. Afterwards, he and two replicas will ride to the front of three paintings. The real one can be spotted by his lighter color. A purple vortex then appears revealing the real Phantom Ganon.^[8] As Phantom Ganon jumps out of the painting, Link can shoot him with the Fairy Bow. If the Arrow misses or is delayed, he summons an electric ball on the ground that scatters across the platform. This can be avoided by standing on one of the Triforce images on each corner of the platform. After three shots, Phantom Ganon leaves his horse, starting the second part of the battle.

Phantom Ganon now attacks by shooting an energy ball from his staff at Link while hovering over the ground. Link can hit the ball back with the Master Sword or a Bottle. After enough hits, Phantom Ganon falls to the ground paralyzed, where he can be hit multiple times with the Master Sword. When his health is halved, Phantom Ganon can also attack by twirling his staff a few times and then charging at Link, dealing three hearts of damage. Once defeated, he is banished to the gap between dimensions by Ganondorf^[9] and Link receives a Heart Container as well as the Forest Medallion.

The Wind Waker[]

Phantom Ganon (Figurine from The Wind Waker)
Phantom Ganon	Habitat: Forsaken Fortress Effective Weapons: Light Arrows, Master Sword This is a phantom that Ganondorf created in his own likeness. Use your sword to knock back the balls of magic that he hurls, then attack him when he's stunned. Actually, you can also use empty bottles to deflect his magic attacks.

In The Wind Waker, Phantom Ganon appears in the Forsaken Fortress and in Ganon's Tower.^[10] He must be defeated by reflecting his blue orbs with the Sword or an empty Bottle.^[11][10] Once hit by a reflected attack, Link can attack Phantom Ganon with his Sword. If Phantom Ganon appears on the ground, Link can use the Parry Attack prompt to avoid his Sword swipe and strike his head. After defeating Phantom Ganon in the Forsaken Fortress, Link receives the Skull Hammer.^[12]

When fought in Ganon's Tower, Phantom Ganon is accompanied by four illusions of himself. He now also attacks by throwing dark energy balls, which splits into a group of small bursts of energy flying towards Link. These can be sent back at him with a Spin Attack. After just one hit, Phantom Ganon disappears, leaving his Sword behind with the handle pointing at the door Link must open to advance.^[13] Once the Light Arrows are found, they must be shot at Phantom Ganon once stunned in order to finally defeat him.

Link can grab Phantom Ganon's Sword to attack; however, it must be held with both hands, leaving Link unable to use his Shield. After defeating Phantom Ganon in Ganon's Tower's labyrinth, Link must strike with or throw the Sword at the brick wall to gain access to the top of the Tower.^[14]

Four Swords Adventures[]

In Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Ganon first appears as the boss of Hyrule Castle. In order to defeat him, the Links must hit his energy balls back and forth with the Sword. Once stunned, he is vulnerable to slashes from the Sword. Phantom Ganon appears once again as the boss of the Temple of Darkness; however, he now summons clones to his aid. The real Phantom Ganon will throw green orbs that can be hit back, while the clones throw white balls that break when hit with the Sword.

In the Multiplayer mode, Phantom Ganon will launch energy balls in green, red, blue, or purple colors. Only the Link wearing the corresponding tunic can strike the ball back with his Sword, and it will either fly back at Phantom Ganon or change colors and move in the general direction of another Link and require another hit.

Breath of the Wild[]

In Breath of the Wild, Windblight Ganon, Thunderblight Ganon, Fireblight Ganon, and Waterblight Ganon are all collectively known as Phantom Ganons.^[5] They are Calamity Ganon's creations that he sent out to the Divine Beasts, resulting in the death of the Champions.^{[15][16][17][18]} When Link tries to activate the Main Control Unit of a Divine Beast, these Phantom Ganons will appear, and they must be defeated in order to continue.^{[19][20][21][22]} When Link is victorious, a Heart Container will drop, and he will have access to the Main Control Unit.

Link can also dress up as the Phantom himself with the Phantom Ganon Set after completing the "EX Treasure: Dark Armor" Side Quest, which is exclusive to The Master Trials DLC Pack. The Phantom Ganon Set is comprised of the Phantom Ganon Skull, Phantom Ganon Armor, and Phantom Ganon Greaves. It is rumored that some believe this Armor Set is possessed by a dark entity resembling the Great King of Evil himself.^{[23][24][25][26]} Each piece of the set grants Stealth Up and its has the same set bonus as the Radiant Set increasing the attack power of the Bokoblin Arm, Moblin Arm, and Lizalfos Arm bone Weapons. The Phantom Ganon Set also disguises Link from all Stal enemies, save for Stalnox and Cursed Enemies.

Tears of the Kingdom[]

Phantom Ganon makes its first appearance as a boss in the series since Four Swords Adventures during the events of Tears of the Kingdom, being found in Hyrule Castle, the Great Deku Tree, and in other locations if Link defeats a group of Gloom Spawn. It resembles the mummified corpse form of Ganondorf seen underneath Hyrule Castle, except made of Gloom. As in previous titles, Ganondorf treats it as a "loyal servant".^{[citation needed]}

Depending on its location, Phantom Ganon wields either the Gloom Club, Gloom Spear, or Gloom Sword, and all of them are equipped with Demon King's Bow. It attacks using these three weapons and can also teleport to in front of Link if there is an inaccessible zone in between them and Link, if they cannot, it'll use its bow. Also, if Link is on a platform that Phantom Ganon cannot get to, or has lose track on where Link is (hiding behind objects, using a Dazzlefruit) it can cover the floor and walls with gloom like it does in the Hyrule Castle fight, it will continue spreading up to a certain radius and will cancel out of it once it spots Link again or takes damage. Additionally, if Link stands too close to Gloom Club-wielding Phantom Ganons long enough after swinging their club, they'll kick Link.

If Link attempts to repeatedly shoot arrows to Phantom Ganon's face rapidly enough, without using the bow airborne, sometimes the arrows won't damage it.^{[citation needed]}

Like Gloom Spawn, if Link flees far enough, Phantom Ganon will disappear and leaves behind Dark Clumps. This counts as a kill, meaning it won't return until the next Blood Moon. The one found in Hyrule Castle is exempt from this phenomenon - it must be defeated in order to proceed with the main quest.

This incarnation of Phantom Ganon has the ability to disguise itself. This power is primarily used to disguise itself as Princess Zelda to cover for her disappearance during the Upheaval, doing things that are subtly uncharacteristic of the real Zelda. It can be seen in its disguise briefly when Link first encounters Hoz near Hyrule Castle. It is heavily involved in the Regional Phenomena quests, such as siccing the Sludge Like on King Dorephan or giving Yunobo a mask that bewitches him to market the cursed Marbled Rock Roast to his fellow Gorons. In the Potential Princess Sightings Side Adventure, Link is tasked by Traysi and Penn to track down various Hylians who claim to have witnessed Zelda behaving strangely across the land.

In the distant past, this disguise was also used to distract Queen Sonia long enough for the real Ganondorf to assassinate her, steal her Secret Stone, and corrupt it with his dark magic.

Scourge of the Deku Tree[]

In a Depths chasm inside the Great Deku Tree, Phantom Ganon must be fought in order to remove a mysterious curse from Korok Forest. As a reward, the Great Deku Tree will trigger a quest that reveals the location of the Light Dragon so Link can retrieve the Master Sword.

The Demon King's Phantom Saboteur[]

After Link awakens the four regional Sages, Phantom Ganon, still posing as Zelda, lures Link to Hyrule Castle and ambushes him with groups of monsters multiple times before trapping him in the Sanctum. There, Ganondorf appears and taunts Link, ordering Phantom Ganon to attack him before disappearing. In this fight, Phantom Ganon creates multiple copies of itself to combat Link. After the fight, the Sages defend Link from another assault from Ganondorf, but they are all forced to witness an illusion of Ganondorf's army of monsters invading Hyrule.

After Phantom Ganon is defeated in the Sanctum, the fake Zelda is no longer featured in Blood Moon cutscenes and her voice-over is absent. This does not remove Phantom Ganon that appears with Gloom Spawn across Hyrule, however. If Phantom Ganon isn’t defeated in Hyrule Castle, it will appear in Gloom's Lair as a boss that Link must face before he can challenge Ganondorf.

Other Appearances[]

Trivia[]

• In The Wind Waker, the Hylian script on Phantom Ganon's Sword reads "Zubora Gabora", the names of the blacksmiths who forge Link's Kokiri Sword in Majora's Mask.
• The Wall Merging ability from A Link Between Worlds was inspired by Phantom Ganon from Ocarina of Time, who also has the ability to enter walls through paintings.^[27]
  • In addition, his capturing of Saria in a painting would later be the main power of Yuga, Ganon's Lorulean counterpart.
• Although Phantom Ganon himself does not appear, a concept art for Ganondorf in the Oracle games is described as representing "Ganondorf's phantom."^[28]
• Aside from Phantom Ganon's role in Hyrule Warriors, he was also given an indirect reference by Ganondorf in his second mission in the main campaign when the player is about to fight Impa.^[29]

Nomenclature[]

Names in other regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	ファントムガノン (Fantomu Ganon) (OoT)[30]	Phantom Gannon/Ganon
This table was generated using translation pages. To request an addition, please contact a staff member with a reference.

Gallery[]

• 

  Phantom Ganon from Ocarina of Time

• 

  Phantom Ganon exits a dark portal from a painting.

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  Phantom Ganon's defeat from Ocarina of Time

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  Phantom Ganon's mask from Ocarina of Time

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  Phantom Ganon from Ocarina of Time 3D

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  Phantom Ganon being vanquished by the Light Arrows from The Wind Waker

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  Phantom Ganon's sword from The Wind Waker

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  The Links fighting Phantom Ganon from Four Swords Adventures

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  Concept art of the Phantom Ganon Set in Breath of the Wild

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  Phantom Ganon artwork from Hyrule Warriors Legends

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  Phantom Ganon portrait from Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition

• 

  Phantom Ganon Mini Map icon from Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition

See Also[]

• Fireblight Ganon
• Thunderblight Ganon
• Waterblight Ganon
• Windblight Ganon
• Calamity Ganon
• Phantom Rider

Notes

References