Zant

Zant, the Usurper King, is one of the two major antagonists in Twilight Princess. He is the self-proclaimed King of Twilight, although Midna claims he's the King of Shadows. He is a member of the Twili who usurps the throne of the Twilight Realm from Midna before the events of Twilight Princess. He regularly appears wearing a helmet that conceals his face, but removes it before his battle with Link. He is a powerful sorcerer and minion of Ganondorf.

Biography
Zant is a member of the Twili race, and is the self-proclaimed ruler of the Twilight which engulfs much of Hyrule during Twilight Princess. He is portrayed as the main antagonist of the game and possesses powers beyond Link's comprehension. There are multiple ways of defeating Zant, the first suspected way being the use of the Fused Shadows. When Zant steals these away from Midna and returns her to the World of Light, the only option left to reach and defeat Zant is to find the Mirror of Twilight which will grant access into the Twilight Realm.

Presumably, Zant was to be the next in line for the throne, but was skipped over and his position was filled by Midna instead. This led him to lose trust in the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm, which, added onto the fact that he hated that the Twili were trapped in the Twilight Realm like "insects in a cage," made him seek his own path. In throes of rage and despair, he looked towards the heavens for an answer.

Ganon, who was cast into the Twilight Realm by the Sages, appeared to him in a fiery manifestation of his face. Posing as a god, Ganon offers to impart Zant with his power (which is, in truth, a fraction of the power of the Goddess, Din), as a means of fulfilling his own desire to return to the World of Light. Using his newfound power, Zant overthrew Midna and turned her into an imp. He changed the rest of the Twili into Shadow Beasts soon afterwards and proclaimed himself as the "Twilight King," with the ultimate goal of spreading Twilight across Hyrule to make way for the Twili to return to the world that he believed rightfully belonged to them. Zant invaded Hyrule Castle and gave Princess Zelda the choice of surrendering or facing the annihilation of Hyrule's inhabitants. Zelda, dropping her sword as a symbol of submission, yielded to Zant's demands.

Soon after, Zant engulfed most of Hyrule in Twilight, a process that was soon reversed by Link. He confronts Link and Midna after they finish collecting the Fused Shadow fragments. Zant takes the three Fused Shadow pieces from Midna, scolding her for her betrayal, and tries to convince Midna to give him the power she retained as the Twilight Princess and grant her mercy. When Midna refuses, Zant exposes her to the full light of Lanayru, which almost kills her, and places a Shadow Crystal in Wolf Link's forehead, keeping him in a permanent wolf state. The duo escaped Zant with the help of Lanayru, yet their paths crossed again at Arbiter's Grounds. He is surprised to see Link alive yet believes that it will be the last time they meet. Zant then places a Twilight Sword through Stallord's skull before departing, which reanimates the giant fossil. After defeating Stallord, Link and Midna discover that Zant had attempted to destroy the Mirror of Twilight, but lacking the true power to do so, he could only shatter it into four shards and scatter the pieces across Hyrule.

When Link and Midna meet Zant in the Twilight Realm, he undergoes a change in behavior that drastically contrasts the character that he displayed before. The reasons to this change are often debated by Twilight Princess fans. The predominately embraced theory is that the character change symbolizes Zant's revealed immaturity when it comes to ruling the Twili, as is displayed by his childish tantrums and fits. There is a likely possibility Zant was driven to insanity by his anger, despair, and desperation after losing the position as ruler of the Twili to Midna. This is shown by his jumping around, whirling about in a blur of motion, and his reedy shrieks of insane fury.

After Zant is defeated, he proclaims that he will be resurrected infinitely by his god, who is in reality simply Ganondorf, and that the curse placed on Midna cannot be removed while Ganon is still alive. Midna, hearing this taunting speech, destroys him with a mere fraction of the power of the Fused Shadow. However, later in the game it is implied that Ganondorf probably would never have revived Zant because he believed the entire Twili race to be foolish, and that they had already served their purpose in restoring his power.

At the end of the game, a vision of Zant is shown abruptly breaking his own neck, and this directly proceeds to Ganondorf's apparent death. There has been no concrete evidence to what actually happened given that it is not known how or if Zant will appear in future games. Based on what is shown, it is believed that either Zant's spirit killed Ganondorf or the vision was symbolic of Ganondorf losing the power he gained from the Twilight Realm, which would have been the last known source that could have kept him alive.

Boss Strategy
Zant is one of the most diverse bosses in the game, with the ability to emulate previous battles and change assault tactics.

Zant first recreates the Forest Temple boss arena and floats above the poisonous water while firing an array of dark energy balls. Link blocks these with his shield and uses his Gale Boomerang to knock Zant down before he warps away. When struck with the Gale Boomerang, Zant hops across the venomous pool and lands on the ground to regain his composure. The young hero uses this brief moment as an opportunity to attack him with his sword before he recovers. With Link repeating this pattern once more, both he and Zant warp to the next area.

Zant changes the environment to that of Dangoro's miniboss room, seen in the Goron Mines, and jumps up and down repeatedly along the borders of the magnetic platform in an attempt to make Link slide off the edge, laughing maniacally as he does so. Link avoids falling into the lava by using the Iron Boots when necessary (although, with good handling, the boots may not be needed at all). Eventually Zant stops and attempts to attack Link again with a flurry of energy blasts. The attack leaves him exhausted (unlike in the previous battle phase), so Link removes the Iron Boots and quickly attacks him before he catches his breath. After a second succesful encore of the pattern, Zant changes the arena again.

Next, Zant recreates the Lakebed Temple boss arena. Link remembers to equip his Zora Armor so that he can breathe underwater, and his Iron Boots to sink to the Lakebed below. At first, a giant helmet in likeness to Zant's emerges from the sand, opens up, and Zant in person attacks Link with energy balls from within; a familiar tactic. Link uses his Clawshot to draw him close and then, after equipping the Iron Boots, to attack him with his sword. The giant helmet proceeds to sink down under, and then another four rise around Link. Only one, upon opening, reveals Zant inside, who attacks Link with more blasts. After he is done, he waits a few seconds before he closes the helmet. At this point Link quickly uses the Clawshot to pull him out and attack him. After a full onslaught, Link watches Zant changing the setting again.

Next, Zant emulates the Ook's room in the Forest Temple. He leaps from totem pole to totem pole, occasionally stopping to attack Link with his common method of firing energy balls. Link avoids the blasts and rolls into the pole he is standing on twice to knock him down (and get his helmet stuck in the ground), and then attack him. After an encore of this strategy, the arena once again changes.

Zant changes the field to that of the Snowpeak Ruins' Bedroom, and grows to a gargantuan size. In this giant state, Zant hovers above the arena and Link needs to avoid him when he drops down to avoid being crushed; by using the reflection off the ice on the floor, Link can determine when he will fall. With the Ball and Chain, Link must strike him on one of his feet as he stomps around to make him shrink down into a size that Link can attack, but he needs to chase Zant around (which is quite tricky on the ice) because he attempts to evade Link while hopping across the arena gripping his injured foot. Repeating this a few times might be necessary, but two full sword beatings are enough to make the two opponents go to the last arena.

The final arena lies just outside of Hyrule Castle, and Zant proceeds to wield two swords from underneath his sleeves. With his two swords, he simply starts attacking Link in a maniacal fashion, that of which Link can either evade, attack him with a Back Slice, or attack him directly. Occasionally, Zant appears with his own version of the Hurricane Spin and is left dazed for a few seconds when he wears himself out. This is the best opportunity to attack. Also, if Link hits Zant with a spin attack while he is performing this move, it causes him to stop and catch his breath. After many sword strikes (equivalent to three landed Jump Strikes), Zant is finally defeated. Unlike other bosses, he is not killed directly by Link. He is weakened by him and, panting, angers Midna by saying that she cannot be restored to her original self. She stabs him with her "hair", of which he inflates and explodes.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Zant appears as a trophy and sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Miscellaneous
Like Agahnim in A Link to the Past, Zant appears to be the primary antagonist of the game until the plot takes an unexpected turn, revealing Ganondorf to be the Final Boss. Zant also bears resemblance to Onox and Veran; if one observes his clothes, they will notice that he has the same symbol Onox bore on his armor. Given that Twilight Princess is full of references and close similarities to Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, it is likely that this is not purely by coincidence. However, Onox's armor very closely resembles that of an Iron Knuckle, which were essentially villains that worked for Ganondorf, and the fact that Zant, too, was seen in relation to Ganondorf as nothing but an "underling".

Of course, a resemblance of clothing is not the only thing that reveals itself when analyzing Zant. His combat techniques, when facing him head-on, are similar to the techniques used by the several forms of Majora's Mask, Ganon/Phantom Ganon, and the Garo Master. The sounds that Zant makes and his jerky, random fighting style are reminiscent of Majora's second form. He teleports from one place to another, and uses consistent energy strikes, just as Ganon and Phantom Ganon do. His dual swords and fighting style is similar to that of the Garo Master.

Trivia

 * Zant keeps his hands hidden for most of the game under his sleeves. He only reveals them once when he reanimates Stallord, where they can be seen vaguely under the darkness, and they appear dark gray; discolored from the normal Twilight colors of black and white. It is also noticeable in this scene that his arms are abnormally long, to the point that proper measuring would place his arms as extending below his knees, the same length as his sleeves, suggesting that his sleeves are not too long for his physique as suggested during the game.
 * During the Boss fight, it is interesting to note that the arena Zant switches to directly corresponds to the key item used in the fight. For instance, there's the Gale Boomerang for the Forest Temple Boss room, the Iron Boots in the Goron Mines miniboss room, the Clawshot in the Lakebed Temple boss room, and the Ball and Chain in the Snowpeak Ruins boss room. These were all used in the same manner in the original fights; the only rooms not requiring a special item is the Forest Temple miniboss room (albeit the technique required here is exactly the same as the original battle with Ook), as well as the final Hyrule Castle area.
 * Zant is the first major villain to yield a Heart Container.
 * The face of Zant bears a slight resemblance to the Krazoa of Star Fox Adventures, particularly the Krazoa face shown on the back Andross. The face also somewhat resembles that of the Oocca race.
 * Zant's role in Twilight Princess is very reminiscent to several other villains in the Zelda universe, including Onox, Veran, and, most closely, Agahnim.
 * Likewise to the aforementioned characters, the symbol on the front of his garments resembles the Gerudo symbol.
 * Zant has the highest number of phases in Twilight Princess, having a total of six. All other bosses have two, except Fyrus, who only has one phase, and Ganondorf, who has four phases. However, the battles with Ganondorf are labelled as separate bosses, so some may not count them as phases.

Gallery
See this article's gallery page, featuring character art and screen-captures of Zant.