Yuga

Yuga is a character in. He is one of the game's main antagonists. He hunted the descendants of the Seven Sages as well as Princess Zelda to resurrect Ganon, and merges with him to become the Demon King himself and rule the worlds of Hyrule and Lorule.

Yuga's Hunt for Sages
Yuga is a sorcerer who has the power to become a wall drawing. With his magic wand, he can trap people within picture frames, turning them into paintings. He serves one whom he calls "Her Grace."

Yuga is first seen within the Sanctuary by Link, who has traveled to the church-like building to deliver a sword to the Captain. Shortly after sister Seres enters the Sanctuary to fetch the Captain, screaming is heard and the doors leading inside are shut, however, Dampé informs the young hero of a hidden passageway leading into the sanctuary within the graveyard. Upon arriving into the Santuary's interior, Link finds the Captain has been turned into a lifeless painting on the wall and the Priest knocked onto the floor, confronting a mysterious man who reveals that his name is Yuga and that he has come to the Sanctuary seeking perfection. Yuga informs Seres that she is perfection, and turns the young girl into a painting and kidnaps her, claiming that "Her Grace" will be pleased, as Link can only watch helplessly. Yuga notices Link's presence within the church-like building and despite the Priest's warnings about Yuga's power, the sorcerer taunts Link into attacking him and swiftly turns into a drawing himself and hides in the wall, causing Link to crash into it and faint. Yuga exclaims that he is the portrait of perfection and that he'll be leaving this ugly world soon enough. The sorcerer then proceeds to leave the sanctuary, kicking Link out of his way and explains that the Captain couldn't even oppose his might, and that the painting of the captain upon the wall was a waste of his magic.

Under Princess Zelda's orders, Link heads to Kakariko Village to consult Sahasrahla for help due to his vast knowledge of the past. Upon entering the elder's dwelling, the young hero proceeds to inform Sahasrahla of the events that took place within the Sanctuary. After being told of what has occured, the old man asks Link if he has heard of the legends of the Seven Sages and of the hero who saved Hyrule. The elder proceeds to tell the young hero about the legends of old, and after finishing, informs Link that Seres is a descendant of the Seven Sages who sealed Ganon in darkness and that Yuga must be after the Seven Sages of their day, with the intention of freeing Ganon from his prison. Additionally, Sahasrahla asks Link to travel to the Eastern Palace to warn his pupil Osfala, a descendant of the Seven Sages, about Yuga.

Link travels to the Eastern Palace, but once again arrives too late to save Osfala from being turned into a painting by Yuga who informs Osfala that he is the lastest work of art to be added to his collection of Sages. Yuga takes notice of Link and attacks him, but the young hero soon overpowers him. Upon being defeated, the sorcerer casts a spell on Link and turns him into a wall painting, then leaves, implying to the young hero that he is heading to Hyrule Castle to turn Zelda into a painting next. However, unbeknownst to Yuga, a bracelet given to Link by Ravio for allowing him to live in his house allows Link to escape from his imprisonment as a painting. Subsequently, it also allows the young hero to merge with walls at will.

Yuga's Continuing Pursuit
After turning Link into a painting, Yuga leaves the Eastern Place and heads to Hyrule Castle, taking it over it. He sets up a magical barrier around it to prevent Impa, one of the Seven Sages, and Princess Zelda from escaping, as well as prevent anyone else from entering the castle. Additionally, the sorcerer releases hordes of cursed soldiers across Hyrule from the paintings depicting the cursed soldiers that were painted all over the walls surrounding the castle during an outbreak of vandalism. Yuga then proceeds to leave and wanders throughout Hyrule in search of the remaining four descendants of the Seven Sages: Irene, Gulley, Rosso and Oren. Upon arriving outside the castle, Sahasrahla attempts to break the magical barrier, but fails to. The wise elder tells Link that they must turn to the legends of old in order to find a solution, explaining to him that similar events occured many years ago when Hyrule Castle was besieged by Agahnim. He states that the young hero had to find the Master Sword and prove himself worthy of wielding the blade by claiming the three Pendants of Virtue, however, he states that one of the three pendants is inside the castle with Princess Zelda. Fortunately, Link was given the Pendant of Courage by Princess Zelda while meeting with her earlier. Sahasrahla then tasks Link with obtaining the other two pendants from the Tower of Hera and the House of Gales, so that the young hero can be deemed worthy of wielding the Master Sword. However, as Link is travelling throughout the land to collect the Pendants of Virtue to obtain the legendary Master Sword, Yuga transforms the four remaining sages into paintings one by one.

After transforming the four remaining sages into paintings, Yuga travels back to Hyrule Castle to capture Impa, a sage, and Princess Zelda. However, Link obtains the Master Sword from deep within the Lost Woods. The young hero, wielding the legendary blade, heads to the castle and manages to successfully break the magical barrier surrounding the structure and heads inside. While scaling the castle's central tower, Link encounters Princess Zelda asking Yuga to stop his evil rampage. Yuga informs her that his plan is almost complete as he has possession of all seven Sages and proceeds to turn her into a painting despite her protesting and questioning of what he intends to do with the sages. After praising his painting, Yuga notices Link and is puzzled at first as he left the young hero to rot as a painting in the Eastern Palace, then the sorcerer summons four soldiers to buy him time and proceeds to the top of the castle. At the top of Hyrule Castle, Yuga informs Link that he refuses to let him delay his departure from Hyrule any further and attacks him, however, the young hero once again manages to best the sorcerer. Unfortunately, Yuga manages to escape to peform his ritual in another world's counterpart of Hyule Castle, stating that once he releases Ganon, creatures like Link will not be worth his time.

Ganon's Resurrection
In Lorule, Yuga uses the descendants of the Seven Sages along with Zelda to resurrect the Demon King and holder of the Triforce of Power, Ganon, who Yuga claims will help him attain true beauty. After resurrecting Ganon, Yuga proceeds to join with Ganon and the Triforce of Power,, transforming into a monster-like being that takes on the attributes and personalities of both Yuga and Ganon. Possessing the Triforce of Power, Yuga proceeds to kill Link only to be restrained with magic by a mysterious princess named Hilda, who informs Link that she can only hold Yuga at bay for so long and welcomes the young hero to her kingdom, Lorule. She informs the young hero that she knew of Yuga's plot to abduct Hyrule's Sages and Zelda, however, she failed to stop him, allowing Yuga to use them to siphon Ganon's power in order to gain enough power to destroy both Hyrule and Lorule. Hilda asks Link to awaken his full potential in order to defeat Yuga by stealing back the paintings of the Seven Sages, which have been sent to different locations throughout Hyrule.

After rescuing the Seven Sages and attaining the Trifore of Courage, Link travels to the top of Lorule Castle, where Hilda tells him the legend of how Lorule fell into its current state. Upon finishing the tale, Hilda attains the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda and summons Yuga, ordering the beast to steal the Triforce of Courage from Link, but Yuga is defeated and Hilda orders him to give his Triforce of Power to her. However, Yuga states that Lorule is no better than Hyrule and that when the Triforce is his, he plans to make Lorule in his own image. He proceeds to turn Hilda into a painting and absorbs her along with the Triforce of Wisdom, transforming into an even stronger beast. Stating that he will soon take his rightful place among the gods, Yuga engages Link for the Triforce of Courage, but he is defeated and finally destroyed.

In battle
Yuga is fought three times over the course of the game. He is first encountered as the first boss of the game in the Eastern Palace, then later as the boss of Hyrule Castle, and one last time in the two-part final battle of the game, at the end of Lorule Castle.

Eastern Palace Encounter
As the first boss battle of the game, Yuga is at his weakest in this battle. He attacks by shooting energy balls at Link, and hiding in the wall as a painting when the young hero gets too close. He is too fast to run towards him directly, so the only way to hit him to use the Bow to shoot an arrow at him. This will stun him, making him vulnerable to sword slashes or more arrows. After taking enough damage, he will get angered and become faster, and start moving along the wall in a more unpredictable way, but the strategy to defeat him remains the same. Eventually the battle will end, and Link will obtain the ability to become a drawing himself.

Hyrule Castle Encounter
As the boss of Hyrule Castle, Yuga is much more formidable. He attacks by creating two copies of himself and launching powerful spells at Link, which the young hero can avoid by standing between the pillars in the arena. Link must hit the real Yuga to stun him, making him vulnerable to more damage. If Link hits a fake Yuga, the copy will turn into a Soldier and the real Yuga will launch a powerful spell. The real Yuga ca easily be recognized by his glowing staff. When Yuga takes enough damage, he will once again become much faster and move more erratically, and his spells will have a wider range.

Lorule Castle Encounter
Now merged with Ganon, Yuga is at his most dangerous in this final battle. In the first phase of the fight, Yuga attacks in a similar way Ganon does in. He is vulnerable immediately to any attacks, but his own attacks are very powerful, and surprisingly fast. He also frequently warps around the arena, and does so more often as he takes damage. In the first stages of the fight, he attacks by thrusting his trident at Link, or slashing the young hero with it, much like a sword. Both attacks can be avoided by running out of the way fast enough, but extra caution should be taken when attempting to attack Yuga with the sword, as it will make Link more vulnerable to Yuga's slash attack. Eventually Yuga will start throwing his trident at Link, and occasionally warp out of the arena to launch energy balls from the sky. These energy balls appear immediately above Link, so the young hero must keep running to avoid them all. Eventually, the fight will end, and the second phase will begin.

In the second phase of the fight, Yuga has transformed Hilda into a painting to absorb her power and the Triforce of Wisdom, and is at his most powerful. He will initiate the fight by throwing a blue ball of energy at Link, which the young hero must reflect back at him in a game of Dead Man's Volley. Yuga will be stunned, and retreat into the wall as a painting. Zelda will then give Link the Bow of Light, so he can continue to fight. Link must merge into the wall and shoot Yuga directly with the Bow of Light. The evil beast will block the arrow and try to stop it in its track, but this exposes his back. Link must take this chance to merge out of the wall, get behind Yuga and shoot him in the back, forcing him out of the wall and rendering him vulnerable to the young hero's sword slashes. Yuga will then warp out of the arena, and cause numerous fireballs to shoot out of the walls. These fireballs will turn into bats, which Link must avoid. This strategy must be repeated twice more during the fight, but with key differences: Yuga will respond to the second arrow fired at him by charging violently and rapidly at him. Link must quickly merge out of the wall and back in to shoot him before he ends the charge. The third time around, Yuga will instantly block any arrows fired at him, and turns around too fast for Link to quickly merge behind his back. Link must in fact shoot behind him: the arrow will fly all the way across the wall and hit Yuga, forcing him out of the wall one last time and rendering him vulnerable to the finishing move.

Theory
It hasn't been officially confirmed, but it is highly likely that Yuga is Ganon's Lorulean counterpart, as both have red hair and greyish green skin as well as a great stature. In addition, both of them are primary antagonists and evil forces in their respective worlds. Also, each person's Lorulean counterpart seems to be identical in certain aspects but completely diferent in other aspects. In Yuga's case, the difference would be in power: Yuga has to rely on his magic staff, and is powerless without it, unlike Ganon, whose power comes from himself and the Triforce of Power.

Trivia

 * Yuga's name is derived from the Kanji 油画/Yuga, which is Japanese for oil paintings, a reference to his magical abilities.
 * The weapon wielded by Yuga when he is merged with Ganon appears to be a combined version of the Trident and Yuga's paint brush staff.