Zant

Zant (ザント, Zanto), the Usurper King, is one of the major antagonists in Twilight Princess. He is a member of Twili who usurps the throne of the Twilight Realm from Midna before the events of Twilight Princess. He regularly appears wearing a mask, but removes his helmet before his fight with Link. He is a powerful sorcerer and minion of Ganondorf.

The Usurper King
Zant is a member of the Twili race, and is the 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 defeat Zant is to find the Mirror of Twilight.

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 a caged animal, made him seek his own path. In throes of rage and despair, he looked towards the heavens for an answer.

Ganondorf became his answer. Ganondorf's evil spirit, entrapped in the Twilight Realm, approaches Zant and shares his power with him, more or less only fueling his own desire to return to the World of Light. Zant then proceeded to overthrow Midna and turn her into an imp-like creature. He changed the rest of the Twili into Shadow Beasts soon afterwards and proclaimed himself "Twilight King," with the ultimate goal in mind of spreading the Twilight across Hyrule to make way for the Twili to return to the world that belongs to them. Zant invades Hyrule Castle and gave Princess Zelda of Hyrule the choice of surrender or the complete massacre of all people in Hyrule. Zelda, dropping her sword, reluctantly yielded to Zant's demand.

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. When Midna refuses, Zant exposes her to the full light of Lanayru, almost killing her, and places a dark stone 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 the Arbiter's Grounds with Zant placing a dark sword on Stallord's head before leaving. After defeating Stallord, Link and Midna discover Zant had shattered the Mirror of Twilight into four shards scattered across Hyrule.

When Link and Midna meet Zant in the Twilight Realm, he undergoes a change in behavior that contrasts the character that he displayed before. The reasons to this change are often debated by Twilight Princess fans, and many ideas have been drawn up as a result. The predominately embraced theory is that the character change symbolizes Zant's 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 revive Zant because he felt the entire Twili race to be foolish but had served their purpose in restoring his power.

At the end of the game, a vision of Zant breaking his own neck directly proceeds 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 will at first recreate the Forest Temple boss arena and float above the poisonous water and shoot you with balls of dark energy. Block these with your shield and use your Gale Boomerang to knock him down before he disappears. When hit with the Gale Boomerang, Zant will skip around the poisonous water and land on the ground, so attack him with your sword before he recovers. Repeat this a few times and he will change the arena.

Zant changes the arena to the Goron Mines mini-boss arena and will jump repeatedly along the edges of the magnetic platform in an attempt to get Link to slide off the edge, maniacally laughing during the action. Avoid falling into the lava by using the Iron Boots when necessary. Eventually he will stop and attempt to attack you again with a flurry of energy blast. The attack will leave him exhausted, so remove the Iron Boots and quickly attack him before he catches his breath. Repeat this a few times and he will change the arena again.

Next Zant recreates the Lakebed Temple boss arena. Be sure to equip your Zora Armor to breathe and your Iron Boots to sink to the ground. There will be multiple helmets like Zant's on the ground. One will open up and inside will be Zant and he will attack you with more blasts. After he is done he will wait a few seconds before he closes the helmet. At this point quickly use the Clawshot to pull him out and attack him. He will teleport back into the helmet and you will have to figure out which one he is in and then repeat the process until he changes the arena again.



Next Zant emulates the mini-boss arena in the Forest Temple. He will leap from totem pole to totem pole, occasionally stopping to attack Link with his flurry of energy blasts. Avoid the blasts and roll into the pole he is standing on twice to knock him down and then attack him. Repeat this a few times and again the arena will change.



Zant will change the arena to the boss arena of Snowpeak Ruins and grow into a giant and will hover above the arena. You will need to dodge him when he drops down to avoid being crushed by using the reflection on the floor. Hit him in one of his feet with the Ball and Chain as he stomps around to make him shrink down into a size that you can attack, but the player will need to chase Zant down because he will attempt to evade Link while hopping across the arena gripping his injured foot. Repeat this a few times to go to the last arena.

The final arena is just outside of Hyrule Castle, and Zant will now unleash two swords from his hands. With his two swords, he will simply start attacking you in a maniacal state, which you can either dodge him, Back Slice him, or attack him head on. Occasionally Zant will do his own version of a Hurricane Spin and will be left dazed for a few seconds when he wears himself out. This is the best time to attack. Also, if you hit Zant with a spin attack while he is spinning, it will force him to stop and catch his breath. After countless sword strikes Zant will be finally defeated.

Miscellaneous
Zant bears an uncanny resemblance to Onox and Veran; look on his clothes, and he has the same symbol Onox had on his armor. Given that Twilight Princess is full of references and close similarities to Oracle of Seasons, and Oracle of Ages, this is probably not purely by coincidence. However, Onox's armor very closely resembles that of an Iron Knuckle, which were essentially baddies that worked for Ganondorf, and Zant too, being in relation to Ganondorf as an "underling".

However, 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, and Phantom Ganon. He teleports with a manner of cunning attacks, and uses consistent energy strikes in order to test Link's patience, just as Ganon and Phantom Ganon do.

Trivia

 * There is a theory that the cause of Zant's character change in the Palace of Twilight is due to Ganondorf trying to possess him at that time. According to the theory, Zant displays the body actions that people display when they are undergoing demonic possession, where a victim will twist and bend into positions that are otherwise humanly impossible. Zant also undergoes a drastic voice change said to be similar to those of the possessed. However, this theory is at odds with Zant displaying similar behavior before meeting Ganon, Ganondorf currently being incarnated in Hyrule, and the dissimilarity between this event and when Ganondorf explicitly possesses Princess Zelda.