Phantom Ganon

Phantom Ganon is Ganondorf's mysterious puppet, and appears in four games: Ocarina of Time, Four Swords Adventures, The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.

Ocarina of Time
Phantom Ganon (異次元悪霊ファントムガノン, Evil Spirit of Another Dimension: Phantom Ganon) guards the Forest Temple. In the boss's room, there are many identical paintings on the wall of a road leading to a dark castle; Phantom Ganon will jump into one of them with his horse. After disappearing, two Phantom Ganons will ride to the front of the painting, and a purple hole will appear in one of them, which is the one the real Phantom Ganon will jump out of. As he jumps out, he will turn white, and at this point he needs to be shot with an arrow from the Fairy Bow (alternatively, the Hookshot can be used; however, the Fairy Bow's speed makes it a superior weapon for this battle). If the shot misses or is delayed, he will throw an electric ball on the ground which will scatter across the platform. This can easily be avoided by standing on one of the Triforce images in each corner of the platform. After taking sufficient damage, he will leave his horse.

He now starts to attack by shooting an energy ball at Link while hovering over the ground. Link can hit the ball back with the Master Sword or a Bottle. Repeated enough times, Phantom Ganon will eventually be hit and fall to the ground paralyzed. He can now be hit multiple times with the Master Sword, and after enough hits, he will be defeated. When his health is halved or less, he will sometimes do another attack: he will twirl his staff a few times, letting off small magic sparks to show he's about to attack. He will then charge at Link, doing three hearts of damage. Once defeated, Link will gain a Heart Container and the Forest Medallion. Ganondorf's disembodied voice is heard while the Phantom writhes; he calls it a "worthles creation" and banishes it "to the gap between dimensions".

The Wind Waker
Phantom Ganon is back, and this time Ganondorf has made the entity even deadlier. Link encounters him twice in the game: once in the Forsaken Fortress and once in Ganon's Tower. In Ganon's Tower, he will appear in every room of the maze leading to the Light Arrows and once more in the room Link appears in after collecting the Light Arrows. He has three major attacks:


 * He generates a blue orb, which he fires at Link.
 * He generates a large dark red energy ball, which splits into a group of small bursts of energy flying towards Link (though this only happens the second time you meet him).
 * He appears on the ground and swings his sword at Link. Note that on his second appearance, he will be accompanied by three illusions of himself.

His blue orbs can be reflected back at him by hitting them with a sword or swinging an empty bottle. He will then try to hit the orbs back at Link, who will hit them back at Phantom Ganon. Soon he will miss and fall to the ground and be vulnerable to attacks with the Master Sword. Likewise, his small bursts of energy can be sent back at him with a Spin Attack, with the same results. Link can also hurt him by intercepting his sword attack. This can be difficult to accomplish, though, as he will generally appear behind Link during the first encounter, and he has decoys during the second.

During the first encounter, he will take several hits with the sword before he vanishes. After beating him, Link will gain the Skull Hammer. On the second encounter, he will vanish after just one hit when he appears in the maze, and the handle of his sword will point at the door Link must take to advance. When Link reaches the Light Arrow room, he will put up more resistance, and take several hits before he vanishes. On the final confrontation, the only thing that can defeat it is a Light Arrow, which will immediately kill it.

First Time
One of Ganon's most feared minions is back, and he is as strong as ever however, he does not have any new tricks up his sleeve this time. The only "secret" to beating him is to patiently wait for him to fire his energy balls, knocking them back and forth between Phantom Ganon and Link. Once he is stunned, he is vulnerable to slashes from Link's sword.

Second Time
Phantom Ganon returns, bringing with him many clones. Defeating him isn't much of a trick this time around either, as he is vulnerable to the same process as before. Also, Phantom Ganon's green orbs can be hit back, while the clone's balls will break when hit with the sword. This phantom is identical to the The Wind Waker version, except he doesn't have a cape.

Twilight Princess
During the horseback fight against Ganondorf in Hyrule Field, Ganondorf will summon henchmen that will try to knock Link off his horse. If observed closely, it can be noted that the henchmen he summons seem to be riding phantom versions of Ganondorf's black horse. It can also be noted that these henchmen each have a pair of horns and a trident or spear, traits that Phantom Ganon shares in Ocarina of Time. This seems to indicate that each of them are Phantom Ganon. However, they are much weaker than the previous Phantom Ganon's and seem to be more of a distraction than real enemies. They disappear if Link avoids them or they can be destroyed by a single slice of the Master Sword.

Phantom Ganon's Sword
This sword is used in both The Wind Waker and Four Swords Adventures. In The Wind Waker, it can only be used when Link is in Ganon's Tower. It is carried by Phantom Ganon and is dropped by him when Link kills him. Also, in the maze within Ganon's Tower, if looked upon closely, the sword falls onto the ground. When it falls, the hilt falls into the direction which Link needs to go to complete the maze. The sword can also be used to destroy the large door blocking Link's way to the top.

Trivia

 * In The Wind Waker, Phantom Ganon's theme is very similar to Ganon's battle theme from A Link to the Past.
 * In The Wind Waker, the Hylian script on Phantom Ganon's sword reads "Zubora Gabora". Those are the names of the Snowhead Blacksmiths from Majora's Mask, possibly meaning that they were the ones who made his sword.
 * In Phantom Hourglass, Phantoms bear resemblance to Phantom Ganon from Four Swords Adventures.
 * In Twilight Princess, Death Sword shares many of his chracteristics with Phantom Ganon: like the horns, the skull face, an ability to fly and disappear, and a similar sword. Phantom Ganon may have served as a concept for Death Sword.