Phantom Ganon

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

Strategy
Phantom Ganon guards the Forest Temple. There are six identical paintings on the walls, which are of a road leading to a dark castle; Phantom Ganon jumps into one of them with his horse. After disappearing, two replicas of Phantom Ganon will ride to the front of two paintings. The real Phantom Ganon in the painting will be lighter than the fake. A purple vortex will appear before the one out of which the real Phantom Ganon will materialize. As he jumps out, he turns white, and at this point he can 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 throws an electric ball on the ground that scatters 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 (three shots), he leaves his horse and the second part of the battle begins.

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 is eventually hit and falls to the ground paralyzed. He can now be hit multiple times with the Master Sword, and after enough hits, he is finally defeated. When his health is halved or less, he sometimes does another attack: He twirls his staff a few times, letting off small magic sparks to show he's about to attack; he then charges at Link, doing three hearts of damage. Once defeated, Link gains a Heart Container and the Forest Medallion. Ganondorf's disembodied voice is heard while the Phantom writhes; he calls it a "worthless creation" and banishes it "to the gap between dimensions."

The Wind Waker
Link encounters Phantom Ganon twice in The Wind Waker, once in the Forsaken Fortress and once in Ganon's Tower. In Ganon's Tower, he appears in every room of the maze leading to the Light Arrows and the room immediately after it. 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 (Second encounter only).
 * He appears on the ground and swings his sword at Link. On his second appearance, he will be accompanied by four illusions of himself, similar to Meg or the Poes in the Arbiter's Grounds.

Phantom Ganon can be defeated by reflecting his blue orbs with a sword or empty bottle in a game of Dead Man's Volley. Likewise, his small bursts of energy can be sent back at him with a Spin Attack. Once he is hit by the reflected attack, Link can attack him with his sword. Link can also hurt him by intercepting his sword attack. However, this can be difficult to accomplish as he generally appears behind Link during the first encounter and uses decoys during the second.

During the first encounter, he takes several hits with the sword before he vanishes. After beating him, Link gains the Skull Hammer. On the second encounter, he vanishes after just one hit when he appears in the maze, and the handle of his sword points at the door Link must take to advance. When Link reaches the Light Arrow room, he puts up more resistance, and takes several hits before he vanishes. On the final confrontation, he can only be defeated by a Light Arrow, which immediately kills him. Link then takes the deceased enemy's sword and throws it to the brick wall to gain access to Ganondorf's whereabouts.

First Time
One of Ganon's most feared minions is back in Four Swords Adventures, although he has no 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 summons spectral horsemen that try to knock Link off of his horse. The horsemen ride phantom horses that resemble Ganondorf's black horse, and each have a pair of horns and a spear, similar to the Ocarina of Time version of Phantom Ganon. However, they are much weaker than any of the previous Phantom Ganons, and serve as minor distractions, rather than powerful enemies. They disappear if Link avoids them or they can be destroyed by a single slice of the Master Sword.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Phantom Ganon appears as a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Phantom Ganon's Sword

 * See also: Usable Enemy Weapons

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 when Link kills him. In the maze within Ganon's Tower the sword falls onto the ground with the hilt pointing in the direction that 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.

The Hylian script on Phantom Ganon's sword reads "Zubora Gabora", the names of the blacksmiths who forged Link's Razor Sword and Gilded Sword in Majora's Mask.

Trivia

 * Ocarina of Time's Phantom Ganon wields a trident, referencing Ganon's incarnations in previous games.
 * In The Wind Waker, Phantom Ganon's theme is very similar to Ganon's battle theme from A Link to the Past. The tone of this theme increases the more times Link bounces back Phantom Ganon's attacks.
 * The The Wind Waker version of Phantom Ganon has a similar aesthetic to the Portals seen in Twilight Princess.
 * Phantom Ganon shares many design similarities with other major enemies. In Twilight Princess, Phantom Zant is also spectral copy of his creator while Death Sword is also a horned, ghostly creature with a skull for a face, the ability to fly and vanish, and wielding a similar sword, and the Phantoms of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks wear armor with similar features as the Four Swords Adventures version of Phantom Ganon.