Zant

Zant, the Usurper King, is one of the two major antagonists in. 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. He is portrayed as the main antagonist for the majority 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, depriving her of the magic powers she was granted as leader of the Twili. 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. The cutscene showing Ganon appearing to him as a god shows Zant beating his fists on the ground and crying in a comical, infantile fashion.

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.

During the first phase of the battle, Zant will recreate the room in which Diababa was fought in the Forest Temple. His main attack consists of floating above the poisoned water and firing a barrage of magical attacks at Link before teleporting rapidly to a new spot and repeating; the Gale Boomerang must be used to stun him during his brief periods of visibility, and doing so knocks him out of the air, causing him to hop across the surface of the water and onto dry land, where he is vulnerable to strikes from Link's sword. Repeating this process a few times leads to the next phase of the battle.

Zant's second phase takes place in the arena where Link fought Dangoro in the Goron Mines; the Twilight King will cause the platform to pitch violently to and fro by jumping furiously up and down, causing Link to lose his footing, before attacking him with the same magical projectiles used in his first phase. Although not nessecary, Link can use the Iron Boots to offset the platform's movement and either block or evade Zant's attack; he can then follow up by attacking him with his sword when he stops to catch his breath.

In Zant's third phase, he will recreate Morpheel's chamber in the Lakebed Temple, forcing Link to equip his Zora Armor and Iron Boots in order to progress in the battle. Zant will first summon a massive replica of his mask from the sand before attacking Link from inside its mouth. The player must use the Clawshot to pull him toward Link in order to be able to attack him. After he first sustains damage, Zant creates four masks around the center of the room, making it random as to which one he will emerge from. The player must position themselves accordingly so that they may attack him once more when he reveals himself, thus bringing the third phase to an end.

The battle's fourth phase takes Link back to the Forest Temple, this time to the room where Ook was battled. Similar to the baboon, Zant will rapidly hop between the various pillars, teleporting frequently and occasionally stopping to attack Link from above. The hero must roll into the pillar atop which Zant is standing when he pauses; doing so will cause him to fall and have his mask humorously rammed into the ground, and will render him vulnerable to sword attacks.

The fifth portion of the battle is fought in the bedroom of the Snowpeak Ruins where Blizzeta was defeated, in which Zant grows to a monumental size and slams down onto the ground and stomps around the room. Link must take caution to avoid being damaged by his massive feet and strike one of them with the Ball and Chain, which causes Zant to shrink rapidly and hop around the room, grasping his foot in pain. The player must then quickly catch up to him and slash him with the sword before he recovers, and repeating this strategy once more brings an end to the fifth phase of the fight.

The sixth and final phase of the battle takes place atop a pavilion lying before Hyrule Castle. Here, Zant teleports quickly around the arena, performing various attacks with two cleaver-like swords. His random, erratic movements can make it difficult for Link to strike, although a good opportunity is following his usage of a move similar to a spin attack, after which he stops and pauses to catch his breath. After sustaining several more hits of damage, Zant finally succumbs to Link and falls to the ground in a rage, defeated.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Zant appears as a Trophy and Sticker in.

Miscellaneous
Like Agahnim in, 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 and, 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, the arena Zant switches to directly corresponds to the key item used in the fight. For instance, Link uses the Gale Boomerang for the Forest Temple Boss room, the Iron Boots in the Goron Mines mini-boss 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 mini-boss room (albeit the technique required here is exactly the same as the original battle with Ook), as well as the final Hyrule Castle area.
 * During the boss fight, the music changes slightly to match the arenas Zant warps to. The music includes fragments of the themes from the original boss battles of the respective arenas.
 * Zant is the first major villain to yield a Heart Container.
 * 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 labeled as separate bosses, so some may not count them as phases.