Hyrulean Forces | Dark Forces | DLC Characters | 3DS Warriors | Giant Bosses | Captains | Others
The Zelda series is well-known for pitting heroes against huge, powerful monsters. Several of the series' most famous beasts make appearances in Hyrule Warriors as Giant Bosses, which all have powerful attacks but must be strategically stunned to deal lots of damage.
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Introduced in the original
King Dodongo
Fire Breathing
King of the fire-breathing Dodongos, he is a boss in several stages. He is occasionally optional.
- Book Ends: The first stage to feature the bulk of the Hyrulean Army, led by Impa, ends with a fight against King Dodongo on Hyrule Field. The final chapter of Linkle's Tale has her aid the bulk of the remainder of the Hyrulean Army, led by Impa, ending with a fight against the Ocarina-style King Dodongo on the charred remains of Hyrule Field.
- Breath Weapon: He can breathe fire, but this leaves him vulnerable to bombs.
- Degraded Boss: In Adventure Mode, he's noticeably weaker than the initial boss fight in the main story. He's also the only giant boss who doesn't produce "attack blocked" hit sparks if he's hit when his weakpoint isn't exposed; indeed, it's entirely possible to do chip damage to him without having to perform unblockable attacks.
- Dinosaurs Are Dragons: He resembles a ceratopsian dinosaur.
- Dual Boss: In Adventure Mode, there's a stage wherein the challenge is to fight two of him at the same time. A later one has three. And then there's the one where you have to face him alongside Gohma and Ganon at the same time, using Ganondorf. Thankfully, in most of these cases you control multiple characters which can keep other giants busy while you wail on one on them.
- Feed It a Bomb: King Dodongo's classic weakness can be exploited by throwing bombs into his mouth while he's preparing his Breath Weapon.
- Final Boss: The Ocarina of Time version of Dodongo serves as this for Linkle's story.
- Kill It with Water: King Dodongo's Weak Point Gauge will break faster when he's hit with Water-effect attacks.
- Mythology Gag: His 8-bit sprite in Adventure Mode is the same one used for the Dodongo boss from the original Legend of Zelda, which somewhat gives justification as to why he looks different from the initial game trailer.
- Playing with Fire: In the form of a Breath Weapon.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has red eyes and is an agent of the Dark Forces.
- Recurring Boss: In the main story, King Dodongo is once again fought against in the Gerudo Desert alongside Gohma and Manhandla simultaneously. Their opponent, though, is Ganondorf.
- The Ocarina of Time variant appears as the Final Boss of Linkle's story.
- Rolling Attack: One of his main attacks is a variation of his signature roll from Ocarina of Time.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: He'd be a lot harder to fight if he didn't leave his mouth wide open for bombs.
- You Don't Look Like You: In the initial trailer for the game, he resembled his Ocarina of Time incarnation as a rhino-like dinosaur dragon. In later trailers and the game proper, he is completely redesigned as a golden ceratops dragon, similar to his design in the original Legend of Zelda.
- The Ocarina of Time model, however, appears as an optional fight in Lake Hylia during the story mode, attacking the Hyrulean main base during the fight with the Zelda impostor. In Legends its defeat is upgraded to a Mission Objective and it reappears as the final boss of Linkle's Tale, initially under a Dark variation that can't be damaged.
Gohma
Arthropod Cyclops Monster
A giant spider that appears as a boss in "The Sorceress of the Woods" and other stages.
- Death from Above: One of Gohma's attacks has her leaping into the air and crashing into the ground.
- Degraded Boss: In Adventure Mode, she's noticeably weaker than the initial boss fight in the main story.
- Dual Boss: In Adventure Mode, there's a stage wherein the challenge is to fight two of her at the same time. And then there's the one where you have to face her alongside King Dodongo and Ganon at the same time, using Ganondorf.
- Eye Beams: This Gohma can fire a laser from her single eye. However, this strains her eye and leaves her vulnerable to attack.
- Eye Scream: Poor, poor arachnid. Blades, flaming constructs, beams of light, peoples' feet... There's not a Weak Point Smash in the game that doesn't end with her eye suffering. Her Gold Material is even the front half of her eyeball!
- Foe-Tossing Charge: Can use her shield appendages as a makeshift battering ram.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: After battling for a while in one area of the Faron Woods in the main story, she'll jump away to another part, causing the player to give chase. (She sometimes jumps away just for the player taking too long to reach her.)
- Giant Spider: With an armored carapace.
- Go for the Eye: The best way to deal with her is to shoot her eye.
- In a Single Bound: Will sometimes leap from one keep to another.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Unlike her previous appearance, she has a pair of shield-like appendages that she can use to protect her eye. It also serves as a battering ram to charge enemies.
- Mythology Gag: Her 8-bit sprite in Adventure Mode is the same one used for the Gohma boss from the original Legend of Zelda.
- Oculothorax: With a bunch of gross spider legs.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: She has a rather prominent red iris, though it turns blue when she's vulnerable.
- Recurring Boss: In the main story, Gohma is once again fought against in the Gerudo Desert alongside King Dodongo and Manhandla simultaneously. Their opponent, though, is Ganondorf.
- Super Spit: Spits acid as an attack.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Ironically, its laser beams leave its eye wide open to an arrow.
Manhandla
Poisonous Tree
A plant monster fought in "The Sorceress of the Valley" and several other stages.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The jewel core. The heads must first be disabled to expose the jewel.
- Bullet Seed: It can fire seeds from its mouths like a machine gun.
- Chrome Champion: Manhandla can encase its body in metal for protection. Indeed, the metal covering only goes away before or after it performs certain attacks,
- Dungeon Bypass: Both the boss and the individual stalks have the ability to just launch seeds at your main base and chip away its health from anywhere in the map, and 4 out of 5 times they appear, they will do this. They can also launch seeds at you in the same fashion and they're aggravatingly accurate.
- Eyeless Face: None of its heads have any eyes.
- Fast Tunnelling: Uses this to travel from place to place.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: Much like Gohma, after taking damage, it will tunnel to another part of the area.
- Kill It with Fire: Manhandla's Weak Point Gauge will break faster when it's hit with Fire-effect attacks.
- King Mook: Is given similarities to the Deku Babas in this incarnation, including their poison secretion, the shape of their jaws, and having similar roars.
- Man-Eating Plant: What else would all those teeth be for?
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Each of its heads are filled with razor sharp teeth.
- Multiple Head Case: Has four heads in total.
- Mythology Gag: Like the other original bosses, Manhandla uses its 8-bit sprite from the original NES game on the Adventure Mode overworld.
- Poisonous Person: If you don't keep your distance from it, it'll spew out poison gas to surround itself.
- Recurring Boss: In the main story, Manhandla is once again fought against in the Gerudo Desert alongside King Dodongo and Gohma simultaneously. Their opponent, though, is Ganondorf.
- Siege Engines: The closest thing this game has to a catapult, as it launches projectiles at you and your base from afar.
- Spin Attack: One of its attacks has it spin wildly around a small area for a few seconds.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: For some reason, Manhandla has a nasty habit of removing its armor before its heads lunge at you or it uses its Bullet Seed attack. Because of this, it's susceptible to the Boomerang.
- Wolfpack Boss:
- In Adventure Mode, there are battles in which Manhandla fought against with either two or more copies of it, or with other large bosses.
- In the main story, Manhandla is fought once again, but this time alongside King Dodongo and Gohma.
Argorok
Twilit Dragon
The Twilit Dragon from the Twilight Era who originally served as the boss of the City in the Sky dungeon. In the main story of Hyrule Warriors, he initially appears in the Palace of Twilight as a boss among Zant's forces.
- Blow You Away: He can stir up tornadoes with his wingbeats.
- Breath Weapon: Like most dragons, he can breathe fire.
- Degraded Boss:
- In Adventure Mode, he's noticeably weaker than the initial boss fight in the main story.
- In the final stage of story mode, there are two Argoroks who aren't as powerful as the initial boss encounter.
- The Dragon: Literally. Serves as Zant's main attack dog in both the Palace of Twilight stage in Legend Mode and in the third part of Cia's story.
- Dual Boss: There are two Argoroks in the final stage of the main story.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: He will actively stay in the air and attack from unreachable areas until you find a way to knock him down from the sky.
- Giant Flyer: One who isn't afraid of taking advantage of being unreachable to normal soldiers.
- Glass Cannon: Compared to other giant bosses, Argorok exposes its weak point much more frequently. However, getting hit by its flame attack hurts.
- Lightning Bruiser: Easily the fastest of all the bosses, it can keep pace with even a sprinting player. This makes accidentally engaging it dangerous if you're preoccupied with other matters.
- Our Dragons Are Different: He is a wyvern-like Twilit dragon.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: He's a dragon with red scales clad in black armor.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Argorok would be a lot harder to beat if it didn't leave its tail low and not on fire during some of its attacks.
The Imprisoned
The sealed malice of an ancient Demon King trapped under the Sealing Grounds in the Era of the Sky.
- Attack Its Weak Point: To knock it over and expose its Weak Point Gauge, you have to attack its toes.
- Armless Biped: Which makes him clumsy and less mobile. Justified as most of his power is sealed in this form.
- Boss Subtitles: The only character in the game to avert the trope, much like his home game.
- Breath Weapon: He spews shadowy clouds as an attack.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: He is a massive Eldritch Abomination, but his true form (thankfully not present here) is much more powerful. Taken even further in Adventure mode and Linkle's story mode, where Ghirahim has performed several botched summonings that bring it back in smaller fragmented versions of itself, only about as big as a Moblin.
- Damage-Sponge Boss:
- He is the only boss whose Weak Point Gauge can't be broken in one cycle.
- He is the only boss whose Weak Point Gauge is exposed by doing damage to him rather than using an item at the right time.
- He is the only boss who's completely immune to the Focus Spirit Special's instant knockdown effect (outside of Ganon's Fury).
- During Ganon's Fury:
- He's the only boss who cannot be knocked down instantly by using the right Boss Attack.
- He takes negligible damage from a Weak Point Smash even if you do manage to take out his Weak Point Gauge.
- Needless to say, even outside of Skyward Sword this guy continues to be a major pain. Legends thankfully makes fighting him a lot less tedious: he no longer automatically gets up at half Weak Point Gauge, and he's now vulnerable to Focus Spirit knockdowns.
- Dark Is Evil: He is the original Demon King, after all.
- Dual Boss: In Adventure Mode, there's a stage wherein the challenge is to fight two of him at the same time. Legends' Great Sea Map has a mission where you, as Ganondorf, have to face him alongside Phantom Ganon and Ganon at the same time.
- Eldritch Abomination: A giant Armless Biped covered in spiney scales with a horrifying amount of teeth, able to warp himself as he liked. His aspect might be conceivable, but he is made of every wrong in the universe in solid form.
- Flight: Summons a black halo on its back to fly just like before. The player has to knock it down using the nearby Groosenator.
- Greater-Scope Villain: THE biggest bad in the Zelda franchise, being responsible for Ganondorf and all. That being said, he's relatively unimportant in this game.
- Mini Mook: Some Adventure Mode stages feature miniature versions of him as enemy captains. They finally make a story appearance in Linkle's story in Legends, where they're the product of a failed ritual to awaken the real Imprisoned.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: The Imprisoned has a lot of razor-sharp teeth.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: While it appears mostly black from a distance, its tooth-like scales have a red outer edge and tip. Being the sealed form of the Demon King Demise, it's the living incarnation of evil.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: He is the sealed form of Demise.
- Shock and Awe: Will attack with red electricity when its HP begins to dwindle.
- Shockwave Stomp: His most basic attacks; it helps that he doesn't have any arms to attack otherwise.
- Slide Attack: It occasionally crawls on the ground to attack.
- Ugly Cute: According to Linkle, at least; she finds the mini-Imprisoned adorable.
- Weakened by the Light: The Imprisoned's Weak Point Gauge will break faster when he's hit with Light-effect attacks. Not that it matters, since you can't break his Weak Point Gauge in one knockdown anyway. Legends makes this much more useful by removing the automatic recovery at half and 3 quarters of the Weak Point Gauge.
Dark Beast Ganon
Weapon: Ganon's Furynote
The Ganon/Boss DLC makes him a playable character in a special mode, complete with a trident to wield. This mode is only available in the Wii U version and Definitive Edition.
- Accessory Wearing Demonic Animal: He is a completely unclothed boar save for the gold bracers.
- All Your Powers Combined: The first phase of the fight has him using attacks from previous giant bosses such as Argorok's flame breath, Manhandla's Bullet Seed, King Dodongo's fireballs, and Gohma's lightning blast while the second phase incorporates The Imprisoned's dark lightning. The playable version of Ganon also gets to use the former four attacks in place of subweapons (Bombs, Bow, etc.) while the lightning is used as his Strong Attack.
- Animalistic Abomination: Complete with a dose of Body Horror, this Ganon perhaps more than any before it, plays up the "demon" aspect to its fullest. Fitting as he is evil, darkness and hatred made flesh.
- Animalistic Personification: Of evil, natch.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Taking out five thousand enemies for your first mission? Easy! But hacking the game to let you play as Ganon on any other mode will reveal that he's not made for fighting anything with a collective body mass smaller than Argorok.
- Badass Boast: "I... Am... GANON!" Let's face it, that's all he needs.
- Battle Theme Music: "Eclipse of the World GT" plays whenever you face him in Adventure Mode. And also for the fight with him in Legend Mode.
- Boss Subtitles: Subverted. He gets a Giant Boss intro for Adventure Mode, but the format is more akin to The Imprisoned and Phantom Ganon, implying it's meant to be read as "Dark Beast Ganon" rather than "Dark Beast: Ganon".
- Body Horror: Momentary instances, but they get the point across. See Eyes Do Not Belong There and Too Many Mouths below.
- Breath Weapon: He can spew fire out of his mouth like King Dodongo and Argorok.
- Casting a Shadow: Like Ganondorf and Phantom Ganon, some of his attacks such as his Special Attack and regular Weak Point Smash involve dark magic.
- Composite Character: Of five previous Ganons. This Ganon takes his Boss Subtitles and most of his visual cues from his Twilight Princess incarnation, while still looking humanoid enough to resemble his Ocarina of Time incarnation. The end result is an apelike stature that actually ends up resembling his classic NES build more than a fair bit. He also has the complete Triforce like his Link to the Past incarnation. The trident he wields as a playable character, meanwhile, is the same one that Yuga Ganon wields in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
- Dark Is Evil: Again, would we recognize Ganon without it?
- Death from Above: One of his attacks has him jumping sky-high then dropping back down.
- Devil's Pitchfork: As a playable character, he uses a trident in his Weak Point Smash against giant bosses, and his Focus Special.
- Didn't Need Those Anyway!: His tail, shoulder spikes, and gold bracers can be destroyed to disable some of his attacks. Though players can just fight him the old-fashioned way without resorting to that strategy, as reducing his health low enough destroys them anyway.
- Dishing Out Dirt: One of Ganon's attacks has him pulling up rocks and tossing armies into the air.
- Dual Boss: The Rewards map based on the "Chosen by Fate" illustration has you fight him and Ganondorf at the same time. There's also the mission in Adventure Mode where you must face him alongside King Dodongo and Gohma as Ganondorf, as well as the Boss Rush Reward Map where he pops in once you've downed 3 of the previous bosses. Legends' Great Sea Map has a mission where you, as Ganondorf, have to face him alongside The Imprisoned and Phantom Ganon at the same time.
- Dynamic Entry: His boss intro in adventure mode has him literally punching a hole through a dimensional rift to enter the battlefield.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: The boss attacks when he's playable work like this: Argorok is weak to Dodongo's fireball, Dodongo is weak to Gohma's blast of light, Gohma is weak to Manhandla's barrage of seeds, and Manhandla is weak to Argorok's flame attack. Hitting the giant boss with the right attack exposes their weak point instantly, regardless of what they're doing.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A minor example. As his health is near zero, Ganon asks why the heroes continuously oppose him and attempt to secure what he believes to be an impossible victory against darkness and evil.
- Evil Is Bigger: Par for the course for a giant boss. His playable self, however, takes it even further by being even bigger than the Giant Bosses.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Take a good look at his left forearm when he hurls a blast of lightning. More obviously, when he uses Gohma's beam attack, it's from a Gohma eye embedded in his wrist.
- Final Boss: In true Zelda tradition. Also serves as the final challenge in Adventure Mode for every single map. In Legends, he's merely the Final Boss of the main story, with Phantom Ganon serving as the True Final Boss.
- Final-Exam Boss: His first phase has attacks and weaknesses taken from King Dogongo, Manhandla, Argorok, and Gohma.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: The enemy version has this as an attack that opens him up for the Bow of Light, while the playable version can use this at any time as one of his unique attacks.
- Glass Cannon: While playing as him, he certainly can mow down enemies like it's nothing. However, enemies can quickly mow him down in a second due to his rather large size needing a big hitbox. It doesn't help that most enemies can wreck four hearts out of him with a single attack.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: His Supernatural Gold Eyes glow in this form.
- Ground Punch: His Musou attack is this, not unlike a similar attack done by Ganondorf. His passive Focus Spirit finisher is a two-handed gorilla-esque ground punch, again, not unlike Ganondorf's similar attack.
- Full-Boar Action: He is a vaguely humanoid gigantic demon boar.
- Hand Blast: He can use his gauntlets to charge gigantic energy blasts to throw at enemies: fire from his right and lightning from his left. Even without his gauntlets, he can fire a blast of red lightning from his hands.
- Javelin Thrower: His Focus Spirit Special Attack and boss Weak Point Smash has him toss his Trident at them.
- Large Ham: But of course. His dialog consists only in loud curses and threats.
- Lightning Bruiser: Despite his size, Ganon can move with frightening speed.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: As a playable character, Ganon is much different from the other playable characters. He doesn't have a selection of various combo finishers, he lacks the ability to guard, and his regular movement is rather stiff. He doesn't even have battle dialogue or a victory animation. However, he can instead cancel his regular attack string into his strong attack or his charge attack, and in place of his guard, he instead has a Spin Attack that can easily shake groups of enemies off.
- Mighty Roar: Gives a powerful roar during his boss intro.
- Mirror Match: Ganon's Fury, Giant Battle Lv.3 challenge. The final Lord of the Horde is Ganon, flanked by two more Dark Beasts.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: This Ganon seems to be a cross between a boar, a mammoth and a gorilla.
- Morphic Resonance: Ganondorf's forehead jewel and gold bracers are still on. He also retains his general color scheme and wild hair.
- Mythology Gag:
- His 8-bit sprite in Adventure Mode is the same one used for him from the original Legend of Zelda.
- Some of his attacks allow him to use a trident, which is Ganon's iconic weapon in almost all games where he wields a weapon. Specifically, it's the trident wielded by Yuga Ganon from A Link Between Worlds.
- One-Winged Angel: Ganondorf transforms into his demon form when his back is to the wall.
- Pig Man: He's somewhere between bestial and humanoid.
- Power Copying: His boss attacks work this way for the playable version: each level with a giant boss in it has a specific one that enables Ganon to use its attack for the rest of the level.
- Power Floats: When using his Breath Weapon, Ganon floats in place and must be brought down with the Hookshot.
- Psycho Electro: Ganon mainly uses a lot of lightning in his attacks.
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: As a playable character, Ganon can take out fifty Bokoblins with any given button press, and his combos can stunlock Giant Bosses. On the other hand, Ganondorf can do more mundane things like avoid damage* , deplete a common enemy's Weak Point Gauge** , and be registered by Zant and Ghirahim's rescue zones *** much more easily.
- Secret A.I. Moves: Zig-zagged; Ganon as a playable character lacks certain attacks that would be impractical for a playable character, such as his jumping attack or his attack where he creates pools of dark lightning, but he also gets several attacks that he lacks as a boss, like a basic attack chain and smashing the ground with a darkness-fueled fist slam as his special move. Some of these new attacks resemble Ganondorf's attacks in a way.
- Shock and Awe: Aside from the above, he also calls down blasts of red lightning.
- Shoulder Cannon: His shoulder spikes function as them, mirroring Manhandla's Bullet Seed attack.
- Spikes of Doom: He has two huge spikes emerging from his shoulders that can fire smaller spikes.
- Shows Damage: In the first half of the battle, whenever Link lands an attack with the correct weapon, Ganon takes damage. Using the Hookshot on his tail destroys his tail and one of his tusks. Using the bombs and bow destroys his gauntlets, and using the boomerang destroys his shoulder spikes.
- Spike Shooter: His shoulder spikes can open and fire out small spikes, similar to Manhandla's Bullet Seed.
- Spin Attack: A spinning clothesline as a melee attack.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: One of the characteristics he retains from his human form.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Both phases are this, to an extent. Ganon's first phase has him use his body parts like four of the other bosses before him, and when they attack you get to use the appropriate item on Ganon to weaken him. Phase 2 has quite a few of his attacks reveal his weakpoint: the jewel on its forehead. If it didn't lunge at you, you'd probably never be able to beat it.
- Talking Animal: Much like previous incarnations, Ganon is still sapient enough to talk. This is surprisingly subverted when playable, however, as Ganon is completely silent apart from the roars he makes when attacking. Quite jarring compared to the other playable characters.
- Too Many Mouths: Despite looking like his bestial form from Twilight Princess, he actually has 3 mouths, with two of them being located in his giant shoulder spikes.
- Top-Heavy Guy: A more realistic version, his arms are bigger than his legs in a way that gives him a build like a gorilla, as opposed to making him look goofy.
- Use Your Head: In the second phase of the fight, Ganon charges around the area. You can use this attack at any time when he's playable.
- Villainous Breakdown: As he's on his last legs. Complete with Why Won't You Die?.Ganon: Why? Why do they keep resisting me? Why don't they just give up?
- Walking Spoiler: Per virtue of being the Final Boss. He's also the only boss who isn't publicly advertised like the rest.
- Weakened by the Light: Of course, the way to win is when Zelda (or Ruto) super charges your bow with Light Arrows, at which point you have to stun him before going in for the kill. Mechanically, Ganon's Weak Point Gauge also breaks faster when he is hit with Light-effect attacks.
Introduced in Legends
Helmaroc King
Great Bird
A giant bird that served Ganondorf during the Era of the Great Sea, tasked with kidnapping all young girls with pointed ears.
- Anvil on Head: Just like in its debut game, you have to hit its head with the Hammer item to expose its weak point.
- Blow You Away: Similar to Argorok, it can use its wings to create tornadoes.
- Boss Subtitles: Oddly enough, only in Legends; they're absent from Definitive Edition for reasons unknown.
- Cool Helmet: You need to break it with the Hammer before you can expose its weak point.
- Feather Flechettes: He can shoot out its feathers for a ranged attack.
- Feathered Fiend: It's a giant flying bird that once served as Ganon's pet.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: When it first appears in the Wind Waker epilogue, it keeps flying away before you can actually fight it.
- Kill It with Fire: Helmaroc King's Weak Point Gauge will break faster when he's hit with Fire-effect attacks.
- Left Stuck After Attack: Its beak gets stuck in the ground after it does its pecking attack, allowing you to hit its head with the hammer.
- Mythology Gag:
- His boss intro has it spinning into the air and giving a loud screech, complete with Perpetual Molt, just like it did before its final confrontation with Toon Link.
- Likewise, its new ability to fire Feather Flechettes is a reference to its habit of constantly shedding feathers.
- Perpetual Molt: Like in its home game, it's constantly shedding feathers. Only this time, it seems to have found a way to weaponize this, as it can now fire Feather Flechettes at you.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Its actual eye color is this underneath its mask.
- Shockwave Stomp: If you fail to keep your distance, it does a little dance that sends out damaging shockwaves.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Its mask has these painted onto it.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: It tries to peck at you, gets stuck, and then you can break its mask with your Hammer. Nice going, bird brain.
- Your Size May Vary: It's a bit less gigantic than it was before, now on the level of the other Giant Bosses.
Phantom Ganon
A spectral warrior created by Ganondorf from the Era of the Great Sea. He fights using two swords and energy balls.
- Adaptational Badass: Previous Phantom Ganons were always servants of Ganondorf and always served as regular bosses. The Wind Waker version in particular was a mere mini-boss. This Phantom Ganon, however, serves as both the Big Bad of the Wind Waker epilogue and the True Final Boss of the game.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Quite possibly the only character in the Zelda series to go "Hmm, the Hero is good at Dead Man's Volley; let's stop playing."
- Badass Cape: Wears a tattered cape.
- Battle Theme Music: "Eclipse of the World GT", which he shares with Ganon.
- Big Bad: Of the Wind Waker epilogue in Legends, where he uses Cia's lingering spirit to steal the Triforce of Power from Lana and invade the Hyrule Warriors dimension.
- Black Knight: While his silhouette-like nature makes it difficult to discern, he's wearing a helmet and armour, both of which are solid black.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Like when fighting Ganon, Phantom Ganon's level is littered with constant lightning strikes. The gang must capture the keeps to stop the lightning.
- Boss Subtitles: Averted, strangely. This is despite having his own subtitle, "Evil Spirit from Beyond", in Ocarina of Time.
- Casting a Shadow: Wields dark magic like Ganondorf and Ganon.
- Composite Character: When he pulls out his second sword, his fighting style takes cues from both the Hyrule Warriors Ganondorf and the Wind Waker Ganondorf. Like the Hyrule Warriors Ganondorf, he can fire a barrage of sword beams, his blocking animation is similar to the Wind Waker Ganondorf, and he can also perform a jumping cross slash and spin attack.
- Dragon Their Feet: Normally, Ganondorf is fought well after you've fought Phantom Ganon. But due to his placement in an epilogue chapter, Phantom Ganon is the final boss of Legends and the Definitive Edition.
- Dual Boss: A lot of the Great Sea missions where you have to fight Phantom Ganon has another boss alongside him. There's also a mission where you, as Ganondorf, have to face him alongside The Imprisoned and Ganon at the same time.
- Dual Wielding: Initially, he only wields one sword, but once his health falls below half, he draws a second sword and drops the Tennis Boss act.
- Energy Ball: His Signature Move has him firing a ball of white lightning. Another attack has him toss a cluster of red and black energy balls. Both can be reflected back at him to stun him.
- Evil Is Bigger: Due to being a Giant Boss, he's far larger than he was in his home game where he was relatively human-sized.
- Evil Wears Black: A ghostly warrior designed as a Living Shadow.
- Final Boss: Of Legends. Specifically, clearing the main story, Linkle's story, and Cia's story, opens up the Wind Waker Epilogue that takes place after Ganon's defeat. This makes Phantom Ganon the True Final Boss of the game.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Phantom Ganon is never given a clear motive as to why he wanted the Triforce of Power.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: For the first part of the fight, Phantom Ganon is invulnerable to all attacks. Link must first gather all his allies around Phantom Ganon so they can combine their power and weaken him.
- I Shall Taunt You: Stops just to laugh at you semi-frequently.
- In the Back: If Phantom Ganon is attacked from behind while he's laughing, he'll fall over and be stunned just like if you reflect his Energy Ball.
- Me's a Crowd: One of his attacks has him create three copies of him in order to attack with a Spin Attack on all sides.
- Mighty Glacier: Initially, he's this, as his attacks are fairly slow to start with. But once you smash his Weak Point Gauge... he draws that second sword, gets much faster, and hits much harder.
- No Mouth: Thanks to his silhouette-like appearance, his mouth is not visible.
- Power Floats: He mainly hovers during battle.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: A malevolent, shadowy image of Ganondorf with red eyes. And they are the first thing shown in his boss intro.
- Shock and Awe: Like Ganon and The Imprisoned, he uses red lightning for some attacks. The stage you fight him in has red lightning striking all over the place. Link and the others must take the keeps to stop the lightning storm.
- Spin Attack: When using his Doppelgänger Attack. Also he can perform a more powerful version with his twin swords.
- Sword Beam: After he Turns Red, he can use an attack similar to Ganondorf's Blade Spam C2 that shoots out crescents of dark lightning.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: See Tennis Boss straight below. Averted with his second phase.
- Tennis Boss: One of the Zelda series' most iconic examples. He can launch energy spheres that can be bounced back to expose his weak point gauge. He stops the volley after he takes a Weak Point Smash.
- Turns Red: When his health falls below half, he pulls out another sword and forgoes the Tennis Boss style for close-range sword attacks.
- Tron Lines: His body is jet-black except for glowing blue markings.
- Weakened by the Light: Phantom Ganon's Weak Point Gauge will break faster when he's hit with Light-effect attacks.
