It must be nice to be able to conjure a temporary clone of yourself every so often like Ganondorf can. Who wouldn’t want to send an illusion of themselves to sit in on a boring presentation, meeting, or class that you wanted no part of? Although, Ganondorf has always used his clones for a little more nefarious purposes than to merely avoid the mundane activities of daily life.
Phantom Ganon debuted in The Legend of Zelda as an evil puppet and the boss of a single dungeon, but he went on to have bigger roles in future games. Over the years, Phantom Ganon has become something of a villain all his own, and he certainly is one of the most memorable in service to the series’ main antagonist.
At first, Phantom Ganon was nearly a straight doppelganger to the Gerudo warlord he’s named after. Ocarina of Time faked us out by making us think he was Ganondorf when he greeted Link in that final room for the Forest Temple, only revealing his ghostly nature once he donned that creepy skull-like mask.
The Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time is easily one of the greatest dungeons in the series (in fact it was voted the number one dungeon in our Top 20 Dungeons list), so it was only right that it would conclude with a great boss fight. Phantom Ganon may not have had much of a unique appearance, but the battle with him is a terrific one that would influence later boss encounters in future games, some even outside The Legend of Zelda.
With the Fairy Bow in hand, players had to spot the fake Phantom Ganon as both the illusion and the real thing came riding toward them on his pitch-black horse through the paintings that lined the circular chamber. Should you have guessed incorrectly, you better have made a beeline to a far corner of the platform. Otherwise, you would be right in the path of the massive energy blast that Phantom Ganon hurled before he rode off into another painting. His tactic of being able to strike from any angle kept players on their toes and would be implemented by Nintendo’s developers in other boss battles down the line, including the Aeralfos in Twilight Princess’ City in the Sky, as well as the Omega Ridley fight toward the end of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Once players foiled his sneak attacks enough times, Phantom Ganon dismounted and provided the first taste of tennis action in a 3D Zelda, hurling more energy blasts for players to knock back at him until he couldn’t keep up. If you were lucky, you may have also seen him perform a pretty rare attack. On occasion, Phantom Ganon will become surrounded by rows of glowing orbs and fly toward Link with his trident extended, aiming to impale the Hero of Time like a giant drill.
Ganondorf was none too pleased to see his puppet defeated, and banished him to the realm described only as “The Gap Between Dimensions.” Thankfully, that wouldn’t be the last that Zelda fans saw of Phantom Ganon.
When Phantom Ganon returned in The Wind Waker, he sported a unique design that he deserved from the get-go. No longer was he just Ganondorf in a mask, Phantom Ganon came back as a towering specter of inky black shadow and ghostly, bluish light, who only vaguely resembled his master. He now had a horned helmet like that of a Darknut, a tattered cape that fell along his great height, wisps of smoky darkness trailing off his body, and even a brand new weapon. Replacing the trident he wielded in Ocarina of Time was a massive broadsword that he swung with deadly intent.
Players got reacquainted with him when he made a surprise appearance on the return trip to the Forsaken Fortress. That turned out to be a routine boss battle, but the next time that we encountered Phantom Ganon in The Wind Waker was something a little different. He felt more like a puzzle than a traditional boss fight in Ganon’s Tower, as Link had to fend him off multiple times while navigating a labyrinth of chambers. Only by following the doorway that the hilt on Phantom Ganon’s sword pointed to would lead you on the correct path.
Phantom Ganon expanded his arsenal of attacks while defending Ganon’s Tower, summoning salvos of energy blasts and creating a host of illusions to confuse and overwhelm Link. He made an upgrade from his performance in Ocarina of Time, where he only had a single clone to distract Link. In The Wind Waker, he had as many as four at his disposal.
That character design became his definitive look, and would be reused in later appearances. Next up was Four Swords Adventures, where he once again served as a boss in two different dungeons, Hyrule Castle and the Temple of Darkness. At least in that multiplayer-focused adventure, Link had a few buddies to deal with the clones that Phantom Ganon summoned during battle.
Phantom Ganon took center stage as the main villain behind an epilogue story in Hyrule Warriors Legends and the Definitive Edition, where he stole both Cia’s dark magic, as well as the Triforce of Power from Lana. In this side story, Phantom Ganon didn’t need Ganondorf to stir up trouble. He proved a formidable foe and posed a serious threat to Hyrule all on his own. He was even larger than he was in The Wind Waker, nearly the size of Dark Beast Ganon. The only way to save Hyrule once and for all in Hyrule Warriors was to defeat the ghostly menace inside the amalgam of The Wind Waker’s Earth and Wind Temples.
It’s one of Hyrule Warriors’ best boss battles, with Phantom Ganon pulling out all of his familiar tricks from past games — swarms of energy bolts, multiple illusions of himself, and of course, some tennis exchanges. But the fun really begins once Phantom Ganon unsheathes a second sword to become as nasty of a dual wielder as there has ever been. His spin attack with those twin blades puts the Great Spin and Hurricane Spin to shame.
A few years have passed since Phantom Ganon made a proper appearance in a brand new Zelda game (unless you count Breath of the Wild’s Blight Ganons), but hopefully he has a return lined up in the near future. With Ganondorf seemingly poised to make a big comeback, it’s the perfect time for Nintendo to bring back the shadowy clone as a top lackey. If not that, give him another opportunity to be the main villain of a lengthy sidequest or DLC story. The Legend of Zelda could always stand to add a little variety to its antagonists, and Phantom Ganon still has a lot of untapped narrative potential 22 years since debuting.
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