- This page is about the boss. For the character, see Zant.
- "My god only had one wish. To merge shadow and light... and make darkness!"
- — Zant
Usurper King, Zant (僭王ザント Senō Zanto?) is the boss of the Palace of Twilight, the eighth dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. After Link retrieves the Sols from Zant's Hands and powers up the Master Sword, he is given access to a new area of the Palace of Twilight. Here, he encounters Zant, Ganondorf's puppet. The battle with Zant is fought in several stages, all stages besides the last being based on a prior mini-boss or boss battle in the game. During the battle, a faster, warped version of the themes heard during the mini-boss battles are heard.
The stages appears to be based on their appearance prior to the events of the actual boss battles, for example, after the battle with Morpheel, the boss of the Lakebed Temple, the water is drained from its chamber. In its respective stage of the Zant battle, the arena is filled with water again. It is apparent that the battles all take place in the same chamber and that it is merely transformed somehow, as the Master Sword remains infused with the power of the Sols throughout the battles. The symbol that appears behind Zant when he changes the arena is the same one seen when Zant's Hands move through the walls, indicating that it is some sort of alteration magic.
Battle[]
In the first round of the battle, Zant warps to Diababa's boss room. His only attack is to float through the air and shoot magical blasts in Link's direction. Since Zant is floating over a wide pool of damaging poison water, Link must stun him with the Gale Boomerang and then attack him when he touches the ground. After this process is repeated a few times, Zant changes the boss chamber.
In the battle's second phase, Zant emulates the battle with Dangoro in the Goron Mines. He leaps up and down on a magnetic platform and fires more magical energy. If Link does not wear his Iron Boots, manuevering to Zant will be difficult at best. After shooting a round of magic blasts, Zant stops to take a breath. At this point, Link can strike him with his sword.
After several repetitions, Zant moves the battle to the boss chamber that once held Morpheel. Link must equip his Zora Armor and Iron Boots for this round. Zant summons giant models of his own mask and hides inside of them, emerging only to shoot at Link with magical energy. At this point, Link can grab him with the Clawshot and attack. At first, Zant uses only one model of his mask, but switches to four later on. At that point, Link`s best strategy is to wait between two of the masks, dodging Zant's attacks until he appears in a nearby mask, before going on the offensive.
For the fourth phase, Zant returns to the Forest Temple to emulate the battle with Ook. He jumps on top of wooden pillars and attacks Link. When he stands still, Link can roll into the pillar he is standing on. After two rolls (or one roll and a hit from the Gale Boomerang), Zant will fall off and get his helmet stuck in the ground, at which point Link can attack.
Once Link has done enough damage, the battle moves to the bedroom of Snowpeak Ruins, emulating the battle against Blizzeta. Zant grows to a massive size and attempts to crush Link, who must strike his ankle with the Ball and Chain. Once this is done, Zant rapidly shrinks to a tiny size and hops around, grabbing his injured ankle. Link can attack him with his sword until he once again becomes gigantic.
The final phase of the battle takes place in front of Hyrule Castle. Zant frantically attacks with twin blades and a devastating spin attack. He can also teleport around the arena. It takes many hits to defeat him, but after taking enough damage, Zant falls over and he, Link, and Midna return to the throne room of the Palace of Twilight.
As Midna regains the Fused Shadows Zant took from her, the fallen Twili, with his dying breath, tells them that his god, Ganondorf, has already been unleashed on Hyrule. He cackles that as long as Ganondorf lives, he will be reborn endlessly, but Midna is overcome by the power of the Fused Shadow and uses her hair, which splits into three giant spears, to impale Zant. Zant then inflates, flailing wildly, and bursts, leaving a Heart Container next to his throne.
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