“ | The people of our tribe... a tribe that mastered the arts of magic... were locked away in this world like insects in a cage. In the shadows we regressed, so much so that we soon knew neither anger nor hatred... nor even the faintest bloom of desire. And all of it was the fault of a useless, do-nothing royal family that had resigned itself to this miserable half-existence! I had served and endured in that depraved household for far too long, my impudent princess. And why, you ask? Because I believed that I would be the next to rule our people! THAT is why! But would they acknowledge me as their king? No! And as such, I was denied the magic powers befitting our ruler. It was then, in the thrall of hatred and despair, that I turned my eyes to the heavens...and found a god. My god had only one wish... To merge shadow and light... and make darkness! | „ |
~ Zant's infamous breakdown |
“ | Traitors, ha! Do you want to know why nobody would call you king? It was your eyes, Zant. All saw it, a lust for power burning in your pupils... Did you think we'd forget our ancestors lost their king to such greed? | „ |
~ Midna to Zant after his defeat |
Zant, also known as the Usurper King, is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Ganondorf) of the 2006 action-adventure video game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
He is the self-proclaimed King of Twilight, although Midna claims he is the King of Shadows. He is a scourge and enemy of Twili who usurps the throne of the Twilight Realm from Midna before the events of Twilight Princess. He is an extremely powerful sorcerer, Ganondorf's subordinate in the Light World and Midna's arch-nemesis.
He was voiced by Junji Kitajima in Twilight Princess and Masashi Tamaki in the Hyrule Warriors.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
Background/In General[]
- After gaining his powers from Ganondorf, he uses them to usurp the throne from Midna and curses her to be a helpless imp.
- After usurping the throne, he turns most of the innocent Twili into Shadow Beasts, thus forcing them to obey all of his commands like slaves. This also results in Link and Midna being forced to kill dozens of them in self-defense, making him indirectly responsible for their deaths.
- Only valued Ganondorf as a source of power and not out of any loyalty, even seemingly delivering the final blow from beyond the grave as payback for the latter refusing to revive him.
- Even his supposed tragic backstory does not hold up for 2 reasons:
- His ancestors were indeed banished to the Twilight Realm, but it doesn’t qualify as oppression like he claims it does because the interlopers were banished for abusing magic, making it nothing more than an attempt to excuse his tyranny.
- When he was rejected from the throne, he reacts with an asinine childish tantrum over it, but this completely falls apart when Midna reveals that the reason no one would call him king was because everyone else could see his lust for power burning in his eyes. So contrary to how he makes it sound, he was not unfairly passed over and unappreciated, but rather, he was rejected from the throne because it was clear to everyone that he was insane, power-hungry, and never fit for it to begin with. This proves that even before he met Ganondorf, Zant was already evil and had malicious intentions, (only being able to act on them after obtaining part of his power) disproving any notion that he was brainwashed into being evil.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess[]
- Invaded Hyrule and threatened to kill all of Princess Zelda's subjects if she did not surrender.
- Once Zelda surrenders, he turns innocent Hylians into immobile spirits of light, rendering them from ever being able to fight back and having to passively accept their fate as prisoners.
- Ordered the Shadow Beasts to execute Queen Rutela, the Queen of the Zoras, and then proceeded to freeze their domain over, trapping many of them under water, just to set a point to anyone who might try to oppose him.
- After stealing the Fused Shadows, he exposes Midna to the Light Spirit Lanayru when she refused to lend him her power and join him, with the full intention of killing her.
- Uses a Shadow Crystal to trap Link in his Wolf form permanently, even outside of Twilight, only failing due to the latter learning about the existence of the Master Sword.
- He splits the Mirror of Twilight into four shards and sends three away.
- This also makes him indirectly responsible for the Snowpeak Ruins being invaded by monsters, and Yeta's transformation into Blizzeta.
- When he's finally defeated, he does not show a shred of remorse for his actions. Instead, he just taunts Midna about how she'll never be able to break her curse as long as Ganondorf is alive.
External Links[]
- Zant on the Villains Wiki
- Zant on the VS Battles Wiki
- Zant on the Zelda Wiki
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Pure Evils | ||
Games Manga Adaptations Fanon See Also |