Relative Size: Diababa’s main mouth can open a little larger than Link’s whole body.

Diababa is the parasite that has taken over the Forest Temple. The giant plant-like creature starts the battle with only two of its heads (resembling large Deku Babas) showing. The idea behind the battle is to launch a Bombling into the heads using the Gale Boomerang. The Bomblings are floating around on old logs in the same poisonous pool that Diababa is in. Once both heads have been taken care of, the real boss shows its ugly face, and more importantly, its weak-spot. The two buds and one giant head launch up, attacking Link with lunges and parasitic juices. The baboon of the temple (Ook, the mini-boss) will eventually show up carrying Bomblings to assist Link with the boss. Target the Bombling and Diababa’s main head with the Gale Boomerang, so that the Bombling will be forced down the boss’s throat. Timing needs to be perfect for that, as the Boomerang follows its targets, and will follow Ook until it gets the bomb. The head will drop in front of Link, leaving its tongue vulnerable to attack; go all out, don’t hold back. Two or three rounds against the main head will kill the parasite. Your reward is part one of the Fused Shadow.

Relative Size: Link is about as tall as one of Fyrus’s legs.

Darbus, the Goron patriarch, is being locked within the Goron Mines after acting out of the norm. Attached to his head is a twilit being that sets him ablaze and very irritable. The battle will start off with Link using the Bow, attacking the beam of light on Fyrus’ forehead. Once dazed, use the Iron Boots for footing and grab one of the chains attached to Fyrus to pull him down. Once down, attack the jewel in his forehead with your sword. Three rounds of this attack will kill Fyrus, awaken Darbus, and give Link the second piece of the Fused Shadow. You can also continue using arrows against Fyrus instead of the sword, it takes more time, but it will eventually bring him down. A warning: when Fyrus seems to be gathering energy, run behind one of the pillars in the room; he unleashes a large, flaming shockwave that’s impossible to guard against if standing out in the open.

Relative Size: Don’t be fooled by the image above; Morpheel’s mouth is large enough to suck in and swallow Link whole.

Morpheel resides in the depths of the Lakebed Temple. Donning both the Zora Armor and the Iron Boots, the first part of the battle takes place on the Temple floor underneath the water. Morpheel will be lodged in the floor waving tentacles toward Link, attempting to capture him and eat him up. Target the eye that is floating through the tentacles with the Clawshot, rip the eye from the body, and attack (and feel the wave of nostalgia if you’ve played Ocarina of Time). After the eye takes a beating, Morpheel will release some Bombfish from his mouth; running from them and spin attacking when they get close is a good strategy. Watch out: they explode a little while after they’ve been hit. After they’ve been taken care of, target the eye again.

Doing this a couple of times will cause Morpheel to launch from the floor and reveal its true self; an extremely large aquatic, mutant eel. Un-equip the Iron Boots and start swimming around the water, while targeting the eyeball on the giant eel’s back and pull yourself onto the beast. Dig your sword into the eye a couple of times and Morpheel will send you flying. Don’t swim in front of the mouth, though, it’ll pull Link in and do some damage. A couple rounds will kill Morpheel, drain the Temple, and give Link the third piece of the Fused Shadow.

Relative Size: Link can stand in its open jaws, and still have room to spare; it could swallow Link whole…if it could have.

Zant appears, speaks, and then creates a large, dark blade. At first, you think you’re going to fight him, but instead he will ruin Link’s fun when he awakens Stallord within the Arbiter’s Grounds by jamming the sword in the skull’s forehead. The fossil will be lodged in the sands of the boss chamber while Link rounds the edge on the Spinner. Launch yourself three times into the spine (while avoiding the Staltroop minions in the sand, as well as the spinning spikes on the Spinner track, which you can hear as they get close) to cause Stallord to seem deceased. Use the spinner to drain the sand from the arena and raise the center block into the air. The skull of Stallord will launch into the air, knocking Link to the floor of the arena. Use the Spinner to climb the center column and avoid the attacks of Stallord (and the spinning spikes) when you get close to the top of the arena. Jump into Stallord while on the spinner will send the Skull to the floor, where you can attack with your sword. Follow this attack for three rounds, while avoiding the spikes on the column, and Stallord will fall.

The Mirror Chamber will open to Link once he is fallen. Have fun riding the column and wall with the Spinner before you go!

Relative Size: One of those ice-spikes is significantly taller than Link.

Yeto’s wife, Yeta, will lead Link into the Snowpeak Ruin’s Master Bedroom to retrieve the Mirror Shard that Link seeks. While looking into the Mirror, Yeta will turn evil and start attacking Link as a giant ice mass. Using the Ball and Chain, Link can cut the mass in the first round of the battle, while avoiding the mass as it slides around the room. Once down, Blizzeta will enter a giant ice block and fly above the arena. Smaller ice spikes will start spinning around her and will make Link their prime target. The view will turn overhead, so avoid the shadows of the spikes as you move across the arena by watching the reflections in the frozen floor. Once all the spikes have been dropped, they will rise again and form a circle around Blizzeta. (Tip from ZU: Try to knock some of spikes out with the Ball and Chain before they rise) The circle of ice spikes will fly around the arena and stop, allowing Link time to be in the center of the circle. Once the spikes are in the ground, find or make an opening before Blizzeta drops down. When Blizzeta drops, hit her with the Ball and Chain. She will then rise again and replenish all the ice spikes that were broken by Link. Repeat this for two more rounds to defeat the Ice Mass and gain another piece of the Twilight Mirror.

Relative Size: Link is a little taller than the eye on its back, but the overall spider is huge.

Armogohma is yet another reincarnation of Gohma. This time, there is a twist on how to defeat her. The battle will begin with Armogohma on the ceiling waiting for Link to notice her. Once you do, pull out your Bow and Arrows. Watch the spider’s eye and wait for it to open. Once her eye opens, it will wither shoot a laser down towards Link, or await Link’s arrow through the eye. The laser will follow Link with every intention to singe Link’s backside. Avoid it by rolling and moving away from it. Once you get the chance, shoot an arrow into the open eye of the spider. Armogohma will drop to the ground in front of one of the four statues in each corner of the room. Run to the statue she is in front of, pull out the Dominion Rod, take control of the statue, and use it to have the statue’s giant hand crush the spider. Once hit, Armogohma will run back to the ceiling and drop her eggs on Link, hatching the small spiders you saw throughout the Temple. Take out all the small spiders while avoiding Gohma’s laser eye. Shoot an arrow at the eye and use the statue to crush the spider two more times and the spider will explode. However, the match is not over. You must kill the spider’s eye that is hiding in the mist of smaller spiders to gain access to the piece of the Twilight Mirror. Have fun doing that!

Relative Size: Argorok is huge! But quite smaller than Morpheel.

Argorok has to be one the best boss battles in Zelda history. You start the battle on the top of the City in the Sky. You’ll need to grapple on of the pillar and grapple to the vines to even get to the boss arena.

Argorok will fly to the arena and will stay in the sky for most of the battle. Before you start, make sure you have the Iron Boots and Double Clawshot out to battle the dragon. There are two ways to battle the dragon in the first part of the battle. The first is to stay on the arena with the Iron Boots equipped to counteract the wind created by the wings of the dragon. Once Argorok starts hovering underneath Link, target the tail and shoot it with the Clawshot. Make sure you have the Iron Boots still on, as they will cause the armor of the dragon to break off. The other way to battle is the cheaper way. Grapple to a pillar on the side of the arena and wait for Argorok to come close before targetting the tail and grappling to it.

Either way is effective. The armor will break off after three grapples. After the jewel on the back of the dragon is exposed, the rain will fall and flying plants (Peahats) will emerge and rise into the sky, Argorok will as well. Follow him up by grappling from pillar to pillar using the Clawshot. Once at the top, grapple to a plant and start locking onto to plants and start moving from plant to plant. The dragon will start to breathe fire toward Link and rotate in the semi-circle. Make sure you are going in the opposite direction of the fire (if it means stopping and turning around), because getting hit by the fire will send Link back to the ground, causing the Link to have to climb back up.

Once you get around to the opposite side of Argorok, stop, and target the jewel on the back of Argorok with the clawshot to attach yourself to the back of Argorok. You have to do this manually, as Z-targeting will just lock you on to the nearest Peahat. Just like with Morpheel, stick your sword in the back of the dragon a few times, which will cause the dragon to fall to the ground, bringing Link with him. Climb back up and repeat the process two more times. The only thing to watch out for is the third round will have Argorok tricking Link, by changing his fire pattern halfway through the round. Make sure you are not on autopilot and switch directions to counteract the fire.

After Argorok falls, the Twilight Mirror will be restored.

Relative Size: His cone shaped helmet makes him look slightly taller than Link. However, Zant’s size varies as he shapeshifts.

Zant is one of most drawn out battles in the history of battles. You will start at the Palace of Twilight, but end up at Hyrule Castle, making six stops around Hyrule. This is how you defeat the Usurper King:

Stage One (Forest Temple) - Zant will warp you both to the boss room of the Forest Temple. Zant will hover where Diababa once was. He will begin to fire bursts of energy at you, which all you can do it block. Equip the Gale Boomerang, target Zant, and send the boomerang flying. Zant will be knocked out of the air and he’ll fall into the pool. The King will then move to land as fast (and as comedic) as possibly. Beat some sense into with your Light Sword. After a few hits, you’ll warp again.

Stage Two (Goron Mines) - The second battle takes place in the mini-boss room of the Goron Mines. Equip your Iron Boots and attach yourself to the disc that hovers above the lava. Zant will warp around the arena, firing at you or shaking the arena, trying to knock you into the lava. When the disc is rocking, have the Iron Boots on. With Zant is on the disc and it’s not rocking, un-equip the boots and make your way toward him. When he stops because of exhaustion, hit him again with the Light Sword. When he’s finished here, you warp again.

Stage Three (Lakebed Temple) – The third battle is in the boss chamber of Lakebed Temple. Equip the Zora Armor and Iron Boots right away to keep up with Zant. The Clawshot will also be of use. A giant replica of Zant’s helmet will appear before you. There is door that will open, where Zant will be hiding. When the door opens, Zant will fire at you. Avoid the shots, target Zant, and reel him in with the Clawshot. The helmet will retract into the ground, which will cause helmets to appear around the arena. Find the one that houses Zant, reel him in and slice him with the sword. A few knocks with the Light Sword and it’s off again.

Stage Four (Forest Temple) – Once again it will be back to the Forest Temple, this time in the mini-boss room. Use the same strategy as the Baboon fight to win this battle. Avoid his shots, knock into the pole he’s standing on twice, and dig your Light Sword into him a few times. After a few hits, you’ll warp again. Two more stops left; tired yet?

Stage Five (Snowpeak Ruins) – The Master Bedroom of the Snowpeak Ruins is stop number five. Equip the Ball and Chain and watch the shadows. Zant has grown into a giant that wants to squash Link flat. Avoid the Giant by watching the reflection. When he drops, hit his foot with the Ball and Chain and he’ll shrink to miniature form. Repeat this one more time, slice him with the Light Sword and it’s off to the last stop.

Stage Six (Hyrule Castle) – The final showdown takes place in front of the barricaded Hyrule Castle, in the confines of a magic barrier. Finally, a one-on-one swordfight. Zant will try to knock you into the barrier, but you’re more nimble than that. Zant’s will attack three different ways. The first will be him running around the arena trying to attack you. This is the easiest of the three. Slice at him with the Light Sword and he will start attack number two. He will start teleporting and spinning like a top, on a crash course with Link. Use the shield to block the attack, but avoid hitting the barrier. Zant will become to dizzy during his top phase, which will be your cue to attack. Phase three is the hardest of them all. Zant will run at you with everything he has. He will swing both his swords at you in high speed and try to knock you into the barrier. Block with the shield and avoid the barrier. Make sure you attack him when you get a chance, either when he’s dizzy from the top spin or just when he’s not moving. Enough hits will drop the Usurper King for good.

Relative Size: As tall as Link.

The first phase of Ganondorf will start as you facing Zelda. Ganondorf will overtake her body and hover above the arena trying to hit you with one of three attacks. The first will be a diving sword attack, which is easily blocked with the shield or dodged. The second is a large field in the shape of a Triforce piece that will light up under Link and zap his hearts; running or rolling out the field is how to avoid this one. The last is a Zelda classic; the energy ball. Reflect the energy ball back at Zelda (by swinging your sword) and she will reflect it back. Keep reflecting it back until you get the better of her and she gets hit. Three rounds will cause Ganondorf to release her from his clutches. It’s on to round two.

Relative Size: He can crush Link with one of his legs.

Ganondorf will take the shape once again of a giant pig like creature. He will attack in two phases, both you need to avoid his charges. The first will have him charge around the arena warping out through a portal. He will then warp back in, charging at Link. Avoid him, but whip out the Bow and Arrow and take aim as he stands still. He will charge and his forehead will glow white. Target the forehead, let an arrow fly, and the beast will topple. Avoid the beast and then attack the underbelly where that huge white scar is. After two or three times of this, transform into the wolf for the next phase. Ganon will warp out like before, but he won’t line up enough for you to hit him with the arrow. When he gets lined up with Wolf Link, Midna will send her phantom hand up. That’s your cue to hit the A button, stop the beast, and send Ganon flying to the side. Either attack Ganon as a Wolf or knock some sword shots into his belly. A few more rounds like this will topple the beast and bring him back to human form for the final showdown.

Relative Size: Significantly larger and taller than Link.

The first part of the battle is on horseback. Link and Zelda will both mount Epona. Link will steer, Zelda will aim her Light Arrows at Ganondorf. Run after him. All you need to do is target him and Zelda will take aim at the Dark Lord. Once hit, Link can attack him with his sword (a spin attack doing the trick easier than a normal one). Ganondorf, however, will try to stop Link from doing so. He will either try to knock Link directly off his horse with a charge or send energy beams that will turn into phantom riders, which will also knock Link off the horse. Avoid his attacks, get into range, let Zelda score an arrow, and slash away with the sword. A few rounds will knock Ganondorf of his horse and the final battle starts.
The final battle is sword fight between the two. Ganondorf will come after Link with his sword. There are few attacks he will attempt on Link. There is a lunge that will knock Link off his feet. Something that should be noted, Ganondorf’s attacks are two-pronged, he always strikes twice; first to damage your defense, second, to hit you when you’re open. Blocking is useless, dodging is better. Sometimes he will warp behind you and spin attack as well. If he warps, just run away to avoid it. The easiest way to defeat Ganondorf would be to wait for him to come at you and let the word “chance” appear on screen. This will engage the two in a test of strength (which is a button masher of the A button), which if Link wins will leave your opponent dazed enough to attack. Or, if you prefer a drawn out battle, you can go all out using all your attacks and skills against him.

The battle will take a while, but Link will finally be the better of the two, sticking his sword deep within Ganondorf, finally defeating the Dark Lord for one more game, at least.

Take a deep breath, a sigh of relief. Give your hand a well-needed rest. The fight is over; congratulations!