Zant (Total War)



King Zant in is the son of the Twili King Mizorant and the heir to his Dynasty of Mizorant.

Physical Characteristics
Zant is a male Twili with dark red hair and luminescent red-amber eyes. Like other male Twili, his nose narrows at its base rather than flaring, and his index and ring fingers are notably elongated. Zant's mouth has the unique feature of splitting at meeting point of his lips when he talks. Like many Twili, Zant adorns his body with tattoos, most prominently on his nose. After acquiring the service of Veran and her Shadow Beasts, he often hides his face under his iconic Helmet.

Personality
Zant presents himself with a mask of calmness, control and ruthlessness, always maintaining an upright posture, speaking in a cold, sinister voice and willing to do anything without any remorse. However, it is later revealed this personality was a façade, underneath which is an egotistic, psychotic madman, prone of raving like a lunatic, hopping up and down, throwing tantrums and pulling underwear in a manner similar to that of a child.

History


The Realm of Twilight
Being the only son of King Mizorant, Zant is raised to be his father's successor. Shortly after his father's ascension to the throne, Zant encounters the lowborn girl Midna and stops his voracious pet, the Shadow Bloat Olg from eating her. He then invites her to the Palace of Twilight and gives her a room. Midna tells him that she, being a commoner, doesn't belong in the palace and isn't a suitable woman for the Prince, but he assures that none of that will matter when he becomes King, going so far as to offer to adopt her into the royal family. Zant then overhears his father discussing with the butler, who both disapprove of his new relationship with Midna.

Zant's behaviour with Midna becomes increasingly immature and insane, to the point that she becomes fed up with him and his 'games'. When King Mizorant discovers Zant bullying Midna, he scolds him for being an incompetent heir and behaving like a little child. Mizorant then introduces one of his secret Parella associates to Zant and reveals his plan: with the Parella's help, he's going to get rid of the three Great Fairies: Veran, Morsheen and Una, who have been pulling the strings of all Twili Kings before him; and then conquer Hyrule while leaving Zant behind to rule his empire in his stead. At the end, Mizorant gives Zant an ultimatum: to continue being a child with Midna, or to become a man and a King like his father.

When King Mizorant rejects the three Great Fairies' influence and banishes them from his palace, they have his armies disbanded against his will and assassinate him in the Palace of Twilight, then cast Zant aside in favour of Midna. Being denied the throne, Zant's love for Midna is eventually replaced by envy for what his father promised him. In secret, Zant consults his father's Parella associates and forms an army from Mizorant's personal guards. Knowing that this army can't be enough to usurp the throne, Zant travels to the prison of Valran to free Lady Middee, head of the Bonemold Monks who was abandoned and imprisoned by Midna. Following Middee's advice, he then heads to Elmenzhia, the throne of Una and overcomes her army of Twili Sorceresses. After Zant's forces take Una captive, Veran teleports in and invites him and his forces to the church of Uzu, making it clear that his army can't defeat hers there. Zant knowingly marches into the trap, with the belief that he can overcome and subjugate Veran.

Despite being backed up by a group of Majora's spawn, Veran at the end still loses to Zant, though she refuses to bend the knee for him. Zant slices her kneecap, forcing her to kneel, then tells her of his plan to return to and conquer Hyrule, at which point Veran gladly accepts to help him. His army of loyal personal guards now warped into hideous abominations called Shadow Messengers by Veran's magic, Zant marches upon the Palace of Twilight to forcibly remove Midna from the throne. Upon his victory, Zant confronts a surprised Midna in the throne room, accusing her of casting him away after taking his birthright. Midna tells him that he could have become King by her side, but he left him alone because of envy for the throne. Furious at Midna but unable to kill her, Zant forces her to don Veran's mask, turning her into an Imp. The Realm of Twilight now his, Zant provides the necessary resources for his Parella associates to build a new Mirror of Twilight to conquer Hyrule.

The Gerudo Wars
With the Mirrors completed, Zant, Veran, General Onox, the Twili and the Parella march into Hyrule. There they are greeted by Princess Sokuuf, a servant of the Parella, who tells them she has installed a mole in the Zora Dominion nearby, while the Parella reveals her plan with Onox: when the Twili and Parella are fighting the Zora defenders, he'll carry a bottle of poison upstream and pour into the Zora River, poisoning the main water source of Hyrule to make further invasions easier for Zant. Zant berates the Parella for not telling him of this plan earlier, while Veran reminds him to recognise when he's being used.

Onox's mission proves to be a failure, though - under Domain Prime he was confronted and killed in a duel by Princess Ruto. At this point, Domain Prime comes down collapsing over the Zora and the Twili, while the Parella's River Zora minions have left and abandoned them during the battle. It is revealed that the River Zora have been taking advantage of the Zora being occupied by the battle and by Onox to plant numerous Sols all around the Zora's Domain, and with Onox dead they detonated all of them to destroy their ancient enemies, without concern for their allies. Zant manages to escape the crumbling Domain and orders a retreat for the Mirrors of Twilight, though Veran refuses to leave without Onox and is stranded on Hyrule after the Mirrors are closed.

Realising the Parella only used him to escape into Hyrule, Zant returns to rule over the Realm of Twilight and rebuild his empire.

Apocrypha
Zant is mentioned clearly as having taken part in the conquest of Labrynna. Following Veran's exile into Hyrule during the Gerudo Wars, a Mirror of Twilight was apparently constructed in the Black Tower, and used to summon Zant's armies to turn the tide of Lynna's siege. Zant, now a married man, was much more competent than during his previous invasion, but the relations between Twili and Labrynnians were shaky at best, with Labrynnian citizens regarding their allies as more of an occupation force. During this time, Zant allegedly came into contact with Ganondorf.

It is known Zant traveled with Veran north, possibly into Tarm Woods, but given that Veran's forces were eventually exterminated at Tarm Ruins, the manner (and veracity) of his following escape back into the Realm of Twilight are unclear.

Despite Veran's death, Zant's newfound connections in Hyrule would earn him an important role in the western coalition. A few years after the war, Ganondorf would repair the Mirror of Twilight at Arbiter's grounds, sealing an alliance. While no particular part of Hyrule was ceded to the Twili, they would provide logistics and ferrying with their Mirrors before being driven back into the Realm of Twilight following the alliance's defeat.

Zant would continue to rule the Realm of Twilight until his deposition, though the manner of said deposition is quite unclear and ultimately unrecorded.