Ghirahim

"Still... it hardly seems fair, being of my position, to take all my anger out on you. Which is why I promise up front not to murder you... No, I'll just beat you within an inch of your life!"

- Ghirahim to Link before their first battle.

Ghirahim is the secondary antagonist of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. He is an immensely powerful Demon Lord born from Demise's sword. He aims to capture Zelda, the reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, and use her to free his master, Demise the Demon King.

Appearance
Ghirahim is a tall, slender humanoid with pale, greyish blue skin and white hair, which form a lock hiding half of his face. He wears a white jumpsuit with diamond-shaped cutouts all over, white gloves, a golden belt adorned with a red gem, a red, forked cloak with yellow diamond motifs and a blue diamond earring on his right ear.

When Ghirahim unleashes his full power, he becomes much taller and his scrawny frame becomes a lot more muscular; his skin becomes metallic and reddish-black with white lines covering his body, and his eyes become glowing and pupiless. Under this aspect, he looks similar to Link's sword spirit Fi, fitting his nature as Fi's evil counterpart.

After his last defeat, it is revealed that he is in fact of Fi's species: Demise's sword given life. His sword form looks similar to the Master Sword, only black, spiky and a lot bigger, with the Triforce motif pointing downwards.

Skyward Sword
Ghirahim encounters Link several times throughout the latter's travels as he tries to rescue Zelda. In the beginning of the game, as Link and Zelda are riding Link's giant bird, Ghirahim conjures a tornado to make them fall to the surface. He later comes to the Skyview Temple where Zelda is to capture her, but she is taken away by Impa. Ghirahim encounters Link and decides to pummel him to calm his anger, but he ends up defeated. (It must be noted that Ghirahim held back in this battle.)

In the Earth Temple, Ghirahim creates the monster Scaldera, whom Link destroys. In the Ancient Cistern, he animates the gold statue Koloktos, who is also defeated by Link. Ghirahim eventually catches up with Zelda and Impa in the Temple of Time, where he attacks them relentlessly. Fortunately, Link's interruption allows them to escape to another era through the Gate of Time, which Impa destroys to prevent the Demon Lord from following them.

Ghirahim later goes to the Fire Sanctuary, where he finds about a second Gate of Time. When Link arrives, Ghirahim offers to let him go in exchange of the location of the Gate of Time but Link refuses. The two do battle and despite fighting much more seriously, Ghirahim is once again defeated.

After Link makes his wish with the Triforce to destroy Demise, Ghirahim barges in and takes down Link and Zelda with a pillar of energy. He makes quick work of Link's friend Groose and Impa, kidnaps Zelda and take her into the past (where Demise is still alive) through the Gate of Time. There, he performs a ritual to use her soul to release Demise from his imprisonment in the Sealed Grounds.

Link follows Ghirahim into the past and battles his way through the hordes of monsters sent by the Demon Lord to buy him time. (Ghirahim knows full well that his minions stand no chance but could not care any less.) Enraged by Link's meddling, Ghirahim fights Link at full power but ends up defeated for the third time. Alas, the battle took enough time for the ritual to be finished, and Demise is reborn. Once his full power is restored, Demise transforms Ghirahim back into a sword; with Ghirahim laughing maniacally all the while, hinting that this is what the Demon Lord wanted all along. After Link defeats Demise, the sword dissolves into nothingness, presumably killing Ghirahim.

Hyrule Warriors
Ghirahim appears as an antagonist in Hyrule Warriors. He is summoned from the Skyward Sword era by the Black Witch Cia via the Gate of Souls, and he forms an alliance with Cia's vicious subordinate Volga. Together, Ghirahim and Volga plot an attack on Skyloft, releasing armies of vicious enemies to hinder Link and his companions from reaching the Gate of Souls and deactivating it.

Both Ghirahim and Volga are temporarily defeated, but Ghirahim manages to escape to the Sealed Grounds where he personally protects the Gate of Souls. As Link and his followers arrive, Ghirahim summons The Imprisoned to destroy them, though The Imprisoned is destroyed instead. As a last resort, Ghirahim fights Link once more but ends up being smashed through the Gate of Souls and sealed away.

Following Cia's death, Ghirahim is revived by Ganondorf and employed to serve him during his quest to obtain the Triforce (along with Zant). Ghirahim and Zant command Ganondorf's forces in the Gerudo Desert, but they are both defeated once again and finally destroyed.

Ghirahim is also a playable character, unlockable in Adventure Mode. He is very fast and fights with the rapiers and the flying daggers he uses during the boss battles against him. He can also cause platforms of energy to rise under his foes' feet before exploding; create barrier of dark energy around his foes to blast them with dark energy; summon monsters; create an onslaught of daggers and swords from all direction; assume his final form to increase his might; and even assume his sword form and attack as if wielded by an invisible hand.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U
Ghirahim appears as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U.

Personality
At first glance, Ghirahim appears to be calm and collected, although very flamboyant: He acts with grandiose gestures and over-the-top theatrics, he likes to dance and hum (his own theme tune) when happy, and he displays the disturbing habit of coming too close to people and invade their personal space, in order to toy with them or intimidate them. He is very conceited, holding himself in high regards and frequently reminding other of his high position of authority, which he describes as the reason behind his dignified manners and his "mercy" towards Link. He also exhibits strong traits of narcissism, evident when he speaks about his "wonderful body".

Ghirahim acts in a polite, dignified and well-mannered way. However, this calm exterior is a facade he keeps to hide his violent and sadistic temper. To his core, Ghirahim enjoys bloodshed: as seen when he constantly licks his lips when facing the prospect of violence, when he licks his foe's blood off his blade, or when he relishes in his foes' torment. Ghirahim's mood can snap from collected and playful to angry and violent at the drop of a hat.

He is very easily angered and lashes his wrath with much emphasis, yet he most often keeps it at bay in favour of his refined facade. During their first encounters, he acts rather friendly (albeit in a creepy way) towards Link, but the more Link meddles with his goals, the more irked he gets, becoming increasingly furious each times he sees him, promising him gory punishment which he describes with much details.

Finally, Ghirahim is very haughty and arrogant, feeling outraged that a mere human could best him at every fight, no matter how violents his efforts to take him down are. He refuses to acknowledge the hero's worth to the very end, claiming this is all because of his sword.

Powers and abilities
Ghirahim is an exceptionally powerful and dangerous fighter, with immense speed, spryness, strength, and skills with weapons or hand-to-hand combat. Being a living weapon made to kill, this hardly comes as a surpise. Being a sword himself, he is a master swordsman able to wield different types of swords with perfect mastery, to telegraph sword strikes precisely, or to catch his foe's blade with little effort and to pry it from his foe's hand.

He mostly fights with rapiers and short-swords, either one of them or both, but can use a big claymore in serious fights. The more he reveals his true form, the mightier he becomes. Under his true form, his steel-like skin makes his limbs like weapons.

Ghirahim possesses immense powers, and displays extensive knowledge of magic and rituals. He is able to conjure objects out of thin air, to animate things, to teleport, to perform telekynesis, to summon monsters, to control the weather, to conjure a giant tornado, to sense people's presence, to raise barriers of energy, and so on and so forth.

In battle, he can conjure diamond-shaped daggers that float in formation around him and are hurled toward his foes when he snaps his fingers. He can also send pillars of energy crash on the ground and infuse his hands with purple energy to increase the might of his blows.

Trivia

 * In Ghirahim's first two forms, his right ear is pointed, whereas his left ear is round. However, in his final form, both ears are pointed. It is likely that the designers shortened his ear in the first forms to make animating his hair easier.
 * Ghirahim acts as the counterpart of Fi,as they are both the humanoid forms of swords. Ghirahim's weapon form resembles a dark version of the Master Sword. In addition, Fi is generally regarded as calculating and emotionless, while Ghirahim is very open and dramatic about his emotions.
 * When seen beginning the ritual to revive his master, Ghirahim can be heard humming his own theme music.