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 central antagonist of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. He is an immensely powerful Demon Lord who aims to capture Zelda, the reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, and use her to free his master, the Demon King Demise.

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 holes 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, his scrawny frame becomes a lot more muscular, his skin becomes metallic and reddish-black with white lines covering his body, and his eyes are glowing and pupiless, making him look like a dark counterpart to Link's sword spirit Fi.

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.

Personality
At first glance, Ghirahim appears to be calm, collected, although very flamboyant. He appears to be quite arrogant, 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 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 and his blade when facing the prospect of violence. It is believed that whenever he damages Link he licks the blood off his sword. Ghirahim is very easily angered and lashes his wrath with much emphasis, yet he keeps it at bay in favour of his refined facade. During their first encounters, he acts rather politely (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 increasingly gory punishment which he describes with much details.

Finally, he 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.

In Game
Ghirahim encounters Link several times throughout the latter's travels as he tries to rescue Zelda, whom Ghirahim attempted to capture with a tornado. In the Skyview Temple, Ghirahim fights Link, but is defeated. In the Earth Temple, Ghirahim creates the monster Scaldera, whom Link destroys. In the Ancient Cistern, he corrupts the gold statue, Koloktos, who is also defeated by Link. Ghirahim fights Link again in the Fire Sanctuary but is defeated.

After Link makes his wish with the Triforce and destroys Demise, Ghirahim takes Zelda into the past and performs a ritual to use her soul to release Demise from his imprisonment in the Sealed Grounds. Link battles his way through the remnants of Ghirahim's minions and defeats him in a duel, however, the ritual is able to be finished, and Demise is awakened. Once his full power is restored, Demise transforms Ghirahim back into a sword. After Link defeats Demise, the sword dissolves into nothingness.