| NOTE: This page is only about his timeline trinity selves involving Fallen, Adult and Child timeline. |
| “ | Pathetic little fool! Do you realize who you are dealing with!? I am Ganondorf! And soon, I will rule this world! | „ |
| ~ Ganondorf taunting Link in Ocarina of Time. |
| “ | It's been a while, boy. You have done well to sneak into my fortress and wriggle you way all the way up here. I suppose the least I can do is commend you for your reckless courage. My name is Ganondorf… And I am the master of the Forsaken Fortress. | „ |
| ~ Ganondorf revealing himself to Link in The Wind Waker. |
| “ | His name is… Ganondorf. He was the leader of a band of thieves who invaded Hyrule in the hopes of establishing dominion over the Sacred Realm. He was known as a demon thief, an evil magic-user renowned for his ruthlessness… | „ |
| ~ The Sages explaining Ganondorf's backstory in Twilight Princess. |
Ganondorf Dragmire (also known simply as Ganon in his demon form) is the main antagonist of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda franchise.
He is primarily the ruler of the Gerudo, holder of the Triforce of Power, and arch-nemesis of both Link and Princess Zelda. He is also the reincarnation of the original Demon King, Demise, who cursed himself and his foes with eternal reincarnation, thus dooming him to villainy.
In all timelines, he was once the Gerudo leader known as the King of Thieves, before coming into possession of the Triforce of Power, one of three pieces of the Triforce able to grant the user's wishes. Ganondorf constantly attempts to steal the Triforce pieces of Wisdom and Courage, held by Zelda and Link, to obtain the power of the Golden Goddesses and take over the Kingdom of Hyrule.
He has been voiced by the late Seizō Katō in The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets, Takashi Nagasako (who also voiced Tengu Man) in all appearances from Ocarina of Time to Four Swords Adventures (alongside Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), Hironori Miyata in Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros 4 and Taiten Kusunoki in Hyrule Warriors.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
In General[]
- Despite being affected by Demise's curse, he still has a clear moral agency as he had redeeming qualities, most blatantly honor. In the adult timeline, he seeks to amend for the damage he brought to Hyrule and even shows restraint in killing Link and Tetra. This proves that he isn't a complete slave to the curse.
- It also wouldn't matter how his Ganon form corrupts him, even in the circumstances of what happened in the Fallen Timeline, as he brought his own corruption to himself, as shown with what happened to his skin in comparison to most of the Gerudo people.
- For how he turned out to be in the Fallen Timeline, any honorable redeeming quality he had is absent, only bloodlust with his ambition for more power, and his sympathy no longer has its presentation.
Unified Timeline[]
Ocarina of Time[]
- When denied the Spiritual Stones, he blocks off Dodongo's cavern and infects The Deku Tree and Lord Jabu-Jabu with Gohma and Barinade, respectively, causing the former's death.
- He fakes fealty to the King of Hyrule.
- When Link obtains the Master Sword, he enters the Sacred Realm, steals the Triforce of Power, and destroys Hyrule Castle Town, forcing its residents to move to Kakariko Village.
- He sics Phantom Ganon against Link in the Forest Temple.
- He revives Volvagia and threatens to feed the Gorons to it to set a point to anyone who might oppose him.
- He likely infected the Water Temple with Morpha, causing Zora's Domain to freeze.
- He revives Bongo Bongo and allows it to retreat to the Shadow Temple, causing parts of Kakariko Village to catch fire.
- He kidnaps Zelda and challenges Link to rescue her.
- After being defeated by Link, he attempts to kill him and Zelda by destroying his castle, giving the pair 3 minutes to escape.
- When they successfully escape, he transforms into Ganon in one final attempt to kill Link.
Fallen Timeline[]
A Link To The Past[]
- In the backstory of the game, Ganon killed all of his followers and turned the heavenly Sacred Realm into the hellish Dark World.
- Ganon lured greedy Hylians into the Dark Realm where they'd be turned into monsters and enlisted in his army of monsters.
- He disguises himself as Agahnim and gets into the King's good grace after solving various disasters.
- Whilst not stated directly, its very possible Ganon caused those disasters himself.
- As Agahnim, Ganon subsequently kills the King, brainwashes all the guards that refused to follow, and imprisons Princess Zelda.
- When Link rescues Zelda, Agahnim frames him for kidnapping Princess Zelda and sends the brainwashed soldiers to kill him.
- He berates Link for defeating his alter-ego twice, and attempts to kill him.
Original Duology[]
- Plunged the world into fear and darkness.
- Tried to get all eight pieces of the Triforce.
- Kidnapped Zelda.
- Attempted to kill Link.
- He was about to be resurrected and repeat his goals again.
Adult Timeline[]
The Wind Waker[]
- In the game's prologue, it is shown that he invaded Hyrule and attempted to take the Triforce. Since no hero appeared to stop him, this forced the gods to flood Hyrule to stop his rampage.
- Sends the Helmaroc King to kidnap various girls with pointed ears in the hopes of finding the Triforce of Wisdom.
- Kills Laruto and Fado with Jallhalla and Molgera respectively to drain the Master Sword of its power.
- He later brags to Link about having done it before attempting to kill him, only failing due to Tetra's intervention.
- Kidnaps Tetra when Link attempts to reunite with her and sics 2 Mighty Darknuts on him.
- Punches Link and knocks him out and later attempts to kill him and Tetra.
- He sends Phantom Ganon after Link in the Forsaken Fortress, and later in a maze in his tower.
- When Link confronts him in his tower, he sics Puppet Ganon against him, and later attempts to kill him and Tetra out of spite when King Daphnes wishes for them to have a future.
Child Timeline[]
Twilight Princess[]
- Murders the Sage of Water in cold blood after his failed execution.
- After being banished to the Twilight Realm, he grants Zant a portion of his power in exchange for helping him escape.
- Although Zant was already evil, he wouldn't have been able to do most of the things he did without said power. This makes Ganondorf indirectly responsible for all the events Zant had caused.
- Unlike the Adult timeline, Ganondorf has no respect for Link or Zelda, as he possesses Zelda’s body and tells Link he has a fine blade but nothing more.
- When Link and Midna confront him in Hyrule Castle, he mocks the Twili and takes over Zelda's body before fighting Link. When this turns out to be no match for Link, he turns into Ganon and later fights him on horseback and then on foot.
- When Midna tries to use the power of the Fused Shadows to defeat him, Ganondorf kills her and tauntingly holds her helmet up in front of Link and Zelda before crushing it.
- After being fatally stabbed by Link, Ganondorf still refuses to accept his death with dignity, and vows that the history of light and dark shall be written in blood.
Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]
- His main goals amount to mass murders, taking over the world and ruling it with an iron fist (which is very common in the franchise), meaning he fails the heinous standards to Malladus in the Adult Timeline, Majora in the Child Timeline, and Yuga in the Fallen Timeline, who all did worse than him by attempting to commit omnicide with similar or less resources.
- Ganondorf's resources don't help anything, as he has access to the Triforce of Power, which is one of the most powerful artifacts in the entire Zelda universe and in A Link to the Past and The Wind Waker, had the complete Triforce.
- In the Child Timeline, he suffers from Fridge Horror as the residents of Hyrule seem to be perfectly fine under his reign.
- He genuinely respects Link's courage in the Adult timeline, calling him "the hero of time, reborn".
- In the Adult timeline, he is shown to be more honorable and sympathetic.
- He spares Link's life when the boy is brought to him by the Helmaroc King in a genuine act of mercy, and commends him for his courage after Link defeats his minion.
- He refrains from killing Tetra, only resorting to slapping her and knocking her out.
- He has a genuine tragic backstory as he had spent a lot of his life suffering in the harsh Gerudo Desert.
- He goes out of his way to replenish Link's health and magic just before their battle out of no pragmatic reason.
- He does care for his people, as he became jealous of the green fields of Hyrule and wanted a better life for them and himself, and tragically, had it not been for Demise's curse, this very likely would have remained as well-intentioned envy. It's also worth noting that even in this timeline, the Gerudo are not shown suffering.
- After punching Link, he assures the boy that he won't kill him and just needs the Triforce of Courage, and even attempts to free himself from the cycle that binds him, Link, and Zelda together.
- His death is portrayed sympathetically, as he smiles and says the wind is blowing before closing his eyes and turning to stone.
- In the Fallen Timeline, starting from the Oracle games, he ended up with moral agency issues due to Twinrova's botched resurrection ritual bringing him back as a mindless beast. However, considering that he became a power-hungry man dropping his redeeming qualities prior to A Link to the Past, this is a minor prevention. What makes more of a minor prevention is that he would have been worse if he didn't lose his mind, considering that he would have caused more harm if he didn't became a mindless beast.
- In A Link Between Worlds, he had no control of his actions, all of them being committed by Yuga after he fused with Ganon against the latter's will and took full control of his mind, body, and powers.
Trivia[]
- The Fallen Timeline is Ganon's most represented era, being about how his power consumed him, making it the Ganon canon. It is also his original introduction to the franchise.
- The only Ganon that is completely evil is his continuation in the Fallen Timeline, as any honorable sympathetic portrayal of him is soon gone.
- Without question, Ganondorf is stated to be victorious over Link's Hero of Time incarnation in the Fallen Timeline, but it's unclear on where this lines with it, as he either may have killed Link during the jump to the future, or the event of Link leaving his timeline became the Fallen Timeline, and the timeline where he defeats Ganon would become the Adult timeline with his return to childhood as the child timeline. However, if the more commonly believed theory of Link being killed is true, it would make Ganondorf even worse, and for the sake of making the best sense of which is more correct, it's accepted that the Ganondorf who overpowered child Link is the Ganon from the Fallen Timeline, and there is no reason or sense on how the time event would happen if he killed Adult Link.
- The reason why Ganondorf remained in his demonic Ganon form in the Fallen Timeline was due to the measures of how he resorted to using the form in his attempt to defeat the sages, and when they held him contained, he was unable to undo the form due to being locked in it for so long.
- The most accurate Ganon to be defeated by Link's Hero of Time incarnation is most likely the one seen in The Wind Waker, as Ganon from the Fallen Timeline was not defeated by Link's aforementioned incarnation, and in Twilight Princess, he never fought that incarnation.
- For a while, Era of the Wilds Ganondorf was considered to be Ganon from some continuity of the timeline split, but it was then officially stated that Era was a separate canon, having no part in the previous games, so the heinous standard can't be compared there, and even if it was canon, the gap on where the standards varied over time makes almost no fitting to apply, especially when there's 10,000 years involved in it.
External Links[]
- Ganondorf on the Villains Wiki
- Ganondorf on the Zelda Wiki
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 Villainous Benchmarks
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