Daily Debate: Who is the Best Non-Recurring Zelda Villain?

Ganondorf is an iconic villain, integral to the Legend of Zelda series. However, while Zelda and — to a lesser extent — Link’s personalities shift from game to game, Ganondorf remains just about the same in every entry. Nintendo compensates for the stagnant nature of their leading villain by adding in sidekicks or replacements for him from time to time. As an unfortunate side effect of not being cursed to participate in an endless ouroboros cycle between good and evil, none of these villains get to reincarnate for later games, so we only get to spend a short amount of time with them. Despite their lackluster lifespans, most Zelda villains are exciting enough to live on in our memories. With all this said, which of these non-recurring villains reigns supreme?

We have plenty of criteria to choose from: Whose plan worked the best? Which villain has the best design? The best personality? My personal favorite is Ghirahim, simply because Skyward Sword is my favorite video game and I’m biased. For this discussion, the only dead set criteria I am going by is that they are the main antagonist from the mainline games.

Vaati appears in three games, making him the second most saturated Zelda villain. He has the classic motivation of kidnapping the princess to force her to marry him (never mind that they’re both teenagers). In Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, we have two demon contenders: Bellum and Malladus, respectively. Unfortunately, I cannot take either of them seriously because their designs are ridiculous. Bonus points to Malladus for turning Zelda into a ghost, though.

Yuga is one of Ganon’s assistants; I give him points for his creative powers. Does Princess Hilda count as a villain? She tried to steal the Triforce, but she did get a redemption arc in the end. Skull Kid is in a similar undetermined boat. The kid managed to wreak some havoc – but although they weren’t really given a personality, I suppose we have Majora to thank for that. Majora is certainly one of the most enigmatic and terrifying villains in the series. Zant emulated that aura in the first half of Twilight Princess, but for better or worse ended up being a spoiled royal. And of course, no one could ever forget the infamous Lord Ghirahim. He’s creepy, but I feel like the player develops a genuine archnemesis connection with him as opposed to some of the others, since he is no stranger to lengthy dialogue and conversation on the battlefield. 

So, who is your favorite non-recurring Zelda villain? Would you ever like to see them return? Let us know in the comments!

Aubriel Eastman

Aubriel has been an avid Zelda fan since she was 13, when she discovered Twilight Princess. She loves writing screenplays and composing music, and is currently going to school for a BA in film. Aubriel is a staff writer for Zelda Dungeon.