Who Exactly is Ganon(dorf)?

[Justac00lguy]

Ganondorf is probably one of the biggest villains in all of gaming, or most notable when you look down at the last quarter of a century. He's by far the main villain in The Legend of Zelda series and easily one of the best characters as well. Though, there is more than meets the eye, there are some questions, some mysteries and it's my intention to answer them.

*Note: This will contain spoilers, especially for a rather new title, Skyward Sword. This will also include some of my own opinions and thoughts, which may not be exactly true*

Why Ganondorf Became "Evil"

Ganondorf starts off his journey as a Gerudo, but not just any Gerudo, he's the Gerudo King. This is because of a continuous cycle where one male is born once every hundred years - a pretty well known fact in Gerudo lore. Because of this special event, that very same child becomes king (the leader of the race). So Ganondorf was essentially born into power. Maybe that's what started his initial lust for the Triforce; I don't buy into Demise's curse and I don't believe Ganondorf was truly destined to be "evil". My own beliefs for why Ganondorf is the main reoccurring villain stems from the fact that he was a King with a thirst for more power than he already had. To gain more power he needed to target something bigger. He needed to usurp the throne of Hyrule. This was a task within itself and he couldn't do this surly as his on his own and in his current state; Ganondorf needed a great power, enough to overthrow Hyrule into chaos-- the Triforce.

I think we can all see that Ganondorf is a rather intelligent man. His words of wisdom and etiquette are certainly fitting for a King indeed. It's this wisdom and knowledge that leads me to the conclusion that Ganondorf knew exactly what he was doing during the events of Ocarina of Time. He was fully aware with what was happening during the Hyrulean Civil War (pre OoT) and I doubt he bothered to get involved directly. Instead, I think he was perfectly planning out his steps and familiarising himself with Hyrule culture and lore. Well he would actually have to if he was to find the whereabouts of the Sacred Realm and who held the Spiritual Stones. The thing is that he had to stay loyal; he couldn't take the stones by brute force alone - that would be naive. This is why he waited for our hero, Link, to come into the frame as a pawn of sorts. A green clad hero probably still spoken in Hyrule mythology - this was Ganondorf’s opportunity to gain access to the Sacred Realm. By allowing Link to open the Gate of Time and pull the Master Sword from the pedestal, it opened the Sacred Realm which was were the famed golden relic resided. Ganondorf could have killed Link easily while encountering him as a child, yet he chose to simply laugh him off with a sneaky gesture - there had to be a reason why he kept him alive.

Ganondorf finally had access to the Sacred Realm and more importantly, the Triforce. There was one thing he didn't know though: that the Triforce would split if the one who touched it wasn't worthy of holding all three--or in other words--didn't have a balanced heart. It's obvious that Ganondorf certainly didn't have this balance. He may have shown traits of wisdom and courage, but his sole goal was power and power only.

What am I getting onto with all this though?

Well I'm sure a few of you reading this see Ganondorf as an extension of Demise's hatred, maybe a reincarnation, or a result of a "curse". I don't believe in any of this. Sure it's easy to take what happened at the end of Skyward Sword and interpret it as the explanation for "everything". However, it's a rather brief, half hearted, and--quite frankly--insulting way of explaining the origins of every Link, Zelda and evil in future games. Demise's words are only words. He has just been defeated, how in God's name would he have the power to create the most powerful of curses in all of Hyrule lore? Here's how I, and a few others I've spoken to, see it:

There is a clear balance in Hyrule that we all know of, right? This is the Triforce and the three virtues that make it up. It's this balance that the original Goddesses intended to introduce to the world so that it could keep peace. An imbalance would eventually lead to peace being broken. Demise knows that evil will always be existent in the world to some degree and he probably knew that it would be sparked by a lust for power, which he had himself. However, this lust would cause an imbalance if one touched the Triforce and that very same Triforce would split to find its most dersevering members - these will always be Link and Zelda. Demise was simply reiterating the balance of power in Hyrule; he knew events would repeat. Hell, Demise has conquered time itself (I don't how), maybe he knows how future events play out hence why he says "a cycle with no end". When I think of Demise saying "incarnation" I don't believe he's talking about himself being reincarnated within another body, but more so that someone with the same qualities, maybe intentions, as him will be born sometime in the future. If we look at one of a couple definitions of incarnation you have:

Incarnation:3. a person or thing that typifies or represents some quality, idea, etc. the weasel is the incarnation of ferocity.

The one quality that Ganondorf has in common with Demise is that of a lust for great power. We know that Demise wanted the Triforce for one reason or another, yet his goal was to take control of the entire world. Ganondorf is exactly the same and the Triforce is a simple pawn in his game - a means to getting what he truly desires. Of course Ganondorf has a special quality that other's probably don't have and it's this that might be a mystery. Maybe it's his cunningness, sheer determination, wisdom, tactical thinking etc. In fact it's all of these qualities and probably more. Tyrants, leaders, revolutionists and the like don't have some abnormal, supernatural power behind them. It's these subtle qualities instead that get them to a position of great power and it's exactly why Ganondorf was able to do what he did. He doesn't seem to have any great power before touching the Triforce. Possibly his magic-like abilities come from his surrogate mothers--Twinrova--but that wasn't why he was able to touch the Triforce, that itself was down to some of the qualities I mentioned above.

Of course Ganondorf was born into power and greatness, such is the way of a Gerudo-born male and maybe this contributed towards his achievement. What I'm trying to get across is that Ganondorf is very much his own individual person and he doesn't exist simply due to this supposed "curse" placed by Demise. Sometimes it takes one person to upset the balance of power and Ganondorf, himself, did this.

Who is Beast Ganon Then?

This brings me onto the next question... Who or what is this alternate form of Ganondorf? Ganondorf was born a Gerudo, so why does he transform into a pig-like abomination? Well we have clue, Link's transformation in Twilight Princess and in A Link to the Past .

Faron: "You were transformed into a blue-eyed beast... That was a sign... It was a sign that the powers of the chosen one rest within you...and that they are awakening."

This quote and a few others put his transformation down to the Triforce. Maybe the Triforce has some other godly power that allow such a thing to happen. I personally think such transformations initiate from a weakness being exposed. Ganon transformed into his beast from in Ocarina of Time after being defeated by Link and having his own Tower collapse on him. Wolf Link was exposed to a foreign element that usually turns light dwellers into mere spirits. So Beast Ganon (whom I'm just going to refer simply to Ganon from now on) transformed as he was gravely in danger which is maybe a sign that the Triforce can prevail death itself.

However, all of this still doesn't explain why Ganon turned into a pig(?). Well Link's wolf form is possibly his spirit animal, which is basically your connection to a specific animal based on the qualities you posses. Someone who shares a connection with a wolf has the following qualities:

• Sharp intelligence, deep connection with instincts
• Appetite for freedom
• Loyalty
• Independent
• Expression of strong instincts
• Feeling threatened, lack of trust in

Maybe you could make a case for Link relating to a few of these. So hat about Ganon? Well it was quite hard to find such qualities which relate to that of a pig, but here's what I found:

• Intelligent
• Cunning
• Strength
• Lust

I highlighted some of the more fitting ones, but coincidently a lot of the symbolisms I found actually relate to Ganon himself. More oddly, in Christianity, a pig can be associated with the devil himself. Maybe it's just coincidence, but if a pig is Ganondorf’s spirit animal then it makes perfect sense for it be exactly that.

Importance of "Demon King"

Quite possibly the biggest mystery of all. Demon King simply refers to the King of Demons, Ruler of Demons etcetera. However, we need to know what a Demon is before we relate it to Ganon himself.

Demon: 1. an evil spirit or devil, especially one thought to possess a person or act as a tormentor in hell.

Well we know Ganon isn't a spirit of devil; he may certainly well be evil though. I think it's pretty certain that Ganon, his true form anyway, wasn't related to that of a demon; he was just a simple Gerudo with a thirst for power and greed. It was the Triforce that awakened this form that gave him this title: Demon King. Rather coincidently, Demise shares the very same title. For Demise it makes sense, he was the leader of a supposed "Demon Army", which contained Ghirahim. Ghirahim is the self proclaimed "Demon Lord" and he himself is very much a Demon. Why? Well he appears to be a spirit who can take on the physical manifestation of objects (e.g Demise's Sword). If we look at the relationship between the two then it's pretty clear that Ghirahim serves his master, Demise. Given that, I think it's safe to say that Demise is in fact the original Demon King, a name that would eventually be passed down to Ganon and Maladus.

The name itself needs to be looked into as it's very important. We can't overlook this. Ganon, in some way, is related to Demise, but only when he transforms into his beast form. In Twilight Princess he is simply known as "Dark Lord" and I don't think they give him a specific title within The Wind Waker. Nevertheless, it seems the Triforce unleashes this other side to Ganon. Well--now even though it my have seemed like I completely disregarded his connection to Demise earlier--I do think there is some connection, but only in relation to the Triforce. Somehow, the Triforce awakened something within Ganon himself. We don't know if Demise ever got close, or even touched the Triforce itself, we only know he was after it. However Hylia prevented him from having it by sending the Triforce, and land it was held within, skyward. I don't believe that Ganondorf is Demise's incarnation (as I stated earlier), but I do think when Ganon touched the Triforce something definitely happened. It's hard for me to wrap my head around as it is quite complicated, but there is some connection I know that much. Maybe it is just a name, a coincidence perhaps? It's hard to focus so much on something so little as a title.

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Anyway, these are my thoughts on Ganon, Ganondorf, Dark Lord, pig man, Demon King, whatever you want to call him. I just wanted to get my thoughts out and spark some discussion. You don't have to read trough all what I've said in the thread, but you can comment on your thoughts on the man himself. Any theories of your own are indeed welcome.

 

[SpartanGibbles]

This was a great read, I love detail you put into your thoughts. Since I don't feel like rewriting out my thoughts, here is a link to an articleIi started working on a while back all about Ganondorf/Ganon. I might have to pick it back up soon. http://zeldadungeon.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34822&p=539803#post539803

 

[Count SymphoniC]

I think some people were very upset with Nintendo making Demise the source of Ganon's existence. Ganon has been for the longest time, the main Legend of Zelda villain after all. For Nintendo to imply that Ganon wasn't the original big bad guy all along like we thought he was... well it comes off as blasphemous and causes much friction. So then there's the attempt to rationalize Ganon still being that main villain that we want him to be. It doesn't look like Nintendo is going to be keeping Ganon as the main villain either. They've pretty much killed him off at this point. As far as timelines are concerned, Ganon is killed off in TWW, he's killed off in TP, he's killed off in ALTTP. Now OoA and OoS brings him back... but not quite. His resurrection failed, his mind lost, only his physical form was brought back. However he's killed off again there, and again (seemingly) in ALBW once again in a mere shell of his former self. Is it really surprising that your mindless shell of a Ganon is resurrected once again for the original LoZ, killed off again, and potentially again resurrected in AoL (if you die). It's redundant, but a part of me wanted Ganon to be the main villain in ALBW, the other part of me knew I had to accept the facts. Nintendo really can only keep the Ganon phenomenon interesting for so long.

You can actually read into the developer's line of thinking with the way ALBW panned out. They knew we were expecting Ganon. So they throw in this "Yuga" who bears some resemblance to a Gerudo. Then they make it look like Ganon is going to make his huge comeback, only to find out that Yuga take's control over Ganon/Merges with him. They're trying to satisfy us Zelda veterans, AND lead us into a new age of Zelda. That's why we're seeing all the new villains lately. You can get away with Link, Zelda, the Triforce, and to an extent the Master Sword over and over again. But how can they make each reappearance of Ganon a surprise ten games later?

Being a long time Zelda fan since the old SNES days, Demise was difficult for me to accept as someone more evil, more hateful, and more powerful than Ganon. However after ALBW, the upside down Triforce of Lorule and Demise's sword, and the possible and plausible connection between all of these, I'm finding myself more and more curious to see what Nintendo's holding in the deck of cards for the series.

One thing is for certain, those who are still hanging on to Ganon will likely be more and more disappointed as each new Zelda game is released because if Nintendo is doing what I suspect they are doing and based on the evidence we've all seen... that's exactly what they're going to do.

Aonuma is in it to change things up. For better or for worse. I see ALBW as the pivotal point for the series. It's either going to be a new age of awesomeness or it's all downhill from here. We'll soon find out...

 

[Ocarina_Player]

Don't get me wrong, I love Ganondorf as a villain, but I am eager to see this series keep turning out new titles for a long time, and to do that they are going to need fresh villains. And I don't think Demise really steals Ganon's thunder being revealed as the original big bad. Ganon is still just as frightening and powerful and satisfying to beat as ever, it's just interesting to see where he gets his power and desire to take over the world from.

The main theme through out the Zelda franchise is destiny. Zelda is the goddess Hylia on earth and so she resigns herself to a fate where she must always protect Hyrule from the forces of evil. Link is a hero who pledged his entire existence to the service of Hylia and Hyrule and so he is always reborn again whenever a hero is needed. Demise was a powerful Demon king, and he had gotten all his powers back when Link fought him at the end of SS, and words are very powerful. Obviously in real life they mean nothing but in religion there is a reason why you don't "take the Lord's name in vain". People thought words had power, and that's why the Egyptians were obsessed with spells and why the Abrahamic religions forbid invoking God's name haphazardly. Whether you think that's real or not is irrelevant because in this fantasy world of Hyrule, curses have meaning, Demise was a very powerful being and he had a LOT of hate at the end, so yes, it is a very powerful curse and so it's not hard for me to believe he is the source of all evil in Hyrule. Ganon I think was the most poweful manifestation of the curse because he could wield the triforce of power. But now finally Link has soundly trounced Ganon in all three timelines, there has to be a new villain.

 

[MrMosley]

Whether you choose to buy-into it or not, Demise is the original "evil". His backstory is basically non-existant, he was just kinda thrown in there, but he is (or was) the original evil which threatened the world. Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise, so its not so much like Demise is the overall main bad guy as it is that his influence is why Ganondorf is who he is. Ganon is still the big bad guy of the series and likely always will be. In fact, Ganon himself has been "reincarnated" many times throughout the series with no reference to Demise (although this is obviously because Demise hadn't been created at those points), though I don't believe we will ever see or hear of Demise again in the future. His inclusion in Skyward Sword just gave an extended life of the entity which ultimately became known as Ganon, and since Ganondorf/Ganon did not exist until the events of OoT, he could not have existed prior.

 

[Ocarina_Player]

I talked about this in a similar thread, but I don't think Ganondorf is a direct reincarnation of Demise. Demise is basically the Devil and the source of all evil in the zeldaverse. Ganondorf merely inherits the will of Demise's curse, which is to wreck **** for all of eternity.

I I don't think he was "thrown in there". He was the very first evil that Hylia fought thousands of years prior to Skyward Sword, which is in turn untold generations before the next game in the timeline. Given that the Skyloftians barely remember that there was even a world below the cloud barrier, I don't find it hard to believe that Demise passed out of memory. Only Link saw him anyway, and while I'm sure he told others about it, it's not surprising that his deeds turned into legend and people forgot all about Demise, Skyloft, and even Hylia. Perhaps Hylia even preferred it that way? So the fact Demise is not mentioned at all in the other games I don't think makes it discontinuous, because he is represented by all of the evil creatures and enemies that show up in all of the games. While he may not be directly behind each enemy's motives, his influence is there.

 

[Jamie]

I really like the points you made. Ganon is a very characterized and purposeful villain, a lot more than some "curse" could ever explain. Ganon felt jealousy towards Hyrule, that's why he wanted it as his own. I remember actually feeling kind of bad for Ganon at the end of The Wind Waker. Obviously his plans were not good for the world, but you do realize at the end that he just really wanted to be equal, but this lust and of course the triforce of power corrupted him.

I think that Demise's curse revolves around the triforce of power. I don't think Demise was reincarnated as Ganon but rather Demise's curse chooses someone who is already evil to give the Triforce of Power to. And I also agree that Beast Ganon is an embodiment of the triforce of power.

 

[g-whiz]

As far as the pig beast form verses the wolf beast form, I never really thought to compare the two. However, I always felt the initial wolf transformation was a result of an external force. The Statement "the powers of the chosen rest within you" implies that someone chose you and the game calls Link the Hero chosen by the gods. If the driving force behind the transformation is the gods of Hyrule, then it would follow that the transformation would result in something fairly magnificent. An alternative idea would be purity. If the transformation came from within, that is Link resisted the Twilight and turned himself into a wolf using the latent power of the Triforce of Courage, it may have been his own purity and that of his quest that allowed him to do so.

In either case, Ganondorf lacked the same protection in his transformation. It's doubtful that the gods had much, if anything to do with it. In fact, I would argue that his transformation was almost certainly his own doing. That said, there was no purity in his intent. He was full of anger and hatred and evil and the transformation was appropriately warped as a result.

What made him the Demon King?

We don't really need to look far for this. King Bulbin says, in Twilight Princess, something that should lead us down the right path. Bear in mind, the only other character to be called Demon King before Ganondorf (in the timeline) was Demise (Spirit Tracks hadn't happened yet chronologically). Demise was defeated and absorbed into the Master Sword in SS, meaning there was no Demon King for quite some time. Ganondorf was very powerful though. He had seemingly conquered death, was regarded as a god by Zant and held the Triforce of Power. He was also pure evil. Back to what King Bulbin said: "I follow the strongest side, that is all I have ever known." I kind of don't get the feelings Demons care too much about bloodlines and inherited titles. I get the feeling that strength is the only thing they respect. Ganondorf was, at the time, the most powerful evil being in existence. THAT made him the Demon King.