Storytelling Through Sound: Halloween Edition — A Look At Tears of the Kingdom’s Final Boss Music
Posted on October 27 2023 by Connor Butler
Welcome to a spooky edition of “Storytelling Through Sound,” a series of editorials dedicated to the analysis of the major musical themes from every Zelda game. In this special edition, we’ll be dissecting the final boss theme from Tears of the Kingdom. Major spoilers for the end of Tears of the Kingdom incoming!
You’ve finally done it. All of the regional phenomena are finished, you’ve found Gloom’s Approach, and you’ve fought through the seemingly endless waves of the Demon King’s Army. You finally arrive in the chamber of the big bad himself: Ganondorf. The most intense cutscene in the world plays, and a rehydrated mountain of a man stands before you. In most cases, an amazing fanfare would lead you into the climactic battle with the Demon King, but this time you’re greeted with possibly one of the most unsettling examples of Zelda soundtrack in franchise history.
Music is a storytelling device, as is mentioned in the title for this series, and therefore it can make you feel a wide array of emotions. Usually, Zelda‘s boss music creates a sense of impending danger, with an air of triumph, but Tears of the Kingdom‘s final boss theme gives forth a sense of straight-up fear. In this musical journey, we’ll be diving into the main phases of Ganondorf’s Boss theme, and talking about what makes each so unsettling. For the purposes of this article, I’ll be skipping over the “Demon Dragon” theme. Although it’s a beautifully put together part of the soundtrack, it’s not nearly scary enough for this month’s edition. I’ll save that one for later!
Phase One: The Menace Unleashed
After the mummified Ganondorf takes a sip of magic water, the boss fight begins. You are now face-to-face with a seven-foot-tall King of Evil, and he is NOT very happy that you’re here. Despite previous engagements with Ganondorf in past titles, this interaction feels more intimidating. Not only is this version of Ganondorf thousands of years old, he’s also the most humanoid foe that the player faces between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. While there can be an argument made in the case of the Yiga Clan, their masks add a sense of anonymity, and the fact that they disappear when defeated takes away from that humanity.
In this fight, it’s a duel, and Ganondorf looming over you reflects this. Instead of the bright and flashy fanfare usually preceding a boss theme in the Zelda franchise, we are instead greeted by an abrupt drum and gong hit, as well as a low choir, singing a very dismal sounding chord. Sitting wonderfully on top of this, we have violins bending the fundamental pitch of the sung chord and making screeching horror movie sounds. This intro, paired with the presence given by the villain, made chills shoot up my back. For the first time in my memory while playing a Zelda game, I was genuinely scared.
After the atmospheric introduction, we are greeted with another drum hit, and a lone trumpet playing a slow version of the melody for “Ganon’s Theme,” which is the song played by the man himself on the organ before Ocarina of Time‘s final showdown. If you listen closely, you can even hear an organ underneath harmonizing with the melody! (Keep Ocarina of Time‘s final boss in mind; we’ll come back to it later!)
After one playthrough of that theme, another buildup brings up the reversed vocal sound effects used widely throughout Tears of the Kingdom. This added texture is always fun to hear in the game, and it adds some creepy tension to the music that wouldn’t be there otherwise. We then get an incredibly slow layering of percussive sounds, as well as what sounds like mouth percussion sounds in the background. After a creepy bell starts playing a groove, we get into an amazing driving section that acts as a return-to-form for the final boss music. We’ve finally come back to the fast sounds of Zelda games past! In contrast to past themes however, this theme keeps a pretty spooky sounding harmony over the top, and it just adds a sense of urgency to the pre-established creepiness. Now I’m scared AND fast!
After a restatement of “Ganon’s Theme” with full orchestra and a choir, you’ve hopefully completed the first phase of Ganondorf’s boss fight! Congrats!
Phase Two: The Demon King
I’ll be honest, when I first played through this boss fight, I fully expected the transformation into the Demon King. It’s a pretty awesome move, and it’s shown off in the Dragon’s Tear cutscenes. What I didn’t expect, however, was the absolutely enormous health bar that came with this guy! I legitimately paused my game and put my controller down just to process what was happening.
Anyways, remember what I said about Ocarina of Time? The transformation cutscene keeps everything pretty atmospheric and spooky, but as soon as the battle begins again, the music that you hear is actually the string part from the first phase of Ganondorf’s fight theme from Ocarina of Time! I think that’s a pretty strong easter egg, and it’s an incredibly useful storytelling technique. To me, this section simply says, “He’s back. And badder than ever!”
After tussling with the scariest version of Ganondorf so far, the Sages make their triumphant return! After fighting their respective bosses, they come back to help you finish the job! Musically, this part continues with throwbacks and amazing storytelling devices. As the Sages begin to show back up, the melody changes from the one from Ocarina to a new melody that is a variation on motives from the original Breath of the Wild main theme! This is an exceptionally powerful storytelling moment, as four of the five Sages (Sorry, Mineru) are characters that Link has known since Breath of the Wild.
The Sages are with you, and the battle is nearly finished! We then get a few more spooky ideas, a return to the Ocarina melody, and Phase Two ends.
Phase Three: The Legendary Duel
After the Sages are tossed to the wayside, we have now entered Phase Three of the fight, which is a duel of destiny between our hero and the most villainous of villains. In an epic showdown, and possibly after many tries, you’ve finally made it to the end of the fight, and it’s you versus your destiny. But what’s this? Another musical callback?
That’s right, in the Third Phase of this fight, the music remains the same tempo, but the melody brings back another memory from the past, this time in the form of the Blight Ganon/Calamity Ganon boss fight theme! This particular callback caught me by surprise, as there aren’t a lot of direct references to Breath of the Wild‘s soundtrack in Tears of the Kingdom, aside from the few pieces of music that the games share. This particular musical moment continues the story started by Breath of the Wild.
With the addition of this blast from the past, the fight just got a lot more personal. It’s now become clear who the man behind the Calamity was. This evil presence is who robbed you of one hundred years of life, took from you your home, and has now taken from you your Princess. This isn’t just a final boss fight — It’s the fight of the century.
Conclusion
Out of all of the final encounters in any Zelda game, this particular one has the most gravitas to it. The circumstances leading up to it, as well as the reputation of such an infamous villain, create more of a weight that past boss battles don’t quite achieve. The music of this fight continues to push that weight down. The creepy atmosphere from the introduction could be used in a horror movie, and the overall tonality of the piece the whole time reminds you that this isn’t any ordinary evil. This is the King of Demons.
While other games have fantastic final boss music, what I love about this theme in particular is just how unsettling it is. There are moments of this theme that make me squirm in my seat when I hear them, and there are moments that resolve that tension, only to have it ramped up even more by the next section. This boss fight theme is a work of musical genius, and I didn’t even cover the “Demon Dragon” section of the fight, which holds even more gravity if you can believe it.
What do you think of this creepy boss fight theme? Let us know in the comments below!
Connor is an avid Zelda fan and Musician currently obtaining his degree in percussion performance from Western Carolina University. His favorite game in the Zelda franchise is a toss up between Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time, but he has a soft spot for the Wind Waker.
