The Clown Guy: A Look at A Link Between World’s Villain

Before Skyward Sword, when Nintendo first showed us the fabulous Ghirahim, I wrote an article analyzing him and proposing possibilities as to who he might be. Now that we’ve had a similar reveal for A Link Between Worlds, I thought I’d do the same for the new villain. Maybe I’m making an assumption calling him the villain, but I can’t see any way he’s not! Aside from his obviously-villainous creepy face, this character’s key trait is that he looks like a clown or jester; the pants and shoes are like those you might see on a jester, he has the bright-colored hair and red lipstick of a clown, and his shirt and scepter also bring to mind a jester. He reminds me of Kefka Palazzo from Final Fantasy VI, and no matter who or what he is I imagine he’ll be a similar villain: A twisted psychopath, but also with some dark humor.

I have four possibilities I’d like to discuss for this villain, and they’re not necessarily mutually exclusive; if he’s any of these, he might be several! The possibilities are as follows:

Dark Tribe Follower

The Dark Tribe and/or the Demon Tribe, depending on how connected you think they are, are major figures and causes of evil in the Zelda universe, and a “Tribe of Evil” was first referenced in the game A Link Between Worlds is sequel to: A Link to the Past, in which Agahnim was allegedly from this tribe, although since he was just Ganon’s alter-ego, perhaps that was not true or, instead, indicates that Ganon was from the tribe. Regardless, it would make sense that if the Dark Tribe played a part in A Link to the Past, then it might again in A Link Between Worlds. He is also obviously a magic-user, and this too would make him similar to Agahnim.

Also, there are a few traits about his appearance which suggest this connection to me: His earrings and the upside-down Triforce on his shirt. The upside-down Triforce is featured in the game’s logo and would seem to represent this game’s Dark World or at least its kingdom, but it also showed up in Skyward Sword on Demise’s blade. While I’ve previously scoffed at the idea of the mark on Demise’s sword being significant, its reappearance in this game could mean it had significance even then, and now it could represent a reversal of the Royal Family of Hyrule: A family or group that seeks to possess the Triforce and destroy Hyrule, rather than guard and protect both. The Dark Tribe, perhaps? We don’t know exactly what this symbol indicates, and with the appearance of the black-haired Zelda lookalike Hilda in the recent screenshots, there is some evidence that this negative Hyrule isn’t all-bad, but the symbol still has some connection to the Dark Tribe, so it bears thinking about.

The earrings are another connection to the Dark Tribe, and even Demise’s sword: They are virtually identical to Ghirahim’s earring. Diamond-shaped, and blue. It could be coincidental, but with both characters appearing in back-to-back games, I suspect Nintendo noticed. There’s also the fact that this Clown Guy looks a lot like Ghirahim in general. It definitely looks like he’s going to be a similar villain. Of course, Ghirahim was revealed to be Demise’s sword, so the upside-down Triforce and the earrings and general resemblance are all connections to Ghirahim alone, not just the Dark Tribe. With that in mind… He could just be Ghirahim. He has the same attitude and look about him. He has the same skin tone, the same eyes, purple eyeshadow, lipstick, and the same earrings. There are differences, but there are so many similarities that it’s possible. Still, the switch from his weapon being a sword — which Ghirahim actually is — to a magic scepter seems like too much. Maybe then, this guy is actually a Demon Lord like Ghirahim? Could that be his place within the vague hierarchy of the Dark/Demon Tribe?

Agahnim Figure

It’s likely that whoever this guy is, he’ll be a figure in the story a lot like Agahnim; a trusted person, perhaps an adviser, or hey, maybe he’ll just be an actual court jester, but who is later revealed (possibly before the game starts!) to be the villain… or at least a villain. Agahnim was nothing more than another form of Ganon, and that might be true of this villain too — for Ganon or another villain — but not necessarily.

All our Clown Guy really needs to become an Agahnim-like figure is to do similar things in the story: Deceive the good guys and usurp control. Perhaps he’ll come from the Dark World, earn the trust of the Royal Family, and then fling the kingdom into chaos? Perhaps he serves the same role as Agahnim but for the kingdom of the Dark World instead; an adviser or servant of Hilda’s who betrays and turns that world evil?

Whoever he is, I think he’ll serve a role a lot like this. At the very least, the way this villain carries himself in his artwork implies he’s a charismatic guy, if a creepy jerk, and he’ll probably be a chatty villain who’s seen at multiple points earlier in the game… and probably taunt you a lot.

Ganondorf

Of course he could just be Ganondorf. It’s honestly not that unlikely: He has nearly as much resemblance to the King of Evil as he does to Ghirahim, if just a little less. Red hair? Check. Dark sorcerer? Check. Circlet? Check. Pointy nose? Check. He looks a lot like the guy.

He’s definitely a much more, erm, flamboyant villain than Ganondorf has ever been, and his clothes are totally different. But think about it this way: When was the last time Ganondorf got a full redesign? Wasn’t it… the first game he got a design in the first place in Ocarina of Time? This was the first game to give Ganon an appearance for his human persona: Ganondorf. Until then he’d just been a pig. And don’t get me wrong, Ganondorf has had a different design in every Zelda game he’s appeared in, but usually not much is changed beyond the clothes. He’s always a dark-skinned intimidating manly guy. It’s the same dude, just in different artstyles and with a different wardrobe.

And Ocarina of Time came out, what, almost fifteen years ago? I don’t think it’d be strange for them to give the guy a bigger overhaul than they have in the past, especially with most of his key features intact. Especially when, on the Child Timeline, an entirely new Ganondorf was born anyway; the Ganon of Four Swords Adventures is a new one, a successor to the Ganondorf who finally died in Twilight Princess. Might the same happen on the Decline Timeline? Or maybe, instead, Ganon has taken on his beast form so completely that he no longer has a true human form to return to, and this is simply the one he takes on when he returns to the Light World in this game?

Surely, though, if this is Ganondorf then he still has a pig form that he takes on in the Dark World, but in the Light World this could be his form. Or maybe this comes back to the Agahnim figure, and this is Ganon in disguise as someone else so he can influence the Light World. A Link Between World’s opening as well as the dialogue of some of the characters discusses the events of A Link to the Past and of Ganon’s defeat, so it’s clear the game has a lot of attention on Ganon. It wouldn’t be unusual then for him to be part of this game’s story as well. I’m not yet convinced Ganon will even appear in this game, but it’s possible: He is the main villain of the series, who has been absent for three games now before A Link Between Worlds even comes out. Since this guy has some resemblance to him, maybe this is when he finally shows up again.

An Old Woman?

Maybe this “Clown Guy” isn’t even a guy at all! Maybe she is actually a creepy woman? If that’s the case, I doubt she’s too old, because there aren’t really any wrinkles, but it could still be a woman character, a witch of sorts. I doubt this because of the jester look — traditionally an archetype filled by male characters — as well as the hands, which look masculine to me, as do most of his clothes. I think it’s most likely he’s just a very fabulous villain like Ghirahim was. But this dude is also much more feminine-looking than Ghirahim, so who knows?

I don’t think we’re liable to get too many details about this character before the game releases, but the release date isn’t far off so that shouldn’t be much of an issue. Surely, we’ll find out plenty about him when November 22 rolls around. In the meantime though, I hope you enjoyed this speculation. Do you think this Clown Guy’s similarities to Ghirahim or Ganondorf are notable? Do you think he’ll be connected to the Dark Tribe, or play a role like Agahnim? Or do you think this Clown Guy is actually a Clown Gal? Tell me your speculation about this character in the comments!

Author: Axle the Beast

Frequently writing articles for both Zelda Dungeon and his own website, Axle has been on ZD for several years and also runs the site’s video mailbag and regularly does other videos on the site’s YouTube channel. He can also be found on Twitter, Facebook, deviantART, and his own YouTube channel.