| NOTE: This page focuses solely on Ganondorf's incarnation seen in the "Era of the Wilds" saga, as his other incarnations were not voted Pure Evil, and thus only “Era of the Wilds” Ganondorf’s incarnation’s information and crimes should be put here. |
| “ | Rise. Rise, my servants. Sweep over Hyrule with the power I have granted you. Eliminate this kingdom and her allies. Leave no survivors! | „ |
| ~ Ganondorf summoning his army to destroy Hyrule |
| “ | I will yet rule this land... You will not stop me! A mere mortal... will not stand in my way! My body... My mind... Everything! I'll sacrifice it all to destroy you... and cast this world into eternal night! | „ |
| ~ Ganondorf's villainous breakdown and last words before turning himself into a dragon |
Demon King Ganondorf, also known as the Demon Dragon in his final form, is the main antagonist of the Era of the Wilds saga within Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise.
Once the king of the Gerudo and a hero to his people, Ganondorf's lust for power drove him to murder the Queen of Hyrule and become the Demon King, granting him the power to wipe out all opposition and conquer Hyrule. After being imprisoned by King Rauru, his malice would take the bestial form of Calamity Ganon, an inhuman monstrosity that would rise to destroy Hyrule again and again. When Rauru's seal inevitably breaks, he rises up again, intending to finish what he started.
He is voiced by Kosuke Takaguchi in Japanese and Matthew Mercer in English, who also voiced Kirby in There Will Be Brawl.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- He possesses no true care for his people, as he immediately slaughters towns in his own home after obtaining his own army and attempts genocide on his own people multiple times afterward, standing as a stark contrast to the original Ganondorf's care for his tribe.
- Unlike his counterpart from the mainline games, Ganondorf lacks any true respect for Link. While he did look forward to fighting him, this was later revealed to be the case solely because he likes testing his strength and proving his superiority, and when Link does beat him, he rages about how a "mere mortal" will not stop him, so this is not redeeming.
- In general Ganondorf rants (subtly touched in the English localization and confirmed by the Japanese texts) that his contempt for Rauru and the light is robbing the world of its courage and how nobody truly is fighting to survive and earn his respect, but its only a thinly veiled excuse for Ganondorf to only get some satisfaction in crushing and defeating everyone through challenges, as whenever Ganondorf actually has to face defeat at the hands of a superior opponent, he'd scream in fury on going down and would rather see the world destroyed.
- Unlike the mainline version of Ganon(dorf), this iteration lacks any of the fleeting senses of Warrior's honor or even hint of tragedy in being raised at a harsh, unforgiving desert climate, being a vicious conqueror who lacks any restraint, moral or pragmatic, to delight in the suffering of everybody around him.
- Despite the existence of Demise's curse, the above shows that previous incarnations possess a level of agency that has them exercise restraint, respect and care for others, with his mainline incarnation trying to end the cycle he knows he, Link and Zelda are in, during the Adult Timeline while clearly making peace with himself during his death.
- Meanwhile, this version very visibly lacks the level of restraint the original Ganondorf occasionally had and instead fully embraces his evil, giving up his remaining humanity for the sake of his own Social Darwinist order, preventing it from being mitigating. All other incarnations of Ganon, even Demise himself, desire some survivors to remain and rule over, this Ganondorf is happy to leave not even a single speck of mortal life left.
- All in all, this version of Ganondorf is simply a power-hungry madman who seeks to destroy the world and remake it in his image, and overall the worst remnant of the old savage order of "fighting to survive" that plagued the world until Rauru brought peace to the region through Hyrule's foundation, having huge contempt for wasting the god-like powers he coveted for so long for such benevolent actions.
- It is very evident why the Gerudo refuse to claim him as one of their own and believe he is a demon in disguise.
- Within both the "Era of the Wilds" saga and the franchise as a whole, Ganondorf is easily one of the most heinous villains in the roster, with not only all the centuries worth of death and misery tied to him directly or indirectly, but seeks to render the world a wasteland so that people can only to struggle to survive under his crushing grip.
Founding Era of Hyrule[]
- He attempted to conquer Hyrule by having his Gerudo soldiers summon a swarm of Molduga to invade the land.
- He faked showing fealty to King Rauru to get closer to obtaining the Secret Stone.
- He attempted to kill Queen Sonia using Phantom Ganon in the form of Zelda, but when that failed, he mortally wounded the Queen himself and took her Secret Stone. He would then go on to sadistically laugh at Zelda's distress over Sonia's condition.
- Used the Secret Stone to summon an army of monsters and demons throughout the land and transform into the Demon King.
- When Rauru arrived to find his wife dying, Ganondorf would mock the former for trying to control him and failing, saying that he had taken the powers of the Secret Stones for granted and wasted their potential, and that Sonia would be the first of many victims due to Rauru’s actions.
- He would then try to kill both Rauru and Zelda with a surge of Gloom after this.
- Unleashed his army to have his army wipe out all life in Hyrule and allying kingdoms so he could rule, planning to spread this to the world and revert the world to it's savage ways where people had to fight monsters to survive.
- Countless have died as the monsters overruled the lands, not even his own people were spared from Ganondorf's genocidal war against life itself.
- When the Sages attempted to stop him, he would proceed to mercilessly beat all of them, including mortally wounding Mineru, Rauru's sister, who later dies. This forced Rauru to sacrifice himself to seal Ganondorf, leading to the extinction of the Zonai race considering they were the last survivors.
The Great Calamity era[]
- While sealed, his malice would leak out of Hyrule Castle and take the form of Calamity Ganon, who would attempt to destroy all of Hyrule again. This also makes him indirectly responsible for all of the horrible events that Calamity Ganon had caused, including the Great Calamity that would see most of Hyrule destroyed with only few surviving villages.
Tears of the Kingdom[]
- When Link and Zelda discover the awakened Ganondorf, he immediately destroys the Master Sword, corrupts Link's arm with Gloom to the point that it needs to be replaced, and then triggers the Upheaval, which rains down destruction across Hyrule and nearly kills Link and Zelda.
- He disguises Phantom Ganon as Zelda and uses it to seal off access to the ruins in Kakariko Village (which nearly crushed the entire village thanks to the Upheaval) and prevent them from discovering the Spirit Temple.
- By impersonating Zelda and giving misinformation to trick people, he also incriminates her for many of his misdeeds.
- He then has Phantom Ganon summon monsters to wipe out all the races in Hyrule and prevent the Sages' descendants from obtaining the Secret Stones by:
- Colgera summoning a blizzard to bring famine to the Rito Village and starve the entire race to death
- Mucktorok polluting all the water in Zora's Domain to poison all the Zoras.
- Marbled Gohma introducing the Gorons to Marbled Rock Roast, which they got addicted to and became lazy to the point of not wanting to do anything other than eat it, slowly crashing Goron society in a manner similar to city blocks getting ruined to drug epidemics.
- Queen Gibdo causing a sandstorm and summoning the undead to wipe out the Gerudo.
- Uses Link's protectiveness of Zelda for a cruel trap by having Phantom Ganon disguise himself as Zelda, mockingly asking if his puppet entertained him before having Phantom Ganon dispatched to cut him down. He then attempts to personally kill Link using a powerful gloom attack should Link defeat Phantom Ganon.
- After Link is saved by 4 of the new Sages, Ganondorf reveals his plan to again summon an army of monsters to wipe out all life on Hyrule once he reaches his full strength, gleefully taunting them on how their world is doomed.
- Ganondorf once again uses the Secret Stone to turn into the Demon King and attempts to kill Link and the Sages.
- Worse, three out of five Sages are minors; Tulin, the Sage of Wind, is a preadolescent child, while Riju, the Sage of Lightning, and Yunobo, the Sage of Fire, are both teenagers.
- Upon losing, Ganondorf swallows his Secret Stone to turn into the Demon Dragon, willing to sacrifice his mind and sanity simply to destroy Link and cast the world into "eternal night" (i.e. waste the entire world and all life in it), out of spite for being defeated by a "mere mortal".
- Even as the mindless Demon Dragon, he specifically targets Link during the final battle and attempted to take a bite out of the Light Dragon (a draconified Zelda), showing the Demon Dragon still possesses Ganondorf's hatred for Link and Zelda. And when the Demon Dragon is on the verge of defeat, he forcefully brings out the Blood Moon, turning the sky to instant night.
External Links[]
- Ganondorf on the Villains Wiki
- Ganondorf on the The Ultimate Evil Wiki
- Ganondorf on the Zelda Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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