Ganondorf

Ganondorf, known as the Great King of Evil or the Dark Lord, is the king of the Gerudo tribe dwelling the Gerudo Desert in Hyrule. As the wielder of the Triforce of Power, he staged several coups against the Royal Family to take the throne of Hyrule.

Ganondorf came to power in the Gerudo tribe by means of tradition, being one of the sole male children born every 100 years. Even prior to his birth, his people were tormented by deadly sandstorms during the day, and a freezing cold that pierced their homes at night. The gentle, calm breeze that blew across Hyrule Field brought things other than suffering and ruin, and thus his longing for control over the kingdom was sparked out of a desire to bring his people to peace. However, after delving into research about the Triforce, Ganondorf's mind was warped into believing that Power was the only means to this end. Some time after aiding the King of Hyrule in unifying the land under the Royal Family's banner, he arranged a meeting with the King and became an advisor, further helping him in restoring order. In secret, however, he plotted to overthrow the King and unleash his own reign upon the land. Ganondorf turned against the King, entered the Sacred Realm and took the Triforce of Power, unleashing what history would come to call the Great Cataclysm. Following seven dark years of Ganondorf's rule, the Hero of Time appeared, wielding the Blade of Evil's Bane, and sealed the Evil King away, banishing him into the corrupted Sacred Realm. From that day forth, Ganon has broken free, been killed, and resurrected several times, each with a new Hero appearing to confront him.

Ganondorf's Triforce piece had granted him near-immortality; the only weapons that can harm him are the Master Sword, Silver Arrows and Light Arrows. During a massive time paradox following the Imprisoning War, the universe was severed into two separate time streams, creating two different Ganondorfs, each having met their ends at the hand of Link, leaving uncertain futures.

Origins
Ganondorf Dragmire was born a member of the Gerudo tribe a few decades before the beginning of the events of Ocarina of Time. Only one man is born to the Gerudo every century, and according to their traditions that man shall become King of the Gerudo. Thus Ganondorf's original title was 'Gerudo King of Thieves'.

After the King of Hyrule united his kingdom shortly before the events of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf swore fealty to him, but plotted to overthrow him and conquer the country. Despite the best efforts of Link and Zelda, Ganondorf was able to enter the Sacred Realm and obtain the Triforce. However, the Triforce split into three separate pieces, with only the Triforce of Power remaining in his hand.

This allowed him to conquer Hyrule (and presumably murder the King, although his fate is never mentioned) and reign as the 'Evil King' for seven years. He searched those seven years for the other two pieces of the Triforce. When Link awoke from the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf let the young man journey, hoping he would reveal Princess Zelda, whom he deduced had one of the pieces of the Triforce. When she did reveal herself to Link, Ganondorf kidnapped her to use her as bait to lure Link into his castle in an effort to steal the other piece of the Triforce to complete it. Link was able to defeat Ganondorf and rescue Zelda, but as they escaped from the ruins of the castle, Ganondorf reappeared and used the Triforce of Power to transform into Ganon in an all-out attempt to destroy Link.

He was once again beaten and this time the Sages sealed him in the Sacred Realm. However, Ganondorf still held the Triforce of Power, making it possible for him to break free in the future. Indeed, his final words in Ocarina of Time are:

A world split in two
Following Ganondorf's sealing in the Sacred Realm, Link was sent back in time by Princess Zelda. It is widely agreed amongst fans that this action created a massive time paradox and split Hyrule's time line into two: the pacified past, where Hyrule is still tranquil and Ganondorf never took over, and the dark future with Hyrule in ruins. The former lead to Zant's Invasion of Hyrule, while the latter lead to the Great Flood.

Execution
In the past time line, it appears that while Ganondorf may not have taken over, the Triforce was still split between its three holders nonetheless, thus explaining how Ganondorf retained the Triforce of Power in the past along with Zelda and Link with the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage. It can be assumed that the Hero of Time warned Hyrule of Ganondorf's treachery after being sent back to the past by Zelda.

Because of the Hero's warning, Ganondorf was eventually subdued and sentenced to death by impalement in the infamous Arbiter's Grounds in the heart of the Gerudo Desert. The Ancient Sages conducted the King of Evil's death, chaining him to a rock in the Mirror Chamber, and impaling him with a shining blade. Since he possessed the power of the goddesses, the Triforce of Power would not allow him to die. Through the Triforce, Ganondorf survived, and broke free of his chains, murdering the sage bearing the symbol of the Water Medallion. In desperation, the others sages activated the Twilight Mirror, sending Ganondorf into the bleak darkness of the Twilight Realm.

His spirit lingered on in the Twilight Realm, until the day came when he found the answer to his situation. He encountered a depressed adviser to the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm, named Zant. The maddened Twili believed Ganondorf to be a god, and pledged his loyalty to the Evil King. Gifting him with extraordinary powers, Ganondorf used his ambition to devastate Hyrule. Zant's actions would weaken the Land of Hyrule.

Invasion and Death
A new Link of the Hero bloodline rose when Zant invaded Hyrule and caused a spread of Twilight. Teamed with the Twilight Princess, Midna, who was usurped by Zant, Link infiltrated the Twilight Realm and assassinated Zant, delivering Zant's powers back to Ganondorf and reviving him, giving him Gerudian form once again.

Now with complete control over Hyrule, Ganondorf resided in the throne room of the Hyrule Castle. Link and Midna used the powers of the Fused Shadows to enter the castle and confront Ganondorf on his throne. Ganondorf possessed Princess Zelda very briefly, but his soul was purged from her body by Midna, and amassed on the floor. However, he wasn't human anymore.

Ganondorf somehow triggered his Ganon transformation. In response, Link transformed himself into his sacred wolf form and battled Ganondorf, in the end a clash between Ganon's soul and Midna occurred, resulting in the teleportation of all those present in the throne chamber to the middle of Hyrule Field. Ganon triumphed over Midna and reincarnated himself into his human form, pursuing Link and Zelda into Hyrule Field.

Ganondorf offered Link one final duel. Using the same blade that was used to murder him during the execution, the Sword of the Sages, he enclosed the battlefield with Twilight matter to ensure that his victim would not escape. In the ensuing clash, Link overpowered Ganondorf and impaled him through the torso with the Master Sword. The Triforce of Power supposedly abandoned Ganondorf, leaving him to seemingly die in the field. However, Ganondorf has been known to escape death more than once, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his supposed "death" are questionable, leaving his true fate unknown.

Appearances
The chronological status of some of these games are unknown.

The Legend of Zelda
In the original Zelda, he broke free of the Dark World and kidnapped the princess to try and steal the Triforce of Wisdom. He made his base of operations in Death Mountain under Spectacle Rock. Zelda split the Triforce of Wisdom into eight shards, and Link assembled them to fight Ganon, and killed him finally with the Silver Arrow.

Battle
Ganon's chamber contained statues which fired at Link while the boss himself darted around the room, attacking with fireballs. After Link got in enough hits with his sword, he used a Silver Arrow to finish the fiend off. Ganon crumbled to ash and vanished.



Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Ganon did not appear as a boss in the second Zelda game. Link fought against his minions, who aimed to kill Link in order to sprinkle his blood on Ganon's ashes, which would revive him. Therefore, Ganon only ever appeared on the Game Over screen, laughing at Link's defeat.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Ganondorf, Prince of Thieves, was one of many adventurers who traveled from the Light World to the Golden Land to claim the Triforce. Obtaining the power of the Triforce, he made a wish to control the Golden Land and thereby transformed the realm into the Dark World and himself into a pig-form, both of which reflected his corrupt,wicked heart and his greedy nature. Styling himself as Ganon, King of Evil, he sought to conquer the Light World, as well. Ganon attacked Hyrule with his monstrous armies, but was defeated by the Knights of Hyrule and sealed in the Dark World by the Seven Wise Men. Years later, Ganon projected his spirit into the Light World through an alternate form, Agahnim, to betray the King of Hyrule and take over the country. This 'Agahnim' form then tried to break the seal on the Golden Land to allow Ganon to escape it. Link confronted Agahnim in Hyrule castle and defeated him, but Agahnim managed to send Link into the Dark World before he was beaten. In the Dark World, Link stormed Ganon's Tower and defeated Agahnim once again. After the battle with Agahnim, he battled Ganon in the Pyramid of Power, where he was bested by a silver arrows. With his final death, the Dark World returned to its former beauty as the Sacred Realm and the Triforce was reunited, with Link as its new master.

Battle
(for Agahnim's battles see here)

Ganon fights with fireballs and similar attacks. As in LoZ, he is defeated by slashes from the sword and Silver Arrow, while he teleports around the room.

Link's Awakening
Ganon does not actually appear, but the final Nightmare takes on his form.

Ocarina of Time
Ganondorf is first seen in a dream Link has at the beginning of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was also the first time Zelda players saw the Ganondorf form. To gain the Spiritual Stones, Ganondorf did the following:


 * Ganondorf tried to force the Great Deku Tree to give him the Kokiri's Emerald by sending in parasites, such as the Queen Gohma.
 * Ganondorf tried to obtain another of the Spiritual Stones, the Goron's Ruby, by blocking the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern, the main source of food for Gorons, and refusing to open it until the Goron leader Darunia gave him the stone, believing that the major starvation that would ensue would grant him the stone.
 * To get the Zora's Sapphire, Ganondorf sent parasitic creatures into Lord Jabu-Jabu, to steal the stone from Princess Ruto when she was inside Jabu Jabu.

Unfortunately for him, Link was able to thwart these schemes, and once he gathered the sacred stones, Ganondorf attacked the castle. He tried to chase after Zelda as she fled with Impa on a horse, but lost them just outside of Hyrule Castle Town. Seeing Link nearby, he asked him which way Zelda had gone. Link refused to tell him, protecting Zelda and ultimately altering the fate of all Hyrule. This was the first ever (chronologically) confrontation between the two, and it ended when Ganondorf knocked Link aside with a shadow-like energy attack.

When Link opened the Door of Time, Ganondorf took the opportunity to break into the Sacred Realm. He touched the Triforce but because of his evil, he received only the Triforce of Power and the other two vanished.

Despite this, the single Triforce that remained gave him enough power to take over all of Hyrule and reign unimpeded for seven years. In order to prevent anyone from being able to defeat him, he sent monsters into five of the six temples of Hyrule to keep their powers under his control. He had no need to attack one of them, the Temple of Time, as his castle was so close. Ganondorf demolished Hyrule Castle and built his own castle in its place, with six barriers to defend the keep. Hyrule Castle Town was overrun by ReDeads and abandoned by the townsfolk, who evacuated to Kakariko Village. He also continued to search for Zelda, but could not find her as she was disguised as Sheik. To keep hold of the five temples located outside of Hyrule town:
 * In the Spirit Temple, located where Ganondorf was born, the Gerudo desert, his surrogate mothers made sure that the spirit sage would not hear her "call of awakening", even though at the time there was no apparent sage.
 * Because of Ganondorf's rule, monsters overran the Kokiri Forest, and Saria was captured by the monsters inside the Forest Temple. When Link defeated Phantom Ganon, whom Ganondorf had created to guard the temple, (Ganondorf was not physically in the room, so presumably spoke either by telepathy or through the phantom) Ganondorf praised Link but told him he would not defeat the real Ganondorf so easily. He called Phantom Ganon worthless and banishes him to the "gap between dimensions".
 * To punish the Gorons for not giving him the sacred ruby, he revived the dragon "Volvagia" and captured Gorons to feed it.
 * The monster that Ganondorf had sent to guard the Water Temple, Morpha, created a curse on the source of Hyrule's water, Zora's Domain, which froze the town to ice and sealed away most Zoras.
 * Ganondorf freed the shadow monster Bongo Bongo from his imprisonment in the Bottom of the Well. Bongo Bongo attacked and partially destroyed the village, before taking control of the Shadow Temple.

All of Ganondorf's allies were eventually defeated by Link, but he finally succeeded in capturing Princess Zelda when she let her guard down and revealed herself to Link. Having previously learned that Zelda held the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link the Triforce of Courage, he used Zelda as bait to force Link to battle him, allowing Ganondorf to control all three Triforces, should he defeat Link. He refused to acknowledge that Link was powerful enough to defeat him, saying that he had simply underestimated the power of the Triforce of Courage. And until Link arrived at his room in the Castle, he would play the Organ while Zelda would float haplessly in a crystal in the air.

Ganondorf tried to kill Link, but was himself beaten and brought to the verge of death. With what appeared to be his final breath, Ganondorf tried to destroy his own castle to crush Zelda and Link in the ruins. They survived, but before they could leave, Ganondorf used the Triforce of Power to transform into Ganon for the first time, with the sole aim of annihilating Link. It seemed he would be victorious when he knocked away the Master Sword from Link's hand and sealed the hero inside a ring of fire. However, Link's courage beat Ganon's power and the monster was briefly stunned. Link was able to reclaim the Blade of Evil's Bane and wound Ganon. The seven sages, including Zelda, now opened the doorway to the Sacred Realm and forced Ganon through it, before sealing the gateway. Transformed back into Ganondorf, the Evil King promised to exterminate the descendants of those who had defeated him, before drifting away into the void.

As Ganondorf
Link stands on a small ledge around the wall of the highest room in Ganon's castle while Ganondorf floats above a central platform. If Link falls into the gap, he lands in a lower room where he can heal himself with a limited number of resources and avoid attacks, but is also unable to attack Ganondorf.

The Evil King used 'waves of darkness' to prevent Navi from Z-Targeting him unless he is stunned. He has three attacks: he pounds the ground to make part of Link's ledge collapse; he charges a large dark energy ball which splits into pieces before homing in on Link; and he fires a single ball of energy at Link, an identical attack to Phantom Ganon's.

As with Phantom Ganon, this attack can be parried, and the two fighters knock it back between each other until one of them falls. Interestingly, if Link uses a charged spin attack rather than a standard slice or chop to intercept the ball, it is reflected at a much faster rate. A charged spin attack may be used more than once in a single round of parrying, though the ball begins to travel so fast after the first deflection that simply finding the time to charge up another spin attack becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. If Ganondorf is hit by the ball of energy, regardless of speed, he is momentarily stunned. He may also be stunned as a result of deflecting his larger attack, involving multiple balls of energy, with a single, well-timed spin attack.

Once Ganondorf is stunned, Link has a mere few seconds to hit him with a Light Arrow (without targeting) to make his enemy fall to the ground, breathing heavily (although, while Ganondorf is charging the dark energy ball, he's also open to Light Arrows). Link then either uses the Longshot, the Hover Boots, or jumps, to get to Ganondorf and strike him with his sword. Link then must escape to the edge of the stage with the Longshot or Hover Boots to avoid being hit with Ganondorf's pound attack.



Ganon
Ganon starts by knocking the Master Sword out of reach and trapping Link inside a ring of fire. Link can only harm him by hitting his blue tail with the Megaton Hammer, Deku Nut or the Biggoron's Sword, although this time he is able to target with Navi. Ganon can be attacked straight away, but it is easier if he is stunned with an arrow (preferably Light Arrows) or the Longshot first. Some items can be found when Link tricks Ganon into destroying the ruins of the castle.

Eventually he collapses and Link regains the Master Sword. He must then down Ganon in exactly the same way, but this time using the Master Sword to strike his tail (the other weapons do still work, but are very ineffective). Then, Zelda uses her magic to hold Ganon still and Link uses the Master Sword to deliver the final blow to Ganon's forehead.

Oracle games
Ganondorf is dead at the beginning. However, Twinrova is alive, and she is trying to revive him. Her minions Veran and Onox are told to travel to Labrynna and Holodrum to wreak each land and light the flames of Sorrow and Destruction. Though each dies, they both succeed, and Twinrova continues with the final stage; the sacrifice of Princess Zelda. In the end, they did not succeed, but even though the ritual was incomplete, Ganon returned as a mindless beast that Link had to destroy again.

Battle
Ganon is very powerful, and he cannot be harmed without the Level 3 sword or a spin attack. He has many abilities, including disorienting Link so that he walks in the opposite direction than he tries to. Ganon was powerful due to the fact that he attacked randomly due to no ability to think, though he was sealed away by Link once again.

The Wind Waker
Having somehow escaped from the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf tried to acquire the whole Triforce in order to wish for Hyrule to be given to him. To do this, he sent his minion, the Helmaroc King, to kidnap all young girls in the Great Sea, in the hopes of finding Princess Zelda, who held a part of the Triforce. He also released Phantom Ganon from the imprisonment he had sentenced him to in OoT, to fight for him again.

He made his base on the abandoned Forsaken Fortress, and captured girls were kept in a cell in the main tower. Ganondorf himself lived in a wrecked ship balanced on top of the tower.

When Link tried to free the girls but was captured by the Helmaroc King, he caught a brief glimpse of Ganondorf before the Gerudo ordered the Helmaroc King to throw Link into the sea.

Ganondorf sent monsters around all regions of the Great Sea. Submarines, rafts and platforms were built to attack ships, and ChuChus and Miniblins appeared on Outset Island. He sent his creatures to attack the three guardians of the Pearls of the Goddesses; Valoo, the Deku Tree, and Jabun. Valoo and the Deku Tree were saved by Link, but the hero was too late to stop Ganondorf's attack on Greatfish Isle, where Jabun lived. Although the island itself was mangled and destroyed, Jabun escaped beforehand.

Because the Master Sword was the only weapon that could defeat Ganondorf, he aimed to remove the power to repel evil from the blade. To do this, he had the sages who prayed for the power to remain in the sword murdered, sending Jalhalla to kill Laruto and Molgera to kill Fado. To prevent the temples where this took place from being accessed via Old Hyrule, he created a barrier around Hyrule Castle to prevent Link from leaving the building once he was in Old Hyrule.

Link returned to Forsaken Fortress with the Master Sword, and this time destroyed the Helmaroc King, allowing him to reach Ganondorf's chamber. Before Link could do battle with him, Ganondorf revealed the truth: when Link had pulled out the Master Sword, the seal on Ganondorf's power completely broke and he became even stronger (very similar to OoT, when Link drawing the Master Sword allowed Ganondorf to steal the Triforce of Power). He also explained that the Master Sword had lost its power (but he did not mention how)

Link attacked Ganondorf anyway, but before Ganondorf could kill him, Tetra reappeared and distracted Ganondorf. Ganondorf turned on her, but just as he was about to kill her, the Triforce of Power in his hand began to resonate. He realised Tetra had a piece of the Triforce of Wisdom, and that she must be Princess Zelda. Before he could act on this, Link and Zelda were then rescued by the Rito, and Valoo destroyed the ship with his fire breath. However, Ganondorf could survive anything except the restored Master Sword, and lived on.

He searched everywhere for Princess Zelda, but could not find her. Once Link had defeated Jalhalla and Molgera and restored the Master Sword, Ganondorf retreated to Old Hyrule beneath the sea, through a portal he opened between the Forsaken Fortress and his castle in Hyrule (Link and the King of Red Lions were able to unlock this portal from inside Ganon's Tower and use it for themselves). This news was conveyed to the heroes by a spying Fishman.

In Old Hyrule, Ganondorf discovered Zelda's whereabouts, and kidnapped her. When Link arrived to check on Zelda, Ganondorf tricked him into thinking she was still in the cellar and trapped Link inside a ring of fire with two Darknuts. Link escaped and destroyed Ganondorf's barrier with the Master Sword, allowing him to enter Ganon's Tower.

As Link worked his way through the tower, Ganondorf's remaining minions were slain one by one; the shadows of Gohma, Kalle Demos, Jalhalla and Molgera, and finally Phantom Ganon. Because of this, Link acquired the Light Arrows (the modern Zelda equivalent of the Silver Arrows, which had been used to defeat Ganon in previous games).

When Link finally reached Ganondorf, he claimed that the gods were responsible for destroying Hyrule by sealing the land away. He transformed into Puppet Ganon, but Link defeated him. Ganondorf mentioned that Link must be the Hero of Time reborn, before disappearing onto the roof of the tower with Zelda.

When Link confronted him again on the roof, Ganondorf finally explained why he attacked Hyrule: his homeland, the Gerudo Desert, had been a harsh, barren place, but he coveted the friendlier winds that blew across Hyrule. This was a first in the series, as had previously been assumed that Ganon's motives consisted of nothing but greed and hatred.

Ganondorf attacked Link and knocked him down, stealing the Triforce of Courage from him. He took the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda (still unconscious) and united them with his own Triforce of Power, finally obtaining the full Triforce he had touched in OoT.

Ganondorf, his ultimate goal realised, made his wish to the Gods:

"Gods! Hear that which I desire! Expose this land to the rays of the sun once more! Let them burn forth!

Give Hyrule to me!!!"

He moves to touch the Triforce, to make his wish come true, only for the King of Hyrule to reappear and make his own wish first, asking that Hyrule be washed away completely, so that Zelda and Link could have a future in a new world, telling Ganondorf to 'drown with Hyrule'. Ganondorf stood perfectly still, with his arm extended to touch the Triforce, and watched as the Triforce floated up and vanished. He laughed, claiming that there was no future for the two, before drawing two swords and attacking.

Zelda tried to help Link by shooting Ganondorf with the bow, but this only served to enrage Ganondorf, so he knocked her out and continued to attack Link. He was held off until Zelda awoke, and the pair defeated him. Link lodged the Master Sword in Ganondorf's forehead. The Evil King chuckled, and commented,

"The wind... It is blowing..."

before being turned to stone. He was then buried beneath along with all of the rest of Hyrule.

Battle
(for the battle with Puppet Ganon see here)

The Wind Waker's battle, unlike Ocarina of Time's battle, Ganondorf does not have the ability to transform into Ganon. He doesn't use magic or lightning and does not have the ability to levitate. Here, Ganondorf fights only with swords. These swords, along with his amazing fighting skills and agility, make him a very deadly enemy. Each sword swipe that connects with Link will deplete one heart. However, the Triforce of Courage will heal him if all of them are depleted.

When the battle starts, Zelda shoots Light Arrows at Ganondorf from Link's bow and Link uses the Master Sword. Ganondorf ignores Zelda and attacks Link, using two long swords as weapons.

Ganondorf must be stunned in one of two ways: by Link using the parry attack when Ganondorf jumps, or by Zelda hitting him with a Light Arrow. Once the boss is stunned, Link gets in hits with the Master Sword.

Eventually, Ganondorf knocks out Zelda, leaving Link to fight on alone without the arrows. He continues to use the parry attack, but Ganondorf becomes harder to hit, and eventually Link aims simply to survive rather than win.

When Zelda wakes up, Link is still without the help of the Light Arrows, because Ganondorf just flips over them. After a few tries, Zelda tells Link that she will shoot the arrows at Link, who must use the Mirror Shield to deflect them at Ganondorf.

When this succeeds, Link rushes towards the stunned Ganondorf. However, just as reaches him, Ganondorf recovers and slices his swords down at Link. Link rolls behind Ganondorf and cuts him in the back, before jumping high into the air. Ganondorf stumbles forward under Link's blow, and Link flips over in mid-air before plunging the Master Sword straight down. Ganondorf looks up and makes to block Link with his swords, but is not quick enough and the Master Sword sinks into his head almost up to the hilt.



Four Swords Adventures
Ganondorf is not apparently the enemy at first, however when Link arrives at the Forest of Darkness the Deku there are under his control. More is revealed about him in the next area, the Desert of Doubt. The Gerudo there know him, but they dislike him because he entered the Pyramid which is sacred to them. He took the Trident of Power and transformed into Ganon (perhaps indicating that the Trident held the Triforce of Power, though the Triforce is never mentioned in the game). After Link defeats Vaati in his palace, the Tower of Winds starts to crumble, and Link and Zelda travel down the tower back to Hyrule. However they are stopped by Ganon, who faces Link in battle. After he is defeated he is locked within the Four Sword.

Battle
Ganon returns with many powers, but after a while he becomes immune to Link's attacks. Zelda then starts forming balls of energy and gives Link the Light Arrows. When the ball of energy is fully formed, Link must fire an arrow into it and into Ganon, whose barrier falls, allowing Link to finish him off.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In essence, Ganondorf is the one behind all the events of Twilight Princess. He was to be executed by the Sages of the Twilight Mirror at Arbiter's Grounds, but he escaped and killed the Water Sage with his hands. He was then sealed away in the Twilight Realm as a result,taking the execution Sword of the Sages with him.

He poses as a god to Zant, who was passed over as the Twilight King. Ganondorf pretends to offer his powers to Zant, without specifically mentioning any requests. Zant agrees, and through Zant, Ganondorf escapes to Hyrule and captures the castle. He serves as the final boss of the game at Hyrule Castle. First, he possesses Princess Zelda. His soul is exorcised from her body by Midna, but he then morphs into his Ganon form. After his Ganon form is defeated by Midna and Wolf Link, Midna warps Link and Zelda to Hyrule Field. She fights him with the power of the Fused Shadows, but loses. Ganondorf is then fought on horseback, where he sends ghost riders to attack the player. Zelda fires light arrows at him, stunning him for long enough for Link to attack. The final battle is a one-on-one sword duel, with Ganondorf using the glowing sword originally intended for his execution, before the fight he draws the sword saying "Would you hear my desire? To take this foul blade and blot out the light forever!", ending with Link impaling Ganondorf with the Master Sword. As this is the last we see of him in this game, it is unknown if he died, though the obvious abandonment he suffers from the Triforce symbol on his hand, and the cracking of Zant's spiritual neck to signify his final death, implies this heavily. However, Ganondorf has been known to escape death several times before this (he was already a powerful sorcerer even without the Triforce of Power, having learned powerful dark magic from his surrogate mothers, Twinrova, as well as the dark magic of the Twili during his imprisonment in the Twilight Realm). The fact that he is alive in A Link to the Past also calls into question what truly happened to Ganondorf at the end of Twilight Princess and casts doubt on his supposed death.

That he is alive in The Wind Waker, is explained by the splitting of timelines between the eras of past and future Link, which occurs when Link is sent back to his childhood at the end of the events of Ocarina of Time. The Wind Waker takes place in the world where Ganondorf ruled Hyrule for seven years and was later imprisoned in the sacred realm.

Battle
First he possesses Zelda, and a battle similar to battles with Phantom Ganon ensues. Then he morphs into Ganon. Ganon charged after Link through Twilight portals, appearing randomly and sudden. Link was able to fire arrows into Ganon's head, leaving his stomach succeptable to attack. Eventually, Link morphed into his wolf form and, with the help of Midna, threw him to the side, and attacked his stomach. After Ganon is finished, Ganondorf jumps on his black horse, and runs around Hyrule Field, making ghost minions attack you. Zelda aids with the light arrows on the back of the horse. If you get knocked off, get back up.

In the last battle, Ganondorf has erected a barrier around himself and Link to prevent Zelda from intervening. As soon as he gets into stance, sandstorms and lightning blow hard. His attacks include simple stabs, what appears to be Link's spin attack, and a charge that Link may attack to initiate a sword lock. To defeat him, Link must either win a sword lock, or attack him from behind.

Humourously, if you use the fishing rod, Ganondorf will stop and turn his head to look at it curiously, giving you an opening.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Ganondorf was for the first time playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee. To unlock him, beat Event Match #29 or play 600 vs. mode matches. His moves are almost exactly the same as Captain Falcon's, but he is slower and more powerful.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Eiji Aonuma first confirmed that game designers have already submitted designs for Sheik, Link and Ganondorf.

...My designers did work on the designs for Sheik and Link and Ganondorf. So they submitted the initial designs, and so it would fit in the Smash Bros. Brawl environment, they’ve had to tweak some of the designs. But Sakurai has brought those altered designs to NCL. We’re working very closely with the team of Smash Bros. Brawl to make sure the characters look their best.

He is based off of his appearance in Twilight Princess. His moves remained largely the same, though visually different. His uppercut now strangles the enemy. His final smash is a running charge at a player as Ganon.

In the storyline, Ganondorf uses the Ancient Minister to drop Subspace bombs on the world, "erasing" it and transporting it into Subspace. He serves under Master Hand, and Bowser is Ganondorf's right hand man. The Ancient Minister (revealed to be a ROB unit) turns on Ganondorf and destroys his supply of bombs. Enraged, Ganondorf flies his HQ airship against the alliance of heroes sent to take him down, which is destroyed when Kirby flies the Dragoon through the hull. Ganondorf and Master Hand turn out to be puppets of a higher being, Tabuu, and both are subdued.

A fact about Ganondorf in Brawl is the lack of the sword used in Twilight Princess even though he's based off of his Twilight Princess design. The sword is only seen in a brawl taunt of Ganondorf.

Ganondorf