Ganondorf

Ganondorf is the ultimate villain in the Legend of Zelda series. Cunning, smart, and extremely powerful, Ganondorf, like most video game villains, plans to rule the world. In some Zelda games, Ganondorf appears in the form of a gigantic boar monster, Ganon (although Ganon is also used to refer to his humanoid form in some cases). In several Zeldas, both forms of the villain appear. Ganondorf transforms into Ganon using the Triforce of Power. Unlike Ganondorf, Ganon is usually a mindless beast who knows nothing except to destroy.

Although there is only one Ganondorf in the series, his appearance, character, and boss battles can vary enormously from game to game. He is the main villain in The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Oracle subseries, The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures, and Twilight Princess. He did not appear in any of the other Zelda games. Ganondorf also created a mirror version of himself, Phantom Ganon, which he furtherly modified into a being of shadow.

Origins
Ganondorf was born a member of the Gerudo tribe a few decades before the beginning of the events of Ocarina of Time. Only one male is born to the Gerudo every 100 years, and according to their traditions that male shall become King of the Gerudo. Thus Ganondorf's original title was 'Gerudo King of Thieves'.

He grew up wanting to take over the land of Hyrule, but his motives were originally unclear, with most people assuming it was simply because he was evil. However, he finally explained it in The Wind Waker, when Link confronted him on top of Ganon's Tower:

"My country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky, a burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter when it came, the wind carried the same thing... Death. But the winds that blew across the green fields of Hyrule brought something other than suffering and ruin. I coveted that wind, I suppose..."

After the King of Hyrule united Hyrule 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 of Power.

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.So, although he says that he needs to have Hyrule for life, he must have some evil and greed within him. When Link awoke from the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf kidnapped Zelda to use her as bait to lure Link into his castle to try and steal the other two pieces of the Triforce from the pair. 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 away 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,

"Someday... When this seal is broken.... That is when I will exterminate your descendants!! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand..." Ganondorf has many sorcerous powers, taught to him by great mages, wizards and Warlocks. Although Ganondorf was born with great magical powers, he needed to expand his strength.



The Legend of Zelda
Ganondorf is in the form of Ganon for all of the games up until Ocarina of Time. In the original Zelda he kidnapped the princess to try and steal the Triforce of Wisdom. Fortunately, Zelda was able to break it into 8 fragments before Ganon captured her, allowing Link to recover the Triforce first and beat Ganon

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.

A Link to the Past
Ganon used 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 conquer 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, before heading to the Pyramid of Power and strengthening the seal.

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.

Ocarina of Time
Link first saw Ganondorf through a window Zelda showed him in Hyrule Castle, as only he and Zelda knew what Ganondorf was plotting. This was also the first time Zelda players saw the Ganondorf form.

Ganondorf cast a death curse on the Great Deku Tree to force him to give him the Kokiri's Emerald. He sent Queen Gohma and other parasites to infect the Deku Tree. The tree did not surrender but gave the emerald to Link and passed away.

Ganondorf also 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. This caused a major starvation crisis for the Gorons. He also filled the cavern with Dodongos to try and repel any intruders should the cave be opened. He was again thwarted, however, when Link blew open the cavern and destroyed all of the Dodongos.

To get the final stone, Zora's Sapphire, Ganondorf sent parasitic creatures into Lord Jabu Jabu, to steal the stone from Princess Ruto when she was inside Jabu Jabu. Once again, Link halted his plans by rescuing Ruto (and the sapphire).

Once Link had all three Spiritual Stones, Ganondorf attacked the castle and took over. 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 an energy ball attack.

When Link opened the Door of Time, Ganondorf took the opportunity to break into the Sacred Realm. He touched the Triforce but because he was imbalanced in the three Triforce powers 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. Only the Chamber of Sages in the Light Temple remained out of his power. 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.

In Ganondorf's birthplace, the Gerudo Desert, most Gerudos remained loyal to him, but his second-in-command, Nabooru, was opposed to his evil ways and plotted to dethrone him. She went to his base of operations, the Spirit Temple in the Desert Colossus and tried to steal the treasures within and disrupt Ganondorf's plans. Unable to crawl through a small hole in the temple, she asked Link to help her, but was captured by Koume and Kotake. It seemed that the problem in the desert had been solved for Ganondorf, but Link escaped to the Temple of Time.

Because of Ganondorf's rule, monsters overran the Kokiri Forest, and Saria was captured by the monsters inside the Forest Temple. Link went to rescue Saria, and Ganondorf spoke to him again 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). He praised Link but told him he would not defeat the real Ganondorf so easily. He called Phantom Ganon worthless and 'banish(ed) him to the gap between dimensions'.

During Ganondorf's reign, there was obvious discontent among all Hyruleans, so Ganondorf decided to wipe out one of the country's races to set an example to the other not to rebel. To do this, he revived the ancient Goron-eating dragon, Volvagia, and captured almost all of the Gorons. He imprisoned them in the Fire Temple in preparation to have them fed to Volvagia. This could have had even more serious repercussions throughout all Hyrule had Volvagia escaped from the temple, as he would have gone on a destructive rampage.

Fortunately, the Sage of Fire, Darunia, and his son, Link, had avoided capture and were able to help the Hylian Link free the Goron and kill Volvagia once again.

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. However, Link once again liberated the temple, and destroyed Morpha.

After this happened, Ganondorf went to Kakariko Village and 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, but Link was once again able to vanquish the monster and restore the temple.

Back in the Spirit Temple, Link was able to kill Ganondorf's loyal minions and surrogate mothers Twinrova, rescuing Nabooru, whom they had brainwashed, in the process.

All of Ganondorf's allies were now defeated, but he finally succeeded in capturing Princess Zelda when she let her guard down and revealed herself to Link. He learned that Zelda held the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link the Triforce of Courage, so 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.

Link, of course, immediately attacked Ganon's castle, and with the help of the six sages destroyed the barriers and entered the keep. Ganondorf kept Zelda prisoner inside a crystal while he played the organ until Link arrived at his chamber.

Ganondorf tried to kill Link, but was himself beaten and brought to the verge of death. With 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 played his trump card and used the Triforce of Power to revive himself and 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.

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 uses '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 green 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. If Ganondorf is hit by it, he is momentarily stunned. He can be stunned in one other way: by using the spin attack to reflect back all of the pieces of the green energy ball.

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 (Link can also get in a sneaky Light Arrow shot when Ganondorf is charged a green energy ball. Link then either uses the Longshot, the Hover Boots, or jumps, to get to Ganondorf and strike him with his sword.

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 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 delivers the final blow to Ganon's forehead.

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 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 moved to touch the Triforce, to make his wish come true. However, before he could reach it, the King of Hyrule reappeared and made his own wish first, asking that Hyrule be washed away again, so that Zelda and Link could have a future in a new world. He cursed 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 the Triforce was nothing compared to his own power. He drew two swords, and attacked Link and Zelda.

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 former Evil King chuckled, and commented,

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

before being turned to stone. He was then buried beneath the sea as Old Hyrule vanished, having lost even the Triforce of Power.

Battle
(for the battle with Puppet Ganon see here)

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.

It is posable that you can lose all your hearts - however, the Triforce will be able to heal you.

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 escaped and kills a sage, but was sealed away in the Twilight Realm as a result.

He poses as a god to Zant, who was passed over as the Twilight King. He gives him his powers in exchange for his spirit inhabiting his body. 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 excercised from her body by Midna, but then morphs into his Ganon form. After his Ganon form is destroyed by Midna and Wolf Link, Midna warps Link and Zelda to Hyrule Field. She fights him with the Fused Shadows, but loses.

Ganon is then fought on horseback, where he sends ghost riders (possibly Phantom Ganons) to attack the player. Zelda fires light arrows at him, allowing the player to attack. His final form is a sword duel. The player must kill him with a Finishing Move.

Before he dies, he says, "It is not over yet. The history of light and shadow will be written in blood."