I wanted to add something I originally cut from the video but I think is important for how I've seen Ganondorf in TOTK vs. Wind Waker. I believe TOTK Ganondorf is threatening and certainly chilling. Even now, every time I explore below Hyrule Castle, I'm terrified, but that may as well be a result of atmosphere rather than Ganondorf. But where TOTK really faltered over Wind Waker is the motive. I hope I made that clear in the video, but despite Wind Waker Ganondorf being cartoony, he felt present and had purpose in his tyranny. It's not a bad thing to have simple villains, but it's not a bad thing to have more complex villains either, especially with their impact on the world as Ganondorf needed with the Gerudo. And I've seen some people talking about the original Japanese translation having a better story and it certainly sounds better, so I suppose I wish the translators brought that to english better. But hey, that's just a comment, A Zelda comment-- I'm just gonna go eat some ramen and work on my next video. See you then.
Ganondorf in TOTK was a return to form. We are just happy he's back and back with charisma. They certainly could’ve added further nuance to his character, but I don’t believe delving into the WW route would’ve achieved that. It’s too late for that. Ganondorf is evil, no way around it. No point to try to make him tragic or sympathetic. Calamity Ganon tormented Hyrule for 10k years. Even from a structural level, you can’t just go from that to a sympathetic Ganondorf, the source of this evil (Calamity Ganon is basically an oversized Phantom Ganon). It’s better that they doubled down and made Ganondorf a greedy, power hungry menace who chose to denounce his humanity to become the Demon King (and later Divine Dragon). I’m happy Nintendo chose to go with spectacle for the writing here.
Here's the problem with you're views on TWW Ganondorf, he's lying. Not only does the game make that clear, we know the motivations behind his actions for most of the series.
Wind Waker's Ganondorf was a complex villain? The whole thing was kinda "Im gonna destroy Hyrule because the life in the desert is so hard",it was just a stupid justification,not that deep
So this is just down to a misunderstanding of the character. In Twilight Princess Ganondorf never makes it to the events of Ocarina of Time. Link goes back and rats him out before that ever happens. That version of Ganon never actually does anything and is stopped before he can. He is tossed into a dark realm. He never even met Link, let alone fought a version of him until Twilight Princess. The version from Windwaker is humbled. He lost to Link in OoT. He had to taste defeat and keep going. They're the same character with entirely different motivations because of their experiences. This version of Ganon is the same as OoT. He's got his plan. We don't know all the details. Maybe he's hiding them. Maybe he feels the same as the Windwaker Ganon but hasn't dwelled on that motivation yet. Ganondorf is a pretty basic character by design, but each of his encounters with the Hero spirit shape who he becomes.
I think TotK Ganondorf literally is OoT Ganondorf. I believe the Zonai were sent by the goddesses to help repair the split timelines and reunite them back into one unified existence. With the Zonai around, Ganondorf still tries his thing like he did in OoT, but Link is no longer needed, the Master Sword is never pulled, and the timeline is never split. The Imprisoning War *IS* OoT but an alternate version where Zonai existed to prevent a time split
@@DraperJake I mean maybe, but until better evidence comes out for another theory that what I’m going with. It’s the only explanation for why they suddenly disappeared, why there are two Temple of Times, and why locations, items, and characters from all three timelines show up in this Hyrule
@@tyeklund7221 The explanation is that it's just its own timeline. Minor spoiler here, but the White Sword of the Sky is in the game, which completely contradicts the Master Sword from before the timeline split. They clearly have tossed the idea of it being a timeline out and they're just making good stories. Don't think so hard on it. I assure you they didn't. They just made it work for this game.
This is a common misconception. Gandorf's motivation in tears of the kingdom is quite obvious. Battle and power are what matters to him, he looks around and he sees a world where nobody alive could bear to fend for themselves, and this disgusts him. When told about link he simply states that he looks forward to meeting him, displaying a desire for a challenge. When he awoke he mutated monsters to give them weaponized horns capable of significant destruction. He SPECIFICALLY mentions how the world shouldn't be sheltered in light and should face the crushing truth of darkness. He grew up in the ancient desert, where dominion allowed survival, and weakness led to swift death. This caused him to see the world in a might makes right way, and desire the same viewpoints from all those around him. He has an obsession, the obsession leads to ignorance, which leads to uncaringness, which leads to evil.
This is apparently made more clear in the original Japanese dub, but the English dub portrays this pretty poorly. I can see why he is the way he is, but I can't even attempt to empathize with him like WW Ganondorf because they don't expand on his motives. A little dialogue or exposition in Hyrule Castle with the sages would've been a good opportunity to make the player think about this guy a bit more. Instead he's almost childishly evil.
I kinda relate this gannon in totk to godfrey from elden ring as both are warriors and live by that mindset in a way as they both have the same breathing animation for gannon it's his menace unleashed form, whilst for godfrey it's his second phase (I forgor the name.)
@@mixtressreve "The Legend of Zelda: Hero's Purpose part 5" made me want to empathize with Ganondorf. Sadly I know Nintendo would never write a character that well
I read from a comment from another video that Ganondorf's motives are explained in the Japanese translation. Basically, he hates how soft the world has become ever since the zonai came to Hyrule and wants to bring it back to its original state of anarchy. You can even see fragments of this in the english translation with his fake alliance to Hyrule and his final speech. Even in his interactions with Rauru, you see fragments of hatred and malice towards him and those he holds dear. He still has similar motivations to Oot and TP's Ganondorfs, but it still adds a little bit more character to him. Wish they kept it in the english translation, though.
Video where I found the comment is "The Ganondorf We Deserved" by Synergy96. He basically talks about how much better of a boss fight Totk Ganondorf is compared to every other iteration's final Ganondorf battles. (Which he is right)
Yes and no. The dragon shit was dope especially since i never got the Master sword so i got an extra bonus cutsce. BUT! We don’t final stab Ganondorf! They shitted on Zelda history XD
@@captain_unhinged4372 Wtf, yes you do. You get a final stab prompt after destroying all the weak spots and plunge the master sword into Ganondorf's secret stone. He then falters around a bit before his secret stone shatters and he finally meets his fate, with a massive explosion no less.
@@masonstewart6232 You stab the stone! You don’t stab him! They babyfied this series, so sad. In Oot you stab through the head, Ww another stab in the head, and in TP a stab in the chest! Totk… You break a stone…
They could’ve just reused the motivation of Windwaker’s Ganondorf, and no one would’ve complained. ToTK has by far the most threatening version of Ganondorf we’ve seen, so making his motivations understandable would’ve been incredible. Also, I wish we got a Ganon’s Tower sorta dungeon in The Depths as the final dungeon. That would’ve been awesome.
I’m sure you’ve seen other comments, but Ganondorf in totk does have a defined motivation. He was raised in a very harsh, survival of the fittest environment, which led to him resenting the new kingdom of Hyrule .which was ruling through peace and order. He wants to plunge the world back into chaos and darkness.
@@peanutbutter6720 which is exactly why I don’t like him the game doesn't properly establish this and instead have him get what he wants as soon as he's introduced for gosh sakes my man's only has 2 cutscenes to introduce him as a character, and even if japanese translation has it explained more they should have showed that in the English version I'm not gonna give him free brownie points for what he was meant to be they should have gannon have a cutscene to explain why he's so evil aside from, he thinks hyrule is too nice, which definitely seems like a reasonably reason to put you clan in danger just to spite someone else who has done nothing but help you, gannon is poorly written
They would've had a great chance for that to happen had they not destroyed the Secret Stone of him, then it could become something akin to a Shadow Sage Stone making Ganondorf some form of Sage of Shadow (that's what the word Gloom means afterall), then a new iteration of Vaati could become a thing and find the Stone and become a Dark Wind Mage, thus a sort of Sage of Shadow
I disagree with the thesis: thirst for power is a completely rational and understandable motivation -- we see it here on Earth plenty. Having said that, and as others have pointed out, Ganon's motivation isn't just for power -- it's to return the world to a state of chaos and survival of the fittest. However, I do agree that Ganondorf doesn't quite work in TOTK. To me, it's an issue of not using his character. In Wind Waker, you see him several times throughout the game -- even directly interact with him, and you see him brushing you aside. Those few plot beats do a lot of work in making him feel like an indomitable foe. Not sure how I'd replicate that in TOTK, though. There's the overriding design ethos that you should be able to dive down and thwomp him the moment the game starts, so you can't literally make him unbeatable. I'm leaning toward the phantom ganons -- give him some voice lines whenever you defeat one of them. "Hahahaha....nice work, whelp" or something to that effect. Just something to establish that he sees you and he's not worried about your progress at all. Doubt that'd be enough, but it's a start?
People constantly wanting all psychopaths gone in stories. But then Jack Horner is celebrated for being this one dimensional evil... weird how people see the same kind of villains in different settings.
People just won't admit that they can't be pleased. Their wants are inconsistent and change the moment they're disastisfied. If a villain is entertaining, they don't care if they have no depth, but if they don't find that compelling they demand explanation. If a villain has a "reasonable" motive, they consider them complex, but if they don't find that motive understandable, they demand people stop trying "shove" complexity down their throats.
There’s also the fact that Jack Horner was accompanied by Goldi and the Bears, as well as The Wolf in terms of filling out villain roles. I agree with you, about the whole one-dimensional villain thing, but Jack Horner wasn’t the only villain in The Last Wish, and people could look to the others if they got bored of are irritated by him.
@@I.T.P Could just as well point to Joker or most Dragonball villains. Their motivations are just as bland as Ganondorfs: They enjoy causing suffering anf being dominant over other people.
@@DundG I haven’t watched Dragonball, so I’m just going to assume you’re right on that regard. You’re partially right about Joker though, while he does indeed enjoy causing as much suffering as possible, it’s all in an attempt to break Batman. His unique “relationship” with Batman is part of why people like him. This is especially true in a more recent comic, or I think it’s semi-recent, I don’t actually read comics, just people’s reviews of them. In the comic, a new villain is trying to get Batman’s rouges to conquer Gotham completely, by helping them do it. The only thing he has Joker do in these plans though, is kill Batman, which Joker continuously worms his way out of because he just doesn’t want to do it, instead using the new villain to help him come up with a plan to ruin Gotham altogether, all in an attempt to break Batman. He enjoys being a pure evil villain, but his main motivation for it is wanting to make him crack, which, no matter what form, never changes.
@@I.T.P This unique connection still boils down to him being a sadistic maniac. He happens to find the most competent, smart, and disziplined person ever who also gives him unlimited chances to try to break him due to his rule. So breaking this ideal of order is the biggest egostroke he could get, which again is self serving just like Ganondorf taking every oportunity to stroke his selfimportance. Joker also is portrayed as quite pathetic the moment someone else is near to killing him, as being killed by anyone else but the great Batman is a huge blow to his self importance. Ganondorf is also a bad looser and all his talk about respecting strength gets thrown out the window once Link, a "mere human" proves himself stronger than him. Joker abd Ganondorf are actually very similiar, but with different situations.
People do realize Ganondorf isn't some deep complex character right? he never was. Ganondorf has always been as he appears at face value: an Evil man that became a monster through his own greed. and this WORKS, people simply cannot accept that not every villian is some deep flawed character.
Honestly I like how simple it is, yes it's just like a ton of other villains who are evil and crave power but like you said it works, simple yes, bad? Not at all
Ikr? Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom is fantastic. He's just evil and there's nothing more to it than that and I think that makes him a much more intimidating villain as opposed to a character that's humanised like in the Wind Waker.
no, but at least he needs to be fun to watch, and this ganondorf has criminally little screentime, even in the memories that are SUPPOSED to be showing his rise to power. its also a problem with having an open world, he cant have an active role in the present if the player wants to collect 1000 koroks instead of progressing the main story. the fact that he wakes up after like 100,000 years & all he does is hide in a hole could have easily been explained that he was specifically waiting to fight link before starting his invasion because rauru hyped him up so much, but instead he’s just an asshole to you when you do show up, he SHOULD be acting super thrilled to finally get a good fight
@Joshua Kolb This Ganondorf has the most screen time out of any Ganondorf in the series, provided you uncover all the memories. It's also made clear that he is regenerating himself and building up his power beneath Hyrule Castle during all the present day shenanigans. After being sealed away for 100,000 years or so it would make sense that it would take some time for him to fully recover his power.
He is the reincarnated Demise, him being evil for the sake of being evil works because of that. It's like a kid contintuint to respawn in a video game just to try to spite the one who killed them.
@Aaron Fletcher Its not behind the scenes; it's shown in past games. There too many games to recap everything, not to mention that would mess with the ambiguity of the different timelines.
@@nick6253 Thats what I mean too, you shouldnt have had to play the older games. Plus theres alot of new comers. Its just a lazy way to do it coming from a person that knows all about Zelda lore. Timelines should be the last thing they should worry about. First is making a great game, with a great story within its game. It should have a more established history and more present story like older Zelda games
@@H-TownGamer In the context of TotK it really doesn't matter WHY he's evil. He's shown through the Dragon Tears to be a genocidal maniac, and that's really all there is to it in the English version. There's a little more to his motivations in the JP ver, but not too terribly much and it's still very much an evil motivation. He's evil for the same reason Calamity Ganon was evil. Because they're evil. That's all there needs to be. Not all villains need to have an understandable motivation. Some people, even in real life, just want to watch the world burn. And what do you mean, "like older Zelda games"? In all the Top-Down Zelda games, Ganon is literally just a classic evil demon with no backstory or motivation beyond genocide and destruction. In OoT, Ganondorf had no motivation beyond conquest and power. In TP, Ganondorf also had no motivation beyond conquest, power and revenge. It was only in Wind Waker where he had anything resembling a greater motivation, and based on his previous appearance, that could very well have been a complete fabrication to try and win sympathy points with Link. All of the games have incredibly simplistic antagonists and all of the ones that feature Ganondorf except arguably for OoT require some knowledge of previous games in the timeline for everything to make sense.
@@K2niarDneK I think you are not seeing what im saying. IDC what motives he has just make him have a major role in the game and make his motives clear at all time. If he just wants to see the world burn, Have Gannon let Link know that. So that the Players feels the threat of Gannon at all times. He needed a stronger presence in this game. They did good in the very begining and end but missed the whole middle of the game. Which is... most of the game
I always thought it would be interesting to be able to play through the events of Ocarina of Time from Ganondorf's perspective. I mean, you start out as Ganondorf taking the tests to become King of the Gerudos as a basic gameplay tutorial. Then you are taken to the Spirit Temple where you are introduced to the Witches Twinrova. They immediately sense your grand destiny and begin teaching you magic to summon curses and monsters. With this Magic you can travel around the region and curse the three races, setting up for the Hero's intervention. Then you enter the Sacred Realm, a world as large as Hyrule itself, (if Link to the Past is any indication) to search for the Triforce. This takes searching several more locations of power, but you finally discover it. When you find it, you wish for Power, resulting in the Triforce of Power splitting off from the other two parts. With the Triforce split, you must then go and begin to lay curses and send minions to corrupt the Temples of Hyrule to secure your power base in a bid to recover the other two pieces. The game culminates in Ganondorf facing down the Hero of Time at his full power. This victory grants Ganon the full Triforce again and his second wish- to live forever. This leads into the Downfall Timeline.
it almost feels like there’s a few missing dragon tears, like what happens between Ganondorf swearing fealty & stabbing Sonia? why do we need to see a scene of Zelda & Sonia having a tea party, but we don’t get one of Ganondorf doing Littlefinger shenanigans in Rauru’s court?? OOT Ganondorf wasn’t a complex character, but he also had way more of a role in the story, he’s a machiavellian warlock who tricks you, the player, into doing his work for him twice! Drybones Ganon literally just sits under Hyrule Castle the whole game, and it isnt explained that he’s “amassing power” or “healing”, because then it could ruin it if the player just goes to him immediately before doing the temples. we dont see him conquering Hyrule, we dont even know the names of the other 4 sages! if we can have lorebreaking fanservice items like Majora’s Mask & the Goddess Sword, why cant we get another bossfight with the ghosts of Twinrova? that would be way better than the 50th Gloom Hands fight we get in the Deku Tree, and its such an easy way to add just a tiny bit of depth to Ganon’s character
Ganondorf doesn't need a complex motive or character his evil ambitions has been cemented by Demise in Skyward sword he is the undying Curse placed oh hyilla and those associated with her bloodline Ganondorf will always cause Chaos and destruction it's what he was made to do
@@H-TownGamer Skyward Sword HD is on switch it's available for new gen and I encourage all Zelda players to go back and play the older gems if possible
@@tyshonruffin1053 Ive beat all the games including SS im just saying I think its an easy cop out to say well hes already been writen or explanied before. It should have a good story that makes his presence very strong throught the adventure. Not just tid bits and the end
That was maybe true for the original Ocarina of Time Ganondorf that also appeared in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but you're forgetting that Nintendo basically ended all timelines and the entire Zeldaverse with BOTW and TOTK and created a new one. This new Zaldaverse has no Triforce, goddess Hylias significance is reduced to be merely a statue that grants Link heartcontainers and Demise doesn't play a role at all. The Ganondorf of TOTK has no connection to the Ganondorf of Ocarina of Time and therfore no connection to Demise.
its because Skyward Sword got so much hate & Nintendo is allergic to learning the right lessons from why certain titles underperform, so they decided that what the fans really hated was the lore dump, but not the motion controls
@@Freelancer837 dumb complaints lead to dumb decisions, pretty much what happens with many other games (can't name them though since my memory is poopoo)💀
It's an outdated plot device and clashes with modern Zelda lore. There being three goddesses with the triforce whilst there's also Hylia somehow, the fact that it's a physical object but also not sometimes and it's powers have always been widely inconsistent You can't even say it makes the bearers of it stronger or something. Ganon in alttp somehow had the whole Triforce and still got his butt slapped by a version of Link that was pretty underwhelming, whilst other incarnations of Ganon with only one third of the triforce beat the shit out of much stronger Links
One simple solution, demise in sky sword said that he would put everyone in a loop always ending in a calamity, that being ganondorf. On a side note, it would be cool if the last zelda game was based around finally ending the loop.
He didn't put anyone in a loop in the original Japanese text. He simply explained that the cycle of suffering(which is a part of Saṃsāra, Saṃsāra is perpetuated by the three poisons:greed, hate, ignorance/delusion and one's good or bad karma. A demon king is eternally attached to Saṃsāra), the demon tribe and the hatred of the demon tribe/hatred towards the gods/hatred of Saṃsāra that already exists will continue to exist without him. He explained a concept that is intrinsic to the universe "evil will always exist as long as light exists no matter how many times the light overcomes it, light has the side effect of causing jealousy to exist, jealousy leads to hunger/lust which means negative feelings and desires". He said that there will always be successors/manifestations/embodiments/incarnations of the hatred of Saṃsāra and that Link and Zelda's successors and descendants will always be in conflict with the demon tribe. Demise's soul decayed into nothingness inside the Master sword as Impa implies and it was eradicated by a Triforce wish in the present era.
He is a blood knight. the story is an ironic take on "hard times make strong men" apparently in every translation but the English one. He believed the zonai made weak people with thier Tech and magics. He proves his own point in tears of the kingdom by creating hard times for all the races, as a result they became strong. However it is not enough for him, and it becomes evident he just wants to fight really strong people. The English translation conveys this to some degree... but its mostly glossed over because he uses general accusations towards character's that don't really clarify what he means, and so a lot of people assume hes just plain evil.
I honestly think the Tears version of Ganondorf is the same from OOT. I think it's very clear that Tears takes place within the downfall timeline, where the hero fails, however very, VERY far into the future. I think a lot of the evolutionary changes to the Rito/Zora and Kokiri/Koroks will happen overtime, regardless, as well. I also think the reason the Triforce isn't even mentioned, is because it's sacred power takes the form of Zelda's Sealing Power.
how is it clear lol, the Zonai don't fit anywhere in the timeline. I think he would also remember Link and Zelda if it was the same guy. In TP and WW he has beef with the princess and this rando green kid, in Totk he doesn't even seem to be aware of the existence of the Triforce
@@highdefinition450 I was thinking we’d actually get an explanation on what the trifurcation was in this game, but no villain that is pretty much Fire Lord Ozai
@@highdefinition450 The Zonai being one of the races that was imprisoned in the Twilight Realm becoming the Twilight people is a nice theory I like. Also, I think the triforce thing can be explained with how the Secret Stones would take precedence for him when he sees how easy it is to wield it and how relatively unguarded they are, on top of how powerful they are
@@highdefinition450maybe for the simple fact that TOTK and BOTW are located at the end of the timeline and that all three timelines collided back into one. So after Ganondorf dies after TP he loses possession of his piece of the Triforce and during that exact moment all three timelines collide back into one timeline again and after a couple thousand years of all three timelines colliding back into one the events of the Zonai descending from the heavens happens the revival of the kingdom of Hyrule through Ruara happens with no knowledge of the Triforce existing at all and then the imprisoning war happens and so on
I think Zelda games should have the Villian have a major role in the story that feels like a threat at all times. You shouldnt have to dig in the lore all the time either. I hear that alot. No the game should explain that to you, so that its important. It shouldnt be oh if you played the old games or if you knew about the lore. Thats just lazy, it should feel like we get to know Gannon through the game
I like how everyone in the community for zelda assumes that this is in the timeline as frankly I think that both botw and totk are a separate one quite clearly based on how nothing matches with other games except for some easter eggs which if you even wanted to include the stuff related then it's probably just a myth in both games as the era of myth is before the kingdom of hyrule was founded so anything before that were probably just stories if we want the timeline to affect the game for some reason.
I completely agree, Nintendo have been vocal about not wanting the timeline to restrict creative freedom, yet people try to force the games in and are confused when it doesn’t fit.
Remember when Zelda said in BotW that Calamity Ganon has given up on reincarnating? That's because this Ganondorf actually is a different incarnation which was never the case in the previous games. Keep in mind both BotW and TotK and their pre-stories play far, far, far, FAR in the future of all three timelines. Btw I find it great that this Ganondorf is just evil. We get way too many whiny emos these days rather than proper villains.
Ganon never gave up on reincarnation in BOTW, that’s just a translation error. In the Japanese version he essentially doubles down on his efforts to reincarnate.
Nope it was retconned Tears was actually original supposed to be OOT Ganondorf breath’s written lore and in game story shows this but typical Nintendo they have a major hate for lore and continuity now unlike years ago doing the 2000s
Wind Waker is also the reason why I can never get tired of BOTW’s art-style. I always loved the idea that BOTW Link is grown up toon Link (even though that is obviously not the case) and that the game itself is an emotional and slightly grittier sequel to that charming and beautiful game. I always keep on the Sea-Breeze Shield just to enhance that idea 😂
It still amazes me that people take Ganondorf, a sadistic master manipulator hellbent on power and domination, for his word in Wind Waker despite his actions and self centered lines. He slips up when he demands Hyrule be given to him. Not the Gerudo. HIM. He has the knowledge of defeat in OoT in Wind Waker. He's been able to plot out his plan for generations. To think he wouldn't try to inspire sympathy from those that hold the keys he needs instead of doing exactly what he did in OoT again is a bit naive. We know he's cunning. But you can't take his word at face value when his goal is still pure power and dominance. He wanted what the people of Hyrule for himself, not to be shared with his people.
Yup I mean the very fact he never actually brought his people out of the desert when he conqued Hyrule is alredy proof of how little he cared about them.
this ganondorf has no intentions and knowledge of gaining the triforce also his goal was still to conquer hyrule but in different means,which was brute force meanwhile he learned of the sacred stones that raru was possessing so he changed plans and was pretending to make peace. this ganondorf will go very far to gain what he wants even if it means the destruction of hyrule. imo i say he works well and is very close to his ooc counterpart.
yeah i have no idea where we put this in the timeline, but ill do what i can to try to help it find a place i really dont think its a retelling of OOT, because its supposed to take place at hyrules founding, and oot was pretty well after hyrule was founded, but also the imprisoning war is pretty accurate to what it might've been. but yet, there is still so much missing, and there is just so much to really dive into that i just cant in one comment, so i hope some zelda theorists can get together and solve this because its really bugging me.
I would’ve loved for Ganondorf (when he was the mummified corpse) to say: “We meet again…Zelda. And you too, Link…” I wanted to see him acknowledge himself as the reincarnated form of the Calamity, shocking Zelda and Link upon awakening. But they had to pull a “different guy, same face” schtick.
Just saying, there is no reason to have Ganondorf as the main villain in this game other than fan service. The character has diverted so far from the original concept they may as well had made a new villain and it would have worked even better. The villain is actually good, but is weighed down by Ganon(dorf) legacy more than improving it.
The reason why this Ganondorf doesn't work for me is because he's just some random guy, throughout most of the series the Ganon/Dorf we encounter is just the future or past of the same entity. In the first couple of games we encounter the Ganon that defeated the Hero of Time corrupted by the Triforce of Power. We eventually see his progression into this beast in OOT, only to encounter him and his various developments throughout the timelines (His eventual defeat and regret in the adult timeline, and his wrath upon being thwarted in the child timeline) there's history with him, and that history has meaning. With the Ganondorf in TOTK he just exists, he's just another incarnation with none of the history or growth that the previous had and so it just comes across as shallow. I don't feel anything when I encounter this version, all he represents is the Gerudo King that wants power. The weird thing is it's an easy fix, if they made this Ganondorf the same guy as the one we defeat in Twilight Princess the impact would have been there without needing to change much at all. He would recognize Link and Zelda because their respective incarnations struck him down, and the reason why his physical form survived all this time due to the incarnation of his hatred through the Malice. It would change the presence of this new Ganondorf for the better, instead of being a mere reincarnation that wants to take over this new Hyrule he would be a lingering plague throughout the Kingdom's History and no matter what the heroes do, no matter the timeline or alternate reality his hatred just won't burn out.
I think I may have the answer as to a possible connection to TOTK Ganon and his motive. While extremely cryptic, I think I may have uncovered a strong theory based on something I’ve found in game. This video helps me a lot as well by ruling out wet and dark. Thx!!!
I'd like to see a Totk sequel featuring Vaati as the new villain. He always struck me as a villain that could be written to be more complex than ganondorf. Ganondorf is supposed to be evil incarnate. Vaati could be inspired by Ganondorf's magic and learns it for himself to summon monsters and stuff but his motives could be completely different and nuanced if the writers wanna write something. But LoZ villains have never really been the focus of the games. They're there to provide the bare minimum in conflict for the plot. Not every villain is meant to be a thanos or killmonger.
but zant was interesting because his story was ironic. Yuga was interesting because he actually managed to upstage Gannon in a struggle for power. And skull kid was weird as fuck. It doesn't take too much, like if they literally asked monolith soft how they write their stories it would instantly become more interesting, because even xenioblades/sagas weakest villain is written ten times as well as basically every Zelda villain.
You're wrong and misunderstand Wind Waker Ganondorf scene and words. He didn't care about HIS people/the Gerudo or seek the triforce for revenge if you read the whole scene and not cut out the remaining part. WW Dorf is not humanized nor he is having complex ambiguous motives.
Ganondorf has never been the world's most complicated character. But that's okay. Zelda games are alot about tone, setting, and gameplay. Often times they have fairly simple storylines and characters
Yea he is a bit 2Diemsional in a evil for evils sake but i'm ok with it. Dictators are usually like this too, evil and power hungry. I did wish there was a bit more of mummy ganon, that was creepily awesome. He just kind of stopped being mummy ganon at will.
Honestly, what was the point of using "Ganondorf" for Tears of the Kingdom if they weren't going to explore his relationship and dynamic with the Gerudos? It feels like a waste. Especially since it could have been explored way more thoroughly than ever with the cutscenes. Ganondorf felt like a missed oportunity and it almost seems like they were just trying to get some profit off of some iconic aspects of Ocarina of Time through fanservice. Now don't get me wrong, Ganondorf has never been a very developped villain but this game was the perfect opportunity to finally explore in debth this aspect of Ganondorf that was introduced in Wind Waker. TotK could have even had it's own spin on why Ganondorf wants the Gerudo people to thrive in Hyrule. Idk, i was just hoping for more. I'm hoping that we get to see more of Ganondorf in the past with the Gerudos if we get a DLC. Make him more than just the generic evil dude.
I agree. The fact that is a Gerudo meens nothing. I keep seeying talk about him being evil for evil sake and thats great but not everyone thinks the same. I feel they could have brought Demise's curse and how it affects him. I'm not a fan of him being Demise reincarnated. I mean it could have been that the being Ganon is the curse. The calamity may have been Ganondorf trying to separete himself from it.
Ganondorf isnt actually meant to be a Villain with a reason to be evil. Lorewise he is literally the Anti Christ of the entire franchise. Not some dude like Bowser who wants to have a wife by his side or someone like Kratos who feels betrayed by the Olympian Gods and slaughters them one by one. Ganondorf is Evil, STRAIGHT UP Evil. And in my opinion the only reason he had a "change of heart" is Because of the fact that he realized that the Gods were against him, the gods hate him, the Gods fear him. Imagine it like this: You are the President of your country and start a terrible war that almost makes humanity go extinct. Then god himself comes to you to stop your evil doings and then abandons you by sending you into the abys. It's quiet depressing to see that your god - or your Gods in his case - abandon you.
Ganondorf has and always will be evil for evil's sake due to how he was created as an incarnation of Demise. Whether he justifies his evil with excuses doesn't change that fact. He may very well have had a similar motivation in TOTK but with them being chained to BOTW's memory formula, effectively making Link a passive protagonist in his own game, we don't get the full context of what was going on. That's the biggest flaw.
Unfortunately the next zelda game we get will be in like 7 years with a new link, new art style and if we aren't fighting a completely new ganondorf it will just be ganon, or if we're lucky demise. They tried for years sayoing "ganondorf is this one guy" Link reincarnates to save him and there is "a" princess zelda, but now the cats out of the bag. All three reincarnate the same way, and the stories are loose legends. Starfox fights Andross, Samus fights Ridley, Mario fights Bowser. If you let nintendo make games, rather than third parties, Miyamoto will insist on telling the same story because he does not like games to be narative experiences. Legend of Zelda has fought for years to try and be different, shoving interesting characters and ideas into side quests and townsfolk, but really only breaks the mold in time crunches, or when the games are farmed out to capcom. The timeline split itself was the explicit result of the developers needing a way to kill ganon again, kicking that can down the time line. This is exactly why TotK took six years to make and it's main story is rushed to hell, with each sage cutscene being identical.
Did you play the same game I did?? Ganondorf hates the zonai for bringing peace to the world with their powers and creations. Ganondorf values strength above all and feels that hardship would lead to a better (in his mind) world. The dialogue makes this obvious. I think it falls a little short in English, though. But the Japanese is more clear. Also, the "kneeling Ganondorf" scene is similar because it's the same scene. I think that TotK shows the true events of history and other games have been half remembered retel;lings of that events. They've been LEGENDS of Zelda.
It's funny that Ganondorf claims he wants life to be hard and more challenging because ounce he actually fraced a strong opponent in Link he basically threw a temper tantrum and raged quit. Also it's pretty clear the just threw the old lore out the window for this game and basically just soft rebooted the series
@@4wheal yes, it's an internal character dissonance. He claims he wants a world where the strong rise to the top, but he really wants to be that strong man on the top. He's a villain. He is not honest, neither with others or himself.
@@Rune_Scholar Aka he is bully that likes to act tough and then will cry when he dosent get his turn. He also has the lost embarrassing death out of any other Ganondorf and he was also not even in human form for it.
This games story feels like “Oot” and every downfall timeline game “Rebooted” into this Japanese esque take on the story. Kinda like how the Fnaf games and Books are ”Same, but different”.
Man I've been hearing people be critical of totk ganondorf and how "he just evil for evil sacks" "he doesn't have any real motivation" . Trust me I get it I understand where you're coming from, but I still can't help but like him.idk I feel like pure evil villain get a bad rep nowadays. Hell some consider it bad story tell but with pure evil there motivation matter a lot less than them as character's. But that probably just me
a theory i have is all the ganondorfs and ganons we have seen thru all the games are simply just a projection of totk's ganondorf, as this ganondorf is by far the strongest we have seen to date.
I think the judgement of character is a personal opinion so I won't even go there, but this ganon, the story, the betrayal in the past.... all very very good. I prefer it over WW and TP.. Where this Ganondorf should be seen as Imposing would be in his phantoms all across Hyrule which have caused plenty of heart attacks and no spoiler but the path to him and the battle itself is one of the, if not THE hardest fight in a Zelda title. Especially considering how in TOTK you can just cheese enemies most of the time... The scariness, the open world encounters with him, and the final fight itself lead to this version of him feeling VERY imposing. Compared to the linear style in previous titles where he is badass and scary, but not like this. He betrayed the King of Hyrule just like in OOT He murdered the first Queen of Hyrule Forced Zelda to become an immortal Dragon Sat in exile for an unprecedented amount of time Reawoke and turned a max powered Link that destroyed the Calamity into a 3 heart noob Tore apart the Master Sword like it was childs play ( a feat NEVER before seen in Zelda) This guy fits the imposing description, and is by far the most terrifying ganondorf.
I'm not gonna see the video yet cause I didn't finished the main story yet, but I agree Ganondorf doesn't work at all in Totk... is a retconned game, with many plot holes in it. There is no way Ganondorf knew about the sword, the forest, the dragons, the sheikah tech, anything. He took control over sheikah tech in BotW for no reason and without knowing that was a thing in the first place. Also, various calamities are supposed to happen between the 10000 years gap and present. Also the clothy thingy (forgot the name iun english) that explains the calamity that Impa has at home has an event that according to TotK would never had happened... they messed this game's story so badly is a shame cause everyone is praising that the story is good... and it is just by it's own, as a sequel is trash...
@@Cats-yy8nt In Ganondorf's own words "thousands of years will pass in the blink of an eye." He was never in control of the calamities because he was experiencing time way faster than everyone else. So there is no way he could know about the Sheikah tech.
Im surprised you can say that with an oot profile. Remember when you came out of the temple as an adult and saw the absolute state of hyrule. Does TOTK has any of that? Just a generic evil dude.
@@karunsv1785 WAT U TALKING ABOUT??????????????????? WE ALL KOW HIS BACK STOR Y AND THIS GAME WAS A PRESENT FOR DIE HARD ZELDA FANS ITS A RETEELIGN OF OOT
Man TOTK purposely showed a Ganondorf that is similar to Demise they have the same mindset the survival of the fittest, both wanted to create a world that only the worthy can live, and the pitiful and weak would not have a chance for survival. He is a evil version of Goku he want that everyone would be a challenge to him so that he could fight until his heart content, but for that weakilings should not exist.
Ganondorf's motives feel weak and childish. If you say that he sees the rest of Hyrule as too weak, I don't think he could justify his own acts towards himself. It feels more like a 'I hate light, friendship and happiness and that's why I'm gonna destroy the world.' basic motive. To me, if they had given him the intense urge to conquer and destroy that wouldn't stop, like a voice in his head or a gut feeling coming from Demise, would have been an equally easy but less bland way of doing the exact same. But they chose not to flesh out Ganondorf at all...
Well psychopaths also don't have deep reasons for doing what they're doing. They do it for the thrill of it. They don't care how compelling their motivation is to you, you're just prey. So... That's what Ganondorf is!
@@DundG @DG You're excusing lazy writing with a headcanon fan theory because the game itself never implies anything, let alone it say he's 'just a psychopath'
@@nowifate I prefer "show not tell"... It's not like you would say "understandable, have a nice day" after some charakter ingame says "Ganondorf os a psychopath". But if you want, I will put an entire analysis on TotK Ganondorf for you here to show that he's a psycho.
It probably takes place in a alternative version of oot (just after) during the beginning of twilight princess, yet with zelda going back in time. Essentially totk zelda warns the king of that time, rather then the oot child zelda (regardless of if link of oot does anything at all, infact, the oot story was probably never kicked off because of this, leading to twilight princess possibly never occuring)
Expect that Rauru is outright called the founding King of Hyrule and by the time of OoT Hyrule has existed for multiple generations so TotK backstory can't happen during this time period.
(Spoiler alert) Or hear me out. All the zeldas before breath of the wild were different interpretations of events that occurred between the imprisoning war of aincent hyrule 100000 years before BOTW that were shown in TOTK. Think about all the similarities. The zonai came from the sky like the kokiri, made the sky archipelago and all the time shenanigans like in skywardsword. Ganon pledged false alliance like in ocarina of time. Then a great flood happened to make a the great sea and the hyrule under it. After thousands of years of plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions it created an upper hyrule, and the depths. And that's why all the zelda games before BOTW are all considered the age of legends. Because they are all in fact legends of Zelda.
The plot was mid asf (with the zelda twist being the best part) ganondof was boring and overhyped (design and dragon transformation were cool) but this incarnation of him was made 7:21 out to be unreasonably strong..so strong he beat the 5 sages (they told us 5 times with the borderline same cutscene with the sages of how terrifyingly ppwerful....but what happened in the fight was underwhelming...5 clone ganons...you didnt even use your sage abilities with any sort of intuitive use...you didnt need to blow anything away, protect yourself, strike any point with lightning, or blow somthing up..the gloom mechanics with the new Heart break was cool, but also underwhelming). The story was such a HUGE turn of to what otherwise been a great game. Video game 10/10 Narratives 2/10
Your perception of Ganondorf is all wrong. Every Ganondorf has the same nature. The need to dominate and bring demise. He didn't care about his people. It was always about his own wants and desires. He is the reincarnation of Demise the original Demon King.
The wind waker isn't about the Gerudo, it's about Ganondorf and his selfish desires. He never says anything about caring about them or doing it for them and in Japanese he doesn't mention their homes. His speech is also a hypocritical excuse for his powerhunger and his chat throughout the game is unreliable and hypocritical. The Gerudo are fine with the desert but Ganondorf isn't, he never does anything for them in OOT other than brainwash, enslave and damage their reputation as noble thieves. He only supposes he coveted Hyrule's winds but he crushed the winds of prosperity when he conquered Hyrule after turning himself into a Great demon king. The humanity the speech shows is the fact that Ganondorf is tired after having his evil desires for the Triforce denied and the fact that he is nostalgic for the past and misses it but he is stuck in it and unable to move on. He cracks when his selfish Triforce wish is denied again and he tries to deny Link and Zelda of their newly gained future and get revenge for the Triforce wish also sealing his fate. When he is defeated he feels no remorse or regret, only bitterness and acceptance because he knows this was his last chance to claim the Triforce and conquer and cover the world in darkness.
@@Statistic189 Not really as all you need is somone to play the role of ancient evil that must be stoped and seeing that 90% of all Zelda big bads fill that role he could be easily replaced
just kinda sucks to think that Nintendo is rewriting there most beloved games :( and everything that has happened isn't true anymore because they said so.
I don't consider this a rewrite of anything. I'd consider everything in this game to be taking place far in the future of every game, including that of the ancient times of the Zonai. Reason being? Canonically the first instance of Ganondorf as a man, and the first reincarnation of Demise, was Ganondorf from OoT, which btw is the same exact Ganondorf from Wind Waker and TP. He never died between those games. They were just alternate timelines. Ganon and Ganondorf are the reincarnations of the very same soul of Demise. How could it be that an incarnation of Ganondorf could exist simultaneously to all the other ones? In short, it couldn't. The time span that the Zonai sealed Ganondorf has existed in, is entirely devoid of any other incarnations of Ganon or Ganondorf. Calamity Ganon was a mindless expression of Ganondorf's leaking power after having been sealed for so long. None of the other games could have even occurred in between. Nevermind the extreme contradiction that Skyward Sword would have with TotK. Skyward sword showed that hylians were hylians because they were the closest to the goddess Hylia. She protected them from demise by putting them in the sky. The hylians were very much the same as hylians always were, yet TotK has Sonia looking like a longer eared, darker skinned form of Hylian founding Hyrule, when the sky dwellers before that in skyward sword weren't. The solution to this issue is of course that the Hyrule founded by Rauru in TotK was a later, entirely different Hyrule than had existed far in the past. Likely after Hyrule was totally destroyed as a kingdom at some point, TotK Zonai founded an entirely different Hyrule.
@@TheRock3tDoctor they could make new ones without refrencing the events of, say skyword sword wherein we are told Zelda is a god, and how in this game those events happened but Zelda wasnt a god. you know what I mean? they arent merely ignoring old story.
@scythelord small correction ganondorf isn't a reincarnation of demise. He's a reincarnation of bringer of demise hatred, and so is every antagonist in the series.
@@scythelord Yep, that's the conclusion I've come to more or less. That ToTK Hyrule is in the far future and it is a different Hyrule as opposed to the one in OoT.
Spoilers, but you really shouldn’t be watching a discussion on the game’s story if you don’t want spoilers: Ganondorf in TOTK isn’t Ganondorf, he’s Demise. His title of Demon King was Demise’s first; his design is extremely reminiscent of Demise; his motivations boil down to wanting chaos and conflict because he despises the weak peace-loving fools of Hyrule, which is again similar to Demise’s hatred for Hylia’s cowardly followers; his reaction to Link reminds me of Demise: he was excited at the prospect of someone being capable of besting him, like how Demise was fascinated that Link, a human, stood against him without fear; he swings his arm when starting the final showdown like Demise too; he does the whole petty final act thing, but instead of cursing Link and Zelda, he just turns into a dragon. Everything about him feels nothing like Ganondorf, and even my Skyward Sword loving self was disappointed at this interpretation. Ganondorf wasn’t the most consistently written, but he had an arc. In Ocarina, he was young and arrogant, thinking he was above everyone else. In Wind Waker, he was humbled by a frankly embarrassing defeat at the hands of a nine year old, and over the years of him being sealed in both the sacred realm and beneath the sea, he had time to reevaluate his goals and life choices. He grew into a wiser, less evil (though still totally evil) version of himself. In Twilight Princess, he was much like his Ocarina incarnation, but unlike his other self, he was never humbled, making his already massive ego lead to his own downfall. It was fascinating, watching all the branches his lives took, seeing every possible outcome for him; and it’s sad seeing TOTK drop the ball and basically retell Ocarina, but with a million plot-holes. I wish Demise was just reborn, instead of getting this poser.
Counter point: Demise could not turn into a dragon, Ganondorf could. Another counterpoint: Demise was a god and could curse Link and Zelda, Ganondorf could not because he is a part of that curse so it would be pointless
The secret stone turns you into a dragon, it's a force that exists separate of demise. Hence how zelda also became a dragon. So I wouldn't say it a counter point. Ganondorf however is the name used in the game, which is more a counter point.
@@TheRock3tDoctor What I was trying to get at was that Ganondorf made a final petty move rather than to accept to defeat, like Demise did. The hows don’t matter, only the whys do.
@@TheRock3tDoctor What I’m saying is Ganondorf=Demise=bad. I wanted GANONDORF, not Demise, and this isn’t him. They were always separate people: Demise was hatred and malice incarnate, and Ganondorf was a man first, incarnation of evil second.
For a "unified timeline" perspective, TOTK Ganondorf does kinda work. OoT/WW/TP Ganondorf is an incarnation of TOTK. We know he can coexist with another version of himself just by BOTW and TOTK alone, so I think TOTK Ganondorf knew what the others were up to in their separate timelines. Since TOTK Ganondorf could be aware that there were 3 timelines, he could have intentionally merged them to rule Hyrule in one timeline by himself, rather than trying to put himself back in all 3 because he wouldn't settle for variants of himself.
It's what nintendo does. They simply will never change any story or the like ever. How many decades do we have to keep hearing Zelda, link, Ganon(insert blah here) yoshi, Mario, peach, bowser. Ffs come up with something new and interesting. Stop with the played out old vary the name but never the story. I hadn't tried a Zelda game in years so foolishly bought BotW. I didn't like it at all so again like a idiot I bought TotK. Bought full price so about 150 bucks for the same game with the same story set in the same place. Even the powers are almost the same. It's boring nintendo.
This is my opinion Imo I don’t like Wind waker Ganondorf, he’s literally just a living sob story. Like this is Ganondorf, he doesn’t have to be complex. I don’t want to understand him or sympathize with him, I want to have a reason to beat him. Wind waker tried to make him sympathetic but it was a snooze fest. It made him boring and not exciting. People just can’t have a break from villains being misunderstood, understandable, had a traumatic past, etc etc. Villains like that are not really villains more of just trouble individuals, Ganondorf in Totk is what a Villain should be, evil for the sake of evil and not a character with a sob story stuck up their asses. I like Ganondorf and wind waker but giving a version of Ganondorf a sob story or a reason on why he does what he does is just not for me.
I wanted to add something I originally cut from the video but I think is important for how I've seen Ganondorf in TOTK vs. Wind Waker.
I believe TOTK Ganondorf is threatening and certainly chilling. Even now, every time I explore below Hyrule Castle, I'm terrified, but that may as well be a result of atmosphere rather than Ganondorf. But where TOTK really faltered over Wind Waker is the motive. I hope I made that clear in the video, but despite Wind Waker Ganondorf being cartoony, he felt present and had purpose in his tyranny. It's not a bad thing to have simple villains, but it's not a bad thing to have more complex villains either, especially with their impact on the world as Ganondorf needed with the Gerudo.
And I've seen some people talking about the original Japanese translation having a better story and it certainly sounds better, so I suppose I wish the translators brought that to english better.
But hey, that's just a comment, A Zelda comment-- I'm just gonna go eat some ramen and work on my next video. See you then.
he hot af doe so I say he works very well
Ganondorf in TOTK was a return to form. We are just happy he's back and back with charisma. They certainly could’ve added further nuance to his character, but I don’t believe delving into the WW route would’ve achieved that. It’s too late for that. Ganondorf is evil, no way around it. No point to try to make him tragic or sympathetic. Calamity Ganon tormented Hyrule for 10k years. Even from a structural level, you can’t just go from that to a sympathetic Ganondorf, the source of this evil (Calamity Ganon is basically an oversized Phantom Ganon). It’s better that they doubled down and made Ganondorf a greedy, power hungry menace who chose to denounce his humanity to become the Demon King (and later Divine Dragon).
I’m happy Nintendo chose to go with spectacle for the writing here.
Here's the problem with you're views on TWW Ganondorf, he's lying. Not only does the game make that clear, we know the motivations behind his actions for most of the series.
The main story translations for both BotW and TotK seem to be subpar from what I hear, and that’s very disappointing.
Wind Waker's Ganondorf was a complex villain? The whole thing was kinda "Im gonna destroy Hyrule because the life in the desert is so hard",it was just a stupid justification,not that deep
"Why Ganondorf doesn't work in TOTK"
Well, it would be rather difficult to get a job in a kingdom that you had tried to conquer
🤣
I was going to say the same thing but you beat me to it lol
FUNNY
So this is just down to a misunderstanding of the character. In Twilight Princess Ganondorf never makes it to the events of Ocarina of Time. Link goes back and rats him out before that ever happens. That version of Ganon never actually does anything and is stopped before he can. He is tossed into a dark realm. He never even met Link, let alone fought a version of him until Twilight Princess. The version from Windwaker is humbled. He lost to Link in OoT. He had to taste defeat and keep going. They're the same character with entirely different motivations because of their experiences. This version of Ganon is the same as OoT. He's got his plan. We don't know all the details. Maybe he's hiding them. Maybe he feels the same as the Windwaker Ganon but hasn't dwelled on that motivation yet. Ganondorf is a pretty basic character by design, but each of his encounters with the Hero spirit shape who he becomes.
Yes, hes still ambitious, and sees the Twilight as an opportunity
I think TotK Ganondorf literally is OoT Ganondorf. I believe the Zonai were sent by the goddesses to help repair the split timelines and reunite them back into one unified existence. With the Zonai around, Ganondorf still tries his thing like he did in OoT, but Link is no longer needed, the Master Sword is never pulled, and the timeline is never split. The Imprisoning War *IS* OoT but an alternate version where Zonai existed to prevent a time split
@@tyeklund7221 Probably overthinking it.
@@DraperJake I mean maybe, but until better evidence comes out for another theory that what I’m going with. It’s the only explanation for why they suddenly disappeared, why there are two Temple of Times, and why locations, items, and characters from all three timelines show up in this Hyrule
@@tyeklund7221 The explanation is that it's just its own timeline. Minor spoiler here, but the White Sword of the Sky is in the game, which completely contradicts the Master Sword from before the timeline split. They clearly have tossed the idea of it being a timeline out and they're just making good stories. Don't think so hard on it. I assure you they didn't. They just made it work for this game.
This is a common misconception.
Gandorf's motivation in tears of the kingdom is quite obvious.
Battle and power are what matters to him, he looks around and he sees a world where nobody alive could bear to fend for themselves, and this disgusts him.
When told about link he simply states that he looks forward to meeting him, displaying a desire for a challenge.
When he awoke he mutated monsters to give them weaponized horns capable of significant destruction.
He SPECIFICALLY mentions how the world shouldn't be sheltered in light and should face the crushing truth of darkness.
He grew up in the ancient desert, where dominion allowed survival, and weakness led to swift death. This caused him to see the world in a might makes right way, and desire the same viewpoints from all those around him.
He has an obsession, the obsession leads to ignorance, which leads to uncaringness, which leads to evil.
This is apparently made more clear in the original Japanese dub, but the English dub portrays this pretty poorly. I can see why he is the way he is, but I can't even attempt to empathize with him like WW Ganondorf because they don't expand on his motives. A little dialogue or exposition in Hyrule Castle with the sages would've been a good opportunity to make the player think about this guy a bit more. Instead he's almost childishly evil.
people can understand this and still think it's not good lol
I kinda relate this gannon in totk to godfrey from elden ring as both are warriors and live by that mindset in a way as they both have the same breathing animation for gannon it's his menace unleashed form, whilst for godfrey it's his second phase (I forgor the name.)
@Argon Well you definitely don't need to empathize with him, but I agree that his values could've been made more clear in the English dub
@@mixtressreve "The Legend of Zelda: Hero's Purpose part 5" made me want to empathize with Ganondorf. Sadly I know Nintendo would never write a character that well
I read from a comment from another video that Ganondorf's motives are explained in the Japanese translation. Basically, he hates how soft the world has become ever since the zonai came to Hyrule and wants to bring it back to its original state of anarchy. You can even see fragments of this in the english translation with his fake alliance to Hyrule and his final speech. Even in his interactions with Rauru, you see fragments of hatred and malice towards him and those he holds dear.
He still has similar motivations to Oot and TP's Ganondorfs, but it still adds a little bit more character to him. Wish they kept it in the english translation, though.
Video where I found the comment is "The Ganondorf We Deserved" by Synergy96.
He basically talks about how much better of a boss fight Totk Ganondorf is compared to every other iteration's final Ganondorf battles. (Which he is right)
Yes and no. The dragon shit was dope especially since i never got the Master sword so i got an extra bonus cutsce. BUT! We don’t final stab Ganondorf! They shitted on Zelda history XD
@@captain_unhinged4372 Wtf, yes you do. You get a final stab prompt after destroying all the weak spots and plunge the master sword into Ganondorf's secret stone. He then falters around a bit before his secret stone shatters and he finally meets his fate, with a massive explosion no less.
@@masonstewart6232 You stab the stone! You don’t stab him! They babyfied this series, so sad. In Oot you stab through the head, Ww another stab in the head, and in TP a stab in the chest! Totk… You break a stone…
@@captain_unhinged4372 The stone which is, y'know, in his head
dude, not everyone needs a tragic backstory, he is just a pure bad guy and thats it
Ganondorf motif when he see goron city:
C R Y S T A L M E T H
The Gorons spawn from rocks and have existed since before Hyrule, I think Ganondorf knows he can't kill them
They could’ve just reused the motivation of Windwaker’s Ganondorf, and no one would’ve complained. ToTK has by far the most threatening version of Ganondorf we’ve seen, so making his motivations understandable would’ve been incredible.
Also, I wish we got a Ganon’s Tower sorta dungeon in The Depths as the final dungeon. That would’ve been awesome.
I’m sure you’ve seen other comments, but Ganondorf in totk does have a defined motivation. He was raised in a very harsh, survival of the fittest environment, which led to him resenting the new kingdom of Hyrule .which was ruling through peace and order. He wants to plunge the world back into chaos and darkness.
@@peanutbutter6720 which is exactly why I don’t like him the game doesn't properly establish this and instead have him get what he wants as soon as he's introduced for gosh sakes my man's only has 2 cutscenes to introduce him as a character, and even if japanese translation has it explained more they should have showed that in the English version I'm not gonna give him free brownie points for what he was meant to be they should have gannon have a cutscene to explain why he's so evil aside from, he thinks hyrule is too nice, which definitely seems like a reasonably reason to put you clan in danger just to spite someone else who has done nothing but help you, gannon is poorly written
Yh OoT final tower was crazy
I kinda wish Vaati or Ghirahim would return
They would've had a great chance for that to happen had they not destroyed the Secret Stone of him, then it could become something akin to a Shadow Sage Stone making Ganondorf some form of Sage of Shadow (that's what the word Gloom means afterall), then a new iteration of Vaati could become a thing and find the Stone and become a Dark Wind Mage, thus a sort of Sage of Shadow
I mean we kinda got demise so at least we got that
Vaati sucks and ghirahim looked gay, we need zant or the real demise, or a freaking timeline accurate ganondorf
Nah Agahnim
Why not both
I disagree with the thesis: thirst for power is a completely rational and understandable motivation -- we see it here on Earth plenty. Having said that, and as others have pointed out, Ganon's motivation isn't just for power -- it's to return the world to a state of chaos and survival of the fittest.
However, I do agree that Ganondorf doesn't quite work in TOTK. To me, it's an issue of not using his character. In Wind Waker, you see him several times throughout the game -- even directly interact with him, and you see him brushing you aside. Those few plot beats do a lot of work in making him feel like an indomitable foe.
Not sure how I'd replicate that in TOTK, though. There's the overriding design ethos that you should be able to dive down and thwomp him the moment the game starts, so you can't literally make him unbeatable. I'm leaning toward the phantom ganons -- give him some voice lines whenever you defeat one of them. "Hahahaha....nice work, whelp" or something to that effect. Just something to establish that he sees you and he's not worried about your progress at all. Doubt that'd be enough, but it's a start?
People constantly wanting all psychopaths gone in stories. But then Jack Horner is celebrated for being this one dimensional evil... weird how people see the same kind of villains in different settings.
People just won't admit that they can't be pleased. Their wants are inconsistent and change the moment they're disastisfied.
If a villain is entertaining, they don't care if they have no depth, but if they don't find that compelling they demand explanation.
If a villain has a "reasonable" motive, they consider them complex, but if they don't find that motive understandable, they demand people stop trying "shove" complexity down their throats.
There’s also the fact that Jack Horner was accompanied by Goldi and the Bears, as well as The Wolf in terms of filling out villain roles.
I agree with you, about the whole one-dimensional villain thing, but Jack Horner wasn’t the only villain in The Last Wish, and people could look to the others if they got bored of are irritated by him.
@@I.T.P Could just as well point to Joker or most Dragonball villains. Their motivations are just as bland as Ganondorfs: They enjoy causing suffering anf being dominant over other people.
@@DundG I haven’t watched Dragonball, so I’m just going to assume you’re right on that regard.
You’re partially right about Joker though, while he does indeed enjoy causing as much suffering as possible, it’s all in an attempt to break Batman. His unique “relationship” with Batman is part of why people like him.
This is especially true in a more recent comic, or I think it’s semi-recent, I don’t actually read comics, just people’s reviews of them.
In the comic, a new villain is trying to get Batman’s rouges to conquer Gotham completely, by helping them do it. The only thing he has Joker do in these plans though, is kill Batman, which Joker continuously worms his way out of because he just doesn’t want to do it, instead using the new villain to help him come up with a plan to ruin Gotham altogether, all in an attempt to break Batman.
He enjoys being a pure evil villain, but his main motivation for it is wanting to make him crack, which, no matter what form, never changes.
@@I.T.P This unique connection still boils down to him being a sadistic maniac. He happens to find the most competent, smart, and disziplined person ever who also gives him unlimited chances to try to break him due to his rule. So breaking this ideal of order is the biggest egostroke he could get, which again is self serving just like Ganondorf taking every oportunity to stroke his selfimportance.
Joker also is portrayed as quite pathetic the moment someone else is near to killing him, as being killed by anyone else but the great Batman is a huge blow to his self importance.
Ganondorf is also a bad looser and all his talk about respecting strength gets thrown out the window once Link, a "mere human" proves himself stronger than him.
Joker abd Ganondorf are actually very similiar, but with different situations.
People do realize Ganondorf isn't some deep complex character right? he never was. Ganondorf has always been as he appears at face value: an Evil man that became a monster through his own greed.
and this WORKS, people simply cannot accept that not every villian is some deep flawed character.
yeah pretty much, Windwaker definitely gave him a bit more depth than the others but he's still really just an evil dude doing evil
Honestly I like how simple it is, yes it's just like a ton of other villains who are evil and crave power but like you said it works, simple yes, bad? Not at all
Ikr? Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom is fantastic. He's just evil and there's nothing more to it than that and I think that makes him a much more intimidating villain as opposed to a character that's humanised like in the Wind Waker.
no, but at least he needs to be fun to watch, and this ganondorf has criminally little screentime, even in the memories that are SUPPOSED to be showing his rise to power. its also a problem with having an open world, he cant have an active role in the present if the player wants to collect 1000 koroks instead of progressing the main story. the fact that he wakes up after like 100,000 years & all he does is hide in a hole could have easily been explained that he was specifically waiting to fight link before starting his invasion because rauru hyped him up so much, but instead he’s just an asshole to you when you do show up, he SHOULD be acting super thrilled to finally get a good fight
@Joshua Kolb This Ganondorf has the most screen time out of any Ganondorf in the series, provided you uncover all the memories. It's also made clear that he is regenerating himself and building up his power beneath Hyrule Castle during all the present day shenanigans. After being sealed away for 100,000 years or so it would make sense that it would take some time for him to fully recover his power.
He is the reincarnated Demise, him being evil for the sake of being evil works because of that. It's like a kid contintuint to respawn in a video game just to try to spite the one who killed them.
But what about fans that dont know who demise is. It should be explanied more in the lore. Not behind the scenes
@Aaron Fletcher Its not behind the scenes; it's shown in past games. There too many games to recap everything, not to mention that would mess with the ambiguity of the different timelines.
@@nick6253 Thats what I mean too, you shouldnt have had to play the older games. Plus theres alot of new comers. Its just a lazy way to do it coming from a person that knows all about Zelda lore. Timelines should be the last thing they should worry about. First is making a great game, with a great story within its game. It
should have a more established history and more present story like older Zelda games
@@H-TownGamer In the context of TotK it really doesn't matter WHY he's evil. He's shown through the Dragon Tears to be a genocidal maniac, and that's really all there is to it in the English version. There's a little more to his motivations in the JP ver, but not too terribly much and it's still very much an evil motivation.
He's evil for the same reason Calamity Ganon was evil. Because they're evil. That's all there needs to be. Not all villains need to have an understandable motivation. Some people, even in real life, just want to watch the world burn.
And what do you mean, "like older Zelda games"? In all the Top-Down Zelda games, Ganon is literally just a classic evil demon with no backstory or motivation beyond genocide and destruction. In OoT, Ganondorf had no motivation beyond conquest and power. In TP, Ganondorf also had no motivation beyond conquest, power and revenge.
It was only in Wind Waker where he had anything resembling a greater motivation, and based on his previous appearance, that could very well have been a complete fabrication to try and win sympathy points with Link.
All of the games have incredibly simplistic antagonists and all of the ones that feature Ganondorf except arguably for OoT require some knowledge of previous games in the timeline for everything to make sense.
@@K2niarDneK I think you are not seeing what im saying. IDC what motives he has just
make him have a major role in the game and make his motives clear at all time. If he just wants to see the world burn, Have Gannon let Link know that. So that the Players feels the threat of Gannon at all times. He needed a stronger presence in this game. They did good in the very begining and end but missed the whole middle of the game. Which is... most of the game
I always thought it would be interesting to be able to play through the events of Ocarina of Time from Ganondorf's perspective. I mean, you start out as Ganondorf taking the tests to become King of the Gerudos as a basic gameplay tutorial. Then you are taken to the Spirit Temple where you are introduced to the Witches Twinrova. They immediately sense your grand destiny and begin teaching you magic to summon curses and monsters. With this Magic you can travel around the region and curse the three races, setting up for the Hero's intervention. Then you enter the Sacred Realm, a world as large as Hyrule itself, (if Link to the Past is any indication) to search for the Triforce. This takes searching several more locations of power, but you finally discover it. When you find it, you wish for Power, resulting in the Triforce of Power splitting off from the other two parts. With the Triforce split, you must then go and begin to lay curses and send minions to corrupt the Temples of Hyrule to secure your power base in a bid to recover the other two pieces. The game culminates in Ganondorf facing down the Hero of Time at his full power. This victory grants Ganon the full Triforce again and his second wish- to live forever. This leads into the Downfall Timeline.
it almost feels like there’s a few missing dragon tears, like what happens between Ganondorf swearing fealty & stabbing Sonia? why do we need to see a scene of Zelda & Sonia having a tea party, but we don’t get one of Ganondorf doing Littlefinger shenanigans in Rauru’s court??
OOT Ganondorf wasn’t a complex character, but he also had way more of a role in the story, he’s a machiavellian warlock who tricks you, the player, into doing his work for him twice! Drybones Ganon literally just sits under Hyrule Castle the whole game, and it isnt explained that he’s “amassing power” or “healing”, because then it could ruin it if the player just goes to him immediately before doing the temples. we dont see him conquering Hyrule, we dont even know the names of the other 4 sages! if we can have lorebreaking fanservice items like Majora’s Mask & the Goddess Sword, why cant we get another bossfight with the ghosts of Twinrova? that would be way better than the 50th Gloom Hands fight we get in the Deku Tree, and its such an easy way to add just a tiny bit of depth to Ganon’s character
The story of TOTK is laughably bad. Honestly.
@@mercianthane2503 What? are you ok?
@@BlakeTheSnake98
Yes I am. Anything else?
@@mercianthane2503 make a better one
@@epicortonotepic8314
If you don't like how you get treated in a hospital, make your own.
Ganondorf doesn't need a complex motive or character his evil ambitions has been cemented by Demise in Skyward sword he is the undying Curse placed oh hyilla and those associated with her bloodline Ganondorf will always cause Chaos and destruction it's what he was made to do
But you shouldnt need to play the old games to know that
@@H-TownGamer Skyward Sword HD is on switch it's available for new gen and I encourage all Zelda players to go back and play the older gems if possible
@@tyshonruffin1053 Ive beat all the games including SS im just saying I think its an easy cop out to say well hes already been writen or explanied before. It should have a good story that makes his presence very strong throught the adventure. Not just tid bits and the end
That was maybe true for the original Ocarina of Time Ganondorf that also appeared in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but you're forgetting that Nintendo basically ended all timelines and the entire Zeldaverse with BOTW and TOTK and created a new one. This new Zaldaverse has no Triforce, goddess Hylias significance is reduced to be merely a statue that grants Link heartcontainers and Demise doesn't play a role at all. The Ganondorf of TOTK has no connection to the Ganondorf of Ocarina of Time and therfore no connection to Demise.
Another 2014 Thanos who is bad because he is bad.
The real question is why has the Triforce vanished from the story.
its because Skyward Sword got so much hate & Nintendo is allergic to learning the right lessons from why certain titles underperform, so they decided that what the fans really hated was the lore dump, but not the motion controls
@@joshuakolb565 I mean, as someone who loves Skyward Sword, that was the shit people (wrongly) complained about back in the day.
@@Freelancer837 dumb complaints lead to dumb decisions, pretty much what happens with many other games (can't name them though since my memory is poopoo)💀
It's an outdated plot device and clashes with modern Zelda lore. There being three goddesses with the triforce whilst there's also Hylia somehow, the fact that it's a physical object but also not sometimes and it's powers have always been widely inconsistent
You can't even say it makes the bearers of it stronger or something. Ganon in alttp somehow had the whole Triforce and still got his butt slapped by a version of Link that was pretty underwhelming, whilst other incarnations of Ganon with only one third of the triforce beat the shit out of much stronger Links
Zelda has the triforce
One simple solution, demise in sky sword said that he would put everyone in a loop always ending in a calamity, that being ganondorf. On a side note, it would be cool if the last zelda game was based around finally ending the loop.
He didn't put anyone in a loop in the original Japanese text. He simply explained that the cycle of suffering(which is a part of Saṃsāra, Saṃsāra is perpetuated by the three poisons:greed, hate, ignorance/delusion and one's good or bad karma. A demon king is eternally attached to Saṃsāra), the demon tribe and the hatred of the demon tribe/hatred towards the gods/hatred of Saṃsāra that already exists will continue to exist without him. He explained a concept that is intrinsic to the universe "evil will always exist as long as light exists no matter how many times the light overcomes it, light has the side effect of causing jealousy to exist, jealousy leads to hunger/lust which means negative feelings and desires". He said that there will always be successors/manifestations/embodiments/incarnations of the hatred of Saṃsāra and that Link and Zelda's successors and descendants will always be in conflict with the demon tribe.
Demise's soul decayed into nothingness inside the Master sword as Impa implies and it was eradicated by a Triforce wish in the present era.
Rauru dropped the word fealty and I immediatly joined the Yiga clan, so I'm not sure what you mean.
To be fair Master Kohga is one charming SOB.
He is a blood knight. the story is an ironic take on "hard times make strong men" apparently in every translation but the English one. He believed the zonai made weak people with thier Tech and magics. He proves his own point in tears of the kingdom by creating hard times for all the races, as a result they became strong. However it is not enough for him, and it becomes evident he just wants to fight really strong people.
The English translation conveys this to some degree... but its mostly glossed over because he uses general accusations towards character's that don't really clarify what he means, and so a lot of people assume hes just plain evil.
I honestly think the Tears version of Ganondorf is the same from OOT. I think it's very clear that Tears takes place within the downfall timeline, where the hero fails, however very, VERY far into the future. I think a lot of the evolutionary changes to the Rito/Zora and Kokiri/Koroks will happen overtime, regardless, as well. I also think the reason the Triforce isn't even mentioned, is because it's sacred power takes the form of Zelda's Sealing Power.
how is it clear lol, the Zonai don't fit anywhere in the timeline. I think he would also remember Link and Zelda if it was the same guy. In TP and WW he has beef with the princess and this rando green kid, in Totk he doesn't even seem to be aware of the existence of the Triforce
@@highdefinition450 yeah idk I was baked as shit when I wrote that. Disregard lmfao.
@@highdefinition450 I was thinking we’d actually get an explanation on what the trifurcation was in this game, but no villain that is pretty much Fire Lord Ozai
@@highdefinition450 The Zonai being one of the races that was imprisoned in the Twilight Realm becoming the Twilight people is a nice theory I like. Also, I think the triforce thing can be explained with how the Secret Stones would take precedence for him when he sees how easy it is to wield it and how relatively unguarded they are, on top of how powerful they are
@@highdefinition450maybe for the simple fact that TOTK and BOTW are located at the end of the timeline and that all three timelines collided back into one. So after Ganondorf dies after TP he loses possession of his piece of the Triforce and during that exact moment all three timelines collide back into one timeline again and after a couple thousand years of all three timelines colliding back into one the events of the Zonai descending from the heavens happens the revival of the kingdom of Hyrule through Ruara happens with no knowledge of the Triforce existing at all and then the imprisoning war happens and so on
I think Zelda games should have the Villian have a major role in the story that feels like a threat at all times. You shouldnt have to dig in the lore all the time either. I hear that alot. No the game should explain that to you, so that its important. It shouldnt be oh if you played the old games or if you knew about the lore. Thats just lazy, it should feel like we get to know Gannon through the game
The lore isn't so important in Zelda games. Ganon is and was always the same in every story he appeared: A psychopath that lusts for total domination.
Bro is the reincarnation of evil what more you need
I like how everyone in the community for zelda assumes that this is in the timeline as frankly I think that both botw and totk are a separate one quite clearly based on how nothing matches with other games except for some easter eggs which if you even wanted to include the stuff related then it's probably just a myth in both games as the era of myth is before the kingdom of hyrule was founded so anything before that were probably just stories if we want the timeline to affect the game for some reason.
Everyone? Countless don’t.
I completely agree, Nintendo have been vocal about not wanting the timeline to restrict creative freedom, yet people try to force the games in and are confused when it doesn’t fit.
Remember when Zelda said in BotW that Calamity Ganon has given up on reincarnating? That's because this Ganondorf actually is a different incarnation which was never the case in the previous games. Keep in mind both BotW and TotK and their pre-stories play far, far, far, FAR in the future of all three timelines.
Btw I find it great that this Ganondorf is just evil. We get way too many whiny emos these days rather than proper villains.
Ganon never gave up on reincarnation in BOTW, that’s just a translation error. In the Japanese version he essentially doubles down on his efforts to reincarnate.
That was literally guesswork on Zelda's part...she literally phrased it like a question
Nope it was retconned Tears was actually original supposed to be OOT Ganondorf breath’s written lore and in game story shows this but typical Nintendo they have a major hate for lore and continuity now unlike years ago doing the 2000s
i love the graphics of wind waker it really holds up with time. You can tell the devs really put love into their games
Wind Waker is also the reason why I can never get tired of BOTW’s art-style. I always loved the idea that BOTW Link is grown up toon Link (even though that is obviously not the case) and that the game itself is an emotional and slightly grittier sequel to that charming and beautiful game. I always keep on the Sea-Breeze Shield just to enhance that idea 😂
It still amazes me that people take Ganondorf, a sadistic master manipulator hellbent on power and domination, for his word in Wind Waker despite his actions and self centered lines. He slips up when he demands Hyrule be given to him. Not the Gerudo. HIM.
He has the knowledge of defeat in OoT in Wind Waker. He's been able to plot out his plan for generations. To think he wouldn't try to inspire sympathy from those that hold the keys he needs instead of doing exactly what he did in OoT again is a bit naive. We know he's cunning. But you can't take his word at face value when his goal is still pure power and dominance. He wanted what the people of Hyrule for himself, not to be shared with his people.
Yup I mean the very fact he never actually brought his people out of the desert when he conqued Hyrule is alredy proof of how little he cared about them.
Honestly i don't care that hes just evil. I just want him to have a good narrative presence. Not just sit around undergound waiting for link
this ganondorf has no intentions and knowledge of gaining the triforce also his goal was still to conquer hyrule but in different means,which was brute force meanwhile he learned of the sacred stones that raru was possessing so he changed plans and was pretending to make peace. this ganondorf will go very far to gain what he wants even if it means the destruction of hyrule. imo i say he works well and is very close to his ooc counterpart.
yeah i have no idea where we put this in the timeline, but ill do what i can to try to help it find a place i really dont think its a retelling of OOT, because its supposed to take place at hyrules founding, and oot was pretty well after hyrule was founded, but also the imprisoning war is pretty accurate to what it might've been. but yet, there is still so much missing, and there is just so much to really dive into that i just cant in one comment, so i hope some zelda theorists can get together and solve this because its really bugging me.
It's a reboot. I think that's the only explanation and I'm fine with that.
So Totk is basically Oot Remake XD
I would’ve loved for Ganondorf (when he was the mummified corpse) to say:
“We meet again…Zelda. And you too, Link…”
I wanted to see him acknowledge himself as the reincarnated form of the Calamity, shocking Zelda and Link upon awakening. But they had to pull a “different guy, same face” schtick.
Just saying, there is no reason to have Ganondorf as the main villain in this game other than fan service.
The character has diverted so far from the original concept they may as well had made a new villain and it would have worked even better.
The villain is actually good, but is weighed down by Ganon(dorf) legacy more than improving it.
Ganondorf doesn't need to be sympathetic or have a super complex motivation. I've never had a problem with villains being evil "for evil's sake."
I like how he is portrayed in totk, but he isn’t fleshed out enough.
Edit: the only good thing about him is this his final fight with link is good.
The reason why this Ganondorf doesn't work for me is because he's just some random guy, throughout most of the series the Ganon/Dorf we encounter is just the future or past of the same entity. In the first couple of games we encounter the Ganon that defeated the Hero of Time corrupted by the Triforce of Power. We eventually see his progression into this beast in OOT, only to encounter him and his various developments throughout the timelines (His eventual defeat and regret in the adult timeline, and his wrath upon being thwarted in the child timeline) there's history with him, and that history has meaning.
With the Ganondorf in TOTK he just exists, he's just another incarnation with none of the history or growth that the previous had and so it just comes across as shallow. I don't feel anything when I encounter this version, all he represents is the Gerudo King that wants power.
The weird thing is it's an easy fix, if they made this Ganondorf the same guy as the one we defeat in Twilight Princess the impact would have been there without needing to change much at all. He would recognize Link and Zelda because their respective incarnations struck him down, and the reason why his physical form survived all this time due to the incarnation of his hatred through the Malice.
It would change the presence of this new Ganondorf for the better, instead of being a mere reincarnation that wants to take over this new Hyrule he would be a lingering plague throughout the Kingdom's History and no matter what the heroes do, no matter the timeline or alternate reality his hatred just won't burn out.
I think I may have the answer as to a possible connection to TOTK Ganon and his motive. While extremely cryptic, I think I may have uncovered a strong theory based on something I’ve found in game. This video helps me a lot as well by ruling out wet and dark. Thx!!!
Man, whenever someone uses OOT footage they never use the 3DS remake 😔
I'd like to see a Totk sequel featuring Vaati as the new villain. He always struck me as a villain that could be written to be more complex than ganondorf. Ganondorf is supposed to be evil incarnate.
Vaati could be inspired by Ganondorf's magic and learns it for himself to summon monsters and stuff but his motives could be completely different and nuanced if the writers wanna write something.
But LoZ villains have never really been the focus of the games. They're there to provide the bare minimum in conflict for the plot. Not every villain is meant to be a thanos or killmonger.
Veran, Onox and Twinrova should have another chance in the spotlight.
but zant was interesting because his story was ironic. Yuga was interesting because he actually managed to upstage Gannon in a struggle for power. And skull kid was weird as fuck. It doesn't take too much, like if they literally asked monolith soft how they write their stories it would instantly become more interesting, because even xenioblades/sagas weakest villain is written ten times as well as basically every Zelda villain.
You're wrong and misunderstand Wind Waker Ganondorf scene and words. He didn't care about HIS people/the Gerudo or seek the triforce for revenge if you read the whole scene and not cut out the remaining part. WW Dorf is not humanized nor he is having complex ambiguous motives.
The ending is incredible 😆
Botw 3: scribbles on the bathroom stall
Ok that ending was hilarious
is no one gonna talk about the gameplay ending? 💀
1:07 sorry. But we just call him "That Stupid Owl"
Ganondorf has never been the world's most complicated character. But that's okay. Zelda games are alot about tone, setting, and gameplay. Often times they have fairly simple storylines and characters
Lore of Why Ganondorf DOESN’T Work In TOTK. Momentum 100
Yea he is a bit 2Diemsional in a evil for evils sake but i'm ok with it. Dictators are usually like this too, evil and power hungry.
I did wish there was a bit more of mummy ganon, that was creepily awesome. He just kind of stopped being mummy ganon at will.
Honestly, what was the point of using "Ganondorf" for Tears of the Kingdom if they weren't going to explore his relationship and dynamic with the Gerudos? It feels like a waste. Especially since it could have been explored way more thoroughly than ever with the cutscenes. Ganondorf felt like a missed oportunity and it almost seems like they were just trying to get some profit off of some iconic aspects of Ocarina of Time through fanservice.
Now don't get me wrong, Ganondorf has never been a very developped villain but this game was the perfect opportunity to finally explore in debth this aspect of Ganondorf that was introduced in Wind Waker. TotK could have even had it's own spin on why Ganondorf wants the Gerudo people to thrive in Hyrule. Idk, i was just hoping for more.
I'm hoping that we get to see more of Ganondorf in the past with the Gerudos if we get a DLC. Make him more than just the generic evil dude.
I agree. The fact that is a Gerudo meens nothing. I keep seeying talk about him being evil for evil sake and thats great but not everyone thinks the same.
I feel they could have brought Demise's curse and how it affects him. I'm not a fan of him being Demise reincarnated.
I mean it could have been that the being Ganon is the curse. The calamity may have been Ganondorf trying to separete himself from it.
Ganondorf isnt actually meant to be a Villain with a reason to be evil.
Lorewise he is literally the Anti Christ of the entire franchise.
Not some dude like Bowser who wants to have a wife by his side or someone like Kratos who feels betrayed by the Olympian Gods and slaughters them one by one.
Ganondorf is Evil, STRAIGHT UP Evil.
And in my opinion the only reason he had a "change of heart" is Because of the fact that he realized that the Gods were against him, the gods hate him, the Gods fear him.
Imagine it like this:
You are the President of your country and start a terrible war that almost makes humanity go extinct.
Then god himself comes to you to stop your evil doings and then abandons you by sending you into the abys.
It's quiet depressing to see that your god - or your Gods in his case - abandon you.
Ganondorf has and always will be evil for evil's sake due to how he was created as an incarnation of Demise. Whether he justifies his evil with excuses doesn't change that fact. He may very well have had a similar motivation in TOTK but with them being chained to BOTW's memory formula, effectively making Link a passive protagonist in his own game, we don't get the full context of what was going on. That's the biggest flaw.
Unfortunately the next zelda game we get will be in like 7 years with a new link, new art style and if we aren't fighting a completely new ganondorf it will just be ganon, or if we're lucky demise. They tried for years sayoing "ganondorf is this one guy" Link reincarnates to save him and there is "a" princess zelda, but now the cats out of the bag. All three reincarnate the same way, and the stories are loose legends. Starfox fights Andross, Samus fights Ridley, Mario fights Bowser. If you let nintendo make games, rather than third parties, Miyamoto will insist on telling the same story because he does not like games to be narative experiences.
Legend of Zelda has fought for years to try and be different, shoving interesting characters and ideas into side quests and townsfolk, but really only breaks the mold in time crunches, or when the games are farmed out to capcom. The timeline split itself was the explicit result of the developers needing a way to kill ganon again, kicking that can down the time line. This is exactly why TotK took six years to make and it's main story is rushed to hell, with each sage cutscene being identical.
Did you play the same game I did??
Ganondorf hates the zonai for bringing peace to the world with their powers and creations. Ganondorf values strength above all and feels that hardship would lead to a better (in his mind) world. The dialogue makes this obvious. I think it falls a little short in English, though. But the Japanese is more clear.
Also, the "kneeling Ganondorf" scene is similar because it's the same scene. I think that TotK shows the true events of history and other games have been half remembered retel;lings of that events. They've been LEGENDS of Zelda.
It's funny that Ganondorf claims he wants life to be hard and more challenging because ounce he actually fraced a strong opponent in Link he basically threw a temper tantrum and raged quit.
Also it's pretty clear the just threw the old lore out the window for this game and basically just soft rebooted the series
@@4wheal yes, it's an internal character dissonance. He claims he wants a world where the strong rise to the top, but he really wants to be that strong man on the top. He's a villain. He is not honest, neither with others or himself.
@@Rune_Scholar Aka he is bully that likes to act tough and then will cry when he dosent get his turn.
He also has the lost embarrassing death out of any other Ganondorf and he was also not even in human form for it.
@@4wheal exactly. His motivations aren't supposed to be consistent. He's just a bully and he justifies that with lofty ideals and philosophies.
@@Rune_Scholar Yup ever get the feeling the other Ganondorf would just laugh at this guy and think of him as a try hard.
This was good, and I agree, he had no dimensions, and the gerudo story was....sorefully lacking in lore.
Genshin impact is clear, I know its gatcha game but still its much better game than TOTK.
nope
@@LavenderLav93 sales and revenue disagree.
@@finalfrontier001 it's still not better
@@LavenderLav93 yes it is.
This games story feels like “Oot” and every downfall timeline game “Rebooted” into this Japanese esque take on the story. Kinda like how the Fnaf games and Books are ”Same, but different”.
1000% agree. I was also disappointed that ganondorf is just under the castle the whole game. And the puppet zelda was just weak
Le empathetic deep writing = good writing psyop.
People who think Ganondorf is complex are lying to themselves.
Man I've been hearing people be critical of totk ganondorf and how "he just evil for evil sacks" "he doesn't have any real motivation" . Trust me I get it I understand where you're coming from, but I still can't help but like him.idk I feel like pure evil villain get a bad rep nowadays. Hell some consider it bad story tell but with pure evil there motivation matter a lot less than them as character's. But that probably just me
a theory i have is all the ganondorfs and ganons we have seen thru all the games are simply just a projection of totk's ganondorf, as this ganondorf is by far the strongest we have seen to date.
I think the judgement of character is a personal opinion so I won't even go there, but this ganon, the story, the betrayal in the past.... all very very good. I prefer it over WW and TP.. Where this Ganondorf should be seen as Imposing would be in his phantoms all across Hyrule which have caused plenty of heart attacks and no spoiler but the path to him and the battle itself is one of the, if not THE hardest fight in a Zelda title. Especially considering how in TOTK you can just cheese enemies most of the time... The scariness, the open world encounters with him, and the final fight itself lead to this version of him feeling VERY imposing. Compared to the linear style in previous titles where he is badass and scary, but not like this.
He betrayed the King of Hyrule just like in OOT
He murdered the first Queen of Hyrule
Forced Zelda to become an immortal Dragon
Sat in exile for an unprecedented amount of time
Reawoke and turned a max powered Link that destroyed the Calamity into a 3 heart noob
Tore apart the Master Sword like it was childs play ( a feat NEVER before seen in Zelda)
This guy fits the imposing description, and is by far the most terrifying ganondorf.
It's not a retelling of ocarina of time
I'm not gonna see the video yet cause I didn't finished the main story yet, but I agree Ganondorf doesn't work at all in Totk... is a retconned game, with many plot holes in it. There is no way Ganondorf knew about the sword, the forest, the dragons, the sheikah tech, anything. He took control over sheikah tech in BotW for no reason and without knowing that was a thing in the first place. Also, various calamities are supposed to happen between the 10000 years gap and present. Also the clothy thingy (forgot the name iun english) that explains the calamity that Impa has at home has an event that according to TotK would never had happened... they messed this game's story so badly is a shame cause everyone is praising that the story is good... and it is just by it's own, as a sequel is trash...
What?? He knew about the Sheikah because it killed him 10000 years ago did you forget that or something????
@@Cats-yy8nt In Ganondorf's own words "thousands of years will pass in the blink of an eye." He was never in control of the calamities because he was experiencing time way faster than everyone else. So there is no way he could know about the Sheikah tech.
@@werbenjagerman907 brother that is a common saying don't take it literally
HOW DOES HE NOT WORK???????? HES THE BEST VILLIAN
Im surprised you can say that with an oot profile. Remember when you came out of the temple as an adult and saw the absolute state of hyrule. Does TOTK has any of that? Just a generic evil dude.
@@karunsv1785 WAT U TALKING ABOUT??????????????????? WE ALL KOW HIS BACK STOR Y AND THIS GAME WAS A PRESENT FOR DIE HARD ZELDA FANS ITS A RETEELIGN OF OOT
Man TOTK purposely showed a Ganondorf that is similar to Demise they have the same mindset the survival of the fittest, both wanted to create a world that only the worthy can live, and the pitiful and weak would not have a chance for survival. He is a evil version of Goku he want that everyone would be a challenge to him so that he could fight until his heart content, but for that weakilings should not exist.
So.. ToTK is literally just ocarina of time but rauru is the king and a furry and Zelda is samurai Jack. That’s what I’m getting playing this game :/
Ganondorf's motives feel weak and childish. If you say that he sees the rest of Hyrule as too weak, I don't think he could justify his own acts towards himself. It feels more like a 'I hate light, friendship and happiness and that's why I'm gonna destroy the world.' basic motive.
To me, if they had given him the intense urge to conquer and destroy that wouldn't stop, like a voice in his head or a gut feeling coming from Demise, would have been an equally easy but less bland way of doing the exact same. But they chose not to flesh out Ganondorf at all...
Well psychopaths also don't have deep reasons for doing what they're doing. They do it for the thrill of it. They don't care how compelling their motivation is to you, you're just prey.
So... That's what Ganondorf is!
@@DundG @DG You're excusing lazy writing with a headcanon fan theory because the game itself never implies anything, let alone it say he's 'just a psychopath'
@@nowifate I prefer "show not tell"... It's not like you would say "understandable, have a nice day" after some charakter ingame says "Ganondorf os a psychopath".
But if you want, I will put an entire analysis on TotK Ganondorf for you here to show that he's a psycho.
@@nowifateyou don’t have to be a genius to spot most of his Psychopathic traits. Also huge L on the Demise shit because that mf dead.
It probably takes place in a alternative version of oot (just after) during the beginning of twilight princess, yet with zelda going back in time.
Essentially totk zelda warns the king of that time, rather then the oot child zelda (regardless of if link of oot does anything at all, infact, the oot story was probably never kicked off because of this, leading to twilight princess possibly never occuring)
Expect that Rauru is outright called the founding King of Hyrule and by the time of OoT Hyrule has existed for multiple generations so TotK backstory can't happen during this time period.
This not a retelling of OOT at all.
(Spoiler alert) Or hear me out. All the zeldas before breath of the wild were different interpretations of events that occurred between the imprisoning war of aincent hyrule 100000 years before BOTW that were shown in TOTK. Think about all the similarities. The zonai came from the sky like the kokiri, made the sky archipelago and all the time shenanigans like in skywardsword. Ganon pledged false alliance like in ocarina of time. Then a great flood happened to make a the great sea and the hyrule under it. After thousands of years of plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions it created an upper hyrule, and the depths. And that's why all the zelda games before BOTW are all considered the age of legends. Because they are all in fact legends of Zelda.
So you mean between the 10.000 year timegap people created legends about historic events?
@@robinfasel89 yeah it's not that farfetched human history gets pretty shakey before 500AD and that's not even 2000 years ago.
I didn't like ganondorf either, now it's evil just because :/
He's evil because he sees everyone as weak, and Rauru as misusing a power
The plot was mid asf (with the zelda twist being the best part) ganondof was boring and overhyped (design and dragon transformation were cool) but this incarnation of him was made 7:21 out to be unreasonably strong..so strong he beat the 5 sages (they told us 5 times with the borderline same cutscene with the sages of how terrifyingly ppwerful....but what happened in the fight was underwhelming...5 clone ganons...you didnt even use your sage abilities with any sort of intuitive use...you didnt need to blow anything away, protect yourself, strike any point with lightning, or blow somthing up..the gloom mechanics with the new Heart break was cool, but also underwhelming). The story was such a HUGE turn of to what otherwise been a great game.
Video game 10/10
Narratives 2/10
Your perception of Ganondorf is all wrong.
Every Ganondorf has the same nature. The need to dominate and bring demise.
He didn't care about his people. It was always about his own wants and desires. He is the reincarnation of Demise the original Demon King.
no
hmm
The wind waker isn't about the Gerudo, it's about Ganondorf and his selfish desires. He never says anything about caring about them or doing it for them and in Japanese he doesn't mention their homes. His speech is also a hypocritical excuse for his powerhunger and his chat throughout the game is unreliable and hypocritical. The Gerudo are fine with the desert but Ganondorf isn't, he never does anything for them in OOT other than brainwash, enslave and damage their reputation as noble thieves. He only supposes he coveted Hyrule's winds but he crushed the winds of prosperity when he conquered Hyrule after turning himself into a Great demon king. The humanity the speech shows is the fact that Ganondorf is tired after having his evil desires for the Triforce denied and the fact that he is nostalgic for the past and misses it but he is stuck in it and unable to move on. He cracks when his selfish Triforce wish is denied again and he tries to deny Link and Zelda of their newly gained future and get revenge for the Triforce wish also sealing his fate. When he is defeated he feels no remorse or regret, only bitterness and acceptance because he knows this was his last chance to claim the Triforce and conquer and cover the world in darkness.
Im one of the losers who still have to play botw
Nah, Ganondorf was amazing for TOTK. Nobody else would have worked. Period.
Anyone else could have worked in his place as he bearly even has a role in story in the frist place
@@4wheal if you honestly believe his role was pointless you didn't play TOTK lmfao
@@Statistic189 Not really as all you need is somone to play the role of ancient evil that must be stoped and seeing that 90% of all Zelda big bads fill that role he could be easily replaced
Wow this was a waste of time
just kinda sucks to think that Nintendo is rewriting there most beloved games :( and everything that has happened isn't true anymore because they said so.
Nintendo has never cared about the timeline, as said by them. They aren’t ‘rewriting’ the old games, they’re just making new ones.
I don't consider this a rewrite of anything. I'd consider everything in this game to be taking place far in the future of every game, including that of the ancient times of the Zonai. Reason being? Canonically the first instance of Ganondorf as a man, and the first reincarnation of Demise, was Ganondorf from OoT, which btw is the same exact Ganondorf from Wind Waker and TP. He never died between those games. They were just alternate timelines. Ganon and Ganondorf are the reincarnations of the very same soul of Demise. How could it be that an incarnation of Ganondorf could exist simultaneously to all the other ones? In short, it couldn't. The time span that the Zonai sealed Ganondorf has existed in, is entirely devoid of any other incarnations of Ganon or Ganondorf. Calamity Ganon was a mindless expression of Ganondorf's leaking power after having been sealed for so long. None of the other games could have even occurred in between. Nevermind the extreme contradiction that Skyward Sword would have with TotK. Skyward sword showed that hylians were hylians because they were the closest to the goddess Hylia. She protected them from demise by putting them in the sky. The hylians were very much the same as hylians always were, yet TotK has Sonia looking like a longer eared, darker skinned form of Hylian founding Hyrule, when the sky dwellers before that in skyward sword weren't. The solution to this issue is of course that the Hyrule founded by Rauru in TotK was a later, entirely different Hyrule than had existed far in the past. Likely after Hyrule was totally destroyed as a kingdom at some point, TotK Zonai founded an entirely different Hyrule.
@@TheRock3tDoctor they could make new ones without refrencing the events of, say skyword sword wherein we are told Zelda is a god, and how in this game those events happened but Zelda wasnt a god. you know what I mean? they arent merely ignoring old story.
@scythelord small correction ganondorf isn't a reincarnation of demise. He's a reincarnation of bringer of demise hatred, and so is every antagonist in the series.
@@scythelord Yep, that's the conclusion I've come to more or less. That ToTK Hyrule is in the far future and it is a different Hyrule as opposed to the one in OoT.
Spoilers, but you really shouldn’t be watching a discussion on the game’s story if you don’t want spoilers:
Ganondorf in TOTK isn’t Ganondorf, he’s Demise. His title of Demon King was Demise’s first; his design is extremely reminiscent of Demise; his motivations boil down to wanting chaos and conflict because he despises the weak peace-loving fools of Hyrule, which is again similar to Demise’s hatred for Hylia’s cowardly followers; his reaction to Link reminds me of Demise: he was excited at the prospect of someone being capable of besting him, like how Demise was fascinated that Link, a human, stood against him without fear; he swings his arm when starting the final showdown like Demise too; he does the whole petty final act thing, but instead of cursing Link and Zelda, he just turns into a dragon. Everything about him feels nothing like Ganondorf, and even my Skyward Sword loving self was disappointed at this interpretation.
Ganondorf wasn’t the most consistently written, but he had an arc. In Ocarina, he was young and arrogant, thinking he was above everyone else. In Wind Waker, he was humbled by a frankly embarrassing defeat at the hands of a nine year old, and over the years of him being sealed in both the sacred realm and beneath the sea, he had time to reevaluate his goals and life choices. He grew into a wiser, less evil (though still totally evil) version of himself. In Twilight Princess, he was much like his Ocarina incarnation, but unlike his other self, he was never humbled, making his already massive ego lead to his own downfall. It was fascinating, watching all the branches his lives took, seeing every possible outcome for him; and it’s sad seeing TOTK drop the ball and basically retell Ocarina, but with a million plot-holes.
I wish Demise was just reborn, instead of getting this poser.
Counter point: Demise could not turn into a dragon, Ganondorf could. Another counterpoint: Demise was a god and could curse Link and Zelda, Ganondorf could not because he is a part of that curse so it would be pointless
The secret stone turns you into a dragon, it's a force that exists separate of demise. Hence how zelda also became a dragon. So I wouldn't say it a counter point.
Ganondorf however is the name used in the game, which is more a counter point.
@@TheRock3tDoctor What I was trying to get at was that Ganondorf made a final petty move rather than to accept to defeat, like Demise did. The hows don’t matter, only the whys do.
@@Hewasnumber1 so what you’re saying is: Ganondorf and Demise are somewhat similar but Demise good Ganondorf bad?
@@TheRock3tDoctor What I’m saying is Ganondorf=Demise=bad. I wanted GANONDORF, not Demise, and this isn’t him. They were always separate people: Demise was hatred and malice incarnate, and Ganondorf was a man first, incarnation of evil second.
I never did care about the stories in Zelda. Really the exploration and dungeons were always the highlights of the games.
Ganondorf is Demise's Reincarnation he can exist at any point in time due to the Demise curse
For a "unified timeline" perspective, TOTK Ganondorf does kinda work. OoT/WW/TP Ganondorf is an incarnation of TOTK. We know he can coexist with another version of himself just by BOTW and TOTK alone, so I think TOTK Ganondorf knew what the others were up to in their separate timelines. Since TOTK Ganondorf could be aware that there were 3 timelines, he could have intentionally merged them to rule Hyrule in one timeline by himself, rather than trying to put himself back in all 3 because he wouldn't settle for variants of himself.
It's what nintendo does. They simply will never change any story or the like ever. How many decades do we have to keep hearing Zelda, link, Ganon(insert blah here) yoshi, Mario, peach, bowser. Ffs come up with something new and interesting. Stop with the played out old vary the name but never the story. I hadn't tried a Zelda game in years so foolishly bought BotW. I didn't like it at all so again like a idiot I bought TotK. Bought full price so about 150 bucks for the same game with the same story set in the same place. Even the powers are almost the same. It's boring nintendo.
This is my opinion
Imo I don’t like Wind waker Ganondorf, he’s literally just a living sob story. Like this is Ganondorf, he doesn’t have to be complex. I don’t want to understand him or sympathize with him, I want to have a reason to beat him. Wind waker tried to make him sympathetic but it was a snooze fest. It made him boring and not exciting. People just can’t have a break from villains being misunderstood, understandable, had a traumatic past, etc etc. Villains like that are not really villains more of just trouble individuals, Ganondorf in Totk is what a Villain should be, evil for the sake of evil and not a character with a sob story stuck up their asses.
I like Ganondorf and wind waker but giving a version of Ganondorf a sob story or a reason on why he does what he does is just not for me.
Nintendo is a dying brand
HAHAHAHAHAHA! year sure buddy.
@@BlakeTheSnake98 didn't you watch this vid? Many people are trashing TOTK