Ganonis the main villain ofThe Legend of Zeldaand the wielder of the Triforce of Power. He made his chronological debut as Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time when he stole the power of the Triforce and shrouded the kingdom in darkness before being defeated by theHero of Timeand the Sages.

Despite his vile actions and his persistent desire to claim the lands of Hyrule, there are moments when the heroes aren’t always in the right, leaving Ganon at an advantage. He is capable of calculating his moves, finding the upper hand where he can, whether he is sealed in the Twilight Realm or biding his time until the seal on him breaks.

Ganon Has Outlived Many Heroes Of Hyrule

In Hyrule Warriors, Ganondorf makes an off-handed comment on the current Hero he’s facing as he resumes his conquest of Hyrule. True to form, he arrogantly declares in his battle against Link that he has faced many other heroes and has outlived them all. While this version of Ganondorf is not canon to The Legend of Zelda, his boast carries some weight.

There are always different incarnations of Link and descendants of Hylia’s bloodline through Zelda. But there have been very few different incarnations of the King of Evil. Thanks to the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf is invulnerable to death, can survive having his soul sealed in different ways, and always appears to menace Hyrule in many ways, shapes, or forms.

9Never Banish Ganon To Another Realm

He’ll Just Come Back Stronger With New Powers

Being unable to kill him, the Sages in Twilight Princess banished Ganondorf to the Twilight Realm. But for him, this wasn’t a punishment, just another opportunity to grow powerful. It also didn’t help that the Twili held a deep-seated resentment towards the people of the Light Realm. This made influencing them and corrupting them with his power easy.

As long as Ganondorf holds onto the power of the Triforce, it takes divine power to truly defeat him.

The banishment was not the best idea, considering that Ganon has a history of breaking out of seals or turning them against Hyrule. This is always a recipe for mayhem in different Eras. Rauru’s spell during the Imprisoning War led to the manifestation of Calamity Ganon, as seen when he was sealed in the Sacred Realm, only to twist it into the Dark World.

8Power Is Amoral

There Is No Good Or Evil With Power

Ganondorf, and Ganon in retrospect, are the wielders of the Triforce of Power. This ironically makes Ganon blessed by the Gods, as he represents the virtues and vices of power. Because of this, he has an ambivalent view of power, seeing it as a tool to wield as he sees fit to fuel his ambitions and schemes. In Ganon’s understanding, power isn’t inherently good or evil, just a force that compels change or conquest.

This point is reflected in the moments in The Legend of Zelda when either Link or Zelda struggle with their own powers. They would either be unable to manifest them, as seen in Zelda’s case during the Wild era, or become arrogant and cocky during battle, as Link did in Hyrule Warriors once he grew drunk on the Master Sword’s power.

7Sonia’s Murder

Rauru Should’ve Listened To Zelda

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom unveils a new incarnation of Ganondorf, the ambitious king of the Gerudo. After he witnessed the power of Rauru’s Secret Stone and how Sonia amplified it, Ganondorf swore a fake allegiance to the royal couple. Despite Zelda’s clear warnings and Ganondorf’s barely disguised interest in their power, Rauru decided that it was a safer bet to just keep a closer eye on Ganondorf, believing he had control over the situation.

Rauru’s pride culminated in Sonia’s tragic death, with Ganondorf stealing her stone and becoming the Demon King. After Sonia’s murder and the acquisition of her power, Ganondorf taunted Rauru, claiming that his arrogance had brought her fate and the chaos of Hyrule, and that his desire to control Ganondorf had ultimately led to the Imprisoning War. Rauru’s unwillingness to be ruthless in the protection of his kingdom led to Ganondorf’s schemes succeeding and Rauru only triumphed at the cost of himself.

6Ganondorf Discovered Other Timelines

The Triforce Granted Ganondorf Images Of Other Eras

In the Manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Ganondorf was introduced earlier in the narrative, having occupied Hyrule Castle and held Princess Zelda captive. During this moment between them, Ganondorfreferenced events from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, including his capture and imprisonment before his plan could be set in motion.

During this incident, he gained the Triforce of Power, which made him invulnerable to execution. It also made him a witness to his triumphs in other timelines, including when he faced Link in the Adult Timeline. Both he and Zelda, having awakened to her Triforce of Wisdom, understood the significance of these timelines and how the Triforce had bound them in a conflict that would continue through different times and eras of Hyrule.

5The Never-Ending Cycle

The Chains Of Fate Even Ganondorf Can’t Deny

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword establishes the perpetual cycle that defines the eras of Hyrule. Since the introduction of Demise and his connection to Ganondorf, his designs, powers, and motivations have begun to reflect how he’s a reincarnation of the original Demon King.

This revelation of separate timelines that involved similar outcomes made Ganondorf realize that he is forever intertwined in a never-ending cycle against the royalty of Hyrule and a Hero wielding the Master Sword. No matter whether he is defeated or victorious, there will always be opposition that will triumph against him.

In many ways, he was right about the eternal cycle between him, the blood of the Goddess, and the spirit of the Hero. Ever since the first great defeat of the Demon King Demise, the curse of the cycle ensured that an incarnation of his darkness would always rise to menace the people of Hyrule. Ganondorf discovered this during his imprisonment in the Twilight Realm and promised to seeLink and Princess Zeldaagain in another life after the final battle in the Twilight Princess manga.

4Ganon Getting His Way Once More

Breaking The Sword’s Seal Is What Ganon Wanted

In The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Link was on a mission to save his sister from the clutches of Ganon, who was searching for a Hylian girl that has the mark of the Triforce. Along the way, he’s tasked by his talking boat, King of Red Lions, to repair the Triforce of Courage and retrieve the Master Sword that was sealed at the bottom of the Great Sea within the drowned kingdom of Hyrule.

Unfortunately, the seal on the sword kept the monsters within the kingdom locked in time. It also kept Ganondorf from occupying the Castle even as the seal that contained him weakened. Removing the sword may have been a necessary step in the fight against evil, but it ultimately lacked the power to repel evil and harm Ganon. It also removed the seal on Hyrule Castle, granting Ganon access to the kingdom for the climactic battle.

3Ganondorf’s Last Curse

Ganondorf Would Return

Princess Zelda’s decision to send Link back in time to relive his childhood effectively erased the spirit of the hero from the Adult Timeline, dooming the old kingdom of Hyrule to Ganon’s return.

In the final battle against Link and Zelda in Ocarina of Time, Link manages to defeat Ganondorf in his Dark Beast form. The battle weakened him enough for Zelda and the sages to seal him away, ending his reign of terror. But as he got sealed away, Ganondorf swore that he would return to vanquish their descendants.

True to his threat, Ganon’s seal ended generations after Ocarina of Time in the Adult Timeline, in a Hyrule that no longer has the reincarnatedspirit of the Hero, due to Zelda’s interference. Without a hero to stop him, Ganon was able to reignite his war with Hyrule. Helpless against his onslaught, it took a divine flood to end Ganondorf’s rampage, at least for a moment.

Leaving The Door To The Sacred Realm Wide Open

At the beginning of the plot of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf was already scheming against the kingdom, from the outbreak of Dodongos that prevented the Gorons from reaching their food, to the poisoning of the Deku Tree. However, he didn’t get any closer to obtaining the items he needed to infiltrate the Sacred Realm until Zelda instructed Link to retrieve them and open the way through the Temple of Time.

After obtaining the Kokiri’s Emerald, Goron’s Ruby, and the Zora’s Sapphire, Link grabbed the Master Sword and was sealed for seven years. Ganondorf took advantage of all of this and was able to manipulate the situation to waltz right into the sacred realm and steal the Triforce, only for it to fracture into three pieces. Ganondorf’s taunt rang true when Link became sealed. If the young hero hadn’t attempted this, Ganondorf’s hostile takeover of Hyrule would not have been so overwhelming.

1Ganon’s Lament

Ganon Was Just A King Hoping To Provide For His Tribe

Before being revealed as a reincarnation of Demise, Ganondorf had an understandable reason to scheme against Hyrule. Due to the harsh conditions of the desert, the Gerudo did whatever they could to survive. These circumstances made Ganondorf a hardened leader seeking the prosperity of Hyrule for his people.

Not everything about Ganondorf is dark and evil. Atthe end of The Wind Waker, he recalls his time as the Gerudo King while living in the harsh, inhospitable environment of the Gerudo Desert. Ganondorf confessed that his envy of Hyrule’s lands was a misplaced desire to help his own people. He despised the winds of death that would blow through the Gerudo Desert and coveted the fertile winds of Hyrule.

In games that featured the Gerudo before Breath of the Wild, they were presented as an all-female race of thieves and bandits. Every hundred years, a boy would be born who would be their king. In these times, the Gerudo were desperate for a means to survive in their harsh world, which made them susceptible to Ganon’s eventual turn to darkness.