Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Character analysis: Ganondorf

Background

Ganondorf hails from the Gerudo tribe and is one of the only men born into their tribe over a 100-year timespan. He was designated leader because of that. Over his time growing up in the Gerudo’s desert home, he became jealous of the prosperity of the nearby Hylian people, and thus began to stage a cue. Essentially he wanted to get his hands on an artifact of ultimate power held within the “temple of time” in Hyrule castle, and trick two characters named Link and Zelda into opening the gateway for him.

He couldn’t actually take the entire triforce however, only gaining a fragment, but regardless he used its power to take over the kingdom. Link who had entered the temple of time went into a comatose state for 7 years after drawing out a magic blade called the master sword, but eventually stepped forth to oppose him.

What happens next gets messy, but essentially the timeline splits depending on the outcome of Link’s struggle with Ganondorf. Ganondorf actually still persists in all 3 however, being sealed away and breaking out of his confinement in all the scenarios.

Ganondorf has a hidden history only revealed in skyward sword and Hyrule historia. He’s the reincarnated form on an ancient demon called demise who fought and faced Link and Zelda’s original incarnations 1000s of years prior to his introduction in Ocarina.


Weapons


Normal sword
A sword Ganon is shown to use in the manga version of the ocarina of time. He seems to be able to channel magical energy through it to shock and harm opponents that come into contact with it.


Big sword
A larger sword originally seen and used by Ganondorf in the space world 2000 Nintendo gamecube demo. The sword eventually got incorporated into Ganon’s smash moveset, typically being used during most of his smash attacks


Dual blades
Two duel swords used by Ganondorf during the final boss fight of the wind waker. The small size and speed of the swords make it easier for him to block attacks from multiple different angles, even from the back.

Sword of the sages
A sword stolen from a group of sages featured in twilight princess. It seems to be holy in origin and was initially intended to be used to execute Ganondorf.

Great swords
 Weapons used by Ganondorf in Hyrule warriors. They are sets of two twin swords used for powerful slashing attacks. Ganon has several different sets of rising stats, including the swords of despair, swords of darkness and swords of demise. He also has two sets other sets of swords called 8-bit magic key and the swords of renewal. All of these swords have a darkness magical elementality, outside the swords of renewal that have darkness and light magic. 

Tridents(human vers)
 Weapons used by Ganondorf in Hyrule Warriors. They are smaller man-sized tridents or increasing statistical power. Ganon’s cache in Hyrule warriors includes the thief's trident, the king of evil trident,trident of demise and burning trident. All of them have an electric magic elementality, except for the burning trident which has lightning and fire.

Triforce of power
A source of ultimate power within the Zelda universe. The triforce was created by the goddesses that rule the Zelda universe when they departed from Hyrule plane of reality. It’s comprised of 3 pieces, courage, power, and wisdom. Each piece does…...stuff that’s very vague and ill explored if we’re being totally honest. Collecting all 3 pieces of the triforce can allow a person to use it to grant a wish, which can be to destroy another entity, to resurrect someone, and more. The triforce seems to be important to the stability of the realm, as when the triforce counterpart in the alternate universe Lorule was destroyed, it made the kingdom “unstable”.

Ganondorf most commonly wields the triforce of power. This triforce piece significantly boosted his magical abilities, is the conduit that originally allowed him to take on his Ganon forms, and allows him to survive wounds that would otherwise be fatal.

TECHNICALLY it should be noted that Ganondorf did once have the entire triforce at his disposal, though this was only in ALTTP, and it wasn’t on his person per say. He also forcibly took the entire Triforce in Hyrule Warriors, though this isn’t exactly standard equipment for him anyway.

Lore

Applications



Armor
Cape
Ganondorf’s cape can be used to reflect magic projectiles in ocarina of time.

Equipment
Horse
A big ass horse Ganon is seen riding in some games. It doesn’t seem to have a lot of special abilities but is bigger and stronger than a normal horse is.


Abilities


Waves of darkness
Waves of dark energy Ganon can emanate out of his body. They can stun and push away weaker foes.

Flight
Ganondorf has the ability to fly and/or levitate.

Shockwaves
Ganondorf can slam into the ground with enough force to create powerful shockwaves.

Energy projectiles
Ganondorf can create various magical projectiles, oftentimes in the form of balls of electric-like energy. He retains the ability to do this even when possessing someone else. The attack can be charged to release several homing lightning balls.

Warlock punch
A powerful dark magic-infused punch attack. Can also be reversed in the opposite direction for added power.

Flame choke
A dashing attack where Ganon will grab his opponents and blast them with dark power.

Dark dive
An attack where Ganon will dash upwards, grab an opponent, and shock them with electricity before catapulting them away.

Wizard's foot
A powerful horizontal kicking attack infused with dark energy. It crashes into the ground if used from above.

Gerudo dragon
A dashing uppercut attack infused with dark energy.

Twilight magic
Due to his time spent in the twilight realm, Ganondorf appears to have picked up many of the magical abilities endemic to the people there. The twilight magic can be applied in multiple different ways, the most common being the ability to create portals in space that can connect adjacent areas, different parts of a country and different realms called twilight portals. Objects and people that travel through these twilight portals are often shown to break themselves down into twilight like particles first. Ganondorf specifically has also shown himself to be able to break his body down into twilight particles and insert himself into the body of another person, essentially possessing them.
Possession

Teleportation


Zant's abilities
Technically speaking the “usurper king Zant” was stated to have been gifted all of his magical abilities by Ganondorf. This means that TECHNICALLY any of the abilities Zant was shown to possess in twilight princess, Ganondorf should be able to pull off as well.

Zant’s abilities involve teleportation and the ability to alter himself to giant sizes. The ability to warp the terrain of the battlefield. The ability to transmogrify other combatants into weaker forms while sealing most of their magical abilities. Ganondorf should also be able to spread twilight the way Zant could in said game. Twilight essentially places the world into a state where most people become disembodied spirits, and certain entities from the twilight realm have an easier time operating.


Transmogrification

Twilight

Size alteration

Altering the terrain

Teleportation


Aghanim's abilities
Ganondorf should also have all the abilities that Agahim possessed. This is because Aghanim is described as being Ganon's alter ego in-game, and appears to have been a proxy body Ganon's spirit was inhabiting when you defeat him. Some of Agahims more notable abilities include mind control, teleporting objects between dimensions, being able to sink into the floor as a shadow and being able to make pseudo duplicates of himself.

Mind manipulation

Teleporting objects to the dark world

Sinking into the floor as a shadow

Duplication 


Telekinesis
Ganondorf possessed some minor telekinetic power. Enough to push away a small opponent or grab moderately sized weapons like swords from a distance. He displayed these abilities most prominently when he possessed Zelda.


Barriers
Ganondorf can create various barriers to trap foes in arenas or sanction off sections of space he doesn’t want characters traversing over.

Ghost horseman
Ganondorf can summon ghost-like horseman while riding on horseback in TP, which he can send towards his opponents to ram into them as an attack.

Magic encasements/bindings
Ganondorf can create giant crystal or electric barrier encasements. He’ll normally do this to trap opponents of foes like Zelda.

Breaking out of seals
Ganondorf with great effort can break himself out magical seals and break borders between realms or realities. He broke the magic seal keeping him locked up that was made by the seven sages in the adult timeline and broke out of another seal placed on him when the golden goddesses flooded Hyrule before wind waker. He was also sealed in the sacred realm in the downfall timeline, only to break out of it with his proxy body alter ego. He was also sealed away before the events of Breath of the wild, and actively pushed against Zelda’s attempted to keep him sealed in the castle the entire game.

Mentioning how he and his powers were sealed in the wind waker after the flood https://youtu.be/PvlNA4VKsb0?t=4283 


Monster creation
So one of the lesser mentioned abilities of Ganon. He can actually use his magical powers to create powerful monsters or modify existing life forms into more dangerous forms subservient him(the latter somewhat similar to how Zant could use the powers Ganondorf gave him to turn the twili into monsters). He does this pretty prominently in the ocarina of time, with his major monsters being the cause of various “curses” that plague an area. He can also seemingly resurrect his minions or other monsters.

It being mentioned he turned knights of Hyrule into monsters in FSA https://youtu.be/QJxVi45Jn70?list=PL9C161ABA7D73D7F2&t=402 
Created Ghoma, who lead to the Deku trees death https://youtu.be/PbEFGXEuQ8E?list=PLE95986922CC189C5&t=92 and 
He created morpho who Froze over Zora's domain https://youtu.be/KdAXmLhmmR4?list=PLE95986922CC189C5&t=293 
Some other notable monsters include phantom Ganon, volvagia who he resurrected, and puppet Ganon.

Hyrule warriors special moves
Ganondorf has various special attacks in the Hyrule Warriors game. This includes summoning shadowy apparitions of his Ganon body as an attack. Summoning lightning from the sky. Summoning some sort of dark fairy to attack his does. Also creating giant balls of dark energy that can form explosive shockwaves or projectiles.

Resurrection/Reincarnation
Ganondorf can resurrect or reincarnate under certain circumstances. After he was killed in twilight princess he was reincarnated into another Gerudo male in 4 swords adventures. When he was killed in a link to the past, he was attempted to be resurrected in the oracle games with the dark rites, which was only partially successful due to the inability to sacrifice Zelda. Yuga resurrected him in a link between world, by drawing power from 7 sages and Zelda. It’s also a potential plot point in Zelda 2, that killing link and spilling his blood on Ganon’s ashes will revive him(for some reason).In Hyrule Warriors, his body is destroyed, but he still exists as fragments of souls for a while, which congregate to form his body once freed. He also technically attempts to resurrect himself in a physical form in BOTW, spending most of his time in a more spectral form. Overall he can resurrect or reincarnate on his own, but this normally takes time. Or he can do so when others take the initiative, normally sacrificing or drawing upon the powers of others in some sort of ritual.


Misc


Transformations

Spirit head/Ganondorf’s malice
A spirit like disembodied head form that Ganon took on when he was in the twilight realm and met Zant. It doesn’t really doesn’t seem to have any special abilities per se, but Ganon can take it on in the light world as well.

Ganon
A giant pig boar-like form Ganondorf initially took on by tapping into the power of the Triforce of power. In 4 swords adventures that version of Ganondorf became Ganon after gaining access to the dark trident. The form generally greatly increases his size and comes with a few exclusive abilities and weapons. This includes the ability to breathe fire and energy projectiles from his mouth. The ability to create stunning tremors by jumping on the ground. Create weird spatial distortions that reverse the controls of a player.(probably something similar to messing with a sense of direction). Become invisible, teleport, and suck the light out of a room with his technique of darkness.

Appearances of Ganon

Fireballs

Energy balls

Tremors

Distortion

Invisibility:

Teleportation: 

Technique of darkness:


Trident
Ganon is also commonly seen using a trident weapon. The ones used by normal Ganondorf in Hyrule Warriors were somewhat inspired by these. The most notable trident is the one Ganon gains in 4 swords adventures, which is stated to be a very specific ancient relic and gives him the power to enter or send others to the dark world at will. This dark world is different than the corrupted sacred realm featured in a link to the past and is more or a mirrored version of the real world on a slightly different plane of reality. Ganon can effectively enter the dark world to avoid attacks. Outside that the students can typically be thrown, sometimes in a boomerang fashion while on fire. They can also create powerful blasts of magic energy or lightning.

Throwing  the trident 

Using it to phase into the dark world

Creating lightning and sending enemies to the dark world 

Energy balls 


Twin swords 
The Ganon in ocarina form also uses two large swords in each hand as a weapon.

misc
He also summons some sorta spear-like a weapon in HW https://youtu.be/Zr5xfoHKow8?t=592 

Calamity Ganon
Calamity Ganon is a new form of Ganon, he takes on…..at some point in some timeline in breath of the wild most likely after numerous encounters with Link and Zelda. This form of Ganon can think but is much more lacking in intelligence than his prior incarnations. It also lacks a physical form for most of the BOTW game, essentially being more of a spectral entity formed of some sorta odd magical substance called malice. 

This malice can damage those who come into contact with it, can spawn monsters in large quantities and can actually corrupt both mechanical and organic beings. This specifically happens in BOTW prologue, where Ganon took control of all of the divine beasts and the shieken guardians. His malice also possesses the dragon Naydra.

Calamity Ganon is the cause for the monster infestation in BOTW, and his power directly respawns them and some corrupted guardians during called the blood moon. The blood moons are implied to be caused by him and he can induce one at will during the final fight. He also created several splinters of himself that act as bosses when Link tries to take back control of the divine beasts from him.

Linke confronts him towards the end of the game, but Ganon can only partially assume a physical form by then. With his form being spider-like while having various shiekien weapons grafter to his body. This includes some claw-like appendages, a sword that can produce fire or tornados. A gun that can shoot miniature tornadoes, create laser beams or energy bullets. The weapons can also be thrown as an attack. This spider form can also climb on walls, produce powerful shockwaves, place some sort of energy shield on itself to lessen damage and conjure giant fireball projectiles.


Malice corruption

Weapons

misc


After the spider-like form has been beaten all of Ganondorf's malic congregates to turn him into a variation of the pig-like Ganon. This form essentially rams into opponents and has a giant mouth laser

Note: Some people theorize with the new breath of the wild 2 trailers that calamity Ganon was a proxy puppet controlled by Ganon' real ody under Hyrule castle.

Feats

Strength
Ganon was the one who placed this giant stone in front of the goron cavern in OOT https://youtu.be/bRtgGHyEFP8?list=PLE95986922CC189C5&t=723
It was stated that he was the one who destroyed great fish island in WW https://youtu.be/PvlNA4VKsb0?t=2814 
Lifted massive spires of rock out of the ground in BOTW https://youtu.be/rzNek4MfK5M?t=560 
Creating a giant hole with a magic blast in ALTTP manga http://historyofhyrule.com/publications/manga_lttp3/169.html
lood moon can cover most of the sky in malice and said power emanates off the moon in BOTW https://youtu.be/2kUExCS3pBs?t=4742 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOXZugNMZc0


Endurance
Survived his tower falling on him in OOT https://youtu.be/qxa6yTlp0jo?list=PLE95986922CC189C5&t=259
Survived being in Hyrule castle when Midna exploded it in TP https://youtu.be/wDwx37Be1AI?list=PLTcoRMwrX2DhQIHchbHwV8S8dHqNxdS9_&t=352 
Survived a few dozen story fall as calamity Ganon in BOTW https://youtu.be/kAuVga9GWIg?t=73 
No sells being struck with a depowered master sword in WW https://youtu.be/PvlNA4VKsb0?t=4304
No sells being set on fire in WW https://youtu.be/PvlNA4VKsb0?t=4400 
Survived a massive energy blast from all 4 divine beasts as calamity Ganon in BOTW https://youtu.be/kAuVga9GWIg?t=176
His physical body basically explodes and then reforms into the pig-like Ganon in BOTW https://youtu.be/kAuVga9GWIg?t=671
Can survive being hit by ancient arrows https://youtu.be/ESfeF40jM_Y?t=7 

Speed
Can doge light arrows at point-blank range(probably not real light) https://youtu.be/sdzI2vCagNc?t=1467 

Scaling
Ganondorf is obviously physically superior or on par with Link. That being said which link’s he scales to and at which times does depend greatly on who he’s actually fought in any given point of their timeline.

Note: The full triforce maintains the alternate world of Lorule. Its destruction leads to a steady decline and eventual destruction of said world.


Weaknesses
Ganondorf has a weakness to holy weapons. This weakness does not seem to be connected to contracting the triforce of power, as Link’s have used it even when he doesn’t have the triforce at his disposal. Weapons used against Ganon in the past include Silver arrows, light arrows, the master word, and the 4 swords.

Worth noting you do not need a holy weapon to harm Ganon overall. Link can hurt him with normal swords in Zelda 1 and OOT. You can kill Ganon with a normal weapon in the oracle games, and you can defeat all versions of calamity Ganon outside his final form with normal weapons.(tbh in the oracle games, Ganon was only partially revived).

List of notable minions

Big members


Mooks
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