[Last week, I asked you to write anything you wanted about videogame antagonists. Today's blog is from Yamagato333, who discusses the various incarnations of Ganondorf throughout the Zelda series and why he ultimately found Skull Kid to be a more interesting villain. Want to see your own blog on the front page? Write a blog on the current topic: Integration. -- JRo]
I have a love/hate relationship with the Zelda franchise. I love Majora’s Mask. I hate Twilight Princess. I enjoyed The Windwaker. I’m not clouded by nostalgia for Ocarina of Time.
Did I mention I’m not too fond of Ganondorf?
My first outing in the world of Hyrule came on Christmas day 1998. I popped Ocarina of Time into my Nintendo 64 and began a journey that would change the way I perceived video games for the rest of my life. Before this fateful day video games were merely a hobby; an excuse to stay locked away in my bedroom because I didn’t feel like playing football at that particular moment. Ocarina of Time turned my hobby into a love affair. I was hooked. I searched Hyrule for every collectible; I memorized every dungeon; I fell in love with princess Zelda. That last one is a lie. I actually fell in love with the ginger girl from Lon Lon Ranch.
I really wanted to destroy Ganondorf because he’d wronged me. He’d taken the Triforce of Power and really messed up my Hyrule. I was ready to make him suffer, and suffer he did. I relished every second he spent being electrocuted by his own Kamehameha blast. I laughed feverishly every time I slashed at his deformed tail with my giant Goron Sword. I savoured the moment the Master Sword entered his skull.
However, he never once struck me as an interesting villain. I want to rule the world. I get power. Now I rule the world. I want more power. This is all standard villain stuff. There was nothing truly compelling behind his particular brand of evil.
Then came Majora’s Mask. It was weird. It was different. It scared me. There was a massive Marilyn Manson moon hanging over my head. A weird little kid I met during Ocarina of Time was now running around making Manson’s face fall out of the sky. He was doing this by harnessing the power of a magical and evil mask. I was freaking out, and I didn’t understand why I was so captivated by it all because it strayed so far from its predecessor, and I usually hated change. Gradually, I fell deeper into its clutches, and my love for Ocarina of Time began to fade. I appreciated Skull Kid because he was a villain I felt sympathy for. Here was a young boy that wanted nothing more than a friend. A child who had been corrupted by the evil of a mask, and turned into a monster. I never experienced this feeling of remorse when I plunged the Master Sword into Ganon’s skull. I savoured every second of that kill. Yet here I was promising myself that I wouldn’t kill Skull Kid. No, he did not deserve Ganon’s fate.
As I got older I began to understand that the reason Majora’s Mask had made me forget about Ocarina of Time was that its story was more compelling; its villain more relatable, and as a result, the game was less one dimensional. The fact I could relate to, and ultimately sympathise with, Skull Kid made him feel more real to me. I was fully immersed in this world because the characters had so much life within them. I mean, seriously, if you track each citizen of Termina over the course of the games' “72 hours” you begin to notice that most of them appear to be living out actual lives. They show up in different places. They are doing different things. You get a sense of peril from the various citizens you encounter. You truly feel as though this little kid is really going to bring about the apocalypse.
Skull Kid was the new villain on the block. Ganondorf just wasn’t doing it for me anymore.
Then came a trailer for Nintendo’s next Zelda game for the oddly named Dolphin console. A trailer that depicted its protagonist, Link in an epic duel with Ganondorf. I wasn’t impressed. Sure, the graphics looked awesome, and the trailer had a good amount of action, but honestly, Ganondorf is back? I’ve heard he was in a few Zelda games before Ocarina, and I figured you’d be doing more of that crazy Majora’s Mask style stuff.
However, much to my surprise, and jubilation, this trailer was not the Zelda that would appear on the newly minted Gamecube. No, this Zelda was to be just as intriguing as the one that came before. This was The Windwaker.
Once again I spent many an hour in the world that Nintendo had so lovingly created, and enjoyed every second of it. That is until I met an old friend. Yep, Ganondorf is back. Now, in a game that seems so new and fresh - a new graphical style; a new concept for travel; a giant ocean to explore - you’d think that Nintendo would have provided me with a more imaginative and compelling villain. I’m not saying Ganaondorf totally sucked in The Windwaker, but I am saying that his presence was underwhelming. He just didn’t fit. I expected more. I wanted more. It was something that gave me a feeling of déjà vu that I never really shook on my first play through.
This was only my third Zelda game, however, and two out of three ain’t all that bad.
So then Nintendo introduced us to Twilight Princess; the game to appease everyone who felt wronged by the cartoon graphical style of The Windwaker.
Twilight Princess was an interesting concept, I mean, you change into a wolf and hunt shiny bugs. Okay, that sounds a lot lamer than it actually is. The game showed promise when it revealed the main villain, Zant; a strange looking fellow, who seemed to be spreading an interesting graphical filter all over my lovely Hyrule. I was digging this guy. He was weird. He was pretty intimidating – until he took the helmet off – and he was fresh. Yeah, this was a Zelda villain I could enjoy. Well, I wasn’t privy to any spoilers, so I was pretty upset when I discovered that Zant was merely a pawn in Ganondorf’s evil scheme. Ganondorf, really? We’re really doing this again, Nintendo? Shigsy, I know you’re fond of this guy, but seriously, he’s not cool anymore. I want that other guy. The weird looking one back there. Yes, him. No, not the giant pig version of Ganondorf. Just forget it.
I literally turned off my Gamecube, and it would be an entire year before I saw the ending of Twilight Princess.
Video game villains are important tools when it comes to keeping one’s interest in a narrative. They often serve as the primary catalyst of the protagonist’s ultimate struggle, and as a result can be a thin thread holding together a fragile concept. A good villain keeps you engaged; they keep you playing. A bad villain makes you stop. They make you question whether you should keep up the fight. They make you question whether it’s really all worth it.
Fortunately, most Zelda games have flourished irrespective of their repetitive villain choice. We play these games for so many more reasons than a simple choice of villain, and yet somewhere, deep within the recesses of our minds, there is a voice. A voice asking where is that weirdo at Nintendo? The one who succeeded with his idea for Majora’s Mask. You know, that guy who who tried to make Zant the main villain of Twilight Princess. That voice is begging, pleading for that guy to come back. Hoping that he was working on Skyward Sword. Telling us to check the basement. Shigsy keeps him locked up in the basement.
You all hear that voice, right? Just me? Okay, then.
Contest:
7:30 PM on 10.11.2011 | 
THIS. It applies to most any game!
Regardless of how disappointing the conclusion of Twilight Princess is, the battle is pretty epic. Ganon is a significant villain, but he's too played out. I like him in 5 of his games, but the other villains are cool.
Try giving Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks a shot. You'll see that Bellum and Malladus are amazing. Hell, even Vaati is cool as fuck.
Phantom's Hourglass is my second least favorite Zelda game, behind only the original. Bellum is the most boring villain in the entire series, and at the end the story pulls a Link's Awakening ex machina. I've yet to play Spirit Tracks but will eventually.
I'm guessing you haven't played Four Sword Adventures, as it pulls a similar move to TP, but in a more organic way.
Minish Cap, Link's Awakening, the DS games, & Majora's Mask are unfortunately the only games that do not have Ganondorf as the main villain.
SKYWARD SWORD SPOILERS:
I believe Nintendo has already said that Ganondorf is not in it. So celebrate!
I'll give them a shot. A friend has been trying to get me to to play them for a long time.
@Intercept, thank you for that info. I was already excited about Skyward Sword, but now I'm even more so!
I don't have that high hopes for Skyward Sword. In my opinion I don't like the 'combination of TP and WW' art style of it (after experiencing the awesome darkness of Twilight Princess), and that's coming from someone who absolutely LOVED Wind Waker. Well, I guess I'll have to wait for it to come out before I can fully say how I feel about the latest iteration of Hyrule.
I love everything about it. The creepy face on the moon. The fact that if you watch it on the third day, you'll see it's slowly moving closer and closer to the surface. Skull Kid and his hyper active brand of evil. The dungeons, weapons, characters, music... EVERYTHING!
It's one of two N64 games I still own mint in the box.
@Intercept Phantom Hourglass is pretty much a remake of Link's Awakening anyways just with some Wind Waker thrown in.
Skyward Sword takes place before OoT so hopefully we can see an old villain or anyone who isn't Ganondorf, maybe even the origin of Majora's Mask (which is rumored to be created by the Twili). We know about Ghirahim, but I doubt that he is the main baddy in the game.
@KingSigy
I thought Bellum was horrible, there was nothing good about him at all. The only good thing about him was the fight with him before the final boss.
dude, you captured my very soul in this piece. I never imagined that among the hordes of morons who want to bum ganon, there may be a person like myself who loved majoras mask and hated TP.
I also felt that ocarina of time was not that great, but here's the stinker. it was pretty much a remake of ocarina of time, with a few things switched around.
I've played zelda since the very first installment. apart from number 2 but then you understand that, right?
the first one was amazing and had me casting my candle on tree after tree for hours on end. there was nothing much in the way of story though. zelda 3 fixed that and made me fall in love with a concept. the characters, the story, the music. then ocarina of time came along and ripped it off. it always makes me sore when i see people worship OOT when I am all the time in full knowledge that it has stolen the thunder of what was the true masterpiece.
and ganon was a fat pig beast. not some stupid guy with a big nose and a beard.
He was also in Minish Cap.
@Yamagato, I can agree 100% with you that Minish Cap>OoT. OoT felt cliched and typical. The time travel function was the only redeeming quality (and yes, Malon is a babe.)
Wind Waker, I thought that giant bird who captured Aryll would be the villian. But I was crushed when the whole "HYRULE IS SUNK UNDER TEH. OCEANZ DURRR."
Skywards sword new FEMALE antagonist looks really cool though. Great write-up, meng!
(Rolento>Ganondorf.)
@Epic: Malon is such a babe.
I think the reason Nintendo has Ganondorf appear in so many Zelda games is because of the fans, the ones who think he's a this deep evolving character that you should feel sorry for (even though the only game anyone actually sympathy for him was in Wind Waker), when in reality he's just a power hungry villain who's not all that deep or tragic.
Overall awesome read man, and it's nice to see someone with the same sentiment as me when it comes to Ganondorf.
How could I forget Minish Cap? I fucking loved that game. Vaati should've appeared in one of the Wind Waker sequels on the DS, he would've fit the wind theme. Missed opportunity Nintendo!
Also, to me, the Ganondorf in Wind Waker is the most interesting version of Ganondorf, or indeed any villain in Zelda. Instead of being a power hungry psycho, he seemed more like a doomed, tragic figure. His dialogue at the end of the game says as much. He resents the new land, the Great Sea, and clings to Hyrule. The king of Hyrule tells Link and Zelda that they must move on, and forget about Hyrule. He only decided to attack once Hyrule started flooding, once he lost everything he worked towards.
They can do good with Ganondorf, although I am glad (for purely aesthetic reasons) that he is sitting Skyward Sword out.
But I do have an urge to say I really liked Zant. When his true identity was revealed I weirdly related to the delusions he had and the fact that the fight with him was quite the cake walk cemented that he was just a pawn even further. I kinda felt sorry for the guy in the end.. and because of that (though not solely) I'm very fond of Twilight Princess overall.
But I will say the love for Majora's Mask misses me. To me it really is the most unimmersive Zelda game I've played and I blame it solely on the time mechanic. I can't get into something if I'm pushed around.
@Neil Marcus Rowlands, thank you for the kind words! Yes, Majora's Mask is, in my opinion, the best Zelda game, period. I love everything about the game and proudly display my original copy like a beautiful trophy.
@curtisdhansen, I'll never get over the betrayal of Ganon's presence in Twilight Princess. It was as if Nintendo didn't trust their ability to create something fresh. Yeah, Skyward Sword is hopefully going to be awesome. I'm praying for a world as vast as the one in Wind Waker.
@Epic-Kx, haha, Malon; yes, I'd forgotten her name!
Ghirahim is a chick, confirmed by nintendo in the latest Game Informer.
And say what you will about Twilight Princess, but it should have been abundantly clear that Ganondorf would be significantly involved at the game's midway point, when the Sages talk about him point-blank.
Source?
That's sort of the point. I had no idea that Zant would become a secondary villain, and that's what upset me. The game took me on an interesting ride for half the game; the rug was then pulled out from underneath me, and it was back to the same old shit. The Sages made it clear where they were going, but I still wanted to believe Zant would remain the big bad.
Although I have to say Windwaker was the only game in the series where I didn't think Gannon was completely lame. The final battle with him is one of the best boss fights in gaming as far as I'm concerned. It was definitely still pretty one-dimensional, but the execution and context in the story made it pretty amazing.
http://www.zelda-infinite.com/files/manga/majora/view.php?chap=10&page=1
This is a fan translation, though... I think in mine, Fierce Deity Link calls the mask salesman a 'little wretch' after slicing up his masks and chasing him away (aweeesome)
At least reusing Ganon is honest to the core conceit of the series in that all the games are very similar, and most of the time that's not a bad thing. My favorite in the series is Majora's Mask, not because the end boss is different, but that the gameplay is diversified and the main purpose becomes more about finding away to stay ahead of the clock and save as many of the (suddenly interesting and sympathetic) people around Termina, and not just putting the pointy end of the sword into the big bad. None of the other Zelda games tried so hard to make you care about the people in the world, and that's a real shame, because they did it so well. Also, bunny hood mask. That is all.
The thing possessed a kid desperate for friends, fucked over every individual race and the area they lived in more than one way, screwed over almost everyone in the game individually, and was planning to top it all off by dropping the moon on everyone, except only after allowing everyone to suffer for a while because it's a sadistic asshole.
It did all of this just for nothing other than shits and giggles. The worst thing about it all is that rewinding reset everything back to the way Majora's Mask had it before you intervened. Hell, the only way to even begin saving the world is to allow Majora to almost destroy it since that's the only time you can even confront the thing after it severely de-powers you!
The only Zelda game I can honestly say I felt anything for Ganondorf in was the Wind Waker, but he waited until the very end to tell anyone anything about his character. I still like him best in that game, though.
That said, I'm not that bothered by Ganondorf being the villain. The appeal of any of the main Zelda games' stories is the path traveled to Ganondorf, not Ganondorf himself. He's kinda like Dracula in that, under normal circumstances, no matter what happens before the end of the game, he's going to be the main villain. I would, however, like to see a villain other than Ganondorf. He's nowhere near as important to Zelda's universe (in either timeline) as Dracula is to Castlevania's, his back story isn't as interesting as Dracula's, and he has less in-story excuses for constantly coming back in some form.
Also, I really love Majora's, though it's not my favorite.
I actually felt a bit that way when I played A Link to the Past, and saw that Ganon was back, again. Instead of Aghanim Nintendo decided to play it safe... Oh well, Nintendo.
And again as the years go by and more Zeldas are added to the pile, I've come to the conclusion that nothing will equal the experience of Majora, this game was really an exception. That being said I too enjoy Zelda but I'm not expecting anything new here, maybe just some visual updates and couples of cool gameplay features, oh and Ganon...
Majora's was a exception to the rule, a risky game (at least for Nintendo)
I do hope they release Majora's Mask for the 3DS; from the sounds of it, the game suits my taste more than Ocarina. I have also played Four Swords, but I highly doubt Vaati is much of a villain that one is looking for.
Sick of them? Go play another series. The Triforce and familiarity (Using memorable characters, towns, reimagined) are what seperates The Legend of Zelda from it's clones. The series has a very rich history or characters, weapons, items, mechanics (Bomb arrow!), and icons. By using the same things reimagined, it builds history for them. The Legend of Lon Lon Ranch, anyone? Yeah? Yeah!
If I wanted all of the Zelda mechanics but none of the things like Ganondorf or any other familiarity in it, I'd pick up Darksiders if I were you.
Thank you for the responses everyone, whether you agreed with me or not!
I'm glad I could get some of you to give Majora's Mask a chance. It really is a special game. The clock actually adds a sense of constant terror that no other game has captured since. You really do feel as if the world is going to end. As if there is really something at stake.
also, the first thing i thought when i watched a skyward sword trailer was 'god i hope gannon doesnt pop up at the end and wreck it'.
not to mention he's been the main villain from the start.
do people complain that bowser has been the main villain for about 85% of the mario games? no because its what we expect, you're supposed to take the story for what it is...
an everlasting re-occurrence of the same story.
the creators just make the environment and circumstances different but it always boils down to the the aspects of power (ganon), wisdom (zelda), and courage (link).
That would be Ganon not Ganondorf.
That said, the Zelda series has usually had plenty of different "main" villains. Vaati, Majora, Bellum, Nightmare, Malladus. And there have been many major villains that could've been the main enemies: Agahnim, Zant, General Onox, Veran.
I like Ganondorf... but I do like games without him too.
Ganon is resurrected by Zant, leeching off of Zant's power.
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I don't really agree with the blog, Ganon is pretty cool in my opinion.
Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time was a pretty basic villain even though he has a cool design, you can't argue with that.
In Wind Waker, Ganondorf divulges some of his backstory. He talks about how he came from a land where his people suffered, and his jealousy of Hyrule was overwhleming. It's only a little bit but makes him more relatable.
As for Zant? HE IS JUST LIKE OCARINA GANON. He is a very basic villain that whilst exotic, only wants power. He was kinda boring. When the twist came about, it just made Ganondorf look even stronger. His battle was also rather epic.
Majora's Mask is definitely the best in the series but I don't see why you have to lose your love of Ocarina to like it. Skull Kid isn't the real villain, the Mask is. The Skull Kid is worthy of pity, whilst the mask is the embodiment of chaotic, purposeless evil. It's a sweet setup, but it's the time mechanics that make it so much more powerful.
As I said I like Ganondorf, mainly as I see his potential. A story concerning young Ganondorf could be pretty special.