Ganondorf isn't Misunderstood

Ganondorf: POWER IS.
Ganon: POWER AS.
Demise: POWER NOT.

Power doesn't stagnate, as that would ultimately lead to its own death. It evolves and cites change for both good and evil, blue and orange morality. Power is always at the control of BOTH the wielders and the will.

The 3 Goddesses are frustratingly stupid to the point they are not actually proper gods and more of trainees to build their own universe and Hyrule is just a testing ground for them. Hylia has more compassion and ethic-evolution of staged-situations when enemies like the Blood Moon in BoTW happens. Demise is a jerk 100%, but he has a point that what good is good can NEVER understand what make power to evil happen.

I hate how botw and totk ganondorph is a new incarnation and not at all the same ganondorph from all the other games ( i know there are 3) but thats what tied stuff together the best imo and it was a lost opportunity to have mummy ganondorph talk about past games in totk

listen. there were TWO ganondorfs. people dont understand the imprisoning war started a few hundred years before ocarina of time, and twinrova existed back then too, they failed with the demon king but came SOOOO close, and then tried to make a new ganondorf.

I think Ganondorf is a case of "human" being mistaken for "good". He comes off as maybe, not a pure evil all powerful monster because his ambition, reaction to events, and those brief snippets of introspection feel somewhat relatable. I think it's actually kind of touching that people try to see the good in him. Too often we're swarmed by analysis of humans who are really monsters, or rather people want to tell others the depths of depravity humans can sink to. Ganondorf is a more literal representation of that, becoming a pig monster half the time which reflects his soul or whatever, and yet the majority of analysis on his character actively chooses to see the humanity in him instead.

I feel like Ganondorf always typically has the intention of conquering for the purpose of the Gerudo, but being the reincarnation of demise means that inevitably he always goes to the true nature of hatred and wrath that birthed him. Because in almost every instance of Ganondorf he has some sort of desire to conquer because he and the Gerudo have nothing and fight to barely survive in the harsh deserts, but once he actually reaches a position in which he can bring his people to that equal living standard he gets caught in his hatred of the people that had what he doesn't.

Ganon is the definition of evil. He is literally the reincarnation of Demise, aka the Zelda equivalent of Satan.

You sympathize with ganondorf because of his backstory.

I sympathize with ganondorf because of his SSBU tier-list ranking.

We are not the same.

So, I believe the reason why Ganondorf gets the Triforce of Power in Twilight Princess is because Link was given the Triforce of Courage and it went back in time with him. This caused the Triforce pieces to go to their respective owners who hadn't had the pieces yet in that time. Ironically, Zelda sending Link to the past caused a LOT of issues.

One of the biggest details I never hear people talk about with the Wind Waker timeline: Wind Waker Link is NOT the Hero's Spirit. The Fallen Timeline isn't either. Both of those Links are new Links entirely, with no spiritual connection to the original Hero's Spirit that started with Skyward Sword Link. The Fallen Timeline is a new one created by the gods as far as I can tell, made to be different than the original. Wind Waker's timeline is not like the Fallen one though. He's unironically just a random kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and chooses to more or less force the gods to recognize him as a worthy successor through sheer force of will. That's why towards the end, Ganondorf seems to test him. He's making sure this new random kid actually stacks up to the old Hero before he'll respect him. And thanks to him pulling off what the original hero couldn't in that timeline, he gets to replace him and be the one who keeps coming back.

Also Wind Waker Ganondorf could be speaking truthfully. You have to remember that Demise specifically says that someone will "inherit" his anger. You can't inherit something that is yours. Ganondorf is a separate being, who is influenced by this all consuming hatred that he has inherited. It is completely plausible that early on in his life, that manifested as a righteous fury before then being corrupted as he gained more power. By the time Wind Waker's events are taking place, he seems to have conquered that hatred, as he seems to have almost noble goals. He even tries his best not to harm Link or Zelda before his mental snap after his hopes are ripped away by the King. There's no real evidence that he wanted more than to simply bring Hyrule back, to undo the harm he'd done. But then that is ruined and it angers him so much that Demise's hate takes back over. That's my take on his characterization in that game, anyways.

I don't get why everyone thinks the downfall timeline is a "what if?". In Ocarina of Time, you get to travel back and forth between Past and Future. Everytime you go into the past, you cause a branching timeline to appear. The downfall timeline is the culmination of every timeline Link leaves behind without having beaten Ganondorf yet. Then the Adult and Child timelines are the two unique timelines where Ganondorf is actually defeated.

Interestingly, you can beat Ocarina of Time NMG with only one jump to the Past. So there must always be at least one downfall timeline, no matter what playthrough you look at (except of course runs that utilize breaks in the Game Logic, rather than existing entirely within the intended world logic)

"little indie game" false actually, Nintendo is not a small group

I am a Ganondorf fan. Many people think he is just misunderstood. But how I see it he is just being evil for the sake of being evil

My favorite Link, Zelda and Ganon are TP, ST and TOTK respectively. The first one is biased as all hell, but I don’t care, Twilight Princess is my favorite game of all time and I think it has one of Link’s most badass and inspirational incarnations, growing from a regular farm boy to the hero of legend, only meaning to save those he cares about originally and eventually saving the world in the process. His bond with Midna is also peak. ST Zelda is extremely obvious, she’s the second best companion in the series for a reason. And TOTK Ganondorf is just an absolute badass who feels like the boogeyman. I only wish he had more screen time because he steals the show during the little he does have. And that final fight is the best boss battle in the series.

He is Literally called the King Of Evil and the reincarnation of Demise

I always thought ganondorf represent a harsh reality that some people are evil, manipulative terrible people and they will always be that way to the day they die. Some people don't accept that and will continue to make excuses for other people saying things like he just misunderstood.

Ganondorf here is little finger 😂😂😂😂

And then proceeded to crush Mendes cool hat I love your choice of words your commentary is wonderful I am loving it and lmao

"inevitably be defeated by a time-traveling war-orphan who grew up in a forest and was raised by literal tree"
The best link description I've heard in my 33 years LMAO thanks that caught me SO off guard 😂😂😂

The thing is, we see in BOTW that the Gerudo are actually thriving, in the harsh desert, in the aftermath of the Calamity that decimated the previous civilization, without having to turn to piracy/banditry. They instead make a living on trade, like most civilizations do. And they did all of this while Ganondorf was well out of the picture. So yeah, it was never about helping his people.

The outro bong rip made me subscribe instantly hahaha shit was fucken godly

Thank you, before totk came out I was getting so unbelievably tired of people trying to say ganon deserved a redemption arc as if ganon isn’t one of the most cruel and evil nintendo characters we have

Ganon isn’t misunderstood he’s just hot

I understand that I want to beat his ass

Isn't gannon's quest for the other two pieces of the triforce pointless? He doesn't have wisdom and he doesn't have courage, the very traits of the pieces he's trying to obtain.

To me, Ganondorf's speech in Wind Waker isn't about trying to help his people, it's him trying to understand what's really been driving him all these years. He sought to conquer Hyrule for nearly his whole life and never gave any of it a second thought, but now nearing his final battle, he questions the purpose behind it, ultimately attributing it to envy over the contrast between Hyrule's peaceful life and the difficult conditions of his own land. While that could very well be what awakened his hatred, the truth is that as the reincarnation of Demise, seeking the ultimate power at all costs is just a part of who he is. An evil man driven by greed and boundless ambition trying to rationalize his nature near the end of his journey is such a fascinating take on Ganondorf's character.

I’m a die hard Ganondorf Fan. Been that way since I played melee for the first time

i would love a zelda game where they learn of Demise the demon and try to break the "curse". perhaps we see the "real" ganondorf for a second, pleading for help to be released from the curse, before being consumed again. there's an epic quest, as usual, and you release ganondorf from his curse. I think it would be such a sweet and nice ending, especially if ganon grabs link by the throat and chokes him out directly after revealing he was always a dickass and the curse was some bs demise droppped to make you paranoid.

As someone who spends a lot of time in the quarters of fandom that are more sympathetic to Ganondorf, I appreciate the fic potential of a hypothetical redemption arc for him. But I think fans need to be honest with ourselves that the vast majority of the nuance and tragic backstory we're imagining into the character doesn't exist in the text.

I also feel like there's a difference between having understandable motives and being justified. A person doesn't have to be possessed by a demon or pure evil by nature to commit acts that are inexcusable. If someone is going to say that morality is a spectrum, then they have to accept that some people are going to have a few positive traits but overall still come down on the villainous side. Pretending otherwise is just creating a new binary with the line drawn in a different place; "morally gray" doesn't mean the bad things this person did are fine because I like them. Though I personally disagree with you that Ganondorf is proven to have never cared about his people - there are, as you point out, only four named Gerudo in Ocarina which isn't a great sample size for understanding the variety of opinions that might exist about him in their country, and in every other appearance their idea of him has been filtered through generations of history in which he was the loser. Buuut that doesn't change that what he did to Nabooru was objectively horrifying. Just imagining what she went through, I don't think any of his reasons matter at that point. The backstory in the LttP manual also does not make him look good.

With all that said, I do think there's the additional factor of a lot of people feeling uncomfortable with the storyline where a West or South Asian-coded man is evil and wants to invade the nice European-looking country next door for no reason beyond his lust for power, so the innocent, blue-eyed princess and her knight have to destroy him, often while being guided by the infinitely wise, technologically superior East Asians who have definitely never done any imperialism themselves. I get why people would want to retcon that. (Though the ways well-intentioned fandom tries to handle it are maybe sometimes worse than the original.)

This got long, whoops... anyway nice job on the video, good to hear another perspective :)

Don't know if anyone else has brought it up, but the "divine prank" in twilight princess was Link going back in time at the end of ocarina. He retained the triforce of courage, but since it was a different timeline, it actually split that timeline's triforce, while the triforce of courage from the adult timeline was shattered into pieces to be found in wind waker. The splitting of the triforce in the child timeline let Link keep courage, while wisdom and power found their way to Zelda and Ganondorf autonomously. Din didn't directly intervene on behalf of Ganondorf's supposed "innocence."

Also the bit about wind waker Link not having the spirit of the hero is untrue. It's directly stated in-game that "You truly are the Hero of Time reborn" not to mention it isn't a coincidence that the day he gets his tunic and sword is the day he meets Zelda. This isn't the first time a Link has had to earn the triforce of courage, nor is it the first time the triforce has been split into pieces for Link to collect, so saying that he doesn't have the spirit of the hero because he has to collect the triforce doesn't make any sense.

Best video ever

Imprisoned has the goofiest design in my opinion

That bong rippp thoo

Ganondork: my people is dying in the desert, hyrule has all the resourses, it is paradise and we are not in it, its unfair.

link: ... why dont you come to hyrule?

Ganondork: }:O

Ganon and Zelda always seem to be at least somewhat aware of the reoccurring events. Link just gets dropped in while hes trying to enjoy breakfast or something

He also acknowledged that the great sword is the only thing that can harm evil, him, which to me seems like he is very aware of what side he is on from the get go.

Not sure if it's been brought up, but when Link is sent back in time by Zelda it's explicitly stated that he takes the Triforce of Courage with him, this causes the Triforce to split which is the source of the "divine prank"

I think it's in Hyrule Historia

did you just call tears of the kingdom a fucking little indie game?

i truly wished ganondorf could be a better person, could be helped, could be saved. but that's just not the kind of person he is. he would use anyone who tried.

Damn dude, you sound so bored.

Thank you for bringing some justice to Twilight Princess Ganondorf. He gets so much hate because people just...do not get the whole point of him being in the game.
Honestly, people who scream for Zant to be the main antagonist fundamentally do not understand who Zant is supposed to be. Because what is Zant without Ganondorf? Just a desperate loser. That's the whole point of his bossfight. He doesn't have any identity of his own which is why he "steals" the identities of previous bosses. In his last phase you finally fight him and you realize who he actually is...he is just a clown. His swordsmanship is terrible and he doesn't have any skill or power of his own. Everything he got was gifted to him by Ganondorf.
So...if Nintendo actually decided to make him the main antagonist the game would have needed a whole lot of rewriting.
As Twilight Princess is now though...Zant as the main antagonist wouldn't make any sense. Because Zant himself...without Ganondorf...is a weakling.

The thing is, would he be a more interesting character, if he where misunderstood, if he where allowed more nuance and inner conflict? Hell yeah, just imagine if he had the potential to be neutral or even good but where bound to be forced into the same dark path again and again by demised curse, he might be a genuin ally of our hero's at the beginn of the story and then get twisten in one incarnation, where no one is aware of the curse only to betray them and himself against his will.... It could be glorious, the drama..... But that's not who he is canonical, he was never allowed that much nuance, any attempt to frame him as just trying the best for his people is deeply misrepresenting what he did and how he went about it in the appearances of him we got. Windwaker is the only appearance that shows him in conflict but it's not enough to argue him to be even neutral even less so misunderstood with the potential of good...... He could be tragic, but we just have not gotten enough to make that an in any way valid theory and I doubt that will ever change....

Ganondorf is a badass villain who can be simultaneously noble and honorable and evil and ruthless in equal measure.

He is the perfect villain for past, modern and future generations who will look up to him as a epitome of evil badassery

Dude, great video, but your monotone could break glass. You sound like you’re doing a school project

Seriously, y'all just see a pretty face and go "they're not evil: They're just pretty!, and missunderstood 😢".

In Japan a lot of swords are named after the blacksmiths who created them. I always felt that was the case since in some instances the swords that Ganondorf (or Phantom Ganon) wield will sometimes say Zubora Gabora, which are the names of the blacksmiths...from Majora's Mask. It's like they wanted to give the swords the names of famous blacksmiths, but there aren't any famous blacksmiths in the Zelda games so they just used the names of the blacksmiths who even had names at all in the series (even the LttP dwarven & MC picori blacksmiths didn't have names).

I think I misunderstood

Looking back it is fucking hilerous that people looked at that first trailer for Tears of the Kingdom and think, "Oh my God he is about to have a wholesome redemption arc!" 😍

yea cause the man so absceesed with power who destroys kingdoms and is literally the reincarnation of the demon king cause he had a grude is "misunderstood" bitch no argument will prove me wrong cause saying he's misunderstood is like saying a serial killer was misunderstood but a lot worse