He's known throughout most of the gaming world as Ganon, but his full name is Ganondorf, and he's one of Nintendo's most notorious and dangerous villains. He doesn't appear as the antagonist of every Legend of Zelda game, but he's a prominent force in the history and lore of Hyrule, and even when he doesn't make a personal appearance he's involved in the storyline or plot somehow.
Ganon has been around for as long as Link and Zelda, and his backstory and character have been developed and revealed as the franchise has progressed. Even though he's a popular figure in the games and Legend of Zelda-related media, there's a lot that remains unknown about Link's arch-nemesis, the deadly Ganondorf of the Gerudo.
7 A Link To His Past
It wasn't until A Link To His Past for the Super Nintendo that gamers learned something about Ganon's early life. In previous games, he was just a malevolent force that was bent on world domination. When he did face the player on-screen, he was shaped like a giant pig with angry yellow eyes, but the lore in the first isometric game in this series revealed that he had once been human, or at least humanoid.
Ganon was the leader of a band of thieves, and not only did he have human form, but he also possessed impressive magical power along with being a skilled fighter. He was famous for leading his gang to the Sacred Realm in pursuit of the biggest payload ever, the Triforce. His fate as an avatar of evil was sealed when he killed his followers to keep them from gaining the power he now claimed as his own.
6 The Value Of Topaz
It's an interesting bit of LoZ trivia that Ganon has a favorite gemstone, and that happens to be topaz, according to the venerated tome Hyrule Historia. Gamers that were paying attention might have noticed that his armor was decorated with useful and beautiful gems when he appears in humanoid form in Ocarina of Time.
This would explain why it's the main currency in the game that can be found throughout Hyrule, hidden in various places, and is given as a reward for completing quests. Players who remember exploring the vast forest of the original game can think back to all those hidden "thieves' caches" hidden under rocks or trees that might have belonged to Ganon or his band of thieves.
5 Din And The Triforce Of Power
Din was one of the three goddesses that created Hyrule, and her sisters were named Nayru and Farore. Each of them ruled a different part of the Golden Power, also known as the Triforce, and Din was the goddess of the Triforce of Power. Nayru held the Triforce of Wisdom and Farore the Triforce of Courage, but anyone who wanted to control Hyrule had to possess all three.
When Ganon tried to pick up the Triforce, it split into three pieces, leaving him only with Din's Triforce of Power. It wasn't enough to give him the throne of Hyrule, but it did give him incredible power. This explains Ganon's long-term plan and his motives in the original game, in which he possessed the Triforce of Power and was looking for the Triforce of Wisdom.
4 Journey To The West
Players were introduced to Ganon as an enormous pig-monster thing that might have just been a strong and intimidating enemy, but there was some thought behind this design. A similar character named Zhu Bajie, a creature in half-man half-pig form, appears in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. The artists and programmers called him Hakkai during the game's development, which is the character's name in Japanese.
Journey to the West was translated by Arthur Waley in 1946 and has been available in English since then. His version titles the story after one of the main characters, Monkey, and virtually every cartoon, video game, or TV show featuring this character is somehow connected to this novel.
3 Thief/Mage/Fighter Multiclass
TheLegend of Zelda has some RPG elements, but players don't choose a class or build on stats or skills. That being said, most characters seem to have features that fit into certain RPG classes, such as fighter, magic user, or thief, but with little overlap. Link can use magic, but he usually does so through special items, not his own knowledge of sorcery. Zelda is a magic user who disguises herself as a thief, but she isn't a melee fighter.
Ganon is the one character in the LoZ universe that does all of these things. He was born into the Gerudo Tribe, who are survivalists and thieves, where he learned how to fight and sneak, but he was raised by the witches Koume and Kotake, who taught him sorcery.
2 The Highlander Connection
Ocarina of Time was the first game in the LoZ franchise that was rendered in 3D, and gamers were impressed with the results. Part of the game's success came from using the models of real people to design the characters to make their appearance realistic.
Movie buffs and dedicated gamers might know this fun fact, but most people are surprised to find out that Ganon's human features are based on actor Christopher Lambert. Lambert is the famous face behind iconic figures like Connor MacCloud of The Highlander and Rayden from the Mortal Combat live adaptation from 1996.
1 The Persistent Antagonist
Ganon could be one of the most persistent and determined video game villains in history, and it turns out that might just be his nature. In one of the latest chapters in the LoZ franchise, Skyward Sword, the antagonist of this game is Demise. When he is defeated, he swears that he'll always return no matter how many times Link kills him.
It's possible that he's speaking literally. According to the Hyrule Historia, there's some connection between Ganondorf and Demise, signified by their red hair. It would also explain why Ganon keeps coming back to try and destroy the Chosen Hero and Princess Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches May 12, 2023, for the Nintendo Switch.