Breath of the Wild 2's "Reydrated Ganondorf" Isn't Just Sexy - He's Sweet, Too

The latest art trend shows a fascinatingly softer side to the Gerudo king.

[Sonyslave3]

Wow 😍

[Samus707]

This is true equality here, folks. Anime tiddy and dong lovers unite!

[XiNatsuDragnel]

LMAO Rehydrate meme is official 😂

[PhoenixUp]

Why do so many people try to say so many of their favorite villains are just misunderstood

[Shiken]

Because if you played Wind Waker, you would see that Ganondorf, the man, was misunderstood and bound by the fate of Demise's curse. His whole reason for seeking power was to lead his people, the Gerudo, out of a life of poverty and despair due to their desert homeland. He wanted to conquer Hyrule for his people to prosper, and did not get drunk with power until after turning into Ganon.

At least that is the case with the villain the article is about anyway.

[PhoenixUp]

Even in Wind Waker I wouldn’t say he’s misunderstood because we already saw what would happen if Ganondorf achieved his goal.

Ocarina of Time already showed a very clear and decidedly bad outcome if Ganondorf were ever to acquire the power he's after, it just means that in Wind Waker he's either legitimately less arrogant having already failed once before, hiding behind a more humble facade since his powers aren't restored until late in the plot, or he sincerely believes that he won't unleash a flood of evil once he acquires the complete Triforce this time.

Even in Ocarina of Time we see that the very Gerudo he’s allegedly trying to help aren't too fond of how far Ganondorf goes to accomplish his goals.

Even in Twilight Princess, that features a timeline before Ganondorf ever took over Hyrule, shows that he’s still a thoroughly unrepentant and power-hungry villain who’d kill innocent people, plan hostile coups, makes people suffer. If he were so noble deep down then he wouldn’t have acted nearly as vile in TP.

It apparently it takes Ganondorf 7 years of enslaving and rule the world and getting defeated after doing so to start feeling any sort of conscience and never at any other point in time. Yeah really sympathetic villain...

[Shiken]

Motives and execution are two completely different things. In Ocarina of Time, the majority of the Gerudo (who were not evil) saw him as a hero, and followed his every command. His execution was undoubtedly more sinister, likely due to the influence from Demise. But in his eyes and through the eyes of his followers, he was the hero and the Hylians were the enemy.

[PhoenixUp]

Just because you have good motives doesn’t mean you’re a good person if you must commit heinous acts to achieve them. There’s a vast amount of villains who do evil actions for somewhat reasonable motives, and at that point it’s ridiculous to separate the motives that lead to these despicable acts.

The Gerudo were required by their own tradition and law to follow the whims of their king, the sole male born every 100 years. Many would follow him regardless of how they felt about him with Nabooru being the only one brave enough to oppose him.

In addition to that it’s heavily implied that Twinrova's influence was making the Gerudo worse over those years. This is further clarified right after you beat Twinrova when the carpenters state Gerudo’s personality improved.

A Link to the Past also states that Ganondorf is the kind of person who’d killed his minions in order to be the only one able to claim the Triforce. This just further shows Ganondorf isn’t as noble as some may believe himself to be since many of those minions would obviously be the Gerudo who’d be required to serve him.

By Four Swords Adventures the Gerudo Tribe as a whole would denounce Ganondorf as their leader in order to restore relations with the Hylians. After Ganondorf had violated one of their laws even they had enough of him by treating him as the tyrant that he was.

So many people seem to forget that the Wind Waker Ganondorf that everyone loves sympathizing with was the reason the world got flooded in the first place.

Ganondorf is always shown to be using so many people as a means to an end rather than doing anything altruistically. He may say he’s doing what he does for the Gerudo, but it’s actually just for himself since the Gerudo are still in the desert even after he takes over. He may have initially set out to conquer Hyrule because he envied its idyllic nature while his people lived in a harsh desert... but when he laid hands on the Triforce, seven years later all he'd changed is that now the rest of Hyrule is even worse than the desert while he chased the missing pieces of the Triforce.

[Shiken]

You make a few points, but about FSA Ganondorft...he is not the same character as WW, TP, and OoT Ganondorf. He is a reincarnation much later in time and no where near as noble with his intentions. If fact, he is not exactly sane to begin with really.

My point is that it is not Ganondorf the man that is evil, but rather the curse that is attached to him. The hatred from Demise is what drives him to take things too far. It should also be noted that as Ganon, he is more Demon King Demise than Ganondorf at this point, and his actions no longer apply to the man he used to be.

OoT Ganondorf was young and fell victim to being drunk with power when he got it, likely due to the influence from Demise. His motives became jaded once he took the throne, which is why the world plunged into darkness for 7 years. It would not be until WW when he was older and wiser, and really a bit more chill that we would discover what he was really after.

WW Ganondorf was where we saw the other side of the man. He cared for the Gerudo and was older and wiser than his other appearance in OoT, therefore was not quite as blinded by the prospect of power as he was previously. His mission was no longer for power, it was to restore Hyrule to what it was before the flood. However in the end, he went about things in an evil way as the curse he was born from demands him to do so.

TP Ganondorf was just plain bitter. He lost the war due to the Hero of Time traveling back and warning the king, the Gerudo had been either killed or driven out of the surrounding area, and he spent about 100 years imprisoned in the Twilight Realm. His motives here, due to a difference in events of that timeline, were that of revenge. Not a speck of nobility remained at that point.

[PhoenixUp]

We barely see Ganondorf doing anything noble as a mortal man to say he isn’t evil. All we hear is that he wanted a better life for himself and his people, but on every occasion he results in ending up being a tyrant. Anytime he appears or is mentioned the plot becomes darker and more serious. A good motive does not make you a good person.

Ganondorf was a vile person even before he came to power in OoT. He cursed the Deku Tree thus resulting in its death, starved the Gorons by closing off Dodongo’s Cavern, and fed princess Ruto to Lord Jabu Jabu. All this was done to manipulate Link into collecting the spiritual stones for him.

Ganondorf still didn’t become wiser on his own. It took becoming scheming to becoming an evil overlord, actually becoming an evil overlord, losing that position and cursing the descendants of the person who defeated you, coming back and ruling Hyrule as a tyrant again, and causing divine intervention from goddesses that resulted in an apocalyptic setting for Ganondorf to even have any sense of self awareness. Even then he is committing the same actions he performed as he did before, he’s just more philosophical about it. He knows what he did was wrong, yet still repeats his misdeeds.

In the Downfall timeline that he defeats Link, Ganondorf still kills his followers to obtain power which would include his loyal Gerudo Tribe.

There are far too many instances of Ganondorf being an evil dude before he even becomes Ganon to say that he isn’t an evil person himself. Even if you want to say it’s not his fault because of Demise’s curse, that still doesn’t make Ganondorf any less evil himself.

[Shiken]

Not much I can say to your last reply. You have defended your take on him well, and I have to say you are right.

The whole idea of Ganondorf being conflicted still makes for a fun theory for fanfic, but Ganondorf is indeed a vile person at the end of the day. Well put my friend!

[meka2611]

Yay just as cringey as the female bowser thing. Ok maybe not that cringey but still.

[djl3485]

You're cringey and never insult Bowsette again.

[rlow1]

So Ganondorf who, when you think about it. Actually decimated whole populations and destroyed peoples lives. Goes on a love fest with Link and Zelda.......Um.......That would be like saying Sauron comes back and hugs Frodo Baggins and Gandolf, then they go on a merry adventure together.........Hmmmmmm.

[SkatterBrain]

Handsome Squidward vs Handsome Ganandorf ,
GET READY FOR THE NEXT BATTLE!!

[ShadowWolf712]

"Area website finally notices weird, long-standing trend of Ganondorf thirst."

[antikbaka]

another impossible female-fantasy

[SIdepocket]

I would so hit that.